A defeated soldier who swam back from the other side was being questioned by Li Dingguo: "How did General Ai lose?"
"I don't know." The defeated soldier replied.
"Don't know?" Li Dingguo didn't understand.
The defeated soldier explained: "At that time, I could see clearly that the enemy army was divided into three parts, and only the fire gun soldiers were left at the front. General Ai asked us to charge and kill, so I rushed forward. I didn't know what was going on, so I rushed forward.
Let's fire blunderbuss at the opposite side, and then those in front will be defeated. The enemy's cavalry can also fire blunderbuss. If they pass very close, they will fire blunderbuss for a while, and we will all be defeated."
Li Dingguo knew how elite his soldiers were, and it was impossible for them to collapse after receiving a volley of fire. He thought carefully and asked: "How close is the opposite side to fire the musket? Is it thirty steps?"
The last time Sun Kewang suffered a loss, the Datong army fired at thirty steps.
The defeated soldier shook his head and said, "It's definitely not as far as thirty steps. I'm afraid it's only twenty steps."
"Twenty steps..." Li Dingguo couldn't believe it.
The last time the two sides clashed, the Datong army fired shots at thirty steps, which already made it difficult for Sun Kewang to resist.
In just one year, the Datong Army has evolved again. Can they get closer than 20 steps before firing?
Li Dingguo couldn't understand this. His soldiers were already among the best in the world. If these soldiers could hold fire blunderbuss and fire them at a distance of twenty steps without the protection of close combat soldiers, the enemy would be afraid to rush within thirty steps.
The fire gun soldiers were all frightened and fled.
Forty steps, thirty steps, and twenty steps are nothing more than the difference between 60 meters, 45 meters, and 30 meters.
It seems that the difference is not big, but Li Dingguo knows very well how high the hit rate of the fire gun is after shortening the distance.
After this battle, Li Dingguo still had more than 60,000 infantry, thousands of cavalry, and thousands of cavalry crossing the river. The rest were all civilians.
Moreover, deputy general Ai Nengqi was captured, and the morale of the entire army plummeted.
how to spell?
Continue the confrontation, continue filling in the river, and continue building floating bridges.
During the confrontation between the two sides, many small boats suddenly arrived from the other side of the river.
On each boat, there were captured surrendered soldiers, holding iron trumpets and shouting: "Brothers, surrender quickly, we have surrendered. The Datong army did not kill the prisoners, but treated them very well. They could eat three meals a day."
Yes, you can see meat once every two days. Stop fighting for Zhang Xianzhong. If you vote for His Highness the King of Wu, everyone will be able to share the fields. The King of Wu will also give you seeds and cattle. If you vote for the King of Wu, your mother-in-law will be hot on the bed every day!"
The continuous voices urging surrender made the people who were filling the river and building the bridge stop their movements and look around, showing longing for the content of the shouting.
The soldiers who were closer to the river were also quite moved, but they suspected that this was a lie.
"Fire gun soldiers, shoot at the people on the boat!" Li Dingguo was afraid of shaking the morale of the army, so he quickly mobilized the remaining fire gun soldiers.
The Datong Army sentries on the shore could see clearly through telescopes and quickly blew their trumpets to ask the capitulators to return by boat.
Anyway, in the next few days, as soon as he saw an opening, Fei Ruhe sent someone to row a boat to persuade him to surrender.
It was a pity that Li Dingguo's Ma Siriang successfully crossed the river with thousands of cavalry and had been running behind the Datong Army. These guys had no food and had to go to the countryside to plunder, causing great harm to the farmers in Huoqiu County.
Lu Xiangguan, Chen Tangong and his dragon cavalry have been struggling with the enemy cavalry, but they can't catch them at all.
As time went by, the river channel was filled to only about ten meters, making it difficult to continue the earthworks.
The artillery was set up and blasted fiercely. After smashing the shield vehicle, the artillery soldiers fired a volley.
Even before the cannon soldiers could fire a volley, the civilians were routed by the artillery.
Li Dingguo also had artillery and fired at them every day.
The Datong Army has three regular divisions and 75 artillery pieces, while Li Dingguo only has 30 artillery pieces. The quality is also different. The Datong Army's artillery fires farther and is more accurate.
After several days of firing, Li Dingguo's artillery was destroyed by six. He was so frightened that he quickly removed the artillery, and immediately changed the artillery position after one round of firing.
"Great victory, great victory for our army!"
The messenger came galloping on horseback: "The King of Wu personally led the army to annihilate Zhang Xianzhong's infantry, and Zhang Xianzhong led the remaining soldiers to escape into the mountains!"
"Wow!"
"Long live King Wu!"
"Long live Mr. Zhao!"
"we won!"
The Datong Army began to shout excitedly, more and more people got the news, and tens of thousands of civilians jumped for joy.
The unusual movements on the other side quickly attracted Li Dingguo's attention. He was about to send someone to inquire about the situation, but Fei Ruhe had already sent an envoy to persuade him to surrender.
The missionary officer Yang Jizong went over by boat, and Li Dingguo told the soldiers not to attack.
After Yang Jizong came ashore, he was immediately tied up, taken to Li Dingguo and forced to kneel down.
Yang Jizong refused to kneel down and said sternly: "General Li, I am the envoy. If you want to be insulted like this, just kill me!"
Li Dingguo waved his guard to retreat and asked, "What do you have to say?"
Yang Jizong smiled and said: "Zhang Xianzhong's infantry has been destroyed, and he only led a few thousand cavalry to escape into the mountains, and the mountain pass was blocked and unable to come out. Do you still want to continue to resist?"
Li Dingguo's expression changed drastically: "To disrupt the morale of our army, kill this man!"
"The two armies were fighting, but they killed the envoy? General Li's capabilities are so narrow." Yang Jizong sneered.
Li Dingguo frowned and changed his words: "Let him go back and stop his mouth!"
After Yang Jizong returned to the other side, Fei Ruhe sent out soldiers to surrender again and continued to shout for surrender by boat. However, this time the content of the surrender included the news of Zhang Xianzhong's defeat, which made Li Dingguo's soldiers shocked and confused.
…
Xixian.
Bai Wenxuan is still excited at this moment.
Ten days ago, he was attacked from both sides at Pingjing Pass and surrendered with tens of thousands of soldiers.
Bai Wenxuan just wanted to survive at that time, but he didn't expect that Huang Yao asked him to select five thousand elites to come out together and continue to lead the army in the war.
Moreover, Huang Yao only led 5,000 men, which was as many as Bai Wenxuan's soldiers.
This is trust in yourself!
King Zhao Tian... should be called King Wu now. King Wu will definitely win the world. He is about to lead his troops to deceive the city and completely block Li Dingguo's retreat. What a great achievement it is. Maybe he can become the founding earl of the country.
Bai Wenxuan led 5,000 men, and Huang Yao led 5,000 men in disguise to follow.
The two jumped out of the Dabie Mountains from Pingjingguan, crossed the Huaihe River, and headed for Zhaocheng in Xixian County from the rear.
The cautious Li Zheng would never be able to do this kind of exciting game, so Huang Yao dared to risk his life and go crazy. If Bai Wenxuan suddenly turned against him, the entire army would probably be wiped out when he tried to cheat the city.
The greater the risk, the greater the reward.
If it succeeds, Li Dingguo will not be able to go back. Not only will it block Li Dingguo's retreat channel, but it will also complete the siege in advance and put Li Dingguo's army to death!
"Hurry up and open the city!"
Li Dingguo stood under the city and shouted.
The guard general of Xi County is called Jin Tongwu, and he is the number one general under Li Dingguo. He stays here specifically to guard the key city where Li Dingguo withdraws his troops. If Li Dingguo is short of food and grass, Jin Tongwu will also be responsible for arranging the transportation of food and grass.
Jin Tongwu stood on the tower and asked with confusion: "Why is General Bai here?"
Bai Wenxuan spoke half truthfully and half falsely: "Pingjingguan cannot be conquered, Wenxiu and Liu Wenxiu stay there, I will bring troops to reinforce the Dingguo brothers. Hurry up and open the city, I haven't had a hot meal all the way."
Jin Tongwu remained vigilant: "Why did General Bai come without food and grass?"
Bai Wenxuan said angrily: "If I march with food and grass, I'm afraid the battle will be over by the time I get here."
Mr. Jin Tongwu felt something was wrong because Bai Wenxuan came too strangely.
But Bai Wenxuan was Zhang Xianzhong's favorite general, his status was second only to the Si Yizi, and his military rank and prestige were higher than that of Jin Tongwu.
After thinking about it, Jin Tongwu said: "General Bai, please camp outside the city, and we will arrange for food and grass to be provided in the future."
"Damn it, you've come all the way here, and you won't be allowed to enter the city. I don't want to serve you anymore, so I'll go back and sleep with my mother-in-law!" Bai Wenxuan cursed and turned to leave.
Jin Tongwu really didn't dare to offend him to death, so he hurriedly shouted: "General Bai, stay here. General Bai can lead twenty soldiers into the city."
Bai Wenxuan was afraid that Huang Yao would be angry and that Huang Yao would suspect that he was going to betray him, so he subconsciously turned to look at Huang Yao.
Huang Yao whispered: "Don't look at me, promise him!"
Bai Wenxuan was also good at acting, so directly agreeing was not in line with his character. He pointed at Jin Tongwu and said: "Damn you, you said twenty is twenty? I have to bring a hundred people into the city!"
Jin Tongwu agreed: "Okay, General Bai will bring a hundred soldiers into the city. If I offend you today, please forgive me General Bai."
Bai Wenxuan sneered: "You may sound nice, but in your heart you must be calling me a cripple!"
"Don't dare."
Jin Tongwu watched the ten thousand soldiers retreat outside the moat, and finally ordered the city gate to be opened.
Huang Yao followed Bai Wenxuan, pretending to be his personal bodyguard, and came all the way with a dusty journey. His face was dirty and difficult to recognize.
Bai Wenxuan was walking in the city gate and shouted: "Hurry up and get some hot water, I want to take a bath!"
The more arrogant Bai Wenxuan became, the more Jin Tongwu let down his guard.
Jin Tongwu personally went down to the tower to greet him, smiled and said, "General Bai..."
"Do it!"
Huang Yao pounced forward, knocked down the unsuspecting Jin Tongwu, and drew a knife on the opponent's throat.
Bai Wenxuan led his troops to cut down Jin Tongwu's personal entourage, and shouted loudly: "Zhang Xianzhong is dead, please follow me and surrender to the King of Wu!"
…
From behind Li Dingguo, soldiers came quickly on boats.
"What's going on?" Li Dingguo asked.
The soldiers were horrified: "General Bai... Bai Wenxuan has surrendered to the enemy and led his troops to falsely leave Zhenyang County. Our army's retreat has been blocked!"
Li Dingguo stood stunned on the spot.
After a long time, Li Dingguo came back to his senses and his brain began to work rapidly.
Bai Wenxuan surrendered to Zhao Han, indicating that Huangzhou Prefecture and De'an Prefecture had been defeated by the Datong Army.
Bai Wenxuan's troops left the Dabie Mountains from Pingjingguan, crossed the Huaihe River and headed straight for Zhenyang County. Based on the estimated time of the journey, Bai Wenxuan had surrendered at least seven or eight days ago.
Based on the time of reporting victory on the other side of the river, it shows that it only took about half a month for the Datong Army to penetrate Huangzhou Prefecture and De'an Prefecture.
Zhang Xianzhong was indeed defeated. Otherwise, how could the Datong Army attack the city so smoothly along the way?
At this moment, the peasants and soldiers defending the city from Xinyang, Luoshan, Guangshan and other places have probably gathered to surround them. Li Dingguo's retreat was blocked by Bai Wenxuan, and the next step was an encirclement and annihilation battle!
We can no longer fight, we must find a way to break out.
But his cousin Ma Siliang is still on the other side with thousands of cavalry, and he needs to get the cavalry back first.
Li Dingguo sent someone to sneak across the river to convey the order. As soon as he sent the people out, another boat came over from the other side.
This time it was Ainengqi who came with only one arm.
"Why is your left arm missing?" Li Dingguo asked with concern.
Ai Nengqi's face turned pale, and he smiled bitterly and said: "It was hit by a fire, so it can only be sawed off. The medical officers of the Datong Army are very good at their skills."
Li Dingguo asked again: "Are you also here to persuade me to surrender?"
Ai Nengqi sighed: "I am a useless person. It doesn't matter whether I surrender or not. There is no need to persuade you to surrender. However, Zhao Han has sent an order. If you lead the troops to surrender, you can save the life of my father Zhang Xianzhong from now on."
"How dare he spare his father's life?" Li Dingguo sneered.
Ai Nengqi explained: "Zhao Han's intention is to exile his father to Taiwan in Dongbo to fight against the barbarians on the island and help the Han people in Dongbo to open up land."
Li Dingguo didn't even know the existence of Taiwan Island, so he asked: "Where is Dongbo?"
Ai Nengqi shook his head: "I don't know either. I heard it's similar to Qiongzhou."
"That means being exiled to guard the border." Li Dingguo sighed with emotion.
Ai Nengqi had a serious expression on his face and said sternly: "It is not easy to save a life. Zhao Han's soldiers are simply invincible. I saw with my own eyes that day that two to three thousand gunmen without friendly reinforcements were killed by tens of thousands.
The man rushed twenty steps before firing the gun. Brother, can you imagine that scene? Three rows of gunfire rang out, and my soldiers were shot through in person. Only a thousand people were left standing in the area where the shots were fired, and the rest were all
Fall to the ground!"
Li Dingguo said: "Their cavalry is useless."
Ai Nengqi said: "Zhao Han occupies several provinces, how can he always be without cavalry? Zhao Han is not an official of the Ming Dynasty. My father only has a few thousand horses left to ride into the mountains. Even if he can come out of the mountains again, where can he go? Surrender and save your life.
That’s fine.”
Li Dingguo was silent for a long time, and finally spoke: "The retreat has been cut off, and we will be surrounded from all sides. Forget it, it doesn't matter if I die, I don't want to take tens of thousands of soldiers to die with me. Surrender!"