Grenade Fears Water
Chapter 278: Earth Ridge
It is said that Yue Fei's division crossed Mount Fusi from Jizhou (later Ji'an) in the northwest and then advanced south along the Pingjiang River.
This posture, considering the public case a few months ago when Yue Fei set up a base camp in Jizhou and then demanded grain from Fuzhou, might make people think that Yue Fei had been holding his troops in Jizhou for the past two or three months.
But in reality, during these two months or so, the Vanguard Army of Yue Fei's Imperial Guard had successively departed from Qian Prefecture, crossed the Five Ridges, entered Guangnan East Road, then turned into Guangnan West Road, entered Guizhou, joined Wu Min to penetrate the Five Ridges from south to north again, and then arrived at Yongzhou in Jinghu South Road, and then returned to Jizhou from Guiyang Prefecture.
In other words, Yue Fei did not wait in Jizhou for more than two months without making any moves. Instead, he made a large circle around the entire Five Ridges area, penetrated the Nanling Mountains twice, and fought in more than a dozen prefectures, states, and military prefectures in Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Guangxi. It just so happened that he returned to Jizhou.
And doing so certainly had an effect.
It must be known that those bandits who occupied various places in the Five Ridges mostly relied on geographical advantages and the so-called miasma of Nanling. However, under Yue Fei's division's strict discipline, majestic and rigorous tactical arrangements, and calm and appropriate logistical control, these things seemed so vulnerable.
As a result, after this circle, not only the well-known Qian bandits, but also the Miao villages and bandits in other places were driven out of the Nanling Mountains by Yue Fei like ducks... At present, more than four hundred groups of bandits, rebel villages, and military rebels who had lost their bases, under the call of some big leaders, gathered in Xingguo, united more than one hundred thousand troops, and were forced to fight a decisive battle with the Vanguard Army of the Imperial Guard.
However, more than four hundred groups of heroes, more than one hundred thousand people, gathered with great difficulty, and then they were either cutting chicken heads and swearing brotherhood, or forming gangs and electing leaders, or competing for control of villages, towns, and water sources, or fighting each other for loot, completely unaware that Yue Fei had already led the main force back and had already passed Mount Fusi.
At dawn, more than four hundred groups of heroes were even more shocked to find that the high ground north of the plain had been occupied by the government army, and the flags of the Song Dynasty government army, including the Zhang character flag that they had become familiar with in the previous two months, had already fluttered on that red earth ridge.
Faced with sudden military pressure, panic began to spread. Some tried to escape, but with more than four hundred groups of rebels gathered together, where could they find a proper retreat route? Some tried to launch a surprise attack, but again, with more than four hundred groups of rebels huddled together, how could they mobilize troops?
It must be known that among these more than four hundred groups of rebels, there were some prestigious leaders, such as Li Dunren, a native of Qian Prefecture, Li Dongtian, who was driven over from Jizhou by Yue Fei, and Peng Tieda, who was originally proclaimed king in Jinghu South Road and was driven all the way from Hunan by Yue Fei... These families each had more than ten thousand soldiers, and below them, such as Chen Yong, Zhong Chao, Lü Tian, Zhong Daya, Liu Bada Wu, Xie Bao, and Xie Da, were all well-known bandits in the Wuling area, each with more than a thousand men.
But no matter how famous or strong they were, how could they act under the current circumstances? You must know that after making a lot of noise for many days, they hadn't even elected a leader.
And in the chaos, Li Dongtian and Peng Tieda, two big leaders in the north of the city, were forcibly dragged to the foot of the ridge by the heroes, erected flags, built thatched sheds, set up desks, killed cats, stewed snakes, and served wine. During this time, tens of thousands of troops gathered under the leadership of the heroes, but they still could not... They wanted to dispatch their own troops forward, but they didn't know where to dispatch them from. They wanted to send the other groups of heroes stationed in the north of the city to go side by side, but they only heard countless cries of pain. Everyone said that Zhang Xian was powerful and occupied the mountains. They came from small mountain villages, their armor was incomplete, and going up would only be a waste of life and demoralizing.
Finally, the two kings Li and Peng stomped their feet repeatedly, holding up realgar wine and shouting that there was not a single true hero at the moment.
But, you can't say that, among the more than four hundred groups of heroes, there were all kinds of people, and there were definitely those who were not afraid of death. Since Li and Peng scolded like this, someone was indeed provoked. In the morning, a group of heroes from the mountainous area of Yongzhou in Jinghu South Road, only three or four hundred people, actually launched a surprise attack on the unnamed red earth ridge on their own initiative, without any support, led by their own leader.
Three or four hundred people, half Miao and half Han. The Miao could speak Chinese, and the Han were equally wild in nature. It was impossible to tell who was Han and who was Miao.
And at the height of summer, the elite ones mostly wore leather armor, holding knives and forks in front, and the unarmored ones mostly stripped their torsos and held bows in the rear. There were even Miao women wearing silver headdresses and holding machetes in the rear shouting commands and dancing to pray... It could be considered a typical Nanling mountain village model, which was not surprising.
Only the leader was more than eight feet tall and wore an ill-fitting loose iron armor, a helmet found from somewhere, and carried a large iron spear. He personally bowed and led the way, which was admirable.
As soon as this man climbed up, King Li Dongtian patted his knee with wine in hand and said to the surrounding leaders that this man had Zhao Zilong's bravery and would definitely succeed... This led the other heroes to flatter him while imitating King Peng and curling their lips there.
As for Zhang Xian's division, which was attacked head-on by this small armed force, they looked down from the high ground and had long seen this group of 'heroes', but they didn't care. Instead, they watched and laughed on the mountain ridge... This could not be considered their underestimation of the enemy. After fighting these Nanling 'heroes' many times, they had long known their characteristics. They were not afraid of death, and they could be called brave, but they were poorly equipped and lacked organization and discipline.
According to their experience, a few rounds of volleys in front of them would be enough to defeat this attack.
This was also correct. After a short while, seeing this team of men feigning an attack approached, Zhang Xian's general Han Shunfu immediately ordered a counterattack. For a time, bows and crossbows fired together, and arrows rained down. This rashly attacking 'hero' was immediately defeated and retreated directly. The iron-clad man who was leading the way was pierced by several arrows on the back of his armor and also directly collapsed with a group of people around him in the bushes, unable to get up. It seemed that he was shot to death on the spot. As for the Miao woman who was directing and supervising the battle in the rear, she threw away the knife in her hand angrily and stopped shouting or dancing. She just squatted there and wiped her tears.
Having won easily, the government army did not go down to clean up the battlefield, obviously knowing the difference in numbers and only wanting to hold this unnamed red earth ridge.
"It's a pity for a hero, I didn't even have time to ask his name." Under the shed at the foot of the ridge, this time King Peng Tieda patted his knee repeatedly.
"This kind of rashness can't be considered a true hero." King Li Dongtian had a different view, as if it wasn't him who had just praised the man as Zhao Zilong reborn.
Peng Tieda heard this and despised him in his heart, but he simply turned back and called his confidant: "Take twenty bolts of cloth and one hundred strings of cash and send them to the Miao woman of this hero's family so that she can recruit another man as strong as this to be her mountain village husband."
King Peng was so generous that he immediately attracted enthusiastic praise from the small village leaders around him, and for a time he suppressed King Li's aura, as if King Li, who had also given twenty bolts of cloth, was so stingy.
However, at this moment, a miracle happened.
It is said that the Song army won easily and saw that the rebel leaders below were lively and no longer had any probing actions, so they relaxed their vigilance. The general Han Shunfu even ordered the troops to bury pots and cook food in preparation for the upcoming battle. But at this time, in the sight of a few sharp-eyed heroes at the foot of the ridge, the leader, who was not known to be Miao or Han, was only feigning death. At this time, he had already climbed up the ridge again. Not only that, but more than a dozen 'heroes' around him, similar to bodyguards, were all following suit. Taking advantage of the Song army's relaxation overhead, they suddenly rose again.
A moment later, with thunderous cheers resounding from under the ridge, the iron-helmeted man jumped up with a large iron spear and directly attacked the Song army's position, with the force of a fierce tiger, killing several people in a row.
Even Han Shunfu, who had experienced scenes like the Yao Mountain battle, could not stop the word 'sudden'. He drew his sword to meet the enemy, but was directly killed by the man, who blocked the attack with a spear, and then easily snatched the sword with a backhand, as easily as taking a bamboo pole from a child's hand... Since the sword was in his hand, he struck again, directly chopping off Han Shunfu's arm.
Fortunately, the surrounding soldiers had strict military discipline. Seeing this situation, they did not collapse. Instead, they swarmed up and rescued Han Shunfu by force. They dragged their own general and the severed arm away together.
But the Song army's frontmost position was seized by the man.
And the man seized the position and quickly raised the Song army's flag with an iron spear and waved it remotely, signaling the 'heroes' below to come up and meet him.
However, although the voices of the heroes below were quite loud when they cheered and cheered before, they hesitated for a while when they saw this situation. Only two or three heroes were probably stimulated by the man above and climbed up with their respective subordinates. The rest of the heroes just looked at the two kings, Li and Peng.
Li Dongtian was obviously tempted and wanted to order everyone to go forward immediately.
But unexpectedly, King Peng Tieda shook his head solemnly: "Zhang Xian's skills are unknown to others, but how can we not know them? Although this hero is a hero, he only took advantage of the surprise attack and will probably lose his life in vain soon... This battle still requires the deployment of a large army."
Li Dongtian, along with many heroes around him, was hesitant when he heard this.
However, it didn't take long for the heroes to no longer have to hesitate because the situation on the ridge had indeed reversed as King Peng had said... Zhang Xian's division was obviously stimulated by this surprise attack. The entire red earth ridge instantly came to life, countless flags waved, and the sound of clappers was rapid and loud, which could be heard clearly on the ridge and below.
In sight, Zhang Xian's flag directly appeared on the front line of the lost position. Tidy shouts of killing sounded in that area, instantly overwhelming the noise below the ridge. The several mountain villages that were feigning an attack also encountered direct and fierce attacks from the Song army and collapsed on the spot.
This time, the Song army simply sent people down to make up for the blades with bayonets to prevent accidents.
As for the man who had just won a miraculous victory, he did not die directly. Instead, after a short while, he jumped off the ridge almost alone, his large spear was obviously abandoned, but he carried a rattan shield snatched from nowhere, constantly rolling in the mountains relying on the terrain, trying to avoid arrows, and at the same time struggling to escape down.
After that, just as the man miraculously survived and rolled down from the ridge, Han Shunfu, who had lost his position, lost an arm, and seemed to be unable to survive, was executed on the spot by Zhang Xian's military law, beheaded, and his head was hung on the position along with his severed arm... Han Shunfu's deputy was also ordered to take over the position.
At the same time, Zhang Xian's division received Zhang Xian's military order, and in this battle, it was necessary to capture the attacking rebel general.
In general, a surprise attack was indeed brilliant, but it did not affect the overall situation.
And hundreds of groups of heroes discussed for a long time around the two kings at the foot of the ridge, but they still could not organize an effective attack. Even the escaped man had come to make trouble, but he was driven out by Li Dongtian before he got close, which caused a lot of dissatisfaction.
After such a messy morning, the heroes were still unable to organize an attack. At this time, the third king, Li Dunren, who was from Qian Prefecture, suddenly came from the south with dozens of other groups of heroes and told the heroes here a terrible piece of news.
"The government army is coming together from the southwest and southeast!" Li Dunren had read books and described the situation clearly. "The flag in the southwest is Wang, which should be Wang Gui. The southeast is Fu, which should be Fu Xuan. The two families came along Pingjiang River, one on the left and one on the right, and have blocked both sides of the lower reaches of Pingjiang River, locking the road to the south... Adding Zhang Xian on this red earth ridge, they are locking our more than four hundred groups of heroes in this valley of Xingguo County. I don't know when Duke Yue will come to make the final blow?!"
"In this case, we can only seize this ridge before Duke Yue arrives, and then turn around to break the Jiang River?" Peng Tieda immediately understood.
"There should be only this way." Li Dunren sincerely replied.
The surrounding people were panicked, but they did not dare to say much in the shed. Under the thatched shed, more than a dozen big leaders looked at each other, and finally turned their eyes to the three biggest kings, Peng Tieda, Li Dunren, and Li Dongtian.
The three of them also looked at each other, but did not speak for a while... Of course, everyone understood that in the end, wasn't it just who wanted to be the commander?
Among the more than four hundred groups of heroes, there were no less than ten big leaders who claimed to be kings, and the strongest of the ten were these three. The result of making noise for many days without a leader was not that these three had always had ideas?
Of course, this was not an excessive thing. To win against the government army, all four hundred groups of heroes had to work together.
"The valley entrance in the west is the most dangerous." After a while, Peng Tieda suddenly got up, took a sip of realgar wine, and then opened his chest, facing the other two kings with half a chest of black hair. "I'll lead my troops to the west..."
The other two were immediately stunned.
But soon, Li Dunren also nodded quickly: "King Peng is a true hero... If that's the case, I will give up Xingguo City and cross the river to the east of Pingjiang to prevent Fu Xuan from attacking from across the river."
Li Dongtian was immediately stunned, but he couldn't hide his excitement: "The two kings are true heroes!"
As soon as this statement came out, the heroes who could get a word in also gave a thumbs up and praised the two as true heroes.
Of course, they were true heroes.
It is said that this time, two of the three showed sincerity. Peng Tieda volunteered to go to the most dangerous west, and Li Dunren took the initiative to cross the river to the east bank. Although there was suspicion of preserving strength, as a native of Qian Prefecture, who had previously occupied Xingguo County, taking the initiative to give up Xingguo County itself was very meaningful.
Two of the three big leaders showed sincerity, and of course the last one had to show sincerity as well.
Therefore, after a little hesitation, Li Dongtian put forward the title he had thought of, which was to give Peng Tieda and Li Dunren each the title of Deputy Heavenly King!
And the two Deputy Heavenly Kings were so grateful that they unanimously elected Li Dongtian as the Pingjiang Grand Heavenly King, letting him lead the four hundred groups of heroes, including more than ten great heroes such as Chen Yong, Zhong Chao, Lü Tian, Zhong Daya, Liu Bada Wu, Xie Bao, and Xie Da, and asking him to unite his main force under this red earth ridge, and first capture the red earth ridge as a follow-up response.
As the saying goes, one should repay a gift with a gift. Since Li Dongtian had become the Grand Heavenly King, he was still uneasy, so he forced Peng Tieda and Li Dunren to drink blood wine together and become sworn brothers, which was considered another layer of title, and then allowed the two to leave in a hurry.
After the two left, it was the summer afternoon, and the weather was unbearably hot. Since Li Dongtian had become the Grand Heavenly King, he ignored the summer heat and personally ordered the execution. He first disregarded past grudges and appointed Zhong Daya, who had old grudges with him, as the vanguard, asking him to attack the red earth ridge first in order to establish an unparalleled contribution.
Unexpectedly, Zhong Daya didn't appreciate it and didn't know that the war was dangerous. He just perfunctorily performed for a while and was easily driven down by Zhang Xian. However, he was immediately recognized by King Li and was captured and beheaded under the thatched shed as a demonstration.
However, because of Zhong Daya's shamelessness, the battle was delayed. When King Li regrouped the troops from all over and transferred his core troops, and selected Lü Tian and Xie Bao as the left and right wings, and prepared to urge the heroes to exert their strength together, at this time the sun had already set and the heat had dissipated a lot.
Looking at it, there were only one or two opportunities for large-scale attacks.
But this was not the end, because King Li suddenly remembered that there had been a strange thing in his rear camp, which was that a Grand Heavenly King's flag had been added for no reason. Only today did he know that there was a mystery of heaven, so he invited the Grand Heavenly King's flag again and respectfully erected it in front of the thatched shed.
He also didn't forget to let the heroes gather a dozen Miao women, carrying bronze drums, to dance a famous Lingnan drum dance for this flag. It is said that after this time, this flag would be invulnerable to fire and water.
However, after a performance of intangible cultural heritage that was destined to make someone in Tokyo envious was completed, just as Li Dongtian was smug, standing under the Grand Heavenly King's flag, lining up his formation, and preparing to order one hundred thousand heroes to attack the earthen ridge in one fell swoop, a landslide-like movement suddenly occurred in the direction of the western valley entrance of Yijin Township.
Then, countless soldiers poured in from the west, the flags were clear, the armor was dazzling, and the formation was clear. It was like a huge wave crashing towards the ridge below.
Li Dongtian was stunned, and at this time Zhang Xian did not hesitate to counterattack from the ridge. Hundreds of groups of heroes led hundreds of thousands of troops and scattered with a bang.
"Run away, King Li!"
Someone came from the west, passed by here, and shouted to Li Dongtian, who was still in a daze: "Peng Tieda is actually a spy of Duke Yue. He went to the west to meet the government army. Now he has directly changed the rear to the front and released Duke Yue's hundreds of thousands of troops!"
Li Dongtian remembered that this alliance was Peng Tieda's idea, and he didn't hesitate to go to Pingjiang in the east while his eyes were splitting.
However, when he came to Pingjiang, seven or eight miles away, he was the same as many escaping heroes. He could only look at the empty east bank and the ferry boats that had been sunk by Li Dunren's troops on the opposite bank, and the iron cable suspension bridge that had been untied, speechless.
At this time, some who thought they were good swimmers jumped into the river to escape, and dozens of groups of heroes became fierce and simply turned back to the west to prepare for a battle against the river.
But most people instinctively looked at the newly appointed King Li.
After all, this was the king who had a Grand Heavenly King flag descend from the sky before he became a Heavenly King, wasn't it?
However, only a moment later, Li Dongtian personally set fire to his Heavenly King flag, which was said to be invulnerable to fire and water, in the stunned gazes of many heroes, and threw the unsavable fragments wrapped in stones into Pingjiang. Then, he defected and unloaded his armor, surrendered the flag, and sent envoys to the west to surrender respectfully.
In the hot summer of May, a big wave came from the mountains in the west, pouring into the Xingguo Basin. The hundreds of thousands of Qian bandits who had been in chaos for eight years, four hundred groups of heroes, disappeared completely on the west bank of Pingjiang in one day.
The speed at which the war ended was incredible.
In fact, after Yue Fei easily surrendered more than one hundred thousand people with a near bloodless attitude, it was not yet sunset, possibly because the days were too long in summer. So, the Commander of the Imperial Guard's Vanguard Army simply set up a seat in front of the thatched shed under the red earth ridge to entertain these newly surrendered Heavenly Kings, Deputy Heavenly Kings, Big Leaders, and Small Leaders, and prepared to deal with these people today.
And before hundreds of heroes had handed over their weapons and taken their seats, Yue Fei suddenly saw Guo Jin, the famous warrior in the army, Zhang Xian's personal guard leader, nicknamed Big Ladle, personally leading seven or eight armored soldiers, dragging a burly man who was tied up tightly but had a bruised nose and swollen face, came over, bypassed the seats, and looked for Zhang Xian, saying that he had not failed his mission.
In the past, the brothers from Xiangzhou, Tang Huai, had a calm personality and led the Central Army and often followed Yue Fei's side. Wang Gui was the recognized deputy of the entire army, and Zhang Xian was now in the army, leading an army alone, basically second only to Wang Gui and Tang Huai, on par with Fu Xuan, and was of course qualified to issue military orders and rewards, so Yue Fei didn't care.
However, the man was dragged in front of the thatched shed by Guo Jin like livestock, looked around, couldn't help but roar to the sky, and then shouted two words to Yue Fei: "I'm not convinced! I'm not convinced!"
Yue Fei was inexplicable, but still solemnly replied: "You are a defeated man, what are you not convinced of?"
"I have two things I'm not convinced of!" The man spoke in a different tongue and struggled to reply. "If I hadn't been injured from rolling down the mountain before, and my family and brothers in the village hadn't been surrounded, how could this Big Ladle have easily captured me?!"
Guo Jin's nickname was Big Ladle because he had a large appetite and simply tied a large copper spoon for feeding horses around his waist on weekdays, replacing the rice bowl during meals. As the personal guard leader, he could also carry a ladle to rectify military discipline... At this time, he was unexpectedly called out his nickname by the other party. However, calling nicknames among comrades in the army was a sign of intimacy, but what did it mean for a prisoner to call it?
Therefore, Guo Jin was furious when he heard this. He grabbed the rope with one hand and picked up the ladle in his other hand, slapping the ladle on the other party's face, causing the other party's nose to bleed.
But the man was also fierce in nature, still struggling even when he was beaten. When Guo Jin was stopped by Zhang Xian, he continued to speak nonsense: "This is fine! Anyway, your Duke Yue is really good at fighting! But among these people here, they are all fake heroes. Why don't I, a true hero, have a seat and have to be brought here tied up? Just because I killed your general in battle? Your general is just incompetent! I'm not convinced!"
Yue Fei found it funny and knew that this person was a bastard, and also guessed that this person had killed his own general before, attracting the attention of Zhang Xian's division. He didn't want to cause trouble and was going to push him down and behead him.
But he looked around and saw the hundreds of heroes sitting in front of him, just staring at him, and the dense number of surrendered bandit soldiers not far away, and remembered that this southern and northern expedition had taken a long time, and his heart moved slightly, but he laughed and replied to this person:
"Then I ask you, what is the name of this true hero of yours?"
"My name is Yang Zaixing, and I was driven over from Hunan by you." Yang Zaixing's nose was dripping blood non-stop, making his mouth and chin full of blood, but he raised his head and replied proudly. "Duke Yue, I am indeed a true hero. Give me a chance today, and one day I will definitely let you know my skills!"
Yue Fei didn't say a word, but looked at Zhang Xian.
Zhang Xian thought for a while, but nodded slowly: "If you only talk about skills, this person is indeed a hero, worthy of a zhengjiang! Unlike the others, who don't even dare to fart, they are really a bunch of cowards!"
Ignoring the great change in the expressions of the surrounding leaders, Yue Fei laughed and got up to untie the ropes for this person himself, preparing to personally lead this person to his seat.
Unexpectedly, this Yang Zaixing was really a mixed person. Yue Fei personally came to lead him, but he had the intention of probing and still didn't move. But he didn't expect that he was injured from rolling down the ridge in the morning, and then was beaten by Big Ladle, and Yue Fei was also a real hero, so at this time, when he was led by Duke Yue, he actually stood unsteadily and was directly led over.
Yue Fei led him to his seat, and the personal guards had already placed a stool in front of the seat, but Yang Zaixing, who had failed the test, didn't want to sit down: "Duke Yue is a true hero with skills, who can fight and has strength. I can just stand."
Yue Fei nodded slightly, didn't say much, and sat down on his own, but after sitting down, he didn't speak.
And under the setting sun, Peng Tieda and Li Dongtian looked at each other, and then quickly stood up, along with hundreds of heroes, arousing the cold eyes of the surrounding Imperial Guard soldiers.
"My mind is made up." After hundreds of leaders stood up together, Yue Fei finally spoke slowly from his seat. "Of you four hundred people, I will pardon one hundred who were forced to do so to show the court's benevolence, I will exile one hundred who have repeatedly refused to be taught to rectify the court's laws, and I will kill one hundred who have done many evils to warn others... The remaining one hundred will be incorporated into the Jingxiang military garrison or the Imperial Guard, depending on whether they have skills or not... I have finished speaking. Who among the heroes agrees and who opposes, just say it?"
Sure enough, there were still true heroes, and more than forty people stood up to oppose, so only fifty or more people needed to be used as a warning.
It was a win-win situation.
ps: Thanks to the third Meng of classmate Liuliqin!