Cao Ergou led two agile soldiers and prepared to climb to a high point on the mountain beside the mountain road. He chose a place with a wide view and lurked. However, the mountain was extremely steep and it took him a long time to climb to a narrow platform about one foot above the ground. Fortunately, Although this platform is small, it can accommodate three people. It is blocked by small trees but does not affect the view. Less than half an hour later, the forward of the Mongolian soldiers appeared in the sight of the three of them. When more than a dozen Mongolian soldiers turned the corner and walked into the open area, as expected, they were warmly received by the bandits - and scattered arrows were shot at them. It's just that the arrow shot was deflected and weak and did not hurt the Mongolian soldiers, but slightly injured a war horse. The Mongolian rangers are the elite of the army, and the Mongolian soldiers who are in the vanguard are even more elite. They did not panic when they saw the incoming arrows. Instead, they calmly hid behind their horses and held their leather shields to defend themselves. There was a shout from behind the formation, and the large group of Mongolian soldiers emerged from the corner one after another and walked to the open area, where a large group of black crows stood. Cao Ergou made a rough estimate of the number of Mongolian soldiers, and it turned out to be a hundred-man team. Just as the Mongolian soldiers were reorganizing their formation, the watchtower stopped firing arrows. It turned out that several mountain bandits on the tower had jumped off the tower and were fleeing to Wanshan Village. Not long after, rapid gongs sounded from several forts along the path up the mountain.
The Mongolian centurions stopped in the open in a defensive formation. Two teams of ten went forward to explore along the two roads at the T-junction, while the rest of the people formed a formation and waited. When the ten-man team of Mongolian soldiers heading towards the mountain approached the hiding place of Cao Ergou and others, a chaotic roar came from the gathering place of the Mongolian troops, and the ten-man team of Mongolian soldiers quickly turned back. Immediately, Cao Ergou saw a hundred Mongolian troops forming an attacking team and heading towards Wanjiazhai. Cao Ergou and others held their breath and did not dare to reveal their hiding place at all, because the Mongolian army left a team of ten people at the same place to guard the horses. This ten-man team used horses as cover and stood on guard with bows in all directions. With the Mongolian soldiers' excellent skills and bows, anyone within their shooting range would have no chance of escaping. If Cao, Ergou and the others were discovered, they would be destroyed.
In addition to abandoning the watchtower next to the T-junction, the bandits put up resolute resistance at several watchtowers along the way to the village. The bandits suffered a big loss in the bow and arrow shooting. Although they shot from a high position, their accuracy and power were much inferior to those of the Mongolian soldiers. Although the bandits were equipped with powerful crossbows, they were not in large numbers. Most of them were homemade compound bows, the quality of which was inferior to the Song Army's military bows. The weak bows and soft arrows of the bandits basically did no harm to the Mongolian soldiers who were protected by shields and leather helmets. On the contrary, they were hit by arrows and fell to the ground under the strong bows of the Mongolian soldiers. In less than half an hour, the Mongols, enraged by the shredded horse skin and horse meat, attacked Wanjiazhai. Several wooden watchtowers along the way were burned to the ground, igniting blazing fires like oversized torches. Most of the bandits guarding the watchtower were killed, and only a few escaped back to the village.
The Mongols easily defeated several watchtowers along the way, but the attack became more difficult the closer they got to the village gate. This was because the mountains became steeper and the terrain became more dangerous near the village gate, and because the resistance of the bandits became more and more difficult. It's getting more intense. The bandits were also well aware of the brutality of the Mongols and knew that there was no possibility of survival after the stronghold was broken. Therefore, when the Mongolian soldiers attacked the gate of the mountain stronghold, they suffered a huge loss due to the desperate resistance of the bandits. They were like a wolf that bites its prey with its mouth wide open but bites a stone, almost losing its teeth. The Mongolian army attacked several times but was unable to do anything about the tall wooden wall. They could only use hard bows and sharp arrows to kill dozens of bandits who showed up on the wall. However, they also suffered heavy casualties. After an hour, they had no choice but to fight. Slowly retreat. After gathering in the open area of the T-junction, the Mongolian army wrapped up the dead, the injured helped their horses, and then slowly headed out of the mountain in a marching formation.
These two or three hours of lurking made Cao Ergou and the others' legs and feet numb, but they also took a rough look at the battle situation. In Cao Ergou's opinion, one of the reasons why the Mongolian army suffered a big loss was that they attacked from the rear. The Mongolian soldiers were already exhausted when they rushed to the village gate on foot. The second reason was that the path leading to the village gate was narrow and the Mongolian army could not deploy its troops. Able to attack one by one. Although the bandits were suppressed by the strong bows of the Mongolian army and did not dare to stand on the stronghold wall, the Mongols without siege weapons were still helpless with the heavy stronghold gate. Some Mongolian soldiers who were not afraid of death used axes to smash down the village gates, but were killed and burned by large stones and burning wood thrown from the village head. There were also Mongolian soldiers who used ropes with grappling hooks to climb up the wall of the village, and were also killed by the wall. The outstretched spear tip was lowered; the Mongols tried to set fire to the village gate, but the bandits put out the fire with water. Of course, Cao Ergou also saw clearly how powerful the Mongolian army was. When the Mongolians retreated, he saw that the Mongolian army had less than twenty casualties, while the bandits were waiting to work and defended themselves in danger, but the casualties were very heavy. Although Cao Ergou and others could only make a rough estimate due to the distance, they estimated that the casualties should exceed fifty people. You must know that the mountain bandits also have quite a method for fighting, and their combat effectiveness in defense is not inferior to that of the official army. According to Li Shuang and Yu Zhu, Chongqing Prefecture and Yongkang County once sent thousands of officers and soldiers to attack the mountain bandits, but they returned in vain and resentful.
After the Mongols walked away, Cao Ergou and others quietly walked out of the hiding place and trotted all the way to catch up with the team. After passing Wanjiaping, there were many trails along the road into the mountain, all leading to the valleys on both sides. However, because the team was traveling along the main road, Ouyang Xuan ordered people to leave many markers on the road. Cao Er The three dogs will not go astray. After driving for about 20 miles, there was a fork in the road ahead, which divided into two roads: going straight along the river and going left. Cao Ergou and the other three followed the signs left on the road and turned to the left mountain road and walked along the valley stream. After 20 miles, we caught up with the resting team. It was almost dusk. Cao Ergou quickly walked towards Ouyang Xuan and said: "Brother Xuan, oh, Lord, the Tatar soldiers failed to attack the mountain bandits. There were casualties on both sides. The Tatar soldiers have retreated to the outside of the mountain..." Ouyang Xuan was at this moment. He was discussing something with several fire chiefs. When he saw Cao Ergou and the others returning safely, he slightly relaxed his frown and said, "It's good that you guys are back safely. I will describe the details later. You can call me from now on." Just Brother Xuan, don't call him a leader, you'll get angry!" "Brothers, go and have a rest, Brother Cao is here to discuss matters," Ouyang Xuan continued.
Cao Ergou walked into the conversation place where Ouyang Xuan and the fire chiefs were sitting around, found a stone and sat down. After listening for a while, he knew what had put Ouyang Xuan and the fire chiefs in trouble.
