The earth-shattering explosions, as well as the screams of the crowd, made the chaotic thieves even more confused. In particular, the thieves who were in the smoke and dust of the explosion were terrified, and they ran around without knowing the direction, and some even ran towards Li Yan's team. Of course, these confused people will not end well, and after a volley, there will be no one who can stand again.

Tian Yong, who had already run out first, heard the explosion, and when he looked back, he found that a large area of the camp was shrouded in smoke and dust, and the people who were still inside and did not escape were all panicking and jumping around.

Before he could recover from the shock, the explosion of "boom", "boom", "boom" began to sound again, and immediately after that, a large crowd rushed out of the camp towards him.

Tian Yong regretted a little, regretting that he shouldn't have provoked Li Yan. There were nearly 20,000 people when he came, but only a little more than 10,000 people came here to rest. After tonight, I don't know how many more. There were more than 6,000 people in his own team before, and more than 5,000 fled here, so he didn't lose much. But now there are only a thousand people left around, and I don't know if the others can be gathered again.

"Let's go, let's go back to the old camp first." Tian Yong reluctantly ordered.

These subordinates, who were called up by him in advance, all fled in the direction of the old camp in frustration. Those who had just run out of the camp naturally followed their footsteps and fled in the direction of the old camp.

Li Yan ordered: "The whole team moves forward, and the line is pushed flat." Pay attention to the distance between each other and take care of each other. ”

The team began to move forward, and the sword and shield men watched warily ahead, warning them if they spotted a rogue coming from a distance. They stopped, then crouched down with the pikemen and handed the thieves to the crossbowmen behind. If they are attacked by a rogue who suddenly appears in front of them, then they will have to work with the pikemen to take out these stragglers.

However, the battle scene rarely happened, and most of the time the panicked thief ran in the wrong direction and was shot by the crossbowmen from a distance. Either the thieves who were injured and fell to the ground were dealt with by the soldiers who passed by. The thieves did not organize a counterattack at all, all of them were fleeing, some following the crowd, some hiding in the dark, but almost no counterattack.

The team slowly pushed forward, passing through the bandits' camping area. Three or four hundred thieves who had been hiding, and there were six or seven hundred corpses on the ground, some of whom were not only killed or wounded, but also some who were trampled to death.

Li Yan asked his own soldiers to track down the thieves so that the cavalry could rest. Then let the troops rest nearby and wait until dawn to continue the pursuit. He has to keep his strength, and he can't kill all the thieves at once, otherwise the later scenes will not be easy to sing.

Li Mu came over and frowned: "This tiger squat cannon, that is, it looks powerful, and it is like that." If our troops had gone straight in, there would have been more thieves killed and injured than they are now. ”

Li Yan was also helpless, nodded and said, "Well, it seems that this tiger squat cannon is more useful when defending." ”

"Alas, it's useless!" Li Mu said regretfully.

At this time, they saw four gunners carefully carrying a tiger squat cannon and retreating, curious to go over to see what was going on. But as soon as they got a few steps closer, they were stopped by several gunners.

"General, it's dangerous there, please don't come close." The gunner prompted.

"What's wrong?" Li Yan frowned and asked.

The gunner replied: "The shell of that cannon has not been fired, it is still in the barrel, and it may explode at any time." ”

At this time, Wang Renjie also rushed over and explained: "The cannonball ignited the lead and put it in, but it was not discharged, and it is being processed now." ”

"How?" Li Mu asked curiously.

Wang Renjie pointed to a deep pit there and said, "Just pour the shells into that pit, even if it explodes, it won't have much impact." ”

Li Yan nodded and said, "Well, the handling is quite appropriate." Then he asked, "Is this a lot of cases?" ”

"Not much," Wang Renjie replied: "I encountered it twice when I was training before, and it was a problem with the lead, and it usually won't explode." This is done to ensure safety. ”

"Well," Li Yan nodded, and ordered: "The handling of these emergencies must be compiled into regulations, so that every gunner must know how to deal with them." In addition, the problem must be discovered in time, and the problem gun must be moved back immediately to avoid causing large losses. ”

"Don't worry, general, you will definitely do a good job." Wang Renjie assured.

After watching the artillery eliminate the danger, Li Yan and Li Mu also went to rest. They also did not set up a camp, and the thieves had just been beaten and fled, so they should not be regrouped in a short time. Moreover, their team also rested on the spot according to the pattern of the phalanx, and if a thief came, it was just right to defend on the spot. Coupled with the help of the tiger squat cannon, it will definitely make the corpses of the thieves all over the field.

The night went uneventful, and the next morning, the soldiers ate their rations with hot water, and began to set out in their entirety to continue the pursuit of the thieves.

Li Yan's personal soldiers left people on the road to guide the way forward. When they came to the old camp of the thieves, the thieves had already left. But it doesn't matter, his two personal soldiers have been following.

"General, the thieves are going in the direction of Bozhou." Sun Sifu reported.

"Bozhou," Li Yan frowned, "He wants to join Yuan Laoshan and them?" ”

Li Mu said: "Yuan Laoshan suffered a lot of losses last time, and he should welcome newcomers to join." ”

Li Yan immediately asked, "How many people are there among them?" ”

Sun Sifu replied: "Not counting the old camp, it's about five thousand." ”

Li Yan thought for a while before he said, "Well, the strength is not weak. Let's stop chasing them, send men to follow them, and see where they land. ”

Sun Sifu immediately went to arrange manpower, while Li Mu asked, "Don't chase after this?" There must still be a lot of people scattered around, and it would be a problem to let them gather again. ”

Li Yan said with a smile: "There is nothing to be afraid of the small group of thieves, as long as the village is established, it is easy to exterminate them." Let's go to Xiayi County now. Our next task is to take down the three counties of Yucheng, Xiayi and Yongcheng. ”

"Okay." Li Mu nodded in agreement.

Li Yan said: "You go back to Fucheng now, don't let those big families make any trouble." Let Wu Ding come to Xiayi to see me again. ”

"Let him do what? Can his soldiers go out of the city to fight? Li Mu asked puzzled.

"Let him come alone, send our people to send him over." Li Yan explained: "He and Tian Yong are colleagues who have a good relationship, let him come over and contact Tian Yong to see if Tian Yong can do things for us." ”

Li Mu reminded: "I'm afraid this alone won't work, right? ”

"Tian Yong's family, as well as many of his family members, are all in our control area, and it should be possible for them to cooperate with us." Li Yan explained.

"Okay, I'll go back." As soon as Li Mu heard that Li Yan was ready, he didn't delay any longer, and immediately set off with his own soldiers.

...