The reason why Sun Hongcai continued to return to the west to rescue Lu Xiangsheng was simple. To rescue Lu Xiangsheng at this time was to provide help in a timely manner.
Once the rescue is successful, Lu Xiangsheng will be grateful and rewarded.
With Lu Xiangsheng supporting him from behind, Sun Hongcai will have to live a very relaxed life in the future.
Furthermore, and the most important point is that the five hundred cavalry under him are determined to rescue Lu Xiangsheng, and there is nothing he can do to stop them from going.
The five hundred cavalry even forced him to go with them!
These five hundred cavalry were not Sun Hongcai's direct troops, but were sent by Lu Xiangsheng to assist Sun Hongcai in pursuing the rebel army and to cooperate with Sun Hongcai in attacking Xinye City.
Moreover, this group of cavalry is the direct descendant of Lu Xiangsheng, and the deputy general Lin Yongyi who commands the cavalry is the direct descendant of the Tianxiong Army brought by Lu Xiangsheng from Beizhili.
Lu Xiangsheng formed a Tianxiong army when he was serving in Beizhili. At that time, he also got some cavalry.
Later, Lu Xiang was promoted and transferred south. Although it was impossible to take the entire Tianxiong Army with him, it was not a problem to bring some of his team members to take office.
There were more than a hundred cavalry in these teams that led them south.
After arriving in Yunyang, Lu Xiangsheng continued to recruit cavalry, and finally expanded the cavalry to 500 cavalry, and they were all professional cavalry. Although they were far less elite than the frontier troops, they were still capable of riding and shooting, and compared with those half-hearted cavalry. Mounted infantry is different.
To put it bluntly, this cavalry is a direct force of Lu Xiangsheng, and its commander Lin Yongyi only listens to Lu Xiangsheng and not to Sun Hongcai!
When he learned that Lu Xiangsheng was defeated in Sanyuanzhuang and was trapped in Sanyuanzhuang, Sun Hongcai was hesitant about whether to continue marching westward.
Lin Yongyi, the deputy general who led the cavalry, rudely made it clear to Sun Hongcai: Since Qian Xian had given them an order, they must return westward.
You, Sun Hongcai, have to go even if you don’t go.
If you don't go, I will kill you first...
Only then did Sun Hong realize that Lu Xiangsheng had sent Lin Yongyi, the bastard, here not only to help, but also to serve as a supervisor.
Under such circumstances, Sun Hongcai had to continue to lead the return journey to the west regardless of what he thought in his heart...
But, yes, we have gone, but we still have to think about how we will rescue them and whether they are really rescues.
After all, Lin Yongyi might be unlucky, and he might die accidentally on the way back west.
Him, Sun Hongcai!
Definitely not a person who allows anyone to threaten you!
————
Just when Sun Hongcai reluctantly led his army back westward under the supervision of Lin Yongyi, the war at Sanyuan Village had rekindled.
Early in the morning, the artillery unit of the Baoxiang Army began to violently bombard the Ming army in Sanyuan Village.
In order to ensure the effectiveness of the artillery bombardment, and knowing that the Ming army in Sanyuan Village did not have large-scale cavalry, nor long-barreled artillery that could carry out counterattacks, the artillery unit led by Zhang Malin, under the cover of the infantry, went directly forward to the only A close range shelling was carried out at a distance of only more than 300 meters.
At such a close distance, Zhang Malin, an old artillery officer, was personally in command. The hit rate of his twelve 600-pound long cannons was astonishingly high. At the same time, because of the close distance, the kinetic energy of the shells was also very sufficient.
The shells landed on the simple fortifications built by the Ming army based on wooden fences. They were almost invincible and directly swept through many fortifications.
The Ming army in Sanyuan Village could only watch as the various obstacles around the wooden fence were destroyed by the concentrated firepower of the Baoxiang Army's artillery.
They once wanted to take the initiative to fight back and force the artillery units of the Baoxiang Army to retreat. However, as soon as they came out, they were intensively bombarded by a large number of light and heavy artillery and had to flee back again.
At about eight o'clock in the morning, the soldiers of the First Artillery Brigade of the Baoxiang Army began to push a large number of emergency modified one-wheeled shield vehicles forward.
At this time, the Ming army also ignored the risk of being bombarded and began to counterattack with only a dozen light cannons. Although it also caused certain casualties to the advancing Baoxiang Army, it was still unable to stop the First Infantry Brigade. Advance.
When the soldiers of the Baoxiang Army advanced to a distance of one or two hundred meters, more light artillery came forward to shoot, followed by musketeers and archers.
The soldiers of the Ming army hiding behind the simple defenses were unstoppable. Even though Lu Xiangsheng had repeatedly issued strict orders not to retreat without permission and to maintain strict defense, a large number of ordinary Ming soldiers on the front line also fled in large numbers, and even some mid-level generals. Seeing that things were not going well, he simply surrendered on the spot with his troops to save his life.
And when a large number of soldiers of the First Infantry Brigade entered, the personal barracks followed closely behind.
After three thousand soldiers of the rural protection army entered Sanyuanzhuang, it meant that the battle of Sanyuanzhuang had come to an end.
It is impossible for the thousands of Ming army remnants in Sanyuan Village to withstand the wolf-like and tiger-like soldiers of the Home Guard Army!
More than half of these remnants of the Ming army had lost their armor, and many of them did not even have the most basic weapons such as knives or spears. Not to mention that after a tragic defeat in the battle and being besieged in Sanyuan Village, the morale of the entire army almost dropped to pole.
After the Baoxiang Army broke through the southern defense line of Sanyuanzhuang and killed at least hundreds of Ming troops during the battle, the remaining Ming soldiers in Sanyuanzhuang could no longer raise the morale to resist.
There were Ming soldiers running around everywhere, trying to escape from the battlefield. Many of them ran directly to the north or east, trying to swim directly across the river to escape from Sanyuan Village. However, what they didn't know was that there seemed to be many people in these two directions. There was no attack by the defense army, but in fact there was a cavalry post and some infantry ambushed here.
These Ming soldiers who crossed the river to escape could not actually escape. It would not take long for them to be killed or captured by the troops protecting their hometowns from these two directions.
In addition to the soldiers who escaped, there were actually more people who surrendered on the spot. There were sporadic surrenders by soldiers, and there were also Ming army generals who surrendered directly with their troops.
By around 8:40, most of the area in Sanyuanzhuang had been captured by the Baoxiang Army. In addition to casualties, the Ming army in the village either fled or surrendered.
But even so, a small part of the Ming army was still resisting during this period!
That was more than a hundred soldiers led by Lu Xiangsheng himself. They relied on a house that was originally a landlord in Sanyuanzhuang to resist.
After several attempts to recruit and surrender failed, the Baoxiang Army decisively pulled out several 200-pound light artillery!
After multiple rounds of shelling, a group of armored soldiers from the Home Guard Army rushed in.
A brutal fight occurred!
Even though the Baoxiang Army had an absolute advantage in strength and firepower, Lu Xiangsheng himself and his soldiers were not weak. Although they were at an absolute disadvantage when fighting at close range, they still fought to the death.
Even Lu Xiangsheng himself was wearing heavy armor and holding a steel knife to participate in the fight!
And this was also the most intense battle in the entire Sanyuanzhuang battle.
It even once changed many generals of the Baoxiang Army, and even Luo Zhixue's perception of the low combat effectiveness of the Ming Army.
There are still some strong bones in the decayed Ming army!
After cutting down a thieves armored soldier, Lu Xiangsheng gasped and raised his head and looked around.
There are only about ten soldiers left around him, and most of them, including Lu Xiangsheng and his bandits, are already injured.
And his surroundings were filled with the corpses or seriously injured of his own soldiers, and of course those damned security thieves were also indispensable.
The surrounding area is full of corpses or wailing seriously injured people!
Further out, the armored warriors of the rebel army who were originally involved in the fight have gradually retreated, but more rebel soldiers of the Hometown Protection Army are coming, and not only are they coming, they are melee soldiers holding cold weapons, there are also dozens of them. A famous thief armed with a musket.
These musketeers quickly moved forward under the cover of a group of armored thieves. One of the thieves who looked like a leader was brandishing a knife and shouting something.
Under his command, these thieves stood dozens of meters away from Lu Xiangsheng and others, and then raised their muskets!
Seeing this scene, Lu Xiangsheng laughed loudly, and then said loudly to his soldiers: "Follow me to kill the thief!"
After that, he took the lead and rushed out...
As soon as Lu Xiangsheng rushed out, dozens of thieves and musketeers on the opposite side also opened fire!
When the smoke rose, Lu Xiangsheng and the soldiers around him fell to the ground. The remaining soldiers who were lucky enough not to be killed by muskets were quickly killed one by one by the rebels' heavy-armored spearmen. .
Lu Xiangsheng was lying on the ground, and his steel knife that had chopped down several thieves in succession also fell to the ground beside him!
He seemed to be struggling to stand up, but he was shot in the chest and couldn't even raise his hands, let alone stand up!
At the same time, he was murmuring a voice that only he could hear: Your Majesty, minister...
Before he could finish his muttering, he tilted his head and completely lost his voice.
Lu Xiangsheng died in battle!
When Luo Zhixue learned that Lu Xiang died in the battle, he thought for a few seconds and said: "He is still a person. Let's find a place to bury him."
Blind Wang on the side said: "A generous burial?"
Luo Zhixue glanced at Blind Wang: "No need to go to so much trouble, just find a place to bury it!"
The more brave Lu Xiangsheng showed and the more he refused to surrender, the less Luo Zhixue would give him a so-called grand burial, and the less likely he would be able to publicize his loyalty to the emperor and fight to the death.
That's just causing trouble for yourself.
If you really do this, wouldn't it encourage future Ming army generals to fight to the death?
Even if he wants to give respect to his enemies and preach loyalty and patriotism to win over the people of the world, he will have to wait until Luo Zhixue controls most of the world and even unifies Kyushu before he can do this again.
To be honest, Luo Zhixue thought that he had given Lu Xiangsheng a lot of face by not keeping Lu Xiangsheng's head and then taking it everywhere to spread the slander.
This was replaced by Hong Chengchou and his like, and Luo Zhixue would cut off their heads and hang them on Xiangyang City!
In order to promote the heroic martial arts of the Baoxiang Army and intimidate other Ming army generals.
Incidentally, there will also be various arrangements to smear it.
Because they are enemies, not friendly forces.
Don't sit with your butt crooked!
————
With the death of Lu Xiangsheng, the Battle of Sanyuanzhuang came to an end. The Baoxiang Army began to clean up the battlefield and prepared to march eastward to relieve the siege of Xinye City.
But not long after, a reconnaissance cavalry reported that the Ming army Sun Hongcai's troops, who originally besieged Xinye City, had led their troops to the west.
In this case, there was nothing more to say. After Luo Zhixue left part of his troops to clean the battlefield and take custody of many prisoners of war, he once again led the main force eastwards and headed straight for Xinye City.
But in the end Luo Zhixue failed to capture Sun Hongcai's troops, because this man suddenly led his army to divert north to Dengzhou halfway.
On his way back to the west, Sun Hongcai learned that Lu Xiangsheng's entire army had been destroyed, and once again proposed to go north to Dengzhou City.
This time, Lin Yongyi did not continue to insist on marching westward, but readily agreed to go north to Dengzhou.
It's just that before they arrived in Dengzhou, Sun Hongcai found an opportunity to chop Lin Yongyi to death on the way.
Now that Lu Xiangsheng is finished, Lin Yongyi, Lu Xiangsheng's direct confidant Sun Hongcai, is no longer afraid.
More importantly, Sun Hongcai was very greedy for those five hundred cavalry!
