The so-called strategy is never to follow the opponent's pace, but to make the opponent follow your own pace. This is one of the basic strategies of struggle. If one cannot defeat the enemy even at one's own proficient pace, the only remaining choice is to proceed according to the pace the opponent is least proficient at.

Pang Zi hadn't read this passage, but when he found that after repelling the first wave of the government army's attack, the government army didn't retreat at all. Less than a quarter of an hour later, the government army's horse team split into three. Two cavalry units of twenty men each galloped to the left and right; judging from the trajectory, they were going to detour behind Pang Zi. Pang Zi immediately felt a chill on his back. For this response of the government army, Pang Zi couldn't come up with an effective countermeasure.

The best way was to split troops to attack these two dispersed cavalry units, eating up these two small units with superior forces. Then combine forces to attack the enemy's main force. But Pang Zi knew the strength of his own brothers very well. Just these more than two hundred people; fighting one-on-one, his brothers were not opponents of the government army opposite. They needed at least two against one, or even three against one. But in this case, his main force would only have a hundred or so men and horses left. And the government army opposite had at least more than three hundred people. After splitting troops, they would also have more than two hundred people left. If splitting troops, and the frontal government army rushed over, one against two, he absolutely had no chance of winning.

Thinking is easy; Pang Zi was not a fool. He figured out the key in a few minutes. But facing the brothers who were in high spirits and still immersed in the small victory just now, Pang Zi couldn't even restore order among them. Moreover, just at this time, the main force of the government army in front had already urged their horses together under the command of the officer, slowly approaching Pang Zi's side.

From the perspective of military command, putting aside the perspective of humanity, the responsibility of a commander is to let subordinates die most effectively. The so-called "A general's success is built on ten thousand withering bones" points out the essence of war simply and clearly. How the dividends of war are distributed is one thing, but whether the subordinates die worthily is another matter. From the current perspective, compared with the commander of the government army, Pang Zi was completely not on the same level.

Facing the approaching enemy, Pang Zi made a choice he would regret for life.

"Push the machine gun forward!" Pang Zi shouted. He thought pushing the machine gun to the front could effectively contain the attempt of the enemy main force opposite to approach continuously. Scaring the enemy main force opposite first, and then thinking of a better way; this was Pang Zi's thought. And this method might have been useful if facing the government army before 1900, but on September 27, 1906, when facing the government army opposite Pang Zi, it was already an outdated tactic.

Pang Zi might know the suppressive and intimidating effect of machine guns, but Pang Zi actually knew nothing about the role of machine guns in war. He was even less likely to know how cavalry and machine gun positions should cooperate. Because of the huge power of the machine gun, Pang Zi subconsciously treated cavalry as infantry. Carrying the machine gun required adjusting the formation. At this time, the confusion level of cavalry was far higher than that of infantry.

And the commander of the government army didn't let go of this opportunity, seeing the confusion of Pang Zi's troops. A flag in the government army's formation began to wave. Then the small detachment of government army approaching Pang Zi's machine gun changed direction instantly. They drew an arc and outflanked towards the oblique rear of Pang Zi's machine gun position.

"Songling! Block them!" Pang Zi roared. Gao Songling hurriedly led his own brothers to rush towards the government army. And the brothers transporting the machine gun saw the enemy rushing over and also began to be at a loss. Some wanted to continue obeying Pang Zi's order to transport the machine gun to the front, and some couldn't help wanting to turn the machine gun around towards that rapidly approaching small unit of government army. Pang Zi's order, as well as the enemy, instantly led to the confusion of his own troops. What was worse was that the government army opposite didn't let go of this opportunity at all. Led by the leading officer, they urged their horses together and began to charge towards Pang Zi's side.

Reaching this point, Pang Zi showed his tough side. Seeing he could no longer use the machine gun, Pang Zi could also pick up and put down, "Brothers, follow me to rush north! Fight!" With this shout, Pang Zi urged his horse and led the charge towards the main force of the government army.

Such a choice required full backbone. The government army in front had at least nearly three hundred people. What Pang Zi didn't know was that the government army opposite was a cavalry battalion of the Beiyang Army stationed in Dezhou, with a total strength of five hundred people. After the Canal Defense Battalion was defeated, they immediately reported the news of Pang Zi's rebellion to the Beiyang Army. And before the Canal Defense Battalion, the news of landlords headed by Jing Tinglie reporting Pang Zi's rebellion had reached the Beiyang Army even earlier.

Except for the different uniform from the Beiyang Army, the training and equipment of this cavalry battalion were no different from the Beiyang Army. The difference in military uniform led to Pang Zi's illusion; he thought this group of people opposite was not the Beiyang Army. This gap in intelligence made Pang Zi commit a huge mistake.

And this cavalry battalion stationed in Dezhou received the "suppression" order issued by Wang Shizhen of the Beiyang Army Ministry, and immediately set out lightly according to Wang Shizhen's specific command. They traveled one day by land and two days by boat in total, rushing to Nangong County at the fastest speed. Then after understanding the situation from the Magistrate, they rested for one night and raised troops in the early morning straight to Gaojia Village. If the Peasant Association's intelligence network was still there, the movement of this troop would definitely have been transmitted to Chen Tianhua in advance. Chen Tianhua wouldn't have ignored Pang Zi either and would have told Pang Zi the news. But the dissolution of the Peasant Association made the intelligence network lose its function. Pang Zi had to face the attack of Beiyang cavalry directly.

Behind Pang Zi, a group of galloping men and horses followed quickly. Although there were only more than two hundred big horses, spreading out on the unsheltered wilderness, the momentum was not small. They splashed mud and dust. Rushing at the very front were old brothers with the best horsemanship and marksmanship. The skill of firing guns on horseback practiced when rising up with Uncle Jing Tingbin back then. As they fired sporadically in the wind, a pile of figures began to fall sporadically in the gray column of the government army, and a slight commotion appeared. Then clusters of smoke began to envelop those gray columns. After reaching a certain distance, they also began to fire. Bullets whistling in the air knocked down a dozen people instantly. Pang Zi's hat was also gone, but this was like igniting the explosives hidden in their blood vessels. More people howled loudly and fired back simultaneously from horseback, like suddenly lighting a string of firecrackers for New Year. Dust flew in front of and behind those gray columns.

Pang Zi slowed down the horse's speed. Brothers behind rushed to the front instantly. Pang Zi hoped to gather the brothers under his command around him according to the training of the previous few days. But at this time, the horse team of the Escort Agency brothers had scattered. Brothers under different leaders mixed together, and it was impossible to distinguish who was whose subordinate. Pang Zi managed to see a few brothers under his command gathered together; before greeting them, they had already rushed to the front. When Pang Zi turned his head, he saw the still orderly government cavalry reined in their horses and actually began to turn around. They actually retreated in front of Pang Zi's team; they actually fled!

How could Pang Zi let go of this opportunity, "Brothers, charge! The government army fled!" The rifles captured from the Canal Defense Battalion were for infantry use and not suitable for combat on horseback at all. Many brothers fired several shots in a row but failed to hit a single enemy. When they saw Pang Zi no longer shooting but waving a long knife to command the charge, they simply gave up the plan to continue shooting, also pulled out their broadswords, or simply used rifles as short spears, waving them and rushing towards the backs of the fleeing enemies.

Facing the fleeing enemy, no matter how Pang Zi urged the horse, he couldn't catch up. A few *li* of land was rushed over in a moment. And those gray-clad government troops suddenly stopped, as if stunned by the desperate charge of Pang Zi and the Escort Agency brothers, preparing to fight with their backs to the water (*Bei Shui Yi Zhan* - last stand). They lined up in a very long horizontal row, so the standing queue line looked very thin; just one rush could cross it. Then a sound of *chi chi* like a leaking water pot, like a sharp steam whistle, overwhelmed the only sound of horse hooves running in the vast earth.

Those old brothers shouting and galloping seemed to suddenly hit an invisible wall, or be whipped fiercely by an invisible whip. Spraying blood, they bounced up bumpily from the horse's back, planting onto the ground in an instant. While some other people were thrown to the ground rolling by suddenly twisting mounts screaming in pain, and then trampled over, losing life completely.

"Turn around, don't stop, continue shooting." Pang Zi roared loudly. In just a few breaths, a large piece of the two-hundred-man horse team was missing. Only then did Pang Zi see clearly that two lines of fire spewing from the bushes at the edge of the jujube forest ravaged among his companions like poisonous pythons. That was the heavy machine gun of the Beiyang Army; it actually ambushed on their flank. The scorching warheads whistled and danced crosswise in the sky, constantly bursting clusters of blood flowers from human bodies or horses.

Then other brothers of the horse team who were lucky enough to dodge the volley had already rushed in front of those gray skins retreating again. And the gray-clad officer at the head of the array raised his snow-bright military saber high, then swung it down heavily. The government cavalry sat steadily on horses, aimed at the galloping Escort Agency brothers, and began neat volley fire.

Under such shooting, the horses of the Escort Agency brothers suddenly stumbled forward in unison, crashing heavily onto the ground with people and horses, or bursting blood flowers on their chests, then as if pushed fiercely by someone, falling backward from the horses. Before the brothers falling on the ground could crawl up in pain, the government cavalry pulled the bolt, reloaded bullets, and continued shooting at the brothers continuing to rush forward. Brothers on horses and on the ground were knocked down one after another in the neat shooting of more than three hundred people. The splashing blood soaked a large piece of ground red with their struggles.

At this moment, Pang Zi realized incomparably profoundly the difference between the so-called militia armed forces and the regular New Army trained by the Imperial Court.

"Don't follow... Disperse," he shouted painfully. But the sound of people and horses wailing and roaring on the battlefield easily overwhelmed his efforts. And the frenzy of charging and killing made most people ignore the prior agreement. Therefore, Pang Zi could only watch helplessly as more people followed their dust and smoke, chasing up. The herd mentality of the crowd made them fall into this death line constructed by volleys and machine guns in a short time.

As the most powerful charging horse teams were all dead or wounded, exposing the chaotic follow-up horse team composed of mules and donkeys which were somewhat at a loss behind, bugles also sounded among the officers and soldiers. Then behind those gray columns which were already much sparser, dust also began to surge. That was the government cavalry also starting to move out. After defeating and scattering these most fierce charging horse teams, those government troops waving standard sabers began to chase these "rebels" who lost their fighting will and fled in all directions in patches.

The brothers of the Escort Agency collapsed instantly, not just in frontal combat. Unknown when, two units had already outflanked the position where Pang Zi set off. Organized resistance on the position had disintegrated. Forty-odd government cavalry were chasing and killing the twenty-odd Escort Agency brothers who were in chaos and retreating constantly. Now Pang Zi had fallen into a state of being attacked from front and back.

"Brothers, follow me! Rush west!" Pang Zi issued the last order in this battle. Then he took the lead to set an example, urging the horse to flee towards the west.