Chapter 107: Cloud Dock
Chapter 107: Cloud Dock
Suddenly, fine snowflakes began to float in the sky, and under the strong cold wind, they went straight into people's faces and necks.
On the rugged mountain road, a large group of warriors are marching.
They were well-equipped with complete equipment, and their faces were extremely serious.
But he didn't look too nervous.
The 600 soldiers of the Silver Spear Army have been in battle before, more than once. Although the battles they fought were a bit tricky, this did not prevent them from accumulating a certain amount of confidence, especially when facing bandits.
Not to mention the teaching team, they are all elite soldiers selected from each team, they are very experienced in fighting, and of course they will not take small scenes seriously.
The road up the mountain clearly shows signs of artificial development.
Originally it might have been created by wild animals, but later it became a passage for bandits in the mountains to travel.
The reason why the bandits came down the mountain was to farm.
There was robbery, but robbery alone was not enough to support oneself. To make a living, everyone worked several jobs and had multiple roles: farmers, bandits, merchants, etc.
In the dense forest outside the mountain path, there are still faint traces of human activities.
They were scouts from the Silver Spear Army and the Kingdom Army, dozens of them in total. They had gone up the mountain early and carefully searched every suitable place to hide soldiers to avoid an ambush - although if they were really ambushed it would not be a big deal, there were only a hundred or so bandits in the mountain stronghold, so what could they do?
The snow is getting heavier and heavier.
It looked like the thieves would not come down the mountain today. Shao Xun had already seen the rough walls of the mountain stronghold from afar, as well as the smoke rising from inside the wall and then quickly dispersing in the cold wind.
"Urge the auxiliary troops and ask them to come up quickly." Shao Xun ordered.
"Yes." The battlefield messenger left quickly.
The auxiliary troops are of course the auxiliary troops of the kingdom’s central army. The Silver Spear Army has not yet been equipped with this thing and is just on loan at this time.
Wu Qian led 500 auxiliary soldiers in the rear. Everyone was out of breath, carrying ladders (to climb walls), axes (to chop doors), kerosene (to set fires), door panels (to cross trenches) and other miscellaneous things.
There were also more than a hundred donkeys, horses, mules and other draft animals, carrying arrows and other consumables.
As for food and water, soldiers have to carry them with them, usually just a few days' worth of dry food.
This is where the practical difficulty of attacking the fort lies.
The terrain is narrow and the troops cannot be deployed, so there is not much difference between the effect of ten thousand people and one thousand people.
The road was rugged and difficult to travel on, and baggage vehicles could not go up the mountain. The loaded mules and horses would easily roll down the valley if they were not careful.
The battle could not last long. After a few days' worth of dry food was finished, they had to go down the mountain, or have people from the mountain bring them up, which was very consuming.
If you can't defeat the enemy in one fell swoop, then you can basically only negotiate.
The fortress owner symbolically paid some money and food and sent a hostage to show his submission, and the attacking party should just stop while they are ahead.
Of course, this is a fortress in the mountainous area of western Henan. It is easier to deploy troops in the plains, but their scale is also larger.
A fortress in the mountains may be home to a few hundred households, but there are more than that on the plains.
At the end of the Later Han Dynasty, Man Chong captured more than 20 forts in Henan and gained control of 20,000 households.
This was at the end of the Han Dynasty when fortresses had not yet become popular, and the average fortress had 1,000 households. At this time, fortresses with 3,000 to 5,000 households were not uncommon.
"Hurry up, hurry up!" Wu Qian's feet slipped and his waist almost sprained. After rolling and crawling up, he kept urging.
Common siege equipment is useless, so we can only rely on these ladders. If a battle starts in the front and they haven't arrived yet, it will be difficult to end the day without losing a few heads.
As the saying goes, what you fear will come to you. Just as the auxiliary soldiers quickened their pace and hurried on their way, screams were heard from the forest ahead.
Wu Qian's heart skipped a beat.
He knew very well that it was the scouts who were killing people, but they were so clumsy and ineffective that people cried out.
Sure enough, a moment later, the sound of a clear gong was heard in the village, and it was someone giving a warning.
Wu Qian cursed in a low voice and shouted, "Quick, stop being so cautious, rush forward, hurry up!"
For a moment, people were shouting and horses were neighing, and heavy breathing and rustling footsteps could be heard everywhere.
The auxiliary soldiers no longer concealed their bodies, and instead exerted their remaining strength to speed up and rush towards the stronghold.
"Ah..." Screams rang out one after another.
When Wu Qian arrived with a bag of medicine on his back, the Silver Spear Army had already started the battle.
More than two hundred sword and shield soldiers and spearmen wearing iron armor were lined up in front, facing the gate.
More than three hundred archers holding bows aimed at the top of the wall and shot continuously.
Wu Qian was stunned for a moment.
I have been hanging out with the auxiliary troops all day long, and I haven't seen combat troops training for a long time. How come so many heavy-armored infantrymen wearing iron armor suddenly appeared? How many things did the general get from the Luoyang arsenal?
"Swoosh! Whoosh!" Arrows flew through the air.
At the beginning, there were only seven or eight archers on the wall of the bandit camp who fought back, but they were soon covered by the massive rain of arrows and fell off the wall with screams.
Wu Qian knew that the Silver Spear Army was not an ordinary army. General Shao required everyone to practice archery. After one year of the army being formed, most people's archery skills were very poor. They could only be said to be able to shoot arrows, but not to be proficient. But more than 300 people shot together, and it was just a small bandit camp. It didn't matter how accurate your shooting was. The overwhelming arrows flew over, and the bandits had no chance to stand on the low wall.
The drums started beating, and everyone shouted in unison, "Kill!"
"Auxiliary troops, fill the trenches and set up ladders!"
"First team of swordsmen, chop down the door!"
"Teams 2 and 3 are ready to board the fort."
"The fourth and fifth teams will follow."
"Teams six and seven line up and wait."
"Teams eight to ten, stop firing in volleys, and take turns firing as teams."
Du Bo Jin San's face flushed as he gave instructions in an orderly manner. Looking closely, he seemed to be trembling slightly.
That's not fear. Jin San is a foolish and bold person. He has no idea what fear is. That's excitement or excitement.
Master Shao stood aside, not interfering, and allowed him to play freely.
Lu Heigou, who was also a Du Bo, brought archers and was also carrying out his orders.
Although Jin San didn't float into the sky, he was already considered to be sturdy and heavy enough.
The soldiers of the Silver Spear Army may not know anything when they join the army, and their training often makes people angry, but one thing they have is that they are obedient. Whatever Jin San says, that is what it is, and they will execute it without any compromise.
At the command, the door panels were laid on the narrow trench and even covered with thatch.
The swordsmen and axemen rushed straight to the village gate like tigers out of a cage.
Some people used axes to split the wooden door, and some people tied ropes to the door and let mules and horses pull it. The wooden ladder was also set up, and two teams of armored soldiers rushed up quickly with short weapons in hand.
Finally, guards appeared on the city wall.
Braving the arrows from the Silver Spear archers, they shouted and tried to push down the wooden ladder.
A few surviving archers fired arrows in return, causing a few muffled groans.
Few people are not afraid of death.
Before joining the Silver Spear Army, the soldiers were either coolies carrying heavy objects in the market, or laborers unloading cargo at the docks, or boatmen on the Yi and Luo rivers. They were all ordinary people who had basically never seen a scene of killing, and their military skills were close to zero.
Even if they fought a few battles of less intensity in a year, it would not be enough to train them into brave and fearless veterans.
But under the strict and harsh military order, even though he was afraid, he still rushed forward subconsciously.
Obeying orders has almost become an instinct - of course, disobeying is impossible, as the murderous ruthless men in the teaching team are staring at them, and anyone who retreats will die!
The surviving enemy archers were quickly wiped out.
Shao Xun also picked up the bow, found the feel for it, and killed three elite defenders with three arrows - they were the only three wearing iron armor.
A short and bloody battle soon broke out on the wall.
At the beginning, both sides suffered casualties. As far as Shao Xun could see, about seven or eight people from the Silver Spear Army fell off the wall.
But as time went on, gaps in training, equipment and even coordination became apparent.
The thieves were killed one by one, screaming in pain.
The Silver Spear Army soldiers became more confident and braver as the fight went on. They soon raised the ladder, placed it inside the wall, and rushed in.
"Boom!" At this moment, the gate of the village, which had been chopped beyond recognition, fell to the ground with a loud bang under the pull of several draft horses.
The soldiers outside the village cheered in unison.
Shao Xun also laughed out loud, thinking it was quite satisfying to bully kids.
Jin San, who was serving as the front-line commander for the first time, immediately ordered everyone to rush in and end the battle quickly after seeing the gate of the village broken.
Shao Xun pointed at Chen Yougen calmly.
Chen Yougen understood and led two hundred training captains and swordsmen to form a battle line.
If possible, try to keep sufficient reserves at all times, even if they are not needed.
Jin San was anxious as it was his first time to command independently. I will remind him later.
The auxiliary troops of the Kingdom Army also formed their battle formations.
They had no armor, only a wooden spear, and their combat effectiveness was relatively poor. They were quite shocked when they saw the Silver Spear Army soldiers break into the camp in no time.
Is this the coolie who couldn’t even tell left from right a year ago?
Of course, they can only see the surface.
The truth is that these soldiers did not have any military skills at the beginning, but that does not mean they were useless.
When moving goods, the laborers at the dock often work in groups of a dozen or even dozens of people. They cooperate with each other very well and are very efficient.
The same goes for the boatmen. There are many considerations on how to divide the work and cooperate among a dozen people.
In short, they actually have a certain degree of organization and sense of division of labor and cooperation.
Modern industrial society has turned everyone into a part of industrial production. The whole society is a precision-running machine, with everyone doing their own job. In production and life, everyone is accustomed to division of labor and cooperation.
What is this? This is organization.
Industrial countries are stronger than agricultural countries not only in productivity, but also in that every citizen has been trained to be quite organized. They can work together in the factory and on the battlefield, which is much better than the free and undisciplined farmers.
This is the secret hidden beneath the water.
The battle ended quickly.
Jin San went inside to inspect the place, then came out to report: "Master Shao, our troops killed a total of 44 enemies. One sergeant, two squad leaders, and nine soldiers were killed in the battle."
"Where are the injured?" Shao Xun asked.
"There are ten people in total, all of them have minor injuries, nothing serious."
"Collect the bodies of the dead, and treat the wounded as soon as possible. Also, count the prisoners and spoils."
"promise."
Shao Xun did not enter the camp immediately, but climbed to a higher place and overlooked the surroundings.
The bandit camp was called "Yunzhong Village", which sounded very impressive, but Shao Xun laughed at it.
He laughed at the bandits for being so unwise and unintelligent that they failed to make good use of the surrounding terrain.
If the stronghold is expanded, it can be surrounded by ditches on the east, west and south sides, and the Luo River on the north. The moat on the west side is seven or eight meters deep and nearly twenty meters wide, which is naturally formed. The east and south sides can be artificially transformed by digging deep trenches and using suspension bridges for passage.
Simply put, the village is located on a loess plateau.
The terrain of Yuan is very common in the northwest region, and there are many in Hongnong. To put it simply, it is a plateau above the ground where people can farm and settle.
Some earthen plateaus face each other with a deep ravine in the middle, and post roads are often built in the ravine.
The plateau has many advantages except for one fatal flaw: lack of water.
Of course, the plateau of Hongnong was much better than the northern Shaanxi region in later times. At least here the vegetation was lush and the forests were dense, one after another. Digging a well on the plateau should not be as difficult as digging a dry well on the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi.
Moreover, to the north of the plateau is the mighty Luo River, and to the northeast is the Qugu River. It is not difficult to dig wells and get water, which is enough for people's daily needs.
But if you want to farm, you have to go down the mountain.
Some scattered farmlands have been opened up on the south bank of Luo River and on both sides of Qugu River, which should be cultivated by the bandits of Yunzhong Village and their families.
During the day, we go down the southern slope to farm, and in the evening we finish work and return to the village.
This place is actually very suitable for building a fortress. It is roughly located in Suyangzhai, southwest of Zhangwu Town, Yiyang County in later generations, which is the location of "Yunzhongwu" during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. "Shui Jing Zhu" records that "Luoshui flows east again, Qugu River flows out of Nannuji Mountain in Yiyang County, flows northeast through Yunzhongwu, and the upper left is far away and steep, with flowing smoke hanging down and tassels on the mountains, so the fortress got its name."
It had not yet been built at that time. Due to the rich stone resources, Yunzhongwu had used granite to build the wall and the steps going up and down the hillside during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
He wanted this place.
There are only a hundred or so households in the bandit camp. In fact, most of the land is not used and is allowed to be overgrown with grass and trees. With a slight expansion, it can easily accommodate more than a thousand households, or even more.
This can support two to three hundred half-time soldiers.
What a great place! From now on, we will name it Yunzhongwu.
(End of this chapter)