Pipa Mountain Village, because the Southern Army launched an attack in Nanxian for the first time in recent days, they also entered a state of alert and strengthened their guard. The guard posts were increased from two to four, and there were also roaming posts on the wall of the village to patrol. However, they did not dare to patrol at night because there were tigers and leopard beasts in the mountains. Even if a team of ten people went on patrol, they would often be attacked.

It is almost dawn, the moon has settled, the bright moonlight can no longer be found in the valley, and the bonfire in front of the village is about to be extinguished. Only when the mountain wind blows, the unburned charcoal will suddenly burst out with a cluster of flames and turn to darkness. Occasionally, the falling stones will roll down the hillside and the sound of branches breaking the silence, but the sentries are used to it, and beasts and winds often make some noises for them.

‘Boom, boom, boom…’ Several huge explosions suddenly erupted, and the flashes illuminated the valley in an instant, making the sentries on the village wall stunned. Before they could move, they saw a few black shadows pounce on the city like night owls. With the more violent explosions and loud noises, they felt themselves flying up, and at the last glance they saw countless Song troops rushing out of the darkness…

"The Dutong, the group has passed through Pipa Mountain and is advancing rapidly towards Guishan as planned!"

"So fast? Where is the Second Regiment?" Liu Chao, the commander of the 1st Division of the Seventh Army, was a little surprised, and he felt that he was out of control and asked again.

"The Second Regiment is clearing out the remaining enemies, and most of them are repairing fortifications and preparing to enter defensive operations."

"Okay, I took down Pipa Mountain in just two quarters of an hour. Who would dare to despise my Seventh Army in the future?" Liu Chao was a little excited. This speed was faster than during the drill, but he quickly calmed down and issued orders one after another, "I ordered the first regiment to attack according to the plan without asking for instructions after being in place; the third regiment assisted the artillery regiment to keep up and be prepared to enter the battle at any time; the baggage regiment quickly widened the road and opened up access for the subsequent troops; inform the military that we had successfully captured Pipa Mountain and were attacking Guishan as planned."

"yes!"

"Let's go, let's follow!" Seeing the communications soldiers quickly sending orders, he said to the staff behind him.

At this time, the east was already slightly bright, and the valley was still very dark, but the fire on the battlefield lit up the entire Pipa Mountain. While searching for the remaining enemies, a group of people built fortifications on the south and north of the mountain to block the paths for the enemy on both sides. Their mission was still very heavy. They must firmly control the hill in their hands during the entire battle to block the enemy's attack, so as to ensure the smooth passage of the passage and prevent the enemy from breaking through from now on.

"All these people were killed?" Liu Chao followed the Second Regiment to the Pipa Mountain Pass. He saw that the stone-built pass had collapsed, and the village wall made of trees was also tilted. The vanguard of the Second Regiment had cleared a road where people could pass, and the bodies of the Mongolian Yuan soldiers were thrown on the side of the road. He looked closer and found that there were almost no wounds of gunfire and bayonet stabbing on the corpses, but blood was bleeding from all seven orifices, which looked very terrifying.

"The governor, they were all shocked to death." Zhang Ming, the commander of the first regiment, said excitedly, "That... that cannon is so powerful. When we came and fired two rounds at the pass, we exploded into ruins. When the main attack battalion rushed up, they were all stupid. The Tartar soldiers were either dead or stupid, and they seized the pass without firing two shots."

"Then we turned around... the gun of that thing blasted the mountain for a round and rushed forward. Those people were not much better, not many of them were breathing, and a few of them could move around like crazy. It took a lot of effort to hold them down!"

"Don't stop that, that one is calling out, or it's his Majesty who made it for us... It's this new cannon!" Listening to Zhang Ming, who was excited and incoherent, telling the battle, Liu Chao frowned and taught a lesson, but he didn't know what the new weapon was called.

"Yes!" Zhang Ming saluted.

"How about casualties?" Liu Chao asked again.

"Except for one person being bitten, three people sprained their feet when attacking the mountain, and there were no other casualties!" Zhang Ming finished reporting and said angrily, "I originally thought it would be a fierce battle, but who would have thought it would be so easy to conquer."

They had undergone intensive training for many days before the war, and everyone participated in the battle with the determination to die. Before setting off, the commander of the army came to mobilize and drank Zhuangxing wine. Everyone felt that the battle would be very difficult. In fact, after the battle was unfolded, it was like a fist hitting cotton. Before they could exert force, the battle was over.

"Hmph, I twisted my foot and got bitten and I'm embarrassed to report the casualties. You don't think it's embarrassing!" Liu Chao snorted, "Have the prisoners tried? How many enemy troops are there around!"

"Yes, we are embarrassed to report it, but what we said before the war is so evil. Now that the battle is over, the battle is over, I guess it's not believed it!" Zhang Ming spread his hands and smiled, "I captured a few prisoners, and I didn't say a word when interrogating. At first, I thought they would rather die than surrender. Then I used some tricks, but I didn't say anything. But after a long time, I realized that their ears were deaf, and I couldn't hear what we were asking. It was useless to delay my kung fu!"

"Okay, don't behave like a cheap person if you get it. I'll leave this mountain to you. If you lose it again and get it and the enemy will cut off our retreat, I'll shoot you with my own hands!" Liu Chao looked at him and said with a straight face.

"Yes, a group of people firmly defended Pipa Mountain, and the people were in the position!" Zhang Ming also put away his little face and stood attentively and saluted.

"Okay, don't be careless because of the easy battle ahead. Pipa Mountain is an important node in the western road. The enemy will inevitably send heavy troops to counterattack. I will strengthen the 2nd Battalion of the Third Regiment to you, and I must guard it for me!" Liu Chao reminded again.

"Yes, complete the task resolutely!" Zhang Ming said solemnly.

"You are the first to break through Xiangyang!" Liu Chao patted Zhang Ming's shoulder and said with a long air. After saying that, he turned over and went to chase the second regiment forward...

The vanguard of the Second Regiment was broken into Pipa Mountain Pass, and when the smoke of gunpowder was dispersed, he rushed towards Guishan at a rapid speed. The violent explosion had already alarmed the enemy guarding Guishan. They immediately entered the camp to prepare for the battle, and at the same time sent people to inquire. The guard posts along the way had already fought with the attacked Second Regiment.

The vanguard of the Song army ignored the enemy troops who were harassing along the way, either forcibly breaking through, or taking a detour, or separating a small team to restrain them and handing them over to the subsequent troops to attack. The large army did not entangle them at all, but pointed directly at the target. On the way, after defeating several enemy squads that tried to delay their advance, the vanguard of the Second Regiment arrived at the foot of Guishan Mountain in less than two quarters of an hour.

During the pre-war mobilization, the troops who were responsible for the main attack knew that their mission was to quickly break through the enemy camp in Guishan before the enemy reinforcements arrived and open up access for the army. The countless sand tables and real-time exercises in the past had made them familiar with their respective tasks, and they quickly unfolded in front of the mountain without waiting for orders to enter their respective attack positions.

"Planning artillery!" Cheng Du, commander of the 1st Battalion of the Second Regiment, came to the main camp, and ordered the soldiers to suppress the enemy's shooting in the camp, while ordering the strengthening of the artillery team to their reinforcements.

In fact, they were still full of doubts about the artillery squad that suddenly joined the main attack ranks. They did not think that the iron barrels could play a great role in the attack, but instead dragged down their actions. They believed that the attack on the mountain had to be arched up step by step. However, when Cheng Du saw the scene after the enemy camp in Pipa Mountain was bombarded by the "iron barrel", his thoughts immediately changed. That was not the artillery, that was the thunderbolt descended from the sky, and directly smoothed the enemy camp. Therefore, when they faced the enemy camp, they chose to let them go first without hesitation.

After Zhao Bing successfully conducted a test-fire, this artillery detachment was urgently drawn from the Artillery Brigade of the Seventh Army. It can be said that it was to produce and experiment, train while training, and collect data while training. Although the training time was only a few days, it was all live-fire shooting, so it quickly mastered the skills of using the "Iron Bucket".

After the artillery detachment entered the position, the commander quickly used simple methods to measure the distance, determined the shooting number, and immediately ordered the digging of pits to set up the cannon. In fact, this kind of emergency cannon is unable to accurately aim, and can only carry out probabilistic shooting, but it is much more reliable than the accurate head of a rocket launcher. In order to increase the hit rate, it can only be achieved by increasing the number of artillery and conducting fire-raising fire to ensure the target is destroyed.

Soon a row of ten soil pits were excavated, which was already at the highest density on such a narrow shooting boundary. After the loading, the leads were tied. Instead of refilling as at the beginning, they were stably fixed with soil bags, which facilitates the second operation and can quickly transfer the position and shoot the next target.

Cheng Du was anxious and constantly urging the artillery soldiers while watching the "slow" operations. He didn't know whether the Guardian of Guishan had sent people to Xiangyang City to seek help at the first time, nor did he know where the enemy's reinforcements were. He only knew that the faster he captured Guishan and ended the battle as soon as possible, he could slow down and block the enemy's reinforcements.

‘Boom, boom, boom…’ In the expectant eyes of the officers and soldiers of the main attack battalion, the ‘Iron Bucket’ finally started shooting. In the dull explosion of the firing of the launching medicine, people raised their heads and looked at the round "big cakes" that ejected from the mouth of the barrel, and then they fell slowly, falling to the enemy's fortress. Then they saw the smoke suddenly burst out, and loudly rang, and then rushed to the ground beneath their feet and began to tremble. Some people were actually unstable and slipped.
Chapter completed!