The soldiers of the Perak Army used giant shields to form a tight fish-scale formation behind three low earth walls. Several folded giant shields sealed the narrow mountain road tightly. The soldiers standing in the back row held spears and stabbed the bandits rushing towards them through the gap between their shields. The bandits who rushed to the front couldn't hold back their feet for a moment and were stabbed to the core. To the bandit, the fish scale array is like a turtle shell, and the spear is like the letter that keeps expanding and contracting in the poisonous snake's mouth. Xiong Ben's personal troops were also extremely brave. Those in front were stabbed and fell down, while those behind were still rushing forward one after another.
After all, the soldiers of the Perak Army lacked combat experience. After a few rounds of attack and defense, the bandits took advantage of the loophole. The tips of two spears were cut off, and the other spear was retracted a little slower and was captured by the bandits. Fortunately, the spear-wielding soldier let go quickly, otherwise he would have been pulled to the bandits' side. Taking advantage of the moment when the Perak Army's defense line was loose, three bandit soldiers of the Guards seized the opportunity and approached with shields. One of the bandits was holding a giant axe, and he slashed through the giant shield with a single swipe of the axe. The bandits behind were unable to advance due to the narrow mountain road, so they threw the short spears in their hands as javelins. The short spears not only pierced the giant shields in the front row, but also were thrown into the array behind the shields and injured several soldiers. This caused the Perak Army's defensive formation to become chaotic. Seeing that the situation was not good, Cao Ergou hurriedly ordered the first array of soldiers to fight and retreat to the second earth wall.
The Perak Army's first line of defense was defeated in a few rounds, which greatly boosted the bandits' morale. Just as they were charging towards the second earth wall, several iron lumps passed over their heads and flew towards the people behind them. Just now, the bandits were going down the mountain very fast, and the Perak troops were re-arranging after the boulders rolled down. For a moment, the two sides were in close combat, entangled in a melee, so that the soldiers in the back row did not dare to throw landmines at all. Now taking advantage of the distance between the two sides, Cao Ergou decisively gave the order to throw. In fact, it is still risky for the Pili Army to use grenades at this time. In addition to the short throwing distance of the upward-throwing grenade, Cao Ergou was also afraid that the grenade would roll down the mountain road, so Cao Ergou ordered the soldiers to throw it with maximum strength, which also made the bandits in the middle unlucky. Some of the grenades thrown by the Perak Army were blocked by the bandits from going down the hillside with shields. There was even a dumb bomb, but three of them exploded in the crowd. Compared with the grenade that exploded on the ground, the two grenades that exploded in the air were more powerful, causing a large area of the bandits who were crowded together to rush forward to fall.
Even though there was a lot of wailing from behind, the bandits at the front turned a deaf ear and continued to fight with the Thunderbolt Army behind the second wall. They were already red-eyed. Compared to his fierce men, Xiong Ben, who had long been accustomed to living a luxurious life, was secretly glad that he was standing at the back when the grenade exploded. Over the years, he has accumulated a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry and became a wealthy man. Originally, he planned to work as a bandit for a few more years, so he asked someone to buy him an official position so that he could enjoy his life and let his descendants enjoy glory and wealth for generations to come. It's just that the appearance of the Thunderbolt Army ruined his good deeds. Not only did he encourage various villages in the mountain to resist him, but he now dared to attack Wanjiaping! The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and when he saw the Guardsmen at the front struggling to attack the Perak Army, he couldn't help but feel ashamed of what he had just thought. He cleared his throat and shouted loudly, ordering the bandits to attack them all at all costs.
Just when Xiong Ben ordered everyone to charge, a series of explosions drowned out his voice. It turned out that the Perak Army had adjusted its angle and fired at the bandit's rear team. Compared with using grenades, for the Pili Army, which has just installed firearms, the risk of using artillery at this time is greater, especially when the mountain road is narrow, and there are soldiers standing near the artillery, and there is still a melee dozens of meters in front. , if you are not careful, you will accidentally hurt your own people. But Ouyang Xuan couldn't care so much. These bandits were extremely fierce, and the soldiers of the Perak Army who lacked close combat experience were no match at all. If the line of the gun and shield soldiers was broken through, the remaining artillery units would have to be defeated. slaughter.
Due to the emergency situation, the Perak Army fired a salvo without testing the artillery this time. Most of the first round of shells hit outside the mountain road, and only one Tiger Crouching shell landed in the bandit's rear team. The power of the Crouching Tiger Cannon is actually only equivalent to that of a large grenade, but when it exploded in a dense crowd, it caused great casualties. The bandits in this rear group were all temporarily recruited and cobbled together, and their fighting will was far less than that of the fierce and desperate people in the personal army. These bandit soldiers, who could only fight with the wind, were thrown into chaos as soon as they were exploded by the artillery shells. They swarmed back and retreated, forming a huge rout. Xiong Ben roared loudly and tried to stop the escape, but the sound of artillery drowned out his voice, and the panicked bandits pushed him to the ground instead. What's even more terrible is that the bandit holding a big flag with the word "bear" beside him was also pushed down the mountain road, and he and the flag rolled down the hillside. When the soldiers of the Perak Army saw this, they shouted in unison, "Xiong Ben is defeated." The soldiers who were fighting in front looked back and saw that the crowd behind them were all running away to the mountain stronghold. The Xiong Ben banner had also fallen, so they all turned around and fled. In the panic, two bandits tripped over the ditch and were stabbed to the core with spears by the pursuing Perak soldiers.
Just as the Perak Army was clearing the battlefield and readjusting the artillery positions, Xiong Ben fled back to the village in anger. He first beheaded the bandits who led the escape, hung their bloody heads on the wall of the village, and then raised them. The captain of his own soldiers replaced Xia Qiyong, who died in battle, as the second-in-command of the cottage, and replaced several minor leaders. They managed to stabilize their position through coercion, inducements and other means.
This time the close combat was extremely thrilling, and the Perak Army almost broke through its defenses. Despite his fear, Ouyang Xuan decided to play it safe. Since bandits are strong in close combat, let's use artillery to deal with them from a distance. Cao Ergou resolutely implemented Ouyang Xuan's request. When the barrel was red, he would wait until it cooled down before firing, and he would not stop until all the shells were fired. It's easier to deal with the shells when they're gone. You just need to send people back to get them. But if the casualties are too high, the gains outweigh the losses.
Before this battle, Ouyang Xuan had told Cao Ergou that the Pili Army would set up a base here after they captured Wanjiaping. Therefore, when Cao Ergou directed the artillery attack, he focused on attacking the village gate, wall, watchtower, arrow tower and City defense facilities such as trebuchets and ballistae. Most of these city defense facilities were made of wood and were destroyed bit by bit under the fierce artillery bombardment of the Perak Army. Even the reinforced village wall was blown down in two places, and more than ten bandit soldiers who tried to block the gap with wood were killed. At this time, the soldiers of the Perak Army in the distance were slowly approaching in battle formation. The village wall is coming.
As the trebuchets, ballistas and other long-range weapons in the village were destroyed, the defense facilities were also blown to pieces, leaving the bandits with no intention of fighting. Under the whipping and scolding of Xiong Ben's newly appointed second-in-command, they cowered and lined up at the breach in the wall. At this time, Xiong Ben, the number one person in the village, disappeared. Most of his personal soldiers have also disappeared, leaving only a handful of confidants. Only these confidants who were still in the village knew that Xiong Ben had taken advantage of the chaos and quietly escaped to Yongkang City through the secret path behind the village. Accompanying him along the way were soldiers carrying gold and silver on their backs. The Janissaries suffered heavy casualties in this battle, with only about twenty people left. The fine gold and silver carried by these soldiers was only part of the treasure Xiong Ben had robbed over the years, but it still made these strong bandits panting. This shows how cruel and ruthless Xiong Ben was in squeezing and plundering the mountain people and passers-by.
