This time, the 1st Division of the Perak Army attacked Jian and Zizhou, and the cavalry brigade, which was the absolute main force of the army, did not participate, which was very abnormal. Without the early warning and flank protection of the cavalry, the infantry of the 1st Division abandoned the wide and flat official road, and instead advanced along the river bank to obtain the protection of the warship artillery to prevent a sudden attack by the Mongol cavalry.

"One cavalry is worth five steps", although the cavalry brigade is only 1,500 people, accounting for only one-fifth of the total strength of the first division, but without its first division, the overall combat strength has dropped by at least one-third. It turned out that just ten days ago, the cavalry brigade of the First Division had already marched towards Suining Mansion under the combat order issued by Ouyang Xuan himself.

The commander of the cavalry brigade of the 1st Division is called Wu Qing, and he is also one of the veterans of the Perak Army. When Dong Hu was the commander of the special battalion, Wu Qing was the commander of the reconnaissance company under him, and before the expansion of the Perak Army, he was the deputy brigade commander of the special brigade. After the expansion of the Perak Army, Wu Qing was appointed as the commander of the cavalry brigade of the 1st Division, which is the strongest combat force on land of the Perak Army, and this appointment shows the recognition of his ability by the top management. Ouyang Xuan's task to the First Brigade this time was also very arduous, and it even seemed impossible to complete it - to run for hundreds of miles, capture Jiantandu and Lingquan Mountain, and hold on until reinforcements arrived. If possible, you will also wait for the opportunity to take Pengxi Village.

Jiantandu is an important ferry port on the Fujiang River, which is not far away from Lingquan Mountain, which is the throat of central Sichuan and eastern Sichuan to the Chengdu Plain. Just three years ago, when the Sichuan army tried to recapture Chengdu, in order to prevent the reinforcement of Niu Ling, who had attacked in eastern Sichuan, to come to the rescue, he sent Liu Quan to cross the border at Jiantan to base the Mongolian army.

After a day of fierce fighting, Liu Cheng led his army to flee for fear of losing his strength, and Dutong Duan Yuanjian was killed in a battle at Lingquan Mountain. Liu Cheng abandoned guarding the Arrow Beach Crossing, so that Niu Ling drove straight into the city of Chengdu, joined forces with Liu Heima, Secret Huoli and others, and defeated Pu Xuezhi. Pengxi Village is about 100 miles northwest of Jiantandu, and the Qingju City guarded by Yang Dayuan is the horn of each other. If the Thunderbolt Army captures Pengxi Village, it can not only suppress the activities of the new annexed army of Yang Dayuan's department, but also use this as a springboard to attack northern and eastern Sichuan.

Suining Mansion is more than 300 miles away from Chengdu, and after crossing the Tuojiang River from Yunding City, it is the area controlled by the Mongolian army. At present, the elite of the new annexed army of Suining Mansion have been brought to Luzhou by Niu Ling, and the defense force of the prefectures, counties and fortresses along the way is very weak. Among the three targets to be raided, there were only 100 new troops in Jiantandu, 300 new troops in Lingquan Mountain not far away, and 500 defenders in Pengxi Village, which was the governor of Suining Prefecture.

These forces of the Mongolian army may not seem to be much, but if they hold on to the danger, the Thunderbolt cavalry brigade will be helpless. To capture these three important places, the most important thing is a surprise attack. More than 1,000 men and horses had to quietly pass through the area controlled by the Mongol army, and then launch a surprise attack by the unprepared defenders, which can be imagined. Once discovered by the Mongol army, the raid became a fortified battle, which meant that the mission failed.

Wu Qing certainly understands that the key to winning this battle lies in concealment and camouflage, which are his strengths. After receiving the task in July, he led his army to retreat to the deep mountains of Qiongzhou, on the one hand, to avoid the summer heat and enhance the physical strength of the war horse, on the other hand, it was also to prepare for war, including learning the Mongolian language and the living habits of the Mongolian army, and ordering the soldiers to practice bow and arrow skills.

There are many Yibo soldiers in the cavalry brigade of the first division, who are good at bows and arrows, and their skin color and body shape are similar to those of Mongolian soldiers. In the past two years, the Thunderbolt army and the Mongolian cavalry have experienced hundreds of battles, large and small, and have captured a large amount of Mongolian army equipment and ordnance, and it is easy to change clothes. In order to prevent flaws from being exposed, Wu Qing even asked Ouyang Xuan to coordinate and carry out a horse exchange operation in the whole army, and most of his war horses were replaced by Mongolian horses.

Just when Cao Ergou marched into Jianzhou, Wu Qing also led the cavalry brigade out of the Qiongzhou Mountains and quietly went to Suining Mansion. After crossing the Tuojiang River through the east of Genting City, they went all the way to Jiantan Ferry day and night. The population of Suining Mansion has been sparse after a long war, and the people who have suffered from the disaster of war have already hidden far away when they see the army, and no one has come to inquire about the news.

For the cities and fortresses along the way, Wu Qing tried to avoid them if he could, and slaughtered the sentry points of the new annexed army encountered on the road in one fell swoop to prevent the leakage of news from living mouths. In the process, a small number of soldiers of the newly annexed army escaped the pursuit of the Perak cavalry, although they still believed that the Mongolian cavalry was killing indiscriminately. After all, the Mongolian cavalry was tyrannical, and they didn't treat the soldiers of the new annex army as human beings at all, and they were whipped and swords and axes were added together, but this Mongolian cavalry went crazy again.

When Kudu rushed to Zizhou City from the Mianshui front, Wu Qing also rushed to Jiantandu with a cavalry brigade. When the soldiers of the new annex guarding Jiantandu saw a cavalry carrying the banner of the Mongol army coming, they did not suspect it, so they hurried to the river to tow the ferry, and they only said that they were coming to cross the river.

Named after the land about a stone's throw wide, it is important because it is the only place in the hundreds of miles upstream and downstream that is suitable for large armies to cross the river. The new annexes stationed here consisted of only a hundred men, and their task was not to guard the ferry, but to guard the boats that crossed the river. In order to prevent the Song army from seizing the boats that crossed the river, the camp of the new annexed army also stored fire oil, and if the situation was not good, the boats were set on fire.

The new annex guarding Jiantandu did not expect that the Thunderbolt army would carry out a long-distance attack in the guise of the Mongolian cavalry, and they were all captured in shock. Even a handful of people refused to believe the Thunderbolts after revealing their identities, instead trying to claim that they were loyal subjects of the Mongols. They preferred to believe that all this was just a misunderstanding with the Mongol cavalry. In their habitual thinking, the cavalry of the Song army was almost none, and it was not worth mentioning at all; Even the Thunderbolts, which have gained prominence in recent years, were significantly weaker than the Mongol cavalry, and were only used for reconnaissance and protection of infantry operations. In front of the invincible Mongolian cavalry in the world, where dare there be a little bit of a mistake? Wu Qing didn't talk to these hardcore traitors, and directly cut them down the sacrificial flag.

At the same time as the raid on Jiantandu, Wu Qing sent 300 men to seize the nearby Lingquan Mountain. Like the reaction of the new annex army in Jiantandu, the three hundred new annex troops in Lingquan Mountain were also captured in confusion. After capturing the two places, Wu Qing quickly made an analysis and judgment of the situation. There was no danger to defend and no need to defend the Arrow Beach Crossing, and only the dozens of ferries needed to be driven away or scuttled to prevent the Mongol army from crossing the river. As for those fire oils, they can be brought to Lingquan Mountain for defense. The combination of fire oil and grenades and mines often has miraculous effects in city defense battles, and this time the cavalry brigade brought a large number of grenades and a lot of mines.

Unlike Jiantandu, which only has a simple camp, Lingquan Mountain is also a cottage that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, although it is not as steep as Qingju City and Pengxi Village, but it can also block the enemy's thousands of troops and horses in a short time. In a hurry, Wu Qing made an emergency farewell to the 400 new annexes who were captured, and found out the hardcore traitors among them. For these traitors, Wu Qing's approach was to let the captives execute the traitors, and let each of them cut the traitors with a knife, stained with the blood of the traitors, and cut off their hearts to surrender to the Mongolian army. In order to make the captives completely loyal to the Perak Army, Wu Qing promised them that if they assisted in defending Lingquan Mountain, they would be exempted from their crimes, and those who had meritorious deeds could even join the Perak Army.

After taking these two important places without blood, Wu Qing decided to leave 300 knights and the 300 captives to defend Lingquan Mountain, and he himself took 1,200 people to take Pengxi Village. Although Xuan Ge'er said that it was an optional task item, in the eyes of Wu Qing and the officers and soldiers of the cavalry brigade, it was a task that had to be completed.