Uesakadu has been fighting for half a night and still has no progress. Yin Tuo is restless. He faintly heard the cry of killing in the north, but it disappeared soon, which made people very confused.
To the north, could it be Dayuan's team coming to respond? But he didn’t send anyone to Sun Gu? After much deliberation, he still felt that he should send someone to Dayuan to have a look and report the situation here.
The purple-shirted Taoist has been meditating. He means that you can direct it yourself. Unless important matters are discussed, the old Taoist does not want to interfere.
Yin Tuo paced this small area repeatedly. The attack is already in the fourth round, is there any point in continuing? he asked himself.
Although the protection was later strengthened, there have still been more than 500 casualties so far. This number is astonishing!
They found that there was a passage on the east side of the fort wall that could be entered and exited. It was twenty paces wide, but there were many horses in front of the passage.
There is another kind of gadget that is even more wicked. It is just two pieces of wood, nailed to two short pieces of wood at both ends, just enough apart to fit a foot in.
It was such a simple but abominable thing. Heitian placed it down without anyone noticing. It actually caused many people to sprain their feet or stumble. The team was delayed, and the firecrackers and bows and arrows from the towers rained down. Cause damage.
Hey, this little fort is not a turtle shell, it is a hedgehog!
Thinking of this, Yin Tuo suddenly stopped and Zi Shan slowly opened his eyes, knowing that he had made up his mind. "Ming Jin!" Yin Tuo ordered briefly.
"The general has an order, please give me the gold!" After Lieutenant Commander Deng Huzi said this, he turned around and asked softly: "My Lord Buddha, are you still soft-hearted?"
"No!" Yin Tuo shook his head slowly, raised his chin and said:
"Look at this hellish place. We are not familiar with this place, but they came here prepared and guarded it early, just waiting to take us to the soup pot.
Are we stupid enough to jump in ourselves? If we continue to consume like this, we will have to lose three men and horses by daybreak. Is that still worth it? "
"Oh, so Lord Buddha wants the team to withdraw first and wait until daybreak?"
"Well, at least that way we can see their layout clearly and we won't suffer too much." After finishing speaking, Yin Tuo twisted the hair on his temples. The top of his head was still shaved, and only his temples and the back of his head were braided like the Tatars. into braids.
"Let the team withdraw and rest first, reorganize the team, and incorporate the civilians into the soldiers!" After saying this, he tapped the palm of his hand a few times with the whip pole, then looked back in the direction of Jiyang Mountain: "Qian Sima has a faction. People?"
"No."
"Haha, our Juren master, could it be that he was so frightened that he couldn't move when he heard the sound of gunfire at the foot of the mountain?" The purple-robed Taoist priest suddenly shook his fly whisk and made a joke. When Deng Huzi and the others saw that Yin Tuo was not smiling, they all suppressed their joy and made no sound.
Just listen to Yin Tuo thinking and saying: "Juren shouldn't be so timid, but it's strange that he didn't send anyone or lead a team to join us after we fought for most of the night. It's time to hand over the camp with the Lou brothers. That’s right, but why haven’t they arrived yet?”
"Does Marshal Yin suspect that he has changed?" Zishan sighed softly: "There are a lot of weapons, food and grass in the camp, the Lou brothers won't...?"
"Lord Buddha, this, this is not a joke." Deng Huzi's face turned a little ugly: "My family and I are still on the mountain!"
"No, no." At this time, Xiu Xiaowei, who had been listening for a long time, suddenly waved his hand and said:
"Last night, someone sent a group of seriously injured brothers back to Dazhai to be treated by doctors. When those people came back, they said how their families were crying and robbing each other. They also saw the sentry commander Hu Yiqiu who was left behind. They didn't say anything about the people in the village. There's something wrong."
"Did they mention whether they saw the Lou family's generals in the village?"
The Xiu Xiaowei nodded: "Yes! I remember a brother once said that the team was very neat and worthy of being the subordinates of the Second Heavenly King."
"That's it." Yin Tuo tapped the skirt armor with a riding crop:
"I think it's more likely that Qian Ziqian heard about the situation on the front line and was worried that I would retreat to the mountain, so he refused to hand over the camp to the Lou brothers, so he froze on the mountain for a while.
I still trust Qian Sima as a person, but sometimes he always likes to make his own decisions.
good. "
Qianzhong is a rare master and a high-level intellectual among the rebels! At first he was under threat, but later his family members were taken over, so he had no choice but to work hard for Yin Tuo and got the position of Sima.
This person works hard, but he is too good at performing, and always wants to make people think he is different, so Zishan often ridicules him.
"That's it, Deng Huzi. You can go back and see if that's the case. If so, tell Qian Sima not to compete with the Lou family. I won't be able to compete with him."
Yin Tuo is very wise at this point. He knows that no one except himself can suppress the Lou brothers, not to mention that the Ertian King has brought troops there. If there is an emergency and a fight breaks out, the ten Qianzhong are no match!
"Let him withdraw first and wait for me at Dayuan Village. Remember, the important thing is not Jiyang Mountain, but taking away all the luggage and family members safely!" This is very important. Without food and supplies, the team will be in chaos and the family members will be lost. The leaders won't do it!
"Here!" Deng Huzi responded, called the captain of the soldiers to arrange a few words, and rode a mule back to Jiyang Mountain in a hurry with the two soldiers.
Yin Tuo, however, still frowned and paced back and forth under the firelight. Zishan sighed: "General, rest. You have been walking back and forth all night. I guess the general is confused and worried about Dayuan? In that case, you might as well send someone over to take a look."
"That's fine." Yin Tuo nodded and ordered Captain Xiu:
"Send two capable men to Dayuan quickly to bring back a personal reply from General Sun, telling me the exact situation on his side, and whether the ferry boats are sufficient and intact. Can you get up early and start crossing the river?
The same goes for Sun Gu. Since the Second Heavenly King has arrived at Jiyang Mountain, the handover has been completed. He should have sent someone to report earlier! "
"Slow down!" Zishan was suddenly reminded and glanced to the north: "We have not contacted Dayuan. Is this road still open?"
Yin Tuo narrowed his eyes, turned around and ordered Captain Xiu: "Don't send two people, send a team of people! By the way, check for invincible troops and ambushes on the road. If there is any situation, don't fight with Lian Zhan and return immediately to report to me."
He looked at Captain Xiu's back and patted his forehead, and suddenly understood why he had been feeling uneasy just now.
"General, don't worry. Sun Gu is also a fierce general. Isn't this easy? Maybe he was exhausted from running around last night, so he won't have time to arrange a report in the future." The old Taoist comforted him.
"I feel restless in my heart. I always feel that I have neglected something. I have never felt this way before." Yin Tuo pressed hard on the head of the head covered with a turban, trying to steady his mind and said:
"I hope, as the military advisor said, I am just being suspicious and overthinking." He said, raising his head and looking in the direction of the battlefield again.
The retreating team was returning to the assembly area exhausted. The soldiers were silent. Their faces were expressionless under the light of the torch, and their bodies were covered with mud or sweat.
"What on earth did they do at the ferry? I suffered nearly a thousand casualties that night?" Yin Tuo asked in his mind. He eagerly waited for the sun to leap out of the east so that he could see the ferry clearly.
At the same time, he also secretly hoped that Qianzhong could live up to his trust and bring out the team and baggage safely. In that case, he could ask Sun Gu to bring a thousand or fifteen hundred people for reinforcements tomorrow.
Yin Tuo no longer thinks about any two-pronged plan. He only thinks about how to quickly break the situation, occupy this damn ferry and bridge, and let the main force reach Guangxin City smoothly, because morale cannot afford to drop.
Li Dan endured the whole night on the mountain without moving, and did not send a signal to Lin Shuntang and Gao Hanzi on the opposite side.
"Didn't we have a good chance last night?" Zhao Jingzi frowned, crossed his arms and came to him and asked, "The enemy has so many casualties and low morale. Let's rush out and give him a squeeze while it's dark. The enemies on the road will definitely not be able to escape!"
"That's what I say, but those are some of Yin Tuo's men. If they are eaten, it won't affect the overall situation, and it may expose us.
Then Yin Tuo took a look: Hey, is there an ambush here? Either he pounces on us and fights with us, or he runs away when the situation turns bad. Anyway, I am not the most satisfied with any result. "
"Are you thinking about total annihilation again? Hey, why do you like annihilation wars so much?" Zhao Jingzi and Li Dan get along every day. Recently, he has learned more and more new words, and he also likes to come up with them.
Come play around.
"Annihilating the enemy's effective strength will not only make it difficult for the opponent to regain combat effectiveness in a short period of time, but will also create a fear of me." Li Dan paused and added:
"Especially for a well-known old thief like Yin Tuo, his will and self-confidence must be defeated!" He made a fist with his hand and made a pounding motion, and then said:
"If the enemy is not confident, our team will be confident; their veterans will decrease and their combat effectiveness will decrease, but we will continue to improve.
So Xianfu, you see, we are fighting one battle after another. These people have gradually become regiment-trained soldiers from civilians, and they even dare to fight and are better at fighting than the official army. Who else can stop us in the future? Who dares to stop us? "
"But...," Zhao Jingzi lowered his head to think and looked at Li Dan:
"Saburo, why do you need such a good fighting team? You know that the servants always have to disband and go home after completing their duties. It is impossible for you to continue to do this patrol and defense mission."
"That's true." Li Dan admitted that he was right. "But I want to do business in the future, and do big business. Not only in Raozhou Prefecture, but also in the whole of Jiangxi, even Liangjiang, Fuzhou, Guangdong, Guangxi, Lianghu...
The world is big! But Xianfu, look, if we don't have a strong team to protect us, we can't even cross Fengqiguan. How can we talk about circulating in the world? "
"You mentioned that you want to do business and circulate goods around the world, so you plan to set up a transportation team similar to 'Biaohang (see note 1)'?"
"Yes." Li Dan nodded: "We have a horse carriage, and we can still try to organize team training in the name of Yugan County, Geyangwei or Guangxin Mansion, and we can train troops in the manor.
They usually escort the goods, but when something goes wrong, they pull out to support the team training. However, the primary purpose of team training is to protect mines, shops and trade routes. Well, more like... a merchant soldier. "
"Oh, so you don't want to beat the Lou family to death with a stick, but do business with them. Doesn't it mean that you are raising the bandits to respect yourself?"
Zhao Jingzi pointed with his finger and said with a smile: "You actually said it in front of me, a yellow belt, and you didn't bring it upon yourself!"
Li Dan also laughed: "It's interesting to say that, but more importantly, we really don't have the strength to hold them to death. Even if Shangrao's entire army is dispatched, we may not have the strength.
Feng Shen came back after seeing it in Shangrao and said that the so-called "eight thousand mine disciples" soldiers led by Lou Zishi were still very elite, far beyond the comparison with the colorful men.
Even though the attack has been unable to take place for a long time and morale has declined due to lack of military rations, it is still not at the point where it will be defeated in one blow.
Look at the people under King Ertian. They were new recruits he had only recruited for two months. Five hundred forwards, three times the training of our officers and soldiers, jumped on them. In the end, forty-seven people died and more than two hundred were injured. .
In Luoqiao, we used 800 people to finally defeat the 300 enemies. So powerful!
If the Second Heavenly King did not choose to retreat that day, but stood still and fought us desperately, I really don’t know how many casualties it would have taken to eat the more than a thousand people he had left.
Thinking about it now, it was actually a bit of a fluke. Fortunately, Lou Shiming didn't understand us well and was too suspicious and unconfident.
Therefore, if Huajibao was really cut off at that time, or a bloody battle between the two heavenly kings angered the Lou bandits, and they abandoned Shangrao and attacked Guangxin with all their strength, or if Lou Shiming added 3,000 more troops to defend the left bank, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to do it now. It's possible to cross the river.
It cannot be said that they are using bamboo rafts and small sampans to transfer these supplies from Xiaban to the water village little by little. How can there be a situation where Guangxin Andu and Shangrao also receive 6,000 shi of supplies?
The Art of War says, 'It is either impossible or impossible,' which refers to this situation. The rebels will be eliminated sooner or later, but if we are not strong enough, we must assess the situation and make some concessions when necessary in order to achieve the success of the big goal.
Fortunately, there are overt and covert struggles within the Lou family, as well as greed and competition for financial resources. If it were a monolith, it would be difficult to handle. "
Speaking of this, he suddenly remembered something: "But I was also negligent. I was just thinking about how to pry the other party."
, I was not prepared for a traitor to appear in my team! How did you go about the case? "
"Basically, it can be concluded that Zhao Cheng did it, and all the evidence points to him. But how did Hua Jibsao hook up with him? Zhao Cheng himself refuses to tell the truth, and he is stuck here now."
Zhao Jingzi said: "Although he doesn't have a yellow belt, he is a member of the Zhao family after all. It's not easy for me to torture him. I haven't figured out a way yet." He glanced at Li Dan sheepishly.
"No vomiting? There are two possibilities: he wants to protect the other party, or he is afraid of the other party's revenge."
Zhao Jingzi blinked twice: "Hey, the inspector is right, it seems to make sense!"
Li Dan smiled: "Don't worry, I'll think about him after this battle is over."
The sky had begun to brighten while the two of them were talking, and the mist that floated up from the river in the early morning shrouded the forest, brushing their faces wetly.
Zhao Jingzi left with two staff officers. He wanted to take the opportunity to approach and observe Yintuo's camp situation.
Li Dan saw the messenger flag sent by Sheng Huai'en and learned from him that Yang Dayi had come to the battlefield and that he had captured one of the opponent's generals when he led his troops for the first time last night.
"Great! Chief Sheng asked Yang Lianjie to block the road to Jiyang Mountain. This is great! I can fight with complete confidence. The enemy will definitely not be able to count on Dayuan's reinforcements!
By the way, what is the situation in the bridgehead now and what are the casualties? The soldiers didn't rest last night, right? Li Dan asked with concern.
"Please don't worry, inspector. Sun Shoubei has brought 300 Guangxin garrison to help, and has already sent the tired brothers down to rest. He also sent 300 archers from the water village before, and now there are 150 people on the wall. .
Last night, more than thirty brothers were killed and more than forty injured during the fighting all night. It was very hard! Fortunately, reinforcements have arrived and our morale is still high! ” replied the messenger.
The man spoke very clearly, and Li Dan was very satisfied.
However, it seems that despite the blessing of fire blunderbuss, copper blunderbuss, bows and arrows, and even the newly developed grenades, the casualties of the defenders on the bridgehead are still relatively high.
He explained his thoughts and arrangements for the next battle, and asked the messenger Xiaoqi to go back and tell Sheng Huaien.
After he rewarded him and left, Li Dan was both happy and puzzled. I am happy that Yang Dayi has come to lend me a helping hand, but I am confused that my mother suddenly sent him here for some reason. Could it be that there is something going on at home?
Although I am looking forward to meeting him, it seems that I have to wait, because the horn of Yin Tuo is blowing again, and the enemy is waking up from his dream, and it is very likely that he will launch a new attack after preparations. .
But this time, without the cover of night, they could see the bridgehead more clearly.
No one can say what will happen in the subsequent battle. Whether it is the regiment training in ambush or the officers and soldiers on guard at the wall, everyone is worried.
"Note 1: The transportation organization formed when Songjiang cloth was exported to the north. It was called cloth by goods. Later, it gradually focused on armed escort, so it was called escort agency."
