Bright Spring

Some of the troops of the supply battalion were at the forefront of the army, together with the vanguard.Because before this, the Ming army had not encountered resistance, and it had only marched for three consecutive days; the supply battalion was arranged in front, and camps for the troops and horses could be built in advance for the battalions of the army.The supply battalion still carried some artillery, but at the moment everyone followed the military order and did not deploy artillery arrays.

"Let's go!" A general shouted from a group of infantry in the distance.Those were the men and horses of the Beijing camp, because only the old troops of the King of Han's army used this password, and the guards everywhere hadn't learned it yet.

In front of a forest, two hundreds of households lined up in a horizontal line, slowly moving forward.

Not long after, the fire flickered in the woods, and the sound of "boom boom boom" was heard.It was the firearm of the Annan people, and the sound was probably something similar to a muzzle gun.The Annan people learned to use firearms very early on. Some of the firecrackers of the Ming army in Yonglechu were the "magic guns" invented by the Annan people.

Ordinary casting cannons are fired from a long distance by hitting stones or solid iron bullets, which can only be thrown; the shells fall from the air and hit a small hole.The cannon rang, and the Ming army in front of them screamed from time to time, and the soldiers injured by the stone bullets fell to the ground.But the Ming army showed no sign of retreating.

The two hundred households of the Ming army continued to advance slowly, and the artillery of the rebels also stopped.Those casting cannons are very troublesome to load and cannot be fired continuously.

When there were seventy or eighty steps between the two sides, the bows and arrows in the woods "swish" and flew into the sky.

The soldiers of the Ming army completely ignored the arrows. Occasionally, some people were injured by arrows, but most of them braved the arrows to level the firecrackers and aimed them in the direction of the army camp.The military commander pointed at the direction of the launch with his waist knife | "Let it go!"

"Bang bang bang bang..." A row of firecrackers sounded densely, and amidst the dazzling flashes, a string of white gunpowder smoke rose from the ground.

After a while, the sergeants in the front row turned and retreated, and the second row quickly stepped forward to prepare, and fired another volley.

After several volleys of firecrackers|fired, the heavy infantry behind shouted and shouted, and the people dispersed in a sparse formation and rushed into the woods.Because as long as it is artillery, it can be loaded with shotguns by means of wooden horses, but the range and lethality are different.The Ming army was wary of shotguns, so the formation of the charge was very loose.

"Kill! Kill! Kill..." People shouted one after another, and the shouts seemed to echo in the mountains and forests to the west.

But the vanguard general was obviously thinking too much; before the heavy infantry of the Ming army rushed to the place, they saw the rebels fleeing in the distance. Many people ran out from the edge of the forest in the south and were running.The enemy army ran too fast, and there was no sound of artillery in the village.

Liu Sheng led a troop of cavalry, and followed the vanguard soldiers and horses to continue southward.After a while, someone reported the discovery of the third military stronghold; further on, there was the Songlai River, and there was an arch bridge connecting the two sides of the road.

The vanguard marched one mile away from the enemy's stronghold, Liu Sheng slapped his horse forward and directly took over the military power of the vanguard general.He ordered the infantry of the Ming army to detour from the main road to the south of the enemy's stronghold, form a siege around the enemy's army, and wipe out these rebels in one fell swoop!

A group of men and horses were ordered to attack, and quickly detoured to the rebels in a column.

As expected, the Ming army hadn't started to attack yet; the rebels who gathered three army camps immediately gave up resistance and fled in an instant.They must be afraid that after the back road is cut off, the whole army will be wiped out.

Looking at the dust in the south, Liu Sheng could completely imagine the chaotic scene when the army fled.If you use elite cavalry to pursue and kill such a broken army at this time, it will be like chopping melons and vegetables!

He turned his head and glanced at the guard cavalry in bright armor. Everyone was standing on the ground, leading their horses. No one spoke.Liu Sheng turned his head and reached out to touch the handle of the waist knife at his waist.

The new knife that Liu Sheng bought after his expedition still smells like butter, and he has never had the chance to use it.Today the knife is finally going to be stained with blood.

Chapter 749 Nghe An

"Da da da..." There was a sound of horseshoes coming from the north, and a rider followed Liu Sheng's handsome flag and ran over, shouting: "Report!"

Liu Sheng over there turned his head, and before the knight approached, his eyes immediately turned to a woman behind him.

The woman following on horseback was none other than Ruan Shi, and there were two Ming army knights behind her.Ruan had already taken off the bamboo hat on her head, and she said in Chinese with a substandard tone: "General Liu knows me, so I didn't lie to you."

The knight who went to report the letter had arrived beside Liu Sheng, and was talking there while turning around and pointing at Ruan.Liu Sheng's eyes had already turned to Ruan Shi, but he didn't look at the sergeant in front of him.

Ruan didn't say much anymore, since Liu Sheng saw her, he must be able to meet her.

But at this moment, Ruan Shi became even more nervous. She felt her heart was twitching, and her mind instantly became a mess.Originally, she had made up her mind, but when things came to an end, Ruan was still full of fear.

After all, she betrayed Annan's rebel army and her husband. After today, she has no way out, and I'm afraid she will be cast aside by many Annan people.What will happen to her, I don't know yet, but my heart is full of unknown fear.

Even so, Ruan still couldn't stop.What is tempting her, and what is persecuting her.Perhaps she has no way out, and instead of choosing the known "self-determination" or facing insults from various people, it is better to choose the unknown.

Many sporadic and chaotic thoughts flashed through her entangled mind.Occasionally, she comforted herself again: Liu Sheng knows how to feel guilty, so he is probably a person who values ​​kindness and righteousness, right?

Liu Sheng's voice asked: "Didn't you leave Qinghua, why is Madam here?"

Ruan woke up like a dream, and replied: "It's a long story."

Liu Sheng nodded calmly and said: "You wait in the army, we will talk about it after this battle."

Ruan hurriedly said: "General Liu, be careful. I heard King Pingding, Lili, discussing with others. They want to lure the enemy to go deep, burn a bridge on the Songlai River, and design an ambush to kill General Liu..."

Liu Sheng was taken aback, and stared at Ruan Shi.

Ruan also wanted to say that she heard that Liu Sheng was in danger, felt sorry for him, and couldn't sleep because of it; but there are other people around now, so she couldn't say such nasty words for a while.

The river next to it is the Song Lai River, but Nguyen has not seen the bridge that Le Loi mentioned.She came around from the east, lost her way for a while, and was finally caught by Ming army scouts.

Liu Sheng looked at Ruan Shi in silence for a moment, then turned his head to watch the dust rising in the distance.He finally said to the people around him: "Send someone to pass an order that the forward troops should pursue the rebels and not cross the river."

"Decree!" A well-armored man clasped his fists in response, and left with a pat on the horse.

Liu Sheng ordered again to ask the two Ming army sergeants beside Ruan to look after her.Then he pulled out his saber with a "swish" and shouted, "Kill!"

Ruan Shi and others hurried to the side of the road, and the sound of horseshoes sounded on the road, and a large group of cavalry rushed south.Ruan Shi still looked at Liu Sheng who was riding a tall horse in front of him, his figure was very majestic, the cloak on his back fluttered with the wind when the horse ran, and his posture was very vigorous.

She waited and watched for a while, then kicked her horse and followed the large group of cavalry forward.The two knights next to her did not make things difficult for her, although one of the men tried to persuade her, but he spoke very politely.In the conversation between Ruan Shi and Liu Sheng just now, the two sergeants should also understand that she has something to do with Liu Sheng.

Several people chased the Ming army infantry in front from a distance, and saw many Annan corpses along the way.There was a man who was still alive. He curled up by the side of the road, stretched out his bloody hand, and asked for help in Annan's dialect.The sergeant of the Ming army didn't understand and ignored it at all.

Ruan kept looking back, she seemed to be confirming that Annan Bing's eyes did not recognize that she was also Annan!An inexplicable sense of guilt suddenly enveloped Ruan's heart.

Everyone was not far from the Songlai River, and soon Ruan saw the surface of the river and an arched bridge over the river.The Ming army's infantry had reached the north bank, but they all stopped by the river.

Ruan rushed to the river bank, found Liu Sheng's flag from the crowd, and saw Liu Sheng's figure again.She looked at the bridge, and saw two Ming army infantry holding shields, walking up the arch bridge carefully. They leaned on the railing and looked down.

At this moment, several people appeared from the grass on the other side, and they lit the tarpaulins on their bows and arrows one after another.After a while, several rockets flew into the air, and following the trail of several black smoke, the rockets were accurately nailed to the side of the arch bridge, and the fire immediately began to spread; the place seemed to be doused with kerosene.

The fire burned for a while, and suddenly there were several loud bangs, and the fire burst into the sky in the middle of the bridge. The oil tank hidden inside exploded suddenly, and the arch bridge was immediately engulfed in fire.The two Ming soldiers turned around and ran back.

The soldiers of the Ming army on the river bank were in an uproar, and there were noisy voices everywhere, all watching the fire on the bridge.

Liu Sheng in the crowd turned around and found Ruan Shi.Liu Sheng looked at Ruan Shi with strange eyes for a while, then turned his head and stared at the bridge that was gradually collapsing for a long time.

There was a lot of noise on the shore, but the fighting seemed to have come to an abrupt end.The soldiers of the Ming army who had just rushed to the river did not seem to have prepared the pontoon bridge. Now that the bridge was destroyed, countless troops were blocked by the river on the north bank.

That night Li Li not only planned this strategy, but also seemed to think that the Ming army would be fooled and that Liu Sheng would cross the river himself, which was well-founded.But Ruan still can't decide whether things are so miraculous, Li Li can really predict things like a god?

Would Liu Sheng lead his army across the river hastily if Ruan had not informed him?Nguyen was unpredictable.Perhaps, only Liu Sheng, who was still looking at the fire for a long time at this time, knew the judgment in his heart.

...Liu Shengjun chose a place to camp by the Songlai River, waiting for the forward to transfer ships to build a pontoon bridge.In this campaign, the Ming army broke through three enemy strongholds in a row, but failed to take advantage of the situation to pursue them.

After the army crossed the Songlai River, they encountered many times of harassment by small groups of rebels along the way.Liu Sheng became much more cautious. He led his army to march slowly all the way, and sent many small teams to search the nearby forests along the way to ensure that there were no traps or ambushes.

Originally, there was only one day's journey left, but the army arrived at Yanzhou City after walking for several days.Liu Sheng's decision to "take Nghe An within half a month" agreed upon in Thanh Hoa City has gone with the wind so far.

Yanzhou City has long been turned into an empty city. There is no enemy defense, and there are not many things left. The treasury and granary have long been destroyed.The Ming army directly entered the city.

Li Li's small groups of enemy soldiers seem to have retreated westward.There are many mountains and dense forests there, Liu Sheng decided to ignore it for the time being, and still targeted Chen Jikuo, the leader of the puppet emperor and thief.

Now that the rebel army seemed unwilling to fight the Ming army, Liu Sheng decisively abandoned his original deployment in Yanzhou, and no longer focused on advancing troops quickly.

On the one hand, he sent people to inform Chen Xuan's navy, entered the Chajiang River by sea, and blocked the middle and lower reaches of the Tea River;Both land and water routes encircled and encircled Nghe An City.