After Zhu Yuanzhang led the thieves to withdraw to the main village, it took more than an hour for Du Wenhuan on the top of the mountain to lead the army to come back from the mountain, and when they arrived in front of the camp, they found that the front of the camp of the officers and soldiers was empty, and the shadow of a thief soldier could not be seen.

Du Wenhuan led a group of lieutenants and went straight into the Chinese army, and because he was in too much hurry, his armor and sword scabbard collided, making a loud sound. He grabbed Ma Rulong, who was making a flute, and asked: "Ben General received news that the camp under the mountain was attacked by thieves, so he led his troops down the mountain to help, why can't I even see the shadow of a thief nearby?" How are you getting the word out? ”

Ma Rulong was startled, and hurriedly replied: "General Du, there were indeed two thousand thieves attacking just now, but ...... I don't know what they mean......" He told Zhu Yuanzhang about bringing two thousand thieves to line up outside the village, and then walked up to provoke the fire soldiers, and after speaking, he said a little dazedly: "I really don't understand, what is he doing." ”

"Not good!" After Du Wenhuan listened, his brows furrowed tightly: "What a Zhu Ba...... It's amazing! ”

"Ugh!" Ma Rulong asked: "General Du, tell me, what is so powerful about him?" The youngster is completely confused. ”

Du Wenhuan sighed: "Do you know why it is so easy for us to attack the division of thieves? It is because our Shenji Battalion took the lead and broke the morale of the thieves. But Zhu Ba risked his life and sang a play to all the thieves, and from now on, these thieves will no longer be frightened by firecrackers and artillery...... We still want to win so easily as attacking the first mountain, don't even think about it. ”

Ma Rulong opened his mouth......

Du Wenhuan shook his head: "It's bitter...... The general should still save the Shenji Battalion for the attack on the main village of thieves, alas! It's all because there is not much time, and he wants to suppress the bandits as soon as possible, so he was forced to put himself into the Shenji Camp at the beginning, and as a result, he gave Zhu Ba the opportunity to perform this play. ”

Ma Rulong said in disbelief: "General Du, have you thought too much?" Zhu Ba is just a thief, how can you think so badly? Maybe he just stumbled into it...... Next, we are about to attack the main village of thieves, and the young general will definitely let the Shenji Battalion exert full combat power. ”

Du Wenhuan snorted coldly: "Hmph...... A mere bandit...... If all the bandits in western Shaanxi were just bandits like him, we officers and soldiers would not have to live a long time ago......"

Ma Rulong was a little unconvinced, but he didn't dare to bump into the official, so he had to sullen.

Just when the atmosphere in the camp was more eerie, a soldier covered in mud suddenly ran in: "General Du...... There is an urgent letter from Whitewater, please take a look. ”

Du Wenhuan took the letter, didn't read it himself, and threw it to a general next to him: "Hey, this broken letter, you can guess what is written without reading it, you can read it to everyone." ”

The general tore open the envelope, unfolded the letterhead, and after reading a few lines, his face changed greatly, and he said loudly to the generals around him: "It's a big deal...... A few days ago, it was said that the exiles from all over the country who surrendered to the chief of the inspectors...... Recently, he began to make trouble again, and the two of them, Li Lao Jackal and Lone Ranger Wolf, who originally belonged to Shen Yikui's subordinates, re-raised the anti-flag in the central * county, and the small groups of rogue Kou around responded in response, at this time Li Lao Jackal and Lone Ranger were attacking the county seat...... In addition, the Lanterns, Heavenly Monkeys, Hun Tian Monkeys and other Liukou who originally went to Shanxi suddenly crossed the Yellow River and returned to western Shaanxi again to attack Jinsuo Pass...... And also...... Jukou Bu mud once again supported the crowd and threatened the grain, attacking Mizhi and Jiazhou ......"

When the generals heard this, their faces immediately turned like dirt. Only Du Wenhuan's face remained unchanged, and he snorted coldly: "Don't talk about these anymore, just talk about the end, what does the governor want us to do?" ”

With trembling hands, the general swept the letter to the last position, looked at it, and then snorted miserably: "Your Excellency the Governor wants us to fight hard and exterminate all these rogues......

"Hah!" Du Wenhuan was happy: "Wipe them all out? What a shit! Even if I break my leg, I don't want to clean up this mess...... Seeing that Yang He's gang was frightened and confused by these rogues, he began to issue military orders indiscriminately, haha. ”

The generals in the camp all looked at each other, they didn't expect General Du to dare to tease the governors of the three sides in such a tone......

Ma Rulong couldn't help but pull Du Wenhuan's sleeve: "General Du, don't say a word, in case these words reach the ears of the governor, I'm afraid you will be given small shoes to wear." ”

"I'm afraid of a fart!" Du Wenhuan said with a smile: "It is Yang He who advocates appeasing the rogues, and he also said that the emperor used the internal money, this time the appeasement failed, even if he has a mouth full of trouble, he can't get out of it, plus the people of the Donglin Party in order to protect themselves, they must put all the blame on Yang He, he can't do it as the governor of the three sides, and within three months, he will be dismissed and taken away, and he will still be afraid of him." ”

"That'...... General Du, you also have to think about self-preservation...... If the emperor investigates it, no one in Shaanxi will be able to please him! Ma Rulong frowned.

"That's right!" Du Wenhuan waved his hand and said: "Shaanxi's western officialdom is about to come to a big purge, if everyone present wants to keep the black yarn hat on their top, there is only one way to go, and that is to capture the Huanglong cottage in front of you...... Tell the emperor with practical actions that the group of wastes of the main Fu faction are unreliable, and only those of our main battle faction can afford to take the lead. ”

When the military attachés heard this, they also knew that Du Wenhuan was reasonable, and after glancing at each other, they all reported their fists and said: "I will follow the general to the death......"

"Good!" Du Wenhuan snorted: "Early in the morning, I am ready to attack the main village of Huanglong Cottage. ”

……

On the second day, as soon as the sky was slightly bright, the officers and soldiers left 300 people to guard the camp, 300 people to garrison the No. 3 sub-village that had been captured, and the remaining 2,400 guards and 200 Shenji battalions, a total of 2,600 soldiers, began to advance towards the main village of Huanglong Cottage.

The four-mile mountain road was not difficult for the officers and soldiers, but the cumbersome thousand-pound franc cannon became the biggest drag on the officers and soldiers, dozens of finger-thick hemp rope wrapped around the cannon body, and more than a dozen soldiers shouted the horn of hi yo yo yo together, dragging the cannon forward.

The cannon was covered with black mud, and the dozen or so soldiers carrying the cannon were also very embarrassed, Ma Rulong looked at his Shenji battalion, and his heart was still full of confidence, he never believed what Du Wenhuan said, what Zhu Ba had already saved morale, he didn't believe that a single thief knew such a difficult truth.

By the time the sky was already bright and the sun was shining on the mountain woods, the officers and soldiers finally came to the bottom of the main village of Huanglong Cottage.

Ma Rulong snorted coldly: "Soon, I will use the cannon to blow you to the ground, damn bandits, wait and see for General Ben." As he spoke, he looked up at the high cliff.

Regarding the information about the main village of Huanglong Cottage, the scouts had already reported to Du Wenhuan, Ma Rulong and other generals many times, and the vast majority of the generals among the officers and soldiers knew that this hill was heavily defended and difficult to attack. But this was the first time they really saw this cottage with their own eyes, and at a glance, Ma Rulong immediately gasped.

I saw that from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain, there is only a small mountain path that can accommodate four or five people side by side, the mountain road is very steep, the slope is very high, put a stone on this mountain road, iron will slide down because it is too oblique.

Of course, there is also a non-inclined road, which is a winding mountain path, rotating around the mountain and going up in a circle, this kind of rotating mountain road is relatively flat, not as oblique as the straight road, but if you want to attack from this winding mountain road, it means that you will be exposed to the enemy's rolling logs and rocks for a longer time, it is better to attack the straight ramp.

On both sides of the mountain road, there are dense arrow towers and earthen forts, which are very high and wooden, apparently used for condescending archery. As for the earthen fort, it is made of stones and yellow mud, it is not big, it can only accommodate four or five soldiers, but the defense of the earthen fortress is much better than the arrow tower, and it is a complete dream to use a bow and arrow to injure the thieves in the earthen fortress, even if it is bombarded with cannons, it may not be possible to destroy an earthen fort with one shot.

Underneath these arrow towers and earthen forts, there are a large number of rolling logs and stones, and it seems that the bandits have long been prepared for a long battle, and no matter how the officers and soldiers consume them, they will not think that their rolling logs and stones will be exhausted.

Ma Rulong looked dumbfounded for a while, and sweat appeared on his forehead: "This ...... This Huanglong cottage is so exaggerated? ”

Du Wenhuan slapped Ma Rulong's face: "Cheer up Ben General!" If even the Shenji Battalion led by you loses the will to fight, it will be impossible for us to capture this cottage. ”

"Huh? Be! Ma Rulong hurriedly perked up his spirits: "The junior general will use the guns and artillery of the Shenji Battalion to scare away all the thieves in these arrow towers and earthen forts!" ”

Du Wenhuan sighed, didn't say anything in his mouth, but said in his heart: I hope you can do it, but ...... If I hadn't made a mistake in my judgment yesterday, the Shenji Battalion would have been unable to play as well as the last time I attacked the mountain.

"Array! Set up the cannon! Get ready to attack the mountain! Du Wenhuan sent orders one after another, and more than 2,000 officers and soldiers hurriedly took action, sword and shield soldiers, spearmen, archers, gunners, artillerymen, and ...... They took action, and there was a hot situation at the foot of the mountain, with flags waving and crowds surging.

The military band of officers and soldiers beat the drum from moment to time, which was a mobilization drum before the war, which was slightly different from the dense drum beat of the whole army charge at the time of battle, it was relatively slow, maintaining a strange rhythm, which was used to increase the tension of the soldiers.

A funny thing happened, the mobilization drums of the officers and soldiers had just sounded, and in the thief camp on the top of the mountain, almost the same drums sounded...... Boom...... Boom...... It turned out that the thieves had actually started pre-war preparations.

Ma Rulong called out in surprise: "Zhu Ba...... Actually play the same drum beat as us? He...... Was he from a family of regular military generals in the imperial court? ”