The heralds kept running back and forth, and just now they had blown their horns to prepare for the battle, and Song Sheng, the Marquis of Xining, summoned Zhang Wu again.

Zhang Wu's subordinates stopped walking on the spot at this time and set up a formation.

Zhang Wu hurriedly gave a few orders, and then Pegasus galloped to the camp of Song Shengzhong's army.

After entering the camp, I found that Qu Neng, He Fu and others were all there, and their faces were not good-looking.

Song Sheng said, the rebels suddenly appeared from the east and west, especially Yongchuan in the east, close to the territory controlled by us, and the comers were not good.

Zhang Wu glared at Qu Neng, what did you do as the commander of Sichuan, and I don't know if a large number of rebels appeared from the east?

Qu Neng said, I said that there were 50,000 rebels hiding, and now these 50,000 rebels have come out.

And what about the 100,000 rebels in the west? Zhang Wu asked.

He Fu's face showed a look of shock: "Could it be that the rebels from Guizhou are coming?" ”

"Impossible." Qu Neng said, when the rebels from Guizhou come, they must pass through Yongningwei, unless-

"Unless what?" Zhang Wu asked urgently.

Qu Neng said in a deep voice: "Unless they cross Le'an Mountain, where the mountains are high and the road is dangerous, they will have to walk for at least half a month, unless the winner is determined half a month ago in Guizhou." ”

Zhang Wu said angrily: "At the end of July, Guiyang is still in the hands of the official army, how can it be possible to divide the winner half a month ago?" ”

Song Sheng thought to himself, even if the winner was separated half a month ago, it would take half a month to travel from Guiyang to Sichuan, and then half a month to climb the mountain, not a month before and after?

He definitely didn't expect that the soldiers and horses in Guizhou came from Yongningwei.

But now it doesn't make sense to think about that.

"No matter where this rebel army comes from, no matter how many people they have, we have already crossed the river, there is no way to retreat, only bloody battles, the three rebels combined, the number is still not as large as ours, we will definitely win." Song Sheng said sharply.

Then the people came to their senses, and they had already crossed the river.

More than 200,000 officers and troops crossed the Zhongjiang River, and it took several days to cross the river at that time.

Now that the rebels are close at hand, it is unrealistic for the officers and soldiers to want to cross the river as they are.

More than 200,000 soldiers and horses crossed the river with heavy baggage, and it would take a few days, and when the rebels attacked from three sides, they would definitely be defeated.

"What a time for them to come." He Fu gritted his teeth.

In fact, this will make him feel so happy that he almost can't control it, so he can only use gritted teeth to cover up his feelings.

There must have been someone on the side of the official army who reported to the rebel army, deliberately waiting for their more than 200,000 troops to appear after crossing the river.

Now there is only one way in front of Song Sheng, and that is to defeat the three-way rebels.

"Don't go any further, stay where you are, and wait for the rebels to attack." Song Sheng ordered at this time: "The rebels have brought us here, and they will definitely take the initiative to attack." ”

"He Fu, you take 50,000 soldiers and horses to guard our west."

"Zhang Wu, you take the soldiers and horses of the headquarters in front."

"Qu Neng, you and the soldiers and horses of the Sichuan Dusi are in the east, and they will respond at any time."

Song Sheng deserved to be a veteran, and immediately deployed in an orderly manner.

The east side of the official army (right flank) is close to Zhongjiang and can not be defended, so he put Qu Neng on the east side, and seems to be a little worried about Qu Neng.

The left flank was to the west, and it was defended by the soldiers and horses of the Shaanxi capital brought by He Fu.

Zhang Wu was in the front, and he led another 100,000 troops in the middle, ready to support all directions.

According to his intentions, he will guard it first.

"Oh" the generals agreed one after another.

Song Sheng said again: "Let's bring five days of food, first fight with the rebels for a while, if we can defeat the rebels, it is naturally the best, if we can't hold each other, retreat to Neijiang County after three days, and go back to Chongqing from there." ”

There were four or five bridges on the other side of the river, and to the west was the salt well field, so the rebels could not flank them, they could cross the river in an orderly manner and evacuate here.

Zhang Wu didn't understand the map of Sichuan, and he didn't understand anything about it, Qu Neng secretly praised in his heart, Song Sheng was worthy of being an experienced general, and he even chose a way to retreat.

After Song Sheng finished assigning, the generals returned to their respective camps and prepared to defend on the spot.

Zhang Wu asked people to find a high place and arrange ten artillery pieces.

The rebels did not approach that day, and should have been waiting for reinforcements from the east and west.

Song Sheng did not take the initiative to attack, and the officers and troops worked hard to fortify and prepare to defend on the spot.

The officers and soldiers were very careful that night, for fear that the rebels would attack the camp, and some of the soldiers and horses did not sleep well.

Fortunately, there was no movement overnight, and the rebels were still waiting for reinforcements.

Early the next morning, as soon as the sky was bright, the sound of a horn suddenly sounded from the opposite side.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the main force of the rebel army that came out of Zhaohua Zhensi was already within three miles of them.

Bo is Chen Wen's soldiers and horses, more than 40,000 people formed a phalanx in front of Zhang Wu's array, densely packed, full of mountains and fields.

There were nearly 10,000 people in the middle, Zhang Wu stood on a high place, and soon saw that some of the phalanxes were undisciplined, and he thought they were Tusi soldiers.

The distance between the two sides was two or three miles, but the battle did not start, and the officers and troops were defending on the spot, waiting for the rebel army to attack.

The rebel army is now small and must be waiting.

Zhang Wu was a ruthless man, and quickly found Song Sheng and asked to defeat the rebel army in front of him first.

Song Sheng has always been relatively calm in the war, and he resolutely disagrees, because you can't see the complete rear formation of the rebels, what if they still have a large number of main forces in the back, and deliberately send some Tusi soldiers to attract us to attack?

Zhang Wu was helpless and returned angrily.

"Father." Zhang Hao saw that his expression was not good, and stepped forward to ask Hou in a low voice.

"This Song Sheng, the older he gets, the more careful he is, such a good opportunity, he should break the rebels in front of him first, and this battle will be won."

Zhang Wu is really right, Chen Wen still has less experience in leading troops, he relies on his own people in the official army, so he is more bold, a little fast, the rebel army from Guizhou, the distance is still a little far, this will Zhang Wu rush up, Chen Wen is very likely to lose the battle, unless Qu Neng immediately reverses.

But if Qu Neng turns against the water now, he will definitely not be able to completely annihilate the officers and troops.

"In this battle, if my father is the main general, the rebels will definitely be vulnerable." Zhang Hao hurriedly patted a sycophant.

Zhang Wu laughed, very serious, he also patted Zhang Hao on the shoulder: "This time I brought you out to brush up on military merits, after I go back, if there is no accident, at least you can send out a commanding officer." ”

"Thank you, Father." Zhang Hao was overjoyed.

As Zhang Wu expected, it took about half an hour or so for 100,000 rebels from the west to slowly appear in their sight, and Chen Wen's side was already about a mile away from them.

Zhang Wu despised Song Sheng even more in his heart, for such a long time, the second group of rebels had only arrived, and if he had attacked earlier, he would have almost defeated Chen Wenbu.

At this time, he was standing on a hill, and at the top of the hill was a tower several feet high that had just been built out of trees yesterday, which looked particularly conspicuous.

He looked closely, but saw no 50,000 rebels to the east.

But fortunately, the sentinels kept getting news.

Soon news came that the rebels were facing 50,000 people to the east and were crossing the river in Zhaohua Town.

The rebels came in the same direction as the officers and soldiers, so they were also crossing the river.

But Zhang Wu was faintly uneasy in his heart, if the rebels didn't cross the river, wouldn't they be able to stop them on the other side of the river?

If the official army suffers a defeat and wants to cross the river, what about the 50,000 rebels on the opposite side?

But he also comforted himself that the official army would not be defeated, and the rebels did not know what the official army would do next.

Just when Zhang Wu was comforting himself, boom, the rebels on the opposite side actually fired first.

Zhang Wu didn't see any artillery from the rebels, but the shell suddenly flew from the air.

"Hiss" he glared and gasped.

Look at the direction of the artillery, that is, the rebel forward battalion, about a mile away from them, this is the limit range of the Hongwu cannon, so their ten Hongwu cannons have not yet fired, and they must wait for the rebels to attack forward before fighting.

But the other side has already started.

In his stunned streak, a cannonball flew over and slammed into the first phalanx of his strikers.

This phalanx was at the forefront, estimated to be about a mile away from the rebels.

The soldiers were waiting in line, lined up neatly.

Unexpectedly, a cannonball suddenly fell from the sky.

Someone in the "fire-cannon" crowd screamed, and then there was a moment of commotion, some people tried to hide, some people stared.

But the cannonball came too fast, and it swooped into the crowd of officers and soldiers.

A hundred households were shouting around: "Don't panic, Hongwu cannon -——"

Before the words fell, the shell hit him right in the head.

There was a general flag beside him, only to feel a muffled sound, and the next moment he was covered in blood.

The general flag trembled all over: "Ahhh "Plopped, sat on the ground with a fart, and his legs were so weak that he couldn't straighten them.

His mind was in turmoil, and he only felt as if the shell had hit him just now, and he couldn't breathe for a long time.

At this moment, there was a sudden scream of ghosts crying wolves behind him.

Zongqi trembled and turned his head to look, wow, he twisted back violently, and vomited when he lowered his head.

Behind him was hell on earth, the shells tore a bloody path through the dense camp, and the ground was full of comrades with missing arms and legs, many of whom were not dead, but were screaming helplessly.

"Mother's." Zhang Wu was not very far away, about fifty steps away, although he couldn't see the tragic scene clearly, but fifty steps away suddenly there were several less, and he could still see clearly.

Several officers and soldiers fell as if they had been cut wheat, and it was terrifying to watch.

"What kind of cannon is this, so fierce?" Zhang Wu scolded.

The next moment he suddenly came to his senses and stood too far in front of him: "Go." He hurried down from the tower, and when he got on his horse, he turned his horse's head and went to the rear.

Zhang Wu fights fiercely, likes to rush into battle, but he is not stupid, if there is still artillery on the opposite side, it is not easy to be killed in front.

Zhang Wu just turned around, boom, boom, boom, the cannon sound on the opposite side continued, and this time it rang out five or six times in a row.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, a few black dots burst through the air.

"The cannon is coming." In the phalanx that had just been beaten, there were very frightened screams, and many people subconsciously dodged.

But this time the shelling was farther than just now, it should have been adjusted, swishing, directly past them.

The crowd turned around and saw that the shells had landed more than a hundred paces behind them.

Flutter, flutter, a few shells hit the officers and soldiers in the large array, the people on their backs and screamed.

Zhang Wu, who was running away with his head, suddenly felt as if there was a gust of wind passing overhead, and he subconsciously shrank his head.

The next moment the shell struck the right arm of a sergeant a few paces in front of him.

Zhang Wu watched the sergeant's entire right arm flutter, and he was beaten and disappeared directly.

"Ahh

The cannonball jumped up and down, fluttering, fluttering, knocking down three or four people in a row, and then it slowly stopped.

(End of chapter)