Wang Wenzhen stood up and clasped his fists, and then said to everyone very proudly: "This time, our Wangjiazhuang responded to the order of the defense master and mobilized a total of 1,300 troops from all over the place, including more than 800 elite soldiers from Dapanbao. , there are more than a hundred cavalry, and I have also brought hundreds of my own servants, which can be said to be strong. In this battle, all the people from all the households in Wangjiazhuang want to report to the imperial court, to comfort the people, and to share the worries of the defenders!"
But Dai Jingbin sneered and said, "That's nice to say. If Wang Baihu's words are true, he is even stronger than the defense master. Is this a top-heavy situation where the thousands of households in front of Xiahe Village are strong and weak? "
As soon as he finished speaking, Wang Wenzhen said angrily: "I don't think Dai Baihu has brought many soldiers here. Are you planning to kill the bandits single-handedly?"
The flag officer on the side, Jia Hongyu, said angrily: "Sir, what are you talking about? What kind of person is Dai Baihu? How can he have the ability to go into battle to kill the enemy? In the opinion of my subordinates, Dai Baihu's so-called ability is only here." It’s just a quick tongue.”
Not to be outdone, Dai Jingbin stood up and prepared to have a big fight with Wang Wenzhen and Jia Hongyu.
When the defense officer Zhang Hailin saw this, he was furious. He slammed the table and said loudly: "What are you doing! The war is about to begin. You don't want to focus on fighting the enemy, but you are here tit for tat. Is this an internal strife?"
Wang Wenzhen and Jia Hongyu quickly clasped their fists to apologize, but they still looked at Dai Jingbin with unconvinced eyes. Dai Jingbin did the same and stared back fiercely.
Seeing that both sides were still unconvinced, Zhang Hailin was about to give a lecture to everyone when he saw a small flag officer rushed into the camp in panic and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the scouts have discovered a small group of bandits. To the north of the Ancient Town Inspection Department, it is estimated that the main force of the bandits is not far to the north!"
"What!"
Zhang Hailin was immediately startled. At this time, the sky had darkened, and it would be night soon. At this time, the army of thieves and bandits arrived. Should we fight this battle or not?
Zhang Hailin subconsciously looked at Wang Wenzhen, Liu Yan and others. After all, the Wangjiazhuang Hundred Household Office was the strongest in the army at this time, so he had to seek their opinions.
"Wang Baihu, how do you think we should deal with it now?"
Wang Wenzhen was suddenly asked by Zhang Hailin, and he panicked a little. After all, he did not dare to speak casually with an army of more than 3,000 menacing bandits on the opposite side, so he clasped his fists and said, "Master Qi, in my humble opinion, this It is better to remain unchanged in all times."
Zhang Hailin couldn't help but frown slightly after hearing these ambiguous words, then looked at Liu Yan and asked, "What about Mr. Liu Qi's opinion?"
Liu Yan pondered for a while, then clasped his fists and said: "Master Qi, I think that the bandits will definitely not attack tonight. After all, the bandits are mostly mobs, and they will definitely not be able to attack the camp at night. The fastest is to wait until We won’t attack until daytime tomorrow.”
Zhang Hailin nodded in agreement, and everyone else also agreed.
"Well, go on."
Liu Yan said: "But the fact that the enemy does not attack does not mean that we cannot attack! The bandit army has been looting and attacking everywhere for a long time. Those bandit soldiers must be very tired, so we must not allow the bandit army to camp and rest safely. We must be at the enemy's most dangerous place." When you are tired, give a fatal blow!"
Zhang Hailin's eyebrows almost knitted together and he said, "General Liu Qi means that we are going to send troops to rob the camp tonight? Is that possible?"
Since Liu Yan had made up his mind to win the first victory in this battle, he had to be willing to take the risk, and he had to make a prompt decision and trust his own judgment, so he said: "I ask you to fight, and I will lead you tonight." The officers and soldiers of Dapanbao attacked, and the officers and soldiers of various departments under your command responded later."
Zhang Hailin felt excited when he heard this. He stood up suddenly and took a few steps towards Liu Yan. Then he asked again: "Mr. Liu, are you sure you can succeed?"
Liu Yan said loudly: "My subordinates and the Dapanbao soldiers have put life and death at risk. If this battle does not succeed, I will be benevolent. I will clear the way for you at all costs and defeat the bandit camp in one fell swoop!"
"Good man!"
Zhang Hailin couldn't help but admired, and then adopted Liu Yan's suggestion.
However, Wang Wenzhen and Jia Hongyu next to them had frowning faces. They did not expect Liu Yan to be so radical, and it was too late to dissuade him.
Inspector Song Gongming on the side also looked at Liu Yan with a hint of admiration in his eyes. He didn't expect that Liu Yan was really a well-known man, and he dared to fight such a fierce battle!
Zhang Hailin returned to his seat and said loudly: "Everyone! Since General Liu's subordinates are determined to launch a night attack, I will adopt this plan and use Dapanbao soldiers to attack the bandit camp at night. I will lead the soldiers from various ministries to follow up. , taking the signal that the bandit camp was on fire, I led my troops to follow up and attack. Mr. Liu, what do you think?"
Liu Yan smiled and said: "My lord's deployment is detailed, and my subordinates have no objections."
"Okay! Without further ado, everyone should go back and prepare now. General Liu Qi will be ready to leave in an hour, and the other officers and soldiers will gather in the west of the ancient town inspection castle in an hour, ready to support northward at any time!"
At the same time, Bai Miao led an army of more than 3,000 thieves to the north of the inspection department of the ancient town, stopped on a hill five miles away from the castle, and then began to set up camp.
Bai Dazhuang, the general of the Ministry, led a hundred soldiers and horses from the old battalion of the rebel army to patrol around, urging the reorganized bandits and victims of the uprising to dig trenches, build wooden walls, set up tents, etc.
However, this army of thieves and bandits is, after all, a patchwork of soldiers and horses. Except for the more than 800 soldiers and horses of the old camp of thieves led by Bai Miao and Bai Dazhuang, the rest of the bandits and bandits are basically useless. , no tents, no supplies, and no way to set up camp.
So after all the busy work, the sky was completely dark, and the bandit camp was still in its infancy. There was an intermittent, shallow and sometimes deep trench outside, and inside there was a trench made of branches, stones, and a few large carts. The camp wall basically has no defense.
Moreover, there were not many camps among the bandits. Except for the eight hundred bandit soldiers and horses, the rest of them just dug dens in the ground to keep out the cold. They were miserable and miserable like a large group of wandering disaster victims.
After settling down, Bai Miao patrolled the camp with a frown on his face and said to Bai Dazhuang who was following him: "The current situation is a little different from what I expected."
"General, what do you mean by this? Didn't we successfully reach the Inspection Department of the ancient town? Tomorrow we will break through this place and loot all the money, food and people in the fort. Our troops can at least double, and then we will attack Wangjiazhuang. By going to Dapanbao, the general's intention will be realized, right?"
Bai Miao shook his head and said: "First of all, I didn't expect that the Qianhu Station in front of Xiahe Village would respond so quickly. They would gather people first and arrive at the ancient town. It is estimated that there will be a fierce battle tomorrow, and more than 3,000 of us will definitely There will be a lot of loss.”
"Secondly, look around here."
Bai Dazhuang looked in the direction of Bai Miao's finger and saw that the surrounding camps were not built at all, so he suddenly realized: "The general is worried about this matter. Most of these soldiers are bandits and have no rules."
"The problem lies here. Except for the more than 800 old battalion soldiers in the army, the rest are just a ragtag group that can only fight with the wind. What about the people and horses of the Ming army? If the Ming army can fight better than the soldiers and horses, What should we do if there are too many of us, or the battle will be too fierce tomorrow? What if tonight..."
Having said this, Bai Miao suddenly froze on the spot, and then looked warily towards the dark night to the south, his face becoming very ugly.
"General? What's wrong with you?"
Bai Miao said with a hint of horror in his tone: "If that Liu Yan is really as strong as Sun Qian said, then he will definitely not miss such a good opportunity to attack tonight!"
Bai Dazhuang immediately exclaimed: "Will the Ming army attack at night tonight?"
"Whether it's possible or not, let all the troops assemble immediately..."
Before Bai Miao finished speaking, he saw a burst of neat footsteps coming from the night in the south, as if an army of elves in the dark night were attacking here.
"Enemy attack!"
Bai Miao suddenly roared, shouting in a sharp voice that he could not believe: "Everyone immediately formed a formation and gathered the eight hundred old battalion soldiers in the central army to stand by!"
Bai Dazhuang was also furious at this time, leaving a few guards here to protect him, and then hurriedly ran to mobilize the troops.
Bai Miao stared at the night to the south and murmured: "Liu Yan? Could it be you? Why should such a talented person devote himself to the court? Why can't he follow King Chuang with me and roam the world?"
The words are divided into two parts.
At this time, Liu Yan led the Wu Shao Dun Army to a distance of about a mile south of the bandit camp. The front post led by Chen Xun, the middle post led by Miao Shao, the left post led by Zhang Yi, and the right post led by Wang Bo Lined up, more than 700 soldiers formed a huge horizontal square formation.
More than 280 spearmen and sword and shield bearers were in front, with forests of spears and thick armor, forming an impenetrable line of defense.
Behind them, more than 190 bird gunners followed closely. All the bird guns had been filled and all the match ropes had been lit. Fortunately, there is no strong wind tonight, which ensures that the bird cannon can be fired normally.
Flag officer Xu Ming led the cavalry sentry at the rear of the horizontal formation, waiting for an opportunity to break into the bandit camp.
The messengers from each sentry kept running behind the phalanx, delivering Liu Yan's orders one after another to the various ministries.
"Order the drum and trumpeters of all ministries to blow the trumpets!"
"Order all ministries to speed up the advance and approach the bandit camp as soon as possible!"
"Order the cavalry sentry to be ready. After breaking into the bandits' camp, they will directly kill the Chinese army!"
"After ordering the outpost soldiers to break into the bandit camp, they immediately started setting fire to it."
After the orders were passed on, the low horn sounded immediately, waking up the entire bandit camp.
Liu Yan followed the middle sentry and looked at the panicked bandit camp in front of him. The corners of his mouth could not help but turn up slightly, and he thought to himself: "It seems that the bet is right. Although this group of bandits is huge, they are still a bunch of mobs." !”
It stands to reason that when Liu Yan led his troops to advance to this distance, the ordinary enemy troops should have fired arrows to stop the enemy, or they would have sent out a small group of troops to block the attack, buying time for the main army to assemble and change formations.
But now there is only panic in the bandit camp. With the help of the bonfire, you can see the crowds running around, and there is no enemy force to counterattack or block at all. This situation makes Liu Yan's heart calm down.
Liu Yan felt at ease here, but Bai Miao had his heart in his throat.
At this time, Bai Miao had returned to the Chinese army, but in the entire camp, the only soldiers and horses that had actually assembled were the more than 800 old battalions under his own command. The remaining more than 2,000 people were directly attacked by the Ming army. The camp was blown up!
Bai Dazhuang rushed back panting, clasped his fists and said, "General, why don't I lead my subordinates to lead the old camp brothers to protect you and fight out!"
Bai Miao thought for a moment, then suddenly laughed and said, "I won't leave! Isn't such a battle exactly what I expected? Fight! I want to see how capable this Ming army is."
"But what to do with those defeated troops?"
"do not care!"
Bai Miao said nonchalantly: "As long as we defeat this Ming army, the Qianhu House in front of Xiahe Village will be our world, and we can pull it back with as many troops as we can."
