Eighth year of Chongzhen

38 The Great War 2
The whole army rested for half a quarter of an hour after eating. Lu Xiangsheng left the tent neatly dressed, stepped onto Wumingji, took the long knife handed over by Wu Dading, held the long knife upside down in one hand, and held the rein in the other. Knocking on the horse's belly, Wu Mingji walked forward on broken steps.

In the open space in front of the camp, [-] soldiers of the Tianxiong Army lined up neatly, watching Lu Xiangsheng approaching slowly with high spirits, with love and admiration in their eyes.

For this commander who shared weal and woe with the soldiers, rushed forward every time he encountered an enemy, and led them in hundreds of battles without defeat, the Tianxiong Army admired him from top to bottom.

The news relayed by Yang Maogong made everyone extremely excited. From then on, he no longer had to worry about the future. Whether he was killed in battle or disabled, the imperial court would provide a huge amount of pensions to support his family.

That's 100 taels of silver. If you live frugally, it will be enough for a family of several people for several years.

What's more, there is Yongye Field, which is a field that can be passed on to children and grandchildren without paying taxes.

With these, even if I lose this life, it is worth it, and what I get in return is a better life for my family in the future.

There is also the Temple of Martyrs, where the dead can enter the temple to enjoy sacrifices, and the incense of the Ming Dynasty will continue to burn. What an honor this is!
Thinking of this, there seemed to be a fire burning in everyone's chest, and they wished they could rush into the camp of thieves immediately and tear the thieves to pieces.

Lu Xiangsheng reined in his horse, looked at the familiar or unfamiliar faces in front of him, felt their high morale, and was both proud and sad.

Many of the first group of people who followed him have passed away forever. After this battle, I don’t know how many people will leave him
.But Lu Xiangsheng didn't see a trace of fear in their eyes, but saw trust, respect and desire for victory.

Lu Xiangsheng didn't speak, just raised the long knife with one hand, and Yang Maogong, who was standing at the front of the camp, swung his fist upwards with one arm and roared loudly: "Wan Sheng!"

Immediately, thousands of people roared in unison: "Wan Sheng!" "Wan Sheng!" "Wan Sheng!"

Lu Xiangsheng turned his horse's head and left the camp first, followed by thousands of soldiers in a column of four.

Zu Kuan, who came out from another camp, said with disdain on his face: "These southerners know how to play tricks. If we really start a war, we won't be able to resist us charging!"

Li Chongjin looked at the neatly marching Tianxiong army column with a solemn expression, and said, "My lord, this team has a strong spirit. Commander Lu is leading good soldiers!"

Although Zu Kuan was disdainful, how could he not see that this is an elite teacher after he has been in battle for a long time.

It’s just that he has always been proud, thinking that only Guan Ning cavalry is the first-class elite in the world, no matter how powerful the infantry is, they cannot withstand the impact of large-scale cavalry, so he said impatiently: “It’s a mule or a horse, pull it out and have a look, You’ll find out when we’re on the battlefield!”

Li Chongjin didn't say a word anymore, he just sat on his horse and watched a row of heavenly heroes passing by with a solemn expression.

It was not until half an hour later that the Tianxiong army column passed by.When the last row of infantry of the Tianxiong Army almost disappeared from sight, Zu Kuan raised his hand, and the Liaodong cavalry, who had been waiting impatiently for a long time, lined up in three columns and urged their horses to slow down under the leadership of their respective generals. Slow down.

Zu Kuan and Li Chongjin waited for a while, then joined the Chinese army under the escort of their own soldiers and began to move forward.

Lu Xiangsheng did not march in the army, but rode at the front of the team, with Yang Maogong and Wu Dading at his side.

There was smoke and dust billowing on the road ahead, and a small group of Yebushuo ran back and forth, constantly sending the collected information.

The brigade marched for about half an hour, and there was no report from Yebubu, and it was only five miles away from the bandits. The bandits had already discovered the arrival of the army, and sent about a hundred cavalry to besiege Yebubu.

Lu Xiangsheng decisively ordered Ye Bushou to withdraw. The Tianxiong Army only had about a hundred cavalrymen, and Ye Bushou only had dozens of them.

After a while, I saw the dust flying in front of me, and the Ye Bu Shou sent out galloped back.Five hundred archers greeted them under the cover of the sword and shield soldiers, and the nearly one hundred bandits and cavalry who followed saw that this side had taken precautions, stopped the horses far away, and did not pursue any more.

A burly man in his thirties, wearing an iron helmet and cotton armor, rode his horse towards Lu Xiangsheng, with a saber in his hand, and the armor on his chest was also spattered with blood.

When he was about ten steps away from Lu Xiangsheng, the man reined in his horse, put the saber in his hand into the scabbard of his waist with a swish, and bowed his hands to Lu Xiangsheng and said: "Commander, the enemy in front is the bandit's subordinates. There are about a thousand cavalrymen. There are tens of thousands of infantry, the flag is Gao Ziqi, they should be the subordinates of the intruders, and they fought with the enemy just now, killing a total of five people, one of our team was slightly injured, and there was no serious problem after being wrapped!"

This Yebushuo general is Lu Xiangsheng's younger brother Lu Xiangtong, who has practiced martial arts since childhood and is extremely brave.

Lu Xiangsheng joined the army after forming the Tianxiong Army. Lu Xiangtong didn't want to stay in the Chinese army, saying that he was afraid that he would lose his courage after staying for a long time, so he tried his best to ask Lu Xiangsheng to lead troops on the front line, saying that he likes to fight the enemy face to face.

Lu Xiangsheng had nothing to do with him, so he had no choice but to let this younger brother, who was bold in personality, excellent in martial arts, and had no personality or appearance like a southerner, be the general manager at night.

Probably because of the similar genes in the blood of the Lu family, Lu Xiangtong and Lu Xiangsheng, like Lu Xiangsheng, always rushed to the front in every battle.Most of the time, I forget that my duty is to spy and collect information. Sometimes, when the killing is on the rise, one person dares to charge into battle.

Fortunately, he was injured several times but none of them were critically injured. Lu Xiangsheng was so angry that he hung him up and whipped him severely, telling him not to forget his duty.

After that, he restrained himself somewhat, but it was still difficult to change. He kept clamoring for Lu Xiangsheng to build a cavalry team of 2000 people, commanded by him, for surprise attacks and charge.

Lu Xiangsheng also knew the importance of the cavalry, but the imperial court often defaulted on the payment of the infantry, so where would the money come from to support a cavalry? A cavalry team of 2000 men costs about the same as [-] pawns, which is really powerless.

Under the command of Yang Maogong, a Chinese military officer, one thousand crossbowmen were divided into five rows to form a square formation, with a thousand saber shields on each side and two thousand spearmen behind. After the formation was completed, Lu Xiangsheng let his soldiers Send an order to the Liaodong cavalry that is dragging behind, don't move forward too early, wait for the military order before acting.

The cavalry of the thieves on the opposite side has retreated to the two sides.

Two miles away from the officers and soldiers, a large group of rogue infantry rushed forward in disorder.The thieves held a variety of weapons, some with knives and guns, some with hatchets, some with clubs, some with wooden boards as shields, some with rakes, and some with hoes.

The clothes on their bodies are even more varied, some are wearing padded jackets, some are wearing iron helmets and civilian clothes, and some are even wearing women's skirts that they snatched from nowhere.

Tens of thousands of people came shouting and clamoring to kill. About four or five thousand bandit soldiers in the front row were a little more orderly.

The formation of the bandits was similar to that of the officers and soldiers, with about a few hundred archers in front, spearmen, swordsmen and shields behind, and about [-] cavalry guarding the sides from a distance.

Lu Xiangsheng waved his hand, Yang Maogong waved his command flag, Tianxiong's phalanx marched in order to meet the bandits, Lu Xiangsheng led his own soldiers to the left side of the phalanx, and immediately watched.

Seeing that the number of officers and soldiers was small and the formation was very thin, the bandits suddenly became more confident and stepped up to meet them.

The two sides got closer and closer. When the distance was about [-] steps, a whistle sounded. Hundreds of bandit archers accelerated and ran for dozens of steps, stood still, and began to bend their bows and set arrows. The arrows were thrown towards the marching official army phalanx in disorder.

The bows used by bandits are not uniform. There are longbows, soft bows, and even horse bows. The arrows are also long and short. The distance of more than 100 steps, only some longbows can reach the range, but when they fall, the arrows are already weak. .

The front row of the Tianxiong Army just lowered their heads slightly, and the rim of the wide iron helmet bounced off the falling arrows. Only a few unlucky ones were shot in the shoulder, but they did not penetrate the cotton armor on their bodies.

The bandit archers on the opposite side shot several arrows in a row, but the killing effect was not obvious. Only dozens of Tianxiong soldiers were hit by arrows, and most of them missed the vital points.

Seeing that the officers and soldiers were less than a hundred paces away from him, the bandit archers panicked. After shooting the arrows in their hands, they turned around and ran into the team.

A sharp horn sounded, and the formation of the officers and soldiers stopped.

A soldier beside Lu Xiangsheng rode his horse and rushed to the rear. A thousand archers pointed their bows and arrows obliquely at the sky, and then another trumpet sounded, and amidst the buzzing sound of bowstrings, a thousand standard long arrows soared into the sky. , When it reached the sky above the bandit soldiers, the arrow turned around and stabbed down suddenly.

With the sound of miserable howls, hundreds of bandit soldiers in the front row were shot with arrows, some were shot in the neck, some were pierced on the top of the head, and some were deeply inserted into the shoulders.The thieves who were shot at the neck and top of the head were killed immediately, and the injured thieves couldn't bear the huge pain, and they screamed inhumanely.

At this time, the second wave of arrow rain from the officers and soldiers had come again, blood was splashing, and there was another bandit soldier to the end. In just a few breaths, each of the officers and soldiers shot three arrows, and most of the [-] sharp arrows Hitting the target, hundreds of bandit soldiers were killed on the spot, and more than a thousand bandit soldiers were injured by arrows.

The thieves in the front row were already terrified, and the deterrent of being killed or injured without a fight was too great.The thieves began to flee to the two sides and the back to avoid the blows of the bows and arrows, and the formation of the thieves, which was not neat at all, suddenly became chaotic.

At this time, Lu Xiangsheng was about two hundred steps behind the officer's side, and the sound of horseshoes from the brigade of cavalry had already been heard behind him. Lu Xiangsheng knocked on the horse's belly, and Wu Mingji rushed out, diagonally rushing towards the bandit soldiers in front of the officer's army. , The surrounding soldiers hurriedly followed.

Wu Mingji ran faster and faster, Lu Xiangsheng lowered his body, held the rein in one hand, and lifted the long knife upside down in the other. When he was about fifty steps away from the chaotic bandits, Lu Xiangsheng's legs clamped the horse's belly suddenly, Wu Ming Ji neighed and accelerated forward.

About ten steps away from the enemy line, Wu Mingji reached the fastest speed. Lu Xiangsheng let go of the reins, held a [-]-jin long knife horizontally in both hands, and rushed into the enemy line. The five- to six-hundred-jin war horse and the knight, at a speed of tens of kilometers per hour Running into the crowd, a bandit soldier standing in front of the horse didn't even make a sound, and his head was trampled to pieces.

The long knife in Lu Xiangsheng's hand didn't slash, he only needed to hold it tightly with both hands, and the heads of several bandit soldiers flew up wherever the blade passed, and the soldiers urged their horses to follow him closely to cover him wings.

The thieves in the front row screamed and fled in all directions, while a large group of thieves who didn't know the situation ahead were still rushing forward.

The thieves who fled backward were pushed forward involuntarily by the crowd. In panic, the thieves who fled backward raised their weapons and began to slay the accomplices blocking the way.

The bandit leader who was in charge of the command was killed in the arrow rain of the official army. The bandit soldiers have lost their command, and they are scurrying around like headless flies. .

With a huge roar, Zu Kuan's [-] horse team and Li Chongjin's nearly [-] horse team rushed up.

Zu Kuan and Li Chongjin had seen the situation on the field early on, and each of them led their elite soldiers to attack the bandit cavalry guarding the two wings a few hundred steps away.

The bandits and cavalry on that side were thrown into disarray by the fleeing infantry in the front row, and there were their own people blocking the way. Seeing the cavalry of the official army rushing, they couldn't raise their horse speed to hedge, even if they wanted to turn around and run away. is also blocked.

The thieves on the cavalry were heartbroken and brandished their weapons to kill the infantry around them, trying to fight their way out, but before it was too late, the official cavalry had already rushed up.

The distance of a few hundred steps was just when the speed of the horse reached the fastest, and the bandit cavalry just watched helplessly as the officers and soldiers came to kill them.

The last mirror image in the eyes of many bandit cavalry is a huge war horse leaping towards him, desperately waving his weapon to stop him, but a burst of pain came, and he either floated into the air or fell off the horse, full of unwillingness Fear entered the boundless darkness.

The long knife in Lu Xiangsheng's hand had killed dozens of thieves.

The armor on his body seemed to have been soaked in blood, the leg armor and skirt armor had several marks of chopping and ax cutting, and there were a few arrows stuck in the armor leaf of his upper body. The result is self-evident.

The speed of Wu Mingji under his crotch gradually began to drop, and he began to feel blocked in the charge.Just as he was about to urge the horse again, there was a rumbling sound of horseshoes, and the bandits on both sides of the front screamed miserably, and the pressure around them quickly eased.

Lu Xiangsheng rolled his eyes quickly. It turned out that the cavalry of the Liaodong official army charged forward. The momentum of the charge of thousands of horses was not comparable to that of his dozens of people. It is no exaggeration to describe it as destructive.

The officers and soldiers of the cavalry rushing to the front rode their horses into the bandits who were blocking the way, and the sabers swung lightly with the speed of the horses, and the broken limbs flew horizontally, causing the bandits to fall to the ground one after another. Slashing left and right, the bandits suffered heavy casualties.

In about a quarter of an hour, Zu Kuan and Li Chongjin had killed all the bandits' cavalry, and only a few bandits escaped in disorder.

There were ownerless war horses everywhere on the battlefield. Zu Kuan and Li Chongjin took advantage of the situation to turn their horses around and charged into the bandit infantry from both sides. After a while, they broke through the formation and merged with the officers and soldiers charging in the middle.

The mace in Zu Kuan's hand was covered with stumps and pieces of flesh, Li Chongjin was also covered in blood, and the long knife in his hand was still dripping with blood.

After the two teams converged, their respective lieutenants continued to lead the charge, and the two slowed down and slowly retreated from the brigade.

Lu Xiangsheng caught up at this time, and when he was about to continue riding his horse forward, Zu Kuan stretched out his hand to take Wu Mingji's reins, and said with a big smile: "Commander, let the sons do the rest, let's go up to them You still need to distract us, this time let them have a good time!
Ha ha!Today is really refreshing, our ancestors saw Wenchen go into battle for the first time, admiring admiration! "

Li Chongjin on the side also smiled and extended a thumbs up to Lu Xiangsheng, saying: "The commander-in-chief is so brave, I admire the commander-in-chief from the bottom of my heart!"

Lu Xiangsheng saw that there were bandit soldiers fleeing all over the mountains and plains, all of them had no fighting spirit. Knowing that the overall situation had been settled, Lu Xiangsheng was overjoyed, and said with a smile, "Guan Ning's iron cavalry has a well-deserved reputation, and the two generals have excellent soldiers! Today's battle , the two should be the first ones, after setting up the camp, I will report to the imperial court, and rewards will be given to the two and the meritorious officers in a few days!"

Zu Kuan grinned and said: "Haha! The first credit should go to the commander-in-chief. I and Lao Li followed the commander-in-chief and fought a smooth battle. It's enough that my sons and daughters are on the list of commander-in-chief's rewards!"

Lu Xiangsheng said solemnly: "If we rely on my infantry alone in today's battle, although I will not be defeated, but it will not be such a big victory. I will report it according to the facts. Whoever deserves it is whoever deserves it. Guan Ning's cavalry takes credit for it." headed by!"

At this time, the infantry of the officers and soldiers had arrived, and Lu Xiangsheng ordered to quickly clean up the battlefield, search for the wounded officers and soldiers, collect the remains of the officers and soldiers who died in battle, and collect the weapons and armor discarded by the bandits, focusing on horses.

Lu Xiangtong ran around happily with dozens of his men, gathering up the ownerless war horses in the wilderness.The rest of the officers and soldiers began to search the battlefield, and the officers and soldiers who were injured and fell to the ground were found out, their wounds were bandaged and carried away on stretchers, and the bodies of the brothers who died in battle were carried aside and placed neatly.

As long as the bandits are alive, they will make up for the knife, and the officers and soldiers have no time and no obligation to rescue the wounded bandits.The valuables of each bandit soldier were also searched out, and the screams of the bandit soldiers who had been stabbed were constantly heard on the battlefield before they died. Everyone, including Lu Xiangsheng, was used to such scenes. This is what happened.

Lu Xiangsheng came to the place where the bodies of the fallen officers and soldiers were placed. He lowered his head and silently stared at the fresh faces, his eyes moistened.

He knew everyone here, some were his personal soldiers, and some were ordinary soldiers of the Liaodong cavalry.Although he didn't know the names of many people, they would all call him Superintendent. Lu Xiangsheng took off his helmet and bowed deeply to the corpses of the fallen soldiers. Zu Kuan and Li Chongjin, who followed him, were surprised and hurriedly followed Take off your helmet and salute.

Lu Xiangsheng straightened up slowly, put his helmet on, turned to face the two, and said slowly: "There are veterans who have followed me since I recruited troops from the Daming Mansion, and there are also new recruits who came in, and most of them are from Liaodong." They are all good sons of their parents, and they are also good sons of my Daming!
It was their sacrifices that allowed more people to save their lives and their families. They originally wanted to make contributions with their officials, but they didn't expect to die here. Lu felt ashamed of his parents, wife and children! "

Having said this, Lu Xiangsheng's eyes were filled with tears.

Zu Kuan put on his helmet, rubbed his hands together, and persuaded him: "Commander, my ancestor is a rough man. He has fought on the battlefield for more than ten years, and he is used to life and death. When a soldier fights, he will die. Don't be too sad!"

Li Chongjin also persuaded a few words, and Lu Xiangsheng felt a little relieved.

At this time, the cavalry team that had chased the bandit soldiers had also returned, and the cavalrymen were all very excited. Many of them had bulging pockets in their waists, and it seemed that they had gained a lot.

Zu Kuan and Li Chongjin knew the virtues of their subordinates, so they probably got off their horses to search for the property of the bandits after they hunted them down.It doesn't matter how many enemies are killed, anyway, the rewards from the court are not as much as those who searched for bandits.

Here, the Tianxiong army had finished cleaning the battlefield, and the gold and silver items rummaged from the bandit soldiers had piled up into a hill, because the habit of the bandits was to run around, and all valuables were carried with them.

The Liaodong cavalry looked at so much property from a distance, and many people's eyes were red.How could these pawns have the chance to find so much property without rushing desperately in front of them?

After some generals got together to quarrel, Zu Qianjun, Zu Kuan's deputy, came to him and whispered in his ear for a while, Li Chongjin knew it in his heart, but he didn't intervene.

Zu Kuan frowned while listening. After Zu Qianjun finished speaking, he looked at him eagerly. After Zu Kuan glared at him and the other generals, he strode up to Lu Xiangsheng. After bowing his hands and saluting, he said embarrassedly: " Commander-in-Chief, the little ones found me just now and said that most of the bandits were killed by them, and they should have a share of the gold and silver seized. I can only report to the Commander-in-Chief with the cheek. Even if you tell me, the subordinates will never say anything, if those bastards dare to disobey, I will cut off their heads!"

Lu Xiangsheng had seen the situation there just now, so he was not surprised by Zu Kuan's words, he smiled and said: "What the soldiers said is not wrong, I have already said that the first victory in this battle should be the cavalry of Guan Ning The reason why the seized property is placed here is to distribute according to merit, three of these properties, seven for you, three for the Tianxiong Army, and two generals, what do you think?"

(End of this chapter)