Jianmen Pass!

Although the divine crossbow general Zhang Ling is 69 years old, he can still pull out a big bow of two stones. The soldiers under his command often compare him to Old Huang Zhong and have great trust in him. This veteran is indeed not in the support of the soldiers under his command. She Chongming rebelled a few years ago and led 100,000 tribes to rebel. Zhang Ling led his army to fight and joined forces with Qin Liangyu, which made She Chongming run away in a hurry, and was very majestic.

Although he ranks second in Sichuan, Qin Liangyu, who ranked first, was the chieftain of the Tujia people. Han people valued that "if not one of our race, their hearts must be different." Therefore, Qin Liangyu's recognition among Han officials and Han soldiers was not as good as Zhang Linggao. Most Han soldiers recognized Zhang Ling as the first general and respected him more.

Not long ago, Zhu's spies went outside Jianmen Pass to investigate. The spies were very good at mastering the distance. The place they were exploring was just outside the arrow, and the archers of the officers and soldiers could not shoot the enemy that far away. However, the divine crossbow general Zhang Ling took out his two-stone bow and shot out the beads, and he easily knocked down several spies. This made the soldiers at Jianmen Pass energize. The soldiers believed that only if the divine crossbow general Zhang Ling was in charge of this pass, even if Zhu's army had twice as many, he would not have been able to fight in.

However, today, there was a helpless aura in Jianmen Pass. A large group of thousands of households, hundreds of households, the staff and staff sat together dejectedly, with no one talking. It turned out that they had received a military order from Chengdu this morning, requiring them to immediately give up Jianmen Pass and return to Chengdu.

Zhang Ling, who was sitting in the first place, also had a look of fatigue in his eyes. He was silent for a long time before sighing: "Send the order and withdraw the troops..."

A hundred households came out and knelt down on the ground with a thud: "General, this order must not be obeyed... When Jianmen Pass is lost, the Chengdu plains are like a mother who has taken off her clothes... Anyone can..." The hundred households are from a lower-level soldier, and have never read a book, and they speak very vulgarly. As soon as they open their mouths, they take off their clothes. The faces of the people next to them changed.

Someone next to him stretched out his foot and kicked him over: "***. What are you talking nonsense? The dog can't spit out ivory... or I'm talking about it." This latecomer seemed to be much more capable than the one in front. He said seriously: "General, the so-called general is outside, and the king is not accepting anything. We who go out to fight should not pay attention to the trash of the waste behind us. We should definitely not accept this life. We must be sure to defend Jianmen Pass."

Another person next to him responded: "Yes! Those civil servants don't know nonsense, they only know nonsense. Jianmen Pass is extremely important. Even if the thief army has already reached Mianyang, we cannot give up Jianmen Pass. As long as we guard this place, the thief army in Mianyang is just a lonely army all the way, and it is not to be afraid."

"General, please take back Cheng's life, let's guard here..."

The low-level military officers were clamoring.

Zhang Ling was not as passionate as them. After all, he was a 69-year-old man, and he saw too many things in the officialdom. Although he was "a general outside and the king would not accept something", no general who did not accept the king's order and only cared about his own war would have a good end after he returned. The officialdom is a very strange place. Even if the civil servants knew that their plan was wrong afterwards, they could turn the black and white, force their mistakes to be right, and put all the mistakes on the military officers.

Zhang Ling was not worried about himself. After all, he was old and could retire at any time. Even if the officialdom could no longer tolerate him, he didn't care. What future would a person who was 69 years old pursued? If he was just for himself, he would really be out of here today, and Jun Ling would not be able to bear it.

But he is not alone. He has so many young Sichuan military officers under his command. These young men with strong spirits still have a future and a future. If they disobey the orders here and are written in a mess by civil servants in the Spring and Autumn style, their future will not only be destroyed, but they may also have life worries.

This is not because Zhang Ling was worried, but because the officialdom was so dark. How did Qin Liangyu's husband Ma Qiancheng die decades ago? He was unjustly killed in prison because he offended a eunuch. With Qin Liangyu's ability and the unity and protection of Tujia people, he could not save Ma Qiancheng's life, which led to Qin Liangyu's orphan and widowed mother for so many years...

Zhang Ling sighed deeply and said, "Stop talking, my intention has been decided, withdraw to Chengdu..."

The generals couldn't help but sigh. They didn't want to listen to the orders of the civil servants, but they did not dare to disobey the orders of the old general Zhang Ling. The three thousand Sichuan soldiers began to pack their luggage in great depression and prepared to evacuate from Jianmen Pass.

Zhang Ling expanded a map, gestured on it, and then ordered: "Our purpose is to withdraw from Chengdu, but Mianyang, the important town that went from Jianmen Pass to Chengdu, has been captured by thieves, so we cannot go back through Mianyang, and we must take a detour."

His hand drew a line on the map: "Let's go back to Chengdu from Zixi, Santai, Zhongjiang and Jintang, so that the thieves' army will not intercept it." The line drawn by Zhang Ling was not the main road, but a road that crossed mountains and ridges and was difficult to walk. There were small villages and small counties along the way. It was difficult for troops from other places to walk on this road, and the three thousand soldiers under his command were all Sichuan soldiers, so he was not afraid.

Zhang Ling's troops packed up their luggage, took advantage of the night, quietly left Jianmen Pass, and then rushed to Zi Shi in the south. While marching, he sent spies to monitor the movements of the bandit army in Mianyang. The spies quickly sent back the news that the Grand Marshal of the bandit army had left Mianyang and had army out towards Chengdu in the south.

When Zhang Ling heard this news, he felt a little nervous. He knew that the eight thousand thieves were not enough to capture Chengdu, because General Qin Liangyu was stationed in Chengdu. However, as long as the thieves appeared under the city of Chengdu, the civil servants would be nervous, and then all kinds of memorials were flying all over the sky. In a few days, the emperor's imperial desk would be filled with memorials impeaching military officers' poor combat. It would be fine if the three thousand Sichuan soldiers he led could return to Chengdu in time. If they could not, the civil servants would not know how much nonsense they would have to say.

Zhang Ling smiled helplessly and urged the soldiers to hurry up and arrive at Zizhai as soon as possible, take a break there, and then rush to the next stop of three.

However, what Zhang Ling didn't know was that outside Zishan City at this time, there was a Zhu army with a population of 5,000 lurking. The leaders were Xu Renjie, Wang Er, Yingshanhong, Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao and others.

It turned out that after the Zhu army captured Mianyang, it was already at the brink of food being cut off, and the Zhu army could not rob the people of the people on the spot like other bandits. Therefore, they no longer had the ability to attack Chengdu south. They left Mianyang and sent troops south. It was just a false appearance. After leaving the city, they immediately divided the army into two groups, one group of only three thousand people, and they looked like they were moving south, opened the scout circle, blocked all the news, making it impossible for the spies of the officers and soldiers to figure out how many people they actually had.

The other group had five thousand, including all the generals, three thousand black pole soldiers, and two thousand Shaanxi soldiers. After they left Mianyang, they advanced eastward and came to the mountains more than ten miles north of Zishan City, and lurked down.

As for the five thousand white-sling soldiers who had been following their butts, Zhu Jun threatened Ma Xianglin's life and ordered them to stay in Mianyang and not be allowed to follow. The white-sling soldiers had no choice but to stay in Mianyang obediently.

At this time, the five thousand people from Zhu's army lurked in a small ravine north of Zifeng. The ravine was very narrow. The top of the ditch was covered by big trees, so the sun could not shine in. Therefore, the bottom of the ditch was very dark, and Zhu's army was all built with dark green tents, so it was difficult for people to discover it.

Speaking of which, didn’t Zhu Jun enter the Chengdu Plain? This place should be flat and there were no ravines... This has to start with the special place of Zixi. Zixi was originally named Nichen Mountain. It was the place where Xia Yu used to control the water and sort out the river channel. I don’t know if Dayu had piled too much mud here and piled it around, so he piled up the terrain here to be more complicated. Zixi has many mountain ranges such as Qiqu Mountain and Wolong Mountain, and the terrain is quite complex. Hills and low mountains account for 95% of the entire Zixi area. There are no flat ground at all. There are slopes everywhere. The slopes are generally between 25 degrees and 35 degrees, which is unreasonable.

In such a place, it is really not too easy for Zhu Jun to find a ravine to hide.

Ma Xianglin was still wearing shackles on his hands and feet. He was also in Zhu Jun's camp, angrily snorting at Cao Wenzhao: "The insidious thief even deliberately used this color that makes people unable to see clearly. It is simply despicable."

At this time, the army did not have the concept of "protective color". The Ming army wore bright red mandarin duck war jackets. The Qing Tartars also wore richly-colored armor. The chieftain soldiers of ethnic minorities wore their own national costumes. Li Zicheng's bandit army even wore various clothes... Only Zhu army in the world has "protective color". Therefore, in Ma Xianglin's eyes, this practice of using "protective color" to hide the army was very despicable.

Cao Wenzhao smiled and said, "At the beginning, I also thought that it was not good for Brother Zhu to make the army so dark. Wearing bright clothes and armor would help boost morale. But after following him for a long time, I understood that instead of using fresh clothes and horses to show off their might and increase morale, it would be better to protect yourself with this deep color. As long as you win a battle, your morale will naturally be high. If you keep defeating the battle, even if you wear bright clothes and armor, your morale will not be high. Look at our Ming Dynasty army, each wearing red mandarin duck war jackets, but when you fight, how many people dare to move forward bravely?"

Ma Xianglin snorted.

Xu Renjie next to him smiled and said, "November ago, our black pole soldiers fought with Li Zicheng's army at night... The black gun bar was simply unaware of the darkness. Li Zicheng was beaten so hard that he ran away with his head and could not even pay his hands. If it were replaced by the white pole soldiers at that time, what do you think?"

A strange color flashed across Ma Xianglin's face, and then his brows frowned. Xu Renjie's words aroused his deep thoughts. What would happen if the white-rod soldiers and the black-rod soldiers met at night? Zhu Jun was wearing dark purple clothes, which was almost equivalent to black at night, and could not be seen clearly. The black-rod gun was even more unseen at night. On the contrary, the white-rod soldiers were wearing bright Tujia folk costumes, which were also very bright at night. The white-rod gun was a very obvious target at night. As long as there was a little moonlight, the gun barrel could emit the moon-white light. I was in the bright enemy and the dark enemy. If the white-rod soldiers fought at night, there was almost no need to think of who would die. It must be the black-rod soldiers.

Ma Xianglin saw sweat on his forehead.

Cao Wenzhao sighed, "Zhu Ba is indeed a genius. I really admire the many knowledges in his mind. I often can't help but wonder, if he won the world, would the world be better than now?"

Ma Xiang was silent. After a long time, he snorted: "Even if you are ambushing here in a very hidden way, it is useless. General Zhang Ling will never be fooled.

Cao Wenzhao didn't argue with him. He just smiled and said, "Will he come? You'll know if he'll wait..."

Just as he was talking about this, a scout had come over and shouted: "Report! Dear leaders, the three thousand Sichuan soldiers led by the divine crossbow general Zhang Ling appeared in the north, and they were three miles away." If on the plain, the scouts of the Zhu army could spread ten or even fifteen miles away. Once the enemy appeared within this range, they would come back to report. However, in the river with complex terrain, they could at most monitor five miles away. Moreover, there was no horse to ride when reporting information, so they could only rely on their legs. Therefore, when they found the enemy five miles away, they rushed back to report, and the enemy was almost three miles away.

"What?" Before Xu Renjie and others responded, Ma Xianglin screamed first: "This... This is impossible... Lord Zhang Ling is a veteran who has experienced many battles. How could he not know the importance of Jianmen Pass? How could he leave the pass and run here? This... This is definitely a scout talking nonsense."

Cao Wenzhao smiled bitterly and said, "It is precisely because he is a veteran who has experienced many battles. He sees farther than you!" He added earnestly: "If he doesn't obey the order, he and his three thousand Sichuan soldiers will be finished. Even if he wins the battle, he will not be able to survive... If he comes back, even if he loses the battle, someone will help him cover it up. In the end, there will definitely be nothing he has to do."

Ma Xianglin widened his eyes and looked at Cao Wenzhao angrily: "Don't talk nonsense..."

Cao Wenzhao shook his head and said, "Am I talking nonsense? If you think it through, come and fight with me."

At this time, Xu Renjie was ordering the person next to him: "Send the order and act as I planned before..."

Zhu Jun coaxed and then dispersed. They each spread out according to the ambush location arranged by Xu Renjie in advance. Cao Wenzhao also raised his two-meter-meter steel gun and prepared to go to war.

A hint of panic flashed in Ma Xianglin's eyes, but it was inconvenient to speak.

Cao Wenzhao smiled and said, "Want to go with me? Then go together!"

Ma Xianglin was not reserved, so he nodded quickly and followed Cao Wenzhao. Although he was wearing shackles on his hands and feet, he might not be slow to walk. It was just that it would be a little inconvenient to run.

After a long time, Zhang Ling's army came to a complex mountain valley. Zhang Ling, who was still strong, looked up to the south and said, "You can reach Zixia City by climbing over this hill. Go there for a rest, and then walk south."

The generals next to him responded without any objection. Although there was a ravine with complex terrain in front, the military officers of the Sichuan Army did not care because their scout circle was also very open. It seemed easy to be ambushed in the dangerous mountains in the river, but experienced scouts were leading the way. They did not believe that there would be a thief army that could escape their eyes and ambush themselves.

At this moment, the scout in front turned around and reported urgently: "General, two thousand bandit soldiers were found on the hill ahead. Look at the flags of the bandit army Yingshan Hongmen."

Zhang Ling was slightly surprised: "Yingshan Hongmen? Two thousand people?"

His mind quickly turned around. After all, Zhu Jun and the court had fought for many years. It would be impossible to say that the court still couldn't figure out the generals in the Zhu army. Zhang Ling knew very well that Yingshanhong was Wang Er's wife, and she was a third-rate general in the Zhu army. It would be reasonable if she led two thousand people, but what does it mean to appear here to stop her?

Zhang Ling frowned and asked, "Is there anyone else besides her?"

Scout reported: "I don't know, because Ayama Hong's two thousand people blocked the road ahead, we couldn't get around, so we couldn't figure out whether there were any enemies behind her..."

Zhang Ling suddenly hesitated, saying that "only one can win every battle if one knows his own enemy." He couldn't figure out that the other party had no reinforcements, so it was inconvenient to fight against him. If he had to follow his usual composure, he would now order to set up camp and find out everything before fighting this battle. However, he was still responsible for the order to return to Chengdu as soon as possible, but he could not give a lecture to the thief army here, otherwise he would have to order to the scout: "See a way to climb over the mountains and go around her and spy on whether there are other thief soldiers behind her."

Before the scout could run out, another scout ran back and reported: "General, the two thousand thieves in the Ayama Red Army are all Shaanxi soldiers. They also discovered us at the same time. They looked very scared and began to retreat."

After hearing the news, one of Zhang Ling's staff officers was overjoyed: "The bandits are all Shaanxi soldiers? Are they afraid? Back? Well... I understand! The bandits should divide their troops. This time they captured Mianyang, which must have divided the army into four routes, one of which was the central army's three thousand black pole soldiers, and they were in the middle, from Mianyang to Deyang to attack Chengdu. One thousand Shaanxi soldiers attacked the vanguard, two thousand on the left wing, and two thousand on the right wing... The troops in front of us must be the two thousand Shaanxi soldiers responsible for the right wing... Because they only have two thousand people, they feel scared when they see us."

This staff member analyzed it very well in line with strategic common sense. The bandit army divided its troops and advanced together, occupied a large area at the same time, and finally joined the city under Chengdu City, and then captured the city capital in one fell swoop. If we follow his analysis, these two thousand Ayama Red tribes are troops specifically to attack Zi Yan, but they just happened to meet Zhang Ling's army.
Chapter completed!