After noon today, the chaos began.

Hundreds of routs appeared outside Gangwei City. They shouted things like "the front has been defeated" and shouted to enter the city. Hu Zesheng initially ignored it. There were deserters in any large-scale battle, and they would make up all sorts of logical excuses to show that fleeing from the battlefield was the most correct choice at that time. Under normal circumstances, Hu Zesheng would order these cowards to be arrested, either locked up in confinement, or simply cut off their heads and put their heads in wooden cages for public display.

The distance between Tiger Prison Pass and Gangwei City is very close, last year the Niu people burned the entire city with a fire, after a few months of reconstruction, finally has a partial defense foundation. The defenders of the city, including the newly relocated civilians, numbered just over 20,000, including some women. Hu Zesheng couldn't judge the authenticity of these routs, and couldn't screen their identities one by one in a short period of time, so he could only order the city gate to be closed and not allowed to enter.

He sent people to stand at the head of the city and shout to the outside, telling the defeated soldiers to bypass Gangwei City and go to Iron Jaw City, which was located in the rear.

It is the first town in the northern territory of the Tiger Clan, and it is a large city with a population of more than 200,000.

Only by defending the Tiger Prison Pass and Gangwei City can the Dragon Clan be contained...... It should be the offensive of the cattle people. Hu Zesheng refused to admit the "dragon clan", and his stubborn and resolute attitude also aroused the dissatisfaction of the rout soldiers gathered outside the city. Because the situation was not so bad at that time, the number of defeated troops outside the city was not large, and there was no news of defeat from the direction of Tiger Prison Pass, Hu Zesheng thought twice, sent out some food, and sent a team of five officers to gather these people outside the city and lead them to Iron Jaw City.

This is the safest and most prudent thing to do.

The officers did their duty, and they left with the defeated soldiers who had already received their food, and headed for Ironjaw City.

Hu Zesheng continued to stand on the city wall, looking north with eyes full of anxiety and doubt.

His mood is very complicated: on the one hand, he hopes that the defenders of Tiger Prison Pass will win and drive the damned Niu people back. But reason told him it couldn't be. The power of thermal weapons is self-evident, and even an experienced veteran like Hu Zesheng has never had the concept of a "gunboat". The Niu people actually carried artillery onto the ship, forming a mobile battery on the river that could flexibly change its position and direction.

On the other hand, Hu Zesheng prayed to the gods, hoping that the Tiger Clan would not lose too ugly in this great war. It is enough to have heavy casualties, at least to ensure the control of the Tiger Prison Line, and it must not be lost.

The latter idea is more realistic than "winning".

He was eventually disappointed.

The number of routs grew, soon exceeding two thousand.

Normally, there would not be so many people. Even if the two armies are stalemate, it is impossible for so many people to escape from the battle.

This means that the battle of Tiger Prison Pass has been lost, and the Niu people have captured the pass.

Several members of the Commander's Guard who had fled brought terrible news———— the Admiral (a close confidant) was a traitor and had betrayed everyone.

This made Hu Zesheng feel unacceptable.

He remembered very well that it was a pleasing-looking young man with the mark of a hundred heads on his left arm. After taking over the power of Tiger Prison, Hu Zesheng vigorously selected outstanding talents from among the middle and lower-level officers. Including the hundred-man leader, a considerable number of officers had actual combat experience, having fought against the Deer and Niu clans in Red Moon City last year. What's even more rare is that the young man learned some cultural knowledge from the sorcerer in his early years, which became a special ability that other competitors did not have, so he was reused by Hu Zesheng, and then promoted to be the lieutenant by his side, and the acting lieutenant general.

Such a person turned out to be a traitor?

Hu Zesheng didn't know that there was a mysterious intelligence department under Tianhao's command. Pyeongjun has a lot of reserve personnel. After the Battle of Red Moon City, all the middle and junior officers of the Tiger Clan who died in the battle were selected, and according to the appearance of the deceased and the relevant description of the captive to the person, Pingjun carefully selected more than forty people to change their identities. All the dead who were replaced had one thing in common———— they had no family, their parents died young, and they were forced to join the army because of the hardships of life.

Tiger Prison Pass is a border pass, and there is no such thing as taking turns to be on duty in this era. Once a soldier is on the border, there is a high probability that he will stay there forever until he dies of old age.

The replacements were rigorously trained. They know how to communicate with the people around them and how to weave stories out of all kinds of lies. When you meet someone you know, you immediately find an excuse to avoid it, and in the shortest possible time, you can learn part of the situation about the other person from other people, and try to make the follow-up conversation continue and paralyze the other party to the greatest extent.

More and more rout troops escaped from the direction of Tiger Pass, and there were already more than 5,000 people.

They refused to carry out Hu Zesheng's order and strongly demanded to enter Gangwei City to rest.

"Please, Commander, let us into the city! The dragons' pursuers are behind, and you let us go to Ironjaw City...... It's too far away for us to walk. ”

"It's okay to go if you want to. Let's go into town now for a bite to eat and take a break. ”

"We are not rebels, we are all brothers of the Tiger Clan, why do you watch like this but don't save you? The dragons are coming, and they will soon be able to catch up with us. ”

"Let me go into the city, I have a secret to present to the Grand Commander......"

The outside of the city was densely packed with people, and there were more and more of them. During the stalemate, which lasted for more than three hours, the number of defeated troops from the front line of Tiger Prison Pass increased sharply, and soon exceeded 10,000.

Hu Zesheng has never regretted it so much as he does now.

If it weren't for being too thorough, I wouldn't have left Tiger Prison last night.

If I had been ruthless in dealing with these routs from the very beginning, and had taken dozens of them from the first batch and cut off their heads and hung them on the head of the city to display to the public, there would not have been such an intractable problem as it is now.

The rout brought news of defeat, and once they entered Gangwei City, it was bound to cause widespread panic in the city. The two sides spoke across a wall, and there was no face-to-face close contact, and Hu Zesheng could also enforce military control and maintain order in the city. If the defeated troops enter the city, the previous efforts will be completely in vain, and Gangwei City will be in chaos without a fight.

With the example of the "mutiny" cronies, Hu Zesheng now can't trust anyone at all, let alone those guys who keep saying "I have a confidential report". Everyone has been defeated from the direction of the Tiger Prison Pass, what great secret can you know? The regent of the Ox Clan has three heads and six arms? Or is he not the man he seems on the surface at all, and he is a sister paper on the inside?

Now that the battle has been defeated, let the defeated soldiers go in the direction of Iron Jaw City! It was an important rear town, and the ruler had enough time and strength to deal with all the troubles caused by the rout. In any case, Gangweicheng can't be messed up. Hu Zesheng made up his mind, and he insisted on holding the city firmly on the basis of the 20,000 soldiers and more than 30,000 civilians in the city.

Burlap sacks full of grain were thrown down from the city. This is the ration that Hu Zesheng prepared for the defeated soldiers. There are not many of them, and they will definitely not have enough to eat, but as long as they save some, they will be enough to keep them walking to Iron Jaw City.

The guards drew their bows and arrows, aiming at the loudest ones in the group, firing continuously. The distance was too far and there was no accuracy, and he failed to shoot people to death, but it showed Hu Zesheng's determination. He stood at the head of the city and roared angrily: "Get out of here, get away." You are not welcome in Gangweicheng! ”

He didn't dare to take in these routs at all———— this was obviously a trick of the Niu people. They were so strong that they captured the Tiger Prison Pass in less than a day, which in itself is enough to tell the story. With the strength of the Niu army, coupled with the flintlock pistols that are far more powerful than cold weapons, they can capture a large number of prisoners.

But they didn't. As many as tens of thousands of routed soldiers fled all the way to Gangwei City...... If you think about it on your toes, you can understand that the Niu people are actually driving these routs in disguise, allowing them to replace the "siege" without even noticing. Hu Zesheng dared to bet with his head that the forward of the Niu people must have arrived at a hidden position near Gangwei City. They have been waiting and looking for the right opportunity to solve Gangweicheng in one go with the lowest cost and the highest efficiency.

Thinking of this, Hu Zesheng felt that his scalp was numb, and his back was full of cold sweat.

The rout outside the city was still shouting.

He was furious, grabbed the longbow in the hands of the guards beside him, drew an arrow from the quiver he carried, put on the bowstring, aimed at the person with the closest distance and the loudest voice, pulled the longbow to the extreme, and his fingers suddenly released.

The arrow was accurate, and the sharp steel arrow with a piercing whistling whistle drilled into the man's right eye, splashing blood in the surrounding uproar, and he didn't even have time to scream, he fell backwards with the huge impact and instinctive reaction of his body, and died on the spot.

"Get out of here!" In a rage, Hu Zesheng continued to open his bow and arrows, shooting out of the city like crazy, and at the same time let out a roar that seemed illogical to others: "If you don't want to die, get out of here!" In short, they are not allowed to come in. If you're not afraid of death, just come and try it, I'll use you as a target and shoot them all! ”

The most terrible thing in the world is the madman, especially the madman with a weapon in his hand.

The rout ran away with food bags in tow. The defenders at the head of the city kept throwing grain outside, and Hu Zesheng did not give the order to attack those who came to collect grain bags tremblingly. He felt very tired, with an indescribable sense of sleepiness and numbness.

The dead did have the deterrent effect they deserved. The routs dragged the corpses away, stripped them of their armor and clothes from within range of their bows and arrows, and began to divide them with knives and axes.

Hu Zesheng sat on a supply crate, watching all this blankly.

The scene was familiar, he had done it himself, and more than once.

Suddenly, there was the sound of hurried footsteps behind him. Hu Zesheng subconsciously turned his head to look at the stairs connecting with the city behind him, only to see a young officer wearing a leather half-body armor running up from there, and couldn't wait to come closer, and fell directly on one knee five or six meters away, panting, and shouted loudly in anger: "...... My lord...... Riverside ...... Dragons' fleet...... Whew, they're calling! ”

Hu Zesheng felt his whole body twitch suddenly.

It was the last thing he wanted to hear, and at the same time the most logical.

"Panic what!" He struggled to maintain the majesty of his leading general, gritting his teeth, and with the palm that was secretly supporting the box, he finally managed to stand up. Hu Zesheng suppressed the huge fear and shock in his heart, and the expression on his face was stern and hideous: "What dragon people, they are Niu people." There's nothing to be afraid of, come with me and teach these damn guys a good lesson. ”

As soon as he took a step, he heard a dense explosion coming from the east side of the city. Plumes of black smoke rose from that direction, sweeping the fiery red flames. The ground trembled slightly, as if an invisible hand was pushing the walls and shaking the foundations.

"That's the Dragons' fleet." The officer who came to report the news had a bloodless face, he raised his hand and pointed to the eastern part of the burning city, his eyes were full of despair: "They opened fire." ”

The people around froze, and the hundreds of Tiger Clan warriors gathered around Hu Zesheng looked in that direction, unable to say a word, and collectively fell silent.

Hu Zesheng rushed forward, grabbed the officer's collar with his left hand, and roared angrily: "I already said that it was a Cow Clan, not a Dragon Clan." Do you want to die if you have repeatedly disobeyed my orders? ”

Without waiting for the other party to answer, Hu Zesheng pulled out his saber with his right hand, put it directly on the opponent's neck, and slashed it in the opposite direction, cutting the officer's throat on the spot. His eyes were full of disbelief, and he clutched his bleeding neck with his hands, staggered a few steps, and fell headlong.

"Whoever confuses the public with rumors, kill!"

Hu Zesheng raised his blood-stained knife and scanned the surroundings with a crazy gaze: "We are the descendants of the Divine Tiger, and our ancestors obtained this land by virtue of their strength. No matter who the other person is, we will never give away what belongs to us...... Everyone, kill with me! Follow me and don't stay away! ”

……

This very contrasting battle is destined to have no suspense.

The dense bombardment of up to 100 pieces of artillery was enough to reduce any resistance to dust. Because it was built along the river, the entire Gangwei City was within the range of artillery fire. The landed dragon infantry occupied the three towers, and they held up their condescending positions and used flags to guide the ship's guns to suppress the Tiger forces gathered in the city. The shelling lasted almost forty minutes, and it was all over.

People found Hu Zesheng in the corner of the wall on South Street. His left leg was blown off, and a piece of shrapnel about five centimeters long tore through his armor and plunged deep into his heart. The old man did not close his eyes until he died, he held the knife in his hand and maintained a posture ready to attack at any time.

The landing force began to clean up the city of Gangwei. According to the plan formulated by Tianhao, this place will be transformed into a semi-defensive rear base. As long as there is an inland river fleet, Gangwei City will not be afraid of attacks from the Tiger Clan.

There were more prisoners in this battle than in Tiger Prison, more than 30,000.

Tyrague continued his previous practice at Tiger Prison Pass, leaving behind a small army to occupy Gangwei City and maintain order.