weaving

Cheng Zihong's plan went smoothly. He successfully met Liu Cai and his men on the west side and reached a slightly higher mound. However, he was disappointed that the long-awaited Chen Yongfu did not come, but the reinforcements of Chuang's army arrived first.

It turned out that after Hou Daqing retreated from the front line, he hurriedly cleaned up the previous battlefield, and then led his 500 cavalrymen, as well as dozens of wounded soldiers from Chen Wenzhong's troops, and hurried back on horseback.

"General, Chen Wenzhong was greedy for merit and rushed forward recklessly, chasing the fleeing enemy and was ambushed by the soldiers."

As soon as he met Tian Jianxiu, Hou Daqing was eager to report. Tian Jianxiu glanced at the tightly surrounded Cheng Zihong's troops and asked anxiously: "You didn't stop him?"

"It was too late." Hou Daqing panted and said, "When I arrived, Chen Wenzhong had already chased him out. It was too late to shout!"

"How's it going?"

"There are nearly 2,000 government troops over there, all of them cavalry. I'm afraid Wen Zhong and his men are in great danger."

Hou Daqing added: "I saw that the officers and soldiers were too powerful and difficult to defeat, so I withdrew with the wounded soldiers."

Tian Jianxiu glared at him when he heard that, but didn't say anything else. He turned his head to look at the people Hou Daqing brought back, and said lightly: "Take a breath, go up and replace Jiao Cheng, so that he can take a break."

"Yes." Hou Daqing responded hastily, and ordered the cavalry to dismount immediately so that the horses could rest and regain their strength before going into battle again.

…………

Chen Yongfu's Henan Town Cavalry were all elite soldiers who had fought in many battles. They had been fighting against the Chuang Army for several years, especially in the past two years, they had frequent fierce battles with the Chuang Army. Therefore, they were very familiar with the Chuang Army's tactics.

Although they were not as proficient in using firearms as the other camps of the Yongyi Army, their archery skills were still very strong. After all, even King Chuang’s eyes were shot blind by them outside the city of Kaifeng - this showed that their archery skills were definitely not ordinary. After all, they had shot so much arrows when defending the city that they might as well have practiced them on the spot!

They used the bodies of dead horses to block the way, and even the injured horses were not spared. They killed them on the spot and piled them in front of them as shields. Then they used the cavalry who had lost their horses as the first line to block the way outside, and used bows from a distance and hand-to-hand combat from close up...

The cavalry on the inner line were ready to attack at any time. Once the enemy in front found it difficult to hold on, they would spur their horses to charge out and force them to retreat.

Although they have managed to hold this small position temporarily, as casualties continue to increase, the risk of them being wiped out is also increasing. I am afraid that they will eventually be wiped out.

However, in the face of death, people’s fear will drop to the lowest point. After all, you will die anyway - instead of waiting to die, you might as well fight hard, maybe there is still a glimmer of hope for survival!

It is precisely because of this thought, coupled with their deep hatred for the bandits, that they have been able to hold on until now.

But before their own reinforcements arrived, the enemy's reinforcements arrived first!

Cheng Zihong no longer had any desire to survive. All he wanted now was to kill one more thief. One more would die, and killing one more would mean one more profit.

In his opinion, killing one would be enough, and killing more would be like revenge for his parents, wife and children!

In this way, it would not be in vain for him to come to this world. Anyway, his parents, wife and children have all died in Chenliu County. Even if they are not dead, what will happen if they are kidnapped by thieves? Cheng Zihong knows it very well...

Aren’t there enough corpses like this under the city of Kaifeng?

"Brothers, the enemy reinforcements are coming again."

Cheng Zihong's loud shout attracted the remaining 200-odd cavalrymen around him. They briefly left the battlefield and looked at Cheng Zihong.

"Today is destined to be a life-and-death battle. Are you guys afraid?"

A man leaning against the dead horse, his helmet had fallen off somewhere, his hair was covered in blood, no one knew if it was his or the enemy's, and his right hand was only the part above the elbow, the white cloth used to bandage the wound had turned black and red, still dripping with black and red blood. "What's there to be afraid of? The thief doesn't have more heads than us, what's there to be afraid of, just kill him!" He spoke in a very soft voice because of his serious injuries and loss of blood.

But the more than 200 government cavalrymen present heard it clearly, and even the noisy fighting around them could not cover it up.

"Killing one will cover the cost, and killing two will make a damn profit." Another old military leader with a big beard stood up and spoke.

He was also covered in blood, and it was impossible to tell whether he was injured or not, but judging from the vigor he showed, it must be the blood of the enemy that was stained on his body.

At this time, a cavalryman in his twenties stood up and shouted: "What's the use of death? Eighteen years later, I'm still a hero!"

"Yes, eighteen years later, he is a brave man again!"

"Kill the thief. I'm going to make a few more of them today."

"Yes, kill the thief..."

"Kill the thief... Kill the thief... Kill the thief..."

For a moment, the shouts were deafening. Even the knights outside the mound were shocked by the sudden momentum. They stood there staring at the mound in a daze and even forgot to launch an attack for a moment.

…………

Here, Hou Daqing's 500 fresh troops who had never participated in the battle had just replaced Jiao Cheng's 300+ tired soldiers and were preparing to annihilate the official troops on Tuqiu in one fell swoop.

I saw a large cloud of dust rising from the southeast, and it was obvious that a large group of cavalry was galloping towards this side...

When Tian Jianxiu saw this, he knew that all 500 cavalrymen under Chen Wenzhong had been wiped out, otherwise the government troops in the east would not have come here to rescue.

He glanced at the smoke rising in the distance, then at the position of the government troops on the mound, and sighed secretly. He issued an order: "All troops, assemble, give up attacking the soldiers on the mound, and immediately retreat north to the camp!"

The bandits looked at the mound and felt very sorry. They were about to break through their defense line and wipe them out in one fell swoop, but now they were forced to give up. Everyone felt unwilling.

But military orders were difficult to disobey, so they could only withdraw from the mound and reorganize, preparing to retreat north back to the camp.

As the main general, Tian Jianxiu naturally had to stay behind to cover the retreat. He let the remaining soldiers of Jiao Cheng's army go in front, and all of Li Jian's cavalry followed closely behind. He also left behind the 500 cavalry of Hou Daqing's army to cover the retreat with him.

…………

Cheng Zihong and his men had already prepared for a fight to the death, but they saw that the enemy soldiers were retreating instead of advancing. He suddenly felt something was wrong and seemed to realize something. He quickly got up and jumped onto the back of a war horse, looking around into the distance.

"Reinforcements, General Chen is here to save us!"

The cavalrymen, who originally thought they were doomed, became spirited after hearing Cheng Zihong's shout, as if dying people had drunk thousand-year-old ginseng soup and gained temporary revival.

Cheng Zihong naturally also felt the change in everyone's state. He sat back on the horse, raised his knife and shouted: "Kill! Brothers, charge down, don't let the thieves escape!"

"Kill...Kill!" (End of this chapter)