Intense artillery fire continued. In the blink of an eye, the cavalry that Jiagu Longgu had just assembled were enveloped in gunpowder smoke and dust. After the cannon fire ended, the horses neighed and ran wildly in all directions. The knights on the horses were either ashen-faced or the saddles were empty. To Jiagu Longgu's surprise, the cannonballs did not come from warships in the river, but from the top of the Yokoyuan Fort wall. In fact, the Mongolian army is also very good at learning. Based on the situation of the Battle of Chengdu and the judgment of the defenders of Pengshan City, they came to the conclusion that the artillery range of the Perak Army is between one mile and one and a half miles. This is also the choice for the new attached army camp. The location is two miles away, and the reason why the Mongolian cavalry chose its location three miles away. As for why they camped near the river, it was because of the hot summer heat. There were more than 20,000 civilians and newly attached troops, and digging wells to collect water was simply not enough. In order to prevent the Pili Army and the navy from attacking, the secret agent Huoli had already ordered people to set up water barriers in the river outside Chongqing Mansion City to block the waterway. When Liao Nilu appeared at Hengyuan Fort with his warship, he thought it was the main force of the Pili Army's navy. However, he sent a fast horse to Chongqing Fucheng only to learn that the water barrier in the river had not been broken and no ships had passed. This made him initially decide that this navy division was not the main force, with not many artillery and personnel, and there was still a chance to move the food to a safe area. But what he didn't know was that Liao Nilu did not let five but only one gunboat fire. This was not just to save ammunition, but because he did not want to kill too many new vassals and civilians. On the one hand, this is out of kinship. Most of these people do not really work for the Mongols, but just want to survive under the butcher's knife of the Mongolian army. On the other hand, population is a precious resource. Brother Xuan said, "There is strength in numbers." These people should not be killed indiscriminately, but should be made to do hard labor to atone for their sins.
Cao Ergou also had the same idea as him. As a loyal fan of Brother Xuan, Cao Ergou also learned a lot about Ouyang Xuan's evil ways, which should be called resourcefulness. Since the Battle of Yokoyuan Fort, he had been resisting the urge to bombard the Mongolian camp. Among the artillery of Yokoyuan Fort, except for the Tiger Crouching Cannon, which did not have the range to hit the new annexed army camp, the other more than 40 fortress guns were able to cover the new annexed army camp. As for the heavy fortress artillery, if it is filled with gunpowder, it can even hit four or five miles away. The Mongolian army, including the cavalry camp, is within the striking range. It's just that the accuracy of artillery fire at this distance is too poor, the killing effect will be unsatisfactory, the damage to the barrel will be great, and the range of the artillery will be exposed, which is not conducive to hiding the strength. He had been watching Liao Nilu's performance on the wall, feeling very lonely in his heart. Now I saw hundreds of cavalry gathering in front of the gate of the newly attached military camp, and I was immediately overjoyed. Cao Ergou had been focusing on attacking the Mongolian cavalry in accordance with the principles set by Ouyang Xuan. However, these Mongolian cavalry were really cunning and just let the new vassal troops rush in front while he hid far behind. Now that he had finally seized the opportunity, he would not let it go. He immediately sent a signal to Liao Nilu, telling the navy not to interfere, and ordered all the artillery to be loaded with shotguns. After a round of rapid fire, less than half of the five hundred cavalry escaped.
Soon after the smoke dissipated, about half of the warships in the river docked at the river bank. A large group of Perak soldiers disembarked from the ship and walked along the new annex camp to a messy shelling area beyond the arrow's range. One group of these soldiers set up a defensive formation with spears and huge shields facing the direction of the cavalry camp, while the other group began to clean up the battlefield—cutting horse meat to be precise. Even before the artillery fire stopped, someone on the warship encouraged Liao Niluo to cut the flesh of the horse that had been killed by the artillery fire. Liao Nilu waited for the smoke to clear from the wall, and then he signaled Cao Ergou to send someone to cut the horse meat together. After the last naval attack on Chengdu, many navy soldiers fell in love with the taste of horse meat. This was one of the negative impacts of the Battle of Chengdu on the navy. Another negative impact is that it is too petty to evaluate gains and losses based on the property obtained through war. This is what Ouyang Xuan mentioned in a letter to Huang Dagen. Of course, even though Ouyang Xuan said this, he actually didn't take it too seriously. Because as the head of the Pili Army, he naturally knows the difficulties of a big family and a big business.
The soldiers of the Perak Army here were very busy cutting horse meat, slaughtering injured horses, cutting the meat and sending it to the ship. The new auxiliary troops in the nearby camp were really eager to see it, and they were also eager to move in their hearts. It is said that the Perak Army's defensive posture was only against the Mongolian cavalry and had no defense against the new annexed troops. But after witnessing hundreds of fierce cavalry being wiped out in the blink of an eye, they were frightened - it turned out that their lives had been in the hands of others. If the defenders of Yokoyuan Fort were displeased, artillery shells might come at any time. How could they dare to sneak attack from behind? Unlike the newly attached troops who were watching the excitement, Mi Zhe Huoli and other Mongolian generals were naturally indignant at the act of cutting horse meat, but they had a dispute over who was going to kill the Perak Army who cut horse meat. The final result was naturally that the Mongolian and Han troops came out again, but the leader was not Jiagu Longgudai - he had been injured by the cannonball, but another Khitan general Yelu Maizhu.
Yelvmaizhu and his men walked far away and fired arrows, but they also shot a few Perak soldiers who were enjoying their lives. Although the Pili Army soldier who was shot was not in danger of life, Cao Ergou was extremely angry. After all the horse meat was loaded onto the ship, he ordered the artillery to fire together and carried out barrage fire on the cavalry's walking route. This kind of fire coverage regardless of the cost caused Yelvmaizhu to lose more than 20 people at once. Seeing that the soldiers of the Perak Army had all returned to the boat, Yelu Maizhu no longer pursued him, but led his people straight to the civilian husband's camp. However, they were bombarded by warships at the gate of the civilian camp, so they had to retreat angrily.
Based on a horse's 200 kilograms of meat, the more than 200 horses cut this time amounted to more than 40,000 kilograms of meat. In addition, liver, lungs, intestines and other internal organs were also excellent meat, and they were also packaged and taken back. The thought of steaming meat made the soldiers of the Perak Army salivate. At this moment, another soldier asked, why not take this opportunity to carry food? This idea made Liao Niluo excited, so he sent dozens of people there, but they were soon driven back by the cavalry led by Yelu Maizhu. Although the warships carried out cover bombardment, and the mud also reduced the mobility of the Mongolian cavalry, it was too difficult to hit moving targets when the firepower density was insufficient. Before the naval reinforcements arrive, the warship's artillery shells will be used sparingly, because Ouyang Xuan's main task for Liao Nilu is to prevent the Mongolian army from moving away the food, and secondly, to prevent the laborers from escaping. Yokoyuan Fort's artillery can naturally hit the grain and baggage camp, but to form a fire barrier, a large-scale artillery attack is inevitable. When the artillery shells fly over the new annex camp, accidental damage is inevitable, which will cause the new annex army to escape or even counterattack. The Perak Army has already issued a message to the newly affiliated troops and the civilian camp. As long as they stay in the camp and do not come out, they will not be bombarded. Moreover, the Perak Army also promised that if the Mongols dared to attack the camp, artillery would protect them.
The situation remained at a stalemate. The newly attached troops and civilians stayed in the camp under the warning of the Perak Army and did not dare to go out. The sporadic Mongolian cavalry came to harass the Perak Army and ignored it. If they came in groups, they would be bombarded. Both sides are waiting for the opportunity. The Mongols are waiting for the water on the ground to recede, for the Pili Army to run out of ammunition, and for Yelu Maizhu. The secret agent Huoli has sent him to lead the cavalry quietly to the lower reaches, preparing to cross the river from Yongqu Township at night. , taking advantage of the dawn when the Pili army was most sleepy, they attacked the naval warships from both sides of the bank.
