After cleaning the battlefield, Ouyang Xuan decided to rest on the spot instead of returning to the hill to camp, mainly because of the captured horses.
This time, only more than 200 of the Mongolian's 600 horses escaped, and more than 100 were killed. The Perak Army captured more than 230 horses.
Since there were very few people on horseback in the field camp, these war horses could not be used for the time being, and they did not dare to send people back to Qiongzhou, so they had to temporarily tie them up in the valley.
In order to protect these precious war horses, the field camp had to camp in the ravine. In order to prevent the Mongols from attacking, Ouyang Xuan ordered people to dig three trenches at the entrance of the ravine, and each trench was built with sandbags as parapets.
As for the surrounding mountains surrounding the ravine, hidden sentries were also placed to prevent Mongolian sneak attacks. After setting up camp, the soldiers of the Perak Army did not rest. Instead, they used the stream to clean the horse meat and slaughter the seriously injured horses.
It was also difficult to clean up the more than 100 horses that were killed. There was no salt included in this trip, and all the horse meat had to be smoked to prevent it from spoiling. It was already dark by the time we finished all this.
Compared to the happy worries that the capture of the war horses brought to Ouyang Xuan, the news he got from the captives made him worried.
He had previously planned to send people to Mingshan City to attack the Mongols with the defenders, but he learned from the captured new auxiliary troops that the Mongolian army had already occupied Mingshan City.
It turned out that as soon as Cheri captured Baizhang City, he sent another two hundred people to attack Mingshan City forty miles away without stopping.
The defenders of Mingshan City did not know that the Qiongzhou defenders had fled towards Yazhou, nor did they know that Baizhang City had fallen into the hands of the Mongolian army. Instead, they thought that with the steep Baizhang as a barrier, Mingshan City naturally felt safe and relaxed, and neglected to take precautions. , the city gate was also wide open, and the Mongolian cavalry that came rapidly rushed into the city.
In panic, all the defenders in the city fled. The Mongolian army did not pursue and kill, nor did they set fire to the city. Instead, they closed the four gates and waited for the arrival of a large force led by Cheri.
This was not because the Mongolian cavalry suddenly became merciful, but because they had been running for days and both men and horses were exhausted.
Mingshan City was so easily occupied by the Mongolian army, which put the Perak Army in a dilemma. If you go to fight with horses, it will be too much of a drag, and if you divide your troops, it will be easy to be defeated one by one by the Mongolian army.
Ouyang Xuan thought over and over again and decided to wait for support from the rear before making any plans. To this end, he wrote three letters and sent fast-footed soldiers back to Qiongzhou.
The first letter was written to Le Quan'an and Zhou Jianshen. In the letter, Ouyang Xuan asked Le Quan'an to be responsible for the defense of Qiongzhou City, and asked Zhou Jianshen to select 300 elite troops from the surrendered Qiongzhou new auxiliary army to be sent to the Reformation Camp, plus three more from the Reformation Camp stationed in Qiongzhou. A company came within three days of receiving the order.
There are eighty miles from Qiongzhou to Baizhang, and forty miles from Baizhang to Mingshan. This one hundred and twenty miles can be reached in two days by taking the official road. However, in order to prevent possible attacks by the Mongolian army, Ouyang Xuan made a special request Zhou Jianshen said that you can take the official road from Qiongzhou to Baizhang, but you have to take the small road from Baizhang to famous mountains.
The second letter was written to Le Quan'an and Qian Laoer. Ouyang Xuan asked Qian Laoer to collect some ponies who were good at walking on mountain roads to deliver ammunition to the front.
Le Quan'an transferred a company from the navy to escort them, and the walking route followed Zhou Jian's deep march route.
The third letter was written to the teaching company stationed in Dayi, asking them to set off to Baizhang City to garrison immediately after seeing the letter.
Ouyang Xuan originally asked them to station themselves in Dayi to prevent the bandits from Heming Mountain from coming to seize the city again. However, due to the current military emergency, the suppression of bandits and prevention of bandits could only be postponed.
After everyone finished eating the feast of horse meat, the sky was filled with stars. Because there is no industrial pollution in this era, the air is so clear, the starry sky is so bright, and there are countless fireflies flying around in the forest.
Cao Ergou ordered the soldiers to extinguish all the camp fires in order to prevent the camp fires from providing directions for the Mongols who attacked at night.
In fact, even though I couldn't see far under the starry sky, I could still see the hazy figure about ten meters away.
Everyone in the Pili Army had a premonition that the Mongols would definitely take advantage of this weather to launch a night attack due to their vengeful character.
Sure enough, at midnight, the Mongolian night attack came as promised. First, in front of the trench at the entrance of the ravine, the newly attached soldiers in dark night uniforms, holding shields and knives, silently approached the guards on guard, and slashed them with the knife. Only then did they realize that they were dressed as straw men, and they were silently shouting in their hearts. At a bad time, explosions as dense as fried beans suddenly sounded. More than a dozen newly affiliated soldiers who were tiptoeing at the front were shot by muskets and fell to the ground one after another. Seeing that the situation was not good, those behind them fled into the darkness. among.
After the new annexed army retreated, the sound of the Mongolian cavalry's hooves sounded again in the dark ground. These cavalry did not come to attack, but they also refused to retreat, and their whereabouts were far and near.
Cao Ergou ordered people to fire several shots at the sound, but it had no effect. In fact, Cherry also understood that the cavalry charging into the ravine at night would be a dead end.
The reason why he ordered the cavalry to wander outside the ravine was to attract the attention of the Perak Army and provide cover for the real killing move.
He sent two groups of troops to the hills on the left and right sides of the ravine, preparing to attack the bottom of the ravine from both sides under the cover of night.
It's just that the plan was perfect, but the reality was embarrassing. The team walking on the left is mainly composed of newly affiliated troops. Most of these traitor troops are natives of Qiongzhou, and there are also many mountain people. It is said that they are also good at mountain marching.
It's just that these people surrendered to the Mongols because they were greedy for life and afraid of death, and they were willing to sacrifice their lives sincerely. They had only heard about the tragedy of being ambushed during the day, and such a difficult night attack came again at night. They were already in a state of anxiety, and they were already ready to rub oil on the soles of their feet.
The climb up the slope of this ravine became more and more difficult. When there were still more than ten meters away from the top of the mountain, both the new auxiliary troops and the Mongolian soldiers following behind were already out of breath from exhaustion.
The soldier walking at the front couldn't crawl anymore, and was about to stop and rest for a while. Unexpectedly, when he raised his head, he found several fist-sized objects falling from above and hitting his feet directly, followed by fire and explosions. The sound and acrid smoke, the last thought in his mind before falling down was
"Grenade?". Under the bombardment of grenades, the two Mongolian troops who made sneak attacks over the mountains were repelled without any suspense, and dozens of people were killed or injured.
In fact, not many people were injured by Pili Army grenades. Most of these casualties died and were injured after falling off the cliff.
Seeing that the sneak attack plan failed, Cheri had no choice but to withdraw his troops. It's just that Cheri couldn't get rid of the bad temper in his heart, and he wanted to take the horse back too much.
No matter how many new soldiers died, he would not be heartbroken, but those cavalrymen were all warriors of their own clan. They lost more than 140 cavalrymen in the first battle - the more than 90 cavalrymen who were returned had no ability to ride horses even though they could ride. Fighting power, this made his heart bleed.
The horses captured by the newly attached troops are even more important strategic resources. They must not be used by the enemy and must be recaptured.
Therefore, in the next few days, although he knew that the Perak Army was on guard, he still launched several sneak attacks, but all failed, and instead killed dozens of people - luckily they were all newly attached soldiers.
The rage in her heart was burning but she had nowhere to vent, which made Cherry extremely crazy. In a rage, he personally led the cavalry to burn, kill and loot in the surrounding area, and even rushed to the foot of Yazhou City forty miles away, frightening the city gates of Yazhou to close tightly.
He also sent cavalry back to Baizhang Pass. But they found that the burned city gate was tightly blocked again, and soldiers were standing on top of the city. If they got closer, they would be bombarded by artillery on the city head - the teaching company had already occupied Baizhang City.
In the past few days, support from the direction of Qiongzhou has arrived one after another. Now only Qian Laoer's baggage team transporting ammunition has not arrived yet.
Unlike others who set off immediately after receiving the letter, Qian Laoer sent people back to Qianjiazhai to catch the horse, which took another day.
Moreover, although the ammunition-carrying ponies are good at walking in the mountains, they cannot walk too fast when carrying heavy loads on rugged mountain roads, otherwise they can easily damage the horses' hooves and joints.
