Chapter 579 Don’t be shameless!

Xu Dingguo is indeed here.

Before Zhang Zhun returned to Liujiabao, he had already led his army to surround the place and was carrying out various preparations before the attack in an orderly manner. According to the order of the Ministry of War, Xu Dingguo brought a total of 10,000 border infantry. In Xu Dingguo's view, these border infantry were quite elite. They were all trained by Zhao Rujiao himself, most of them were veterans, participated in actual combat, and had rich combat experience.

The service system of the Ming army was relatively complex and chaotic. The Wei system was hereditary, lifelong, and could not be changed. The war soldiers were purely recruited, and the purpose of fighting was to get money. When wars were needed, they were recruited. After the battle, they were disbanded. The border troops were different. The border troops could be said to be recruiting soldiers who served for a long time.

Some of the border troops are hereditary military households, some are recruited soldiers, and some are sent to prisoners. In general, their service life is relatively long. Because they have been stationed on the border for many years and are in a relatively dangerous situation, they must work hard to practice killing skills. Therefore, their combat effectiveness is still relatively strong.

Xu Dingguo had no other idea about Zhang Zhun, just kill him!

Zhang Zhun was nominally the governor of the Grand Governor's Office of the Later Army, but in fact he was a complete rebel. Zhang Zhun issued the Juntian Order, organized the Hu Ben Army, and repeatedly fought against the court, which was a major concern of the court. Xu Dingguo was very clear about this. Otherwise, what would the Ministry of War send him and Wu Sangui to Hejian Prefecture to do? If Zhang Zhun's head could be sent up, he would definitely be commended by the court.

In fact, even without the orders of the court, Xu Dingguo wanted to come and find Zhang Zhun's bad luck. The reason was because of the existence of the "Junior Field Order". Xu Dingguo was the first to hold an official position in Shandong. During the Tianqi period, the Yinxiang Cult launched an uprising, and Xu Dingguo was the capable backbone of suppressing the Yinxiang Cult. Xu Dingguo hated everyone who wanted to equalize the land and share the wealth. Xu Dingguo's hometown was in Taikang, Henan. In his hometown, he had tens of thousands of acres of land.

After Xu Dingguo came to Hejian Prefecture, he did not launch an attack immediately. It was mainly for the sake of safety. After all, the Hu Ben Army was an existence that could defeat the Tartars, so Xu Dingguo dared not take it lightly. He also wanted to look at the details of the Hu Ben Army and see how capable Zhang Zhun had. Xu Dingguo did not believe the rumors outside that the Hu Ben Army tried to attack the capital. How easy was to attack the capital? Zhang Zhun had rebelled for less than two years, so how could he have such great power?

At the same time, Wu Sangui, who was supposed to command him to fight, has been slowing down near Qingxian in the north of Cangzhou. Wu Sangui's order was to let Xu Dingguo take the lead in exploring the foundation of the Hu Ben Army. If he had the chance, he could launch an attack alone. The Liaodong cavalry was not good at siegeing the city and could only play a role in the field. Xu Dingguo did not doubt that he had him, so he followed Wu Sangui's order.

It happened that during this period, Zhang Zhun returned to Dongjiabao. Zhang Zhun came ashore at the port of Liujiabao, and the white dragon horse had been waiting at the dock. Zhang Zhun rode his horse all the way and quickly arrived at Dongjiabao. There was a long time since there was a war preparation atmosphere here. Yang Zixuan, Yang Hongwen, Yang Qianqiang, Zou Ming and four battalion commanders have arrived, and Xu Ziwen, Liu Chenzi, Mo Ru and others from the Artillery Association are also there.

Zhang Zhun asked straight to the point and said in a deep voice: "What's the situation?"

Yang Zixuan was appointed as temporary commander when Zhang Zhun left. He reported loudly: "Huang Liang is taking Wei Ran and Zhao Yuchen to monitor in front, and Xu Dingguo has not been moved for the time being. However, I guess he should be unable to hold back."

Zhang Zhun nodded and said slowly: "Don't take it lightly."

In fact, Zhang Zhun was not very concerned about the combat effectiveness of the Ming army's border army. Since the Ming country was already extremely corrupt from the core, even the elite of the Ming army was quite limited. The Hu Ben Army had fought against the Tartars many times and had completely gained the upper hand and was not worried about the Ming army's border army. As long as Wu Sangui's Liaodong cavalry did not participate in the attack, Xu Dingguo's ten thousand people would not make any moves.

Well, Zhang Zhun must admit that the Hu Ben Army is now strong and the general Ming army is no longer in Zhang Zhun's eyes. Now the number of Hu Ben soldiers gathered in Dongjiabao, Liujiabao and Caojiabao Triangle District has exceeded 4,000. At the port of Liujiabao, there are more Hu Ben Army troops, which are being transferred one after another. However, in order to avoid attracting the attention of some interested people, Zhang Zhun just sent Dingzi Camp to fight.

The biggest difficulty of the Hu Ben Army is not to defeat the imperial army and cannot get out of the Taiwan Strait, but to let the other party retreat. Otherwise, if Xu Dingguo was destroyed in one battle, the court would jump over the wall and would inevitably transfer the Guanning military group. Cangzhou Prefecture is too close to the capital, so the court would definitely not let him Zhang Zhun make trouble here. Even if he was risking the Tartars' defense line breaking through Shanhaiguan, he would still transfer the Guanning army. In that case, Zhang Zhun's plan would be completely disrupted.

Zhang Zhun's current purpose is to weaken the power of the Tartars, rather than fighting with the court. If the court felt that Zhang Zhun's threat would be even more terrifying than the Tartars in the Northeast and the Chaos in Shaanxi, he would transfer all the Ming troops to deal with him, and transfer all Hong Chengchou, Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng, Wu Sangui and others to siege him. Even if the Hu Ben Army can achieve the final victory, it will make the Tartars and Shaanxi Chaos in vain, without any benefit.

Besides, in the battle with the Ming army, they were all their own people, so there was no need to be so cruel. The population resources in the late Ming Dynasty were still very precious. Due to the continuous fighting between the Shaanxi civilian army and the official army in the Central Plains, both sides started killing and repeatedly massacred the city, which caused great population losses. Without a population, there would be no productivity and no combat effectiveness.

Due to the long-term war, some areas in Shaanxi are already empty. The population of Henan has also dropped very significantly. It is like the Three Kingdoms, and the national population has dropped by more than 90%, so it is easy to be invaded by more than a foreign race. Killing a person in the blink of an eye and raising a person will take at least fifteen years, and you can't afford to hurt!

Xu Dingguo set up his command center in a large family in Cangzhou. In order to find out Zhang Zhun's background, Xu Dingguo decided to be polite and then soldiers, and sent his personal captain to contact Dongjiabao. What surprised him was that the personal captain actually came back soon. Xu Dingguo frowned and asked, "How do you explain Zhang Zhun?"

The captain of the personal soldiers said helplessly: "I have never seen anyone from the Hu Ben Army. The other party is a man named Liu Xunchun. He claims to be the leader of the Cangzhou Volunteer Army. He said that Dongjiabao, Liujiabao, Caojiabao and other places were organized to fight against the horse thieves. He also said that he had never seen any Hu Ben Army. Now the troops of the Cangzhou Volunteer Army are all the troops of the Cangzhou Volunteer Army."

Xu Dingguodao frowned and said to himself: "Cangzhou Volunteers?"

After a moment, he couldn't help but curse in his heart. What tricks were Zhang Zhun playing?

Zhang Zhun was not actually trying to play tricks, this was his early plan. In order to avoid excessive stimulation of the court, whenever he deals with the court, he used the name of the Cangzhou Volunteer Army. Among the younger generation in Sanbao, the one with the strongest diplomatic ability was Liu Xunchun, the son of Liu Zongli. So, when the captain of Xu Dingguo's personal soldiers arrived, Zhang Zhun temporarily appointed Liu Xunchun to be responsible for the reception.

According to Zhang Zhun's intention, Liu Xunchun insisted that within the three forts, there were all areas of the Cangzhou Volunteer Army, and there was no Hu Ben Army. The purpose of the establishment of the Cangzhou Volunteer Army was only to prevent thieves. Therefore, they had to discuss the arrival of the imperial official army before they could decide whether to let the official army come in. The negotiation time may take three days, five days, or eight days.

Idiots know that all Liu Xunchun's words are excuses. The problem is that this excuse is really good. The local clan forces in Cangzhou are very powerful. There are too many martial artists here, and each castle has its own personal disciples, which are very loyal and very core forces. Because the court deliberately suppressed them, their resentment towards the court has been said to be a long-standing one.

In the past, due to the high pressure of the court and the existence of the Ma family army, the clan forces in Cangzhou did not dare to openly confront the court. However, now that the Hu Ben Army has come and the Ma family army has been dealt with by the Hu Ben Army, they dare to disobey the court. Even if they did not openly surrender to the Hu Ben Army, they would definitely be in a quarrel with the Hu Ben Army.

Faced with these clan forces, the court did not have any excuses to take action. Even though they knew that the Hu Ben Army was hiding behind the Cangzhou Volunteer Army, the Ming army had no other solution besides war. Of course, Xu Dingguo didn't care about these. The Cangzhou Volunteer Army was obviously Zhang Zhun's cover. To eliminate Zhang Zhun, all the covers must be removed. To clear the covers, war is of course the best method.

“Order the troops!

"Start an attack!"

Xu Dingguo shouted without hesitation.

All the Ming troops immediately started to move and slowly advanced towards Dongjiabao.

The terrain of Dongjiabao is the most prominent, at the top of the Pin shape. The Ming army must take the lead in attacking Dongjiabao before continuing to expand forward. If Dongjiabao cannot be taken down, attacking Liujiabao and Caojiabao from the side will not be very effective. Therefore, in such an offensive battle, Dongjiabao became the core.

The Hu Ben Army's defense against Dongjiabao is of course the most solid. The Hu Ben Army's defense system is set according to the strength of the fight against the Tartars. It can be imagined how powerful the firepower will be. If the fight is completely released, Xu Dingguo will not be enough. The problem is that Zhang Zhun will not show all the trump cards at once.

Standing on the wall of Dongjiabao, Zhang Zhun held up a thousand-mile mirror and could clearly see that the dense Ming army infantry were rushing towards Dongjiabao all over the mountains. Most of these Ming army soldiers were holding muskets, and only a few continued to use swords, guns, swords and halberds.

"Sir, the enemy has launched an attack."

Yang Zixuan whispered.

"Huang Liang!"

"beat!"

Zhang Zhun said without hesitation.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The gunshots of the Hu Ben Army suddenly rang out.

In order to hide the strength of the Hu Ben Army, only one of the troops led by Huang Liang was fired, with about 300 people. In the battle sequence of the Dingzi Camp, the combat power of the five teams commanded by Huang Liang was relatively ordinary.

At this time, the Ming army was more than 100 meters away from Dongjiabao. Ordinary muskets could not hit such a distance at all. However, the range of Minnie bullets was enough to fly into the Ming army's team and cause damage to the Ming soldiers.

"Um!"

Suddenly, some of the Ming soldiers who were marching fell to the ground with a humming groan.

It turned out that a Minnie bomb hit the target. Even after flying a distance of hundreds of feet, the Minnie bomb's lethality is still very amazing. Ordinary armor cannot stop it at all. If it is hit, it will be either dead or injured.

With the continuous gunfire of the Hu Ben Army, more Ming troops were hit. This inevitably caused a small chaos in the Ming army. So far away from Dongjiabao, he was hit by the opponent's musket. How could the Ming soldiers not be shocked? If they were at this attack speed, they would not have all been killed before they reached Dongjiabao.

The situation quickly came to Xu Dingguo.

"How is that possible?"

Xu Dingguo frowned immediately.

It was hit by a musket more than 100 feet away? A fantasy!

However, after personally checking the wounds of several dead people, Xu Dingguo had to believe that his subordinates were indeed hit by the bullets of the musket. Xu Dingguo could not believe everything in front of him. He stared suspiciously at Dongjiabao in the distance. His subordinates were at least a hundred feet away from Dongjiabao. What kind of musket is the Hu Ben Army, which is so powerful?

“Speed ​​up!”

“Running forward!”

Xu Dingguo frowned and decided to continue fighting.

Some casualties did not stop him from continuing to move forward.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, a violent cannon sound came.

A stream of white smoke rose above the walls of Dongjiabao. Obviously, it was the cannons of Dongjiabao that were firing. Immediately afterwards, there was a small riot in the Ming army's team. Soon, Xu Dingguo received a report saying that a solid bullet with a fist fell into the middle of the Ming army's team and scratched a soldier. Fortunately, no death was caused.

"This is……"

Some deputy generals looked at each other, their mouths full of bitterness.

The Hu Ben Army was obviously fully armed waiting for their arrival. First, it was a fire gun with a very long range, and then it was a cannon launch, which was obviously warning the Ming army not to approach Dongjiabao. Yes, this was a warning. If it was a real battle, the other party would definitely not shoot so quickly.

"Trag the cannon up!"

Xu Dingguo shouted angrily.

Is it only your Tiger Army that has cannons? We have one too!

Soon, the Ming army's cannons were pulled up. The Ming army's border troops were generally used by the Folang machine cannons, with a caliber of basically around 60 mm. This time, Xu Dingguo also brought sixteen balls. Originally, he did not plan to use cannons, but now it seems that it would be impossible not to use cannons.

"fire!"

Xu Dingguo shouted angrily.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The Florian cannon began to fire, and the sound of the cannon rumbled.

A series of solid bullets kept whistling and shooting towards Dongjiabao.

At a distance of 150 meters, the hit rate of the Flang machine cannon was relatively high. Several solid projectiles fell into the Dongjiabao and smashed some buildings. However, the Hu Ben Army and everyone else were hidden in the bulletproof room, and there was no damage.

"grown ups……"

Yang Zixuan was a little angry.

Xu Dingguo actually fired at Dongjiabao, which was simply seeking death.

"Let Mo Ru fight back!"

Zhang Zhun said coldly.

He did not want to cause too much casualties to Xu Dingguo, so as not to prevent the Tartars from coming yet. He first fell into a large-scale internal strife with the last elite troops of the Ming army, and let the Tartars get the bargain for nothing. However, since the other party was unwilling to give up, he would not be polite. Come on, who is afraid of whom? Don't be shameless!

"good!"

"Good fight!"

Seeing the shells landing inside Dongjiabao, Xu Dingguo said with satisfaction.

As long as the bombardment continues like this, the Hu Ben Army in Dongjiabao will not be able to bear it. At that time, the Ming army will rush forward and take down Dongjiabao with one go.
To be continued...