***
boom!
There were also sudden explosions in Pukou, which was separated from Jinling by a river. Xia Chengde led thousands of Qing soldiers disguised as refugees and rushed to the granary on the shore.
The Tatars who had sneaked in as laborers not only detonated explosives to create chaos, but also set fires everywhere and burned granaries.
Pukou was an important place for the Qin army to transport food and fodder supplies to the north. Liu Meng's 50,000 troops on the south bank of the Chuhe River relied entirely on the transportation of food and fodder here. There were dozens of temporary warehouses near the dock, and fodder was transported from the south bank and loaded onto trucks for transportation.
Xia Chengde racked his brains and got two women from somewhere and gave them to the grain officer at the dock, and then he allowed dozens of his men to sneak in and serve as laborers.
With these people acting as accomplices, Xia Chengde succeeded easily. The explosions and fires, as well as the sounds of killing everywhere, first caused chaos among the 20 to 30 thousand civilians on the dock, who fled in all directions, and also disrupted the 2000 to 3000 Qin soldiers.
Xia Chengde personally led his soldiers into the battlefield, killing everyone they saw, which made the civilians even more panicked. They trampled on each other and many died.
Xia Chengde took the opportunity to lead his men to set fire to the stored food and grass in the warehouse. The fire spread rapidly, raging and black smoke billowing into the sky.
When the Qin army defender Fang Zhen saw the food and grass being burned, he panicked and hastily ordered half of the soldiers to put out the fire. As a result, the remaining half of the soldiers were defeated by Xia Chengde and retreated step by step, causing the situation to become out of control. In the end, the fire was not put out and the casualties were very heavy.
Fortunately, Xia Chengde was worried about the arrival of Qin's reinforcements, so he quickly withdrew when he saw the fire was out of control. They were very smart, and once they withdrew, they immediately broke up into small groups and turned back into refugees.
There were already a large number of refugees in Jiangbei. The panic caused by Duoduo's army's march southwards led to more people joining the fleeing team. Xia Chengde's troops were scattered among the refugees, and it was very difficult to find them.
This fire destroyed tens of thousands of tons of grain and fodder that were about to be transported to Liu Meng's army, and thick black smoke blew into Jinling City, shocking the soldiers and civilians of Jinling City.
After receiving the report from Pukou, the Prime Minister Sima An did not bother to investigate the responsibility, and immediately went to the Ministry of Revenue to ask Liu Boquan to immediately allocate food and grass. In this cold winter, the soldiers could hardly survive without a full meal.
If Liu Meng's army of tens of thousands collapsed due to lack of food, the consequences would be disastrous.
At the same time, the Minister of War He Liang also quickly dispatched Lieutenant General Yang Pu to lead 3,000 cavalry to cross the river to hunt down spies...
***
The Ningyuan and Xihan armies fought fiercely in Suzhuang, and it was difficult to separate them. The snow on the ground had been dyed red by pools of blood, the smoke made it difficult to breathe, and the fierce sound of killing could be heard for dozens of miles.
The Qing army surrounded the enemy from all sides, with horse hooves like waves and arrows like rain; the Qin army used chariots and houses to block the attack, with bullets whistling and murderous aura filling the sky.
Just as the fighting between the two armies became increasingly intense, the sound of dull horse hooves suddenly came from the west.
The Qing cavalry on the periphery brought a soldier who had fled from Lai'an and rushed to Xihan, reporting in panic: "My Lord, it's bad, we have been defeated, General Li Guohan was killed in the explosion, and the three thousand soldiers were all defeated. My Lord, hurry up, Su Jin is chasing us and will catch up..."
"What did you say? Li Guohan is dead? This is impossible, impossible! He who dares to disrupt the morale of our army shall be killed!" Xihan went crazy, drew his knife, with a ferocious face, and almost could not help chopping to death the Tartar who had fled to report the news.
But the thunderous sound of horse hooves could be heard from the west. It was an indisputable fact that Li Guohan was ordered to besiege Lai'an and would never act on his own without orders.
That means 90% of those coming are enemy troops.
All this happened too suddenly and was too unexpected. Xihan's expression changed and the Qing troops nearby were all shocked when they heard it.
Their 7,000 troops have all been deployed in the siege of Ningyuan, hoping to quickly defeat the enemy. Su Jin suddenly attacked from behind, which was fatal!
"Retreat! Retreat quickly!" Xihan suppressed his anger and quickly ordered a withdrawal.
A horn blew and the Qing army, which was fighting fiercely with the Qin army, suddenly heard the emergency retreat horn and was at a loss for a moment. Some of them were still attacking, while others retreated in a hurry, and the whole army was in chaos.
Xihan's reaction was quick, but Su Jin came even faster. He almost chased the fleeing soldiers under Lai'an City and killed them. As soon as Xihan received the report from the fleeing soldiers, Su Jin also arrived.
The cold wind was howling, black flags were like clouds, and five thousand black-armored cavalrymen were spread out for several miles, like a black torrent rushing through the dry rice fields in winter, unstoppable. Countless shouts and the sound of horse hooves like raindrops merged together, like a raging sea, shaking the sky.
The retreating Qing army was in even greater disarray, like a pile of loose sand. The Qin army, who were surrounded by them in the village, also beat drums and cheered, "Our reinforcements have arrived, kill the enemy! Kill the enemy!"
Under Ning Yuan's command, his only 800 cavalrymen charged out first, and the more than 10,000 infantrymen behind him formed a circle and rushed out as well.
Many Qing troops only hastily withdrew after hearing the emergency retreat horn, and had no idea what was happening. However, as soon as they withdrew, they immediately ran into Su Jin's cavalry. The Qing troops, who had lost their courage, were attacked from both inside and outside and had no time to form a formation. They immediately fell into a state of fighting each other.
Su Jin's rocket soldiers once again became the nightmare of the Qing army. Wherever the Qing troops gathered in large numbers, three or five rockets would soon be fired over, dizzying the Qing troops.
This rocket is not only powerful, but also light and easy to carry. It can be hung on the victory hook next to the saddle.
After loading the rockets in advance, there was no need to dismount. One could just slow down the horse, pull down the black hood on the horse's head, cover the horse's eyes and shoot. This light and powerful new weapon caused even greater panic to the already panicked Qing army and greatly damaged their morale.
Su Jin personally led a thousand elite soldiers and charged towards Xihan's flag. Xihan also hurriedly gathered thousands of his men. Seeing Su Jin rushing towards him, Xihan understood that if he escaped, his six or seven thousand troops would surely collapse completely. Therefore, he could only grit his teeth and meet him.
"Shoot, shoot at the enemy's flag, quickly!" Su Jin shouted, and the messenger beside him raised the flag, and twenty rocket soldiers were immediately sent out from each wing.
They slowed down their horses slightly, pulled out a lighter with one hand and blew it into the wind to light it, then took the rocket loaded with shells from the victory hook, lit the fuse first, then carried it on their shoulders and aimed. The whole process sounds slow, but in fact it only took a few seconds.
One after another, the recoilless rockets made a "chirp! chirp!" sound, and then, with dazzling tail flames, they whizzed towards the enemy formation two or three hundred steps away, like comets hitting the moon.
"Get out of the way! Get out of the way..." Xihan was furious. The terrifying tail flames grew rapidly in his pupils. He had only shouted twice when thirty or forty rockets whizzed towards him. Balls of fire exploded around him and rushed up. The flying shrapnel wreaked havoc and reaped the lives of the Qing army. The strong shock wave tore through the bodies of many horses and rushed into the air.
The Qin army did not have many rockets, so they concentrated them on decapitation. This strategy was extremely successful, and Xihan's flag was blown to pieces.
He managed to escape when the first rocket exploded seven or eight steps away from him, but before he could think too much, the second and third rockets whizzed towards him, almost all heading for his flag.
Boom! Boom! Two loud explosions, shocking the world, broke the front legs of Xihan's horse and caused it to tumble violently.
A shrapnel shot through Xihan's chin, and the terrifying power instantly shattered Xihan's entire jaw.
Xihan was carried several feet away by the warhorse, with snow and mud flying everywhere. He was pinned under the horse, unable to move. His entire jaw was broken, but he did not die for the time being. However, the severe pain made his head dizzy.
He saw mad war horses charging around, and sometimes the rumbling iron hooves trampled past him. None of the terrified Qing soldiers cared about him, and even if they wanted to save him, they could not control the mad horses.
The ground was shaking violently. The Qin cavalry gathered into a formation, like a huge awl, and fiercely chiseled. The snow and mud splashed by the iron hooves flew all over the place. Xihan's pain was relieved. When he was about to faint, an iron hoof stomped down cruelly...
Bang! Xihan, who was once mighty and brave, and once invincible, saw the world before his eyes instantly turned into endless darkness forever.
**************
ps: Thanks to Yiren and musicmap for the rewards, and thanks to every book friend for their support.
Today, I got great support from my brothers. On the monthly ticket list, I stabbed ten people in the ass. It was great! I haven't felt so good in a long time! The white tiger was crazy, the white unicorn was rampant, and the pearl rope was broken. The jade dragon was fighting fiercely, and the scales were falling all over the sky... ...
Ahem, please forgive my madness. I have been the one being stabbed during this period. Today, I finally stabbed back more than ten people. I am in a good mood and in a good state. I have coded two chapters so far today. I will work hard tonight and maybe I can code another chapter. All this is thanks to the support of my brothers. I bow my head and bow again! Finally, I will continue to ask for monthly tickets to see if we can stab a few more people. I hope my brothers will keep working hard!
.(To be continued..)
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