After the lessons learned from the previous night attack on You Jiajun, this time Li Zicheng did not attempt to face a strong enemy and unknowingly deploy the means of blasting attacks, so he dispatched more than 2,000 elites to cover more than 1,000 blasting attackers, and at the same time, the entire army also tried to get close enough according to the daytime reconnaissance as much as possible.

When the whole army approached from all directions to a distance of about a mile from the target camp according to the guidance of the starting fire, it began to encounter the archers of the Guards and Brave Guards who were on duty in turn to intercept and harass them.

Because of the lessons learned from the first Imperial Horse Guard defensive operation, night combat is one of Xiao Xuan's most important training items this year, and almost most of the officers and soldiers of the Guards Battalion and the Yongwei Battalion have received actual combat archery training with a lot of investment. In the dark of night, the ability to effectively organize and distinguish between friend and foe, and even ambush and release arrows, is far from being comparable to the intruding army at this time.

Therefore, when the night battle of the outpost first began, thousands of elite soldiers suffered hundreds of casualties. The arrows that came from a distance of no more than ten paces or so were overwhelming. The difference in armor ratio between the two sides, coupled with the difference in the judgment of night battle and the level of archery, caused most of the peasant army to attack the battalion before they could approach a distance of about 200 paces from the predetermined target.

Of course, the actual combat experience of many times still allowed at least a dozen or so squads of about 200 people in four directions to break through the outer cordon and approach to a position about 100 steps away from the camp. Of course, these demolition strike teams also want to launch demolition attacks at closer range. In order to avoid long nights, the blasting attack did not wait for dawn, but immediately began before midnight, when the quiet earthwork had just been completed.

At least a dozen violent explosions in four directions, the fire glow reflected within a radius of at least ten kilometers. Twenty or thirty thousand pieces of gravel, ranging from one tael to four taels, flew under the violent action of gunpowder to the camp ranging from 100 to 200 paces. Towards evening, tens of thousands of square meters of makeshift camps were rapidly built and covered with a rain of bullets falling from the sky. Although the density of coverage is far inferior to that of the previous two blasting attacks, some teams of "accompanying strategists" with some arithmetic skills seem to have estimated that even if the opponent is armored and has fortifications to cover them, they will suffer hundreds to hundreds of casualties under such a blow.

This time, Li Zicheng did not choose to organize forces for a surprise attack immediately after the blasting, because judging from the powerful interceptions encountered in the dark night, even if it does not count firearms, this Son of Heaven Forbidden Brigade will obviously not be a weak brigade in terms of will and morale. In the case of the failure of most demolition teams, rash attacks are bound to meet with setbacks. Therefore, he finally chose to retreat with his army.

When the sky gradually brightened, Li Zicheng and the others retreated to the camp that had just been assembled dozens of miles away, and began to encounter surprise attacks again. The reason is that Xiao Xuan certainly did not plan to let the entire team stay in the camp and wait to be attacked, but when the opponent's blasting attack unfolded, many people were drawn out in batches to move to another place in a temporary squatting position, so as to disperse the risk of the opponent's blasting attack to the greatest extent. Of course, even so, there were still fifty or sixty casualties in the entire team, but after all, it was within the scope of not affecting morale and combat effectiveness.

In this raid, only a few people such as Li Zicheng, Gao Yingxiang, and Li Guo escaped with thousands of men and horses. There are less than four hundred remaining of the well-trained elite. Most of the non-combatants, such as the elderly, the weak, women and children, in the entire old battalion were also taken prisoner in this battle.

After the First Battle of Fuping, the peasant army, which had just grown to tens of thousands of people and 20,000 or 30,000 young and strong main forces, and whose organizational and tactical level had been greatly improved, suffered a decisive blow.

If it is said that before this battle, the peasant army showed a lot of extraordinary organizational and tactical skills, which made many Ming civil and military officials have a suspicion: this peasant army, which has grown up and is very familiar with night blasting attacks, is very likely to be supported by the current saints? However, the great exploits of tens of thousands of beheadings and tens of thousands of prisoners and the decisive blow to the peasant army largely calmed this suspicion. At least such a big victory seemed to many people to be able to crush this gradually growing peasant army. At the same time, such a great victory also had an important impact and role in deterring peasant uprisings in other regions.

After learning that Li Zicheng, Gao Yingxiang and others only escaped with a few thousand people in the end, a young soldier who knew Xiao Xuan's thoughts couldn't help but say with some worry: "Isn't this battle a bit too much, and the original intention of the Holy Lord has backfired?" In the case of the other party's loss of the old camp, I am afraid that it would be good if those thousands could eventually leave two or three thousand people... ”

Xiao Xuan thought for a moment but felt that this battle was quite right: "Two or three thousand people are enough." Ordinary local bandits are strong, and it is the limit to be more powerful and make up hundreds of nearly a thousand soldiers who can fight. This means that they will eventually be able to grow stronger, and if we leave it alone, maybe in a few months they will regain momentum... ”

Of course, at this time, Xiao Xuan was more concerned about the summary of each team after this battle, from tactical summary to ideological summary. If a year's time is all about cultural science, it is not impossible to read and write, but it will take up too much training time. Of course, if you just learn Hanyu Pinyin, and make various summaries and returns according to your usual speech, even some recruits who have not been in the army for too long can be proficient.

Xiao Xuan still said with some apprehension: "Although the opponent we met this time is still a little bit combative, but the armor, equipment, and cannons are not complete. Compared with the real strong enemies outside the border, I am afraid that there is an essential difference. If our army has paid two or three hundred casualties in the confrontation with such an opponent, then it means that if we are not as cautious and serious as before, it is very likely that we will suffer thousands of casualties in the face of a strong enemy... ”

Somehow, Xiao Xuan always had a premonition: because of all the historical changes he brought, the first time the Manchu army entered the customs was probably not able to wait for the winter of the second year of Chongzhen, and it was possible to enter the customs in the winter of this catastrophic year. Especially when he is still leading the team outside, it is better to return to the division as soon as possible after this blow. Even if you compete with the Manchu army, relying on the city wall gate is always much less risky than being blocked by others outside the capital.

Therefore, there was no time to properly arrange those prisoners, and after hastily screening and cleaning the battlefield, and capturing a small amount of armor that had been transferred from the Ming army's family, the entire army embarked on the way home.

What Xiao Xuan didn't expect was that it had not yet entered winter, and just after the harvest season, the main force of the Manchu army had launched an expedition ahead of history.

(End of chapter)