"General, please rest for a while!" Zheng Shuqi's soldiers helped Zheng Shuqi off his horse.
Place a cushion next to it.
Zheng Shuqi sat on the cushion, took the water from the soldiers, put it to his mouth and took a few sips.
"General, Xu Qianhu is here." The soldier next to him reminded him in a low voice.
Zheng Shuqi turned his head and looked over.
He saw Xu Cunzhong walking from the right side of him, apparently coming to him.
Sure enough, the man walked up to him and stopped.
"Zheng Shoubei, we are facing Dongshan ahead. We will probably take action when we get there. Do you think you should set aside a separate group of troops to suppress the formation? After all, the soldiers and horses of the Tiger Character Flag do have some abilities." Xu Cunzhong rubbed his hands in embarrassment.
I don't have the nerve to directly say that the soldiers and horses guarding the camp are too useless.
Hearing this, Zheng Shuqi looked thoughtful, weighing Xu Cunzhong's proposal in his heart.
Along the way, he clearly felt the incompetence of the soldiers and horses guarding the camp.
Now he also had some doubts about whether it was right or wrong for him to lead the soldiers and horses guarding the camp to Dongshan like this.
Xu Cunzhong stood aside respectfully and did not urge Zheng Shuqi to give a result immediately.
The other party is the nominal commander of this army, and he is just a general under the other party.
"Are the soldiers and horses of the Tiger Flag really so powerful? Doesn't it mean that all the elites of the Tiger Flag have gone to the grassland, leaving only some unworthy soldiers and generals?" Zheng Shuqi asked Xu Cunzhong in front of him.
Since he dared to bring troops to Dongshan to cause trouble for the Tiger Flag, he naturally would not know anything about the situation of the Tiger Flag in Lingqiu.
In the more than half a year since I took office, I have obtained a lot of scattered information about the current situation of the Tiger Flag in Lingqiu.
If Liu Heng was still in charge in Lingqiu and the soldiers and horses of the Tiger-Character Banner brigade were also in Lingqiu, he would not bring only the soldiers and horses guarding the camp to Dongshan to look for trouble for the Tiger-Character Banner.
"Lingqiu is the place where the Tiger Character Banner started. It's not an exaggeration to say it is the home base. How could the Tiger Character Flag only have some shrimp soldiers and crab generals to guard here." Xu Cunzhong said with a wry smile.
Only then did he realize that after a long time, Zheng Shuqi didn't even know the strength of the Tiger Flag in Lingqiu, so he dared to bring the soldiers and horses guarding the camp to Dongshan to cause trouble for the Tiger Flag.
This made him even less optimistic about this operation.
Zheng Shuqi frowned and said, "In that case, do you think there is nothing I can do about not getting the Tiger Flag in Lingqiu?"
Xu Cunzhong lowered his head, but said nothing.
He didn't say it, but Zheng Shuqi could tell that Xu Cunzhong didn't think highly of him, or he thought that the soldiers and horses guarding the camp were no match for the soldiers and horses with the tiger character flag left in Lingqiu.
tread! tread! tread!
At this moment, the sound of rapid horse hooves came from the front.
Soon, several cavalrymen came galloping from the road ahead.
"Come here, protect Zheng Shuqi." When Xu Cunzhong saw the cavalry coming in their direction in the distance, he hurriedly greeted the people around him and stood in front of Zheng Shuqi.
However, Zheng Shuqi behind him pushed him away.
At the same time, I heard Zheng Shuqi say: "Don't be nervous, we are one of our own."
After a while, the oncoming cavalry had approached the officers and soldiers resting on the roadside, and they could clearly see the uniforms of the cavalry.
Xu Cunzhong breathed a sigh of relief.
The cavalry he had already recognized were the dozens of cavalry sent out before, and they were all Zheng Shuqi's own soldiers and servants.
"General, we saw the Tiger Flag army ahead, almost a battalion of soldiers and horses, coming this way." A returning soldier jumped off the horse before the horse stopped, and rushed to Zheng Shuqi in a few steps.
Zheng Shuqi's expression changed when he heard this.
A battalion of the border army has about 3,000 men at full strength. Even if the battalion from Tiger Flag does not have 3,000 men, it should have 2,000 troops and horses.
After all, Tiger Character Flag has never been free of charge.
At this time, soldiers and horses with tiger flags appeared on the same road as the army. It didn't take much to think that they were coming for the army.
"Otherwise, we should retreat to Lingqiu County first." Xu Cunzhong said, "Now the county is empty. If the soldiers and horses of the Tiger Flag attack the county, Lingqiu County will be in danger."
The soldiers next to him were also looking at Zheng Shuqi, waiting for him to make up his mind.
At this time, the Tiger Character Banner took the initiative to come to the door, which showed that the other party was confident of defeating the official army. More importantly, the Tiger Character Banner's soldiers and horses coming here were several times more than the official army.
Zheng Shuqi looked hesitant.
The soldiers and horses guarding the camp were already approaching Dongshan. They had not yet fought against the soldiers and horses of the Tiger Flag, so they just retreated. He was a little unwilling to do so.
Moreover, if you go back in such a dejected manner, your majesty will be greatly lost, and it will become more difficult to mobilize the soldiers and horses to guard the camp in the future.
Xu Cunzhong, the only member of the Qianhu family in the garrison camp in front of him, may not listen to his orders again in the future.
"Why are you the only ones back? Where are the others?" Zheng Shuqi suddenly remembered that he had sent more than a dozen cavalry to deal with the sentry cavalry of the Tiger Flag, but only a few came back.
One of the soldiers said: "The others stayed behind to find ways to delay the Tiger Flag army. A few of my subordinates will come back first to deliver the message."
"Go down with the order and form a formation to meet the enemy." Zheng Shuqi turned to Xu Cunzhong and said to the side.
Xu Cunzhong's expression suddenly changed when he heard this.
It was completely unexpected that Zheng Shuqi wanted to stay and fight the incoming Tiger Flag army even though he knew that his troops were not superior.
"What? What are you doing? Why don't you hurry up and get ready." Zheng Shuqi's face immediately sank when he saw that Xu Cunzhong didn't move.
He knew that Xu Cunzhong did not want to fight this battle, but he would never allow Xu Cunzhong to disobey his orders.
"Yes." Xu Cunzhong agreed helplessly, turned around and left quickly.
Neither of them mentioned letting the army set up an ambush here.
The sentries of the Tiger-Character Banner had already discovered their army. Even if they set up an ambush, the Tiger-Character Banner would not be fooled. In the end, they would still have to fight with real guns and swords.
In the midst of complaints, the soldiers and horses guarding the camp finally stood up one by one, put on their armor, and held their own weapons, crookedly blocking a long stretch of road.
"Xu Qianhu, the general asked you to take people to the front." A soldier beside Zheng Shuqi conveyed the order to Xu Cunzhong.
Xu Cunzhong, who was unwilling to fight this battle, heard that Zheng Shuqi wanted to put him at the front of the team to face the soldiers and horses with the tiger flag. His face turned ugly and asked: "Don't Zheng Shoubei stay in the front to command the battle?"
The soldier said: "My general thinks that Xu Qianhu's previous proposal is reasonable, so I led people to hold down the formation from behind to prevent anyone from deserting."
Hearing this, Xu Cunzhong's face turned even darker.
"Xu Qianhu, hurry up! Don't let the general wait too long, don't forget that the Tiger Flag army is approaching." The soldier urged.
He didn't give Xu Cunzhong any face.
"Okay, I'll come over right now." Xu Cunzhong said through gritted teeth.
After all, he did not dare to disobey Zheng Shuqi's general order, so he had to take a few of his servants and a group of officers and soldiers and rush to the front of the other troops.
