12dz Chapter 332
Chapter 332
Not only the Tiger Legion, but also all 30,000 garrison troops in Datong City were mobilized by Zhou Chu.
On the grasslands, these infantrymen would naturally have a hard time facing cavalry, but the area around Cailiang Mountain is mountainous. If Anda's troops were to come, they wouldn't be able to run very fast near Cailiang Mountain.
Once the cavalry slows down, the infantry will have room to maneuver.
Zhou Chu knew very well that even if Anda brought people, he wouldn't bring many, at most a thousand or so cavalry. After all, at this time, Anda only commanded one tribe, and how many young people could the entire tribe have?
Zhou Chu's task was to annihilate as many of Anda's more than a thousand men as possible near Cailiang Mountain. If he could also capture Anda alive, that would be even better.
These 30,000-plus garrison troops were mostly used for encirclement without attack; the task of charging and fighting still had to be undertaken by the Tiger Legion.
On Cailiang Mountain, Zhang the Blind immediately received news that Zhou Chu had led his troops out of the city to suppress the bandits.
"Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard? So what? My mountain stronghold is impregnable. Those 30,000 guards are nothing but cowards. What fighting power do they have?"
Zhang the Blind Man was not afraid at all.
He defended his position in a strategically advantageous location, which was extremely dangerous and easy to defend, making it like a fortress. This made him completely disregard the 30,000 garrison soldiers.
After all, no matter how many garrison soldiers there are, the gate of their mountain stronghold is only so wide. Apart from the gate, the stronghold is surrounded by cliffs and rocks. In this kind of terrain, the number of garrison soldiers who can make contact with them is always limited.
Let alone 30,000, even if it were 100,000, without sufficient contact area, the advantage of sheer numbers would be completely negligible.
This is the source of Zhang the Blind Man's confidence, and also the source of Wang Changshan's confidence.
"Boss, those garrison soldiers have reached the foot of the mountain."
The sentry from the mountain stronghold approached Zhang the Blind and said...
"It's alright, we'll just wait for them here. No one should leave the camp. As long as we stay in the camp, we'll be safe. Our camp is impenetrable, neither water nor fire can penetrate it. We can only attack it head-on."
Zhang the Blind Man said with a smug look on his face.
Zhou Chu led the Tiger Legion to the mountainside. Zhang the Blind's camp was not on the mountaintop, but on a very steep spot on the mountainside. It was surrounded by cliffs, with only one narrow entrance, which they had turned into the entrance to the mountain stronghold.
"Set up the guns!"
Looking at the camp before him, Zhou Chu could only bombard it with artillery. Neither the Tiger Legion nor the garrison troops could exert effective combat power in this terrain; they would only be constantly shot down by Zhang the Blind's men with arrows.
Zhou Chu had no doubt that Zhang the Blind had a bow and arrow. If Wang Changshan and his men could transport salt and iron to the Mongols, then Zhang the Blind's men could certainly forge arrows.
A row of cannons quickly stood on the mountainside, their dark muzzles pointing directly at Zhang Xiazi's stronghold more than a hundred meters away.
It wasn't that Zhou Chu didn't want to continue advancing, but rather that there was nowhere left to set up artillery further up.
"fire!"
Zhou Chu waved his battle flag and gave the order.
As soon as the order was given, countless cannons roared. Zhang the Blind, who had been full of confidence in the mountain stronghold, suddenly felt the earth shake and was completely stunned.
"what happened?"
Zhang the Blind Man then realized that things seemed to be out of his control, and said somewhat flusteredly.
"Boss, it's artillery, lots of artillery, they've been bombarding our camp gate. The mountain wall next to us has been blasted down, and many brothers have died."
A bandit, his face covered in blood, scrambled into the inner passage of the Hall of Righteousness.
Upon hearing this, Zhang the Blind Man slumped into the Mountain Boss's seat in a daze.
"How could it be cannons? There aren't many cannons in Datong City at all. Even if there were dozens of cannons, they might not be able to blast open my camp gate."
Zhang the Blind Man's face was filled with disbelief.
"Brother, the cannons below seem endless, they've been bombarding us non-stop, we're doomed!"
The bandit leader's second-in-command rushed in at this moment, his face full of despair.
Everything has two sides. A stronghold is easy to defend but difficult to attack, which also means that once it is breached, they will have nowhere to escape.
No sooner had the second-in-command finished speaking than a cannonball blasted into the Hall of Righteousness, followed by a second and a third. Before Zhang the Blind could react, the Hall of Righteousness was blasted to pieces by the cannon fire, and he had his thigh broken by a falling beam.
"what!!"
Only then did Zhang the Blind Man feel the intense pain in his thigh, and he couldn't help but howl in agony.
At this time, Anda and his men had arrived at the foot of Cailiang Mountain. They did not enter the mountain, because entering the mountain meant abandoning their warhorses and going in, which for the Mongols was tantamount to attacking the enemy's strength with their own weakness.
Anda would certainly not do something so foolish.
Therefore, he decided to wait at the foot of the mountain for Zhou Chu's troops to come down and then catch them off guard.
As the cannons roared continuously from the mountain, Anda's expression changed.
"Didn't they say there weren't many cannons in Datong City? How come there are so many cannons?"
Anda's expression turned somewhat grim.
If he didn't know what kind of person Wang Changshan was, Anda would have suspected that Wang Changshan had colluded with the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to set him up.
"But it doesn't matter. It's already difficult for them to transport these cannons down the mountain. Setting them up and aiming them won't be easy either. We'll catch them off guard when they come down the mountain."
"Ida said with a sinister expression."
On the mountainside, Zhou Chu looked at the bandit stronghold, its gates wide open from the constant bombardment by artillery, and waved his battle flag, signaling to cease fire.
Every shell is worth money; the saying "when the cannons roar, gold pours in" isn't without reason.
Now that a breach has been created, the bandits in the stronghold must have suffered heavy casualties, so there's no need to continue bombarding them; we should save our resources.
Zhou Chu then continued to wave the battle flag, and the Tiger Legion, seeing the command on the flag, charged towards the mountain stronghold in an orderly fashion.
The camp was no longer what it had been at the beginning. The bandits who had been guarding the camp with their arrows were now scattered and broken. Looking around, there were only bandits who had been killed and those who were seriously injured and howling in pain.
Those who were safe and sound mostly hid deep within the mountain stronghold.
At this moment, Zhang the Blind was also seriously injured. He was pinned down by a log and could not move. As he watched the Tiger Army charge in, his face was filled with despair.
Before this, he had never even thought he would lose, let alone lose so quickly and so completely.
After the Tiger Warriors entered the camp, they were like tigers among sheep, with no one able to withstand them.
Zhou Chu wanted to thoroughly purge the merchants in Datong City, including Wang Changshan.
Soon, Zhang the Blind, whose leg had been broken, was carried to Zhou Chu by two Tiger Legion soldiers. Zhang the Blind's features were too obvious; he was blind in one eye. Following Zhou Chu's orders, the Tiger Legion soldiers deliberately spared Zhang the Blind's life.
"Want to live or die?"
Zhou Chu drew his embroidered spring knife, used it to lift the blind man's chin, and asked.
"Kill me if you want, what other way out do I have to live?"
Zhang the Blind Man spoke with an air of righteous indignation.
Zhou Chu didn't take these words to heart, because he knew that Zhang the Blind was acting this way simply because he felt he was doomed. If he had a chance to live, Zhou Chu believed he wouldn't be so stubborn.
“Of course there is a way out. As long as you tell me who in Datong City is colluding with you, I can spare your life and even find a doctor to set your leg.”
Zhou Chu looked at Zhang the Blind and said.
Upon hearing this, Zhang the Blind Man was immediately intrigued.