Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

A few months ago, Zhongshi Road marched south from Baoxie Road, with a total army of nearly 45,000 people (excluding civilians).

The main components of the army are the Zhongjia Army and the Zhejia Army.

If you cultivate the way of master, you will be the chief general, and you can ask for help as the deputy general.

In the northern section of the Xie Valley, both land and water can still be used. Gradually, it is necessary to cross mountains and ridges, and grain transport ships can no longer be used. Next, people and animals have to carry grain and grass honestly.

When we arrived at Baogu, we had to travel some distance before we could transport grain by ship.

But not a single boat could be found, and even the nearby villages were emptied. All the villagers near the river in Bao Valley ran away.

Then we have to continue to take the land route. The water here is very fast, and we would never dare to use makeshift boats and rafts to transport food.

Zhu Thi seems to have a good conscience and has not demolished the plank road all the way.

Until approaching Baogukou...

The eight-mile-long plank road was completely demolished!

For Ju Ming, after the plank road is dismantled, it can be repaired at any time.

Because he used professional tools, he could easily remove the stack beam by knocking off the long triangular wedge. It's just a matter of putting away those stack beams and installing them later. It just takes a while.

But it is difficult to cultivate the way of being a teacher.

Looking at the empty cliff with only countless plank holes left, Master Zhong held back his words for a long time: "Build the plank road!"

These three words are easy to say, but painful to do.

Because the Western Army did not have ships, Ju Ming did, and there were quite a few of them.

There are dozens of warships converted from large merchant ships.

A small flat cannon was placed on the deck, which went up the Bao River and aimed at the Western Army on the edge of the cliff.

The Western Army on Zhongshi Road not only has the largest number, but also has adequate equipment. A large number of crossbows and divine arm bows were dragged out to shoot at the warships.

The bed crossbow and the divine arm bow are both "big killers", and they can shoot farther and aim more accurately than the flat cannon.

They shoot each other like this every day, causing some casualties and seriously slowing down the pace of building the plank road.

Zhongshi Road was extremely unlucky. Tens of thousands of troops were crowded there, and nothing could be done. The daily job was to send people to build the plank road.

Well, we are also building some boats and rafts to prepare for the next battle out of Baogukou.

A few rebel warships will sail further upriver, trying to find a place to land and attack the grain channel.

However, the Zhongshi Road was tightly defended, and the several transfer stations on the Baogu Grain Road were all heavily guarded. The rebels could not find a chance to burn the rations.

The two sides spent more than two months in this way.

…

"The front is Shimen. We can't do it without a strong attack." Zhong Shidao was worried.

Shimen are two artificial tunnels located on both sides of Baoshui River. Through repeated fire and water pouring, a mountainside tunnel more than 3 meters high and 4 meters wide was created. (The stone gate on the west wall is 15 meters long, and the stone gate on the east wall is 16.5 meters long.)

Only after passing the Shimen can you exit Baogu Valley.

It is also possible to take the water route, but the improvised rafts built by the Western Army are too difficult.

"Report!!!"

Zhong Shidao took the letter and after reading it said: "There are also bandits in Shahe and they have built camps. It is difficult to capture the Zhetong system."

There is a small river that can be detoured 12 miles away from Shimen. After leaving the mountain, it is between Baocheng County and Xi County.

Although it is difficult for a large army to move away, it is still possible to send a small group of elites for a surprise attack.

Anyway, it takes time to build the plank road, so idle time is also idle, so Zhongshidao sent Zhe Yanzhi to lead troops for a surprise attack.

As you can imagine, the surprise attack failed.

The rebel camp was stuck in a dangerous place in the river valley. Only 3,000 soldiers were stationed to guard it. Without tens of thousands of soldiers, it would not have been possible to defeat it.

At this moment, the plank road has been built more than ten meters away from the stone gate.

The Western Army in charge of building the plank road wore foot armor weighing dozens of kilograms, with the helmet and collar pulled down to completely protect the face and neck. This was true for the soldiers who placed the stack beam, and the same was true for the soldiers behind him who pulled him with ropes.

Every time a stack beam was placed, a different person had to work on it.

Not only was he exhausted, but his whole body was covered with arrows and he had been shot into a hedgehog by the rebels.

It's a pity that Ju Ming doesn't have a bed crossbow and a divine arm bow, otherwise he would get one arrow per shot!

But Ju Ming has something else up his sleeve.

In the artificial tunnels on both sides of the Baoshui River, a musketeer walked to the entrance of the tunnel.

Several heavily armed Western soldiers were using ropes to pull their comrades to work at high altitudes, when they suddenly saw someone holding up a strange stick in the stone gate.

What is that?

"boom!"

There was a gunshot, and the armor pierced.

The soldiers of the Western Army who were placing the stack beams were in pain, twitching and struggling, and the hammer in their hands fell into the river.

The Western troops behind dragged him back with the rope and found that Dun's neck had been penetrated and there was a bloody hole in his neck.

The accuracy of the bird gun is very high. Not only can it easily hit the target from a distance of more than ten meters, but it can also be aimed at the neck.

The soldiers in charge of building the plank road all retreated in fear.

A quarter of an hour later, the body was dragged to Zhong Shidao and displayed.

Master Zhong first observed the punctured item, then looked at the wound, and used a knife to pick out a lead bullet that had been deformed by impact.

"What do the thieves' weapons look like?" Master Zhong asked.

The soldiers of the Western Army who witnessed the whole process responded in horror: "With a stick about three feet high, if you lift it up to light a fire, there will be a bang and smoke."

Zhu Guoxiang and Ju Ming also developed flintlock guns, but for some unknown reason, the firing rate just couldn't be improved. The flintlock gun was fired ten times, but failed to fire three or four times, so it was decided to mass-produce matchlock guns first.

Zhe Keqiu also came over, and after examining it carefully, he murmured: "Could it be that Zhu Thief really knows magic?"

Decades after the founding of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Song people also developed tubular firearms.

But instead of firing bullets, it resembles a flamethrower. The gunpowder formula originated from the Northern Song Dynasty will not explode after being ignited, but will burn violently.

This kind of flamethrower was learned by the Jin people and was even used to deal with the Mongols.

As for the invention of the musket, we had to wait another hundred years.

Zhong Shidao called a meeting of generals to study what weapons the red thieves had.

There are different opinions, all pointing to magic and magic.

Zhe Kecun said: "Old Zhu Thief has an affinity with immortals overseas. It's probably because the immortals gave him some magic weapon."

Zhong Hao said: "With this kind of magical weapon from the Immortal Family, it is difficult to repair the last few feet of the plank road, so we have to attack from the water with boats and rafts."

Zhe Keqiu said: "Hundreds of boats, large and small, have been built, as well as hundreds of bamboo and wooden rafts. But the bandits have big boats, and our army only has small boats and rafts. I'm afraid it will be difficult to deal with a water battle."

All the generals now understood that it would be difficult to win against the bandits.

The several-mile-long plank road was built to the last ten meters. It was about to be completed, but it was blocked by a strange weapon.

Originally, wearing infantry armor to protect his whole body, he wouldn't be killed if he was shot into a hedgehog, but that kind of weapon can directly penetrate the iron armor!

Zhong Xi said: "Can you make a huge shield, cover it with several layers of cowhide, and then smear it with blood and feces? Maybe you can break this magic weapon."

"You can try it." Zhong Shidao nodded.

Cowhide is a strategic material, and a lot of it was brought with the army. It was originally used to make siege equipment.

Zhongshidao directly asked craftsmen to make chariots, which could be pushed along the plank road.

A three-foot-long wooden pole extends from the chariot, and in front of the wooden pole is a wooden board.

On the surface of the wooden board, ten layers of cowhide are nailed, and then filth such as feces is smeared on it.

The soldiers of the Western Army pushed the cart forward cautiously. The soldiers responsible for repairing the plank road hid behind the cowhide planks. He no longer wears heavy armor, and goes into battle lightly to facilitate his work.

The rebels fired twice, but to no avail.

Ten layers of cowhide, it would be weird to wear it!

The soldiers of the Western Army were overjoyed. It seemed that filthy things could indeed break the spell.

After repairing a few meters of plank road, the rebels carried a squatting tiger cannon to the entrance of Shimen.

Instead of shotgun shells, use solid bullets.

With only ten meters left, he fired towards the cowhide baffle.

I don’t know if it will wear through ten layers of cowhide, but the wooden board behind it will definitely not hold up.

"boom!"

With two consecutive loud noises, the stone doors on the east and west walls fired shells towards the cowhide baffles on the opposite side.

The wooden planks were made from ordinary trees that were cut down randomly. They were instantly shattered by the blow, but they were not completely broken. They were also held together by cowhide.

But it didn't matter. The wooden pole supporting the baffle was directly broken.

The wooden planks and cowhide were smashed back, and the soldiers who were building the plank road died instantly, being knocked to death alive.

This formation is much larger than the previous cannons.

The generals who got the result were all frightened and speechless. The red thief's magic weapon was too powerful, and there were more than just one kind.

After thinking hard for a long time, Master Zhong said: "Build more boats and rafts and attack from the water."

The red thief has two powerful magical weapons. Even if the plank road is completely repaired, it will be impossible to kill him through the stone gate.

The Western Army fought through the plank road, attacking with at most two people abreast. The rebels placed their artillery at the entrance of the tunnel, and one shot could hit a group of them, because the Western troops were lined up on the plank road.

If the Western army was really brave and could rush to the stone gate with guns and artillery between reloading ammunition, they would also be stabbed repeatedly by the spear array. Then, the gun was loaded with ammunition and shot in the face again at close range.

Zhong Shidao ordered the soldiers to cut down trees and bamboos frantically, and the largest temporary ship was built, which could carry more than ten soldiers.

There were gradually more ships and rafts, but Zhong Shidao could not make up his mind to attack by force.

Because the probability of winning is close to zero.

"Jing Lue, Lieutenant Gao sent another letter to urge you!"

Master Zhong read the letter and sat there for a long time without saying a word.

The imperial court urged Gao Qiu to cultivate the Tao of Masters. Anyway, they only had one intention: to rush into Hanzhong and eliminate the bandits as soon as possible.

But how can we survive this damn terrain?

There are cliffs on both sides of the bank, and the Western Army can only pass through the plank road. However, the rebels occupied two artificial tunnels and blocked the plank road. Even if there were no muskets and artillery, and the two sides only fought with cold weapons, it would be difficult for the Western Army on the plank road to win.

The rebels not only had large ships, but also deployed heavy troops at the landing point downstream.

What Zhong Shidao didn't know was that there were huge iron cannons on both sides of the lower reaches, waiting for the Western Army to pass by boats and rafts.

Moreover, the Western Army had to board the ship eight miles away because the rafts could not be docked in the plank road area.

Eight miles away, the Baoshui River is still in the flood season. Facing the rapid river water, how can the boat and raft control it? When they drifted downstream to find a landing point, they had already rushed to the east and west, and the soldiers of the various units were unable to organize a battle.

Even if we attack from the water, we have to wait until the dry season in winter.

Zhong Shidao decided to wait until the water level of Baoshui dropped.

Gao Qiu was urged by Wang Fu, and messengers came every few days urging Zhong Shidao to attack quickly.