In Gaoyang, he broke the commander of the guard, which made Duoduo, the prince of Yu of the Qing Dynasty, very angry, and after the whole army rested for an hour, Duoduo ordered the army to set off.

Duoduo's light troops advanced and approached the city of Lixian on the 26th.

Like Gao Yang, the Manchurian soldiers launched an offensive against Lixian immediately after the troops approached the city, and at the same time sent a large number of scouts and cavalry to detect the movements of the Ming army.

At the moment when the Qing army and horses assembled, he opened the gate of the north city of Lixian County, and organized the people of the whole city to welcome the Qing army into the city.

However, the groveling of the soldiers and civilians of Lixian County was not tolerated by the Manchurian soldiers, and in exchange for only the cold steel knife.

After the Qing army entered the city, Duoduo immediately divided his troops to control the four gates of Lixian, and then launched a bloody massacre.

As in the past, all the people in Lixian County, men and women, young and old, were the targets of the Manchurian soldiers' frenzied slaughter, and they roamed the streets and alleys of the city with bloody knives and spears.

Everywhere they passed, they were covered with the stumps and severed arms of the Han people, and one after another the Han people fell under the swords and spears of this group of beasts.

No one dared to resist, and the men trembled as they watched as their women were dragged out of the house by the beasts, and then their dresses were torn open in full view of everyone.

The red-eyed Manchurian soldiers did not spare even the children, and those inhuman animals even picked up those babies who were less than a month old on the tips of their guns to swagger through the market.

The massacre lasted for more than two hours, and more than 10,000 people in the county seat of Lixian County were almost slaughtered by the Manchurians, and only a dozen or so people hiding in dry wells survived.

After turning Lixian County into a hell on earth, Duoduo directly waved his army south and went straight to Zhending Anping, because according to Wang Wujin, who surrendered, Li Xingzhi, who had plagued Rao Yu Baylor, took his military horses and people to the direction of Zhending Anping on the 24th.

Lixian is also more than 100 miles away from Anping, Duoduo is also an old man, according to his estimates, even if Li Xingzhi preemptively walked by himself for two days, but his own troops are all cavalry, as long as the light troops break through, it stands to reason that they will be able to catch up with this group of thieves the day after tomorrow at the latest.

The prince of Yu Duoduo wanted to continue the pursuit with light troops, which worried the white banner of the army, the capital of Rosh, and the Mongol Ezhen Surina.

After receiving the order of Duoduo, Rosh said: "Prince Yu, our army rode out lightly, and has been running for more than 300 miles in two days, attacking two Ming thief counties, if it is attacking Anping, the minions are afraid that they will catch up with the Ming thief, and our army is also the end of the strong crossbow!" ”

Duoduo sneered: "The soldiers are fast, although we are tired, but the Li thief is advancing with the people, and there are a large number of baggage materials, the so-called opportunity cannot be lost, and it will not come again, now is a good opportunity to capture him in one fell swoop." ”

"Prince Yu, we are all cavalry, and we don't have the weapons to attack the fortifications, and now we are marching on the road, and we haven't captured the people, if the Li thief sneaks into the county, won't we be busy?"

Rosh was still a little hesitant, after all, he had the experience of Abatai, and now he was hundreds of miles away from Dolgon's brigade, once the situation changed, it would be difficult to turn back at that time.

Duoduo laughed and said: "The art of war is cloudy, and only by surprise can we attack it unprepared, there are Gaoyang and other counties stuck behind Li Thief, and his army will definitely be unprepared, south of Anping County is the Hutuo River, our army can only fight fast and slow, intercept Li Thief before crossing the river, and then be able to complete its work in one battle." ”

"This?"

Rosh wanted to say more.

Duoduo waved his hand and said, "This king has made up his mind, so you should prepare as soon as possible, and send troops today." ”

Rosh did not dare to persuade him again, so he had to reorganize his men and prepare to set off with Suzhna.

Duoduo's judgment was good, because the Jingbei army carried a large number of baggage materials, when the Qing army broke through Lixian, the army was able to reach the territory of Anping.

Leaving Baoding, it obviously made the nervous minds of the generals of the Jingbei Army relax a lot, after all, it is more than 200 miles away from Gaoyang, and it is not far from the Hutuo River.

As long as the army crosses the Hutuo River, the sky is high and the birds can fly, and the sea is wide and the fish can jump.

Besides, Lu Xiangsheng's military horse is moving towards Baoding, judging by the time, maybe it has already engaged Dolgon's army at this moment, with Lu Xiangsheng's military horse on the side, can Dongyu An'an advance lightly?

Therefore, all the generals of the Jingbei Army, including Li Xingzhi, were optimistic that they would be able to safely transfer to Shandong.

Lu Liangzhi of Xin'anzhi County, who accompanied the army, was worried about the current situation, and after the army was transferred to Anping County, he suggested to Li Xingzhi that he should immediately erect a pontoon bridge over the Hutuo River at night and arrange a defensive line, so as not to mess up when crossing the river in the Ming Dynasty, and if the Qing army arrived in pursuit, it could also deal with it.

Yang Biao scoffed at Lu Liangzhi's words and said mockingly: "Lu Zhixian, aren't you scared by the Tartars, Anping is more than two hundred miles away from Gaoyang, and there is Lixian in the middle, even if Dongyu has wings, it is impossible to enter Zhending so quickly!" ”

Wang Zhong and other generals of the Jingbei Army also echoed: "That is, our army supports the old and the young, and carries so many heavy supplies, and the old and weak in the rear camp are already tired. ”

Regarding Lu Liangzhi's words, Li Xingzhi agreed at the moment: "Sun Tzu's Art of War has clouds," Those who do not seek eternity are not enough to seek a time, and those who do not seek the overall situation are not enough to seek a domain. ”

Now the army has entered Anping, now the Hutuo River is in front of you, the so-called people who travel a hundred miles are half ninety, if they do not strike while the iron is hot, if they are delayed in Anping for two days, once they are caught up by the Dongyu, it will not be a failure.

So he said at the moment: "Don't say it, what Lu Zhixian said is reasonable, the Qing army is all cavalry, if we come by the same way, it will not be good if we are forced by them to be in Anping, only by crossing the Hutuo River, we will be completely safe, I intend to mobilize the people in the city to go to the Hutuo River to build a pontoon bridge, and the fire battalion immediately carried heavy artillery to set up a defense line on the south bank of the Hutuo River, so as to welcome our brigade to cross the river." ”

"Whoa!"

Li Rui got up to take the order, but there was some slander in his heart, not because he was dissatisfied with Li Xingzhi, but because he was as timid as a mouse who despised Lu Liangzhi.

Lu Liangzhi continued: "Since General Li has arranged for the fire battalion to be armed, he can allow this county to go with him, and if there is a change, this county and Li Yingguan can also take care of it." ”

Li Xingzhi is not allowed, after all, the conquest of the people and the construction of fortifications, Lu Liangzhi, the magistrate, must be much better than Li Rui.

With Lu Liang's direct co-ordination, coupled with the fact that the wages offered by the Jingbei Army are also quite generous, each person has two dollars of silver, and the young people in the city are naturally enthusiastic to sign up.

Hutuo River is a tributary of Haihe River, with a total length of more than 1,600 li, and the Anping section is also called Grape River, with a width of more than 100 meters.

Now it is late October, and the current is not turbulent, so the pontoon bridge is also very simple, just gather the fishing boats on the left side of the week, lay the planks, and fix them with hemp rope, as for the defensive line, set up some earthen ramparts to arrange artillery.

As the saying goes, money can make ghosts grind, and under the overnight rush of the people of Anping, three pontoon bridges were built in the middle of the night.

At dawn the next day, that is, on October 27, the 11th year of Chongzhen, the Jingbei Army reorganized and hit the road, and the continuous forced march had already made the old and weak of the army complain, if it were not for Li Xingzhi's strong pressure, they would not want to leave at all.

Nearly 4,000 officers and soldiers of the Gangfeng Battalion, the Shock Prisoner Battalion, and the Cavalry Brigade protected the Cavalry Brigade and slowly marched towards the Hutuo River pontoon bridge.

The clinker was less than seven miles away from the Hutuo River when the Jingbei Army marched, and a large number of Qing army sentry horses appeared on the official roads in the north.