Under the rumbling of shells and smoke and dust, Lutou Pass (now Lutou Mountain in the southwest of Deyang City, Sichuan Province), the last pass of the Five Gates of Jiannan since the Han Dynasty, was on the wall. Hanzhou governor and defense officer Zheng Junxiong also shouted hoarsely:
"Kirlangs stand it up, please stand it up for me..."
"We are no longer able to retreat. Behind us is the Chengdu Mansion, where the walking and the emperor are, and the thousands of elders and relatives in the land of Shu..."
It's just that when he heard him talk about "the elders," the local soldiers in the garrison who were dressed in disarray, inevitably looked sad or became more panicked and panicked.
And in the Neijiang/Zhongjiang rivers below the mountain, there are already boats and clouds, floating bridges and roads, and countless people and equipment are constantly being transported to and from them like flat ground. The riverside is facing the Lutou Pass on the mountain in Wan'an County. The Taiping Green Flag has already been planted, and it has become a forward stronghold and staging area for the Taiping Army to attack Lutou Pass.
Speaking of this, the process of changing hands in Wan'an County is also ridiculous. Although Zheng Junxiong, who was the first to rush to Lutou Pass, decisively issued the military order to "clear the wild and strong walls," he somewhat obviously overestimated the subjective initiative and imagination of his soldiers. As a result, when the pioneers of the Taiping Army, who were advancing on land and water, had already appeared on the horizon, these Hanzhou soldiers were still busy plundering the city's property.
In the end, Zheng Junxiong, who was in a hurry, could only send out a light soldier to confront the incoming enemy in a bluffing posture; on the other hand, he retreated into the mountain pass with the young men and materials that could be gathered on the spot. Inside the city; and then ordered that the city where the majority of the people and the people will have time to escape in the future will be set on fire; the city is full of smog and cries to the sky.
However, he once again overestimated the determination of these brave warriors who were left behind to set fire and seal the door. Seeing the pretending troops who were going to meet and fight for time, they fled back in panic, throwing their helmets and abandoning armor; their courage to die with rewards and promises was also quickly evaporated like dew in the first sun.
Therefore, under the efforts of the people in the city to save themselves, and the thief army that arrived outside the city with all-out efforts to fight it out, this "clear wild and strong wall" fire was not able to burn after all. And the thief army from afar, under his repeated hesitation, easily obtained the county seat and its household registration as a place to stay.
As a result, the corresponding troubles and troubles fell on the defenders of Hanzhou headed by Zheng Junxiong. Because, contrary to the argument that the elders who came from the escape as a reason to let the defenders share the same hatred of the enemy, the thieves did not kill in the occupied Wan'an city, but distributed outside the city gate. Give food and grass to help it.
Then, groups of villagers from all directions arrived at the riverside, and under the guidance of those peaceful thieves, they began to dig soil, build trenches, build barriers, and build pontoons; however, these areas of Dongchuan have been suffering for a long time. The bitter local grass folks quickly fell in front of the packages of coarse salt transported by the chariots and ships, and they became the enlisted civil service force.
Seeing more and more vehicles and boats converging on the river and the increasingly large thieves camp, Zheng Junxiong, who organized several nights stealing camps and dawn counterattacks, failed one after another or never returned; he could only be angry with his mouth. I scolded these foolish husbands and wives who were "no ruler and father, good fortune and righteousness", and they vowed to kill them in the future.
But no matter how Zheng Junxiong screamed, at least he understood it very well. After losing the buffer of the huge Dongchuan eight states as a barrier, now it is relying on more than a thousand guards in a Lutou Pass, plus the four he brought. Thousands of guards catching soldiers, more than 4,000 newly recruited minzhuang, and other miscellaneous new tutu groups, village soldiers and the like, how long they can hold on is still a question.
Therefore, compared with these defenders who have hardly seen any battlefields, or those who have no one to suppress and supervise in weak countries, Minzhuang who may run out at night; he puts more hope on the fresh troops from Chengdu. Then, he couldn't help but miss the Deyang elite soldier he had in his former hands.
Because their predecessor was the old army of the "Wu German Army" who surrendered and merged under the command of Yang Shili, the former Dongchuan festival commander of the rebellion, and can be called a powerful and dependent capital for a while. It was just that Gao Renhou, the Xichuan Jiedu, who was ordered to control Sanchuan, not only transferred 8,000 Zitong soldiers from Dongchuan, but also slightly brought two thousand Deyang soldiers from Dongchuan when he passed Hanzhou north.
Later, the emperor was forced by the traitor to go north to summon the division of King Qin to counterattack Chengdu. As one of the late officials, he sent 2,500 troops to participate in the grand event with his younger brother Zheng Junhan as the commander. As a result, after this team entered Chengdu, they were gone forever. The younger brother Zheng Junhan was appointed to be an official Jinjue and became a sage general, but the children of Deyang under his command were returned to Liu Jurong's southern camp.
Therefore, now he has only a thousand still-skilled Deyang children left. Together with the native soldiers and horses of Mianzhu, Shifang, and Jintang Sanshou, he controls the relatively prosperous Hanzhou Five. County land. It is more than enough to use this as a domineering blessing to accumulate and fatten oneself, but facing the thieves who are advancing on land and water and sweeping Dongchuan, they have no bottom in their hearts.
Therefore, he had to take out most of the net worth that he had managed to take away, and urged the big rooms in the city one by one; only then did he pool up enough rewards and uselessness to maintain the morale of the army. Thinking of this, Zheng Junxiong, who was tired of sweaty and hoarse voice, couldn't help but question the left and right again:
"It's only a hundred miles away to Chengdu. It's the terrain of Pingchuan. Even a stagecoach is a day trip. Why haven't we heard any news of reinforcements?"
At this time, the sound of golden drums under the mountain once again became louder, and the bandit army array was in the artillery fortress piled up under the mountain. The harassment and containment of the artillery were unhurriedly maintained, and after a short pause, it suddenly became too loud. It hurried up; it was like the sound of a mountain avalanche and the ground cracking, blasting many hot iron balls on the rammed-earth wooden fence at the same time according to the calibrated shooting boundary.
Suddenly, the earth and rocks splashed and the dust and smoke almost submerged the entire barrier in the movement of bombardment; moreover, many reinforced crenels were shattered and smashed again, and the guards behind them were covered. There are also newly created defensive equipment of various colors, fragmented and bursting everywhere, leaving behind a messy Shura field everywhere.
Some people even slumped on the ground and couldn't get up. Some people dropped their swords, guns, and crossbows. They began to flee regardless of turning around, but their heads were chopped off by the private soldiers in the customs. And amidst the violent stormy bombardment and the constant cracking and falling of the wall, many teams of peaceful soldiers with a license were also launched from the formation below the mountain.
Amidst the raised Taiping green flag and the crisp flute and drum beats, wearing relatively light-weight silk and iron cotton armor, they alternately concealed themselves and rushed up the hillside; one after another they passed the previous one. The perimeter fences, horizontal ditch, horse-rejection, and pickets that have been demolished, pulled out, and filled in, slowly push forward towards the wall.
At this time, the rumbling of the cannon finally sparsed down. And from the wall that looked dilapidated and shaky, but still remained roughly outline, began to shoot some sporadic arrows; clinking on the iron plaque raised diagonally by the attacking troops; It is basically nothing.
On the contrary, behind the group of iron plates, the hunters who had reached enough range began to find their respective targets. With the alternating arrow shots and the blasting sounds from time to time, the broken barrier wall also began to make sporadic screams. And panic clamor. In this suffocating and tense atmosphere, the steadily advancing Taiping soldiers have already begun to fill in and demolish the last fence near the wall.
At this time, a sharp drumbeat sounded on the wall again, and many figures holding bows and crossbows radiating continuously came out. The Taiping sergeant who had reached within twenty or thirty paces did not show any weakness, and under the cover of the iron plate supported by the front, they raised their guns and fired away from them.
In this fierce confrontation, there are still the first ascendants who are holding the iron plate and jumping forward. They have successfully approached within a distance of more than ten steps from the barrier, and then rushed to the end of the mountain trail with a rope and a hook on their backs. The doorway was tightly stuffed up. At this time, many obviously polished rolling stones and woods were also thrown on the wall where the dust was splashed and shot so hard to show up;
In this way, following the pits and bumps of the mountain, it rolled into the Taiping army array of the attack. Some of them were successfully stopped by layers of shield wall stacking force, or deflected to the side to pass, but there were also some dodge or unmatched formations, which were smashed and scattered and rolled down blood dripping. Then he was stopped by more rear teams rushing up the hillside, cleared and stacked to one side.
Afterwards, there were many more smoke trails rising from the hillside where the temporary launching site was arranged, slid through a rather tortuous arc in the air, and then dropped on the inside and outside of the wall; they became a mass again. The exploding cloud of smoke, or the big flames and sparks that burst again, aroused the screams of screams after another.
Suddenly interrupted the rhythm of those desperately throwing rocks and woods; and under the threat of the dripping and dripping dots on the wall, the first ascend warriors who came close to the doorway and slammed into the wall. The iron bolt of the rope was nailed to the thick door panel; or another cut was made, the preformed long hard medicine packet was stuffed in, and then the iron mang was used to cover and nail it.
The next moment, he personally led the personal team to retreat the guards from the wall, and even Zheng Junxiong, who slashed and slashed back, also felt a sudden shock on the ground. He saw a big burst out above the doorway of the barrier. Pengsha soil, and the center collapsed in pieces. Can't help but stunned and yelled according to the knife:
"Zhongerlang, the death day for the country is at this moment..."
"Wei Rong army came to help and fight thieves together."
As if echoing his audacious roar, a large shout came from behind the barrier in the next moment: With the flag of "Yang" raised aloft on the top of the back mountain, it was the military envoy of Wei Rong. The first wave of reinforcements led by Yang Sheng, the defensive envoy of Xishan, happened to arrive. (End of this chapter)