Zhao Han and Li Zheng set out with nine thousand reinforcements. They did not need shields or wolves. They all took off their armor and only carried spears and firecrackers.
There is no other way. It is to reduce the weight of the mule. Wearing armor will definitely weigh the mule down.
Even so, a mule cannot run very fast if an adult man rides it.
This thing can really be ridden into battle!
From the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the "Mule Army" has always existed in history books, and there are only two records in the "Old Book of Tang".
"Since we have few horses, we can use them to breed mules and teach them how to fight. This is called a mule army." - "Old Book of Tang Dynasty"
"General Cai has Dong Zhongzhi, who guards Huiqu. His subordinates ride on mules and go into battle. They are called the mule army. They are the most powerful. The officers and soldiers are always on guard." - "Old Book of Tang"
Of course, you can't fight on a mule. It's just a means of transportation for fast marching.
Guangji City was blazing with smoke for a long time, and Zhao Han's reinforcements finally arrived at the assembly point, which was still several miles away from the county seat.
Among the nine thousand reinforcements, there are 3,500 fire rifle soldiers.
Lao Huihui led his cavalry and cavalry to intercept and kill him. Zhao Han immediately ordered to stop and let the fire gun soldiers light the match rope.
The melee soldiers ride mules in the middle, and the fire gun soldiers ride mules on both sides. After lighting the match rope, they advance at a very slow speed. If the opponent dares to rush over, they will immediately get off the mules and shoot. After the fire gun soldiers finish shooting, the melee soldiers in the middle will
Come out and line up.
"woo woo woo woo!"
The horn kept sounding. Lu Xiangsheng, who was in the mountains, heard the order and immediately led 3,500 cavalry out to join them.
Zhao Han did not ride a mule. He rode a horse and "horsed the mules" among nearly ten thousand mules.
With the cavalry gathering and covering, the march speed was slightly faster, and Lao Huihui kept following and harassing them.
After walking another two miles, Lao Huihui finally couldn't hold it back anymore and asked the cavalry to charge in a loose formation, so that he could lead his knights to take advantage of the chaos.
Adding up the infantry and cavalry, Zhao Han had 6,500 muskets in his hand.
Seeing the enemy cavalry approaching, they immediately split into half, stood on the ground and fired three rounds. The melee infantry helped the friendly troops hold the mules to prevent the mules from running away in fright when hearing the gunshots.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
After three rounds of shooting, more than fifty people in the cavalry fell down, and the pikemen quickly came out to protect the firecrackers.
The loose cavalry rushed nearby. Faced with the numerous spears, they could only rein in their horses, slow down, turn and slip away to hide elsewhere. These cavalry were also mounted infantry. They did not know how to mount and shoot at all, and their ability to rush into the formation was not good enough. Zhang Xianzhong still had
There are similar mule teams.
Lao Huihui led thousands of knights, intending to take advantage of the chaos to charge and at least do some cavalry shooting. Unexpectedly, Zhao Han left half of the fire musket soldiers and quickly moved his position, and could restore the formation after moving.
Lao Hui Hui dare not rush.
The enemies in front of me are so highly trained that they move and change formations at such a speed that it makes my head tingle every time I look at them.
After waiting for half of the gunmen to fire, they reloaded their ammunition, and Zhao Han ordered the march again. As long as Lao Huihui didn't approach, he didn't bother to pay attention, because the other party was just here to buy time.
In the direction of Chilong Lake, 7,000 regular soldiers and 10,000 peasant soldiers had already disembarked from the boats and were on their way to Guangji County.
Now there are still six miles away, and Zhang Xianzhong's mule team can already be seen.
…
Guangji County.
The gap in the city wall that was blown down has still not been breached.
However, under a Lu Gong chariot, Zhang Xianzhong's elite troops had occupied the city wall, and more than a thousand people in front and behind attacked and fought.
After killing all the enemy troops who climbed up the ladder, Wu Yong left this section of the city wall to the people defending the city, while he led his peasant soldiers to support Lu Gongche's side.
Wu Yong's current military position is battalion commander. He is a soldier of Zhao Han. The reason why he rose so slowly is simply because he is not flexible. He only knows how to fight in a rigid manner, and his literacy is also very slow. He can learn it in a few years.
More than a hundred words.
"kill!"
Wu Yong rushed forward with dozens of peasant soldiers. When the civilian defenders in front fell down, he stabbed the enemy in the throat and avenged the civilians on the spot.
After fighting for several years, Wu Yong only learned three moves: stab, block, and pick.
He is stupid and has only practiced three moves for several years, but they are fast, accurate and annoying!
Facing Zhang Xianzhong's armored elite, Wu Yong, with the cooperation of peasants and soldiers, fired several shots in succession, all of which hit the throat.
Thrust out, retract, thrust out again, retract.
It's not entertaining at all, and it looks a bit clumsy. But it's easy to kill, and guns are deadly.
"kill!"
Seeing Wu Yong's great power, the morale of the peasants, soldiers and people was boosted. They carried their spears and stabbed wildly with their spears.
Finally, a few peasant soldiers, dispatched by Wang Hui, came over with the remaining five cannons. There were more than a thousand enemies on this wall, and the five cannons smashed in, and one of them was knocked down.
Outside the city, the remaining division elements exploded among the enemy troops.
The enemy was frightened and their morale dropped, but the defenders became more courageous as they fought.
When the fight reaches this point, adrenaline surges, and both sides temporarily forget their fear.
The explosion of tens of thousands of enemies not only killed and injured the enemy troops, but also exploded lime and chili powder. This less lethal object made the enemy troops in that circle cough and cry, disturbed their excitement, and actually called them back.
The fear of disappearing.
The defenders were constantly attacking and stabbing on both sides, and there were tens of thousands of enemies in the middle. No one knew whether there were still ten thousand enemies.
Several elites began to escape, jumped back on Lu Gong's car, and fled down the wooden ladder. One by one, more and more enemy troops fled, and finally collapsed. Of the more than a thousand people who attacked, only three were killed.
More than a hundred, the rest all fled.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, they immediately organized manpower to carry the wounded away from the city wall, and military medical officers came over for emergency treatment.
Sun Kewang looked at the gap, and his heart sank.
That gap has almost been filled with corpses!
There were corpses on both sides, and there were even people who were still alive and were crying and screaming under the corpses.
Every time Sun Kewang organized an attack, the frequency of soldiers fleeing became higher and higher. The more elite they were, the more likely they were to allocate fields in Hubei, and even have wives and children at home. Why did they come to Guangji City to die?
But the people in the city must work hard. Once the city is broken, the end will be extremely miserable.
One side is fighting for Zhang Xianzhong, and the other side is fighting for himself. Their fighting enthusiasm cannot be compared.
Zhang Xianzhong watched the battle through a telescope and knew that he could not attack.
This time he went out with a large army, which turned out to be a complete joke. He couldn't even defeat the small town of Guangji.
"Send the order, withdraw everyone!" Zhang Xianzhong ordered helplessly.
Because the cavalry and mule teams came back to report that Zhao Han's reinforcements were several miles away. There were reinforcements in the southeast and reinforcements in the southwest. Together with the defenders in the city, Zhang Xianzhong was about to be surrounded on three sides.
The siege troops gradually retreated to the west bank of the Meichuan River, and along with the civilians, they withdrew to the main camp in the northwest.
The camp of 300,000 people stretched for several miles.
The camp is backed by mountains on both sides, and there are several withdrawal channels in the mountains. You can choose to rely on the camp for defense, or you can retreat into the ravine overnight.
However, if you want to withdraw your territory, you have to cross two more rivers, one Xishui River and one Qishui River. It is very likely that you will be attacked halfway across the river.
"We win, we win!" Zhu Shijing shouted from the tower.
"Win, win, defend!"
Countless people shouted and cheered, and some cried because their relatives had died in the battle.
An Qigong, the county magistrate, looked at the corpses everywhere and said with pride and sorrow: "Today we know what the people's hearts are!"
Although statistics have not yet been calculated, the number of peasants, soldiers and civilians who died in the battle is at least 3,000, and may even exceed 4,000.
As for the injured, they are countless.
This was the heaviest casualty since Zhao Han launched his army.
But the results were outstanding, not only effectively killing the enemy troops, but also keeping Zhang Xianzhong's army here.
Sun Kewang rushed back to the camp: "Father, should you stay and guard the camp, or should you leave from the mountains?"
"We can't stay," Zhang Xianzhong muttered. "If we don't leave quickly, we will be blocked here. If we delay for a few more days, I'm afraid the passage out of the mountain will also be blocked. Leave one hundred thousand civilians to Zhao Han, and leave all the disabled ones behind."
.Don’t he love his people like his own son? One hundred thousand people are enough for him to consume food.”
After besieging the city for more than half a month, Zhang Xianzhong consumed a lot of food and no longer needed as many civilians to transport the baggage.
This guy directly abandoned a hundred thousand civilians and consumed Zhao Han's food, leaving Zhao Han without enough military food to attack his territory.
Sun Kewang said: "Father, if our army retreats into the mountains, the enemy troops are likely to come after us. It is better to set up an ambush in the mountains, or we can win a battle, and then take the opportunity to fight back the same way, and let the enemy troops who circled to the west to intercept us escape.
Send a partial division to re-siege Guangji, and the main force quietly crosses the Henggang Mountains and crosses the Qishui River further north. Once the enemy is disoriented, our army can speed up its march, abandon its baggage and quickly cross the Qishui River."
This method of fighting would probably leave behind all the civilians, as well as the weak soldiers, and in the end we would only be able to bring back 40,000 to 50,000 elite soldiers.
But it was already the optimal solution. After Zhang Xianzhong thought carefully, he nodded and said: "Just fight like this!"
Withdrawing the troops was not a simple matter. The civilians were ordered to carry the baggage and move it all to the mountain pass.
It was impossible to leave during the day, because reinforcements were coming soon, and Zhang Xianzhong could not leave unless he dropped off his baggage and provisions. If he wanted to take the provisions with him, he would have to flee in the middle of the night. During the day, he would be pursued until the entire army was defeated.
Shi Yongen's left arm had been extensively ulcerated, and he returned to the camp in a daze, confused because of the fever.
He was ordered to transfer grain and grass into the ravine and help push the cart, but he collapsed after not taking more than two steps. Some soldiers came to check and felt that his forehead was hot, so they didn't bother to care anymore and left him to fend for himself.
Shi Yongen was actually not that weak, he just felt weak all over.
Since no one cares about him, he is happy to pretend to be unconscious and think about how to leave the camp to report that Zhang Xianzhong is running away tonight, even a fool can tell!
Zhao Han's two reinforcements arrived one after another, but the sky was already dark.
Facing the camp that stretched for several miles, no one dared to attack rashly. By blocking Zhang Xianzhong here, the expected goal was achieved.
"Your Highness, do you want a night attack?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.
Zhao Han smiled and said, "You can try it."
One wants to escape at night, and the other wants to attack the camp at night.
Shi Yongen was lying on the ground, and in a daze he saw Zhang Xianzhong dispatching the elite old battalion to enter the mountain passage in advance.
Is this an ambush?
If Zhao Han discovered that the camp was empty during a night attack and rashly led his troops to pursue him, he would most likely be ambushed by Zhang Xianzhong in the mountains for a surprise attack.
Shi Yongen pretended to be weak, climbed up unsteadily, and said to the passing soldiers: "Hungry..."
The soldiers ignored him at all.
Shi Yongen continued to walk out. When he saw the officers and soldiers, he cried out that he was hungry and looked like he could be knocked over by the wind.
After walking two miles, a soldier finally kicked him down and shouted: "Don't wander around in the camp, go back to the civilian camp!"
Shi Yongen struggled to get up, then fell to the ground, pulled up his sleeves and said: "Master Jun, can you help find a doctor?"
The soldier came closer to the torch and saw that the festering wound was already infested with maggots. He immediately felt sick and ran away: "Get away!"