In the first three days of the battle, the situation on both sides was as follows:

There were more than 28,000 officers and soldiers in Jiangxi, 738 killed and more than 3,700 wounded.

The death rate was 2.63 per cent and the casualty rate was 13.5 per cent.

It seems that the casualty rate is very high, but most of them are minor injuries, which are caused by falls and sprains when fleeing down the mountain.

The foot is also injured, and it is also a headache, so you can't let the soldier limp up the mountain and charge.

There were more than 5,000 Datong soldiers, 6 killed and 47 wounded.

It seems that the casualty rate is very low, but the rolling stones, rolling logs, and 10,000 enemies have all been used up. The improvised fortifications were destroyed in many places, and the non-commissioned officers and soldiers of Datong were far more tired than the officers and soldiers, because there were many officers and soldiers who could fight wheel warfare.

The real bitter battle has just begun.

The Datong Water Division has just returned to Ji'an at this moment, and the section of the river from Zhangshu Town to Fengcheng County is completely under the control of the officers and soldiers.

The 400 armor soldiers brought by Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu could only disembark at Linjiang Mansion and go overland to support the Lion Rock battlefield. The prefect helped to raise 1,000 people and help 400 armor soldiers transport armor and grain and grass, not to mention that the distance in a straight line is only 40 miles, but there are still several small rivers to cross.

At noon on the third day of the Lion Rock Assault and Defense, 400 soldiers crossed the last river into the mountain and made contact with the members of the peasant association hidden in the mountains.

After asking about the situation, he got in touch with Li Zheng and Fei Yinghui further north.

"When is the fight starting?" Zhang Tieniu asked.

Fei Yinghui said: "Don't worry, Huang Qi hasn't lit the beacon fire yet, and he can still hold it for the time being." ”

Once the beacon fire is lit on the Lion Rock, it means that it will be almost untenable.

Li Zheng also said: "One more day is one day, and the longer it drags on, the lower the morale of the officers and men will be." ”

So, Zhang Tieniu and Liu Zhu also joined the ranks of watching the play with 400 armor soldiers, watching the officers and soldiers attack Lion Rock from afar.

Lion Rock faces the river to the west, but there are artificial rivers on the other three sides, and further afield.

The whole mountain, together with the nearby land, can be regarded as a large-scale water conservancy facility, and the specific function can be referred to Dujiangyan.

A few hundred years after another time and space, Liu Shuai annihilated a regular division of the national army on Lion Rock here.

Li Zheng, Fei Yinghui, Zhang Tieniu, Liu Zhu and others, if they wanted to attack the officers and soldiers under the mountain, they had to cross the artificial river, and they were easily attacked by Zhu Xieyuan.

In the evening of the same day, Zhu Guoxun, the commander-in-chief of Jiangxi, sent 200 officers and soldiers to help in the battle.

To be precise, it was Zhu Guoxun's personal soldiers, all of whom were henchmen brought from Fujian, and half of the two hundred people knew how to operate artillery.

"Overseer, the cannon is coming!"

"Hurry up!"

Twenty Furlong cannons, all of which were purchased at a high price from Zheng Zhilong. It took more than half a year to finally arrive in Jiangxi, and Zhu Guoxun hurriedly sent someone to send it.

On the morning of the fourth day.

The improvised fortifications that had been destroyed on the hill were repaired overnight.

Twenty Francophone guns, which were carried halfway up the hill and assembled, began to fire at fortifications and positions.

"Boom, boom!"

The first round was a test firing, and only one shell hit the target.

A few hundred steps away from Hu Dinggui, another brigade's defensive area, improvised fortifications, was blasted open a gap.

Although the Franc cannon was less powerful, the fortifications of the Datong army were not solid.

"Boom, boom!"

Another salvo, the Franco cannon had a fast rate of fire, and the standard configuration of one gun was five subguns. Each sub-gun can be reloaded with ammunition first, and it can be fired directly if it is replaced directly, which is a bit like the magazine of a rifle.

In the 30-man brigade of that position, two people were killed by shells in an instant, and one person had his arm broken.

The rest of the soldiers took refuge.

"Boom, boom!"

Another salvo.

Only one person was stoned to death this time, but the morale of the Datong defenders dropped quickly, and they could be regarded as elite soldiers without collapsing on the spot.

"Defend Sangzi, protect my field!"

Xiucai Wanhuaxin, with his self-recruited Xiangyong began to attack the mountain, after his first day of fighting, he had rested for two days and two nights.

"Boom, boom!"

As the officers and men charged, another round of artillery smashed up.

The village brave, who was recuperating and recharged, was demoralized at the same time, but he was really a little weak-hearted, for fear of being accidentally injured by the artillery on his side.

Of course, the artillery did not dare to fire any more, so it took the opportunity to disassemble and carry it away, cooling the barrel by the way, intending to aim at another position and open fire.

"Get up, get up, line up!"

Most of the fortifications here have been destroyed, and more than 20 Datong soldiers hurriedly got up to line up to defend.

Huang Mi received an urgent report and sent a reserve of thirty people to come to support.

The wolf poked indiscriminately, and the townsmen who attacked the mountain did not dare to step forward.

"Rope bolt!"

Wan Huaxin roared, and these villagers suddenly took out their newly invented weapons.

In this weapon, a rope is tied to a bamboo pole and a stone is tied to the end of the rope. Just wield the bamboo pole, and the stone drives the rope to rotate, which is very easy to stir the wolf, and to put it bluntly, it is a thing specially designed to deal with wolf soldiers.

Under the fierce drag, a wolf soldier was caught off guard and dragged down by a company with a weapon, and was killed by several shots in an instant.

The rest of the wolf soldiers who were entangled in their weapons either gave up their wolf and steadied themselves.

"Kill!"

The rest of the Xiangyong took the opportunity to charge, but the rattan players hurriedly blocked, and the pikemen began to poke at Xiangyong.

"Kill the thief Baotian!"

"Farming and eating!"

The soldiers on both sides shouted slogans and fought with real swords and guns.

"Alas, my hand!"

"Run!"

Only a dozen people died, and this group of villagers began to rout.

The Warlords were on standby to prevent them from continuing to flee, and another team of villagers immediately made up for it.

The Datong soldiers couldn't rest, and they were all exhausted after repeated battles.

Huang Liangying, who followed Zhao Han as early as Wuxing Town, is only a captain of thirty people due to his lack of ability. His hands holding the barrel of the gun were trembling, and he hissed to warn his subordinates: "Hold on, hold on for a few more days, and the reinforcements from the headquarters will arrive!" ”

After repelling three waves of attacks in a row, there was a sudden gap on the side, but it was the rattan player who was distracted from exhaustion.

"Kill!"

Eight townships bravely attacked the position, and three Datong soldiers fell in an instant.

Huang Liangying immediately filled the vacant position, raised a gun and stabbed one person to death, and was also stabbed in the thigh. Another gun stabbed him in the waist, but the cotton armor blocked most of the force, Huang Liangying put away the gun and shot again, and immediately stabbed another person.

Collapsed, this team of villagers collapsed again.

While the Warlord stopped the rout, another team of villagers bypassed the rout and hurriedly killed them from the side.

The morale of these villagers is very low, and if they die a few more, they will collapse.

At the same time, the morale is very high, and at the same time as the friendly army is defeated, it can rush forward and continue to fight.

"Kill!"

Huang Liangying was injured in two places, and took advantage of the fact that the newcomer Xiangyong was not firmly established, and even led his troops directly out of the position.

Another captain, who was fighting side by side, also led his troops to kill when he saw this situation.

More than 40 Datong soldiers descended the mountain like a fierce tiger, and more than 300 new villagers were so frightened that they turned around and fled directly, and even broke away with the supervising team.

However, when they chased further down, the two thousand Xiangyong were waiting for the battle, and the fleeing Xiangyong could only flee around the military formation.

Huang Liangying didn't dare to chase anymore and led his troops back to the position, this kind of war of attrition could not cause a big rout.

Taking advantage of the enemy's reorganized attack, Huang Liangying counted the number of people. Of the 30 people in his team, 11 have been killed and several are wounded, and the casualty rate is close to 50%.

If Xiang Yong worked harder, maybe the Datong army would have collapsed.

This position was of great importance, as it was chosen as the first target for artillery attacks.

Zhu Xieyuan watched the battle with the clairvoyant mirror sent yesterday throughout the whole process, and suddenly saw that his scalp was numb, under normal circumstances, he should have been defeated a long time ago!

At a time, 300 villagers took turns attacking the position where 60 men were stationed, and that position was subjected to several rounds of shelling.

As a result, the officers and soldiers were killed several times, and the thieves were still able to hold on.

Although there is a terrain advantage, the morale is also outrageous.

How to fight this kind of battle?

Zhu Xieyuan had never encountered such a thief, he felt that his tactics were wrong, and immediately ordered: "Don't fight again in the northwest, there is a lack of one of the three in the circle, and leave the thief to go down the mountain and jump into the river to escape." ”

After repelling the attack of the officers and soldiers again, Huang Liangying was wounded again, and finally two brigades came to change the guard.

"Lao Huang, you go down and rest." The new captain said.

Huang Liangying gritted his teeth and said, "No, I can still fight." ”

The new captain said with a smile: "The officers and soldiers in the northwest have withdrawn, and Huangbeiyuan (Huang Qi) has freed up a lot of troops to come out. ”

The Franc cannon is still firing, and it will be broken for a while, so as not to overheat the barrel and the debris will not be cleaned up.

Chen Fugui was seriously injured, and he didn't know if he could survive, so the whole team was withdrawn to rest.

Hu Dinggui was also resting, this guy even fell asleep, and the sound of fighting and shelling made him wake up.

I don't know how long I slept, Hu Dinggui was suddenly woken up: "Get up and fight!" ”

Hu Dinggui jumped up and returned to the position with his soldiers, and the officers of this position were killed by a bombardment.

Another wave of villagers rushed up, holding that strange weapon, although it was not very useful in the flat battle, but when attacking the mountain, it made it difficult for the wolf to play a miraculous effect.

Both sides could only use shields as cover, and then pikemen poked each other.

The Datong army was condescending and liked to poke the heads of the officers and soldiers, and the officers and soldiers liked to poke the legs and feet of the Datong soldiers, and the shield bearers on both sides adjusted the protective parts because of this.

"Kill!"

There was another sound of fighting in the northwest, but it didn't work.

Zhu Xieyuan simply calculated and took advantage of the withdrawal of part of the Datong army, wanting to take advantage of the weakness to enter and attack from there.

Hu Dinggui's arms were already sore, and he didn't know how many enemies he had killed. At the moment, I am numb, and I just think about when I can sleep for a while, and it is good to lie down and rest for a while.

"Ugh!"

Hu Dinggui suddenly woke up, he was woken up by pain, and the shield hand was not well protected, causing him to be poked in the calf.

The two soldiers under his command had fallen, and the enemy attacked the position again, Hu Dinggui endured the pain and stabbed one villager to death with one shot, and the other soldiers stabbed the other villagers to death.

Seeing the failure of the attack, this team of townsmen was immediately defeated.

"Kill!"

Hu Dinggui limped out with his troops, chased and killed several villagers one after another, and quickly ordered to withdraw to the position.

"Just go there!"

Zhu Xieyuan pointed to Hu Dinggui, who had retreated to the position, and said.

Two thousand governors were sent out of the ranks, which were the troops that Zhu Xieyuan had raised for six years, and selected Miao slaves between the ages of 15 and 20 as soldiers. It is said that it is Miao, but in fact, it includes ethnic minorities such as Yi and Zhuang.

These ethnic minority teenagers, under the exploitation of Tusi, live a very hard life.

Zhu Xieyuan recruited them, so that they could be fed, and they were all willing to be loyal to the death.

They are wearing rattan armor all over their bodies and wearing rattan helmets on their heads, as if the rattan armor soldiers in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" have reappeared in the world.

In fact, there were no rattan armor soldiers in the Three Kingdoms, but they were common in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the Ming Dynasty's "Wubei Zhi" also specifically recorded the production method of rattan armor.

And after being soaked in tung oil, the ignition point of the rattan armor is very high, and it is not as afraid of fire as in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" - of course, if it really burns, it is more difficult to extinguish than ordinary rattan wood.

It takes a year to make rattan after repeated immersion in water and then in the shade, and the rattan armor made in this way is both light and strong.

These Guizhou soldiers climbed the mountain so fast that they climbed the hillside as if they were walking on flat ground, and the 2,000 men were divided into four teams and attacked four positions at the same time, including Hu Dinggui.

"Hurry up and ask for support!" Hu Dinggui exclaimed.

There is no need for Hu Dinggui to ask, Huang Mi has already sent a reserve team, and even Huang Mi has come over with his own soldiers.

"Stab them in the arm and throat!"

The neck, arms, and legs of these rattan armor soldiers are exposed in a large area, mainly because the rattan armor is inconvenient to wear.

But they are very flexible, and their whole body weighs less than ten pounds.

Huang Mi stabbed a person in the arm with a spear, this rattan armor soldier was extremely vicious, and he rushed to the position with injuries, and was stabbed by another small soldier in the rattan armor, and he couldn't stand the force and rolled down the hillside. This guy fell so badly that he shook his head, and then got up again and continued to rush up.

Hu Dinggui stabbed the throat of the Zhongteng armor soldier with a shot, but the soldiers next to him were hacked to death by two people.

More and more rattan armor soldiers rushed up, and the position gradually showed signs of loss.

"Ignition!"

There are still twenty enemies left, which is the bottom of the box. These 10,000 enemies, as well as those in reserve, are designed to prevent the unexpected.

"Boom, boom!"

The upper body of the vine armor soldier is not afraid of explosion (the power is too small), but his legs are injured in various ways, and those who are close to it are directly blown off.

At the same time, the spread of chili noodles also made the vine armor soldiers very uncomfortable.

Huang Qi and Hu Dinggui took the opportunity to counterattack, killed the rattan armor soldiers who had attacked the position, and then each went to support the position next to them.

It was not easy to kill the rattan armor soldiers, and those vine armor soldiers who were defeated back actually had to organize an attack again.

"Pull, pull up the mountain!"

Huang Qi hurriedly ordered the defensive line to be retracted, and after repulsing the enemy, all positions were completely in the direction of the top of the mountain, where there was a second line of defense.

However, the waterhole in the middle of the mountain was gone, and the Datong soldiers could only drink a small amount of mountain spring water, as well as some water that had been stored in advance.

Hu Dinggui was injured in two legs and one in his chest, and if it weren't for the protection of cotton armor, it is estimated that he would have died a long time ago.

He ordered the number of people to be counted, and his team of thirty people was now only sixteen.

However, after abandoning the first line of defense, the second line of defense is more conducive to holding, and the problem of insufficient drinking water can be ignored for the time being.

Although the officers and men occupied the first line of defense and seemed to have made a major breakthrough, the large battalion under the mountain was already noisy.

"Supervisor, you can't fight, if you fight again, there will be deserters!"

"That Luling Zhao thief knows the demon law, he must invite the gods to come up, and the thieves will not die one by one."

"Yes, more than half of the casualties will not be retreated, and it must be a witchcraft!"

"Supervisor Rongyu, the villager who was recruited in his later life, is no longer willing to fight. The last attack, a few casual pokes and a rout, the village Yong was all scared! ”

“……”

In the first three days combined, only more than 700 officers and soldiers were killed.

On the fourth day of the bloody battle, in just one day, more than 3,100 officers and soldiers were killed, and thousands of wounded in various conditions (most of them were still injured in routs and falls).

The casualty rate has already exceeded 10 percent, and the reason why there was no large-scale rout was simply that both sides were scattered on the slopes of the hills on all sides. If the two armies had gathered to hedge, the officers and men would have fled in a big way based on this casualty rate alone.

On the side of the Datong Army, the casualties in the dangerous terrain were very small.

The real losses were in the less steep positions, and the casualty rate of individual sentinels had already exceeded 50%. In particular, the charge of the vine armor soldiers caused the Datong soldiers to suffer heavy losses and had to give up the first line of defense.

Within a day, the Datong army suffered more than 1,200 casualties.

Of these, 441 were killed, 106 were seriously wounded, and the rest were minor injuries of varying severity.

The casualties were mainly due to exhaustion, slower reflexes, loose formations, and the onslaught of the vine armor soldiers.

Otherwise, the Datong Army would occupy favorable terrain for defense, and the officers and men would be defeated at every turn, so how could they not even be able to fight a 1-10 battle loss?

"Overseer, you can't fight anymore!"

There was a lot of noise in the camp, Zhu Xieyuan hesitated, he was already riding a tiger at this time.

The situation of besieging the anti-thieves this time was completely unexpected by Zhu Xieyuan. He had never seen this kind of army, and he couldn't even dream that there was such an army in the world that was not afraid of death!

If the troops are withdrawn now, even if they can safely return to Nanchang, the officers and men will inevitably be terrified when they hear about the rebels in the future.

The officers and soldiers have been killed, and they are afraid at the level of spiritual will.

After that, I am afraid that every time I fight, I don't know how many people will flee from the wind!

But if you don't withdraw today, you won't be able to fight anymore tomorrow, and the rattan armor soldiers can continue to be used, but Xiang Yong is already tired of fighting and timid. The few attacks in the evening were all pretentious fights, and it was considered a warrior to flee after engaging in the battle, and many villagers fled when they rushed halfway.

"Every time you click on the drum, the three watches will withdraw the troops!"

It was about twenty-four minutes, that is, every twenty-four minutes, the drums were beaten to disturb the Datong soldiers.

While beating the drum and preparing to withdraw, Zhu Xieyuan wanted the whole army to slip away.

This battle really can't be fought, let alone a siege of eight days, and if you besiege it like this for two more days, the officers and soldiers will desert every night, and half of them can escape by night during the five days of siege.

After all, Wang Tingqian was a governor, and he was left alone by Zhu Xieyuan.

"Why do the thieves and soldiers all die in their own right, but the officers and soldiers are timid?" Zhu Xieyuan looked at Lion Rock and muttered to himself.

Wang Tingqian said: "The thieves are all allocated land, and in order to protect the land, they will inevitably die." ”

Zhu Xieyuan pointed to the barracks and said: "But most of these villagers are from good families, and they are fighting to keep their own land." ”

Wang Tingqian said: "Xiaomin protects the field, that is, to save life." The gentry kept the field, just to protect the wealth. ”

"No, no, it's definitely more than that." Zhu Xieyuan shook his head again and again.

Not only was Xiang Yong scared of being killed, but Zhu Xieyuan himself was also afraid, his inner fear was mixed with a sense of powerlessness, and he really didn't know how to fight in the future.

With the same terrain and the same troops, if it is changed to conquer the Sichuan and Guizhou Tusi, those Tusi soldiers can last for three days at most!

This mountain attack battle made Zhu Xieyuan lose confidence.

The coach has no confidence, can he still count on the soldiers below?