Xinle County.

Laidong and his entourage rode horses and rushed into Xinle County, and then rushed to the county government non-stop, and sent the news that the right battalion of Yuan Zong's first department was out of touch with the main force of the thieves.

"Yuan Zongdi's right battalion has not crossed the Tuo River yet, it's incredible, it's been several days, they can climb over even if they climb!"

Miao Shao expressed his opinion suspiciously, and Chen Xun and Shen Tuo next to him were also discussing in a whisper, obviously having some opinions on this information, thinking that Yuan Zongdi must have other plans.

Qian Yu also said at this time: "It stands to reason that the distance between Yuan Zongdi's department and Xingtang County is much closer than that of Li Zicheng's department, Liu Zongmin's department, and Liu Fangliang's department, and now the three of them are rapidly moving closer to Xingtang County, but Yuan Zongdi is still delaying on the south bank of the Tuo River, what does this mean?" ”

Liu Yan looked at Yutu and didn't pay attention to everyone's discussions, but thought for a moment, and suddenly said loudly: "The south bank of the Filter Tuo River is more than sixty miles away from Xinle County, and the distance is okay. ”

Everyone was taken aback when they heard this, the new army and the garrison army had just carried out a long-distance raid, killing more than 200,000 troops of Li Guobu, and now there are more than 73,000 prisoners of thieves in the rear camp of Xinle County, most of these thieves are old bandits, Liu Yan has ordered someone to screen them, except for thousands who are indeed coerced, most of them are imprisoned in the military camp in the city.

As for the thousands of dead soldiers who were coerced, there were many strong women among them, all of whom were ordered by Liu Yan to temporarily settle in Xinle County, ready to wait until after the war

The county order of Xinle County took the thousands of people to open up the wasteland on the spot, and made up for the shortage of manpower in Beizhili as much as possible.

At this time, Shen Tuo said worriedly: "Elder Ge, now that the soldiers of the army are very tired, and there are still tens of thousands of prisoners in the rear who need to be guarded, is it too rash to go south to raid the hundreds of thousands of troops of Yuan Zong's first department now?" ”

Liu Yan said: "Sports warfare is like this, the soldiers of the army can take advantage of the post-war gap to recuperate, but when they encounter a fighter, they must seize it immediately, don't be afraid of getting tired, our army is tired, but the thieves will lose their lives!" ”

"According to the fact that the battalions do not collect at night and the intelligence just sent by the Military Intelligence Department yesterday, Li Zicheng's troops are now moving closer to Xingtang County at full speed, and Li Laiheng and Li Dingguo's troops in the north are also stopping at Quyang County, and they are the closest to Xingtang County, and it is very likely that they have already learned the news of the destruction of Li Guo's troops and will return to their troops at any time. And the forwards of Liu Zongmin and Liu Fangliang in the southwest also appeared in the area of Lingshou County, and it seems that they are also heading towards Xingtang County. ”

Liu Yan exclaimed: "Although the crime of thieves is unforgivable, but Li Zicheng, Liu Zongmin, Li Laiheng, Li Dingguo, Liu Fangliang and others are all rare generals, Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui, Chen Yongfu and others are also difficult opponents, with their intelligence, they must have guessed that Xingtang County has been destroyed by our army, so they will invariably move closer to Xingtang County, trying to blossom inside and outside, and annihilate our army in Xingtang County." ”

"Fortunately, Li Zicheng, Hong Chengchou and others never imagined that Li Guo didn't hold on even for a night, we have withdrawn from Xingtang County, and we are a few steps ahead of the thieves in action, this is the biggest advantage of our army!"

"Such as

Now that Yuan Zong's first division is making slow progress, it has distanced itself from the thieves' departments, and it is the right time for our army to attack southward, not only can we eat up the strength of one more battalion of the thieves, but also throw the rest of the thieves' battalions to the north to eat the soil. Continue to maintain the advantage of our army's first strike, so this battle is imperative! ”

At this time, most people felt that Liu Yan's strategy was very reasonable, but Miao Shao said worriedly: "Ge Lao, that Yuan Zongdi is also a fierce general in the thief army, one of the generals in the thief army, he is not a mediocre talent, how could he make such a low-level mistake this time, and when the whereabouts of our army are unknown, he dares to disconnect from the main force of the thieves' battalions?" The subordinates are worried, could this be another trap set by the thieves? The subordinates thought that Yuan Zong's first department was very likely to be a bait! ”

Everyone discussed, Liu Yan also frowned slightly, pondered for a while, and suddenly remembered something, so he asked Laidong, who had been waiting beside him: "When you were investigating, what was wrong with Yuan Zongdi's army?" ”

Lai Dong recalled for a while and said: "Elder Qiyu Pavilion, Yuan Zongdi has more than 100,000 soldiers and horses in his army, and the army is marching slowly all the way. If it is unusual, there are a large number of horse-drawn carts and ox-carts, and even trolleys, which are very large, as if a large amount of supplies were transported. ”

"A lot of supplies? How many! ”

Lai Dong said affirmatively: "Yes, the subordinates estimate that if the vehicles in Yuan Zongdi's army are all loaded with military supplies, the number will definitely exceed the needs of the thief's right battalion, which should be regarded as an anomaly." ”

Liu Yan suddenly laughed and said, "Yuan Zong's first department has been stranded in Houlu County for the past two days.

Think about it, what does Delu County have? ”

Wang Yue immediately reacted and shouted, "Silver coins! We have abandoned a large amount of supplies and hundreds of thousands of silver coins in Houlu County! ”

Everyone suddenly realized that this Yuan Zongdi had made a fortune in the territory of Houlu County in the past two days!

Liu Yan said: "I have long heard that Yuan Zongdi is greedy for money, and this time he even picked up a big bargain. But fortunately, if it weren't for Yuan Zongdi's greed for money, the soldiers and horses of the thief's right battalion would not be out of touch with the rest of the battalions, and we wouldn't have this fighter! ”

Everyone was relieved, which showed that the progress of Yuan Zong's first department was slowed down, and it was not a trap for thieves, and it seemed that this battle was feasible.

Then Liu Yan ordered: "All battalions prepare immediately, and after half an hour, the whole army will march south." All the captives in the city were imprisoned in the city, and all the baggage soldiers of the guard battalion were left to guard them! ”

"Yes!"

Immediately, the battalions of the new army and the garrison army quickly assembled, and the assembly was completed in less than half an hour, and then they successively went out of the city from the south gate of Xinle County, and drove to the south in a mighty way.

At the same time, Yuan Zongdi led his troops to finally arrive at the south bank of the Tuotuo River, looking at the river that was only about knees in the water, Yuan Zongdi smiled and said to Liu Tichun and Dang Shousu: "It seems that God helps me, such a shallow river, the army can really wade directly through the water, and the time can be saved a lot." ”

Liu Tichun and Dang Shousu smiled slightly, and only hoped to cross the river north as soon as possible, don't delay any longer, judging from the current speed of the right battalion of the thieves, it is already the last army to arrive in Xingtang County, and everyone will be punished by Li Zicheng at that time.

By this time it was already afternoon

At the end of the day, it was about two hours before it got dark.

Yuan Zongdi ordered the army to temporarily stop advancing, and the officers and soldiers of all departments rested on the spot, and then first sent thousands of horses to cross the river, searched the north of the filter Tuo River, and after confirming that there was no trace of the official army, he ordered to let the thousands of carts in the army and a large number of carts cross the river first.

Seeing this, Dang Shousu couldn't help but say: "General, those vehicles are very heavy, and it takes a lot of time to cross the river, so it is better to let the soldiers of all departments cross the river together, which can save a lot of time." ”

Yuan Zongdi said cautiously: "All the soldiers and supplies crossed the river at the same time, what if the officers and soldiers suddenly killed and attacked halfway?" It is better to transport the materials over first, and then the soldiers of each department will cross the river step by step, so that it is safer. ”

Liu Tichun said with some dissatisfaction: "The scouts have searched the surrounding area for more than ten miles, and have not found a single soldier of the official army, is the general too cautious?" Crossing the river slowly like this, when the whole camp has crossed the Tuotuo River, it is estimated that it will be dark! ”

Yuan Zongdi said dissatisfiedly: "It's dark, then set up camp on the north bank of the Motuo River, and continue to hurry tomorrow!" ”

Liu Tichun said: "What does it mean to be a general? Can His Majesty's orders be ignored? ”

"Is that really His Majesty's order?"

Yuan Zongdi said dissatisfiedly: "I think that it is most likely Hong Chengchou's order, but it was just said with the help of His Majesty's mouth!" Who is Hong Chengchou? He is the first assistant of the cabinet of the Ming court, if he was not defeated by our army in Xinzhou, Hong Chengchou would have served His Majesty? ”

"Now Your Majesty will send Hong Cheng

Chou has been supplied, let one descend to command the soldiers of each battalion, and let Hong Chengchou command us to charge in front, you are willing! ”

Liu Tichun stopped talking, since Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui took refuge in him, Li Zicheng did respect the two of them, so that the generals of each battalion were dissatisfied, plus Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance secretly added fuel to the fire, causing Wu Sangui and Chen Yongfu's two battalions of the rogue new army to be very estranged from the rest of the battalions, Hong Chengchou was also constantly squeezed out by Song Xiance and Niu Jinxing, only Li Yan's attitude towards Hong Chengchou was not bad, and Gu Junen was also normal.

At this time, Liu Tichun sighed and said: "I am also very dissatisfied with Hong Chengchou being so high-minded, but we still have to focus on the overall situation, and we must not ruin the current battle situation because of our willfulness!" ”

Yuan Zongdi said: "Do you really think that using this strategy of Hong Chengchou can defeat Liu Yanbu and take Beijing City? ”

Liu Tichun and Dang Shousu's faces suddenly became ugly when they heard this, and Yuan Zongdi continued: "Don't be stupid, I think the best result of this battle is that we and Liu Yanbu will both lose and lose, and then I will withdraw from Beizhili and continue to return to the northwest provinces to restore strength." It is more likely that he will be defeated by Liu Yan again! ”

After stopping Yuan Zongdi's words, Liu Tichun and Dang Shousu glanced at each other, and then said: "So the general deliberately delayed time and wanted to preserve his strength?" ”

Yuan Zongdi said: "I'm just waiting, if the war goes well, we will rush north to fight, if the war doesn't go well, our right camp is the last hope of Dashun, I will immediately lead my troops to meet His Majesty, and then."

Return to Shanxi together! ”