Zhu Zhihai looked at the more than 2,000 pseudo-Tang thief troops in front of him who had already listed the battle formation, and to be honest, he didn't understand it very much.

His incomprehension is not that he doesn't understand why these pseudo-Tang thief army suddenly appeared under the city of Lipingfu, in fact, he got the news yesterday that the vanguard of the pseudo-Tang thief army is about to arrive in Lipingfu City, and this morning he also got the news from the scouts, saying that there are more than 2,000 pseudo-Tang thief troops arrived under the city of Lipingfu!

Therefore, he was not surprised by the appearance of the puppet Tang thief army, and he would not frown because of this, this is just more than 2,000 puppet Tang thief army, could it really pose any actual threat to his army of more than 30,000 people?

The reason why he frowned was because these pseudo-Tang thief troops hadn't escaped yet, and they didn't run away, and they also put up a formation to block in front of him, which clearly wanted to prevent him from leading his army into Liping Mansion City.

What exactly gives them the courage to dare to use their mantis arms as a car!

Do they think that with their more than 2,000 men, they can really hold back their army of more than 30,000 people?

At this time, a person stepped forward and said: "Lord Governor, the puppet Tang thief army in front dares to try to prevent our army from entering the city, and the lower official is willing to lead the headquarters as the vanguard, defeat the thief army, and offer the head of the thief army leader to your lord!" ”

Zhu Zhihai turned his head and glanced at it, and saw that it was Chang Pingchang, the commander of the Longli Weidu under his command, and seeing that this person was eager to fight, he immediately nodded slightly and said: "Since Lord Chang took the initiative to ask for battle, then go ahead, this official will send you another 2,000 elite soldiers to help in the war, remember, you must not fall into the prestige of the imperial court, and you must crush the stubborn resistance of the thief army in one battle!" ”

The reason why Zhu Zhihai agreed to Chang Pingchang's invitation to fight so happily was naturally not simply because Chang Pingchang took the initiative to ask for battle, but because he felt that at this time, his side needed a victory to boost the morale of the army.

Since the uprising of the puppet Tang Dynasty thief army, even more than 20,000 people of the Ming army on the North Road have been defeated by the thief army, which has more or less made many civil and military officials of the Ming army, especially the soldiers on the front line, have some fear.

At this time, since someone took the initiative to ask for battle, it was not easy for him to postpone it, so as not to chill the hearts of the soldiers!

But more importantly, Long Liwei's strength is not bad among the more than 30,000 people under his command.

In his army of more than 30,000 people, if you count the nearly 3,000 Ming troops in the city of Liping Mansion at this time, the total number is about 37,000 people!

In addition to the 8,000 recruits, there were about 13,000 guards, and these 13,000 guards were drawn from more than a dozen guards, large and small, and many of them were as few as a few hundred or as many as a thousand.

Only this Long Liwei has more troops, more than 2,800, barely 3,000 people.

It is a relatively powerful guard force among the many guards under his command.

Of course, the puppet Tang thief army has won successive battles, and the previous examples of fighting are more with less, Zhu Zhihai to be honest, there are still great doubts about whether Chang Pingchang's almost 3,000 people can defeat the thief army in person.

Since the puppet Tang thief army was able to win successive battles and win more with less many times, it must have something extraordinary, so he didn't dare to despise it, and sent an additional 2,000 people to Chang Pingchang on the spot.

If he sends him another 2,000 guards, then it will be nearly 5,000 people, which is twice as many as them compared to the 2,500 puppet Tang thieves on the opposite side, and he personally led 30,000 troops to plunder him for him!

This battle, not to mention nine out of ten, but there should not be too many accidents!

Even if the puppet Tang thief army is really so strong that it can block the attack of its own 5,000 people, when the time comes, it will be a big deal to send more troops, if 5,000 people can't do it, 10,000, and if 10,000 people can't do it, 30,000, he still doesn't believe that these puppet Tang thief army is iron.

Chang Pingchang saw that Zhu Zhihai agreed to his invitation to fight, and also sent an additional 2,000 people to himself, so he immediately couldn't hide the joy on his face and said: "Lord Sun, please rest assured, the lower official will definitely offer you the head of the leader of the thief army!" ”

Zhu Zhihai nodded slightly and said lightly: "Well, go ahead!" ”

Immediately, Chang Pingchang turned over and got on the horse, and then gathered the people of the headquarters!

At the same time, Zhu Zhihai also turned around and ordered a few lives from a group of generals behind him, asking them to lead their headquarters to support Chang Pingchang in the battle, and obey Chang Pingchang's command!

When the Ming army deployed troops, the Third Infantry Regiment of the Tang New Army on the opposite side was also continuing to adjust its formation.

At the same time, the soldiers are also the best preparation before the battle!

The musketeers lit the arquebus, loaded the bullets in advance, and the heavy armored infantry such as the heavy spearmen and the heavy armor sword and shield soldiers began to wear armor weighing dozens of catties with the help of their comrades, and then raised spears, shields, waist knives and other weapons.

The artillerymen in the battalion artillery team are nervously pre-planning the shooting Zhu Yuan and equipping it in advance, and the battalion artillery team under the Third Infantry Regiment has a total of two 150-pound battalion guns and four 100-pound bowl guns captured from the Ming army.

At this time, these six shotguns have all been laid out, just waiting for the Ming army to enter the effective firing range!

More than 50 cavalrymen belonging to the cavalry team directly under the infantry regiment also quietly led the horses to the rear of the array, and next to this small cavalry, there was a grenadier team!

Compared with the frightened and frightened looks on the faces of ordinary infantrymen, these grenadiers are holding their heads high one by one, and their commander, Zhou Daniu, the captain of the third grenadier team, is mobilizing them before the battle!

"We, the grenadiers, from the first day of our establishment, have been the strongest of the many units of the Datang New Army! Only the bravest and toughest soldiers will be selected into our grenadier unit, and these toughest soldiers are you!

In the original Lanjiang Campaign, we had no more than 100 grenadiers, but we annihilated more than 1,000 enemies, crushed the enemy's intensive charge several times, and made great contributions to the revival of our Tang Dynasty!

And today, it will be time for us grenadiers to make a name for themselves again! ”

Speaking of this, he paused slightly, and then shouted: "Grenadier will not retreat!" ”

The soldiers under his command also shouted in unison, and with confidence and even fanaticism: "The grenadiers will not retreat!" ”

Song Tianbiao, who was behind, looked at the high morale of the grenadiers, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart, these grenadiers really deserve to be the most elite troops in my Tang Dynasty's division! It is rare to be able to maintain such a high morale under such a critical situation!

He said that the grenadiers were the most elite troops of the Tang Dynasty, which is not too much at all!

From the first day of its establishment, the Grenadier has determined that this class is an elite class!

First of all, there are soldiers, basically every one of them is tall and big, and the height and physical fitness must be the best soldiers to be selected for the grenadier team!

This is mainly because the grenade is still relatively heavy, in order to maintain its power, the weight of the grenade is relatively large, to throw such a heavy grenade out of more than 20 meters or even 30 meters, to be honest, ordinary soldiers can not do it at all, only tall people, large horses, excellent physical fitness soldiers can do it.

At the same time, in addition to physical fitness, the soldiers in the grenadier unit also have very high requirements for the courage of the soldiers!

Because although the grenadiers are also a kind of musketeers, they rarely use muskets to fight, most of them run directly to within 30 meters of the enemy, and then throw grenades, in this process, the grenadier troops can not return fire, can only passively withstand the enemy's fire, and when they reach the distance where they can throw grenades, they have to be bold in the process of throwing grenades!

In these days, grenades have to be lit first, and grenades that rely on the fire rope to detonate are honestly difficult to control the explosion time!

And in order to avoid the enemy picking up the grenade and throwing it back, after lighting the ignition rope, you have to hold it in your hand for a while!

If you hold a grenade that will explode at any time in your hand, and you can't shake your hand, otherwise you won't be able to throw it later, or if it simply falls to the ground, then this grenade will most likely explode in your own queue!

In this way, it will be extremely embarrassing!

Fighting with such a dangerous weapon, and having to passively withstand enemy fire on the way, to be honest, if the soldier's courage is not enough, it is difficult to persevere, even with extremely strict military discipline!

So in the grenadier unit, when selecting soldiers, there are two things that cannot be ignored, one is physical fitness, and the other is courage!

To put it mildly, only the toughest and bravest soldiers can be selected for the grenadier unit!

Based on this alone, it is not an exaggeration to say that they are the most elite troops in the Datang New Army!

What's more, they also have more training subjects, heavier training tasks, and they also surpass ordinary soldiers in terms of combat quality!

Such elite grenadiers, in the Tang Dynasty, there are only more than 400 people in total, and at present, only the First Infantry Corps, the Second Infantry Regiment, and the Third Infantry Regiment have three complete grenadier teams, and the remaining more than 100 people are scattered in the Fourth Infantry Regiment, the Fifth Infantry Regiment, and the Guards Battalion.

More than 400 soldiers selected from tens of thousands of people are not an exaggeration to say that they are elite!

Whether this battle can be sustained or not, I'm afraid it still depends on the performance of the grenadiers!

Seeing that the Ming army was pouring out nearly 5,000 people one after another, Song Tianbiao immediately nodded to Captain Zhou Daniu, the captain of the grenadier team!

Zhou Daniu, who was riding on a war horse, immediately shouted the order: "The grenadiers obey the order and walk in unison!" ”

Immediately, the grenadier corps, which consisted of only 100 men, marched forward in a standard formation of three columns, and when they marched, they were not much different from ordinary musketeers, and they were marching to the drumbeat of the military parade.

But unlike ordinary infantrymen, when they went to the battlefield, they did not have the slightest fear, but still had confidence on their faces!