On the seventh night of the siege of Wen'an Yi City, the city was brightly lit.
The pale moonlight shone on the earth, and Aimu stood at the top of the city, looking back at the busy city.
Tongbao was distributed one by one, bags of soil were placed in the city gate, and the remaining dry food was distributed to everyone.
The sergeants were removing the horseshoes and wrapping them in cloth. The animals were blindfolded and the bridles were tightened to prevent the horses from making any sound.
A waist knife and spearhead smeared with pot bottom ash were placed on the street. The sergeants covered their noses and scratched the golden juice with the blade of the weapon.
They want to break out.
Ai Huaiguang said on the city: "Father, the bonfire is dimmed."
He was talking about the bonfire outside the city. Every evening, bandits outside the city would light a bonfire fifty steps outside the city.
The bonfire was replenished three times a night, and there was nearly a quarter of an hour before each addition. The fire was dim and it was difficult to see the city gate.
"Call the whole army to be silent and open the city gates."
Aimu knew that the bandit leader outside the city was waiting for him to fire a cannon. Firing a cannon meant that there was not much food and grass, and he no longer needed to cherish gunpowder, so he could only prepare to break out.
So he never fired.
In fact, the best direction to break out is to the west of the city, but the stone bridge over the moat is too loud when the horses step on it.
Once blocked there, they couldn't attack quickly.
These fortifications sometimes made it difficult to break through.
Therefore, the only direction to break out of the encirclement is to the east of the city where Gao Xian's left post was stationed.
A subtle creak echoed in the city gate, and the two heavy city gates slowly opened. The officers and soldiers stood in the city gate, looking at the brightly lit bandit camp on the other side of the river, not daring to leave the air.
After a moment of pause, there was no movement in the camp.
Groups of officers and soldiers marched slowly along the south wall of the post city according to prior arrangements.
The leading troops have arrived under the southeast corner tower. The troops behind have not yet come out of the city. Groups of officers and soldiers are stopping under the corner tower.
In the darkness, few people could see in the distance. They were walking next to each other and horses next to each other, making no sound.
Firewood was added to the bonfire pile at the west corner of the city, and then one bonfire pile after another illuminated the outside of the city as bright as day.
The last thing Aimu wanted to see happened, and the troops still in the city stopped dispatching.
Not long after, the voice of his subordinate Qian Zong came from the corner tower: "General, please break out of the encirclement. I humiliate myself on the city to cut off the general's rear."
"Come down quickly, come down!"
There was no response from the city, but someone lit a torch on the gate tower of the south gate.
Aimu said no more and led more than a thousand of his men to the east in the dark.
Soon we arrived at the first trench. Bags of soil filled the passage, and people and horses passed by.
Just as the troops were halfway through the march, someone missed the mark and fell into the trench with wooden stakes. Although the man did not scream, the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground still alerted the thief sentries not far away.
The voices got closer and closer, and they began to walk quickly.
The second trench had just filled a three-foot-wide path. Not far away, a bandit soldier looked over with a torch and fired a few arrows.
"The officers and soldiers break out!"
Screams pierced the silence of the night.
The entire camp in the east of the city was in chaos. The thieves were putting on their armor and mounting their horses. Some of them were pulled out to check the defense line before their armor was fully dressed.
All flags were ineffective in the dark night, and Ai Huaiguang blew a low horn.
Suddenly, one team after another crossed the two trenches that had not been completely filled, gathered for a while, and turned to attack eastward.
Gao Xian, who was sitting in the tent, was awakened by the sound of the trumpet. He opened his eyes suddenly, stood up with the sound of armor plates colliding all over his body, moved his paralyzed legs, and bumped into his subordinates who hurriedly came to report the news.
"Sergeant, the officers and soldiers have already passed the second trench!"
Gao Xian was not panicked. They all knew that the army would definitely break out of Dongcheng, and the day of the breakout was getting closer, so they had already made full psychological preparations.
Gao Xian even breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the news about the army's breakout.
These seven days and nights were not easy for the defenders in the city, and neither were his subordinates.
As the main defense line to prevent the army from breaking out, one team of people did not disarm every night for the first three days; starting from the fourth day, two teams did not disarm, and starting from last night, three teams did not disarm.
There is no such thing as a thief in this world.
That is to say, thanks to the lack of food and grass for the army, otherwise all their soldiers would have to be on alert in two days. Such a defense would put too much pressure on their physical and mental strength.
He said: "Instruct the two teams on the left and right to set up wooden bridges to surround the enemy's rear, and the two teams at the center and rear are to put up armor."
There was no need to inform the front team. His sentry troops were divided into five teams and their camps were rotated every day. The location of the front team's camp was right on the edge of the second trench.
This meeting should have already started fighting with the army.
Sure enough, at this moment, the sound of the Pearl Cannon was heard in the distance.
The direction of the bright artillery fire was the direction of the army's attack.
Under the night, fighting began on the edge of the two trenches.
Even with the bullet in his mouth, he couldn't stop the wood thorns from penetrating his feet. When the screams sounded, the musketeers outside the left sentry barracks fired in the direction of the screams.
Then the war horses fell, and the army infantry came at them with their sabers smeared with pot bottom ashes. Small teams attacked eastward under the cover of darkness.
The sound of fighting awakened the entire siege camp.
Liu Chengzong, like Gao Xian, was sleeping in his tent while wearing armor. He was suddenly awakened by the sound of cannons and shouts of killing. He immediately rushed out of the central military tent and shouted: "Send an order to the west, don't move!"
A large army gathered in the camp south of the city. All the troops were awakened and gathered their men under the orders of their respective leaders.
The first person to come to report was the cavalry led by Zhong Bao, and then Yang Yao himself galloped over to inquire about the order.
Liu Chengzong looked at the brightly lit city head, took up his telescope and looked at the city, and said: "There are still people on the city. The high sentry commander may not be able to stop everyone. The high sentry commander may not be able to stop them all. The high sentry commander Yang led the horsemen to the east to intercept five miles away. Officers and soldiers.”
Later, Cao Yao and Feng Rui came together to reorganize the sergeants. Liu Chengzong assigned Feng Rui to lead his troops to assist Gao Xian, leaving Cao Yao's artillery post in the army.
It was dark outside the city, and the artillery fire from the artillery posts was scattered. It might be more painful to hit one's own family than to hit the enemy.
"Hold the Chinese army and don't let them break out from here, Feng Yu!" Liu Chengzong stepped forward to stop Feng Yu who was about to set off, and said: "Tell your people, once we catch up with the enemy, after the battle, shout, Aimu Those who are already dead will not be killed!"
Feng Lun was stunned for a moment when he heard the order, then nodded heavily: "General, don't worry, I understand, force Aimu out."
He remembered the night when Lu Cheng was killed in Yanshuiguan. Lu Cheng was originally not going to die, but in order to prevent his soldiers from dispersing, he burned flags as lanterns, and then he was bombarded several times, and died from injuries caused by wood splinters.
The battlefield east of the city was in chaos.
Only about 400 of the more than 1,000 officers and soldiers crossed the second trench. The remaining officers and soldiers were crowded on the west side of the trench. Several people slipped and fell into the trench and were stabbed to death. Those behind them did not dare to move forward.
It took them a long time to regroup and find the earth bridge that the former army had filled in the trench. However, after crossing the second trench, the environment was completely different.
There were wailing soldiers everywhere. After the second trench, wooden thorns and caltrops were scattered all over the ground, and even some iron caltrops were mixed in.
The most irritating thing is that these iron caltrops came from the baggage of the north and south departments outside Yicheng, but now they are used to pierce their own people.
Even though they had boosted their morale over and over again before breaking out, could they really wait until now and be crippled by an iron caltrop at any time in the dark night?
The soldiers behind were advancing on the west side of the trench, but the soldiers in front were crowded on the east side of the trench and did not dare to move forward.
The entire breakout team was divided into three sections.
But the battle of Gao Xianbu was not easy.
He has too few people.
There were only about 80 people in the front team who were the first to enter the battlefield. After firing a cannon, the cavalry team, which attracted the officers and soldiers to break out, attacked from the flank and divided the team into several sections.
Then several army infantry teams that broke through the encirclement rushed forward and were beaten so that they no longer dared to defend.
Fortunately, they still had the two insurances of fighting auxiliaries under the formation of the brigade. After being cut up, the squads could still maintain some organization and retreated to the rear camp one after another.
The defense was immediately taken over by the middle and rear teams led by Gao Xian himself, who relied on the camp fortifications to continue blocking the government's breakout troops.
The battle here is much easier, because there is a bonfire outside the camp, and there is some light, so people are not so afraid.
However, the low visibility still created opportunities for the officers and soldiers to appear elusively. They rode in groups, rushing out from the left, then from the right, and causing great damage to the soldiers of the Gaoxian Department. pressure.
Gao Xian's division of troops into five teams also worked. The left and right teams stayed away from the battlefield and outflanked them.
They knew where there were caltrops on the battlefield and where there were none. They quickly passed through the gaps in the defenses, moved to the north and south sides of the two trenches, and gathered in the middle, trying to cut off the enemy from the middle.
However, they did not expect the scale of the officers and soldiers being frightened by the iron caltrops.
The two teams could not see clearly in the dark. They saw a few officers and soldiers from a distance in the south and north, so they pressed and attacked with the force of a double team.
When they got closer, they discovered that hundreds of people were blocking both sides of the trench. It was already too late to retreat and they had no choice but to fight forward.
In the darkness, people did not dare to break up the battle line and fought very restrainedly, but the close combat was particularly fierce. Sometimes they would yell at each other in Guanzhong dialect and Shanbei dialect, and sometimes they would distinguish between ourselves and the enemy by the light of their swords.
Most of the time, people are silent, and they stab each other with their swords when they hear voices with different accents beside them.
Soon, Feng Ru's troops crossed the dry riverbed of Wen'anyi River, arrived at the battlefield from the gap between the two trenches, and joined the melee.
Immediately, Feng Rubu's cry sounded on the battlefield: "Ai Mu is dead, and those who surrender will not be killed!"
Shouts were heard one after another on the battlefield, not only from the Lion Battalion War Auxiliary Soldiers, but also from some Guanzhong soldiers.
The officers and soldiers who were still trapped behind a trench began to retreat towards Yicheng. The officers and soldiers caught between the two trenches laid down their weapons and surrendered in large areas.
The artillery on Wen'an Yi City also rang at this time.
They were shooting at Feng Yu's troops, small-caliber solid bullets and loose particles passing through the air, pouring iron into every inch of ground between the trenches.
Then the red barbarian cannon that Cao Yao had been waiting for for a long time in the south of the city also fired. Not only the red barbarian cannon, but also the general cannon and the Franco machine.
During the seven-day siege of the city, the artillery fire from both sides had never been as full as it was tonight.
The southeast corner tower of Yicheng was broken by the beams and columns during the third salvo of artillery, and the entire building collapsed.
The four artillery pieces placed in the southeast also misfired.
Wang Wenxiu immediately led his troops across the river and pressed straight towards the south gate, cutting off the retreat of the officers and soldiers who wanted to escape back to the city. Cao Yao's musketeers also pressed forward, and under the protection of sword and shield men, shot at the defenders on the city.
Seeing that the retreat was cut off and there was no follow-up support from the officers and soldiers, the cavalry soldiers who broke through Gaoxian's front no longer wanted to fight and broke out to the east one after another.
The infantrymen who were left behind by the horsemen and generals were still locked in a bitter battle. They could only watch as more and more enemy troops holding up torches surrounded them.
Liu Chengzong was sitting on a stone on the Zhongjun Mountain, looking at the battlefield. He had never heard so many shrill screams hitting his ears.
Soon, a horse and infantryman who came to report the news gathered at the foot of Tushan and reported the results of the battles of each department.
"The artillery posts and rear posts are fighting the enemy. There are at least 200 defenders on the city. Please use the ladder."
Two ladders were sent to the battlefield, and Wang Wenxiu's troops immediately began to attack Yicheng.
"General, dozens of cavalry broke out from the east of the city. The remaining officers and soldiers have laid down their weapons and surrendered." The horse soldiers of Gao Xian's department reported with shame: "The commander of the high sentry said that it seems that the enemy general is in the cavalry."
Aimu ran away?
Liu Chengzong took a deep breath: "Go and tell Commander Gao that Ai Mu can't escape. Commander Yang is already cutting off their retreat."
Feng Lun's soldiers came over and said with joy: "General, the enemy has captured all the prisoners in the middle of the second trench, and the casualties and prisoners are being counted."
The two trenches and the iron caltrops of the officers and soldiers made the night breakout a disaster.
Liu Chengzong held a bunch of caltrops in his hand and looked at it again and again. He shook his head and said to his left and right, "This thing is really precious."
He couldn't imagine what this battle would look like if his troops arrived one day late.
In the baggage of the officers and soldiers, there is this strange thing with four cast iron curved thorns welded together and a small hole in the middle. They are strung together with ropes and thrown into the ground to form a line of defense.
He didn't even need to look with his eyes to know that most of the wails on the battlefield were created by this thing.
Wang Wenxiu quickly climbed to the top of the city to take position, and then more and more sentry soldiers climbed to the top of the city, occupied the city wall, and advanced further into the city.
The battle outside the city is over.
The casualties of each unit were quickly calculated. The Gaoxian Division bore the brunt and suffered huge casualties of more than a hundred people.
Feng Yu's troops were bombarded by artillery fire from the city's Shangguan troops. Thirty-two people were temporarily killed, and a dozen more were seriously injured and might not be able to be saved.
However, only five people of Feng Yu's tribe were killed in the battle, and most of the others were slightly injured. They then sent out personnel to guard the prisoners, and then led people into the city to further clear out the enemy troops.
The soldiers counted the corpses and finally gathered them into the Chinese army. One hundred and two people of the Lion Battalion were killed and 97 were seriously injured in this breakout battle between the officers and soldiers.
The corpses of the officers and soldiers were also counted, and only 131 people died.
But there were too many injured officers and soldiers. There were a total of 300 officers and soldiers who lost their combat effectiveness, and more than 200 of them stepped on caltrops during the breakout.
Liu Chengzong ordered his subordinates to take back all the caltrops. These items were specially loaded into two carts and would be used in the future.
In the early morning, when the sky was dark, there were still occasional screams in the city.
Yang Yao led his troops back through the morning dew and brought back a corpse. He clasped his fists and said, "General, Ai Mu still ran away. After the general died in the battle, it was his son Ai Huaiguang."
Liu Chengzong lifted the flag covering the corpse, closed the young man's angry eyes, and nodded slowly.
"He is the hope of Ming Dynasty, so bury him properly."
