Chapter 310: The Battle of Maojindu

At this time, Li Yingyuan put more than a dozen boats in front of him side by side, the ships were connected, and the soldiers were prostrate on the ground, holding shields. A rain of arrows fell, most of which were blocked by shields. For Li Yingyuan, the methods used by the peasant army are much worse than those of the Jurchen Tartars, at least, there is a big gap in archery. In this way, Li Yingyuan's soldiers and horses approached the south bank of the Yellow River step by step with the bows and arrows of the peasant soldiers.

When the distance was shortened, Yuan Ma also found out what the problem was, and it seemed that the officers and soldiers had already prepared. In fact, Yuan Ma didn't know how to fight this water battle, in his mind, the other party rowed in the river, and he went down with a round of arrows, and all problems were solved. When I really fought, I found out that it wasn't like that at all. In a hurry, Yuan Ma made a decision that he would regret for the rest of his life.

"Go, put the prepared boat on the top, get on the boat, you must block this group of officers and soldiers, and you can't let them go ashore" Yuan Ma glared with a fierce expression. Since the bow is not very useful, then melee combat, as long as it is close, what are you afraid of? For the hand-to-hand fighting ability of his brothers, Yuan Ma has infinite confidence.

Wei Yang always felt that something was wrong, but he didn't dare to stop Yuan Ma. Yuan Ma is a beast, and he doesn't recognize his relatives when he fights. In the blink of an eye, Yuan Ma's people had already taken a boat to meet him. Li Yingyuan was ecstatic in his heart, the other party was not honest and fortified on the shore, but took the initiative to come up and fight, this is simply a gift.

Li Yingyuan is a perennial water war, and this time he is the pioneer of crossing the river, and the people selected are naturally some people with good water nature. In a short period of time, it was impossible for him to train these people into a regular sailor, but it was still no problem to deal with the peasant army. He drew his knife, knocked it on the deck, and said loudly: "One team and two teams entered the water, and scuttled the ship behind the thieves for me, brothers are ready, and the time has come for meritorious service." ”

At the sound of the order, many soldiers took off their thin military uniforms and jumped into the water. At this time, Yuan Ma was still directing people to rush forward, unaware that the danger was approaching step by step.

"What about the musketeers, what about the musketeers? Squat down and hit me" Li Yingyuan waved his hand, urging the few musketeers to attract the attention of the other party. Sure enough, under the intensive shooting, the thieves who rushed in front began to suffer casualties, Yuan Ma was furious, and he was even more crazy, "Rush over quickly and kill all these dogs for Lao Tzu....."

Yuan Ma was bent on getting closer and making the musketeers pay, so he ignored the danger from underwater. However, Wei Yang, who stayed on the shore, had already seen that something was wrong. The dense formation of officers and soldiers on the water was slowly spreading out, and it seemed that Yuan Ma was intending to rush in, and there was fraud in it.

Wei Yang didn't care about anything else, and shouted at the top of his voice, hoping that Yuan Ma would turn around quickly. But the noise on the water was extraordinary, and the gunshots were bursting, where could Yuan Ma hear it. Finally, the distance between the two sides is less than ten feet, and they will collide in the blink of an eye. Yuan Ma was overjoyed, as long as he had close contact, he would definitely make these officers and soldiers unable to eat and walk around.

Unfortunately, before he could laugh, a sudden change occurred, and there was a sudden chaos in the rear, and countless heads emerged from the water, and these people either scuttled the boat or grabbed a peasant soldier and dragged him into the water. For a time the rear was chaotic, and the ships collided together. At this time, the shortcomings of the landlubber are exposed, and they can still row if they have nothing to do, but suddenly they have an accident, and they can't even stabilize the boat, let alone anything else. Many boats capsized, and people kept falling into the water.

The outlaws under Yuan Ma's hands were a group of fierce tigers on land, and when they got to the water, most of them became insects. Many people can't swim, they can only struggle instinctively, and then someone swims over, catches them and drags them into the water, drowning many people for a while.

Yuan Ma was also panicked at this time, no matter how reckless he was, he could see that the other party was not good at stubble. I wanted to withdraw, but there was a mess behind it, the ships were scattered, and some of them turned over directly, blocking the way back, and I couldn't go back for a while.

Li Yingyuan would not let go of this great opportunity, taking advantage of the chaos of the thieves and soldiers, he had no intention of responding to the battle, and urged the ship to stick up, first with musket shots, and then with hand-to-hand combat. At this time, almost all the boats were rickety, and many people couldn't stand steadily, but it was the people under Li Yingyuan's men who were specially selected to be much stronger than the thieves.

In just a quarter of an hour, Yuan Ma, a thief known for his ferocity, was defeated and lost when he was killed, and he had no power to fight back. Even Yuan Ma himself, when he saw that the situation was not good, jumped into the water in embarrassment and picked up a life.

Li Yingyuan waved his hand, and the ship sped up, chasing the defeated soldiers to cover the past. At this time, less than half of Yuan Ma's subordinates fled back, and they all lost their courage, so how could they still have the heart to stay on the shore. was rushed by the chaotic soldiers, and the defense line that had been organized with great difficulty before was also rushed to pieces. Wei Yang wants to cry without tears, how can he defend the south bank in this situation? It's all to blame Yuan Ma, a bastard, who always looks up to the top, looks down on people, can't he guard the shore well, and he also went to the river to fight with others.

If Yuan Ma cooperates with Weiyang and honestly strengthens the shore defense, it is really not easy for Li Yingyuan to break through. After all, landing on the shore and attacking often does not have an advantage, and as a result, Yuan Ma was arrogant and defeated, giving Li Yingyuan the opportunity to beat the water dog.

After two hours of fierce fighting, Wei Yang was defeated after all, and in order to keep the few soldiers and horses under his command, he could only temporarily retreat in the direction of Michi. Li Yingyuan did not pursue, and took advantage of the situation to occupy the entire south bank of Maojindu, while organizing defenses to prevent thieves from attacking, and on the other hand, spreading to the north bank to welcome the main army across the river.

Maojindu is not as good as Fenglingdu, and its transportation capacity is limited, and the Xuanfu army is not the same as the peasant army. Wang crossed the river with 100,000 peasant troops, most of whom were transporting people. But on the Xuanfu side, because the main force is cavalry, transporting war horses is a heavy job, and those heavy artillery pieces are even more troublesome. In order to transport artillery, Tiemo borrowed a few large ships from the Chang family, but even then, it would take at least four days for the army to completely cross the Yellow River.

These four days are definitely the most dangerous four days. If the peasant army launched a counteroffensive and recaptured the southern bank of Maojindu, everything that had been done before would be in vain, and the baggage brought over would be cheaper for the thieves.

Wang used his own strategy to attack Kunzhou, but let Zhang Dashou stay in Mianchi, the purpose of which was to defend Maojindu. Now there are 40,000 troops under Zhang Dashou's command, and if these people really pounce, it will be a big trouble.

After crossing the Yellow River, Tiemo discussed his next plan with Wang Zuohang. The peasant army in Mianchi is definitely a new problem, and it is unlikely that Luoyang soldiers and horses will help. Recently, Gao Yingxiang waved his troops north, a large number of peasant troops attacked Ruzhou, Luoyang and Kaifeng soldiers and horses to defend Ruzhou is not enough, how can there be energy to manage Michi? Therefore, if you want to solve the thieves in Michi, you can only rely on yourself.

On the south bank of the Yellow River, a man in military uniform was angrily scolding the soldiers opposite, "A bunch of rubbish, let you hurry up and get the artillery ready, what's the matter with you?" Why haven't you found a suitable artillery position yet? Now the soldiers on the front line are in urgent need of fire support, once the thieves counterattack, what do you say? ”

"Mr. He Qian, the south bank of Maojindu is low, and the soil is very soft, so I can't find a suitable place at all. Forcibly set up an artillery array, and as soon as the cannon was fired, the whole cannon barrel was eager to lie on the ground......"

"Damn ....." He Jingyuan also knew that the soldier was telling the truth, but he couldn't help but be in a hurry. The counterattack of the thieves is almost a sure thing, but there are not too many soldiers and horses crossing the river now, and whether they can block the counterattack of the thieves depends on the support of the artillery. In the case of insufficient troops, the only thing that the army can rely on is artillery. The terrain of Maojindu is not suitable for artillery, let alone cavalry.

Under the headache, He Jingyuan hurriedly went to the temporary command office to find Tiemo, "Supervisor, this place is too evil, there is not even a high slope, and the soil is soft, our artillery can't guarantee the accuracy of the head ...... at all."

Tie Mo was furious, pointed at He Jingyuan's nose and scolded: "The artillery can't guarantee the accuracy, what does this Inspector want you to do?" The big war is coming, you tell me this? ”

Can Tiemo not be in a hurry? Whether or not you can block Zhang Dashou's counterattack depends on the power of the artillery, but He Jingyuan ran over and said that the artillery side has a big problem, "He Jingyuan, I don't care what method you use, you must set up the cannon for me." Don't say such and such reasons, that's your business, what this inspector wants is that once the thieves attack, Lao Tzu's artillery can accurately shoot the cannonballs, understand? ”

Tiemo roared, He Jingyuan's body trembled, and he quickly stood upright, "Understood." ”

He Jingyuan rolled out of the command post in a gloomy manner, and as soon as he came out, he slapped him in the face. If the problem is not solved, once the war is unfavorable, the overseer will definitely hang him up and beat him.

When he returned to the artillery camp, he saw that the leaders of the general team under his command were talking about a person around him, and after seeing that person clearly, He Jingyuan's face turned green. It was a woman, a beautiful woman who didn't talk like that, if it was usual, He Jingyuan would really sit down and appreciate it, but now, I don't have this mood. This time, it is the Moon Palace Fairy, and in his eyes, she is also a pink skeleton.

"Bastard, what are you doing? Are you all right? And you..... Who are you? Who told you to come here? The artillery camp is a military stronghold, in fact, you can come as a little girl? Hurry up, or don't blame Ben for being unkind! ”

After that, he pointed to the generals under his command, "You guys, have you found the artillery array?" Believe it or not, Lao Tzu ripped off your skin? ”

The artillery camp has always been He Jingyuan's hall, and everyone in the camp was very afraid, and several of them shrank their necks and stood up straight and didn't dare to speak. But the woman next to her said lightly: "Why is He Qian so angry, the little woman Dai Qimeng, the new manager of the Ordnance Institute." The overseer knew that the artillery battalion was encountering a problem, so he sent the little woman over to see if she could help. ”

"Huh?" He Jingyuan looked at Dai Qimeng, and he didn't believe it in his heart. But the person was sent by the superintendent, and the appearance was even more amazing, I don't know what the relationship with the superintendent is, and I don't dare to be too faceless, so I pouted sarcastically, "Oh, then found a way?" ”

"Of course, as for whether it is useful or not, I have to give it a try....."

He Jingyuan was taken aback, is there really a way? He Jingyuan rolled his eyes, not hiding the contempt in his heart at all, and Dai Qimeng was not angry.

Next, under He Jingyuan's gaze, Dai Qimeng commanded people to build the foundation, just like building a house, and built several high platforms on the south bank of Maojindu. A special tripod was fixed on the high platform, the bottom was more secure, and the gun was fixed inside the tripod. He Jingyuan naturally couldn't see anything, but Tiemo saw something, wasn't this the later fort?

It's just that the fort is mostly watered with bricks and stones, but unfortunately the soil quality on the south bank of Maojindu is not good, the lack of masonry and stone, and the fort is not firm, so it is supported by a tripod to prevent the artillery from shaking the fort down with the anti-shock force.

This kind of battery naturally cannot be used for a long time, but for Tiemo, it is enough, as long as these batteries can withstand the counteroffensive of the peasant army, the mission will be completed.

.......

After Zhang Xianzhong and Wang Zi used two waves of rogues to loot, this county town has almost become an empty city. At this time, Mianchi became Zhang Dashou's private residence, and most of the people living in the city were peasant soldiers. Originally, Zhang Dashou was thinking about resting for a while in Mianchi, but he would have thought that Yuan Ma would lose the position on the south bank so quickly.

Let the main army of the living king cross the river, then he will only have to flee for his life. Now there is still a chance, that is, to take advantage of the lack of soldiers and horses to cross the river of the living king of Yama, and fight a major counterattack. Zhang Dashou felt that he still had a great chance this time, and the cavalry was useless in the Maojindu area. In the past, it was the cavalry that was the most lethal to the peasant army. Having lost the benefits of the cavalry, relying only on that little musketeer, Zhang Dashou was really not afraid.

However, Zhang Dashou did not rush to launch a counteroffensive, on the one hand, it would take time to mobilize and assemble troops and horses, and it was also necessary to see how the officers and soldiers of Luoyang reacted. On the other hand, Zhang Dashou has other thoughts. It is better to let the officers and soldiers carry more baggage across the river, and when the time comes, a counterattack will be over, and as soon as the living king of Yama withdraws, those baggage will be all suffered by him.

The day after Li Yingyuan crossed the river, Zhang Dashou immediately launched an order to launch a counteroffensive after determining that there was no sign of Luoyang moving troops north. In addition to leaving 5,000 people to defend the city, the rest of the men and horses rushed towards the south bank.

Zhang Dashou was menacing, and the troops pressed the border, wanting to recapture the position on the south bank in one go, and the battle was about to break out.

On July 29 of the third year of Chongzhen, Li Jiucheng, the northernmost Li Jiucheng and Jiutiao Longdu Wenbu took the lead in contact, and the two sides did not say a word, and then they fought for the warehouse wharf near the south bank of Maojindu. After half an hour of fierce fighting, Tiemo had to order Li Jiucheng to withdraw from the battle and move closer to the main camp on the south bank.

Li Jiucheng fought a very miserable battle, because of the lack of artillery support and the help of cavalry, his 2,000 men and horses had to block the repeated onslaught of nearly 10,000 people under Du Wen's command. If you hadn't retreated in time, you would have been swallowed by the thieves.

The first battle was successful, and Zhang Dashou's confidence doubled!