From the moment the official flag appeared in sight, the thief army fell into a huge panic.

These days, they have devoted all their attention to the siege of the city, and they are completely defenseless against the officers and soldiers who suddenly kill them.

The officers and soldiers approached quickly, and the thieves and soldiers were immediately demoralized, and they kept retreating in panic, unable to maintain even the most basic formation.

Not everyone in the thieves didn't expect this to happen, because the delay in Yongyang was too long, and Zhang Feng'er and other high-level officials of the thief camp had always had this worry in their hearts.

But so what, even if he knew that the official reinforcements would arrive at any time, he didn't dare to say it at all. Otherwise, if you can't wait for the officials and soldiers to fight, the morale of the army will already collapse.

He didn't dare to expect that his army of outcasts would have the courage to fight to the end like the defenders of Yongyang City, and the situation would probably be worse then than now.

All Zhang Feng'er could do was to fight with all his might, to defeat Yongyang City before the arrival of the official army, and to fight for that glimmer of life. It's just that now with the appearance of the official army, the luck in Zhang Fenger's heart was naturally ruthlessly crushed and turned into nothing.

The panic in the thief camp was spreading, and Zhang Feng'er tried hard to suppress the chaos in the camp, but the official army did not leave him too much time, and it was instantaneous.

The first to come into contact with the thieves were hundreds of officers and soldiers. These cavalry were divided into several groups and constantly roamed around the thieves, like wolves driving away sheep, waiting for an opportunity to bark out their deadly fangs and reap the lives of the thieves with their short crossbows.

If you want to compare with the Zhenbei Iron Cavalry of the Northern Border Army and the cavalry of the Manzhen tribe, the combat power of the Huainan Road cavalry is not on the table at all. If the two armies meet on the road, people may not be willing to take a second look.

But if there is only a group of untrained thieves who don't even have a decent war horse, the situation becomes very different.

The superiority of the cavalry was displayed at this moment, these cavalry were few in number, but they were extremely fast, far surpassing the thieves who could only walk on two legs, and they came and went like the wind on the battlefield.

In the face of thunderous horses, the thieves had no choice, as long as those light horses were not stupid enough to directly attack the enemy formation, it was difficult for the thieves to pose a threat to them.

To the thieves, these cavalry were like ghosts roaming around, bringing fear and death to them.

There was a tremor on the ground from the trampling of horses' hooves as they landed, and the sound of horses' hooves seemed to sound directly in the hearts of the thieves every time, and every time the horses' hooves approached, they immediately took the lives of some of them.

As their companions continued to fall, this greatly exacerbated the panic of the thieves, and they were unable to organize effective resistance. And when most of the officers and troops finally appeared in front of them, this panic reached its peak.

Before the two armies officially clashed, a few rounds of arrows from the official archers rained down, which completely collapsed the morale of the thief army.

The fear in the hearts of the thieves overcame everything, which soon led to a rout, and they no longer had the courage to fight the official army, and the hope of survival made them instinctively choose to turn around and flee.

As for the overseers who were pressing in the back, the thieves couldn't take care of it at this time, and it was better to face them than to face the blades of the officers and soldiers.

Zhang Feng'er led his own soldiers to step forward and killed several deserters in a row, trying to save the defeat, but he still couldn't stop the rout, but more and more people were affected and joined the ranks of the rout, and the chaos further expanded.

At this time, the rout of the front began to attack the rear formation, and the surging crowd directly broke through the formation of the rear army, and even those overseers were affected and were dragged backwards.

Waves of routs poured past Zhang Feng'er, perhaps because they still retained their awe of him in their bones, most of them deliberately or unintentionally bypassed Zhang Feng'er, tried to stay away from him, and then spread farther behind.

Zhang Feng'er closed her eyes in despair, her face painful. He knew that it was all over, that everything he had left him was like these routs, and that all his ambitions and ambitions were all in vain at this moment.

Just when he was determined to live and die, he was ready to drive his horse to the official army to make a final fight.

Niu Er grabbed the reins of his horse and said anxiously: "Big brother, the matter has come to this, don't do stupid things!" Let's go quickly, it's too late if we don't leave! ”

Zhang Quan and the others also retreated from the front, gathered in front of him, and said, "Yes, big brother! Stay in the green mountains, don't be afraid of no firewood, let's go quickly! ”

Without waiting for Zhang Feng'er to agree, Niu Er and the others coerced him to turn his horse's head and flee to the rear with some personal soldiers.

In the distance, Shi Qiuming's commander of the Chinese army.

Escorted by a heavy army, Shi Qiuming ordered the front army to pursue, and asked Ma Qingze, "Qingze, are they all arranged?" ”

Ma Qingze replied: "Back to the ministry, everything has been arranged!" Mao Junyuan led 5,000 troops in the east, Yao Feng led 5,000 troops in the west, Li Tianye led 10,000 troops in the north, and the lord of the ministry personally commanded 15,000 people to sit in the Chinese army. Now that the encirclement has been completed, even if this Zhang Fenger really has three heads and six arms, this time it will definitely be impossible to escape! ”

Shi Qiuming bowed slightly: "Well, it seems that everyone's hard work in the past few days has been worth it, and now it's finally time to close the net." But don't be careless, be prepared for what might happen, and anything can happen before the dust settles! ”

Ma Qingze leaned over and said yes.

"Alas... It's just that the defenders and people in Yongyang City are suffering. If we could have sent troops to help as soon as we received the news, we should have arrived three days ago, and there would have been fewer deaths in the city! Shi Qiuming suddenly let out a long sigh.

Ma Qingze was a little disapproving: "But if this is the case, although this battle can be won, it will also lose the opportunity to wipe out the thief army." Didn't the ministry say that if the thieves could not be annihilated in one fell swoop this time, it would be a big trouble for the entire Huainan Province in the future! ”

"Yes! It is impossible for people to live in the world and want everything to go well, and it is inevitable to make trade-offs in many cases. For the sake of the stability of Huainan Province, I can only abandon the defenders and people in Yongyang City, this is a last resort, I think officials at all levels of the government and the opposition and even the people of Huainan Province can understand my suffering. Shi Qiuming then said.

But then his tone changed: "But having said that, the people in Yongyang City are the same as the people under my jurisdiction, if you think that you are thinking about the overall situation, you can give them up with peace of mind, you will lose the way of being an official!" Think about it, if you were one of the people in the city now, would you still be able to say what you just said? ”

Ma Qingze didn't care about it in his heart, and even faintly thought that Shi Butang was pretending to be a gesture in his heart. But he still said sincerely: "The teachings of the ministry have benefited the officials a lot!" ”

Shi Qiuming knew that Ma Qingze didn't listen, but he couldn't force Ma Qingze to accept his point of view. Although the two are up and down, everyone has their own ideas, Ma Qingze doesn't want to listen, and Shi Qiuming can only sigh secretly in his heart, and no longer say anything more on this topic.

"Qingze, the overall situation on the battlefield has been decided, and the thieves are no longer afraid. So you put down what you're doing and go to the city. After a moment of silence, Shi Qiuming changed the topic and said.

Ma Qingze asked, "But the lord of the ministry has something to explain to the lower officials to do?" ”

Shi Qiuming nodded and said, "There are mainly two things!" First, Yongyang City has been besieged for more than ten days, according to my estimate, the city should have begun to run out of food at this time, you transfer some military food from the military quartermaster and distribute it to the people in the city, so as not to cause another incident. ”

"Second, although the overall situation of the war has been decided, the case of Lin Fan's killing of Tian Wufeng still needs to be dealt with by the imperial court. You have to make sure if he is still alive, if he hasn't died in battle, before the official disposition of the court comes down, he can't be regarded as a guilty person, you can't let him swagger outside like this, you need to take care of him. ”

"Aside from these two things, there shouldn't be anything too urgent, but we can put it aside for now. Alright, you go get busy! ”

"Yes, the next official will do it!" After Ma Qingze finished speaking, he urged the horse to leave.

"Kiyozawa!" Shi Qiuming suddenly stopped him at this time.

Ma Qingze turned around suspiciously and looked at Shi Qiuming: "Do you have anything else to explain?" ”

"It's nothing, but that Lin Fan has meritorious service in defending the city after all, you should be polite when you see him, don't let people think that we are slow to treat meritorious people!"

"Xiaguan remembered!" After hearing Shi Qiuming's words, Ma Qingze bowed to him on the horse and urged the horse to leave.

Soon after, Ma Qingze took people to escort more than a dozen carts of grain to Yongyang City.

Everyone was about to leave the camp, but they heard someone call him: "Join the army, slow down!" ”

Ma Qingze followed the prestige, and soon recognized who this person was, and he asked, "It turned out to be you!" What are you doing in front of my officer? ”

It was An Ning who stopped him, and at this time, An Ning's injuries were not healed, and he was holding a dead branch as a crutch. Standing on the side of the road, he said, "I heard that your lordship is going to enter the city, and I am waiting here for a low job, and I ask you to take me with you!" ”

In the past few days, the most tormenting thing is actually tranquility. He was ordered to go out of the city to find reinforcements, and finally found reinforcements and reported the situation, but after Anning found that although the army was frequently mobilized, there was no sign of immediate rescue of Yongyang.

He wanted to urge, but he didn't even have a chance to see Ma Qingze and the others, and he was turned away several times, so he could only beg anxiously in his heart that the army could send reinforcements as soon as possible.

By the time the army finally arrived in Yongyang, it was three days later than he had originally estimated.

There was a delay of three days, and there was a possibility that too many things could happen during the period. He didn't know anything about the situation in Yongyang City now, and he didn't even know whether Lin Fan was dead or alive, let alone dare to think about it.

So after he learned the news that Ma Qingze was going to enter the city, where could he still hold on, and hurriedly came here to stop Ma Qingze.

After listening to An Ning's words, Ma Qingze looked him up and down: "But you are still injured, it is better to stay in the camp to recuperate, right?" ”

An Ning heard the meaning of refusal in Ma Qingze's words, and hurriedly said: "The humble duty was ordered to come out to find reinforcements, and now that the reinforcements have arrived, the humble duty can be regarded as completing the mission, and I should go back to restore my life now." As for the injuries on the body of the lowly duty, it is not tight, even if the lowly duty cannot ride a horse, but he can still sit on the grain cart, and please allow the adult to join the army! ”

Ma Qingze thought for a moment, nodded and agreed: "Okay! Remembering that you are faithful to the ministry, this official will allow you to accompany you this time! ”

"Thank you, sir!" Hearing that Ma Qingze agreed, An Ning was overjoyed and thanked him again and again. Then he found a grain cart and sat on it.

The situation on the city walls was also under control by this time. After the reinforcements arrived, the thieves on the city wall began to be disorganized, and they only wanted to live, where did they still have the heart to take care of the remaining defenders, and they all wanted to escape from the city.

Everyone wants to run for their lives, but there are only a few ladders in total, and for so many people, the number of ladders is far from enough.

Human affection and morality are undoubtedly the first things to be abandoned at this time, after all, if you live, maybe I will die.

Since this is the case, then whoever grabs it is whoever, and before the officials and soldiers encircled and suppressed, there was already a fight among the thieves.

In the midst of the scramble you pushed and shoved, many people fell off the city wall and fell to their deaths: some people waved their weapons at the comrades who had just fought side by side with them, just so that they could step on the road of escape one step ahead of others.

Although most of the officers and horses were used to deal with the main force of the thief army, Shi Qiuming still sent hundreds of people to help the defenders of the city at the beginning.

By the time Ma Qingze arrived at the city, the thieves in the city had all been cleared out by the defenders and the reinforcements who had arrived before, and the sacks blocked at the gate of the city had also been removed by the people to facilitate the entry of the officials and soldiers into the city.

After Ma Qingze reported his identity, the defenders did not dare to slack off, and quickly opened the city gate and invited him to enter the city.

After learning the general situation in the city from the guards at the gate, Ma Qingze asked a military attache to be responsible for distributing food, and he took several personal soldiers and drove directly to the county office.

Seeing this, An Ning, who came back with the grain cart, hurriedly borrowed a horse from his fellow soldiers, ignored the wound on his leg that had just scabbed, turned over on his horse, followed Ma Qingze and others, and went to the county office.