Brilliance

In the midst of the chaos, Zhao Jin, who was sweating, received an order from two cavalrymen wearing waist-length armor and holding blue triangular flags, asking them to immediately set up defenses at the Baimadu beach.

Since before that, there had been sparse sounds of firearms coming from the direction of Baima Crossing for a long time, Zhao Jin had roughly understood that a battle was inevitable.

But he didn't back down.

Zuo Liangyu and a small group of cavalry who had been traveling with them accelerated and passed them halfway, indicating that the situation was not irreversible.

Zuo Liangyu, who is cautious and cautious, should not make fun of the life he cherishes more and more.

However, Zhao Jin still deliberately lowered the marching speed to give his men more breathing space and preparation.

But now, the order has arrived, and he can't think too much about it.

Zhao Jin immediately conveyed the general's order, then mounted his horse and galloped forward with several personal guards.

Zhao Jin did not ride a horse for most of the trip, but chose to walk.

For this first rush march, for this rush to the battlefield, Zhao Jin knew very well how crucial the power of example and the supervision of being close to the officers and soldiers were.

Now he chose to get on his horse and go forward because they had been walking through the woods during the last part of the journey, and he hadn't seen the Han River yet! He knew nothing about the terrain and situation of the destination.

When the cavalry following the order came out of a tree, an open land and a wide river in the distance appeared in front of Zhao Jin, and his vision was finally opened.

However, Zhao Jin soon became more and more solemn in shock at the sight in front of him.

At this time, the bodies of some dead men and horses were lying on the open ground in front of Zhao Jin, and a small number of infantry seemed to be dealing with these bodies.

Obviously there was a battle here just now, and obviously the river here is shallow enough!

But now, this former war zone is empty!

Take a closer look at the mountains a little further away.

On several hills near the Han River, a large group of infantry was climbing the mountain, and some infantry were disappearing on the mountain passes. Of course, there were also several groups of cavalry, totaling hundreds of people, gathering scatteredly on several mountainsides.

Looking towards them.

Under the guidance of the messenger cavalry, Zhao Jin quickly figured out that the area he wanted to defend had previously been defended by part of the infantry of Deputy General Hui Deng. But just now, these infantry were deployed to strengthen the defense of several miles of area.

There are many mountain passes along the river and further west.

"The enemy's cavalry is on the other side of the river. Before his troops arrive, Prime Minister Hui Deng has already withdrawn. Doesn't this mean there is a gap in handover?" A trace of uneasiness flashed through Zhao Jin's heart.

At this time, the words of a messenger cavalry interrupted Zhao Jin's growing doubts.

"The commander is right over there."

Following the direction of the messenger's cavalry's finger, Zhao Jin easily found a large group of figures on the second row of mountains a few hundred meters away from the Han River.

Although there were no flags among the large group of figures, the reflection in the sunlight of some iron armor and scale armor worn only by generals and personal guards still revealed the identity and status of the group of people.

Zhao Jin's heart tightened.

He immediately ordered his personal guards to tell the infantry to speed up and pay special attention to raising the flag, while he himself rode towards the shore of Baimadu to conduct a quick survey.

After a while, when Zhao Jin's troops, who were speeding up, finally arrived at the shore and were about to take a rest, bursts of loud shouts suddenly came from the other side of the Han River.

The infantry of the Peasant Army has arrived.

Since the Han River has a large forest on the north bank of Baimadu, and a hilly area several kilometers long runs directly across the river a few hundred meters away, the movement of the peasant army's infantry near the river was effectively obscured.

But Zuo Liangyu's estimated arrival time of the Peasant Army infantry relied entirely on experience and common sense.

Because the Han River here also has a large arch curve, the shortest distance for the peasant army from Fancheng to Baima Crossing is actually much longer than the shortest distance for the official army from Xiangyang City to Baima Crossing, at least several kilometers.

And because there are many swamps, water depressions and rugged terrain on the north bank of the Han River, the peasant army's march is not only a further problem, but also more arduous, and the speed will be further reduced.

This is also the main reason why the Peasant Army cavalry brigade failed to arrive in large numbers, because this terrain is even more unfriendly to the rapid advance of the cavalry.

Unless you want to spend all your precious horses.

Although Zhao Jin's infantry set off a little late, they basically walked on flat ground, and their speed was not slow, so they should have arrived much earlier.

But the infantry of the peasant army also arrived at this time, which was really surprising.

The sudden arrival of the peasant army's infantry immediately caused panic and confusion among Zhao Jin's more than 2,000 infantry troops who were sitting or lying on the ground to rest. Many people jumped up instinctively and looked at the other side for hundreds of meters in shock and fear.

The long line of enemy troops suddenly appeared in the woods outside.

Hui Dengxiang's infantry on the hill to the left of Baima Crossing were also in an uproar. The cavalrymen who had mostly dismounted and rested halfway up the hills behind them almost all instinctively got on their horses.

In a state of consternation, the peasant army infantry who emerged from the woods a few hundred meters away from the north bank of the Han River did not rush to the bank of the Han River and then stop to slow down as everyone imagined, but actually

Step directly into the river and head towards the south bank.

The Peasant Army infantry unexpectedly began to attack before they had a firm foothold.

But the hundreds of peasant army cavalry who had been lingering on the shore did not move.

Zhao Jin, Shi Ming and Wang Chengwu, who had just started urgently discussing the formation, had no time to discuss it in detail. After the three of them put their hands together and shouted "good luck" three times, they hurriedly adjusted their deployment according to the rough division of labor.

force.

According to the division of labor, Zhao Jin's headquarters is on the left flank, while Shi Ming and Wang Chengwu join forces on the right flank.

Fortunately, when they brought the troops to the shore, they had already pulled the troops into a straight line along the shore in the order of sentries, so that the assault formation would not cause chaos, and the tired Peasant Army infantry wanted to run past nearly two meters.

A thousand-meter-wide river doesn't move that fast either.

Zhao Jin and the others still have at least ten minutes to adjust and prepare.

While shouting, Zhao Jinxian quickly moved all the spearmen of the general battalion, one team and one line, into the front row on the shore.

Each of his three general battalions has two sentries, which are organized into two spear teams and one sword hand team.

In this way, each general camp can be formed into a line of four spearmen, followed by a second line of sword players to hold the formation and fill positions.

The third post of one of the general camps was composed of more than a hundred soldiers equipped with muskets, and the third post of another general camp was composed of more than 50 archers. After the spearmen were adjusted, they

They were immediately placed in a line at the front of the entire front.

Zhao Jin led his personal troops (containing more than 30 cavalry) and the third sentry of the general camp (also a mixed sentry of swords and spears) to provide preliminary support behind the center.

Shi Ming and Wang Chengwu also fortified the troops roughly according to this idea, but since they did not have as many spearmen as Zhao Jin, the spear formation was thinner, with only 3 rows.

When all Zhao Jin's men and horses finally arranged their basic formation in a hurry, the enemy was already very close.

Zhao Jin looked back and found that there were still no shadows of the friendly infantry galloping towards here from Xiangyang, but the groups of cavalry originally on the mountainside had already formed a cavalry line a few hundred meters behind them.

At this distance, the horse can fully accelerate and make large turns, but I'm afraid the attack will be indistinguishable.

"Tell Vice General Wang that as long as General Zhao Jin's infantry formation is not collapsed, his cavalry will not move yet." Zuo Liangyu said to a messenger next to him.

"Although the soldiers are tired, they set up the formation quickly. The elite troops are no more than this. Although the rebel army is also considered elite, its army is even more tired. It will take a lot of effort to break the formation." He did not go down the mountain with Wang Yuncheng but continued to accompany him on the left.

Hui Dengxiang, who was beside Liangyu, praised.

Following the words of Prime Minister Hui Deng, Zuo Liangyu looked at Yamashita and nodded. It seems that the two of them had the same views.

But then, Zuo Liangyu turned to Huiden and asked, as if he suddenly remembered something, "Liangbi, do you know how the Sheepskin Beach is?"

"Oh! Sheeptan, Sheeptan is safe. Li Guerrilla is particularly good at using firearms, he defends very steadily, and severely injures the rebels." Prime Minister Huiden was a little caught off guard, but his answer was relatively stable.

"That's very good. However, the intruders are so cunning. Liangbi, you'd better go to the west and guard our army. You must guard against it and prevent the thieves from sneaking around and attacking."

Prime Minister Hui Deng looked serious and immediately took the order and left.

At this time, the peasant army in the river did not gather just for the White Horse Crossing. They marched shouting along the entire shallow water area several miles long. The mountainous area on the south bank of the Han River was obviously their target.

The peasant army is indeed taking risks and is not afraid of casualties.

But this also meant that they did not have a dense offensive formation as they did not have to wait to gather subsequent troops.

However, the long attack surface also makes people feel that the Han River is full of people, and the sense of oppression is still very strong.

This further aggravated the chaos of Zhao Jin's troops on the shore, who were still adjusting their formation. Some people became obviously timid, and several figures even struggled to break away from the formation and ran backwards.

Immediately, several cavalrymen galloped out from behind Zhao Jin and Shi Ming's queue, turning those who escaped into headless corpses in an instant.

At the same time, several screams were heard one after another in the large horizontal queue.

Immediately afterwards, all the officers and soldiers of Zhao Jin's department were shocked to see Commander-in-Chief Shi Ming, covered in blood, holding two heads by their hair and rushing into the river a few meters in front of the entire formation.

Zhao Jin's troops were deployed along the coast to ensure that the enemy could only stay in the water to fight with them. At this time, Shi Ming had no choice but to run into the river if he wanted to establish his authority in front of the formation.

"Those who do not obey orders will die..."

Shi Ming, who only wore an iron helmet but no armor on his body, held up a human head in one hand and held a bleeding goose feather knife in the other, shouting wildly back and forth in front of the formation. He seemed not to be worried about his lack of protection or the coldness of the river.

At this time, not only Shi Ming, but also the few leaders and guards with full body armor had not yet had time to wear armor.

It was impossible for them to wear their full body armor during the rapid march just now, even if most of them were riding horses. They had to consider reducing the burden on the horses.

Their full body armor was carried individually by mules or auxiliaries.

And during the urgent team formation process just now, whether it was Shi Ming or the leader's personal guards, their first task and focus could only be to adjust the troops first and they had no time to put on armor.

Shi Ming rushed out without even wearing armor, obviously he was in a hurry.

"He who retreats dies... he who retreats dies..."

"He who retreats dies... he who retreats dies..."
To be continued...