weaving

When Liu Zongmin, the first general in charge of the camp, led his cavalry to gallop, Li Guo, a tiger, was fighting fiercely with the Zuo Liangyu tribe of the army in Zhuxian Town. I am afraid that the whole army will be exhausted.

Li Guo really lived up to his domineering nickname - "a tiger"!

Like a tiger descending from the mountain, he led the three thousand elite cavalry and galloped all the way to Zhuxian Town. Finally, in the middle of the night, he stormed into the west gate of Zhuxian Town.

But as luck would have it, Ding Qirui's troops rushed into the town from the south gate and east gate first. Their vanguard had already reached the middle of the street, and had already captured the Yuewu Mu Temple, the key point in the town, in advance.

Since the people in the town had heard the news that the army was coming, almost all of them had fled out of the town to avoid the war. Zhuxian Town was simply an empty city.

Moreover, the streets in the town were very narrow and were not suitable for cavalry charge operations. Unprepared, Li Guo and his troops were already in a very disadvantageous situation at the beginning of the battle.

After a melee between the two sides, due to the disadvantage of a small number of people and the inability to fully utilize the advantage of the cavalry, Li Guo's army suffered serious casualties. Even he himself was injured by stray arrows.

However, the innate bravery and ruthlessness in him also came into play at this moment. He shouted loudly to supervise the battle, and he was completely unafraid of death. With his encouragement and motivation, Chuangjun insisted on With only 3,000 troops, they withstood a fierce attack that was ten times the size of their own army, and fought to the death in the North Street area of ​​Zhuxian Town.

Suddenly, an arrow flew from nowhere and hit the left eye of Li Guo's horse under his crotch. The heartbreaking pain caused his horse to leap up and fall to the ground instantly. Li Guo was indeed a veteran of the battlefield, and he did not panic. In such a state, Gulu jumped up from the ground.

He glanced sideways and saw an officer stabbing him with a gun. He quickly raised his hand to cut him away with his sword. Then he used his backhand sword to knock the officer off his horse. He then grabbed the reins, grabbed the horse, and flew away. He jumped up and continued to fight with the officers and soldiers to kill the enemy.

As the war progressed, the number of troops around Li Guo became smaller and smaller as the battle progressed. Seeing the casualties increasing, the invading troops who finally broke into Zhuxian Town were about to be driven out of the town.

Li Guo, on the other hand, was panicked but not confused. In his haste, he only left some soldiers to dismount and fight on foot, desperately holding on to a house in the northwest corner of Zhuxian Town. He himself led hundreds of other elites and rode the saved horses to rush to Outside the town, they were galloping left and right in the vast wilderness, sometimes fighting to the east gate, sometimes fighting to the west gate, and suddenly running back to the north gate and rushing into the town.

It was his desperate fighting style that prevented the officers and soldiers from fully attacking the remnants of the Chuang army remaining in the northwest corner of the town, which allowed them to survive.

Later, the officers and soldiers heard that it was Li Guo who led the rebel cavalry outside the town to kill left and right. He was King Li Chuang's nephew and capable general!

"Capture Li Guo alive! Capture Li Guo alive!"

As the shouts of the officers and soldiers became louder and louder, more and more people and horses gathered, swarming in from all directions, finally surrounding Li Guo and the elite cavalry team around him, constantly compressing Li Guo's space for movement.

Li Guo had almost run out of arrows in his hand. He didn't dare to shoot anymore. Only when the army was too close, he would occasionally shoot an arrow. Fortunately, he was a superb archer and every shot was sure to hit. Although the army had already They surrounded them several times, but for a while there was nothing they could do to him.

…………

At the critical moment when Li Guo was unable to survive on his own, 15,000 fine cavalrymen from the rebel army, led by Liu Zongmin, were galloping towards Zhuxian Town.

When he was still more than two miles away from Zhuxian Town, Liu Zongmin faintly heard bursts of shouts of killing. He knew that they were coming from the officers and soldiers who were besieging Li Guo. From this, he judged that Li Guo's situation must have been very serious. critical.

He immediately ordered the army to prepare for battle, and ordered Li You to immediately lead a thousand fine cavalry to rush over to support Li Guo. He even ordered him: "Yi San, you lead a thousand cavalry to kill first, and even if you can't help, In order to break out of the siege, I have to give me a fierce beating to attract those bastards over, so that I can help relieve some of the pressure on the bastards, and also suppress the arrogance of the bastards and give them some color! "

Song Xiance had already asked the spies about the detailed situation in Zhuxian Town. He came over to discuss with Liu Zongmin for a while. After hearing this, Liu Zongmin's eyes lit up, he nodded his head and said, "Okay, just do what you said." The plan will work. In addition, I will send one more cavalry to make these bastards worry about one thing and the other."

After he finished speaking, he shouted loudly: "Wave the flag!"

"exist!"

A strong and burly man with a stubble on his face responded loudly.

Liu Zongmin loudly ordered him: "I will give you two thousand cavalry..."

Before Liu Zongmin finished speaking, he was interrupted by Hao Yaoqi: "Yes, yes, yes... Hurry up and give me two thousand cavalry. I will rush straight to the middle of the street in Zhuxian Town and kill these dogs." Everyone is gone, no one is left alive!”

Liu Zongmin's expression suddenly froze, and he shouted coldly: "Who wants you to rush to the middle of the street to fight?"

He glared at Hao Yaoqi fiercely, making this fierce man who was fearless tremble. Strangely enough, Hao Yaoqi was not a core figure in the camp, but his bravery and daring to fight were also outstanding. He was famous, and he was not very convinced by anyone. Only the king of intrusion, Li Zicheng, and the chief sentry, Liu Zongmin, could restrain him.

Liu Zongmin said in a deep voice: "I want you to go around Zhuxian Town and go to the south or southeast area. Five miles away from the town and within a radius of ten miles, burn down the houses you see and the fields you see." I will burn all the wheat that has not yet been harvested."

Hao Yaoqi's face was full of questions: "Why is this? The war is tense now, why should I be allowed to do such trivial things, wasting troops and wasting time?"

"Humph."

Liu Zongmin pretended to be angry and said loudly: "Don't ask any more questions, just follow my instructions. If I don't send someone to call you back, you can just burn the house and wheat for me over there. If you encounter A small group of officers and soldiers were killed to pieces.

Remember, you only have two thousand people. You are not allowed to fight hard for me and lose all your capital. I want your head to pay for it! "

Hao Yaoqi was so frightened that he stuck out his tongue and did not dare to ask any more questions. He immediately led two thousand cavalry and galloped away to the southeast...

Liu Zongmin was too lazy to talk nonsense with him anymore. When he saw him taking orders and leaving, he galloped up to a nearby mound, stood on the back of his horse and looked towards the direction of Zhuxian Town for a while. Although it was gray and yellow over there, I also vaguely saw that Li You's thousand cavalry had arrived in the west of the town and were fighting with the officers and soldiers besieging Li Guo.

After watching for a while, he had a hunch that the time was almost here, so he said to the generals around him: "It's time for us to take action."

Liu Zongmin looked at the generals and shouted: "Hanju, you lead the three thousand cavalry from the north gate to the central street of Zhuxian Town, trying to capture the Yuewu Mu Temple. Erhu, you lead Shiyao and Baiwang. Five thousand cavalry, go to intercept the enemy coming to the east of Zhuxian Town for reinforcements. If the officers and soldiers in the town flee to the east, intercept them at a close range and kill them without leaving any trace behind!" Yuan Zongdi and other generals shouted their orders! , they galloped down the mound, ordered their troops and horses, and set off immediately without any delay.

Liu Zongmin rode on the mound and said to a close confidant, "Go quickly to meet the rear troops and send an order to General Gu Zijie to pull out 15,000 infantrymen from the army and go east to intercept Zhu Zhu's army." Xianzhen leads to the official road to Kaifeng, and he was told to find a place with good terrain, dig trenches and establish a stronghold, and never allow the officers and soldiers to reinforce Kaifeng through the official road.

In addition, we also need to tell King Chuang to send more rangers out to isolate the connection between Kaifeng and Zhuxian Town, so that no messages can be passed between Kaifeng and Zhuxian Town. The remaining troops over there should also drive here quickly. "

After watching the small school leave, he no longer hesitated at all. He drew out his swords with a "swipe" sound, glanced at Song Xiance and said, "Commander Song, let's kill him too."

Like him, Song Xiance suddenly drew out the sword from his waist and shouted loudly: "Let's go!"

Liu Zongmin jumped on his horse, raised his sword, and ran down the mound with a loud shout. He led the large cavalry unit that had been formed and rushed straight towards the north gate of Zhuxian Town where Li Guo was surrounded.

Even the soldiers and generals around him were extremely ferocious. They all roared and galloped up on their horses. They rushed to his left and right sides and marched side by side with him, so as to block his sword in critical moments.

Amidst the sound of galloping war horses, a rough voice was heard howling like a lion's roar: "I'm coming... Your Grandpa Liu is coming... Kill!"

…………

After Li Zicheng entered Henan, except for the two attacks on Kaifeng, it can be said that it was a smooth journey, his power continued to expand, and his strength was also increasing day by day.

Especially after Chuangying joined forces with Luo Rucai's Caoying, they were even more unfavorable and their momentum grew stronger. They killed Fu Zonglong and Wang Qiaonian, two governors of Shaanxi, and recruited a large number of officers and soldiers, which was particularly helpful.

However, despite the development of Chuangcao Second Camp to this day, there are a total of 500,000 to 600,000 troops, and there are rumors that the number is over one million.

However, in fact, there are only about 130,000 soldiers and horses capable of fighting. Among them, the elite ones are only 30,000 cavalry and more than 40,000 infantry. A total of only 78,000 people, and the rest are six or seven. Ten thousand infantry.

The remaining 400,000 to 500,000 horses include various non-combatants in the logistics field such as craftsmen, horsemen, pack transport teams, handymen, servants, etc., as well as many monks and monks who came to seek refuge. Taoism and other three religions and nine streams.

Furthermore, since there is no stable base, the battalion officers and the hundreds of thousands of men, women, old and weak dependents have to move with the army. Even if there are some old and weak left in Funiu Mountain, the number is limited.

In addition, there are a large number of newly recruited soldiers who have not had time to practice and are temporarily unable to go to the battlefield. After all, these people are young men in the camp. They are one of the assets that Li Zicheng will use to dominate the world in the future, so naturally they will not take them easily. He went out to be cannon fodder, so he was also within the number of five to six hundred thousand.

Fortunately, breaking into the camp benefited from the capture of many war horses from Fu Zonglong and Wang Qiaonian, and the surrender of many Shaanxi army border soldiers to Li Zicheng, making the cavalry under his command a truly elite division.

Nowadays, every truly elite cavalryman in King Chuang's cavalry has two or three horses. The most famous "three walls" cavalry tactics in Chuang's army were practiced during this period.

Moreover, the non-combatants in the army rarely participate in military battles in peacetime, so they are not completely incapable of participating in battles. When faced with a critical moment, they can also hold knives and guns to attack the enemy!

However, although the Chuang Cao Alliance Army is now very powerful, it is not without its shortcomings. The most fatal among them are the following shortcomings.

First, since the proportion of elite soldiers under his command is less than 20% of the total number, and they still belong to the Chuangcao and Chuangcao battalions, this means that when Kaifeng is besieged, they can no longer be divided into occupying important surrounding cities. Even Zhuxian Town is like this The strategic locations were unable to be divided and garrisoned.

Second, because there is no completely reliable base so far, a large number of non-combatants and more than 100,000 camp dependents can only move around with the main force in order to be protected, so as to supplement the movement and supplies of the army. , adding a lot of difficulties and problems.

Thirdly, because Luo Rucai and Cao Ying were already in the same bed, under such circumstances, he did not dare to let Cao Ying's troops take charge alone, and King Chuang also had to control some of the elite troops by his side. In order to prepare for any unexpected situation with Luo Rucai, what Li Zicheng is most afraid of now is that Luo Rucai will imitate Yuan Shizhong and leave him without saying goodbye.

This may be the first sequela that Yuan Shizhong left for Li Zicheng after he left!

But now that it was known that a large number of reinforcements were coming to rescue Kaifeng, these shortcomings of Chuang Cao's army were immediately exposed by the battle of Zhuxian Town.

When Li Zicheng learned that the imperial reinforcements coming from the south numbered about 170,000, he decided to leave only a small number of troops to pretend to besiege the city, and gathered all the elite troops of himself and Luo Rucai to go south to deal with the enemy, with the purpose of killing the enemy in one fell swoop. Defeat it so that it cannot affect his "siege of Kaifeng" plan.

After some discussions with Luo Rucai and the civil and military personnel under the two men, it was finally decided to temporarily divide the men under their command into three parts.

That is to say, a part of the soldiers and the family members of the old camp were temporarily stayed in Yanli Village to wait for orders; while most of the troops marched towards Zhuxian Town in the middle of the night to fight to aid Ding Qirui's officers and troops; in addition, some troops were allocated to go ten miles west of Zhuxian Town. Five miles away, not far from the west bank of the Jialu River, there is a village called Liuzhuang. This place will become the new old camp of Chuangcao Camp.

…………

After the deployment was completed, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai took their own soldiers and generals and a few standard battalion cavalry at the front of the large army and hurried towards Zhuxian Town under the moonlight.

Near dawn, a thin layer of white mist arose on the ground, and then gradually thickened. As the moonlight gradually dimmed, even the shadows of people and horses a foot away became slightly blurred.

Only the sound of horse hooves trampling on the ground continued to sound in the dense fog. Occasionally, there would be sounds like the collision of weapons coming from the dense fog, because this area is all flat terrain, and the roads are familiar to light riders. So even though the sky was filled with thick fog, it did not affect their galloping on horseback at all...

When Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai led the leading cavalry and were about to arrive at Zhuxian Town, the fog became heavier and the moonlight was completely obscured by the thick fog, almost invisible.

But what surprised them was that, seeing that they were only two or three miles away from Zhuxian Town, they didn't hear a single sound of artillery, and they couldn't even hear the killing sounds of the fierce battle between the two sides.

The wilderness was unusually calm. Apart from the sound of the galloping hooves of their horses, there was no movement at all...

This strange silence made Li Zicheng, who was galloping on horseback, feel worried in his heart. He didn't know whether Li Guo had died on the battlefield, whether Liu Zongmin had rescued him in time, or what the current situation on the battlefield was like. Already?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help complaining to Liu Zongmin in his heart: Why didn't he send someone to report back in time? (End of chapter)