The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 168 Zhuge Kongming
Liu Zhaosun nodded with satisfaction. The main force of the cavalry battalion had not yet been dispatched, but the opposite side had already collapsed. He looked back and saw a large number of soldiers coming in continuously.

Four thousand soldiers from the headquarters rushed to the battlefield.

The black iron armor and the red cotton armor of the firearms team were intertwined and spread across the plains of Dengzhou. The vanguard was deploying, and all the soldiers wore bright helmets. From horseback, all they could see were dancing red tassels.

Ping Liaohou looked back at the orderly military formation and felt an immense sense of heroism in his heart.

The strong military spirit displayed by the Kaiyuan soldiers made Liu Zhaosun firmly believe that he could defeat any enemy.

In the distance, the Red Scarf Cavalry of the Wenxiang Sect collapsed.

The Yehe elite cavalry launched a two-wing attack on the Wenxiang cavalry, which frightened them. After the main force of the Kaiyuan cavalry came on the field, the opponent did not hesitate at all and immediately fled to both sides.

The cavalry battalion closely followed the fleeing soldiers from behind, and the cavalry brandished their spears and halberds, slaughtering the enemies who fell behind like chopping melons and vegetables.

The new riders were at the front. Many of them had just joined the cavalry battalion. This kind of cover from behind could effectively increase their confidence and gain valuable experience in cavalry charge.

The sound of muskets exploding one after another rang out in the fields. Flintlock soldiers galloped past, and puffs of white smoke rose in the air. Under the alternating attacks of cold and hot weapons, the Wenxiang Sect cavalry on the opposite side suffered heavy casualties. In the end, only fifty or sixty people returned to the back of their own infantry formation.

Liu Zhaosun looked at the White Lotus riders who were being defeated like a tide and felt that the scene before him was too magical.

In the past, when fighting against the Later Jin cavalry, it would take at least three or five rounds to determine the winner. Now, only one charge is needed and the opponent will completely collapse.

Is it that the Kaiyuan cavalry has become stronger or that the Wenxiang Sect is vulnerable?
If the enemy was vulnerable, then how did Xu Hongru lead this motley crowd all the way from Yanzhou to Dengzhou Prefecture?

He had no time to think further, and led his team to rush to the front of the White Lotus Sect's infantry formation fifty steps. The Wenxiang Sect's large formation shot out waves of heavy arrows, and several riders in the front row were hit by arrows and fell off their horses.

Liu Zhaosun raised his round shield to block, and when the rain of arrows stopped, he swung his sword and cut off the arrow shaft on the shield.

He looked up to the south and saw smoke and dust billowing three miles away, and countless pairs of footsteps moving around aimlessly.

In the chaos, Liu Zhaosun saw a dark crowd in the front row. Everyone was dressed in rags, holding sticks and branches in their hands, and some were even bare-handed.

He knew that these were the cannon fodder used by the Wenxiang Sect during the siege, all looted from Yanzhou, and many had died along the way.

"Once the cavalry has finished charging, send the soldiers in! Kill the demons and rescue the civilians. Anyone who dares to stand in our way will be killed, no matter who they are!"

~~~~~~·
The golden drummer beat the attack drum, and the nine thousand new recruits from the three thousand headquarters were inspired and looked towards the south.

Three central army cavalrymen wearing chain mail and carrying flags on their backs rushed to the headquarters of various thousand troops.

They waved blue flags and shouted as they galloped:
"Order from General Ping Liaohou! The Wenxiang Cult is guilty of burning, killing, and looting, and their crimes are unforgivable. After the cavalry charges, the soldiers will immediately attack and kill any resistance they encounter."

Deng Changxiong, Wang Erhu and Qi Jin received the order and immediately ordered the drums to be beaten and the army to march forward.

The captain of each battalion blew the bamboo whistle and tried to keep the soldiers' marching formation intact.

After the three central army scouts announced the general's order, they returned to the general's central army.

Liu Zhaosun, who led the first row of spearmen to charge, also rode his horse back to the central army flag.

The cavalry battalion continued to hunt down the scattered cavalry, and the passage leading to the White Lotus infantry formation was cleared.

After Ping Liaohou was established, the general began to sound various flags and drum music.

The three thousand headquarters slowly unfolded.

The 2,000th headquarters of the left wing consisted of newly trained soldiers, totaling 2,500 men, led by Deng Changxiong;
The 3,000th headquarters in the middle is composed of newly trained soldiers, mixed with some veterans, totaling 2,500 people, led by Wang Erhu;

The headquarters of the 40,000th unit on the right wing was composed of the newly trained Qi Family Army and the White Spear Soldiers, mixed with some elite Wolf Soldiers, totaling 3,000 people, led by Qi Jin.

The 1,000 combat soldiers from the headquarters, a part of the cavalry battalion with 500 elite cavalrymen and the central army guards served as a reserve force and stayed at the central army command flag position to prevent Xu Hongru from leading the main force of the Wenxiang Sect to launch a surprise attack.

The 100,000 members of the Wenxiang Sect were faced with Kaiyuan's 8,000 combat soldiers, 3,000 elite cavalry, a large number of reserve troops and the advantage of firearms.

At this time, the Kaiyuan Army, if placed on the Hunhe battlefield a year ago, would have been enough to contend with the main force of the Eight Banners. Using it to deal with the Wenxiang Sect would be like a mountain pressing down on one's head.

The reason for deploying such a strong force was to quickly defeat the Wenxiang sect thugs, kill most of them, and drive the remaining ones out of Dengzhou, thereby buying valuable time for Liu Zhaosun and Kang Yingqian to plan their next move.

The three thousand headquarters were arranged in parallel rows, with each column composed of flag teams. The two flag teams in the front row were flintlock soldiers, and the two rows in the back were halberd soldiers and pikemen.

There are more than one hundred killer teams deployed on both wings of the formation, responsible for killing the scattered fleeing soldiers.

The three thousand headquarters dispatched their cavalry and infantry to patrol further out on the flanks to prevent any unexpected incidents on the battlefield. Liu Zhaosun looked at the Wenxiang Sect members, hastily arranged in three or four rows in the distance, shook his head slightly, and began to carefully search the crowd for the vanguard general Wang.

Vanguard General Wang Haoxian is the third son of Wang Sen, the first generation leader of Wenxiang Sect. Although he is Wang Sen’s biological son, his influence in Wenxiang Sect is not as great as that of his senior brother Xu Hongru, and many members of the sect do not submit to Wang Haoxian.

The Wenxiang Sect was bloodthirsty and cruel. In order to save his life, Wang Haoxian gave up the position of the big cabinet to Xu Hongru early on and only made three cabinets for himself.

The second clerk of the Wenxiang Sect was a failed scholar. He did not come to attack Dengzhou this time, but stayed in Yanzhou with the first clerk, waiting for good news from Wang Haoxian.

Liu Zhaosun was quite interested in the third cabinet member Wang Haoxian. In his previous life, he had read the legend of the White Lotus Sect in "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio", and one of the stories was about the deeds of Wang Haoxian.

It is said that this person could turn beans into soldiers, wooden benches into war horses, and paper people into maids, and he repeatedly defeated the imperial army with Maoshan magic.

Liu Zhaosun held up the telescope and looked for a while, and finally found Wang Haoxian's flag behind the crowd.

What surprised him was that the banner of the three cabinets showed an old woman with a string of beads around her neck.

"Is this the Mother of Mount Li? Draw her like this and ask if she agrees?"

The third cabinet official, Wang Haoxian, sat on a huge cushion, which was supported by a sedan chair.

Sixteen strong men lifted the cushions and quickly passed by a group of believers, who knelt down all around them.

The sedan chair was obscured by the dense crowd of believers. From Liu Zhaosun's perspective, he could just see the face of the third cabinet member, Wang Haoxian, with white hair and a youthful face, and extraordinary manners.

“It’s very beautiful.”

Sangui was wearing a green Taoist robe, waving a feather fan in his hand, sitting on a cushion with a detached look, as if Zhuge Kongming was flying in the wind.

Zhuge Kongming suddenly stood up from his cushion, holding a duck feather fan in his hand and pointing at the Kaiyuan army approaching in front.

I saw that he had his eyes slightly closed and was muttering something, as if he was chanting a Maoshan spell.

"I was very immersed in the role."

Liu Zhaosun smiled coldly.

The unarmored believers in the front row cheered together at the instigation of the Three Cabinets. They all seemed to be possessed by gods and demons, and rushed towards the Kaiyuan flintlock soldiers who were more than 200 steps ahead, shouting wildly.

"Kill the government troops and seize Dengzhou!"

At this time, Deng Changxiong came on horseback and asked loudly.

"Sir, all the battalions have deployed. Shall we attack immediately?"

Liu Zhaosun waved the command flag and shouted, "Attack!"

"boom!"

Six four-pound cannons roared simultaneously, and six iron bullets flew out of the barrels at high speed, drawing dazzling arcs in the air and smashing towards the Wenxiang Sect thugs three hundred steps away.

The tens of thousands of Wenxiang Sect thugs in front of them had robbed from Yanzhou to Qingzhou, burning, killing, looting, and committing all kinds of atrocities. All the people who refused to join them, regardless of whether they were officials or civilians, rich or poor, were killed by them.

Coming from Dengzhou, I saw along the way that countless villages had been burned down by the Wenxiang Sect thugs. Except for the able-bodied men and women, all the children and the elderly were killed by them.

The damage caused by the Wenxiang Sect to the social economy was far greater than that caused by Li Zicheng's refugees in the late Ming Dynasty.

What Liu Zhaosun needs now is a stable order.

The intelligence bureau's investigation revealed that there were 5,000 women looted from various places around Wendeng County, some of whom had been raped by the thugs and were pregnant.

If we leave these believers behind and let them return to the people, they will sooner or later become a scourge, and it won't be long before the Wenxiang Sect will revive.

In the original history, Dengzhou Governor Yuan Keli and Shandong Governor Zhao Yan led troops to quell the Wenxiang Sect rebellion. They only beheaded the bandit leader Xu Hongru and several big leaders, and simply persuaded the other members to disperse.

This conciliatory policy led to the resurgence of the Wenxiang Sect a few years later.

Liu Zhaosun would not repeat the same mistake. He wanted to drive the Wenxiang Sect thugs out of Dengzhou and drive them towards Yansheng Duke of Yanzhou Prefecture.

"I will pray for you on behalf of Maitreya Buddha Lishan Laomu. I wish you a speedy ascent to paradise."

(End of this chapter)