Chapter 100: The adults are here to rescue the soldiers
"...Reinforcements...Sir...reinforcements are coming..."
Upstairs at the west gate of Kaifeng City, Inspector Gao Mingheng had just finished discussing with the promotion official Huang Shu about the hanging building when he saw Ximen Headquarters Li Guangshen and Xiangfu County Magistrate Wang Xie rushing into the building and said hurriedly.
"reinforcement?"
Gao Mingheng asked eagerly with a surprised expression: "You mean reinforcements?"
Wang Xie still couldn't hide the excitement on his face. He reported excitedly: "Your Majesty, a troop of troops has come from the northwest of the city. The troops are in good order. Hundreds of them are riding in chariots. They are already fighting with the bandits.
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Gao Mingheng's eyes shone, and he asked excitedly: "Did you see the flag? Did Zhang Cheng's troops announce the arrival?"
Wang Xie turned his head and glanced at Li Guangxu before replying: "Looking at the flags and military appearance, they must be General Zhang's troops from Xuanzang!"
Gao Mingheng was also excited when he heard this and said: "Let's go and have a look!"
The officials followed him and left the Ximen Tower. On the city wall, they met Cao Kun, the minister of the Zhou Dynasty, and Li Yingchun, the chief minister of the Zuo Dynasty, who came in a hurry. They also came after hearing the news.
Cao Kun asked head on: "Master Gao, is that Zhang Cheng leading the army to rescue Kaifeng?"
"I just got the news and am going to take a closer look. How about we go with Cao Chengfeng!"
"Okay, I just want to go with Mr. Gao and find out the real situation, so that I can report to His Highness the Prince and put Qiantose at ease."
At that moment, Gao Mingheng, Cao Kun and other city guarding officials headed north along the west wall of Kaifeng, surrounded by officers and soldiers.
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The two thieves of Crockpot and Dougu were originally a giant bandit that was active between Sichuan and Shaanxi all year round. In the early years, they did not take Li Zicheng seriously. However, later on, the encirclement and suppression by the army became more and more serious, and their lives became more and more difficult.
Get tough.
Later, I saw that Li Zicheng was prospering after entering Henan. In order to keep his team alive, he led his team all the way to defect to King Chuang.
The original intention was still the old idea of banding together to keep warm when the thieves were in trouble, and Li Zicheng had just recovered at this time, and was at the beginning of gathering troops and hiring people, so on the surface they were still in harmony.
However, since joining the camp with King Chuang, Crock Pot and Yi Dougu have gradually begun to regret it. Now that more and more thieves have joined the camp, the two of them are no longer as valued as they were at the beginning.
Moreover, everyone is centered on the generals of King Chuang's old camp, and they vaguely want to respect King Chuang as the master of thieves. How can a master like Trock Pot, who is used to having his own say, endure it, even if he doesn't usually say it?
What, but how could I not have some thoughts in my heart.
What's more, how could a traitor like him, who has always been on the verge of life and death, not understand the benefits and necessity of preserving strength?
Since moving his camp to the north of Kaifeng City, Crock Pot has not attacked the city with all his strength. He has left more than 800 core horse thieves under his command in the camp, and dispatched 400 people every day to supervise the battle, but did not directly participate in the attack on the city wall of Kaifeng North.
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Counting from when the trenches were being filled yesterday to noon today, about half of the less than 3,000 hungry people on his side were killed or injured, while the other 2,000 non-core old thieves under his command also suffered casualties of nearly 500 people.
This made him feel heartbroken. Seeing the heavy casualties among his thieves, he even began to secretly resent Li Zicheng for wanting to take advantage of the siege to consume his own strength so that he could be eaten quietly in the days to come.
He originally just wanted to hang out with King Li Chuang and reap the benefits, but he gradually began to want to quit, but he had no reason or excuse for the moment. How could he really attack the city with such thoughts.
Maybe stupid people have stupid lives!
It was precisely because Wuguan's people did not sincerely help Li Zicheng to attack Fengbei Gate that there were so many traitors in his camp that Chen Dakuan's troops were discovered before they even launched an attack.
The thieves guarding the camp flew to report the earthen jar, and his reaction was extremely fast. He immediately abandoned the hungry people at the base of the city and led the four hundred old thieves who supervised the battle to rush back to the camp to rescue him.
He also left a leader to summon the remaining more than a thousand infantry thieves, and immediately returned to rescue the camp and repel the official army.
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When Chen Dakuan was forming his team to the north of the bandit camp, he was discovered by the bandit soldiers in the camp, but he did not take this matter to heart. He originally wanted to attack the bandit camp forcefully.
According to the established strategy, he formed a formation with shield troops in the front, musketry troops in the back in a three-fold formation, and finally the spear and broadsword troops.
There are two divisions in the middle of Chen Dakuan's infantry camp. Two of the four divisions in each division are cold soldiers, and each division has three teams. The first armor of each team is a sword and shield soldier.
In this way, there are four rounds of cold soldiers in his unit, among which there are twelve sword and shield soldiers, and a total of 144 sword and shield soldiers are arranged in a row in front.
Behind each armor, sword, and shield soldier was a group of musketry soldiers, arrayed in three rows. They stepped on the drums, and the already formed military formation slowly approached the bandit Kouwa jar camp more than 200 paces away.
The camp of the bandits and bandits in front was not strong either. Maybe they were fighting all the way in western Henan and it was so smooth that they thought they had a large army gathered there. The officers and soldiers from all over Henan fled away without thinking that any other officers and soldiers would have the guts to come.
Attack your own camp.
In addition, due to the ice and snow at this time, it was quite difficult to cut down trees and retrieve soil. The wood they laboriously felled was used to build ladders, and the earth they took out was also used to fill trenches.
Therefore, no civil structure camp wall was built around it. It was simply surrounded by wood left over from making ladders. It had almost no defensive function and only roughly circled the scope of the camp.
Chen Dakuan knew in his heart that even if the bandits had discovered his army, their temporarily organized attack or defense would be very hasty due to their original unpreparedness.
The fighter opportunity was fleeting and there was no room for hesitation. He shouted loudly and ordered: "Beat the drum and move forward. Within eighty steps of the thief, the gun soldiers will fire in turn according to the order!"
The military formation advanced slowly. The shields of the swordsmen and shield soldiers in the front row were slightly raised upwards. Coupled with the shiny armor on their bodies, it was extremely dazzling under the noon sun.
They marched in neat steps, like a forest of steel swords and guns, pressing towards the thieves inside the simple wooden walls, creating a strong sense of oppression.
Chen Dakuan was also wearing fine armor. He was behind the three rows of gun soldiers in the middle of the military formation. Through the gap between the gun soldiers in front, he saw that the wall of the bandit camp was only as high as one person.
Although looking from a distance, one could still see that it was made up of short wooden branches of different thicknesses. He shouted loudly: "Shield soldiers, stop advancing."
Then he shouted: "One hundred steps, gunners, pay attention, check the gun and be ready to shoot!"
Waves of orders were conveyed downwards, and in less than a stick of incense, more than 400 gunmen had completed the inspection, and the reports were sent to Chen Dakuan.
He nodded with satisfaction and shouted loudly: "The officers of the gun soldiers should pay attention to the observation distance. Once within eighty steps, each team will start shooting."
Then he shouted an order loudly: "The shield soldiers listen to the order, advance according to the drum beat, and pay attention to maintain the formation!"