The iron materials from Makaogou are supplied to the Xi'an Prefecture, so they must be valued by the Shun Army.

Wan Jun believed that his current strength was not strong enough to declare war with Li Zicheng, so he had no choice but to continue training in Jiangjiacun.

To say that we have been able to get along with Shunjun in Lucheng County so far, it can only be said that it is thanks to the feudal dynasty that "the imperial power did not extend to the county." Moreover, Shunjun's local yamen was first established, and the villages below the county level are still in a vacuum of power.

But if Wanjun dares to send troops to occupy the iron mines in the county, then just wait for the soldiers from Shun Dynasty to encircle and suppress them!

The Chinese army is still weak and the time has not yet come, so Wanjun is trying not to attract the attention of any force.

"Apart from the Makaogou Iron Mine, is there no other place?"

Wang Lihui thought for a while and said, "Fifty miles north of Fushui Pass, deep in the mountains, there is a place called Huangtu Village. The place where the village is located is rich in lead chalcedony. Doctors often collect some of it to make blood-activating and pain-relieving powder. From this chalcedony lead

Iron and sulfur can also be smelted in the mine, but it is more troublesome, and the quality of the smelted iron is very poor, and it is easily broken when used as weapons."

Wan Jun said, "The chalcedony lead you mentioned, although the smelted iron is brittle to make weapons, it should be enough to make rocket bodies and explosive warheads. Tomorrow we will find a chance to go to Huangtu Village to take a look."

After the matter was discussed and settled, Wang Lihui withdrew. Wan Jun thought of another person and asked Li Youfu to call Liu Sanjin.

Liu Sanjin, who was beaten by Brother Liu Sanjin last time, was from Huangtu Village. Wan Jun wanted to learn more about the situation in Huangtu Village from Liu Sanjin.

Liu Sanjin arrived soon. Just like last time, when he saw Wan Jun, he stood upright with a standard military posture.

Wan Jun said, "You are from Huangtu Village. Can you give me a brief introduction to the situation in Huangtu Village?"

Liu Sanjin said, "Report, Longwang Ridge to our north is connected to Yuntou Mountain, and Huangtu Village is in the big ravine of Yuntou Mountain. Because the place is full of yellow fake gold stones, it is called Huangtu Village. The village has a small population, and

There are also big insects infested, so not many people go there on weekdays.”

It can produce iron and sulfur, and it is yellow. Wan Jun can basically determine that Huangtu Village should be near a large pyrite mine.

If a pyrite mine could be developed, it would solve the problem of iron and sulfur raw materials in one fell swoop. However, the Chinese army still lacked fine iron for making weapons, and it was necessary to make muskets.

Wan Jun said, "You go back and prepare. You will be our guide tomorrow. We are going to Huangtu Village."

At this time, Li Youfu came in and said, "Brother Wan, Military Advisor Zhao has returned with a message."

When Wan Jun heard this, he realized that Zhao Boyuan had probably sent back the news about Zhang Sheng, and he quickly asked Li Youfu to call someone in.

The person who came in was not Zhao Boyuan, but a square-faced man. He walked in and bowed his hands to Wan Jun.

Wan Jun remembered this person. One of the four people selected by Zhao Boyuan at that time was named Huang Qingyun.

Huang Qingyun said, "Report to the leader, we have received news about Zhang Sheng."

Wan Jun said, "Tell me quickly, how is Zhang Sheng doing now? Is he dead or alive?"

Huang Qingyun said, "We found out that it was Wang Heizi who led the people to kill the people on the grain buying team and kidnapped Zhang Sheng to Lucheng County. Now Zhang Sheng is still alive."

Wan Jun breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. How is he doing now?"

Huang Qingyun said, "The situation is not good. These days, Wang Heizi is trying every possible means to pry out the leader's origins from Brother Zhang Sheng. We originally set out for a few days to save people, but unfortunately this guy is very vigilant and seems to have noticed something.

Yesterday, Zhang Sheng was presented to the Tang County magistrate as the leader of the thief. Zhang Sheng's brothers are now in prison. Moreover, this guy has persuaded the county magistrate that the county garrison will kill Zhang Sheng in three days and send troops to kill us."

“What is the situation in Lucheng County?

How many troops and horses?”

Huang Qingyun said, "In Lucheng County, the city wall is about two feet high, and there are three gates in the east, west and south. The current magistrate of Lucheng County, Tang Kaigao, is the military and political officer arranged by Li Zicheng. There are about 2,000 troops stationed, but they are scattered everywhere.

Five hundred troops are stationed at Fushui Pass, another one hundred at the Magaogou Iron Mine, two hundred at Xiguan in the west, and Nanguan in the south. There are only a thousand soldiers and horses in the Lucheng County camp."

Wan Jun made up his mind and said, "I originally wanted to avoid the conflict with the Shun Army, but now it seems that it is inevitable. We only have three days to rescue Zhang Sheng. We ordered everyone to rest for the day today and head to Lucheng early tomorrow morning.

March to the county seat."

Wang Lihui, who was originally waiting to go to Huangtu Village to see the chalcedony lead mine with Wan Jun, was so excited when he learned that he was going to attack the county town. Without saying a word, he began to modify the two remaining experimental rockets and filled them with explosives.

The warhead of objects and iron fragments is fixed on the rocket head.

All the soldiers of the Chinese Army began to rest and recuperate before the war. After emergency military training, the Chinese Army had achieved initial results. Everyone sat on the ground in formation with weapons. Zhang Wuyang and others were in front, doing agitation before the war.

Wanjun looked at it from a distance, and saw groups of soldiers lined up neatly. No one said a word, and the scene was filled with a solemn atmosphere.

The only shortcoming is that the military uniforms have not yet been unified. The current strength of Wanjun is limited and it is impossible to uniformly dress. The envisioned marching bag for each person cannot be guaranteed. Since the cooking class at the company level has not yet been established, we can only prepare a marching bag for each person.

Carry dry food for meals with you.

Looking at the resting Chinese soldiers, Wan Jun thought to himself that this is probably the most difficult moment for our army.

Fortunately, the belief education organized every day after meals is quite effective. Now the morale of the Chinese army is definitely a strong one.

The three armies can seize the commander, but the common man cannot seize the will. If the three armies all have the will, this will be an unbeatable force. The Chinese army now has some strength, and will soon be tested by the battle formation.

Before dawn on the second day, the Chinese army had already finished eating in an orderly manner.

Wanjun, led by the Jiangjiacun guide, headed southwest toward Wangjiacun.

Because of the obstruction of Fushui Pass, the troops and horses of the Ten Thousand Army Corps could not pass. A regiment of the Chinese Army could only detour south of Fushui Pass with light equipment, climb over three hills and go straight to the county seat.

The guide was Jiang Xiaochuan's father, Jiang Cheng. He was very grateful to the Chinese army for helping them fight the drought, and this time he volunteered to help Wan Jun lead the way.

The soldiers of the Chinese army had strict military discipline, and thousands of people marched without saying a word. Although the county town, which is more than 30 miles away, it only takes two hours to cross the mountains.

The army went down the hill and arrived at a big river. The river became a road. "This river is called Makao River. It flows out of Makaogou. In front of it is a blacksmith shop called Wulipu.

The materials flow down the river and are forged here."

Wan Jun thought for a while and said, "Instruct everyone to go up the river and find a place where there are no people to cross the river."

Jiang Cheng led the Chinese army up the river. Half an hour later they arrived at a stone beach and crossed the river on the stone beach according to the instructions.

After crossing the river, it was decided that Guidong Liang's second battalion would go north to occupy the Macaogou Iron Mine, while the other two battalions would go east and rest on the spot under the hillside.

Ten thousand troops are preparing to come to a siege point for reinforcements. Use a battalion to attack the iron mine and lure Tang Kaigao's troops out of the city to rescue. This way the loss rate of personnel is much lower than that of siege.

Moreover, in the sudden attack, it was impossible for Tang Kaigao to have time to mobilize troops from all over the country, so the military pressure faced by the Chinese army was minimal.

Gui Dongliang followed the instructions and led his troops along the river to the mountains. After walking for half an hour, he saw a mining site in the distance, and most of the hillside had been dug up.

There is a large shabby hut built in front of the mine, about 400 meters away from the mountain, and next to it

It's the end of the Manger River, a big lake.

The gravel on the mine ground is like a waterfall, piled up to the mountainside, and many people are working on the gravel like diligent worker ants.

There was a clanging sound from the ore field, and the high-quality ore selected by the miners was transported to the river in bamboo baskets. Several simple transport boats were docked by the river.

Seeing Gui Dongliang's troops approaching, a hundred Shun soldiers guarding the mine came over with weapons, "Who are you? Get away from the imperial mines as quickly as possible, otherwise you will be killed without mercy!"

The leading Shunjun officer shouted loudly.

The soldiers of the Chinese Army did not say a word and pressed towards the Shun Army silently. The leader of the Shun Army shouted, and a hundred Shun Army came over waving their weapons.

"Kill!" The two armies quickly exchanged swords and started fighting.

Under the leadership of the captain, the Chinese army used teams as combat units, holding spears to attack and defend, and the formation remained cohesive.

The Shun Army was all a peasant army. Now it was just Li Zicheng who proclaimed himself emperor and changed the name of the imperial army. Moreover, the elite of the Shun Army had followed Li Zicheng to the capital. Those who stayed behind were all second-rate or even armed militiamen. Now these people are no more than

With a surge of vigor, they rushed towards the Chinese army in a swarm.

As soon as they entered the battle, seventeen or eight of these chaotic soldiers were immediately stabbed to death by the Chinese army's spears.

When the leading officer saw more than 300 people on the other side, he showed a chilling aura and attacked fiercely. Not only were there many people, but they were also well-trained. He knew that he was no match for him, so he asked the two people next to him to slow down, and the three of them retreated behind the formation and ran into the forest.

go.

Three hundred Chinese troops who had been trained for a long time faced off against one hundred miscellaneous troops. In an instant, the outcome of the battle became clear before them.

Wanjun sent a battalion to fight these 100 people. The purpose was to make a quick decision, quickly control the mine, and then lead out the Lucheng County garrison.

When Gui Dongliang saw the three people who had escaped, he ignored Wan Jun's instructions and ignored them. These people also helped Wan Jun deliver a message to the Tang County magistrate.

After twenty or thirty people were stabbed to death, the Shun soldiers quickly lost their fighting spirit and dropped their weapons and knelt on the ground. The Shun soldiers who were farther behind began to run up the mountain.

The strange thing is that these people ran a short distance up the mountain and then stopped going deeper. Instead, they turned around and fled through the forest towards the mountain pass where the Chinese army came.

Gui Dongliang released some to report the news, but the rest were captured.

The miners in the distance just stopped to watch the battle here at first. Seeing that the Shun army was defeated, they all knelt on the ground and waited for their fate. A few people who wanted to run up the mountain were also held back by people around them.

Gui Dongliang sent people to quickly take control of the mine. He declared that he was a Chinese army and not a bandit who came to rob. Then he checked the mine and saw that there were no remnants of the Shun army. He gathered his soldiers and suppressed fifty or sixty Shun army prisoners and headed towards the brigade.

Set off.

The miners on the mountain stopped working and followed the Chinese army to leave.

According to Wanjun's request, he wants to occupy a mine that can be used for his own use, not a mountain.

Gui Dongliang said to the miners, "Our Chinese army has done nothing wrong. You can continue mining here and don't waste time!"

A miner said, "General, you don't know. This place is deep in the mountains, and tigers come and go during the day. If there weren't an army here, we would probably become the tiger's meal!"

"Yes, you killed all the soldiers of the imperial court. We miners are not just waiting to feed the tigers."

Gui Dongliang was a little embarrassed after hearing this. Wan Jun's order was to quickly eliminate the Shun army and then return to the army for reinforcements.

After some thought, Gui Dongliang left one company behind, including all the wounded in the battle, and took the remaining two companies to escort the prisoners of war towards the main army.
Chapter completed!