It was the eighth day of August in the seventeenth year of Chongzhen.

Zhang Xianzhong ordered his troops to attack the four walls of Chengdu at the same time, intending to quickly break through the city with an absolute superior force.

···

"Kill!"

Outside the east city gate, tens of thousands of Sichuan bandits and former government soldiers who had defected to Zhang Xianzhong for less than a month rushed toward the moat with shields or sacks filled with vegetation, shouting.

Yang Zhan stood at the top of the city, looking at the crowd of bandits with a calm expression.

As a general who had suppressed rogues for several years, he was very familiar with Zhang Xianzhong and other rogues' siege methods.

Knowing that this first wave of soldiers and horses were all subordinate to Zhang thief, they were cannon fodder to test the weapons configuration (firepower) of the city.

If the artillery at the top of the city is allowed to fire, it should be easy to repel these subordinate thieves who are weak in fighting will.

But in that case, some of the artillery fire arrangements at the top of the city would be known to Zhang Thief.

But regardless of what these people say, it is really possible that they will continue to carry earthwork and sacks to fill up the moat - with the number of thieves, even with this stupid method, it will not take long to fill up the moat.

After being appointed by Zhu Yuluo as the commander-in-chief of the defense of Dongcheng at the military meeting in Xifu, Yang Zhan and his deputy Cao Xun considered this situation.

Seeing that the bandit soldiers were about to rush to the moat, Yang Zhan said: "Send the order for Cao Guerrilla to lead the cavalry out of the city."

"yes!"

The ordering soldiers beside Yang Zhan responded and took the order flag, and quickly ran down the city.

Soon, the closed city gate was opened, the suspension bridge in front of the city gate was lowered, and Cao Xun led more than a thousand cavalry to rush out.

The thieves who had just rushed to the moat did not expect that the defenders dared to leave the city, and they were also cavalry, so they were immediately panicked.

Some simply threw away the sacks in their hands and turned around and ran away, some were stubborn and continued running towards the moat, and some had a wrong idea and excitedly rushed towards the suspension bridge, hoping to seize the opportunity to seize the city gate.

However, Cao Xun and more than a thousand cavalrymen crossed the suspension bridge in two or three breaths like a whirlwind and rushed into the rebel army.

I saw Cao Xun holding a long-handled saber, which was held firmly at his waist. Wherever he passed, several thieves were directly cut by the saber on their necks and bodies, either dead or injured.

When the momentum of the war horse slowed down slightly, Cao Xun slashed left and right with his saber. With his extraordinary force and excellent weapons and armor, he easily killed the thieves.

These bandits were either local bandits in Sichuan, peasant soldiers who had just revolted, or former government soldiers who defected to Zhang Xianzhong.

No matter which one they are, their equipment is very poor, they only have a cold weapon and at most a shield.

In addition, they also knew that they were here to test and had no fighting spirit at all. How could they be the opponents of the cavalry led by Cao Xun?

Even though there were tens of thousands of people, they were disintegrated by Cao Xun and other cavalry. They rushed and charged, resulting in insignificant casualties.

After killing and wounding many people, Cao Xun did not pursue them one after another. He led his cavalry to fire a hail of arrows and killed many thieves. When he heard the sound of gold ringing at the top of the city, he decisively withdrew his troops and returned to the city.

The person responsible for attacking the east city gate was Li Dingguo.

At this time, he was standing on a lookout car in his own army's formation three miles away. When he saw this scene, he said to a young general beside him: "Go and ask how many people we have killed or injured."

This young man's name was Jin Tongwu, and he was regarded as Li Dingguo's confidant. Hearing this, he immediately got out of the carriage.

After a while, Jin Tongwu came up with a somewhat ugly face, cupped his fists and said: "General Qi, more than 900 of those Sichuan soldiers died this time, and there are also 400 to 500 wounded who escaped."

After hearing this, Li Dingguo couldn't help but frown.

Although these Sichuan soldiers were new and weak soldiers, he was heartbroken to see more than a thousand casualties in one fell swoop.

"This Dongcheng garrison seems to be a veteran general who is used to fighting. He not only expected that we would test us with weak troops, but also decisively sent the cavalry out of the city to attack and kill. This is quite impressive."

After frowning and saying something, Li Dingguo's eyes flashed and he said: "You go and lead the three thousand cavalry to prepare for the attack. I will ask Xu You to lead the five thousand elite infantry to disguise themselves and mix with the Sichuan soldiers.

Then fill in the moat to test it.

If the guard dared to repeat his old trick and send his cavalry out of the city, he would definitely be entangled by Xu You and others.

At this time, you can lead the cavalry to rush over. If we can kill the enemy cavalry and flee, maybe we can take the opportunity to seize the east city gate."

After hearing this, Jin Tongwu showed excitement and admiration. He cupped his fists and said, "General, you have a brilliant plan. You will definitely win this time!"

Li Dingguo was quite proud of this plan. He couldn't help but smile, patted Jin Tongwu on the shoulder and said, "Go and get ready."

"The general will get the order!"

After Jin Tongwu got off the carriage, Li Dingguo sent a messenger to convey the military order to Xu You.

Then he looked up at the sun, estimated the time, and saw the shadow of a bird flying behind a few hundred meters high, but didn't think much about it.

He didn't even notice that the bird started to circle slowly when it reached the top of his military formation. It looked and behaved very strangely.

Even if he noticed it, Li Dingguo would definitely not care. No matter how weird the bird is, it is just a bird...

On the top of the city gate, which is the safest in the East City, and on the inner corridor near the city, there are two pilots, two reserve pilots, and a team of fifty guardsmen.

At this time, a pilot is controlling the drone.

The reserve pilot who was partnering with him was holding a tablet computer and a simple table and chair next to him. He was using a white paper book and a later-generation ink pen to quickly record some troop arrangements and other important information about the enemy camp on the tablet computer.

The idle pilot next to him serves as the team leader and is responsible for command; the other reserve pilot acts as the messenger.

The two of them were also looking at the screen on the tablet.

I saw the messengers coming down from the lookout carriage where the general was standing, and immediately a large number of soldiers and horses were mobilized in the rebel formation.

Yuan Guo, the leader of the pilot team, immediately reminded: "Li Siming, Wang Fugui, pay attention to the moving thieves in the formation, zoom in and see what they are going to do?"

Li Siming, who controlled the drone, and Wang Fugui, who controlled the tablet computer, immediately followed suit.

I saw that the lens on the tablet computer had become larger, and the moving bandits could be seen more clearly.

"Look at the equipment of these thieves, they are definitely elite."

"And that group of soldiers and horses are all elite cavalry!"

"They went to the formation of the weak soldiers in the south... and mixed with the weak soldiers who tested us before!"

As a pilot who controls a micro-drone, the past half month has not only been about learning how to control a drone, but also required some necessary military knowledge, especially in military intelligence.

In addition, they were "veterans" who had followed the Red Lady and Li Yan for several years, and were very keen on things on the battlefield. At this time, they all realized that there was a conspiracy in the bandit's troop movement.

Team leader Yuan Guo immediately said: "Chang Wei, hurry up and inform General Yang of this news!"

"yes!"

Chang Wei was originally recording information. When he heard the words, he responded and took the notebook recording the information to the corridor on the outside of the city gate tower to find Yang Zhan.

In order to show the importance to the flying hands, Zhu Yuluo gave each of them camouflage uniforms from later generations.

This uniform is currently unique in Ming Dynasty and is the identity certificate of the Flying Eagles.

In addition, when Chang Wei and other pilots were sent to Dongcheng to assist Yang Zhan, they were warmly received by Yang Zhan. They all knew each other, so no identification was needed.

Chang Wei explained in detail the changes in the enemy forces just observed by the drone.

After hearing this, Yang Zhan was stunned for a moment, and then he laughed and said: "Zhang Dingguo is really good at planning. He actually wants to swallow up our cavalry and even seize the city gate.

It's a pity that he didn't know that Yang had the help of a drone from the Supervisory Government's Flying Eagles, which saw all his arrangements.

Well, since he dares to scheme against Yang, then Yang should reciprocate and give him a surprise."

Chang Wei stood aside and said nothing.

Red Lady mentioned it many times during training that the Flying Eagles are only responsible for providing intelligence on the battlefield and must not interfere with the general's command.

Yang Zhan's eyes narrowed slightly, a cold light flashed, and he raised his hand and said: "Send my general order, half of the forts on the wall, and all the powerful crossbows are ready. When the enemy comes to attack this time, look at my command flag to direct the cannons and crossbows."

."

"yes!"

After listening to Yang Zhan's orders, Chang Wei returned to the back of the city gate tower and continued to record the military information on the tablet with Wei Xu...

About a quarter of an hour later, the rumble of drums sounded again outside the city.

The tens of thousands of thieves were just like last time. Most were carrying sacks, while a few were carrying shields and other weapons and rushed towards the moat.

"Kill!"
Chapter completed!