Of course, among the 300 casualties, only a little more than 100 were actually killed, and the rest were all wounded, except for a small number of seriously wounded, the others could still lift knives and guns. But even so, the casualties were quite large, so big that Li Dingguo was unwilling to bear them.

If this continues, it will only take three or four days to work, and the casualties will inevitably exceed 1,000. His subordinates were only 3,000 men, but the anti-thief army outside the city was as many as 200,000. His own casualties were one less than one, but the anti-thief army could take turns to attack the city. If it goes on like this, it really can't be held for half a month.

And what Li Dingguo is most worried about is that once the number of casualties is too large, I am afraid that he will not be able to retreat if he wants to retreat at that time, unless he is willing to give up all the wounded, but how is that possible?

So we have to figure it out!

In order to reduce casualties, there was only one way to retreat. But Li Dingguo was unwilling.

The first time he led the troops to fight independently, the real defenders of the city only defended for a day, and then fled in disgrace, and it was not enough to say that it was not embarrassing.

"General, hit, beat their dogs, brothers are not afraid of death!"

"Yes, we're not afraid of death! We, the Praetorian Guard, are willing to die for Your Majesty. ”

"As long as we hold Wuhu and give Your Majesty time to assemble an army, it doesn't matter if we die!"

The officers under his command shouted one after another, all of them with passionate expressions, and they were all fearless.

"I must fight, and I am not willing to retreat like this!" Li Dingguo thought for a while, and suddenly said, "But the chief soldier asked us to contain the anti-thieves, and he didn't say that he must stay in the city and wait for the anti-thieves to attack." ”

"What do you mean, General?" The subordinate asked.

"Night Attack!" Li Dingguo said coldly.

Defending in the city can only be passively beaten, with the siege of the anti-thieves, the casualties will be more and more, and sooner or later there will be a day when it cannot be held. Instead of being passive on the defensive, it is better to take the initiative.

"Ahh The subordinates were stunned. With less than 3,000 people to attack the camp of 200,000 troops at night, this is crazy!

"General, I heard that Yuan Chonghuan is very powerful, he fought with Jiannu back then, and repelled several attacks by Jiannu. How could he not defend himself against a night attack? Once we fail to attack at night, I'm afraid we won't even be able to keep Wuhu City if we are hunted down. A cautious subordinate persuaded.

"Then you won't protect Wuhu!" Li Dingguo said coldly, "Pass the order, the whole army will rest after dinner, and go out of the city to attack at the third watch!" ”

"Yes!" Seeing that Li Dingguo had already made up his mind, all the officers hugged their fists and took orders.

In order to attack the camp, Li Dingguo can be said to be desperate, after dinner, all the soldiers were rushed to sleep, and even did not send a single sentry on duty. Li Dingguo himself sat in the city tower with a spear in his arms and personally sentry everyone.

The sound of "Bang Bang Bang" came to the watch, and Li Dingguo Huo Ran opened his eyes, stood up and walked down the city wall quickly.

"General!"

"General!"

On the streets of the city, rows of Praetorian Guard soldiers stood neatly on the streets, and the officers of the sentry saluted Li Dingguo with fists.

"Luo Fengcai!" Turning over on the war horse, Li Dingguo shouted loudly.

"The subordinates are here!" A whistle is coming out of the crowd.

"You led 500 soldiers from your outpost out of the West Gate and launched an attack on the rebel camp outside the West City. I will give you twenty Franc machines, and you will sneak up to the enemy's camp, and first bombard his camp with artillery, and then attack his camp while there is confusion. Remember, you only need to take a hundred steps, and then retreat immediately, take the artillery all the way to the east, and don't care about Wuhu City. Li Dingguo ordered.

"Huh? Subordinates obey orders. Luo Fengcai was stunned for a moment and hurriedly said.

Regardless of Wuhu City, this is clearly to give up Wuhu City. Although he didn't understand, Luo Fengcai didn't dare to ask more, and led his troops straight to the west gate.

At this time, it was the time of the third watch, when the night was the deepest, in the silence, the west gate of Wuhu slowly opened, and a group of people quietly went out of the west gate and touched towards the anti-thief camp ten miles away.

In order to prevent being detected by the thieves, all of them held a chopstick in their mouths to prevent sound, that is, the mouth of the war horse was strangled with a chew, and the horse's hooves were wrapped with a soft cloth.

For ancient armies, night raids have always been very difficult, because many people suffer from night blindness and cannot see at all. However, the Praetorian Guards have always had good food and often ate meat, especially Li Yanzhi's subordinates, who were stationed on the seashore and ate fish and meat every meal, and no one suffered from night blindness. But even so, it is not easy to march in the dark, because you can't see the surroundings clearly, and you can't see the road under your feet clearly, so you can only walk one foot deep and one foot shallow. In order to prevent getting lost, several bundles of rope were issued in advance, and the soldiers led the ropes forward and backward.

It took more than half an hour to get close to the anti-thief camp, and I saw a black shadow in front of me that spread for miles, which should be the rebel camp.

"The sentry is upright, and there is the anti-thief camp in front, and the distance is only more than two hundred steps." The soldier who had sent out to spy quickly returned, whispering a whisper.

"Are there any trenches? What is the structure of the camp wall? Luo Fengcai asked in a low voice.

"There is a trench, but it is only half a zhang deep, and there are a lot of bamboo sticks buried in the ditch, but there is no trench in front of the camp gate, but there are a lot of antlers and horses to be rejected." The Pathfinder said.

"Bring the cannon off the horseback, the gunner prepares to shoot, and immediately fires the cannon after a stick of incense, and the others follow me to the front of the trench." Luo Fengcai ordered in a low voice.

With Luo Fengcai's order, the gunners moved the artillery from under the horse and began to set it up, these twenty guns are all light Franc machines, weighing less than 100 catties, and a horse can carry it. In order to facilitate the march, a gun carriage that can be disassembled is specially designed, and the gun and the gun carriage are separated when the march is transported, and the gun only needs to be installed on the gun carriage when installed.

Each Franc machine is equipped with nine sub-guns, and the nine sub-guns are loaded with gunpowder, and only need to load the sub-guns into the mother gun to ignite and open the cannon, which is very convenient.

At the same time, Luo Fengcai took his subordinates to the front of the trench, under Luo Fengcai's order, the sword and shield soldiers threw the shields into the trench, more than 100 shields were thrown down, and the bamboo sticks at the bottom of the ditch were covered, and then Luo Fengcai took everyone down the ditch, and climbed to the other side of the trench by stepping on the shield.

Beyond the trench was an earthen wall, only chest-high, which shows how careless the thieves were when they built the camp. Luo Fengcai led people to quickly climb over the earthen wall and arrived at the anti-thief camp.

"Boom, boom, boom" Twenty Franc machine guns suddenly opened fire, and one after another shells fell into the anti-thief camp with sparks like falling meteors.

Like a stone stirring up a thousand waves, in an instant, the entire rebel camp was awakened, and then panicked.

"The officers and soldiers have attacked the camp!" Suddenly there was a great chaos in the camp, many soldiers fled from the tents in alarm, and many soldiers did not even bother to put on their shoes, let alone take their weapons, and ran out like that.

However, it was dark in the camp, and it was impossible to see what was going on, not to see the Praetorian Guards attacking the camp, nor to see their own people, only to hear the sound of artillery one after another.

"Who?" Some soldiers saw a black shadow running towards them, thinking that it was the attacking Praetorian Guard, and slashed with the weapon in their hand, and for a time many anti-thief soldiers killed each other.

Luo Fengcai led people to hide on the inside of the camp wall, looking at the anti-thief camp in the dark in amazement, he and his Praetorian Guard soldiers had not yet been killed, just a round of shelling, and the rebel camp was already in chaos.

"Sentry!" One of his men whispered.

"Wait for the shelling to end." Luo Fengcai said in a deep voice.

Each Franc machine is equipped with nine sub-guns, and he has to wait until all the sub-guns are shot, and then lead the troops to rush and kill, Luo Feng doesn't want to be shot by his own artillery.

Silently counting the sound of cannons, finally, Luo Feng stood up and said in a deep voice: "Light the torch!" ”

Soon, more than a hundred torches were lit, illuminating the surrounding space.

"Kill!" Luo Fengcai shouted and rushed into the camp with five hundred subordinates.

Five hundred Janissaries, one hundred are sword and shield soldiers, and the others are all firecrackers, but all firecrackers are equipped with spears. The length of the spear and the spear, which is more than a foot long, is only shorter than the spear, and much longer than the sword. And all the firecrackers of the Praetorian Guard, in addition to practicing firearms shooting, also have to repeatedly train the spear stabbing technique. It's night, and the guns are not easy to load, but when they are loaded with spears, they become pikemen!

Five hundred Janissaries rushed into the anti-thieves camp, killed people when they saw them, and when they encountered a large number of anti-thieves rushing towards them, they raised their hands and threw out several grenades.

The shield of the sword and shield soldier was thrown into the ditch, and at this moment he was holding a knife in one hand and a torch in the other, and when he saw the tent, he lit it with a torch. Soon, dozens of tents were set on fire, and the camp was filled with fires.

"Don't be chaotic, don't be chaotic, blow the whistle and gather troops!" Song Jin, the anti-thief general, rushed out of the tent and jumped to his feet and shouted. However, at this moment the camp was in chaos, and all the soldiers were in a panic, and it took a lot of effort to gather four or five hundred troops, all of which were his personal guard battalions.

Song Jin rode on his horse, watching a torch advancing rapidly towards the camp, and knew that it was the officers and soldiers who attacked the camp, and the number was only a few hundred.

"Bastard, just this person dares to attack Lao Tzu's camp!" Song Jin scolded angrily, and brought four or five hundred guards to kill him.

As long as you entangle this anti-thief and then gather troops to surround and kill, you will definitely be able to leave this official army behind!

"No one is allowed to mess up, the number of officers and soldiers who attacked the camp is not large, pass on my military order, kill an officer and soldier and reward twenty taels of silver, and the brothers will kill me!" Song Jin shouted, boosting morale. As he shouted, more and more soldiers came to their senses from the panic and took the initiative to follow him.

"Sentry, I've already rushed a hundred steps." A subordinate reminded. According to the military order given by Li Dingguo, the battalion can be retreated after a hundred steps.

"Don't be busy!" Looking at the group of anti-thieves who came over in front of him, Luo Fengcai said in a deep voice.

Judging from the torches, there are hundreds of anti-thieves gathered in front, and if this anti-thief is not defeated, it is likely that they will be chased and killed by the tail, and there will be problems when retreating.

"Defeat the group of thieves in front of you!" After quickly thinking about it clearly, Luo Fengcai ordered.

So, five hundred soldiers quickly rushed forward, and when they were still ten or so steps away from the other side, "Grenade!" Luo Fengcai suddenly shouted.

As soon as Luo Fengcai's words fell, more than a dozen grenades were thrown out of the hand, and they exploded in the group of anti-thieves, and hundreds of anti-thieves were suddenly blown apart.

"Ahh Song Jin screamed in pain, and his thigh was in sharp pain, and at the same time, the war horse under his crotch fell to the ground with a pop, and Song Jin was thrown to the ground.

More than a dozen grenades exploded, killing and injuring many people, and it was not clear in the darkness, but what could be clearly seen was that the army that had been assembled with great difficulty collapsed all at once, and the thieves who were not killed by the explosion fled crying and shouting.

"Withdraw!" Seeing that the thieves in front of him were defeated, Luo Fengcai didn't want to waste his strength to chase and kill, and with an order, he led five hundred subordinates to return the same way, and soon left the camp, joined up with the artillery that had already loaded the artillery on horseback, and quickly headed east.

This time they did not march quietly, but marched quickly with torches illuminated. Because at this time, the anti-thief camp in the rear was in chaos, and it was impossible to send troops to chase and kill them.

......

In the camp of the Jingnan Army in the north of Wuhu City, Yuan Chonghuan, who was sleeping in clothes, suddenly sat up, he faintly heard the sound of cannons in the distance, listened carefully, and it didn't seem to be, he couldn't help but shake his head again and again, could it be that there was a hallucination?

With no sleepiness, Yuan Chonghuan simply walked out of the tent, breathing in the cold air, and his spirit couldn't help but be shocked.

"Cabinet Department." Huang Li walked over and stood beside Yuan Chonghuan.

"Mr. Huang hasn't slept yet?" Yuan Chonghuan said casually.

"The subordinates took the military Chinese officials to calculate the money and grain materials, and the accounting has just been completed." Huang Ligong said.

Yuan Chonghuan nodded, didn't say anything more, and silently looked south, looking at Wuhu City, which was invisible at all.

During the daytime siege battle, Yuan Chonghuan's army suffered heavy casualties, and in just one afternoon, the number of casualties reached 1,500. More than 600 of them were killed in battle, and more than 400 were seriously injured!

However, compared to the 200,000 army, this casualty is nothing, and Yuan Chonghuan doesn't care.

I lost more than a thousand, at least hundreds of casualties to the defenders, so it only takes a few more days to fight like this, and I will definitely be able to break through Wuhu City! Yuan Chonghuan said secretly.

"Cabinet, I think I heard the sound of cannons." Huang Li said suddenly.

Yuan Chonghuan listened attentively, and his face suddenly changed greatly!

It's not an illusion, it's really the sound of cannons, it's too far away to be heard, and from the direction of the sound, it's the big camp to the south of your side.

The 200,000 army was divided into two camps, one camp was the 50,000 army led by Song Jin, located ten miles west of Wuhu City, and the other was the main force led by Yuan Chonghuan, who set up a land and water camp on the north river side of Wuhu City. The two camps were more than ten miles apart, and the sound of artillery was so faint.

Damn, the defenders in the city actually went out of the city to attack the camp west of the city at night, and even the artillery was transported out of the city!

After leading the troops for a long time, Yuan Chonghuan had enough experience to naturally watch out for the attacks of the defenders, although it seemed almost impossible to him, he also left a force of thousands of people to be on duty at night. But the defenders did not come to attack their own camp, but went to attack Song Jin's camp!

Under the artillery bombardment, the Song Jin camp will inevitably be chaotic, if it is attacked into the camp again, tens of thousands of troops must bomb the camp!

Thinking of this, Yuan Chonghuan didn't dare to slack off anymore, in this situation, troops must be sent to rescue, even if it is too late to stop the defenders from attacking the camp, they will be cut off from retreating.

"Pass the order, and order Lou Fu to lead 5,000 troops and quickly rush to the southern camp to block the retreat of the Praetorian Guards attacking the camp!" Yuan Chonghuan ordered in a deep voice. Fortunately, he left an army on duty at night, which saved the time to assemble, otherwise it would have been too late to rescue.