When the vigilant Royal Guards discovered it, Yang Jun's cavalry was only a few hundred steps away from them.
"Your Majesty, there is a cavalry force coming from behind to attack our army. The sentinel cavalry reported that they are wearing the bright armor of the frontier army and the sun and moon flag of the Ming Dynasty. There are four to five thousand cavalry. Do you want to intercept them?
"
The guards of the Yulin Army couldn't figure out whether this was one of their own. Judging from the direction of the opponent's march, they should be coming from Juyongguan of Xuanfu.
It is very likely that they are soldiers and horses of the Xuanfu, so without the emperor's order, they can only wait for orders.
Upon hearing the news, Zhu Youxiao thought something bad was wrong, and immediately picked up his telescope and looked behind him.
This army is definitely not his, because he has no arrangements at all, and it is not marching, but attacking.
Zhu Youxiao suddenly became murderous and said to Ma Xianglin beside him:
"Rui Zheng, quickly lead the troops and horses to fight. Don't be merciful. I don't want any prisoners to surrender."
When Ma Xianglin heard that, it was okay. Since the emperor asked him to fight, he must be the enemy.
Why fight at this time? The first priority is to protect the emperor's safe evacuation.
He said urgently:
"Your Majesty, the enemy is approaching fiercely, and they appear to be elite soldiers. We fear there will be a fierce battle. Your Majesty, you'd better move ahead and let me stop them."
Zhu Youxiao nodded after hearing the words. After all, the battlefield is extremely dangerous. People with swords and arrows are not very discerning, and they don't recognize you as the emperor. They will still get to you if they should.
Moreover, his golden armor is so dazzling that once someone sees it, even a fool will know who you are.
At that time, the opponent will definitely rush towards him like a madman. As long as they kill him as the emperor or capture him, they will win.
He won't make fun of his own life. At this time, he doesn't dare to die and is afraid of death. He still has a lot of things to do.
Although he had this idea in his heart, Zhu Youxiao did not express his position immediately.
The war is about to begin, and he, the emperor, immediately runs away. What does that mean?
Although the soldiers would not say anything, it would not happen that the morale of the army would collapse just because the general ran away.
He also has absolute confidence that these carefully selected elite soldiers can protect his safety.
But he still wouldn't do it, whether it was to boost morale or maintain his own image.
He said calmly:
"You don't need to worry about my safety. The opponent's cavalry is very fast and will rush to the front of the battle soon."
Ma Xianglin also knew that this was not the time to waste words. His Majesty always acted in a measured manner.
He immediately led two thousand cavalry out of the military formation.
Seeing the opponent's cavalry rushing towards him, he clenched the horse in his hand and shouted:
"Follow me and kill the rebels."
As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately rushed out.
The soldiers of the Yulin Army are all veterans who have been on the battlefield for a long time. Most of them are elites drawn from the border army and incorporated into the Yulin Army.
There are also many soldiers who were trained by the original Three Thousand Battalion and Xu Guangqi in Tongzhou. After being incorporated into the Yulin Army, they underwent more than a year of training and combat before they were qualified to be incorporated into the Imperial Guard Army by the emperor.
Therefore, discipline and execution are very strong.
If other troops had seen the menacing cavalry on the opposite side, they would have been panicked and at a loss.
As soon as Ma Xianglin gave the order, the two thousand cavalry behind him were like tigers coming out of their cages, with majestic momentum.
Yang Jun didn't panic at all when he saw the opponent's cavalry coming out. His four thousand cavalry were elite, and they were also elite frontier troops.
In a head-to-head duel based on the same number of people, he thought that he was already extremely strong. He rode in the lead, and the cavalry from both sides immediately clashed.
Ma Xianglin had long noticed the young leader and had already guessed that he was the bandit leader, even though he was only in his twenties.
He tightly grasped the horse in his hand, and when he was only a few dozen steps away, he began to gather strength, preparing to kill the thief in one fell swoop.
In this way, the bandit army is leaderless, and it will not be difficult to defeat them.
And what he is best at is beheading generals and capturing flags. This is the confidence that his own superb martial arts and extraordinary courage give him.
Although Yang Jun is not as brave as Ma Xianglin, nor does he have such superb martial arts, he has been fighting the Mongols all year round, so he still has rich battlefield experience.
As soon as Ma Xianglin swung the spear in his hand, Yang Jun reacted immediately and leaned his whole body on the horse's back to avoid his fatal blow.
The blow missed, which was beyond Ma Xianglin's expectation, but he quickly adjusted his posture and headed towards the bandits approaching him.
The strength of the two armies is not bad, and the generals of both sides are not greedy for life and death. They both ride first and set an example.
Therefore, the battle was extremely fierce. Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao knew that it would be difficult to defeat the opponent with only two thousand people.
Immediately, another two thousand soldiers were sent to support, leaving only 500 guards and dozens of imperial guards.
Ma Xianglin was not called Xiao Ma Chao for nothing. He rode alone into the depths of the rebel army and killed more than a dozen rebel soldiers in a row, causing chaos in their formation.
It really looks like a bit of the legacy of General Shenwei Tian.
The soldiers of the Royal Forest Army did not disappoint him. They withstood the situation when the opponent's number was twice as many as ours and their combat effectiveness was quite strong.
Judging from the current situation, they can even be evenly matched. With their combat effectiveness and sergeant quality reaching this level, he is already very satisfied.
At this time, Yang Jun also felt how abnormal the fighting power of the army he was fighting was.
I was suddenly puzzled, where did Xuanda get such a strong army?
But before he could think about it, several cavalrymen brandished their sabers and attacked him.
After all, the armor he was wearing was too obvious, and not everyone could wear the general's armor.
Therefore, many people are targeting him. As long as they can kill him, it will be a great achievement.
Yang Jun is not Ma Xianglin. How could he be besieged by so many people?
Fortunately, the formation had not broken up yet, and there were more than twenty personal guards around him, so he could barely save his life.
Ma Xianglin, who was on the other side, also felt a little exhausted after killing more than thirty thieves.
Although he is born with supernatural powers, he is still a human being after all, a body of flesh and blood, not a machine made of iron.
Under the protection of more than a dozen soldiers, he took a short rest and was considering where to charge later.
At a glance, he saw Yang Jun in front of him, surrounded by thieves.
"Don't worry about these small fish and shrimps. Follow my general to break the formation and kill the general in front."
The power of killing generals is very tempting.
Whether it was an ordinary sergeant or a trusted general like Ma Xianglin, who was deeply trusted by the emperor, they were all extremely eager to achieve military exploits.
Under the leadership of Ma Xianglin, the dozen of them fought and charged fiercely in the chaotic formation. The rebels could not stop them at all, as if they were in an uninhabited land.
Yang Jun also discovered Ma Xianglin, who was like a god of death coming to the world. Although there were so many servants around him, he still couldn't calm down the fear in his heart.