Chapter 235

Blanca Portis is an experienced and steady Besa veteran. He is not as impulsive as Xiaona. Jinguang County is not yet under Tang Yin's control. Our soldiers are not familiar with the place. If they rush into it rashly, , what if we are ambushed by the enemy or trapped in a tight siege? It is better to stay here, at least with hundreds of thousands of Tianyuan troops accompanying him, the situation will be much safer.

Before arriving, Kenis had reminded Shauna to listen more to Blanca Portis's opinions on leading the war and learn more from him. Now after hearing Blanca Portis's stop, Even if Xiaona was unwilling, she could only accept it reluctantly.

The Besa heavy armored cavalry brought by Xiaona stayed in the Tianyuan Army's camp. Although there were only 30,000 people, those who knew the inside story knew that the effectiveness of this mere 30,000 cavalry on the battlefield could even be Withstand one hundred thousand infantry.

The addition of Besa's cavalry greatly improved the Tianyuan Army's combat effectiveness. On the other hand, Zhong Wen's camp was lifeless. Even in broad daylight, there were not a few central troops patrolling or standing guard on the walls of the camp. At this time, Qiu Zhen felt that it was almost time for the two sides to launch a final decisive battle. Either his side would take the initiative to attack, or Zhong Wen would lead the Central Army to break through.

What he expected was right, Zhong Wen really couldn't use up any more. In the past few days, the grain depots in the Central Army camp have been exhausted. Zhong Wen originally ordered to strictly guard the war horses in the army, but now he has even taken back this order, not to mention that the soldiers below are already hungry. To the extreme, even his personal guards were starved to death.

If this continues, without the Tianyuan Army attacking, more than 100,000 Central Army troops will starve to death in their own camps.

That night, Zhong Wen summoned his generals and said straight to the point: "Tomorrow morning, our army will break through!"

ah? Although the generals had been waiting for Zhong Wen to give the order to break out, now that they heard what he said, they couldn't help but take a breath and looked at each other in silence.

Zhong Wen said faintly: "We can no longer wait for the reinforcements to arrive, or in other words, the reinforcements will not come at all. Now, all we can rely on is ourselves. If we don't want to sit still in the camp and wait for death, all generals should cheer up. , use all your strength to prepare for the battle tomorrow morning!”

"Yes! Your Highness!" Now Zhong Wen's identity is extraordinary. He is the second prince of Peng Kingdom, so the generals naturally address him as His Highness.

Zhong Wen pondered for a moment and asked, "How many horses are there in the army now?"

"Almost all the horses that were used to carry the baggage have been killed, and now there are only more than a thousand war horses!" a general replied in a low voice.

Zhong Wen nodded and said: "Kill all the war horses. Every soldier must be full before the decisive battle tomorrow morning!" After a pause, he added: "Including my war horses."

"Your Highness!" All the generals were shocked.

For generals, war horses are like legs. Especially in breakout battles, war horses are even more crucial. Whether they can break out of the siege and whether they can save their lives and wealth, war horses play a decisive factor. And this time Zhong Wen unexpectedly continued All of his own horses were killed, which made the generals feel sad and deeply moved.

As a prince, it is not easy for Zhong Wen to do this.

Waving his hands, Zhong Wen stopped everyone's dissuasion. He sighed softly and said: "Since I work with you all in the same camp, I naturally have to live and die with you generals. Even if the enemy is outnumbered and we are outnumbered, the enemy is strong and we are weak, But I will never take a step back. If tomorrow's battle is successful, you and I can go back to Yancheng and have a good time. If unfortunately, we will have no complaints in our hearts and we can see each other honestly under Jiuquan!"

After hearing Zhong Wen's words, the generals present all had red eyes and tears welling up in their eyes.

No matter what Zhong Tian was like as a person, his son Zhong Wen could definitely be regarded as an excellent commander. Although he could not love his soldiers as much as his sons, he had no airs about the generals around him and often treated him like brothers.

All the generals knelt on their knees and said in unison: "I am determined to follow His Highness to the death. Even if I am shattered to pieces, I will definitely protect His Highness from the siege!"

Zhong Wen looked at everyone, his mouth twitching, but in the end he couldn't say anything. He turned around, turned his back to the generals, waved his hands in a hoarse voice and said: "Everyone, please go back and rest first. Refresh yourself for tomorrow." In this battle, regardless of success or failure, we must display our army’s momentum!”

"Yes! Your Highness! I resign!" Everyone bowed their hands and bowed, and slowly exited the tent.

After all the generals left, Zhong Wenfang raised his head, looked up to the sky and sighed. With the current military strength and combat power, he had no idea whether he could succeed in breaking out. All he could do at this time was to pray silently in his heart, praying to God to allow his side to succeed in the battle and leave this kind of fate to Peng Country. branch blood vessels.

In the evening, Zhong Wen's camp began to massacre the horses in the army. Afraid that the neighing of the war horse would alert the Tianyuan army outside, Zhong Wen also specifically ordered his men to seal the horse's mouth before killing it.

This meal was a long-awaited meal for the soldiers of the Central Army. People gathered around in groups, and from time to time they grabbed the horse meat that was not fully cooked in the pot, stuffed it into their mouths, and swallowed it whole. Horse meat is not delicious, especially war horses, whose meat is hard and woody, but to the current officers and soldiers of the Central Army, there is no better delicacy in the world.

People are like iron, and food is like steel. If you don't eat one meal, you will be hungry. This is absolutely true. After eating this hearty meal, the officers and soldiers of the Central Army immediately became energetic and had smiles on their faces. They sat together in groups, chatting and laughing.

When the fourth watch of the day arrived, Zhong Wen once again summoned his generals and began to make arrangements for the detailed steps to break out of the encirclement.

What he meant was that the troops should be divided into two groups, one to break out of the encirclement to the south and the other to the east. A two-pronged approach would serve to disperse the enemy's main force.

Zhong Wen himself led 100,000 soldiers as the main force and rushed out from the Nanying Gate. In addition, Lieutenant General Huang Baifei led the remaining soldiers to rush out from the Dongying Gate. Huang Baifei was a close confidant of Zhong Tian. He was originally the commander of the regiment. After Zhong Tian became the king, he was promoted to lieutenant general by several ranks.

After hearing Zhong Wen's plan, the generals had no objections and stepped in one after another.

Zhong Wen said to Huang Baifei: "General Huang, no matter who of you or I can successfully break out of the siege, we must not turn back to pick up the opponent. We must immediately go south and retreat towards Yancheng!"

"this……"

"If I unfortunately die in the enemy's army, and General Huang can successfully return to the capital, and when he sees my father and the queen, I must persuade him to restore the title of Fengguo and posthumously confer the title of late king Zhanhua, in order to regain people's support. He also wants to release those imprisoned important officials of the previous dynasty and treat them favorably. Without their support, my father's throne will have no foundation..." After saying this, Zhong Wen took out a letter from his arms and handed it to Huang Baifei, He continued: "What I want to say has been written here. General Huang, please accept it for me first!"

Huang Baifei stretched out his trembling hands and took the letter. He choked and said: "Your Highness..."

To the south is the main camp of Tianyuan Army, and the strength of Dongying is relatively weaker. Although Zhong Wen is leading the main force of the Central Army, Huang Baifei is more likely to break out.

Zhong Wen patted Huang Baifei's arm, smiled calmly, and said: "Only when a general has a will to die can a soldier not be greedy for life. As a commander, I must lead the way. Only in this way can the soldiers below follow me." Fighting with blood." As he spoke, he asked the guard on the side: "What time is it now?"

"Go back to Your Highness, it's Yin time!"

"Yinshi..." Zhong Wen murmured, then nodded and said, "When Yinshi arrives, the entire army will break out!"

"Yes! Your Highness!"

The Central Army headed by Zhong Wen chose to dispatch the entire army at Mao hour, that is, at five o'clock in the morning, to attack the Tianyuan Army's encirclement.

As he had originally arranged, the nearly 140,000 Central Army troops were divided into two groups. One group was personally commanded by Zhong Wen and focused on attacking the south camp of the Tianyuan Army. The other group was led by Huang Baifei, who commanded the 40,000 Central Army troops and led by the Tianyuan Army's East Camp. Breakout outward.

As the Ning Army suddenly charged out in large numbers, the Tianyuan Army's camp immediately exploded. People could only hear people shouting and horses neighing, and there were continuous shouts and orders. The more than 300,000 Tianyuan Army, which had been prepared for a long time, moved up and down in unison. Either hold up the camp, or form a square formation, with swords unsheathed and arrows strung, ready to stand ready.

Although Tang Yin did not pay much attention to military regulations and disciplines, he had always been extremely strict with the training of his soldiers. The soldiers he required were all-round soldiers. Everyone could fight in close combat and shoot arrows. There was no distinction between close combat soldiers and archers. .

At this time, the Tianyuan Army quickly set up square formations in the camp. Each square formation was one hundred people long and one hundred wide. One square formation was a regiment of ten thousand people. It was surrounded by uniform halberd bearers and long swordsmen. Spearmen, inside were the soldiers holding bows and arrows. Following the shouts of the commanders of each regiment, the soldiers in each phalanx also picked up their bows and loaded arrows.

Qiu Zhen handed over the command of Dongying to Liang Qi, and handed over the most important command of Nanying to Xiao Muqing, who was experienced and trustworthy.

On the battlefield where the two armies faced each other, Xiao Muqing's usual flattery disappeared without a trace, and he turned into the commander who could take the lead and remain calm in power. He stood on a high platform at the front of his camp, facing the sea of ​​people. Ning Jun rushed towards him, there was no trace of panic on his face, only a calm and calm smile on his face.

While raising his eyes to observe the enemy's attack, he commanded calmly, issuing general orders from time to time to adjust the formations of his own corps. After the enemy troops came into range, he waved the command flag in his hand. The corps commanders in the audience all raised their eyes to watch his order. Seeing that the order flag wavered only once, the corps commanders of the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th corps of the Pingyuan Army all shouted at their soldiers. They shouted loudly: "Fire the arrow!"

call!

Five corps, fifty thousand people fired volleys, and the dense arrows were like a black cloud, rising from the heads of the Pingyuan Army camp, roaring into the air, drawing a long arc, and falling straight towards the Central Army. in the camp.