The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 171 They Deserted

The Han soldiers were a little confused and could not quite understand what their general was saying.

Should we rush to the wall and abandon our siege weapons? Wouldn't that just allow the guards on the wall to shoot us?
But you have to listen even if you don’t understand!

The information that the soldiers could get on the battlefield was very little. They were squeezed in dense military formations, and often they could only see the backs of the heads of the soldiers in the front row, or vaguely see the front row of the enemy through a large number of backs of heads.

Apart from this, they can see and grasp nothing.

So once the general gave an order, they had no choice but to obey.

More than a thousand people bravely squeezed under the city wall...

The soldiers holding the door panels could not help but look up at the city wall. Only then did they realize that the archers on the wall were just pretending to be on high alert, but they did not shoot any arrows.

The smarter soldiers realized that our General Wang Hong and General Li Cui had already colluded with the defenders in the city.

Once you understand this, make a prompt decision.

The Han soldiers threw their long shields to the ground and ran towards the city wall. They also pushed the battering ram to the base of the wall and left it there. The ones pushing the tower car were the slowest and hurried to catch up. They didn't push the tower car any closer, and when it was still several feet away from the city, they just threw it there and abandoned it.

Wang Hong ran south, Li Cui ran north, and they both ran along the city wall, leaving the battlefield. The soldiers followed their flags...

At this moment, Bali Yuanshan behind him was stunned: "Damn it, Wang Hong and Li Cui!!!"

Lu Yuan jumped out from behind and said, "General, these two men deserted the battlefield and should be executed."

"How do we kill them?" Bali Yuanshan asked, "They're running at the foot of the city wall. If our supervisory formation goes over to kill them, won't we be shot by the defenders on the city wall?"

Lu Yuan jumped: "..."

Damn, so that’s how it is.

Lu Yuantiao now understood that the city, the defenders, Wang Hong and others must have discussed this before, and this was completely to cover their escape.

"Damn it!"

"They gave away all the siege weapons."

Now a large number of tower cars, battering rams, and long shields were thrown into the range of the defenders' bows and crossbows, very close to the city wall. Even if they were far away from the mountains and deer leaping far, they didn't dare to send anyone to pick them up. This was the most embarrassing thing.

Lu Yuantiao couldn't help but knock his forehead: "Should we still attack this city?"

Bali Yuanshan's face darkened. "Looks like there's no need to attack the city. The enemy will soon come out and fight us."

This time he was right.

After Wang Hong and Li Cui had escaped, and the Qianli army's trebuchet positions had been defeated, the city gate slowly opened. Madam Gong Er led the way out of the city gate, with Qi Jiguang on her left and Zhang Yong on her right. A large number of rebels followed suit, pouring out of the city gate, facing the city wall and deploying their troops.

Bali Yuanshan: "Finally, we're going to have a field battle. Great, great, I really don't know how to attack your broken city, but if you take the initiative to come out of the city and fight, that's exactly what I want."

The rebel army continued to leave the city, expanding in large blocks one after another.

Each large block is composed of countless small blocks in the mandarin duck formation.

To conceal their tactics, chariots were not deployed, nor were muskets drawn. Crossbowmen were deployed where musketeers should have been. Hand crossbows were often pedal-loaded, requiring full force to draw the bowstring. While their firing speed was quite slow, compared to bird guns, it didn't seem particularly slow.

But while bird-gun soldiers are easy to train, crossbowmen are difficult to train. They require tall, strong soldiers to be able to use crossbows. Fortunately, this is Shandong, where there are many strong men.

It’s a tough battle!

For the rebel soldiers, this was their first real encounter with a large-scale group battle. Compared to what they had done before, fighting bandits was child's play.

A glance at the distant mountains ahead revealed that the rebel army's force composition was extremely complex.

At the front were five teams of soldiers in distinctive uniforms and armor, clearly members of a powerful army. (Plastic Qi Family Army)
Next came a thousand volunteers, who were dressed a little worse than the first five teams, and their clothing and armor were also rather mixed. Some wore Jin soldiers' leather armor, some wore Song soldiers' armor, some wore hunter leather armor, some wore paper armor, and some wore bamboo armor... They were mainly characterized by insufficient military preparation, which was a typical feature of bandits.

These thousand plus were the main force, and the next were the auxiliary troops, including the Jiaoshui County archers, the Ma family retainers, the retainers organized by the local gentry of Jiaoshui County, and a large number of militiamen...

This group of auxiliary troops numbered as many as five to six thousand people.

As for the local militia, although they are numerous, their combat effectiveness is less than 10% of their number.

There was a gap of an arrow's length between the two armies, and they stood still, neither rushing to attack.

The rebels were really not in a hurry to attack, but Baliyuanshan could not attack because the rebels were lined up with their backs to the city wall. If Baliyuanshan dared to move forward, the giant crossbows on the city wall would shoot arrows down.

So he could only wait for the rebels to attack first.

Hundreds of people lined up on the mountainside and shouted in unison, "Well, you dare to come out of the city and fight like a fool? You must be really brave, right?"

Madam Gong Er didn't stop cursing. Instead, she quickly pulled out a metal megaphone... This was the "black technology" provided by Yue Wenxuan: "Bali Yuanshan, you are truly courageous. Seeing our army leaving the city, you didn't flee. You have nothing in your head, right? We dare to come out, which means we are sure of victory. If I were you, I would have fled by now."

Bali Yuanshan was furious: "Bullshit! I'm not running away or hiding. I'm right here. Let's see how you fight me."

Madam Gong Er: "You agreed not to run away. Beat the drum!"

The messenger shouted, "Beat the drum!"

"Boom boom boom, boom boom boom!"

The drums began to beat, and at the same time, the distinctive bamboo whistles of the rebel army began to blare. Unable to convey their orders by voice amid the rumbling drums, the squad leaders simply blew their whistles.

The soldiers began to march forward...

Bali Yuanshan also waved his hand: "Beat the drum!"

The Khitan soldiers and the Tieli soldiers also slowly moved forward together.

The two armies slowly approached each other.

The arrow immediately flew...

The front row was full of long card players. The long card players on both sides put up the door panels to block the arrows, and the sound of "tap, tap, tap" continued to ring out.

Bali Yuanshan was not panicked. He did not think that 3,000 Khitan warriors and 1,500 Tieli people could lose to the cowardly Han people.

The front lines of the two armies exchanged...

The spears came out at the same time, and there was another series of thuds. The door panel absorbed a lot of damage.

The five teams at the forefront of the rebel army were the Qi Family Army, the elite professional soldiers. These five teams would be a real headache for even the real Jin thieves, let alone the fake ones.

As soon as the two sides engaged in battle, the five teams of Qi's army beat the Khitan soldiers on the opposite side so hard that they cried for their parents.

The Khitans were completely baffled. Why was their coordination so exquisite and their fighting spirit so high? They were clearly a bunch of cowardly bandits, so where did such high strength and morale come from? What on earth were you fighting for?
Before they could even finish their complaints for a few seconds, the Qi family army's spears had already pierced their chests and abdomens...

(End of this chapter)