The eight musket battalions, if they continued to fight separately, would definitely break through the general formation by attacking from the flanks. When the time comes, the defense line that stretches for several miles, and the eight musket arrays, will have a chain reaction, and one after another will be destroyed by the iron cavalry, or even wiped out.

And there is only one way to stop these attacks from the flanks, and that is to increase the defensive strength of each musket formation. Bring two, or even three musket battalions, together to form a large musket formation.

However, if he did so, Qin Yong would have to face a problem: on the battlefield where he was fighting, in order to achieve his goal, the musketeers who were assembling had to be quick to cause a build-up before the Tartar cavalry could react.

And this means that the subordinates must give up some baggage dà carts in the process of assembly. Otherwise, under the drag of these baggage wagons, the officers and men under their command would not have been able to quickly complete the assembly.

In the face of these two choices, Qin Yong, who had a solemn face, decided without thinking about it: "Order, all musket battalions, quickly give up the baggage dà cart." From now on, we will only keep grain and grass, and all other carts will be abandoned......"

"Each musket battalion, bring the grain and grass under their own protection, and quickly assemble with their own regiment commander to ensure the safety of all grain and grass."

On the high ground a few miles away from the battlefield, facing the ever-changing defensive formation of the Haw Par Army. The hot expression on the face of the Tartar Lord had been unconsciously covered with calm.

When he saw the picture of the Haw Par Army giving up some of their baggage cars and assembling them, the calm expression on his face was then covered with solemnity.

After taking a deep breath, he said to himself in a heavy tone, "Ben will be most worried about the Haw Par Musketeers coming together. Now it's what to be afraid of. What is he coming? “

"As long as the Haw Par Army completes the assembly. Our next attack, in the face of the Haw Par Army's formidable firearms, was to send us to death. Now it seems that our goal of destroying these tiger and leopard troops in this battle is impossible to achieve. ”

Speaking of this, Qin Yong, who had a solemn face, directly ordered: "Order the attacking troops." After destroying all the baggage wagons that could be destroyed, each team of 1,000 men immediately retreated to avoid unnecessary losses......"

Although the Tartars retreated, almost two hundred of the hundreds of carts on the official road were destroyed. What's more, among these two hundred carts, there are almost fifty carts of soldiers.

Looking at the baggage cars with less than 100 cars left on the official road, I saw it on the official road again. The corpses of more than a thousand soldiers who died at the hands of the Tartars. Qin Yong's solemn facial expression was directly covered by heaviness.

But. In order to send the remaining soldiers to the barracks as much as possible, to avoid any unforeseen accidents.

Although the heavy losses of his subordinates made him very heartbroken, Qin Yong, who still maintained a trace of sanity, did not drag on the battlefield for too long.

Two days later, the Tiger and Leopard Army, which was trailing behind the Tartars, had penetrated nearly 300 miles into Houjin. During the march of several days, although Wei Zheng continued to expand the search range of the scouts, he still did not see a single Tartar tribe.

Under such circumstances, Wei Zheng was already sure in his heart that Huang Taiji had implemented a strong wall clearing on himself. Not only that, in order to force himself back, the cunning Huang Taiji may have already done it in his own logistics line.

Although he has already dispatched a musket division to ensure the safety of the logistics line, as the logistics line becomes longer and longer, Wei Zheng does not dare to guarantee whether the defensive strength of a division will be enough on the long logistics transportation line. Will the grain and grass transported to me from Liaodong have problems on this increasingly long logistics line?

Just when Wei Zheng was waiting for news with a worried face.

Wang Feng, with Wang Feng with an excited face, rushed directly into the tent.

After seeing Wei Zheng, he forgot the rules in the army, and directly reported with excitement on his face: "Dashuai, the grain, the grain we transported from Liaodong has arrived...... The 3rd Division had already arrived at the gate of the barracks with food. ”

Hearing the news, the worried expression on Wei Zheng's face disappeared directly, and was covered by the excitement from the heart.

Wang Feng was excited because after the food arrived, the Tiger and Leopard Army, which was already about to run out of food, would not be reduced to the point of killing horses to satisfy hunger.

And Wei Zheng's excitement is due to two reasons.

The first reason, like Wang Feng's excitement, is that the food shortage crisis of the Haw Par Army has been solved.

As for the second reason, that is, the logistics and transportation lines that he was most worried about did not seem to be threatened and attacked by the Houjin Tartars.

Therefore, the excited Wei Zheng rushed out of the tent, rode his war horse, and galloped towards the gate of the barracks.

But when he rushed to the gate of the barracks, after seeing the specifics of the 3rd Division. The excitement and smile on his face were immediately covered with solemnity.

It has now been more than two days since the engagement of the 3rd Division on the march. However, Wei Zheng, who had a keen sense of smell, clearly saw signs of large-scale battles from the thousands of soldiers of the Third Division.

In addition, what attracted Wei Zheng's attention the most was the number of baggage dà cars on the official road.

Although Wei Zheng did not know how many heavy wagons the defenders of Liaodong had brought to him, it was necessary to supply the whole army with the heavy grain and grass needed for half a month's battle.

With so much baggage grain and grass, how could it be possible to use less than a hundred baggage dà carts.

Perhaps in order to confirm Wei Zheng's inference, Wei Zheng had just jumped off his horse, and several officers of the Third Division, led by Qin Yong, hurriedly trotted towards Wei Zheng.

After standing in front of Wei Zheng, he reported with a solemn face: "Marshal, the last general has betrayed your trust and failed to transport the heavy grain and grass to the camp safely. Not only did he lose 200 carts of heavy supplies, but he also lost more than 1,800 soldiers, so please surrender to the marshal......"

Hearing this report, Wei Zheng not only did not show a shocked expression on his face, but replied with a sudden understanding: "Sure enough, the cunning Huang Taiji is still under our logistics line." ”

Compared with Wei Zheng's unfazed behavior, Wang Feng, who has almost turned gray for military rations in the past few days, is not so good.

As soon as Wei Zheng's words were finished, Wang Feng asked impatiently: "Senior Commander Qin, what about the grain, is there a big loss of the soldiers sent from Liaodong?" ”

Qin Yong hurriedly shook his head and replied, "Only one-third of the food has been lost...... Because the commander has confessed, after we are attacked, the first thing we protect is food. Among the hundreds of carts brought by the last general, eighty-five carts were loaded with grain. In addition to this, we also brought back the horse meat that killed the Tartar horses in the battle, and loaded a whole fifteen carts......"

Hearing this, Wang Feng breathed a sigh of relief and subconsciously replied: "That's good, thank God, with this grain, plus horse meat, we can hold on for at least thirteen days......

After Wang Feng finished speaking, Wei Zheng, who looked pensive, finally spoke again.

"This time there is food, but not necessarily next time. Division Commander Qin, immediately tell you what happened on the march in as much detail as possible. Ben Shuai must know how many troops he has deployed on our logistics line. If we continue to send more troops, can we guarantee that the logistics and transportation lines will not be attacked by the Tartars again......"

"You must know that since he Emperor Taiji has decided to attack our logistics line, he will shorten our logistics supplies and force us back. The troops that Huang Taiji has placed on our logistics line will be like mad dogs, constantly attacking our logistics and transportation troops, destroying as much as possible the baggage and materials that have been transported to us, making us run out of food, and forcing us back ......"

Soon, the battle process of the Tartar raid on the Third Division appeared in Wei Zheng's mind like a movie.

Under the simultaneous gaze of several pairs of eyes, Wei Zheng analyzed thoughtfully: "Judging from the current situation, Huang Taiji has at least 10,000 iron horsemen arranged on our logistics line. ”

"Not only that, but these Tartars seem to have received a special military order from Huang Taiji, only destroying our baggage, and not fighting hard against our escort troops. Otherwise, the losses of the 3rd Division would have been even greater......"

Wang Feng followed up and said: "Great Shuai, not only that, but the last general thinks that the main general of this Tartar Iron Cavalry is very powerful, and he is very aware of the weaknesses of my Tiger and Leopard Army. In his raids on the 3rd Division, he was always directed towards our weak points. What multi-way raids, what concentrated forces break through in the middle...... It's all about avoiding us from gathering together to fight. For he knew that as long as we formed a musket formation, unless they were willing to suffer very heavy casualties, they would not be able to help us at all. ”

Qin Yong, who had personally experienced this raid, hurriedly agreed.

"Marshal, the last general thinks that Commander Wang's words are very reasonable. In order to protect hundreds of carts of heavy grain and grass, the general could only disperse the strength of one division in battalions and companies. However, in this way, the limited forces of the last general were scattered on the official road that stretched for several miles. In this case, no matter how powerful the general is, there is no way to gather the troops together in a short period of time to form a musket array...... And this gave the Tartar Iron Rider a very big opportunity. ”

Wei Zheng nodded in approval and said, "I know what you guys say, and this is the cunning of Huang Taiji." The iron cavalry of only 10,000 people threatens our lifeline and makes us unable to guard against it......"

After finishing speaking, Wei Zheng's gaze shifted to Qin Yong again, and he asked with an expectant face: "Senior Commander Qin, you have personally experienced this battle. How many troops do you think will be able to increase the number of troops used to escort grain and grass to ensure the safety of our logistics and transportation lines......"

After the fiasco on the battlefield, Qin Yong thought of this problem.

Therefore, as soon as Wei Zheng's words were finished, Qin Yong opened his mouth and replied: "The two musket divisions, if there are still so many heavy wagons, and the strength of the Tartar iron cavalry does not increase, give the last general two divisions, and the last general will definitely be able to ensure the safety of the logistics and transportation line." ”

The two musketeers were 12,000 men, and the Haw Par Army, which followed Wei Zheng into Houjin, was less than 35,000 when it was fully armed.

There are more than 30,000 soldiers, excluding cavalry, artillery, and baggage soldiers, and the musketeers who can be used for foot combat are only 20,000.

Now that more than 10,000 people are taken out to protect the logistics line at once, the number of musketeers in Wei Zheng's hands is only 8,000. With such a small number of troops, can they block the attack that Huang Taiji may launch? (To be continued......)