On November 20, the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the sky was still cloudy, and it seemed to be snowing again. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Looking down from the sky, the direction of the west of Ruzhou City is full of dense camp tents, and the soldiers and horses gathered in this area, the officers and soldiers are afraid that there are nearly 50,000 men and horses, and the camp seems to be dense and boundless.

In the army, the camps of Liu Fangliang, Li Guo and others were set up on both sides of Jingshui and Rushui, about ten miles away from the camps of Wang Dou and others. Now that the river has frozen, there is no difficulty in passing between the two banks.

Like Wang Dou, Chen Yongfu and others stationed in Shanghe, Qili and other villages, the soldiers and soldiers were also stationed along these villages. Human settlements are much the same, along rivers and water sources, and although most of the villages are abandoned and dilapidated, it is better to live in leaky houses than to set up tents in the wilderness.

Liu Fangliang and Li Guo's Chinese army camp was located in a place called Chundian Zhuang on the west bank of Jingshui, but they did not live in the village, but lived in a dragon king temple in the west of the village. The whole village of Chundianzhuang is dilapidated, only this temple is relatively intact, although it is old, but the eaves and corridors are all complete, and it has not suffered from the disaster of soldiers and bandits.

Not only that, the Guandi Temple in Zhuangbei, the grandmother temple in Zhuangnan, the horse temple in Zhuangdong, and the Caishen Temple are relatively intact. At this time, people have a natural awe of Taoist temples and Buddhist temples, and they can loot and kill unscrupulously, but they have to think twice about destroying all kinds of temples and Taoist temples, for fear of attracting retribution from ghosts and gods in the future, especially for the peasant army.

The big tent of Liu Fangliang and others is set up in this Dragon King Temple, and their old camp people and horses also rest on both sides of the temple and feed the forage. There are constantly big men wearing felt hats, wrapped in old sheep robes, or wearing armor in and out, compared with those hungry foot soldiers with red scarves on their heads, these men are much more powerful, all carrying waist knives, carrying bows and arrows, and their demeanor is quite full of indifference and bravery.

These are the old battalion soldiers and horses in the army, many of them have more than ten years of experience in battlefield fighting, and they have seen a lot of corpses and blood, and they have no fear of sand warfare. However, these elite backbones have always been the treasures in everyone's minds, and when they are idle, they will not be easily taken out and killed.

They went in and out, got on and off their horses, and constantly passed on the orders of the Chinese army, or reported the news of the incoming troops. Liu Fangliang's contact with the battalions all relied on these fast horses, there was no way, it was too difficult to make those hungry people understand the meaning of the banner, and they could only be solved by using heralds.

The spies of the old camp and the Ma army also kept sending back the news of most of the officers and soldiers outside the west of the city, at this time in the temple hall, a pile of red carbon fire was burning, and Liu Fangliang and Li Guo were relatively speechless around the fire.

After a long time, Liu Fangliang sighed: "I have lost a lot of sentry horses in the horse battalion, and I have finally found out most of the officers and soldiers who came to Ruzhou." Among the officers and soldiers, there were several thousand men and horses of Chen Yongfu, the deputy general of the Kaifeng city guard. The rest is the guest army, what is the Shunxiang army, the main general is called Wang Dou, I heard that it is from Xuanfu Town. ”

"This officer and soldier is very difficult, I thought that the officers and soldiers I met that day were the most elite men and horses of this Shunxiang army. I didn't expect the news from the sentry horse that those Shunxiang troops who came up with them were also very strong, and they would not be worse than those forwards, is the border army so elite? ”

Li Guo's young face fell into contemplation: "It seems that when King Gao Chuang was there, our righteous army fought with the border army. At that time, Lu Lian brought some Guan Ning soldiers, which was very powerful. However, they fought on horseback, with three-eyed guns, and the firearms were not so fierce, and the foot combat was not so fierce. ”

Liu Fangliang said: "It seems that there are a lot of military horses in Nashun Township, but I don't know how their horse battle is better than the starting battle." The sentinels of our righteous army could not send back more information, and the governor of Ruzhou was well defended, and the soldiers and civilians were not allowed to leave the city at will. The sentry horses of the Shun Township Army are even more powerful, and our sentry horses have suffered a lot of losses in their hands, and it is difficult to spy on them. Now they can't even get close to their camp. Their sentry horses circled around our camp from time to time. ”

Li Guo said softly: "Brother Liu, tens of thousands of us gather outside Ruzhou City, and we consume a lot of grain and grass every day. We can't drag it out any longer, and tomorrow we will find a decisive battle with the officers and soldiers, and I will lead some horse teams to charge, and I should be able to defeat them. ”

Liu Fangliang shook his head again and again: "They have a lot of cavalry, and our horses are not as good as them, so we will suffer a big loss when we hedge." ”

"The old battalion and the horse team are the foundation of our rebel army, and they cannot be easily spent."

Li Guo also thought of this, he stood up, walked around the hall a few times, and was a little anxious: "Then what should I do?" Foot battles can't be fought, horse battles can't be waged like this, and there is no food and grass, and the army's heart is shaken, and I am afraid that our righteous army will collapse. ”,

He suddenly rejoiced: "It's better to use the old method, feints, horsemen lure, foot soldiers can lure, after the officers and soldiers are confused, the old battalion will attack, and it will definitely be able to win a big victory." ”

Liu Fangliang pondered for a long time: "You can use hungry soldiers to lure you, order the infantry to line thousands of spears behind the formation, and when the officers and soldiers are entangled, the horse team attacks from both sides...... If we can't win, we will leave Ruzhou, retreat to Yiyang and Yongning, and join King Chuang. ”

Li said: "There are so many people, I'm afraid they won't be able to leave." ”

After the failure of the ambush on Gao Shiyin, Liu Fangliang and others gathered less than half of the "infantry army" on the road, and after these people came back, they spread the news of the failure of the ambush, which had a great impact on the soldiers and horses left behind. These people, plus the sergeants of Ruzhou, there are still more than 30,000 people in the horses, and if they retreat, the army's morale is turbulent, and the officers and soldiers are pursuing behind, it must be a great rout.

Liu Fang's eyes flashed: "If you retreat, the old battalion and the 3,000 people of the horse team will go first, and then gather thousands of capable foot soldiers, and the rest of the people will ...... If the local Ruzhou gathers them, and we attack them back in time, those hungry soldiers can also be used as internal responses. ”

Li Guo said excitedly: "Jiang is old and spicy, just according to what Brother Liu said, I did it." ”

……

Wang Dou held a clairvoyant mirror in his hand, looking at the camp for a long time, beside him, there were all helmets and armor, wearing a cloak, holding a clairvoyant mirror and looking at the generals of the Shunxiang Army. Chen Yongfu and his son beside him, as well as the generals of the forward battalion, are all very envious.

This Shunxiang army is so generous, this clairvoyant mirror is only available in the south, Kaifeng City, only the Zhou Wangfu and the governor's yamen each have a body, usually regarded as a baby, but I didn't expect it to be so common in the Shunxiang army. The clairvoyant mirror is a good thing, it can see things in the distance more clearly than the naked eye, and it can be said to be a sharp weapon in the army, especially when facing the enemy, it has a greater effect.

It wasn't good if he hadn't used it in the past, but after Wang Dou let Chen Yongfu look at it for a while, he immediately couldn't put it down.

Especially his son Chen De is even more itchy, relying on his good relationship with Xie Yike, he asks Xie Yike to play with him for a while. The father and son had the intention to ask Wang Dou for one, but during the joint expedition, Chen Yongfu took Wang Dou and others too cheaply, but he was embarrassed to ask for supplies again.

Chen De's voice came from his ears: "Brother Xie, let me watch it for another quarter of an hour, just a quarter of an hour." ”

Wang Dou smiled slightly, put down the clairvoyant mirror, and said to Xie Yike: "Mr. Xie, give your clairvoyant mirror to Brother Chen De." ”

Chen De was overjoyed, Xie Yike was surprised, and Chen Yongfu said: "General Wang, since the expedition, my forward battalion has bothered your army a lot, how can I be embarrassed to accept such a valuable thing." ”

Wang Dou said: "It's okay, just the utensils, please don't dislike Chen Junmen." ”

Chen Yongfu smiled happily: "How could it be, how could it be." ”

Unceremoniously snatched the clairie mirror from his overjoyed son.

Xie Yike lost his beloved thing, and was a little reluctant, Wang Dou said: "Yike, you go to Brother Sun's side......"

Xie Yike immediately became happy again, in Sun Sanjie's baggage camp, there were still a few such clairvoyant mirrors, and with Wang Dou's order, he could ask for another one.

Chen Yongfu and Wang Dou stood together, holding a clairvoyant mirror and only looking at all sides, this is the ten-mile village wall where the Shunxiang army is camped, and about ten miles in front of it, there is a dense camp of rogues. With a clairvoyant mirror in hand, they could see the movement of their camp more clearly.

Holding the clairvoyant mirror, you can faintly see the residual snow on both sides of Jingshui and Rushui, and the frozen ice in the river is also quite conspicuous.

Holding a clairvoyant mirror in his hand, Chen Yongfu's mood was very uneasy, Chen Yongfu was quite envious of Wang Doujun's equipment, and Chen Yongfu was even more envious of their combat strength. Gao Shiyin defeated more than 10,000 Liukou with less than 1,000 people, such an elite, there were as many as 7,000 people under Wang Dou's command, could he alone resist the hundreds of thousands of Liukou army?

He's just a general, and he's the deputy commander-in-chief. The difference is so obvious, how can Chen Yongfu be calm?

Chen Yongfu wants to prove with facts that he did not accompany the Shunxiang army as a foil on this expedition.

After a long time, he put down the clairvoyant mirror and said to Wang Dou: "General Wang, after the first battle of General Gao Qian, the thieves in Ruzhou have lost their courage, and it is the time to take advantage of the victory to pursue. Now our officers and troops have gathered in Ruzhou, and the time has come to completely repel the thieves in Ruzhou. The Japanese will attack the enemy camp in advance, and then frustrate their morale, and there are few cavalry in a certain army, and they also ask General Wang to assist in the battle. ”

Wang Dou said: "Chen Junmen is loyal and courageous, and the last general admires it." At the end of tomorrow, the general will personally lead more than 3,000 cavalry troops to protect the two wings for Chen Junmen, so that the military gate can kill thieves with peace of mind and break his formation. ”,

……

On the morning of 21 July, the western part of Ruzhou suddenly became noisy, and officers and men and the Chuang army invariably dispatched troops and horses to fight on this day.

However, they all had spare strength, there were nearly 6,000 soldiers and horses in terms of officers and soldiers, Chen Yongfu's forward battalion was all dispatched, Wang Dou also sent Li Guangheng's cavalry, as well as Gao Shiyin and Wen Fangliang's cavalry infantry to participate in the battle, and the rest of the Shunxiang army generals watched the battle with Wang Dou's central military department. The officers of the various units that did not participate in the war remained in the camp.

Nearly 20,000 troops were dispatched, and the two sides collided in the vicinity of Houzhuang and lined up.

The weather was still cold on this day, and the two sides had already set up their arrays. Among the officers and soldiers, Wang Dou led his own Chinese army guard, and Gao Shi Yinren lived in the middle of the array. Next to him is Chen Yongfu's family team of 500 people, all of whom have horses. The rest of the 2,000 infantry troops, he is in the front army position, with Wang Dou's 2,000 cavalry on both wings, he can lead the army to tear it apart with peace of mind.

In the clairglass mirror, Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu both saw the layout of the breaking army, which was still the same, with hungry soldiers outside, followed by foot soldiers, then horse troops, then Xiao cavalry, and finally the old camp.

Wang Dou estimated in his heart that Chen Yongfu could break through several heavy soldiers, Chen Yongfu's soldiers and horses in addition to the family with a hood and armor, as well as horses, the rest of the sergeants were poorly equipped, wearing only red hats, wearing coats and green clothes and skirts, and holding large swords and spears in their hands. Those with swords have shields in their hands, and there are also archers and three-eyed guns, and there may be hundreds of bird guns.

However, the equipment of the rogues on the other side is even worse, most of them only have spears and turbans, and there are very few people holding large swords. Also, spears are easy to build, a furnace of iron can make dozens of spear heads, and then find a wooden stick, but it is much more difficult to make a large knife.

However, Wang Dou can faintly see that the breaking army on the two floors of the infantry and the horse army, as well as many archers and three-eyed guns, presumably Li Zicheng attacked many cities in Henan Province and contained a lot of archers and officers and soldiers in the local area.

"Kill the thief"

Chen Yongfu calmly planned on the horse, with his own demeanor, and the cavalry of the Shunxiang Army was protected on both sides, he was very relieved, and soon passed the Chinese military order flag. Immediately, the three thousand generals of the front army went to the camp of the army one after another.

It can be clearly seen that the difference between the officers and soldiers and the rogues is that although the officers and soldiers in the hinterland are decayed, they still have the posture of fighting in formation, especially Chen Yongfu's management of the army is also rigorous, and Wang Dou's combat is also remarkable.

The Liukou were purely a swarm, so although the hungry army on the periphery was a few thousand people, divided into several heavy, but under the attack of these two thousand officers and soldiers, they were still defeated one after another, and they were routed to both sides or behind the formation. The hungry soldiers who had stormed their camp were shot to the ground mercilessly, and had to flee to both sides of the formation.

Then Chen Yongfu's soldiers faced the infantry of the invading army, and the two sides first shot each other with bows and arrows and three-eyed guns, and then fought with broadswords and spears, and the killing was inseparable.

It can be seen that the combat effectiveness of the intrusive army has improved very much, and these foot soldiers can be inseparable from Chen Yongfu's battalion, no wonder the local officers and soldiers in Henan Province are not their opponents. Moreover, there are a large number of hungry troops in the invasion army, and there are enough cannon fodder to consume, which has a great advantage in quantity.

Seeing that the two sides were entangled, a total of 2,000 horses rushed out of the formation of the army, one left and one right, intending to flank Chen Yongfu's foot soldiers from both sides.

Chen De arched his hand to his father and said: "Military gate, mark the wish to lead the family, and meet the enemy on the right." ”

Chen Yongfu glanced at his son and said, "Okay, you will go to war." ”

After a pause, he instructed again: "The sword has no eyes, you need to be careful." ”

Chen De said excitedly: "Command the order." ”

He led five hundred families away violently, and Chen Yongfu said to Wang Dou again: "General Wang, the enemy on the left side will have the Laogui Department." ”

Wang Dou smiled slightly, and passed the banner to Li Guangheng, and immediately he led his cavalry to rush towards the "horse team" of the intruding army rushing on the left.

Those "horse teams" were shouting in a carnival, when they suddenly saw a group of cavalry rushing towards the officers and soldiers, the army formation was tightly organized, lined up in a tight formation, and the horses were well-equipped, and the momentum that swept was unstoppable. How dare they hedge against the cavalry of the Shunxiang Army like this kind of "cavalry"?

The leading lieutenant was also clever, roared a few times, and immediately rode his horse back, turned around and returned to his own formation, dismounted one by one, and waited for him with spears in hand. Li Guangheng didn't push too much, and seeing that they were no longer flanking Chen Yongfu's infantry army, he no longer approached, and was only watching from a distance.

On Chen De's side, he led the family Ding to fight with the Chuang army horse team, and everyone immediately got off the horse and fought together. After a fierce battle for a long time, Chen De repelled the thousand-man team, came back with blood stained faces, immediately hung a few heads, and won a flag, but it was the general banner of the central part of the army. ,

He shouted excitedly at Chen Yongfu: "Father, the child is fortunate to have not disgraced his life and returned victorious." ”

Chen Yongfu was very pleased, watching his son nod again and again, and some Chinese generals and officers beside him also cheered.

Wang Dou said: "The tiger father has no dogs, and the Chen De brothers are really good. ”

After being praised by Wang Dou, Chen Yongfu was even more pleased, and said: "General Wang, don't praise too much, lest the dog become arrogant and complacent." ”

On that day, Chen Yongfu's battalion fought with the Chuang army until noon, but because of the disadvantage of the troops, they never broke through the infantry formation of the Chuang army. Seeing that the two sides did not distinguish between victory and defeat, each of them will withdraw their troops and fight again tomorrow.

On that day, Chen Yongfu's subordinates suffered about 200 casualties, and it was estimated that they inflicted 300 or 400 casualties on the opponent. The local officers and soldiers of Henan Prefecture did not dare to fight with the Liukou, and Qian Zuozheng, the governor of Ruzhou, only held on to the city. With this achievement, Chen Yongfu also has a light on his face.

The news of the small victory of the officers and soldiers was transmitted back to Ruzhou City, the army and the people were excited, and there was a sound of firecrackers in the city.

The next day, Chen Yongfu led the forward battalion of the army to fight, and Wang Dou still led the cavalry to guard the two wings. During the battle, the intrusive army used a rocket from nowhere, but unexpectedly, the wind direction changed, the rocket flew back, and the intruder army was in chaos, and the army retreated.

On the same day, when he returned to his camp, Wang Dou summoned the generals of the Shunxiang Army to discuss the matter.

Looking at everyone, he said slowly: "We've seen enough in the past two days, let's deal with these rogues tomorrow." ”

He said to Zhao Xuan: "Brother Zhao, tomorrow you will pull all the ten Hongyi big guns." ”