As the minutes ticked by, all the soldiers of the Suzaku Army were ready, their weapons clenched and ready to fight.

And He Changqing still didn't know it at this time, he had a preconceived idea that the people occupying the four counties were just some small thieves, and those thieves would only defend the city and not dare to fight with the officers and soldiers in the field. Even if there was no news from the scout, he never thought that the thieves would take the initiative to seek a decisive battle between the officers and soldiers.

But slowly, He Changqing's mood became more and more irritable, and there was a vague feeling of uneasiness in his heart, as if he had a premonition that something was going to happen.

As this uneasy feeling grew stronger, he quickly ordered the army to stop.

"All stopped!"

"What do you command, my lord!"

At this time, one of He Changqing's henchmen immediately rode over and asked.

He Changqing immediately ordered: "You immediately send someone to investigate the surroundings and see if there is anything strange around!" ”

"No!"

"Drive!"

When the henchman received the order, he immediately brought someone to investigate, but it was too late.

"Big brother, it's time."

With Xu Tianhua's report, Li Yun suddenly opened his eyes, "Fire immediately!" ”

"Attention guns! Four Rapid Shots! ”

"Fire!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

During the previous siege, because it was a small county town, the Suzaku Army did not use artillery. This time, the Ruzhou patrol battalion, which was rashly advanced by the enemy, became the best artillery target.

So under the order of the artillery commander, the artillery battalion, which had been prepared early, let out an earth-shattering roar, and in an instant, dozens of flowering shells flew towards the enemy.

And after hearing the earth-shattering cannon, He Changqing's face turned pale for a while, but before he could react, a cannonball exploded not far from him.

"Boom......!"

After the shell landed, the picric acid filled in it released an astonishing amount of energy, and the shrapnel and flames scattered everywhere caused astonishing damage to the soldiers of the patrol battalion.

He Changqing was lucky and was not affected by the scattered shrapnel, but the strong wave of qi after the explosion still knocked him far to the ground!

"Boom......!"

"Boom......!"

"Boom......!"

With a sound of explosions, the entire patrol battalion was blown up, how could they have experienced such a fierce artillery attack. For a while, the soldiers could not find the generals, and the soldiers could not be found, and everyone fled in a mess.

"Ah...... Ha...... Ha ......"

After a while, He Changqing came to his senses, and he struggled to stand up, but his mind was full of buzzing, and his eyes were full of soaring fire and dead and wounded soldiers.

At the same time, as far as the ears can see, there are also the roars and explosions of wounded soldiers!

"Don't mess around, everyone! Don't mess around! ”

After he came to his senses, He Changqing immediately shouted, but in that chaotic situation, no one listened to him at all.

In the distance, Li Yun observed the battlefield with a telescope, and couldn't help but say with satisfaction: "Well, the artillery hit well, and the enemy was disrupted in one fell swoop!" ”

"Yes, yes!"

Xu Tianhua looked at the battlefield and couldn't help but be a little dumbfounded.

It was not that he had never seen the scene of an artillery salvo, but it was the first time he had seen such a tragic and bloody scene of an army under the blow of artillery.

In the ambush position of the third regiment, Hou San looked at the scene of the patrol battalion being shelled, and couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, "My good man!" This cannon is too ruthless, I don't think we need to play like this! ”

"yes, thankfully these cannons are ours." The deputy of the group waiting for the third was also full of surprise.

In fact, not only Hou San, but also Zhao Xin, Xie Fengchun, Wang Dahe, Yan Chongwen and others all looked like this.

Although the artillery equipped by the Suzaku Army was a front-loading smoothbore gun, its rate of fire was generally low. However, the Suzaku Army was also equipped with a large number of rocket artillery, and although this primitive rocket artillery had all kinds of shortcomings, it was extremely terrifying to burst out of fire at that moment.

Therefore, under the full output of the artillery battalion, a huge amount of firepower was exported to the enemy in the first round, and the enemy was stunned at the first time.

But after a fierce output, the firepower of the artillery battalion gradually thinned out. Because the artillery needs to dissipate heat for a long time, it also takes a certain amount of time to reload the rocket artillery.

But Li Yun would not give the enemy any respite, and as the shelling ended, three signal flares, two red and one green, rose into the sky.

"Whoosh......!"

"Smack!"

"Kill ......!"

"Kill ......!"

With three flares rising into the air, the Suzaku Army, which had already held back its strength, immediately rushed out.

And the patrol battalion has already suffered heavy casualties under the previous shelling. The most important thing is that the formation was all disrupted, and it was impossible to organize effective resistance at all. Therefore, under the impact of the Suzaku Army, it quickly collapsed and surrendered.

Although there were also some martial arts masters during this period, who intended to resist because of their strong martial arts, they had to hate the spot under the random guns of the Suzaku Army. Especially after several martial arts masters were shattered by the Suzaku Army with super heavy rifles, no one dared to resist anymore.

In fact, after the flare was raised, Li Yun knew that the result of the battle had been locked.

Because the army in the feudal era fought in extremely heavy formations, without which they could not exert much combat effectiveness. Therefore, even if there are some martial arts masters who fight back with all their strength during the battle, in the battle of thousands of troops, the strength of the individual cannot play a decisive role.

Therefore, although the martial arts masters of the patrol battalion caused some casualties to the Suzaku Army, they could not change the outcome of the battle after all.

"Big brother is so happy, we have won a big victory this time!" After the battle, Xu Tianhua said excitedly.

And Li Yun smiled and put on a nonchalant look, "Don't be so excited, where is this!" It's not too late to be happy when you take Ruzhou City! ”

"Yes, it's because I'm shallow." When Li Yun said this, Xu Tianhua was a little embarrassed.

In fact, Li Yun was just pretending to be a gesture, in fact, he didn't want to mention how excited he was. It's just that as a leader, you have to be moody and invisible.

Then Li Yun ordered: "Okay, leave a brigade to guard the prisoners and clean up the battlefield, and the rest of the troops will immediately go straight to Ruzhou!" ”

"No!"

Therefore, under Li Yun's order, the Suzaku army quickly assembled and immediately marched towards Ruzhou.

"Urgent! Urgent! The thieves are about to close the city gates! ”

"The thief is coming! Close the gates! ”

Just as the Suzaku army was in pursuit of victory, a cavalry of the patrol battalion dragged its scarred body and rushed into Ruzhou City on horseback, shouting as they rushed.

Although the cavalryman shouted the alarm hoarsely, everyone along the way did not react, but talked curiously.

It wasn't until a group of cavalry appeared murderously outside the city that the soldiers guarding the city gate reacted.

"Not good! Close the gates! Raise the suspension bridge! Fast! Fast! ”

After seeing the cavalry, the team guarding the door couldn't help but feel dying, and immediately urged his men loudly.

"Ah......h Come on! ”

"Don't squeeze!"

"Get out of the way, let me in!"

At the same time, the people who were entering and leaving the city gate also panicked in an instant, and those who went in and out were in a mess, and the city gate was blocked for a while.

"Damn it! No matter! Close the gates now! Don't worry about the people outside! ”

Seeing that the cavalry was getting closer and closer, the city gate was blocked and could not be closed for a long time. The gatekeepers were immediately shouting, ordering their men to close the gate and ignore the people outside the gate.

"Don't close the door! Let's get inside! ”

"Please! Don't close the door! ”

Seeing the soldiers guarding the city forcibly closing the gate, the people outside the city gate suddenly became anxious and couldn't help but cry out in panic.

Although the people did not know what was happening, and they did not know who the galloping cavalry was, no one wanted to be involved in this sudden war.

But their cries were in vain, and the gates were finally closed with the efforts of the soldiers. And the soldiers also pulled up the drawbridge, and many people fell into the moat.

So just outside the city gates, under the horrified gaze of the people, the cavalry rushed to a stone's throw from the city wall, and stopped.

Although the main force of the Ruzhou patrol battalion has been completely annihilated, Ruzhou is a city after all, and no matter how weak the defensive force is, it cannot be attacked by just two hundred vanguard cavalry.

When the government heard that He Changqing's entire army was annihilated, Xue Changgui was shocked that the teacup in his hand fell and he didn't know it.

I saw that he asked in disbelief: "What did you say!" Say it again! ”

"Lord He has been ambushed by the thieves and has been wiped out, my lord!" Then the cavalry who reported the news said it again.

"It's over!"

And Xue Changgui's face couldn't help but turn pale when he heard it, and at the same time, he couldn't help but think in his heart. Because after He Changqing's entire army was annihilated, Ruzhou was almost an empty city.

"My lord! Oh no! The cavalry of the anti-thieves has arrived outside the city! At this moment, the officers and soldiers defending the city came with another piece of bad news.

Xue Changgui immediately panicked when he heard this: "Quick! Close the gates now! Let everyone go up to the walls and defend the city! ”

"No!"

Although he was a little panicked, Xue Changgui was the prefect of a prefecture after all, and he soon calmed down, and then immediately dispatched troops to prepare to defend the city.

At the same time, the city was in a panic, first the officers and soldiers suddenly closed the city gates, and then the news of the annihilation of the patrol battalion and the arrival of the anti-thieves in the city, so everyone in the city could not help but panic.

In the Ning family's mansion in the east of the city, the head of the family, Ning Zhiyuan, was waiting for the news of the family's inquiry.

In fact, about the news that Changping County was occupied by anti-thieves, he more or less heard some rumors. Because the power of these big families is intertwined in the local area, they are sometimes better informed than the government.

However, these big families, like Xue Changgui, have never taken those anti-thieves in their eyes, and they all think that those anti-thieves are just a rabble. Maybe taking advantage of the laxity of the government to occupy a few county seats, but when the imperial army is dispatched, it will collapse.

But when the thieves really came to the city, they became afraid.