weaving

Chapter 1162: Don’t be willing to fight

Smoking Gun Shi Dacheng and his five brothers rushed down the mound on foot. They dived into the woods and quickly forced the bandits out of the woods with their flexible movements and accurate shooting skills.

Just now on the spacious official road, the bandits were still able to take advantage of their huge numerical advantage to gain the upper hand, but now in this dense forest they no longer have the advantage, and even their sharp weapons, crossbows and arrows, seem to have lost their previous power.

Only one person on Yanqiang's side was hit in the ankle by a crossbow arrow, but they shot and killed two old thieves and a child soldier, as well as more than ten servants.

At first, the bandits were still wandering about twenty or thirty steps away from the forest. They seemed unwilling to give up, as if they were thinking of relying on the power of crossbows to retake the forest again.

However, their crossbows were no match for the powerful bows in the hands of warriors like Yanqiang. After leaving behind a few corpses, they retreated a hundred steps away, shouting and watching everything on the mound and the woods from afar.

Until this moment, Yanqiang and the other six people breathed a sigh of relief and were completely relieved. However, after the battle, they suddenly felt extremely thirsty. When they reached out and touched their waists, they couldn't help but feel disappointed.

  The water bag of the pipe had been shot with a hole at some point, and all the water had leaked out long ago. How could there be even a drop of water left?

He turned his head and whistled at Ma Si'er. When he saw him looking at him, he raised his hand and made a gesture of drinking water. However, Ma Si'er reached out to his waist and instantly showed a helpless expression. He also picked up an empty water bag, and drops of water fell as he waved it.

Apparently his water bag was not shot open by the thieves. After a fierce fight, Ma Si'er was extremely hungry and thirsty. Although there were only drops of water, he was unwilling to waste it. He stretched out his tongue very flexibly and continuously caught the drops of water into his mouth.

Although the appearance was very funny, Yanqiang had no intention of appreciating it. He was about to see what the bandits were doing, but he saw a noise under the tree on the right. He turned around and saw that it was the brother who was hit by the crossbow in the ankle...

He was holding a bulging water bag in his hand and was waving it towards him. Yanqiang grabbed the water bag but did not open the lid to drink. Instead, he asked with concern, "Zheng Daqian, where are you injured? Is it serious?"

"Thank you for your concern, my ankle is the only part of my injury, but it won't be a problem for me to deal with these thieves."

Only then did Yanqiang nod his head with relief, and said to him, "Don't move too much, I'll let Ma Si'er support you later..."

Before he could finish his words, he heard Ma Si'er shouting, "Look, Shitou."

Yanqiang followed his gaze and saw that the bandits' formation was in chaos a hundred steps away. Just when he was wondering what was going on, he suddenly heard a whistle from the mound. He immediately jumped up and shouted, "Brothers from the Second Squad are coming, hurry up... get ready to support them!"

…………

Duan Chengjiu and his brothers from the second squad served as external aid and had been hiding in the abandoned village, knowing nothing about the situation in the outside world.

It was not until Chen San came to look for him that he learned that Chang Zhengcheng and his team had been attacked during their night expedition. Worried about the safety of their own officers, they quickly packed up their things and whipped their horses to chase after them.

Although they did not see the bandits, the traces of fighting and bloodstains on the official road naturally did not escape their eyes, and it was easy to guess that Chang Zhengcheng and his men must have encountered bandits again. Even though he was worried about the safety of the team officers, Duan Chengjiu did not forget the rules of the scout code. He did not rashly lead the brothers in the squad to rush forward, but divided the men into three horizontal teams. He led Chen San and the four brothers of the second squad in the middle, and the two sergeants each led two men to the left and right to provide support.

Not long after they slowed down their horses, they saw a group of ragged bandits, each holding a weapon, shouting and waving their arms under a mound in front of them. They immediately guessed that Chang Zhengcheng and his men must be surrounded on that mound.

Originally, he was thinking of taking a detour and trying to meet up with Chang Zhengcheng first before making a decision. However, that would mean he would lose the initiative and the element of surprise. So Duan Chengjiu made a bold decision not to contact Chang Zhengcheng for the time being and to launch a surprise attack on this group of thieves!

They used the half-man-high weeds as cover, and first walked slowly on horseback until they were about a hundred steps away from the bandits. Then they suddenly mounted their horses and rushed forward. Although they were few in number, they were as powerful as tigers.

The bandits originally thought that the Ming army's scouts were all in the mound and the forest, and they never imagined that they would have external reinforcements, so their attention was always focused on the direction of the mound. It was not until they heard the sound of iron hooves hitting the ground behind them that they reacted, but it was too late.

What's more, Duan Chengjiu and his men were caught unprepared for the battle, and had the upper hand in the surprise attack. When they were fifty or sixty steps away, they shot arrows with strong bows. From then on, screams and wails continued to be heard from the group of bandits.

After they rushed to 20 or 30 steps, they put away their bows and took out their guns. There were continuous "bang bang bang..." explosions, smoke rose up, and wailing was everywhere. The bandits fell down one after another, but Duan Chengjiu and the other twelve riders rushed past them, leaving more than 20 bandits lying on the ground, twisting and wailing in pain...

There was only one thief who looked like a child, who didn't care about his own life and death, and rushed directly under the belly of a soldier's horse. He hugged the horse's belly with his hands and feet, and cut the front part of the horse's belly with a short dagger held in his teeth.

A stream of blood spurted out instantly, and the warhorse let out a mournful cry at the same time, falling directly to the grass, throwing the knight on horseback five steps away.

The little thief who tried his best to get under the horse's belly was unable to escape. As the warhorse rolled twice on the ground, he was finally crushed under the horse's belly. He was probably either dead or disabled.

Although the Ming army scout was badly injured, he did not suffer any fatal injuries. He quickly got up, grabbed the hand extended by his comrade, jumped up, climbed back on the horse and rode away.

…………

Chang Zhengcheng and others on the mound discovered this situation almost at the same time as Yan Qiang. Although most of them were wounded soldiers, their horses were all on the mound. Even when Yan Qiang and others were attacking the woods, they abandoned their horses and fought on foot.

Therefore, Chang Zhengcheng immediately ordered all the soldiers to mount their horses, and at the same time ordered He Cheng to go and pass a message to Duan Chengjiu, asking him to protect the flanks and prevent the enemy soldiers from chasing them, and not to fight to the end. Once the large group was on the official road, they should immediately follow and retreat.

Chang Zhengcheng had no intention of fighting the bandits for a long time. As He Cheng rode out, he whistled and led all the soldiers to ride towards the woods below the mound.

Along with them were more than 20 unridden war horses, and they soon reached the edge of the woods. Yanqiang and the others hurriedly ran out of the woods, grabbed the reins of the war horses, and jumped on the horses. Their movements were very agile and skillful...