After the conquest of Yingzhou on the 20th day of the first lunar month, the scope of cavalry activities of the Runing Army was limited to an area about 100 miles away from Yingzhou in the direction of Fengyang, giving limited pressure to the peasant rebel army.

After three days of carnival in Fengyang, it was discovered that there were three ways of Ming army about to arrive, and the peasant rebel army went south to cross the Huai River to attack Luzhou according to the route judged by Wu Shigong.

Because of the large number of mules and horses captured in Fengyang this time, the peasant rebels also acted quite quickly, and the vanguard troops rushed to the Huai River in the Huainan section within two days.

But for the army crossing the river in winter, the current Huai River is the saddest. If it is north, then the river is completely frozen, and the army only needs to distance the march to ensure that the ice in the middle of the river does not break; If it is in the south, the river without ice can be crossed by boat or pontoon.

But the current Huai River is different. There is ice in the place where it lands, but in the middle of the river there is ice and ice water, and it is impossible to sail boats, so you can only use a very troublesome way to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river.

Therefore, when the vanguard of the peasant rebel army had just arrived at the Huai River and wanted to collect ships to build a pontoon bridge, the Runing Army scouts, who had been reconnoitring on the shore for a long time, quickly passed the news back to Yingzhou.

So on the 24th day of the first month, the whole army of 10,300 people of the Runing Army set out for Huainan. After two days of normal daytime marching, on the night of the 25th, the rapid march approached a place about 30 miles from the point where the peasant rebels crossed the river.

After the peasant rebels arrived at the Huai River on the 25th, it took a whole day to erect 11 pontoon bridges on the afternoon of the 26th.

However, the peasant rebels were too numerous and seized too much and too heavy until the early morning of the 27th, with the exception of the vanguard of more than 6,000 men who crossed the river to take control of the area on the other side. The rest of the brigade was late. At this time, they had not yet discovered the Runing army thirty miles west of them.

"Move!"

With Wu Shigong's order, the whole army of Runing Army went out of the camp to march in the Zuihou section. The amount of mule and horse equipment of the Runing army is also amazing, so with the addition of those supplemented in Guide and Runing, and those requisitioned in Yingzhou, each squad has two carts. One of them was armed with weapons and armor, while the other was a squad of soldiers.

The cavalry of the five companies was scattered in front as spearheads, while the rest of the cavalry all dismounted, pulling their horses and advancing with the brigade.

It's still a rest for ten miles. For the first ten miles, there were no spies from the peasant rebels. When it was time to rest, the five cavalry companies that had been the top soldiers were replaced. The other soldiers fed the horses once and checked the wheels of the cart again.

At the beginning of the second ten miles, the brigade of the Runing Army was discovered by spies scattered on both flanks of the peasant rebels. However, the spearhead soldiers of the Runing Army only ensured the safety of their own brigade, and as long as the spies of the peasant rebel army were not too close, they would not go forward to strangle them. Just dispersed the spies.

Now the Runing Army is very close to the crossing point, and it doesn't matter at all that the peasant rebels have discovered it. In such a short period of time. The peasant rebels simply could not cross the river entirely. Therefore, the only option for the peasant rebel army was to arrange an army to intercept the Runing army.

When the second ten miles passed without danger and danger, the Runing army began to prepare for battle. They helped each other put on their armor, and the cavalry fed their horses zuihou once, and then immediately according to the usual training, the troops were lined up.

"Check!" The officers of the various units gave the order of zuihou before the battle. All the soldiers inspected their armor, weapons, and harnesses again. Zuihou twitched his waist knife, causing a "chirping" sound in the whole army.

Because at the time of winter operations. Sometimes the knife freezes with the scabbard, so this inspection can prevent the knife from being pulled out in an emergency.

Three infantry regiments formed a phalanx of three thousand men in the middle, and on their flanks were two reinforced cavalry regiments of the cavalry corps of 1,300 cavalry each, and behind them were the reinforced artillery regiments with all the artillery concentrated. A standard infantry cannon formation was formed. became the main force of this operation. And this main force will be commanded by Zhou Xun.

Behind the infantry artillery formation, there are the pro-soldier team, engineer regiment and other troops led by Wu Shigong, which also have six three-pounder guns to protect the Chinese army, as well as more than 800 cavalry such as the pro-soldier team, which is ready to support the main force at any time as a general reserve.

"Hurry up! Hurry up! The official dog is almost here! "On the right side of the peasant rebel army happened to be the subordinates of the sweeping king, and in the hurry, the sweeping king dispatched more than 8,000 soldiers to block the advance of the Runing army.

The leaders of the other peasant rebels in the distance also drew their own troops, but because the soldiers and their families were mixed together during the march, there were not many peasant rebels who were sent out to reinforce the sweeping king in a short period of time.

"Godfather! What are we going to do? Li Dingguo asked Zhang Xianzhong.

Zhang Xianzhong didn't answer, he jumped on the top of a big car, looked at the Runing Army from a distance for a while, and then jumped off the big car and said to Li Dingguo: "Although I can't see the flag clearly, there is only one of the officers and soldiers in such a neat queue as Wu Butcher's. So be it! You personally took care of the four pontoon bridges assigned to us, and let our old battalion go first, and the pack horses and carts loaded with things followed. Note! Move fast! ”

"What about the Sweeper?" Li Dingguo then asked.

Zhang Xianzhong thought about it for a while, and then ordered: "Let the more than 10,000 people we collected in Yingzhou and Fengyang go over, and we will also give an explanation to the sweeping king." ”

In contrast to Zhang Xianzhong's calm and cruel attitude, some of the leaders of the peasant rebel army were fanatical, and they shouted to their subordinates: "Children! We have already dug up the ancestral grave of the Dog Emperor, and the luck of the Dog Court is almost gone! Hurry up and defeat the official dog in front of you, let's go to Luzhou to drink wine and eat meat! ”

"Good! Go ahead! The ragged peasant rebels also cheered feverishly.

Bands of peasant rebels rushed to the sweeper, and soon there were more than 18,000 people in the sweeper. At this time, the Runing army was only more than two miles away from the people and horses of the sweeping king. They stopped, preparing for the battle that was about to take place.

And the more than 18,000 people here in the sweeping king, because there is no formation at all, so it is chaotic arrangement, so at a cursory glance, the people and horses are all over the mountains, and the number of people seems to be several times more than the actual number, plus there are soldiers of the peasant rebel army running up behind them constantly, so the peasant rebel army, which thought that it was outnumbered, immediately shouted and launched a charge towards the Runing army. (To be continued......)