At about 8 o'clock in the morning, we finally met Huang Stone.

Huang Stone's name was heard when I was in college. At that time, this legendary general, who had emerged in the Battle of Guangning since the early years of the Apocalypse, led hundreds of horsemen and Kong Youde to cross the Houjin occupation area south to Lushun, and scored a three-digit battle loss ratio in the Jinzhou ambush. By the time Huang Sitong infiltrated Liaoyang, killed Nurhachi at the negotiating table, and successfully escaped, his name became a living myth (Note 1).

The place where they first met was on the battlefield where the Jiannu infantry was annihilated. On the pale yellow sands by the river an hour ago, the corpses lay lying on the ground. Blood flowed freely on the ground, and was swallowed by the sand, leaving a dark red trail.

Huang Stone was in a very poor state at this time, or rather, the state of the soldiers of the Rock Battalion of more than 200 people was not very good.

"We only drank half a liter of water for more than a day." He grinned on chapped lips and said in a hoarse voice, "It's still a little water dropped from a hot air balloon in the early hours of this morning." As for the food, it was not at all. ”

"I, Huang, I'm sorry for the more than 200 brothers who died in battle, and I'm sorry for the soldiers who believe in me!"

Looking at his blood-red eyes, I didn't know what to say, so I could only pat him on the shoulder to express comfort. The banner of Jiannu had been erected at the Liushakou camp in the east, and the bright yellow Daxu fluttered above the ruined camp, indicating that the Houjin army had finally taken the fortress. More than ten minutes ago, an explosion was heard from the mouth of the quicksand, and the pitch-black smoke rose more than ten meters high, which was the seriously wounded who had to give up and detonated the explosives, and the Jiannu who rushed into the camp died together.

All the people saluted towards the quicksand. They included the Dengzhou Dragoons who routed the ranks of the Jiannu infantry, the Changsheng Island cavalry battalion that roamed the battlefield, and the Rock Battalion warriors who fought for more than 30 hours to turn a weak camp into an impregnable fortress. In the face of such a heroic, resolute and heroic action, it is impossible for even the dullest and most ignorant to be shaken by the soul.

More than a hundred captives sat on the ground, looking at us with wincing eyes. Some of them are Zhenyi, while others are dressed under the white flag (Note 1). When the Jiannu always collapsed, the Jiannu and the Baoyi did not surrender at the first time, but fled with the large army. It wasn't until the commander of them was cut down by a certain cavalry that the exhausted Houjin soldiers lost their spiritual sustenance and collapsed to the ground, where they were braided and tied up one by one by the infantry who followed.

Now the sky has already dawned, and it is a good sunny day. The number of our troops who joined the Panshi battalion reached nearly 1,000 men, plus more than 100 prisoners, the number of people really reached the standard of conducting a campaign. The Houjin Army, which had been maneuvering since dawn, had moved to our north and west. Together with the occupied camp of the Quicksand Mouth, we are already surrounded on the bank with our backs to the Sand River.

More than 1,000 years ago, Han Shin would choose to fight against the odds, taking advantage of the desperate situation where there was no way out to inspire the fighting spirit of the soldiers. In the early summer of 1629, our army did not have any sense of crisis in a desperate situation.

Without foreign aid, it would not be easy for us to break out of the encirclement with just one thousand of us. Although we had been in a great position in the previous battles, the energy and physical strength of the soldiers and horses could not be replenished quickly. With more than 200 tired Rock Battalion soldiers and more than 100 prisoners, the current state is really not suitable for further fighting.

Of course, since I can still write my memoirs, our army will naturally get out of danger safely.

There was a sudden loud noise in the southwest, and Jiannu, who had gone around to the west, also let out a panicked cry. All subconsciously stood up and craned their necks to look to the west. There, four or five gunboats were coming out of the corner of the river and coming into view.

These warships, which had sailed from Lushun overnight, arrived at Changsheng Island at dawn, rested for a while, and then continued their departure, arriving at the battlefield of Liushakou. Shallow gunboats, which were specially designed for asymmetrical combat shooting, showed their skills on the calm Sand River, and the gunboats, with four 3-pounder guns on each side and a 12-pounder cannon at the bow and tail, formed a line and sailed across the Sand River at a constant speed, and by the way, they went all out to bring death to the Jiannu by the river.

Through the telescope, we can clearly see the tragic situation of Houjin. The most powerful defensive measure was only to hide behind the shield cart, relying on bird guns, carrying guns, three-eyed guns, and a few lightweight Hongyi cannons to fight back, and the Houjin soldiers were pressed to the shore and rubbed against the gunboat formation, which was protected by steel plates and fired twice a minute, just like a child trying to challenge a strong man with a height of 1.8 meters and a weight of 18, who was pressed to the shore and rubbed, without the power to fight back.

One by one, the shield carts were smashed to pieces by the speeding iron balls, and the Jiannu in the rear were pierced into hedgehogs by the flying wood chips; A barrage of shrapnel blankets the land on the north shore, erasing layer after layer of the Houjin team. It only took less than three minutes for the Houjin army, which had been eyeing us, to collapse in a frenzied hell of firepower. The chaotic crowd screamed and dropped their weapons, pushed and bumped into each other, and then got up in disarray and continued to run until they were completely out of range of the artillery.

The gunboats finally stopped at the river, close to us, and the first gunboat jumped a dozen men and waded ashore.

At the forefront was Zhang Yu, the battalion commander of the Panshi Battalion. As soon as he came ashore, he rushed to his knees, and shouted hoarsely: "General! ”

Huang Stone pursed his mouth, his bloodshot eyes suddenly became hot, and tears flowed down the corners of his eyes. He barely suppressed his expression, subconsciously turned his face sideways, and looked at the sky in the upper left: "Haha, Zhang Yu..." The iron-clad tough guy couldn't hold back any longer, and he hung his head and let the tears flow freely.

"I'm sorry for my dead brothers."

I stood next to Huang Stone, and my heart was not good. Zhang Yu originally came with Huang Sitong to attack the mouth of the quicksand, but because he stayed behind on the transport ship, the fishing boat put down by Jiannu tore off the cable, and was swept all the way to the mouth of the sea along the turbulent river, and only returned to Changsheng Island in the early hours of this morning, and came here with the support fleet.

Behind Zhang Yu were Lieutenant Liu Shuisheng of the gunboat detachment, as well as several internal guards wearing white epaulettes. I looked at them in amazement, and the leading internal guard, a captain, saluted me and said to Huang Sitong: "Comrade Huang Sitong, on the orders of Governor Zhu Mingxia, please get on board at once and evacuate here with us." ”

Huang Sitong looked at the captain of the internal guard with red eyes, and only after a while did he grin, and said slowly: "Please tell Governor Zhu that Huang has no face to leave two hundred brothers who came with me, and he has no face to get on the boat and run away alone." ”

"Lieutenant Colonel Huang, this is not..."

Huang Stone interrupted the captain of the internal guard with a wave of his hand. He turned his head and said, "Thank you Governor Zhu for your kindness, Huang is not a person who doesn't know what to do." But, please go back, I won't leave. If you really want me to go back, you might as well leave some weapons and come down, and I have a better chance of going back alive. ”

The captain of the internal guard looked at Huang Stone and saluted with the other internal guards: "The Governor has an order, if Lieutenant Colonel Huang insists on staying, we will protect your safety closely." ”

"A detachment of the Senate Guard, report to you! Please instruct! ”

Stone Huang and I looked at each other. He tentatively spoke: "There are many wounded in Lieutenant Colonel Li's troops, and there are also many soldiers in the Rock Battalion who are very tired, please let them leave by boat first." ”

Liu Shuisheng, who had been playing soy sauce next to him, nodded and agreed: "This is what we were going to do." ”

More than thirty wounded men who had been broken in the cavalry clash were carried onto the gunboats by small sampans, and an equal number of wounded soldiers of the Rock Battalion were ordered to evacuate with the fleet. In order to make enough space, Liu Shuisheng led people to dismantle several 3-pounder guns, ignited them and threw them into the water to destroy them, so that the wounded had a place to lie down. By the time everyone had boarded the ship, the gunboats, which had been somewhat empty before, were already showing signs of overloading.

Along the Sand River to the west, gunboats can provide us with more than a kilometer of artillery fire cover. Once the troops had passed a shoal, the gunboat disappeared from view.

More than 1,000 troops moved in battle formation, the cavalry in better condition roamed the perimeter of the large army in the form of rangers, the infantry stood on the periphery with loaded bullets and bright bayonets, while the rest of the cavalry dismounted and led their mounts in the middle of the ranks. Of the more than 100 people captured, more than 20 of them were released. They were cut off the thumbs of both hands, cut off the braids and rushed back. These captives, incapacitated to work, will bring the fear of our army back to Houjin.

The remaining Han Chinese were tied together by ten or ten and dragged away by the lightly wounded. Out of an abundance of caution, we can't put our trust in them just yet.

The Great Retreat began. Surrounded by thousands of Houjin cavalry, we will walk about six kilometers overland and return to the vicinity of Yangguan Fort.