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In the forest at night, it is pitch dark and easy to hide. Even if guards are deployed, it is difficult to guarantee that the enemy will not infiltrate.
But it would be different if you set up a lot of traps first, which is often more effective than sending people to guard against them.
Long Zaitian and his men used the one hour before dark to urgently set traps on the mountain. These natives usually lived off the mountain, so setting traps and installing iron clamps was a common practice and could be done very quickly.
After they had set all the traps, Long Zaitian went to check them out personally and was very satisfied.
Now, all we have to do is wait until night time when the Qin army will come and attack us.
What Long Zaitian didn't expect was that their every move had already been seen by the Qin army's scouts.
The Qin army's scouts had excellent camouflage skills. Long Zaitian even walked past a Qin army scout less than three feet away and was not noticed.
After Long Zaitian set the trap and the troops withdrew, the Qin army's scouts acted quickly, silently taking out the sentries left by Long Zaitian, and then cleared a safe passage.
By the time they finished all this, it was dark.
Long Zaitian, who thought he was infallible, never dreamed that as soon as it got dark, a small group of Qin troops would descend from the sky like divine soldiers, and rockets would streak across the sky like meteors, which was extremely gorgeous and breathtaking to watch.
When these meteors smashed into the camp of the Dongwu army in an extremely magnificent state, everyone woke up from their dream.
In an instant, there were deafening explosions, and balls of fire rose up from the mountain, sweeping everything away. Countless Dongwu soldiers screamed and howled in the explosions, and in the firelight, there were figures running around like headless flies.
The Qin army, which had been prepared for a long time, took advantage of the moment when the enemy was in panic and launched a massive attack, breaking through the mountain pass defended by the enemy in one fell swoop.
Fortunately, the 20,000 Dongwu troops were not all deployed on the mountain. More than 10,000 were deployed on the plain behind the mountain. Seeing the disarray on the mountain, the Dongwu troops on the plain were frightened and confused.
Ping Dali had no time to find Long Zaitian to ask for punishment. He watched the Qin army quickly break through the defenses on the mountain and rush towards his camp. The whole mountain was filled with fire and shouting. He could only send out the most elite elephant soldiers to try to stop the Qin army's surging offensive and buy time for the more than 10,000 troops in the camp to retreat.
Five hundred elephant soldiers rushed out of the camp and started running. Their huge bodies and pillar-like elephant legs hit the ground with such force that it was like a tank charging at full speed. It was truly earth-shaking and extremely shocking.
Cui Feng wanted to capture these elephant soldiers alive and had made preparations. When he saw that Pingdali had indeed sent out these elephant soldiers to stop the enemy, Cui Feng immediately ordered Chen Guimin to attack.
Chen Guimin's 2,000 Qin soldiers were divided into four groups, each holding a handful of dry firewood, and when the elephant soldiers rushed within a few dozen steps, they all lit them together. Kerosene was poured on the firewood, and the flames shot up into the sky, forming a blazing wall of fire.
Elephants are naturally afraid of fire, so no matter how hard the elephant soldiers pressed, hundreds of elephants dared not rush towards the fierce fire wall.
The two thousand Qin soldiers saw that the elephants were frightened by the fire, so they rushed to surround the elephant formation and piled up piles of firewood;
In just a moment, hundreds of elephants were trapped in the flames.
The Qin army took advantage of the firelight and quickly shot the elephant soldiers on the backs of the elephants with rifles. Amid the sound of gunfire, the elephant soldiers on the backs of the elephants fell down like dumplings.
Hundreds of elephants were trapped by the fire. They ran around in panic and trampled the fallen elephant soldiers until their flesh and blood flew everywhere.
"Those who surrender will be spared!"
"Those who surrender will be spared!"
The Qin army outside the fire wall shouted in unison, and the elephant soldiers, who were terrified by the bullets, had no choice but to surrender...
The Qin army had 40,000 troops, but only a few thousand were used to besiege the 500 elephant soldiers. The others had already taken advantage of the opportunity when the elephants were trapped to attack Pingdali's camp.
Although Pingdali was experienced in battle and had good command, he still panicked in this situation. He immediately sent out 5,000 troops, led by General Zuoba, to stop the enemy, and then led his troops to retreat in a hurry.
Zuoba's 5,000 troops lined up on the plain, using bows and arrows to stop the enemy, and also erected a shield wall in front of the formation with iron shields to block the Qin army's bullets.
In the darkness of night, five thousand people fired at the same time. A black rain of arrows covered the sky and hit the ground with a thud. The chieftain's soldiers such as Miao Xi who were rushing in the front to attack the drowning dog were shot down by the fierce rain of arrows, screaming in pain, and the chaotic offensive came to a halt.
When Bai Wenxuan saw this situation, he immediately called in rocket launchers. Seven or eight rockets whizzed away, boom, boom... The fierce explosion instantly destroyed Zuoba's shield wall. One by one, Dongwu soldiers were blown into the sky, with their limbs scattered like rain.
Immediately afterwards, the Qin army formed three shooting formations and continued firing outside the range of the enemy's bows and arrows.
Bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang!
The sound of the bullets was like a sickle cutting wheat in autumn, causing the Dongwu soldiers to fall down in rows, with blood flowing all over the place. It was a horrible sight. The 5,000 Dongwu soldiers had no power to fight back and collapsed immediately.
Now the chance for revenge came to Miao Xi, Huang Zhigao, Duan Changqing and other chieftains. They rushed forward desperately and hacked and killed Zuo Ba's fleeing soldiers.
They worked in groups of several people, cooperating well. The one in front would cut down the enemy, and the one behind would immediately rush forward and cut off the enemy's head with a sharp long-handled sickle, just like harvesting watermelons in the field.
After cutting off the head, they grabbed the hair and slapped the head, which then spun rapidly. The hair was then quickly twisted into a rope for them to tie the head to their belts.
These local soldiers received rewards based on heads. Cui Feng offered a price of one dragon coin for five heads, so they would never give up a single head. Wherever the local soldiers passed, they were like locusts, leaving behind only headless corpses on the ground.
As Zuoba's 5,000 soldiers were defeated, the tens of thousands of Dongwu soldiers who were hastily retreating in front of them suddenly fell into chaos and no longer obeyed orders. Everyone scrambled to escape, pushing and shoving, trampling on each other, and even hacking at each other with swords in order to grab the way, resulting in countless deaths.
In this night battle, Cui Feng not only captured 500 elephants as he wished, but also defeated Pingdali.
When the 20,000-strong army led by Pingdali fled back to Hanlong Pass at the border between Yunnan and Dongwu Kingdom, there were less than 4,000 people left, and they were all in a miserable state. Most of them even threw away their weapons.
Hanlong Pass is located in Mangbang Mountain in the southern part of Ruili District. In the 22nd year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1594), in order to consolidate the border defense, Yunnan Governor Chen Yongbin set up eight passes and nine passes in the border fortresses of Yingjiang, Longchuan and Ruili to garrison troops for defense.
These eight passes and nine slits are distributed on the China-Myanmar border. Among them, Hanlong Pass is the most important, guarding the most important entrance to Myanmar from Baoshan and Tengchong.
After Pingdali fled here and stabilized his position, he wanted to use this dangerous pass to resist Cui Feng's army, because if he retreated further south, he would reach the territory of Dongwu Kingdom.
Cui Feng seized a large amount of food and military supplies. The soldiers were very tired after the long chase, so he ordered them to rest in Ruili for two days. After taking a break, they would march straight to Ava, the capital of Dongwu State.
For Cui Feng, fighting this war in another country's territory is much easier than fighting it in his own country.
Especially in places like Yunnan, the roads are difficult to travel and supplies are difficult. Once you enter the enemy's territory, you can get food from the enemy and just need to replenish ammunition, which will greatly reduce the pressure on logistics.
Now the Qin Military Equipment Bureau has made a great breakthrough in the production of yellow explosives, and rockets are no longer as scarce as before. Cui Feng brought thousands of rockets this time, which is why he dared to say that he could reach the Dongwu capital Ava City in one fell swoop.
Rockets are not only extremely powerful and can easily destroy cities and strongholds, but they are also easy to carry.
Fighting in such mountainous areas can provide sufficient firepower support to the army without being as bulky as artillery that affects the marching speed.
As soon as the army settled down in Ruili, Cui Feng called all the generals together and said, "Next, we will enter the enemy's territory to fight. All food and grass must be seized from the enemy. The north of Dongwu is mostly mountainous, with vast land and sparse population. If 40,000 troops are concentrated together to advance, it is not only unnecessary, but also affects the marching speed, and it is difficult to seize sufficient food and grass supplies.
Therefore, next, we must divide our troops, each taking a different route and advancing together. With dispersed forces, we can move faster and it will be easier to obtain sufficient food and grass supplies.
However, it is difficult to support each other after the troops are dispersed, so everyone should be careful and do not fall into the enemy's ambush. As long as we don't fall into the ambush, with our powerful firepower, the enemy will be difficult to stop, and it should not be difficult to kill all the way to Ava City."
"Yes, General!" All the generals responded in unison.
Next, Cui Feng began to assign combat tasks. Bai Wenxuan, Chen Guimin, Chen Ruizheng and Li Tongbin each led a group of troops. Cui Feng led the main force and divided the troops into five groups to attack Ava City in a coordinated manner.
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ps: The Emperor summoned you: listen carefully to those who are going to rent a room. Today, we will launch a nationwide crackdown on pornography and illegal publications. We will strictly investigate those who rent rooms without a license. Even those who pick up soap will not be allowed to do so. Anyone caught will be thrown into a pig cage. This is my order! (To be continued..)
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