Outside Guzhen County, countless military tents stood under the night sky.

Li Zicheng sat alone beside a solitary lamp, staring blankly at the map in front of him.

"Your Majesty, General Li Laiheng requests to see you." The voice of a personal soldier was heard outside.

Li Laiheng was the adopted son of Li Guo, who was the nephew of Li Zicheng.

In terms of seniority, Li Laiheng should call Li Zicheng "grandfather".

"It's Laiheng, come in." Li Zicheng put down the paper and pen in his hand.

After the salute, Li Laiheng whispered, "Your Majesty, Hao Yaoqi and Liu Tichun have captured Mengcheng County, losing one thousand soldiers and gaining two thousand."

"Also, we encountered 3,000 Ming troops on the north bank of the Huai River this morning. I followed the emperor's instructions and withdrew the main force, allowing the civilians to go to fight alone. As expected, we failed, with more than half of them killed or wounded, and some escaped. Less than 1,000 people escaped."

"Hmm!" Li Zicheng frowned and nodded, and began to think about how to use troops next.

He is now in Guzhen County.

The Ming army can be seen in Xuzhou to the north of Guzhen County; Suqian and Huai'an to the east; Fengyang and Huainan to the south; and Fuyang and Bozhou to the west.

He couldn't stop, as if he did he would be at risk of being surrounded.

"Well, I have a question."

"Your Majesty, please speak!"

"If you were the Ming army, how would you defend Fengyang?"

Li Laiheng thought for a moment and said: "I will withdraw my troops to defend the city and wait for reinforcements."

"Oh..." Li Zicheng nodded, "In that case, we can only use the old strategy."

Li Laiheng was startled, then smiled and said, "Your Majesty, do you have a way to defeat the Ming army?"

"Well, surround the place and attack the reinforcements!"

At the beginning of the Yin hour, the Shun army camp was crowded with people.

Gu Kecheng and Liu Xiyao's armies did not move.

Li Zicheng's central army of 20,000 soldiers and 10,000 civilians broke camp and quietly marched southwest in the darkness before dawn.

After marching for three days and nights, the army arrived at a wilderness forty miles north of Huainan.

At the same time, Hao Yaoqi and Liu Tichun, who were stationed in Mengcheng County, abandoned the county seat and headed south to the west of Huainan City.

There is only one word next: wait!

Wait for the Ming army passing by and then deliver a fatal blow.

In order to confuse Ma Shiying, Gu Kecheng and Liu Xiyao stationed troops on the north bank of the Huai River and built crossing equipment.

......

There are 10,000 troops stationed in Fuyang.

The Huainan garrison also has 10,000 troops.

Ma Shiying issued a military order to the Ming troops in Fuyang and Huainan respectively.

He first ordered the Ming army in Fuyang to immediately march to Huainan, and then returned to Fengyang with the Huainan Ming army.

In this way, even if they are attacked on the way, the 20,000 soldiers will be able to protect themselves.

However, Ma Shiying's idea was grasped by Li Zicheng.

After receiving Zhu Cilang's order and Ma Shiying's order to mobilize troops, the new governor-general Ding Kuichu immediately reorganized his troops and retreated to Huainan.

The 12,000-strong army marched lightly and headed straight for Huainan.

Among them were Ma Shiying's 10,000 troops and his own 2,000 direct troops.

Twenty miles southwest of Nihe Town, scouts discovered Li Zicheng's army.

"Report!" The scout ran to Ding Kuichu and said, "Your Excellency the Governor, we have discovered a large army of bandits ten miles to the east, about 20,000 strong!"

"Twenty thousand?" Ding Kuichu was shocked by the number. "Aren't the bandits gathering their forces to attack Fengyang? Why are they here?"

It was quiet all around, with only the sound of the wind responding to him.

"Report!" A scout came running over: "Ten miles to the north, a group of bandits were found beside the Cihuai New River. There are about 20,000 of them!"

"What?" Ding Kuichu could no longer use the word "shocked" to describe his feeling at the moment.

Panic!

chaos!

Panic!

At this moment he finally realized that he had been fooled. Li Zicheng was attacking Fengyang on the surface, but in fact he was still using the old method of besieging the point and attacking the reinforcements.

His nephew Ding Qirui was surrounded and attacked by Li Zicheng and was defeated in Zhuxian Town.

Several years later, he also fell into Li Zicheng's trap.

There seems to be a destiny in the dark.

Ding Kuichu quickly calmed down after being flustered.

Ten miles!

There should be enough time!

"Order all troops to put on their armor immediately, then turn around and head south to prepare to cross the river!"

As long as he crosses the Huai River, he will have a chance of survival.

But before that, he needs to withstand the opponent's attack.

After issuing the first military order, Ding Kuichu gave another order to his troops: "Form a battle array on the spot and cover the main force's retreat."

Less than half an hour after the 12,000-strong army had put on their armor and marched, Li Zicheng's cavalry arrived.

Ten miles is too short for cavalry.

A fast horse only takes a quarter of an hour, and a slower horse takes a quarter and a half.

Looking at the Ming army forming a battle formation and slowly fleeing southward, Li Zicheng began to look at Ding Qirui with a new respect.

"These Ming troops are really capable. They can form a formation and resist in such a short time." Li Zicheng rode on a horse, marching while observing the terrain.

"Your Majesty, how do we fight?" Gao Yigong asked from the side.

"I see Ding Qirui is going to cross the Huai River to the south to escape. You lead two thousand cavalry to intercept his retreat."

"I obey your orders." Gao Yigong shouted and flew past with a big flag.

"attack!"

At Li Zicheng's command, more than 10,000 cavalrymen of the Shun army launched an attack.

These cavalrymen are the elite of the Shun army.

No, they are the elite among the elite.

With a wave of Li Zicheng's hand, more than 10,000 cavalrymen were divided into several teams on the battlefield.

The first team was led by Gao Yigong, who went around to the south of the Ming army as quickly as possible and blocked their retreat route to cross the river and escape southward.

The second team was led by Li Laiheng, who attacked the Ming army's rear wing and put pressure on them.

The third team was led by Hao Yaoqi, who led the elite troops to attack the flank of the Ming army.

Let them be unable to take care of each other.

The Ming army was not willing to be outdone and formed a battle array on the spot to resist.

As time went by, Ding Kuichu's face became more and more ugly.

The Shun army can afford to waste time, but the Ming army cannot.

The purpose of the Shun cavalry was to delay the Ming army and wait for their own infantry to arrive.

If they merge together at that time, he will surely be defeated.

He originally wanted to order the army to fight and retreat, but after seeing the performance of the soldiers, he gave up the idea.

This unit cannot fight and retreat at the same time while maintaining its formation.

If there is any trouble when retreating, the retreat will turn into a defeat.

But he had no time to think.

"Kill!" Just as he was thinking about how to preserve his strength, deafening shouts of killing came from the north.

It’s over!

Ding Kuichu knew that the Shun army's infantry had arrived.

"Retreat! Retreat to Fuyang!" Ding Kuichu issued his last military order, and then led his own troops to run away first.

The Ming army, which was resisting the attack of the Shun army, suddenly discovered that the central army’s flag was moving!

"The central army's flag is moving!"

"That fucker didn't just move, he ran away!"

"The Governor has run away, everyone hurry up and catch up!"

“Run!”

One person tells ten people, ten people tell a hundred people...!

The 12,000-strong army instantly turned into scattered soldiers and was slaughtered by the Shun army.