In the face of the roundabout actions of the peasant cavalry, the infantry of the Ming army had to stop, put the end of their spears against the ground, and pointed the tips of the spears diagonally upward, forming huge metal hedgehogs. In the era of cold weapons, the biggest weakness of the infantry phalanx was their flanks and backs, and both Eastern and Western military strategists did everything possible to protect the flanks of their own phalanxes and detour the enemy's flanks. Du Wenhuan was no exception, and when he found that the cavalry of the peasant army had been pouring towards the gap in the central part and the two flanks, he immediately sent out the only reserve of 1,500 cavalry and 1,000 infantry to stop the enemy's detour. And so the brutal hand-to-hand combat began at Riverplate.

Standing on the riverbank, Shen Yikui observed the battle on the river beach through the smoke of the battlefield. On the river beach, the cavalry of both sides were fighting fiercely, one moment advancing, the other retreating, and it was difficult to see which side had the advantage. Several times he saw that his cavalry had been killed on the bank of the river, and then he was killed and retreated. Shen Yikui looked left and right, and suddenly asked, "What about Liu Donkey?" Why didn't anyone see him? “

The people around him shook their heads, and suddenly one person replied: "The one who is in charge of the plate, that Liu Donkey has fallen behind at the beginning, I thought you would let you stay in the back of the palace." ”

"Rats!" Shen Yikui slashed the leather whip fiercely: "When this battle is over, see how I clean up this guy!" He shook his head, as if to get it out of his mind, and he ordered the soldiers behind him: "Set off the fireworks and let the infantry come up!" ”

In the Ming army, Yang He's face was pale, although he was famous as a "knowing soldier" among the ministers at that time, but it was the first time to experience such a fierce bloody battle. Several times he turned his head to look at Du Wenhuan, who was directing the battle, and wanted to say something, but in the end he swallowed it back. But when he saw the black peasant army infantry in the distance also began to move slowly to this side, he could no longer suppress the fear in his chest, grabbed Du Wenhuan's right arm, and said in a low voice: "Brother Taowu, the situation is so critical, why is there no movement on General He's side, could it be that something has happened?"

"Don't panic!" Du Wenhuan was as calm as ever, and replied in a deep voice: "The number of thieves is twice as large as mine, only when they are exhausted, and then the general soldiers of He come out from the back, can they win a big victory in one fell swoop, and the general soldiers of He should be waiting for the best time now." ”

"Waiting for the best time?" Yang He gritted his teeth, and finally couldn't help but say: "The thieves have surrounded me on three sides, when will I wait?" If we wait any longer, I'm afraid we will have to clean up the bones, and that Liu Cheng, who took a general to tell him, said that the sky was falling, but now there is no movement at all, and he is really a scoundrel! ”

"Your Excellency!" Du Wenhuan replied: "The battlefield is changing rapidly, and we must respond to the situation on the spot. The Liu Qianhu you said doesn't know who he is, but he shouldn't be the kind of person who is greedy for life and afraid of death, otherwise why would he go to the thief's camp to do that nine-death thing? Wait a moment, and there will be good news! ”

Just as Du Wenhuan was trying his best to comfort Yang He, the battle on the river beach changed again, and Shen Yikui personally led hundreds of his own soldiers to participate in the battle before and after sending the signal to mobilize the team, and his hundreds of men and horses were like the last straw that broke the camel's back, breaking down the defenses of the officers and soldiers on the river bank. Although the infantry of the officers and soldiers resisted with all their might, this new force still crushed them, and the tall Hexi war horses under their crotches tried to trample on those who had lost their breath and those who had not lost their breath, and who were bleeding and fleeing for their lives.

"It's time!" Seeing that the cavalry of the last peasant army had also rushed down the riverbank, Liu Cheng pulled out his waist knife and said to Liu Donkey on the side: "General Liu, your wealth is in front of you, as long as you defeat Shen Yikui, you will be the hero of this battle!" “

"Hmm!" Liu Donkey was a little uneasy and a little excited, he nodded, took out a piece of white cotton cloth that had been prepared from his waist, tied it to his right arm, raised his right arm and shouted to the soldiers behind him: "Now we are officers and soldiers, there is no white cloth on the arm, kill!" “

Liu Donkey's rebellion had an immediate effect, many of the cavalry of the peasant army who had been attacked were cut off from their horses before they knew what was going on, and they had to turn around to resist the attack of the new enemy. Shen Yikui had to resist the attacks of both sides at the same time, no matter how much he hated Liu Donkey, a traitor, but he knew in his heart that today's victory was getting farther and farther away from him.

He Huchen's appearance gave the peasant army the final blow, and the 2,000 cavalry fiercely attacked the peasant army's squadron from behind, which could no longer be said to be a close battle, but only a one-sided massacre, compared to the swords, guns and firearms of the officers and soldiers, many more people died from the trampling of their comrades. In order to escape faster, people even wave weapons at their companions who stand in their way. As the blood-red sunset sank into the horizon, the hustle and bustle left, leaving only corpses strewn across the battlefield, and flocks of crows hovered low in the sky, making ominous calls, as if to thank the people for the sumptuous meal they had prepared.

Two hours ago, God was in the old camp.

Li Hongji sat cross-legged on the ground, a heavy wooden flail pressed on his shoulders, and a few rays of sunlight projected through the cracks in the railing at the entrance of the cellar, bringing him a rare warmth. The cellar, which was originally used to store vegetables and grain for the winter, was temporarily used as a cell for his detention, and it was so cold that Li Hongji was wearing a wooden flail and could not exercise to keep warm, and if it weren't for the sunshine, he would have frozen to death.

At this time, although Li Hongji was like a clay sculpture on the surface, he was not calm in his heart. Although he had a premonition before leaving, he never expected to end up in a miserable situation of being imprisoned. He didn't think that he had fallen into the trap of Shen Yikui, firstly, because Shen Yikui's character was unlikely to use this kind of conspiracy against him; Second, where does this confession come from? The only thing he can be sure of is that he has fallen into a carefully set trap, and there are many people who have fallen into the trap together, even including the entire peasant army, and the person who set this trap is hidden in the dark, and the only thing that can be determined is that the rope of this trap leads to the official mansion, thinking of this, Li Hongji's brain began to ache faintly.

Li Hongji was racking his brains to recall everything that happened in the past, and when he tried to find a clue, there was a faint sound of fighting outside the cellar. He tried to stand up, but his butt hit the hard rock as soon as his head hit the ground, and he sat back with a scream.

"Uncle Hongji, Uncle Hongji!" A familiar voice came from outside, Li Hongji listened to it, and shouted loudly: "Is it Li Guo?" I'm here! ”

Li Hongji's shout was answered, and a few minutes later the cellar door was opened, and a familiar face appeared in front of Li Hongji.

"Uncle Hongji!" Tears poured out of Li Guo's eyes, mixed with the dust on his face, and immediately made him a big flower face.

"Why are you here, the stockade is okay?" Li Hongji hadn't come out of the cellar yet, so he hurriedly asked.

"Hurry up and help my uncle out!" Li Guo didn't answer Li Hongji's question, and pulled Li Hongji out of the cellar with a few hands, his legs had just lifted the ground, but the soles of his feet were weak, and he almost sat on the ground. Others hurriedly helped him to the side and sat down, untying Li Hongji's shackles

, and took a gourd and handed it to him. Li Hongji took a few sips, only to feel a warm current flowing into his stomach, and the whole person slowly recovered.

"Uncle, you walked on the front foot that day, and the god of the back foot sent people to attack our stockade. There were too few people left, so I could only take the rest of my brothers to retreat to the big mansion, and Shen Yikui didn't fight for two days, and even the big red wolf let me kill it. Later, I heard that the officers and soldiers were coming, and he had to retreat, so I ran out with my brothers at night to save you. Li Guo said everything that had happened, and there was a panicked look on his face: "Uncle, if you have rested enough, let's go quickly, otherwise if Shen Yikui comes back after fighting the officers and soldiers, we won't be able to leave!" ”

"Don't worry, God Yikui won't come back!" Li Hongji stood up and walked back and forth a few steps, still a little shaky at first, but soon his steps became solid.

"How do you know?"

"He, like me, has fallen into the trap of the official army, and he will lose this battle, even if he can escape with his life, he can't care about it here!" Li Hongji looked around and said in a low voice: "There are a lot of property and weapons that he has stolen in the past few years in the back of this old camp, let's go get a sum now!" “

"Uncle! You're all right, right? Li Guo looked at Li Hongji with some concern: "Why don't we leave quickly, it's not worth taking this risk for this bit of wealth." ”

"I'm not in it for the money!" Li Hongji sneered: "If you can't take it, you will burn it, otherwise it will fall into the hands of the officials and soldiers!" ”

Seeing that his uncle had regained his usual shrewdness and strength, the stone in Li Guo's heart finally fell to the ground, he beckoned his subordinates, and followed Li Hongji towards the grain platform of the old camp.

The group did not encounter any trouble on the road, Shen Yikui has brought most of the elite to the battlefield, invisibly the guards in the old camp have been lax a lot, and the peasant army at this time has not yet unified the color of clothing, and has not learned to use the waist card password to distinguish the enemy and me, like Li Hongji, who is very familiar with his internal affairs, is easy to mix with the door of the grain platform, and only to be stopped by a guard at the grain platform, this sentry is blind in one eye, and has a nickname called Ai Zhun, and asked with some doubts:" Which pole are you from? Why didn't you follow the palm of the plate? ”

Li Guozheng was trying to find a few words to fool the past, but Li Hongji, who had been hiding in the soldiers, stepped forward, pointed to the bridge of his nose with his thumb and asked, "Aim accurately, see who I am?" ”

Aiming at the only eye, he looked at it, fine beads of sweat immediately came out of his forehead, he took a step back and pointed at Li Hongji and said, "Huang, Huang Lai'er, you are not locked up in the cellar, how-"

Before he finished speaking, he was kicked in the lower abdomen by Li Hongji, and fell down on his back, Li Hongji rushed forward and lifted it up as his chest, and sneered: "Just a cellar is locked up in your grandfather?" Joke-" As soon as the words fell, Li Hongji pulled out a wrist-dissolving knife from his waist and stabbed him twice in the chest, and when he aimed at it, he suddenly lost his breath. Li Hongji pulled out his waist knife and shouted loudly: "Kill it, don't let any of them go!" “

Li Hongji's personal soldiers swarmed up, and most of the soldiers guarding the gate of the grain platform were killed before they could pick up their weapons, and a very small number of sober minds turned around and ran away in order to escape with their lives. Li Hongji looked at the fires rising everywhere in the grain table, and a grim smile appeared on his face. Li Guo on the side said excitedly: "Shen Yikui, the dog thief, has finally avenged his assassination of his uncle!" Speaking of this, he carefully looked at Li Hongji's face and asked in a low voice, "What should we do next?" “

"Let's go!" Li Hongji walked to a warehouse that was not on fire, picked up an axe, cut the iron lock three times and two times, and opened the warehouse door: "The officers and soldiers have won this battle, they are powerful, we are not their opponents, we have to go!" ”

"And what about after that?" Li Guo watched his soldiers rush into the warehouse and move the money inside to the back of the found mule: "Do you want to go to Shanxi?" I heard that there are fewer officers and soldiers over there. ”

"Nope." Li Hongji shook his head: "Let's go west." ”

"West? Why west? There's a great famine over there. “

"Nephew!" Li Hongji was in a good mood at this time, and he patiently explained to Li Guo: "Why did you say everyone rebelled in the first place? “

"I can't live without food."

"Yes, Yang He has won the battle now, but can Yang He get food for the poor buddies who have nothing to eat?"

"Of course not!" Hearing this, Li Guo's eyes lit up: "Uncle, do you still want to continue?" “

"Yes!" Li Hongji nodded: "There are few officers and soldiers in Shanxi, but there are also few hungry people. Don't look at Yang He's ability to win this battle, in my opinion, it will take eight months at most, and five months at least, and Shaanxi will have to make trouble again. Don't look at the hundreds of people we have now, and when the time comes, we will erect the recruitment flag, and we are afraid that there will be no food people? Even 180,000 can be pulled! ”

Li Hongji's self-confidence infected his nephew, and Li Guo looked at his uncle with admiration and said, "Uncle, if you don't die in this catastrophe, God must have asked you to lead us poor men to do a great job." ”

"It's good to have a big career, but it has something to do with God!" Li Hongji said a foul word, and spat on the ground contemptuously: "If you want to get things done, you have to rely on yourself." I won't be called Li Hongji in the future, I will be called Li Zicheng, and I will be able to do things myself! ”