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Although the crossing of the river had been planned and prepared for a long time, the lack of supplies in northern Shaanxi ultimately allowed Wang Jiayin and the others to only build a pontoon bridge that was not very wide. Larger supplies can only be transported across the river by ferry if the pontoon cannot be passed.

The sun slowly moved westward, and time passed slowly. Finally, the number of people on this side of the Yellow River was slowly decreasing, while on the other side it was slowly increasing.

On the top of the mountain, only a few leaders including his confidant Wang Ziyong were left beside Wang Jiayin. They were watching the battalions begin to greet their families.

At this moment, several fast horses galloped over from a distance. He seemed a little panicked and looked anxious. This movement was a bit loud, and it immediately attracted the attention of many people.

Many people among them became a little panicked after seeing this situation, wondering if the army was coming?

However, these riders did not shout. They just galloped over, looked around, and then galloped towards Wang Jiayin's side of the mountain.

When Wang Jiayin saw those riders, he knew what had probably happened, and he suddenly became a little nervous. However, he was quite satisfied with those few riders. In this case, he did not panic. Otherwise, if a commotion was caused, there would only be fewer people passing by.

He looked at the horses approaching and was about to ask about the situation. Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted in panic: "The officers and soldiers are coming. Run quickly. The officers and soldiers are coming. Run quickly." …”

There was more than one person. After someone took the lead, others also shouted: "The King of Hell is coming to kill us. If we don't run away, it will be too late!"

"..."

When Wang Jiayin heard this, he knew it was going to be bad, so he couldn't help but cursed: "Damn it, who is shouting?"

However, there was a sea of ​​people, heads everywhere, and those people were not shouting all the time, so it was impossible to tell who was shouting.

Sure enough, the already nervous crowd suddenly panicked upon hearing these shouts. They no longer cared about passing the pontoon bridge in order according to the order mentioned by the leader, but swarmed up, all trying to get across the pontoon bridge first.

At this moment, the ugly nature of human beings is exposed. Everyone rushed to the pontoon, no longer caring who the other party was, and no one gave way. They all tried their best to squeeze in. When the old, weak, women and children were pushed away, no one would take care of them; when they were pushed to the ground, no one would help them, and more often they would step on them; when they were pushed into the river, no one would reach out to help them.

In just a short moment, the chaos spread to the entire north bank of the Yellow River. Weeping for father and mother, the heart-wrenching shouts filled the air.

"Inform the leader, brother, that the Ming army was found ten miles away and refused to retreat at night, under the banner of Yansui." The few cavalry that suddenly came were the reconnaissance cavalry sent by Wang Jiayin in advance, who came back to warn. According to this news, if the Ming army's night-time reconnaissance is slightly blocked, then it will take at least an hour for the main force of the Ming army to come over.

However, Wang Jiayin had no such plan. In fact, no one wants to stop. Wang Jiayin has stayed on the north bank, which is the limit he can use to stabilize the morale of the army. At this time, he took another look at the chaotic north bank, and without too much entanglement, he immediately whipped his horse and headed for the ferry.

This place is controlled by his elite confidants. Even if those people rush to cross the river, they will be driven back by the elite here. Therefore, as soon as Wang Jiayin and others arrived, they immediately took a boat to the other side.

On the other side of the Yellow River, the chaos on the other side also made this side nervous. The rebels who had passed the family members shouted that they wanted to demolish the pontoon bridge to prevent the government troops from taking the opportunity to rush over. The rebels whose families had not yet come over were so anxious that they either rushed onto the pontoon bridge to rescue their families, or they fought with the rebels who wanted to demolish the pontoon bridge. However, since the leaders of all the families were here, things did not get out of control.

After Wang Jiayin came over, he shouted angrily: "Why are you panicking? The Ming army hasn't come yet!"

Then, he turned his head and looked at the other side of the Yellow River, where there were many people in the Yellow River who were panicking and shivering with cold as they tried to walk across. He turned back and shouted angrily: "Damn it, I don't know which family they are from. I'm so scared that I haven't even seen a hair of the Ming army, so I'm just shouting and yelling, look, look, the North Bank is completely ruined!"

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent. They looked at the North Bank, which was like a hell on earth, and all of them fell silent.

Less than half an hour later, the chaos on the north bank finally calmed down because the Ming army could not be seen for a long time. However, at this time, no one knew how many people had been trampled to death, and there were many dead bodies on the Yellow River, which even affected the ferry.

However, their nightmare was not over. At this time, the Ming army's figure appeared in the distance. Suddenly, as if a big rock had been thrown into the calm lake, the north bank of the Yellow River suddenly became crazy again.

Those old and weak people who had been lucky enough to escape before had been tortured to the point of losing their strength. Under the influence of the panic atmosphere, he didn't know how to gain strength from then on, and joined the crazy ranks, scrambling for his life again.

After Wang Jiayin saw the Ming army refusing to retreat at night, he did not hesitate and decisively ordered the ferry to be scuttled and the pontoon set on fire.

Although the rebels whose families did not come over wanted to stop it, their strength was not enough to prevent the burning of the pontoon bridge from happening. At this moment, they experienced the separation of life and death again.

About half an hour later, the cavalry troops of the Yansui Border Army arrived. However, they did not take any action. They just reined in their horses and quietly watched the mess near the ferry.

There are dead bodies everywhere on the north bank, and there are even more dead bodies on the Yellow River. They have even blocked the water of the Yellow River. There were less than two thousand old, weak, women and children, just kneeling there stupidly, or sitting there, either with numb expressions and waiting for death; or they were holding the bodies of their relatives and crying...

Under a large flag with the word "Hong", the generals were surrounded by a man dressed as a civil servant, watching all this quietly.

And this civil official was Hong Chengchou, the governor of Yansui. At this time, he looked at several men in tattered clothes kneeling in front of him and said coldly: "You have made a meritorious service this time. Come back to the team to receive the reward!"

"Thank you, Mr. Zhongcheng!" The men looked happy and responded loudly before retreating.

These people were sent among the thieves by Hong Chengchou in advance. Either to tip off someone, or to create chaos like now. Therefore, the border troops led by Hong Chengchou were invincible when facing these thieves.

Hong Chengchou looked across the Yellow River and saw no trace of the bandits crossing the river. That side was not under his control. Without the court's will, he had no right to cross the river and continue the pursuit. He could only stop here.

"Lord Zhongcheng, how should we deal with these thieves?" A general asked with clasped fists.

Thanks to Shui Banqing and Boring Passer 08 for the tip!