The reinforcements didn't keep Xu Hongru waiting.

Not long after the "second senior brother" led his men and horses to attack the white pole soldiers, more than 8,000 people rushed to the battlefield.

Xu Hongru didn't say a word, and immediately instructed him to attack the part of the Beijing Division Battalion on the right flank of the official army.

The Jingshi Battalion was originally very passive by the Women's Army, but now there are so many more than 8,000 enemy troops—although the combat effectiveness is not the same as the previous Women's Army—the pressure has suddenly increased several times.

At this time, even the brave and fearless Huang Degong was not easy to do, and the enemy troops in front of him who were killing like a tsunami forced him to retreat step by step, until he retreated to the flank of the white pole soldiers, and then he barely stood his ground and did not retreat immediately.

At this time, another 10,000 White Lotus Cultists arrived on the battlefield.

Xu Hongru was overjoyed when he saw this, and immediately instructed his whole army to go out and attack the left flank of the official army garrisoned by the Ming Wu army.

Although the combat effectiveness of the Ming Wu Army is extremely outstanding, there are only 700 people now, and it is the thinnest among the Ming troops on the left, center and right. Faced with the onslaught of the White Lotus Sect dozens of times his size, Ji Qingwen could only completely give up the intention of attacking, and ordered his brothers to form a close formation, with 300 people in the front team using shields, wolf swords, and swords to protect the defense line, and 400 people in the back row shooting behind the human wall with muskets.

In order to increase the firepower and increase the rate of fire, Ji Qingwen deliberately ordered the musket team to replace with a slightly less powerful "paper bullet" - now in order to resist the tide of attacks of the White Lotus Sect, it is really difficult to take into account the power of the musket.

However, even such targeted deployments still cannot reverse the absolute disadvantage in numbers.

In just a moment, the White Lotus Sect had already rushed to the front of the Ming Wu Army's defense line, if it weren't for their own shield and sword speed, the formation of the Ming Wu Army would have been trampled by the White Lotus Sect's more than 10,000 people and more than 20,000 feet. And the musketeers of the Mingwu Army behind the defense line have reached the point where they can shoot without aiming - after all, the opponent is too close, and it is not easy to miss.

Ji Qingwen began to regret it a little at this time.

First, he regretted why he had forgotten to dig a trench in front of the front line when he was arraying, no matter how narrow or shallow this trench was, even if he could not provide himself with cover fortifications, he could still hinder the opponent's attack.

The second is to regret why he is still cowardly on the battlefield of life and death, and he still wants to save Zhou Xiuying's life, so he easily decided to push two chariots that can fire artillery to the back of the formation. If these two "tanks" were still in front of the formation, and now they put two cannons, maybe they could directly destroy the arrogance of the White Lotus Sect.

As soon as he thought of this, Ji Qingwen's face showed a look of chagrin, and he looked very hideous.

Li Yan beside him saw it and asked, "Brother Ji, it seems that the situation is not good!" I wonder what Brother Ji thinks? ”

Although Li Yan is Ji Qingwen's confidant, he can't say anything to him. In particular, he had some ambiguous thoughts about Zhou Xiuying, the "holy woman" in the eyes of the White Lotus Sect and the "demon girl" in the mouth of the government, which could not be mentioned in front of him a word.

So Ji Qingwen could only scold: "I have already won, but I blame the White Lotus Sect for coming out of the nest this time, wanting to suppress people with power." This is not Nanjing City, and it is not Liyukou, and there is no terrain suitable for our defense, so we are really anxious! ”

He suddenly thought of a section, and immediately angrily reprimanded Li Yuanyin and said, "Commander Li, what are you doing?" Didn't I tell you to inform Liu Kongzhao, Zhang Yandeng, Zou Weilian and the others, asking them to cross the river immediately to help in the war? Why is it that the people you send out, like a kite with a broken string, have no news at all? ”

Li Yuanyin was originally a prudent and cautious person, and he knew the importance of this battle very clearly, so the people he sent out before were all reliable people among the Jiangnan Jinyi Guards, and such people, Li Yuanyin, the commander of the Jinyi Guard, sent out three groups in a row, and he was afraid that something had happened to which group and failed to convey Ji Qingwen's orders in place.

Therefore, in such an urgent situation, in the face of Ji Qingwen's criticism, Li Yuanyin was really speechless.

And now there is bad news.

I only heard Meng Honglai, the leader of Ji Qingwen's musket team, report: "Lord Ji, the musket is used too violently, and the barrel is very hot, I'm afraid I won't be able to fire a few more shots." ”

When the musket is fired, a huge amount of heat will accumulate on the barrel and chamber, and if it is fired continuously, the heat will accumulate more and more, resulting in overheating of the chamber and eventually causing the phenomenon of exploding, which will not only not kill the enemy on the opposite side, but will also injure the musketeer's hands.

This has a great impact on combat effectiveness, and Ji Qingwen cannot but attach importance to it.

Ji Qingwen said with a wit: "Aren't you five hundred people using guns now?" There are still 500 muskets left that are useless, so now you can switch to someone else's musket and continue to attack the enemy. ”

The weapons in the hand—including shields, long knives, wolf swords, and muskets—are the foundation of a sergeant's life, and his most trusted friend and companion on the battlefield. This point is repeatedly emphasized in Qi Jiguang's Art of War. Therefore, the Ming Wujun, who inherited the origin of the Qi family's army, naturally learned such a tradition, which is directly manifested in the fact that all kinds of weapons of length and shortness, far and near are all distributed to individuals, and the responsibility for daily use, repair, and maintenance is all specific to people.

Therefore, even the soldiers of the Ming Wu Army, who are like brothers and sisters, will not easily use other people's weapons; In the same way, it is natural that others will not easily let others use their weapons. Unless it's a critical moment.

And now, it's a critical moment.

Meng Hong, who was well versed in the rules of the Ming Martial Army, also hesitated slightly, and immediately agreed, led his brothers, and then changed the musket in his hand, which was almost too hot for me to eat, and continued to attack the White Lotus Sect opposite.

At the moment when the musket was replaced, the firepower of the Ming Wu Army suddenly weakened, and the White Lotus Sect took advantage of the situation to kill again.

They were greeted by sturdy rattan cards, sharp swords, and uncomfortable wolf swords, although they barely resisted the opponent's attack, but the Ming Wu army also lost three sergeants, and five others were slightly injured, temporarily losing their combat effectiveness.

Seeing this, Ji Qingwen was furious, and immediately scolded: "Meng Hong, what are you doing? Why don't you hurry up and fire the musket? ”

In a hurry, Ji Qingwen took out two German-made pistols pinned to his waist, and shot them twice at the two White Lotus disciples who rushed in front of him, and now they ended their lives.

With the roar of these two pistols, Meng Hong finally fired the musket again, which barely repelled the White Lotus Sect's attack.

However, now it has entered a war of attrition.

Although the loss of strength of the Ming Wu Army is not very large, the loss of physical strength and energy cannot be ignored, and once the physical strength and energy are weakened below a certain threshold, it will lead to a sharp decline in combat effectiveness. More importantly, the main combat power of the Ming army came from muskets, and the durability of muskets, the stock of bullets and gunpowder have been greatly reduced, and I am afraid that it will not be able to support much longer.

Faced with such a situation, Li Yan had to suggest: "Brother Ji, heroes don't suffer immediate losses, it seems that we can only retreat for the time being, think about saving the lives of our brothers first, and then come back to avenge this defeat in the future." ”

Ji Qingwen is not the kind of brave man who doesn't know how to advance or retreat.

However, the decision to lure the entire White Lotus Sect into the decisive battle in Wenzhou was made by him, and he had already used the "Sword of the Son of Heaven" given to him by Emperor Chongzhen and took great political risks. And now, in order to prevent the White Lotus Sect from spreading further into Zhejiang, this defense line presided over by Ji Qingwen is about to collapse.

And the collapse of this line of defense will allow the main army of the White Lotus Sect to attack the western part of Zhejiang without hindrance, thus entering the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, which will lead to the uncontrollable situation of this White Lotus Sect rebellion.

And with Emperor Chongzhen's impatient and irritable character, if such a situation really happens, Ji Qingwen's second life, which he worked so hard to cross over to the end of the Ming Dynasty, will have to be explained under the butcher's knife of Chongzhen, the feudal emperor.

Therefore, Ji Qingwen could only grit his teeth and insist: "Don't be in a hurry, let the brothers work harder, and if you hold on a little longer, maybe there will be a turnaround." ”

The turnaround came.

And the one who brought about this turnaround was Liu Kongzhao and others who were scolded by Ji Qingwen just now.