"You say, the commander won't just cut Jiang Xiaoqi like this, Jiang Xiaoqi is too wronged this time, without him, where would we win this battle?" Listening to the conversation between Lu Chong and the soldier, a soldier next to him looked worried.

"No, Li Xiaoqi followed with a few people," another person retorted: "We have just won such a big battle, and the commander has always been an understanding person. ”

"Why do you say Jiang Xiaoqi is so unlucky and has a relationship with these blacksmiths?"

"The craftsman is still not as reliable as us, if only I were also a soldier under Jiang Xiaoqi."

"Ugh."

…………

Jiang Yuyan didn't expect that the results of cleaning up the battlefield did not come, Xu Annian, who fled to Mengyang City, and Ah Tian did not come, and the first to come was the soldiers who commanded his subordinates to arrest themselves and be tortured.

Fortunately, he had won the battle, and when he saw the corpses of the Luchuan soldiers all over the ground, the faces of the soldiers who came to escort him looked much better. The only surviving Xiaoqi surnamed Li on the other side also immediately said that he would go with him to plead with the commander, in his opinion, if the Manggu Mountain defense line was not commanded by Jiang Yugang in the center, it would immediately collapse and scatter.

…………

When Bai Qianfan, the commander of Qu Jingwei, learned the news that several blacksmiths from the Manggu Mountain defense line had fled to Mengyang City in the middle of the night, his first reaction was that the defense line had been broken.

He went to meet these people almost unsteadily, but he didn't expect that they didn't know anything about the specific situation of the defensive line, and said that the small banner that governed them allowed them to escape to Mengyang City.

A small flag, actually dare to command the defense army to retreat! Enraged, after sending cavalry to investigate, the more he thought about it, the more angry he became, and sent several more people to bring this small flag back for trial.

While Bai Qianfan was angry, he was also panicked in his heart. To put it bluntly, the wall of Mengyang City is a taller earthen wall, which is not comparable with the city wall of the Central Plains town. The defenders defending everywhere are the real walls of Mengyang City, and every defeat of the defenders will make the most important Mengyang have a lot of risks of city destruction.

Therefore, all the troops under his command, except for a group of more than 600 people who were led by Qianhu as a close confidant and more than 500 people and craftsmen who were in charge of logistics, stayed in Mengyang City, and the others were scattered and stationed in various dangerous places outside Mengyang City.

Qu Jingwei is the absolute main force in the Qujing four guards responsible for guarding Mengyang: Qu Jingwei, Pingyi Wei, Yuezhou Wei and Lu Liangwei, with three thousand households commanding nearly 2,000 soldiers, while the other three guards add up to more than 2,000 soldiers. The so-called Mengyang City, which is guarded by 10,000 people, is mostly people who can't go into battle.

Although Mengyang City is very small, the scope of influence is very large, and countless scattered villages in the Mangmang Mountains and forests, except for a few that are controlled by the Ming army, most of the others are controlled by the Luchuan army, and they continue to attack the defenders near Mengyang from all directions.

The fatigue of the long journey, the invasion of miasma poisonous insects and the countless attacks launched by the Luchuan army caused heavy casualties to the Mengyang garrison, from soldiers to middle-level officers, many hundred households and general banners died, so that the management of a large number of defenders fell into chaos.

The Mengyang defenders' request for help from the main camp of the army was severely reprimanded, and at the same time, Bai Qianfan and several other commanders also received news that shocked them: the army's attack on the main cottage in Luchuan was not smooth, the casualties were staggering, and the victory in the battle of Ghost Crying Mountain actually paid the price of the death of Luo Xuan, the commander of Guizhou.

The commander of the Ming Dynasty and the commander of the envoy, the difference between the two positions is only one word, but the position of the commander is higher than the commander of the third grade, and he is the highest military governor of the Ming Dynasty, and he is a member of the second grade, and has jurisdiction over all the guards in the jurisdiction.

Even such figures died in battle, and the army naturally did not have the energy to send troops back and forth to aid Meng Yang. Bai Qianfan and other commanders kept receiving news that the garrisons had quietly disappeared in the mountains and forests, and they could only choose to defend them.

But the news of the people who fled from Manggu Mountain was indeed much more dangerous in Bai Qianfan's heart than the loss of other places. Manggu Mountain is very close to Mengyang City, easy to defend and difficult to attack, if it is occupied by the enemy, it is equivalent to allowing the enemy to have a path to bypass all the checkpoints and attack Mengyang City directly.

Bai Qianfan had already learned the news that Baihu and General Banner stationed in Manggu Mountain had died in battle, but his troop dispatch had reached the limit, and not a single soldier could be sent to support. And it was originally sent to Manggu Mountain that was the most elite unit under him, among which there were several strong men who were famous for their martial arts.

And right now, someone dares to command the retreat of the garrison, even if it is a craftsman, doesn't he understand that this will shake the morale of the army? Bai Qianfan couldn't help but slap the table hard while thinking about it.

At this moment, the camp tent was opened by the guards, and the soldiers sent to escort Jiang Yugang walked in with Jiang Yugang and Li Xiaoqi, as well as a few defenders from Manggu Mountain.

"Lord Bai, the defense line of Manggu Mountain, Jiang Yu's small flag has been brought."

Bai Qianfan looked at the person who came, and he was also stunned, he didn't expect his subordinates to bring Jiang Yugang over so quickly, he was originally prepared that Jiang Yugang had already escaped, even if he didn't escape, under the attack of the Luchuan army, it would be difficult for Jiang Yugang to survive, looking like this, could it be that he was defending?

"Jiang Yugang, the small banner of Manggu Mountain, has seen the commander and the envoy." Jiang Yu pretended to perform a Ming Dynasty military salute, which he learned from Li Xiaoqi who came with him on the road. Li Xiaoqi had also heard about Jiang Yu's loss of memories of the past, so he naturally taught him a few times.

"You commanded your soldiers to escape?" Bai Qianfan suppressed his desire to ask about the battle situation immediately, and interrogated Jiang Yuyan with a stern expression.

"Back to the commander, Xu Blacksmith and the others are craftsmen, although they go out with the army, but they are not soldiers," Jiang Yugang intends to fully show his capable side in front of this commander, now the war is scorching, and there are no superfluous manpower to replenish personnel at passes such as Manggu Mountain, so he will not casually deal with a capable officer: "This battle is extremely dangerous, and the number of firearms is insufficient, Xu Blacksmith and the three have no weapons to use, and the remaining army is only increasing the burden." ”

"It's a good burden," the logic of Jiang Yu's words was clear and much beyond Bai Qianfan's expectations, although after becoming a low-level officer like Xiaoqi, he would usually learn some words, but there were very few people who could speak in a clear and coherent manner like Jiang Yugang.

Bai Qianfan sorted out his thoughts slightly, and then reprimanded: "Don't you understand that the enemy is currently releasing people to escape without permission will affect the morale of the army?" ”

There is indeed some truth to this, but the morale of Manggu Mountain was already extremely low at that time, and the departure of a few blacksmiths would not attract everyone's attention, Jiang Yu was about to argue, but saw Li Xiaoqi take a step forward: "Commander, Jiang Xiaoqi let go of his subordinates to shake the army's heart, I wait for the defenders of Manggu Mountain to be unclear, but Jiang Xiaoqi is the biggest hero in this battle!" ”

"You are?" Bai Qianfan noticed Li Xiaoqi and a few people at the beginning, and he didn't have time to ask, but he heard Li Xiaoqi say that Jiang Yugang was a "meritorious hero", and at this time, he also had a few points in his heart, which was to intercede for Jiang Yugang.

If it was before, the more people pleaded, the more he would have to punish him heavily to deter people's hearts, but the current situation is special, first, the army has suffered serious casualties and lacks manpower, and secondly, judging from the words of the intercessor, this Jiang Yugang seems to have made a lot of contributions in the battle, and his curiosity and patience slowly came up in his heart.

"Below, Li Wei, the small flag of the defenders of Manggu Mountain." Li Xiaoqi replied, his voice already trembling a little. He was originally impulsive and impulsive, and followed the escorted soldiers here to plead for Jiang Yu, the hero of the victory, but when he really faced the commander, his heart began to be frightened.

"You said that Jiang Xiaoqi is a hero, what kind of merit has he made?" Bai Qianfan looked at Li Wei scrutinically.

"He, he led more than a dozen sword soldiers to guard the defense line, resisted hundreds of attacking Luchuan troops, commanded all the firecrackers to shoot and fight, and commanded all the defenders in the Manggu Mountain camp, and set up an ambush to annihilate hundreds of Luchuan troops." Li Wei's heart was horizontal, anyway, he had come to this point, so he simply talked about Jiang Yugang's ability as amazing as possible, and when the battalion was in a melee, he actually didn't know how many Luchuan troops he had annihilated, but he still chose a statement with the most - hundreds.

"Joke! You actually lie to me with this kind of nonsense! Half a month ago, Zhang Baihu and his two general banners of Manggu Mountain had just been killed in battle, and the defenders were only a few dozen people, how could they defeat hundreds of enemy troops? Bai Qianfan couldn't listen anymore, pulled out his waist knife, and asked the subordinates he sent to escort Jiang Yugang murderously: "Chen Xiaoqi, where did you meet these people?" What is the situation of Manggu Mountain that you have explored? ”