On 8 May, Li Xing led 3,000 cavalry from the Xuanfeng Regiment to attack Xiangyang. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

The goal of this expedition is very simple, that is, to capture Xiangyang City and take the Xiangyang Prefect is particularly valuable. You Minggui single-handedly blocked the source of Li Zhi's Xiangyang alkali noodles, and stopped half of Li Zhi's workshop, which is now at the top of Fanjiazhuang's blacklist. Such a character, of course, Li Zhi wants to kill him.

In fact, sending dozens of people to Xiangyang and hiding in the houses on both sides of the road can also kill You Minggui when he passes by. After all, Li Zhi's soldiers have long-range precision killing Mini rifles, and playing assassination has an advantage over anyone in this era. But Li Zhi didn't want the soldiers to flee in a hurry after assassinating You Minggui and went into hiding.

Li Zhi wanted to be upright and dignified, and took down the most precious head in Xiangyang City in a grand manner, shocking the world.

The Xuanfeng Regiment used to have 2,000 cavalry, but after defeating Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng this time, a large number of horses were captured, and the cavalry of the Xuanfeng Regiment expanded to 3,000 people. The infantry of the Xuanfeng Regiment are veterans, and they used to often ride pack horses, and their riding skills have long been practiced, and now they will not be too bad to fight on horseback.

These 3,000 cavalrymen are all one man and two horses, one war horse and one pack horse, and they can easily travel a hundred miles in a day.

In order to keep up with the speed of the Xuanfeng regiment, Li Zhi equipped the baggage minfu with 1,000 four-wheeled carriages, each of which was pulled by four pack horses. The wagons were loaded with enough grain, grass and beans for the cavalry and horses of the Selective Regiment to eat for two months. Li Zhi also equipped Li Xing with twenty six-pounder cannons, each of which was drawn by six pack horses. Horse-drawn carriages and artillery wagons were able to travel a hundred miles a day with a large number of horses to pull them.

After 3,000 soldiers and horses set out from Fanjiazhuang, they went all the way south and attacked Xiangyang City.

Speaking of which, although Li Xing is named the head of the Xuanfeng Regiment, he does not have many opportunities to really lead the troops to fight. Every time Li Zhi led the army to go out, he let Li Xing sit in Fanjiazhuang. Li Xing has figured out a lot of tricks for city defense over the years, but he has little experience in commanding large armies to fight.

Fortunately, there is Xue Sanku, the deputy commander of the cavalry of the Xuanfeng Regiment who has been in command for a long time. Xue Sanku, as Li Xing's deputy general, assisted on the side this time, and believed that he could help Li Xing command this elite cavalry.

This time, Li Xing sent troops, but there was no payment, and there was no military department, and the only thing that was there was the "Statement on Seeking You Nobles" stamped with Li Zhixing's national uncle's seal. Li Zhi's statement came out that no one in Tianjin would approve of, and it is estimated that the passing states and counties would not allow Li Xing's soldiers and horses to replenish grain and grass.

However, Li Zhi's 3,000 cavalry brought enough heavy grain and grass, and as long as they found a clean water source during the march, they could make fires and make food. If it really can't be done, use a strong one - the wall of a small county town can stop these 3,000 elite cavalry.

3,000 cavalrymen rode 3,000 horses and led 3,000 horses, plus more than 4,000 pack horses with baggage carts and artillery carts, and galloped on the North China Plain, all the way to the south. Most of the military horses are red, and from a distance, they look like pieces of red clouds floating forward on the official road, which is impressive.

The tens of thousands of horses' hooves smashed on the ground, making the surrounding ground tremble slightly. The sound of rolling hooves was like rumbling thunder, and it was heard for miles.

The people of the Ming Dynasty were most afraid of the officers and soldiers, and they fled when they saw the dust raised by the cavalry of the Xuanfeng Regiment from afar.

If the ordinary officers and soldiers fight with the thieves, if they lose the battle, the defeated soldiers who have fallen down are like robbers, robbing the peasants of their grain and money. If the battle is won, the officials and soldiers suspect that the heads of the beheadings are not enough, and they may go to the nearby villages at any time to kill the people, and report the heads of the people as thieves, which is the so-called killing of good and risky merit.

Anyway, if you get into trouble with the official army, you will be unlucky. The so-called bandits are like combs, and soldiers are like grates. Once targeted by the official army, the destruction of the family is a matter of moments. Seeing Li Xing's cavalry army pressing over, the peasants on both sides of the official road ran away, and none of them dared to take a closer look at this army of soldiers and horses.

When Li Xing sent troops in Fanjiazhuang, he was greeted by the people of Fanjiazhuang. The people of Fanjiazhuang all knew that the soldiers were disciplined, and they all regarded the soldiers as a force to guard the social order, and they were very affectionate to the soldiers. But when they arrived in the interior of the Central Plains, the people avoided Li Xing's 3,000 cavalry like a plague god.

Li Xing walked from Tianjin to Huguang, and along the way he did not encounter a single officer or army who dared to come out to provoke. Now the reputation of Fanjiazhuang's strong army has spread all over the world, and there are really not many soldiers and horses who dare to offend the edge of the tiger division. Even if Guanning's border army is here, it has to be considered. You must know that they are facing the Fan Jiazhuang Tiger Master, who once defeated the Tartars with few enemies.

Although the civil officials were called by Zhang Pu in Suzhou, they collectively jumped to their feet, probably wanting to send troops to intercept Li Xing's army. But by the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, the generals of the Ming Dynasty had already become warlords. None of the generals who really led the troops dared to joke with the soldiers and horses they had trained hard to compete with the tiger masters of the world's strongest army.

Li Xing traveled all the way south, and I don't know if the governors and general soldiers of the places he passed through fought because of this.

On May 27, the Xuanfeng regiment was killed under the city of Xiangyang.

Previously, when Li Xing was still more than 100 miles away from Xiangyang City, he had already sent 600 soldiers and horses to surround the other six gates of Xiangyang City, strictly prohibiting all people from entering and leaving the city gates, so as to prevent the Xiangyang prefect from abandoning the city and escaping.

At this time, the defenders of Xiangyang City had closed the city gates, and the defenders were displayed on the city wall. The city wall of Xiangyang is high, and the city wall is surrounded by a wide moat. However, there is no brigade of soldiers and horses in Xiangyang City, only one member of the Xiangyang City garrison, and there are more than 600 battalion soldiers under his command.

Li Xing looked at the head of Xiangyang City with a telescope, and saw that the soldiers on the head of the city looked a little panicked, as if they did not have the courage to fight. Li Xing asked Xue Sanku, "Deputy Head Xue, how long do you think it will take for us to take Xiangyang City?" ”

At this time, Li Xing decided to attack the north gate of Xiangyang City, hoping to be able to go down in one go.

Xue Sanku groaned and said, "Commander, I think we are well-armored and not afraid of bows and arrows, and we can attack from the city gate. In just a few hours, you can take Xiangyang City. ”

Li Xing nodded and shouted loudly: "Artillery array, blow up the north gate of Xiangyang City!" ”

The Chinese army unfurled the order flag and passed the order to the artillery department. Twenty field guns were unloaded from the gun truck, pushed to a mile from the gate of Xiangyang City, and aimed the muzzle of the black hole at the north gate of Xiangyang City.

Li Xing stood on the west side of the artillery and raised his right hand.

The artillerymen lit the artillery fuses, and twenty guns spewed tongues of fire violently and slammed them into the back.

The earth shook and shook with the incessant artillery fire. Twenty heavy shells were fired at the north gate of Xiangyang City, smashing on the iron-clad wooden door, shattering the iron sheet and flying sawdust.