I

Xixian, Luoshan, Xinyang, Guangzhou, Guangshan, Gushi, and Shangcheng, there are six counties in one prefecture.The seven cities were left to Li Dingguo to slowly attack the city, and there was no one to see in the wild, and there was no way to grab a grain of food.

If the city can't hold so many people, there are more than a dozen checkpoints and camps at the entrances of the Dabie Mountains, and the people just move to guard the checkpoints.

Liu Wenxiu and Bai Wenxuan of the Central Route Army are crazy. There are more and more enemy troops guarding the pass. They try to attack other checkpoints, and they also find more and more enemies.Therefore, the South Road was finished, and they were still tackling key problems, and in the end they surrendered and fled.

Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi on the North Road are similar, the seven cities are hardened and cleared, which is more ruthless than that of Guangji.

If they ignored these seven cities and went directly to Lu'an, which had no strong walls and clear fields, then they would have to cross five big rivers in a row.

As for the regular army of Huang Shun and Fei Yinggong, they have already moved to Huoqiu along the Huaihe River.

Huoqiu is a place full of water, and there are many farmlands. The cavalry can't run at all, and it is very difficult for the army to transport food.

Huo Qiu must guard!

The drought here is not serious, and the irrigation water source is sufficient. This year is expected to have a bumper harvest.

In order to keep food, Huo Qiu assembled three regular divisions, and Zhao Han only had six regular divisions in total.

Li Dingguo and Ainengqi didn't want to attack a city with strong walls and clear fields, nor did they want to attack Lu'an, which had to cross five rivers. They could only choose to attack Huoqiu along the Huai River.

One side must attack, the other side must save, and a big battle is destined.

Fei Ruhe led troops to garrison at the junction of the Huai River and the Shi River, Zhang Tieniu was stationed at the junction of the Huai River and the Pi River, and Huang Shun was stationed at Huoqiu County between the two.

This blocked the passage to the south. At most, Li Dingguo sent a small force to make a surprise attack to the south. The large army had to fight head-on in Huoqiu.

If you dare to go south or east without fighting, then wait for the grain road to be cut off!

In desperation, Li Dingguo and Ainengqi had no choice but to camp across the river from Fei Ruhe.

When the former was unloading grain and grass from the ship, Zhang Tieniu and Huang Shun immediately led troops to join them.

The two sides were separated by a river of history, and they got up all day long staring blankly, neither of them dared to take the initiative to cross the river to attack.And eighty miles upstream of the Shihe River, there is Gushi County with solid walls and clear fields.

This confrontation lasted for more than half a month.

"We can only cross the river in Linshui Town," Li Dingguo sighed. "We have been here several times before, and the guards have repeatedly inquired. The only place to cross the river is there."

Ai Nengqi said: "We know it, and the enemy army knows it too. I'm afraid it won't be easy to fight."

The place where Li Dingguo can cross the river is only ten miles away.

If you go further south, the Shihe River will fork into several branches, and after crossing one branch, another branch will follow, which can make people crazy.

The attacking side is such a headache, they have to think about how to cross the river, while the Datong army only needs to think about how to prevent the enemy from crossing the river.

"Build a floating bridge." Li Dingguo made up his mind.

They spent another few days making many bamboo and wooden rafts.

The river in Linshui Town is only 40 meters wide, and because of the drought, the water level has dropped, and the river with water is only 30 meters wide.

Bamboo rafts and rafts were tied up and carried into the river to build pontoon bridges.

Huang Shun's troops were further downstream, Fei Ruhe was in charge of defending this place, and Zhang Tieniu was in the middle to support the two friendly troops.

"Boom boom boom!"

The artillery, which had already tried the ammunition drop point, was fired accurately and landed in the middle of the river.

After a round of salvo, two pontoon bridges were destroyed.

"Build a pontoon bridge, and everyone will be rewarded with twelve taels!" Li Dingguo shouted the order.

Those in charge of building the pontoon bridge were all death squads. Although many bamboo rafts and wooden rafts were damaged, few of these death squads really died.

It went on like this for several days, constantly shelling and building bridges.

Once the bridge is built to the center of the river, the firecrackers will shoot salvo at the enemy, and when the pontoon bridge is built, the Year of the Monkey will be gone.

On the eighth day after the bridge was built, a sentry cavalry from the south suddenly came back and reported: "Captain, the enemy cavalry wants to cross the river in the south!"

It was Li Dingguo who sent cavalry to go around for sixty miles, trying to swim quietly at night.

It's a pity that there were many landlubbers in the cavalry, and they didn't dare to swim directly. They had to make bamboo rafts first, and they were discovered by sentry cavalry of the Datong Army.

When the cavalry smuggling was discovered, Li Dingguo finally became ruthless: "The peasants carry the soil and fill up the river!"

Of course, it is impossible to fill up the river of history, just fill in this section.

Due to the dry weather, the 40-meter-wide river channel is not only only 30 meters wide, but also the water flow is extremely slow. It is relatively easy to fill in a road.

Just a little time consuming.

Chapter 378 [Halfway and Strike]

The narrowest section of the river, about two miles long, naturally became the core of the struggle between the two sides.

A large number of peasants carried mud and stones on their backs, hid behind small shield vehicles, dumped the soil and rocks into the river, and pushed forward bit by bit.

The firecrackers cannot penetrate the shield chariots covered with cotton armor, leather, and iron sheets, so they can only choose to bombard them with artillery.After the shield chariot is smashed, and then a volley of firecrackers is fired, the peasants can be defeated across the river.

"Up again!"

Li Dingguo ordered a replacement of civilian husbands to step forward, and the fleeing civilian husbands were temporarily pulled back to rest.

Constant bombardment, constant salvo, constant rout, and constant advancement.

Fill the river with soil bit by bit!

In other sections of the river, we are still trying to build pontoon bridges, but it is almost impossible to complete the task.On the other side of each bridge point, only a small number of soldiers are stationed, and the pontoon bridge can be destroyed at a critical moment.

Especially the enemy of ten thousand people, the grenadiers are not enough, and the pikemen also come to guest.

Anyway, the ammunition stockpile is sufficient, and when the enemy pontoon bridge reaches the shore, immediately throw tens of thousands of enemies on the pontoon bridge.After a while of bombing, let the civilian husband go down the river to demolish the pontoon bridge, and our firecrackers provide fire cover.

In the end, all the nearby bamboo forests were cut down.

The people of Huoqiu County were recruited 3 people to be husbands.Not only helped demolish the pontoon bridge, but also built earthen walls along the river bank in the area where Li Dingguo filled the river.

The earth walls on the banks were similar to embankments. Even if Li Dingguo filled the river and led the army to rush over, the soldiers of Datong could still stand on the earth walls and attack the enemies killed on the other side.

If you keep it for a long time, you will lose it, and it is impossible to guard against it.

Another seven days later, Li Dingguo's cousin Ma Siliang led [-] cavalry and successfully crossed the river [-] miles away from the battle between the two sides.The terrain there is extremely complicated, and the Shi River divides into three tributaries, each of which is relatively narrow.

Due to the drought and low water, the shallowest tributary can only submerge the horse's back.

Ma Silian's [-] cavalry quietly crossed the main river overnight, and then crossed three tributaries.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The Datong army stationed in that area quickly came to form a formation to shoot, Ma Siliang ignored it, lost more than 200 cavalry and horses, and fled away with the rest of the cavalry.

Nearly [-] enemy cavalry came to the rear villages and towns of the Datong Army, waiting for an opportunity to cooperate with the main battlefield to fight.

But this river network is too complicated. If they want to get close to the main battlefield, they have to cross a river again... It is an artificial canal built by the Ming gentry. It is not very wide, but it is about ten meters long.Moreover, there are a large number of wheat fields and some rice fields on both sides of the canal, which are not very conducive to the march of cavalry.

Under the command of Lu Xiangguan and Chen Tangong, there were only a thousand dragoons left, and they were sent to entangle Ma Silang's six thousand cavalry.

A large amount of wheat that was earing was trampled by the cavalry on both sides.Huoqiu County, which was supposed to have a good harvest, is destined to reduce its production this year, not only because of the stampede, but also because farmers cannot take good care of their crops after the outbreak of war.

The cavalry of both sides circled around there, and neither could eat the other.

Although Lu Xiangguan and Chen Tangong had few cavalry, they retreated in case of danger, and could call their own infantry for support at any time.

At this moment, Li Dingguo divided his troops across the river.

Ainengqi led [-] infantry and a large number of civilians, moved [-] miles upstream, and tried to cross the river under the cover of the cavalry who had crossed the river.

Zhang Tieniu rushed to intercept him, but if he wanted to occupy the riverside position, he had to drive away the opponent's cavalry first.

6500 regular soldiers and 1200 dragoons confronted 6000 enemy cavalry by the river.

The main battlefield is still filling the river, and the pontoon bridge is still being built further downstream.But in fact, Li Dingguo had already secretly led [-] elites to go around the upper reaches and break through with all his strength, leaving an empty camp on the other side of the river in the main battlefield.

A few days ago, when the cavalry did not succeed in smuggling, they mobilized too many troops of the Datong Army through repeated trials and wanderings.Several river courses for filling the river and building pontoon bridges are also restraining and mobilizing the troops of the Datong Army, and now they have finally deceived the main force of the Datong Army.

On the other side of the river, the sentry cavalry of the Datong Army sent from Gushi County were suddenly driven away by a large number of Li Dingguo's cavalry.

Although the sentry cavalry of the Datong Army didn't know what the situation was, they already realized that something was wrong. They fled several miles upstream, and quickly crossed the river in a small boat to light the beacon fire to report.

When Fei Ruhe saw the beacon fire, he immediately led his troops to support, and handed over the originally planned main battlefield to Huang Shun for defense.

……

Lu Xiangguan and Chen Tangong each led [-] dragoons, firing guns at Ma Silang's cavalry on the periphery.

One after another, more than 200 cavalrymen of Ma Siliang were shot down.But Ma Siliang did not dare to retreat, and had to cover the troops crossing the river, repeatedly harassing and delaying Zhang Tieniu.

Under such circumstances, Zhang Tieniu could only keep marching forward.When he rushed to the upstream crossing point, the enemy had quickly built a pontoon bridge, and even tens of thousands of people successfully crossed the river.

Ainengqi first arranged the melee soldiers to protect the pontoon bridge, and the gunfire soldiers also quickly gathered across the river.

A total of eight pontoon bridges, Ainengqi's soldiers rushed to the opposite bank with all their strength.The two sides suddenly changed the main battlefield, and neither their artillery nor the grenadiers of the Datong Army were brought.

Finally, the battle begins.

Head-to-head, there is no tricks to speak of.

On Zhang Tieniu's side, 6500 soldiers lined up, and 1200 dragoons harassed the outside.

On Ainengqi's side, more than 10000 soldiers lined up, more than 5000 cavalry marched on the battlefield, and more troops were still crossing the river quickly.

Li Dingguo and Fei Ruhe rushed over with their reinforcements.

With a small ax stuck in Zhang Tieniu's waist, Zhang Tieniu drew out his waist knife and ordered: "Light the fire rope and speed up the formation!"

The whole army began to trot, ignoring the local cavalry at all.

Ma Siliang took the opportunity to lead the cavalry to charge, with dozens of steps left, the soldiers in the rear of the Datong Army quickly stopped and changed formation.

Two thousand Datong troops lined up in a formation of mandarin ducks, shields, wolves, and spears in full formation.

"Shhhhhh!"

The enemy cavalry began to throw arrows, and hundreds of people from the Datong Army were hit by arrows, but only a few actually fell, and most of the arrows were blocked by shields and cotton armor.

Ma Siliang didn't dare to charge directly, and led the cavalry to sweep past, trying to attack the 4500 Datong troops further ahead.

Another 1500 melee Datong troops lined up to cover the advance of 3000 gunfire soldiers.

Lu Xiangguan and Chen Tangong also came with dragoons, just to scare and harass them, they kept their ammunition and did not shoot.

The troops under Zhang Tieniu's command were thus divided into three sections, and the firecrackers were completely unprotected by melee soldiers.

"kill!"

Ai Nengqi immediately seized the opportunity of the battle, and instead of lining up to protect the friendly troops across the river, he led tens of thousands of soldiers and rushed towards the 3000 Datong firecrackers.

The Datong firecrackers stopped advancing and lined up in three rows, waiting for the enemy to rush over.

Under Ainengqi's command, there were more than 2000 gunfire soldiers, and when they reached forty steps, they immediately lined up to fire the guns.

"Bang bang bang!"

A volley of firecrackers fired, and more than a dozen Datong firecrackers fell down.

The remaining 1 melee infantry rushed over the firecrackers.Because the speed is too fast, they can no longer maintain the formation. Anyway, 3000 people rush to [-] people, and there are still [-] firecrackers. It doesn't matter whether there is a formation or not.

The Datong melee soldiers behind quickly ran to protect the friendly army.

Ma Siliang led the cavalry to distance himself, preparing to attack the formation of the Datong Army again. Lu Xiangguan and Chen Tangong kept harassing Ma Siliang.

Forty steps, thirty steps, twenty steps...

Twenty steps, about 30 meters.

The accuracy rate of the matchlock musket is very low, the misfire rate is close to 30%, and it cannot be fired at a distance.The opponent fired at forty steps, more than 2000 people fired, and with the protection of cotton armor, only a dozen people from the Datong Army fell down.

Now twenty steps, the distance is directly halved, and the hit rate is geometrically increased.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

"Bang bang bang bang!"

"Bang bang bang bang!"

Three-stage shooting, the enemy's troops in front of them were directly penetrated by the muskets.

One trick is fresh, eat all over the sky.

At least Ainengqi didn't encounter this kind of tactics, and he was stunned on the spot. Tens of thousands of soldiers lost half of them in an instant.

"Retract!"