"I would have the identity of a Qianhu, Jinyiwei." Zhou Kaihuang sighed in his heart. In the battle of Yunyang, Zhao Tianba's formation was talked about by Ming soldiers. Zhou Kaihuang was very envious of this: although the other party is the best among the younger generation of Xiying, he is also an outstanding rookie in the camp.

Now, Zhou Kaihuang finally had a similar deed, but he felt that it was difficult for him to shout out a bold statement that could be similar to Zhao Tianba: What a famous reputation for the Jinyiwei Qianhu! Before Zhou Kaihuang, he was just a Qianzheng under Yuan Zongdi. There were so many Qianzhengs in the world, and there was no special glory to shout out. If he didn't mention anything and just made a name for himself, Zhou Kaihuang felt that everyone would think he was an unknown person.

Fortunately, Zhou Kaihuang also has something that Zhao Tianba envies.

"I'm just Zhou Kaihuang who makes a big fuss in Kunming!" With Deng Ming's open letter, Zhou Kaihuang was also a famous wanted criminal on the Qing court. Seeing that the Qing soldiers had already fled back to the city tower, Zhou Kaihuang raised the flagpole in his hand with his arms and shouted at the city tower: "Who dares to fight me?"

"ah!"

After hearing the enemy cavalry opposite, he claimed to be a big fuss in Kunming, several people around Zhou Peigong exclaimed, all of whom were the divisions of the General Hanyang and the likes of the Guests. The news of the Kunming fire had long been spread to Hubei. Although not everyone remembered the name Zhou Kaihuang, since the other party mentioned Kunming, it must be one of the ones who burned Kunming.

"Since this person is Zhou Kaiyuan," Zhou Peigong remembers the name of this family. The Kunming fire also caused a great shock among the scholars in Huguang. Countless people were speculating on Deng Ming's identity in private. He shouted to the general: "Is the one under the city wall that is Deng Ming?"

The General of Hanyang had no time to discuss with Zhou Peigong who was the main general of the Ming army at the defensive gap. Seeing that his subordinates had already withdrawn, he raised his hand with a cold face, and a large number of archers behind him immediately began to bend their bows and hit the arrows.

Zhou Kaihuang did not give the other party the chance to snipe him. He had participated in many battles before and had experienced many battles in recent months. He had just moved back and forth at high speed, and when he stopped, he was always entangled with the enemy soldiers. After shouting this voice, Zhou Kaihuang drove away and left without stopping for a long time, regardless of whether anyone would answer his challenge. However, before leaving, Zhou Kaihuang still laughed loudly and said: "There is no courage!"

Seeing the enemy cavalry moving away quickly, General Hanyang, who raised his arms high, slowly lowered it, and the Qing archers near the city tower also had no choice but to put away the bow again.

"It's Deng Ming who made a big fuss in Kunming, right?" General Hanyang had time to say to his staff around him. He looked around him: "Is there the name of this thief in Deng Ming's manifesto?"

"Yes!" Seeing the general's division shook his head and didn't know, Zhou Peigong hurriedly jumped out to show off his memory: "There is indeed this person."

There was a fluttering Ming army red flag beside the gap in the city wall. Standing on the city wall, you could see a man holding the flagpole under the red flag. Zhou Kaihuang pointed to the blurred figure beside the flagpole and made his own suggestions: "Master, the thief leader who burned Kunming is here. Now he doesn't have many followers around him. Master, don't let him run away, take this person down and avenge the shame of King Pingxi."

"I will share the worries of the court." The General of Hanyang said unconsciously. He felt that the most urgent task now is not to acquire people, but to try not to be taken away by others.

The soldiers from the personal barracks who were driven back from the city wall were still shocked. They were relieved after seeing Zhou Kaihuang leaving. Seeing the panic and fear on the faces of these soldiers, the general knew that these subordinates would not play a role within a moment. At this time, the general had already cut off the idea of ​​snatching the gap from the city wall. The Ming army was so brave and could not play the advantage of the number of people on the city wall. He had no intention of sending his subordinates to die.

The purpose of attacking the city wall just now was to reduce casualties. Now it seems that the loss of attacking the city wall may be greater than the frontal attack, so the general immediately gave up the idea of ​​continuing to attack the city wall to find the place - not only can he not find the place, but he may also lose a bigger ugly.

"I just got the advantage by that enemy cavalry because I did not send out a spearmen." At this time, Zhou Peigong had recovered from his shock and his brain could think quickly. After thinking that the opposite side was Deng Ming, who was likely to have caused Wu Sangui to suffer a great loss, Zhou Peigong hoped that the General of Hanyang could take this person. The Qing court set a four future for Deng Ming, and offered a reward of 5,000 taels of silver. As the chief military affairs designated by the Governor of Huguang, Zhou Peigong felt that although the future was definitely the general, he could get a lot of silver rewards. He immediately began to praise the military affairs with all his duties and made a sinister suggestion to the general: "This time the general asked the spearmen to go up and he would definitely assassinate him on the horse."

"Mr. Zhou said very well." General Hanyang glanced at the chief military advisor sent by Hu Quancai. The city wall was not suitable for spearmen to play, so he sent sword and shield soldiers. Unexpectedly, the other party transported a horse to the city wall, and there was such a warrior with extraordinary riding skills and high-quality martial arts skills. But despite this, he could not send a large number of spearmen to attack the city wall, because unless the other party was as stupid as his chief military advisor, he would never rush towards the spear on a horse, but would get off the horse and come with a sword to chop people.

However, the General Hanyang did not refute Zhou Peigong's intention. He estimated that even if he said that, the other party would continue to propose suggestions like "The spearmen can be in front and the sword and shield soldiers are behind to cover the back." Then he had to continue to explain: the other party could cut off all the spearmen in the front row first, and then ride a horse to hit the back; and the general suspected that even if the explanation was so clear, the other party might continue to carry it and put forward more suggestions, such as: "Two rows of spears, two groups of swords and shields, two rows of spears, and two rows of swords and shields."

In short, this will be an explanation work that cannot be seen. After expressing gratitude to Zhou Peigong for his positive praise of military affairs, the General of Hanyang quickly ordered the personal military camp under the city to attack the gap in front.

At this time, a messenger had already run back, saying that the Ming army's bows and arrows near the gap were powerful. Since he knew that the guy who made a big fuss in Kunming was here, the General Hanyang was not surprised but nodded slightly, indicating that he knew.

"Let the spearmen attack quickly." Seeing that the general had not transferred the spearmen under the city to the city tower for a long time, Zhou Peigong shouted anxiously.

"Well, let the soldiers in front criticize the double armor and use shield to protect their legs and feet." The general ordered the two armor and shield, which was enough to resist the bow and arrow. Even the powerful iron-bone arrow would not pose a great threat.

"No!" Although the general did not obey his own words, as he made more and more suggestions, Zhou Peigong's enthusiasm was also stimulated. Moreover, the repeated setbacks of the Qing army also greatly affected the image of the general of Hanyang in Zhou Peigong's mind. Now he respects the head commander of the Qing army far less than before the war: "Soldiers are very fast, and there are not many thieves in the gap. When they are lightly equipped, they will rush and kill and defeat the thieves in one fell swoop."

This time, the General Hanyang simply pretended not to hear it. If he was light, he would probably be injured by stones. There were few people on the other side, so speed was not very important. The key was to be able to fight close to each other and start hand-to-hand combat.

In order to reduce casualties and launch a powerful offensive as soon as possible, the General Hanyang also ordered a detour to let the personal barracks first touch the southwest urban area, then gather behind the private houses, and then directly attack the gap.

Zhou Peigong, who was behind the general, sighed again when he heard this: "Soldiers are so fast, Grand Marshal, this is a waste of time. Grand Marshal, have you read the military books?"

"I haven't seen it!" General Hanyang replied angrily without looking back. He now had a strong slap in throwing Secretary Zhou from the city tower, and he needed to try his best to prevent it from taking action.

"No wonder." Another melancholy sigh came from behind.

At this time, the personal military camp in the distance seemed to have reached the attack position. The general did not care about the chief military advisor, and his body was tightly leaning on the wall and staring at the battlefield with all his attention. The general's aides and officers also held their breath and rushed to the wall to look at the gap. The actions of everyone made Zhou Peigong realize that the battle situation had entered a critical moment. He stopped chattering and stood on tiptoe to look at the personal military camp that was about to launch an attack.

The South City Tower is a good observation location. It can not only see the whole city, but also in the gap attack and defense battle, the general can also look at it from the side of the front line from here to grasp the specific situation of the attack in a timely manner. A large number of Qing soldiers walked out of the streets, and the general saw them forming a shield formation and slowly rushed towards the Ming army.

...

After Zhou Kaihuang came back, he sat on the ground behind Deng Ming and gasped. Although the battle was not long, waving the heavy flagpole made him feel very hard. When the passion for the battle began to fade, Zhou Kaihuang felt exhausted all over his body.

From the city wall, you can see a large number of Qing soldiers who walked around the house across the street. When the Qing soldiers began to set up their formation, Zhou Kaihuang helped the ground hard, and stood up and planned to go down the city wall.

"You have a rest," Deng Ming, who was still holding the flag after seeing Zhou Kaihuang's actions, said: "There are so many people who can't stand there."

"That's right, you can't grab everything." Li Xinghan just asked Deng Ming for a fight, and got the task of leading the way to guard the gap as he wished. There were probably a few people standing side by side in that place. Li Xinghan walked to Zhou Kaihuang and said, "You take a break and take off your armor and give it to me."

Wearing two layers of iron armor, Li Xinghan held a sword in one hand and a shield in the other hand. A few guards with similar costumes walked to the gap and lined up in front of the gap.

After seeing these people with iron bodies, the Ming army around them all gave praise. After Zhou Kaihuang came back, the Ming army guarding the gap was greatly motivated. They felt that there were three archers including Zhao Tianba and military gods like Zhou Kaihuang, and they would definitely be able to repel the enemy. Although Zhou Kaihuang did not go into battle, the Ming army felt that Li Xinghan's outfit was similar to Zhao Tianba and Zhou Kaihuang and others, and they seemed to be military god-level figures. Moreover, there were more than one such person. Seeing that Li Xinghan and others had blocked the most dangerous places tightly, the other Ming soldiers were ready to do a big fight.

...

After the general saw that he came out of the alley, several Qing soldiers soon fell down. From where he was, he could see white smoke rising from the city walls guarded by the Ming army.

"There is actually a bird gun, more than one shot!" The general clenched his fist and smashed it hard on the battlement. At this time, the others also heard several musket sounds coming from almost the same time. Everyone's faces were even more worried. Double armor could defend against bows and arrows, and had considerable defensive capabilities for the three-eyed gun, but they still had no resistance to the bird gun at this distance.

The Qing army slowly pushed to the gap, and the general and the people around him continued to pay close attention to the progress of the war. The Ming army kept throwing stones from the top of the city to the gap. The Qing army in front of the gap was fighting... After a stick of incense, the Ming army was still throwing stones, and the Qing army was still fighting in front of the gap... two sticks of incense... three sticks of incense. The fighting Qing army was still in front of the gap, and the Ming army on the city wall was still throwing stones.

The general slapped the wall hard, and everyone around him looked dark.

"Ming Jin!" The general was unable to bear it and ordered to suspend the attack. He took his eyes back from the wall and looked into the city. The red flag of the Ming army had risen from the city tower in the west. The bell tower, drum tower and the north tower had also stopped resisting. After controlling these strongholds, the Ming army would soon see the deployment of the Qing army in the city.

"Follow me to go down the city." General Hanyang ordered that after leaving the city tower, he would lose timely grasp of the situation in the city and could not understand the actions of the Ming army at the first time. However, General Hanyang knew that the situation had reached the most critical moment. If he could not break through the gap, the Qing army would be destroyed in the city, so he decided to go to the front line to command in person.

"Master!" Seeing that the general was about to leave, Zhou Peigong shouted anxiously: "Let the spearmen go to the city quickly and take down the city wall!"

Seeing that Juren Zhou had not given up on his plan to use spearmen to rush down the city wall, the general stopped and turned around and asked, "What if the enemy cavalry did not ride a horse, but came over with a group of sword and shield soldiers?"

Duke Pei of Zhou was speechless. General Hanyang shook his head as he looked at him and said no more. Instead, he quickly walked down the city with his personal guards. The army had reached a critical moment of life and death. General Hanyang, who was in a heavy mood, was no longer angry with Duke Pei of Zhou.

The general walked down the city tower and rushed to the west with the people around the city tower. At this time, Zhou Peigong was still stunned on the city tower. Suddenly he had an idea and rushed to the city wall and shouted at the back of the general Hanyang: "Master, I have a plan, which can be a row of spearmen, a row of swords and shields, and a mixed formation."

But the general did not mean to stay, but went further and further. Zhou Peigong thought that the distance was too far, and the other party could not hear his shouting. He jumped up in a hurry and complained: "Why are you walking so fast? Isn't your ears so good?"

After complaining, Zhou Peigong hurriedly rushed to the dungeon and chased the Hanyang General. At this time, the Qing soldiers who were still on the Nancheng City Tower were all soldiers from Anlu Mansion. All the Wuchang soldiers followed the general to the west. The soldiers who stayed behind looked at each other for a while and shook their heads gently. Just now, when the Hanyang General explained that in addition to promptly informing him of military information, the situation was not good, the defenders retreated behind him and waited for him to break the gap and retreat from the city together. In addition to trying to bring more people to escape, the Hanyang General also hoped that Anlu Mansion would help him cut off the rear and resist the pursuit of the Ming army in the north of the city. However, these soldiers from Anlu Mansion did not mean to leave the city tower, including the Qing officers guarding the city tower, stayed motionless in the city tower, and silently watched the movements in the city.

After the Hanyang General rushed to the opposite side of the gap, the guerrillas from the personal military camp immediately greeted him. When he saw his boss, the guerrillas shouted loudly: "Master General, it's not that the brothers don't fight hard, they really can't fight."

Before launching the attack, the guerrillas had already informed the personal military camp of the dangerous situation. Everyone knew that the gap in front of them was the only way for the entire army to survive and was the last hope to escape from Zhongxiang City. After launching the attack, the Qing army of the personal military camp went on one after another to attack the city wall. Countless Qing soldiers followed the team and stood under the city wall. The head was broken by the stones thrown from their heads and blood was not heard at all. They gritted their teeth and held on their feet. Whenever they could move forward a little, they would quickly follow, waiting for the opportunity to move forward.

No matter how many Qing soldiers were waiting behind, they could only squeeze into Li Xinghan and others. Although the firing rate of the five bird guns was not fast, they could not stop the Qing army from crowding to the wall, but for the Qing army that was squeezed into the front row, they were a perfect god of death. The bird gunners could calmly add medicine and recharge when the Qing army was in stalemate with Li Xinghan and others, and then almost hit them to death with the Qing army's forehead.

The Ming army, wearing double-layer iron armor, had time to rotate continuously. When the Qing army in front of him fell down with unwillingness, the Ming army had the opportunity to change the front row and the back row, giving everyone a chance to take a break.

In fact, not long after the attack, the guerrillas in the personal military camp felt that this kind of attack was not possible, but the destruction of the entire army was right in front of him, and he could only fight to the death and hope for a miracle. Before the general ordered the gold medal, the guerrillas had already seen that this was of no use except to let the soldiers die for nothing, but he still refused to give up.

"The Ming army guarding the gap is covered with iron all over it, and cannot penetrate the gun, cannot cut through the knife, and cannot shoot the bow." The guerrillas in the personal military camp were so anxious that they were almost crying. If there was enough time, they could still slowly grind these iron men to death, but what the Qing army lacked the most now was time. In order to open up the gap, the officers of the personal military camp took the lead and attacked for so long, less than 10% of the soldiers were killed or injured, but half of the officers had filled in it.

When the general came just now, people were already panicked when they saw the Wuchang soldiers. The whole city was full of fighting sounds. The soldiers could know that something was wrong without climbing the city tower. Moreover, red flags were already hung on the west side of the city, north of the city, and the bells and drum towers. Fires were also heard from the government office. These soldiers could see clearly and must have known that the fall of the city was right in front of them.

As for the Hanyang General's personal military camp, the morale is no longer as high as before. When the soldiers attacked the gap, they knew that it would be a dead end if they didn't rush out. Although they could not fight back under the city wall, they could not dispel their fighting spirit. Instead, everyone insisted on rushing down the gap and escaping from the sky, and then they could kill all the Ming army throwing stones on the city wall to take revenge.

After retreating, the soldiers had realized the great sacrifices they had made and the huge pain they endured had no effect. The Ming army was still standing there, and the enemy's position was still standing. Around the Hanyang General, many soldiers from the Qing battalion were bleeding, sitting on the ground and bandaging their wounds. The wounded soldiers moaned loudly without any concealment. Even if the commander wanted to launch another suicide attack like before, the soldiers could not fight as firmly as before.

The general looked at the Ming army's iron armored soldiers blocking the gap for a while and ordered: "Crash them."

"Crash?" Guerrilla asked strangely.

"Yes, they are living city gates, of course they will hit the city gates." The general ordered some beams to be demolished from the private houses, and then organized suicide squads: "A team of ten people, each team held a beam and rushed up to hit them. Just hurry!"

"Yes, soldiers are more important than speed." Zhou Peigong, who was rushing to the scene, heard the general's last words, and hurriedly came up to express his agreement: "I just said that I would go into battle lightly, why didn't you listen long ago, Grandmaster?"

Guerrilla looked at Zhou Peigong in shock, and then looked at his commander. The General of Hanyang turned his back to Zhou Peigong. He was waving his arms to give orders, but when the familiar voice of the General of Zhou Junzhi came from behind, Guerrilla saw that the General's movement stopped abruptly, and remained motionless like a stone sculpture.

After a while, the guerrilla saw that the general's arms began to tremble, and his originally opened palms clenched into fists, and his eyebrows also jumped twice.

Guerrilla subconsciously grasped the hilt of the knife. He followed the Hanyang General for many years. He was very familiar with the expression of the commander. Every time after this expression appeared, when the commander opened his mouth again, he must have spit out a murder order, without exception for more than ten years. Guerrilla was ready. As soon as the commander opened his mouth, he would shout out loud: "Chroat!" and chop the knife towards the man's neck.

But everything is exceptional. When the guerrilla saw that the general's clenched fist had loosened, he did not have the anger of killing when he spoke again, and was full of helplessness: "Go and demolish the beams."

...

As soon as one of the beams was removed, the general heard a shout of killing not far behind him. The sound was getting closer and closer, and it seemed to be coming to the gap.

Soon, the guerrillas deployed in the north to cover the personal military camp of Wuchang came and reported that He Zhen's army was coming, and the Ming army was attacking very fiercely. He Zhen personally supervised the battle on the front line. The guerrillas of the green camp said that he was fighting to the death, but his soldiers had already begun to escape. He wanted the general to rush down the gap immediately and then break through immediately, without waiting for him and his green camp.

"I don't know if the reinforcements from the thieves outside the city have arrived." When he left the city just now, the general noticed that the Ming army outside the city, which was originally peacefully distributed in the long encirclement, also had mobilization. He could not wait for everything to be prepared. The general stared at the iron-armored men in the gap opposite and shouted to the team of soldiers who had brought the beams of the house: "Come on, bump!"
Chapter completed!