The night wind blew, making rustling sounds on Gao Wencai's clothes.
His eyes were red and the blood in his body seemed to be burning.
My heart beat faster and faster, and the shouting and the sound of horses' hooves behind me gradually became inaudible.
Seeing the enemy getting closer and closer, he raised the sword in his hand high and chopped it down with force!
A bandit soldier was hit on the neck by a saber. The huge impact force knocked the soldier over and blood splattered everywhere.
A lance swept over, Gao Wencai leaned back on the horse's back, and with a flip of his wrist, he killed another one.
Under his leadership, the Ming cavalry rushed in quickly and tore a hole in the enemy's formation.
In the blink of an eye, the Ming army and the bandits were engaged in a melee.
Looking down from the sky, the Ming army was in a triangular formation, with cavalry in front and infantry in the back. After the cavalry disrupted the enemy's formation, the infantry took advantage of the chaos to make up for it.
They were clad in strong armor and held spears in their hands. They stabbed the enemy's flesh, causing blood to scatter in the air. They roared and struck hard, knocking the enemy off his horse.
Bows, crossbows, and muskets were fired at the same time. Even the strongest iron armor could not withstand the attack. As arrows and bullets flew everywhere, enemies were hit and fell off their horses one by one.
The cavalry without horses instantly became the target of the infantry's concentrated fire, and were killed instantly by the swords and spears.
The Dashun Army formed a long snake formation. They wore Ming Army armor and had a piece of white cloth tied around their right arms to distinguish between friend and foe.
After the long snake formation blocked the Ming army's offensive in the middle, it made a flanking move on both wings.
Bows and crossbows were fired in the chaos, and Ming soldiers were pierced through their armor by arrows. Some suffered heavy bleeding, while others died on the spot.
The fallen soldiers would be trampled by the horses' hooves before they could get up. Their mortal bodies could not stop the iron hooves, and their screams were endless.
But no one backed down.
Even if there are mountains of swords and seas of fire ahead, everyone will move forward bravely.
They are not afraid of death. If they die, they will have military merits, their names will be engraved in the Martyrs' Shrine, and their families will be supported by the court.
Soon, the cavalry led by Gao Wencai rushed out of the enemy's ranks.
He stood on the slope, turned his horse's head and looked back. Behind him were all cavalry, and the infantry were surrounded by the enemy.
It turned out that they were running too fast, and the people behind them were running so hard that they vomited blood but still couldn't keep up.
Without the cover of the cavalry, the infantry were surrounded and raised their shields and waved their spears in an attempt to break out of the enemy formation.
But the enemy would not give up this opportunity. They sat on their horses and looked down from a high position. Every time the bowstring vibrated, a Ming army soldier would be injured or killed.
Gao Wencai was in charge of the prison in Jinyiwei, and these bloody scenes did not scare him at all. What really frightened him was that under the moonlight, more than a thousand bandit cavalrymen abandoned the battlefield and turned their horses around and galloped in the direction of the prince.
They want a quick victory!
Gao Wencai was shocked, and his first reaction was to lead people to chase after him.
Fortunately, the night breeze calmed him down quickly.
If we don't deal with the enemy in front of us, what's the point of catching up with those pursuers?
He raised his saber high and shouted, "Commanders, follow me and charge the enemy camp again!"
"kill!"
After several hundred cavalrymen reorganized their formation, they launched another charge.
The bandits were led by General Zhang Neng himself.
General Guoyi was a military rank in the Dashun Army, with General Quan as the head, followed by General Zhi, then General Weiwu and General Guoyi, both of whom had the same rank.
There were five battalions and twenty-two generals in total, all of whom were core generals in Li Zicheng's army.
Zhang Neng was a direct descendant of Li Zicheng, and all the troops under his command were main forces.
This time he volunteered to intercept Prince Mingtai.
Since the Northern Expedition, the Ming army has collapsed at the first touch, and the credit of capturing the Ming prince alive certainly cannot be given to others.
He led three thousand light cavalry and traveled at night, and finally found the target near Wuqing City.
I thought that one charge would be enough to disperse the escort team, but I didn't expect that the other side would not retreat at all, and their fighting power was not bad, with fierce men and fast horses, and it was obvious that they were waiting for the opportunity to tire themselves out.
It is a taboo in military strategy to attack an enemy alone. Seeing that he could not defeat the enemy in a short time, he decided to capture the enemy leader in order to win the battle quickly.
As long as the prince is captured, these people will either scatter or kneel down and surrender.
After dividing his troops, he personally led a thousand men to pursue.
From time to time, you can see abandoned cars on the road with luggage scattered all over the ground.
Gorgeous clothes, exquisite utensils, sparkling silver, and even golden gold.
Although Zhang Neng repeatedly warned them not to pick up things, the soldiers behind him couldn't help but dismounted to pick them up.
As he ran, Zhang Neng realized something was wrong.
The team of more than a thousand people has obviously become smaller, and it is estimated that there are only seven or eight hundred people at most.
Seeing that the Ming army convoy was not far ahead, he gave up the idea of gathering the troops and ordered: "Capture Zhu Cilang alive, and you will be promoted six levels and rewarded with ten thousand taels of gold!"
“Kill!”
Seeing that they were about to be caught up by the bandits, the coachman was so frightened that he abandoned the carriage and fled, crawling towards the woods on both sides of the road.
But he was soon captured alive by the bandit cavalry and brought before Zhang Neng.
Zhang Neng put his saber to the groom's neck and asked, "Where is the prince's carriage?"
"General...General, I don't...I don't know."
Snap!
Zhang Neng raised his knife and killed the groom, then looked at the other groom who had been captured.
"Sir... Sir, the prince's carriage is drawn by four horses and is not far ahead."
Snap!
After Zhang Neng got the answer, he did not spare the other party and hacked him to death. In his eyes, such people who betrayed their masters for fame and fortune were even more hateful.
Zhang Neng led his cavalry to chase and hack at the enemy all the way, and soon caught up with the prince's carriage.
After stopping the carriage, several bodyguards jumped onto it and pulled the people inside out.
There were three people sitting in the carriage, including a pale young man wearing a yellow robe with a dragon pattern and a winged crown on his head. He had fair skin and a frail body, and a terrified expression on his face.
The other two were dressed as servants, wearing eunuch's clothes. Their faces were equally pale, and their crotches were wet.
Zhang Neng suddenly felt something was wrong!
The process was so easy that apart from the cavalry, there was no decent resistance.
Has the Ming army declined to this extent?
Or is it that the prince in front of me is a fake?
He placed the tip of the knife against the neck of the young man in the dragon robe and asked in a cold voice, "Are you the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang of the Ming Dynasty?"
"I...I am."
Zhang Neng swung his knife and hacked to death a eunuch beside him. The huge head rolled in front of him and the smelly blood gushed out, splashing everywhere.
"I'll ask again, is he the Crown Prince Zhu Cilang of the Ming Dynasty?"
Zhang Neng raised his saber and asked another eunuch.
The other eunuch was so frightened that his lips turned pale, his whole body was trembling, and he stammered and couldn't speak.
Zhang Neng was getting anxious. He slapped the eunuch's shoulder with the back of his knife and asked sternly, "I'll ask you one last time. Is this man the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty?"
The young eunuch was startled and came to his senses in an instant. He said tremblingly: "He...he is not."
"No?" Zhang Neng seemed to believe it, "If he is not the prince, then who is the prince?"
"After setting out from... the... capital, our... mission is to imitate the crown prince. The... crown prince is not... in the convoy at all."
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