"Goo-Goo......

"Goo-Goo......

At 1:45 a.m., when night came, the low walls seemed even more inconspicuous in the darkness, and no one would have noticed them had it not been for the faint light of the fire.

On the rammed-earth city wall of about three feet, the soldiers of the night vigil patrolled like horselights, and they seemed a little lax.

Outside, there was silence in the darkness of the night, save for the occasional cooing of birds and the sound of running water from the moat.

Thin dark clouds obscured the moonlight, making it even darker.

"Woo-haha-ha......"

At this moment, a terrifying roar came from the city wall, and the quiet night was suddenly broken.

The defenders raised their heads alertly, and when they looked, they saw a strange-looking blackbird standing on the battlement of the arrow tower.

"Mother, scare Lao Tzu."

Seeing that it was actually a strange bird that made the sound, the soldiers on duty at night screamed and cursed, and continued to patrol the city.

Soon, heavy footsteps continued to sound on the walls, and at this time, there was a fire in the night outside the city.

"Beep-"

A shrill whistle sounded on the low walls, and all the defenders were on alert, while spotting the fires in the night.

The firelight covered a whole area, several miles, and came from north to south, which instantly alerted the defenders of Xiongxian.

For a while, a strong wind blew inside and outside the city, but this strong wind came just in time to blow away the dark clouds covering the sky.

The moonlight of the Mid-Autumn Festival illuminated the outside of the city, which was an army of tens of thousands.

When they got closer, the banners of "Ming" and "Yan" appeared outside the city, making people's hairs explode.

"Enemy attack!!"

"Beep-"

"Bell! Clang! Clang! Clang! ”

For a time, Xiongxian was awakened by the defenders, although it was a front-line city, but Xiongxian was low, and it was a rammed earth city wall, and there was no defense, so there were only 3,000 defenders stationed here.

In the face of tens of thousands of Yan troops outside the city, all of them held on to their spirits, and did not lose their morale because of the low city walls and the disadvantage of their own numbers.

"Is it out in an expedited way?!"

He Cheng, the commander who crawled out of the gentle township and hurriedly walked up to the city wall, questioned the Qianhu officials who were on duty at night, and the Qianhu officials who heard the sound also trotted all the way and acted calmly: "General Hui, it has been sent out, and it has not been hindered by the Yan army." ”

"Good! Just send it out! ”

Knowing that the news had been successfully sent, He Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time began to nervously prepare for the enemy.

Under his gaze, the Yan army surrounded the entire Xiongxian County, so that they did not dare to relax, and could only stare at the Yan army, waiting for their next move.

He was watching, and so was Yan Jun.

"Driving...... Sigh! ”

Qiu Fulema, who came on horseback, was in front of a group of generals, and he bowed to Zhu Di: "Your Highness, according to what you said, you have already let Natang ride to the south to break through." ”

"Good!" Zhu Di bowed his head calmly: "Wait for the dawn, and then take the opportunity to attack the city." ”

"Yes!" Qiu Fu responded, and then returned to the front formation, waiting for the dawn according to Zhu Di's arrangement.

Seeing him leave, a general who followed behind Zhu Di also followed up and asked: "Your Highness, why do you want to let this Xiongxian release the Tang Cavalry?" ”

"This place is only one hundred and twenty miles away from Xu Kai's department, if Xu Kai goes north with cavalry, I'm afraid he can arrive at noon."

"I'm just waiting for their reinforcements to come!" Zhu Di wants to encircle the point to help, but it is not an absolute point to help.

He wanted to use Xiongxian to attract the southern army, and at this time and this distance, the only cavalry in the southern army who could come to the rescue of Xiongxian in time was 200,000.

Zhu Di had already obtained information from Yao Guangxiao, although Geng Bingwen had an army of 200,000, the vast majority of them were foot soldiers, only Xu Kai, Yang Song, Pan Zhong and other three cavalry, the total number did not exceed 15,000.

It is impossible for these fifteen thousand people to appear at the same time, so as long as you start in advance, you can take the opportunity to annihilate one of them.

As long as he can wipe out all the fifteen thousand cavalry, Geng Bingwen will become a lame man with a cripple leg, and he will be able to deal with him more calmly at that time.

Thinking of this, Zhu Di squinted his eyes and clenched the reins of his horse with both hands.

Time passed little by little, and the wind of the Mid-Autumn Festival was chilling, but for the several Tang Riders who went south to deliver the message, it seemed as if there were evil ghosts chasing behind them.

I don't know how long it took, but after a continuous change of horses, the messenger managed to see the light of the fire ahead.

"Who?!"

"We are the soldiers of the commander of Xiongxian He, and we have come to expedite the message, and the Yan army is besieging the city with tens of thousands, and we are here to ask for help!"

Tang rode in front of the sentry rider that suddenly appeared in front of him and reported his news.

The more than 100 Tang cavalry who appeared looked at each other when they heard this, and finally the 100 household officials who led the team ordered the two Tang cavalry to pass the news to the rear.

"How many of the Mozhou defenders can support?"

The hurried Tang cavalry asked the more than 100 cavalrymen in front of him, and their accents were strange, not like the Central Plains, but a bit like the Mongols and the Xifan.

"Mozhou?" The group of people smiled: "It's still twenty miles away from Mozhou, but you met just in time, our general was sent to Xiongxian by the Marquis of Changxing to garrison, and he is now on his way." ”

"Dare to ask your general what ...... is"

"Governor of Pingdu, Commander Yang, Commander Pan."

The two parties exchanged messages with each other, and at the same time asked, "How far is it from Xiongxian County, why didn't the Yan cavalry chase you?" ”

"If it is still twenty miles away from Mozhou, then it should be forty-three miles away from Xiongxian."

When the two parties were talking, a dull and dense sound of horses' hooves suddenly sounded in the direction of Mozhou.

In a short time, boundless firelight appeared on the south side and approached them.

"Where's the messenger?!"

Suddenly, a tall figure galloped from the south on a big eating horse, bypassed more than 100 pond riders, and came to the middle of the two sides.

"It's a good deal!"

The Songpan cavalry saw that the people who came were safe, and they all made a move on horseback, and the Xiongxian Tang Cavalry also learned the identity of Ping'an, and hurriedly said: "The mark is the Xiongxian Chuanxin Tang Cavalry." ”

"How many Yan troops are there, and how many cavalry, horse infantry, and foot soldiers are there?"

Ping'an asked for details, and the Tang cavalry also hurriedly responded: "Under the night, it is difficult to see clearly, but there should not be many cavalry, because they did not pursue the inferior people, but there are many foot soldiers, I'm afraid there are forty or fifty thousand people." ”

"Summons the whole army, hurry north!" Ping'an didn't wait for Natang to finish speaking, and then gave an order to the whole army.

Soon, the Nine Thousand Ponds from Zhending rode north, and time passed little by little.

The confrontation in Xiongxian lasted from early morning to dawn, and because the Yan army was prepared to rest well before coming to attack at night, the defenders of Xiongxian County looked very tired after a night of confrontation, and many soldiers were holding on to their spirits.

The long-term confrontation made them relaxed, thinking that Zhu Di might not attack the city, but what Zhu Di wanted was what they thought they were.

"Woo-woo-"

Suddenly, a dull horn sounded, and the Yan army, which had already prepared a large number of siege equipment, began to attack the city with all its troops, coming from all directions.

They didn't use the Lu bus, and only brought ordinary crashes and ladders.

Because the city walls of Xiongxian County are low and there is no moat, when the Yan army rushed up, the entire Xiongxian County was suddenly submerged in the 'ocean' of the Yan army.

The southern army defending the city tried to defeat the Yan army with bowl guns and Hongwu iron cannons, but their firearms were not many, and the rudimentary stone cannons and fire door guns only brought less than 100 casualties to the Yan army, and were steadily forced under the low earthen city by the Yan army.

The Confederate soldiers at the head of the city watched vigilantly the enemy's movements, guarding against their attacks.

The Yan army was in a neat formation, divided into several troops, and advanced towards the city step by step.

The car was pushed to the city gate, and the Yan soldiers pushed the body forward, and the thin city gate did not have the blessing of the jack gate, so it began to shake after several impacts, and the southern army of Yongdao began to frantically add oblique wood to the city gate to resist, but this was to no avail.

The oil was poured from above the tunnel and then ignited, and dozens of Yan soldiers were engulfed in flames, but they were quickly rescued, and the flames caused by the oil were quickly extinguished by the sand covering them with their own robes.

The burned people were carried down, but batch after batch of Yan troops had already rushed onto the city wall and fought with the southern army.

Between the short soldiers, the two sides fought inseparably, and the southern army was already tired, and after holding on for a long time, they began to retreat.

"Kill!!"

"Qingjun's side, Yasukuni is difficult!"

"Those who descend will not be killed!!"

The Yan army is not only attacking the city, but also attacking the heart, what they show at this moment is different from the Huaixi army of Lao Zhu's entangled interests, but simply fighting for Zhu Di personally.

Under such a fierce battle, the southern army was defeated and retreated, and was even forced to retreat off the road, the city gate tower was taken, and the oil could no longer pose a threat to the Yan army.

Zhu Di saw the opportunity and continued to let people crash into the city gate.

The waiting Yan soldiers quickly raised their spears and short soldiers, preparing to start attacking.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang at the city gate, and the crash car successfully smashed the door open, and the soldiers of the Yan Army who could not rush onto the road also rushed into the city one after another, forcing the soldiers of the Southern Army into a desperate situation.

The soldiers of the Southern army were in disarray, constantly shouting and shouting, but they were no longer able to resist the enemy's attack.

The entire Xiongxian County was already full of death and war, and the people hiding in the city were curled up on the couches in fear, hoping that the former King of Yan would not attack them.

Time passed little by little, and when the shouting of killing became quieter and quieter, or even almost non-existent, Qiu Fu, who was in charge of the main attack, galloped out of the city gate with two heads.

He came to the front of the battle and threw the two heads on the ground.

"Your Highness, the commander He Cheng and the commander Xiao Quanbu died in battle, this is their head, Xiongxian has been taken, there are about 2,000 surrendered troops, and there are about 8,000 mules and horses in the city."

Qiu Fu made a bow, and Zhang Yu and the others behind Zhu Di showed a smug smile, and they successfully captured the city.

"Surrender the troops and bring them to the rear for training, and send 2,000 people to move the seriously wounded soldiers, the people of Xiongxian County, and the grain to Beiping."

Zhu Di did not relax like other generals, because he knew very well that taking a small Xiongxian was just the beginning, and now he had to face the southern army that might attack in the south, and for this, he had to prepare in advance.

"Tan Yuan!"

After calculating the time, Zhu Di spoke to a thousand households behind him, and a thirty-year-old thousand households immediately stepped forward when they heard the voice, and at the same time made a move.

"You take a thousand people to lead mules and horses to the Yueyang Bridge in the south, and after the southern cavalry crosses the bridge, occupy the Yueyang Bridge, don't let them retreat from the Yueyang Bridge!"

"If our army has a cannon sound, you will immediately lead your troops to attack the rear of the Southern Army from the Yueyang Bridge."

"The last general commands!"

Under Zhu Di's gaze, Tan Yuan led a thousand foot soldiers to the Yueyang Bridge in the south.

In this regard, Zhang Yu also asked curiously: "Your Highness, there are seven or eight bridges from Mozhou to the north of Shangxiong County, why do you think that the southern army will come to Yueyang Bridge?" ”

"I don't know, maybe it's a feeling."

On the battlefield, Zhu Di had an intuition, he could clearly deduce that the southern army would go north from the Yueyang Bridge, and even if he didn't, he could force the southern army to the Yueyang Bridge.

"The whole army rests and waits for the cavalry of the Southern Army to cross the bridge!"

Zhu Di turned over and dismounted and sat on the ground, seeing that he had no fight, everyone followed his example and sat down, recovering the physical strength consumed by the fight just now.

The sky began to brighten slowly, and the distance of nine miles was not too far for Tan Yuan, who had obtained the mule and horse.

In addition to the fact that it took him two quarters of an hour to lead the mules and horses out of the city, it took him only two quarters of an hour to reach the Yueyang Bridge, which was nine miles away.

He brought 1,200 men with him, and after a thousand men dismounted, he surveyed the surroundings of the Yueyang Bridge.

Beiping is sparsely populated, and even the trees are pitiful, even around the river, there are few groups of trees to be seen, which cannot hide the traces of their 1,000 people.

"Qianhu, there is no place to set up an ambush here."

A hundred-household official rode a horse forward to speak, but Tan Yuan looked around, and then seemed to have found something, dismounted and walked to the river, breaking a bunch of grass.

He took the grass in his mouth, and when he found that he could breathe normally, he said to the people behind him, "A thousand men dismounted, and two hundred led all the mules and horses away, and swept away their tails." ”

He shook the grass in his hand: "Let's use this to set up an ambush!" ”

After that, he took a thousand people who got off the horse to break off a lot of grass on the shore, and carefully hid under the Yueyang Bridge.

Time passed little by little, and when the sound of horses' hooves faintly sounded in the south, Tan Yuan took the lead and walked down the cold and biting river, turning around with a calm face:

"It's a man, just stay in the water with me for a quarter of an hour!"

Although his words were discussed, the tone was not.

Under his leadership, a thousand Yan soldiers dressed in armor and walked into the water with long straws.

In the middle of the year, the flowing river in the north is already very biting, and everyone is patient.

They breathe with the grass and submerge themselves in the water.

Gradually, the sound of horses' hooves became more and more, and even if they were in the water, they could hear the sound of horses' hooves on the Yueyang Bridge.

The speed at which they crossed the bridge was very slow, and because the sky was not completely clear, the Yan army in the water was not discovered.

A quarter of an hour, two quarters of an hour......

They stayed in the water for longer than Tan Yuan said, so long that many people were numb, and even wanted to surface in pain, but they were held down by the people around them.

In the end, when the cavalry of the Southern Army completely passed through the Yueyang Bridge and gradually moved away, a pair of Tieqing's faces slowly surfaced in the water.

They should be glad it wasn't winter, or none of them would have survived a quarter of an hour.

But Rao was like this, and many of the soldiers also had frostbite on their bodies.

Tan Yuan was also one of them, but he didn't have time to wait for the soldiers to warm up by the river.

He led people from the river beach to the flat land, and finally formed a formation at the Yueyang Bridge, occupying the Yueyang Bridge, the closest bridge on the retreat of the Southern Army.

Ping'an, Yang Song, Pan Zhong and the others had already walked away, and Tan Yuan and the others could no longer hear the sound of horses' hooves.

However, they didn't hear it, but the Yan army in Kexiong County did.

"Woo-woo-"

Zhu Di personally led 5,000 cavalry in front of the formation, and did not put the cavalry on the left and right, but let the foot soldiers under his command hold spears on the left and right.

Such a formation undoubtedly violated the taboo of the soldiers, but he did not change the formation, but led the army to march to the south on foot.

The cooperation of the Yan army was very high, even if more than 30,000 troops marched in formation, the formation was not disordered at all, unlike the Bohai Navy during the Battle of Tieling, which only formed a formation to pursue dozens of steps and then dispersed in formation.

This kind of cooperation is the cooperation that Zhu Di has led the troops to practice all year round, as long as it is any soldier in Daning, Beiping, and Liaodong, even if it is a surrendered soldier who has just been captured, he can quickly join it.

Gradually, the sound of horses' hooves in the south became louder and louder, and the banner of the word 'Xi' began to appear on the horizon, followed by a large number of cavalry.

"Phew!"

Ping'an, who had been leading the army to rush to the front army, found that the Yan army had formed a formation and headed south, so he knew that Zhu Di expected that they would come to help.

He glanced at Xiongxian, but the distance was too far to see whose flag was hoisted.

"I'm afraid Xiongxian will be difficult to defend, are we going to retreat?"

Pan Zhongce immediately stepped forward to ask for safety, and Yang Song on the side also followed the horse, looked at the formation of the Yan army, pointed to the five thousand cavalry located in the middle army, and said: "The cavalry is placed in the middle army, this should not have time to change the formation, we are now covering the army to rush and kill, as long as we are not trapped by the Yan rebel foot soldiers, we can defeat the Chinese army and capture the Yan Shu people alive!" ”

Ping'an's doubts were dispelled by Yang Song, he was already brave and strong, plus his cavalry was close to one-third of the Yan army, and there was no brave general in the Yan army that he could look at, so he naturally wanted to capture Zhu Di in a battle to make his reputation.

"Command the whole army, launch a charge after a word, and follow my Daxu closely!"

"The last general commands!"

Yang Song and Pan Zhong responded and ordered the cavalry to begin to transmit orders throughout the army.

Time passed little by little, and when the Yan army was only less than three hundred steps away from the southern army, the south suddenly sounded like a trumpet like fried beans.

"The time has come!"

The moment Zhu Di heard the cannon, he shook the reins of his horse, took a few steps out of the team, and then turned his horse's head and looked back at the five thousand cavalry he had accumulated in the past few years: "Brothers, with my Daxu, the cavalry will charge after a word!" ”

"The last general commands!"

Qiu Fu and Zhu Neng led the generals to make a move, while Zhang Yu had already gone to the left flank early to control the foot soldiers, preparing to cut off the direction of Ping'an and the others' eastward escape.

"What's the sound in the south?"

"Ambushed!"

Yang Song was undecided, but Ping An had a gloomy face.

He fought side by side with Zhu Di many times, and naturally knew that Zhu Di often used cannons as a signal to deal with the Mongols.

Obviously, Zhu Di will do the same this time.

Ping'an set his eyes to the east, and sure enough, Zhang Yu led the 10,000 five-step soldiers to detour to the east in a large area.

It's just that in this way, there are less than 20,000 people left guarding Zhu Di's side, of which 5,000 are cavalry.

"Blow the trumpet, charge!"

"Woo-woo-"

The melodious horn sounded, and Ping An led the army to attack the five thousand cavalry of Zhu Di's own formation, and he was still praying in his heart that Zhu Di would not be timid to retreat into the infantry formation because of his existence.

"Blow the trumpet! Charge! ”

"Woo-woo-"

Almost front and rear, Zhu Di also led the 5,000 cavalry team to charge safely.

Five thousand iron cavalry left the town, and Zhang Xin, who commanded the right wing of the Yan army, also began to order the human corps to connect with Zhang Yu's department to reduce the space for cavalry on both sides to fight.

For a time, the Yan army's foot soldiers were like bowls and deducted the southern cavalry in the south.

It's just that on the battlefield, Ping An saw that Zhu Di actually dared to charge with him with the cavalry, and his heart was even more excited.

"hoe and kill the thief, exterminate Yan Rebellion!!"

"Qingjun's side, Yasukuni is difficult!!"

For a time, the slogans of the two sides collided in the south of Xiongxian County, where the sky was bright.

The ground on the battlefield had been trampled to a sparse surface, revealing a brown color.

Tension enveloped the entire battlefield, with only the deafening sound of horses' hooves and fierce battle cries intertwining across the battlefield.

In this smell of smoke and blood, the iron horses of the two sides rushed towards each other in a majestic manner, bringing up a cloud of dust.

The Songpan cavalry under the command of Ping'an did not engage with the Yan cavalry in a short battle, but relied on the fast horse and strong bow, and faced the Yan cavalry several times with cavalry.

The two sides fought back and forth on this battlefield less than five miles wide, and although Ping'an, who was known for his bravery, wanted to capture Zhu Di alive, he was afraid of Zhu Gaoxu, so he tried to determine whether Zhu Gaochu appeared in the formation during the continuous exchange.

After all, in the news from the imperial court half a month ago, Zhu Gaoxu had already led his troops to take down the Qiantun guard of Guangning, and it was only separated from the Yan army by a mountain pass.

If the Shanhai Pass is broken in these days, then Zhu Gaoxu is very likely to appear in the Yan army, and even bring more cavalry.

"Why don't you attack the formation?"

Ping'an's actions of leading the team to mount and shoot at the enemy several times quickly aroused the dissatisfaction of Yang Song and Pan Zhong.

They didn't know what Ping'an was afraid of, and Ping'an was embarrassed to say that he was afraid of Zhu Gaoxu when he heard this, so he said with an expression: "I'm testing whether Yan Wei still has ambush soldiers." ”

"At the moment, it seems that Yan Shun has no ambushes except for the ambush on the Yueyang Bridge, and now he can impact Yan Shun and capture Yan Shu alive!"

After that, Ping An conveyed the order, and after the next cavalry shooting, the whole army prepared to fight against each other.

His military order, which was conveyed in place after a cavalry encounter.

In a quarter of an hour, in the four cavalry and archery encounters, the Yan cavalry failed to get the benefits from the Hanmeng Songpan cavalry under the command of Ping'an, and their morale gradually declined.

Ping An seized this opportunity and changed to a horse lance after riding and shooting, and the rest of the people also changed to long soldiers.

This scene was seen by Zhu Di, who had been flying kites for a long time, and he immediately ordered the whole army to fire cannons.

"Bang!"

"Bang bang bang-"

After he sounded the horn cannon for the first time, the Yan cavalry and Zhang Yu and Zhang Xin's troops on both sides sounded the horn cannon one after another, and the horn cannon sounded more densely and loudly than before, which made Tan Yuan, who was ambushed at the Yueyang Bridge, clear.

"Zhang Kui, you take a hundred people to garrison the Yueyang Bridge, and I will take nine hundred foot soldiers to rush to the aid of His Highness!"

"The last general commands!"

At the Yueyang Bridge, Tan Yuan, who got the news, no longer hesitated, and began to lead nine hundred foot soldiers with spears in their hands, who had already warmed their bodies, and began to move north.

Due to the continuous oppression of Zhang Yu, Zhu Di and Zhang Xin's corps, the frontal battlefield was less than two miles away from Tan Yuan at this time.

"Kill!!"

After a sudden encounter, the cavalry of the Southern Army was replaced by a long soldier, and they did not shoot the arrows and leave as before, but rushed into the slightly relaxed Yan cavalry with the long soldier.

The cavalry of the southern army stabbed their guns at each other, and the two sides collided together, at first the cavalry of the Yan army was caught off guard, but as time passed, they gradually adapted and began to meet the onslaught of the southern army.

The two teams rushed to the middle, and the cavalry of both sides interspersed with each other, as if dancing a dance of great speed and power on the battlefield.

The light of the sword flies, the spearhead flashes, and the horses gallop with an astonishing momentum......

The cavalry of the Southern Army, with their agility and firm fighting spirit, repeatedly made the Yan army's charge come to naught.

Thanks to the excellent fighting skills and superior equipment of the Southern cavalry, they had succeeded in turning the tide and tilting the scales of victory to their side.

After the confrontation, he turned the horse's head again and clashed repeatedly, and Ping An in the formation was also looking for Zhu Di's figure.

After two confrontations, he finally determined Zhu Di's position.

"Follow my Daxu, I'll take you to capture Yanshu alive!"

"Roar!!"

The battle cry sounded, and the cavalry of the Southern Army took the lead in launching a charge, but in the face of their charge, Zhu Di also clenched the sword in his hand and gritted his teeth.

"The sons and daughters of Beiping, kill with me!!"

Under the escort of Qiu Fu, Zhu Neng, Huo Zhen, Ma He, Wang Yan and others, Zhu Di also led only half of Ping'an's cavalry and launched a charge against Ping'an.

"Kill!!"

Half past eleven on the second watch

(End of chapter)