The terrain of Exiang Ridge is dangerous, just by listening to the name of the place, you can know this.

Exiang Ridge lies in the south of the Chishui River not far from the east and west, is stuck on the post road in the north-south direction, is the only way for Datunchang to go north to Chishuiwei, and is also the last dangerous place in the south of the Chishui River.

After the rout of Taohong Dam, An Bangyan knew that he was no longer the opponent of the official army, and in despair, he was only bent on retreating north, but Zhou Shiru, the mastermind of An Bangyan who still did not abandon him, keenly felt the unusually low morale of the Yi soldiers under An Bangyan.

Zhou Shiru knew that with such morale, An Bangyan might not be able to go far with the only remaining 4,000 Yi soldiers.

So, after fleeing to the area of Exiangling, Zhou Shiru persuaded An Bangyan to take advantage of the dangerous terrain of Exiangling and the blind confidence of the officials and troops after repeated victories to fight an ambush to teach the pursuing officers and soldiers a lesson.

Doing so, on the one hand, can buy time for the self-army to cross the Exiang Ridge and even cross the Chishui River.

On the other hand, a victory can also boost the morale of those who have fallen into a dangerous situation.

The two reasons that Zhou Shiru said, An Bangyan couldn't refute at all, and An Bangyan's younger brother An Alun, as well as the An clan relatives and various cave landers who were taken by An Bangyan at any time, such as An Shi, An Jian, An Luan and others, also thought so.

In this way, An Bangyan, who had the opportunity to evacuate the Chishui River in one go, unexpectedly stopped his escape at Exiang Ridge, and with the remaining 4,000 Yi soldiers, he set up an ambush beside the narrow and tortuous post road under Exiang Ridge.

If the pursuing officers and soldiers were any of the three chief military officers Hou Liangzhu, Lin Zhaoding, or Xu Chengming, or any of Luo Ganxiang, Peng Chaozhu, and Luo Longzuo, then Zhou Shiru's calculations were very likely to succeed, and they would cause heavy losses to one of these officers, soldiers, and horses.

Because the officers and soldiers under the command of Hou Liangzhu and other three general soldiers have rushed too many roads and fought too many battles, the soldiers are very tired, and it is time for the end of the crossbow.

At the same time, these officers and troops have won many battles in the process of pursuing the Shuixi Yi soldiers, and now they are all arrogant and arrogant, if they are really allowed to pursue, it is estimated that there is a chance that they will be ambushed.

Once they are ambushed, the fatigue and injuries caused by the previous continuous pursuit operations may become their fatal weakness.

As for the Tusi soldiers under the command of Luo Ganxiang, Peng Chaozhu, Luo Longzuo and others, the situation is the same, under the fatigue of a long battle, it is okay to kill the rebel Miao thief village and fight a smooth battle, once the ambush is attacked, I am afraid that it will be beaten out of its original form.

However, Zhu Xieyuan, who has always been cautious and likes to take steps to fight, the strikers sent this time were the white pole soldiers under Qin Gongming and the Tiance Guard Right Guards under Liu Zhaoji who were equipped with Chongzhen.

Therefore, under the persuasion of Zhou Shiru, An Bangyan finally mustered up the courage to bet on the only remaining belongings and set up an ambush, but finally kicked on the iron plate.

In the evening of the same day, the sun was setting, and it was twilight above the post road halfway up the mountainside of Exiangling.

On the right side of the post road, there is a steep slope upward, and on top of the steep slope are dense baskets.

On the left side of the post road is a steep downward slope, which is also densely packed.

If you're in the plains, it's just dusk.

But in the mountains and dense forests, there is no sunlight at this moment, and it is as if night has fallen.

However, after all, it is not really nightfall, so you can still see the road ahead.

It's just that under the twilight, the mist is rising in the dense forest, and the eyesight is hindered, the visibility is reduced, and it is impossible to see far.

Qin Gongming and Qin Kezhong led the 2,219 stone pillar white pole soldiers who survived the long battle, maintaining a neat formation of four columns and walking side by side, walking in front.

Liu Zhaoji and Mo Hejing's Tiance Guard's Right Guerrilla Division and the Regular Soldier Division followed closely behind the white pole soldier formation, with the Guerrilla Division on the left and the Main Soldier Division on the right, also walking side by side in four columns.

The 4,000 Yi soldiers under the command of An Bangyan, most of them were resolute people, from noon until the sunset, lying in ambush in the dense forest on the right side of the post road without eating or moving, black clothes and the dark dense forest are integrated, even if the birds return late, they can not pay attention to the killing opportunities hidden under the dense forest.

Although there is a warning in the art of war not to enter the forest, Qin Gongming and Qin Kezhong are brave and bold, and before they arrive at this dense forest mountain road in Exiangling, they do not doubt him and lead the troops into it without hesitation.

Liu Zhaoji, Mo and Jing, who had been ordered countless times by Emperor Chongzhen, were still somewhat vigilant, but before entering the dense forest mountain road, they ordered the Tiance Guard to guard the right and stop observing for a moment.

Liu Zhaoji saw that there was darkness and no movement in the mountains and forests on the right, although he hesitated in his heart, worried about being ambushed, but seeing that Qin Gongming's department had already walked out of Lixu and still did not move, he had to bite the head, forcibly suppressed the doubts in his heart, and after drinking the order, he checked the loading of the guns, and stepped into this dark dense forest mountain road.

Just after such a hesitation, the column under Liu Zhaoji and Mo and Jing opened a distance of more than 100 steps from Qin Gongming's department.

As a result, Liu Zhaoji had just led his troops to enter this section of the dense forest mountain road for more than 300 steps, when he suddenly heard a sound of Yi shouting and shouting from afar.

Then in the dense forest on the right side, there was a sudden shout of killing, and I don't know how many people and horses were ambushed here, and at this time they all rushed down towards the stone pillars and white poles on the mountain road.

Qin Gongming, who was far away in the center of the front team, shouted loudly almost at the same time as Liu Zhaoji: "There is an ambush!" Face to the right and form a formation to meet the enemy! Face to the right and form a formation to meet the enemy! ”

The order was simple, but it was clear, and it included both a judgment of the enemy's situation and a way to deal with it.

Qin Kezhong held a huge shield in his hand and walked on the far left side of the front team, and when he heard the order, he did not panic at all, but immediately followed Qin Gongming's order and shouted: "The shield soldier is on the right!" The gunners are on the left! Fight the enemy! ”

While Qin Kezhong finished giving the order, he quickly moved to the right with the shield in his left hand, pressed the giant shield with his shoulder, and quickly set up the outer shield wall of the stone pillar white pole soldier spear array with the dead shield soldiers who followed him one after another.

As soon as the shield wall was erected, a rain of arrows was heard "clanging", and one by one shot directly on the shield wall.

A few also crossed the shield wall, through the spears like a forest, and threw them into the gun array of the stone pillar white pole soldiers, and suddenly there was a muffled snort and screams.

The range of the bow and crossbow of the Shuixi Yi soldiers was insufficient, and the mist was rising in the dense forest, and the humidity was quite heavy, so the bow and crossbow could not produce much power if it was not fired at close range.

The disadvantage of the close-range launch is that the rain of arrows shot is only one or two rounds, because the crowd of people shouting and rushing down can't give the crossbowmen more opportunities to throw the rain of arrows, so they have already rushed to the front of the white pole soldier and fought with the white pole soldier.

This time, after a full rest, the Shuixi Yi soldiers, like a tiger descending from the mountain, rushed over with hatred and hatred, and slammed into the shield wall commanded by Qin Kezhong.

One by one, the machetes slashed at Qin Kezhong's iron-clad giant shield, and he couldn't stop retreating.

Just as the outer shield wall of the stone pillar white pole soldier was about to collapse, Qin Gongming, who had calmed down in the panic, roared: "White pole gun! Kill! ”

As this command sounded, in an instant, more than 2,000 spears stabbed fiercely towards the dense crowd rushing on the steep slope on the right, and a large number of Yi soldiers running in front were inevitably pierced on the white pole guns, letting out bursts of heart-rending screams.

At the same time, Liu Zhaoji, Mo and Jing's Tiance Wei Youye soldiers also rushed to the back of the white pole soldier formation, nearly a thousand poles of Chongzhen, and the crowd of people rushing down the steep slope shot nearly a thousand dense projectiles at an elevation angle.

The dense projectiles hit the bamboo forest dozens of steps away, and the branches and leaves flew around, but more projectiles directly hit the body of the Yi soldiers who came from the impact.

The Yi soldiers who were shot still maintained the posture of rushing forward, galloped down, and then fell in front of the gun array of the white pole soldiers or the Tiance guards.

In just a moment's effort, on the right side of this section of the dense forest mountain road, a piece of corpses had secretly fallen numbly.

Qin Kezhong, who withstood the first wave of offensive, also threw out the spear in his hand, took off the mountain axe he was carrying behind him, and fought with the Yi soldiers who rushed up the mountain road.

Just as Mo Youjing was about to give the order to reload and shoot again, there was a sudden sound of a rapid gong in the dense forest.

After the sound of the gong, there was another burst of Yi language.

I saw that the Yi soldiers who were charging down suddenly stopped their pace, and they all turned around and ran deeper into the dense forest.

It was only a very short head-to-head confrontation of about a quarter of an hour, and An Bangyan's Yi soldiers left more than 1,200 corpses on this dense forest mountain road.

And their carefully arranged ambush this time only caused dozens of casualties to the gun array of the white pole soldiers.

As for the Tiance guards who came later, none of them were killed, and only a few were injured by the bamboo spears and short axes thrown by the Yi soldiers in the mountains and forests who hit their arms or legs.

However, Qin Gongming, who found the traces of the Yi soldiers under An Bangyan, did not dare to go deeper into this dense forest mountain road, but after the enemy retreated, he quickly ordered the headquarters to withdraw from this mountain road, and sent people back to report the news while camping under the Goose Xiang Ridge.