From Jinshui Town's surprise attack on Huaishu Pass, the straight-line distance is less than twenty miles.

But in the mountains, you have to walk thirty miles to get there.

Han Shizhong was afraid of revealing his whereabouts, so he didn't dare to follow the southern mountains, so he had to go around the hills further north, and the whole journey was probably sixty or seventy miles.

At first, he walked day and night to avoid being discovered by the mountain people, but gradually he felt that it was unnecessary.

"Fifth Brother Han, the thatched hut in front is empty, not to mention looking for a figure, there is not even a chicken." The sentinel came back to report.

Han Shizhong's heart sank when he heard this: "It's hard to fight." ”

The cottages of Huaishuguan and Jinshui Town are all based on the mountains. To the north of the mountains, there is a hilly area with villages scattered throughout the mountains.

Han Shizhong walked all the way, and the village was all empty.

These villagers will definitely not move all the way to the county seat, and most of them will retreat behind Huaishu Pass. The elderly, the weak, women and children can help transport supplies, while the young and strong are temporarily recruited to guard the gates.

The defenders of Huaishu Pass, I'm afraid there are quite a few of them!

"Eat first." Han Shizhong felt a pain in his skull.

But when he saw his subordinates, he broke a lot of tender corn cobs, and he was about to make a fire and roast them and eat them.

Han Shizhong hurriedly scolded: "Don't make a fire!" ”

An officer said with a smile: "The peasants in the nearby villages have long since escaped, and no one will notice that we have burned the mountain." ”

"No fire!" Han Shizhong repeated the order.

Except for the soldiers of the headquarters, no one dumped him at all, and continued to hit the flint.

Han Shizhong brought 2,500 soldiers, only 500 of whom were his own soldiers, and the rest were from the generals of Yan Yanlu. There are four official positions, the same level as Han Shizhong, and even one is Liu Guangshi's general.

How can Han Shizhong be restrained?

Seeing that something was going to be bad, Han Shizhong put on a smiling face and hooked up with Liu Guangshi's generals: "Brother Feng, you will be wronged in the past few days, and when you make a great contribution to Tokyo, I will invite you to eat and drink in Fanlou." ”

Feng Chong really put down the fire sickle: "With your little money, can you buy a bowl of wine in Fan Lou?" ”

Han Shizhong said with a smile: "Fan Lou can't afford to go, so I look for a good place outside the city." Regardless of whether it is in the city or outside the city, it is Tokyo after all, let the little lady in Tokyo come to accompany Brother Feng for a drink. ”

"Forget it, for the sake of your Han Wu's face." Feng Chong took out the dry food and gnawed it.

With Feng Chong taking the lead, the other officers had to be obedient, and they all put away their fire sickles and stopped messing around.

Liu Yanqing's army set out from Yanyan Road in late May and stayed in Xuao County for a while. It is now the end of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, the tender corn is almost old, and the rice in the south has already been harvested.

Feng Chong studied the tender corn cob: "This thing tastes really good, I ate two sticks a few days ago." ”

Another officer smiled: "It's delicious when it's tender, but it's rough when it's old." ”

Feng Chong muttered: "Can we grow this in Shaanxi?" ”

The soldier next to him said: "There are people planting in Xuwu County, and when I entered the mountains, I saw a lot of cornfields. ”

"There are also people in Tokyo who grow this, and the old Zhu thief brought it." Someone else said.

Han Shizhong had not read Zhu Ming's inscription, when he was fighting in Hebei. When he returned from the defeat, the imperial court had already ordered that anyone who dared to hide or disseminate the inscription would be beheaded.

But Han Shizhong has also heard of the reputation of the Zhu family's father and son.

He knew that Zhu Guoxiang brought back corn and sweet potato seeds from overseas, and he also knew that it was Zhu Ming who invented the leveling cannon.

The soldiers chatted and chatted, from corn to leveling artillery.

"If the thief can make a leveling cannon, he can build a bigger artillery cart. To be able to project an iron ball a few miles away, how big a cannon must be. ”

"I'm afraid there are a few floors high."

"Won't there be one at Locust Tree Pass?"

"We are a surprise attack, we are not afraid, no matter how big the artillery is useless."

"Lao Zhu and Xiao Zhu, what do the two thieves look like? The good officials did not do it, and they actually rebelled. If we can be officials, we have to wake up with a smile when we dream. ”

"I heard that the little Zhu thief is eight feet long, both civil and military, and can open a five-stone bow."

"Do you believe in the five-stone bow?"

"Otherwise, why would you take Sichuan for half a year?"

“……”

The more Han Shizhong listened, the more unhappy he became, and scolded: "Don't talk nonsense, hurry up and get on the road after eating!" ”

These guys have very poor discipline, and Han Shizhong is better.

But it is too good to be limited, and if it is mixed together for a long time, no matter how good the military discipline is, it will be distorted.

continued to lurk and march, and slept well halfway, and found a bamboo forest to cut bamboo to make a flying ladder.

Han Shizhong sent a few spies to inquire about the situation at Huaishu Pass, and came back when he saw Huaishu Pass from afar—mainly to determine the specific location.

Waiting until dark, they hurried away with a flying ladder and managed to avoid the nearby rebel lookout.

The locust tree pass is not on the mountain, but at the foot of the mountain.

It is bordered by a small river to the west, mountains to the south, and mountains to the east, and only the north is easy to attack.

Han Shizhong divided 500 people, went to the east to climb the mountain and went around to the side, and led 2,000 people to approach Guancheng in the dark.

Everyone's mouth is tied to a bamboo branch to avoid making a sound.

After waiting for another half an hour, feeling that the friendly troops around the side had climbed the mountain, Han Shizhong ordered the main force to start attacking.

"Hmm!"

"Ahh

They groped their way through the darkness for dozens of steps, and suddenly made a continuous sound.

Some people snorted, some screamed.

The locust tree guard was so disgusting that a large number of pits were dug outside the city, and there were many spikes buried in the pits.

has been exposed, Han Shizhong had to shout: "If you encounter a pit, take a flying ladder to climb over!" ”

"Dangdang, dang!"

The bells rang loudly in the castle, and soon there were more and more torches at the head of the city, followed by continuous shouting.

Han Shizhong shouted: "The enemy army is very chaotic, take advantage of the chaos to attack the city!" ”

Han Shizhong and his three subordinates rushed forward with a flying ladder.

Suddenly, he stepped on the air with both feet, subconsciously grabbed the flying ladder, and half of his body fell into the pit, because he grabbed the flying ladder and borrowed strength to not fall in.

The vest crawled out with a cold, and Han Shizhong heard the screams one after another, and shouted angrily: "Blow the trumpet, retreat!" ”

There was no way to fight, and there were only scattered pits on the outermost periphery, and directly inside were connected trenches, and the bottom of the trenches was full of spikes.

Han Shizhong even suspected that after crossing this trench, there would probably be a trench inside.

A surprise attack is no longer possible, either wait for dawn to attack, or roll back.

……

The guard here is called Shen Wei, who was not brought by Yang Zhi, nor does he belong to Daming Village, but a refugee who fled from Shaanxi.

Shen Wei's name is unknown, and his father and brother were all selected as village soldiers and died on the battlefield of the conquest of Western Xia.

A few years ago, during the disaster in Shaanxi, he was also sent to serve as a soldier, and he fled because he couldn't stand the oppression of his superiors. When he returned to his hometown, he found that his mother had died, his sister had married into a neighboring village, and both villages were in a famine.

Shen Wei simply took his wife and children, younger brother, brother-in-law, and brother-in-law's entire family, as well as several deserter families from the same township, more than 60 people into the mountains to become bandits.

But there are too many bandits in the mountains, and there are not enough fat sheep to slaughter.

He heard that there was a smuggler named Zhang Guangdao who often brought refugees back to Yangzhou for resettlement, so he also planned to go there to earn a living.

Who knew that Zhang Guangdao began to train his troops, and he didn't come over for smuggling for more than half a year.

Shen Wei didn't wait, he took people to take refuge, and finally came to Jintan Village after many inquiries, and collected some bandits along the way, and there were nearly 300 people when they arrived in Jintan Village.

Zhu Guoxiang personally received them when he heard the news, arranged for them to farm in Jintan Village, and practiced with Li Jinyi while farming.

When attacking Xingyuan Mansion, Shen Wei also participated, but it was just a capital head.

Because of the expansion of the army, Shen Wei was quickly promoted and became a general commanding 3,000 people. In addition to the old ministry from Shaanxi, he also compiled many Yangzhou mountain people to enter.

The garrison at Huaishuguan was boring, especially when the peasants in the hilly areas to the north fled, and a large number of non-combatants gathered with nothing to do.

Anyway, being idle is idle, so Shen Wei asked the peasants to dig trenches and traps.

has been digging for more than two months, and there are potholes all over the periphery of Huaishu Pass, and Han Shizhong was unlucky enough to hit it head-on.

After dawn, Shen Wei stood on the gate and used his binoculars to observe the enemy on the opposite side.

Han Shizhong was also observing Huaishuguan, some of the wounded last night were rescued, and they tore their clothes everywhere to find herbs and bandage them simply.

Feng Chong hung his head in frustration: "Han Wu, withdraw the army, the surprise attack failed." ”

Han Shizhong looked left and right and found that the morale of the whole army was low.

The 2,500-strong troops, who were killed and wounded by hundreds last night, were far away from the main force and faced danger, no matter how elite they were, they had to be depressed.

"Withdraw." Han Shizhong was helpless.

"The city is open!"

Just then, a soldier shouted.

Yang Zhi was very cowardly in the face of the Western Army, but Shen Wei was stunned.

His father and brother are the villagers of the Western Army, and he himself has been in the Western Army, so he knows what the Western Army is all about.

Moreover, I have never seen the enemy here, and I finally encountered it, how can I let the enemy run away? How can he make meritorious service if he doesn't fight?

Seeing that the thieves took the initiative to go out, Han Shizhong was instantly overjoyed.

The two generals who were eager to make meritorious contributions were so tough outside the Huaishu Pass.

Han Shizhong said to the generals of the ministry: "The thief will be a fool, he will not defend the danger, and he has to come out to fight." Sons, the meritorious service of killing thieves is today! ”

Shen Wei's army has no rattan armor or iron armor, it is all leather armor and paper armor.

Even the bow and arrow of the squad leader are all earthen bows, and the effective range is only more than ten meters.

Artillery? Don't talk nonsense!

The equipment was very bad, and Yang Zhi warned them many times to keep them out.

Han Shizhong was afraid of scaring the thieves back to Guancheng, so he took the initiative to retreat to the hilly area to line up.

Shen Wei led his troops through the passage between the trenches and pits, and after the formation, he slowly marched towards the Western Army.

The strength of the two sides is equal, and there is no complicated large formation, all of which are arranged in a combination of small phalanxes, and their respective main generals will take their headquarters to press the formation.

The Rebels advanced slowly because of the rugged terrain.

The squad leader's bamboo whistle came and went, restricting the formation at any time.

Shen Wei sent 1,000 men to engage in the battle, and reiterated the military order: "The squad retreats, behead the squad leader." The captain of the squad dies in battle, kills the whole team, and the whole team can be exempted from the crime if they fight to the death and do not retreat! ”

Han Shizhong asked the archers to step forward, shoot at a distance first, and then let the melee soldiers come on top when the enemy is killed.

This is the habitual operation of the Western Army, and even in peacetime training, the archers are the most diligent, and the training of melee soldiers is negligible.

Including cavalry, they also specialize in cavalry archery, and do not train much in formation and charge.

No matter how bad Zhu Ming's Tengxiang army is, if it encounters the cavalry of the Western Army, it will be the Tengxiang Army that will fight hard, and the cavalry of the Western Army will probably not dare to engage in battle. The path dependence has been formed, the cavalry of the Western Army is only willing to shoot arrows from afar, the enemy does not break up and they do not rush, the enemy formation is not chaotic they do not rush, let their cavalry hedge is even more dream.

Spare your life!

Unknown rewards and punishments, and withholding of food and wages, will cause this kind of consequence.

Many civil and military officials complained about this malaise, but they couldn't change it at all.

"Raise your shield!"

Facing the archers of the Western Army, the Rebel Vine Players and the Long Players raised their shields one after another.

The formation of the squad also shrank as much as possible, and the short body hid behind the shield soldiers, and the wolf millers raised the wolf mills and prepared to wave them indiscriminately.

(End of chapter)