Make It Known to The World

Chapter 80: The smoke-filled Jiulongzhang

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Jiulongzhang is a mountainous area that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Gu Xiancheng intends to use the superior terrain here to slowly consume Ma Yongzhen. The two were both soldiers of Huichang Qianhu Suo. Because of their common experience, they killed officials and rebelled together.

But after their power grew a little, the difference in their natures caused their approaches to diverge greatly, which was also the main reason why they split up into two groups.

Now the two of them have become hostile. Ma Yongzhen still cherishes their old friendship and does not want to kill them all. He has gone to the foot of the mountain many times to persuade Gu Xiancheng to surrender, but each time he only gets ridicule and mockery from Gu Xiancheng. Ma Yongzhen finally gave up.

Although Qin Mu had made it clear that Cui Feng was under his command, considering that there was already a rift between the two groups, it would be difficult for them to work together if Cui Feng was transferred to Jiulongzhang. So Ma Yongzhen asked Cui Feng to take his troops and join forces with the garrison of Anyuan County to defend the four towns of Xinshan, Xinlong, Fengshan and Zhengang around Jiulongzhang, and try their best to trap Gu Xiancheng to prevent him from escaping again. At the same time, they should forcibly implement a policy of clearing the four towns to prevent Gu Xiancheng from snatching supplies from the surrounding areas.

Cui Feng didn't want to go to Jiulongzhang again to see Ma Yongzhen's face, so he had no objection to asking him to defend the four towns around Jiulongzhang.

He had been at loggerheads with Ma Yongzhen before, but Qin Mu's reaction after returning to Huichang was extremely cold, which was beyond Cui Feng's expectation. Qin Mu had always been very lenient in other aspects, but he was extremely strict in managing the army.

Based on Cui Feng's understanding of Qin Mu, Qin Mu should be furious after such an incident. He has already found various reasons to attack Ma Yongzhen in order to exonerate himself.

But Qin Mu acted as if nothing had happened. The order he sent did not mention the quarrel between him and Ma Yongzhen. This made Cui Feng feel like he had nowhere to put his strength, just like punching a cotton ball.

After this incident, Cui Feng actually had a feeling that Qin Mu’s power was unpredictable, and he felt inexplicably uneasy.

After accepting the task of defending the four towns, he worked very hard and sent elite soldiers to the vicinity of Jiulongzhang for reconnaissance. Once he learned in advance that Gu Xiancheng's small group of people had come down the mountain to plunder, he quickly mobilized troops to ambush them.

Relying on various flexible means, he has successfully killed the three groups of people sent down the mountain by Gu Xiancheng in the past few days, totaling nearly a hundred people, which has dealt a serious blow to Gu Xiancheng's morale.

Cui Feng's performance was remarkable, and Ma Yongzhen was getting a little restless. As the main attacking party, they had captured fewer enemies than Cui Feng, who was assisting in the defense. How embarrassed were they

Jiulongzhang is two to three hundred feet high, with nine peaks standing tall, lush jungle, and shrouded in clouds and mist, looking majestic like a screen.

In the central army tent at the foot of the mountain, Ma Liuliang looked as if someone had just poured a load of dog shit into his mouth. His face was so sour and he almost overturned the table.

"General, Gu Xiancheng looted a large amount of food and supplies before he went up the mountain. We may not be able to outlast him. How long will it take for this to end? General, now we have no choice but to attack by force. I will lead the charge. Please give the order, General."

Another centurion, Han Xiu, immediately said, "No, the Jiulong Peak is extremely dangerous. If one man can block the pass, ten thousand men cannot get through. Attacking by force is tantamount to sending the soldiers to their deaths in vain."

Ma Yongzhen nodded slightly and said, "Han Xiu, what do you think?"

"General, although Gu Xiancheng has plenty of food and grass, there are no springs on the mountain, so he has to get drinking water from the streams on both sides of the mountain. We can poison the water, or simply cut off the water source and force Gu Xiancheng to go down the mountain."

Ma Yongzhen thought for a while and said, "Both streams are very turbulent. It is not realistic to poison the water. As for intercepting the streams, we need to send a large number of troops to go around the back mountain. The road to the back mountain is not short and rugged. Ambushes can be set everywhere. Gu Xiancheng has the initiative. If we divide our troops, he can not only set an ambush, but also use his superior forces to swoop down on our front line of defense. By then, we may lose more than we gain."

Hong Dazhuang, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly said, "If we can't cut off the water source, why don't we use fire attack? The surrounding mountains are covered with dense forests. It's autumn now, and the weather is gradually getting dry. We can send people to set fire from all sides. As long as we pile up more firewood, it shouldn't be difficult to ignite a mountain fire. Even if we can't burn the rebels on the mountain to death, the thick smoke alone can suffocate them to death."

After hearing this, Ma Yongzhen pressed the table hard and said, "Okay, this is a good idea. Let's do it this way. Han Xiu will be responsible for the south, Hong Dazhuang will be responsible for the east, Ma Liuliang will be responsible for the west, and I will take care of the north myself. Go quickly."

Ma Liuliang led dozens of his men, each carrying a bundle of firewood, and approached the western section of the main peak of Jiulongzhang, just like a group of woodcutters returning home with a full load. Hong Dazhuang and others tried their best to hide their tracks to avoid being discovered in advance by the rebels on the mountain. Ma Liuliang was just the opposite. He almost beat the gongs and drums and sang loudly as he entered. However, his loud voice of cursing was almost the same as beating the gongs and drums;

Like general, like soldiers. His dozens of subordinates were also not paying any attention. Some of them even started singing the Eighteen Touch. They were all sloppy and careless. Of course, it was impossible to hide this from the rebels in the mountain.

"What, carrying firewood?" Gu Xiancheng on the mountain received the report from his men, waved his long monkey-like arms, then touched the light red scar under his left cheek and thought.

Ma Saner, a trusted subordinate, challenged to fight, "My lord, Ma Liuliang is always arrogant. He brought dozens of people here to burn the mountain. We can't let him succeed. Once the mountain fire starts, we will be in trouble. My lord, let me take two hundred people to kill him first."

Gu Xiancheng thought that the mountain was covered with lush vegetation, and if Ma Liuliang set fire to the mountain recklessly, the consequences would be disastrous. He had no choice but to say, "Okay, go quickly, be careful, don't chase too far, or you will be ambushed by Ma Yongzhen."

"Yes, my king." Ma Saner responded loudly and hurried out to gather his men. He and Ma Liuliang were old acquaintances and he knew Ma Liuliang's arrogant character very well.

Before Ma Yongzhen and Gu Xiancheng parted ways, Ma Saner had never suffered from Ma Liuliang's anger. Today he finally had a chance to deal with Ma Liuliang, and Ma Saner didn't want to miss this opportunity to vent his anger.

Ma Liuliang and dozens of his men had just arrived at the main peak of Jiulongzhang and were piling up firewood when Ma Saner swooped down from the mountain with two hundred men.

"Ma Liuliang, don't run if you have the guts. Today, I, your third brother, will let you see what a cat poops eggs." Ma San pointed his knife at Ma Liuliang and rushed down with his men, looking very arrogant.

"Bah! Grandpa is waiting for you, a loser. Come on, brothers." Ma Liuliang was probably so frustrated these days. It was obvious that Ma Saner had five times more troops than him, but this guy still rushed forward and went straight to kill Ma Saner with a look of disdain on his face.

Dozens of his men also rushed forward with howls, each of them ready to die, looking very ferocious.

But halfway through the charge, Ma Liuliang realized that the shouting behind him was not right. He turned around and saw that dozens of his men behind him had turned around and ran away, probably because they saw that the rebels were powerful. He was the only one still charging forward.

"Hahahaha..." Ma Saner and the two hundred rebels couldn't help but laugh wildly when they saw this, and dived even faster.

"Damn it, I'm going to chop you all to pieces when I get back..." Ma Liuliang was furious. Fortunately, he was not so crazy as to think he could fight a hundred people alone. He could only curse and run away at the same time, like a dog that had lost its home.

"Chase, chase quickly, don't let any of them escape." Ma Saner was so happy that he felt like he was floating in the air. He ran as fast as the wind, and he didn't stop even though his clothes were torn by thorns. The two hundred rebels behind him were also like chickens with their blood pumped up. They kept shouting and chasing wildly with their swords.

Soon the two groups of men had chased for more than half a mile and were about to meet each other head to tail. Then a strange scene appeared. Ma Liuliang and dozens of his men in front seemed to have run out of steam and fell to the ground together.

Ma San immediately felt something was wrong, but it was too late to react. He heard a loud noise suddenly from not far behind him. Ma San fell to the ground in shock. Just four or five feet behind him, a huge fireball mixed with billowing smoke shot up into the sky. The rebels nearby were blown into the air with their limbs broken, it was a horrible sight.

Ma San's ears were buzzing from the shock, but fortunately he was not injured. He shouted hysterically: "Stop, everyone stop, there are mines, there are mines..."

As if to make Ma San's words more convincing, there was another loud bang. Weapons such as landmines and sea mines were not uncommon in the Ming Dynasty, but this was not an ordinary landmine. The amount of explosives was probably no less than 15 kilograms. The sound was extremely shocking. The leaves around were shaken by the airflow. More than 20 people were injured or killed at once, and the 200 rebels were terrified and pale.

Before they could recover from their fear, "Kill!" Ma Liuliang jumped up, and his dozens of men were not slow either. They jumped up one by one, turned around and killed them back. At the same time, bursts of gongs sounded from the surrounding woods, obviously there was an ambush.

"Run, there is an ambush, run..." This was not Ma San who shouted, but he was definitely the fastest runner at the moment.

Things have changed, and now it was Ma Liuliang and his men's turn to scream and chase and hack wildly. Just now the two sides were in close pursuit, and after the explosion, Ma Liuliang's side jumped up first, and now they easily rushed into the rear of the fleeing rebels.

"I'll chop your mother to death, you bastards..." Ma Liuda's roar was like a spring thunder, and he swung his sword to chop down the two rebels who were blocking his way. "You three-legged shrimp, don't run away if you have the guts. Today, I, your sixth brother, will let you see what a cat poops eggs."

Although Ma Liuliang plagiarized Ma San's original words in front of him, he did not have the courage to turn back and pursue the matter. He ran away as fast as a wheel and as fast as the wind.

The sound of gongs in the surrounding woods became louder and louder. The frightened rebels had no time to wonder why no ambush troops rushed out when they heard the gongs. Their morale was crushed and everyone just ran for their lives.

In fact, there were no ambushes in the surrounding woods, just a few people beating gongs. This place was very close to the main front of Jiulongzhang. If there were really a large number of ambushes, the rebels on the mountain would not be able to hide it beforehand.

Ma Liuliang was making a lot of noise here. Besides the fact that he really wanted to kill to his heart's content, his main purpose was to provide cover for the other three parties and to attract the attention of the rebels on the mountain to this side.

Ma Saner hacked dozens of people to death. When Gu Xiancheng sent reinforcements to help him and his remaining troops go up the mountain, soon thick smoke rose from the east, south and north sides of the main peak.

In July, the trees on the mountain were still lush and green, and it would have been easy to put out the fire at the beginning. However, the attention of the rebels on the mountain was drawn to Ma Liuliang. By the time they discovered thick smoke on the other three sides, the fire had already become a big fire and was difficult to put out when they rushed over.

The fire was not terrible. After all, it would take some time for the fire to spread to the mountain. Gu Xiancheng had plenty of time to create a life-saving firebreak.

What was fatal was the billowing thick smoke, which was blown to the mountain by the wind, covering the entire main peak of Jiulongzhang in thick smoke. Hundreds of rebels were choked and cried and coughed continuously.

If they didn't leave, they would suffocate to death. Gu Xiancheng didn't even care about the treasures he had robbed. He kept shouting, "Everyone, cover your mouth and nose with wet cloth and follow me to kill our way down the mountain. Quickly."

There were many ways to go down the mountain, and you could go down by going through the woods where there was no road. But now the roads in the east, south, and north have been blocked by forest fires, and you can only go down the mountain from the west. Will Ma Yongzhen let you escape easily

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ps: I checked the recommended list and click list of book friends by category, and I am always at the last place. The pile of chrysanthemums in front of me are getting farther and farther away, but my own chrysanthemum is in danger. Brothers, please click and recommend, and protect the chrysanthemum! Protect the chrysanthemum quickly! Don't let my chrysanthemum explode before I succeed!

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