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Zhong Shidao asked each department to count the number of people. This time they attacked by boat and killed more than 700 people in total.
Many of them did not drown, but were shot to death by the rebels as they approached the shore because they threw their weapons too slowly or individual soldiers did not react.
If you are shot without armor, the mortality rate is extremely high!
Some generals also died, such as Zhong Shidao's nephew Zhong Hao, Zhe Keqiu's nephew Zhe Yanye, etc.
"Father, withdraw the troops," Zhong Xi advised. "Baoguchou is a natural danger, and the bandits are well prepared. It is impossible to break through. What's more, the morale of the army has been completely lost."
Master Zhong seemed to have aged ten years overnight. He shook his head and said, "There must be thieves in Fengxiang Mansion. There are rumors everywhere that the Zhong family is colluding with the bandits, holding back the troops and wasting food and fodder. How can we deal with the imperial court if we withdraw our troops back like this?"
Zhongxi said in frustration: "Are we still going to send our soldiers to die like we did yesterday? We have already forced them to die once, who will be willing to board the ship next time? I'm afraid there will be a mutiny!"
The tribesmen of the Zhong family and Zhe family are truly elite.
It was obvious that they were going to die, but with two families taking the lead, they were actually able to force many of the soldiers to board the ship.
Although the process was protracted, I finally got on the ship.
This can only happen once, and there will be a 100% chance of a mutiny next time.
Zhong Shidao deceived himself and said: "It is not easy to travel on the Bao River when the water is high, and it is easy to capsize if it is bombarded. If we attack again during the dry season, it will be much easier to fight at that time."
Zhong Xi stared at his father for a long time, then sighed and silently stepped back.
Zhongshidao ordered the soldiers to cut down bamboo and wood. Although the iron weapons were gone, the soldiers who came back with bare hands could still fight with bamboo spears and wooden spears.
This military order quickly aroused the resentment of the entire army.
Zhu Dalang has already exhausted all his benevolence and is unwilling to fall out with the Western Army. Zhu Dalang continues to occupy Sichuan and the Western Army soldiers return to their hometown in Shaanxi. Why should they fight to the death if the well does not offend the river?
Most soldiers think this way.
In the consciousness of the people at the bottom of the ancient times, this kind of rural thinking was normal. They could explode their fighting power in Shaanxi, but they had no desire to fight when they were far away from home. They had no problem fighting with the wind going smoothly, but once the wind went against them, they wanted to withdraw their troops and go home early.
Zhu Dalang's rebellion in Sichuan, what does it have to do with us Shaanxi people?
"In summary, the bandits are building a plank road." Another day later, the scout came back to report.
Master Zhong was a little confused: "Where else can I build a plank road?"
The scout said: "Replace the temporary plank road built by our army with a permanent plank road."
The wood of the temporary plank road has not undergone special treatment such as drying in the sun and anti-corrosion. It can still be used at this time. In winter, the climate becomes colder, the air humidity decreases, and the gap between the plank beams and the plank holes becomes larger, which will inevitably cause looseness and excessive stress.
It may collapse.
After Zhong Shidao thought for a moment, he understood what Zhu Ming wanted to do, and said angrily, "This person is so insidious!"
Changing the temporary plank road into a permanent plank road is just incidental.
Ju Ming's real purpose is to convey the message that he wants to attack.
But they did not launch an attack immediately, but replaced the plank road every day. The further the plank road was renovated, the greater the pressure on the Western Army soldiers. In addition, the previous kindness to the prisoners was released. It is estimated that within a few days of repairing the plank road, countless Western troops
Thinking of running away.
Zhong Shidao went to check it out personally and saw rebels holding strange iron sticks on the plank roads on both sides of the bank.
The teacher's path was far away, so the rebels raised the iron sticks, scaring him so much that he quickly stepped back.
The bed crossbow can be used against muskets, and its range is more than two miles. But it is too big and cannot be moved on the plank road. When marching, it must be disassembled to cross the plank road.
"Send the divine arm archers to shoot down the bandits and the craftsmen building the plank road!" Zhongshi Dao did not make the rebels feel better either.
The rebel navy sent several ships to patrol every day.
Seeing someone carrying a large crossbow more than one meter long, the flat cannons of eight warships started throwing stones at the plank road.
The accuracy was too bad and I couldn't hit it.
But the divine arm archers of the Western Army were also frightened. They were also afraid of the "magical weapons" of the rebels and did not dare to get too close. They started to draw their crossbows from a distance of 300 meters. An arrow grazed the musketeers and flew over, killing the rebels. The Musketeers were startled.
When Ju Ming learned of the situation, he immediately sent his personal musketeers to board the ship.
It took more than a year after Zhu Guoxiang started his army to expand the scale of production. As more and more craftsmen became proficient, the speed of musket manufacturing also increased rapidly.
At the same time, the gun manufacturing process was also broken down into several steps to carry out original "assembly line" production.
There are more than 360 muskets so far!
The rebels on the plank road had withdrawn, and when the warships arrived with the musketeers, they came out from the stone gate to build the plank road again.
The divine arm archers on the plank roads on both sides of the Taiwan Strait were trying hard to draw their bows and crossbows. They heard a bang, bang, bang, and more than 300 muskets being fired, and several of them lay down in an instant.
The lucky ones who survived were so frightened that they rolled and crawled away.
Not only that, the rebel navy continued to sail upstream. Wherever they passed along the way, if they saw anyone on the plank road, they would shoot them with bullets.
After some operations, no Western troops dared to stand on the eight-mile long plank road.
Zhe Keqiu said: "That is not a magical weapon, but a weapon of the bandits. No matter how generous the overseas immortals are, they cannot give away so many in one go. They can only be made by the bandits themselves. Withdraw your troops. The Western Army's son shouldn't be here." Lose your life."
Historically, the Zhe clan was captured by the Jin soldiers, and Zhe Keqiu took the three states to pay gold, and also led the Jin army to attack Shaanzhou.
This man was not a die-hard loyalist to begin with, but now he is so disgusted by the manipulations of the emperor and ministers that he no longer wants to fight against the rebels.
Zhong Shidao remained silent. He also wanted to withdraw his troops, but he could not report to the court.
He is the commander-in-chief, and he needs to take responsibility for withdrawing the troops!
"Just wait, we can still fight after the water is shallow." Zhong Shidao said to himself while looking at the rushing water.
Since no one was allowed to stand on the plank road, the Western Army had no idea what the rebels were doing.
All I know is that the rebels are building a plank road, and they are definitely getting closer and closer.
When will it be repaired? Or if it is no longer repaired, they will come on the temporary plank road. What should we do then?
There were also Western troops who escaped from musket bullets. After returning to camp, they also exaggerated and publicized the terror of muskets. This news spread and made morale even lower.
Master Zhong ordered the plank road to be demolished. He was afraid of being shot during the day, so he demolished it at night.
It is impossible for the rebel musketeers to come by boat at night, and it is difficult to find targets in the dark.
Once the plank road was demolished, the soldiers of the Western Army finally regained some morale and no longer worried about the sudden attack of the rebels.
…
Shahe.
Zhe Yanzhi once led his troops to make a surprise attack on Hanzhong along the river valley. He encountered a rebel camp on the way and returned in despair.
These days, both sides are focusing on the plank road.
The rebel navy often patrolled with musketeers, and occasionally crossed the plank road area to shoot at the Western troops sentrying along the river.
Zhongshidao can only strengthen the vigilance at night to prevent the rebels from coming by boat to rob the camp.
Although Zhongshidao also warned the soldiers to beware of surprise attacks from the direction of Shahe, their attention had long been attracted by the plank road and the navy. Not to mention the patrolling sentries, even the generals were inevitably careless.
Gu San and Shi Biao, leading Ju Ming's personal guards, first went to the mountain camp to supply supplies.
After resting for a day, we set out with dry food.
Carrying the boat over the mountains and ridges, we walked more than 20 miles on the mountain road, then took the boat down the river and went straight to the Western Army camp 40 miles away.
There were only a thousand troops in the attacking force, all of them Ju Ming's personal guards. One-fifth of them came from Daming Township and Jintan Village, and the rest were selected from the elites of the various armies.
There were still several miles away from the mouth of the Shahe River. On the third day of the lunar calendar, Shi Biao abandoned the ship and landed ashore, fearing that he would be discovered by the Western troops guarding there.
Hundreds of years later, this area also belonged to the Shimen Reservoir. When the water level rose, there was no place to stay.
But at this time, there were some flat river banks, together with less steep hillsides, where the Western Army's camps were located.
There are tens of thousands of troops, and the terrain is narrow, and the camp stretches for nearly ten miles.
On the third day of the ancient times, Shi Biao led his troops to abandon their ships and cross the mountains to avoid the place where it was easiest to attack the camp and where the Western Army was most heavily guarded. He randomly selected a camp as the target for a night attack.
Hiding in the mountains during the day, Gu San and Shi Biao went to observe the enemy's situation in person.
They are located on the cliff, overlooking the Western Army camp.
After choosing a suitable place, they returned to the forest to rest. In the evening, they connected the ropes carried by each person and tied them to the trees to fix them.
Also find a rock in the forest, hide behind the rock and build a bonfire, then use the bonfire to light the firewood and set aside.
One after another, the guards descended from the cliff along the rope and came to the rear of the Western Army camp.
This kind of operation cannot be prevented by strengthening the vigilance. Zhongshidao just asked the soldiers to guard the mouth of Shahekou. Who would have expected that the surprise attack troops would descend from above?
The Western Army camp stretches for ten miles, how can you have the energy to defend your head at every turn?
The elite selected from tens of thousands of people can eat meat every day and can be called "special forces".
They descended to a gently sloping spot halfway up the mountain, took out the torches and torches from their waists, and gathered around each other to block the light of the fire.
Then hold the torch and rush towards the camp below.
In order to cross the mountains and ridges, he did not wear any armor, and did not even carry a spear. He only carried a waist knife.
The sentries of the Western Army were all guarding the Baoshui side, and no one paid attention to the rear.
After setting several military tents on fire, some soldiers shouted: "The water has escaped!"
"kill!"
The elite rebels rushed into the military tent and hacked the enemy to death. Instead of killing the enemy, they just frightened the enemy into fleeing for their lives. Instead, they focused more on lighting fires everywhere.
Raging fires lit up one place after another.
Countless Western soldiers woke up from their sleep. Not to mention wearing armor, they didn't even bother to pick up their weapons, so they ran around in panic in the darkness.
These Western Army soldiers had long since stopped fighting. After being attacked at night, their morale completely collapsed.
"Father, leave quickly!" Zhong Hao and Zhong Xi dragged Master Zhong and ran away.
The Xijun camp is divided into three parts, one is on the east bank of Baoshui River, and the other is on the west bank of Baoshui River and the north bank of Shahe River. In Gusan, the camp where Shi Biao attacked at night is located on the west bank of Baoshui River and the south bank of Shahe River.
The Shahe River is a tributary of Baoshui River. At the intersection of the two rivers, there are many small boats docked.
Master Zhong, father and son, fled for two miles in the darkness and quickly jumped into a boat to go to another camp.
The Western troops who escaped quickly could board the boats, while those who escaped slowly could only jump into the river.
Many others knelt down and surrendered directly, because they remembered that Zhu Dalang would not kill prisoners.
After Zhong Shidao escaped across the Shahe River, he found that chaos was also happening on the north bank of the Shahe River. The Western Army here was not attacked at all, but they still fled for their lives in panic. It took Zhong Shidao the whole night to reluctantly collect the defeated troops.
Although they lived there, thousands of people still escaped inexplicably.
After daybreak, boatload after boatload of rebels were transported to the camp captured by surprise, and faced off with the remaining Western troops across the Shah River.
Ju Ming no longer replaced the plank beams, but led his troops on the temporary plank road to repair the northernmost section. The main force of the rebel army moved to the south bank of Shah River.
The offensive and defensive positions have changed, now it's the rebels' turn to attack!
This chapter has been completed!