Li Yanqing led a thousand cavalry to follow the Liangshan army ten miles away, and when the Liangshan army rested in the woods, his army also rested in the same woods, but always kept a distance.

The forage carried by the mules of the rear army has been eaten, and the cavalry fed the last bit of cooked black beans to the war horses, and they will then replenish in Gaotang County, and then continue to follow, Li Yanqing never gave the order to attack the Liangshan army, and many cavalry were a little out of breath.

Li Yanqing also knew that the cavalry were anxious, and in order to appease the soldiers, he gathered twenty team leaders and explained to them the next course of action.

In a clearing in the middle of the woods, the team leaders sat on the ground in twos and threes, while Li Yanqing sat on a big rock and smiled at everyone: "I know that everyone is not in a good mood, what do you want to say, just say it!" ”

An older team leader mustered up the courage and said: "General Qiyu, it's not that we have emotions, but that the other party is demoralized and has no intention of fighting. ”

Another team leader also said: "This is like a delicious piece of fatty meat, but you can't eat it right in front of you, and after a long time, everyone is a little confused." ”

Li Yanqing smiled and said to everyone: "I know that everyone is very anxious, following the enemy army for five days and five nights without making a move, in fact, I also know that when we are in Xingli Town, we have a chance to defeat them, but at that time, even if we win, we will pay at least thirty percent of the casualties, of course, there will always be casualties in the war, but if we can wait for the best time to make a move, maybe we can avoid the casualties of hundreds of brothers, so why can't we endure it any longer?" ”

Everyone was silent, Li Yanqing continued: "Now they can't enter Gaotang County, and they can't go back to the south bank of the Yellow River, I estimate that they can only go to Texas next, yesterday they have killed the last dozen cattle, and seeing that tomorrow the food will be cut off, there is no one and no food within thirty miles around Gaotang County, I estimate that they will desert tonight, everyone hold on, I promise to annihilate this army before entering Texas!" ”

Everyone got the promise of the main general, and their emotions rose again, Li Yanqing got up and said: "Everyone go back to appease the brothers, let the brothers cheer up, the time for the decisive battle is coming." ”

Everyone saluted and walked quickly, when a scout came to report, "The enemy has left for the north." ”

Li Yanqing looked at the sky, it was already afternoon, he was not in a hurry, so he ordered the army to enter the city to replenish, and at the same time gathered hundreds of infantry who arrived in Gaotang County first.

As soon as Li Yanqing came to the city, Wang Gui rode out on horseback, and shouted from afar: "I'm not going to do it, I'm going to go north with you to kill the enemy, and I'm going to suffocate my Wang Gui alive in the city." ”

Li Yanqing smiled dumbly, "The cavalry is also like you, shouting to suffocate people, aren't you afraid that there will be no battle to fight with me in the north?" ”

Wang Gui winked slyly and smiled: "I know it in my heart!" These Liangshan bandits are exhausted, either today or tomorrow, the final battle is coming, how can I stay out of it. ”

Li Yanqing smiled and gave him a punch, "You kid doesn't suffer at all in this regard, but if you leave, what will happen to thousands of township soldiers?" ”

"The township soldiers have regimental training commanders, one in Xiangzhou, one in the Daimyo Mansion, as long as you don't fight, you don't have to worry about me at all, besides, you can leave Lu Fei behind, the infantry has Commander Wang Ping, and the cavalry will be handed over to me!"

Wang Gui was soft and hard, and wanted to participate in the last decisive battle, Li Yanqing had no choice but to agree to him, Wang Gui was so happy that he danced with his hands, turned his horse's head and ran towards the city, and heard him shout from afar: "I'll arrange it!" ”

Li Yanqing shook his head, there was really no way to take this guy, at this time, Lu Fei, the head of the infantry, hurriedly ran over, clasped his fists and saluted: "The lowly one is here to give the order!" ”

"How's it going on the river?" Li Yanqing asked with a smile.

"As the commander judged, the Liangshan army did send about a hundred ships to meet the enemy across the river, and led the brothers to set fire to the boats, chased them all the way to the docks on the opposite bank, and gathered sixty or seventy ships to burn them together, leaving not a single boat behind."

"Well done!"

Li Yanqing praised and asked again: "What about our ships, are there any losses?" ”

"Our ships are intact and are currently on the dock."

Li Yanqing nodded and said: "I will continue to lead the army to pursue the Liangshan bandits, the cavalry needs to be commanded, General Wang has to go north with me, and I will hand over the township soldiers of Gaotang County to you for the time being, and defend the city well, and I will also remember your great achievements!" ”

Lu Fei also wanted to follow the north, but the main general asked him to defend the city, he was very helpless, and he didn't dare to disobey the military order, so he had to agree, "Obey the order!" ”

"Go ahead! Hand over with General Wang, we'll be setting off soon. ”

The cavalry replenished supplies, and Li Yanqing met with two more township corps training officers, and instructed them to lead the soldiers to defend the city with Lu Fei, and leave two hundred soldiers to guard the ships at the docks of the Yellow River, and then he immediately led 1,500 soldiers to leave Gaotang County and chase them north.

..........

Liang Shanjun camped for the night in a village about twenty miles north of Gaotang County, a large village of more than 100 households, but the people in the village had already moved into Gaotang County, and the whole village was empty and uninhabited.

There was no food supplement, and after tonight, the food of the Liangshan army was cut off, and the food was cut off and desperate, the soldiers of the Liangshan army complained, the army was in a commotion, and there was a wave of escape after dark.

Zhang Cen also knew that the morale of the army was shaken, in order to prevent the soldiers from fleeing, he sent hundreds of henchmen to set up blockades on the three roads out of the village, but it still had no effect, the deserters did not take the village road at all, they took off their armor, threw away their weapons, and fled into the nearby woods over the wall of the small courtyard.

In a hut, Zhang Cen was lying on the table with an oil lamp in his hand and carefully studying the map of Texas, which also has a Yellow River wharf, in Panhe Town, near Ande County, and on the other side of the river is Linyi County, Qizhou.

Just then, the door slammed! With a heavy push, Zhang Cen turned around in astonishment, only to see Guan Sheng standing at the door with an angry face, and several pro-soldiers standing guard outside the door obviously couldn't hold him, and looked a little panicked.

Zhang Cen waved his hand and asked several of his own soldiers to retreat, Guan Sheng walked into the room and said coldly: "The soldiers outside are fleeing frantically, and General Zhang is still in the mood to find a way out in the room?" ”

Zhang Cen said for a while: "I know that the army is unstable, so I arranged for three hundred soldiers to block the three roads out of the village......"

"Does it work?"

Guan Sheng sneered, "The fugitive soldiers don't take the village road at all, they can enter the woods outside the village by directly climbing over the wall, and you still think you can effectively control the deserters?" ”

"So what should I do?"

Zhang Cen couldn't help but yell, "The food has been cut off, what will the soldiers eat tomorrow morning?" Do you want me to kill people and let the soldiers eat human flesh? You're just going to complain, you're just going to be cynical, can you come up with something useful? ”

Guan Sheng's face was flushed, and he roared angrily with his neck straight: "The army has military discipline, and an army with strict military discipline will not run away at will because of the lack of food, but will only unite as one, and find a way to overcome difficulties together, go hunting, fishing, and even peel tree bark and dig wild vegetables, but you have set the army and looted, directly destroying military discipline, without military discipline constraints, do you still expect them to dig wild vegetables to satisfy hunger?" ”

Zhang Cen yelled hysterically: "We are originally Liangshan bandits, not officers and soldiers, don't use your set to oppress people, if you have wine and meat, you will gather righteousness, and if you don't have everyone, you will break up, don't be a Liangshan hero if you can't get used to it!" ”

Guan Sheng's eyes were red, and he stared at Zhang Cen in despair for a long time, then suddenly turned around and strode away.

Zhang Cen looked at his back and walked away, gritting his teeth with hatred, if he wasn't afraid of the eldest brother's blame, he would have slaughtered this bastard with a knife.

Zhang Cen and Guan Sheng's concepts are fundamentally different, Guan Sheng is from a military family, his grandfather and father are generals of the forbidden army, he attaches great importance to the honor and rules of the army, and hates the phenomenon of barrage and desertion, he surrendered to the Liangshan army because of a thought, when he found that behind the aura of righteousness of the Liangshan army is the essence of banditry, his heart is full of remorse and despair, today when his army has come to an end, this negative emotion will inevitably erupt.

And Zhang Cen was one of the first group of bandits in Liangshan, one of the bandits on the 36th road of Liangshan, and became a member of Liangshan Juyitang after being recruited by Song Jiang, although he was named the commander of the capital and became the chief general of the Liangshan Army in Hebei, but the bandit nature in his bones was difficult to change, and when he came to a dead end, he would naturally use the methods of the mountain bandits to solve the problem.

At this time, a soldier ran to report to him, "Oh no, General Guan rode away alone, and everyone didn't dare to stop him!" ”

Zhang Cen snorted heavily, "If he wants to go, let's go!" Leave him alone, and command all the brethren to assemble at once. ”