Outside the city, Jing Maocheng's crow camp and Li Xuan's lonely mountain camp waited quietly in the dark, no matter how vicious the return camp was to the city and the official army in the city, they were indifferent, and the other places were bright with torches, and the sound of killing shook the sky, but the place where the old crow camp and the lonely mountain camp stayed was pitch black, and there was no torch in sight.

The crow battalion and the Gushan battalion can be said to be the few elites in the Shaanxi Righteous Army, especially the crow battalion of Jing Maocheng, these 800 thieves are all composed of bandits or loud horse thieves, all of whom have good skills and are not afraid of death when fighting, and they are all ruthless.

Li Xuan's Gushan Battalion is also an elite selected from the surrendered officers and soldiers, and its combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

Although the strength of these two battalions is a little weaker, Li Yan believes that as long as the men and horses of these two battalions can block Wang Pu's ambush when they are about to come out, the opponent will be unable to operate due to the restrictions of the city gate, and in this way, the old crow battalion and the Gushan battalion will have an advantage in terms of strength.

Moreover, when the time comes, the two armies will be entangled together, and the officers and soldiers at the head of the city will inevitably not be able to support the city with rolling logs and stones to avoid accidentally injuring their own people.

Of course, it depends on whether Wang Pu really plans to send ambush soldiers out of the city to counterattack, if Wang Pu planted this ambush army just to strengthen the defense of the city when necessary, then Li Yan's plan will be completely frustrated, and in that case, the rebel army can only attack from the front.

I don't know how long I waited, but when Jing Maocheng was about to go numb when he heard the deafening sound of fighting, Li Xuan's voice suddenly sounded: "Old Jing, come out!" ”

"Huh?"

Jing Maocheng hurriedly turned over and sat up, and when he looked back, he saw that the closed Datong city gate had been slowly opened, and then a group of firelight exploded outside the city gate, accompanied by a deafening huge explosion, and the soldiers of the Huihui camp who were crowded outside the city gate were suddenly blown up and fell down one by one!

In less than a moment, the Huihui camp outside the city gate was defeated like a mountain, in the continuous blooming dazzling firelight and earth-shattering explosions, a team of neatly dressed Ming officers and soldiers stepped on the uniform pace, lined up in a neat queue from the city gate in an orderly manner.

"Damn!" Jing Maocheng clenched his iron fist angrily and shouted in a deep voice, "It's a cannon!" ”

"That's not right!" Li Xuan, who had taken refuge in the official army, shook his head and said, "It's not a cannon, it's a dragon cannon!" ”

"Dragon King Cannon?" Jing Maocheng was stunned and said, "What is the Dragon King Cannon?" ”

Li Xuan hurriedly said: "I can't say it clearly, anyway, this thing can't be thrown far, at most twenty or thirty steps away, Lao Jing, you have a lot of brothers who were born as horse thieves, and the archery is good, shoot back these dog-called officers and soldiers!" ”

"Hmm." Jing Maocheng nodded heavily, untied the iron-tired bow on his shoulder and raised it to the sky, and shouted loudly, "Brothers, now it's our turn to go out, pick up the bow and arrow for Lao Tzu, shoot back those officers and soldiers in front of you who don't know how high the sky is and how thick it is, and kill!" ”

Jing Maocheng shouted, with eight hundred thieves swept towards the south gate of Datong, these thieves do have a lot of archery masters, they can walk like flying while holding the bow and shoot arrows, like Jing Maocheng such an archery master who uses an iron tire bow, and two hundred steps away can be fired at the Ming army musketeers who have just driven out of the city.

At such a distance, the accuracy of the bow and arrow is of course low, but as long as you shoot too much, there will always be an arrow that hits the target.

"Whoosh, whoosh......"

Sharp arrows continued to rain down from the dark night sky ahead, and the musketeers who drove out of the city were soon casualties.

There was an unlucky musketeer who had just ignited the dragon king cannon in his hand and was shot through the chest by an arrow, as soon as his hand was released, the black smoke dragon king cannon rolled to the ground, and the musketeer next to him hurriedly checked the dragon king cannon that rolled to the ground, and before he could throw it out, it exploded with a bang, and the nearest five musketeers were killed on the spot, and more than a dozen people were seriously injured.

At this time, the lethality of discipline as a double-edged sword is revealed!

In the Ming Dynasty, although the use of firearms has a history of hundreds of years, but the tactics of how to use firearms are still in the most primitive stage of exploration, the general Lan Yu in the early Ming Dynasty and the famous general Qi Jiguang in the Wanli period have a deep study of firearms tactics, but unfortunately their tactics have not been handed down.

In such an environment, it is impossible for Wang Pu to instill too many firearms tactics into his subordinates, and he himself lacks experience in this area, some of which he doesn't even know, and some of which he doesn't know how to teach even if he knows. Second, most of his subordinates are coarse people who can't read big characters, and even if they teach, they only play the piano to the cow, and they may not be able to learn it.

This is bound to cause a not very good result, Wang Pu's musket team has enough discipline, but not enough flexible tactics, this musket team is like a puppet in the hands of the main general, the main general pulls, they will follow the move, the master will not lead, they will not move.

In most cases, the musketeers don't lose because of this, but sometimes they lose a lot!

For example, now, because the bearded man strictly ordered the first hundred-man team to use the dragon king cannon to open the gap, so they can only use the dragon king cannon to kill the enemy, no matter how the enemy situation changes, no matter how the situation develops, before the bearded man's new military order is issued, they can only continue to use the dragon king cannon, and cannot use the musket to fire a salvo without authorization.

The bearded man's tactics are very simple, first use the dragon king cannon bombing, blow up the thieves crowded outside the city gate to the back, fall apart, and when the thieves are defeated, the musket team can calmly drive out of the city, first line up in formation, and then attack forward or to both sides, to give a fatal blow to the thieves who are besieging the city.

The bearded man's tactics are simple but very useful, and they are usually successful.

It's a pity that this time Li Yan has already ambushed two elite soldiers outside the city in advance, one of which is still eight hundred elite archers led by Jing Maocheng.

By the time the bearded man realized that the situation was not right, the first hundred-man team that drove out of the city had already suffered many casualties.

Strict discipline once saved the lives of these veterans on the battlefield, but this time, strict discipline made these veterans miserable, many of them died in vain under the thieves' bows and arrows, they did not disobey the bearded man's military orders to death, and would rather be shot alive by the thieves' bows and arrows than use muskets to fight back.

Li Xuan's Lonely Mountain Battalion took the opportunity to rush up, and although many of them were killed by the Dragon King Cannon of the Musket Team, they finally fought with the musketeers.

■■■

Outside the city, on the hill.

Li Hu sighed: "Sure enough, as the eldest brother expected, Wang Pu really hid his elite in the urn city, if it wasn't for the eldest brother who expected the enemy to be the first and ambushed Jing Maocheng and Li Xuan, the two elite soldiers, then the outcome of this battle would be difficult to say." ”

"Hmm." Li Yan nodded and said to Li Hu, "Li Hu." ”

Li Hu hurriedly stepped forward and responded: "The little brother is here." ”

Li Yan said: "Pass the order, let the Gezuo Battalion, the Reformed World Battalion, the Troubled Battalion and the Zuojin Battalion attack at the same time, and attack the south gate of Datong at the same time with the strength of the four major battalions!" ”

"Yes."

Li Hu suddenly agreed and took the order.

■■■

On the Arrow Tower.

Through the arrow hole, Wang Pu happened to see the scene that happened outside the city gate, and saw the thieves crowded outside the city gate crumbling under the bombardment of the dragon king cannon, Wang Pu couldn't help nodding happily, however, his joy did not last long, and soon, a rogue elite soldier suddenly killed from the darkness outside the city, and blocked the advance of the musket team.

Due to the narrow city gate, most of the musketeers could not get out of the city in time, and the small number of musketeers who had already left the city did not receive the military order of the bearded man, and did not shoot in array, and the close-range bombardment of the dragon king cannon was completely suppressed by the thieves' bows and arrows.

Soon, the thieves approached the city gate from three directions, and the more than 100 musketeers who had already driven out of the city were squeezed into a narrow area near the city gate, and fell into a bitter battle.

The only thing to be thankful for is that Wang Pu asked the weapons workshop to add bayonets to each musket, so that although it is not as good as a spear and a big knife, it can at least resist when the two armies are in close arms, unlike the previous Ming army firearms, once the enemy rushes in front of him, it basically becomes a burning stick.

"What's going on?" Xiao Qi shouted, "Where did this gang of thieves come from? ”

"yes." Lu Liu also said with a solemn expression, "This gang of thieves seems to be waiting for them, and if Brother Hu's people don't move, they will hide and move, but as soon as Brother Hu's people leave the city, they will be killed immediately!" Could it be that there is a soldier in the city, and the news that Brother Hu led people to ambush in the urn city was revealed to the thieves? ”

"Impossible." Xiao Qi shook his head and said, "Even if there is a Xi, how can the news be delivered in such a short time?" ”

"Li Yan, it must be Li Yan!" Wang Pu said in a deep voice, "This Li Yan is really worthy of his reputation, it seems that he has already guessed that the general will lay an ambush in the urn city, so he has also prepared in advance, and planted an ambush not far outside the city, and when the general's ambush is about to come out, his ambush suddenly kills and the whole army presses, so that he can rely on a small number of elites to block the general's ambush in the urn city and can't get out......"

"General, look!" Lu Liu suddenly shouted, "The several echelons that have not moved just now are moving forward rapidly, it seems that the thieves are about to attack in a big way!" ”

"Huh?" Wang Pu's face changed greatly, and he said in a condensed voice, "I understand, it's amazing, it's amazing!" ”

Xiao Qi, Lu Liu, and Nen Niang looked confused, and they couldn't understand what Wang Pu was saying.

Wang Pu didn't have time to explain to them, so he hurriedly ordered: "Xiao Qi! ”

Xiao Qi hurriedly stepped forward and responded: "Humble duty." ”

Wang Pu said: "Immediately take your people to support Zhao Liujin!" ”

"Yes!"

Xiao Qi answered and took the order.

Wang Pu said again: "Lu Liu." ”

Lu Liuying said: "The villain is here." ”

Wang Pu shouted: "Summons the bearded man, immediately change the original battle plan, let his men line up in the urn city first, and then let go of the city gate, and wait for the thieves to enter the city before firing." ”

"Yes!"

Lu Liu answered and also took the order.

When Xiao Qi and Lu Liu were gone, Nen Niang asked crisply: "General, you just said that Li Yan is powerful, but where is he powerful?" ”

Wang Pu said: "I said that Li Yan is powerful, because he can grasp the fleeting fighter plane on the ever-changing battlefield, and quickly make corresponding arrangements. ”

The young lady was confused, shook her head and said, "The little maid still doesn't understand." ”

Wang Pu explained: "Young Niang, if the bearded musket team was guarding the city wall from the beginning, could the first wave of thieves' attack just now be so easy to kill at the foot of the city wall?" ”

Nen Niang said: "Definitely not." ”

"That's it." Wang Pu said, "The problem is here, Li Yan obviously accurately judged that the elite of our army was not on the city wall based on this suspicious situation, and then judged that I ambushed this elite in the urn city, and planned to go out of the city to counterattack at the most critical time." ”

"Oh my God." The young lady was speechless, "Then Li Yan is really so powerful?" ”

"Li Yan's power is far more than that." Wang Pu continued, "After he accurately judged the layout of our army, he quickly made the corresponding arrangements, first of all, he also sent an elite ambush not far from the city gate, and when my ambush soldiers were ready to go out of the city to counterattack, this bandit ambush would quickly press, and then ......."

"Ah......" the young lady sighed and said, "And then just like now, Brother Hu's ambush soldiers are crushed in the urn city and can't get out?" ”

"Yes, then Li Yan will do his best to launch the fiercest attack on Datong City!" Wang Pu said this, pointed to the army of thieves who swept outside the city and said, "Nian Niang, look, these echelons of thieves have been holding their troops for a long time, but now they are pressed on all fronts. ”

"Little maid understood." Nen Niang, this little Nizi Bingxue is smart, and she is transparent at one point, so she changed color at that time, "At this time, Brother Hu's musket team was pressed by the thieves ambush in the urn city and couldn't get out, and the defenders at the head of the city were exhausted, and they would definitely not be able to parry under the full onslaught of the thieves, and Datong City would fall?" ”

Wang Pu said in a deep voice: "That's why I said that Li Yan can grasp the fleeting fighter plane on the ever-changing battlefield!" But...... Li Yan also overestimated the discipline of this rabble! Hmph, Li Yan wants me to steal chickens instead of a handful of rice, I want to let his bamboo basket draw water for nothing! ”

■■■

Inside the urn city.

The bearded man was already jumping on his feet, he never thought that a well-planned counterattack would eventually evolve into this result, the vast majority of musketeers could not get out of the city, they could only shrink in the urn city and stare dryly, and the more than 100 musketeers who finally got out of the city fell into the siege of the thieves, and their hands and feet could not be used at all.

Because the musketeers and thieves were completely entangled, the defenders at the head of the city were unable to provide support.

The bearded man is a fierce general, but not a general, in the face of this kind of emergency, he can't think of any effective countermeasures at all, his only way is to blow his beard and stare at him in a hurry, just when the bearded man is helpless, Lu Liu finally brought Wang Pu's military order.

Lu Liu hurriedly ran to the bearded man and shouted, "Brother beard, the general is in a hurry." ”

"Great!" The bearded man was like a drowning old man who saw the straw that saved his life, and quickly asked, "What did the general say?" ”

Lu Liudao: "The general said, let the brothers first set up a shooting queue in the urn city, and then let go of the city gate, put the thieves into the urn city and then clean them up!" ”

"Got it!" The bearded man hurried to a few of the generals beside him, "Did you all hear that?" Queue up, let your people hurry up! ”

"Yes!"

"Yes!"

In less than a moment, except for the two centuriens who were already outside the city and crowded in the corridor of the city gate, the remaining eight centurion teams had quickly set up a firing formation, and the muskets had been raised, and the muzzles of the black hole had been aimed at the city gate.

The bearded man rushed to the city gate and shouted: "The brothers of the first and second teams have listened to Lao Tzu, and they quickly retreated, and immediately flashed to both sides after entering the city gate, and ...... quickly."

At the sound of the bearded man's order, the musketeers who were crowded in the passage of the city gate quickly began to retreat, and the veterans who were struggling to support outside the city gate were also relieved, first carried out a round of frantic counterattack, and then quickly retreated, rushing through the passage of the city gate and immediately dodging to both sides.

The thieves of the Lonely Mountain Battalion obviously wanted to take the opportunity to seize the city gate, and rushed in after the butt of the musket team, and the few veterans who fell to the end of the desperate resistance did not escape their doom in the end, they were caught up by the thieves of the Lonely Mountain Battalion, and they were slashed to the ground with random knives, but they did not die in vain.

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

The fiery red shone and the black smoke filled the air.

The first pull out of dozens of thieves just from the city gate corridor, dense bullets like raindrops shot over, such a close range of intensive shooting, the killing effect of the musket is amazing, the first pull out dozens of thieves like a sickle cut down the wheat, fell down in unison.

Then the second thief howled and rushed up, and although they saw that the first thief had fallen, before they could figure out what was the matter, they were already crowded and pushed by the thieves behind them, and trampled on the corpses of their companions to the end of the passage at the city gate.

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

Another flash of fire flashed, and the second thief also screamed and fell in a pool of blood.

This time, the thieves who were constrained by the terrain of the city gate became the thieves, and the thieves could only rush forward in batches, and then the muskets were easily knocked down in batches, and the poor thieves became the living targets for the five hundred recruit eggs in the musket team to practice shooting, and after the initial tension and trembling, the five hundred recruit eggs quickly grew up in the baptism of blood and fire.

Actual combat is always the best way to train troops.

The fierce battle in the urn city became the most typical refueling tactic, Li Xuan added the two thousand thieves of the Gushan battalion to the city gate in batches, and then the batch by batch was easily cleaned up by the Ming army musket team in the urn city.

■■■

on the city walls.

Under the offensive of the five battalions of the left of the revolution, Zhao Liujin's 2,000 officers and soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and there were only more than 1,000 people left, and the already precarious defense line was on the verge of collapse.

The addition of 500 fresh troops immediately reversed the tide on the city walls.

After more than a dozen rounds of salvo fire, the thieves who had already grabbed the head of the city finally bombarded down, and then there were thousands of dragon king cannons in a row, and the thieves crowded under the city wall were blown up in an instant, and the blood flowed like a river, and the morale of the defenders on the city wall was greatly boosted, while the thieves under the city wall were in chaos.

The thieves relied on the strength of the crowd, the attack continued, but their attack is becoming more and more weak, and the officers and troops on the city wall are becoming more and more courageous, the most worrying thing for Li Yan is becoming a reality, after overcoming the initial panic and fear, the combat effectiveness of the official army is rapidly recovering, and the gap between the strength of the Shaanxi Righteous Army and the Ming official army is becoming more and more obvious.

■■■

Outside the city, on the hill.

Li Yan's expression is becoming more and more solemn, the development of the war did not go according to his expectations, although the soldiers of the rebel army of the fifth battalion of the revolutionary left once killed the city, but they still failed to withstand the counterattack of the officers and soldiers, and were driven down again, as well as the sound of gunfire and the explosion of the dragon king cannon, which made Li Yan feel heavy.

The officers and soldiers had so many firearms, why were they not used in the beginning?

Could it be that this is a trap deliberately set by Wang Pu?

Li Yan couldn't help but look around at the dark night sky around him, as if he saw thousands of Ming officials and troops sweeping in from all directions, thinking of this, Li Yan couldn't help but shudder, if this is the case, then this Wang Pu is too cunning, too difficult, too terrifying!

"Xianggong, there seems to be something wrong with the situation." Even the red lady already felt that the situation was wrong, and said in a low voice, "Wang Pu, the dog official, seems to have left a back hand, and the brothers of the fifth battalion of the left have been beaten down again!" ”

Li Yan suddenly shouted: "Li Hu! ”

Li Hu, who had just returned to Li Yan's side after delivering the military order, hurriedly responded: "The little brother is here." ”

Li Yan said loudly: "Order the whole army, retreat immediately, and then let the soldiers of the Qixian battalion prepare to block the enemy!" ”

"Huh?" Li Hu was stunned and said, "This ......"

Li Yan hurriedly said: "Don't go quickly!" ”

"Yes."

Li Hu answered and went in a hurry.

"Xianggong."

The red lady whispered, looking at Li Yan with affection, her beautiful eyes were full of heartache and pity, this would make her really want to rush into the city and slash Wang Pu, if it weren't for Wang Pu, how could she be so uncomfortable? If it weren't for Wang Pu, a dog official, how could her good husband have lost the battle?

■■■

Outside the city gates.

Without waiting for Li Yan's military order to arrive, Li Xuan ran away first, and at that time, his Gushan battalion had already died with only more than 600 people left.

After the defeat of Li Xuan's Gushan battalion, Jing Maocheng also wanted to repeat the old trick, trying to suppress the official army out of the city with bows and arrows, but he suffered heavy casualties under the intensive fire of the official army's muskets.

In less than a cup of tea, more than half of the 800 bandits in the Old Crow Camp were killed and wounded.

At this time, a long horn suddenly sounded outside the city, and the thieves who were still crowded at the foot of the city wall trying to seize the city turned around and ran, Jing Maocheng knew that it was difficult to support it alone, and also retreated in a panic with the remaining more than 300 thieves, and when the bearded man was about to chase after the musketeers, there was also a horn on the city tower to collect troops and return to the city.

Although he couldn't figure it out, the bearded man didn't dare to disobey Wang Pu's military order, so he had to retreat to Wengcheng with the musket team.

Outside the city, the tens of thousands of thieves who were still crowded at the foot of the city wall just now retreated like the tide of the ebb tide, but the thieves who had died in battle could never retreat!

The fierce battle was finally over, the city was in shambles, the corpses of the fallen were lying on the ground, the air was filled with the smell of blood and gunsmoke, and the smell of gold juice that was disgusting, several ladders were burning in the firelight, and then collapsed, and the thieves who were still not breathing, were constantly wailing before dying, and sounded so terrible......

(To be continued)