Chapter 296 Accidents happen frequently, and it's a close call!
The sound of horse hooves in my ears kept getting louder, and even if I stood on the top of the city, I could feel a faint vibration under my feet.
At this time, everyone on the city wall no longer cared about chatting, and looked nervously towards the north.
In the field of vision, a military flag covered with burn marks, bloodstains, and holes lined up appeared first, followed immediately by groups of frontier cavalry in unusual embarrassment.
In other words, it's not embarrassing, but miserable.
Compared with the last time I met Qin Hui, the situation of these frontier troops was much more miserable. Not only were their numbers reduced a lot, but almost everyone was injured at a glance.
But even so, these cavalrymen still did not give up hope and rode hard forward.
When they got closer, Qin Hui and others could even vaguely see the light in these people's eyes.
After running away for thousands of miles, and now finally having hope of survival, how could it be possible that I still don’t have to work hard to feed myself?
"General Zhao, the temporary bridge you built should be fine, right?"
Qin Hui looked solemnly at the three wooden bridges across the Wei River, one large and two small. These were temporarily built by Zuo Weiwei after he arrived in Neihuang.
This is also a last resort. If the border troops are allowed to cross the river only on the small stone bridge that was originally the only one in Neihuang, it will be a problem from noon to dark. There may even be a squeeze and fall into the river, resulting in heavy casualties.
.
In desperation, Zuo Weiwei and Qin Hui's soldiers temporarily built three more wooden bridges on the river as replacements.
But after all, there is no quality guarantee for this kind of temporary thing. If something goes wrong when the soldiers are crossing the river, and it suddenly breaks or collapses... it will be over.
"These three bridges were built jointly by the soldiers of Prime Minister Qin and Zuo Weiwei, so there can be no problems."
Zhao Kuangyi could not ensure that there would be no problems with the bridge, but he could ensure that if there was a problem, Qin Hui would not be able to escape.
After hearing this answer, Qin Hui had no intention of arguing with him anymore.
In fact, it was also his first time to go to the battlefield. He originally thought that the preparations he had made were sufficient, but now looking at the tens of thousands of frontier troops charging, Qin Xiang, who boasted that "Taishan collapsed in front of him but remained unchanged", changed his mind.
Colored.
Just from such a distance, the sound of the frontier cavalry charging had already caused the city to tremble. Qin Hui could even see the messy gravel jumping on the river in the distance, and even the wooden bridge erected a few days ago was shaking.
What's more, due to some strategic reasons, such a bridge cannot be built too strong.
But now it seems that Zuo Weiwei and the others may not be so accurate in controlling the "degree"...
But at this time, it is too late to reinforce it. We can only chant mantras to the Jade Emperor and Bodhisattva Buddha, hoping that nothing will happen to the bridge...
The cavalry charge is extremely fast, not to mention that it is not a charge to kill the enemy, but a charge to survive.
After a while, a large group of cavalry rushed forward from far to near.
Facing the three wooden bridges and one stone bridge in front, the expected chaos did not occur. The four teams of cavalry held their flags high, and the troops in the rear quickly followed suit. The huge frontier army was divided into groups of different sizes in an orderly manner.
The four groups of troops rushed towards the four bridges without even a moment's pause.
Although the whole process could not be called orderly, there was no big mess. This situation was naturally not because these border troops had high military literacy and could automatically adapt to the current situation.
How could the red-eyed border troops think so much?
The reason for the current situation is that Qin Hui and Zhao Kuangyi had already sent military reports to Wu Sangui and introduced the situation here. Maybe the frontier troops had already rehearsed such changes of formation during their escape.
I don’t know how many times.
Under everyone's gaze, the frontier troops leading the charge stepped onto the bridge, their horses' hooves rumbling like thunder, making the bridge below creak.
But no matter how unstable it was, there was no accident until the first batch of border troops got off the bridge and regrouped to rush toward the city gate.
Others breathed a sigh of relief, but Qin Hui did not relax.
Just because there is no problem in the first wave does not mean that everything will be fine. It will only be fine after all the border troops have passed.
Neihuang County is not a big city, and there are not many defenders who can stand on top of the city.
Moreover, Zhao Kuangyi did not intend to put all the Zuowei guards on the city wall for defense. In fact, more than 22,000 Zuowei guards had already arrived outside the city, and only more than 3,000 people were left to garrison inside the city.
Now more than 20,000 people are lined up to the left and right of the city gate, leaving a huge funnel-shaped gap in the middle, which becomes narrower as they get to the city gate. This is the escape route left for the border troops.
Most of Zuoweiwei were infantry. Seeing these frontier troops rushing across the river with green eyes, and being hit head-on by the evil aura tempered by blood and fire on these people, their minds went blank.
Even though they knew they were friendly forces, they still felt inexplicably nervous. Many Zuoweiwei soldiers subconsciously clenched their swords and guns.
But the border troops turned a blind eye to these nervous Zuowei Wei. After fleeing for so many days, all they could see at this moment was the wide-open city gate in front of them.
As the first border army entered the city, the following border troops on horseback also entered the city one after another.
"Don't slow down! Don't slow down!"
The frontier officer leading the team yelled at his neck, telling the frontier troops who had already entered the city to keep moving forward at a fast pace.
If these people relax and slow down their horses as soon as they enter the city, it will definitely cause latecomers to be blocked at the gate of the city. If there is a large-scale stampede, it will be over.
I have escaped for thousands of miles, but now I am dying on this last trembling. Isn’t that unfair?
But Zhao Kuangyi and Qin Hui on the city wall could no longer care about these small details, and their eyes were looking far away to the north.
The first was to look for the handsome flag where Wu Sangui was, and the second was that the two of them discovered the Jin cavalry chasing after them.
There was only one handsome flag, so it was not difficult to find. The two of them even spotted Wu Sangui, who was the most conspicuous among the large army.
After running for thousands of miles and finally surviving, Mr. Wu was in an extremely emotional state. Who knows how much psychological pressure he was under along the way?
Wu Sangui also saw Prime Minister Qin and General Zhao leaving on the top of the city, and was even in the mood to smile at them.
It's just that his actions were really a wink to the blind man. The two people above him were not in the mood to pay attention to him at all, but looked towards the north with solemn expressions.
The Jin cavalry has already caught up with the frontier army!
The two of them compared the speed of the Jin cavalry with the speed of the frontier troops entering the city below, and came to a conclusion at once.
If we keep going like this, I'm afraid the border troops will be overtaken by them when they get halfway there!
Wu Sangui, who was on the other side of the river, saw the faces of Qin Hui and Zhao Kuangyi from a distance, and realized something was wrong. He and the generals around him looked back, and they were all frightened.
The border troops who were crossing the river also noticed the movement behind them. A commotion had begun in front of the bridge on the other side of the river, and several cavalrymen fell into the river while fighting for the opportunity to cross the bridge.
"Steady! Steady!
"
Wu Sangui's face turned red with anxiety. It would be too embarrassing if more than half of his family died before others could kill him.
With the support of the various supervising teams, the border troops crossing the river returned to the order they had just before. However, anyone could notice that everyone's minds were confused and their movements were a bit more impatient than before.
Several generals showed some anxiety on their faces and nervously discussed countermeasures.
But there are some things that cannot be solved simply by being anxious. The speed at which the border troops can escape is limited by the speed at which they enter the city. Even if they want to go faster, they cannot go faster.
At this critical moment, a shout suddenly came from the top of the city: "General Wu, quickly separate your troops and horses to enter the city from the east and west gates!"
"
Wu Sangui and a group of generals looked towards the top of the city in shock, and found that it was the right minister who was shouting at the top of his voice.
Although Qin Hui had never been on the battlefield, he had dealt with so many of His Majesty's strange moves in the imperial city, and he had finally developed some of his quick wits.
From the perspective of the right minister, the most important thing for these frontier troops at this moment is not to enter the city quickly, but to cross the river quickly.
As long as they cross the river, there will be a safe place between them and the Jin cavalry. Even if they do not enter Neihuang County, their lives are guaranteed.
There is only one gate to enter the city, but there are four bridges to cross the river. The speed of crossing the bridge is more than a little faster than the speed of entering the city!
Upon being reminded like this, Wu Sangui and a group of border army generals also came to their senses immediately, and hurriedly ordered the border troops who had crossed the river to disperse quickly and enter the city from east to west, without blocking the way of the brothers behind them.
After this move, the border troops crossed the river much faster, and the chance of successfully crossing the river before the Jin soldiers arrived was also much higher. Wu Sangui and others breathed a sigh of relief.
Qin Hui, Zhao Kuangyi and several generals from Zuoweiwei on the top of the city also breathed a sigh of relief.
But it turned out that they were still happy too early.
Above the rushing Wei River, three wooden bridges and one stone bridge were arranged in sequence, carrying the hope of tens of thousands of border troops escaping.
But at this critical moment, one of the smaller wooden bridges suddenly went into trouble.
Katcha~
Kachacha~~
There were bursts of breaking sounds, and the rumble of horse hooves seemed particularly harsh.
In this regard, the cavalry on the bridge felt the most intuitively. Many of them changed their expressions and hurriedly urged the horses under their crotches to speed up.
But it's okay if there is no problem with this kind of wooden strips. Once there is a problem, it will never stop.
Katcha~
This time it was visible to the naked eye. The wooden boards on the bridge cracked directly, and even a load-bearing column on the side of the bridge was completely broken!
Plop~~
Several cavalrymen and horses nearby fell into the river like dumplings.
Seeing this, the riders in the rear hurriedly reined in their horses. The horses suddenly stopped and stood up, making a shrill cry.
This kind of emergency stop during the charge is extremely dangerous. These people stopped, but the situation of the people behind them was not clear yet. They couldn't stop even if they wanted to, so they bumped into the former people and knocked these people away.
It hit someone, causing him to flip over and fall directly into the river.
For a while, people and horses were neighing, and the bridge was in chaos, and the cracks in the wooden bridge were still expanding!
The border troops on the surrounding bridge were stunned!
In such a chaotic situation, Wu Sangui and other generals were anxious and shouted. Qin Hui, Zhao Kuangyi and others on the city wall were also sweating profusely and yelling for orders.
It took half an hour to stabilize the situation. Fortunately, the current of the Wei River was not too fast, and the Xia Tian cavalry did not wear much armor. They did not just sink to the bottom quickly. Zuo Weiwei in front of the city wall hurriedly came to the river. He helped salvage the cavalry and horses that fell into the river, so that no great damage was caused.
But then everyone had to abandon this bridge and cross the other three bridges, and the speed of crossing the river was suddenly reduced by a quarter!
There is trouble on the frontier side, and the Jin cavalry behind them will not wait for them.
While there was a commotion here, they had quickly closed a lot of distance.
Qin Hui and others stood on the city wall and could vaguely see the figures of those people.
Perhaps because it was too hot in June, these Jin cavalry had almost no clothes on, not even any leather armor. They just sat on horseback with their bare backs and charged forward waving their weapons.
While charging, they were still shouting, as if the border troops crossing the river were exerting mental pressure.
These Jin cavalry all have braided hair, that is, they shave the hair on the top of their heads and temples, and then comb the remaining hair on the back of their heads into two small braids.
Such strange hairstyles, although it is very cool in summer, are extremely ugly and weird in the eyes of the Daqian people. Coupled with their strange looks when charging, it is not unfair to call them barbarians.
At this moment, there were even scattered Jin cavalry with bows and arrows, and they shot arrow feathers at the retreating border troops, hitting them in the back, causing each of the border troops to scream and fall off their horses.
Due to the numerous casualties before and the threat of these Jin men, a bit of chaos once again appeared among the border troops.
Fortunately, Wu Sangui and other generals did not cross the river. Their presence greatly stabilized the morale of the frontier troops in the rear and made them feel that they had not been given up.
"Commander Wu, quickly separate your troops and go to the rear to cut off the rear!"
Hui, the Right Prime Minister of Qin, the fugitive, and the commander of the city, supported the city wall with his left hand, pointed to the distance with his right hand, and continued to shout.
When Wu Sangui heard this, his face suddenly became a little ugly. The generals around him also looked at me, I looked at you, and finally turned their attention to Wu Sangui in the middle of the crowd.
Why doesn’t Wu Sangui know the benefits of having someone cut off the queen?
As long as a small number of people are sacrificed to entangle the pursuing golden soldiers, the remaining people can cross the river safely and preserve their strength.
But with the current situation, running over to cut off the queen is absolutely a lifeless operation. Whoever is allowed to cut off the queen will die.
It would be better if the current generals, soldiers and horses were all direct relatives of Wu Sangui. No one could refuse whoever he asked to seize the throne.
Unfortunately, it was not the case. His subordinates were either wiped out or scattered before, and there were not many left. Now these generals, soldiers and horses are almost all border generals who escaped from different frontier fortresses and gathered together.
Although Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief, had a certain degree of binding force on them, the binding force was not strong enough to force them to die obediently.
Now if he randomly assigns someone to cut off the rear, they might disobey his military orders on the spot.
Just when Wu Sangui and the generals were in a dilemma, another voice appeared on the top of the city.
"Commander Wu, there is no need to send people to cut off the rear. You must lead the Jinlu's front army across the bridge! Watch the Zuoweiwei annihilate these pirates!"