Chapter 147: Fighting for Hetao (12)

After the arrival of winter, the rainfall has greatly decreased, and the water level of Qingshui River has dropped a lot, and many sections of the river have exposed gray riverbeds. The riverbed near Xiaoniuguan is relatively narrow, so although the water volume has decreased, the river water is still quite turbulent, tirelessly slapping the cliffs on both sides of the shore, making a "wow, wow" sound.

After defeating Fang Dangming's army, the Black Eagle Army occupied all the dangerous places in Xiao Niu Pass. Relying on Xiao Niu Pass, the Mi Catching Division, the Seifeng Division and Fang Danghanhai's troops blocked the north of Xiao Niu Pass, basically stabilizing the situation in the northwest. After nearly half a year of hard construction by the coalition forces and the later Black Eagle Army, Xiao Niu Pass fully developed the specialty of the Central Plains sergeants who were good at dealing with soil. A large number of civil engineering projects magically appeared on the cliffs on both sides of Xiao Niu Pass, turning Xiao Niu Pass into a strong defense of Baoliu. This Baoliu firmly choked the traffic route of Qingshui River.

Zhou Qing and Wu Jiaqiang are an old partner. They are the backbone of the Lion Camp of the Black Eagle Army in the Central Plains. They have gone deep into the enemy for reconnaissance countless times and made many contributions. Capturing Dawagong on the Bailong Waterfront is their masterpiece. The resourceful Zhou Qing has become the deputy commander of the Xiong Camp, while Wu Jiaqiang, who is good at observing, came to the Eagle Camp to serve as the commander of the cavalry.

After accepting the task assigned by Shi Hu, Wu Jiaqiang took advantage of the night, with the north wind whistling from the north, set out north from Xiaoniu Pass and headed north quickly on the banks of the Qingshui River, which was filled with wind and snow.

Within twenty miles north of Xiaoniuguan, there are four larger Dangxiang villages, each with one or two hundred people. Over the past few months, the Niuguan Black Eagle Army has sent countless scouts to the hinterland of the Dangxiang people, and clearly understood the situation of the Dangxiang people's villages and the military garrisoning situation. Therefore, after Wu Jiaqiang received the mobilization task, he did not need to send people to reconnaissance as usual, but directly led 500 cavalrymen to the village.

The five hundred cavalry led by Wu Jiaqiang are the most tax-related troops in the Eagle Camp, the main force of Shihu. More than half are the cavalry of the Old Lion Camp of the Black Eagle Army. Most of these cavalry are old soldiers who have lived for the rest of their lives. Forty or fifty people have married Dangxiang’s wife.

The cavalry's equipment was also extremely well-equipped, each with a yellow-drench crossbow, a longbow, two arrow pouches, a Hou family knife and a round shield dedicated to the cavalry. These five hundred cavalry were mainly used for rapid raids. In order to reduce the load on the war horses, the cavalry did not wear carriage rifles or heavy armor, but wore strong thick leather robes and fur hats. In order to strengthen protection, a round blue party armor was hung on the back of the front and back to protect the vital parts of the chest and back. From a distance, it looked somewhat similar to the famous Mingguang Thirteen Armor of the Tang Army.

The banks of Qingshui River covered by the north wind are extremely unfavorable to the large army's march. Even though the cavalry led by the Wu family strongly made full preparations, it was still extremely difficult for the troops to walk, but the soldiers wrapped their clothes tightly and still marched tenaciously along the Qingshui River.

Dangxiang herders living by the Qingshui River generally do not come out to move in this cold weather. They hide in low earth-walled houses, sleep, dream or do, drink hot milk, eat meat stored in autumn, or are hungry, waiting for the end of the long winter. For Dangxiang people, as long as the large livestock such as cattle, sheep, horses are not frozen to death, and when everything revives in the coming year, a harvest season will come. These hardworking and brave Dangxiang herders did not expect that the Zhou army occupying the Niu Pass would shamelessly attack them in such a bad weather.

Wu Jiaqiang led the cavalry for more than two hours, and just as the sky was bright, Wu Jiaqiang led the elite cavalry into the first Dangxiang village.

Five or six running Tubo dogs were the first to discover these uninvited guests. Most of these big dogs were the descendants of the most ferocious Tubo dogs by Qinghai Lake, with their heads as big as washbasins and their teeth were like daggers. They were fierce by nature and were not all tigers and wolfs. They yelled and rushed towards the cavalry team.

The Black Diao Army's scouts were active on the banks of the Qingshui River for half a year. They were afraid, hated and loved these Tubo dogs. When the scouts first arrived on the banks of the Qingshui River, they did not know the consequences of these Tubo dogs. It was not until several experienced scouts died in the Tubo dogs that the Black Diao Army began to attach great importance to the Tubo dogs. Every time the scouts went out to perform, they had to place any Tubo dogs in an important position.

Wu Jiaqiang arranged 30 soldiers to use crossbow arrows to deal with Tubo dogs. When the Tubo dog rushed out, the 30 soldiers who had prepared raised Huanghua crossbow. When the Tubo dogs rushed into the range of the crossbow arrows, a team was shouting: "Detect crossbows. Although the Tubo dogs have long hair and thick flesh, they cannot stop the crossbow arrows that can break iron armor. As the Tubo dogs bark and cry, six Tubo dogs were shot in front of the horse. Wu Jiaqiang is a man who loves fierce dogs. Seeing these strong Tubo dogs lying on the ground and struggling, he shook his head in pain.

While solving the Tubo dogs, Wu Jiaqiang's cavalry had already rushed into this small village with only one or two hundred people. The cavalrymen of the Black Eagle Army rode their horses in the village, quickly divided the village into several pieces. Several cavalrymen rode their horses and galloped in the village, shouting in Dangxiangshu: "When people come out of the house, they are concentrated in the empty dam outside the village, otherwise they will be killed."

The Black Eagle Army soldiers who shouted were all trained. They were very skilled in these words. Dangxiang's village was originally small. The war horses were galloping in the village and soon ran back and forth several times. The rushing sound of horse hooves, the stern shouts, the crying of Dangxiang women and children, and the sound of weapons colliding, crisp or dull, echoing in this small village surrounded by the cold.

Dangxiang herdsmen are not very tall. They live on horseback all year round and eat mainly meat. Therefore, Dangxiang's young and middle-aged people are very strong. As long as they take out swords and arrows and step on war horses, they are an excellent soldier. It is precisely for this reason that although Dangxiang's population is not large, they can easily form a powerful army.

The people of the Central Plains eat grains and live in the fields all year round. They are used to holding hoes and hatches in their hands. They are not good at riding horses and archery. They have not been trained. The Central Plains sergeants have far inferior to those of the Dangxiang sergeants who are also not trained. If the Central Plains army wants to form combat effectiveness, they must undergo strict training.

There were only a hundred families in Dangxiang village. Under the raid of the full-scale armed Black Eagle Army, they basically lost organized resistance. More than 20 young and middle-aged Dangxiang people who dared to resist were hacked and killed in their own yard on the spot. The remaining Dangxiang people were driven to an open space outside the village under the force of force. Three hundred cavalrymen surrounded these Dangxiang people. Wu Jiaqiang said to the Black Eagle Army who was following him: "Tell these Dangxiang people that Qingshui River belongs to the Great Zhou Dynasty now, let them roll far away,

Otherwise, you will be beheaded next time you see you." Each battalion of the New Black Eagle Army is equipped with some Lingzhou people who speak Dangxiang language, who are responsible for the military's translation work. This Black Eagle Army soldier is a Lingzhou people who have just been recruited. After he received the order, he rode a tall horse and came to the villagers of Dangxiang, and loudly translated the Wu Jiaqiang's dialect to the Dangxiang people. After the Black Eagle Army soldiers finished speaking, the collective crying scene that Wu Jiaqiang expected did not appear. These Dangxiang people looked at the Black Eagle Army with hatred without saying a word.

When the Dangxiang people outside the village were gathering, another two hundred cavalry went to Dangxiang village and searched door by door. They gathered all the cattle, horses and other large animals together and rushed to the direction of Xiaoniuguan. When the Dangxiang people outside the village saw their cattle and horses being stolen, they were all heartbroken. A Dangxiang man held a short knife, "Ao, Ao" shouted at the Black Eagle Army soldiers who rushed toward him. Most of the Black Eagle Army soldiers were killed on the battlefield and surrounded the Dangxiang people.

They were all very alert, holding the cold Hou family knife in their hands. Before the Dangxiang man holding the short knife had already rushed to the Black Eagle Army soldiers, the Black Eagle Army rider held the sabre and slashed fiercely. The Dangxiang man holding the short knife was cut down by the sharp Hou family knife, and blood quickly gushed out. The Dangxiang man was very strong. He endured the painful heart-wrenching pain from his arm, and walked to the broken hand tilted and picked up the broken hand. Then he sat on the ground with his butt.

Seeing this scene, all the Dangxiang people became irritated. Many people drew a short knife. An old Dangxiang man stood in front of the team when he saw something was wrong, with his hands open and shouting at the top of his lungs. The Dangxiang people slowly calmed down.

Wu Jiaqiang was surrounded by a soldier who was recruiting from Lingzhou. He could understand Dangxiang's words. Wu Jiaqiang asked, "What is that old man talking about?" The soldier smiled and said, "This old man is advising Dangxiang's people not to be impulsive, and to change to Zhongyuan's words. He just keeps the green mountains there, and is not afraid of not having any burning intentions."

The man with a broken arm was already unconscious on the ground. A woman hugged him and shouted loudly. Three children of Dangxiang gathered around, a little girl cried with the woman. Two boys were about eleven or twelve years old, holding a short knife in their hands and looking at the ferocious Black Eagle Army rider with hatred.

Wu Jiaqiang was used to seeing scenes that were hundreds of times more bloody than this. He didn't care about the pain and tears of tears. He ordered: "Populate the hot turd oil into the house and burn the village." After hearing the order, the fifty black eagle riders took off their skins and ran to the village. After a while, the rolling smoke rushed into the sky from the village and was mercilessly blown away by the north wind.

The prestigious old man Dangxiang watched the village he had lived in for a lifetime turn into ashes, and suddenly knelt on the ground, crawled on the ground, buried his face in the ground, and whimpered in a low voice like a wild wolf.

Wu Jiaqiang looked at the smoke and knew that after the fire burned, the village would be destroyed. If the Dangxiang people did not want to be frozen to death and starved, they could only evacuate northward and go to another Dangxiang village about thirty miles away. The terror was passed on. With the precedent of the Black Diao Army destroying the village, other villages under the threat of the Black Diao Army's military front would definitely consider the issue of retreat. After the Xihui Prefecture was filled with fleeing Dangxiang people, the shortage of food would destroy the fighting spirit of the Dangxiang people without war. At that time, Fangdanghanhai had only three roads: either fight the Black Diao Army, surrender, or flee to the northwest.

Wu Jiaqiang did not hurt a single person and successfully attacked the village of Dangxiang people. Then he rushed to snatch hundreds of cows, horses and sheep from the land and returned to Xiaoniu Pass. When a team of cavalry arrived at the village where the cavalry arrived, Wu Jiaqiang had already started drinking mutton soup with the soldiers at Xiaoniu Pass.

After the Wu family's strong sneak attack, the other three cavalry commanders of the Eagle Camp led their troops out of the customs, constantly sweeping the Dangxiang people along the Qingshui River. Since the Black Eagle Army controlled the strategic channel of Xiaoniu Pass, people could go out of the customs and invade at any time. Fang Danghanhai's troops could not break Xiaoniu Pass, so they could not go south and could only passively defend, and were in an extremely unfavorable strategic situation.

Just as the southern front was in full swing, the Black Eagle Army on the East Road also stepped up its operations.

Chen Meng, deputy commander of the Tiger Battalion of the Black Eagle Army, set off from the Northern Military Camp and rushed directly to Xihuizhou. The Dangxiang people have occupied Xihuizhou. For hundreds of years, the Central Plains army has not crossed the border agreed by both sides. Therefore, the Dangxiang Army, the Yougu Military Village, which guards the border, is not very vigilant. The Black Eagle Army, with the cover of heavy snow, buried a bucket of improved gunpowder under the gate of the Dangxiang Army's Yougu Military Village without knowing it. With a loud bang, the Dangxiang Army, who was stunned by the bomb, had not yet fully awakened. The soldiers of the Black Eagle Army Tiger Battalion, with the cold wind and snow, flooded the entire camp like a flood breaking the dam.

Chen Meng became the deputy commander and became a serious general of the Great Zhou Empire. Thinking of the fact that he and Du Gang were still following Hou Dayong two years ago, he became the general of the empire inadvertently. This made Chen Meng very proud. Chen Meng had the same dream several times: he rode a tall horse, wearing a general, and walked to Jin Yin majestic (there will be some children in the future dreams). In short, Chen Meng was majestic in front of his husband and wife Mian Yin.

There is only a little regret. Every time Chen Meng recalls his dream, he always feels that the general uniform he wears in his dream is the same style on the stage in his hometown in Cangzhou. It seems so ugly.

When the gate of Dangxiang Yougu Military Village was blown up to the sky by gunpowder, Chen Meng held up the Hou family sword made by Dou Tianxin and rushed into Dangxiang Military Camp with the team. There were more than 2,000 soldiers in the Dangxiang Military Camp. After they were awakened by the explosion in their sleep, they had a brief panic. After a short panic, Dangxiang soldiers took the weapons they grabbed. Some were holding long swords, some were holding maces, and some were holding wooden sticks, fighting with the Zhou army who rushed in in groups.

Chen Meng led dozens of personal guards to rush around the Dangxiang Army camp. The newly created Hou Family Sword in Chen Meng's hand was simply a magic weapon. After rushing into the gate, Chen Meng swung his sword to slash a Dangxiang man with a shield. Chen Meng did not expect that this sword actually split the Dangxiang man and the shield into two pieces. Although Chen Meng's sword borrowed the huge impact of the war horse, the newly created Hou Family Sword was so sharp and unstoppable that Chen Meng was surprised and happy.

After Chen Meng led his personal guards to attack Dangxiang military camp several times, the raided Dangxiang army was urgently unable to organize effective resistance. His personal heroic behavior could not resist the organized storm of the same brave Black Eagle Army. There was no suspense in the battle situation, except for hundreds of Dangxiang soldiers who escaped from the back camp. Most of the Dangxiang soldiers were annihilated in the military camp. After the Dangxiang military camp occupied the Dangxiang military camp, the Black Eagle soldiers found a small granary in the Dangxiang military camp, which contained some gray and black pieces of meat and some grain. After the sergeants moved the grain, they poured the houses with hot tinder oil, and the blazing fired everything that could burn in the military camp.

When the news of the breakup of the Yougu military camp reached Xihui Prefecture, Xihui Prefecture was completely in chaos. Fangdanghanhai's generals were divided into two seriously opposed factions. They were quarreled in Fangdanghanhai's convention hall.

Fangdang Beidou is Fangdang Hanhai's clan brother, Fangdang Hanhai's personal guard camp, and Fangdang Hanhai's iron confidant. He shouted at another general with a blue face and black face, "You always say you want to fight the black army, but with the troops of Xihuizhou alone, you can defeat the Black Eagle Army like a wolf and a tiger. Don't forget how Fangdang's army was defeated."

Po Chaozhe was also Fang Danghanhai's confidant. During the Battle of Occarba Pass, he floated along the Qingshui River for several miles and escaped by luck. After arriving in Xihuizhou, he was appointed by Fang Danghanhai as the commander of the infantry army. He specially reorganized Fang Dangming's subordinates who escaped back. His firm pro-war faction said: "Now the Black Eagle Army put the rope on our heads from the south and from the east. If we do not fight back, we will be strangled to death by the Black Eagle Army sooner or later. Xihuizhou is just a city as big as a butt. If we lose the pasture on the Qingshui River, we will eat and drink whatever we drink in Xihuizhou. Do we drink the northwest wind blowing all over the sky? We must defeat the Black Eagle Army in order to gain a foothold in Xihuizhou."

Fang Danghanhai had a calm face and did not speak. In addition to the attack of the Black Eagle Army, he had another worry in his heart: after Fang Dangdu escaped from Tongxin City, he now occupied Jingyuan City. Gradually, nearly 7,000 Dangxiang Army gathered in Jingyuan City. After the Battle of Xiaocangguan, the power of Fangdang Hanhai changed. Fang Danghanhai had changed from a little brother to the boss of Dangxiang Fangdangman, holding more than 20,000 people in his hand. Although he could not compare with the former Yingshang Fangdangming, his strength was far greater than Fangdangdu of Jingyuan City. After Fangdangdu arrived in Jingyuan, he still asked Fangdanghanhai to go to Jingyuan City several times in the name of Fangdangman leader, and also asked Fangdanghanhai to return to Fangdangming's subordinates.

When facing a strong enemy outside, there are hidden worries inside. Fang Danghan Hai was like sitting in a oil pan. The dispute between several trusted generals became louder and louder. Fang Danghan Hai was quite upset and said in a deep voice: "Don't fight, the enemy is facing, don't mess up your own position. The Black Eagle Army is aggressive and has broken through the Yougu Military Village. If you don't attack again, Xihuizhou will have no room for maneuver."
Chapter completed!