According to the account of the small bandit leader who was captured by the government troops, the people in Fangxian County had been slaughtered after the city was broken, so that the remnants of the bandit infantry who retreated to the city would have no hostages to resist the enemy.
Since there was still some food stored in the city, which could allow the remaining thousands of defeated soldiers to hold on for a long time, Sun Chuanting planned to wait until Bai Guangen followed up with his own infantry before launching an attack on the city tomorrow morning.
The prisoners confessed that there were tens of thousands of people fighting against the official army, half of them horses and half of them infantry. If the rebel infantry were gathered here and annihilated, only 5,000 horsemen would be able to flee eastward.
Knowing the remaining strength and configuration of the bandit army will be extremely beneficial for future campaigns, but it is difficult to say whether Long Zaitian can stop this bandit army after nightfall.
There are few clouds tonight and the moonlight is bright, so the sight is good, but the target of the attack is four to five thousand horsemen who are trying to escape in multiple ways.
Long Zaitian's troops only have 3,000 troops. Even if this force enters the ambush circle it has arranged, it may not be intercepted smoothly. If it cannot be intercepted, the bandits will rush past.
After cleaning the battlefield and dealing with most of the rebel army's defeat, Sun Chuanting then ordered He Renlong, Li Guoqi, Zuo Guangxian, and Zheng Jiadong to lead his troops to pursue the rebel army eastward.
If the rebel army was intercepted by Long Zaitian's troops and then turned back, they would just be able to hit him. Sun Chuanting was betting that the rebel army and horsemen would not dare to cross the mountains after dark.
The other party did not dare to light torches. Once a large number of open flames appeared, they would be noticed by the officers and soldiers and become the target of pursuit. Sun Chuanting believed that without lighting tools, the thief cavalry would not rush into the mountains and stumble and fall into the valley. Too bad.
As long as the rebel army chooses to go straight on the official road, the official army will very likely block it. At that time, even if the rebel army does not want to fight, they will have to fight when faced with a blockade in front and a pursuer behind. .
The task of besieging the rebels in the city was given to the two thousand horsemen led by Bai Liangbi who came up from behind. According to his report, the infantry army led by his father Bai Guangen could reach Fang County in two hours at most.
After excluding the baggage troops and the wounded and sick soldiers, Sun Chuanting had no less than fifteen thousand infantrymen who could attack the city. Facing the more than a thousand thieves trapped in the city, after a volley of mortars, they could defeat them in a single battle. .
Shaobao had already set his sights on the eastward valley. The fate of the stubborn rebel army in the city had already been sealed when he decided to join the rebellion.
"Quick! Don't delay!"
"Little King of Qin" Bai Gui urged his men to gallop eastward. If they were driven away by the army, they would not even be able to reach Baokang, and they would die in the valley feeding wolves.
In his eyes, "One Hundred Thousand" Hei Yunxiang and "Sweeper King" Zhang Yichuan were two idiots who were both powerful and powerful. Before the war, they promised to deal with Sun Gou's thieves, but in the end, their unit collapsed after being bombarded by others.
Without the sworn guarantees of these two guys, how could the rebel army lose another five thousand infantry?
After winning the battle, wouldn't it be better to evacuate Fang County as soon as possible before the troops and troops arrive, and fight elsewhere?
"Cao Cao" had said that the army's firepower was extremely sharp, but the two men still refused to listen, thinking that they could resist with the courage of an ordinary man.
When the two armies clashed, before the rebel infantry could kill all the officers and soldiers, they faced another overwhelming defeat.
Now he had no choice but to lead his troops and flee eastward to Baokang. It was all his fault because of these two idiots. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
Fortunately, none of the men in this department had suffered any losses, otherwise Bai Gui would have wanted to kill the two culprits with one knife.
They'd better hold off the Sun Dog Thief in Fang County, otherwise no one will be able to escape if the old dog pounces on him.
This is just Bai Gui's wishful thinking. Faced with a devastating defeat, how could Hei Yunxiang and Zhang Yichuan be so stupid as to cut off the rear for the guy who ran away earlier?
Xue Chengcai, who had secretly surrendered to the army, understood that as long as Hei Yunxiang and Zhang Yichuan were still alive and could block the pursuit of the army, he and the hundreds of men under his command would be safe.
Taking refuge in Sun Chuanting was a clever move, at least he could temporarily save his family, and through this battle, Xue Chengcai also understood the powerful strength Shaobao possessed.
Although he had never seen the true appearance of the sharp fire blunderbuss in the army camp, he could also assume that it was light in weight and easy to transfer, so that he could keep up with the horsemen and achieve surprise and victory in a battle.
Sun Chuanting was able to cross the river with the soldiers and horsemen, which showed that he had a chance of winning. This chance of winning was the kind of sharp fire blunderbuss that he had never seen before. No wonder he dared to fight against the rebel army with only a few thousand horsemen.
As long as the rebels cannot figure out the characteristics of this kind of firecracker and can't find a way to target it, Sun Chuanting can gain the upper hand in every battle and turn the tide of the battle even if he is at a military disadvantage.
For the rebels, this infantry will not be of much use in the future. If they do not form a formation, they will be charged and killed by the army's horsemen. If they form a formation, they will not be able to withstand the blow of the extremely sharp fire cannon.
Facing the attack of the official army, these infantrymen cannot run away and cannot be defeated, so why keep them?
If the horse soldiers cannot defeat them, they can at least run away. If the infantry soldiers cannot defend themselves against the enemy, the victory will be in vain for the officers and soldiers.
Those who could escape with the leaders were all horsemen, not a single infantry. During the retreat, they were all burdens, and the leaders could not take care of them at all.
The defeat of Yun County has proved this. If you want to protect the infantry, you must also join in with the horsemen. To protect the horsemen, you must abandon all the infantry. You cannot have both fish and bear's paws.
He didn't know whether he could successfully reach Baokang, a hundred miles away. If he kept running at this speed, he would be able to settle down on the territory of Wu Ziqiang, the "King of Hunshi", in three hours at most, that is, before dawn.
It's not that Xue Chengcai has never thought about the mission assigned to him by Sun Shaobao, but the pursuers are behind him. In front of him are Bai Gui's thousands of troops, and behind him are Luo Rucai's thousands of troops. With his small number of people, there is nothing he can do. .
"this……"
Just when they were about to pass through the valley and reach the intersection of Zhushui and Pengshui, three yellow fireworks suddenly appeared in the night sky. After they exploded, they were extremely bright and dazzling, and could be seen by people within several miles in front and behind.
"There's an ambush!"
But this was not good news. Rebel soldiers who had been fighting all year round knew that this situation was probably caused by an ambush by the army. Some people immediately pulled their necks and shouted loudly.
Everyone was extremely nervous. They lit torches, but their sight was not very far at all. They couldn't see how many ambushes were on the mountain. They were so frightened that they almost became soldiers.
It's not that Bai Gui didn't think about rushing across the valley immediately, but there was a whole row of horse-rejecting stakes as high as a person in front of him, blocking the entire road tightly. If he didn't move them, he couldn't move forward.
But without the consent of the ambush soldiers here, they forcibly moved away the roadblocks set up by the opponent. This move was a sign of deep hostility. It would be strange that the opponent did not take action.
At this time, someone suddenly shouted loudly somewhere on the mountain: "If you are not an official soldier, you must quickly dismount and accept the surrender! If you are an official soldier, you can use a signal bomb to prove it!"
The three yellow signal flares mean inquiries. This is also the communication rule Long Zaitian got from Sun Shaobao, so that he can avoid accidental injuries on his own side during encounters at night.
The rebels don't have any signal flares. Even if they want to capture this thing, they still need to win. Unfortunately, we have been losing battles so far, and we haven't even had a chance to seize supplies.
Seeing that there was an ambush here, Bai Gui did not dare to rush over rashly, so he sent his tooth general to talk to him: "Comrades on the mountain, I have lost the signal bomb on my forehead. I hope it can be convenient!"
Since there is no such object, just find an excuse to pass it by. Do you dare to go down the mountain and search it?
It's fine without a signal flare, but you have to understand it clearly before you can let go. The people on the mountain asked again: "In that case, may I ask which troops you are from? Which commander-in-chief are you under?"
According to common sense, thousands of officers and soldiers marching together, commanded by at least one lieutenant general, must be equipped with signal bombs, and they will take extra care to protect such an important item. However, this group of troops claimed to have lost it, which is very suspicious in itself.
Seeing the other party asking another question, General Ya had no choice but to answer patiently: "The forehead department is from He Long and a subordinate of General He. We were ordered to pursue the Yi...enemies all the way to the east!"
I almost let it slip, but fortunately the tooth general reacted in time and came back immediately, otherwise the ambush would have seen through, and all the previous conversations would have been in vain.
The other party did not intend to give up and continued to ask: "May I ask where Mr. He is? Who is commanding your troops?"
This time General Ya was a little flustered by the question. If he directly told He Renlong that he was in the formation, the other party would definitely ask him to come out. If he didn't answer, he would have to find someone qualified enough to command everyone.
If not He Renlong, who can?
Yajiang didn't know what to do, so he could only ask his master Bai Gui for instructions. How to respond was the master's business.
Bai Gui thought that he must not be questioned by the other party at this juncture, it would be all over, so he pretended to be He Renlong and talked to him on his own: "Um, it's He Renlong! May I ask which colleague is opposite?"
No matter what, let's fool around first and then go on. It would be best not to fight. If we do fight, it will be our own side that suffers.
When he heard that it was He Renlong, the tone of the other party's words suddenly became polite: "It turns out to be Mr. He! This is Long in Zaitian. We were seeing each other in Yun County. I didn't want to meet He here by chance! Nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!"
The soldiers and horses gathered in the valley formed a long, dark line. It was estimated that there were no less than three or four thousand people, and they were all horse soldiers. How could He Renlong's army have so many horse soldiers?
Bai Gui sat on the horse and raised his hands in the direction of the conversation, giving the other party a face: "It's Mr. Long, He is so polite!"
He didn't dare to ask the other person a question in return. Once he asked a question he shouldn't have asked, he would be asking for trouble.
The other party said politely: "General He, you have worked really hard in chasing down the bandit army. I wonder where Master Long is now? Can you release the salary that our department has been owed for a long time?"
As long as this "He Renlong" dares to answer, his authenticity can be confirmed. Even if he has a Shaanxi accent, there is no way to fake it.
Bai Gui didn't know whether this question was true or not, so he could only deal with it reluctantly: "... Mr. Shaobao is now in Fang County. Mr. Long can lead his troops there, and there will be a satisfactory result!"
"Boom, boom, boom..."
Suddenly, dozens of flames shot out of the sky along with the sound of firing. Bai Gui didn't even know that he had said something wrong, but his troops had already been under heavy shelling from the mountains.
The rebel troops were immediately bombarded and unable to resist, especially in the main area of the shelling. Many soldiers had been knocked off their horses by the bullets.
This kind of surprise attack caught them completely off guard, with people shouting and horses neighing one after another, and the roadblocks in front of them being difficult to overcome, which put Bai Gui's troops in an extremely chaotic state.
Some people rode their horses to rush to the mountain, but before they reached the halfway point of the mountain, they were shot into hedgehogs by the archers who were ambushing here, killing both the man and the horse.
"Quick! Go over and move the roadblock! Otherwise, everyone will die here!"
Even if his troops were in chaos, Bai Gui was able to think of a feasible countermeasure in a hurry.
"Follow the forehead!"
General Ya immediately ordered more than ten soldiers and dozens of horsemen to ride forward, ready to dismount and move away these damn horse-rejecting posts. As long as three or four were removed, his side could pass quickly.
However, things did not develop as expected. They approached the horse-rejecting post, and before they could take a few more steps, several horses fell into a deep pit.
Long Zaitian specially ordered his soldiers to cut down trees and make horse-repelling stakes, which were used to block the road. Then dig a deep ditch in front of the Juma Zhuang, then use firecrackers to block the exit of the valley, and ambush the archers halfway up the mountain. This is Long Zaitian's ambush method.
"Poke the ground with your gun! Find out the reality! You guys go around from both sides!"
Seeing a deep ditch as deep as one person in front of him, it was difficult to cross for a while. The tooth general was not given for free. Since the master asked to move the horse-rejecting stake, he must find ways to achieve his goal before all his men died.
If the deep trench is not a whole one, but is dug at intervals, with a number of narrow passages in the middle, then they can still walk directly through it after ascertaining the reality.
If not, then we can only go around from both sides, and then fill in the soil or use a detour to let the army pass through.
"ah……"
But even if they were able to remove the horse-rejecting stakes and fill up the deep pit, the leader, "Little Qin King" Bai Gui, could not get through. A bullet hit the man's mount in the lower abdomen, and his calf was cut off.
Bai Gui suddenly screamed in pain. He looked down at the leg bones that were bleeding and exposed. He was sweating like rain. Even if he was rescued from the horse's corpse by his own soldiers, there was not much hope of breaking out of the siege.
Long Zaitian's previous question was to elicit the leader of this band of thieves. Even if he was not the leader of the thieves, he must be a general. Otherwise, it would be extremely easy for an ordinary soldier to say the wrong thing. In this case, even if he said the wrong thing One word can be fatal.
After confirming its approximate location, they would chat a few words to delay time, and let the gunmen under his command adjust the firing schedule of their guns and aim at the prey that jumped out on their own. They could close the net just after giving the order.
That day in Yun County, when Sun Shaobao distributed his salary to his troops, He Renlong also saw it. Of course, it was impossible for him to say what he said before. It can only mean that this person was an imposter. Since he didn't even have a signal bomb, what did his troops do? If you strike first, there will be no scruples.
Long Zaitian had no idea who the other party was. He could only guess that it was some bandit army. Judging from the direction of the gallop, they should be going to Baokang, but no matter who wanted to pass by here, it would not be easy.
Whether big fish can be caught in it depends on how the battlefield is cleaned up after the war. At the moment, the officers and soldiers on the mountain are aiming in the general direction, firing and releasing arrows at the rebels in the valley.
Long Zaitian's stated goal was to ambush at least one to two thousand thieves and horsemen. If the number was larger, his troops would be somewhat powerless.
