"Bell, bell, bell! Bell bell! ”

Mingjin's bronze cymbals rang in a hurry according to Chao Zhi's order, and the three Qin army hundred-man teams outside the camp heard this sound, and immediately understood that it was the superiors who wanted to give up the waterwheel and hurry back to the camp, although they felt very sorry, the five hundred leaders of the Qin army who led the three Qin army hundred-man teams still decisively chose to obey the order, and immediately ordered the water drawing team to abandon the carriage and bucket and retreat lightly, and quickly marched towards the Qin army camp more than three miles away.

But even so, Chao Zhi, who was looking down on the overall situation on the high ground in the camp, still crooked his nose in anger - he was tortured out of habit by the strict discipline of the Qin army, and these three Qin army hundred-man teams actually chose to continue to retreat in formation, and did not scatter in a hurry, and fled back to the camp in various directions. Although this move can effectively prevent the cavalry of the young marshal army intercepted by the road from launching a surprise attack at any time, the speed of retreat has been greatly affected, as long as the speed does not need to be in formation, the infantry brigade of the young marshal army does not stop, and takes the opportunity to shorten the distance with the Qin army outside the camp, and the front team is less than four miles away from the Qin army outside the camp in a blink of an eye.

"Idiot! A bunch of idiots! I don't see you running so neatly when I usually train, but now I'm in a hurry to retreat, why do you keep the formation so well? Do?! Signal them to spread out of formation, charge at full speed, and come back immediately! ”

"Captain Chao, what is the signal to spread out the formation? How come the little ones have never seen each other? ”

The intimidating inquiry was exchanged for a big mouth from Chao Zhi, but it was only after beating the intimateness that Chao Zhi remembered that there was indeed no ridiculous signal in the ranks of the Qin army to let the army break up and retreat. However, Chao Zhi didn't have time to comfort the innocent beaten relatives, so he just changed his tone and roared: "Idiot! Why don't you hurry up and send someone on a fast horse to deliver a message to them? Tell them to come back right away! ”

When the unfortunate person sent someone to give the order, the Qin army outside the camp had already lined up and approached within the range of the cavalry of the young marshal's army, and the cavalry of the young marshal's army was left with only two options: quickly transferring to find the space for the charge and holding on to the spot, but to the surprise of the Qin army, the cavalry of the young marshal's army actually chose to trot on horseback, ready to accelerate and directly attack their infantry brigade. As a result, while secretly laughing at the cavalry of the young marshal's army who didn't know how to fight, the five hundred commanders of the Qin army outside the camp also ordered without hesitation: "Stop, form a formation to meet the enemy!" ”

With the wave of the flag, the three hundred Qin troops stopped in a very short period of time, and immediately lined up in a tight phalanx in an orderly manner, and the crossbowmen of the Qin army, who had been gathering momentum for a long time, immediately stepped forward or stood or knelt, and aimed the tips of the two rows of bright arrows at the cavalry of the young marshal army who was about to charge. The cavalry of the young marshal army was also taken by the prestige of the Qin army, and hurriedly shouted and reined in their horses, not daring to rush the Qin army's crossbow array again, and seemingly passively chose to temporarily confront the Qin army's infantry phalanx.

The pretense of the cavalry of the young marshal's army could only deceive the Qin army outside the camp who was in the bureau, but could not deceive Chao Zhi, the chief general of the Qin army who looked down on the battlefield condescendingly, and saw that the formation of his own army was holding on, Chao Zhi suddenly scolded again, and he only wished that he could put his wings on his body, and quickly flew to the battlefield to order the soldiers of the Qin army to flee for their lives, but limited by the communication technology of this era, Chao Zhi could not quickly transmit his accurate orders to the Qin army outside the camp, so he could only watch the Qin army outside the camp maintain a tight formation and slowly advance, He also watched as the infantry brigade of the Young Marshal Army was getting closer and closer to the Qin army outside the battalion.

It must be explained that the Qin army outside the camp is not all blind and deaf, and they have not seen the infantry brigade of the young marshal's army rushing towards them quickly, and the reason why the Qin army outside the camp ignores this threat is that they are already only two miles away from the camp of their own army, and they can get reinforcements from the main force at any time. At the same time, the infantry of the young marshal's army does not want to be in formation, as long as the speed rushes in a mess, even if they successfully rush to the front, they will not pose any fatal threat to the Qin army outside the camp - at most, it will only delay the pace of the Qin army outside the camp to return to the camp. That's why the Qin army outside the camp is so fearless, and the infantry brigade of the young marshal army, which is still a rabble in essence, is like nothing.

The situation finally changed somewhat, the fast horse sent by Chao Zhi before bypassed the cavalry of the young marshal's army, and finally sent Chao Zhi's order to the Qin army outside the camp in a roundabout way, but it was too late to do so, the infantry brigade of the young marshal army had rushed to the range of only a few miles away from the Qin army outside the camp, and then giving up the formation at this time was tantamount to raising his hands and letting the young marshal's army wantonly slaughter, so the five hundred commanders of the Qin army who led the team had no choice but to resist the order, and said loudly: "Please return to the left lieutenant Chao, the thief brigade is approaching, abandon the formation at this time, It is equivalent to suicide, please forgive the crime of disobedience! ”

In other words, the five hundred commanders of the Qin army, who were absolutely not wrong, ordered the army to continue to maintain the formation and continue to retreat towards the camp gate at the usual speed. And Chao Zhi was helpless when he saw it in the camp, so he could only order a team of 500 people to leave the camp, assemble in front of the camp gate, and be ready to attack at any time, and forcibly take the Qin army outside the camp back to the camp.

Of course, the infantry of the young marshal army rushed in a mess and was not stupid enough to directly attack the strict phalanx of the Qin army, and naturally chose to rush to the cavalry of the young marshal army, and joined forces with their own cavalry to prevent the Qin army outside the camp from returning to the camp. Chao Zhi saw that he was afraid that the three hundred-man teams would be trapped outside the camp, so he decisively chose to beat the marching drum and let the Qin army 500 people in front of the camp launch an attack, in a vain attempt to forcibly break through the infantry brigade of the young marshal's army, which had not had time to line up, and rescue the three Qin army hundred-man teams that were about to be stopped outside the camp by the young marshal's army.

At the same time, the south gate of the lower prime minister was also a war drum shaking the sky, one after another of the young marshal army infantry strode out of the city, one of the teams also directly waved Xiang Kang's young marshal banner, directly told the Qin army that Xiang Kang had come to the battlefield in person, personally led the army to fight this battle. Chao Zhi was even more anxious when he saw it, knowing that Xiang Kang was planning to force himself to a decisive battle and use the advantage of his strength to bully the widows, but now Chao Zhi, who only wanted to wait for help, had no interest in a decisive battle, and he was not prepared for a decisive battle at all, so he could only order the rest of the army to defend the camp, and at the same time hoped that the army outside the camp could withdraw as soon as possible, so that he would suffer less losses.

The fierce battle has gradually begun to start, and the infantry brigade of the young marshal's army, which was forcibly wedged into the junction of the Qin army, continued to condense into a group, some chaotic but very resolute forced formations, and also erected a large shield snatched from the Qin army in Yuxian County on the left and right flanks, so as to block the crossbow arrows of the Qin army, and release the crossbow arrows behind the shield. At the same time, the Qin army that came from the left and right was in accordance with the usual training, opening the way with crossbow arrows while slowly advancing, like two copper walls and iron walls, constantly crushing the phalanx that was not tight enough for the young marshal's army.

At this time, the cavalry of the young marshal's army, which had been integrated with the infantry of the self-army before, suddenly came out to the south of the Yue, and after a detour, gradually turned around, and rushed directly to the right flank of the Qin army without hesitation. At the same time, the infantry brigade of the young marshal's army was also thundered by the drums of war, pointing the flag to the west, and also rushed to the front of the Qin army out of the camp without hesitation.

"Seven gold! Seven golds! Seven golds! ”

The slogan of the young marshal army is very strange, always just shouting the word 'seven gold', and everyone is working hard between the killings, everyone is working hard, while using the captured shields to block the weapons of the Qin army, while desperately stabbing the Qin army on the opposite side with swords and spears, and most of them have red eyes and high emotions. And when Qin Jun was still forced to fight with the young marshal army for his life, he thought of a possibility one after another - seven gold, could it be the price at which the young marshal army bought one of their heads?

If it was replaced by the main force of the Qin army and a rabble like the young marshal army, whether it was the southern army of the Qin army, or the northern border guards on the grassland, or the Guanzhong garrison and Longxi garrison of the Qin army, then the few Wang Ba punches of the young marshal army might not even be able to hurt the main force of the Qin army, and they would have been easily defeated by the main force of the Qin army.

But there is no way, considering that the Qin army is only a county soldier, it is a temporary army that was hastily formed after Xiang Kang rebelled, although the organization is more rigorous than the young marshal army, and the military training is more and stricter than the young marshal soldiers with different soldiers, but the morale and fighting spirit are far less high than the young marshal soldiers who have won consecutive battles, and they are unwilling to work for the perverse Qin II from the heart. Therefore, after receiving the young marshal's army's careless Wang Ba fist, a miracle appeared, the tight phalanx of the Qin army outside the camp was unexpectedly loosened, and several horizontal teams were in chaos, and the young marshal soldiers took the opportunity to move forward, and gradually formed a melee with Qin outside the camp.

This is also the situation that Chao Zhi is most worried about, after the front team of the infantry of the young marshal army and the Qin army outside the battalion formed a melee situation, even if the Qin army reinforcements who came out of the camp to rescue were connected with the rear team of the infantry of the young marshal army, because the crowd was too crowded, they could not immediately kill the infantry of the young marshal army and rescue the trapped friendly troops, on the contrary, they were successfully dragged by the infantry of the young marshal army, even if they had the upper hand, they could not form a victory all at once.

In the fierce battle, the Qin army on the left and right flanks attacked and defended, like striking iron, constantly beating the infantry brigade of the young marshal army sandwiched in the middle, and almost every blow could knock some young marshal soldiers away. The young marshal soldiers are just greedy for the heavy reward promised by their superiors, and they rely on their desire to stubbornly support them, and they fight tenaciously and difficult to attack the west and defend the east, and they may completely collapse at any time because they can't support it, and they are completely at a disadvantage.

Fortunately, at this time, the main brigade of the young marshal army led by Xiang Kang himself was already approaching the battlefield, and at the same time, Xiang Kang waved the order flag early and ordered Xiang Sheng to lead a team of 500 people to open the way with chariots to attack the flank of the Qin army's reinforcements, which also reversed the situation of the entire battlefield at once.

Chariots have always been a weapon for breaking formations, and no matter how tight the infantry formation is, it is inevitable that the formation will loosen. When the Qin army reinforcements were engaged in the battle with the infantry of the young marshal's army, their own formation was already messy, and then they were stopped by the chariot of the young marshal's army, and they were immediately in chaos, although they were not directly cut off, but they were still rushed out of a big hole, and the infantry of the young marshal army led by Xiang Sheng took the opportunity to pour into the incision, and the Qin army reinforcements were only left with the life of being forced to fight.

The melee became more intense, people shouted and neighed, soldiers on both sides fought with red eyes, everywhere there was the sound of spears piercing and piercing the human body, and everywhere there was the blood of sharp knives and fast swords piercing the flesh, the roars and screams of the soldiers on both sides were endless, flags and human wreckage flew in the air, corpses and wounded soldiers rolled on the ground, constantly trampled, and occasionally you could see the tragic scene of soldiers on both sides hugging and scuffling on the ground until they died together.

Again, after all, the Qin army was only a county soldier that had just been formed, and its combat effectiveness was far less than that of the real elite of the main force of the Qin army, not to mention that the morale and fighting spirit were not high enough, and the strength was already at a disadvantage, so the Qin army gradually fell into disadvantage in the melee, the formation was completely chaotic, and there were constantly soldiers quietly escaping from the battlefield, while the young marshal army took the opportunity to disrupt the situation in a chaotic manner, desperately stirring up the battle situation into a pot of porridge, giving full play to the advantages of large numbers of troops and high morale, avoiding the enemy's advantages of stronger organization and discipline than its own army, and gradually grasping the initiative advantage.

At the same time, in the Qin army camp, the face of Chao Zhi, the chief general of the Qin army, was also so gloomy that he was almost dripping, knowing that the situation of the Qin army outside the camp was not good, and he also knew that if he sent troops to reinforce him, he would be forced to fight a decisive battle with the young marshal's army under the condition of insufficient preparation, and risk fighting a decisive battle that he was not sure of.

Chao Zhi did not dare to take this risk, and of the 1,500 people brought from the consideration, 300 had already been completely annihilated by the young marshal's army on the battlefield of Shajidu, and after the Qin army in Yuxian County was destroyed, although two or three hundred people fled to defect, these people were depressed and depressed, and they could not be of much use on the battlefield at all. And now there are a full 800 people out of the camp, and the army that Chao Zhi is really reliable now has only about 400 people left. And the reserve of the young marshal army that has not yet been used by Xiang Kang's side, at least there are about 500 people, and they are obviously the most reliable elite, enough to compete with Chao Zhi's remaining soldiers and horses, so Chao Zhi weighed it again and again, but he still didn't dare to take this risk - if he loses the decisive battle, there will really be nothing.

Or because he didn't have the courage to fight a decisive battle with the young marshal's army, after hesitating for a while, Chao Zhi gritted his teeth, or ordered to ring the bronze cymbal to collect the troops, and the soldiers of the Qin army on the battlefield outside the camp were like being amnestied, and quickly turned around and fled back to their own camps, while the young marshal army was demoralized, and took the opportunity to slash and kill, killing the Qin army to the point that it was completely collapsed, and even killed and wounded most of the three Qin army hundred-man teams trapped in the distance, and escaped everywhere. Xiang Kang, on the other hand, was a little regretful, spat at the camp of the Qin army, and said stupidly: "Count you smart!" If you really dare to send troops to fight a decisive battle, you will still lose this battle! But forget it, after this defeat again, you can't explain it when you go back, and it will be easier to surrender you. ”

After paying the price of more than 150 casualties, the young marshal's army successfully beheaded more than 260 people, captured nearly 80 people, and wiped out the establishment of three hundred-man teams from the list of Qin troops at once. During this period, although the weakness of the young marshal's army was still not good at battle was exposed, it also forced the weakness of the Qin army's lack of morale and weak combat effectiveness to be exposed, so even if he failed to defeat the Qin army in one fell swoop, Xiang Kang was still full of confidence in victory, believing that even if he failed to surrender, he was sure enough to directly kill the Qin army, and he was ready to do both early, and began to plan a plan to break the enemy after the surrender failed.

Contrary to Xiang Kang, who was full of confidence, Chao Zhi, the main general of the Qin army, fell into complete despair, the siege was just looking for death, and there was not much certainty in holding on to help, and retreating was even more self-defeating.

Xiang Kang did not disappoint Chao Zhi, the day after the field battle, Xiang Kang sent Xu Shu as an envoy and sent a letter to Chao Zhi again, in addition to persuading Chao Zhi to make the right choice quickly, he also made it clear that he admired Chao Zhi's training ability very much, and said that if Chao Zhi was willing to surrender, he would definitely reuse it, so that Chao Zhi's expertise in training military formations could be fully utilized. And with the letter came the same number of gifts as before.

It's a pity that after the opportunity to abandon the darkness and turn to the light was put in front of Chao Zhi again, Chao Zhi hesitated again, and after thinking for a long time, Chao Zhi said to Xu Shu with some difficulty: "Please return to Young Marshal Xiang, just say that I understand his kindness, but my wife and children are all in the city, and I can't affect them for my own selfishness." ”

"Captain Chao, that's not a problem." Xu Shu immediately said: "My young marshal also took this into account for you, he said, if you lead the people to surrender, although your wife and children will be implicated, but according to the law of tyranny, they should not be executed immediately, and my young marshal Xiang will also take the opportunity of worrying about emptiness to launch a counterattack against worrying as soon as possible, and when the time comes, rescue your wife and children, and your family can be reunited again." ”

Chao Zhi became more and more shaken, but after all, he had been an official in the Great Qin Court for so many years, and he had no feelings and old feelings, plus he cared about his family, so after hesitating again and again, Chao Zhi still shook his head and said: "I can't do this, so thank you, you go, go back and tell Xiang Shaoshuai, I know that I am not his opponent, but if I want to surrender, I can't do it." ”

Although his voice and tone were obviously a little weak, Chao Zhi still let his henchmen quietly send Xu Shu out of the barracks, and at the same time, he was extremely lost and melancholy, not knowing whether he was right or wrong to make this choice?

Maybe Chao Zhi was right, because it was only the morning of the next day, and an official boat from the county came from the upper reaches of Surabaya, and it was Peng Zhenglun, an acquaintance of Chao Zhi and the chief official of the county temple, who came by boat, or brought a handwritten document of the county order. Even Chao Zhi, who had suffered a defeat, was terrified when he heard the report, and he didn't know whether it was a curse or a blessing, but he still sent someone to pick up Zheng Lun at the ferry, and respectfully invited Zheng Lun into the big tent to sit down, and inquired about Zheng Lun's trip.

Since Chao Zhi may be right, then of course it is good news that the main official Peng Zhenglun brought, and said with a relaxed smile: "Captain Chao, the situation on the Prime Minister's side, the county and we already know. Don't worry, our county doesn't blame you, and not to say that victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, this battle is like this, and it is definitely not your fault, it is all because the county commander Gu Bi of Yu County underestimated the enemy's plan, and was killed by the thieves and wiped out the whole army, so it affected you. Our county lord has also written down the battle situation of the next minister into a document, and sent a fast horse to report to Zhao Junshou in this county, asking him to find out right and wrong, and give you a chance to atone for your crimes, don't pursue it too much. ”

"Really?" Chao Zhi's joy was not trivial, and he hurriedly asked Zheng Lun: "Lord Zheng, is he really so magnanimous in the county?" ”

"Hehe, an old friend for so many years, can I still lie to you?" Zheng Lun smiled, smiled again and said: "Besides, what kind of temper is our county honor, don't you know Captain Chao Zuo?" ”

Chao Zhi is indeed very aware of the temper of the county order - that is, the royal majesty is a little too strict, he attaches some importance to money, and he also has a humble mouth in terms of women, and he once quietly peeked at his rather attractive wife with greedy eyes. However, at the moment, there is hope for self-preservation, Chao Zhi also subconsciously left all these things behind, and while nodding desperately to express his gratitude, he couldn't wait to ask: "Lord Zheng, the county lord sent you here, is there anything to explain?" ”

"Yes." Zheng Lun nodded, took out a letter from his arms, and said with a friendly smile: "Captain Chao, the county lord wants you to withdraw from the army, hurry up and take the army to withdraw to take care of it." As for the reason, first, the thieves are now powerful, and you are too dangerous here, and second, the county guard will not be able to gather enough soldiers and horses to form a county army for a while and a half, and it is difficult to send troops to you for reinforcements immediately. Therefore, the county lord wants you to immediately withdraw the troops and go back, first defend our city, and also protect the remaining county soldiers we are worried about, and when the county guards send troops in the future, Captain Chao Zuo, you will bring troops over to assist the county guards to eliminate the thieves and make meritorious atonements. ”

After listening to Zheng Lun's patient explanation, and reading the official document written by the county magistrate asking him to withdraw immediately, Chao Zhi did not hesitate, and immediately nodded and said: "Thank you for your understanding, thank you Zheng for handing over the letter, I will immediately withdraw the camp and withdraw the army." ”

After saying that, Chao Zhi also rejoiced in his heart, and said secretly: "Fortunately, I made the right choice, if I listened to the advice of the thief's envoy yesterday, there is really no turning back." Shui'er, wait for me, I will see you again in a day or two. ”