Longju Village is 400 miles from Xi'an in the west, 100 miles from Wuguan in the east, 300 miles from Jingzi in the south, and 300 miles from Tongguan in the north. It can go out from Nanyang in the east and go straight to the Central Plains; it can go south to Xiangfan to control Wuchang. Therefore, it is known as "Shaanxi"
"Southern Barrier", "Three Qin Dynasties", is the second gateway to Wuguanxi and southeastern Shaanxi.
This walled city controls the road from Shangzhou to Neixiang, Henan. Among the hills, a Jiguan Mountain protrudes, overlooking the peaks. The terrain is dangerous. Although most of the Ming army's reinforcements and suppression troops were mobilized southward
, but the location of Longju Village was critical, so Yang Sichang, the governor of the Division, and Zheng Chongjian, the governor of the three sides, still left some troops to garrison here.
It was already very cold in Shangzhou after October. A cold wind blew through, and the hot breath from Li Laiheng's mouth soon formed a thin layer of frost on his lips. Most of the soldiers who broke into the camp were wearing very thin clothes.
Overall, they were dirty and torn, and many people's clothes, especially their sleeves, had patches of dried blood, some of which were shed by themselves, and more of which were spattered from the enemies.
Because they have been standing for a long time, some people hug their arms tightly to resist the cold and retract their necks into their round collars as much as possible. Some people stagger and fall into a hazy sleep, suddenly slump and knock down others.
The person woke up with a start and opened his eyes.
Liu Zongmin was still the only one riding a horse. He insisted on riding the old and thin horse. Li Laiheng named it "Master Tier". The others, including Li Zicheng, also insisted on walking. During the march, Li Zicheng rode the horse in person two or three times.
He came forward and tried to persuade Liu Zongmin to kill Lord Ti'er and throw away this burden, but General Liu and Lao Ma had a deep relationship and were unwilling to say anything.
Hao Yaoqi, who was following Li Laiheng, was breathing heavily. He had the most dried blood on his clothes, which proved Hao Yaoqi's bravery in the battle. Hao Yaoqi put a hand on Li Laiheng's shoulder and said: "
The actions of the officers and soldiers were so fast that they actually blocked the ferry in Manchuan. If Mr. Liu and your father, Little Tiger, hadn't fought desperately to kill them, we might have ended up there."
The Second Master Liu that Hao Yaoqi mentioned was not Liu Zongmin, but Liu Fangliang, who was as aggressive and fierce as Liu Zongmin, but looked very fair and handsome. As for the little tiger's father, he naturally referred to Li Guo.
After Chuangying broke out of camp and headed north, they marched very carefully, specifically avoiding roads and climbing over mountains and ridges, trying not to attract the attention of the officers and soldiers. However, after Chuangying went north along the Baishi River and arrived near Manchuanli, due to the need to
A team of hundreds of people crossed the river, but still had to try to occupy the ferry near Manchuanli. As a result, they aroused the vigilance of the nearby Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers.
This battle across the river was full of dangers. The main reason was that Chuang camp was marching north this time. It was not like the previous battle with light equipment to break the Zhuxi County town. Instead, he brought his whole family and children to march together. The procession was long and drawn out. King Chuang had to lead the troops.
Breaking through the Ming army's siege and crossing the Baishi River, we also had to pay attention to protecting the family members of the old camp. As a result, we inevitably paid a certain price.
The officers and soldiers were also very smart this time. They knew that the goal of breaking into the camp was to cross the river, so they waited for work and blocked the ferry. Even if Li Zicheng sent Liu Zongmin to lead a team upstream and pretended to force a crossing, they could not induce the officers and soldiers to divide their troops.
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The officers and soldiers blocked the ferry and fired bullets with powerful bows, crossbows and fire blunderbuss, suppressing the camp so that they could hardly move forward. At the critical moment, Li Guo and Liu Fangliang each led half a team of swordsmen, and they were brave enough to swim.
The assault abruptly disrupted the deployment of the officers and soldiers. When Li Zicheng saw that the officers and soldiers were in chaos, he immediately threw Liu Zongmin's troops, who had returned from the upper reaches, into the battle. After a bloody battle, he completely occupied the ferry. Only then did the family members of the old camp,
We were able to cross the Baishi River safely.
But this battle still cost a lot of money to break into the camp. What's worse is that Manchuanli Ferry is very close to Longju Village. The Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers stationed near Shangzhou must have noticed
After knowing the movement of breaking through the camp and heading north to Shangluo, the road ahead would be difficult.
Li Laiheng pulled the rag that wrapped the wound on his arm tighter. When he forcibly broke through the Manchuanli Ferry, he was injured by the loss of officers and soldiers and almost died in Baishi River. It was thanks to Hao Yaoqi who risked his life and held a gun.
With a big jujube stick, he forcefully swept away several officers and soldiers who were besieging Li Laiheng, and then rescued him.
"Brother Hao, I would like to thank you for risking your life to save me this time." Li Laiheng tightly wrapped the rag around his arm and endured the pain and said, "The officers and soldiers must have noticed our movements. I'm afraid the road ahead will not be good.
Walk."
When Hao Yaoqi heard Li Laiheng's words of thanks, he didn't pay much attention. Although he had great military exploits, he was repeatedly reprimanded for trivial things. If he didn't have a particularly strong heart, he probably wouldn't be able to stay in the camp until now.
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Hao Yaoqi patted Li Laiheng on the back with his hand as big as an ordinary human head, making the little tiger almost breathless. He smiled and replied: "What are you afraid of? The officers and soldiers are all like chickens and dogs.
They want to die, so I let them use the power of the jujube stick in my hand."
The jujube stick he was talking about was a popular armor-piercing weapon among the Ming Dynasty's frontier troops. In this battle of forcibly crossing Manchuanli, Hao Yaoqi's jujube stick showed a power that impressed Li Laiheng.
It also made Li Laiheng remember that in the future, when training troops, he might also pay attention to preparing an assault force that uses heavy armor-piercing weapons.
The soldiers who broke into the camp gritted their teeth again and walked several miles of mountainous roads despite the cold wind and injuries from the hard battle. After all, this was an army that had fought thousands of miles, and no one complained. But Li Zicheng also knew that now this
With such an army in such a state, if we encounter a surprise attack by the Ming army, the consequences may be disastrous, so we still ordered to set up camp and rest in advance today.
After hearing this order, Li Laiheng also took a breath. He was not as naturally brave as Hao Yaoqi. Li Laiheng was already young, only sixteen or seventeen years old. His body was not fully grown yet, and his physical strength was difficult to compare with other soldiers.
, walking along this mountain road really made him feel miserable.
"Laiheng, your arm is injured? What injury? Are there any broken bones?" When they were setting up camp to rest, Li Laiheng's adoptive father Li Guo came over to inspect the troops. He saw Li Laiheng's left arm hanging with a strip of cloth under his blouse.
There were large blood stains on his neck and sleeves, so he asked softly.
"The arrow wound didn't hurt any bones." Of course Li Laiheng complained about the arrow wound in his heart, but in front of his adoptive father Li Guo, he still tried to act like a hero, pretending not to care, and said with a smile, "I
I don’t know how to draw a bow and shoot arrows, and even one hand won’t stop me from fighting, so my adoptive father doesn’t need to worry.”
Li Guo looked at Li Laiheng and felt half proud and half worried. He had come to regard Li Laiheng as his own child. Seeing Li Laiheng holding on, Li Guo didn't say anything.
She just asked him to be more careful and attentive, and asked Hao Yaoqi to help, wash Li Laiheng's wound, and apply some medicine when he rested at night.
"Nowadays, there are so few people in the camp," Li Guo said with a rare look of kindness in his eyes. He rubbed Li Laiheng's head and said, "I can only support several people by one person, but this kid got the flag."
, I also want to ask you to take more care of this kid Laiheng. We can't afford to hurt anyone when we break into camp."
"Guard team, don't worry too much. The little tiger was at the ferry today, but he was very brave. The officers and soldiers were frightened by him." Hao Yaoqi still looked optimistic and the old god was here. He talked about Li Laiheng during the day.
He praised Li Laiheng for his performance during the battle at Mancheon-ri Ferry and how he led his troops to make a swimming assault while the army was in chaos. How cautious and brave he was.
In fact, Li Laiheng himself was not very satisfied with his performance in today's battle across the river in Manchuanli. The officers and soldiers took advantage of the advantageous situation of waiting for work to suppress the camp. Li Laiheng and Hao Yaoqi's team were only killed by bows, arrows and fire guns.
He lost twenty-three out of ten. After that, although he took advantage of Li Guo and Liu Fangliang's desperate attack to disrupt the army's position, he followed behind and made a swimming attack, but he was entangled by a small army team again and fell on the river bed.
He stayed there for too long, resulting in too many troops being lost and shot.
If lessons have been learned, during a swimming assault, soldiers should be equipped with armor such as bamboo and rattan, and should be divided into echelons and waves to avoid fighting with small groups of officers and soldiers on the river beach, and to land as soon as possible to occupy the ferry.
That's it.
Li Laiheng's battlefield experience is still too shallow. When the situation is urgent, he can't calm down. He can neither quickly seize the opportunity in the chaos like his adoptive father Li Guo, nor can he rely on Liu Fangliang and Hao Yaoqi.
Individual bravery can break the deadlock, even less than that of Li Shuangxi and Dang Shousu. They can detect traces of the main force of officers and soldiers through their keen sense of smell on the battlefield.
Of course, most of the generals in the camp had several years of experience in fighting, which was far beyond what Li Laiheng, a newbie in the military, could compare to. As long as Li Laiheng studied more, he might not be able to catch up with, or even surpass, the talents of his adoptive father.
The large force in front of the camp descended from the top of the mountain and advanced along a canyon. The valley was very dark and scattered with large and small stones. Liu Zongmin rode an old horse with his iron paws at the front. From time to time, the horse's iron paws hit the stones and burst out.
How many sparks will come out.
After breaking into the camp, we set up camp and rested in a pine forest on the edge of the canyon. When the winter wind blew, the pine trees rolled up like waves, and mercury-like flowers leaked from the branches and leaves, dots of moonlight. It was warmer in the forest than outside, Li Zicheng
After giving the order to rest, everyone either buried the pot to make rice or took a rest.
Amidst the sound of wood burning, Li Laiheng heard the sound of horse hooves. The frequency of the horse hooves was much faster than that of Liu Zongmin's old horse.
"The boss, I haven't seen you for months!"
Two of Li Shuangxi's men walked into the pine forest, leading a tall horse. Next to them was a soldier with firm eyes. He looked about thirty years old, with a weathered face and long hair.
There were also several strands of white hair mixed in, and as we walked, we would make a clanging sound of armor leaves. The cloth-faced armor looked much more sophisticated than the armors worn by Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin.
The generals who were having dinner at the camp all put down their meals and stood up when they saw the visitor. Liu Fangliang was the first to greet him. He punched the visitor on the chest and said with a smile: "What a Yuan."
Zongdi, you and Yufeng get along so well in Shangzhou, where did you get such a fine horse?"
Li Zicheng also walked over, pointed to the fire in the distance, and said: "Han Ju, come over and have dinner together first, and tell us how you and Yufeng are doing."
The person who came was Yuan Zongdi, another general who went north to collect the scattered fleeing soldiers with Tian Jianxiu, the general who broke into the camp. He met Ye Busuo, who was sent by Li Shuangxi to search near Longju Village, and knew that Li Zicheng had personally
After arriving at Shangzhou with the main force of the Chuang Battalion, they rushed over in person to introduce to Li Zicheng the activities of their North Route Army.