stubborn thief

Chapter 176 Mountain Rain
In the third year of Chongzhen, the ninth day of June, the fourth watch.

It was dark and the moon was gone.

The Sergeants of the Sixth Sentinel of the Lion Camp lit torches and assembled in the wild village and wild shop on the narrow official road of Huanglong Mountain.

Liu Chengzong stood on the roof, looking at the large flags on the winding mountain road, and commanded the positions of the troops on the march.

He only had one chance to drive He Huchen through this official mountain road.

According to Li Laozhen's information, the official road of Huanglong Mountain is narrower than that of Ziwu Ridge, and the east and west ends of this road are wider near Yizhou and Yichuan.

At the narrowest point, counting the dead leaves and dead trees piled up on the slopes on both sides of the road, it is only four steps wide, and under normal circumstances it is only about ten steps.

The official road has not been repaired for a long time.

But the wide place is also wide, except for the [-] to [-] li road between the two mountains that is inaccessible, there are deserted villages more than ten li apart in other places, and the edges of the villages are all fields that the people used to reclaim.

Counting the fields at the widest point, there are more than a hundred steps, and there are mountain paths in some places, and the north-south ridges can also be climbed.

Li Laozhen still remembered those mountain ridges vividly. Whenever the Ningxia Tang soldiers on the fork waved their flags, it would not be long before Tazi soldiers would come on horseback.

Wei Qian'er wrapped Tangqi's hooves with cloth, extinguished the fire, and led the team of three riders to explore the frontier official road in the dark.

The vanguard of the Lion Camp is the rear sentry who is best at attacking fortifications. The post chief Wang Wenxiu pulled the troops from the deserted village to the official road, and formed an eight-way column with two teams and four lines in parallel.

Li Laojie led his people to sit on the hillside next to the official road, watching the lion camp dispatch troops, his eyes were full of envy.

Compared with them, the men and horses of the Lion Camp are too well equipped.

For Wang Wenxiu's call alone, the two teams lined up and pulled out a large team on the official road. It was said to be an eight-way column, but in fact there were 26 people in every four rows.

There are eight people in the first row, with one team belonging to the supply soldiers on each side, and the six people on the inside are the soldiers group belonging to the two teams.

The soldiers are all equipped with bows, arrows, waist knives or golden melon bones, and some of them have seven-foot short spears.

The two auxiliary soldiers carried five-foot-six spears, three-eyed guns, javelins and other weapons.

Anything less than one foot in length is a short weapon.

Two to four rows, the outermost are two mules led by heavy soldiers, carrying shields and armor on their backs.

The teams behind are basically the same, it's nothing more than the difference that some auxiliary soldiers use firearms.

When the two teams of soldiers passed by, there were only four mules carrying small cannons in parallel.

Wang Wenxiu was at the head of the squadron behind the four cannons, leading the team forward with arrogance.

He left his horse and mule behind.

His post was not good at riding. From the post commander to the captain, he was formed on the basis of the Guyuan infantry centurion, not to mention that in this narrow mountain road, the horses running around in the team would only create gaps in the formation.

After Wang Wenxiu's rear post came Gao Xian's right post, then Cao Yao's artillery post, Liu Chengzong's family team, Chengyun's supply post, and Feng Ru's left post.

Zhong Hu's Zhongshao and Li Laozheng stayed in the camp, there were many people and mules.

Liu Chengzong's order to the two of them was to wait to be stationed here, and if the advance failed, they would use the camp here to block Du Wenhuan.

If the front goes well, we will dismantle the camp and continue westward.

In fact, it doesn't matter whether the camp is demolished or not. Liu Chengzong's main intention is to let Zhong Hu remember to take away the barbed wire, which is the treasure that Liu Chengzong got from Aimuna.

Not long after he walked out, Liu Chengzong thought that it would be dawn soon, but the sky was still dark, and he even began to wonder if he got up early.

On the way, he was still saying that it was a pity that the cannon cast in Shanxi did not come back. This terrain is too advantageous for firing cannons.

As soon as the voice fell, it began to rain.

Seeing Liu Chengzong as a fool, he rode on the back of the red flag and wiped the rainwater with his face raised in a daze.

The rain was not heavy, but it made Liu Chengzong frown.

Rain is troublesome, both when it rains and after it rains.

Especially in the current terrain, if the rain falls lightly, the road will be muddy and the soldiers will get sick; rush down.

The rain brought a lot of confusion to the team, and the other whistles were fine, but the three-eyed blunderbuss and bird blunderbuss were carried by the mules instead of carrying them.

Cao Yao's artillery whistle exploded directly.

The 500 artillery posts are almost full-staffed firearms troops, with hundreds of artillerymen and more than 200 gunners.

The Lion Camp, where Liu Chengzong had just dispatched troops, was forced to suspend the march. After a brief discussion, each post handed over the three-eyed guns and bird guns to the heavy post, cut off the tents, took off their clothes, wrapped their bows and arrows, and marched forward with ten small cannons each.

The artillery post marched with forty small cannons and one red cannon, and left seven Franji and general cannons weighing more than one hundred catties that used cannon carriages, and Zhong Hu took over them.

Liu Chengzong's order to Zhong Hu was that if the battle on the front line went well and the rear sentry needed to move forward, the holes of the seven cannons should be blocked and the cannon carts should be pushed into the ravine and left behind.

As for the red barbarian cannon weighing a thousand catties, Liu Chengzong was afraid that Zhong Hu would not bear to throw it away, so he was temporarily carried by the cannon whistle. Once it affected the march, he personally ordered to see it thrown away.

Soon, the team's marching speed decreased visibly with the naked eye, and the rainwater accumulated on the official road. Liu Chengzong's war horse never stepped on the good road again, and the dirt road was rotten and sticky.

The torches were also extinguished, and the soldiers in the front and rear were fine with short spears, but the empty-handed soldiers and those carrying spears started to fall as they walked.

Liu Chengzong took out the wolf fur lining removed from the cotton armor, and wrapped three layers around the two arrow pots.

There will be some rain in the north for a while and there will be no tide. As long as the bow is not exposed to rain for a long time, the impact on the bow is nothing but easy to break.

People will lose their lives in a battle, and no one cares whether the bow will break. Besides, even if it doesn’t rain, a battle with a high-intensity battle like theirs, which weighs more than [-] catties, will cause a lot of damage. A bad bow can also be bad.

However, rainy weather has a great impact on arrows. The arrow feathers cannot touch water at all. The width of feathers wetted by water will shrink to [-]-[-]% of the original, and the arrows will not be accurate.

After walking for three miles like this, the sky became a little clearer, overcast, and the rain became more dense.

A hundred steps away, the water was hazy, and Wei Qian'er's Tangqi returned from the rain curtain. He was so drenched along the side of the road that he couldn't even open his eyes. Three miles away, Tang Qi has already fought with him, and the four of them cannot win."

As he said that, Tang Qi shook his head and said bitterly: "Captain Wei ordered to retreat eight miles away."

Liu Chengzong nodded to indicate that he understood, and asked Tang Qi to go to the front to support.

It is not surprising that Tang Qi could not win.

Wei Qian'er's Tang soldiers are good spies, but not the best fighters.

The spies don't need to be highly skilled fighters, though sometimes fighting is necessary to overwhelm opposing soldiers.

But most of the time, as long as we can find out where the enemy is and cover our movements, the mission will be fulfilled.

Such a line of mountain terrain can't hide the movement, as long as the enemy can be detected and the early warning can be done.

Jia Ding rode to the front and back of the team on the muddy road, conveying the news that the enemy army was still eight miles away, and the troops were about to wear armor.

Cao Yao's cannon whistle was still in disarray, and it was more than a hundred steps away from the two sentry troops in front. Liu Chengzong sent someone to urge him, saying: "If it doesn't work, throw away that red cannon too."

Not long after, the servant came back and said, "General, Captain Cao asked you to go and have a look."

When Liu Chengzong rode forward, he saw that many of the cannon posts were shirtless.

In fact, there were quite a few barefooted people at every sentinel, and the road was flooded with water, but after being stepped on by hundreds of soldiers at the front, it turned into a muddy road, and sometimes the soldiers couldn't pull their feet out once they stepped down.

Pull it out hard, and the shoe is left on the ground.

The soldiers behind were still walking, and had no choice but to go barefoot. Some auxiliary soldiers from poor families had already taken off their shoes and hung them around their waists or put them on the backs of their mules before they got there.

The soldiers at the gun post were struggling to push the red cannon cart, the soldiers in front were pulling with the mules, and the soldiers behind were pushing.

The four wheels of this gun cart are small and wide, and the chassis of the gun mount is still low, so it is almost dragged on the dirt road by human power.

Liu Chengzong said: "I know you feel distressed, but if you walk ten miles like this, even if you exhaust the soldiers to death, you will have to delay the battle ahead."

Cao Yao waved his hand and said: "No, look, I put clothes on it. All 41 cannons in the sentry post have been installed with loose guns. The gunholes are covered with military uniforms, and the muzzles are stuffed with two pieces of clothes to keep out the rain."

As he said that, he also tore off his sleeveless cotton soldier jacket, raised his face and gestured to Liu Chengzong, pointed to the muzzle of the Hongyi Cannon and said, "My mid laner just stuffed it inside to protect the cannon from the rain."

"This is our first red cannon, Lion."

Cao Yao wiped the rain from his face, raised a finger, and said in a pleading tone, "Let it be fired again."

Speaking of this, Liu Chengzong couldn't bear to refuse, nodded and said: "I'll ask Chengyun to transfer you some more mules."

After all, he beat his horse and waited for the Chinese army to come forward.

This thousand-jin bronze cannon could not be kept.

Fighting with He Huchen, the outcome is still unknown. After this battle, many people in the Lion Camp will get sick due to the rain, and there is no spare energy to go back and fight Du Wenhuan again.

In the morning, it was still raining.

Clothes are drenched, and even in summer it is so cold that people shiver involuntarily.

The front Tangqi returned one after another, and the distance between the two armies changed from eight miles to six miles, six miles to four miles, four miles to two miles, and finally only one mile left.

Wang Wenxiu, who was at the forefront, had already put on armor.

Liu Chengzong ordered the team to slow down, and climbed up the mountain ridge with sticks.

Through the heavy rain, the outlines of He Huchen's officers and troops lined up on the narrow and long mountain roads could already be seen. Wei Qian'er's Tang Qi said that they were retreating.

It seems to be looking for a wider place.

But Liu Chengzong took a fancy to the mountain ridges on both sides of the road ahead, and the soldiers should be able to climb over with light clothes, so he ordered the servants around him: "Let the troops continue to press up, don't let them retreat, and call the two guards, Gao Feng, to see me."

The troops paused for a while so that Cao Yao's artillery whistle could keep up with the large troops, and then the team continued to move forward, past the enemy's front line at a faster speed than before.

Gao Xian and Feng Ru soon came over, Liu Chengzong said: "Do you see the two mountain ridges in the north and south? They should be able to turn over."

The second general nodded and said, "Shall we turn over and attack the enemy's flank?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head: "No, turning over is too expensive, you have to watch over there, if the officers and soldiers turn over, their soldiers must be lightly armed and tired, stop them and defeat them."

The two of them clasped their fists in response, and each went back to the sentry post. They selected a small team to protect the flanks. Gao Xian also sent a team to climb up the mountain with wooden sticks.

Then Feng Ru wanted to try and sent a team, but the hillside on his side was too steep and slipped down several times, so he had to give up.

In this little time, the two armies entered the land of a stone's throw.

I don't know if it was raining and he couldn't see clearly, or He Huchen thought he was still facing Li Laojie, so he sent a team of horses to run along the official road first.

And it's the Mongolian Yiding cavalry team.

Those auxiliary soldiers in Wang Wenxiu's department with three-foot-five spears marched hard all the way, so they changed formation for a while, and joined the auxiliary soldiers with swords and shields at the front.

Immediately, he raised his spear and walked towards the horse formation.

The horse team started to shoot arrows every forty or fifty paces, but they were all wearing armor. It was difficult to hit the face at this distance, and it had almost no effect.

It seems that they only saw the situation of Wang Wenxiu's troops when they got closer. They shot their arrows at twenty or thirty steps and then returned to the formation.

Then the infantry continued to advance, and several sword and shield players left the team, and the horsemen who were shot down and fell to the ground or shot by arrows were the result.

The first conflict was like this, which greatly boosted the morale of the auxiliary soldiers in the rear sentinel.

Wang Wenxiu's troops continued to press forward, and stopped when they were a hundred steps away from the enemy's formation. The rear of the team seemed to be in chaos.

Liu Chengzong covered his binoculars and saw that shields were being sent forward from the heads of the rear guard soldiers.

He hurriedly spied on the enemy's formation, and sure enough, the officers and soldiers placed four small cannons in front of the formation, and built a simple small cannon shed with wooden sticks, long cards, and cotton clothes.

With a bang, the gunpowder smoke was dispersed by the rain, and the cannons flew, which should be four pearl cannons. Liu Chengzong saw a large bullet flashing past in the scattered guns.

18 double-heavy cannonballs and twenty one-two small cannonballs sprayed out, sweeping in front of Wang Wenxiu's formation like a whirlwind.

Two direct shells pierced the shield and pierced the soldiers behind it, and some shells flew high and bounced back against the shield.

More shells hit the hillsides on both sides and the open space in front of the formation, smashing mud holes one after another.

"If you committed a crime, you are the only one with a gun?"

Wang Wenxiu saw several soldiers fall, and the small cannon shed a hundred paces away was still fighting, and scolded anxiously: "Where is the artilleryman, use the cannon to attack him! Hold the formation!"

The artillery that Wang Wenxiu was talking about was not the cannons. The Lion Battalion only had more cannons, and the other outposts also had ten small cannons each.

It's just that they are a mix of Yongzhu and Tiger Crouching, so the Tiger Crouching Cannon is useless.

Not long after, Wang Wenxiu followed suit and built a simple cannon shed with long cards. The artilleryman led the mules to the side to unload the wooden frame with the pearl cannon and the wooden box for the shells, and assembled them under the cannon shed.

There was another cannon fire in front of the formation of the officers and soldiers, and the shells knocked down several people in front of the formation again.

This time there was some commotion ahead, and the Zhan Fubing knew it, and the post chief's posture was to fight with the officers and soldiers.

Their firepower is not weaker than that of the officers and soldiers, but they are always at the forefront, and how many people are killed and injured by one shot, and how many are killed and injured by one shot, and they will all die sooner or later. Who can bear this?
At this moment, Wang Wenxiu gave an order: "The first two rows retreat from the front to the post, and every time they receive a shot, the first two rows will retreat behind the post."

Behind him, mules loaded with pearl cannons stepped forward and waited, and the transport team carried down the wounded soldiers one by one from the muddy road beside the road.

Wang Wenxiu gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, wiped the rainwater falling from the brow of the helmet, and stood among the rear guard soldiers, her face full of beards showing ruthlessness.

"If they want to use cannons, we will use cannons. If they want to fight, we will fight with them, until they are convinced, and until the officers and soldiers make you big."

With a bang, Wang Wenxiu's cannon also fired.

　good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)