In any case, Dragon Thirteen saw an opportunity.

An opportunity to greatly weaken the officers and troops of Henan and Huguang before the Nine-Sided Border Army and the men and horses besieging Dengzhou arrived in Nanyang Mansion.

You have to do something about it.

Right now, he has two options.

The first is to focus on Xichuan County, fight to the death with the men and horses under the command of the governor of Yunyang, and then take Xichuan County.

The second is to fight a big battle with the men and horses from Xiangyang Mansion somewhere in the south of Nanyang Mansion City, waiting for an opportunity to take Fancheng in the north of Xiangyang Mansion City.

In his previous plan, in order not to alarm the men and horses of Nanzhili, Fancheng's order was the last, but now, due to the convenience of Hanshui shipping, the men and horses from Nanzhili, Jiangxi, and Huguang can easily use the water division to transport the army to Nanyang Mansion through the Yangtze River and Hanshui.

As a result, the impact of the latter is actually greater.

As for the people and horses of Yunyang Mansion, because it has always defended the displaced people of Bear's Ears Mountain and Wudang Mountain, there are not many people and horses, and they can actually be put back.

What's more, at this time, Lao Huihui and Ge Li's eyes have already arrived in Xiping Town, and according to the urine nature of these two people, there is a great probability that they will not go east to Nanyang Mansion to partner with Long Thirteen according to the previous agreement, but will wait and see in Xiping Town.

Once Long Thirteen defeats the official army again, especially the official army from Yunyang Mansion, they will definitely continue to move south and take advantage of the situation to take Yunyang Mansion!

If Dragon Thirteen is defeated, presumably the enemy forces he faces are also very strong, and they will not come to the Great Plains to the east, and it is only right to hide in the mountains and enjoy themselves.

But for Long Thirteen, due to the existence of the people and horses of Lao Hui Hui and Ge Liyan, it is also a kind of containment for the officials and troops of Yunyang Mansion, and before that, he can free up his hands to fight with the people and horses from Xiangyang Mansion!

But since it won't fight itself in the wild, it will have to take a certain city!

Judging by the current signs, it is Xinye County!

It would be good if Xinye County was surrounded and the remaining people and horses of Baiwangbu and Xiangyang Fucheng in Zaoyang County were attracted to the rescue.

A few days later, Li Xin, who was besieging the county seat of Ningxiang, received an order from Long Thirteen to return to Nanyang Mansion as soon as possible.

As soon as Li Xin arrived, Long 13 personally led the 1st Brigade south.

He was heading south along the east bank of the White River on a dark night.

That night, he had his army advance at a rapid marching speed, and arrived in Xinye County in one night!

Xinye County, county government.

In the face of the thief army that suddenly surrounded them, Xinye County Commander and Ma Xianglin, the son of Qin Liangyu, the general soldier of Xiangyang Mansion and the general soldier of Chongqing in Sichuan, who had just come by water, and his wife Zhang Fengyi were taken aback!

Ma Xianglin, more than 30 years old, born tall, extraordinary appearance, once fought in Liaodong, because of his extreme bravery, people gave the nickname "Shizhu Zhao Zilong".

Ma Xianglin is now the deputy general of Shizhu, and his wife Zhang Fengyi is also a military general, and he also has the title of general, plus his old mother Qin Liangyu, it can be said that the stars are shining.

And under Ma Xianglin sat a young general about seventeen or eighteen years old, it was Ma Xianglin, Zhang Fengyi's eldest son Ma Wannian, due to Qin Liangyu's merits and today's preference, it was originally the general Ma Wannian who had an additional position of "Shizhen Chongqing Mansion Jinyi Wei Hundred Households".

Under Zhang Fengyi, there is an equally young teenager, this young man is dressed as a civil official, it is Ma Wannian's younger brother Ma Wanchun, different from Ma Wannian, Ma Xianglin is ready to let this son follow the text, after meeting the emperor in the capital, Ma Wanchun, who was only a student in Shizhu County, has already had the identity of "giving people to be born".

Since he grew up in such a family, Ma Wanchun is obviously also a civil and military all-rounder, but now he is assisting his grandmother and father in handling logistics and baggage matters as a staff member of the Shizhu Battalion General Mansion.

Ma Xianglin has a step to ride, of course, as a soldier and horse in Shizhu County, Chongqing Prefecture, he does not have many cavalry in his hands, only a hundred families, and most of the war horses under the seat are southern ponies, which can be ridden, and it is purely a matter of thinking too much to use for war.

The county magistrate of Xinye County is also an old boy who spent money to obtain the background of "Giju Ren", he is from Zhejiang

If it is placed in normal times, within three years, he will not only be able to recover the cost, but after returning to the countryside of Zhejiang, he will not only be able to buy a big house, but also buy a few shops in the city.

But now, it's ......

Therefore, when the thief suddenly came to Nanyang Mansion, the county magistrate spent his time in fear, but after Kankan spent the time of fear, he immediately had a way to make money.

"Hold a group exercise!"

Of course, he didn't really bother to run this group training, he was doing it to make money.

So, under the banner of "help", he wantonly forced donations inside and outside the county, and squeezed a lot of money, but at present, there is not a single hair in the group training, and most of the money has been secretly transported back by him by water.

So, his capital came back, and the rest of the things were left to fate, for him, because he already had the identity of a lifter, in fact, he had earned it, if he could repel the thieves this time, in a few years, every year would be his profit year.

If the city is unfortunately captured, he is also ready to "stay with the city", so that as a civil official, the court will soon get the news, and then he will reward his family.

Properly "sacrifice me to make a happy family".

If the thief is quickly extinguished, he will make a great profit.

So, when he learned that the thieves suddenly came to the vicinity of the county seat, he was very happy, and generously let the county government out and moved to a private house in the city.

Therefore, in fact, the safety of Xinye County depends entirely on Ma Xianglin and his wife.

"Is the waterway still there?"

Ma Xianglin looked at his second son Ma Wanchun, the west gate of Xinye County is the wharf, or next to the wharf, in order to strengthen the defense, the two corners of the county near the Baihe River were originally built close to the embankment, in order to avoid possible enemies to besiege the city to death.

"It's still there," Ma Wanchun replied.

"Then what are you waiting for, immediately send a fast boat to notify the Tang Governor and Li guerrillas in Xiangyang Prefecture."

The Tang prefect in his mouth is Tang Xianyue, the prefect of Xiangyang Mansion today, and Li Guerrilla is the guerrilla general Li Min'an.

Of course, he was able to go north as a guest army, and he still got the order of Jiang Yunyi, the governor of Yunyang, otherwise he would not dare to do so.

After Ma Wanchun went out, Zhang Fengyi said, "What's next?"

"Madame'...... meaning"

"This group of thieves is extraordinary, and it is better to hold on to the city."

"But they easily took this city when they passed by the mining city, as well as the three small cities nearby, it is said that they blew up the city wall with gunpowder, since he can blow up the mining city, he can blow up the county seat of Xinye!"

「......」

"Father", I saw Ma Wannian say, "There is no moat in the mining city, but there is one in Xinye County, and it is not easy for thieves to get close to the county seat."

Zhang Fengyi said: "I am afraid that the thieves will drive them to fill the ravines and then ...... regardless of the life and death of the people in the surrounding countryside."

Ma Xianglin glared at her, "Madam, what's wrong? Didn't you check the money sent by the Ministry of War to suppress bandits? This group of thieves was different from ordinary thieves, they knew how to buy people's hearts, and they never drove the people to attack the city, and they had a well-protected army under their command to avoid the wooden rolling stones of the carts approaching the city walls."

"With this thing, you can load earth and stones to fill the moat, but it is not yet spring, and the water of the moat is very shallow, less than a zhang, if you only fill a section, it can be done in half a day......

"That ......"

"The men and horses under the command of the governor of Yunyang alone can't resist this group of thieves."

"It's a pity that the people of Nanzhili must pass the permission of the imperial court and the Nanjing Military Department if they want to come over, and this is to estimate the entire Nanyang Mansion......

"Husband", I saw that Zhang Fengyi seemed to think of something, "The thieves suddenly came to the vicinity of the county seat, and according to the county order, a large number of people live densely on both sides of the Baihe River, and the county town did not receive a warning at night, which can only mean one thing."

Ma Xianglin also seems to realize something

。

"Madame means ......"

"Yes, the thieves must have made a forced march at night to get here, and now is the time when they are most tired!"

Ma Xianglin's eyes suddenly lit up, but they quickly dimmed.

"There are a lot of thieves and cavalry, if one person and two horses, and they are fed with water halfway, it will not lose much of their combat power."

"Husband, this is my only chance, if they repeat their old tricks, suddenly blow up a certain city gate, and use cavalry to block it everywhere, my Shizhu Ma family will be doomed!"

As soon as these words came out, Ma Xianglin, who is 37 years old in Chinese New Year's Eve, also changed his face - he only has two sons under his knees, and although the two sons have been married, no male has yet been born.

"That's it."

After a while, Ma Xianglin made up his mind.

"I'll take a thousand men out of the city to fight, and if it's unfavorable, I'll return to the city as soon as possible."

"I'd better go," Zhang Fengyi said, "You are the master of an army, how can you easily get into danger?"

When Ma Wannian saw it, he quickly knelt down.

"Let's go to the children, there are 300 crossbowmen, 700 white-pole soldiers, and my stone pillar's special rattan card, although it may not be able to defeat the thieves, but it is still possible to retreat with all your body."

"No"

Ma Xianglin shook his head, "This battle is crucial, it is better for me to fight in person, once it is unfavorable, you don't have to worry about me, just hold the city, and then order the county to send young people to the wall to defend the city as soon as possible."

......

Ma Xianglin and others guessed well.

After running all night without sleep, the first brigade of Long Thirteen was at its most fatigued, not to mention, his cavalry did not have a single person and two horses, at this time, if the enemy took the initiative to challenge, it would be a big test.

However, things like this kind of overnight march are also explained in the drill code of the Xiaoqiang Brigade.

"Divided into three parts, one rushing forward and advancing at a rapid pace, one slower and trotting forward, and one slowest, advancing on brisk walking, alternating every thirty miles."

So, although he was very tired, he was not actually moving at the speed of a rapid march, but in any case he was extremely tired after a hundred miles of travel in one night.

Long XIII had already taken this into account, and during the march, he only rotated between the cavalry and the pikemen, while the musketeers and artillery were always marching at the lowest speed.

In other words, if there is still that unit that still has combat effectiveness, it must be the firecrackers and artillery.

His consideration was, "Whether it is cavalry or pikemen, in the end, they still have to fight hand-to-hand, only the musketeers, although they are also very tired, but after all, they shoot the enemy from a distance, and they shoot together, as long as they can raise the fire, they can have an effect"....

Of course, the 100 guards under his command are double-mounted, which can be regarded as a relatively combat-effective force.

If the enemy really came out, he could only go on the field in person, and then send out the musketeers and artillerymen.

According to his thoughts, with his prestige, most of the enemies would not dare to come out.

But......