The two groups of cavalry marched east with each other to give way to the battlefield, and Li Xin signaled to Gao Ligong on the right flank: Brother, it's time for us to play!

The left and right wings of the Mandate of Heaven Army marched together, and Gao Mingheng was forced to respond to the enemy, but the Ming army met the Mandate of Heaven Army on the way to the march, and there was no complete formation, but only lined up to meet the battle.

Soon after the Chengtian battalion was expanded to four regiments, Gao Ligong wanted to repay the governor with his military exploits, although the recruits had only fought once in Zhujiazhai, he still gave the soldiers a death order to fight to the death and not retreat, and to defeat the left flank of the Ming army.

Li Xin's independent battalion was formed earlier, and it was the first to be formed after the Mandate of Heaven Army came to Henan, and the soldiers participated in many battles, and they were familiar with each other and cooperated tacitly.

Just when the front of the independent battalion was about to fight fiercely with the left flank of the Ming army, Liu Jianyi's division of the third regiment and Ma Youyi's division of the fourth regiment suddenly broke away from the battlefield, continued to advance from the outside, went around to the rear of the Ming army's flank, and then outflanked the right flank of the Ming army in a roundabout way.

Gao Mingheng was taken aback when he saw that the officers and soldiers on the right wing were surrounded by the Heavenly Mandate Army, and visually, the number of infantry of the Heavenly Mandate Army was at least twice that of the officers and soldiers, if the officers and soldiers were surrounded by the Heavenly Mandate Army......

However, the right flank of the officers and soldiers has been surrounded by the Mandate of Heaven Army, and even Gao Mingheng has been isolated, and now there is a military order, and it cannot be conveyed to the right flank!

Gao Mingheng watched as the Heavenly Mandate Army rushed towards the Ming army in the form of most of the encirclement, and at this time there was a small half-opening, and if they retreated, most of the soldiers could withdraw from this opening.

However, as soon as the soldiers came into contact, if they chose to retreat at this time, the soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army would definitely pursue them, and the Ming army would be defeated......

The Mandate of Heaven army occupies a huge numerical advantage, and if it chooses to fight, the Ming army will be defeated sooner or later, and if it withdraws now, it will not escape the fate of rout!

What to do?

Although Gao Mingheng was extremely anxious, he was hesitant, knowing that the Heavenly Mandate Army was waiting in the east of the city, and he should not have left the city at that time. However, without going out of the city to greet him, Liu Zeqing's troops were only a few thousand soldiers, not only could not transport food to the city, but I was afraid that even the city wall could not be approached.

Thinking like this, Gao Mingheng was shocked into a cold sweat in his heart, is the siege of Kaifeng really unsolvable?

The battle is ongoing, a large-scale battle has broken out between the Mandate of Heaven Army and the Ming Army, and on the right wing of the Mandate of Heaven Army, Gao Ligong found that Li Xinbu on the left flank had almost surrounded the Ming Army, knowing that he had lost the upper hand strategically, and if he wanted to make up for it, he had to attack one way with all his might.

Although the third and fourth regiments of the Chengtian Battalion were not formed for a long time, they were all soldiers of Zuo Liangyu's troops, and they had already had basic drills and participated in countless battles.

After joining the Mandate of Heaven Army and receiving new training, the biggest gain of the soldiers of these two regiments is the change in their thinking and understanding: if they want to reward silver, they can only have military merits; If you want to be promoted, you only have military merit, and if you want to be appreciated by the top level of the Heavenly Mandate Army, you still need military merit!

No one is willing to give up on today's fighting opportunities.

Under the leadership of the regiment commanders Wei Ziming and Luo Shiqing, the soldiers of these two regiments were extremely fierce. As soon as the two sides came into contact, they rushed forward desperately.

The soldiers who oppose the water are the most cruel to their former companions!

The battlefield is like an invisible meat grinder, harvesting the lives of soldiers on both sides.

Zhuo Guangyu and Xia Tingyou saw that the soldiers of the third and fourth regiments were in the limelight, how could their two regiments be left behind? The two kept shouting at their soldiers.

The soldiers of the third and fourth regiments preemptively fought with the Ming army and occupied the frontal battlefield, and the soldiers of the first and second regiments could only assault from both sides and wrap themselves up to the Ming army.

The more people the two sides came into contact with, the more fierce the battle became, and the numerical superiority of the Mandate of Heaven Army became more prominent, and before they knew it, they had gained the upper hand.

Gao Mingheng found that not only the right wing, but even the officers and soldiers on the left wing were also surrounded by the Mandate of Heaven Army.

Could it be that the officers and soldiers were defeated on the battlefield like this?

He looked at the officers and soldiers on both wings, all of them fell into passivity, and were gradually surrounded by the Mandate of Heaven army. Compared with the momentum of the Heavenly Mandate Army, the officers and soldiers are retreating one after another, and if they are not afraid of the soldiers who are supervising the battle behind, I am afraid that they will turn around and flee.

The Mandate of Heaven Army not only has an advantage in numbers, but also has a slightly higher combat effectiveness than the Ming Army, and stresses coordinated operations, which is like the Mandate of Heaven Army using the power of small flags and general flags to meet the individual soldiers of the Ming Army, and the advantage on the battlefield is even more obvious.

On the left flank of the Ming army, Gao Ligong's department continued to attack from both sides, wrapping it layer by layer, and it looked like it was about to swallow up most of the Ming army, and the right wing of the Ming army, Li Xinbu's independent battalion was originally aimed at encircling the Ming army, breaking through each one, and annihilating them all, and at this time almost more than 10,000 Ming troops were completely wrapped in the core.

The encirclement was not a layer, and within the entire encirclement, the Ming army was divided into several strands, forming a smaller encirclement.

The battle was fierce, the wounded soldiers were all over the ground, screaming incessantly, and the warm blood stained the grass red, but these wounded soldiers were not the protagonists of the battlefield, or rather, they were temporarily forgotten by the battlefield.

The battle within the encirclement is the center of attention.

Huang Shu, the magistrate, found that although the officers and soldiers were desperate to kill the enemy, they were gradually surrounded by the Heavenly Mandate Army, which had the advantage of strength, and he couldn't help frowning and said, "My lord, if it goes on like this, the officers and soldiers will be defeated......

Gao Mingheng said coldly: "What does Lord Huang mean, is he going to withdraw the army?" ”

"My lord, if you don't withdraw the army, the soldiers will suffer too many casualties in a while, and I am afraid that you will not be able to withdraw if you want to!" Huang Shucai didn't care whether the battlefield outside the city could be won in the end, these soldiers were the main force guarding Kaifeng City, once they were lost outside the city, what should Kaifeng City do?

Now is not the time to compete for attrition.

Even if you defeat the Mandate of Heaven army outside the city, will you be able to relieve the siege of Kaifeng? What's more, there is no hope of winning at all......

The Mandate of Heaven is like a weed in a field, it can't be killed!

Huang Shu knew in his heart that these officers and soldiers outside the city, the real soldiers were only more than 10,000 people, most of them were recruited social soldiers and volunteer social soldiers, the training time was insufficient, and the combat effectiveness needed to be improved, even in the face of the same number of Heavenly Mandate Army, there was no certainty of victory, let alone twice the number of Heavenly Mandate Army!

"Lord Huang, I'm afraid it's inappropriate to withdraw the army now, right?" Gao Mingheng knew that the officers and soldiers were at a disadvantage, but he was still a little unwilling, so he said: "Liu Zeqing crossed the river to reinforce Kaifeng, and now he is waiting for us to respond, if we withdraw the army now......"

Huang Shu had a gloomy face, "My lord, let alone answering Liu Zeqing, if you can keep these soldiers, it will be an eye-opener," after a pause, he finally said: "What if the soldiers suffer too many casualties and Kaifeng City?" ”

"Kaifeng City?" Gao Mingheng was taken aback, didn't he take over Liu Zeqing's troops on the bank of the Yellow River to defend the city? If these soldiers in the city are exhausted, how can they hold Kaifeng City with the thousands of soldiers in Liu Zeqing's department?

He is the governor of Henan, and his main responsibility is to hold Kaifeng City, as for Liu Zeqing, it is to strengthen the defense ability of Kaifeng City, if for the sake of these thousands of soldiers, he will lose more soldiers, wouldn't he put the cart before the horse?

Gao Mingheng glanced at the left and right wings, the officers and soldiers on the left flank were almost completely surrounded by the Heavenly Mandate Army, and the right flank was only a hole of less than five hundred paces.

According to the current situation, after a few moments, perhaps the right wing will also be completely surrounded......

Gao Mingheng suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, he didn't think much about it, and hurriedly ordered the heralds beside him: "Quickly give the order, withdraw the army!" ”

"Yes, sir!" The herald seemed to have been waiting for this sentence for a long time, and without the slightest delay, he quickly ran away.

Huang Shu didn't relax at all, "My lord, we can withdraw to the city, what about the cavalry?" He glanced far to the east, and saw only billowing dust and sand, but he could not see the cavalry on either side.

Once Gao Mingheng decided to withdraw the army, he was very resolute, "Lord Huang, the cavalry has its own cavalry method, and the infantry here can't help, let the herald inform Gao Qian, let him get out of the battlefield and return to the city as soon as possible!" ”

Although Huang Shu was reluctant to cavalry, Gao Mingheng's words were also true, the cavalry was fast, the movement was relatively free, and the infantry could not keep up with their pace at all, besides, the infantry of the officers and soldiers had no defensive formation at all, even if they pressed up, in front of the cavalry of the Mandate of Heaven, they were just lambs to be slaughtered.

However, thinking of the dilemma faced by the officers and soldiers, he couldn't help but worry about the cavalry: the Heavenly Mandate Army was obviously fully prepared, not only the infantry, but also the cavalry, which was twice as many as the officers and soldiers, and Gao Qian's situation was probably not very good......

Huang Shu said silently while traveling: Gao Qian, the situation on the battlefield can only be grasped by yourself, I hope you can bring the cavalry back!

The infantry of the Ming army began to break through, and Chen Yongfu, the chief soldier of Kaifeng, personally commanded the Ming army on the left flank, broke through the defense line of the Mandate of Heaven, chased the banner of the Chinese army, and quickly approached the east city gate.

The Ming army on the right flank was entangled by Li Xinbu, and although the encirclement was not completely closed, the soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army were like flowing water, and they chased the soldiers of the Ming army and attacked in the direction of the city gate.

Gao Ligong is also not to be left behind, most of the Ming army has broken through the encirclement inside and outside, but the Chengtian battalion has not given up, and the pursuit and slaughter of the rout have always been the specialty of the Mandate of Heaven Army!

Gao Mingheng, Huang Shu and others had fled into the city gate cave, and the city hurriedly opened the door to let them go, and the soldiers also followed to grab the drawbridge, but compared with the tens of thousands of Ming troops, the drawbridge was too narrow, and many soldiers were squeezed down the moat.

Looking at the soldiers one after another, Gao Mingheng frowned, he could see clearly from the city, in addition to strangling the remaining officers and soldiers in the encirclement, the Heavenly Mandate Army also divided most of the men to chase and kill the officers and soldiers who fled.

The soldiers who escaped the drawbridge and entered the city gate should have escaped with their lives, but the part of the soldiers who were pursued by the Mandate of Heaven Rank Tail ......

Gao Mingheng didn't say a word, he kept watching the wolf-like Heavenly Mandate Army chasing and killing the officers and soldiers, and his heart was full of pain, but there was nothing he could do, the only thing he could do was to open the city gate and let the officers and soldiers outside the city enter the city.

The soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army approached the suspension bridge step by step, and it was already less than a hundred steps, and Huang Shu was so anxious that his face turned white, "Your Excellency, ......"

Gao Mingheng gritted his teeth, his right hand waved down violently, and the defenders at the head of the city slowly raised the drawbridge, and the soldiers who had climbed the drawbridge rolled and fell into the city one by one, fortunately, the city gate was not closed, and they still had a chance to enter the city.