There are still a lot of concerns about insisting on robbing the camp Pengshan, the cavalry of the imperial court Jiangbei battalion is too big a threat to Xizhou retreating to the inland of Miaojiang, although Xizhou claims to have 5,000 light cavalry, but it also needs to take care of some small tribes around Xizhou, so the light cavalry of 5,000 people also has to take out a part as a mobile force.

At the same time, the 10,000 cavalry of the Jiangbei battalion of the imperial court were mainly ironclad cavalry, although they were not heavy cavalry, but the training and equipment were obviously much better than the Xizhou cavalry.

Peng Shan was not worried about fighting head-on with the imperial cavalry, but this Zhang Taiwei was more tricky and difficult to deal with.

From the first battle four days ago, Taiwei Zhang actually let the 5,000 infantry troops of the Jiangnan battalion try to infiltrate the rear of Xizhou, so Peng's Tusi first mobilized several peripheral tribes to try to stop the infantry led by Rui'an, and as soon as the two sides came into contact, a battle broke out.

Peng Shan was still a little surprised by the undeclared war of the imperial army, this Zhang Taiwei not only did not declare the war, but also relied on superior forces to constantly sweep away the remnants of the periphery of Xizhou City.

Fortunately, with the cavalry of 5,000 people in Xizhou, they were able to rescue the peripheral troops who were surrounded by the imperial court battalion several times in time.

It's just that with the exposure of the five thousand light cavalry in Xizhou, the cavalry of the imperial court immediately set their eyes on the cavalry under the personal command of Peng Shan.

Fortunately, Pengshan occupies a favorable location and is familiar with the terrain, so he got rid of the pursuit of the cavalry of the Jiangbei battalion, and this afternoon he took the imperial cavalry by surprise, but did not get the expected results.

The cavalry of the Jiangbei battalion quickly blocked the assault of the cavalry of the Pengshan side, and because the cavalry of the imperial court were all ironclad cavalry, although the mobility was a little slower, the defense ability was obviously superior.

In contrast to the Xizhou light cavalry, which was armed only with swords, the cavalry of the Jiangbei battalion were equipped with standard horse infantry three-piece suits, spears, sabers, and bows and arrows. As a result, the cavalry of the Jiangbei battalion quickly formed a stepped defensive formation.

Now many people in the army are advocating to rob the camp and take out the Jiangbei camp that has begun to make a detour towards the rear of Xizhou in one fell swoop. But Peng Shan is still a lot more cautious, less than five miles out of Xizhou City is the two garrisons of Jiangnan Camp and Jiangbei Camp, and fifteen miles back is the original Xizhou General's station, but now it has become the garrison of the East China Sea Camp and the forbidden army.

According to the latest information obtained, this time Taiwei Zhang mobilized three large battalions, 30,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, 10,000 sailors, and 10,000 forbidden troops, a total of 60,000 troops as the vanguard force, and at the same time, the government soldiers of several surrounding provinces are also in the process of assembly, and it is estimated that at least 40,000 infantry will be mobilized to the front line in Xizhou.

At present, although the army of the imperial court has not taken much advantage, it has obviously grasped the rhythm of the war.

At the same time, not only were the battalions of the imperial court superior to Xizhou in terms of training and equipment, but also in addition to the 30,000 troops directly under Peng's Tusi, the other nearly 20,000 horses gathered by the nearby Tusi were much worse in terms of command and military qualifications.

At present, there is a conflict mainly with the army of the Jiangbei battalion, and the men and horses of the Jiangnan battalion have not yet fully fought with the Xizhou army, but according to the current process, a large-scale head-to-head confrontation will soon occur.

And what worries Peng Shan the most is that the imperial court as the standard Shenji battalion and firearms battalion have not yet appeared, these two troops are set up specifically for cavalry and city defense, once the imperial court decides to attack the city, then these special armies using Hongyi cannons have become the biggest danger to Xizhou's city defense.

There is no Hongyi cannon in Miaojiang, this weapon has always been regarded as an important weapon by the imperial court, and the management is very strict, and it can only be manufactured in the capital and the manufacturing office in Nanjing, the capital of China.

According to the regulations of the imperial court, the Shenji battalion is mainly equipped with bows and crossbows, rockets, firecrackers and bird guns, which are used for mobile arrangement, which is simply a sharp weapon against cavalry, especially light cavalry, although the range of firearms and bird guns is not more than 200 paces at most, but it is enough for the light cavalry in Xizhou.

The accuracy of this kind of firearm and bird gun is not high, and the gunpowder in it is also limited, although it cannot cause much damage to people, but it can frighten the war horse, thus crushing the cavalry.

The firearms battalion is mainly equipped with a variety of cannons of different calibers, which are specially used to attack the city and defeat the enemy, so this is also the biggest threat to the defense of Xizhou City.

Peng Shan originally wanted to use the light cavalry in his hands to intersperse the various armies of the imperial court, looking for fighters, and knocking out the Shenji Battalion and the Firearms Battalion in one fell swoop, but the cavalry of the Jiangbei battalion had been keeping an eye on his side, and the several armies under the command of Taiwei Zhang were not far from each other, and they could maneuver and assist each other at any time, and they did not give Peng Shan any chance at all.

Taiwei Zhang's military purpose has been achieved, and the transportation route from Miaojiang to Xizhou City has basically been cut off, but fortunately, Xizhou City is backed by the mountains and is not surrounded by the imperial army.

Peng Shan was a little worried, the situation was even worse than his worst imagination. Zhang Taiwei did not use any reason or excuse, but directly went to war, obviously wanting a quick victory, and his army now formed a zigzag shape, surrounded Xizhou facing the southeast, north, and northwest of the river, so now the cavalry in Xizhou can only go out of the city, and can only take a few small roads between the mountains behind the city, which strictly restricts the speed of cavalry entering and leaving the city.

Now the war has only begun for four days, and there has been no official large-scale battle between the two sides, but Peng Shan still feels an unusually depressed feeling, and this Zhang Taiwei is obviously the kind of military general who is very pragmatic.

Every time he arranged, he would immediately arrange the ladder team behind, so that no matter how the battle changed, Peng Shan's cavalry would not be given a chance to intersperse.

On the other hand, on the Peng Tusi side, several generals of the Tusi Mansion have not fought for a long time, although they also pay great attention to training in peacetime, and they are still very confident in the army in Xizhou, but now they have encountered the battalions of the imperial court, and a lot of training content in ordinary times is of no use at all.

For example, the battalion soldiers of the imperial court, whether cavalry or infantry, are based on squads, with groups of five to eight people, different people, operating different weapons, and can reasonably use shields to cover each other, so the Xizhou army can not break through the opponent's line even if it is near the other side many times.

On the contrary, the battalion soldiers of the imperial court, according to the front, advanced step by step, and all the Xizhou soldiers who fell behind were eaten.

The cavalry of the imperial court also paid great attention to coordination, and often the cavalry of a few hundred people could block the surprise attack of thousands of cavalry on their own side, and this afternoon's battle was an example.

Originally, Peng Shan did not support the plan to rob the camp tonight, but now there is no better choice.

There was still an hour and a half before the hour, and Peng Shan had already led two thousand cavalry to hide in the woods, and from his current position, he could quickly cut into the middle of the Jiangbei Battalion Cavalry Battalion and the Xizhou Garrison Camp.

Therefore, he had two choices, the first was to raid the cavalry garrison of the Jiangbei camp and eliminate the threat of the imperial court's cavalry to Xizhou.

Cavalry is different from infantry, not only the cost is huge, but also the training cycle is very long, if the cavalry of the Jiangbei battalion is hit hard, then it will be difficult for the imperial court to mobilize so many cavalry in a short period of time and enter Miao Xinjiang again. Unless Taiwei Zhang asked the imperial court to mobilize border troops into Xizhou.

Another option is to take advantage of the situation to raid the military camp of the Tun army, where there are 10,000 forbidden troops and 10,000 infantry troops of the Donghai battalion, with only a small number of cavalry. Moreover, after Taiwei Zhang entered the Xizhou garrison, he did not build a large number of military fortifications, obviously only used it as a temporary station, it seems that he wanted to take Xizhou, as a springboard for the army to enter the inland of Miaojiang in the future.

Now the imperial army's army has not suffered any heavy losses, and it is almost full of morale, so even if Xizhou is abandoned, now is not the time, and tonight's surprise attack is an excellent opportunity to hit the morale of the imperial army.

Peng Shan observed the Jiangbei camp in the distance, this camp is in the northwest of Xizhou City, and you can even see the lights there from the mountains, and according to the regulations of the imperial court, the camp of 10,000 people, including 5,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry troops, will have one-fifth of the troops used to guard the night, that is, the other party has 1,000 cavalry and 1,000 infantry troops to defend the camp. Another part of the army of the Jiangbei battalion was transferred by Zhang Taiwei to the southeast side of Xizhou City.

When Peng Shan was looking at the mountains from afar, Xiao Yao and the three of them had already arrived less than ten miles away from Xizhou City, and the three of them had changed horses several times all the way before they came here so quickly.

Yi Ming immediately noticed the difference in the distance, and even some traces of fighting could be seen in some places, it seems that the big war has begun, Xiao Yao and Yi Ming are very cautious, the level of martial arts of the three of them is relatively high, and they can't enter the city directly, if the war has started, they should easily investigate the movements of the surrounding imperial court troops, so as to provide a help for Peng's Tusi military decision-making.

The three of them were watching when they heard shouts and killings in the distance, and in the distance they saw a brightly lit camp that began to be chaotic.

Yi Ming glanced at Xiao Yao, and the three of them immediately urged their horses to go straight to the direction where the battle took place, no matter what troops were fighting between them, but it was obviously a large camp of the imperial court that someone had raided.

Xiao Yao still felt that Peng's Tusi was a bit risky to do this, the military literacy of the imperial army was much higher than that of the Xizhou defenders, even if it was a surprise attack, it would be difficult to get great results, and it was possible that the other party would be surrounded.

Xiao Yao's worries were quickly verified, and there was a burst of fire and artillery sound in front of him, Xiao Yao immediately knew that Pengshan and their side had been ambushed, and Taiwei Zhang had laid an ambush early.

Xiao Yao is not very familiar with the Shenji Battalion and Firearms Battalion of the imperial army, but the experience of his previous life tells him that in the era of cold weapons, a small number of hot weapons can completely change the situation of the war.

On the one hand, Xizhou is economically and technologically backward, and there are no decent firearms at all, and they don't know the power of these cannons, so they must find a way to rescue them now, otherwise this Xizhou army is very likely to be wiped out.