Xiangyang is known as "the pass of the world", is the male city between the north and the south, the geographical location is extremely important, Yang Sichang supervised the soldiers and horses of the five provinces to recruit and suppress Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai's soldiers and horses have a lot of baggage and food and salary stored here.

Most of the battles between the Liukou and the officers and soldiers were carried out in Sichuan, and the city of Xiangyang in Huguang had always seemed quite peaceful, but on the night of the fifth day of the second month of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, this calm was completely broken.

On the tower of the west gate, a big man with a knot stood behind the battlement, looking at the fire everywhere in the city, the shouts and cries in the city could be heard clearly when standing on the head of the city, and behind him, a middle-aged man in a yellow robe collapsed there in despair.

There were some warriors in strong suits standing in the distance around, and the big man looked at the chaos in Xiangyang City for a while, turned around and picked up the altar of wine on the ground, patted open the mud seal, poured a bowl of wine for himself and the middle-aged man in yellow robes, and after handing it to the middle-aged man, he picked up the wine bowl and said in a deep voice:

"I want Yang Sichang's head, but he is far away in Sichuan, today I borrowed the head of the prince to use it, so that this Yang Lao'er was also convicted of losing his relatives, come, Lord Xiang, after drinking this glass of wine, let's go on the road!"

The middle-aged man trembled as if he was sifting chaff, the bowl in his hand spilled a lot of wine, and he brought the bowl to his mouth stiffly, and drank it with a grunt, maybe the wine strengthened people's courage, the middle-aged man drank the wine, and he could also say a few words, and said in a trembling voice:

"The world of my Zhu family, the world of my family, that's it...... That's it......"

Dahan sneered a few times, raised his voice slightly, and said:

"In order to feed your Zhu family, how many poor people have died in this world, Lord Wang, go on the road with peace of mind!"

The voice did not fall. The big man threw away the wine bowl in his hand, drew his waist knife and slashed it, and blood spurted out wildly.

The fifth day of the second month of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen. Zhang Xianzhong, the eighth king, disguised himself in Xiangyang, swarmed in the middle of the night, and the whole city was in chaos. Zhang Xianzhong burned Xiangyang Mansion, got the military resources in the city, and beheaded Zhu Zhu Yiming, the king of Xiang, at the head of the city.

At this time, Li Zicheng broke into the camp to besiege Luoyang, the army led by the supervisor Yang Sichang was still in Sichuan, and Li Meng in Shandong was still nervously preparing to send troops.

On February 19th. After Li Mengzai and his family said goodbye, he led the old battalion of 7,000 soldiers to Jining Prefecture, the capital of Yanzhou, and the Yanzhou army, which was completely composed of Xinding, sent 5,000 troops, and Li Meng led a total of 22,000 troops to prepare to go to Henan.

After all the procedures that should have been gone through, Li Meng still went to the courtyard of the second grandson Chuan Ting, said goodbye to this Mr. Sun, and Li Meng walked into the study with his whole body clothed.

But now the study is much cleaner. I don't know when. There are two rows of bookshelves on the wall, on which are placed various scrolls read by Sun Chuanting.

After Li Meng entered the house, this time it was more surprising that it was Sun Chuanting who spoke first, and he said coldly:

"Lord Li, this is going to send troops to Henan!"

"Exactly, the whole army will set off next."

Seeing the change in the attitude of the house and Sun Chuanting, Li Meng was very happy in his heart. He replied aloud. Sun Chuanting, who was sitting in the chair, stood up, this Sun Chuanting was tall. Compared to Li Mengye, he was not inferior, and after standing up, he sneered a few times, and said:

"When this Shandong soldier and horse goes to Henan, I'm afraid that Luoyang City has already fallen, what can I do if I go!?"

Li Meng laughed a few times and replied:

"There are so many big cities in Henan, and it's not just Luoyang, isn't it possible that Li Chuang won't attack this Kaifeng City, he will always go to the rescue."

Sun Chuanting was stunned, did not continue on this topic, turned around and picked up a scroll, and said:

"The soldiers and horses of the Tartars are going to besiege Jinzhou again, Hong Chengchou also wants to gather the soldiers and horses of Jiliao to rescue, and he can't spare the soldiers and horses to rescue Henan, this world is really interesting, there is nothing outside, there is no internal strife, there is nothing inside, external invasion, this Tartar and Shaanxi thieves are really singing and harmonizing, and they will drag down my Ming Dynasty!"

Hearing this, Li Meng was stunned, but he didn't know how to interface, the Ming Dynasty was really the most unlucky dynasty in thousands of years, continuous natural disasters, uprisings of large groups of displaced people, and strong barbarian enemies that rose outside the white mountains and black waters, all kinds of factors were superimposed, and it was how the declining Ming Empire could resist.

It is precisely under the joint efforts of several parties that decades later, the Chinese nation fell into the darkness of hundreds of years, and was distanced by the West in the historical long-distance race, and did not breathe until the establishment of New China.

Can you make this darkness lighter, or let Huaxia avoid the darkness of this barbarian rule for hundreds of years, this task is really heavy.

Li Meng laughed at himself in his heart, and unconsciously, his goal had changed from self-preservation that day, stocking up in the troubled times, and living a better life, to changing this history.

Sun Chuanting's words made the atmosphere in the study quite heavy, and Li Meng didn't have anything to say, just hugged his fists and said:

"The general trend of the world is already an irreversible situation, Li is also doing his best, going to Henan to rescue this time, I hope Mr. Sun will think about it, whether to help Li plan, this will be the first to leave."

"Mr. Li is very sure, he will go to Henan and return safely!"

I could hear that Sun Chuanting still had a resentment in his heart, and when he walked to the door, Li Meng smiled, and said in a loud voice as he walked:

"If you go to Henan, you can't be sure that you will return safely, how dare Li rashly invite Mr. Sun to come to Shandong!"

On the 27th of February, Li Meng arrived in Jining Prefecture, and according to the report of the Jiaozhou battalion, the ice on the Yellow River was already very scarce, and according to the estimation of those experienced boatmen, it would be almost three days before the departure would take place.

On the second day of the first month of March, after Li Meng held a simple ceremony, the whole army of soldiers and horses in Shandong was drawn out, which is also a coincidence, and the army had just set off for less than an hour.

On the 16th day of February, Luoyang City fell, and King Fu was now in the hands of the enemy and was beheaded by the thieves.

In the history of Li Meng, Luoyang City was already captured by the Chuang army in the first month of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, and now, the army strength of Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, is a little worse, and it will inevitably delay some time to fight this Luoyang City.

However, the defense of Luoyang City is almost a joke. Wang Shaoyu, the chief soldier, is quite famous among the leading generals in Henan, but this fame is not the ability to march and deploy positions, but the ability to deduct military salaries. Others are deducting sixty percent, his side is deducting eighty percent, and then there is one percent for the pro-soldiers. The remaining one Cheng was given to the soldiers of Luoyang City, and this Wang Shaoyu had a nickname "Wang Bacheng", of course, when he was called, this "Cheng" was generally omitted.

Wang Shaoyu has no ability except for greed, and Yang Sichang supervises the five provinces. There are a lot of soldiers and horses in Henan, but he has not been transferred, and I think I have heard of this head.

Luoyang has not been peaceful in recent years, and it is in urgent need of soldiers and horses to guard the city, but the chief soldier Wang Shaoyu deducted military salaries, and the soldiers made several noise and mutinies for this deduction of military salaries, which became a big harm in Luoyang City.

The prefect of Luoyang and the general judgment and the same knowledge. It's really sad to be paid. But most of the industries in Luoyang City are sheltered in the name of King Fu, and they can't move, and they can't collect taxes.

How can there be extra silver to pay the soldiers' salaries, to say that the Luoyang prefect and other civilian officials. It's not like there's no money in hand. But that's private property, so how can you pay the soldiers? The only way. It is to ask the biggest rich man in the city to pay, and the inside and outside of the city are the property of King Fu and his old man, so how can he spend money to protect his family.

But this matter, if it weren't for the imminent fire of the swords and soldiers outside the city, it would almost have become a big joke. There have long been rumors among the people that "Luoyang is rich in the interior", but King Fu is unwilling to spend a penny of silver to pay the soldiers who defend the city.

After Li Zicheng's army besieged the city and several dangerous situations appeared, Zhu Changxun, the king of Fu, reluctantly took out tens of thousands of taels of silver.

The funny thing is still behind, the silver is taken out, the housekeeper of the palace deducts one, the Luoyang prefect and others deduct one according to the convention, and the chief soldier Wang Shaoyu deducts another one, and there is not much left in the hands of the soldiers, everyone does not feel that they have done anything wrong, but they take it for granted, this is a common rule.

On the 15th day of February, the peasant army besieging the city made a loud noise in the northwest corner of Luoyang City, and the officers and soldiers guarding the city wall killed the officers and civil servants who supervised the battle at the head of the city under the noise of the peasant army below.

The general soldier Wang Shaoyu jumped the city wall to escape, those officers and soldiers opened the west gate of Luoyang City, the peasant army swarmed in, after the Fu King heard that the city was broken, he lost his soul and had nowhere to go, and in the end he could only go to the Ying'en Temple adjacent to the Fu Wang's Mansion to take refuge, and the day was searched out by the breaking army.

The majestic and the most noble king of the world can only kowtow again and again to ask for mercy at such a moment, this is the first big city that Li Zicheng broke into the camp, and the king of Fu is such a valuable pro-vassal that will surround his life.

The army held a meeting in Luoyang City, and mixed the meat slices and venison that were cut by King Fu with thousands of knives, and soaked them in wine, which was called "Fulu Wine", and everyone in Luoyang City scrambled to eat it.

The gold and silver property in the Fuwang Mansion were obtained by the Chuang army, and the Chuang army used the tens of thousands of stone grain in the Fuwang Mansion to help the hungry people, and the hungry people in the western Henan area ran to tell each other, and as a result, ten days after breaking Luoyang City, the number of the invading army has suddenly increased to 700,000.

When the Shandong soldiers and horses led by Li Meng entered the Guide Mansion in Henan Province, the news of Luoyang reached Li Meng's team.

The generals in the seats, hearing that this army gathered 700,000 people, all looked at each other, this number is too terrifying, Shandong soldiers and horses only sent a total of 22,000 troops this time, even if you count the soldiers and horses in Henan, it will not exceed 100,000, but the other party has 700,000 soldiers at once.

But the reaction of the Shandong soldiers and horses was just to look at each other, they were not afraid of being afraid, Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou and Lu Xiangsheng fought with the Chuang army that year, the Shaanxi rebel army was always 100,000 or hundreds of thousands, and the officers and soldiers were only tens of thousands, but the officers and soldiers did not suffer any losses.

Hundreds of thousands of rogues are just a rabble, tens of thousands of soldiers, and some organizations and training, but Li Meng still made a decision immediately:

"Since western Henan has been eroded, our army does not have to target Luoyang, since Liukou is to break through Luoyang, the next step must be down the Yellow River. Straight to Kaifeng, my Shandong soldiers and horses can be limited to Kaifeng! ”

Ma Gang and Zhao Neng, as well as Wang Hai and Tang Er, who were sitting down, all exchanged glances with each other. Laughing without saying a word, Li Meng also had a relaxed look when he said this, and Yuan Wenhong, who was standing on the side, pondered a little. Step forward and report:

"Let's let Governor Yan and Gonggong Chen, who accompanied the army, write an excerpt, and also give those bigwigs in the center of the Beijing Division a reason to say something.

Li Meng nodded in agreement, Yuan Wenhong over there had already written the resolution into a document, put it away and wait for it to be done.

Governor Yan Jizu and the eunuchs sent by the Jingshi all followed in the army, and the governor led the soldiers and horses, which was the rule of the Ming Dynasty, but Yan Jizu came this time just to take a situation. The eunuch Chen Min was now like a prisoner in the Jiaozhou camp, although his letter to Jingshi said that he was willing to risk his life and go to the battlefield in order to supervise and monitor the Shandong army.

When Jingshi saw that he was willing to go to the front line, he naturally agreed, and Emperor Chongzhen also praised Chen Min very much with Wang Chengen in private.

Who would have thought that this Chen Min was already completely controlled by the Jiaozhou battalion, and he wrote a secret letter. It was all under the instruction of the Jiaozhou battalion.

Control such a person. But there are unexpected benefits, the pressure of the Jingshi on Shandong is much smaller all of a sudden, no matter how Yan Jizu begged, Emperor Chongzhen felt that the governor of Shandong was deceived and found a reason to delay the dispatch of troops, but the eunuch sent down said so, and the credibility was suddenly greatly increased. After the fall of Luoyang City. Although it was also a stern rebuke, the tone was lighter than when urging the troops.

Huang Ping's spies and sentry spies composed of horse cavalry. Every day, he followed the fleet and searched and reconnoitred along the coast, but the efficiency of this reconnaissance was far less than that in Shandong and Huaibei.

Except for some warehouses and cities on both sides of the Yellow River, it is difficult to find people in the rest of the places, and the cavalry scatters out, and the soldiers often run into the ground and the rogues, and the losses of these two are not small.

There were several times when he left the Yellow River for a day's journey, and the next day someone would be missing and could not come back, and Huang Ping, in desperation, had no choice but to ask Li Meng for instructions, on the ground in Henan, whether it was an officer or a thief, the battlefield of contention was also those big cities on the banks of the Yellow River, and all the enemies would not be too far away from these points and lines, otherwise they would not be able to survive.

Therefore, Li Meng decided to narrow the scope of the Jiaozhou camp sentinel search site, just on both sides of the Yellow River.

On the eighth day of the first month of March, Li Zicheng decided to take advantage of the fact that the governor Li Xianfeng and the general soldier Chen Yongfu led the army to rescue Luoyang City.

On the day of March 12, 5,000 cavalry and 60,000 soldiers arrived at Kaifeng City, began to besiege, relative to the erosion of Luoyang city defense, Kaifeng City is after all a provincial government, Kaifeng City is a large city in the world, and the prevention is quite effective.

Under the leadership of the governor and the prefect, the armed men of the whole city were mobilized and held on the city wall until March 15, and the Kaifeng city was not captured.

But in Luoyang City, Chen Yongfu, the Henan commander-in-chief, and Li Xianfeng, the governor, had already led their troops back, but this army and horses were only in their early 9,000s, except for those who stayed in Luoyang.

Sure enough, the general soldier Chen Yongfu did not dare to lead the army and break into the camp for field battles, so he could only enter the city at the west pass of Kaifeng City and rearrange the defense. Chuang Camp dug trenches outside Kaifeng City, built fortifications, and prepared for a long-term siege of Kaifeng City, the aftermath of the death of King Fu of Luoyang did not dissipate, and the news of the siege of Kaifeng by the Chuang army shocked the world.

On the day of March 19, Li Zicheng inspected the city defense surrounded by his subordinates, and was hidden in the garrison Chen De at the head of the city, and shot an arrow at the front gate, this Chen De is the son of Chen Yongfu, the general of Henan, known as the little general in Kaifeng City, known for his bow and horse, Li Zicheng hastily raised his left arm to cover the front door.

The arm was shot into the arrow, and the left and right hurriedly pulled the person down, the people in the city couldn't see clearly, but they thought they had hit Li Chuang's face, I don't know why, the news came out that Li Zicheng was shot blind in one eye, but King Chuang got a nickname "Chuang Blind".

The situation in Kaifeng City was so critical that Zuo Liangyu, who was in the direction of Nanyang Prefecture, hurriedly went north, and Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding in Beizhili, also led the Gyeonggi soldiers and horses to reinforce in the direction of Kaifeng City.

In such a situation, Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong on the ship, was a little crying and laughing, he was urged so tightly by Naqincha, but he looked at the soldiers and horses from all walks of life who supported Henan. It was actually the first Shandong soldiers to arrive.

On March 22, Shandong soldiers and horses went ashore at the Zhaopizhai ferry in Lanyang County, after going ashore. Five thousand soldiers advanced for about ten miles and set up a defensive formation, and after the rest of the soldiers went ashore, they began to dig fortifications together with the civilian auxiliary soldiers who accompanied the ship. Build a barracks.

Camping with the water, this is the most taboo way to camp in the art of war, if the enemy presses, the soldiers have only one way to be drowned, when Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Caozhou, entered the land of thieves in Henan, he did such a stupid thing. As a result, they were pushed over by the invading army, and the camp was crushed, and many people drowned.

But the Jiaozhou battalion had to do this, the movement of the army, the military rations and baggage had to be guaranteed, and the supply of the Jiaozhou battalion was carried out through the waterways of the Yellow River and the canal, and on the bank there were to be fortifications and warehouses that could resist the siege. Maintain the logistics of the army.

However, it seems that the soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion are delicate. It must be well supplied, why don't the soldiers and horses led by Zuo Liangyu, the general of the Ping thief, and Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, need these.

But the Jiaozhou battalion never relied on looting and requisition as a means of logistical supply, and his soldiers never ate human flesh...... Although Lanyang County has not fallen, the sentinels and sympathy who broke into the camp are also all over the territory, and at present, in Henan Province, except for the common people in the big city. The rest are extremely hostile to officers and soldiers. Sympathize with or support the intruders.

Just eight hours after the Jiaozhou battalion went ashore, the news came from Tanma. Li Zi organized 20,000 troops, led by the general Hao Shaoqi, and hurried towards Lanyang County, preparing to drive the Shandong soldiers and horses down the river.

For Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, the record of Shandong soldiers and horses scattering tens of thousands of Liukou "Song Jiang" last year does not explain anything at all, Song Dagang is completely a rabble, and his current soldiers and horses are all really elite, and breaking Luoyang City, morale is booming, and breaking the official army is a proper duty.

Hao Shaoqi is one of Li Zicheng's most trusted generals, when Li Zicheng was killed by Sun Chuanting in Tongguan, more than a dozen horsemen fled into the mountains, but was besieged by Xiang Yong, or Hao Shaoqi bravely scattered Xiang Yong, rescued Li Zicheng, Hao Shaoqi fought to the death and dared to fight famous, Hao Shaoqi never spared the lives of his subordinates, this kind of desperate fighting, so that the Ming officers and soldiers who intended to preserve their strength were extremely headaches.

In addition to the 4,000 men in charge of guarding the Jiaozhou battalion, the rest of the officers and soldiers and civilians were ordered to rest, and the reason why the word "order" was used was because many recruits could not sleep at all, especially when it was said that the 20,000 troops of Liukoudi were coming, and they were even more nervous.

In fact, at night, the soldiers and horses led by Hao Shaoqi did not dare to march, and the soldiers in the homeless area could not talk about any nutrition, most of them had quite serious night blindness, and marched at night, this uninhabited environment in the wilderness of Henan, and the soldiers were easy to keep up with and run away.

Hao Shaoqi also let his troops camp and rest, and when it was dawn, the whole army stepped up and hurried to the front of the Jiaozhou battalion.

In less than two days, the military camp of the Jiaozhou battalion was already quite complete, which was completely unexpected by Hao Shaoqi, building camps and fortifications, such heavy work, the officers and soldiers would not do it, it was necessary to recruit the nearby people Ding Zhuang, and now on the ground in Henan, what kind of excess labor is there, it is estimated that in a hurry, the soldiers will build up the barracks, even if it is the work of searching for the people, it will take a long time.

Not to mention, because of the looting and those useless entanglements in the place, it will definitely be delayed for a long time, and it will be impossible to camp on the shore for these two days. If you enter Lanyang County, things are simpler, more than 20,000 people are crowded in the small county town, the military food cannot be supplied, the chaos is crowded, and it will soon collapse.

But in any case, Hao Shaoqi didn't expect that the other party actually set up the camp in one day. This made him a little wary in his heart.

The Ming officers and soldiers were deducted from their salaries on weekdays, and they were thankful that they could go to war, and they dared to instruct them to do coolies, so these things were generally used to let the poor people contribute.

However, the soldiers of the Jiaozhou battalion were paid full salaries, and the officers were also personally involved in their work, and the construction of this fortification was also regarded as part of the military skills in the training of the Jiaozhou battalion.

With the order, the task of building fortifications and barracks will be carried out by the soldiers with the same scrupulous ass as battle.

Hao Shaoqi found a relatively high place on the horse, covered it with his hands, and carefully observed the camp of the Shandong officers and soldiers. After a while, Hao Shaoqi laughed out loud on the horse.

At this time, the army was strong, and there were many personal guards around a military general of Hao Shaoqi's level. Hearing the coach laughing, there was a clever one, and immediately went to ask playfully:

"Why is General Hao smiling!"

This question is found in many classic dramas. Everyone is also familiar with it, Hao Shaoqi glanced at this personal soldier approvingly, thinking that such an interesting person will be promoted in the future, raised his horse whip and pointed to the camp in front of the Shandong soldiers and horses Linhe and said with a smile:

"I remember that when I came to Shandong a few years ago, I also fought a Shandong general by the Yellow River, and that man set up his camp by the river. Later, the brothers bombarded it with artillery, and as soon as the brigade rushed, the officers and soldiers of Shandong jumped into the river like dumplings, and they didn't know how many they drowned. ”

As soon as the words were finished, everyone immediately burst into laughter. Hao Shaoqi's face became serious. The horsewhip in his hand pointed forward, and he commanded:

"The artillery team stepped forward first, the infantry team covered on both sides, and when the opponent's queue and camp were disrupted, the horse team rushed first, and the brigade followed. Several of the soldiers on the side got the order, and immediately rode down the high place and gave the order to their respective troops. The rest of these people in the high places are big bosses with status. Hao Shaoqi was not joking, and said in a solemn voice:

"There's nothing in the way of this river flat. Everyone can see what the two sides are doing, and they can only rush and kill so hard. ”

These big leaders all nodded, and one of them said in a deep voice:

"The guest army from Shandong must not have any intention to fight, and it is not as good as our old brothers who dare to fight hard, and we will drive them down the river later!"

Someone in the back row interjected:

"Song Jiang's gang is suffering from this Shandong soldier, so you can't be careless!"

"Song Jiang? Song Dagang's group has nothing else in their eyes except gold, silver and women, how can they be compared to our warriors who broke into the camp! ”

At dawn, the battalion rushed to break into the army, the long column slowly turned into a horizontal line, and each unit entered the battlefield, if it was a military general, at this time, taking advantage of the fact that the formation was not stable, sending troops to assault might have an effect, but there was no movement in the Shandong soldier and horse battalion on the opposite side.

Hao Shaoqi originally retained a reserve force of 3,000 people, ready to attack the officers and soldiers on the opposite side in such a situation, but there was no major reaction from the other side. This made Hao Shaoqi and the other generals of the army more relieved that the military camp opposite was led by those civilian officials who did not understand military affairs.

The military camp camped near the river beach was not a two-person camp, but a large camp of tens of thousands of people, which looked like a city from a distance.

It is no wonder that Hao Shaoqi, the generals who broke into the army, were surprised, that is, after a day's work, the other party had already dug a deep ditch, erected a wooden fence and an earthen wall, and even had a watchtower in the barracks, which was considered a crude fortress. What is strange is that there are a few bamboo poles stuck outside the camp, and I don't know what they do.

For Hao Shaoqi, who led this army, and Li Zicheng, the king of Kaifeng City, who was besieging Kaifeng City, the Shandong soldiers and horses they knew were the troops that were about to go ashore, and when the Jiaozhou battalion began to build a camp, the cavalry of the Jiaozhou battalion began to patrol the Zhaopizhai ferry and Lanyang County after a short rest, and the irrelevant people were also dispersed, of course, there were also people who inquired about the news for the camp.

And if the spies on horseback did not escape, they could only be intercepted and killed by the superior Shandong horse team, and they were completely covered in an area of dozens of miles nearby.

For the camp, before seeing the camp of the Jiaozhou battalion, they did not know a lot of news and situations, although there was no reaction in the barracks, but the whole army was quite cautious, because some could not figure out the details of the Shandong soldiers and horses, so they did not dare to move.

In the camp of the Jiaozhou battalion, on the two watchtowers near the outside, Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, trembled on the top of the watchtower, not because the height of the watchtower was too high, this watchtower was very strong and stable, and the reason why the governor was frightened was that he was looking at the army that broke into the army. You can see tens of thousands of soldiers and horses on the opposite side slowly unfolding, and on the flat open space in front of the camp, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses enter the position according to each team.

Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, is also a person who knows some soldiers and horses, although the army on the opposite side is from a rogue background, the 20,000 soldiers and horses sent are the essence of hundreds of thousands of people after all, those who have participated in the battle and have the knowledge to fight. The momentum of these soldiers, who have fought with officers and men for many years, is truly extraordinary.

It looks very orderly from a distance, and this Yan Jizu can also see that there is also a horse team in the Liukoudi army. Vaguely, he could still see the appearance of the artillery team, which made him even more frightened.

The more I think about it now, the more Li Meng's decision to postpone the dispatch of troops is extremely correct, and there is such a fierce enemy on the other side. Why bother to come here and be loyal to your country?

Look at the watchtower, Shandong Governor Yan Jizu is more at ease, a large number of soldiers and horses of the Jiaozhou battalion are lined up behind the various gates of the camp, and there are generals at several lookout places who keep turning back and reporting loudly.

There was some commotion outside, but in the barracks of the Jiaozhou battalion, except for the shouting of officers and the sound of horses. It's unusually quiet, even though there are thousands of people and it's like one person.

Yan Jizu was still sighing on the watchtower, and suddenly there was a loud "bang", and the entire military camp seemed to shake, Yan Jizu felt that there was no root under his feet when he was standing on the watchtower, and he was frightened by this loud noise, and the whole person almost rolled down from the watchtower, and hurriedly grabbed the pillar on the side with his hand. For a time, the embarrassment was abnormal. Especially the humiliation on the top of so many people's heads is even more embarrassing.

However, the soldiers below didn't notice the movement on the watchtower at all, and after the loud noise, several wooden fences at the gates of the camp were pushed away by the soldiers in front of them shouting, and the men and horses of the Jiaozhou battalion poured out towards the front of the battalion.

Under the supervision and guidance of officers and non-commissioned officers, groups of soldiers walked into the positions that had been set long ago and stood still, and the foot soldiers, firecrackers, and horse teams lined up in a line.

It's not quite the same as usual. The artillery team that was supposed to be in the front left corner of the large formation. But he was at the forefront of the team, and this time Li Meng brought a total of ten three-pounder cannons out. Except for the two gates that were arranged at the key points of the camp, the remaining eight gates were all pushed out.

Now Guo Liang, the commander of the artillery team, is walking on the right side of the artillery team, and now the eight guns are forty paces apart from each other, and it is said that when the artillery is arrayed, the distance between each other is twenty paces is already a large enough distance.

After Guo Liang was reprimanded by Li Meng, he never had a chance to fight, and it was almost the same as leading the artillery team to the front line, but it was still a completely unconventional battle, which made him even more cautious.

The three-pounder cannon was dragged by two horses in front of it, and there were a dozen people pushing it on both sides, the three-pounder cannon was not heavy, and they traveled very quickly.

On the opposite side of them, Hao Shaoqi's artillery team was also shouting forward, the peasant army was not a reckless man with wooden sticks and farm tools, the real backbone of their troops were those who had experience in war, and there were officers and soldiers who had been defeated or joined for other reasons.

A large number of firearms were seized in the hands of the officers and men, and they also relied on these officers and soldiers to teach and use them, and a large number of firearms were used to help them when they attacked Luoyang or Kaifeng.

The artillery team that broke into the camp had 30 guns, but the size and caliber were different, and the movement was also very laborious.

However, the soldiers of the other side suddenly rushed out of the barracks, instead of relying on a fairly large camp to defend them as they expected, which really surprised these people, and now the officers and soldiers who dare to fight in the field are really rare.

Moreover, seeing that the artillery of the officers and soldiers was dragged by two horses, which was much faster than the movement of these guns here, the artillery team sent by Hao Shaoqi's unit suddenly hesitated.

The distance between the two sides is about 400 paces, and the leader of the artillery team is ready to retreat, and he has only left the main formation for a few dozen steps, and the other party can already quickly lean over and set up artillery and fire, which must be a loss.

However, what they didn't expect was that after the opponent's artillery team had reached a distance of about two hundred and fifty paces, it suddenly stopped there, and the artillery who broke into the camp was suddenly stunned.

Separated from such a distance, the range of artillery is not enough at all, and only one hundred and fifty steps can be regarded as an effective range.

"Don't move, everyone, wait for those official dogs to play the first round, let's go up and bang again!!"

Some of the nervous artillerymen who broke into the camp also relaxed, and the leader of the artillery team thought that it was time to get closer, and now there were a few bamboo poles in front and behind the team, which would inevitably hinder the march of the escort foot soldiers.

"You guys, pull out that bamboo pole and stick it in the way!!"

The intruding artillery team, which had just relaxed, saw that the eight officers and soldiers who had stopped their guns, and the soldiers beside the guns unloaded their horses, cleaned the chambers, loaded them into medicine bags, and put in lead bullets.

In the blink of an eye, several people took the wheels of the thick wooden pole ** gun carriage and aimed the artillery in the direction where they were, which was highly efficient and the action was also very skillful.

The army was already dumbfounded, but this tension immediately relaxed, what can be done at such a distance, get ready, and wait for the first round of artillery firing to counterattack quickly.

Guo Liang squinted his eyes, although the bamboo poles were pulled out, the opponent's artillery team was still within the range of these bamboo poles, and there were no talents in the Jiaozhou battalion who could visually measure or calculate the distance with simple tools, so it was necessary to make a standard reference for the distance on the battlefield.

The brass cannons cast by the shoddy official-run workshops of the Chuang army were of different sizes and calibers, but most of them were of one to three pounds in caliber, and the firing range was about 150 paces.

However, in the Jiaozhou Battalion's Weapons Manufacturing Bureau, as much as possible to standardize and pay attention to quality, the effective range of the three-pounder gun is 300 steps, and the maximum distance can even reach 450 steps, but this kind of artillery requires fine, and each link of manual manufacturing takes a lot of time, and the Jiaozhou Battalion does not have too much.

Now, the artillery team that broke into the camp was within range.

"Fire!!"

With Guo Liang shouting, eight artillery pieces were fired one after another