Xie Ming

Chapter 29: Crossing the Hun River
The raft was not found at the originally planned crossing point, a reed marsh half a mile west of the village. This sudden accident put the entire army into crisis. However, Xiao Lang remained calm and organized his men to continue searching from both sides.

A few moments!

Just after everyone walked west for about another mile and a half, Gu Changting, who was leading the way ahead, suddenly found a raft, and the road turned around!
"Report!"

"General, a raft was found in the reed marsh ahead!" Chang Ting was overjoyed.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingchuan and Qiu Zhizhong beside him felt relieved.

"Okay, let's go, let's go!"

"Changting, send someone to inform Wang Chuanwu of Dongxiang and ask him to return as soon as possible."

"Yes!"

As he spoke, Xiao Jingchuan led his soldiers to the river bank where the old raft was stored.

Looking at it, the rafts were old and outdated, and some of them were almost rotten.

After he ordered his men to have a quick rest, they were able to gather about twenty men who could be used. It seemed that this plan of crossing the river was feasible!
"Li Huchen, Ma Minglu!" Xiao Lang gave the order.

"In the!"

"You two take your troops to protect the Crown Prince and the ministers, and the second group will cross the river!"

"Yes!"

"Fei Yu (Qiu Zhizhong), you go and guard the prince, and go with the second group!"

"Yes, I understand!" Qiu Zhizhong replied.

"Brothers from the Shenji Camp, two hundred people for round one or two, let's go! Follow me on the raft!"

After he finished speaking, the soldiers brought out by the former Shenjiying gradually boarded the rafts as ordered and prepared to cross the river!

Seeing that everyone was ready, Xiao Jingchuan did not delay any longer and raised his legs to cross the water on the raft.

But at this moment, Gu Changting had just finished giving orders and was rushing back. Seeing the general getting on the raft, he was shocked. He rushed behind Xiao Jingchuan in a few steps, pulled Xiao Lang off the raft, and jumped on himself!
"Gu Changting, you're asking for a beating! Get off here!"

Being dragged back to the shore by his subordinates, Xiao Jingchuan was angry and yelled at Chang Ting.

"General, you can't go, I will go!" Gu Changting answered firmly!

"Nonsense! Can't you come down?!" Xiao Lang raised his hand and pointed at him threateningly.

"General! Peizhong is still holding the line on the east bank. How can I, Gu Changting, let you take the lead in this battle?"

As he spoke, Gu Changting became ruthless and used a pole to push the raft away from the shore.

"Brothers from the first and second innings, follow me!"

After he finished speaking, the two hundred or so soldiers did not stop, but took advantage of the night and the river fog to force their way across the river in the dark and head towards the other side.

Xiao Jingchuan stood on the river bank facing the wind, watching the soldiers gradually disappear into the darkness, feeling uneasy.

According to the current hydrological conditions of the Hunhe River, it takes about a quarter of an hour for a raft to cross the river back and forth.

If Gu Changting led his troops to cross the river secretly at night, it would take at least longer than this time.

All the soldiers on the raft are Xiao Jingchuan's direct subordinates. These soldiers brought by himself will be more confident at critical moments.

"Deputy General Gu, we have reached the west bank!"

In the darkness of night, a sharp-eyed old soldier who was on the same raft with Gu Changting reported quietly.

"Ah! Okay, quick! Speed ​​up and get to the shore!"

Following Gu Changting's command, everyone sped up. Before long, the rafts reached the shore first and the soldiers quickly landed and gathered.

"Xiao Sanzi, Yougen, Jingyu, take a team of people and row the raft back quickly! Move quickly!" Gu Changting ordered.

"Yes!" The three of them responded in unison.

"The rest of you, divide into three teams and head to the forest behind the beach from the left, middle and right directions!"

"If you spot the enemy, fire back immediately!"

"If we are ambushed here, the general will never be able to come here again!"

"Come on, follow me!"

After saying that, the soldiers quickly maneuvered and advanced rapidly into the forest behind the open beach from three directions!

Half a minute later, the raft returned to the east shore again.

Xiao Jingchuan organized the remaining troops and all of them crossed the river for the second time. After everyone reached the beach on the west bank, Xiao Lang ordered his men to march quickly to a mountain ridge in the southwest without stopping.

He also ordered the soldiers to fire their muskets as they moved, and shouted, "We have crossed the Hun River, don't stay!"

Wang Chuanwu, who was standing beside him, was worried that this was inappropriate, so he quickly stepped forward to stop Xiao Jingchuan.

"General, no, even though there are no ambushes here, we can't be careless!"

"If there are enemy troops deployed a little further away on the two wings, then our shouting will probably lead to their pursuit and attack immediately."

"Go into the woods, it won't be too late to report the news after you go into the woods!" Wang Chuanwu said.

"fart!"

"I've already come here, why should I be afraid of being chased and bitten?"

As he said that, Xiao Jingchuan fired his gun towards the sky!

The sharp sound of gunfire suddenly resounded throughout the entire west coast.

"Fire your guns into the mountains, quickly! Go!"

Wang Chuanwu knew very well that the general's actions were all due to his concern for Sun Peizhong. He was afraid that it would be difficult for him to snipe on the east bank, so he tried every means to send a signal as early as possible to give the troops on the other side of the river more time to get rid of the enemy.

Thinking of this, Wang Chuanwu felt even more impressed when he saw General Xiao Jingchuan leading his troops forward!
boom!
Boom boom!

After several rounds of artillery fire, the high ground near Sun Peizhong's troops on the east bank had become a scorched earth, with rolling stones and wood chips flying everywhere.

Fortunately, there was a light snowfall yesterday and the forest was very damp, so repeated bombardments did not cause a forest fire.

"General Sun Qian! General Sun Qian!"

"The bandits are coming again!"

Sun Peizhong ordered his troops to take advantage of the advantageous terrain of being on high ground and organize firepower blocking behind the high rocky hills.

At this moment, with another round of artillery fire, the enemy troops assembled on the east bank of the river immediately organized manpower to attack the mountain again!
boom!
Just as the soldier was passing the message to Sun Peizhong, a cannonball suddenly hit Sun Peizhong less than three meters away!

With a loud bang, the earth and rocks were blown into pieces. Peizhong had no time to dodge, and a shock wave came over and knocked him to the ground. The earth and rocks covered him all over, burying most of his body in the soil!
"Qian, General Qian!"

"Zhu Zi, go and organize some people to stop them!"

"it is good!"

The three or five close soldiers in front of Sun Peizhong continued to organize troops to block the attack while digging desperately at the earth and rocks.

"General Qian! General Qian!"

After a while, Sun Peizhong was dug out of the soil. His ears were buzzing from the explosion. The soldiers shouted for a long time before their words could be barely heard.

"Gu, Guzi, how are the casualties?" Sun Peizhong forced himself to sit up, concerned about the casualties in his unit.

"Captain Qian, out of more than a hundred brothers, less than fifty are still able to breathe!"

"Let's retreat! If we continue to endure, everything will be over!" said the soldier called Gu Zi.

"No, no!"

"General, we haven't crossed the river yet. Guzi, don't worry about me. Lead your men to retreat fifty steps to the back of the mountain, deploy in echelons, and block the enemy step by step!"

"We swear to keep the bandits firmly tied to this east bank!"

As Sun Peizhong spoke, blood began to seep from the corners of his mouth and ears.

"We have crossed the Hun River, don't stay here!"

"We have crossed the Hun River, don't stay here!"

Suddenly, at the moment when Sun Peizhong gave the order, shouting and yelling suddenly came from the west bank of the Hunhe River.

"General Qian! Listen!"

"Hahaha, it's the general, the general is sending us a signal!"

"We have crossed the Hun River, don't stay here!"

"The general has led his troops to the west bank of the river!"

"Captain Qian, we can retreat now!"

(End of this chapter)