At the end of May, Dengzhou Town was pressing forward step by step, and there were many sentinel battles between Liukou and Dengzhou Town in Lin County. Cao Zhao of Shanxi suddenly attacked Licheng, and bandits from all over Licheng fled to Wu'an and Shexian. The Ming army of other roads is also speeding up, the Ming army of Shanxi blocked the road of the Liukou west to Shaanxi, the Xuanda and Qin armies squeezed from north to south, and the bandits of Pingshun ran to Linxian County one after another.

Chen Xin's march was not fast, and he only walked thirty miles a day. After Cao Zhao conquered Licheng, he swept the area between Licheng and Shexian, and established contact with Lu Xiangsheng and Deng Xi on the eastern side of Taihang Mountain.

After Cao Zhao went south, he quickly recovered his peace, and within a few days, there were more than 40,000 Liukou in Lin County. Although the number of Liukou increased, Chen Xin also found allies, Deng Xi's Sichuan army chased from Wu'an along the mountain, and Lu Xiangsheng passed through Cixian County to prevent Liukou from fleeing eastward, only fifty miles away from Chen Xin, and Zuo Liangyu was also in Lin County.

Chen Xinying is thirty miles away from Linxian County, which is a low hilly area in the middle of the Linxian Basin. Huanshui flows through the basin, this river originates from the Taihang Longshu Mountain, bringing valuable water to this basin, the famous Yinxu, on the bank of the Anyang section of the Huanshui.

No matter how precious the water source of the Huan River is, it is useless at this time, all the villages without the village have been breached, the population has been plundered, where there is a village, there are some people who cultivate in the field, but they are also frightened birds, as soon as they see someone approaching, those people will flee back to the village, no matter how the Dengzhou soldiers explain, they will never sell them anything, nor provide them with any information, as long as they get close to the wall, they will throw stones and shoot arrows.

Chen Xin only felt like marching behind enemy lines, not only could he not procure things. There was also hostility everywhere, and the people seemed to have a bad impression of the officials and the rogues. Some of the fields were planted with crops that were not in the ripe season, but they were also destroyed. The remaining people in Linxian County are also destined to have a hard time this year.

In addition to the Dengzhou soldiers in the basin. There are also Changping soldiers, and Lu Xiangsheng is behind, and the Liukou have changed from scattered to centralized, and the same is true for the Ming army. The eight kings still haven't appeared, the strongest in Lin County is the sweeping king, and the others are scorpion blocks, heavenly monkeys, heavenly stars, and girls, and there are countless small shares. They were terribly afraid of Cao Zhao. There is no deep-seated fear of Lu Xiangsheng and Chen Xin.

Henan Governor Xuan Mo finally got in touch, and he gave Chen Xin an order to let Chen Xin, the prince and young master, lead several troops and horses east of Taihang. Including Deng Xi, Zuo Liangyu, and Zhang Fengyi. But there is no mention of Lu Xiangsheng. This appointment is also very appropriate, among this batch of officers and soldiers, only Chen Xin is the chief soldier of the seal and the young master of the prince, and few others are of higher rank than him.

After Chen Xin received the appointment, he sent people to contact Sichuan Bing and Zuo Liangyu, at this time Zuo Liangyu was in the southeast of Linxian County, and he had just been plotted by the sweeping king. After losing more than 20 family members, he found that there were more and more Liukou in Linxian County, and immediately turned to a deep ditch and high fortress to hold on.

Chen Xin's sentry horse finally found Zuo Liangyu, and after receiving Chen Xin's order, he hurriedly made a detour under the escort of his family.

Zuo Liangyu is a well-made mountain armor, this kind of armor is lighter than iron armor, and the appearance is also very powerful, which is the favorite armor of generals in the late Ming Dynasty. Along the way, he encountered several bands of rogue horsemen. Zuo Liangyu led the family with two horses, and Shun Lì evaded the interception of the Liukou and arrived at Chen Xin's station, Heshunji.

Heshun is gathered at the edge of the Linxian Basin, more than 30 miles east of the north of the county, and is an important passage from Linxian County to Beizhili. This is only more than ten miles away from the avenue from Shexian County, and you can attack the rogues who come over there at any time.

There is a gentle hilly area due east of Heshunji, which is connected with Changzhendian in Anyang, and the forward of Dengzhou Town is stationed in Tuntou, eight miles away from Heshunji. After Zuo Liangyu approached Toutun, many Dengzhou sentry horses appeared around, different from the red color of the Dengzhou soldiers, most of them wore khaki or green military uniforms.

Dengzhou Tangma, who gave Zuo Liangyu an order, took out a back flag and inserted it behind his back, and the sentry horse came over to ask and ignored it. The closer you go, you can see the beams and horses everywhere on the surrounding hills and hills, and rows of Dengzhou soldiers sit on the mountainside.

Zuo Liangyu saw this posture, and his heart calmed down, the Dengzhou soldiers occupied various high grounds, and the rogue detectives would never be able to get close to ten miles, and a large number of rogues would be discovered as soon as they entered within twenty miles. He had seen the battle of the camp during the Battle of the Four Cities, and it was very ferocious. Later, when he heard that Chen Xin had defeated Jiannu again and again, Zuo Liangyu was very relieved about the combat strength of Dengzhou Town, he had cooperated with Chen Xin in Luanzhou, and he was not worried that Chen Xin was a fleeing general like the ancestral army.

The military discipline in the barracks is solemn, it is well organized, and there are no deep ditches and high bases around, which shows that Dengzhou Town did not take tens of thousands of rogues in its eyes.

After waiting in front of the big tent for a while, Zuo Liangyu was led in and saw Chen Xin, the long-lost commander of Dengzhou.

"General Zuo hasn't seen him for several years, and now he is famous in Zhongzhou, which is gratifying." Chen Xin walked over with a haha, there was no shelf at all, but Zuo Liangyu couldn't do this, after all, this was a general with a seal, a general who was serious, and he hurriedly knelt down to give Chen Xin a salute.

Chen Xin helped him up and said with a smile: "During the Battle of the Four Cities that year, General Zuo and General Cao joined forces to thwart the attempts of Jiannu in many field battles and trapped them east of Fengrun. ”

Zuo Liangyu was praised, and he was naturally in a good mood, the person in front of him was not an ordinary general, and no one else wanted to fight Tartars, so Chen Xin just wanted to fight, and he could cut off a lot of Tartar heads every time. He had been in the Guanning Army and knew the power of the Tartars, so he still admired Chen Xin from the bottom of his heart.

Chen Xinle introduced him to the other people in the account, Zuo Liangyu saw them one by one, and when he heard Geng Zhongming's words, he paused slightly, it seemed that Geng Zhongming's name was much more famous than Zhu Daichun and others.

After a few people sat down, Chen Xin talked to Zuo Liangyu about dealing with the Liukou in Lin County.

Zuo Liangyu fought the Liukou for a longer time, and he said respectfully to Chen Xin: "My lord, with the strength of Dengzhou Town, it is not difficult to defeat the Liukou, but it is difficult to surround them in Linxian County, according to the investigation of the lower officials in Linxian County for many days, the number of thieves has reached nearly 40,000, and they are moving south of the county, but they are walking very slowly. According to the experience of the subordinate officers in dealing with them. They moved so slowly, either they wanted to lure the adults to attack them, or they were just waiting for the other rogues to converge. ”

Chen Xin touched his chin, and estimated that the liukou was almost concentrated. He has 5,000 soldiers, as well as Geng Zhongming and Zuo Liangyu to help, it should be possible to defeat the Liukou, and there is a Lu Xiangsheng in the back. However, he was an official, and Chen Xin was worried that he would be restrained with the official, and his military merits would not be easy to divide at that time, so he did not contact Lu Xiangsheng to send troops. His location is now in the eastern part of Linxian County, and it is also necessary to prevent the Liukou from escaping to Zhangde.

"General Zuo. Right now your position is on the south side. My Dengzhou town is in the north, the Sichuan army's Deng Xi general army is still on the way, all the rogue bandits are gathering in the county seat, the official wants to give them a blow, when our army will defeat the rogue group, please General Zuo intercept and kill in the south, don't let them flee to Weihui Mansion. ”

Zuo Liangyu agreed. "Please rest assured, Lord Chen, the last general will definitely intercept it, but the rogue is strong, and the last general is worried that the adult will not be able to support it alone, if the adult does not dislike it, the lower official is willing to lead the troops and meet the adult in one place."

"No need, General Zuo is in a very good position, just stay where you are, send more scouts to investigate, guard the camp, don't let the rogues slip away."

Zuo Liangyu had no choice but to say: "The last general will obey the order, but please be careful, these rogues are very cunning, and you must be careful when pursuing." ”……

On May 23, the sixth year of Chongzhen, Dengzhou Town left the camp and went to Linxian County. Indeed, as Zuo Liangyu said, they were waiting for Dengzhou Town to attack them. At the same time, there was also a Sichuan soldier, who marched on the Taihang Mountain to prevent some Liukou from flowing to Shexian County through the Zhangshui River Valley.

At noon, the 5th Battalion of Dengzhou rushed to the ferry by the Huan River, and the horsemen of the Liukou were all over the riverbank, and they confronted the Dengzhou Sentinel across the river. After the recent gathering of the rogues, they have intensified their anti-sentinel cavalry operations, and the past reconnaissance of Dengzhou Town has come to an end.

Chen Xin counted slightly, there were hundreds of horsemen on the banks of the Guanghe River, with all kinds of bows and arrows in their hands, many of them were shirtless, not to mention well-equipped, but their riding skills were very exquisite. Zhu Daichun released the sentry horses and strengthened the support of a cavalry bureau to disperse the rogue horsemen. But these rogues were quite stubborn this time, and more cavalry appeared on the ridge behind, especially in the southwest, and they tried their best to block the sentinels of Dengzhou.

"My lord, these rogues have attracted our cavalry to pursue in the southwest, and there may be an ambush in the southeastern hills." Zhu Daichun said in a deep voice, "They tried their best to stop our cavalry because they wanted us to send infantry across the river, so that it would be inconvenient for us to retreat." ”

Chen Xin observed, the opposite side is full of rolling hills, and there are many troops hidden between those mountains, and what Zhu Daichun said may be very big.

"Then let them try, take back the sentry cavalry, let Zhong Laosi cross the river first, and the first general heavy weapons flag team and the artillery team of the guards battalion will strengthen them, so that he can quickly build a bridgehead."

The 1st Company of the 2nd General Headquarters soon began to cross the river, and the rogue horsemen tried to probe, and after being killed by muskets a few cavalrymen, they retreated to the southwest, where they rode their horses upright on the hill to prevent the sentinels of Dengzhou from scouting.

The second always passed a company and then unfolded a company, forming a strong bridgehead. They crossed the river and lined up at a fast speed, and after the formation was completed, the thousand general flags moved forward, and the entire thousand headquarters advanced a section in the sound of drums. After vacating the ferry, the 3rd General began to cross the river, and there was no movement on the opposite side.

"Zhu Battalion Officer, you first cross the river to control the troops across the river, and then send a sentry to investigate, set up beams and horses to occupy the ridge, and implement it according to the regulations, if some dense grass and trees are not easy to investigate, you can set fire to the mountain."

"Yes." Zhu Daichun led the battalion staff and personal soldiers to cross the river first, Chen Xin supervised the rear team on this side of the river, and the third general also began to cross the river.

Dengzhou's cavalry broke through the interception line in the southeast with a single charge, and more than a dozen sentry horses crossed the ridge over there, quickly waving the red flag and retreating, blowing sharp whistles all the way back.

"There are ambushes on the south bank, and the number is more than 10,000." The combat staff officer next to him reported to Chen Xin under the banner of the sentry horse.

The hills on the south bank were crowded with figures, and the mountain passes were flooded with rogues, their clothes pouring down from the hills like a colorful carpet. Their ambush was discovered by the Dengzhou Sentinel Horse, so they could only dispatch in advance and take the initiative to attack the ferry.

The second commander, who had already crossed the river, sounded a continuous trumpet, and Zhong Laosi's recognition flag kept waving, distributing orders to various companies.

"The rogue really dares to come." Chen Xin muttered, he had encountered such a half-crossing attack once, or when he was a hundred households in Weihai. At that time, he was a little afraid, but now there is a strong army in hand, and he is not afraid of the Liukou in this kind of operation in the narrow area of the ferry, although the Liukou can be attacked halfway, but the two flanks of Dengzhou Town can also be protected by the river, so Chen Xin insisted on letting the front army cross the river to attract the Liukou to attack.

"My lord, please cross the river first."

Chen Xin turned his head to see that Geng Zhongming had already ridden to his side, and couldn't help but smile: "General Geng's hands are itchy?" ”

Geng Zhongming said with a smile: "As the adults said, I haven't killed anyone for a long time, and my hands are itchy and panicked." These rats dared to offend the adults and tigers, and the villain held his breath when he saw it, and asked the adults to allow the villain to take his family to the war. ”

Chen Xin thought for a while, since Geng Zhongming had the intention to earn his watch, he could also let him participate in the war, and by the way, he would add some military merits.

"After the third general is over, you lead the family to cross the river to the left flank rear array."

Geng Zhongming saluted like a soldier in Dengzhou Town, and then beat his horse and went back.

Chen Xin stood up from his horse, raised his telescope and looked at the battlefield, the rogues all over the mountains were still coming out of the hilly area of the ambush, as if there was no end, he estimated that the number was close to 20,000, of course, there were also old and weak inside.

It seems that the rogues have been looking forward to this battle for a long time. They have always flowed, but when they find an opportunity, they will concentrate their forces to bite back, and their concentration often does not have any plan, and when they encounter each other, they will join forces to do a vote, so that the officials and soldiers have no way to prevent it. In the first half of this year alone, the Ming army lost four guerrilla generals above the level of Tao Xiqian and Zhao Xiaozhong at the hands of Liukou.

Although Chen Xin faced tens of thousands of rogues, he did not have the slightest nervousness, his telescope scanned the opposite mountain, and after passing a mountain, he quickly moved back, and there was a big flag inside, with several big black characters written on it, "For the Eight Kings of Tianxingdao", and the one next to it was the banner of the scorpion block.

Chen Xin shook his head and put away the telescope, no wonder the Liukou dared to fight, it turned out that the Eight Kings were here, the main forces of the Liukou in the east of Taihang Mountain were here, the Ming army in this direction was intercepted before and after, and the activity space of the Liukou was squeezed.

"You don't dare to fight Cao Zhao, you don't dare to fight the Sichuan army, but you dare to come to fight my Dengzhou Town. Eight kings, let me let you remember today, Dengzhou Town can't be fought like Cao Zhao. ”