598Battle of Zhuxian Town (5)

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"Kill!"

Song Xiance failed to kill Fang Ping, and could only take Li Laiheng's corpse, which made him feel angry in his heart.

Song Xiance took more than 30,000 soldiers who came back to kill, and the main force of the Ming army behind Fang Guoan basically arrived, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides in this large camp.

At this time, Fang Guoan's face was very ugly.

Things have exceeded his expectations, and this battle has not been able to defeat the intrusive army in one go, and now the battle has become a stalemate.

But at this time, Fang Guoan had no choice, at this time he could only lead the army to continue to attack the army, and they could not retreat in this battle.

Fortunately, the previous attack was not without merit, at least the raid just now caused Song Xiance to lose an elite of 3,000 people.

At the same time, Song Xiance originally had an army of nearly 60,000 in his hands, and only half of them were left to continue fighting at this time, which was great news for the Ming army.

Fang Guoan, the battle on Song Xiance's side, is estimated to be a while and a half, and it is difficult to tell the winner.

At this time, the 5,000 elite soldiers led by Liu Zongmin sent by Li Zicheng, as well as the 50,000 co-operative troops, set off from Wei's yesterday and rushed to Xincheng to support Song Xiance.

However, halfway through, Liu Zongmin's troops were ambushed by the Ming army.

This was an ambush of Liu Zongmin, commanded by Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding.

Yang Wenyue led his 20,000 Ming troops, as well as another 10,000 Ming troops allocated to him by Ding Qirui, to set up an ambush north of the Shahe River and southwest of Xincheng, in a place called Hutouling.

And this time, Yang Wenyue also seconded Qi Wei's 3,000 flying feather battalion from Ding Qirui.

"Report, General Qiyu, the scouts in front have found that the thieves have crossed the Sand River and are rushing towards us, and they are expected to arrive in an hour."

A Ming army scout rode to Yang Wenyue and reported.

"Very well, let the scouts in front of you withdraw and don't let the thieves find out." Yang Wenyue said with a happy look on his face.

At this time, it was the middle of winter, and the sand river west of Zhuxian Town had entered a dry period, and it could not stop the advance of the invading army at all.

"General Qi, it's up to you later, I have few cavalry, only 4,000 people, and you will be in charge later, interspersed with thieves from the left and right flanks.

This battle must be won, and this thief army cannot be allowed to reach the new city, otherwise General Fang's side will be in danger. ”

Yang Wenyue looked at Qi Wei behind him at this time, with a kind attitude, and said with a smile.

"Yes, Lord Yang, don't worry, our Flying Feather Camp will do our best." Qi Wei was expressionless and responded.

This time, Yang Wenyue borrowed Qi Wei's 3,000 flying feather battalion from Ding Qirui, and he didn't have any bad intentions, but he really lacked cavalry under his command.

And if you want to ambush Liu Zongmin's more than 50,000 soldiers, the importance of cavalry is self-evident.

After all, the assault of the cavalry is not comparable to the infantry, a large number of elite cavalry can break up the enemy formation at the first time, without giving the enemy time to react.

Qi Wei also saw this, if Yang Wenyue really wanted to use the Feiyu Battalion as cannon fodder, Qi Wei would immediately lead people to evacuate the battlefield without hesitation.

Qi Wei never forgot what Li Zixiao told him, it was okay to assist the Ming army in this battle, but it couldn't be used by others, let alone bring the Feiyu Battalion into danger.

Now, Li Zixiao only has a total of three cavalry battalions in his hands, and Qi Wei's Feiyu battalion is still the earliest cavalry battalion of the White Dragon Army, which must not be damaged.

Judging from the assault and interspersed tasks that Yang Wenyue arranged for Qi Wei just now, it is similar to the task of the four thousand cavalry that Yang Wenyue gave him.

Soon, an hour passed, Yang Wenyue stood on Hutou Ridge, and from a long distance, he saw a long dragon appearing on the road, which was more than 50,000 soldiers led by Liu Zongmin.

"Generals, the thief army has arrived, you go back to the various departments to prepare, and after hearing my order, kill them according to the previous arrangement."

Yang Wenyue saw that the intrusive army was almost in their ambush circle, so he said to Lu Teng, Qi Wei and other generals behind him.

The ambush location that Yang Wenyue chose was actually not a good ambush spot.

But there is no way, the distance from Wei's to Xincheng is too close, and there are only a few places that Yang Wenyue can choose, and they are not very good.

Helpless, Yang Wenyue could only make do and choose the most suitable place, which was the area of Hutouling.

As for whether Liu Zongmin would go here, Yang Wenyue was not worried at all, because he knew that if Liu Zongmin wanted to support Song Xiance's department in Xincheng as soon as possible, he could only go here.

Because, from Wei's to Xincheng, there is a Zhuxian Town in the middle, and at this time Zhuxian Town is the base camp of the Ming army.

Attacking Zhuxian Town, that was left to Li Zicheng's main force to do, and Liu Zongmin's 50,000 people could only bypass Zhuxian Town and support Song Xiance.

In this way, there are only two routes left for Liu Zongmin to choose.

The first is to cross the Shahe River to the east, and then go north, and the other is to cross the Shahe River directly to the north, and you can go all the way to the Xincheng Song Xiance camp.

Relatively speaking, the second path is faster and easier to take.

Liu Zongmin's army of 50,000 would have reached Xincheng in less than a day if it had all marched at the speed of a rapid march.

Of course, if it were the White Dragon Army, the time would be shortened by at least one-third.

In fact, the marching speed of the soldiers who broke into the army was average, and their physique determined that they could not have too fast marching speed.

The army of 50,000 people, stretching for several miles, was running on the road, and Liu Zongmin rode on a horse, constantly urging the team to speed up.

At this time, Liu Zongmin did not expect that the Ming army would ambush him halfway.

After all, according to the news that Li Zicheng got, the Ming army at this time had already run out of food, and they were thinking about desperately escaping back to Kaifeng, where they would have the energy to come and ambush them.

In addition, Liu Zongmin is brave and unscrupulous, and he has a short-tempered personality, and he didn't think about it at all, if it were replaced by Li Guo, Song Xiance and other generals, he would definitely be more careful.

Liu Zongmin's army of more than 50,000 had already entered the Hutouling area, but because their ranks were too long, when their vanguard troops had already crossed Hutouling, Yang Wenyue did not give the order to attack.

The topography of Hutou Ridge is high in the east and low in the west, and an official road passes through a mountain range, and the largest mountain range is called Hutou Ridge.

Around Hutou Ridge, there are several other mountains, all of which are not very high, and the west is an open field.

It used to be a large area of farmland, but it was the middle of winter, and many of it was deserted, but there was also a lot of winter wheat grown.

And Yang Wenyue's army of more than 30,000 people hid in the mountains of Hutou Ridge, and the two cavalry led by Qi Wei and Lu Teng hid in a ravine in the western wilderness.

The terrain to the west was relatively flat, which was also suitable for cavalry charges, and once the army was defeated, Yang Wenyue guessed that they would definitely flee to the west.

At that time, Qi Wei and Lu Teng's two cavalry would immediately change their outflanking to pursuit.

It can be said that Yang Wenyue and their planning in this battle was excellent, and they were waiting for Liu Zongmin's army to enter the urn.

Soon, when nearly half of Liu Zongmin's 50,000 troops had crossed Hutou Ridge, Yang Wenyue knew that the time was almost up, so he said to a personal guard next to him: "Give the arrow!" Offensive! ”

Whoosh, Peng!

There was a sharp whistling sound, a loud explosion, and it exploded in the sky above Hutou Ridge.

Boom Boom!

Then, more than 20 artillery pieces placed by Yang Wenyue on Hutou Ridge also opened fire at the same time, and there was a fierce bombardment at the soldiers and soldiers under the ridge.

Bang bang bang, whoosh!

At this moment, thousands of Ming military gunners and archers lurking halfway up the Hutou Ridge and its surrounding mountains, hiding in the tunnels they had dug in advance.

At this time, they also immediately pushed away the withered grass covering their heads, and fired arrows at the soldiers who were more than a dozen paces away.

This method, Yang Wenyue still followed Qi Wei's suggestion.

The placement of muskeoners and archers at such a close distance allows them to strike hard at the first time against the soldiers who break through the main road.

And this is also the ambush method often used by the White Dragon Army, of course, the White Dragon Army uses all flintlock guns, and the strike effect is much stronger than the Ming Army's bird guns and bows and arrows at this time.

"Ahhh

The sudden artillery bombardment, as well as the Ming soldiers who emerged on the surrounding mountainsides, held fire guns and bows and arrows, caused a lot of casualties to the soldiers on the main road.

At the same time, it also made the rushing army, which was originally desperately rushed, immediately fall into chaos.

"Kill!"

Immediately after, tens of thousands of Ming soldiers swooped down from the surrounding mountains, brandishing long knives and spears, and slaughtered into the ranks of the intruders on the main road.

The sudden ambush launched by Yang Wenyue directly cut off Liu Zongmin's 50,000 army, and then quickly separated and surrounded them.

"General Qi, my general has issued an order, we should also do it, and we will hand it over to you later."

In a ravine to the east, Lu Teng said to Qi Wei.

"Okay, General Lu, let's split up."

Immediately, Qi Wei and Lu Teng led their respective cavalry teams, rushed out of the ravine, and then went separately from the south and the north.

Qi Wei and Lu Teng's men and horses were distributed towards Liu Zongmin's men and horses.

"Drive! Kill! ”

Among them, Qi Wei is the defender of Liu Zongmin to the south.

The sudden blow caused the soldiers to panic, and Liu Zongmin lost his command over them.

These soldiers could only resist the Ming soldiers who came over under the command of the generals of the nearby army.

"Damn, how did the Ming army set up an ambush here? Could it be that the news that the Ming army is short of food and the morale of the army is fake? ”

Although Liu Zongmin is reckless and irritable, it does not mean that he is stupid, and after he was ambushed at this time, this doubt immediately popped up in his mind.

"Liang Da, dragon vulture, you take someone to kill me out."

Liu Zongmin temporarily put aside the doubts in his mind, and now it is more important for them to break through first.

"Drive! Kill! ”

To the north, the 4,000 Ming cavalry led by Lu Teng quickly reached the vanguard of the intruding army.

Before, in order not to startle the snake, Yang Wenyue directly let go of the vanguard of Liu Zongmin's army, and now it is handed over to Lu Teng and them to deal with.

Poof!

The cavalry of the 4,000 Ming army rushed across and directly entered the vanguard of the invading army, slashing and slashing, blood splashed, and the head of the invading army was immediately scattered.

Thundered!

And later, the three thousand flying feather battalions led by Qi Wei also quickly killed the rearguard team of the breaking army.

"Crossbow, ready, shoot!"

As Qi Wei led the Flying Feather Battalion to rush closer to the intruding army, except for the three hundred personal guard cavalry around Qi Wei, who took out short guns, the rest of the Flying Feather Battalion cavalry all took out their crossbows.

Then, following Qi Wei's order, they first fired two rounds of crossbow fire at the enemy when they rushed into the enemy's ranks.

Because, on their arm crossbow, only two crossbow arrows can be installed.

If you want to shoot again, you have to reinstall it, but they impact too fast to have this time.

Poof, poof!

The dense formation of the soldiers next to the main road gave the crossbow arrows the greatest lethal effect.

After shooting two arrows, the cavalry of the Flying Feather Battalion put away their crossbows, drew out the sabers on their saddles, and raised them high, forming a bright forest of knives, and crashed into the rearguard of the invading army.

When those soldiers saw the flying feather cavalry and rushed over, they were already frightened one by one, and the foot soldiers were born with a fear of cavalry.

Poof, poof!

The cavalry of the Flying Feather Battalion led by Qi Wei rushed through the rearguard of the Breaking Army, breaking up their formation, and even more Breaking Sergeants fell under their sabers.

And those soldiers who broke into the army were already very panicked because they were ambushed, but as Qi Wei led the cavalry to kill them, they directly crushed their psychological defense line.

"Run!"

At any time, Qi Wei led the cavalry of the Feiyu Battalion, rushing back and forth to kill, seeing that human heads flew up, and colleagues continued to fall in pools of blood, those soldiers finally couldn't hold on, and there was a rout.

And the situation on Lu Teng's side in the north is basically the same, after being killed twice by Lu Teng's 4,000 cavalry back and forth, more than 5,000 soldiers and soldiers were directly defeated.

Then, Lu Teng turned around and led the cavalry towards Hutouling.

"General, no, there are too many Ming troops, and the brothers can't bear it."

A sergeant rushed to Liu Zongmin covered in blood and said eagerly.

At this time, Liu Zongmin also kept leading people to rush and kill, trying to break out of the ambush circle set up by Yang Wenyue.

At this time, Liu Zongmin couldn't take care of the other surrounding troops, because there was a scuffle everywhere, and their team was cut into several sections, and they couldn't take care of the beginning and the end.

Fortunately, at this time, there are more than 1,000 elite soldiers who are following Liu Zongmin, which is also the confidence that Liu Zongmin can always rush out.

The other 4,000 elite soldiers of the Chuang army were distributed in the front and rear, but unfortunately they have now been cut off by the Ming army and cannot get in touch with Liu Zongmin.

In this case, Liu Zongmin could only lead people to break through, and the soldiers who were besieged in other places could only break through separately.

"Liang Da, bring someone to kill me to the west, there is the weak link of the enemy's strength, escape first.

After escaping, you immediately send someone back to remind King Chuang, we may have been fooled, the Ming army in Zhuxian Town is very likely not to run out of food, and we have fallen into the trap of the Ming army. ”

Li Zongmin said to the most trusted general of the army beside him.

Immediately, the two of them took hundreds of elite soldiers and went out to the west.

(End of chapter)