Under the instruction of the generals who broke into the camp, hundreds of thieves continued to come in groups, posing as harassing and attacking, focusing on the rear and two flanks of the Ming army's formation. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Whenever they approached, there were small phalanxes on both flanks, and at the orders of the officers, the spears in the formation were densely erected, and when they did not stop, they were like a jungle of hedgehogs moving one by one.

The firecrackers on the outside of each small formation, when the enemy cavalry approached fifty paces, continued to fire, they were well-trained, able to reload ammunition while moving forward, even if it was a little chaotic, but in the eyes of the thieves, they were already very elite.

From time to time, the two wings of the army formation burst out with the fierce sound of the bombardment of firearms, and the white smoke rose into the sky, and some of the rogue horses that rushed up were knocked down, and then most of them panicked and did not dare to approach, and the new troops who used the firearms on the east road, the sharpness of their firearms, had caused a strong psychological shadow to many thieves and horses.

The horsemen of the 5th Battalion of the Special Revolution and the Left Battalion lacked the will to fight, and they often killed and wounded a few hundred horsemen, so most of them were decisively far away.

In fact, although the new army formation is flexible, the firepower of the outermost part will inevitably be reduced a lot, because many small formations are inside, and the enemy can only be met by some small protruding formations on the periphery of the large array, and there are not many on the whole.

And these small formations, a group of 200 soldiers, only a hundred firecrackers, have to be surrounded on four sides, only 25 bird guns on one side, and several rows on the other, maybe occasionally dumb fire, and the outermost shots, there are only a few guns.

However, because the commanders of each small array and the thousand generals who command several small formations have relative command power, their abilities are brought into full play.

A lot of people depending on the situation. Resolutely dispatch the firecrackers in the array, such as moving the remaining three-sided firecrackers to the receiving side, so that the small phalanx becomes a narrow strip array, and the movement in the small array is very fast.

They also coincidentally used a firearm relay tactic similar to that of the Shenji Battalion, with most of the 25 people shooting in the outermost row being more skilled in overall internal archery, and the remaining three rows of guncorporate soldiers were responsible for loading ammunition and then passing it. Exists as an auxiliary.

Such. Not to mention the increased firepower, there is no need for the gunners to advance or retreat -- this situation is more inconvenient to advance from the right and from the left, and avoid causing chaos and an existential situation. Wisdom for everyone. are all reflected to the fullest.

Cavalry fighters of the Chinese army. As frequent sorties, they had hundreds of horsemen arranged in the rear of the large formation, as a broken rear. If there are few harassing enemies, they will meet them decisively, and if there are many of them, they will hide in the large array, and then when the enemy retreats, they will rush out and kill them.

On both flanks of the military formation, some knights were also arranged according to the situation to intercept small groups of rogue horsemen.

The Ming army coped with the law, coupled with the flexibility of the new army formation, although the thieves and cavalry harassed frequently, they did not slow down the march of the large array, and in the increasingly blue faces of Liu Zongmin and others, they still continued to march in the direction of Xiayi.

"Can't let them go on like this!"

Liu Zongmin roared again.

Harassment is useless, and there must be another big battle with the Ming army, but compared to when Cao Bianjiao first laid out this military formation, the thieves and generals are much more cautious, and they have already seen the power of this military formation.

Not long ago, a group of brave knights rushed straight into the formation, but the result was a meat bun beating a dog, there was no return, everyone watched the sound of guns inside, the smoke was filled, and none of the more than 300 riders ran out.

How powerful is this strange military formation? If there are thousands of troops and horses in ambush, usually the horsemen attack the infantry formation, and when they see that the situation is not good, they can at least escape, but this time they can't run any of them, and it must be quite difficult to fight at that time.

In addition, the thieves will understand their own ability, although they have 40,000 horses, and the Ming army has no more than 7,000 horses, but after the battle, it is unknown who will kill the deer.

I just hesitated.

The sentinel cavalry learned that King Chuang led the last main force, and it was still in a hurry, and it would take time to arrive, not to mention Cao Bianjiao's marching speed, that is, if the royal courtiers who had broken through the siege before stood in Xiayi and then turned around to respond, it would be more difficult to wait for them, and they must be held back.

After a short and fierce debate, in the end, the general of the camp reached an agreement with the five battalions of the revolution and the left, and each party assigned 5,000 cavalry as garrison and garrison troops, and the remaining about 30,000 cavalry, divided into three waves, to attack the Cao battalion fiercely, and to achieve the goal of holding them back.

The thieves are also out of the way, especially for the people in the five battalions of the Revolution and the Left, they have never invested such a large amount of money.

Although they say that there are more than tens of thousands of good fighters, "Xincai County Chronicles" said that when their troops passed through the north of Caicheng, the armor soldiers were fine, from Mao to You, and the camp was not exhausted, but the number of horsemen was only about 15,000 people, which also contained a lot of water, some people only knew horsemanship, and did not have much ability to fight on horseback, and it was also regarded as a part of the cavalry.

The three families are united, their horsemen are about 60,000 or more, Luo Rucai, Li Dingguo and others count three or four thousand horsemen, not to mention, the strongest strength is to break into the camp, there are more than 40,000 horsemen, at this time 20,000 thousands of horsemen gathered here, and the remaining 10,000 thousands of horsemen were led by Li Zicheng himself, and hurried over.

He led a much more elite group, and many of them were old battalion soldiers, a considerable part of which could be compared with Bayala in the Qing Kingdom.

……

At the beginning of Shen Shichu (three o'clock in the afternoon), because of the use of the new army formation, even if the enemy looked around, Cao Bianjiao successfully led the army to a place called Cao Miaozhuang.

The village has long been in ruins, and the east side of the village is dotted with a few lonely trees, and the four fields are blank and silent, and there are no ordinary residents, as if the whole world has died.

A river flows not far from the west side of the village, and the amount of water has already shrunk a lot, and it seems to reach only the base of the human thigh, revealing a large number of dry riverbed areas, not far from the banks of the river, scattered with scattered or abandoned fields, which are already overgrown with wild grass, and look, there is a wooden bridge leading to the opposite bank, but the middle part has been destroyed.

Cao Bianjiao ordered the army to stop marching, and around the west side of the village, the soldiers stopped to use some drinking water and dry food, and each horse and mule used water and ate some bean fodder and forage to replenish their strength.

He also asked his subordinates to search the village, but they couldn't find anything good, the whole village except for the broken houses and broken walls, there were no door frames and door panels, and I don't know how many times the soldiers and bandits had repeatedly swept away.

In the current situation, the army to Xiayi, about half of the distance, Yongcheng to Xiayi two places more than 100 miles (in the case of no later highways), if it is just a simple march, without a group of enemies to look around, rush down, in fact, even if you walk, it is possible to walk a hundred miles a day.

It's just the current situation, throwing away the twenty miles that the infantry camp has not reached Yongcheng, marching in such a formation, and walking nearly thirty miles, which is already fast, Cao Bianjiao calculates that at most tomorrow, the army will be able to reach the city of Xiayi.

He rode his horse to the bank of the river and looked at the opposite bank, at this time the soldiers of the two towns resting densely by the river, regardless of Yutian Town or Zunhua Town, saw his banner, they all let out thunderous cheers, and they fanatically shouted to him: "Cao Shuai, Cao Shuai......"

No matter how dangerous it was, the marshal did not give up on his brothers, and this move won the hearts of countless soldiers.

Coupled with the strength of the new formation, although everyone was tired, their morale reached the highest, and the tired and war-weary feelings of fighting in different places and leaving their homeland in the old days were gone, and at this moment, the hearts of the officers and men of the whole army were closely united.

In the cheers, Wang Tingchen's new military camp Deputy General Sun, as well as Yang Shaofan and other generals gathered around Cao Bianjiao, all of them were honored, they held their heads high, their expressions were proud, and the handsome flag bearer beside him raised the big flag in his hand even higher.

Seeing the true feelings of the soldiers, Cao Bianjiao had a sour feeling, and his expression became more and more determined, and he would never abandon a brother.

He looked at the other side, at this time a group of thieves were gathering from all sides, and the men and horses were gathering more and more, and it seemed that they wanted to have a big battle on the other side, intercept their advance, and at the same time have the intention of attacking their own side halfway, and it is better to break off the end into two parts.

After starting from Yongcheng, I walked along the river that passed through Yongcheng and Xiayi, which is called the Xiang River by the locals, to ensure drinking water and at the same time, it also means to use the river as a barrier.

This river, along the way there are constantly tributaries to flow into, most of the rivers are small and shallow, the banks are gentle, the soldiers cross easily, the river in front of them is the largest tributary of the Xiang River in the territory.

This river must be crossed, otherwise when you get to Xiayi City, you will have to take many detours, and the thieves also saw this, so they gathered on the opposite bank, and after so many years of fighting, the tactical level of everyone in the camp is still very high, and the position is well chosen.

"Cao Shuai, a certain is willing to lead the soldiers to attack the shore in advance and establish a foothold for the army......"

Wang Tingchen, the commander of the new army camp, Zunhua Town's deputy general Sun Ce on the horse, shouted loudly to Cao Bianjiao to ask for battle, Yang Shaofan beside him moved his eyebrows, when marching, his battalion of new army, and Vice General Sun's new army alternately covered, according to the hour and the road section in front of the formation or behind the formation.

In the early stage, Vice General Sun's new military camp was the rear, so the enemy marched forward, not to mention the dangers, the soldiers walking in the rear were actually under great psychological pressure, because there would always be worries about whether they would be abandoned by the army.

At this time, the relative danger is to seize the position on the other side, after all, the opposite bank is crowded, and it is not so easy to stand still, and the heroes of Zunhua Town are vying for the first place in everything, how can the soldiers of Yutian Town be left behind?

He was about to speak, Cao Bianjiao waved his hand and made a decision: "Okay, Ben Shuai is here to wait for General Sun's good news!" ”

He quickly arranged the arrangement, and sent some cavalry to sweep across the shore in advance, and drove away the many thieves who were spying on the opposite bank.

At the same time, the Chinese army quickly repaired the destroyed wooden bridge, for the passage of heavy vehicles in the army, the army erected beams and horses have to carry simple ladders, it is quite convenient to go up the mountain to erect trees, the wooden bridge is only broken in the middle, with a ladder erection, and then paved with wooden planks, it can still supply vehicles to pass.

He looked at the other side of the river with a clairvoyant mirror, the river was no more than a hundred steps wide, except for the dry riverbed on both banks, there were a forest of half-human high withered grass, there were few trees, the riverbank was mostly gentle, the river was not deep, and it was not difficult for cavalry and infantry to cross the river.

However, about two miles away from the river, the thieves on the other side have gathered a large area in the dark, and some of the thieves and horses are even stationed on the bank of the horse, snooping towards this side, if they cross the river and go ashore, they will definitely be impacted by them. (To be continued.) )