Outside Kaifeng City, the autumn wind is blowing more and more on the earth, and the dry grass on the ground is swaying violently, as if to break free from the shackles and rise with the wind.

Suddenly, the cavalry of the brigade rushed through this wilderness, and the withered grass that was still swaying just now was trampled into powder by countless iron hooves in an instant.

Li Zicheng personally led the thieves' battalions into battle, not only the middle battalion, the front battalion, the rear battalion, the left battalion, and the firearms battalion were all reorganized and put into battle, but even the right battalion led by Yuan Zongdi also rushed back, and the thieves' strength increased by more than 100,000, and the momentum was as before.

This time, Li Zicheng deployed the battalions in place, he and Liu Zongmin led the middle battalion as the central army, and the rest of the battalions were deployed in the front and rear of the middle battalion according to the battalion number, and the firearms battalion was deployed at the front of each battalion.

Li Zicheng was still sitting on his yellow horse, his left eye had been covered with a medicine cloth, his face was solemn and excited, looking forward to seeing Liu Yanbu being bombarded by hundreds of artillery pieces, so as to relieve the hatred in his heart.

As the center of the whole army, the middle battalion has been raised at this time, announcing its location to each battalion.

After the great battle, there were only more than 28,000 of the 40,000 horsemen in the middle battalion, and although the 200,000 foot soldiers were collected, there were only 150,000 or 60,000 left. However, as the elite of the whole army, after a few days of rest, the momentum of the thief camp has also recovered a lot, and the army array marched in the wilderness, Li Zicheng looked at it for a while, and finally showed a smile on his face.

At this time, the battalions of the battalions rose one after another, and the soldiers and horses of the battalions of the thieves advanced at the same time,

They are also making adjustments to their own deployments.

Ahead is the black banner of the front camp of the thieves, Li Laiheng after a few days of fierce fighting, can be described as heavy casualties, after a simple rectification, this time the only remaining 8,000 horsemen in the battalion left by his side, ordered the left Guoyi generals Gu Kecheng, Xie Junyou, and the right Guoyi general Tian Hu respectively led the remaining 30,000 armor soldiers, 30,000 infantry and dead soldiers in front of the formation, ready to support the front firearms battalion.

On the left is the white banner of the left battalion of the thieves, Liu Fangliang put 15,000 cavalry and 30,000 armored soldiers behind, and the remaining 95,000 dead soldiers and infantry all pressed up, preparing to use these miscellaneous soldiers to consume Liu Yan's troops.

A red flag was raised on the right side, which was the right battalion of thieves led by Yuan Zongdi, and the 150,000 troops under his command had not fought with Liu Yanbu, for Li Zicheng and the huge casualties suffered by the battalions, Yuan Zongdi and his command of Zuo Guoyi General Bai Minghe, and the right Guoyi general Liu Tichun were very shocked, this time the battle, several people were also very cautious in their hearts, and put the 20,000 horsemen and 30,000 armor soldiers in the battalion behind, and the front was also 100,000 dead soldiers and infantry.

Li Guo, as Li Zicheng's nephew and de facto righteous son, led the rear battalion to follow the rear of the army at this time, and under Li Zicheng's order, he maintained a distance of about three miles from the soldiers and horses of each battalion.

The yellow flag of the rear camp fluttered in the wind, just like Li Guo's mood at this time, passionate and dignified, constantly pulled by the tense atmosphere before the war: "I hope this battle can go well!" ”

Li Guo, like the rest of the battalions, didn't know whether it was out of convention or out of consideration for preserving strength, but he also sent 25,000 horsemen and 30,000 armor

The soldiers were placed in the back, and in front were seventy-five thousand dead soldiers and infantry.

At the front of the army, Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang, and Ai Nengqi supervised the advance of the army, and the thieves transferred 458 artillery pieces from all over the place, and all of them were pushed to the front of the battle at this time.

All artillery pieces were divided into three platoons, following the practice of Liu Yan's new army, and Li Dingguo prepared three platoons to bombard in turn to ensure the continuous firepower of the artillery.

Under the bright red banner of the firearms battalion, more than 1,000 gunners followed the artillery, and next to each gun, several soldiers from the firearms battalion followed, to prevent the gunners from escaping or sabotage.

Originally, there were not so many gunners in the firearms battalion, and for today's war, Li Dingguo deliberately grabbed many craftsmen or craftsmen from various cities, and temporarily crammed to learn how to fire artillery from the gunners in the battalion. Of these more than 1,000 gunners, almost two-thirds were such "quick gunners."

Li Dingguo's firearms battalion also suffered heavy casualties in the battle a few days ago, and after collecting the rout and temporarily replenishing the dead soldiers, the firearms battalion still had 4,000 horsemen, 3,000 musketeers, and 17,000 pikemen, and then there were those gunners.

The bandits' battalions are boundless, and they have to keep a certain distance between the battalions and all sides, so that although the thieves' army is killed from the west of Kaifeng City, the thieves' army has spread from north to south for nearly ten miles!

In the face of such a vast number of soldiers and horses, Liu Yan's heart was also heavy, and as soon as he noticed the thieves dispatching, he ordered all the battalions of the new army in Qinglai Town to drive out of the city, in the west of Kaifeng City, with their backs to the moat to line up, and at the same time deploy all the earthen carts prepared in advance in each battalion

Ahead, prepare for a battle to the death with an army of thieves.

As for the defense of Kaifeng City, Liu Yan handed it over to Chen Yongfu, and at the same time ordered Chen Yongfu to transfer all the red-coated cannons and Franc machine guns in Kaifeng City to the west city wall in order to provide fire support for the soldiers of the new army.

Chen Yongfu and Gao Mingheng, who rushed to hear the news, dissuaded one after another, and the two thought that the thieves were menacing this time, and the soldiers of the new army might as well hold on to it, and use the fortifications of Kaifeng City to consume the thieves' troops.

Liu Yan also thought about it this way, but once the soldiers of the new army retreated in the city, they would give up the initiative on the battlefield.

Li Zicheng could calmly besiege the city, completely cut off the connection between Kaifeng City and the outside world, and the supply of money and food provided by the military department would also be cut off. When the time comes, Liu Yan will lead his troops to attack first, and he will first break through the blockade of thieves outside the city, and then it will be another setback, too passive.

Liu Yan doesn't like to be passive, prefers to take the initiative to attack, and fights until Li Zicheng is paralyzed on the ground, and until the army of thieves collapses and flees!

Soon, the battalions of the Forces nouvelles were lined up outside the city.

Liu Yan took the personal guard battalion as the middle army, the middle battalion was deployed in front, the artillery battalion was located at the front of the whole army, the left battalion and the right battalion were located on the two wings of the army, and the rear battalion led by Wang Yue was placed at the back of the whole army by Liu Yan as a reserve, blocked at the suspension bridge over the moat.

Xu Ming led more than 8,000 soldiers of the cavalry battalion to also be in the middle army, and the soldiers of the battalion did not ride on war horses at this time, or sit on the ground to recuperate, or feed some forage for their war horses, making final preparations for the upcoming big battle.

In this battle, not only the army formation of the thieves stretched for nearly ten miles, but also the army formation of more than 70,000 soldiers of the new army in Qinglai Town

It was four or five miles away.

The Battle of Kaifeng City was the first time that Liu Yan commanded a large-scale battle of hundreds of thousands of horses on both sides, and at this moment he also deeply felt the limitations of the times, and in the absence of various means of communication such as radio and telephone in later generations, it was really a very difficult thing to command the movement of tens of thousands of troops within a radius of several miles in a timely and accurate manner.

Even with the elite of the new army in Qinglai Town, there are many heralds in each battalion and department, and all kinds of flags, drums and trumpets are also available, but in the battle, it is inevitable that various situations will occur.

At this time, Liu Yan deliberately built a wooden high platform in the Chinese army, which was fixed with a large number of sandbags and stones, and protected, a large number of sandbags, making this high platform look like a mound of dirt, and the arc-shaped sandbags surrounded the entire high platform, which was enough to resist the blows of ordinary artillery.

Liu Yan stood on this high platform that was more than one person high, and then held a clairvoyant mirror to observe the army formation of the thieves.

When the more than 450 artillery pieces of all kinds appeared in the clairvoyant mirror, Liu Yan's face also became gloomy.

Among the large number of artillery pieces in the thief army, most of them are Franc cannons of various sizes, but Liu Yan also found that there are about 20 or more red-coated cannons, although they are all two or three thousand catties in size, which are not as good as the seven red-coated cannons of more than 5,000 catties on the head of Kaifeng City, but for the soldiers of the new army, it is enough to cause a lot of trouble.

"Order Qian Jiao, pay more attention to the red-clothed cannons in the rogue army!"

"Yes!"

"Order Chen Yongfu to prepare the seven red-clothed cannons for this town, and after the battle, hit the artillery array of the thieves!"

"Yes!"

Approximately small

Half an hour later, the nearly 700,000 horses led by Li Zicheng finally stopped and began to reorganize three miles away from the new army's main array.

Hundreds of thousands of thieves and horses rushed all the way, and the original military formation was already loose, and even the original formation could no longer be seen, and there were even many dead soldiers and infantry, taking advantage of the opportunity of the loose military formation and the very chaotic march, they directly became deserters.

Along the way, hundreds of deserters were killed in the various battalions of thieves, and at least hundreds of others managed to escape.

Liu Yan watched for a long time, and saw that the army of thieves was still reorganizing the military formation, and there was no intention of taking the initiative to attack, so he couldn't help but feel irritated in his heart, and said to Miao Shao beside him: "The thieves are too procrastinating, you see, even those horsemen and armored soldiers are not in order all the way. ”

Miao Shao said with a smile: "I think it's okay, it's not that the thieves are too procrastinating, but that our new army is too strong, and the army will not disperse all the way, and it is estimated that there is only our new army in Qinglai Town in the whole world." ”

Liu Yan also laughed, and the irritability in his heart decreased a lot.

At this time, in front of the new army, hundreds of earth-wheeled wagons were divided into two rows, forming an arc-shaped fortification, and the baggage soldiers of each battalion were also fixed with mud and stones to prevent the earth-wheeled carts from being overturned by artillery shells.

At the same time, a large number of sandbags were also deployed between the battalions of the new army, and a large number of anti-artillery fortifications were formed in the military formation.

Liu Yan took advantage of the formation of the army of thieves, raised a clairvoyant mirror to inspect the situation of each battalion, and saw that the morale of the soldiers of each battalion was high and full of spirit, and the fatigue of the previous war had already been swept away, and they were all waiting for the battle to start with murderous spirits

Avenge.

Seeing that the army's heart was available, Liu Yan nodded: "This battle is a decisive battle, and today we will severely damage the thieves and avenge the heroic soul of our new army!" ”

"Woo~woo!"

At this moment, in the vast army formation of the thieves, the sound of horns sounded one after another, and the sound waves composed of countless horns struck in, and hundreds of thousands of thieves and horses stepped forward again, like boundless dark clouds, pressing on tens of thousands of soldiers of the new army.

"Kill! Kill! Kill! ”

In the formation of the rogue army, hundreds of thousands of thieves roared angrily, and the morale of the army rose sharply.

Seeing this, Liu Yan sneered, pulled out his saber and pointed it diagonally forward, and roared loudly: "Drum!" ”

"Boom! Boom! Boom! ”

In the battalions of the new army, more than a dozen war drums rumbled, and then the war drums on the walls of Kaifeng City were also beaten.

The majestic sound of war drums and the passionate sound of horns were intertwined, colliding with each other like stormy waves, making the already noisy battlefield instantly clamor.

"Wan Sheng!"

Tens of thousands of new troops roared in unison, and countless spears and birds slammed into the ground with the drumbeat of war drums, making a huge rhythmic sound, giving people a huge sense of power.

Li Zicheng rode his horse and looked at the army like a stormy wave, a kind of joy that looked at the world filled his heart, as if at this moment, Kaifeng City and Liu Yan were turned into dust, and even the majestic Beijing City was prostrate at his feet, and he became the master of the world!

But when tens of thousands of soldiers of the New Army roared, and the sound that almost hit the soul, Li Zicheng instantly broke out in a cold sweat, and the beautiful scene that seemed to be in front of him just now was directly shattered by the momentum of the New Army.

At this time, Li Zicheng stared into the distance

, although he couldn't see the new army formation in front of the sea of people, he still couldn't take his eyes off it: "What kind of soldiers and horses is this, Liu Yan and his soldiers, are they people or ghosts!" Don't they know that they are afraid of our hundreds of thousands of troops and hundreds of artillery pieces? ”