I

If the sneak attack failed, it would be very embarrassing, because Liao Sheng had to cross the river.

Either take the west bank of the Xiangjiang River and cross the Xiangjiang River further downstream. Either take the east bank of the Xiangjiang River and cross the Lu River on the other side of Lukou Town.

There is a bridge in Lukou Town, which was built in the Song Dynasty. It is more than 150 meters long and has a wooden pier and wooden beam structure. It needs to be repaired every few years. If you don't take this bridge, the only thing left along the Lu River is the Lujiang Bridge on the Liling side, which is also a Song Dynasty bridge with wooden piers and wooden beams.

Liao Sheng did not have a dedicated naval force, and his ships were only used to transport baggage.

Zhao Han's navy cannot come from Jiangxi, and the ships can only be used to transport baggage - of course, they can make a long circle from the Yangtze River and then follow the Xiangjiang River to here.

Crossing the Xiangjiang River was too difficult, so Liao Sheng had no choice but to cross the bridge at Lu River.

Landing on the south bank of Lushui River, Liao Sheng breathed a sigh of relief. The rebels finally did not set fire to the bridge.

They set up camp across the river and did not move that day.

Liao Sheng asked his brother Liao Kun to lead 1,500 elites with good water qualities to sneak upstream directly at night. At that time, the main force will force across the bridge, and the surprise troops will attack from the east at the same time. If they attack from both sides, they can win in one battle.

Fei Yinggon didn't react at all, as if he didn't know how to prevent the enemy from sneaking across.

When the news came that his clan brother had successfully smuggled across, Liao Sheng sneered in the camp: "The thieves guarding the food route are so stupid and incompetent. This battle will definitely be won!"

There are two reasons why Fei Yinggon didn’t move:

First, although he can now command a thousand regular soldiers, Huang Yao took away 500 for siege. He only has 500 regular soldiers and 500 peasant soldiers. This combat strength is too weak after dividing the troops;

Second, if the enemy is not allowed to cross the river, how can he annihilate them all?

At noon the next day, the 1,500 regiments who had successfully smuggled across were led by Liao Kun to fight over after resting and recovering.

At the same time, Liao Sheng forced the bridge to be crossed in advance to contain the rebels and cooperate with his clan brothers to successfully reach the battlefield.

With shield bearers and spearmen in front, and three hundred archers behind, only a few hundred troops could be invested at a time, and there were too many people to stand on the bridge.

They were not in a hurry to attack, so they shot from the bridge to the other side, waiting for the friendly troops who had smuggled in to arrive, and then attacked from both sides.

"Dad, the enemy from the east is coming and smuggling more than a thousand people," Fei Ruhui said.

Fei Yinggong turned his head and looked: "No hurry, just wait."

The five hundred regular soldiers guarding the bridge were holding shields to defend against bows and arrows. When the 1,500 regiments from the side approached, Fei Yingcong suddenly exclaimed: "Quickly retreat!"

Taking advantage of the gap between the archers' shooting, the soldiers guarding the bridge turned around and ran away. They seemed to be afraid of being attacked from two sides and were completely frightened.

Very poor acting!

However, Tuan Yong, who was attacking on the bridge, believed it, and so did Tuan Yong, who had sneaked in and outflanked him.

Since they formed an army, they have been fighting against bandits for a long time. The thieves and bandits also fought in this way, and were defeated once they were ambushed or outflanked.

Liao Sheng on the other side of the river said anxiously: "Ming Jin, Ming Jin, gather across the river, don't chase!"

"Dang-dang-dang!"

The gong rang frantically, but it was already too late.

The Tuanyong who crossed the bridge and the Tuanyong who smuggled across the bridge saw that the Datong army was escaping, and they immediately became hot-headed and swarmed to kill them.

Obviously, these elite regiments are simply unable to follow orders and prohibitions.

After Liao Sheng crossed the river, his troops had been divided into two groups. One group is chasing the Datong Army, and the other group is very obedient and is gathering on the shore. In desperation, he led his troops to chase and blew the trumpet to stop the troops in front.

This is a commercial town. If there are too many people, it is impossible to form an array, so we can only advance along the bluestone streets.

Two streets, in the shape of "⊥".

One extends horizontally along the river, and the other extends vertically along the shop.

Tuan Yong, who was the first to cross the bridge, got into the vertical street to pursue him. The 1,500 regiments of smugglers pursued him from the alley outside the town. They were all dragged into a long snake formation, or to be precise, they were dragged into two long snakes.

They went completely crazy chasing him, just like they used to chase bandits.

"Hush!"

The sharp and piercing copper whistle sounded, and the five hundred regular soldiers who fled the town suddenly stopped to assemble in formation.

Only a few troops in the entire Ming Dynasty could do this kind of operation. Most of the officers and soldiers, local braves and bandits, even if they had made arrangements in advance, were defeated even if they fled, and the feigned defeat directly turned into a rout.

If the regiment heroes couldn't do it, they thought the Datong Army couldn't do it either. They firmly believed that the Datong Army was really in retreat.

"The world is unified!"

“Farm and eat!”

The five hundred regular soldiers who had quickly formed their formation suddenly shouted in unison, frightening the Tuan Yong who was chasing at the front.

"kill!"

The narrow bluestone street can accommodate at most a dozen people side by side. No matter how many Tuan Yong were chasing after them, they could not be pushed away at all, and they were instantly strangled by the Datong Army arrayed at the street entrance.

"Run quickly, there's an ambush!"

Tuan Yong, who was running in front, turned around in a hurry, but Tuan Yong behind him was still rushing forward, and soon he was huddled together at the intersection.

Tuan Yong's command system had completely failed at this time, and even the officers were crowded into the crowd.

All shops in the town are closed, and a few shops have two floors. Shopkeepers, clerks, merchants... all watched from the second floor windows, and they saw a very exciting scene.

I saw five hundred soldiers arrayed in a crescent shape at the street entrance, and countless regiments rushed into the concave gap. A regimental hero is often assassinated by several spears, and is crowded in front and behind, unable to advance or retreat.

Tuan Yong, who was chasing after him, didn't know what was going on at first, so he stood behind and collectively fell into a state of sleepwalking. After being strangled like this for at least a minute, the regiment heroes behind them began to flee. However, the middle area was crowded with people. In panic, countless regiment heroes fell down, and many regiment heroes were simply trampled to death by friendly forces.

An out-of-town businessman staying in the inn watched the whole battle through the window and couldn't help but sigh: "On one side are the elite troops, on the other side are the mob. This battle was not lost unfairly."

On the other side, a group of 1,500 stowaways, led by Liao Kun, chased and outflanked them from the alley outside the town.

They ran into five hundred peasant soldiers!

There are houses on one side of the path and dry fields on the other side. Liao Kun raised a flag and shouted for formation.

Facing the peasants and soldiers who were waiting in full formation, the regiment heroes did not dare to pursue them any more, and jumped into the dry fields one after another and began to form formation.

However, before they could complete their formation, five hundred peasant soldiers also jumped into the dry fields, trotted and began to charge in a mandarin duck formation.

These regiments were indeed elite, and they were not defeated immediately. They were much more powerful than the regiments of the Zhou family in Xiangtan.

That's all.

The 1,500 regimental warriors who were not even in formation were facing 500 peasant soldiers who were charging in formation. After holding on for about two minutes, he was directly killed from the middle. The group of heroes wanted to fight, but all they saw were wolves, and then suddenly there was a spear stabbing them.

Liao Kun raised his knife to split two wolf bamboo poles, but was suddenly stabbed by one. As he was parrying and retreating, another spear was stabbed at him. He was then shot in the shoulder, abdomen, and chest. He fell to the ground and died on the spot.

Liao Sheng himself came with his troops, but the two regiments had all fled, so he could only retreat to the bridge to form a response.

But more and more defeated troops rushed back, and the Datong Army was chasing behind them, and Liao Sheng's formation was shaken instantly. As the defeated troops got closer and closer, some of the Tuan Yong responsible for responding were so frightened that they turned around and ran away. Then the whole army was defeated. Liao Sheng could not even kill several people to suppress them.

The five thousand regiments brought by Liao Sheng are already the most elite troops in the entire Shonan region at this time.

They have been fighting for more than a year, and they are all veterans who have seen blood. The other troops, including the soldiers under the command of Governor Wang Zhiliang, were all temporarily recruited farmers. They had no combat effectiveness at all and could only be used to defend the city.

The only elite troops in southern Hunan were defeated in this way.

The reason for the defeat turned out to be Fei Yinggon's clumsy feint of defeat, which caused these elites to ignore military orders and pursue the ambush point.

At this moment, more than three thousand of the five thousand elites are still alive. A small number of people fled along both sides of the river bank, and most of them were squeezing onto the wooden bridge, trying to cross the river and leave through the only bridge. On the other side of the river was their camp.

Liao Sheng was unable to prevent the rout, so he could only retreat quickly while being protected by his trusted followers.

Liao Sheng successfully crossed the bridge and ran away, but more regiment soldiers were squeezed on the bridge, and many defeated troops were even pushed into the river.

"kill!"

Fei Ruhui, a woman, rushed forward with a spear in hand, stabbing the defeated soldiers quickly. She prefers to use a sword, but when fighting on the battlefield, it is more comfortable to use a spear.

Several people were stabbed to death one after another. The defeated soldiers on the bridge jumped into the river one after another, and the rest were chased across the bridge.

"Slow down, slow down!" Fei Yingcong shouted anxiously, fearing that something might happen to her daughter.

Fei Ruhui, however, had already rushed to the other side and chased him several miles away before finally stopping to rest out of breath.

Liao Sheng fled frantically with the remaining soldiers and returned along the original route of the Xiangjiang River. After fleeing until dark, he finally saw no pursuers. He asked his confidants to count the number of people, and found that only more than eighty were left.

Liao Sheng was about to cry but had no tears. These were his five thousand elite soldiers!

Although Leiyang and Hengshan each had 3,000 regiments to defend the city, Hengyang still had 1,500 regiments to defend the city. But those 7,500 regiments of warriors were all weak in combat effectiveness and belonged to the ragtag group recruited by other gentry.

Liao Sheng was in a daze and felt that there was no way to save his life.

He has lost all his elite troops, so what's the use of returning to Leiyang, Hengshan, and Hengyang? Even if they go back, they probably won't be able to command them, because they are other people's soldiers, and there are conflicts within the squire.

That's it, that's all, no more fighting.

Liao Sheng waited by the river for two days, and more than 200 regiments fled back one after another. These were all his soldiers, and there were only 300 of them left. He simply found a ferry to cross the river and fled all the way back to his hometown in Longhui. Along the way, he had to rob landowners to raise rations.

After hearing that Liao Sheng's main force had been wiped out, the military morale in the three cities of Hengyang, Hengshan and Leiyang on the southern front suddenly fluctuated, and deserters occurred every day.

Zhang Tieniu took the opportunity to surround Leiyang, and Liu Zhu took the opportunity to surround Hengshan.

Hengyang between the two cities was about to become an isolated city, and the prefect was so frightened that he ran away. The county magistrate was a wise man. He stepped forward in times of crisis and opened his treasury to recruit troops on the spot.

However, the Hengyang garrison was recruited less and less.

The magistrate recruited one, and seven or eight escaped that night.

Hengyang is a large commercial city with many wealthy merchants, and almost every wealthy merchant maintains countless slaves.

There was a wealthy slave named Zhang Feng. After he became rich, he asked scholars to change his name to Zhang Wenyu.

He had never been to Jiangxi, but he got a copy of "Datong Collection" from Jiangxi merchants and began to inquire about the situation of domestic slaves in Jiangxi.

In the latest version of "Datong Collection", there is an article called "Freeing Slaves", which classifies tenants, long-term workers, domestic servants, and military households as slaves. It is believed that only by freeing slaves can the world be truly unified, and these slaves should also be treated equally.

Seeing that only two to three hundred of the Hengyang defenders escaped, Zhang Wenyu immediately began to connect with each other, and half of the domestic slaves in Hengyang City were incited.

Judging from the slave rebellion in the late Ming Dynasty, the intensity of the domestic slave rebellion was far lower than that of the peasants.

In most cases, domestic slaves only beat their masters, forced them to hand over the deed of sale, or forced their masters to improve their treatment. Only a few would kill their masters. The reason is very simple. All slave rebellion movements were led by powerful slaves. These powerful slaves also had family businesses and did not want to make things too big.

The two cities of Hengshan and Leiyang have not yet been conquered, but Hengyang in the middle has changed its flag.

Zhang Wenyu led countless domestic slaves, drove away the Hengyang defenders, and erected a homemade Datong military flag.