Wang Xingwu, the company commander of the third battalion and three companies, was a thin middle-aged man. Based on his age and physical condition alone, Sun Hong would never want him when recruiting troops in Jianzhou. The reason why he was selected was because he had a specialty that no one else could achieve: reading and writing.

Wang Xingwu is a native of Jianzhou, and since he was a child, he has lived with his parents in the home of a distant relative outside the city. The distant relative was quite wealthy, so Wang Xingwu followed the second young master as a scholar. The second young master entered the school, and he stood outside the window with a book basket; The second young master skipped class, and he wore the clothes of the second young master to deceive the short-sighted gentleman. In this way, although Wang Xingwu has never been officially enrolled, his cultural foundation is very solid.

The second young master was in his thirties and was finally admitted to the county school. On that day, the family was setting up a banquet to celebrate, except for the storm of five beetles that swept outside the city of Jianzhou. The second young master was powerful and powerful, fought against the chaotic people, and was killed by an iron fork on the spot; The old man begged for mercy and was thrown into a dung pit and drowned; The old lady, the young lady, and his father and sister were driven into the back house and disappeared into the fire.

From then on, Wang Xingwu's master's home, his own home, and all his family members were gone. Wang Xingwu was reduced to the streets, writing letters for others for a living. Until the arrival of Mr. Sun, his life changed again.

In Renshou, because he was calm, kind and kind, and could write letters to his family, he was quickly recognized by the soldiers and was elected as the squad leader.

In Niujiaozhai, because he could write and pinch, he found out several bandit leaders and family members who were hidden in the crowd, and he was personally praised by the prince, and was designated as the acting platoon commander by the happy He Qiukou.

In the town of Jiangkou, he showed bravery, his voice was loud, and he led his soldiers to shout that he had broken the thousands of bandits' army and became an official platoon commander.

During the garrison of Peng County, the platoon he led obeyed the law and discipline, bought and sold fairly, and quickly calmed down the panic of the people in the source of the five beetle chaos. There were many recruits, and he not only grasped the military training of his platoon during the day, but also grasped the study of the whole company at night. He Qiukou reported to the prince to complain, he had a pit that could not be filled by endless recruits, but fortunately, there was a Wang Xingwu to share the burden for him. So Wang Xingwu's name entered the eyes of the top level.

Before the reorganization of Songlin Mountain, Shu Guoping was ordered to inspect the reserve cadres, and the report submitted spoke highly of Wang Xingwu.

The report said that Wang Xingwu was born poor and had a blood feud with the thieves. After joining the caravan, he obeyed orders, was helpful, appreciated by superiors, and liked by soldiers; After becoming an officer, he was approachable, strict with himself, fair in judging things, and never formed a party for personal gain. Wang Xingwu was educated, thoughtful, and had combat experience, especially his high political quality, and he was outstanding among the military commanders of the caravan. When he lectured to the soldiers on weekdays, he clearly mentioned that the reason for the poverty of the common people in the world was man-made disasters rather than natural disasters, and that it was because of the plundering of the imperial court, the exploitation of the gentry, and the looting of thieves. If the people want to get rid of poverty, they can only take the path pointed out by the prince: "The policy of the prince to protect the country and the people should be the national policy that is not easy to be in the Ming Dynasty!" ”

The cadre inspection report came to a formal conclusion, and soon Wang Xingwu concurrently served as the deputy squadron leader of the basic squadron of the Pengxian Huzhuang Brigade in the face of the Shizi's "military and political excellence," and entered the ranks of important company-level officers.

When Songlinshan was reorganized, the Cadre Bureau nominated Wang Xingwu to replace He Qiukou as the commander of the third battalion and three companies formed by the reorganization of the old sixth company. The General Staff proposed that the company be incorporated into the northward marching troops, and the prince approved it without any hesitation. It can be said that after Wang Xingwu joined the caravan, it was a smooth sail all the way.

It's just that in Tongchuan Prefecture, he suffered a small setback. After making contact with Yang Weidong's troops of the Chu army, the third battalion decided to annihilate the rebel Pan Yihong's troops. He Qiukou, the leading officer, nominated the third company of his old unit as the main force, but was rejected by the military and political chiefs of the third battalion. The reasons for the veto are unclear. However, after the battle of the land pass, Liu Sangen, the commander of the second company, was quickly promoted to the deputy battalion level, acting as the captain of the basic brigade of the Tongchuan Prefecture Huzhuang Corps; Lin Yan, deputy company commander of the first company, was promoted to full company commander. It is clear that the more opportunities to go to war, the greater the speed and space for progress.

Wang Xingwu lost a precious opportunity to participate in the war, and he lost a precious opportunity to make progress.

……

Shu Guoping's cadre inspection report is very full of investigation of Wang Xingwu, but there is also a small omission: Although Wang Xingwu has rich combat experience, he has not personally killed anyone. When the two thousand local rioters rushed to the left flank position together, Wang Xingwu's hands couldn't help but tremble, and the terrifying scene when the rebels entered the Wang family's compound at the beginning of the year resurfaced in his mind.

The Tiger Squat Cannon had stopped firing, and only the Musket was still firing freely, with a pop from time to time. Wang Xingwu's ears, deaf by the sound of cannons, reheard the sound of the outside world. He knew that this was a tiger squat cannon to cool the cannon.

"Calm down! Stabilization! The battalion commander, the overseer, my colleagues, and the soldiers are all looking at me, and I must not lose face at this time! ”

Wang Xingwu leaned against the cliff wall, ten fingers grabbed into the dirt, his face was solemn, his waist and legs were straight, and he left a deep impression on the soldiers with their strength and composure. His eyes were fixed on the thugs who pounced, and when they set up bamboo ladders and were about to cross the trench through these bamboo ladders, Wang Xingwu ordered to the three rows of soldiers standing in front of him: "Raise bamboo guns, prepare to assassinate!" ”

The fortifications of the Three Companies consisted of three tiers. The outermost layer is a trench eight feet to one zhang wide, the middle layer is a deer wall five feet wide, and the innermost layer is an earthen rampage two to four feet thick. Three-layer fortifications with a total thickness of about three zhang.

This kind of fortification has a good effect on the retardation of the enemy, and is especially suitable for long-range weapons such as firearms and crossbows. However, the weapons in the hands of the soldiers of the third company were very weak, they only had a short spear, and they could not even touch the edge of the trench when they pierced it, so they could only watch the thugs build ladders outside the trench to fill in the soil.

As the company commander, Wang Xingwu presided over the construction of the fortifications of the third company. He certainly wouldn't have made such a low-level mistake.

When the shape of the fortifications was determined, Wang Xingwu immediately divided a row of soldiers to chop bamboo and make bamboo guns. The soldiers of the caravan were very familiar with the use of bamboo guns, and there were many bamboos in Sichuan. The soldiers soon brought back a large number of bamboo poles, the short ones were three or four zhang, and the old ones were five or six zhang. There are also some old bamboos, with thick arms and a length of seven or eight zhang, which cannot be placed in the position, so they have to be allowed to poke out of the fortifications. Wang Xingwu ordered that the prepared spear heads carried by the third company be loaded onto the bamboo spears, and if they could not be loaded, the bamboo would be sharpened and roasted hard.

The thugs on the side of the trench are densely packed, desperately lifting the earth and filling the trench.

This is the chance!

"Stab the thug!" Wang Xingwu let out an angry roar.

Dozens of long, thick bamboo spears rested on the earthen ramparts, and were held and pushed by two or three or more soldiers, and stabbed at the local thugs outside the fortifications. The bamboo spears coldly drilled out of the deer barb, crossed the trench, and attacked the local rioters. The local rioters were defenseless, and in the blink of an eye, dozens of people were stabbed. When the bamboo spear was quickly withdrawn, several people who were unfortunate enough to be strung in the bamboo spear were stopped by the dense deer and hung on the sharp branches in various ugly postures, reminding the later local rioters.

"Come again!" Wang Xingwu yelled. He grabbed the butt of a bamboo gun, pressed it against his thin body, and pushed it out with all his might. A powerful reaction nearly knocked him down, but the Bamboo Spear continued to move forward, showing that the Bamboo Spear had overcome the resistance of the flesh and was looking for the unlucky ones in its next path.

The bamboo spear pierced to the end.

"Draw it back!" Wang Xingwu yelled. But after a while, I suddenly couldn't pump anymore.

"! Get nailed! Pull it out! Wang Xingwu yelled. The hand that grabbed the bamboo spear was strangled with blood by a tremendous force.

Seeing that the bamboo gun was walking back, he suddenly lost his strength, and the butt of the bamboo gun bounced up, hitting Wang Xingwu in the face, causing him to fall to the ground on all fours. It turned out that the local tyrant saw that he could not have an advantage in strength, so he simply cut the bamboo spear into two with one sword.

The bamboo spear was swallowed in front of the battle, and each time it would take more than a dozen lives; The three platoons of muskets fired incessantly, taking the same life each time. There were mountains of corpses in front of the narrow position, and the trenches were filled with corpses. Even under the cliff of the central position, the corpses were piled up on a slope.

But the local thugs, driven by their leaders, still kept coming. The cliff in front of the central position has been dug into a slope. The sharp horns of the deer were cut off by the throbs, and the eyes were getting shorter and shorter. Fortunately, the deer nails were placed steadily, so they were not dragged away. The tyrants also used the corpses of their own men to build several fortifications in front of the battle, and the archers hid behind the fortifications and fired at the fire gunners in a row. There was an unlucky guy who happened to be shot in the eye and was now carried back to the village for healing. The thieves kept throwing all kinds of weapons at the bottom of the cliff, and the two platoons of the three battalions, four companies and two platoons on standby responded with stones. The artillery platoon soldiers of the cannon were not idle, and condescendingly smashed the bandits to death.

The enemy in front of the three companies on the left flank was constantly gaining troops, and there were at least one and a half thousand. The strength of the third company is only 18, and the strength ratio is 1 to 8. Although the casualties of the third company were small, their physical strength was obviously overdrawn.

"Battalion commander, the thugs want to consume us to death with human lives!" Shi Yunxiao, who was behind Chen Youfu, reminded, "Their veterans are all in the back, waiting for work." When we become a tired army, they will throw in the veterans and crush us in one fell swoop! ”

There is no need for Shi Yongxiao to remind him, Chen Youfu can also see it. The underestimation of the combat effectiveness of the local rioters before the war is an important reason why the current battle has fallen into passivity. Another reason is that I didn't expect that the tactics of the local tyrants would be so brutal and that they would use so many lives to win the victory.

Chen Youfu's eyesight is very good. Just two hundred paces away on the left flank, a group of thugs wearing red armor must have been thieves. These people did not move, which means that the main force of the local tyrants has not moved.

"Shi Yunxiao, the staff officer must not only see the problem, but also be able to solve the problem!" Chen Youfu shouted without looking back.

"Battalion commander, let the third company hold up for another half an hour! When the bamboo spears are lost, let them retreat to the gap and line up with their backs to the cliff! ”

Shi Yunxiao's idea was that the tiger squat cannon was already cold at that time, and it was just right to fire. At that time, a fierce fire strike can break the morale of the Tyrant's army, give the caravan a chance to repair again, and even force the enemy's main force out. This was originally one of the operational plans, and it was a method to be adopted in the event that the left wing was unfavorable in the operation. Shi Yunxiao is speaking out now, obviously worried about the situation on the left.

"Feasible!" Chen Youfu nodded. He ordered: "Inform the two platoons of the third battalion and four companies of the reserve to move out and line up in the gap on the left flank, just in case!" ”

At this time, there was a sudden explosion, which distracted Chen Youfu's attention. It turned out that one of the firecrackers in the firearm platoon exploded. The firecracker was obviously seriously wounded, but he didn't howl, just knelt on the ground and covered his face, and didn't say a word.

"Shi Yunxiao, don't be stunned, go and inform!" Chen Youfu's face turned blue and roared angrily.

At that moment, the group of thugs on the left flank, dressed in red armor, began to move forward. At fifty or sixty paces, they began to fiddle with two things that looked like guns and cannons.

"Raise the gun!" Lin Yan jumped down from the earthen ramparts. He shouted as he told the soldiers in the central position to lie down; pounced on him and lifted Chen Youfu who was standing on the stone.

Oooo Some iron flew in at a rapid pace. The two platoons of the fourth company that were lining up suddenly screamed. Liu Wenyu, who was behind Chen Youfu, was even more on his back and fell to the ground.