Under Jiuyi Mountain.

The sound of fighting slammed into the ground. On the narrow mountain road, the southern expedition army continued to attack. The red Tang army fought under the banner and continued to attack.

"The general is too difficult to attack, and the soldiers are suffering a lot."

At the foot of the mountain and under the banner, Li Shiji looked ugly.

He said a coldly.

"Continue to attack!"

The horn sounded again, and the already tired soldier barely cheered up and continued to shout and charge.

The drumming sound was already a little slow, and the drummer's arms were sore and swollen.

Li Ji strode over, took off his armor, and snatched the drumstick.

"Dong, dun, dun!"

The war drums were excited.

The commander beat the drum himself, and the officer who supervised the battle waved his sword and roared.

"rush!"

On the mountain.

Cui Yan was wearing plate armor and was personally on the front line.

There are trenches in front of the Shanshangguan Fort, and chest walls are built in front of the trenches.

Rows of militia were standing in the trench, holding muskets.

"preparation!"

"put!"

“Prepare!”

········

The militia platoon leaders commanded their own ranks of soldiers, continuously firing guns at the soldiers rushing upwards. Behind them were archers composed of Nanyang mercenaries and Lingnan Prefecture soldiers. These soldiers were more well-trained and practiced bows and arrows for many years.

At this time, it was arranged behind the musket array, and taking advantage of the longer range of the bow and arrow, it shot a continuous rain of arrows at the foot of the mountain.

And behind the archer is the crossbowman.

Behind the crossbowman is the gunner.

The guardian army occupied the favorable terrain and was condescending.

The firepower was fierce, causing huge casualties to the Southern Expedition Army.

No matter how you rush, you will not be able to rush to the Southern Army's position.

Cracks of corpses.

·······

"Master, you can't fight like this anymore. We can't fight it. If this continues, the soldiers will just die in vain." Li Daliang watched the soldiers of the first battalion rush up, and then he couldn't come back at all, and his heart was bleeding.

It is said that the Southern Army is weak and there are many mobs.

But now he has truly seen the power of the Southern Army.

The Southern Army was not inferior to their weapons and equipment. Their militia were equipped with not wooden spears, but muskets. Seeing that they used the terrain and pushed them into the trench in the front, they formed a barrage attack of thirty steps, which was simply a death zone that could not be rushed through.

The crossbowmen and gunners of the Southern Army were also quite powerful.

Their crossbows shot far and the arrows were also very powerful.

It is said that you will know by looking at the strength of a country's military strength, the number of archers, and the quality of their arrows.

Although the nomadic tribes on the grassland have many war horses, their bows and arrows are very weak, especially arrows, which are mostly made of bones.

The arrows shot by the Southern Army were the fine steel arrows.

It is better than the arrows of the official army. Even the charger is wearing chest plate armor, he still cannot withstand the damage of the armor-breaking arrow.

Liu Hongji was also silent.

The Southern Army was equipped with great quality and large quantities.

After fighting for a long time, they only let the opponent's muskets and militiamen and crossbowmen fight back, and their cannons were not even hit a few times.

Not to mention, the shadowy armored infantry and cavalry under the blue flag on the mountain.

Even the trenches and chest walls under the castle were not broken, so how could we conquer those Lianbao?

"Master General, the reality of the Southern Army has been tested, let's stop the troops."

Li Ji stopped the war drum in his hand.

The soldiers who were charging on the mountain relaxed their hearts, and the death drum finally stopped.

Everyone slowed down and the shouts of killing were much weaker.

Li Ji looked at these and knew that the army had no intention of fighting.

"Mingjin will withdraw the troops!"

Although he was helpless, Li Ji admitted that he underestimated the Southern Army a little. They were not only well equipped, but also had sufficient training, had large troops, and were also highly motivated.

He couldn't understand why the rebels were not weak at all when facing the official army.

"withdraw troops."

Under Jiuyi Mountain.

The gong that sounded gold had already sounded.

The official army ran back desperately like a tide.

The mountain also issued an order to stop the attack.

The rain of arrows like flying locusts stopped.

The shocking gunfire also stopped.

On the battlefield, only smoke was left.

And those countless corpses.

Cui Yan stood on the mountain, holding a telescope in his hand, looking at the hillside, and shook his head constantly.

I was originally a comrade, but now I am fighting on the battlefield.

"Why is the general unhappy?"

"What's the point of being happy about comrades killing each other? This is a tragedy that shouldn't have happened. No matter how many people are killed, it is a shame." Cui Yan said, "The teacher once said that if we use the power of internal struggle to open up the outside world, we will become the heroes of the Han family. And using power to internal struggle will only be a shame."

"Send a letter to Zhang Shumi, we repelled Li Ji's first fierce attack!"

In the rear, Hezhou City.

After receiving the news, Zhang Zhongjian asked about the battle situation carefully, he also sighed.

During the day's battle, the Southern Army fired million arrows and fired more than 100,000 bullets.

The Northern Army attacked in one day and left more than a thousand corpses on the slopes of Wuji Hill.

The Southern Army lost a lot of weapons, and the Northern Army killed many soldiers, and both sides suffered losses.

"Send a message to Guangzhou."

Guangzhou.

After receiving the military information, the Privy Council immediately reported to the cabinet. Li Chao took the war report to see Chengqian and told him in person.

"We defeated Li Ji and won?" Cheng Qian was surprised.

"Your Highness, we won the first battle, but we temporarily repelled Li Ji. Li Ji was just a small blow, not hurting his muscles. But since we can repel him once, we can repel him the second and third time. Now it seems that on the front battlefield, our Southern Army is not weaker than the Northern Army. Especially the soldiers have high morale, which is very good."

Cheng Qian was very excited.

"The teacher is right. If we win the first time, we can win the second time."

"What should we do next?"

"We are no longer afraid of military affairs, and we guard the five ridges line as planned. Now we only need to guard against the navy coming from the sea, but we are not afraid of them. I think we should immediately spread the news and tell the merchants and people in Lingnan, so that they can also encourage them."

"good!"

"Your Highness, there is another thing the cabinet wants to ask Your Highness. Now the Prince of Qi and Duke Luo have raised an army in Yanbei and have captured Yingzhou. Luo Shixin, Shan Xiongxin, Niu Jinda and others have raised an army in the south of the desert and captured Zhangjiakou. Su Dingfang, Princess Pingyang, Cheng Yaojin and others have also joined forces with Supi, captured Lanzhou, and robbed the three brothers Li Tai, Li You and Li Ke."

"My Highness, what should we do about these three princes?"

Cheng Qian frowned.

"The father once wanted to make Li Tai the crown prince, but the last time he was stopped by the prime ministers. This time, he asked him to go to the Western Regions to pick up three emperor brothers. Needless to say, he must be planning to make Li Tai the crown prince."

There is no need to guess this, it must be that.

"Teacher, I'm very sorry about Shisanlang. I really can't imagine that the emperor treated him so crazy."
To be continued...