Chapter 363 Defeat Him Again
Tu Hai already had Zhao Yulin's telescope. This military telescope had been used by Zhao Yulin's Shenwei Army for nearly ten years and had long been standard equipment at the battalion level. It was only because of the sacrifices of scouts and generals that it began to be scattered and obtained by them.
Including Meng Gong and Zhao Yulin of the Song army in Jiangdong, they all asked for some to be sent over. After all, the Mongolian army, as a powerful enemy, already had them.
Tu Hai rode his horse to the top of a sand hill, took out a telescope and looked around. Sure enough, there were several black cylindrical objects facing him on the terrace at the mouth of the gorge in the distance.
This plateau is at least ten feet high from the canyon, and it is extremely difficult to attack it. However, cannons can only fire at long ranges, not at close range. The Song army's sniper position is about half a mile in front of the plateau, which is strange.
Why didn't the Shenwei Army set up the sniper positions farther away?
Obviously, they didn't have many troops. After thinking about this, he immediately ordered the previous 10,000-man brigade to disperse and charge, avoid the artillery fire of the Shenwei Army, approach the gorge and then form a battle formation to attack.
The Mongolian army quickly sent out a team of 10,000 people to attack the Shenwei Army. The dense cavalry was divided into several small teams and passed through the gullies of the sand dunes towards the gorge, gradually moving closer to the positions of the Song army, and the team was constantly approaching the positions in front.
However, he did not see the Song army firing.
Seeing that the Mongolian army was about to approach the Song army's position at the gorge, the Mongolian army was reorganizing its formation and was about to launch an attack, but the Song army still did not fire. Tu Hai began to suspect whether the cannon on the mountain was a disguised fake.
If it was fake, his 10,000 cavalry would have already captured the position at the gorge by charging into the group.
It was not until the Mongolian army launched a charge and entered the Song army's sniper position about two hundred steps away that the mortars and red cannons on the mountain finally opened fire. The dense artillery shells quickly blew out a barrage of fifty to sixty meters wide, completely separating the Mongolian and Song armies. The few Mongolian soldiers who escaped were quickly killed by the sniper Song army.
Tu Hai was petrified when he saw such intensive artillery fire.
Damn, the firepower is too strong.
On the high platform, Liu Hu, the new commander of the Fourth Column of the Shenwei Army, was very satisfied when he saw the excellent interception effect of the Red Cannon.
However, there is no other way to intercept at such a close distance.
His predecessor, Feng Guiqi, the column leader, was promoted to deputy commander of the Qinzhidao Corps after leading his troops to Yan'an Prefecture. Liu Hu was naturally appointed as the column leader. When attacking Yushulin, he took the initiative to lead a corps as a vanguard to rush over.
After Liu Hu arrived and surveyed the surroundings, he found that only this high platform was guarding the gorge, which was suitable for his defensive operations with a small number of troops.
There was a rare source of water on the high platform, so he immediately ordered the artillery to be transported up to form a position. The troops quickly got busy.
However, after the Red Cannon was installed, it fired two shots at the desert but neither of them exploded. The artillery fired two more shots in succession and found that the shells had hit the sand and were completely buried.
The reason was finally found: the sand was too soft and the collision strength of the thunder bomb was not enough to detonate the shell.
In order to unleash the power of the Red Cannon, they had to retreat to their defensive position and leave the desert less than two miles in front of the high platform. Once the ground became hard, there was no need to worry about the shells not exploding.
That's why the scene just now happened. The cannons of the Shenwei Army didn't start singing until the Mongolian army walked out of the desert and was about to rush to the sight.
However, Liu Hu quickly adjusted his strategy, ordering the artillery to lower the firing rate and reduce the consumption of shells, because he was afraid that there would not be enough shells because the fire was too fast.
He was also worried that the Mongolian army would think that this road was blocked and there was no hope of advancing, and would immediately intend to retreat and escape. In this case, the piece of fat meat that he had finally caught would be gone.
After one offensive, Tu Hai's subordinates saw that the power of the Shenwei Army's artillery fire had weakened, and immediately told him that this Song Army had a small number of troops and were a vanguard unit that was lightly equipped and advanced quickly. They certainly did not carry much ordnance and baggage. As long as they consumed their artillery shells and broke through the Hongshi Gorge, they would have a good chance of winning.
You can also send a team of troops to attack from the side and rear of the high platform to surround this group of Song troops.
Tu Hai immediately adjusted the deployment, continued to organize the attack from the front, sent out the Iron Pagoda to fight with the Shenwei Army, and separated a team of 2,000 people, concentrated water bags for this task force to cross 30 miles of desert and outflanking from the side and rear.
From his high platform on the mountain, Liu Hu observed the enemy's successive attacks, all in small groups and in multiple directions. He knew that the enemy had become smarter and wanted to entangle him and consume his ammunition.
His captain said with a serious expression that the enemy must have some tricks behind doing this. He pointed to the continuous line of the Mongolian army and said that there were at least 20,000 of them, and they could easily send out a group of troops to make a flanking attack.
Liu Hu said this for sure. The enemy is good at flanking attacks and they will definitely resort to trickery when they see that a frontal attack is difficult.
He asked: Where is Marshal Feng now?
The captain said that in order to paralyze the enemy, General Feng and his men set out a day late. Also, the group was indeed marching slowly, and they were still a hundred miles away from the battlefield yesterday.
The sun was setting and the wind was blowing fiercely. Liu Hu looked at the sky and ordered the guards to be deployed to prepare for retreat to the high platform to prevent the enemy from attacking from the rear.
The staff officer muttered beside him: We can definitely hold this platform. If we can contact Marshal Feng, we can let the enemy in and make a fool of them.
Liu Hu glared at him and said that if the five thousand brothers retreated to the mountain, it would be Ma Su who would guard Jieting. As the commander-in-chief, he should not make a decision lightly.
The sun set, and after half a day of fierce fighting, the Mongolian army retreated and the two sides broke contact.
The two armies ended in a draw in this battle.
Although Tu Hai lost a lot of men, he didn't care. He would just go back and recruit more even if all his men were gone. But he was very depressed that his intention to take the gorge and gain a foothold in one go failed. The whole team was still playing with sand in the desert.
The same thing happened to his soldiers. The initial excitement of rushing into the canyon to drink water was gone, and each of them was holding a water bag with half a bag of water left to moisten their throats.
How could these soldiers be so angry? Damn it! The river was flowing happily in the canyon, but they could see it but couldn't touch it, let alone drink a sip. They all stared at the canyon and cursed.
Two hundred miles away, Zhao Yulin arrived in Mizhi County.
The Shenwei Army had just recaptured this county. During the Song Dynasty, it was not called Mizhi County, but Mizhi Village. The Shenwei Army of Yan'an Prefecture came out in full force and captured the nearby prefectures and counties in a short period of time, aiming at Linzhou.
However, the Shenwei Army's advance ended here.
Zhao Yulin's strategy was never to fight an unprepared battle. The infantry team marched hundreds of miles northward, and the logistics and baggage transportation became the biggest trouble. Before the transformation of the infantry to cavalry was completed, he would not let his brothers take risks.
As the sun set, Tu Hai saw that there was no hope of victory and called off his troops. The enemy and our side broke contact and confronted each other.
Seeing that there was no news from the rear team, Liu Hu, the leader of the Shenwei Army, ordered his troops to send out guards far away, ready to abandon their positions and climb up the hill at any time.
Two hundred miles away in Mizhi County, Zhao Yulin had just sat down in the county government office. Zhao Yulin had just finished bathing, changed his clothes and sat down when Miao Gui came in to talk to him.
In this battle, the Qinzhidao Army went out in full force, captured Jiaxian County in the north, and fought to Dingbian in the west. After connecting Jingbian, Hengshan and Yushulin into a line, they basically blocked the Mongolian army's passage to the south and initially restored control of the area west of the river and south of the Great Wall.
Miao Gui felt that it was enough and had already ordered the transition to clearing out the remaining soldiers and bandits and restoring the regime.
However, Zhao Yulin thought that we should not be careless.
Because there has not been a head-on decisive battle with the Mongolian army yet, as long as the two sides have not used their strength to fight each other, they will not know the strength of the other side, so how can they stop?
When Miao Gui saw Hu Lan beside him, he wanted to continue talking, but then hesitated. His hesitant look was very funny.
Hu Lan was very smart. She leaned on Zhao Yulin's shoulder and said to Miao Guizhi with a smile: Don't be afraid, brother Miao. I am already brother Yulin's woman. No woman would betray her own man.
Zhao Yulin turned his head and looked at her and asked: When did you become husband and wife?
I can really say that.
Hu Lan straightened his head and said it was a matter of time. I just stayed in my brother's room and refused to leave. I didn't believe that he was just a piece of wood.
My god, how can you say such a thing?
Miao Gui’s face turned red and he turned to leave.
Zhao Yulin ignored her and told her to speak.
Miao Gui sat down quickly, took a sip of tea and said, "Things are going so smoothly that I am a little worried. I don't know how Brother Guiqi is doing on the way there. The other places are all guarded by cities and forts, but in front of him is a wilderness of elm forests."
Zhao Yulin smiled and said: Are you worried? Then let him send the 5,000 cavalry over. He has plenty of reserve troops anyway.
Miao Gui laughed and said that was the emergency mobile force of the entire legion, how could he dare to transfer it easily? If there was an emergency, where would he find a horse?
Zhao Yulin pointed to Hongshi Gorge and said that if he wanted to expand, he would mobilize a force to seize Yulinshulin and set up a camp there, just like us. They could also enter and exit the grassland.
While the two were still discussing, a military report arrived. Feng Guiqi reported that Liu Hu had already engaged the enemy, and Tu Hai had led about 20,000 troops to capture Yulin. He himself had already accelerated his march to reinforce.
Zhao Yulin immediately stood up and walked to the map to look at it. Miao Gui exclaimed: "Brother, you really hit the nail on the head." He immediately ordered the cavalry to reinforce.
Zhao Yulin nodded and said: We have to be quick, it will be easy for us once we defeat this group of enemies.
Miao Gui immediately went to deploy troops.
At this moment, Lu Huacai led the western troops to attack Hengshan Village and seize Jingbian and Dingbian. Du Baiyue led his troops north to Jiaxian County, leaving Miao Gui alone in the big tent.
Hu Lan asked him in high spirits, Tu Hai is very powerful, can you defeat him?
Zhao Yulin said disdainfully that he was just an unknown young general. He had probably been defeated by that guy several times, so he didn't mind letting him lose again.
He asked Hu Lan to go back to the house as he wanted to rest for a while and have a nap first.
As for Feng Guiqi, when he received Liu Hu's report, he was still seventy or eighty miles away from Yushulin. He immediately sent out a general team to advance lightly.
Feng Guiqi thought as he walked: Most of the Mongolian troops are cavalry. If they want to run, they can escape quickly along the desert road. It will be too difficult for the Shenwei Army to enter the desert to chase them.
How can we destroy this enemy more easily?
