Chapter 258 Ambush 1
Zhao Xiaofei led two thousand personal guards and ran south for fifty miles before stopping.
The current captain of the personal guard is Gu Mancang, the former escort of Zhenyuan Escort Agency.
Gu Mancang had been following Zhao Xiaofei all the way from Beijing to Nanjing. Ever since Zhao Xiaofei became a prince, his position had risen with him. He was now a sixth-rank military officer, a captain of the Guards. He had never imagined he'd become such an official, and it felt like smoke was rising from his family's ancestral graves.
Li Deliang, who was a bodyguard with him at the time, chose to stay in the capital. I wonder if he's still alive? And Mao Jiu, now a seventh-rank captain, leads the guards at the palace. If they ever fight their way back to the capital, will Li Deliang regret it?
Gu Mancang put down his telescope, surveyed the camp, and then came to Zhao Xiaofei and said, "Your Highness! Everything has been arranged! The scouts have all gone out! Your Highness and the Concubine, please rest for a while!"
Zhao Xiaofei saw Gu Mancang and said, "Old Gu! You've worked so hard! I'll give you a promotion when we get back to Nanjing!"
Gu Mancang said, "I dare not! It's my duty!" But he was very happy in his heart.
Zhao Xiaofei said, "We're old acquaintances, why be polite? Be on guard and send someone to notify Wanshan and the others to reunite with us!"
Gu Mancang nodded in agreement and immediately went down to make arrangements.
When he came out, he didn't bring any supplies with him. He only had a travel tent he bought from Modern Society, and he had to squeeze in with Li Sihong.
Li Sihong sent someone to arrange for Zhao Xiaofei to inspect the camp. Many soldiers looked exhausted and bewildered. Although they were very respectful to Zhao Xiaofei, they were all forcing themselves to stay together.
Every time Zhao Xiaofei patrolled a place, he would ask the soldiers who stood up to salute to sit down, saying that they should take the time to rest now, as they might have to fight at any time and there was no need to salute him.
Zhao Xiaofei also felt a deep sense of powerlessness, his future looking bleak. This time, he'd gone too far, completely disgraced himself! Big Brother had previously told him to defeat him. Too bad he hadn't listened, still dreaming of conquering the world on his own. It was a complete joke.
Zhao Xiaofei's consolation tours were quite effective. After all, he was a prince, and his personal guards were all from respectable families, with families to support. Their families were assigned to work in the prince's estates or workshops. Their wages were paid on time and in full, and they lived better than the average landlord. Therefore, they were generally loyal.
When Zhao Xiaofei saw the injured soldiers, he bandaged them, which moved the soldiers to tears.
After comforting the soldiers, Zhao Xiaofei came out and saw that it was getting light. He was tired after running all night, so he decided to go back to his tent to rest.
Just as they reached the door and Li Sihong was about to help Zhao Xiaofei undress, Zhao Xiaofei felt the earth shaking.
Li Sihong's face changed drastically, and she said, "Oh no! There's a large group of cavalry!"
They both knew that both the new Kenan army and the old Kenan camp had few warhorses. Even if Wanshan and General Zhou came looking for them, they couldn't possibly mobilize all their cavalry. And it seemed like the number of cavalry coming was no less than several thousand.
At this time, Gu Mancang ran over and said, "Your Highness! This is bad! There are cavalry! They definitely aren't ours!"
Zhao Xiaofei silently said to himself: Calm down, calm down! Then he said to Gu Mancang, "It's definitely too late to run now! Form a battle line!"
Li Sihong asked, "Why don't you run?"
"If we run now, the cavalry will catch up immediately, and then we will all become prey! Lao Gu, form a formation!" said Zhao Xiaofei.
"Yes!" Gu Mancang immediately turned around and said to his men, "Blow the whistle and assemble!"
The quality of the personal guards was quite good, having been personally trained by Wan Shan and Zhou Shuai. Soon everyone gathered.
Gu Mancang ordered the captains at all levels, "Form a five-row defensive formation! Keep firing! Don't let the enemy get close to the prince!"
"Yes!" the captains below answered in unison.
"Change formation!" The guards surrounded Zhao Xiaofei and Li Sihong, forming a square with five rows of firing squadrons.
Gu Mancang stood on a carriage, looking at the cavalry getting closer and closer, feeling a little nervous.
The cavalry was a massive mass, and it was hard to tell how many there were, but there must be at least two or three thousand of them. Gu Mancang's palms were sweaty, as his two thousand musketeers might not be able to stop them.
The soldiers below were equally nervous. Seeing the enemy getting closer and closer, their hands were sweaty and they felt like their guns were about to fall. They couldn't help but tighten their grip even more.
Every thud of the horses' hooves struck the soldiers' hearts, as if pounding their chests. But thinking of how good the prince had been to them, and how their families were living, they were no longer afraid. Death was the worst that could happen.
An observer shouted: "1000 steps! 800 steps! 500 steps! 300 steps!"
Hearing that they had reached 300 steps, Gu Mancang decisively issued the order: "Shoot!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The muskets continued to emit sounds and smoke, and the riders in front began to fall to the ground one after another. The first row of soldiers, having fired their rifles, retreated to reload. The second row began to aim and fire, then retreated. Then came the third, fourth, and fifth rows. By the time the fifth row finished firing, the retreating soldiers in the first row had already reloaded their ammunition and returned to the first row's position to continue firing.
Looking at the wall of corpses formed by the soldiers and horses one hundred to two hundred steps ahead, Gu Mancang smiled. It seems that the personal guards I brought with me can still hold their ground!
But before I could even laugh for two seconds, I saw the cavalry behind me continue to charge forward, leaping over the wall of corpses, galloping towards me, and starting to shoot arrows.
With the sound of swishing through the air, arrows flew towards Zhao Xiaofei's personal guard camp. Countless soldiers fell to the ground after being shot.
Zhao Xiaofei felt a pang of pain in his heart as he looked at Gu Mancang, "Don't just shoot! Throw grenades!"
Gu Mancang said, "Yes!" and turned to the team officer and said, "Throw grenades in the front row!"
Boom, boom, boom! A flurry of grenades hurled themselves over, blowing the enemy upside down and into a chaotic mess. Finally, they collapsed, and the cavalry turned and retreated.
Zhao Xiaofei finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the cavalry retreat. However, he knew that this was only temporary and the enemy would immediately regroup or attack from another direction.
Zhao Xiaofei said to Gu Mancang, "Arrange the bodies into a wall and surround the city. The musketeers stand back and shoot! Gather the grenades and set up a minefield!"
Gu Mancang didn't understand what a minefield was, so Zhao Xiaofei personally demonstrated it to him. It was actually about making booby traps and using hand grenades as land mines.
After one demonstration, Gu Mancang immediately understood it and ran to lead people to set up booby traps.
Li Sihong came to Zhao Xiaofei at this time. Zhao Xiaofei took her hand and said, "Don't worry, we are lucky people. It will pass!"
"Husband! If anything happens, you go alone! I will never be captured or humiliated!" said Li Sihong.
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