Chapter 3: Horse Bandits

He Tengxiao took out the bloodstained rag hidden in his arms, tied it to a spear, and danced. The rag was waved and unfurled, and the words embroidered on it appeared, and it was the military flag of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion!

Before his death, He Shijie handed over the banner to one of his commands, who was unfortunately wounded by a stray arrow from the Manshu people the next day. At that time, the men and horses of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion had been exhausted, and the Manshu people were still constantly charging at the position of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion, and Qianhu finally handed over the flag to He Tengxiao, and instructed He Tengxiao to keep this banner and the establishment of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion no matter what. The military flag is the soul of an army, according to the Great Zhao military system, the military flag is the soul of a unit, the flag is in the army, the flag is lost, the establishment of this army will be forever removed.

In the Battle of Yingzhou, the three elite battalions of the Xiaocai Battalion, the Xuanwu Battalion, and the Xuanfeng Battalion served as the vanguard of the Northeast Liaoning Expeditionary Army. After being ambushed by the Manshu people, the Xuanwu Battalion and the Xuanfeng Battalion immediately fled after a little resistance, exposing the two wings of the Xiaocai Battalion to the Manshu people, resulting in the tragedy of the entire battalion of the Xiaocai Battalion being annihilated by the Manshu people.

Under this banner, the cavalry battalion did not retreat, and the lone army fought fiercely with more than 20,000 elite Manshu iron cavalry for two days and two nights, severely damaging the Manshu iron cavalry. The record of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion can be regarded as the only record of the Northeast Liao Expeditionary Army in the First Battle of Yingzhou.

This flag is the soul of the cavalry battalion.

Seeing this banner, the old soldier of the cavalry battalion involuntarily straightened his waist, clenched the weapon in his hand and stood in place, revealing a murderous aura that was difficult to see on the defeated army.

"Xiao Cavalry Battalion, Wan Sheng!" He Tengxiao waved the banner and shouted with all his strength.

"Wan Sheng! Wansheng! Wansheng! ”

The shouts of the old men of the cavalry camp echoed in the Land Temple, and the people stopped, their attention drawn to the team.

He Tengxiao swept the rout soldiers mixed with the people with cold eyes, and shouted in a deep voice, "Have you run on two legs over the four legs of the horse bandits?!" If you want to stay alive, follow me to form a formation on the spot to repel the horse bandits! ”

The rout mixed with the refugees also had a scale of nearly 200 people, and when they heard He Tengxiao say this, they all gathered around He Tengxiao's team, and spread out with He Tengxiao's team as the center. Under the young man's order, the group of merchants piled their goods in front of He Tengxiao's formation to cushion the impact of the horse bandits, and then guarded next to He Tengxiao's team.

The horse bandits rushed into the Land Temple with a hoarse shout, or waved their knives or bent bows and arrows, and trampled the threshold of the Land Temple to pieces. Wherever the horses' hooves tread, sawdust mixed with dust flew everywhere.

He Tengxiao stood up his spear, took out an arrow from the quiver, and shot it at a horse bandit who aimed at the front. The host of this body used to practice riding and archery from time to time, and the bow horse was skillful, and He Tengxiao not only had the original memory of the owner of the body, but also inherited the riding and archery skills of the owner of the body. The first time He Tengxiao used a bow and arrow was out of habit and instinct, but he didn't expect to shoot very accurately. In the past, He Tengxiao put a lot of effort into riding and archery, and he was not the kind of child of a family who did not learn and did not know how to do it.

This time, it was no surprise that he shot over the horse bandits who rushed to the front. After the horse bandits rushed into the land temple, they found that the officers and soldiers in the temple were not chaotic at all, but set up a formation to meet the enemy, and there were also things such as luggage piled up in front of the battle, which were used as horses to buffer their huge impact, where was there still a little bit of rout?

The bandits were hesitating to attack, and a leader-like bandit shouted loudly, holding a bow and arrows. His eyes swept over the formation of the rout, and he quickly identified the twenty or thirty people under the banner of the He army in the formation as the backbone of this phalanx. As long as they are defeated, the remaining Zhao pawns will disperse without a fight.

Five or six veterans of the Xiao cavalry battalion surrounded He Tengxiao, and next to He Tengxiao was a military flag. It was easy to tell that He Tengxiao was the chief officer of this team. The leader of the horse bandits pointed the arrow at He Tengxiao, and as soon as his finger loosened, the feather arrow swished out of the air and shot at He Tengxiao.

In the past, this horse bandit leader used to deal with the officers and soldiers, and he first shot and killed the officers and officers. As long as the highest officer in the official army is shot to death, the officers and soldiers will be leaderless and will collapse without a fight, and all that remains is to use the butcher's knife in their hands to defeat the officers and soldiers.

Ling Feng guarded He Tengxiao's side, and quickly raised his shield to block the arrow. This arrow was quite powerful, and after Ling Feng blocked this arrow, his arm was numb from the shock of this arrow. Ling Feng's eyes flashed at a burst of reflection, and he subconsciously glanced at the middle arrow, and the arrow of this arrow actually shot through the wooden shield. It seems that this bandit leader is not an idle person.

After blocking the arrow, Ling Feng took away the shield that was blocking in front of He Tengxiao. He Tengxiao's calm and resolute face was revealed. He Tengxiao pulled out his waist knife and drank in a deep voice, five or six firearms, and more than a dozen bows fired at the horse bandits, and in an instant, seven or eight horse bandits were knocked off their horses.

The horse bandits rushed very close, and Zhao Jun did not have time to reload for the second round of shooting after the first round of shooting. The army discarded the muskets and bows and arrows, exchanged for spears and knives, and prepared to engage in melee combat with the horse bandits.

The purity of the black powder used in the gun was relatively low, and before the smoke from the gun mouth had dissipated, the horse bandits had already broken through the obstacle and rushed in front of them. Dozens of spears stabbed out, stabbing four or five horse bandits off their horses. The leader of the horse bandits cut off an ash spear, split a soldier in half, and saw that the resistance of the officers and soldiers was stubborn, and there was no love of fighting, so he turned the horse's head and left with a roar. The remaining bandits quickly followed the bandit leader out of the Land Temple and disappeared into the vast wilderness.

After all, horse bandits are horse bandits, unlike the army, horse bandits are just seeking money, and they will not keep entangled when they encounter difficult bones, but will choose to give up wisely, after all, they are left in the green mountains, and they are not afraid of no firewood.

Zhao Jun didn't expect the horse bandits to be repelled so easily, after the horse bandits retreated, He Tengxiao breathed a sigh of relief, these horse bandits were repulsed, and they are now temporarily safe.

The Liaodong town army suffered a crushing defeat, and the original social order in the entire hinterland of Liaodong was seriously damaged. Even the horse bandits who were originally hiding in the shadows to rob dared to run to the official road and blatantly loot at this time. This land temple is not a place to stay for a long time.

"How far is it from here to the nearest military fort?" He Tengxiao asked Ling Feng. Liaodong is located in the border fortress of the Great Zhao Dynasty, and the military forts on the land of Liaodong are dotted, and the density and number of military forts are much denser than those in the inland areas. From a large city like Liaoyang City to a small village, they were basically built into strong military fortresses. Therefore, there is no such village in the place name of Liaodong, and the title of a certain place is basically called a certain fort.

It was already noon, and by night this kind of wilderness was bound to be dangerous, and it would be much safer if you could take refuge in a military fort for a while.

"It is estimated that the small military fort nearby has already been empty, and there may be people in the larger military fort." Ling Feng said that after the destruction of the Liaodong Zhen army, the entire hinterland of Liaodong was directly exposed to the iron hooves of the Manshu people, and the nearby soldiers and civilians had already moved to a taller and stronger city, who would want to stay in a small military fort without security?

"Let the brethren go, and let's go to Pingshan Fort at once." He Tengxiao thought of a military fort that received supplies before the Xiao Cavalry Battalion set out for the expedition - Pingshan Fort. Pingshan Fort is only more than forty miles away from Gaizhou, and now they are only twenty miles away from Pingshan Fort, so it is not difficult to hurry up and reach Pingshan Fort before dark. After arriving at Pingshan Fort, it is only a day's journey to Gaizhou.

Ling Feng beckoned the old soldiers of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion to pack up and set off for Pingshan Fort. The five intact horses left behind by the bandits were a good thing. These cavalry-born soldiers felt kind when they saw the horses, and they all led the horses away. However, no one cared about the corpse of the horse bandit who fell to the ground, and although the head of the horse bandit was not as valuable as the head of the Manshu people, the head of the first-class horse bandit also had a reward of ten taels of silver.

"Damn, horse bandits can ride such a good horse these days." Ling Feng patted a horse's neck, "This horse is no worse than the horses in our riding camp." ”

He Tengxiao thought it was true, the horses of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion were all carefully selected good horses, and the horses of these horse thieves were not much worse than the horses of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion, what are the origins of these horse bandits?

"Thank you for saving your life, Shi Yufeng, a merchant in Jinling." The merchant led by He Tengxiao bowed his hand to He Tengxiao, and let the servant behind him hold a heavy package.

He Tengxiao didn't have to guess to know what was in the package. Among these exiled and fleeing people, more than a dozen of them were the most eye-catching, and they were also holding two large carts of goods, and they were most likely wealthy businessmen. They had attracted the bandits, intending to keep an eye on them and then make a windfall by intercepting their goods in a secluded place. As a result, He Tengxiao saw through it, and the horse bandits blindly entered the Land Temple in a disorderly manner.

No one will have a hard time with gold and silver, and He Tengxiao is no exception, but now there is nothing more precious than life, and he must learn to make trade-offs. Now carrying these heavy dead things is a burden, He Tengxiao is already a person who has died once, but he doesn't want to die a second time.

He Tengxiao rejected Shi Yufeng's gold and silver, left the Land Temple with the team, and continued to hurry. As soon as He Tengxiao walked like this, the remnants of the refugees in the temple did not dare to continue to stay in the land temple, this place was no longer safe, and it was safer to follow He Tengxiao's neat team, and most of the people followed He Tengxiao's team.

A group of remnants of refugees marched towards Pingshan Fort.

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After the Manshu people won two great victories in Liaoyang and Yingzhou, they were excited. This is the first time that the Manshu people have gained a firm foothold in the land of Liaodong since they were driven out of Liaodong by Zhao Taizong more than 200 years ago. These two great victories greatly depleted the military power of Great Zhao in Liaodong. The Manshu people finally gained the initiative in the eastern Liaodong region. Especially militarily, the Manshu people have an absolute advantage in the eastern Liaodong region. Now the remnants of the empire in Liaodong are no longer the opponent of the Manshu army.

If there is any regret, the only regret of the Manshu army in the battle of Liaoyang was that Song Yuli, the king of Liao, was not captured. Song Yuli, the king of Liao, is the biological brother of Emperor Zhao, and Song Yuli also has the purpose of resisting the invasion of the Manshu people in Liaoyang, and it will be a great shock to the Zhao court and the opposition if he can capture Song Yuli alive.

On the day after the occupation of Liaoyang City, the Great Khan of Manshu moved the capital to Liaoyang, took the palace of the King of Liao as the palace, changed the name of the country to Liao, built Yuan Tianxing, and referred to the Great Zhao Dynasty as the Southern Dynasty. It heralds the rise of a new nomadic people.