As he spoke, the leader of the pro-soldiers had already taken Zuo Liangyu off the white horse with several subordinates, replaced him with a gray mare (the white horse was too conspicuous), and put a shield on Zuo Liangyu's back, and led dozens of horsemen to flee west with Zuo Liangyu. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 When the knights around saw this, they shouted: "The enemy general has broken through!" Some horses to chase, some bows and arrows, for a while the arrows fell like raindrops, the pro-soldiers on both sides raised their shields to block, but there were still people who were hit by arrows and fell off the horse, and the remaining pro-soldiers knew that the well-being of their families was tied to Zuo Liangyu alone, and they shot arrows and cast firearms at the pursuers to cover Zuo Liangyu's escape, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.

Zuo Liangyu was surrounded by everyone, and lay his body on the back of the horse, only to hear the arrows constantly flying overhead, and he was already full of regret in his heart, why did he want to compete with Cao Wenzhao for this vanguard, and ended up like this. This Liu Cheng's army is so strong, his previous plan is just a moon in the water, like a flower in the mirror, which is really pitiful and ridiculous.

Zuo Liangyu was thinking about his thoughts, and suddenly felt that the mount under his crotch was soft, he was good at riding, and subconsciously rolled down from the horse's back as soon as he turned over, and saw that the mount had fallen to the ground as soon as his feet landed. A personal soldier hurriedly jumped off his horse, helped Zuo Liangyu onto his mount, and ran for a few miles, only to find that the enemy did not catch up, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and untied the shield on Zuo Liangyu's back, only to find that there were seventeen arrows on it, and the danger of Fang Cai could be seen.

"General, where are you going now?" The leader of the pro-soldiers asked.

Zuo Liangyu strengthened his spirit, looked around, and sighed: "The situation is irreparable, let's retreat farther away, the thief army will be exhausted if it wins this battle, we will wait until it gets dark to contain the rout!" ”

"What? Striker defeated? Lu Xiangsheng's face changed greatly: "Didn't Zuo Liangyu just say in the Tang newspaper that he won a small victory and won the ferry of the Juma River?" Why did you lose again? ”

"Enlightened Supervisor!" The sentry prostrate: "According to the defeated army, Liu Thief ambushed his troops in Hexi, and General Zuo began to build a bridge to cross the river after exploring Hedong. This is a thief in all directions, with iron cavalry rushing into battle, General Zuo did not have time to form a column that clashed, our army was defeated, countless casualties, many were driven into the river, more than 1,000 officers and soldiers who crossed the river first were forced to surrender! ”

"So, what about General Zuo?"

"Life and death unknown!"

"Hey!" Lu Xiangsheng sighed, his face was already difficult to see, even the life and death of the main general were unknown, obviously this battle was lost extremely badly, at this time he couldn't help but think of Cao Wenzhao's advice during the previous military discussion, it seems that the other party said well, in this flat place, Liu Cheng's iron horse is really terrible.

"Someone, pass the order, all the armies pause their advance, set up camp, and, please ask General Cao of the rear army to come!"

The Great Tent of the Chinese Army.

"General Cao is exempt!" Lu Xiangsheng raised his hand and said with a smile: "Come on, show General Cao!" ”

"Thank you, Master!" In the face of Lu Xiangsheng's courtesy, Cao Wenzhao was still a little unaccustomed, he carefully observed the color of Shangguan, confirmed that there was no problem, and then carefully sat down half of his buttocks, and said respectfully: "My lord summons the end of the future, I don't know what to order?" ”

"Hey!" Lu Xiangsheng sighed: "Do you know, the forward General Zuo was ambushed, and it was on the bank of the Juma River, but in half a day, the 10,000 army was gone, and General Zuo's life and death were unknown." Now it seems that you are right, it is really unwise to confront Liu Cheng's cavalry in this flat place! ”

Cao Wenzhao looked at Lu Xiangsheng's face carefully, and pointed out that the boss's mistake was not a smart act, he lowered his head: "Master Inspector, there are benefits to Baoding in Baoding, and there are also benefits in Zhuozhou in Zhuozhou." After all, the imperial court is urging tightly, and I am afraid that it is impossible to go to Baoding! ”

"Hmm!" Lu Xiangsheng nodded with satisfaction: "The past has happened, don't mention it, General Cao, what do you think should be done next?" How about going to Baoding now? ”

"I'm afraid not!" Cao Wenzhao thought for a while and replied: "Since General Zuo was defeated at the Juma River, then Liu Chengjun's forward is not more than fifty miles away from us at most, and there are no rivers and mountains in between. ”

"Then General Cao, what do you have to do?"

Cao Wenzhao smiled bitterly: "I am a martial artist below, where are there so many clever strategies." In this situation, those who seek survival have to die, and those who die have to live, and the only way is to fight to the death and survive from death! ”

Lu Xiangsheng didn't speak, just nodded slightly, and after half a ring, he stood up: "Yes, the only way to do it now is to ask the second ancestor to bless me to survive this catastrophe!" ”

On the banks of the Juma River.

The remnant sun is like blood, the light of dusk shines on the battlefield, but it does not give people the slightest feeling of warmth, the corpses everywhere are dyed with a layer of blood by the setting sun, and from time to time there is the moaning of the dying, mixed with the crow call, which seems to be desolate.

Liu Cheng rode his horse through the pontoon bridge, three pontoon bridges had been erected on the surface of the Juma River, the soldiers of the brigade were passing through the pontoon bridge, surging westward, he turned his head and looked east, the army was like a giant dragon with no head and tail invisible, meandering forward on the earth, and a group of captives were sitting on the bank of the river, looking at him with frightened eyes.

"Gui, that's where you defeated the enemy vanguard?"

"Not bad!" Ah Gui bowed his head respectfully, but it was not difficult to feel joy from his voice: "The last general felt that the enemy army would definitely focus on the other side of the river, so he crossed the river from the downstream first, and waited for it to cross halfway and attack it. ”

"It's okay, if you can run, the monk can't run the temple!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "As long as Lu Xiangsheng is defeated, one more Zuo Liangyu or one less Zuo Liangyu has nothing to do with the overall situation!" Ah Gui, you pick fifty tongues and give them to the surrendered soldiers, and let them go! ”

"Released?" Ah Gui was stunned when he heard this. Liu Cheng looked at the other party and said with a smile: "Let these people go to Jingshi and pass the news of our victory, and also, mix some sand in it, understand?" ”

"The last will understand, the last will understand!" Ah Gui immediately understood, and couldn't help but admire Liu Cheng a lot, and said with a smile: "Attacking the city is the bottom, attacking the heart is the top, Lord Jinong's plan is really a clever plan!" ”

"Huh!" Liu Cheng sneered twice: "The city in the world is in the hearts of the people, if you rely on the high wall of the Jingshi, then it will not be far from destruction!" You go first, I want to see the battlefield here! ”

"The last general obeys!"

Liu Chengce immediately went up a hill and looked towards the battlefield by the river, at this time the afterglow of dusk was gradually dissipating, the golden glimmer was making a final struggle with the darkness, and the battlefield was full of corpses, scattered knights walked through it, followed by seven or eight foot soldiers, they stabbed between the corpses with spears, looking for the living people hidden in the corpses, behind them, a group of miscellaneous servants were collecting armor, weapons and arrows from the corpses. The captured captives were strung together with ropes, tied to the back of their horses, and walked on the battlefield with one foot high and one foot low, towards the river. The closer they got to the river, the greater the number of captives, many of whom were thirsty to the extreme, and when they saw the river, they ran madly to the river to get water to drink, but they were caught by the ropes and fell everywhere, and the knights who were drinking their horses around saw it and laughed mockingly.

"Pass the order, go through the barrels, give them water to drink!" Liu Cheng said in a deep voice: "I will cook some soup later, and each person will be given another cake tomorrow morning!" ”

Hao Shaoqi, who was following Liu Cheng, was stunned, but the habit of many years still made him implement it immediately, Liu Cheng sighed: "Shaking the flag, maybe my heart is a little soft, there are more and more battles, but I can't see dead people!" ”

Hao Shaoqi said in a low voice: "My lord, I don't know any big truths, but I only know that if there are no adults, I am afraid that more people will die in the world!" ”

"Huh!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "With your words, I haven't worked hard in vain all these years!" With that, he whipped his mount and rode down the hill.

That night, Liu Cheng's army camped on the west bank of the Juma River, and at dawn the next day, they pulled out the camp and marched westward. The officers and men of the whole army knew that the great war related to the world was just around the corner, and they did not think that it was bitter, and the army took the cavalry as the forerunner, the infantry team was in the center, and the rear was the artillery team, this time Liu Cheng went south, in addition to the three-pounder guns, six-pounder guns, and twelve-pounder guns under the jurisdiction of the field infantry battalion, and also transported an artillery team composed of 25 eighteen-pounder guns from Lushunkou to Tianjin by sea, and this time also followed him. Each heavy cannon like this requires at least twenty or more pack horses to tow, and the cart carrying ammunition also needs the same number of horses, and the formation stretches for more than ten miles, which is particularly spectacular.

Lu Xiangsheng did not retreat to the west or south as he expected after learning that his own vanguard had been defeated, but set up camp in a place called Guo Yuanli in the east of Yizhou, posing as a decisive battle. Liu Cheng thought about it for a while and understood the other party's intentions.

"Lu Xiangsheng is also an understanding person, he can't run anyway, it's better to choose a terrain that is favorable to him and fight to the death with me!" Liu Cheng nodded: "Okay, I'll grant his wish!" ”

Guo Yuanli.

"This place is so familiar!" Liu Cheng sighed, no wonder he thought so, the Xuanda military camp in the distance was located on a raised platform, a steep cliff separated the platform from the plain below, from the large pebbles under the cliff, it is not difficult to judge that there should be a river flowing here at the time of the sake, separating the sandstone platform from the low plain below. On the Guanzhong Plain in Shaanxi, terrain like this is everywhere.

Obviously, Lu Xiangsheng's arrangement of the Chinese army's camp on the platform was carefully considered, and whether it was for the sake of vision and firepower, the platform nearly three zhang high below undoubtedly had a great advantage. The edges of the terraces were reinforced by fences and earthen vans, and the flanks were located behind the flanks of the terraces, so that the Chinese barracks on the terraces protruded forward, so that whether the enemy attacked the left or right flank, they would have to brave the fire from the flanks of the protruding terraces. Liu Cheng knew very well that Lu Xiangsheng's army was equipped with a large number of new arquebuses produced by himself, as well as some three-pounder guns, and these new firearms could exert amazing lethality under the cover of carefully arranged field fortifications.

"What do you think should be done?" Liu Cheng pointed at the enemy camp in the distance with his horsewhip and asked the generals beside him. The generals answered one after another, and some said that they should first contain the enemy's two flanks with light troops, and then concentrate their forces to storm the platform where the Chinese army was located, as long as they could take the Chinese army camp, they could easily break the enemy troops on the left and right flanks from a high position; Some people think that the Ming army's defenses are very strong and difficult to break through from the front, so it is better to divide the cavalry to cut off the enemy's food routes and force them out of the camp with hunger; Others advocate attacking with fire at night and then taking the opportunity to cover up the killing. The generals beside Liu Cheng knew that there were not many battles to be fought in the world, and if they wanted to take the lead in the future meritorious deeds, they must achieve enough military exploits at this time.

Liu Cheng kept silent, he waited until everyone had almost finished speaking, and suddenly asked the artillery commander who had been silent: "Thomas, can our artillery bombard the enemy on the mesa?" ”

Thomas narrowed his eyes, stretched out his hand to calculate it with a simple ranging method, and shook his head: "I'm afraid it's difficult, the position of the mesa is too high, beyond the elevation angle of the artillery, unless you can build a battery and raise the firing position of the artillery, you can't shoot at the enemy on the mesa!" ”

"Build a fort?" Liu Cheng nodded: "This is a good way, anyway, we just captured so many prisoners of war, we are not short of manpower!" I'll leave this matter to you, Gui, and send them to Thomas two thousand able-bodied men from among the captives, and tell them that if they build the fort within the time limit, they will be freed again, and they will be paid a month's salary! ”

"Yes, sir!"

"Thomas, I'll give you five days, I hope you won't let me down!"

"Rest assured, my lord, I will not let you down."

Daimyo's house.

"Father, there's the Daimyo's Mansion ahead!" Hou Fangyu pointed to the city tower not far away and whispered to Hou Sui, at this time, he was dressed in cloth clothes, green clothes and hats, as if he was just an ordinary scholar who traveled to study =, where is there still the appearance of the turbid Shijia son in the past.

"Hmm!" Hou Sui nodded, he cautiously walked to the carriage behind him, bent down respectfully, bowed to the car, and said in a low voice: "Your Royal Highness the Prince, please bear with me, and we will be at the Daimyo's Mansion in a while!" ”