A disgraced Liu Qi rushed ashore with thousands of soldiers and horses. Looking back at the reed swamps on both sides of Baiyangdian and Wugongdian, smoke and dust were billowing, and flames were sweeping into the sky. He had no choice but to flee towards the east entrance of the passage.
To the east is the direction of Renqiu, which is opposite to Baoding Mansion, but at this moment, he can't care about it.
However, thousands of rebels rushed forward for several miles, and when they were about to exit the passage, they heard the firelight shining in the dark night ahead, and the roar of firecrackers. Countless iron bullets and bows and arrows were thrown at them.
The rebel soldiers who escaped the fastest were the most unlucky. This wave of blows all fell on them, and hundreds of soldiers in the front row were cleared in an instant.
"There's an ambush ahead, there's an ambush ahead!" the terrified soldiers shouted.
"Boom!"
"Whoosh whoosh!"
There was another volley of arrows and cannon fire, and hundreds of people were killed and wounded, wailing again.
"Turn around, you can't get through there, turn around and run away." Someone shouted loudly.
Liu Qi maintained the last trace of consciousness and shouted loudly: "You can't look back. There is fire behind you, and there must be officers and soldiers. Everyone, rush forward with all your strength. If you rush over, you can escape for your life."
No one paid attention to him. Although there were fireworks behind him, the passage in the middle was passable. The enemy ambush in front had such fierce firepower that they would kill or injure two to three hundred people when they encountered each other. Wouldn't it be a sure thing to rush in and die?
The vast majority of the rebel soldiers were ordinary people, and many of them really couldn't live any longer, so they rebelled. But there were also many people who saw the rebels' successive victories, eating meat and dividing the money, and playing with the ladies of the official family.
Because of the good treatment, they chose to join. They were speculators and would never risk their lives.
In this case, they encountered a tough enemy, were burned by fire, smoked, and hit by bows, arrows, and guns. Some of the morale and courage they had accumulated before had all disappeared. In addition, the dark enemy appeared in front, armor and weapons
Glittering under the firelight, bows, arrows and firecrackers are pouring down one after another like a violent storm. Who has the courage to rush forward in such a situation?
At this moment they have only one thought: escape!
Many rebel soldiers ignored Liu Qi's roar and turned around and fled. Everyone in the fleeing group turned around and fled towards the exit of the west passage.
Liu Qi cursed repeatedly and had no choice but to run after him. Halfway through, he felt something was wrong. It was impossible for the enemy not to arrange troops and horses to intercept the exit of the west passage. If he ran back, he would be killed by the enemy if not burned to death.
I am different from others. They may be able to surrender, but I absolutely cannot surrender. They can surrender without dying, but if I surrender, I will die.
Thinking of this, Liu Qi looked at the direction of the fire in front of him, and ran as fast as he could into the reed marsh in Baiyangdian. Seeing the fire sweeping across, Liu Qi hurriedly found a puddle in the middle of the reed marsh and threw himself into it.
Sink into the puddles and burrow under the tangled reed roots covered with mud.
Not to mention, this trick is very effective. Although the smoke is thick, you can still breathe close to the ground. But when he thought that the fire was about to come, Liu Qi quickly got to his wits, stretched out his hand and folded a few reed poles and held them in his mouth.
The reed pipe stretches out of the water, like an old tortoise slowly sinking into the puddle.
He had done everything he could think of to save his life, and the rest could only be left to fate.
The rebel soldiers who fled to the west rushed out against the fire on both sides. Although the fire was large, the distance between Baiyangdian and Wugongdian was only a few meters away. They ran in the middle of the passage. Although the smoke was thick and choking, they were still
People still won't be burned to death.
It was just that the smoke was so heavy that it was so dark that you couldn't see your fingers. The rebel soldiers held their noses and rushed forward. Many people coughed violently and fell on the road, suffocated to death. But more people still rushed forward with all their strength.
Out of the smoke and dust.
When they took their first breath of hot but fresh air, they felt as happy as being reborn.
But this joy only lasted for a moment, and they were frightened by the situation ahead and stopped.
Hundreds of steps ahead, slowly advancing behind the burning fire, were the dark enemy soldiers and horses. The tall horses neighed, and the cavalry on the horses sat in rows on their backs, and the dark infantry behind them
They all stared blankly at these people.
Some people instinctively want to run back, but when they think about it, there are still officers and soldiers waiting for them at the entrance to the rear.
"Listen here, put down your weapons, kneel down and surrender immediately. You are at the end of your rope. Surrender will save you, but those who resist will be killed without mercy." A loud shout from the officers and soldiers came from the front.
Hearing such words, some rebel soldiers almost burst into tears. Fortunately, they took the risk and ran back. It seems that the officers and soldiers here still gave them a chance, unlike the officers and soldiers on the east side who just fired arrows without saying a word.
gun.
"Surrender! Surrender! We surrender."
Without any hesitation, the rebels dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground. At this time, any hesitation would lead to death. There was one person who refused to kneel down and surrender, and the people next to him kicked him to the ground.
"If you want to die, don't take our lives." They scolded those stubborn guys fiercely.
…
The battle basically ended in the early morning. In a few hours, the fire had wiped out the reeds in Baiyangdian and Wugongdian. In the pale morning light, it could be seen that the reeds on the riverbanks were scorched black, and there were still embers in many places.
of smoke.
Baiyangdian and Wugongdian were originally surrounded by reeds, with clear water and beautiful scenery. The reeds were full of birds, animals and insects. But now, the reeds have been swept away, and the ground is dark, like a thick head of hair.
He was completely shaved and a layer of disgusting stuff was applied to his head. It was bald and extremely ugly.
What is even more shocking are the corpses that were burned to death in the reeds. They were exposed in various directions. Their faces were ferocious, their limbs were twisted, and they were extremely terrifying. Even Zhang Yanling couldn't bear to see them.
"Clean the battlefield, collect the corpses and bury them collectively. At the same time, count the prisoners and find where Liu Qi is. If you want to see the person alive, you want to see the corpse if you die." Zhang Yanling ordered.
Everyone hurriedly took action, forming a team of more than 200 people to search and carry corpses in groups of ten, and began to move amidst the chaos everywhere.
An hour later, the prisoners were counted, and there was no Liu Qi among them. I asked several captured rebel generals, and they all said they were too confused and didn't notice Liu Qi was there.
There was no trace of Liu Qi among those who were burned, killed, and drowned in the lake. Zhang Yanling felt a little strange. The water was all around, could Liu Qi grow wings and fly? What if this was all possible?
It was really lucky that he got away.
A search team was wandering in the black and hot reed swamps. The area they were searching was the Baiyangdian reed swamp area located at the east entrance. They were new recruits from the Beijing camp who came to the capital from Guangdong, led by Huo Shijian's Tian Dongxin cousin.
Huo Shijian and Tian Dongxin were arranged to participate in training in the infantry camp. This period of time made them very tired. They had no idea that being soldiers in the Beijing camp under Zhang Houye would be so tiring.
The veterans all seemed to be fine and used to it. But although Huo Shijian, Tian Dongxin and others were young and strong, they were all exhausted by those training subjects.
This was their first real participation in a large-scale battle. Huo Shijian, Tian Dongxin and more than a dozen young men from Guangzhou encouraged each other and warned each other not to be timid and not to embarrass the Cantonese people.
They were originally full of energy and wanted to fight the enemy. In their opinion, attacking Xiong County would be a bloody battle. It would be littered with corpses and blood.
However, until now, they still don't understand why this battle was so easy. They didn't even shoot an arrow, and didn't even have a chance to unsheath their swords. The battle was over. As a result, it took a long time to move the bodies and find them.
People who have been fighting for a long time. This is not the battle they imagined.
"Cousin, you said that the Marquis fought this battle and settled it with a fire. We didn't even have to go up to fight with the enemy, and they surrendered. Speaking of which, it's really boring." Tian Dongxin used the scabbard of his sword.
Swinging in the mud on the ground, he said to Huo Shijian.
"Isn't that true? We all thought tonight was going to be a bloody battle, but it turned out to be like this." Several young students from Guangdong also said.
Huo Shijian smiled bitterly and said: "I didn't expect it to be so easy. Maybe this is the power of Mr. Hou. Even if Mr. Hou is sure that they are here, he will burn them with a fire. This is actually a good thing. Maybe the battle is the right one.
That’s how you beat him.”
Tian Dongxin smiled and said: "Yeah, it's just a bit boring."
Huo Shijian said: "Cousin, don't say that. It's always better not to fight hard. The kind of war we want to fight will definitely kill a lot of people. New recruits like us are the most dangerous. I don't want any of us to fight
Die. I brought you out to serve as soldiers, and I don’t want any of you to die on the battlefield. Otherwise, I can’t explain it to your parents and family. None of us from Guangzhou Prefecture can die.”
Tian Dongxin nodded and said: "That's true, we all have to live. But if we die in the battle, it's still life. There's nothing to be afraid of. Just now I was a little scared when I carried the first corpse, but now I'm all
I’m not afraid anymore. Actual fighting works. It cured my fear immediately.”
Huo Shijian patted Tian Dongxin on the shoulder and said: "My cousin is very brave now. He is much better than when he was in Guangzhou. In the future, he will definitely be able to make contributions and be promoted, and he will honor his ancestors..."
"Borrowing my cousin's words. My cousin will definitely make meritorious deeds. He is better than us in every aspect. Cousin...cousin...are talking to you. What are you looking at?" Tian Dongxin realized that Huo Shijian was not there at all.
After listening to his words, I stared blankly at a mud puddle in a daze.
"Look, there seems to be something in the puddle. Just now I saw a dark flower in the muddy water." Huo Shijian said in a deep voice.
People gathered around to inquire and saw a reed puddle about ten feet in diameter. The water was turbid and seemed to have been disturbed.
While everyone was staring at it, several big bubbles suddenly appeared on the water.
"It's bubbling, it's bubbling, it seems like there are big fish, water bastards and the like in it," everyone shouted.
Huo Shijian reached out and took a spear from the hand of a junior student, and said with a smile: "It looks like the poisonous dragon's bubble. The poisonous dragon likes to stay in puddles like this. The fire can't burn it. But it can't escape our hands."
.The poisonous dragon meat tastes delicious when grilled. Let me cool it down."
As Huo Shijian spoke, he pierced the bubbling place in the puddle with his spear. The next moment, a shrill scream resounded through the early morning wilderness, causing people around him to turn their heads and look in shock.
Huo Shijian, Tian Dongxin and others were so frightened by the person emerging from the mud that they almost fainted. Who would have thought that a person would appear?
Liu Qike was really unlucky. Although he escaped the fire and the search, he was shot out by a few Guangdong recruits.
The only fault was that he couldn't hold back the fart in his stomach and let it out in the muddy water. As a result, there were several big bubbles in the water. The result was terrible.
He did all the right things to survive until now, but he didn't expect that he would end up in a bad situation.