Horse on the World

Chapter 416
Baimadu, the Tuojiang River came here and made a sharp turn. The wide river surface was suddenly tightened, and the river bounded by the mountain roared and rushed down, making a rumbling sound.When it hits the shore, high water splashes are splashed, and the protruding river beach penetrates into the Tuojiang River, like a sharp cone.Going up along the river beach, there is a gentle slope. Baimadu Fortress is built on this gentle slope. Although the fort is not big, it can only accommodate about [-] defenders. It can completely cover the entire river, and any ship that wants to go up the Tuojiang River has to forcibly capture Baimadu Fortress to pass safely.

In the past year, Zeng's navy tried twice to storm Baimadu and go up the Tuojiang River to copy the grain road and rear route of Lu's Northern Army, but dozens of naval ships were damaged and sunk here. , The soldiers who forcibly crossed ashore suffered heavy casualties, and most of them were driven down the river and drowned countless times. After two consecutive defeats, Zeng's navy was no longer able to organize an attack, and was basically abolished.

After severely injuring Zeng's Navy, Lu Fengchun will also be stationed at Baimadu, and a large number of elites from Baliji will be transferred to the frontal battlefield, leaving only a few thousand northern troops, supplemented by local young men and young men who were forcibly conscripted locally. A total of 1 attached troops who surrendered guarded the area.In Lu Fengchun's view, these troops are enough to ensure the safety of the Tuojiang River, but as the Dingzhou Navy entered the Tuojiang River, Lu Fengchun felt the imminent crisis. Although the siege of Zhucheng and the march into Shenzhou required a large number of troops, he still mobilized thousands of elite troops. , led by his son Lu Zhaoting himself, came to support Baimadu.

Lu Jiawen, the guard of Baimadu, is a member of the Lu family. He was notified a few days ago that Lu Zhaoting would lead five thousand elite troops to support him. State Army, with this miscellaneous army in his hand, he was really worried. Although he had the right time and place, the reputation of Dingzhou Army's invincibility still made him feel a little uneasy. The army that came down from the Ping-Barbarian War is by no means comparable to that of Zeng's tribe.

As the weather got warmer day by day, Lu Jiawen's desire for reinforcements became stronger day by day. He knew that when the weather got warmer and Ling Xun passed by, it meant that the Dingzhou navy might appear on the river at any time.

Lu Jiawen stood on the stockade of Baima Mountain, looking towards Shenzhou, like a watchman's stone every day.

On March [-]th, Lu Jiawen's infatuation did not move the heavens. What appeared in front of him was not Lu Zhaoting's reinforcements, but warships densely packed on the river, stretching for more than ten miles. The Dingzhou navy came.

Baima Sai, the alarm bell on Baimadu sounded, Lu Jiawen rushed from the stockade to Baimadu, Baimadu was limited by the terrain, and could not deploy more troops, 3000 people was the limit, the defenders in the mountain village could only fight in wartime It is in a wait-and-see state and will reinforce Baimadu at any time.

Zheng Zhiyuan stood on the ship, frowning and looking at the terrain of Baimadu. Although he had a general understanding of the terrain from Zeng's navy, when he actually got here, he found that the situation was worse than he imagined.The terrain of Baimadu determined that they could only forcibly land from the east side, and if they wanted to go around to the west side, they would inevitably be hit by long-range weapons in the stockade. It only needed to cover the design once, and the boats on the river would not be spared.

The east area is limited, and the first landing can deploy an attack force of up to 1000 people. This attack force must not only resist the opponent's anti-landing attack, but also need to expand the battlefield to provide landing sites and space for subsequent landing troops. , This is extremely difficult, the opponent not only has the advantage of being condescending, but also has a lot of muddy land on the river bank, which is unobstructed and vulnerable to enemy attacks.

Seeing such a dire situation, Zheng Zhiyuan couldn't help but gasped. No wonder Zeng's navy, although determined to die, was still defeated repeatedly.

Now there are not only the Dingzhou navy in the fleet, but also dozens of conscripted civilian ships carrying [-] Zeng soldiers. Zheng Zhiyuan, who originally wanted these Zeng soldiers to take the lead, suddenly changed his mind. The advance landing battle is destined to be In an extremely dangerous battle, if you win, you can open the situation smoothly. If you lose, the attack this time will end in vain, and the hope of the soldiers leading the battle to withdraw is extremely slim.

In such a fierce battle, it is undoubtedly a fool's dream to hope that the Zeng's army, which has been defeated repeatedly under the leadership of the Northern Army, must let its own marines go up to the top, but the casualties may make Commander Deng Peng jump.

"Extremely strong!" Zheng Zhiyuan called out.

When Baima crossed the fortress, Lu Jiawen knew very well whether he could stop the enemy's attack. In the first wave of attack, if he succeeded in driving the enemy who was grabbing the beach down the river, everything would be safe. For such an important link, he also Don't worry about the new attached army and those who have not taken up arms for a long time to complete it, but directly summoned the [-] elite Northern Army at Baimadu.

"Drive them down the river again!" Above the fortress, Lu Jia asked loudly, pointing at the densely packed boats on the river that were getting closer.

In the middle of the river, Zheng Zhiyuan's flagship sent out a signal, and the fleet dropped an anchor outside the range of the Baimadu catapult and stopped. Following the change of the flag, ships began to intersperse among the fleet and lined up to fight for the beach. shape.

The ship-borne trebuchet on the flagship fired a stone bullet. As the stone bullet fell on the gentle slope in the distance, the distance of the stone bullet was measured. At the same time, the trebuchet on Baimadu also They began to drag the rope, but because of the condescending terrain, their stone bullets could hit the river directly.

Zheng Zhiyuan took a deep breath, grabbed the drumstick from the drummer's hand, and shouted: "Attack!" While shouting, the drumstick in his hand fell heavily on the cowhide drum surface.

"Boom boom boom!"

The ten boats scrambling for stalls slid forward steeply. The ships of the Dingzhou Navy all used the bilge wheeling technology, and the speed of the ships was extremely fast. The first wave of attack ships carried more than a thousand marines , two hundred chariots with hundreds of crossbows, and a small number of scorpion cannons.Zheng Zhiqiang served as the commando of the commando.

The speed of the ships of the Dingzhou Navy was completely beyond Lu Jiawen's expectation. In the blink of an eye, the ships rushed forward tens of meters, "Let go!" he shouted loudly.

The trebuchets that had been calibrated long ago roared, and countless stone bullets drew arcs and shot from the fort towards the river, but the effect of the first wave of shooting was not satisfactory. Except for the two ships that were hit by a few stone bullets each, the rest continued to move forward unharmed.

A few stone bullets hit the ship's deck, and the powerful impact directly penetrated the ship's deck, fell into the bilge, and knocked down several Dingzhou soldiers who were stepping on the wheels, blood splashed everywhere.

Another stone bomb hit the side of the ship, and the exploded sawdust flew around like sharp arrows. Several soldiers who were manipulating the ship on the operating board fell down without saying a word, some fell on the deck, some The other fell directly into the river, and a wave came in, and then disappeared without a trace.

The marines on the ship who were about to land were useless at this time. They could only lift up the shields in their hands. A dozen or so shields were interlocking. Of course, even if this is the case, it is inevitable that the soldiers' tendons and muscles will be broken under the impact point, it depends on their own luck.

"Ten meters closer to the shore, shoot!" Lu Jia asked and shouted.The trebuchets in the fort are all pulled by manpower, and a trebuchet requires dozens of people to pull it, and the launch speed is really not satisfactory.

With a bang, dozens of stone bullets flew out again, but this time they all hit the target.The stone bullet fell on the ship, and he was not afraid that he would directly penetrate the ship plank, so the hitting surface would be limited. The most feared thing was that the stone bullet would roll on the deck, which would cause a lot of damage. Seeing the screams from the ship in front, From time to time, some soldiers were blown into the air, Zheng Zhiyuan was heartbroken, but the drumstick in his hand never stopped.

Ten meters from the shore, a ship was sunk, and more than a hundred soldiers on board, dozens of sailors, and chariots sank into the river.

"Search and rescue!" Zheng Zhiyuan ordered, drumming non-stop.More than a dozen small boats shot forward like arrows. This kind of small boat was small and fast, and the trebuchet basically had no threat to them.

On the first boat, Zheng Zhiqiang held a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, his eyes were red, and as the boat rested heavily on the river, he shouted: "Land!"

The marine soldiers on the several boats in front stood up one after another, holding a shield in one hand, and holding pieces of wood in the other, and jumped off the boat one after another, throwing the boards on the silt beach. Those who came ashore were safer, for the third wave of slingstones was falling blackly from overhead.

Blood splattered and screamed again and again, wave after wave of soldiers jumped off the boat, threw the wooden planks in their hands, and then ran forward with big strides. Behind them, their comrades pushed the chariot along the plank. The paved channel closely follows.

At this time, the ship-borne trebuchet on the ship began to fire stone bullets at Baimadu Fortress for suppressive shooting, while the Dingzhou trebuchet fired with twisted strings, but the firing speed was much faster than the opponent.At this time, the ship-borne trebuchet was able to shoot stone bullets directly out of the bunker.

A thousand commandos led by Zheng Zhiqiang landed first, and rushed forward hundreds of steps. The northern army was already pouring out of the fort opposite, and feathered arrows began to shoot down.

"Carriage array, chariot array!" Zheng Zhiqiang hissed loudly.The chariot was quickly pushed up, and an arc-shaped chariot array was laid down with a depth of [-] steps and a width of about [-] paces. The middle part protruded and looked like a crescent moon.

"A first-grade bow!" Zheng Zhiqiang ordered again. After the car formation, the marines took off the first-grade bows on their backs, bent the bows and set up arrows, and threw them upwards. The armor-piercing arrows used by the first-grade bows were extremely sharp. Casualties, but relying on the terrain, the Northern Army still rushed towards the formation like a tide.

"Hundred-shot crossbow!"

The buzzing sound was endless, and the short crossbows like locusts were shot out like lightning. Although the Northern Army had known for a long time that the Dingzhou navy's hundred-shot crossbows were powerful, the soldiers in the first two rows were all holding large shields. Among them, keeping the shield tight was an impossible task. Countless short crossbows got into the gaps in the shield, fell from the air, and shot the charging formation out of space.

In the middle of the river, the first batch of boats that had finished transporting Ren Wounded began to hurl stones while dodging to the rear side, and the second wave of boats to grab the beach was ready to go.

(End of this chapter)