Chapter 111 Tianshui encounters a surprise attack
Fenghuang said that he had a request not to interfere with his brothers' battles.
He smiled and said that he still had to express his opinions, because Fenghuang was both his, Zhao Yulin's, wife and the captain of the Third Column.
Fenghuang went up to him happily and slapped him in the face.
Zhao Yulin said that it was okay not to affect her brothers. In fact, she could go and participate in the naval operations. Zhou Ping had a shortcoming during the Mahujiang battle. He only cared about fighting on his own and did not know that coordinated operations between land and sea would be more efficient.
Fenghuang leaned against him and said, "Then let Captain Yang directly command her Third Column, and she will go on board to serve as Zhou Ping's military officer."
Zhao Yulin brought her a teacup and said that this was the best.
Fenghuang also asked him to have a cup of tea.
Haha, this woman is becoming more and more attractive.
Wu Xian, the Jin general in Nanyang, had already ordered the vanguard Wu Tianci's 20,000 troops to set out on a westward expedition to Jinzhou. Wu Xian received the emperor's secret order to rush to Caizhou and the imperial envoy's rebuke, and knew he had no choice but to leave.
Go to Caizhou? There, the Jin soldiers and the Mongolian army were fighting fiercely, and they would definitely be eaten to the bone by the vicious Mongolian army; go west, maybe they can find a safe place in Jinzhou, because the Song army is weak.
He did not promise the Jin emperor that he could occupy Hanzhong, the delicious sausage, but he was just thankful to have Jinzhou to rest.
However, the commander-in-chief Wu Tianshui suggested to him: Instead of attacking Jinzhou, it would be better to go south to rob the prefectures and counties around Xiangyang. Those were lands of fish and rice, and you could eat rice and have fodder wherever you went.
It is rumored that the firearms of the Shenwei Army are very powerful. Didn’t Monk Chen die at Raofeng Pass?
After Wu Xian heard this, his brain seemed to suddenly go dark, and he immediately called him a jinx. "I'm not going to Raofeng Pass, can't I just grab some food in Gucheng and Jinzhou?"
The Shenwei Army knows how to do business and is very rich. If we don’t rob them, who else can we rob?
Haha, Zhao Yulin was still mobilizing troops in Wudang. General Meng Gong of Xiangyang got the news that the Five Immortals were dispatching troops, and sent an urgent letter of divorce to Gucheng by his confidant. The letter was delivered to Wudang just in time for the favorable wind.
Yang Xingyun immediately brought it to him to see. Zhao Yulin believed that Meng Gong had seen that Wu Xian was going to move westward, which meant that this guy was definitely determined to attack us.
He said that he still had to thank Xiangyang for the letter reminding them that we have the ability to resist Wuxian's attack and remind General Meng that after Wuxian's attack on Jinzhou failed, he would definitely go to Luyanyi to spy on Jingzhou.
However, he must not reveal that Zhao Yulin is in Wudang.
Xingyun went to do it immediately.
Afterwards, the brothers surveyed the terrain in detail along the Zhejiang-Sichuan River and selected a section of water along the Jiuquhuichang River and the Wangpo Rock in front to defend against the enemy.
Zhao Yulin ordered a propaganda campaign to be launched first, printing leaflets and distributing them to passers-by and businessmen, encouraging them to come to Wudang to farm, do business and settle down.
The distant Tianshui also began to get busy. Miao Gui led his troops according to his secret order and easily entered the river valley and captured the old Tianshui city controlled by the Jin people, which was Qinzhou City. He mobilized a large number of people to build horse fences on the river valley passage. He poured large earthen concrete triangles in the shape of triangles to block the impact of cavalry.
This was a relay event between soldiers and civilians. As soon as the Shenwei Army rushed into the valley, the people protected by the militia started to carry the supplies on their shoulders, on their backs, and on the transport pulled by oxen.
As soon as the craftsmen set up the formwork, the people immediately put large bamboo cages into it, mixed earth, cement, sand and gravel, poured them into the molds and tamped them, and rows of horse fences were quickly built.
At the wide river valley entrance, local people were piling up the surrounding stones into a triangular cone as tall as a person. Craftsmen were filling the gaps with concrete mixed with soil and cement, and then applying a thick layer of mortar. Behind them were countless soldiers working hard to dig trenches...
While Miao Gui was constantly coordinating local manpower, he was also sending a report to the Qingyeyuan camp: the Jin army launched a surprise attack on Tianshui, the Shenwei Army fought back and took advantage of the situation to advance into the river valley.
After receiving the information from Gucheng and Tianshui, Qingyeyuan immediately sent a letter to Lin'an, saying that the Jin army was attacking and the Hanzhong army was forced to fight against Yunyun.
Zhao Yulin learned of Miao Gui's successful attack report and knew that he should quickly interrupt Wu Xian's dream of going west to eat rice.
The next day, he and his brothers went up along the east side of the lake to Eagle's Beak, where they saw the Jin army's ships approaching in the distance. Zhao Yulin said to Zhou Ping that they were going too slowly and asked him to go and help.
Zhou Ping asked how to help. He gathered two hundred small boats, sent a group of them to engage in battle, and fought and retreated to show weakness, so as to lure the Jin people down.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said that if they continued to move at a snail-like pace, the brothers would have to hide for several days, which would be too tiring under the sun and rain, and they would inevitably be exposed.
He instructed Zhou Ping not to lure the Jin troops to retreat all at once, but to place a few large ships at Huangtuzui to block the Jin troops' journey and then destroy them after they came down.
Zhou Ping immediately made arrangements.
Wu Xian's stop-and-go movement was too slow. Even after five days of Zhou Ping's enticement, he finally reached Shuangling Village and Tulanggou. Zhao Yulin saw this disorganized, poorly dressed, and miscellaneous team through the telescope from afar and couldn't bear to attack them.
Yang Xingyun told him that the enemy was advancing by land and sea, and the scouts estimated that the total number was 70,000 to 80,000. Wu Tianci was setting up camp, and the brothers planned to take action tomorrow.
He said that propaganda must be in place, policies must be explained clearly to everyone, only the bandit leaders should be killed, and those who surrender and lay down their weapons will not be killed. We don't want heads this time, we want living people.
Yang Xingyun nodded continuously and went out to make further arrangements.
In the middle of the night, the participating troops crossed mountains and ridges from a distance of twenty to thirty miles and rushed towards the Jin army camp, and the light catapults they carried were quickly installed on the artillery positions that had been selected long ago.
At dawn, the Shenwei Army launched a surprise attack. The incendiary bombs they fired set the Jin Army's camp on fire, illuminating it brightly. The Jin army immediately became chaotic. Yang Xingyun took the lead in the charge, forcing the Jin army to flee in a panic.
The main general Wu Tianci put on his armor and rushed forward with a group of trusted men to try to turn the tide, but it was all in vain.
However, Li Dagui and his brothers fired a volley of arrows with the magic arm crossbow, and Wu Tianci fell to the ground along with his horse, to be trampled by the fleeing troops.
The Jin army had come out hungry, their men were exhausted and their horses were thin. They had lost their morale and fled in a swarm. Since the land route was blocked, they climbed onto the boats and fled on both routes.
At this time, Zhou Ping's Hanzhong navy took advantage of the situation and launched a full-scale attack. The stone bullets and thunder bombs fired by the large catapults made the Jin army lose their way. A large number of Jin soldiers fell into the lake and became turtles.
Wu Xian heard loud explosions and shouts of killing at the north side of the Lake. He knew that a fierce battle had broken out between the two sides, so he quickly sent out 20,000 troops to provide support.
Unfortunately, the ships escaping on the water directly overturned the support ships coming downstream, and they were entangled in a group before reaching the battlefield, which made it convenient for the Hanzhong navy that was chasing behind to bombard them fiercely.
As for the land route, the road was only so wide. After the Five Immortals' military supervisors killed the deserters one after another, they stopped their escape at Zhaogou. However, bad news kept coming. The Shenwei Army's powerful water transport capabilities brought the troops up, causing the flags of the Song Dynasty to appear all around. If they didn't run away, they would have no choice but to surrender and die.
Under the intensive bombardment of iron barrel cannons, how could the Jin army, composed of flesh and blood, resist? The Jin army's defense line collapsed again, and generals and marshals, big and small, changed into civilian clothes and fled regardless of their status.
Wu Xian was an opportunist, he would never gamble with his life recklessly. When he received the news of defeat, he took the initiative to retreat thirty miles and set up camp, and gave a large amount of baggage and civilian workers to Zhao Yulin.
And these innocent people are exactly what Zhao Yulin needs.
Years of war have led to a continuous decline in population, and the Mongolian army often carried out genocide massacres. Large tracts of land have been left barren and uncultivated. What is the use of having an army?
How to support soldiers without food?
Therefore, he had to accept all these hungry people.
The Shenwei Army cleaned up the battlefield and advanced northward again, displaying an offensive posture like a tiger descending from the mountain. Wuxian immediately withdrew his camp and retreated to Nanyang.
Zhao Yulin advised people to stop at the right time and not to pursue the desperate enemy.
Let General Meng handle the rest.
The brothers are so eager to fight that they are reluctant to give up the piece of fat meat in front of them.
He said that our Shenwei Army has already caused trouble in Jingzhou's territory , so we should give the Jingzhou soldiers some face, otherwise, General Meng will come and ask us to leave his territory.
The brothers burst into laughter, and Yang Xingyun immediately arranged for the deployment of the guard troops, and the entire army began to rest and return to the base.
In this battle, Gao Jin's 5,000 cavalrymen stole the show. When the Jin soldiers were retreating, he suddenly joined the battlefield from the flank and chased the Jin soldiers all the way. That speed made the Jin soldiers wish their parents had given them two less legs.
The navy also reaped a great harvest this time. Because Zhou Ping had a telescope, he spotted the opportunity from a distance and took advantage of the moment when the Jin people were hurriedly boarding the ship to suddenly attack. The densely packed catapults on the rows of large ships continuously fired stone bombs and thunder bombs, allowing Wu Xian's navy to experience what a saturation attack was.
Zhou Ping's catapults fired from the water to the land, and he did not let go of any enemy within reach along the way. By now the Five Immortals should have realized the power of the Shenwei Army's firearms.
Fire Phoenix cooperated with Zhou Ping to find soldiers who could swim from the team and formed a special team to jump off the boat and attack the enemy ships. This was the navy's special operations team, or the navy marines.
As soon as this professional team went up, the Jin soldiers in the water and on the broken ships were no match for them and they quickly started the process of capturing prisoners.
Zhao Yulin held a meeting in Wudang and decided to ask Yu Fuming to immediately identify and resettle the refugees he had gathered, send them to Jinzhou and Yangzhou, and develop large-scale military farming.
Gao Jin said with a smile that another 5,000 war horses were seized this time. The grooms had all looked at them. They were a little thin, but there was nothing wrong with them.
Zhao Yulin said to him: All the brothers here have contributed, so take away 3,000 horses, and distribute the rest to each column.
Gao Jin immediately stood up and bowed to thank everyone.
Lai Chuanfang envied him very much and said that if this happened, Lao Gao would probably form a cavalry group of 10,000 people.
Everyone laughed and congratulated Lao Gao on his well-deserved victory.
Zhao Yulin said that the cavalry column had reached about 10,000 people, so why not set up two corps and then let Yu Fuming organize some logistical support to ensure that 10,000 people could go to the battlefield to kill the enemy?
