With the help of the ordnance materials used to guard the ferry and the previous camp fortifications, an arc-shaped wooden and stone fortification was quickly built north of Maojindu, which was used to offset the advantage of the Wu army's fast-firing needle gun, and quickly planted mines in front of the fortifications to strengthen the defense, and hurriedly turned the gun port to use part of the artillery guarding the ferry to deal with the Wu army. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Before the Shanxi regimental training had installed all the fuses of the black powder mines, the Wu commandos carrying heavy ammunition had already reached the north of Maojindu. At the same time, only a few Qing army sentinels and regimental training teams stationed nearby rushed to Maojindu to reinforce them, but the Qing army team in Pinglu and the Qing army mobile team that had been sent to Modi Town before were nowhere to be found, and they did not know when they would arrive.

At the critical moment of racing against time, Liu Kunyi, the chief general of the Wu army who commanded this decisive battle, made a mistake, and did not take advantage of the opportunity that the Qing army's reinforcement brigade had not yet arrived to launch an all-out charge, but chose to stop outside the range of the Qing army's artillery fire, adjust the formation and arrange the attack.

At about 4:15 p.m., when the soldiers of the Wu army who came from the heavy march were about to launch an attack after a short rest, the Qing army of Pinglu, which had been defeated by the Wu army, first rushed to Maojindu, and very cleverly bypassed the position of the Wu army and rushed directly to Maojindu to join the main force, and the morale of the Qing army was greatly boosted, but the Wu army ignored it.

At 4:18 a.m., more than 200 officers and men of the Wu army first launched an attack, advanced in parallel with a combat group of five people, and rushed to the defensive positions of the Qing army in great strides. However, it is a pity that the experienced soldiers of the Wu army fell to the ground when the shells were about to land, dodging the deadly ejection of the solid shells, and the Qing artillery fire naturally had little effect, and the first salvo only killed three particularly unlucky Wu soldiers and wounded two people.

Taking advantage of the rookie Qing army in Shanxi Province to hurriedly reload and reload the ammunition, the front team of the Wu army charged forward and strode into the Qing army's position within 200 meters, during which the Qing army, which had a maximum range of more than 300 meters, raised their guns and opened fire one after another, and killed and wounded seven or eight Wu soldiers like a blind cat touching a dead mouse. While the Qing soldiers shouted and cheered after the fortifications, Xu Jiji, Chen Huchen and other Qing generals also had hope in their hearts, and they all secretly said: "This battle has to be fought." ”

The Qing army's barely good performance ended here, paying a lot of casualties and rushing into the Qing army's position within 200 meters, and the forty Wu army battle groups suddenly stopped together, and suddenly set up a small cannon that the Qing army in Shanxi had never seen before, and directly loaded small shells into the muzzle of the small cannon. Seeing this situation clearly in the telescope, Chen Huchen, the leader of the Shanxi regimental training, was also surprised and said: "Could this be the legendary Wu thief cannon?" So small? What can it be used for? ”

Fortunately, Chen Huchen was able to appreciate with his own eyes what the use of these small cannons was, after loading the shells and adjusting the firing element, the Wu Army grenadiers immediately pulled the grenadier belt, and the firing pin in the barrel of the Wu Army grenadier barrel that had been improved many times violently hit the bottom fire of the cannonball, and the forty small shells burst out after making a small explosion sound, and the curved shot smashed along the parabola to the head of the temporary fortifications of the Qing army, and the earth-shattering explosion sound also echoed on the battlefield.

Bitter acid shells exploded violently, the flying shrapnel harvested the lives of countless Qing soldiers almost instantly, the bitter acid flame of the pit father was full of flames, igniting the wooden part of the temporary fortifications of the Qing army, and also ignited the whole body of the Qing soldiers who were unfortunately shrouded in flames, and the terrifying screams also resounded in the sky after the temporary works of the Qing army, countless bloody Qing soldiers cried wolf howls, and more than a dozen or twenty Qing soldiers like burning men rolled all over the ground, crying for help, but no matter how they rolled, the flames on their bodies were not extinguished.

The Wu army's grenadier was as if it could be fired continuously, and in the blink of an eye, there was another round of volleys, and in the rumbling explosion, more Qing soldiers screamed and fell to the ground, more fire rose in the Qing army's position, and the Qing soldiers who hid behind the fortifications either shot indiscriminately, or screamed and screamed and ran around to avoid the shells.

The grenadiers and shells were still bombarding the defensive positions of the Qing army as if they had eyes, the explosions and the screams of the Qing soldiers came and went, and the faces of the Qing generals such as Xu Jiji and Chen Huchen were also paler than one another, and they finally understood why the Wu army dared to send a lone army to land on the beach, and at the same time, they finally understood why the Qing army in Henan did not dare to start a decisive battle with the Wu army - no one would do anything to die in vain.

The tenacity of the Qing army in Shanxi was far less than what the Wu army expected before the war, and it was only bombarded with grenadiers, and the Qing army troops guarding the temporary fortifications had already collapsed on their own before the Wu infantry could attack, and they all retreated and fled, including the war supervision team. Seeing this scene, Liu Kun did not hesitate, and immediately asked a battalion of Wu soldiers to launch an attack, seizing the position of the Qing army and covering the Wu army's grenadiers to attack the Qing army headquarters.

It was only after the Wu army's infantry lined up in four rows to kill in front of the Qing army's position, and the Wu army's grenadiers stopped bombardment, that the Qing army had the courage to launch a counterattack charge, in a vain attempt to kill the Wu army's attack and ignite the black powder mines buried in advance.

In the face of the oncoming crowd of Qing troops, the soldiers of the Wu army calmly aimed and fired, quickly reloading bullets like machinery, and quickly fired at a speed that the Qing army in Shanxi did not dare to imagine, and knocked down the soldiers of the Qing army in Shanxi in rows like cutting wheat, almost not giving the Qing army any chance of hand-to-hand combat. Occasionally, a few fish that slipped through the net rushed to the vicinity of the Wu army's position, and they immediately died tragically under the revolver of the Wu army's junior officers, and none of them could get the opportunity to run in front of the Wu army soldiers and pick up the knife.

After discovering that continuing to move forward was purely to give Wu Jun's head in vain, the Qing soldiers who were lucky not to be killed by Wu's muskets naturally began to flee continuously, and the charging offensive soon disappeared without a trace. The soldiers of the Wu army continued to advance in great strides, and the grenadiers of the Wu army followed closely, swaggering directly towards the headquarters of the Qing army hanging the banner of Xu Jiji.

Finding that the situation was not right, Xu Jiji hurriedly raised the banner and ordered the soldiers on both wings to attack the two wings of the Wu army, but the Qing soldiers who had long been frightened and weakened their legs had just launched an attack, and the Wu army had immediately changed formations, and the two horizontal teams were separated from the left and right, protecting the two wings of the grenadier team, and continued to attack forward in the shape of a 'gate'.

I have to admire Xu Jiji's adaptability, even if he has never fought with the linear tactics of the Wu army, Xu Jiji is still a very genius and immediately commands the commander, sending a detour to copy the back of the Wu army. However, the Wu army reacted faster, and just found out that the Qing army was copying the back, and the Wu army's grenadier team immediately divided more than 100 people, raised a pin gun to protect the back, and also turned the Wu army's formation into a hollow hedgehog array that Wu Chaoyue relied on to become famous all over the world.

It was a big hedgehog that could only roll, and while maintaining a strict formation, the Wu army's hedgehog array was still rapidly advancing towards the Qing army headquarters, and the Qing army had the courage to charge several times, and was quickly repelled by the Wu army's firing pin guns and grenade shells. At the same time, the Wu army grenadiers, who were protected in the middle of the hedgehog array, opened up the opportunity and constantly bombarded the grenadiers into the densely populated places of the Qing army, causing the Qing soldiers to jump up and down, and the charging offensive was even more messy and weak.

Finally, the hedgehog array of the Wu army advanced to two hundred meters of the Qing army headquarters, and stopped to cover the grenadier team to bombard the Qing army headquarters, but it is a pity that Xu Jiji, who was very smart, had long expected that the Wu soldiers wanted to send him home, and fled from the command platform with his generals and soldiers early.

But it was enough, in the continuous explosions, not only the command flags of the Qing army fell to the ground one after another, but Xu Jiji's handsome flag also fluttered to the ground in the bombardment, Xu Jiji could no longer command the entire Maojindu battlefield through the banner, and the morale of the Qing army was also hit hard.

At this time, Liu Kunyi also launched an attack with the rear army, and easily joined forces with the front army to defeat the Qing army's mobile team separated by the two armies, merged with the front army, and then immediately launched an attack on the Qing army's ferry defense position.

The Qing soldiers guarding the ferry began to cry without tears, the strong bunkers they hid in were all facing the ferry wharf, and they could only hide behind the fortifications and shoot at the ferry wharf, but there was no defense behind them, and the Wu soldiers who killed them from behind shot at them as much as they wanted, and they suffered heavy casualties, so they could only abandon the fortifications and flee for their lives, and the strong fortifications that they had worked so hard to build were basically scrapped.

There is also the Qing army for the ferry built a fort, originally after turning the muzzle, the Qing army fort can also form a certain threat to the Wu army soldiers killed from behind, but when the Wu army soldiers killed to the nearest place, began to bombard the battery with ballistic controllable grenadiers, the Qing army's batteries also ignited one after another skyrocketing, and there were several forts on the gunpowder was ignited by the Wu army's grenadier shells and exploded, directly blowing up the fort.

The mobile forces of the Qing army, which had rushed from Modi Town at full speed, had already rushed to Maojindu, but seeing the corpses of their companions on the battlefield and the powerful firepower of the Wu army, the mobile team of the Qing army, which was panting and whistling, said that they did not dare to charge and attack and joined the battlefield. However, the Wu army brigade on the other side of the Yellow River was unceremonious, and immediately launched a rush to cross the river with the newly formed regimental training as the vanguard, and rushed across the Yellow River to rush to reinforcements.

During the crossing of the first Wu fleet, some of the surviving Qing army batteries also opened artillery bombardment on the river to block the channel, but their position had just been exposed, and the Wu army artillery on the south bank immediately opened fire and returned fire.

At the same time, the Wu army's picric acid shells also launched a fire coverage on the ground of Maojindu, although the Wu army's shells did not penetrate well and failed to penetrate deeply, but the picric acid flame still ignited a lot of Qing army mine fuses, detonated in advance the black powder mines used by the Qing army to yin the Wu army, and ensured the safety of the landing troops' feet.

"In fact, there is a certain breakthrough in a frontal attack, but it is definitely not so smooth, and there is no chance to annihilate the enemy in large numbers." This is Zhang Zhidong's muttering while watching the battle on the south bank.

Indeed, after crossing the Yellow River quickly with few casualties, the Wu Corps immediately began to build pontoon bridges, so that the follow-up troops could pass through the Yellow River in large numbers and quickly. Liu Kun's first army calmly captured the defensive position used by the Qing army to deal with the ferry, turned its guns to attack the Qing soldiers who tried to recapture the position, killed and wounded a large number of enemies, severely damaged the main force of the Qing army in Shanxi, and indirectly alleviated the resistance to capture the heavy land of money and grain in Jiezhou in the future.

Xu Jiji, who refused to give up, showed his last trick - when the Wu army pontoon bridge was about to be built, Xu Jiji suddenly ordered the fire raft team hidden upstream to dispatch, in a vain attempt to set fire to the Wu army pontoon bridge, and also severely damaged the Wu army brigade that crossed the river through the pontoon bridge.

Not to mention, relying on the cover of the night that had fallen, when the Qing army raft, which Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong had not expected beforehand, suddenly appeared in the upper reaches of the Wu army's pontoon bridge, the Wu army was really killed by surprise, and the Wu soldiers who had already gone on the bridge could only retreat to the south bank in a hurry, and the pontoon bridge that the Wu army soldiers had worked hard to build was also broken and collapsed in the flames.

In this regard, Liu Kunyi didn't care about it at all, and just ordered the South Bank Brigade to suspend the bridge overnight, send himself a little supplies by boat, and then let the main force stay in place, and then guard the South Bank Brigade overnight and then meet the South Bank Brigade to cross the river.

The reaction of the Qing army was of course jubilation, and Xu Jiji hurriedly reorganized the counteroffensive while openly shouting: "Victory or defeat is in one fell swoop!" Whether we can keep Shanxi depends on whether we can drive the Wu thief army across the Yellow River tonight! Kill! The Wu thief's ammunition has run out, and our Huaiqing reinforcements will arrive soon! ”

It was night, the fierce battle on the north bank of Maojindu was all night, and the gunfire and artillery never stopped, but when the fierce battle reached the dawn, the battlefield was densely packed with almost all the corpses of Qing soldiers, and the Huaiqing reinforcements claimed by Xu Jiji never appeared - Xu Jiji is not a fool, in the case of Nie Shicheng's heavy troops stationed in Luoyang, Xu Jiji still dared to mobilize the Huaiqing garrison to move westward, so that the Qing army's Yellow River defense line exposed greater flaws for the Wu army to break through?

The result of deceiving his subordinates was that no one would believe Xu Jiji's words anymore, although Xu Jiji repeatedly claimed that the rescue was coming, but the Wu army soldiers had just built a pontoon bridge with a wide field of vision, strode across the river to launch a counterattack, and the Qing army in Shanxi, which had suffered heavy casualties, began to flee one after another, and the rear team of the Wu army quickly captured Maojindu and officially broke through the Qing army's Yellow River defense line. In the end, Xu Jiji was helpless, so he had to flee from Maojindu with the regimental training of his own troops under the pull of his own soldiers, and he didn't even dare to return to Pinglu County, so he fled directly to Xizhou.

However, Sun Chun of Pinglu Zhixian was a little backbone, and did not accept Wu Jun's surrender under the city - he chose to commit suicide by throwing himself into the river, but as soon as Sun Chun died, the county Cheng and the regimental training in the city immediately opened the city gate and surrendered. The Wu army entered the city to take over the city defense, incorporated the Pinglu regiment training that was willing to surrender, and at the same time treated Sun Chun's family well, and immediately began to prepare to attack Jiezhou in the north, and seize the largest salt-producing area in the Central Plains, Jiezhou Yanchi.

Knowing that the salt pond in Jiezhou is related to nearly a quarter of Shanxi's financial revenue, Xu Jiji, who fled north in advance, will definitely not hand it over easily, Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong, who cheekily went north with the army to watch the battle, are ready to fight hard. The result was not surprising, when the Wu army went north to cross the Zhongtiao Mountain Range, it was met with stubborn resistance from Xu Jiji's army in the area of Wujiazui, which was pushed to the front as cannon fodder, and the new formation of the Wu army, which was pushed in front as cannon fodder, launched several attacks and was repulsed.

Liu Kunyi's order was stopped by Li Zhan, who had taken the initiative to join the Wu army in Ruzhou, knowing that the cornucopia was ahead, in order to be rewarded for his meritorious service, Li Zhan resolutely asked him to lead the army to attack, and promised that he would never disgrace the Wu army. Liu Kun reluctantly agreed, and also used flowering shells to help Li Zhanjun suppress the enemy's firepower.

Not to mention, under the temptation of making a fortune by seizing the cornucopia of Yanchi in Jiezhou, Li Zhanjun really created a miracle, charging one after another, and successfully took down Wujiazui, which was blocking the way of Wu's army, and once again forced Xu Jiji to lead his army to flee north. Liu Kun was overjoyed when he saw this, and continued to use Li Zhanjun as the vanguard to kill Jiezhou, preparing to gain a foothold in Anyi County first, and then calmly attack the city of Jiezhou.

After climbing to the top of Wujiazui Mountain, the endless Jiezhou Salt Pond also appeared in front of the Wu soldiers, looking at the salt lake that was guarded by the thousands of miles of city walls, and the white salt flowers that can be naturally precipitated on the lake in winter, the Wu soldiers were of course cheering, and Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong, who had never been to the salt pond, were also full of emotion, and they all chanted poems to commemorate them. However, just when Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong were flying, Li Zhanjun's news of asking for help suddenly came from the front, saying that he had encountered a strong enemy.

"What other strong enemies are there in Jiezhou? Didn't we find out our detailed work a long time ago, and said that there was only one Shanxi finance organizer named Li Dujie in Jiezhou who set up a group practice to help Xu Jiji? Could it be that there are rebel armies from other places rushing to reinforce them? ”

Taken aback, Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong hurriedly put down their poems and hurriedly went down the mountain with the main force to reinforce, and then not to mention, at the end of the road out of the mountain, there was really a team of powerful enemies blocking the way - more than a dozen men wearing Guan Yu's costumes were holding the Qinglong Yanyue Knife, their faces were red, and they were shaking and jumping, while shouting in a neat voice, "Guan Gong is invulnerable!" Invulnerable! Wu thief leave quickly, otherwise take your dog's head! ”

"Why didn't you shoot?" Liu Kunyi was very surprised and asked Li Zhan, who led the front army.

"My brother is afraid that it is really Guan Gong who will go down to earth, and he will not dare to shoot casually." Li Zhan replied with a sad face, pointed to the woods on both sides, and said, "Also, it seems that there is an ambush." ”

Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong hurriedly looked left and right, and saw that in the depths of the dense forest on the left and right of the mountain road, there were indeed many faintly visible flags, Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong were surprised, and after discussing a few times in a low voice, they instructed Li Zhan: "Shoot, hit first to see what the reaction is." ”

Unable to resist Liu Kunyi's persecution, it was only after the main force of the Wu army protected the two wings of the road that Li Zhanjun's regimental training pulled the trigger one after another, and shot Guan Erye who were holding the Qinglong Yanyue knife from a distance with an arquebus, and then ......

Then those Guan Erye were shot one after another and fell to the ground, and then the remaining few Guan Erye who were lucky enough not to be hit also rushed to throw down the Qinglong Yanyue Knife and fled for their lives, and shouted while running, "Guan Gong is invulnerable!" Guan Gong is invulnerable! ”

"Second Master Guan, go down to earth quickly!" Guan Erye, who was shot in the leg, lay down the mountain and rolled and cried, "If you don't go down to earth, I won't be able to stop Wu Thief's foreign guns and cannons!" ”

It was still after sneaking this Guan Er Ye to the front for interrogation, Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong knew that this farce was the masterpiece of Li Dujie, the leader of the Jiezhou regimental training - knowing that they couldn't defeat the Wu army, they invited some gods to dance the gods, and asked the Xie Zhou celebrity Guan Er Ye to go down to possess his regimental training, resist the attack of the Wu army for him, and defend his salt business in Jiezhou. As for the flags in the depths of the woods, they were a bluff copied by Li Dujie from Guan Erye's famous "Romance of the Three Kingdoms............

After laughing with Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kunyi looked farther north with great regret, sighed, and said: "The rebellious army in Shanxi is so weak, if the ammunition can be supplied sufficiently and the transportation is smooth, I can take my brothers to Taiyuan and take Zhili in the east." It's a pity, why hasn't our ammunition production been going up? ”