open sea

Chapter 1496 Meng Xin
Drake's forces regrouped and swept down the mountains to the south.

It's not that Drake wants to go south to fight the Ming army, but that there is no way if he doesn't go south, and autumn is coming.

There is a shortage of strong men in all parts of Scotland. They were inspired by Elizabeth to go south to fight, and they missed the best time to cultivate the land. Now they have no other way out except to go south to grab one.

Thanks to Yingming's scouts at the border, Liu Ruguo was able to receive the news when Drake went south. Five teams of the expanded Shuntian Anmin Rebel Army came out in full force, set up defenses in the north of the mountain, and launched a beautiful ambush.

Then Drake withdrew to the north and was chased by Liu Ruguo all the way to the suburb of Manchester in the northwest of the mountainous area, which was Drake's second line of defense.

The city did not have strong defenses, but the town was surrounded by three rivers, and the siege lasted for many days.

Liu Ruguo's army was transferred here, and Drake's reinforcements also added troops to the town.

To control Manchester is to control the outlet of Liverpool in the west, and to control the road to the north or south.

And whoever controls the river controls Manchester.

The Mersey River, which is not wide in the wilderness south of the city, has become the most critical location of the battle. For Liu Ruguo's troops, crossing the river, the bustling towns in the northern part of the city are easy to get spoils of war.

Reinforcements from both sides have arrived, and fierce and repeated battles have started on the riverside. The battle has been going on for seventeen days.

Meng Xin used a cleaning rod to clear the barrel of the gun in the single ditch under the tree on the south bank of the river.

He is from Alan, born in a small place in the south of Alan that cannot be named, and has many brothers and sisters in his family.

The year before last, Liu Ruguo raised troops to attack his hometown, and he was able to rob the mansion of the wealthy businessman by himself alone. Later, the Shandong immigrant who led the army became his eldest brother-in-law, and the orderly soldier became his third brother-in-law.

The whole family took the surname Meng.

Later, the eldest brother who worked as a groom for the nobles first became a cavalry soldier and became the general banner when he went north; the second brother, who was strong and good at using a logging axe, became a swordsman and a card player. He killed a nobleman with a shield and got a plate armor .

The fourth brother ran quickly and became a messenger, but he hasn't gotten himself into a war horse until now; the sixth brother is a spearman in another army. He used to be a hunter, and later the eldest brother got him a steel crossbow and used it as a crossbowman.

The men of their entire family followed Liu Ruguo to sweep the whole of Alan, and landed on the land of the English, all the way here.

Meng Xin bit open the wooden cartridge, loaded the ammunition into the gun barrel, looked up from the trench and glanced at the sprawled corpse lying on the river beach, the Englishman who came to fetch water did not know what was wrong with his brain, cross the river.

He cursed softly in Chinese, and smoked a black spot on the handle of the gun with a matchlock.

He blew, and there were already three black spots on it, and this was the fourth one.

The English set up many pointed wooden poles on the other side of the river, very high, some of which were poked with heads, and some were left empty.

The distance was a bit far, and Meng Xin couldn't see the faces of those heads clearly, but he knew that one of them was his elder brother.

It was the first battle more than ten days ago. They chased across the river bank. The eldest brother on the horse was especially brave and was shot to death by the enemy's ambush with a longbow.

Meng Xin's eldest sister sent a letter two months ago, saying that she had given birth to two boys.

Originally, the brother-in-law wanted to go back to Ailan, but the news of the war in the north spread halfway, and he came back a few days before the expedition.

The next day after the eldest brother died, those sharp wooden poles were erected on the opposite bank. The brother-in-law wanted to steal the eldest brother's head back at night, but he never came back.

So one of those heads on the pole might have belonged to his eldest brother-in-law as well.

When he first joined the army, he often bullied him. His brother who also took care of him on the battlefield is a herdsman. He used to work with the white tiger, and later joined the army. A few days ago, he was shot into a hedgehog in front of his eyes.

There is also an English boy who has been in the army for less than three months. He joined them in the mountains. He is always submissive and extremely timid.

He tried to put it together, but he couldn't find the missing arm.

Meng Xin scratched his itchy head, there was an unpleasant smell everywhere in the air, his legs started to hurt again, beside the open crotch of the linen pants, the wound on his thigh that was pierced by the arrow was festering.

He wanted to pray to God, but after thinking about it, he gave up. He just took a bite of the cake that was stained with mud in the pit, and looked up to the other side of the river.

The luggage hadn’t been delivered to the front line for a few days, and after eating this pancake, he didn’t know when he would be able to eat his next meal, so Meng Xin had been half full for three days, and the hunger in his stomach tormented him all the time.

This battle was more difficult than ever. Yesterday, the fourth brother who was an orderly sent him the news that the second brother had died in a village not far away.

Just five days ago.

A small team of English troops attacked a village from the flank, and the second brother led people to support it. According to the intelligence, the number of enemies was too small, but in fact there were many more. In the end, they were forced into the house and burned to death.

The counter-offensive has not yet started, the general told them to wait, it is said that they are waiting for reinforcements from the rear, the commander-in-chief of the London government will send them a very combat-friendly troops to support them.

Meng Xin didn't know how long he would have to wait, maybe if he waited longer, his third brother-in-law, fourth brother, sixth brother, and his comrades in arms would all die here.

Two people came from the opposite bank, wearing chain mail and wearing the coat of arms of an unknown nobleman. They hunched over their backs, as if walking that way so that they would not be noticed.

How could it not be discovered?

Meng Xin calculated that the distance from the ditch to the riverside was only fifty paces at most, and he saw them with a glance.

The two of them may have come to retrieve the body, or maybe they just wanted to retrieve the equipment from the body.

But it doesn't matter what they want to do, what matters is that they get within their range quickly - even if it is a rabbit from the rebels, Meng Xin will kill him.

Meng Xin looked at the well-stringed crossbow in the earth pit, quietly put the finger-thick crossbow beside the pit, blew on the fire rope that was about to go out, and put the bird gun beside the pit.

boom!
The blunderbuss rang, and the projectile flew over the two people who were peeling off the plate armor and hit the river in the distance. The two people reacted quickly, dropped the helmets they had just picked up, and ran behind.

Immediately after running a few steps, a crossbow arrow was nailed from the back and hit the back of one person. He was still running, but his speed slowed down significantly.

Meng Xin put down the steel crossbow, raised the blunderbuss at hand again, and repeated the action of reloading, but his face did not look at the blunderbuss.

Instead, he looked at the figure with a crossbow bolt stuck in his back expressionlessly, and slowed down step by step. When he approached the river bank, he fell to his knees and crawled forward one by one until he reached the river bank. at every turn.

He is comfortable.

(End of this chapter)