On the left bank of the turbid Qinshui River, large groups of horsemen and horses rushed towards the place.
Li Hanzhi's banner quickly moved to a high ground. He turned over and dismounted, overlooking the entire battlefield.
There were 2,000 cavalry and 8,000 infantry. Basically all of them were present except for a few who stayed in Xiuwu County to guard the baggage.
The war drums beat, and the three thousand infantrymen shouted and howled towards the Bian army grain ship that was docked near the dock and stretched for several miles.
The ship's draft is very deep, and it looks like it's full of cargo. It must be food!
There were only a few boatmen on each ship. When they saw someone coming to rob them, they didn't care about the food. They jumped into the water one after another and used their skilled water skills to swim to the other side to escape.
"There's something damn wrong with this!" Li Hanzhi suddenly pulled out his sword, turned around and looked into the distance.
The surrounding areas were peaceful. In fact, there was no way to ambush in such an open and flat place, and this was the main reason why he came boldly to rob food...
But why are the Bianjun boatmen so unhurried? Aren't they worried about the food on the ship being robbed? Unless
The infantrymen had already rushed to the shore, set their bows and arrows, and fired several rounds of arrows on the grain ships.
The arrow was very powerful and penetrated the partitions, reed mats and tarpaulins on the ship. If someone was hiding in it, they would suffer a big loss at this moment.
After releasing the arrow, the sergeant who knew how to swim jumped into the river and swam to the boat.
"No food!"
"It's all gravel!"
"Damn it, we were deceived!"
"There must be an ambush!"
Li Hanzhi quickly received the news reported by the sergeants. Without any hesitation, he immediately ordered the attack.
The sound of "dang-dang" bells was mixed with the overwhelming sound of horse hooves, and several mounted scouts fled back from the horizon in the distance.
Li Hanzhi cursed loudly, and there was indeed a problem!
The thieves must be waiting somewhere, using fake grain ships as bait to attract them, and then immediately move out in large numbers.
If the distance is far enough and the Zezhou soldiers are eager to rob the grain ship and neglect to take precautions, it is inevitable that they will be fooled.
"The thieves are coming!" the scout yelled, beating his horse wildly.
"Form up!" Li Hanzhi ordered without hesitation.
The Bian thieves coming must be the Feilong Army! Only cavalry or mounted infantry can escape the search of the scouts and rush to the battlefield from a long distance. But what is the use of the cavalry? In a place as big as Heyang, his Zezhou infantry can't go anywhere
You can find a city or military town within a few dozen miles.
With just these dozens of miles of wild land, can you still harass me to defeat?
During the attack on Chengde, more than 10,000 cavalrymen harassed them day and night, taking turns charging, shooting arrows, and shouting to kill. However, the Jin army's infantry marched hundreds of miles despite the harassment, and penetrated directly into the key node of Yaoshan Mountain. If they attacked it, they would save it, and shaken the German army.
The entire front won a great victory.
I'm afraid of you!
Therefore, what came must be the Feilong Army dismounted and fighting on foot, at least the mounted infantry was the main force.
The cavalry's combat effectiveness in frontal combat is too weak to shake its infantry formation, but the situation is different for the heavily armored warriors. There may be trouble today. Maybe
Li Hanzhi gestured with his eyes, and Zhang Yuande understood.
Soon, more than 2,000 men captured in Huojia and Xiuwu counties were driven to the front and lined up in formation fearfully.
As expected, the Bian army in the distance stopped.
The infantry of the army dismounted their horses and mules, and the auxiliary soldiers gathered the horses while helping the soldiers put on their armor. There were some cavalry on both sides, and they also dismounted, perhaps to let the horses breathe and regain their strength.
There was smoke and dust billowing in the aftermath, and I didn't know how many people there were, or if there was something hidden.
"The wine has been drunk, the meat has been eaten, and the women have played. Now it's time to work hard!" Zhang Yuande rode a war horse and came to the army named "Tujiangdu" and said with a ferocious smile: "As long as you charge once, you will be ready."
There is no need to be a surprise general anymore, everything we eat and drink in the future will belong to our own people."
The "surprise generals" looked at each other. Some looked pale, some looked around, some looked crazy, and some looked calm.
This organization of Tujiang has been widely spread in various vassal towns.
Shao Shude met Qiu Weidao in his early years, and he was recruiting "surprise generals in the courtyard" at that time. "General" does not mean general. After all, in these days, a low-level officer who manages a beacon can also be called a commander (Feng Shuai), and the one who maintains order in the market is also a commander (
City Marshal), is actually a death squad.
"The Bian thieves are still forming a team, charge me, come on!" Zhang Yuande waved his horsewhip, and more than a hundred old desperate soldiers threw their wine bowls, laughed and left first.
As he walked, he sang: "A fast horse is often skinny, and a hunter is often poor. When the yellow crop rises, the horse will win, and when you have money, you will become a man."
“It’s hard to have no money, it’s hard for me!”
"Haha! Kill them and steal their property, women."
"There's no woman I haven't played with, and there's no drink I haven't drunk. It's just fun to follow Marshal Li. It's fun enough, even if you die."
"Kill, kill, kill!"
"Buddha of the West protects me!"
Under the influence of this gang of desperadoes, Heyang Dingzhuang also gathered some courage. They already had some foundation. At this time, under the order of the officer, they leveled their spears, leveled the queue, and quickly followed them.
After the surprise generals came forward, more than two thousand infantrymen began to form formations. They were all veterans with many years of experience, and each of them looked calm, as if they had no fear of death, or perhaps death was a kind of relief.
There was no noise in the field, and everyone was checking the equipment silently.
There were sounds of drawing and inserting knives, and there was also the faint sound of adjusting bow strings.
The armors on their bodies were of different styles, old and new. You could tell at a glance that they were ripped off from dead people. Being able to seize so many armors from the enemy already speaks volumes about their abilities.
"Dong dong dong" drums sounded, and more than 2,000 people did not do any battlefield mobilization, but just followed the assault generals.
There are cavalrymen leading the horses on foot, waiting for the order to attack at any time.
The surprise generals were almost approaching the Bian army.
The Bian army probably didn't expect that Li Hanzhi's men were so decisive. After discovering that they were ambushed, they didn't panic at all and even thought of biting them back.
There are no normal people in this army!
The sound of fighting soon started.
The Feilong Army of the Bian Army hastily set up an infantry formation of 3,000 men. The two sides fought hand to hand, and all of them roared and killed without caring about themselves.
The more than a hundred old thieves who rushed at the front were so brave that the Bian army's formation was directly dented. The people in front of them were almost no match for the enemy, and they were beaten back steadily.
These old thieves are all good at martial arts and can shoot decisively and accurately.
If you put a new soldier who is no more than a year old in training and assassinates a veteran face to face, the new soldier may stab you two or three times without hitting your vital point, but the veteran will stab you to death in one fell swoop without any extra effort.
One person is like this, but if you change it to a row of people, you can see the difference in the first fight between the two sides.
In the military, not only discipline and courage are needed, martial arts are also very important.
Dai Siyuan, who was setting up a flag high up, stared angrily.
He had never looked down upon Li Hanzhi, and subconsciously felt that his men were all a bunch of desperadoes.
But they were definitely outlaws, but not gangsters. They cooperated skillfully, obeyed military orders, fought in an orderly manner, and were very brave.
With the flag waving, the cavalry had to be dispatched. These were the only more than a thousand cavalry under Zhang Shensi, and he brought them over.
The cavalry slowly accelerated, and they circled around the junction between the generals and the second formation, intending to attack from the side and rear.
The veterans of the second formation fired arrows one after another, and some even dared to jump out of the crowd and directly pull the cavalry off their horses.
The fallen cavalryman was dragged on the ground and let out a blood-curdling scream, which fell silent after only a moment.
The Zejun cavalry also dispatched, and two thousand cavalry made a shocking sound of hoofbeats and rushed forward.
"Damn it!" Dai Siyuan asked his soldiers to wear armor for him, held a long spear in hand, and personally rushed down with the guards.
He never expected that the battle would end like this.
At this moment, the sound of horse hooves also sounded from the other side of Qinshui River.
More than a thousand heavy cavalry bypassed a clump of woods and walked forward slowly. They were led by nearly a thousand infantry, armed with twelve consecutive heavy crossbows, and were approaching the river bank.
Behind them, there were more than 3,000 infantrymen who were cutting down trees and seemed to be building a pontoon bridge.
Zhang Guihou looked at the battle situation from a distance and sneered: "Dai Siyuan wants to monopolize the benefits, so what?"
All the principals in the hall following him burst out laughing.
"Let's begin." The Zezhou soldiers on the other side also discovered their unit and started shouting. They were obviously a little panicked. Zhang Guihou didn't want to delay any longer and ordered.
Soon, dozens of riders rushed to the river bank and threw some bloody objects across the river.
Behind them, a large group of infantry came rushing in. They were escorting more than a hundred prisoners, and there were people pushing carts full of money, silk, gold and silverware.
"Xiuwu has been launched, the defenders have been wiped out, and all your property has been lost!" the Bian army on the east bank of the river roared in unison.
The sound was deafening, and the Zezhou soldiers on the west bank were dumbfounded.
Someone picked up the head, took a closer look, and suddenly screamed: "Third brother!"
"It's Zhao Er, he's dead!"
"The eldest son of the Zhang family is also dead. He stayed behind to practice martial arts."
As the captured flag armor was displayed, the Zezhou soldiers on the west bank were in an uproar.
We can give up our lives, but we can’t give up money!
Only then did Li Hanzhi's expression really change suddenly.
He knows the thoughts of his subordinates very well. As long as you promise a heavy reward and give enough benefits, and the desperadoes become desperate, they will really be like soldiers from heaven descending to earth, daring to fight and fight. But if you tell them that all their baggage is lost, their wealth will be lost.
If the goods were taken away, morale might collapse on the spot!
Zhang Yuande also realized the seriousness of the problem. He and Li Hanzhi glared at each other, and both saw the annoyance in the other's eyes: This time, the thieves had really screwed him!
…
Outside the east gate of Huaizhou, the shadows of people are wandering in the night.
Qibizhang and his men dismounted from their horses far away, and then walked a long distance in the dark before arriving outside the city.
He now has more than 3,600 people, and the extra ones are new recruits recruited in Heyang. They are not very good at fighting yet, but there is no way. It is always good to have more strength at this time. This time, they are all mobilized.
Leave nothing behind.
If the Wang brothers pretended to surrender, they would suffer a big loss this time.
This is actually a gamble!
The night was dark, and the insects felt the crisis and stopped chirping.
Xue Li quietly approached Qi Binzhang and said, "Envoy, the appointed time is coming soon."
Qibizhang said nothing and stared at the city with wide eyes. It was pitch black and there was nothing there.
Xue Li felt bored and sat down on the ground.
Now every time he goes on a field battle, he thinks of the old events in Huoyi. He can't bear to look back. Not to mention the feeling when the sergeants' smelly boots stepped on his face.
"Here we come!" Qi Bizhang shouted in a low voice.
Xue Li perked up and looked up, only to see a bunch of medium-sized fires lighting up the city. This was the signal promised.
"Do it!" Qi Binzhang looked solemn and ordered.
"Follow your orders!" Xue Li ordered the three hundred athletes to help each other put on their armor, then organized themselves into formation and ran quickly.
They didn't dare to rush too fast, otherwise they wouldn't have the strength to fight when the time came. But they didn't dare to go too slowly. The opportunity would be fleeting, and Fan Jushi might notice it and adjust his deployment in time, resulting in failure.
Rushing closer.
The city gate creaked half open. Xue Li abandoned his distracting thoughts, jumped up with the three hundred athletes, and rushed in.
A cry of death rang out on the street.
Xue Li turned pale with fright, thinking he had encountered an ambush. When he took a closer look, he saw two groups of Bian troops fighting, with bloody swords and arrows flying everywhere.
"Come on!" He took the lead and rushed over with a knife.
Random arrows struck, Xue Li's helmet was shot away, and he subconsciously fell to the ground to avoid the arrows.
"The thief is about to die!" someone shouted from the other side.
"Fart, I'm not dead! Kill me!" Xue Li jumped up from the ground, led his team to occupy the city gate, and fought bravely.
Outside the city, Qi Binzhang hesitated for a while.
The cry of killing came so strangely that he subconsciously thought that the Wang brothers were pretending to surrender and tricking them into entering the city.
However, after waiting for a while, the city gate was still not closed, and people from afar came running out of the city to report the news.
He no longer hesitated, stood up from the grass and said, "Follow me into the city."
More than three thousand people held torches and flocked to Huaizhou City like a long dragon.