Chapter 39 Opening up the northern section of Chencang Road
A team of 6,000 people lined up neatly on the school grounds.
They held spears in their hands and grenades on their belts.
Everyone stood up straight, the faces of the veterans were full of desire to achieve success, and the faces of the recruits were slightly nervous.
Su He pulled up the military flag that was planted on the ground and waved it to point south.
"Set off."
Zhou Kai shouted loudly: "Turn right and run."
The team ran out of the school field in an orderly manner as a battalion.
Starting from Dashan Pass, follow Chencang Road and go straight to Feng County, Hanzhong Prefecture.
…
Su Xiong walked in the river valley and looked at the straight peaks on both sides.
The water of the Jialing River flows very gently. The water is not deep, and you can see the pebbles on the bottom of the river.
The river valley ahead turned suddenly, because the river water washed away part of the rocks for a long time.
The river seems to be embedded in the mountain.
This is the Shekou Cliff, the most difficult and dangerous pass on Chencang Road.
There are multiple arrow towers built on the top of the mountain, and there are more than 300 Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers stationed there.
The hillside Su Xiong faced was slippery and steep, making it impossible to climb up in a short time.
It takes at least a month to climb to the top of the mountain via a small road from other places.
The arrow tower on the top of the mountain is more than 20 meters above the river valley, making the entire level easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Su Xiong held a broken telescope and observed that the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers were waiting with their bows in formation above the arrow tower.
"Battle Commander Zhou, the task of storming is entrusted to your battalion. We must take it down tonight at all costs." Su Xiong ordered sternly.
Zhou Kai received the order and immediately launched an attack on the arrow tower.
Ten soldiers held up large iron shields as tall as one person and quickly approached Shekou Cliff.
According to the information sent by Xizuo, the only way to do this was to break through the Shekou cliff arrow tower defense line.
You can climb from the cliff to the top of the mountain and eliminate the enemy troops on the arrow tower.
The soldiers held up iron shields and advanced against the dense rain of arrows. From time to time, large rocks fell down.
Stones thrown from high places can immediately kill the soldiers who are hit.
The soldiers behind the iron shields could not defend themselves against arrows shot from high places. From time to time, soldiers were hit by arrows and screamed in agony.
"Beat the drum and let them charge."
Su Xiong saw that the soldiers were too slow, so he gave the order to charge.
At the current speed, it can only be slowly consumed by the defenders on Shekou Cliff.
When Zhou Kai heard the sound of the drum, he shouted with red eyes: "Give up your shield and rush over directly."
The soldiers braved the rain of arrows and launched a desperate charge.
Su Shi watched the soldiers suffer heavy casualties. It was the first time he suffered such heavy casualties.
He suggested: "Brigadier commander, let's wait for the artillery battalion to come over and use cannon to blow down the Shekou Cliff.
The cliff looks weathered and cannot stop the cannon."
Su He refused: "We can't use cannons. If the Shekou Cliff falls, it will block the entire valley."
After we cleared the river valley, Hanzhong also received news of our attack.
We will lose the convenience of surprise attack, and the casualties will be even greater."
According to the information sent by Su Changsheng, the soldiers currently guarding Chencang Road are all Sun Rujun's subordinates guarding Dashan Pass.
For some unknown reason, he did not escape to Feng County, but huddled in several checkpoints on Chencang Road.
Sun Rujun's character will definitely run away after knowing that they will attack in a big way.
When Hanzhong heavily defends Chencang Road, the battle will become extremely difficult.
"You must not retreat, rush over quickly. Those who are injured or killed will receive pensions. If you become a deserter, you will have nothing, and your family will be harmed."
When Zhou Kai saw some soldiers showing fear, he immediately shouted loudly.
"Everyone follow me, we will rush over soon."
Zhou Kai took the lead in rushing towards Shekou Cliff along with the sound of drums.
In this short period of one hundred meters, a battalion has lost more than half of its soldiers.
Zhou Kai led his troops and finally rushed to the back of the arrow tower. There was a stone ladder cut out here, and you could climb directly to the arrow tower.
Zhou Kai immediately climbed up the stone staircase. There were officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty guarding the stone staircase. He lit a grenade and threw it up.
The remaining defenders on the stone stairs saw the power of the grenade explosion and immediately fled to the rear.
Zhou Kai led his troops to the top of the cliff, took out a grenade, lit it, and threw it at the arrow tower closest to him.
With a roar, an arrow tower was blown to pieces.
Zhou Kai laughed loudly and prepared to throw the grenade again.
He felt a pain in his arm, and there was an arrow stuck in my arm.
Zhou Kai endured the pain and threw the grenade.
When the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty saw many yellow-clad thieves rushing towards them, they immediately put down their weapons and surrendered.
Zhou Kai was carried down by the soldiers and saw Su Xiong approaching: "Brigade Commander, I didn't embarrass you."
He fainted from the pain.
Su Xiong patted him on the shoulder and praised: "Good man, I will take credit for you."
"Leave the battlefield to the troops behind, and the whole army will move forward immediately."
When they attacked, the Ming army had already lit the beacon tower, and they had to attack quickly without giving Sun Rujun time to react.
…
Su He looked at the stone beside the Jialing River. Here, someone specially carved the water levels of the Jialing River in various dynasties.
“We have spare capacity, but we still need to build water conservancy projects on a large scale, and we cannot depend on the weather.
Farming near water can more than double food production.
Most of the land should be turned into irrigated land."
Li Fengming came over, took out the battle report and handed it to Su He, saying: "Shekou Cliff has been captured, and the road ahead is smooth.
This attack resulted in heavy casualties, with 165 soldiers killed and 273 wounded.
We have recorded their identities and the fallen soldiers have been cremated.
The ashes were buried together and the relics were given to their families."
"Go and see the wounded soldiers. The pension military police will keep an eye on them. No matter who dares to touch the pension, they will not let it go."
They immediately went to the wounded barracks to visit the injured soldiers.
Su He looked at the hospital beds. Most of them were soldiers aged 17 or 18.
These people are extremely lucky, at least they are still alive.
"You are all good, don't worry about your future life.
If you survive, I will arrange a job after you retire.
For those who sacrifice, I will fulfill my promise and support their families."
Screams and the sound of sawing could be heard in the next room, indicating that soldiers were having their limbs amputated.
If the wound becomes infected, the only option is amputation.
It is possible to survive an amputation and allow infection to occur, for which there is no cure in this day and age.
There are no serious doctors in the military camp now. They are all pharmacy clerks or butchers who become military doctors after a short training.
Su He saw a military doctor removing an arrow from an injured officer.
After pulling it out, immediately pour alcohol into the wound to clean it, and wrap it with a boiled cotton strip.
When the alcohol was poured, the unconscious officers were awakened by the pain.
Without infection, the man's arm could be saved.
Under current medical conditions, Suhe can only provide disinfectant alcohol and cotton strips boiled in boiling water.
…
Su Xiong acted quickly and conquered five levels in five days.
The terrain of these checkpoints is more dangerous, but they are not as difficult to handle as Shekou Cliff.
They are all stone cities built on river valleys.
The soldiers raised or dug tunnels to approach, and used the Crouching Tiger Cannon to attack the soldiers at the top of the city.
There is one level in which the resistance of the Ming army was extremely tenacious.
Su Xiong waited for the engineer camp. They dug a trench to the stone wall and buried a siege mine under the stone wall.
Detonate a siege mine and it will bring down the entire stone wall.
November 1st.
Su Xiong led the troops to the last garrison checkpoint on Chencang Road.
This is a large water village built directly above the Jialing River.
The water flow here is very fast and the volume of water is large.
Sun Rujun, the garrison of Dashan Pass, was stationed here with nearly two thousand officers and soldiers.
Su Xiong looked at this large-scale water stronghold. It was difficult to capture it without a boat using conventional methods.
But for them, this water village is the best level to attack.
"Artillery Battalion, load me with blazing shells."
Zhang Yuliang received Su Xiong's order and immediately observed suitable artillery positions.
Due to road restrictions, only medium-sized artillery such as the 75-gun can be transported.
There are no cannons in Sun Rujun's water village, so Zhang Yuliang can choose the best position on the shore.
While setting up the artillery position, the soldiers took out the coal stove and lit the briquettes.
Place the cannonballs on the honeycomb briquettes and bake them.
The artilleryman loaded the gunpowder bag and adjusted the angle of the 75 gun.
The artilleryman inserted a cork down the muzzle of the gun.
The artilleryman saw that the cannonball was burning hot and grabbed the hot cannonball tightly with his iron claws.
They carefully stuffed the cannonball into the muzzle and quickly pushed the cannonball to the bottom with the push rod.
The hot shells quickly ignited the cork, the gunpowder particles were ignited, and the shells flew towards the water village with the thrust of the gunpowder.
The fiery cannonballs hit wooden buildings and ships, instantly igniting them.
The Jialing River Water Village was attacked by hot bombs and quickly burst into flames.
Sun Rujun looked at the fire-burning water village and regretted: "I shouldn't have run away. I resisted desperately at Dashan Pass and might still have survived.
The old thief Wang Zaitai misled me."
A fire broke out in the water stronghold, and the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers couldn't help but jump into the river.
The officers and soldiers who jumped into the river had no resistance at all. A few of them were drowned and most of them were captured.
Su Xiong captured the last pass in the northern section of Chencang Road, with Feng County ahead of him.