At the end of July of the third year of Jianwen, the King of Yan led more than 200,000 troops to surround the county town of Peixian, and entered the city with arrows, but was rejected. Therefore, more than a thousand artillery pieces of large and small were shocked on all sides, and the entire county town was filled with smoke.

The King of Yan determined that the county town of Pei County could be broken soon, so he took Zhu Gaoxu as his vanguard and led his headquarters to 5,000 infantry and cavalry, and 3,000 vassal cavalry to the south. The front army forced Xuzhou.

Zhu Gaoxu received the order and led his troops to leave Pei County. After walking for a long time, he could vaguely hear the cannon sound coming from the north.

A large number of people were squirming like a black dragon on the road. There were no people on the plains. I guess they had already hidden themselves when they heard the sound of cannons. Zhu Gaoxu looked into the fields and saw a large area of ​​crops around him. There were few wastelands. He felt that there were not many people nearby.

It was the time when the autumn was clear and the weather was refreshing, and the scenery he saw was completely different from his previous life. The sky was blue and the air was moist and transparent. The wheat in the dry land had been harvested, the cabbage and beans were still left in the field. The rice in the paddy fields was beautiful, and it had not been harvested yet and had been bent by the rice ears.

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu thought to himself: The time for going south this time is very appropriate!

The King of Yan fought with the official army in Hebei for half a year, and the army of more than 200,000 suddenly drove south, and the food must be very tight. But once we arrived at the Xuhuai Plain, we didn’t have to worry about food and grass; even if the soldiers were asked to go to the fields to harvest, we could get a lot of food... However, with the momentum of the King of Yan who would shock the cannons and intimidate the fourth field every time he went, Zhu Gaoxu felt that the King of Yan would force local officials to hand over the grain.

The vanguard army marched from the west side of Huishan Lake. The road was flat and there was no obstacle. Three days later, Zhu Gaoxu had arrived south of Huishan Lake, which was only twenty or thirty miles away from Xuzhou City.

Since ancient times, Xuzhou has been a big city. Zhu Gaoxu speculated that it would be fine for the government troops to gather tens of thousands of troops at will, so he did not rush forward and ordered the construction of a camp to gain a foothold.

Wang Bin first "requisitioned" a large village in Zhou, and Zhu Gaoxu's central army was stationed in the village. He used the earth walls outside the village to dig trenches outside the walls to build fortifications; and built another military camp outside the village, thinking that the horns were being taken, and before dark, the army built simple defense facilities.

... Zhu Gaoxu's troops rested in the village for two days. Early on the third morning, he led the cavalry out of the barracks and left the infantry to support him... He thought that he had only 8,000 people in total, and only cavalry went to Xuzhou. If he couldn't beat him, he could still run away.

The horse army successively left the camp and headed straight to Xuzhou City from the plain. Not long after he left, the scout reported: "The Xuzhou City official army was out of the city and lined up with tens of thousands of people!"

The cavalry of the government army was consumed in huge numbers in the past two years, and even Ping'an lacked elite cavalry. Zhu Gaoxu determined that the government army guarding the city could not have many horse teams.

Moreover, the defenders of Xuzhou were not the main force of the official army. When Zhu Gaoxu was still in the Yan King's army, he knew that Ping'an had not arrived in Jining yet; Sheng Yong's army was also in Shandong, and there was a secret report from Sheng Yong to lead his army to the Huaihe River.

Zhu Gaoxu was fearless and led more than 4,000 cavalrymen to continue to move south.

The troops soon arrived at Xuzhou City. He sat on the horse and looked at it. He could see the city tower standing in the foggy horizon. The north was indeed covered with square formations, and he was posing.

Zhu Gaoxu's cavalry left the main road one after another, spread out to the wings, and slowly moved forward. At this time, he turned to his personal soldiers and said, "I ordered all the troops to stop advancing, and the generals above a hundred households came to the army to obey the orders."

"Get orders!"

Thousands of men and horses gradually stopped and looked at each other from the official army formation nearly two miles away. Dozens of military generals also gathered near Zhu Gaoxu one after another.

Zhu Gaoxu was walking and watching in front of the army. When he turned around, he saw many eyes looking at him. He said, "We are the vanguards, and we are only responsible for clearing the road to Xuzhou. There are tens of thousands of officials. If we can, we can harass them. We must not go deep into the enemy's formation, just wait for my father's army to come."

The generals clasped their fists and responded: "The last general is waiting for order!"

Zhu Gaoxu pointed to the south with his hand, "There are some village markets attached to the city over there. Now the battlefield is in the north of the city, and the people may have run away. To prevent an ambush... Wang Bin!"

Wang Bin clasped his fists and said, "The last one is here!"

Zhu Gaoxu said: "You lead a rush to the army and burn the village. If the reinforcements of the government come, you can avoid the battle when you see the opportunity!"

Wang Bin took the order and left. Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand and said, "Look at the big flag and the red pennant flag, get close to me. Go back to each of you."

Not long after, a group of cavalry of Wang Bin rushed to various villages. Starting from the east, fires began to ignite from a distance, and smoke soared into the sky. The cannons on the city walls also began to fire cannons to demonstrate.

At this time, a drum sound suddenly came from the formation opposite, and a square formation on the right wing of the official army began to move forward.

Zhu Gaoxu watched for a while and saw a large area of ​​low houses in the west had not yet been burned. He suddenly imagined that there were ambushes in the west! So he shouted: "Order all the troops to follow me to detour west!"

All the cavalry stayed in the wilderness followed Zhu Gaoxu's central army flag one after another. The troops formed three horse teams and gradually ran away. The sound of horse hooves "rumble..." became louder and louder.

When Zhu Gaoxu led the horse team to the west, he saw that Wang Bin had just approached the house, and the sound of cannons and guns sounded there, which was noisy. The official army indeed hid the ambush outside the city!

At this time, the right-wing infantry army of the government army was advancing, obviously coming to pick up the ambush. Zhu Gaoxu ignored Wang Bin's fight and shouted while running: "The vassal cavalry of Ji'er, first shoot the official army! Then go to the north and lead our troops!"

"Get orders!"

Zhu Gaoxu then raised his cherry gun and shouted: "Crash with me!"

At this time, the large army of the right wing of the official army had stopped and was turning. However, the Xuzhou garrison was not Sheng Yong. Since the infantry and military formation had been shaken, it would be impossible not to reveal the flaws temporarily!

The two armies are getting closer and closer. At this moment, the embarrassment of the infantry army is exposed. They cannot run, and they cannot attack. They can only line up on the spot to welcome the Yan army's attack.

"Papapapapa..." The vassal cavalry column rushed south along the edge of the official camp. The sound of strings came from the wind, as dense as hail. The sound of muskets also rang in a mess.

Some people kept screaming and falling to the ground, but the ranks of the ranks remained unmoved. Occasionally, some people of the vassal cavalry were caught with muskets and archers and arrows, and the shouts from both sides were shocked.

"Kill!" Zhu Gaoxu roared, and the cavalry gradually accelerated and rushed from the west toward the side of the official army.

The government army's infantry formation was too late to turn, and a row of soldiers turned around on the side, and some spears faced Zhu Gaoxu's iron cavalry. After a moment, the metal hit and screams suddenly sounded. The soldiers on the side of the government army had different weapons and generals. When Zhu Gaoxu rode a high-headed iron horse and rushed towards him with a spear, the crowd retreated one after another, and it became a mess in an instant.

Zhu Gaoxu rushed forward and stabbed a soldier in the back with a shot. When he pulled out the gun, blood was splattering. The soldiers beside him shouted loudly and rushed into the enemy formation. Some officials with spears were not in line and actually resisted in groups, but no one could defeat him wherever Zhu Gaoxu went, and rushed over from a high position. The gun felt very light in his hand, and it was as flexible as threading needles and threads.

Chen Dachui approached Zhu Gaoxu and showed his strength, very fierce and desperate. Zhu Gaoxu was riding in front of his personal soldiers and broke through the enemy camp on the right wing of the official army with one blow and crossed the formation.

After the official army was divided into halfway, Zhu Gaoxu rode his horse forward, allowing the subsequent horse team to follow him, and the front was in front of the official army formation.

"Boom boom boom..." The cannons on the city walls fired one after another, and stone bullets rotated and flew in the air. Occasionally, a horse neighed, but unfortunately it was hit by the stone bullet.

Zhu Gaoxu pointed the cherry gun to the north, and several large flags around him also tilted to the north. The troops rushed away, and they saw the vassal cavalry supporting him. Zhu Gaoxu led the iron cavalry in the middle, and the chicken followed Zhu Gaoxu's left and right wings according to his past experience.

A large group of cavalry circled around, and the reinforcements of the government's right wing were broken by the formation sideways, and they had stopped and could not move forward.

Zhu Gaoxu led his troops to Wang Bin's side again. A fire was lit in a low house, and many officials and soldiers were running out in a mess. The Northern Army cavalry approached and caught one of the rioters!

The ambush of the government troops failed to launch the attack first, and were expelled by Wang Bin at this time. They were in chaos and encountered the siege of thousands of superior troops from Zhu Gaoxu. The battlefield was immediately terrible.

Countless officials and soldiers ran around, were killed by cavalry, and countless casualties were killed and injured. The ground was full of corpses and screaming wounded soldiers.

Soon, Zhu Gaoxu heard the loud footsteps in the south. When he looked back, he saw the official infantry running in columns to reinforce! The people and horses that had just been crossed by the formation were cut off by the cavalry and they had not yet collapsed?!

The head of the official army was very persistent and desperately wanted to save the ambush here!

Seeing this, Zhu Gaoxu did not want to get entangled with it anymore. He immediately rushed north with a red flag. After a while, the vassal cavalry and Wang Bin's men also gave up the massacre and followed.

Countless war horses gradually slowed down their running speed, and the horses under Zhu Gaoxu were also exhaling heavily. There were shouting everywhere, and the generals were rectifying their respective troops.

The sound of cannons also subsided, and the right wing of the official army was surging. Zhu Gaoxu looked from a distance and many wounded soldiers were supported to flee to the south.

Wang Bin immediately came and clasped his fists and said, "Prince!"

Zhu Gaoxu looked at him and said, "The government army is not a mob. After a fight just now, I feel that I have no chance to defeat tens of thousands of people with thousands of cavalry. We continue to burn the houses on the periphery, so we retreated and waited for the main force of the army."

Wang Bin said: "The prince is wise!"

After everyone stopped for a while, Wang Bin collected the turbulent oil and medicine he carried from various troops and continued to take the people to work. Zhu Gaoxu saw a small slope in the east, and asked Chen Dachu to send several riders to inquire.

At this moment, a group of official cavalry rushed to the west to watch, but did not dare to come up. Zhu Gaoxu also looked at the official army. If he didn't attack, the battle would not be able to fight.
Chapter completed!