What's more, the New Army's death squads threw more than thirty grenades and blew up the Luzhou city gate to the ground.
Wu Dapu and other Luzhou officials and gentry were all bombed to death.
Then the soldiers from the death squads rushed into the city, fought bravely, and firmly occupied the city gate.
Deng Xinghui, who was in the distance, got the signal and immediately led the main force to rush over.
The defenders in the city saw the gates of the city fell and knew that the situation was over. They fled in rout and surrendered.
Luzhou Prefecture, an important town in northern Anhui Province, changed hands in just one hour.
Although King Hun Tian and other leaders of the northwest rebel army retreated, they were still nearby and originally wanted to see what the Shandong New Army wanted to do.
When they saw that the new army actually launched an attack on Luzhou, and that there were only more than a thousand people, King Hun Tian and others had thoughts that they shouldn't have.
They mobilized their troops, and they came running to get a piece of the pie.
Before they even rushed to the foot of Luzhou City, they saw red flags rolling out behind the city and a huge army like a tide.
Immediately afterwards, overwhelming artillery fire fell into the rebel formation, frantically harvesting human lives.
Where have King Hun Tian and others ever seen such a terrifying scene?
No longer caring about Luzhou in front of him, he turned around and ran away.
The 34th and 35th regiments of the Fifth Division crossed Luzhou City and pursued bravely, and did not stop until they reached Lu'an and Shucheng.
Further ahead is the Dabie Mountains with complex terrain, poverty and remoteness.
According to the battle plan of the headquarters, the end point of the New Army's advance this time is here.
The 34th Regiment and the 35th Regiment occupied Lu'an and Shucheng, and established checkpoints on the main roads in and out of the mountains, thus cutting off the possibility of the northwest rebels returning to northern Anhui.
Soon after, the 36th Regiment also arrived and occupied Yeji to the northwest.
At this point, all passages through northern Anhui in the Dabie Mountains have been blocked.
The Northwest Rebel Army came with ferocity and retreated like a tide. After all, they were unable to gain a foothold in the Huaihe River area and gave the Shandong New Army a wasted effort.
Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng suffered heavy losses and retreated westward, re-stationing themselves in Yingzhou.
Seeing that the Shandong New Army did not pursue them, the two began to rest and reorganize.
However, I still have lingering fears about the strength of the Shandong New Army.
Liang Yue had woken up and received great attention from Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng.
"Brother Liang, Zuo Menggeng is so powerful, why didn't he go to the capital and steal the emperor's throne from his old Zhu family?"
Liang Yue shook his head, his eyes full of worry.
"The general will not know. That Zuo Mengeng is cunning and cunning, and his mind is treacherous, and very few people can guess it."
Gao Yingxiang sighed and looked at the military camp filled with mourners, no longer as high-spirited as before.
"I thought that Zuo Menggeng was also rebellious, and at worst he could be of the same mind as us. But I didn't expect that he actually regarded us as our enemies."
Liang Yue thought about it for a while.
"King Chuang, as the saying goes, there is no room for two tigers in one mountain. Although Zuo Menggeng also rebelled against the Ming Dynasty, he was also afraid that we would become his opponents. When Zhu Yuanzhang raised troops to fight against the Yuan Dynasty, didn't he also defeat Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youliang before the Northern Expedition?"
Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng listened carefully and couldn't help but feel depressed.
I'm afraid no one wants to have a strong opponent like the Shandong New Army.
The Northwest Rebel Army suffered heavy losses and had no other choice but to temporarily settle down and recuperate.
The only good thing is that the Shandong New Army did not pursue them, but stopped in Mengcheng. Judging from their posture, they were not ready to move westward.
After sending Gao Yingxiang away, Gu Junen quietly approached Li Zicheng's ear.
"General Chuang, Zuo Mengeng sent someone here."
Li Zicheng's eyes widened for a moment, and he admired Gu Junen's caution.
"Where are the people?"
Gu Junen led Li Zicheng to quietly leave the military camp and come to the dense forest of Dongshan.
Here, a small team of people has been waiting.
Seeing the familiar military uniform of the other party, Li Zicheng couldn't help but grit his teeth.
It was these people who beat his elite cavalry to ashes, and he didn't know how long it would take him to recover.
What made him even more unexpected was that after a battle had already been fought, why did the other party dare to come to meet him?
"I am Zheng Jiada, director of the Lianghuai Division of the Shandong Intelligence Department, on orders from our commander-in-chief, to come and contact General Chuang."
Li Zicheng snorted angrily: "I thought Zuo Menggeng was a member of the Taoist group like me, but for some reason he became a lackey of the imperial court and became our enemy?"
Zheng Jiada laughed and didn't feel dissatisfied.
"The imperial court is unjust, and I, Shandong, are resolute in our rebellion. I just have one sentence, I wonder if General Chuang has heard of it?"
Li Zicheng had a cold face and waited for him to say.
"How can you allow others to sleep soundly beside the bed?"
Li Zicheng understood.
The reason why the Shandong New Army took action so brazenly was that they did not allow the Northwest Rebel Army to invade their territory.
"The land of Lianghuai belongs to the imperial court, what does it have to do with you, Shandong?"
Zheng Jiada shows off his talents.
"Now I belong to Shandong."
After all, Li Zicheng was a hero. He knew that he could not be defeated on the battlefield, so the verbal dispute was meaningless.
The land between the Huaihe River and the Huaihe River has been lost and it is impossible to get it back.
"That being the case, why did Mr. Zheng come here?"
This is the attitude towards negotiation.
Zheng Jiada cupped his hands and said sincerely: "My commander-in-chief has something to say. General Su Wen Chuang is different from other rebel leaders. He commits no crime wherever he goes and loves the people like his own son. His noble ambitions coincide with ours in Shandong. If you want to overthrow the tyranny of the Ming Dynasty,
, only by cooperating with General Chuang can we succeed."
He laid the groundwork and stated Shandong's conditions.
"We, Shandong, hope to enter into an alliance with General Chuang. If the rebel armies will no longer invade the Huaihe River from now on, then we, Shandong, can provide necessary support to General Chuang."
Li Zicheng frowned and thought carefully.
"We can't control other leaders?"
Jiada Cheng did not hesitate.
"This agreement is only between you and me. As for the other leaders who don't want to be friends... then just be enemies."
Shandong just does not want to continue the conflict with the Northwest Rebels, it is not that it is afraid of the Northwest Rebels.
If we really want to fight, all the northwest rebels combined will be no match.
Seeing Zheng Jiada's confident look, Li Zicheng was really envious.
Whether they were attacking the imperial court or themselves, the new Shandong army was invincible and victorious in consecutive battles. Unlike these people, who were constantly being chased and running around like lost dogs.
He suddenly remembered that Zheng Jiada seemed to have said that he would lend a helping hand to him.
"What if we agree?"
Zheng Jiada clapped his hands, and the people below worked together to bring the things up.
Li Zicheng only glanced at one of them, and his eyes immediately became hot.
Zheng Jiada took it in his hand and showed it to Li Zicheng.
"General Chuang, I wonder how this gun works?"
Li Zicheng barely held back and almost started to rob him.
The rebel army fought against the Ming army and the new army, and they were all beaten by firearms. They dreamed of having such weapons.
However, the rebels move around and have no fixed territory, so they cannot produce on their own.
At this time, Li Zicheng couldn't help but feel excited when he saw the muskets brought by Zheng Jiada.