Chapter 143 Retaking Zhenwu Mountain
To the north, on the mountain road leading from Hangu Pass to Lingbao, a group of people were marching in the dark.
Gu Shan ordered his First Battalion to lead the way and the Second Battalion to cover the rear, with Liu Qiangguang's militia protecting them in the middle. Before they left their nest, the guard of the Second Battalion came back to report that the Mongolian army had caught up with them.
The team quickened its march and plunged into the dense forest.
Liu Qiguang's men and the Shenwei Army's scouts led the way, taking the small path, and indeed they did not encounter any enemies. Just as they were about to leave the valley and Lingbao, they heard that there was an ambush ahead. Gu Shan was shocked.
Liu Qiguang took the initiative to go with him to investigate. The investigator caught a spy and asked him about it. He found out that there was another group of militia hiding here. There were more than a thousand people, and they were brought out by Liu Qiguang.
Together, they sent their tongues to meet the leader and explained the policies of the Shenwei Army. Then this group of militia voluntarily joined the Shenwei Army and headed south together.
As the sky brightened in the east, the team finally bypassed Lingbao and took the official road straight to Lu's County.
Gu Shan and the generals looked at the long team and laughed. They didn't expect that they could break out with so many people.
Hubili was depressed, so he rested in Luoyang for a day and dispatched troops to suppress the dying remnants of the Song army. However, when he arrived at Hangu Pass, they were nowhere to be found. Haha, the cooked duck flew away?
The old soldier touched the scattered pots and stoves on the ground and said they were still hot, so he immediately ordered a pursuit.
But where to chase? He immediately divided the men into three groups and chased along the official road, the small path and the hunter's path that might be crossed.
The official road was easy to travel on, and his cavalry pursued all the way to Lingbao County without seeing a single enemy. He knew that the Song army must have escaped through a small path.
They immediately decided to set out early the next morning to block the Song army in Lu's County, because that was the only way for the Song army to escape back to Shangnan.
The other two Mongolian armies were not as fast as the Song army in their marching speed. One reason was that they were unfamiliar with the terrain and moved slowly. Also, it was a dark and windy night and they did not want to die in vain.
By noon, Gu Shan and his men had arrived at Zhuguan, which is located between Lingbao and Lu's County. Although it is called a pass, it is just a dangerous place with only less than a hundred Jin soldiers stationed there to check people passing by.
After a large group of people approached and easily defeated the enemy, Liu Qiangguang suggested taking a rest. After all, his men were all farmers who had not received rigorous training. They were exhausted from the continuous running and had fallen behind.
Moreover, the militia said that there were no Mongolian troops stationed in Lu's County. Even if there were, they were just a bunch of "ragtag" troops, just like the Jin army that they had just defeated.
Zhao Yulin had a nightmare as soon as he fell asleep. He dreamed that his brothers at Hangu Pass were shouting in his ears, "Young Master, save us." The heart-wrenching cries frightened him so much that he broke out in sweat.
Li Chuan heard the noise outside: "Young Master, Young Master is calling." He sat up and steady himself for a long time, then took a shower, changed clothes and went back to sleep.
These militia soldiers, holding the Shenwei Army's mecha crossbows, felt that they were weapons ahead of their time, enough to crush all enemies, and their courage increased tenfold.
Yes, everyone was indeed tired after running for a whole night and a half. Gu Shan asked everyone to be on guard from a distance and specifically instructed to set up a sniper position in the direction of Lingbao. Everyone sat down to rest and cook.
However, they had no idea that danger was approaching them.
Soon after the smoke from the cooking stove rose, the Mongolian troops chasing from the direction of Lingbao County spotted them from afar. These soldiers were unfamiliar with the road at night and walked slowly for fear of death, but they did not dare to be lazy in the broad daylight and quickly ran to catch up.
Just as some soldiers were drinking porridge from their bowls, the soldier in charge of rear guard gave a signal and immediately entered the sniper position. Gu Shan cursed, "We can't even eat in peace," and led his brothers to provide support.
Just as they were holding off the enemy in the north, a warning came from the direction of Lu's County ahead, and Mongolian cavalry rushed over.
Where did the Mongolian cavalry come from?
Liu Qiangguang was shocked and said in panic that there were definitely no Northern Barbarian cavalry in Lu's County in the past.
The enemy situation changed rapidly, and this could not be blamed on Liu Qiangguang. Gu Shan called on the sniper cavalry to fire away the remaining explosive packs.
The brothers asked, the iron barrel cannon is deafening, what if the explosion attracts enemies around, should we just fight them off with swords?
Gu Shan looked at the groups of cavalry rushing over. The positions in front were already in disarray. He said, "No matter what, you have to quickly load up the artillery, otherwise you won't be able to hold on."
He only had a guard post in the direction of Lushi County, but no sniper line. Those were the Mongolian cavalry, and they arrived in the blink of an eye. The brothers fought hastily on the spot, and some of them were beheaded by the Mongolian soldiers who rushed in front of them before they could draw their bows and shoot arrows.
The battle was extremely brutal. The artillery aimed at the enemy group and fired explosive packs in anger. Among the enemy group were their own brothers.
After one cannon shot, there were continuous cannon shots, which scared all the birds and beasts on the mountain and made them flee in all directions. The Shenwei Army and the militia were divided into two ends and faced the enemy shoulder to shoulder. The battlefield soon became stalemate and entered a stalemate.
Because the valley was so narrow, it was impossible for both sides to mobilize troops on a large scale. As soon as the Shenwei Army's iron barrel cannon came out, it immediately stabilized the position.
But Gu Shan's brothers were running out of weapons. First of all, they had no supply of arrows along the way, so they had already started collecting ordinary bows and arrows, not to mention that they had no hand-melon mines or sweet potato mines.
The second is the explosive packs, but there are only dozens of them. The iron barrel cannon can only be used to provide support shooting in critical situations.
At this time, the Mongolian cavalry was still charging desperately. Seeing that the position was about to be defeated, Gu Shan shouted: "Brothers, come on. We must die in the front."
Suddenly, the charge of the Shenwei Army was sounded behind the Mongolian cavalry. The sound of horse hooves like frying beans was getting closer and closer. The cavalry of the Shenwei Army was arriving.
The loud sound of the charge horn resounded through the valley, giving a shot of confidence to the Song army surrounded in the mountains. Each of them fought bravely like a little tiger, and first drove the enemy chasing from the direction of Lingbao back.
Soon, the Mongolian cavalry was annihilated by being attacked from both sides.
Gu Shan met Wang Gui, the deputy captain of the Second Cavalry Column who led the team.
Wang Gui followed Cao You and learned that there was another team at Hangu Pass. Only his cavalry could catch up with the rescue. After escorting Lao Cao and his team to Luanchuan Town, he immediately replenished supplies and led the troops to set off. He rushed to Lushi County last night, and the infantry of the Second Column that had set out earlier had actually captured Lushi County.
Wang Gui led his men inside to rest and sent out scouts to investigate.
In the morning, just as the team had packed up and were preparing to search along the official road towards Lingbao County, a scout came back in a hurry to report that he had discovered about two thousand Mongolian cavalrymen were heading towards the county.
Wang Gui thought that the enemy was coming to attack the city, but the brothers from the Second Column said that they had sneaked into the city without telling anyone and had not let any enemy go, so the northern barbarians might not know about this.
After discussing it, the two sides decided to launch a surprise attack on the Mongolian army and then see the situation.
When the Mongolian cavalry marched to the city, the Song army suddenly opened fire with a rain of arrows and cannonballs . The Mongolian cavalry was stunned and turned around and ran away.
Wang Gui immediately led the cavalry to attack. After a pursuit and strangulation, he was worried that the Mongolian army was scheming, so he arranged a small team to follow and then led the large group of troops to leave the battlefield.
Just as he returned to the foot of the city, he suddenly heard the deafening sound of explosive packs exploding in front of him. He was very familiar with it. It was the explosive packs fired by the iron barrel cannon. The brothers said that it was our people fighting, so they immediately turned their horses' heads and rushed back.
Wang Gui was very happy. He took over both teams and shouted to Gu Shan to lead the brothers in front while their cavalry would cover their retreat.
Gu Shan's heavy heart felt much lighter, and he called out to his brothers to quickly clean up the battlefield and retreat.
Zhao Yulin didn't know that Gu Shan's Hangu sniper team had already broken through the danger. He didn't sleep well last night, so he got up and followed Lao Lu to Xinshi Town, where they were going to release a smoke bomb for the Dali Kingdom.
In the afternoon, they arrived at Xinshi Town, and all the civil and military officials of the town went to the dock to welcome them. This was a grand ceremony that Zhao Yulin intentionally wanted to make known to the spies of Dali that he, Zhao Yulin, had arrived in Xinshi Town.
He met with the local chieftain, held meetings with officials, and then accompanied his master Jueming to visit Zhenwu Mountain, where they stayed for two days and then went upstream to Yongshan Village. He arrived at the border of Dali to inspect the defense and had a barbecue party with the people.
Zhao Yulin visited Yongshan Village for two days with great fanfare, and then his team marched towards Shimen Village in a mighty manner, which was equivalent to traveling along the border of Dali Kingdom.
In fact, Zhao Yulin did not follow the team to Shimen, but quietly stayed in Yongshan. Under the cover of night, he boarded the ship back to Yibin. The battle at Renhuai Fort was about to begin, and time waited for no one.
When the ship arrived at Xinshi for replenishment , Lao Lu came up and blamed him for taking too risk. The water in Jinsha is fast-flowing, and there are deep canyons and many reefs. Was he really risking his life?
Zhao Yulin chuckled, took the hot tea handed to him by Li Chuan, took a sip and said : His empty city plan has been set up, and the rest will be handed over to Lao Lu, let's see his performance.
Lao Lu said there was nothing to be afraid of, as there were still at least 5,000 regular soldiers and 10,000 palace soldiers here. He then went to guard Yongshan Village, and left the Xinshi Town to Master Jueming.
Zhao Yulin didn't care how they divided the work, and told them to be careful.
Lao Lu nodded and said that he had good news to tell him. The team guarding Hangu Pass had been found and picked up. They were the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 3rd Column, and they had brought back more than 3,000 militiamen.
Zhao Yulin felt relieved and in a good mood. He ordered all the generals above the rank of captain to come to Yibin for recuperation, and he would reward this team handsomely.
Lao Lu said with a smile that according to military regulations, no one should be left behind. After that, he happily got off the boat.
Zhao Yulin ordered to go straight to Luzhou.
The official ship continued to drift downstream, and he went to the cabin to rest.
In the Dali Palace, the young emperor had already received the news that Zhao Yulin was inspecting the border village, and was summoning important officials to discuss the matter.
In the battle five years ago, the Shenwei Army captured Zhenwu Mountain, their northeastern gateway, and established a stable rear base. This made the Dali court feel resentful.
At that time, the young emperor was facing internal and external troubles. He used the momentum of the Shenwei Army to successfully suppress the power of the Gao and Chai families. However, the Dali Kingdom had lost the northern gate of Zhenwu Mountain after all. Even if it was only symbolic, it was engraved with the Dali Kingdom, and as an emperor he must have been thinking about it.
