Early in the morning, Niu Bingzhong reported to Li Wen that the sergeant had a large number of frostbite cases last night.

According to statistics this morning, more than 500 people have developed symptoms of fever and runny nose, and they urgently need treatment, otherwise the situation is worrying, and with the passage of time, by noon, more than 1,000 people have runny nose and fever, and more than 300 people have a high fever.

The number of military doctors and medicinal materials in the army was limited, so Li Wen had no choice but to send people back to Fengxian to find doctors and medicinal materials, and even sent people back to Baoji to ask people to transport more medicinal materials and doctors.

"The soldiers have a large number of high fevers that do not subside, most of them are soldiers who were frozen last night, and the soldiers who basically did not sleep last night are not energetic, if they forcibly march to Liuba today, it is inevitable that they will have to fight, if there is a battle, it is difficult for the army with low energy to deal with the enemy, and the last general asks the governor to think twice."

Niu Bingzhong asked Li Wen a little listlessly.

Li Wen looked at the report in his hand, and then cast a stern gaze on the senior staff members around him.

Gao Staff, you look at me, I look at you, there is a little embarrassed look on their faces, although no one came to attack them last night, they can still forcibly attribute their correct tactics, but it is an indisputable fact that so many soldiers are sick and unable to march, and they dare not argue about anything.

"How's it going to be right now?"

Li Wen asked his senior staff.

"It is better to leave the sick soldiers in Chaiguan to wait for treatment, and we will lead our elite soldiers and horses to Liuba first to occupy favorable terrain, so as not to disturb the rebels again tonight, and our army needs to take the initiative."

A senior staff member said.

Li Wen thought about it again and again, and felt that there was no better way, so he could only agree.

So Li Wen ordered to leave the sick soldiers in the city to wait for treatment, and he led the main army to continue to advance and attack the rebel defense line in Liuba.

According to his estimate, at this moment, Li Ruzhang's men and horses should almost arrive, and as soon as Li Ruzhang's soldiers and horses arrive, they will be able to attack Liuba on both sides, and they will be able to break through Liuba at that time, but the return of the spies made him a little disappointed, because there is no war in Liuba, and the rebels have already occupied favorable terrain to defend.

Li Ruzhang hasn't arrived yet?

Li Wen was a little dissatisfied, but there was no way, at present, he could only rely on these troops in his hands to fight the rebels.

Xiao Ruxun has a good command of the army, has the ability to use the soldiers, and has the skill to train the troops, and can be called the first general of the Ming Dynasty, but unfortunately he rebelled, and it was so big, it swept most of the Ming Dynasty, and now the king of heaven and Lao Tzu can't save him, who else can he count on?

Li Wen still wanted to fight with Xiao Ruxun's army, so on the afternoon of the 21st, Li Wen set up camp by the water fifteen miles west of Liuba, and then sent people to lead troops to cut down trees along the way to open the way, and by the way to check whether there were any traps of the rebels.

In the evening, Li Wen suddenly heard an explosion in the barracks, and ordered the whole army to fight, but after a while, he saw a group of defeated soldiers coming back dejectedly, it was the men and horses who were sent out to cut down trees and clear traps.

"Attacked by a firearm?"

Li Wen looked at the defeated general with an unkind expression.

"Yes, Governor, the rebels have sharp firearms, there are many hills on the road here, they set up artillery on the hills, and when they saw our army, they condescended to fire artillery on our army, our army did not dodge in time, and was killed by more than a dozen people, unable to advance, only to retreat, and please punish the Governor!"

Li Wen waved his hand with a dark face and asked them to retreat.

"Governor, now it seems that the rebels have taken the advantage, this terrain has been familiar to them, we have lost the opportunity, if we want to advance and stay in the dam, we can only attack strongly, not show weakness."

Gao Shen analyzed on the side: "According to Tan Xisi's explanation, the number of rebels is not much, it should be less than 50,000, and it is impossible for 50,000 people to be guarding the dam, so there are only 20,000 or 30,000 horses at most, and our army has an advantage in numbers. ”

Li Wen thought about it again and again and felt reasonable, so he ordered Niu Bingzhong to arrange for men and horses to attack, and today he must make a good start no matter what, and give the rebels a little color, otherwise they will really make themselves look down, and they may come to harass them tonight!

After Niu Bingzhong inspected the terrain, he thought that the road here was narrow and the terrain was rugged, and he could not adapt to the attack of the cavalry, so he could only attack with infantry, but the rebels set up artillery on many hills to obstruct it, which was very threatening to the attack of the army.

He knew very well that there were very few firearms under his command, and there were very few soldiers who could use firearms, and Li Wen himself did not have many gunners in the troops, and he was not Xiao Ruxun's opponent in terms of firearms at all.

"What if you don't attack? Our army is stronger than the rebels, and at this time, we can only abandon all fallacies and heresies, and thwart all the tricks of the rebels with an upright army, so that our army will be victorious! ”

The senior staff collectively opposed Niu Bingzhong's cautious proposal.

Li Wen also felt that he had an advantage in combat effectiveness, and he didn't have to worry about not being Xiao Ruxun's opponent on the battlefield, the combat effectiveness of the Northwest Frontier Army was very considerable, and he often competed with the northern captives on the grassland, could he still lose to the southern barbarians who came out of the mountains in the south?

Li Wen then ordered to assemble his men and horses to carry out a strong attack, to finish the battle before sunset today, to capture him a few hills and move the battle line forward, and by the way to improve the morale that was somewhat low because of last night's incident.

Two thousand elite men were soon assembled, 1,500 foot soldiers and 500 cavalry, led by the Ningxia general Zhao Wu, to attack Liuba, and they were the first to face the Zhennan army, which occupied the hills to block the attack.

However, before they could get close to the place where they could attack, the artillery of the Zhennan Army on the hill began to roar, and they were caught off guard, and the cavalry team was scattered first, coupled with the rugged terrain, it did not play any role at all, and only knew how to avoid the artillery bombardment everywhere.

When the infantry rushed forward under the leadership of the officer, they were faced with the big shield formation tactics and sharp muskets that the Zhennan army was very good at.

When they rushed closer to the fire of the muskets, the big guns stabbed out again, piercing a transparent hole and a transparent hole, they could not break through this line of defense at all, and the people were almost dead.

It can be said that the first tentative sexual exchange between the two sides ended in Li Wen's fiasco.

Two thousand elites were beaten to the head of the rat, five hundred cavalry were lost, more than four hundred horses were lost, more than half of the foot soldiers were lost, and even more were injured, and even Zhao Wu's mount was killed by a stray bullet, and he broke one leg and was dragged back to the camp by his subordinates.

In the first encounter, Li Wen was defeated.

Li Wen was very dissatisfied with such a tragic defeat.