"Stop, let's fight to the death! I'm right here! I'm right here. If you have the guts, come over and fight to the death! Ugh!" Lu Ziming was so angry that his vision went dark, and something hot, sweet, and fishy immediately surged into his throat.
.
From the beginning, the opponent's idea was to take advantage and run away. Otherwise, he would not have been able to retreat so cleanly. But on his side, an army of more than 20,000 people was almost defeated by a few hundred people, including himself.
He was almost carried away by the defeated soldiers and escaped.
"His Holiness, great victory, great victory! The brothers are united and the officers and soldiers returned without success." Military advisor Ma Xiu was quick-thinking and suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Lu Ziming's sleeves and shook them vigorously.
"Huh?" Lu Ziming gritted his teeth and forced the blood in his mouth back into his stomach.
"His Majesty, the army lost a general and returned in defeat!" Ma Xiu shook his sleeves while winking at him desperately. "Under your leadership, the brothers remained calm in the face of danger and turned defeat into victory! This shows that the army did not
It’s not scary. What’s scary is that we are timid before we fight!”
"Yes!" Lu Ziming finally understood what Ma Xiu meant. He nodded vigorously first, then opened his scarlet mouth and responded, "Yes, brothers are united! Military advisor, go check how many copper coins are left and take out half of it.
Divide it equally among the brothers standing here in formation!"
"Thank you, His Holiness!" Ma Xiu responded loudly, turned around and left. As he walked, he continued to shout with his close followers, "His Holiness will reward you generously. Everyone who formed the formation just now will have a share! That's what officers and soldiers do, as long as we toughen up.
, they don’t even dare to fight!”
"Yes, the army bullies the weak and fears the strong. The more you run away, the less likely they will let you go!"
"Those who form a formation will be rewarded, but those who flee will not be punished."
"Don't run away. The army has been defeated. The army has been driven back by the King of France!"
…
Chun Guan Yan Feng, Xia Guan Yang Wenzhong and other core figures of the Chunyang Sect also began to think about it. They bit the bullet and began to promote Ma Xiu's point of view, that is, the officers and soldiers saw King Lu Fa taking the lead in the attack and did not dare to fight.
They fled in panic. Just now, the Chinese army formed a formation to fight and defeated the invading enemy without losing a single person.
As for the hundreds of Chunyang Cult minions who died just now under the charge of officers and soldiers and who were killed by Lu Ziming and others in order to maintain order, they are all ignored!
Although he was telling lies with his eyes open, but with the help of a large amount of copper coins, it still had a good effect.
The camp, which was in chaos, was restored to order after half an hour. Some of the minions who had not had time to escape too far, or who had nowhere to go, were gradually persuaded to return by the incense masters and hall masters.
Lu Ziming fulfilled his promise, and after the gangsters organized their formation, he distributed rewards in public to the brothers who had just formed a formation with him to face the official army.
Because the number of people was only a little over a thousand, the bounty allocated to each person was as high as more than 20 coins. Of course, such a heavy copper coin could not be carried on the body of the rewarded warrior. Therefore, Lu Ziming ordered someone to open the baggage bag.
Cars allow "warriors" to exchange copper coins for gold, silver and silk, and the exchange ratio is basically the same as the current market price.
After all this hard work, although a lot of time was wasted, the morale of the team has been visibly improved compared to before.
Especially Lu Ziming's central army, because most of them had received rewards and found that the incoming officers and soldiers were unwilling to fight, their confidence increased sharply. Even if the officers and soldiers rode over again, everyone was willing to follow Lu Ziming and fight with them.
Male and female!
Seeing that the heat was almost there, Lu Ziming, reminded by Ma Xiu, announced that he would continue to turn to the southwest.
Although there are more than 4,000 rebels, they have completely disappeared. The remaining 15,000-odd rebels still seem to be large in scale. Li Zheng and the clan chiefs in the villages along the way have no courage to organize young people to resist. Either they bring them with them
The people in the village hid in the ravines and woods in panic, or took the initiative to put out a batch of grain, dried vegetables and other items at the entrance of the village in exchange for the rebels' favor.
Lu Ziming planned to accept the government's offer, so he did not dare to be too cruel to the people. When he encountered a village where only one person had escaped, he only sent a few men to collect some food and livestock and quickly passed through the village.
When encountering a village that offers rice and other goods to buy peace, they don't sit down and raise the price. Instead, they take the other party's "filial piety" and lead their troops to take a detour.
In this way, a lot of material losses caused by the hasty departure of camp after the morning attack can be "replenished". In a short period of time, there will be no need to worry about running out of food.
It’s just that the attrition of the team has been unable to be reversed. Every time I stop to repair, I will find that the team is a little thinner than before. By noon, the team size is only a little over 13,000!
"Brothers, there is no need to be depressed about this. Those who ran away are just minions. If we keep them, they will not have the guts to fight with the officers and soldiers. By running away, we will save food!" Military Advisor Ma Xiu saw clearly and at the last minute
During the break, I forced myself to smile and encourage a few core characters!
"Well, as long as everyone is here, it won't be a big hassle for me to teach. Those ordinary minions, as long as they spare food and copper coins, they can recruit as many as they want!" Lu Ziming was so heartbroken that he almost bled, but he knew
Not wanting to vent the anger of the backbone members, they gritted their teeth and declared loudly.
As soon as he finished speaking, a series of exclamations came to his ears, "The officers and soldiers are coming, the officers and soldiers are coming again. Everyone, run away and be careful of them throwing fire bombs!"
"Damn it, form a formation, form a formation with me to meet the enemy!" Lu Ziming immediately ignored any further words, jumped on his mount, raised his arms and shouted. At the same time, he tried his best to look in the direction of the exclamation.
I saw the same cavalryman who had slapped himself in the morning roaring out from behind the woods more than 300 paces away. In the right hand of each cavalryman, there was a fire bomb tied with a rope, and in the left hand
, there is a flicker of fire.
"Form up a formation, form a formation beside the Dharma King. Immortal Chunyang will protect us!"
"Form up, draw your bows and fire arrows. No matter how far they throw them, they can't get farther than the bows and arrows!"
"Formation..."
Military advisor Ma Xiu, Chun Guan Yan Feng, Xia Guan Yang Wenzhong and other core figures of the Chunyang Sect also learned from the experience of the last confrontation with the enemy, shouting and screaming to recruit their direct descendants, and drew their bows to fight.
This time, the Chinese army assembled much faster than last time. After just twenty breaths, they began to use bows and arrows to launch a counterattack against the cavalry.
However, the incoming cavalry also changed their tactics. They rushed to the outside of the Chunyang Cult team, threw only one round of fire and thunder bombs, and then walked away.
The battle broke out in an instant and ended in a very short period of time. Less than a hundred people on the Chunyang Sect side were killed, and seven or eight of the attacking cavalry escaped with arrow wounds.
To the Chunyang Sect rebels, this result was far better than the first attack in the morning. However, the blow to their morale and morale was even more severe than the first attack.
The march continued in the afternoon, and the minions "left behind" more and more quickly. In just half an hour, the size of the "Chunyang Army" dropped to less than 12,000. But the group of official cavalry was like Like maggots, the tarsal bones rushed out from the mountain col on the side and rear. Near the rear of the Chunyang Army, there was a stream of fire and thunder bombs.
When Lu Ziming led the Chinese army to fight, the cavalry flew away again, leaving only corpses and billowing black smoke on the ground.
Lu Ziming was furious and decisively separated five elite teams from the Chinese army and mounted their war horses to act as scouts. On the one hand, they could block the incoming group of officers and soldiers and provide timely warning to the Chinese army. On the other hand, they could also capture those who had escaped secretly. I will block some of them to avoid having no one under my command.
The effect of this move is almost immediate.
The maggot-like group of cavalrymen could no longer reach the Chunyang Army to launch a sneak attack. As long as they fought with the scouts, no matter they won or lost, Lu Ziming would be able to make preparations in advance.
In addition, with this group of scouts watching from the periphery, the number and speed of the "laggards" of the minions were also significantly reduced. After traveling for an hour, there were only 200 "laggards".
When Lu Ziming saw this, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He quickly gave Ma Xiu a large sum of gold ingots and silk, and asked him to leave the team with twenty cronies and quietly go to Qingzhou. Through old relationships, he tried to appease the envoy to Jing Lue. Wang Qinruo's message clearly expressed the Chunyang Army's willingness to serve the imperial court.
However, less than half an hour after Ma Xiucai left, Lu Ziming's mood became heavy again. For no other reason than three of the 500 elite teams that were previously separated from the Chinese Army as scouts were missing. The remaining two teams were missing. , there are only more than 60 people left in each team, and they can no longer continue to assume the mission of peripheral security!
The cronies that Lu Ziming could completely control were the more than a thousand Chinese soldiers who had received heavy rewards. Suddenly there were more than three hundred less. How could he not panic?
He quickly looked around and clearly identified the terrain and direction. He decisively gritted his teeth and ordered loudly, "All of you are here, occupy the mountain in front of you on the left, and camp halfway up the mountain. There is Laohu Rock, and there is only one way up the mountain. Behind the mountain is a cliff. As long as we guard the mountain road in front, no one can do anything to us!"
"Yes!" Chun Guan Yan Feng, Xia Guan Yang Wenzhong and other core figures of the Chunyang Sect were also worried about continuing the march. Before reaching Yingchou Ridge, all the brothers in the sect had fled, so they responded decisively.
There were also a few hall leaders who still remembered Ma Xiu's previous suggestion and wanted to stop them. However, they turned around and saw the brothers beside them who were shaking when they walked, and swallowed their words with a sigh.
Summer has not yet entered the season, and the days are not too long. Around 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the sun has already set in the west. Even if we continue on our way, we will definitely not reach our expected destination Yingchou Ridge before dark, so we will rest at Laohu Rock. One night is not a procrastination.
What's more, marching at night is more likely to be caught by sneak attackers. And when camping on the mountainside, as long as you guard a few key points on the mountain road, most of the brothers can have a chance to sleep well and replenish their physical strength.
As a result, Lu Ziming's orders were carried out unimpeded. He didn't just break the rules. After taking the team up the mountain, he immediately arranged for Yan Feng and others to lead his cronies to move stones and block the road up the mountain layer after layer. layer.
In this way, if the cavalry that looked like tarsal maggots during the day wanted to launch a sneak attack again, it would have to move the layers of stones on the mountain road first. And that cavalry could only have three or four hundred people at most. Even if they didn't encounter any
If there is any obstruction, you will be exhausted after moving the rocks, and you will not have the strength to continue to attack.
What's more, when throwing fire bombs from low to high, the difficulty will increase exponentially. The throwing distance will also be greatly shortened. However, the archers of the Chunyang Sect can see more clearly and shoot more accurately from a high position.
What happened next was basically in line with Lu Ziming's expectations.
The cavalry arrived at the foot of the mountain in the middle of the night, but had no choice but to retreat in frustration at the multi-layered stone formations blocking the mountain road.
In the second half of the night, everything was completely silent. The more than 8,000 remaining brothers of the Chunyang Sect finally slept a rare and peaceful sleep. Including Lu Ziming himself, both physical and mental strength were greatly restored.
However, when they woke up the next morning, Lu Ziming and the backbone members of the Chunyang Sect under his command were filled with regret!
The multi-layered stone formations on the mountain road were all intact, which indeed effectively blocked sneak attacks by officers and soldiers.
However, outside the outermost layer of stone array, there is another stone wall that is more than half a person tall and more than 20 feet long, completely blocking the mountain road and the gentle slopes on both sides of the mountain road!
Outside the low wall, more than two thousand officers and soldiers slowly spread out in formation in the sun, like a fierce tiger, opening its bloody mouth to the fat sheep raised in the pen!
