It was originally a two-day journey, but in view of the fact that they were almost ambushed by the enemy before, Mu Sheng's more than 5,000 people were suspicious and cautious along the way, and it took them three and a half days to reach the front line.
Passing by the heavily guarded Lu'an City, the densely packed white tents under the city stood up and down one after another for several miles. In the military camp, men and horses neighed and smoke curled up. Finally, they arrived at the territory of General Deng Qi.
Mu Sheng looked at the number of tents and estimated that there were at least 30,000 to 40,000 troops gathered here.
At this time, the gate of the military camp was wide open, and a group of cavalry came galloping towards Mu Sheng's troops. The leader was a middle-aged man with a slender body and three strands of beard and a resolute expression.
When Mu Sheng saw this, he thought he might be General Deng Qi Liu. Seeing this, he also rode forward to greet him.
Deng Qi came up to greet him with a smile and said, "Since Lord Changping has come from afar, I will not be able to welcome him from afar. We have prepared some food and wine in the camp to welcome Lord Changping and wash away the dust."
Mu Sheng also held up his hands and smiled and said, "General Deng is so polite. My army is under the control of General Deng, and I am also under the general's command. The general came out of the camp gate to greet me today. It is really a disgrace to the general."
Deng Qi smiled and said, "What are you saying, Mr. Changping? Mr. Changping has traveled thousands of miles from the capital to kill the enemy for the country. I admire you very much. I also ask Mr. Changping to come to the tent to have a drink and talk."
Mu Sheng smiled and said, "The general invites you so kindly, how could you not accept it?"
After saying that, Mu Sheng and Deng Qi went into the army's tent together, while Yan Kun and others camped nearby.
The two came to the Chinese army's tent. The host and guest were seated, and there were only two other people in the tent. Mu Sheng guessed that they were probably his deputy general and staff.
Deng Qi said, "Mr. Changping, during this frontline battle, it is not advisable for the army to drink alcohol. We will use water instead of wine. I just prepared some simple food. I hope you will forgive me, Mr. Changping."
Mu Sheng waved his hands repeatedly and said, "I can understand. I am deeply grateful to General Liu for such warm hospitality."
Deng Qi pointed at the two people and introduced them, "Let me introduce you, Mr. Changping. The one on the left is my shogunate army Sima Weixi, and the one on the right is my deputy general, Captain Ma Fu. They are both our own people."
Mu Sheng sat upright and bowed his hands to the two of them, while Wei Xi and Ma Fu also returned the bows.
Deng Qi said, "Mr. Changping should have heard about it a long time ago. In five days, we will cooperate with the general's middle route army to go deep into the enemy's hinterland and lay siege to Yu City, the home of the mountain puppets. General Lu wants to fight here." Annihilate the main force of the enemy army in one fell swoop under the city, so that the Southern Barbarian coalition forces will not dare to invade our border again for decades."
Mu Sheng said, "General Liu, our army has gathered troops in such a large scale. The enemy should have noticed it a long time ago, right? I'm afraid this battle will be very difficult."
Deng Qi said, "Yes! That's true. The Shanpu people are very good at jungle warfare. The main force of the former army and the Shan Pu-dominated Southern Barbarian coalition were defeated by our army, but their vitality was not damaged. We did not dare to pursue them too deeply. , this time the general will wait for the court’s food and grass to arrive, and he plans to complete his victory in one battle and directly remove the mountain puppet’s lair.”
Army Commander Ma Weixi said, "What the general said is absolutely true, but this time only half of the 500,000 dans of grain and grass have been reserved as reserves. The remaining grain and grass can only support our army for five months of operations. The situation is not optimistic."
Lieutenant General Ma Fu said, "That's true. We have sent troops south three times but failed due to lack of food. We don't know whether we can achieve success this time."
Deng Qi said, "It won't happen this time. The general said that we are very sure this time. In addition to our army, we have also invited foreign reinforcements. The general has not made it clear. We will only find out when our army attacks Yucheng."
Ma Fu and Wei Xi also nodded repeatedly.
That night, everyone ate, drank and discussed in the tent. Mu Sheng and Ma Du Weifu left and went back to their camps to organize their military affairs. At this time, only Deng Qi and Army Commander Ma Weixi were left in the tent.
Wei Xi said to Deng Qi, "General, there are a thousand heavy infantry under Lord Changping's command, which is a rare elite. Such elites should serve as forwards. Why should Lord Changping's command be placed at the rear of the central army?"
Deng Qi sighed and said, "Hey! Don't you think I'm jealous of those thousand heavy armored soldiers? The commander-in-chief specifically said hello that he must ensure the safety of Lord Changping's troops. He is the descendant of Phoenix, and he dare not have any Half a minute missed."
As soon as Wei Xi heard this, he understood that this was the young master from above who was sent down to prostitute his military merits to improve his qualifications. Wei Xi also shook his head helplessly.
Mu Sheng received the order from General Deng Qi, and the army officially set off five days later. All 130,000 Jin troops attacked in three groups. The 45,000 troops in the middle route were personally led by General Lu Sheng. The 45,000 troops under Deng Qi's command were On the left wing of the army, Tang Zha's 40,000 men formed the right wing of the army and officially marched towards Shanpupu.
Mu Sheng reluctantly led his team and was willing to be the rear guard of the left wing army. There was nothing he could do about the military orders. He probably guessed what Deng Qi meant. He was frightened by his status and did not want him to go to the front line. This was probably what Lu Sheng meant.
Anyway, in their opinion, Mu Sheng could get some military merit by following the army around. Even if he had no merit, he still had hard work. As for whether he could go back and do business, it was not within their scope of consideration.
Along the way, the temperature became hotter and hotter as the team traveled further south. Although it is autumn in October, there are only two seasons in this tropical area, the rainy season and the dry season. Our army can only take advantage of the dry season to attack. In the rainy season, it rains heavily every day, and there are swamps formed after the rainy season everywhere. The road is very difficult to walk. Let alone a war.
In the end, the army had to withdraw before the rainy season. During the march, Mu Sheng turned around and looked at Feng Wei and Yan Kun. They looked listless. They probably understood Deng Qi's arrangement and wanted to It’s a bit difficult to earn a lot of military merit!
The large army walked slowly for a month, and conquered several small towns in Shanpu along the way. They were basically empty cities. All the supplies and residents in the city had long been gone. It seemed that Shanpu had implemented the strategy of strengthening the walls and clearing the wilderness.
After marching for several days, they were about to reach their destination. The Jin army's march was not peaceful. There were always small groups of Nanman coalition troops coming to harass the Jin army.
The Nanman also made various native traps in the jungle, eliminating the traps and killing the enemy troops along the way, which made the Jin army undisturbed and slow in action. However, Deng Qi had the experience of going deep into the enemy's territory three times, and Deng Qi also handled these things. Handy, the overall non-combat attrition of the army is mainly caused by mosquito bites, disease and climate.
As the rear guard of the army, Mu Sheng also has a very important responsibility. He protects the army's food, grass and baggage. These are the most critical items. If they are lost, the army will be doomed.
The supply lines behind this march all relied on the natural water network densely distributed here. Some of Lingnan's original second-line troops guarded key points in various rivers to prevent the enemy from cutting off our food routes.
In the evening, Mu Sheng saw that it was getting late and ordered, "The whole army will rest on the spot."
Military Marquis Yan Kun took the order and left. Thousands of soldiers and horses under his command immediately took action, erected a simple horse-rejecting fence, and surrounded it with heavy baggage vehicles. A simple camp was ready.
After arranging for the troops to work three night shifts, and doing all this well, Mu Sheng himself just spread a small piece of straw mat on the damp ground and sat down directly on the ground, took out the dry food and started to nibble in the cold river water.
This is the shelter and food for the entire army tonight. Now we cannot build camps when marching. We have to march at dawn in the morning. It would be too troublesome to put them away and affect the marching speed. Unless we are stationed in a certain place for a short time or permanently. Only then will the camp be built.
Mu Sheng looked at the entire army. They were all exhausted from marching for days. Hey! I have to say that being a soldier is really hard work, maybe even harder than doing corvee service. In corvee service, at least you can have some guarantees of food and sleep.
The next morning, when the sky was bright and clear, Mu Sheng heard the sound of military bugles, sat up, patted the dust on his body, and led his troops on the road again.
He looked around, but fortunately, it was very peaceful last night, and no one came to harass them at night. Maybe the Nanman knew that the Jin army was about to approach the city, and further harassment would be of no use.
Mu Sheng looked at the march map carefully and saw that he would reach Yucheng in one day. It was the first time in his life to participate in such a big battle, and he was still a little excited inside.
Early the next morning, the three armies of the Jin Army finally arrived at Yucheng, the capital of the Shanpu people.
It wasn't until Mu Sheng actually saw Yucheng that he knew what it looked like with General Lu Sheng's ability, which he had failed to capture after three visits.
Yucheng is built on the mountain. The mountain peaks are extremely steep on all sides. There is only one mountain road leading to the mountain. The main buildings of the city are built on the top of the mountain. The surrounding steep cliffs are natural city walls. Yucheng can basically be said to be a city that will never fall. Military fortress.
Mu Sheng couldn't help but said to himself, "It's really easy to defend but hard to attack. One man can't block it but ten thousand men can't open it."
Feng Wei and the others were also amazed when they saw this city.
At this moment, the enemy Shanpu also gathered heavy troops under the city and refused to defend. The Jin army division veterans were tired and came from afar. It was a good time for the Shanpu people to attack. Of course, the Jin army knew what they were in and was extremely alert.
Mu Shengce immediately reached a high ground and took out his precious telescope from his arms. Even though he was in the rear, he could clearly see the Southern Barbarian army formation from a distance.
The mountain puppet soldiers were in neat formation, with sergeants in the front row wearing vine armor and holding spears, and crossbowmen in the back row. There was even a huge and weird-looking beast in the southern barbarian army formation, with a knight on its back. To control it, the beast's head is wrapped in iron armor, and three sharp spikes are inlaid in front of the armor, shining with cold light.
Mu Sheng looked a little chilled. If this guy were to come forward, even the gods would not be able to stop him. Fortunately, there were not many of them. They were somewhat similar to the Jin Army's Dragon Beast Dragoons. They were also unique to the Southern Barbarians' war beast corps.
At this time, a group of strangers in strange clothes and flower crowns in the back row of the Mountain Puppet Army were mumbling something. They looked like wizards and shamans. At this moment, the drums and trumpets in the Mountain Puppet Army formation were blaring, and the bugles were playing. The puppets were waiting for work, and after a horn sounded, the enemy lined up in a neat square formation and roared towards the Jin army's formation.
From a distance, the yellow crowd could be seen rushing towards the Jin army camp like a tide, and the two armies suddenly shouted and killed each other.
In the last two days, the Jin army marched much slower, resting for a long time and walking for a short time, just to cope with the current situation.
The Jin army also had drums and drums, and bugles were playing frequently. The front row held swords and shields, and the heavy infantry held long weapons and stood ready. The rear row of crossbowmen gave orders, and a black rain of arrows covered the sky like a layer of black clouds. Generally, they shot at the enemy. Seeing this, the enemy's forwards also raised their shields to resist. However, the Jin army's arrow rain was too dense, and many southern barbarian soldiers were shot to the ground. Suddenly, there were wailings in front of the army.
After paying the price of casualties, the enemy troops finally rushed to the Jin army's formation and fought together. The Jin army's heavy armored infantry formed a square formation and rushed into the enemy's formation holding weapons, fighting the enemy troops together like a meat grinder.
At this time, Mu Sheng observed that many of the barbarian soldiers wearing rattan armor in the front row of the enemy army had passed through the Jin army's arrow rain. Their bodies were covered with arrows, but their vital parts were not hurt. The casualties were very small. He was a little surprised when he arrived. The defensive power of the Puppet Vine Armor.
From this point of view, this mountain puppet indeed has a few brushes.
