At noon, the main force of the Qin soldiers had already entered the territory of Fuping County. At this moment, they were lurking behind a rolling hill, closely watching the movement of a small village opposite.

And a hundred cavalry, as the vanguard, under the leadership of Li Dingguo, had already arrived here at three o'clock. They found that the small village in front of them had been overrun by thieves, and the number of thieves was at least five hundred. In order not to startle the snake, they did not act rashly, but immediately reported to Zhu Youzhen's Chinese army.

Two hours later, the follow-up troops of the Qin soldiers arrived. There is no way to do this, of course Zhu Youzhen knows that the mobility of cavalry is far better than that of infantry, but war horses are not so easy to get.

He had only gotten fifty horses by buying and seizing them from the bandits; Qi Meifeng led the Qi family army to arrive and brought more than 20 horses. Later, more than 20 mules with strong feet were selected, and only then did they barely make a hundred.

Moreover, these follow-up troops also escorted seven or eight chariots, which were loaded with weapons and baggage, and the speed of the march was also affected to a certain extent. It's faster in Jingyang County, because there are newly built roads to go; But as soon as you enter Sanyuan County, you can only take potholed dirt roads, and in some places there are no roads at all, and you have to use manpower to carry the car over.

Despite this, because it was the first time to fight after the official establishment of the army, the morale of the Qin soldiers was still very high. From the commander Zhu Youzhen to every ordinary soldier, they gritted their teeth and marched quickly. They marched nearly 90 miles in nine hours from the time of Yin, that is, at three o'clock in the morning, to noon.

For an infantry carrying a baggage, this speed is already quite impressive. You must know that even if the Jurchen elite rides, the daily march is more than 100 miles.

After the arrival of the Chinese army, Zhu Youzhen immediately convened a military conference of the former enemy. Lin Youkun, who arrived with Li Dingguo in advance and was in charge of battlefield reconnaissance, first introduced the enemy situation: "Your Highness, according to Qin Wangwei's report, General Chuang led the main force to attack Fuping County late last night, and this morning the county seat has been breached, first killed the county order, and then wantonly burned and looted, and is now repairing in the city. ”

Zhu Youzhen's heart tightened when he heard this. Although this result had long been expected by him, he still felt very sad when he really heard the report at this time. Because it's not just a fluttering sentence, but it means that life is ruined! I don't know how many innocent people have fallen to the ground, and how many weak women have been bullied!

After being silent for a moment, Zhu Youzhen asked with difficulty: "How many people are there in the main force of the general?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, there are about 20,000 thieves in Fuping City." Lin Youkun hurriedly replied, "But about half of them are women and children, and the real combat effectiveness should be about 10,000." But these 10,000 people are basically cavalry, and their combat effectiveness is definitely second to none among the thieves. ”

Zhu Youzhen nodded after listening, secretly thinking that the reason why this thief was called "thief" was precisely because they had a large number of horses and were extremely mobile. On the other hand, the official army of the Ming Dynasty, except for the Guanning Iron Cavalry, all the troops were mainly infantry, and they could not catch up with the thieves at all, so they were overwhelmed by the thieves and exhausted.

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Youzhen asked again: "Are the thieves in the small village in front of him a subordinate of the general?" ”

Li Dingguo answered: "This group of thieves is also a subordinate of the general. They are indeed stronger than the bandits, and they know to send sentries around. It's a pity that the level of the sentry is really not good, so the last general secretly caught two alive.

Now they have confessed: the general's subordinates are also mixed, among which his descendants are all in Fuping City, and those who are a little more distant are sweeping village by village on the periphery. The thief in the village in front of him, the big palm plate is 'Mountain Harrier' Gao Jie, and the leader of the team is his younger brother Gao Jian, nicknamed 'The Great Heavenly King'. There are 500 thieves in the village, including 250 cavalry, 50 infantry, and the rest are family members. After they had taken the village, they planned to have lunch and then move on to the west. ”

Now that the enemy situation was clear, Zhu Youzhen asked everyone to speak and discuss how this battle should be fought. This is also a good habit of his, that is, he never pats his head to make decisions, and must brainstorm before choosing what is good.

Because it's not about anything else, it's about fighting! Although he, Zhu Youzhen, is a traverser, he may have some advantages in scientific knowledge and other aspects, but he is a layman in leading troops to fight. He can still grasp the general direction of the overall military deployment; But in terms of specific combat command, he is far inferior to Qi Meifeng and Li Dingguo.

As soon as Zhu Youzhen's voice fell, Li Laiheng, the youngest, took the lead in speaking: "I see that the thieves are relatively loosely distributed in Fuping County, and they have just conquered the county seat, so it is the time when the mood is relaxed. Our army might as well ignore the enemy on the road, go straight to Fuping City, and kill the thief army by surprise! As the saying goes, if you can capture the thief first, if you can kill the general, the rest of the thieves will collapse without a fight! ”

When he said this, everyone couldn't help but laugh. Li Laiheng was still not convinced, and shouted loudly: "What are you laughing at!" It's His Highness who said it, you can say whatever you want, and you can't hold it back! ”

Zhu Youzhen also smiled and said: "Li Laiheng, you can have your own ideas, this is worth encouraging." But it's not enough to have ideas, you have to be realistic. There are more than 10,000 thieves in the county, and our 800 people go to sneak attack, even if they are not found on the road, but when they get to the handover, won't they be surrounded soon?

"And the soldiers and horses around the general must be the most elite of the thieves, and they are all cavalry, even if the number of people is similar, we can't get too cheap. This time, the Qin soldiers went to war, not to fight with the thieves, but to exchange the smallest casualties for the greatest results. According to your plan, the general may not be able to catch it, and we will have to fight it all. ”

After hearing this, Li Laiheng scratched his head embarrassedly and said, "I just want to catch the leader of the thieves and recover Fuping City..."

"The foundation of victory lies in destroying the enemy's living force, and there is no need to be stuck in the gains and losses of one city and one place!" Zhu Youzhen directly moved out the old man's famous words, "If we can't annihilate the enemy in large numbers, even if we capture the county seat, it will be impossible to defend it with these few hundred people." ”

As soon as his words fell, Li Dingguo suddenly said happily: "Your Highness's words inspired the last general!" The last general's plan was the opposite of Laiheng's: instead of attacking Fuping Castle, he would focus on the thieves entrenched in the village. These thieves are scattered and have few troops, so they are easy to fight. If we can fight continuously and annihilate a number of bandits, isn't this what His Highness said about 'destroying the enemy's living force'? ”

Everyone was stunned, and Zhu Youzhen was also overjoyed: "Dingguo is really proficient in the art of war!" According to the plan of the country, the generals will obey the order! ”

"In!"

"Concentrate all your forces, first wipe out all the thieves in the opposite village, don't get away with a single person!"