"Quick, who has any way to keep the pontoon, say it quickly, I have a reward!" Zhang Xianzhong shouted loudly. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

"You can let the soldiers stand on the pontoon bridge and use spears or bamboo poles to hold the fire boat downstream, so that it can't burn on the pontoon!" The first to speak was Zhang Kewang. Zhang Xianzhong was overjoyed when he heard this, and said repeatedly: "Okay, good, I'll let you do this errand, and I will definitely have a heavy reward after the matter is completed!" ”

Zhang Dingguo, who was on the side, listened to his brother's suggestion and hurriedly said: "Father-in-law, this is not good, what kind of fire is on the fireboat, it must be scorching when it is close, and there is thick smoke, how can the people on the pontoon bridge last." Why don't you let the soldiers lean into the fire boat in a small boat and drag it to the shore with a hook! ”

Zhang Xianzhong listened to the high-fives and said: "Both methods are good, I hope you take two hundred soldiers to resist the fire boat, Dingguo, you go to lead people to tug the boat, do it well, I will be rewarded!" ”

The brothers Zhang Kewang and Zhang Dingguo hurriedly received the order and took the soldiers to act. Zhang Kewang led people on the pontoon bridge, and when he saw the fireboat coming down, he used a bamboo pole and spear to resist it, while Zhang Dingguo led people to drag it to the shore with a hook. The soldiers of the peasant army gathered on the shore and cheered in unison whenever they saw the fireboat being towed away. By evening, there were no less than 100 pontoon bridges that had been towed to the shore, and the wreckage of the burned boats was piled up on the shore, and it was so black that it was so large. At this time, Zhang Xianzhong looked upstream, only to see a black patch, and there were no fireboats. He breathed a sigh of relief, only to feel that his back was already soaked with sweat, and he was blown by the cold wind, and his bones were cold.

"Quick, quick, order our army to cross the river overnight, who knows if the officers and soldiers will come up with any moths after dawn!" Zhang Xianzhong didn't care about anything else, and hurriedly ordered to cross the river, and the peasant sergeant also hurriedly boarded the pontoon bridge and fled to the other side after the rest of his life.

Zhang Xianzhong crossed the river overnight, and by dawn the next day, he had already crossed the Huai River with his headquarters, but the old camp and the exiles were still on the north bank, and he lined up his troops along the river, waiting for his rear team, while guarding against the officers and troops attacking him from the south bank. There are hills on the south bank, and when you climb high and look into the distance, you can only see the open land on the northeast side of the opposite bank, and the rangers are frequent. Zhang Xianzhong sighed and said, "With so many rangers, it seems that Lu Manzi's brigade is about to arrive." ”

"Then what should Cao Shuai do if he is still on the north shore?" Zhang Dingguo asked.

"I can't take care of so much, I only have to take care of myself at this time!" Zhang Xianzhong sighed: "If it is me at this time, I will abandon the gold and silver wealth of the old camp, let the officers and soldiers loot, and see if I can let the brigade cross the river, as long as there are people, there will always be silver!" ”

As if to confirm Zhang Xianzhong's prophecy, a large area of dust rose in the distance at the ugly time, which was obviously a sign of the arrival of the official and military brigades. On the one hand, Cao Cao ordered to step up the crossing of the river, and at the same time led his headquarters to prepare to resist the attack of the official army. Zhang Xianzhong himself also led dozens of horsemen back to the north shore and stood side by side with him. Cao Cao was quite moved by this, and said with a smile: "Why do you bother? ”

"Cao Shuai treats people with righteousness, could it be that I, Zhang Xianzhong, am I unrighteous? Just let the officers and soldiers see how much I'm waiting! Zhang Xianzhong laughed loudly, and then lowered his voice and said: "Cao Shuai, the situation is unfavorable, in my opinion, it is better to think of frustrating the prestige of the official army, and then cross the river to the top!" ”

"What's your idea?"

"Miao Ce doesn't dare to say it, there is a sticker of dog skin plaster, but I don't know that it can't pull out the poison!" Zhang Xianzhong said with a smile: "The officers and soldiers are good, you will send someone to fight in tone later, pretend to be defeated, throw some gold, silver and satin, and return to the division to kill him for a while when he robs him." These people are oil-stained glass balls, all of them are slippery and do not leave their hands, and when they see others suffer, they will definitely not dare to be the first to go up, and then you will step up to cross the river, and you will definitely be able to cross the river for most of them! ”

"Good idea!" Cao Cao smiled and patted Zhang Xianzhong's shoulder: "Others have given me the nickname Cao Cao, but I think I have to count your eight kings if I want to say that I have more ideas, so I just give you this nickname and let you call it Cao Cao, and I will also call Luo Ru to forget it!" ”

"Tell the Overseer, the thieves have lined up against the river and are ready to fight!"

Hearing the scout's return, Lu Xiangsheng's face was gloomy, and he scolded in a low voice: "These dead thieves are really stubborn against the official army!" It's a pity that the plan to burn the bridge yesterday didn't work, and it couldn't be killed! He took a deep breath and ordered the front army to halt so that the army could line up and prepare for battle. At this time, a team of soldiers and horses rushed out of the camp of the thieves and shouted to the officers and soldiers to challenge, Lu Xiangsheng was furious and shouted: "Who will kill this gang of thieves for me!" ”

Before he could hear what Lu Xiangsheng said, he heard a general next to him say loudly: "Master Inspector, the last general is willing to fight!" When I turned my head, I saw that the person who came had a long beard and a handsome figure, it was Zuo Liangyu.

"Good, good! General Zuo's courage is commendable! Lu Xiangsheng said with a smile: "Come on, take a glass of wine, this superintendent wants to be a strong soldier for General Zuo!" ”

"Thank you, Overseer!" Zuo Liangyu took the wine glass and drank it all: "The end will not break the two thieves, and I will not return to the teacher!" With that, he threw the cup to the ground and turned away.

After Zuo Liangyu returned to the team, he immediately gathered his own soldiers and ordered loudly: "The superintendent ordered to fight the thieves, the general is the vanguard, the thieves have a lot of savings in the camp, and the gold treasure is like a mountain. "At this time, his direct force was only 2,000 people, but most of them were veterans who followed him in Changping, although the military discipline was not good, but most of them had experienced battles, and their combat effectiveness far exceeded that of other Ming troops in the mainland. They all knew that Cao Cao and Zhang Xianzhong had a lot of savings in their old camp, and they all wanted to take this opportunity to make a big profit, and their desire to fight was especially strong. Zuo Liangyu saw that the morale of his subordinates was strong, so he shouted, rode his horse and rushed out of the camp, the left battalion soldiers and cavalry in front, the infantry team in the rear, about 20 paces apart, and killed the peasant army that rushed forward.

Ordered to lure the enemy is Cao Cao's general Bai Gui, who saw Zuo Liangyu menacing, so he ordered his subordinates to fire arrows at him, because the distance between the two sides at this time is quite far apart, there are more than 100 steps, most of the arrows fall in front of the official army, and there are few people who are hit by arrows. Seeing this, Zuo Liangyu smiled at the left and right: "The thief has broken his guts!" How can an arrow be released so far away? Someone, give the order to go down, set fire weapons at 70 steps, and arrow arrows at 50 steps! ”

Sure enough, as Zuo Liangyu expected, as soon as the official army released the firearms, the thieves were in chaos, and their generals were served, and the troops turned around and fled, and Zuo Liangyu hurriedly ordered the pursuit when he saw this. The iron hooves staggered with the collision of armor and weapons, which was deafening, and the sound of people shouting and neighing horses was completely drowned out. The thieves who came out to challenge broke down almost before they could make contact, and whether they were on horseback or on foot, they took off their armor, dropped their weapons and fled, and abandoned baggage and belongings were scattered everywhere. Zuo Liangyu drove his subordinates to pursue and slash, he himself was famous for his horse archery, and he also used his bow and arrows to shoot several thieves, and shouted loudly, let his subordinates drive the fleeing thieves to storm the enemy's main formation. But to his surprise, many of his subordinates did not follow his orders, but stopped to pick up the belongings on the ground, and even fought over them. He used a leather whip to beat his subordinates who were fighting for property, but he went to pick up property again and again, and for a time the formation of the officers and soldiers was in chaos.

At this moment, the thieves suddenly beat loudly in the formation, and the two teams of men and horses came to Zuo Liangyu's side in a pincer shape. Zuo Liangyu was shocked when he saw this, and hurriedly ordered his subordinates to prepare for the battle, but now the formation is chaotic, and he grabbed the property and thought about the gold silk in his arms, and those who didn't grab it also had resentment. said that it was too late, and the thieves had already killed into Zuo Liangyu's array, cutting down the officers and soldiers who were still fighting for property on the ground one by one, Zuo Liangyu knew that it was impossible to do anything when he saw this, so he had to lead more than 100 personal soldiers to turn around and abandon his army and flee.

Lu Xiangsheng stood in the main formation, and saw that Zuo Liangyu easily broke through the thieves who challenged him, and his heart was overjoyed, but in the blink of an eye, the situation reversed, Zuo Liangyu was broken by the thieves again, and the joy on his face had not had time to fade, and it turned into an iron blue intertwined with anger and frustration, which was really ugly. He shouted: "Come on, beat the drum, I will drive the thief and Cao Cao into the Huai River!" ”

"Master Overseer!" The staff said in a low voice: "General Zuo won and lost suddenly, I am afraid that he has fallen into the tricks of the thieves." At present, the enemy's situation is unknown, and the generals are afraid of our army's new defeat, so why not wait for a while, and wait until the enemy's situation is clear before attacking! ”

Lu Xiangsheng stroked his beard under his chin, groaned slightly, and asked the detachment on the side: "General detachment and detachment, what do you think?" ”

Tokhoff Buhua looked at the other generals of the Ming army and replied: "Master Inspector, the last general also thinks that it should be suspended, the thieves are lined up with their backs to the river, and the trapped beasts are still fighting, it is better to wait for them to relax and attack again!" ”

Lu Xiangsheng saw that the generals were reluctant to attack, although he was the superintendent, but if the generals under his command did not work hard, there was no way. He became more and more resentful of Zuo Liangyu in his heart, but he had no choice but to order him to be removed from his official position, imprisoned and waiting to be bombed.

"Here's your chance!" Zhang Xianzhong saw that the official army had stopped attacking, began to set up camp, and hurriedly said to Cao Cao: "Cao Shuai, when it gets dark, you can cross the river quickly!" ”

"What if the official army attacks at night?"

"It doesn't matter, you can pile up the excess baggage near the pontoon bridge and set it on fire when crossing the river, so that you can resist it for a while, and you can cross the river at this time!"

Cao Cao thought for a while, he also knew that if he did this, he was afraid that most of his men and horses would not have time to cross the river, but at this time there was no other way, so he had to nod and say, "That's the only way!" ”

After dark, Cao Cao crossed the river overnight according to Zhang Xianzhong's method, the official army found out and attacked, but encountered a fire, had to temporarily retreat, until dawn, Cao Cao had crossed the river with thousands of backbones, and the remaining tens of thousands of troops and a large amount of baggage were obtained by Lu Xiangsheng. Chongzhen was overjoyed when he learned about it, and promoted Lu Xiang to the secretary of the military department, continued to be the prime minister of Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Huguang, and Sichuan, and supervised the various armies to fight thieves.

Yunyang, Li Zicheng's old camp.

"King Chuang!" Song Xiance walked quickly through the corridor, although he had some problems with one of his legs, but with the iron-tipped cane, he still walked fast, and he couldn't see his leg disease at all from a distance.

"It's Mr. Song!" Li Zicheng was discussing things with Yuan Zongdi, Li Guo and others, and when he saw Song Xiance entering the door, he smiled and said, "Is there something wrong?" So anxious! ”

"Lu Xiangsheng broke Zhang Xianzhong and Cao Cao in Xi County, and won a lot!" Song Xiance took out a letter from his bosom and handed it over, he came from a humble background, and when he became an adult, he made a living selling hexagrams, wandered around, knew a lot about the customs and customs of various places, and was familiar with the inside affairs of the rivers and lakes, and after he joined Li Zicheng's command, he used these relationships to establish a quite efficient intelligence network.

"Oh?" Li Zicheng was taken aback, hurriedly took the letter, opened it and read it, several of his generals except Li Guo were illiterate, so they could only wait for Li Zicheng to read the letter. After a while, Li Zicheng raised his head and asked, "So Cao Cao and Zhang Xianzhong are not dead?" ”

"Hmm!" Song Xiance nodded: "I heard that the two of them lined up on their backs to the river, risked their lives to build a pontoon bridge, and escaped across the river, but most of the baggage and brigade were captured by the officers and soldiers!" ”

"Ball!" Yuan Zongdi sneered: "We don't know the virtues of the officials and soldiers yet, they are all big blowers. Cao Cao and Zhang Xianzhong are both smooth and like rats, they must have crossed the river with the old camp and the team, and all they left behind were messy poles and captured meat tickets, anyway, the emperor Lao Tzu couldn't tell the difference! Don't lie, don't lie! ”

"General Yuan, I'm afraid it's not so simple this time!" Song Xiance said in a low voice: "I said from the inside of an official mansion that the officers and soldiers captured a lot of property this time, and they also captured dozens of Cao Shuai's women, and they also got a lot of tents and drum music, otherwise Chongzhen would not have promoted Lu Xiangsheng's officials, and the two of them should have suffered a lot of losses!" ”

"It's good to be able to escape with your life in line with your back to the river, what is a drum woman!" Yuan Zongdi said with a smile: "Mr. Song thinks too much, if you win two more battles and break through two states and counties, you will have everything!" ”

"General Yuan, things are not so simple!" Li Guo, who had been silent, suddenly spoke: "The army will die if there is no savings, Cao Shuai and Xian Shuai should have 10,000 or 20,000 horses crossing the river, if there is no baggage, I am afraid that it will not last long!" ”

"That's right!" Li Zicheng nodded, and turned his gaze to Song Xiance: "Mr. Song, what do you think?" ”

Song Xiance looked at Li Guo and Yuan Zongdi, and a smile suddenly appeared on that ugly face: "King Chuang, I thought this was a good opportunity!" ”

"Good chances? How so? Yuan Zongdi asked puzzledly: "Lu Xiangsheng will definitely find us trouble next, what is the opportunity?" ”

Song Xiance smiled, but didn't speak, Li Zicheng understood what he meant, and said with a smile: "Buzhi and Hanju are both from their own families, so Mr. Song will say it directly!" (To be continued.) )