Yongxingchang Wharf, the place where the whole army is assembled.

Zhu Pingjin finally finalized the battle deployment, and the whole army of the caravan was assembled in the rapid sound of drums. Zhu Pingjin changed into a heavy mountain pattern armor, covered the iron armor with a big red dragon robe woven of cloud brocade, put on a crown of wings made of gold wire, and carried a Tibetan treasure knife that had never seen blood.

Zhu Pingjin turned over and rode on the big white horse with the help of Li Sixian, and his butt fell heavily on the saddle. Perhaps knowing that today is a big day, the white horse snorts and shakes his head to greet his master.

Li Sixian got a cuirass and a long knife from nowhere, and a short knife with a killer stuck in his waist, leading the white horse majestically towards the banner of the caravan. Liu Hongting was dressed in plain clothes, her face was as red as clothes, and she also followed Zhu Pingjin on horseback.

The whole army moved in turn. The soldiers suppressed their excitement and followed the steps on the Chinese military drum cart, and walked unhurriedly onto the temporary pontoon bridge connected by large and small boats, and walked towards the battlefield in front. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the newly promoted officers and non-commissioned officers constantly stirred up morale and reaffirmed military discipline in the ranks. They asked the soldiers to think about the miserable life of the past, to think about Wang Zhuang's parents and sisters, and to think about the consequences of escaping.

On February 15, the 14th year of Chongzhen, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon (about 4:30 p.m.), in the triangle area between the inner and outer rivers of the Minjiang River, at the junction of Yongxingchang in Shuangliu County and Wuyangli in Pengshan County, Zhu Pingjin led his army to collide head-on with the main force of bandits in Niujiaozhai.

A big war is about to begin.

Exploring the Malay newspaper, the bandits' front army was two miles away. Song Zhenzong was old in the battle formation, and did not hesitate to order the whole army to stop advancing and start a battle formation according to the deployment.

The drums stopped, and all that remained of the army was the sound of swishing footsteps and the trumpets and shouts of officers. Soon, a neat battle line about a mile long appeared on the land of the western Sichuan Plain. The training was exactly the same as on weekdays, and the Tusi infantry and the companies of the first battalion were all lined up in company units. Each company takes a platoon as a platoon, forming a horizontal formation of about 30 paces wide and four columns deep. Because it is estimated that there will be no threat from bows and arrows, the horizontal array is relatively dense.

Zhu Pingjin led the guards and banners to the front of the battle line and arrived close to observe the enemy's deployment.

The battlefield is a fallow farmland, very flat. One hundred and ten steps on the left is the Neijiang River that flows down the river, and two or three miles away on the right is a low hill. The bandits were a mile away, and there were at least 5,000 of them, and they could be seen with the naked eye that they were still messing around. They didn't get out of any position, just a simple bunch of people coming together.

Today is a good day, and the warm sun of early spring is lazy. Zhu Pingjin smiled and asked Song Zhenzong beside him, "General Song, will the bandits set up an ambush on the hills on the right?" ”

Song Zhenzong spat and replied loudly: "The bandits set up ambush soldiers, that's better!" I can't wait for their ambush to attack, the outcome is already decided! Shizi, it's not too early! Taking advantage of the chaos of the enemy formation, let's start! ”

Zhu Pingjin stared at Song Zhenzong intently: "The general has been appointed as the commander-in-chief of the battlefield, and everything is decided by the general. This son has entrusted the fate of himself and Daming to the general! ”

Song Zhenzong's cheeks flushed. He jumped off the horse, knelt on one knee, and solemnly gave Zhu Pingjin a fist salute. He shouted in command, and then, without touching his feet, flew on his horse, and raised his broadsword with one hand:

"Protect the caravan! Slow march! Beat the drums! ”

Pan Dog shit was squeezed in the line, trying to look in the direction of the officers and soldiers, only to see a person in front of him with his head shaking, and he couldn't see anything. He wanted to jump up and watch, but he was afraid of losing face in front of his men, so he had to endure it with all his might. The drum beat on the opposite side beat rhythmically, again and again, sparse and clear, closer and closer, louder and louder, making his little heart tense with the beat of the drum.

Pan shit is an old bandit.

He is said to be an old bandit, not because of his age.

said that he was an old bandit, just because he had been in the cottage for a long time and had old qualifications.

Niujiaozhai is the place where Pan dog shit was born and raised. Sixteen years ago, Pan's mother was kidnapped by bandits, and then gave birth to him out of nowhere. Pan shit has never seen his father since he was born. It is said that his father was also a bandit, and when he robbed Zhuangzi, he was burned by the gold juice poured down from the wall of the village (Note 1), and he struggled for several days but still died.

Two or three months ago, Pan Dog Shit was still the lowest-ranking bandit in the cottage, belonging to the category of people who are bullied and dogs bite. By the end of two or three months, he had grown into a promising middle-level cadre, under the command of Brother 50 or 60.

"Pan Tou, do you think we can win? We don't have any weapons! An old man with gray hair squeezed over to Pan's shit and whispered. He held a thick tree with intact bark, about seven or eight feet long, with a twisted trunk. This old man is old enough to be Pan's shit's grandfather. Before leaving Pengshan, he took his son and two grandsons into the gang, and three generations of grandparents and grandchildren were in Pan's squad.

Pan Dog Shit is worried about why he can't see anything, and he doesn't speak very politely.

"How do I know? In short, if you are told to get on, you will be on, and if you are told to run, you will run faster! The three masters are ruthless, did you see the brother with a big knife in the back? That's their Chen family's supervising team, whoever dares to run around will be cut with a knife! ”

"Thank you Pan Tou for the reminder!" The old man was very interested and stuffed a copper coin into Pan's shit's pocket.

"That's it! Be awake on the battle array, and the swords and guns will not be long-sighted! The copper coin showed its magic power, and Pan Dog Shit smiled, and asked the uncle.

At this moment, the drum beat on the opposite side suddenly stopped. Pan Dog Shit was at a loss, but the crowd on the left suddenly screamed and began to squeeze to the right.

"Don't squeeze!" Pan shit commanded loudly. But no one listened to him, and the flow of people continued to pour to the right, pushing Pan's shit almost untenable. Fortunately, the old man was not far away, and reached out to pull him, and Pan shit escaped being trampled to death by the crowd.

Zhu Pingjin and Song Zhenzong's war horses stopped between the horizontal teams of the first and sixth companies, less than a hundred paces away from the bandits' advance.

At this distance, the bandits' faces can be seen clearly. The bandits did not have archers, and their equipment was rudimentary: no armor at all, and less than a third of them were armed with iron weapons. Most of the bandits were armed with poles or wooden sticks on their shoulders. It seems that the rapid expansion of the army has significantly reduced the average level of equipment of the bandits.

The Tianquan Tusi cavalry attacked from the right flank. There were only about one hundred and fifty of them, but the momentum of galloping horses was no less than two or three thousand.

They were divided into two groups, each of which numbered more than 70 people, and attacked alternately. A group of cavalry rushed out three hundred paces, and then turned their horses and returned. One wave returns, and another sets off.

Each group of cavalry that attacked was lined up in a column. The column galloped twenty or thirty paces away from the left edge of the bandits' ranks, constantly throwing their bows at the bandits' dense ranks along the way. The two galloping cavalry were like a spinning death scythe, reaping the blood of the bandits one by one.

Light arrows thrown from a bow are not very powerful. It is not easy to kill a person with a single arrow, and it is even more useful to deal with a tight military formation in armor. But the harassment of the Tusi cavalry made it unbearable for the thinly clothed bandits.

The large and dense formation of the bandit army turned the Tusi cavalry into sharpshooters, with arrows without missing shots, and they bit flesh one by one. The screams of the victims of the arrows continued to sound among the bandits, and the crowd on the left flank kept pouring towards the center, so crowded that the people in the middle could not even raise their swords and guns. The strangeness of cavalry and the fear of bows and crossbows made these bandits, who were busy fleeing for their lives, not realize that they should quickly send a team of men and horses to intercept the cavalry.

Seeing that as soon as the battle started, the team was in chaos, and Chen Huaigui, the third master, hurriedly instructed Chen Huaijin, who was in charge of answering:

"Fourth, if you go on like this, the team will collapse! You take your men and horses, go to the right, and drag the officers and troops on the riverside! The rest of the people rushed straight to the middle with Lao Tzu! ”

Chen Huaigui's purpose was to hold back the officers and troops and win time for backup to come up. The eldest brother's team is running up, the second brother's team is detouring to the right of the officers and soldiers, and the fifth brother's subordinates are also advancing to this side. Rushing straight to the middle, you can mix with the official army, so that the cavalry of the official army cannot rush to kill. As long as they fight for two or three quarters of an hour, the reinforcements come up and work hard together, and the officers and soldiers of the dog day can be squeezed into the river and drowned!

Chen Huaijin, the fourth master, responded and was about to leave, but was grabbed by his brother:

"One of the two people in red clothes must be the son of the world. The second brother confessed, catch the son, we will win! Cottages, nephews, and mothers-in-law can all be exchanged for the son! If we can't catch the world, we will lose if we win! ”

It turned out that the second brother replied that Chen Jiabing should take the lead, and this meaning! Chen Huaijin immediately agreed, turned around and asked his own soldiers to move the team to the right.

In a few moments, thousands of bandits shouted in unison and pounced on the middle of the caravan and the Tusi infantry on the left flank.

"Well done! Lao Tzu is about to attack! As soon as Song Zhenzong arrived on the battlefield, he was extremely excited, "Drumming!" Infantry advance! The Tusi cavalry transferred to the bandit rear team to attack! Follow up with the standard and prepare to flank the charge! ”

The drums rumbled again.

The infantry of the caravan shouted "Tiger! The handle of the gun and his left foot stomped on the ground at the same time, and then began to walk forward neatly to the beat of the drum. The Tianquan Tusi cavalry received the order a little later, but they quickly reorganized their formation and inserted themselves into the rear of the bandits.

The cavalry of the Fubiao Dong Bu division moved with the right flank of the infantry. Hearing the familiar sound of war drums, the horses couldn't help but spread their hooves and run, but they were strangled by the riders and let out bursts of neighing.

After Song Zhenzong gave the order, he took the standard-bearer and led the company forward, leaving Zhu Pingjin and the guards in place. Zhu Pingjin saw that the team of the Sixth Company of the Reserve Army was following, so he turned his horse's head, left the front of the Sixth Company, and turned to the cottage army composed of bandits.

The two armies were about to engage in brutal hand-to-hand combat.

"General Liu! Ordered Liu Mingsheng and Zhang Guangpei! Let them all shout! Zhu Pingjin ordered Liu Hongting behind him.

It's time to let this copycat monster work to its power.

Screams came one after another, constantly coming from the left flank. Pan's hands and feet trembled with fright, and he could barely hold the tattered firewood knife. He moved to the right with the crowd until the order to kill the three masters came.

"Kill the officers and soldiers! Grab the silver! Catch the mother-in-law! Capture the one in red clothes alive, and reward 100 taels of silver! ”

The old bandits shouted slogans in the crowd, struggling to boost the morale of the new bandits, shouting whichever slogan was useful. Pan Dog Shit suddenly thought that he was also an old bandit, and he was still a small leader, so he shouted with the old bandits in a shy whisper.

"X, shout! If you want to die on yourself! In the team behind Pan's shit, there was a sudden angry scolding.

"Who the is talking nonsense?" The angry voice of the third master, Chen Huaigui, was followed by a miserable scream.

Whether it was the person who complained just now was cut down, Pan shit and the old and new bandits in the team no one knows. They only know that if they don't rush forward, the next person to be cut is likely to be themselves.

The bandits cautiously rushed forward, slowly pressing towards the caravan.

"Fuck! This group of cowards is not even as good as bandits! Chen Huaigui was so angry that he raised his knife and cut down several bandits who fell at the end in a row. Several old bandits of the Overseer team took the opportunity to shout:

"Death to those who are at the end! Those who rush to the front are born! ”

Under the threat of the blood-dripping steel knife, the bandits finally began to rush at an accelerated pace.

The two sides approached rapidly, and the bandits' clubs were about to collide with the tips of the caravanserais' guns.

Note 1: Scalded manure water.