weaving

Chapter 1353 The officers and soldiers are coming!

On the night of July 29th, it was a windless and extremely hot night, which made people feel irritated unconsciously.

"It is said that 'the nights of White Dew and Autumnal Equinox get cooler each night'. How come it is still so hot when it is almost the Autumnal Equinox!" Hu Yiwen said as he took a sip of herbal tea.

"A calm mind naturally cools down."

Sun Shixiang gently waved the folding fan in his hand and continued leisurely, "Gongqiao, don't be anxious. The more critical the moment, the more you need to keep your composure. You must know that when facing a major event, you must be calm. You should understand the principle of 'knowing the limit will lead to determination; determination will lead to tranquility; tranquility will lead to peace; peace will lead to consideration; consideration will lead to success. Everything has its root and end, and everything has its beginning and end. Knowing the order of priority will lead to the near path'!"

He then said to Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning: "Commander-in-chief, all the camps followed the plan. It was dark at this time, so they took advantage of the darkness to cover their tracks. Since no news has been received, it is believed that they have not been discovered by the enemy army."

Zhang Cheng smiled and said, "I'm not worried about this. After all, even if Thief Li finds out, it will be too late to mobilize."

"What I am worried about is the movement of the enemy army."

Earl Yongning looked at Sun Shixiang and continued, "The enemy troops have also been moving frequently in recent days. I am worried that they will also make big moves, which may be detrimental to our army. I just don't know which place they are targeting."

Zhang Mingyuan, the middle officer, said at the right time: "Father, although we cannot know the exact location of the enemy's movement, according to the scouts, the enemy's movement is very frequent, with groups coming and going continuously. We just dare not get too close, and cannot distinguish which group is the elite and which is the miscellaneous soldiers."

Sun Shixiang turned to look at him and asked, "Mingyuan, where are the enemy troops moving back and forth? Can you find out?"

"In reply to Mr. Sun, it is precisely because we dare not observe too closely that we cannot find out the specific location of the enemy army. However, based on their route, we can still roughly determine their direction."

"Oh." Sun Shixiang asked curiously, "Where are you going?"

"Most of them came to the vicinity of my new city, and about 30% were transferred from the surrounding areas to other places."

"Why do you come here so often?" Sun Shixiang was suddenly startled and asked, "General, could it be that... the thief Li is going to attack our headquarters?"

Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, glanced at Sun Shixiang and said calmly, "It's almost the same, but I don't know when he will launch a general attack."

"Oh, my commander-in-chief."

Sun Shixiang seemed quite anxious and said, "Such important news, why are you telling it now?"

"No problem." Earl Yongning didn't seem to care about it.

He walked a few steps forward to the banner of the Yongyi Army, looked at the faint stars in the distant sky, and said, "None of this matters anymore."

"But..." Sun Shixiang was still very worried: "The enemy's troops' movements are unclear, and I don't know where their main force is. Tomorrow's battle will add more variables. Should we... still fight?"

"Fight, of course we have to fight." Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng smiled and asked him, "Why not fight?"

Yongning Bo stood up from his seat and walked towards the map, saying, "The arrow is on the string and has to be fired. There is no room for retreat in this battle. We have to fight."

He stared at the map for a long time, and then said, "As long as the troops of each camp can complete the deployment on time, we can't say that we will win this battle, but at least we won't be defeated. After all, our camp is strong, and if it really doesn't work, we can just retreat and hold on!"

"Mingyuan, you have to keep a close eye on the changes on the battlefield, but if there is any new information, report it to me immediately."

"Yes. Father."

…………

On the first day of August, at the beginning of the Mao hour, five miles northwest of the North Camp of the Yongyi Army in Gengtangzhuang, where the long trench dug by Li Chuang's bandit army turned eastward, a team of more than a thousand government troops rushed up in the light of dawn.

Most of them were wearing old uniforms, and less than one-fifth of them were armored soldiers. The leader was Zhang Dechang, the deputy general of the battalion of Zhang Fuzhen, the former governor of Bao.

At this moment, he was riding on his warhorse, escorted by more than thirty personal cavalrymen, shouting and commanding the soldiers in the camp to charge towards the long trench in a fan formation. The roars of more than a thousand people resounded throughout the land, and the momentum was very huge.

"Enemy attack..."

"The government troops are coming..."

"The government troops are coming!"

The bandit soldiers who were guarding the long trench reacted quickly. They shouted loudly to alert others and quickly got into their battle positions. Although it looked a bit messy, it was actually very orderly.

From this we can see that it was no accident that the rebel army swept across Henan and defeated the hundreds of thousands of troops led by three governors in a row!

Li Chuang stationed 500 bandits and 2,000 miscellaneous servants and hungry civilians to guard the long trench he dug at intervals of one mile. He also stationed a leader with 4,000 bandits and 5,000 hungry civilians at intervals of four miles to provide support to the left and right sides.

The long trench was more than 20 miles long, and housed nearly 30,000 enemy soldiers and tens of thousands of miscellaneous servants and hungry civilians.

Tian Jianxiu led 3,000 cavalry to garrison in the middle section of the long trench on the west side, while four leaders including Ren Jirong, Dang Shousu, Xin Sizhong and Li Michang were stationed in sections, with one leader stationed every five miles.

The place where Zhang Dechang led his troops to attack now was exactly where Colonel Du Kewu of Tian Jianxiu's camp was stationed. It was less than two miles north of Tian Jianxiu's base in Yuyuan, and a little more than four miles south of Dang Shousu.

The first thing Du Kewu saw was a huge crowd of people rushing towards him from outside the low wall. He immediately grabbed a nimble soldier and shouted in his ear, "Quick, go to Master Tian to get some reinforcements... A large... large group of government troops is coming, we... we can't hold on, please... Master Tian, ​​come and save us!"

"Qian San goes to the north, He Laoqi goes to the south, and asks the hungry people to take over. We must not let the soldiers reach the trenches."

Qian San was a strong young man, and He Laoqi was a forty-year-old man with a mustache. They responded loudly to Du Kewu's orders and immediately called on their subordinates to charge in the south and north directions respectively.

The worst off were the hungry civilians who were digging trenches. They had not had a full meal for seven days and were now extremely exhausted. Except for their mouths which were still breathing, the rest of their bodies were almost shut down.

But even so, they could not escape the fate of being cannon fodder and taking the first shot for the bandits...

An old woman was walking in the procession. Her eyes were lifeless. She staggered forward like a zombie, one foot deep and one foot shallow. Suddenly, an arrow flew from behind and hit the neck of the thin child she was holding...

The child was as thin as a bag of bones. The sharp arrow pierced his neck, but he didn't even have the strength to make a sound. His little head drooped silently. No matter how hard the old woman beside him dragged him, he could not make a single response.

The old woman suddenly realized it, and looked down. The child had already died, and the arrowhead sticking out of the front of his neck was dripping drop by drop... The blood in the child's body was almost gone...

She suddenly turned around and roared, "Ah...Give me back my grandson's life...", and rushed towards the bandits behind her with a ferocious look...

"Grass!"

A bandit came forward with a sword and shield in hand, kicked the old woman in the chest, and knocked her over. Then he raised his hand and chopped her down with his sword, cursing angrily: "Fuck your mother, how dare you attack me!"

There were a few hungry civilians nearby who were a little slower in their movements and were also killed on the spot by the bandits. The remaining hungry civilians were immediately frightened by the bloody scene, and under the threat of the bandits, they staggered towards the officers and soldiers.

The hungry civilians were all pale, indifferent, and sluggish, like zombies without vitality. They rushed towards the steel warriors on the opposite side without fear of life or death...