"Drain ......"

When the rain sounded, the overcast sky covered the pristine mountainous area, causing the roads to become muddy and many of the people who were hurrying were drenched in soup.

In such weather, a detachment was slowly marching on a rough road in the mountains.

Eight mountains, one water and one field, this is the words of later generations to describe some mountainous areas and many provinces, but in Guizhou, it seems to have become a compliment.

Guizhou, with less than half of the area covered by alpine plains, is destined to be a place with inconvenient transportation.

Even though the Ming army began to build official roads from the first year of Yongle, the official roads in Guizhou were still narrow, and in some places they were even less than two zhang wide.

Such a road is an extremely good road condition for a family or even a village, but it is undoubtedly a nightmare for an army with thousands of cavalry, nearly 30,000 infantry, artillery, and also need to pull field artillery......

Even though the rainy season has passed, the weather in Guizhou is still not good, and even in the hot summer of Banzhou, the temperature has plummeted after entering late October.

Marching in such freezing rain was an extremely harsh condition for both individuals and the entire army, but they could not stop.

Almost ninety percent of the mountainous Guizhou region encounters rainfall, it will inevitably be accompanied by landslides.

In order not to delay the war, they could only brave the rain to hurry, but fortunately, at this moment they were less than ten miles away from the Tongzi Horse Post in front.

Once there, they don't have to worry about landslides and freezing rain, they just need to grit their teeth and persevere for the last ten miles to get a good rest.

"Wow!"

"Be careful!"

"Help!"

On this narrow official road, the horses trudged through the muddy road with difficulty.

The artillery, which is not heavy on weekdays, is so cumbersome at the moment, and it not only needs two horses to pull it, but also needs the help of five or six soldiers in the rear.

In such a situation, the sound of horses' footsteps, mixed with the dull crash of weapons and armor, echoed across the official road that stretched through the mountains.

All the soldiers wore cuirasses and wore robes and marched with their heads bowed in the rain.

Due to the rugged and narrow road, the team of only 30,000 people stretched more than ten miles long.

Each time the soldiers in front of them made a further move, more teams followed.

Finally, all the soldiers walked out of the mountain road in fear and came to a plateau dam that was not very wide.

The so-called dam is the plain, because it is surrounded by mountains on all sides, so it is called the dam.

In this small dam, a wooden village with a circumference of no less than three miles has been erected, and this is exactly what Mu Chun prepared in advance.

As early as when he was stationed in Qijiang, he had already sent troops to build camps at various horse posts leading to Banzhou in Qijiang.

Mu Chun rode a horse to see the local area, and knew that in a place like Guizhou, a slightly flat place had to be used, so in his opinion, the flat horse posts everywhere would be either a market town or a county seat or a health station in the future.

In this case, he built and prepared early, which also saved the efforts of the imperial court.

"Kiln ......"

When the sound of armor came out, Mu Chun had already turned over and dismounted, and walked in the camp with Qu Neng, Qu Tao, Qu Yu, and Mu Sheng in armor.

They walked straight into the wooden hut in the center of the camp, and when they entered it, they laid the map on the table.

Mu Chun took the coarse cloth from Mu Sheng's hand and wiped the rain from his hair and face, and then raised his hands.

The soldiers on the left and right dressed him and placed the charcoal brazier under the table.

After everyone changed their clothes, Mu Chun pointed to the southern pass that was the only connection on Tongzi Mayi Official Road with his command pole and said:

"Yang Sheng led 20,000 native soldiers to break through the Yong'an Horse Post I arranged, and now he has led his troops to attack Loushan Pass."

"Loushan Pass has 500 soldiers who retreated from Yong'an Horse Station, as well as 3,000 local garrisons."

"Although there are 3,500 people, 2,000 of them are stationed soldiers, and it is okay to take the handle, but it is not possible to go to the battlefield."

"The army is temporarily resting in Tongzi Horse Station, if the rain does not become heavier, then we will continue to set off tomorrow and arrive at Loushan Pass before midnight tonight!"

Mu Chun's words won the approval of everyone, although Tongzi Horse Station is only more than 30 miles away from Loushan Pass, but in the southwest of this kind of terrain, more than 30 miles represents not a flat Kangzhuang Road, but a rugged mountain road up and down.

The 30,000 soldiers and horses led by Mu Chun were brought by him from Yunnan, and even so, this army of soldiers and horses maintained a march speed of sixty miles in the southwest mountains at most on weekdays.

In this rainy and slippery weather, I am thankful that I can walk forty miles a day.

Of course, what worries Mu Chun the most is mainly the geographical problem of Guizhou, in case of a landslide in any place on the post road, then his 30,000 army will suffer.

"On such a rainy day, our artillery and arquebuses can't be used......"

Mu Sheng spoke, but Mu Chun frowned and looked at him: "The gunpowder is wrapped in oily paper, as long as the packaging is tight, it will not get damp so quickly." ”

"As for the rain that can't light the fire, can the living still suffocate their urine to death?"

"It's raining and people have umbrellas, so why can't artillery have umbrellas?"

"Set up a tent and put the artillery in it, I can't trust the artillery!"

Mu Chun said, and his eyes also looked at Qu Neng: "Marquis of Jianchang, tomorrow you will lead a thousand cavalry to explore the sentry for the Tang cavalry." ”

"The last general commands!" Qu Neng is rebellious, but he still admires Mu Chun's father and son.

"Qu Yu, Qu Tao, Mu Sheng, the three of you are still the same as today, each leading the front, middle and rear armies, be careful on the way to the march, and warn the brothers again not to make any noise."

"Now that it's winter, the rain will soon gradually decrease, don't mess with yourself, take your time as you did in the past to quell the rebellion."

Mu Chun commanded, and everyone also bowed their hands when they heard the words, "Yes!" ”

Seeing this, Mu Chun added a lot of things that needed attention, and then let the generals disperse.

As time passed, the 30,000 army entered the Tongzi Horse Station, changed into the dry clothes prepared by Mu Chun here, and used firewood to cook a hot soup and rice to warm the body.

Rushing in the rain like this, naturally some people contracted the wind cold, but Mu Chun had already prepared for this, and the warehouse was full of grain, medicinal herbs, firewood, and dried ginger slices.

Not only that, but he also prepared the bamboo cage for baking clothes, as long as he put the charcoal brazier in the middle of the bamboo cage, and then spread clothes on the three-foot-high bamboo cage, this bamboo cage that looks like a big bell can use the heat of the charcoal brazier to bake and dry the clothes.

For a soldier, it is undoubtedly their luck to have a commander like Mu Chun, and I am afraid that others will not be so careful.

It was also because of Mu Chun's carefulness that when the army started the next morning, less than 500 people in the army were left behind because of the wind chill and high fever, and the remaining nearly 30,000 people continued to brave the drizzle.

Maybe Mu Chun was right, in short, the drizzle only lasted less than half an hour before it dissipated.

Although the sky and the earth were gloomy, without the hindrance of the drizzle, the speed of the army's march could not help but speed up.

"Boom, boom—"

When he was still ten miles away from Loushan Pass, the faint sound of artillery coming from the front was heard by Qu Neng, who was the vanguard.

"You go back and tell the Duke of Qianguo, just say that the rebels are attacking the city, and I will lead the sentry cavalry to search all the way first."

"Yes!"

Qu Neng sat on horseback and ordered the Qianhu official beside him, and then shook the reins of the horse and led more than 1,000 cavalry to the south.

They rode the Yunnan horses that were not tall but were good at climbing with weights, and the saddles were tied to the reins of the Hequ war horses behind them, so as not to add a burden to the war horses.

Because of this, when the distance of ten miles was crossed, the war horses and their physical strength could still support and rush to the battlefield.

"Beep-"

"Reinforcements are coming!!"

At this moment, there is no more exciting word on Loushan than this sentence.

Yang Sheng led the rebels to storm Loushan Pass for three days, and the generals guarding the pass could not withstand it for a long time, if Qu Neng and them came two days later, I am afraid that Loushan Pass would be broken by the rebels.

"I'm Jianchang Hou Qu Neng, open and close the door!"

When a thousand cavalry rushed into the rugged official road under the leadership of Qu Neng and came to the narrow valley behind Loushan Pass, the defenders of Loushan Pass hurriedly opened the gate after confirming Qu Neng himself for Qu Neng's cavalry to enter the pass.

"Kill!!"

"Woo-woo-"

The shouts of killing sounded on the wall south of Loushan Pass, and Qu Neng did not rush to lead his troops into battle, but first observed the terrain of Loushan Pass.

Loushan Pass is located on the backbone of the main vein of Loushan Mountain, is a pass formed by dissolution along the fissure, and the east and west sides of the pass are large and small peaks, towering into the clouds.

Loushan Pass was originally under the jurisdiction of the Lou Tusi under the command of the Yang Tusi of Banzhou, so the main focus of defense was in the north.

After the military parade, Lou's Tusi accepted the change of land and returned to the stream, so Loushan Pass was taken over by the Ming army.

Gu Cheng, who was responsible for controlling Guizhou, added a concrete city wall in the southern section of one mile on the basis of the original pass, and built a stepped six-fold platform on the outside.

It's a pity that the level of the generals stationed in Loushan Pass is not good, and they don't use Gu Cheng's arrangement at all, so when Qu Neng arrived, he was very worried.

"For the sake of not losing the pass, your sins will be forgiven!"

Qu Neng didn't expect that the six-fold platform left by Gu Cheng would be lost by the guards in three days, but now that it is time to employ people, the settlement of accounts must at least wait until the fight is over.

"How many soldiers and horses are there in the pass?"

"Less than three thousand ......" the guard general responded, Qu Neng frowned and said, "The rebels outside the city are all dispatched?" ”

"No, there are probably more than 6,000 people ......"

The guard replied nervously, and sure enough, Qu Neng's scolding was ushered in in the next second: "Three thousand people are blocked in the city by six thousand people, what soldiers are you bringing?!" ”

"The last will be damned!" The guard lowered his head and admitted his mistake, Qu Neng snorted angrily: "Open and close the door, study hard!" ”

"Yes!" After Qu Neng gave the order, the guards hurriedly asked people to prepare to open the city gate.

At this moment, Qu Neng led all the cavalry of his headquarters to gather at the gate of Nancheng.

"Open!"

As he spoke, the gate of the southern city opened instantly, and this sudden opening made the rebels who were about to push the car to crash into the city gate stunned.

Without waiting for them to come back to their senses, Qu Neng held a Zhangsi iron spear and rode out of the gate on a big horse given by Zhu Gaoxu.

"Kill the barbarian!"

"Kill !!"

In just an instant, more than a thousand cavalry rushed out of the pass, and those soldiers who were still about to hit the city gate turned around and fled for their lives.

The iron cavalry was like a torrent, and a thousand cavalry launched a fierce charge after rushing out of Loushan Pass, making a deafening shout.

The unprepared Yang soldiers were cut through before they had time to form a formation, they didn't expect that there would be cavalry at Loushan Pass, nor did they expect Mu Chun to come so quickly.

"Kill!!" Thousands of cavalry rose up in pursuit, roaring with hideous faces, making the fleeing soldiers look extremely embarrassed.

The south side of Loushan Pass was downhill all the way, and most of the 6,000 Yi soldiers were killed, only Yang Gang, the son of Yang Sheng, united the surrounding Yi soldiers in time and formed a formation to press towards the cavalry of Qu Neng's department.

They were dressed in iron armor and wielded rattan spears, with powerful crossbowmen waiting behind them.

Qu Neng turned his horse's head in time, gave the rear cavalry a signal, and led the army to bypass the army formation of less than 3,000 people under Yang Gang's headquarters, and continued to pursue and kill those scattered Yi soldiers.

"Step by step, slowly withdraw to the camp!"

Yang Gang is only twenty years old, but the 3,000 people in the command are flawless.

In his opinion, no matter how brave Qu Neng's cavalry was, it would not be able to charge head-on with his own spear array.

It's just that Yang Gang probably forgot that Qu Neng already knew the way they played in the southwest toast.

Relying on the mobility of the cavalry, Qu Neng immediately switched his cavalry bow after the short-handed combat to defeat the defeated army, and led the cavalry to shoot Yang Gang's troops in a circle.

Faced with the threat of cavalry shooting, Yang Gang could only order the whole army to form a rattan formation on the spot, for fear that Qu Neng would lead the cavalry to break into the formation by exposing the gaps.

Seeing that he was waiting for him, Qu Neng also raised his hand and signaled the group to ride their horses.

They slowly circled around Yang Gang's headquarters in this narrow valley, and when Yang Gang saw this, he let people release their cannons.

He thought that this would scare Qu Neng away, but Qu Neng still faced him unhurriedly and led his cavalry around in a circle, like a tiger examining its prey.

Time passed little by little, and the physical strength of the soldiers under Yang Gang also reached the limit.

A four-pound spear doesn't sound like much, but if you hold a spear in one position for half an hour, even brave people like Qu Neng, Zhu Gaoxu, and Ping'an will feel weak in their arms, let alone ordinary people.

"Kiln ......"

"Woo-woo-"

Just as Qu Neng was about to make a move, the sound of armor and horns of the advancing army began to sound under the low slope south of Loushan Pass.

Qu Neng took out his binoculars and looked, and a team of no less than 10,000 people appeared almost two miles away.

Obviously, that is the main force led by Yang Sheng.

"Lord Hou......"

A military attache nervously asked Qu Neng, but Qu Neng regarded more than 10,000 people in Yang Gang's department as grass mustard, and said contemptuously: "They have people, don't we have them?" ”

"Woo-woo-"

Almost confirming his words, when Yang Sheng led more than 10,000 main forces of the army headquarters to relieve Yang Gang, the horn sounded on the Loushan Pass, which was a signal that Qu Neng had agreed with the guard.

The horn sounded, which proved that Mu Chun led the main force to come.

"Beep-beep-"

Sure enough, when the familiar whistle came, when Yang Sheng led the army to climb the gentle slope, the front army of the Ming army's Yunnan Dusi Corps of more than 10,000 troops also officially walked out of the pass.

They stepped out of the corridor and trotted in unison to the left and right in an equal line.

Qu Neng did not urge during this period, but led the cavalry, staring at the three thousand people under Yang Gang's command.

He didn't know that the commander of this army would be Yang Gang, the second son of Yang Sheng, but he knew that with the family-style governance of the Yang Tusi, the one who could lead the troops was absolutely inseparable from the relationship between the main general.

His trick is to encircle the point to send reinforcements.

Under his gaze, Yang Sheng led more than 10,000 soldiers to press on him step by step, less than 200 paces away.

At this time, the front army controlled by Qu Yu outside Loushan Pass was completed and came to Qu Neng's support.

Nothing is more striking than a uniform movement, and there are two armies like this in this narrow valley right now.

Although Banzhou Yang is a toast, he is a real Han Chinese, and his training methods are also advancing with the times.

Since the last time he went to Nanjing to watch the military parade, the Banzhou local officials who returned to Banzhou reported to Yang Sheng what he saw and heard in Nanjing.

When Yang Sheng learned about it, he immediately began to reorganize his army, because he knew that if the emperor showed force like this, he must be preparing to attack the north or south.

Therefore, when Mu Chun began to mobilize troops and horses, and after the Lou Tusi changed the land and returned to the stream and handed over the Loushan Pass, he had already begun to secretly contact other small and medium-sized Tusi under his command to prepare for the army.

His fifteen thousand people are only his headquarters, and there are more than 60 small and medium-sized Tusi who are transferring troops to Banshu City in the Banzhou territory.

He came to besiege Loushan Pass in order to test the power of the Ming army's artillery, and for this reason he also prepared a "shield" that he used to block the artillery.

"Lele car?"

When Yang Sheng pushed out the vehicles that were one person tall and painted with evil ghosts on the front, Qu Neng was obviously stunned, but he quickly reacted.

"Ready to use this to fend off field artillery?"

Qu Neng almost couldn't hold back his laughter, knowing that they had all tested the power of field artillery.

Although the field artillery was the smallest cannon of the Ming army, it could also penetrate a carriage full of sand head-on within a mile.

Even if Yang Sheng used hardwood to make a carriage, he could not withstand the iron shells of the Ming artillery.

"Woo-woo-"

The horn sounded, and Yang Sheng and Qu Yu ordered the whole army to attack at about the same time.

The difference is that on the side of the Ming army, the musketeers are in front and the pikemen are in the rear.

Seeing that the distance between the two sides was less than 100 paces, Qu Neng knew his own tactics, and hurriedly turned his horse's head and led the cavalry to withdraw to the left and right flanks of the formation.

Seeing Qu Neng retreating, Yang Gang, who had been surrounded for a long time, also breathed a sigh of relief, and the whole army changed from a round rattan formation to a linear rattan formation, and waited to receive the shield car and the main force of the headquarters.

However, just as he was in a line, Qu Yu's mouth was about to smile crookedly: "This group of Yi soldiers has already watched the big parade and thinks that the rattan card in his hand can block the arquebus." ”

Qu Yu said as he watched his line infantry arrive at the 3,000 men of Yang Gang's headquarters less than 40 paces.

"Shoot the arrows!"

Yang Gang opened his mouth and ordered, and for a while, the rain of crossbow arrows and arrows fell like a shower, and the Ming army continued to advance when he saw this.

They protected their faces and advanced, and although the arrows hit their bodies were painful, they did not hurt the flesh.

The knife bearers raised their shields to protect the musketeers, and after covering their advance of ten paces, each side finally removed their shields at a distance of twenty paces.

The difference is that Yang Gang's department raised a crossbow, while the Ming army raised an arquebus.

"Put!"

"Crackle-"

The same sound is released, but the result is one-sided.

The Ming army, which formed a three-wheel platoon of 4,000 musketeers, fired at a distance of less than 20 paces, but in the blink of an eye, the Yi soldiers were shot and fell down in rows at the speed of rice after autumn.

"Raise your shield! Raise your shield!! ”

Yang Gang's eyes widened, and he couldn't believe that his side had fallen more than two percent of his soldiers in an instant.

Not only him, but even his soldiers.

Because of this, without his order, the rattan player hurriedly raised the rattan card, as if to protect himself and the robe behind him.

"Crackle-"

The continuous platoon of guns, as well as the platoon of guns that instantly pierced the rattan card, shocked the Yi soldiers.

They had also fought with the Ming army's muskets, but they had never seen such an uninterrupted way of shooting, let alone a firearm that could directly penetrate the rattan brand.

Due to the large number of fallen soldiers, the rattan card formation they formed was also incomplete, and it was impossible to cover the whole army.

"Run!"

"Run!"

"Don't run away, the whole family who escapes will be slaves!!"

"Stop!"

"Bastard!!"

When the battle was only half a word, Yang Gang's department, which was still able to hold out for more than half an hour under the eyes of more than 1,000 cavalry under Qu Neng, completely fled.

With such an opportunity, Qu Neng naturally would not let it go, and urged the horse to rush into battle at the moment to expand the results.

"Quick! Go up and pick up the gang! ”

Yang Sheng in this formation was almost as incredulous as many Yi soldiers, he knew very well the combat power and discipline of Yang Gang's three thousand Yi soldiers, so in the face of everything in front of him, he even thought that he was dreaming.

"Kill!!"

"Kill, kill, kill!"

The iron cavalry charged, and most of the more than 1,000 soldiers who fled were harvested, and most of them escaped back to Yang Sheng's main formation, but there is no doubt that they were all lucky people under the 20-step platoon of guns of the Ming army, and as for the unfortunate group, the number was close to 2,000 people.

After the 4,000 Ming musketeers lined up three rounds of guns at a distance of 20 paces, Yang Sheng's 3,000 men were only in their early 1,000s, which was the charm of close shooting.

"Father, withdraw!"

Just when Yang Sheng was still shocked that his 3,000 people were defeated in less than half a word, the embarrassed Yang Gang appeared in front of him, pulling the reins of his horse and about to retreat.

"What happened? Gang'er! ”

Yang Sheng, who didn't see the guns of the Ming army, was still asking, but Yang Gang panicked and ordered the whole army to retreat step by step, and personally dragged Yang Sheng's war horse to retreat.

"I'll go back and tell you again, we lost this battle, and if we don't leave, we will be wiped out!"

Yang Gang saw with his own eyes the Ming army's close-range shooting, and at this moment, he only knew that if they didn't retreat, even the capital of negotiating with the Ming army would be buried here.

"Chasing ......"

"Beep-"

At this moment, in the Ming army's formation, Qu Yu saw the retreat of the Yi soldiers, and immediately wanted to continue the pursuit, but before he could act, a whistle came from the back.

He looked back, and sure enough, he saw Mu Chun's big curtain.

Mu Chun seemed to have expected Qu Neng's father and son to pursue, so he rushed to the front line with only a dozen military attachés, and blew the wooden whistle from afar.

"The whole army rests, and the poor don't chase!"

Mu Chun rode into the battle, stopping Qu Yu and waking Qu Neng not far away.

"Qianguo Gong, why?" Qu Yu's eyes turned red.

In his opinion, the more than 10,000 soldiers in front of him are the meat in his own bowl, and he can handle it at will.

If you don't take advantage of this time to destroy them, it will be difficult to fight when they withdraw to Banshu City.

"Now that you have beaten the Yang clan into a remnant, you still have to go to the mountains to find the other soldiers and horses of the small and medium-sized Tusi."

"Gather them in Banzhou City and then exterminate them all, so that it will be more convenient for our army to change the land and return to the stream, understand?"

Mu Chun is not greedy for military merits on the battlefield, what he thinks about is how to solve the problem of more than 60 small and medium-sized toasts in Banzhou once and for all.

When Qu Yu heard this, he could only reluctantly put down the order flag in his hand......

Turning the horse's head, Mu Chun glanced at the whole army, and said loudly: "Today's battle, the whole army is brave, and each person will be rewarded three times!" ”

"Wan Sheng! Wansheng!! ”

With just one sentence, the surrounding soldiers had no intention of pursuing again, after all, they had driven more than 30 miles and were already very tired.

Three times money, this is almost a month's salary for them, and at this moment, all they have left is cheering for Mu Chun......

(End of chapter)

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