Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 486: The Door Opens to Jiujiang - 91

I haven't heard of annoying rain since April.The drizzle is soft, and it has made countless chapters of talented scholars and beautiful ladies, but for the grain trucks, the continuous rain is simply an endless nightmare.Days of rain had completely soaked the road surface, and the wheels of the large carts had driven over, leaving ruts half a foot deep.

"Drive, drive!" The mules and horses pulling the cart struggled to move forward in the muddy water, but the extremely sticky soil adhered to the wheels and axles, making it difficult for only the grain cart to move forward.Suddenly, the strength of the mule and horse seemed to be transported to the extreme, and the four hooves suddenly slipped. With a sound of "boom--", the cart full of grain and grass retreated suddenly, and with a crash, the rope binding the cart was snapped, and the piles of grass bundles that had been piled up like mountains fell in a mess. In muddy water.The signing army escorting the wagon hurriedly piled grain and grass on the wagon.

"Damn it, it's Jiangning Mansion's grain cart again, and each cart weighs two to three thousand catties." Xia Mao'er spat.

This kind of large grain cart is only available in the government. Jiangnan is commonly called a Taiping cart, but the grain carts transported by the government have a different style.The Lele carts brought by the Liao army from the north could not go on the road at all during the rainy season in the south of the Yangtze River. Therefore, if the Liao army requisitioned grain and grass, if some soft bones hadn't donated the government's grain carts, it would have taken a lot of effort to collect carts from the people.

"Be careful, keep quiet." Lu Mingyu's face darkened, and he, Xia Mao'er and others lay in the grass beside the post road, and said in a low voice: "Counting this batch of grain trucks, they are blocked by Wuwei. There must be hundreds of grain carts here." He waved his hand, quietly retreated into the woods, and stood upright until he couldn't see clearly on the post road.At this time, Lu Mingyu, Xia Mao'er, and several others were covered in muddy water, their hair buns, clothes, and clogs were all soaked in rainwater.They don't care.

"Huang Daxian said that the sky will be fine tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow is probably when the Liao thieves are on the road. Brother, let's do it on the day after tomorrow." Xia Mao'er said happily, "Huang Daxian's words are always very clever." "Huang Daxian "He is a godly man in Chao County. His other skills are normal. He is very accurate in observing the wind and rain. Everyone in a radius of tens of miles knows it. When it is the season of rushing to harvest and rush to plant, his family's incense must be strong.Xia Mao'er and other bandits trust this kind of quack sorcerer [-]%.

Lu Mingyu frowned, nodded, and said: "I hope so, follow the arrangement, and first go and gather the brothers from the battalions." A murderous look appeared on his face, "Tell everyone, this time I'm doing things with my head up, whoever will leak it?" If there is any news, not only will the whole family of the person who loses his wind be spared, but all the neighbors will be killed, except for the family who reported on it, men, women and children!"

"Brother, don't worry!" Xia Mao'er pouted, "Who dares to see him!"

While talking, they came to the place where the horses were tethered. A few ex-water bandits walked up to the horses with their chests and bellies raised. They put their knives on and turned on the horses. In the drizzle, the horseshoes flew and splashed mud. They were ten times more arrogant than the authentic officers and soldiers. He walked away, as if there was something urgent to do.

............

The 30-day rain finally stopped. Yelu Yanjin, the general of the Northern Academy, let out a long breath. He looked at a faint ray of sunshine in the gray sky. Yelu Yanjin had never felt that the sun was so bright.If it wasn't for Changshengtian, he wouldn't be able to resist cursing like a soldier in the Southern Dynasties, "God damn it!"

Because of the heavy rain, the road was muddy, and 87 grain trucks with a total of 17 jin of military rations were blocked on the road one batch after another.Yelu Yanjin also ordered his subordinates to flog the lottery army and force them to move forward, but the grain carts were moving slowly on the muddy road like tortoises, and the escorting cavalry could only move forward slowly. It's broken, and it's still talking nonsense.Yelu Yanjin reckoned that if this went on like this, half of the subordinates who escorted the grain truck would lose half before reaching Shuzhou, and they wouldn't be able to cover much distance.So, I chose Wuwei Army, a slightly stronger and more spacious post station, gathered the grain transport convoys that came one after another, and at the same time gathered the soldiers and horses that escorted the grain and grass. Two thousand Khitan cavalry, plus signing troops, totaled more than 4000 people. crowd.

"Will it rain tomorrow?" Yelu Yanjin asked.

The rain has stopped for a day, and the ground has just dried up. If it rains halfway, it will be very troublesome.Now Yelu Yanjin almost instinctively rejects rainwater.

"Don't worry, my lord, Huang Daxian's calculation of the day will not be wrong." Han general Liu Ling said with a smile, "He said that the rain harvested yesterday, and it really stopped. The next few days will be full of red sun, enough for us to travel to Shu State." He is Li Cheng's subordinate, Song was originally only a commander, but after submitting to the Liao Dynasty, he was promoted to the commander of the first army, and his power was even greater than before.Therefore, for this errand of escorting the army rations, he did his best.

Yelu Yanjin gave an "En" and was noncommittal. "Heavy rain is obstructing, but there are mixed advantages and disadvantages. With so many soldiers and horses escorting the transport, Xiao Xiao Mao's thief can't make up his mind." He said to himself, and still turned around to tell the North Court Lord Dolori, "Be careful on the road, When encountering dangerous mountains and rocks, don’t be afraid of trouble, just check them out.”

Duo Luoli was not an old subordinate of Yelu Yanjin, and he said with a smile, "The woods in this small Mantou mountain in the Southern Dynasty are sparse, and it is difficult to hide a horse." Seeing the general's brows slightly frowned, he cupped his hands and said loudly, "Zun Da human life!Dama ran out before the general could scold him.Having said that, Duo Luoli still scattered a hundred horses under his command far away, and ordered them, as long as it was the top of the mountain on both sides of the road, and the front and rear ends of the valley road, don't be afraid of tiredness or trouble, at least climb up to have a look. look.

There are more than 4000 escort troops in the grain transportation team, plus more than 3000 working masters. The winding team has more than 100 heavy grain carts in the middle. Slowly walking on the bridle, while looking at the lush greenery on both sides of the road.Just as Duo Luoli said, the mountains on both sides of the road are gentle, and the woods are not as tall and dense as in Liaodong, but low and sparse. In the gaps in the woods, there are grasses that are half the height of a person. With a panoramic view of every plant and tree, it is really impossible to see any ambushes that can be hidden.Therefore, the Khitan cavalry was also very relaxed. Although the scout dismounted and climbed up to the hills along the way to check, but it was more of a vain response to the general's order. Standing on the hills had a clear view, so he didn't search around carefully.

Several Khitan cavalry screamed and ran down the gentle slope, as if they were racing each other.The Khitan people didn't notice at all, but there were three people crouched in the grass only Zhang Xu away, and the mud spots brought up by the horse's hoof splashed on Xia Mao'er's mouth. I just spit it out "poof", "poof".

"These bastards," Xia Mao'er said contemptuously, "only focus on searching things, and they don't become suspicious when they are so big in front of them."

His eyes looked not far away, an old mill on the hillside, which seemed to have been abandoned by the owner for a long time, leaving only dilapidated houses and a few waterwheels.However, this is something that the Baoyi Army arranged first.After the Liao army had inspected both sides of the mountain road that stretched for two or three miles, the brigade began to slowly enter.Xia Mao'er estimated the time, and whispered a few words to his subordinates, twisted his body like a gecko, and quietly lay back in the grass, which was achieved by years of practice on the road.The Liao soldiers on the horse looked around from time to time, only seeing the grass and bushes swaying in the wind, but they didn't find a single figure.

When they came to a hidden mountain depression, about 5000 people had been waiting for a long time. Xia Maoer suppressed his excitement, strode up to Lu Mingyu and the others who stood up, bowed and said: "Master Duzhi, the Liao thieves have already entered the valley , Brothers rushing to the valley now, it's the right time."

"Okay!" Lu Mingyu's eyes lit up, and he said in a deep voice, "Notify all departments to prepare for action, and don't disturb the Liao thieves!"

"Yes!" The soldier who sent the order flew up to the nearby hill. The hill here was gentle and low. He quickly climbed up the hill, fell under a prominent tree, and took out his pocket. The mirror inside reflected sunlight to several fixed positions, and it didn't take long for those places to respond.Just a moment later, almost the entire valley was filled with tension before the battle.At this time, on the left and right sides of the mountain road, there were more than 2000 people running towards the mountain in the distance. In addition to guns, bows and crossbows, there were mules and horses pulling more than a dozen iron barrel cannons. At the front end of the middle road, nearly [-] infantry formed a formation and moved forward slowly, intending to block the way of the Liao army. Only the way of the Liao army did not appear.

Lu Mingyu and Xia Mao'er climbed to the mill in the middle of the mountain in advance. This is the preset artillery position. It seems that the winch of the mill's water wheel has been leveled, and more than a hundred soldiers are winding the rope on the middle axle. Several mules and horses were also brought over one after another and put around the huge winch.At the other end of the rope, Gao Su commanded his subordinates to put the pulling rope on the cannon carriage of the iron barrel cannon. There was no road suitable for mules and horses towing the cannon up the mountain, so he came up with the idea of ​​using a wheel axle winch to pull the four-inch cannon up the mountain. idea.The shooting range here is excellent. There is another preset artillery position on the opposite side of the mountain road. The two sides form a cross side shooting. The firepower can cover the entire mountain trail.

Lu Mingyu's face sank like water, covering up the ups and downs of his heart.In this battle to ambush the Liao Army's grain road, Zhao Xingde gave the command power to the general for the first time, and he cherished it very much.

At this time, the Liao army had already discovered the change on the top of the mountain, and there was a commotion in the team, and they began to clamor loudly.The Liao army urged the master to drive faster, some Khitan cavalry overtook the team and rushed towards the valley entrance, while another part of the Khitan cavalry rushed towards the hills on both sides together with the Han army camp.The hills were low, and the Liao army jumped off their horses when they rushed close to the mill, and charged upwards with scimitars and bows and arrows.

Several soldiers climbed in front of a huge round boulder, "It should be right." The leading prince Ang murmured.With a serious expression on his face, he dug out a lead wire from under the rock, lit it with a bright torch, and then several people lowered their bodies and ran away quickly. "One, two, three..." Wang Ziang didn't forget to count while running.After running dozens of steps away, he squatted on the ground just now. "Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty!" Wang Ziang counted carefully, and suddenly, a spark appeared in his eyes.

With a sound of "Boom--", there was a loud noise, and the huge rock was shaken by the explosive force of the gunpowder, and it rolled down the mountain staggeringly. The position cut the continuous team in half.