Twenty miles west of Laizhou City, in front of Xiaoguantun, forty Western cannons were lined up, and the muzzles of the guns were facing forward with black holes.

Behind the artillery array, there were 16,000 rebel infantry led by Li Jiucheng, the marshal of the rebel army, and the right flank of the infantry was a 1,000-horse team newly formed by Li Jiucheng's son, Li Yingyuan.

After capturing Dengzhou, Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng's troops divided into two routes, one was led by Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming to attack Huangxian, waiting for an opportunity to kill in Shandong, called "South"; The other way was led by Li Jiucheng and his son to Laizhou, called "Western Expedition".

Because Zhu Wannian, the prefect of Laizhou, Xie Lian, the political envoy, and Xu Congzhi, the guard, refused to surrender, and the city of Laizhou was extremely strong, and there was no Liao army to respond, Li Jiucheng decided to attack. For this reason, he specially brought twenty Hongyi cannons and forty Western cannons from Dengzhou, wanting to knock on Laizhou City in one fell swoop with powerful siege artillery to see if he Laizhou City was iron!

After besieging the city at the beginning of the fourth month and failing to persuade him to surrender, Li Jiu decided to order twenty Hongyi cannons to fire at Laizhou City, and the first round of salvo fire destroyed all the battlements of the city wall.

Because Sun Yuanhua used heavy firearms and invited the Portuguese to train his troops, and the main force of the rebel army, the Liao soldiers of Dongjiang, all received this Western-style military training, so after the sound of artillery, Li Jiucheng did not order his subordinates to carry the ladder and climb the wall without fear of death as before. Instead, he led a group of subordinates to stand on a high place and peeked at the battlefield triumphantly with a clairvoyant mirror, constantly calculating various coordinates and shooting Zhuyuan, and ordered Hongyi cannons and Western cannons to continuously smash towards the city, until the rubble of Laizhou City was flying, and blood and fire were blended. But when the smoke cleared, Li Jiucheng was surprised to find that the city wall of Laizhou had not collapsed due to artillery fire at all, and in his sight, Laizhou City was still standing so tall.

The city of Laizhou is too strong, and this important town, which began to be built in the 29th year of Wanli, has blocked the bombardment of rebel artillery!

Seeing this situation, Li Jiucheng quickly adjusted his strategy, he first divided his troops to conquer the neighboring Pingdu County, cut off the rescue of Laizhou's siblings, and ensured that there was no worry about the siege of the city, and then poured his main force to storm the southeast corner of the city, and sent sappers to blast with gunpowder jars under the cover of artillery fire.

Under this round of strong attack, no matter how strong the city of Laizhou was, it could not stand it, and the city wall collapsed a gap several zhang wide, and the rebels swarmed up to slaughter the city. Zhu Wannian, the prefect of the city, and Xu Congzhi, the guard general, were not afraid of life and death, personally commanded the defenders to pour oil on fire, and used sandbags to plug the gap in time, which blocked the rebels outside the city. That night, Xu Congzhi sent a death squad out of the city to attack the rebels at night, destroying thirteen rebel Hongyi cannons, which greatly weakened the rebels' siege firepower.

Li Jiucheng promised in front of Kong Youde that he would take Laizhou City, but after attacking for a few days and suffering countless casualties, Laizhou City still did not take it, and now he asked the Ming army to destroy more than a dozen Hongyi cannons, which made him feel embarrassed.

Under the thunderstorm, regardless of the fatigue of the troops, he ordered a strong attack again. This time, he asked the Liao soldiers to supervise the formation, and escorted the rebels who were wrapped in them to storm the city, and he wanted to use these cannon fodder to exhaust the strength in the city, and then give Laizhou City a fatal blow.

However, there was disturbing news from Tanma - a Ming army was approaching Laizhou from the west, numbering about 4,000 men.

The Ming army of North Zhili!

Hearing this news, Li Jiucheng's first thought was that this Ming army must be reinforcements from Beizhili, thinking that after the incident, Beizhili had been turned upside down, and the Ming army's combat effectiveness there was so bad that it was not a soldier who could fight at all, Li Jiucheng's eyes rolled and changed his mind to attack Laizhou. He wants to deal with the Ming army that came to die first, to boost the morale of his subordinates, and at the same time, he also wants the Ming army in Laizhou City to die and wait for help!

After leaving 6,000 rebels to continue to surround Laizhou City, Li Jiucheng and his son Li Yingyuan marched west with the elite of the old battalion and more than 10,000 new annexed troops.

Sun Yuanhua's painstaking management did not bring benefits to the Ming Dynasty, but made the rebels superstitious about the invincibility of artillery. At least, Li Jiucheng is now very obsessed with the power of artillery, and no matter where he goes, he always brings these easy-to-carry Western cannons.

The two sides met unexpectedly in Xiaoguantun, only 20 miles away from Laizhou City, relying on the large number of people, Li Jiucheng ordered the Western artillery to be transported directly to the front of the battle, he wanted to see if the Ming army on the opposite side could withstand the bombardment of these dozens of Western cannons!

"Fire!"

With the officer's order, the gunners of the Ming army, who were now rebels, waved down the torches in their hands, and the fire rope suddenly made a "whoosh" burning sound, like the apricots of poisonous snakes.

Burned to the end, with a "boom", the fire flashed, and the cannon roared out and smashed into the Ming army that was arrayed in front.

Forty cannons fired a salvo, the sound moved the heavens and the earth, and the power was also amazing. In the black smoke, there was the cry of the Ming army, and in the clairvoyant mirror, it was full of Ming troops holding their heads and scurrying.

"The Ming army is cowardly, and it should not be shelled, Ying Yuan, take the horse team up. After this battle, Laizhou City is in the bag of our grandfather and son, Ha Lu Ha! ”

Li Jiucheng, who had a beard on his face, was so unhappy that the performance of the Ming army was too bad, and he was in a mess when he heard the sound of cannons. waved his hand and asked his son Li Yingyuan to lead the horse team up.

"Father, wait and see!"

Like the gambler's father, Li Yingyuan is also an open-minded master, and when he heard his father's order, he unequivocally pulled out his long knife and went up with the horse team.

"Kill!"

A thousand rebel cavalry roared and followed Li Yingyuan and rushed towards the Ming troops who were scattering and fleeing.

The Ming army, in the rout, the sight is everywhere crying father and shouting mother of the Ming army, two or three thousand people are running indiscriminately, there are more than 100 corpses on the ground, broken limbs and stumps can be seen everywhere, all of them were stoned to death by Western cannons.

Li Yingyuan's horse team has not been dispatched since the siege of Laizhou began, in addition to the elite Dongjiang Liao soldiers, there are also many horse thieves from Shandong, all of whom are outlaws. If they want to attack the city, they are afraid that it will be discounted, but it is everyone who is chasing and killing a group of Ming troops who are fleeing, the saber in their hands is waved high, and their eyes are full of hideousness.

"Die!"

A knife slashed at the back of a Ming soldier who was fleeing, pulling out a long bloody wound, and the Ming soldier ran forward for more than a dozen steps before he felt a huge pain in his back, and then the whole person leaned forward. The flesh on the back has been completely lifted, revealing the ribs of Sensen, from top to bottom, and then an inch long, I am afraid that people will be split in half.

The rebels were slashing everywhere, and the battlefield was full of fallen Ming troops.

Killing and chasing, the rebels are no longer gathered in one place, they run everywhere.

In the rear, 3,000 foot soldiers also rushed up.