Li Zhaoji did not hesitate to refuse Zhou Mingwu's request, and did not even give him a chance to discuss, because he firmly believed that cavalry, especially heavy cavalry, should not be equipped with rifles, even if it was a cavalry spear with a severed barrel.

If Aaron had brought three hundred and fifty flintlock pistols, he would have given most of them to the cavalry battalion to implement the cavalry battalion's rotational firing tactics. But this is an ordinary flintlock pistol, and the reason why Li Zhaoji doesn't want to discuss it with Zhou Mingwu is because Zhou Mingwu, like Yang Yandi, is a person who is very obsessed with military affairs.

They like military affairs, but also study military affairs, during the period when the infantry and cavalry of the Eastern Brigade were founded, these people have been discussing various systems and tactics with Li Zhaoji, and Li Zhaoji's things that come out of the experience of later generations are often doubted because they do not conform to their habits and cognition.

Li Zhaoji will not enforce it, after all, these people are executors, and they also have actual combat experience, and Li Zhaoji likes to use exercises to prove his correctness.

But now there is no such condition, and Li Zhaoji's tough attitude comes from the knowledge of similar equipment methods, in his memory, the French cuirassiers of the Napoleonic era, when they were not equipped with flintlock pistols, established immortal feats for Napoleon's conquest of Europe, and achieved countless victories.

And when they entered Austria and snatched each other's flintlock muskets equipped with their own cuirassiers, it was round after round of defeat.

Li Zhaoji also doesn't understand the truth very well, he needs to use practice to explore and study, but obviously, he will not do something obviously wrong just because he doesn't know the connection for the time being.

Don't talk about those flintlock pistols, even if they are flintlock pistols, Li Zhaoji will not give them to the cavalry battalion, because the number is really a little small, and after the landing, too many officers of the Eastern Brigade have established meritorious deeds, and in the future decisive battles, there will only be more meritorious people, and the flintlock pistol is something that Li Zhaoji likes to reward meritorious people.

Li Zhaoji gave Aaron a high-standard hospitality, but did not allow the armed sailors of the Dongyin and Du companies to participate in the battle against the Manchus, because they were not familiar with the tactics of the Eastern Brigade, Li Zhaoji assigned the soldiers among them to the engineer guards the camp, and the armed sailors were placed on Lianyun Island to defend.

In the next few days, Bolo and Zhao Dahe had many contacts on the front line from Boluopu to Gaizhou, it is obvious that Bolo is smart and cautious, and he is not a person who is eager for quick success, the vanguard he led is steady and steady, multi-way marching, covering each other, Zhao Dahe wanted to ambush several times, but was discovered in advance by the scouts he sent, or could not find the opportunity.

In the end, after Bolo's vanguard crossed Daqingshan, they entered the platform where Gaizhou was located. He even seized Zhao Dahe's mistake, and took advantage of his full cavalry and strong mobility to bite Zhao Dahe's army that mixed infantry and cavalry, resulting in the infantry battalion led by Zhao Dahe After crossing Daqing Mountain, he could only enter the hilly area eastward, avoiding Boluo's cavalry, and went around for two days before joining the main force.

With the arrival of the Qing army, Gaizhou City was naturally taken away, but all it got was a blank land, not only the houses and yamen in the city were burned, but even the three city gates were unloaded, and the city was full of fly ash and smoke, Bolo only sent a few people into the city, and it was smoked out.

Li Zhaoji stationed all his troops south of the Qing River, across a river, so there was not much contact between the two sides, only a small number of scouts in and out of the Qing River, Bolo found that the reeds, wild grasses, and bushes on both sides of the Qing River were all cut down, and the scorching sun dried the water of these plants, and then was ignited by a fire.

By the time Zilharang and Abatai arrived with the main force, Bolo had already investigated the basic situation of the battlefield.

"Their big camp is on the south bank of the river, and they use heavy artillery to control the area of more than ten miles east and west, and it is clear that it is to prevent us from crossing the river, but the Qing River is not wide, and many places can be waded in vain, although they burned the thatch and reeds, but there are still many trees on the north bank, and I think Nikan does not have enough troops, so it cannot be cut down, and the wet wood cannot be ignited.

We can use these woods to cover the river crossing.

I also sent people to Lianyun Island, everything seems to be normal on the island, my people have captured a few minions who are working, they say that there are only more than 100 soldiers on the island, and recently there are more than 70 blonde and blue-eyed Yangyi, but as Prince Zheng guessed, the enemy's ambush may be on the ship, and the minions said that every day the cooked food must be sent to the ship, and each ship must send at least one hundred and fifty people's meals, you know, there are only dozens of sailors on those ships, and most of them are still stationed on Lianyun Island. Bolo said.

Zilharang nodded with satisfaction, looked around, and said: "Gaizhou is still too far from the sea, the terrain here is flat, and the coast is gentle sand, which is very suitable for the enemy to land, Mandahai, I will jump out of all the firearms of the whole army to you, about 700 people, you are responsible for monitoring Lianyun Island, and after we cross the river, guard against our back road." ”

Mandahai immediately responded, and Zilharang asked Xiang Boluo: "On the south bank of the Qing River, can you send someone to investigate?" ”

"I sent it, and I got some information." Bolo said immediately.

Zilharan handed him the map, and Bolo said: "On the south bank is Nikan's camp, with artillery forts on both flanks, which are extended to prevent us from crossing the river, but it is clear that Nikan is not prepared to stick to the camp, and if we break through the Qing River, they will go south."

This is Yulinpu, fifteen miles away from Gaizhou, which is already a deserted fortress, but the scouts found that there is an army stationed there, and the fortress left by the Ming State has also been used to build some fortifications. But some things are also strange, and I'm still sending scouts to step up their investigations. ”

"Oh, what strange did you find?" Zilharang asked.

Bolo said: "Whether it is the big camp or Yulinpu, the fortifications are not complete, in the past we fought with the Ming army in Liaoxi, attacking its position, there will be trenches, earthen walls, trenches and these fortifications, and Nikan on the opposite side also has, but there are very few, it seems that there are not enough people to build these fortifications without them."

But this is not consistent with the facts, from Haicheng to Lushunkou, all fell, even if many men were transferred into the pass to participate in the battle, the enemy had to control tens of thousands of strong men, and the enemy had landed for more than a month, there should be enough manpower and time to build fortifications. ”

No one can explain this problem, and the fact is that Li Zhaoji has no intention of building fortifications and fighting a fierce battle with the Qing army, because if they fight like this, they will only consume each other.

He just wanted to try to see if he could defeat the Qing army in the field, if he could defeat this Qing army going south, there would be no opponents in the entire Liaodong, and he could let go of his hands and sweep the place. Of course, you can also help the opponent, then the point of fighting is not to fight, what to do if you only increase casualties, it is better to accept it when it is good, whether it is retreating from the sea or retreating south, you can do it.

Because, in the past month or so, the locals who belonged to the trading company were either sent south by Li Zhaoji to repair the fortifications in southern Liaoning, or assisted the army in scattering and plundering more Zhuangtun and towns, or served the Eastern Brigade and processed military supplies.

The Qing army couldn't figure it out, so they could only worry that they didn't see what tricks the Eastern Brigade had.

Hearing these words, Zilharang looked at Abatai: "Seventh brother, what do you think?" ”

"How do I know what the Nikans are plotting, but there is nothing wrong with crossing the river." Abatai said.

"Then how do you think the seventh brother crosses the river?" Zilharang asked.

Abatai pointed to the east and said, "Go upstream, go at least ten miles ahead, all of them are gentle places, find a place with a small flow of water to cross the river, and attract the opponent's forces to move upstream with us." The other group continued upstream, where there were mountains and the rivers were fast, but the roads were also difficult.

Their artillery will definitely not be able to go up, and they will not dare to go too far from the battalion because they have many infantry.

The deserters who had been in contact with their infantry in the area of Wucoffin Mountain said that these guys had very powerful muskets, but they were not equipped with armor, so let's let the archers shoot at them to see who collapses first. ”

Zilharang nodded slightly: "As far as I can see, forget about the shooting, as long as we put on a posture of crossing the river upstream, they will retreat." ”

"I guess too, no matter how stupid the other party's generals are, they won't swing his soldiers along the river, isn't that looking for death?" Abatai said calmly.

Zilharang said to Sonny, "Sonny, you take over the matter here, find a place where you can build a pontoon bridge as soon as possible, and our horses will cross the river by the bridge."

Brother Seven, you are responsible for going upstream, how about it? ”

Abatai grinned: "It's simple, I'll go to the camps to pick people." ”

With that, he went, and Zilharang greeted Bolo: "Bolo, you also go with you, persuade your father, if there is no advantage, there is no need to shoot at the other party, now the soldiers of all banners of Manchuria are recruited, and that stupid man has already sent more than 400 gentry, so we don't need to lose too many people." ”

Bolo nodded: "As far as my nephew can see, as long as we drive away the enemies who have landed, we will win." ”

This bold remark made Zilharang very satisfied, he said: "You are right, that's the truth, they only have thousands of soldiers, and they are not the Ming army, they are the soldiers of the Oriental Society, these businessmen come to fight, it must be the Ming court that promised benefits, now the war is fought, and a wave of robbery, the benefits are all obtained, they may not be willing to fight to the death with us." ”

"Yes, Prince Zheng, I'll go and prepare." Bolo nodded, and hurriedly chased after Abatai.

In the next few days, the mobile troops sent by Li Zhaoji continued to move eastward with the Qing army's troops crossing the river in a roundabout way, and the more upstream they went, the more rugged the terrain became.

The Qing army could disappear by the river without a trace, but the Eastern Brigade had to keep a distance from the river bank and prepare to meet the enemy, so it was very difficult to march all the way

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