During the day, Li Dingguo had already observed the formation of the Funing army, and at night, the Sanxi Battalion moved together to quickly move the big stone blocking the city gate. Before the city gate was opened, Li Dingguo asked some soldiers to descend from the city wall, and as soon as the city gate was opened, the three horse teams of the Sanxi Battalion roared out, and the squad that went out of the city in advance followed to launch a charge together.

Most of the Funing Army, which had been busy for a day, was sleeping at this time, Zheng Zhilong believed that Li Dingguo was defending the city, so he was thinking about how to use artillery to drown the intruding army, and he also laughed at Li Dingguo's stupidity before going to bed tonight: he felt that the other party had no concept of the powerful firepower of the Funing Army.

After the loud noise outside the camp, Zheng Zhilong slept out of the tent in a daze, and heard the sound of killing coming from the trench around Gucheng, Liu Xiang did not bring the army so he also lived in Zheng Zhilong's main camp, and when he drove out, he saw Zheng Zhilong being stunned at Gucheng: "Didn't this Li thief block the city gate?" ”

"The death squad that came down from the city, right?" Liu Xiang, who was blind in the dark, couldn't figure out what was going on, and hurriedly suggested: "There won't be many people, why don't you send troops to kill them all quickly?" Otherwise, our cart will be completely destroyed. ”

Zheng Zhilong ordered the army to fire torches to counterattack so as not to kill each other in the dark.

At this time, the first battalion in the west had already poured out of Gucheng, and the bright Funing army on the opposite side was an excellent target, seeing the fierce firepower of the breaking army, Zheng Zhilong suddenly realized: "This Li thief, he doesn't block the door!" ”

At this time, the Xifeng and Xirui battalions that were killed from the city gates on both sides also defeated the Funing army in the trench in front of them, and outflanked and killed from the left and right. Zheng Zhilong saw that the Funing army was in chaos, and said angrily: "This Li thief can be regarded as knowing a little bit of the art of war." After speaking, he hurriedly ordered all battalions to hold the camp and prepare for defense, but the command of the Funing Army was not smooth in the night, and Zheng Zhilong neither knew where the enemy army was, nor did he know whether his men would return to their respective camps safely. On the contrary, Li Dingguo had already assigned the task in advance, and several military camps of the Funing Army were captured and set on fire with a group of kung fu.

Seeing that the general trend had gone, Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to withdraw his troops with all his strength, so as not to suffer greater losses: "Li Thief, an illiterate peasant, didn't expect to be so cunning, forget it, wait for Tianming to settle accounts with him." ”

Liu Xiang and Zheng Zhilong retreated more than ten miles in one go, and when they fled to the edge of the Han River, the sky was just dawning, Liu Xiang looked at the dark wilderness behind him: "Let's retreat quickly." ”

Around the ring regulations, Zheng Zhilong saw that half of the 40,000 troops had run away, and he was full of hatred in his heart, and he was even more dissatisfied when he heard Liu Xiang say this, and said secretly: "If you bring the Zhaoqing army with you, then the Li thief will not dare to go out of the city to attack even if he eats the bear's heart and leopard gall, and now retreat?" Then how do I go back and explain to Shi Dashuai? ”

"Back to the water!" Zheng Zhilong ordered the remaining half of the Funing army to set up a position with his back, and explained to Liu Xiang: "Although he was attacked by Li Thief, he only had 10,000 people, and he definitely did not dare to confront our army during the day. After dawn, I forced the Li thief back to Gucheng, gathered our stragglers, and left. ”

At this time, the engineering equipment that the Funing army had worked hard to carry to the city wall for several days was destroyed by the intruding army, and the artillery and gunpowder that had been transported with great difficulty were all captured by the invading army. And Li Dingguo still refused to sell his bereak after getting cheap, and personally led the Sanxi Battalion to continue to chase and defeat the fleeing Zheng Zhilong, and when he arrived at the edge of the Han River, he happened to see Zheng Zhilong facing the big formation.

"What are you doing?" Zhang Xianbao, the battalion officer of Xirui Battalion, was dumbfounded.

"Where did Huang Hou find these two bales?" Li Dingguo looked at the banners of Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang on the other side and laughed.

"The general always said that the Funing Army is the henchman and descendant of the Marquis of Zhendong, how can there be such a stupid general in the army? And let this idiot lead the way? After hearing that the Funing army was coming, Xu Ping also asked people to send a letter to Li Dingguo, asking him to fight if he could fight, and retreat if he couldn't, or stick to Gucheng and wait for him to relieve the siege of Sanxi Battalion.

"Stick to Gucheng, wait for the general to come and then destroy the Funing army, what kind of hero, wait for me to annihilate this group of officers and soldiers, and then drink with all the kings." Li Dingguo was not in a hurry when he saw that the other party was arranging a formation along the river, and slowly observed Zheng Zhilong's formation, looking for weaknesses and omissions in it: "How to mobilize the formation of the backwater?" Don't panic, see clearly before hitting hard. ”

Seeing that the camp did not continue to pursue, Zheng Zhilong's face was triumphant, and he said to Liu Xiang beside him: "Back then, the soldiers broke the 200,000 Zhao army with 20,000, relying on the backwater array, today I have 20,000 troops, but there are not even 200,000 on the other side. You see, the thieves are timid when they see my formation, so let's not rush to attack at first, and when the thieves retreat, we will pursue them while we are victorious. ”

Li Dingguo carefully observed for a while and confirmed that the Funing Army was indeed a long snake formation, and at this time, the probe horses he sent to the two wings also reported back successively - there was no ambush of the Funing Army. It was also reported that some fishermen and boats had been found upstream, and Li Dingguo ordered the cavalry to withdraw from the battlefield and prepare to cross the river in parallel pursuit.

"Maybe these two straw bales want to learn from Han Xin and fight against the water." Li Dingguo held the telescope and looked at the Funing Army opposite, and couldn't help laughing: "Han Xin is of course fighting against the water, but it's a pity that Taishi Gong cherishes ink like gold, I don't know how many arrangements have not been detailed, this Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang, seeing the four words of the last battle, it's really ridiculous." ”

After the reconnaissance was completed, Li Dingguo did not wait any longer, and immediately ordered the whole army to launch an attack, first tentatively, and at the same time attack the central sides of the Funing Army's long snake formation, making a move to divide the Funing Army into three. Under the fierce attack of the intruding army, the attacked Funing army was quickly beaten back again and again, Li Dingguo manipulated the troops to attack alternately, and the Funing army was behind the river, which could not be transferred in a roundabout way, and the new force in the back row was pressed back by the defeated companions in the front row and could not come forward to fight, if they could not squeeze into the companion arrays on both sides, they had to jump into the river.

Seeing that the situation was not good and the river was not very urgent, the soldiers who were pushed to the water's edge simply took off their military uniforms and ran into the water.

Originally, it was only a tentative attack, but Li Dingguo saw that the effect was even better than he imagined, so he canceled the original central onslaught and threw the reserves into the feint attack in these two places.

When the army reached the river, what they saw was the clothes of the place, and the Fujian soldiers who had not had time to escape from the two wings were thrown into the water and left the battlefield, and some of the good water were already ashore on the opposite side.

The two wings of the Funing Army, which had been cut off from the central general flag, saw that the intrusive army was menacing and lost its command, and they also retreated to the two wings, so that only the more than 5,000 Funing Army in the center was surrounded by the Sanxi Battalion by the river.

After the two sides of the center were broken through the defense line, Zheng Zhilong couldn't see clearly what the Funing army on the periphery was doing, he first ordered the army to counterattack, preparing to attack the breaking army that broke into the defense line with the two wings, but there was still an army in front of him, and the central army with his back to the river could not complete the rotation. After waiting for a while, Zheng Zhilong saw the intrusive army surrounded on three sides, and knew that something was wrong, and most of the subordinates who lost their command had retreated.

At this time, Liu Xiang was so anxious that he was sweating profusely, he turned his head and disappeared Zheng Zhilong's figure, and hurriedly turned his head to look into the water, and saw a white stream rushing towards the opposite bank quickly, so angry that Liu Xiang pointed to the humanoid and scolded: "When is it, can you run?" ”

At this time, some soldiers had already crossed the river by setting up rafts or using fishing boats found by the river, and Liu Xiang saw that a group of cavalry under the banner of breaking into the camp had landed on the opposite side.

"Listen to my orders, the whole army breaks through!" Liu Xiang took over the command and ordered the whole army to assault forward, shouting loudly: "Brothers, kill, rush over and escape." ”

Liu Xiang felt that since the Chuang army had let the cavalry cross the river to pursue, there might not be many cavalry troops on this side of the river that could be used to pursue the Funing Army, and since the Chuang army attacked from both sides, he hoped that the central Chuang army front would become weaker because of this. As Zheng Zhilong said, there are only three battalions of 15,000 people in the invading army here in Gucheng, and it is estimated that the Funing army was also tired from the attack last night, and now tens of thousands of Funing troops are scattered, Liu Xiang guesses that many intruding troops have also scattered to pursue and defeat the soldiers, so if they can fight a bloody way, they may be able to escape from death.

Li Dingguo, who was unwilling to lose senselessly, first ordered to open an opening to let some of the Ming troops pass, and when the Ming army scrambled to escape from this gap, he suddenly counterattacked and closed it, the Ming army in front continued to flee regardless of it, while the latter laid down their arms and surrendered in despair.

The rushing Ming army did not escape far, and was soon surrounded by the intruding army again.

"It's really a victory." Li Dingguo no longer had the best to continue commanding, so he ordered the staff officers: "You continue to command and destroy the remnants of the enemy, and I will go back to the camp and sleep for a while." ”

Li Dingguo, who hadn't slept all night, went straight to his barracks when he returned to Gucheng, and fell asleep on the pillow. After waking up in the afternoon, Li Dingguo first used snacks and tea before letting his subordinates come in to report the results of the battle, and learned that Liu Xiang, the general soldier of Zhaoqing, was captured alive.

"Zhaoqing Commander-in-Chief? Why didn't this straw bag bring Zhaoqing soldiers? Li Dingguo heard that he didn't catch Zheng Zhilong, the deputy general of Funing South Road, and felt a little regretful, but the results of the battle were still very significant, and the 40,000 Funing troops who came to aid Chu had fled so far.

Liu Xiang was dragged into the camp by five flowers, her clothes were torn, and her face was all black and swollen.

"This mad dog!" A soldier pointed at Liu Xiang and scolded: "When he was pressed to the ground, he also bit a brother's calf." ”

And Liu Xiang just raised his chin high, looked up at the top of the tent, and didn't say a word no matter how Li Dingguo's subordinates reprimanded.

At this moment, the officers of the Second Cavalry Brigade burst into the door and reported loudly to Li Dingguo: "My lord, Zheng Zhilong has been caught in his humble position. ”

Liu Xiang, who was like a statue, was shocked when he heard this, and he also turned his head to look at the door, several soldiers of the Second Cavalry had already brought in the wet Zheng Zhilong, who was still naked, and the water in his hair and beard had not yet dried.

"After the sons and daughters crossed the river, they saw that this guy was the oldest and had the longest beard, and no one else cared about him first, and after he was caught, he claimed to be a fisherman from Huguang, but he didn't understand the Min accent and brought him to the lowly position, and it took a lot of effort for the lowly post to understand that he was originally saying that he was a fisherman."

Without waiting for Li Dingguo to speak, Liu Xiang was already jumping up and scolding: "Idiot! Idiot! You have lost all the face of Master Hou! ”

……

Xu Ping, who commanded the army to gallop south for reinforcements, received the good news of Li Dingguo's complete victory on the way, and Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang were also sent by Li Dingguo to the envoy at the same time. As soon as he saw Xu Ping, Zheng Zhilong kowtowed and begged for mercy: "General! I am well aware of the internal situation of the Funing Army and am willing to serve the general. ”

Liu Xiang, another general of the Funing Army, behaved much more backbone than Zheng Zhilong, and immediately scolded after seeing Xu Ping: "Xu Ping! You are still a personal disciple of Lord Hou, and you actually defected? Grandpa advises you to surrender quickly, maybe Hou Yenian will reward you with a whole corpse in the friendship between teachers and students. ”

"General, there is a sailor division of our Funing on the Han River, which is led by the last general's children," Zheng Zhilong was afraid that Liu Xiang would anger Xu Ping, so he begged bitterly: "The sailor has a hundred warships, a thousand cannons, gunpowder, and countless baggage, as long as the last general repairs a book, the child will be happy to vote, ah-"

This fleet on the Han River made Xu Ping's heart pound, and if this fleet joined, it would be much easier to conquer Huguang.

"Zheng Zhilong, are you still human? Have you forgotten the kindness of the Hou Ye? Your son's 'success' is still given by Hou Ye himself, Hou Ye has never named my son......"

Xu Ping waved his hand and asked the soldiers to pull Liu Xiang out and lock him up, and then untied Zheng Zhilong's rope with his own hands and helped him sit down.

"Thank you for the general's grace not to kill," Zheng Zhilong said again: "The Yangtze River hydrology child already knows everything about it, the general might as well go down the river and take Nanjing, this naval division is the elite of Fujian and Guangdong, far from leaving those ships and sailors in Fujian and Guangdong." In the future, the general will be the army division, and the last general will be the general and the water division, so that no one in the world can be defeated. ”

"General Zheng said well, in the future, my lord will not hesitate to reward the marquis," Xu Ping asked the guards to bring tea and snacks to Zheng Zhilong, and ordered him to collect a clean tent: "The general will suppress the shock first, and then I will send the pen and ink to the general's tent later." ”

Zheng Zhilong, who was grateful, immediately wrote a letter of persuasion to his son after settling down in his tent. This letter is very long, full of tens of thousands of words, in the letter Zheng Zhilong burst into tears, not only recalling the relationship between father and son, but also mentioning that he was a free pirate back then, and fought with the Marquis of Zhendong, and now it is not unkind and unjust to go out of the Ming Court.

Two days later, a reply came from the fleet of the Funing Army, and compared with Zheng Zhilong's tirade, Zheng Chenggong's reply was as simple as one sentence: "If the father is not a loyal minister, the son is not a filial son." ”

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