The two Han brothers stood at the front of the team, drawing their bows and firing arrows.
The two best mounted archers took a walking stance and fired precise arrows at the entrance of the village.
More than thirty steps apart, the two men opened their bows and fired arrows. Muffled groans and screams were heard from the entrance of the village, but then two more officers and soldiers with feather arrows on their bodies appeared and fired arrows reluctantly.
It is difficult to shoot accurately at night. Whether you can shoot someone over depends on luck. Sometimes, if you hit the armor and fail to knock down the person, there is really nothing you can do.
Dodo!
Facing the arrows fired by the officers and soldiers, the Han brothers did not dodge. Next to them were Liu Chengzong's servants and two Zhong brothers with fourth-class military honors. They held square shields and stood in front of them.
, guard the front tightly.
Liu Chengzong shook his head in the middle of the team and sighed. He had very good shooting skills, but he was still a little inferior to the Han brothers. He knew how difficult it was to shoot like this in the dark.
Two accurate and powerful archers can make the military formation even more powerful when attacking.
Four skilled servants advanced forward, and the four sentry men followed suit, and soon advanced to twenty steps.
"Pass, the outpost takes three steps and one arrow."
Liu Chengzong was holding a bow in his hand. From this distance, people could see the figures of the officers and soldiers in the village by the moonlight and firelight.
People walked twenty or thirty steps under the rain of arrows. Even though their cotton armor was good, several people were still hit by arrows. They were all angry and were just waiting for this order.
Almost at the same time that the order was conveyed, the outpost soldiers invariably drew their bows and fired arrows at the vague figure at the entrance of the village.
There are also some people, who are blocked behind human walls because of the narrow road, and have to shoot arrows even though they stand on tiptoe.
A row of arrows were shot out, and the officer who had several arrows stuck in his body was finally shot in the cheek and fell down screaming.
There was another person who had just been targeted by Han Shipan, but he glanced at his fallen comrade, turned around and ran away to the north.
At this point, no enemy dared to shoot arrows at them at the entrance to the east village.
The pace of the four pickers quickened, and the speed of the entire team also increased. They crossed the first narrow trench, and soon crossed the second, until they rushed into the village.
As soon as he entered the village, Zhong Hu, who was walking in front with a shield, stepped back and shouted: "Leopard, retreat!"
But it was already too late when the words came out. A series of bangs sounded almost simultaneously on both sides, and gunpowder smoke filled the entrance to the village.
It's a firecracker!
Zhong Hu, who was walking in the front, couldn't avoid it. Several lead pellets penetrated the long cards and hit him in an instant. He rolled on the ground with a groan.
Zhong Bao's situation was slightly better. He walked forward more slowly, and the lead shot passed by him and flew diagonally into the sky. His eyes were split when he saw this, and he hid behind the long card and shouted: "Brother!"
Liu Chengzong was even more furious. He was just two steps away from death and shouted loudly: "Two whistles on the left and right, fly up!"
There was a response from the array, and within a moment, there were two muffled bangs, and two small cylinders flew into the sky, falling in parabolas and hitting the village.
A moment later, a huge explosion was heard in the village, and people screamed and struggled.
Liu Chengzong said: "It is said that the rear sentry dragged the wounded soldiers, and the remaining three sentries entered the village to separate the ground positions!"
He thought to himself, in the hands of the officers and soldiers, these cannons would only fire twice once, but if they fell into his own hands, they would still have the same firing rate.
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
The third sentry marched forward, but before they rushed into the village, there was another bang. The cannon was not broken, but the gun line was a little longer. At this time, the officers and soldiers had escaped, and the explosion in the village was almost
No response.
Taking this opportunity, the subordinates of the three sentry posts rushed into the village, and the two sentry posts lined up facing north and south. They held bows and arrows to attack the attacking officers and soldiers, and separated the ranks of the officers and soldiers stationed in the village.
"Keep formation, don't mess up!"
Liu Chengzong stood at the entrance of the village. Wang Wenxiu on the rear post and Yang Yao on the front post formed three horizontal formations to seal the village. Gao Xian on the right post led his troops to guard him and left them as reserves.
Feng Lun's left sentry was dispersed into groups. In groups of four, they pulled the injured border soldiers out of the village and at the same time filled them with new people to maintain the front line.
Zhong Hu, who was shot, was dragged down. Liu Chengzong grabbed a torch and shone it on him. At a quick glance, he saw that there were three holes in the cotton armor, and the iron armband on his left arm was also dented.
Blood is oozing from his arm.
He hurriedly asked: "How is it?"
Zhong Hu was still conscious, his eyes were red from the pain, he took in a trembling breath, shook his head and said: "My body, my body is fine, my hands and arms slipped."
After hearing what he said, Liu Chengzong took a closer look at the cotton armor on his body and breathed a sigh of relief.
Several lead pellets broke the outer fabric of the cotton armor, but after penetrating the fabric layer, they could not go any further. They were all blocked by the iron armor. There was also a lining under the cotton armor, so there was no big problem.<
/p>
On the contrary, his left arm, which was holding a wooden shield, was hit by several muskets at close range. The impact force fell entirely on the arm, causing dislocation. Moreover, a projectile penetrated the wooden shield and hit the arm, causing the most serious injury. p>
But this was enough to make people happy. Liu Chengzong held his left hand and smiled: "Yanshuiguan saved you. Take me down quickly and reattach the arm... Hey, you are so lucky!"
If they hadn't obtained a large amount of officer armor from Yanshui Pass, and the supply sergeants were equipped with enough good armor pieces, Zhong Hu's life would have definitely been at stake in this single salvo.
The fighting in the village is still going on. Wang Wenxiu's troops have lined up to advance south. He used his five teams in batches.
The three teams stood firm, and the two teams of 20 people on the left and right, led by the captain, rushed to the two wings, quickly occupied the houses on both sides, climbed up to the roof ridges, stepped on the tiles, and shot at the enemy with strong bows.
In the north, Yang Yao's troops were directly divided into five teams and pushed forward in five columns. Those who encountered obstacles in the middle were killed on the spot. No matter which team ran into an officer who was difficult to deal with, they would delay for a while.
Wait for the teams on both sides to complete the outflanking, then join forces to attack together.
The four sentry soldiers cooperated very well. Two sentries were responsible for attacking, one sentry was preparing, and the other sentry was dragging the wounded soldiers to the rear.
Liu Chengzong really enjoyed the feeling of being the boss for once.
Arranging thousands of people in front and behind the Pao Mountain is not as good as dispatching these 500 people to make him feel comfortable.
In the darkened village, both the enemy and ourselves were in the dark. When they were within ten steps of the enemy, they fired their bows and muskets, and then clashed with each other.
No one has cannons, this is when his people have the greatest advantage.
Of course, even if there are small field artillery, his four posts will not suffer. If the officers and soldiers can bring artillery over, they can too.
They have never been short of small field artillery, but what they have always been short of is heavy field artillery exceeding 500 kilograms.
After a while, Gao Xian's soldiers came over and said: "General, the outpost Commander Yang sent a message that the generals are not in the north, so we can defeat them with one drum!"
If it's not in the north, then it's in the south.
"Go and tell Commander Yang that if you hold on a little longer, if the north is defeated, the south will definitely try to break out. Let Commander Wang prepare to pursue. Commander Gao will support the north and south at any time. Feng Yu and Wei Qian'er will lead the troops and follow me.
Go to the southern mountain road to set up defenses and intercept and attack the officers and soldiers along the way."
After saying that, Liu Chengzong raised his hand and said: "Send someone to find the monkey in the sky and ask him to find 400 mules for me to pull over."
The two generals received the order and each delivered the order.
At the same time, some border soldiers ran to the Sky Monkey to report the situation on the north and south sides, asking him to order his troops to take action.
Liu Chengzong led his people to move to the south of the village. The battle here was obviously more fierce. Many leaders of Shangtianhou occupied the fields, and the command regrouped again and again to launch attacks on the village.
The subordinates of Sky Monkey are much better at executing orders than they look.
But they were indeed far behind in terms of strength. They were unable to break through the army's defense line after repeated attacks, so that the so-called attack was just standing twenty or thirty steps away and firing arrows.
Originally, it was difficult to hit in the dark, but due to the lack of power of our own crossbows, and the armor protection of the officers and soldiers, even if they hit the officers and soldiers, it would be easy to injure them, but it would be difficult for them to quickly lose their combat effectiveness.
Once two or three people are hit by arrows, the entire team will retreat.
The soldiers' insufficient physical strength was consumed in moving forward and retreating.
Liu Chengzong organized his team outside the village and asked the Tang soldiers to stand where they were. The soldiers on the left sentry stepped forward and picked one person each, forming a group of two. They were then organized according to the left sentry, and a team of 40 people was combined to command, and the detachment set up an ambush in the south of the village.
In fact, the so-called ambush cannot be said to be subtle, nor does it need to be subtle.
In the wild areas outside the village, except for the bonfire set up by the officers and soldiers thirty steps from the village entrance and the torches held high by the monkey tribe, everything else was in darkness.
Forty or fifty steps away from the village entrance, there is only moonlight shining on the earth outside. You can't see anything if you go far away. Let alone scattering the attacks, you will be lucky if you don't hit one of your own heads.
Liu Chengzong said to Feng Rui and Wei Qian'er: "Sooner or later, the enemy troops will not be able to hold on any longer. They will disperse if they run out. Let your subordinates remember that if they disperse in pursuit, they can only be divided into two people. If they see anyone alone, kill them. The command...
...Grandpa is here, why not come down early."
Wei Qian'er had never been a soldier before, but now he had the advantage of the border army organization. Seeing that Liu Chengzong had the idea of dispersing his troops to invite attacks, he worried: "General, if we disperse, can we defeat the official army?"
"Good question!"
Liu Chengzong has always believed that as a leader, you can know nothing, but you must not know your own shortcomings.
He knew his people very well, so he smiled and said: "This is the opportunity I have always wanted to create. A chaotic fight on all sides is the most suitable for us. You think, the officers and soldiers are restrained and powerful, and we are also restrained and powerful. More than four hundred versus four hundred
More than a hundred, I understand whoever wins or loses, the loss will not be small."
Wei Qian'er nodded when he heard the words, and then heard Liu Chengzong continue: "If you can fight the uncontrolled with control, you will win, but in the dark night, it is too difficult to pursue the enemy. Only if you lose all control, can you barely create it?"
."
In fact, Liu Chengzong also wanted to create a situation where the officers and soldiers were no longer organized and his people were still in formation, but this was indeed too difficult. This was only possible by blocking both sides of the village.
But if the officers and soldiers are blocked in the village, even if there is a brief period of chaos, everyone will soon follow the generals, and it is inevitable that they will still enter a stage of desperate struggle.
"We have no control, and we are all frontier troops. How do we determine victory or defeat? Let's see who eats more dry food." When Liu Chengzong said this, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but curl up: "We eat more dry food."
The official army in the south of the village was attacked from both sides. The bandits who were charging into the village soon discovered that the enemy's strength to resist them had become stronger. Within a moment, a volley of muskets was fired from the entrance of the village, knocking down several people in an instant, and another group of bandit soldiers collapsed. At this time, the gun soldiers did not return. Instead, a man jumped out with his sword and shouted a challenge to the bandits under the surrounding bonfire: "Among you bandits, can any of you shoot me in the foot?" p>
Liu Chengzong knew very well that the pressure from the officers and soldiers in the north of the village was too great and they could no longer hold on, so he ran to the south to call for formation, in an attempt to overwhelm morale, frighten the rebels, and create favorable conditions for their assault.
He said to his left and right: "Let each team prepare, they will rush out soon."
At the same time, the two groups of thieves in front were really yelling and shooting arrows at the officers and soldiers.
The officers and soldiers were also very brave, so they stood still more than thirty steps away, with several gunmen behind them carrying three-eyed guns to protect them from a distance, and they measured the distance very accurately.
As long as the thieves cross the bonfire, they are at a distance where a three-eyed gun can kill someone.
However, outside the distance of the campfire, the thieves holding bows and arrows are far less accurate than the three-eyed gun.
Don't mention it, even if this official and military uniform was obtained, there really wasn't anyone who could shoot him in the foot.
Liu Chengzong felt itchy at the sight and said to Zhong Bao: "Do you dare to pick up your shield and protect me?"
Zhong Bao's brother had just been injured, but this guy was not afraid at all. He raised his long shield and said: "General, go ahead, why don't you dare!"
The two walked to the bandits behind the bonfire. The officers and soldiers in front were still shouting and taunting. Liu Chengzong took out an arrow, pinched his thumb and pulled the bow full, and shouted: "Watch!"
After being released, the officer was defenseless and still stood still. The arrow was driven into his leather boots thirty paces away, causing the man to scream out in pain.
But this cry of pain was directly suppressed by the cheers of the bandit team.
What Liu Chengzong didn't expect was that this officer was really a man, even though he was hit by an arrow in his foot.
He couldn't see who could shoot the arrow on the other side of the bonfire. He only knew that his mission was to destroy the morale of the thieves, so he simply endured the pain and cursed: "Which bastard shot Grandpa has the ability to hit me in the face!"
Good guy!
What a strange request!
He has never heard of such an exorbitant request.
He immediately took out another arrow, took two steps forward, pulled it full and let it go, and nailed the arrow to the man's nose. He screamed and covered his face and fell to the ground.
The thieves all around once again cheered more enthusiastically than before. Liu Chengzong looked at the bow and chuckled. Isn't it enough for him to have enough food and hands?
Although it boosted the morale of the rebel soldiers a little, Liu Chengzong did not take it lightly. He said to the leader of the Hundred Soldiers: "If you make people retreat, the officers and soldiers will use cannons."
He also retreated under the cover of Zhong Bao. He had just taken a few steps back when he saw two rows of single-eyed and three-eyed gunmen walking out. The ones in front were half-kneeling and the ones behind were standing. They held guns under their ribs and released two rows of guns.
Damn it, the entrance to the village was filled with smoke for a while.
At that moment, Zhong Bao's long shield was hit by at least seven or eight lead pellets, making a series of clanging sounds.
Fortunately, this time they were further away, and the officers and soldiers fired another shot with two or three loose bullets stuffed into the barrel, but the power failed to penetrate the shield.
After this, a row of officers and soldiers armed with eight-foot short spears rushed out from the smoke with shouts. Most of the officers and soldiers formed a formation and rushed out behind them.
The officers and soldiers are about to break out!
As Liu Chengzong retreated, he drew his bow and arrow and shot down a spearman. The Han brothers on the slope also came to meet him. The two of them walked quickly, with strong bows in their hands, and shot down three people in the blink of an eye.
The five groups of soldiers lying around also launched an attack on the officers and soldiers almost at the same time.