Chapter 44: Besieged on All Sides

"Rumble, rumble, rumble..." The sound of countless iron hooves stepping on the ground has become chaotic, like continuous muffled thunder.

Zhu Gaoxu turned around and headed east, where he met the right camp with a green flag coming back to support Zhu Gaoxu's troops.

At this time, Zhu Gaoxu no longer dared to fight. The Southern Army cavalry general Ping An was extremely brave and at least not inferior to Zhu Gaoxu in a single fight!

The cavalry under Ping An were also very elite, and they had just come up to engage in battle, so they had plenty of horsepower and physical strength. Zhu Gaoxu's troops first defeated the first group of Southern cavalry, and then attacked from the side and destroyed an unknown number of infantry formations, consuming a huge amount of manpower and horse power... If they were to fight Ping An head-on, the outcome would be hard to predict, but at least the battle could not be resolved in a short time!

"Huff, huff..." Zhu Gaoxu's horse had just sprinted for a while and was panting loudly. He recalled the experience of fleeing from the capital to Peking, where a horse was exhausted to death. Now this battle almost entirely depends on the physical strength of humans and horses.

Zhu Gaoxu judged that if he retreated from the west, his chances of success would be slim. Ping An's large group of cavalrymen were behind him and would pin down his exhausted troops and horses and beat them up!

He led his personal soldiers and the Quanyong Team and ran eastward again... At this moment, a great battle broke out in the north of Zhending City. Zhu Gaoxu was surrounded because he attacked the flank of the Southern Army.

The situation faced by Zhu Gaoxu's more than 2,000 cavalrymen was very critical. To his west was the Ping'an Cavalry Battalion!

To the north are countless infantry phalanxes organized by a master of infantry combat!

To the south is the ten-meter-thick city wall of Zhending City!

To the east is the central army formation of the Southern Army. The infantry and cavalry formation is so heavy that I wonder how many layers of square formation there are!

Zhu Gaoxu cursed inwardly: The Southern Army only has one wing on the west, but it has so many brave generals and warriors. It seems to be very powerful. Does the Prince of Yan have a chance of winning? He rode his horse slowly while observing the north. Zhang Wu's Qianzong Battalion could not break the Southern Army's frontal infantry formation at all!

Zhang Wu's troops were supposed to attack northwards, but now they are fighting back and forth, but are retreating step by step. The spearmen in front of the Southern Army's infantry formation are very dense, so Zhang Wu's troops can only run back and forth, attack with horse bows, and try to charge... Zhang Wu's camp keeps shooting and killing Southern Army soldiers, but this is not what Zhu Gaoxu wants. He wants Zhang Wu's camp to defeat all the square formations over there as soon as possible!

But that seems like an impossible goal.

Zhang Wu's only role was to slow down the advance of the Southern Army's infantry, otherwise Zhu Gaoxu and others would soon lose their space to gallop and be surrounded and moved by a group of infantry!

If the cavalry had nowhere to run and stood still, what would happen? Zhu Gaoxu could imagine with his toes what would happen!

He looked around and saw that his people seemed to be just a bubble, submerged in the vast ocean, and the bubble could burst at any time...

Zhu Gaoxu was in a trance at this time, and his intuition seemed to be finished! He risked his life on the battlefield, but most of the time he was nervous and focused on fighting. Only at this time did the fear quietly come.

If a person dies suddenly, they are not afraid; the most terrifying thing is to wait for death slowly... In his previous life, Zhu Gaoxu knew about a kind of torture, which was to tie people to the beach and wait for the high tide to drown them. It was said to be very inhumane...

Zhu Gaoxu cursed inwardly: There are at least ten times more troops besieging me. Is this how you fight a war?

If he surrendered to the court now, would Emperor Jianwen spare his life for the sake of their relationship? Zhu Gaoxu didn't even need to imagine, he immediately felt that it seemed unlikely.

While riding his horse, Zhu Gaoxu was busy observing the situation, hoping to find a way out. However...the three adjacent phalanxes of the Southern Army's infantry were arranged like a Chinese character "品". Trying to rush out from the gaps in the phalanxes would be like entering a winding maze, and the possibility of survival would be slim.

... Suddenly, at a certain moment, at a certain angle while running, a place with thinner dust and fog seemed to appear in the dusty air. Zhu Gaoxu glanced and saw the scene farther away. Although it was a flash, at least he saw it!

For a moment, he immediately threw everything around him out of his mind and focused all his attention on recalling the scene just now. Outside the Southern Army's formation, there were a large number of Yan Army infantry and cavalry, fiercely attacking the front!

To the north of here, the situation seems to be in a stalemate and there is no progress; and further east, the Confederate formation seems to be showing signs of chaos.

Zhu Gaoxu rode his horse and ran to the east of Zhang Wu's army. He saw that part of the square formation of the Southern Army's central army was turning!

The direction of the Southern Army's infantry was originally all facing north... The Yan Army was coming from the north. Now the square formation over there turned left, obviously targeting Zhu Gaoxu, wanting to completely surround and kill him!

It's just that it's difficult for the infantry phalanx to turn at right angles; on the contrary, the infantry phalanx here can directly switch back and forth, and as long as the command is proper, it is easier to turn 180 degrees. Therefore, part of the central army of the Southern Army has not yet fully adjusted its formation.

Zhu Gaoxu suddenly came up with a bold idea!

Now that we are here, we should just keep going and keep charging forward! ?

Zhu Gaoxu's mind processed a large amount of information in a short period of time. He just made a vague intuition that there might be a glimmer of hope to the east... But when he thought about it calmly, he felt it was absurd and almost tantamount to suicide. In the rush and the tight time, he had no time to think carefully about where that intuition came from.

However, seeing that the front line is collapsing and shrinking, is there still a chance?

"Damn it!" Zhu Gaoxu cursed. I already owed 200,000 yuan anyway, so what if I owed another 100,000 yuan? I'm going to go all in!

He turned around and said, "Pass the order, Zhang Wu immediately leads his troops to follow the red flag and attack eastward! The right camp should fight and retreat, and move closer to our main force!"

"Yes, sir!"

Zhu Gaoxu reined in his horse, turned around and shouted, "Brothers, we are surrounded on three sides and on one side is the city wall. We are out of horsepower and cannot break out. We can only charge eastward and hope that the Prince of Yan will come to our rescue. Only then will we have a chance of survival...

Right now, it is a matter of life and death. If we lose the battle, the government troops will not let any of us go! Rather than being killed like animals, it is better to fight! I, Zhu Gaoxu, will rush to the front and die with my brothers. I will never live in vain! "

At this critical moment, the personal soldiers unexpectedly still supported Zhu Gaoxu, and responses came from behind, "We live together, we die together..." "Let's fight!"

Zhu Gaoxu pulled out a long-handled knife from his back, turned around and saw Wang Bin staring at him, and said, "What a pity, sorry brother..."

Wang Bin said, "My life has long belonged to the prince."

Zhu Gaoxu raised his saber high and pointed it diagonally forward, "All troops, prepare to attack!"

The cavalrymen around him raised their spears, shook their bodies, kicked their horses and started to set off.

"Kill!" The soldiers roared in unison, and the horses sped up rapidly.

Near the dust, there were the messy infantrymen who had just turned around! The Yan army's vanguard kept on marching, showing no signs of slowing down, and rushed forward in a straight line!

"Hiss!" The warhorse neighed, and Zhu Gaoxu almost flew off the horse's back. He clamped his legs around the horse's belly, leaned forward, and leaned on the horse's back, stabbing forward with his long sword. There were clinking sounds and the cries of warhorses from both sides. A warhorse raised its front hooves high, and the knight was thrown off.

More cavalry rushed into the enemy camp, and the disorderly infantry dodged in all directions.

Zhu Gaoxu led the Red Flag soldiers and rushed through the infantry formation without stopping, and continued to charge forward to allow more troops to catch up. At this moment, he looked out from the smoke and vaguely saw dense flags in front, as if a general was in that position.

At this time, the Southern Army infantry, which had just been disbanded, rushed to the east. Zhu Gaoxu and others followed and killed them, and broke into another square formation. The square formation contained a mixture of defeated soldiers and queued infantry. Zhu Gaoxu immediately rushed in.

"Crack!" Zhu Gaoxu raised the saber that he had dragged to the side suddenly upwards. An enemy soldier hugged his neck with both hands, and blood spurted out from between his fingers!

The Yan army attacked quickly and suddenly killed their way into the battle formation. A large number of Southern army soldiers were terrified and in chaos.

"Hoo! Hoo..." A few shouts came from the front, and a group of cavalrymen from the area with dense flags kicked their horses to meet them. A moment later, the violent collision of metal and screams rang out. Zhu Gaoxu put his left hand on the hilt of the knife, held the knife with both hands, and chopped it forward. With a "clang", the wooden pole of the enemy knight's lance was directly cut into two pieces! The knife flashed, and the enemy soldier screamed and fell backwards.

At this moment, Zhu Gaoxu felt his seat lighten, and the neighing of the horse made his eardrums hurt, so he rushed forward. "Clang!" The heavy armor fell to the ground, and Zhu Gaoxu's eyes were full of golden light, and golden stars slowly floated up in front of his eyes like dandelions.

The left and right rushed over quickly, protecting Zhu Gaoxu and fighting. A cavalryman fell off his horse, handed over the reins, and glared, "I live in Xie Street, Torch Lane, and my name is Chen Dachui!"

Zhu Gaoxu was slightly stunned, and immediately understood the meaning of this sentence. He took the reins and jumped on the horse, turning around and saying, "Brother, I remember it!"

"Kill!" Zhu Gaoxu rushed forward again and suddenly saw a white-haired general standing among the riders ten steps away, reaching out to draw his sword. At a glance, he could tell that the old general was dressed in an unusual way. Could it be Geng Bingwen? Zhu Gaoxu knew that Geng Bingwen was very old.

Zhu Gaoxu was about to kick his horse and charge forward, when suddenly a group of infantrymen rushed out from between the cavalrymen, holding muskets in their hands! At this time, they were less than ten steps away, and Zhu Gaoxu saw that the black muzzles of the muskets were already pointed at him.

He was very anxious and leaned forward. Suddenly, his sight was blocked by a horse rushing over.

"Bang bang bang..." The man in front of Zhu Gaoxu was shaking all over, the spear in his hand flew out, and he fell backwards.

"Wang Bin!" Zhu Gaoxu yelled, not caring about anything else. He saw the enemy cavalry on the left and right of the old general rushing forward to protect him! Zhu Gaoxu took a deep breath, raised his saber horizontally, and threw it forward fiercely.

"Hiss!" The saber missed the target but stabbed the old general's horse's shoulder. The horse leaped forward and knelt on the ground, and the old general fell off the horse.

Zhu Gaoxu rushed forward desperately, slashing two people on both sides, and then a spear stabbed him from the front. He tried to dodge but failed, and the spear pierced his armor from under his armpit. His horse was stabbed again and he fell off.

At this time, the personal guards and soldiers were howling and rushing forward without caring about their lives. One cavalryman directly used his body to knock an enemy soldier off his horse.

Zhu Gaoxu rushed forward, tumbling and crawling, and just as the old general was about to stand up, he punched him. The old general's teeth and blood flew into the air, and he fell backwards again.

Zhu Gaoxu rushed forward, stretched out his hand to his waist, and pulled out the Yanling knife. "Ah!" Zhu Gaoxu's face was covered with blood, his eyes were wide open, and he stabbed the Yanling knife at the old general's neck.

But he suddenly stopped, hesitating whether to capture him alive or kill him!

At this moment, the veteran struggled to raise his head, stared at Zhu Gaoxu and said, "I follow Taizu to conquer the country. I would rather die on the battlefield than suffer humiliation in old age. Gao Xu, please help me!"

He took advantage of Zhu Gaoxu's slight hesitation, reached out and grabbed the blade, and pulled it towards his own neck!

...

(Historian Gu Cheng's article "The Battle of Jingnan and the Geng Bingwen and Mu Sheng Family" has verified that Geng Bingwen died in the battle of Zhending; there is also evidence from Mu Sheng's "Inscriptions on the Geng Cemetery in Haoliang Shen'an", as well as a large number of tombstones The rubbings prove that Geng Bingwen "died in battle while aiding Zhen Ding". The story in Volume 130 of "History of the Ming Dynasty" that Geng Bingwen shamelessly surrendered and then was impeached and committed suicide is quite inaccurate; why it is recorded in this way is unknown.)