Chapter 61: Terrible, the combat effectiveness of a single soldier
April 18th.
The imperial army led by Sun Guangde is about to enter Xinghua County.
During the more than three hundred miles of march, they passed through several states and counties and dozens of villages and towns. The officers and soldiers of this army gradually discovered a pattern.
That is, the closer you get to Xinghua County, the more prosperous and wealthy the villages and towns along the way will be.
There are more and more houses with blue bricks and red tiles.
People's faces are getting more and more angry and glowing.
Road conditions have improved.
There are fewer homeless people and beggars.
The number of caravans increased.
The soldiers also became more excited. They were all discussing how prosperous Xujiazhuang would be, and even the marching speed was much faster.
However, we traveled to a place called Hawan Village.
As long as you cross the Ruting River, which flows from north to south, you will officially enter Xinghua County.
But on the flat land in front of the river, a gray-green straight line appeared, heading this way neatly, and the almost identical footsteps became louder and clearer.
"Enemy troops, there are enemy troops!"
Ye Busuo, who went out to investigate, immediately returned and reported the military situation that the enemy was blocking the situation.
Sun Guangde, who was riding on a war horse, changed his expression. He saw that the strange army arrayed two or three miles ahead was coming towards them!
Judging from their weird costumes, straight queues, gleaming helmets, and stick-like firearms in their hands.
"The Xu family's servants, they should be the Xu family's servants!" Lieutenant General Lai Yongsheng said from the side.
"I wanted to go to Xujiazhuang to destroy them, but I didn't expect them to dare to leave the fort and fight in the field."
Sun Guangde's face was a little ugly, because this was completely beyond his expectation. Xujiazhuang seemed to know the movements of the imperial army in advance, and was waiting for work, lining up his troops and waiting on the road he must pass. This suddenly gave him a layer of confidence that he would win.
shadow.
"General, what should we do?" asked another General Manager Qian.
"I saw that the enemy troops on the opposite side were arranged in two lines, about a hundred feet long, and there were only about 800 people. We have 5,000 elite soldiers, which is at least four times their strength. We can annihilate them in one go.
Then go straight to Xujiazhuang!" Deputy General Lai Yongsheng said.
"Three thousand versus eight hundred, the advantage is mine."
Sun Guangde thought for a while and said: "Give me the order! The entire team will be deployed and the entire army will attack to eliminate this enemy army. Since they choose to fight in the field, they will save a lot of trouble and annihilate these enemy troops on the spot!"
The battle order was passed on.
The elites of the imperial court were elites after all. It only took less than half a quarter of an hour to change from a marching state to a combat state. A total of 3,500 elites were arranged in 4 rows by 50 people, forming fifteen thick square formations.
The soldiers all had sarcastic and cruel expressions on their faces, ready to crush the thin military formation in front of them into powder.
Even if they cannot win the battle for the time being, there are still more than 200 cavalry and more than ten artillery pieces behind their military formation. These are all forces that can play a decisive role when the battlefield reaches a stalemate.
The opponents only had about 800 people, so they were seriously at a numerical disadvantage.
If they win, they will definitely win!
So the two armies moved toward each other and began to get closer and closer.
Thousands of meters.
Eight hundred meters.
Five hundred meters.
Get within range.
"Stop advancing, listen to my orders, and concentrate fire." Shi Yong gave the order to prepare for the attack.
"Front row half squat!"
"Load, aim, fire!"
"Bang bang bang bang!" A voice sounded like exploding beans.
Streams of white smoke rose.
More than 800 pointed projectiles headed straight for the opposite military formation at a speed close to the speed of sound.
Puff puff puff puff puff!
This is a projectile that burrows into the human body.
"ah!"
"ah!!"
"I've been shot!"
Screams and ghostly howls rang out. In this round of shooting, at least fifty people fell to the ground bleeding, and the killing effect was average.
But it was enough to cause panic within the imperial army, after all, the enemy was still a hundred feet away.
"Speed up and rush. Their fire guns can only fire three rounds at most. As long as you rush close, you can kill them all!" the experienced officer began.
"Come on!"
"Fire guns are not scary. If you rush over, you will win!"
Nearly three thousand people began to quicken their pace. Even if the formation was scattered, they still had to eliminate the distance between them and be beaten passively.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
"Bang bang bang bang!"
"Bang bang bang bang!"
"Bang bang bang bang!"
"Bang bang bang bang!"
But in just one minute, the gunman on the opposite side actually concentrated fire and fired five rounds in a row!
They took away the lives of more than a hundred, two hundred, two hundred, three hundred, and nearly four hundred people. In total, more than 1,200 people fell to the ground bleeding, or even died on the spot.
The imperial military formation, which was originally very thick and provided a sense of security, suddenly became sparse, and screams and wails could not be heard.
And if you want to rush to the other side, there is still a death chasm of nearly a hundred steps to pass.
And based on the firing frequency of the opponent's fire cannon, at least two rounds can still be fired, and the closer the distance, the higher the hit rate. Even a concentrated fire can take away the lives of 500 people.
"escape!"
"Run quickly!"
"Their firecrackers are weird. They are not normal firecrackers at all."
"With the speed of shooting, even if we get close, we will all be dead!"
"Run, we are no match for them!"
collapsed.
The huge casualties were like harvesting wheat, so the remaining elite soldiers of the guard station turned around and ran away. In order to speed up, they even dropped their weapons and took off their armor, just to escape.
Shi Yong issued an order to shoot freely and pursue the enemy. This army must be wiped out!
…
Behind the battlefield.
Seeing the scene of collapse and fleeing, Sun Guangde, who had been observing the battlefield, was stunned and could not even come to his senses. What happened? It had only been a long time since the battle, but his army was defeated and was defeated by more than 800 people.
?
How is this possible?
"General Sun, our army has been defeated. The enemy's muskets are weird. We are no match. Moreover, they are chasing us. If we don't leave, it will be too late!" Lieutenant General Lai Yongsheng ran over and said.
"This...is this a defeat?" Sun Guangde was still in disbelief.
"Ah!" There was a scream, and President Qian next to him was suddenly shot and fell down, with a big hole in his neck.
"Let's go, let's go now!" Lieutenant General Lai Yongsheng urged again, riding away while riding.
"Let's go." Sun Guangde had no choice but to turn the horse's head and whip it hard with the riding crop. At this moment, he couldn't think too much. He could only save his life.
Can they just run away if they want to?
On Xujiazhuang's side, there were 500 reserve troops. They were divided into two teams and crossed the river early to ambush on both sides of the main army. One team was led by Sun Lin and the other was led by Ouyang Xing. Seeing the defeat of the imperial army,
They all mounted their bicycles to pursue them, and at a speed no slower than a war horse, they cut off the retreat of the imperial army and shouted the slogan "surrender without killing."
"Failed, defeated, I have become a sinner of the court!"
Sun Guangde galloped all the way until his horse was exhausted, but was still being pursued by his pursuers. Sun Guangde quickly pulled out his sword and was about to kiss himself with the sword.
"Uncle, wait a minute!"
At this time, Sun Lin came over on a bicycle, shouted, took off his helmet, showed his face and said to him: "Xujiazhuang has no objection, why should my uncle work for the greedy salt merchant?"
"Sun Lin?"
Sun Guangde, who looked embarrassed, recognized this nephew at a glance, and immediately loosened the sword in his hand.
…
The other side.
Seven or eight miles southwest of Harbor City.
Another battle without any suspense has also come to an end.
An army of nearly 10,000 salt merchants were scrambling to escape for their lives. They only regretted that their parents had lost two legs. No one dared to join the battle head on, and they collapsed much faster than the imperial army.
Because the people in Harbor City are so shameless.
They actually drove out a 300-car tractor with blades tied to the edges of the wheels. There were one or two farm guards holding breech-loading guns sitting in the cockpit, and there were more than a dozen people holding long guns in the loading compartment.
, the young and strong man with steel pipes, steel shovels and other weapons, then rushed toward the salt merchant army at a speed of more than ten kilometers per hour, spitting out black smoke!
An armored charge launched by three hundred steel monsters.
Have any of the salt patrol soldiers, salt owl thugs, strong men, pirates and the like in the salt merchants' army ever seen such a scene?
Not to mention that behind the armored cluster of 300 tractors, there were more than 10,000 young men with polished and shiny steel shovels and picks in their hands, responsible for cleaning up the mess and cleaning up the fish that slipped through the net.
As a result, this battle did not even involve a head-on confrontation between the two armies. The salt merchant army turned around and fled, being chased by tractors for dozens of miles, causing countless casualties.
…
On the road to escape westward.
Hearing the rumbling sound behind them getting smaller and smaller, Liu Papi and his men realized that they were safe and had escaped. Their lives were saved.
They all lay on the ground panting, their calves and stomachs cramping violently. They had never been so tired in their lives.
Take a good rest.
Only one of his men said: "Boss Liu, if we hadn't walked farther back this time, we wouldn't have been able to escape the pursuit of Harbor City. Those who walked in front were all dead."
"Yeah, I don't know how many people have been crushed to death by that kind of monster."
"I don't want to go against Xujiazhuang anymore. Just admit it, we are no match at all!"
"That's right, even if ten lives are not enough for those who oppose Xujiazhuang, we have no chance of winning."
"Boss Liu, I don't want to work with you anymore. I want to change my job and go work in Xujiazhuang." A younger brother openly rebelled.
Hear these little brother's words about the rest of his life.
In the past, Liu Bapi would definitely be whipped with a whip, but this time he remained silent and did not explode in anger, because the facts were right in front of him.
Smoke monster rival.
The wisest thing to do is not to go against Xujiazhuang. No matter how much the interests are harmed, you must choose to swallow your anger and never confront it with force.
However, after lying down and resting for a while, most of my physical and mobility abilities were restored.
But the more Liu Bapi thought about it, the more unwilling he became, and the more angry he became.
If he doesn't do the right thing with Xujiazhuang and stops collecting and selling salt, what will he eat, drink and use?
With one wife, five concubines, and seven or eight children, how can you feed them?
It is impossible for him to go to work, nor to do that. Is there any industry that specializes in bullying the poor and weak people that is suitable for him to perform? Will thugs in other industries be willing to give up their livelihood to him instead of
Are you going to fight him to the death?
It's too difficult.
If he had to leave the business of collecting and selling salt, what would he do for a living in the future?
Not willing to give in, there is only endless unwillingness.
suddenly.
Amidst the clattering sound, a bicycle came this way from a distance along the official road.
"Boss Liu, it's Xujiazhuang's servants who are catching up. Let's run!" Seeing the gray-green clothes and iconic helmet of the man on the bicycle, one of his men changed his face and started to run away.
"We ran separately. Only one of us caught up. It's impossible to catch up with so many of us." Another boy said.
"You can't run away. Let's kill this servant of the Xu family!"
Liu Bapi thought for a while and roughly counted the number of men around him, and said: "There are more than thirty of us, and there is only one servant in Xujiazhuang. If we kill him, his head will be taken to Yangzhou to receive the reward, and the reward will be a thousand taels of silver."
Indispensable, there is also the bicycle he rides and the weird armor on his body. They are all valuable things, worth tens of thousands of taels. As long as I become him! I will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of my life!"
Hearing Liu Bapi's instigation and looking at their own numerical superiority, all the men were immediately moved. After all, there was only one member of the Xu family. They would swarm up later. How could they lose?
As long as they succeed in this act and return to their hometown in seclusion, no matter how powerful Xujiazhuang is, it will be impossible to find them.
"Boss Liu, I'm going to fuck you!"
"We have become the servants of the Xu family! Let's stop doing good deeds."
"Come here, come here. When he saw us, he didn't run away. He even stopped the car. Let's kill him together!"
All the younger brothers are planning to do this. There are more than thirty of them, so the advantage here is too great.
…
Zhang Fugui, a member of the village guard team, naturally noticed the group of defeated soldiers on the roadside. He rode his bicycle back to Xujiazhuang this time to report in detail the good news that the Haigang City defenders had defeated the salt merchant army. He had fast legs and feet and could ride a bicycle.
Soon, the task of delivering the news was handed over to him, but he didn't expect to encounter a rout of troops halfway.
What made him even more unhappy was that when these dozens of defeated soldiers saw him, they not only did not run away, but instead gathered together and put up a posture of resistance, completely ignoring him.
He immediately got out of the car, parked the car aside, pulled out the alloy dagger from his waist (he did not bring the breech-loading gun to avoid it being lost), leaned down slightly, and accumulated strength, so that he could explode at any time.
"Come on!" Liu Bapi also gave the order, asking his men to attack in groups.
However, the battle that followed was beyond everyone's expectations.
"Ouch!"
Zhang Fugui took the lead in launching the attack. According to the essence of Mad Dog Knife Technique, he roared, snatched the person first, and then slit the alloy dagger across the person's throat.
Blood spurted out wildly, and the defeated soldier fell down clutching his throat.
"Ho! Roar!"
He rolled to the ground again, avoiding the attacks of many people. Amidst the roars, he plunged the dagger into the thigh artery of two people.
Then he stabbed the heart, eye sockets, kidneys and other vital parts with great speed and cruelty. He also made all kinds of weird screams and roars without any rules.
After a while, more than a dozen corpses were lying on the ground, and Liu Papi lost one-third of his men.
"ah!!"
"Monster, this is also a monster!"
"Run, we are no match for him!"
"The most capable Scar King is dead, Zheng Lai was killed with his first move, and little Guan Gong also fell. This is a top master!"
Under Zhang Fugui's crazy attack with a dagger, the group of defeated soldiers collapsed completely. Liu Bapi, including Liu Bapi, was frightened and turned around to run away. However, Zhang Fugui caught up with him in two steps and stabbed his knife into the heart from behind. The light in his eyes quickly dissipated.
, the life of sin ends here.
When Zhang Fugui got on his bicycle and continued towards Xujiazhuang, more than 20 corpses were lying scattered on this road. Only a few people escaped, but their morale basically collapsed. In the future, whenever he heard about these three people from Xujiazhuang,