A few months ago, Zhongshi Road marched south from Baoxie Road, with a total army of nearly 45,000 people (excluding civilians).
The main components of the army are the Zhongjia Army and the Zhejia Army.
If you cultivate the way of a master, you will be the chief general, and you can seek the rank of deputy general.
In the northern section of the Xie Valley, both land and water can still be used. Gradually, it is necessary to cross mountains and ridges, and grain transport ships can no longer be used. Next, people and animals have to carry grain and grass honestly.
When we arrived at Baogu, we had to travel some distance before we could transport grain by ship.
But not a single boat could be found, and even the nearby villages were emptied. All the villagers near the river in Bao Valley ran away.
Then we have no choice but to continue taking the overland route. The water here is very fast and we would never dare to use makeshift boats and rafts to transport food.
Zhu Thi seems to be very conscientious and has not demolished all the plank roads.
Until approaching Baogukou...
The eight-mile-long plank road was completely demolished!
For Ju Ming, after the plank road is dismantled, it can be repaired at any time.
Because he used professional tools, he could easily remove the stack beams by knocking off the long triangular wedges. It only took a while to put those stack beams away and install them later.
But it is difficult to cultivate the way of being a teacher.
Seeing the empty cliff with only countless plank holes left, Zhong Shidao couldn't hold back his words for a long time: "Build the plank road!"
These three words are easy to say, but painful to do.
Because the Western Army did not have ships, Ju Ming did, and there were quite a few of them.
There are dozens of warships converted from large merchant ships.
A small flat cannon was placed on the deck, which was launched upstream from the Bao River and aimed at the Western Army on the cliff.
The western army on Zhongshi Road was not only the largest in number, but also well equipped. There were a large number of crossbows and divine arm bows, which were dragged out to shoot at the warships.
The bed crossbow and the divine arm bow are both "big killers". They can shoot farther and aim more accurately than the flat cannon.
They shoot at each other like this every day, causing some casualties and seriously slowing down the pace of building the plank road.
Zhongshi Road is extremely unlucky. Tens of thousands of troops are crowded there, and nothing can be done. The daily job is to send people to build the plank road.
Well, we are also building some boats and rafts to prepare for the next battle out of Baogukou.
A few rebel warships will also sail further upriver, trying to find a place to land and attack the grain channel.
However, the Zhongshi Road was tightly guarded, and the several transfer stations on the Baogu Grain Road were all heavily guarded. The rebels had no chance to burn the rations.
The two sides spent more than two months in this way.
…
"The front is Shimen. We can't do it without a strong attack." Zhong Shidao was worried.
The Shimen are two artificial tunnels, located on both sides of Baoshui River. Through repeated fire and water pouring, a mountainside tunnel with a height of more than 3 meters and a width of more than 4 meters was opened. (The stone gate on the west wall is 15 meters long and the stone gate on the east wall is 16.5 meters long.
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Only after passing the Shimen can you exit Baogu Valley.
You can also take the water route, but the improvised rafts built by the Western Army are too difficult.
"Report!!!!"
Zhong Shidao took the letter and after reading it said: "There are also bandits in Shahe and they have built camps. It is difficult to capture the Zhetong system."
There is a small river that can be detoured 12 miles away from Shimen. After leaving the mountain, it is between Baocheng County and Xi County.
Although it is difficult for a large army to move away, it is still possible to send a small group of elite troops to make a surprise attack.
Anyway, it takes time to build the plank road, so idle time is also idle, so Zhong Shidao sent Zhe Yanzhi to lead the troops for a surprise attack.
As you can imagine, the surprise attack failed.
The rebel camp was stuck in a dangerous place in the river valley. They only sent 3,000 soldiers to garrison it, and it would have been impossible to defeat it without tens of thousands of soldiers.
At this moment, the plank road has been built more than ten meters away from the stone gate.
The Western Army in charge of building the plank road wore infantry armor weighing dozens of kilograms, with the helmet and neck pulled down to completely protect the face and neck. The soldiers who placed the plank beams were like this, and they were pulled with ropes from behind.
The same goes for those who pull him.
Every time a stack beam is placed, a different person has to be replaced.
Not only was he exhausted, but his whole body was covered with arrows and he had been shot into a hedgehog by the rebels.
It's a pity that Ju Ming doesn't have a bed crossbow or a divine arm bow, otherwise he would get one arrow per shot!
But Ju Ming has something else up his sleeve.
There are artificial tunnels on both sides of Baoshui River, and a musketeer walks to the entrance of each tunnel.
Several heavily armed Western soldiers were using ropes to pull their comrades to work at high altitudes, when they suddenly saw someone holding up a strange stick in the stone gate.
What is that?
"boom!"
There was a gunshot and the armor was pierced.
The soldiers of the Western Army who were placing the stack beams were in pain, twitching and struggling, and the hammer in their hands fell into the river.
The Western troops behind him dragged him back with a rope and found that his neck had been penetrated and there was a bloody hole in his neck.
The accuracy of the bird gun is very high. Not only can it easily hit the target from a distance of more than ten meters, but it can also be aimed at the neck.
The soldiers in charge of building the plank road were so frightened that they all retreated.
A quarter of an hour later, the body was dragged to Zhong Shidao and displayed.
Master Zhong first observed the punctured item, then looked at the wound, and used a knife to pick out a lead bullet that had been deformed by impact.
"What do the thieves' weapons look like?" Zhong Shidao asked.
The soldiers of the Western Army who witnessed the whole process responded horrifiedly: "With a stick about three feet high, if you lift it up to light a fire, there will be a bang and smoke will come out."
Zhu Guoxiang and Ju Ming also developed a flintlock gun, but for some unknown reason, the firing rate could not be improved. The flintlock gun was fired ten times and failed to fire three or four times, so they decided to mass-produce matchlock guns first.
Zhe Keqiu also came over, and after examining it carefully, he muttered: "Could it be that Zhu Thief really knows the magic?"
Decades after the founding of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Song people also developed tubular firearms.
But instead of firing bullets, it is similar to a flamethrower. It originated from the gunpowder formula of the Northern Song Dynasty and will not explode after being ignited, but will burn violently.
This kind of flamethrower was learned by the Jin people and was even used against the Mongols.
As for the invention of the musket, we had to wait another hundred years.
Zhong Shidao called a meeting of generals to study what kind of weapons the red thieves had.
There are different opinions, all of which focus on magic and magic.
Zhe Kecun said: "Old Zhu Thief has a connection with immortals overseas. It's probably because the immortals gave him some magic weapon."
Zhong Hao said: "With this kind of magical weapon of the Immortal Family, it is difficult to repair the last few feet of the plank road, so we have to attack from the water with boats and rafts."
Zhe Keqiu said: "Hundreds of large and small boats have been built, and hundreds of bamboo and wooden rafts have also been built. But the bandits have big boats, and our army only has small boats and rafts. I'm afraid it will be difficult to deal with a water battle."
All the generals now understood that it would be difficult to win against the bandits.
The several-mile-long plank road was built to the last ten meters. It was about to be completed, but it was blocked by a strange weapon.
Originally, he was wearing infantry armor to protect his whole body, so he wouldn't be killed if he was shot into a hedgehog, but that kind of weapon could directly penetrate the iron armor!
Zhong Xi said: "Can you make a huge shield, cover it with several layers of cowhide, and then smear it with blood and feces? Maybe you can break this magic weapon."
"You can try it." Zhong Shidao nodded.
Cowhide is a strategic material, and a lot of it was brought with the army. It was originally used to make siege equipment.
Zhongshidao directly asked the craftsmen to make the chariot, which could be pushed along the plank road.
A three-foot-long wooden pole extends from the chariot, and in front of the wooden pole is a wooden board.
On the surface of the wooden board, ten layers of cowhide are nailed, and then excrement and other filthy substances are smeared on it.
The soldiers of the Western Army pushed the cart forward cautiously. The soldiers responsible for building the plank road hid behind the cowhide boards. They no longer wore heavy armor and went into battle lightly to facilitate their work.
The rebels fired twice, but to no avail.
Ten layers of cowhide, it would be weird to wear it!
The soldiers of the Western Army were overjoyed. It seemed that filthy objects could indeed break the spell.
After repairing a few meters of plank road, the rebels carried a Crouching Tiger Cannon to the entrance of Shimen Cave.
Don't use shotgun shells, use solid bullets.
With only ten meters left, he fired towards the cowhide baffle.
I don’t know if it can penetrate ten layers of cowhide, but the wooden board behind it will definitely not be able to hold it up.
"boom!"
With two loud noises in succession, the stone doors on the east and west walls fired shells towards the cowhide baffles on the opposite side.
The wooden planks were made from ordinary trees that were cut down randomly. They were broken into pieces in an instant, but they were not completely broken. They were even held together by cowhide.
But it didn't matter. The wooden pole supporting the baffle was directly broken.
The wooden planks and cowhide were smashed back, and the soldiers who were building the plank road died instantly, being knocked to death alive.
This array is much larger than the previous cannons.
The generals who got the result were all frightened and speechless. The red thief's magical weapon was too powerful, and there were more than just one kind.
After thinking hard for a long time, Master Zhong said: "Build more boats and rafts and attack from the water."
The Red Thief has two powerful magical weapons. Even if the plank road is completely repaired, it will be impossible to kill him through the stone gate.
The Western Army fought through the plank road, attacking at most two people abreast. The rebels placed their artillery at the entrance of the tunnel, and one shot could hit a group of them, because the Western Army was lined up on the plank road.
If the Western Army was really brave and could rush to the stone gate with guns and artillery while reloading ammunition, they would be stabbed repeatedly by the spear array. Then, after the guns and artillery were filled with ammunition, they would be shot in the face again at close range.
Zhongshidao ordered the soldiers to cut down trees and bamboos frantically, and the largest temporary ship was built, which could carry more than ten soldiers.
There were gradually more ships and rafts, but Zhong Shidao could not make up his mind to attack by force.
Because the probability of winning is close to zero.
"Jingsue, Lieutenant Gao sent another letter to urge you!"
After Zhong Shidao read the letter, he sat there for a long time without saying a word.
The imperial court urged Gao Qiu to promote the cultivation of masters. Anyway, they only had one intention: to rush into Hanzhong as soon as possible and wipe out the bandits.
But how can we survive this damn terrain?
There are cliffs on both sides of the bank, and the Western Army can only pass through the plank road. However, the rebels occupy two artificial tunnels and block the plank road. Even if there are no muskets and artillery, and the two sides only fight with cold weapons, it will be difficult for the Western Army on the plank road to win.
The rebels not only had large ships, but also deployed heavy troops at the downstream landing point.
What Zhong Shidao didn't know was that there were huge iron cannons on both sides of the river downstream, waiting for the Western Army to cross by boat and raft.
Moreover, the Western Army had to board the ship eight miles away because the rafts could not be docked in the plank road area.
Eight miles away, the Baoshui River was still in the high water period. Facing the rapid river water, how could the boat and raft be controlled? By the time it drifted downstream to find a landing point, it had already washed away in the east and west. All the ministries
The soldiers were unable to organize the battle at all.
Even if we attack by force from the water, we have to wait until the dry season in winter.
Zhong Shidao decided to wait until the water level of Baoshui dropped.
Gao Qiu was urged by Wang Fu, and messengers came every few days urging Zhong Shidao to attack quickly.