Xuanfu Town, on the official road near the junction of Huailaiwei and Baoanwei.
Zhang Cheng's commanding officers He Shihui and Liu Quan were leading dozens of wounded soldiers and more than a thousand refugees to prepare for the attack.
To the west of the official road in the direction of Huailaiwei, nearly a hundred horse bandits were galloping towards the official road from the wasteland to the north of the official road. The rumble of horse hooves on the ground was as loud as thunder, shaking every time.
Touching the hearts of the refugees on the official road.
Nearly a hundred horses are galloping, which is quite powerful.
Liu Quan, who was sitting on the cart, took the opportunity to glance at the young men preparing to defend behind the cart, and saw that many of their faces changed color and looked a little frightened.
He squinted at He Shihui and saw that he also had a very solemn expression on his face.
Liu Quan stabbed He Shihui and said softly: "Boss Hui, we just interrogated the bandit Shengkou. These are bandits from the nearby mountains, such as Beiwaitou Mountain, Taishan, Muzhajian, and Beiliangtou.
These four groups of bandits were put together temporarily. There are eighty-two horse bandits and more than a hundred foot bandits."
He Shihui also had a solemn look on his face. He nodded and said softly: "The mob is nothing to worry about. It's just these refugees. I'm afraid they will cause chaos on their own and miss our business."
Liu Quan also nodded and said: "The horse bandits are also difficult to deal with. There are almost a hundred horsemen at the moment."
"Well, you can lure the enemy to charge, kill him with bows, arrows and fire, and then counterattack to capture the thief first." He Shihui said in a deep voice at the end.
He stood up suddenly, shouted loudly, and after attracting everyone's attention, he shouted again: "Everyone, listen, I ask you, do you people want to live, or do you want to die?"
"Want to live...want to live...don't want to die...want to live..."
He Shihui raised his hands high and waved them in the air to stop everyone's shouting, and then shouted at the top of his lungs: "If you want to live, just listen to me! These bandits are not a big deal, we are full of them."
You can kill the Tatars, but how can you not deal with the bandits?"
After he finished shouting, the official road was completely silent, and everyone looked up at him. He Shihui was a little anxious now, and hurriedly shouted and asked: "Do you understand? You all farted."
The stone pillar, which was originally responsible for guarding the official road to the east, saw that there were no bandits there, so he ran back dragging a big hammer and just happened to hear He Shihui asking. He responded loudly in a broken voice: "I understand.
They all listen to Hetou."
After his reminder, the refugees in Manguandao reacted and began to respond to He Shihui loudly and chaotically.
Liu Quan sat down and stretched out his hand, pulled He Shihui's trouser leg and said, "Give me a hand."
He Shihui helped him up, and they looked at the situation around them together. Liu Quan said again: "The main thing is the horse bandits. We can't let them break in from the east."
He Shihui nodded and said: "I will go to Guandao in the east. I will leave these infantry bandits in the north to you. I will transfer the Shizhu and the Minyong Left Team back to you. There is no danger in the west for the time being."
Liu Quan nodded and said, "Go ahead. Take these two groups of cavalry with you. You must not let the horse bandits break in."
He Shihui patted Liu Quan on the shoulder and said, "Be careful here. Some of the bandits are armed with crossbows. I'll leave ten cavalry for you."
…………
Finally, a group of horse bandits rushed onto the official road in a show of force.
The rolling cavalry of horse bandits came from the east of the official road, like a red stream pouring out. They ran into the weedy wilderness to the south. More than a hundred steps away from the car array barrier arranged by He Shihui, they galloped their horses and screamed wildly.
He yelled, and then the horse was reined in, and a regular snorting sound came.
There were even some bandits who were showing off their equestrian skills, deliberately hitting their horses to gallop, and then jerking the reins so hard that the front hooves of their mounts were raised high, and each horse snorted, and a thick cloud of white air spurted out.
The noise resounded through the wilderness to the north of the official road, and the foot bandits had also caught up. Their team spread out in a fan shape, and gradually connected with the horse bandits on the official road to the east, surrounding He Shihui to the north and east.
.
He Shihui was on a cart on the east side of the official road, standing and looking at the horse bandits opposite.
The horse bandits on the opposite side were all dressed in red, with their heads wrapped in red scarves and cloaks or cloaks. Most of them had armor, double swords and sabers.
I just don't know what the bow power of their double thrusts is. He Shihui guessed that it should be between five and six, which is the most suitable bow power range for use on horses.
However, looking from a distance, there are also a small number of horse bandits who appear to be more capable. They may be equipped with stronger bows. It seems that the weapons they are equipped with are also more powerful, including heavy axes and sticks, long knives and spears.
There are nearly 400 other foot bandits running to the official road to the east. Dozens of them should not be underestimated. Most of them are wearing red military hats or red tassel felt hats. They are probably those who have escaped from various places in Xuan Town.
Soldiers are equipped with either bows and arrows or shields, and some of them are even equipped with firearms, three-eyed blunderbuss, bird blunderbuss, etc.
In the border towns during the Ming Dynasty, military pay was severely deducted and management was chaotic. Deserters often ran to the surrounding barren mountains and ridges to commit evil. They entangled local youths and villains, and then hijacked some landless people, becoming mountain bandits who caused trouble for one side.
He Shihui guessed that these four groups of bandits should have chosen the east of the official road as their main attack direction.
After all, attacking the official road from the north seems to have a wide attack surface, making it easy to attack and difficult to defend. However, the official road is much higher than the wilderness to the north, forming a very steep slope. He Shihui and others guard the official road, working from top to bottom.
Take advantage of the land.
And if the bandits attack from the east of the official road, there won't be so much to talk about. The official road is also very wide and relatively flat, which is more than enough for the formation of troops. It will also facilitate the horse bandits to charge into the formation, even with large carts.
A simple barrier was put up, but in the eyes of the bandits, it was nothing.
He Shihui looked at the opposite side with all his attention and secretly estimated in his mind that there were 82 horse bandits and more than 370 foot bandits. Judging from their attire, there should be about a hundred of them, which looked quite powerful.
These more than 180 horse and foot bandits should be the backbone and essence of this group of bandits, similar to the servants of the generals in the Ming army. If they are effectively defeated, then these remaining bandits will naturally
It will collapse.
The bandits gathered together, and apart from the backbone of those on horseback, the rest carried various weapons, including spears, clubs, daggers, short axes, iron rulers, and even spades, picks, nails and rakes.
They were making noisy noises on the official road, bursting into bursts of laughter from time to time, and pointing at He Shihui, their eyes full of cruelty, ruthlessness, and ferocity.
They stopped about 200 steps away from the vehicle formation barrier arranged by He Shihui, and began to organize their formation in a messy manner.
…………
He Shihui issued a military order in a deep voice: "Jockey Club, you, the Minyong, stand in two rows, leaving a gap between the front and the big workshop; Baishanzi, you organize the young men to divide into two teams, each team has fifty people, and guard the Minyong."
Two wings: Sun Dashan, you lead thirty sergeants to dismount, hold bows and blunderbuss, and line up behind the cart."
At this time, a horse bandit on the opposite side galloped forward. About fifty steps in front of He Shihui, he suddenly raised the reins, causing the horse's front hooves to rise high, and then landed heavily on the ground. His posture was extremely majestic.
After he stopped, he shouted loudly towards He Shihui: "Listen to those on the other side, we only want the big car and the women. You can keep the big car and the women, and we will let you continue to move forward."
While he was shouting, He Shihui asked Sun Dashan quietly: "Da Shan, can you shoot his mother?"
Sun Dashan visually checked the distance and wind strength, and said with confidence: "He Tou, no problem."
"It must be shot to death with one arrow, there is no second arrow." He Shihui lowered his body and reminded Sun Dashan again in a deep voice.
Sun Dashan already held the bow in his hand, took out a heavy arrow, changed his steps, hid behind a sergeant, put the arrow on the bow, poked it out from the side of the sergeant's neck, and aimed at the opposite side fifty steps away.
The horse bandit is shouting.
He said in his mouth: "He Tou, look at it."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a "bang" sound, and the arrow flew away from the string, directly towards the horse bandit who was shouting in front of him.
At this moment, the horse bandit was shouting for the third time. He was also a little irritable and shouted loudly: "... As long as the big car and the woman... the mother has made up her mind..."
Suddenly, he saw a cold star flashing in the slanting light of the setting sun above the car formation on the opposite side. Before he could take a closer look, an arrow broke through the wind and shot through his throat.
His voice of shouting and persuading people to surrender suddenly stopped. This moment was fixed in his life, freeing him and no longer having to struggle to survive in troubled times.
The moment he was hit by the arrow, he suddenly let go of the reins and grabbed his throat with both hands, but he couldn't exert any strength. His hands were scratching weakly at his neck, and his face was as pale as snow.
Suddenly, he opened his mouth wide and a mouthful of bright red blood spurted out, splashing in front of him. His body could no longer maintain his balance, and his horse fell heavily to the ground with a "thud" sound.
The war horse was frightened by the sound, and with a powerful hooves, it jumped out, ran down the official road, and ran away to the north.
For a moment, there was a commotion on the bandits' side. Four riders rode out from the crowd and galloped directly to a hundred and fifty paces away. They looked over and observed. The remaining seventy riders were surrounding them.
They were surrounded by people, all gesticulating towards He Shihui.
The bandits behind were running forward quickly, and noisy and chaotic sounds could be heard in the distance.
It was obvious that they dared to shoot the horse bandit, which surprised them a little.
At this time, He Shihui stood upright on the cart and shouted loudly: "Did you all hear that? The bandits want the grain on the cart, and they want your lives. If you don't want to starve to death, just listen to me, kill all the bandits, and leave them alone."
Let’s get some grain and survive together.”
Sun Dashan here was the first to shout: "Kill all the bandits and survive together... Kill all the bandits..."
Under his leadership, sounds came one after another.
"...Kill all the bandits and survive together...Kill all the bandits and survive together..."
First, the cavalry on He Shihui's side and Min Yong shouted in unison, and then Qing Zhuang also started shouting, and even the Min Yong and Qing Zhuang on Liu Quan's side started shouting. Finally, even the old, weak and women in the official road started shouting wildly.
stand up.
From chaos at the beginning, it blends into a neat roar at the end.
"...Kill all the bandits and survive together...Kill all the bandits and survive together..."
This sound spread throughout the entire section of the official road, and also shocked the Mabu bandits in the east. Some of the horse bandits in the wilderness to the north of the official road were even frightened by the roar in unison, and were so frightened that they quietly took a few steps back.
"...live together...live together..."
The roars of more than 1,500 people echoed throughout the sky.
This is due to the desire to survive in troubled times, and it is also their expectation for a new life in the future...