weaving

Chapter 1374 The traitors and the troublemakers deserve death!
The rebel leader Li Zicheng was in charge of the rebel army. The nine-li area from Nanliangfen in the west to Hejialou in the east was filled with rebel leader Li Zicheng's troops.

A wooden platform was built on a high earthen platform, from where one could almost see the entire formation of the rebel army.

Li Zicheng was delighted as he watched his army stretching for miles. He raised his right hand and held a bare horse whip. He pointed at the army formation in front of him and said with a smile, "I'm afraid our elite cavalry is more than Zhang Cheng's infantry and cavalry combined!"

Everyone laughed, and Niu Jinxing said in high spirits: "Throwing a whip to stop the flow of water is just like this."

He turned to look at Li Zicheng, the Prince of Rebellion, and said with a serious face: "With such an elite cavalry, plus the Grand Marshal's 'Three Walls' tactics, who in the entire Central Plains can defeat us?"

Although Li Zicheng didn't say anything, he looked very proud.

"Grand Marshal, it's almost time." Song Xiance reminded from the side.

Seeing that the 30,000 cavalry had already formed their battle array, the King of Rebellion slowly raised his bare whip and shouted, "Pass the order, 10,000 hungry civilians, divide into three teams, and charge the central army of the officers and soldiers."

"Yes."

After receiving the order loudly, the central army commander Wu Ruyi immediately turned around and left, loudly conveying the King of Rebellion's military orders to a row of flag soldiers. Then, a large flag on the high platform was seen swaying regularly, and several colorful flags next to it also began to dance, conveying the King of Rebellion's command order.

As the flags were waved and the orders were passed, rows of figures walked out from the cavalry formations on both sides. They moved very slowly but in an orderly manner, and from a distance there was no sign of panic.

After they moved out of the army formation, they immediately rushed to the empty space in the middle, quickly filling the gap in front of the cavalry. More than 10,000 hungry people formed ten small square formations.

Although it was not very clear, it was still possible to make out that almost every square formation of hungry people was surrounded by more than ten old thief infantrymen, who kept shouting and ordering the hungry people to act.

…………

"Commander-in-chief, the enemy army is moving again!" said the middle officer Zhang Mingyuan, as he took out a telescope and handed it to Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng.

This telescope looks a bit rustic, and is far less sophisticated than the telescopes used by other staff officers and generals in the Yongyi Army. Even the telescopes used by the Night Watch Squad seem to be slightly better than this one.

In the Yongyi Army, only high-level staff officers and generals knew that Earl Yongning had a special feeling for this telescope - it was given to him by Hanlin Yang Tinglin before the Battle of Julu.

Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, has been using this telescope, which is both a remembrance of Yang Hanlin and the time when he killed slaves with Lu Xiangsheng in Julu.

During these two years, he had written to Yang Tinglin several times, inviting him to come out of seclusion to paint for his army, but Yang Tinglin was extremely disappointed with the court and was willing to gather disciples and teach in his hometown.

In fact, Earl Yongning also knew that although Yang Tinglin was very disappointed with the court's actions, he still cared about the Ming Dynasty and always had the heart to save the country and the people. So he also campaigned for him in Beijing and asked Emperor Chongzhen to reinstate Yang Tinglin. It's just that there have been frequent wars in recent years, and Emperor Chongzhen has not had time to think about this matter.

At this moment, Earl Yongning reached out to take the telescope and looked over. Although he was three miles away, he could see clearly that there were ten small square formations in front of the enemy army, each with a size of about a thousand people...

"Humph. The thieves are trying to drive the hungry people into battle again."

Sun Shixiang had just put down his telescope and sighed, "In a war, the most miserable are always the common people!" Zhang Mingyuan said indifferently, "No matter what, we must not let them disrupt our army."

"That being said..." Sun Shixiang said softly with a hint of hesitation on his face, "I'm afraid that this will damage the reputation of the commander-in-chief for loving the people!"

Yongning Bo listened to their conversation, his expression normal, and he said in a loud voice: "What our Yongyi Army is doing today is to defend the border and keep the people safe. It is for the people of Henan Province and the well-being of hundreds of millions of people in the world, not for the tens of thousands of bandits and unruly people in front of us."

Zhang Cheng first made clear the justice of his side, then put the people of the world first, and finally characterized the hungry people who were slowly rushing towards his army as bandits and unruly people.

In this way, he would greatly reduce the psychological burden on himself and the soldiers of the Yongyi Army, and also save himself from the infamy of slaughtering innocent civilians!

Of course, if Li Zicheng wins the battle today and wins again in the future battle for supremacy in the world, the historical record may be like this: the former admiral, the Earl of Yongning, was bloodthirsty and slaughtered countless civilians in Henan, which finally aroused the resistance of the people and was killed by the army led by Emperor Taizu!
This is the two sides of history. Only the final winner can truly have the right to speak. No matter what the real situation was at the time, a hundred years later people will still need to learn about the various situations of previous generations from historical records.

Just like now, the old staff officer Sun Shixiang immediately said: "Yes, it is not a pity to be a traitor and a troublemaker!"

As the central army flag waved, the flag order was passed to the front of the Yongyi Army, and the shouts of orders from the lieutenants of each camp also rang in the ears of the soldiers...

Wang Pu, the general of Datong, originally led his troops to the Longwang Temple line. At first, he fought with the vanguard of the enemy army. But when the main force of the enemy army came, in order to avoid being alone in danger, he was ordered to lead his troops to retreat to the south of Mazhai and became the main force of the army on the western front.

Lineup in the middle were Chen Zhongyan's Hehe Camp, He Zhenxiong's Biao Camp, and the remaining soldiers from the Weiyuan Camp and Suzaku Camp, with a total strength of about 10,000.

However, the central army of Earl Yongning had more than 500 chariots and baggage carts, more than a thousand artillery pieces of various types, hundreds of rocket magazines and terrifying shrapnel shells. Its combat power could not be measured by the number of troops.

In addition, with the addition of Li Fuming's Shanxi troops on the eastern front, the Yongning Earl's side also has more than 20,000 troops, and the cavalry alone has nearly 7,000, which accounts for almost half of the total force.

…………

At this moment, the ten square formations of hungry civilians in front of the rebel army had moved forward more than a hundred steps. Their steps seemed to be filled with lead, and it was very difficult for them to lift their feet every time. No matter how the bandits following behind tried to drive them away or scold them, it was of no avail.

On the other hand, the brave and resolute army was in high spirits, and each of them was full of energy and spirit. They wore helmets and armor, and stared at the phalanx of hungry people slowly approaching from the distance with angry eyes like ferocious monsters.

"The shield soldiers will form a front line, and the musketeers and charioteers will all move forward, reload, check the muskets, and prepare to fire!"

For this battle, Earl Yongning even sent charioteers to the front line. Although most of them were not very proficient in cold weapons, everyone had practiced with muskets. So except for the jousters, gunners and loaders, the rest of the charioteers were equipped with muskets and became musketeers on the front line.

"Team one, loading completed, check to see if everything is correct!"

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"Team three, loading completed..."