Liu Heng explained: "We can't go back. If Shi Yunhu had not been besieged, we might still have returned along the original route. Now that Shi Yunhu is defeated, we people will become their meritorious deeds and political achievements in the eyes of those officials. We will definitely We will send troops to suppress them.”
"How could this happen! How could this happen!" Zhao Yutu muttered to himself.
He was the one who came up with the idea. Now that the central military camp and the two left and right battalions were besieged, he was hit hard, and his idea of using An to enter the officialdom came to naught.
"Master Zhao, do we really want to go south? Are Dashi and the horse leader trapped by the army?" the rider who delivered the letter asked in a low voice.
Master Zhao sighed, as if he had aged ten years, and said, "Let's go south, we can't die with Da Ke and the others."
No one wants to die if they can live, and the rider also knows this truth, so he just asks more questions to gain peace of mind.
"Give me the order, throw away all the useless things, and speed up the march south." Liu Heng ordered the corps commander of a refugee recruit beside him.
The corps commander took several people and ran around to deliver orders.
It didn't take long, and there were shouts from all over the team to throw things away.
Liu Heng looked at Zhao Yutu again and said: "Let the few riders you brought to explore the road ahead. This is related to our life and death. If you have any evil intentions at this time, don't blame me for killing you first."
"Don't worry, at this time I understand better than you the principle of working together in the same boat." Zhao Yutu had already recovered from the news that Shi Yunhu was besieged by the army.
Under Zhao Yutu's order, several riders left the team and went south to explore the road in the direction of Guangling.
At this time, Yang Yuan came back from the former front team and now the back team.
"You came just in time." Liu Heng said to Yang Yuan, "Shi Yunhu and the others were ambushed by the army and have been surrounded. I'm worried that some of the army will attack our team. You and I will take the people there." Team, buy more time for others.”
Hearing this, Yang Yuan's body trembled and his face turned a little pale, but he still said: "I'd better take the people there myself! Master, you should stay in the team."
"No need to argue, I have to go." Liu Heng said, "Notify me, except for a team of refugee recruits and half of the archer guard team left behind, the remaining refugee recruits and archers will follow me to resist the official army."
"I'll gather the troops right away." Yang Yuan didn't dare to waste a moment and ran away in a hurry.
Chen Xunping on the side said eagerly: "What should I do? I will go with you too! One more person will bring more strength."
At this time, everyone knows how dangerous it is to defend the entire team against the official army. If it fails, they will never come back.
"Okay, but you are not alone. Bring a few people to escort Zhao Yutu and follow me. I am not worried about leaving Zhao Yutu alone." Liu Heng looked at Li Shuheng again and said, "Brother Shuheng, prepare a larger piece of cloth. , slaughter an animal, dye the cloth with blood, tie it to a long stick, and set it up as a flag."
After Li Shuheng left, Zhao Yutu smiled bitterly and said: "Don't worry, even if I have any thoughts, I won't use them at this time. Besides, Shi Yunhu is most likely dead, and I can't be buried with him."
"I feel more at ease keeping you by my side." Liu Heng said, "Second brother, take him with you and follow me."
"But I'm more afraid of death!" Zhao Yutu's face turned green.
"Stop talking nonsense and leave quickly." Chen Xunping pushed Zhao Yutu from behind.
The troops were quickly assembled. Yang Yuan walked behind Liu Heng holding the stick tied with blood cloth, followed by a team of refugee recruits and archers holding wooden spears.
When Liu Heng led people to the end of the team, they saw a group of officers and soldiers slowly approaching them in the distance.
"Form up!" Liu Heng immediately shouted loudly and stood at the front of the team holding a waist knife.
Yang Yuan stood behind him. The blood-stained rag on the stick was already a little black, and it made a hunting sound when it was blown by the wind, which sounded a bit like a flag.
Two rows of archers appeared in front of the spearmen, one row crouched on the ground, and the second row stood upright behind the first row of archers. No matter which row they were in, the two rows of archers had a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other.
Archers and spearmen formed a battle formation of more than 300 people, and no one spoke except for the sound of flags blown by the wind.
Liu Heng stared intently at the officers and soldiers of the guard station approaching slowly in front of him. These officers and soldiers were not as neatly organized as he imagined. Instead, they were like rogue bandits, chaotic and without any formation at all. They just rushed forward in a swarm. .
Most of these officers and soldiers of the guard station are holding spears, a small number of them are wearing shabby cotton armor, and more people only have spears in their hands, not even a piece of cotton armor, and only wear a piece of shabby clothes, they are no more than bandits. Both.
Most of the archers brought by Liu Heng were from the frontier army, and their psychological quality was far inferior to that of the spearmen behind them. Facing those officers and soldiers who didn't even wear armor, they felt more stable.
Chen Xunping curled his lips and said: "These damn soldiers are still guards from the border town. I think they are no different from bandits like us."
Zhao Yutu on the side was trembling and stammered: "Pu, the ordinary guardsmen are just a group of old farmers who know how to farm. They can't compare with the border troops. The only ones who are more powerful in the guards are the servants and soldiers."
"Why are you trembling so hard? It's useless for a group of old farmers to scare you like this." Chen Xunping said with disdain.
Zhao Yutu stuttered and said: "No matter how they know how to farm, they are also officers and soldiers. Behind these people, there must be thousands of household-level generals and servants following them."
"What are you afraid of!" Chen Xunping said, "I lost a scar as big as a bowl on my head, but eighteen years later I am a good man again."
"I, I am a scholar, different from you." Zhao Yutu's teeth were trembling.
"A hundred useless scholars are really useless." Chen Xunping ignored Zhao Yutu and stared closely at the approaching officers and soldiers.
Zhao Yutu wanted to defend himself, but his heart was so frightened that his body was shaking violently.
"Archers, prepare!" Liu Heng raised his right hand, silently counting the distance between the officers and soldiers approaching them little by little.
When the officers and soldiers on the opposite side entered within eighty steps, Liu Heng's right hand suddenly dropped and he shouted at the same time: "First row of archers, shoot!"
Thirty archers in the first row shot arrows at the same time.
In mid-air, there was only the sound of arrows whizzing through the air, and a rain of arrows fell. The officers and soldiers were hit by arrows one after another, and more than twenty people fell in just one round.
"First row of bows and arrows, bows and arrows, second row of archers, shoot!"
Following the exit of the word "shoot", another rain of arrows fell, and more than a dozen officers and soldiers on the opposite side fell instantly.
There is only one official road, and the officers and soldiers are all crowded together. As long as the archers shoot arrows, there is no reason why they will miss. Moreover, most of these officers and soldiers have no armor and only have a spear. They have no resistance to the arrows fired. As long as the arrow is shot, it will pierce into the flesh. If you are unlucky, you will be shot to death on the spot.
After the two rows of arrows were fired, about forty people fell down on one side of the officers and soldiers. The crowd that was originally rushing at the front was empty, but in the blink of an eye it was filled again by the officers and soldiers rushing from behind.
Before these officers and soldiers could get closer, Liu Heng ordered the archers to shoot arrows over and over again.
The two rows of archers took turns shooting arrows, which actually prevented the officers and soldiers from getting within 60 steps of the spear phalanx. Basically, the area between 70 and 80 steps became a death zone, and countless officers and soldiers fell.
Rows of officers and soldiers fell down, and the officers and soldiers behind finally realized their fear. Some officers and soldiers who were squeezed to the front began to jump into the ditches on both sides of the official road.
Each of the sixty archers shot about a dozen arrows. Some archers began to lack accuracy and were approaching their limit. At this time, the officers and soldiers advanced more than twenty steps forward, and were already less than fifty steps away from the spear phalanx.
