PS: Thanks to the book friend life trainee for the reward.
"Archers prepare!"
As the order was issued, groups of archers walked out of the army and appeared in front of the army array.
Beep! Beep!
Two long copper whistles sounded, causing several thousand-man arrays that were moving forward to stop.
The distance between the two sides is only one hundred and fifty steps.
This range has exceeded the farthest range of the archers, and the fire cannons on the side of the Tiger Flag cannot cause any harm to the officers and soldiers a hundred and fifty steps away.
For a time, the atmosphere between the two sides solidified, and no one took a step forward.
"General, it seems that these bandits also know how powerful the archers are and don't dare to go forward." Xue Mu boasted next to Yang Guozhu.
When the Tiger-Character Banner army defeated nearly 10,000 people in three large camps of the government army, many people among the government troops in the rear began to panic.
Now the invading Tiger Flag army was blocked by the archers of the army, which made many people secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
Xue Mu is one of these people.
Yang Guozhu turned his head and said to a subordinate beside him: "How many defeated troops have been collected?"
"We have gathered two to three thousand people. If we can survive for another half day, we can at least double the number." The general on the side reported back.
Yang Guozhu nodded slightly.
In such a short period of time, it was not a small number to be able to collect two to three thousand defeated troops. Of course, he also understood that a large part of these defeated troops were because they fled back to the main camp.
With these two or three thousand defeated troops, it is equivalent to one more battalion of soldiers and horses.
The general on the side said: "General, it is not a problem to delay it like this. If the bandits ignore casualties, they may not be able to break through the archers' obstruction."
Everyone present at the generals could see that the reason why several formations of bandits stopped was entirely because they were concerned about the archers on the official side.
"I hope these bandits are not afraid of the archers attacking forcefully." Yang Guozhu sneered, "The bandits are strong on their weird formation. As long as the archers disrupt the formation, the bandits will be defeated."
He has been paying attention to several military formations under the tiger-shaped flag.
Even when the soldiers and horses of the Tiger Flag were attacking forward, they obviously slowed down to ensure that their formation was not chaotic.
The previous three military camps were defeated because they failed to shake the military formation of the Tiger Flag.
But as long as he could disrupt the military formation of the Tiger Character Banner, he believed that even if the Tiger Character Banner's soldiers and horses were stronger than the ordinary soldiers of the border army, they would not be able to defeat the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses of the official army with 8,000 people.
The general on the side said: "Looking at the appearance of the bandits now, I'm afraid they won't continue to attack for a while."
"The bandits don't have many troops. As soon as General Wang's Xuanfu troops arrive, they can attack from both sides and wipe out this group of bandits." Several generals around Yang Guozhu said.
The people sent to deliver the message to Wang Bao had already left the camp.
"The general is wise. These bandits think that we are fighting them, but they don't know that the general has already sent people to contact another army to prepare for a flanking attack on these bandits. Once these bandits are eliminated, the destruction of the city will be just around the corner. "Xue Mu boasted.
Yang Guozhu proudly smoothed his beard with his hand.
Xue Mu's words scratched his itch.
After several battles, Yang Guozhu discovered that the soldiers and horses of the Tiger Flag were considered elite among the border troops.
Such elite soldiers and horses are powerful, but to feed such a army of soldiers and horses, it takes a lot of money and food.
In fact, it was exactly what he thought.
Although the soldiers and horses of the Tiger Character Banner are powerful and have not lost in several head-to-head confrontations with the government troops, the number of such elite soldiers and horses is limited.
The imperial court sent troops from Xuanfu and Datong towns this time, totaling nearly 50,000 troops. However, the garrison of the Tiger-Character Banner in Xinpingbao was only more than 10,000 troops.
Just like what his staff Xue Mu said, as long as the bandits leaving the city are wiped out, the remaining bandits in Xinpingbao City will only be a few thousand people, and it will be easy to attack the city by then.
More importantly, the bandits outside the city brought a lot of cannons. As long as the bandits outside the city are eliminated, these cannons can be obtained and used to attack Xinping Fort.
Thinking of the cannon, Yang Guozhu always felt that something was missing, so he asked several generals around him, "Have you noticed anything wrong?"
Several generals on the side looked at each other and shook their heads to express that they were unclear.
At this time, Xue Mu said: "The students also noticed something was wrong. It seemed that the gunfire of the bandits had stopped and they were not heard for a while."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Guozhu's expression suddenly changed.
"Order the archers to retreat immediately, no, move forward, and take the initiative to attack the bandits in front." Yang Guozhu ordered in an urgent tone.
Several generals around him reacted immediately.
A fire cannon cannot hit an archer at a distance of one hundred and fifty steps, but a cannon can hit that far.
It is impossible for the rebels to give up their advantage in artillery.
The messenger immediately ran to deliver the order.
However, at this moment, the roar of cannons rang in his ears.
"It's over!" Yang Guozhu's face turned pale.
Cannonballs fell on the crowd of archers.
Screams and wails immediately rang in everyone's ears.
"General, the archers are finished." A general next to him said with an ugly expression.
These hundreds of archers are his subordinates.
The bandits' bombardment may not be able to kill all the archers, but the remaining archers are of little use and cannot pose much of a threat to the bandits.
"Cannon! Cannon!" Yang Guozhu gritted his teeth and spat out the word "Pao".
Facing the soldiers and horses of the Tiger Flag, he believed that he suffered a disadvantage because he did not bring many cannons.
If he could have as many cannons as the bandits in front of him, he believed that he would have captured Xinping Fort during his last attack on the city, and there would be no such thing as the bandits taking the initiative to attack.
"General, what should we do next?" Xue Mu asked nervously.
Previously, the archers had restrained the invading Tiger-Character Banner army, and he thought that the government army had a sure chance of victory. Now, as soon as the Tiger-Character Banner side opened fire, the situation clearly became a defeat for the government army.
Yang Guozhu took a deep breath, adjusted his mood, and ordered: "Let the remaining archers open the way in front, find a way to destroy the bandits' military formation, and then order a battalion of soldiers and horses to follow behind, and take the opportunity to eat the bandits in front of them. bandit."
The generals on the side all lowered their heads.
Most of these people were the commanders of a certain battalion. At this time, sending a battalion of soldiers and horses to confront the bandits head-on would obviously not allow them to gain any advantage.
After all, a battalion of border troops was not as large as the number of bandits in front of them.
Yang Guozhu's face sank when he saw that no one took the initiative to stand up and ask for a fight.
He looked around at the generals around him.
Finally, I just heard him say: "General Zhang, the opportunity to make meritorious deeds is given to you. You must hold back the bandits."
At this time, he himself did not expect a battalion of soldiers and horses to be able to defeat the invading Tiger Banner army, he only wanted to delay time.
