Chapter 64 This Liangzi knot is too big, and it will never die
"Bang, bang, bang!" The familiar sound of gunfire sounded again behind the army formation.
The fierce shouts of killing shook the sky, and the injured Yi Dou Gu cheered up, knowing that victory or defeat depended on this one move, and he worked very hard.
He urged his cavalry to maintain a loose formation, frantically patrolling in front of the army's formation, and rushing in to fight whenever they saw a weak point.
The trapezoidal military formation that Zuo Zixiong deployed along the river, and the "waist" of the trapezoid at the end of the formation on the west side, instantly experienced tremendous pressure.
The muskets opened fire one after another, killing the stubborn thieves one after another. There were also several Shen family sand boats on the Qishui River to assist in the defense, using long-range firepower to force them away. The thieves' cavalry was forced not to get too close to the river bank to avoid being fired from the side.
Firepower kills in vain.
It's a pity that because the officers and soldiers had to be fortified on three sides this time, they couldn't concentrate all the muskets on one side, so the firepower density was reduced by at least two-thirds compared to the battle in the early morning——
During the victory in the early morning, Zuo Zixiong made some calculations and only wanted to defend one direction, so he piled up 800 firearms in front of him. At this moment, there were only more than 200 firearms in the defense area at the end of the team.
Several rounds of musket fire only killed and wounded less than a hundred soldiers. The remaining enemies quickly entered into hand-to-hand combat, or were patrolling in the rear and firing arrows randomly.
Unsurprisingly, the spearmen on the official side were under greater pressure than in the early morning battle.
General Lu Datou happened to be in charge of commanding the melee spearmen on this section of the defense line. He shouted for a fierce battle, and the spears in his hands stabbed like flying, without sparing any effort. He soon achieved another result, stabbing two thieves to death and wounding one.
.
Pao Ze next to him saw Bao Zong fighting so bravely, and recalled Zuo Dusi's morale-boosting words just now. He thought that as long as he fought hard, everyone would have a future, and he could change equipment and change jobs. Finally, his morale was stronger than in the early morning.
Each and every one of them fought to the death without retreating.
"There's something wrong with these officers and soldiers. They were being charged and killed by cavalry on the plains, but they were able to remain calm. How could they have such high morale during a mere regiment training?"
Itotugu on the opposite side was also a little confused, but he couldn't turn back when the arrow was on the string. This time he had to fight to the end.
"Boss, the army's pike soldiers are fighting to the death! There is no chaos at all. The brothers are so dead and wounded in such a charge. Those turtle doves on the key river are still hiding in the boats and stealing us from the side! Why don't you slow down!"
After the bandit army suffered a certain amount of casualties, some of the lower-level thieves generals around Yi Dou Gu couldn't bear it anymore. With their faces covered in blood, they went to Yi Dou Gu for tactical guidance.
Yi Dou Gu stared at the battle line in front of him with a hawk-like gaze, his finger joints almost pinched into his flesh. After a long time, he finally shouted:
"Don't let up! What do you know about fighting! Although the officers and soldiers are holding on to us from behind, their formations are lengthening and getting out of touch! Their front and center armies have just been ordered to speed up, but the rear army has not accelerated yet.
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Even if we are stuck with us now and want to change the formation, there will still be chaos. The more we stick to the back of the army, the more obvious the flaw in the waist of the army will be! Hold on! There will be a turn for the better soon!"
Yi Dougu's battlefield vision is still very sophisticated. He saw that Zuo Zixiong's team was like a spring that was originally compressed. It was tight everywhere, but it moved slowly.
After Zuo Zixiong accelerated, the east side was like the head of a spring, being pulled forward, but the tail of the spring would not follow immediately, but there would be a time lag. This process of force transmission will cause the spring to change.
Loosen, and then the spring tail will catch up.
The harder you bite the tail of the spring, the looser the spring will be!
Once a battle starts, it is no longer just a matter of the commander leaving or stopping whenever he is given.
New recruits are especially likely to have the mentality of "Let's escape as soon as friendly forces help us block it." Once this occurs, the next step is for the entire army to collapse.
This is Zuo Zixiong’s death day!
…
Yidou Gu and Lu Datou were gritting their teeth and waiting for changes on the overall battlefield that would be beneficial to their side.
It seems that the Yidou Valley side is very promising, but the disconnect between the rear army responsible for blocking the attack, the middle army, and the front army is emerging. It will soon be cut off by the rebel army's changing tactics.
However, what Yidougu didn't expect was that before the central army of the official army could get out of touch, something happened to the easternmost front army.
Zuo Zixiong, who was personally in charge of the front army, had repeatedly used Spanish telescopes to confirm the overall battle situation and the distribution of enemy troops since the war began.
He also saw that over at Yidou Valley, the bandit army was taking the main direction of attack and investing more and more mobile troops.
The opponent's only remaining reserves that could be deployed flexibly were moved to the waist of the battlefield, seemingly ready to attack and cut off the army at any time, preventing them from looking at each other.
Only the intercepting troops at the head of the official army have become fewer and fewer, and no one seems to intend to intercept them——
The rebel army is right to make this choice. "Sun Tzu" says, "Don't eat the bait soldiers, and don't stop them when they return to the enemy." When you want to defeat the enemy, you should give up the way of escape, so that you can urge the enemy to focus more on escaping and disintegrate the war.
Heart.
Nowadays, the total number of the rebel army is smaller than that of the official army. However, the soldiers are more elite and have far better fighting will than the official army. It is no longer possible to completely annihilate the official army. It is better to defeat them and then cover them up.
It is absolutely unwise to block the way of escape and force the officers and soldiers to risk their lives with you.
However, any arrangement will have weaknesses and flaws. Liu Xiong's arrangement is based on a fixed mindset - that is, it is absolutely impossible for the army to take the initiative and can only defend.
Strictly speaking, this mindset is not wrong.
Because the official army is mainly infantry, there has been no reason for infantry to take the initiative to attack and pursue cavalry since ancient times. It is impossible to catch up even if they want to.
Zuo Zixiong's side originally had only a few dozen horses, mainly officers with war horses. There were also some captures in the early morning battle. Even if all the soldiers with experience in riding and horse fighting were organized, the number would not exceed two hundred at most.
ride.
Out of a force of 1,900 people, only 200 have high mobility, so why bother taking the initiative to attack!
"Traitor Liu Xiong, today I will let you know the price of underestimating my courage, Zuo Zixiong."
Zuo Zixiong repeatedly observed the battlefield and finally issued an order to assemble all the cavalry in the army and prepare to attack.
He had already discussed this request with his close soldiers and officers before the war, and it was regarded as one of the alternatives for today's battle.
But when it came to this moment, the soldiers were still a little nervous and timid.
Zuo Zixiong looked resolute and gave a few final words of instruction: "Don't be afraid! The enemy has been tricked several times and their morale has declined. What's more, Liu Xiong underestimated the enemy and felt that it was impossible for our army to counterattack, so he had already sent most of his troops to other directions.
The number of people surrounding his flag formation is not much greater than ours!
Moreover, it is only seven or eight miles away from the county seat. The Tongzhi adults in the city must be watching us! In the morning, I asked Shen Lian to return to the city by speedboat to report the news. Maybe the Tongzhi adults are already prepared and will send troops to meet us!
"
After repeated encouragement, the soldiers finally plucked up the courage. He left several officers who commanded the musketeers to stay at the main formation together with staff officer Pizarro. Then he personally led about 1,670 people to plan the attack.
The horse struck.
…
Liu Xiong's main formation still has about 300 riders, who are always responsible for containing and monitoring the army directly in front.
Because his number was small, he retreated farther to ensure his own safety. There was at least a mile between the two armies.
Liu Xiong's face was full of disbelief when he saw the army and cavalry coming out of battle and charging towards them.
He subconsciously wanted to retreat temporarily to avoid the enemy's sharp edge, but he was also afraid that the movement of the flag array would shake the morale of the army, causing the Yidou Valley to circle back in the distance, and he didn't know what was happening here.
After hesitating like this for more than ten seconds, the distance between the two sides was close to less than 300 steps. After a brief trance, Liu Xiong finally saw that the enemy was only about half of his own bodyguards. His mood also fluctuated greatly, and he regained his composure.
"This dog officer is so anxious that he will jump over the wall! There are at most a hundred cavalry here, and he still dares to charge at my flag formation with three hundred cavalry? Men, let these southern water ducks know the ferocity of my northwest men!"
He is very confident in the last three hundred people under his command.
They were all the thugs brought out from his hometown in Shaanxi by his father, Liu Xiyao. They had followed him for at least five or six years, and only those left over from the great waves had their turn to serve as his young master's bodyguards.
A few seconds later, Zuo Zixiong, who was more than 200 steps away, saw the reaction of the bandits' flag formation, and also showed a fierce and life-threatening smile:
"Sure enough, the bet was right this time. Liu Xiong dared to accept the challenge when he saw that our army had few cavalry. Otherwise, if he only knew how to run, both sides would have horses. Even if our horses had rested for a longer time before, we might be afraid that
It’s not easy to catch up either.”
The two armies quickly rushed to the point where they were only a hundred steps apart. Zuo Zixiong waved his hand and ordered the soldiers to slow down temporarily. Then the rider in the front row took out the Lumi gun that was carried on his back and had been pre-loaded with a round of paper shell ammunition.
He took a rough aim directly on the horse, and then shot one round while riding.
The cavalry of one hundred, sixty and seventy men only carried fifty Rumi guns in total, and they did not dare to carry more. This was because Zuo Zixiong had never tried the tactic of firing guns on horseback on a large scale before.
The cavalry will soon enter a melee charge, and it is impossible to line up in a straight line. That way the depth will be too thin. The team needs multiple lines and depth, and it is not easy to aim on horseback. In order to prevent accidental injuries to one's own people, only the first row can fire guns.
.
From the absolute density of firepower, this damage is nothing at all, but it is better than surprise.
When they opened fire, the two sides were only fifty steps away from each other, and the damage of the shotguns was maximized.
The key point is that the rebel army was unprepared, and many cavalrymen were suddenly in chaos. Dozens of the cavalrymen screamed and fell to the ground, and more horses stumbled and threw the riders away, causing broken tendons and fractures.
The momentum of the charge was suffocated.
Zuo Zixiong took the opportunity to speed up the cavalry again. Although the short fifty steps were not enough to reach full speed again, it was barely enough.
"Don't be reluctant to fight, go straight to Liu Xiong's flag formation! Kill Liu Xiong, and our army will win!"
Zuo Zixiong, waving his long sword in circles, took the lead and charged into Liu Xiong's army.
Although the enemy number was a hundred more than him, at first Liu Xiong relied on his large number and wanted to outflank Zuo Zixiong, so that the front of the formation of the rebel cavalry was wider.
Disrupted by muskets at this moment, the cavalry were unable to assemble in the center for a while, but Zuo Zixiong realized the advantage on the local battlefield and made a breakthrough in the center.
"Death!" Zuo Zixiong chopped off a fierce-looking old Shaanxi thief general with one knife, and then used his hand to drag the other thief to death. With three strokes, five divided by two, he was less than thirty steps away from Liu Xiong. place.
Fear finally arose in Liu Xiong's heart. He no longer cared about the flag formation or the morale of the army. He whipped his horse and fled back while shouting sternly: "Stop this dog officer! Stop this dog officer!"
The central bandit army was disrupted and completely lost its unified command. Some people blocked up to protect the young master, but were killed by the officers and soldiers regardless of what was going on. Some people's morale collapsed and they ran away.
The situation that made the rebels even more desperate soon came. When Zuo Zixiong led his troops to attack, his every move was seen with binoculars by Shen Shuren and others who were watching and supervising the battle on the west gate tower of Qizhou.
Therefore, the cavalry team in the city had already been prepared for the response, and more than a hundred people were dispatched to rush out immediately - Shen Shuren could not provide more wealth, mainly because the Huangzhou official army was still very short of horses. This thing is not as easy to deal with as other weapons. The Shen family spent a lot of money to get so much for the time being.
Although the city gate is at least six or seven miles away from Liu Xiong, the cavalry horses in the city are all recharged and have sufficient horsepower. The leader is actually Shen Shuren's cousin, Zhang Huangyan, the new magistrate of Huanggang County.
Zhang Huangyan has always been courageous and proficient in riding and shooting. Even if he is not good at melee combat, he still has the courage to lead the support team to rush Zuo Zixiong.
Liu Xiong never expected that the officers and soldiers would be so courageous today. They were forced into desperation and had no choice but to break out in any direction.
"Fire the arrow!" Zhang Huangyan saw Liu Xiong despise him, and the two armies were forced to within a hundred steps. Zhang Huangyan and his subordinates bent their bows and fired arrows together. No matter what the hit rate was, they must first overwhelm the opponent in terms of momentum.
The thieves' knights are protected by iron armor and are not afraid of ordinary bows and arrows, but the war horses are not.
During the fight, Zhang Huangyan fired continuously and used up about one-third of the arrows in the pot. He actually shot down two rebel war horses and beat the thieves on top to a bloody head. The other cavalrymen around Zhang Huangyan also fought hard. Fight, stab and shoot down dozens of enemy riders.
During the chaotic battle, Liu Xiong's own horse was hit one after another by arrows fired by someone unknown, and he was thrown off the horse with his head raised to the sky and hissing sadly.
Liu Xiong was protected by a fine iron-clad cotton armor, so he did not suffer any external injuries. However, he was still disoriented from the fall, his internal organs were damaged, and he vomited a mouthful of old blood.
Before he could regain his consciousness, Zuo Zixiong had already arrived behind him, and with a flourish of his long knife, he cut off the internally injured Liu Xiong.
"The thief chief is dead! Those who surrender will not be killed!"
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