Chapter 268: Dulonggang Battle Hu Yanzhuo
Hu Yanzhuo led his troops to attack, and Cao Jie wanted to gain more than just his one Tiangang and two Disha.

It's not just that heavy cavalry with linked horses.

But we need to win the hearts of the people of Shandong.

As the saying goes, he who wins the hearts of the people wins the world, and he who loses the hearts of the people loses the world.

The people of Shandong have not yet completely lost their support, and if the imperial army goes there, it will definitely force countless people to rebel.

The longer the army stayed, the more food they had to eat.

In recent years, the Yellow River has flooded, snow disasters and typhoons have occurred frequently. The morale of the people in Shandong has reached a critical point, and the only thing left is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

As long as the government takes away the last bowl of rice from the hands of the poor people in order to obtain food and fodder, that will be the time for Liangshan to rebel completely.

Cao Jie believed in the methods of those officials.

The military rations may not force them to revolt, but the officials' methods of squeezing the land will definitely force Shandong to revolt.

Moreover, maritime trade has already begun. If Shandong runs out of food, it can only wait for large ships to transport food from Japan and the south.

By then, Liangshan will be the sky of the entire Shandong Province, and Cao Jie will be the king of Shandong.

Hu Yanzhuo lost a large amount of food and supplies, and he was indeed in a state of decline.

For nearly a month, they only trained the troops in the camp.

During this period, Shi Qian, Tang Long and his party made the "Golden Spear" Xu Ning go up the mountain, and there is no need to mention it.

The hook-sickle spear, also known as the "Maza knife", was originally just a sickle tied to a spear with a hemp rope.

This spear was used in infantry combat and was a weapon in ancient chariot warfare. It was a long spear with a barb on the tip of the spear, and was specifically used to deal with enemy cavalry.

When cavalry charged into the battle formation, the soldiers in the battle formation could use the hook-and-sickle spear to force the enemy cavalry not to run around in their own battle formation, because the hook-and-sickle spear could cut the horse's legs horizontally on the ground, thus forcing the enemy to fall off the horse and creating an opportunity for battle.

By the Song Dynasty, the use of the hook-and-sickle spear reached its peak.

According to Wujing Zongyao, among the nine types of guns used in field battles, there were three types of guns with hooks: double-hook gun, single-hook gun, and ring gun.

Among the spear weapons used in siege warfare during the Song Dynasty, many were spears with hooks.

During the reign of Emperor Taizu of Song, Li Jiqian of the Dangxiang people occupied Lingzhou and established Western Xia. When Yuanhao ascended the throne, he built linked horses in the army and wrapped both the men and horses in iron armor. Five riders formed a group and when they charged into the battle line, they charged forward without fear, and were unstoppable by swords, spears, or arrows.

The Song army had no good way to deal with him, and they could not win in repeated battles. Then someone remembered the halberd from the past, but most halberd techniques had been lost. So they imitated the shape of the halberd and added a horizontal branch to the spear, which not only stabbed but also had the function of dragging horizontally. It was indeed very effective in resisting the chain horse, and the usage of the hook-sickle spear was summarized from previous actual battles.

Zong Ze knew how to use the hook-sickle spear because he was familiar with "Wujing Zongyao".

The reason why the "Golden Spearman" Xu Ning was proficient in the hook-and-sickle spear was because of Zhao Ji.

The Golden Spear Squad used hook-sickle spears not for training any special type of soldiers, but because Zhao Ji happened to see someone holding a hook-sickle spear in the army one day. He felt that the spear had a small branch extending horizontally, and there were countless profound mysteries in it. He just couldn't figure it out at the time and couldn't compose a poem about it, which was a pity.

So he ordered the Golden Spear Squad to use hook-and-sickle spears and to have them plated with gold so that he could see them day and night, which would help trigger his artistic inspiration.

As the coach of the Golden Spear Class, Xu Ning naturally worked hard to master the hook-and-sickle spear.

Cao Jie has plenty of ways to trick Hu Yanzhuo, and he doesn't actually need Xu Ning's hook-and-sickle spear technique. However, he will definitely have to fight the Jurchens in the future, and the Iron Pagoda will be a chain horse, so it's better to be prepared first.

Hu Yanzhuo was at a standstill in Dongping Prefecture, and the most anxious person was Grand Marshal Gao Qiu.

After all, it was reported to the emperor and it was just a formality in front of Zhao Ji. If he remembers to ask about it, how do you want Gao Qiu to answer?

As a result, Hu Yanzhuo's life became difficult. He issued orders one after another to let Hu Yanzhuo capture Liangshan.

After holding out for a while, before Hu Yanzhuo could deploy the warships, more stringent orders arrived at the camp.

Hu Yanzhuo knew that he didn't have much time left.

But all the large ships were transferred to the south of the Yangtze River to transport the flowers and stones. Where could he find warships? He could only piece together dozens of small boats.

On this day, the army deployed its battle formation in front of Dulonggang.

Hu Yanzhuo is still Hu Yanzhuo!
He unexpectedly found a flaw and came to attack Zhujiazhuang.

Zhujiazhuang is still called Zhujiazhuang, but it has become a base of Liangshan in Dongping Prefecture.

When Hu Yanzhuo attacked, he really found the right acupuncture points.

Dust was rising in front of the winding road. At the bend, eight hundred cavalrymen suddenly rushed out, and the Liangshan heroes who stayed in Zhujiazhuang were all shocked.

It turned out that his cavalry were all armored horses. The men were wearing iron armor and the horses were wearing horse armor, covering them from head to toe, leaving only the four hooves exposed as they ran.

If the two armies were to clash, ordinary soldiers would be like fruits under a kitchen knife, and would be killed cleanly and easily.

In front of Dulonggang, Hu Yanzhuo held two whips in his hands and laughed loudly: "Although the Water Margin bandits have tricks, they are just bandits. Don't they put loyalty first? I have captured this place and see if they will come to rescue me."

On Dulonggang, "Putian Eagle" Li Ying, "Flying Tiger" Hu Cheng, and "Ghost Face" Du Xing, although solemn, did not have any major worries.

As the army approached, a group of Liangshan soldiers appeared in sight.

"No restraint!" Mu Hong led a group of cavalry and shouted, "General, instead of attacking the bandits, you want to rob people. Aren't you afraid of being punished by the court?"

No matter what, let’s take the name first.

Hu Yanzhuo narrowed his eyes and said nothing more. He urged the horse under his crotch. This was a good horse given by the emperor. It was completely black except for its four snow-white hooves. It was named "Treading Snow Black Horse" and could travel a thousand miles a day.

The horse neighed and immediately led the cavalry to charge out, heading straight for Mu Hong.

In a moment, the two sides came into contact. Mu Hong twisted his wrist, and the spear in his hand was like a python monster, whistling with evil wind, flying towards Hu Yanzhuo's heart.

As soon as Hu Yanzhuo saw the attack, he knew he had encountered a strong enemy and shouted, "Well done!"

Whoosh, he swept the copper whip in his left hand, knocking away the iron spear, and then swung the whip with his right hand to hit it on the head.

His two water-ground eight-sided copper whips weigh 72 kilograms in the left hand and 81 kilograms in the right hand. If they are hit by them, even a hero who has achieved great success in refining his energy will be broken.

Mu Hong hurriedly turned the iron spear around, turned it upside down, and knocked the whip off his head.

The two fought back and forth for three or four rounds.

The linked horses behind Hu Yanzhuo had already started to gallop. He saw the twenty or thirty people who came with Mu Hong behind him, all took out their bows and arrows and shot. The linked cavalry lowered their heads, and the copper hats on their heads and iron armor on their bodies made a clanking sound, but not a single person was injured.

At this time, Mu Hong exposed a flaw and shouted, "Hu Yanzhuo, so powerful! Retreat quickly!"

He fired three shots in quick succession, then fled on horseback.

Hu Yanzhuo recognized the true and false of the winding road and laughed, "When we come across the poplar trees, we will turn around. All the generals, follow me to kill the enemy and wipe out this den of thieves."

So he chased Mu Hong closely and broke into the Pantuo Road formation.

(End of this chapter)