"What the hell"

The fierce firepower of the Long Xiang Brigade stunned the three thousand men and horses under Li Dingguo at once.

In addition, it was dark in front of them, only rows of fires lit up, and as the second round of grenades was thrown, a group of thieves began to flee and retreat.

The Long Xiang Brigade has long been familiar with the tactics of firearms, and for this era, muskets are not the most powerful weapons.

On the battlefield, it is artillery and grenades that really play a decisive role.

One for long-range strikes, and one for breaking through defenses at close range or disrupting enemy formations.

Especially when the Longxiang Brigade was queuing up to be shot, hundreds of grenades were thrown at a time, and that scene was enough to scatter the soul of any elite soldier.

For this reason, Liu Ximing has long issued an order to the Ordnance Bureau to intensify the development of new grenades.

At present, the Liu family is still using the method of igniting the fire rope to detonate the bomb, which is useless if it rains heavily.

As a result, he was in dire need of a grenade that could be ignited with an internal fire.

However, this also involved the issue of fire to the end, and considering that muskets and artillery guns should also be used for rear-loading fire, Liu Ximing simply explained to the Ordnance Bureau some of the principles he knew.

As for whether he can do it, he can only resign himself to fate.

After more than two years of indoctrination, a group of craftsmen who understand discipline and have strong hands-on ability have been initially cultivated in the workshop.

But there are not many people who really know how to think, and Liu Ximing can only do it in vain.

Having said that, seeing the attacking Li Dingguo's troops retreating, Liu Ximing ordered the Longxiang Brigade to stop the pursuit.

He is still waiting, waiting for a critical opportunity, otherwise once such a small person is exposed, the crowd tactics may also drag him to death.

Calm had returned to the woods, except for the twenty howitzers behind them.

Liu Ximing thought very well, as long as I didn't show up, the Liukou wouldn't be able to recognize my strength.

However, his retreat outside the city and his willingness to allow artillery attacks was really cowardly.

Zhang Xianzhong had been observing the movement in the east quite anxiously, and when he saw Li Dingguo leading his troops to retreat, he had a loud alarm in his heart, and he ran away immediately after the news was wrong.

However, when he waited and waited, he only saw the chaotic soldiers scattered around on his side, but he didn't see any chasing soldiers coming, Zhang Xianzhong instantly understood.

When Li Dingguo came back to report that it was estimated that Sichuan had met those people, Zhang Xianzhong clapped his hands and laughed.

"Hahaha, straight lady thief, I thought it was some kind of soldier, it turned out to be a group of people who only dared to sneak attack."

"Sons, don't care about him, all rush in, and we'll leave after grabbing it."

Although the artillery fire of the Longxiang Brigade was fierce, Zhang Xianzhong had already put his mind at ease, even if the artillery fire was fierce, they still dared to fire at the imperial tomb.

Northwest of the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum, Shao Derong was anxiously urging the horses to speed up.

It stands to reason that he and Cao Bianjiaobu should have arrived on the battlefield with Liu Ximing.

However, Liu Ximing's previous order to him was to try to induce Cao Bianjiao's troops to go south, and he didn't put much effort into it.

Fortunately, after Cao Bianjiao was promoted to deputy commander-in-chief, his strength has reached 6,000.

Shao Derong, as the capital division, also directly holds the 1,000 soldiers and horses supplemented from Sichuan.

With sufficient manpower, it is much more convenient for Shao Derong to do the work ordered by Liu Ximing.

He first took the initiative to ask Ying to be the vanguard to intercept Luo Rucai's troops, but in fact, he was already quietly forcing Luo Rucai in the direction of Nanzhili.

It was by relying on such continuous interception and correction that Cao Bianjiao was guided all the way to Xuzhou by him.

When he arrived here, Shao Derong no longer concealed it, and said that he had just received a report from Liu Ximing that the thieves Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong and others were marching towards Fengyang, as if they wanted to be disrespectful to the imperial tomb.

Cao Bianjiao is not a pedantic person, and his eyes lit up when he heard the news.

Like Liu Ximing, he also found a huge credit for this.

At present, all the official and military departments are attracted by the thieves and scattered all over the Central Plains, and the closest to Fengyang is him and Zuo Liangyu, who is in charge of pursuit.

If you can defend the imperial tomb under the attack of the thieves, then this credit is much greater than the annihilation of several thieves.

Thinking of this, Cao Bianjiao took more than 6,000 people from his department to abandon Luo Rucai and rushed to Fengyang at a gallop.

Finally, around midnight and midnight, Cao Bianjiao could clearly hear bursts of fierce shelling.

"General, it's my second brother who brought the horses."

Shao Derong didn't need to identify it carefully, he immediately heard the sound of a howitzer shell exploding, and immediately said to Cao Bianjiao with a look of surprise.

Cao Bianjiao was also happy on his face, since Liu Ximing was still fighting, it meant that the thieves had not yet succeeded, and he was still in time.

"All-Army Charge"

The sound of the artillery bombardment of the Longxiang Brigade was the most obvious signal, and Cao Bianjiao's troops came straight to the south gate like a torrent of steel.

The sound of horses' hooves could be heard far away at night, and even bombs could not stop it.

Zhang Xianzhong was leading people to rush into the imperial tomb to slaughter, and his face changed when he heard this voice.

"Into his grandmother's rotten cowardice, where did the dog officers and soldiers come from, wave after wave."

"Kill"

Without waiting for Zhang Xianzhong to react, Cao Bianjiao's department had already discovered the large army of thieves who had not yet entered the city outside the south gate.

Without a pause, Cao Bianjiao took the lead and rushed directly with the army.

As early as when the sound of horses' hooves sounded, Liu Ximing knew that Cao Bianjiao had arrived, and in order to avoid accidental injury, he directly put all the artillery into the space, and the 900-man Longxiang Brigade was already on standby.

"Long Xiang Brigade, target thief, walk together!"

"One-two-one, one-two-one."

Stepping on the beat shouted by the generals at all levels, the Longxiang Brigade began to move forward.

Liu Ximing walked at the end of the queue but was in a trance, just relying on people to shout beats seems a bit unreliable, it seems that he still has to learn from the white skin and get a team of drummers responsible for the marching signal.

Outside the south gate of the Imperial Mausoleum, Cao Bianjiao's department was like a tiger descending from the mountain, and the entire rogue army was torn in half with a single fight.

There was darkness everywhere, and except for the torches in the hands of the thieves, the rest of the place looked like dark shadows, which made the thieves even more frightened.

It only took a quarter of an hour for the thieves outside the city to fall into a state of collapse.

On the battlefield, people neighed and guns roared, and once the thieves could not form an array, they would not be able to find the soldiers, and the soldiers would not be able to find the generals.

Under the double attack of Cao Bianjiao and Liu Ximing, the south of the city was suddenly empty.

"Brother Cao, hahaha, you came too timely."

Seeing that there was no longer a threat outside the city, Liu Ximing laughed and greeted Cao Bianjiao.

"Brother, brother, I accept your love", Cao Bianjiao gave Liu Ximing a bear hug and whispered a laugh into his ear.

Liu Ximing punched him on the breastplate, this old brother is steady!

"Our brothers are all our own people, what is there to admit or not."

"Hahaha"

"Second brother", Shao Derong came to meet with a look of eagerness.

Liu Ximing nodded at him and patted him on the shoulder, "Good job, let the brothers be vigilant, after this battle, everyone should be promoted." ”

Cao Bianjiao laughed again, "Brother, the outside of the city has been cleared, let's hurry up and enter the city, otherwise the imperial tomb will only be afraid of loss." ”

Liu Ximing smiled mysteriously on his face and pulled Cao Bianjiao back.

"Wait."

"Huh?"

Cao Bianjiao saw that some places in the imperial tomb had begun to catch fire, and he couldn't help but be a little anxious.

"Brother, what is the reason, if we fail to rescue, be careful that Your Majesty asks for the guilt."

Liu Ximing patiently explained in a low voice: "There are still many eunuchs guarding the tomb in the imperial tomb, with them, how to calculate our merits has to be said separately, it is better to ...... first"

Liu Ximing smiled and made a gesture to wipe his neck.

"Besides, if these people don't die, how can it seem that we are helping the tree in danger and saving the danger in time."

Cao Bianjiao grinned when he heard this, "Hehe, you readers are still thoughtful, Lao Tzu has long seen the displeasure of these eggless people, and today is just right, so I will listen to you." ”

Anyway, there were still some scattered thieves outside the city, and the two simply didn't give orders, and let their subordinates continue to pursue and kill.

After staying for almost a quarter of an hour, Liu Ximing estimated that Zhang Xianzhong had gone deep into the imperial tomb, and then nodded at Cao Bianjiao.

"Sound the trumpet, enter the city and kill the thief."