weaving

Chapter 123

There is a Tang River in the north of Dingzhou, and a stone bridge on the river, connecting the official roads on the north and south banks.

Beside the stone bridge on the south bank of the Tang River, nearly [-] Qing army captives were raising their bows and shooting arrows. When they saw the heavy armored shield soldiers of the Ming army on the stone bridge stepping on the stone bridge and advancing more than five feet away, bows and arrows shot one after another. The sound of "jingle ding dong dong" can be heard endlessly.

Most of these arrows were blocked by the shields, and some of them were shot on the heavy armor, and the damage to the sergeants was limited. The archers hiding behind the heavy armored shield soldiers also drew their bows and arrows at the same time, and shot at the Qing army on the opposite side. Riding, for a while, people on both sides were hit by arrows, especially on the Qing side, and several horses were hit by arrows and ran away.

"boom!"

There was a bang.

The two hundred or so light armored cavalry standing by on the official road more than a hundred steps north of the stone bridge, like sprinters who heard the starting gun, hurriedly urged their horses under their crotches, and rushed towards the stone bridge with all their strength.

They were in a single file. Under the urging of the knights, the horses rolled their hooves and galloped vigorously. The dust splashed up and floated in the air. Before the dust dissipated, the knights had already rushed to the stone bridge. , Go straight to the south bank of the Tang River.

The Qing army on the other side of the stone bridge was shooting at each other with the Ming army's archers. Although they were skilled at archery, because they didn't have a large shield to cover them, they shot at each other from above for a while, but the casualties were about the same.

At this time, they heard the explosion of firecrackers from the opposite side, followed by billowing smoke and rumbling hooves. They didn't want to fight any more. Several leading Qing army captives whistled several times and led the army to the south. retreat in the direction of Dingzhou city.

The imaginary resolute resistance did not appear. Nearly two hundred knights rode their horses and galloped across the bridge. They continued to speed up and rushed forward for more than a hundred steps. Then they reined in their horses to slow down and stopped slowly.

Although they had already stopped, the rumble of horseshoes trampling on the ground was even louder. Hu Dawei, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Town, led a brigade of cavalry under his command, and had already galloped across the stone bridge.

Those Qing soldiers did not run far, they also stopped more than 300 steps away, nearly [-] Qing soldiers scattered into a group, where they stood on their horses and watched Hu beat me and they crossed the bridge.

After Hu Dawei led his troops across the bridge, he did not take the initiative to attack, but quickly spread out into a fan-shaped cavalry formation to protect the bridgehead. More than a thousand cavalrymen under his command all rode their horses to line up here, facing the enemy three hundred paces away to the south. The Qing army captives looked at each other.

After a while, there was a stronger rumbling sound from the north bank of the Tang River again, as if thousands of war horses were galloping at the same time. Gradually, thick smoke could be seen billowing from the official road north of the stone bridge, flying into the air again.

In the distance, the captive cavalry of the Qing army who were looking at each other three hundred steps away from Hu Dawei, whistled for a while, and on their left and right sides, billows of smoke and dust rose, and nearly 500 captive cavalry each rode out. It is riding two horses, although there are only more than a thousand people, but when the horses are galloping, there are as many as thousands of horses.

Hu Dawei couldn't help being startled, and thought to himself: "If it wasn't for crossing the bridge, guarding the bridge head and holding back the soldiers, I'm afraid I'm in a scuffle with the Tartars at this time. I'm afraid I'm going to lose face."

At this time, Yang Guozhu led the front cavalry of the Chinese army and had already stepped onto the stone bridge. Hu Dawei roared angrily, "Kill, kill the Tartars..."

Under his leadership, more than a thousand elite cavalry from Shanxi Town rode their horses to rush towards the thousands of Qing troops on the opposite side. Hu Dawei deliberately suppressed the horse speed of the cavalry in the middle, so that the cavalry on both wings could form a wing that rolled forward. tip.

More than 100 steps behind them, Yang Guozhu took the lead, leading more than a thousand fine cavalry from Xuanzhen to launch a second fan-shaped cavalry formation, and launched a charge after the cavalry from Hu Dawei Shanxi Town.

The cavalry team of the Qing army on the opposite side gathered together, more than [-] people, but they did not confront Hu Dawei. They saw Hu Dawei leading the army to charge.

After whistling, they continued to ride southward one after another, keeping a distance of more than 300 steps from Hu Dawei's forward from the beginning to the end, and they could be seen jumping back and forth on horseback from a distance Changing the war horse under the crotch.

Hu Dawei led his army to chase southward for more than five miles, and he could vaguely see the dilapidated houses and shops that had been burned at the northern pass of Dingzhou City, where the captives turned and fled westward.

Hu Dawei, because the governor Lu Xiangsheng was in the military tent last night, he had already instructed: Don't enter rashly.

So, after chasing here, he beat his horse and stopped. The army was at the North Pass of Dingzhou City. It was divided into two, and the North Pass was the boundary. The two cavalry were divided into left and right formations.

…………

Huang Tingzhi, the magistrate of Dingzhou, and Jin Shitong, the commander of Teng Xiangwei, have been guarding the city wall of Dingzhou for the past few days. As the two people with the highest administrative and military positions in the local area, they must fulfill their duties.

Fortunately, Dingzhou City is quite tall and strong, and there is Commander Teng Xiangwei stationed in the city. Even so, they still have no confidence in whether they can stick to Dingzhou City.

They have been guarding the city wall in fear for the past few days, but they are helpless against the wanton looting of the Qing army in Dingzhou. They even have insufficient soldiers to guard the city. Hold on to the walls.

This morning, some subordinate soldiers came to report that the Qing army suspected that they had pulled out their camp and went elsewhere. They were skeptical and wanted to send people out of the city several times to visit them, and repeatedly raised rewards, but no one wanted to go.

Just now, they heard that there was a team of Ming army cavalry chasing thousands of Qing army cavalry towards Beiguan, so they hurried over to check the authenticity.

Standing on the city wall, looking from a distance, a red cloud rolled forward from the horizon, rolling up smoke and dust, and closely chasing a large group of Qing cavalry in front of them.

Although they still don't know the army commanded by that lord, it is definitely the Ming army. The two were ecstatic. They saw the red cloud getting closer and closer, driving the silvery white ahead, like a red sun melting snow. Advance in vain and retreat in vain.

Gradually, more than [-] soldiers of the Ming army galloping could be seen. Outside Dingzhou Beiguan, they were divided into two, and two armored generals galloped ahead.

Under the reflection of the morning glow, the iron armor on the two of them gleamed, like two golden armored gods, endowed with majesty.

On the city wall of Dingzhou, there were waves of cheers, one after another, continuous, no matter the soldiers, or the social soldiers and the people, they were all extremely jubilant. They jumped up and down on the city wall, and even hugged each other to celebrate the retreat of the Qing army.

Dingzhou Zhizhou Huang Tingzhi's eyes were filled with tears. He had been carrying his heart for several days, and he finally let it go at this moment. He leaned on the crenel with both hands, and felt that his body suddenly collapsed.

Jin Shitong, commander of Teng Xiangwei, hurriedly supported him, and said repeatedly: "My lord, Mr. Huang..."

He hastily called several soldiers beside him, moved a chair, gently supported Huang Tingzhi to sit down, and then said softly: "My lord, the reinforcements have arrived, and the captives have retreated. This is great joy..."

Huang Tingzhi was sitting on the chair, panting heavily. He had been holding his breath for the past few days, so he persisted until now. collapsed.

After a little relief, Huang Tingzhi stretched out his hand, weakly grasping the sleeve of Commander Teng Xiangwei Jin Shitong, and said to him in a weak voice: "Commander Jin, call the state... Gentlemen,... this officer... this The official wants to go out of the city to work...to work in the army..."

(End of this chapter)