choke element

Chapter 1001: Communication (Part )

On the fifth day of the march, the main force of the army quickly crossed Juyong Pass.

The name of Juyongguan is said to have originated in the Qin Dynasty. It is said that when the First Emperor built the Great Wall, he moved prisoners, soldiers and forced laborers here to build a great pass. Juyong means to move ordinary people.

The last time a large army was stationed at Juyongguan was when the Jin Dynasty still existed. Wanyan Gang and Shuhu Gaoqi led 100,000 troops to defend it. At that time, the Jin army smelted iron to seal the northern gate and laid iron caltrops for more than 100 miles to defend themselves. As a result, Genghis Khan used Zhabarhuozhe as a guide and led the brave general Zhebie to attack the southern gate through a small path, which resulted in the northern gate being breached and the defense system that they had painstakingly built was eventually burned down.

After the establishment of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Zhao Jue, who was deeply trusted by Guo Ning, took charge of the northern defense of Zhongdu and mobilized many civilians to gradually restore the necessary defense facilities.

However, the Great Zhou’s tactics in the northern border were different from those of the Jurchens, who only knew how to passively take a beating, so the greatest effort was actually spent on the expansion of roads and military stations along the way. In other words, the emphasis was not on the function of closing the gates to block the enemy, but on the convenience and speed of transporting troops and supplies. Once there was an alarm, the main force of the army would immediately go out to counterattack.

However, even though the army moved as fast as the wind, when they left the pass, traces of frost and snow could be seen on the mountains surrounding the pass. Even the grass and trees at the pass where the terrain suddenly dropped from the top of the mountain to the other had obviously withered and fallen.

On the sixth and seventh days of the march, ice began to freeze on the shady sides of the shallow hills on the plateau they were passing through. The places that cut off the withered yellow weeds and brown sandstone, which should have been swamps and streams, now mostly turned into hard ground.

Many cavalrymen simply left the road and marched along this flat ground, at a speed no slower than on the road, only occasionally having to rein in their horses to avoid the annoying continuous earth pits.

It is a hollow structure formed by loose land near a water source that freezes and arches at night and the ice and snow melt during the day. It is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye because it is covered with dead grass.

Zhang Pingliang led several cavalrymen to scout ahead of the marching route. These mud pits of varying sizes caused them considerable trouble.

Horses are different from vehicles. If the wheels get stuck, you just need to pull them out with all your strength. But horses are alive and precious. If a horse's legs are stuck deep in the mud, it is easy to cause damage to the horse's hooves or leg bones and joints if someone tries to pull them out. Experienced knights know that it is best to encourage the horse to free itself.

That would be very time-consuming and mentally taxing. Not to mention that in the mission of a scout, exploring the terrain and warning those who come later is an important part. Every time the horse struggles out, branches are piled up next to it to show a warning sign.

Several cavalrymen had been struggling along the way, dealing with either mud or wood, and were extremely tired. Both the men and horses were panting and spitting out white steam while moving.

Some people complained while urging their horses, saying that this hard work should be done by the light cavalry of the Longxiang Army, or by the tribal cavalry under Qiu Huiluo. It was not because they were tired, but mainly to avoid the intelligence collected by the scouts being divided up and doing all kinds of useless work.

Zhang Pingliang knew that the light cavalry of the Longxiang Army or the tribal cavalry under Qiu Huiluo must have dispersed long ago. Not only them, but also the subordinates of the Recording Department. The emperor came from the military and was very familiar with the various routines and drawbacks in the army. The reason for doing this was to eliminate the possibility of information transmission delays and ensure that the emperor could be alert in any situation.

Especially at this time.

This morning, we received intelligence that the Mongolian army continued to move southward and had already crossed Yehuling. The detachments previously active in Tiancheng, Huaian, Hongzhou, etc. were also moving eastward. With the Mongolian marching speed, it only took half a day to travel dozens or hundreds of miles, so today the generals doubled the number of scouts they sent out. The extra scouts were all carefully selected experts, and they were ordered to be fully armed and not to slack off at all.

Since they are good workers, they usually seldom take on such hard tasks, so it is normal for them to have some complaints.

However, they were all experienced and would not joke with their lives. Although they complained, they were extremely vigilant and alert along the way.

Zhang Pingliang himself led five riders and walked on both sides of the more conspicuous rammed earth road. He also assigned a few additional cavalrymen to form another team, keeping a distance but not straying too far away.

These cavalrymen had no luggage or military uniforms, and were only equipped with light bows and fast horses. They only rode on the back. When Zhang Pingliang and his men rode on the sunny side of the slope, they rode on the shady side; when Zhang Pingliang and his men rode on the higher ridge, they rode on the low ground.

The military saying "walking in a tiger's den, walking on a tiger's tail" is actually like this, not something that scholars came up with on the spur of the moment. This was originally the specialty of a veteran scout, and he regarded it as a secret to survive on the battlefield. It was only in the past two years that it was gradually promoted through training at military academies.

This approach requires a good understanding between the light and dark scouts, and also tests the judgment of both sides on the terrain. Fortunately, Zhang Pingliang has fought in various places in Liaodong for many years and has a lot of experience in the movement of small teams. His subordinates are also veterans, so naturally their every move is in harmony.

Just as a cavalryman was complaining loudly, there was a sound of whistling arrows from the direction of "Huwei", followed by shouts one after another.

Did they really collide?
Zhang Pingliang was shocked.

Since they were already on sentry duty, they were naturally prepared to meet the enemy at any time. But the Mongolian Alejin Red Cavalry was notorious, and everyone knew it. After all, Zhang Pingliang had acquired some property and had a wife and children in the past two years. He was not as poor as he was in previous years, and at that moment he was a little shaken.

But the instincts shaped by repeated battles on the battlefield and arduous training immediately overwhelmed all the wavering thoughts. Without waiting for his men to catch up, Zhang Pingliang said nothing and urged his horse to gallop towards the sound of the arrows.

Just as they ran past the distance of an arrow, they discovered the traces of several foreign cavalrymen.

Apparently, they had discovered Zhang Pingliang and his men in advance, so they pulled their horses aside and crouched among the thorns and weeds to spy. As a result, they did not notice that a Zhou army sentry had arrived behind them. The sentry took all their movements into his eyes and raised his hand to shoot a whistling arrow.

The foreign cavalrymen were exposed, and they had no time to mount their horses, so they hurriedly took out bows and arrows from their side and shot at the charging cavalrymen. These people were excellent archers, and the secret sentries had no armor protection for the convenience of roaming. Then one of them was shot in the shoulder, and another warhorse was shot in the chest, and it ran away sideways with a neigh.

Seeing the remaining two people rushing closer, the foreign knights drew their scimitars to resist. Only one person reacted a little slower, holding his bow horizontally and hesitating for a moment.

Coincidentally, at this moment Zhang Pingliang rode his horse straight towards him, and the man hurriedly turned around and shot an arrow, hitting Zhang Pingliang in the forehead!

Zhang Pingliang's subordinates were all in an uproar. Seeing the arrow feather shaking on his forehead, they thought the arrow must have entered his brain and he would fall off his horse and die immediately.

The strange thing was that Zhang Pingliang just shook his head and did not fall off his horse. Instead, he continued to charge forward without stopping and rushed into the crowd of enemies in a blink of an eye.

The enemy knight who shot the arrow was holding the horse's spine and jumping on the horse. Seeing Zhang Pingliang rushing towards him, he climbed on the horse's back with one hand, leaned over to pick up the javelin hanging next to the saddle, and thrust the spear forward.

Zhang Pingliang dodged to the side, but did not swing his sword to fight back. Instead, he stretched out his arm and used the longbow in his hand to hook the enemy's neck. The enemy tried his best to draw his head back, but it was too late!

At the high speed given by the warhorse, the tough bowstring swept along his jaw, peeling off the entire layer of flesh attached to the jawbone like a knife, and then cut along the bone to the neck, instantly cutting off the trachea and blood vessels until it was embedded in the cervical vertebra.

The huge resistance stretched the bowstring to its limit before it broke with a "bang". The force before it broke exploded, flipping the entire head back to a terrifying angle. Blood spurted out from the cut and splashed all over Zhang Pingliang.

Zhang Pingliang also felt severe pain in his palm and forearm, and could no longer hold the bow. He swayed on his horse, and then felt something in front of him was obstructing his eyes, so he simply threw the bow away and raised his head to pull it out.

When he pulled it out, he realized it was a rough short arrow. The pain on his forehead started at this time, and blood flowed down his eyebrows like a stream. It turned out that the enemy had shot an arrow at close range and hit the helmet directly, first piercing through the thickened iron eyebrow canthus in front of the helmet, then passing through the helmet and injuring Zhang Pingliang's head.

Zhang Pingliang wanted to take off his helmet to check if his head was okay, but he couldn't take care of it. He threw away the short arrow and drew his sword. Seeing another enemy cavalryman turning his horse back, he cursed: "It's just a hole in the head! Kill one more and it will be enough!"

When the enemy cavalry turned around, they saw Zhang Pingliang pulling the bloody arrow out of his head.

These people did not see the scene where Zhang Pingliang strangled the enemy's neck with the bowstring, they only thought that the blood all over his body was from his head.

He shed so much blood, but he is still alive and is still shouting and fighting as usual. If this isn't a ghost, then what is he?
Several enemies were all frightened out of their wits.