Chapter 480: The Decisive Battle

The trapped beasts were still fighting, and Gao Jie, who blocked the back road, set off such a desperate attitude, which made Liu Tichun and Liu Fangliang really have a headache. If the two of them had not said anything, they would have led the troops to rush forward.

But now the situation is different. Everyone has become stable, or in other words, they have become stable. The generals of the Shun Army have wealth and honor in the world. The soldiers of the Shun Army all want to go home and go home to have a warm kang. The desperate thoughts are a little weak.

The Yansui General Gao Jie knew that he had a deep hatred with the King of Chuang, so he gave Li Zicheng a cuckold. This was not ordinary hatred. Li Zicheng was unwilling to mention this matter even if he raised it. It must have been a desire to shake off his bones and get ashes and then be quick. Most of the trusted military generals under Gao Jie were old brothers who defected at the time, and they also knew the consequences.

Surrender is absolutely impossible. Leaders at all levels urged soldiers to move forward desperately. Although the quality of the soldiers was average, they even played a fair match in a short period of time.

The attacks were made from front and back for this suddenness, but the Yulin general Bai Guangen in front led the camp to withstand several waves of attacks by Yuan Zongdi. The Yansui general Gao Jie fought desperately, resisting Liu Tichun and Liu Fangliang's actions. The situation was a stalemate in a short period of time, at least in this day.

The generals from all walks of life in the Shun Army gathered here, and the main army also gathered, but they could not eat this Ming army in one breath. They really felt like they had hit a nail, and everyone was feeling quite depressed.

There is always no sun in the sky, and this gloomy atmosphere makes everyone feel even more unhappy. Fortunately, the Ming army dared not fight in the field. The previous few victories were all because of the chariot camp as a supporter. Now the land outside is muddy, and the carts will fall into the soil when they go out, and it is equivalent to dying if they come out.

This gave Shunjun time to deal with it calmly. Although the Ming army seemed to have gained the upper hand on this day, he could only stay in his camp to defend, but Shunjun could calmly arrange the methods and methods to take down the camp.

It seems that the Ming army is actually just a matter of dying early and late, not to mention that He Renlong and Bai Guangen were still thinking about fleeing eastward, let alone anything else.

But Yuan Zongdi, the general of the former battalion, did not think so. He attacked several times and left nearly 3,000 corpses. The Ming army opposite was so arrogant.

All these things made him feel that he couldn't raise his head in front of the King of Breaking Li Zicheng. The distance between the two armies was about 500 steps. For the sake of safety, Yuan Zongdi pulled his team back several hundred steps, almost two miles away, and was far away.

The Ming army set up such a camp, in addition to defending the harassment of the periphery, but also encircled itself in it. There are only a few areas that can provide a large army with marching. If they rashly flee to the east and west, some of them will be dead ends, which will inevitably lead to a major retreat and the ensuing pursuit and massacre.

So Yuan Zongdi retreated, but he was not worried that the Ming army would take the opportunity to pursue or escape. What he had to deal with was whether he would be blamed for breaking into the king's land.

"Coward bastard, look at what ball you're playing. When Bai Guangen's turtle son was in Shaanxi, he saw that we were going to run away, but today he showed his mighty presence in front of you!"

There were not many people in the Shun Army who could shout like this, but it was not Li Zicheng. Before occupying Xiangyang, Li Zicheng had such a hot temper. He would beat the generals below and scold them as soon as they were said to him. It was common for him to scold them. His relationship with the generals below was like brothers, uncles, nephews, and fathers and sons. Beating and scolding like this made people feel close.

But after occupying Xiangyang, Niu Jinxing had a talk with Li Zichengchang once, saying that his foundation is gradually settled, and the king could not be magnanimous and gentle when he started his business. At least he had to do this on the surface. Song Xiance also had this opinion.

Compared with other rebel commanders, Li Zicheng obeyed scholars quite well. Since then, Li Zicheng has rarely lost his temper and always thinks about three points first.

Those who were scolding like this just now, in addition to the King of Rebellion Li Zicheng, were General Quan, Liu Zongmin, the head general of the Shun Army. He had a unique position and was the leader of the military general. He never concealed his temper. Of course, perhaps he deliberately made himself so popular that there could no longer be a person in the Shun Army who held military power.

It was a matter of course to be scolded by Liu Zongmin. Yuan Zongdi could not help but hear that Liu Zongmin's scolding was exonerating him. General Yuan Zongdi could only lower his head, but Li Zicheng, the King of Breaking, had not spoken, which made Yuan Zongdi very nervous.

Li Zicheng was always looking at the formation of the official army in front, and was very silent. Hearing that Liu Zongmin was still cursing, he couldn't help but swear and said:

"Zongmin, victory or defeat is common. Hou Xun, the old dog, is just a reflection of his life, so there is no need to say anything more."

Speaking like this is equivalent to forgive Yuan Zongdi's guilt for the failure of the attack. Li Zicheng slapped the horse and asked the mount to continue moving forward. Li Shuangxi behind him and the team of honor guards followed. The King of Chuang stopped the horse, hesitated, and waved his hand to let the honor guards stop the troops. He slowly moved forward under the escort of the light cavalry.

It was about a thousand steps away, and I couldn't see clearly any movements of the troops opposite. Bai Guangen and others did not have any equipment like clairvoyance, so they naturally couldn't see who was coming.

Accompanied by his personal guards and generals, Li Zicheng slowly walked forward on horseback. The officers and soldiers in the chariot camp saw him on the lookout platform and thought that a small army was coming to attack again.

You can see the gaps in and out of the horses being opened again, and the flag inside flashed, and Bai Guangen's men were moving again, ready to make a defense.

Li Zicheng and others were not worried. At these hundreds of steps, even if the other party wanted to chase him out, he would have time to turn around and escape. It would be better to observe carefully first.

Liu Zongmin and Yuan Zongdi were both beside Li Zicheng, and Hao Yaoqi arranged the army's actions there. The biggest headache for Hao Yaoqi was to unfold a large enough front to attack the Ming army. The terrain chosen by He Renlong and others was indeed more suitable. The front and back were relatively narrow, and only the place where he was guarding was considered spacious.

"The cart is piled up with mud, and it is estimated that there are sandbags on it. It is equivalent to a city landing here, and it is convenient for him to enter and exit, but we can only fight from a few places designated by the Ming army. This thing is clever!"

Li Zicheng was watching the formation while admiring. His expression made Yuan Zongdi even more worried. He gritted his teeth and simply stepped forward to report:

"The Prince of Chuang, Xiaodi was stunned this time and fought a mess. Zongdi was willing to ask for punishment if he did not do anything about the soldiers and generals below!"

Li Zicheng was still looking at the other party’s car camp arrangement, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and said relaxedly:

"It's not that you're so stupid. The incident in the old camp of Tang County made us all confused. Moreover, since Zhuxian Town, I feel that fighting the government army is very easy, so I don't see that these generals are all from Shaanxi. They are all border soldiers from Shaanxi. Can they compare with those of Zuo Liangyu and others?"

There is a theory in the Shun Army, that is, Shaanxi people are good at fighting and are the best in the world. This is also the reason why Shaanxi Bianzhen and Mongolia have been fighting in the Western Region tribes for many years. This is why Li Zicheng's words mean this, and it also means comforting Yuan Zongdi without being too depressed. Sure enough, he finished his words. Yuan Zongdi was not so nervous. Li Zicheng's tone became more serious again, and he spoke:

"They set up a camp, and they said they could take it down. If they wanted to break through with one rush, they would be a little confused. They wanted to take revenge, but if their lives were left there, they would still be revenge!"

When Li Zicheng said this, he vaguely showed his true nature. He pulled off the horse and turned back in the direction of the base camp. A group of people quickly followed.

The Ming army saw that it had retreated and stopped the battle...

A simple camp has been set up on our side. The King of Chuang and his generals are not very picky about this. A group of people rushed in. There was a wooden platform on the ground, and a simple map was laid on it. A group of people surrounded him, and Li Shuangxi was commanding the arrangements there.

Li Zicheng walked to the map and was about to say something, but heard someone shouting:

"The messenger of Liu Tichun, General Guoyi of the Right Camp, is here. If you have important matters, please report to the Prince Breaking!"

Li Shuangxi quickly put down the matter in his hand, lifted the tent to greet him. Soon, Li Shuangxi hurried in with the messenger, and the generals of the camp focused their attention on him. The messenger's face was not good-looking, and it was obviously not caused by a long journey.

After hesitating a little, the messenger gritted his teeth and said:

"The Prince of Chuang, General Liu was blocked by Minggou Gao Jie. He attacked him several times but failed to attack. Hou Xun had already started to send reinforcements to Gao Jie. General Liu said... General Liu said that he would ask the Prince of Chuang to increase troops to his side... "

With a "bang", the table where the map was placed was kicked over by Li Zicheng. Everyone in the camp was silent and dared not say a word.

Several people with sufficient identities were about to come forward to persuade him, but Li Zicheng waved his hand impatiently, took a few breaths, and said in a stern voice:

"The last group of people in the Ming Dynasty could defeat the land should be here. As long as we can eat them all, we can do our best to deal with Shandong."

Liu Zongmin was very angry, but he was quite calm in the war. He thought for a while and said:

"With our current soldiers, it is not difficult to defeat the Ming army in front of us, and we are very sure to defeat them. But if they sacrifice their lives to attack, they will still run out a lot. If they collect the border soldiers, they will still be troublesome."

Li Zicheng was silent for a while and said:

"If you want to do big things, you must be willing to use your troops and horses. I will pass my orders. Tian Jianxiu led his troops to Ruzhou area to help Er Liu, and He Jin's army accelerated its march and joined our army!"

Tian Jianxiu led more than 10,000 troops and He Jin led 20,000 troops. Compared with Li Zicheng's nearly 300,000 troops in various places, it is not too large.

But Tian Jianxiu went to cut off the retreat between Shaanxi and Henan, and He Jin went to resist the attacks that might come from Kaifeng. Both tasks were extremely heavy, and they were responsible for the side alone, so they also had high requirements for soldiers and horses. Tian Jianxiu and He Jin led elite soldiers, and the old camp had many old brothers.

Li Zicheng mobilized these two troops to come, and he really made up his mind to attack. In addition to Gao Yigong and Li Guo's defense in Huguang, he had already transferred 80% of the Shun Army's strength to be prepared to eat this official army.

Listening to Li Zicheng's arrangements, the generals in the camp looked more and more serious. He knew that this was no less than that of Zhuxian Town.

The guard leader Li Shuangxi looked at the escort and wrote out the orders, then put them in boxes, and he arranged the trustworthy guards to send these letters for the dispatched troops, all of which were five people and twenty horses to ensure their foot strength.

King Li Zicheng of the Chuang Dynasty had all these arrangements, and suddenly laughed out loud. Everyone was stunned and panicked, thinking that such a tense situation. Why did King Li Zicheng suddenly laugh like crazy? Could something happened? Li Zicheng stopped laughing and said:

"I have seen so many tigers and wolves. Today I was scared by a few rabbits who were forced to fight. Hou Xun and his group started killing horses three days ago. How long can they last?"

Everyone can think of this. But for the Shun Army, maintaining the border between Ruzhou and Kaifeng Prefecture with 300,000 people is also a huge amount of money, and the battle must be ended as soon as possible. But for now, the Ming army can still hold on for a period of undefeated, which is ultimately a big trouble.

"Why do you have to fight with them? Just use the old method of our Zhuxian Town to dig deep trenches to surround them. If they are hungry, they will starve to death. I will immediately send an order to Liu Tichun and Liu Fangliang to recruit civilians to dig deep trenches and trap this car camp here to see how many days they can eat cattle and horses!"

After Li Zicheng finished speaking coldly, the generals in the room bowed together and agreed with a loud voice...

It was already late at this time, and several messengers who sent the letters had already set off. But it started to rain again. The army on both sides had to build a stable camp and could not send troops to fight rashly. No matter what, the Ming army was at the upper hand in this battle in the world, and they won today.

Early the next morning, each battalion killed a batch of cattle and mules pulling the baggage. After cooking the big pot, it was distributed to each army for food. It was estimated that it would last for three days.

Of course, not everyone can get it. Only those cavalry riding horses and the guards under the generals can eat enough. It seems that nothing serious is that anyone who is more clear-headed understands that such a situation cannot last too long. But the key to the problem is that the Ming army cannot and dare not take the initiative to attack at present, and can only be passively defended. The cattle and horses will be eaten sooner or later. Will they eat people at that time?

When you wake up in the morning, there may be an offensive and defensive battle. You can wake up the soldiers in some places to see that the cavalry are all on horseback, and some are already desperate. The cavalry is obviously trying to escape first when the situation is wrong.

But no one wanted to run away. Early in the morning, the Shun Army began to dig trenches around the Ming army's chariot camp. The distance was far enough. In addition to the second-line troops digging the trenches, there were enough troops to keep on guard.

The so-called "self-successful attack" and "Yu Talent" is good at fighting. Li Zicheng's troops are particularly outstanding in siege and fortifications. The excavation of long trenches to siege the enemy this time was their strength.

The Ming army shrouded in the camp with great fanfare, and naturally the Ming army was invisible. Bai Guangen and Xu Dingguo sent several teams of cavalry to harass him. The problem was that the Shun army was never afraid of the Ming army's field battle. If both sides fought, the Shun army would definitely not suffer the losses.

The only one who made some breakthroughs was the Shaanxi general He Renlong, but his cavalry rushed to the edge of the long trench, and what was waiting for him were the elite troops of the old camp led by Hao Yaoqi. These cavalry were also from Shaanxi border soldiers. They had more combat experiences and were more powerful and powerful. The battle lasted not long, so He Renlong's soldiers were beaten back.

The long trench was digging rapidly and began to extend around the Ming army. Although the army could still support it, the atmosphere in the car camp became more and more panicked. Several attacks were hit back, and such fortifications were built outside. The longer the delay was delayed, the harder it would be to run out.

Relying on killing horses and cattle, there was no problem with the Ming army supporting it for more than ten days, but the long trenches dug outside were defeating the confidence of these Ming army.

The same was true when he was in Zhuxian Town. After digging deep trenches, the Ming army found that they had no way to retreat and had nowhere to go, and the morale of the army collapsed in a comprehensive manner.

The same is true on this day. With the excavation of the long trench, the recruited civilians began to run outside regardless of their concern. They had never experienced anything and were the first group of people to collapse psychologically. It didn't matter if they ran away, but the generals of the Ming army could not let them leave. If they walked away, it would cause more fleeing.

All the military and horses arranged for people to guard the exit. Anyone who escaped towards the Shun Army was engaged in military law and was killed on the spot.

This day was busy and in chaos. There were very few battles between the two sides, but the situation of victory and defeat became increasingly clear.

When it was dark, the Ming military, civilians and soldiers who were shocked by blood and heads gradually died and ran away. But the veterans knew that it was the time to escape. Many people climbed over the barriers of the car camp and fences on both sides and ran to the Shunjun opposite to surrender.

Who doesn’t know how many people died in the Ming army circled in Zhuxian Town? And the military generals in the camp were different. He Renlong would rather die than die, but he would have to ensure the supply of his and his personal soldiers. At the same time, he sent people to collect a lot of clothes for himself.

The Shaanxi general He Renlongdi action was clear, and the Yulin general Bai Guangen was also aware of it. He also followed the example of the cat and tiger. Hou Xun, the general in the central army, finally despaired. The generals outside the military camp were busy arranging defense and escaping. However, he drank and cried every day, not knowing what to do.

In the massacre in Tang County, he had already sealed off all his retreat. Even if he surrendered to Li Chuang, he would not have a way out. As for Duke Li Meng of Qi, he couldn't even escape in this situation, so how could he defect to him?

The general Hou Xun burned the two letters he had collected in person, and then took advantage of the drunkenness to write a few passionate death documents, and he would always be named a loyal minister and a righteous man after his death.

Tongguan was sealed by the Shun Army, and Zuo Liangyu in Huguang was trembling in Wuchang. The entire territory of Henan was not under the control of the Ming court, and the army of the general Hou Xun was trapped between Ruzhou and Kaifeng. The court and Emperor Chongzhen didn't even know the news, let alone any reinforcements.

On the contrary, Gao Jie, who suppressed the back team, was from a camp after all. When he saw Liu Tichun's army retreating and began to dig a ditch, he knew that something was wrong. General Gao Jie, the Yansui general, was really afraid of the consequences of being caught in front of the King of Chuang. He directly launched the general attack of the entire army.

On this narrow road, tens of thousands of soldiers rushed over without hesitation, despite the heavy trampling and casualties. But Liu Tichun and Liu Fangliang also had to stop everything at hand to deal with it. Although Gao Jie was weak and the second Liu was strong, they were also in a hurry to fight with such a desperate rush.

On the first day, he was repelled for more than three miles. If Liu Fangliang had not personally led the horse team to fight back, the situation would have been even unbearable. He retreated for more than three miles, and there was still not far away in the city of Jia County. Shunjun refused to let the other party enter this city. Liu Tichun directly formed a formation under the city to block Gao Jie.

The envoy from the old camp of the King of Chuang has returned, so that Er Liu has a clear mind. As long as he can hold on until Tian Jianxiudi's troops arrive, Gao Jie can only surrender.

These days, there was only drizzling drizzle in Ruzhou, but the rain in Kaifeng has been quite heavy. It was a bit difficult for a few messengers from the old camp of the rebel army to send out.

The civilians along the way fled in all directions. Most of the rebel troops gathered around several battlefields. These messengers did not get any supplies along the way. The distance from Xiangcheng to Wuchuan was not close. The road was not flat, but hilly and mountainous.

When the two messengers passed by Xuzhou, they were sick due to rain and could not continue their journey, so they had to stay in Xuzhou to recuperate. Another messenger broke his legs and feet due to slippery mud on the road between Xuzhou and Changge, and they could not move. The remaining two messengers collected all the horses and set off with a few cakes.

The wind and rain were blowing on the road, and the two messengers were exhausted. They just wanted to send the orders of the King of Chuang to General Guoyi He Jin. At that time, they would have a hot soup and change into dry clothes. The weather was getting colder and colder. It would be extremely uncomfortable to walk like this on the road.

After entering the territory of Wuchuan, the rain finally fell a little less. The two messengers remembered where the He Jin camped, and the two messengers were already feeling a little relaxed.

Five of the horses were exhausted. When they crossed the mountain bag, the three-day journey finally ended. It was already dark and the rain had stopped. Looking at the bonfire lights and candles in the camp not far away, the two messengers felt weak all over and could finally rest well.

Soon someone noticed them, and more than a dozen knights ran over from the camp in this direction. Xin used his strength to shout loudly:

"The order of the King of Breaking the Army is urgent, and the order of ten thousand is urgent!!!"

While urging the horses to rush forward, the cavalry's uniforms looked wrong. As they got closer, a messenger finally found something wrong. He had participated in the Battle of Whishui and had seen this uniform.

A heart-wrenching shout came from the valley, "It's Shandong's soldiers, Shandong..." The shout stopped abruptly, followed by a shrill scream, and then everything returned to peace.
Chapter completed!