News came from the Dongyang flag that enemy ships had been found gathering on the Shiliang River, and there was not much time to react. Lin Xie could only forcibly evacuate the Lin family members from the mansion to the ship.

  Lin Tingxun was on the brink of death, and even with the best medicine, he could only barely cling to life. However, Lin Xuan couldn't just abandon him in the Lin family mansion without a care. At this time, he still couldn't bear the guilt of abandoning his family head. If Lin Tingxun were to be treated properly, it was very likely that he would recover and resume his position as the East Yang Prefecture Magistrate. Moreover, there was also the eldest son, Lin Xuwen, who held the position of Minister of Works in the capital city of Yanjing. At this time, even if it meant risking everything, Lin Xuan had to rescue Lin Tingxun. The ordinary servants and maids in the Lin family mansion were all dismissed and told to escape for their lives. However, the three madams, four madams, five madams, six madams, young masters, and their personal attendants and guards all had to be taken onto the ship to safety. Additionally, many of the militiamen's families lived nearby, and if they could be saved, Lin Xuan naturally couldn't just stand by and do nothing. In a very short period of time, nearly two hundred people gathered in the Lin family mansion, preparing to board the East Yang number together.

  Most people living in Shanglin still took last night's attack as a simple robbery by bandits and did not ask to take refuge on the Dongyang ship together. They thought that as long as they closed their doors and held out until the government soldiers came to reinforce, they could drive away the bandits, and were also reluctant to abandon their homes and businesses to be ravaged by the bandits, nor could they foresee that this disaster would be far more brutal than ordinary people's imagination.

  Today is the day Zhao Hu brings his wife back to the Guo family in Xiaolin Village, but plans can't keep up with changes, and they didn't even have time to evacuate the Guo family to Shanglin Village. Zhao Hu's new bride, Guo Hongying, was crying, but they couldn't spare anyone to pick them up, so they had to ask someone to pass on a message for the Guo family to flee in the direction of Jiangning. Whether they can escape the disaster in time is really not optimistic.

  This time, the leaders of the water stronghold, Liu An'er and Wu Shi'yi, were not simple. Although they had limited time to secretly prepare, they managed to defeat all of Qin's elite forces. After a brief reorganization, they gathered their troops and marched south, likely targeting Shanglin as a strategic hub connecting north and south by land and water. They may have used Shanglin as a base to mobilize the tens of thousands of refugees stranded on both banks of the Shiliang River to rise up together.

  It would be simplistic to regard Liu An'er, Wu Shi'e and others as ordinary leaders of bandits. If they really intend to unite and mobilize the refugees on both banks of the Shiliang River, it will be a very strategic move, and the war disaster that ensues may sweep across the Jianghuai region in a short period of time.

  Lin Xuan, apart from leading the crowd to escape back to Jiangning, what else could he do? Nor did he know whether Lin Tingli could arrive at Shiliang County in time, nor did he know what decision Lin Tingli would make in the face of the current situation. Lin Xuan simply dispatched someone to ride a fast horse to break through the siege towards the direction of Shiliang County, informing Lin Tingli of the latest situation and telling him to take care of himself.

  Lin Xian stood in the alley, frowning as he looked at the empty space of over 200 steps from the shop street to the dock, which was usually used as a storage yard and open-air market. At this moment, it was very deadly. Liu Miao Zhen led his cavalry troops to observe from a distance, not daring to approach. The empty space provided enough charging space for Liu Miao Zhen's cavalry.

  Lin Jie and Cao Zi'ang, Zhou Pu, Ge Cunxin, Sun Jing Tang, Zhao Hu and Lin Jiyuan, Chen Shouyan and others crouched on the ground to discuss, to ensure that all members of the Lin family can safely withdraw to the Dongyang ship, avoid being trapped by Lin Miao Zhen's cavalry in the upper forest and the main force of the water village, they must immediately organize a defensive formation at the west end of the warehouse and withdraw people to the Dongyang ship.

  In the Shili River south of Shilin, there is a section of river that is only over 40 zhang wide. At this narrow point in the river, the Dongyang number and several fast skiffs can block the warships of the Water Fortress with confidence.

  Liu An'er and other water stronghold leaders, if they were smart enough, as long as this side showed a strong fighting spirit, they would also avoid gnawing on hard bones. The dawn battle, although it said that the Qin family's fleet was surrounded and annihilated, with only a few people rescued by the Dongyang number, the victory cannot be said to be glorious, but the main force of the water stronghold suffered casualties of no less than 700 or 800 people, they would naturally not pay such a great price to keep Lin Xuan and his men here, but it does not conform to the strategic interests of the water stronghold.

  The key is to block Liu Miao Zhen's this wave of offensive, this woman is very ruthless and has high tactical skills, she has gathered nearly two hundred cavalrymen with strong combat power, it's hard to deal with.

  The equipment of the local braves was relatively simple, with few people wearing armor, mostly carrying short weapons, and small leather wooden shields. Bows and arrows were also scarce, mostly soft bows for hunting. This equipment was quite advantageous in alley battles, boats, and small-scale banditry wars, but in open areas against cavalry, especially those with strong combat willpower, they were at a great disadvantage. Once the cavalry broke through, there would be no one to defend the old, weak, women and children behind them, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

  Lin Jie ordered Sun Jing Tang to lead the crowd of Xihe to assist or drive away the old, weak, women and children to quickly board the ship. The faster they acted, the less pressure there was on this side. The Lin family members were only allowed to carry a small amount of personal belongings and retreat once and for all. Lin Jie had already ordered someone to pass down the message that he would not wait for anyone who delayed.

  Lin Jue ordered the doors of the various courtyards to be dismantled, and three or four militiamen carried a sturdy wooden door on their backs. A small number of militiamen holding long guns and spears, totaling over 60 people, were led by Chen Shouyan to form the first line of defense against the cavalry charge. Lin Jirong led two teams of militiamen armed with bows and arrows, short knives, and wooden shields to form a phalanx behind them. Zhao Hu was familiar with the militiamen, so Lin Jue kept him by his side to help restrain a team of militiamen as a reserve team, increasing the depth of the defensive formation. He also ordered Zhou Pu and Ge Cunxin to lead over 40 armored soldiers to concentrate on both wings, preparing to charge against Liu Miao's troops and prevent them from flanking. From any formation, the two wings were always relatively weak, so Lin Jue also ordered Cao Zikang and Lin Mengde to dispatch two fast sculling boats from the East Yang number to respond in the upper reaches of the Shanglin Creek.

  Everything was ready, Lin Xian first sent someone to drive 20 or 30 mules from the Lin family's house to the entrance of the alley, with oil-soaked cloth strips tied to their tails, and drove them into Liu Miao Zhen's camp. Taking advantage of Liu Miao Zhen's temporary confusion, he also had more than a dozen large carts pulled to the west end of the warehouse to form a simple roadblock. Then, he personally led the militia and armored soldiers to go in an orderly manner behind the simple roadblock, forming a defensive formation, blocking Liu Miao Zhen at the west of the crossing.

  Liu Miao Zhen dispersed the startled horses, seeing that Lin Xie's defense on this side was very strict, but she also sent out two teams of Zhao Neng's remnants to charge at the two wings of the militia formation without hesitation. She led more than 50 elite cavalrymen to directly charge at the front of the militia defensive formation - she saw that Lin Xie's defensive formation was actually strong on both sides and weak in the middle.

  The Shui faction was good at water warfare, but also secretly trained some cavalry and infantry. However, they never became a significant force. After the imperial court's defeat at Chentangyi, Liu An'er fled from Jibei with over 300 soldiers who escaped with him to Hongzepu. This marked the formal establishment of the cavalry. Liu An'er was promoted to military officer due to his bravery and strategic thinking during battles in Jibei. He gained a reputation within the army before being promoted to a seventh-rank military officer, Yun Qi Wei, prior to the outbreak of the Chentangyi War. The over 300 soldiers who escaped with him were mostly from his unit, with some being recruits from Hutou, Huai'an, and Dongyang along the way. It was no easy feat for Liu An'er to lead these men on a detour of several thousand miles back to Hongzepu while maintaining their armor and even bringing over a hundred war horses. Upon returning to Hongzepu, Liu An'er joined forces with his uncle Yang Quan and sister Liu Miao Zhen, greatly increasing the Liu family's influence and providing a core for the water bandits in Hongzepu to unite quickly during the fishermen's anti-taxation movement.

  Liu Miao Zhen's fifty or so cavalrymen, although limited in number, were well-equipped and mostly consisted of Liu An Er's loyal and brave subordinates, with combat strength far surpassing that of Zhao Neng's remaining troops. Under Liu Miao Zhen's leadership, these fifty or so cavalrymen formed a wedge-shaped formation at a distance of three to four hundred steps and charged directly into the middle section of the Xiang Yong defense line. The horseback riders swung their sabers to deflect the incoming long spears, and the horses' momentum did not decrease. The hooves trampled down like heavy hammers, and three or four Xiang Yong warriors used wooden boards to block Liu Miao Zhen's cavalrymen, who weighed nearly five hundred kilograms with their horses, at high speed. Instantly, the wood splintered, the door shattered, and the Xiang Yong warriors under the door board were knocked to the ground, vomiting blood nonstop. Behind the door board, two long spears stabbed in, piercing the warhorse's neck bone from under its jaw, with the spear handles pressed against the ground, snapping into a circular arc. The warhorse let out a mournful cry as it fell to the ground, kicking up countless dust particles, and the cavalrymen on horseback rolled off their horses. Just as he was about to drop his long spear and draw his waist knife to resist, the Xiang Yong warriors on this side did not slow down either, with long spears and short knives already arriving to kill him. He rolled around on the ground, dodging and evading, but was trampled by the hooves of his comrades who charged in later, causing his bones to fracture and flesh to burst open. The Xiang Yong warriors also used three or four people to carry a large wooden door to forcibly stop the enemy cavalry's charge, only managing to slow them down, allowing the second line of Xiang Yong warriors armed with bows, short weapons, and waist plaques to rush up and take effect.

  Lin tied his hands and pinched a handful of sweat. If he couldn't slow down the enemy's charge ahead, it would be difficult to guarantee that even with two teams of reserve troops, three or five enemy cavalry wouldn't break through directly and impact the family team, at which point the entire formation might collapse.

  Liu Miao Zhen saw that she could not break through the village warriors' defense, and just as her horse was about to collide with the door panel, she pulled on the reins. The warhorse brushed against the spearheads coming from the middle and turned sideways, its hind legs kicking the wooden door panel like a hammer. Liu Miao Zhen counterattacked with one stroke of her knife, cutting off two long spears that had come at her, along with the hands holding them. Two riders behind her charged into the gap she had created and killed two village warriors before following close behind her as she swept past the front line of the village warriors' defense.

  Liu Miao Zhen put away her sword and took up her bow, shooting arrows backwards from horseback with a "whooshing" sound. In an instant, two people were hit by her arrows. The village warriors shot back at her with their bows, but she was not afraid of ordinary hunting bows because she wore layered leather armor. Her warhorse was fat and muscular, and although several arrows stuck in its rump and side, it did not affect its speed as it galloped away. In the blink of an eye, Liu Miao Zhen's troops had swept past.

  After Zhao Neng's death, the remnants of his troops could only follow Liu Miaoqin, but in such a short time, it was impossible for Liu to fully incorporate them. They had no intention of fighting to the death and were hesitant to take action. The armored warriors on both wings of the militia defense array were very brave, and the arrows they shot were fast and heavy. These horse thieves looked at the broadswords held by the armored warriors, which were as high as the necks of their war horses, shining with a cold light. The cavalrymen who first charged to the front of the array had their horses' necks cut off by Zhou Pu from the side, and the horse's head and body were instantly separated, revealing the white bones of the severed neck. The riders on the horseback lost control and flew out, and in mid-air, they were killed by two men behind Zhou Pu who held broadswords and broke through their armor. Naturally, the others were frightened and dared not charge again at the array of armored warriors, and they retreated to the side, hiding behind the front array.

  The two wings of the cavalry dodged, and Zhou Pu and Ge Cunxin decisively led the armored soldiers to attack Liu Miao's unit from both sides. At this time, Lin Xie and they all understood that the more than 50 elite cavalry led by Liu Miao himself was the biggest threat. The rural brave hunting bow was not enough to pose a threat to Liu Miao's unit, but the bows equipped with the hands of the people on the Dongyang number were all strong bows above eight douli, although there were only a dozen or so bows, within the range of 40-50 steps, they could shoot through leather armor. Liu Miao's unit swept back from the front of the formation to a safe distance, and although it was only for a few breaths, it was enough to let Zhou Pu and others shoot out two rounds of arrows, causing Liu Miao's unit to return with five or six riders' backs and shoulders full of arrows.

  This time, Lin Xie led the village warriors to a brief head-on confrontation with Liu Miao Zhen's cavalry and infantry on the shore. Although the battle was short, four village warriors were killed and eight or nine were injured. Liu Miao Zhen also had eight or nine casualties. In the end, the village warriors slightly outmatched the cavalry with their infantry. Lin Xie immediately ordered his men to carry the dead and wounded onto the ship, reorganize their formation, and continue to wait in strict array. He saw that Liu Miao Zhen, wearing a red jacket, was indeed a female general, and her performance was impressive. Liu An Er's ability to become the leader of the water village's forces was inseparable from his uncle and sister's support. Although Liu Miao Zhen retreated to gather her troops in the distance without intending to charge again, Lin Xie did not dare to be careless. Only after all the Lin family members had withdrawn onto the ship did he slowly retreat and board the fast sculling boat.

  ***************

  PS: Looking for red envelopes