The two leaders of the Mo's wolf soldiers and the Wei's wolf soldiers, Mo Keji and Wei Ang, returned to Xixipu and came to see Xu Chengming.

Hearing Xu Chengming and others talk about the thrilling killing at the foot of Xiema Mountain the night before, the two of them were shocked and hurriedly pleaded guilty.

Next, Mo Keji and Wei Ang were in front of Xu Chengming, you said a word to me, half showing off and half covering up, and finished telling the ins and outs of their division of troops and the same destination.

Hearing these two people say that there are a large number of fishing boats and bamboo rafts sealed on the shore of Zhiga Alu Lake in the upper reaches of the Xixi River, Xu Chengming and Luo Ganxiang both had their eyes lit up, and they glanced at each other in an instant, and they both knew what the other party thought.

Xu Chengming took the lead and said: "Brother Mo, Brother Wei, the Zhiga Alu Lake you mentioned, can there be wind and waves on the lake?" Bamboo rafts may be crossed? ”

Mo Keji and Wei Ang saw that Xu Chengming neither asked about the seizure nor anything else, but asked about this, although it was a little inexplicable, I don't know what this Guizhou chief military officer meant, but they still thought about it, and Mo Keji, who was older and more aged, said:

"Although the lake is wide, it is not very large, and the mountains and forests on the opposite side can be seen in the distance. There was no wind and no rain on that day, the lake was as calm as a mirror, but the lake was turquoise, and its depth was not known! ”

Wei Ang, another leader of the wolf soldiers, who was about twenty or thirty years old, with red and dark skin and a thin body, thought about it and said:

"There are fishermen on the lake, and there are no less than a thousand fishing boats of all sizes, and there are countless bamboo rafts, parked along the shore——"

Speaking of this, Wei Ang, who was still quite agile, finally reacted, looked at Xu Chengming with a smile on his face, and said in surprise: "The chief military officer wants to cross the river from Zhiga Aru Lake to the west!" ”

As soon as Wei Ang asked this, Mo Keji also reacted, and looked at Xu Chengming in surprise, so Xu Chengming, Luo Ganxiang and others laughed.

Xu Chengming smiled and said: "There is nowhere to find the iron shoes, and it takes no effort to get it!" God help me this time! ”

That night, Xu Chengming wrote a letter about the plan in his heart and sent someone back to Shuixi City on horseback.

Early the next morning, Zhu Xieyuan's reply was sent back to Xixipu and agreed to be carried out immediately.

On the morning of 17 June, Mo Keji and Wei Ang, who had rested all night in Xixipu, each led the wolf soldiers under their command, without banners or baggage, and quietly led Luo Ganxiang, the main general of the trip, and more than 2,800 green and seedling soldiers under the command of Luo Ganxiang, a total of more than 8,800 people, and once again set foot on the mountain road north to Yinaba.

Of course, Xu Chengming wanted to personally lead the army north, but although the Guizhou Army under his command was already good at mountain warfare in the Ming Dynasty official army sequence, it was much worse than the Guangxi wolf soldiers under Mo's and Wei's, and the Qingmiao native soldiers under Luo Ganxiang's command.

Whether it is the wolf soldiers from Guangxi, or the green seedling soldiers under the command of Luo Ganxiang, they have grown up in the mountains and forests since they were children, and they are familiar with everything in the mountains and forests.

This is really incomparable.

And Xixipu really needs him to be here.

On the one hand, the second group of 3,000 captive soldiers from Shuixi City had already arrived at Xiema Mountain, and on the morning of 17 June, they had to continue to open the mountain and build the road, and it was necessary to open and widen this section of the mountain post road as soon as possible for the westward advance of the army.

On the other hand, the official army at Xixidu, outside Xixipu, should also launch an attack at the same time to attract and contain the Shuixi army on the opposite bank.

Without him personally sitting in charge of coordinating and commanding, he himself could not rest assured.

As soon as Luo Ganxiang and the others set off, Xu Chengming waved the banner of the chief military officer of Guizhou, led the army to the Xixidu ferry outside Xixipu, and began to command his men and horses to cut down those thick baskets and bamboos on the slopes of the lower reaches of the east bank of the Xixi River, which were covered with huge bamboos, and tied bamboo rafts along the river.

Xu Chengming's actions really attracted the attention of the other side.

Yang Zuo, the right governor of the right capital who was sent by An Bangyan to sit in the luxury fragrance station, quickly summoned the Shuixi Tuguan Huasha and the brothers Awumi and Awumeng who had set up a garrison in the area of the luxury fragrance post to come to the ferry on the other side to watch.

The two ferries are far away from each other, and the huge stone steps under the ferry have now been submerged in the water, only the stone platform at the highest part of the steps is still above the water, and the two places are about four or five hundred steps apart.

This is a distance that is difficult for a general's cannon to reach, not to mention that Xu Chengming didn't even bring a general.

Yang Zuo, the right governor of An Bangyan, walked back and forth along the ferry on the opposite bank with a dry water west Tumu local official, pointing and making arrangements.

At noon, Zhao Guoxi, who was still directing the bamboo rafts, found that a large number of Shuixi Yi soldiers had gathered on the wharf on the opposite bank and at the water's edge of the Xixi River Valley, which was several miles long on both sides of the wharf.

And they also cut down moso bamboo trees on the opposite bank, made a large number of horses, and then transported them to the banks of the river in the Xixi River Valley.

Some of them also sharpened the bamboo and logs at two ends, one end buried deep in the sand and gravel on the riverbank, and the other end slanted against the river.

Seeing that the Yi soldiers on the other side of the river were gathered and the fortifications along the river were in full swing, Xu Chengming was relieved.

In the evening of the same day, Luo Ganxiang sent people from Yina Dam to send back the news, and went north to detour to Yina Dam, and more than 8,800 Guangxi wolf soldiers and green seedlings who were preparing to cross the river from Zhiga Alu Lake to the west had all been assembled in place, and agreed with Xu Chengming that the army would cross west at dawn in the early morning of the second day.

Although everything was in place, Xu Chengming, the chief soldier of Guizhou, still tossed and turned for almost the whole night, until it was almost dawn, and he took a nap.

It didn't matter if he took a nap, when he opened his eyes again, he found that there was rain and fog outside the window, and Xixipu was already shrouded in a wild rain.

Smoke is not smoke, but fog, water vapor, moisture, and damp heat rising from the ground mixed with the smell of decay and deterioration.

And the rain is not a common rain in the Han region, but a kind of foggy, not foggy, rainy, wet, slimy rain.

More precisely, it was a dense and endless drizzle shrouded in thick fog.

When the Han people from the north came to Miaojiang, they encountered such a dark weather, and they would fall ill and collapse after a while, and once they were sick in this place, there was no medicine, and they all relied on the local strange witchcraft to treat, so they would die soon.

Fortunately, Xu Chengming is a native of Guizhou, and most of the Guizhou officers and soldiers under his command are recruited from the local area, so in such weather, in addition to inconvenience, there are no other problems.

When the hour came, the sky was only faintly bright, and there was still a vast rain and fog between the sky and the earth.

Zhao Guoxi, who led the troops stationed at the Xixi Ferry, sent people back to ask for instructions on whether to continue to launch an attack at the previously agreed time in such weather.

Xu Chengming, who was already in an unhappy mood, listened to the instructions sent back by Zhao Guoxi, and immediately put on his helmet and armor all the way to the riverside wharf, and said to Zhao Guoxi, who came to meet: "The sky is his mother's knife, and he must launch an offensive as promised!" ”

In this way, on June 18, on the Xixidu Wharf outside Xixipu, Xu Chengming personally beat the drum and ordered more than 5,000 people of the Guizhou Army of Xixipu to ride hundreds of huge bamboo rafts made on the first day to force the Xixi River from the Xixi River valley upstream of the Xixidu Wharf.

With the sound of the drums of "dong dong" and "dong dong", the first batch of 20 huge bamboo rafts that forcibly crossed the Xixi River left the east bank of the Xixi River, paddling hard in the direction of the opposite bank, while listening to the bamboo rafts drifting down the river.

And on each huge bamboo row, there is a small drum, and at this moment, it also follows the drum beat of Xu Chengming, "Dong Dong" and "Dong Dong".

Zhao Guoxi, who took the lead and rode a huge bamboo raft to charge ahead, struck the drum stick on the buffalo leather drum surface with all his might, and shouted loudly: "Cross the river!" River! Rush across the river! ”