The Xuguan Bridge outside Xuguan Fort is very similar to the stone arch bridge on the Xiangshui River outside the south gate of Xiongyue City. Although it is not as spectacular as the stone arch bridge outside Xiongyue City, their basic structures are similar, except that the bridge deck is flat and not arched.

But the arched bridge openings under the bridge are similar. There is a large bridge opening in the middle, just above the main channel of the river, and there are smaller bridge openings on both sides not far from the river bank.

Between the two adjacent large and small bridge openings, there is a small culvert located above the water surface, which is convenient for passing the water when there is a big flood on the river, so as to prevent the entire stone arch bridge from being destroyed by the extremely large flow of floods.

And those two small culverts located above the water and under the bridge deck are exactly where Pan Xi placed a large number of tens of thousands of enemies and explosive tubes.

In order to blow up the stone arch bridge in one fell swoop, Pan Xi did not hesitate to place a large number of tens of thousands of enemies and bundles of blasting tubes to fill the two small culverts to the brim.

At the same time, in order to prevent it from falling and being discovered by the attentive Tatars, after placing the explosives, they carefully blocked both ends of the culvert with earth and rocks, and buried the fuse in the earth and rocks.

The overly complicated setting prevented the explosives in the culvert from being blown away by the wind along the river, and also avoided the danger of being discovered by the Tatars with white flags on duty at the north of the bridge, but it gave themselves the opportunity to detonate the explosives as quickly as possible.

A lot of trouble has come.

Pan Xi, like Yang Zhen, never expected that after Azige's white flag crossed the river, a team of troops would be sent back to garrison the bridge, so when this situation occurred, he was a little dumbfounded at the time.

After that, he thought of other ways, such as getting a small boat filled with gunpowder, and when the battle started, row it under the largest bridge hole to detonate it.

But it didn't take long for him to give up the idea on his own.

Because the bridge hole is quite far away from the river, even if the water rises and the gunpowder-filled boat successfully detonates, the chance of the bridge deck collapsing is still very small.

Pan Xi, who came from a miserable background, may not know a few Chinese characters, but since he followed Yang Zhen out of Ningyuan, he has been dealing with various explosives and has more or less developed some techniques and experience related to explosions.

For example, if the same amount of explosives are placed in spaces of different sizes, the power of the explosion will be completely different; and the smaller the space, the greater the power of the explosion of the same amount of explosives.

There was no need for anyone to tell him or teach him these common sense about explosions. He had already realized this through repeated battles and explorations.

This is another reason why he chose to place a large amount of explosives in the smallest culvert, and then blocked both ends of the culvert with earth and rocks.

In the same way, this is why at the last moment, he decisively gave up the option of using ships to transport explosives and then blowing up the bridge deck.

He knew that in the evening, the river water would rise with the tide at the mouth of the river, but he did not dare to place all his hopes on the river water rising to the right position when the battle started.

Once the critical moment comes, if he cannot blow up the bridge in one fell swoop, he will be in big trouble.

So after much deliberation, in the end, he adopted the stupidest method.

When Yang Zhen's gunfire rang out, he sent men and horses with torches to rush out of the ambush and attack the bridge, attracting the arrow rain from the defenders with white flags on the bridge.

He rushed out of the reeds by the river, jumped into the river with lightning speed, and swam to the bottom of the bridge risking his life.

Then they worked in pairs, built ladders, and used torches to light fuses hidden in the earth and rocks. Then they shouted, threw away the torches, jumped into the river, and escaped under the bridge.

The defenders on the bridge guarding the bridge with white flags were attacked by other grenadiers and couldn't care less. They only fired a few arrows towards the river and ignored them.

Other grenadier teams that were charging at the bridgehead for a feint attack heard the shouts from under the bridge and knew they had succeeded. They immediately left the enemy on the bridge alone and quickly evacuated the scene.

Hundreds of Zhenglan Banner Ba Ya La who were rushing towards the bridge thought that their arrival had scared off the Ming army who was trying to capture Xu Guanqiao, so they rushed forward even more recklessly.

As you can imagine, the result was a big explosion.

In this way, most of the elite Ba Ya La from Niu Lu's Zhenglan Banner played no role at all, but he was buried with Xu Guanqiao.

The big explosion in the direction of Xu Guanqiao made Yang Zhen and Zhang Chen ecstatic. At the same time, it also shocked King Abatai of Raoyu County, King Kong Youde of Obedience, and Li Bayan of the Han Army of Zhenglan Banner in Gushan'er, who were two miles away.

Endless.

"What's going on? What's going on? What happened at Xu Guanqiao -"

Abatai, the king of Raoyu County, who had an ominous premonition in his heart, was surrounded by the cavalry of the Zhenglan Banner. He rode on a group of tall horses and looked north. He couldn't see clearly what was happening on the Fudu River for a while, and anxiously

Asking.

At this time, there was a Zhenglan Banner Ba Ya La who had just fallen behind and was not killed on the bridge. He was panic-stricken and galloped back on his horse. Before he had time to dismount, he shouted at Abatai:

"Master, Master, the bridge collapsed. The Confederate Army blew it up!"

"What did you say?!"

When Abatai, the king of Raoyu County, heard the cry of his close soldier Bagala, he first asked a question in disbelief, and then said loudly without waiting for the other party's answer:

"All the horse soldiers, follow me to the left and right, go around the wilderness to the east of the road, and go upstream to cross the river!"

Abatai was also very decisive. As soon as he discovered that the Xuguan Bridge was destroyed and that the vehicles and artillery baggage could no longer cross the river, he immediately chose to cut off his arms to survive. He decisively abandoned the heavy artillery team that was unable to move and planned to take a detour upstream to cross the river.

After Abatai's order was issued, he took the lead and rushed eastward into the wilderness away from the post road.

He and his Zhenglan Banner cavalry had already gathered in the wilderness on the east side of the post road early to avoid the bullets and flying generals coming from Guanma Mountain.

At this time, Abata gave the order and they could naturally ride away.

However, Kong Youde, the obedient king, and Li Bayan, the Zhenlan Banner's Gushan Ezhen, who were still following Abatai's orders to storm Guanma Mountain, were not so convenient.

However, after seeing and hearing the explosion in the direction of Xu Guanqiao, Kong Youde and Li Bayan, who were paying close attention to Abatai's movements, saw Abatai leading his troops away. How could they still think of fighting?

"Withdraw! Withdraw! Cross the river in a roundabout way!"

Kong Youde and Li Bayan shouted one after another, and quickly evacuated the battlefield under the cover of the soldiers, and followed Abatai in the direction of evacuation.

At this time, the sun had already sunk into the mountains to the west, and only the sunset filled the sky, reflecting the wilderness on the south bank of the Fudu River.

This so-called wilderness is actually just a river valley plain several miles wide.

To the west of it is the post road, and to the west of the post road is the mountain range where Guanma Mountain is located.

And its east side is not an endless plain, but a few miles away is Miaoling Mountain.

There is a mountain trail at the foot of Miaoling Mountain, which can lead to the mountains, then go over the mountains and ridges, and finally take a detour to the north.

However, at this moment, Hu Dabao, who is familiar with the topography of this place, is leading his troops to guard the entrance to the mountain road at the foot of Miaoling Mountain.

Abatai's leading team only attacked once. After being repulsed, and seeing that there was an ambush here, they panicked and simply gave up on going east, directly crossed the wild tidal flat on the south bank of the Fudu River to the north, and rushed towards the river bank.

Under the protection of more than a dozen personal soldiers, Kong Youde first rode his horse and followed Abate and Li Bayan's team to the east. Before he could catch up, he saw them heading north.

At that time, he felt anxious. However, this area was mostly tidal flats and the ground was muddy and difficult to walk on. He couldn't catch up with Abate or Li Bayan at all. He had no way to say anything and could only follow.

But the further north he went, the more frightened he became.

Because on the grassy beach on the ground, where there was no water originally, puddles have begun to form.

"No, stop!"

Outside a reed marsh, Kong Youde urgently reined in his horse, and then said to the soldiers on the left and right: "Stop, stop everyone, dismount, take off your helmet and cotton armor!"

"Your Majesty, why is this? It's only March now, and the nights are very cold. Without a helmet and padded armor, how can you keep out the cold at night?"

Although the soldiers around Kong Youde did not dare to disobey his orders, they asked in confusion while taking off their helmets.

"What nonsense! I asked you to do this to teach you how to save your life on the battlefield! You should thank me soon!"

Kong Youde did not explain anything, he just ordered his men to do as they were told, and he himself quickly took off his heavy helmets, cotton-padded armor, and iron armor with quick cotton padding, and threw them into the reed swamp.

At the same time, he dug a handful of black soil from the ground and smeared it on his face.

When his soldiers saw this, they all understood immediately and followed his instructions. Then they followed the cunning and obedient king, crawling in and out of dense dry reeds, and sneaked all the way to the river bank.
Chapter completed!