At noon, the army of the camp arrived, and the Datong army did not dare to fight, so they quickly retreated five miles, while seizing the time to eat dry food, and at the same time carefully guarding against the army. Li Guo picked up a life and truthfully reported the process of the war, Li Zicheng's face was pale, and he was silent for a moment and ordered to bury the pot and make rice. A few wisps of cooking smoke rose, and the intruding army knocked on the wooden pole and shouted "open the meal", and after a while, the bandits and civilians who had run away came out from all corners and returned to the army in a chaotic manner, and Li Guo's team grew stronger again in a blink of an eye.

The Datong army in the distance was dumbfounded, the battle of two hours was in vain, except for the battle of killing two thousand thieves, there was almost no result, Sun Shoufa put down his clairvoyance, and kept shaking his head: "Train people to be like dogs, Li Blind is also a character." ”

"The common people are pitiful, they have all been turned into poor eggs, and they can only be at the mercy of others, forget it, let's withdraw slowly." Zhang Ding said.

The Datong army slowly retreated, the army followed closely step by step, both sides did not dare to shoot easily, occasionally hit two times and immediately disengaged, pulled and pulled away for a day into Zhengzhou, the Datong army stopped retreating, and the battlefield of the decisive battle arrived - this is a large open area near the Yellow River, the Datong army relies on the Yellow River embankment to the north, the defense line extends more than ten miles to the south, the front and side are dug trenches, the horse rejection stakes are erected behind the trenches, and then there is a low wall that is half a person high, behind the low wall is the camp of the Datong army, and countless three-color black eagle flags are fluttering in the wind.

Niu Jinxing was very satisfied that the other party did not escape, and he also ran to the Yellow River to fight against the water, and suggested that like the Ming army in Zhuxian Town, he would first surround the enemy army, and then dig two trenches overnight to prevent the enemy from escaping, and when his food was exhausted, he could be annihilated in one fell swoop.

"The Datong army is clearly going to fight a decisive battle with our army, and it must have left a back hand, I'm afraid it won't be able to surround them, and our army's food is also in a panic, and if it can't be fought for a long time, it will definitely change, so it's better to simply fight to the death, and the three of us can win a big victory for one, and now the disaster is everywhere, and I'm not afraid that we can't replenish the manpower." Song Xiance said in a low voice.

Li Zicheng nodded, Song Xiance is a fortune teller who runs the rivers and lakes, he has insight and brains, and Niu Jinxing only learned a little bit of the art of war from books - the Datong army relying on the Yellow River to fortify is by no means a backwater, but to use the Yellow River to protect the flank, and the southern end must also ambush the cavalry, if you want to surround people, you have to take the risk of dividing the troops in a roundabout way, and it is difficult to say whether you can succeed.

"Our army has been invincible and invincible since it entered Henan, how can we allow this mere twenty or thirty thousand barbarians to run rampant, and the whole army will go into battle early tomorrow morning, and we must wipe it out in one fell swoop," Li Zicheng waved his hand and shouted, King Chuang is a hero who is destined to return, and he is no longer an ordinary thief, he can only advance but not retreat, he turned his face and glanced at Luo Rucai, "Brother Luo, what do you think?" ”

"If you want to fight, you can fight," Luo Rucai held back the fire in his heart, Li Zicheng was not like this before, the ghost idea counted him the most, how did he become stupid after becoming the king, 20,000 or 30,000 people dared to fight with you 300,000 people, there must be a trap, you are still stupid to drill into it, I won't be stupid with you, Pi Xiaorou said without a smile, "The elder brother is old, and the people under him are useless, just help, the war still depends on the brothers who broke into the camp." ”

"Cao Shuai, since you Cao Ying joined the gang, the big battles and small battles have contributed the least, but the spoils of war have to be divided equally with our camp, how can there be such a reason in the world? This time, Cao Yinghou wanted to steal and play tricks. Liu Zongmin shouted angrily.

"Blacksmith Liu, when did our Cao Ying steal and play tricks? You break into the camp is not authentic, the spoils of war are always hidden good, but when you take them out, they are a pile of rags, we have few armor and poor weapons, and we have the most brothers killed and injured in each battle, you still dare to talk nonsense, believe it or not, Lao Tzu will beat you up. Luo Rucai's nephew, Luo Dayong, immediately jumped out and shouted.

Li Guo said angrily: "That's because your Cao Ying's skills are poor, and if you didn't stay with us, you would have starved to death long ago, and you were embarrassed to talk nonsense." ”

"What's so great about you breaking into the camp, if it weren't for our Cao Shuai's big face, how could you be today, and you want to turn your face when you gain power? Well, everyone broke up. Cao Ying's general, Ji Jue, jumped up angrily.

The generals of the two battalions of Chuang and Cao quarreled with their fists in turns, and Tian Jianxiu and Song Xiance were persuaded to fight and received a few punches, Li Zicheng showed anger on his face, and ordered everyone to go back to the camp to prepare for the war.

Niu Jinxing reminded loudly: "Don't drink tonight, be careful of robbing the camp!" ”

Luo Rucai returned to his tent, immediately asked someone to serve wine and food, and summoned his henchmen to drink a little wine.

"If I die, you will go to the Datong Army." Luo Rucai whispered after taking a few sips of stuffy wine.

"Uncle, who dares to beat your idea? Lao Tzu slaughtered him. Luo Dayong was startled and got up and shouted.

Ji Jue covered Luo Dayong's mouth, walked out of the big tent and looked around, came back and whispered to Luo Rucai: "Dashuai, what are you talking about, the surname Li can't tolerate us, so he simply separates from him, you take us to another piece of land to be free, he dares to do something to you, we will fight with him, everyone is together, we don't go to the Datong Army, they beat us as thieves, and we also throw ourselves into the net." ”

Luo Rucai took a sip of wine and said: "You don't understand, the old Li Chengfu is too deep, we may not be able to go, even if we get lucky, if it is too chaotic today, it is not easy to be a thief, you are still young, I have to find a way out for you, the court will definitely not be able to go, the eight kings, the old return sooner or later will be difficult to protect themselves, in contrast, the Datong army has territory, strength, and the court can't help them, I have inquired, they have our Yansui people, they don't stick to the mud, scorpion blocks, and mixed stars, they have old friends with me, and they always have to give face, If you join them, you may have a future in the future, and you must listen to me. ”

Sent away his subordinates, Luo Rucai called a large group of his women into the tent, said good words to appease them, took out gold and silver and sent them to relatives and friends, and then fell asleep as if nothing was going on - he used to be too poor to marry a wife, and after the rebellion, he counted a day after pulling the pole to rebel, and he had to find a large group of women to enjoy himself wherever he went, but he didn't do anything lacking in virtue, he could resign himself to fate, but he would never let women be harmed, and when they encountered danger, they must first find a home, in contrast, other rebel leaders were like beasts to women, For example, Li Zicheng's gang of people have done bad things about killing their family members and escaping by themselves.

This night was safe and sound, Niu Jinxing stayed up all night and didn't expect to rob the camp, but broke into the camp to make himself too nervous, and accidentally injured his own people a few times, but Cao Ying slept very peacefully, Luo Rucai expected that the Datong army would never do more, so he told his subordinates to sleep at ease.

The next morning, before the mist had lifted, the rebels poured into the battlefield in a hurry, and hundreds of thousands of people brandished swords, spears, and clubs shouting and scolding at the other side—this was also an old habit, and it was necessary to make a loud noise to scare the other side before the battle began. The leaders of the rebel army came to the front of the battle and made the final pre-war arrangements, mainly to finalize how each family would send people and how to distribute the spoils, which was a major event related to the morale of the army.

Cao Ying was very happy today, and promised to send people according to the convention, but asked to borrow 500 sets of armor from the camp, of course the camp did not do it, and the things lent to Cao Ying must be meat buns and dogs, and he still lacked armor.

What are the guys doing? Coming out early in the morning, the sun is still noisy when the sun has climbed the trees - Li Yu stood on the embankment of the Yellow River and observed for a long time, shook his head slightly and put down his clairvoyance, he was not afraid of delaying time, as soon as the thief passed Zhongmu, he sent someone to inform Zhao Ji and Ge Kuli to cross the river quickly, calculate the time, as long as the front holds on for two days, the iron horse can kill the thief behind him. However, the young people of the Flying Tiger Battalion couldn't bear it, especially the children of the Mongolian nobles who had just arrived, and they were ready to show their hands, and the chief and deputy battalion officers Hadari and Rabudu took the lead in asking for a challenge.

"Yuzi, let them go, attract the thieves to consume the troops, and when they are exhausted from fighting, the grass will fly and clean up together." Du Wenhuan smiled and interceded with the young man.

"Hadari, you take Rabudu and Shukur out to challenge, remember, you are only allowed to take advantage, not to suffer." Li Yu thought for a moment and waved his hand to order.

Hadari shouted excitedly, led the five hundred cavalry of the two sentinels of Rabudu and Shukur to gallop away, and after a while rushed to the front of the formation, pointing at the opposite side and shouting, and the rebels did not show weakness, and opened their mouths to curse. A funny scene appeared, the two outposts of the Flying Tiger Battalion were either Manchurians or Mongols, and they did not understand the language of the rebels, and they quarreled so much that they did not understand what the other party was scolding, and both sides were amused in the end. The leaders of the rebels didn't bother to pay attention to these stupid Tartars, they were discussing the most crucial distribution of the spoils, and other things were not taken care of for the time being.

Hadari laughed and cursed as he slowly moved forward - the guy in the golden helmet and armor wearing the blindfold on the other side was probably a thief, if only he could be killed with an arrow. Hadari quietly took off his bow and put on three heavy armor-piercing arrows, the beaded archery technique was taught by Uncle Yuzi, and he also used a hard bow with one stone and five stones, as long as the speed of the horse added up, he was sure to shoot the thief's head from a hundred paces away. Li Zicheng definitely didn't expect someone to target him, there were hundreds of personal soldiers guarding the left and right, and there were three layers of foot soldiers in a dense formation on the outermost layer, and the group of Tartars was six or seven hundred steps away, unless he could grow wings and fly over, he would not be in danger.

Rabudu, Shukur suddenly took off their helmets, shook their bald heads and sang, the rebels laughed, pointed and scolded, at this moment, Hadari suddenly accelerated and rushed towards Daxu, the Tianshan horse accelerated fast, and the impact burst out in an instant, in the exclamation of the invading army, Hadari stood up from the back of the galloping horse, holding a longbow and pointing directly at Li Zicheng - the strong bow arm span is too long, standing on the back of the horse to shoot arrows, the range and accuracy are more certain, but his body will also be exposed to the enemy, Hadari is simply playing with his life.

Four hundred steps, three hundred steps, two hundred steps, shot - Hadari stared at the target, mentally estimated the distance, and after entering two hundred steps, three arrows fired in a salvo, and the sharp arrows flew towards Li Zicheng by the inertia of the horse. Hadari then abandoned the bow and sat back on the horse, and then tightened the reins on the side of his body, and the horse was almost fallen, neighing and retracting his steps, and suddenly turned back and galloped, at this time, a rain of arrows fell on his back, and a few stray arrows clanged on the armor, and Hadari fled regardless of his life—the Righteous and Ming armies generally used five or six bucket bows, and there was almost no lethality beyond a hundred paces, and his life was saved.

The sharp arrow was divided into three ways and went straight to the target, Li Zicheng felt the danger and leaned over to dodge, but the opponent's arrow speed was too fast, and the branch that shot at the door dodged, and hit the throat of a thief behind him, but the middle and lower roads could not dodge, and the thief next to him was so frightened that he was at a loss, and an old brother reacted quickly, jumped up in the air and pushed Li Zicheng off the horse, and an arrow shot through the armor of this guy and went straight into the heart.

The leaders of the pro-soldiers, Li Shuangxi and Zhang Nai, were furious, and led the pro-soldiers to rush out with a shout, Rabudu and Shukur had already prepared, and a burst of random arrows shot over dozens of pro-soldiers who rushed up, and then howled and killed. Although Li Zicheng's personal soldiers are brave, but playing horse kung fu is not the opponent of this gang, two hedges and one hundred and ten fell off the horse, after continuous losses, the pro-soldiers did not dare to want to retaliate anymore, gathered around Li Shuangxi and Zhang Nai to form a formation to protect themselves, and the flying tiger rode around them with a bow and shot hard, and the pro-soldiers were constantly shot off the horse.

"Rush up, everyone go up together, kill this gang of Tartars!" Li Zicheng got up from the ground, roared angrily, he had suffered a big loss from the Fengzhou soldiers when he wandered back to the northwest, and knew that this group of people was powerful, and if he didn't rescue him in time, he might not be able to come back to any of his own soldiers.

The drums of war sounded, the rebels roared in unison, "Kill the Tartars", and pounced like a tide, Hadari had just changed horses, and when he saw that the situation was not good, he shouted a few times, "There are too many thieves, brothers, retreat quickly", turned the horse's head and fled. Flying Tiger Rider, the elite of the elite, more than 100 good killers, came back without their own shit, the Datong army array was full of joy, more than a dozen guys who were caught back must be bandits, and immediately beheaded the public, and the head hung high behind the trench - killed these barbarian Tartars, the army went crazy, the black pressure of the people pressed up, the artillery of the Datong army immediately opened fire to intercept, and the first duel between the two armies kicked off.

The artillery guards in the front part of the assault are still guns, and it is their job to consume the opponent and cover the two wings - the right association of guns and artillery is full of confidence in sending troops this time, and the infantry and cavalry associations are all 3,500 soldiers, and they maintain a number of 5,000 soldiers, and the infantry battalion has also increased from two to three, all of them have been replaced with flint guns, and the artillery battalion has been equipped with ten 3,000-jin front-loading guns and fifteen 1,000-pound camp guns. Wang Zongjie, deputy assistant commander, wanted to make military merits and resolutely demanded that he be demoted one level to become a battalion officer in the newly built middle battalion, and Wu Laoba, a battalion officer of the left association artillery battalion with old qualifications, was transferred to be the deputy assistant commander, so that the strength of the right association overwhelmed the left association in an all-round way, and they wanted to fight a good battle from top to bottom.

Poor thief, how can you play riding with the Flying Tiger Battalion, those guys learned to ride horses before they learned to walk, Hadari knew that he was in the limelight, and Uncle Yuzi would definitely beat him - Liu Shuangxi, the battalion officer of the right and left battalion of the artillery artillery, was a little gloating and thought, and walked quickly to the low wall, and Zhou Zhuzi, the left sentry officer, was leaning against the wall and swallowing the clouds, this guy has only been promoted for a few days and learned to smoke.

"Pillar, the thief is here, what are you doing here?" Liu Shuangxi shouted a little angrily.

"It's okay, the thieves are afraid of cannons, and they are still moving slowly, don't worry, Brother Shuangxi, the ginseng smoke of Fan Ji Tobacco Store tastes good, you can taste it too." Zhou Zhuzi replied with a grin.

Liu Shuangxi pushed away the cigarette stick, lying on the side of the low wall to observe forward, the cannon of the Datong army sounded intermittently, from time to time there were cannons jumping into the crowd, causing a scream, the rebels' counterattack was weak, and occasionally there was the sound of artillery explosions - the size of the artillery of the rebels was actually much more than the Datong army, but these rags seized from the hands of the Ming army were born with bad luck, and something could happen if they didn't hit a few times. The artillery was powerless to resist, but it was unable to fight back, and the arrogance of the rebels was much lower, and they moved forward against the door panel and pot lid, but it was useless, and each cannon would take away a few lives.

"Brother Shuangxi, the people who walk in front are the common people, and the people who die in one place will not disperse, are we too ruthless!" Zhou Zhuzi leaned in and whispered.

"What can I do, the thieves have always driven the common people to take the lead, if you don't kill them, they will rush up and kill you, don't think nonsense, let go of your hands and kill, kill them so that their legs will be weak when they see our military flag in the future, and they would rather find the bandits to fight than dare to take a step forward, and then there will be fewer deaths." Liu Shuangxi waved his hand, pulled a handsome young man from behind him, pointed at Zhou Zhuzi and said, "Aunt Chen has to stuff Ershui into the battalion, everyone can't persuade him, I will hand him over to you, remember, Ershui must not have an accident." ”

"Brother Shuangxi, don't worry, I can't let Ershui have an accident." Zhou Zhuzi hugged the young man, this is his little brother who has played since he was a child.

Chen Ershui's elder brother Chen Erzhu died in the Yanghe War, his father died early, he was the only man left in the family, and it was not his turn to be a soldier according to the laws of Fengzhou, but Aunt Chen didn't do it, every family in Baita Village had battalion soldiers, every family had military merits, and the old Chen family could not lag behind, Ershui had just turned eighteen years old and was sent to be a soldier by Aunt Chen. However, Chen Erzhu's qualifications are too old, Li Yuyang and he were there when he joined the army, and the generals of the whole army were afraid that the younger brother of the entrepreneurial father would have an accident in his own hands, so Chen Ershui entered the Barbarian Mountain as a soldier but was arranged to raise pigs. Before this time to send troops, Aunt Chen found Li Yu and insisted that her son be a soldier who could take military merits, Li Yu thought of Liu Shuangxi, Liu Shuangxi's brother Liu Shishi and Chen Erzhu are inseparable good brothers, it is right to hand over Ershui to Shuangxi, and Liu Shuangxi immediately thought that Zhou Zhuzi and Chen Ershui have been playing together since childhood, and handed Ershui to Zhou Zhuzi.

"Un's outpost is on your left, you two guard this section of the wall and give me the cigarette." Liu Shuangxi snatched the cigarette stick from Zhou Zhuzi's hand, put it in his mouth and left.