Guicheng at the foot of Dinghu Mountain was completely dark under the cover of night. Occasionally, sentries with torches passed by the camps of both sides, which were more than ten miles apart, to show their own side's sphere of influence.
The location of the confrontation between the Ming and Qing armies was located more than ten miles east of the county seat of Gaoyao, the first county of Zhaoqing, in a township called Guichengdu.
Zhu Heji's 156,000 Ming troops were in the west, backed by a riverside hill called Lingshan on the bank of the Xijiang River.
The 35,000 Qing troops led by Tu Hai set up camp in an open area more than ten miles east of the Ming army camp. The lights were bright tonight, and lanterns and bonfires were dotted between the Xijiang River and Dinghu Mountain. , like the sea of stars on the ground... This momentum is really enough, and it is also quite arrogant, as if he does not take the great sage Zhu Hejizhu seriously at all.
This is not possible!
Zhu Heji heard the cheers from the Qing army on Dinghu Mountain early this morning...Wu Sangui even rebelled, and they were still so arrogant. It was really outrageous!
This kind of arrogance must be cured. Is it better not to be cured?
Zhu Heji stood on a watchtower in his camp and looked at the brightly lit camp of the Qing army for a while. Then he turned around and asked Yang Qilong, Zhuge Zhengyang, Cui Liu, Zhao Hongkui and others who were "working overtime" with him. People, "Qing Yao is very arrogant, I need to show them some authority!"
"Sage," Zhao Hongkui said, "students should lead a team of elite soldiers to conduct a night attack...behead dozens of people, and they will no longer be arrogant."
Zhao Hongkui, this group of "Da Nanshan boys" and Eunuch Pang's "little father-in-laws" were all the first batch of students brought out by Zhu Heji. After the opening of the military academy in the Prince's Mansion in Guangzhou, they all changed their tune to care about Zhu. Those who are friends with the saints, and those who are in front of Zhu Heji, call themselves "students" - this not only appears to be a close relationship, but also determines the seniority of teachers and students.
The seniority is certain, and the superior and inferior are also determined... It will be difficult for the inferior to commit the crime of superior.
Because there are a total of seventy-two people in the first phase of the Military Academy, and they are all of the same generation. If anyone wants to commit suicide and usurp the throne by killing his master, the other seventy-one people will definitely not accept it!
Zhu Heji looked at Yang Qilong again, and Yang Qilong said: "Sage, fighting at close range at night may not be beneficial to me. If I lose the battle, my energy will inevitably be dampened. And now the general trend is in my favor, so I can win if I just hold on."
Zhu Hexin said: "The evil spirit in Yang Qilong's belly is no less than that of Zhuge's military advisor, but his tactical command ability is somewhat worse."
"Zhengyang, Ah Liu, you also have your say." Zhu Heji then asked Zhuge Zhengyang and Cui Liu to express their opinions.
Both of them are now staff officers of the Marching Division of the Chinese Army. Zhuge Zhengyang is in charge of operations, while Cui Liu is the artillery staff officer.
"Sage," Zhuge Zhengyang said, "Why don't you use rockets to dampen Qing Yao's spirit!"
"That's right," Cui Liu nodded repeatedly, "Such a good thing has not been used in actual combat... I think it can be used tonight!"
Hearing the suggestions of these two people, Zhu Heji also grinned: "Okay! Tonight, I will use rockets to dampen Qing Yao's arrogance!"
The "rocket" Zhuge Zhengyang and Zhu Heji are talking about is of course the "sugar rocket"... This thing looks similar to the Congreve rocket in history. It is just a wooden stick with a head attached to it. A pointed cylinder made of copper. It can be launched on a simple launcher, and the range can reach up to ten miles!
However, the propellant filled in this cylinder is not black powder, but "sugar powder" boiled with "military grade white sugar" and fire salt... Later amateur rocket players generally use rockets with better performance , and can be shaped into "sugar powder" instead of using black powder with poor performance as propellant.
Although Zhu Heji had never played rockets, he still knew about this kind of gameplay, so when he arrived at this era, he put the construction of a "Rocket Army" on his schedule.
But because his sugar medicine was not yet mature at the beginning and the output was not high, he did not pursue this. It wasn't until he captured Guangfu that he finally "got out of poverty" and could play with some "prodigal" weapons.
So, tonight there is a rocket!
"Cui Liu!" Zhu Heji smiled and said to Cui Liu, the fierce man who once blew up the Xiushui Bridge. "Leave it to you. Bring four launchers and forty-eight rockets to bombard the Qingyao camp!"
Then he said to the young strategist Zhuge Zhengyang: "Little strategist, you also bring four launchers and forty-eight rockets to attack!
Cui Liu, little military counselor, your two teams will take turns to launch. Cui Liu, you go first. After you have fired eight rockets, you will move your position. Little strategist, when Cui Liu moves, your people will start fighting. After shooting eight pieces, move again!
Remember, you must move in time, don't let Qingyao's Ye Bushou take you away! "
"Got the order!"
...
There will be a fight to the death tomorrow, and of course Tuhai won't be able to sleep tonight!
However, he did not climb up to observe the Ming army's camp and defense line, because he could not see it at all... The Ming army set up a dark camp and implemented a light control, so it was impossible to see it at night.
There was no enemy camp to see in Tuhai. At this time, he was nestled in his Chinese army tent and watched the notice sent by Liu Bingquan, the governor of Guangdong, from Shaozhou... The content of the notice was also about Wu Sangui's rebellion!
Liu Bingquan got the news a little slower than Kong Sizhen, and he was not very sure - he only knew that Guizhou Admiral Li Benshen was mobilizing troops to block the passes on the Guizhou-Hunan border!
Of course Li Benzhen himself was not that bold... and the only one who could instruct him to do such a thing was Wu Sangui. Neither Wu Yingxiong nor Wu Yingqi could instruct him how to do it. Only Wu Sangui had this ability.
So the news has spread throughout Hunan that Wu Sangui has rebelled!
Tu Hai just sighed softly after reading Liu Bingquan's message. Originally, he still had some luck in his heart. What if the information Kong Sizhen got was wrong?
But now Guizhou has been closed down...
Tu Hai sighed again, put away Liu Bingquan's invitation, stood up and left the tent where he lived.
Lanterns and bonfires were everywhere outside the tent, illuminating them like daylight. And the sky was dotted with stars.
It looks like tomorrow will be a good day! When Tuhai looked up at the sky, he heard the sound of footsteps. He knew it was Zhou Peigong.
Zhou Peigong was also in the big tent just now. After Tuhai left, he had to tidy up before he could come out.
"Pei Gong, what do you think of the celestial phenomena?" Tu Hai suddenly asked Zhou Peigong, "Is this celestial phenomenon beneficial to our Qing Dynasty?"
Zhou Peigong smiled and said: "Zhongtang, you are joking, how do I understand the celestial phenomena... Hey, there are meteors falling from the sky!"
"Is there a shooting star? Where?"
Tu Hai was a little nervous when he heard Zhou Peigong's words, and quickly looked up to look for meteors - if a meteor falls before the war, it is not necessarily a good sign, maybe some general star has fallen!
"Okay, it seems to be falling towards us! And there are more than one? One, two, three, four... there are four!"
"What?" Tu Hai suddenly became nervous and said in his heart: "Four generals? It can't be me, Sun Sike, Sun Yanling, Ma Xiong? Exactly four..."
While Tu Hai was thinking wildly, he looked up and saw four "meteors" with long tail flames roaring towards him. In just a blink of an eye, they had already passed over his head and fell to the rear camp.
"Rumble...Rumble..."
Immediately afterwards, two loud noises came from the back camp of Tuhai!
Tu Hai quickly turned his head to look, only to see two scary-looking fireballs rising from somewhere in the camp behind him!
What is this sign? Who is going to die?
Just as Tuhai was thinking of this, someone suddenly shouted: "Meteor... Meteor... here it comes again!"
Come again?
Tuhai couldn't believe his ears, but when he raised his neck and took a look, he saw a blaze of fire streaking across the sky at extremely fast speeds, flying towards his camp!
After a while, three more fireballs rose into the sky from somewhere in the Qing army camp with a loud rumbling sound!
Tu Hai was stunned and murmured: "What on earth is going on? Is this a meteor shower from the sky, or is Zhuge Demon Dao acting as a demon?"
