On the north bank of the Huai River, billowing smoke rose into the sky.
Under the wolf smoke, countless Ming troops were fighting against the Heshun army.
Liu Zongmin's troops quickly rushed to the rear of Gao Jie's central army, and seeing that the enemy was crossing the river, they launched another attack without hesitation.
Gao Jie's vanguard was blocked from crossing the river, and the central army was ambushed by Liu Zongmin, and the 30,000-strong army suddenly fell into chaos.
"Hold on, hold the formation!" Gao Jie rode on his horse and galloped wildly in the army with the flag-bearing soldiers.
"The front troops stop crossing the river, the central troops hold their ground and resist the enemy's attack!"
Humans are gregarious and have group needs both physiologically and psychologically.
A group needs a leader to direct its actions.
In most cases, as long as there is a commander, it is difficult for the group to become chaotic.
Similarly, if something unexpected happens to the commander, the entire group will be leaderless and quickly defeated.
This is especially evident when two armies are facing each other.
If the main general of one side encounters an accident, he will undoubtedly be defeated.
As the commander-in-chief, Gao Jie is not only the leader of the entire army, but also the backbone of the entire army.
As he and the central army flag galloped through the army, the soldiers soon stopped panicking.
"The general is here, don't run away, pick up your weapons and follow the general to counterattack!"
"Counterattack!"
"kill!"
The soldiers of the central army took their weapons and followed Gao Jie to rush towards Liu Zongmin.
Both sides fought a bloody battle.
The Shun army on the south bank of the Huai River saw the chaos in the rear of the Ming army and immediately realized that they were under attack. Under the command of the generals, the Shun army followed the floating bridge laid by the Ming army and attacked the north bank of the Huai River.
"The bandits are counterattacking. Quickly dismantle the pontoon bridge and prevent them from crossing the river."
"It's too late, everyone, grab your weapons and attack."
"kill!"
The Ming army, which had finally stopped the riots, became chaotic again under the double-sided attack of the Shun army.
However, due to Gao Jie's presence, they did not collapse, but were instead caught in a tough fight.
Li Shiyuan ordered the navy officers and soldiers: "Just drive the bandits away from the pontoon bridge, and do not destroy the pontoon bridge."
Lu Daqi sat in the boat awning without saying a word.
The current situation is no longer under his control, all he can do is wait.
When the smoke of war rose, Gu Kecheng in the east of the city was fighting hard with Liu Zhaoji.
Light cavalry has almost no good way to break the infantry formation.
The infantry's weapons include spears, swords and shields, firearms, and bows and crossbows.
The cavalry's weapons were mainly sabers and bows and crossbows.
An inch longer is an inch stronger. Faced with the infantry hiding behind the chariots, these cavalrymen had no other good methods except shooting with bows and crossbows.
The only way is to surround the enemy and wait until they are exhausted or their supplies are cut off, then attack in the chaos.
That’s what Gu Kecheng did.
He surrounded Liu Zhaoji and suppressed him with bows and arrows so that he could not raise his head.
Under the rain of arrows, both sides suffered casualties.
But Shunjun had more troops, while Liu Zhaoji had fewer men.
In another quarter of an hour, he would be able to annihilate all of Liu Zhaoji's troops at the cost of their lives.
Just when he thought he had Liu Zhaoji eliminated, the scouts brought him some bad news.
"Report, 10,000 Ming troops from the east of the city left the city and marched southward. It seems that they intend to bypass the trench and attack our camp."
Gu Kecheng was stunned and asked, "Who is leading the troops?"
"Look at the flag, it's Lu Jiude."
Gu Kecheng suddenly felt something was wrong.
Although Lu Jiude was a military supervisor, he had the talent to lead troops.
When he led troops to fight in Huguang, he defeated the rebel forces including Cao Cao, Geliyan, Tuotianwang, Guo Tianxing and others and made them flee in panic.
"Pass the order and split the troops east of the city into two. One part will defend the camp, and the other part will confront the Ming army along the trench. They will go wherever the Ming army goes!"
"As soon as I kill Liu Zhaoji, I will lead the troops back to support us!"
After issuing the military order, Gu Kecheng inadvertently glanced to the west.
I saw thick smoke billowing from the northwest, as if a big fire had started.
"What's going on in the northwest?" Gu Kecheng asked hurriedly.
"Our army is fighting the Ming army on the banks of the Huai River. The thick smoke should be caused by the burning of the pontoon bridge or warships." The scout replied.
"No!" Gu Kecheng shook his head. "The smoke from burning warships or pontoon bridges is not that thick, and it won't rise that high. If I'm not mistaken, this should be a signal smoke."
Everyone was puzzled and looked towards the smoke in the distance.
Under the setting sun, the smoke looked like dark clouds, giving the sky a hint of danger.
"Hurry, hurry back to help!" Gu Kecheng made a prompt decision.
"But General, in a little while we will be able to wear Liu Zhaoji out."
"It's too late. The Ming army is using smoke signals to send messages. The emperor is in danger. Let's hurry back to help." After saying these words, Gu Kecheng turned his horse's head, whipped his horse, and left the battlefield first.
Seeing this, the rest of the Shun army immediately abandoned Liu Zhaoji and quickly followed.
As the Shun army left, the battlefield quickly returned to silence.
Liu Zhaoji pulled out the arrow from his shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Admiral, should we chase him?" The soldier next to him wiped the blood off his face and asked Liu Zhaoji.
Liu Zhaoji spat and said, "What the hell, if we continue chasing, our entire army will be wiped out."
"So what do we do next?"
"Wait for reinforcements." Liu Zhaoji said while looking towards the Huai River in the north.
The generals asked in confusion: "Reinforcements? Where are the reinforcements?"
Liu Zhaoji did not answer immediately, but opened the water bag he carried with him and drank all the water in it.
belch...
Liu Zhaoji burped and said slowly, "There are quite a few reinforcements, including Liu Kongzhao, Servant Shan, and possibly Zhu Guobi."
As soon as Liu Zhaoji finished speaking, countless warships went upstream along the Huai River.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
