Just as Zuo Liangyu was gnashing his teeth, a soldier galloped up to him and reported: "General Zuo found a piece of wood in the middle of the road ahead with a line of writing on it."
Zuo Liangyu said: "What is written?"
The soldier said: "That word says...that...it's very unbearable, so General, you should go and take a look for yourself."
Seeing the soldier hemming and hawing, Zuo Liangyu glared at him, snorted coldly, and rode forward to reach the front line. Sure enough, he saw a thick log standing in the middle of the road. A line of words written in red paint on the tree trunk:
"The first fierce general is not as good as the number of soldiers. He will be defeated to the extreme. I will send you to change your skirt and go home."[
The signature was clearly the leader of the horse thieves, "Chu Duantai". Under this log, he also placed two fat skirts in colorful colors, which were exactly the style of obscene clothes worn by the old aunt.
Zuo Liangyu's eyes were about to burst. He turned his hand and pulled out the nine-ring sword hanging on the weapon ring. He slashed it with a slash, only to hear a "click" sound, cutting the big log that was surrounded by one person into two pieces.
"All armies are ordered to line up to pursue and must not let go of the group of horse thieves." Zuo Liangyu's order was almost a roar.
No matter how loud the roar is in the valley hundreds of feet away, it can't be heard on the top of the mountain, but Zuo Liangyu's actions of drawing the sword to chop wood can be clearly seen by Hua Bushi, Yang Sichang and others.
Then I saw the officers and cavalry quickly gathered into a charge formation. Zuo Liangyu took the lead and led the army to pursue the group of horse thieves from "Chu Duantai" in the direction where they fled.
"Mr. Sichang's clever plan really worked. Zuo Liangyu is already on the Internet," Hua Bushi said.
Yang Sichang said: "Although Zuo Liangyu has been angered, he has been in battle for a long time and has a lot of experience. He only led the front army and the middle army to chase the enemy, but left the rear army to protect the food and grass. Now whether this plan is successful depends on Master Hua's subordinates." The ability of men and horses is over"
Hua Bushi smiled and said: "You can rest assured at this time. As long as most of Zuo Liangyu's troops are lured away, the remaining few hundred cavalry will not be a worry. But in the future, when Mr. Yang enters the court again as an official and Zuo Liangyu becomes a minister in the same palace, if He knows that today's plan is the master's idea, and he is afraid that it will be difficult to give up."
Yang Sichang said: "Most of the generals in the imperial court today are not good at fighting. Zuo Liangyu is really a rare general who can be put to great use. It's just that he is too proud and arrogant. There are still flaws in his character. If he wants to become a great weapon, this is the way." A defeat may not mean that there will be no benefit. As for him later learning that I was to blame, this is a battle where everyone is their own master, Sichang, but he is not afraid of him."
After hearing Yang Sichang's words, Hua Bushi couldn't help but feel moved in his heart. Yang Sichang was originally dismissed from office and was idle at home. Now he came all the way to Wangwushan with Hua Bushi and other Jianghu people, and he was so enthusiastic in offering his plans and efforts to deal with Zuo Liangyu. The people and horses should not be just to thank Hua Bushi for borrowing the house.
This Mr. Yang is originally from the "Five Kings Party" and is the sworn enemy of Zuo Liangyu and the "Donglin Party" behind Fugui Villa. It seems that this time the "Arhat Sect" and the "Shaolin Sect" are attacking the "Fugui Alliance". The simple struggle between rivers and lakes also has the shadow of the party struggle in the current imperial court. Without the secret support of the "Five Kings Party", even if Yang Sichang had a high official position in the past, he is now an official. How could he win over the prefectures and counties with just a few letters? Officials obey orders
Hua Bushi's inner thoughts were turning, but his face was smiling without showing any signs of it.
Chu Yiyi said: "Master, the time has come, should we take action?"
Hua Bushi looked into the canyon and saw that Zuo Liangyu had led more than a thousand men and horses to pursue them. There were only 500 cavalry and fifty or sixty caravans carrying grain and grass in the valley. car"
A loud arrow was shot and stuck in front of the grain cart in the valley.
The officer cavalry guarding the grain truck looked up and saw one or two hundred bandits emerging from the woods on the hillside at some point. As soon as they drove them away, another group came. This place in the barren mountains is really a ghost place. Lots of thieves
But seeing this new group of bandits, although they were all masked in black scarves, they were all strong and strong, carrying long knives on their waists and carrying long cowhide sheaths slung across their backs. Their well-equipped equipment looked better than the previous group of armors. The crippled guy is much stronger
These bandits are all disguised as disciples from Perak Camp. They have to hide in the dense forest, so they have to walk without riding horses.
The officers and cavalry responded immediately. Five hundred people moved quickly to surround the caravan. Fireworks were also released into the air to inform Zuo Liangyu of the attack. The general commanding the rear team acted very cautiously in the face of these two mountains. Although the thief has a numerical advantage of five hundred cavalry, he does not intend to take the initiative. Instead, he will first protect the food and grass and wait until Zuo Liangyu's group returns before making any plans.[
This was a way to deal with the unexpected. Zuo Liangyu led his army to chase down the group of horse thieves. They were not too far away and should be back soon to rescue this group of bandits. No matter how powerful they are, they will break through 500 in this short period of time. It is absolutely impossible for the cavalry to defend themselves and seize the grain carts.
It's just that Hua Bushi had already expected this defensive strategy and had already thought of a way to deal with it.
Only a "rumbling" sound was heard. The bandits actually dragged out ten catapults from the woods and brought out many pottery jars the size of wine jars, lit them with fuses, and shot them.
These catapults and cupping pots were originally prepared to deal with the underworld water bandits in Chu Changting. They were used up on the Yellow River and came in handy again here.
The catapult has a shooting range of fifty feet, and it is placed on the hillside at a high position, just right to launch the grain truck from the hillside. After one round of shooting, four or five grain trucks were hit and burned, and several more were burned. Even though the cupping jar was not thrown into the caravan and smashed on the ground, it still ignited a huge fire.
The officers and soldiers were shocked. Many soldiers rushed to the caravan to put out the fire. However, the black oil in the clay pots was extremely flammable. In the valley, there was basically water and fire, but it could not be extinguished so easily.
The second round of fire cans was fired, and several more grain trucks caught fire. Under the order, the officers, soldiers and cavalry had already mounted their horses and climbed up the hillside.
This is a last resort. If we continue to line up and let the catapults on the hillside fire the cuppings, the soldiers can't put out the fire at the speed at which the bandits set the fire. The commanders and generals of the army must also understand that the food and grass are definitely going to be burned. This is because he immediately ordered the cavalry to attack the bandits on the slope.
When the bandits saw the cavalry attack, they immediately took out the things in the cowhide sheaths they were carrying behind them. They were all shiny muskets. A burst of "crack-pap-pap-pap" gunshots rang out on the hillside, and bursts of white gunpowder smoke rose down the slope. The army of officers, soldiers and cavalry immediately fell in large numbers.
If the cavalry is dozens of feet away on flat ground, it only takes a few breaths to rush there. However, there is a hillside in front of them. Although it is not very steep, the horses cannot charge upward and can only climb up slowly. The large group of cavalry will become A living target for the opponent to shoot at
The bandits on the slope had no time to shoot one round and then reloaded. After the second round of gunfire, another thirty or forty cavalry fell off their horses.
The general who commanded the troops down the slope was a sixth-grade Qianzong. At this moment, he was dumbfounded and stretched out his hand to rub his eyes hard. He could hardly believe that what he saw in front of him was just a real catapult. The opponent actually had so many of them. Since when did muskets come to be known as bandits have such sophisticated weapons? They are much more powerful than the equipment of regular officers and soldiers.
It is not unusual for firearms to be widely used in the army of the Ming Dynasty. However, the firearms in most armies are very crude and less powerful than ordinary crossbows. They are basically useless. Troops truly equipped with advanced firearms are among the Ming army.
There is only the Shenji Battalion among them, and the Shenji Battalion has been stationed in the capital for a long time and belongs to the imperial guard of the current emperor. The muskets it is equipped with are all purchased from Western countries at the cost of a huge amount of silver.
General Qian, who was also a soldier stationed in Gyeonggi, naturally knew that the Shenji Battalion had seen their equipment. However, in his opinion, the range and power of the Shenji Battalion's muskets did not seem to be as high as those in these mountains.
Possessed by thieves
A gun fired from a distance of dozens of feet can easily penetrate heavy armor and kill an army knight. Is this still a bandit?
Now that things have happened, there is no other way but to storm up the hillside.
The men and horses under Zuo Liangyu's command, finally the elite of the army, climbed up in the rain under orders, fired four rounds of muskets, and at the cost of more than a hundred riders, finally reached the bandit's front and the dozen or so aircraft.
The catapults are only ten feet apart
However, this ten feet distance is far out of reach
The bandits holding muskets quickly retreated, but forty or fifty thieves wearing green clothes and holding long swords jumped out from behind and immediately started fighting with the officers and cavalry.
They formed a sword formation in a group of seven people, covered with blue cloth and unable to see their faces. Who else could be there besides Qingyun Guards?
The power of the "Qingyun Sword Formation" is even difficult for top masters like Chu Changting to break through. If hundreds of officers and soldiers charge in formation on the plain, they may still pose some threat to the sword formation. Now, the advantage of riding on the mountain is completely
If you can't perform well, it will be difficult to overcome the Qingyun Guard's blockage.
Forty-nine Qingyun Guards jumped through the sword formation and used the "Xingluo Style", which is the most adept at group attack among the formations. In just a moment, the official cavalry who rushed into the formation were stabbed.
After slashing and killing forty or fifty people, the rest did not dare to go forward anymore [
Even elite soldiers would be afraid of death and rush into such a strict sword formation. Even the bravest soldiers would inevitably be afraid if they narrowly escaped death.
On the top of the mountain a hundred feet away, Yang Sichang looked at the progress of the battle on the hillside and sighed with emotion: "Master Hua's disciples are really very capable. With the formation of these dozens of disciples, they can be powerful enough to command the power of a thousand people."
Hua Bushi smiled slightly and said: "Mr. Sichang praised me for being able to block the heavy cavalry. This formation is just taking advantage of the terrain. If we are really on the battlefield with thousands of troops and horses, these mere 100 disciples are still not worth mentioning."
He glanced down the mountain and said: "The war situation has been decided. Zuo Liangyu will probably search the mountain extensively when he returns and finds that the food and grass have been burned. It is not suitable to stay here for a long time. We should take the first step."