Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 188

When Luo Rucai and He Yilong arrived at Anping Fort with more than a thousand soldiers, it was already the third day of Shenshi, Liu Guoneng came out with a look of surprise.He said dissatisfiedly: "Lao Luo, didn't I tell you how many people? I'm preparing to take people to Fangxian County. You are worried about me, why don't you come here to urge me?"

He Yilong said with a sullen look on his face, "I'm going to that shitty Fang County! The old den has been copied! Quickly prepare some food, we're all starving after walking for half a day!"

Liu Guoneng asked in confusion: "What kind of teaching is this? What happened?"

With a gloomy face, Luo Rucai jumped off the horse, and the confidant behind him took the reins and led the horse aside, Luo Rucai walked towards the castle and said, "This is not a place to talk, let's talk in your tent!"

Liu Guoneng glanced at the men who were swaying or sitting or lying behind the two, and after winking at Wang Erwa beside them, he walked with the two into the castle, and ordered, "Go and get some food, Hot water, let the brothers eat something hot!"

The subordinates responded to prepare meals, while Wang Erwa quietly went to Li Fang's tent.

When they came to Liu Guoneng's big tent, Luo Rucai and He Yilong took off their armors and found a chair and sat down on them. Liu Guoneng sat down and asked, "Lao Luo, why do you look so dead?" What happened? Liu Shuan, go prepare the food and drink, and treat the two chiefs well!"

Luo Rucai sighed, briefly talked about the incident of being raided by the officers and soldiers a few days ago, and finally concluded: "This time Huang Hu has no chance to escape! First it was King Gao Chuang, now it is Huang Hu, and we also suffered. Liao Yang, is it possible that this rebellion has no future?"

He Yilong said depressedly: "We are different from them. We rebelled just to enjoy the happiness of drinking and eating meat. King Gao Chuang and Huang Hu are both too ambitious and want to be kings and hegemony. This is a good move." Now, go underground and become king!"

Liu Guoneng had an incredible expression on his face. If Zhu Youjian was present, he would definitely be given the title of actor.

He said, "What should we do? If the officers and soldiers suppress Huang Hu, they will definitely come after us! Lao Luo, where should we go next?"

Luo Rucai sat up straight and said with a straight face: "I've thought about it, but the only way to do it is to settle down in the middle of Sichuan! After resting here for a few days, let's grab more supplies, go south to Jingzhou Mansion, and then turn to the west Grab a guide and lead us into Sichuan! As long as we enter Sichuan, it will be very difficult for the officers and soldiers to suppress us! How does Brother Liu feel?"

Liu Guoneng pretended to nod boldly and replied: "Zhong! Lao Luo, you have a lot of ghost ideas, and we will do as you please!"

Several people chatted again, and after a long while, hot wine and dishes were served, and Liu Guoneng called Wang Erwa, Liu Shuan, and He Sanguan to come and accompany the wine.

Luo Rucai and He Yilong were already in a bad mood, and under Liu Guoneng and others taking turns persuading them to drink, although the rice wine had a slightly lower alcohol content, they couldn't bear the superimposed effects of several factors, and after a while the two of them became [-] to [-] percent drunk.

Liu Guoneng excused himself, and went out of the camp to Li Fang's tent not far away.

Li Fangduan was sitting on a chair reading a book by the faint candlelight. Two of the four guards guarded the door, and two stood in the tent.

Liu Guoneng specially sent someone to Xiangyang Mansion to buy this candle, because he was afraid that Li Fang would not be used to the smell of fireworks from oil lamps.

When Liu Guoneng saw Li Fang's serene posture after entering the tent, he couldn't help admiring him: People who have read the sage books are very different from He Chang people. If you are in a bandit camp where the situation is unknown, you can still read the book , I'm afraid I can't eat anymore.

He didn't know that Li Fang was terribly scared for the past few days, but he had to come because of Dong Weng's order, and reading books was just trying to calm himself down.

If Liu Guoneng could read, he would have discovered that the book Li Fang was reading now was upside down.

"Mr. Li, the thief is already drunk. The younger one came here to ask for advice. Should he be killed directly or captured alive? How to deal with the thousands of thieves?" Liu Guoneng bowed and cupped his hands.

Li Fang put down the book in his hand, and said unhurriedly: "General Wang just came to tell me, after thinking about it, I think it is better to capture the head of the thief alive than beheading; It would be better to kill all the thieves! Our generation is talking about the principle of eradicating evil and doing everything right, General Liu must not have any other thoughts! Let’s go and go!”

As long as Liu Guoneng handed in this nomination certificate, he would be completely at ease, and he would no longer have to worry about it.I went deep into the bandit camp this time, personally commanded the generals to capture the giant bandits, and killed more than a thousand bandits. After returning, Dong Weng will certainly explain something. In the future, it will also be a source of pride when drinking and chatting with a group of friends. Thinking of this, Li Fang couldn't help but secretly delighted.

Liu Guoneng bowed respectfully and exited Li Fang's camp, thinking in his heart: His mother's gang of big turbans are more ruthless than his own rebellion, and he still wants to kill Luo Rucai and He Yilong directly. Yu merged into his staff, his grandma's, and he had to stay away from scholars in the future.

At about Xu o'clock in the evening, the camps of Luo Rucai and He Yilong's subordinates who camped alone outside Anping Fort caught fire one after another. Under the command of Wang Erwa and others, hundreds of archers shot rockets at one hundred tents.These thousands of thieves were already exhausted after running around for several days, and fell into a sound sleep as soon as it got dark. The sudden fire and arrows only killed many people in their dreams. They went out of the camp, but they were all shot and killed mercilessly.A quarter of an hour later, the fire was extinguished, and Wang Erwa ordered the five-hundred-dollar shield hand to enter the arena to make up for it.

Luo Rucai and He Yilong were released and tied up long ago, and dozens of cronies were also beheaded and killed.He Yilong and Luo Rucai kept cursing in confusion and anger, they didn't understand what Chuangtatian was doing.When Wang Erwa ordered the mouths of the two to be covered with rags, and then triumphantly informed the two that Liu Guoneng had led his troops to surrender to the imperial court and they were just submitting their names, Luo Rucai and He Yilong bowed their heads and remained silent.

Li Fang arranged for one of them to go back to report the letter, while the other three guarded the tent where the two were imprisoned, and no one was allowed to approach. This credit belongs to Fang Kongzhang.

Li Dingguo, who was at the Huangmao Pass, was soaked in blood. He stabbed an officer who climbed up with a shot and quickly glanced around. He found that a large number of officers and soldiers had already climbed up the wall, and his men had lost the power to resist. After escaping from the stone steps on the wall, run to the mountain behind.Knowing that the situation was over, Li Dingguo let out a long sigh, turned around, stepped on the stone steps and fled to the top of the mountain following his men.

When Pan Duao and Xu Yixian suggested that Zhang Xianzhong stick to Zhushan County, Li Dingguo strongly opposed it.

He suggested to Zhang Xianzhong: We have been attacking everywhere for many years, and our strength has only grown stronger; defending the city is not the strength of the dedicated camp, but guerrilla warfare is the special skill of the dedicated camp; now we use our own shortcomings to take advantage of the enemy's strengths , is really the way to death!Right now, they must either abandon Zhushan and Zhuxi and continue to swim and fight; or they all retreat to Huangmao Pass, and if they can't hold it, they can go over the mountain.

Zhang Xianzhong also hesitated after hearing this. He knew that Li Dingguo had excellent knowledge of battle formations, and what he said was very reasonable. The director of Xianying would fight if he could beat it, and run away if he couldn't. He had never defended the city before.

Pan Duao scoffed at Li Dingguo's words, and he said to Zhang Xianzhong: "If the king wants to achieve great things, he must occupy a city and a place. If he still wanders around like before, how can he get the people's support? Whoever wins the people's hearts wins the world, my lord." This time, as long as we defend Zhushan and repel the government army, the people here will see the strength of the king, and they will truly believe in the king from then on, and the reputation of the king will gradually spread. At that time, as long as the king shows some If money and food are given to the people, then these people will be grateful and grateful, and the king will gain a firm foothold in Zhushan and Zhuxi. In the future, he will organize the people to open up wasteland, accumulate food and grass, and recruit soldiers. Within a few years, there will be all the kings in Yunnan all!"

Xu Yixian also took advantage of the situation and said: "Now the Ming court is besieged on all sides, and the trend of decline is becoming more and more obvious. The rebels everywhere have become a prairie fire. It is impossible for the official army to only focus on the king. They have to fight other rebels! Besides, this battle If we win, we don't know when and what month we want to organize a strong army to attack based on the practice of officials and soldiers preferring the weak and fearing the strong. By that time, my dedicated battalion will already be extremely strong, and it will either go to the middle of Sichuan, or continue to develop here. Afraid of it? This battle must not be evaded, you must make a name for yourself!"

What the two said was not unreasonable, Zhang Xianzhong hesitated and decided to follow the advice of the two military advisers and stay in Zhushan County.

But just to be on the safe side, Zhang Xianzhong decided to stay behind.Once the official army's offensive is fierce and the county can't hold it, then retreat to Huangmao Pass from the Dushui bridge outside the west gate.Dushui Bridge and Huangmao Pass should be guarded by people to ensure a safe retreat.

Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang tried hard to persuade him but failed to change his adoptive father's decision. In desperation, they only got the important task of guarding the bridge and guarding the gate.

If Zhang Xianzhong's arrangement can be justified in the original history.The official army in history is indeed as Pan and Xu said, there are very few tough troops, and there are basically no situations where tens of thousands of troops with strict orders encircle and suppress bandits.

Taking a step back, even if Zhushan County cannot be defended, Zhang Xianzhong's retreat is still very effective. No matter what, there is no problem in saving his life.When the officers and soldiers attacked the county, they wanted to regain the lost ground, and few people planned to wipe out the thieves in one fell swoop.Even if someone wanted to, at this time the largest army of officials was under the command of Hong Chengchou in northern Shaanxi. Not to mention an army of tens of thousands, it would be difficult to gather even ten thousand.

Of course, all of this is based on the original historical trajectory, but now history has completely changed.A person who should not have appeared quietly came to this world, and the fate of many people has undergone a huge change because of this. Several large armies that have never appeared in history have already filled their pockets, waiting to put Zhang Xianzhong in them and bury them .

Huang Degong, who boarded Huangmaoguan, saw the bandits scrambling to escape to the back mountain, so he asked his soldiers to call Wu Qun and other generals to come over to discuss matters.

He and Li Chongjin were ordered to attack the bandit soldiers in Zhuxi County. Unexpectedly, when they arrived, they found that the bandits had already retreated, so they led their troops towards Zhushan.

Two days later, the two ministries arrived at Huangmao Pass one after another. After seeing the bandits guarding the pass, Huang Degong and Li Chongjin briefly discussed and then ordered the supply battalion to cut down trees to make simple ladders, and then stormed Huangmao Pass.

The wall of Huangmao Pass is only two feet high, and you don't need tall ladders to climb it. The supply camp quickly made more than a dozen long ladders.Huang Degong made five hundred musketeers and one thousand archers form three phalanxes to cover the sword and shield hands and climb the ladder to attack.Li Chongjin selected more than a dozen sharpshooters from his subordinates to choose their positions, and waited for the opportunity to shoot and kill the brave thief.

Although Li Dingguo who guarded Huangmao Pass had thousands of men, most of them were ordinary thieves without armor.There were only five hundred elite battalions, and only a few hundred archers. Seeing the menacing approach of the Guanxia officers and soldiers, they knew they were invincible, but they could only bite the bullet and organize a defense.

Under the leadership of their respective guards, archers and musketeers in cotton armor and iron helmets marched [-] steps below the wall to form a formation, and a thousand sword and shield players held shields and lifted ladders to prepare for the charge.

Li Dingguo had to disperse hundreds of archers in order to shoot and kill the climbing officers and soldiers, and then used [-] veteran soldiers and [-] ordinary soldiers to guard in sections, and he personally led [-] veteran soldiers as a reserve team to support dangerous areas at any time.

With the sound of horns, the roar of firecrackers and the sound of bowstrings, the shield hands in the front row held up their large shields to open the way, and the officers and soldiers carrying ladders and knives rushed to the closed wall.

The intensive firepower of the officers and soldiers made the bandits on the wall unable to get up at all, and the screams of the bandits shot by the arrows could be heard from time to time on the wall.More than a dozen ladders were leaning against the wall smoothly. The officers and soldiers in the front row were dressed in iron armor, holding a shield in one hand and supporting the ladder in the other, and quickly climbed up with their long knives in their teeth.

A stout officer reached the top of the ladder first, and just as he was about to lift his legs to step up the wall, a bandit suddenly stood up, swung an iron rod in his hand, and slammed it hard at the officer.

The officer hastily raised his shield to cover him, and after a muffled sound, the officer and his shield were smashed and fell off the ladder.

Before the thief retreated behind the female wall, a sharpshooter of the Guan Ning Army who had been staring at the closed wall shot him down with an arrow.

As the archers of the officers and soldiers shot eight rounds, and the musketeers finished one round in turn, some officers and soldiers had already climbed the wall.

No matter in terms of personal bravery, tight protection, and suppression of firepower, the bandits can't be compared with the official army at all. No matter how brave Li Dingguo is personally, it will be useless in the face of this general trend.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the thief couldn't hold on anymore.When the first escaped rogue appeared, almost all the rogues collapsed mentally. At this time, they didn't care about the general order, and the rogues on the wall dispersed in a loud crowd.

Wu Qun and other generals gathered around Huang Degong, waiting for the command of the chief general.

Huang Degong pointed to the back mountain of Huangmaoguan and ordered: "Wu Qun led 3000 people to search the mountain, and all the thieves were left alive; they asked the supply battalion to be responsible for cleaning the battlefield and searching for casualties. He would take the rest of the troops to Zhushan. In the city, this time, nothing can let him escape!"

　Although Li Dingguo is a hero in later generations, after the development of firearms, the role of famous generals is getting smaller and smaller. I think it is good to let him escape. If he is subdued, there is no preparation ahead.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)