Sure enough, shortly after dawn on the second day, a large group of Mongolian cavalry appeared at the mountain pass, and they pounced on the Hengyuan village and went directly to the mountain. It's just that the Thunderbolt Army Brigade, under the leadership of Cao Ergou, has already set off with the booty for a long time, and even the third company that left behind the broken ones also left the mountain pass and walked towards Wanjiabao. To chase along this rugged mountain road was a difficult decision for the Mongol army. The trail was not entirely unmountable, but it was easy to fall into the Wenjing River below, and the uneven road surface could cause serious damage to the horses' hooves, a risk that the Mongol cavalry, who regarded the horses as brothers, was unwilling to take. After hesitating for a long time, seeing that the Thunderbolt army was gone, the Mongolian army went back in a huff.

After the loot was transported to Wanjiabao, Ouyang Xuan asked Cao Ergou to take the already exhausted soldiers of the four companies to the nearby stockade to rest. Now, in addition to the second company of Shi Zhongshu and the two companies of the garrison battalion brought by Yu Zhu, there are now four companies back, which is really crowded.

The explosion of artillery and grenades could be faintly heard on the hill above Wanjiabao. Ouyang Xuan knew that this was Zhao Shicai's attack on Wanjiazhai again. Now the 500 new attached troops led by Zhao Shicai are stuck in a dilemma on the mountain road between Wanjiazhai and Wanjiabao. The cold climate in the mountains, and the frost at night in early winter, made the situation even more difficult for the new annex soldiers who slept in the open air on the mountain paths. They had neither food nor fuelwood to make a fire, so they had to snuggle up to each other to keep warm. Hunger and cold made them suffer in hunger and cold, while secretly cursing Zhao Shicai for being incompetent, scolding him for underestimating the enemy, and scolding him for leaving all his baggage in Wanjiabao at the foot of the mountain in order to grab credit. And at this moment, Zhao Shicai was also cursing, he scolded the Thunderbolt Army and Ouyang Xuan for their cunning, scolded the Mongols for their ruthlessness, scolded the new attached army in Qingcheng County for their cowardice, and scolded Xiong Ben for his treachery......

In fact, this time Zhao Shicai was wrong to blame Xiong Ben. As a bandit leader, the words cunning, murderous, and ruthless are not wrong to describe Xiong Ben, and treachery is also his daily routine. But out of hatred for the Thunderbolt Army and Ouyang Xuan, this attack on the Thunderbolt Army Xiong Ben was not without effort, in addition to offering a plan to open the gate of Wanjiabao, he also personally led two hundred elites from Yongkang City as promised, along the hidden path when he fled, to sneak attack Wanjiazhai. It's just that this hidden trail is really difficult and difficult to walk, and from time to time people fall behind, and some people fall off the cliffs. When the number of people was counted at the back door of Wanjiazhai, only 180 people were left out of the 200 people.

After the Perak army occupied Wanjiazhai, in order to prevent Xiong Ben's comeback, they built a sentry on the mountainside one mile from the back gate of the village, and completely blocked the hidden path. Although this sentry is small, it is condescendingly guarding the hidden path, and it is extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack. It's just that the watchtower can't be built with stone due to the topography, but can only be built with wood, which also gives Xiong Ben the confidence to succeed in the sneak attack. After seeing the great power of the Perak army's firearms, he also coerced the Taoist priests of the nearby Taoist temple to make black powder, although it was far less powerful than the Thunderbolt army's refined granular gunpowder, but as long as the quantity was sufficient, it was more than enough to deal with wooden fortifications.

Just when Zhao Shicai's troops and the new attached army of Qingcheng County attacked Wanjiabao on both sides, Xiong Ben also made a move. The scouts who went to reconnoiter reported that there were only two defenders at the sentry, and it seemed that the men and horses in the village were all pinned down by the men and horses attacking Zhao Shicai. At that moment, Xiong Ben decided not to use gunpowder but to shoot the defenders with a crossbow, one is that the bow and crossbow are less dynamic and easier to achieve the effect of surprise attacks, and the other is that the amount of gunpowder is not large and should be used at critical moments.

It's just that the crossbow raid did not have the desired effect. Due to the narrowness of the mountain road, only six crossbowmen can be allowed to fire arrows at the same time, and this hidden path is extremely prosperous because of the inaccessible reasons, although the leaves are basically lost in winter, but the dense branches still seriously block the sight of the crossbowmen, coupled with the blockage of the breastwall on the watchtower, so the first round of six crossbow arrows in the salvo did not hit. The two Thunderbolt defenders were also alert, and without waiting for the second round of crossbow arrows to arrive, they hurried down the watchtower, knocking on the gong and running towards the back door of Wanjiazhai, and before they could escape, a Thunderbolt soldier also ignited a rope on the hill next to the watchtower for some reason.

Seeing the two defenders fleeing, Xiong Ben's men rushed to the sentry post, but the trail was narrow and dangerous, so they could only follow one by one. When the men who rushed ahead found that the Thunderbolts had sealed the sentry gate, they picked up their swords and axes and slashed them, causing wood chips to splash everywhere. Xiong Ben loudly cheered up his subordinates, claiming that as long as he rushed to the mountainside where the watchtower was located, he could charge to Wanjiazhai below with one drum, and the Thunderbolt army was caught off guard, and after recapturing Wanjiazhai, he was allowed to plunder freely for three days. It's just that the watchtower is made of thick logs, and the space in front of the door can only accommodate two or three people to chop, but there is no way to chop out in a short time.

There is a watchtower in front of it, and the one behind is still rushing in, and the path in front of the watchtower is blocked by the bandits under Xiong Ben in a short time. Just as they were about to split the last two pillars, some people in the crowd looked around boredly, but they stumbled upon sparks flickering between the branches above their heads, and some sharp-eyed people noticed that it was a rope burning slowly. Just when the bandits were discussing why there were burning ropes on the mountain, the mountain above their heads suddenly collapsed with a loud bang, and suddenly the rocks mixed with the trees pressed down one after another, covering all the mountain roads dozens of meters in front of the watchtower.

It turned out that Xiong Ben's plan to attack Wanjiazhai had already been known by the Thunderbolt army spies, and he used it to make a plan. Ouyang Xuan asked Chen Hu, who was in charge of Wanjiazhai, to deliberately reduce the guards of the guard tower at the back gate of the village, and buried a large amount of gunpowder on the mountain above the path. When the Thunderbolt guards abandoned the watchtower, the ropes lit were the fuse for the explosives packets.

This mountain blast not only buried more than 30 people who rushed to the front alive, but these were the most elite bandits under Xiong Ben, and more importantly, a large number of landslides rolled down, completely destroying this section of the trail, and completely cutting off Xiong Ben's idea of raiding Wanjiazhai. Xiong Ben suffered this big loss and had nowhere to vent, so he had to lead his troops back to Yongkang City.

The news of Xiong Ben's failed sneak attack on Wanjiazhai, Zhao Shicai did not know. Due to the distance, and the fact that he was attacking Wanjiabao at the time, the deafening sound of artillery and grenades and the sound of fighting, so that Zhao Shicai's troops could not hear the explosion of the Thunderbolt army blowing up the mountain.