Gu Maitreya felt very irritable, the army he was facing was undoubtedly a group of stragglers, if the opponent stopped to fight head-on, he believed that he would have already defeated the opponent, but now that he had fought to the time of Shen, these troops were still haunting him like a ghost that did not disperse. The rhythm of the attack of the Selector Battalion was disrupted by the opponent's counterattacks again and again, and every time he was about to completely crush the intruders who were resisting in front of him, there would always be intruders rushing out to counterattack, and always hitting in those positions that made him feel unpleasant, slowing him down.

As the old department of Zhendonghou, Gu Maitreya has a very good relationship with the senior commander of the new army, which is an important reason why he got this position, and Gu Maitreya also takes it for granted - almost all the senior commanders of the new army are the old people of Zhendonghou, is there anything wrong with this? The key position, even if it is not the old department of Zhendonghou, is also their son and nephew. The Marquis of Zhendong has a friendship with this old man, so this is a matter of course, even if it will cause some dissatisfaction, and some people from civilian backgrounds who may have more outstanding grades and more suitable conditions will compete with these people with backgrounds. But this is undoubtedly reasonable, because they really don't have such a friendship with Zhendong Hou, this is how the Ming Dynasty has operated for three hundred years, the so-called seven officials in front of the prime minister. This is by no means unfair, the Marquis of Zhendong must take care of his old age, and he is obliged to do so.

Those newcomers, such as Xu Ping and others, have proven themselves unworthy of the new appointment of the Marquis of Zhendong, and their dissatisfaction with this system is likely to lead to further betrayal, and seniority is the rule that must be followed by a stable system, and questioning this unquestionable rule itself is enough to prove that he is a hostile member of the system. Still, Gu didn't like this kind of whispering, and he was desperate to defeat his opponent, Xu Ping and the other doubters, in the war. It is the duty of the general of the new army to fight for the Ming Dynasty, but Gu Maitreya, like many other commanders of the new army, also regarded the battle with Xu Ping as a personal vendetta—it was the battle exploits we made with the Marquis of Zhendong, and of course the Marquis of Zhendong should consider us and our sons and nephews first, just as we would respect the son of the Marquis of Zhendong and offer our loyalty to him just because he is the son of our leader, how dare you newcomers move the idea of subverting this order?

Today, when he learned that it was Xu Ping himself who was in command on the opposite side, Gu Maitreya's desire for victory became even more fervent, and for him victory, a crisp victory meant not only his personal merits, but also the success of the group to which Gu Maitreya belonged. But every time Gu Maitreya saw that he could defeat the frontal invasion army, these endless flank harassments always gave them a chance to breathe, and Gu Maitreya could only watch them retreat and reorganize and continue to deal with the Xuanfeng battalion.

This was an insult to Gu Maitreya: the enemy army on the opposite side was at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength and weapons, but such a rabble, under the command of Xu Ping, could actually negotiate with the old troops of Zhendonghou, the generals promoted by Yang Zhiyuan, He Baodao, and many other battalion officers who were appreciated by the top echelons of the new army for two hours without winning or losing. It's a personal vendetta, but it's not just a personal vendetta. Neither an ugly victory was an acceptable outcome, and it would give credence to those in the new army who had been ostracized because of their bad backgrounds, and many of these disgruntled people, although they did not openly defect to Xu Ping, did regard Xu Ping's victory over the old Zhendong Marquis as their victory.

There is no doubt that in this continuous counterattack, the army paid a much greater price than the Ming army, but Gu Maitreya was unable to complete the task assigned by the upper peak, and the Xuanfeng battalion also began to become impetuous.

"It can't go on like this." Gu Maitreya asked impatiently, "How far is it from Xu Ping's general flag?" ”

"Less than two miles." Zhang Biao, chief of staff of the Xuanfeng Battalion, also had an angry face, and the Xuanfeng Battalion, which had an absolute superiority in strength, had been tied up in this afternoon's battle, and the battle was not too fierce, but it lasted too long, and the soldiers became tired.

"It's time for a cup of tea to run." Gu Maitreya saw that the front was attacked by another counterattack by the intruding army, and the entire infantry was beaten to a halt, and the central infantry that needed its cover had to stop and wait for the flank to follow up. This counterattack was still very ingenious, and when Gu Miller had just turned some troops to the defensive flank, he rushed out to attack, which not only interfered with the attack of the Ming army, but also did not receive too many counterattacks from the Ming army at one time.

"Xu Ping does have two hands, but one strength is more than a hundred skillful," Gu Maitreya rarely complimented, since he was only one step away from the ultimate goal, he made up his mind: "Leave one infantry team to cover the baggage and artillery team, and the rest will charge side by side, straight to where Xu Ping's general flag is, and there is no need to leave troops on the flanks to defend." ”

"My lord, don't we care about the flanks?"

"It doesn't matter, it's just a mosquito bite, and it's only two miles of land anyway." Gu Maitreya ordered Zhang Biao to stay behind and be responsible for commanding the backward infantry to cover the artillery, the artillery did not play any role in today's battle, Gu Maitreya felt that the disadvantages of slowing down the attack of the troops were even greater than the benefits of providing fire cover: "The commander should leave half of the infantry of the Rock Battalion for me, so that I will not fight so hard." ”

After complaining, Gu Maitreya pointed ahead: "Take off Xu Ping's general flag, these small counterattacks will naturally disappear, even if they don't disperse, we can concentrate on dealing with them at that time, so that the soldiers of the two wings gritted their teeth, and fought twice to keep up with the Chinese army, after fighting for so long, the thieves don't have much strength, and we have to rush down to Xu Ping's camp first." ”

"Yes, my lord."

……

The new formation put forward by the Xuanfeng battalion fell in Xu Ping's eyes: "This is going to be desperate." Let Gu Meng stay, I have an order for him. ”

The last four field guns had just caught up with Xu Ping's troops, and Gu Mengliu immediately took them over, and Xu Ping chose a position for these guns to make Gu Mengliu ready for battle.

……

"Onward! Advance! Advance! ”

The team officer shouted three times in a row.

The drums of war are ringing, the standard-bearer Jian Jidong is the first to step forward, today's battle makes Jian Jidong feel a special nest fire, his team is located on the right flank of the Ming army, a moment to turn right on standby, a moment to turn left and run quickly, the head is going to be dizzy, but there are no two battles at all, and the light comes and goes to adjust the formation. The scattered intruders ahead, Jian Jidong has seen them flee countless times, but none of them can't catch up and have to stop to deal with the counterattack, or wait for other friendly forces to deal with the counterattack. The comrades in the team were also all in a body of strength and had no place to use, for most of the hour, every pause would provoke a large number of complaints, just now after the officer gave the order to ignore the flanks and rush forward, the soldiers were all cheering, shouting to rush up and fight the thieves.

Jian Jidong strode forward, he saw the intrusive army in front of him half-squatting down and began to aim this way, Jian Jidong knew that the other party always resisted in such a posture, and fired one or two shots from a distance without pain, and ran back when he saw the Ming army approaching.

"If it weren't for the fact that we were always stop-and-go." Jian Jidong held high the banner and strode forward with his chest straight, while secretly cursing in his heart: "You have been driven by us a long time ago, and we have long beaten you to the point that you can't be restrained, and you have fled all the way back to your hometown." ”

The army began to shoot from a distance, although it stood at the front of the whole team, but the threat of this distance to Jian Jidong was minimal, one round, another round, after two rounds of long shots, the army in Jian Jidong's field of vision had changed from the size of an ant to a clear face. This time, the intruders on the opposite side did not run away, but stood up and loaded their ammunition.

"That's it," Jian Jidong thought in his heart, "Don't run, just fight a fight." ”

There seemed to be gunfire from the flanks again, but Jian Jidong didn't look sideways at all, the order was very clear, and he rushed straight to Xu Ping's camp, and he was not allowed to stay under his feet. The fierce battle for nearly two hours made Jian Jidong's ears and nerves almost numb, and there was only the belief of obeying orders in his heart.

The intruders in front stood straight and lined up neatly, Jian Jidong watched them put the muzzle of their guns flat, and then he saw a cloud of white smoke, and seemed to hear lead bullets flying past him, making a whooshing sound that tore through the air. He still didn't stop under his feet, and the officer didn't give the order to stop, so he had to keep walking.

The invading troops on the opposite side began to reload again, and now even the beards on their faces Jian Jidong can clearly see, these invading troops are unhurriedly loading ammunition, Jian Jidong has been able to see the enemy's eyes clearly, and the expression on their faces looks - it seems to be very calm, no, not calm, but relaxed, without the slightest tension at all.

The enemy's performance made Jian Jidong a little confused in his heart, but he didn't hear the order to stop, so he still had to hold the flag high and move forward, now the distance between the enemy and me is already close at hand, and suddenly an inexplicable idea came to Jian Jidong's heart: "If I cut down the banner like this, I don't know how many thieves I can smash." ”

The intruder in front had finished loading his ammunition, Jian Jidong still stretched out his arms vigorously, held the military flag high, and walked towards the enemy in a daze, and now he looked face to face with the intruder soldiers in front of him. The other party's expression became even more strange, and his movements were also very strange, not only did he not put down the musket and pointed it at Jian Jidong, who was about to walk under his nose, but instead put away the gun and stood and looked at it silently.

Jian Jidong saw from the afterglow that the entire platoon of intruders were all in similar movements, he turned his head slightly, and found that every enemy soldier was looking at him with a peculiar gaze, this discovery made him involuntarily slow down his pace and move his gaze in a wider range.

That's right, every soldier who broke into the army, no matter what angle he had with Jian Jidong, he found that he was looking at him, a very remote enemy soldier seemed to be about to raise his gun to aim at himself, his gun was almost crooked in the face of his companion, but the people around the enemy soldier pressed down the muzzle of his gun, and everyone pointed their guns harmlessly at the sky, and then looked at themselves quietly.

Jian Jidong, who was in a daze, stood in front of the battle line of the invading army, he suddenly noticed that there was only the sound of guns and cannons behind him, but there was no sound of war drums, he looked at the eyes of countless pairs of soldiers who broke into the army for a moment, maintained the posture of holding the battle flag high, turned his head and looked behind him - there were no companions behind him.

Jian Jidong's comrades-in-arms fell to the ground in all directions, covering the wheat field he had just passed, and the other squads that belonged to the same team as him were almost no one still standing. Some of the surviving Ming soldiers were coughing up blood in the wheat fields, crawling aimlessly with difficulty, only a few soldiers still holding weapons, and these scattered Ming soldiers among the corpses and wounded, hiding behind the bleeding bodies of their comrades, half-knelt and half-crouched to send a desperate counterattack to the north.

On Jian Jidong's right, the dense line of troops marched towards the wall, and they strode forward, skillfully reloading the flintlock pistol in their hands and reloading them, without affecting their speed in the slightest. The human wall moved forward quickly, and soon parallel to Jian Jidong, he was now sandwiched between the two teams of invading troops, Jian Jidong could no longer twist his head a little more, and the military flag in his hand did not know when it was no longer held high, he turned around blankly to face the way he came, and saw the human wall of the intruding army suddenly stopped, and countless muskets were raised in unison, and then countless flames jumped out of the dense muzzle. After the salvo ended, the human wall advanced again, they had already crossed Jian Jidong's position, and almost no one glanced at him, and even if there was, it was a casual glance.

On the banner of this group of invading troops, a black eagle proudly spread its wings and soared in the wind, this is not the first time Jian Jidong has seen this flag, last time, and last time when he faced this black eagle, the brothers around him also fell in rows, and blood flowed like a river.

"Guards Battalion-" The banner that Jian Jidong held in one hand hung weakly to the ground.

The attack launched by the first infantry wing from the flank instantly wiped out the infantry on the right flank of the Xuanfeng battalion, and the standard-bearer of the infantry attracted Xu Ping's attention for a long time, and when he saw the lonely red flag hanging weakly from the hands of this brave man, Xu Ping sighed and gave a special order for this brave enemy soldier: do not hurt this standard-bearer, let him continue to keep the military flag in his hand, and do not take it from him.

The few remaining infantry teams of the Selective Battalion were in disarray, and their officers were diligently adjusting their infantry to try to meet the Guards Battalion coming straight at them, but it would take time, and they probably didn't have that much time. The infantry of several battalions of the selected battalion blocked each other and could not exert their firepower, and the Ming infantry team closest to the guard battalion at the moment was ruthlessly shot by the guards battalion when it was changing from a straight team to a horizontal team, and was killed or wounded.

After this infantry group was dispersed, the 1st Infantry Wing continued to advance, attacking the next target without stopping, and the 3rd Infantry of the Selective Battalion was attacked in the changing formation.

The infantry team struggled to change formations to meet the battle in the midst of fire from all directions, but it did not hold out until it was completed. However, after the collapse of this infantry group, the 1st Infantry Wing also exhausted the advantage they had gained by surprise attacks, and the next team of the Selector Battalion to complete the formation change made the first organized resistance. And in the south of the infantry that was lined up to fight back, more infantry units of the Selective Battalion were also facing the north, and Gu Maitreya urged them to run desperately towards the two wings of the attacked team to extend the battle line and exert their firepower.

The opponent's reaction now was also expected by Xu Ping, who patiently waited for the selection camp to adjust the formation to the position and angle he expected, and then ordered:

"Let's open fire."

"Yes, General."

The herald trotted to deliver Xu Ping's order. The artillery team, which consisted of four field guns and commanded by Gu Mengliu himself, immediately began to shoot at the enemy troops who were huddled together, and now the Xuanfeng battalion was rushing into the artillery positions of the camp in columns, and the artillery group of the guards battalion began to fire mercilessly at them—the way every artillery officer dreamed of shelling.

The intertwined artillery fire rampaged through the Ming army, and a merciless slaughter appeared before Xu Ping's eyes.

"Pro-virtuous ministers, far villains, the reason why the Han Dynasty was prosperous before." This sentence suddenly popped up in Xu Ping's mind, and it had nothing to do with the current situation, but Xu Ping couldn't help but think that Gu Yanwu often said to himself that cronyism, rather than meritocracy, is often the beginning of the cycle of chaos. When facing the opponent today, although the enemy army has an overwhelming superiority in strength, it gives Xu Ping the feeling of clumsiness and stiffness, in any case, the new army is a very strong and well-trained opponent, but Xu Ping feels more and more that the Marquis of Zhendong has not picked the right commander for this army, at least - not every commander is suitable.

The earth-shattering sound of guns exploded in front of him, but Xu Ping still thought uncontrollably: "Master Hou, the example I look up to can't prevent the cycle of chaos from appearing in his army, how can I avoid ......?"

Shen Yunchong's report sounded behind him again: "My lord, the second infantry wing reports to you." ”

Turning around, the soldiers holding the eagle banner were winding along the road, Xu Ping pointed to the killing field, and asked his classmates in the teaching team and the old subordinates of the Evergreen Battalion: "Do you need me to tell you where to attack?" ”

"Always attack from the flanks, my lord."

"Go ahead."

In the previous afternoon's operation, the Selective Battalion had not lost even a single squad of officers.

And in the five minutes of the first calamity, the Selective Battalion lost three of its eight infantry officers, and twenty-one of the sixty-four infantry officers; In the five minutes of the second calamity, the Selective Battalion lost four of the remaining five infantry officers—only the one that had been delayed to protect the artillery group was saved, and the fifty-six infantry squad officers of the seven regiments of the battalion, excluding that one, were lost; Gu Maitreya committed suicide by swallowing a gun after witnessing the destruction of his troops, and the Xuanfeng battalion lost seven team flags and its battalion flags.

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