Three Kingdoms Eschatology

"When it gets dark, we must retreat. Otherwise it will be too late. Because the Chula warships will soon find out that the big camp behind us is actually an empty camp, and they will rush back to fight. We will not be able to leave then. gone."

Zhang Ren nodded and said: "That's all. I want the soldiers to prepare and burn the camp when they retreat."

"No, the camp cannot be burned. Just like last time, we must bluff and let the enemy think that there are heavy soldiers in the camp. In addition, when the soldiers retreat, they should not carry any light equipment. Destroy all before departure. This time, as long as the soldiers can escape back to Mande City in the black mud plain, it will be considered a success."

Zhang Ren asked in surprise: "Do we need to retreat all the way to Mande City?"

"Of course, do you still think that after our withdrawal, the row of sentry strongholds along the Dulong River can still be defended?"

……

At dawn the next day, the Zhu Luo army and the Seguliu mercenary group took the initiative to attack the Liang army camp.

They knew that Liang Jun's strength had been reduced by nearly half, and it was impossible to defend the improvised fortification that was not strong and tall.If they had not suffered heavy casualties themselves, they would have launched an attack last night.

Zhu Luo's army entered the Liang army's camp without any difficulty, and Seguliu and Jialawa guessed that Liang's army had already withdrawn, and what they occupied was only an empty camp.

Seguliu snorted coldly and ordered: "Order the soldiers to search the entire camp carefully, and tell them to pay attention to the fire. The enemy is good at setting up ambushes and using fire. Don't rush in when you see something unusual."

Sure enough, Seguliu’s worries were not met. The soldiers who searched the camp quickly smelled the unique smell of naphtha, and then found that many military tents were splashed with this liquid.After they reported it to Seguliu, the latter sneered, "The whole army withdrew from the camp and burned it down."

When Jialawa and Seguliu were standing together, watching the burning Liang army camp, there was another person beside him, Mo An.

Galava asked: "Mo'an, can you destroy the enemy camp?"

"Destroyed is destroyed, but your intelligence and judgment are not accurate, it is an empty camp."

Galava slapped his thigh and said angrily, "I was fooled. If you don't transfer you away, but let your battleship block the waterway near the enemy camp and monitor the enemy. It is impossible for the enemy to slip away from our noses." gone."

Seguliu said disapprovingly: "Fortunately, we defeated the enemy army without the support of the fleet. What we have to do now is to pursue the victory and not give the opponent a chance to breathe."

Galava nodded and said yes, and replied: "Let's reorganize our troops first, and send troops to recover all the previously lost territories in the next day."

Chapter 267

Zhuge Liang and Zhang Ren retreated into Mande City in the black mud plain with more than a thousand remnants, and joined Yan Yan's two thousand defenders.

A month later, Galava also led Zhu Luo's army, and attacked by water.As for why it took them a month to arrive, it was because they had to conquer more than a dozen strongholds of Liang Jun size along the Dulong River along the way.

This time, the Liang army was completely withdrawn by land. If they retreated along the waterway, it would be very slow.Most of the Viking warships accompanying the army were sunk and self-destructed in the Sawady Delta.Most of the Viking ships left in Mander City were used to transport supplies.

Therefore, even if Liang Jun, who lacked warships, was in the middle reaches of the Dulong River, which was not suitable for the Chuluo warships to navigate, he could no longer stop Zhuluo's warships and monopolize the Dulongjiang waterway.

Liang Jun in Mande City, except for the lack of Viking warships.It also lacks the unique "war beasts" of Liang Jun.Originally, Zhuge Liang brought more than a hundred giant ape soldiers, but these giant ape soldiers were "not acclimatized". After conquering Mande City, they fell ill one after another and were sent to Yongchang County for treatment.

The so-called "acclimatization" is actually because these giant apes cannot have self-control like humans. They are used to drinking raw water and are unwilling to apply mosquito repellent on their bodies, so they are infected with malaria.

In addition to the great apes, the falcons, including the vultures, are not adapted to the humid and hot climate in the Hongshawadi jungle.It seems that only the coyote and the cheetah can barely maintain a normal state in such a climatic environment.

Despite this, Zhuge Liang still has the confidence to defend Mande City, and he has already sent a letter of appeal to Feng Yu in Yibin through the relay of flying pigeons.

Outside Mande City, when Liang Jun's scouts and Zhu Luo's forward scouts clashed sporadically, Zhuge Liang had already made all preparations for the defense of Mande City.

The commander of the Zhu Luo army, Galawa, also knew that Mande City could not be conquered in one attack like those small strongholds, so he set up a camp fifty miles south of the city.Confront Liang Jun.

He waited patiently for a siege machine to be brought up.This siege equipment is a giant counterweight trebuchet.In the battle of Shawadi Port, Zhu Luo's army seized [-] catapults abandoned in front of Liang Jun's formation.

……

In Mande City, a personal guard hurried into the mansion, and said to Zhuge Liang who was lying in front of the case: "Sir, according to the report from the upstream outpost, our reinforcements are approaching Mande City."

Zhuge Liang put down the pen and ink in his hand, raised his head and said in surprise: "Oh, it's here so soon. How many troops have come? Who is the leader of the army?"

"Reporting to the military division, the brigade came mainly from the waterway, and did not stop at the outpost stronghold, and did not inform the soldiers at the outpost stronghold for more details about the army, saying that they wanted to keep it secret. They just gave the outpost soldiers The general checked the seal. But according to the estimation of the soldiers at the outpost, the opponent has at least three or four thousand troops. Looking at their numbers, they belong to the Gaoshun Corps."

Zhuge Liang smiled slightly, and said to himself: "Oh, so it was Gao Shun. Someone guessed that he led the troops here, because his army was stationed in Yongchang. When will they arrive in Mande City?"

"Based on the distance, they should arrive in two hours."

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly and said: "In this case, we are ready to meet them."

Nearly two hours later, to the north of Mande City, a large fleet of ships appeared on the Dulong River, and there were also large numbers of war elephants on the black mud plain, and infantry were meandering.In addition, there were several huge airships that were dragged by war elephants.

After the scouts outside the city confirmed that they were reinforcements from the Liang army, Zhuge Liang immediately led the troops out of the city to meet them.

When Zhuge Liang went up to the supporting army, he saw that the general of the army was riding on the back of an elephant, wearing a huge bamboo hat to shade his head, and the shadow of the hat covered most of his face.

Zhuge Liang cupped his hands and said to the man, "General Gao Shun, Liang has been here to greet you for a long time."

He had just finished speaking when he heard a voice from beside him: "Kong Ming, who are you talking to? Gao Shun is here."

Zhuge Liang was startled, he raised his head and looked around, and it turned out that the man on the elephant's back was not Gao Shun, but the real Gao Shun was standing next to the elephant, looking at him and laughing.

Zhuge Liang was confused for a moment, and stammered, "Then... you... this is it."

At this time, the bamboo hat guest on the elephant had jumped off the elephant's back along the bamboo ladder and came to Zhuge Liang.Zhuge Liang's complexion changed drastically, and he quickly knelt down and said: "It turns out that the king came in person, forgive me..." The other party quickly helped him up and said: "Kong Ming, no, and there is no need to be polite."

Zhuge Liang understood the other party's intention in an instant, and whispered: "Liang understands the king's intention, please explain it in detail after entering the city and the mansion."

The person who came was Liang Wang Feng Yu.After receiving Zhuge Liang's request for help, he immediately ordered Jia Xu to go to Yongchang and mobilized the Gaoshun army stationed in Yongchang to support Zhuge Liang.

Unexpectedly, Jia Xu was not healthy enough, and before he reached Yongchang, he fell ill due to acclimatization.This one is really acclimatized, not infected with malaria.

After thinking about it, Feng Yu finally decided to go out in person to support Zhuge Liang.Because the estuary to the west is too important to him.

Considering that if the Zhuluo people find out that King Liang is going out in person, it is possible to mobilize heavy troops from the mainland to attack and kill this high-value target.So along the way, Feng Yu took confidentiality measures.Most of the soldiers of Gaoshun's army, even the generals below the battalion captain, did not know that the general who came from the capital was King Liang himself.

In the mansion of Mande City, all the generals above the battalion captain were summoned to the hall to discuss the situation of the battle.

While waiting for the generals to come, Zhuge Liang knelt down in front of Feng Yu and pleaded guilty to him: "This time, because Liang underestimated the enemy and rushed forward without finding out the enemy's situation, he rushed into Sawady rashly. In the end, our army was hit like never before. The disastrous defeat is indeed Liang's crime. I ask the king to punish me for my crime."

Feng Yu nodded and said with a smile: "Kong Ming please get up quickly, victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs. To tell you the truth, I sent you out this time to increase your experience. You are so young, if you don't suffer a defeat, you will be alone. I really dare not reuse you. Because the experience and lessons are all summed up from the defeat, "

After hearing Feng Yu's words, Zhuge Liang was relieved a lot, and he and Zhang Ren introduced the details of Zhu Luo's army to Feng Yu, as well as the before and after of the Shawadi Battle.

After listening to them silently, Feng Yu said, "You said they got the ballista from the Great Qin Kingdom, that is, Rome? And they also hired an elite army from Guishuang? How did you know that? Woolen cloth?"

"My lord, at first we didn't know about this matter. But recently, our scouts outside the city had confronted Zhuluo's scouts from time to time, so we captured several Zhuluo scouts. We learned all this from their mouths. Known."

Chapter 268 Walking on Thin Ice

After listening to what Zhuge Liang and Zhang Ren said, Feng Yu pondered for more than a dozen breaths before saying:

"Actually, in the past two years, our intelligence has penetrated deep into the territory of Zhuluo. This is all the hard work of Chen Tiao. We have a caravan that crossed Congling in the north, and entered the southern border of Shendu in the south. Although it is because of the long distance , The information is transmitted only once or twice a year, but it is better than nothing. From these information, we can at least see that the king of Chola, Karikala, does not value Hongshawadi. Therefore, it is impossible for Chola to increase its troops in a large scale. "

Zhuge Liang suddenly realized: "It turns out that the news that Zhu Luo would not reinforce Hongshawadi in a large scale was transmitted by the king before. This is the source."

"That's right, but the intelligence from this news channel is very rough, and it's often out of date when it comes in. So we can't control a battle well by relying on these intelligence alone."

Feng Yu paused for a moment, then continued: "Gu still needs to know more information. Including how many warships are there? Is there any backup? How many ballistas they got? Who is that mercenary group? The price is How much? The more you know about these situations, the better, and the more detailed the better.”

Zhuge Liang replied: "These things can only be provided by the tongue, so I ordered the scouts to grab as many tongues as possible from the prisoners."

……

The situation of Liang Jun's large-scale rescue of Mande was soon known to Jialawa, who was fifty miles away.

Mo'an suggested to Galava: "Cousin Galava, now that the enemy has a large number of reinforcements here, should we retreat to Shawadi? Our supply line is more than 400 miles away here, and the enemy is here again. With a strong city firmly guarded, it may be detrimental to our army if we continue to fight fiercely for a long time. And..."

"Mo An, you have to speak straight."

Mo An cleared his throat, and then said: "And you should know, cousin. According to military regulations, brother, I can't stay here for a long time. If the Shangfeng Supervising Army patrols to Andaman's home port and finds that I have not been in the camp for a long time, That brother, I..."

Galawa nodded and said, "I know what my cousin is in trouble for. How about this, cousin can go back to the Andaman station first. Let me think about it for a few days."

In fact, what Mo An said was common sense.Knowing that the opponent's army is sticking to the fortified city, they should retreat to Sawady as he said.How can Galava not know the truth.But what makes Galawa hesitate - money.

Hiring the Segulu mercenary group is time-based, and it costs two thousand gold coins a week.This retreat to Sawady, when to resume the war, that is Zhuge Liang's final decision.If he delays attacking Sawady for a year and a half, wouldn't it cost him tens of thousands of gold coins in vain?

Galava watched the battleship Moan boarded leave at the pier, sighed and walked towards the camp.Now he feels like walking on thin ice again.Although Mo'an left him a dozen warships, and the Seguulu mercenary group was also in his hands, it was not easy to capture the heavily defended Mande City in front of him.

……

Eighty miles downstream of the Heiniyuan section of the Dulong River, five Viking ships filed out from a narrow branch of the river and quietly disappeared in the reed marshes as tall as a person.

Following Zhuge Liang's military order, they detoured from the branch of the Dulong River to the downstream, where they planned to ambush a single Zhuluo warship and capture a group of prisoners of war, in order to obtain accurate information about the Zhuluo navy.

Although Zhu Luo's ships passed by from time to time on the river, it was not suitable for them to do it, because these Zhu Luo's transport fleets had at least ten ships, including one or two warship escorts.

The leader of a Viking ship sailors poked his head out of the reed again, squinting his eyes to look at the river.

He exclaimed in surprise: "There is a boat coming, and there is only one."

Another head came out in response, looked at it, and said a little disappointed: "But this is a battleship of Zhu Luo's army! Can we handle it with these few ships?"

"We have five ships with 120 soldiers. Although there are 200 soldiers on the Chula battleship, most of them are oarsmen. As long as we surprise and attack quickly, we should be able to succeed."

"If you miss this village, if you don't have this store, do it!"

After a while, three Viking ships rowed out of the reeds, and more than [-] long oars on both sides of the ship's side were flying, and the sails were also raised. Under the agitation of the northwest wind, they were full.They went smoothly, like three sharp arrows, rushed towards the Chula warship.

On the top deck of the Chulo battleship, the alert sentries immediately spotted the three incoming Viking ships, and hurriedly issued a warning message: "Enemy ships! There are enemy ships coming!"

This Zhuluo battleship is the one that transported Mo'an.Mo An at the bottom of the bilge quickly boarded the top deck and looked towards the river. When he found that there were only three small boats on the other side, he sneered and said, "Send me the military order, slow down the speed of the boat, turn the bow, and everyone enters the fighting state."

After a while, the galley lowered the sails on the mast and began to turn its bow towards the incoming enemy ship.

"Aim at the leftmost enemy ship and ram it at full speed! The soldiers get on the deck with their spears and prepare to board." Mo An continued to give instructions.

Not long after he finished speaking, more than a hundred long oars on both sides of the galley warship flew up and down together, paddling quickly like two bird wings.On both sides of the ship's side, white waves rolled, and the stern of the ship also dragged a clearly visible white track due to the extremely fast speed of the ship.

This galley warship is still going upstream against the current, if it is on the sea surface or along the current, the speed will be faster.But at this moment, Mo An on the deck didn't notice that two small boats emerged from the reeds in the lower reaches of the Dulong River, and they quickly approached from the rear of the battleship.

The sailors and soldiers on the Viking ship targeted by the Zhuro battleship were all panicked.Some of them hurriedly threw throwing axes and spears at the Chula battleship, and some desperately paddled and swung the oars to change the course, trying to avoid the impact of the opponent.

But it was too late, the Zhu Luo battleship rushed over in only a dozen breaths, and hit the Viking ship in an instant.The latter was knocked to pieces, and sawdust was scattered everywhere.All the people on board flew out, and then fell into the water with a plop.

Under the action of inertia, the bodies of the crouching soldiers on the Zhuluo battleship also leaned forward sharply, but they all held a kind of tough rope fixed on the side of the ship, which prevented them from falling to the ground.

The Viking ship in the middle was already on the right side of the Zhuluo battleship. More than a dozen throwing axes and javelins flew towards the Zhuluo soldiers on the deck of the battleship. The ax and the spear smashed into the body, and fell on the deck screaming.

Almost at the same time, the spears on the Zhuluo battleship were condescending and pierced towards the sailors and soldiers.There was nowhere to hide on the narrow deck, and nearly ten sailor soldiers were shot and killed in one fell swoop.

The remaining sailor soldiers rowed desperately, trying to escape the intensive stabbing of the opponent's spears.

Chapter 269 High Value Prisoner

Mo An was afraid of encountering Liu Ya and other accidents, so he hid in the bottom of the cabin again.On the deck, a soldier of Zhu Luo grinned grinningly, pointed out two long spears specially used for water warfare, and stabbed at the sailor of Liang Jun on the Viking ship who was shaking the side scull.

The sharp spear blade pierced through the latter's left arm, and penetrated into the chest cavity from the left armpit.The Liang Jun sailor let out a miserable snort and fell into the river.In an instant, the clear river water was dyed red.

When Zhu Luobing stabbed his spear at another Liang Jun sailor again, a saber light flashed across his neck suddenly, his head drooped in the blink of an eye, and a two-foot-long bloody arrow gushed out of his throat .

There was another Zhuluo soldier who found that the situation was wrong, and when he turned his head to observe the situation, a sharp ax split his head in half.The rest of the Zhu Luo soldiers on the deck were also caught off guard by the sudden arrival of Liang Jun sailors and soldiers.

It turned out that the two Viking ships had approached the port side of the Chula battleship from the rear without a sound.More than [-] sailors climbed onto the deck of the battleship at an extremely fast speed.On the Viking ship that was being attacked on the starboard side, the remaining Liang Jun sailors and a dozen soldiers also took the opportunity to board the battleship deck.

Mo An at the bottom had heard the sound of fighting on the deck, he was startled, knowing that the situation had changed, he hastily ordered: "Quickly, all the soldiers in the bottom hold, except for a few people guarding the hatch, the rest are to I'll go up and kill! Turn the bow of the boat and leave this place at a faster speed!"

The remaining nearly fifty Zhuluo warriors in the cabin swarmed to the deck and fought at close quarters with the more than forty Viking sailors who boarded the deck.

The roar of killing on the deck did not affect the rowing speed of the bilge paddlers.With the current going smoothly, the Zhu Luo battleship fled downstream like flying.There is also a Viking ship full of sailors and soldiers in hot pursuit.

A Zhu Luo soldier knocked Liang Bing to the ground with a shield. Just as he was about to slash the opponent with his sword, he heard a muffled bang. He only felt that he was being pushed by a huge force, and he fell on his back on the deck. superior.The opponent also rushed forward uncontrollably, jumped on him, and stabbed the steel knife in his hand into his body.

On the deck, the cabin fell silent.Both Zhu Luobing and Liang Bing were stunned by this sudden change.After a few breaths, someone at the bottom of the bilge exclaimed: "It's stranded, our ship must be stranded!"

At this time, the only Viking ship that was still full of soldiers finally caught up and stuck to the side of the Chula battleship.The sailor soldiers climbed onto the deck of the battleship one after another.

Only then did the soldiers on the deck come back to their senses, shouted in unison, and fought together again.Liang Jun already had the upper hand, and now he was supplemented by new troops, and he wiped out all the Zhu Luo soldiers on the deck in a short time.Then they swarmed towards the bilge bees.

Mo An anxiously shouted: "Quickly, block the hatch, don't let them rush down. All the oarsmen leave the oars and get on!"

The shirtless Chula oarsmen left their positions one after another, and found all kinds of weapons from the bottom of the cabin.At this time, the last few soldiers guarding the hatch were all stabbed to death by Liang Jun with spears.

Mo An's eyes were red, he knew that today was the moment of life and death.He drew out his waist knife and shouted: "Follow me!" More than a hundred oarsmen surrounded him and rushed to the deck.

As soon as they rushed out of the hatch, they were stabbed and hacked by Liang Jun with swords, axes and halberds.These oarsmen had used up most of their strength in the rowing sprint, and now they were shirtless again.Both attack and defense were extremely weak, and they were quickly beheaded by Liang Jun in batches.

Mo An was covered in blood, and brandishing the steel knife, he was only three steps away from the side of the ship. As long as he rushed through the last three steps and jumped into the river, with Mo An's water skills, he might still be able to escape. hope.

Suddenly, Mo An only felt a buzzing sound in his head, his eyes darkened and he passed out.It turned out that a soldier from the Liang Army hit his helmet with the back of his ax...

After the battle, the Viking sailors escorted a dozen prisoners, including Moan who was still in a coma, and quickly left the scene.

The Viking ship did not take the main waterway, but still walked through the narrow river branch.In the boat, the leader Liang Jun said resentfully: "Damn it, we lost so many brothers because of a dozen tongues, it's really not worth it."

A somewhat stuttering Liang Junzhan sailor said: "No... but, big brother... but, this... this seems to be... a big head!" He managed to finish this sentence, but there were a few more things in his hands from Mo An's arms. Find something.Among them are several letters.

The leader of Liang Jun squinted his eyes and looked around and said: "This seems to be the seal of General Fan Jun, and the workmanship is quite exquisite. It seems that this person must be a general of Zhu Luo, and his rank should be not small. If so, we It’s not a bad trip.”

It was already dark when Mo An and the other dozen Zhuluo prisoners were brought back to Mande City.Liang Jun's scouts deduced from the seized documents and seals that Mo An was a big fish.They immediately reported to Feng Yu and Zhuge Liang.