Xu Ping observed the city gate tower in Dezhou. He saw several black holes on it. Xu Ping asked in contemplation: "How many cannons are there in Dezhou? Where are they all deployed? How much gunner training? How far can these cannons be fired?"

"There are ten cannons in the city of Texas, and Bei Yi deployed them all in the most conspicuous place in the city tower!" Lin Guangyi replied fluently: "But no one can be used, so there is no gunner."

Xu Pingqi said: "Have you tried it? When did you try it?" Xu Ping knew that there might be no gunners in Texas, but he brought thirty gunners this time, so he planned to let his gunners go into the city to test the guns.

"No need to try." Lin Guangyi said quickly: "They will definitely explode! Beizhi heard that there were four artillery cast by the Shandong Commander's Office themselves in Dezhou, but they were taken away by the Lu army during the Battle of Jinan last year. Now these ten artillery are all cast by the Ministry of Works of the Capital, and they are sent to the Ministry of Works of the Shandong Commander's Office. Is it necessary to try?"

Since it was a weapon cast by the Ministry of Works of the Ming Dynasty, there was no need to test it. At that time, Qi Jiguang stipulated the manufacturing standards for the Ming Dynasty bird guns. Each bird gun must be made of 20 kilograms of iron. The barrel of the gun needs to be drilled out by craftsmen, and the caliber and length also have unified regulations. The muskets made according to the standards set by Qi Jiguang were said to be unable to escape even the birds in the forest, and the bird gun was named. After Qi Jiguang's death, the Ministry of Works of the Ming Dynasty had to manufacture tens of thousands of bird guns every year. Although the price of each bird gun reported to the court remained unchanged, the muzzle was getting thinner and thinner.

The wall of the chamber is getting thinner and thinner, but at least this "new-style bird gun" can still shoot half-charge. But the most "new-style" bird gun manufacturing standard is to drill holes in the corners and then glue them into a barrel. The barrel of a bird gun is often made of more than a dozen or even dozens of iron tubes and iron sheets, and the iron sheets on it are square and round, and even triangles and polygons. After this bird gun was given to the Ming army, no soldiers were willing to use it. The three-eyed musket could not hit people and could be used as hammers, while the new weapon of the Ming Dynasty's Work Department - the composite bird gun and the sticks - would disintegrate and disintegrate.

"Our army will not enter the city." Xu Ping told Lin Guangyi: "Our army will be stationed outside the city and form a horn with Dezhou."

"this……"

Lin Guangyi had just begun to express his objection, and Li Wuyan, behind Xu Ping, jumped up first: "General Xu, you must not. Our army's new recruits are full of camps, and only by using the defense of the Dezhou city walls can you have a chance of winning."

Seeing Xu Ping's face sinking again, Li Wuyan realized that his actions were very rude. In the final analysis, the general in front of him was too young, and Li Wuyan could not feel enough awe. He hurriedly bowed and said, "Well, this is what Bei Zhi thinks, please make clear General Xu."

"The task assigned by the General Staff Department to our army is not to defend the city of Texas, but to prevent the traitors from passing through the official road near Texas." Xu Ping waved his arm to the outskirts of Dezhou: "There is a flat horse in Dezhou, without the ups and downs of the mountain and mausoleum, and the Wei River has been frozen, and it has no effect on the march. If we hide in the city, the traitors should leave a small number of troops to monitor us and deploy outside the city gate to block us, and their large troops can still pass through the great plain without any obstacles and roll our entire front from the side and back."

"General Xu's clarification," Lin Guangyi shouted again: "With the existing troops in Dezhou, it is difficult for us to resist the strong attack of the rebels."

"I led two thousand new troops to camp outside the city, and the rebels absolutely did not dare to attack Dezhou with all their might." Xu Ping said confidently: "The effect of our army deploying outside the city is the same as deploying inside the city."

Li Wuyan looked around the supplementary soldiers around her, scratched her neck, and tried hard to persuade: "General Jin's order did not say that we could not stand in Texas City."

Xu Ping became a little impatient: "I understand very clearly. The rebels are not going to take Texas, but to attack the firefighting camp through Texas and seize our supplies and storage along the way."

Lin Guangyi still didn't give up: "General Xu forgives his crime, what if the rebels attack Dezhou?"

"Our field troops are outside the city, how dare the rebels attack Texas?" Xu Ping began to get angry: "Our army will drag the rebels firmly outside the city of Texas, so that they cannot advance or retreat, and wait for the firefighting camp and the guards to annihilate them in one fell swoop."

Looking at the silent Lin Guangyi and Li Wuyan, Xu Ping added: "If I understand General Jin's orders correctly, that's it."

The people around him still didn't say anything, so Xu Ping added: "You guys, the firefighting camp and the Zhiwei are coming to reinforce us. They may arrive at any time. Our army is not fighting alone!"

"Abide by the order, general, obey the order!" Li Wuyan had no choice but to obey.

"I obey the order, general, I will immediately deploy the Dezhou defense." Lin Guangyi hurried back to the city.

Although Dezhou is a large plain, it is slightly higher in the southwest direction. Xu Ping finally decided to deploy his field troops here, which aroused the opposition of Li Wuyan and Liao Kezong.

"General Xu, although the northeast direction is low, the traitors will probably come from the southeast direction. If we deploy our troops in the southwest, then when the traitors arrive, our deployment will be a horizontal line for them, and we will form a head-on conflict with the traitors!"

"Mr. Li Qian, Mr. Liao Qian, we are fighting, we are going to have a head-on conflict with the traitors."

"Yes, general, but we are all recruits in the camp," said Li Wuyan: "I think we should use Texas as much as possible, even if we are not stationed in the city of Texas." Li Wuyan advised him: "If our army is deployed horizontally in the northeast direction, then the rebels will first hit Texas. Behind Texas is the right wing of our army, behind the right wing is the general's headquarters, behind the general's headquarters is the left wing guard of our army. The rebels cannot divide the retreat route to encircle any of us. If they try to encircle us, then our front line and Texas will be like a sword, first splitting the rebels, which is very unfavorable to the command and coordination of the rebels, and in this way we can use the Texas city towers to observe the rebels' actions clearly."

"I believe that our army should be deployed in the northwest. Most of the benefits are the same as Mr. Li Qian said. The city walls of Dezhou can be used to form a vertical defense against the rebels. In this way, each army has friendly troops behind it. Even if our vanguard is slightly frustrated, he can retreat to the cover of friendly troops behind him. Seeing that there are friendly troops behind him is of great benefit to the morale of our recruits." Liao Kezong proposed a reason that is more favorable to the deployment in the northeast: "The direct guards who came to reinforce us came from the southwest ancient city. We deploy reinforcements closer to ours in this way, and they can immediately form close cooperation with our army after they arrive on the battlefield."

"Yes." Xu Ping was almost convinced by them, and he pondered for a moment.

Liao Kezong saw Xu Ping's hesitation and proudly added a sentence to his deployment plan: "Our army deployed in the northwest can also cover the official road heading southeast. If the rebels set foot on this road, then our army will threaten them from behind."

Li Wuyan also nodded repeatedly: "Brother Liao said very well, whether it is deployed in the northwest or northeast, we have protected the official road very well. There is no need to hold on the front line to block the rebels and prevent them from getting in touch with the official road."

Unexpectedly, it was these two men's proud expressions that angered Xu Ping. He saw their contempt for him in the eyes of the two Qianmai, and felt the meaning of "You just had a good adoptive father to climb to such a high position!" Xu Ping said decisively: "No, this general's resolution has been decided, and our army is to be deployed on the southwest high ground."

Li Wuyan and Liao Kezong were stunned and lost their voices. After a while, they shouted: "General Xu, please think twice."

"I have thought twice." Xu Ping retorted bluntly: "If... if our army is deployed in the Northeast, then what if the rebels really attack Texas, do we care or ignore it? Can a group of yamen runners in Texas really resist the rebels' attack?"

At first, Xu Ping felt that he had some improper meaning, but as he continued, he felt that it made sense and his thinking became more and more broad. He pointed to the northwest again: "If our army was deployed in the northwest, then what if the rebels bypass Dezhou and head straight for Wuqiao regardless of the slightest resignation, what should we do? Mr. Liao Qian said that deployment in the northwest can threaten the rebels, would he have no confidence in Mr. Liao Qian blocking the rebels, but he is full of confidence in pursuing the rebels?"

Looking at Li Wuyan and Liao Kezong who were speechless, Xu Ping sneered and said, "No! We just want to deploy in the southwest to connect with Dezhou to form a horizontal defense, and we will never allow rebels to approach the official road!"

Xu Ping selected three positions in the southwest of Dezhou. His own flag was located on Xiao Gaogang, which was more than ten meters high. In addition, he also distributed 500 troops to Li Wuyan and Liao Kezong, and asked them to occupy the other two soil slopes that were more than ten meters high several miles away on both sides of his flag.

After the two thousand generals took the order and left, Xu Ping and Cao Yun immediately urged the soldiers to establish field fortifications along Gaogang in accordance with the regulations. Xu Ping originally planned to deploy a circular defense at the foot of the mountain and build a second low wall on the mountainside, but due to insufficient troops, he finally decided to build only one circular defense. Digging trenches is the most laborious project, and it is too late to dig two trenches. After careful consideration, Xu Ping lifted the defense circle to the mountainside. In this way, the fortifications were shorter and more confident to complete in time. After marching all day and night yesterday, the army had not had a good rest and arrived early this morning.

After Texas, it only took less than an hour to repair it, but there was no time left. Xu Ping ordered half of the soldiers to rest on the high ground, and the remaining half immediately began to dig trenches. Fortunately, the tools and supplies in the Dongsen camp were very complete. Xu Ping brought all the engineer tools in the army out of professional habits. Five hundred soldiers, each with a engineer shovel, cleared the snow on the ground and immediately began to dig the land. The frozen soil was thrown behind him, ready to construct a low wall. The guards immediately dug a pit on the ground, buried the drum deeply underground, and then took turns to lie on it on it to monitor.

When there was still a moment before Wu, the guards heard the sound of horse hooves coming from the southeast. They ran quickly to the generals to report to Xu Ping. Xu Ping immediately ordered Li Wuyan and Liao Kezong's troops to notify Li Wuyan and Liao Kezong's troops. Not long after his messengers were sent out, the messengers from Li and Liao also rushed to the Jiangqi and reported to Xu Ping that they heard military information coming from the southeast.

Xu Ping took out his telescope and looked southeastward. Soon after, a rebel cavalry with about 150 and 60 people gradually appeared in his sight.

"It's the rebels' scout."

As soon as Xu Ping made a judgment, a guard soldier ran up sweating and shouted to Xu Ping in panic: "General, the brigade of rebels is coming towards us, countless cavalry and infantry!"

At this time, the rear team had already dragged two treasured three-pound cannons to Xu Ping's position. Xu Ping was about to order to inform Li, and the two troops of Liao had just obtained military information when they saw the rushing messengers running from the positions on both wings. They were still far away and shouted: "General Xu, our troops heard a large number of troops coming to us."

"General Xu, a large number of rebels! It is less than ten miles away from our army!"

"I understand." Xu Ping originally wanted to order Li Wuyan and Liao Kezong not to report to him anymore, but he was worried about his negligence. Perhaps the two Qianshang could find some problems that they had not found, so Xu Ping said to the two messengers: "Go and tell Mr. Li Qian and Mr. Liao Qian, to make their messengers more steady, and don't have to shout at everything."

The two messengers said a word and were about to take the order and left, Xu Ping called them again: "No matter what military situation, remember to go to the two Qianzong first, finish the salute, and then report to the plain."

"As for orders, general."

The rebels' team of about 150 people ran quickly to the Ming army's position. Xu Ping had no troops to drive them away, so he could only salute them. The cavalry first ran to the Liao Kezong troops on Xu Ping's left wing to look closely for a long time, and then went straight to Xu Ping's main formation. After getting closer, they slowed down their horse stance and walked slowly past Xu Ping's formation. These reconnaissance cavalry were very close, afraid that they could not see the situation on Xu Ping's formation clearly. Xu Ping could even see the beards on their faces and the fierce light in their eyes.

The rebel general raised his head and looked at Xu Ping's flag. Xu Ping stood with his hands behind his back, first looking at the rebel general, then slid his eyes behind him. The rebel soldiers who were immediately following the rebel general raised the flag high into the air like a demonstration, so that Xu Ping could clearly see the word "Liu" above.

The flag slowly moved under Xu Ping's gaze. After leaving the main formation of the Ming army, the rebels began to increase again and ran towards Li Wuyan's troops, which were less than three miles away from the right wing.

Xu Ping shook his head. He had no choice but to see them do whatever they wanted. With the experience of the first two times, the rebel cavalry obviously became more and more clear that the Ming army had no choice but to do anything to them. Therefore, in the end, they seemed particularly arrogant and ran to Li Wuyan's position. Xu Ping stared at them, wondering whether they wanted to run directly under Li Wuyan's nose to check the depth of the Ming army's trench.

They really planned that way. Xu Ping watched them rush to the trench of Li Wuyan's army and even started to add!

Then Xu Ping saw the rebels suddenly pull out their sharp sabers, jumped over the circular trench that the Ming army had just dug at the foot of the mountain, and rushed straight to the top of the mountain.

The silver sword light rushed to the top of the mountain. In a blink of an eye, Li Wuyan's Qian Zongqi was surrounded by the sword light. After a few waves, it disappeared from his sight. A few miles away, the Ming soldiers fled down the mountain like ants washed by water.

After a while, Li Wuyan, who was in a mess, stumbled to escape to the hill where Xu Ping was. His loose head was wet, not sure if it was snow or sweat. Li Wuyan knelt in front of Xu Ping, and his head was deeply pierced to the ground: "General Xu, I deserve to die, damn..."

Xu Ping's fists were clenched tightly without realizing it. He hid his hands behind his back, trying to calm his breath: "Mr. Li Qian is too careless."

"Damn Beizhi, damn it." Li Wuyan kowtowed heavily on the ground again. His voice changed his anger, as if he was about to cry: "The number of those rebels is only 30% of the troops of Beizhi. Beizhi never thought... Beizhi still occupies a high ground, how could he think of them rushing up in a daze!"

Xu Ping said slowly: "Mr. Li Qian saw that they were observing close to each other in the main formation and left wing, and he thought they were just observing close to each other, and he was not prepared at all."

"Yes," Li Wuyan's voice looked even stronger: "I deserve to die!"

Thick smoke rose from Li Wuyan's original position, perhaps because the rebels had too few cavalry, perhaps because the main force of the Ming army was close to each other, or perhaps they had to save horsepower or even run out for some reason. After the Ming army fled in scattered, the cavalry did not pursue the fleeing Ming army. They set fire to the fenced fences set up by the Ming army, destroyed the fortifications of the Ming army, and then held Li Wuyan's Qianzong flag, and jogged past Xu Ping for the second time, and bursts of ridicule. They raised a long spear for a cavalry and shouted to the Ming army on the mountain: "I am Liu Zhewen, the general under Marshal Ji, don't forget my name, no one can dare to forget my name!"

Li Wuyan lay on the ground motionless. The rebels passed by the main formation and ran to mock the left wing. Xu Ping asked, "How much has our army lost?"

Jiang Yizhou whispered: "About 200 people were lost, and 280 soldiers have fled back to their own formation."

"Give another 200 people to Mr. Li Qian." Xu Ping pointed to another small hill two miles behind the northwest side of the formation: "Mr. Li Qian has to hurry up, the main force of the rebels is already very close to us."

"As for orders, general, you must be punished and made meritorious in your duties." Li Wuyan jumped up from the ground, hurried down the mountain, and rushed towards the new position.

Cold sweat kept pouring out of his palms. Xu Ping looked at the rebel scouts who continued to provoke back and forth in front of his army, and asked himself secretly: "If they rushed straight to my general flag just now, can I block them?" Thinking of this, Xu Ping couldn't help but fight a cold war.

"General!" Jiang Yizhou's cry behind him brought Xu Ping back to reality, and Jiang Yizhou's arm pointed straight towards the southeast.

Following Jiang Yizhou's arm pointing, the black heads appeared in the Ming army's vision, and countless flags floated above this army.dd
Chapter completed!