"Master Guo, I will help you get into the sedan chair." Li Huaixin walked over and helped Guo Binchang.
Guo Binchang shook his head and said nervously: "No, I will not ride in the sedan. I will go with you."
What just happened made him know that it was not safe to sit in the sedan chair. Fortunately, the two arrows hit the sedan door. If they had been shot through the window, he would have lost his life by now.
Li Huaixin hesitated and said, "Since your Excellency is unwilling to ride in the sedan chair, I will go up the mountain with you on foot."
The horse was handed over to the soldiers, and Li Huaixin arranged for the soldiers to remove the corpses on the ground, and ordered the injured soldiers and archers to go down the mountain.
Many soldiers had jumped into the drainage ditch on the side of the mountain road to avoid the rain of arrows. It had snowed a few days ago, and when the sun was shining during the day, the ditch was filled with wet mud. A soldier climbed up from the drainage ditch. He was in a miserable state, shivering all over.
Li Huaixin saw these mud-covered soldiers turned blue from the cold, and reluctantly went up the mountain. Facing the bandits, he had no strength to fight anymore, so he had to let these soldiers accompany the injured camp soldiers down the mountain.
Wang Tong, who was chasing bandits in the woods, ran over.
When he came to Li Huaixin, Comrade Wang said: "Sir, the archers from Hutou Village were hiding in the woods before and have now escaped. However, my subordinates found a path up the mountain and there were many footprints around it. I suspected that the archers were bandits. It’s through this path that we go up the mountain.”
"Cunning Rabbit Sancao, I didn't expect that Hutou Village has a small road up the mountain in addition to the two roads up the mountain." Li Huaixin said, "Arrange people to chase down the small road you mentioned. I must catch those archers."
Wang Tong said: "My subordinates have asked a man from a hundred households to lead people to chase him in the direction where the footprints disappeared."
"Notice, let the whole team set off." Li Huaixin turned to look at Guo Binchang beside him, and said, "Master Guo, why don't you go down the mountain, and after the subordinates have wiped out all the bandits in Hutou Village, I will send someone to pick you up to the mountain."
Guo Binchang, who was standing aside, looked back at the way down the mountain, hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said: "Now that we have arrived at Hutou Village, I'd better go up the mountain with Mr. Li."
After some persuasion, seeing that Guo Binchang insisted on going up the mountain, Li Huaixin stopped trying to persuade him and arranged for several servants to protect Guo Binchang.
A sneak attack by the Hutou Village bandits caused the officers and soldiers to lose dozens of soldiers. The remaining soldiers and the thugs from the Xujia Iron Factory became cautious.
You only have one life, and no one wants to throw it away in vain.
The officers and soldiers were cautious on the rest of the mountain road, but they never encountered bandit attacks again and successfully reached the mountain.
As soon as we arrived on the mountain, we saw an open space. On the other side of the open space, there was an array of six to seven hundred bandits. Behind it, there was actually a crenellated wall. There were several bandits standing near the crenel entrance.
Li Huaixin was shocked when he saw this scene.
The bandits in front of them were obviously well-organized, unlike a normal mob. More importantly, everyone wore armor, and the bandits' cottage even had a stacked wall.
"These bandits are so brave. They dare to confront the imperial army on the plains. They really don't know whether to live or die."
Guo Binchang felt a little panicked when he saw the densely packed bandits 200 steps away. However, standing under the protection of the officers and soldiers, he instinctively thought that these Hutou Village bandits were looking for death.
In his eyes, as soon as the imperial army came out, the bandits in front of him would naturally be wiped out. If he ran away early, he might still have a way to survive. If he dared to confront the imperial army, he would be seeking death.
…………
There was a path going down the mountain from where the stables used to be in Hutou Village. The stables are no longer here, but up from here is a row of adobe houses.
Wang Yuncheng came to the mountain from the path, and behind him, archers came up one by one.
When the last archer came up, he said: "Captain, the officers and soldiers have discovered the path up the mountain and are chasing us from behind."
Wang Yuncheng nodded, not surprised. As long as the officers and soldiers entered the forest and followed the footprints they left, they would find this path.
"Leave a small group of archers to block the pursuing officers and soldiers. The others will follow me." Wang Yuncheng told the people around him, turned around and walked towards Dazhai.
A team of more than 30 archers guarded the intersection in the direction of the mountain. It could be said that one man was blocking the way and no one could open it. People at the bottom of the mountain could not get up at all.
Wang Yuncheng came to the crenellated wall of Dazhai. A large group of officers and soldiers were coming to the mountain from the mountain road directly in front of Dazhai.
"Blow the gong!" Seeing the officers and soldiers going up the mountain, Chen Xunping ordered the messengers on the side.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The gong rang three times in a row, and groups of firecrackers appeared in front of the formation. Three squadrons of firecrackers, each squadron stood in a row, forming three rows.
Behind the gunman is a row of sword and shield hands, one hand with a sword and the other with a shield.
At the back were the spearmen, the largest group of people, standing neatly in a square formation.
Liu Heng and others stood on the wall of the village. Behind them was a wooden support with a bronze gong hanging on it. A bandit stood beside him holding a copper hammer.
The stacked wall has two layers, covered with blue bricks, and the foundation below is made of stone slabs, which are extremely strong. A wall chamber was built inside, and perforations were made in the wall near the outside, which was used by fire gunmen to block enemies approaching the stronghold.
Standing on the wall, you can be said to be from a high position, and you can say that you have an unobstructed view of the officers and soldiers coming to the mountain on the opposite side.
Li Huaixin was already wearing armor and riding on horseback. Guo Binchang was protected by several servants from the garrison. The bearers went down the mountain early.
Liu Heng, who was standing on the crenellated wall, shouted to several civilian and military generals in official uniforms on the other side of the army: "I wonder what you have done with these adults coming to our Hutou Village?"
Li Huaixin, who was riding on horseback, said: "If you are a bold gangster and don't tie your arms when you see me, you can capture him without restraint. I might be able to spare your life."
The bandits in front of him all wore armor and were very powerful. Li Huaixin realized that the bandits in Hutou Village were unusual and was unwilling to send troops easily.
Fortunately, several hundred of the bandits used muskets, which gave him more confidence in destroying this group of bandits from Hutou Village.
Gunguns are not a good weapon in the eyes of the officers and soldiers. They do not kill enough and can easily explode and injure their own people. Therefore, the gunners in the firearms battalion have the lowest status among the officers and soldiers.
Li Huaixin secretly cursed the bandit leader of Hutou Village as a fool. If the guns in the hands of these bandits were replaced by spears or simple knives, he would immediately lead his people down the mountain and retreat, not daring to fight head-on with the bandits of Hutou Village. Otherwise, even if Hutou Village is captured, the officers and soldiers will suffer too many casualties, especially his servants.
In his mind, the bandits in Hutou Village abandoned their weapons and used blunderbuss, which was simply seeking their own death.
Guo Binchang on the side saw that Li Huaixin did not immediately order troops to be sent out, so he couldn't help but urge: "Master Li, what nonsense are you talking to these bandits? Hurry up and send troops to suppress them. Don't forget the 20% benefit."
In Guo Binchang's eyes, the bandits were no match for the imperial army. This time, the Lingqiu garrison camp came out in full force and it was easy to destroy the bandits on Hutouzhai Mountain.
He never thought that the imperial army was also different, that the strength of the guard station and the frontier army were different, and that a thousand people and ten thousand people were different.
Obsessing with reading is a common problem among most civil servants. They only think that once the imperial army comes out, Xiao Xiaoxiao will be wiped out.
Even though the Ming Dynasty lost its troops in the battle of Sarhu, in the eyes of most civil servants in the court, the Donglu were just suffering from scabies. No one would have thought that twenty years later, what they regarded as scabies would occupy the Ming Dynasty.
