Song Zhiwen is not a stupid person, although he can only talk on paper, but he can repeatedly train thousands of recruits, and even be able to scavenge enough food and salary from the barren land of Xingquan Mansion to supply the army, all of which is enough to show that this person is not an incompetent person who can only talk about it.

On the contrary, this man is also an extremely qualified civilian commander, although he cannot lead the army to charge, but he can strategize.

In order to break through the Lanjiang River before, he spent a lot of energy, was extremely well prepared, and also adopted the strategy of dividing troops.

Last night, the plan he made was quite smooth, using the advantage of troops to divide the troops to cross the river, so that the puppet Tang thief army on the opposite side was exhausted and tired of coping.

If the puppet Tang thief army was just an ordinary army, this morning, he would be able to reap a huge victory, thus laying the foundation for the merit of annihilating the puppet Tang Dynasty.

However, the Datang New Army he encountered was not an ordinary army

It is an army that is completely different from the army of this era in terms of weapons and tactics, and the reason why this army is different from other armies is very simple, and it can even be said to be the only one, that is, Li Xuan.

Li Xuan used a lot of common sense in later generations to build the Tang New Army into a plausible modern army, not to mention the rest, just the muskets they were equipped with could be said to be ahead of the times.

Although they still used arquebuses, this one had a crosshair and a ruler, a cardboard charge, and a sleeve bayonet.

It can be said that, in addition to the fact that the material technology was not up to the standard and could not be used, and the arquebus firing mechanism was forced to continue, many other details were the standard equipment of the mature modern flintlock pistol of the eighteenth century.

In addition to muskets, there are also artillery, grenades, and even cotton iron armor and very important tactics.

All of these have led to the fact that the contemporary Datang New Army is completely different from the army of this era, whether it is the Eastern army or the Western army.

Fighting such an army is absolutely impossible to deal with past experience.

It's a pity that Song Zhiwen didn't know, even if he knew that the firearms of the puppet Tang thief army were sharp, but he only knew some skins, and most of them still used previous experience to deduce, so as to come to the conclusion that crossing the river would definitely be victorious.

However, the reality slapped him hard!

When the 600 troops led by Hao Bonian rushed back to the Lanjiang crossing, with this group of veterans with rich combat experience and strict training to join the battle, the situation on the battlefield was even more unfavorable to the Ming army.

These veterans, especially the musketeers in the 1st Infantry Battalion and the 1st Mixed Battalion, are the first batch of musketeers in the Datang New Army, and some have been in the army for several months, and most have even been in the army for a year, and their quality in all aspects is not comparable to the recruits in the 2nd Infantry Battalion and the 3rd Infantry Battalion.

They reload faster, their marksmanship is more accurate, and they are more tolerant of casualties when arrayed against the enemy!

And the combination of these has led to their combat effectiveness greatly surpassing those recruits.

When I saw that those young cannon fodder had never been able to break through the defense of the pseudo-Tang thief army, and more importantly, the archers who were still on the ship on their side were also subjected to intensive musket fire, and the casualties continued to increase.

Even the bowl cannon with protection on the bow of the ship was named one by one by the artillery of the puppet Tang thief army, and they were destroyed one by one.

This scene, in Song Zhiwen's eyes, is a sign of a big defeat!

"My lord, I'm afraid it won't work if it goes on like this!" A general beside Song Zhiwen cautiously said to Song Zhiwen: "Are we going to fight again on a certain day?" ”

Hearing this, Song Zhiwen glanced back at the general, and his sharp eyes directly made the general of the Ming army, who had the title of a thousand households, almost unstable, for fear that Song Zhiwen would say: Shake the army's heart, pull it down and behead.

But Song Zhiwen only glanced at him, and then withdrew his gaze, if someone dared to say this before, even if it was only a quarter of an hour ago, he would not hesitate to let his own soldiers pull him down and behead him.

In the midst of a big war, how can you retreat lightly!

However, at this time, he did not do so!

Because he already knows that today's battle is already lost!

The main force of recruiting troops to cross the river on the south side has been finished, and the more than 1,000 guards who crossed the river on the north side do not know where they have gone, and they have not appeared so far.

The only way to do this is to retreat first!

It's just that the purpose of the retreat is not to cross the river for the third time in the future, but to preserve the vitality and prevent the puppet Tang thief army from crossing the river to attack Xingquan Mansion.

After the puppet Tang thief army won the battle today, the next step is probably to cross the river to attack Xingquan Mansion, he doesn't believe that these thieves will be willing to nest in Zhengtai County and never come out, they will definitely want to go east to occupy the entire Xingquan Mansion.

Otherwise, what kind of rebellion will they make when they build a country and claim that the emperor, and they will continue to be their king of the mountain.

At this time, this Lanjiang River must be defended, otherwise, Xingquan Mansion will be finished, and his net worth and life will also be finished.

Song Zhiwen was also decisive, and after seeing that he could not cross the river, he quickly ordered: "The order is lifted, and we will return to the east bank!" ”

Hearing Song Zhiwen say this, the group of Ming army generals behind him all breathed a sigh of relief.

Song Zhiwen can see that there is no hope of victory in this battle, even if those generals are not very capable, they can also see it.

They were still worried before, Song Zhiwen was annoyed and angry, and continued to attack desperately, so that after those young cannon fodder were dead, it would be their turn.

They don't want to die!

After Song Zhiwen ordered a retreat, the Ming army also ran very quickly!

Thanks to the fact that most of the six or seven thousand Ming troops were still on the ship, and the disembarkation was only more than 2,000 young and strong cannon fodder, so they ran very fast.

The steps of boarding the boat are omitted, and the boat is just rowed back directly.

As for the young and strong cannon fodder who have landed and are still fighting the river beach, no one naturally cares about their life or death.

After seeing the retreat of the Ming army, Li Xuan on the hill in the rear was also greatly relieved!

Today's battle is very dangerous, if it weren't for Hao Bonian's timely defeat of the main force of the Ming army at the No. 2 ferry, they would have been defeated today.

Since the Ming army has retreated, it is natural that the battle is over, and the survivors of the abandoned Ming army's cannon fodder also surrendered quite simply on the spot and did not do anything stubborn.

When the army was cleaning up the battlefield, Li Xuan also convened the generals, on the one hand, to discuss the gains and losses of this battle as before, and on the other hand, to reward and punish in a timely manner, especially Hao Bonian, who has made great contributions, must be rewarded, and must be rewarded as soon as possible to stimulate the morale of the army.

And in the end, it is to discuss how to act next, whether to cross the river and attack Xingquan Mansion, and if so, how to fight?