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Liuyang is named after its location north of Liushui River.
In my country, mountains and rivers generally run from east to west, alternating between mountains and water. The south of the mountain and the north of the water are yang, and the opposite is yin. For example, Hanyang, Liuyang, Jiangyin, and Xiangyin are all named after the yin and yang of water.
It was about 100 miles from Changsha to Liuyang, and Qin Mu's 20,000 troops hurried and reached Liuyang in a day and a half. The scout camp at Huanglian Mountain sent back intelligence about Zhang Xianzhong's army.
"Report, sir, the vanguard led by Zhang Dingguo has arrived at Jingang Town, and it is still more than half a day's journey away."
"Report, sir, we have found out that Zhang Dingguo's vanguard army has a total of 5,000 troops, all of whom are the elite selected by the rebels, of which 2,000 were brought by Zhang Xianzhong from Luzhou last year."
“Report… … … … … .”
Qin Mu was still very satisfied with the intelligence sent back by the scout camp in Huanglian Mountain. Although they failed to find out whether Zhang Dingguo was wearing underwear, it was no longer important.
"You've all heard of Tian Ji's horse racing, right?" Qin Mu said slowly. The more tense the moment was, the more confident he had to be in his words and deeds as the commander-in-chief, otherwise his 20,000 new recruits would be in chaos.
Besides, it was already noon, and Zhang Dingguo said that it would take more than half a day to travel. In fact, even if they hurried after dark, they couldn't travel too fast, and they would arrive in the morning. How could Qin Mu lose his composure when the enemy hadn't arrived yet
Zhuge Min understood the meaning of the song and replied with a smile: "Zhang Xianzhong sent all his elite troops as the vanguard, which is the upper four. Your Excellency's intention is to set up multiple lines of defense, slowly exhaust the opponent's upper four with the lower four, and finally defeat them with the upper four in one fell swoop..."
"Hahaha, the one who understands me best is Mr. Zhuge!"
Everyone felt good, except for Hong Niangzi who was standing next to them. Seeing Qin Mu and Zhuge Min being so arrogant, she couldn't help but turn her head away and curl her lips.
"Liu Meng, let's deploy the defenses accordingly. There are five lines of defense, and the last one is the Liuyang River. Do you understand?"
"I will follow your orders, sir." Liu Meng responded loudly and hurriedly went to deploy the defenses. Qin Mu was calm in order to stabilize the morale of the troops. He could not be hesitant when doing things, otherwise he would be seeking death.
As soon as Liu Meng went to deploy the defense, Qin Mu said to his attendants, "You three gentlemen don't have to cross the river. Let's go into the city and rest for a while, Miss Hong, Miss Hong..."
"My last name is Lan!"
"Okay, Miss Lan, how about following me to patrol the mountain? I have something to ask of you later. Among these 20,000 men, only you have the best voice." After Qin Mu finished speaking, he rode his horse ahead.
Hong Niangzi was about to ignore him, but his words aroused her curiosity. She couldn't figure out what the quality of her voice had to do with his "patrolling the mountain". Well, this guy has always been cunning, and it would be hard to rest if she didn't figure it out. She had no choice but to let him ride his horse across the floating bridge.
At noon on the second day, which was about nine o'clock in the morning, Zhang Dingguo's 5,000 vanguards arrived in front of the first line of defense of the Qin army. His 5,000 men were all cavalry, and the rumbling of their iron hooves hitting the ground was deafening and the momentum was extremely shocking.
This place is twelve miles away from Liuyang River. The data is very accurate. Qin Mu personally measured it with a horse's hoof when he patrolled the mountain yesterday.
As for why Qin Mu chose to set up the first line of defense at 12 miles, it is said that there is a lot of tricks in it. This is the defense position selected by Lord Qin according to the Nine Palaces and Eight Diagrams formation. At least the 20,000 recruits believe this, otherwise the first line of defense would definitely not be chosen here, because this place is relatively open and not conducive to defense.
Zhang Dingguo was a veteran of many battles. He couldn't help but frown when he saw the thousands of soldiers on the opposite side. It wasn't that the Qin army's soldiers were so tough. On the contrary, the more than a thousand people were of different heights, weights, and skinnies, and their formation was not strict. Could it be that Qin Mu wanted to stop him from going north with these soldiers? Impossible, there must be another mystery, which made Zhang Dingguo cautious instead.
Well, the weapons in front of the Qin army should not be underestimated. More than twenty Hundred Tigers Arrow Racks were lined up on the chariots, like the open mouths of devils. There were also many chariots loaded with unknown things, forming a wall in front of the Qin army, which could effectively resist the frontal impact of the cavalry.
There were several tiger crouching cannons between the car walls. If they were all equipped with stone shatters and iron nails, a head-on attack would also cause great casualties. In addition, the black "Qin" flag fluttering in the wind always made Zhang Dingguo feel mysterious and cold.
"Zhang Xing, Huang Jing, each of you will lead 500 men to encircle the enemy from both wings."
"I will obey your order."
At Zhang Dingguo's command, two groups of cavalry rushed out. These were the veterans left over when Zhang Xianzhong retreated from Luzhou last year. It could be said that each of them had survived hundreds of battles and were extremely tough. The sight of their iron hooves like rain and the flying dust and their indomitable momentum was daunting. Although they were still more than a mile away, some soldiers in the Qin army had already retreated in small steps in fear.
"Whoever retreats will be beheaded! Whoever retreats will be beheaded!" Liu Meng, holding a mace in his hand, rode his horse back and forth in front of the formation and shouted, "Bang!" A retreating soldier was hit on the head by his mace, his head shattered and his brains splattered. The astonishing killing power finally calmed down more than a thousand recruits.
The cavalry of Zhang Xing and Huang Jing of the Dashi Army flew like a dark cloud, encircling from both wings. However, just after approaching a mile, many of the horses in the front suddenly lost their feet and fell to the ground, making a series of huge rumbling noises. The fallen horses whinnied and wailed, rolling over and over.
Zhang Xing and Huang Jing both led the charge, but they were not spared. They and their horses rolled several feet away, with multiple fractures and lung injuries. They were covered in blood and it was obvious that they were not going to survive.
The cavalrymen behind only then discovered that the ground was densely covered with many bowl-sized holes, only half a foot deep, but enough for the horses' hooves to sink into. These small holes were roughly covered with dry grass and leaves, and could not be seen clearly from a distance. This was why they all stumbled.
The rebels trapped in the numerous small holes could no longer run wildly. At this time, on the slopes on both sides, the drums of war were beating, shaking the earth. Two ambush troops, each with more than a thousand men, threw off the leaves and grass covering their bodies, shouted and rushed out, forming a formation of 200 men to a row. They fired three-barreled guns, thunder guns, whatever guns they were, and after one row finished shooting, another row rushed up and fired in unison. Bang, bang, bang, the sound continued, and the air was filled with smoke. After all kinds of guns had been fired, it was the turn of bows and arrows.
A hail of arrows rose into the sky, and the rebels trapped in the pits were shot and shot, and fell off their horses. In addition, their main general was dead, and both wings left behind hundreds of corpses. They were forced to flee back. The Qin army cheered and their morale was high.
"Shangwu, lead 500 men to attack from the front. We must break through the enemy's defense line, otherwise I will kill you!"
Without waiting for the troops on both wings to retreat, Zhang Dingguo gave another order, and the central army rushed out another 500 cavalrymen, each of them leaning on their horses' backs and charging straight at the Qin army. The sound of their hooves was like thunder, their roars were like waves, and they charged forward without hesitation.
"Ignite!" Liu Meng waved a giant mace and roared.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Five or six tiger squat cannons roared in unison, and a bunch of broken stones and iron nails spurted out with tongues of fire, roaring endlessly. The five hundred warriors fell to the ground one after another, with crashing sounds and screams.
The Tiger Crouching Cannon roared, and soon after that, a series of Hundred Tigers Galloping Arrows were launched. As the name suggests, the Hundred Tigers Galloping Arrows could fire hundreds or even hundreds of rockets at a time. More than twenty Hundred Tigers Galloping Arrows were fired at the same time, and the arrows filled the sky, flying in all directions, bringing a new round of heavy casualties to the martial cavalry. At least nearly a hundred horses that rushed forward fell to the ground with a bang, screaming like waves.
After all the firearms had been fired, it was the turn of the bows and arrows. Although Shangwu's troops suffered heavy losses, they still rushed to the front of the chariot wall under the rain of arrows. The two sides fought fiercely across the chariot wall. When Zhang Dingguo saw that Shangwu's troops had rushed to the bottom of the chariot wall, he no longer hesitated. With a command, thousands of troops pressed forward. The sound of their hooves shook the earth and mountains. They were determined to defeat the more than 1,000 Qin troops in front of them in one fell swoop.
"Retreat!" Seeing all the rebels rushing up, Liu Meng immediately ordered a retreat, and more than a thousand people retreated and fled to the rear.
"Move the wall of cars away, quickly!" Shangwu shouted, and his rebels jumped off their horses one after another. But when they tried to push the cars, they found that each car was locked with iron chains and could not be pushed open for a while.
As if the time had been calculated, when the several thousand troops behind Zhang Dingguo arrived, the rebels screamed, "Retreat quickly, retreat quickly, there is a fuse smoking on the car..."
Boom! Boom! Boom! One by one, balls of fire burst out from the large trucks covered with debris. The violent explosion blew the large trucks into pieces. The rebels crowded in front of the wall of cars were not spared. They were blown to pieces. The dead and wounded were everywhere. The billowing smoke could not cover up the thick blood, and there were also broken limbs flying in the air... ... ... ... .
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ps: Do you have any recommendation votes? Please recommend, please recommend!
.(To be continued..)
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