Liu Guozhu, the chief soldier of Baoding, sat quietly on his horse, holding a saber in his hand, waiting for the arrival of the rogue. He had dark skin and a lot of wrinkles on his face, and if he hadn't been wearing a well-made mountain armor, he would have looked like an old farmer in the countryside.

But those who are familiar with Liu Guozhu do not dare to despise him. Liu Guozhu joined the army as a young man, a late bloomer, fought bravely, took the lead, and slowly survived to the position of the general soldier by relying on real military merits, and the Baoding battalion he created was also a rare strong army in Bazhou. Last year, he cooperated with the Qiong Navy to block Abatai, although there was a lot of loss, but he also won some Tartar heads, and played the reputation of Baoding soldiers and horses.

Because of this military exploit, Liu Guozhu was noticed by the imperial court and the Ministry of War. In Yang Sichang's plan to guard against the Qiong navy, the soldiers and horses transferred from Henan and the soldiers and horses near Gyeonggi defended the eastern coastal direction, while the southern gate was handed over to Liu Guozhu and the Tianjin Sanwei to guard, which shows that he attached great importance to Liu Guozhu. It's just that I didn't expect that I didn't wait for Xia Nan to "commit the following crimes", but waited for Li Zicheng to go north, so I had to take Liu Guozhu as the last barrier to prevent Li Zicheng from entering Shuntian Mansion.

After receiving the order from the Ministry of War, Liu Guozhu sent scouts to inquire about the news of the Dashun army, and learned that they were going to pass through between Bazhou and Tianjin Wei to enter Shuntianfu, so he ordered his troops and horses to wait here early.

As Liu Zongmin's forward troops approached, both sides sent scouts to determine the marching route and location of the other party.

Liu Zongmin's army appeared on the horizon, and from a distance, it looked like a large group of ants wriggling and slowly approaching.

A thousand general manager swallowed his saliva and whispered to Liu Guozhu: "Zhentai, this is just the vanguard of the rogues, that's all, when the main force arrives, I'm afraid our thousands of people will not be enough to plug their teeth......"

Liu Guozhu's face was as usual, and he replied calmly: "We have even fought hard against the Tartars, and we are still afraid of this group of rabble?" Although there are a large number of rogues, seven or eighty percent of them are coerced outcasts, and those who can really fight are old camps, and they will not be used easily. Although our numbers are small, as long as we concentrate our forces and storm one place, the rogue will be like a dam that has been torn open, and sooner or later it will all collapse. ”

Hearing these words, the tension of the left and right generals eased a little. After all, the liukou was beaten by Hong Chengchou in Shaanxi, which is a well-known thing in the world. The Qian Zong seemed to be in order to cheer himself up, and said casually: "The most capable in the world, according to the subordinates, in addition to the Tartars and Guanning Army in Liaodong, it belongs to the Qiong Navy in Guangdong, and the giant Gao Yingxiang of the Liukou was captured by him, which shows that this Liukou is indeed a false appearance." ”

"Neither be presumptuous nor despise your opponents." Liu Guozhu frowned, "The thieves can form a climate in a short period of time, and they must have their advantages, if you treat them as bandits, I'm afraid you will suffer a big loss." ”

Mr. Qian said yes again and again.

Speaking of Qiong Haijun, Liu Guozhu had mixed feelings. The battle against Abatai was the highest moment of the Baoding army, and he himself never thought that he would be able to confront a famous Tartar general like Abatai with thousands of cavalry, and he won many heads, and all this was naturally inseparable from the help of the Qiong navy. Liu Guozhu also knew that as long as there were enough cavalry, the Qiong Navy could defeat Abatai by itself, and the Baoding Army only played a restraining role, and he knew the strength of the Qiong Navy.

It is a pity that the later development peaks and turns, such a military with great achievements in Beijing after entering the whirlpool of "military advice", although the final stalemate was resolved, but the gap between the imperial court and the Qiong navy can be seen by the blind. The Ministry of War successively ordered the soldiers and horses of Baoding and the three guards of Tianjin to join forces to guard the southern gate of Shuntianfu, and everyone knew who they were guarding against.

It's a pity that such a good army can fight well! Liu Guozhu thought with pity. The water in the capital is too deep, and he doesn't know too well what kind of contradictions and conflicts there had been between Xia Nan and Yang Sichang, the secretary of the military department, but it is a fact that Yang Sichang is not rewarded for his merits, and it is also a fact that Xia Nan has committed a crime, and the merits are not something that he can conclude with a small general soldier.

Liu Guozhu sighed, surrounded by strong enemies, but there was more infighting among the Ming Dynasty's civil ministers and generals, giving a rogue leader like Li Zicheng a chance to develop. I heard that the Qiong Navy has accepted the imperial court's conscription to go north to King Qin, but no one knows if he is not working and not working.

The growing noise interrupted his train of thought, and his subordinates reminded him: "Zhentai, the Liukou has reached a mile away, and it seems that they are ready to attack our army. ”

Liu Guozhu came back from his contemplation and looked at it, there were several flags in the seemingly chaotic array on the opposite side, and the dense flow of people moved towards this side with the flags, as if he wanted to break through the Baoding army blocking the front in one fell swoop.

With a sound of "Qiang", Liu Guozhu pulled out his sword and shouted loudly: "We are ordered to guard Bazhou and defend the Beijing Division, and we must not let the Liukou threaten the safety of the Beijing Division." Sons, follow me to kill the enemy and defeat the rogues! ”

The left and right drew their sabers and replied loudly: "Swear to follow the town to the death, bravely kill the enemy, and defeat the rogue!" ”

"Kill!" Liu Guozhu took the lead and rushed forward, followed by a large number of cavalry, with the sound of hooves rumbling, rolling up bursts of smoke and dust, and the momentum was amazing.

In the formation of the Dashun army, Liu Zongmin squinted at the cavalry troops rushing up, seemed to be thinking about something, and did not make a sound. Left and right asked: "General, this Baoding cavalry doesn't seem to be a fuel-efficient lamp, is it sending the old battalion directly to it?" ”

"What do you know?" Liu Zongmin took a sip, "Officers and soldiers are all virtuous, at the beginning of the cowhide coaxing, and when they encounter setbacks, they will become soft." Use those cannon fodder to consume their troops first, and the elite of the old battalion will have to wait for the right opportunity to send them again, and they can't be exhausted early. ”

Under such a guiding ideology, the Dashun army sent out all cannon fodder troops, thousands of armed displaced people. Speaking of armament, in fact, these people are promoted, as the peripheral troops of the rogues, they are far from the core of the old battalion and the lineage in terms of food and clothing, not to mention weapons, many people are holding only sticks, even a decent spear is rare, and some people simply run empty-handed, waiting to pick up a sword or something on the corpses of officers and soldiers.

Although the equipment is poor and the training has not been trained, the biggest advantage of the rogues is that there are many people, and people all over the mountains and fields press over, even if they are unarmed farmers, it makes people's hearts furious. In the past, the officers and men faced an opponent who was several times or even more than ten times their own, and they could not kill them all, and some people without weapons even jumped up and bit them directly, and the officers and men often collapsed psychologically after cutting a few people, and then the army was defeated like a mountain.

With a "boom", the contest between the regular army and the cannon fodder troops began.