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Most of Zhang Xianzhong's 100,000-strong army were from Hunan, and many of them were good at swimming. After a selection, more than 40,000 people were selected. Zhang Xianzhong wished that all the 100,000-strong army could swim, so he would never think it was too much.
He divided these 40,000 people into ten groups, each led by a general, and had them swim across the river at ten different locations after nightfall. After all, the Liuyang River cannot be compared with the Yangtze River and other large rivers. Some sections of the river are only ten feet wide. Although the current is quite fast, it is not difficult for anyone who knows how to swim to cross the river with the help of some wood or something like that.
The actions of tens of thousands of people could not be concealed, not to mention that Liuyang River was Qin Mu's last line of defense, so he would naturally send people to patrol at night. Zhang Xianzhong did not expect to be able to hide it from Qin Mu, because he just wanted to have more people. Qin Mu could block one place, but not everywhere.
That night, the Liuyang River was destined to become a river of blood. Qin Mu also kept dividing his troops to block the attack on the north bank. In the darkness, countless Dashi soldiers swam across the river like crucian carp crossing the river. The surface of the river was boiling. The Qin army kept shooting arrows on the north bank. The rain of arrows covered the surface of the river. There were also fireboats loaded with sulfur, explosives and other things floating down the river. The surface of the river was bright. Bursts of explosions brought up columns of water. The Dashi soldiers in the water could only be slaughtered without the power to fight back. Countless casualties occurred. The river water was dyed red with blood, and the corpses almost blocked the river.
But Zhang Xianzhong's human wave tactics were ultimately successful. After suffering heavy casualties of 20,000 to 30,000 men, a group of horses led by Zhang Dingguo successfully crossed the Liuyang River 20 miles downstream.
After crossing the river, Li Dingguo ordered his men to light torches, so that four or five thousand men looked like tens of thousands of people, and they launched an attack on the Qin army from the flank.
In the darkness of night, the Qin army could not tell how many enemy troops had crossed the river, and the morale of the army began to waver. Qin Mu saw that the 20,000 soldiers under his command were all rookies. If chaos broke out, the consequences would be disastrous, so he ordered a retreat to the north without waiting for Zhang Dingguo to attack.
Zhang Dingguo made a show of chasing for a while, but then he didn't bother to chase any further. He sent troops to guard the north while leading people to cut down trees and build a pontoon bridge.
After the pontoon bridge was built, Zhang Xianzhong was afraid that the night would be long and full of troubles, so he immediately ordered the army remaining on the south bank to cross the river overnight.
However, the nightmare did not leave the Dashi Army. It took more than an hour for half of the troops to cross the river safely. It was quiet all around. Just when everyone thought that the Qin Army had given up blocking them, another Qin Army suddenly rushed out from the darkness upstream. At the same time, the surrounding mountains and fields sounded with drums and gongs, shaking the earth. It was unknown how many ambushes there were. The Dashi Army was so frightened that they looked around in panic, and saw enemies everywhere.
Even Zhang Dingguo was a little confused. Qin Mu only had 20,000 troops. He sent people to chase Qin Mu and retreat to the north. He also sent people to keep an eye on him. How could there be an ambush? How could this be possible
The troops that came out of the darkness were extremely powerful. A brave general in the front wielded a giant mace, smashing a head with every swing, killing the Dashi soldiers who blocked their way, and no one dared to go against him. The soldiers behind him rushed forward while throwing bombs, some large and some small. They were crudely made, but when they exploded, flames rushed up, broken iron flew, and swept down a large number of Dashi soldiers.
This Qin army suddenly rushed out from the darkness, killing the panicked Dashi Army so hard that they cried for their parents. They killed their way to the pontoon bridge like cutting through the waves, destroyed it again, and separated the more than 100,000 Dashi Army from both sides of the river.
At this time, Zhang Xianzhong came to his senses, because he could only hear the roar of war drums in the surrounding mountains and fields, but no ambush troops were seen. Zhang Xianzhong was finally sure that there were no ambush troops around him, and they were just beating the war drums randomly to disrupt his army's morale. He already had 50,000 to 60,000 people crossing the river, but a Qin army of 500 to 600 people took advantage of the chaos and killed them at the pontoon bridge and destroyed it. This was simply a great humiliation.
Zhang Xianzhong was preparing to dispatch troops to besiege the five or six hundred Qin troops that had charged in. However, an accident happened again. Although there were no ambushes in the surrounding mountains and fields, dozens of fires broke out at this time. Judging from the alarming speed of the fires, it was clear that firewood had been piled up on the mountain to ignite the fire, and even kerosene was sprinkled on the firewood. Once dozens of fires were ignited, the fire immediately soared into the sky and spread rapidly, igniting the grass and trees on the mountain... ... ... .
The Dashi Army was very familiar with this scene. They had just encountered it on the south bank yesterday. They had to leave immediately, otherwise they would be burned to death or suffocated to death by the billowing smoke.
Zhang Xianzhong had no time to encircle and suppress Liu Meng's 500 troops. To be honest, although Liu Meng's 500 troops were few in number, they were extremely elite. Although the Dashi Army had a large number of troops, it was difficult to command them in the dark and they were in chaos. It was not easy to suppress these 500 elite Qin troops.
Moreover, when the wildfire broke out, thick smoke was blown by the wind, almost suffocating people. Tens of thousands of Dashi troops rushed to the north to escape, and no one was willing to stay and encircle and suppress Liu Meng.
Zhang Xianzhong couldn't help but feel a little desperate. It was a dark night and once the army of tens of thousands became chaotic, it would be like a pile of loose sand. Even though he was the King of the Great West, he might be trampled to death by his own feet without knowing it. What was the point of commanding the army at this time
An unbelievable scene appeared. Tens of thousands of Dashi troops were chased and killed by hundreds of Qin troops all the way, and no one dared to turn back and fight.
Unfortunately, it was more like Liu Meng and his men were fleeing after the Dashi Army rather than chasing them. They were also human beings, and although they had prepared and covered their mouths and noses with wet cloths, they were still smoked to the point of having red and swollen eyes and coughing continuously.
Qin Mu had previously retreated to Jiangluo Mountain in one breath. Jiangluo Mountain was blocking the strategic pass leading from Liuyang to Changsha. He was taking a gamble this time. If Liu Meng and his men failed and allowed the Dashi Army to move north in an organized manner, he would defend Jiangluo Mountain to the death and prevent Zhang Xianzhong from going west to Changsha.
Now that he had received the news that Zhang Xianzhong's army had been routed, he had to wait until the army had passed Jiangluo Mountain before he could follow and kill them. As soon as the 20,000 new recruits rushed out in the dark, they were in chaos, so chaotic that even the sergeant couldn't find his own soldiers.
Qin Mu had not asked them to participate in the attack on the ferry before, firstly to paralyze Zhang Dingguo and make him think that his troops had all retreated to Jiangluo Mountain, thus creating an opportunity for Liu Meng and his men to launch a surprise attack; more importantly, these 20,000 new recruits had only been mobilized for ten days or so, and it was difficult to command them during the day. If they joined the melee at night, it would be hard for even the gods to predict what would happen. If they went, it would be very likely that they would fail more than they could accomplish.
Now the facts have confirmed Qin Mu's worries. As soon as the 20,000 troops descended from Xialuo Mountain, they immediately fell into chaos. Not to mention that the soldiers couldn't find their generals and the generals couldn't find their soldiers, some of them couldn't even tell the direction, and many of them rushed back to the south.
Fortunately, Zhang Xianzhong's troops were even more chaotic, and the two sides were in chaos, chasing each other endlessly in the dark. They chased for twenty miles that night. At dawn, Qin Mu slowly gathered his troops and cleaned up the battlefield. It was not until noon that he had gathered 14,000 people, but 6,000 of them had escaped.
Such a result was really laughable. Zhang Xianzhong's army of tens of thousands collapsed. The Qin army chased them from behind and actually lost 6,000 people. This can only be described as "miraculous".
Fortunately, Zhang Xianzhong was in a worse situation. After daybreak, he could only gather 20,000 people. Most of them had lost their weapons and armor. They were as miserable as dogs that had lost their homes. The 20,000 people did not dare to stop for a moment and continued to flee northward.
As for the tens of thousands of Dashi troops that were intercepted on the south bank of the Liuyang River, they collapsed without a fight. About 10,000 of them fled for their lives at night, and the remaining 30,000 or so, led by a rebel general named Liu Yongzhi, surrendered to Qin Mu in an organized manner.
There was nothing they could do about it. Their food and grass were almost gone. If so many people fled on their own, more than half of them would starve to death. It would be better for them to surrender to Qin Mu. Including the captives captured on the north bank, Qin Mu captured nearly 60,000 Daxi troops in this battle, which was an unprecedented victory.
But Qin Mu was not happy, because apart from a large number of weapons and armor, the rest of the spoils were pitifully small. That would have been fine, but he also had to immediately take care of the food and drink for 60,000 people.
Don't think that you don't need to feed the other party because they are prisoners. When people are hungry, they can do anything. There are 60,000 people here. How many people does Qin Mu have? If 60,000 prisoners start to make trouble, it's hard to say who will live and who will die.
"Damn it, we've suffered a huge loss this time. We only seized a bunch of scrap metal, but we still have to manage the food rations of 60,000 people. Zhang Xianzhong didn't lose the battle at all, he's clearly trying to get rid of the burden..." In the county government office of Liuyang City, Qin Mu cursed while ordering the troops to withdraw back to Changsha.
Hong Niangzi was playing with the telescope that she had worked so hard to obtain. After hearing what he said, she rolled her eyes and said, "If you don't want these 60,000 prisoners, just give them to me."
"Give it to you. Do you think you can support them? Oh, you plan to take them to rob houses, right? I forgot that you were originally in this line of work."
"So what if I just do this? I am a thief, a thief. Why did you call me here if you look down on me?" Hong Niangzi was furious.
"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding. I didn't say it's bad to do this. In fact, I also want to do it. It's just that I'm hypocritical and can't pull myself together to do it. Don't disbelieve me. If you have a chance to see my Qiao'er in the future, you will understand that I am not talking nonsense. My Qiao'er is only twelve or thirteen years old... Well, in fact, I don't know how old she is. Anyway, this little girl shouted the slogans of robbery so smoothly, such as low technical content, resistance must be cautious, one person becomes a bandit, the whole family is honored. There are also slogans specifically used to rob the wives of the bandits: If you want to hang yourself, you will be given the rope, and if you want to drink medicine, you will not be given the bottle. Listen, I am not talking nonsense, so, my lady, don't be angry, don't be angry, if you get pregnant, it will be... ... Ah, it's not good..."
Amid Qin Mu's teasing, Hong Niangzi was originally listening with great interest, thinking his slogan was very fresh, but after hearing the latter part, she could not help but whip him.
Qin Mu finally realized that something was wrong. Now all the bad luck turned into bad luck...
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ps: Brothers, please support me with monthly tickets! The obscene poems with Zhang Xianzhong have come to an end for the time being. Next, there will be a complicated mess. People who come to pick peaches, build relationships, and have ulterior motives will appear one by one, including Lü Daqi, He Tengjiao, Han Zanzhou, Zuo Liangyu, etc., and even Chongzhen who is far away in Beijing... ... ... ... There is also a problem about Yang Tinglin that I have not dared to write about for so long. Alas, it is not easy to write about such a situation. If you are not careful, you will end up with a dog instead of a tiger. Please support me with firepower and encourage me. (To be continued...)
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