After Li Guo received the order, he first crossed the bridge with nearly 10,000 directly subordinate troops, and then went to inform the troops in front to retreat, and also ordered Shi Jincai's troops to continue to hold on.

The troops in front did not want to be there for a long time, except for the dead and wounded, pretending to be dead, the others were slowly retreating. If it weren't for the fact that the penetration of the lead bullet used by Li Yan was not too strong, the thieves in front would have collapsed long ago.

As soon as they received the order to retreat, they immediately turned around and ran backwards. And Shi Jincai was not polite, and also ran towards the bridge behind him with his troops.

"Ready, put!" Li Guo organized nearly two thousand crossbowmen on the other side of the river. After he found out that Shi Jincai also took the lead in retreating, he decisively ordered the launch.

Feather arrows and crossbow arrows swished towards the crowd on the opposite bank, deploying Shi Jincai who had retreated, and the battalion leaders who had received the order to retreat shot down a lot. A scream erupted in the retreating team, and at the same time, the rout was temporarily stopped.

As soon as Li Guo raised his hand, his own soldiers shouted at the same time: "Retreat in an orderly manner!" Hold on to where you are without being ordered! Dare to disobey orders, and there will be no mercy! ”

The troops who had been ordered to retreat immediately rushed towards the bridge in a chaotic manner, but Shi Jincai and his henchmen stood in place and did not dare to retreat any further. Naturally, some of Shi Jincai's subordinates mixed with other troops to cross the bridge, but they were not very conspicuous in the chaotic crowd.

Shi Jincai had no choice but to stand in place with his men. Those minions may be fine when they retreat, but he will be dead if he does.

"Hold everyone in for me!" Shi Jincai roared angrily: "Detain those tiger squat cannons for me!" Don't let them run! ”

"Yes!" His henchmen said yes and immediately complied.

Although Shi Jincai failed to allocate fields to his subordinates like Li Yan, there was nothing to say about eating and drinking. Armor and weapons, he also tried to get the best for his subordinates. And he also got a lot of gold and silver treasures, which were distributed among his men. He made it clear that this battle will be fought sooner or later, no matter what the result is, he must always praise himself for his worth, and he will not fight for his life in vain.

This is different from Li Zicheng's policy of confiscating all the soldiers' property, so that the soldiers under his command feel that Shi Jin is really good to them, so they are willing to endure hardships and work hard during training and combat. Even if they die in battle, their families will be able to get their belongings and be protected by Shi Jincai. However, they handed over most of the money to Shi Jincai for secret safekeeping, so as not to be searched by other officials.

At this time, Shi Jincai's subordinates were like boulders in a river, holding on to the retreating crowd, allowing the crowd to rush past them.

"It's a strong army," Yuan Zongdi said regretfully: "It's a pity to spend it like this." ”

Li Guo said expressionlessly: "The others on the other side can't stand it, but he can carry it for a while." It depends on whether Mr. Liu can cross the river faster. ”

Li Yan also took advantage of the chaos of the thieves and began to approach the thieves. Now that all the thieves' artillery has been left on the ground, it is still safe at this time.

The infantry began to advance first, while the artillery moved out of front bunker before following. This time the soldiers did not carry dirt bags to advance, and the enemy had no weapons left to threaten them, so the bunkers were no longer needed.

Shi Jincai and his subordinates are now lying on the ground. He reminded from time to time: "Lie down, lie down and don't move!" Watch the arquebuses and fuses and don't set the bomb on fire! ”

They had detained a few gunners, but those people were willing to stay here for life or death, leaving the tiger squat cannon and ammunition and running away. Fortunately, it is not difficult for this Tiger Squat Cannon to fire, and their Tiger Squat Cannon does not have a setting to adjust the angle, as long as the direction is correct.

Li Yan's troops continued to advance, and everyone didn't care about the thieves who were lying on the ground and had no fighting spirit, nor did they regard the six or seven tiger squat cannons on the ground as a threat. Including Li Yan, they all thought that the thieves on the bank of the river were no longer a threat, and they just had to go over and capture the prisoners.

"Bai Shixiong," Li Yan commanded, "take the cavalry to patrol south along the river and prevent the enemy from crossing the river from other places." I will send Wang Renfu with infantry to support you. ”

"Yes!" Bai Shixiong clenched his fists and took the order. Immediately he left the ranks with the cavalry and ran to the south.

The more than 3,000 people under Wang Renfu's command on the edge of the line also stopped, and then changed to a marching column, and also drove south with six artillery pieces.

Li Yan's troops continued to advance without encountering any resistance from the enemy.

Shi Jincai saw that Li Yan's troops were only eighty steps away from him, so he immediately ordered: "Let them light the fire and launch." ”

"Okay." His own soldiers crawled to give orders.

"Once you've lit the fuse, just put the shell in the barrel. Remember, there is the protruding side facing down. Shi Jincai instructed. He has seen a lot under Li Yan's command, and he knows how to operate it at a glance. Although he had already told the men who had launched, he still had to ask for it again at this time.

"Tong", "Tong" sounded a few times, a few puffs of white smoke came out, and a few shells flew out of the muzzle of the cannon and flew towards the army formation where Li Yan was advancing.

When the thieves were about to launch, Li Yan had already seen their movements, so he immediately asked the troops to stop advancing, but it was too late to retreat.

As soon as the troops stopped, the shells fell. Some fell in front of the line, and some fell directly in the line.

There was a "boom", and as soon as a shell landed in front of the team, it exploded. Fortunately, the sword and shield bearers in the front row squatted down in time and protected their bodies with shields, so that the troops did not suffer many casualties. Only two pikemen were wounded, but they were wearing chain mail, and only bruises.

"Squat!" The captains of the troops shouted the order: "Throw the bombs out!" ”

Without the officer's orders, the soldiers would immediately pick up the bombs when they saw them around and throw them at the front of the group, while the other soldiers immediately crouched down.

"Boom", "boom" a few times, accompanied by the screams of some soldiers. Several bombs exploded one after another. Some of the bombs were thrown out of the ranks, while others exploded in the middle of the ranks, and the iron inside wounded the soldiers around them. Fortunately, only five or six bombs came at us, so the casualties were not large.

Li Yan immediately ordered: "Tiger squat cannon, one hundred steps, fire immediately!" ”

Li Yan's tiger squat cannon was not ready to be fired, and Shi Jincai also exploded here. With a "bang", a tiger squat cannon was blown to the ground, and the frightened people around crawled away.

It turned out that a soldier still didn't remember Shi Jincai's instructions when he fired it, and loaded the ****** of the cannonball upwards. Fortunately, the quality of the new tiger squat cannon is excellent, and after strict inspection, if it is still the original tiger squat cannon of the official army, it may be blown up.

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