weaving

cavalry.

The cavalry is indeed coming.

However, they were not Dang Shousu's cavalry, so they were not that fast...

…………

It turned out that Hu Zichen assigned all the five crouching tiger cannons that Yongning Earl had assigned to his Tiger Camp to He Wang's team, and told him not to use them lightly, but to wait until the fighting was fierce and then suddenly bring them out to blow up his mother.

In addition to these five tiger-crouching cannons, there are also one hundred Yunzhou long guns and one hundred Yunzhou-made grenades. This is an improved version of the Wanren Di that has just been produced according to the instructions of Earl Yongning.

Even the direct battalions of the Yongyi Army have not yet fully equipped with this new version of Yunzhou-made grenades. Only 1,500 of them were delivered from Yunzhou, mainly to test the improved effects on the battlefield.

Its size is only one-third of the original Wan Ren Di. Its explosive power is definitely worse than the original Wan Ren Di, but its advantage is that its smaller size and weight can be thrown farther and it is easier to carry. The number of items that can be carried under the same load is also greatly increased. Overall, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

In order to make it easier to throw, the new version of the Yunzhou-made grenade was also equipped with a small wooden tail, which made its shape very close to the appearance of later grenades, but it was slightly larger than a grenade, and its power was much weaker.

However, even so, it was a rare and powerful weapon in the army in the late Ming Dynasty, so even Hu Zichen was reluctant to use it easily, but kept it all in his own personal guard team and would not use it easily unless it was a critical moment.

…………

It happened almost simultaneously with the roar of artillery fire from the south...

In the middle, Kong Sanqing led more than 400 elite cavalrymen from the Tiger Camp who had survived hundreds of battles, whipped their horses and charged straight towards the enemy army. The sound of the horses' hooves hitting the ground came from far away and got closer and closer. If you just listened to it with your ears, you really couldn't tell which direction they were coming from in such a hurry.

What's more, Liu Zhanyuan had just been frightened by the artillery from He Wang's side. In his panic, he mistook it for his own cavalry coming to support him. It was normal for him to do so.

In fact, no matter what judgment Liu Zhanyuan made at this moment, he could not change his fate of failure. As for the gain or loss of the wooden bridge across the long trench, it was not something he could decide.

The more than 400 elite cavalrymen of the Tiger Camp led by Kong Sanqing were originally following the row of shield soldiers on their war horses. The reason why the shield soldiers in the middle road moved slowly was to better cover the cavalry.

Once they got too close, the cavalry would lose space to accelerate, but if they were too far away, they would not have enough time to seize the wooden bridge. That was why Hu Zichen made such an arrangement, using both wings to attract and contain the enemy troops, and then using shield soldiers as cover to allow the cavalry to get into the best position so that they could launch a surprise attack and seize the wooden bridge in one fell swoop.

Liu Zhanyuan led the 200 bandits to meet them, but found that it was too late and everything was irreversible...

Due to the sudden firing of artillery, the morale of the bandits on the south side was instantly crushed. The already very tenuous defense line became a bursting flood in the blink of an eye. The bandits who turned around and fled became the source of disaster for their own army.

Liu Zhanyuan initially wanted to rely on the deterrence and intimidation of beheading the deserters so that they could regain their fighting spirit and organize a defense line to wait for Dang Shousu's cavalry to arrive.

But as the government troops behind him roared and chased after him, his idea was immediately shattered...

Some bandits even launched a counterattack against the rebels who tried to stop them from escaping. If someone took the lead in this kind of thing, it would be out of control. The more than 300 bandits who had already collapsed here quickly dragged the 200 rebels brought by Liu Zhanyuan into the fleeing army and rushed straight to the wooden bridge guarded by the central army.

Originally, the bandits on the north side fought the Tiger Camp shield soldiers on equal terms, but when the news of the collapse of the south side came, they no longer had the heart to continue resisting and collapsed and fled in an instant...

There are only more than 300 soldiers on the central army side. They are the last force to guard the wooden bridge. Most of them are experienced old thieves and the most ferocious people among the surrendered troops. They are not afraid even when facing hundreds of fleeing soldiers who are eager to survive.

They hacked and killed the fleeing soldiers in front of them, and actually suppressed the fleeing bandits on both wings...

Liu Zhanyuan's roar also came over: "He Da Mao... Where is He Da Mao?"

A sturdy man with messy hair stood out from the fleeing soldiers: "Master Liu, is the big hat wrong..."

Before he could finish his words, a white light flashed before his eyes. He Da Mao suddenly raised his hands and covered his neck tightly, his eyes full of disbelief and his mouth making unclear "ho ho" sounds.

A bandit soldier standing next to He Da Mao was so frightened by the horrific scene that he knelt on the ground...

Bright red blood was oozing out from the places where He Da Mao was covering his hands, dripping down his lapels onto the cracked ground and soaking into the mud.

There was a look of unwillingness in He Damao's eyes. He took his left hand away from his neck, letting the bright red blood continue to flow out. He seemed to want to raise his hand to point at Liu Zhanyuan, but he only raised it halfway before dropping it weakly. There was no light or spirit in his eyes anymore.

As his right hand drooped weakly, a stream of blood spurted out from his neck, splashing all over the surrounding bandits’ bodies and faces with bright red...

"Damn it, what a waste!"

Liu Zhanyuan strode over and kicked He Damao to the ground. He then shouted to the surrounding bandits, "Listen to me, if you can't defend the trench, you'll die if you go back... You'll die anyway. Follow us to kill the officers and soldiers. If you defend the trench, you can eat meat when you go back!"

The thief nicknamed Lao Han was also frightened by Liu Zhanyuan's momentum. In order to avoid being hacked to death like He Da Mao, he took the lead in raising his arm and brandishing his knife, shouting: "Kill the soldiers... Follow Master Liu to kill the soldiers... There will be meat to eat..."

"Kill the soldiers... and you'll have meat to eat..."

"Kill the officers and soldiers..."

Led by a few old thieves, slogans to boost the morale of the thieves immediately rang out...

The bandits, who had regained their spirits, waved their weapons again, turned around and started fighting again with the officers and soldiers rushing towards them from the north and south wings.

But all the bandits, including Liu Zhanyuan, overlooked one thing - the sound of horse hooves hitting the ground just now - which would determine the final success or failure of this battle!
Just when Liu Zhanyuan was fighting with the government troops again and was preparing to defend the wooden bridge and wait for reinforcements, he saw the bandits in the middle fleeing backwards, and the formation that had just been formed was disrupted again.

What was even more terrifying was the elite cavalry of the Tiger Camp following closely behind the fleeing bandits. The horses under their crotches seemed to be running wildly. Dozens of horses had already passed the fleeing bandits and rushed straight into the wooden bridgehead that Liu Zhanyuan was defending... (End of this chapter)