According to the information reported by Zhonglu, Zhao Ying has been constantly harassed and attacked by Zhonglu since he captured the Jiannan Division, and he has not moved since he was stationed in the same place. Deng Zongzhen pinned his hopes of breaking the enemy on the ambush battle of Qiyao Mountain, fearing that the favorable terrain would be obtained by Zhao Ying, so he urged to set off overnight as soon as the local soldiers from all walks of life converged.

There were a large number of local soldiers, and they barely gathered 5,000 people, temporarily under the control of Qin Fu's eldest son, Qin Maoqi, and arrived at Qiyao Mountain at dawn.

These native soldiers come from a variety of sources, and although they are outstanding in their individual prowess, they rarely cooperate with each other, and it is not easy for them to be uniform in a short period of time. Although they arrived early, Qin Maoqi had to spend a lot of time marching neatly near the foot of the mountain, and it was not until noon that he was roughly restrained.

Qin Qixun did not send anyone to rendezvous. He sent a henchman over, only saying that the Zhonglu men and horses were pinning down the enemy army on the front line, and asked Qin Maoqi to lead the people to hurry up and set up the formation.

The previous apportionment of troops to support Chengtianfu, Zhonglu did not have many people, Qin Maoqi made a slight calculation, and it was expected that it could mobilize at least a thousand mobile forces. Moreover, he had already heard of the fierceness of the loyal road soldiers and the martial courage of Qin Jinxiao, and with them taking the lead in containing Zhao Ying, he should be able to act according to the original plan with peace of mind.

Qin Maoqi has been standing this year, and he has been a horse for many years, and he has always been deeply relied on by his father. He was one step ahead of Zhao Ying, seized the dangerous place of Qiyao Mountain, and did not relax, while arranging his position, he sent people to scout around to prevent Zhao Ying's sudden attack.

Shi Zhoubing had been fighting for a long time, and once they received a clear task, they immediately performed their duties and began to prepare in an orderly manner. Qin Maoqi estimated that at most in the evening, the Qiyao Mountain position should be completely completed. With this mountain as a backing, it is not difficult to achieve the purpose of controlling the main road and blocking Zhao Ying in a corner.

The sun gradually set in the west, and Qin Maoqi sat on the small horse, and began to think about how to seduce Zhao Yingcheng next. After thinking for a while, a Tang soldier hurriedly climbed the mountain and reported closely: "There is a large group of enemy soldiers rushing to arrive, and their number is unknown for the time being." ”

Before the Tang soldier could speak, another Tang soldier rushed to the front of him, his expression was very frightened, and Qin Maoqi listened to him: "The enemy soldiers are no less than 5,000, and they have begun to seize the narrow roads at the foot of the mountain!" ”

Qin Maoqi was surprised and surprised. He is obviously cautious, there are many fast horse pond soldiers near and far, it stands to reason that you can know the enemy's movements twenty miles away, why is it that now Zhao Ying is under his nose, he suddenly noticed?

He walked two steps briskly, looked down the mountain, and saw that from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, more than ten flags on several positions on the mountainside began to swagger. This means to report to the command post that an enemy attack has arrived. At the moment, there was no doubt about it, and immediately sent people to convene all the major ministers and prime ministers to discuss countermeasures.

The power of the division, the prime minister, and the Chinese army are the high-grade official positions in the Shizhou Wei Tu Division, "the upper is the auxiliary minister, and the lower is under its command, and the non-talented and virtuous are not in charge of their duties", but in the current season, the official positions of the various departments are appointed to be nepotistic, and all the virtues and talents have to give way to blood relatives, and even there are cases of infant babies enjoying high positions. And Qin Maoqi, as the son of Shi Nan's Xuanfu envoy Qin Fu, served as the "seal" in the department, which was even more respected.

Most of these personal power ministers and prime ministers have won the position because of their proximity, and there are few people with real talents and real learning, and they are about to fight, and they do not think about the strategy of resisting the enemy, but have a wavering heart. Qin Maoqi has experience, first said a few words, and said that although his position has not yet been completed, it is better than Lingao, and Zhao Ying wants to attack hard, but it is difficult to take advantage, so he has stabilized the army's heart. Immediately afterwards, he received the Tang military order, from which the specific attack layout of the Zhao battalion was analyzed.

According to the military information provided by several Tang soldiers later, Qin Maoqi sensed that something was wrong. It turned out that the Zhao battalion came unexpectedly, and could have taken advantage of the unpreparedness of their own front, suddenly attacked, and seized the opportunity, but thousands of Zhao battalion soldiers and horses only cared about fighting for the roads, mountain trails, cave passes, and after taking it, they left troops to defend it strictly, as if they had no intention of attacking the mountain. In addition, Tang Bing also mentioned that each team of Zhao Ying probably carried two pairs of rejection horses, and there were countless things such as thistles, astringency on the ground, and guest accommodation.

Thinking of this, Qin Mao suddenly shuddered. To tell the truth, if Zhao Ying is attacking the mountain, he is not afraid, in his opinion, the victory or defeat is at least fifty-five. But if the other party surrounds and does not fight, it will be difficult. Qiyao Mountain is steep, not only is it difficult to go up the mountain, but it is also really not easy to go down the mountain, not to mention that there is only a little stream and spring water on the mountain, which is definitely not enough for thousands of people to drink, if the Zhao battalion divides troops to attack the empty hinterland of Shizhou, only this one, the consequences will be unimaginable.

He didn't dare to hesitate any longer, and hurriedly sent his general banner to lead people down the mountain quickly and attack the temptation first. Soon, there was a loud sound of cymbals and suona in the Zhao camp at the foot of the mountain, and then the thick drum "dong dong" vibrated out, and it must have been two times to start a fight.

With two crisp bangs, the blue and white gunpowder smoke rose to the top of the mountain, and along with it was the news of the defeat of the advance troops, and even the general flag who led the team was shot and died.

The general flag died under the gun of Guo Hu's head.

This time the siege of Qiyao Mountain, Zhao Ying's men and horses all came. Xu Hui was ordered to lead the front battalion to defend the northwest, while Zhao Dangshi and Hou Dagui led the middle camp and were advancing towards Shandong.

Guo Hutou was the first general manager, as Xu Hui's right-hand man, he had the heart to perform well, in order to live up to Xu Hui's recommendation and Zhao Dangshi's expectations.

The arrow wound on his neck was almost good, and his ability to train and command firearms was also better. Xu Hui regarded him as a malleable talent, and he did not live up to Xu Hui's diligent teachings. He has a good understanding, and is willing to study and seek advice, and during the period of rest in Dazhou, whenever he has time, he will operate all kinds of firearms or meditate hard or operate with his hands. As a result of these efforts, he is now proficient in using firearms on the battlefield.

Although Dazhou and other places have a lot of armaments, they are not abundant in gunpowder, so since the retreat of Dahushan, Zhao Ying has rarely used firearms on a large scale to engage in tug-of-war. More often than not, firearms were used as the decisive blow. Shicai Shizhou soldiers went down the mountain to attack, Guo Hutou began to fight in front with a long card hand, followed by a palladium and spearman to block, delayed for a while, consumed the opponent's sharpness, and when the time was ripe, seized the opportunity, boldly put the dense bird gun team to fifteen steps away from the enemy, put two rows of guns, and the effect was remarkable. The general banner of the Shizhou soldiers was killed on the spot, and the remaining Shizhou soldiers also collapsed back to the mountain.

Zhao Ying's firearms are mostly bird guns, about 500 pieces, and the rest have some Lumi guns, thunderbolt guns and the like, because the number is very small, Xu Hui did not put them into the system. The artillery category is dominated by small Francophone machines and Tiger squat guns, both of which have five or six seats.

Because of the memories of later generations, Zhao Dangshi was not very satisfied with the performance of the bird gun, which was still a arquebus. He once asked Xu Hui to do an experiment, and selected the most skilled people in the firearms team to force training, and the best result was only to shoot three projectiles in about one minute, and to conduct large-scale exercises in the firearms team to comprehensively improve the loading and firing speed, according to the objective environment in which Zhao Ying is located at the moment, it is not realistic for the time being. As an arquebus, a series of steps such as slotting, biting, pouring medicine, slotting, stabbing, and ignition seem complicated, but in fact, the predecessors have studied more, and they can no longer be streamlined.

If a flintlock pistol can be developed, it will undoubtedly be a powerful move to break through the bottleneck of the firearms team's combat effectiveness at the present stage. It is a pity that although a variety of flintlock muskets were developed in Europe at the same time, and ten years ago, the late Nanjing Hubu Right Attendant Bi Mao Kangye had proposed the production idea of a flintlock pistol called "self-generated firebolt", but due to production costs and conditions, it was not popularized. Zhao Dangshi has no talent, no technology, and no materials, so even if he has an idea, it is difficult to realize it.

Zhao Dangshi's obsession with the improvement of firearms, Xu Hui and others did not understand. In their opinion, the bird gun is far superior to the bow and arrow in terms of range, lethality and even training cycle, and the cost is far less than that of various crossbows. Rather than spending manpower and material resources to pursue those illusory performances, it is better to expand production.

As a veteran of firearms, Xu Hui's vision is not comparable to ordinary people, and even he has similar limitations, and it is even more difficult for other soldiers and generals from a bitter background to go with Zhao Dangshi. Zhao Dangshi sighed, and his thirst for talents became more and more intense.

Not to mention this, Qin Maoqi on the mountain sent troops to break through twice, and without exception, they were all disgraced. Even though these Shizhou soldiers were equipped with unique skills and were brave in close combat, under Xu Hui's defense, they were completely unable to successfully fight hand-to-hand. The use of firearms team in the middle of the Sichuan after more than ten battles, Xu Hui, Guo Hutou and others have a certain experience in the use of firearms, they will be mixed with the hands of the long soldiers such as palladium, spears, fork sticks, etc., the proportion is roughly three or seven open, can shorten the shooting distance while effectively resisting the intention to approach the Shizhou soldiers, the left and right wings are equipped with swords and shields, see the opportunity to attack the Shizhou soldiers left and right, the effect is excellent.

After several fruitless times, the morale of Shi Zhoubing on the mountain fluctuated a little. Although Qin Maoqi is the son of Qin Fu, after all, his qualifications are still shallow, and when the wind is calm, everyone gives Qin Fu a face, and he is still polite to Qin Maoqi.

Among them, there were two yin and yang weird spirits, and they complained that they shouldn't have gone up to these seven medicine mountains a long time ago. In fact, everyone knows in their hearts that the ambush of Qiyao Mountain is the common opinion of all families, and it is not entirely to blame on Shi Nan Qin's head, but now that Qin Maoqi, as the leader, has the right and responsibility, he has naturally become the target of public criticism. These people are no better than outsiders, they don't look up and see each other, they have some in-law relationship, Qin Maoqi listened to the cynicism of everyone pointing at Sang and scolding Huai, half annoyed, half helpless, he couldn't punish rashly, he could only persuade him with good words.

People are good at being bullied, and the more gentle Qin Maoqi is to others, the more clamor those people are. After the last failure to break through to the northwest, the internal cohesion of the Shizhou soldiers began to collapse, first some people proposed to hold on to the reinforcements, then others suggested to the east, and finally there were even those who thought that they could surrender temporarily.

Everyone chatted for a while, and they had a heart, but they didn't have the guts. There are more than ten forces in Shizhou Bing, and any independent action alone is useless, so everyone turned their attention to Qin Maoqi, who had been neglected for a long time - after all, he is still nominally in command of the army, and the opinions he adopted are undoubtedly much stronger.

Qin Maoqi thought about it and felt that it was better to break through to the east. The ambush in Qiyao Mountain has come to naught, the situation has reversed, and the top priority is to preserve one's own vital forces. He sent Tang troops to the east and learned that the enemy in the east had not yet been closed, so he did not hesitate to divide the troops into two parts, the small part continued to delay slowly in the northwest, and the large force turned to the east.

The east side is Zhao Dangshi and Hou Dagui are in charge, they have not surrounded this side but not to use any strategy, it is really here that the Shizhou soldiers are extremely fierce, and the middle battalion lacks so many firearms in the front battalion, the only dominant horse army is difficult to drive in the mountains, so it is difficult to gain the upper hand in close combat.

At this moment, Hou Dagui was leading the army to storm a position of Shizhou soldiers at the foot of Dongshan. This is a key road up and down the mountain, and the defense arrangement of the Shizhou soldiers is very perfect, and the front division of the middle battalion has attacked several times without progress.

Zhao Dangshi's arrangement, the rear division guarded the main position, the right division and the Ma military division were on standby, and the front division and the left division took turns to attack.

Qin Maoqi came from the west, observed Zhao Dangshi's arrangement from the mountain, and immediately gathered everyone, and said: "Zhao thief does not know that we have arrived, Shang gathered troops to attack the avenue, the Tang soldiers have words, there is a trail near the left is not lost, but send a team of men and horses down the mountain, flank Zhao thief, it will be difficult to resist in a hurry, our army will take advantage of its loss of the other from the avenue to break through the avenue!" ”

Most of the people lost their opinions in panic, and they all nodded when they heard the words, but they were all silent when they were specific about which group of men and horses should be sent down the mountain to attack. Because they all know that in order to avoid being exposed, the number of people cannot be large, and they will be trapped with light troops, and once the soldiers of the Zhao battalion rereact and wrap up layer by layer, they will die. In other words, whoever is willing to go is exchanging his life for the hope of a breakthrough of the army.

The vast majority of the powerful ministers and prime ministers in the military have no experience in war, and they rely on their connections to obtain official positions, and they are very sparing about their lives, so how can they be allowed to sacrifice their lives for righteousness. Seeing that no one answered for a long time, and seeing that his position at the foot of the mountain was gradually loosening, Qin Maoqi was anxious. He was different from these corpse vegetarians, young and courageous. I didn't have time to stay, my anger and blood boiled, and I resolutely said: "Since you don't want to go, I'll go!" ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone was surprised and delighted. I was surprised that Qin Maoqi was so desperate, and I was glad that someone finally came out to take the lead and took over this thankless job. A few of them pretended to persuade Qin Maoqi to say two sentences, Qin Maoqi's eyes widened, and he said sharply: "For my Shizhou foundation, what is my Qin Maoqi's life!" Speaking of this, his tone suddenly turned lower, as if he pleaded, "If you successfully break through, please don't blame my father, the guilt of the Seven Medicine Mountains is borne by Qin Maoqi alone." "Then he will not listen to what the people have to say, and take them away.