Seeing that Niu Zhongxiao came to harass him again, Luck Dehun decided to eliminate him first, so as to end this game of cat and mouse, so as not to have no end to the cycle.

For this reason, he did not hesitate to suspend the attack on the Chu army, and dispatched more than 1,000 Eight Banner cavalry to kill Niu Zhongxiao from several directions at the same time, to wipe out this Ming army.

Niu Zhongxiao chose to retreat without any suspense, or to put it more accurately, to escape.

But he seemed more experienced this time, and he was optimistic about the retreat early, and the Qing cavalry just rushed over at a gallop, and the Ming army turned around and ran wildly into the oblique spur, and rushed into a dense forest in time when the Qing army chased after him, and the general flag that was beaten with broken guns was also intact.

The cavalry of the Qing army did not dare to enter the woods, and checked back and forth around the two ends, and found that the forest was very large, extending for seven or eight miles, and they did not know where Niu Zhongxiao had gone, so they left a small number of men and horses to continue to monitor, and the large army turned around and continued to participate in the battle against the Chu army.

After entering the woods, the troops immediately ran away, Niu Zhongxiao's general flag was also blocked by trees, lost his commanding role, and his own soldiers shouted in the forest, calling for brothers, and it was easy to collect six or seven hundred defeated soldiers, but they all lost their armor and unloaded, and the wolves were unbearable.

"It doesn't matter, most of the sons and daughters escaped with their lives, since they can't find the general, they will try to return to the camp by themselves, the most important thing at the moment is where to go, I haven't done an inch of work, I can't just go back."

Although the troops were defeated, Niu Zhongxiao was not too worried, and fled all the way from Huguang to Guangdong. Similar scenes have appeared many times, and as long as the core pro-soldiers are still there, they can quickly pull the team back up.

Discuss it with a few generals. Everyone decided to continue to rush to the Zhaojiawan battlefield, anyway, the cannon in the distance kept ringing, just follow the sound......

The Qing army in Zhaojiawan numbered almost 4,000 people, and the generals led by the third-class Lazhang Jinghutab, the deputy general of the Tianyou Soldier Jiang Dingyuan, and the chief soldier of the Henan Green Battalion Zhang Yingxiang. The third-class Lazhangjing is a general at best, but the general of the Eight Banners is naturally superior. The general and deputy generals of the "puppet army" must obey his command, so Hutabu is the chief general of the Qing army in Zhaojiawan.

Due to the proximity, Hutabub was alerted earlier than Lekdehun. Hearing that the army brigade suddenly arrived, he hurriedly climbed to a high place to check, and sure enough, an army of thousands of people was coming quickly. There was still smoke and dust billowing in the distance. It seems to be followed by the follow-up troops.

"The Nanban dog jumped over the wall in a hurry, and dared to come to fight with me, it was really self-defeating!" Hutabu snorted angrily, but he regretted it in his heart.

He crossed the river last night, participated in the battle against the Yuezhou battalion this morning, and then was transferred to guard Zhaojiawan, and he was busy all the time, so he let the soldiers rest and eat first. Fortifications were not built in time...... What I didn't expect was that the Ming army dared to carry out such a large-scale interspersed operation. In one breath, he ran to Zhaojiawan, which was located more than ten miles behind the front line.

Now it's too late to reflect and review, Zhaojiawan is just a small village of 100 families, there is no danger to guard, instead of hiding in the village and being beaten passively, it is better to take the initiative to face the battle, Hutabu immediately ordered Zhang Yingxiang and Jiang Dingyuan to set up a position on a small dirt mountain in front of Zhaojiawan, ready to compete with the Chu army.

A dozen or so rangers were divided into two groups, one group crossed the bridge and rushed to Hengyang, asking Geng Zhongming to send troops to support, and the other group went to find Luckdhun...... But Hutab's heart knew very well that Geng Zhongming and Luck Dehun were far away and could not quench their thirst, and it was difficult to arrive without two or three hours, and they had to rely on their own troops to withstand this time.

"No problem, just fight a victory and frustrate the spirit of the southern thief." Hutab is full of confidence.

He had 300 Aliha Chaoha soldiers under his command, all of whom were cavalrymen who were good at riding horses and archery, of which 50 were cruising around as rangers, and the other 200 cavalry were arranged on the dirt hills, condescending to have a bird's-eye view of the surroundings, acting as a reserve for the whole army, which could not only make a decisive decision at the critical moment of deciding the victory or defeat, but also provide timely support when there was danger.

Zhang Yingxiang's Green Battalion lined up in front of Tushan, responsible for defending the left flank of the Qing camp and blocking the road to Zhaojiawan.

Jiang Dingyuan's Tianyou soldiers consisted of 1,000 infantry, 1,000 musketeers, and six tiger squat cannons suitable for close combat, and according to Hutab's orders, they were deployed on the right flank, which was a flat open field, and the Ming army had to attack from the right flank if they wanted to occupy the territory and mountains.

At the same time, he sent people to cross the river and inform the naval division and the artillery convoy to assist in the battle, the artillery convoy's general cannon has a long range, and can provide fire support on the other side of the steaming river, and the naval division's cannon has a relatively short range, but it can reach the shore of Zhaojiawan to fight, and can also provide protection for both sides of the mountain.

The Chu army came quickly, but the speed of the Qing army's arrangement was not slow, Wang Meng's cavalry was still two miles away, and Hutab relied on Tushan to set up a posture to meet the battle......

"There are some deviations in the intelligence, there are more than 1,000 more people in the Qing army, and the banner is Zhang Yingxiang's Henan Green Battalion." Wang Kefan put down the binoculars and said to Tan Xiao: "How is it?" This is your defeat, and it's up to you to deal with it. ”

Tan Xiao waved his hand heavily, and said loudly with full aura: "Don't worry! Last night, I defended him to attack, and this kid was beaten all over the ground looking for teeth, and today I attacked him to defend, and directly took his dog's life, and took Zhaojiawan in one go. ”

"No, don't be in a hurry to take Zhaojiawan, even if you entangle Zhang Yingxiang and complete the task, I will attack Tushan from the front and defeat the Tianyou soldiers first."

It makes no sense to capture Zhaojiawan first, the Qing army of Hutabu will not collapse because of this, and will be attacked by the artillery of the Qing army.

"Entangled Zhang Yingxiang? Don't you really fight with him? He has only more than a thousand remnants of the defeated army, and he is certainly no match for me. In the face of Zhang Yingxiang's defeated general, Tan Xiao felt that it was really intolerable not to bully him.

"Of course, if you really want to fight, you have to beat him up, but don't fight with him, if you don't defeat the Eight Banners and the Tianyou Soldiers, Zhang Yingxiang will have the confidence to persevere, but after defeating the Eight Banners and the Tianyou Soldiers, the Green Battalion will naturally collapse, and there is no need to let the soldiers bleed in vain."

According to the general tactical principle, they are all about hitting the enemy's weak link first, but Zhang Yingxiang is now fighting with his back to the water, and after defeat, the whole army will be annihilated, so as long as the Eight Banners and Tianyou soldiers are still there, they will resist desperately, and the Chu army can't waste too much time and troops on them, otherwise even if Zhang Yingxiang is defeated, it will be difficult for the exhausted Chu army to defeat the Eight Banners and Tianyou soldiers in time.

It was enough to carry out a controlled attack on Zhang Yingxiang, not allowing them to support the Tianyou soldiers and the Eight Banners, and at the same time threatening the safety of the left flank of the Qing army and Zhaojiawan, and to contain Hutabu and Jiang Dingyuan.

Tan Xiao nodded, looked at the hill that was more than thirty meters high, frowned and said: "This earth mountain is condescending, the fire of the Heavenly Blessing Soldiers is powerful, if you attack from the front, the casualties will definitely not be small, it is better to ...... from the flanks."

He was just halfway through his speech, but he saw dozens of Qing warships lined up on the shore of the steaming water, swallowing the word "outflanking" into his stomach, and outflanking the two wings was said to be a good way, but it would be unscrupulously bombarded by the Qing army's artillery.

"Now we can only attack from the front, but don't worry, our firecrackers are even more powerful, and they will definitely be able to defeat the Heavenly Blessing Soldiers." Wang Kefan's face flashed with confidence.

Because the Chu army advanced lightly and hastily, they did not carry artillery and equipment, so they had to fight close to the Qing army, and after being entangled with the enemy, it could also make their artillery useless.

As he spoke, the Chu army arrived in a steady stream, and under Wang Kefan's order, they unfolded the battle formation, first turning the longitudinal marching army column into a horizontal battle line, and then pressing forward on both wings to form an offensive posture, forming a gentle arc array.

Before the main force fought, there were skirmishes between the rangers on both sides, the number of cavalry of the Chu army was larger, and the combat effectiveness of the cavalry of the Eight Banners was stronger, and several collisions killed and injured each other, and neither could completely drive the other out of the battlefield.

Hutab did not send more cavalry support, the three hundred and eight banner soldiers were the most reliable force in his hands, and there was no need to consume them in such a meaningless battle.

After blocking the harassment of the Qing cavalry, the Ming infantry slowly pressed up, less than 300 steps away from the Qing army's front formation, and the main generals of both sides were observing each other's troops, troops, lineup configuration, and military morale, etc., speculating on the enemy's next move, and estimating the probability of victory or defeat in this battle.

"The Chu army is well-organized, and it really lives up to its reputation, Wang Kefan can be called a strong enemy, but looking at his deployment, he is a little in a hurry, so he will definitely show flaws, and if he seizes the opportunity, he can be defeated in one fell swoop!" Seeing that the Chu army was attacking Zhang Yingxiang and Jiang Dingyuan at the same time, Hutabu was surprised, and his confidence in winning increased a few points.

The strength of the Chu army is only slightly superior, but it has to launch an attack in two directions at the same time, and the strength of the attack will definitely be affected, not to mention the victory or defeat on the side of the green battalion soldiers, the Tianyou soldiers have thousands of bird guns, six tiger squat cannons that specialize in scattering bullets, and occupy a geographical advantage, which will definitely make the Chu army's offensive head bloody.

"Although the Qing army took the initiative to face the battle, it was obviously attacking instead of defending, which was just right and gave me a chance to eliminate him." Wang Kefan formulated several sets of plans before the war, and adopted different strategies according to the different reactions of the Qing army, but what he was most worried about was that Hutabu would flee without a fight, retreat across the steaming river to delay time, and wait for reinforcements, so that the Chu army would inevitably fall into a two-front battle.

He sat firmly on his war horse, like a calm stone, staring at Hutab's general flag for a moment, and suddenly waved his hand lightly, the majestic war drum suddenly sounded, and the Chu army launched an attack. (To be continued......)