The sky over Yangshe Village was filled with smoke.
The rumbling sound of cannons never stopped from morning to night, but the city walls of Yangshai Village remained standing.
It's not that the army's artillery is ineffective.
But the cannonballs never landed on the city wall.
Liang Yue's deployment was very subtle.
He had people dig five trenches in front of the city wall early.
The trenches are also connected by communication trenches.
The ground in front of the trench array was also heavily damaged, with ditches and bumps everywhere, and iron pears and landmines were buried in them.
In such terrain, the shield chariots and cavalry of the official army did not dare to come up at all.
With no other choice, the officers and soldiers had no choice but to use infantry to attack.
Since the peasant army's formation is in front of the city wall, it makes no sense to bombard the city wall with artillery.
Another one, Liang Yue has deployed his own artillery on the city wall.
The artillery used by both sides were bronze cannons purchased from the Xia Kingdom, and their specifications and range were exactly the same.
With the artillery of the peasant army commanding a high position, the artillery of the official army suffered greatly in terms of range.
Therefore, Hong Chengchou just left the artillery behind and used it to bombard the fortifications in the trench area of the peasant army.
But it is obvious that solid artillery shells are particularly weak against such trenches.
"It would be great if there were explosive shells like Xia Jun's. This group of bandits must have been captured by us."
Hong Chengchou's emotion gave the generals around him a reason.
It's not that they don't fight well, it's that they don't have enough weapons.
Many people even wonder, what should Xia Jun's artillery look like?
Just four days after Li Zicheng left, Hong Chengchou finally caught up with him.
But Liang Yue kept his promise and set up a blocking position in Yangshe Village to prevent Hong Chengchou from crossing the Tao River no matter what.
There were rogue bandits in front of them. Although they were small in number and Li Zicheng was not among them, since they held the only ferry crossing, Hong Chengchou had no other choice but to attack by force.
He fully believed that since he had strong troops and horses, he would be able to defeat the enemy quickly.
Unexpectedly, the rogue general on the opposite side deployed very cleverly and repelled his attacks more than ten times in a row.
Overall, the casualties of the official army were far higher than those of the rogue bandits.
This made Hong Chengchou scratch his head.
"Who knows who the general opposite is? This man is really talented. If he can be put to good use by me, he will definitely be rewarded with generous titles and titles."
Hong Chengchou and the Peasant Army were old rivals.
In his heart, even Li Zicheng and Gao Yingxiang were just mediocre.
They can only fight on the move, and occasionally rely on the strength of their numbers to defeat the army.
Only the general on the opposite side actually blocked his progress due to his disadvantage.
Wouldn't it be nice if we could recruit someone to surrender and add a general to our command?
He Renlong had already found out.
"So that Bing Xian will know that the general opposite is Li Zicheng's former battalion Liang Yue. This man is the most brave and good at fighting, but because he is not from Qin, he has been squeezed out many times. If Bing Xian surrenders, he will definitely succeed immediately."
"Oh, there is such a story?"
After hearing this, Hong Chengchou was greatly moved and immediately stopped the attack.
In the Yangtze stronghold, Liang Yue, Jiang Chaoyun, and Zhao Si were also discussing the situation of the war.
"We have to retreat as soon as possible. If the officers and soldiers are allowed to take a detour and block the other side of the river, we will definitely die."
The person I least want to fight in this battle is Zhao Si.
The soldiers and horses in his hands are the last assets of the White Lotus Sect.
Xu Yaqing once secretly told him to preserve his strength no matter what. If the losses were too heavy, he would have no way to explain to Xu Yaqing.
Liang Yue also felt the pressure.
But he had promised Li Zicheng that he would stick to it for ten days.
It's only half way through now. If we just retreat and let the officers and soldiers catch up with Li Zicheng, wouldn't it be a breach of trust?
"Let me think about it, maybe we can stop the army and preserve our vitality at the same time."
Before he finished speaking, soldiers outside the tent came to report.
"General, the government and the army have sent someone here to say they have something important to discuss."
When they heard that the government and the army had sent people over, the three of them were stunned and immediately understood what was going on.
Liang Yue was even more happy.
"Haha, I'm really dozing off now. Here comes the pillow. I don't know how to deal with the officers and soldiers, so I'll tease them this time."
Jiang Chaoyun and Zhao Si also laughed.
Over the years, the peasant army and the government army have fought and reconciled countless times.
And every time, the officers and soldiers were played badly.
We can just use the opportunity of peace talks to buy time.
Facing the people sent by Hong Chengchou, Liang Yue entertained them enthusiastically and arranged a sumptuous banquet.
Hong Chengchou's envoy walked around the camp of the peasant army and saw the reality here clearly.
There really aren't many troops here.
So under Liang Yue's hospitality, the envoy believed that he could successfully recruit him.
It's just that Liang Yue's asking price was a bit high, and he even asked for the position of commander-in-chief.
And based on his reputation, he seems to be somewhat unqualified.
However, it is common sense to bargain during peace talks. The more Liang Yue did this, the more convinced the envoy was that he really wanted to surrender.
In the following days, envoys from both sides came and went, which was very lively.
Finally on the ninth day, after repeated negotiations, Liang Yue accepted the position of deputy commander-in-chief proposed by Hong Chengchou.
Both parties agreed to hold a surrender ceremony outside Yangshu Village early the next morning.
However, the next morning, the officers and soldiers suddenly found that the position on the opposite side was quiet, with no trace of a ghost.
Only then did Hong Chengchou realize with horror that he had been deceived.
His annoyance can be imagined.
But Liang Yue had already escaped.
There were still more than 1,500 people under his command, so instead of going south to pursue Li Zicheng, he turned around and headed north, running into the vast mountains in southern Ningxia.
Now all the government and army units are in Longnan, encircling and suppressing the main force of the peasant army in the Hanzhong area. As a small force, they hid in the mountains and were not afraid of the government army's encirclement and suppression.
However, the situation is not much better.
A practical problem still faces Liang Yue.
Northern Shaanxi and Ningxia are barren and desolate, making it difficult to supply supplies.
An army of thousands of people was eating horses and chewing horses, which was a huge consumption and could not be sustained at all.
The most serious thing is that the weather is getting colder and colder.
The cold winter is approaching, but many people only have single clothes on them.
If they couldn't find shelter and clothing, they would freeze to death just from the cold.
"Do you want to get through this difficult time?"
Just when he was frowning, Xu Yaqing appeared.
This woman was always elusive and disappeared for a year.
When she appeared in front of Liang Yue, she was still wearing a white dress. In this northwest sky full of yellow sand, she was actually spotless, which was very magical.
"What evil ways do you have?"
Liang Yue was curious and alert at the same time.
Can this White Lotus Saint with great supernatural powers really find a way for everyone to survive?
Xu Yaqing put her slender hands on his shoulders and breathed into his ears.
"Please beg me! As long as you beg me, I will tell you."