It doesn't matter if two people are missing from the fifty thousand people. The commander of thousands is not interested, the ten thousand households are unwilling to take care of it, and the younger brother Li Mozi doesn't know at all!
As soon as the surroundings could be seen clearly, everyone in Kerr got up. People roared loudly and flapped their leather armor and waist guards; there were running figures of followers everywhere, some leading horses and some holding weapons.
The chaotic, hot air was mixed with the smells of people and livestock, flying up together with the dust.
After observing the abnormal movement, Baozhai immediately fired a Sky-Drilling Monkey. The sound of the rocket in the distance was covered by the excitement of tens of thousands of people, but it allowed the people near the river to get a signal that the enemy had woken up and was preparing to attack.
The captain and squad leader Qi stood side by side on the watchtower. He took a deep breath and patted the buckle with his hand: "Well, what should come will come sooner or later!"
Squad leader Qi put down the telescope in his hand and said with a smile: "Even the water around our fort is full. This time there is enough for everyone to drink!"
The lakes around Juliu River Fort were left behind after the floods. Since the terrain here is slightly higher, there will not be much water stored after the flood period. But now they are all full, like a big wine bowl that will overflow if shaken a little.
Kerr and everyone did not expect that someone in the north was making small moves. They put away the Obo and various tents and let the wheels roll.
The soldiers gradually gathered aside, gesticulating excitedly or arguing and laughing loudly, trying their best to dispel any doubts or anxieties they had before the battle. This army was like slowly flowing volcanic lava, slowly approaching the west bank of the Liao River.
"Sir, the observation post heard the sound of rockets fired upstream of the Juliu River on the other side."
"knew."
"Sir, there are several escaped monks on the other side asking for help."
"Hey, these bald donkeys are really troublesome. They pretended to be stubborn and refused to leave, and now they are asking for help. Let the people from the Inspection Department try to tell them to go to Juliu River and not into the river!"
Zhao Jingzi dismissed the person who reported the incident and turned back to continue speaking at the meeting: "Everyone, the order of battle of the army is as follows:
The North Group is commanded by Gaizhou guerrilla Chu Yunhu, who has the Gaizhou Regiment and Jinzhou Battalion under his command;
The main defensive position is commanded by Liao Changyong, the commander of Liao Town. From north to south, they are Jinshan Camp, Weihai Camp, Dasong Camp, and Jinghai Camp. Our Raozhou Regiment is assigned to each battalion for use;
The commander of the South Group is Du Wenshui, the general of Dengzhou. His command includes the Dengzhou Regiment, Haiyang Camp and Chengshan Camp. Xunshan Camp and Ningjin Camp serve as the general reserve team. The commander is Jin Shijun, the commander of Liao Town. "
He was the chief of staff of the shogunate and had a yellow belt, so the generals sitting there listened carefully. Those who were called stood up, accepted the task, clasped their hands and sat down again.
After he finished setting up, Li Dan stood up: "Everyone, the war is about to begin. Let me repeat three points: kill those who turn their backs to the enemy, kill those who abandon their comrades or positions, and kill those who only care about beheading and ignoring the front! Do you understand?
I don't need you to behead people, as long as the enemy's corpses lie in front of the position. After victory, we will have plenty of time to do these things, but not during the battle! "Everyone agreed with a roar, and Li Dan went on to say:
"Having found out that the enemy number is indeed 50,000, I decided to let 40,000 enemies cross the river.
But it doesn't matter. Each of Kerr has three auxiliary soldiers against one regular soldier, so the real elite is only 10,000, which is equivalent to the number of our defensive and blocking troops.
By destroying and disabling this part of the enemy force as much as possible, General Tong and General Qin can successfully defeat the enemy stranded on the other side, and then we can realize our strategy of cutting it off even if we defeat it with an arm, and only then can Shenyang and Liaoyang be safe!
Whether your relatives and the officials and people of Liao can avoid this military disaster depends on your performance today! "
A cavalryman reported that the forward was still three miles away from the river. Di Limei snorted in his nostrils: "Is there any movement on the other side?"
"No. Only a vague flag can be seen, and there is not even a human figure by the river." The scout replied.
"What do you mean? Could it be that when the man named Li invited me here, he was afraid and ran away first?"
These words caused a burst of laughter from behind.
"Southerners are the most cowardly. Maybe they really escaped!"
"Maybe you pissed yourself when you saw the number of our troops.
! "
"Are they hiding somewhere and shaking?"
"Perhaps, they are just sending people to Wulong Ridge for help. It's a pity that the Great Khan was so smart that he sent thousands of people to the foot of the mountain to keep an eye on Shi Hao. Now Shi Hao is dying of illness. Without his orders, none of his subordinates would Dare to move?"
Di Limei waved his hand and everyone stopped talking and laughing. "Send an order to Yesedieli and ask him to lead the auxiliary troops and people to build rafts and build bridges! The first troops must step onto the river beach on the other side when the sun rises!"
"As you command, Lord Steward!" the scout turned his horse and ran quickly towards the river.
After a while, a team of thousands of people separated from the main force.
Their horses and carts were dragging the wood they had cut down in the past few days toward the river bank, and some were rushing towards the trees they could see around them, cutting them down one after another, no matter how thick or thin they were. , What kind of tree is it?
"Hey, what are they going to do?" After receiving the report, Li Dan and others came to the observation station built at the highest point. After seeing it through the telescope, Zhao Jingzi asked puzzledly: "Do they want to build a bridge on this river? ?」
"It's really possible!" Lou Shiying thought about it and said, "I remember that the former Grand Master Tuotuo used stones as anchors and built a bridge on the river in one day to catch the rebels off guard. Could it be that his brother Li Menshi also wanted to repeat the same trick? ?」
"It's a pity that he is not Tuotuo," Wu Mao said with a smile: "If he was a famous general like Tuotuo, how could he leave the Juliu River upstream unattended and let it be in the hands of the enemy?"
"Sir, you are right!" Li Dan felt a little thump in his heart at first, but he soon calmed down:
"We used to wonder how Di Limeishu would send these tens of thousands of people across the river, and now it seems that the answer has been revealed. Forget it, let's just let him continue to be busy, and then let him rejoice in vain! "
After another hour, everyone could clearly see what Kerr's tricks were. They first built three or five large rafts, and used ropes to drag the big trees with their top branches behind some of them, and then used the rafts to pull them into the water.
Next, hang other wood, stones, etc. on it, and let it sink to the bottom of the water to become an anchor, and the raft above will be relatively fixed. Then connect other rafts from both ends and anchor these rafts to the river bed in the same way.
"Hey! I didn't expect that there are capable people among the Egu people!" Zhao Jingzi was surprised when he saw it.
"It's nothing. They live in the grassland all year round. Someone must have paid attention to it and then borrowed the beaver's technique of blocking water and building dams." Li Dan smiled as he watched:
"But we can remember that this method will be used in the Army Command School in the future. It is a classic case of using terrain and features! Although it happened to the enemy, it is worth learning!
There are just too many trees cut down, which is okay in the south, but it’s a pity here. How many years will it take for these trees to grow back to this extent? "
When time came to Mao hour, the faint mist on the river had completely dissipated, and Kerr's movements could be seen more clearly. Their bridge is about a foot wide and slightly tilted to the southwest by the current.
However, a bold raft anchored off the south bank and quickly moved from this point to the center of the river. After a quarter of an hour, it was completed. Li Dan and the others could even hear the "Woo!" from all the watching Kerrs on the other side. shouts of joy.
It can be heard that they are quite excited and satisfied, and some people can already be observed impatiently descending to the river bed, eager to cross the river.
Suddenly, Zhao Jingzi reminded everyone that a big shot was coming from the other side. Everyone looked over and saw a large black and white banner on the other side.
"This should be due to the loss of Di Limei! Only high-ranking figures have such a large banner." Liao Changyong, a fellow commander of Liao Town, said. He has been in the border town for many years and is relatively familiar with the affairs of the Egu people.
"It seems they are about to cross the river," Liao Changyong said contemptuously: "Generally, big figures appear at the most historically significant times, and their epics will sing like this in the future."
Sure enough, a group of cavalry began to carefully walk onto the pontoon bridge. There were many people on the bridge constantly throwing logs or stones tied together into the water to make it stronger.
"I guess Di Limei has disappeared now.
I must be very proud and proud. However, he will also be very angry and disappointed later! Yang Dali said with a smile. Then he handed it over:
"Everyone, I have to go back to my camp to prepare for the battle. Please stay with me!" He is the camp seat of the first battalion, and his partner is the Jinshan battalion.
With his expression, the other three campers all saluted and left. Gao Can led the second battalion, and his partner was the Dasong battalion; Gao Monk led the third battalion, and his partner was the Weihai battalion; Duanfang led the fourth battalion, and his partner was the Jinghai battalion.
Liao Changyong looked at these people with envy and said, "Whenever my men have this energy, I will ask the emperor to send me to Hulan!"
Li Dan smiled and said nothing after hearing this. The West Route Army should already be on their way to Helin. If everything goes well, they might really beat up Hu Lan!
However, this matter is a secret. Even Zhao Jingzi beside him doesn't know about it. Only Wu Mao knows about such a plan.
Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered that he hadn't written to Zhao Tuo in a few days, so he walked to the marching table and sat down. Mao Zaidi immediately took out a paper clip from his backpack and handed it over.
Several people in the room thought he was going to give an order and immediately looked over. Li Dan waved his hand and said, "You guys are busy. I thought of His Majesty and wrote him a letter to say hello." After saying that, he dipped the ink in his hand and lowered his head to write.
Liao Changyong was originally a bit dissatisfied with General Sun sending him to work under a civilian official, but after contacting him, he found that the general general was not only easy to get along with, but also had strategies and strategies.
In addition, Li Dan killed the Kerge commander Yeli and Apang brothers in the challenge, which shocked the frontline troops, so he felt a little more admired.
Now that he saw that the war was approaching, he sat down and calmly wrote a letter to the emperor. Not only did he feel a little more courageous, but he also secretly felt that maybe it would be a good thing to follow this upstart?
He secretly made up his mind that he would fight this battle well and show his performance to the Commander-in-Chief.
"Chen Dan, I wrote in front of the battle, wishing Your Majesty a long life! And I wish the Queen Mother and the Empress a long life!..." Li Dan dipped his hand in ink again and continued to write:
"Ye Bihan's army of 200,000 soldiers marched southward across the Liuhe River. Commander Shi was seriously ill and the situation was critical. I made a plan with General Pan, the acting governor, to first defeat the lost army of Di Limei, the general manager of Dongdong Road on his east road, and solve the problem of Shuo Shuo. The siege of Erbu City.
In order to anger his brother Li Mensi, I personally led more than ten brave cavalry, under the guidance of the commander Luo Guangen, to provoke him in his camp. He successively killed dozens of his generals and warriors, including Yeli Apang, the general under his command.
Early this morning, he also ordered 20,000 troops to be sent to the East Route. They surrounded Shoerbu City and built a garrison at the foot of Wulong Ridge. Dilimeshu personally commanded Ker's 50,000 troops from the East Route to go south, and built a crossing within three hours. A floating bridge on the Liao River.
Now his army is crossing the river, and a big battle is imminent...! "
"Sir, the enemy has arrived with thousands of cavalry and is forming formation on the shore. Their auxiliaries are now starting to build the second pontoon bridge." Wu Mao came over and reported softly.
"Oh? There's a second pontoon?"
"Yes, two miles upstream."
"Huh, let him go!" Li Dan shook his head and asked while dipping in ink: "When do you think they will start attacking?"
Wu Mao raised his head and calculated: "It took half a cup of tea for the first group of people to come over. There must be another two thousand people. With three thousand troops, I think they will dare to try to explore the surrounding area."
Li Dan nodded, remembered something, and said to Li Qin next to him: "Remember, ask two things:
I asked Joey, a British engineer from the Zhushun Tianfu Gun Factory, that I need a bronze cannon and its ammunition box that can be towed by two horses. It can fire solid bullets or shotshells. The height and horizontal angle can be adjusted through gears. Please ask him to submit the design as soon as possible. Give me the drawings to look at.
Another thing, I asked Virgil, an Italian engineer from Liaoyang, what conditions would he need if he wanted to establish a watch design and manufacturing team?
I need to equip all officers with pocket watches, timepieces that can be carried in your pocket. Ask him to write to me directly! "
After Li Qin finished writing, he showed the record to Li Dan. After confirming that it was correct, he signed it. After thinking about it, he added: "Please come to Liaodong quickly, Kuroki and Hicks!"
"Sir, they have begun to attack!" Liao Changyong shouted, put away his binoculars, and saluted like everyone else: "I too
Go back to your command post, sir, take care! "
"I wish you luck and success! I'll be holding the battle for you from behind, don't worry!" Li Dan returned the greeting and stretched out his hand for Liao Changyong to shake it unskillfully.
Looking at his back, Li Dan looked at Sun Dezhi who was standing at the door licking his lips, and asked with a smile: "Are you nervous? If the fight breaks out later, you might have to follow me up to close the gap!"
"No, don't be nervous!" Sun Dezhi quickly stood up straighter.
"It's weird if you're not nervous!" Zhao Jingzi went over and patted his arm: "Don't be afraid. Everyone will be nervous when charging for the first time. You'll know it after two or three times, and that's it. Even the grandson of my county prince is not afraid. , what are you, the grandson of the commander-in-chief, afraid of?"
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a "boom" outside. Sun Dezhi couldn't help but shrink his neck, and Zhao Jingzi laughed loudly: "It's okay, some idiot Ker stepped on a landmine. If you don't believe it, listen to this scream, isn't it terrible?"
