Although the cavalry of the official army had the upper hand in this fight, with this thief army contained, An Ning could not intercept the remaining half of the thief cavalry again.

But fortunately, Zeng Liang and the others also arrived in time, and they helped the left flank stabilize the formation and resist the offensive of the thief cavalry.

As soon as the cavalry of the thief army failed to attack, they knew that it would be difficult to have a second chance. In the face of well-defended officers and soldiers, if their small cavalry charged with bows and crossbows, it would be difficult to be effective, not to mention, and it would only cause greater losses.

The cavalry of the thief army, who did not grasp the opportunity, could only retreat and go to support the other cavalry, and fight with An Ning and them again. They wanted to eat the small force of cavalry of the official army first, and then see if there was a chance that they could be able to attack the infantry formation of the official army again.

However, their plan still failed, because the strength of the left-wing officers and troops at this time had exceeded 3,000 people, which had already exceeded the number of thieves on the opposite side, and they had the strength to counterattack.

As soon as the cavalry of the thief army retreated, the officers and troops on the left flank began to push back the infantry of the thief army and divided their troops to assist the forward army.

Due to his trust in Chen Fangshu and Wang Hu, Lin Fan concentrated all the officers and troops on the left flank, and there was no rest of the troops in his hands to support the forward army.

Therefore, after the reinforcement of the thieves rushed to the battlefield, the front of the official army had reached a precarious point.

The thieves opposite them were several times larger than their own, and the formation was constantly compressed, and the casualties were constantly increasing.

The loosening of the formation has made many people in the officers and soldiers also shake psychologically, and even the most elite soldiers will be afraid, especially when they are at a disadvantage, it will be more obvious. And once this fear is grown, it is difficult to extinguish.

People are afraid of death, and in this case, there are already people in the officers and soldiers who are ready to look for a way back.

Because there is such an idea among the soldiers, it directly affects the combat effectiveness of the officers and soldiers. The formation of the officers and troops shook even more, and it could be broken at any time, and if that kind of thing really happened, the officers and troops would inevitably be defeated, so the situation facing the forward officers and troops was even more dangerous.

Chen Fangshu, who had been fighting at the forefront of the battle, also discovered this phenomenon, and in order to recover the decline, he persisted until reinforcements arrived.

While fighting hard, he shouted: "According to military law, if there is a person who escapes from the battle in a team, the team is beheaded; If the soldiers are afraid of the battle and the soldiers are killed in the battle, the whole team will be killed! ”

Lin Fan would never treat his soldiers badly, but compared to other armies, his military law was just as strict, and his execution was even more unambiguous.

At the same time that Chen Fangshu shouted these words, Wang Hu, who was leading the official army to resist the thief army on the other side, was also shouting. Under the suppression of military law, the officers and soldiers finally did not retreat and stabilized the crumbling formation.

The formation of the officers and soldiers seemed to be fragile, as if they were about to shatter when touched, but they stood firm in the impact of the thief army again and again. The thieves were never able to break through their defenses completely, but they held back most of their forces.

They held out until the end, and when left-wing reinforcements joined the warband, the tide reversed. The officers and troops began to counterattack everywhere, and those who could not stabilize the formation became thieves.

Du Zishan looked at the chaotic battlefield, except for the cavalry who had the advantage in numbers, the rest of the battlefield had fallen into passivity.

You can't do anything, and if you continue to fight, it will only be even more out of control. Du Zishan is not a stubborn person, and after he realized this, he quickly made a decision

。

He ordered: "Order all units, except for the forward army, to disengage from contact with the enemy and prepare to retreat." The cavalry was responsible for breaking the rear and blocking the pursuit of the officers and soldiers. ”

His orders were quickly conveyed, so that except for the inseparable front of the thieves, who had fought with the officers and soldiers, the rest of the bandit army began to retreat.

Retreat in a war is always a technical task, especially in the case of unfavorable wars, and it may be more difficult to withdraw the army from the battlefield unharmed than to win a battle.

Judging from the situation on the battlefield, it is obvious that Du Zishan has done a good job, and this thief army does not live up to the name of elite.

All the departments automatically arranged for the men to be broken, and the rest of the men gradually broke away from the entanglement with the officers and troops, and withdrew to the rear of the battlefield in an orderly manner.

The cavalry of the thief army left a small part to contain An Ning and the others, and the rest also intervened in the battlefield again, roaming around, separating the officers and soldiers who were trying to chase and kill them from their own people who were retreating, so as not to be taken advantage of by the officers and soldiers in the retreat and cause chaos.

Soon, except for the vanguard of the thief army, which was struggling with the official army, most of the thief army withdrew from the battlefield.

Du Zishan took one last look at his subordinates who were still fighting with the enemy after being left behind by him. At this point in the battle, they will not be able to get out no matter what.

There was a slight apology in his eyes, but he still said decisively: "Withdraw!" ”

The thieves slowly retreated, and the cavalry marched to the end, not giving the officers and soldiers a chance to pursue.

At this time, the thieves who were still on the battlefield also broke out with the last bravery, dragging most of the officers and soldiers to the death, buying time for their comrades to retreat.

Lin Fan watched the thief army gradually disappear into the distance, and did not hide his admiration for the enemy general Du Zishan. He said with a smile: "The thief army retreats without chaos, and for this alone, Du Zishan can be called a famous general." ”

Then he said: "There are clouds in the book of soldiers, and the poor are not chasing." Besides, although the thieves retreated, the formation was not chaotic, and even if they caught up, they couldn't take any advantage. Order the left and right flanks to stop the pursuit, and eat these broken thieves with all their might. ”

The command flag waved again, and the officers and soldiers who were about to pursue turned back and worked together to strangle the last group of thieves.

Since the thief army chose to break its tail to survive, the remaining broken thief army has become an abandoned tail and a prey for the official army in this battle.

Half an hour later, the battle came to an end.

After the last group of thieves had no hope of breaking through and chose to put down their weapons and surrender, this battle that lasted for most of the day finally came to an end.

Later, after the battle, the number of casualties and captured by the thieves had reached half of their total strength, and the casualties of the officers and soldiers were not less than 1,000, and the damage on both sides was not small.

Among the officers and troops of the various departments, the left flank suffered the greatest losses, followed by Chen Fangshu, who served as the vanguard, and the right flank, which had the least pressure, and the rear army, which was the latest to go into battle, suffered the least losses.

Among them, Lin Fan was most distressed by the cavalry, in this battle alone, the two hundred cavalry who went into battle for the first time lost a small half, which can be called a broken muscle.

However, although the price was heavy, the official army still won this battle, and the official army had already gained a suppressive advantage over the Duzi Mountain bandit army on the next battlefield.

"General Zhang, you will send people to escort these captured thieves back to Gwangju and hand them over to the local government for handling, okay?" Lin Fan pointed to the hundreds of soldiers and said to Zhang Qi.

In this

In the First War, he had the largest number on his left flank, but he made a mistake and was almost broken by the thief army. If it weren't for Lin Fan's timely assistance from the rear army, I'm afraid he would have become a ghost under the sword of the thieves by now.

Moreover, their damage was even heavier than that of Chen Fangshu, who acted as a striker, you must know that Chen Fangshu not only faced more enemies than the left wing, but their number was only half of their own.

Zhang Qi was feeling a little ashamed at this time, and now that he has the opportunity to remedy, he naturally won't miss it. He said ashamedly: "Your Majesty is ashamed, and it is incumbent on you!" ”

Lin Fan nodded, and suddenly said with a straight face: "We can't control how the imperial court handles these surrendered troops, but they have done their best, and it is not their responsibility to be defeated." I hope that during the escort, our sergeants only need to watch them and not let them escape, and do not humiliate them. ”

Regarding Lin Fan's words, Zhang Qi was a little puzzled. The officers and soldiers have always looked down on the thief army, especially since this is still a group of prisoners, so it is even more difficult to have so-called respect for them.

But he still agreed and said, "Yes, my lord, the next official will arrange it!" ”

Lin Fan knew that everyone might have doubts about this arrangement, so he explained to everyone: "Everyone has compassion. This kind of thing can happen to anyone, and I think you don't want to be humiliated if you encounter this kind of thing in the future! ”

Zhang Qi quickly went to arrange his subordinates to escort the surrendered troops according to what Lin Fan said. Others were cleaning up the battlefield or assisting military doctors in treating the wounded.

"Report, my lord, the thief army has retreated into the camp." Just as the battlefield was almost cleared, the scouts who had been following behind the enemy came to report back.

Lin Fan ordered: "Order all units to move forward after cleaning up the battlefield and set up camp ten miles away from the thief camp." ”

"My lord, why don't we camp separately and surround the thief's camp?" Deng Wentong asked.

Lin Fan said: "There are still 4,000 troops in the thief camp, and we have 5,000." If the camp is besieged, the troops will have to be dispersed, and if the thieves concentrate their forces and choose a certain place to break through, can we stop it? Rather than being run away by them like this, it is better to join forces together, it is best if they do not withdraw, if the thieves withdraw, we will bite the back and wait for the opportunity to move, they can't make mistakes all the time, right? If we have the chance, we can rush up and tear a piece of meat off them. After such a few times, the thieves had to be defeated if they were not defeated. ”

"My lord is high, and my subordinates are ashamed!" Deng Wentong touted and replied, Zeng Liang and they also coaxed in.

"You guys, let's save the effort of slapping the sycophants! Killing a few more thieves is better than anything else! Lin Fan laughed and scolded them.

The speed of the march of the team that set off again was not fast, and after this day's fighting, the soldiers were indeed tired.

This made Lin Fan's brows furrow, and he glanced at the sun.

It's getting late, and if you don't get to the camping place in time, there may be problems after dark. Just the thief army taking advantage of the night to attack and disturb is a big trouble.

So Lin Fan urged: "Order the front army to speed up the pace, and be sure to rush to the camp before dark." ”

Under Lin Fan's order, everyone took out the strength to feed, and the speed of the march increased significantly, and finally arrived at the camp before the sun set.

Lin Fan looked up again at the sun that was still half of the sun in the West Mountain, and it was still too late. He ordered: "The whole army should be camped and cooked in pots." At the same time, it is also necessary to take precautions to prevent thieves from stealing the camp. ”