Chapter 317 Killing the Emperor of Dai Viet with a Bomb

In early August, the Song army was unstoppable. It took only a few days to set up artillery positions outside the Lang Son Pass and bombarded the Vietnamese army.

After that, the Song army occupied Liangzhou City and assembled a main force of about 40,000 people. They marched south again and took Zhiling Pass.

At this time, Li Foma gathered Guo Shengyi's defeated soldiers and stationed about 80,000 troops to guard the pass.

Zhiling Pass is not towering into the clouds, but it is extremely dangerous. It is located between two mountains. Judging from the terrain, it is quite similar to the famous pass of Loushan Pass in my country.

The mountains that can't see the end at a glance are layered. The color of the mountains, which was originally emerald green and almost black and green, is now increasingly yellow-brown. The fallen leaves are flying, covering the already narrow road.

The scouts of the Song Dynasty walked deep and shallow in the fallen leaves. From the deep mountains and old forests on both sides, various bird calls and whistles came from time to time, reminding them that there were no enemies nearby.

These scouts were the most elite minority troops selected by Di Qing, responsible for front-line reconnaissance and early warning.

In fact, in ancient times, the ethnic composition of northern Vietnam, that is, the Red River Delta region, was not complicated, and was mainly composed of Zhuang, Yao, Miao, Han and other ethnic groups in the southwest.

They were good at fighting in the mountains and forests, but the minority troops in Guangxi recruited by Di Qing were of the same origin as them and were also good at fighting in the mountains and forests. The two sides were tit-for-tat, fighting in their own areas of expertise.

With their help, the traps dug by the Vietnamese army on the road, the ambushes arranged in the mountains and forests, and the reconnaissance posts hidden nearby were almost all easily swept away.

At this moment, Di Qing was in charge of the central army, which consisted of 7,000 musketeers, and the cannons were still in the rear, escorted by Nong Zhigao.

There was no way.

Compared with muskets, cannons weighing hundreds or even thousands of kilograms were still too poor in mobility, especially in such jungle and mountainous areas, and could only move step by step.

Di Qing was sitting on his horse, staggering forward. Today was the 21st day of the march, and they were only ten miles away from Zhiling Pass.

He looked around the mountains, looking for a suitable place to install the cannons, ready to bombard the Yue army's pass again.

More than ten minutes later, the scouts reported that the vanguard had arrived outside the pass.

Di Qing immediately ordered to set up camp outside the pass.

Not long after, the firearms army also arrived outside the pass and joined the vanguard army in front.

Since the civilians and artillery were in the rear, the current army was composed of ethnic minority troops and firearms, so the firearms army lined up outside the camp to be alert, while the ethnic minority troops began to cut down trees and build camps.

Di Qing looked around the terrain, and they were in the valley between the two mountains. Although the ancient road of Zhiling Pass was narrow, it was not the kind of dead end with a mountain road of only a few meters.

There were many slopes, grasslands, and woods between the east and west mountains, and there were still many places to set up camps. They only needed to remove the weeds and wormwood.

But it was autumn, and the leaves were flying. It was not easy to clear a large open space.

"Clear a piece of open space immediately."

"First, arrange for soldiers from each unit to take turns to go to the mountain spring found by the scout to replenish the consumed water bottles."

"No need to dig trenches, set up fences and tents first."

"Be careful when making fire and cooking. Although it is almost difficult to make a big fire here, you must also be careful that the gunpowder will be ignited."

"Enter the camp normally tonight, and each unit should arrange sentries to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the opportunity."

Orders were passed down one by one, and Di Qing then prepared to go into the mountains to observe the terrain.

He was not worried that the Vietnamese army would set fire.

Because before coming here, the prefect told him that Annan was in a tropical monsoon and tropical rainforest climate, and it was almost impossible for a large-scale fire to occur unless napalm bombs were used.

But gunpowder materials are very important. Once there is a spark, it will cause extremely serious consequences and cause huge losses to the Song army.

So every time you go to a place, fire prevention of gunpowder and other materials is the top priority.

As for the lack of water sources, he was not worried. He did not plan to fight a protracted war. Basically, every time he arrived at a place, he would find a water source and fill the kettle, and then order all the soldiers to boil water when drinking.

The current equipment of the firearms army is still relatively advanced. In addition to the muskets, they also have gunpowder backpacks, steel kettles and steel knives on their waists.

This kettle is made by the steel factory, which is convenient for soldiers to boil water on the spot after taking water.

The only problem is that Nong Zhigao's ethnic minority coalition forces do not have the standard equipment of the Song Dynasty's firearms army. Many people have been out of the battle sequence because of diarrhea due to drinking raw water.

However, they are not the main force in the war, so there is no need to worry. As long as the firearms army is not infected with the epidemic on a large scale, it will not pose a great threat to military operations.

Di Qing, led by the scouts, went up a nearby hill with a low slope and a good view with several deputy generals.

Zhang Yu commanded the soldiers to set up camp at the foot of the mountain.

This mountain is about thirty or forty feet high, or about a hundred meters. Unlike the surrounding mountains and forests with dense trees and big trees covering the sky, this mountain has almost no trees, only countless wild grasses.

Standing on the slope, Di Qing looked into the distance. There was almost no movement around. The autumn wind gently blew over the hills, and the leaves and autumn grass rustled.

The soldiers of the Li Dynasty were all huddled in Zhiling Pass, without any planned movement.

Li Yi, the commander of the firearms army, vaguely saw the pass in the distance and asked curiously: "General, are the Jiaozhi people stupid? They suffered a big loss last time, why do they dare to defend the pass this time?"

"If you ask me, they are not stupid, they are just helpless. How can they resist against our Song Dynasty's Heavenly Army? It's just a dead end."

Another commander Liu Qing said with a smile.

"Don't underestimate them."

Di Qing put his hands behind his back, his white cloak fluttering in the wind, and shook his head and said, "War is not a joke. You can't fool any enemy like a fool."

"Then why haven't they made any moves yet?"

Li Yi said puzzledly, "If it were me, I would have left the pass long ago, and at least I would have made a tentative attack."

"This can only mean two things."

"Two things?"

"First, the enemy has just experienced a great defeat, and their morale is low, so they dare not send troops immediately. Second, they are brewing a bigger conspiracy."

Di Qing said calmly.

Zhang Mao, the governor of the Southern Road of Guangxi, scratched his head and said, "General, what conspiracy will they brew?"

"You must learn to think from the enemy's side."

Di Qing lowered his head and thought.

If he were on the enemy's side, facing the Song army's firearms, he would probably be helpless.

However, there is no way out, perhaps he can use his strengths to attack the enemy's weaknesses.

So what are the strengths of the Yue army?

Naturally, they live in the mountains for a long time and can cross mountains and ridges as if they were walking on flat ground.

In contrast, only ethnic minority troops can do this in the Song army, and the firearms army is very reluctant.

So if he were the Yue army, he would probably take advantage of this and send a large number of soldiers from the mountains and forests to attack the Song army while they are assembling cannons.

After all, the Song army's cannons are best placed on the mountains, so that the range is longer and the power is greater.

But..

They obviously don't know the power of muskets.

Thinking of this, Di Qing almost had a countermeasure, just need to beware of what the Yue army is best at.

It was getting dark.

The Song army outside the pass had built several simple camps, surrounded by fences on the outside and tents inside.

There were no fortifications, no chevaux de frise, caltrops or the like.

In the forests on both sides, countless pairs of eyes appeared, staring at the camp of the Song army with torches from a distance.

The wind whistled, and the soldiers on night duty in the firearms army looked up and occasionally heard various screams echoing from the deep mountains several miles away.

The scouts of both sides fought desperately in the forests, and this was a war without gunpowder. If the two sides met in the mountains and discovered each other, if they could not match the secret signal, they would immediately use bows and crossbows, blow arrows, and even swords, guns, and sticks.

Such a tragic fight is like the law of the dark jungle.

Especially when the other side is accidentally discovered by the enemy, no matter whether they are their own people or not, they often attack in the first place, and it is not uncommon for teammates to be injured by mistake.

But there is no way around it.

Relying on the fighting of ethnic minority soldiers, the Song army gradually gained a foothold outside the pass, and the camp was built about four miles away from Zhiling Pass.

The mountains on both sides were basically occupied by the Song army, and the price paid was hundreds of casualties.

However, the Yue army could not be said to have won, and they also lost a lot of people.

After five or six days, Nong Zhigao led the civilians and the artillery team to finally arrive at the front line of Zhiling Pass.

Since Zhiling Pass is an uphill slope, if you fire directly from outside the pass, most of the shells are estimated to only hit the wall of Zhiling Pass, so you still have to go up the mountain.

After Nong Zhigao arrived, Di Qing immediately ordered the civilians to cut down trees on a mountain on the right that they had already chosen, and open up a road into the mountain.

And this information was quickly discovered by the Yue scouts hiding in the nearby mountains, and they returned to Guanzhong to report to Li Foma.

At this time, Li Foma was inspecting the enemy situation on the pass. The outside of the pass was as vast as smoke. The mountain on their right was actually not high, about 34 meters high hills, and there were also some flat plains.

The Zhilong County of Vietnam in later generations is nearby. A small river flows slowly out of the mountains, with lush vegetation, as vast as a grassland in the wilderness.

On the left is the branch of Lang Son, so the mountains are much higher, there are hundreds of feet of mountains everywhere, and the road is extremely rugged and difficult to travel.

The mountain road opened by Di Qing and his team is on the left side of Li Foma and his team.

"Report!"

The scout came back and hurried to the pass, kneeling on one knee to Li Foma and said: "Your Majesty, the enemy has begun to open up the mountain road."

"Well, I know."

Li Foma nodded, looking deeply to the northwest, where the mountains are steep and there are cliffs. He seemed to be able to perceive that perhaps the enemy could really throw the black ball into Guanzhong from a few miles away.

After the scouts left, Li Foma turned around and looked at several generals around him and said, "Everyone, the enemy wants to use the same trick again and throw a black ball into the pass to defeat us. We must not let them succeed."

"Your Majesty, give the order, and we will fight to the death."

"At this time, my army will immediately go deep into the forest, suddenly rush out, and kill all the civilians who are clearing the way for them, and they will be helpless."

"When it comes to fighting in this mountain forest, my Dai Viet soldiers are more than a hundred times stronger than their Song army!"

Generals such as Li Fengxiao, Du Qing, Ban Shi Yonghe, and Ban Du Xingru said one after another.

"Okay."

At this juncture, Li Foma no longer hesitated and immediately shouted: "Pass it on, Prime Minister, you lead 20,000 people and immediately enter the mountain from the left side of the pass and attack by a detour."

"Yes!"

Li Fengxiao agreed.

Li Fuma said again: "General Du, you lead ten thousand people, take a detour from the right side of the pass, and harass their camp."

"yes."

Du Qing agreed.

"The rest of the people, once the fighting starts, come out with me and fight the enemy fiercely!"

"yes!"

Everyone drank violently.

At this time, Dai Viet was at a critical moment of life and death and could only fight to the death.

Soon, at noon, the civilians of the Song Army opened a road from the slope into the mountain. Trees were cut down and weeds were cleared.

Nature is majestic, but human power is not useless. At least the power gathered by tens of thousands of people is not insignificant.

Some people cut down trees, pushed the wood down and rolled it down the mountain.

Some farmers spread the cut weeds on the ground to form a road up the mountain.

There were also farmers digging rammed earth to carve out a slope in the steep, almost roadless mountain.

Under the command of the general, everyone performed their duties with amazing efficiency.

But it's normal.

After all, it is just a road that can accommodate artillery, not a highway. The difficulty is not at the same level.

In just half a day's work, they built a dirt road about 70 to 80 feet long and about one foot wide. A cart may not be able to go up, but the civilians can carry the gun barrel up.

In the afternoon, this steep road, which is expected to be 200 feet long, or more than 600 meters long, will be repaired to meet the needs of artillery troops going up the mountain to install cannons.

Soon after Shenshi arrived, the road gradually became clearer. Di Qing gave an order, and the artillery crew members began to go up the mountain with small steel cannons.

But at this time, a sudden change occurred.

In the distant mountains and forests, birds were flying in fright, and the forest leaves were rustling.

Then a harsh whistle sounded throughout the world.

"General, enemy attack!"

A minority leader shouted to Di Qing in panic.

"It doesn't matter."

Di Qing looked over there silently.

As he expected, the enemy chose to launch the attack from the densely wooded mountains.

But what the other party obviously doesn't know is that in fact, if it is just to build an ordinary road up the mountain, tens of thousands of people will not be needed at all.

Then why did he send so many people there?

Because their role is to clear away all the vegetation within a hundred meters on the west side of the road up the mountain.

Use an ax to chop and a knife to cut. Be sure to leave an area with a relatively open field of vision for a hundred meters on the west side of this slope, which is only five or six hundred meters long.

At this moment, on the mountain, about thousands of firearms troops escorted the artillery carriage and began to move up the mountain. Various sounds were heard in the nearby forest.

There were screams, whistles, and horns.

Within a short time, many Song Army scouts who had been sent out to lurk in the mountains and forests ran out, shouting as they ran: "Hurry up, the enemy is coming."

However, the firearms army turned a deaf ear. Zhang Yu looked at them indifferently and just shouted: "Send the order and let them run down the mountain."

"yes."

Immediately, dozens of soldiers ran out to meet the scouts who ran out, and ordered them to flee down the mountain.

Behind them, there were endless rustling sounds in the forest.

Countless Vietnamese soldiers in various costumes vaguely emerged from it. When they saw the Song army raising the barrel of a gun in the distance outside the forest, they yelled in their own language: "It's the Song army, kill them!"

"Kill!"

A shocking roar erupted in the forest.

Zhang Yu just said: "Get ready!"

"Swish swish!"

Thousands of muskets lined up in a long line on the slope, guarding the artillery behind them, with their muzzles pointed at the Vietnamese army in the distance.

An artillery squad leader and his artillery crew members were moving up the mountain step by step, carrying a small steel cannon barrel of more than 100 kilograms, and happened to meet an acquaintance.

He couldn't help but greet the musketeer with envy: "Old Wang, it's better for you to take it easy, the musket is only so heavy."

"It's a war, be serious and don't disturb me."

That Lao Wang was a gunman in the third row. Although he did not fire in front, he had to prepare for the third stage of shooting. He did not dare to turn around and talk to acquaintances, and stared straight ahead.

"All right."

The artillery squad leader vaguely saw a war supervisor looking in front of him, so he had to shut up, change his shoulders, and continue climbing up the mountain with one foot deep and one foot shallow.

"Fire!"

Zhang Yu roared loudly.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"

The sound of huge muskets resounded through the sky, followed by white smoke and countless lead bullets shot out of the barrel.

In an instant, two to three hundred Vietnamese soldiers who ran out of the forest were shot. They fell down suddenly as if they were hit hard.

No one around them knew what was going on. Many people didn't even know that such a situation existed. They only knew how to charge forward when they heard loud noises in front of them and then smoke.

I can only keep running forward when I am confused.

But the next second, the second row of firearms soldiers came one after another and continued to fire.

Then the first row went back to reload, and the third row fired.

Then the first row comes out to fire, the second row prepares, the third row reloads, and so on.

Di Qing deployed five thousand musketeers on the mountain road, and the firepower was so intensive that the long slope was completely covered, leaving almost no room for leakage.

Countless Vietnamese soldiers fell down inexplicably. It was not until a few breaths passed that they had not rushed in front of the Song army. Thousands of Vietnamese soldiers who were running the fastest in front were shot and fell to the ground. Only those behind realized that something was wrong. .

At this time, the ground outside the forest was already wailing. Many people did not die immediately after being shot, but screamed in pain. Blood immediately flowed all over the ground, irrigating the surrounding weeds that had not been cleared away.

"What is going on? The Song Army has sorcery. This is the Song Army's sorcery."

"God, they can kill people from a distance."

"Run!"

A large number of Vietnamese soldiers finally collapsed and fled one after another.

The Song army did not pursue them, they just watched.

At the same time, the camp at the foot of the mountain was also raided by the Vietnamese army. Di Qing left more than 2,000 firearms troops behind and easily repelled them.

However, since the camp was far away from the pass and the battle was on the mountain, I couldn't see the situation clearly.

Li Fuma was still looking outside anxiously at this time. He only saw chaos outside, especially the Song Army camp, where densely packed Song Army soldiers were running back and forth.

"They must have succeeded."

Liang Maocai shouted.

Being too far away and obscured by high mountains, I really don’t know what happened specifically, but it seems that they have at least succeeded in keeping the Song army in chaos.

"Okay, come out of seclusion and follow me to kill the enemy!"

Liverma knew that the opportunity to fight could not be delayed. Although he did not know whether he was losing or winning outside, what if he was on the verge of losing and was close to finishing?

So sometimes you have to make a decision. Compared to Zhao Zhen, Li Foma is actually a more decisive person.

At that moment, he immediately ordered the pass to be opened, and the entire army attacked towards the Song Army camp.

A quarter of an hour later, the gate of Zhilengguan opened, and countless Vietnamese troops swarmed out.

"Bang bang bang bang bang!"

But at this moment, everyone heard terrifying loud noises.

They couldn't hear the muskets in the mountains, still four or five miles away, but the sound of the artillery was like thunder in their ears.

In an instant, many people raised their heads and saw countless pitch-black balls heading towards them in the sky.

Among them, Li Fuma was riding on horseback, and he was on a military expedition. When he raised his head, he saw a black ball, as if it had eyes, pointed right in his direction!

"boom!"

Before Liverma could react, he and his horse disappeared in the roar.