Nanming Engineer

Chapter 222
Zhang Xianzhong gave an order, and the Great Western Army that had surrounded Hanzhong City immediately moved into action, and retreated cleanly. In less than an hour, the defenders on the top of the city were surprised to find that the Great Western Army, which was still screaming for beating and killing just now, had already Like the ebbing sea water, it disappears into the distance.

"The thieves are retreating! The thieves are retreating!" The defenders, who were exhausted from the days of fighting, shouted ecstatically like prisoners who had been pardoned. They fell into ecstasy.

He Zhen was not overwhelmed by joy, he immediately realized that the strange behavior of the peasant army must be due to the arrival of reinforcements from the Qing army.

He stared at the east for a while, and saw the smoke and dust on the horizon appearing in his eyes, which was the side effect of nearly a hundred thousand troops galloping across the wilderness.

A group of generals standing beside He Zhen, such as Luo Dai, Dang Mengxian and others, all showed joy. The ten days of hard work finally came to fruition. The isolated city withstood the siege of Zhang Xianzhong's all-powerful soldiers. Wang Ping defended Hanzhong with 3 troops, and he stood still in the face of Cao Shuang's [-]-strong attack.

The generals breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that they could finally rest, but unexpectedly they heard He Zhen shout loudly: "Generals, listen to the order, order all the cavalry to line up in Wengcheng, and follow the general to hunt down the traitor army!"

Everyone was stunned and stayed for a short while, only to see that He Zhen was already striding towards the horse path on the city wall. It seemed that he was going to lead the troops out of the city himself. The blood on the leaves, straightened the helmet on his head.

Dang Mengxian reacted a little slowly, didn't understand what was going on, and stood still in a daze, but Luo Dai already knew what He Zhen was thinking, patted Dang Mengxian on the shoulder, and said quietly: "Not yet Understand? The Eight Banners Army is here. I heard that the leader of the army is Prince Su. This is a good opportunity to curry favor with such a noble person. Can it be our turn to stay in the city and wait for the prince to come in? It’s not too late to meet him , I have been an official for so many years in vain?"

Dang Mengxian suddenly realized, stared at He Zhen's back with wide eyes and sighed: "Junmen really deserves to be educated, their brains are so fast!"

He trotted quickly and chased He Zhen down to the city.

Hauge's army came in a menacing manner, without stopping at all, and gathered the ten thousand cavalry led by He Zhen outside the city of Hanzhong, and the momentum became even more majestic.

Looking at the Hanzhong City Wall that looked like it had been hit by ten thousand elephants on the surface of the moon, the several breaches that had been destroyed by artillery fire, and the corpses scattered outside the city, Hauge showed approval and gave a few simple words of praise. He Zhen encouraged him to make persistent efforts and make contributions to the Qing Dynasty.

"The military situation is urgent now. If there are too many words, I won't say anything. I will reward you for your merits after Zhang Xianzhong is equalized." Hauge was wearing a yellow cotton armor with a bowl on his head and a long cherry spear on top of his helmet. Standing up like a lightning rod, he immediately elevated him a lot and added a lot of mighty aura: "Now march with this king, and when the thief is exhausted, defeat him in one blow!"

He Zhen thanked him again and again, riding his horse knowledgeably behind Hauge, among a group of generals, he didn't recognize Oboi and Su Le, he just looked at the clothes of Batulu, and politely greeted them People bowed their hands to salute, Oboi's attitude was arrogant, he didn't even look at him, but Su Le was much better, smiling and nodding to He Zhen in return.

In the crowd, he also saw the figure of Pingxi King Wu Sangui, but when they were in the Ming army, they were separated from each other. They didn't meet, they couldn't talk about friendship, and they didn't know each other well.

"The Tartars are all savages." He Zhen slandered, "Only the younger one looks like a man."

The army followed the retreating footsteps of the Daxi Army and advanced all the way. It didn't take long to enter Nanzheng County. Discarded military equipment can be seen everywhere on both sides of the road. It seems that the besieged peasant army retreated very hastily.

He Zhen was secretly happy. He had been held down and beaten by Zhang Xianzhong for ten days. Now the clouds were finally rising, and the offense and defense were reversed. The more embarrassed the Daxi Army was, the more relieved he was.

He looked around, and saw that the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty were high-spirited and full of energy, and their horses were as strong as cattle. They didn't feel tired after traveling thousands of miles, and they were full of strength like chicken blood. , Physical fitness is different from ordinary people.In fact, it was not the case, but He Zhen didn't know that it was because Hauge had already stayed in Yangzhou, a hundred miles away, for three days to recuperate.

Hauge is as fierce as a human bear and as fierce as fire, but he is not a reckless man who doesn't understand strategy. What's more, he has a bunch of old Manchurians around him to assist him. He naturally understands the tactics of defeating the enemy when we are tired. After three days in Yangzhou, After his soldiers recovered from the fatigue of the march, Zhang Xianzhong's troops also spent a lot of energy and vitality under Hanzhong City. The morale of the enemy and ourselves were very different, so of course it was time to take action.

The cavalry of the Ezhe Army of the Chahar Tribe played a great role. The rangers came out in small groups and basically killed all the scouts and spies of the Western Army within a radius of fifty miles. Nearly 10 people were within a hundred miles. Zhang Xianzhong stayed in the distant Yangzhou for three days without any surprise. It was not until today that the army was dispatched and the movement was too great that he discovered it in vain.

However, it was too late. The Qing army was ready for a decisive battle. A field battle of this scale should be fully prepared. of human life.

So at this moment, there is an atmosphere of panic in the Great West Army, and the faces of the sergeants who hurriedly backed up to form the camp all have nervous and panicked expressions on their faces. The true colors are undoubtedly revealed.

Zhang Xianzhong reined in his horse under the banner of the Chinese Army, and when he heard the noise behind him, he frowned tightly, turned his head displeased, and said, "The enemy is at hand, whose battalion is making noise? Have you forgotten the military law?"

Sun Kewang was in charge of supervising the army, supervising military discipline, and punishing lawbreakers. Hearing this, his face became hot, and he immediately led the people on horseback to the head of the camp where the noise was the loudest. The horse came back from behind, and a group of soldiers following him held up their spears, and each spear had a human head stuck in it. The head was bloody, obviously it had just been chopped off.

They deliberately circled a large circle from the rear army, galloped in front of the army formations, and let all the phalanx see the heads and the people dragged behind the horses. Seeing this, the somewhat confused sergeants immediately fell silent and did not dare to attack. Say no more.

"Father, the rear army's left sentry led by General Wang Xianzu and deputy general Niu Daxian were helpless. They were croaking in front of the formation and disturbing the morale of the army." Sun Kewang, who was running back to the central army, shouted loudly and waved his sword in front of Zhang Xianzhong's horse. Cut off the long rope and abandon the two generals who were dragged behind the horses to the ground: "My son, I killed 35 of the leaders of the noisy people in front of the formation. I will escort the two generals here and ask my father to punish them."

Zhang Xianzhong squinted his eyes and looked at the two bloody and inhuman figures on the ground, and said flatly: "What are you asking, let the horse step to death."

Sun Kewang made a move, and the team of soldiers who followed him immediately stepped forward, nearly a hundred horseshoes rumbled past the two of them, trampling them into a pulp.

"Facing the enemy in front of the battle, advance and never retreat!" Sun Kewang yelled sharply, and ordered his men to gallop around in the army, shouting as they ran: "All armies march forward enthusiastically, and those who disobey orders will be punished by military law! "

As expected, Iron Blood is the best defender of order. The originally turbulent peasant army was already showing signs of turning into a bandit army. After killing a few people, the scene was immediately suppressed. The formation is as strict as a rock and calm.

Before Zhang Xianzhong could smile with satisfaction, he saw smoke and dust rising in the distance, and a black human wall rising from the horizon. The earth was shaking slightly. The shock of tens of thousands of horseshoes and human legs running together hit his heart. .

The confidence and morale that had just been built up were immediately blown to pieces. Anyone with eyes could see that the teams in the distance were getting closer and closer, with more and more people, and those gleaming knives and guns. The edge of the blade, and the banners of various colors floating like clouds, all represent that the scythe of death is flying head-on.

The officers didn't wait for Sun Kewang to come to patrol again, they shouted loudly and tried their best to boost the morale of their subordinates. They all knew that in such a large-scale battle, there was no way to escape. Hacking to death behind him, the only way to survive is to work hard and kill the enemy on the opposite side.

However, there was not much disturbance at the Central Army Office. The people standing beside Zhang Xianzhong were all military men rolling on their knives, killing like hemp. He had never seen any battle before, and the enemy had fought with a larger number of enemies. He showed no fear, faintly He watched the approaching Qing soldiers motionless, and focused on the movements of the Qing soldiers. Only the horse under his crotch snorted occasionally, making a little noise.

The brigade of the Qing army, blowing like a hurricane, came to a stop less than a mile away from the array of the Daxi army, and began to form a formation. Teams of infantry caught up from behind, standing in the front row with large shields erected, The cavalry separated to the two wings familiarly, and stood in a square formation in an orderly manner according to the banner.

Behind the pawns holding shields and countless banners, a bright yellow banner stood tall and upright. Those guarding the banner were all the elite Ba Yala battalion. The inside is inlaid with iron leaves, the outside is lined with copper foam rivets, and the skirt with yellow and red borders shows the status of the Eight Banners, and Hauge stands under the banner.

After sizing up the Qing army, Zhang Xianzhong closed his eyes and thought deeply, and then spoke.

"Old Wang, during the reign of Chongzhen, you fought against the Tartars in the frontier army of the Ming Dynasty. Come and see, what are they going to do?" Zhang Xianzhong turned his head sideways and asked Wang Shangli who was standing beside him.

Wang Shangli frowned solemnly, and said in a solemn voice: "In the past, when the Tartars entered the pass to plunder, most of them were riders in front and infantry in the rear. The Ming army was often defeated by their cavalry. They never dared to meet the enemy head-on, so I thought, the Tartars will send cavalry to attack on both wings, and the infantry will hold back from the front, and when the cavalry defeats my two wings, the infantry will charge directly to our center."

Zhang Xianzhong listened, thought for a while and said with a sneer: "Okay, my view of the Tartar army formation is similar to what Wang Dudu said, and the method of warfare is certainly the same. I heard that the Tartars fought from Liaodong to the northwest, and they were invincible. Even Li Zicheng died in the battle. In their hands, I don't believe in this evil, looking at the strength of their army, but their armor is neat and tidy, that's what I expected."

He shouted sharply: "Ling, the archers step forward, the bird commanders step forward, line up, and prepare to kill and wound the Tartars who are charging into the battle."

"Ling, Wang Dingguo led the fourth cavalry battalion of the Huwei Army and the [-]th Battalion of the Suwei Army of the Left Guard to deploy defenses to the left flank; Liu Jingju led the fourth cavalry battalion of the Yingyang Army and led the [-]th Battalion of the Suwei Army of the Right Guard to deploy defenses to the right flank. Two The general will put defense first, and if the enemy comes to attack, shoot them with crossbows and firearms to prevent them from rushing into the formation. There is absolutely no room for loss, otherwise military law will be used!,
"Ling, Wang Shangli led the [-]th Battalion of the Longtao Army of the Front Army, and Sun Kewang led the [-]th Battalion of the Imperial Army of the Central Army. When the two wings attracted the Tartars to attack, when the stalemate came, they bravely moved forward and smashed the infantry of the front army with crossbows and firearms. , defeated with one blow!"

Having said so much in one breath, Zhang Xianzhong paused for a breath, a smile appeared on his sallow face, and finally said: "I will lead the rear army and hold the ground for the generals. When the generals break the formation, Beat the drum and rush to kill, and take the head of Hauge's son!"

(End of this chapter)