Chapter 69 Blocking the Road

Wang Shaoyu is still quite confident in Zu Kuan about whether Zu Kuan can defeat this thief army. Since Lu Xiangsheng took the suppression of bandits in Henan, Zu Kuan has followed Lu Xiangsheng to fight with all kinds of thieves in Henan. Whether it is Gao Yingxiang or Li Zicheng, or even Zhang Xianzhong and Cao Cao Luo Rucai, in a year or two, these The famous army of thieves almost fell into his hands, and dozens of battles were rarely defeated. Although Xing Tianjun was quite famous in Shanxi, his reputation was still a little worse than that of Gao Yingxiang and others at the beginning. This time, they were forgetful and chose to fight in the field with Zu Kuan's Guanning iron horse. In this way, this is purely an act of looking for death. Zu Kuan With the impact of Guan Ning's iron riders under his command, he felt that the soldiers and horses of Jiannu in the world could defeat them, and the rest of the soldiers and horses were not their opponents.

So this time, the most important thing for him is to rush to Yongning County and recover Yongning County before Zu Kuan kills the main force of the Xingtian Army. At least he will make some credit.

Unfortunately, the soldiers under his command were not strong. After leaving Yiyang, they walked weakly. Along the south bank of the Luo River to Yongning County, a total of only more than 100 miles, but let Wang Shaoyu jump up and down, his soldiers only walked out more than 40 miles in a whole day, and he did not dare to force it. It's too tight. I'm afraid that if I'm not careful, I'll force my men to change, so I can only stare and watch these hands rub forward step by step, but there's nothing I can do. After all, he is really too powerful to strip off soldiers. Soldiers don't hate him. If it weren't for the fact that I can at least let these soldiers eat a mouthful of food now, I guess this gang The soldiers have been mutiny for a long time and have been thieves.

So in desperation, he could only slowly press the team to rush in the direction of Yongning County. Along the way, he had to send troops to collect some ships on the south bank of the Luo River and follow the team against the current. When he arrived, he could not cross the river. He stood on the south bank and stared. In this way, he slowed down the speed of travel. Originally, he could On the way to get there in one day, it will take three days at their feet.

On the afternoon of the third day, Wang Shaoyu's striker barely rushed to the south bank of the Luo River south of Yongning County.

But when they arrived here, they saw that there were already some Xing Tianjun's riders on the other side of the south bank, staring at them from afar with cold eyes. When they saw their flag clearly, those riders immediately had a flying horse in the direction of Yongning County.

When Wang Shaoyu led the brigade to the ferry chosen by the striker, Wang Shaoyu couldn't help cursing in his heart after looking at the riders of the Xingtian army on the other side.

Originally, his plan was to beat Xing Tianjun by surprise. While the rest of the left-behind Xing Tianjun did not know their arrival, he caught them off guard and easily recovered Yongning County, and then he could grab the first merits. However, when he saw these thieves riding on the other side, his clever idea was straightforward. It was shattered, indicating that the other party had learned that he was going to lead the department to come, and he was prepared in advance. This time, he could only take a strong attack.

"What are you waiting for? Break the ice bridge quickly and start to work overnight. Cross the river tomorrow and attack Yongning County!" Wang Shaoyu shouted with a black face.

But his men looked embarrassed and said to him, "My lord, the weather is too cold. The humble job is sending people to recruit nearby people to build a bridge. If they let the soldiers do it, they may have something to do. Anyway, it's over. Let's better wait for the recruitment. Let's talk about it after some Min Zhuang comes!

Wang Shaoyu was so angry that he almost turned his back. Now his soldiers are all lazy and lazy. Although the military order is like a mountain, under his command, sometimes his human rights are regarded as a fart. His left ear listens, and his right ear comes out. He ordered to build a pontoon bridge to cross the river, but his men are unwilling to suffer the cold. I have to wait for some people to come to do this hard work.

But he also knows that this military general is right. Now it's the cold season. His soldiers will not go down to the river with ice to build a bridge. If he is forced to go down to build a pontoon bridge, not to mention that the soldiers will not change, people can run almost in one night.

So although he was so angry to death, he had no choice but to nod and agree, and sent his generals to arrest some civilians within ten miles to help them work.

A team of officers and soldiers set out immediately. This time, they suffered the people on the south bank of the Luo River. Needless to say, these Luoyang soldiers fought. They were all rotten vegetables to the extreme, but they were familiar with this kind of scourge. The arrest of the people like this is a bad thing for them. It sounds good. Some of them are on business trips, but in essence, they are just giving them a chance to rob.

After the hundreds of officers and soldiers spread away, they shouted excitedly one by one, and rushed straight to the surrounding villages with weapons. In addition to some big villages, like some small villages, they forced them to open the door of the village, entered the village in the name of husbands and robbed them, and even harmed women.

For a moment, the village on the south bank of the Luo River immediately fell into chaos. The people's crying and howling resounded through the sky. As long as someone did not obey, these officers and soldiers would cut down without saying a word, kill the unruly Min Zhuang directly, and forced other people to gather towards the bank of the Luo River.

In the night, I don't know how many people broke their armor for this. Some villages even resisted the recruitment of officers and soldiers. As a result, they were forcibly broken by the officers and soldiers and burned them clean.

Liu Yaoben went out of the county with the troops of two companies, braved the cold and went straight to the north bank of the Luo River, stopped on the river bank, and looked at the direction of some fiery villages on the north bank in the night sky on the north bank from afar. His big teeth couldn't help but cluck.

"Really, it's a bunch of bastards! Come on! Search along the river bank to both sides, and strictly prevent the officers and soldiers from looking for another ferry! Since they want to make a bargain, I won't even let them cross the Luo River today!" Liu Yao looked at the other side of the crowded head and gave a sharp order to his generals.

"Yes!" More than 20 scouts immediately responded to the order, turned over and searched along the river bank towards the two wings, and the generals of the two companies who accompanied immediately stationed on the north bank and were ready to fight.

"It's a pity that the general took the artillery to the east this time! If there is only one gunnery left for us, then the bombards can disperse these bastards!" A company commander stood behind Liu Yaoben and looked at the busy officers and soldiers on the other side of the river and said to Liu Yaoben.

Liu Yaoben shook his head and said, "You can't blame the general for this matter. This time, the general has to deal with the Guanning army under the command of Zu Kuan. If there is no cannon, we can't all count on the artillery team to work. We have birds in our hands. Are you afraid of what they will do?"

After dawn, Wang Shaoyu stood on the south bank and saw the soldiers and horses of the sentry Tianjun on the north bank. He was even more upset. He repeatedly scolded and urged his men to take these people who had just been forcibly recruited to go down the river and began to break the ice to build a pontoon bridge. Anyway, the number of thieves on the other side was far lower than his command. As long as the soldiers and horses can break through the Luo River, then there is still hope for this battle.

Moreover, the pontoon bridge was not his generals. As long as they were escorted, they might not be forced to cross the Luo River. What's more, he didn't see the thieves pulling cannons, which made him more reassured him a little. So he ordered to drive the people down the river to build a bridge, while ordering the soldiers to carry a few general guns. It was set up on the south bank and began to be busy loading ammunition to cover the bridge against the other side.

Before long, several general guns were set up on the river embankment. With the busy work of the officers and soldiers, they finally began to rumble towards the north bank.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the officers and soldiers had already been equipped with all kinds of artillery. Although there were not many Hongyi cannons in Henan at present, there were still a lot of old guns such as the general cannons of Franji, cannons, captive cannons, tiger squatting cannons, bowls, and small franc machine guns.

Although the Luo River is not too wide, the surface of the river is also more than ten feet. It can't hit the other side with ordinary birds. It can only be bombarded on the other side with a few medium-caliber Franco cannons brought by the army.

As the shells roared and landed on the north bank, a team of people who were forcibly recruited were beaten by the officers and soldiers and drove them off the river bank. Some civilians were driven to cut wood and transported the wood to the river bank for the people here to build bridges.

Although the people did not want to go down to such a cold river, they had to obey their orders under the intimidation of knives and guns, and there was a sound of bitterness on the whole south bank.

The collected fishing boats were towed to the shore, and then the people broke the ice on the shore, arranged the fishing boats, and slowly extended towards the north shore.

After Liu Yao saw that the other side began to fire, he ordered his soldiers to temporarily retreat to the bottom of the river embankment to hide the cannons, while he stood on the river embankment, regardless of the shells of the officers and soldiers who kept falling near him, staring at the actions of the officers and soldiers on the other side.

"shir! They are really fast. Why don't we start playing? You can't watch them build the pontoon bridge!" A company commander came close to Liu Yaoben, watched the pontoon bridge in the river gradually extend to the north bank, and proposed to Liu Yaoben.

Liu Yaoben shook his head and said, "Wait a minute! There are also poor people in the river. No matter how much we kill, the officers and soldiers will not feel sorry for them. We have limited ammunition and can't all be wasted here! Let them build a bridge! When their officers and soldiers are coming, it's not too late to fire! Damn, these bastards, it's better to let them go and kill them!"

Wang Shaoyu was also watching the actions of the Xingtian army on the other side. When he saw the leaders of the thieves who stopped on the embankment on the other side to observe the situation on his side, he had to admire the courage of these people. The cannons on his side bombarded them repeatedly, hitting the earth and stones on the other side. Flying around, but they didn't seem to see it, and they were still watching there.

"I aimed at this officer and killed those thieves!" He waved his horse whip to the other side and shouted at the generals under his command.

The officers and soldiers who operated the gun quickly adjusted the position of the muzzle, aimed at Liu Yaoben's position, fired several cannons in a row, and the roaring shells fell on the periphery of Liu Yaoben's position, freeing up a mass of sand.

The accuracy of the artillery in this era is really pitiful, especially this kind of Franco machine gun, because the caliber of the cannon is much larger than that of the shell, and the accuracy is much worse. Although several cannons are fired together, they are basically gone. Only one shell landed not too far away from Liu Yaoben, stirring up the sand. His face was full of him, the guards and the officers behind him.