Hong Chengchou was shocked when he heard the news of the loss of Yuncheng, and all the previous arrangements revolved around the premise that the official army could hold Yuncheng. Although Hong Chengchou repeatedly ordered the official army to speed up the advance and go to Yuncheng for reinforcements, he did not think that Yuncheng would be lost, and he also hoped to use Yuncheng to attract the thieves.

The walls of Yuncheng have been repaired and strengthened for more than a thousand years, and the officials and soldiers in the city are even more well-fed, how could the thieves break through the city in such a short time.

"Did the thieves withdraw from Yuncheng?" After calming down, Hong Chengchou remembered to ask about the movements of the thieves.

"We were ordered to reconnoiter the whereabouts of the thieves in the vicinity of Yuncheng, and advanced to the periphery of the battle site between the two sides, and at first we heard the sound of shouting and killing, and the continuous firing of various artillery guns came far away, and then we heard a huge explosion, and the thieves rushed into Yuncheng, and the guns in the city stopped after a short while. The security forces began to dig trenches outside the city, and we couldn't get close, so we had to run back first to report the situation. Tanma calmed down a little, and the report was much clearer than Fang had just been.

"It's good if you don't escape, it's good if you don't escape." What Hong Chengchou is most afraid of now is that the security army, like other thieves, will rob the food and property in the city and escape. Then it will be even more difficult to pursue. He led his men and horses from the northwest of Shanxi all the way to the south, and the consumption of these hundreds of thousands of horses was very huge, and if he returned in vain, it would be a major failure.

"Someone is coming, and the whole army is ordered to immediately gather all the men and horses, and the whole army will march to Yuncheng." Hong Chengchou gave the order to march into the army, and he must bite this group of thieves.

"The thieves have occupied Yuncheng, and now it has become a posture for us to attack the thieves and defend, is there any way to reduce the casualties during the attack." Hong Chengchou asked Cao Wenzhao, who was standing there.

"I don't have a particularly good way to do this, but I can let the soldiers cut down trees, make a large number of shield carts, and cover the shield carts with quilts and other things to reinforce, so that you can defend against the thieves' muskets, and then push a little forward on the position, the characteristics of the musket are that they cannot be thrown, and it should be safe for soldiers to hide behind the shield carts, as long as they get close to the enemy formation." After years of conquest, Cao Wenzhao still has a lot of experience on the battlefield, and he has really come up with some ways to think about it in the past few days.

"Okay, you take someone to follow me, and immediately go to the front to observe the thieves' movements." Hong Chengchou was also anxious and decided to go to the front to take a look in person.

Hong Chengchou personally supervised the formation and really took effect, the officers and soldiers of all walks of life did not dare to grind any longer, the speed of the march became faster, and the officers and soldiers of the brigade acted together, and they were also emboldened by each other, and they were no longer afraid of the ambush and sneak attack of the security army.

It was safe along the way. The security forces did not even send harassing troops, and the officers and troops soon arrived not far from Yuncheng. Looking at the defensive positions established by the security army outside the city, the officers and soldiers had no choice but to stop and wait for Hong Chengchou's next action order.

Hong Chengchou also rushed over shortly after. Ordering his subordinates to choose a suitable place to camp, he and Cao Wenzhao found a high post close to Yuncheng to observe the defensive positions of the security army from a distance.

This security army is really a dirt bun, it is not good to fight a war, just do the work of digging the soil, the ravines that have been dug outside the city wall are vertical and horizontal, and the security army does not even show its head in the trenches. "Where the security forces dug the trenches, the ground has been dug with potholes, and my cavalry can't spread it at all, it seems that the attack still depends on the infantry of other adults." Cao Wenzhao was not afraid of death, but he still felt that he could not let the soldiers die in vain.

"Someone has sent an order down, and let five hundred people be dispatched from the front to make a tentative attack on the position of the thief army." Hong Chengchou decided to take advantage of the unstable foothold of the security army to test the strength of the thieves.

Although the officers and generals did not want their soldiers to be cannon fodder, the governor's orders could not be disobeyed. A group of soldiers in the official army was forced by the general to walk towards the position of the security army.

The security army did not rest after breaking through Yuncheng, and was sent by Zhang Chu to the outside of the city to begin to build a defensive position, and the excitement of victory encouraged everyone, no one complained, just worked quickly, and built the general defense system of the position before the officers and soldiers of the brigade arrived.

At this time, the soldiers were hiding in the trench with their guns to rest, and when they heard the information of the attack of the officers and soldiers, the soldiers of the security army became excited again, and quickly entered their combat positions in the trenches, holding their guns and waiting for the squad leader to give an order, ready to give the officers and soldiers a head-on attack.

The hundreds of officers and soldiers who participated in the attack had heard about the defeat of the security army before, so they were very careful when attacking, looking up as they walked, for fear that the security army's shells would hit them, and they would be even more slow when they advanced.

A group of archers was moved to the front, and the attacking officers were told that if they retreated, the archers would shoot them mercilessly, so that the officers and soldiers could advance a little faster.

Afraid of something, when the officers and soldiers came into the range of the artillery, several artillery pieces on the position of the security army opened fire. After the shells hit the ground, they jumped and rushed into the array of officers and soldiers, and there was a wail when the array was neutral.

Hong Chengchou and Cao Wenzhao, who were standing on a high place, were counting the number of security armies' muskets and estimating the range of the artillery. It seems that the security army has a fixed pattern of warfare, first the artillery fire, followed by the salvo of muskets, as long as the thieves are restrained, these two moves can be done.

The attacking team of the officers and troops, who had suffered heavy casualties, was forced by the leading generals to launch a charge on the position of the security army, and in the face of the volley of the security army's muskets, it was almost equivalent to sending them to death. Ignoring the warlords behind him, he left corpses and wounded on the battlefield, and finally escaped from the range of muskets, and the artillery of the security army came to ravage again.

Seeing the tragic casualties of the attacking officers and soldiers when they were counterattacked by the security army's muskets, the generals who supervised the battle could not bear to let the archers behind shoot and let the defeated soldiers flee back to their positions.

A simple tentative attack caused more than half of the casualties of the team involved in the attack. The attack power of the security arm's muskets is so terrifying. This defeat was expected, and Hong Chengchou did not blame the defeated generals, but ordered them to build a camp not far from the city and make shield carts according to the method mentioned by Cao Wenzhao. When everything is ready, we will fight the security forces.

The security forces were very calm, and they had defeated hundreds of officers and troops to attack, and there was nothing to boast about. The security forces began to strengthen the fortifications again, preparing for the next round of attacks by the officers and troops. There was a moment of silence on the battlefield. (To be continued.) )