Chapter 223 Chapter Five Lures the Enemy Deep

The next day Teng Yi turned back to the defense base guarded by Jing Jun, and arranged for the arrival of the suspect army the day after tomorrow. Xiang Shaolong inspected the camp as usual, and when he climbed up to observe the enemy formation, he saw that the enemy was unreasonably quiet, and wondered, "Have they always been like this?" Cheng Jun respectfully replied: "It's only been so quiet for the past ten days. Before that, troops were sent to disturb day and night, but most of them were small groups of less than 20,000 to 30,000 people." Xiang Shaolong felt that something was wrong, and he said in his heart: "If the enemy reaches the opposite bank, can they go far upstream and cross the river to outflank us?"

Cheng Jundao: "General Mengshang thought about this a long time ago, so he set up a beacon tower along the river. If he sees the enemy, he will immediately give an alarm. What's more, the Deshui River is wide and the water is fast. There are high cliffs on both sides, and there is no bridge. If you have the heart, it will be difficult to do it.” Xiang Shaolong still couldn't let go, and said to Zhou Liang on the other side: "Send Eagle King to the other side to look around, it would be better if he could fly farther away." Zhou Liang happily took the order and went.With the Eagle Queen, Zhou Liang is like a completely new person.

Seeing that Xiang Shaolong didn't believe his own judgment, Cheng Jun became unnatural. Seeing this, Xiang Shaolong smiled and said: "General Cheng hastily put this matter in his heart. The way of war is ever-changing, and it is always inseparable from the four-character motto of "surprise victory". Since Pang Nuan enjoys a high reputation, he is naturally capable. That's why I want to prevent him from surprise soldiers that we didn't expect. If I'm not wrong, Pang Nuan decided to set up a temporary pontoon bridge in the upper reaches where our spies were hard to reach, and used thick cables to fight against the turbulence. The pontoon bridge was put away and moved upstream behind us, and the pontoon bridge was erected in the same way, allowing the army to cross the river quickly. Ha, no wonder they waited for our reinforcements to arrive before attacking!"

Cheng Jun was speechless, and at the same time thought to himself that you are a general, so naturally you can say whatever you like. Xiang Shaolong pointed to a dense forest on the right side of the mountain and said: "If I were Pang Nuan, I would ask people to hide heavy objects such as chariots in the forest first, and cover them with branches and leaves, so that when they attack us, they can hide the distance doubled in length." Cheng Jun said: "I will pay attention to it in the end." Xiang Shaolong laughed dumbly and said, "Has General Cheng ever thought about burning it down?"

Cheng Jun was stunned and said: "The dense forest is close to the enemy's formation, there are pits and battle forts everywhere, how can we get close to set fire?" Xiang Shaolong pointed to Gao Shanxiao on the left: "Climb up that mountain and you can drop the fire seeds, but the timing of this strategy is the most important. If you launch it when the enemy is attacking, it will have the greatest effect." Cheng Jun was startled and said, "The general understands." The two also studied various strategies to block the enemy's army, because at least they have to last for a few days before they can pretend to be defeated, otherwise no one would believe it.

At this time Zhou Liang came back with the Eagle King, and said excitedly: "The general is really good at predicting things, just looking at the range of the Eagle King's flight, he said that at least 100,000 people from the other side have sneaked up to the other side fifteen miles behind us. They are preparing to cross the river to attack." Cheng Jun immediately sweated profusely, and said in shame: "The general will immediately strengthen the defense there." Xiang Shaolong said in shock: "Wait a minute! Isn't this waiting to tell the other party that we know their secret operation?"

Stretching out his hand to touch the Eagle King, he saw its eagle beak immediately turned to make a gesture of pecking, scared Xiang Shaolong quickly withdrew his hand. Zhou Liang said apologetically, "This is because the villain deliberately taught it not to get close to other people. General, please forgive me." Cheng Jun, however, was anxious about the smuggling of the enemy's surprise soldiers, and asked with admiration: "What should the general do? If the enemy sneaks to the rear, cuts off my retreat, and then pinches back and forth, the situation is extremely dangerous."

Xiang Shaolong didn't answer him for now, and said to Zhou Liang: "Brother Zhou is in charge of monitoring the movement of the enemy troops shooting the shore, you can rest during the day, but you have to be more careful after dark." Zhou Liang said happily: "Should the villain go back to the account now and sleep with the Eagle King?" Xiang Shaolong laughed loudly and said, "Exactly!" After Zhou Liang left, Xiang Shaolong said to Cheng Jun: "General Cheng, don't worry. Burning the forest and dealing with the enemy soldiers crossing the river are all on my shoulders. You only need to manage the camp well, and let everyone take turns to rest during the day, so that you will be able to deal with the enemy at night. .”

There was a drumbeat from Qiandi, which came from the enemy's formation.I saw hundreds of chariots rushing out, followed by tens of thousands of infantry, slowly approaching. Xiang Shaolong sighed: "The enemy knows that my reinforcements have arrived, so they started to fatigue the offensive again." Turning to Cheng Jun, he said: "Now General Cheng understands why he only allowed to take turns to rest." Cheng Jun was convinced and said: "The general will be educated." Xiang Shaolong was amused in his heart, he had more than 2,000 years of military knowledge, he could pick one or two tricks from famous ancient battles, and he could apply them smoothly.At the moment, he sneaked out of the camp with the Eighteen Iron Guards and galloped upstream along the coast.

As Cheng Jun said, beacon towers are built every ten miles or so. The height of the tower is about five feet. On the top of the tower is a wooden pole of three feet, and a horizontal board is hung on the top of the pole. Far.A large cage stuffed with firewood is hung on each end of the horizontal board.If you see enemy traces, smoke during the day and fire at night, and display the number of enemies, distance, distance and other information according to the predetermined signal.There are big drums on the stage, which are effective means of long-distance communication. However, from the standpoint of the special forces, Xiang Shaolong, when the moon is dark and the wind is high, it is not impossible to get rid of the sentries of these beacon towers by borrowing driftwood and other things to cross the Yellow River. Zhen, already knew what the enemy was waiting for.

They are waiting for the dark night when the moon is darkened and the sky is covered with clouds.Only in that environment can they carry out a surprise attack across the river. Xiang Shaolong came to the place about twenty miles upstream that Zhou Liang pointed out, and found that the current slowed down and the cliffs were not as steep as other places, and it was most suitable for building a pontoon bridge across the river.And there happened to be a beacon tower there, it can be seen that Meng Ao really put in a lot of effort when setting up these beacon towers. At this time, he knew what to do and rushed back to the camp. The shouts of the enemy and us resounded across the front line, but the Qin soldiers in the camp had long been used to it, and all those who were allowed to rest fell asleep, turning a deaf ear to the deafening drums and the sound of fighting. Xiang Shaolong patrolled around, cheering him up, feeling like the Minister of Defense who went to the front line to serve in the army, everyone cheered everywhere, and the morale increased sharply.In ancient battles, morale can directly determine the success or failure of a war. When he returned to the handsome tent, he saw Zhou Liang was feeding the Eagle King with fresh rabbit meat. It turned out that he couldn't fall asleep no matter what. Xiang Shaolong smiled and said: "Don't worry, one day the weather is clear and the enemy will have difficulty crossing the river, so don't be nervous." Zhou Liang breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That will be much better." Xiang Shaolong went back to the tent and fell asleep, dreaming of Ji Yanran's daughters and Xiang Baoer, and dreaming of Qin Qing who hadn't heard from him for a long time, only when he woke up did he realize the pain of missing him. That night the enemy stepped up their offensive and threw boulders from trebuchets, destroying the first wooden fence of the Qin army and filling up the pit. The Qin army was forced to withdraw to the second line of defense half a mile later to strengthen its strength. Repelled, both sides suffered casualties, of course, the number of casualties of the enemy's main attacker was much greater. ◇◇◇◇◇◇ At dusk the next day, Jing Jun led an elite force of 2,000 cavalry to the camp, and reported to him that everything was ready, that the evacuated wounded and sick soldiers were already on their way to Mincheng, and that the army would be ready overnight. open. Xiang Shaolong and Jing Jun talked about the enemy's crossing of the river, Jing Jun said: "The wind in the morning and the rain in the evening, depending on the weather, it will definitely rain in these two nights, if you want to come, it will be these two nights. You can leave this matter to me, The enemy didn't have a night's work, so they couldn't afford to build such a long and large pontoon bridge." Cheng Jun beside him asked, "What is General Jing going to do?" Jing Jun thought for a while and said: "I will withdraw the sentinels from the beacon tower there. If the enemy is brave enough to cross the river, I will launch a fierce attack when they are unable to advance or retreat in the river. As long as dozens of catapults are deployed there , you can teach them to drink the water of hatred.” Xiang Shaolong praised: "Sure enough, Xiaojun has improved a lot. I will leave this matter to you to take full responsibility. Remember to take Zhou Liang with you." Then he called Jing Shan and told him to go with Wu Guang, Wu Da and Dan The three of Quan, with fire seeds, climbed the mountain and set fire to the forest after dark. After several groups set off separately, Teng Yi's "suspicious soldiers" arrived. I saw lights all over the mountains and plains, most of them were wind lanterns hanging on empty mules, with thousands of people creating a momentum of tens of thousands. It's night, if there are dark clouds covering the sky, but the clouds are dense and there is no rain, it is the most conducive to sneak attack. Xiang Shaolong boarded the high platform in the front line, and saw that the enemy gathered a large number of chariots, horses and infantry, thousands of trebuchets, and was about to attack on a large scale, but there was no movement in the dense forest on the left. If a large number of fresh troops are killed, they will surely break through their own solid defense line. With the sound of war drums, Wei Jun took the lead in attacking, slowly pressing in from the right, and the atmosphere tensed immediately. Then at the shore on the left, the Han soldiers also began to advance towards their own formation, and their momentum immediately increased.After continuous cooperation, the Allied Forces of the Five Nations are indeed impeccable in their coordination. It is no wonder that they are defeated every time they face the Qin army. The drums of war started again, and the enemy rushed out of nearly a thousand chariots and came from the middle, followed by tens of thousands of archers. Since they did not have heavy equipment such as catapults, they came first and overtook the Han army on the two wings. Wei Jun came directly. The length and width of the chariot were about ten feet, and there were two big wheels on both sides. They were pulled by four horses. After crossing the destroyed first line of defense, climb up the slope at the end of the plain. When Xiang Shaolong was about to order a head-on attack, the enemy chariots stopped suddenly, untied their horses, and connected chariots together to form a camp that was two miles long.The strangest thing is that every three feet or so, there is a gap that can allow three people to pass through hand in hand, making it difficult for people to understand the effect. At this time, the opponent's infantry rushed to them, hid behind the chariot formation, bent their bows and set up arrows, preventing the Qin people from coming out of the stronghold to fight back.Since the chariot formation was beyond the range of Shishi, Xiang Shaolong and others had no way to fight back. Cheng Jun sighed: "The general expected it to be true. The enemy's move is to cut off our way forward. If the enemy soldiers can really attack from the rear, we will surely be wiped out." At this time, another convoy came, but it was not an ordinary chariot, but a heavy grain transport vehicle. Judging by its slow speed, eight mules were dragging their hooves with difficulty, and it was obvious that the vehicle was full of stones. s things. At this moment, Xiang Shaolong and Cheng Jun understood that the gap passage left by the earlier car formation was to allow these stone cars to pass through and build another car formation that was closer to their own formation.If the opponent is allowed to build this car base, I am afraid that the second line of defense will be captured tonight.Since the opponent has long been covered by chariots and archers, there is indeed a chance of success if the opponent wants to build another chariot. The sound of killing came from the two wings, and the enemies on the left and right began to launch a strong attack. Xiang Shaolong glanced around, roughly estimated that the enemy has invested at least 200,000 people in the assault tonight, and their strength is more than double that of his own. If the camp is breached, the enemy's army will only be ready to be slaughtered.The five-color handsome flag on the enemy's side was raised high, and Han Chuang was one of them. Cheng Jun and more than a dozen generals turned pale, showing that the enemy's clever tactics and overwhelming force were intimidating. Xiang Shaolong counted the time and gave an order: "Call together a group of shield soldiers and archers of ten thousand people, prepare catapults, and when the dense forest on the left is on fire, immediately go out to attack and destroy the enemy's chariot formation." Someone took orders at the moment. There was another sound of killing, and a group of nearly a thousand infantrymen rushed out from behind the chariot formation and fired at them with rockets.Immediately, the Qin army's camp fired all arrows and stones to resist the enemy.The situation was extremely tragic, the originally dark sky was illuminated blood red by the torch. It was the first time for Xiang Shaolong to experience a large-scale offensive and defensive battle in ancient times, his blood boiled with excitement, and his heart was filled with sadness, the feeling couldn't be described in detail. When more than a hundred enemy stone transport vehicles and catapults passed through the vehicle formation and approached, several fires suddenly started in the dense forest on the right and spread rapidly.As Xiang Shaolong expected, countless ambush soldiers rushed out of the forest in panic, and most of them were the most mobile cavalry.Cheng Jun's spirits were lifted, and his confidence in Xiang Shaolong increased sharply, while the enemy panicked. The drums of the Qin army sounded, the gate of the village was opened wide, and the shield soldiers were divided into three groups, forming an array in front and archers in the rear. Before the enemy's chariot formation was formed, they launched a counterattack.At the same time, two teams of cavalry with 10,000 people rushed out from the left and right to charge the enemy in order to contain the enemy's army on both wings. Tens of thousands of people threw themselves into the fierce battle, killing corpses all over the field and blood flowing like rivers. Xiang Shaolong didn't know the bravery and elite of the Qin army until now, as soon as he made contact, he immediately dispersed the enemy's vanguard, killing the enemy to abandon the car and flee.The most fatal thing for the enemy is that their stone transporters and catapults became their own barriers, enabling the archers to approach the opponent's chariot formation and make long-range attacks on the unsteady enemy. The drums of war are rising again. At this time, the archers of the Qin army swarmed out to meet their own cavalry and retreat back to the camp, leaving behind scattered stone chariots and chariots that were still burning, disintegrating the first wave of the enemy's offensive. Xiang Shaolong knew that the other party would not give up in order to cooperate with the raiding army that came across the river, and many of the wooden fences and wooden villages on the front line of his own side were destroyed by large rocks or burned by rockets, so he ordered the main force to be withdrawn to the rear third line of defense. At this time, the dense forest on the right was completely engulfed in raging flames, lighting up the entire battlefield as red as fire. After the enemy retreated, the 50,000 to 60,000 enemy troops deployed in the midfield, under the cover of arrow-blocking carts, mast carts, and impact carts, attacked from the left, right, and middle three routes, launching a second wave of attack. The offensive and defensive battles were going on in this thrilling situation.Wounded soldiers were constantly being transported away from the camp, and when the second line of defense was about to fall, it was already daylight and the enemy was exhausted, so they had to retreat. Jing Shan and others returned safely at this time, which made Xiang Shaolong let go of a big stone in his heart.Then came the good news from the rear. When the enemy built a pontoon bridge to cross the river, Jing Jun launched a fierce attack, destroyed the pontoon bridge, and caused the enemy to lose nearly ten thousand people. Qin Jun's morale was immediately boosted when he heard the news. But Xiang Shaolong knew in his heart that the defeat was over, he couldn't even survive the night, so he ordered to withdraw in batches, but he didn't forget to bluff, to prevent the enemy from seeing his intentions. Just after breakfast, the enemy launched an offensive again, obviously not yet aware that the soldiers crossing the river suffered a great loss.After holding on until dusk, the second line of defense was finally breached, and the time for a full retreat finally came. Xiang Shaolong was the last group to leave, and the entire camp was engulfed in flames, which spread to nearby hills, making it difficult for the enemy to pursue.Only in this kind of treacherous mountainous area can this method be used to stop the pursuers. Sure enough, the joint vertical army fell into the trap and chased after them. Xiang Shaolong held back the combined vertical army for five days at the second line of strongholds guarding the passage to the west. He waited for the army to retreat to a safe area before burning the camp and fleeing. . After that several times of battles, they all pretended to be defeated, and when they returned to Mincheng, Xiang Shaolong knew that he had the chance to win.