The crisp sound of cymbals spread to all fronts, and although the Qing soldiers who were fighting did not figure out what was going on, they still unconditionally chose to obey the order, quickly broke away from contact with the Ming army, and withdrew from the city under alternate cover. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Seeing that the Qing army, which was still menacing just now, retreated like a tide, the faces of most of the soldiers in Huguang Town were almost stunned, and their hearts were full of questions, why did the Qing captives choose to retreat when they were victorious? What's more, it's far from getting dark. Could it be that they are trying to play some kind of conspiracy?

Although the news channel was temporarily cut off, Pang Yue still roughly guessed what was happening around him from the abnormal behavior of the Qing army, and his heart was relieved and he breathed a sigh of relief. Before, Duoduo desperately attacked the county seat of Hengshan, determined to put Huguang Town to death, but at this time he ordered the whole army to withdraw from the city, he must have just received some news that made him nervous, otherwise how could he change his temper in such a short time? And the news that made Duoduo nervous was undoubtedly good news for the soldiers of Huguang Town in the city. If the Qing army continues to storm as it did just now, it remains to be seen whether the soldiers will be able to hold out until sunset tomorrow. After all, after several days of continuous fighting, the physical strength of the soldiers had been seriously depleted, and the Qing army was equipped with powerful Hongyi cannons.

However, Pang Yue also knew that it was not yet the time to let down his vigilance, and the possibility of Duoduo's deception could not be completely ruled out, so he ordered the defenders in the direction of the city gate to quickly move the defensive line forward, reoccupy the city wall, and send auxiliaries to fill the gap.

"Gangfeng Battalion! Advance! ”

"Trapped! Advance! ”

……

Amidst the sound of loud passwords and neat and rapid steps, a group of officers and soldiers of Huguang Town quickly rushed to the front line of the city wall.

*********

Meanwhile. The capital city of Hengzhou

Outside the north gate, people roared and neighed, shouting and killing shook the sky, Ma Jinzhong, Chen Youlong, who had just arrived at the city of Hengzhou, and the Manchurian soldiers with blue flags and white flags guarding outside the city launched a fierce battle. The Wuchang Naval Division of the Green Battalion on the river west of the city also adjusted the muzzle of the cannon to bombard Hengzhou City, but the power of the artillery on the warship was far from being comparable with the Hongyi cannon specially used for siege, and the Hengzhou city wall was tall and strong, so the damage that could be caused was not great, and at most it could only play a role in deterring the defenders in the city.

In the early morning of the day before yesterday, after receiving Pang Yue's letter, Zhu Dadian led Ma Jinzhong and Chen Youlong to bypass Hengshan County and rush directly to Hengzhou, in order to avoid the main force led by Duoduo. I took a lot of detours, so I didn't rush to Hengzhou until today. Seeing the arrival of the reinforcements of the Ming army, Lan Bai, the chief general of the Qing army's partial division under the city, did not take it to heart at all, and calmly arranged the battle, leaving the water division and the banner in the coat Aha and a small amount of Yu Ding to deter the defenders in the city, and he personally commanded nearly 7,000 soldiers and auxiliaries with blue and white flags to take the initiative to attack the Ming army that came to help. Seeing that the Qing army was so arrogant, coupled with the eagerness to relieve the siege of Hengzhou and protect the safety of Emperor Longwu, Zhu Dadian immediately greeted Ma Jinzhong and Chen Youlong, and the two armies fought together.

Although the Manchurian soldiers who participated in the war were only half of the Ming army in number. However, in terms of equipment and combat effectiveness, it was clearly superior, and each of the 3,000 armored soldiers was equipped with two horses. Even the auxiliary soldiers in the banner and even the clothed Aha have horses, and the combat effectiveness and combat experience of individual soldiers far surpass that of the Ming army. Therefore, when the two armies began to clash, the Ming army, which was superior in numbers, was taken by surprise. The cavalry deployed by Ma Jinzhong and Chen Youlong on both flanks was scattered in formation by the cavalry composed of Manchurian auxiliaries in just one round, and there were far more corpses of Ming soldiers on the ground than those of Manchurian soldiers. At this time, a frontal assault group composed of white flags and blue flag-clad soldiers launched an attack on the Ming army's main array.

The smoke and dust were filled, the iron hooves were rolling, and the three thousand Qing cavalry were like a violent wind, and the cold light on the blades and the light reflected by the dense thick copper nails on the armor surface reflected each other. It was like a monster showing its hideous fangs, exuding a chilling aura of death.

As the officers' slightly anxious orders sounded, the soldiers in the front row of the Ming army hurriedly raised their shields, and the archers in the back row set up their bows one after another, and the arrows pointed diagonally upward.

At this moment, Ma Jinzhong and Chen Youlong both widened their eyes and did not dare to relax in the slightest. The palms of the hands holding the reins were already covered with sweat. This battle is especially important to them. Emperor Longwu and the ministers of the court in the city may be watching their performance, and the entire battle process will be unobstructed. If it is too bad to have a two-fold numerical advantage. That's a bit too much to say, this is not only related to the face of the two of them, but also to the question of what kind of treatment the army under their command can enjoy in the future.

"Shoot the arrows!" When the Qing cavalry entered within 100 paces, the commander of the Ming army in the formation shouted loudly.

The fierce sound of bowstrings and the unique whistle of arrows breaking through the air rose one after another, and the rain of arrows under black pressure was sprinkled head-on towards the Qing army. Although Ma Jinzhong and Chen Youlong received some of the firearms given to them by Pang Yue, the soldiers in the army were not yet proficient in using them and could not form the same lethality as the firearms team in Huguang Town, so bows and arrows were still the most important suppressive weapons.

When the Ming army's arrow rain hit, the Manchurian armored soldiers also used a series of smooth and skillful movements, turned over and dismounted, opened their bows and arrows to fight back at the Ming army, and the whole set of actions was completed in one go, and there was no sign of dragging mud and water.

In the rain of arrows, people from both armies continued to fall. Because the Manchurian soldiers were all wearing heavy armor and the arrows they shot were aimed at people's faces, the casualties they paid were smaller than those of the Ming army.

After shooting three rounds of arrows like flowing water, the Manchurian armored soldiers who had already dismounted drew their swords and heavy axes and other weapons, held shields in their left hands as cover, let out a beast-like roar, and launched a charge towards the front of the Ming army's formation. At the same time, the lightly armored auxiliaries on both flanks also began to outflank the Ming army from two directions after forcing back the cavalry of the Ming army, galloping across the periphery of the phalanx, constantly releasing arrows into the formation to suppress the Ming army and assist the frontal armored soldiers to charge.

The fierce and piercing sound of swords and soldiers suddenly sounded, and the Ming army in front of the phalanx and the Manchurian armored soldiers who rushed over began to engage in hand-to-hand combat. On the whole front. Blood rain, shouts, and screams converged, and the bloody battle scene was staged.

……

When the battle between Ma Jinzhong, Chen Youlong's troops and the Qing army gradually entered the white heat, the gate of the urn city in the north of Hengzhou suddenly opened, the suspension bridge was lowered, and the Ming army of the brigade came out of it.

"Soldiers, kill the enemy with me!" Xiao Kuang, the general soldier of Li Jing, rushed out of the city gate cave first, waved the horse lance in his hand, and shouted loudly. At this moment, he felt extremely happy in his heart, he had been suppressed for so long, and he could finally go out of the city to fight.

After Xiao Kuang rushed out like an arrow from the string. His own soldiers hurriedly followed him and protected him. Seeing that the general soldier was taking the lead in this way, the thousands of soldiers behind him were also deeply encouraged, and rushed towards the direction where the Qing army was located with a loud shout.

……

Yesterday was personally inspected by the emperor, and today there is the leader of the commander, the morale of the Ming army of Xiao Kuangbu is particularly high, after leaving the city, like a tiger going down the mountain, a round broke through the defense line composed of Baoyi Aha and a few Yu Ding, and launched an attack from behind towards the Manchurian soldiers with blue flags and white flags in the fighting.

See this scenario. Lan Bai and Zhuo Luo were surprised, they didn't expect that the Ming army in the city would dare to go out of the city to attack. Although the combat effectiveness of these Ming troops has not yet been able to enter their eyes. But as the saying goes, too many ants can bite the elephant to death, and they didn't want to see their men and horses fall into a state of being attacked by the enemy, so they quickly ordered to break away from contact with Ma Jinzhong and Chen Youlong, and prepared to fight again.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Xiao Kuang led the army to join forces with Ma Jinzhong and Chen Youlong's troops and moved towards the city gate. However, the Qing army, which got rid of the state of being attacked by the enemy on its belly and back, did not stop because of this, and launched an attack on the Ming army after a short pause.

The combined Ming army fought and retreated, until they reached the city gate. The Qing army still did not stop. At this time, Xiao Kuang asked Ma Jinzhong and Chen Youlong to enter the city first, and he led his headquarters to resist the attack of the Qing army near the city gate, and the defenders at the head of the city also began to suppress the Qing army with bows and arrows.

Finding that he really couldn't bargain for anything, Lan Bai was unwilling to order to stop the attack, and the Ming army was able to enter the city entirely.

Seeing that Xiao Kuang and the reinforcements were able to enter the city safely, the rest of the defenders in the city couldn't help but let out bursts of cheers. And that's not all. The soldiers of Xiao Kuang's department, as well as the soldiers of Ma Jinzhong and Chen Youlong, also had a lot of smugness on their faces, as if they had just returned triumphantly.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Dadian couldn't help but sigh, with a superior force of nearly three times that of the enemy, he had no power to fight back. Just not being defeated made all the soldiers so happy, is there really no army in the world except Huguang Town that dares to compete with the Qing army?

*********

In the early morning of the next day (the tenth day of the first month of March), Hengshan County

Last night, although the Qing army never launched an attack, Pang Yue still did not slack off, personally led people to patrol all parts of the city, and sent some words of encouragement to the soldiers from time to time. After that, he went to the medical department to visit the wounded, and then listened to the staff officers of the general staff department about the plans for tomorrow's defense deployment, etc., and worked until the second half of the night before returning to the temporary residence of the county government to lie down.

I don't know how long it took, the window was slammed, and Wei Yuan's slightly eager voice came from outside: "My lord! My lord! There is an important military situation! ”

Pang Yue, who had not been sleeping deeply, heard this voice, and a carp turned over and opened the door: "What's the situation?" ”

"Master Ma is here, saying that there is an important military intelligence report!" After Wei Yuan finished speaking, he flashed to the side and pointed back, and Ma Yuancheng, who was not far away, walked over with another person and saluted Pang Yue together.

"I've seen my lord!"

"Don't talk nonsense, pick the important ones!"

"Yes!" Ma Yuancheng pointed to the person beside him, "This is a secret agent from our Intelligence Department, who just came in from outside the West Gate at the risk of death, and he is the only one left of the three people." He brought back an important piece of news......"

While listening to Ma Yuancheng's words, Pang Yue looked at the person next to him, his hair and clothes were all wet, obviously he had just swam up from the Xiangjiang River, and it was not easy to break through the blockade of the Qing army.

Ma Yuancheng's voice was a little excited: "The loyalty camp has been called into Huguang and arrived in Changsha on the sixth day of the first month. Knowing that Hengzhou was in danger, Li Chixin, the Marquis of Xingguo and the general of Longhu (that is, Li Guo, Li Zicheng's nephew), led more than 30,000 elite soldiers from Changsha to the south on the same day, and it is expected that tomorrow, no, he will arrive at Hengshan County this morning. In addition, the general army of Huang Chaoxuan has also led more than 10,000 people from the headquarters to set off from Youxian County not long ago, and it is expected that they can also arrive in Hengshan County today! Reinforcements from my town have arrived! ”

Pang Yue was stunned for a moment, and suddenly burst into laughter, and the dark clouds in his heart were almost swept away: "Hahaha...... It's a great way to go! ”