prosperous age

Chapter 158 Chapter 157
The team of Qianhusuo of Jiujiang Weiyou Army is moving forward quickly.

"Da da da" there was a rush of horseshoes, and two horses with arrows stuck in their bodies ran past the queue, seeming to bring them bad news.

Wu Zhankui and Wei Meng who were behind saw two empty horses running back from a long distance, and their hearts skipped a beat, and then two knights came galloping.

While ordering the soldiers to stop the two horses, they urged the horses forward to meet the soldiers who came to deliver the letter.

"The Japanese pirates suddenly turned back to attack the rear army. Our army was unprepared, and the front army formation was broken."

The sound of the horse came first.

Wu Zhankui frowned, he didn't expect that the two hundred soldiers in front would collapse in just such a short time.

When he thought about it, seeing the Ming army chasing them, this group of Japanese pirates should be in a panic, and they would fight back, which was unexpected.

Before he could think too much, Wei Meng said to him: "Zhankui, I'm going to the front to regroup, so I can only shrink the formation to prevent the formation from being dispersed by the rear."

"it is good."

Wu Zhankui nodded in agreement, and Wei Meng immediately drove his horse forward.

Wei Guangde opened his mouth in the back, but no words came out, his father had already run away, followed closely by four soldiers behind him.

Here, not far to the left is Taihu Lake. When Wu Zhankui saw Wei Meng go up to form a team, he immediately ordered the [-] or so knights behind him to form a team and move to the right, intending to block the escape route of the Japanese pirates to the west.

Either you return to Yixing the same way, or you go down to Taihu Lake to play in the water.

At the same time, he greeted the gunners of the four wheelbarrows behind him, "Go up and mount the guns in front of the army formation."

Wei Guangde didn't have the time to think about those iron cannons at the moment, he just stared at his father's figure.

He rode forward, stopped for a moment when he passed by Wu Dong and Wei Wencai, and said something to them.

But obviously, both the cousin and the eldest brother resisted a little, and then they seemed to be scolded by the old man Wei.

then
Then they both turned their horses and retreated to the back, behind Wu Zhankui, standing with Wei Guangde and Zhang Hongfu.

Dad, I still don't want my nephew to be in danger in the front.

Not long after, a swarm of soldiers wearing mandarin ducks and battle jackets came running in front, all of them were from the two hundred households of the Qianhu Station of the rear army.

At the same time, someone in the front line began to shout in unison, "Run to both sides".

Wei Guangde had already noticed that all the gunmen in the front row were holding up their guns, the archers were behind them, and the spear and shield players were after that.

But their yelling didn't seem to have any effect, and the soldiers rushed towards them in a panic.

Perhaps, in their eyes, the only way to be safe is to rush into the queue.

"I don't know if the Japanese pirates have followed?"

Zhang Hongfu on the side suddenly whispered in Wei Guangde's ear.

Wei Guangde shook his head, did not answer, but stared forward with wide eyes.

"Archer ready."

In the distance, Wei Guangde's father's shout came to Wei Guangde's ears, he wanted to shoot these broken soldiers with random arrows.

However, what no one noticed was that Wei Guangde saw that his father had arrived next to Duan Da, bent down and whispered something in his ear.

Immediately there was another loud shout: "The gunner squats down and releases the arrow."

As soon as the words fell, more than 20 arrows flew out from the front of the formation, most of which flew out in a parabola. The purpose was naturally not to hurt people, but to intimidate these defeated soldiers and prevent them from impacting the formation.

just
Wei Guangde's eyes suddenly narrowed. He noticed that among the arrows flying out of the army formation, a sharp arrow flew out flat.
In an instant, Wei Guangde noticed several people in front of the rout, and one of them was dressed differently from the surrounding soldiers.

Well, the biggest difference is that the man's hair is in a disheveled bun, and he apparently lost his helmet in order to escape.

At this moment, the arrows shot by the archers of the right army had already flown over the crowd in front, and then there were bursts of howls from behind the crowd, and some soldiers of the Ming army were still shot by the arrows.

In Wei Guangde's eyes, what he could see was the man with the disheveled bun, who seemed to stop for a while while running, and then fell limply.

The soldiers beside him wanted to help him up and continue running, but they left him and ran for their lives in a blink of an eye.

Wei Guangde blinked rapidly in succession, relying on his memory to look for the archer who shot the arrow horizontally, but he couldn't remember where the arrow was shot.

After a burst of arrows, amidst the constant drumming and noise of the right army, the broken soldiers finally began to separate to the two sides and ran to the open space on both sides.

"Japanese pirates."

At this moment, Wei Guangde heard Zhang Hongfu screaming again.

Wei Guangde also saw at this time, behind the left and right soldiers, there were dozens of short and strong people.

"It's really short."

When Wei Guangde saw these people, his first impression was that the articles on the Internet of later generations did not talk nonsense, and that the Japanese were indeed very short.

The second feeling is a little flustered, I wiped it, I really ran into a Japanese pirate.

Before, before seeing the Japanese pirates, Wei Guangde could freely give advice on how to put down these Japanese pirates.

However, when the pirates appeared in front of him, Wei Guangde's body trembled involuntarily.

Zhang Hongfu, who was screaming just now, is in the same situation as Wei Guangde at the moment.

Perhaps it was Wu Dong and Wei Wencai who were still calm, just reining in the horse's reins and staring ahead.

However, the most depressing thing at this time may be the war horses under the crotch of the people, the reins are constantly shaking, making them unclear what the master on the back is going to do.

The distance between the two teams of soldiers was not too far. The Japanese pirates just charged and overwhelmed the two hundred teams of the Qianhu Station of the rear army, and then chased after them. It was just that they didn't kill many people, and arrows flew towards them. They all stopped, knowing that the rear team of the Ming army had arrived again.

After the fleeing Ming army separated from the left and right, the number of the Ming army behind them was still very small, that is, more than 200 to 300 people.

Such a team has just been crushed, and now the Japanese pirates naturally dismiss the new team.

To rush or not to rush?
This is the problem facing the pirate leader.

After crushing this Ming army team, what if there are still others?
They are also worried about being dragged down by the Ming army and then surrounded.

"The Ming army is not strong enough, we have already encountered them, we can only crush them, and they will not dare to chase us again."

"Yes, kill them, kill them directly, continue to go north, and we will be fine when we reach the edge of the Yangtze River."

After a few words of dialogue, the Japanese pirate team started again, thinking about the team of Qianhusuo, the right army, rushing forward.

"Bird gunners are ready, retreat to the back of the formation immediately after the fight."

Wei Meng continued to stand in front and give orders, and arranged for the blunderbuss players to retreat immediately after firing the blunderbuss.

The only ones who can really resist the Japanese pirates' charge are the sword and shield players, but at this moment the positions of the two teams are indeed reversed.

Before, Wei Meng was worried that changing formation would mess up the formation, so he didn't dare to adjust the formation at all.

After shooting the guns, the gunners retreated from both sides to the back of the formation, so that the gun shield and archers came up.

In fact, the main thing is that there are not many Japanese pirates bullying, only about fifty people, and it seems that when they attacked the troops of the Qianhu Office of the rear army, they did not cause any losses.

After shooting more than a hundred bird guns, it should be enough for the pirates to drink a pot.

That's what Wei Meng planned and did.

After seeing the Japanese pirates rushing up, he suddenly called out the squatting bird gunner.

Under his signal, the little flag officer pulled out his waist knife and slashed forward, shouting: "First row, shoot."

As the gunpowder smoke filled the front of the formation, after a burst of "bang bang bang" gunshots, the twelve gunmen in the front row immediately separated from the left and right and quickly stepped back from both sides to the rear of the formation to reload.

Immediately after the second row, the gunmen in the third row gradually fired the bird guns in their hands, regardless of whether they fired or not, and then trotted from both sides to the rear.

These days, the blunderbuss is a matchlock gun, and the rate of misfiring is not small. After more than a hundred shots of the blunderbuss are fired, there will always be a few dozen shots that fail to fire. This requires readjusting the position of the leading matchlock.

The smoke and dust blocked Wei Guangde's line of sight, and the situation of the Japanese pirates in front was a bit unclear, but Wei Meng who was in front could indeed vaguely see clearly, there were about 30 Japanese pirates down, and there were about [-] more.

Amidst the violent sound of bird guns, the charging Japanese pirates were also stunned.

The first Ming army, when they rushed up, those gunners were still reloading, and the army formation was easily broken through, but why is this Ming army a little different from the previous ones.

Nearly half of the manpower was lost at once, and the leader of the pirates also panicked.

Even if he escaped this time, he might not be able to escape being annexed by other pirate gangs.

The Japanese pirates just panicked for a while, and after a short time, they turned sharply and rushed towards the direction where the fleeing Ming army was running.

Only by mixing with those Ming troops, will this Ming army have scruples, but they are a bit far away from those Ming troops at this moment, and it will take a lot of time to catch up.

Fortunately, they also knew that the time required to reload the firearms was not short, and there was still a way to survive in the rush. If they fled back, they would only be bitten by the Ming army, and it would be difficult to turn over.

Wei Guangde and Zhang Hongfu were a little nervous when they found out that the Japanese pirates stopped charging and instead chased the Ming army running to the left.

decisive enough.

It's just that there are not many cavalry here now. Two teams of cavalry had been sent out to block the passage on the right. Unexpectedly, the Japanese pirates chose the left and rushed towards Taihu Lake.

There is no time to delay, Wu Zhankui and Wei Meng must make a decision as soon as possible, how to break this group of Japanese pirates.

Let them mix with the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, fearing that these soldiers would not dare to resist and kill the Japanese pirates.

If they don't rush towards the army formation, the four small general cannons erected in front will not be able to fire. The distance is a little farther, and the killing effect is limited.

It's too early to fire the gun.

This is what Wei Meng is thinking about at the moment, and he should hit closer.

"Someone needs to get in between the Japanese pirates and the rout soldiers to block them."

Wei Guangde's flashy thought was to stop the advance route of the Japanese pirates. The victory of the war was in front of him, but it was also the most dangerous.

Wei Meng only had time to call the two small cannons on the left to fire two cannons at the Japanese pirates. Obviously they failed to stop the Japanese pirates, and they chose to run around the Ming army formation.

At this time, if the army spread out to attack, neither Wei Meng nor Wu Zhankui would be sure to eliminate this group of Japanese pirates.

The Japanese pirates became ruthless, and the individual combat power was indeed quite strong, and few of them could resist.

In fact, at this time, almost all the officers could see it, but no one dared to move, and there was no military order, so He Bi asked for trouble and took on the responsibility.

"Hoohoo."

Wei Guangde felt that Zhang Hongfu beside him seemed to be breathing more violently now, and the hand holding the rein seemed to have not stopped from the beginning until now, and was shaking all the time.

At the moment when the blunderbuss rang, Wei Guangde was not as nervous as before, because the smoke blocked his sight and he couldn't see the pirates, he had calmed down and had the energy to think more.

At this moment, Zhang Hongfu who was beside him suddenly drew out his saber.

Wei Guangde yelled inwardly that it wasn't good, the kid wouldn't go crazy, "Cousin, what are you doing, put the knife away."

Wei Guangde shouted loudly to Zhang Hongfu.

But at this moment, Zhang Hongfu was no longer trembling like before, and stared at the Japanese pirates with a little red eyes.

Wu Dong and Wei Wencai on the side didn't know if they were influenced by Zhang Hongfu, but they also silently drew their sabers
"What are you going to do?" Hearing Wei Guangde's voice, Wu Zhankui looked back and saw that Zhang Hongfu, Wu Dong and Wei Wencai were all holding knives in their hands. In this environment, what are they going to do?
Just when Wu Zhankui yelled loudly, Zhang Hongfu had already pulled the reins, his waist and abdomen began to exert strength, his legs clamped the horse's belly, and urged the horse to move forward.

At the moment when Zhang Hongfu and Wei Guangde passed each other, Wei Guangde clearly felt that a real soldier was moving forward.

Before Wu Zhankui finished speaking, Zhang Hongfu took the lead. Wu Dong and Wei Wencai had already urged their horses forward one after another. Zhang Hongfu suddenly turned around and shouted to interrupt Wu Zhankui's words, "Soldiers, follow me."

After speaking, Zhang Hongfu has urged the horse to trot forward, and kept urging the horsepower to accelerate.

But Wei Guangde only felt that there were cavalry passing him behind him, following behind the three young generals in front, Wei Guangde even saw that someone had already lit the matchlock hanging on the horse.

Wei Guangde opened his mouth slightly, and he saw Wu Zhankui who was sideways opened his mouth but did not make a sound.

In front of Wei Guangde's eyes, only those red cloaks fluttered and swayed with the horse's running.

Wei Guangde was still thinking about whether Zhang Hongfu was eager for meritorious service or what, and why there was such a sudden change, when he heard his uncle's voice, "Beat the drums, charge."

Wei Guangde didn't notice until this time that more than a dozen soldiers behind Zhang Hongfu had already gone up, followed by the soldiers of his elder brother Wei Wencai and cousin Wu Dong.

Before the drum sounded, Wei Guangde also urged the horse forward. Two soldiers behind him followed closely on both sides of him.

The Japanese pirates seemed to be betting on the strength of the Ming army, so at this time, they frantically chased those defeated soldiers. Even two cannon shots did not affect them, and no one cared even if a few more fell.

At this time, as long as you catch up with the Ming army, you will be safe, if you want to survive.

but
With the sound of rumbling horseshoes coming from the side, a team of more than 20 cavalry suddenly appeared on the side of their advancing line, which was to attack their team obliquely.

Infantry vs. cavalry has a natural disadvantage.

The Japanese pirates had to slow down and start to gather together quickly. Facing the cavalry attack, is there any other good way besides gathering all the people together?
If they spread out, they would be chased and hacked by the cavalry.

Wei Guangde's equestrian skills have improved a lot in the past two years. Although he couldn't catch up with Zhang Hongfu and the others for a while, he managed to sneak into the guards without hesitating his horsepower.

"Shotgun, come with me."

Seeing that the Japanese pirates in front stopped their pursuit and gathered together, it is definitely impossible to continue to attack at this time.

Zhang Hongfu shouted decisively immediately, then turned the rein slightly to adjust the forward direction, intending to rush over not far from the Japanese pirates.

Obviously, this closest point is also the position where a long-range strike is launched against the assembled infantry formation.

The ranks of cavalry and Japanese pirates were approaching, and some of the guards in the cavalry ranks held up their guns on their horses, and some of them didn't have their guns, and they held bows and arrows in their hands.
(End of this chapter)