In late autumn and September, the Northeast Earth and Forests are dyed, and the mountains paint a beautiful picture, which gradually unfolds from north to south.

Unlike the factories that were planted in later generations due to the Industrial Revolution, at the end of the 14th century, the area was still an untouched primeval forest, with mountains and mountains.

In this autumn season, the primeval forest leaves are falling one after another, the golden leaves, silently falling, drawing a graceful dance in the air, and the ground is golden......

"Gargling"

Suddenly, the sound of fallen leaves being trampled came out, more than one.

If you look closely, in this river valley, a team is heading north along the river, with nearly a thousand people.

They did not display their flags, but all of them wore fat red jackets filled with cotton, and cuirass on their coats, accompanied by one or two horses.

The tall and sturdy horses were unsaddled and lightened by their loads, and the sturdy horses were hung with many goods, and the sun shone brightly.

A set of armor was carried on the horse's back, along with sacks of grain and the saddle of the war horse.

"This place is cool, and in half a month, it is estimated that winter will begin."

In the team, Zhu Gaoxu, who was breathing cool and fresh air, couldn't help but sigh, he led the red horse and the soldiers and horses to walk side by side, accompanied by natural wonders all the way.

As far as the eye can see, the autumn colors of the mountains and forests are rich in layers under the illumination of the sun, and the mountains and fields are magnificent, and the gurgling streams set off each other, forming a beautiful autumn scene.

The rolling mountains in the distance have long since lost the thick yellow of early autumn, and only countless bare trees remain.

Looking up at the transparent blue sky, it is as blue as a wash, vast and lofty......

"Wow!"

The goshawk hissed, pulling Zhu Gaoxu's thoughts back to his eyes, and a few cold winds blew from the other side of the mountain, making him can't help but sigh that the winter of this era is coming so quickly.

"It's almost two days away."

Fu Rang stepped forward with a map and pointed to a location for Zhu Gaoxu to see.

Zhu Gaoxu looked at the location, then looked at the sky, and then squatted down and touched the dead leaves on the ground: "There shouldn't be rain or snow in the past two days, just right for us to raid." ”

Fu Rang nodded in agreement, but at this time, Yisha and Zhang Chun came to make a move:

"Your Highness, the brothers haven't opened the stove for three days, and they have been eating dried fish and dried meat, do you want to open the stove tonight, anyway, there are still one hundred and twenty miles, and the old slave should not be able to detect it."

"No way!" Fu Rang wanted to refuse, but Zhu Gaoxu raised his hand to stop it, and then asked Zhang Chun:

"Will the brothers dig smokeless stoves?"

"It's all right, otherwise we wouldn't have come to His Highness." Zhang Chun nodded frequently, but Fu Rang looked puzzled after hearing it: "No smoke stove? ”

"A few days ago, I taught my brothers a method of digging stoves, this kind of stove method is very suitable for the army, and it will not expose too much smoke, you can rest assured."

Zhu Gaoxu explained to Fu Rang, and then motioned to Zhang Chun to arrange for the army to prepare to dig a smokeless stove.

With his permission, Zhang Chun and Yishiha began to prepare.

The 1,000 soldiers in charge of the raid this time have all received Zhu Gaoxu's smokeless stove training, not only smokeless stove training, but also many trainings that have been passed down from later generations of the army.

In his previous life, the place where Zhu Gaochu served was rugged in the mountains, the mountains were high and the forests were dense, and the daily training was to patrol the borders, and where the field cooking vehicles could not go up, Zhu Gaochu and the others were required to use smokeless stoves to provide for themselves, and these things were also handed over by Zhu Gaochu to the brothers of the Bohai Navy.

Under his watchful eye, the twenty or so brothers of the Bohai Navy began to sweep the forest of dead branches and leaves, and then began to select a site to dig smokeless stoves.

Smokeless stoves are demanding and must be concealed and ventilated, and smoke is everywhere if they are not ventilated.

When excavating, the main flue and the sub-flue must be dug well.

The main flue is one or two, the more divided flues, the longer and the more dispersed the better, it is best to cover them with wet branches and turf.

Normally, dig a large pit about two feet deep and then dig a small pit next to it.

This large pit should be as easy as possible for users to add firewood and other fuels to the small pit next to it.

Dig a smaller pit about a foot from this pit, then run the two holes through from the bottom, pile all the excavated earth around the first hole, and pat it to prevent the fire from escaping.

Dig at least three flues in the upper direction of the second hole, each about half a foot deep and about a zhang long, then press the pot on the second hole and fill it with earth, and cover it with branches, wheat stalks and other things above the flue, and cover it with soil.

According to the method of dense and distant and sparse pot edges, the flue is hidden, and the ignition is put into the second pit from the bottom of the No. 1 pit.

When the soldiers were making smokeless stoves, Zhu Gaoxu looked back and forth, and only after confirming that it was correct did he let them light the fire and cook.

After a short time, ten cauldrons were placed on smokeless stoves, and after the firewood was lit, the soldiers went to the river valley to fetch water and pour it into the pot, and began to put the steamers they carried with them into the pots, and then spread white cloth and military rations and rice.

In just one word, the military ration rice that had been dried and compressed many times had already expanded to its original appearance.

Zhu Gaoxu stretched out his hand and tasted it, although the rice had become tasteless because it had been dried and compressed many times, but the march and battle could not ask too much.

"Let's cook." He turned his head and ordered, and Zhang Chun also began to run back and forth to inform.

Fill a pot of steamed rice cups with sun-dried wild fruits and vegetables, and put a one-foot-long vinegar cloth, a soybean oil or two, a piece of salt crystals the size of a fingernail, and small dried fish in each pot.

With the spatula turning back and forth, it also took less than a quarter of an hour for the pot of boiled vegetables to be ready.

Although the production method is simple and crude, and the taste is not so good, for Zhu Gaoxu, who has been eating jerky and dough cakes for many days on the march, this meal can completely soothe the grievances on the march in the past few days.

Everyone used the bowls and chopsticks they carried with them to serve rice in small flags, and each bowl of rice, soup and vegetables added up to about one and a half catties.

This is already a very rich dinner for the people who march more than sixty miles every day.

Even if some people consume a lot and don't eat enough, there is nothing they can do.

Zhu Gaoxu accompanied everyone to eat this hot meal, and after everyone had finished eating, he ordered someone to withdraw the branches on the flue and put them into the stove pit, and took the lead and the soldiers to fill in the soil next to the stove pit, fill the flue flat, and then find some new soil or vegetation from the side to restore its original landform.

After such an operation, there were almost no traces of the original, and they began to hurry after a quarter of an hour's rest.

In an era without smog and industrial pollution, even at night, the moon hanging above the sky was enough to light the way for the team.

Night blindness generally does not exist in the Bohai Navy, after all, Zhu Gaoxu is very expensive in eating and drinking.

In such a hurry day and night, on the dusk of the fifth day of the ninth lunar month, Zhu Gaoxu and his team saw the Songhua River and the Buyan Fortress standing on the other side of the Songhua River.

"About three miles, they have a guard post on the south bank, and if we go out from here, we will be found even at night."

At dusk, Zhu Gaoxu took Fu Rang and more than 20 people to the mountains on the south bank of the Songhua River, looking down on the terrain of Buyan Zhaibao condescendingly.

Buyan Zhai Fort is in the north of the Songhua River, although Xiyang Ha does not have enough sentry horses, but he has set up sentry posts in the south of the Songhua River and about three miles of Buyan Zhai Fort.

These posts were made of stone, and there were no doors to go up, and people who wanted to go up could only be hoisted up through hanging baskets.

The mountain range that Fu Rang had brought him to was five miles away from where they were now camping, and about two miles from the Songhua River.

In this era, the Songhua River has not yet washed out of as many shallows as in later generations, so the river should be wider, Zhu Gaoxu estimated that this section of Buyan Zhaibao may not be less than two miles.

"I have to cross the river in a different place" Zhu Gaoxu looked at Fu Rang on the side, and Fu Rang also bowed his head and said:

"It's been more than ten days since the road that was explored before, I'm not sure if Xiyangha has a new outpost fort, I have sent someone to see it when I came just now, as long as one of the two waterways explored before has no outpost, we can cross the river tomorrow, and raid the old slave of Xiyangha the day after tomorrow."

"Good ......" Hearing Fu Rang say this, Zhu Gaoxu bowed and led people away, leaving only a dozen people to follow Fu Rang and observe Xiyangha's movements.

As the sun sank into the mountains, many bonfires were lit in Buyan Fortress, and Zhu Gaoxu also led people back to the mountain col where they were stationed.

They had enough deerskin rafts to escort them across the river as soon as they blew it.

It seemed that he sensed that the war was imminent, and many Jiangnan soldiers who had never been out of Nanjing City to fight were a little silent.

After a long time, they settled down a little, and Zhu Gaoxu himself found a col and sat in, waiting for news from Fu Rang.

The autumn wind blows in the middle of the night, but fortunately, the felt on their bodies can provide them with enough warmth.

Compared with them, Xiyangha in Buyan Castle is singing and dancing.

In the stone fort inside the wooden fort, dozens of girls held hands and sang with stiff expressions.

Next to the bonfire, the owner of Xiyang Ha, the land of Wuyewu, is singing and dancing with his wives and concubines, and they are celebrating the autumn harvest of this year.

Thanks to the fact that the Songhua River did not flood this year, Buyan Zhaibao harvested more than 6,000 stone of grain, which together with the grain they had previously stolen from the tribes in Guishun Jilin City, was enough to support them through this winter.

Xiyangha danced happily, but one of his sons stepped forward and seemed to have something to say.

Seeing this, Xiyang Ha withdrew from the bonfire dance, and after coming out, he wiped the sweat on his fat body with a sackcloth.

"Amma, there is news from the Six Cities that Jilin City in the south is preparing to transport grain to the land of the Six Cities by boat, and they have also built ferries belonging to their own ships at each ferry outside the city."

"Amma, did you think they were coming at us?"

"Shulha, don't worry." Xiyangha threw the sackcloth with his sweat on it to a woman from another tribe who had been captured, and a twisted smile appeared on her face as she watched the woman clean up.

"The grain has been harvested, your eldest brother and they have already taken people to Kulawin City, we will set off in a few days, and when the doll from Jilin City comes, I will leave a long time ago."

Xiyang Ha grabbed the slave girl's clothes, pulled her into his arms, stretched out his hand for a while, and his face twisted:

"These Han people attack us every time along the Songhua River, but they don't know that the further downstream they go, the more frozen places there are."

"This time, as before, we are gone before they have even left."

Without waiting for the words to finish, Xiyangha impatiently hugged the slave girl and walked to the stone house not far away.

It's just that what Xiyangha didn't know was that when he was preparing for the movement, the Bohai Navy also started the movement.

There were no accidents, and the road that Fu Rang had previously explored did not have any sentry riders from Buyan Zhaibao.

Upon learning of this news, Zhu Gaoxu and Fu Rang arranged for the soldiers to have a simple pot of cold rice, and then set off on a detour to prepare to cross the river from a shoal ten miles downstream of Buyan Zhaibao.

With the order, a thousand men and horses immediately moved downstream, and cut down many small trees in the forest, fixed them into wooden rafts with hemp rope and tenons, and then blew up the deerskin sacs against the biting river wind, and tied them tightly with the wooden rafts.

After confirming that it was reliable enough, Zhu Gaoxu ordered the troops to start resting, and waited until five o'clock in the morning before he woke up Fu Rang and the others, and began to order the troops to start crossing the river.

At six o'clock, the whole army officially crossed the river.

At this time, the Songhua River is still cold, more than ten deerskin rafts continue to escort people and horses back and forth, thanks to the fact that the military households of Jilin City are all Shandong coastal people and Jiangnan people before the border, so even if someone occasionally falls into the water, it will not be directly swept away by the Songhua River.

From the sixth quarter of the hour to the fourth quarter of the hour, the sky was slightly bright, and Zhu Gaoxu and they raced against time to cross the river.

Even though the shoal was only a mile wide, it was still too far for a thousand people and more than 1,400 horses.

In particular, horses are not comparable to people, a raft can carry a dozen people across the river, but can only support the transportation of three horses.

The horses seriously slowed down the speed of the Bohai Navy crossing the river, and in desperation, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Fu Rang:

"Leave fifty brothers to stay on the south bank with their horses, and the military horses will cross the river first."

"Good!" The soldiers were fast, and Fu Rang also knew that it was impossible to cross the river successfully tonight, seeing that the sky was beginning to brighten, and there was a possibility of being discovered at any time, he could only agree to Zhu Gaoxu's suggestion.

With the cooperation of the two, 467 military horses and red horses were sent to the north bank, and 950 soldiers also arrived on the north bank.

The remaining 50 soldiers were arranged by Zhu Gaoxu to withdraw to the mountain col 20 miles to the south, and they were not allowed to be rescued without news.

Soon, fifty soldiers attached the horses with reins and led more than 900 horses to retreat.

"What about these rafts?"

After crossing the river, Fu Rang asked Zhu Gaoxu, but Zhu Gaochu said directly in front of the soldiers around him: "All pushed into the Songhua River and sinked!" ”

"Chisel sink?!" Fu Rang was slightly surprised, he didn't expect Zhu Gaoxu to have such confidence in breaking the kettle.

However, he was only slightly surprised, and after a while, he arranged for someone to push the raft into the Songhua River, poke a hole in all the deer skin bags, and watched them float to the center of the Songhua River and sink into the river.

Seeing that the raft was scuttled, Zhu Gaoxu began to walk like many soldiers, carrying his armor, military rations, and saddles, and leading his war horse to the mountains and forests to the north.

Before leaving, Zhu Gaoxu glanced at the messy river beach, and reached out to grab Fu Rang: "Someone has to be left to clean up this trace." ”

"Traces?" Fu Rang glanced back at the messy river beach, and seemed to feel that Zhu Gaoxu was a little too vigilant:

"It won't take long for this trace to be washed away by the river, so we don't have to worry about it."

"If you are not afraid of 10,000, you are afraid of what if, let people carry the cauldron all the way to the river beach and wash away all the footprints." Zhu Gaoxu did not agree with Fu Rang's words this time, but insisted on solving the traces of the river beach.

Seeing this, Fu Rang didn't get entangled, but readily obeyed Zhu Gaoxu's arrangement, and finally sighed: "Who made you the king of Bohai." ”

There was a bit of a joke in this, and Zhu Gaoxu was not angry after hearing it, and punched him casually, almost knocking Fu Rang out of his eyes.

After rubbing his chest and breathing a sigh of relief, Fu Rang and Zhu Gaoxu walked towards the forest.

The place where they rested was in a mountain range known to the Jurchens as the Great Black Mountain.

The mountains that stretch for more than ten miles want to hide them, and there are less than a thousand people, which is more than enough.

Fu Rang found a col for the army, and there was a natural cave next to it.

After Zhu Gaoxu arrived here, he instinctively began to check the surroundings, and found that this place was indeed not easy to find, so he found an open space to lie down.

Despite his eyes closed, he was still thinking about how to win with the least amount of money in his mind.

Gradually, he had an idea in his head, but compared to this thought, the exhaustion of his body made him fall asleep.

Time passed, and before going to the battlefield, Zhu Gaoxu dreamed of himself in his previous life.

At that time, he was clamoring for what he would do if he went to war......

Suddenly, as soon as the picture turned, he suddenly appeared on the battlefield, the bullets flew sideways, and before he had time to show himself, he leaned back, and the whole person fell on the muddy battlefield.

"Wake up ......"

The dream was interrupted by Fu Rang's voice, Zhu Gaoxu opened his eyes suddenly, and Fu Rang probed his forehead with his hand: "Fortunately, there is no wind chill......

His tone was a bit lucky, but Zhu Gaoxu sat up.

The autumn wind blew all around, and when he looked closely, it was already completely dawn, and his forehead was blown a little cold.

Stretched out his hand to probe, but he didn't want a lot of cold sweat on his forehead, obviously frightened by the dream just now.

"I thought you were sick and sweating."

Fu Rang was relieved to see that Zhu Gaoxu was fine, but Zhu Gaoxu wiped his sweat indiscriminately, and looked up at the sky.

"Don't look at it, it's only six o'clock in the afternoon, you only slept for two and a half hours, and then lie down for a while."

Fu Rang patted him, then got up and returned to his place to lie down and rest.

However, Zhu Gaoxu was startled by the nightmare just now, so he was sleepy.

He got up and walked around the camp and saw the soldiers lying in the mountains and forests sleeping crookedly.

After making a round, he walked deeper into the col and saw a herd of military horses grazing in the col.

Among them, Zhu Gaoxu found the red donkey, fed it two handfuls of beans and a pot of water, and let it rub against him.

After doing all this, he returned to the camp and waited quietly for nightfall.

Originally, he had expected the battle to take place at night, but a group of foot ponds running in the distance interrupted his suspicions.

Picking up the stone, he threw it next to Fu Rang, and the sound of the stone hitting the side immediately woke up Fu Rang, Yishaha, Zhang Chun and others.

They opened their eyes in confusion and subconsciously touched their weapons.

"Your Highness, Buyan Fortress opened the gate of the east of the fort, and carried out a lot of small boats from it, which seemed to be going downstream."

The little flag officer came to Zhu Gaochu to make a confession, and after hearing Zhu Gaoxu's thoughts, he asked: "Have you seen how many people there are?" Is it to move to the walled fort, or only a part of the people come out. ”

"It should be a part, it's too far away for the brothers to see clearly." The little flag officer cramped to report.

"Then go and keep a record of their numbers, especially the number of men."

Fu Rang was already sober at this time, he ordered to the little flag officer, and afterwards he suddenly noticed that he was a little noisy, and hurriedly waved at Zhu Gaoxu, using the honorific title: "Your Highness, this old slave should have heard the news from the upstream, thinking that we were preparing to go down the river to crusade against him." ”

"If he really thinks so, we don't need to take the city, but we can set up an ambush in the river valley to ambush this old slave!"

Fu Rang was very excited, and the soldiers who were woken up around him also had a smile on their faces when they learned what had happened.

Siege, no matter what era it is placed in, it is the most important way to harvest the lives of the attackers' soldiers.

If Xiyang Ha really left Jilin City, then they would not have to attack the city, but could fight it in the river valley.

In the field, anyone present had the ultimate confidence in the field battle of the Bohai Navy.

"Hopefully ......"

Zhu Gaoxu was not very hopeful, because he knew that Xiyangha and they did not have so many ships, and it was impossible to transfer all the more than 20,000 people in Buyan Zhaibao.

Instead of striking the brethren, he waited for the news to come back.

With the sun setting in the west, it was already three o'clock when the new team returned to Butang, and Zhu Gaoxu and the others were all ready, that is, they even took their armor and put it beside them, ready to wear it at any time.

"Your Highness, just a part of the people went downstream, we looked, the team is a mile long, there are at least 5,000 people, basically all old and weak women and children, only more than 700 men wearing leather armor."

"They carried thousands of cows, horses, and sheep, more than 2,000 oxen and horse-drawn carts loaded with things covered with grass, and more than 100 boats of two or three feet in the water, which were estimated to be either grain or other valuable things."

When the little flag officer said these things, his eyes were almost glowing, as if he was asking Zhu Gaoxu if he wanted to do it.

Not only him, but also Zhang Chun, Yishiha and others who were listening next to him all had their eyes shining.

"Gao Xu......" Fu Rang called out Zhu Gaoxu's name, obviously he was not calm, and seemed to have forgotten what the goal of this operation was.

In this regard, Zhu Gaoxu did not blame them for swaying, because even he was entangled for a moment.

The grain of several thousand oxen, horses, sheep and two thousand oxen and wagons can be said to be worth no less than 200,000 yuan.

He Zhu Gaochu has only earned more than 100,000 yuan for more than half a year this year, and now he can suddenly get a year's income out of thin air, and there are thousands of cattle, horses and sheep, if it weren't for Zhu Gaochu knowing that he had to hit Xiyang Ha hard this year, I'm afraid he couldn't help but do it at the moment.

"Cast a long line and catch a big fish!"

Zhu Gaoxu resisted the temptation to do it immediately, because his goal this time was to kill Xiyangha or severely damage Xiyangha, so that he could rest assured that he would go to fight Wuliangha Sanwei with Daning next year.

However, when the meat comes to his mouth, it is not his character not to eat it.

"Encirclement and reinforcement ......"

Almost all of a sudden, the book of the great man of later generations appeared in Zhu Gaoxu's mind...... "Siege and reinforcement is one of the important methods to annihilate the enemy".

Compared with attacking the city, attracting the main force of Xiyang Ha from the Buyan Fortress, and then expanding the results of the battle is the most correct way at the moment.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu gritted his teeth and looked at the little flag officer: "How is the marching speed of the team?" ”

"They have a lot of livestock, and they have walked more than three miles in a quarter of an hour, and it is estimated that they can walk twenty-seven or eight miles in an hour."

"Twenty-seven or eight miles...... Hearing the other party's speed, Zhu Gaoxu looked at Fu Rang:

"You take six hundred people and go ten miles downstream to set up an ambush, and I will take the rest of the people to continue here."

"Do you want to ......" Fu Rang was trained by Fu Youde after all, he immediately thought of the art of war of "attacking it and saving it", obviously Zhu Gaoxu wanted not only cattle, horses and livestock, but also the head of Xiyangha.

He didn't continue, because he knew that time was pressing: "Zhang Chun! ”

"Here!" Zhang Chun subconsciously responded, looking forward to looking at Fu Rang, Fu Rang also gritted his teeth and said, "Order five hundred foot soldiers and one hundred cavalry!" ”

"Yes!" Hearing Fu Rang's words, Zhang Chun turned around and went to make arrangements, but Fu Rang looked at Zhu Gaoxu, his eyes revealing a little worry: "Be careful of Xiyang Ha's sentry horse." ”

"Don't worry" Zhu Gaoxu smiled and motioned for him to leave, but Fu Rang glanced at Yi Shiha: "Yizhangji, you have to take care of Your Highness." ”

"Commander Fu can rest assured, even if I give up this life, I will protect His Highness." Yisha puffed out his chest, although he was not a man, he was more manly than ordinary men.

Seeing that he was like this, Fu Rang patted Zhu Gaoxu on the shoulders and turned to leave with a sense of heaviness.

Looking at his departing back, Zhu Gaoxu held the heavy iron shovel on his waist and glanced at the cavalry who were left behind.

"The great husband's meritorious service is today!"

(End of chapter)