Within a radius of several hundred meters, in addition to the soldiers on both sides who were still desperately tearing apart, the field was full of broken limbs, people or horses, and blood soaked the earth, forming a huge red carpet. Many soldiers who had never seen such a tragic scene even vomited, and the weak-willed even turned their horses around and fled from this place like the devil's hell of the Shura slaughterhouse.

While calmly directing the soldiers to charge, Zhao Zhongyao was also carefully observing the changes in the battlefield situation, the changes in the enemy's morale were seen by him one by one, and he estimated that the time was ripe.

Suffering from this fierce and violent assault, the front of the Holy Sect Army, which was already a little unstoppable, was even more shaky, especially under the crazy impact led by Zhao Zhongyao, the front of the Holy Sect Army was finally torn open, but as soon as the front was torn apart, it was beyond the control of manpower, and the entire defensive front suddenly collapsed, and the thousand cavalry commanders who led the team first withdrew from the battlefield, and the soldiers who followed immediately became a mess, in order to escape from the narrow streets first, the soldiers who were colleagues were even facing each other. Many of the soldiers who had not had time to flee were immediately chopped off their horses by the swarming Imperial cavalry and reduced to pulp.

Seeing that there was no hope of escape, many soldiers simply jumped off their horses and asked for surrender, but the expressionless Zhao Zhongyao just waved his hand, and these people immediately fell in a pool of blood.

It's like a storm has struck, leaving only wolves all over the ground, but Zhao Zhongyao doesn't have any time to take care of this, since the Holy Sect Army has rushed into the Partridge Pass, although it was repelled by his own side, it can be seen that this is only the vanguard. Because this army, like himself, was all cavalry, and it was impossible to control Partridge Pass by cavalry alone, and the real construction of a strong defensive front should mainly rely on infantry. Obviously, the other side, like himself, also sent infantry to follow closely behind the cavalry. It was only the difference in the speed of the march that led to the disconnect between the front and the rear.

The priority now is not to pursue the enemy army, but to consolidate the defense of this fortress after driving the remnants of the Holy Cult army out of the fortress, and perhaps soon face the ensuing attack of the Holy Cult army, even before the arrival of his own next few infantry wings!

When the remnants of the hundreds of Taiping cavalry disappeared into the smoke and dust in the wilderness outside the city gate, Zhao Zhongyao was truly relieved, maybe he would soon face the resurgent Taiping army, but seeing that the soldiers were busy closing the city gate and owning a strong city, he had to be much more confident in his heart no matter what.

The order for the follow-up troops to follow up as quickly as possible had already been dispatched at the time of the victorious side. And the fast horses sent to the main camp of Lishan County to request reinforcements have also flown away, and because of the hurry of the march, Zhao Zhongyao didn't even have time to bring the communication snow dove, so he had to turn to the fast horses for help.

While arranging for the cavalry to dismount and turn into infantry and begin to patrol the wall, two teams were also sent to search the entire fortress for any other suspicious persons, and asked them to concentrate all the remaining civilians on the preparation of defense, while the other team quickly went to the fortress armory to inspect and prepare various defense materials.

To Zhao's great joy, both teams received exciting news. The troops in charge of the search in the city soon gathered more than 1,000 people left behind. After revealing their identities, the simple people expressed their willingness to assist the soldiers in their defense. Qin Dui's great name and prestige were fully reflected in this fortress close to the northwest, which may be the best proof of the popular support that Qin Dui had been hoping to win.

Another search team also brought good news, opening the armory, which was not too big, but it was full of all kinds of weapons and materials, especially a large number of bows and crossbows, which made Zhao Zhongyao overjoyed, and the role of bows and arrows needless to say. This crossbow is a good thing, especially in the hands of soldiers who are not familiar with attacking arrows, it can also play a powerful sniping role, although their power is not as strong as the improved crossbow in the northwest, but at this time, they can have such a sharp weapon. What more could you ask for?

Without much thought, Zhao Zhongyao immediately distributed these items to the soldiers, and this tragic encounter allowed his only cavalry wing to withstand a real bath of blood and fire, and after this battle, they were fully capable of facing any powerful enemy without fear. But this sudden encounter also made Zhao Zhongyao's heart ache, a team of more than 4,000 people, at least more than a third of the loss, this is undoubtedly a meat and bloodletting for him who regards this team as a treasure.

Just as Zhao Zhongyao was mobilizing all his forces to prepare for the upcoming defensive battle, the hundreds of remnants of the Holy Sect Army cavalry that had escaped by luck also joined his main force twenty miles away from Partridge Pass.

Seeing that the five thousand elite cavalry who were in high spirits when they set off now actually fled back like a lost dog, and there were only less than five hundred people left, Mao Neng, the commander of the Holy Sect Army, was shocked and angry at the same time, but also had great suspicions, the information obtained by the scouts before was an empty city, why did the situation change drastically in just two hours? Without a clear understanding of what the problem is, this battle will simply not be able to be fought.

While sending scouts to reconnoiter immediately, Mao Neng and his deputy, another captain of ten thousand and one of the ten thousand cavalry, carefully questioned the hundreds of remnants who had escaped.

Due to the suddenness of the encounter at the beginning, neither side was prepared, and the inexperienced Taiping cavalry only cared about the battle in front of them, until the rout, and they did not know how many men and horses the other side had and what the composition of the troops was.

But with the narration of so many people, the three main generals soon had a unified understanding, that is, the opponent's strength was not too strong, otherwise they would definitely follow, and they did not find the appearance of the enemy's infantry, which means that the other party is also likely to be the vanguard to seize the fortress.

But how many follow-up troops of the enemy are there? And how far are they from Partridge Pass now? After all, they had not yet experienced a real battle, and lacked the experience of judging the enemy's situation, so the three commanders finally decided to send more scouts to understand the situation on the one hand, and immediately advance to Partridge Pass, but in view of the role of the cavalry, all three felt that it was better to let the cavalry and infantry maintain a normal marching speed and march towards Partridge Pass together. (To be continued......)