Before the construction of Hengyuan Fort, Wanjia Fort was the biggest defense in the mountains and the most important fortress of the Perak Army. During this time, the field battalion of the Perak Army was guarding the construction of Hengyuan Fort and various farming sites in the plains. The inner guard battalion also had reconnaissance and guard tasks, so Ouyang Xuan dispatched the teaching company stationed in Wanjiapu to counter the rebellion. . In order to ensure nothing went wrong, Ouyang Xuan asked Yu Zhu to urgently recruit soldiers from two companies of the garrison camp in Wanjiaping. These soldiers are industrial workers in various mines and factories in Wanjiaping, and their daily military training level is more than enough to serve as fort defenders and logistics supplies. After leaving Yu Zhu and a company of the garrison battalion to garrison Wanjiabao, Ouyang Xuan took the teaching company and another company of the garrison battalion that was urgently recruited to the direction of Wandanping. In fact, not long after they set off, they saw the vanguard of the rebels from a distance.
At noon, when Linde led the rebels to the intersection of Liuliba and Wanjiaping, the scouts who went out to conduct reconnaissance brought back the military information that the Perak Army was coming towards them from Wanjiaping. This sudden news shattered Linde's panic. He understood that his raid plan was ruined. However, this Linde was also a man who licked blood from his sword. In a moment, he calmed down and ordered the whole team to immediately turn towards Liuliba. To say that Linde's decision was not wrong, when the attack lost its surprise, it was obviously not appropriate for the guest army to compete with the Perak Army for consumption, but should retreat to the favorable terrain as soon as possible. Unlike Wandanping, which lacks supplies and has no fortifications, Liuliba is obviously a better choice. In terms of long-term persistence, Liuliba is second only to Wanjiaping in Jiguan Mountain. After Lin De entered the mountain, he seemed to be doing nothing but eating, drinking and sleeping every day, but in fact he was studying the Pili Army and Ouyang Xuan. He knew that Liuliba, where the Perak Army was founded, was not only easy to defend but difficult to attack, but also had mines and firearms-making workshops. As long as this place was captured, it could be defended with firearms, and there would be a way to compete with Ouyang Xuan. capital.
Ouyang Xuan and Huang Dagen saw the rebels heading towards Liuliba from a distance. While they ordered the teaching company to pursue them at full speed, they ordered people to return to Wanjiapu to release carrier pigeons. Homing pigeons are only kept in important military and political locations or in important villages, and are not suitable for carrying during marches and battles. Linde's men were elite and lightly armed, and they marched extremely fast. On the other hand, although the teaching company is also the elite of the Perak Army, its speed is much slower because it carries artillery, spears, giant shields and other baggage. After chasing for a while, the distance between the two sides became wider and wider. However, Ouyang Xuan also understood that haste makes waste in pursuit on the mountain road, and he did not order a full-speed pursuit. If the teaching company abandons its artillery and heavy equipment and marches hastily, even if it catches up without firearms, it will not be a match for the rebels. Even if they were lucky enough to defeat the rebels in close hand-to-hand combat, they would inevitably suffer heavy casualties, and the Perak Army simply could not afford such losses. He prayed in his heart that the Liuliba defenders would receive the flying pigeon message and be ready for battle in time.
Although Liuliba received the warning from Fei Ge, he was still caught off guard. Because at this time, Lin De and his people had already marched two miles in front of the village gate. There was originally a company of the garrison battalion stationed in Liuliba, but during this period a platoon was transferred to build Hengyuan Fort, and most of the remaining people went to the mountains to farm and hunt. In fact, there was only one squad of guards. There is nothing wrong with this arrangement. After all, if the enemy outside the mountain wants to attack Liuli Village, they must capture Wanjia Fort and Hengyuan Fort, whose main work has been completed, and this situation will obviously not happen at the same time. A squad of troops is obviously more than enough to deal with small-scale infiltration and spies, so the garrison commander of Liuli Village can safely take his people into the mountains for hunting and will not be able to come back in a short time. There were too many refugees pouring into the mountains during this period, and the pressure on food was great. He took his brothers to hunt some wild animals to help Brother Xuan relieve some of the pressure.
The squad leader who stayed behind at Liulizhai was named Dong Shitou. He looked at the long line of rebels on the mountain road below and panicked for a moment. He knew that his squad would not be able to defend Liuli Village no matter what. There were two cannons on the wall, but neither he nor his brothers had ever operated them personally. Dong Shitou was in a panic. In addition to ringing the gong as a warning, he just jumped on the wall of the village and watched his soldiers messing with the artillery. The rapid sound of the gong suppressed the clanging sound of the industrial area behind the wall, and then the workers walked out of the workshop to take a look. After the Perak Army made Wanjiaping its headquarters, it still regarded Liuliba as an important military industrial area. There were still cannon foundries, shield and spear workshops in the industrial zone of the first village wall, and even a new hydraulic fort was built. Gun barrel stamping workshop. In addition to residential areas and mines behind the second village wall, there is also a gunpowder workshop and grenade assembly workshop in a remote place near the mountainside. There are hundreds of industrial workers in the entire Liuliba. If you include the criminals who work hard in the mines, the number of people engaged in industry and mining is as high as thousands. It is an industrial center second only to Wanjiaping.
Just when Dong Shitou was sweating profusely with anxiety, a large group of workers ran towards the village wall, led by a muscular black man. After seeing the person clearly, Dong Shitou jumped up with joy as if he had grasped a life-saving straw, and shouted happily, "Brother Sledgehammer, you are so good to be here." The person who came was none other than Hu Dachui, the technical director of Liuliba Military Factory. It is no exaggeration to say that Blacksmith Hu and his blacksmith shop were the predecessors of the industrial company, and his three sons were also among the elders. With the layout of the Pili military industry, Hu Tiejiang and the other two Hu Erchui and Hu Sanchui went to Wanjiaping, Huaguoshan and other places respectively. Only Hu Dachui stayed in Liuliba. Now mainly responsible for gun casting. Hu Dachui led his men hurriedly up to the wall of the village. He looked at the rebels who were getting closer and closer, briefly asked about the situation, and then took command directly. He ordered a few workers to operate the artillery, and also ordered people to go to the grenade assembly workshop to get the grenades. The other workers moved important tools and items from the factory area behind the second wall, with special emphasis on moving the blanks of the musket barrels. Not only did Dong Shitou not have the slightest objection to Hu Dachui's overreaching, but he was relieved and let out a long sigh.
As soon as the rebels entered the firing range, they came under fire as expected. However, due to the rapid march, the rebels' marching team was very long, and not many people entered the artillery range. The workers' artillery skills were not as good as those of professional gunners. Therefore, the rebels only killed and injured a few people in the two shellings in this round. The killing effect was not even as good as the Mongolian arrow rain. Linde took the opportunity to encourage loudly, saying that the only way to survive is to move forward, and to die if you stop and retreat. His men also understood this truth. Since ancient times, no matter what force it is, the punishment for those who fail in the rebellion has been extremely severe. Nowadays, the only way to survive is to fight to the death.
To be sure, these rebels were indeed elite. After three rounds of shelling, they rushed to the wall of the village and only lost more than twenty people. They rushed to the base of the village wall and braved the explosion of grenades, drawing their bows and shooting arrows. Although more than ten people were knocked down by the explosion, they still refused to retreat. Linde's rebel army is a typical Song army, with more than 50% of them being crossbowmen. Nearly a hundred archers fired arrows at the same time, and for a while, arrows flew everywhere on the wall. Although protected by stone discs, the guards on the wall were still hit by arrows and fell to the ground, and more than ten people were killed or injured in a short period of time. What's even more terrible is that Dong Shitou's squad is a second-line unit. The ten members of the squad are only equipped with a dozen old-fashioned grenades, which cannot withstand throwing. Without the suppression of grenades, the rebels' crossbows became more violent, and the guards were so suppressed that they did not dare to show their heads. Hu Dachui saw that he could only be passively shot at if he stayed on the wall. If the wall could not be defended, it would only increase casualties, so he ordered to withdraw to the second wall.
