"If only I had the identity of a Jinyi Wei Qianhu." Zhou Kaihuang sighed secretly in his heart, in the first battle of Yunyang, Zhao Tianba's battle to kill the defenders was talked about by the soldiers of the Ming army, and Zhou Kaihuang was very envious of this: Although the other party is the best among the young generation in Xiying, he is also outstanding among the rookies in the camp.

Now that Zhou Kaihuang finally has deeds that can be compared, he feels that it is difficult for him to shout a similar statement to Zhao Tianba: What a famous name Jinyi Wei Qianhu is! And before Zhou Kaihuang was just a thousand presidents under Yuan Zongdi, there are so many thousands of generals in the world, and there is no special brilliance in shouting out. And if he doesn't mention anything and only reports his name, Zhou Kaihuang thinks that everyone will think that he is a nobody.

Fortunately, Zhou Kaihuang also has something that Zhao Tianba envies.

"I'm the Zhou Kaihuang who made a big fuss in Kunming!" With Deng Ming's open letter, Zhou Kaihuang was also considered a wanted criminal on the Qing court. Seeing that the Qing soldiers had fled back to the city tower, Zhou Kaihuang raised the flagpole in his hand with both arms and shouted at the city tower: "Who dares to fight with me?" ”

"Ahh

After hearing that the enemy cavalry on the opposite side claimed to be Zhou Kaihuang, who was making trouble in Kunming, several people around Zhou Peigong exclaimed, all of whom were the masters of the Hanyang General Army, and the likes of the curtain guests. The news of the Kunming fire has long been transmitted to Hubei, although not everyone remembers the name Zhou Kaihuang, but since the other party mentioned Kunming, it must be one of the burning Kunming.

"Since this person is Zhou Kaihuang," Zhou Peigong remembered the name of this family, and the Kunming fire also caused a great shock among the people of Huguangshi, and countless people were privately speculating about Deng Ming's identity, and he shouted to the general soldiers: "Is it Deng Ming?!" ”

The general army of Hanyang did not have time to discuss with Zhou Peigong who was the main general of the Ming army defending the gap, and seeing that his subordinates had already withdrawn, he raised his hand with a cold face, and a large number of archers behind him immediately began to bend their bows and arrows.

Zhou Kaihuang didn't give the other party a chance to snipe him, he had participated in many battles before, and in recent months, he had been even more experienced in a hundred battles, just now he moved back and forth at high speed, and when he stopped, he was always entangled with the enemy soldiers. After shouting this voice, Zhou Kaihuang turned his horse and left, not stopping at all, and didn't care if anyone would answer his challenge, but when he left, Zhou Kaihuang still laughed loudly and dropped a sentence: "Guts rats!" ”

Seeing the enemy cavalry quickly move away, the Hanyang general soldier who raised his arm high slowly lowered it again, and the Qing archers near the city tower also reluctantly put away their bows again.

"It's Deng Ming who is making a big fuss in Kunming." The general soldier of Hanyang only had time to say to the surrounding staff, and he looked around at the people around him: "Is there the name of the thief just now in Deng Ming's inscription?" ”

"Yes!" Seeing that the master of the chief soldier shook his head and didn't know, Zhou Peigong hurriedly jumped out to show off his memory: "There is indeed such a person." ”

There is a fluttering Ming army red flag on the side of the gap in the city wall, standing on the city tower, you can see that there is a person holding the flagpole under the red flag, Zhou Kaihuang pointed to the vague figure next to the flagpole, and put forward his own construction: "Dashuai, most of the thieves who burned Kunming are here, and now there are not many henchmen around him, Dashuai don't let him run away, take this person down and be ashamed of the king of Pingxi." ”

"I will share the worries of the court." Hanyang General said unconcernedly, he felt that the top priority now was not to take people, but to try not to be taken by others.

The soldiers of these pro-barracks who were driven back from the city wall were still shocked, and they were relieved one by one after seeing Zhou Kaihuang leave. After seeing the panic and fear on the faces of these soldiers, the general soldier knew that these subordinates would not want to play a role for a while. At this time, the general army had also broken off the idea of taking the gap from the city wall, the Ming army was so brave, and the city wall could not play a numerical advantage, he had no intention of continuing to send his men to death.

The purpose of trying to attack the city wall just now was to reduce casualties, but now it seems that the loss of attacking from the wall may be greater than that of a frontal attack, so the general army immediately gave up the idea of continuing to attack the city wall to find the field - not only will it not be able to recover the field, but it may also lose even greater ugliness.

"I was taken advantage of by that enemy cavalry just now because I didn't send pikemen." At this time, Zhou Peigong had recovered from the shock, and his brain could think quickly, thinking that it was likely that the opposite side was Deng Ming, who had made Wu Sangui suffer a big loss, Zhou Peigong hoped that the Hanyang General Army would be able to take down this person. The Qing court set a reward of four futures and 5,000 taels of silver for Deng Ming. As the chief military minister appointed by the governor of Huguang, Zhou Peigong felt that although the future was definitely that of the general army, he could get a lot of money for a large amount of silver, so he immediately began to praise the military affairs loyally, and proposed a dangerous proposal to the general soldier: "This time, the marshal let the pikemen go up, and he will definitely be able to assassinate him under the horse." ”

"What Mr. Zhou said is extremely true." The general soldier of Hanyang glanced at the chief military advisor sent by Hu Quancai, the city wall is not suitable for pikemen to play, so he will send sword and shield soldiers, but he did not expect the other party to transport a horse on the city wall, and there is such a warrior with excellent riding skills and strong martial arts. But despite this, it is still impossible to send a large number of pikemen to attack the city wall, because unless the other party is as stupid as his chief military advisor, he will never rush at the spear on horseback, but will dismount and come and cut people with his sword.

However, the general soldier of Hanyang did not refute Zhou Peigong's meaning, he estimated that even if he said it, most of the other party also proposed something like "you can have pikemen in front and sword and shield soldiers in the back"; Then I had to continue to explain: the other party could cut down all the pikemen in the front row first, and then go to ride a horse and hit the one behind; Moreover, the general soldier suspected that even if the explanation was so clear, the other side might continue to carry it and propose more new tactics, such as: "two rows of spears, two swords and shields, two rows of spears, and then two rows of swords and shields".

In short, this will be an endless work of explanation, and after expressing his gratitude to Zhou Peigong for actively praising and painting military affairs, the Hanyang General Army quickly gave the order to let the pro-military battalion under the city attack the gap head-on.

At this time, there were already heralds running back, saying that the Ming army near the gap had powerful bows and arrows, since he knew that the guy who was making trouble in Kunming was here, the general soldier of Hanyang was not surprised and just nodded slightly, indicating that he knew.

"Let the pikemen attack." Seeing that the general army had not transferred the pikemen under the city to the city tower for a long time, Zhou Peigong shouted anxiously.

"Well, let the soldiers in front of you get double armor and use shields to protect their legs and feet." The commander added, the double armor and shield are enough to resist the bow and arrow, even the powerful iron bone arrow will not pose a great threat.

"Never!" Although the general soldiers did not obey their words, but as more and more suggestions were proposed, Zhou Peigong's enthusiasm was also stimulated, and the repeated setbacks of the Qing soldiers also greatly affected the image of the Hanyang general soldiers in Zhou Peigong's mind, and now he is far less respectful than the Qing army commander before the war: "The soldiers are noble and fast, and there are not many thieves in the gap. ”

This time, the Hanyang general simply pretended not to hear, and it is estimated that they can be injured a lot by stones if they are lightly armed, and the opponent has few people, so speed is not very important, the key is to be able to get close and start hand-to-hand combat.

In order to reduce casualties and launch a powerful offensive as much as possible, the Hanyang General Army also ordered a detour, allowing the pro-military battalion to first touch through the southwestern city, and then assemble behind the civilian houses, and then directly attack the gap.

Zhou Peigong, who was behind the chief soldier, sighed again when he heard it: "The soldier is fast, the marshal, this is a waste of time, the marshal, have you read the book of soldiers?" ”

"I haven't seen it!" The general of Hanyang did not look back, and replied angrily that he now had a strong desire to throw the Zhou army division from the city tower, and he needed to restrain himself so that he could not really put it into action.

"No wonder." There was another melancholy lament from behind.

At this time, the pro-soldier battalion in the distance seemed to have arrived at the attack position, and the chief soldier did not care about the chief military division, and leaned tightly on the battlement, watching the battlefield with full attention. The staff and officers of the general army also held their breath, rushed to the wall and looked at the gap together, and everyone's movements made Zhou Peigong also realize that the battle situation had entered a critical moment, he stopped chattering, and also stood on tiptoe to look at the pro-soldier camp that was about to attack.

The South City Tower is a good observation position, not only to be able to look at the whole city, but also to the time of the gap attack and defense, the general army can also look at the past from the side of the battle line from here, and grasp the specific situation of the attack in time. A large number of Qing soldiers walked out of the streets, and the general soldiers saw them forming a shield formation and slowly pressed towards the Ming army.

……

After Zhou Kaihuang came back, he sat on the ground behind Deng Ming and gasped, although the battle was not very long, but waving the heavy flagpole made him feel very hard, when the passion of the battle began to recede, Zhou Kaihuang felt that his whole body was full of fatigue.

From the city wall, it can be seen that a large number of Qing soldiers went around to the houses across the street, and when the Qing soldiers began to set up, Zhou Kaihuang stood up and planned to go down the city wall.

"You can rest for a while," Deng Ming, who was still holding the banner, said after seeing Zhou Kaihuang's movements: "There are not so many people standing there in the gap." ”

"Even if you can't grab everything." Li Xinghan asked Deng Ming to fight just now, and got the task of leading the guard of the gap as he wished, and a few people could probably stand side by side in that place, Li Xinghan walked in front of Zhou Kaihuang: "You rest for a while, take off your armor and give it to me." ”

Wearing two layers of iron armor, Li Xinghan held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, and several guards in similar attire walked to the gap and lined up.

After seeing these people who were all iron, the surrounding Ming troops gave out a sigh of praise, and the Ming troops guarding the gap after Zhou Kaihuang came back just now were greatly boosted, and they felt that there were three archers such as Zhao Tianba, and there were military gods like Zhou Kaihuang, who would definitely be able to repel the enemy. Although Zhou Kaihuang did not go into battle, the Ming army felt that Li Xinghan's outfit was similar to that of Zhao Tianba and Zhou Kaihuang, and he also looked like a military god-level figure. And there is more than one such person, seeing that Li Xinghan and others have blocked the most dangerous place tightly, the other Ming troops are gearing up to do a big job.

……

After the general soldier saw that he came out of the alley, several Qing soldiers soon fell, and from where he was, puffs of white smoke could be seen rising from the wall guarded by the Ming army.

"There's even a bird's gun, and there's more than one!" The general soldier clenched his fists and smashed it the battlements, at this time the other people also heard several firecracks almost at the same time, and the worries on everyone's faces were heavier, the double-layer armor can defend against bows and arrows, and it also has considerable defense ability against the three-eyed gun, but at this distance there is still no resistance to the bird's gun.

The Qing army slowly pushed to the front of the gap, and the general soldier and the people around him continued to nervously monitor the progress of the battle, and the Ming army kept throwing stones from the top of the city to the front of the gap, and the Qing army in front of the gap was fighting...... After a pillar of incense, the Ming army was still throwing stones, and the Qing army was still fighting in front of the gap...... Two pillars of incense...... Three pillars of incense, the fighting Qing army is still in front of the gap, and the Ming army on the city wall is still throwing stones.

The chief soldier slapped the wall hard, and the faces of the henchmen around him were gloomy.

"Mingjin!" Unable to bear it, the general army issued an order to suspend the attack, he withdrew his gaze from the wall, and looked at the city, the red flag of the Ming army had been raised on the tower in the west of the city, and the bell tower, drum tower and north tower had also stopped resisting, and the Ming army would soon see the deployment of the Qing army in the city after controlling these strongholds.

"Go down to the city with Ben." The Hanyang General Soldier ordered that after leaving the city tower, he would lose his timely grasp of the shape of the whole city, and he would not be able to understand the actions of the Ming army in the first place, but the Hanyang General Army knew that the situation had reached the most critical moment, and if he could not break through the gap, the Qing army would be wiped out in the city, so he decided to personally go to the front line to command.

"Dashuai!" Seeing that the general soldiers were leaving, Zhou Peigong shouted anxiously: "Quickly let the pikemen go to the city and take the city wall!" ”

Seeing that Zhou Juren still did not give up his plan to rush down the city wall with pikemen, the general soldier stopped, turned around and asked: "What if that enemy horse no longer rides a horse, but comes with a group of sword and shield soldiers?" ”

Zhou Peigong suddenly opened his mouth, the Hanyang general soldier shook his head when he looked at him, and no longer said more, but walked down the city quickly with his personal guards, the army had reached the critical point of life and death, and the Hanyang general soldier with a heavy heart was no longer angry with Zhou Peigong.

The general soldier walked down the city tower and rushed to the west with the people around the city tower, at this time Zhou Peigong was still in a daze in the city tower, and suddenly he had an idea, and rushed to the city wall and shouted at the back of the Hanyang general soldier: "Marshal, I have a strategy, I can have a row of pikemen, a row of sword and shield soldiers, mixed formation." ”

But the general soldier did not mean to stay, but walked farther and farther, Zhou Peigong thought that the distance was too far for the other party to hear his own shout, so he jumped to his feet in a hurry, and complained: "Why do you go so fast, your ears are still so bad?" ”

After complaining, Zhou Peigong also hurriedly went underground and chased after the general army of Hanyang. At this time, the Qing soldiers who remained on the tower of Nancheng City were all soldiers from Anlu Mansion, and all the Wuchang soldiers followed the general army to the west, and these remaining soldiers looked at each other for a while, and they all shook their heads gently. Just now, when the Hanyang general army was leaving, he explained that in addition to informing him of the military situation in time, these defenders would retreat behind him when the shape was not good, and when he broke through the gap, they would retreat out of the city together - in addition to wanting to take some more men and horses out of danger, the Hanyang general army also hoped that the An Lu soldiers would help him break off the rear and resist the pursuit of the Ming army in the north of the city. But these soldiers of Anlu Mansion had no intention of leaving the city tower, including the Qing army officers guarding the city tower, they all stayed motionless in the city tower, silently watching the movement in the city.

After the Hanyang general army rushed to the opposite side of the gap, the guerrillas of the pro-military camp immediately greeted them, and when they saw their bosses, the guerrillas shouted: "Marshal, it's not that the brothers don't work hard, they really can't be defeated." ”

Before launching the attack, the guerrillas had already informed the pro-military battalion of the dangerous situation, and everyone knew that this gap in front of them was the only way for the whole army to survive, and it was the last hope to escape from Zhongxiang City. After launching the attack, the Qing army in the pro-barracks went forward and attacked the city wall one after another, and countless Qing soldiers followed the team to stand under the city wall, and were hit by the stones thrown from above, and the blood flowed silently, gritting their teeth and holding on, whenever they could move a little step forward, they quickly followed, waiting for the opportunity to move forward.

No matter how many Qing soldiers were waiting in the back, there were only a limited number of Qing troops who could squeeze in front of Li Xinghan and them, and although the speed of the five bird guns was not fast, it could not prevent the Qing army from crowding to the wall, but for the Qing army who squeezed into the front row, it was an out-and-out death. When the Qing soldiers and Li Xinghan were holding each other, they could calmly reload their medicine and ammunition, and then almost beat them to death in the head of the Qing army.

When the Qing army in front of them fell unwillingly, the Ming army had the opportunity to change the front row to the back row, so that everyone had a chance to rest.

In fact, not long after the attack, the guerrillas of the pro-barracks already felt that such an attack was impossible, but the destruction of the whole army was just around the corner, and he could only desperately hope for a miracle. Before the commander-in-chief ordered Mingjin, the guerrillas had seen that this would be of no benefit except to let the soldiers die in vain, but he still refused to give up.

"The Ming troops guarding the gap are all iron, and their guns can't be pierced, knives can't be cut through, and bows can't be penetrated." The guerrillas in the pro-barracks were so anxious that they were about to cry. If there is enough time, it can slowly grind these iron men to death, but what the Qing army lacks most now is time. In order to open the gap, the officers of the pro-military battalion took the lead in stepping forward, and after attacking for so long, less than 10% of the soldiers were killed or wounded, but half of the officers had already filled in.

When the general soldiers came over just now, they saw that the Wuchang soldiers were already panicked, and the city was full of fighting sounds, and the soldiers didn't need to climb the city tower to know that something was wrong. And now the red flag has been hung on the west and north of the city, the bell and the drum tower, and there is also a fire coming from the side of the palace, these soldiers can see it clearly, and they must know that the fall of the city is just around the corner.

As for the pro-military camp of the Hanyang General Army, now the morale is no longer high just now, and when the soldiers attack the gap, they know that if they don't rush out, they will be dead, although they can't fight back under the city wall, but they can't discourage their fighting spirit, but everyone insists, hoping to rush down the gap and escape to ascend to heaven, and then they can kill all the Ming troops who threw stones on the city wall to take revenge.

By the time they had retreated, the soldiers had realized that the heavy sacrifices and great suffering they had endured had yielded no avail, and that the Ming army was still standing there and that the enemy's position was still standing. Around the Hanyang General Army, many soldiers from the Qing barracks were bleeding profusely, sitting on the ground bandaging their wounds, and the wounded soldiers were moaning loudly without concealment. Even if the commander wanted to launch another suicide attack like the one just now, the soldiers would not be able to fight as resolutely as they had just now.

The chief soldier looked at the ironclad soldiers of the Ming army who were blocking the gap for a while, and ordered: "Bump into them." ”

"Bump?" Guerrilla asked curiously.

"Yes, they are living city gates, and of course they have to hit the city gates." The general soldier ordered to tear down some beams from the houses, and then organized death squads: "A team of ten people, each team holding a beam, rushed up and hit them." Just be fast! ”

"Yes, the soldier is fast." Zhou Peigong, who came in a hurry, heard the last words of the general soldier, and he hurriedly came up to agree: "I just said that I would travel lightly, why didn't you listen to it, Dashuai." ”

Guerrilla looked at Zhou Peigong in amazement, and then looked at his superior. The Hanyang General Soldier had his back to Zhou Peigong, and he was waving his arms to give orders, but when the familiar voice of the Zhou Army Division came from behind him, the guerrilla saw that the movements of the General Soldier stopped abruptly, and he did not move at all like a stone sculpture.

After a while, the guerrilla saw that the arms of the general soldier began to tremble, and the palms that had been open were suddenly clenched into fists, and at the same time, the eyebrows also jumped twice rapidly.

Guerrilla subconsciously held the hilt of the knife, he had followed the Hanyang General Army for many years, he was very familiar with this expression of the marshal, every time after this expression, when the marshal opened his mouth again, he spit out an order to kill, and there had never been an exception for more than ten years. The guerrilla is ready, and when the commander opens his mouth, he will shout out the voice: "Chir! And he struck the man by the neck.

But there are exceptions to everything, and the guerrilla saw that the clenched fist of the general soldier was actually released, and when he spoke again, he did not have the anger of murder, but was full of helplessness: "Go and tear down the beams of the house." ”

……

As soon as the beam was dismantled, the chief soldier heard the sound of killing not far behind him, which was getting closer and closer, and it seemed to be coming towards the gap.

Soon, the guerrillas of the Wuchang Green Battalion deployed in the north to cover the back of the pro-soldier camp sent an urgent report, saying that He Zhen's army was coming, and the Ming army's offensive was very fierce, and He Zhen personally supervised the battle on the front line. The Green Battalion guerrillas said that he was resisting desperately, but his soldiers had already begun to flee, and he wanted the general soldiers to rush down the gap immediately, and then break through immediately, without waiting for him and his Green Battalion.

"I don't know if the reinforcements from the thieves outside the city have arrived." When leaving the city just now, the general soldier noticed that the Ming army outside the city, which had been calmly distributed over the long encirclement, had also moved. Unable to wait for the preparation to be completed, the chief soldier stared at the ironclad men on the gap opposite, and shouted to the team of soldiers who had already brought the beams: "Up, hit!" ”