The Red Chamber begins with a bastard

Chapter 236 Waiting for an Opportunity to Counterattack
Although Li Hongji was not good at reading, he was also literate. He loved to read military books and was quite talented in military matters. This time he joined the banditry and got the opportunity to put it to use.

It is said that after Kang Dayong captured Haimen County that day, Li Hongji suggested opening warehouses to store grain, recruit people, and increase strength. Kang Dayong also adopted his suggestions and put him in charge of this matter.

Li Hongji was originally a person with an extreme personality and hated the powerful and powerful bureaucrats. The last time he was humiliated while carrying salt, he almost lost his life. His hatred of the powerful and powerful bureaucrats has reached a new level. He felt that the world was as black as a crow, and this big country The Jin Dynasty was in a state of decay, so the idea of ​​"the sky is dead and the yellow sky should stand" came into being.

If Li Hongji originally joined the pirates to escape his prison cell, now he is happy with it, as if he has found a stage where he can display his talents and realize his life ambitions.

Although pirates have a bad reputation, as the saying goes, among the founding emperors of the past and present, there are also a few who came from rough backgrounds. When they succeeded in conquering the country, didn't they still rule the world and conquer the sea?
Let’s not talk about it far, let’s talk about Chen Youliang, the founding emperor of Chen Han in the previous dynasty, and his nemesis Zhu Yuanzhang. Before they became famous, they also worked as thieves and did things like stealing and stealing. Those who achieve great things do not stick to trivial matters, so Li Hongji went all out to We went to work and recruited tens of thousands of people in less than ten days.

Kang Dayong saw that Li Hongji was so capable, so he handed over the new people he recruited to his management.

Li Hongji was extremely excited. He dreamed of commanding thousands of troops, but he didn't expect that one day he would realize his dream, so he worked even harder. He first selected adult men for unified training, while old, weak, women and children were assigned to do the work. After he integrated the logistics and miscellaneous tasks, he quickly formed a new army of 4000 men. Unfortunately, he did not have the weapons at his disposal and could only use farm tools and wooden sticks.

Despite this, Kang Dayong was very satisfied. The team of thousands of people suddenly increased. Together with the original more than [-] pirates, it meant that the number of troops under his command exceeded [-]. However, Li Hongji was not very satisfied. , because this new army lacks training and weapons, and its combat effectiveness is very limited. It will have no problem fighting a smooth battle, but once it confronts the regular army, it will most likely collapse.

It happened that at this time I received news that a large number of officers and soldiers had arrived in Haimen County. The Pioneer Army alone had one guard, with a strength of 600. Lin Ruhai, the governor of Yingtian, also personally led two other guards to increase the strength. It's nearly [-], so it's definitely not possible to fight hard.

So Li Hongji came up with a plan. He suggested that Kang Dayong adopt the strategy of arrogant soldiers, using the old and the weak to fight the Yangzhou Guard first, and he would not hesitate to abandon Haimen County to lure Dai Li to pursue, and then wait for an opportunity to destroy the Yangzhou Guard's logistics supplies.

Although Kang Dayong was brave and bloodthirsty, he was not a brainless person. He knew that the small number of troops under his command could not fight against the regular army. If he held on to the city, he would not be able to hold it in the end, so he agreed to Li Hongji's plan. The old and the weak took the lead, but as a result, the rebel army was defeated as soon as they engaged the Yangzhou Wei, without even having to pretend.

Kang Dayong led the main force to retreat into the city, pretending that he could not hold it for a long time, and abandoned the city and fled to Lusi Field in the east. The Yangzhou Guard Commander Dai Li was indeed fooled, leaving only a few hundred people to guard the baggage, so he led the main force to pursue in a hurry. Little did they know that Li Hongji had arranged for the Eighth Master Hua Monk to lead [-] capable pirates to lurk in various buildings in the city, while he himself led [-] thieves to ambush in a forest in the northeast of the city, waiting for opportunities.

It is worth mentioning here that of the [-] thieves led by Li Hongji, [-] were authentic pirates with strong combat power, while the other [-] thieves were newly formed armies, and Li Hongji was still active during this period. Forty or fifty horses were collected throughout the county and a cavalry force was initially formed.

When the Badang Jiahua monk lurking in the city suddenly launched his attack and set the house on fire, Li Hongji, who was hiding in the woods, saw the thick smoke rising from the city and immediately led his troops to kill them. The cooperation was flawless.

Unfortunately, Li Hongji missed one variable, which was the two hundred cavalry led by Jia Huan. So when Li Hongji led the bandit army to rush towards him, he suddenly saw a large number of cavalry, and he immediately felt excited. , but fortunately, the hundreds of officers and soldiers responsible for guarding the baggage were obviously frightened by the sudden attack of two groups of bandits outside the city, and they actually abandoned the baggage and ran away.

As a result, the morale of the thieves under Li Hongji was unprecedentedly high, and the official cavalry was probably timid. Instead of launching an attack, they turned around and rushed towards the city gate, apparently intending to escape into the city.

When Li Hongji saw this, he couldn't help but murmur to himself, is the cavalry general of the official army having a rusty head? You are a cavalry. If you want to escape, just run away. Who can catch up with your four legs? What does it mean to run towards the city gate?Are you deliberately causing trouble for me?

Hehe, Li Hongji soon realized that something was wrong. As soon as the official cavalry charged, they immediately dispersed the thieves who came out of the city and broke into the city.

"No!" Li Hongji suddenly realized that the other party was not afraid, but that he could not figure out the reality for the time being. He was worried about being attacked from both sides, so he chose to avoid his attack and break into the city to break the situation.

Obviously, the general of this official cavalry is very tricky!
Li Hongji understood something and did not care about chasing down the three hundred Yangzhou guards who had abandoned their baggage. Instead, he rode his horse towards the city gate and shouted: "Eight Masters, stop them quickly, we must not let them enter the city!"

Hehe, little did he know that the Eight-headed Flower Monk had now become the soul wandering around the Iron Tiger's stick.

whoosh...

Li Hongji bent his bow and shot an arrow from a distance, killing a Yangzhou guard soldier who was running slowly. Unfortunately, it was too late. When he led dozens of horsemen and thieves to the city gate, the heavy city gate had been slammed shut.

Li Hongji couldn't help but sigh when he saw this, and quickly ordered an attack on the city, trying to break into the city.

It is said that Jia Huan led his cavalry into the city, and about dozens of thieves were also forced to retreat into the city, but they were quickly killed by the cavalry.Jia Huan ordered his troops to guard the four city gates, and then mounted his horse to the top of the city. At this time, Li Hongji was ordering his thieves to attack the city gates fiercely, and arrows shot at the city top.

"Third Master, be careful!" Tiehu and Shitou saw Jia Huan approaching the female wall to observe the enemy's situation, and quickly raised their shields and stepped forward to cover.

Jia Huan took a quick look down the city and found that the number of thieves outside was not that large. It was estimated that there were less than 2000 people. He couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, a powerful arrow shot out from under the city and went straight to the gap between the two shields. The target was obviously Jia Huan. Tiehu and Shitou reacted quickly. As soon as the two shields were closed, the powerful arrow hit the shield. , falling down the city with a bang.

Jia Huan squatted down calmly and said to Zuo Dashou behind him: "There are not many thieves outside the city. We can completely defend them, but we need your cooperation from Zuo Baihu."

Zuo Dashou saw that Jia Huan, a scholar, could remain calm and calm in the face of such a situation. He was filled with admiration. Moreover, Jia Huan could have led the cavalry to escape, but he did not do so. Instead, he chose to enter the city. This move Undoubtedly, he saved his life and that of all his brothers, so he was extremely grateful and said, "What to do next, please give me your instructions, Mr. Jia. All my subordinates and brothers will obey your orders."

Jia Huan nodded when he heard this and said: "Okay, then I won't be polite!"

So he ordered everyone to defend the city in an orderly manner
Jia Huan's command originally had two hundred cavalry. Zuo Dashou's command plus the remaining brothers under Zheng Baihu's command totaled more than 350 people, adding up to about 20 people. [-] people were sent to guard each of the other three city gates. The rest stayed at the south city gate to resist the thieves' attack.

Speaking of Li Hongji, his target was just a large amount of baggage left by the Yangzhou Guards outside the city. After attacking the city gate for a while, he was unable to capture it and lost dozens of men. So he gave up decisively and ordered the rebels to retreat, preparing to set fire to the baggage. However, the Golden Tooth Dog of the Nine Masters who came with him disagreed.

"Xiaoji, look at these grains, it would be a pity to burn them, and these cannons and gunpowder. We are short of weapons, so why not take them all away." The gold-toothed dog said greedily while stroking an artillery piece.

It turned out that Yang Weizhou also brought several artillery pieces this time, which were intended to be used for attacking fortresses. As a result, the thieves were vulnerable and the city was broken without even using the artillery. Pursuing the enemy with artillery would obviously slow down the speed, so Dai immediately Several artillery pieces remained outside the city.

Li Hongji hated the golden-toothed dog calling him Xiaoji, but he was a senior, and he was also the senior who introduced him, so it was not convenient for Li Hongji to have an attack. He just frowned and said: "Master Jiu, don't forget that we still have a mission to destroy the army. After the baggage is loaded, we have to rush to Lusi Field to attack Dai Li from front to back. Carrying these supplies will seriously slow down our march. It is a pity that the city has been seized by the cunning Jia Huan, otherwise these supplies can be transported into the city and stored."

It was obvious that Li Hongji had recognized that the commander in the city was Jia Huan, and it was he who shot the arrow at Jia Huan before.

The golden-toothed dog said disapprovingly: "There are not many officers and soldiers in the city. How about we set up artillery to blast open the city gate, capture the city, and then go support Master Dao."

Li Hongji took a look at the sky, shook his head and said: "Time does not allow it, Lord Jiu, don't let the small lose the big. The most important thing is to eliminate the main force of the Yangzhou Guard."

The golden-toothed dog fell silent after hearing this. He stared at the mountain of supplies and was reluctant to part with them. He said with red eyes, "Brothers, take as much as you can and burn the rest."

The thieves were overjoyed when they heard this. They carried all the supplies on their shoulders and carried all the supplies they could get. If they couldn't get it, they set fire to it.

"Such good food, burning it like this is a sin!"

The one thousand recruits under Li Hongji were all ordinary people. They were usually afraid of poverty and hunger. Seeing that so much food could not be taken away and was burned, naturally they felt extremely heartbroken. They desperately carried the food on their shoulders until they could really carry it. Don’t stop until you can’t move.

Li Hongji couldn't help but frown when he saw this, but he couldn't refute the gold-toothed dog, so he could only acquiesce and ordered to march in the direction of Lu Sichang.

"Damn it, the thieves burned our luggage and ran away!" Zuo Dashou was so angry that he punched the city wall.

Jia Huan looked at the thieves carrying them on their shoulders, smiled thoughtfully, and said, "After all, the situation has become smaller, Huzi, prepare to counterattack!"

(End of this chapter)