After two rounds of test firing, the Xuanfeng battalion began to fire artillery fire, and the wooden city tower in Cixian County was bombarded by shells and debris flew everywhere. The pillars, which had fallen into disrepair for a long time, had decayed and began to break after a few rounds, and the gatehouse creaked with a tooth-aching creak, and the cracks on it continued to expand and stretch, until finally began to disintegrate with a loud tearing sound. Half of the gatehouse collapsed violently, and a whole gatehouse fell in front of it, falling in front of the east gate under the gaze of the Ming army, and shattered into tens of millions of pieces.

"Hooray!"

The Ming army cheered in unison, and the soldiers of Chu and Bian, who were ready to go, began to move forward, filling the trench with the dirt bags they were carrying. No fire was fired from the smoke-covered gatehouse, and some Ming soldiers even wondered if there were any living people on it.

The engineer team of the Selector Battalion had retreated to Homer's flag, and the intrusive army did not make any return fire, which made the Selector Battalion a little unexpected: "Are they ready for street fighting?" ”

Since the intruders are planning to fight in the streets, they must be prepared to let the flintlock musketeers enter the city. Homer immediately sent people to inform Huang Shouque and General Yu Dong, telling them not to rush into the city after the city was captured, and that the soldiers of the Xuanfeng battalion would follow them up the wall to provide them with fire cover.

After the ditch facing the city tower was filled, the Chu army pushed the rushing cart that had been prepared for a long time towards the city gate. At present, the morale of the Ming army is high, and they see that the friendly firepower has beaten the enemy army to the point that they dare not show their heads, and it will be a safe and comfortable thing to storm the city gate. The soldiers who had filled in the first way to the trench began to fill in the other sections of the trench, which were used as passages for the ladder soldiers to approach the walls.

"Do you want our sappers to help?"

Seeing that the intrusive army did not fight back at all, a staff officer also seemed eager to try: "Or simply blow up the city gate." ”

"There's no need for that." Homer observed the progress of the friendly forces: "I think they are fast enough, the commander has explained, we must try to avoid losses." ”

As if to confirm Homer's foresight, a row of human heads suddenly appeared on the long-dormant wall, and stones and logs were thrown down like a torrential rain, and the Ming soldiers who could not hide under the canopy of the car were caught off guard and many people were hit. The artillery of the Xuanfeng battalion had been moving with the rushing car, threatening the position of the city wall on its head, and they opened fire one after another, bombarding the battlements of that section of the city wall that was popping up.

The intruding army could not withstand such firepower, and again hidden, before leaving, more than a dozen torches were thrown out from behind the battlements, they were blocked by the wet cotton quilt spread on the top of the rushing car, and were quickly removed from the car and trampled by the Ming soldiers. At the same time as eliminating the fire disaster, the Ming army who climbed out from under the rushing car pushed the rushing car and continued to move forward, and began to hit the city gate of the county.

In the city of Ci County, Li Guo just gathered 1,500 elite soldiers in front of the north gate and handed them over to Li Laiheng to command, which was the main force of the Chuang army in Xi County, and Li Guo only had 500 elite soldiers and 6,000 second-rate soldiers left in his hands to continue to hold the city. Seeing the many heroes around him, Li Laiheng couldn't help but feel proud in his chest, and he waved his hand: "Open the city gate and let me kill the officers and soldiers without leaving a single piece of armor." ”

Tanma, who was monitoring the movement of the intruding army outside the north gate, immediately noticed this move of the intruding army, and while they continued to observe, they flew a report to several generals who were attacking the city outside the east gate.

After learning that the north gate was opened, Homer's first reaction was that the army was going to run, and when the second news came, he heard that the cavalry of the army not only did not run out of the city, but began to line up, Homer's heart couldn't help but be suspicious. Soon the latest news came that Tanma reported that there were 1,500 men in the breaking army, and that they had completed their formation and began to march to the east, that is, in the direction of the Ming army's flank. Before launching the attack, the Xuanfeng battalion had watched every move of the county very vigilantly, worried that a large number of thieves would rush out to counterattack; After blocking the city gate and starting the siege, the Selector Battalion believed that the main threat would come from the daring counterattack of a small group of men, and the Selector Battalion had been preparing to fight back such a counterattack; Now, the actions of the intrusion army are somewhat unexpected.

Homer saw from the faces of the staff officers around him that they had received information in advance that there were less than 10,000 intruders in the city, and no more than a quarter of them were more combat-ready. This force may have no problem defending the city in front of the Ming army of Guide Province, but it may not be able to win in a field battle against the two generals Huang Shouque and Yu Dong; And if the invading army wants to interfere with the siege by counterattacking, then the effect of using multiple small-scale death squads is stronger than that of field warfare.

"Send 1,500 people, what is the intention of this thief?" He Ma was very puzzled by this, and several staff officers around him couldn't make up their minds for a while. Going out of the city to counterattack, it is useless to use second-rate troops, so this group of people must be Li Guo's main force. But if the invading army intends to fight in the field, why wait until now, so that the thousands of cannon fodder troops in the city will not be used? And if you decide to defend the city, you have never heard of counterattacking with all the main forces.

"It's not good not to eat the meat that is brought to your mouth." The Bian's army on the right flank was attacking the city and had no time to separate, so Homer quickly made a decision to let the whole battalion immediately go to meet the intruding army out of the city. A staff officer next to him suggested that it might be the idea of using second-rate troops to attract the attention of the Xuanfeng battalion, but it was the idea of counterattacking from the other flank. He Ma was not worried about this situation, if it was really a second-rate army, then the Xuanfeng battalion would be able to break them up in the blink of an eye, he just sent someone to inform Huang Shouqian and asked him to watch out carefully. As for the artillery corps, they continued to stay in front to cover the siege troops, and Homer did not need them, and was confident that he could easily defeat the breaking army.

When the soldiers of the first group of Xuanfeng battalion bypassed the northeast corner of the city wall, they immediately saw that the intruding army was moving towards this side, and after meeting the Ming army, they immediately began to arrange their troops.

Li Laiheng commanded the troops to lay out a full moon array with a heavy center, and the few cavalry in his hands had already been sent to disperse the Ming army's exploration horses, and at the same time, he also sent five envoys to meet Xu Ping. The envoy sent by Xu Ping just now was Hu Chen, the staff officer of the Guards Battalion, and he predicted that the Guards Battalion would arrive in about an hour, and now there was less than half an hour left. Li Laiheng didn't know if he could carry it until that time, and in order to further attract the Ming army, the Chuang army even retreated to the north.

When he was commanding the troops to set up the formation, Li Laiheng still had time to chat with this staff officer: "Did the soldiers of the Guards Battalion and the West Battalion sleep well last night?" ”

"The soldiers slept well, and General Xu and General Li stayed up all night." Hu Chen's eyes were also bloodshot, and in the need of secrecy, Xu Ping did not send more scouts to the new army garrison but maintained the previous number, but in order to confuse Jia Minghe, he sent more than three times more sentry to the official road to the north.

The staff officers of the Guards Battalion estimated that the general route of movement of these scouts was already known to the New Army, and if the New Army sent troops, they would take a detour to avoid their eyes and ears. As expected by the staff team, these scouts did not find much valuable information until the night of yesterday. However, although these probe horses did not yield anything, the Henan peasants who spontaneously helped break into the camp to reconnoiter the movements of the Ming army received news. Some villages, which were originally located outside the areas controlled by the New Army, found that a large number of officers and soldiers had passed through, and they sent these fragmentary pieces of information to Xu Ping's army overnight, so that they could break into the camp to confirm that a part of the New Army had been dispatched.

……

"A big camp, set up overnight, this morning-" A man who looked to be about twenty years old, barefoot, wearing coarse cloth clothes, and a handkerchief wrapped around his head stood in front of Xu Ping, and the man who lived on the outskirts of Xi County waved his arms in the air: "A group of officers and soldiers drove out of it and went straight to the county seat. I'm afraid there are tens of thousands of soldiers, and there are white feathers on their heads! ”

"Someone with a white feather on their head? And all of them have white feathers? ”

"All of them have white feathers, there must be tens of thousands of ......"

Xu Ping listened to him very patiently, and after a few words of thanks, he asked the guards to take this person down to settle down, and at this time, the staff officers who followed Xu Ping had already spread out the map and found out where the peasant's village was, and at the same time, the staff officers calculated the approximate number of personnel according to the time reported by the peasant, and reported to Xu Ping: "My lord, considering the exaggeration he will inevitably have, we estimate that the number of officers and soldiers seen by this person is between three thousand and five thousand. ”

"It is very consistent with the report of the county," Xu Ping felt that this number was within the margin of error: "It seems that the Feng battalion is selected instead of the Shanlan battalion, but it is still a battalion." ”

Since the new army entered Henan, a large amount of information sent by the villagers has been turned into more reliable figures through the calculations of the staff officers, of course, it will be a little vague but it is enough to verify whether Xu Ping's prediction is correct or not. If there was a special circumstance that exceeded the prediction, the staff team would send scouts there to obtain accurate observations, and the staff team of up to 50 Guards Battalion had a good combination of active reconnaissance and passive intelligence, making the intelligence gathering of the Guards battalion efficient and covert.

Li Dingguo stood beside the staff officers of the Guards Battalion with great interest, watched them make marks on the map, reasonably narrow down the description of the peasants' letters, limit them to a margin of error, and then make further calculations according to the relevant conditions such as roads and terrain to obtain results.

"It seems like it's all arithmetic?"

"Yes," Xu Ping replied, "the staff system set by Huang Hou is almost entirely based on arithmetic, rather than the previous staff strategy, and they will verify whether the conjecture of the head of the army is correct, and turn the commander's determination into orders." ”

Beside the two walked a group of soldiers, these soldiers were almost exactly the same as the soldiers of the Guards Battalion, and they were all wearing hats and short shirts, but they carried a variety of weapons on their shoulders, including spears, broadswords, bows and arrows, and throwing spears. The order had been given to silence the drums, and no further sound was to be made until they reached their destination, but in spite of the absence of any guiding orders from the flag-bearers and drummers, thousands of soldiers marched in unison, thousands of arms raised and lowered together, and the sound of brushing their clothes against each other.

"That's good." Xu Ping paid attention to the army on the road with respect, and praised Li Dingguo: "It's not even two months. ”

"Haha, haha," Li Dingguo looked up to the sky and laughed: "There is a saying: 'A little trick in the rivers and lakes, it is worthless.'" 'Now that you know Huang Hou's method of training, wouldn't it be an idiot to not be able to train male soldiers? ”

As he spoke, another group of soldiers and horses from the western camp came over, and everyone in this team carried a fire gun crossed behind them, with a short knife stuck in their waists, and a long red tie was tied behind the handle, which shook from side to side as the human body swayed, as if countless small flags were swaying in the wind.

"These are all old brothers who have followed me in the southern and northern wars for many years," Li Dingguo's eyes were full of emotion as he looked at the team in front of him. At this time, a group of people came over, and after seeing Xu Ping and Li Dingguo, these soldiers worked very hard, as if there was an invisible rope stopping their waists, and when the four of them passed in front of Xu Ping and Li Dingguo in a neat row, their arms and legs were almost exactly the same height, and from the side it seemed like there was only one person: "To tell the truth, our Xiying has indeed lost nine victories and one over the years, but the battles they have killed Xu Brothers may not be comparable," Although most of these Xiying soldiers are not fierce, But there was a murderous aura that leaked from them, and it was thickly enveloped on this army: "Although Huang Hou's method of training soldiers is wonderful, only when it is used in our Xiying can it be called twice the result with half the effort." ”

After Dafa sighed, Li Dingguo asked again: "What kind of person is the owner of the Xuanfeng battalion that we are about to meet?" ”

Xu Ping waved his hand and called a staff officer, who took out a piece of paper, read out loud to Li Dingguo Homer's achievements, and climbed step by step from the small soldier to the position of the captain and the team officer under the Zhendong Hou: "...... There are also rumors that when Funing Town exterminated the Haikou 20 years ago, General He, as a senior officer, led two teams to garrison a fortress for a long time to monitor the coastline of 100 miles, which was his possible experience of leading the army alone. In the sixth year of Chongzhen, the imperial court rewarded the subordinates of the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, and General He was awarded the position of commander, deputy general Yu Lu, and a beautiful house in Shanxi Liangtian, and became a rich man...... In the twentieth year of Chongzhen, General He and his two sons rushed to Beijing to serve the military training prime minister Huang Hou ......"

"General He has been in the army in Liaodong for so many years, has he ever encountered defeat, has he ever been defeated, has he ever fled in embarrassment, has he ever been beaten and lost his armor?" Li Dingguo asked a bunch of questions.

Xu Ping shook his head and said: "Huang Hou's army is invincible in the world, and everything is destroyed, of course General He has never encountered defeat. ”

"In other words, not only has General He never commanded, but he has never even encountered or seen a battle against the wind, let alone lost a battle?"

Xu Ping nodded: "There has never been, Huang Hou has conquered everything and defended everything." ”

"Haha, it turned out to be a long-won general who has never seen a defeat and can't even run," Governor Li Ding laughed: "Today's officers and soldiers will be broken." ”

At this time, another person came to report to Xu Ping: There are villagers outside who have reported the news and asked to see him.

This villager said that someone in the village heard that a large army had crossed the border from outside the village last night, and this morning the village chief sent him to report to the camp, and hurriedly rode a donkey to drive for a morning, where he met Xu Ping's army.

"Okay, I'll go right away."

When Xu Ping heard this, he hurried away, but Li Dingguo did not follow immediately but fell behind slightly, and after Xu Ping walked away, he immediately beckoned to the left and right: "Immediately find out all the calculations of our Xiying Society!" ”

"Arithmetic?" Everyone left and right were surprised: "Fourth master, we have heroes in Xiying, but where is Mr. Abacus?" ”

"There are so many people, there will always be a few, right?" Li Dingguo advised: "After this battle, I will go to the general to ask someone to build our staff team, you must first pick all the people, if there is no account man, then others, such as tailors, carpenters or something, it is impossible not to know arithmetic, right?" If it's still not enough, then the masons and the goods dealers will understand a little bit, right? I'll go and look for it, and I'll go ahead and see the staff officer. ”

……

"O king, last night, outside our village, it was like a thunderstorm all night......"

When Li Dingguo arrived, he saw another young Henan peasant dancing to Xu Ping, but this time he did not see the staff of the Guards Battalion working, but stood behind Xu Ping with his hands up.

"From dark...... No, I started walking from the time the sun was about to go down, and I walked all night, and when I got up this morning, I went to the entrance of the village to have a look, mother," the farmer said as he gestured to Xu Ping with his hand, and he bent down and cut his hand at the knee of his calf: "The axle prints on the road at the entrance of the village are so old." ”

When Li Dingguo heard Xu Ping patiently ask a few more questions about the length of time it took for the army to pass and the dress of the officers and soldiers, the young peasant spat and talked for a while. Then Xu Ping nodded politely and said: "Thank you for this strong man, if there is any news in the future, please tell us to break into the camp, if there is an accurate time, it would be great." ”

"The king is polite, polite." The peasant saw that the information was useful to Xu Ping, and he also smiled: "If you see the dog officers and soldiers in the future, our village will definitely come to report to King Xu." ”

"Thank you, strong man!"

After the person was taken away, one of the staff officers was so anxious that he jumped up: "My lord, time is so tight, so there is still time to talk nonsense with him?" ”

This news is both inaccurate and very outdated, and probably only serves to further verify that a new army did leave the original camp last night. Now that Xu Ping has clearly learned that it was the Xuanfeng battalion that rushed to the city of Xianxian, this report has become meaningless.

Xu Ping hurriedly ran towards his mount, turned over his horse and ordered the guards to rush with him to join the guards battalion in front, and he explained to the staff officers around him: "Even so, don't let the Henan fathers and elders chill. ”

……

Homer was even more strange when he watched the opposing army open the formation, the soldiers on the opposite side were quite methodical, and they did not panic when they were about to fight. According to the report of Tanma, the comers were flying the banner of Li Guo, the leader of the camp in the county, but their actions were full of strangeness.

"Seems to be luring us north."

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