Ding Qirui rode on his horse, stretched his neck and looked ahead, but his vision was still blocked by the spear like a dense forest, and he couldn't see the situation in front clearly, he turned around and looked up at Zuo Liangyu on the watchtower car not far behind, and shouted: "General Zuo, how is the situation?" ”

However, Zuo Liangyu was thinking about things, but he didn't answer him.

"How many people can go up in that watchtower car?" Ding Qirui asked a junior colonel beside him.

"Back to the Governor, there can be at most three or four people on that watchtower." The little colonel hurriedly replied with a fist.

Ding Qirui got off the horse and came to the bottom of the watchtower car. He glanced up and asked, "Old man go up, is it okay?" ”

"No problem, two more people can go up." The little colonel didn't quite understand what Ding Qirui meant, so he replied like this.

Ding Qirui climbed up the ladder tremblingly. With Ding Qirui's movements, the watchtower car also shook slightly, Ding Qirui's face was pale, he gritted his teeth tightly, his hands grabbed the ladder tightly, and his legs couldn't help but tremble. He tried to continue climbing, but his hands and feet were completely frozen, and he couldn't move for a moment.

Fortunately, this shaking also alarmed Zuo Liangyu, who was meditating on the watchtower, he lowered his head and saw Ding Qirui stopped on the ladder. Zuo Liangyu had more dealings with these civil officials, and after just thinking about it, he knew what was going on. He scolded downwards: "Stupid thing that can't do things! Nor did he come up to help the Governor! If the Governor falls and hurts, how many heads do you have? ”

The little colonel hurriedly climbed up, supported Ding Qirui's back behind and said, "Lord Governor, it's okay, this ladder can be strong." ”

In fact, the little colonel supported his back with one hand, and it couldn't really help Ding Qirui much, but with such a hand there, Ding Qirui's heart was a lot easier, and his hands and feet seemed to have become his own again, and he could move again. So he continued to climb up.

Zuo Liangyu squatted down on it, stretched out his hand, grabbed Ding Qirui's hand, and pulled him up. The two stood on the watchtower car, Ding Qirui held the railing tightly and calmed down first, and then looked at the opposite side, and saw that the two wings on the opposite side were pressing towards this side. The officers and soldiers also began to fire at the approaching thief army, but they didn't hit much. Occasionally, one or two shells hit the thieves, creating a small hole in the ranks of the thieves, but in the blink of an eye, the hole was filled by the hungry thieves behind.

"The Thieves...... The thieves are quite fierce! Ding Qirui said. Ding Qirui has been in the army for some time, so he naturally knows that an army that can perform like this is definitely capable of fighting, so he couldn't help but ask.

"The two wings of the thief army should be where they are strongest. They should have incorporated their most elite old thieves over the years, as well as the surrendered officers and soldiers. And what about the middle? Most of them are newly attached thieves. The thief's plan is probably to break the two wings of our army first, and then sweep over and crush our Chinese army. Zuo Liangyu responded.

"In this case, how should General Zuo respond?" Ding Qirui asked again.

It's just this question, but Zuo Liangyu didn't respond.

The rout on the left flank just now was too fast. Two battalions against one battalion, almost in the blink of an eye, they were defeated. Although relying on the cavalry to rush over to rescue the two battalions gave them a chance to escape, the soldiers who fled from the two battalions were not able to be found back in this battle. That is, these two battalions have completely lost their combat capability in this battle.

"The combat power of the right wing of the thief army seems to be a little stronger than Lao Tzu's family. It's all a little bit like, a bit like a tartar. Zuo Liangyu thought so, he was also an officer from Liaodong, and he had also fought against the Tartars back then, and was hung up and beaten by the Tartars. If you hadn't run fast enough, you might have become a member of the winning army.

As soon as he thought of this, an impulse suddenly rose in Zuo Liangyu's heart, and he almost immediately ordered the entire army to retreat. However, he immediately realized that the opposite side was not a hundred victorious and invincible Tartars, but just a group of rogues.

"It is impossible for the thief army to have so many elites, and there were only a few people when they fled into Shangluo Mountain? That is, there are officers and soldiers attached, and how many of them can be selected? This battalion must have been gathered by their elite, and they used this battalion to take the lead and show momentum to frighten our army. I don't believe it...... Just look at how fast and neatly the thief army on the left flank marches, no matter how you look at it, it is also elite...... In this case, they must be the weakest miscellaneous soldiers who remain in the center. If our army kills from the center, tears through the pike formation in the center of the enemy's army, and then throws the cavalry into it, and breaks through the center of the thief army before the two wings can no longer hold it, the enemy army will be defeated. It's just that...... If they can't attack for a while, but the two wings are defeated first, then it will be a big defeat at once, and the enemy army is waiting for work and chasing, who can outrun them? I'm afraid that not many people will be able to escape back. But where did the thief army get so many elites? This central one must be miscellaneous soldiers, our army is tired, if we fight them both flanks, most of them will suffer some losses, and when the time comes, I am afraid that this battle will not be easy to fight in the future, and if it is a stalemate, the grain road for hundreds of miles behind may not be stable......"

As soon as he thought of this, Zuo Liangyu had an idea in his heart, and he said to Ding Qirui: "The thief army will put the elite on both wings, and the center must be the newly recruited thief soldiers, and these thief soldiers must be vulnerable." Our army is now waiting for the two wings to be entangled, and then they will put the elite into the middle lane, break through the enemy formation in one fell swoop, and come to a central flower, which can defeat the thief army in one fell swoop. ”

"The general has the chance to win, so the old man doesn't have to worry." Ding Qirui smiled, "In this way, the old man will wait for the general to succeed." ”

At this time, the ranks of the two wings of the revolutionary army had approached to a place only seventy or eighty steps away from the two wings of Zuo Liangyu, and there were also a lot of tiger squat cannons in Zuo Liangyu's army, and these tiger squatting cannons opened fire one after another. At this distance, the Tiger Cannon's shotgun was enough to pierce any shield that could be carried away. This round of artillery bombardment immediately knocked down a lot of revolutionary soldiers, but the soldiers behind picked up the big shields again, and the whole formation continued to approach.

Tiger squat cannons are all made of pig iron, although cheap, but they have an obvious weakness, that is, the barrel heats up quickly and dissipates heat slowly. After one or two shots, the temperature of the barrel rises to the point where it is impossible to hold the gunpowder, and it takes a lot of time for it to cool down. Coupled with the imperial court's habit of cutting corners and thinning the barrel of the cannon, it is now necessary to wait for a while for each cannon fired before the gunpowder of the next cannon can be loaded. At such a speed, it is natural that when the enemy is facing the enemy, he can only shoot one shot.

The two sides began to make contact, and sure enough, as Zuo Liangyu estimated, the thief army pushed his two wings back one after another. However, the thief army did not launch the same devastating and unstoppable attack as before, although the thief army was advancing, but the speed of their advance was not fast.

"Sure enough, the thieves are not all that elite." Zuo Liangyu smiled at Ding Qirui and said, "Although our army was forced to retreat, it was not chaotic, and it could withstand it for a while." Now the elite of the thieves are entangled with the ordinary soldiers of our army, and our army can just put in the elite and defeat the thief army in one fell swoop. ”

But in fact, if Zuo Liangyu could get off the watchtower car and really go to the front line of the two sides, he would find that the opponent's pace slowed down, not because of much resistance, but because they took the initiative to slow down the speed of progress. As a matter of fact, the exchange ratio between the two sides is still extremely unfavorable to the officers and soldiers.

"If the general's command is determined, he is really a pillar of the country." Ding Qirui also smiled.

"Your Excellency the Governor has won the prize." Zuo Liangyu said with a smile. Then he shouted below: "Ma Shixiu, Hao Xiaozhong!" ”

The two generals stood up and hugged their fists and said, "Handsome! ”

Zuo Liangyu shouted: "Ma Shixiu, I will take the decisive victory and the two battalions of Yangwei (these two battalions are Zuo Liangyu's old foundation, and they are all his family members. Take it, go through the middle and kill the thief's gun; Hao Xiaozhong, I will give you all 2,000 cavalry, and after Ma Shixiu has killed the enemy's gun array, you will rush over with the cavalry, kill the gun array of the thief army, and go directly to cut down Huang Zide's flag for me! ”

The two generals loudly received the general's order, turned around, and after a while, they saw Ma Shixiu riding a black horse and leading two battalions of family members towards the middle road.

……

"Marshal, Zuo Liangyu took out his old foundation." Xuan Yi pointed to the approaching officers and soldiers, and smiled at Huang Zide.

"Well, look at that flag, it's the two battalions of Decisive Victory and Yangwei, this is really Zuo Liangyu's old foundation." I have also fought many battles with Zuo Liangyu, and I am naturally very clear about the old foundation in Zuo Liangyu's hands.

Niu Juming also squinted his eyes and looked over there, but his eyes were not very good, he only saw the officers and soldiers of the brigade coming towards this side, but if he wanted to say which battalion head these officers and soldiers were flying, he couldn't see it clearly.

The artillery on the side of the revolutionary army began to roar incessantly, constantly hitting the ranks of the officers and soldiers. Because of the test firing carried out beforehand, the artillery fire of the Model Army was much more accurate than that of the officers and soldiers when they had just fired at the troops who had outflanked the two flanks of the Revolutionary Army. Of course, more accurate artillery fire also brought greater damage. However, the two battalions of Decisive Victory and Yangwei really did not lose the main battalion head dominated by Zuo Liangyu's family, and they actually resisted such artillery fire and forced up without hurry. When the distance was about one hundred and fifty paces, the artillery of the revolutionary army switched to shotguns and fired another volley.

After this round of shotgunning, the artillerymen of the revolutionary army dropped their cannons, pulled up the carts with the unused gunpowder, and ran to the back of the pike. As for the cannons, and other boxes and so on, they were all scattered in their place. These things will become obstacles for the enemy to maintain the formation.