******
On both sides of the Yalu River, there is Yizhou City on the Korean side and Jiuliancheng on the Liaodong side.
Jiuliancheng is located to the north of Hushan Mountain and has a dangerous terrain. It is the easternmost end of the Liaodong Great Wall and the only way for the Korean tribute road. It was also the place where the Ming Dynasty and Korea conducted trade.
Tushan was originally a Qing general stationed in Pyongyang. Seeing that the situation was not good, he ran across the Yalu River and stopped only after reaching Jiuliancheng. He had only a thousand men and horses, and he knew that only by using the natural barrier of the Yalu River could he stop the Qin army.
After seeing the Qin army reach Yizhou on the east bank during the day, Tushan sent a large number of cavalry to patrol Luo at night to prevent the Qin army from crossing the river under the cover of darkness. As expected, he ran into the Qin army crossing the river from Huaziwo.
The first group of twenty or thirty Qin soldiers who crossed the river were soon forced back to the river by Tushan. Ning Yuan saw that the crossing point here was exposed, so he simply made a big fuss on the east bank of Huaziwo, pretending to force a crossing of the river in order to cover up the crossing operations at the other two locations.
Tushan saw torches all over the east bank, people were talking loudly, and Qin army ships were constantly forcing their way to the west bank. He quickly dispatched troops to guard against the Qin army and prevent them from landing.
An Congjun, a guerrilla of the Qin army, took 100 men and boarded 10 small boats to cross the river from a bend 5 or 6 miles downstream from Huaziwo. It was dark at night and the river was turbulent. Everyone paddled hard to cross the river, but the boats were constantly pushed down by the current. The general Wu Tongshan said anxiously, "General An, this won't work. The current is too fast and our ropes are not long enough."
An Congjun and his crew were dragging a long rope on their boat, originally intending to tie it to a tree or rock after getting ashore. This way, subsequent boats could pull the rope when crossing the river, which would not only increase speed but also prevent them from being washed away by the current.
But now the boat was constantly being pushed downstream by the current, the straight line planned to cross the river became a diagonal line, and the rope was not long enough.
An Congjun looked at the large fire five or six miles upstream. The noisy shouting could be clearly heard, and he said with determination: "Never mind, throw away the rope and let's go ashore first."
"But General, we are here mainly to pull the rope..."
"Wrong, we are here to attack Liaodong!"
Wu Tongshan didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It was true that we were here to attack Liaodong, but how could we attack Liaodong if the army couldn't cross the river? However, An Congjun was his immediate superior, so Wu Tongshan had to do whatever he said.
After throwing away the rope, they worked hard for another cup of tea and finally reached the riverbank on the west bank.
"Check your weapons carefully." An Congjun and his men were originally planning to defend the beachhead. In addition to swords, shields, bows and arrows, each of them also brought ten thunder bombs and three rockets. Fortunately, the Qin army often trained in weighted cross-country long-distance running, otherwise it would be difficult to carry all these weapons.
After 100 men climbed ashore in the dark, Wu Tongshan immediately ordered his soldiers to set up a beach defense line. However, An Congjun said, "Don't bother. Didn't the general say that we are here to attack Liaodong?"
Here it comes again. Wu Tongshan really wanted to light a torch to see if the one speaking in the darkness was his general: "General. What are you doing..."
An Congjun said with great enthusiasm: "Brothers, do you want to gain great merit?"
"I want to, who doesn't want to?"
"General, what is the merit?"
"General. We will do whatever you say."
Soldiers gathered around, their eyes reflecting wolf-like light in the night... Uh... Although it was a bit exaggerated, everyone was very eager to talk about great achievements.
"Okay, since everyone wants to make great contributions, then listen to me. I tell you, Marshal Ning is making a big noise in Huaziwo, and most of Tushan's troops must have gathered in Huaziwo. You also saw it during the day. Jiuliancheng is not far from here. That is Tushan's lair. Let's go there in the dark and destroy his lair."
"Okay, we'll listen to the general."
"General, Tushan has thousands of troops after all. If we go to destroy his lair, what if he attacks us?"
"I'm not afraid of him. When Tushan heard that our army was coming in Pyongyang, he fled. He is a frightened bird. If we succeed in the surprise attack on Jiuliancheng, he won't know how many people we have in the dark night, and he will definitely be scared and flee. Besides, Li Shi is also leading his men across the river. If Tushan returns to support Jiuliancheng, Li Shi and his men will also reinforce us. Marshal Ning and his men will also take the opportunity to cross the river. As long as we hold on, we will achieve this great feat."
"Okay, we'll listen to the general."
"Take over Jiulian City..."
How the saying goes, the bigger your heart is, the bigger the stage is. This saying is very appropriate for the one hundred Qin soldiers who were rushing towards Jiuliancheng in the night.
According to what An Congjun repeatedly stressed, "We are here to attack Liaodong." If that's the case, how can we just focus on a beachhead? If we drive Tushan away, you can cross the river wherever you want. Wouldn't that be more convenient
Jiuliancheng is surrounded by the Yihe River and the Yalu River to the east, and Zhendong Mountain to the back, making it a very dangerous place. The rammed earth wall is about two feet high, and there are many lookout towers around it, but these lookout towers are useless at night, unless you are an owl. An Congjun and his men easily bypassed it.
There were still two hundred Qing troops left in Jiuliancheng. Niulu Zhang Jingtai Ge was looking around anxiously on the gate tower. Huaziwo was only a few miles away from the city. From afar, large torches could be seen on both sides of the river, and wave-like shouts could be heard coming in the wind.
There were torches on the top of the city every few steps. The Qing troops defending the city seemed uneasy, fearing that they would not be able to hold off Tushan and that the Qin army would suddenly attack them.
Tai Ge's neck was sore from looking around, but no one came back to report the situation in Huawo. He finally couldn't help but send two soldiers to Huaziwo to find out the situation.
An Congjun led a hundred Qin soldiers to the city gate in the dark, and heard the city gate creaking open, and then saw the drawbridge over the moat slowly lowered.
At first, An Congjun thought that his side had been exposed and the enemy was coming out of the city to attack. However, on the other side of the suspension bridge, he saw two Qing soldiers on horseback waiting for the suspension bridge to fall.
The opportunity is rare and will never come again. An Congjun was overjoyed and hurriedly urged: "Hurry, Li Ke, Hu San, Zhang Jie, use rockets to attack him..."
"Yes, General."
As soon as the drawbridge of the city gate fell, three dazzling flames appeared in the night outside the city, rushing towards the city gate with a whistling sound. Boom! Boom! In an instant, three balls of fire rushed up from the city gate, and the fierce explosion was like thunder, making people's eardrums buzz.
Two Qing soldiers who were about to cross the suspension bridge were blown to pieces, blood and flesh flying everywhere. Tai Ge, who was standing on the top of the city, was knocked to the ground by the shock wave of the powerful forces, with stars twinkling in his head.
"kill!"
"kill!"
As soon as the explosion sounded, bursts of shouts and screams were heard in the night outside the city. An Congjun took the lead, holding up his shield and rushing across the suspension bridge that was blown up to half. The Qing army on the top of the city was suddenly attacked and in chaos. I still remember that only a few people shot arrows, and most of them were scared and ran around like headless flies.
"Sky-shaking bombs! Quick, blow them up!" An Cong'an shouted as he rushed forward. The Qin army following him didn't care whether there were enemies in the city gate or not. They lit up seven or eight sky-shaking bombs and threw them inside, then rushed in amid the loud explosions.
When the Qin army rushed into the city gate, Tai Ge, who was shocked and had stars in his head, finally woke up a little. The Qing army next to him shook his shoulders and shouted: "Master Zhang Jing, what should we do? The Qin army is coming in, the Qin army is coming in..."
"Qin army... Ah! Stop them quickly, stop them quickly..."
"Master Zhang Jing, run away! We can't stop them... Ah!" The Qing soldier screamed when he saw the Qin army rushing onto the horse road, and he left Tai Ge behind and ran away at such a fast speed.
"Come back to me..." Brother Tai was roaring halfway when he suddenly saw a lump of iron fall beside him, sparks emitting from it. "Ah!" He screamed in surprise and fled away, rolling and crawling, just like the fleeing soldiers.
Boom! Boom!
There were successive explosions coming from behind. Brother Tai was like an immortal cockroach. Not a single shrapnel hit him. However, several Qing soldiers who jumped slowly were injured and fell to the ground, howling in despair.
There were only 200 Qing soldiers left in the entire city, and only 20 to 30 of them were assigned to the various city gates. Even Tai Ge had fled in panic, not to mention the other Qing soldiers.
"Wu Tongshan, you take thirty people and stay here to guard the city gate. The others will follow me and kill them!"
An Congjun roared like thunder, and the other Qin soldiers followed suit, chasing Taige along the city wall.
The Qing troops guarding other gates in the city did not know how many Qin troops had broken in. When they saw the South Gate had been lost, they all thought that Tushan had been defeated, and they fled the city in fear.
The city was in chaos. Whether they were Han Chinese, Mongolians, Koreans, or Jurchens, they were all terrified by the sudden war. Some ruffians took the opportunity to set fire and loot. Soon, the city was full of flames and screams. The people who had been hiding in their homes in panic were forced to flee with their families.
Children were crying, women were screaming, men were roaring, and all the noises made the city like a boiling pot of porridge. Some Qing soldiers were originally fleeing into the city, but when they saw this, they turned around and ran towards the city gate. They would swing their swords and chop at anyone who blocked their way, for fear that they would be caught up by the Qin army if they ran too slowly.
Seeing this, the Qin soldiers were all excited, howling and chasing fiercely, and hating that there were too few enemies and they couldn't kill them enough. Who dared to say that they were not here to attack Liaodong, even though they were only a hundred people...
*************************************
ps: A new month has begun, and monthly tickets, recommendation tickets, and subscriptions need your support. September is burning, and Haozi has decided to redouble his efforts to strive for more outbreaks. Brothers, please vote for your monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
...