Chapter 181: Escape
There were less than a thousand soldiers on the south wall, and there were far fewer men. Therefore, Niu Youtian only deployed two military camps in the south of the city to block the gate. After Zhang Hu came back, he also designated the west of the city as the main attack direction, but moved three more Qian Fubing went to the south gate to build fortifications. There were a lot of flags planted, and the momentum was not small. In fact, everyone knew that these tricks could not fool the defenders at all - the high city wall had an unparalleled visual advantage, and it was easy to see where the main attack was and where the diversionary coordination was. The original intention of Zhang Hu and others was that the defenders had better escape from the east. The south wall was just a showpiece, and it was impossible for the defenders to attack from here. If this was really the case, then they could not ask for more: as long as the two battalions were auxiliary troops With their cooperation, it took a while for Zhang Hu to lead the main force to kill him in less than half an hour!
But... deserters are all over the mountains and fields, and smoke is rising from the camp in the distance. What is going on?
If it were a counterattack by the South Gate defenders... Let’s not talk about how the city’s communists deployed their troops. The west wall had been fighting in full swing since early in the morning and it was impossible to divide the troops - the south side had obviously started a coordinated feint attack at the same time! Even if the dog officers and soldiers went crazy and opened the door to counterattack, the sons and daughters would definitely send people over to deliver messages while resisting. Zhang Hu has personally seen that many fortifications have been built less than a mile away from the south wall. If there are fewer officers and soldiers to counterattack, they will die. Even if one or two thousand, no, two or three thousand come out, he can go into battle with more than four thousand. , no matter how bad it is, the dog officers and soldiers can be firmly restrained in front of the fortifications. How could they be defeated all at once and collapse without any warning?
The old camp base of the army is located in Xinghua Camp. Several Sichuan military camps had just returned and were still resting in the old camp to recover their strength. Fang Ge himself brought his personal guards over to guide the Buyin Gate Formation. The situation was urgent. Zhang Hu hurriedly asked Fang Ge to go back and assemble the army to prepare for war. At the same time, he directed the auxiliary soldiers to pull out several lines of defense against horses, and put all the reserves in his hands into a square formation as thick as possible behind the defense line: Once the broken troops have passed by, the phalanx can be slightly expanded to the two wings and then can move up to meet the pursuing troops.
At this time, the guys who were fighting for their lives with the Western Wall also noticed the fugitives coming from the southwest corner. Everyone, including the soldiers, stopped attacking. Officers at all levels loudly ordered to shrink the front and march towards the headquarters. The command to come closer.
The army was defeated like a mountain.
The crowd was getting closer and closer, and the flying dust in the distance obscured the entire field of vision. It was impossible to clearly see how many pursuing officers and soldiers were there. Even if the morale is high and there are no sluggish field fortifications, it is impossible to stop tens of thousands of people rushing to flee with just a few sparse and thin resistance horses and existing troops. Moreover, more than half of the soldiers are scattered in front of the city with the auxiliary troops. They were supervising the people's siege of the city - the soldiers and auxiliary soldiers began to move closer to each other and return to defense under the orders of the officers. The tens of thousands of people who were forced to attack the city by their steel knives finally saw the people who had escaped. With a glimmer of life, he scrambled to escape in the opposite direction. Many people fled to the bank of the Yellow River in the north. More people threw down the sticks and ladders in their hands and ran towards the west wall with their hands open and crying. When they reached the edge of the trench, they kowtowed to the ground and let the arrows of the defenders on the wall go. The people around him fell over and stopped getting up. They loudly expressed their misfortunes and grievances with tears in their eyes.
"Brother Tiger, it's choking enough to withstand it, retreat." Niu Youtian leaned towards him and said anxiously.
Of course Zhang Hu was not willing to give in. Therefore, he ignored Niu Youtian, clamped his legs on the horse's belly, and rushed towards the attacking troops that were slowly retreating towards him. He repeatedly gestured and shouted orders to the officers, asking them to lead the troops to turn south and go against the defeated friendly forces. Go up, resist the pursuers behind, and buy yourself some time - as long as Lao Fang can lead his team to arrive in time, together with the reserve team in his and Niu Youtian's hands, there will be at least five to six thousand soldiers with good physical strength to assist. There are more than 10,000 soldiers. As long as the front can hold on for a while, when these new forces come up, it is still unclear who will win!
In terms of accuracy and ease of use, the crossbow is much better than the bow and arrow. After only a few days of practicing bow and arrow, even a newcomer may not be able to guarantee that the arrow will hit the target, and Li Jinzhu has already shot two more thieves today. There were surging heads in front of him, but Jin Zhu was just looking around with his crossbow in half, and he didn't have the shooting enthusiasm of the archers at all. Because he was born into a military family, Li Jinzhu's destiny was to serve as a soldier. He said he was a soldier, but in fact he was working as a coolie in the military camp of Xuanwuwei. Hearing that there were thieves coming to kill him, the officer thrust a knife into his hand, and Jin Zhu became a glorious Ming sword and shield soldier. After playing with the crossbow for a few days by mistake, Jin Zhu felt a sense of professional pride in his heart: it was troublesome to cock and aim, and he was reluctant to waste precious shooting opportunities on civilians who were not a threat. For our crossbowmen, it's best to pick an enemy general with a tassel on his helmet. Even if it doesn't work, we have to bring down an armored or unarmored target? Haha, archers only call those targets - for us crossbowmen, that is air!
A dozen enemy cavalry were galloping towards the west wall, and both guys had tassels on their helmets!
Of course it's difficult to shoot at a target on a running horse, and the distance is a bit further, but that's a thief general with a tassel as tall as a foot, so it's worth a try! Li Jinzhu already knew that when shooting moving targets, he needed to reserve an advance. He leveled the crossbow and held his breath, aiming at a place seven or eight inches in front of the horse's head and pulling the trigger.
The crossbow arrow flew through the air and pierced his left shoulder. Zhang Hu screamed and fell off the horse, with his right foot still stuck in the stirrup. Fortunately, Niu Youtian followed closely and hurriedly pulled the reins of Zhang Hu's mount. If he had been a moment later, his brother Tiger would probably have been dragged to death by his mount at the foot of Kaifeng City. Zhang Jiucheng and another guard rolled to the ground and ran over to help Zhang Hu. Fortunately, Zhang Hu was wearing the mountain pattern armor issued to military generals above the third rank of the Ming Dynasty. The arrow hit exactly two pages. Where the nail plates overlapped, it looked like the arrow could only penetrate the flesh by an inch, so it shouldn't be a serious problem. Zhang Jiucheng said, "Commander, please bear with it." He held the arrow shaft with both hands and broke it with force - this is a standard battlefield arrow injury rescue operation. An arrow shaft that is too long will cause damage to the injured person's movements. Great inconvenience and pain. At the same time, the guards of Second General Zhang Niu tied up their mounts and hid behind their horses. They took off the small bucklers on their backs and stood in front of the three people to provide them with cover. This small group of men and horses attracted the attention of the defenders' archers, and they aimed and shot at them. However, the guards all held their horses in front of them. Only two or three horses were hit by arrows and ran away screaming in pain. No one was hurt. Several people worked together to push Zhang Hu onto the horse again, sandwiched him between the two riders, and ran together toward the old camp in the west.
After all, Li Jinzhu, who is very enlightened, became a monk halfway. The regular crossbowmen of the Ming Dynasty would often hang a leather bag on their waist, put a piece of silk cotton in it, and then add arsenic, dog feces, pig urine, women's menstrual blood... In short, they would add whatever they thought was the most "poisonous", such as crossbow arrows. Before winding the string, dip the arrowhead into it twice - if this is the case, although it may not kill Zhang Hu, the wound infection will definitely suffer a lot.
Several coaches have fled, so why fight? The exhausted attacking troops below the city took advantage of the fact that the defeated troops were still a hundred feet away from them. They no longer had the will to fight and fled in the direction that Marshal Zhang and Deputy Marshal Niu left. The soldiers behind the Juma defense line have seen everything with their eyes. Who is willing to stay here and wait to die? Let out a shout, turn around and run away.
The defenders on the wall could see clearly that there were only three to four thousand of our own pursuers who had turned around the southwest corner of the city, and most of them were unarmored! At this time, Guanhe Tongzhi Sang Yourong (also known as Yaozu), who was in charge of commanding the south wall, ran to the west wall out of breath. Only then did everyone know what had happened.
As usual, early this morning, the thieves on the south wall launched a feint attack at the same time as the cannon fired from the west. Both the offensive and defensive sides fought feebly as if they were just doing an errand, but as they fought, the defenders discovered that a group of troops had quietly sneaked over from the east. Although it was too far to see clearly, judging from the flaming red military flag, it must be reinforcements! The thieves outside the city did not have the advantage of having a view from the wall. They were still unaware until this group of troops sneaked into the area, and they were still shouting and shouting without any effort. In order to attract the attention of the thieves, Sang Yourong and guerrilla Gao Qian concentrated all their firepower and tilted it in front of the city gate, smashing into an open area. Then they risked opening the door, pulling out all the hundreds of people who were taking turns, and laid out He looked like he was going to counterattack. As expected, the thieves were all attracted. Whistle sounds were heard in the bandit formation, and the officers were calling their men to form a formation to intercept. Unexpectedly, the troops that had just formed their formation quickly retreated back before they had even reached the trench. The thieves thought that the defenders were cowardly, so they started to charge. Before they could rush to the trench again, the reinforcements had already arrived at the shacks and camps where all the old and weak family members were left behind, and started killing people and setting fires!
In order to block possible counterattacks by the lagging defenders, the low walls, trenches, and deer villages built by the thief auxiliaries all faced the north and were completely useless at this moment. There were fires and smoke billowing in the lair, and the thieves were rushing to flee. Zhang Hu and several other generals were on the west wall. The two military camps here were already weak, and there were no generals who could control the situation. , people were immediately frightened when they saw that their old home was taken away. The officers shouted at the top of their lungs before gathering some of their men to return reinforcements. Unexpectedly, four hundred defenders took advantage of the situation and rushed out under the leadership of Gao Qian. One of them shouted "defeat" and then blew up the camp. The soldiers were confused. He fled westward with the auxiliary soldiers and family members. In order to further expand the results of the battle, Gao Qian first went south to join the reinforcements, and then went west to pursue and kill the fleeing enemies. Only then did they know that those who were killed were Wei Shengyu, the magistrate of Lanyang (now Lankao), and several county officials from Chenliu, Tongxu, and Qi counties. When the next three county officials were driven out of the county by Fang Ge, they all took one or two hundred officials, Ding Zhuang, with them and ran to Lanyang one after another. At that time, Wei Shengyu was leading the crowd to reinforce the Yellow River embankment. After meeting three colleagues, Wei Zhixian immediately thought that instead of being driven out of the county by the thieves and waiting for the court to judge the crime, it would be better to simply use the excuse of protecting Zhou Wang Qiantai and drag 3,000 migrant workers to Kaifeng to help in the battle - Lanyang was defended but not held. It's a sin, but if we care about the court, we simply don't defend it and take the initiative to protect the prince... That's a great achievement! The high city wall was already in sight. Unexpectedly, the thieves in the east didn't leave any soldiers, so they came all the way. Seeing that the fighting was lively here in Nancheng, the thieves camp was full of old and young thieves and they had no defensive strength, so they simply attacked from behind!
Under normal circumstances, the three thousand civilians of Mr. Wei, let alone two combat battalions and three thousand auxiliary soldiers, even a battalion of five hundred armors could beat them to pieces. However, the morale of the army was in confusion, and they could not see clearly that all those who were being killed were unarmored men. Gao Qian chased Zhang Hu's soldiers from behind, and Zhang Hu's soldiers collapsed without a fight. Got to fail miserably.
How could Yang Zhongguo, who had been holding his breath to kill someone, give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? He must not let the fleeing enemy breathe and regroup. At that moment, he led himself, Mu Dengke and Jiang Shide's 100 bodyguards to chase the enemy. Lieutenant General Yuan Ping, General Wu Yi, guerrilla Zhang Dechang and other infantry soldiers who led the Western Wall also came out.
