The hounds were galloping along the mountain road, followed closely by a group of hunters. There was one person standing at the bend of the mountain road, holding a torch.
The sound of galloping horse hooves sounded soon after, and pack horses carrying equipment were led by someone and ran rumble along the mountain road, and then groups of light-dressed horses rode forward.
This was the largest march of Baili's army since Dunyue Dorje succeeded to the throne. Four nobles from all over the territory each led six daiben to rush into King Nangqian's territory and rushed in the direction of the Lion Army's retreat to the northeast. Dunyue Duoji was very excited when he received the request for help from King Lin Cong. For a long time, considering the prestige of the Lin Cong family, he was unwilling to attack the Lin Cong chieftain. The two sides were in peace, so that a large area of land on the north bank of the Jinsha River was out of control.
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King Lin Cong's request for help this time was no less important to him than the tribute paid to him by the Dege Chieftain. It was an opportunity for him to extend his rule to the north bank of the Jinsha River.
It's just that this is a hardship for the people in Baili who are sent ulats. According to custom, when the army is marching, ulats need to be sent to various places to deliver military supplies and provide food, grass, horses, cattle and sheep along the way.
As soon as the army arrives at a certain place, the nobles of that place will dispatch ulats, and the people who are sent ulats will be transported to the territory of the next noble.
But at this time, they were faced with the situation of having no successors. The southeast of Nangqian had been turned into a white field by the wars. The most important thing was that every territory had no nobles. Danba became their last stop for logistical supplies.
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After leaving the Danba territory, Ula, who followed the army, could no longer retreat and could only march quickly with the army.
The serfs and pack horses are being exhausted, but cannot be replenished in large quantities. The supply line from Sumang territory to Baili hinterland has collapsed, and the army's supply capacity is in jeopardy.
But King Bailey's generals were not sensitive to this situation, and they were on their way to victory.
Facing a large-scale attack, Basang, who stayed behind in Danba, could not resist and retreated to the Nangqian Palace in the northwest at the beginning of the war.
Basang ran in front, and Daiben's army chased behind him. In just two hundred miles, the two sides fought three times, and Basang lost three battles.
But his slave soldiers did not collapse, because the direction of the retreat was clear, and the slaves had no other way to survive. Only by escaping to the Nangsuo Qianmo Palace on the bank of the Zaqu River could they have a chance of survival.
When Basang fled to the Zaqu River, he not only had no fewer slaves, but more slaves than before the war, reaching 4,000. However, they lost almost all their weapons and supplies, and had nothing but their lives.
Dai Ben's army behind him also led his troops in pursuit to the bank of the Zaqu River. They were intercepted along the river by Huang Shengxiao, the commander of the artillery battalion Qian who was left behind, and returned without success.
Jiubaidai's army, which had been burning and killing all the way to victory, did not collapse under Huang Shengxiao's wooden cannon counterattack, but collapsed on its own on the way back.
They had nothing, they ran out of food, their packhorses died, Ula fled, the people along the way were kidnapped by Basang, and the villages along the way were set on fire by them.
In the old land of Nangqian, which was destroyed by the war, the army collapsed on its own. Daiben was unable to restrain the small nobles under him. Some people fled back to their hometowns, and more people divided into small groups and rushed to Leiwuqi, Yushu and other places.
Became a bandit.
Only a few hundred people were left to follow Dai Ben, heading east along the mountains and deep valleys to look for traces of the transfer of the large army.
In the northeast where Baili's army is located, the Lion Army and Lin Cong's Army are fighting over the iron cable bridge on the Jinsha River.
The landing of Luo Rucai's troops was known to Lin Cong's army from the beginning, but it took time for the troops to assemble in their sleep, so that more than a hundred people from Luo Rucai's troops were able to cross the river.
Then hundreds of enemy troops rushed down from the mountains holding open fire. The Lion Army's advance crossing troops faced a very embarrassing situation - their commander did not come ashore.
But it has a strong sense of presence.
Under the dark night sky, in the rushing river, orders from commander Luo came out from time to time: "Raise the gun, beep, beep, beep, beep..."
Luo Rucai was the biggest landlubber in the advance team crossing the river.
When those carefully selected soldiers who knew the water crossed the river bank and went into battle, Mr. Luo Qian was still going up and down in the river, swinging from side to side along with the rope, popping up his head from time to time and shouting, telling everyone that he was still alive. No matter what, Luo Rucai in the river provides a great advantage in this battle.
The team crossing the river formed a formation with their backs to the water. The soldiers on the outer edge set up muskets, and some held spears to protect the soldiers inside. They wore armor, but it was actually very dangerous because they had no match ropes.
The fire was extinguished, but the match rope had not yet been lit. The soldiers inside the formation were searching for the fire sickle in the dark among the materials suspended in the air.
The enemy troops fought with open fire and raised their muskets openly on the mountainside. Then the sound of gunshots sounded, frightening the team crossing the river.
No one was hit, the enemy was not targeting them.
Because there was no fire, the enemy could not see where the river-crossing team was. They could only hear Mr. Luo Qian's shouts from the river, and mistakenly thought they were crossing the river, so they fired rows of lead into the river.
When the lead was released, Mr. Luo Qian's order turned into a curse: "Damn it, you know how to hit Gudu Gudu... grab the bridge, they can't hit Gudu Gudu..."
The team crossing the river felt relieved and left twenty people to guard the riverside and try to find a way to fish Mr. Luo Qian out of the river. The remaining people attacked the bridge in the dark.
The enemy troops on the mountainside were still battling with the river. They didn't dare to fight close to each other in the dark night when it was difficult to distinguish between ourselves and the enemy. They could only use rows of muskets and bows and arrows to shoot towards the place where the strange shouts came from.
They were also wondering why the man in the river didn't move?
He couldn't be killed, and he kept shouting.
Luo Rucai got tired of struggling in the river. After his arms became weak, he found that the river could not wash him away because of the rope.
He thought, anyway, with his swimming skills, there was no hope of swimming over. It was not easy to be killed in the river. Even the lead arrows and pellets had no power when they entered the water. He could just float by the force of the water. When I'm almost out of breath, I pull on the rope to make a bubble, curse a few words, and then go down and mumble for a while.
It wasn't until a subordinate grabbed his arm in the water and dragged him to the river bank that Luo Ru finally felt relieved and regained his consciousness.
Hearing the bursts of gunfire over there, Liu Chengzong on the mountainside clenched his fists tightly. Dai Daozi's Tangqi withdrew twelve soldiers from three directions, which meant that King Baili's army was advancing here from three directions, forcing
Move four miles back from them.
The enemy army is approaching fiercely, and Dai Daozi is trying his best to detect the number of enemy troops.
Liu Chengzong sent Tangqi to give orders to Zhang Tianlin, who was resting on the flank, and ordered him to keep moving toward the enemy's flank under the cover of Tangqi, and to coordinate the main battle when the battle was to be decided.
According to Baili's army's advance speed, the decisive battle will be the evening of the day after tomorrow at the latest, leaving little time for the chain bridge.
Wang Wenxiu's twelve soldiers carried six guns on their shoulders and dragged the stools onto the iron cable bridge. The long bridge was paved with wooden planks, but it was slightly swayed by the wind passing through the valley, which was frightening.
They walked slowly and approached the bridge 80 paces. The torches of the defenders stationed at the bridge in the distance were no longer blurry. They put down their guns and divided into the third group one after another.
The two people in front of each group squatted, holding their guns and tied them to the bench; the two people in the back stood up, holding their guns on the shoulders of the person in front, and tightened them with belts to prevent them from jumping up.
The Lin Cong garrison at the bridgehead is gathering. This military formation is the essence of King Lin Cong's men. It has hundreds of heavy armored infantry, more than a hundred muskets, and heavy crossbows mixed into the formation.
Such a force is enough to stop any enemy coming from the bridge.
Night fighting is very dangerous for both the initiator and the recipient.
People can't see far away with their naked eyes, and any sudden bright light is frightening, even if it's Mars.
The fire sickle was lit in the night, a spark ignited the fire stick, the tiny flame ignited the torch, and lit the match ropes.
Luo Rucai's team crossing the river was very bold. All this happened fifty steps away from the flank of the bridgehead military formation. Officer Daiben saw the clues of the fire, drew his bow full and lowered it over there, shouting: "Turn to the right!"
The arrow flew across the night, and there was only a tinkling sound. No one knew where the arrow was going. Even the soldiers in the river-crossing team couldn't be sure whether it hit someone's armor or a stone by the river.
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They only know: shoot!
The four muskets carrying guns were lifted up, and each matchlock musket fired first, rows of bullets were released towards the dense military formation, more musketeers spread out from the flanks, and light and heavy muskets fired simultaneously. No one could
He aimed accurately, but for a short time, the muzzle of the musket emitted flames, which was dazzled by the loud noise, and was immediately obscured by gunpowder smoke.
The moment when the flank was attacked was extremely terrifying. The soldiers were wailing after being shot, and Lin Congjun in the military formation was panicked.
The unarmored musketeer groaned and was knocked down. The match rope accidentally touched the fire door, and the lead pointed upward and was released. The warriors protected by heavy armor were also knocked down. They even fell slower because of the thick armor and were hit several times.
Bomb.
There are also huge gun projectiles that pass through each body and smash into pieces of iron armor, like an indestructible iron plow, plowing ravines in the flesh-and-blood military formation.
Then the front was attacked by guns from the bridge. There were no drums or flags. People were shouting, running and falling. Some people tripped over the injured. There were groans everywhere. No one knew how many people were injured. p>
Some people fled into the darkness to avoid shooting, while others ran toward the fire to maintain the military formation. In the dispersed military formation, soldiers looked for officers, and officers looked for soldiers. Everyone was shouting, and panic spread.
On the other side of the Jinsha River, horns sounded one after another. Liu Chengzong personally beat the war drum, and Wang Wenxiu, who was waiting at the bridgehead, led his troops to the other side with swords in hand.
As the first group of soldiers who crossed the bridge arrived on the other side, Lin Cong's army guarding the shore broke up in chaos. People ran frantically towards the mountain fort. Lin Cong's army was running, letting go of the advance guard.
The soldiers crossing the river later dispersed.
Eager to expand their advantage, they rushed into the village with knives in hand. Many people just subconsciously saw the enemy in the light and chased them. Then running away became a habit, and chasing became a habit.
Until both sides lost their physical strength, some people suddenly found that more than a dozen of them were being chased by one person for a long distance, and suddenly turned back to pursue them. It was easy to attack and defend.
The pursuit started in disorderly chaos and stopped in orderly resistance. The battle only lasted for a quarter of an hour. Lin Cong's army who then returned from pursuit slowly retreated towards the mountain under the obstruction of Wang Wenxiu's troops.
Piles of bonfires rising in the distance announced to Liu Chengzong that his troops had secured the chain bridge.
Soon a casualty report came over. Eight of the Lion Soldiers were wounded and one was killed. Lin Cong's Army only left behind sixteen corpses and a dozen wounded soldiers. There were quite a few prisoners lying on the ground pretending to be dead.
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The biggest casualties in this battle between both sides occurred in the initial volley of musketry, followed by running around in the dark with almost no fighting.
Luo Rucai was fished out of the river by his subordinates and returned from the other side of the bridge wrapped in a big blanket. He was still shivering and his lips were purple. Liu Chengzong looked worried and thought he was frozen.
"It's okay, Marshal, I, I... was scared." Luo Rucai couldn't stop trembling, shook his head and said: "I, I, I'm not cold, just slow down and it'll be fine."
Luo Rucai was indeed frightened. He acted quite calmly in the river, but there was no other way. In fact, he was frightened inside.
In his words, you might as well give him a shot.
He was alone in the river and attracted at least the firepower of the entire Centurion. Twenty or thirty muskets and thirty or forty crossbows were shooting at him. Every time a projectile fell into the water or an arrow flew through the air, he was frightened.
The reason why he came to see Liu Chengzong wrapped in a blanket was because he felt from the bottom of his heart that Liu Shishi was safe.
Although the battle on the other side was over and Wang Wenxiu occupied two forts, Luo Rucai could still hear the sound of lead pellets breaking through the air in his ears, and the slightest movement frightened him.
As for the purple lips, on the one hand, they were severely frozen in the river, and on the other hand, it was because of this chain bridge that it was scary to walk on it.
Liu Chengzong smiled and said: "Do you dare to go there again?"
"You dare, but the commander-in-chief will let me rest for a while." Luo Rucai said in his heart that as long as I was not allowed to swim in the river again, he would dare to do anything: "Now, just thinking about crossing the river makes my legs numb.
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After Luo Rucai finished speaking, she raised her thumbs towards Liu Chengzong: "The commander's rope is really good. Without these two ropes, I would really sink."
Liu Chengzong heated some ginger soup for him by the fire and asked: "You are floating in the river, who is leading the troops on the other side?"
"General Manager Li Baliang, from Wen'an Yi, used to be a salesman." Luo Rucai held ginger soup in both hands: "After the drought, there is always a shortage of things to sell. The disaster star, as soon as he defected, my soldiers were defeated by Ai Mu.
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"Oh... someone stabbed Yang Chengzu in the butt, and Yang Chengzu almost died." When he said this, Liu Chengzong knew when it happened: "I am a veteran, okay, I beat him pretty well."
Veterans are obedient, but in fact, the old men under Luo Rucai are old thieves.
No wonder this group of people can fight at night. In the past, in northern Shaanxi, they had little ability and could only go out during the day and night to fight big families. Just like Li Laoye, when it gets dark, the eyes of this group of people are as bright as fucking wolves. "You have some rest tonight. Early tomorrow morning, you will lead your 1,200 men across the river and replace General Wang. I will deal with Dunyue Duoji, this Lin Cong, here."
Liu Chengzong patted Luo Rucai on the shoulder: "I'll leave it to you, hit as far as you can, hit as hard as you can, go back on your word, and hit hard."