Yunzhou, Leize County, lower reaches of the Wuzhang River,

A group of soldiers in gray robes were running wildly, their armor was already covered with blood and dirt, and many of them even threw off their chain vests and iron-inlaid chest guards, and their hats and helmets were also lost. XsHuotXT

And the dust that rolled up behind them was like a few wolf smoke that was clenched, drowning out those sporadic figures in an instant.

"Quick...... Hurry up ,......"

"Keeping up with ......"

As they fled, a bulge on the horizon finally appeared.

In fact, this is just a low drop slope formed by a dry riverbed and riverbank, but for this team, it is nothing less than a natural defensive formation.

In the midst of the rapid sound of horns and passwords, the soldiers mustered up the last bit of strength, dropped the extra burdens and debris except for the fire guns, and climbed uphill with their feet.

The white soldiers who stood uphill and had a little strength left. Without hesitation, he turned back to kill the enemy, and in a surging momentum, he was submerged in the superior number of the enemy formation, and then the front of the enemy formation was blocked for a short time.

Then, as the squads on the hillside hastily completed the formation, the horn of the counterattack sounded, and the smoke and dust of the volley were piled up into a wall of fog, and then the rain of bullets composed of lead swept into the enemy formation, and suddenly the screams and blood burst out, overturning and penetrating many bodies and armor, and the front row of the enemy's high-flying but slowing down because of the uphill climb, and slapping into a formation.

When the spurs on the slope had finished several rounds, the spurs inserted their bayonets under the guns, loaded the last ammunition, and condescendingly recharged against the superior enemy formation, which was in confusion and hesitation......

A small team of horses from the enemy's aid also bravely rushed forward, trying to block and cut off this snowball-like rush, and then it was too late.

Although the reflection of the pike dart thrown from the horse split the air like lightning, and landed in the middle and back of the gun, and suddenly some figures fell sparsely,

But the rest of them were unmoved, even if their faces were already splashed with the blood of their comrades, no one stopped for a moment, and they threw themselves into the blazing passion of the counterattack.

Just such a veteran of the platoon, who had taken the lead in the middle of his breath, had already collided with these enemy horses that had missed the cross, and unhurriedly deducted the hammer at the whistle; The rows of spear blades piercing in the scorching sunlight and the incomparably close burst immediately caused dozens of northern cavalry who could not avoid it, and even men and horses exploded into several bloody flowers.

Their heads, necks, and horse coats were all pierced alive, and large strands of blood and broken organs were so large that it was impossible for them to even fall to the ground, and they were completely pushed backwards by the force of the approaching spurs before rolling to the ground; The dying horses shook their heads and necks, kicked their feet, and were trampled by the staggered formations of soldiers.

The rest of the cavalry saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly slowed down, and the war horses under the crotch saw this group of rapidly approaching thorn forest walls, and they were even more heartbroken, and they carried their masters back.

At this time, a small half of the white soldiers who met the enemy in front of the enemy survived; Because he heard the horn in time, he lowered his body and covered himself with the corpse of the first self, and was spared.

Song Gongming, who was added as the general of the eighth battalion of the provisional formation of the right protection army, also breathed a heavy sigh, coughed heartbreakingly and spit out a mouthful of thick bloody phlegm, sat on the ground with his sword, and slowly tore off his battle robe that was adhered to by blood scale.

After all, he had already been hit by two arrows, although he could not be shot through the lining armor because of the protection of the new silk armor equipped with officers, but the heavy arrows dedicated to the Northern Army's infantry crossbow still left a lot of bruises and internal injuries under his ribs.

But apart from spraying it with a sip of liquor to kill the virus and reduce the swelling, he had no way to do more, because of the haste and eagerness of the fierce battle of the enemy, the heavy livestock of the two regiments of men and horses and most of the baggage carried by them were lost in the first place.

The only things that weren't thrown away were the ammunition in their muskets and carrier satchels.

You must know that this is just a routine armed reconnaissance along the south bank of the Yellow River.

As usual, they took the vehicles and boats of the water camp, went south from Wuzhang River and penetrated into the buffer zone for about 50 miles, and then landed on the shore, swept the outposts set up by the northern army on the spot, and then marched north along the bank of the Yellow River to return, but they did not expect that this would become the case.

God knows why the northern army gathered on the edge of the Yellow River with the ships and sails was like a ruthless encirclement and interception, without the decadence and fear of war that had been beaten and avoided in the past.

There was also a group of cavalry to respond to them in a roundabout way, but if they were not careful, the reconnaissance unit led by him personally suffered a big loss, and almost failed to come back.

It's a pity that this time it was lightly armed, otherwise it would have brought enough fire oil bombs and fire thunder bombs, and a few small shotgun cannons, and set up various hollow formations on the spot, and the enemy troops who were two or three times more idle would not be able to rush.

And in Puzhou, on the bank of the Yellow River, an army under the banner of Hebei is also checking casualties.

"There are about 600 ...... of lost sons"

"I didn't catch a few live ......"

"These southern barbarians in Huaidong really don't have such good ......"

"The other troops and the horse team that pursued have not returned? ，。 ”

The dusty Hebei interview and disposal ambassador, Zhang Dekun and Zhang Dekun, who knew the camp affairs of Hebei, were also asking about the left and right

"There is no return yet......

"Guessing the capture of prisoners and the end of the ......"

He looked at the flags, armor and other items that his subordinates had collected from the battlefield, and there were some mules and horses that had been recovered from the battlefield.

"With these captures, add some more captives."

"Luodu should be able to explain something over there."

"I reported that our army encountered the advance of Huaidong, and suffered a heavy defeat after a hard battle......"

"It is for the headquarters to slow down the speed of returning troops and transfer to fortification on the spot...... Since he swore to die to protect the Eastern Front for the imperial court"

"I'm afraid I won't be able to get to Kinai as scheduled......"

"Take this time to rest for a good day...... "......

In the Jiaodong area, the cotton fields all over the mountains have also begun to be full of small bell-shaped firmness.

In the full greenery swaying in the wind, the flying bee swarms buzzed and swam in the meantime, and lingered for a long time on the clumps of buds that had not yet bloomed.

The people who are hunched one after another are nervously and busy plowing the loose soil with rakes, or using special tubular utensils to spray diluted human and animal urine on the foliage of cotton bushes to carry out the work of topdressing in the later stage.

Cotton is a temperature-loving, light-loving, water-demanding crop, and the requirements for land fertility are secondary. Therefore, from the coastal areas of Jiangdong and Zhejiang in the south, after being introduced to Huaibei, it also has a good growth.

For the people of Huaidong, it is not only the most important fiber crop, but also an important oil crop, a high-protein food crop, or a textile, fine chemical raw material and an important strategic material.

In addition to the main production of lint, cottonseed can be pressed for oil and eaten, and the cake scraps or seeds extracted from the oil are used as poultry and livestock feed, or ground into a coarse flour and added to the flour for human consumption. The flowering period of cotton can also be used for beekeeping and honey collection, which can be said to be used for all over the body.

Nowadays, the fine-staple cotton produced in Huaidong has basically no chance to flow to the market, and has been digested internally by the relevant industrial system; And in addition to the need to be clothed with tent blankets, the bulk of them is undoubtedly a reserve of nitrocellulose products used as ****** and initiating charges.

In addition, due to the gradual proficiency of the ratio of diatomaceous earth and ********, passivated nitro explosives also have a relatively large number of reserves, so they are used to make a batch of new explosive bombs and engineering explosives.

After putting on the cast iron shell of the prefabricated fragments, although the broken fragments still have the problem of uneven size due to the uneven thickness, they can already penetrate the flesh and intestines of pigs and sheep within a radius of five steps around it.

Although there is still some distance to replace the fire and thunder bombs that are mainly killed by impact force and air waves in the traditional sense, they can already be used for experimental equipment and some smaller elite troops.

It's just that at the weapons test site on the bank of the Jiao River, amid the sound of explosions in the bombing training of the grenadiers, I was nostalgic for Xin Jiaxuan and Lu Wuguan as deputies.

Originally, among the four major commanders of Huaidong, only Zhao Long and Cui Bangbi were left, and even the observation made the yamen temporarily undecided, and many things inevitably piled up on my hands.

These two guys who went back to their hometown to get married have been going for a long time, and when will they come back to help share their worries.

At this time, I received a "good news" from Xie Mingxian, the envoy of Jiangning, that the imperial court had appointed a candidate to replace Wang Gui, but it was also an old acquaintance of mine, Liu Yanqing, a model commander of the New Army.

Moreover, he came to take up his post with troops, but most of the soldiers were from outside the mountains or newly recruited on the spot, so they were being trained in Runzhou, near Jiangning.

And the implication is self-evident, Jiangning is going to use my Huaidong Army as a target for borrowing chickens to lay eggs, and the ones sent over are unarmed recruits, and when they are transferred out, I am afraid that they will have to be fully equipped and properly trained.

It's really a plan and plan to make the most of it.