Hong Chengchou led the official army to the south to suppress the bandits, and the situation was very smooth at the beginning, although there were a lot of thieves in number, but it seemed that they had no combat effectiveness, and they only broke through some landlords' forts along the way, and robbed some food and property. For the slightly stronger cities, all the cities crossed the city, and the discipline of this gang of thieves was better than that of the official army, and there was no robbery of ordinary people. If it weren't for the white plaster writing on the wall on the side of the road, "Down with the corrupt officials." "Abolish exorbitant taxes and reduce rents and interest rates. and so on, people hardly feel that the thieves have come.

According to Hong Chengchou's order, officers and troops from various places gradually rushed over to participate in the encirclement and suppression operation. Hong Chengchou's team grew up all of a sudden, and now the total strength has reached more than 100,000 people, the thieves fled all the way, the officers and troops chased after them with all their might, the morale of the whole team was greatly boosted, and the elimination of the thieves was just around the corner.

Finally, the thief's path came to an end, and the dangerous Yellow River in front of him blocked the thief's escape. The thieves had no choice but to attack the city's fortified Yuncheng.

Hong Chengchou found this great opportunity to eliminate the thieves, and ordered the officers and troops in the vanguard to march quickly to bite the thieves, saying that they could not let them run anymore.

Since he was wiped out by Zhang Chu last time, Hong Chengchou's hatred for the security army has reached its peak, and he is bent on finding an opportunity to take revenge, how can he let go of this opportunity so good.

In the course of the pursuit in the past few days, Hong Chengchou continued to send people to investigate, and finally roughly figured out that there were about 20,000 people in this group of thieves, and they were also carrying a large amount of baggage materials. Some villagers also reported seeing the security army's thief Shou Zhang Chu in the procession. It was a bonus, the thieves went deep alone, with no backup. As long as they are surrounded by officials and soldiers, it is a dead end.

Just when the situation was very good, there were reports that the vanguard of the front was blocked by the security forces.

Hong Chengchou immediately rushed to the front with his headquarters. I didn't go far before I found the camp of the official army in a mess.

Hearing that Hong Chengchou had arrived, Cao Wenzhao and various generals hurriedly came over to greet him.

When he came to the big tent, Hong Chengchou sat in the center with a gloomy face, and generals from all walks of life came to salute one after another.

"How's the battle going ahead?" Hong Chengchou asked in a long voice.

"This, we are pursuing the thieves with all our strength according to the deployment of the Governor, and we have encountered the resistance of the thieves in front, and now we have repelled the thieves, and we are reorganizing our troops and horses, and we will soon be able to continue the march." Reporting the results of the battle is also an art, and the generals of the official army tried to tell the defeat a little better, but fortunately the thief retreated, and if the thief was still stuck on the way forward, he couldn't tell if he lied.

"What about casualties on both sides?" Hong Chengchou is not so easy to deceive, he has heard some information about the battle on the way here.

"The casualties of our army were about four or five thousand, and the thieves took the wounded and corpses with them when they fled, and their casualties are unknown." Seeing that the deception could not be achieved, the general who took the lead had no choice but to tell the truth about the casualties, but he still cleverly reduced the number of officers and soldiers who were scattered and missing. The wounded and dead bodies of the security forces, they really did not see.

"You guys retreat first, hurry up and reorganize the soldiers and horses, and prepare to march into Yuncheng." Hong Chengchou didn't want to entangle with them anymore, so he waved his hand to let them retreat. This group of ruffians, full of panicked words, obviously lost the battle but clever words, but they are still used now, hyping that this defeat is not good for the morale of the officers and soldiers, so Hong Chengchou forcibly held back his anger and drove these generals out.

"Mr. Cao, please stay." Hong Chengchou left behind Cao Wenzhao, who was about to turn around and leave. Cao Wenzhao fought bravely, and the cavalry under his command was extremely brave, which was deeply valued by Hong Chengchou. Cao Wenzhao also has an advantage, he was born at the bottom, has no backers, and has always respected the civil officials who led him. Hong Chengchou ordered him to go wherever he went, and he rushed forward without hesitation. Hong Chengchou was very satisfied with this, and in the hearts of the civilian officials, they looked down on those vulgar military generals, and they believed that the victory of the war depended on the strategies of the civilian officials, and the military generals only needed to be as obedient as dogs.

Cao Wenzhao turned back and stood there respectfully listening to Hong Chengchou's instructions.

"Tell me what the war is like ahead." Hong Chengchou believed that Cao Wenzhao would not lie to him.

Cao Wenzhao told Hong Chengchou in detail about the battle. At the end, he deliberately said: "The soldiers and horses of the other generals were defeated only when their all-out attack was blocked, and they were attacked by the thieves and cavalry that suddenly appeared. ”

"You don't have to defend them, tens of thousands of people attacked thousands of thieves, but they couldn't attack them, who would believe them if they did their best." Although Hong Chengchou suffered several losses in the security army, the other thieves always told him how bad the thief's team was, and he always looked down on the strength of the security army.

"This gang of thieves is really different, they mostly use firearms when they fight, and they are really good when they defend." Cao Wenzhao's 200 cavalry was defeated, and he really recognized the strength of the security army.

"Do you see any strategies to break the enemy?" Hong Chengchou also attached importance to the security army when he heard Cao Wenzhao say this, after all, he has been cleaned up by the security army several times, and his heart is full of hatred for the security army, but he has to admit that this is indeed a strong opponent.

"I watched this group of thieves who called themselves security forces, and unlike other thieves, they had very few soldiers in their ranks who used knives and guns. They are adept at using firearms and attacking from a distance before our forces are close to them. We've tried many times but failed because we couldn't rush up and fight them. If we want to defeat this gang of thieves, we must be very fast, and when we find them, we will quickly rush up and fight with them, and we will fight hand-to-hand combat, giving full play to our numerical superiority, and the thieves' firearms will not work, and we will definitely be victorious. Cao Wenzhao has been thinking about this problem for several days, and the best way is to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses. The advantages of the security forces cannot be brought into play. "Very good, let's march now, and when we see the thieves, we must resolutely rush forward, and those who dare to retreat will be killed." Hong Chengchou listened to Cao Wenzhao's analysis and felt that it was very reasonable. So he made up his mind to order the officers and soldiers to melee with the security forces to neutralize the advantage of the enemy's muskets.

At this moment, a partial general under Hong Chengchou walked in and whispered in Hong Chengchou's ear: "Lord Governor, there is a horse coming back ahead, and there is an urgent military situation. ”

Hong Chengchou was also shocked when he heard this, what happened ahead? "Pass in!" Hong Chengchou didn't dare to delay, and immediately ordered someone to pass the horse in. "Your Excellency Governor Qiqi, Yuncheng has been lost." Tanma lay on the ground and didn't dare to lift his head, out of breath.

Hong Chengchou was very shocked after receiving the report, and suddenly sat down in his chair. (To be continued.) )