Zhou Yantian has become a mature man, and his many years of military career are not in vain. Since receiving the news of troops dispatched from Hukou Pass, Zhou Yantian took the initiative to abandon many cities, shrink his troops and prepare to deal with Wen Ruhai's army.
Regardless of Zhou Yantian's lack of troops, leaving aside the 20,000 troops brought by Xuan Ming, Zhou Yantian's total military strength was only about 50,000. Moreover, some of the garrison troops and horses in the cities were not very effective. But Zhou Yantian was not afraid of Wen.
Ruhai's tiger's mouth army.
The terrain in Dafeng's northern territory is unique, unlike the flat plain outside Beiguankou. The mountains in northern territory are overlapping, especially near Guishan City, where strange rocks are lined with canyons, making it difficult to engage in large-scale fighting.
The reason why Zhou Yantian chose Guishan City as his home base is because it is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Even if he fails, he can retreat into the crisscrossing mountains and canyons to hide his strength. With his many years of experience, Zhou Yantian believes that Wen Ruhai is not his yet.
opponent.
In order to defeat Wen Ruhai, Yantian deliberately gave up fifteen cities to allow Fan Rong's vanguard army to move smoothly and gradually separated from the main force. During the offensive and defensive battle of Coba City, the soldiers and horses hidden in the city could be eaten.
Fan Rong's 10,000 vanguard army. However, Zhou Yantian did not do this. He just asked the defenders of Coba City to hold Fan Rong back for a long time. Zhou Yantian personally led an army of 15,000 people to bypass Coba City and attack in Coba City.
An ambush was set up fifty miles outside Bacheng. As soon as Wen Ruhai's reinforcements entered the ambush circle, rolling wood, thunder and rocks on both sides of the mountains and rain of arrows plunged Wen Ruhai's 20,000-strong army into deathly chaos on the spot. Fortunately, deputy commander Qin Wei
Arriving with his troops, Wen Ruhai's 20,000-strong army was not wiped out. However, after Qin Wei rescued Wen Ruhai and led his troops to retreat, Zhou Yantian counterattacked with a carbine and fought with both inside and outside Coba City.
Fan Rong's vanguard army was lost. The battle was extremely fierce, and Fan Rong only fled back to Qin Weiwei's camp with more than 20 people.
In anger, Qin Wei gathered his troops and horses and pressed them outside the city of Coba. If Zhu Er hadn't arrived in time, Qin Wei would have been ready to fight to the death with Coba.
Wen Ruhai's camp was in a state of depression. The commander was seriously injured and the army was snobbish. The small city of Coba could not be captured for a long time. The soldiers did not understand why. They had been stationed here for seven or eight days. Deputy Commander Qin Wei never gave an order.
Siege the city.
In Coba City, the general guarding the city was Ma Wei, a general under Zhou Yantian. When Zhu Tianhe rescued the capital from siege, it was Ma Wei who led his troops to block the attack. But in that battle, Ma Wei was defeated by Wen Ruhai, and in his heart
I have always been worried about it.
In the former northern camp, Ma Wei was a top-notch general who was highly regarded by Zhou Yantian and his coach Fang Datong. Later, Fang Datong died at the hands of Zhu Tianjiang, and Ma Wei became the number one general under Zhou Yantian.
Ma Wei stood on the city wall and looked at Wen Ruhai's camp from a distance. He was also wondering why the other side was just stationed and not attacking the city. You must know that the side that takes the initiative to attack the city in an offensive and defensive battle will suffer heavy losses. Generally, there is no absolute
With their superior strength, they would not take the initiative to attack the city. Ma Wei deliberately showed weakness, but in fact there were quite a lot of hidden troops in the city. With the current number of troops in the Wenruhai camp, Ma Wei was confident that he could completely consume the opponent in the siege.
In the Dafeng military camp outside Coba City, Wen Ruhai was wrapped in a wool blanket and half leaning on a wooden bed. The arrow wound on Wen Ruhai's body was no longer serious after treatment, but the wound in his heart was indelible. Since he followed Guo Tianxin
Since guarding southern Xinjiang, Wen Ruhai has never been defeated so badly. He used his superior force to wipe out the fifteen cities outside the pass without killing many of the opponent's troops. However, he was ambushed by Zhou Yantian outside the city of Coba and lost nearly 100,000 soldiers.
Twenty thousand troops. Wen Ruhai really couldn't swallow this bad breath.
"Master Zhu Er, are we just going to wait like this?" Wen Ruhai asked weakly. Although Zhu Er followed Zhu Tianjiang, he was now also a fourth-rank official in the imperial court, so Wen Ruhai was more polite.
"Wen Shuai, my lord has said that until he arrives, we can only hold our troops on hold. However, the troops and horses borrowed by your lord from the Uzbek tribe have entered the customs. I believe that your lord will arrive soon."
Zhu Er saw that Wen Ruhai, Qin Wei and others were anxious, so he could only stabilize them first. The spirit-telling soldiers and horses did not join the army, which Qin Wei and other generals were also dissatisfied with. However, Zhu Er did not
Method, he can't control the fortune-telling.
Wen Ruhai sighed, "I have been in the army for half my life. I have followed General Guo and fought countless battles with the Dangyun Kingdom. Since I came to the north, I have been restricted everywhere. It was not easy for me to let go of my hands and feet to fight, but it was...
Losing so miserably.”
Wen Ruhai smiled bitterly, and then said, "Qin Wei, I am already old. If you can't take over this Coba City, you can bury my old bones here. One day, I will see
Dafeng's cavalry flattened the city wall of Coba City."
"Commander Wen, Qin Wei swears that even if there is only one soldier left in the battle, I will personally kill Ma Wei to avenge my brothers." Qin Weihan said with a face.
Fan Rong was even more excited, "Commander Wen, as a criminal general, I, Fan Rong, am willing to write a blood letter asking for orders to send troops. If this city is not broken, I, Fan Rong, will never come back alive."
As Fan Rong was a defeated general, Wen Ruhai and Qin Wei did not punish him. Because the situation at that time could not be blamed on Fan Rong, it would be good to come back alive under internal and external attacks.
When Zhu Er heard this, he frowned and said, "Qin Shuai, General Fan, please don't be impulsive. According to my master's order, we'd better stay still."
Fan Rong glared, "The northern camp only obeys the military orders of the two commanders. Zhu Tianjiang is far away in Tianqing and has no idea about the current situation. Why should he order us?"
Zhu Er and these people were all brothers who had fought side by side. However, at that time, Fan Rong, Qin Wei and others were in charge of military affairs, and Zhu Er was just Zhu Tianjiang's herald during the battle in the capital. Therefore, Fan Rong did not support him at all.
He didn't take Zhu Er seriously.
Zhu Er snorted coldly, "General Fan, I have a military talisman given by Emperor Chengwu. If you disobey the order, don't blame me for being rude." Zhu Er also knew that he must not be soft when dealing with these generals on horseback, and did not suppress them.
Zhu Tianjiang's order could not be carried out at all.
When Wen Ruhai saw that the two people were about to quarrel, he raised his hand slightly and said, "Shut up! Although Tianxiang is not here, Master Zhu Er has military talismans in his hands, and the generals must not disobey orders."
When Wen Ruhai said this, Zhu Er secretly breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you, Marshal Wen, for trusting me. I also know that General Fan is eager for revenge, but if we attack the city now, even if we capture Coba City, we will probably suffer a lot of losses. Mo.
It’s better to wait for my lord to arrive, I believe the Thunder Cannon Cart will also accompany it. By then, my lord will let Ma Wei know how powerful he is.”
Wen Ruhai, Qin Wei and others nodded. They had also heard a lot of rumors about the Tianlei artillery car. The most important point was that everyone still had great trust in Zhu Tianjiang's military commanding ability.
A guard wearing a black uniform ran in. Just when Qin Wei was about to scold him, when he saw that it was Zhu Er's person, he remained silent.
"Second Master, there is news from our leader. He has entered the North Pass and I heard that he is on his way here. There is a sealed letter here, please take a look." The brother said, handing over a thin bamboo tube.
passed.
In order to distinguish Zhu Tianjiang from the titles of Zhu Yi and others, those who were in charge of intelligence under Zhu Er called Zhu Tianjiang "Da Da Jia". Otherwise, they would all be Master Zhu, and it would be difficult to distinguish them.
Zhu Er felt happy and quickly crushed the wax seal and looked at it carefully.
"Great, Marshal Wen, generals, my lord has entered the customs. He ordered us to secretly rush to Guishan City at midnight two days later." Zhu Er said and handed the secret letter to Wen Ruhai. According to the secret letter
On the date above, the delivery of the confidential letter was delayed by one day, so Zhu Er directly reported it two days later.
Wen Ruhai also looked happy when he heard this. The secret letters were passed through everyone's hands one by one, but Qin Wei frowned.
"Wen Shuai, I'm afraid this is inappropriate. Tianxiang doesn't know the terrain of Guishan City. It's easy to defend but difficult to attack. If we don't take Coba City and attack Guishan City rashly, what if Ma Wei attacks from behind?
We will fall into a passive situation." Qin Wei said worriedly. If it weren't for this reason, Qin Wei would have abandoned Coba City and attacked Guishan directly.
Zhu Er smiled slightly and said, "General Qin, don't worry. The Uzbek spiritual commander has led an army of 20,000 to ambush near Guishan City. Even if Ma Wei dares to go out to rescue the city, our troops can fight back, which is much easier than attacking the city.
Moreover, Zhou Yantian did not know that when the Uzbek army arrived, once Guishan City was destroyed, Coba City would become a pool of stagnant water."
Qin Wei and Fan Rong all looked at Wen Ruhai. They felt that Zhu Tianjiang's move was very risky. If it failed, the consequences would be very serious.
Wen Ruhai thought for a long time, and finally let out a long breath, "Listen to the order from heaven and send the troops back to the mountain city as planned!"
The news of Zhu Tianjiang's arrival was like a stone dropped on a quiet lake. In any case, there was finally a battle to fight, which was much better than sitting here doing nothing.
On the official road, Zhu Tianjiang and his party were running quickly. The secrets Zhu Er set up in various cities played a good role. Everywhere they went, there would be his brothers leading the way.
Apart from eating and defecating, Zhu Tianjiang almost locked himself in the car alone. The map in the car was spread out on the floor. Zhu Tianjiang kept drawing circles based on the markings on the map, planning how to fight this battle.
In the mountains forty miles east of Guishan City, Zhan Ling was also anxiously waiting for Zhu Tianjiang. When she came to the pass, Zhan Ling had no intention of joining Wen Ruhai's army. She didn't like to fight under other people's orders.
Since Wen Ruhai's army was facing Coba City, Zhan Ling came directly to Zhou Yantian's base camp by mistake.
However, after arriving, Zhan Ling discovered that he had made a big mistake. The Uzbek people always brought only food and no fodder to fight, but it was different when they arrived in Dafeng. There was no fat grassland for grazing. Twenty thousand cavalry, one night,
The grass at the foot of the mountain was eaten up in a short time. It doesn’t matter what people eat. Wild animals are infested in the mountains, and sending a hunting team can solve the problem. Anyway, I brought salt and highland barley with me, and I can eat them for ten days and a half. But
The horses couldn't survive without fodder, so Zhan Ling had no choice but to send out a grass-cutting team. In order to prevent the target from being exposed, they couldn't mow grass in one place all the time. Zhan Ling counted the dates, thinking that if Zhu Tianjiang didn't come again, they would attack.
Guishan City, otherwise we have to withdraw. Otherwise, the cavalry will become infantry.
Zhenling was wrapped in a cloak and standing on the mountain. She finally received news from Zhu Tianjiang today. According to estimates, Zhu Tianjiang would be here tomorrow afternoon.
Thinking that he would follow Zhu Tianjiang and leave the Wu tribe, Zhan Ling felt melancholy in his heart. Zhan Ling, who was deep in thought, suddenly bent over and vomited. The maids on both sides didn't know what was going on and ran away in fear.
come over.
Zhan Ling waved her hand to express that she was fine. She had learned the art of feeling the pulse from her master, and Zhan Ling put her hand on her own pulse. In an instant, Zhan Ling's face blushed with happiness.