No military course tutorial is better than an actual battle. Chen Ke's military knowledge certainly came from books he had read, but his performance on the battlefield was entirely the result of him unconsciously imitating various movies and TV works he had seen. Except for replacing the command saber with a ghost-head broadsword, Chen Ke drew rich nutrition from movies about 19th-century "line infantry tactics."

But Chen Ke forgot one thing: the important role of the battle flag in this kind of "line infantry" war. By the time Chen Ke realized he had neglected this important issue, the spear team had already run wild (*fang le yazi*) inside Zhang Youliang's fortified village. When they started rushing forward, it was actually quite good. The hasty resistance of the family servants and lackeys was instantly suppressed under the shooting of three rows of muskets. After the infantry charge began, the shouting stream of people instantly drowned the enemy. The young soldiers each had a kind of dazed excitement. No one had killed anyone personally, but accompanied by the somewhat "gamified" battle unfolding, everyone completely followed the daily training and rushed forward following Chen Ke, who was at the very front.

With a wave of his broadsword, Chen Ke chopped off the head of a lackey holding a firelock. The comrades behind also followed suit and waved their long spears at the enemy's corpse. The spear shafts whipped the headless corpse like whips, instantly whipping the headless corpse that was already falling backward to the ground. Only then did these few soldiers realize that long spears should be used for stabbing, not whipping. Chen Ke shook off the blood on the broadsword, then took a long spear from a ashamed-faced soldier, stuffed the broadsword into his hands, and shouted: "Follow me."

With the long spear in hand, Chen Ke's killing speed increased a lot. The way a broadsword caused direct death was to chop off the head, or slice open the stomach, or sever the main artery. And to achieve this effect, one needed to get very close to the enemy. The long spear offered more choices. First, the attack distance was farther than the broadsword. Second, the attack selection range was wider: head, neck, chest, lower abdomen, thigh. Once stabbed, as long as the force was great, it could be fatal. Chen Ke stabbed over several lackeys who tried to resist desperately in succession, rushing all the way towards the south gate. As long as the south gate was seized, the enemies near the dock could be blocked outside, and the main force could annihilate them. When the old nest was attacked, anyone's first reaction was to hurry back to the old nest. Although Chen Ke didn't think those enemies guarding the dock could counterattack successfully, once the Insurance Corps couldn't hold the main gate, the casualties would definitely expand.

But after all, it was the first time the soldiers participated in combat. Without the guidance of the battle flag, the troops had no symbol to follow. Chen Ke rushed fast again. When he suddenly saw a group of family servants and lackeys popping out from a courtyard, he suddenly discovered that only five or six people were following closely beside him. The other nearly hundred people actually scattered on a street less than two hundred meters long. It wasn't that everyone wasn't on this street, but they were divided into several sections. The Musketeer Team fell behind the most. Their comrades were in front of them, so naturally, they couldn't shoot freely towards the front according to training. The commander of the Musketeer Team was Second Platoon Commander Lan Yinglong. The Musketeer Team was originally at the very front, so the troop's flag was also with the Musketeer Team. Chen Ke was careless for a moment and didn't let the battle flag follow him, so the Musketeer Team now became the flag bearer. Although Lan Yinglong also commanded the Musketeer Team to move forward, the Musketeer Team had to reload ammunition again after all. With this delay, they fell far behind.

The spearman in the middle originally followed Chen Ke forward, but the corpses of those lackeys killed by Chen Ke on the way seemed to attract their attention more. Moreover, there were two who weren't completely dead after being stabbed down, especially the lackey stabbed in the lower abdomen, who was clutching his stomach and howling. Five or six soldiers stood beside him at a loss, pointing their spears at that lackey, not knowing whether to stab him again to finish him off or to save this enemy who had lost combat effectiveness.

And some other family servants of Zhang Youliang hid in the houses nearby. These soldiers from decent families either shouted at the door to let the enemy come out and surrender, or simply blocked the door honestly and helplessly without any further action. If they were "scoundrels," they would have long taken advantage of the enemy's total collapse to find ways to storm into the house and solve the battle finally. Soldiers from decent families had an instinctive resistance to kicking doors. The troops had always trained for field battles and had never trained for this kind of street fighting. It couldn't be helped that it turned out like this.

Chen Ke knew that if he didn't hold out but turned back to call people to join the battle, and if those lackeys swarmed over subsequently, the troops on this street would probably collapse instantly. There were twelve or thirteen enemies in front, and he had five or six soldiers on this side. Chen Ke rushed up without hesitation. These family servants should be of "scoundrel" origin. Although they also saw Chen Ke and the others suddenly, they knew that many people had rushed in from outside after all, so they were more prepared. There were three lackeys carrying firelocks inside; as soon as they saw Chen Ke and the others, they raised their guns preparing to shoot. Chen Ke rolled forward and approached the enemy. Almost at the same time, three firelocks fired. A scream came from behind Chen Ke; a comrade should have been hit. Chen Ke couldn't care about the life or death of these comrades at all. If he turned back to look, Chen Ke himself would be dead for sure.

The troop's spear assassination technique was taught by Hua Xiongmao. When encountering such a situation of fewer against many, Hua Xiongmao's suggestion was to force the opponent away first. For a tall and strong soldier like Chen Ke, using a sweeping method was optimal. Hua Xiongmao was a Military Provincial Graduate after all, and he had put a lot of effort into spear techniques. Chen Ke always accepted such expert advice readily. Standing up after the forward roll ended, Chen Ke swung the long spear in a full circle and swept towards the people in front. Although he swept away a few people, with a "crack" sound, the shaft of the long spear broke into two pieces due to excessive force.

The lackeys' reaction wasn't slow. Although attacked fiercely by Chen Ke, these people obviously didn't panic. They gave a shout and raised their knives and guns to rush towards Chen Ke, who was holding half a broken spear shaft. Although there was a kind of despair in these people's shouts, and the look on their faces wasn't full of high fighting spirit, such "desperate soldiers" (*aibing*) might be more terrible. These people were purely forced by the threat of death; people at this time would be even less rational.

Facing these guys forced to a dead end, perhaps persuasion to surrender was more appropriate. But firstly, Chen Ke held half a spear shaft, obviously lacking deterrence. Secondly, on his left and right, two long spears had already stabbed out respectively. Two soldiers used their full strength, and the spears pierced deeply under the ribs of two lackeys; the spearheads almost went all the way in. The faces of those two lackeys twisted. They were in so much pain that they couldn't even shout, just grabbing the spear shafts firmly with their hands. In just this instant, the weapons in the hands of other lackeys struck towards these two soldiers. Chen Ke was able to retreat a few steps calmly and finally avoided the enemy's attack. But those two soldiers weren't so calm. They tried hard to pull the spears back, but firstly, the spearheads were deep in the enemy's body and got stuck. Secondly, as they pulled, the lackeys who got stabbed grabbed the spear shafts firmly under severe pain and didn't let go. Before these two soldiers of the Insurance Corps had time to let go and jump away, they were knocked down by the lackeys.

With the back-and-forth fighting on both sides, nearby soldiers had already noticed this. Seeing their comrades knocked down, the blood-boiling soldiers roared and pounced over. In a blink of an eye, seven or eight long spears joined the battle group besieging the lackeys. Under a round of fierce stabbing with long spears, the lackeys were hit one after another. Or they were forced back, finally retreating inside the gate, and then closed the door firmly. The soldiers' eyes were all bloodshot (*blood filled the pupils*). They stabbed indiscriminately at the door with long spears. The spearheads stuck into the door planks, and the soldiers spent a lot of effort pulling the spears out of the door. At this time, they should have kicked the door open with a flying kick. But unexpectedly, no one thought of this method.

Instead, someone shouted: "Find stones to smash the door!" Hearing this, Chen Ke wished he could grab the person who shouted this and slap him twice. What kind of bullshit idea was this? Moreover, the soldiers were all dizzy at this time. Although Chen Ke was standing right beside them, everyone completely failed to notice him.

"Second Platoon Commander Lan Yinglong, come over immediately!" Chen Ke roared. It wasn't that he couldn't run back to call people, but for a commander to run back during battle was not only a disgrace but would also cause unnecessary trouble.

Hearing Chen Ke's roar, the soldiers were stunned first, and then discovered that Chen Ke was actually here. A soldier shouted excitedly: "Battalion Commander, let's fight our way in! Fight our way in!" It wasn't that the soldier was ordering Chen Ke, but that they were really incoherent. The actual meaning was hoping Chen Ke could come up with a way to break this door. Chen Ke didn't take this up. He grabbed the clothes on a soldier's chest casually and shouted: "Immediately ask the Second Platoon Commander to bring the Rifle Team and the military flag over. Go immediately!"

The soldier's entire mind was on how to break the door. Hearing Chen Ke's words, he actually didn't understand what they meant, his face full of puzzled expression. Just then, Chen Ke heard someone behind him say: "Wenqing, I'll go call the Second Platoon Commander." Turning his head to look, Hua Xiongmao and Xu Dian had arrived behind him at some point.

Chen Ke felt joy in his heart and quickly released that soldier, shouting to First Company Commander Hua Xiongmao and Political Commissar Xu Dian: "You aren't injured, right?"

"No." Hua Xiongmao responded with a smile. He and Xu Dian were just about to hide after climbing over the wall. Unexpectedly, the troops charged into the fortified village immediately. Seeing it was the Insurance Corps' troops, the two of them were really overjoyed. As soon as they came out, they saw Chen Ke, and the two hurried over to report.

"Company Commander Hua, go command the Rifle Team led by the Second Platoon Commander to come over immediately. Go now." Chen Ke shouted loudly.

"Yes!" Hua Xiongmao agreed and ran towards the Second Platoon.

"Political Commissar Xu, take three people to guard this door. Don't let anyone out to escape!" Chen Ke continued to order.

"Yes!" After Xu Dian shouted, he pulled three people to his side.

"You, you, and you! Follow me to the front now." Chen Ke pulled out three soldiers who looked like they could still maintain rationality and started running towards the south gate.

With this toss about, the few family servants and lackeys guarding the south gate had already found time to open the small door on the main gate. Seeing Chen Ke rushing over aggressively with a few people, and with the street full of Insurance Corps soldiers, they completely lost the will to fight and fled out of the small door scrambling over one another. Chen Ke was very happy in his heart about this wise non-resistance action. He asked the three soldiers to close the small door first and bolt it. Then he let these three people guard the door, letting no one in. Only then did he run back again.

Hua Xiongmao had already rushed to the front of the door just now with the Second Platoon and the Rifle Team. After everyone gathered, Chen Ke ordered each unit to assemble and line up quickly. Although this practice was sufficiently inefficient, Chen Ke didn't believe that the Insurance Corps troops could have officers find soldiers and soldiers find officers in such chaos. In the situation where organized enemy resistance had ended, lining up was actually the most efficient mode in an inefficient general situation.

Sure enough, the troops with half a year of formation training took three minutes to complete the formation. Soldiers and officers all returned to the ranks. Chen Ke began to give orders. This time the First Platoon was all spearmen, and the Second Platoon was all musketeers.

Chen Ke ordered the First Platoon Commander to take a squad of spearmen and a squad of musketeers to guard the gap blown open on the north side, allowing no one to enter or exit.

Xu Dian took a squad of musketeers and a squad of spearmen to guard the south gate. The enemies on the watchtower at the south gate had already fled. Chen Ke specially instructed Xu Dian to send people to secure the watchtower first and observe the enemy situation from a commanding height.

The Deputy Commander of the First Platoon took a squad to patrol along the street. If they saw any new situation with the enemy, they would tell everyone immediately.

Medics began to perform simple bandaging treatment for the wounded. And Hua Xiongmao commanded the remaining three squads of troops. The Second Platoon Commander commanded two musket squads.

With a hundred or so people spreading out like this, they occupied key points in a blink of an eye, but the troops directly controlled by Chen Ke also decreased sharply. However, because command efficiency improved, it was easier to operate instead.

"Battalion Commander! This courtyard should be Zhang Youliang and some of his die-hards." After the troops basically controlled various key points, Hua Xiongmao pointed to the tightly closed main gate and said.

"Rifle teams aim at the main gate respectively. After I kick the door open, the Third Squad fires a volley inside first. The Fourth Squad don't fire; if you see anyone inside, then you fire. Understood?" Chen Ke was afraid the team would get excited and shoot all the bullets. If the enemies inside jumped over the wall in desperation (*gou ji tiao qiang*), that would be terrible.

"Understood." Second Platoon Commander Lan Yinglong replied. After the troops finished lining up, Chen Ke strode forward. For combat, he put on leather shoes again. Chen Ke flew a fierce kick at the main gate. This kick was powerful and heavy; the door bolt let out a helpless wail and immediately broke into two pieces. The room door defense line that had once made these honest soldiers of the Insurance Corps helpless was easily breached. Chen Ke retreated a few steps, making space. With an order, the Third Squad fired a volley into the courtyard.

There were no enemies in the soldiers' line of sight, but after this volley was finished, they heard someone shout: "Don't shoot, we surrender!"