Yuan Zizhang's attack on the French camp on the banks of the Crane River on the outskirts of Wulong did not go well.

The French outposts outside, whether in the dense forest or in the villages, were all uprooted, only the camp built on the hill, the terrain was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it was a situation where the enemy was outnumbered.

With a small number of troops, they blocked the dense forest in the north and the villages in the west, leaving a gap in the south, and most of the main forces were stationed in the woodland only two miles away from the enemy camp, deliberately ceding the bridges and stacks of baggage to the enemy in the east.

The camp commander, Count Charles, has a nickname called Warrior, but he did not act like a reckless man in this battle, and he was very cautious about the baggage that was still left on the shore of the bridge, even if the Ming army transported one cart today and two carts tomorrow, he was not in a hurry to act, until Yuan Zizhang choked and stuffed a few explosive tubes into the support pillar under the bridge, and finally became nervous.

This is already the third day of the siege.

The Earl of Charles did not want to run south, and after comparing the speed with which the baggage team was attacked and pursued by the Ming army, he believed that the Ming army marched half as fast as his troops every day, and that leaving the camp with his troops would be subjected to endless harassment, and that the troops lacking supplies would soon be dispersed.

He was also reluctant to go out of the camp to fight, because he believed that time was on his side, and as long as it dragged on, friendly forces would arrive from the east coast and destroy the Ming army of unknown numbers.

The two sides confronted each other in this situation, during which Charles tried to order 400 companies of infantry from the two kingdoms under his command to attack the forest, but was repulsed without even knowing the number of enemies.

Seeing this situation, Yuan Zizhang called Xu Jin, who was stationed at the Beishan sentry tower, in the evening of the third day, stared at the baggage on the west bank of the Kelan River and said: "I will transfer you another bird gun flag, even two tiger squat cannons in your headquarters, and guard those big carts at night." ”

He knew that the French army commander would definitely send someone to secretly pull a cart up the mountain and enter the camp at night.

It's funny to say that now on the banks of the Crane River, the troops of the Ming and French armies have added up to nearly 8,000 people, and they eat all the baggage transported by the Earl of Charles.

During the day, the guerrilla general Wang Youlan led his troops to patrol the riverbank in a generous manner, and placed on the unfinished bridge the improvised explosives commonly used by the Beiyang Banner Army in Jincheng logging.

By the way, Wang Youlan also counted the baggage carried by the French army, and this batch of military rations was enough for 5,000 troops to eat for a month and a half...... This is good news for Yuan Zizhang and Wang Youlan, because this is already the remaining amount after Li Dai burned some of the grain and grass.

Looking at this batch of grain and grass alone, the French troops trapped in the mountains either did not have many reinforcements or were not prepared for a big battle.

There are thousands of troops on the mountain, and people will consume two or three carts of grain a day to eat horses and chew, and they must find a way to go down the mountain to get grain, and going down the mountain to get grain is Yuan Zizhang's opportunity.

Xu Jin received the drudgery, and the Baihu Department left the warm hill with the seconded bird gun general banner and transferred to the river bank to ambush.

The north and south lecture martial arts hall is accustomed to let officers focus on the subtleties, with accurate arithmetic to solve tactical problems, this kind of arithmetic thinking in the martial arts Yuan Zizhang from head to toe is full of viciousness, although the banner army under his command is well-trained, but he feels that there are too many enemies, and it is not wise to use 2,000 sergeants to storm the cottage guarded by 4,000 men, so he intends to reduce the number of enemy troops to the same number as them first.

The means of reduction is wounded soldiers.

A wounded soldier needs two or three people to take care of when marching, so Yuan Zizhang decided to create at least three hundred wounded soldiers for the enemy army, and then send someone to pull all the baggage away.

He was sure that the enemy would not leave until the baggage had been destroyed or taken away.

At night, the wind on the riverside was so cold that people panicked, and Xu Jin and his men were shivering from the cold on the riverside, and the banner army lay in a row on the ground with their arms crossed, and some people crouched behind stones or tree trunks on the bank, trying their best to hide their hands, bury their faces in their elbows, or bend their necks to hide between their helmets and stumps.

The humid weather made the cotton armor have a lingering musty smell, and Xu Jin, who was lying on the dry grass, stared viciously at the heavy trucks piled together and the mountain path, and had a belief in his heart - Lao Tzu is cold, and you are even colder.

The colder you are, the more you can't get hungry, and the more you don't want to go down the mountain to get food.

With this thought, Xu Jin fell asleep with his eyes open, until he was woken up by the scout on duty at night, and said in his ear: "Captain, someone has gone down the mountain." ”

The battle, which took place on the banks of the Crane River, was a hellish difficulty for both armies of the Ming and French, especially this one.

No one wants to fight a winter war, no one wants to fight at night, they all take it.

But the battle is a trade-off, winter and night will greatly reduce the soldier's combat ability, but the Ming army believes that in comparison, this disadvantage is an advantage for them, compared to the French army, cold and night, the impact on them is less.

"See clearly?"

"I saw clearly, the bonfire was extinguished for a while, and it was lit again."

The dark night made the command of the soldiers fall on the officers of the Xiaoqi level, even if it was a hundred households Xu Jin, he could not command other soldiers without using the war drums and military music, everything was arranged before the station, and there was no need to give any orders at this time.

The herald walked through the ambush site one last time according to the orders of the hundred households, reminding everyone that the enemy was moving and being careful not to injure friendly soldiers, and the campfire next to the baggage cart could be seen on the outside of the bright light, and then a bonfire was extinguished.

Losing the campfire lighting in the distance, the moonlight could only illuminate a few steps, the banner army was aiming at the darkness with a bird's gun, and the hundred households had not yet issued the order to attack, and the small flags of each department were extremely nervous in the dark, and their hearts were in their throats.

Xu Jin was also anxious, he really couldn't see the enemy's movements, his ears couldn't wait to be erected, and he took two small flags to move forward step by step, until he heard the sound of the cart stacked with baggage smashing over - he clenched his fists tightly: It's done!

Most of the axles of the vehicles were unloaded by him.

Under an order, the passionate military music suddenly sounded, the flag army marched quickly with a bird gun, someone lit a torch prepared in advance and threw it into the distance, the firelight illuminated the surrounding for the first time, and a bird gun burst out of dark red firelight.

The four small flags following Xu Jin served as the main attack, running forward with the bird guns with good guns, and the remaining small flags on the two wings marched towards the bonfire at the entrance of the mountain pass, and the enemy troops fleeing towards the mountain could be seen around the bonfire.

The battlefield was divided into two worlds in an instant, it belonged to the world where the hunters moved forward silently and the prey fled in a hurry, and the wails that the Ming army could not understand resounded in the night sky, and the commanders of the mountain camps of the two armies watched the riverside where bursts of fire broke out at the same time.

I don't know how long later, the gunfire at the foot of the mountain stopped, and only countless roars and wails remained.

On the watchtower of the French camp, the Count of Charles, who was sitting on pins and needles, turned pale.

Behind him, all the soldiers stared at his back without saying a word, making the most correct order difficult to speak.

He said, "Tomorrow, when it is dawn, I will bring them back." ”