491 Exhausted enemy, ambush

[Today's chapter is presented, this day is hot and dead, I really can't stand it, please subscribe to comfort!! ] 】

At this time, Chongzhen's energy was mainly focused on Liaodong, and the elite of the border army of the daimyo was basically all sent to Hong Chengchou by Chongzhen.

In this way, if Chongzhen wants to prevent the army of thieves from capturing Kaifeng, he can only rely on the domestic Weisuo army.

On the one hand, Chongzhen is stepping up the transfer of troops from Huguang, Shandong, Jiangnan and other places to aid Kaifeng.

It's a pity that the armament of these local guards has long been relaxed, and the imperial court owes too much military salaries, so that these guards are reluctant to start.

And Li Zicheng's side is indeed fast, it is estimated that before these reinforcements enter the territory of Kaifeng Mansion, Li Zicheng will be able to hit Kaifeng City.

On the other hand, Chongzhen also knew at this time that he had to win over Li Zixiao.

Although Li Zixiao had a precedent of disrespecting the will last time, after all, Li Zixiao did not publicly raise the anti-flag.

Over the years, Daming has been stormy, and there are still few disobedient generals, and Li Zixiao is not bad, Chongzhen is angry, but he can only endure it.

At least this time, Li Zixiao took the initiative to raise troops in Ruzhou City to resist the invasion of Kaifeng Mansion by thieves, and there was little to Chongzhen's satisfaction.

So soon, Chongzhen issued an order to restore Li Zixiao's official position as the general of the country, and ordered him to cooperate with Kaifeng Governor Gao Mingheng and the general soldier Chen Yongfu to refuse to defend Kaifeng, and never let the thieves capture Kaifeng.

It's just that Li Zixiao can't get this news for the time being, and at this time, Li Zixiao led his troops to the area of Gong County and surrounded Gong County.

On the way that Li Zixiao's troops entered Gong County, he also captured two grain transport teams that went to Wushi Mountain from Gong County to deliver grain to Song Xiance's army.

There is no way, as Yanshi was captured by Li Zixiao, tens of thousands of stones of grain in the city were burned, which was equivalent to cutting off the grain and grass of Song Xiance's army.

Song Xiance learned that he had sent people to Gong County, hoping to transfer grain and grass from Gong County.

However, now Li Zixiao pinched this weakness of Song Xiance, and ambushed the two men and horses sent by Gongxian County to transport grain, and burned all the grain and grass.

Song Xiance, who learned the news in Wushi Mountain, was very angry and ordered Liu Tichun to lead the cavalry to immediately find Li Zixiao's team and annihilate it.

And Liu Tichun had to immediately lead troops to Gong County, but he didn't know that Li Zixiao was waiting for him there.

Li Zixiao took the White Dragon Army to hide his whereabouts, and let Han Tong's cavalry battalion, pretend to be their large army, and haunt everywhere.

Liu Tichun, who was eager to catch up with them, was forced to chase everywhere, and when he disposed of his troops, he still did not catch Han Tong and them, which made Liu Tichun more and more impatient.

Similarly, in these five days, Li Zicheng was in Kaifeng Mansion, and he also attacked the city and plundered the land.

Li Zicheng's two generals, Li Guo and Liu Zongmin, plundered four county towns, plundered a large amount of money and silver, and relieved the food crisis of Li Zicheng's army.

Li Zicheng also personally led the troops to conquer Xingyang, which made the morale of the army of thieves like a rainbow at this time.

Li Zicheng temporarily repaired in Xingyang, preparing to go to Kaifeng in the next go.

However, Song Xiance of the Wushi Mountain was on the side, but he couldn't open the situation for a long time, and so far, they have not been able to attack the Wushi Mountain and eliminate Qi Wei's department.

On the contrary, in this offensive and defensive battle, Qi Wei made full use of the advantages of muskets, artillery, and terrain in his hands to annihilate a large number of thieves and soldiers.

However, Song Xiance has not made no achievements in the past five days.

Although he still did not attack the Wushi Mountain, he quietly divided his troops to the south, and the surprise attack defeated Dengfeng, which directly solved the food problem of his army.

It was precisely because Song Xiance personally led his troops to surprise attack Dengfeng, in order to prevent Qi Wei from discovering that something was wrong, he led his troops to break through.

Therefore, in the past five days, he let his subordinates' attack on the Wushi Mountain not only not weaken, but became more violent, just to confuse Qi Wei.

When Song Xiance returned to Wushi Mountain from Dengfeng with more than 10,000 troops and sufficient grain and grass, he was relieved to see that Qi Wei was still trapped on the mountain.

But as a result, he then heard a report from his generals that in the past five days, they had maintained a high-intensity attack on the Wushi Mountain.

In just five days, more than 6,000 horses were lost, of which more than 2,000 were killed and more than 4,000 soldiers were wounded, and they could not continue the battle.

This made Song Xiance angry, and he used the horsewhip in his hand to whip several generals under him.

Can he not be angry, he took 15,000 men and horses, and it took only five days, with a loss of less than 3,000 people, and he won Dengfeng.

Compared with his own combat record, these generals under him actually lost 6,000 people to him in five days, if it weren't for those generals who followed him for many years, he would definitely have been cut with a knife.

However, these 6,000 thieves were not sacrificed in vain, it was precisely because of their attack regardless of casualties that they successfully confused Qi Wei and made him lose the best time to break through.

Just when Han Tong took Liu Tichun to play 'hide and seek', Li Zixiao took his soldiers and arranged it in a valley more than ten miles south of Gongxian County.

Li Zixiao led people to set up an ambush position here, just waiting for Han Tong to lure Liu Tichun over.

On this day, in a mountain forest, Li Zixiao was resting here with quartz.

At this time, Han Tong arrived on horseback and said to Li Zixiao: "General, Liu Tichun has come to join the trap." ”

Li Zixiao, who was a little impatient waiting for a while, stood up all of a sudden, with a smile on his face: "I've been waiting for him for a long time." ”

Liu Tichun led 3,000 thief cavalry, advancing without any formation, and they didn't even send a team of scouts to explore the way in front, so they entered a long ravine.

"The time is almost up, raise the flag and give orders, and prepare for battle!"

Li Zixiao shouted, and immediately one of the standard-bearers of the guards behind him immediately raised the order flag, which represented the attack, and fluttered in the wind.

In the past few days, Liu Tichun has pursued Han Tong all the way, and he was still a little cautious about the defeat in Han Tong's hands last time.

At this time, Liu Tichun had more than 3,000 cavalry in his hands, as well as the 4,000 foot soldiers allocated to him by Song Xiance, and he originally had more cavalry in his hands.

It's just that in order to completely find out the location of the White Dragon Army, these **** divided their troops several times, and let the other teams of cavalry pursue in other directions.

It was precisely because of the pursuit in the previous few days that Liu Tichun's subordinates were tired and sleepy at this time, and at the same time, Liu Tichun's vigilance was greatly reduced.

If he had been in the past, he would never have entered such a strange valley rashly.

"All the soldiers, stand up and prepare."

After seeing Li Zixiao's order flag, Qi Lin drew his long knife and shouted loudly.

At this time, the white dragon soldiers hidden in the woods around them immediately started to move like machines, and they quickly arrived at the designated location after passing down orders.

The battalion flags of the 'Iron Blood Battalion' were raised high, and then the flags of the three teams below were also raised in order, and then the flags of the other battalions.

The baggage battalion and the artillery battalion were the first, and each of their four-wheeled wagons was loaded with four franc machines, howitzers, and gunpowder lead bullets.

The horses ran easily, pulling the carriage to the valley where Liu Tichun and the other bandits had just passed.

The four-wheeled carriage carrying the artillery, and when it arrived at the predetermined position, an artillery officer shouted for command, bought time, and arranged the artillery.

They tried to keep the movement as low as possible, so that the thieves could turn around and rush out of the ravine if they noticed that something was wrong.

"Arrange the formation according to the plan." Li Zixiao ordered.

This ambush site, but Li Zixiao carefully selected, is a very suitable ambush place.

In order to be able to block the valley, Li Zixiao had already planned that once Han Tong entered Liu Tichun into the valley, they would use chariots at the valley entrance to temporarily form a car wall, and use the car wall to build a car formation.

Each section of the car array will be composed of five cars, four cars outside and one car inside, five cars form a small car array, and then three small car arrays will form a large car array, and finally all of them will be connected together.

After the two baggage soldiers unloaded the artillery, they took the horses, set the wagons according to their plan, and then took out the chains, locked the carts, and lowered the piles to secure the vehicles.

"Get off the horse, quick!"

Several more baggage soldiers took down the cabinet horses that had been built before from the back carriage, carried them to the front of the carriage, and placed them.

"Sprinkle thistle!"

The thistles, which had been made of thin wire, were strung one by one, removed from the wagon, and sprinkled in front of the horses.

At this time, the gunners of the White Dragon Army had already begun to put the vehicle-mounted Franc cannon in the right position, aiming the muzzle of the gun in the valley, and other artillery pieces were also in place.

Around the artillery, a group of sword and shield men was arranged to be responsible for protection, they took out their shields and waist knives, and stood on the perimeter of the artillery position to protect them.

The musketeers, led by their generals, stood in the open space between the wagons and the horses, also protected by sword and shield soldiers on both sides.

The musketeers were divided into small groups, each of which was divided into three columns of ten men each, all of whom raised their flintlock pistols and knelt with their guns in front of them.

These baggage battalions were cooperated with a small number of musketeers, artillerymen, and sword and shield soldiers to seize the mouth of the valley and block the escape route led by Liu Tichun, who entered the valley.

And the people and horses who are really responsible for the main attack are all on the slopes on both sides of this valley at this time, and after such a long time, all the units of the White Dragon Army on the hillside have all completed their combat preparations.

On this hillside, which is hundreds of steps long and wide, Li Zixiao had previously commanded the soldiers of the White Dragon Army and dug a lot of trenches.

At this time, in the trenches stood a group of musketeers.

In the trenches, at intervals, a cannon was also erected.

In order to maintain the lethality of the musketeers, these trenches were not built halfway up the hillside, but only eighty paces from the road in the valley.

This distance was within the range of the White Dragon Army musketeers, and Li Zixiao did not intend to give Liu Tichun a chance to organize a counterattack.

Shortening the distance, you can make the flintlock pistol fire in a volley, and after the start of the battle, it will immediately have great lethality, preventing Liu Tichun's cavalry from charging.

In front of the trench, thistles, antler piles, and horse rejects were arranged, and there was a breastwork in front of the trench.

These arrangements will be the greatest deterrent to the enemy, rushing to the front of the hillside on both sides to protect the musketeers and gunners.

These are the ones that Li Zixiao spent four days to get together with his soldiers.

Soon, Liu Tichun, who was marching in the valley with his thieves, finally found something wrong at this time.

After all, when the White Dragon Army moved, it was impossible to really not be able to make any movement.

In particular, the flags raised in the White Dragon Army are easy to find, and now there are many bandits, pointing to the flags that suddenly appeared on the slopes on both sides, and shouted in horror.

Liu Tichun also looked in the direction pointed by his subordinates, and sure enough, there were many flags all over the mountain.

At this moment, Liu Tichun's face immediately turned dark, and those flags he had seen before were the flags in the White Dragon Army.

Things have developed to this point, and it is impossible for Li Zixiao not to attack.

Knock knock!

The mountain instantly sounded, deafening, continuous war drums, and all kinds of drums.

"Oh no, we're in an ambush!"

Liu Tichun also exclaimed at this time, his head was instantly sober, and he also felt remorse in his heart, why was he so reckless!

"Bang bang bang!"

Violent cannon fire rang out, muffling Liu Tichun's shouting.

The war horse under Liu Tichun's seat was frightened, and the man stood up, directly lifted him off the horse, and then galloped away.

"Ambush, there are ambushes, get out of the valley."

Liu Tichun endured the pain, got up from the ground, and exclaimed loudly.

It's just that at this time, dozens of artillery pieces of the White Dragon Army have already fired, smashed down all over the sky, and the explosive bombs that exploded have already made these thieves and soldiers blow up their nests, shouting in surprise, running and fleeing.

There is no need for Liu Tichun to shout loudly, these thieves and soldiers all know to turn their heads and run back.

It is a natural instinct of man to run forward, or to attack the mountains on either side, and they scramble to squeeze in the hope of getting out of the ravine as soon as possible.

On the halfway slope on the left, Li Zixiao's handsome flag is standing here, and of course he is here.

At this time, he condescendedly looked at the panicked thieves in the valley, and watched them flee backwards.

"Haha, I didn't expect it to be so easy."

Li Zixiao laughed and said, full of spirits, he didn't expect Liu Tichun to be fooled so easily, he can only say that Han Tong's tired plan in the past few days has been very good.

Such a simple ambush trap, as long as someone who really knows how to fight with soldiers, will not be ambushed so easily.

As long as Liu Tichun sends a little people to open the way, and encounters such a valley and ravine, as long as he checks it with a snack, he will have a great chance of discovering Li Zixiao's ambush.

It's a pity that during this time, Liu Tichun was under pressure, so he wanted to catch up with Han Tong immediately, and he regarded Han Tong as Li Zixiao's main force.

Even if he couldn't catch up with Han Tong, he thought that he must stick to him and never let the White Dragon Army get away and attack their grain route.

Poor Liu Tichun didn't know that Song Xiance had already laid down Dengfeng City and solved the food problem, otherwise he wouldn't be so desperate.

It was precisely because of the crazy pursuit during this period of time that Liu Tichun's thieves were all tired, and it also made him relax his vigilance, thinking that the White Dragon Army did not dare to fight him in a decisive battle.

In the previous fiasco, he was actually not convinced, thinking that it was the reinforcements that appeared in the White Dragon Army at the end that made them fall short.

So, Liu Tichun was so confused, and entered this ravine, a burial place that Li Zixiao chose for them.

(End of chapter)