Aspirations for Nation and Beauty: Section 44 Destruction

Just as she was mobilizing all forces to prepare for the upcoming defensive battle, the hundreds of remnants of the Crusader cavalry who managed to escape also joined their main force at a distance of 20 miles from Zhegu Pass.

Seeing that the 5,000 elite cavalry who were in good spirits when they set out had fled back like bereaved dogs, and there were only less than 500 horsemen left, Mao Neng, the coach of the Crusaders, was shocked and angry at the same time. , also aroused great doubts. The information obtained by the scouts earlier was an empty city. Why did the situation change drastically in just two hours? If we don't figure out where the problem is, it will be impossible to fight this battle.

While dispatching scouts to carry out reconnaissance immediately, Mao Neng and his deputy, another ten thousand husband chief and that ten thousand cavalry chief, carefully questioned the hundreds of remnant soldiers who fled back. Since the encounter was very sudden at the beginning, neither side had any preparations, and the inexperienced Taipingjiao cavalry only cared about the fight in front of them. Until they were defeated, they did not figure out how many troops the opponent had and how the troops were composed. But based on the narration of so many people, the three main generals soon came to a unified understanding, that is, the opponent's strength is not too strong, otherwise they will definitely follow, and the appearance of enemy infantry has not been found, which means that the opponent is also very powerful. It may just be the vanguard coming to seize the fortress.

But how many enemy follow-up troops are there? And how far are they from Partridge Pass now? This made the three of them think a lot. After all, they have not experienced a real battle and lack experience in judging the enemy's situation. The three generals finally decided to send more scouts to understand the situation, and at the same time, immediately advance to Zhegu Pass. But in view of the role of the cavalry, all three felt that it was better for the cavalry and infantry to maintain a normal marching speed and march towards Zhegu Pass together.

The inexperience of the three men and their cautious and conservative thinking caused the Taiping Army to lose the best chance to capture the Partridge Pass, because it proved that the cavalry led by Sheneri at that time was less than 2,600, plus There are less than 4,000 people in the city, including old and young, women and children, and lack of necessary defensive facilities. Bows, arrows and crossbows alone cannot play a big role. However, the Taiping Army at this time has the strength of 25,000 people. The follow-up troops in the interior are still 40 miles away. If the leader of the crusader can boldly invest at this time and put all his strength into the attack on Zhegu Pass as quickly as possible, only with the strength of less than 4,000 people It's simply not enough to resist.

But there are no ifs in history. No one can predict how much impact the loss of this golden opportunity will have on the Taiping Army, but what is certain is that the Taiping Army will pay an extremely painful price.

The three regiments of the Independent Second Division who received an emergency order immediately accelerated their marching speed, and followed the order as fast as possible, "Even if you run to the last breath, you must go to Zhegu Pass Take a sigh of relief" (the language in She Nei's order) marched quickly, and it took more than an hour for 40 miles to arrive outside the west gate of Zhegu Pass. At this time, the Taiping Army had just arrived at the east gate of Zhegu Pass. Put on a good posture.

The chief general of the Taiping Army quickly saw the reality of the army stationed on the city wall. Some civilians in civilian clothes were mixed with the blood-stained robes. Sparsely. Without much hesitation, the main general Mao Neng threw himself into a 10,000-strong team's onslaught with a wave of his hand. In his opinion, perhaps only one or two charges would be enough to defeat the weak defenders on the city wall.

Seeing the soldiers of the Taiping Army pounced forward holding the ladders, three thousand soldiers in a salvo opened their bows and set up arrows at the same time, blowing a rain of arrows one after another, suppressing the soldiers defending the city wall to the ground. Can't get up. While dodging the roaring arrows, She secretly groaned inwardly. She did not expect the enemy army to come so fast and in such a large number, which far exceeded my own speculation. How long did he persist, and he didn't know what to do. Should he consider withdrawing to preserve his strength? This idea flashed through She Nei's mind like lightning, and was immediately denied. Not to mention whether it will be eliminated by the enemy's pursuit of victory, Master Li alone may not be able to overcome the level. what!

Abandoning other unrealistic ideas, Shenei felt more relaxed. There is no major difficulty except death. Protecting his body with the shield, he came to the crenel of the city wall with a cat on his back. Groups of Taiping soldiers had already approached the base of the wall, and the raised ladder slowly stood up, approaching the city wall step by step. The soldiers on the defensive side kept shooting arrows or crossbows in their hands, but it didn't do much. The faces of the people hiding by the crenels showed despair.

Sighing softly, She Nei was helpless, this is the cruelty of war, just now how proud he was on his side, but after a while, he immediately turned around and became a dog in the water.

As the shouts gradually approached, the ant-like enemy soldiers finally began to launch the final attack. She Nei cheered up and raised the nine-ring knife in his hand. All the soldiers' eyes fell on the coach Yi Yi. On the shining blade, there was a tragic expression on his face, waiting for the arrival of the last moment.

"Division commander, look!" Suddenly the soldiers around him pointed behind him in surprise, and she turned around in a daze, only to see countless soldiers swarming up the two wall ladders, and they had already entered after a while. Although they could see that they were very tired from the battle position on the city wall, it was unbelievable for so many new troops to be added out of thin air.

"Division Commander, are we okay?" The three panting men came up to She Nei and made a polite gesture. Only one heart can truly fall down.

The soldiers who had no time to rest immediately caught up with the first wave of attacks. Only real hand-to-hand combat began at this moment.

It was not expected that the opponent's reinforcements would replenish at this critical moment, and the crusaders who still attacked according to the original plan immediately suffered a heavy blow. As you can imagine, the defensive force, which was originally only about 3,000 people, suddenly increased to 16,000 people. The offensive and defensive forces were greatly unbalanced, and the consequences were also disastrous.

One after another, the ladders were smashed or pushed down, huge boulders fell like hailstones, and soon there were corpses everywhere under the city wall, and the blood spilled everywhere was enough to form a moat. The soldiers of the Taiping Army who were lucky enough to be able to rush to the top of the city wall were immediately surrounded by superior forces and fell under the chaos of knives. The archers who were ready were also arranged according to the formation, and began to conduct long-range attacks on the continuous stream of Taiping Army soldiers under the city wall. Strikes, high and low shifts, strong and weak changes, and waves of arrow rain caused far more damage than the attack by the archers of the Taiping Army on the defenders on the city wall just now.

It wasn't until the archers were fired back from a high place by the opponent's archers that the Taiping Army coach Mao Neng realized that his judgment seemed to be wrong, as if the enemy's strength was far from being as weak as he observed just now , the opponent's soldiers on the city wall seemed to have increased several times at once, endlessly beating the soldiers on one's side, causing great damage to the troops on one's side.

The other two ten-thousand (riding) commanders also discovered the problem, but it was more than an hour later, and the one-thousand-man team they invested had lost nearly 70% of their losses, but there was no response. Offensive, it is hard to say how effective it will be. The three main generals also had disagreements over the issue of the follow-up attack. Wan Qichang advocated to continue to strengthen the attack and not to lose the opportunity to fight. Once the enemy has established a foothold, it will be more difficult to deal with. Conquer Zheguguan, but another ten thousand captain firmly opposes, thinking that the current situation between the enemy and the enemy is unknown, and if you continue rashly, it will only bring greater losses. You should retreat first and make a decision after getting accurate information from the other side.

Mao Neng was caught in a dilemma. Let's retreat. It's really hard to explain why we lost so much but go back in despair. Let's attack. Without powerful equipment, we can't achieve good results with some simple ladders. What's more, now that the enemy has obviously been strengthened, he even suspects that the previous performance of the opponent is a false appearance, and it is very likely that he has set up a trap to lure himself into the bait, relying on the city wall as a support to consume his own vitality.

While Mao Neng was still having a headache for adopting that opinion, the scene on the battlefield changed drastically.

Chene has never been a good master who is used to being passively beaten. After the three infantry regiments replaced the cavalry led by him as a temporary defensive force, he had already started planning a crazy counterattack up. He has already prepared the battle situation well, with three regiments of infantry as the backbone of the defense ~IndoMTL.com~ The enemy's crude siege weapons and equipment seem so weak, so how to give the opponent a fatal blow unexpectedly has become a matter of current consideration.

The opponent's coach obviously lacked combat experience. A team of 10,000 infantry was lined up in front, while thousands of archers were in the front row without any cover, and the cavalry was in the rear. While organizing the defense, Shenei ordered the replaced cavalry to take the time to stand by and rest, ready to go into battle at any time.

With the passage of time, the enemy's 10,000-strong team that launched an attack was at the end of its strength, and its decline was evident. With the sudden opening of the gate of the fortress, the cavalry that had already been prepared to stand still rode out and charged straight into the opponent's center.

The Taiping Army, which was about to withdraw its troops and return to the formation before making a decision, was immediately thrown into disarray by the sudden charge. Facing the cavalry sweeping in like a rolling tide, the unprepared siege infantry was instantly swallowed up In the iron cavalry wave, even the bow and arrow camp, which had no time to react, was washed away.

When the opponent's coach hoarsely ordered the infantry to form a defensive formation, the unstoppable cavalry had already pressed down on the panicked infantry defense line with overwhelming momentum, only a few small waves were stirred up, and the infantry defense line collapsed completely. The phalanx of soldiers lacking combat experience was dispersed in an instant, and the entire battlefield collapsed like an avalanche, and there were Taiping soldiers running for their lives everywhere. The officers could not find the soldiers, the generals could not find their subordinates, everything was disrupted Now, looking around, there are only a large group of chaotic soldiers like headless flies in the eyes, and even the five thousand-man cavalry who are still in neat formation are about to be thrown into disorder by the frantically retreating soldiers. Mao, who was still calm, could immediately order the cavalry to retreat immediately, while he personally organized the infantry to form a defense, in order to buy some time for the cavalry to retreat.