The white porridge and pickled mustard is enough, why am I wearing a royal robe?

Chapter 130 Where did these extra crossbowmen come from?
After Ren Zhuohuo retired from the registration office, he took people around to promote the ideas and name of the Stove King. Liu Zhenhua would occasionally come here to show his sage.

Therefore, the nearby villagers are no strangers to the Kitchen King. Most of them went to Yanchuan County to defect to the Kitchen King. However, because they did not recruit militiamen, they returned to their respective villages. They brought the sweet potato seedlings back with them. There are these people.

At present, Liu Zhenhua's recruitment of Xiangyong here can be said to be a response to a hundred calls.

After the sweet potato seedlings are planted, they don’t need to be taken care of. Even if they need to sprinkle water occasionally, the old ladies at home can go there. If they don’t do anything at home, they just sit there and eat nothing. They might as well go with the Stove King, who not only distributes food, but also if they are lucky, Heavenly soldiers don’t have to worry about it for the rest of their lives.

After some work, people from all over the country came after hearing the news. In the end, Liu Zhenhua only wanted 500 people, because there were still many defenders in Yanchuan.

By then, the three parties' troops would gather on a battlefield, and Liu Zhenhua's troops would be able to exceed eight thousand in an instant. At this time, Liu Zhenhua did not know that Yang Lichao and others had recruited a group of local warriors in Yanchang.

When the three parties' troops gathered together, Liu Zhenhua's troops would probably be as many as Li Yunlong's when he attacked Ping'an County.

Liu Zhenhua conjured some steel rods for the common people holding hoes and hatchets. This divine hand made the people exclaim again. He asked the people to choose whether to use steel bars or agricultural tools according to their own circumstances.

Wubai Xiangyong has not been trained, but there is no time for that at this time.

Another fast horse came and informed Liu Zhenhua that the other party had begun to bypass Yancheng. Knowing that the time was right, Liu Zhenhua immediately gathered his troops from Yanshui and rushed towards Yanchuan County.

The heavenly soldiers were divided into two parts. One part followed Liu Zhenhua, and the other part stayed in Yanchang.

The team turned back and headed straight for Yanchuan.

On the wall of Yanchuan County, militia captain Zhang Tian and Ren Mingjiu, who was responsible for recruiting new recruits, were sitting in the city. They looked at Wu Yangyang's figure in the distance.

Every 20 meters on the city wall, there is a dusty and inconspicuous quilt wrapped in it. There is no open flame within ten meters of it.

This thing is an enemy of ten thousand people. The Stove King's sky fire is in it. When the enemy approaches, he will throw it directly towards the city. In an instant, it will ignite a raging fire and burn everything.

This was also the reason why they dared to defend the city with just a few new soldiers without losing their confidence.

"The enemy is coming."

Zhang Tian stared at the enemy in the distance, his hands trembling slightly. This was his first time to direct a battle as the top commander of a city. You must know that he was just a militia captain before, although the people under his command may be The most, but the status is not high. It would be a lie to say that I am not nervous.

"Didn't the Kitchen King say that there is a high probability that the opponent will not attack the city? We just have to be optimistic. If we attack the city, there will be 'ten thousand enemies' there, so there is no need to be afraid."

Ren Ming seemed to notice Zhang Tian's nervousness, and he offered words of comfort.

Zhang Tian said "Hmm" and swallowed, ready to issue orders at any time to let everyone defend the city wall.

However, just as Kitchen King expected, the enemy stopped far away from Yanchuan County.

At this time, only Du Wenhuan and Du Si Aimu were present in Yang He's department. As Yang He served as the governor of the three sides and Hong Chengchou participated in politics, there was no need to go deep into it and risk his own life.

They were waiting for news from the front line in Yan'an County.

Yang He was confident. After all, their own troops were more numerous than the enemy's, and their quality was greater than the enemy's. In terms of strategy, they had taken into account all the enemy's conspiracies and tricks, and there was no reason to lose.

Du Wenhuan coordinated the entire army. He placed the most elite troops - [-] armored soldiers and [-] archers in the west.

The enemy's plan was most likely to attack from all sides. The enemy thought they would attack Yanchuan County, but Du Wenhuan did the opposite. The enemy attacked Yanchuan from all sides, and Yanchuan's troops were bound to leave the city. Du Wenhuan placed all his elite troops on the west side. , when the battle started, the elite soldiers on the west side unexpectedly tore apart the opponent's defense line. Ganquan and Zichang's soldiers surrounded the opponent. When the opponent's formation was in chaos, they directly realized the counter-encirclement.

Try to eliminate the Kitchen King's vitality as much as possible, so that even if the Kitchen King shrinks into the city, his vitality will be severely damaged, and he cannot replenish his vitality, so it is only a matter of time before the Kitchen King is eliminated.

"Report to the commander-in-chief, the enemy of Yanchang has been dispatched!"

"Oh? How many people!"

Du Wenhuan asked, this is something he is more concerned about. According to his guess, the enemy's main force should be in the three directions of north, south and east. Although the west is not considered the main force, as an intercepting force, the number of soldiers in the west should be There are quite a few. According to Du Wenhuan's estimate, there are up to 3000 people on the other side.

"Quantity." The soldier seemed to be unable to believe the number of enemies he saw, "About five thousand."

"Oh, five thousand," Du Wenhuan nodded, then suddenly looked at the soldier, "Five thousand?"

"Commander, the five thousand is true."

Du Wenhuan and even Ai Mu next to him looked in disbelief. Five thousand soldiers were extending, didn't he mean that the Stove King only had 5000 soldiers in total?
Why are there 5000 people just by extending the area of ​​​​one county? Even if we include the county's local heroes, there should not be so many people.

Du Wenhuan was shocked and a little at a loss. There were 5000 people in the west alone. If we add the two thousand soldiers mobilized by the Stove King from Yanchuan and the defenders of Yanchuan itself, wouldn't this mean that the number of the opponent is eight More than a thousand, even if they mobilize Ganquan and Zichang's troops, they may only be equal to the opponent's number.

The numerical advantage is gone.

"Where is the person who reported the Kitchen King's troops earlier?" Du Wenhuan said through gritted teeth. That person lied about the military situation and misjudged the number of people. This was an extremely fatal thing.

"Report to the commander, that man is in Yan'an."

"Commander, now is not the time for accountability, we should still think about how to respond," Aimu advised.

Du Wenhuan paced back and forth, "There is no way to retreat at this time. Ganquan, Zichang's soldiers have received the news and are rushing here. There are two groups of troops, one from the south and one from the north. If we wait for the Chinese army to withdraw, there will definitely be a wave of troops. The army will be swallowed up by the soldiers and horses of the Kitchen King."

"Although the opponent's number exceeds our expectations, they are at most equal to ours. Although there is no numerical advantage, I am not at a disadvantage and can still fight."

Du Wenhuan said that fortunately Yang He took Hong Chengchou's suggestion and went to Ganquan Zichang to mobilize troops. Now the two sides are just on the same level.

"The opponent has [-] crossbows and we have [-] archers, but the opponent's armored troops are not as good as ours. I still have the advantage on the Western Front."

"Still following the established tactics, with the western front as the focus, and the other three fronts involving troops in their respective directions."

The flag soldiers passed the news, and the army immediately began to adjust its direction. Eight hundred armored soldiers - of course, light armor, a kind of cloth armor with relatively low iron content, which has a certain degree of defense against stabbing, slashing, and slashing. .

This is already relatively good equipment, second only to the soldiers of the capital camp and the frontier army. You must know that the Ming army may have the most so-called cotton armor at the moment - the main material is seven pounds of cotton, with a layer of cloth sewn on the outside. Similar to a jacket, there are no iron pieces inside, and there are usually nail bubbles on the outside.

Eight hundred armored soldiers are the forwards, and the remaining soldiers facing the west are soldiers and horses mobilized from various places. It can be said that the most elite part of Du Wenhuan's army is on the western front. It means that the soldiers on the western front are more powerful than Liu Zhenhua. The soldiers blocking the line are strong.

Soldiers from both camps are constantly approaching.

Yang Lichao's side has also reorganized its military strength, with six hundred crossbowmen in front. After firing a round, they can immediately switch to melee soldiers - of course not switching hubs, but removing the divine arm bow and holding a red tassel gun or a mo knife. Transform into infantry form.

The surrounding militiamen were supporting them, all armed with steel guns or captured knives and guns. Generally speaking, the equipment was not bad.However, the mental outlook of the two armies is completely different. The soldiers and militiamen on Yang Lichao's side are waiting for a war to promote them to heavenly soldiers, while the heavenly soldiers want to climb higher.

On the other hand, Du Wenhuan's soldiers only took money to do things, and the money they took was not much, so everyone was not active. To use a modern expression, they said, 'What are you doing with 3000 yuan a month?'

When these bandit-suppressing officers and soldiers encountered these rogue militiamen, they basically did not take action. Instead, they talked first, and after an agreement was reached, the bandits left some money, food and weapons, and the officers and soldiers stepped forward to pick up these 'trophies'. This was considered to be the end of the matter. Son.

Now let them fight the Kitchen King. The shadow of the city was still lingering in these people's minds that day. Now they have to deal with the Kitchen King's soldiers and horses. This shadow and the legend of the Kitchen King complement each other, making them timid before fighting.

Yang Lichao stood in the center of the team, looking around as if waiting for something.

A fast horse came kicking, it was one of Zhang Heizi's soldiers. The man turned over and jumped off the horse. Before he could stand still, he half-knelt in front of Yang Lichao, "The Stove King has arrived five miles east of Yanchuan!"

"kill!"

Yang Lichao didn't wait for the other party to finish speaking, shook the armor-piercing gun in his hand, and gave an order.

Du Wenhuan also received news from Zichang Ganquan, but the only thing that surprised him was that the other party had no soldiers and horses in the north and south directions, only things.

"That's all right. Send an order to have Ganquan's troops surround the enemy from the west and attack from the enemy's flank. Zichang's troops should surround the enemy from the east."

Before the two men got off their horses, they separated and headed north and south with the news about Du Wenhuan.

"kill!"

Du Wenhuan gave an order, and the army on the western front immediately moved forward with their guns drawn. The archers hiding behind the first row of armored soldiers immediately shot at an elevated angle after reaching the distance.

The arrows fired by hundreds of archers are not densely packed, but if left alone, they will definitely cause considerable damage.

"Wooden Shield Bearer!"

Liu Zhenhua has six hundred crossbowmen. How could he not know the deterrent power of long-range weapons? His wooden shield bearers have experienced many battles.

The shield-hands who were already prepared merged into one.

Dangdang.

The arrow hit the wooden shield and made a clanging sound.

The wooden shieldmen withdrew immediately after resisting, because in the case of a confrontation between the two sides, the archers and crossbowmen could basically only fire for one round. The wooden shieldmen withdrew quickly without affecting the overall rhythm of the team. These militiamen were just After training for more than a week, it seemed a little scattered during the retreat, but it did not affect the overall situation.

"crossbowman!"

Staggered shooting can effectively avoid the confusion caused by blocking and shooting at the same time. After all, most of these militiamen are not veterans.

Six hundred crossbowmen immediately raised their divine arm crossbows.

This kind of crossbow arrow, which was brilliant in the Song Dynasty, has extremely high penetrating power.

Zheng!
As the trigger is pulled, the bowstring makes a clanging sound.

Six hundred crossbow arrows shot into the sky, beginning to look densely packed.

Du Wenhuan, who was sitting in the center of the army, looked at the densely packed bows and arrows in the sky in amazement. The difference between the four hundred crossbowmen and the six hundred crossbowmen was not 01:30. The extra two hundred crossbows were very obvious.

"Where did he get the two hundred crossbows?"

Du Wenhuan murmured that one of the reasons why crossbows did not become popular on a large scale in ancient times was because the manufacturing of crossbows was cumbersome.

Now the Kitchen King had only been away for less than half a month. Where did he get these crossbows? Even if there were craftsmen in the city who were good at making crossbows, they couldn't make two hundred crossbows in this short time!

This is a crossbow, not a bow!

"Shield Soldier!"

The Ming army was also prepared. Their front row held a number of round shields - wooden shields covered with animal skins. When stacked in three rows, they seemed airtight. However, they obviously underestimated the power of the Divine Arm Crossbow at this distance. penetration.

The arrow passed through the round shield and sank into the arms of the soldiers.

Suddenly there were screams, and the shield soldiers all wailed and looked at the round shields in their hands. They had completely become shield soldiers, and the arrows nailed the shields to their arms.

If they were forced to pull it out, the barbs on the arrow would damage the wound even more, and the injury would be more serious. They would have no choice but to move back.

Before the battle, the Ming army lost some shield soldiers.

"rush!"

The crossbowmen achieved good results, and Kitchen King's men were even more excited. Following Yang Lichao's order, the caller passed the message, and the army immediately charged forward.

The crossbowmen dropped their crossbows, took out their weapons, red tassel spears or Mo Dao, and then howled and rushed forward.

"kill!"

Du Wenhuan gave the order, and he felt heavy in his heart. His troops had already fallen into a disadvantage in their first encounter. The number and lethality of the opponent's crossbowmen exceeded his imagination.

However, the battle situation is still undecided. He still has [-] armored soldiers, so he is at an advantage!
The Ming army rushed towards the Kitchen King's tribe, shouting to kill and building up their momentum.

They don't want to fight hard, but once a fight breaks out, they have no other choice but to fight hard.

The men and horses from both sides were approaching quickly. The Ming army soldiers looked at each other in astonishment. There were hundreds of swordsmen. Imagine someone rushing towards you with a sword more than two meters long. Moreover, these hundreds of people were all ten miles and twenty. He was a tall man and a strong man. When the two were added together, the intimidation was doubled.

These hundreds of sturdy men charged with Mo Dao. Although they were wearing armor, they didn't know if the armor on their bodies was really useful when facing these Mo Dao.

After going back and forth like this, their momentum weakened by three points.

The vanguards of both sides quickly fought together!
(End of this chapter)