Thirty miles away, the person Gu Chao cared about the most was running on the mountain road outside the Gubei Pass at this time. The eight hundred elite soldiers selected from the First Brigade in front www.biquge.info of and behind him were running out of breath one by one, but no one had the intention of stopping to rest, because everyone understood that the Gubeikou near them was not just a simple pass of the Great Wall.

Taking Gubeikou is related to the success of the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty, and only by taking Gubeikou is worthy of those brothers who stayed behind to block the enemy with flesh and blood.

"Quick, faster!" The capital head and the ten generals shouted loudly in the queue, and at this time everyone no longer had the strength to say a complete sentence, so they could only use these individual words instead. Even these words are no different from the surrounding wind for the soldiers who are running with their heads down, but the long-term training has made them very sensitive to these monotonous words, and they almost subconsciously speed up their pace, and then speed up their pace, even if their legs are broken, they must continue to move forward.

"Brigade commander, Mongol Tartar!" I don't know who is sharp-eyed and shouted.

The footsteps on the whole road died down at once, Xu Chen took three steps and made two steps and rushed onto a big rock on the side of the road, and he could even see without clairvoyance that there was a relatively open road more than a hundred zhang below this rugged mountain road, leading to the south, which seemed to be the official road to Zhongdu, and on this road, there were dense black dots moving rapidly, and it was a team of cavalry. The Ming army did not have cavalry near this at all, naturally it could only be the Mongols.

"Quick, Gubeikou is in front, if the Mongolian Tatars want to rush up, they must come to our mountain road, otherwise there will be no way to reach the top of the mountain, condescending!" Xu Chen jumped off the boulder and drew his saber, "The fire gun team fills the gunpowder, brothers, rush with Lao Tzu!" ”

The soldiers of the Ming army were so tired that it was difficult for them to let out a hoarse roar, but everyone's footsteps were still firm, keeping up with Xu Chen. The Mongol cavalry galloping down the mountain apparently spotted this group of Ming troops, and after a brief panic, several cavalrymen immediately turned their horses and galloped along the way they came, while the rest of the cavalry stepped up.

The distance between these two roads is not close, and there are trees in the middle, so whether it is the Ming army's firearms or the Mongols' arrows, there is no way to play much role at this time, and the two sides can only try their best to seize the top of the mountain not far away. The mountain road taken by the 800 elite soldiers of the First Brigade was rugged but went straight to the top of the mountain, and the official road taken by the Mongolian cavalry actually ran through the valley, so if the Mongols wanted to rush to the top of the mountain, they had to dismount and climb on foot at the junction of a mountain road and the official road not far away, so whoever occupied that junction first would have an advantage and be able to take the lead.

Xu Chen rushed up the hill in three steps and two steps, thrust the knife in his hand into the ground, and directly pulled out the firecracker, at that time, just in case, Xu Chen filled the firecracker with gunpowder and iron bullets when he set off, and now it just came in handy.

The speed of the Mongols was not slow, and before they rushed to the junction, one of the centurions who immediately led the way had jumped directly from the horseback and rushed straight to the hillside, but he was still half a step late after all, and when he rushed up the hillside, Xu Chen also rushed up at the same time, but the fuse of the fire gun in Xu Chen's hand had been ignited.

The fire bolt was right on the centurion's chest, and after a muffled sound, the centurion flew down the hill like a kite with a broken string, and fell in front of the Mongols. At this time, the Mongolian soldiers who had already dismounted were about to rush upwards with red eyes, and the Ming army's crossbowmen and firecrackers also rushed up the hillside one after another.

Almost simultaneously, both sides pulled the trigger and released the bowstring, the arrows whistling through the chest, the Ming soldiers who were hit by the arrows tumbled down the hillside, and the Mongols continued to fall. After all, many people in the Ming army had already lit the fire fuse before they rushed up the hillside, and they just cast it directly on the hillside, coupled with the condescending advantage, they could naturally suppress the Mongols.

The horses continued to scream amid the rain of arrows, and the Mongols were so beaten by the arrows of the Ming army that they could not raise their heads, and could only watch their mounts fall one after another. It was only when there was no sound above them that the Mongol soldiers rushed out from behind the carcasses of their horses and were about to rush to the mountain road, but before they could rush up the hillside. An earth-shattering loud bang suddenly arose, even covering the sound of the Mongols killing.

All the Mongolian soldiers raised their heads in surprise, a boulder that was originally halfway up the mountain had been blown up by the Ming army's explosives bag, not only the original road up the mountain was blocked by the stones falling from the sky, and there were even many rocks rolling down the hillside, directly rushing towards the oncoming Mongolian soldiers!

I don't know who took the lead and shouted first, and the Mongols on the hillside fled in panic, not caring about their task of seizing Gubeikou at all. The hundreds of stones smashed down on the head and face, and even the people with steel and iron bones had to go to seven or eight souls.

Xu Chen didn't care about the Mongolian soldiers patrolling down the hillside, and blew up this road up the mountain, if the Mongols wanted to rush to the top of the mountain along this road, they had to cross at least two natural or artificial barriers, plus the crossbowmen of the Ming army, how could it be so easy. As a fortress of the Great Wall, Gubeikou is still difficult to climb on the inside, let alone outside. Relying on the steep cliffs and the walls of the Great Wall, which still existed even after a long time of disrepair, Xu Chen had great confidence that he would be able to make the most of these topography.

What really worries Xu Chen is that there are too few soldiers under his command who can be dispatched, if Xu Chen is now under all the soldiers of the First Brigade, Xu Chen must be confident that he can block the attack of even tens of thousands of Mongolian Tatars, but now after all, Xu Chen has only 800 people around him, even if these 800 people are all recognized elite soldiers selected from the First Brigade, it is inevitable that the number is too small.

Even if the Ming army really pursues the policy of elite soldiers, it is difficult to make every soldier can be one as ten, once the Mongolian Tatars adopt the tactics of crowds, even if the 800 soldiers of the first brigade are heroic, they will be overwhelmed sooner or later.

Standing on the hillside and looking around, the Wolong, which was once hidden in the clouds and mist, is already close at hand, hundreds of years of disrepair has caused the entire Great Wall to look intact from a distance, but when you get closer, you find that some places have been intermittent, and many bricks have been taken away artificially, obviously the nearby villagers did it when the ruling court turned a blind eye, after all, for the Jurchens and the Mongols, the real base camp is outside the pass, so this blocking the Great Wall in the Central Plains and outside the pass is not a good thing, However, these foreign rulers were also very aware of the Great Wall's symbol of China, so they did not dare to deal with the Great Wall openly, and it was reasonable to take some secret encouragement and instigation.

But fortunately, in this Gubeikou is the fortress that communicates inside and outside, the Great Wall on the mountain is still complete, the enemy tower and the beacon tower are still standing, straight to the sky, in this whistling mountain wind to tell its silent witness of thousands of years of history.

Xu Chen didn't have time to appreciate the Great Wall, which had experienced countless vicissitudes and witnessed countless soldiers, and quickly climbed the steps, and the few people who opened the road in front had already packed up an enemy building and placed items such as maps as a command post.

I have to say that the ancients chose the place ingeniously, this enemy tower looks no different from the rest of the beacon towers and the like, but it just occupies the corner of the Great Wall spiraling straight to the top of the mountain, which makes this enemy tower not only be able to see the battle situation in the canyon very cleverly, but also be able to hide itself among the many enemy towers and beacon towers, so as not to be as eye-catching as the enemy tower on the top of the mountain, so as to effectively avoid being taken care of by the enemy's bow and crossbow and trebuchet.

"It is not so easy for the Mongol Tartars to attack under these cliffs, so they have only two options, one is to attack along the road up the mountain that we have blown up, and the other is to rely on the strength of the crowd and after suppressing us with a large number of arrows, let their main army force force directly through the valley." Wang Yizhou, who was in charge of exploring the road ahead, saw Xu Chen coming in and hurriedly stepped forward to report.

Xu Chen knew that this kid had not only learned a lot of military techniques from his father, but also had a lot of ghost ideas since he was a child, and a smile rose on the corner of his mouth: "Then you can tell me, which attack method is more likely to be chosen by the Mongolian Tatars?" ”

Wang Yizhou was stunned for a moment, and then said with a wry smile: "Brigade commander, this question is not easy to answer, but in a certain opinion, it is most likely that the Mongol Tatars will adopt these two methods to mix the attacking side." ”

Xu Chen glanced up at the situation of the Ming and Mongolian dogs in the Youyan area on the map, and nodded, "Go on." ”

Xu Chen gave him this opportunity, Wang Yizhou didn't hide anything, and immediately said: "For the Mongolian Tatars, Gubeikou is the retreat path they planned before, once we attack very urgently, in order to preserve our strength, the Mongols are likely to choose Gubeikou to retreat, otherwise the Mongols will not just find our traces, and they will not hesitate to mobilize troops from Jinzhou and Juyongguan to come, intending to get rid of us as soon as possible, which has actually proved from the side that our previous guess about the role of Gubeikou is correct." Realizing that Gubeikou, which is most likely to become a retreat road, is occupied by us, the Mongolian Tatars will definitely be mobilized, and the most likely thing is to give up entanglement with the rest of the First Brigade and directly attack Gubeikou, after all, it is not actually important to eliminate a First Brigade, the important thing is to be able to hold Gubeikou. ”

After a pause, Wang Yizhou continued: "So once we know that Gubeikou has fallen into our hands, there is a good chance that the Mongolian Tatars will concentrate on attacking with all their might, even at the cost of losing Jinzhou and Juyong Pass, after all, Boyan and Shi Tianze are not fools, and naturally understand that in the face of the attack of the Zhenhai Navy and the Tianwu Army, it is not easy to hold these two places, it is better to directly give up and concentrate on attacking Gubeikou to ensure the retreat road, not to mention that for them, they can't stop the Tianwu Army by virtue of the Juyong Pass Pass, Let these armies turn around and fight against the Tianwu Army on the plains There is no chance of victory, it is better to directly enter the Gubeikou battlefield, so the Mongol Tatars will definitely choose to attack with all their strength at the beginning. ”

Xu Chen couldn't help but smile: "Well said, the remaining half also understands, the Mongolian Tartars can't take this Gubeikou, and they are embattled, so they have to forcibly break through, so do you think the Mongolian Tartars will choose the second method in the future and forcibly kill them directly from under our noses?" ”

Wang Yizhou scratched his head: "What his subordinates think is exactly like this, but it is just the foolish opinion of his subordinates, and I hope the brigade commander will not laugh at it." ”

Xu Chen suddenly slapped him on the head: "Your father told us that his kid has learned a lot of skills in talking on paper, and today according to a certain person, this will not only talk on paper, if the soldiers on paper have this level, it is estimated that the generals of our two Huai armies are all Zhao Kuo who talks on paper!" ”

Wang Yizhou laughed twice, while Xu Chen said solemnly: "Okay, to make a long story short, the Mongolian Tartars are just the vanguard team, and it is estimated that it will not take a few hours for the Mongolian Tartars to know that this Gubeikou has been taken by us, and it is conceivable that when you get up early tomorrow morning, this mountain will already be black." So that's all we have left for this night. ”

Not only Wang Yizhou, but also several other commanders and capitals also stepped forward, the Mongolian Tatars attached so much importance to Gubeikou, and after learning that Gubeikou was captured by the Ming army, there was a chance that they would send troops to support. Although the Ming army guarded Gubeikou at the best of the time and place, in the final analysis, there were only 800 people, and there were no large firearms such as artillery and flying thunder cannons as cover.

Xu Chen stood in the middle of the enemy tower and pointed down and said: "This place is condescending, and you can just see the Mongolian Tartars coming from this road, so although it is hidden, it is also very likely that the Mongolian Tartars will focus on attacking, especially the mountain road below the enemy tower, the Mongolian Tartars are very likely to attack along the mountain road, after all, compared to the almost vertical cliffs, this mountain road blocked by rocks is easy to climb after all, so our main forces still have to be deployed on both sides of this mountain road, especially the crossbowmen and firecrackers, It is required that you must dig enough trenches and potholes tonight to ensure that the Tibetans can prevent as much damage as possible from the arrows of the Mongol Tartar bows. ”

This is what Ye Yingwu specially instructed Xu Chen in the will that changed the fate of the First Brigade, relying on the Great Wall to dig trenches and pits at Gubeikou, and build bunkers and defense lines with the help of natural rocks and the original Great Wall, so as to form a defense system that relies on each other and can be linked, and also allows the First Brigade to defend without relying on the Great Wall as a defensive line. After all, once the Mongol Tatars launched a fierce attack, a breach of the Great Wall's defense line would mean that Gubeikou was lost, which was a bit too big, so Ye Yingwu simply sacrificed the trenches of later generations.

Even if there are many stones in this area of Gubeikou, it is not so easy to dig the trenches in Qianmo, after all, it can provide a lot of places for the soldiers to dodge arrows, the Ming army is defending Gubeikou, the main lack is people, as long as they can do their best to save the lives of the soldiers, they will naturally be able to support it for a longer time, and the same, as long as the Mongols can kill all the Ming troops on the mountain, they can naturally take Gubeikou.

Therefore, the Mongols will not spare arrows at that time.

Several commanders and all heads nodded, and Xu Chen then pointed to several beacon towers around him: "These places are just condescending, overlooking the road or canyon, and they must also be the places where the Mongolian Tatars focus on greeting, maybe the Mongolian Tatars came in a hurry on the first day, and they won't carry many large equipment, but it is difficult for us to guarantee that we will not see trebuchets and the like on the second and third days, so the existence of these important lookout posts and fortresses is very important, Therefore, we must take precautions tonight and strengthen these beacon towers that have not been repaired for hundreds of years, otherwise it will be ridiculous and generous to be overturned by Mongolian Tatars with trebuchets at that time. ”

After a pause, Xu Chen then pointed to the barren grass on the hillside: "It is very likely that the barren grass Mongolian Tatars on both sides of these roads will be used to hide, and at the same time, they will also block the sight of our crossbowmen and firecrackers, and they will all be set on fire." ”

Without the slightest hesitation, the commander and the head of the capital received the order one after another. And Xu Chen slowly leaned against the wall, these few hours of long journey to the final key blow to the Mongolian Tartar, Xu Chen continued to spin without stopping, and now he was finally able to take a breath, exhaustion was like a tentacle spreading silently in the darkness, wanting to drag him into the bottomless pit.

Shaking his head vigorously, Xu Chen looked outside, and the darkness didn't know when it had enveloped the inside and outside of the Great Wall.

"Lao Tzu has prepared such a sumptuous banquet for you, don't let Lao Tzu down." Xu Chen pressed the handle of the knife, and a hideous smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.