Han Ting's military order came out, and the armies of Jiujiang and Jianmen went straight to Youzhou from the waterway.

At this time, Dingcheng Zuo Houde also received good news from Hanzhou and Qingzhou.

Zuo Houde looked at the messenger in front of him and opened a letter, which read,

"The lord of Qiqi, the last general Zhang Yuan, was ordered to crusade against Qingzhou, wherever the army went, the enemy army fled in despair, the minister set off on July 3, and surrendered Wuchao on July 25, officially occupied Qingzhou, and lived up to the trust of the lord!"

As for Shi Wansui's good news, it arrived before Zhang Yuan's good news came, Hanzhou is far away from Qingzhou, and Zuo Houde gave Shi Wansui an extra month.

After seeing the information of these two people, Zuo Houde showed excitement on his face, and muttered in his mouth: "The north is available!" Northland is available! ”

But I didn't expect it to be so smooth this time, the troops were divided into two routes, and the two states were captured in less than a month. Although Zuo Houde knew that the advantage of artillery was great, he didn't expect it to be so big.

Of course, Zuo Houde also knew that this was the first appearance of the cannon, and many people were directly frightened by this weapon, and their morale was no longer at all, so they surrendered directly.

In Zuo Houde's previous life, when tanks were used for the first time, the British army used tanks for the first time, and unexpected results were achieved. In the first battle, 49 vehicles were put into service, but due to various failures during transportation and maneuvering of a large number of tanks.

In fact, there were only 18 vehicles when the first charge was launched in the early hours of September 16, 1916. The German soldiers, who did not know what was going on, heard the deafening roar of the engines and saw these steel monsters slowly emerging from the morning mist, and they completely collapsed.

In the day's fighting, a tank captured a village; Another tank seized a trench and captured more than 300 German officers and soldiers who had previously been so frightened that they did not know how to flee.

……

Zuo Houde returned to the mansion and beckoned a shadow.

Zuo Houde looked at the shadow in front of him and said, "The battle situation reported by Hanzhou and Qingzhou!" The shadow guard has been heard! ”

Shadow Guard handed over a book in his hand.

Although Zuo Houde has already seen the good news of Zhang Yuan and Shi Wansui, he still wants to understand the details of this time.

Zuo Houde opened the book, Zuo Houde's shadow guard not only existed in the army, but also existed in the cities of Hanzhou and Qingzhou, so the book that Zuo Houde read described the war in great detail!

Zuo Houde read this battle report and nodded, which is similar to what Zuo Houde imagined, most of the cities surrendered as soon as the cannon was fired.

However, Wuchao delayed some time, so Zhang Yuan was much slower than Shi Wansui!

Zuo Houde looked at the shadow of Ming Qian again, and said: "The war situation in Nanjing has been reported!" ”

Ying Yi arched his hand and said: "Lord, Hong Zaixing has retired from Tongguan, and now the battlefield is already in Tongguan!" ”

Hearing what Ying said, Zuo Houde opened his mouth and said: "Tongguan! Guanzhong! Hong Zaixing wants to avoid Nanming's navy! ”

Zuo Houde asked again: "Do you know Han Tingzhi's movements at this time?" ”

"Lord, news came from the shadow guard, Han Tingzhi also led the army to Tongguan!" Shadow arched his hand and said!

"How is the battle between the two sides at this time?"

"Lord, the spies sent information before, Lu Xiaoxian, the vanguard of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and the army of Dayan all the way were fighting up and down, and the two sides retreated! This was news three days ago, and it is not known yet! ”

Zuo Houde nodded, turned his back, walked back and forth, and began to think!

"How is Youzhou now?"

Hearing Zuo Houde's words, Ying couldn't help but tighten in his heart, and said: "These days, Youzhou is heavily guarded, and there is no military news about Ying Wei for the time being!" ”

"How many defenders are there in the city?"

"Lord, before the expansion of Youzhou, although Hong Zaixing's army went south, the defenders in the city were still no less than 200,000 at this time!"

Zuo Houde probed back and forth, "200,000, 200,000!" ”

Zuo Houde suddenly turned around, with a serious face, and said: "Pass the order, let Shi Wansui lead 100,000 troops to Youzhou!" At the same time, I personally led 100,000 troops from Dingcheng to Youzhou together! ”

……

Jiujiang, the Governor's Mansion of the Water Division.

Zhou Tai looked at the people present and said, "Your Majesty sent us to join the defenders of the Sword Gate and attack Youzhou!" ”

"No!"

Zhou Taiyi waved his hand and said, "The army is open!" ”

After everyone left, Zhou Tai pulled out the long sword on his waist and said: "This time is the time for me Zhou Tai to become famous in the world!" ”

At this time, Tongguan, Hong Zaixing did not expect that his Youzhou would be attacked by two sides, and now the two armies are facing each other, although the war has not started, but the daily friction is indispensable, and the two sides also have their own fights, but Dayan's army has the upper hand.

For a while, the morale of the entire army continued to be high, and Hong Zaixing was very complacent!

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is ten days.

Under Zuo Houde's deliberate control, coupled with Zuo Houde's blitzkrieg fought too quickly, the news could not come out in time, and Youzhou did not know the news of Hanzhou and Qingzhou, let alone Hong Zaixing.

What's more, at this time, Zuo Houde's army is already under the city, and Youzhou is even more difficult to protect itself!

Zuo Houde looked at Youzhou City in front of him, and also sighed, he has too many good memories in this city, studying medicine, marrying a wife, joining the army, and being a general are all here.

Shi Wansui, who was standing next to Zuo Houde, saw the memories on his lord's face, and he didn't dare to disturb for a while.

Zuo Houde recalled alone, and finally came back to his senses, and ordered: "Send someone to surrender first!" ”

At this time, the defenders in the city had already discovered the army outside the city, and they couldn't figure out where the army came from for a while, and they didn't dare to act rashly.

After Hong Zaixing left, the main general in the city was Hong Dingyuan, the king of Qin - Hong Zaixing's brother, Hong Zaixing heard that his subordinates were coming, frowned, and asked: "How many people and horses, who is the banner!" ”

The little school opened his mouth and said: "Lord Qiqi, the people who came are playing the left-character banner, and there are about 200,000 people!" ”

Hong Dingyuan muttered: "Left Character Flag!" Left Houde? ”

Hong Dingyuan was also a little hesitant for a while, the general surnamed Zuo was only famous Zuo Houde, but Zuo Houde was still in the southeast, and could he still cross Hanzhou and Qingzhou to attack?

Of course, the main reason is that the time is too short, Zuo Houde captured Hanzhou and Qingzhou in January, and came directly to Youzhou, which made Hong Dingyuan unpredictable.

Hong Dingyuan ordered: "Send someone to inquire!" ”

Before Hong Dingyuan could send people, a voice came from outside the city,

"My lord is Zuo Houde, the general of Zhengdong, and I heard that there are traitors next to Your Majesty, so I came to Qingjun's side! Don't open the door yet! ”

When Hong Dingyuan heard the voice, he suddenly felt a burst of anger in his heart, and scolded in his mouth: "My brother is not in the city yet, this is a rebellion!" Traitor! ”

"Armor for me, take a gun! I'm going to go out of the city and kill this thief!" ”

Hong Dingyuan picked up the spear in his hand, put on the armor, and then led all the way out of the city.

As soon as he walked out of the city gate, Hong Dingyuan immediately looked at Zuo Houde's army, and shouted loudly: "Zuo Houde, you despicable villain with no king and no father!" Lie to my brother when he is not in the city, and dare to raise an army! Bullying the king, the crime is not punishable! I shall catch you alive and eat your flesh alive!" ”

In the barracks of the army outside the city, Zuo Houde looked at the army out of the city lightly, and didn't say much, and ordered: "Long live Shi, lead the troops to go and capture Hong Dingyuan alive!" ”

Shi Wansui originally heard Hong Dingyuan insulting his own lord, so he wanted to take the initiative to ask for troops, but when he heard Zuo Houde's words, he didn't say much, and took his own army to meet Hong Dingyuan's army.

For a while, the two armies met, Shi Wansui found Hong Dingyuan, and the spear in his hand directly met the spear in Hong Dingyuan's hand, and for a while, the two of them did not distinguish between victory and defeat!

Zuo Houde looked at Hong Dingyuan's martial arts from a distance, opened his mouth and sighed: "The second son of King Yan, but he is extraordinary!" ”

Shi Wansui is a wolf general, fifteen-year-old soldier in the army, because of his violent temper has not been reused, and later in the second martial arts exercise was recruited by Zuo Houde into the guard battalion, and since then it has been reused!

Shi Wansui's spear is invincible in the 600,000 troops in the southeast, except for Zuo Houde, who can be slightly superior, and even more invincible!

When Shi Wansui and Hong Dingyuan fought for fifty rounds, Hong Dingyuan made a careless move, and was picked off by Shi Wansui with the spear in his hand, so he could only retreat, and Shi Wansui led the army to pursue the city before retreating!

"The last general has insulted the lord's army order, and failed to capture Hong Dingyuan!"

Shi Wansui clenched his fists and looked at Zuo Houde with a guilty face.

Zuo Houde helped him up and comforted him!

"Pass on our military order, artillery battalion array!" Zuo Houde gave an order.

The standard-bearer next to him quickly waved the flag in his hand, and for a time thousands of cannons lined up, and the muzzles of the cannons were facing Youzhou!

Zuo Houde ordered: "Open the cannon!" ”

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

Countless cannon sounds came out, and the gunners blocked their ears with cotton so as not to be disturbed by this sound!

Youzhou was originally an important city on the northern frontier, coupled with the accumulation of three generations of Hongzhenbei father and son, the city wall was extremely thick, far more than 20 zhang, and thousands of cannonballs hit it, and only some gravel on the outer wall of the city wall was knocked down!

The cannon failed to make a contribution for a while, but Hong Dingyuan on the city wall was shocked! He asked, "What is this?" ”

When they heard Hong Dingyuan's words, they all shook their heads.

Hong Dingyuan forced himself to calm down, he knew that it was not a way to go on like this, if it went on like this, even if the city wall did not fall, the soldiers on the city wall would not dare to stand on the city wall.

After all, their own bows and arrows and crossbow arrows can't shoot at the other side, so if this continues, even if the enemy army forcibly attacks the city, it is not impossible!

Hong Dingyuan instructed left and right, and said, "Go and bring the people of the Zuo clan, Zuo Houde's father-in-law, and the division commander to the city!" ”

……

After a round of cannons, Zuo Houde saw that the city wall was still not too flawed, and wanted to give an order for a while, but he didn't expect a white flag to be raised on the city!

Of course, Zuo Houde would not think that the other party wanted to surrender, so he frowned, revealing doubts: "What does Hong Dingyuan want to do!" ”

Seeing that Zuo Houde's cannon stopped, Hong Dingyuan sent someone to the city to spread the word: "Zuo Houde, hundreds of people from your Zuo clan, as well as your father-in-law's family and division commander are all in the city, if they dare to attack the city again, their lives may not be guaranteed!" ”

After hearing this, Zuo Houde couldn't help but laugh, personally picked up the horn, and shouted: "Hong Dingyuan, the two families are not at war, let alone the family!" Your Hong clan is still in the city, if you move my family, when I break the city, I will definitely kill your Hong clan! ”

Putting down the horn, Zuo Houde ordered again: "Open the cannon!" Break the city! ”

Zuo Houde gave an order, and thousands of cannons fired in unison again, this time it still failed to open a hole in front of this solid city, but this time, the entire city wall kept shaking.

For a while, no soldier still dared to stay on the city wall, Zuo Houde saw this situation, and knew that the time he was waiting for had come, Zuo Houde didn't want to knock down the wall of Youzhou City, so he immediately ordered: "Siege!" ”

Hearing Zuo Houde's words, Shi Wansui immediately stepped forward and conveyed the order, there was no one in the city, the army pressed on, and the city gate was blasted open without effort!

Zuo Houde's foot soldiers walked in front, and the 3,000 musket battalion followed closely and quickly entered the city.

At this time, Zuo Houde knew that although the city gate was broken at this time, there was still resistance in the city at this time, but Zuo Houde had 3,000 musket battalions in hand, so he was naturally not afraid.

In the city, the morale of most of the soldiers has died, and most of the soldiers are not the first reaction to fight when facing unknown weapons with great threats, but to dodge! So most of the soldiers have been dispersed, of course, Hong Dingyuan still organized tens of thousands of troops to resist in the city, and for a time the big battle in the city was about to break out.

Zuo Houde's foot soldiers pressed on, the three thousand musket battalions, lined up in vertical rows, took turns to shoot, within a short distance, the power of this musket is much greater than the bow and arrow, and although the three thousand muskets in the hands of the musket battalion are expensive to make, they are also worth the money, and they can be fired in bursts.

In the battle in the city, Hong Dingyuan's men who had managed to organize were scattered again under the salvo of three musketeers.

At this time, the city was full of scattered defeated troops, and it was impossible to threaten Zuo Houde's army, so Zuo Houde immediately ordered Shi Wansui to capture these soldiers as much as possible.

……

After the battle.

"How, has the battle been counted?" Zuo Houde looked at the scribe in front of him.

After the man bowed, he said, "My lord, this time it should be counted, more than 40,000 people have been captured, more than 1,000 people have been beheaded, and many soldiers have fled!" ”

After hearing this, Zuo Houde nodded, this is the same as the previous battle situation in Hanzhou and Qingzhou, and it was also before, most of the soldiers in the face of artillery This kind of sharp weapon, once the city is broken, most of them will break up and flee to the battlefield!

"How is Hong Dingyuan?" Zuo Houde said curiously.

Shi Wansui arched his hand and said, "Lord, Hong Dingyuan killed himself!" ”

Zuo Houde was silent for a while, and then said, "Thick burial!" ”

……

Zhou Tai's water army, at this time, Zhou Tai didn't expect that the Youzhou City he was going to at this time had been broken, and he was still thinking about taking advantage of this battle to become famous in the world!

And Hong Zaixing, who was in Tongguan at this time, did not expect that Youzhou was broken, his younger brother killed himself, his grain route was cut off, and the balance of victory in the Northern War had fallen to Nanming.

Of course, Zuo Houde will also become the biggest beneficiary of this war!

Five days later, Tongguan.

Hong Zaixing looked at the military situation in his hand, and was silent at this time!

Hong Zaixing knew the news that Youzhou was broken, and for a while Hong Zaixing couldn't accept this result, Youzhou was difficult to break, even if 500,000 troops besieged the city, Hong Zaixing also believed that Youzhou could defend it.

Han Ting's faction Zhou Tai also wants to cut off the grain road, breaking the city is not the key, and it may not be able to break the city!!

After all, Hong Zaixing's family has been operating here for decades, deep-rooted, and has always been supported by the people, it is difficult for Hong Zaixing to accept the news that Youzhou was broken in a short period of time, but at this time Hong Dingyuan is dead, Hong Zaixing can only accept this result!

"I, the Hong family, have been raising generals for 70 years, but I didn't expect to raise such a character! What a left Houde! Hong Zaixing gritted his teeth and said.

At this time, the grain road has been cut off, and even if Hong Zaixing wants to return to Youzhou, there is not enough food!

Hong Zaixing immediately made a decision and immediately ordered: "The whole army only leaves three days' grain and grass, and the rest is burned!" In three days, a showdown! ”