Datong, small east gate.

When Li Yan led a large group of rebels to march north around the city, Wang Puzheng stood at the head of the city under the support of Zhao Xin, the bearded man, and the scar-faced generals.

More than 60,000 thieves were divided into six huge phalanxes by Li Yan, the most close to Datong were all light infantry armed with spears, two light soldiers in front, then an archer phalanx, and finally a baggage phalanx, and a small number of cavalry in the middle, about four or five hundred horsemen.

"This Li Yan." Wang Pu couldn't help but shake his head and sighed, "It's really a talent, it seems that this person is not only good at using soldiers, but also very good at training soldiers, and he can actually train such a group of rabble into such a way in less than two months, it's not easy, it's not easy." ”

The bearded man and the scarface were full of unconvincing when they heard this, but when these words came out of Wang Pu's mouth, they didn't dare to refute them.

Zhao Xin on the side couldn't help but praise: "The general is right, this Li Yan is indeed a talent, but it's a pity that he is a thief, otherwise the general should really have a good friendship with him." ”

Wang Pu smiled silently, but thought in his heart, who said that thieves can't make friends?

"Why don't you open fire? Why not fire!? ”

At this time, an angry voice suddenly sounded under the city tower, and then there was a chaotic footstep sound, Wang Pu and others turned back one after another, only to see that Zhu Chuanqi had already stepped onto the city under the support of two Zhan Shi, Zhang Zi'an, Wei Daben, the prefect of Datong, and some local officials.

When the thieves stormed Datong, Zhu Chuanqi hid in the palace all day long and refused to come out, and when the siege was the most urgent, this guy even hid in the cellar for a time, but the thieves were about to retreat, and the courage of this prince immediately became strong again, and he dared to climb the city tower to supervise the battle.

Zhu Chuanqi also deliberately wore a crown of gold silk to the sky today, and he also wore a prince's robe with four claws and eight dragons, which looked magnificent, and had the graceful demeanor of some royal nobles.

Wang Pu clenched his fists and saluted, and said, "See the prince." ”

"Wang Pu!" Zhu Chuanqi said angrily, "The thieves are outside the city, why don't you open fire?" ”

"Fire?" Wang Pu said, "Lord Wang, the thieves are out of range, and firing artillery can only be a waste of ammunition." ”

Zhu Chuanqi said: "Then why don't you go out of the city to pursue?" ”

"Out of town to pursue?" Wang Pu said, "Lord Wang, you're not joking, are you?" ”

"Who's kidding you?" Zhu Chuanqi said angrily, "You said that there is no silver, and the soldiers are unwilling to defend the city, okay, this king gave you 500,000 silver, and you said that there is no food to eat, and the soldiers have no strength to kill the thief, okay, this king took out 20,000 stone of grain from the granary of the palace, and now the thieves are about to escape, but you don't go to pursue, what is the reason?" ”

"Lord Wang, do you really want to lead the army to pursue the thieves?" Wang Pu said this, and said with a serious expression, "The lowly can lead the army out of the city to pursue, but after the lowly post leads the army out of the city, there are only more than 2,000 defenders left in Datong City, and whether Datong can hold it has nothing to do with the lowly position." ”

"Uh......" Zhu Chuanqi was stunned for a moment and frowned, "Then just watching the thieves escape?" ”

"Lord Wang, Master Horse." Zhang Zi'an on the side suddenly screamed, "That's ...... What is that? ”

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Everyone turned around one after another and looked in the direction of Zhang Zi'an's finger, only to see that the originally silent northern wilderness had risen billowing smoke and dust, and the sky was vast.

"It's cavalry!" The bearded man listened sideways for a moment, and suddenly shouted, "At least five thousand horsemen!" ”

"Cavalry?" Zhu Chuanqi asked sneeringly, "Is it our cavalry of the Ming Dynasty?" How did you come from the north? ”

"North? North! Wang Pu muttered twice, and suddenly his face changed greatly, and he shouted, "It's not good, it's Jiannu!" It's Jiannu's cavalry! ”

"Ah, Jiannu?"

"Jiannu cavalry?"

Zhang Zi'an, Wei Daben and others changed color when they heard this.

Zhu Chuanqi was even more frightened, and his face turned pale, and he said urgently: "Quick, quickly help the king to return to his house, Wang Pu, the defense of Datong City will be handed over to you, you must defend Datong, but you can't let Datong fall into the hands of Jiannu......"

After that, Zhu Chuanqi hurriedly went down the city tower with the support of the two Zhan Shi.

This master is really scared this time, although the thieves are powerful, they are not terrible, Zhu Chuanqi believes that Wang Pu can keep Datong, but Jiannu is different, the threat of Jiannu is much more than that of thieves! Otherwise, such a large piece of territory in the entire Liaodong would not have been occupied by Jiannu.

Wei Daben, the prefect of Datong, asked in a trembling voice: "Master Ma, is this really a Jiannu cavalry?" ”

"That's right." Wang Pu said in a deep voice, "This is the Jiannu cavalry. ”

■■■

This cavalry that suddenly appeared was indeed the Jiannu cavalry!

Jiannu regent Dolgon, Yue Tuo led 60,000 Jiannu Eight Banners and 30,000 Han Army Eight Banners from Shengjing, after half a month's march, at Sanbula River and 80,000 Mongolian Eight Banners to join forces, and then the army was divided into two routes, one led by Dolgon, one led by Yue Tuo, respectively from Mituo Mountain, Fangshan Pass to destroy the pass and enter.

Because Datong is being besieged by the Shaanxi Righteous Army, Wang Pu and Zhang Zi'an have strictly ordered the garrisons of the guards, stations, and forts deployed along the Great Wall to shrink and withdraw to the left guard of Datong.

This vanguard iron cavalry is the elite of the two white flags in the eight banners of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the leading general is the regent Dorgon's own brother Wuyingjun King Azig, although the two white flags are the lower three flags in the eight banners of Jiannu, but since Dolgon became the regent, the status of the two white flags has risen with the tide, and the power has also expanded rapidly!

This time, Azig was able to become a vanguard general, because of the regent Dorgon, who intended to let his brother Azig and his brother Dordor make more achievements in this war against the Ming Dynasty.

Azig is one of the few strong generals among the Jiannu, but he has a fatal weakness, that is, he has no brains.

When Tanma reported that there was an army of tens of thousands of people marching from outside Datong City to the north, the simple-minded Azig brought his brave and reckless surname to the fullest, and he didn't care that he only had 8,000 iron horsemen under his command, and no matter what the origin of this army outside Datong City was, and he didn't bother to consider whether there were more Ming troops in Datong City, so he did not hesitate to lead the army to attack.

Azig gave an order, and the Jiannu Iron Cavalry quickly set up an attack formation and accelerated the speed of the march.

In the sound of iron hooves like a tide, the eight thousand iron horsemen with two white flags were like a white hurricane, sweeping towards the Shaanxi righteous army led by Li Yan.

■■■

Rogue Army.

This cavalry that suddenly appeared came too fast, almost as soon as Li Yan received Jing Maocheng's report, they had already appeared in the field of vision, although it was not possible to determine what the source of this cavalry was, but one thing was certain, they would never be reinforcements sent by Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang!

Whether this cavalry that suddenly appeared was the Mongols, or the Ming cavalry, or the legendary Jiannu, they would not be friends of the rebels anyway, they could only be enemies of the rebels!

Since it is the enemy, it is necessary to prepare for the attack in the shortest possible time, if this cavalry is allowed to disrupt the formation, the army of more than 60,000 will be defeated like a mountain, then everything is over!

Li Yan immediately made a decision and shouted loudly: "Order the whole army, immediately stop advancing and form a formation on the spot!" ”

"Li Hu."

"Yes."

"Immediately push all the baggage vehicles of the baggage battalion to the north and build a vehicle formation!"

"Yes."

"Huihui Battalion, Geli Battalion, Reformed Battalion, Troubled Age Battalion, and Zuojin Battalion immediately moved closer to the Chinese army, with pikemen outside, sword and shield hands in the center, and archers in the innermost, immediately build a circular defensive formation!"

"Yes."

"Jing Maocheng, Li Xuan."

"Yes."

"The Old Crow Battalion and the Gushan Battalion will not move, stay on guard in the Chinese army!"

"Yes."

Li Yan's military orders were issued one by one, with clear thinking and orderly, if the Shaanxi Righteous Army could quickly line up the defensive formation in accordance with his military orders, with the absolute superiority of troops, the Jiannu Iron Cavalry might not be able to take advantage, but unfortunately, the more than 60,000 righteous troops under Li Yan were not well-trained elites after all, just a group of rabble.

When Azig led the eight thousand iron cavalry with two white flags to rush to the front, Li Hucai and the two thousand soldiers of the Qixian battalion had just pushed the baggage vehicles to the front of the formation, and they had not had time to form a chariot formation.

There are also Huihui Battalion, Geli Battalion, Reformed Camp, Troubled Camp and Zuojin Battalion, although they have barely leaned together, but before the Jiannu cavalry can be killed, they themselves are already in chaos, the archers are blocked on the periphery and can't get in, the pikemen are blocked inside and can't get out, the whole thing is a big mess, it's a mess.

Only Jing Maocheng's Old Crow Battalion and Li Xuan's Gushan Battalion can barely be regarded as a neat lineup, but unfortunately these two battalions have too few people, although after the fierce battle last night, Li Yan added more than 3,000 recruits to it, but even so, the two battalions plus one are still only 5,000 people.

■■■

Datong, small east gate.

The bearded man shook his head and said with a complicated expression: "Rogue...... Finished. ”

Scarface's expression suddenly became very complicated, neither like schadenfreude, nor like sympathy and pity, and sighed in a low voice: "Although the thieves occupy an absolute advantage in terms of strength, they are facing the elite iron cavalry of the two white flags of Jiannu, and it is too difficult to block the heavy cavalry charge of the Jiannu iron cavalry!" Once the thieves were overwhelmed by the Jiannu heavy cavalry, the battle would become a massacre. ”

Zhao Xin also sighed: "It's really embarrassing for Li Yan, it's too difficult to make these more than 60,000 rabble set up a circular defensive formation in such a short period of time, this battle of thieves is indeed decided, if there is no miracle, they can only wait for the slaughter of Jiannu Iron Cavalry." ”

"Not necessarily." Wang Pu shook his head suddenly, and said in a deep voice, "Although the rogue formation of the thieves has not been formed, the two thousand rogue thieves who burst out of the front seem to be a well-trained elite army...... Can Li Yan clean up the circular defensive formation of the army of thieves before Jiannu chisels through that group of elite thieves! ”

Zhao Xin suddenly discovered something, and said loudly: "General, there is still a thief here, why doesn't Li Yan push this thief to the front?" ”

"This thief is used to guard against us, and Li Yan is worried that we will take the opportunity to send troops to attack them." Wang Pu shook his head and muttered, "Although it is the current enemy, Li Yan's mind is not chaotic, and he has not relaxed his vigilance against us, which can also show that the battle situation is still under Li Yan's control." ”

"Really?" The bearded man and the scarface shook their heads in disbelief, "Then we want to see, how long can this Li Yan hold on?" ”

■■■

Outside Datong City, the surging Jiannu has collided head-on with the thieves.

Unlike the Mongol cavalry, the Mongol cavalry was a light cavalry that excelled at cavalry guerrilla tactics, while the Jiannu cavalry had a large number of heavy cavalry, which could tear through the enemy infantry's defensive formations from the front with their powerful impact.

Of course, the heavy cavalry of Jiannu is completely different from the heavy cavalry of the Western world.

Instead of bulky monolithic plate armor, Kennu's heavy armor was a lighter but stronger chain mail made up of thousands of small hoops strung together to resist the slashing of blades, but had relatively poor defense against arrows.

……

(To be continued)