When Yang Guozhu led the 20,000 elites of Xuanfu Town to the battlefield, Liu Zhaoji, the chief military officer of Liaodong Town, was already at a disadvantage, and was suppressed and beaten by tens of thousands of Qing troops, and the situation was very critical.

When the front army was almost completely lost, Liu Zhaoji personally led his personal guards and family members to break off, and ordered the infantry and the car battalion to retreat quickly and withdraw beyond the range of the Qing army's Hongyi artillery, and then reorganize the formation to block the Qing army's attack with the car battalion and wait for reinforcements.

At this time, the Qing army was inlaid with red flags and white flags as the main force, inlaid with blue flags, positive blue flags, and large groups of Mongolian banners and iron cavalry attacked in turn, and the boundless sea of Qing soldiers almost submerged the car camp of the Liaodong Army.

Yang Guozhu also frowned when he saw this, he didn't expect that Liu Zhaoji on the front foot would send someone to report the victory, and the back foot was surrounded by tens of thousands of Qing troops.

At this time, Yang Guozhu ordered to assemble more than 8,000 iron cavalry in the army, and ordered the remaining more than 10,000 infantry to form a formation to move closer to Liu Zhaoji's department, and also formed a car battalion not far from the Liaodong military vehicle battalion, which was a horn with each other.

Just as the infantry of Xuanfu Town was advancing forward, the Qing army also divided thousands of iron cavalry to rush over, trying to drive the horses to attack the Xuanfu Town Che Camp again. It's just that Yang Guozhu's car battalion is better equipped, and all the chariots are equipped with spears, like giant hedgehogs. Moreover, the chariots in Xuanfu Town were larger and heavier, and the war horses driven by the Qing army kept hitting the chariots, but they only destroyed some vehicles, and did not successfully rush into the chariot camp.

"Put!"

At the same time, the infantry of Xuanfu Town began several rounds of salvos, and the musketeers of the Liaodong Army also shot wildly, and the two armies formed a flanking attack, so that the Qing cavalry besieging the Ming army car camp suffered many casualties, and then withdrew like a tide.

Yang Guozhu led more than 8,000 iron cavalry soldiers to patrol around the camp at high speed, constantly attacking the small group of Qing soldiers and horses on the battlefield, so as to disrupt the formation of the Qing army, and even made a lot of gains.

The two sides fought fiercely for half an hour, and the soldiers of the Ming army fought to the death under the supervision of Yang Guozhu and Liu Zhaoji, and the main force of the Ming army was dozens of miles away and was coming quickly, so the Qing army began to retreat gradually, and it didn't take long for it to break away from contact and retreat in the direction of Songshan.

Yang Guozhu breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this, so he took his personal guards to contact Liu Zhaoji.

Xuanfu Town and Liaodong Town began to count the men and horses, and the data obtained made Liu Zhaoji a little discouraged, in this series of fierce battles, Liaodong Town's soldiers and horses lost more than 3,000 people, and also lost a large number of chariots, and the gunpowder in the army was also consumed hugely.

The casualties in Xuanfu Town were much less, only a few hundred, and the loss of equipment was not much.

After Liu Zhaoji sighed, he also secretly regretted that if he hadn't led the army to pursue, the casualties in the back could have been avoided.

Then Yang Guozhu and Liu Zhaoji combined, Liu Zhaoji's subordinates successively beheaded more than 670 levels, and Yang Guozhu also beheaded 292 levels, adding up to more than 970 levels, which can also be called a great victory.

"Mr. Yang, what do you think of this good news?"

Yang Guozhu naturally understood what Liu Zhaoji meant, Liu Zhaoji's meritorious service in this battle was rushed to pursue the ambush, if Hong Chengchou was to be investigated, if he didn't do it well, it would be worth the merits, and the battle would be in vain.

At this time, Yang Guozhu looked at this veteran, his face was full of expectation, and his heart couldn't help but soften, and said: "This battle is a great victory, General Liu led his troops to fight to the death and did not retreat, and the town led his troops to succeed, and the governor will be overjoyed when he hears the news!" ”

Liu Zhaoji was overjoyed when he heard this, thanked Yang Guozhu again and again, and was willing to take out part of the seizure and give it to Xuanfu Town, but Yang Guozhu politely refused.

On the same day, Liu Zhaoji, the chief military officer of Liaodong Town, and Yang Guozhu, the chief military officer of Xuanfu Town, reported a great victory and beheaded more than 900 slaves and thieves!

The governor of Jiliao, Hong Chengchou, the superintendent Zhang Ruoqi, the superintendent Ma Shaoyu and others were overjoyed, and the chief officers were also rejoicing, this was a major victory than Ning Yuan's victory, beheading more than 900 levels!

Liu Yan couldn't help but sigh: "It seems that the Ming army is not unable to fight, nor can it defeat the Qing army, as long as the generals of all departments are bent on killing the enemy, and the soldiers of all departments will not retreat, let alone sweeping the world, even Liaodong will not be able to stand firm!" At the end of the day, it's a matter of people. ”

Hong Chengchou saw that the first battle had been won, so he sent a large number of people to investigate at night, and then got a reward, the Qing army in front had retreated rapidly, and now the road ahead was unimpeded.

So Hong Chengchou's main army camped and rested for the night, and in the early morning of the second day, Hong Chengchou, Zhang Ruoqi, Ma Shaoyu, Qiu Minyang, the governor of Liaodong, and many soldiers, as well as Liu Yan, Wu Sangui and other general military officers of each town, all led their respective families and guards to take the lead in the camp of Liu Zhaoji, and Yang Guozhu also rushed from the camp not far away when he heard the news.

Everyone gathered around Hong Chengchou to inspect the heads of the thieves he had captured, as well as a large number of captured armor and war horses.

After the supervising army Ma Shaoyu led people to carefully verify, he recorded Liu Zhaoji's first merit on the spot, and Yang Guozhu as the second merit, and then wrote a good report with Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, and Zhang Ruoqi, the supervising army, and sent a brigade to report the victory to the Beijing division without collecting Pegasus at night.

When the good news of the first battle reached the capital, it immediately caused the Beijing division to boil, and Emperor Chongzhen cried with joy, and his confidence in the battle of Jinzhou also soared.

Subsequently, Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict and promoted Liu Zhaoji to the governor of the same department, and after the war, the military department also had a reward, Yang Guozhu should be meritorious, and the same holy decree reward varies.

In the camp of the Chinese army here, Hong Chengchou convened the general soldiers of all departments to discuss the matter, and even praised Liu Zhaoji in front of everyone, and promised that the baggage in the army would be given priority to the Liaodong Army, and the casualties of the soldiers would also be recorded, and all of them would be paid.

Looking at the pleasant Hong Chengchou, Liu Zhaoji's eyes were slightly red with excitement, and his heart was even more steady, his Liaodong general army finally sat firmly.

At this time, the armies of various towns arrived in the Xingshan area one after another, and Hong Chengchou turned the page on the victory in the first battle, and then mentioned the matter of supporting Songshan.

According to the report of the various departments that did not collect at night, at this time the Qing army was still storming Songshan Fort City, and the defenders in the city were miserable, and Songshan would be captured by the Qing army at any time.

And Xingshan to Songshan is only twenty miles, when Hong Chengchou asked who would like to lead his troops as the vanguard to Songshan Fort, Liu Zhaoji, the chief military officer of Liaodong Town, volunteered and was still willing to lead the army to the rescue.

However, Hong Chengchou considered that Liaodong Town had just experienced a major war and had already lost more than 3,000 people, so it was no longer suitable to be a pioneer, so he sent Li Fuming, the chief soldier of Shanxi Town, and Wu Sangui, the chief soldier of Ningyuan, to lead the troops and horses of their headquarters to the rescue.

Seeing this, Liu Yan smiled secretly in his heart: "Hong Chengchou sent two general soldiers to Songshan at once, this is to take another while." In addition, Hong Chengchou should also want Wu Sangui to win a success, and promote him by the way. ”

Wu Sangui and Li Fuming immediately received the order, and the two immediately gathered their respective armies and iron cavalry to take the lead, Wu Sangui led 7,000 troops, Li Fuming led 1,500 troops, and the two infantry then formed a formation to follow.

In the afternoon of the same day, Wu Sangui joined Li Fuming and led 8,500 elite iron cavalry to rush to the foot of Songshan City.

At this time, the Qing army that was besieging Songshan Fort City had more than 10,000 people, and they did not expect that the Ming army's iron cavalry would come so quickly.

This time, Wu Sangui and Li Fuming's troops won another small victory, beheading the ninety-eighth level, Hong Chengchou led his troops to Songshan Fort City, and praised the two, and Zhang Ruoqi, the supervisor, also made a contribution to the two.

Subsequently, Hong Chengchou led his troops into Songshan Fort City, and ordered the chief military officers of each town to send more nights to investigate the surrounding situation.

Two days later, the various departments did not receive the news one after another, and Hong Chengchou led a group of staff to summarize and screen the information one by one, and then summoned the chief military officers of each town to report the military situation.

At this time, the Qing army camped in the area of Loess Ridge in the northeast of Songshan Fort City, and the number of tents in the Qing army's camp should be the main force of the Qing army.

Moreover, the banners and horses of the Qing army also dug deep trenches, trying to use the trenches to cut off the passage of the Ming army to Xiaoling River and other important places.

In the northwest of Xingshan, near the Maojiagou mountain range of the daughter river, the same Qing army soldiers and horses are stationed, and the company camps are densely packed on the Rufeng Mountain, and the main road from Songshan to Jinzhou is full of scouts of the Qing army, almost completely covering the main road to Jinzhou, and now the night of the Ming army is rarely able to break into the Jinzhou area.

Liu Yan was also worried when he heard the news, it seems that the Qing army has largely completed the deployment, and now it depends on how Hong Chengchou is ready to take over.

On the afternoon of this day, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, took Liu Yan and other commanders of various towns, as well as Zhang Ruoqi, Ma Shaoyu, and others, braved the scorching sun to inspect the inside and outside of Xingshan Fort.

After some investigation, Liu Yan specially pointed out that Hongluo Mountain is an important stronghold on the back road and should be taken seriously.

Hongluo Mountain is in the west of Xingshan Fort and Daxing Fort, about ten miles away from Xingshan Fort, and the west is the continuous mountains, which meander to the south bank of the Daughter River.

The elevation of Hongluo Mountain is not high, the mountain is gentle, but under the mountain is a horse flat river, and there is an avenue from Xingshan to Songshan. There are not many trees on the mountain, mostly barren grass and mud, and there is an abandoned fire road pier on the top, which was originally the lookout place of the dun army, and a small road leads directly from the avenue under the mountain to the pier.

Although Hong Chengchou was also sweating, he still maintained an elegant manner, he stood beside the abandoned fire road pier, looked at it with great eyes, and sighed: "This place is indeed important, if you tie an army, you can echo the north and south, prevent the thieves from outflanking, and encircle me." ”

Zhang Ruoqi also nodded and said: "Hongluo Mountain should be Songshan Fort in the north, Xingshan Fort in the south, control the Songxing Road, the location is indeed critical, and it must be strong to establish a village here." ”

At this time, Liu Yan was also on the top of the mountain, followed by a group of guerrilla generals of the new army in Qinglai Town, Yang Guozhu, the chief soldier of Xuanfu Town, Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong Town, Bai Guangen, the chief soldier of Jizhen Town, Liu Zhaoji, the chief soldier of Liaodong, Zuo Guangxian, the chief soldier of Shanhaiguan, the chief soldier of the East Association Cao Bianjiao, the chief soldier of the Qiantun Guard, Wang Tingchen, and the general soldier of Miyun, Tang Tong, all of whom led the generals of the guerrilla attack and above.

Liu Yan also heard Zhang Ruoqi's words, so he said: "What Zhang Jianjun said is very true, this town has proposed before, to divide a battalion of soldiers to stay in the rear, this Hongluo Mountain, will be garrisoned by the soldiers of the front battalion of our army, if the army of thieves and slaves attack, they will not be able to eat and walk!" ”

The northwest side of Hongluo Mountain is steep and ravines are vertical and horizontal, and it is certainly difficult for the army of slaves and thieves to climb up, and the soldiers of the front battalion of the new army only need to defend the northeast and southeast sides, and the pressure of defense will not be very great.

Therefore, Liu Yan's idea was to follow the original Battle of Julu and the Battle of Jinan, dig trenches and repair walls on Hongluo Mountain, and then arrange artillery and bird guns to form a solid defense line with dogs and teeth, and fight a positional defensive battle with the attacking Qing army soldiers and horses.

At this time, Hong Chengchou asked with a smile, wanting to see how Liu Yan was going to be stationed here.

Liu Yan pointed to the terrain here and said to everyone: "Governor, please see, there are mountain roads in the southeast and northeast of this mountain that go straight to the top of the mountain, and our army can set up low walls and trenches along the road and at dangerous places for deployment. ”

In Liu Yan's vision, Hongluo Mountain is about four miles long from northeast to southeast, and there must be at least multiple low walls from the mountainside to the top. The wall doesn't need to be very high, it can reach the warrior's chest, and the bird's hand can aim at the enemy, and of course the low wall can be built thicker, at least to keep out the cannon bombardment.

The trench can be dug deeper, at least one zhang deep and one zhang wide, so that the low wall actually reaches four meters, which is comparable to the ordinary castle wall.

Each of the low walls is not far from each other, and along the hill, the latter low wall is in fact much taller than the previous one.

The shooter behind the wall can easily aim at the enemy, but will not shoot at the head of his own soldiers, so that the upper and lower echoes can form a three-dimensional firepower network, so that the attacking Qing army will pay a heavy price!

Some people died, but not completely......