At the beginning of July, southwest of Kaifeng City, ten miles away.

Since Sun Kewang was killed by Liu Yan, Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi learned from the pain, and after the rounds with Li Zicheng, they were ready to use the power of the army of thieves to take revenge on Liu Yan and the Ming court.

Now the army of thieves is huge, millions of people have basically captured Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, except for Kaifeng City, Datong Town, Tongguan these very few places, the land of the three provinces has been occupied by the army of thieves.

Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi also took this opportunity to rebuild the firearms battalion with the support of Li Zicheng.

The newly rebuilt firearms battalion was even stronger, with 8,000 musketeers and was led by Li Dingguo, and was equipped with 200 artillery pieces, forming 10,000 pikemen and 30,000 infantry.

The pikemen were led by Ainengqi, and 4,000 of the 10,000 horses were equipped with various types of armor, and the armor rate had exceeded that of the elite of the official army.

In addition, the 8,000 musketeers are basically equipped with bird guns, although almost all of them are arquebuses, but compared to the previous situation where all kinds of firearms are piled together, it is now considered very regular.

And the 200 artillery pieces are also excellent Franc machine guns drawn from all over the world, and 20 of them are red-coated cannons weighing 4,000 to 5,000 catties!

This kind of firepower gave Li Dingguo great confidence, and if he encountered the new army led by Liu Yan again, even if he was not sure of victory, he could deal a heavy blow to it.

"General!"

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Ainengqi strode over and said: "The gunner training of the artillery team is over, these gunners are still quite hard, and under the training of those dozen officers and gunners, they are getting better and better. ”

Li Dingguo said with a smile

"King Chuang is wise, although the rest of the battalions also carry a large number of artillery, I heard that there are hundreds of artillery pieces of all kinds under the command of General Quan of the middle battalion, but like our firearms battalion, there is really no second share of sufficient gunpowder and sufficient food. Therefore, the daily drill must be strict, we must be attentive, and we must make a record of achievements, so that the rest of the battalions will look down on our firearms battalion. ”

Ai Nengqi said: "General rest assured, at present, all departments are training seriously, I dare to say that the combat power of our firearms battalion is second to none in the entire righteous army!" ”

"Don't be arrogant!"

Li Dingguo said: "Tomorrow we will cooperate with the front camp to open the blockade, because Liu Yan was there, we suffered a big loss under Kaifeng City, and the great cause almost collapsed here, this time we must be ashamed, let Chen Yongfu and Gao Mingheng taste the anger of our righteous soldiers!" ”

Ai Nengqi said: "I think our army will win this battle!" It's just that the king has an order, and after breaking the city, he can no longer capture the people, and can only select young and strong to replenish the loss of troops. ”

"You remember, there is no future when you are a rogue, and only by working steadily and constantly managing your territory can you compete with the Ming Court for the world!"

Early the next morning, Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi led the firearms battalion to the south of Kaifeng.

At this time, Li Laihum led the 130,000 troops of the front battalion to line up outside the city, surrounding the east, west and north of Kaifeng City, and the army was deploying troops to prepare for a full-scale attack.

Li Dingguo looked at the former camp in the west, and said to Ainengqi: "Send someone to contact the general Li Laihum to ask about the time of the army's siege." ”

"Yes."

After a long time, the fast horses sent out rushed back: "General Qiyu,

The former battalion general had an order: half an hour later, the army began to attack Kaifeng City. ”

Li Dingguo nodded, and then ordered the artillery team to be deployed in front of the firearms battalion, two hundred artillery pieces were arranged in three rows two miles away from Kaifeng City, and after thousands of people and mules and horses were busy, the artillery array was finally formed, and then hundreds of gunners began to load nervously.

The 8,000 musketeers of the firearms battalion had also completed their formation, imitating the formation of the new army, and these 8,000 men and horses formed a large horizontal formation of six rows, waiting for about 100 paces behind the artillery array.

Li Dingguo's Chinese army was located here, moving with 8,000 musketeers. Enench led 10,000 pikemen and armor to stand by a mile from the rear, followed by 30,000 infantry, ready to charge at any time.

While the thieves' firearms battalion was busy arranging the formation, Chen Yongfu and Gao Mingheng were standing at the head of the city, looking at Li Dingguo's battle flag, and seeing that two hundred artillery pieces were being loaded and calibrated, their faces were very ugly.

At this time, Chen Yongfu glared at Gao Mingheng and said: "I said at the beginning that I would leave Liu Yan's new army to continue to encircle and suppress the remnants of Li Zicheng, but you didn't agree with it, now it's okay, you and I will die without a place to bury!" ”

Gao Mingheng's face turned pale, and he regretted it in his heart, and said with annoyance: "Who would have thought that Li Zicheng would be able to make a comeback? With such a great achievement ahead, don't you also look eager to try? ”

Chen Yongfu stopped talking, and now no matter who is right or wrong, it is too late to say anything.

"What should I do?"

Gao Mingheng asked.

Chen Yongfu gritted his teeth and said, "When Liu Yan led his troops to help before, didn't you propose to dig the Yellow River embankment? Now is the time! ”

Gao Mingheng said with a wry smile: "Whoever breaks through and goes out to decide."

Dike? ”

Chen Yongfu was speechless for a moment, at this time, the defenders in the city had been disabled by thieves, there were only more than 4,000 people left, and the cavalry was almost dead and wounded, even if he wanted to rush out to dig the Yellow River embankment, he couldn't send men and horses.

"You and I will both be sinners of the court!"

Chen Yongfu roared loudly, and angrily punched the arrow battlements at the head of the city.

Gao Mingheng sighed and said, "Let's fight, maybe today is the death period of you and me, and we can still walk together on the road when the time comes." ”

Chen Yongfu said angrily: "Who the hell wants to be with you!" ”

"Woo~woo!"

Suddenly, the horn sounded in the middle of the thief army outside the city, followed by the soldiers and horses of the thief firearms battalion in the south shouted in unison, and the two hundred artillery pieces on the artillery array began to roar, and shells continued to fall on the city.

Gao Mingheng immediately fell to the ground and was dragged down the city by the guards around him. And Chen Yongfu exclaimed: "The rogue gunners are so elite that most of the cannonballs can hit the defense of the city!" ”

At this time, the city was in a mess, and many piled up rolling wood and thunder stones were hit by cannonballs, and immediately scattered and flew away, killing the surrounding defenders and young men.

There were also more than a dozen shells that directly hit the artillery deployed at the head of the city, and the huge force directly smashed those Franc machine guns, and even Chen Yongfu saw that two cannons were smashed and flew up on the spot, and then fell heavily on the city, killing five or six defenders!

"Fire!"

The reason why Chen Yongfu did not fire the cannon in advance was that he was worried about attracting the army of thieves outside the city to attack in advance, and he always thought that he would delay for a while but for a while, and maybe reinforcements would arrive the next moment.

But now it seems that there are no reinforcements, there are just

Constant artillery bombardment by the thieves.

Chen Yongfu lay behind an arrow dodge and looked outside, only to see that the gunpowder smoke was constantly on the artillery of the thief firearms battalion, and those thief gunners were well-trained and methodical, and the shells fired were not only very accurate, but also fast, which made Chen Yongfu's heart desperate.

"How can this be fought!"

Rumble!

Finally, the artillery on the city of Kaifeng began to counterattack, and more than 100 artillery pieces of various types were deployed on the south of the city.

Chen Yongfu was so angry that he scolded: "Volley, other people's artillery is a salvo, you can beat others with one cannon in the east and one cannon in the west!" ”

However, at this time, the gunners of the officers and soldiers had already broken their courage, and they were able to complete the procedures of loading and firing the artillery, which was already considered to be extraordinary. In addition, during this period of time, the military salary of the defenders in the city has basically been cut off, and the king of Zhou in the city refused to pay for the army, which made the morale of the defenders plummet, and there were not many people at this time to fight to the death.

"It's over!"

Chen Yongfu saw in his eyes, he had led the troops for many years, what these Qiu Ba were thinking, he knew it, looking at the way his soldiers were hiding everywhere and fearful, Chen Yongfu already knew that the fall of Kaifeng City was imminent!

"The town, the northern wall is lost!"

Just when Chen Yongfu was stunned, a general ran to report in a panic.

Chen Yongfu was shocked, and hurriedly held the clairvoyant mirror to look north, only to see that the battle flag of the front camp of the thieves had been planted on the head of the city, and countless thief infantry were pouring onto the city wall.

At this time, Chen Yongfu gritted his teeth and eyes

Crimson said: "Pass my order: the whole army surrenders immediately!" Send someone to the governor's yamen and take down Gao Mingheng! ”

Half an hour later, the artillery fire of the thief firearms battalion stopped, and the brigade of thief soldiers rushed into Kaifeng City, and Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi also rode into the city.

At this time, the battle in Kaifeng City was basically over, because Chen Yongfu led his troops to surrender, there was no street fighting in the city at all, and a large number of officers and soldiers and young men defending the city surrendered directly.

Of course, the thieves did not kill the prisoners, but according to Li Laihu's order, all the prisoners were detained in the city yard and waited for their release.

"General Lee!"

Li Dingguo saw Li Laihum in front of him, and Ai Nengqi rode up to meet him, and after the two sides saluted, he asked, "I heard that Chen Yongfu surrendered?" ”

Li Lai hummed and said: "Yes, I didn't expect that this die-hard guy would surrender in battle, and he also tied Gao Mingheng!" ”

"What!"

Li Dingguo said in surprise: "Then where are they?" ”

Li Lai hummed and said: "I have already sent someone to Tongguan, Tongguan has not been taken yet, and King Chuang needs these two people even more." ”

Li Dingguo suddenly realized and said: "Indeed, when Sun Chuanting learned that Kaifeng was lost, he would definitely have no intention of fighting, maybe Tongguan could be won in one go!" ”

"Hehe, this firearms battalion fought well, I see that those gunners are well trained, it seems that General Li and General Ai have worked hard."

Li Dingguo said a few words modestly, and then asked: "Now that Kaifeng City has been taken, I don't know how to arrange it next?" ”

Although Li Dingguo and Li Laihum are of the same level, they are orthodox "red three generations", so Li Dingguo naturally wants to ask Li Laihu

What's next.

"Two days ago, King Chuang had an order and ordered me to lead my troops to garrison Kaifeng and guard Henan. General Li was ordered to lead his troops to Tongguan to help in the battle. ”

Li Dingguo frowned slightly, and said: "Didn't you say that the official army reinforcements were blocked in the area of Pingyang Mansion, and the firearms battalion didn't need to go to support General Yuan of the right battalion?" ”

"I don't know."

Li Lai hummed and said: "Maybe King Chuang didn't fancy those reinforcements at all, General Li is better as soon as possible, I think I can set off today." ”

Li Dingguo was stunned for a moment, the army besieged the city for days, and then attacked the city today, didn't he need to rest?

However, Li Dingguo looked at Li Lai's somewhat playful smile, and didn't say anything, so he could only take the order and take Ai Nengqi back to the camp to rectify the soldiers and horses.

"General, this is treating us as cannon fodder!"

Li Dingguo sighed and said: "Originally, I thought that after the defeat of Kaifeng, King Chuang had learned from the pain and changed his ways, but now it seems that I think highly of King Chuang and others!" ”

"Then let's ......"

"Go to Tongguan first, try to keep this firearms battalion, this is our brother's dependence to survive in troubled times!"