Li Dingguo was looking forward to Zhu Youzhen becoming his prey.

And Zhu Youzhen is also looking forward to Li Dingguo becoming his prey.

However, Li Dingguo ignored Yan Yingyuan.

And Zhu Youzhen would not have thought that his desire to capture Li Dingguo alive under Tongren City was just his wishful thinking.

Li Dingguo is different from Yan Yingyuan.

No matter what, he is also Zhang Xianzhong's righteous son, the head of the Onishi regime, and it is the style of the Guards to personally lead the army to attack Tongren, not his Li Dingguo's style.

At this time, Yan Yingyuan had successfully entered the mountainous area of Loushan with the elite troops of two infantry battalions.

Although the building mountain is steep, it is also foggy, and tens of thousands of Ming army light devices are in the middle, but it is not easy to be found.

Even the murmuring of the distant mountain stream can be heard clearly, so even if there is Li Dingguo's scout, it is easy to dodge.

However, because Mt. Lou is too steep and is mostly a forest of wild pines and cypresses, the ground is covered with pine needles, making the mountain path extremely slippery.

Some Guards soldiers accidentally forgot to use a wooden stick to cut the pine needles, stepped on the air, and slid directly down the cliff.

However, Yan Yingyuan forbade the other soldiers to shout, in order to avoid revealing his whereabouts, so he could only watch his comrades draw down the abyss.

Because the goal was to climb over the top of the mountain and reach the area of Banju on the other side, which is now the Zunyi Military and Civil Government, the Guards had to climb the bird path on the straight wall of the cliff.

The so-called bird path is like rock climbing, carving some holes in the cliff that can be held by hands and feet, and people climb on it with their hands and feet like apes.

And you have to be careful, it is easy to fall into the abyss if you step on the air slightly.

The southwest mountainous area was humid and on the top of the mountain, so the moss was lush and the bird path was slippery, so Yan Yingyuan had to order his soldiers to wear gloves that increased friction and tie straw roots to straw sandals.

The first daredevils to go up would tie ropes to the cliff top and hang them from the other Guards for their climbing.

When Yan Yingyuan led two infantry battalions across Loushan at the risk of being killed or missing, Xia Wanchun had already led the main force of the Second Corps of the Seventh Army of the Guards Army from Guiyang Guandao towards Wujiang Pass.

Take the official road of Guiyang must go to Pingyue Mansion, Pingyue and Zunyi belonged to Banzhou before, after the rebellion of Banzhou in the Wanli period, Banzhou was divided into two provinces, one is Zunyi, one is Pingyue, the former belongs to Sichuan, and the latter belongs to Guizhou.

Pingyue was slightly poorer than Zunyi, and there was no danger to defend, so Li Dingguo did not station troops here, so that Xia Wanchun could directly reach Wujiang Pass.

In order to cover up the real tactics of the Second Corps of the Seventh Army of his Guards, Xia Wanchun fought very hard at Wujiang Pass, and he fought in a posture without hesitating firepower.

The infantry and field artillery of the Second Corps of the Guards Army were all pulled up to bombard Wujiang Pass in turn, and at the same time, Xia Wanchun also personally led the infantry battalions to take turns to storm Wujiang Pass.

But the Wujiang Pass is also very dangerous, adjacent to the Wujiang River and sandwiched between the two mountains, forming a natural moat and two barriers.

If the main force of the Second Corps of the Guards Army wants to occupy Wujiang Pass, it can only cross the Wujiang River first, and the light artillery of infantry field artillery is not enough to destroy the Wujiang Pass made of natural stones, so it can only use heavy artillery, and it is difficult to transport heavy artillery across the river.

The Wujiang River is not as tame as the rivers in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and it is difficult to cross the river smoothly in the narrow canyon.

The river could only be crossed by people using wooden planks, but the physical exertion of people to swim across the river would certainly be great, and Li Dingguo's defenders would be more likely to use bows and arrows and firearms to stop the guards.

However, in order to cover up the true purpose of the Second Corps of the Guards, Xia Wanchun could only forcibly order the Guards to swim across the river and cross the torrent in the turbulent Wujiang River.

Although these guards officers and men had conducted intensive training in Huguang, this was only the first time they had participated in the battle to cross the dangerous beach.

One by one, they jumped into the canyon without hesitation, and swam forward with the 21-style flintlock pistol of the Guards Chongzhen on their backs in the turbulent Wujiang River with white waves, but if they were not careful, they would be swept downstream by the torrent, and then they had to go back against the current.

About 3,000 Guards infantry who dared to fight took part in the crossing.

But when they approached the opposite bank, the defenders of Onishi on the Wujiang Pass immediately attacked with bows and arrows and firearms.

The Guards soldiers could not fight back when they swam in the river, and even the artillery on the opposite bank was difficult to hit, so many Guards soldiers died directly in the river, and the blood was directly stained.

But at this time, there is no going back, so I can only swim forward desperately.

Many Guards soldiers, even if they swam ashore, were stabbed to death by the defenders prepared on the shore with spears and fell into the river, and their bodies floated.

Xia Wanchun was stunned, but he could only continue to order the infantry of the Guards to forcibly cross the river at this time, and at the same time, the artillery continued to bombard the opposite bank, making the noise particularly loud.

The defenders of Wujiang Pass on the other side did not dare to take it lightly, and they did not expect these guards to be so fierce and fearless of death, and the density of artillery fire was so high.

And after forcibly charging and swimming across the river several times, after paying the price of blood, the infantry of the Guards Army also found out the combat strength of the defenders of Wujiang Pass, and also found some tactics to deal with it.

The Guards infantry began to use ropes to tie themselves to stones after swimming some distance, so as not to be swept away by the rushing river, and at the same time counterattacked with flintlock guns.

At this time, the death squads of the infantry of the Guards Army in the lower river were all replaced by Chongzhen 21-type flintlock pistols, which were rear-mounted and had been replaced by flint with fire wool, and the door was closed and could be waterproof, so it was Jiangzhong that could form a good firepower blow to the defenders of Wujiang Pass.

Although the influence of the current in the river made it impossible for the officers and men of the Guards to keep their bodies fixed, resulting in a considerable decrease in shooting accuracy, under the continuous firing and intensive firepower, the Daxi defenders of Wujiang Pass did not dare to take the lead easily, and did not dare to come to the shore.

Taking advantage of this, the officers and men of the Guards swam across the river in large numbers and immediately organized a defensive line on the bank of the river, while a wave of officers and men of the Guards rushed up to the beachhead.

The defenders of Wujiang Pass could only rely on Guancheng to resist stubbornly.

However, because the artillery could not be delivered for a while, the officers and soldiers of the Guards had no powerful blasting explosives in this era, so they could only take turns to attack the ants attached to Wujiang Pass.

But even so, the tenacity of the officers and men of the Guards and the arrival of tens of thousands of people under the Wujiang Pass also caused great pressure on the defenders of Onishi.

At this time, the generals of the Onishi garrison hurriedly came to Li Dingguo:

"General, a large number of Ming troops have been storming Wujiang Pass from yesterday to today, and they are all rushing upwards without their lives, and the artillery is also very good, and it seems that there are a lot of them, although my Wujiang Pass is impregnable, it is difficult to guarantee that it will be broken by this group of Ming troops who are not afraid of death, and please find a way to repel this Ming army."

(End of chapter)