Zhang Xianzhong instructed: "Then go up and try." ”

After the soldiers went to prepare, he asked Zhang Wenxiu, "How much is the loss?" It's our soldiers, and those people don't need to talk about it. ”

"More than four thousand." Zhang Wenxiu reported back.

"So much?" Zhang Xianzhong asked in surprise. Then he looked at the battlefield in front of him, densely packed with corpses, and the wounded still moaning and moving. This is only one side, there are three other sides, and these corpses and wounded make him believe that he really has lost a lot.

The people sent out this time were much smarter, without the protection of shields, and there were only two people in a group. A total of four groups were dispatched, one carrying a shelf, and the other holding a Divine Fire Crow.

The Divine Fire Raven is a bird made of bamboo chips with its wings outstretched, similar to a kite. However, the bird has two fires tied to each side, and the body is filled with gunpowder. After lighting the fire on the shelf, the Divine Fire Crow will take off, and after the fire is burned out, it will ignite the lead of the ** inside the Crow. So when the lead in the crow burns out, it will explode. As for where it was when it exploded, it could only depend on luck, it was much less reliable than the shells of the Tiger Squat Cannon used by Li Yan and them.

The four groups were assigned in four directions and ran towards the officers and troops at the same time. They knew that there were not many cannons that could shoot 200 paces, so they dispersed to improve the survival rate.

After Li Zhong got the report, he could only let the three-inch cannon strike nearby. In the other two directions, we can only see what tricks the thieves used this time. The arrow last time didn't cause them any damage, it just knocked off a soldier's iron helmet.

This time, the thieves were much more cautious, and did not dare to enter the distance of two hundred steps, but stopped at about two hundred and fifty steps. As for whether it can be beaten, it depends on luck, anyway, that He Xiucai said, this thing can hit a hundred zhang away, two hundred steps is a hundred zhang away, and two hundred and fifty steps is also a hundred zhang away.

The artillery on Li Zhong's side was replaced with shotguns to strike. Because there are only two people in the thieves, and the target is too small, although their cannons can shoot more accurately, there is no time for them to constantly adjust.

"Boom", "boom", the two guns fired at the east and west side one after another, and only the artillery from the west destroyed the wooden frame and wounded the two thieves next to them. The cannon on the east side only knocked down one thief.

At this time, the Divine Fire Crow had already been ignited, and several rogues ran backwards without looking back.

"Huh", "Huh", "Huh", three Divine Fire Crows took off from the shelf. The one to the north seemed to have something wrong, and only one side of the fire was ignited, so it was slowly hovering in the air. The Divine Fire Raven in the east seemed to have its wingspan concentrated by the shotgun, and after taking off, one of its wings turned into fragments, so it didn't fly far before it fell to the ground. Only the Divine Fire Flying Crow in the south was relatively normal, and flew towards Li Zhong and their military formation.

Li Zhong turned over and dismounted, and took out his bow from his horse. The wrench made of cow bones had been put on his thumb when he dismounted. He quickly drew his bow and arrows, aiming at the crows that were getting closer and closer. When the crow was still sixty or seventy paces away from him, Li Zhong finally shot the feather arrow.

He hadn't practiced his bow and arrow for a while, so he had to wait for the crows in the air to get closer before shooting the arrows. The feather arrow hit the duck accurately, causing the crow to turn around, and fly diagonally downward under the effect of the fire, and soon fell to the ground. The crow landed more than twenty paces away from the military formation, and the fire outside was still spewing flames.

After the fire was extinguished, Li Zhong's soldiers all looked at the flying ducks on the ground, and no one moved.

Li Zhong looked a little strange, but they had a paper shell bomb from the Tiger Squat Cannon, so they naturally knew the principle of the explosion.

"Squat!" Li Zhong immediately ordered. He didn't know how powerful the bomb was, and looking at it wasn't any smaller than their hand-dropped bomb. Twenty paces away may be a bit lethal.

The soldiers repeated Li Zhong's order loudly, and the soldiers nearby all squatted down. The sword and shield bearers in the front row also squatted down and raised their shields to protect their bodies.

With a "boom", the flying crow that landed on the ground finally exploded. It was a simple ** inside, and there was nothing else, so it had no effect on Li Zhong's troops except for the sound and black smoke.

"Boom", "boom" two explosions sounded one after another, and the other two flying crows also exploded. The farther away they are, the less important they will be.

"These guys," Li Zhong shook his head with a smile, "There are really a lot of things." ”

The captain of the pro-soldier beside him sneered and said, "It's just unreliable." ”

Zhang Xianzhong, who was in the distance, also watched the whole process, and after the three divine fire crows exploded, he said dissatisfiedly: "What is his @ mother!" It's useless at all! ”

At this time, Zhang Wenxiu reported back: "The front army came to report that the enemy was well guarded, and a hard attack could not be done, so he wanted to bypass it from downstream." ”

Zhang Xianzhong asked, "How about the losses on his side?" ”

"More than two hundred cavalry were lost, and the infantry lost little." Zhang Wenxiu replied.

"Forget it," Zhang Xianzhong waved his hand and ordered: "Let him not have to take a detour, let him come back, and we will retreat." ”

Zhang Wenxiu asked, "Do you really want to retreat?" We didn't get any benefit. ”

"How can you get the benefits every time?" Zhang Xianzhong said lightly: "The officers and troops here are too strong, and it is not easy to do it." Even if you cross the river and go to Guide Mansion, it is not easy to get out. There are many officers and soldiers in Kaifeng, and if they are surrounded, the losses will be even greater. It's lost here, let's go somewhere else and get it back. Remove! ”

Zhang Wenxiu had no choice but to give the order.

And Zhang Xianzhong did not wait for Zhang Nengqi, and his Chinese army withdrew one after another. Li Zhong's troops were all foot soldiers, and he was afraid that the thieves would kill the carbines, so he could only follow cautiously for a while.

On the way back, Zhang Xianzhong instructed Zhang Wenxiu: "You have also seen that those swarms of bees and divine fire crows are all the same, or cannons and bows and crossbows are reliable. In the future, if the people come over, we must find out the gunsmiths and gunpowder craftsmen, and give them a higher salary, so that they can make cannons and gunpowder for us. ”

"The boy wrote it down." Zhang Wenxiu agreed. After that, he asked, "What should I do with that He Xiucai?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong said disdainfully: "It's useless to be a scholar, this is not bad at all." ”

"Son, let someone deal with him." Zhang Wenxiu said immediately.

"Don't worry, just keep it for now." Zhang Xianzhong said: "There is a showman, you can use it." At least let him write and draw, and also share some of the burden with the military advisors. As long as he is willing to work for us, our Lao Zhang is not a person who cannot be tolerated. ”

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