Chapter 342: Starving to death is worse than fighting to death
Zhong Jinwei did not expect to encounter a bandit. He thought that when the bandit from Shaanxi entered Shanxi, he happened to catch him.
Soon, he broke away from the caravan with the white pole army guarding Ma Xianglin, and rode away with more than 900 horses.
When the caravans that followed saw this situation and guessed that something had happened, they began to make wild guesses and became worried.
Although they saw the Datong Prefecture army escorting the vehicle and continuing to move forward, most of them did not dare to follow. They wanted to find out what happened and stopped in place for a while.
Uncle Cai and his companions were standing there talking and talking. Suddenly they saw Wang Yan coming back from the front and shouted loudly: "Nephew Wang Yan, come here, come to Uncle Cai."
Wang Yan was going to come to them because what he bought was also grain, and he was with Uncle Cai's grain truck.
Uncle Cai felt a little relieved when he saw Wang Yan coming with a smile. After Wang Yan approached, he asked, "Why did Marquis Zhongxing leave first with his army?"
When many businessmen saw Wang Yan coming, they all gathered around. They were very concerned about this matter and gathered around Uncle Cai and Wang Yan to hear the news.
Wang Yan looked at the eager eyes of the people around him and said with a smile: "It's nothing. I found some thieves ahead. Marquis Zhongxing went to suppress the thieves." [
"How many thieves are there?" someone in the crowd asked, this is a key question.
At this time, Wang Yan seemed to have become the official spokesperson, answering these people's questions: "I don't know, I walked away to avoid suspicion. But since the Marquis of Zhongxing went there in person, there must not be many. You think, the dignified Marquis
, will you take risks?"
Uncle Cai nodded after hearing this. It was true that Marquis Zhongxing must be sure before he went there in person. If there were too many enemies to defeat, who would die?
If they heard that there were more than 5,000 thieves and Marquis Zhongxing only brought about 900 people and rushed over, they would probably turn back and run away immediately.
Because they didn't know, the people around him generally had the same idea as Uncle Cai. Except for some people who were particular about their intentions, they secretly lamented that it would be unlucky to go out and encounter military trouble. Everyone else felt relieved and continued to tell their men to go on their way.
Zhong Jinwei led his army less than five miles away, and encountered a second night of unrequited rewards. He knew that the bandits had only passed more than half way, but their equipment was very rudimentary, which was expected.
Unable to let the bandits prepare their troops and then go over to fight, Zhong Jinwei sent an order to hurry up and rush to the Yellow River.
Besides, the six-horse thieves were galloping along the official road, but they did not notice that they were being followed by Hu Hao and others.
In fact, even the leader, Li Hongji, did not believe that they would encounter officers and soldiers. Before crossing the river, they had already made inquiries and found that the nearest township to the ferry was about 20 miles away, and there were only some local villagers and government officials, and there were no
army.
It's just that he had been in the army, and he seriously appreciated him at that time and promoted him to the general of the kingdom. He had learned a little bit about the art of war. He knew that when the army was crossing the river, it must prevent the enemy from attacking halfway.
As they were walking, suddenly Li Hongji's nephew Li Guo pointed ahead and exclaimed: "Look, there is a horse riding on the top of that slope."
Li Hongji looked up and saw that there was indeed a rider who had spotted them and started to turn his back on them and go downhill.
Although they were far away and could not see clearly, Li Hongji still felt nervous and ran away when he saw them. Obviously they were not the scouts sent by Zijin Liang before.
In other words, this rider was probably an officer, because he saw metal reflections, obviously wearing armor and other equipment. From this, Li Hongji thought that something might have happened to the scouts sent out before, but it was a little unclear.
Yes, why is there only one knight? Did he survive after fighting with the scouts?
Li Hongji knew that guessing was useless, so he gave an order and sped up and chased after him. Only by catching the horse could he answer the questions in his mind.[
They were running forward, but the man wanted to turn around and speed up again, so the distance between the two parties became much closer after a while.
After crossing the top of the slope, Li Hongji discovered that the riders in front of him were indeed officers and soldiers, and they were running away on horseback.
Because he only joined the army halfway and had not been in the army for a long time, he was not familiar with the uniform characteristics of the frontier armies in various places. If he had known that the cavalry they were chasing was the Liaodong frontier army, he would not have chased him.
He turned over and ran away. Because it was impossible that only one or two people from the Liaodong frontier army came thousands of miles away.
After chasing for a while, there was a piece of flat land in front of him, with a wide field of vision. Li Hongji found another rider standing still in the distance, as if responding to the one they were chasing. But the strange thing was, why was there only one rider?
After the two cavalrymen in front merged, they saw the six men on their side chasing after them. Instead of running away, they drew their weapons and assumed a fighting posture to wait for them.
This made Li Hongji feel that something was wrong. No matter how sophisticated the opponent's weapons and equipment were, there was no chance of winning in two against six! Unless they had more companions, but their field of vision was very wide now, and they did not see anyone nearby anymore.
There are other officers and soldiers.
When Li Hongji thought of this, he felt a chill on his back. His intuition told him that the companions of the officers and soldiers on the opposite side should be behind him.
Li Hongji hurriedly turned around and saw that eight riders were following them like ghosts, but he never noticed them.
He secretly cursed himself as "stupid", and then shouted: "There are officers and soldiers behind us, slow down and turn."
The other thieves were startled when they heard this. However, they had always believed in Li Hongji, so after hearing what he said, they began to slow down and turn.
The two riders who were originally staying there saw them slow down and turn, and knew that they had spotted Brother Hu behind them. So they began to accelerate their horses, preparing to attack the backs of these thieves.
When the six-horse thieves saw clearly that there were eight riders in front and two behind them, and they were well-equipped, and began to attack them from a flank, they were all startled.
Li Hongji knew that there must be a large group of officers and soldiers nearby, otherwise there would be no such elite Ye Bu Shu.
There was no time left for him to think, so Li Hongji ordered loudly: "Protect yourself, attack their horses, and don't fight for whoever can survive. Don't worry about other people, rush back to report the news, don't let the brothers be attacked by officers and soldiers."
At the same time, Hu Hao was also issuing an order: "Don't let them escape back, do you understand?"
"Understood." Ye Bushou, who was accompanying them, knew that Hu Hao meant for them to attack the bandit's mount first. Without the mount, it would be impossible to escape back to report the news.
Ye Bushou began to control their horses to approach Hu Hao in the middle, reducing the gap between them to form the arc of a crescent moon. They took advantage of the large number of people to increase the attack area, semi-enveloping the stray thief and giving him a fatal blow.
It's not that Li Hongji didn't think about spreading out and escaping, but there were eight cavalry on their way. They were well-equipped, including war horses, and they were better than them. If they spread out and fled, it would be easier for the other party to chase them.
Only by hedging can it be possible to escape and report back. Because after hedging, the time it takes for the officers and soldiers to slow down and turn around can shorten the distance. This place is not far from the Yellow River ferry, so there should be no problem in escaping back.
But now Li Hongji saw that the opponent began to line up in a crescent formation to hedge, and he became a little desperate. The opponent was clearly bullying his own side because of the small number of people and poor equipment.
At this time, he heard Li Guo shout loudly: "Uncle, we will cover you and go back to report the news to the brothers." He had already seen that under normal circumstances it would be difficult for his own side to fight against the officers and soldiers on the opposite side.
The people in this team are all relatives or fellow villagers of Li Hongji. They usually feel Li Hongji's Song Jiang-style loyalty and admire him very much. At this critical moment of life and death, no one hesitated and said one after another: "Brother Li, we will protect you."
.”
Seeing true love in times of crisis, Li Hongji was moved in his heart. They were using their own lives as a cover. As the two sides were approaching quickly, there was no time for him to give in. He suppressed his feelings and said "Okay".
The two teams of Hu Hao and Li Hongji were only a hundred steps apart, and behind Li Hongji were the other two Ye Bu Zhi. The difference was less than two hundred steps, and the battle was about to break out.
Li Guo and the other five knights almost formed an arrow shape as they ran. Li Guo acted as the arrow, surrounded Li Hongji, and rushed towards the crescent formation.
When young Li Guo faced the threat of death, he felt his blood boiling with excitement. He shouted into the wind: "It is better to die of hunger than to die in battle, go for it!"
Then he exerted force with both feet, lifted his butt off the saddle, leaned forward, held the spear in his hand sideways, and actually used the impact blow to kill the enemy.
In such a high-speed confrontation, if both parties did not dodge and both collided with the barrels of the guns, they would probably end up being shot and killed.
Ye Bushou, who was opposite Li Guo, was shocked when he saw Li Guo using this fighting method. They bumped into each other in the blink of an eye, without any time to think. Human instinct made them tighten the reins and deflect the horse's head a little.
But he was an elite Ye Bu Shui after all. When he passed by, he stretched out the sword and gun in his hand.