Chapter 146 Battlefield

At the foot of the hills two miles south of Shiziyuan in Jiaxian County, Li Chuang personally led the army. He first used his refugee followers to attack Sun Chuanting's artillery array at the top of the hill in turn.

For more than an hour from noon to noon, more than ten attacks were launched on the mound where the artillery array was located. However, Sun Chuanting's general Zheng Jiadong strictly guarded Qiutou and used five thousand soldiers and horses to suppress it. Cannons, muskets, bows and arrows, stop them.

The bandit followers were seriously injured, but with all their combined strength, they couldn't rush forward, leaving only blood and corpses all over the ground.

Except for mobilizing two winged cavalry to force the subordinate refugees to rush into battle, Li Chuang's main army did not move at all and showed no sign of urgency.

It's not that Li Chuang is in a hurry, but he is cautious. Li Chuang was very afraid of Sun Chuanting. Although he came with a large number of people, he did not dare to fight. The Qiutou artillery array faced Sun Chuanting's camp at the corner. If the artillery array was not pulled out, Li Chuang would not dare to attack Sun Chuanting's camp in Persimmon Garden two miles away.

He ordered his subordinates to attack the artillery array, but his troops remained stationary. He really wanted to lure Sun Chuanting's main force out of camp and force Sun Chuanting to fight with him in the field.

However, from noon to noon, the artillery array remained motionless, and there was no movement at all from Sun Chuanting's camp. Li Chuang finally became a little impatient.

He only has these tens of thousands of refugee followers - the remnants of Tian Mianxiu's army. This time Li Chuang came in a hurry and dropped all the followers he was carrying along the way. Tian Jianxiu had been defeated for a while, and many of the followers were scattered, leaving only these.

After more than an hour of driving and persecution, with heavy casualties and heavy casualties, these tens of thousands of refugee followers no longer had any combat effectiveness.

No matter how much he is urged now, even if he is hacked to death by the cavalry, he is not willing to rush forward and die.

"Get me down."

Li Chuang made a quick decision: "Ask Tian Jianxiu to attack and try."

At Qiutou, Zheng Jiadong put on his armor and pressed his sword. Seeing the mob retreating like a tide under the Qiu, with no look of relaxation on his face, he called the messenger: "Brothers, cheer up, the intruders are coming."

Zheng Jiadong has fought against rogue thieves many times and has rich experience. He knew very well how the rogues fought. Cannon fodder was nothing. Once the cannon fodder was gone, the next battle was the real test.

"Check the gunpowder and muskets, don't be careless." He added, "Brothers, just listen to my orders and act. Don't waste the battle."

Sure enough, as the refugee followers retreated, the real refugee thieves came up.

With the sound of a cannon, Tian Jianxiu waved his big hand, and the tens of thousands of ordinary thieves under his command were like a torrent, roaring and killing towards Qiutou.

Then Tian Mixiu pulled the artillery in front of the Chinese army and opened fire.

The gunman adjusted the muzzle elevation, put a large iron ball into the barrel from the muzzle, and lit the fuse behind it. Amidst the hissing sound, there was a flash of fire, and there was a loud earthquake, and thick smoke billowed in. Cannonballs flew out.

The Ming army in Qiutou showed no signs of weakness. When they saw the bandits firing, they also fired back.

The bandits were at the bottom, and the Ming army was at the top. After a round of solid shell bombardment, the Ming army did not suffer much damage. On the contrary, Tian Jianxiu's artillery array was damaged by the Ming army and several furlong cannons were damaged.

At this time, the bandits under Tian Jianxiu's command had rushed down the slope. The Ming army on the slope showed off its power again, like popping beans, a row of thick smoke rose, firecrackers fired continuously, and the bandit in front was knocked to the ground.

Amid the screams, another hail of arrows fell, chewing off another piece of the stray thief.

After the rain of arrows and firecrackers, there were more than a dozen gunshots. The Ming army's Crouching Tiger Cannon fired rows of scattershot, harvesting a large number of bandits.

The bandits began to fight back. Those who had guns fired, those who didn't shot arrows, and those who had neither bows, arrows, nor guns, just raised their hearts and charged forward.

The shouts of killing were earth-shattering, and the smell of blood mixed with gunpowder filled the entire battlefield.

A stray thief was hit in the chest by a musket, like a hammer blow. His whole body was lifted off the ground, and dust rolled down while screaming.

The arrow fell from the sky and penetrated into the neck of a wandering bandit. He dropped his weapon, covered his neck, and rolled down the gentle slope with a scream.

The Ming army lined up a row of carriages on the slope. Cannon barrels protruded from the gaps between the carriages. Gunmen and archers hid in and behind the carriages, slaughtering the people who came up over and over again. The thieves were killed with almost mercy.

Soon, the rogue thief couldn't bear it anymore and retreated.

...

Ying Yi stood on the top of the mountain. Although he was far away, with his outstanding and inhuman eyesight, he could see everything on the distant battlefield clearly.

After Li Chuang replaced the cannon fodder, the bandits, in units of 10,000 people, charged three times in turn, but were repulsed by the Ming army in Qiutou. They did not take any advantage, leaving only thousands of corpses.

Judging from the situation on the battlefield, the Ming army had an absolute advantage due to its geographical advantage. But after nearly two hours of fighting, I don't know how much supplies the Ming army in Qiutou still has left.

At this time, Ying Yi keenly discovered that there was movement at Sun Chuanting's camp in the direction of Persimmon Garden.

In about the time of a cup of tea, the gate of Sun Chuanting's camp opened wide, and the cavalry came out of the camp in a steady stream. There were about three thousand of them, led by a general, and ran several miles away to break into the flank of the Chinese army.

The intruders immediately stopped attacking the Qiutou artillery array, and saw a group of soldiers and horses coming out of the intruders' army, and soon collided with Sun Chuanting's cavalry.

At the same time, the intruders mobilized their troops and horses one after another. There were about ten thousand people, and they gradually surrounded the two horse armies who were fighting each other.

Li Chuang's thoughts were clear at a glance, but the Ming army was very alert and quickly broke away from the battle and retreated to the camp.

Li Chuang's cavalry troops persisted and pursued them until they were close to the camp. Suddenly, artillery fire was fired from the Ming army's camp, driving Li Chuang's cavalry back.

This battle lasted until mid-afternoon, before Li Chuang called for gold and retreated his troops. Sun Chuanting was heavily fortified, and the camp and artillery array supported each other, leaving Li Chuang helpless. When Li Chuang withdrew his troops, Sun Chuanting also sent out cavalry troops to chase and kill him. Li Chuang was in a hurry to kill him.

Li Chuang successfully retreated after cutting off his subordinate cannon fodder.

In one day's battle, the Ming army suffered little losses, and it was considered a small victory. Li Chuang lost at least 20,000 subordinate refugees and 5,000 to 6,000 bandits.

On the top of the mountain, Ying Yi narrowed his eyes and suddenly asked: "How much food and grass supplies does Supervisor Sun have?"

Sun Ming and Sun Guang's expressions changed slightly.

Then I heard Ying Yi mutter to himself: "It must not be much. If the food and grass supplies are sufficient, Li Chuang can be dragged to death like he is today. But Supervisor Sun is eagerly looking for my support, haha... This I’m not sure!”

Then he said: "It seems that Governor Sun has certain expectations for me, Ying Yi, and is waiting for news about the two of you, right?"

Judging from today's battle situation, Sun Chuanting's troops have a huge advantage. As Ying Yi said, if there are sufficient supplies of food and grass, Li Chuang will never be Sun Chuanting's opponent.

But Ying Yi figured out Sun Chuanting's weakness of insufficient supplies, not to mention... Li Chuang seemed to have a few strangers under his command!

Ying Yi then put himself in Sun Chuanting's shoes and thought about what he would think about the current situation. After a moment, Ying Yi couldn't help but his eyes lit up and he clicked his tongue.