I

Zhao Han and Li Zheng set out with nine thousand reinforcements. They did not need shields or wolves. They all took off their armor and only carried spears and firecrackers.

There is no other way. It is to reduce the weight of the mule. Wearing armor will definitely weigh the mule down.

Even so, a mule cannot run very fast with an adult male riding it.

This thing can really be ridden into battle!

From the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, the "mule army" has always existed in history books, and there are only two records in the "Old Book of Tang".

"Since we have few horses, we can use them to breed mules and teach them how to fight. This is called a mule army." - "Old Book of Tang Dynasty"

"General Cai has Dong Zhongzhi, who guards Huiqu. His subordinates ride on mules and go into battle. They are called the Mule Army. They are the most powerful. The officers and soldiers are always on guard." - "Old Book of Tang"

Of course, you can't fight on a mule. It's just a means of transportation for fast marching.

Guangji City was blazing with smoke for a long time, and Zhao Han's reinforcements finally arrived at the assembly point, which was still several miles away from the county seat.

Among the nine thousand reinforcements, there are 3,500 fire gun soldiers.

Lao Huihui led the cavalry and horse teams to intercept and kill. Zhao Han immediately ordered a stop and asked the fire gun soldiers to light the match rope.

The melee soldiers ride mules in the middle, and the fire gunners ride mules on both sides. After lighting the match rope, advance at a very slow speed. If the opponent dares to rush over, he will immediately get off his mule and shoot. After the fire gun soldiers finish shooting, the melee soldiers in the middle will come out to form an array.

"woo woo woo woo!"

The horn kept sounding. Lu Xiangsheng, who was in the mountains, heard the order and immediately led 3,500 cavalry out to join them.

Zhao Han did not ride a mule. He rode a horse and "horsed the mules" among nearly 10,000 mules.

With the cavalry converging to cover, the march speed was slightly faster, and Lao Huihui kept following and harassing them.

After walking another two miles, Lao Huihui finally couldn't hold it back anymore and asked the cavalry to charge in a loose formation, so that he could lead the Xiaoqi to take advantage of the chaos.

Adding up the infantry and cavalry, Zhao Han had 6,500 muskets.

Seeing the enemy cavalry coming, they immediately separated into half, stood on the ground and fired three shots. Those melee infantrymen helped the friendly troops hold the mules to prevent them from running away in fright when they heard the gunshots.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

After three rounds of shooting, more than fifty people in the cavalry fell down, and the pikemen quickly came out to protect the firecrackers.

The loose cavalry rushed closer, facing the numerous spears, they could only rein in their horses, slow down, turn and slip away to hide elsewhere. These cavalry teams are also mounted infantry. They can't ride and shoot at all, and their ability to charge into battle is quite poor. There is a similar mule team on Zhang Xianzhong's side.

Lao Huihui led thousands of knights, and planned to take advantage of the chaos to charge, or at least have a shot at riding. Unexpectedly, Zhao Han kept half of the fire gun soldiers, quickly moved his position, and could restore the formation after moving.

Lao Huihui dare not rush.

The enemies in front of them were trained to a frighteningly high level, and the speed at which they moved and changed formations made me feel numb every time I looked at them.

After waiting for half of the gun soldiers to fire, they reloaded their ammunition, and Zhao Han ordered the march again. As long as Lao Huihui didn't get close, he didn't bother to pay attention, because the other party was just here to buy time.

In the direction of Chilong Lake, 7,000 regular soldiers and 10,000 peasant soldiers had already disembarked from the boats and were on their way to Guangji County.

Now there are still six miles away, and Zhang Xianzhong's mule team can already be seen.

...

Guangji County.

The gap in the city wall that was blown down has still not been breached.

However, under a Lu Gong chariot, Zhang Xianzhong's elite troops had occupied the city wall, and more than a thousand people in front and behind attacked and fought.

After killing all the enemy troops who climbed up the ladder, Wu Yong left this section of the city wall to the people who were guarding the city, while he led his peasants and soldiers to support Lu Gongche's side.

Wu Yong's current military position is battalion commander. He is a former soldier of Zhao Han. The reason why he rose so slowly is simply because he is not flexible. He only knows how to be rigid and rigid, and his literacy is very slow. In a few years, he has learned more than a hundred characters.

"kill!"

Wu Yong rushed forward with dozens of peasant soldiers. The civilian defender in front fell. He stabbed the enemy in the throat and avenged the civilian on the spot.

After fighting for several years, Wu Yong only learned three moves: stab, block, and pick.

He is stupid and has only practiced three moves for several years, but they are fast, accurate and annoying!

Facing Zhang Xianzhong's armored elite, Wu Yong, with the cooperation of peasants and soldiers, stabbed out several times in succession, all of which hit the throat.

Thrust out, retract, thrust out again, retract.

It’s not entertaining at all and looks a bit clumsy. However, every move leads to bloodshed and a gunshot kills.

"kill!"

Seeing Wu Yong's great power, the morale of the peasants, soldiers and people was boosted, and they stabbed wildly with spears and lances.

Finally, a few peasants and soldiers, dispatched by Wang Hui, came over with only five pieces left against the enemy. There were more than a thousand enemies on this city wall, and five of them were thrown into the city wall. One of them was knocked down outside the city, and the remaining four exploded among the enemy soldiers.

The enemy was frightened and their morale dropped, but the defenders became more courageous as they fought.

When the fight reaches this point, adrenaline surges, and both sides temporarily forget their fear.

The explosion killed and injured tens of thousands of enemy soldiers, and also exploded lime and chili powder. This low-lethal object made the enemy soldiers in that circle cough and cry, disrupting their excitement, and actually brought back their disappeared sense of fear.

The defenders were constantly attacking and stabbing on both sides, and there were tens of thousands of enemies in the middle. No one knew if there were still ten thousand enemies.

Several elites began to escape, jumped back on Lu Gong's car, and drove down the wooden ladder. One by one, more and more enemy troops fled, and finally collapsed. Of the more than a thousand people who attacked, only more than three hundred were killed, and the rest all fled.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, immediately organized manpower to carry the wounded away from the city wall, and the military medical officer came over for emergency treatment.

Sun Kewang looked at the gap, and his heart sank down.

That gap has almost been filled by corpses!

There were corpses on both sides, and some people were still alive, crying and screaming under the corpses.

Every time Sun Kewang organized an attack, the frequency of soldiers fleeing became higher and higher. The more elite they are, the more likely they are to divide their fields in Hubei, and they even have wives and children at home. Why did they come to Guangji City to die?

But the people in the city have to work hard. Once the city is broken, the end will be extremely miserable.

One side is fighting for Zhang Xianzhong, and the other is fighting for himself, so the enthusiasm for fighting cannot be compared.

Zhang Xianzhong watched the battle through the binoculars, knowing that he would not be able to attack.

It was a complete joke that my army went out this time, and I couldn't even defeat the small city of Guangji.

"Send the order, all withdraw!" Zhang Xianzhong ordered helplessly.

Because the horse team and mule team came back to report, Zhao Han's reinforcements were several miles away. There are reinforcements in the southeast and southwest, plus the defenders in the city, Zhang Xianzhong is about to be surrounded on three sides.

The siege troops withdrew back to the west bank of the Meichuan River one after another, and withdrew their civilian husbands to the camp in the northwest.

The camp of 300,000 people stretched for ten miles.

The two sides of the camp are backed by mountains, and there are several passages for withdrawing troops in the mountains. You can choose to rely on the camp to defend, or you can go into the ravine overnight to withdraw the troops.

However, if he wanted to withdraw his territory, he had to cross two more rivers, one Xishui River and the other Qishui River.

"We won, we won!" Zhu Shijing shouted standing on the tower.

"Win, win, keep it!"

Countless people shouted and cheered, and some wailed loudly because their relatives had died in battle.

An Qigong, the county magistrate, looked at the corpses all over the place, proudly and sadly said: "Today we will know what the hearts of the people are!"

Although it has not been counted yet, the number of farmers, soldiers and civilians who died in the battle was at least three thousand, and may even exceed four thousand.

As for the wounded, there are countless.

This was the heaviest casualty since Zhao Han raised his army.

But the results were outstanding, not only effectively killing and injuring the enemy, but also keeping Zhang Xianzhong's army here.

Sun Kewang ran back to the camp: "Father, should we stay and guard the camp, or leave from the mountains?"

"I can't stay," Zhang Xianzhong murmured, "If you don't leave quickly, you will be blocked here. If you wait a few more days, the way out of the mountain will also be blocked. Leave one hundred thousand civilians to Zhao Han, and leave all the disabled .Doesn’t he love the people like a son? One hundred thousand people is enough for him to consume food.”

After more than half a month of siege, Zhang Xianzhong's food consumption was so great that he could no longer use so many civilians to transport the luggage.

This guy directly dropped 100,000 civilians and consumed Zhao Han's food, leaving Zhao Han without enough military food to attack his territory.

Sun Kewang said: "Father, if our army retreats into the mountains, the enemy might come after us. It's better to set up an ambush in the mountains, maybe we can win a battle, and then take the opportunity to fight back the same way, so that the enemy who circled to the west to intercept them will be caught in the air. Send a partial division to re-siege Guangji, and the main force quietly crossed Henggang Mountain and went further north to cross the Qishui River. The enemy army was confused, and our army can speed up the march, abandoning the baggage and quickly cross the Xishui River."

This way of fighting, I am afraid that all the civilians will be thrown away, and the weak soldiers will also have to be thrown away. In the end, only 40,000 to 50,000 elites will be brought back.

But it already belongs to the optimal solution. After Zhang Xianzhong thought carefully, he nodded and said, "Just fight like this!"

Withdrawing the troops was not a simple matter either. The civilian husbands were ordered to carry the luggage and move all of them to the mountain pass.

It is impossible to leave during the day, because reinforcements are coming soon, unless Zhang Xianzhong drops his supplies and food. If you want to bring food and grass, you have to sneak away in the middle of the night, and you will be chased until the whole army is defeated during the day.

Shi Yongen's left arm had been festered extensively, and he returned to the camp in a dazed state, his mind still confused because of the fever.

He was ordered to transfer food and grass into the ravine and help push the cart, but he fell down within two steps. A soldier came over to check and felt that his forehead was hot, so he didn't bother to take care of it anymore, and let him fend for himself.

Shi Yongen is actually not that weak, he just feels weak all over.

Since no one cared about him, he happily pretended to be in a coma, thinking about how to go out of the camp to report - Zhang Xianzhong is going to sneak out tonight, even a fool can see it!

Zhao Han's two reinforcements arrived one after another, but it was already dark.

Facing the camp that stretched for several miles, no one dared to attack rashly, blocking Zhang Xianzhong here has achieved the expected goal.

"Your Highness, do you want to attack at night?" Lu Xiangsheng asked.

Zhao Han smiled and said, "You can try."

One thought about slipping away at night, and the other thought about attacking the camp at night.

Shi Yongen was lying on the ground, and in a daze, he saw Zhang Xianzhong dispatching the elite old battalion to enter the passage in the mountain ahead of time.

Is this an ambush?

If Zhao Han found out that it was an empty battalion during the night attack and led his troops to chase after him rashly, he might be ambushed by Zhang Xianzhong in the mountains to make a surprise attack.

Shi Yongen pretended to be weak, got up staggeringly, and said to the passing soldiers: "Hungry..."

The soldiers ignored him at all.

Shi Yongen continued to walk out, shouting hungry when he saw officers and soldiers, and looked like he could be knocked down by the wind.

After walking for two miles, a soldier finally kicked him down and shouted: "You are not allowed to wander around in the camp, go back to the civilian camp!"

Shi Yongen struggled to get up, then fell to the ground again, pulled up his sleeves and said, "Master Jun, can you help me find a doctor?"

The soldier leaned closer to the torch and saw that the festering wound had already grown maggots, and he immediately ran away from nausea: "Get out of here!"

(Ask for a monthly pass.)