The sound of artillery in Tongxu County seems to have not stopped since the first sound.

Zuo Liangyu led several important generals under his command to climb a high mansion and look north. Under the cover of night, but I saw that far and near, there were fires everywhere, and some of the fires extended far to the north, clearly more than ten miles away. From the firelight, it can be seen that the camps of the rebel army are dotted one by one. In the distance, there were signs of a large group of men and horses with torches moving quickly towards the battlefield of Tongxu.

"The three families of Cao Xian have merged, but I am afraid that there are more soldiers and horses coerced." Zuo Liangyu looked at it for a while, and his heart felt heavy, so he turned around and looked south. He found that although there were many fires in the south, they were not campfires in the barracks, but they were constantly moving. One moment here and the next, the fire sometimes small, apparently extinguishing, but suddenly a new one came again. Zuo Liangyu knew that there was no enemy camp there, but some rangers patrolling the south......

At present, the Ming army is stationed in the county seat of more than 100,000 people in Tongxu County, with the county seat as the core, and they are stationed separately. Although he was also restrained by Hou Sui, Ding Qirui was stationed in Tongxu County because he was in the respect of the governor and had few soldiers and horses under his command, so he was stationed in Tongxu County to serve as the defense of the city and the northeast outside the city. Zuo Liangyu had the largest number of men and horses and the strongest combat effectiveness, so he was stationed in the north of Tongxu County, directly facing the hundreds of thousands of Chuang Cao coalition troops pressed down along the official road leading to Kaifeng.

The whole position, more than ten miles from east to west. But on the opposite side of the position he had just inspected, it was dimly lit and the voices of people were not loud. Obviously, there are not many troops stationed. Next door to his camp was the troops of Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding. Although there were not many soldiers and horses in Baoding, because of the abundance of firearms, they were transferred from the northeast side of the county seat to the northwest side of the county seat at dusk to set up camp to connect with the left flank of Zuo Liangyu's army to prevent the righteous army from storming Zuo Liangyu's department with artillery fire. The position vacated by Yang Wenyue's department in the northeast salient of the county was handed over to Zuo Liangyu's troops to take over and fill it.

The whole battlefield is shaped shì. Zuo Liangyu's responsibility accounted for six or seven tenths, and he was facing the main attacking force of the Cao Coalition Army, with Banpodian as the main battalion. As far as the official army is concerned, the two armies of Inspector Ding and Governor Yang belong to soy sauce and rely on Zuo Liangyu's army to eat. In this way, it is naturally Zuo Liangyu who is under the most pressure, but it also makes Zuo Liangyu despise the superintendent and the governor even more.

In the past years of combat. Zuo Liangyu fought with Zhang Xianzhong many times, fought with Luo Rucai a few times, and fought with the coalition formed by Zhang and Luo. Although Chongzhen had suffered defeat in the summer of the twelfth year of the twelveth year of Hubei, he had won almost every battle except for this time, and he had long since stopped taking Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai in his eyes. He admitted that the Eight Kings were cunning and very brave with soldiers, but he saw through a major weakness of Zhang Xianzhong's character. There are more rough places. Therefore, he often organized a counteroffensive immediately after Zhang Xianzhong won the victory, and specially found him to launch a fierce attack when he was getting carried away and defeated Zhang Xianzhong. He saw through that Luo Rucai had the name of Cao Cao, and he had no ambitions, so he couldn't focus on the big picture in the use of soldiers, and only played small tricks. Don't dare to fight a tough battle.

Now in his heart, he is only Li Zicheng, who is regarded as a fierce opponent. Although he has not actually competed with Li Zicheng, he has been very concerned about Li Zicheng's various actions in the past two years since he entered Henan. He won the hearts of the people, the troops were clean, the discipline was strict, and the soldiers were strong, and he knew it perfectly. Therefore, he often did not dare to directly compete with Li Zicheng and adopted an attitude of avoiding war.

This time by the emperor's strict order. Fighting with Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue, he was bored from the bottom of his heart. Zhang Xianzhong had already been beaten and fled, but he had to take these two guys to fight Li Zicheng together!

However, when Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai's troops took over, he keenly smelled a hint of smell. Li Zicheng only placed 120,000 people in front of him, but on the two wings, there were many large armies. The constant sound of artillery from the beginning, the news that the sentry cavalry kept sending back, and the urgent official documents sent by Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue all showed that Li Zicheng had landed the target of the attack on the heads of the two of them!

During the day today, Zuo Liangyu convened a meeting of his own cronies, generals and staff members in the tent. He mentioned Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue without any scruples, saying that they were both born in Wenchen, did not understand military affairs, and were defeated under Li Zicheng, especially Yang Wenyue, who actually left Fu Zonglong and fled alone in the battle of burning the shop. Speaking of this, he said in a mocking tone: "Today's war is not ordinary, the thief army is powerful, there are many firearms, and they have a good place to work. We need to beware of others running away and leaving us alone. ”

His generals and staff also ridiculed Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue for being scholars and not knowing soldiers. Some people said that since the thieves intensified dozens of artillery fire to storm Ding Qirui in the afternoon, rumors have spread in the camp of Ding's Grand Governor, saying that the official army has been surrounded by thieves on all sides, and Li Zicheng will attack him tomorrow. He also said that at present, the morale of the Ding and Yang military camps is already low and the morale of the army is unstable.

After returning from the inspection and entering the big tent, Zuo Liangyu sat behind his handsome case and thought quietly. The tent was not lit according to his habit, because he did not want to show too much expression on his face when he was thinking about the problem to be known to his subordinates.

After a while, his son, Zuo Mengeng, a 26-year-old adjutant general, immediately entered the big tent with several important generals who were close to him, and waited solemnly.

But he didn't say a word, just quietly and carefully calculated the pros and cons in the dark.

"After dawn tomorrow, leave the camp and quietly retreat south." In the dark, Zuo Liangyu finally figured out the pros and cons, and he began to move.

"Father, how is this?"

"Li Zicheng is also the same as Luo Rucai, but he is a little famous, in the end, he is a rogue! Less eloquent! I only know how to eat persimmons and pick up soft pinch! It is intended to fight the weak enemy first, and then attack our army. Good! Ben Shuai gave him this opportunity! Get out of the way and give him a good beating. ”

As the soldiers turned on the lights, Zuo Liangyu's hideous face appeared in front of everyone. According to his plan, the left men and horses quietly retreated the main force, exposing Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue to the two families of Chuang Cao.

"Let the four of them fight! It's better to fight to the death. At that time, let's suddenly kill again, clean up the mess, and establish immortal feats for the imperial court! Defeat the two thieves in one fell swoop! ”

Zuo Liangyu's new approach can be described as ruthless, and his move is tantamount to sending two court officials and tens of thousands of Ming troops to Li Zicheng's cannon as bait. When the two sides are fighting each other, he will come out to clean up the mess. Use the bones of tens of thousands of Ming soldiers to establish his immortal feats!

Such a vicious method was naturally applauded by his group of henchmen and generals!

"It's best if Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue were killed by thieves, so that they can be handsome!"

"That's right! After beating Li Zicheng and Cao Cao, let's take in the thieves, and immediately hundreds of thousands of people will be in hand! Until that time. And the imperial court still don't want to talk about it?! ”

"Father, after this battle, no one can shake the position of father. That Ning Yuanbo was only afraid that he would bow down! ”

In the face of the tide of rhetoric, Zuo Liangyu only waved his hand, "Meng Geng, don't forget, the strong armor and sharp soldiers equipped by our elite soldiers are all bought from Ning Yuanbo's men for money. The distance between Ben Shuai and Ning Yuanbo is more than thousands! ”

Hearing his modesty that he didn't know whether it was true or not, the generals Lu Guangzu and Li Guoying entered the Beijing Division. Yu Ruo Zhang Yingxiang, Xu Ensheng, Hao Xiaozhong, Jin Shenghuan, Chang Deng, Xu Yong, Wu Xueli, Zhang Yingyuan, Xu Yuxian and others are even more sycophants who don't want money.

"Okay, remember. Soldiers and horses are our capital, and after this battle, our capital will be thicker. Even if the court knows, it can't help me! It just so happened that Lord Hou had just taken up the position of superintendent, and Ben Shuai used this great victory to celebrate. ”

In the early morning of the next day, Zuo Liangyu's troops and horses quietly retreated. The main force was withdrawn to the south side of Tongxu County. Only a small number of soldiers and horses were left, and false flags were set up in the empty camp to hide the truth that the troops had withdrawn.

But. The actions of hundreds of thousands of people, no matter how secret they are, how can there be no signs? What's more, the left battalion is not a disciplined unit? The shouting and shouting of horses and the shouting and scolding of the people had already transmitted the situation to the nearby peasant army and the Ming army.

"Zuo Liangyu ran away?"

When the same news was sent to the generals of the opposing sides, the reaction was very different.

"Mobilize the artillery! Adjust all the cannons you bought this time and give Lao Tzu a hard bang! You must press Yang Wenyue's artillery down to Lao Tzu! Cao Cao shouted excitedly in his military tent. After a few days of contact, he had already figured out the strength of Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, who was known as the elite of firearms, and as long as those dozens of large and small artillery pieces were put into the battlefield, Yang Wenyue would definitely be defeated.

"Zuo Kunshan escaped? How can this Ping Thief General be the same as He Madman?! Ding Qirui sighed anxiously in the tent, at a loss. He had long been afraid that Zuo Liangyu would come to such a hand. And so it is today. He had to go to Yang Wenyue to discuss, but someone immediately reported him, and Yang Ying also hurriedly withdrew. It turned out that Yang Wenyue had the experience of burning down the shop in Xiangcheng, and he almost couldn't escape that time, thanks to the soldiers who forced him onto the horse and left Fu Zonglong, so that he could save his life. Now as soon as he saw Zuo Liangyu fleeing, he didn't care about the life or death of the superintendent Ding Qirui, and immediately gathered his troops and fled to the south. Ding Qirui knew that Yang Wenyue had abandoned him and fled, so he hurriedly rushed to the southeast under the protection of his own soldiers and generals. Because he fled too quickly, even the Shang Fang sword given to him by the emperor was lost. On the way to escape, he lost the Great Seal of the Governor and the Emperor's Edict.

The chief soldier Hu Dawei was originally under the command of Yang Wenyue, and he wanted to protect Yang Wenyue and escape together, but he didn't expect Yang Wenyue to flee first without greeting him, and then heard that Qi Rui also fled. Knowing that the tide was turning, he fled southeast with his men and horses. prepared to flee to Qixian and other places to pack up the troops and horses.

Zuo Liangyu's careful thinking triggered a series of chain reactions. Nearly 200,000 Ming troops suddenly began to run wildly on the land of eastern Henan like an avalanche.

These hundreds of thousands of horses are divided into several units: the largest one is Zuo Liangyu's Pingqi Town, and the other is Yang Wenyue, Ding Qirui, and Hu Dawei. In the process of escaping, each branch is divided into several strands, fighting for each other's way. The soldiers wished that they would have two more legs than others, or that they might be able to grow a pair of wings.

The enemy changes, I change. Li Zicheng, who was stationed in Banpodian, immediately ordered that the battalions of the two Cao families should follow the previous arrangement to pursue Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue, and Hu Dawei, who were in a state of rout, and not let one of them slip through the net! Annihilation!

At the same time, he ordered someone to quickly send an order to Luo Hu and Zhang Dingguo, who were in charge of monitoring Zuo Liangyu, that they must be optimistic about Zuo Liangyu's tiger, and they must not underestimate the enemy. It is also not allowed to allow Zuo Liangyu and Yang Wenyue and others to converge in one place, so that the plan of the righteous army to encircle and annihilate these three weak enemies fails.

"Generalissimo, otherwise I'll take someone to help Xiao Luohu! This boy fights bravely. But I'm afraid that he will be calculated by Lao Zuo! Zhang Xianzhong, whose injury has improved, is also eager to try.

"It's okay! Luo Hu's Zhenshan battalion also fought against the Tartars in Shandong, and Lao Zuo couldn't help him for a while. When we finish cleaning up these three lumps, it's not too late to clean up Zuo Liangyu! ”

Li Zicheng was very sure and ordered people to start the pursuit.

However, the development of the battle situation has surprised the veterans on both sides, who have extremely rich battlefield experience. (Oh.) It seems that none of these people have glasses. ）

On the entire battlefield, among the largest Ming army, Zuo Liangyu made a quick decision and ordered the troops to simply throw off their steps, stride south and withdraw from the battlefield, and take a temporary rest in the area of Wei's family, and wait for the peasant army to wipe out Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue, and Hu Dawei, and then suddenly join the battle.

"At that time, it was the most scattered formation and the most chaotic discipline. When people's hearts are most relaxed! ”

Compared with the retreating formation of the three divisions of Ding, Yang, and Hu, which was almost defeated and herding sheep, Zuo Liangyu's troops could be regarded as well-organized. Although there are not many cavalry in Pingqi Town, less than 10,000 horses, they are all carefully collected and trained by Zuo Liangyu over the years. He drew more than 1,000 cavalry to cover in the rear, and another 3,000 cavalry on the two flanks. A large number of rangers were also sent to patrol the marching brigade three or four miles away. If an enemy is spotted, the whole battalion can immediately occupy the terrain. Arrayed to meet the battle. Another 20,000 infantry and cavalry soldiers were used as the middle military camp, and with his most elite commander battalion of 3,000 men and horses, they advanced together, and if there was a danger somewhere, they could respond at any time.

The sun slowly climbed overhead, after a nervous run. Zuo Liangyu's more than 100,000 people have left Tongxu County far behind. The cavalry was not very good, and the infantry were already looking tired. In normal times, you may not be able to maintain your spirit after running so far for a long time, but today is different, everyone has to run for their lives, and they are tired.

I heard the shouts of killing coming from the east in the distance. The neighing of the war horse, the people of Zuozhen began to admire the commander and made a decision, otherwise Li Zicheng's army would be killed, and everyone would be hunted down and killed.

Zuo Liangyu was also quite proud, thinking that the group of rogues didn't know that he would escape so quickly, and he didn't send people to block the way.

However, things are unpredictable. After walking another mile or two, they found that on the flanks of the marching procession, the cavalry that had broken into the camp began to be pursued, numbering about a few thousand. Behind the cavalry was an infantry contingent of more than 10,000 people, and on the great plain in spring, puffs of smoke and dust were rolled up.

Zuo Liangyu was shocked in his heart, and immediately ordered the rear team to prepare for the battle. But strangely, this rebel army did not approach the left army, and always maintained a distance of two or three miles. Sometimes small groups of cavalry were sent to harass them, and they did not fight seriously, and retreated after a little contact with the left army. In this way, the left army went in front, and they walked behind, as if they were seeing them off.

The generals of the left battalion were generally rich in combat experience, and when they saw this strange situation, they did not dare to relax at all. Some people also wondered in their hearts: Why didn't Li Zicheng's army of about 20,000 men chase and fight fiercely? Although they are few in number, they have been well rested and energetic these days, and if they rush hard, the left army will suffer. Thinking so, someone immediately whispered.

Zuo Liangyu knew that the generals were suspicious, so he looked at his relatives on the horse, and said, "What's so rare about this?" Since ancient times, everyone knows that there are two sentences, that is, 'the poor do not chase, and the teacher cannot be stopped'. Now we are not defeating the battle, but the whole division has withdrawn from the battlefield, and the army is in order. Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai and others are reluctant to fight a tough battle with us, for fear of losing his men. Why are they following behind? It's not that we want to snatch the military assets and horses we abandoned along the road, and see if we have the opportunity to pick up some cheapness. The important thing is that we ourselves are not negligent and do not give the enemy a cheap pick-up. One of the generals next to him said, "My lord, we are followed only by a small group of thieves, and I fear that his army will catch up with him." ”

Zuo Liangyu pointed to the east and said, "I think, he eats persimmons and picks up soft ones." At present, his large army is devoting itself to destroying the two armies of Yang and Yang, and they will not chase us with all their strength within two days. These people are just peeping at us and other realities! Leave it alone, just go! ”

However, it backfired. Zuo Liangyu wanted to leave, but the centaur stuck to it like maggots attached to the bones. The distance of the cavalry from Zuo Liangyu's army also advanced from two or three li to Lixu. The infantry of the brigade even stepped forward and ran on the plain, making the already smoke-filled plain even more noisy.

"Damn! Father, this thief is so infuriating! If you don't give them some color to see, I'm afraid we won't be able to go! Zuo Mengeng, who was in the rear army supervising the formation, rushed to Zuo Liangyu with more than 100 cavalry.

"It's good! Get out of line! Let's fight quickly, eat the 20,000 thieves, leave some souvenirs for Li Zicheng, and let's go to Wei's to rest again! ”

Under the order, more than 100,000 people in Pingqi Town gradually stopped under the shouts of the herald, and the officers of each department began to slowly adjust their formations, changing the formation that was originally facing south to sitting east and facing west.

"Just stop!"

In the group that caught up, several young generals raised the newly acquired binoculars in their hands and sneered at Zuo Liangyu, who was not far away.

Behind these people, a huge camp flag fluttered in the spring breeze, and a line of words was embroidered on the foot of the flag, "Zhenshan Camp", in the huge white moonlight, a big Luo character.

"Brother Ning Yu, haven't you been asking, how did I fight Tartars in Shandong, and Kaifeng in Henan after a war?" Under the banner, Luo Hu, the commander of the Zhenshan Battalion, carefully wiped the newly obtained telescope with a muslin cloth, and asked Zhang Dingguo on the side with a smile.

"What? Can your stupid mouth say more fancy and clear than Wang Lung's words? Zhang Dingguo scolded Luo Hu with the same smile.

"Brother Ning Yu, I always feel that it is unclear to say it. It's better to give you a show. ”

"Huzi! Don't mess around! You have 20,000 horses, but Zuo Liangyu has more than 100,000 people! The second eldest of the Li family, but the errand handed over to you is to take a good look at Zuo Liangyu! ”

In a hurry, Zhang Dingguo's mouth came out of the local accent of northern Shaanxi. Li Zicheng is the second, so, in the words of the Shaanxi Township Party, it is naturally the second big Li family.

"Quake Mountain Camp? Li Zicheng's camp head or Cao Cao's? ”

In Zuo Liangyu's array, surrounded by many generals, he also used the binoculars in his hand to look at the 20,000-strong team on the opposite side.

Under the handsome flag, several faces that had not yet faded their childishness jumped into his eyes.

"Humph! Li Chuang is too arrogant! Send a few boys to deal with us! Go up! Give them something awesome and take a look! ”

The flag waved, and Zuo Liangyu's troops began to move. (To be continued......)