weaving

Chapter 1459 The Nightmare Begins
When Gou Shiwu arrived at the battlefield east of the North Gate with 3,500 bandits, Xu Jinyong, the deputy general of the Weiyuan Camp of the Yongyi Army, had already led the Imperial Guards into Zhuxian Town. He could only see a bit of dust raised by the galloping cavalry.

Fortunately, they encountered the central cavalry led by Yu Jin, the deputy commander of the White Tiger Camp. However, due to the hasty engagement, they failed to form a proper formation and were still broken through by Yu Jin's 150 cavalrymen, who still managed to enter Zhuxian Town.

Gou Shiwu immediately dispatched 1,500 bandit cavalrymen, who split into three groups and pursued the government cavalry in the direction they had gone—this was the only thing he could do at the moment!

The route the government troops took was easy to find, because after entering Zhuxian Town, in order to create chaos, they set fires along their route, leaving flames and black smoke billowing wherever they went.

"The government troops are entering the city... Run! Run! The government troops are entering the city... Run! The rebel leader has been defeated... Run!"

In an instant, Zhuxian Town descended into chaos. Fires and smoke filled the air, and the sounds of fighting and shouting echoed everywhere, as if the rebel leader had truly suffered a defeat and the government army had already stormed into Zhuxian Town.

Moreover, Zhuxian Town was currently surrounded by artillery fire, and the sounds of battle could be heard for miles around. There was practically no place in the town where the sounds of battle were not heard.

Since the first shot was fired at the north gate of Zhuxian Town at noon, half an hour has passed. The cannon fire has been coming and going from all sides, but the shouts of battle have never stopped, as if countless government troops outside the town are tirelessly attacking in.

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Today, most of Zhuxian Town is occupied by bandit troops, and only one-tenth of the original inhabitants remain in the town, less than a thousand people. Most of them fled before Zuo Liangyu arrived, and then when Zuo Liangyu was driven away by the rebel king, a group of them escaped in the chaos.

The people who remain in Zhuxian Town now, apart from the elderly and weak who can't run around, are the servants and young men who look after the mansions of their masters, as well as the shop assistants who stay behind in various shops and warehouses.

Fortunately, although the rebel army was a bandit group, it paid great attention to military discipline. The town was garrisoned by 20,000 to 30,000 rebel troops, but it was even more peaceful than when Ding Qirui and Zuo Liangyu's government troops were stationed there. There were almost no incidents of bullying the people or forced buying and selling.

At one point, the people of Zhuxian Town even believed that Ding Qirui and Zuo Liangyu were the bandits and outlaws, while the army of the rebel king was the imperial army!
This is truly a tragedy for the Ming Dynasty—the real government troops act like bandits, while the real big bandits are more like government troops.

It is clear how necessary the change of dynasties is!

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Meanwhile, Gou Shiwu led the remaining two thousand bandits in a counterattack at the breach.

They attacked time and time again, only to be driven back each time. On one occasion, they almost reached the breach, but were forced back by the government troops in hand-to-hand combat.

Time passed second by second, and no more reinforcements from the rebel army arrived.

However, the number of government troops increased as the fighting continued—the left and right wings of the White Tiger Battalion, which served as reserves, also rushed into the breach under the leadership of Vice General Tian Mingyu.

Their arrival marked the beginning of Gou Shiwu's nightmare, and because of the two major battles at Longwang Temple and Zhuxian Town, the Yongyi Army also became the beginning of the nightmare for the rebel army and bandits!
From then on, the balance of power shifted—the rebel forces declined from their peak, while the Yongyi Army grew stronger, showing an unstoppable momentum.

The soldiers on the left and right flanks led by Tian Mingyu had long been burning with rage, their eyes gleaming blue. They were like tigers descending from the mountain, with a row of shield soldiers providing cover in front and three rows of gunners behind firing volley after volley. The bandits were either hit and fell to the ground howling in pain, or were suppressed so much that they couldn't even lift their heads.

Some officers and soldiers took advantage of this opportunity to flank the enemy, suddenly appearing beside them and engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

As Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, said, "The only real battle is hand-to-hand combat. No matter how powerful the cannons are or how sharp the bullets are, the final decision on the outcome of the battle will inevitably be hand-to-hand combat, and only hand-to-hand combat can truly intimidate the enemy."

"Only an army that dares to engage in hand-to-hand combat, an army that can defeat the enemy in hand-to-hand combat, is a true army, a force that can truly terrify the enemy!"

The Yongyi Army is exactly what Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, described as a force that truly terrifies the enemy!
At 3:45 PM, which is one hour after the battle began at the North Gate, the rebel army, led by Gou Shiwu, was defeated... truly defeated, and defeated in hand-to-hand combat.

Although the government troops' muskets were powerful and inflicted considerable casualties on the rebel army, they were not enough to defeat them so easily.

But hand-to-hand combat is different. If you lose, you lose. There are no excuses you can use, and you can't even find a reason to cheat.

Gou Shiwu watched as his brothers fell one by one. They had been together day and night, laughing and talking just half an hour ago, and were full of energy and vitality. Now, they were all gone.

While five or six, or even ten, brothers on our side fell, it was only in exchange for the casualty of one officer or soldier...

Those soldiers clad in fine iron and leather armor, though they fell, were not necessarily fatally wounded. After all, their vital organs were protected by the armor, and with post-battle medical treatment, they almost all survived.

But looking at his own brothers, one by one they lay in pools of blood. Their screams as they fell and their painful struggles after they collapsed seemed to foreshadow their ultimate fate: the inevitable end of their lives.

Unwilling to accept defeat, Gou Shiwu roared and charged at the government soldiers in front of him, the sound of "bang bang bang" echoing in his ears...

Each strike was delivered with force, yet it felt as if it had struck a hard rock, causing his hands to go numb. However, the soldiers in front of him seemed unaffected, their weapons still attacking him, forcing him to dodge carefully.

Gou Shiwu was also wearing a leather armor, but he only had the breastplate on his upper body, not a full set of armor.

Before long, two bloody gashes were slashed on Gou Shiwu's legs by the soldiers, instantly staining his entire lower body red. His large body swayed, as if he was about to fall, but he also seemed somewhat unwilling to give up, struggling to hold on.

Just as Gou Shiwu was about to collapse from exhaustion, a burly bandit suddenly rushed up, picked him up, and hoisted him onto his shoulder, shouting, "If you can't kill him, protect your master!"

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With the White Tiger Camp achieving a great victory at the breach, repelling the enemy troops, and the entire army breaking into Zhuxian Town, it also foreshadowed Gao Yigong's defeat and the beginning of the end for the rebel king!