Luo Rucai stood in front of the formation with a pale complexion.
His head was tied with a green jade hairpin and a plain cloth bandage, his upper body was covered with dark red silk, and his lower body was wearing thick black satin cotton trousers, which were tied tightly with a jade leather belt. He wore a soap-faced official shoe on his left foot and a muntjac on his right foot. Leather straight seam boots.
At this time, the jade pendant hanging on his body was trembling, and he was trembling from his teeth to the soles of his feet. His left hand was constantly clasping in front of him his right hand and right arm, which was wearing three gold, silver, and copper rings, and he stared nervously. Big eyes, staring straight ahead.
In the distance, across the golden field of millet, the officers and soldiers were silently moving back and forth in formation.
Luo Rucai robbed countless wealthy landlords and attacked several Tuwei compounds, but he never fought against the border troops.
Although he frantically collected all the information about the officers and soldiers, the officers and soldiers in his imagination were still different from what he saw with his own eyes.
He knew everyone behind him was terrified.
Whether it was the pot-bellied ghosts who were destined to die within a few days or the desperadoes who followed him to plunder and wear silk and satin everywhere, they must be as scared as he was.
A heart trembled in the empty chest, and no one could control this fear.
People haven't run away yet simply because he is standing alone at the front of the line.
Looking at the left and right, the left side is the Chuangtaotian Department, and the right side is the Shetaotian Department.
The two bandit soldiers were not far from him and formed a square formation. The leaders were surrounded by strong soldiers holding bows and swords in the middle of the team.
In front of them were small flag officers and smaller fire gunmen, holding single-eye and three-eye fire guns made by Yishui Yan'an Guards in their hands.
It's not that the firecrackers were weak, but that they used the firecrackers because of their weak strength under the command of instructor Liu Ying.
At this time, the two teams had begun to mobilize before the war. The soldiers shouted in unison, which made Luo Rucai confused and felt that he should say something to his subordinates.
The friendly forces on the side were extremely weak, but they could still calm Luo Rucai's nervousness slightly.
He turned around, raised his thumbs and said with a smile: "Those two bastards were so shameless that they almost climbed up the city wall and turned a corner, and they actually hid behind the soldiers."
Looking past the heavy gun formations of the hungry people, Luo Rucai looked at the cavalry wandering behind, gritted his teeth, suddenly pulled off the jade pendant from his waist and threw it on the ground, smiling at his subordinates: "Are you all scared? It's okay, just listen to me. , it is your fate whether you die or not, you can't hide from me, I am standing at the front, the cannons from the army are coming, if you want to die, I will die first."
"What's wrong with death in this world? Look at your virtues. You don't even have armor. If you don't die today, you will die tomorrow."
"Let's stand here for a while. The officers and soldiers will not move forward. When we return to the camp tonight, Mr. Liu will give fifty collars to the cloth-covered iron armor. The officers and soldiers will move forward. My uncle will lead you after I die. My uncle is also dead. , Yang Chengzu will take you, have a meal of cannonballs, and Mr. Liu will give you a hundred pieces of cloth-faced armor."
"Your parents, wives, and children have all been sent away. Today I will take you to stand here. The crossbowman will take aim later. Don't shoot at me. If God wants to take it away, let it take me away. God Before you accept me, start with yourself and kill whoever runs away! Okay, everyone, sit down."
In fact, Luo Rucai's order to kill whoever ran away was basically useless to his subordinates.
The hungry people in his formation could hardly stand even with their big guns, and couldn't run even if they wanted to.
Not to mention that there are quite a number of people among them, all of them have bulging bellies and look like they have eaten too much Guanyin soil. They may die standing still.
It's easier to let them sit still than to run away.
With a cry of "Everybody sit down", a large group of people sat down with a crash.
At this moment, there was a bang and the cannon from the opposite side fired.
Three heavy artillery bombardments.
A solid iron bullet screamed and whizzed past Luo Rucai, breaking three long spears and knocking the gun-wielding hungry civilians who had just sat down, rolling over. Then it landed behind the formation and raised a piece of soil, which bounced up again. After sweeping back more than ten steps, we sank into the yellow earth.
Liu Chengzong was holding a telescope on the mountain ridge and could see clearly. He praised Cao Yao: "The officers and soldiers fired artillery, and there was chaos on the left and right. The officers were maintaining their formations, but only the Chinese army was not in chaos... Cao Cao didn't even look back, he was ruthless People!"
After that, he handed the telescope to Cao Yao. Cao Yao praised it repeatedly after looking at it.
It was still the low magnification of telescopes these days that prevented him from seeing that the soldiers in the Chinese army were crouching and shaking with their heads in their hands, nor could he see the expression on Luo Rucai's face.
It's one thing to be prepared for death, knowing that you're going to die sooner or later, but it's another thing to be afraid when it happens.
Luo Rucai didn't even look back, he wanted to look back.
But his legs were so weak that even after turning halfway, his legs felt so weak that he just wanted to kneel down. He couldn't turn back.
I had heard about artillery countless times before, but it was really scary to be hit by artillery for the first time.
The iron ball as big as a fist passed by with a swishing sound, and the loess was compacted when it hit the ground. How could it hit someone?
But Luo Rucai still stood.
My legs are weak because I am afraid. I am indeed afraid, but kneeling down is because I am giving in.
Fear is an uncontrollable nature, cowardice is a personal choice.
So he pulled out the knife, held it on the handle with both hands, and said with a trembling voice: "Look up, I'm still standing!"
There was another bang from behind, and he was so frightened that he shrugged his shoulders. The shell ran through the formation, smashed his shoulder and bounced onto another head. It smashed the head like a walnut and splashed blood, and finally drilled into the person. The last desperado in the team was beaten until his chest was dented.
The hungry people with their shoulders smashed fell to the ground in the formation and screamed. The hungry people around them used their hands and feet to squeeze away from the surroundings as if they were avoiding the plague. Finally, someone couldn't stand the pressure, shouted and pushed away the crowd from the formation and ran back.
Luo Rucai didn't know where the strength came from, but suddenly her legs felt strong and she shouted: "Come back, come back!"
Seeing his subordinates standing up and running back one after another, he pulled out his bow and arrow as if to shoot, which stopped the formation from collapsing.
The three people who escaped did not go far. They only ran a dozen steps before slowly retreating.
The widest part of the river valley was only 800 paces wide. Yang Yao carried Marshal Ma's flag and his troops on horseback spread out across the line to a width of 300 paces. They had nowhere to run.
However, although Luo Rucai's troops had the worst combat effectiveness and the weakest fighting will, they were the best performing team in the eyes of Liu Chengzong and Li Bei on the other side.
People in Liu Guoneng's formation began to run away from the sound of cannon fire. Not a single cannonball fell in his formation, but more than 30 people ran away from the team.
Li Wanqing's side took a hit, but there was no mass escape, but there was confusion for a while, as if the sergeants were trying to persuade Li Wanqing to retreat.
Only Luo Ru was like this. People who really wanted to run didn't have the energy to run, so they ended up running away.
Liu Chengzong on the hillside scanned the three formations with his binoculars. The situation was much better than he imagined, and then looked at the enemy formation.
The officers and soldiers formed a unilateral formation in front, with horsemen, vehicles and officers lining up in formation with flags raised. The infantry dug trenches on the four sides and placed four small cannons on each side.
Later, the Chinese army's formation was carrying wooden fence ropes and digging trenches outside the formation. Four thousand-pound Franchise machines were placed on all sides of the Chinese army. Three heavy cannons mounted on two-wheeled artillery carts in front were loaded with gunpowder.
It seemed that Li Bei was in no rush to fight.
Liu Chengzong put down the telescope and asked his brother: "Brother, how many people did Li Bei have when he sent a message to the king?"
"Three commanders, the casualties in the battle are limited, maybe one thousand two three."
"I remember King Chuang said that there are still civilian men recruited from Yanchuan to drag the artillery team and transport the baggage. There should be at least 1,800 people there. There are only 1,340 people there now."
Liu Chengzu frowned when he heard this, then raised his arm and pointed to the mountain in the southeast and said: "Is it possible that the civilians are on the other side of the mountain, and the army formation opposite is full of sergeants?"
Liu Chengzong shook his head, handed over the telescope and said: "You will understand after you look at it. There are civilians without armor mixed in. Li Bei divided his troops."
Liu Chengzu was shocked when he found the telescope.
It is difficult to see the clues when watching the battle normally, but with the help of equipment, it is easy to see clearly the situation of the soldiers in Li Bei's formation. There are many civilians without armor in the two square formations.
Liu Chengzu understood this kind of thing at a glance: "There are three generals of cavalry and less than two generals of infantry. Lion, please send a message to Panlongchuan. Li Bei has a general to chase Gao Chuangwang's troops." The infantry went."
The terrain here is very simple. The official road follows the river valley from south to north, passes through the river meander, and goes west to Ganguyi to Panlongchuan.
There is another road in the mountains. It is difficult to navigate through the mountains and ridges. Only infantry can pass through it. It also has to take a long detour. Finally, you will see the exit in the southern mountains where Panlong River merges into Yanhe River.
Gao Yingxiang's infantry took that road, abandoning their mules and horses to carry food on their backs, and took a difficult road in an attempt to avoid Li Bei's troops.
At this moment, Li Bei's three troops were missing someone in command, so there was only one possibility. There was someone in Li Bei's team who was familiar with the terrain. The large army was stalling here while the small army entered the mountains.
"Wei Qian'er, please quickly send someone along the official road to send a message to Panlongchuan. The people of Shangtianhou are resting there. Ask him to be on guard on the mountain road to the south to meet Chuang Wang's people. The enemy may have 500 infantry. "
But this was just a guess. Wei Qian'er received the order and was about to leave when he was stopped by Liu Chengzong and said, "Tangqi went to explore the mountains of Hexi."
One of Li Bei's troops jumped to the outside and disappeared within their sight, which undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on Liu Chengzong.
No one can guarantee what the mission of that unit will be.
Li Bei was more ambitious and pursued the infantry of the Chuang tribe to seize the baggage, surrounded the two tribes of Hequ, and pinned them in the river valley.
It is possible for Li Bei to be cautious and give up the pursuit of Chuangbu, and directly lurk in the mountains to the west of Hequ, waiting for the opportunity to cooperate with the main force to attack them.
This is not the first big battle that Liu Chengzong and others have participated in. In the past, they had various missions, some were grassroots captains, and some were the most dangerous forwards.
But that was all partial. This was the first battle in which they truly stood on the overall situation and personally directed the battle.
"If I can survive this battle, I will create a team of messengers when I go back."
Liu Chengzong shook his head and said to his left and right: "We have the same armor as the army, and the flags are very simple. There are only a few thousand people in front and behind us. The orders of each formation all run on two legs. If Li Bei's people are hiding in the mountains, they will ride alone." Sneak in and run to the front line, believe it or not, we can lose with just one word."
It's very simple. All you need is a cavalryman, run to Liu Guoneng, Li Wanqing, and Luo Rucai for a while, and shout, "General, order to retreat." '
They don't have to play anymore.
Liu Chengzong sighed. This battle has just begun. The biggest feeling for him is that his soft power is insufficient, and all tactics and strategies are based on strength.
Li Bei's three heavy artillery fired two more rounds. After the initial fear, the soldiers on the left and right sides had adapted to this less intensive bombardment.
The two parties had different information, which caused a slight misunderstanding for Li Bei.
Luo Rucai, who was in the Chinese Army Formation, strongly agreed with Li Bei's impression of the elite bandits.
In front of the formation, they were dressed in colorful clothes and sat on the ground. The entire formation was very strict, with the leader standing straight in front of them, and the whole situation was chaotic and unyielding.
Aren't these the elite thieves?
On the other hand, the two formations on the left and right, wearing the bubble nail armor of the Guards Flag Army, looked like they were in disarray after a slight shelling. It was only by the motionlessness of the central army that they could stabilize the formation.
Therefore, two rounds of bombardment were carried out with six shells. The first time was evenly hit by rain and dew, and the second time three heavy artillery pieces concentrated fire on Luo Rucai's troops.
The two shells that hit once again plowed a bloody path in the formation. Just four shells in succession had directly caused sixteen casualties to Luo Rucai's troops.
It even frightened Luo Rucai, who had been hit the most in front of the battle, to wet his pants.
I peed a little and held it in.
He was still standing with his back to the enemy. The sword stuck on the ground could no longer hold him up and was replaced with a spear.
On the other side of Mizi Field, on the earth mountain piled up by digging trenches, Li Bei looked at the figure standing in front of the battle with a spear from a distance, and sighed: "Let the artillery stop, there is not much gunpowder, and three cannons alone will be very powerful." It’s hard to impress them.”
In his mind, if the central army cannot be defeated, it will be difficult for the two wings to retreat directly.
But if he advances further and reaches a position where the four Fran cannons can focus fire, his troops will be bombarded by the enemy's position on the hilltop.
This is really a beautiful misunderstanding.
In fact, Liu Guoneng and Li Wanqing on the left and right sides showed their high morale and courage.
"Why did you stop running?"
Luo Rucai breathed a sigh of relief when the army stopped shelling, but at the same time he began to be afraid.
He was worried about the army's advance.
During these four rounds of shelling, more than a dozen of the hungry and hungry people under his command had run out of energy.
There are almost more people who were beaten to death than those who were shot to death.
He is not afraid of the officers and soldiers shelling him from afar, but he is really afraid of the officers and soldiers attacking in close combat.
Once the army moves in and the three formations start fighting, half of his men may not be able to stand up.
Fortunately, the officers and soldiers had no plans to march.
Luo Rucai was soaked with sweat so many times today. He took a deep breath and looked up at Mount Jiapao. He felt dizzy and dizzy.
Soon, news came from Wei Qian'er's men. They rode ten miles along the mountain road from the northwest mountain pass and found no trace of the enemy. However, when they climbed to the top of the mountain, there were people waving flags indicating that they had encountered enemies. The number was unknown for the time being.
Immediately afterwards, another rider came to report that on the other side of the mountain, there was indeed a group of officers and soldiers walking to the northwest. When they were discovered, they were crossing the mountain road and only saw more than a hundred people.
Liu Chengzong clapped his hands in front of him: "That's right! Li Bei wants to surround us!"
Gao Yingxiang looked worried and sighed: "I don't know if the Dirty Monkeys can stop them."
"It can't be stopped. There are thousands of monkeys in the sky. King Chuang's cavalry has been fighting for several days. I'm afraid they won't have much strength without their horses. King Chuang has 800 cavalry, three formations outside, and more than 500 people like my brother. Even if Li Bei We can block him even if we advance troops.”
Liu Chengzong weighed the power he had in his mind and took a deep breath: "I'll go, I'll lead the cavalry over, abandon the horses over the mountain and hang them behind this army, and eat them. Looking back, Li Bei's eight hundred people are not good." Deal with it?"
