After Pu Guanshui received the news that the battalion was attacked, his first thought was that this was a feint attack by the intruding army, but the baggage must not be lost, so he immediately ordered the offensive reserve in his hand, the 3,000 battalion, to go back to reinforce the battalion. Soon after the 3,000 battalions were dispatched, there was an urgent report that the large battalion was close to being lost, and they were under heavy attack by more than 2,000 intruders. For a moment, Pu Guanshui only felt that the world was spinning, and he immediately ordered to stop the attack, and the Chizhuo battalion turned to the defense to cover the withdrawal of artillery from the battlefield, while the Tianyi battalion immediately retreated and quickly reinforced the battalion. When the third news, that is, the news of the loss of the main camp, came, the new army had not yet been able to withdraw from the battlefield, and before Pu Guanshui could make a decision, he saw smoke billowing from the direction of the main camp.

This smoke is not the burden of the new army burning the new army, they are reluctant to waste the materials like this, and now in charge of the battalion is the fifth infantry wing officer Lieutenant Colonel Liu. After occupying the camp of the Ming army, he immediately ordered the invading army to collect wood, hay and other combustibles, and after gathering these things into a pile, the invading army set fire to show the new army. When Pu Guanshui saw the billowing smoke, he immediately ordered all artillery to be abandoned, and the whole division returned to seize the camp.

The 2,000 soldiers of the 3,000 battalion returned when they encountered the intruder firing fire, and when they saw the black smoke, the new troops, who were anxious, immediately launched an attack and crashed headlong into the strong defense of the 5th infantry wing of the invading army. The fortifications built by the Forces nouvelles themselves were now an impassable barrier against them, and the defenders outnumbered the attackers, who had no siege equipment in their hands.

The condescending intruders fired at the new troops in the wilderness, and the new troops could only return fire on the enemy hiding behind the walls in the unsheltered snow, and the 3,000 battalions attacked three times, and then were repulsed by the intruders three times, and all three commanders were killed. After the Tianyi battalion arrived, Chengping immediately ordered to stop this senseless suicide, he ordered two battalions to gather around him, and sent four squads at the same time: "Launch a tentative attack from four directions at the same time, do not rush in, and report back immediately if you find that the thief has a weak point." ”

Cheng Ping tried to find a weakness in the defense line, but this weakness did not exist, and the two infantry wings of the armored battalion had already entered the New Army barracks except for a few that had fallen behind. Liu, the acting battalion officer, ordered that a minimum number of troops should be left to guard the prisoners and people. The rest is put on the defensive. The New Army squad sent by Chengping repeatedly searched for weak links in the defense line that did not exist at all, leaving countless corpses around his own camp, and the New Army was still making this futile effort when Pu Guanshui rushed back.

The sun was about to set, and Pu Guanshui's rearguard troops reported that Li Dingguo behind him did not attack, but still held his position steadily.

The details of this counterattack had been carefully discussed by Xu Ping and Li Dingguo in advance, and if he could successfully capture the fortress of the Ming army, then Li Dingguo would not need to flank the attack, but only need to hold the position firmly to ensure the victory of the breaking army. At present, the strength of the two battalions under Li Dingguo is not as good as the two infantry wings of the armored battalion, so Li Dingguo will not take the initiative to attack. Compared with the threat faced by the armored battalion, Li Dingguo was more worried that the new army would force a breakthrough from his own defense line and flee to Kaifeng.

After Pu Guanshui confirmed that there were at least 4,000 people defending in the camp, he began to consider retreating to Kaifeng, and there was no baggage to cover, so as long as the infantry could bypass Li Dingguo's defensive area, they might escape into Kaifeng. Just as Pu Guanshui was discussing this plan with the staff officers, a horse scout reported that a new situation had appeared on Li Dingguo's side, that is, the cavalry of the Chuang Army, which had never appeared since the beginning of the war, appeared on the battlefield for the first time, and they were wandering on both flanks of Li Dingguo's position.

Pu Guanshui looked at the sunset in the west, knowing that the troops could not get rid of the entanglement of these cavalry before dark, and the last hope was shattered. At this time, a forced march towards Kaifeng would result in the destruction of the troops in the snowy wilderness. And if you stay, the Ming army will be wiped out by the severe cold, that is, you will be able to survive this night, and you will no longer have the ability to resist after dawn tomorrow.

Pu Guanshui lost his mind for a while, and Cheng Ping walked to his side with a solemn face: "Dashuai, if we don't recapture the camp, we will be wiped out, and we must fight to the death." ”

"Let the soldiers rush down the trench under the fire of the thieves, and then climb the camp wall and rush in?" Pu Guanshui looked at the exhausted soldiers around him, and the number of new troops in the three battalions was even less than 4,000 now: "The thieves in it are not less than us. ”

"The last general personally led the charge." Cheng Ping clenched his fists and urged: "Please give the order!" ”

Pu Guanshui couldn't give this kind of order that was tantamount to making the troops commit suicide, Chengping was equal for a long time, and seeing that Pu Guanshui didn't say a word, he turned around and walked to the front of the army, grabbed the big flag of the Tianyi battalion, and tore the flag from it and handed it to a staff officer: "Protect the battalion flag." ”

After watching the staff officer put away the camp flag with a miserable face, Cheng Ping then drew his long sword and raised it high to the sky: "Brothers, follow me closely." ”

The drummer beat the war drums again, and Chengping walked ten meters in front of the front row of the whole army, and headed towards the camp with his head held high. A dense rain of buckshot poured down on his face, knocking officer after officer to the ground, and soon Chengping was lying in the snow like his men. Even after losing their commander, the Forces nouvelles continued to charge forward, and when they jumped down the trench, they were met with fire from all sides, but even the corpses could not fill a path to the camp wall. After losing most of its officers and nearly half of its soldiers, the new army finally collapsed, and the soldiers dropped their weapons and walked aimlessly into the surrounding wilderness.

Pu Guanshui watched silently, watching his army go to destruction step by step, and there was only a group of staff officers and cavalry left beside him. Like Ho Ma, the former commander of the Xuanfeng Battalion, Pu Guanshui invoked the regulations and ordered the cavalry to cover the retreat of the staff officers and military flags, and immediately went to fight the Chizhuo Battalion, which was in charge of guarding Li Dingguo: "Order General Wei to retreat north with three battalion flags at once. ”

Seeing the backs of those who had been ordered to leave him disappear into the afterglow of the setting sun, Pu Guanshui walked slowly towards the camp alone, walked on the road stained with the blood of his subordinates to the front of the camp, and then drew his sword and looked up at the intruding army on the camp wall. The soldiers on the camp wall all looked down at the red-faced man silently, but none of them fired at him, and the soldiers had even put up their muskets.

"Xu Ping!" Pu Guanshui suddenly let out a loud roar, one after another: "Xu Ping! Xu Ping! ”

"The general is not here, I am Li Laiheng, the nephew of King Chuang." It was Li Laiheng who replied on the camp wall, he leaned out of the camp wall and looked down at Pu Guanshui: "Who are you?" ”

"Isn't he there?" Pu Guanshui muttered to himself, and then raised his voice again: "I am the general under the command of the Marquis of Zhendong, and the chief soldier Pu Guanshui is also." ”

After this roar, the intruders on the camp wall were still silent, and Li Laiheng silently looked at the red-faced man and did not make any response.

"You guys!" Pu Guanshui raised his head, raised his sword and slowly swept around, and his eyes swept over the faces of the soldiers around him along with his sword: "Isn't there anyone, no one wants to get the honor of killing Pu Guanshui, the general soldier of the Ming Dynasty?" ”

The intruders on the camp wall still seemed indifferent, and there was a deathly silence after this question. There were countless loyal and brave subordinates at his feet, and the trench in front of him was almost filled with corpses, Pu Guanshui felt that his tears were about to burst out of his eyes, and he yelled angrily again: "Isn't there anyone who is willing to give Pu Guanshui, the general soldier of the Ming Dynasty, a fate that is in line with his identity?" ”

Li Laiheng stared at Pu Guanshui's big red square face, watched his long beard shake violently in the cold wind, and shouted in a low voice: "Raise your gun, aim." ”

The intruders on the camp wall put their muskets one after another, and aimed at Puguanshui who was standing there straight. Pu Guanshui looked at the muzzle of the black hole hole that poked out of him from all directions, lowered his head and inserted the sword in his hand into the sheath, then raised his head again, and looked at Li Laiheng with one hand holding the scabbard and holding his chest up.

"Fire!"

……

At this time, there were only more than 1,000 people left in the Chizhuo battalion, and after receiving the news of the destruction of the main army, Wei Wu immediately retreated with his troops to the north, about five miles away was the Yellow River, and the remnants of the new army could escape back to Zhili after crossing the Yellow River.

Li Dingguo watched the new army drift away, and did not order the cavalry to pursue: "It's already so late, there is no need to let our brothers risk pursuit, the wind and snow will eliminate these officers and soldiers for us." ”

……

In this battle, the three battalions of 12,000 new officers and men, plus the soldiers who continued to be replenished from Shandong, roughly counted that more than 5,000 people were captured and more than 6,000 died.

In the dark night, a group of fires came from far and near, and the guards carried torches to escort Xu Ping to the camp of the new army, and although the weather was cold, all the officers of the armored battalion still lined up outside the camp to welcome them.

"Congratulations, General." As soon as the subordinates saw Xu Ping, they congratulated him in unison: "The invincible new army, a whole three battalions, has been wiped out here by us." ”

Of the ten battalions of the New Army, five were devastated in Henan, one was surrounded in Kaifeng, and the remaining four were still pinned down in Shandong. Moreover, the armored battalion even reported to Xu Ping that many of the captured New Army were originally subordinates of the Fourth Shandong Battalion, and that the New Army had been trying its best to replenish Henan's troops during this period, and now the Shandong Fourth Battalion is probably also seriously lacking.

"Yes, unless Zhendonghou has the ability to scatter beans into soldiers, he won't want to attack us in a few months." Xu Ping said this, there was no joy on his face, the camp of the Ming army was full of new officers and soldiers who had died in battle, Xu Ping walked into the camp gate, and noticed that the trench was almost filled with corpses, and the camp wall was full of fresh blood.

"My lord, our brothers who were captured before have been rescued," Liu has already rescued all the captured soldiers who broke into the camp, and is currently in charge of monitoring the prisoners of the new army: "We have also captured tens of thousands of Shandong people, and we have already asked them to set up another battalion, and we will start to carefully identify them tomorrow, if there are still new troops hiding in it, we can find out soon." ”

"How's our brother?"

"General Pu was very kind to them, their cloaks were allowed to be kept, and if anyone lost their cloaks, General Pu also gave them the necessary warm clothes, and they had three meals a day like the new army, and the wounded could even get medicine." Liu told Xu Ping that Pu Guanshui had said that he would return a favor to him: "The generals of Lanyang and Xixian County have twice treated the prisoners of the new army preferentially, and our soldiers are blessed because of this." ”

"Excuse," Xu Ping shook his head: "This is just an excuse, it's General Pu himself who has a benevolent heart, how can he owe it to me?" ”

"Be kind to the Forces nouvelles prisoners, we can't afford to lose to the Forces nouvelles." Xu Ping took the letter handed over by Liu, these are the relics of Pu Guanshui, Xu Ping hopes to get some information from it, he opens the letter and looks at it, the more he looks at it, the more dignified his face becomes.

After putting down the letter and first going to see the bodies of Hei Baoyi and Pu Guanshui, Xu Ping then walked to the warehouse of the new army camp, which was full of food. Xu Ping looked around at the mountains of grain around him, and reached out to gently caress a bag of rice, the seal on which was still made when he was in Shandong.

The guards who followed behind him didn't dare to disturb Xu Ping's contemplation, but just waited quietly behind him, Xu Ping silently recited in his heart: "General Pu risked the taboo of the soldiers and came to attack me in winter, in order to transport these grains into Kaifeng and prevent the tragedy in Kaifeng from continuing. In his suicide note to Hou Ye, I can feel his heartfelt joy because victory is in sight, not only because he relieved the siege of his righteous brother and Shanlan Ying, but also because he felt that he saved the people of Kaifeng. ”

"For the sake of the people of Henan, the brothers who broke into the camp, I must defeat the new army, I have no choice, and I did it today." Xu Ping held the rice bags with one hand and was silent like a sculpture: "General Pu's ambition to save the people of Kaifeng not only needs to be known to the world, but also needs someone to complete it for him." ”

……

After dawn on the 19th, the various units of the Chuang army began to search. The surrounding wilderness was littered with new officers and soldiers who had fallen in the snow, as if they were asleep, and only a few lucky ones were still alive when they were found by the intruders, though most of them were severely frostbitten, and few recovered from health in a short time. Xu Ping ordered the bodies of these New Army soldiers to be brought back for burial, and their waist plates were collected and preserved.

In the evening, Li Zicheng will personally hold a celebration banquet, many generals went to the camp of the king early to report, today Xu Ping heard in the camp full of hearty laughter, and he did not follow Li Dingguo, Yu Shenhe or Liu They went together, but took a few guards to patrol in the wilderness.

"When I first joined the army, I felt that leading the troops to fight was a thing that could glorify my ancestors, and at that time I dreamed that one day I could lead the army to attack the city and plunder the land like the Hou Ye, and use the enemy's head to win the title of wife and child. In my dreams, when I return victorious, my subordinates will cheer me overwhelmingly, and I will be a true hero. ”

Xu Ping walked alone in the snow, and the guards led the horse for him far behind him.

"After the First World War in Texas, I was full of joy, and at the post-war celebration banquet, I laughed irrepressibly several times, even though I knew that I had to maintain a humble posture in front of the senior generals. Then there was Shandong, and every time I conquered the fortress of the Eastern general, I was always anxious to send someone to report to Master Zhang, for fear that he would not know my exploits at once, and I walked before my subordinates on a prancing horse, for fear that they would not see me and win their respect. ”

Today's staff officers are also full of laughter, and Zhou Dongtian also followed Yu Shenhe to break into the king's camp, so Xu Ping did not have an old department except for personal guards: "The first time I walked on the battlefield after the war instead of indulging in the celebration banquet, it was also in Shandong. At that time, Brother Zhou followed me and urged me to go back to the camp. ”

There was a white hillock in front of him that rose slightly from the ground, Xu Ping walked over, and a young face appeared in front of him, judging from the military uniform, it was a soldier of the Chizhuo battalion, he probably got lost in the night, and did not cross the Yellow River to the north, but slept on the land of Henan.

Xu Ping took out his waist tag from the soldier's arms, slowly received it in his arms, waved his hand and motioned for the guards to follow, and asked them to help the new soldier from the ground and put him on his horse, and bring it back to the camp for burial in a while.

Continuing to walk forward, Xu Ping walked onto the embankment of the Yellow River, and the frozen river suddenly appeared in front of him. As far as the eye can see, the ice is littered with fallen human bodies. Xu Ping jumped off the embankment and fell into the ice, and the guards shouted in concern behind him.

Last night, I don't know how many people slipped to the ground, and then they couldn't stand up again, Xu Ping tried to pull a corpse up, but it was already frozen with the ice, hard as steel. Xu Ping's hand slipped, not only did he fail to drag the corpse up, but he lost his balance and sat on the Yellow River.

"Your Excellency!"

The guards rushed from behind: "Your Excellency, are you alright?" ”

"It's okay, it's okay." Before they arrived, Xu Ping had already stood up and looked around, how many such corpses there were.

"Kill to stop killing, killing can also kill." As this sentence came to his heart, Xu Ping smiled bitterly, this is Shang Ying's words again, but with his current state of mind, this sentence is very pleasant, but Xu Ping feels that the biggest problem with this sentence is: How do you know that your murderous behavior can stop killing?

"Hanging the people." Xu Ping thought that this was more in line with what he was doing now, but then he couldn't help but think: "The deceased in this place also have family wives, do they really have a dead life?" I often comfort myself that I want to bring happiness to the people of Henan, and even all the people in the world, this is my current ambition, but can I really achieve my ambition by killing people like this? Can I really remove the evil signs in the world and bring peace to the world? ”

"Order, once again proclaim the whole army." Xu Ping patted the snow off his hands and said to the guards behind him: "Kill the prisoner, take your life for your life!" ”

A review of the book written by a friend of the author, Ma Boyong, for "Tiger Wolf" was submitted to the Shanghai Morning Post and published in the edition on August 8 (Sunday).

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Beijing Radio, the author did an interview, and the following is the replay address (from about the 24th minute):

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