Chapter 1109 Mountain City

Chapter 1109 Mountain City

Chapter 1109 Mountain City (Part )

The cover of night is the best cover for both parties.

The defeated soldiers of Cheng's army fled in all directions under the cover of darkness, climbing up the rugged hillside.

The soldiers collapsed on the ground and the officers looked worried.

The terrain near the Dalang River is different. There is flat land for more than 20 miles. Although it cannot be compared with Henan, it is not comparable to the towering mountains on both sides that make you cry after entering the gorge. This flat land (where the Yong'an Palace is located), Xinfu Beach, Yangchang Tiebi Beach (named Shijun Beach because Yang Liang capsized here in the Eastern Jin Dynasty), and even Zhuge Gulei and other sandbanks in the river have all been submerged after the Three Gorges were filled with water in later generations.

If the enemy's cavalry were to charge into such a flat area, it would be a huge threat.

If we are prepared, we can mobilize the troops composed of the former Yongqin refugees and their descendants to provide some resistance.

But the only thing I'm afraid of is that we're not prepared and the enemy troops come too fast...

Just as Li Cheng, a military commander, had worried, Fu An led hundreds of cavalrymen westward.

The moon was not bright and the sky was very dark. The men held torches and stared with their eyes wide open.

Whenever we encountered rough terrain, we would slow down our horses and pass through carefully.

When it encountered a flat area, it suddenly accelerated and rushed westward.

There are citrus groves everywhere along the way.

There are many houses in the woods, which are eerie and quiet. There may be people living there, but now they have their doors and windows tightly closed and are shivering.

There are quite a few salt wells, and they are widely distributed. You can see one every one or two miles. It seems that they are being mined privately.

The people in this place probably make a living on this.

Fu An collected his thoughts and rushed past the orange groves and salt wells like a gust of wind. When he reached an unknown stream, he met a group of soldiers who had been marching all night and were apparently heading for Changqi.

The two sides met at the small wooden bridge and discovered each other.

"Charge!" The torches flickered in the river breeze. Fu An knew that he could not wait for the enemy to set up battle formation at the bridgehead, so he directly gave the order to charge.

Several riders leaped out first, and the reflections of their iron armor and long spears flashed in the night sky.

The warhorse panted heavily, stepped on the creaking wooden bridge, and rushed into the crowd of enemy soldiers without hesitation.

There were sparse arrows shot from the opposite side.

The knights completely ignored the whistling sound passing by their ears, and even turned a deaf ear to the painful neighing of the horses behind them and the loud noise of them falling into the stream.

The sounds of collision, exclamations, and screams rang out almost at the same time.

Torches fell to the ground like meteors. In the darkness, the sound of weapons clashing suddenly became more frequent, followed by chaotic footsteps and the cries of friends.

Fu An rode his horse across the wooden bridge.

The river breeze was already carrying a strong smell of blood. Under the dim firelight, he saw a tribal warrior being stabbed through the gap in his armor and falling off his horse without a sound. He immediately became furious.

"Bang!" Unable to see anything clearly, Fu An simply rushed towards the place where there were the most people and the densest torches.

The cavalrymen following behind followed suit. They responded to each other and drove repeatedly until their lances got stuck in human bones and could not be pulled out, and their swords were cut to pieces. Only then did they realize that there was an empty space ahead, and they had completely dispersed this group of soldiers.

The withered yellow grass began to burn, producing an extremely pungent smell of smoke.

The ground was littered with corpses, torches and equipment scattered all over the place, and the groans of wounded soldiers could be heard everywhere.

Of course, there were also people who tightly covered their wounds, letting the blood flow out from their fingers, and silently crawled towards the periphery of the battlefield. But they crawled and then stopped moving, with only their eyes wide open, freezing the last bit of spirit, quietly looking in the direction of their hometown.

All cavalrymen dismounted, collected their lances, replaced them with spare short weapons, and ate some food and water.

The river breeze blew in gusts, and the fire grew bigger and bigger, gradually spreading to the citrus grove.

There was finally some movement in those quiet houses.

Some people bravely rushed out, holding wooden buckets and washbasins, and hurriedly put out the fire.

Fu An glanced over and met the eyes of an old woman.

The old woman shuddered all over, and the basin in her hands fell to the ground, spilling all the water.

Fu An waved his hand, indicating that she could do as she pleased.

The old woman seemed to have been pardoned and returned to the darkness.

After resting, more than 600 people mounted their horses and continued their journey westward.

When they reached the east bank of the Dalang River, they encountered another troop that had just set out. There were about two thousand people, including fifty cavalrymen, who were marching on horseback.

This time it went surprisingly smoothly.

The enemy was caught unprepared and was dispersed in one charge, scattering everywhere in the night.

Fu An rushed across the river with his cavalry, which had shrunk to about 470 horses.

He felt that he was no longer fighting for military merit, he actually enjoyed the thrill of killing.

Hundreds of cavalry rushed into the brightly lit Longxi.

The soldiers who were digging ditches and reinforcing the camp did not react at first until a loud noise was heard in the camp. As time went on, the noise became more and more intense.

Both sides of the Dalang River seemed to wake up at the same time.

There were several thousand soldiers in Longdong, and they were surprised to find that the enemy cavalry had bypassed their defense zone and rushed to Longxi.

To be honest, Fu An was also surprised. He had no idea that there was a large army on the east bank before crossing the river.

It’s all because of the dark night!

What should we do at this time? If our retreat is cut off, how can we get back? After all, they only have a few hundred cavalrymen. Once the enemy reacts, they will surround us and kill us. Should we quit while we are ahead?
Haha, this is not a problem for Fu An at all.

He decided to continue charging! While the enemy was building a camp overnight, he would take advantage of the chaos and stir up trouble.

The sound of horse hooves rang out again, a new round of charge began, and the killing continued.

******
The northwest wind was so fierce that the big "梁" flag on the mast fluttered in the wind, making a sound like a streak of silk from time to time.

Against the wind! Against the current!

Yang Bao sighed and didn't give the order to attack until nightfall.

A fire was lit at Jiangguan on the north bank, which served as the only guide in the darkness.

In the dangerous waves below Kuimen, more than fifty ships carrying two thousand naval officers and soldiers were struggling forward.

The helmsmen were sweating profusely, staring at the shore. The boatmen were shouting in low voices, fighting the waves with all their strength.

The river breeze carries an unpleasant fishy smell. After smelling it for a long time, you may even have the illusion that it is no different from the smell of blood.

Fierce shouts of killing broke out in Jiangbei.

Yang Bao, who was standing at the bow, looked up and distinguished them carefully.

The sounds of killing spread from high to low, all the way to the riverside.

The sound of drums rumbled continuously, echoing on both sides of the river, attracting everyone's attention.

If nothing unexpected happened, it should be the main force of the Prince of Julu that arrived - in fact, there were not many people, only about four or five thousand infantry and cavalry, and the supply for more could not be sufficient.

But these few thousand men, at this moment, were like tigers descending from the mountains, charging out from between the two cities of Yufu and Baidi.

On the Ma Ling Road, flames were blazing and the sounds of killing were deafening.

Under the flickering light of the fire, Yang Bao even saw the big "Cheng" flags and the flags of unknown generals falling one after another.

The enemy navy on the beach in the middle of the river moved.

They struggled to adjust their course and headed towards the north bank, where they joined the navy anchored on the river bank, apparently to rescue the defeated troops.

"It's time!" Yang Bao retracted his gaze and shouted, "Beat the drum!"

"Drum roll!"

"Drum roll!"

The orders were passed down one after another. A moment later, the first exciting drumbeats sounded from his ship, followed by the second and third ships behind...

More than fifty fighting ships responded by beating drums and slowly forming a formation.

The river was treacherous, and some boats stopped beating their drums after a while. The only sounds in the darkness were cries of fear.

No one will rescue them.

Not to mention that it was dark now, there would be no rescue even during the day, because they were almost sailing to the beach in the middle of the river and the battle was about to break out.

The army on the sandbar also discovered this fleet that had attacked under the cover of darkness.

They were very surprised. Kuimen is known as the Ghost Gate and it is extremely dangerous to sail there. You are sailing in the dark. Aren't you afraid of death?
No one answered them.

Dozens of "fireballs" suddenly appeared in the dark night sky.

No, that was not a fireball, but a bunch of burning clay pots.

The can whizzed through the sky and landed on the beach in the river and on the boats moored on the shore.

The flames, driven by the wind, were like dancing golden snakes, instantly covering the ships, barracks and even the dry reeds.

Even many pottery jars were splashed and shattered in mid-air, and the floating oil fell on the river surface with flames, forming tiny piles of fire, which was very strange.

"Kill the bandits!" A fighting ship has appeared near the beach in the middle of the river.

The hook was swung with all its might, and the iron claws firmly grasped the side of the boat.

Countless Liang army naval officers and soldiers shouted and rushed onto the enemy ships, fighting with the enemy soldiers who were putting out fires everywhere.

The wind grew stronger and stronger, and the fire grew more and more fierce.

The river water hits the cliff, making loud rumbling noises.

The naval officers and soldiers of both sides swayed left and right, fighting against each other on the bumpy and shaking deck.

The ships of the Chengjun navy that were not affected by the fire pots moved slowly, trying to get rid of the Liang army's grappling hooks.

The Liang army's naval battleships struggled to get closer.

The rowers shouted loudly, and the rhythmic sounds of their calls pierced the night sky. Sweat poured down their faces, and mist rose above their heads in the cold night of early spring.

"Crash!" Another wave of dozens of pottery jars flew over and started a raging fire.

"Snap!" The long hook hooked the enemy ship's side.

"Kill the enemy!" The soldiers raised their shields high and climbed towards the enemy ship.

Dense arrows were shot out from the three portholes, and the wooden shield was covered with a layer of white hair in a moment.

Raging waves surged, the boats kept swaying, and from time to time people screamed and fell into the river. Some people were even caught between two boats, and when the boats collided, their bones were broken and blood was vomited everywhere.

"Boom!" The third wave of dozens of pottery jars flew over and almost all fell on the beach in the river.

Barracks, reeds, tents, wood, everything that could burn started burning at an uncontrollable rate.

The raging fire spread from the shore to the ship, and then from the ship back to the shore.

Countless people ran out wailing, and even jumped into the river without caring about the cold water.

This sudden attack completely stunned them.

The shouts of killing from Jiangbei had already reached Jiangpu, and the Chengjun navy ships fired thousands of arrows at once, trying to stop the Liang army's land division from chasing them. Some ships in the rear were unable to help, so they simply retreated.

On the beach in the middle of the river, the fire burned almost everything.

The heat wave hit me in the face, almost setting my eyebrows on fire.

One after another, the navy ships caught fire and sank into the river.

The naval officers and soldiers jumped into the freezing cold river water, crying and shouting, and were soon swallowed up by the turbid waves.

The Liang army's navy, which had been chasing very fiercely just now, did not dare to chase anymore. They cut the hooks and retreated downstream along the river.

In the panic, a ship unfortunately hit a reef and the river water rushed in. The naval officers and soldiers abandoned the ship and jumped into the water in panic, floating in the dark, shouting loudly, begging for rescue from their comrades.

Some ships caught fire, lost control, and accidentally crashed into cliffs, breaking into pieces.

In short, it was a chaotic battle, even more brutal than the fighting on land.

When the morning light came and the dust settled, all that was left on the river were the broken planks and the burnt bodies on the beach.

In this battle, the Cheng army was defeated by the joint attack from land and sea, and the siege of Yufu was lifted.

(End of this chapter)