After hearing the purpose of the scout chasing all the way, Lu Zhifan only felt a sudden frustration in his mind, and hurriedly asked about the situation carefully.

"Who is the other party's leader, can he have a banner? How many soldiers are there? ”

"Look at the banner should be the horse thief Li Xin, there should be tens of thousands of people!"

Lu Zhifan was terrified, if Li Xin attacked with nearly 10,000 people, then the meeting in Maoerzhuang was likely to be a suspicious soldier to lure him out of the camp. Could it be that he fell into the trap dug by the horse thief Li Xin from the beginning? This thought jumped out of his mind, and it immediately shocked Lu Zhifan into a cold sweat.

The enemy situation ahead is unknown, and if we continue to go, I am afraid that it will be more than lucky. Just when Lu Zhifan was in a dilemma, there was a scout from the front.

"The corpse of the Han military flag was found in front, and there are a lot of them, and there are always hundreds of ......them."

This news was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, and I knew that a Han army flag sergeant who was currently sent out last night had been in bad condition, so I had to resolutely order the withdrawal of the army.

Originally, the commanders of the Han Army Banner who were actively engaged in the battle heard that there might be an ambush in the front and that the camp in the rear was attacked again, and after receiving the order to wave the army to the south, they began to retreat again.

It's just that on the way back, the archers who were hiding in the dense forest once again stuck up like ghosts, and the cold arrows kept shooting, and every time the arrows broke through the air, one of them fell from his horse and died. However, when the angry Han army banner sent scouts to search in the forest, they found nothing as before.

Lu Zhifan understood that he was tricked, and Li Xin was much more despicable and unscrupulous than he imagined. He now only prays that the soldiers of the Eight Banners in the camp can resist the sneak attack of the horse thief Li Xin, and buy enough time for the Han Army Banner led by him to return to the division.

So he simply ordered all the troops to ignore the cold arrows of the sneak attack archers in the dense forest, and march with all their might, if they delayed time because of this, they would fall into the hands of the other party. When Lu Zhifan rushed back to the camp within the border wall with the Han army flag, the Ming army, which had been attacking rapidly, retreated like a tide. Out of caution, the frightened Lu Zhifan did not order a pursuit, but ordered the army to rest and garrison on the spot, and sent out a large number of scout rangers to search for the traces of the Ming army along the way.

The losses of the Eight Banners were not very severe, but the Ming army suddenly appeared to attack very fiercely, and the commander and the main force were not in the camp, which frightened them very much. It wasn't until Lu Zhifan came back with people that he felt that he had the backbone, and under the great morale, he asked for a decisive battle with the Ming army, which was a shame.

Lu Zhifan categorically refused the invitation of the main generals of the various departments, at this moment he was really holding back the anger in his heart, and was led by the horse thief Li Xin to play a trick, not to mention, the main generals under his command are also mediocre talents, in such a situation, where is it suitable to rejuvenate out of anger? Unless they want to suffer a bigger defeat.

At this point, Lu Zhifan is like a mirror in his heart, and it is impossible to raid Li Xin's department again, and now he can only think of another plan. Originally, his wishful thinking was to lead his troops on their backs, and through the pressure of the Turg army, he disturbed the morale of Li Xin's Three Guards Army, and then he took advantage of the situation to annihilate them. But the reality is that Li Xin is much more powerful than he imagined, not only thwarting his plan, but also has the meaning of coming from behind.

However, Turg's great victory in Ningwuguan still comforted Lu Zhifan, he had prepared for the worst, and his plan to become famous in a war failed, so he immediately made a rational decision, and used his Han army to contain Li Xin's main force of the Three Guards Army, and firmly contained it near the side wall, so that it could not return in time, so as to buy enough time for Turg to completely destroy the nest that Li Xin had painstakingly managed, so that this trip was worthwhile.

"All departments send scouts, and they must closely monitor the movements of Li Xin's three guards, and they must report back in time if there is any trouble!"

At the same time, Lu Zhifan also ordered the Mongolian Eight Banners to send a group of men and horses into the steppe to harass Li Xin's three guards and make it impossible for them to march calmly. After the qiē was properly settled, Lu Zhifan finally let out a long sigh of relief.

And after Li Xin's department strengthened the surveillance and harassment of Lu Zhifan, he was no longer able to use the usual countermeasures against him before, and even had a bit of a poor posture. But Lu Zhifan didn't dare to take it lightly, things are abnormal, and he was a demon, maybe Li Xin was secretly playing some idea of cutting off his children and grandchildren.

For several days, Lu Zhifan was cautious, but in the end he could not get rid of the doom of being attacked, and because all his energy was focused on Li Xin, he neglected his southern rear. A heavily armed infantry marched forward, scarlet battle flags hunting in the wind, declaring their identity to the people, until they crossed the Yan River, where the water level had dropped severely due to the great drought, and no scouts discovered the traces of this Ming army.

After hearing this, Lu Zhifan suddenly fainted, until he was woken up by his subordinates, and then shouted:

"I'm not as good as Li Xin!"

Lu Zhifan was frightened again, at this moment he already felt that he was powerless against Li Xin, Li Xin was not like this when he was in Gaoyang, judging from the appearance at that time, at best, he was a rough man with some ability, who would have thought that it would be a character of Han Xin.

He even had unrealistic fantasies, if he hadn't chosen to support Zhou Jin and Lei Xianling to deal with Li Xin, but had firmly supported him in presiding over the defense of Gaoyang City, would his fate be different today? However, he was soon pulled out of his fantasy by the harsh reality.

The scout reported again: "The thousand-man cavalry of the Mongol Eight Banners who went to block it were all annihilated. ”

"What? Annihilated? Did you read that right? ”

How could the scout be mistaken, Lu Zhifan felt fear for the first time in his heart after seeing him nod his head again to confirm, he not only underestimated the strength of Li Xin but also underestimated the strength of the Three Guards, the Mongolian light cavalry can be said to be unique in the world, even if it fights against the Manchurian Eight Banners, it may not be completely annihilated, could it be that Li Xin's Three Guards Army is even stronger than the combat effectiveness of the Manchurian Eight Banners?

As soon as he thought of this, all kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind, so why didn't Li Xin set up an ambush and besiege on his way to Maoerzhuang? Is it better to wait until you realize the danger and prepare for defense?

All kinds of circumstances are gathered together, and I am afraid that there is only one reasonable explanation, that is, Li Xin's main force has indeed run out of ammunition, and his previous dates or sneak attacks are actually suspicious soldiers to attract his attention, but the real killing move is this heavily armed infantry army.

Lu Zhifan sat on the bed of the army commander, embarrassed, and he thought that he had a plan, delaying the horse thief Li Xin's three guards, but he never expected that he would be tricked in the end.

"Mr. Lu......"

Lu Zhifan was awakened by the scout's urging, and he made a decision on the spot.

"Order all the departments of the Han army to block the Ming army with all their might, and make it difficult for them to advance half a step."

The herald soldiers took the order and left, and Lu Zhifan still felt that he was not enough after sending out the Han army banner, and sent the cavalry of the Mongolian Eight Banners out to attack the flank of the Ming army, only hoping that the first battle could repel the Ming army that suddenly appeared, otherwise once it was delayed for a long time, Li Xin, who was on the back, got the news, although they were likely to have run out of ammunition, but the shape they faced under the attack of both sides was definitely very dangerous.

This Ming army was Cheng Mingjiu under Li Xin, the first and second infantry battalions and the first artillery battalion of Heisenberg, they Yu Yang and Wei replenished enough ammunition, and they came all the way north, witnessing the atrocities of the Tartars, the army was already angry to the extreme, and the dilapidated and abandoned castle of Zhenwei provoked the revenge of the army.

After the battle in the steppe, they already had enough experience for the opposing Mongolian cavalry, plus the Mongolian Eight Banners cavalry under the Lu Zhifan was very light on the enemy, and they were bombarded by Heisenberg's cannons. After the opponent rushed into the range of the muskets, thousands of muskets fired in a volley, and the projectiles rained down.

The Mongol cavalry of the Eight Banners was immediately disrupted when the beaten man turned on his back, and by the time they gathered and retreated, they had already withstood three cavalry fire within the range of the musket. At the same time, Heisenberg's 1st Artillery Battalion mounted a rifle with a simulated wing-loaded shotgun, and a volley of cannons swept away a group of men and horses.

Until the cannon was red and hot, the cavalry and horses formed by the two infantry battalions immediately rushed out from both flanks to pursue them, and used the improved muskets made by the ironworks, which were short-barreled muskets that the riders could load and shoot on their horses.

Hundreds of cavalry chased after it, and after a volley, they hung their muskets on their saddles, and slashed them with their swords, and the Mongolian Eight Banners cavalry had never seen such powerful artillery and muskets.

Soon the infantry of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty shouted the trumpet and gathered again, and under the constraints of Lu Zhifan, they gave up the initiative to attack, but formed a defensive formation on the road that the Three Guards must pass, waiting for the Three Guards to come to attack and then take the opportunity to counterattack.

Cheng Mingjiu didn't care about this, sneered three times, and ordered Heisenberg's First Artillery Battalion to cover it with firepower. Dozens of cannons fired in unison, and the Han army's banner army array was suddenly plunged into a rain of artillery shells, and the chaos rose sharply.

Lu Zhifan's pupils shrank suddenly, he never expected that Li Xin had used artillery so well, and he secretly screamed in his heart...