The Qiaojun army suddenly appeared on the battlefield in front of the battalion, and the local advantage that Li Mi painstakingly managed to obtain suddenly disappeared. There were not many elite soldiers available around Zhang Xutuo, but at least there were camp fences to defend. As long as you guard the narrow gate of the camp, you can stop the bandit army from advancing into the camp. Zhang Xutuo blocked the way in front of the bandit army, and the Sui army from Qiaojun flanked them.
What's even more tragic is that Chen Yingliang just brought Kan Leng, the most capable player in the Qiaojun team this time. The last one was different, but he was the most reliable master in the fight. Under his leadership, although the charging speed of the Modao team of the Sui Army was not very fast, it advanced like a copper wall and an iron wall. The Modao team was more than ten feet long. Either stabbing or cutting, flying up and down, directly strangling the enemy on the opposite side into flesh and blood. Although the bandit soldiers around Meng Haigong and his wife were elite, they were helpless with this rigorous and neat Modao tactic, and were killed back again and again. , the formation is greatly compressed.
I can't see clearly in the dark, and the best partner in Modao tactics, archers, is not very useful. However, Chen Yingliang, who is good at using his brain, has other ways to make up for this regret. When he found that the enemies ahead were too dense to advance, Kan Ling gave an order Next, the Modao team in the second row immediately threw a few gunpowder bottles. Although the power of this primitive grenade is small, it has a pretty good deterrent effect when used against densely packed enemies. Amidst the violent explosion, the densely packed bandits The soldiers were either shot by the iron horns and nails wrapped around the wine bottle, or they were dizzy by the violent explosion, and many bandit soldiers were directly shattered eardrums. The dense crowd suddenly became chaotic. Taking the opportunity to advance in strides, massacre the chaotic bandit soldiers with zero blows.
Unable to stop the attack of the Modao team, Meng Haigong and his wife could only order the army to go forward with all their strength, and strive for the last chance to behead Zhang Xutuo. Unfortunately, Zhang Xutuo's team has safely passed the dangerous period of being attacked in a hurry. Not only did they stabilize their position again, but they were also launching a counterattack under the leadership of Zhang Xutuo and Tang Wanche. Zhang Xutuo's personal troops also seemed to be crazy, rushing towards the opposite enemy one after another, stabbing axes with knives and spears Smashing, wrestling and rolling on the ground with the enemy in his arms, he tried his best to protect Zhang Xutuo and open up a way for Zhang Xutuo to charge.
Zhang Xutuo also hacked and killed quite a few enemies with his own hands. Although every bandit soldier who could get close to Zhang Xutuo rushed forward with blood red eyes, it was not the elite soldiers around Zhang Xutuo who greeted them. It was Zhang Xutuo's rock-breaking horizontal knife, accurate and ruthless horizontal knife. Many bandit soldiers had their heads opened or flew into the sky before they could see Zhang Xutuo's face clearly. Encouraged by Zhang Xutuo, who took the lead, Tang Wanche's team, which was not particularly elite at first, became a first-class elite, scrambling to kill the enemy, making it difficult for the bandits trying to enter the open area of the camp to move forward. regained control of the camp gate.
Another unexpected reinforcement also joined the battlefield. After learning that the bandits had raided Zhang Xutuo's camp, the Sui army wounded who should have been ordered to be transferred to a hidden place outside the camp not only flatly refused the transfer, but also wanted to move as long as they could move. Yes, they all rushed to the front battalion to help, and Zhang Zhizhi, who was ordered to organize the transfer of the wounded, couldn't stop him at all. The arrival of these wounded also boosted the morale of the Sui army in the front battalion again. They chanted the slogan of capturing Meng Haigong alive and protecting Ambassador Zhang, scrambling to kill the enemies on the opposite side with their weapons, trying to break into the camp one by one over the fence. The bandit soldiers inside chopped down the bucket and turned it over, and then chopped it into meat paste.
In the front is the Qijun Sui army as ferocious as mad wolves and tigers, and on the side is the Qiaojun Sui army as indifferent and calm but as organized as a killing machine. No matter how elite they were, they couldn't bear it any longer. Soldiers kept running for their lives in the open area to the east. Although Meng Haigong and his wife tried their best to restrain them and even swung their knives to kill the deserters, they had little effect. Li Mi, his good nephew and son-in-law, and his only companion, Yang Jishan, have disappeared among the rebellious army.
The defeat has been decided, and the think tank has disappeared. Meng Haigong has no choice but to order to break out and escape to the open area to the east where there are no enemies. Fleeing to the east, Meng Haigong and his wife also took their only son Meng Yi to join the escape team. The Sui Army of Qi County and the Sui Army of Qiao County joined forces in pursuit, and the slogans of capturing Meng Haigong alive were heard one after another, and the sound spread for ten miles.
It was also at this time that Chen Yingliang, who had a white horse and a white robe, met Zhang Xutuo. Unlike Chen Yingliang, who liked to pretend that his whole body was almost spotless, Zhang Xutuo was already blood-stained under the firelight, with blood and mud all over his face and body. , and some of his own blood. After meeting, Zhang Xutuo asked in the first sentence: "Why didn't you tell me during the day?"
"Forgive me, old general. This time, this junior really didn't deliberately hide his secrets." Chen Yingliang cupped his hands and said, "In fact, it was only at the last moment that this junior guessed that the real target of the bandit army was you, so he hurriedly led the army to rescue you. It was dangerous to catch up in time, and actually arrived at the battlefield earlier than Meng Haigong in less than a cup of tea."
Zhang Xutuo believed that what Chen Yingliang said was not a lie - because he only needed to find a soldier from Qiaojun and casually ask when the troops were dispatched, and he would be able to know whether Chen Yingliang was lying. After nodding, Zhang Xutuo asked again: "Then how did you guess it?"
"The younger generation's scouts discovered that Meng Haigong asked the people's team to leave the city first, so I guessed it right away." Chen Yingliang replied truthfully: "This afternoon, although the younger generation suspected that Meng Haigong's bandit army was trying to divert the tiger away from the mountain and attack the south, but there was no response. We found that the bandits showed signs of dredging the corridor at the south gate, so the younger generation never dared to say that the bandits would break out from the south, so we could only gather the troops and wait for orders, and the scouts closely monitored the enemy's movement, and were ready to send troops to make up for any omissions."
"Later, when the scouts found out that Meng Haigong let the common people go out of the city first, the younger generation immediately understood that the real target of Meng Haigong's bandit army was you." Chen Yingliang explained: "Because of the normal breakout order, the elite soldiers should open the way, and the common people's auxiliary soldiers carry food, grass and supplies in the middle. , and then use elite soldiers to strengthen the rear. Meng Haigong let the people leave the city first, and the younger generation immediately guessed that his purpose was not to break through, but to create the illusion of breaking out, using a lot of manpower to contain our main elite, and to cover his real purpose , and then think of the old general, you have deployed the main force to the north of the bandit city, and the central army is empty, and the younger generation will know that the real target of Meng Haigong's bandit army is you."
"Alas!" Zhang Xutuo sighed, slashed his knife, and said in great annoyance: "I have also received news that Meng Haigong's bandit army used the common people as the vanguard, so why didn't I immediately guess the true nature of the bandit army like you?" The target is the old man himself?"
"You don't need to be upset, the old general. In fact, if it weren't for some special reasons, the younger generation wouldn't have guessed that you are the real target of the bandit army." Knowing that his old opponent had a lot of tricks, he didn't dare to take it lightly. Chen Yingliang was probably deceived by Li Mi, and focused his energy on the even more intense North Gate battlefield.
Shaking his head again and sighing, Zhang Xutuo said to Chen Yingliang: "The old man stays in the camp, you lead the army to pursue. Just now the old man saw with his own eyes that Meng Haigong is in the bandit army. I hope you can catch him .”
"Old general, it's better to let the younger generation guard the camp for you, you go and pursue it." Chen Yingliang hastily pretended to give credit for his contribution.
"Why are you being so polite?" Zhang Xutuo said coldly: "I want to stay in the camp to stabilize the morale of the army, and I can't get away. If you have the ability to catch Meng Haigong, go and catch him. The credit is yours. I didn't compete with the friendly army for credit. habit."
Chen Yingliang smiled awkwardly, and after first cupping his hands to express his thanks, he hurriedly led the Qiaojun team to pursue the enemy, leaving Zhang Xutuo to watch him leave, and then Zhang Xutuo said in a low voice, "Thank you."
Chen Yingliang's pursuit was actually not easy, because to the east of the Sui Army in Qi County was the Makeng River with a large volume of water. After the bandit army who was familiar with the terrain fled to the river, they all took off their armor and jumped into the river. In the dark, Chen Yingliang could not judge the escape direction of Meng Haigong and his wife at all. At the same time, it was difficult for Kan Leng's heavy infantry to cross the river and pursue them. In desperation, Chen Yingliang could only order the troops to divide into two groups, let Tang Wanche's light infantry team cross the river to pursue, while he himself led the heavy infantry to pursue upstream along the river bank.
It was also when he was chasing the enemy with heavy infantry that Chen Yingliang realized that he was still too short of cavalry. He could still see the enemy's figure during the pursuit, but after chasing, he found that the enemy ran farther and farther, and finally disappeared altogether. When Yi Yi went to the scene to have a look again, he realized that the enemy had already taken off their armor and threw them on the ground to escape with light clothes. At the same time, the surprise attack team brought by Meng Haigong this time was small, and Chen Yingliang only chased for ten miles upstream. There are only a few shadows of enemies left. Seeing this situation, Chen Yingliang simply ordered the army to give up the pursuit, to clean up the battlefield and search for remnants of the enemy, and was going to ask Meng Haigong and his wife where they were going before it was too late to hunt them down.
After some cleaning, Meng Haigong seized a lot of the high-quality armor he had snatched from everywhere, and at the same time captured a few enemy prisoners. When he finally asked Meng Haigong and his wife where they were going, the prisoners shook their heads and said they hadn't seen them, and even Even Meng Haigong and his wife didn't know whether they had crossed the Makeng River, and Chen Yingliang, who was still worried about the North Gate battlefield, had no choice but to order the troops to withdraw and give up the pursuit.
When leading the army back in a hurry, the Qiaojun army passed by a thicket of reeds. At first, Chen Yingliang didn't pay much attention to the thicket of reeds. Unexpectedly, a few Sui soldiers with sharp eyes suddenly rushed into the thicket of reeds. A man covered in mud was pulled out from inside. The man struggled and yelled, and said repeatedly: "Mr. Jun, Mr. Jun, you misunderstood me. I am not a thief soldier, I am not a rebellious thief, I am just a teacher who has become a martial artist." , My family lives in Persimmon Forest Village outside the South Gate of Chengwu, our place is full of persimmon trees, I am not a thief, I am not a thief, I am just Chuqiu buying medicine for my mother, I happened to pass by."
The man's excuses didn't work, and the loyal Qiaojun soldiers dragged him to the shore. One of the soldiers pulled the man's hair and forced him to look up, and reported to Chen Yingliang who happened to be riding by: " Tong Shou, caught one hiding in the reeds, wearing civilian clothes, I don't know if it is a bandit soldier."
Chen Yingliang turned his head. With the help of the torch and the moonlight, Chen Yingliang found that the man was in his early thirties, with a very dark face. At the same time, the black-faced man also saw Chen Yingliang's familiar ugly and vicious face, and closed his eyes in despair. Eyes, secretly said: "It's over."
"Don't kill innocent people indiscriminately. Since he is a commoner, let him go."
The expected smug laughter and even the command to fight and kill did not come, but the command to release came to his ears. When the black-faced man opened his eyes in disbelief, he saw that Chen Yingliang had slapped his horse away and turned his head back. Without replying, he said, "For the sake of being a filial son, I would like to remind you that when you arrive at Chuqiu and buy medicine, you will rush home. There are many rebels in Liang County, especially the group of Wagang thieves who kill without blinking an eye. Be tough."
Because of Chen Yingliang's order, the Qiaojun soldiers let go of the black-faced man according to the order, followed Chen Yingliang's team and retreated again, but the black-faced man who escaped from death was paralyzed on the ground, motionless for a long time. My heart was at a loss, "How is it possible? How is it possible? Could it be that the night was too dark and he didn't recognize me? Or did he let me go on purpose?"
The Qiao County team quickly walked away, and the surroundings regained calm, only the river was rushing, but the black-faced man was still lying on the ground motionless. I don't know how long it took before another man on horseback led a The horse trotted back and saw the black-faced man lying on the ground. The knight turned pale with fright. He quickly dismounted and helped him up. He tried to breathe and found that he was still alive and his eyes were still open. Shaking, he asked, "Master, what's wrong with you? Why don't you hide in the reeds and wait for me, what are you doing?"
After shaking for a long time, Li Mi finally spoke, and the first sentence was, "It's too scary! He's too scary!"
"Who's scary?" Yang Jishan, who was supporting Li Mi, asked doubtfully.
"Chen Yingliang, little thief." Li Mi said in a daze, "He is too scary. I have lived for thirty-two years and read countless collections of classics and histories. I have never met anyone who has heard of him so scary."
"What's the matter with you? Why are you talking all I can't understand?" Yang Jishan was confused, and then urged: "I have already killed the man who robbed your horse, and I also took your horse back. It's not far from Zhang Xutuo's old dog's camp, so let's cross the river quickly."
"No, we're not crossing the river." Li Mi shook his head suddenly, denying his previous planned escape plan.
"Why?" Yang Jishan was taken aback, "Didn't you say before that we crossed the river and headed north to look for opportunities in the Qilu area where the thieves are most serious?"
"I've decided not to go to Qilu." Li Mi replied: "The Qilu area is in great chaos, but the rebel army is either too big or too small. It's meaningless for a rebel army that is too small to join them. If there is no introduction for a rebel army that is too big, , we went there, but it was just icing on the cake, and we didn't get any reuse."
"Then where?" Yang Jishan asked.
"Go to the west, find the Wagang Army, and go to Zhai Rang!" Li Mi pointed to the west, and said in a deep voice: "The rebel army there is also gradually rising. Zhai Rang's team is the strongest but has no strategy. The rebels don't even know how to recruit, so we go to him and help him grow his team, so we can easily get reused."
Yang Jishan thought for a while, then nodded and said: "Well, listen to you, it's not bad to go to Wagang, at least it's closer to Yongqiu. At the critical moment, we still have a way out."
With Yang Jishan's help, Li Mi rode back to his escaped horse that had been lost and recovered, and galloped side by side with Yang Jishan to the vast land to the west. But there was a fire burning in his chest, "Traitor! You let me go, use me to support the bandits, and want me to restrain Zhang Xutuo for you, and create great opportunities for you to get promoted and make a fortune? What do you think? Beautiful!"
"Wait, one day, I will make you regret today's choice! Yixue was humiliated by the contempt and teasing you intentionally released today!" Li Mi swore a poisonous oath in his heart, "If not, I, Li Mi, swear not to be human. !"
At the same time, when Chen Yingliang led his army back to the battlefield of Menghai City, the most intense battle at the North Gate had come to an end. Without distraction and confusion, the main force of the bandit army, who was desperate to fight to the death, was also gradually depleted in morale under the fierce counterattack of the Sui army. It collapsed completely and fled in all directions. The bandit army of Meng Haigong, who once dominated one side, finally collapsed completely. Several big thieves, including Meng Haigong and his wife, fled for their lives, and their whereabouts were unknown.
Chen Yingliang didn't let the Sui army from Qiaojun go to join the battle to clean up the battlefield, and very coolly gave up all the spoils in the field to the friendly army—anyway, Zhang Xutuo would definitely be embarrassed to renege on the 30% of the money and food, and Chen Yingliang didn't have to do it Be a villain and steal the spoils of your allies. It wasn't until Zhang Xutuo summoned him in the bright sky that Chen Yingliang led the team to the north gate of Menghai City where the corpses piled up like a mountain, and met Zhang Xutuo who had also arrived at the north gate.
Probably because paper can't hold fire, Zhang Xutuo immediately said to Chen Yingliang the moment we met, "Do you know? We missed a great achievement. The captured bandit general confessed that Li Mi, the most wanted criminal of the imperial court, was also in the city. He has been advising and formulating tactics for Meng Haigong, and when he attacked my camp last night, Li Mi was still in Meng Haigong's team."
"Li Mi is here?" Chen Yingliang was taken aback, and said in amazement, "Where did that traitor come from? Why didn't I know?"
"I heard that it was Meng Haigong who blocked the news, so even in the bandit army, not many people know of Li Mi's existence." Zhang Xutuo said very depressed: "There is an arrogant young man in his twenties beside Li Mi, If as expected, it should be Yang Su's youngest son, Yang Jishan. The two court criminals slipped away from the old man, and the old man really doesn't know how to explain to the court."
Chen Yingliang was silent, and Yang Wang next to him said in a low voice: "Ambassador, don't tell me anything. Anyway, there are not many people who know that Li Mi and Yang Jishan are here. It is better to have one more thing than one less thing. Just don't report it to the court." .”
Zhang Xutuo glanced at Yang Wang, with a hesitant look on his face, he was a little unsure whether to accept Yang Wang's kind suggestion, while the guilty Chen Yingliang was quietly observing Zhang Xutuo's decision, Mulan came to Chen Yingliang's side with a straight face , said in a very cold and blunt tone: "My surname is Chen, thank you for saving Ambassador Zhang."
"What did you say?" Chen Yingliang turned his head in doubt.
"I thank you for saving Ambassador Zhang. I don't have anything to thank you for." After saying this, Mulan went back to the queue with a straight face.