stubborn thief

Chapter 171 Huanglong Mountain

It's past noon.

The sun scorched the earth very hot, and the bare yellow land was burned like a piece of iron, covering the distance with a layer of low floating fog.

There was no wind, and the air was thickened by roasting, making it suffocating.

Zhang Yundeng became more and more irritable in the battle, even without armor, his clothes were already soaked, not to mention those soldiers who were wearing armor.

Hundreds of officers and soldiers took off their armor and poured water into their mouths. Even the wounded soldiers were too hot to cry.

On the narrow and shallow Yunyan River, the corpses of more than [-] soldiers and horses blocked the river bank, making it more difficult for them to cross the river westward.

Someone on the other side shouted: "Surrender, we are all servants, just for money, not your life!"

The cavalry soldiers on the west bank were also uncomfortable. Liu Chengzong did not send more troops to the west bank, but stationed four sentry soldiers in the surrounding valleys for shade. Their main defense direction was the north.

The Yunyin team is already the turtle in the urn, facing south and north, it is difficult to move in formation, and it is not an opponent if it is scattered. The short-term terrain width also prevents them from exerting their strength advantage.

The servants and cavalry were hanging at a distance of a hundred steps, which could put them in a dilemma.

They couldn't even ask for help, and they lost more than twenty horses in several attempts to break through the defense line.

If there are fewer people reporting letters, it will be difficult to break through the defense line of servants and Tang Qi; if there are too many people reporting letters, they will simply be eaten by the servant cavalry.

Wait another hour, and these people will all collapse.

In comparison, the Jia Ding cavalry team was much more comfortable. Some people took off their armor to rest at the foot of the mountain in the west. Occasionally, more than a dozen cavalry went to the side to release arrows. Most of the time, the two sides just confronted each other under the scorching sun.

Compared with them, Liu Chengzong was more worried about Du Wenhuan, who was stationed in Suide, going south.

Even when they transported some silver from Yonghe County, Shanxi to Xingzihe, they knew that they had to contact first to ensure that the road was clear and send someone to meet it.

Not to mention the government that completely controls the local government.

In Liu Chengzong's view, Yulin Town will definitely send officers and troops south.

For the past two days, Liu Chengzong has been thinking about a question, how many officers and troops will be sent south from Yulin Town.

As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy. After last year's battle, some Ai Mu and others fled back to Yulin Town. He believed that information on the strength of the Lion Camp was no longer a secret in Yulin.

Du Wenhuan should realize that it is difficult to wipe out the Lion Camp with a single mobilization of less than [-] troops.

He estimated that the strength of the government army to attack again would be at least no less than [-].

Yulin Town originally had a rated strength of more than [-] troops, but the actual strength was [-]. After deserting soldiers due to payment and being dispatched by King Qin, the actual strength was only [-].

Then count the official army who fell in the hands of Lion Camp and Wang Jiayin.

It is difficult to replenish these troops in a short period of time, and there are countless pier fortresses on the side walls. Yulin Town itself can't mobilize many troops.

Looking at the confrontation in the valley, Liu Chengzong squinted his eyes and looked up at the outline of the sun, and said to Fan Sanlang, "Can you learn to speak?"

"Learn to speak?"

"Yes, you have to remember what I'm going to say next, and then run to the north along the river valley to send a message to Chief Cao, asking him to send a smarter person to Suide and tell Wang Zuogua the news."

Fan Sanlang nodded in response, and saw Liu Chengzong took out a pen and paper, and said while writing: "Tell Wang Zuogua and King Huntian to run away quickly, he is dying soon."

Fan Sanlang swallowed his saliva with his eyes wide open, and firmly remembered these words.

"Yulin used to have a quota of [-] soldiers, and [-] real soldiers. After deserting soldiers, fighting fiercely, and working hard for the king last year, the current number of troops is no more than [-]."

Liu Chengzong was worried that Cao Yao's people would take the letter to Yulin, and Wang Zuogua's people would no longer be able to read, so there must be a verbal letter.

Originally, he told He Yong that Wang Zuogua would die if he continued to make trouble, so he didn't have too many mood swings.

Firstly, he surrendered to the army, and secondly, he looted the place. If these two things were added together, he would be killed by himself.

But after these two days of thinking, he realized that Wang Zuogua would be killed, which was almost inevitable.

"The Lion Camp wiped out [-] and [-] officers successively. If Du Wenhuan sends troops again, he will go south with [-] troops. Yulin doesn't have so many soldiers."

The problem is almost obvious, Yulin Town itself has already stretched its strength, how can there be any soldiers looking at Wang Zuogua?
The officers and soldiers are about to go south, dare to let the powerful and rebellious Wang Zuo hang behind them?

To fight Liu Shizi, the officers and soldiers can only kill Wang Zuo and hang the sacrificial flag first.

Fan Sanlang rode to report that another battle was about to take place in the narrow valley.

After Han Shipan's rest was over, he led more than [-] cavalry to approach the river from the northwest of the battlefield, causing confusion in the formation of the officers and troops.

After they put on their armor, Han Shipan led his men to drink horses in the upper reaches of the northwest.

The tense officers and soldiers did not dare to relax. They waited for a long time until the heat became unbearable, and then gradually took off their armor in batches.

Then Han Shipan asked his subordinates to start wearing armor, and the armor that the officer had just taken off was put on again.

They didn't dare not wear them, Han Shipan and his group came and went like the wind, and they could still shoot feather arrows into the formation at sixty steps.

Moreover, there are also a few archers who use long arrows who are particularly accurate. If they don't wear armor, they can only wait to be gutted.

It's more accurate than a musket.

But when they put on their armors, Han Shipan just let those armored cavalry stare at them from a distance of more than a hundred steps.

Tortured.

The officers and soldiers even tried to dig trenches to defend, but they did not carry digging tools when transporting silver.

Under the threat of the vicious Lieyang and the cavalry, wearing armor and digging trenches, they had to exhaust themselves before the trench was dug.

They could only hide in batches and rest in the narrow shadow of the carriage.

They just want to last until night.

After nearly a moment of confrontation, the armored officers and soldiers knocked down the two of them, and the rest couldn't take it anymore. Seeing that Han Shipan and the others didn't move, they took off their armor one by one.

Han Shipan and the others were also taking off their armor, and they couldn't bear the covering, so they took off their armor and drank water.

But the people behind were different. The cavalry soldiers who didn't wear armor just now put on all their armor now, and they got back on their horses and ran towards the formation of the officers and soldiers.

Boom!

On the outer side of the panicked officers and soldiers, the mental tension of the long-term readiness affected the gunners, and the sudden surprise made them unable to shoot according to the officers' orders.

Dozens of three-eyed guns and blunderbusses fired hastily, and hundreds of lead pellets spewed out of the gunpowder smoke, but the distance was too far, and a volley was almost wasted.

Liu Chengzong only saw a war horse standing up in pain, and then continued to charge as if nothing happened, while another cavalry fell down on the horse's back.

The horse lost its owner, followed the horses a few steps, and returned to the fallen cavalry.

Not long after, the cavalryman struggled to get up, sat on the ground and scratched at the armor for a long time, then slowly stood up, led the horse and walked slowly towards the west bank.

The remaining [-] riders escaped a round of scattering, rode their horses and drew their bows, and fired three arrows into the army formation at a distance of [-] steps, almost knocking down one side of the army formation.

Then he was driven away under the shooting of the officer's archers.

But Zhong Bao on the other side didn't miss the great opportunity, and led his team to gallop from the southwest to the other side of the river, hitting a row of lead.

However, they did not have the range advantage of the left team, and the shooting range of Franji's hand guns was still too short. Several riders were forced back by the arrows of the officers and soldiers during the attack, and only a dozen or so riders released their guns in front of the officers and soldiers.

But the effect is also good.

Gunpowder weapons are very lethal at close range. As long as they are aimed accurately, there is a high chance that they will lose their combat effectiveness.

Liu Chengzong had seen a corpse shot to death by a musket in the past. The lead entered from the stomach, and the wound on the back was bigger than the front.

Lead shot is easily deformed, and most of the time, its gunpowder is strong enough to penetrate straight into the body.

But when it touches bones at an angle, or penetrates poor quality armor, it will deform or even shatter, causing more damage.

The biggest problem with this thing is that it is troublesome to load and shoot, and it brings greater danger to the user.

A man with a little training and a musket is equal to good quality and low price.

A hundred soldiers who use bows and arrows for three months can hardly compare with a hundred soldiers who use muskets for three months.

This is the trend of war.

Thinking of this, Liu Chengzong couldn't help sighing.

He was born in an era of change, and a better gun means a possibility.

A traditional warrior like him, who has refined his martial arts for ten years and should have undisputedly dominated the battlefield, has the possibility of being taken away by a lead shot.

The possibility of this happening in ancient times is very small.

Han Shipan's cavalry retreated to Shanyin in the west, and Han Shiyou led the cavalry to repeat the process again.

Chengyun rode a pony, led a dozen soldiers from the baggage team, and drove a small donkey cart, and came slowly from the west mountain road.

Leaving a few replacement horses, unloading bundles of feathered arrows, removing the armor of the wounded servant, moving them to the donkey cart and slowly pulling them away.

The whole process was very calm.

So calmly that the officers and soldiers collapsed, Liu Chengzong saw it clearly through the binoculars. The officials in official robes drew their swords and killed themselves, and the entire army fell apart.

This army did not collapse because Wei Qian'er seized the mountain ridge to cover the battlefield, it did not collapse because of the platoon of Zhong Bao's pistol cavalry, and it did not collapse because Han Shipan and Han Shiyou shot three arrows every time they charged and retreated.

But it collapsed because of the carrier's supply.

Chengyun hadn't gone far, and watched the mutiny of the officers and soldiers with a mask on his face. The formation spread out in an instant, some ran south, some ran west, and they surrendered when they came.

He scratched his head, wondering what had happened.

This time they did not surrender, did not distribute travel expenses and food, and after leaving all the armor and supplies of the officers and soldiers, they deliberately let people say that they were Aimu's servants, and then let them go.

Liu Chengzong rode his horse down from the hillside and checked the injuries of the wounded soldiers. It was not a big problem with armor protection, but two people suffered from heat stroke.

Most of the servants are exhausted by this low-stakes battle.

But the payoff is well worth it.

There were twenty large wooden boxes neatly arranged on the carriage, Liu Chengzong tore off the seal and opened one, and the silver ingots neatly neatly shone in the sunlight.

He took a silver ingot and turned it over in his hand. The official silver was big and heavy, with 25 taels printed on the bottom.

The baggage sentry came out from the mountain, took the silver cart, and the auxiliary soldiers who had been waiting for a long time rushed forward, and used the Yunyan River to skin, slaughter, and cut up the dead horses of the officers and soldiers for cleaning.

Until this time, Chengyun was still in a daze, and leaned over to Liu Chengzong and asked, "Brother, why did they lose all of a sudden?"

"Because of you."

Chengyun's eyes widened, he spread his hands and was speechless.

He felt that he had only done a little work.

"It's very easy for people to insist on one thing, such as insisting on standing still, as long as there is hope."

Liu Chengzong pointed to the deserted east bank of the river: "What is their hope? It is to drag the battle into the night and consume all the bows and arrows of the cavalry. One person has two pots of arrows, and there are only thirty or so."

"The arrows will always run out. They are not afraid of horse soldiers without arrows, but you came, brought arrows and horses, and they found that they couldn't drag it into the night, so they naturally collapsed."

Cheng Yun was a little embarrassed: "Is what I do so important?"

"The baggage post is very important. We can live until now because the officers and soldiers don't have good baggage."

The brigade marched towards the western mountains. They wanted to find a place with shade to rest, and then find a place suitable for shelter, and completely digest the supplies obtained in this battle.

Never waste a little meat.

The Seven Posts of Shiziying run separately along the Yunyan River on the plateau with ravines and ravines. Looking across the ravines, they spread out for several miles.

Chengyun recommended a good place to Liu Chengzong.

Just upstream of the Yunyan River, there is a narrow valley, which belongs to Ganquan County, but it is only connected to Yan'an City by a small road, not an official road.

Because the water source is abundant and the land is fertile, it used to be densely populated. However, since the drought, the people have run away and there are not many residents left.

The name is Nanniwan.

Liu Chengzong was overjoyed when he heard the name, and immediately decided to lead troops to settle here to have a look.

The memory in his mind was talking to him crazily, and a series of memories popped up, just to prove that the reclamation here can be self-sufficient.

Chengyun didn't know why he was so happy to hear the name.

The more he traveled upstream along the Yunyan River, the more Liu Chengzong felt that this place was suitable for stationing troops. After going west from Yichuan, the river valley generally runs east-west. river valley.

Nowadays, most of the banks on both sides of the river are barren, but traces of the fields in the past can be seen, but the desolation is getting worse and worse.

This place already belongs to Huanglong Mountain.

They camped overnight on the east side of the river valley, and the soldiers at the heavy post packed the meat, while Liu Chengzong sent someone to convey the news to the post chiefs, asking them to find someone.

Find the bandit soldier who joined the team at the waist of the tiger first.

He really let him find one, at Gao Xian's right post, surnamed Huo, nicknamed Huo Xianfeng.

Huo Xianfeng said that in the past, this valley went deep from Jinpen Bay, and it was full of people's houses, but when Li Bei defeated them, the bandits were driven everywhere in the valley, and the people fled to the mountains because of this. outside.

Now there is no one in the mountains.

To prove his words, Huo Xianfeng also took Liu Chengzong to see a fort near the river valley, saying that it was built by the people who lived here before.

Along the way, Liu Chengzong calculated how many fields this river valley could reclaim.

On the second night, he found Shangtian Monkey and said to him, "Look over here, how do you feel?"

"It's pretty good, and the location is good, enough to rest for a few days."

Liu Chengzong shook his head and said, "I didn't mean to rest for a few days, you see, Yan'an Fucheng is here, and we are here now."

He drew a line on the map. Nanniwan was in the southeast of Fucheng, and Xingzi River was in the northwest of Fucheng. The two places happened to sandwich Yan'an Fucheng in the middle.

"I mean, how about recruiting refugees to reclaim this valley?" he said.

　good night!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)