A short red queue set off from Tongyuan Fort and followed the Dongjiang army to the north, and in addition to their weapons, each of them had a shovel behind their backs.

It was already early afternoon when they set out, and they arrived at the mouth of the Caohe River before dark, and the Dongjiang Army had already left here and headed north to the watershed, leaving a mess and feces all over the ground at the mouth of the Caohe.

Zhu Feng found a high ground to spend the night on that night, Zhu Feng was highly vigilant, all the early warning posts and road posts were personally arranged positions, and a mobile team was arranged to inspect various posts at night. But there was no Jiannu to disturb him that night, and he continued eastward the next morning, preparing to make a strong reconnaissance of Caohe Fort.

At this time, north of Caohe Fort, half of the Huang Taiji army had quietly come here, relying on the most elite Ge Bush Xianchao Ha to intercept with all his might, and the Houjin soldiers blocked the scout line of Dengzhou, maintaining the secret surname of the army's actions.

Huang Taiji's original intention was to wait for the Phi Dao soldiers to reach Lianshan Pass, the Ming army was stepping into the game, after Shen Zhixiang arrived at Shang Zhuangzi, Jiannu's scouts could no longer sentinel through the far fort, and Huang Taiji originally did not know that the second battalion of Dengzhou Guards was coming.

But yesterday the scout flew to the newspaper, saying that there was a Dengzhou soldier coming to Caohekou, this time there were hundreds of people, compared to the original Tongyuan Fort more than ten or twenty people of the sentry scout, of course, it is completely different, Huang Taiji must be careful to deal with. Because the entire official road is occupied by Dongjiang Town, it is difficult for the Houjin soldiers to reconnoiter the direction of Xiuyan, and Huang Taiji can't figure out how many people have come to Dengzhou Town, of course, he really hopes that Dengzhou Town will also enter the urn, but not too much, he can't swallow too much.

His plan is to use the Caohe Fort ambush to cut off the retreat of the Ming army north of Lianshan Pass, and then use the Lianshan Pass Yue Tuobu as an iron hammer to attack the Ming army on both sides, even if it cannot be directly broken, it can also cut off their grain route, and fight in such a narrow place, as long as there are enough fortifications, he can hold those Dengzhou soldiers who have no equipment to attack, and surround and kill these people, so that he can annihilate the main force of the Ming army on the East Road in one fell swoop, which is his most important purpose.

After Shen Zhixiang went north, the other way Pidao soldiers also marched along the Caohe River, this road dragged on, looking for Dongzhu everywhere in the river valley along the way, and looking for ginseng in the mountains, but did not complete their task of advancing to Samaji Fort, so that the Houjin army has not been exposed.

For Huang Taiji, he could go directly south from the Caohe River Valley, cross Phoenix City after defeating the Pidao soldiers, and then go to Huanggudao Fort to cut off the retreat of Xiuyan's Ming army, but this encirclement was too big, and the distance from Yue Tuo's department was too far to echo at all. The current Dengzhou Town is not the Dongjiang River in the past, it is not a little soldiers and horses that can be defeated, and the backup is continuous, the information in the Yellow Bone Island Fort is unknown, and it is easy to be broken by the Ming army.

Under the communication conditions at this time, even if Caohebao and Lianshanguan are so close now, the coordination of the two rear Jin armies is not easy. Therefore, he could only choose to flank at the mouth of the Caohe River, and after defeating the main force of the Ming army on the east road, he would attack Xiuyan and Huanggudao Fort in two ways, so that the flank of the entire Ming army in southern Liaoning would be completely shaken, and the offensive of Gaizhou would naturally disintegrate and disintegrate.

It is not easy for Dengzhou Town to organize another such offensive in the short term, at least the Dengzhou soldiers will not be able to come on a large scale before the autumn, so that Houjin can get a valuable opportunity to recuperate for half a year.

Huang Taiji looked at the sky, there were clouds but it didn't look like rain, it seemed that this year was another year of great drought, and this god was a more terrible opponent than Dengzhou Town, because Huang Taiji had no way to deal with or buy him.

Zilharang next to him said in a low voice: "Great Khan, yesterday it was said that the soldiers of Phi Island lived in the watershed, and today they should go to Liujialing according to the footsteps, and they are at most five miles away from Lianshan Pass, can the minions start?" ”

Huang Taiji prayed in his heart, and then calmly said to Ji'er Harang: "When Yue Tuo's signal arrives, let's start again." ”……

"Mr. Qian, there is a black smoke!"

On the mountain road from the mouth of the grass river to the grass river fort, the staff officer of the thousand headquarters pointed to the mountain on the north side and said.

Zhu Feng immediately stopped, jumped on the top of a big rock next to him and looked north, there was indeed a thick black smoke in the sky, the smoke column dissipated very slowly, this kind of black smoke is not like a mountain fire, more like the wolf smoke emitted by the fire road pier, generally mixed with cow and sheep dung and other things, making the smoke column thick and black, the earliest time is mixed with wolf dung, wolf dung effect is also the best, so it is also commonly called wolf smoke.

A moment later, another cloud of smoke rose from the top of a hill, which was also far away from the road, and the Dongjiang army should not have gone there.

There were soldiers around who saw the wolf smoke along Zhu Feng's line of sight, the team fluctuated slightly, and the staff officers below were also a little nervous, after all, there were only more than 400 Dengzhou soldiers here, and they were fighting in a completely unfamiliar area, he asked Zhu Feng loudly: "Mr. Qian?" To withdraw or to stay? ”

Zhu Feng looked down at the staff officer, and said in a calm tone: "Send Tang Ma to report to Lord Zhong immediately, just say that the wolf smoke signal was found between Caohe Fort and Lianshan Pass, and it is suspected that it is the agreed signal of Jiannu, and Jiannu has not yet appeared when it is reported, once Jiannu appears, report it immediately." ”

Tang Ma recounted and ran away quickly, he thought that the situation was already very critical at this time, looking at the location of the beacon smoke signal, it should be to coordinate the two directions of Lianshan Pass and Caohe Fort, in case the report was late, it might be cut off and retreat, so he would rather waste a Tang Ma and pass the news to Shangguan first.

Zhu Feng immediately pointed ahead and said to the staff officer: "The brigade seized the narrowest place in front and immediately began to build the chest wall of the trench towards the east. I also invite Instructor Zhao to come here. ”

The order was quickly conveyed, the whole team was running, and the iron armor carried by more than a hundred musketeers of the Mandarin Duck Array rattled, and when there were no auxiliaries, they needed to help the melee soldiers carry their armor on the march, so as to save the body of the melee soldiers.

The brigade soon came to the place designated by Zhu Feng, which was a raised place on the mountain road, the terrain was higher than both ends of the road, and the hills on both sides were densely wooded, which was not suitable for the movement of the army, and was an excellent defensive position.

The number of guards companies is more than that of the Mandarin Duck Formation Bureau, Zhu Feng assigned them the front, the position of the two Mandarin Duck Formation Bureau is behind the side, the whole formation is a month and a half, the soldiers immediately waved their shovels and began to dig the chest wall trench, their digging methods are to pile soil behind the trench, so that the enemy will increase the depth of the trench when crossing the trench, making it more difficult.

There was still some wet dirt that was easier to dig than ever, the soldiers were fast, and a four-pounder gun with them was quickly pushed to the center of the front, and several gunners skillfully removed the two guards from the ammunition truck, placed them on either side of the gun, and began to load the first solid bullet. Melee soldiers sat on the periphery of the position in small groups to rest, and those armed with bows and arrows took out arrows to guard the position. A soldier from each team carried everyone's coconut ladles, went to the nearest place to find water, and filled them with water for all their comrades before the battle.

When the dirt was flying everywhere, Zhao Xuan found Zhu Feng in the center of the position, and Zhu Feng was busy assigning tasks to the three hundred.

“…… The first game is for the left flank, the second round is for the right flank, and your musket team should save the salvo, and for those single targets, don't use the salvo against them, let your archers shoot at each other. Keep at least two squads on standby at all times to replenish when there is a gap in frontal fire. ”

"Understood." The two Bai Zong are very simple, both of them are veterans who have participated in the Battle of Gu'an, and they are used to fighting, but they are a little uncomfortable with such a young Qian Zong.

Zhu Feng didn't dare to put on an official show in front of them, originally these two Mandarin Duck Formations were temporarily transferred, although there was a gap in rank, but after all, they were not directly subordinate subordinates, and the other party was still an officer with old qualifications.

Zhu Feng saluted the two and said, "Trouble two." ”

"One qiē for Dengzhou Town." The two Bai Zong hurriedly returned the salute, and after patting each other on the shoulder, the two of them went back to the headquarters to recruit the flag captain and the captain to arrange the front.

Zhu Feng only turned his head to look at Zhao Xuan at this time, he hesitated for a moment before saying: "Master Instructor, the subordinates plan to stick to this place, because the headquarters of Dongjiang Town has gone north, if we wait to evacuate, then the Dongjiang Town Pidao soldiers will be surrounded, and it is very possible to be wiped out by a drum, if it is trapped in the middle, it will be even more difficult to do, Lord Zhong will take a hundred times more effort to rescue, and it will not work if you don't save it, otherwise who will help us in the future......"

Zhao Xuan smiled and waved his hand to interrupt: "You command you, I'm just a trainer, and I can't control how to fight." ”

Zhu Feng said in a low voice: "Then please retreat first, your lord is the battalion instructor, and there are still many urgent matters in the camp that need to be dealt with by adults." ”

Zhao Xuan shook his head, pulled out the short gun on his waist, patted the Qi family knife on his waist and said with a smile, "They are all soldiers, what urgent matters can be more urgent than fighting, you don't have to worry about me, I am a veteran of Chongzhen's second year, and there is no reason to retreat." ”

Zhu Feng hurriedly said: "My lord, the meaning of my subordinates is to ask you to ask Lord Zhong for help." ”

"Needless to say, you should send Tangma for help, I should do my own thing." Zhao Xuan turned around and walked to the front with a short hammer, the chest wall was taking shape, and Zhao Xuan shouted: "Brothers, hurry up, let the Tartars see the majesty of our Dengzhou youth." ”

The following echoed in harmony, "Ten thousand victories in the Youth Guard Battalion!" ”

Zhao Xuan shouted loudly, the position was in full swing, and the breastwork soon reached half a person's height. Zhu Feng was busy on the front line, recruited all the squad leaders of the first company, divided the shooting boundary for them one by one, set the distance and shooting boundary markers, and personally led the melee soldiers to start laying a one-step iron thistle.

The sentry horse of the road exploration appeared in front quickly, only three of the five were left, three of them galloped wildly, followed by seven or eight Houjin cavalry, these Houjin soldiers wearing silver-white armor quickly found that the Dengzhou soldiers were building fortifications, not only did they not stop, but they approached the horses, jumped off the horse about 100 paces, pulled out the long step bow and threw light arrows, trying to interfere with the construction of the fortifications of the Dengzhou soldiers, and soon several people were injured by light arrows.

The two covering mandarin duck formation groups immediately attacked one left and one right, approaching in two columns respectively, with the front row of round shields and square shields covering the back rows, which was the tactics of learning the Qi family army when Dengzhou Town started, and various applications had already been extremely proficient.

After approaching thirty or forty steps, the soldiers with bows and arrows in the back row began to fight back, there are also a lot of mountain people in Dengzhou, many people are also hunting since childhood, and the nutrition can keep up after enlistment, and the archery skills are very exquisite after strict training, the seven or eight Houjin soldiers are fighting separately, plus it is a backshot, so although the archery skills are better, they can't compare to the Dengzhou archers who cover each other, and after seeing a team of Dengzhou musketeers to support, they quickly rode back and fled.

The three escaped sentry horses came to Zhu Feng and said with a little panic: "Master Qian, there are thousands of slaves, at least more than three thousand. ”

Zhu Feng nodded slightly, and said gently: "Stabilize your mind, you are a whistle horse, not a storyteller." Don't say thousands of such things in the future, seeing thousands is thousands. ”

The three of them calmed down a little, and Zhu Feng said to them: "Go to the front and prepare to participate in the defensive battle." ”

Just as a few people were talking, the chest wall of Dengzhou had not yet been built, and the thunderous roar had already come from far and near, and a steady stream of cavalry rushed out of the mountain road in the distance, entering the shallow valley in front of the Dengzhou position. In Zhu Feng's telescope, the black crowd of people flew all kinds of flags flying above their heads, among which they continued to divide into squads, extending to both sides, the front was getting wider and wider, and the jumping heads were densely covered with the valley road ahead, which was slightly lower than the position of the defense line of Dengzhou Town, and from the position of the defense line, the crowd could not be seen at a glance.

All the officers were shouting orders to the soldiers to stop the construction and to check ammunition, firearms and flint as a matter of priority. Four Mandarin Duck formations were deployed to the front to prevent the opposing cavalry from raiding. After checking the ammunition, the soldier began to dig the breastwork again.

At this time, Zhao Xuan was idle, he bit his lip tightly, his hands shook unconsciously, and he couldn't stop, there were more and more Houjin troops in front of him, as far as he could see, there were more than a thousand, and if he added the ones later, it would definitely exceed thousands, and he didn't know if he could go back alive.

Zhao Xuan looked around, everyone was busy, the quartermaster was distributing spare ammunition, the soldiers who came back from fetching water were distributing coconut scoops, the artillerymen were adjusting their guns, and no one noticed Zhao Xuan's abnormality.

The sound of hooves rumbling in the distance, Zhao Xuan's hands trembled more and more, and his face began to turn red, he has always been timid, although he has been in the army for many years, he has never directly participated in a battle, let alone killed anyone. Even after seeing so many corpses, he was still a little faint, he used to be in a relatively advantageous position, but this time there was indeed a huge disparity in strength, and the position was extremely unstable.

Zhao Xuan couldn't control his hands, he pretended to look down at the ground, put his hand in the waist bag of the military uniform, clenched it into a fist, and his right hand was hit by a letter in the waist pocket, which was a letter from home, at the end of last year, a concubine came to visit relatives in the Pingdu military camp, and now there is joy, he will soon have a fourth child.

The tension in Zhao Xuan's heart suddenly dissipated a little, he grabbed the clothes in his pocket, his hand finally stabilized, his personal soldiers only came back from the front at this time, and the personal soldiers also went to participate in the construction of the chest wall, at this time, he ran back sweating profusely and asked Zhao Xuan: "My lord, has your short gun been loaded?" ”

"Huh?" Zhao Xuan then remembered, he hurriedly said: "Second son, you help me fill it, I'm not very skilled in loading this thing." ”

The second son hurriedly went up and took out the short gun on Zhao Xuan's belt, first picked a good flint for Zhao Xuan, and then took out a short gun from Zhao Xuan's ammunition bag and loaded it skillfully.

Zhao Xuan saw that he was pretending to be fast, and couldn't help but praise: "Second son, you usually practice well, and you can still pretend to be so fast at this time." ”

The second son looked up and handed over the gun and smiled: "Isn't this what I do?" ”

Zhao Xuan took the gun after hearing this, shook his head and muttered after a while: "I'm still a trainer, and I have to teach my second son such a simple truth, I'm just doing this, I'm afraid it's useless." ”

The sound of the horn in the distance pulled Zhao Xuan back to reality, and the Houjin troops in the valley dismounted one after another, and the Dengzhou soldiers actually built a defensive line so quickly, and their surprise attack turned into a storm.

The Houjin soldiers need to change from a pursuit formation to a storming formation, the terrain in the valley is uneven, and it is not wide, they still need a little time, and at this time they begin to form a team in the valley. The breastwork of Dengzhou Town had been completed under the frantic construction of the soldiers, and a pile of shovel heads had broken on the ground.

The covering mandarin duck formation began to retreat, and the Dengzhou formation took shape, and more than 460 Dengzhou soldiers formed a small circular defense line. Zhu Feng quickly estimated the strength of Houjin and dictated the military situation to Tangma, and the two Tangma galloped towards Tongyuan Fort with intelligence and the hope of this small army.

The Houjin drum sounded, and the black-pressed Houjin soldiers' armor shone and pushed forward, and the queue was quiet and neat, still showing the posture of a strong army. Some white-armored soldiers entered the mountains and forests on both sides, and it seemed that they were going around to the rear to attack the Dengzhou position.

The Dengzhou Front had just been deployed, and the soldiers were quiet for a moment after taking a breath, and their momentum was slightly down. Zhao Xuan suddenly drew his knife and shouted: "The Tartars are here to die, the brothers of the Young Guard Battalion, the brothers of Jimo, the heroes of Dengzhou have killed Jiannu!" ”

"Kill Jiannu!" Hundreds of weapons were waving together, and hundreds of young sweaty faces were full of excitement and passion, crazy and responsive.

A roar resounded through the valley, the four-pounder cannon retreated, and an iron bullet cut through a low arc, rushing towards the crowd of Houjin soldiers in the distance. (To be continued.)

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