Chapter two hundred and sixty-five strange thieves
The advance on the Yuezhou side was not as fast as the troops on the Hongzhou side because Liu Jinpeng built more forts in the Yuezhou direction.
It has to be said that although the Tiger Crouching Cannon can destroy defensive fortresses, it does affect the speed of advancement.
On the Ezhou side, Wang Ran's troops are fighting steadily. They don't have tiger squatting artillery, and they haven't captured a single fort yet.
Wang Ran was not in a hurry at all. Their mission was to hold off the thieves here.
The coalition troops and horses in other directions also advanced steadily. Although the removal speed of the fortress was slow, they moved forward firmly.
On the second day of the attack, King Hongzhou's logistics team sent supplies to Yu Ming.
The fighting strength of Hongzhou soldiers was too weak, and after the defeat of Tonggu, King Hongzhou never expanded his troops.
All his men stayed in Yuzhang to guard the city.
He only sent 3,000 people to help Yu Ming transport supplies during this expedition.
Everyone didn't have any objections to this point. After all, the army rations were provided by the King of Hongzhou.
There is nothing wrong with not being able to provide people and materials.
The King of Hongzhou was not stingy either. The military rations were all new grain harvested last year, and there was also a supply of meat such as chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep.
Hongzhou had a bumper harvest last year, and the livestock industry recovered relatively quickly.
Being wealthy, he directly paid for all the expenses of Yu Ming and his entourage who stayed temporarily.
After breakfast, Yu Ming and Song Chengwang immediately organized their troops and advanced.
When we arrived at the first fort, we found that the building was empty.
"General. After searching carefully, there is really no one left!" Tan Ma reported.
"Did this... scare you away?"
Song Chengwang scratched his head. He originally planned to bomb it, but in the end, the fort was empty and he still bombed it.
"Keep moving forward. It's better if they retreat, and I save artillery shells!"
Song Chengwang had someone send a message to Yu Ming, and he led the vanguard forward.
This situation repeated itself all morning.
By the end of the period, Song Chengwang's vanguard actually arrived directly at the foot of Liuyang County.
At three o'clock in the morning, Yu Ming also came.
The two of them took telescopes and looked towards the head of Liuyang City.
This time I finally saw a lot of defenders.
"It seems that they have reduced their troops." Yu Ming curled his lips and said.
Knowing that the fortress could not bear it, they retreated directly to the county town. These thieves were indeed decisive.
More than an hour later, Yu Ming and Song Chengwang were studying how to attack the city.
The detective horse reported that a group of troops was coming from the northeast.
"There's no resistance on your side?" Yu Ming saw that the person coming turned out to be Wang Ran.
Yesterday they were blocked outside the fort.
"Haha. That's right. This morning I found that the fortress was actually empty. When I came all the way here, I found that all the traitors had withdrawn."
"When I thought about it, they must have been scared by you. They thought we also had squatting tiger cannons, so they all retreated to Liuyang City." Wang Ran laughed.
They were marching all the way, and they traveled a hundred miles in one day!
"It's good to gather them all together, it's all in one pot!" Song Chengwang said while rubbing his hands.
After sunset, the situation in Liuyang has been fully understood, and the city wall is indeed seriously damaged.
It can be seen that it was a temporary repair.
"Let's do this. Our main attack directions are to the east and south."
"First bombard for a while, then use the Crouching Tiger Cannon to suppress the enemy troops at the top of the city."
"Then……"
Yu Ming and others were discussing tomorrow's attack strategy when suddenly there was a noise outside.
"General! The thieves are coming to attack the camp!" The messenger rushed into the big tent to report.
This news made everyone confused.
Attack the camp?
Shouldn't we wait until midnight to attack the camp?
What time is it now?
It was less than an hour after sunset.
When the Renaissance Army didn't relax at all, the other party actually attacked the camp?
Is this a bubble in the brain?
Yu Ming and others put on their armors and went out. They could already hear the fighting in the distance.
The rebels who rushed outside the camp were already fighting with the Renaissance troops guarding the camp.
"Damn! It's really here! Are they crazy?" Yu Ming yelled, cursing.
It is said that they had just prepared to bury the pot to make rice, and now the thieves came to attack. Didn't they plan to let them eat?
Cutting off people's livelihood is unforgivable.
Yu Ming immediately called out a greeting, and the reinforcements began to move in the direction of the battle.
At the same time, detective reports kept coming.
"General, more than 2,000 bandits have arrived."
"General, we have withstood the offensive so far!"
"General, there is a reserve team behind them, about a hundred people. We can't see the specific situation clearly."
Yu Ming was stunned again when he heard the analysis. Let the reserve team have 100 people?
What kind of backup is this?
Collecting corpses?
This wave of operations by the thieves was beyond comprehension by everyone.
"Could it be that the traitor general left the city in person to supervise the battle?" Wang Ran analyzed with a frown.
"This... is not possible. He only brings a hundred soldiers and dares to suppress the formation from behind? Are you afraid that we will attack him?" Yu Ming shook his head and said.
Because he couldn't figure out his opponent's situation, Yu Ming didn't dare to let people rush in rashly.
In fact, the more than two thousand thieves who attacked the camp this time could not get in at all.
The defending warriors had stopped their offensive.
As long as Yu Ming orders a full-scale counterattack, they can be eliminated immediately or they can be driven into the city.
"Hmph! Forget it! No matter what tricks they play, we must eliminate them first! Since they dare to come, we can't let them go." After thinking about it, Yu Ming snorted coldly.
Although the operation of the rogue soldiers is difficult to understand, it should be right to take the vanguard first.
"Chengwang, you take the musketeers to the front. Mr. Wang, your archers will go with you."
"You fight in front for a while, and I will lead the cavalry to attack their flanks!"
Yu Ming quickly made arrangements.
They came out this time with 500 war horses.
Jiangzhou collected nearly a thousand war horses in the past year, and Song Yang organized a cavalry team of 500 people.
"Let's go! Fight quickly and have dinner after the fight!" Yu Ming greeted and immediately went to lead the cavalry.
Song Chengwang ran to the Musketeers.
They also brought a 100-man musketeers, but until now, the musketeers have not had a chance to participate in the battle.
Wang Ran went directly to the front camp. His troops came later and were stationed in the outermost camp.
Arriving at the front camp, Wang Ran immediately called the archers to prepare.
Arriving outside the camp gate, Wang Ran saw a stalemate fighting between the two sides in front.
The archer cannot shoot flatly, but projectile shooting is not a problem.
"Fire the arrow!"
Wang Ran did not wait for Song Chengwang to bring the musketry team, and directly ordered the arrows to be fired.
A hail of arrows fell in the midst of the bandits' formation.
Under normal circumstances, if someone suddenly throws someone at you, you will always be in disarray.
Unexpectedly, the thieves who were shot by bows and arrows for a while became more and more brave.
He screamed and rushed forward with the knife in hand.
"This... thieves are so brave! Shoot me arrows quickly! Keep shooting!" Wang Ran frowned and commanded.
The former general of the army was Guo Ming, who came from the Jiangzhou Guards. He was the general commanding the defense in this battle. He had just received a notice from Yu Ming, asking him to resist the rebels and wait for support.
Originally, Wang Ran's Ezhou Army came to support him, but he thought that the traitors would soon retreat.
But I didn't expect that after a burst of bows and arrows, the thieves became more and more brave.
"Damn it! What the hell is going on!" Guo Ming yelled.
There was something strange about the bandit's actions tonight, which made people confused.
This led to the fear of being ambushed by the enemy.
After a while, Song Chengwang also came over with a hundred musketeers.
He also brought twenty tiger squatting cannons.
The squatting tiger cannon may not be useful. It is easy to kill your own people if you fire the cannon in the dark at night.
"Huh? The fight was so intense?"
As soon as Song Chengwang arrived outside the camp gate, he immediately saw the stalemate fighting situation.
Song Chengwang frowned and said hello:
"Musketeers, go to the front of the road and hit me in the face! Come back and change the ammunition after the fight!"