Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 96: A small test of integrity, the Shenji Camp shows its power
  On this day, the sky was still clear.

The entire camp is surrounded by a wooden city in a circle. Under the bright sunshine, the interlocking swords and guns in the camp are all with a sparkling luster, making people intimidated. The shadows of the wooden city's fire cannons sink to the ground, and they look like evil ghosts patrolling all around. It's very verbose and frightening.

And outside the camp.

According to his plan, Zhang Cheng also asked Tang He to lead his officers and soldiers to form a network with the wood and bamboo strips they brought as the longitude and latitude of the city gate opposite the Waliang, and then plaster it with mud to form a female wall.

The so-called female wall is a low wall.

Zhang Cheng ordered the female wall to be built just enough to reach the height of a person's chest.

at the same time.

Zhang Cheng also asked Zhu Wenzheng's Shenji Battalion to hide behind the female wall and prepare for battle at any time.

Mao Guang and Hua Yun's cavalry were placed outside the wall to patrol as sentinels, but in fact they were preparing to break into the city at any time.

Zhang Cheng's plan was to take advantage of the general contempt for firearms in the military of this era, and to pretend to be a pig to eat the tiger, without deliberately showing that he was particularly confident in his Shenji Battalion.

Therefore, he only placed the cavalry outside and the infantry inside the camp. He also built a parapet to give the impression that he was here to test the reality and prepare for the invasion of the city by the army behind him.

According to the information Zhang Cheng received from Yang Yuangao, there were three thousand troops in Waliang Base, including more than two thousand Yuan soldiers, and the rest were militia groups, that is, the landlords' armed forces. In this life, they were called the Tsing Yi Army.

Since Chuzhou was occupied by the rebels, the Yuan Dynasty began to systematically increase troops near Chuzhou. In order to surround Liuhe, it first captured Liuhe, and also increased its troops to 3,000 at Waliang Base.

although.

The strength of the defenders of Waliang Lei has increased, but Zhang Cheng still wants to try to defeat the defenders of Waliang Lei.

After all, guerrillas can't just roam without attacking. They have to attack and disturb places where enemy troops are stationed.

In fact, the Yuan Bing cavalry in Waliang Lei had already fought against Hua Yun's outpost. Both sides suffered casualties, and the casualty ratios were not much different, so they were in a draw.

This is because although the Yuanbing cavalry is more experienced in cavalry combat, the rebel cavalry is more daring to fight, especially under the leadership of Hua Yun, a fierce general who dares to take the lead.

On the afternoon when Zhang Cheng's rebel army arrived five miles away from Waliang Base.

Shi Tai, the minister who participated in the political affairs, did not dare to look down upon the rebel camp situation after seeing it in front of him. He couldn't help but sigh:

"This group of demon thieves set up camp so quickly. It seems they are no ordinary demon thieves!"

"The general also saw it."

"Although they looked like only about 700 people, when they were marching, two people carried a wooden fence. When it was time to set up camp, they landed and formed a camp."

"Obviously, we can no longer expect the cavalry to rush over and defeat it while its foothold is not stable."

Shitai's general Qian Zongqinglu also shared his views.

Shi Tai frowned slightly after hearing this: "Speaking of which, what happened to their cavalry? Why did the sentry cavalry you sent suffer a lot of casualties this time?"

"They must have been given some guidance by a general, so they have begun to learn how to fight on horseback. Although they are unfamiliar with it, their bravery has prevented our cavalry from taking advantage."

Qinglu said helplessly.

After hearing this, Shi Tai chuckled: "The demon thieves have bloody courage, isn't it rare that our officers and soldiers don't have it?! It's time to severely punish those people who are greedy for life and afraid of death!"

"That's what you said."

Qinglu replied angrily.

And Shi Tai then said to Qinglu: "We must find a way to inform the superiors that this group of demon thieves coming from the direction of Chuzhou is no longer ordinary thieves. They have set up their camps in a well-organized way and fought on horseback. They are obviously The opponent’s thief leader is a powerful person.”

"What you said is true, but they only sent 700 people to camp five miles outside the city. It would be a deliberate insult to our officers and soldiers' fear of death."

Qinglu said.

Shi Tai said: "There must be a large army behind, and this is used as bait!"

"We don't rule out this possibility, so what do you think we should do?"

Qinglu asked.

Shi Tai pondered for a moment and then said: "I see that this group of demon thieves has many guns and guns, and they have also dug trenches and built walls. It is obvious that their intention to defend is greater than their intention to fight. You can directly bring all the infantry in the city, and they are official infantry. Your pro-army horse army is supervising the battle team and trying to kill these 700 people in one go. Even if they are demon thieves who already know the rules, they should not be enough to rival our army!"

"Do you want to defeat these 700 thieves in one go first, and then boost the morale of our army and make the thieves more majestic? In this way, even if the demon thieves come back with a large army, they can retreat without a fight and prevent our Waliang fortress from falling into the enemy's hands?"

Qinglu asked.

"That's right!"

"We can't really let these demon thieves underestimate us and think that we don't even dare to go out of the city to fight in the field with their seven hundred demon thieves!"

Shi Tai spoke solemnly.

"You said so!"

"Don't miss this opportunity to kill thieves!"

"The last general is willing to lead the army to a quick battle and defeat the more than 700 thieves before the demon thieves arrive! Although this group of demon thieves has adopted the strategy of marching and setting up camps, looking at the layout of their camp, it is obvious that there are If you are timid about fighting, don’t worry about being defeated.”

Qinglu replied.

Shi Tai only sneered slightly: "Yes, we are not scared out of our wits by these seven hundred demon thieves."

The Yuan soldiers were indeed not frightened by the seven hundred rebels.

Even though the rebel army in front of him made the Yuan Ting guard at Waliang Lei aware of something extraordinary.

But you must know that in today's world, generally speaking, Yuan soldiers are still fighting against the rebels.

Therefore, Yuan soldiers generally still have the courage to go out of the city to fight in the field, and when they see the appearance of 700 rebels, their inner thoughts of making great achievements by suppressing bandits become more vivid.

After all, in the eyes of the generals of the Yuan soldiers, there were only more than 700 rebels in front of them, and nearly half of the rebels seemed to be fire fighters who could only play a role in defense. Therefore, let alone annihilation, defeat and then There is still great hope for retribution.

Qinglu was personally supervising more than 1,500 Yuan soldiers to line up out of the city.

The rebels are here.

After Zhang Cheng discovered that the Yuan soldiers had left the city, he smiled, and then hurriedly asked Tang He to withdraw the rebel officers who were still digging trenches and building parapets, and asked the entire army to do the final mobilization to further reduce the fear of war in the hearts of the officers and soldiers. heart.

"Remember our mission!"

"Shout after me."

"For yourself!"

"For the people!"

"For China!"

At this time.

Zhu Wenzheng personally shouted loudly to a group of gunmen from Shenji Camp, and these gunmen also shouted loudly.

The same is true for the infantry archers and cavalry troops. The mobilization regulations were learned by Zhang Cheng when he was training his troops during the march.

After the shouting, a group of humble soldiers sent by Zhang Cheng as military trainers began to go to various departments and said to these officers and soldiers:

"Brothers, please tell me what you most want to say to your family and to the children who will be your successors but have never met you in the future. I will write it into a letter and it will be sent to them by the Volunteer Army Office in the future."

These officers and soldiers were very moved after hearing this, and they all started talking one by one.

With the sound of drums, Hua Yun had to ride back in person to report the news that the Yuan soldiers had begun to advance. Zhang Cheng had to order in advance to put all the ministries into combat readiness, and the writing of family letters had to be temporarily stopped. .

Suddenly, the three hundred gunmen of the Shenji Battalion stood up and began to confront these Yuan soldiers across the wooden city, skinned chariots and female walls.

The Yuan soldiers and infantry were all full of momentum, each one marching in neat and fast footsteps, approaching the rebels step by step.

In addition, the drums are thunderous and very frightening.

On the rebel side, after Tang He withdrew his infantry archers, he followed Zhang Cheng's instructions and lined up behind the three hundred gunmen.

Zhang Cheng stood behind Tang He, surrounded by a group of strong soldiers from the Guards Department led by Qi Xiang.

although.

Zhang Cheng was now so nervous that his heart was in his throat, but he still pretended to be calm and told Tang He in front of him: "You are responsible for supervising the battle team. Anyone who dares to retreat will be shot!"

Tang He agreed, "Yes!"

But he was equally nervous because he was also worried that the divine machine campfire gunman in front would not be able to hold on.

Therefore, Tang He couldn't help but suggest: "Mr. Zhang, why not let us infantry archers go to the front and let the Shenji Battalion supervise us."

"no!"

"I believe in my Shenji Battalion!"

Zhang Cheng said.

Tang He couldn't speak anymore.

Zhu Wenzheng, the commander of the Shenji Battalion, and Xie Cheng, his fellow commander, looked at each other at this moment.

Because Zhang Cheng's trust in the Shenji Camp was his trust in both of them, which made them both feel more excited.

Zhu Wenzheng seemed to be a born warrior. At this time, he only looked sharply at the large number of Yuan army infantry in front of him, but he was not nervous. He even took the initiative to pat the trembling gunman in front of him. Team leader Geng Bingwen’s shoulders:

"Don't be afraid. Believe that our fire cannons will open their eyes. Every team is preparing their fire. Whoever's fire goes out will be killed on the spot!"

Geng Bingwen nodded stiffly. While he was glad that the fire he had carefully kept was not extinguished, he had no choice but to hold the blunderbuss in his hand tighter.

But he had to admit that there was too much sweat in his hands, so that the gun became looser and slippery the more he squeezed it, and he almost couldn't hold it. And he didn't dare to withdraw his hand, so he wiped his hand next to the cotton armor on his waist. He could only continue to look forward, looking at the cowhide chariots, the wooden city and the female wall, at the Yuan army infantry getting closer and closer to him.

At this time, he felt that he was getting closer and closer to the Yuan soldiers, so close that he could almost see their faces clearly.

On the Yuan soldiers' side, Qinglu's face turned gloomy. He had to admit that the rebel army in front of him was indeed an unusual rebel army. So much so that when he saw the government troops with obvious strength superiority on his side coming over the ground, there was no sign of chaos. !
  to this end.

Qinglu decisively gave the order for the archers to prepare for shooting.

In an instant, a large number of Yuanbing archers appeared in the front row of the Yuanbing array and drew their bows.

Qinglu also raised the corner of his mouth slightly at this time. He believed that these mature infantry archers, who had been trained for a long time, could make the opponent's rebels suffer.

Because these foot archers of his are all foot archers who can shoot continuously, that is to say, they can shoot multiple arrows in succession in a very short period of time, like a chain of arrows.

Therefore, Qinglu had already begun to carefully visually measure the distance between himself and the rebel front row gunmen.

Shi Tai, who was still on the city wall and was involved in the political affairs of the Yuan Dynasty, also grinned when he saw that the strongest foot archer on his side had come out and was getting closer and closer to the rebels, holding a big bow like Lin Lin.

On the side of the rebels, Mao Guang became quite uneasy when he saw a forest of large bows and horizontal lines in front of him. Under the bright sun, it looked like an arrow dozens of feet long with a cold light snow blade about to split. , and therefore dismounted and came to Huayun:

"If the Shenji Battalion cannot hold up later, I will take Mr. Zhang away immediately. I also ask you to take a detour for me and delay the Tatar cavalry for a while."

Hua Yun said: "You're scared before it even starts?"

"I'm not afraid, my mission is to protect Mr. Zhang!"

Mao Guang replied.

Hua Yun nodded: "I can lead my brothers to delay the Tatar cavalry for you, but I still have to rescue our young master!"

"Row!"

After Mao Guang said this, he looked nervously towards the Shenji Camp where Zhu Wenzheng was.

Zhu Wenzheng here, when the foot archers under Qing Lu appeared in the first row and raised their archers, he gritted his teeth and shouted:
  "Don't be afraid. A mere arrow shot at this distance will not kill you!"

Simultaneously.

Zhu Wenzheng then ordered: "Send the flag and let the first row start firing cannons!"

"Yes!"

Xie Cheng, who was specially listed at the front, saw the flag and immediately shouted: "Send the gun!"

boom!
  The gunmen in the first row of guns, which had been lit in advance, decisively pulled the trigger.

As a result, a row of white smoke soon rose into the sky.

Suddenly.

A large number of Yuanbing archers who had just finished shooting arrows fell to the ground.

Qinglu couldn't help but be startled when he saw this.

He was expecting the infantry archers on his side to shoot a large number of arrows at them, so that the opposing rebels would have a taste of having their throats pierced by arrows. However, a large number of the infantry archers on his side fell to the ground first. As a result, many arrows flew randomly, and many even flew back to their own camp, causing more casualties on their side.

"How can this be?"

Political Participant Shi Tai also looked at the long cloud of white smoke appearing in front of him and said this in astonishment.

At this time, Qinglu was also very distressed about the addition of these archers, but for the sake of victory, he immediately suppressed the emotion of feeling sorry for his own infantry archers, and immediately ordered:
  "The spearmen in front rushed over immediately. We are not far from these demon thieves now. Kill them and you will each receive six measures of food!"

Qinglu led this Yuan army to prepare for the conquest of Chuzhou, so the soldiers were well-prepared. Therefore, the spearmen under his command also obeyed the order, and immediately ignored the miserable situation among their companions, picked up their spears and headed towards the rebels. Bian rushed over.

But on the rebel side, the second row of gunmen had taken over from the first row of gunmen and started shooting.

As a result, a large number of Yuan soldiers' spearmen who rushed in front fell to the ground, wailing in the thick white smoke.

Subsequently, the third row, the fourth row, and the fifth row came one after another. Although the Shenji Battalion of the Rebel Army was firing blindly, the rain of bullets formed by the queue was still killing a large number of Yuan soldiers, so much so that both sides The middle area is littered with corpses.

Yuan Bing was immediately stunned.

Qinglu himself was so confused that he immediately turned his horse, abandoned his troops, and ran back in order to save his life.

(End of this chapter)