The bloody atmosphere that permeated the town of Gaoqiao Town did not disperse for several days, and the corpses piled up in the center of the town were not claimed for several days, and in the end, it was the people of the Huaibei Army of the Jiaozhou Battalion who dragged these corpses outside the town to be incinerated.

Nearly 300 people were killed in one day, everyone in Haizhou was terrified from top to bottom, the area around the camp of the Huaibei Army in Jiaozhou was quiet and abnormal, and there were no more people who were not open-eyed to come to harass, and among the hundreds of people who beheaded this day, there were also some salt merchants' subordinates.

Although the head was killed before shouting that he was here to check the accounts, the crowd that could be gathered from the nearby salt works and warehouses also shows what the purpose of these people is.

Nearly 100 of the salt merchants' subordinates had their heads cut off, and now, the salt merchants who used to chase the Huaibei Army and garrison Zhangjiang like flies did not dare to approach.

Zhang Jiang's incident was done in a reasonable and restrained manner, and the reason for the large-scale killing was also reported to the Yamen of Haizhou and Huai'an Prefecture, saying that there was a rebellion among the people, stealing military horses and besieging the military camp, and it was suspected that it was the instigation of the pirates or the Maitreya Sect and the Smelling Fragrance Sect that day, and hoped that the local authorities would strictly investigate and deal with it, and not to make similar things happen again.

The documents, evidence, witnesses, and confessions sent to the yamen were all complete, which frightened the Haizhou prefect and the Huai'an prefect, and hurriedly sent someone to the Huaibei army to appease them.

This kind of chaos is reported to the above, and the unlucky ones can only be these civil affairs officials, in Haizhou City, there are actually Sanpin officials, the salt transport envoys of the salt administration yamen, but on the same day, the Jiaozhou battalion Huaibei Army was invited to Haizhou by themselves, and what they say now is tantamount to slapping themselves in the face.

The people of Haizhou noticed that the place where Li Meng, the general soldier of Shandong, was stationed had completely controlled Haizhou City and several key points nearby.

For example, in the East China Sea in the former place, the soldiers above were reprimanded by the officials of the Nanjing Military Department because of their ineffective prevention of bandits. On the one hand, the two Huai salt merchants also felt that they had spent a lot of money to feed these soldiers, but they shrank their heads at a critical time, so what else did they want these people to do.

As a result, the soldiers in the East China Sea were relocated to Andongwei on the border of Shandong and Nanzhili. The Xinyang Water Battalion of the Shandong General Army was stationed in the barracks where the East China Sea was located, which itself was a big island, and it was very convenient for ships to dock, and the Xinyang Water Battalion was extremely heavily guarded, and it was a heavy punishment to rush to the island, saying that it was to prevent pirates from taking the opportunity to touch the island.

The salt merchants, frightened by the pirates, did not see anything wrong with doing so, but rather felt that the army was dutiful. It's a pity that the officers and soldiers who had close contact with the pirates that day were either dispersed or transferred to other places to station, if you look at the officers and soldiers of these Xinyang Water Battalions, you will see that these people have many similar faces to the people in the pirates.

After Gaoqiao Town killed people, Zhang Jiang felt that the surroundings had been quiet for a long time, and the salt merchants who had been currying favor with him had disappeared, and he was obviously frightened.

When encountering such a situation, he is in harmony with Zhang Jiangdi. He began to dispatch personnel in the army, and began to survey the terrain in various parts of Jiangbei, as well as all relevant information.

On the sixth day after the killing, a few fast horses came to Haizhou City, and they hurriedly asked to see Zhang Jiang, the leader of the Huaibei Army. During this time, it was the first time that outsiders had come to the door.

The matter is really urgent, a salt merchant in Haizhou sent a team to a certain place to recover, on the way back was surrounded by horse thieves, because it was a salt merchant escorting the silver money, so there were also a lot of guards and family members, these people hid in a broken temple, there was a clever person, first rode out on horseback, galloped back to Haizhou to report the news.

The salt merchant who got the news was immediately anxious. The gang of horse thieves in the Huaibei area are all extremely vicious, and money is a big deal, but the lives of those guards and family members cannot be given up like this, or in the worst case, at least the corpse must be brought back and the family will be explained.

At present, the soldiers and horses of Huai'an Mansion are the local officers and soldiers who were defeated by the pirates in front, and then the Shandong soldiers and horses as guest troops. Compare combat power. The only thing worth believing in is the guest army in Shandong.

According to the man who came back to report the news, at least more than 400 horse thieves were to besiege the temple there. There are more than 400 horse thieves, and in order to be safe, the Huaibei army should send twice as many troops as them to the rescue.

It is said that being besieged by horse thieves, the foot soldiers of the Huaibei Army of the Jiaozhou battalion rushed over, how could it take more than two days, plus the other party came to report the news, so long ago, I am afraid that it would have been succeeded by the horse thieves, but the major events of the march and combat should be cautious first.

Even if they want to collect the corpses this time, they must ensure the safety of the team, so the number of troops sent by 1,000 people should be necessary, and the salt merchants came to request, no matter from which aspect, this is their duty, and it is also the duty of the Huaibei Army stationed in Haizhou to protect the safety of the salt merchants

The garrison Zhang Jiang quickly made a decision, and arranged for the thousand people stationed in Gaoqiao Town to go to the rescue, although the thousand general was a little confused, but the decision after that was also decisive, Zhang Jiang also continued to investigate him, so he sent the thousand general to lead the army to the rescue.

This Qian Zong was originally stationed in the old camp in Jiaozhou, and this time the army was expanded because of his good performance in peacetime, and he was selected as the Qian Zong who led the troops, but he was not a military household from Lingshanwei, but a person from Aoshanwei, surnamed Gao, called Gaoke.

After getting the order, the general manager of the high science and technology did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly gathered the troops and horses, the number of mules and horses in each unit of the Jiaozhou battalion was very large, and the soldiers were trained for combat every day, so the degree of mobilization was far greater than that of other troops in the same period.

And there is another reason for the faster departure this time, there is no need to consider the problem of grain and straw supply on the way, the salt merchant who requested it is already guaranteed, and the supplies of these people on the way are all supplied by him.

On the first night after the departure, he rested in Zhuangzi on the way, although the steward sent by the salt merchant to lead the way was very enthusiastic to ensure that the army should rest early after a hard day's work, and as for the matter of guarding duty in the middle of the night, it was left to Zhuangzi's Zhuang Ding and the guardian to be responsible.

In this unit, except for officers at all levels, all the soldiers were new recruits, and after a hard day's journey, they were indeed a little unable to hold on.

But after the incident of quelling the chaos in time, this Gao Qian always behaved more and more, and he had to send sentries and mobile guards in accordance with the code of conduct everywhere. These are all ironclad rules. As a result, guarded sentinels and police posts were dispatched.

For the recruits who went out to fight for the first time, the day was too tiring, but at night they couldn't sleep with excitement. I fell asleep in the middle of the night.

The night was nothing to do, it was very quiet, and when I got up the next morning, the officers of all ranks shouted at the soldiers to check their equipment and weapons, because the day was about to encounter the enemy.

According to the person sent by the salt merchant to lead the way, the ruined temple that was surrounded was on the edge of the official road between Haizhou and Shuyang, and he hurried early in the morning. It can be reached in the afternoon.

After coming out of Gaoqiao Town, the recruits from Shandong also saw the situation on the side of the road, compared to the disaster born in Shandong, the situation of Nanzhili is much better, after all, the water network of Nanzhili is dense, and the irrigation is also very simple, but it looks not much stronger than Shandong.

With such a catastrophe in Shandong, the border between Nanzhili and Huaibei and Shandong will naturally be affected, but Shandong is a comprehensive dispatch of manpower and material resources to fight the disaster. However, no one cares about Huaibei, and the salt merchants of the two Huai even feel that the disaster is not a problem, and the manpower required by the salt industry in the two Huai is relatively large.

However, for thousands of years in China, farmers have lived on the fields, and they would not have survived if they had not farmed. Never going to work to earn a living, the catastrophe of the past few years has driven the peasants of Huaibei from the fields and let them work in the salt works.

Therefore, the soldiers of the Huaibei Army of the Jiaozhou battalion saw that most of the fields along the road had been abandoned, sparsely populated, and looked even more desolate than the ground in Shandong.

Although the officers at all levels did not say anything, the recruits saw all this, and compared it with Shandong, which also strengthened their conviction in their hearts.

Haizhou is rich because of the salt industry, while Shuyang County of the same level is miserable. After entering the ground of Shuyang County, it is even more desolate.

The salt merchant who led the way has always flattered the Qian Zong Gaoke who led the team, and at the same time promised all kinds of benefits, but this kind of person from the Jiaozhou camp will naturally not be tempted like this.

"After walking about three miles, you will arrive at the mountain temple, this place is small and has been here before, and I don't know when a mountain temple was built on a small hill on the side of the road. There is no incense either. Passers-by sometimes go to shelter from the rain or something. ”

Hearing this, Gao Ke nodded and asked:

"That's right. You rich people in Haizhou are so powerful, how can there be your local horse thieves to make up their minds! ”

The salt merchant's subordinate looked a little unnatural, smiled awkwardly, and explained:

"These horse thieves are bold, often after committing crimes in Huaibei, they run to Shandong and Henan to hide, and Huai'an Mansion and Xuzhou cannot be arrested, so the more rampant."

After saying this, the salt merchant's subordinate felt that his words might have an insinuation, and looked at Gao Ke around him with some apprehension, but now Gao Ke didn't seem to listen to these words at all, staring at the low mountain in front of him.

Although there is still a certain distance, you can still see a large number of men and horses gathered at the bottom of the low mountain, and the warriors on horseback gallop up and down the mountain.

"The whole army quickened its pace, trotted closer, and formed a team after five hundred steps from the ground!!"

Gao Ke gave the order to the herald beside him, then turned around and said:

"I can't imagine that these people can support it for so long, it's really not easy!"

The salt merchant's subordinate laughed dryly, and as if he was a little embarrassed to open his mouth and plead:

"My lord, the front is so dangerous, I won't move forward anymore, I'm just waiting here for my lord's triumph!"

Gao Qian was chattered about by this person for almost two days, and he fought with horse thieves, and it was really cumbersome to bring this person, so he had no objections, nodded, and began to turn to the right side of the team and began to lead the team forward.

Although it is on the official road, there is no one to see, and the more than 1,000 soldiers of the Jiaozhou Battalion Huaibei Army are stepping forward, and the momentum is not small.

But the horse thieves who attacked around the low mountain were not moved at all, or continued the siege, and the Huaibei soldiers who saw this scene saw such a scene, and their hearts were a little angry, and this feeling of being despised was uncomfortable for anyone, especially these soldiers.

In the first row of the line, the non-commissioned officer on the right side of the line was always eye-checking the distance. The so-called 500 steps is naturally not accurate, and the results of visual inspection will not exceed 30 steps, and such a distance is guaranteed when marching and fighting. It is to give the soldiers time and distance to form a whole formation and impact.

A battalion of 1,000 foot soldiers, divided into ten teams, each team of 100 people, each team of five team deputies, each team deputy, commanding 20 people, this area around the low mountain. The official road and the nearby fields were very flat places, and under Gao Ke's orders, forty men in each column were lined up in horizontal formations, a total of twenty columns, and two hundred musketeers swam in front of and on both sides of the phalanx.

Twenty of the thousand general high-tech and his own soldiers rode on horseback, always following the right side of the square position, and the drummer walked between the musketeers and the phalanx.

The drummers beat the rhythmic drums, and the spearmen adjusted their pace to the rhythm of the drums and slowly entered the battlefield.

Such a phalanx of spears pressed over. Anyone should be frightened, not to mention that the number of horse thieves around the low mountain bag is far less than the foot soldiers of the Huaibei army.

The soldiers in the first row could even hear the laughter and scolding of the horse thieves on the opposite side, but they were still the same as if they didn't see the approaching Jiaozhou battalion soldiers.

Most of the Jiaozhou battalion are foot soldiers, and they must ensure that the formation can be used to wield out the combat power. Therefore, we can only keep adjusting our pace and slowly approaching.

When a hundred paces away, someone suddenly whistled sharply, and it didn't seem to see the horse thieves of the Huaibei Army suddenly scattering in the opposite direction, and some foot soldiers saw the horse thieves suddenly disperse, and they couldn't react for a while, and many people's attention was already focused on the horse thieves in front of them.

Seeing the horse thief's sudden rout, some soldiers in the front row were about to run in pursuit. Maintaining a good formation was about to be chaotic, and the lieutenants at both ends of the team immediately shouted loudly and ordered the soldiers to return to the team, and Gao Ke had already urged the horse to the front, so that the drummer stopped beating.

For the sake of prudence, it is necessary to stop the whole team, but this stop, let alone any pursuit. But I saw horse thieves besieging the low mountain. It means that the besieged people on the mountain have not been killed, since the horse thieves have dispersed. Going up the mountain to save people can be regarded as completing this mission.

What's more, the abnormal behavior of the horse thief has already caused chaos in these recruit-based teams, and if the horse thief kills the horse gun again, it will be a disastrous consequence.

This dwarf mountain is actually a big dirt bag, surrounded by some rocks and dwarf trees, not to mention any shelter, dozens of people can actually rely on such a place to defend, so that hundreds of horse thieves can not attack, it is also a very remarkable thing, Gaoke psychological side is still a little funny to think, these dozens of salt merchants' guards are really very strong, it is better to pull to the army of the Jiaozhou battalion, it is more promising than serving the salt merchants.

Thousands of general high-tech restrained the team at the bottom of the mountain, and more than a dozen pro-soldiers rushed up the mountain to save people, high-tech was finally a lot easier, but he felt a little boring, and thought that there would be a battle to fight when he came to this place, who would have thought that the other party would collapse without a fight, and he actually ran away.

When he was pondering here, Gao Ke's horses were a little restless, and Gao Ke was there behind him stroking the neck of the mount to make him quiet, and he suddenly heard the soldiers who went to the low mountain to save people shouting:

"Mr. Qian!! No one ...... in the mountains."

Almost at the same time, the ground suddenly trembled, and there seemed to be a low thunder all around, and a large puff of smoke and dust could be seen rising all around.

"Horse team!"

Gao Ke's brain suddenly reflected, and the shouts of the pro-soldiers and the surrounding movements made him immediately understand what was going on, and immediately shouted at the top of his voice:

"Lean here, lean over, rely on this low mountain to set up a formation!!"

After the horse thief escaped, the infantry team led by him walked to the edge of the big dirt bag, Gao Ke shouted on the horse with his throat, most of the soldiers were on the mountain, and there were soldiers in the outermost part of his order who did not hear it, and the people close to Gao Ke retracted inside, but the people in the outer circle did not hear it.

Seeing the colleagues in the inner circle running inside, the people in the outer circle immediately reacted, and the whole team gathered in the direction of the mountain bag.

But the inside and outside were not heard at the same time, and the whole direction of the square team was changed position, the formation was greatly adjusted, and there was already chaos in the warehouse.

The soldiers who served in the Jiaozhou battalion all have such thoughts, and after the Jinan military conference, this understanding was deepened and engraved into everyone's bones.

Gao Ke saw that the formation of his infantry was already a little chaotic, but the horse team in the distance was getting closer and closer, and if it was rushed in, it would be really troublesome.

"Don't panic, don't go up the mountain!!"

After hearing the order, many recruits relied on the low mountain to set up a formation, but ran directly towards the mountain, and the shouting and restraint of officers at all levels were already somewhat uncontrollable.

However, these soldiers had been training for several months, but the weapons in their hands were not dropped, and Gao Ke shouted hoarsely on the horse, but his subordinates did not listen at all.

The horse team coming from all sides is also very experienced, not to beat the horse and rush wildly, but to press the degree of approach, from the ambush to the distance here, if the impact does not control the horse, it is easy to run the horse across, suppress the degree, if the soldiers in the ambush can not withstand such pressure, scatter and flee, and then chase and kill.

There are not a lot of chaotic soldiers, but it makes the soldiers who are already standing unstable in their hearts, seeing that this formation is in danger of collapsing, Gao Ke also participated in the encounter in Qihe County with Li Meng back then, and knows what the consequences will be after the collapse of the formation.

Thinking of this, he couldn't care about anything, turned over and dismounted, took off the axe and spear hanging on the side of the horse, stood on the side of the mountain road, and shouted loudly:

"Give me Lao Tzu to go back to the formation, whoever runs again, Lao Tzu will split him!"

This shout obviously had no effect, and someone still ran over regardless of it, Gao Ke gritted his teeth, and the axe and gun in his hand were rounded, and he swung it towards the person who ran over.

The axe and gun swung and slashed the human body, but it was not a wound, it was directly a part of the body separated, and the soldier who was slashed screamed miserably, half of his body was already split, and blood splattered.

The soldiers who were already a little dazed and running backwards were stained with blood spilled, and with that terrible scream, these soldiers who were running backwards stopped.

"Escape from the battle, military law should be beheaded, go back!!"

Many recruits train every day, but not everyone has seen blood and killed people. The soldiers who ran towards the back saw that Mr. Qian split the companions around him, and his whole body was cold, and he heard Mr. Qian, who had always been stuffy and supervised the training, shouting fiercely, and then looking at his companions who were hacked to death, he didn't dare to escape a single step.

This is the case on the battlefield, the calm kung fu of the soldiers who have seen the bloody killing is not comparable to the recruits, this battalion of more than 1,000 people, now there are those who are running to the back, and there are also those who stand in front and muster up the courage to meet the enemy.

If you distinguish carefully, you can also distinguish that those soldiers who did not flee are the soldiers who participated in the slaughter of the people a few days ago, and those who escaped have not seen blood.

The horse thieves got closer and closer, and their orders and shouts were clearly heard by the soldiers of the Huaibei Army, but fortunately, they finally reluctantly put out the formation.