Because it was already the beginning of spring, the snow on the road had melted. The whole dirt road looked muddy. The soldiers' shoes were stained with frozen muddy water, and they were so painful that they were piercing to the bones. Therefore, Qin Liangyu could only let the soldiers roast the fire and change into dry walking socks after walking for a while to prevent the soldiers' feet from frostbiting. Therefore, the march of the army could not be fast.

At this time, the army had already entered the territory of Luanzhou. The surroundings are completely deserted. Wu Shigong also often saw corpses on both sides of the road after the snow melted. Because of the cold weather, none of the bodies were decomposed. These corpses were covered with a layer of ice, and the whole corpse seemed to be sealed in ice, and the expressions on the faces of the corpses were extremely hideous.

And the spies sent out by the army began to encounter a large number of spies from the Houjin army. Because the spies sent out by Wu Shigong's army were based on squads, the spies of the Houjin Army who encountered them basically turned around and fled. Of course, I was also afraid that the Houjin army would have some ambushes, and I had some psychological shadows on the Houjin army's cavalry and archery skills, so Wu Shigong's spies did not chase after them.

And the spies sent by Qin Liangyu's army were not so lucky. They had already lost five or six men in the strangulation battle with the spies of the Houjin army.

Qin Liangyu's white pole soldiers were basically infantry, and the number of cavalry they could use as spies was very small, only more than two hundred horsemen. In addition, the horses used by the white pole cavalry are all southern horses, and the size of the horses is relatively small, so in the strangulation battle, they are basically in a disadvantageous position.

Therefore, Qin Liangyu reluctantly ordered himself and Wu Shigong's spies to reconnoiter within a radius of about ten miles from his army. It's just that these spies play an early warning role in preventing the sneak attack of the Houjin army. Anyway, Luanzhou City is there, and when you get there, you can always catch the Houjin army and fight. Now it is enough to ensure the safety of the army while marching.

From this it can be seen that in ancient battles, it was quite painful for cavalry not to have an advantage. At the very least, the reconnaissance of their own army was greatly hampered.

What Wu Shigong didn't know was that Qin Liangyu's order to let all the spies take back was issued in a timely manner. Because at this time, in response to the squad-based spies sent by Wu Shigong, the Houjin Army has also increased the number of spies, and also uses the squads as a unit, wanting to strangle Wu Shigong's squad-based spies.

It was only because those spies had shrunk around their own army that the spies of the Houjin army did not go any further, for fear of startling the snakes. Because, the Houjin army was already preparing to carry out a night attack on Qin Liangyu's vanguard army.

At that time, for the Ming army, there was basically no practice of night marching and night raiding. Because, at that time, basically all the soldiers of the Ming army were malnourished, so many soldiers suffered from night blindness. Therefore, there was simply no way to march at night and attack at night.

On the contrary, because the staple food of Houjin Jun is meat and milk, the nutritional intake is relatively balanced. As a result, fewer people suffer from night blindness. So, in the war at that time, the night has always been the Houjin army.

However, unlike in the romance, in ancient battles, there were quite few examples of night raids and night marches. Because, as long as the enemy is well-trained, the results of the night attack are not great, and the casualties of the people who launch the night attack may exceed that of the enemy who is attacked by the night, unless the enemy breaks the camp or howls the camp;

Second, if there is a battle the next day, those soldiers who participate in the night march and night attack will definitely not be able to participate in the battle the next day. Because in ancient times, fighting a war was a matter of individual labor. Besides, people may be able to grit their teeth and resist the past. But if the horses don't rest, they won't be able to resist it. Isn't this a disguised reduction of one's own combat effectiveness?

Therefore, unless the adversary is an amateur and builds his camp as if it were undefended, or his army is desperate, night marches and night raids will not normally occur.

And this time the Houjin army attacked the camp of Qin Liangyu's vanguard army at night, which was nothing more than to test the combat effectiveness of Qin Liangyu's army and harass Qin Liangyu's army. Of course, if there was an opportunity, these Houjin troops would not mind dealing a fatal blow to Qin Liangyu's army.

That night, when Ba Duli led 1,800 Houjin troops, he walked for most of the night, and after midnight, he arrived at a place four or five hundred steps away from Qin Liangyu's camp.

Ba Duli and several generals of the Houjin army watched from afar. One of the generals beside him said to Baduli: "The trees next to this camp have been cut down, and there is an open space in front of the camp. A hundred paces away from the camp, there is still a brazier, and it is difficult for us to touch it! ”

Baduli nodded and said, "It's too far away." I don't know if there are trenches around the Ming army camp, so send two soldiers to explore. ”

The two soldiers with blue flags immediately bent their waists and trotted in the direction of the main camp. But when they ran to the brazier, suddenly there was a sound of fire in front of them, and one of the soldiers was immediately beaten to the ground. The other soldier couldn't figure out which direction the musket was coming from, so he turned around and ran.

And at a distance of about twenty steps behind the brazier, a secret sentry of Qin Liangyu's army, hiding in the pit, also ran back to his camp quickly with a fire gun. He ran and whistled hard.

The whistle of the alarm immediately caused a commotion in Qin Liangyu's army. Seeing the figure in the camp of the Ming army shaking, Ba Duli sighed and said, "The Ming army has been prepared, let's go back." ”

Although the Houjin army that came to attack at night had already left, almost all the soldiers in the large camp were gathered. Until the light of day dawned, Qin Liangyu sent spies to the surroundings of the camp to confirm that the Jin army had left. Under Qin Liangyu's arrangement, the soldiers took turns to sleep.

This unsuccessful night attack by the Houjin army attracted considerable attention from Qin Liangyu. While letting the soldiers who had been tired for most of the night rest in place for a day, Qin Liangyu sent messengers to Ma Shilong, the chief soldier of Shanxi, and Yang Shaoji, the general soldier of Shandong, who were following him on the left and right, to guard them against the sneak attack of the Houjin army. And let them speed up their march and move closer to themselves.

After receiving the report, the two armies immediately picked up speed. Because of the collapse of the original Shanxi Qinwang army, the Shanxi army led by Ma Shilong, the current Shanxi commander-in-chief, is composed of a part of the defeated soldiers, a part of the military households that were transferred, and a part of the temporarily recruited soldiers. Therefore, the military quality of the soldiers is very low.

In addition, Ma Shilong, the chief soldier of Shanxi, also recruited a large number of young and strong soldiers like Qin Liangyu. Therefore, when the army picks up speed, the whole army cannot maintain the marching column, and the whole army is scattered.

When the cavalry of the Houjin army appeared, Ma Shilong, the chief soldier of Shanxi, had just lined up his army, but the young men on the periphery fled in the direction of the formation of the Shanxi army under the pursuit of the Houjin army.

And because these Shanxi soldiers were inexperienced, when they saw these young men running over, they all raised their weapons. At this moment, the young men who rushed in suddenly disrupted the formation of those soldiers. Seeing that the formation of his soldiers was disrupted, Ma Shilong, the chief soldier of Shanxi, turned his horse's head and ran. As soon as the commander ran away, all the soldiers fled.

However, because those Houjin troops failed to attack Qin Liangyu's camp last night and tossed for most of the night, their horsepower was not enough. Therefore, these post-Jin troops also did not pursue for long distances.

Moreover, because those young and strong people were blocked on the periphery, although the army in Shanxi was scattered, the losses were not large. After escaping for a long distance, Ma Shilong, the chief soldier of Shanxi, gradually gathered his soldiers.

However, there are almost no people left behind those young people. Except for some who were killed by the Houjin army, most of the other young men ran home. As a result, the army of Ma Shilong, the chief soldier of Shanxi, no longer dared to move forward, but retreated to the rear.

After Yang Shaoji, the general soldier of Shandong, received the news that the two Ming armies were attacked, he fell into a dilemma. He didn't want to go back like that, and he didn't dare to go any further.

Therefore, when the Houjin army rested for a day and arrived at the Shandong army led by Yang Shaoji, the general soldier of Shandong, the next day, this Shandong army was almost unmoved. But even if your Shandong army simply camped in place, they were still on the road, maintaining a marching posture. It's ridiculous, you're not marching anymore, what's the use of staying on the march? Is it to perform a standard self-deception?

However, the quality of this Shandong army is much higher than that of the Shanxi army. Seeing the Houjin army, they immediately lined up in formation and waited for the charge of the Houjin army.

The Later Jin army has been fighting with the Ming army for N years, and they are quite familiar with the tactics of the Ming army. They dismounted about a hundred and twenty paces from the Ming army. In groups of ten, one of them makes a stake and holds the reins of the ten horses. The remaining nine men used their longbows to fire round after round of volleys.

The arrows fired by the Houjin army caused a great confusion in the formation of the Shandong army, and the musketeers and archers of the Shandong army standing in the front row also blindly shot outside the range, almost no casualties of the Houjin army.

Seeing that the formation of the Shandong army was out of order, the Houjin army immediately mounted his horse and launched a charge. The poorly trained musketeers didn't have time to shoot a second round, and only a few archers shot a few sparse arrows. Those arrows only caused casualties to a few unlucky people in the Houjin army.

When the cavalry of the Later Jin Army rushed into the formation of the Shandong army, the entire army also collapsed. And Yang Shaoji, the general soldier of Shandong, also fled under the protection of his own soldiers.

Fortunately, just when the Houjin army wanted to expand the results of the battle, more than 1,300 cavalry pioneers of Liaodong led by deputy generals Zu Dale and Zu Kefa arrived. After they received the Shandong army, they gradually stabilized their position.

After confronting each other, neither side dared to attack the other, so they retreated. In this way, the two armies on the left and right sides of Qin Liangyu's army not only did not move closer to Qin Liangyu, but both withdrew after the rout.