Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Attack on the Camp

Before leaving, Jia Ling told Shi Bin an important news: the grain and grass hoarded in Zaoyang reached 8,000 stones. But it was hoarded in a large camp, guarded by 6,000 soldiers.

Due to the inconvenience of transportation, most of the grain and grass were hoarded fifty miles outside Zaoyang City, close to Xiangyang, and only less than 2,000 stones were placed in the city as reserves.

Hearing the news, Shi Bin immediately smiled, and along the way he was still thinking about how to attack the camp, how to safely withdraw to Jingzhou after burning the grain and grass, and for a long time, most of the grain and grass were hoarded in the camp outside the city.

This Zaoyang is located in the east of the confluence of the Tangbai River and the Han River, and the terrain is mainly hilly, which is more suitable for mountain combat, but not for cavalry.

Wang San was about to make a suggestion, and Shi Bin told his thoughts to a few brothers. He thought that as long as the camp successfully retreated, it should not be a big problem, and if he really couldn't get rid of those Yuan troops, he simply threw away all the baggage and evacuated from the woods in a small team.

In Shi Bin's opinion, if the belongings are gone, they can be replaced, but the veterans with combat experience are gone, which is a major loss, and these veterans are much more important than those belongings.

Zhao Gang agreed with Shi Bin very much, and as a northerner, he explained: "There are too many hills and mountains near Zaoyang, and the water area is crisscrossed, which is only suitable for infantry combat. The advantage of cavalry is in short charge and long-range bow shooting, and hilly terrain is not conducive to both close charge and long-range bow shooting. If only forty or fifty cavalry attacked, even against a hundred well-trained infantry, the advantage was not great, and the most important thing was that the Mongol population was too small to fight so hard, and only dared to engage in a massacre attack, so the risk of this battle was not great. ”

As for why the victory is continuous, it is mainly because the Song court is suspicious of the leading generals, which causes those generals to have no intention of resisting the wind and surrendering, only seeking to save their lives and not caring about the lives of the people.

Li Chao and Liu Xiao proposed: "Prepare some rafts by the Tangbai River to calmly retreat from the waterway." In fact, it is safest to take the waterway, most of the Yuan people can't swim, and the southerners are basically not afraid of water, once they get on the raft, the Yuan people can only stare dryly. ”

This proposal is very much in line with the identities of the two water bandits, and it is also a very practical method, so Shi Bin immediately adopted it.

The tomb robber Yi Jun believes that the van is defensive, and it must have a certain advantage to evacuate quickly. Thirty miles away from the camp, the driver asked the driver to drive the van back to the place where the raft was placed by the Tangbai River, and after completing the task, the soldiers ran back to the Tangbai River by themselves in a rapid march.

Most of the things have been decided, but Shi Bin also thought of a more troublesome question: what should I do if the Yuan people have reinforcements, to fight or not to fight?

Meng Heng's military order was to return immediately after an attempted attack, but he did not say that he could not fight the enemy's reinforcements. What's more, once he is blocked in Zaoyang, can he still fight his way out?

So several people thought that if the Yuan people did not have many reinforcements, they could use the tiger squat cannon to attack from a distance, causing them greater casualties.

In fact, what Shi Bin wanted most was not to kill those Yuan troops, but to beat them out of combat effectiveness in front of the battle.

This kind of thinking belongs to the Arabian Nights in the eyes of these people, of course killing the enemy must be killed, where is there a reason to only kill?

Knowing that most of his brothers didn't understand, he spoke his mind. He believed that under the medical conditions at that time, the wounded Yuan soldiers were either killed or amputated.

And the Yuan soldiers who were fighting listened to the painful wails of those former comrades-in-arms and looked at the depressed eyes of those former warriors, which would definitely cause the Yuan soldiers to panic more about their troops, causing them to have no intention of fighting, and more to fear and avoid war.

After everyone heard this theory, they all looked at Shi Bin like a demon, and Shi Bin regretted saying this a little. After all, this is a little too evil.

"As for the reinforcements that attacked the Yuan army, let's not do it brutally, just do it if we can, this bit of belongings is all earned by brothers with blood and sweat, and it can't be used up at once. Moreover, it has to be a tree to prevent some soldiers from being frightened and making noises, alarming the enemy and causing the mission to fail. Wang San continued Shi Bin's words

After hearing his suggestion, everyone agreed very much, and after some deliberation, it was finally decided that Zhao Gang would pretend to be the captain of the grain transport team to open the camp gate and burn grain. The time is set at the third quarter of the year, when the spirit of man is most scarce.

After the plan was decided, Shi Bin sent a detective to Zaoyang to explore the specific location and hoarding method of the grain camp. The scouts returned to report that the camp had been divided into two parts, and that three large warehouses had been built in each section. This news is not good, I didn't expect the Yuan people to be quite resourceful, although the grain and grass were actually placed in six warehouses in two independent camps outside the city.

When the procession marched only fifteen miles from the grain and grass camp, they hid themselves in the bushes of the hilly area and set up camp, and drank only cold water and ate dry food such as baked cakes, and did not cook on fire.

Sitting in the tent, Shi Bin and the others were silent, but they had done all the other work, the baggage had arrived, the van was already on the way back to Jingzhou, and even the raft had been set up.

I wanted to retreat after the camp was completed, but I didn't expect that it would take a lot more trouble. The two camps are horns of each other, and if one side is attacked, the other side will most likely send troops to rescue them; But those who can make this plan must be resourceful, and they should not send troops easily.

A few people sat in the camp tent for more than an hour and still didn't come up with a good solution, Zhao Gang couldn't stand it and simply got up and went out to breathe, and the rest of the people leaned on the march Zhuo in a languid position although they didn't leave the camp tent.

"You idiot!" There was such a foul language suddenly outside the tent, Shi Bin was irritable and abnormal, and he was even more angry when he heard this curse word, and immediately asked the guards to bring the scolding soldier in.

The soldier didn't know that he had angered Du Tou and continued to scold: "Idiot, don't you know that one thing is used for two purposes? This dagger can cut things, can't this handle be used as a small hammer for the time being, why must you find a hammer everywhere? ”

Hearing the soldier's words, the soldier suddenly became enlightened, yes, he can come to a "one thing for two purposes", and I can also come for a "one person for two purposes!" ”

The guards had just caught the scolding soldier in, but they saw Shi Bin with a smile on his face and said, "You two let him go out and reward him with a tael of silver." Then go and invite Wang Dutou and a few other captains in. The two guards were very puzzled, Shi Bin was still angry just now, and now he actually looked overjoyed.

Wang San and the others returned to the camp tent, and Shi Bin said that he would send Zhao Gang to open the camp gate by fraud and then ask him to pretend to be defeated to lure the enemy into sending troops. After hearing this, several people agreed very much, and Wang San even said that he was the "reincarnation of Kong Ming". Several other people laughed at him as a "sycophant", but Wang San didn't mind such a little joke after solving this problem.

As for how to get this door opening code that changes every night, it's not very much, just scratch a tongue.

At three o'clock in the morning, although there were many patrolmen in the two battalions of the enemy, they were obviously very tired and a little hanging.

The strange thing is that the camp is full of tents. At this moment, Shi Bin, who was hiding in the bushes, hesitated, Jia Ling said that there were only 6,000 defenders, how could it feel that it was not like 6,000 but more than 10,000? Is it to come up with an "empty city plan"?

He immediately asked the soldiers to bring the tongue over and inquire, it turned out that there were indeed 6,000 people in the camp, but this afternoon they were taken away by Daru Huachi, who was in charge of attacking Xiangyang, nearly 2,000 people were taken to support Xiangyang.

Just in case, the grain officer set up half more tents, half of which were empty, and counting the tents from a distance would definitely scare off the small number of Song troops attacking the camp.

It turned out to be really an "empty city plan", but since there were only 4,000 people in the two camps, and he was not afraid to know how the Yuan people set up the trap.

What had to be done was to open the two camp gates and order the soldiers to throw oilcloth wrapped in wooden handles with lightning speed to the granary. And also try to burn as many tents as possible to increase the fire, so that the Yuan people can not accurately judge their own troops. For the second battalion, it does not seek full success, but seeks complete retreat. The Tiger Squat Cannon was used for the task of blocking reinforcements and pursuing troops.

Due to the lack of troops of the Yuan people, the two battalion guards would definitely not dare to rescue easily. If you want to burn the rations there, you have to lure him into sending troops. This task was naturally handed over to Zhao Gang.

The next thing is to act according to the plan, first caught two soldiers who secretly came out of the camp by the camp wall and asked the secret words of the night. Then Zhao Gang opened the camp door with his pure Mongolian language.

Not long after the camp gate was opened, more than 100 Song soldiers wearing Yuan soldiers' uniforms and inner armor rushed into the camp with fifty wooden handles and set fire to the sky, and soon the three warehouses were all on fire.

The camp was suddenly in chaos, although a small number of soldiers had clear thoughts about fighting fires and killing the enemy, but most of them were confused and didn't know what to do. It caused a great chaos in the camp, and it was impossible to distinguish between friend and foe. After all, the Song soldiers who set the fire were all dressed the same, and they disappeared immediately after throwing the earth-shaking thunder into the crowd.

In order to lure the enemy into sending troops, Shi Bin even ordered the tiger squat artillery to fire artillery at the attacking grain and grass camp.

However, at this time, it is not facing the camp gate, and the camp wall is specially built. Wait until the arsonist retreats, and then use the tiger cannon to block the pursuers. Shi Bin knew that the fire and the constant sound of artillery would inevitably make the defenders anxious, but he did not dare to reinforce them.

After Zhao Gang withdrew, he rushed to another camp with a dozen or so people to "ask for help", and his fluent Mongolian language made the enemy soldiers go to see the guards without carefully checking in the panic.

Zhao Gang, who entered the tent, didn't say a word except for kowtowing vigorously and asking for help, acting as if he only had the grain and grass and robes of that battalion in his heart.

The guard was finally "moved" and brought 800 soldiers out of the camp for reinforcements, leaving only 1,200 defenders. And Zhao Gang seized the camp gate not long after the defenders left the camp, and released a code signal to signal the other infantry to attack.

The guard saw the fireworks in the air and knew that Zhongji immediately reined in his horse and returned to the camp, but he was blocked in the middle of the road by more than a dozen tiger squat cannons, and the tiger squat shells and wooden handles shook the sky and thundered so that the pursuers and reinforcements of the Yuan army could not move forward.

In this dark night, facing two firearms that had never been touched, the more the Yuan soldiers fought, the more afraid they became.

After all, these Yuan people were still very superstitious, and the sudden appearance of a lethal firearm in the darkness made them think that this was the punishment of the Immortal Heaven for them.

Therefore, even if there are war supervisors supervising the battle, the offensive of the Yuan army is still getting weaker and weaker.

Seeing the flames in the first battalion, Shi Bin immediately ordered a retreat, and led the soldiers to pick up Zhao Gang and others who were attacking the second battalion. During the retreat, it was ordered to take away all the tiger squat cannons, and as for the wooden handle that could be taken away, all the ones that could be taken away would be detonated, and no one would be left to do research.

That battalion was burned to the ground, and although the second battalion was not burned down, it also lost half of its grain and grass, which made Shi Bin's subordinates, who retreated to Tang Baihe, very happy.

Burning most of the grain and grass of the Yuan army is already a great achievement, and there are only very few casualties, so Shi Bin and the others hope that there will be some Yuan troops who take the initiative to send them to death. Let them live the addiction of killing the Yuan army again.