weaving

Chapter 1361 Why are your hands shaking?
The bandit leader Liu Zhanyuan had just organized the bandits to form a long square formation when he heard a bandit shout, "Go back... Go back and die..."

He rode his horse and looked over, and saw that it was the hungry civilians who had been stationed on various earthen platforms as lookouts. They were frightened by the oncoming government troops and were fleeing towards this side desperately. It seemed that they wanted to rush across the wooden bridge to the other side of the trench.

There are not many earthen platforms on this side, only about ten or so, and they are far apart from each other. Because their purpose is not to fight, they only play a role of surveillance and early warning. At this moment, they have lost the meaning of existence.

But Liu Zhanyuan did not want to let them go. Although the role of the sentinels had been completed, cannon fodder should have the awareness of cannon fodder. They should continue to consume some of the government army's energy before they died.

"Stop the hungry people, and kill anyone who rushes into the battle!"

Liu Zhanyuan continued to roar on his warhorse: "Drive them all back, drive them all to the side of the government troops... Let them charge at the government troops!"

Before he stopped roaring, he saw dozens of sturdy bandits rushing out of the army formation, holding long swords and axes and killing the fleeing hungry people. They rushed forward without thinking, shouting and killing, and really frightened the hungry people.

Finally, under the ferocious pursuit of the bandits, less than a thousand hungry people turned around and rushed towards the distant government army station like wild horses.

Almost at this moment, Liu Zhengyuan received the report that "the government troops have begun to attack."

He immediately jumped onto the horse's back and looked around from the saddle. After a moment, he jumped back onto the saddle and shouted loudly: "Form a battle formation... All troops, form a battle formation, defend... defend!"

The originally loose formation became tighter under the shouting of the small leaders. Even the dozens of bandits who ran out of the formation to drive away the hungry people quickly ran back into the formation.

Although the Chuang army's strength increased rapidly after entering Henan and its military equipment was greatly improved, the army was too large after all, and it was still impossible for all members to be equipped with new uniforms, let alone unify their equipment.

Take Dang Shousu for example. He was originally a general under the command of General Yuan Zongde of the Chuang Army. He was reused and formed his own battalion after the army was expanded in Henan.

If we only talk about the camp, he is not necessarily much stronger than Tong Shoushan's "Shan Ziying". It's just that he is more trusted because he has followed Li Zicheng, the King of Rebellion, for a long time!

Of the 1,500 infantrymen led by Liu Zhanyuan, almost half were newly recruited hungry civilians, and the remaining half were a mixture of old bandits and surrendered soldiers. They still had some combat effectiveness, but it also depended on who they were compared with.

At this moment, although the bandits on the north and south wings were still standing in their positions, the weapons in the hands of some of them had begun to shake slightly involuntarily.

Anyone with a discerning eye can tell that this is a sign of panic.

However, Liu Cai, who was leading his troops from the north, did not see it. He was walking in the middle of the front row of the team, constantly shouting commands to keep his shield formation in a strict formation.

As the sound of combat boots hitting the ground got closer and closer, the "dong dong dong..." sound kept hitting the hearts of the bandits. Occasionally, there were hungry civilians who were forced to flee back by the bandits, but as long as they didn't rush to the shield formation on their own, Liu Caike didn't bother to pay attention to them.

But there were always some who were blind, or perhaps out of fear, and rushed straight towards the shield formation. They stabbed out with their spears, and the hungry people immediately fell down. They stomped on their corpses mercilessly with their combat boots, and continued to advance steadily without any pause.

"Hey, Liu Heiqi, why are your hands shaking?" Facing the chief's question, Liu Heiqi stared straight at the shield formation of the government troops pressing forward in front of him, and replied incoherently: "Shaking...what? Which...is shaking! No...no shaking...I'm not...ah..."

The leader was too lazy to listen to Liu Heiqi, a starving civilian who had just joined the army a few days ago, and he chopped him to the ground with a knife, and shouted: "Everyone, stay alert and hold your weapons tightly. We will use them on the officers and soldiers later. If anyone is as cowardly as him, I will send him to see the King of Hell now."

You know what, this trick of "killing the chicken to scare the monkey" was really what he used. Many of the knife tips and gun tips that were originally shaking were stabilized in an instant. However, beads of sweat appeared on the foreheads of many bandits at the same time. It was obvious that they were still very scared in their hearts, but they were just stunned by the act of killing Liu Heiqi.

One hundred steps...

The distance between the two sides is getting closer, and the terrifying feeling of oppression is getting stronger and stronger!
Liu Zhanyuan's eyes were also wide open, and he also felt the pressure slowly approaching from the opposite side. At this moment, he saw another row of soldiers with swords and shields coming towards him, holding up their shields and slowly approaching this side five hundred steps away.

He shouted, "Go, go, ask the Party Lord for help, ask the Party Lord to send cavalry to kill the officers and soldiers!"

Upon hearing this, a confidant immediately turned around and ran onto the wooden bridge. The sound of footsteps faded away in an instant and gradually became inaudible...

Although he was not sure about it, Liu Zhanyuan did not dare to desert.

He knew Dang Shousu's temper. If he fled back to the west side of the long trench without even fighting him, he would surely die.

"Lao Han, you go to the north; He Da Mao, go to the south; you must hold on, the Party Master will be here soon!"

Liu Zhanyuan didn't care about all that. After making arrangements on both wings, he rushed to the middle with a dozen of his trusted men, ready to lead his troops to fight against the government troops rushing towards him.

…………

The first to engage in battle was the south. Although the government troops were not as ferocious as imagined, they were indeed much stronger than the mixed organization of the rebel army. Moreover, the government troops had about 500 people, while he had only 300 bandits. The gap in manpower was even more difficult to make up, and soon He Damao could not hold on.

"Master Liu, the north can't hold on any longer. Send troops to support us."

Seeing that the government troops on the opposite side were more than 200 steps away, they suddenly stopped moving forward. Although he didn't know what conspiracy they had, he had to save the north as it was in danger. Liu Zhanyuan grabbed a confidant beside him and yelled at his ear: "Stand here for me. If you let go of a soldier, I will take your head."

After he finished speaking, he threw this confidant aside and named two more people, asking them to lead a hundred bandits each and go with him to reinforce He Damao in the north.

Liu Zhanyuan had only walked halfway with his troops, less than a hundred steps away from He Damao, when he heard two loud "bangs". He was shocked and almost fell to the ground.

He stopped and looked, only to see two large clouds of dust rising up in an instant more than fifty steps ahead: "Cannon... The officers and soldiers have cannons?"

At this time, he heard the sound of horse hooves hitting the ground, which seemed to be just a few hundred steps away. Liu Zhanyuan was overjoyed and shouted, "The party leader is coming, the cavalry is coming, brothers, don't be cowards, rush up and kill the officers and soldiers!"