Wang Yuan really didn't lie, there were indeed more than 10,000 troops in the south.

It's just that these armies are not in Xinqiaoyi.

Feng Zhen, the deputy commander-in-chief of Yansui, went straight to Hejian Mansion from Zhuozhou and headed towards Jingzhou, trying to outflank the back of the thief army for thousands of miles. Along the way, he encountered many scattered thieves, and also fought a victory outside Fucheng County, capturing and beheading 864 thieves.

Xuanfu guerrilla general Yin Yong's pursuit route was even more biased, and he led a thief army down from Baoding Mansion and captured and killed 130 anti-thieves in Zaoqiang County, Zhending Prefecture, four state capitals away from the main force of the thief army.

Only the deputy commander-in-chief Xu Tai kept staring at Liu Liu and Liu Qi, but in the northeast of Cangzhou, he bumped into a small division of the righteous army.

This group of anti-thieves had a complex composition, mainly Yang Hu's troops, which ran away when they broke through separately in the north. Halfway through, he recruited other anti-thief soldiers and horses, including the remnants of Sun Hu who were beheaded by Wang Yuan in Renqiu, and most of the six or seven hundred fleeing cavalry joined them.

Xu Tai fought with this group of thieves for several days, and he kept chasing and fighting, but he only captured more than 400 old thieves. The other old thief foot soldiers fled in the wilderness, and there were nearly a thousand anti-thief cavalry left, taking Xu Tai to circle north of Cangzhou, chasing for several days without even a single hair.

Xu Tai could only abandon it and go south to pursue the main force of the anti-thieves, but when he arrived in Cangzhou, Liu Liu and Liu Qi had already run away by boat.

"I'm mad at me!"

Xu Tai was incompetent and furious, feeling that he was being played by the thief as a fool.

Zhang Qi, the governor of Cangzhou, said: "Deputy Xuzhen, please go south quickly." At this moment, Wang Yushi led the strong troops of the three provinces to fight the thieves with more than 10,000 troops in Xinqiao! ”

"What three provinces are strong? What more than 10,000 troops? Xu Tai was confused.

Zhang Qi explained: "There are more than 10,000 officers and troops in Xinqiaoyi to intercept it, and Wang Yushi pursues it with soldiers and horses from Zhejiang and Guangdong. ”

The more Xu Tai listened, the more confused he became, could it be that the border troops of Xuanfu and Yansui had already completed the outflanking in Xinqiaoyi, so there were more than 10,000 troops in the south?

But it's not right, the left flank army only adds up to a few thousand people.

That is to join the Beijing camp, otherwise how can there be more than 10,000 troops? Yes, it must be!

But what the hell are the soldiers and horses in Zhejiang and Guangdong?

Xu Tai asked again and again, and finally figured out the situation, it turned out to be the local guard unit responsible for escorting weapons.

Wang Yuan with 200 elite cavalry can kill more than 10,000 thieves, and now there are more than 1,000 firearms, archers, and tens of thousands of friendly troops to cooperate, I am afraid that the thieves will be directly exterminated.

Can't this new champion steal the limelight, otherwise where will the face of the border army go?

Xu Tai directly drove his horse out of the city, took a boat to the camp, and ordered: "After a full meal, immediately set out." Abandon all baggage, the whole army hurried with dry rations, and be sure to catch up with the thieves before the new bridge post! ”

Yes, I met a merit-grabbing one.

In this regard, Wang Yuan wished to come a few more, and all of them came to Xinqiaoyi to grab credit.

……

Nie Zhen and Man Zheng joined the team in a daze, and until now, they didn't even know that Wang Yushi was the champion of the new department.

After only a few casual words, they were urged by Wang Yuan to hurry - mainly because they were afraid of revealing their stuffing, so they didn't dare to say anything, anyway, they flickered their march and didn't give the two of them room to calm down and think.

Halfway through, Man Zheng secretly asked Nie Zheng: "Where did these two hundred elite riders come from?" It looks so fierce. They were all very energetic, and they didn't take the anti-thieves seriously at all, and it seemed that everyone wanted to kill the enemy in a hurry to make meritorious contributions. ”

Nie Zhen said with a smile: "There are more than 10,000 friendly troops in front of you, who doesn't want to kill the enemy and make contributions?" Aren't we here to make contributions? ”

"That's right, but their armament is really good." Man Zheng looked at the cavalry with envy.

The two hundred horsemen each had two crossbows, and spears and sabers. Fortunately, the armor was not taken out, otherwise they would have scared Nie Zhen and Man Zheng enough to wear iron armor.

After rushing for half a day, the 1,000 guards couldn't hold it at first, and some people were constantly so tired that they fell behind.

Wang Yuan didn't kill people, but said to those guards with a smile: "You are all bitter soldiers haha, when will you come out." There is the main force of thieves in front, Liu Liu, Liu Qi, Qi Yanming, Yang Hu, and Zhao Qi are among them. According to the court's bounty, as long as you catch any of them, you can go straight from a small soldier to a hereditary family. This official guarantees in the name of his ancestors, as long as you can make meritorious service, no one can take the credit away. What's the point of being tired? If you go too slowly, the thief will be killed by the more than 10,000 troops of Xinqiao Station! ”

As soon as these words came out, morale was greatly boosted.

The guards no longer shouted tired, only complained that they didn't have wings, and they couldn't wait to fly to Xinqiao Station in an instant.

After walking for another half an hour, Nie Zheng suddenly said to Man Zheng: "Brother Man, why do I feel wrong?" ”

"What's wrong?" Man Zheng asked.

Nie Zhen frowned and said, "I don't know what's wrong, but I always feel that things are a little strange." ”

Man Zheng said with a smile: "This Wang Yushi, can you still deceive us?" ”

At this moment, suddenly a brocade-clothed guard sentry rode back: "The thief army is camped and does not move, and two thousand thieves have come back!" ”

"How's that good?" Man Zheng was shocked.

Wang Yuan was calm and said with a smile: "The baggage team formed a chariot formation, and the guards hid in the chariot formation to defend against the enemy. The cavalry is all armored, and they will be killed with me! ”

A moment later, Nie Xuan and Man Zheng were dumbfounded, looking at the iron armor and speechless.

During the Zhengde period, the guard system was not corrupted to the extreme, and the phenomenon of military generals raising their families was not common, mainly relying on registered soldiers to fight.

Iron armor is only worn by the elite of the border army, and the generals in other regions wear it to show their majesty.

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the four-hole wire drawing technology had been mastered, and chain mail could be produced on a large scale. Therefore, Wang Yuan's 200 cavalry, each with forty-five pounds of chain mail, had been wearing this thing in several previous battles.

At this moment, facing the initiative of the thief cavalry, two hundred elite horses rode outside the chain mail, and another layer of iron armor was approved, and the full set of armor weighed more than 100 catties!

In the past, he only wore chain mail to fight, in order to reduce the burden on the war horse, and also to give full play to the speed advantage. Now put on a full set of armor, and you're ready to fight hard.

Even the war horses are covered with a layer of chain mail!

Nie Xuan couldn't help but ask out loud: "Wang Yushi, are you commanding the cavalry of the border army?" ”

Wang Yuan laughed: "This is Your Majesty's Leopard House pro-army!" ”

Zhu Ying also laughed and said, "I am Zhu Ying, the imperial horse supervisor." ”

Wu Liande said: "I am Wu Liande in brocade clothes. ”

Nie Zhen and Man Zheng suddenly stopped talking, and they felt as if they were on a thief ship.

The two hundred heavily armed cavalry slowly walked to the side of the chariot formation, just waiting for the cavalry of the thieves to come and send them to death.

After another moment, the thief army came, with more than 1,800 horsemen.

……

Generally speaking, there are cavalry in the capital of the thieves. Especially at the beginning of the uprising, because of the countless war horses, some small groups of anti-thieves and even a full cavalry line-up to be precise, a horse bandit lineup.

But after wandering for several months, and suffering many defeats in the middle, the number of cavalry of the rebels became smaller and smaller, and the proportion of foot soldiers became larger and larger.

Up to now, the leaders of the thieves, you have commanded dozens of cavalry, and I have commanded hundreds of cavalry, all of whom regard the cavalry as personal guards, and rarely gather together for use alone.

Wang Yuan really deceived people too much, from Jinghai County to Cangzhou, he followed all the way.

The thieves tried to attack several times, but Wang Yuan fled with his cavalry. Too many troops were sent to catch up, and too few troops were eaten by Wang Yuan, and in the end he simply ignored the two hundred elite horsemen.

However, the thieves had already aroused ferocity during the attack on Cangzhou, and under the heavy losses, they were followed by Wang Yuan all the way. Now that they have lost their minds, they have gathered the remaining nearly 2,000 cavalry, and they will kill Wang Yuan at all costs.

Qi Yanming is the absolute cavalry commander among the anti-thieves, and there are three hundred cavalry directly under his command, which is equivalent to Liu Liu, Liu Qi, and Yang Hu combined.

"Brother Qi, look!" Jia Mian'er pointed in the direction of the two hundred elite horses.

"Shhh

Qi Yanming gasped, the moment he saw the full armor heavy ride, he immediately didn't want to fight anymore.

"Are you still going to kill it?" Song Lu asked.

"Kill a fart, I'm not stupid!" Qi Yan's fame was ruined, and he directly led more than 1,800 horsemen back to the camp.

Nie Zhen was originally nervous, but at this moment he turned his head and asked Man Zheng: "This is leaving?" ”

Man Zheng smiled: "Change me, I'll go too." ”

The thief army really didn't leave, but pulled out thousands of foot soldiers, trying to eat Wang Yuan's baggage team. Once the baggage team is lost, can the two hundred elite horsemen still chase after them with their own armor? They were really annoyed to death by Wang Yuan, and they were determined to be charged by heavy cavalry and suffer heavy casualties, and they also wanted to completely make Wang Yuan lose the ability to follow.

Nie Zhen and Man Zheng were all dumbfounded, they were here to paddle for work, but they were not here to fight a tough battle.

Wang Yuan said with a smile: "The two of you can choose to escape, and I will not file a complaint." But as a reminder, the other side has nearly 2,000 cavalry, so I ask you if you can run. Anyway, my heavy cavalry will not be stupid enough to chase the light cavalry, I will only lead people to attack the opponent's Chinese army. ”

"We don't run." Nie Zhen and Man Zheng smiled bitterly, and they had already greeted Wang Yuan's ancestors for the eighteen generations in their hearts.

Hundreds of people and 1,000 guards formed a car formation with their backs to the Grand Canal.

Yang Hu, Zhao Qi, Liu Hui and others led 4,000 foot soldiers to attack. Qi Yanming, Jia Mian'er and others commanded more than 1,800 cavalry raiders.

There were more than 1,000 thieves left, all of whom were on the boat with Liu Liu and Liu Qi, who were injured by arrows, as well as their families and grain and grass.

The situation of the anti-thieves is somewhat complicated, and those ships are all looted.

Yang Hu was afraid that Liu Liu and Liu Qi would take the boat with goods, grain and grass to slip away, so there were many Yang Hu's people on the boat, and there were many Liu Liu and Liu Qi's people on the shore. They are on guard against each other, and the more they lose, the greater the contradictions, and they are very restrained if they don't fight on their own.

"Kill!"

The first to attack was actually Liu Liu and Liu Qi.

Both of them had been wounded in Cangzhou, and at this moment they were sitting in the bow of the boat, driving the boat to charge the official and military vehicles on the shore.

Fortunately, the thieves did not have archers, and the only arrows they had were also exhausted outside Cangzhou City, otherwise the car formation would become very difficult to defend.

"Lao Tzu has poured blood mold for eight lifetimes before he can believe the words of the reader!" Nie Zhen was so depressed that he vomited blood, and said to Man Zheng, "Brother Man, your archers guard the riverside and the left flank, and my firecrackers guard the front. We must hold it and see if Wang Yushi can break through the thieves and the Chinese army. ”

Man Zheng wanted to cry without tears, and replied: "That's the only way, this place is not far from Xinqiaoyi, I hope that the more than 10,000 troops there can come quickly." ”