He Huchen, wearing an oil coat, stood on the ground six miles away from the battlefield and looked out.
The long mountain ridges are covered with forests, and the Huanglong Mountain soaked in mist and rain has lost its roughness and is full of green.
This place used to be a village inhabited by more than a dozen families. Now the residents have retreated, leaving behind devastated ruins. The military tent of the Ningxia General Military Officer is stationed here.
He Huchen should have been closer to the battlefield, but the sudden rain determined the course of the battle.
This is the most suitable place for camping. It is difficult to find higher ground to the west or east.
Two hundred border troops who came from Ningxia were setting up military tents one after another on the ground, setting up awnings with spears and tents, and lighting fires under them.
The water-soaked firewood burned and released huge smoke that rose up on the ground.
When the soldiers fighting at the front returned, this could provide them with clothes to keep warm, and the military tents could also protect them from wind and rain.
He Huchen was a veteran of the frontier army. Although he didn't think Li Laoji could win, he still made two plans.
If the rebel soldiers retreat after the engagement, the Ningxia soldiers will no longer pursue them and return to the camp for repairs.
If you cannot win in a short time, you still have to fight and retreat and return to the camp.
They did not expect it to rain in northern Shaanxi, which has been experiencing severe drought for many years, and the rain gear they brought was insufficient.
Moreover, the terrain of the valley will cause water to accumulate on the roads, and the diarrhea of thousands of soldiers will also become a big problem. The evaporation of water vapor will make many people sick.
The focus of this battle has changed from defeating the enemy to keeping warm to minimize soldier attrition.
In this kind of environment and temperature, even if they don't attack, Li Laojiao will get wet, get sick, or even freeze to death based on Li Lao Jackal's logistics alone.
What is Li Lao Jackal's logistics?
There’s just no logistics.
Counting the time, it's almost time to send back the news of victory.
There seemed to be a gunshot in the valley.
He Huchen frowned. It was six miles away from the front line and it was still raining.
The sound of the Pearl Cannon shouldn't have traveled so far.
The cavalry soldiers passed through the rain curtain, stationed their horses at the foot of the terrace, turned over and knelt down and shouted: "Commander, General God sent a message, the enemy is not Li Laojiao, the men and soldiers are fully prepared, and they are arrayed a hundred steps away from our army, facing each other ten Three shots and no defeat!"
Can you not defeat the thirteen artillery pieces?
The Pearl Cannon is indeed a small cannon. It has a small charge and a light shell. It has a big gun weighing one pound and two taels and twenty small balls weighing one tael each. The barrel is short and the range is short.
The barrel of this thing cannot be made long, and if it is made longer, it will explode.
But small ones are also cannons, and it is no joke to shoot out twenty bullets with one or two bullets. Even a big animal like a horse cannot get up after being shot.
Li Laojiao's thieves are so virtuous and capable, they can fire thirteen cannons.
He Huchen thought to himself: Damn it, didn't he beat Du Wenhuan?
Last year, when he read the newspaper about the fight between Guerrilla Lu Cheng and Yan Shuiguan, he thought they were two incredible fools.
This year it will be your turn and Du Wenhuan's turn to be the big fools?
But then I thought about it and threw the idea out of my mind.
He knew Du Wenhuan, and Mr. Du couldn't fly.
Therefore, it is impossible for the Yulin Army to appear in Huanglong Mountain today.
The only person who will appear on the Huanglong Mountain Road is Liu Chengzong, the giant bandit in northern Shaanxi.
When He Huchen heard the news, instead of being surprised, he became happy.
Liu Shizi's army is called Shiziying, and it is the most capable of fighting among the bandits in northern Shaanxi. Anyone who enters Yan'an Prefecture will be beaten by him.
This matter was well known to all the generals and officials from the three sides of Shaanxi Province. He Huchen had no intention of bypassing this mountain if he dared to enter Yan'an Mansion.
Now that they met, it actually made him feel more relaxed.
He Huchen was very afraid of the Lion Camp.
But what he was afraid of was not Liu Chengzong, but the Shiwanshan Mountains and Plains in northern Shaanxi.
The Lion Battalion was hiding in the dark, taking advantage of the Ningxia soldiers' laxity to make a sudden attack. Even the heavenly soldiers and generals could not stop them.
But He Huchen was not afraid of meeting each other on a narrow road on this mountain road.
They are all frontier troops. It is normal for them to be difficult to win in a short period of time. Just block him. There is no way to escape from here anyway. When Du Wenhuan seals the mountain road from there, everything will be fine.
But it seems that the world is in good luck.
Half a moment later, another scout horse galloped over, and it was the horse soldiers from the second line of defense four miles away.
This time he didn’t even know how to bow down and salute, and reported loudly: “Commander, the second line of defense was broken through by the soldiers of General God! They will collapse immediately!”
"Collapse, collapse?"
Before He Huchen could ask in detail, a chaotic scream could be heard in the distance.
First, two groups of dozens of horsemen came running from the direction of the second line of defense. The captains of the two groups were on horseback and seemed to be quarreling while running. In the blink of an eye, they had rushed to the foot of the flat.
One captain led the cavalry to the ping, while the other group of cavalry continued to gallop westward without even looking at He Huchen.
He Huchen said angrily: "What happened to them?"
The captain who led the troops to the ping did not dare to speak until He Huchen asked the second time, then he raised his head and said: "Commander, the thieves hid a thousand kilograms of artifacts in the formation, and also used Yu Qingyin to send the artillery to the right wing, and fired at the same time from both sides. The generals of the gods were routed and retreated."
"You are not on the second line of defense, so what are you doing here?"
"The second line of defense could not stop us. The young marshal did not expect that the front line would collapse. He hurriedly reorganized his army, but was defeated by the divine general. The young marshal asked me to have two teams of horsemen to protect the marshal."
He Huchen was speechless for a moment.
There were so many questions that he didn't know whether to quarrel with his son first, ask about the military situation first, or ask about the cavalry soldiers who had escaped.
"Should I use protection from behind? What happened to running away that cavalry team?"
The captain of the cavalry took a deep breath and said: "He said that the imperial court still owes last year's military pay, and there is no reason to die here..."
"You idiot, there are enemies on the way back!"
He Huchen cursed harshly and thought that now was not the time to be angry. He quickly pointed to the east and said anxiously: "How about two lines of defense?"
"There was chaos. The front army broke up and broke down the formation. They were crowded at the front. The thieves pursued them with their elite troops. They divided their forces and blocked the soldiers on the two wings on the ridge."
He Huchen took a deep breath and ordered his servants to pass on the order to summon soldiers to support the second line of defense: "They retreat, and the bandits will be in trouble if they pursue them, and they can still turn around!"
Just as the order was given, the cavalry captain said: "Commander, please leave quickly. You can't come back. The thieves and soldiers are not in chaos."
He Huchen was stunned and pursed his lips blankly: "Is it okay?"
"There was no chaos. They were chasing after them with their elites, but the leader of the thieves, who was in a humble position, saw the leader of the thieves. He was very young. He rode a red-haired horse and galloped to the front of the formation to regroup and stop the chaos. Later, the elites were exhausted and withdrew. The entire team of thieves is pressing forward steadily."
"The soldiers of General God..." the cavalry captain sighed: "They were scared to death."
He Huchen watched the soldiers gathering behind him, raised his hand and pointed at the cavalry captain and said: "Go back and pass the order, asking He Jie and He Zan to retreat and re-defense here. Your cavalry will be stationed along the way to guide the broken troops."
Although the battle on the front line was not going well, He Huchen did not lose his courage and would try again.
Without the camp here, he would have had no choice but to lead his troops to retreat westward, but by reorganizing his troops on Pingshang, he could allow the defeated troops to retreat from the official road outside Pingshang to reorganize, and his troops could calmly meet the enemy on Pingshang.
At least the chance of being dispersed by the defeated army is very small.
But the second line of defense collapsed much faster than he imagined.
Half an hour.
After the Hongyi artillery mopped up a group of officers and soldiers to break the formation, it only took Liu Chengzong half an hour to drive the officers and soldiers to advance five miles to the west.
Liu Chengzong had no idea that He Huchen had two lines of defense.
The defense line was directly broken up by the defeated army in the front line.
Liu Chengzong handed the prisoners to Chengyun for custody, sent someone to inform Zhong Hu and Li Laojiao to march, reorganized the team formation, and was delayed for a while.
Wang Wenxiu was chasing the defeated army in front. When he reached the second line of defense, Shen Guangxian's soldiers had already dispersed the line of defense. Only a few dozen people tried to resist, but they could only fight and retreat.
The defensive line was reserved for the evacuation of the former army, and the official road was so narrow. As a result, it was smashed to pieces by the defeated army, and it was impossible to organize effective resistance at all.
Liu Chengzong, who was leading the military formation, was immersed in gathering the prisoners and could not see the defense line at all.
After chasing for nearly five miles, Wang Wenxiu sent someone to report that they had captured a prisoner. The prisoner said that He Huchen's second son, He Zan, was on the second line of defense.
Liu Chengzong gave a high-five and said, "The second line of defense, so what are you waiting for? Go and break his second line of defense!"
"General, the second line of defense is at the back."
Liu Chengzong was stunned for a moment, then looked back at the prisoners who were being escorted back in line, and raised his hand to wipe his face: Where the hell is there a line of defense?
The defeated troops rolling all over the ground were stripped of their armor and marched back without encountering any obstacles along the way. Is this just a second line of defense?
Quickly ask Zhong Bao to lead people to find the prisoners.
Wei Qian'er ran over and reported: "General, there is a ping in the north one mile ahead. The officers and soldiers will camp on the ping and fortify themselves. The official road will collect the defeated troops."
Liu Chengzong reined in his horse and looked forward with squinted eyes. He could see smoke rising in the rain in the distance. He quickly asked: "Have we set up a camp for defense? Have we set up a stronghold?"
Wei Qian'er shook his head and said: "Without the village, it is just a small deserted village with many military tents."
Wei Qian'er's words alone made Liu Chengzong shudder, and his heart warmed a little when he thought of the military tent that protected him from wind and rain.
He asked his servants to inform Wang Wenxiu of the news, and he headed off to look for Cao Yao. As the artillery whistle was busy on its way, Liu Chengzong asked: "How many more cannons are there?"
Cao Yao said: "There are still sixteen gates left, what's going on?"
He thought to himself that if Liu Chengzong hadn't organized his team, there would probably only be two or three schools left.
Seeing that the official army was defeated, the auxiliary soldiers became excited and ran forward. No one cared about the cannon when it got wet. They just felt that they had won.
When the team was finished, they saw that twelve cannons were wet.
There was also a big fool who covered the cannon holes with a matchstick and carried a gushing cannon on his shoulder to pursue the defeated army. He caught up and fired a round with the cannon.
After being pushed hard, he was now lying down on the donkey cart of the baggage team.
Very comfortable.
"There is a ping in front, and the officers and soldiers have set up camp on the ping." Liu Chengzong said: "The ping is fortified, the official road collects the defeated troops, and there is a military tent and a fire. It seems that the rain will not stop today, and it must be captured. Camp, let the officers and soldiers freeze."
Cao Yao asked: "How do you plan to attack the artillery posts on the ground?"
The artillery post mainly attacks Pingshang?
Liu Chengzong thought for a while and felt that this might not be feasible, so he said: "No, sixteen cannons, you organize them into four teams, one team with four cannons. After a while, see if there are any cannons on the ground. If there are, then pull two teams to fight with them." , if not, use three teams to attack Pingxia."
"The soldiers who have been defeated are more likely to be defeated. If the soldiers below are defeated, the soldiers above will not be able to fight well."
Now it was no longer Wang Wenxiu who was chasing the enemy at the front. The people at the back were too tired and could only chase slowly from behind.
At the front is Gao Yingdeng, Gao Xian's subordinate.
This is Yulin Qin Wangjun who was sent back by Yang Yanchang.
The main force of Gao Xian's department was on the mountain, and only his group was behind the official road. When the two armies faced each other, they took turns to go up and fight for a while. As soon as they retreated to the back, the red barbarian cannon went off.
This guy was very shrewd. He knew that the enemy army was about to collapse as soon as he heard the sound of the cannon. He immediately stopped moving forward and turned back.
Behind him was the baggage sentry. Except for the six wounded soldiers in his team, the fifty-four combat auxiliary soldiers all mounted their horses and rushed to the front before Liu Chengzong formed his team.
After that, they followed Wang Wenxiu in pursuit. When Wang Wenxiu's men ran out of energy, they switched to his men to pursue in front, while Wang Wenxiu retreated from behind.
One mile was very close, and Gao Yingdeng's soldiers could see the officers and soldiers fortified on the ground in a blink of an eye. He hesitated, but only for a moment.
Then he gritted his teeth and led the team to charge towards Pingshang.
When he couldn't move forward, he let the soldiers in the team stick a few arrows in each body, and then they made a circle and counterattacked the reorganized and defeated army on the official road.
This time they acted on the spur of the moment, and the defeated army that had just been integrated by He Huchen was immediately thrown into chaos again. He rushed into the formation, blocked the front of the mountain road and was penetrated. The hundreds of people behind them were immediately dispersed again and were driven to the west.
Everything else was fine, except that Gao Yingdeng and his team were trapped in the formation. He Huchen led his troops to kill them from the pingshang, surrounded them from the front and blocked the official road, making them unable to advance or retreat.
Fortunately, Wang Wenxiu led more than 20 people to arrive first and joined the battle from behind He Huchen, thus preventing them from surrendering directly.
When Liu Chengzong saw the fighting in front, he also led his brigade to rush forward. When he arrived at the front line and saw that the situation was different from what he had imagined, he simply ordered Cao Yao: "Bomb the ground first, occupy the camp and then beat them!"
The Han brothers led their servants to draw their bows and fire from behind the enemy army, while Cao Yao led his artillerymen to fire four gushing cannons at more than 30 steps each, and bombarded the dirt road connecting the official road in Daping alternately to block the official reinforcements.
Two cannons were fired, driving back the officers and soldiers on Pingshang. Cao Yao led his musketeers and charged along the road with their swords drawn.
They had no muskets, only the various weapons they had just snatched from the prisoners.
Liu Chengzong also immediately walked up to the ping and commanded the follow-up archers to shoot at the officers and soldiers on the ping.
Seeing that the flank was occupied by the Lion Battalion, the Ningxia officers and soldiers on the official road issued a military order and immediately launched an extremely violent breakout to the west.
This was very painful for the cavalry soldiers who were deeply trapped in the enemy's formation. They fell off their horses one after another during the encirclement. In the haste, the infantry formation was not completed yet, and they were charged by the officers and soldiers for a while.
The worst thing happened to Gao Yingdeng. After the front line was broken, he was knocked to the ground by an unknown officer who ran over and was stepped on several times.
Then he was picked up by an officer and ran west together. It took a lot of effort to get away. However, Wang Wenxiu's soldiers who were chasing him thought they were officers and pushed him to the ground, shouting: " Capture a prisoner of an officer!"
Seeing the officers and soldiers retreating again, Liu Chengzong stood on the ground and shouted for the whole team to be united. He sent his servants to follow the defeated soldiers and stopped them from continuing the pursuit.
It was only then that Liu Chengzong finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Looking back and looking around, there were oilcloth tents standing on the ground and piles of bonfires lit under the awnings. Liu Chengzong looked up to the sky, letting the raindrops fall from the sky and hit his face, laughing happily.
