When the gunshot rang out suddenly, Li Yan's first reaction was to be ambushed!

Although Li Yan was not sure why Wang Pu knew the direction of the rebel army's march in advance and set up an ambush halfway, he still reacted quickly with instinct.

Li Yan gave an order, and the 3,000 rebels quickly began to act.

Hundreds of torches were lit first, and by the light of the fire, the soldiers of the Righteous Army quickly set up a six-section shooting formation, which was also a helpless thing, although lighting the torches would make the Righteous Army become the target of the officers and soldiers, but if they did not shoot the torches, the Righteous soldiers would not see anything, and they could not do anything.

In the absence of light, the musket corps was a complete display.

Because it is impossible for the musket team to line up in a neat firing queue without lighting, if it shoots indiscriminately without a firing queue, the result is likely to injure one's own people by mistake, and it is even more impossible to reload ammunition when there is no light, and it is difficult for experienced veterans to load ammunition in the dark.

When Li Yan's 3,000 rebels quickly set up a firing queue, the officers and troops a hundred paces away did not move.

Is it that Wang Pu's reaction is not as good as Li Yan's, and the training of the officers and soldiers is not as skilled as the righteous army?

Of course not!

In fact, as soon as he saw the starry fire, Wang Pu knew that he had met Li Yan's musket team.

However, Wang Pu did not order the formation like Li Yan, because if you want to complete the formation, you must set up torches, once the torches are raised, it means that your whereabouts are completely exposed, so that it will completely become a hard fight between the two armies, although Wang Pu's officers and troops are equipped with relatively advanced flintlock guns, but after all, there are only 700 people, and Li Yan's musket team is full of 3,000 people, Wang Pu will not be stupid enough to fight with Li Yan.

"Get down!"

"Get down!"

"Get down!"

Wang Pu quietly issued a military order to the officers and soldiers in front of him and behind him.

The military order was quickly passed down one by one, and in less than a moment, all the seven hundred veterans had already fallen to the ground, and the accompanying White Lotus Sect disciples were also forcibly pressed to the ground by the veterans, these veterans were all iron-blooded veterans who had experienced a hundred battles, and before receiving a new military order, even if the thieves on the opposite side were killed in front of them, they would not stand up again!

However, the thieves on the opposite side did not cover up, because these 3,000 thieves are musket teams, and the advantage of muskets is long-range shooting, rather than close-quarters!

Li Yan also did not rashly order to fire, because he was not sure of the specific location of the ambush of the officers and soldiers, the gunfire just now came very suddenly, Li Yan could only vaguely deduce the approximate direction and distance, but could not make an accurate judgment, therefore, although the rebels set up a shooting queue, they could only brake quietly.

The wilderness around them fell into a deathly silence, and even the air was about to freeze.

However, this silence did not last long, suddenly, a row of red fires rose under the night sky in front of them, and the fierce gunfire resounded through the night sky in an instant, and more than a dozen of the rebel soldiers in the front row fell in an instant, a few were directly killed, and many more were only injured and fell in a pool of blood wailing.

However, this shooting of the officers and soldiers also revealed their position, and the soldiers of the rebel army, who were waiting for the battle, quickly turned their guns and aimed at the direction where the officers and soldiers had opened fire just now.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

The violent gunfire rolled and stirred under the night sky, and after six rounds of volleys, Li Yan ordered to stop shooting, and the battlefield fell silent again.

Just when Li Yan was puzzled, a row of red flames suddenly rose under the night sky in front of him, accompanied by the fierce gunfire, the rebel soldiers in the front row fell dozens of people again, Li Yan was taken aback, and ordered to fire again, and three thousand musketeers stepped forward in turn, and fired six consecutive volleys.

Under the night sky ahead.

Wang Puzheng was lying in the ditch stealing fun, and Li Yan was still too tender when it came to playing with guns!

No matter how smart Li Yan is, he can't jump out of the limitations of thinking, after all, he is a person of this era, gunfight is still an unheard of and unseen new thing for him, he can't come up with any advanced gunfight tactics without a teacher, in fact, many seemingly simple tactics in later generations are exchanged for countless lives and blood!

Li Yan is not a genius, he can't suddenly comprehend the tactics of muskets versus muskets, he can only rigidly follow the tactics that Wang Pu used to deal with Jiannu in Datong, that is, let the musketeers line up, and then step forward in a row to shoot, in Li Yan's opinion, the tactics of the musketeers should be like this, and it can only be like this.

But Wang Pu is not a person of this era, he knows too much about the tactics of firearms combat, even if this knowledge is amateurish, it is already a huge advantage for Li Yan.

In order not to expose the target of his body, Wang Pu did not let the officers and soldiers light the torches!

Of course, there is no way to line up for a salvo without the lighting of torches, but it is no problem to secretly ask Lu Liu to gather dozens of guards to fire a salvo, Lu Liu gave an order, and fifty guards stood up and stood in a row under the cover of night, and the thieves on the opposite side could not see the movement here, and did not react.

At the sound of an order, fifty guards opened fire at the same time, and dozens of thieves who were waiting on the opposite side fell, and the thieves with torches were the best targets for shooting! After firing, Lu Liu and fifty guards quickly fell back to the ground, and at this time, the guns of the thieves on the opposite side also rang out.

Rows of lead bullets whizzed over the heads of the officers and soldiers, but they could not hurt the officers and soldiers at all.

After more than a dozen rounds, the ammunition of Li Yan's musket team began to run out, the barrel of the arquebus began to get hot, and several arquebuses had exploded in the process of firing.

"It's all ...... Lined up! ”

A thunderous roar resounded through the sky.

By the glow of the torches, Li Yan found that nearly a thousand officers and soldiers came out of the ground a hundred steps away, and then quickly set up a shooting queue.

It's really terrible, at this time the rebels are re-lining up!

In front of the official army, Tang Sheng raised his waist knife and slashed hard, shouting: "The first row...... Fire! ”

"Boom, boom, boom......"

The muzzles of the two hundred muskets burst into a dazzling red light at the same time, and the fierce gunfire suddenly resounded in the night sky, and the soldiers of the rebels who were marching were like weeds that had been cut down, and a large number of them fell in an instant, and before the soldiers of the rebels stood in line, the second and third rows of the officers and soldiers also fired volleys, and more of the rebels fell in pools of blood.

Li Yan's eyes were full of anger, and when he saw the well-trained musketeers falling one by one, his eyes were about to burst into flames!

What made Li Yan feel even more desperate was that although the queue of the officers and soldiers was only three rows in front and back, their firing frequency was round after round, and there was no pause in the middle! Li Yan's musket team was worthy of being well-trained elite soldiers, and they did not collapse when they could only be beaten and could not fight back, but their marching team was still seriously affected.

"Boom, boom, boom......"

The salvo of the officers and soldiers continued, and after six rounds of volleys, the thieves who fell in a pool of blood had already exceeded five hundred!

"Withdraw! Extinguish the torches and the whole army retreats! ”

Li Yan closed his eyes in pain and gave the order to withdraw his troops gloomily.

The momentum of the official army is in full swing, the confidence of the righteous army has been frustrated, and the ammunition of the righteous army is already running out.

Li Yan gave an order, and the soldiers of the righteous army abandoned their torches one after another, turned around and fled.

The official army did not take advantage of the victory to pursue, in fact, Wang Pu did not dare to pursue rashly, although Li Yan's musket team was defeated, but Li Qingshan and Yuan Shizhong's tens of thousands of White Lotus thieves were nearby, although this was just a rabble, but it was tens of thousands of people! In this desolate wilderness and there was no fortification to rely on, the hundreds of officers and soldiers under Wang Pu were trampled to death.

■■■

Li Qingshan fled to Wuli Bridge in panic with thousands of remnants of the defeated army, and finally joined the army of Yuan Shizhong and Song Xiance, Li Qingshan originally thought of counterattacking Chuzhou with tens of thousands of troops under Yuan Shizhong, but what he never expected was that Yuan Shizhong had already secretly taken refuge in Song Xiance.

Li Qingshan came to Yuan Shizhong's Chinese army with a small number of relatives, and was about to take over the command of the army, who would have thought that Yuan Shizhong gave an order, hundreds of henchmen flocked to him, and hacked Li Qingshan and more than a dozen relatives to death without saying anything, and then incorporated Li Qingshan's thousands of remnants of the defeated generals and killed Chuzhou.

Wuli Bridge to Chuzhou is only more than ten miles, and the rapid march arrived in less than half an hour.

However, by the time Yuan Shizhong and Song Xiance led the army to kill, as Li Yan expected, Chuzhou had indeed become an empty city! Song Xiance immediately decided to leave part of the army to defend the city, and then led the army out of the north gate with Yuan Shizhong to chase and kill the official army.

"General Li Yan?" Seeing the grizzled Li Yan, Song Xiance couldn't believe his eyes, and said in a lost voice, "Didn't you lead the troops to seize the camp in the north of the city?" What's going on? ”

"Ugh." Li Yan sighed and said with some frustration, "Don't mention it, I encountered Wang Pu's official army halfway, and our army was defeated and defeated." ”

"What, defeated!?" Song Xiance said in a condensed voice, "General Li Yan, are you saying that your three-thousand-musket team lost to Wang Pu's five-hundred-hundred-musket team?" ”

"Wang Pu's musket team should be more than five hundred." Li Yan shook his head and said, "But it won't be more than a thousand people at most." ”

Song Xiance said in disbelief: "Three thousand well-trained elite soldiers were defeated by less than one thousand officers and soldiers? ”

"That's true." Li Yan sighed, "Although our army is well-trained, it never thought that it would exchange fire with the officers and soldiers at night, and it was caught off guard before falling into Wang Pu's calculations. ”

Song Xian thought for a moment and said to Li Yan: "General Li Yan, take a step to speak." ”

After that, the two entered the gatehouse inside the city gate, and Li Yan's entourage quickly dispersed, holding the gatehouse around, and no one was allowed to approach within ten steps.

Inside the concierge.

Song Xiance's face had sunk, and he said in a condensed voice: "General Li Yan, if our army wants to successfully capture Jiangnan, the biggest obstacle is undoubtedly Wang Pu!" Originally, we had already calculated everything, but unfortunately we accidentally leaked the news, causing us to pounce on Wuli Bridge and fail to catch Wang Pu! ”

"Originally, as long as you can seize the camp in the north of the city in front of Wang Pu, Wang Pu still can't escape from our palms, but it's a pity that General Li Yan's 3,000 musket team was defeated, and Wang Pu slipped away from our palms again! If Wang Pu does not die, the tens of thousands of officers and soldiers who have crossed the Yangtze River from Puzikou will not be chaotic, and the battle of Chuzhou will be more auspicious! ”

Li Yan said apologetically: "It's all because the end will be incompetent." ”

"Ugh." Song Xiance sighed and said, "Wang Pu has now fled back to the camp in the north of the city, with both the advantage of muskets and the strong camp to rely on, how easy is it to defeat it in one day?" But at the moment, we have no other way but to launch a strong attack at all costs, General Li Yan, what do you say? ”

Li Yan said solemnly: "The last general completely agrees with the opinion of the military division, if we can't break the camp in the north of the city and capture Wang Pu before the arrival of the officers and soldiers of the brigade, then we will lose this battle, and it will be impossible to occupy Jiangnan, but the last general is worried, will Wang Pu defend the camp in the north of the city and wait for us to attack?" ”

(To be continued)