The city gates opened wide and thousands of people poured out.
The word "yong" is not an adjective, but a true portrayal of the moment. There is no discipline, pushing and shoving, and they are blocked in the doorway. Those behind can't get out, and those in front can't go back.
It only takes fifty elite cavalry to launch a charge, which can cause a huge rout of the rebels, because Yongning Supervisory City has no moat.
Wang Yuan did not attack immediately, but waited for all the rebels to leave the city, so as not to scare those behind him back.
More than four hundred cavalrymen had already formed up, but the more than a thousand recruits who had just been reorganized were still leaving the camp under the scolding of the officers. The messy appearance was not much better than that of the rebels. At first glance, they looked like a ragtag group that had never fought in a war.
Kuai Laosan had a knife in his hand, but he didn't bring the musket because they didn't know how to fire muskets yet.
"Third brother, there are so many people on the other side." Zhou Chang, who was beside him, had a look of fear on his face, and his legs were trembling as he lined up.
Kuai Laosan also felt weak all over, swallowed his saliva and said, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, Governor Wang is very powerful."
"No whispering to each other, anyone who disobeys the order will be killed!"
Just as Qianhu Lu Desheng was shouting loudly, he was also a member of the elite cavalry, but at this moment he had to stay and lead these miscellaneous soldiers.
Xie Wang, a scholar who was exiled to Liaodong, was a little scared, but more excited. He had heard the legend of Wang Erlang's victorious battles, and he didn't take the rebels in front of him seriously. He just wanted to take advantage of the opportunity.
With military exploits, I will be a good man who will be granted the title of Marquis from now on.
After waiting for a long time, the rebels finally all left the city.
But only the Chinese army commanded by Gao Hang was somewhat decent, and its number did not exceed 2,000. The remaining more than 10,000 rebels were simply unsightly in formation, not as neat as the formations of middle school students doing radio gymnastics.
Wang Yuan put away his telescope, without any desire to charge, and said to Yuan Da: "You fight this battle, I will just watch."
Yuan Da muttered: "I don't want to fight either."
Wang Yuan smiled and said, "Then you choose someone yourself."
Yuan Da then said to a general beside him: "Old Li, you go."
"Got the order!" Li Zongjing drew his sword and ran out, shouting, "Three Thousand Battalion... No, the Shenxiao Battalion is out. Brothers, this is the first time for the Shenxiao Battalion to fight. Please cheer up and don't give me any trouble.
Fell asleep."
"Ha ha ha ha!"
More than 400 cavalrymen laughed loudly, completely ignoring the more than 10,000 rebels in front of them.
Their laughter made the recruits in the back row inexplicably surprised, and at the same time it gave them confidence to win. At least Kuai Laosan, Zhou Chang and others no longer trembled in fear.
A few years ago, Li Zongjing was just a hundred households, following Wang Yuan in the north and south, and now he has been appointed to the Gaizhou Guards to command the Qianshi. Man Su'er who fought against Turpan, and the little Mongolian prince who fought against Tatars, these chaotic rebels are in front of him.
In his eyes, the army is just a bunch of chickens and dogs waiting to be slaughtered.
Li Zongjing turned around and asked: "Commander Yuan, why don't you wait until the rebels arrange their formation more neatly?"
"Get out!" Yuan Da laughed and scolded.
"Ha ha ha ha."
The cavalrymen burst into laughter again.
Suddenly, the laughter disappeared because Li Zongjing had already raised his saber.
More than 400 fine cavalry were seen advancing slowly, unhurriedly, calmly and solemnly, even maintaining order during the march.
To deal with the rebels, no guns are needed.
Still more than a hundred steps away from the rebel outpost, Li Zongjing suddenly began to accelerate, and accelerated again when he was sixty steps away. The sound of horse hooves rumbled, and although there were only more than 400 people, they rushed out with the momentum of an army of tens of thousands.
There were still forty or fifty steps away, but the rebel outpost was already panicking. Twenty or thirty steps away, the rebel outpost suddenly collapsed, and one by one they dropped their weapons and ran away.
"Hold still, don't retreat, don't retreat!" Gao Hang shouted in panic.
No one listened to the order, because the rebels had no command system, and any order that Gao Hang frightened could not be accurately conveyed during the battle. Those outpost rebels and officers could not even understand the flag order, and had no idea where the general was.
What to say.
The officer behind Li Zongjing waved his hand, and the cavalry collectively slowed down their horses. When they were still more than ten steps away from the enemy's position, more than 400 elite cavalry suddenly changed direction and charged diagonally towards the rebels' left sentry.
Due to the collapse of the outpost, the left outpost was also disrupted by the rout. Now it encountered a cavalry charge and immediately collapsed.
Up to this moment, the two armies have not made formal contact. However, casualties have occurred, all caused by the rebels trampling themselves when they fled.
Moreover, the rebels did not place anything as a horse-blocking facility to resist the cavalry.
After Li Zongjing defeated the opponent's front and left posts, he took a detour and charged directly towards the rebels' central line.
"Brother Gao, run!" Zhang Lu, the deputy commander of the rebel army, ran away. He did not forget to remind him before escaping from the battle. This approach can be regarded as kind and righteous.
Gao Hang was shocked and angry: "You're just running away, the fight hasn't started yet, I'll go back and hold you back!"
Zhang Lu cried and said: "Why hasn't the fight started yet? The fight has already been finished!"
In fact, there was no need for Li Zongjing to charge the rebels' main line, because the rebels' main line had been smashed to pieces by the defeated troops. A chain reaction occurred quickly, and the rebel right sentry farthest from Li Zongjing also inexplicably followed the automatic
collapse.
In an instant, tens of thousands of rebels were all routed.
As for the more than 400 fine cavalry, they have charged so far, but they have not fired a single sword or missed an arrow.
Gao Hang was surrounded by his followers and fled into the city. He immediately ordered the city gates to be closed, blocking about eight to nine thousand rebels outside the city.
Lu Desheng, who was in charge of commanding the new recruits, said calmly: "This kind of bad battle is really boring. Come with me to capture the prisoners. Remember not to kill indiscriminately. Those who surrender will be spared. Wang Shilang will let them farm and graze."
Woolen cloth."
The recruits who were scared to death before were now very motivated, screaming and charging forward with their swords in hand.
The scholar Xie Wang was also excited. The battle just now refreshed his understanding of military affairs. He finally understood how those battles in history where a small number of people defeated a large number were fought.
There were only ten regular soldiers in Wanghaitun, and Xie Wang was the eleventh extra man. He begged Xie Rang of Baihu to bring him over. Although his blood surged, he still maintained his rationality. When he saw the friendly troops around him in a mess, he immediately shouted:
"I hope the brothers in Haitun will stop running around and follow me and don't get separated!"
The recruits, who were initially at a loss and only knew how to charge randomly, gradually moved closer to Xie Wang.
After a while, the rebels were completely defeated, and the recruits were chasing after them. Only Xie Wang's team still maintained a little organization, and more and more recruits gathered around him, and the recruits from other villages also subconsciously moved closer.
Seeing more than thirty people following him, Xie Wang suddenly stopped and assigned tasks on the battlefield: "Five people are captured in groups, one is commanding, two are arresting, and two are tying ropes. Divide into groups and single out."
The brothers are responsible for guarding the prisoners. You, you, you...and you, you are the team leaders...One group chases to the east, and the second group chases to the north..."
Wang Yuan held up his telescope and happened to see Xie Wang's actions.
It was hard to avoid seeing them. More than a thousand recruits had all fled. Only Xie Wang's place was relatively orderly.
Wang Yuan smiled and said to Yuan Da: "This person is quite interesting. If he can be carefully cultivated, he can become a general."
Yuan Da was also observing the situation and said: "Get him when we get back and transfer him to my side to serve as my personal soldier."
…
In the city.
Yuanmasi Residence, in a side room.
A rebel hurriedly ran into the room and looked at Ling Xiang stupidly without saying anything.
Ling Xiang said with a smile: "You are defeated, right?"
The rebel nodded: "Failed."
"Idiot, don't let me out yet!" Ling Xiang scolded.
The rebels hesitated.
Ling Xiang said: "I told you a long time ago that Gao Hang will definitely be defeated. He has an army of 100,000 and will definitely be defeated by Wang Erlang. Do you want to survive?"
The rebel suddenly knelt down: "Master Ling, help me!"
Ling Xiang shook his sleeves and said: "If you want to survive, just be obedient and I will naturally protect you from death."
The rebels immediately opened the door, and there were several people in charge of custody outside the door. They all asked: "Brother Yang, what do you do?"
"Listen to Master Ling," the rebel said.
Ling Xiang said: "God has the virtue of good life, and the imperial court will not kill everyone. Gao Hang and Zhang Lu are causing trouble, and you are all deceived. As long as the chaos is brought to an end now, I will guarantee it with my life, and I will definitely let you live. I want to
Anyone who lives, follow me!"
Yuan Masiqing, who had been under house arrest for a month, looked like a coward before, but now he suddenly showed his fangs. He led the rebel soldiers who were guarding him, shouting along the way that Gao Hang had been defeated, and asked everyone who wanted to survive to follow him.
There were hundreds of people gathered.
Moreover, Prime Minister Ling took these people and headed straight for the south city gate, bumping into a defeated army on the way.
There were about two to three thousand people who followed Gao Hang and fled back to the city. But after entering the city, there was no way to restrain them. The defeated soldiers fled in all directions, leaving only four to five hundred people around Gao Hang blocking the city gate.
"Master Ling is here, whoever surrenders will avoid death!"
"Master Ling is here, whoever surrenders will avoid death!"
Prime Minister Ling had his men shouting all the way, and the defeated soldiers were so frightened that they knelt down on the roadside and surrendered.
Prime Minister Ling began to simply reorganize the broken troops, and with these surrendered broken troops, he went straight to the main force of the Gaohang rebels at the south gate.
The two sides faced off and neither took action.
Gao Hang cursed loudly: "Old Prime Minister Ling, you have been stabbed a thousand times, I should kill you."
Ling Xiang sneered: "Do you really think that I am a useless scholar? When I was suppressing bandits in Jiangxi, you didn't know where to farm! Let me listen to them all. This time only the chief culprit will be punished, and the rest will be exempted from death.
.For the officers who participated in the rebellion, as long as they can capture and kill Gao Hang and Zhang Lu, they will be spared death. Why are you all standing there in a daze? Why don't you take action quickly?"
Gao Hang and Zhang Lu were shocked and confused. Looking around, they felt that everyone wanted to kill them.
"Do it!" Ling Xiang shouted angrily.
Suddenly an officer suddenly rose up, and this move brought several more people with him, and soon hundreds of people were in revolt.
The two rebel leaders, Gao Hang and Zhang Lu, did not even have time to resist, so they were cut into pieces by their cronies. Some held their thighs, while others held their hands and feet. They all said they had captured and killed them, and they cried and demanded atonement for their sins through meritorious deeds.
Prime Minister Ling walked slowly and slowly, and the rebels gave in one after another.
"Do you know the crime?" Ling Xiang asked.
"Sir, spare my life!" The rebels all knelt on the ground.
Prime Minister Ling stood with his hands behind his hands and said with a smile: "Open the city gate."