After Chang Yu returned to the city, he immediately summoned the generals to discuss military affairs. The rebels used the terrain to make the fortifications impregnable, which made the attack more difficult. Even with the support of artillery, a heavy price would be paid. This kind of attack requires human lives to fill the hole. Changyu doesn't fight easily!
"To fight tooth for tooth, we can also build trebuchets to deal with it. Even if we build hundreds of them to hit them, the rebel army can't bear it." Marco was the first to put forward his own suggestion and everyone agreed. This is indeed a good idea, but building hundreds of them at one go is not enough. In reality, having dozens of them can still suppress the rebel army, or at worst can fill the artillery gap.
Knowing that the Shenji Battalion was coming to help in the battle, everyone proposed to offer a large reward to the firearms craftsmen in the city who took advantage of the good weather to make gunpowder.
Chang Yu is convinced of this. The more of these things, the better. In fact, it is not difficult to make gunpowder. Even he knows that one nitrate, two sulfur and three charcoal are difficult. The difficulty is to collect the materials. Charcoal and sulfur are both easy to make, but the nitre is not very good. Well, if you want to find a saltpeter mine, you have to find another way, such as the layer of white crystals in the corner of the toilet or pigsty. The simple formation process is that the soil near the pigsty, toilet, etc. contains a large amount of organic matter. After these organic matter decay, Then through the action of nitrifying bacteria, nitric acid is generated.
Nitric acid further reacts with arsenic, magnesium, and calcium in the soil to produce potassium nitrate and calcium-magnesium nitrate, which is fire nitrate, or saltpeter.
However, the amount that can be obtained by this method is too small, but to Chang Yu, ant legs are also meat. He came from a later generation and paid more attention to the use and development of firearms than anyone else in the Ming Dynasty.
There is a reward, and anyone in the city who can make gunpowder and firearms will be hired with a lot of money, even if it is a low-grade thing. We have to buy horse bones with thousands of gold. Chang Yu knocked on the table, and someone went to the city to announce it.
It was almost noon after this discussion. After the generals had a hasty lunch, they went back to their camps to prepare. Soon there was a commotion outside the city. A lot of money can produce brave men as well as professionals. Craftsmen who can create anger swarmed in. At the same time, a large number of soldiers and people came out of the city to cut wood and build carts. At the same time, dozens of troops were sent out to patrol and did not allow the rebels to explore and horse within ten miles of the city.
In fact, the rebels don't need to conduct close reconnaissance at all, because there is a hilltop three or four miles southeast of Tongling City called Bijia Mountain. Chang Yu believes that there must be a rebel lookout post on the hilltop at this time, watching every move outside Tongling City. .
That's why he asked Kuang Ren to lead his team out of the city from the north gate before dawn, because that's when people are the sleepiest and most careless.
The two hundred men led by Kuang Ren were fifty warriors selected from the Dongchang Guards and Chang Yu Guards Battalions. Because the reputation of each battalion was at stake, they were all the best of the best, and many of them possessed unique skills. Some are good at learning birdsong and animal language, some can observe astronomy and identify directions, some are good at concealment and tracking, and some have noses sharper than dogs. Kuang Ren selected fifty sharpshooters from the guard camp.
The two hundred people were armed to the teeth. In addition to a small amount of dry food, they each had steel knives, daggers and strong bows, and no less than twenty arrows.
At dawn, Kuang Ren led his troops quietly out of the city from the north gate and headed straight to the northeast, whipping up their whips. After traveling for ten miles, they didn't encounter the bandits' horses, so they hid their horses in the woods by a lake and turned around to sneak toward the southeast.
Naturally, the reason for expending so much effort was to avoid the rebels' eyes and ears to avoid failure of the operation. After walking for several miles, the sky was already bright and the red sun was rising in the east. Kuang Ren ordered to change the route due south and go straight to the valley.
The trees in the valley were lush and cool, but there were no paths, rocks, and weeds under their feet, so everyone had to march carefully.
When it was almost noon, everyone estimated that the distance should be to the east of Tongling. It was just separated by high mountains.
Seeing that the soldiers were slightly tired, Kuang Ren ordered them to disperse under the bushes to rest and eat. A strong man from the Black Wolf Battalion came over gently: "Commander Kuang, if we go further, we are afraid that we will enter the range of the rebel army's exposed posts and hidden sentries." I'm sorry, it's easy to be discovered with so many of us marching together."
Kuang Ren nodded: "Since you brought it up, do you want to take the lead?" The man chuckled: "I have a few brothers who are good at reconnaissance and lurking, and I want to open the way ahead!"
"No shit, you just want to take credit." At this time, a man from the Black Tiger Camp also came over: "Commander Kuang, I can imitate bird calls, but I can scout the road ahead to warn..."
After a while, a group of people gathered around Kuang Ren, asking for orders to clear the way. They kept arguing with each other. Although the sound was not loud, it was still making people's heads buzz.
However, Kuang Ren had his own way. He ordered the four battalions to be divided into four groups, each with a leader selected, and then spread out in all directions. This way, the target would be smaller and would not be easily discovered by the rebels' secret sentries. Just in case, twelve more people were selected to separate. For the three groups to explore the way ahead, he personally led a group. After formulating a set of contact codes, he headed south.
The deeper the valley went, the more dangerous it became. Kuang Ren and his party had to hide their whereabouts through the woods and had to be on guard against the enemy's sentinels. Their footsteps were very slow. By noon, they had only walked two or three miles, but they were already exhausted. Sweating, I found a hiding place to spread out and take a breath.
A confidant next to him held a branch and scratched it on the ground: "Head, this is Tongling City, separated by several hills. We are in this valley. To the east of this valley is the Shiwanda Mountain. Going south, it is probably the big lake that Wang Tizhong mentioned. , so it’s useless for us to get to the end, and if we walk another seven or eight miles, we have to climb the mountains to the west, where the bandit army’s lair is.”
Kuang Ren nodded: "The closer we get to the robbers' den, the harder it is to get there. How can we not be wary of the thieves because they are so cautious? Who knows how many eyes and ears they have set up in this mountain..."
While they were talking, they suddenly heard the sound of birds chirping in front of them. Everyone suddenly became nervous and fell silent, because this was a warning signal!
Damn it, he must have just entered the mountain when he encountered a secret whistle from the thief. Kuang Ren was so nervous that he clenched his fists. He was not afraid of fighting but worried that his whereabouts would be exposed and the little eunuch's plan would be aborted.
When he was feeling uneasy, a man emerged from the grass in front of him: "Commander Kuang, there is a small village a hundred meters ahead that is probably inhabited by hunters. My subordinates discovered a bandit army in the village."
There are hunters living in the mountains normally, and how can you tell the thieves from dressing up like ordinary people? The spy made Kuang Ren furious with just one sentence: "They are committing evil!"
"Give a signal to the back so that they can stay hidden." Kuang Ren gritted his teeth and said, "Let's go over and take a look." He bent over and cautiously moved toward the front.
It is said to be a small village, but it actually has only three or four households. There are a few shabby thatched houses, and some animal skins are still drying on the low stone walls. An old woman is cooking under the stone wall, and an old man is kneeling at the door of the thatched house and wailing. He kept kowtowing: "You will be punished by God and die badly..."
A man with a fierce face walked out of the thatched hut, lifted his pants and kicked the old man over with his leg: "You old man, I won't use your sacrificial knife if I'm happy today." He turned to face the house. With a smile: "Fan Laosi, you guys hurry up, the food will be ready soon...Old witch, when will the food be ready?" After saying that, he rushed to the corner and yelled. The old woman was so scared that she didn't dare to say a word. After saying this, the man snorted and turned to look at a nearby household: "Look at me, I'll dig out your eyes." That household hurriedly shrank its head and closed the door.
Kuang Ren and several other people were lying in the grass on the hillside next to the village. Their eyes were red. His men were about to rush over and kill him, but they were grabbed by him. , They are already here, it seems that the old thief Bai Wang has long been prepared to guard against us, and has spread his eyes and ears so far away, it will not be difficult for us to kill these few, we just want to alarm other thieves."
"Commander Kuang, they are inside... There was a woman wailing in the room before, but now there is no sound..." A soldier from the Black Tiger Camp gritted his teeth. Kuang Ren interrupted him in a low voice: "I know, but the overall situation is more important... ..." As he was talking, he saw the thief suddenly pulled out an eleven or twelve-year-old boy from a house and chopped him with a knife: "Damn it, you dare to bite me, I want what I want..." He didn't finish his words. He screamed and fell straight to the ground. Kuang Ren couldn't bear it anymore and shot an arrow through the head!
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