I

"Commander, the enemy troops on General Zhang's side are preparing to cross the river!"

"Every unit holds its ground, and the cavalry will follow me to stop the enemy! Over at Tongguan, send an order for Liu Xiyao to come out to attack and kill!"

Tian Jianxiu personally led the cavalry on the north bank of the Yellow River, running eastward along the river bank.

The weather was clear and the sun was shining brightly.

The Datong Army on the south bank was strutting across the river.

Although Cao Cao won the Battle of Tongguan, it was actually a disastrous victory, with a loss of more than 10,000 troops. Moreover, the casualties basically occurred during the three river crossings.

The first time he crossed the Yellow River secretly, he only crossed half of it before he was discovered by Ma Chao, who then led his cavalry to fight out.

A large number of livestock and civilians, including Cao Cao himself, had not had time to cross the river, and were bitten by Ma Chao's cavalry.

Now, the Datong army directly built fortifications, leaving 4,000 men to defend at all times to prevent the Dashun garrison from fighting out of Tongguan and repeating the mistakes of Cao Cao when he crossed the river.

The main force was divided into several sections to rush across at the same time.

Liu Xiyao, who was guarding Tongguan, saw the flags constantly waving on the other side, and immediately led 3,000 elite soldiers and 2,000 miscellaneous soldiers towards the Datong Army's south bank defenses.

Moreover, when Liu Xiyao came out of the south gate, there were all high earth beams, and it was impossible for the Datong Army to build fortifications.

The Datong Army wanted to cross the river and bypass Tongguan, and the Tongguan defenders also used Tuliang to bypass the Datong Army's cement wall.

"The thieves are coming from the south!"

In the hot air balloon, the Datong sentry waved flags, and the observers on the ground shouted quickly.

"The dragoon abandoned his horse and followed me to block it!"

Cao Bianjiao dismounted and led 2,500 dragoons along the ravines washed out by the rain and up the earth beams that were often ten meters high. In some places, the height of the earth beams even exceeds 20 meters.

After Cao Bianjiao led his troops to climb up, Liu Xiyao's troops were only a few dozen meters away.

Cao Bianjiao said to the messenger: "Occupy the high ground, form a formation and fire cannons. Tell the friendly troops below not to move and just hold on to the fortifications to prevent enemy troops from coming to Tongguan!"

The terrain here is typical of the Loess Plateau, with vertical and horizontal soil beams, undulating heights, and ravines washed out by rain.

After abandoning their horses, the dragoons stood guard on a dirt beam, waiting for Liu Xiyao to attack.

"Survey on three sides!"

Liu Xiyao's troops came to the ravine and dispersed into three groups to surround and climb.

Cao Bianjiao ordered: "Commander, commander, disperse the fire!"

"Bang bang bang!"

The dragoons were condescending and fired at the enemy troops in the ditch.

Today, more than ten divisions of dragoons have all been equipped with flintlock muskets. As for the infantry, about half of the equipment was changed, and the newly formed divisions still used the eliminated matchlock guns.

The Dashun Army was unable to form a formation during the attack due to climbing the earth beams, and scattered into one group in the east and one in the west. The Datong Army also scattered into more than ten groups and opened fire.

Liu Xiyao's elite soldiers all wore cotton armor, and because they were far away, they could still withstand bullets.

But he still has two thousand miscellaneous soldiers who have only been trained for three months and only wear leather armor. After more than ten people were shot in a row, a group of soldiers collapsed and turned around to escape from the battlefield.

"Behead those who escape from battle!"

"My sons, follow me to kill the enemy!"

The law enforcement team hacked to death more than 20 people, and the soldiers finally stopped fleeing. Liu Xiyao simply took off his armor, stepped forward bare-chested and raised his sword, and led his elite troops to attack desperately.

You can't climb the mountain ridges on the Loess Plateau anywhere, you can only climb the ones that are relatively less steep.

At this time, wearing armor is cumbersome, and bullets will pierce it anyway if you get close.

"Bang bang bang!"

Three of Liu Xiyao's soldiers fell down one after another. This man was still crawling hard. He was worthy of being a warrior from Li Zicheng's old camp.

Suddenly, there was a cry of killing from the shore, but it was Liu Tichun who led his troops out of the pass and attacked the Datong Army's fortifications from the front.

The main force of the Datong Army is crossing the river in sections. Once it fails here, the entire army will be finished.

"General, we can't attack, we can only get beaten!" The soldiers shouted from behind the mound.

Liu Xiyao was also lying down to avoid it, roaring: "If we don't fight hard now, Tongguan will be gone, and we won't be able to fight even if we try! Listen carefully to the sound of the gun, and charge with me!"

Liu Xiyao sent a group of miscellaneous soldiers to attack first. When the gunfire was the loudest, he suddenly stood up and charged: "While they are changing medicine, charge together! Archers, shoot upwards! Fire gun soldiers also move upwards." Fight from above!"

Although the Datong Army was in groups of ten and took turns firing, in the face of a wave of offensive, they would inevitably fire most of their bullets.

Liu Xiyao actually saw the right opportunity, stepped on the corpses of many miscellaneous soldiers, and rushed to a place only four or five meters away from the top of the beam.

"Bang bang bang!"

Scattered gunshots rang out, and several more of Liu Xiyao's soldiers fell, and more than a dozen elite soldiers behind him also fell.

But Liu Xiyao was still charging. He was shot in the right shoulder and could only carry the knife with his left hand.

"What a brave man!"

Cao Bianjiao, who had been directing the battle, finally took up the blunderbuss and pulled the trigger towards Liu Xiyao.

If he can't hit even a few meters away, Cao Bianjiao can go home and retire.

"boom!"

Liu Xiyao finally fell, and the Datong Army closest to him was only three meters away.

Until his death, Liu Xiyao never understood how the Datong Army's muskets could be reloaded so quickly.

"The general is dead!"

Dashun's army all collapsed and ran towards Tongguan.

Cao Bianjiao shouted: "The whole army is pursuing us!"

It's difficult to chase in such broken terrain. It keeps climbing up the ridge and then runs into the ravine.

Many of the defeated soldiers were in panic and no longer ran towards Tongguan. Instead, they went south along the mountain ridge, where there were all steep mountains.

Along the way, some defeated soldiers knelt down and surrendered, but about two thousand soldiers still managed to escape back to the south of Tongguan. The door opened and the defeated troops entered, but Cao Bianjiao did not dare to pursue him.

Because there is a urn city here, if you chase it in, you will be caught in the urn.

Cao Bianjiao separated some people to receive the surrendered troops, and then led the troops north, hoping to attack Liu Tichun's troops from both front and rear.

Unfortunately, it was too late. Liu Tichun was unable to break through the fortifications and had withdrawn his troops back to Tongguan on his own.

In the battles that broke out in the fortifications and Tubeiang, more than 400 enemy soldiers were killed and more than 1,300 enemy soldiers were captured. The casualties of the Datong Army were negligible. One person was killed by firecrackers and several others were injured by bows and arrows. There were also a few unlucky ones who sprained their feet while chasing the defeated troops, and one of them actually broke his leg.

Frontal battlefield.

Each piece of sheepskin was blown up and tied to a wooden frame to form a sheepskin raft, which has been a popular tool for crossing rivers since the Han Dynasty.

Merchants even used sheepskin rafts to transport goods across the Yellow River.

Eight Datong troops went down the river on a sheepskin raft. Two melee soldiers are responsible for paddling the water, two melee soldiers are responsible for raising shields, and four gun soldiers are squatting half-crouching, with their guns aimed in the direction of the other side.

The current was so fast that while the sheepskin raft was approaching the north shore, it was also quickly swept downstream.

Tian Jianxiu deployed many archers and gunmen along the coast, and even set up several artillery pieces, all of which were city defense artillery dismantled from Tongguan.

"Boom boom boom!"

When the cannon fires, whether it can hit or not depends entirely on chance. Because even the Datong Army in the river could not control the sheepskin raft and was being driven downstream.

"boom!"

Dashun Army's thirteenth artillery shell finally hit the first target.

The iron bullets focused on a sheepskin bag and did not explode, but the huge impact caused the sheepskin raft to overturn. All eight Datong troops fell into the river. With the undulations of the rushing river, whether they could swim back to the shore could only depend on God's will.

Tian Jianxiu led his cavalry to chase them along the river, and they chased them for more than half a mile. A small number of Datong troops entered the range of bows and arrows.

"Dismount and shoot!"

They all use walking bows so that they can shoot farther.

"Boohoo!"

"Bang bang bang!"

Arrows and bullets flew back and forth over the Yellow River, and people on both sides were unfortunately hit.

As deputy division commander, Wang Hui personally carried out the task of crossing the river. Crossing the river is only the first step. Next, we need to establish a foothold on the north bank and receive more friendly troops to land smoothly.

In the rushing Yellow River, he could not command the army, but could only command the seven people around him.

“Paddle quickly and don’t look at the other side!”

Wang Hui raised his shield and shouted, and then said to the fire gun soldiers: "Aim, hit me hard!"

A turbulence hit, and the sheepskin raft spun half a circle. Not only was it unable to aim, the raft even almost flipped over.

"ah!"

"Help!"

"Pull me up!"

More than 20 meters away from Wang Hui, a sheepskin raft overturned. They were not attacked, but they lost their balance and fell into the water.

"Mount your horse and keep chasing!"

Just as he dismounted and shot an arrow, Datong's army drifted far away again, and Tian Jianxiu once again rode his horse to catch up.

The infantrymen of Dashun Army, also armed with various weapons, chased the sheepskin raft along the river.

The nearest sheepskin raft was still more than ten meters away from the north shore, and there were only six people left on the raft. At this point, the river-crossing operation has just begun, and the Datong Army has already lost more than thirty soldiers!

Finally, the sheepskin raft docked, and Tian Jianxiu's cavalry rushed over.

The soldiers of Datong, whose foothold was not stable, quickly formed a formation on the shore. Three melee soldiers blocked the front, and three gun soldiers fired at the cavalry. The six of them faced more than two thousand cavalry.

The commander had already fallen into the river. The commander raised his spear and roared with red eyes: "Plow the fields and eat, and the world will be united!"

"Plow the fields and eat, and the world will be united!"

The six people shouted in unison, looking forward to death.

"Bang bang bang!"

Three muskets fired in volley, hitting an enemy rider.

The enemy's bows and arrows also came, and all six people were hit by arrows, with the most having seven arrows stuck in their bodies.

After a round of bows and arrows, two people still survived.

They didn't bother to reload their ammunition. Instead, they picked up the shields and spears of the melee soldiers and defended their landing positions back to back.

"Fire the arrow!"

There was another rain of arrows, and the two finally breathed their last.

Tian Jianxiu said with emotion: "They are all good men. It is a pity."

"Commander, there is another raft crossing the river over there!"

"Chase!"

Tian Mixiu shouted.

One after another, more than 20 sheepskin rafts successfully crossed the river, carrying more than 100 Datong soldiers. They were surrounded and killed by the enemy as soon as they landed.

However, there were too many Datong troops crossing the river, and the coast of the Yellow River was too long. There were always places that Tian Jianxiu could not take care of.

"Form up the formation, raise the flag, and blow the trumpet!"

Wang Hui also crossed the river. The nearest enemy force to him was more than 200 infantrymen dozens of meters away.

“Dududududa~~~~”

The suona blew the rallying horn, and the Datong soldiers who came ashore desperately moved closer to this place. The Datong army in the river also rowed as far as possible to this side, where they wanted to form a real position.