Wang Shiqiang, who led a battalion of auxiliary soldiers and marched behind the forward, looked at the chaotic appearance of the soldiers in front of him, and was stunned.

Although he knew that this mission must be a bit boring, otherwise the emperor would not easily let these deserters offset their previous sins. But he didn't expect such an outrageous situation. A battalion of more than 900 people collapsed before it could come into contact with the enemy.

Looking at the crowd surging like a flood, he not only blocked the official road, but also squeezed his battalion of soldiers into a position that could not move, and he could not even form a phalanx of carriages to defend against cavalry. Looking at these routs who were constantly pushing and shoving with his subordinates, Wang Shiqiang also fell into chaos for a while.

However, his distraction didn't last long, and he was already awakened by the soldiers around him, "My lord, it seems that it is not possible, let's protect you and withdraw first, and when the group of routs rushes over, even we can't retreat." ”

Wang Shiqiang's face changed several times, and he finally made up his mind and said, "Withdraw, where to withdraw?" Your Majesty is right behind us, retreat and let Your Majesty cut off my head? Lao Tzu treats you well on weekdays, and now it's your turn to repay me, so go up and follow Lao Tzu hard. ”

Wang Shiqiang Huo drew his waist knife and rushed forward, shouting murderously at the rout soldiers who were stopped in front: "Avoid my battalion, violators will be beheaded." What else are you doing there? Draw out their knives, and if they dare to continue to charge our troops, they will be killed on the spot, regardless of officers and soldiers..."

The more than a dozen soldiers behind him looked at each other, and finally someone gritted his teeth and said, "Well, the Lord has raised us for so many years, and we will return this life to him today..."

Wang Shiqiang ran to the front of the battalion soldiers in front of the barely supported defensive line, a few steps on board a side van in the middle of the road, he wheeled the waist knife in his hand to the rout who wanted to push the car to escape for his life and struck down, and kept shouting: "Get out, roll to both sides, if you want to live, get out of here..."

At the beginning, he was still a little soft, only using the back of the knife to slash, but when one or two routs who had not dropped their weapons wanted to pick up weapons and stab him from the car, Wang Shiqiang quickly picked up the knife and really cut it, he and the personal soldiers who followed him cut down more than ten or twenty routs in a row, and even a familiar officer was cut off half of his head by a knife, these routs finally came to their senses, crying and fleeing to both sides.

Wang Shiqiang, who had cut several people, felt that his arms were a little sore, but he stood on the carriage and shouted unwaveringly to his subordinates who had not yet fled: "If you want to live, don't be in a daze, pull all the nearby cars over, form a circle, and drive the horses out, the first row of firearms soldiers and the second row of spearmen within the car formation." Your Majesty is behind us, as long as we hold on for an hour, Your Majesty will come to our rescue, all desperate..."

Wang Shiqiang, who was covered with blood, had a hideous and terrifying expression when he shouted to his subordinates with red eyes, but the order he gave when he stood up at this time quickly calmed down the panicked officers and soldiers of the nearby camp. At this moment, as long as they have not lost their complete sanity, the soldiers who are at a loss will always listen to the advice of those who dare to stand up. Not to mention, Wang Shiqiang is still their boss.

The group of soldiers close to Wang Shiqiang's side was about 2 or 300 people, and there were also 2 or 30 officers and soldiers of the forward battalion who rushed in. At this moment, whether they were willing or not, they all began to obey the orders of their superiors and began to act, and half of the personal soldiers around Wang Shiqiang were also divided, and the bullets supervised these soldiers to stand up, and for a while, this small group of Ming troops began to restore order.

However, although Wang Shiqiang reluctantly restored the order of these hundreds of people and began to build a defensive car formation, he had also lost control of the entire battalion. In their rear, under the influence of the constantly fleeing rout, this Ming army has completely lost its unified dispatch. When the soldiers of some companies heard the sound of "defeated" and "defeated", they dropped their weapons in a daze, turned around and fled with the rout, and at this time they did not know where the enemy had appeared and how many there were.

There were also some company officers who also figured out what Wang Shiqiang wanted to understand, and they gathered the soldiers around them to form a formation on the spot, preventing the routs from approaching them, and trying to hold out until the reinforcements caught up.

Li Hongyuan and Cui Ningxiu, who were located in the rear of the Chinese army, looked at the chaos in front of them, and both of them were pale. Compared with the previous two battalion heads, their battalion had 2 or 3 hundred soldiers around Cui Ningxiu, plus a company of new troops protecting Li Hongyuan, and more than 400 defeated troops who fled from the front line, and the number of untrained auxiliaries was small, so after hearing the enemy attack, the order was also the most good.

However, the sudden collapse of the forward force had completely bankrupted the plan that Li Hongyuan had conceived before the war. Originally, he was to hold on to the forward battalion for a period of time, so that the Chinese army and the rear guard could form three zigzag convoy phalanxes against the enemy, and the three phalanxes supported each other, enough to hold out until the arrival of reinforcements in the rear, and encircled and annihilated the Houjin troops who attacked.

But the forward troops did not say that they held out for a while, and judging by the current situation, most of the soldiers had already turned and fled without even seeing the enemy's figure. The sudden rout of the forward troops not only did not leave enough time for the Chinese army and the rear guard to form a formation, but also directly broke down the small half of the Chinese army.

Now except for their battalion and the battalion of the rearguard, they can barely form an irregular car formation, and there seems to be no hope at all in front, and Houjin's cavalry has not yet appeared, and the two of them raised their eyes to see their own routs, and 300 paces away have been completely obscured by the dust raised.

Li Hongyuan gritted his teeth, and said to Cui Ningxiu beside him with a blue face: "Dashuai, if you don't take drastic measures now, I'm afraid it won't work." ”

Cui Ningxiu, who was already a little ownerless, hurriedly replied: "Staff Officer Li, if you have any strategy, just say it quickly, it's all at this time, even if the sky falls, brother, I will bear it with all my might." Your Majesty is just behind, and if our brother messes up this errand, no one will have the face to go back. ”

Li Hongyuan pointed to the personal soldiers beside Cui Ningxiu and said: "Please send a hundred personal soldiers to me, I will go out to intercept these routs, organize a defensive line outside the formation, and buy some time for the commander to set up a formation, otherwise once the Houjin cavalry rushes over, we don't even have a chariot formation, and everyone will give the Houjin cavalry a pot." ”

Cui Ningxiu's face twitched, and he hesitated a little in his heart about Li Hongyuan's request. Seeing that the emperor was able to send a company of new troops to protect this Staff Officer Li, it showed that this person was not insignificant in His Majesty's heart. If he is thrown out and delayed after the Golden Cavalry charges, will His Majesty have any thoughts about himself afterwards?

Li Hongyuan, who was so anxious, didn't care about what Cui Ningxiu was still thinking in his heart, he said hurriedly: "Marshal, the military situation is like fire." If we delay any longer and can't set up a chariot formation in time, I'm afraid our battalion won't last long, and you and I will all become ghosts under the sword of the Houjin cavalry. ”

Li Hongyuan's words immediately reminded Cui Ningxiu that he was going to die here, so what are you hesitating about, even if there is anything, wait until you see Your Majesty alive.

After thinking about it, Cui Ningxiu turned her head and said to the henchmen behind her: "Cui Fu, you order half of the manpower to Staff Officer Li, you must protect Staff Officer Li's life, if Staff Officer Li can't come back, don't come back." The others hurried to help pull the cart and form a formation, they were all dying, why are you still in a daze..."

In the midst of Cui Ningxiu's scolding, Li Hongyuan left a company of new troops around him and asked them to help command these sergeants to stand up for defense. He only took the 125 family members given by Cui Ningxiu and ran to the official road before the camp established its position.

Li Hongyuan stood down on the official road, and then divided these families into 3 parts, 50 people on the left and right wings, and 25 people on his side. After asking these families to nominate three commanders, he said to them: "The left wing will go to the left side of the official road to intercept the defeated officers and soldiers, and the right wing will go to the right side of the official road to intercept the defeated officers and soldiers." The others followed me here.

After you intercept the officers and soldiers, you do three things: pick out the soldiers who do not carry armor and weapons, and behead them; Officers who fled alone, beheaded; Those who refuse to obey the order to stop, and still want to continue to flee, regardless of officers and soldiers, will be beheaded.

The soldiers who intercepted them, every 50 of them, formed a team, asked them to elect a temporary officer, and then sent them to me. Everyone's clear? ”

The 125 family members immediately responded loudly, and Li Hongyuan immediately asked these family members to go separately to carry out the task, and in addition to the 25 family members behind him, there was also a team of soldiers used to intercept the rout and attack the Chinese army.

After Wang Shiqiang drove away a defeated soldier by force in front, these soldiers who had been defeated by the forward battalion finally regained some of their senses. I didn't dare to continue running on the official road. And some of the fleeing officers also began to slow down, and Wang Shiqiang's shout just now still had a small number of words falling into their ears.

Except for some officers who were really afraid of the Houjin military force to the extreme, who were completely stunned by the Houjin cavalry, and only cared about fleeing in their hearts, and did not imagine anything else, most of the officers knew one thing, the emperor sitting behind them was obviously unlikely to give them a second chance.

Fleeing back and being beheaded by the emperor will also affect his family. If you die here, your family may be beneficial. The slightest comparison of these two answers made these officers lose the courage to flee. Let yourself be dragged forward in the crowd.

Li Hongyuan sent two teams of men and horses to intercept the deserters on both sides of the official road, and then pulled these people back to the official road, preparing to stand up on the official road to resist the enemy cavalry, and win some time for the two battalions behind him to stand up.