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"Father, the spies report back, the enemy is here." Fei Ruhui walked over and said.

The bandits under Fei Yinggong's command were all broken up and incorporated into the army, only his daughter Fei Ruhui stayed by his side.

Fei Ruhui insisted on joining the army to fight, and obtained Zhao Han's permission.

"How many people are here?" Fei Yinggong asked.

Fei Ruhui said: "It's several thousand. Food and grass go by water, and soldiers go by the river. Watching them march, they seem to be elite."

"I fight the elite!"

Fei Yinggong stood up slowly, stretched his waist, yawned and said, "If we don't fight again, our bones will soon be crisp."

In Fei Yinggong's hands, there were only [-] regular soldiers and [-] peasant soldiers, and the rest belonged to the grain transportation team.

After Liao Sheng's whereabouts were exposed, he did not return to Hengshan, but slowed down the marching speed so that the soldiers under his command would not be so tired.

He has more than 1 regiments of bravery, and he has not trained much, but he has fought for more than a year.

This time, the five thousand regiments who brought to cut off the grain road were all "elite" veterans who had experienced many battles.At least, he himself thinks he is an elite who can beat the bandits from Jiangxi to the ground.

What about Zhao Tianwang?

It's not that he hasn't fought the Jiangxi rebels before!

Liao Sheng felt that the imperial examination was hopeless. In this troubled world, he wanted to rely on his military exploits to seal his wife and son, and at the same time keep his family's property.

The next morning, Liao Sheng brought [-] elite troops to Lukou to attack Fei Yinggong.

He even trained three hundred archers under his command!

Chapter 244 [Elite is limited]

It would be embarrassing if the sneak attack failed, because Liao Sheng had to cross the river.

Either go to the west bank of the Xiangjiang River and go further downstream to cross the Xiangjiang River.Either go to the east bank of the Xiangjiang River and cross the Lushui River on the opposite bank of Lukou Town.

There is a bridge in Lukou Town, built in the Song Dynasty, with a total length of more than 150 meters. It is a wooden pier and wooden beam structure, and it needs to be repaired every few years.If you don't take this bridge, the entire Lushui River will only have the Lujiang Bridge on the Liling side, which is also a Song Dynasty bridge with wooden piers and wooden beams.

Liao Sheng did not have a dedicated navy, and his ships were only used to transport supplies.

Zhao Han's navy can't come from Jiangxi, and the ships can only be used to transport baggage—of course, they can make a big circle from the Yangtze River, and then follow the Xiangjiang River all the way here.

It was too difficult to cross the Xiangjiang River, so Liao Sheng could only choose to cross the bridge at Lushui.

Landing on the south bank of Lushui, Liao Sheng breathed a sigh of relief, the rebels finally did not set fire to the bridge.

They camped across the river and did not move that day.

Liao Sheng asked his younger brother Liao Kun to lead 1500 elites with good water skills to smuggle upstream at night.At that time, the main force will forcefully cross the bridge, and the surprise soldiers will attack from the east at the same time, and the two sides will be able to win in one battle.

Fei Yinggong didn't respond, as if he didn't know how to guard against the enemy's smuggling.

When the news of his younger brother's successful smuggling came, Liao Sheng sneered in the camp: "The thief general who guards the grain road is so incompetent, this battle is bound to be won!"

Fei Yinggong didn't move for two reasons:

First, although he can now command a thousand regular soldiers, Huang Yao took away five hundred to besiege the city.He only has [-] regular soldiers and [-] peasant soldiers, which is too weak after division;

Second, if the enemy is not allowed to cross the river, how can he wipe it out?

At noon the next day, the 1500 regiment Yong who had successfully smuggled in was led by Liao Kun to kill them after resting and recovering.

At the same time, Liao Sheng forcibly crossed the bridge in advance to restrain the bandits and cooperate with his clan brothers to reach the battlefield smoothly.

With shield players and spearmen at the front and three hundred archers at the back, only a few hundred troops can be invested at one time, and the bridge deck cannot stand if there are too many people.

They were not in a hurry to attack, so they shot at the opposite bank from the bridge, and waited for the smuggled friendly troops to arrive before attacking from both sides.

"Father, the enemy from the east is here, and more than 1000 people have been smuggled away." Fei Ruhui said.

Fei Yinggong turned his head and took a look: "No hurry, just wait."

The 1500 soldiers guarding the bridge were holding rattan shields to defend against bows and arrows.When the [-] regiments on the side approached bravely, Fei Yinggong suddenly exclaimed: "Quick retreat!"

Taking advantage of the gap between the archers' shots, the soldiers guarding the bridge turned around and fled, as if they were afraid of being attacked from both sides, and they were directly terrified.

Very poor acting!

However, Tuan Yong who was attacking on the bridge believed it, and Tuan Yong who sneaked over and double-teamed also believed it.

Since they became an army, they have been fighting bandits for a long time.Those thieves also fight in the same way, once they are ambushed or double-teamed, they will be defeated.

Liao Sheng on the other side of the river said anxiously: "Ming Jin, Ming Jin, gather across the river, don't chase after them!"

"Dang Dang Dang Dang!"

The gong rang frantically, but it was too late.

Tuanyong who crossed the bridge, and Tuanyong who smuggled across the bridge, saw that the Datong army was fleeing, and they immediately got hot-headed and swarmed to kill them.

Obviously, these regiments are brave and elite, and they can't be banned by orders.

After Liao Sheng crossed the river, his troops had split into two groups.One is chasing and killing the Datong Army, and the other is very obedient and gathers on the shore.In desperation, while leading his troops to chase, he blew the trumpet to stop the troops in front.

This is a commercial town, there are so many people that it is impossible to line up, and they can only advance along the bluestone streets.

There are two streets in the shape of "⊥".

One extends horizontally along the river, and the other extends vertically along the shop.

Tuanyong, who was the first to cross the bridge, got into the vertical street to pursue.The 1500 regiments who stowed away bravely pursued them from the small road outside the town.All dragged into a long snake array, to be precise, dragged into two long snakes.

They chased like crazy, just like they used to chase thieves.

"Shut up!"

The sharp and ear-piercing copper whistle sounded, and the [-] soldiers who escaped from the main street suddenly stopped to gather in formation.

This kind of operation, in the entire Ming Dynasty, only a few troops can do it.Most of the officers, soldiers, village heroes, and bandits, even if they had made arrangements in advance, were defeated when they fled, and the feigned defeat directly turned into a rout.

The regiment warriors couldn't do it, so they thought that the Datong Army couldn't do it either. They firmly believed that the Datong Army was really fleeing.

"The Great Harmony of the World!"

"Farm and eat!"

The [-] soldiers who had quickly completed their formation suddenly shouted in unison, scaring Tuan Yong, who was chasing at the front, trembling with fear.

"kill!"

In the narrow Qingshiban Town Street, at most ten people can stand side by side.No matter how many regiments were chasing, they couldn't be separated at all, and were instantly strangled by the Datong army lined up at the street.

"Run, there is an ambush!"

Tuan Yong who was running in front turned around in a hurry, but Tuan Yong who was behind was still rushing forward, and soon huddled together at the intersection of the street.

Tuanyong's command system has completely failed at this time, and even the officers are squeezed into the crowd.

All the shops in the town are closed, and a few shops have two floors.Shopkeepers, shopkeepers, merchants... all watched from the windows on the second floor, and they saw a very exciting scene.

I saw [-] soldiers of the same army lined up in a crescent shape at the entrance of the street, and countless regiments bravely crashed into the concave gap.A brave regiment is often assassinated by several long spears, and the front and back are crowded there, unable to advance or retreat.

Tuan Yong, who was chasing from behind, didn't know what happened at first, and stood behind and fell into a sleepwalking state collectively.After strangling like this for at least 1 minute, the group braves behind began to flee, but the middle area was crowded with people, and countless group braves fell down in panic, and many group braves were simply trampled to death by friendly troops.

An out-of-town businessman living in an inn watched the whole battle through the window, and couldn't help sighing: "There are elite soldiers on one side and mobs on the other. This battle is not unjustly lost."

On the other side, under the leadership of Liao Kun, the 1500 smuggling group Yong chased from the small road outside the town and outflanked them.

They ran into five hundred peasant soldiers head-on!

There are houses on one side of the path and dry fields on the other. Liao Kun raised his flag and shouted.

Facing the peasants and soldiers waiting in full force, the regiment warriors did not dare to chase after them, and jumped into the dry fields one after another to form an array.

However, before they finished their formation, five hundred farmers and soldiers also jumped into the dry field, trotted and began to charge in a formation of mandarin ducks.

These regiments are indeed elite, and they were not defeated immediately. They are much more powerful than the regiments of the Zhou family in Xiangtan.

That's all.

The 1500 regiments who did not have a good formation faced the 500 peasants and soldiers who were charging in formation.After holding on for about 2 minutes, he was directly killed from the middle. The group warriors wanted to fight, but there were wolf sticks in front of them, and then a long spear stabbed them in a daze.

Liao Kun raised his knife to split two wolf whisks, and was suddenly stabbed by a wolf whisk.While parrying and retreating, he was stabbed by another long spear, and then he was shot in the shoulder, abdomen, and chest, and fell to the ground dead on the spot.

Liao Sheng came with his own troops, but the two regiments had all fled, so he could only retreat to the bridge and line up to respond.

But more and more rout soldiers rushed back, and the Datong army was chasing after them, and Liao Sheng's main formation was also shaken instantly.When the rout was getting closer and closer, Tuan Yong, who was in charge of responding, was so frightened that he turned around and ran away, which immediately led to the rout of the entire army. Liao Sheng couldn't even kill several people.

The five thousand regiments brought by Liao Sheng are already the most elite troops in the entire southern Hunan region at this time.

They have been fighting for more than a year, and all belong to veterans who have seen blood.The other troops, including the soldiers under Governor Wang Zhiliang's command, were all peasants recruited temporarily, and had no combat effectiveness at all, and could only be used to defend the city.

The only elite in southern Shonan, the whole army was defeated in this way.

The reason for the defeat turned out to be Fei Yinggong's very clumsy feigning defeat, which caused these elites to chase to the ambush point in disregard of military orders.

At this moment, more than 3000 of the five thousand elite are still alive.A small number fled along both sides of the river bank, and most of them were squeezing on the wooden bridge, trying to cross the river from the only bridge. Across the river was their camp.

Liao Sheng was powerless to prevent the defeat, so he could only be caught in the chaos and quickly retreated under the protection of his confidants.

Liao Sheng managed to run across the bridge, but more regiments were squeezed on the bridge, and many defeated soldiers were even squeezed into the river.

"kill!"

Fei Ruhui, a woman, rushed forward with a spear in her hand, and quickly stabbed at the defeated soldiers.She prefers to use a sword, but fighting on the battlefield is more comfortable with a spear.

Several people were stabbed to death one after another, the broken soldiers on the bridge jumped into the river one after another, and the rest were chased across the bridge.

"Slow down, slow down!" Fei Yinggong yelled anxiously, fearing that something might happen to her daughter.

Fei Ruhui had already rushed to the other side and chased several miles away before stopping to rest out of breath.

Liao Sheng fled frantically with the remnant soldiers and returned along the original road of Xiangjiang River.Fleeing until dark, he finally saw no pursuers. He asked his confidants to count the number of people, and there were only more than 80 left.

Liao Sheng wanted to cry but had no tears, these are his five thousand elite soldiers!

Although Leiyang and Hengshan each had [-] regiments bravely defending the city, Hengyang still had [-] regiments bravely defending the city.But the [-] regiments of bravery were all weak in combat effectiveness and belonged to the mob recruited by other gentry.

Liao Sheng was in a trance, feeling helpless.

He has lost his own elite, so what is the use of returning to Leiyang, Hengshan, and Hengyang?Even if they go back, they may not be able to command, because they are other people's soldiers, and there are conflicts among the squires.

Forget it, just stop fighting.

Liao Sheng waited by the river for two days, and more than 200 regiments bravely fled back one after another.These were all his subordinate soldiers, and there were only three hundred left, so they simply found a ferry to cross the river and fled all the way back to his hometown in Longhui, robbing landlords to raise rations along the way.

Hearing that Liao Sheng's main army was wiped out, the three cities of Hengyang, Hengshan, and Leiyang on the south line suddenly became agitated, and soldiers deserted every day.

Zhang Tieniu took the opportunity to surround Leiyang, and Liu Zhu took the opportunity to surround Hengshan.

Hengyang, between the two cities, was about to become an isolated city, and the prefect was so frightened that he ran away.The county magistrate is kind, he stepped forward when he was in danger, and opened the treasury to recruit soldiers on the spot.

However, the Hengyang garrison recruited less and less.

The magistrate recruited one, and seven or eight escaped that night.

Hengyang is a big commercial city. There are many wealthy merchants here, and almost every wealthy merchant has numerous servants.

There was a slave named Zhang Feng. After he made a fortune, he asked scholars to change his name to Zhang Wenyu.

He had never been to Jiangxi, but he got a copy of "Datong Collection" from Jiangxi merchants, and began to inquire about the situation of Jiangxi's domestic slaves.

In the latest edition of "Datong Collection", there is an article called "Release the Slaves", which classifies tenants, long-term workers, domestic servants, and military households as slaves.It is believed that only by freeing slaves can the world be truly unified, and these slaves should also be treated equally.

Seeing that there were only two or three hundred defenders left in Hengyang, Zhang Wenyu immediately joined forces, and half of the domestic slaves in Hengyang City were incited.

Judging from the slave rebellion in the late Ming Dynasty, the intensity of the domestic slave rebellion was far lower than that of the peasant rebellion.

In most cases, domestic slaves just beat their masters, forcing them to hand over the contract of sale, or forcing their masters to improve their treatment, and only a few of them would kill their masters.The reason is very simple. All the slave change movements are led by the slaves. These slaves also have family businesses, and they don't want to make it too big.

The two cities of Hengshan and Leiyang have not yet been conquered, and Hengyang in the middle has changed its flag instead.

Zhang Wenyu led countless domestic slaves, drove away the Hengyang defenders, and erected an autonomous Datong army flag.

Chapter 245 [Businessmen offer the city]

Li Zheng's troops going south have arrived in Xiangtan.

Huang Yao frowned and asked: "The terrain like Xiangtan, what's the use of having more soldiers? Why don't you stay in Changsha?"

Xiao Zongxian replied: "Changsha has tens of thousands of defenders, and the city is high and deep. It is impossible to attack by force. After dividing the troops, we may be able to lure the enemy out of the city and wipe them out in the wild. As for Xiangtan, a sudden increase in troops may scare the city into surrender. .”

"Even if you don't come, Xiangtan will soon surrender." Huang Yao laughed.