Chapter 203 Engagement
Yushanwu cast a bronze bell, which is probably one of the most valuable treasures among the more than 3,000 military and civilian households in the whole dock.
The bronze bell was placed in a small courtyard halfway up the mountain. Several pear trees were planted around it. The fruits they produced were crispy and delicious, and bold children often came to steal them.
Baoting, who was guarding the bronze bell, bumped into it and pretended not to see it.
There is also a small pool in the courtyard, which is fed by mountain spring water, which is clear and sweet. A sip in the summer will refresh your heart and spleen.
Many fruits and vegetables are planted on the flat land and even on the gentle slope outside the small courtyard.
There is moss hidden in the corner, telling the traces of time.
An old cat nestled on the roof, lazily basking in the sun and enjoying the rare tranquility.
"哐..." The copper bell rang suddenly, alarming the small courtyard.
The old cat opened his eyes, and the hair all over his body exploded.
"Clang..." The second bell sounded.
Baoding, who was watering vegetables and fertilizing outside the small courtyard, went into the courtyard to confirm, and then rushed away, running and shouting: "The bell is ringing! There is a thief!"
" Bang..." The bell rang three times.
The Wubao suspension bridge suddenly lowered and the gate opened.
Under the leadership of Li Xian, the young men who were working or training outside went up the mountain in an organized manner and retreated to Wubao.
The bell rang repeatedly, echoing throughout the mountain.
There was a man who believed in gods and Buddhas, kneeling in front of the shrine, with a solemn expression and muttering something.
The craftsman who was making tools sighed after hearing it, and his men speeded up their movements unconsciously.
"Creak." The warehouse door was opened, and the first batch of withdrawn Baoding formed a team in the courtyard and were taken over to receive their weapons.
Everyone looked solemn, and when they received the weapons, they seemed to be accepting their fate.
"If a man wants to be strong, he doesn't need many companions..." The 600 soldiers in the seventh building of the Silver Spear Army have been assembled, neatly dressed, marching quickly and shouting slogans.
One-third of them have been training for a year and a half, and the remaining two-thirds are recruits who have been in the army for less than half a year. Under the encouragement of the student soldiers and officers, their morale was quite good, but they were positioned as a rotating reserve force.
The real main force was the two thousand Yamen soldiers led by Li Chong.
At this moment they have climbed onto the turrets and city walls, with their bows and crossbows on strings and their swords unsheathed.
Some people were even sent to camp in a small building outside the fort, echoing Wubao from afar.
"Boom!" As the last batch of castles retreated, the suspension bridge was pulled up.
The wind blew by, and there was silence outside Wubao.
The once bustling Mulberry Forest is now deserted.
There was a mess next to the well where there was once a lot of laughter.
In the vegetable patch where people once sweated like rain, there are two or three carrying poles and dung buckets scattered around.
As if by magic, there was silence all around, not even a single livestock could be seen, only the sound of pine trees in the woods, and only the leaves dancing in the wind.
Suddenly, several figures appeared on the mountainside.
They held sharp blades in their hands and were covered in armor.
They hesitated in their steps and looked confused.
Mingming found out before that this was a wealthy Wubao with thousands of households farming. After hurriedly arriving, why couldn’t he see a single household? This retreat was too neat. How skilled are they?
"Whoosh!" An arrow shot from the wall and landed a few steps in front of the thief.
This is a warning.
Moving forward, they will not hold back, and it will not end well for everyone.
The leading thief stopped. Before he could react, a large group of people came up from behind and pushed him forward.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!" dense arrows flew out, and the battle was inevitable.
Li Zhong climbed to the highest point and overlooked the overall situation.
Zheng Dong, the owner of the building, followed him and pointed: "The thieves spread out widely at the foot of the mountain. There are about four to five thousand people. There are less in front and more in back on the mountain road. There are about two thousand people crowded. There seem to be at least ten thousand people in the distance. I wonder if they will come."
"Have people been sent to guard the back mountain?" Li Zhong asked.
"People have been sent to guard the area, and we will report as soon as there is any news."
Li Dian nodded and continued to observe the enemy's situation.
Zheng Dong looked at this man silently.
As a forward general, he respected Marquis Lu Yang very much. When drinking with his colleagues in the army, I rarely see Li Chong. I always feel that he is a weirdo who isolates himself.
Some people even mentioned mysteriously that Li Chong was not from the same group as them.
Zheng Dong was doubtful because most of the people who said this were old people who had followed Lu Yanghou six years ago. He joined halfway and doesn't know much about it.
But Marquis Lu Yang trusted Li Chong. After all, he did not leave the matter of leading an army to the old man, but to Li Chong, who the old man said was "not from the same place". This was enough to reveal a lot of things.
And Li Chong is indeed very capable.
Directing the battle is neither hasty nor slow, and is quite methodical. What's even more commendable is that he is thoughtful, considers every aspect, and rarely reveals any flaws. The only thing lacking is probably a fierceness, a fighting spirit to survive even if it means risking one's life.
He thinks too much.
People who think too much often don’t have the courage to fight hard.
"Ah!" A heart-rending scream sounded.
The two men quickly looked over and saw that a soldier was shot in the face and fell to the ground.
The first person to die today appears!
Li Chong watched the thieves swarming attentively, repeatedly assessing the opponent's true strength.
If that doesn’t work, then don’t blame me for chasing the sheep...
******
The flag with the word "Shao" has been planted at the top of Xiangcheng.
Shao Xun arrived in Xiangcheng County almost on the same day that Wang Yan inspected Shenyuan Pass.
After a while, Chen Yougen came over carrying several heads and said: "Your Majesty, these are the heads of Xiangcheng County's Prime Minister Wang Chong, Chief Booker Shan Liu, Merit Cao Shi Zenggui, and Superintendent Zheng Long. The servant captured him in the field, and he was killed on the spot by the order of the king. "
The left soldier of Xiangcheng County, Chen Zhuo, stood aside tremblingly, swallowing his saliva.
After the prefect escaped, all the county and county officials fled with him. He happened to be sick at home and had difficulty walking - to be honest, if he hadn't been sick, he would have left by now.
After hearing that Marquis Lu Yang ordered the execution of the fleeing officials, he was so frightened that he broke into a sweat and recovered from his illness. When Marquis Lu Yang entered the city, he led all the elders in the city out of the city to welcome him.
Marquis Lu Yang praised him for his perseverance despite illness, which made him feel at ease, actively busy with various affairs, and very diligent.
After seeing the four officials who were executed today, I was filled with fear and my vest was already soaked through.
"Hang your heads everywhere as a warning." After Shao Xun gave the order, he went directly to the top of the city.
Not long after, the large group of people filed out of the city and formed an array in the field.
Shao Xun galloped past every flag, and there were constant cheers wherever he passed.
Chen Yougen led eight hundred soldiers and led the horses to wait in another place.
The thieves have already attacked Xiangcheng, which is a bit unexpected, but if you think about it carefully, it makes sense.
Wang Mi was defeated twice in Qingzhou. Even if he regains momentum, how many people will he have at hand? There are almost a thousand old backbones. Even if there are too many, there are probably only three or four thousand people.
Using these three to four thousand old backbones to pull up the team, they fought several games in Qingzhou. They said they had wins and losses, but in fact they mostly lost. In the end, they were driven away by Gou Xi.
After leaving Qingzhou, they made rapid progress. In less than two months, the team expanded rapidly.
Wang Mi still didn't stop to straighten things out, which shows that this person has very no political acumen and only knows how to kill and kill.
Under such a situation, Wang Mi can effectively control the entire army. God knows whether the group of people who attacked Xiangcheng came under Wang Mi's order or on their own initiative.
But it doesn’t matter, just give them a try.
"Chen Yougen!" Shao Xun rode up, pointed his whip at the enemy troops forming a team in front, and said: "The war has started over at Yushanwu. The thieves have limited fighting strength. Do you dare to give them a try?"
"Why don't you dare!" Chen Yougen said loudly.
Grandma, you are all people who want to rebel. You actually rebelled before me, and you made the ground miserable. If I don’t crush your heads today, my surname will not be Chen.
"Do you know how to fight?" Shao Xun asked.
"The last general will obey the orders of the king and the general." Chen Yougen replied.
"Okay!" Shao Xun said with a smile: "Just follow my instructions, take these 800 cavalry and march into the army!"
"No." Chen Yougen got on his horse and roared. : "Kill!"
"Kill!" Eight hundred soldiers mounted their horses one after another, took long swords, crossbows, horn bows, ring-shou knives and other equipment from Buqu, and ran out wildly.
They first ran to the enemy's right side.
This is a large formation of more than 10,000 people, consisting of four or five small square formations.
Between the formations, some are separated by ten steps, some are separated by twenty steps, and some are separated by thirty steps...
Some square formations have been formed and have begun to move forward.
Some square formations are still noisy and chaotic.
On the outside of the formation, there are no crossbows to hinder the enemy cavalry. Maybe they don’t have this awareness, maybe they don’t have it at all.
The number of cavalry is small.
According to the rules, if it is an offensive formation, the cavalry is best deployed on the left and right rear of the wedge-shaped front army.
If it is an offensive and defensive formation, it will be placed in the center or rear formation, but there should be enough space between the infantry square formations for the cavalry to attack.
The rebel army is indeed in an offensive and defensive formation. A few three to five hundred cavalry are placed under the banner of the Chinese army, but there are gaps for them to enter and exit...
This is the Caotai team, The difference between rogue troops and well-trained regular troops.
If they don’t learn a few lessons and do some regularization, their combat effectiveness will not be increased.
On the other hand, the Silver Spear Army on the opposite side only has 3,000 men, but all of them are wearing armor and have sophisticated equipment.
After setting up the square formation, the soldiers stood in silence with their weapons in hand.
The difference is huge.
"嘘嘚" The sound of horse hooves sounded, and the eight hundred soldiers quickly maneuvered into position. After dismounting, the horns sounded, and everyone gathered together, firing a volley first.
If you look down from the air, you can immediately notice the spectacular scene on the enemy's right wing: the sergeants fell to the ground in large areas, and there was a lot of noise.
The enemy troops immediately made adjustments.
Some crossbow machines were moved over and fired continuously.
Some infantry archers with superb archery skills were also sent to this side, aiming at the dismounted soldiers and picking up their bows.
"Retreat!" Seeing the enemy's spearmen rushing over in a chaotic manner, Chen Yougen immediately ordered to strike.
The Eight Hundred Mansion soldiers abandoned more than ten corpses, retreated in a hurry, mounted their horses and left.
They circled around the enemy line, this time coming to the left flank.
The same tactics are used again.
The people under the enemy's Chinese army shouted "horse neigh".
Hundreds of cavalry were sent out by the frustrated general, but there were not enough passages for them to enter and exit, and the enemy's formation was somewhat chaotic, so the movement was extremely slow.
There were cavalrymen waving their whips and scabbards, trying to open up a road.
Some cavalry rushed over directly, knocking the unlucky infantry to the ground and trampling them over.
The screams sounded one after another, which shook the morale of the soldiers.
"Retreat!" Chen Yougen once again ordered to mount his horse, leave the battlefield, and turn to the enemy's rear formation.
He has already tested the enemy's strengths. He is not even good at drawing teams. How can he fight in an array in the field?
Go around to the back line and charge them directly with heavy armor.
But maybe it doesn't need to be so troublesome anymore.
Looking down from the air, the enemy's originally relatively "cohesive" formation was severely "bulged" to the left and right after being repeatedly harassed by them. At this time, the front army was still moving forward, preparing for a field battle with the Silver Spear Army. Coupled with the movement caused by their own cavalry, the entire formation could be described as seriously scattered.
The general seems to have noticed something is wrong and is about to start rectifying things.
But no one would give him a chance.
"Dong, dong, dong..." The three thousand heavily armored warriors of the Silver Spear Army stepped forward in unison, moving forward inexorably.
Seventy steps later, a rain of arrows came through the air, completely wiping out the enemy general's efforts to organize the formation.
Fifty steps, the arrow rain comes again.
At this time, eight hundred soldiers of the government had dismounted behind the enemy. The men drew out their heavy swords and charged towards the enemy fiercely.
The two small phalanxes behind the enemy hurriedly turned around and made themselves into a mess.
The heavily armored swordsman held the sparse spear, slashing left and right, and plunged into the enemy's thicket like a dead soldier.
On the frontal battlefield, people kept falling among the ranks of the Silver Spear Army. The officers cheered loudly, and then everyone fired the last salvo against the enemy's crossbows.
The enemy soldiers in the front row fell down with a crash, and some people had already turned around and fled.
"Dong dong dong..." The rhythm of the drum suddenly changed.
“Kill!” The silver spear soldiers quickened their pace, holding long spears, and rushed forward.
Together with the eight hundred soldiers, they were like two giant hammers, one in front and one in the back, smashing into pieces the tens of thousands of enemy troops that were out of touch and severely deformed.
Shao Xun asked someone to fetch Ma Shu, he was going to activate Wushuang.
Tang Jian hurriedly led people to stop him and said: "Your Majesty, the victory has been determined, why take the risk personally? On the battlefield, swords and guns have no eyesight, even a single arrow will kill people. Your Majesty is responsible for everyone. You must not lose your hope."
Shao Xun pulled the horse's rein but did not pull.
Tang Jian looked at him stubbornly and refused to let go.
"That's it." Shao Xun looked forward and sighed.
The three thousand silver spear troops have severely damaged the enemy's formation, and countless people have collapsed.
Behind the enemy lines, the noise was getting louder and louder, and a large number of soldiers were already leaving the battlefield and fleeing for their lives.
This battle is indeed won.
And he also tested the strength of the thieves - the standard bandit level.
"Send an order to Wang Chan and lead the auxiliary troops to pursue. Remember, chase in a column, with a limit of three hundred steps. You can only pursue after the entire team." Shao Xun dismounted and ordered.
"Promise." Soon a messenger came to deliver the order.
Shao Xun led the horse and wandered behind the formation.
The current battlefield is like a fog.
There may be more than 100,000 thieves marching along various routes like headless flies.
He must urgently find out where Wang Mi is. He cannot let the small fish in the periphery block his sight and let the big fish go.
Wang Mi cannot effectively control so many troops, but this also gives him natural cover, which is really ironic.
(End of this chapter)