Daming kill

Chapter 9
Li Ping never thought that one day he would witness the march of an ancient army, and it would be a march at night, with a scale of 10 people.

The novelty dazzled him a little.

This is a sea of ​​torches and flags, but also a crowded and chaotic river of people.

The Ming army is a typical banner-type army, with a wide variety of military flags, such as command flags, identification flags, road-opening flags, etc., which are dazzling, and it has its own flags from the smallest organizational unit "Wu". There are often more than 30 flags for a hundred-man post.

The more regular the troops, the more complete and complicated the flags, which made it possible to judge the size and elite of a Ming army by virtue of the number and types of flags.

Therefore, it is by no means an exaggeration to see the sea of ​​flags when you see the Ming army, and it also makes the Ming army highly recognizable.

Although many of Zuo Liangyu's 10 horses are newly recruited, their equipment is not sophisticated, and the types of flags are also much different, but the most basic flags are not much less.Although the fifth level does not have a flag, the even level has a flag.

It's just that Li Ping still doesn't know a few sides. People who haven't received long-term training and study don't even think about it. It's good for him to know what his own flag and his team's flag look like.

This is what he must know.

Because the Ming army adopted the method of following the first-level flag when marching and fighting.

It's just that such an organizational method is a bit troublesome in the dark night with poor recognition.Although the Ming army required double lights to replace the flag at night, following the flag is still an important auxiliary means.However, the flickering flames next to the flag also put forward higher requirements for the organization and training level of the troops.

Since ordinary officers and soldiers were not allowed to light torches for the first ten miles of the withdrawal, nor were they allowed to light fires next to their flags, the officers and soldiers of the Ming army who were retreating south could only stare at the double-edged flags hanging high in front of the teams and sentries with wide eyes. Lights, groups of people and horses are all moving forward following their own little lights.

The horses that Shi Ming and Wang Chengwu grabbed solved a big problem, and they were not stingy.In this way, except Zhao Lanyue, Zhao Meiling, Gao Lei, Liu Shixiong, and Li Shengcai, who couldn't ride, were divided into two mule carts, and the rest of them all rode horses.

Zhao Jin, as the whistle chief and the confidant of Mr. Zhao Qian, already had horses.

Moreover, because of the special status of this post, the large animals that Zhao Jin and his team robbed were not shared by Du Guerrilla's other battalion leaders. As a result, a post with more than 30 people had more than [-] mules and donkeys, and the two led the way. Du Guerrilla's personal soldiers were also amazed.

Although there are so many large animals, only Captain Qi, who can ride, is allowed to ride on the snatched mule, and the other officers and soldiers in the sentry are still on foot.

Zhao Jin did not allow officers and soldiers under very long to ride, even if they knew how to ride. This was not only his rule, but also something that ordinary officers and soldiers took for granted.

But so many mules and horses still bring good news to all the sentry officers and soldiers. They either carry camp supplies or carry the luggage of the officers and soldiers in the sentry, which greatly reduces the burden on manpower and makes the hungry and thirsty troops relax. a lot of.

Therefore, although the start was also slow, Li Ping's small team continued to surpass the slow-moving friendly troops around them in the rolling traffic, and the lack of higher-level constraints allowed them to move forward more freely and more quickly. Let them have a wide range of sights along the way.

Li Ping is in charge of finishing at the end of the whistle.

At this moment, he hadn't recovered from the shock. If the cattle robbing not long ago was just exciting, now it was only shock.

There are many vehicles, horses and people, and most of them are packed with big and small bags. Women and children are also mixed in. The various clothes make it difficult to distinguish between soldiers and civilians, and camps. Everything around is chaotic except for slowness.

This is not the march of the army, it is more like the great migration of refugees.

And the marching method of small lights followed by big lights, and one light chasing one light is obviously not suitable for the military activities of such a super large group, let alone this kind of mob that is seriously lacking in organization and training.

Even Li Ping was a little dazzled looking at the lights, let alone many officers and soldiers who obviously had night blindness!

Chaos is almost inevitable everywhere.

There is a din of people everywhere, there are soldiers and young generals shouting everywhere, the order is beginning to get out of control, and there is a disconnect between many teams and whistles, whistles and headquarters, and headquarters and battalions of the surrounding friendly forces. I don't know which battalion it is.

If it weren't for the starry sky, Li Ping even suspected that the entire army retreating south would collapse by itself. After the novelty, he was completely dumbfounded.

How brave is it to withdraw troops at night in this situation.

Suddenly, with a shout, the surrounding torches finally began to scramble to light up.Sitting on the horse, Li Ping could see clearly that the torches burning all around seemed to be flowing forward slowly like an extremely wide river, which merged with the stars all over the sky.

The full lighting of the torches finally improved the order of the chaotic army, and made Li Ping feel more at ease.

Although not every soldier has a torch, usually every team will light one. Such stars are enough to illuminate the surrounding area. At least the soldiers can easily see the flag of the camp and the familiar comrades around. , each squad can also more easily identify the flag of the group and keep up with the allies of the previous team.

Zhao Jin and his fellow riders finally dared to patrol and urge around the team quickly and slowly, so that they could keep their men and horses gathered together more closely, and they could better explore the road ahead and the surrounding area. Condition.

Of course, Li Ping still finished it later.

Although it was a lot brighter, Li Ping soon discovered another big hidden danger.

During this journey, he has never seen the commanding and ordering troops. Zuo Liangyu seems to be allowing the various armies and battalions to gather in piles and spread out along the official road, which will almost inevitably lead to rushing. and blocking.

What was even more disturbing was that most of the generals were wearing thin clothes, and very few of them wore armor, not to mention combat vigilance and readiness.

The disappointment and the anxiety that followed made Li Ping even more uneasy.

Li Ping knew that such a march was very dangerous. Once an emergency happened, the army would easily fall into chaos.

Even in the modern age of the 21st century, with the assistance of modern communication tools, it is not easy for large troops to march in the field at night, and there are high requirements for command and control and the training level of troops.

More importantly, it is impossible for Li Zicheng not to notice such a big movement.

Li Ping now only hopes that the peasant army lacks the ability to organize at night, otherwise, once they follow or pursue, it will easily lead to disaster for the official army.If the peasant army was more resolute and launched an all-out assault, Zuo Liangyu's chaotic army would surely collapse.

This is entirely pinning the hope of life on the benevolence and incompetence of the enemy.

However, would Li Zicheng, a famous ruthless man in history, let them go so easily?
This is very doubtful.

Already terrified, Li Ping subconsciously kept observing the situation around him while touching the equipment on his horse.He doesn't have a torch, and his riding skills are not enough to support him to do too many complicated movements.

The silly big man Liu San has been walking in front of Li Ping for a long time with a spear on his shoulder. He has always kept a certain distance from the officers and soldiers in the sentry on the left and is very close to Li Ping.He held a turpentine torch in his other hand, probably specially for Li Ping to illuminate.

Li Ping stared at Liu San for a long time, and finally remembered something, so he stretched out his spear and patted Liu San's shoulder with the end of the spear.

When Liu San turned his head around, Li Ping asked: "Big man, you said you know this road well. But your family is in Xiangyang. Can you remember the long journey back to Xiangyang?"

Liu San immediately went to Li Ping's side and said stupidly: "Captain, I really know the way. This is not a lie. When there were no thieves in the past few years, how many times did my uncle take me to escape? ! I can recognize several Taos, really.”

"Have you ever run away by yourself?" Li Ping seemed to have caught something.

"That year my uncle was captured by the bandits, and I ran back by myself. I don't know if he is dead or alive, but he is the only family member I have." Liu San said, feeling suddenly emotional low.

Li Ping was silent for a moment, then took out some pieces of dried meat and a cold bun from the bag beside the horse's back, then lowered his body and handed them to Liu San, saying, "Big man, are you hungry? Take it and eat it. If you are thirsty, I will There's still water here."

"Yeah." Liu San happily took the thing, and immediately stuffed it into his mouth.

After chewing hard for a few big mouthfuls, he raised his head and said vaguely: "Captain, everyone says I'm stupid and bullies me, but I know the captain treats me well, I remember that."

Seeing the happy silly big man, Li Ping suddenly didn't know what to say.

After marching for most of the night, the speed of Zuo Liangyu's army going south was getting slower and slower. Although Li Ping's small team had Zhao Jin, Shi Ming and others fighting hard for the road, they were still coerced into it and stopped and stopped.

Due to the suddenness of the retreat, most of the battalions were unprepared, and a considerable number of troops did not take adequate rest during the day, nor did they eat enough water, which made the officers and soldiers exhausted quickly.

Coupled with the constant small harassment sounds from the rear, many people were always in a state of tension.

Although the cavalry at the rear severely taught the small group of bandits who were following them, and galloped to spread the word that "thieves are timid, there is nothing to worry about", but it was still difficult to relieve the tense nerves of most officers and soldiers.This further exacerbates fatigue and pushes many teams to their physical limits.

Large groups of battalions continued to stop along the road to rest.

Due to the lack of a unified and effective organization, resting people and horses are scattered all over the official road and surrounding areas, and it is inevitable to interfere with the progress of other teams.Coupled with people, livestock, and vehicles competing for the road, the congestion became more serious, and quarrels and even fights began to be seen everywhere.

Seeing the more and more congested official roads, Li Ping also became more and more anxious, and ran to Zhao Jin several times to discuss countermeasures.

After nearly three hours of marching, even in the middle Zhao Jin once decisively distributed all the remaining Guokui biscuits (the most classic military dry food of the Ming army, simply called perforated biscuits) for the whole sentry, and ordered everyone to walk Eat, but their small team of only a hundred people is still getting longer and longer irretrievably.

Zhao Jin finally had to decide to let everyone and mules and horses take a break for a while.

After a brief discussion, they chose to rest on an empty hill on the left side of the official road.

Although this small hill is 800 to [-] meters away from the official road, the surrounding area is open and maintains a good safe distance from the retreating official army brigade.

Moreover, it is located exactly on a bend of the official road, and has a certain height. Most ordinary teams do not want to struggle to climb the hill, so it is much more secluded.The key is that it is also very conducive to observation, and you can go straight down the mountain to save the road, and it doesn't take too much effort.

At the top of the hill, looking at the darkness in the distance to the south, the fire dragon line burned for only a short distance, and everyone knew that they had reached the forefront of the entire army.

While resting, one of Du Guerrilla's soldiers left alone to report to Du Guerrilla that he was safe, while the other soldier was pulled aside by Shi Ming called Li Shengcai for reasons to flatter him. Shi Ming probably didn't want to curry favor with others at this time.

Li Ping also took this opportunity to propose to immediately leave the army brigade and go alone. He was extremely disturbed by the current situation.

But unexpectedly, both Zhao Jin and Shi Ming expressed their opposition. They both believed that Zuo Liangyu's army was so large that the peasant army might not be willing to face it head-on. After all, capturing Kaifeng was their top priority, so For the time being, it will be safer and cheaper to follow the big group.As for the future, both of them feel that it can be decided in the future.

It's clear that Jo-jin's views have changed.

Only Zhao Lanyue was unexpectedly on Li Ping's side.

Others are mostly unable to express any opinions, and are still in a state of enlightenment.

At this time, a burst of noise suddenly rose from afar, interrupting the discussion of the crowd.

Everyone stood up in astonishment and looked towards the north of the official road.

I saw that on the plain in the north, countless fire dragons suddenly appeared at some point, like a sea of ​​torches, and this sea kept beating the tail of Zuo Liangyu's army like waves, and the orderly shouts followed. Came vaguely.

Li Ping was shocked: "It's going to be bad!"

Many Ming soldiers at the foot of the mountain also stopped, looking back.

Zhao Jin had the quickest reaction. He immediately ordered everyone to pack their bags and get ready to go, and at the same time urged them to feed some food to the mules.

Yang Meiling still didn't know why, so she asked vaguely: "What's going on behind here? It's so spectacular!".

Just as everyone was hoping to get enough water, the torches at the tail of the Ming army in the distance began to be gradually smashed by the waves, and then a whole piece of huge waves suddenly rushed in without being hindered.

For a moment, the torches like a dragon dance began to rapidly change and surge south along the official road and its surroundings, some of them were disillusioned, and some of them scattered like angels scattered flowers, accompanied by loud voices and chaotic horses. The mule neighed.

The chaos spread rapidly like a wave.

Li Zicheng's main force suddenly appeared and defeated Zuo Liangyu's rear guard cavalry. The guard of the officer army collapsed, and the most terrible thing happened.

(End of this chapter)