At six o'clock in the morning, Jin Xuedi began to erect a pontoon bridge at the Sabunon garrison, but the coalition forces did not respond. But around the end of the afternoon, Bai Liyan suddenly appeared on the beach on the west bank of Manibasa, and very comfortably set up a few tables, gathered a group of people, while eating and drinking, while talking and laughing, without any scruples.

"My lord, let's eat and drink here, what will we do if the Jin Xuedi people bombard us?" Jiang Jie said worriedly.

Bailiyan disagreed:

"Don't worry, have you seen it, where was their cannon at the end of March, and where is it now, it's too close to hit us at all."

"But didn't you say that you only need to reduce the amount of gunpowder to make the projectile shoot closer?"

"Hehe, they don't have the brain."

Jiang Jie was puzzled and asked:

"Why is that?"

"It's not something that can be explained in a few words, and you don't understand it now. When you return to Xianguo, you have to go back to the school to study for another two years, learn some arithmetic, but you can't do it if you don't know how to count the art of war, and after the appearance of firearms, you can't do it. ”

"Didn't the adults teach the methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of subordinates earlier, why do you need to learn it again?"

"You think that what you have learned is something unfathomable, and these methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are at best just a few tips for you and other teenagers. Of course, these furs are already amazing at the moment, and they are easy to strategize, but they are only scratching the surface. In the future, firearms will change with each passing day, and if you are not proficient in the method of counting, it will be difficult to be promoted to the important task of commanding the army. ”

In the early days of firearms, which were rudimentary, in the middle and late periods, mathematics became increasingly important for the use of firearms, and artillery involved ballistic calculations, and range data needed to be corrected.

Jiang Jie and other teenagers have followed Bai Liyan for many years and have learned a lot of things, but mathematics is only equivalent to the level of the first grade of junior high school at best, so they stop at complacency, and it is not a big problem to deal with the princes' army, Bai Liyan is worried about the threat from unknown civilizations beyond Beihai.

As he spoke, an old man said loudly:

"General, it seems to be an enemy general on the other side!"

Bailiyan followed the trail to the east, and it could be seen that there was a group of people clustered on the shore more than 300 meters away. Mooney was dressed in ornate gold armor and was looking at him through a telescope. Bai Liyan had a whim, got up and came to the shore and waved to him, and Mooney frowned and looked strange.

"This impudent bastard is so rampant!"

At this time, Norenga said:

"Your Excellency, I just got the news that our army is on the other side of the river, the northerners have really withdrawn on all fronts, and there are only more than 1,000 cavalry on the other side, such as the northerners' main generals, as long as they rush over, they can be captured."

"So you mean you want to rush over and kill it?"

Mooney asked rhetorically, Norenga's eyes rolling:

"Uh...... Your subordinates are at your command. ”

"You don't use your brains, Bailiyan sits on the opposite bank like this, eating and drinking, there are no heavy soldiers around him, you know or I know, are there other ambushes waiting for our army to cross the river."

"Yes, Your Excellency has a point."

Norenga nodded repeatedly, and several defeats even put a left hand in it, which he will never forget, and now he does not dare to assert himself against Mooney's will.

"Let's go, go back to the camp, and I'll be angry when I see it!"

"Yes, Your Excellency!"

Mooney was not only angry, when he thought of the elite cavalry who died tragically in the river in winter, Mooney hated to crush Bailiyan's bones and shatter his corpse, cramp and peel his skin to death, and he couldn't vent his hatred.

Seeing that the crowd on the east bank dispersed, Bailiyan sat back at the table again, and then Jiang Jie said:

"My lord, will the Jinxuedi people be in the lower reaches of Manibasar at this time, bypassing our army's field of vision, and crossing the river by boat to take the opportunity to kill?"

"No!" Bai Liyan said casually, very confident.

"Why is that?"

"Hehe, I'm scared of being beaten by General Ben. There is no trace of the Baihe cavalry now, and the withdrawal of our troops has left him confused, how dare he cross the river easily. ”

"Then after our army withdrew to Kelownas, the navy army did not arrive, and the adults decided to let them cross the river and cut off their heavy grain and grass, I'm afraid it will be difficult to achieve, right?"

"Yes, it is indeed difficult to achieve, but within a radius of hundreds of miles, it has been looted by our army and turned into scorched earth, and its accompanying baggage will not be too much, our army only needs to block the Dolandon River in the rainy season, and then destroy its artillery, it is a beast trapped in a cage, the longer he is trapped, the weaker he becomes."

The artillery of the Jin Xuedi people is one or two thousand catties at a light point and three or four thousand catties at a heavy weight, which is not counting the weight of a solid wood gun truck. Once the main force crosses the Dolandon River, it is bound to establish a defensive core with artillery positions and tidal flats on both sides to defend the pontoon bridge, and at the same time occupy the city of Montina to the west and drive the coalition forces northward.

But it was just Mooney's wishful thinking, Sikong Nan and Bai Hexi attacked and plundered, looting gold, silver and materials was not the point, the focus was to coerce more Central Plains people to gather eastward. At that time, more strong labor will be incorporated into the new annex, and the weakness of the coalition forces will be reversed by the number of people and the arrival of the rainy season.

At the same time, the riots in Sundia will completely destroy the local material transfer and economic base, which will be a loss that Mooney cannot afford, and will inevitably prompt it to go to extremes and miss the proportion.

Sitting and waiting until dusk, Bailiyan did not dare to take it lightly, obediently withdrew from the shore, and went to camp two miles away.

The next day, without any vision, Bailiyan rode to the shore to make an appointment, and in fact, he kept beating a drum in his heart.

Last night, scouts came one after another to report that the Jin Xuedi people were about to fight on the east coast, and it was no longer a matter of a few points, but the whole line launched a simultaneous assault, and the rafts were all placed on the shore, which meant that the east bank defense line, which stretched for 150 miles from north to south, should be attacked at the same time.

However, Bailiyan knew very well that there was no telephone, no telegraph, and satellite communication was even more nonsense, and it was impossible for any means to give the order to cross the river to the 150-mile-long defense line at the same time at the first time. Even if it is agreed orally in advance, the major military situation of the natural vision will not be announced to the whole army before it happens, otherwise if the timing is not grasped well, or even if it does not happen, the morale of the whole army may be damaged.

Therefore, it is necessary to issue a combat order to the whole army at the same time at the same time as the natural vision, but with the current technology, it is obviously impossible.

He seemed to have thought of something, and then Jiang Jie exclaimed:

"Look, my lord, there seems to be a black spot next to the sun!"

Looking at the traces, Bai Liyan's face suddenly sank, and she thought that it was probably it:

"It seems that it can't be wrong, it's a solar eclipse!"

"Solar eclipse! What is a solar eclipse? Jiang Jie asked hurriedly.

"It is the sun, the moon and the inky sky, when the sky and the earth are black, and the five fingers cannot be seen. But in fact, it is the moon that blocks the sun's rays, causing the ink sky to occur. ”

"Motian" is the description of the solar eclipse in the Central Plains, because the planet has two natural satellites, one large and one small, so the small moon will enter the solar ring before the big moon, forming a black shadow the size of grapes, and then the big moon will then enter the solar ring.

And because of the large diameter of the moon, it will shade the sun for longer than the earth, even a total solar eclipse.

At that time, the entire solar eclipse will last for as little as an hour or as long as an hour and a half, and the Jinxuedi people will suddenly launch a full-front attack under the complete darkness of the sky, taking the coalition army by surprise. In this way, it was possible to receive orders and launch a surprise attack on a front of more than 150 miles long.

Even the solar eclipse has a special meaning in the Luna Cult, perhaps symbolizing the will of some kind of god. In short, it must be a religious interpretation that is good for morale.

On the contrary, there are many people living in the Central Plains within the coalition army, and there are not a few people who believe in the Luna God Cult, and they have just turned their backs on religion before, and now there is a sudden solar eclipse, and the blow to the coalition forces is tantamount to a catastrophe. At that time, the sky and the earth will be dark, the coalition forces will be panicked, and they will inevitably collapse under the blow of the whole front. The more she thought about it, the more uneasy Bai Liyan became.

When they came to the river, Mooney was already waiting on the east bank, his face was full of smugness, Bai Liyan turned over and dismounted and took off his armor, and let people put down the boat and go to the appointment.

At this time, Jiang Jie reminded:

"Be careful, sir!"

"Go, let the people prepare more torches."

"Yes, my lord!"

Boarding the bow of the boat and inserting two torches, Bailiyan took only one old pawn and rowed the boat slowly towards the river.

At this time, Mooney's face fluctuated, and when he saw Bailiyan inserting the torch into the bow of the boat, the calmness just now was gone.

Both of them came to the river in small boats, and saw Mooney's expression like two of them. Bai Liyan thought in a blink of an eye, he must not have expected that he had just found out, and mistakenly thought that he had prepared in advance for the previous series of transfers. Thinking of the details, the gloom in his heart was swept away, and his calm face jumped, and Bai Liyan planned to deceive him again in the end.

Coming to the middle of the river, Bailiyan raised his hand and gave a salute first:

"Your Excellency hasn't seen you for many days, don't you miss your general."

Although Mooney is a wise general, the city government is very ordinary, and his emotions immediately react on his face:

"You're running fast!"

"Hehe, compared to Your Excellency's means, I would have been ashamed of myself, how could I not run away."

Mooney's words are clear, and Bailiyan is sure that he will most likely mistakenly think that he expected a solar eclipse in advance, but if Mooney thinks about it, he will easily find the flaw.

Technically, it is not possible to know exactly when a solar eclipse will occur. In most cases, the law of solar eclipses can only be observed by astronomical laws and simple mathematical calculations.

Of course, Baili Yan is a human being, and it is not difficult to calculate the trajectory and time of the solar eclipse through long-term observation, but it is rare that it cannot be done in a short period of time. No one could have imagined that a solar eclipse would occur in the near future, and with these two points alone, Bailiyan could not know in advance that a solar eclipse would occur on April 18.

Seeing that he was preparing torches, Mooney mistakenly thought that Bailiyan had learned that he had abandoned the west bank defense line in advance and retreated, which became a logical explanation. Bai Liyan grasped this point, quickly brewed in his heart, and then continued:

"Your Excellency has invited you here today, not just to appreciate the wonders of the century."

Mooney pressed his sword against the ship's surface, pressed the head of the sword with both hands, and said in a domineering manner

"Since you know, I will advise you, surrender quickly, and I can spare your life, otherwise your army will only have a dead end."

"Hehe... Hahaha......" Bailiyan laughed, and her disdain grew: "The skills are not as good as people, so they will threaten in the name of the time of heaven, your Excellency doesn't want to tell the general that the scene of Motian is the punishment of the moon god to the sun, huh?" ”

"You and other barbarians of the Northlands, how do you know the divine power of the high priest of our clan, the moon god is angry at your barbarism and killing, today is the moon god's judgment on you!"

"Oh...... The trial of our army ......" Baili Yan sneered and dismissed, and then said: "The general will not talk nonsense with Your Excellency, it is still this winter's proposal, your army will provide grain, grass and livestock, and let our army return to the north by opening the road, and the general can be merciful." If not, General Ben has his own hands and can have enough food and clothing. ”

"Wishful thinking!" Mooney sneered, gritting his teeth and revealing ferocity: "Slaughter my people, destroy my homeland, your sins are unforgivable!" ”

"It seems that there is no need to talk about it, right, well, Your Excellency can cross the river and fight, and this general will accompany you to the bottom! U-turn and go ashore! ”

"Sooner or later you will have to pay for your hubris and ignorance, I promise!"

"Please, I will not accompany you!"

"You!"

Mooney was angry, Bailiyan did not entangle, let the old pawn row the boat and turn around.

At this time, there was a wave of sound on the east coast, Jin Xuedi shouted the words "Divine Moon God", Bailiyan subconsciously looked up at the sky, the small moon had covered the upper end of the solar ring, the big moon was slowly wedged into the outer edge of the solar ring, and the solar eclipse began.