Xie Ming

Chapter 12 Lure the enemy deeper
Xiao Jingchuan deployed his troops and set up an ambush at a narrow gap three miles away. Then he organized the troops to follow the Shenji Camp and the servants and go ahead.

150 cavalrymen under Li Huchen dismounted to rest. After the front soldiers left, the fat man Qi Dayong approached Li Huchen.

"Captain, what do you mean? We were asked to stop them, but they ran away first?"

It was early spring in March and snow was falling again. Qi Dayong's hands were so frozen that he put them into his sleeves out of habit. He squatted next to Li Huchen and talked to him, looking like a farmer watching a fun event.

"Huzi, go pick up a few people and go to the back to investigate. If you see any traces of the pursuers, come back and report immediately!"

"Yes!"

After Li Huchen ordered all members of his unit to dismount and rest, he also dismounted, sat down on a pile of rocks, took out the dry and hard biscuits he had brought with him, and chewed them hard.

When he saw Qi Dayong approaching, he did not rush to reply to him, but sent out a scout from the team first just in case.

After doing all this, Li Huchen looked at Qi Dayong beside him, broke off a large piece and handed it to his subordinate.

"Why? Are you afraid of death?"

"Ah? Look at what you said, Captain. I, Dayong, have been with you for many years, through life and death, and I have always been the first to kill the enemy in battle!"

"I just don't want to use my head as a scapegoat for no apparent reason!" Qi Dayong said angrily.

"Hahaha"

"You kid, you just spend all day thinking about nothing!"

"Let me tell you, three miles ahead, there is a place called Yixiantiantian!"

"The troops from the Shenji Camp went ahead and set up an ambush there."

"Our mission is to wait here and pursue the enemy soldiers from behind."

"After a while of fighting, we will retreat while fighting, lead the enemy to the ambush point, and then, hehe."

Li Huchen picked up a branch from the ground at random and scratched it on the ground while talking.

Qi Dayong heard it clearly and watched it carefully, and suddenly he understood!
"Oh my! I see!"

"I understand, little one!"

"Damn it, you little brat, do you understand now?" Li Huchen cursed with a smile, raised his hand and hit the fat man on the back of his head.

After the beating, he still felt unsatisfied, so he kicked Dayong on the butt.

"Go, don't just sit there, feed my horse some of the fine food I brought with me, we'll have a fight to do later!"

"Hey, okay, okay!"

"When we meet the enemy later, you just have to watch my performance, Captain!" Qi Dayong bowed and smiled, not forgetting to boast.

"Just pull it off. You can only act cowardly later. Do you hear me?"

"Wait until the enemy is led into the ambush circle, then you'll fight me to death!" Li Huchen reminded.

"Okay, just hold it!"

Qi Dayong, a Shanxi man, clumsily uttered a poor Beijing dialect, which made Li Huchen laugh.

Four quarters past midnight (0:0)!

Behind Li Huchen's troops, the scouts rode back.

"Report——"

"Report!"

"Report to the captain, the pursuers are here, less than a mile away!" The sentry rode straight to where Li Huchen was. When he got close, he jumped off his horse at a high speed to salute and return the favor.

"They're finally biting us. Can you see clearly how many soldiers are there on the opposite side?" Li Huchen jumped up from the ground and asked seriously.

"It's hard to see clearly at night, but roughly speaking, there are at least two thousand."

Hearing these numbers, Li Huchen frowned and started to calculate in his mind.

Wow, they sent a full cavalry battalion!
The military organization of the late Ming Dynasty was mostly based on battalions as independent marching units. A fully staffed battalion was equivalent to a modern reinforced regiment. Below the battalion, there were five levels of organization: division, department, bureau, flag, and team. Each team could have 12 infantrymen, and 3 teams formed a flag. Each flag had 1 flagman and 1 teammen.
Each bureau can have 1 centurion and 111 officers and soldiers;
Each division can have one captain, who is in charge of four bureaus and 1 officers and soldiers;
Each division can have one thousand-man commander, two divisions make up one division, and 1 officers and soldiers;
Each battalion can have one general, one lieutenant general, and one firearms commander, and the total number of officers and soldiers in the battalion is 1.

"It seems that Liu Zongmin already knows about the Crown Prince's affairs, otherwise he wouldn't have sent so many people to hunt him down!"

While talking to himself, Li Huchen jumped onto his horse without any further delay.

"Brothers! Get on the horses!"

"The thief dog chasing us is biting us!"

"We are on a winding mountain road. As the ancients said, when two people meet on a narrow road, the brave one wins!"

"All soldiers, even though I am Li Huchen, I will charge forward and kill the thief dog!"

"kill!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Under Li Huchen's instigation, the cavalry soldiers, who had rested for a quarter of an hour, were well-rested and in a narrow area, which was beneficial to themselves and not to the enemy. So their morale was high, and they followed Li Huchen, shouting and killing, and went back to block the enemy!

Let’s talk about two things!

As soon as Li Huchen took action, the sounds of fighting and gunfire quickly spread to the narrow gap less than three miles away.

"General! I just led my men to search all over the steep slope, but there are not enough large stones to use! I'm afraid it won't be enough to block the road!"

Xiao Jingchuan followed and escorted the prince and other ministers. As soon as he finished his work and climbed the steep slope on the side of the Thin Line Sky, Sun Peizhong ran up to him in a hurry to report.

"Ah? What, what should we do?" Qiu Zhizhong and Xiao Jingchuan came together and became anxious after hearing the news.

I heard that Li Huchen seemed to have already started fighting with the enemy. In less than a quarter of an hour, he would probably lure the enemy here according to the plan.

However, if there are not enough obstacles on this side, the effectiveness of the ambush will be greatly reduced. Not only will the purpose of delaying the enemy's pursuit not be achieved, but the risk of escaping from the predicament will be increased again.

At this point, Xiao Jingchuan was silent and thoughtful.

After a long time, he raised his eyes and looked firmly towards the narrow mouth.

"Pei Zhong, send someone to gather all the horses of the Shenji Battalion soldiers and place them above the narrowest part of the steep cliffs!"

"Add another hundred men to the narrowest points on both sides, and wait for my orders at any time!"

"Ah? Yes!"

"But, General, what do you want?" Sun Peizhong had followed Xiao Jingchuan for ten years, and he was loyal to him and had never disobeyed any of Xiao Lang's orders. But at this moment, he seemed to have guessed something and hesitated.

"Kill the horses that block the road!"

Xiao Jingchuan made a prompt decision and spoke with confidence.

But the moment these four words came out of Xiao Lang's mouth, Sun Peizhong fell to his knees with a plop, his face pale and in unspeakable pain.

Horses are the foundation of the army and are of great use to the country!
In the cold weapon era, the military strength of a country can be measured by the number of cavalry. The most important force to defeat the enemy is the cavalry.

Cavalry relies on war horses, and almost every dynasty in history has carefully raised horses to gain the coveted military advantage.

A high-ranking warrior can gain a great advantage on the battlefield.

Horses have influenced almost the entire history of China. As long as there are good horses, you can win the battle. Without good horses, you will definitely lose.

And generally speaking, every cavalry soldier has a deep affection for his warhorse. They charge into battle and kill the enemy, and they have an unspoken comrade-in-arms friendship.

It was for this reason that Sun Peizhong lost his composure when Xiao Jingchuan proposed to kill Ma.

"General, you can't kill the horse!"

"Those are our lifeblood! If we kill the horses, how can we fight in the future?" Sun Peizhong burst into tears.

"Old Xiao, is there really no other way?!" Qiu Zhizhong said.

(End of this chapter)