***
The summer rain came without warning. It started raining outside the camp again. It was just the You hour (17:00), but because of the rain, it felt like dusk.
Hearing the sound of raindrops hitting the roof of the tent, Ma Yongzhen couldn't help but frown. His several thousand troops were coming from Nanshe Mountain and were supposed to arrive tomorrow evening. If the rain lasted longer and the road became muddy, it would be difficult for the several thousand troops to arrive on time.
According to the current situation, if the war is delayed for one more day, Qin Mu will have one more day to train his troops, which will be increasingly disadvantageous to him. Now the four gates of Ganzhou City are closed, and there are people patrolling the city day and night. The spies originally sent into the city find it difficult to pass on the news, and Ma Yongzhen has no way of knowing if there are any changes in the situation in the city. This makes his worries even heavier.
Whether or not he could capture Ganzhou was of great significance to him. If he captured Ganzhou, the entire southern part of Jiangxi would fall into his hands, and his troops would have a qualitative leap.
Geographically, Ganzhou was even more advantageous than Wuchang, where Zhang Xianzhong was entrenched, because before Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were destroyed, the imperial court would never be able to dispatch a large army to suppress southern Jiangxi. He would have ample time to develop and become a force that could compete for supremacy in the world.
If he couldn't take Ganzhou, he would have to retreat back to the mountains, still just a group of bandits, and have to be on guard against Qin Mu's attack at any time. There was a world of difference between the two.
Ma Yongzhen frowned, and involuntarily recalled the conversation he had with Qin Mu in private. Regardless of whether those shocking words Qin Mu said were true, just looking at his thorough analysis of Zhang, Li and others, his vision in discussing the world situation, and his strategic insights on military and politics, Ma Yongzhen had to admit that he was far inferior to Qin Mu.
The longer such a person operates in Ganzhou City, the further Ganzhou will be away from him. Ma Yongzhen firmly believes this.
He was just about to send someone to pass on the message, asking the several thousand men of Nanshe Mountain to march in the rain and reach Ganzhou city as soon as possible, when one of his men rushed in panicked and reported: "General... General, that Qin Mu is here again, again..."
"Again?" Ma Yongzhen couldn't help but ask back. How long has it been? It's only been about an hour and a half since he sent Qin Mu away. What does Qin Mu want to do? This is the third time today. He came to challenge me once in the morning, to drink at noon, and now at dusk, he came again. Is it never going to end? "Go, bring him in."
"General, it's not... Qin Mu is not coming alone this time."
"Hey, do you want to challenge me again?"
"No, General Ma, I think he is here to attack our camp. General Ma, go out and see. Qin Mu has brought several thousand men with him."
"What!" Ma Yongzhen rushed out of the tent in disbelief. It was raining that day, and Qin Mu actually came to attack in the rain? It was almost dark, and Qin Mu actually wanted to fight a night battle
A series of question marks were flying in Ma Yongzhen's mind, just like Guanyin Bodhisattva performing a striptease, so puzzling!
He ran to the gate of the camp in the rain and took a look through the misty rain. Sure enough, the big Qin flag was wet by the rain and looked like it was suffering from impotence and premature ejaculation. No matter how fast the man holding the flag rode his horse, the flag could only flutter occasionally.
The one hundred cavalrymen in black clothes and black armor in front looked very majestic, but in fact they were wearing leather armor, which Qin Mu had temporarily dyed black when he was in Niuxi Town. When washed by the rain, the black dye flowed down with the rain, revealing the original color of the cowhide in some places;
But this did not diminish their prestige at all. Led by Qin Mu, they rushed forward with a roar, and the bowl-sized hooves of their horses splashed water on the ground. Thousands of infantrymen followed behind them, waving swords and spears. The formation was very chaotic, but it was chaotic, arrogant, and noisy.
Ma Yongzhen felt from afar that Qin Mu's troops did not come to fight, but rather to rob silver, because soldiers were usually not so excited when fighting in the rain. The strange thing was that Qin Mu's troops were like chickens with blood, rushing forward and running faster than horses.
Well, there are several large carts following the army, which is even more strange. This place is only five miles away from the city. Could it be that Qin Mu brought logistics with him, or brought some secret weapons
No matter what, the thousands of soldiers and horses rushing over in the rain, shouting, did put a lot of pressure on Ma Yongzhen's side.
"Prepare for battle!" Ma Yongzhen gave the order loudly without thinking too much.
"General, please order me to lead my troops to fight!" Hong Dazhuang roared in hatred. Ma Yongzhen asked him to take 300 people to attack Xinfeng at night. It was not yet dark and he had not had time to set off, but Qin had visited their camp three times. Damn it, what the hell was going on!
"No rush. Let's use the camp to dampen the enemy's morale first, and then we can launch a full-scale counterattack." Before finding out what Qin Mu was up to, Ma Yongzhen felt it was better to be cautious.
Ma Yongzhen is not in a hurry, but someone else is. Qin Mu’s slogan at this moment is: A thousand years is too long, we must seize the day!
So he went into the mountain city three times, fighting in the morning, drinking at noon, and drinking blood in the morning and evening.
The sudden downpour did not dampen the passion of the three thousand baojia, because the county magistrate Qin kept shouting: "If it rains, my mother will marry a pig. Three thousand baojia can conquer Wu!"
Why there was such a strange slogan, no one knows. Anyway, with the great magistrate Qin leading the way, and several carts of silver following behind, and three hundred acres of fertile land in mind, the three thousand militiamen didn't care what slogans they shouted!
The people in southern Jiangxi are already tough, and the 3,000 passionate militiamen were lured by huge profits. They all became brave men under the heavy reward. In the heavy rain, they tread on the water like waves and run forward madly like a tide.
It was not surprising that Ma Yongzhen chose to defend the village, but there was one thing: bows and arrows could not be used on rainy days, which was not good for the defending side, especially since the temporary wall of the village was not high and could not be compared with the city wall. Once you rushed to the wall, it would be easy to attack.
Qin Mu did not hesitate for a moment, nor did he stop to talk nonsense. Taking advantage of the high morale of the 3,000 guards, he directly ordered them to charge forward, fifty steps, thirty steps, twenty steps... ... ... ... ..
"Smash it! Smash it!" Qin Mu sat on his horse, pointed his long sword and roared loudly.
Bows and arrows cannot be used, but that does not mean there are no long-range attack weapons. With his roar, three thousand stones flew into the air and smashed into Ma Yongzhen's camp with a "whoosh!" sound. The rebels in the camp did not expect Qin Mu to use such a rogue method. They saw countless fist-sized stones whistling and smashing like hail. Many defenders were stunned by this scene.
"Hide!" Ma Yongzhen screamed, but it was too late. The rain of bullets came too fast. Some of the defenders had no time to dodge before their heads were smashed open, blood splattered, and brains burst! Screams came one after another.
As soon as the first round of soft bullets passed, the second round came, and then the third round, which scared the defenders in the village to death.
"bridge!"
Following Qin Mu's roar, hundreds of baojia carrying wooden boards rushed out from behind, and soon built twenty or thirty bridges on the trench in front of the camp. The three thousand baojia did not care about the formation at this time, and rushed across the bridge in a swarm. It happened that in a siege, what formation should be used? Just charge forward.
***
"Hurry up! Hurry up! Harder! Harder! Harder, yes, harder, harder... Uh!" The voice was hysterical, and at the end there was a refreshing "Uh!". If this was a delicate woman's voice, you would definitely think that a man and a woman were having sex in the wild.
But in fact, the scene at the foot of the mountain was not erotic at all, but rather extremely tense and thrilling.
The Rentong caravan fled to this place, facing a mountain to the south and a river to the north. The road was narrow and rugged. The wheels of a cart were stuck between the rocks and the horses could not move. The truck could not escape fast to begin with, and if it got stuck again, the soldiers and bandits behind would chase them and everyone would be killed without a burial place.
Shopkeeper Xu was sweating profusely as he urged the guard who was pushing the cart. When the cart was finally pushed over, Shopkeeper Xu was so panicked and tired that he almost fainted.
Li Xiangjun's car happened to be following behind the stuck truck. She was fleeing all the way, and the car was bumping violently. At this time, her hair was disheveled and her sweat was slightly wet.
When she was most frightened, she always thought of Qin Mu unconsciously, hoping that he would suddenly appear, and even guessed how he would save her from danger if he suddenly appeared.
At this moment, being stuck on this narrow mountain road, Li Xiangjun suddenly had an idea and hurriedly called out to Shopkeeper Xu: "Shopkeeper Xu, Shopkeeper Xu, we can't escape like this. Our cart is full of goods and we move slowly. Sooner or later, we will be caught up by those soldiers and bandits."
"What does Miss Xiangjun think?"
"Manager Xu, whenever a large army retreats, they always leave some troops to stop the pursuers. I'm afraid that Brother Zhang alone can't hold off the pursuers for long. Our trucks can't go fast, so we need to leave some people to stop the enemy. Otherwise, if that group of soldiers and bandits catch up, the consequences will be disastrous."
Leaving behind blocking troops to delay the enemy is something that almost everyone in the military understands, but in the minds of ordinary people, few have such a concept. Everyone only wants to escape faster. This is the difference in thinking between the military and ordinary people.
Although Shopkeeper Xu looks bloated like a meatball, he is a very decisive person. After Li Xiangjun reminded him, he slapped his thigh and immediately said loudly: "Thank you Miss Xiangjun for the reminder, and thank you Lao San. The mountain road here is rugged and narrow, which is just suitable for stopping the enemy. Quickly turn the cars behind you sideways, and you take fifty guards to stay here to stop the enemy. At least delay until the second watch before withdrawing. Don't worry, if you can escape this disaster, I guarantee that the boss will never treat you badly after you return. I swear to heaven here that if anyone is unfortunately killed, I, Xu Yi, will support his family for life!"
"Thank you, Manager Xu. We are here to protect the caravan. Manager Xu, please go quickly. Leave this place to us." The captain of the escort team, Xie Laosan, clasped his fists in response, and immediately led his men to turn the large cart behind sideways and organize a defense line.
Li Xiangjun's mind became clearer and clearer. She continued to say to Shopkeeper Xu, "Shopkeeper Xu, it's not enough to just set up this line of defense. We must prepare for the worst. Usually, the more valuable the goods, the lighter they are. Shopkeeper Xu, please separate the valuable goods quickly. When there is a fork in the road ahead, we will split into two groups. Most of these soldiers and bandits are infantry. After we split into two groups, they can probably only catch up with one group. This way, we can minimize the losses."
Li Xiangjun meant to sacrifice pawns to save the chariot. She had thought of all these methods, such as setting up a false formation at the fork in the road to mislead the pursuers. However, the caravan was not an army, so she could not say it too directly, otherwise no one would be willing to be a "pawn".
Shopkeeper Xu was a shrewd man, so he could understand what Li Xiangjun meant. He was about to act accordingly when he saw a cloud of yellow dust coming from behind. It turned out to be Yan Mao with 500 men and horses.
Upon seeing this, everyone's faces changed drastically. Xie Lao San shouted again: "Manager Xu, hurry up, hurry up! It will be too late if you don't leave now. Hurry up, we will entrust our family to Manager Xu."
"Okay, I will not let you down!" Manager Xu responded hastily and shouted loudly. The coachman was eager to escape and kept whipping the packhorse without him urging him.
Yan Mao saw the panic from afar and couldn't help but laugh wildly. He brandished his sword and shouted to his men behind him: "Kill them! Except for that beauty, leave no one alive!"
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ps: Hao Yuan was born in the south and worked hard to write books. I hope you will vote more, this is the most nutritious thing.
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