The orphan army is only responsible for keeping an eye on the mountains and forests in the north and preventing Li Xiang's powerful troops from escaping.

Fang Tianding carefully analyzed the three battles between his subordinates and Li Xiang, and repeatedly calculated the difficulty of mountain road supplies from the map, combined with Li Xiang's identity as the commander of the township soldiers, and finally determined that Li Xiang had 800 to 1,000 people in his hands.

Good at mountain warfare, cunning, and love to keep reserves, this is the first impression Li Xiang left on Fang Tianding.

Fang Tianding "wisely" did not send three or five thousand men and horses, and ran after the 1,000 men he imagined Li Xiang all over the mountains. He thought that it was a waste of troops, not to mention that Li Xiang's troops could not be defeated, and they were likely to be defeated by Li Xiang.

If there are fewer people sent, it will be even worse, and the 800 orphan army will be defeated in a short time, not to mention the other armies.

Therefore, Fang Tianding finally decided to use all the orphan troops to watch over the mountains and forests, and hand over all the tasks of attacking the city to Ying Ming's department. If Fang Tianding knew at this time that there were not four hundred soldiers left in Li Xiang's hands, he didn't know what he would think.

The siege began again.

What made Fang Tianding and Liu Chengdong very embarrassed happened: the soldiers on both sides were obviously weak, and the fight was very perfunctory.

On the battlefield of life and death, the soldiers on both sides are naturally not passive and slacking off. The soldiers are not stupid, since Liu Chengdong has reinforcements arriving, there must be a big move, what's the use of fighting lively now? Rushing to reincarnate?

"Li Xiang didn't make a move, and the soldiers of my Yongle Dynasty were worried in their hearts and couldn't fight the enemy with all their might. He also asked General Fang for permission to transfer 2,000 troops to the edge of the mountains and forests to attack, so as to find out Li Xiang's tricks. ”

Ying Ming made a pertinent suggestion.

Fang Tian fixed his head. Ying Ming dispatched 2,000 subordinates and stood in front of the orphan army, and it was already time at this time.

Before Ying Ming gave the order to drive into the mountains and forests, in Ying Ming's impression, Li Xiang, who should only be able to retreat in the face of thousands of attacks, made a move.

Ten single-bow vehicle-mounted bed crossbows, from the nearest few forbidden armies and van armies, were simply disassembled by the radar organization, and finally appeared in the sight of the owner this morning.

A hundred half-new and not old crossbows were urgently transferred from the material warehouses in Huzhou, and it was very suitable for shooting within two hundred meters. Like the bed crossbow, the crossbow can only be borrowed by Li Xiang temporarily, but it is not easy.

Dozens of half-and-half poisonous smoke fireballs and thistle fireballs can be fired with a bed crossbow. These big killers were obtained from Han Shizhong by Li Xiang cheekily and shouting "uncle" many times in the letter. Li Xiang's men could not move these firearms, so they could only point in a certain direction and let a battalion commander from Huzhou launch them.

So Ying Ming saw scenes that could be called nightmares.

First, ten large arrows as thick as the child's arm flew out "whoosh", killing dozens of his brothers on the spot. Armor, clothing, skin, flesh, and bones are as fragile as paper under the immense power stored in the bow.

There was a large arrow that flew too steadily, piercing through the bodies of the two Fang Lajun, and also inserted into the ribs of the other Fang Lajun, and the huge pain caused by the struggle of the three of them quickly relieved them.

Another large arrow effortlessly stabbed the leg of a Fangla soldier and plunged to the ground. The shaft of the arrow was torn apart, and five more people were wounded.

A total of twenty big arrows had already frightened Ying Ming, who was lying in a small puddle. He remembered the days when Liu Chengdong was shot at every turn until the whole army collapsed before Liu Chengdong ran out of crossbow arrows, but Liu Chengdong, who only had a few bed crossbows, couldn't compare with his son-in-law!

After the bed crossbow, there was the sound of a hundred crossbows firing at the same time.

Two well-trained crossbowmen stepped forward, pulled the trigger, and a hundred short, thick, straight, and hard triangular armor-piercing crossbows were fired in unison.

There were less than 1,900 Fangla troops in a panic, and the formation was chaotic, and many of those who had shields in their hands did not use their shields to resist, and they suddenly suffered heavy casualties, and most of them were injured.

The five rounds of crossbow arrows brought more than 200 casualties to Ying Ming's assembled men and horses, and I have to say that the terrain in the northwest of Deqing County is too cramped, and it takes a lot of time for the whole team to escape.

Fortunately, although Ying Ming was not a first-class general among the generals of the Yongle Dynasty, he was not a mediocre general, so he quickly sorted out his team and slowly retreated.

If Ying Ming is allowed to withdraw like this, Li Xiang's reality will definitely not be preserved.

Seven oval-shaped objects with faint traces of smoke behind them, and eight ball-shaped objects with handles that also had traces of smoke behind them, fell into the formation of the frightened Fang La army. The former is a poisonous smoke fireball that uses gunpowder to induce thick smoke, and the latter is a fireball of tribulus terrestris that uses iron-tribulus terrestris, stones, broken porcelain pieces and other objects to splash and injure the enemy after the gunpowder explodes.

Although it was not the most powerful projectile gunpowder weapon in the Great Zhou Gunpowder Workshop, it was enough to make the frightened soldiers of the Fangla Army drink a pot.

The fireballs of poisonous smoke burned rapidly, enveloping a small crowd with the glow, stench, and splashes of burning bits that worked especially well in restricted terrain.

The thistle fireball exploded with a loud sound, and the soldiers, who had not felt the explosion of gunpowder, were stupefied on the spot. Tribulus terrestris, gravel and broken porcelain pieces scattered rapidly, and the soldiers of the Fangla Army who were too close could not hide.

Ying Ming speculated what Li Xiang was going to do next, who would let go of such a good opportunity? He shouted loudly, and even cut off the two team leaders who were looking around, but he still did not regroup in time.

The Great Zhou army of more than 800 people rushed out of the mountains and forests, rushed into the formation of the Fangla army like a knife cutting tofu, and soon completely collapsed.

On Fang Tianding's side, the orphan army had been strictly maintaining its formation since they saw the attack of the bed crossbow and the kicking crossbow, and they remained motionless, preferring to sit and watch Ying Ming's two thousand people completely collapse.

Yang Yingdong, Ding Shihang, Da Niu and others, who were responsible for leading the Great Zhou army, saw that the orphan army in their early 2,000s was in good array, and there was not much fear on their faces, so they had to collect their troops and go back.

The conflict on the edge of the mountains and forests ended, and the 2,000 men mobilized by Ying Ming were defeated.

Ying Ming's defeat was so complete that it directly affected the siege of the city. The soldiers of Liu Chengdong's troops who defended the city were naturally energetic, and their archery accuracy was higher, while the soldiers of the Fangla army who were besieging the city were even more depressed.

Fang Tianding stopped the senseless siege in time, led people to the vicinity of the battlefield, and restored the general battle process from the traces of the battle, the remnants of gunpowder weapons and Ying Ming's retelling.

"I didn't expect that Li Xiang's gang was so deeply hidden, and there were so many good weapons that were not used until now." Fang Tianding squinted at the mountains and forests in the north, "He doesn't have eight hundred to one thousand people on his hands, it is likely that there are more than one thousand and five hundred!" ”

"But what if Li Xiang can fight again? Our Tianding has nearly 15,000 troops in his hands, and he doesn't want to take Liu Chengdong's troops away completely. ”

"General Ying Ming, your defeat this time is really not good-looking, what else do you have to say?"

Ying Ming smiled bitterly, he had nothing to say, and let Fang Tianding dispose of it. Two thousand men against eight hundred, but they had no power to fight back, and almost caused the siege to collapse. Although there is a reason why the other party suddenly showed off its superior armament, it is also too embarrassing.

Not surprisingly, the generals around Fang Tianding knelt down on one knee and hugged their fists, pleading with Ying Ming, who was popular.

Fang Tianding slapped Ying Ming's shoulder violently, "I've taken you away to punish you, where can I find a deputy like you again?" ”

"I'll give you another chance. You choose 3,000 people by yourself, and watch Li Xiang die with 2,000 orphan soldiers, you don't need to go into the forest to check, and you can't let Li Xiang destroy the overall situation of the siege. ”

"Can you do it?"

Ying Ming was so excited that he thanked Fang Tianding, the chief general, and kept selecting troops. Although Fang Tianding said that he would let him pick at will, how could he have the face to challenge the highest troops, of course, he only wanted to be in the middle.

Siege warfare suspended.

In the mountains and forests, Li Xiangzheng was arguing with the three battalion commanders who came to help.

"Commander Li, although the brother was ordered to come to help, but the cost of the bed crossbow and big arrows ...... Tsk, brother is not easy to report, you also know the doorways of Da Zhou's heavy allocation. What's more, Commander Li's subordinates insisted on disassembling and transporting it, and the foot journey was much faster, but that kind of practice affected the life expectancy. ”

Inside Li Xiang's tent, a battalion commander with a slightly yellowed face sighed, looking very embarrassed. This battalion commander is from a utility background in the army, that is to say, he is a good son of a martial arts family who is determined to serve the country.

"Yes, Commander Lee. For those arrows with crossbows, there are only the north and south workshops of Bianjing and the bow and crossbow courtyard in the whole Great Zhou, and these three places can be supplemented. Brother, I'm worried now, what should I do in the future? ”

The battalion commander with a tattoo on the left cheek chimed in.

"That's right, brother, I'm also in a dilemma, you have to know that I ...... It took a lot of effort to bring over the expensive things you asked for by Commander Li. ”

The last battalion commander also wanted to say that it was difficult to report the account, but suddenly it occurred to him that the firearms were directly controlled by Han Zhaoqiu and several civilian officials, and there was no problem of reporting, so he had to say that he was very hard.

The other two wanted to get some benefits from the mysterious Li Xiang, but they didn't expect that the brother who came with a firearm would be like this...... What is the difference between opening your mouth to talk about the cost of travel and directly forcing hard money?!

It's too unsophisticated, and the reasons are too far-fetched. Shame on it!

The battalion commander who commanded the firearms was slightly chubby and had a tattoo on his forehead. When he saw Li Xiang and the other two, the tea bowl in his hand stopped, and he also realized the embarrassment, and began to bow his head and roll his eyes, trying to find a way to alleviate the embarrassment.