It is said that the Eight Immortals went to Penglai for a gathering and passed by this place. They were attracted by the beautiful scenery and stayed there.
Just when Taishang Laojun met, the nine immortals each showed their magical powers and transformed into a mountain peak, thus Weiyang Mountain was born.
The ruins of the immortal are still there today, but the foot of Weiyang Mountain has turned into a large construction site.
Countless people were running back and forth on the ground, wielding tools, turning the flat, mirror-like ground into trenches crisscrossed by spider webs.
Bai Xiaoqi, accompanied by Wei Yuanfeng and Ji Conghua, inspected the brigade's positions one by one.
Suddenly I saw a place, I quickly walked over and kicked the earth wall that I had just built. There was a loud crashing sound, and half of the earth wall collapsed immediately.
Bai Xiaoqi's eyes were filled with power and he shouted: "Who built this fortification?"
The soldiers nearby came forward fearfully.
"Report to the brigade commander, this is our platoon's defensive position."
Bai Xiaoqi pointed at the loose earth wall and started to curse.
"What the hell is this? Where's the bastard?"
The soldiers were scolded so hard that they could not hold their heads up, and Wei Yuanfeng was also embarrassed.
"You don't want to die, right? The rebels have heavy artillery. What can we do with this earthen wall? What are you doing? Rebuild the fortifications. Let me tell you, whoever dares to cut corners and doesn't take his own life seriously
If it happens, I will kill him."
A group of soldiers were frightened and quickly took up the fortifications, demolished the unqualified earthen walls and rebuilt them.
Bai Xiaoqi was watching from the side, giving pointers from time to time.
"Don't make the earth wall behind it solid. Pour a layer of soft soil on top and water it."
Some soldiers didn't understand and asked: "Brigadier, why? This is worse than the earthen wall we built."
Bai Xiaoqi was furious.
"The broken wall you built is in the front, and the rebel artillery shells hit it right on top. You just hide behind the earth wall. If it is not strong, you will be buried alive. The earth wall behind you is too strong, and the enemy's artillery shells will hit it.
If it bounces back on it, won't you still hurt yourselves? Make it softer. If the cannonball falls on it, the power will be absorbed by the soil. Is there still a threat?"
The soldiers suddenly realized it and immediately followed his instructions to modify it.
There are two highlands on the New Army's position. One is Weiyang Mountain and the other is Liujiada Mountain.
However, Ulyang Mountain cannot be used for anything other than as an observation post.
Because Ulyang Mountain is too high and too far from the ground, firepower deployed on it cannot hit people. Moreover, the mountain is steep and heavy firepower cannot be transported up at all.
On the contrary, the slightly flat Liujia Mountain next to it became an excellent artillery position.
Jia Yunzhi asked the engineering corps to help transport the heavy artillery to the mountain.
The cannon weighing several thousand kilograms could not be pulled by horses because of the steep mountain road, so it was impossible to do it by manpower alone.
Feng Benyu thought of a way, which was to build gantry frames along the way.
The gantry is equipped with pulleys and ropes. After disassembling the artillery, first use a grapple to transport the barrel.
Because there is a pulley block, only ten people need to turn the winch and the gun barrel will be transported up.
Dozens of gantry frames were built along the way and transported one after another, which really saved a lot of manpower.
After thirty heavy artillery pieces were delivered and reassembled, they became a fire support fort covering the entire battlefield.
On August 28, the main force of the rebels finally arrived in Huang County.
After resting for a day, we arrived at the west bank of Huangshui the next morning.
"This...is this the strength of the Yixie?"
Looking at the lineup of the new army on the east coast, Li Jiucheng, Kong Youde and others were all dumbfounded.
Before setting off for the expedition, they were full of confidence. They felt that with tens of thousands of troops on their side, Zuo Mengeng would be overwhelmed to death even if they were to use only men.
But now, as far as the eye can see, there are at least ten thousand new troops.
They are all old troops, and there is no mistaking the strength of the troops.
"Did Zuo Mengeng trick the people into pretending to be the number of people?"
Mao Chenglu thought of a possibility.
Kong Youde shook his head firmly.
"Absolutely impossible. Look, these trenches cannot be built without experienced soldiers."
People who know how to do this are like this. They don't even need to fight. They can just look at the fortifications to know the strength of their opponent.
Li Yingyuan scolded: "Where did Zuo Mengeng get such troops?"
No one could answer him, but everyone knew that the matter was serious.
This battle must be a fierce battle.
Chen Yongfu always felt very panicked and asked: "Then shall we fight?"
"Fight, must fight."
Li Jiucheng and Kong Youde spoke in unison and were very unified on this issue.
If Dengzhou is not recaptured, the rebels will have no way out. If the imperial court sends a large army again, the rebels will be attacked from two sides and will definitely be defeated, with no way to escape.
Li Yingyuan said fiercely: "Then let's fight. There are many of us on the left and right, so don't you believe that Zuo Mengeng can fight better than Guan Ningjun?"
These words somewhat increased the confidence of the rebel generals.
In their minds, the most powerful among the Ming Dynasty's armies was the Guan Ning Army.
But Guan Ning's army was defeated by them. Even though Dongchang Xie had many troops, it was not impossible to win.
Looking at the strange and strange fortifications of the New Army, Kong Youde was more or less cautious.
"In this way, the army will attack from the front. General Chen Shen, you lead the cavalry south along the river to find a place to cross the river. Once you cross the river, outflank Zuo Menggeng's retreat."
Chen sometimes took the order and left, and the main force of the rebel army began to take action.
Across from Huangshui, all the movements of the rebels were seen through Zuo Mengeng's telescope.
He immediately said to Wang Siyi: "You take the cavalry and bite the rebel cavalry. If they want to cross the river, you fight them. If they can't cross the river, you follow them."
Wang Siyi also led the cavalry to leave the formation.
Zuo Mengeng issued another order.
"Tell the artillerymen not to fire without orders. If the rebels are scared away, I will not spare them."
The New Army's artillery was far more powerful than the rebels in both quantity and quality. If they really had to fire with all their strength, Zuo Mengeng was really afraid that the rebels would collapse on the spot.
That would not serve his purpose.
What he wants to do is to drive away tigers and devour wolves, and let the rebels help him clear out the old feudal forces in Shandong.
If the rebels are beaten too hard and suffer heavy losses, how can the rebels attack the remaining fortified cities?
Therefore, the artillery of the new army cannot go all out. It only needs to give the rebels a hard blow to make them understand that the new army is invincible and retain enough strength to retreat.
As soon as noon passed, the rebels, who had finished eating, began to cross the river.
The rebels' red-coated artillery was pushed to the river and bombarded the positions here.
The soldiers of the New Army hid in the tunnels, paying no attention to them, waiting for orders.
After being baptized by their own artillery, the rebels' ancient artillery really made them feel no fear.
As a result, the rebels bombarded continuously for an hour, and only one unlucky guy from the New Army was injured in the arm and was sent to the rear for treatment.
Seeing that the New Army position was completely silent and the artillery shells did not destroy the fortifications in any way, the hearts of Li Jiucheng, Kong Youde and others were heavy.
Fortunately, the purpose of covering the infantry crossing the river was achieved. Next, it depends on whether the infantry can break through the new army's defense line.
"I'm afraid Zuo Menggeng has a false reputation. With trenches dug like this, how can the soldiers line up? Facing the attack of my army, everything is just a decoration."
Kong Youde still looked at the arrangement of the New Army with the old tactical thinking, feeling that the trenches of the New Army only played a blocking role.
But in this way, too many troops cannot be concentrated in the limited open space, so how can we fight against his army?
He had no idea that the trenches of the New Army were actually trenches.
Taking into account the local terrain, Zuo Menggeng made a special design for the trenches.
The trenches dug by the New Army not only had the functions of later generations, but also relied on the gently rising terrain to make each trench at the back slightly higher than the one in front.
In this way, soldiers do not need to stand in the open space, but can also complete three-stage firing in the trenches, maximizing the advantage of firepower.
Not to mention, there are large mine arrays and barbed wire arrays in front of the trenches.
It is impossible for the rebels to pass through these two areas without paying heavy casualties.
The barbed wire used by the new army today has made great progress compared to the Qingshui Pass.
The iron wire at that time was limited by technology and materials, and could only be more than ten meters long, so it could only be used mixed with traditional horse-repelling wires. Although it could block the wire, it was much easier for the enemy to destroy it.
Nowadays, after improvements, the length of the wire can reach more than 100 meters.
As a result, the current barbed wire fence is several kilometers long and is connected into sheets with wooden stakes, layer upon layer without any gaps.
The rebels thought about rushing over and must dismantle all the barbed wire fences, otherwise they would be unable to move forward.
The rebels, like the Hou Jin Army under Qingshui Pass, were not clear about the usefulness of the barbed wire fence for a while. They still followed the traditional infantry combat method, lined up in formation, and began to advance towards the new army's position.
At the front are the shield chariots, lined up in a row, like the Great Wall.
Each shield cart is pushed by seven or eight civilians, and there is a soldier standing on it holding a blunderbuss, a three-eyed blunderbuss and other firearms, and he can shoot through the small holes in the shield cart.
Behind the shield car, there were hundreds of sidecars. They were equipped with magic arrows, which could cover the attack.
As for accuracy...
The third brother was resigned to the defeat.
These sidecars also play a protective role. The infantry can use the shelter of the sidecars and shield cars, plus shields and other objects, to form a group of hedgehogs and slowly press towards the new army.
Behind the cold weapon infantry is the phalanx of firecrackers. After the firecrackers are the archers, and behind them are the fire support troops carrying the Tiger Crouching Cannon and pushing the Folang Machine Cannon.
In the first wave of attacks, the rebels dispatched more than 10,000 people. For a time, the entire land was covered with a huge black shadow, like a tidal wave with astonishing momentum.