Yang Jiangyi didn't know much about the marching and camping of the brigade, and only saw the companies and camps of the righteous army overlapping and overlapping along the way, with many banners, which seemed quite impressive, but she saw Hua Bushi's face getting heavier and heavier, and couldn't help asking: "Do you think it's inappropriate for these rebel camps?"

Hua Bushi frowned and said: "Not only is it inappropriate, it's simply useless!" Hey, this company camp seems to be overlapping and staggered, but in fact, it is completely disorderly, and many camps not only fail to take advantage of the terrain, but are rooted in the most inappropriate place, and the connection between the various sub-villages is also not good, and there are many flaws that will be taken advantage of by the enemy, and once the battle starts, it will become a big disaster. ”

Chu Yiyi said: "The commander of the rebel army this time is the king who is nicknamed 'Zijin Liang', and his 'Jinliang Village' is the largest rebel camp in the Jin realm, with tens of thousands of horses under his command, so he should not be so incompetent." ”

Hua Bushi thought for a while and said, "Mrs. Yiyi is reasonable, maybe there is something else in it. ”

While speaking, the four of them had galloped to the gate of the camp, but they saw a white-robed young general standing next to the camp gate, who was Li Guo.

Seeing Hua Bushi's arrival, Li Guo stepped forward and said, "Uncle Hongji instructed the little nephew to greet Shi Gongzi here, and the son has worked hard all the way!"

Hua Bushi returned the salute and said: "We looked around outside the city just now, but we told General Li to wait for a long time!"

Li said: "Why should Shi Gongzi be polite to his little nephew, let's go into the camp together!"

At that moment, several people dismounted and walked into the camp with Li Guo.

The 3,000 infantry of Biluo Village, mixed with the nearly 50,000 horses of the righteous army, is really not conspicuous, this camp is also set up on a high ground outside the southeast city wall, is in the corner of the company camp, from the east and south gates of Huaiqing are very far away, although it is inconvenient to send troops, but it is also very safe, do not have to worry about the enemy coming to raid and intercept the camp.

Li Zicheng was in a side tent not far from the walled gate, and when Li Guo led Hua Bushi and his party into the door, he was sitting at the table with Tian Jianxiu and Hao Shaoqi, but they all looked a little sad.

After the salute, everyone sat down at the table again, but they were all silent.

Li Zicheng and the others did not speak, Hua Bushi did not speak, Yang Jiangyi and Chu Yiyi were even more inconvenient to speak, and there was silence in the tent, without any sound.

After a while, Hao Shaoqi suddenly slapped the table and stood up, and said loudly: "His grandmother's! It's really boring to sit here, Lao Tzu went to find two sips of wine to drink, and went back to the tent to sleep!"

Li Zicheng glared and shouted, "Wave the flag, sit down for me!"

Hao Shaoqi was originally a rude temper that was not afraid of the sky and the earth, but he listened to Li Zicheng's words very much, and only hummed a few times at the moment, walked around the tent twice, and sat down at the table again.

Li Zicheng said to Hua Bushi: "Brother Shi, don't be surprised, you have suffered a defeat during the day, and the big guys are a little depressed." ”

Hua Bushi's expression moved, and he asked: "It has only been a day since the righteous army arrived in Huaiqing City, and the camp has just been established, how can it lose the battle?"

The group of "Evil Dog Gate" followed behind the brigade of the righteous army, a day's journey, one day later than the righteous army, and just arrived in Qingyang Town this afternoon, Hua Bushi did not know the situation after the arrival of the righteous army.

Li Zicheng sighed, and before he could answer, Hao Shaoqi was open-mouthed, and said: "It's not that Wang Zi used that big straw bag, and did his best to command his mother, why did he want to attack him unprepared, so that we suffered a big defeat just after we came!"

Li Zicheng said: "Don't talk nonsense when you wave the flag! See Xiu, you should tell Shi Gongzi about it." ”

Tian Jianxiu agreed, and told Hua Bushi the details.

It turned out that yesterday, when the brigade of the rebels approached 30 miles west of Huaiqing City, some scouts reported that the gate of Huaiqing City had not been closed, and the drawbridge had not been raised, and the officers and soldiers in the city seemed to be unaware of it and did not know that the rebels were coming.

At that time, some people offered their own plans to the marshal king, and they should take the opportunity to storm it, and maybe they could rush directly into the city. The king thought so, so he ordered the cavalry of the rebel army to assemble immediately and prepare to attack the city.

Among the rebel armies, which were generally very rudimentary in weaponry, cavalry could be regarded as the most elite troops, and the number was not large, only about 2,000 in total. In order to make up for the lack of troops, Wang Ziyong arranged for 6,000 infantry with strong combat power to follow him, and Li Zicheng's troops were also among them.

According to Wang's own idea, the cavalry rushed into the city with lightning speed, and the infantry behind covered the past, and the officers and soldiers did not have time to prevent it and would inevitably suffer heavy losses, and the righteous army could capture Huaiqing City in one fell swoop. It took only one day to take the fortified city, which was really a great victory.

It's a pity that the actual battle situation is far from what this marshal Wang expected. The undefended appearance of Huaiqing City turned out to be all illusions, and this was originally a plan set up by Yu Jue, the commander of Huaiqing, to lure the enemy, and its purpose was to lure the righteous army to attack.

When the cavalry rushed to within fifty zhang of the city wall, the city gate was suddenly closed, and the drawbridge was pulled up, and half of the cavalry had already rushed through the moat, and the way was immediately blocked, and there was no way to advance or retreat. A large number of archers of the official army poured out of the city wall, and for a time arrows rained down, and long-range weapons such as ballistas and catapults were also powerful.

The cavalry did not have the ability to attack the city walls, and when they rushed to the bottom of the city, they immediately became a live target, and they were immediately shot down. It didn't take long for all the cavalry trapped across the moat to be wiped out, and the cavalry that had not yet crossed the river turned around and fled, and many were killed.

The 6,000 infantry of the rebel army was originally following behind the cavalry, but they had already rushed to a place a hundred feet away from the city wall, and the cavalry in front of them retreated in a panic, and they had no time to avoid it. Li Zicheng immediately ordered to turn into a wedge formation, squeezing the fleeing cavalry to both sides, and the soldiers raised their shields and slowly retreated, which could be regarded as stabilizing the situation.

After this battle, almost all of the 2,000 cavalry of the rebel army were wiped out, and less than 30 percent remained, most of them were wounded and could no longer form a combat force, and the 6,000 infantry also suffered casualties of several hundred, which can be described as a crushing defeat! Although the men and horses of Biluo Village were well-trained and Li Zicheng was quick to respond, he was also hit and wounded by 40 or 50 people.

Fortunately, the officers and soldiers in the city only fired arrows and threw huge stones, and did not directly rush out to kill, otherwise the rebel cavalry would be in a mess when they retreated, and they would not be able to resist at all, and they would have to be chased and killed for fear that they would have to suffer more casualties.

After Tian Jianxiu finished talking about the battle, he said: "Yesterday the first battle was defeated, Wang Dashuai was also disgraced, and many brothers in the rebel army complained that his command was not effective and he was unwilling to obey his control. ”

After hearing this, Hua Bushi understood why the company camps outside the city were so scattered, it turned out that many rebels did not follow the order and did their own thing.

He was silent for a moment, and said: "Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, and Yu Jue, the chief soldier of Huaiqing Mansion, can also be regarded as a famous general in the official army. ”

Li Zicheng shook his head and said: "50,000 troops came to attack the city, and it is not a big deal to lose more than 1,000 injuries, but now the morale of the brothers in each battalion has been greatly damaged, and many people have lost confidence in Wang Ziyong and are unwilling to obey.

On the battlefield, only orders and prohibitions can form an army, and compared with the loss of more than 1,000 cavalry, the failure of the rebels to obey the orders is a more serious problem. Hearing Li Zicheng's words, Hua Bushi knew that what he said was true.

Among the 50,000 rebels, most of them were peasants who had not undergone formal training, that is, the leaders of the battalions of the 36th Battalion, in fact, most of them were from peasant households, and there were few who really knew how to command the troops to fight, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that they were a rabble. The only thing that can be relied on now is the advantage of a large number of people, and if each battalion does its own thing and cannot obey the unified command, no matter how many troops there are, it is useless, and it is really hopeless to capture Huaiqing City within ten days.

Hua Bushi asked, "I don't know if Wang Dashuai has made arrangements for the siege of the city?"

Tian Jianxiu said: "Marshal Wang has given an order, each battalion will rest for a day today, and tomorrow will start a large-scale siege of the city." He had assigned eighteen battalions of his brothers to attack the four gates. ”

Hua Bushi said: "After losing the first battle, it is indeed appropriate to take a little rest, and it should be reasonable to divide troops and horses to attack the four gates." ”

Hao Shaoqi snorted and said, "What's the point!" The eighteen battalions that the king didn't use the straw bales to distribute, all of them are poorly equipped and not very powerful troops, and they are told to take a few bamboo poles to attack the city, and only if they can capture Huaiqinglai will they be called alive! I think tomorrow we will have to be defeated again, and probably a lot of people will have to die!"

Hua Bushi frowned and said, "What is the reason for this, why did he make such an arrangement?"

Li Zicheng sighed and said: "Wang Dashuai lost a battle, and now everyone's hearts are fluctuating, and he can't move the rebel army of those brigades, but he is reluctant to send his own 'Jinliang Village' soldiers and horses, so he can only call some small teams to attack the city." If there is another defeat tomorrow, the hearts of the righteous brothers will be even more scattered. ”

The 50,000 horses of the 36th Battalion are not so much a whole team, but actually an alliance composed of many Lu Yi troops. Attacking Huaiqing City to obtain food and grass is certainly related to the survival of all the rebels, but if they suffer defeats one after another, people from all walks of life will inevitably have different intentions, and it will be even more difficult to unite and fight together for the sake of their own back roads.

Hua Bushi pondered for a long time before asking, "The current situation is unfavorable, I don't know what Brother Hongji has planned?"

Li Zicheng said: "I don't have any other plans. Looking at the situation in front of me, I am afraid that it will not be possible to capture this city within ten days, but King Gao Chuang treats me Li Hongji as heavy as a mountain, but I can't fail him, nor can I live up to the brothers of Biluo Mountain, even if I want to die in the city, I have no regrets!"