After Zhang Kuang led the army to Tongcheng, he immediately set up camp and surrounded the county seat.

Although there is an ancient precept in the art of war, Zhang Kuang thinks that his strength is far greater than that of the water bandits, and under the blow of the army, the city will be turned into powder, so why bother to make more complications and make it so complicated. What made him angry was that when Song Jiang saw that the imperial army was coming, he didn't tie himself up and surrender, but instead closed the city gate and opened a firm jiashi.

He immediately ordered the siege of the city, but there was no time to build various siege equipment, and there was no time to pile up high platforms and mountains, so the Ming army directly carried simple ladders and attacked with ants. However, the resistance of the bandits was very stubborn, and three successive attacks were repulsed, and they did not even touch the head of the city, but suffered hundreds of casualties.

The morale of the Ming army was severely frustrated, and the generals made a fuss together, refusing to carry out this stupid suicidal attack, Zhang Kuang had no choice but to change his tactics, suspend the siege, and first build siege equipment such as nest cars and half-interception ships.

These instruments are relatively complex, and the number of required equipment is also large, and they can't be made in ten days, the water bandits can't come out of the city, and the Ming army has nothing to do, and there are some slackness up and down. Zhang Kuang was furious about this, grabbed an eyeless general and beat him with a military stick, and then vigorously rectified military discipline.

Under Zhang Kuang's strict supervision, the military discipline of the Ming army was one of the strictest, and there were three posts and five posts in the barracks during the day, carefully checked, and at night, they burned the fire all night long, and carefully guarded it......

The night is dark, the Ming military camp is lit everywhere with blazing fires, bright as day, but the city tower through the city is pitch black, silent, if someone comes close to take a closer look, you will find that the door shaft of the city gate is splashed with vegetable oil, has been completely soaked.

"Squeak" sounded softly, the oil-soaked city gate quietly opened a crack, and hundreds of water bandits came out of the city, one by one, with white papals and sharp blades in their hands, staring at the camp of the Ming army like a wolf that saw its prey.

"Big brother, I have been fighting with the official army for half my life, and I have never seen such a straw bag, lighting so many fires at night, it is simply showing us the way!"

The second boss has a look of excitement on his face, and with these fires illuminating, the reality and the virtual in the Ming military camp can be seen clearly, which is an excellent opportunity to steal the camp and rob the village.

"Yes, as long as this group of officers and soldiers is defeated, He Tengjiao has to send eight sedan chairs to recruit our brothers!" Song Jiang was the boss in the end, he forcibly suppressed the eagerness and excitement in his heart, and carefully instructed several leaders: "Don't fall in love with the battle after rushing into the camp of the Ming army, just light fires everywhere, rush back and forth to kill, and the bigger the noise, the better......"

The moon is dark and the wind is high on the night of killing, the water bandits are most suitable for such a scene, they quietly hide within a hundred steps in front of the Ming military camp, and the Ming army sentries are all around the bright fire to keep warm, and they do not find that danger is approaching in the dark.

Suddenly, a shout of killing sounded wildly, and the sentry of the Ming army looked up in confusion, and in his field of vision were the hideous faces of countless water bandits, holding sharp blades, getting closer and closer......

That night, the water bandits attacked the camp of the Ming army, the Ming army was caught off guard, and the remnants of Zhang Kuang crossed Longquan Mountain and fled to Chongyang from the path. Song Jiang led the army to chase and kill from behind, killing and seizing countless casualties, and when he was complacent, he suddenly received the news of the loss of Yanglou Cave......

Wang Kefan's soldiers entered the Yanglou Cave, and King Du Long fled without a fight and ran away.

After losing dozens of scouts one after another, King Du Long finally confirmed that Wang Kefan had launched an attack on him. As a former defeated general, how could he have the courage to face the battle, and before he saw the shadow of the Gongyi battalion, he withdrew from the Yanglou Cave and retreated to Shimen, twenty miles away.

At the same time, he sent a fast horse to report to Song Jiang, and was ready to smear oil on the soles of his feet, if Song Jiang did not save him when he saw death, he would never fight hard with the Gongyi battalion.

There is no place to stay here, there is a place to stay here.

Li Zicheng's Dashun army was in the area of Xiangyang and Jingzhou, and took these two or three thousand people to defect to the past, and it was not difficult to mix up an official and a half-job, and it was not bad to go back to Dongting Lake and become a water bandit again.

It's really not good, you can also run south, the bundle of incense will be prosperous in Pingjiang and Tongshan, everyone is on the same path, there is no problem to avoid the limelight.

However, all these thoughts were in vain, Song Jiang heard that Yanglou Cave was lost, and immediately killed it with the victorious soldiers.

……

After the Gongyi battalion captured the Yanglou Cave, the news of Zhang Kuang's fiasco came, and the soldiers were shocked, Bu Zuowen and Meng Bao even advocated withdrawing to Chongyang to avoid the edge of the water bandits.

Wang Kefan had long concluded that Zhang Kuang would inevitably lose this battle, but he didn't expect to lose so quickly and completely.

Although such a fiasco is deplorable, but there is also a positive side, the water bandits defeated the strong with the weak, and after a big victory that they can't even believe, they will definitely become arrogant and underestimate the enemy, it is the best time to destroy them, he immediately announced that he will fight the water bandits in Yanglou Cave, and build a strong camp on the east side of the town.

Meng Bao and the others were quite puzzled by this, King Du Long was in Shimen, twenty miles away, taking advantage of the fact that Song Jiang's reinforcements had not arrived, Weishenme did not take the initiative to attack, and first eliminated this group of enemies.

"King Du Long is irrelevant, the goal of our army is Song Jiang, and the key to this victory is to defend Yanglou Cave and treat guests with the host." Although Wang Kefan's explanation is concise, it contains a deep truth, except for the military Bu composition, all the generals are thoughtful.

In cold weapon warfare, there are no large-caliber artillery, no explosive packs and blasters, and the attacking side has limited means to use, while the defending side occupies dangerous terrain or fortified cities, which is naturally more advantageous.

If it attacks Shimen now, the Gongyi battalion will lose the advantage of waiting for work, and after winning, it will be exhausted, and it will have to devote energy to take care of the wounded soldiers, etc., and it will be unable to deal with Song Jiang's reinforcements, which is a practice of greedy for small victories and ignoring the overall situation.

Wang Kefan did the opposite, waited for work in Yanglou Cave, cut off the connection between Linxiang and Tongcheng, and forced Song Jiang to become the attacking party, so as to translocate the host and guest and seize the advantage.

Yanglou Cave is located in the valley, the middle is low, the four sides are high, the terrain in the town is narrow, not conducive to defense, choose to camp on the east side of the town, it occupies the condescending terrain, the water bandits must pass through the Yanglou Cave, from below Xiangshang feint.

"If Song Jiang also builds a fortress and sticks to it and confronts our army, how can it be solved?" Zhou Guodong asked thoughtfully.

"Song Jiang has a lot of soldiers, and he consumes more grain and grass every day, how dare he hold on to our army for a long time!" Tan Xiao hurriedly answered.

"That's a good point." Wang Kefan said with a smile: "The water bandits are just a rabble, the march and battle all rely on a momentum, and they are not good at deep ditches and barriers, building walls and holding each other, and if the confrontation lasts for a long time, it will definitely reveal flaws and be broken by our army." ”

The water bandits are not a regular army, and if they fight with the Gongyi battalion for consumption and military quality, they will definitely be dragged down alive.

Wang Sheng realized: "In this way, it is not mysterious to lead troops to fight, as long as you hold the key points, you can be invincible." ”

"The third brother is a beginner, but he is only half right."

Wang Kefan said: "The walled city of Jinjin is dead, but the people are alive, and the wise generals will not storm the fortified city, but dispatch and intersperse, avoid the real and the virtual, and look for flaws to attack the other party, the so-called 'siege of the city' is this truth...... Of course, there is also a kind of unborn genius who can create opportunities in a desperate situation, turn defeat into victory, defeat the strong with the weak, and a few stockades will definitely not be able to trap him. ”

Bu Zuowen clapped his hands: "Even if there is such a genius, it is still useless to treat guests with the tactics of hosting!" ”

"Hehe, don't worry." Wang Kefan said with a smile: "There is only one such character in hundreds of years, such as today, although it is chaotic, there is no great famous general." ”

In history, there were no dazzling military geniuses in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, except for Li Dingguo, who fought two beautiful battles, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty's Duoduo, Azig, Wu Sangui, etc. were all first-class generals.

"Actually, there are also famous generals now." Zhou Guodong sighed suddenly, and everyone asked one after another out of curiosity, and then he said hatefully: "Hey, I'm talking about Li Zicheng, although this person has damaged my Daming foundation, but he can be called a reckless hero, and he can fight habitually." ”

All the generals nodded silently, Li Zicheng turned the earth upside down, even if he was an enemy, he had to admit that he did have the talent of a general.

Wang Kefan's eyebrows were slightly raised, although Li Zicheng can be regarded as a generation of famous generals, he is still a little short of fire after all, he seems to be born to end the Ming Dynasty, but after facing the Manchu Dynasty, he was defeated again and again, until he was defeated and died.

However, it is difficult to say these words at this time.

"Song Jiang is just a group of water cowards, far worse than Li Zicheng, a long battle is not good for him, we can only choose a quick battle, go all out to attack our army's camp, we can plan and take advantage of the favorable terrain of Yanglou Cave to prepare a big gift for him."

Wang Kefan took out a simple map that he had just drawn and put it on the table for Tan Xiao to watch: "You will take the lead in this battle, but you will only be defeated but not won, and you will use deceit to lead the water bandits into an ambush ......."

……

After Song Jiang rushed to Shimen, he said kind words to appease King Dulong, and set up a banquet in the handsome tent to entertain the big and small leaders who stayed in Shimen, and deliberately enveloped them.

The supplies brought from Tongcheng are very sufficient, although there are no delicacies from the mountains and seas at the banquet, but there is absolutely no problem with drinking wine in a big bowl and eating meat in large pieces.

King Du Long himself was quite reserved, he only ate one leg of mutton and two roast chickens when he was half drunk, and was attacking the third roast chicken, but he was so frightened by Song Jiang's words that he coughed again and again, and he was almost stuck in his throat by chicken bones.

"Brother Du Xian, tomorrow we will start a war with the Gongyi Battalion, and you will be the vanguard."

Yanglou Cave is difficult to defend and easy to attack, King Dulong can't hold it, and the Ming army is also self-defeating when it stays there. However, Song Jiang also knew the truth that the arrogant army would be defeated, although Wang Kefan's troops were not many, his combat effectiveness was very strong, and he had to surprise his troops to win in one fell swoop.

"It's not going to work! My son's armor is incomplete, I'm afraid it's not Wang Kefan's opponent! ”

"Don't be afraid, I've got a plan."

Song Jiang was confident, and said with a smile: "You will take the lead in this battle, but you will only be defeated but not won, and you will use deception to lead the officers and soldiers into an ambush......