stubborn thief

Chapter 178 Good rain knows the season

He Huchen was wearing an oil coat, standing on the ground six miles away from the battlefield and watching.

The rolling hills and ridges are all dyed, and the Huanglong Mountain soaked in the mist and rain has faded away from its roughness and is full of greenery.

This used to be a village with more than a dozen families, but now all the people have retreated, leaving behind ruins and ruins. The military tent of the Ningxia Commander-in-Chief is stationed here.

He Huchen should have been closer to the battlefield, but the sudden rain decided the course of the battle.

This is the most suitable place to camp, and it is difficult to find a slightly higher level ground from west to east.

Two hundred frontier soldiers from Ningxia are setting up tents one after another on the ground, and using spears and tents to build a canopy, and lighting a fire under it.

The water-soaked firewood burned and released huge smoke, which rose from the ground.

Soldiers who fought on the front line returned, this can be used to make clothes for them to bake, and the military tent can also protect them from wind and rain.

He Huchen is a veteran of the frontier army, even though he didn't think Li Laozheng could win, he still made two plans.

If the bandits retreat after the battle, the Ningxia soldiers will stop pursuing and return to the camp for repairs.

If you can't win in a short time, you have to fight and retreat, and return to the camp.

They did not expect that there would be rain in northern Shaanxi, where there has been severe drought for years, and they did not have enough rain gear.

Moreover, the terrain of the valley will cause water to accumulate on the roads, and the laxation of thousands of soldiers will also become a big problem. Soaking in the water will cause many people to get sick.

The focus of this battle has shifted from defeating the enemy to keeping warm to minimize attrition.

This kind of environment, this kind of temperature, even if you don't attack it, you will get wet, get sick and even freeze to death with Li Laozhen's logistics alone.

What is Li Laozhen's logistics?
Just no logistics.

Counting the time, it is almost time to send back the news of the victory.

There seemed to be a cannon shot in the valley.

He Huchen frowned. It was a full six miles away from the front line and it was still raining.

The sound of the gushing bead cannon should not have spread so far.

The horse soldiers passed through the rain curtain, stationed their horses under the ping, turned over and bowed down and shouted: "Marshal, the general god has sent a letter, the enemy army is not Li Laozhen, and the personnel and armor are complete. Three cannons won't fail!"

Can you shoot thirteen cannons?
The Pearl Cannon is indeed a small cannon, with less charge and light shells. It is stuffed with a big one weighing two ounces and twenty small ones. The barrel is short and the range is short.

The barrel of this thing cannot be made long, and if it is long, it will explode.

But small is also a cannon. It is no joke to shoot out twenty one or two bullets. Even a big animal like a horse cannot get up after being shot.

How can Li Laozhen's thief, He De, be able to bombard thirteen cannons.

He Huchen thought to himself: It's broken, didn't he beat Du Wenhuan?

Last year, when he read the Tang newspaper, guerrilla Lu Cheng and the general manager of Yanshuiguan had a fight, and he still thought they were two unbelievable fools.

This year it's my turn to be fools with Du Wenhuan?
But then I thought about it and put the idea behind me.

He knew Du Wenhuan, and Mr. Du couldn't fly.

Therefore, it is impossible for the Yulin Army to appear in Huanglong Mountain today.

The only one who will appear in Huanglong Mountain Road is Liu Chengzong, a giant bandit in northern Shaanxi.

He Huchen was not surprised when he heard the news, but also became happy.

Liu Shizi's army is called the Lion Camp, and it is the most capable of fighting among the bandits in northern Shaanxi. Whoever enters Yan'an Mansion will be beaten by him.

All the generals and officials on the three sides of Shaanxi knew about this, and He Huchen dared to enter the Yan'an Mansion, so he didn't intend to bypass this mountain.

Meeting him now made him feel more at ease.

He Huchen was very afraid of the Lion Camp.

But what he was afraid of was not Liu Chengzong, but the Shiwanshan Mountains and Plateaus in northern Shaanxi.

The Lion Camp hid in the dark, and when the Ningxia soldiers were lax, they made a surprise attack, and even the heavenly soldiers and generals couldn't stop it.

But He Huchen is not afraid of encountering each other on this mountain road.

They are all frontier soldiers, it is normal that it is difficult to win in a short time, just block him, anyway, he can't escape here, and when Du Wenhuan seals the mountain road from there, the world will be happy.

But it seems that the world is very lucky.

Half a moment later, another probing horse came galloping, it was the horse soldiers of the second line of defense four miles away.

This time, he didn't even know how to bow down and salute, and he reported loudly: "Marshal, the second line of defense was broken by the soldiers of the general of the gods! It will collapse immediately!"

"Crash, come crashing down?"

Before He Huchen could ask carefully, there was a chaotic scream in the distance.

First, two groups of dozens of cavalry came rushing from the direction of the second line of defense. The captains of the two teams rode together and seemed to be arguing while running.

A team leader led the horsemen to the ping, while the other group of horsemen continued to gallop westward to He Huchen, who didn't even look at the ping.

He Huchen said angrily, "What happened to them?"

The captain who led the troops to the Ping did not dare to speak, until He Huchen asked the second time, then raised his head and said: "Commander, the thief hid a thousand catties of artifacts in the formation, and even took advantage of the rain to make the artillery go over to the right wing, and both sides fired at the same time. The generals of the gods were defeated and retreated."

"You guys are not on the second line of defense, what are you doing running back?"

"The second line of defense couldn't hold back. The young commander didn't expect that the front line would collapse, so he hurriedly assembled the army, but was scattered by the general's defeat. The young commander asked me to protect the commander with two cavalry."

He Huchen was speechless for a moment.

There were so many questions that he didn't know whether to quarrel with his son first, ask about the military situation first, or ask the horseman who ran away.

"Am I using protection in the back? What's going on with the horse team running away?"

The captain of the cavalry took a deep breath and said, "He said that the imperial court still owed last year's military salary, so it would be wrong to die here..."

"Fool, there are enemies in the back!"

He Huchen cursed fiercely, thinking that now is not the time to be angry, he quickly pointed to the east and said urgently: "How about the two lines of defense?"

"It's chaotic. The front army's rout breaks the formation and congests at the front. The bandit soldiers chase and kill with elites, and divide the troops to block the soldiers on the two wings on the mountain ridge."

He Huchen took a deep breath, and ordered his servants to send an order to summon the soldiers to support the second line of defense: "When they retreat, the pursuit of the thieves will be chaotic, and they can turn around!"

As soon as the order was issued, the captain of the cavalry said: "Let's go, commander, we can't go back, the bandits are all right."

He Huchen was stunned, and pursed his lips in a daze: "No mess?"

"No chaos, they chased and killed with elites, but the leader of the thief, the humble officer saw the leader of the thief, he was very young, rode a red-haired horse, galloped to the front of the formation and regrouped to stop the chaos, and then retreated with all his strength, that is The entire team of thieves is steadily pressing on."

"Soldiers of General God..." The captain of the horse soldier sighed, "I was scared out of my wits."

He Huchen watched the soldiers gather behind him, raised his finger to the captain of the cavalry and said, "Go back and send an order for He Jie and He Zan to retreat, and re-fortify here, and your cavalry will stand along the way to guide the rout."

Although the battle on the front line was not going well, He Huchen did not break his nerve, and he wanted to try again.

If there is no camp here, he can only lead his troops to retreat westward, but if he forms a team on the ping, he can allow the defeated army to retreat from the official road outside the ping to regroup, and his troops can calmly meet the enemy on the ping.

At least the possibility of being dispersed by the defeated army is very small.

But the collapse of the second line of defense was much faster than he imagined.

Half an hour.

It took only half an hour for Liu Chengzong to drive the officers and troops westward for five li after the red cannons swept down a piece of the army.

Liu Chengzong didn't even know that He Huchen had two lines of defense.

The line of defense was directly dispersed by the defeated army in front.

Liu Chengzong handed over the captives to Chengyun to take care of them, and sent people to inform Zhong Hu and Li Laozhen to march in the back, and reorganized the formation of the team, which was delayed for a while.

It was Wang Wenxiu who was chasing and killing the defeated army in front. When he ran to the second line of defense, Shen Guangxian's soldiers had already dispersed the line of defense. Only a few dozen people tried to resist, but they were just fighting and retreating.

The line of defense was reserved for the evacuation of the former army, and the official road was so narrow that it was smashed to pieces by the rout army, and it was impossible to organize effective resistance.

And Liu Chengzong, who led the army, buried his head and gathered the prisoners all the way, and couldn't see the line of defense at all.

After chasing for nearly five miles, Wang Wenxiu sent someone to report that they had captured a prisoner, and the prisoner said that He Huchen's second son, He Zan, was in the second line of defense.

Liu Chengzong clapped Dayue: "The second line of defense, what are you waiting for, go and break his second line of defense!"

"General, the second line of defense is behind."

Liu Chengzong was taken aback for a while, then looked back at the prisoners lined up and being escorted back, raised his hand and wiped his face: Where the hell is there a line of defense?

The defeated army rolling all over the ground was disarmed and escorted to walk backwards. There was no obstacle at all along the way. Is this the second line of defense?
Hurry up and let Zhong Bao take people to find the captives.

Wei Qian'er ran over and reported: "General, there is a flat one mile ahead to the north of the road. The official army camped on the flat for defense, and the official road gathered the defeated army."

Liu Chengzong reined in his horse and squinted his eyes to look forward. He could see the smoke rising in the rain in the distance, and asked quickly, "Set up camp and fortify, have you set up a stronghold?"

Wei Qian'er shook his head and said: "There is no stockade, it's just a small deserted village, with many military tents set up."

Wei Qian'er's words alone made Liu Chengzong shudder, and the thought of the military tent that sheltered him from the wind and rain warmed his heart a little.

He asked his servants to tell Wang Wenxiu the news, and he rode his horse forward to look for Cao Yao. The cannon whistle was on its way, and Liu Chengzong asked, "How many cannons are there?"

Cao Yao said: "There are still sixteen gates, what's wrong?"

He thought to himself, if it wasn't for Liu Chengzong's whole team, there would only be two or three teams left.

Seeing the defeat of the officers and soldiers, the Zhan Fu soldiers were all excited, Wu Yangyang ran forward, no one cared if the cannon was wet, just thought it was a win.

The whole team saw that twelve guns were wet.

There is also a big fool, with a gun in his eyes and a matchlock in his eyes, chasing the defeated army with a pearl cannon on his shoulder, and catching up with the cannon and firing a shot.

He was hit by a big somersault, and now he is lying on the donkey cart of the supply team.

Very comfortable.

"There is a flat in front, and the officers and soldiers set up a camp on the area." Liu Chengzong said: "The area is fortified, and the official road gathers the defeated army, and there is a fire in the army tent. It seems that the rain will not stop today, and it must be captured. Camp, let the officers and soldiers freeze."

Cao Yao asked, "What are you going to do? The artillery whistle will attack Pingshang?"

Cannon sentry mainly attacking the ground?

Liu Chengzong thought for a while, and felt that this might not be feasible, so he said: "No, sixteen guns, you form four teams, one team has four guns, and after a while, first check whether there are guns on the ground, and then pull two teams to fight against them. , if not, take three teams to attack Pingxia."

"Soldiers who have been routed are more likely to be defeated. If the soldiers below are defeated, the ones above will not be able to fight well."

It is no longer Wang Wenxiu who will chase the enemy at the front. The people at the rear are too tired, so they can only chase slowly behind.

At the front is Gao Yingdeng, one of Gao Xian's subordinates.

This is Yulin Qin Wangjun sent back by Yang Yanchang.

The main force of Gao Xian's troops were all on the mountain, only his team was behind the official road. When the two armies faced each other, they went up and fought for a while.

This kid was very shrewd, as soon as he heard the sound of the cannon, he knew that the enemy army was about to collapse.

Behind him was Chengyun's supply post. Except for six wounded soldiers, all 54 Zhanfu soldiers in his team rode on horses, and rushed to the front before Liu Chengzong's entire team.

Afterwards, they followed Wang Wenxiu in pursuit all the time, and when Wang Wenxiu's men lost their energy, they replaced him in the front and Wang Wenxiu retreated behind.

The one mile distance was so short that Gao Yingdeng's soldiers could see the officers and soldiers stationed on the ground in a blink of an eye. He hesitated for a moment, but only for a moment.

Then he gritted his teeth and led the team to charge towards the ping.

He didn't move for a while, but instead let the soldiers in the team stick a few arrows in their bodies, and then they drove around in a circle, recoiling the reorganized and defeated army on the official road.

This time, they moved as soon as they rushed, and the defeated army that had just been assembled by He Huchen immediately became confused again. He rushed into the formation and was blocked in the front of the mountain road.

The other places are pretty good, but Gao Yingdeng's team was trapped in the formation, and He Huchen led the army to kill them from the ground, surrounded and blocked them on the official road, unable to advance or retreat.

Fortunately, at this time Wang Wenxiu led more than [-] people to join the battle from behind He Huchen, which prevented them from surrendering directly.

When Liu Chengzong saw that there was a fight ahead, he also sent the brigade to hurry. When he went to the front line, he saw that the situation was different from what he had imagined, so he simply ordered Cao Yao: "First bomb the ground, occupy the camp and then attack them!"

The brothers of the Han family led their family members to draw bows and shoot from behind the enemy army, while Cao Yao led the artillerymen to fire four Yongzhu cannons in more than [-] steps each, and alternately bombarded the dirt road connecting Daping to the official road to prevent the reinforcements from the army.

Two cannon blasted out, repelling the Pingshang officers and soldiers, and Cao Yao led his blunderbussmen to rush forward along the road with their knives drawn.

They didn't have blunderbusses, only the various weapons they had just snatched from the captives.

Liu Chengzong also walked to Maping immediately, commanding the follow-up troops to shoot at the official army on Shangping.

Seeing that the flanks were occupied by the Lion Camp, the Ningxia army on the official road issued a military order, and immediately launched an extremely violent breakout to the west.

This was a pain for the cavalry soldiers who were deeply trapped in the enemy's formation. They fell off their horses one after another in the siege. The infantry formation was not completed in a hurry, and they were rushed by the officers and soldiers for a while.

The worst was Gao Yingdeng. After the line was breached, he was knocked to the ground with a single bone by some officer who ran over, and was trampled several times.

Then he was picked up by another officer, and they ran west together with them. It took a lot of effort to get rid of it, but the soldiers of Wang Wenxiu who were chasing after him thought it was an officer and pushed him down to the ground, shouting: " Capture a captive officer!"

Seeing that the officers and soldiers fled again, Liu Chengzong stood on the ground and shouted for the whole team, sent his servants to follow the defeated soldiers, and stopped them from continuing to pursue.

Until then, Liu Chengzong was finally relieved.

Looking back, there were tarpaulin tents lined up on the ground, and piles of bonfires lit under the canopy. Liu Chengzong looked up at the sky, let the raindrops fall from the sky and hit his face, and let out a hearty laugh.

More and more laughter came from the mouths of the artillerymen standing on the ground, from the mouths of clay spread on the ground, and from the mouths of all the lion camps that defeated the powerful enemy head-on.

The hearty laughter is like echoes, echoing in the rainy mountains and forests.

　good evening!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)