The sailors were equipped with the latest Western guns brought back from Portugal by Mo Qian, and the battleships were lined up on the ship, and the guns on the side of the ship were fired in turn.

In an instant, the river was full of fire, and the ghosts on the city wall of Guichi cried wolf.

The Han army launched an artillery bombardment, and Shi Kefa was not to be outdone, and also ordered the artillery in the city to fire back.

At first, the artillery of the Ming army could still hit the Han warships parked on the river.

However, the commander of the Han army's naval division soon ordered the fleet to retreat and distance itself from the Ming artillery.

As soon as this distance was widened, the advantages and disadvantages of the artillery of both sides quickly became apparent.

The artillery of the Han army could easily hit the city wall, but the range of the artillery of the Ming army was not enough, and it could not reach the warship on the river, and the cannonball could only fall seven or eight feet away from the warship and explode a splash, killing some unlucky fish and shrimp.

Seeing this, Shi Kefa was already dead.

The 14,000 people that Shi Kefa found were all pieced together.

In the first month, Li Zicheng invaded Henan and Nanzhili with a big drum team, and Shi Kefa formed a new army at the junction of Nanzhili in Henan to resist the enemy.

At the beginning, Shi Kefa organized 30,000 horses, and after several battles, less than half of the 30,000 horses remained.

The remaining half of this is all in Guichi City today.

Shi Kefa confidently believes that his 14,000 men and horses have at least fought against the rogues, and they still have basic military training, and they dare not say that they can defeat the army of Mo Thieves for thousands of miles, but it should not be a problem to guard a small Guichi.

The ideal is beautiful, but the reality is skinny, Shi Kefa never expected that Mo Qian's Han army was more than ten times more powerful than Li Zicheng's rogue Keke.

Most of Li Zicheng's troops were peasants and officers and soldiers who surrendered and rebelled, and if the combat strength was described as a percentage, it was less than 50% of the Han army.

Peng Jinhong is now leading the main force of the Han army, the old first battalion and the firearms battalion are Mo Qian's family background.

On this expedition, Mo Qian went to Nanjing, and if he didn't take Nanjing, he wouldn't be able to earn back the money and food spent by the 50,000 troops.

The sailors continued to shell on the river, and after ten rounds of shelling, the walls of Guichi were almost half-built.

Seeing that the city wall of Guichi was so unbeaten, Peng Jinhong ordered the army to land again.

In front of the officials and soldiers of Guichi, the Han army carried out the landing activities in such a grand manner, and it took more than an hour to land.

In this hour, Shi Kefa didn't think about leading his troops out of the city and fighting a decisive battle with the Han army outside the city.

However, as soon as the city gate was opened, the cannons on the river bombarded them, and the officers and soldiers had just left the city when they were killed and wounded by the artillery fire.

After bombing twice in a row, the courage of the officers and soldiers was gone, and Shi Kefa just wanted to continue to go out of the city, and the soldiers did not dare to go.

In the afternoon, the Han army's land was completed, and the equipment of the firearms battalion was also transported ashore one after another.

When larger-caliber artillery was placed outside the city, the officers and soldiers in the city were completely dumbfounded.

Looking at those who manipulated artillery, it was actually a group of Western devils, and the generals of the Ming army were even more depressed.

Some generals couldn't help but point to the city and scolded: "Damn, the equipment of this anti-thief is better than that of our officers and soldiers, and there are foreign soldiers to help them, how can this battle be fought?" ”

Shi Kefa couldn't help but be gloomy when he heard this, the Han army had not yet launched an attack on the city, and this battle was almost impossible to fight.

If the artillery under the city really fires a salvo, I'm afraid that this small Guichi city wall will not be able to withstand a few rounds of shelling.

Just when Shi Kefa was melancholy, the Han army below suddenly sent a fast horse to the position of twenty zhang below the city to shout.

"Listen to the Ming army upstairs, we are the army of the Han king, the king of my family is ordered by heaven to conquer the corrupt Ming Dynasty, today's army is here, not to kill, but to come for the peace of the world, as long as you lay down your arms and open the city to surrender, my commander promises that he will never hurt you at all, and he will not commit any crimes against the people."

When Shi Kefa heard that the Han army actually shouted for him to surrender, he immediately shouted to the soldiers around him: "Shoot him for me!" ”

The soldier immediately drew his bow and arrow, and shot at the city.

It's a pity that the soldier's archery skills are not perfect, and none of the dozens of arrows hit the Han soldiers.

The soldiers who shouted saw this,?? No more nonsense, turn the horse's head and quickly flee back to the camp.

Back in the formation, the soldiers said to Peng Jinhong: "Commander, they will not surrender. ”

"Don't fall? Then it's even better, shoot at me, and this commander will fight them today until they surrender! ”

Peng Jinhong gave an order, and the Westerners immediately began to open fire.

Under the salvo fire of dozens of artillery, the city gate building on the city wall of Guichi could not withstand it at all, and it was bombarded at the first time.

Shi Kefa, who was standing in the city tower and commanding, and more than a dozen middle and senior generals of the Ming army were almost killed.

Fortunately, Shi Kefa was escorted by a group of generals' personal soldiers and escaped.

But three officers were still crushed to death in the city gatehouse.

Shi Kefa looked at the death of the three of them, and couldn't help but feel a little afraid, thinking that if he hadn't been dragged out just now, I'm afraid he would have died inside at that time.

Shi Kefa hadn't come back to his senses yet, but the shelling of the Han army over there was still continuing.

Guichi City was in disrepair, and the city wall could not withstand such fierce artillery, and soon a gap in the city wall was blasted out.

As soon as Shi Kefa saw the collapsed gap, he immediately realized that this place must be the direction of the Han army's main attack.

He immediately ordered men to mobilize troops and horses to defend the gap, but before the order could be delivered, shouts of killing came from outside the city.

Shi Kefa looked outside the city, and suddenly people were dumbfounded, only to see that the black pressure outside the city was full of Han soldiers.

They were running frantically towards the city gates, carrying ladders and planks.

The most tragic siege of the war began.

The soldiers of the Gu Han army were not afraid of death, and the soldiers braved the arrows and stones in the city to rush towards the gap.

Shi Kefa hurriedly beckoned people to plug the gap, and soon more than 100 Ming troops jumped down, ready to fight to the death with the Han army.

But after the Han soldiers rushed up, the soldiers of the Ming army found that the combat effectiveness of the Han army was simply too strong.

All of them are not afraid of death, and as an officer, they will take the lead in killing the enemy.

The gap was quickly breached by the Han army, and the Han soldiers poured into the city like a tide through the gap.

Shi Kefa looked at the Han army that attacked the city, everyone was already stupid, his mind was blank, and he didn't know how to give orders.

It was still a staff general beside him who was clever, and he grabbed Shi Kefa and shouted: "Lord Futai, it is impossible for Guichi to hold it, let's withdraw quickly!" ”

Shi Kefa was dragged by the general and fled from the east city gate, he only followed three hundred Ming troops by his side, and the rest of the Ming army saw that the governor had run away, and suddenly the army was disheartened, everyone rushed to escape, where is there still the courage to resist desperately.

It took less than an hour, the Han army broke through Guichi County, the capital of Chizhou, from the front, and the Ming army defending the city fled except for more than 1,000 people, more than 2,000 people were killed in the battle, and 10,000 horses surrendered.

Looking at the tens of thousands of soldiers squatting on the ground, Peng Jinhong said to Yi Dayong beside him: "Dayong, how much food is there in the army?" ”

When Yi Dayong heard this, he hurriedly called the officer in charge of logistics.

When the logistics officer heard the inquiry, he hurriedly replied: "Back to the commander, the King of Han has already transported 50,000 stone of rice to the army yesterday, and there are 1,000 pigs with the army. ”

When Peng Jinhong heard so much food, he couldn't help but have an idea in his heart.

He said: "In the evening, I will ask the cook to prepare, kill five hundred pigs, reward the soldiers, and in addition, give these surrendered Ming soldiers a full meal, and add a piece of pork to each of their bowls, and the meat shall not be less than one or two weights, understand?" ”

When Yi Dayong beside him heard this, he couldn't help but ask puzzledly: "Brother Peng, a group of surrendered Ming troops, do we need to be so good to them?" If you want to divide it like this, I'm afraid that 500 pigs will not be enough to eat! ”

"That's it, the King of Han ordered me to continue to advance eastward, but our army is still too small, and there are still so many cities in front that we need to break through, how many people do we have, more than 30,000, how many people can be left after these 30,000 people reach Nanjing?

Although these soldiers are from the Ming army, as long as we treat him well, he will be willing to give us his life, pass on my orders, do not abuse prisoners, do not kill prisoners, and treat them preferentially, you know? ”

The commander-in-chief has spoken, and the generals can't be disobedient if they want to.

The Han army has clear military orders, and all actions are under command, and the biggest official on the current front line is Peng Jinhong, who is the absolute supreme commander of the front line, and his orders must be carried out.

With the order not to kill prisoners, the fear and nervousness in the hearts of those Ming soldiers who surrendered was much relieved.

It's not that they haven't heard the news of the massacre of soldiers in Anqing City, and they were also very afraid that they would be killed like the Ming army in Anqing, but looking at the current situation, it should be impossible to kill prisoners.

Not only did they not kill prisoners, but the Han soldiers even prepared dinner for these tens of thousands of people when they were cooking at night.

When the surrendered Ming army ate a bowl of hot dry rice and pickles, the soldiers couldn't help but be moved to tears.

A surrendered Ming soldier looked at the piece of pork in the bowl and even swallowed it and said: "Damn, this food is even better than what the court gave us, no wonder we can't beat the Han army, just eat here, give me food every day, I am willing to work hard!" ”

"That is, what we used to eat, the rice was bad, and it was mixed with sand, and those dog officials in the court would embezzle our military salaries and rations, I heard people say that under the King of Han, no matter whether they are people or soldiers, the King of Han will not make people hungry, and Tian Fu will only pay one percent, and he will also reward the field and reward the silver for meritorious service, I see, this Ming Dynasty will definitely die, and it will definitely be the King of Han who will sit in the world in the future!"

The soldiers of the Ming army were holding rice bowls and discussing the way out in the future.

An ordinary soldier of the Ming army said: "Do you know, I heard that there are two ways out when you are a prisoner of the Han army, one is to pay the passage fee to let you go home, and the other is to stay in the Han army and sell your life to the king of Han. ”

"This still needs to be asked, of course I continue to be a soldier, how many people in my hometown have starved to death, there has been a drought every year in the past few years, the fields at home are dry and cracked, and the fields at home have long been sold to the landlord for food, and now I am giving me the money to go home, and there is no field to plant when I go back!"

"That is, those dog-day landlords, one day, Lao Tzu will use a knife to cut open his belly to see how dark his heart is, my five mothers on the good paddy field, usually sell at least ten taels of one acre, but last year the family suffered a disaster, the landlord bought half a tael of silver.

I can't buy a bucket of rice for half a tael of silver, and my family of five people can't afford to eat a bucket of rice! ”

As they spoke, they began to scold.

Many of them had no way to live, so they joined the Ming army as soldiers.

If it's not for the sake of eating, who wants to be a soldier.

In these years, human life is like grass mustard, there are more people selling children and daughters on the roadside, and how many people have eaten themselves to death because of eating Guanyin soil.

The people all know that this year has been difficult, and the people are looking forward to a heroic figure to lead them through the famine and hunger.

As he spoke, the big guy turned the topic to King Han again.

"King Han is benevolent, I heard that tens of thousands of people starved to death in Wangjiang County, and after the general of the King of Han heard about it, he immediately took out the military rations to help the people, and the King of Han also sent people to transport food to help the people.

"I think the more people who rebel like this, the better, I can see through this Ming Dynasty, sooner or later I will finish the game, and the brothers will not look at it, those who are officials and those squires and landlords, which is not a family with a lot of money, and the food at home is moldy, but that's it, they won't give it to us to eat, like this kind of court, it's good to die early."

"That's it, I think the King of Han is good, I heard that the King of Han is also born in mud legs, when he rebelled, there were only five people around him, and they now occupy the three provinces of Jiangxi, Guangdong, Huguang, and Guangzhou, and if they fight for another year or two, half of the southern country must be the King of Han alone, he will definitely be able to be the emperor at that time, let's join the Han army as soon as possible, and maybe when the country is founded, we can also be crowned an official in the future!"

"Yes, I also think it's good to stay as a soldier!"

Everyone chatted with each other, and before you knew it, the dry rice and meat pieces in the bowl were in your stomach.

Early the next morning, before dawn, 10,000 troops were gathered in an open field outside the city.

Commander Peng Jinhong, the commander-in-chief of the front, personally stood up, and he shouted to the 10,000 soldiers below: "Everyone is a big boss, this commander doesn't engage in those vain heads, just one sentence, follow the Han army, there is food, meat to eat, and silver to take, if you don't want to follow the Han army, the travel expenses of three taels of silver per person, you go home by yourself, you want to follow the Han army, stand on the left, if you want to go home, stand on the right, the commander is not reluctant." ”

As soon as these words came out, 10,000 soldiers and horses instantly began to stand in line, after yesterday's incident, most of the 10,000 people chose to work for the Han army, and only a few hundred people wanted to go home.

Peng Jinhong didn't care about the comings and goings of these hundreds of people, and very generously gave each of them three taels of silver for the journey.

The Ming soldiers who received the passage looked at the scene and finally left.

Although hundreds of people left, most of them remained.

Peng Jinhong looked at the nearly 10,000 horses, waved his big hand and shouted: "By the will of the King of Han, send troops to Tongling!" ”

Lewen