No one on the government and army side had expected that the mountains would be like this. There were thieves all over the mountains and plains, almost too many to count, and it would make people dizzy just to look at them.
He Renlong and Zuo Guang saw that the situation was not good, so they turned their horses and fled. Naturally, the horsemen under their command had no intention of fighting.
A moment ago, he was full of confidence and wanted to keep up his efforts, but now he was defeated like a mountain, and he was thinking about saving his life.
The six to seven hundred officers and soldiers who had already entered the hinterland were surrounded by the main force of the bandit army and became turtles in a jar.
Before they could break through the encirclement and join up with their own follow-up troops, they were hit by a hail of artillery fire and bullets.
With the main force of the bandit army attacking in groups, they struggled desperately for less than half a quarter of an hour before all of them were wiped out.
The two chief military officers, He Renlong and Zuo Guang, fled with the remnants of their tribe, completely ignoring the enemies behind them.
It's so crazy to be trapped in this poor place. It's like I didn't look at the almanac when I went out.
I don’t know where so many bandits came from, and they slaughtered tens of thousands of people in Nanyang and Ruyang.
How can there be more and more weird things happening?
He Renlong couldn't understand this!
There are also two bastards, Li Guoqi and Zheng Jiadong, who didn't come to respond. They were clearly desperate to save him!
The former has also been his subordinate for many years. This behavior is definitely ungrateful and really hateful!
"Kill!"
Liu Zongmin had been attacking Ruzhou City for many days without success, so he was ordered by King Chuang to withdraw his troops and move in. He felt very unhappy.
Now I finally have someone to vent to. No matter how many dog officers and soldiers are in front of me, we must get rid of them quickly.
You guys are huddled in the city, there's nothing I can do.
Now that we are all in the wild, you have no support.
Now you are seeking your own death, no one else is to blame.
In field battles, he still has an absolute advantage in military strength. If he can't defeat this army, wouldn't he become useless?
Five thousand horsemen were not very elite, but they were the only assets that King Chuang had at the moment.
Liu Zongmin wanted to use these troops to defeat the army and give Sun Chuanting some color to the thieves.
It's just that the officers and soldiers are all veterans who have fought for many years, and their riding skills are relatively superb, which can be regarded as both offensive and defensive.
Only some people on the rebel side can compare with them, and the rest are just fake.
Although the scale of the five thousand horsemen is extremely impressive, their actual combat power cannot be flattered.
Liu Zongmin also knew this very well, so he wanted to work hard and take advantage of his own morale to launch a beautiful pursuit battle.
"Kill all the dog officers and soldiers!"
Our own troops are seven or eight times the opponent's, so the rebels who come to pursue them will certainly not be afraid.
They kept shouting and whistling from time to time. They were more like a group of horse bandits than rebels.
But on the battlefield, conversation, behavior, and clothing are all secondary. The most important thing is that there are many people and strong morale!
Five thousand against six or seven hundred, the pile of people would kill the fleeing dog officers and soldiers in front!
"This is……"
Li Guoqi used his telescope to see from a distance the dust rising in the sky on the other side, and a large group of horse soldiers galloping towards his location.
Judging from the flags, Li Guoqi was quite surprised that the opponent was actually carrying the flag with the word "李". It was definitely not his own.
The same surname was Li. Li Guoqi tried his best to think about it, but he only thought of one thief leader, Li Zicheng, who had been beaten by Sun Shaobao before.
Why has this scourge started again?
Recruiting so many pawns in such a short period of time?
How incredible!
Horse soldiers are a very expensive unit. After Li Guoqi separated from He Renlong's command, until now, the number of horse soldiers under his command is less than 2,000.
There were at least five to six thousand thief horsemen who came over from the opposite side, and these things were not like infantry. They had to have war horses. Without horses, there would be no way to cheat.
"Brother Zheng, what do you think should be done?"
Li Guoqi had no idea. He wanted to cooperate with He Renlong and Zuo Guangxian, but he was afraid of involving his own troops. If he was also bitten by the rebel army, he would suffer a lot.
"The thieves' army is huge, and I think I may not be able to defeat it. Brother Li, the infantry under your command and mine are ten miles away from here. Why not go ahead and join the infantry to turn the danger into safety!"
Zheng Jiadong didn't even want to fight. He He Renlong led his troops into the mountains without discussion. Now that he was driven out by the bandit army, he was disgraced. If he wanted to blame it, he had to blame himself for not having a brain.
"What Brother Zheng said makes sense! Retreat! Join the infantry in the rear to resist the enemy!"
When Li Guoqi heard this, he was convinced that it was obviously not cost-effective to forcibly take the lives of his soldiers in order to stop the bandit army attracted by He Renlong.
He Renlong was the one who caused this trouble, so let him take it upon himself. Even if he got to Sun Shaobao, he would be justified.
The army has always been full of factions, and groups are divided by region. In the north alone, there are Xuanda, Baoding, Shandong, Shaanxi and other groups. Even Shaanxi is divided into "Southern Shaanxi", "Shaanxi" and "Northern Shaanxi". ".
"Shaanxi" refers to the Gansu area, "Northern Shaanxi" refers to Ningxia and Yansui, and "Southern Shaanxi" refers to Xi'an and Hanzhong. The two small groups in "Northern Shaanxi" are the poorest and are despised by "Southern Shaanxi".
Also from "Northern Shaanxi", Jiang Rang joined the Qin Army later, so he had little contact with the four generals who joined the Qin Army first, especially Zhao Guangyuan, who belonged to "Southern Shaanxi".
Sun Chuanting's five old subordinates, He Renlong, Li Guoqi, Zuo Guangxian, Zheng Jiadong, and Niu Chenghu, except for the latter who are more obedient, the other four are by no means good.
Expecting them to support each other in times of adversity is just a thought. Anyone who takes it seriously is a fool.
Due to the huge role of mortars, all the generals under Sun Shaobao were addicted to fighting smooth battles, from Fangxian, Yunxian, Sichuan, to Nanyang, Ruyang and other battles.
When I really encountered the same bloody, fierce, and hard battles as before, I felt very uncomfortable. At this time, I made an instinctive reaction, which was to run away like a bandit army.
Li Guoqi originally wanted his soldiers to fire arrows. This would not only cover the retreat of He Renlong and Zuo Guangxian, but also kill as many traitors as possible.
However, remembering that when he was a subordinate of He Renlong, he repeatedly encountered difficulties, ranging from deductions of military pay to deprivation of military exploits, so he gave up his plan to help.
You saved him, but he still blames you. Naturally, Li Guoqi would not be willing to do such a thankless thing. Since Zheng Jiadong said to retreat, then retreat.
"Damn! Rat!"
When He Renlong saw the two troops on the other side, instead of rushing over to kill the pursuing bandits, they didn't even fire arrows. Instead, they turned around and ran away, which really pissed him off.
It is said that the rebel army is as timid as a rat. Now it seems that there are many people in the official army who are not as courageous as the rebel army, and they are around them.
Fortunately, the water in Ru was very shallow at this time, so the horsemen could cross the river quickly. Otherwise, just crossing the river would have killed and injured many people under the arrows of the rebels.
"Hahahaha! The dog officers and soldiers are afraid of you! Brothers, let's chase!"
Liu Zongmin couldn't help laughing when he saw this. It seemed that the officers and soldiers were at odds with each other. They were so close to each other, but they still refused to save them. This was an eye-opener for him.
In this case, there is no need to be polite, and he can kill the hundreds of pawns in front of him. If the officers and soldiers from afar dare to come for reinforcements, they will be eaten together.
The idea is good, but when the officers and soldiers run away at all costs, it is extremely difficult to annihilate them.
Even if they chase and fire arrows at the same time, the number that can be hunted is not large.
After chasing for twenty miles, the rebels only killed about a hundred officers and soldiers.
"Set a flare!"
Li Guoqi saw that the momentum of the bandit army was comparable to that of an incoming flood, and that the forward troops alone might not be able to contain their offensive, so he immediately ordered his soldiers to use fireworks as a warning.
"Boom, boom, boom..."
Three red flares were launched into the sky one after another. In the wild, all friendly forces within a radius of more than ten miles would see it and understand the meaning of the flares, and they would quickly move closer to their own side.
A green flare means everything is normal, and a yellow flare means the enemy has been spotted but not engaged. A red flare means that the two armies are at war and hope to receive immediate reinforcements.
How powerful are thousands of horsemen?
Outside Ruyang City, the army and cavalry were the tens of thousands of infantry that had just swept through the rebel army like chopping melons and vegetables.
If the various departments were dispersed and allowed to rush and kill at will on the battlefield, the number of casualties would surge.
Even if this bandit army is finally defeated or even annihilated, the resulting casualties will be irreparable and huge losses that no one can bear.
While He Renlong and Zuo Guangxian were still running away with their remaining men, Li Guoqi and Zheng Jiadong rushed to join the infantry brigade under their jurisdiction.
Just in case, Li and Zheng have joined forces. Not far away was the team of two other general officers, and they were quickly approaching here.
After all, five or six thousand horsemen is no child's play. The four of them combined only have more than ten thousand people. Fortunately, there are still many horsemen and fire guns, which can stop the thieves' wanton attack.
"The shield is in front, the spear is in the center, the bows and arrows and the blunderbuss are in the formation, get ready!"
Li Guoqi immediately ordered his men to set up a formation facing the general direction of the bandit army's oncoming attack. If the bandits' cavalry rushed to more than a hundred steps away from their own position and had not formed a formation, the formation would basically be doomed.
Using infantry and chariots to compete against the cavalry does not mean that you can withstand it just by standing in a good position. You must inflict enough damage on the opponent before the confrontation.
Once enough of the opponent's cavalry are allowed to rush into the infantry formation, the only result waiting for the infantry is death, and there is no other option at all.
In front of the infantry formation, dozens of carts were placed. Their original function was to serve as mobile bunkers for attacking fortresses, but now they could only be used temporarily as horse-repelling stakes.
Not long after, the overwhelming thief cavalry came into sight of the officers and soldiers. The dust kicked up by the galloping turned the sky in the distance yellow, and it looked huge and terrifying.
However, if the infantry turns around and runs away at this time, it will only be chased to death by the bandits. It must stick to its original position to survive. As veterans who have been on the battlefield all year round, they will understand this.
"Turn the entire army to the right! Attack the right infantry formation!"
Liu Zongmin saw that he could not catch up with the hundreds of damn dog officers and soldiers in front, and saw that the main force of the officers and soldiers appeared in the distance and had already formed an impressive formation, divided into three infantry formations.
Among them, the formation closest to the left was the largest, and the two formations in the center and on the right were relatively small. After comparing, Liu Zongmin decided to rush to kill the formation on the right first.
If you can rush down the first one, and then the one in the middle, if you can't, you should turn back to Huoshan before the army's infantry formation presses forward.
"Hold your forehead! Kill those who retreat!"
Leading the team was He Renlong's general Gao Jinku. After seeing the signal flare, he really wanted to join his superiors, but time was running out and the battlefield was changing rapidly, so he could only stay where he was.
"Hiss... so many?"
Lieutenant General Wei Daheng couldn't help but gasped when he saw the size of the bandit army. This was beyond the ability of his troops to stop them. It seemed that a fierce battle was inevitable.
"Those two groups are still fighting on their own! You idiots~!"
When Li Guoqi's deputy general He Yong saw this, he couldn't help but blame the two friendly troops. His own troops and Zheng Jiadong's troops had already merged, but he was afraid of being overwhelmed by the rebel cavalry.
The two groups of people nearby actually tried to resist the onslaught of the bandits on their own. Isn't this just a daydream?
If we can really stop it, the bandit army will be even more useless than them!
"Attention, cavalry! Cover both wings!"
Li Guoqi also wanted to help, but the formation was already established, and easily moving in one direction would cause disconnects and loopholes. Unless it was a last resort, the formation could only move forward, not to the left or right.
At the moment, the most he can do is send his only cavalry team to rush over for reinforcements. It's unclear whether he can help. Everything is caused by He Renlong's stupid thing.
The soldiers below were a little confused about this situation. Didn't they say they wanted to relieve the siege of Ruzhou City?
Why is it that we are still some distance away from our destination and yet we have to fight the invading bandits in the wild?
Is this contrary to original expectations?
Is this a serious situation? ? ?
"Folangji fires!"
"put!"
"Boom boom boom boom..."
The Franco machine that was urgently pushed to the front of the formation fired the ammunition immediately after the gunners hurriedly loaded the shells. If they didn't fire, they wouldn't be needed later.
"Fire the blunderbuss!"
"Open the bow and release the arrow!"
When Lieutenant General Wei Daheng saw that the rebels actually chose to charge into his own formation first, he was frightened and immediately ordered all kinds of long-range weapons to fire, killing as many rebels as he wanted.
If we really can't resist, the formation will be overwhelmed by thousands of thieves and horsemen, so we must hold on to the end at all costs.
This bandit army is far from comparable to the bandit armies in Nanyang and Ruyang. In broad daylight, they actually dared to attack and kill the army formation. They can be called a group of rogue bandits who are not afraid of death.
"Don't hesitate! Charge with your forehead!"
Seeing the fierce firepower of the officers and soldiers blocking the attack, Liu Zongmin hurriedly ordered his men. If they were timid in the battle at this time, they would be killed or injured by the dog officers and soldiers.
At this moment, it depends on which side is stronger, more ruthless, and sharper. On the battlefield, as long as it is more powerful than the opposing dog officer army, it will be able to win.
Under the barrage of artillery fire and arrows, more than 4,000 horsemen rushed towards He Renlong's infantry formation with great momentum.
When sprinting at full speed, the horses form a dense formation, and the pawns can only move forward and cannot choose to turn, otherwise they will collide with their companions.
But as long as you follow the large group of people and charge together, the chance of saving the inventory will be greatly increased, and the fate of the lone person on the battlefield will not be much better.
"ah……"
Although He Renlong's troops tried their best to block the invading enemy, almost killing and wounding seven to eight hundred horsemen, they still could not stop the enemy from rushing into the advance formation.
Due to the limited carriages and the pikemen unable to stop the layers of horsemen, this makeshift embankment defense line was washed to pieces by the torrent of horsemen almost in the blink of an eye.
He Renlong's orders had no effect at all. After killing three thieves, he saw that his troops were defeated and he was so angry that he almost fell from his horse.
