The Qing soldiers' melee attacks made the crossbowmen behind them a little flustered, and they didn't even have time to pick up their spears to fill their positions. The Qing soldiers took the opportunity to attack the pikemen on either side, their heavy weapons crashing against the chain mail with a rattling sound, and the clatter of broken bones, mixed with the screams of a change of tone.

The Qing soldiers knew that as long as they could kill a few officers and soldiers in the gap, the others would flee on their own. This officer army is very good, it can already be compared to the elite soldiers of Liaodong in the early years, and it can hold out in close combat for so long without breaking and escaping.

"Shoot them in the legs and feet! Shoot their legs and feet! I don't know which soldier reminded loudly. The crossbowmen in the back finally reacted and began to fire crossbow arrows at the retreating feet of the Qing soldiers.

But the crossbowmen were vulnerable without the protection of the pikemen, and before they could fire a few bolts, they were smashed to the ground by the roaring Qing soldiers. Those Qing soldiers were like monsters, with crossbow arrows stuck in their legs and feet, and they could continue to wield their weapons and limp at them.

Although the crossbowmen were afraid, the strict training and strict military discipline kept them from turning around and fleeing. More importantly, they knew that there were not many Qing soldiers who had come, only twenty or thirty, and they had not yet been able to panic them.

While the Qing soldiers were attacking the crossbowmen, a pikeman finally turned his spear and stabbed the spear at the Qing soldier from the side and back. No matter how powerful the Qing soldiers are, there is no way to block them. The lethality of a spear is much greater than that of a crossbow arrow, and the internal organs of the body are likely to be punctured, and the palm-sized wound will quickly cause the Qing soldiers to bleed dry.

After a while, more than a dozen Qing soldiers finally fell to the ground, and only one of them retreated, and then stepped on the water of the Yellow River and ran east without looking back.

Li Mu, who was on the river embankment, kept frowning, he didn't expect the Qing soldiers to be so strong in combat. Those Qing soldiers were all big-shouldered, round-waisted, burly and strong. The weapons used are also heavy blunt weapons, not chopping, but smashing, what kind of armor is useless, and the steel whip used by the cavalry has an effect.

Only a dozen Qing soldiers were able to break through his array, causing a lot of casualties to his troops. As far as he could see now, there should be no less than twenty or thirty.

"Get that guy back." Li Mu calmly gave orders to his own soldiers amid the rumbling sound of artillery.

"Yes!" The captain of the pro-soldiers clenched his fists and agreed, immediately turned over his horse, took six pro-soldiers down the embankment, and chased after the fleeing Qing soldiers.

The little Franky gun had stopped firing, and now it was the three-inch gun firing. They also had the aim of sinking the ferry. The boatman on a ferry boat was killed, and the boat swirled like a leaf in the gentle river and drifted downstream.

"Notify the downstream and stop the boat." Li Mu commanded calmly again.

He had to consider asking Li Yan for help. Only more than a dozen Qing soldiers have such combat power, and if the Qing army wants to cross the river, he will not be able to defend the river. Even the current troops have no way to fight with the Qing soldiers in the field, so they can only hold on to each fortress, which is a very dangerous thing.

His own soldiers rode in pursuit of the fleeing enemy, and soon pursued him. However, the Qing soldier threw his short axe as he fled, took off the big bow from his shoulder, and suddenly turned around and shot an arrow into the head of the horse of the captain of Li Mou's own army.

The war horse neighed and rose to the ground, and fell with a bang. Fortunately, the captain of the pro-soldier reacted quickly and jumped to the side in time, so that he was not pressed by the war horse.

The Qing soldier did not stop, and stood in place and shot arrows at them in succession and speed, all of them towards the war horses. They control their horses to change their course and dodge feathered arrows. Fortunately, their horses were all covered with felt, otherwise they would all have been seriously injured.

"Shoot him!"

"Shoot!"

The soldiers were furious and shouted. They drew their handcuffs from their blankets, pulled their hammers back, and shot projectiles in the direction of the Qing soldiers.

"Bang", "bang", "bang" a few gunshots, and the Qing soldier finally fell into the water with a pop.

Several people dismounted and checked the injuries of the war horse before going over to bring back the corpse of the Qing soldier.

But the Qing soldier suddenly stretched out his hand, grabbed the person who was about to carry him, and grabbed the neck of the officer with one hand. He was injured in the waist and couldn't turn over, so he could only lie down like this and choke the neck of the officer.

Several of Li Mu's personal soldiers were stunned, but they didn't expect that this Qing soldier was still alive, and their weapons were all hanging on the horse. At this time, the captain of the pro-soldier ran over and stabbed the long knife into the body of the Qing soldier from the side, and the Qing soldier finally snorted and lost the strength in his hand.

"No weapons! This is the battlefield! The captain of the pro-soldier drew his long knife and stood there looking at the Qing soldier. He roared at his subordinates: "Go back and give ten lashes to one person!" ”

The subordinates didn't say much, and hurriedly went back to get the long knives and handcuffs, and then came over to check the situation of the Qing soldiers. They found that the Qing soldiers were dead, so they had to bring the body back.

At this time, many people came to the north bank, all of whom were not wearing cotton armor, kneeling on the shore one by one, crying loudly: "Master, you died a miserable death!" The minions will surely avenge you! Master, let's go! ”

These were the slaves that the Qing soldiers brought to the battle, each with two or three, and if it was the prince Baylor or something, he would bring even more slaves. They are not soldiers, but they do go into battle when they fight. The main thing is to help their masters to snatch and take care of the spoils of war, so many people, livestock, cloth, silk, gold, silver and jewelry, it is not safe to hand them over to others.

Li Mu finally got the report that in this small battle, 16 people were injured and 27 were killed. This is still when the Qing soldiers were crossing the river, a boat was sunk, and only 29 people went ashore. They were all ready on their side, with artillery to help. But the Qing soldiers had nothing, no artillery, no bows and arrows, no cavalry. He didn't dare to think about what the result would be if he fought a decisive battle with tens of thousands of Qing soldiers in the field.

Li Mou instructed: "Notify all the ferries along the river, closely monitor the situation, and the cavalry must earnestly patrol along the river and not be lazy." The defenders of each county town were prepared, and when they found signs that the Qing troops had crossed the river, they immediately reinforced them and reported to the capital city. Notify Kaifeng, draw a battalion of troops, and four three-inch guns to come over. Three days must be rushed to the capital city, otherwise military law will be engaged. ”

After he returned to Fucheng, he personally wrote a letter asking for help to Li Yan. Nanyang has not yet trained carrier pigeons, but the situation is serious, he does not know whether the Qing soldiers will cross the river in a big way, so he had to use carrier pigeons to send them to Runing first, and then let Runing transfer them to Nanyang.

What he has to do now is to try to guard the river defense as much as possible before Li Yan leads the reinforcements over, so as not to let the Qing soldiers come over and harm their fundamental place.

...