Three Kingdoms Eschatology

This dense forest is just a shrub forest, so it was rushed by the rows of war elephants, and the vegetation and trees fell down layer by layer, and then they were trampled flat by the huge elephant hooves.

The shooting from the dense forest stopped immediately.The barbarians on the last few war elephants found several figures, bowed their bows and shot arrows at them, only heard two screams, and these figures disappeared.

Dozens of war elephants rushed all the way to the foot of the lone peak before they stopped. A "road" more than ten battles wide was opened up behind them.But no more enemy soldiers were found.

Dozens of war elephants continued to sweep through other parts of the dense forest, opening up several roads and dividing the dense forest into several blocks.A large number of scouts with hounds carefully searched block by block, except for the two corpses of Zhu Luojun, nothing more was found.

Everyone believed that the enemy troops in the dense forest must have retreated to the mountains behind.The crossbow spears on the mountain ridge flew down the mountain from time to time. Although the hit rate of these crossbow spears was extremely low, every soldier at the foot of the mountain was trembling.

"General Meng, we should send a few battalions of soldiers up the mountain now to get rid of Fan Jun's nail." A Liang Jun general suggested to Meng Huo.

"No hurry! The enemy's situation on the mountain is unknown. If we attack the mountain rashly, we may suffer losses. This is a lone peak. Let's surround it now, and it won't be too late to pull it out after we find out the enemy's situation."

Not long after, the war elephants of the barbarian army and the iron cavalry of the Liang army had been deployed on the Tanyuan around the mountain peak.Moreover, Liang Jun used war elephants to clear the bushes around the isolated peak.A wide circular passage surrounded the mountain.War elephants and iron cavalry cruise along the road, and there is absolutely no possibility for the enemy to escape from it.

Chapter 241 The Secret in the Lone Peak

Wait for Liang Jun to surround the lone peak in front of him.Meng Huo had just sent twenty mountain scouts up the mountain to investigate.

Before the twenty mountain scouts set off, Meng Huo specially warned: "You just need to quietly inquire about the enemy's strength. It's best to grab your tongue and come back, but try to avoid fighting with the enemy. Especially don't go deep into caves. Yongchang The caves in the county are extremely complicated, even if there are no enemy ambushes in the caves, they may get lost and fall into the caves and cannot come out."

The leader of the scouts clasped his fists and said: "We will follow the general's words and will not go deep into the caves on the mountain." After that, they led the hounds and walked up the mountain.

……

A team of five is swimming in the forest.They are the patrol posts of Zhu Luojun, specially set up to prevent Liang Jun from infiltrating the mountain from the forest.

The leader suddenly raised his hand and stopped the team.Because the leader heard a rustling sound.Five people gathered back to back into a small circle, looking around nervously.

After a few breaths, a pig badger passed in front of their eyes, which made them all heave a sigh of relief.One of them also said: "It's a pity that we didn't find it earlier. If we can hunt this fat badger, we will have another meat to eat at night."

"There are Liang soldiers at the bottom of the mountain, and you still want to eat? Hurry up and get down to business, and watch out for them to touch..." Before the leader could finish his reprimand, he was shot in the head by an arrow, and fell to the ground without making any sound.

Before the rest of them could react, two black shadows sprang out from the dense forest, and one of them threw a person down, and its sharp white teeth bit into the other's neck in an instant.

The other fierce dog bit the opponent's arm tightly, and the man screamed and struggled to get rid of the fierce dog.But in an instant, he was stabbed into the chest by a weapon.There was another person who just let out a half-cry, when a blade extending from his back cut his neck.

The last Zhu Luo soldier ran away screaming and screaming, but was tripped by a leg protruding from the grass, and then two strong Liang Jun mountain scouts rushed forward, cut his limbs backwards, and closed his mouth. Wrap it up with a cloth strip…

……

At the foot of the mountain, Gao Shun's Chinese army had also arrived here, talking with Meng Huo and other former generals.

Gao Shun first asked, "How many troops are there on this mountain?"

Meng Huo replied: "According to the density of the arrows, there were at least a thousand crossbowmen lurking in the forest before. They also arrogantly set up huge crossbows on the mountain. It seems that they are not worried about our army's large-scale attack at all. Besiege this mountain. From this, I deduce that there should be a large number of troops stationed on this mountain. For specific details, I have sent scouts and are investigating."

Gao Shun said with a puzzled face: "Setting up a camp on a lonely mountain is a taboo for military strategists. Why did this army make such a stupid move?"

Meng Huo immediately replied: "Isn't it to lure the main force of our army to besiege this lonely mountain, and then the main force of the Fan army will use this terrain to encircle me?"

Gao Shun became nervous when he heard this.According to Meng Huo, if Liang Jun gathered around this lonely peak.Fan Jun then concentrated a large number of troops, digging ditches and building fortifications among the isolated peaks surrounded by pillars and forests. It is not impossible to besiege Liang Jun.

Zhuge Liang, who was standing next to him, shook his head, pointed to a newly laid out map and said, "This should not be possible. Everyone, please see, this place called the Forest of Thousand Pillars is here. No matter how the opponent relies on the surrounding It will be a huge project to set up fortification lines on these isolated mountains.

At the shortest, it is necessary to build fortifications as long as eighteen miles.If they really do this, they will be discovered by our rangers immediately.In this plain area, if we charge with our cavalry war elephants, their entire army will be defeated. "

Gao Shun was even more puzzled at this time, and said: "From this point of view, Fan Jun's intention is to harass our army, so as to slow down our army's marching speed and frustrate our army's edge. But if this is the intention, they should not Concentrate your forces on a lonely peak."

Zhuge Liang replied: "That's right. If it were me, I would have this plan. I should disperse the intercepting force on each mountain peak. In this way, if the opponent wants to remove all these nails, they have to conquer these mountain peaks one by one. On the contrary, it is easy for the opponent to encircle and annihilate it by concentrating troops on a single isolated mountain. Moreover, if there are too many troops, it will be a problem to collect water and store food. Even if there are a few mountain springs on such an isolated mountain, how many people can drink? dry season…"

Meng Huo interrupted Zhuge Liang's words and said, "Kong Ming doesn't know something, so it's not a big problem to get water. Because most of the mountains in the south, central and south have caves, and there are usually a lot of fresh water in the caves for drinking. Some caves even have underground rivers." ..."

"Cave!... dark river?" Zhuge Liang's eyes lit up, and he shouted a little out of composure.

While everyone was waiting for him to express his further opinions, a soldier outside the tent came to report that the scouts who went up the mountain to investigate the enemy's situation had returned and brought back a prisoner's tongue.Gao Shun immediately asked the leader of the scouts to come forward for questioning.

After the leader of the scouts entered the account, he reported to the generals in detail the process of going up the mountain to investigate.

The entire mountain was well defended by Zhu Luo's army.As a result, the scouts couldn't check every corner carefully, and they couldn't even get close to the giant crossbow position on the hill.

In the end, the scouts only caught the tongue halfway up the mountain.But these scouts didn't find any large camps on the mountain, only some fortifications.

Hearing this, Zhuge Liang smiled lightly and said, "There are indeed a large number of Zhu Luofan troops hiding on this mountain. But they don't live in camps, but hide in a large cave in the middle of the mountain. And Liang also concluded that there must be a large number of soldiers in this cave. a gateway to the outside world."

Meng Huo suddenly realized: "It's entirely possible. If this is the case, everything we were wondering just now makes sense. Since Fan Jun has a way out, of course he is not afraid that we will surround them and move them."

Gao Shun, who had been pondering for a moment, said: "To lure our army to attack, and there are secret passages to continuously replenish troops, and we can retreat calmly in critical moments. This is indeed a good idea to defeat our army. Let's take the prisoner of war first. The tongue is used for interrogation. There may be more secrets behind this."

After a while, the Zhu Luo army prisoner was escorted over.A Nanban interpreter also followed.This Zhuluo man had been interrogated for a round before, and he was dismounted by Liang Jun.Therefore, when he saw the generals in the tent, he was trembling, his legs trembling.

Gao Shun said indifferently: "You soldiers, don't be afraid. As long as you provide information to our great Han soldiers, your life will be saved, and you will be able to find ways to send you home in the future."

After the interpreter told the soldier, the other party knelt down on the ground with a thud, and shouted: "Thank you, General, for not killing me. The general just asks questions, and the little one knows everything."

After the translation by the general interpreter, the two sides asked and answered, and everyone in the tent gradually understood the general situation on the mountain.

Chapter 242 Heading to Xiang County

According to the captured Zhu Luobing, there were more than [-] Zhu Luofan soldiers stationed on the mountain.Indeed, as Zhuge Liang speculated, most of them lived in a super large cave.

But whether there is a passage leading to other places in this karst cave, the fan soldier is not sure.He was deployed here two months ago, but checkpoints were set up at the places leading to the depths of the cave, and ordinary soldiers were forbidden to move forward.

After hearing this, Gao Shun sighed: "3000 troops is not a small number. It is worthwhile for us to concentrate our forces to fight this battle well. But if we follow the enemy's intention, we will attack hard for a while and consume countless troops. It is absolutely impossible for the enemy to withdraw calmly. If we want to fight, we must follow our intention."

Zhuge Liang agreed and said: "What the general said is very true, and the opponent may have more than 3000 people. With some means, we may be able to lure more enemy troops to join the battle and gather them together. But the premise is that we have to find The enemy’s secret passage. Otherwise, it’s meaningless to talk about it.”

Everyone was lost in thought again.Finding Zhu Luojun's underground passage is easier said than done.Even the elite mountain scouts are not good at this, let alone find the cave passage.After entering the huge cave, it would be nice to be able to retreat without getting lost.

After a long time, Zhuge Liang asked Meng Huo, "Is there anyone in your barbarian tribe who lived here?"

Meng Huo replied: "Yes, there are, but they are not my Wuman tribe, but a certain Zhipu tribe who once lived here. They have not served in our army either. Otherwise, one of them would have been sent there someday. Check out the military."

"Then where are they migrating to now?"

Meng Huo shook his head and said, "According to someone's knowledge, this branch of the Pu tribe migrated eastward after the Zhuluofan invasion. Now it may be in the area of ​​Xiang County, but the exact location is unknown."

"Xiang County, that is the territory of Nanyue Wang Shixie. It is not far from here, and it can be reached five hundred miles to the southeast," Zhuge Liang said to himself.

……

In the early morning of this day, Liu Ba, the prefect of Xiang County in the Nanyue Kingdom, got up early as usual, and sat in the government office to take care of official business.

Since he came here from the Central Plains to join Shixie nearly ten years ago, the days have passed so peacefully and comfortably.The war and turmoil in the Central Plains did not seem to have affected Jiaozhou in the slightest.This made him glad that he made the right choice.

Just over a year ago, a large number of Nanman moved to Xiangjun in large numbers, and then Zhu Luofan invaded, which made Liu Ba, who was at the front line, very nervous for a while.Fortunately, in the end, Liang Jun raised his troops in Bashu to meet Fan Jun, which relieved his pressure in Xiangjun a lot.

Now, there is basically no urgent military situation coming from the frontier.He was able to live a peaceful and comfortable life as before.

At this time, the attendants from outside the government office came into the hall and reported: "I have reported to Lingshou, there are some people outside the west gate claiming to be envoys from the Kingdom of Liang, and they came to ask to see Lingshou. The soldiers guarding the gate have checked their seals, but they don't know whether they are true or not. You can only report to the order guard first."

Liu Ba was stunned and said to himself: "Shouldn't the envoys of the Liang Kingdom go to Panyu to meet Nanyue Wang Shixie? Why come to me directly?"

After thinking about it, he understood, and murmured softly: "Yes, it must not be the messenger sent directly by King Liang, but the troops of their Southern Expedition have something to ask for, so they came here directly."

Thinking of this, he immediately ordered people to welcome these Liang Guo envoys into the city.When he saw these people in the government hall, it really confirmed his thoughts.The leader of the Liang Guolai envoy was Zhang Biao, the son of Liang Guo's minister Zhang Song.

Zhang Biao explained his intentions in the future, and Liu Ba immediately replied straightforwardly: "Your army expelled the Fan army, and our Nanyue Kingdom should support it vigorously. Back then, after some Nanman moved eastward, the county resettled them in areas and recorded them in the Book. Let the county officials come to check and find out."

"Then there will be Prefect Liu."

At this time, Liu Ba showed a troubled expression on his face again, and said to Liang Guolai: "However, this county can only give you the approximate location. You have to find the specific location by yourself. Although these Nanmans live in our Xiang County, Nominally under the control of the county government, but in fact they are self-contained and not subject to external laws. So..."

Zhang Biao cupped his hands and said: "I understand Liu Taishou's difficulties. We only need Liu Taishou to provide their approximate location and a letter of introduction, and we will handle the rest by ourselves. We will definitely not cause trouble to Liu Taishou and Xiangjun. "

When Liu Ba heard this, he said happily, "It's so good, take the pen and ink of the seal..."

……

On the mountain road in the northeast of Xiang County, a small group of people was walking in file.It was Zhang Biao and the twenty Liang Jun scouts he led.Walking here in the barren mountains and ridges, Zhang Wang lost his way, so he took out the map and compared it.

At this moment, hundreds of bamboo arrows shot out from the bamboo forest beside the mountain road.Even though they were all wearing black iron armor, arrows couldn't penetrate them.

But these bamboo arrows were too dense, and in the blink of an eye, many people were shot by arrows in parts that were not covered by armor.Everyone yelled, drew out their weapons, raised their shields, and formed a defensive formation.

Zhang Biao also got an arrow in his arm.So Xin was a bamboo arrow cut entirely from bamboo, and the wound was not deep, but Zhang Biao obviously felt a burst of soreness spreading from his arm.

"No, the arrows are poisonous!" Zhang Biao shouted loudly. As soon as he finished speaking, he felt dizzy and fell to the side.The rest of the people who were hit by the arrow also fell to the ground in a mess.The faces of the remaining seven Liang Jun scouts who missed the arrow were pale, and they all knew that they were in danger.

There was a clatter in the bamboo forest, and a large number of barbarians with knives and guns jumped out and surrounded the remaining seven Liang army scouts.A small leader of the Liang army shouted loudly: "We are the envoys of the Liang Kingdom, and we have brought a letter from the prefect of Xiangjun to see the leader of the Pu people, Wang Mula. If you dare to attack us, it is a crime of treason."

The leader of the barbarians snorted coldly: "Hehe, the leader of our tribe is Wang Mula. Here, neither the laws of the Han Dynasty nor the edicts of King Shixie of Yue will work! Put down your weapons, Otherwise, shoot and kill!"

The remaining seven people looked at each other, and the little leader of Liang Jun called out again: "Is your leader really Wang Mula?"

The leader of the barbarians knew that he had slipped his tongue, so he shouted sullenly, "It's not your turn to ask questions here, you should quickly put down your weapons and be bound, otherwise don't blame us for wanting to kill!"

The little leader of Liang Jun pondered for a while, then threw the weapon on the ground, and said to the rest of the people: "At this point, only a dead horse can be used as a living horse doctor. If we fight recklessly, it will only kill a few more people on the other side, and it will be done." If you can’t fulfill the tasks assigned by the higher-ups, you will die here meaninglessly in the end. It’s better to let them tie you up, at least there’s still hope.”

The other six people also threw their weapons to the ground after hearing this.The barbarians immediately rushed up, tied them tightly, and carried another dozen people who were paralyzed by poisonous arrows to the deep mountain.

Chapter 243 Looking for Wang Mula

With a bang, a whole bucket of cold water was poured onto the meter.He opened his eyes and saw that the wound on his forearm had been carefully bandaged, but it was still painful.The bamboo arrow was coated with anesthetic itself, and the effect of the medicine has expired now.

After Zhang Biao struggled, he realized that his limbs were still tied to a wooden frame.He raised his eyes and turned his head to look around again, and found himself in a bamboo house.Facing him sat a few barbarians who seemed to be of rather high status.

Before Zhang Biao could ask, the other party asked first, "Who are you?"

Zhang Biao laughed and said, "You have searched all the things I brought with me. Can you not know my identity and what I am here for? Why bother to ask?"

"Then why are you here looking for Wang Mula?" the other party asked coldly.

Zhang Biao replied indifferently: "This matter involves my Liang Jun's secrets, of course I can't tell you and others. Only after meeting Wang Mula can I tell."

One of the opponents said angrily: "You prisoner, you dare to be so panic-stricken. Come on, give this scumbag thirty lashes first, and kill his prestige."

Standing aside, the shirtless barbarian was about to step forward with a whip, but was stopped by another person: "Wait a minute, I want to hear what Liang Jun wants from me first."

Zhang Biao looked intently, and saw that this person was fair-skinned, with a mustache, and his hair was wrapped in a brocade of flowers, and his clothes were obviously more luxurious than those around him.The man continued to speak fluent Chinese to Zhang Biao: "I am Wang Mula, why are you looking for me?"

Zhang Biao asked doubtfully, "Are you really Wang Mula? What proof do you have?"

Wang Mula laughed, and circled the people in the room with his fingers and said: "They can all prove that I am Wang Mula, and I can also prove that I am Wang Mula. If you think these can't be proved, then I can't do anything about it." .”

Zhang Biao lowered his head and thought about it, the other party couldn't possibly prove that he was Wang Mula.He can only choose to gamble.This is Xiangjun, which is far away from Yongchang County where Zhu Luofan's army is entrenched, as long as the opponent is not from Fanjun, it will be fine.

Therefore, Zhang Biao confessed his intention to find Wang Mula.Following Zhang Biao's narration, the expressions of several people in the seat changed rapidly.

After Zhang Biao finished speaking, Wang Mula asked in surprise, "Your Liang army has already reached Qianzhuyuan?" The news of the barbarians was blocked, and they didn't know the news of Liang Jun's march to Yongchang, so it's not surprising.

"Naturally, our Southern Expedition Army has crossed Dashekou and arrived at Qianzhuyuan. It is precisely because a branch of the army took advantage of the underground karst cave to resist in the corner of Qianzhuyuan, so the general of our army sent me to look for you. Because Your tribe has lived in Qianzhuyuan for a long time and is familiar with the local geography."

After listening to Zhang Biao's words, Wang Mula fell silent, but the three or four people beside him started to argue.

"Patriarch, since we have all moved here, why do we care about this? Don't provoke those Zhuluo people, and then retaliate against us because of it, it will be a big loss..."

"What nonsense! The Zhuluo people really came, can we still stay here? Hundreds of people in my village were slaughtered by the Zhuluo people, and their revenge has not been reported until now. Now is a good time to take revenge."

"That's right. We'll just send a few people there, and we won't suffer much. If the Liang army really wipes out the Zhuluo people, it will be regarded as revenge for us."

Zhang Biao said without losing the opportunity: "After our army drives the Zhu Luo people out of Yongchang, you can still return to live in your original place."

Wang Mula had made up her mind at this time, and said with a calm smile: "It's not necessary to move back to the original place. It's not easy for us to move once. We have lived here for a year and don't want to move again. But I will still help you Liang Jun's help is not only for revenge, but also to prevent Zhu Luo's army from continuing to advance eastward, otherwise Zhu Luo's army will continue to invade, and we will leave our hometown again."

"Then there are more patriarchs. After the matter is completed, our army will have a big thank you!"

……

Under the lonely peak in Qianzhuyuan, Meng Huo, Gao Shun, and Dian Wei's rear army who had just arrived not long ago launched another fierce attack on Zhu Luo's army on the mountain.

But this kind of attack seems to be massive, but in fact Liang Jun's force is not fierce.According to Zhuge Liang, we should try our best to give Zhu Luojun an impression.This impression is that the Liang army is attacking with all its strength, and the casualties are not small, but the defense pressure of the Zhu Luo army on the mountain is very heavy, and it will not be able to defend for a long time without reinforcements.

Of course, this was done to trick Zhu Luo's army into mobilizing more troops to the mountains.

At the foot of the mountain, drums were beating and horns were beeping.A mass of Liang Jun soldiers attacked from all sides on the mountains.The heavy arrows fired from the longbow, the stone bullets fired from the ballista, and the fireballs shot towards the hillside like a hail of locusts.

Fortunately, the trees on this mountain belong to the tropical rainforest, otherwise the whole mountain would be burned.Then rows of infantry rushed to the top of the mountain along several slopes in formation.

Some of these infantry were rattan armor soldiers of the barbarians, and some were spear shield soldiers of the system legion.In order to fake momentum, every three people will fly a banner.

The Fanjun giant crossbow on the top of the mountain continued to fire crossbow guns down the mountain, but their firing frequency was extremely low and they were almost inaccurate, so they hardly caused casualties to Liang Jun.

But when Liang Jun's infantry reached the halfway up the mountain, Fan Jun's rolling wood beat stones, and arrows also fell like hail.Liang Jun's screams were endless, most of which were fake screams by Liang Jun.

Even so, with the help of Liang Jun's ballista and longbow, Liang Jun's striker reached the dead first and broke through Zhu Luo's defense line on the mountainside several times.Then he was pushed back by Zhu Luojun who came to support him.

When the sun was setting, the gongs of Liang Jun's withdrawal sounded from all directions, and the attack of the day was over again.The soldiers of the Liang Army returned to the camp at the foot of the mountain in embarrassment carrying the corpse.Of course, most of the "corpses" are disguised with hemp wrapped in sackcloth.

Gao Shun held a banquet in the big tent of the Chinese army to reward the generals who led the battle today, and said to everyone: "You guys performed well today, meeting Zhuge's requirements for joining the army."

Everyone burst into laughter.Dian Wei who was standing next to him said: "Now the Zhu Luo army must have started to reinforce the mountain. Everything is ready. We just wait for those who can find the secret passage to come back and lock the cage."