Hekou Town is located more than 20 miles north of Wuhu City, there is the Qing River flowing through Hekou Town into the Yangtze River, and the official road from Wuhu to Nanjing also passes through Hekou Town, so the location is very important.

The news of the big battle in Wuhu had already reached here, and the people around Hekou Town had fled to nothing. After leading the army to evacuate Wuhu, Li Dingguo was temporarily stationed here, first, to recuperate, and then to wait for the attack on the anti-thief army.

There are 200,000 anti-thieves, so naturally it is impossible to take all the water and land of the Yangtze River, but to march towards Nanjing by land and water. And the town of Hekou is the place where his infantry must pass.

Li Dingguo originally wanted to ambush the army in Hekou Town, and when the anti-thief infantry army crossed the Qing River, he launched a surprise attack, and immediately retreated after giving him some wounds, and then rushed to the next ambush site.

The idea is good, but it turns out to be too difficult to implement.

Mainly after experiencing the humiliation of being attacked by the camp, Yuan Chonghuan increased his vigilance and regarded Li Dingguo as an opponent worthy of attention. During the march, a large number of sentinels were sent to probe the terrain along the way, and whenever they encountered a hill, they would climb a high place to look at it and check whether there was an ambush. Li Dingguo has more than 2,000 subordinates, a lot of them, and it is really difficult to avoid the detection of anti-thief sentinels, unless they stay away from the official road. But if it's too far, you won't be able to attack when the anti-thieves army passes by.

As a result, Li Dingguo's department, which was ambushed in Hekou Town, was detected by anti-thief sentries.

Since there was no way to attack openly, Li Dingguo put his team out openly, blocking the north bank of the Qinghe River and blocking the north side of the bridge through the Qinghe River.

The bridge is a stone bridge and is more troublesome to remove. Li Dingguo thought for a while, ordered someone to get a large amount of firewood from Hekou Town, piled up the entire bridge deck, and then searched for a lot of fire oil poured on the firewood, and then ordered his subordinates to line up on the north bank of the river, just waiting for the arrival of the anti-thief army.

As soon as the formation was set, an anti-thief team appeared in the south of Hekou Town. The leader is the anti-thief general Song Jin.

Looking at the posture of the Praetorian Guards on the other side of the Qinghe River, Song Jin did not give the order to attack, but sent someone Pegasus to report to Yuan Chonghuan, who was in the rear.

Yuan Chonghuan originally wanted to take a boat along the waterway of the Yangtze River, but when he heard that Song Jin had sent someone to report that the Praetorian Guards who had attacked him dared to block the way of the army, he couldn't help but be furious. It was decided to personally command and teach this army a lesson.

So Yuan Chonghuan ordered the commander-in-chief Fang Guoan to lead a fleet to set off immediately, go around the Yangtze River waterway to the back of Hekou Town, and then land, and attack the damned Praetorian Guard from behind.

Yuan Chonghuan himself, on the other hand, personally rushed to Hekou Town to direct the battle against this Praetorian Guard.

During the time of Yuan Chonghuan's arrival, Song Jin was not really idle, but sent a small number of soldiers to move the firewood piled on the bridge deck, trying to open up the road through the stone bridge.

The entire bridge deck was filled with firewood, and the flames were so great that there was no way to save it, and it was not feasible to attack the Janissaries from the stone bridge, so Song Jin ordered to collect firewood from the boats and erect a pontoon bridge over the river.

The Qinghe River originates from the Huangshan Mountain Range, flows into the Yangtze River all the way to the west, the river surface is not wide, it is seven or eight zhang, the water flow is not too urgent, but it is by no means easy to pass, because this is winter, although the river surface is covered with a layer of ice, but it is too thin to pass the people, it is really the river cold to the bone, there is no way to swim across at all, and it also adds a lot of trouble to the erection of the pontoon bridge. Otherwise, some of the thieves were soldiers with good water skills, and they would be able to cross the river easily in the summer.

Song Jin sent people to collect wooden boats and other timber for building bridges everywhere on the south bank, and Li Dingguo was not idle, while sending soldiers to fill the bridge with firewood, and sent firecrackers to patrol along the coast over and over again, and whenever the thieves set up pontoon bridges, they used firecrackers to shoot on the north bank.

After trying several times in a row, he couldn't get close to the riverbank, so Song Jin could only reluctantly give up building the bridge and wait for Yuan Chonghuan's arrival.

More than an hour later, Yuan Chonghuan came, and with him dozens of artillery pieces and thousands of firearms.

The anti-thief army was also equipped with a large number of guns and artillery, which came from Guangdong, and were the weapons of Guangdong maritime merchants to support Song Jin at that time. After the establishment of the Imperial Court of the Prison State, Yuan Chonghuan took power and ordered the reorganization of the army, gathered all the guns and artillery, and formed a Shenji battalion, which was commanded by the deputy general Xu Fuzuo.

This Shenji battalion has 10,000 people, more than 100 artillery pieces of various types, and more than 5,000 firearms, and its strength can be described as powerful. Yuan Chonghuan also sent people to Guangdong to buy more firearms, and at the same time gathered blacksmiths in Jiangxi to start building firearms on a large scale, because Yuan Chonghuan knew the importance of firearms very well. However, far from water can't quench the thirst of the near, whether it is a firearm in Guangdong or a firearm built by himself, it is not needed for the time being.

After Yuan Chonghuan arrived at Hekou Town, he watched the battlefield, looked at the burning bridge, and then saw the Praetorian Guards on the other side of the bank constantly throwing wood on the bridge deck under the cover of the firecrackers, and knew that the flames would not be extinguished for a while. If you want to march quickly, you can only set up a pontoon bridge over the river, or send people to extinguish the fire, or go around the east and cross the river from Huangchi Town, twenty miles away! Yuan Chonghuan chose to attack, and at the same time ordered Song Jin to start erecting a pontoon bridge!

Under Yuan Chonghuan's orders, Xu Fuzuo commanded the gunners to start erecting the artillery, aimed the guns at the Praetorian Guards on the opposite side of the bridge, and then began to bombard.

"Boom Boom"

One after another, the shells fell in the river, on the bridge deck, and on the north bank of the bridge, although the hit rate was not very good, and it managed to force the Janissaries soldiers not to dare to add more firewood to the bridge deck.

"Damn, this has more artillery than ours!" Liu Wenxiu couldn't help but scold.

"Isn't it normal for people to have an army of 200,000 people, so they have so many artillery?" Li Dingguo said lightly.

"We can't beat it, half of us are tiger squat guns, and the range is not as good as others, and there are only more than 30 Franc machines." Liu Wenxiu is embarrassed.

"If you can't beat it, you can retreat!" Li Dingguo said categorically.

The thief army on the other side of the river had gathered 30,000 or 40,000 people, armed with a large number of firearms, and Li Dingguo knew that with only his 2,000 people, it was almost impossible to stop them. The length of the Qinghe River is 100 miles, and people can divide their troops at will, find a place to build a bridge and cross the river to attack themselves, but they have more than 2,000 people, and they can't hold it at all.

"General Li, a thief and sailor division is on the north shore of Hekou Town, and thousands of thieves have landed!" At this moment, suddenly a soldier came to report.

Li Dingguo frowned, there were tens of thousands of thieves in the south, and thousands of thieves in the north landed and killed him, so Yuan Chonghuan wanted to surround himself and annihilate the rhythm here!

"Luckily, I didn't plan to fight them, and the thieves in the north were exposed too soon. Otherwise, if we are fighting fiercely with the rebels on the south bank, and suddenly a rebel comes from behind, more than 2,000 of us will have to confess here. Li Dingguo sneered.

"General, there are only a few thousand thieves in the north, we can defeat them quickly, how easy is it to surround us?" Luo Fengcai said.

Li Dingguo shook his head: "There's no need to fight with them, it's a big deal for us not to go back to Nanjing." ”

"Not going to Nanjing?" Liu Wenxiu, Luo Fengcai and others were stunned.

Li Dingguo stretched out his finger and pointed to the east: "Let's get out of the way, go all the way to the east, to Huangchi Town!" ”

"But then it will be farther and farther away from Nanjing." Luo Fengcai said.

"What are you afraid of?" Liu Wenxiu has already understood, "Let's get out of the way, let the thieves pass, and then kill back to harass their rear, which can also delay their marching speed." ”

......

"Cabinet Department, the thief has retreated!" Song Jin shouted happily.

Yuan Chonghuan frowned slightly, feeling a little troublesome.

The general of this Praetorian Guard was really a little cunning, and he actually sensed his intention to attack from both sides, and took the initiative to let go of Hekou Town.

Of course, he can continue to lead his troops north and kill Nanjing, but it is also very troublesome to have such an enemy army in the rear.

"Cabinet Department, I am willing to lead troops to hunt them down, and I will definitely wipe out this damn army!" Knowing Yuan Chonghuan's concern, Song Jin took the initiative to ask for help. Outside Wuhu City, his own camp was attacked by this damn army and was made a mess, and what made Song Jin feel even more embarrassed was that there were only 500 troops attacking his camp at night. The camp of 50,000 troops was actually made a mess by 500 enemy troops, which made Song Jin really feel humiliated, so he vowed to wipe out this damned army.

Yuan Chonghuan shook his head: "In that case, I'm afraid it will be their trick." ”

With the combat effectiveness shown by this Praetorian Guard, if Song Jin leads fewer troops, he will definitely not be an opponent, and if he leads more troops, even if he can destroy the other party, he doesn't know when, after all, the other party will choose to continue to flee east if he can't fight, in that case, he will inevitably thin up his own troops, making his own attack on Nanjing insufficient.

"Then let them attack our rear army?" Song Jin said dissatisfied.

Yuan Chonghuan smiled coldly: "Just let them attack, I'm still worried that they won't come!" ”

......

In Taiping City, when Yuan Chonghuan led a large army to the city, Qin Xueli, the prefect of Taiping, chose to lead the gentry in the city to surrender.

Qin Xueli is also a native of Guangdong, and he is a fellow villager with Yuan Chonghuan, which is also a reason why he chose to surrender. Of course, the more important reason is that Fucheng does not have many troops at all, and it cannot stop the attack of Yuan Chonghuan's army at all.

If it was a real anti-thief attack, Qin Xueli would naturally not surrender easily. But what is outside the city is not an ordinary thief, but the Jingnan army under the banner of the Qing monarch, and the army that supports Zhu Yousong, the son of King Fu, as the prison of the country. Since this is the case, it will be nothing if it is lowered, it is not considered treason, at most it is a betrayal of the current emperor Chongzhen. However, the good birds choose trees to perch, and the current emperor Chongzhen is very tyrannical, and the gentry and officials in the world have long been separated from him, and betraying him is nothing, at least there is no need to worry about reputation.

Yuan Chonghuan was very happy about the submission of his fellow villager Qin Xueli, and immediately appointed him as the supervisor of the army on behalf of Zhu Yousong, who was responsible for assisting him in leading the troops.

At night, a crescent moon hangs high in the sky, sprinkling the cold and dim moonlight on the earth and on the city of Taipingfu. From a distance in the dark night, the city of Taiping Mansion was lying on the ground like a giant beast, and the anti-thief camp outside the city gave off mottled shadows in the light moonlight.

An army suddenly appeared in the cold moonlight and moved towards the anti-thief camp in the distance, it was the Praetorian Guard led by Li Dingguo.

"The camp looks a little quiet." Looking at the camp in the distance and listening to the occasional drum, Liu Wenxiu said softly.

"In the middle of the night, I must have fallen asleep." Luo Fengcai said.

"General Li, do you want to fight?" Both of them looked at Li Dingguo, waiting for him to make up his mind.

"It's all here, of course you have to fight!" Li Dingguo said categorically.

As long as they can successfully attack the anti-thief camp again, their morale will inevitably fall completely, and they may be able to defeat the anti-thieves in one fell swoop!

Under the command of Li Dingguo, more than 2,000 people quietly moved towards the anti-thief camp, and then stopped at a distance of more than ten zhang from the camp wall.

On the camp wall in front, a torch is lit every other day, which successfully illuminates a distance in front of the camp wall, and you can clearly see the ditch that is more than zhangyu, and a watchtower is set up every dozens of steps, and there are thieves on duty.

"Stomping" a sound of footsteps sounded, and through the wooden fence barracks, a group of thieves could be seen patrolling by.

Obviously, the defense of the thief army has been strengthened a lot, but Li Dingguo is relieved, because it should be like this. That Yuan Chonghuan suffered a big loss, if he didn't pay attention to preventing night attacks, it would really be a waste, and Li Dingguo would be suspicious.

However, this level of defense is not difficult for Li Dingguo at all!

With a wave of his hand, the army quickly rushed over, dozens of long ladders were raised, and they were erected on the trench of Zhangyu, and they easily crossed the trench, and as for the wooden fence camp wall in front of them, it was better solved. Dozens of soldiers rushed forward, and at the same time swung their sharp axes, cut off an arm-thick log in a few blows, and then pushed it hard, and a section of wooden fence several feet wide was knocked down.

"Enemy attack!" Such a movement naturally could not hide the thief soldiers on the watchtower, and immediately shouted, and then frantically knocked the gong in his hand.

The sound of "boom, boom, boom" artillery sounded, and Liu Wenxiu commanded the artillery to start firing at the camp of the thief army.

"Kill!" Li Dingguo shouted, led the troops and rushed in, ignoring the thieves on the tower.

In an instant, hundreds of torches were lit, forming a fiery dragon that smashed into the camp of the thieves.

The torches were thrown on the tent in front of them, and the flames immediately ignited, but surprisingly, no thieves fled in terror in the tent.

Seeing this situation, Li Dingguo was shocked and immediately felt that something was wrong with the situation.

At this moment, he has gone deep into the camp of the thief army for dozens of feet, and he has not encountered a few thief soldiers, which is really abnormal.

"I've been tricked, get out of here!" Li Dingguo didn't think about it, and immediately shouted.

"Kill, don't let them go!" At this moment, shouts rang out, and countless torches suddenly lit up in the camp, forming several fire dragons, which killed Li Dingguo's department.

"Withdraw, withdraw!" More than 2,000 men quickly retreated, but fortunately they did not go too far into the camp, and they were able to withdraw from the enemy camp by climbing over the trench. As long as you sneak into the night, the enemy army has no way to take you.

However, just as they were about to rush out of the camp, a wall of fire suddenly ignited and blocked their way. If you look closely, you can see that the trench that you have crossed not long ago is burning.