The newly formed cavalry team in Ningsai, although it was not yet able to put on a neat combat formation like the veterans of Jinding Mountain. But they also experienced two battles during their training, and achieved three officers and five horse bandits, and they suffered no casualties themselves. So judging from the final results, these newly formed troops still have the strength to fight.

After completing the planned training activities, Guan Zhiqing and others, who had planned to transfer the troops to security, received bad news. A while ago, the official army mobilized men and horses from the Dingbian camp on Yansui West Road, and on the way, they gathered soldiers from other military forts, led by Zhang Yingchang, deputy chief soldier of the West Road, on the 14th day of the first month of the fourth year of Chongzhen, launched a surprise attack on the security of Shen Yiyuan and other rogues. (Note 1)

How big the losses of the thieves in the security city are, Guan Zhiqing and the others are still unclear. Because it was the people of Jindingshan who delivered the news. At present, it seems that there are at least 3,000 people under the deputy commander-in-chief Zhang Yingchang, and there is a trend of continuous expansion, and the officers and soldiers and village warriors from other places have also gone to Baoan City to support one after another.

In the battle on the 14th day of the first lunar month, it was the cavalry of the official army that took the lead in launching the assault, and Shen Yiyuan and others of the security guard suffered relatively large losses under surprise. Later, in the battle of the 15th of the second day, the rogues in the security city went out of the city to start another battle with the official army, but the rogues suffered a crushing defeat again. Moreover, the people who heard the news said that in these two battles, some of the big leaders of the rogue were killed by the official army.

After receiving the news, Guan Zhiqing, Huang Youcai and others in Ningsai immediately convened a short meeting with many leaders in the city. Everyone unanimously decided to rescue the large security forces, and they planned to gather all the men and horses in the Xin'an Border Camp and Liushujian Fort to Ninsai first.

After concentrating the combat strength, Ningsai will be able to have more than 300 cavalry of uneven quality, which will be the biggest force in Ningsai Fort. At the same time, the thieves also sent people to contact the Mongols outside the Great Wall, and the people of Ningsai planned to wait for the Mongolian cavalry to arrive, and then attack the officers and troops of the southern security guards. At that time, Guan Zhiqing and Huang Youcai will take their elite soldiers to participate in this siege relief operation.

While waiting, the leaders of Ninsai retrained the men and horses who had arrived one after another. By the time the Mongol cavalry arrived, it was already the sixth day of the second lunar month.

The security guards were still besieged by the official army, and the thieves, who felt that they could not drag it any longer, immediately took action. Huang Youcai led the cavalry and two hundred Mongols first, while Guan Zhiqing followed with the rear team.

Zhang Mengcheng, Che Jibao, Ma Xiangzhong and Zhang Zhaoen of Jindingshan set off a day earlier than Huang Youcai, and they planned to make a detour to launch a surprise attack on the security guards.

……

In the security city, Ma Xiangbo is maintaining his weapons and armor. His armor is not the same as the equipment of the Jindingshan cavalry, the armor of the Jindingshan cavalry is repaired from the north of the Yansui Town military fort, and dyed it black, and the cavalry teams are only divided by different colors of the cloth on their waists and the small flags of their helmets. Ma Xiangbo's body armor is a pair of chain mail, and the shiny wire looks very well maintained.

The protection of his head is a six-petal iron helmet, and the items connected together are also made of chain mail, and there is nothing wrong with the appearance, but the brocade silk lining inside has worn out a lot.

After completing the maintenance of the armor, Ma Xiangbo pulled his Pu knife from the scabbard. After the snow bright blade was withdrawn, a chill seemed to rise in the room. The battle of the previous days had added a few more gaps to the blade of the knife. Ma Xiangbo took his Pu knife and looked left and right, then went out and found a whetstone to sharpen it.

During the first lunar month, Shen Yiyuan and Zhang Mengjin's men and horses besieged the security guards, and Li Yang was injured by falling rocks on the city in a battle, after which Li Yang and some wounded veterans were quietly transported back to Jinding Mountain, while Ma Xiangbo and He Zongwei came to support with some brothers.

After conquering the county seat of Baoan, Ma Xiangzhong was lucky to find the enemy he had never found, and learned about the lives of his family with his own hands.

It's just that Ma Xiangzhong, who finally took revenge, still feels a little empty, and his family property has been burned to the ground when he took his brothers in the village to take revenge two years ago.

And this time he touched the corpse of the enemy, and only found a few taels of silver in total. Now Ma Xiangbo only has the idea of recruiting as soon as possible, and intends to let his life start from scratch.

Shen Yiyuan, who defeated the county seat of Baoan, sent many of his subordinates to Qingyang Mansion to attack after that. The teams of Zhang Mengjin and Cai Xiaozi were left behind by Shen Yiyuan, the big boss, because Shen Yiyuan didn't want to see the power of these two big leaders under his name grow further.

Although they didn't get the opportunity to grow further, the two security guards didn't feel any regrets. In fact, Zhang Mengjin and Cai Xiaozi, the two masters, also need to watch the increasing power of Shen Yiyuan to prevent this big boss from taking the opportunity to attack Jin Dingshan and Artemisia Peak.

However, there were unforeseen circumstances, and on the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, the official army suddenly arrived, and took the opportunity to attack Shen Yiyuan and Cai Xiaozi and others who were patrolling outside the city. Gao Yingdeng, another big leader under Shen Yiyuan, was killed on the spot, and Shen Yiyuan himself was almost beheaded by the official cavalry who suddenly killed him.

And Artemisia Peak Cai Short Son suffered even worse, his two younger brothers were killed. And the most courageous cavalry leader in his village, Cai Xiaozi's ninth uncle, was also seriously injured by the officers and soldiers in this day's battle. Zhang Mengjin was desperately escorted back by his subordinates because he was relatively close to the city gate, and Yu Baocheng, who was guarding him beside him, also paid two fingers on his left hand for this.

The next day, the leaders of the extreme fire gathered their elite veterans and fought hard against the officers and soldiers outside the city. However, he was defeated again by the official army design, and this time the big palm god Yiyuan did not have the luck of the previous day. His mount was shot dead during the assault on the official army, and when he fell off his horse, he was directly killed by Zhang Yingchang's subordinates in the official army.

The thieves lost their supreme commander, and the bandits, who were already a rabble, went into chaos. The subordinates under different leaders pushed each other, and at this time, another Ming army general, Zuo Guangxian, personally led the team to rush and kill, directly crushing the troops of Zhang Mengjin and Cai Xiaozi and other thieves with strong combat power in one fell swoop.

In the subsequent rout, Ma Xiangbo led more than a dozen foot soldiers to fight desperately to the death, and only then did he successfully bring the two big leaders Zhang Mengjin and Cai Xiaozi back to the city. After Zhang Mengguang, Fan Shunjiang and others outside the city withdrew in embarrassment. The security guards counted the losses and found that they had lost a lot of elite soldiers.

During the two days of fighting, nearly 300 of the thieves did not return. Most of them should have been killed by the officers and soldiers in the middle of the term, and there were about 300 wounded among the remaining rogue troops who had withdrawn to the city. Most of these losses were the elites of the various leaders, so the thieves in Baoan City were actually frightened after two days of fighting. (Note 2)

PS: Note 1: From the "Historical Materials of the Peasant Uprising in the Late Ming Dynasty" edited by Zheng Tianting and Sun Yue, in the article "Yang He, the Governor of Shaanxi Trilateral Governor in the Fourth Year of Chongzhen, Entitled Buxin Surrender", there is "The battle on the 14th and 5th of the first month, the thief has broken his courage. ".

Note 2: In the first volume of the "Suikou Chronicles", there is a record of Li Yingqi's statement that the battle of security was beheaded by two hundred and forty levels. The first volume of the "Chronicles of the Liukou" is also this number. Considering the possible escape, I set the number at nearly three hundred. As for the one hundred and seventy-three levels of beheadings in volume four of the "Chongzhen Records", it may be the number of beheadings in one of the days. It's just that "Chongzhen Record" arranged this entry on the fifth day of the first month when Shen Yiyuan captured the security guard, how can there be a reason that Shen Yiyuan was rushed to be slaughtered by Zhang Yingchang on the day when he captured the security guard. So I don't record it.