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Chapter 1191 Mountain War 10
"Get Pingtou a lunch box and let him try the new dish I invented." Eating is something that requires a lot of fun. Usually one person can eat two steamed buns, and if several people get together, they can have one more.

Hong Tao also had this problem. Seeing that there was still meat in the pot and a lot of bread left, in order to avoid having to eat the leftovers from lunch for dinner, he decided to turn to Wei San.

"My clothes are in disarray..." Although the honey badger follows the emperor all day long, he cares more about etiquette than most officers. He is not used to sitting on an equal footing with the emperor, let alone eating from the same pot.

"No need! Have you noticed any abnormal behavior from Mubarak during this trip?"

But Hong Tao did not give him a chance to avoid it. He personally put the mutton into the lunch box, threw in half a flatbread, and scooped a large spoonful of broth. Now he had to eat it. The emperor's gift had to be licked clean, including the broth.

"I didn't notice anything in his behavior, but his expression was not right. I felt that he was telling the truth and should have walked that road before. But he was not entirely true. Several times when he decided to go that way, his eyes would involuntarily look to the other side.

According to His Majesty's instructions, I pretended not to notice and followed his instructions until he said there was no way out, and then I returned the same way.

As a result, we discovered another problem. This old guy never snored when he went there, but on the return trip, he not only snored at night, but also dozed off on the camel's back for a while at noon, and still snored. "

Wei San's eating speed was comparable to Hong Tao's, and he had mastered the skill of talking while eating. After giving a brief introduction to the past two days' itinerary, the pig food in the lunch box was almost finished. In order not to lick it clean, he scooped two more spoonfuls of broth into it.

"After dinner, lead my guards to dig trenches outside the camp. Take Mubarak with you and take a look at his expression." Is the observation of the flat-headed brother reliable? If it were Wang Chengen, Hong Tao would only believe half of it, but he would have to believe 80% of it.

This guy's simple face and silly behavior would not make strangers raise too much vigilance. But under this skin, he has a delicate heart and is very good at observing words and expressions. If I were not a time traveler, I would have lived several lives, and I raised him since he was a child, so I would inevitably be fooled when I first met him.

It was obvious that Mubarak was worried during this trip. He was a little absent-minded when he left, but felt relieved when he came back. Of course, it could also be that the flat-headed brother misunderstood.

Let's try again. If Mubarak has something to hide, he will probably be suspicious when he sees that the Ming army is suddenly going to strengthen the outer defense, and he may ask around for details. If we tell him that this is to prevent the enemy from sneaking through the swamp, it will be difficult for him to hide his guilt and he will be easily exposed.

Wouldn't it be safer and more efficient to just arrest him, or even kill him? Not to mention that he was just a common foreigner, even if he was a noble, he would be no different from an ant at this point, so why go through so much trouble?
Hong Tao was not worried about the old man, but wanted to determine one or two possibilities based on his performance. With preparations in advance, he could roughly grasp the enemy's next move and calculate the results several steps later. Knowing yourself and the enemy means you can fight a hundred battles without danger.

The battle on the mountain road lasted until the fourth day, and the Ottoman defenders were clearly unable to hold on. The fortifications they built were not all along the mountain road, but mainly concentrated in the first few miles.

When these fortifications were conquered one by one, the remaining defenders had no place to hide and were completely exposed to the firepower of the Ming army. Sometimes, before they could see any trace of the Ming soldiers, the shells had already flown over the hills.

Even if they could survive and face the Ming army, the gap in firearms would cause huge losses to the Ottoman defenders. The Ming army's muskets could fire at a distance of 300 meters or even more, and they were just firing randomly. The muskets equipped by the Ottoman defenders were not only inferior in quantity to the Ming army, but also in shooting accuracy, and it was difficult to hit within meters.

Seeing that the defense line was in danger, the Ottoman generals became ruthless. They assembled a large number of troops in the valley and launched a counterattack against the Ming army along the mountain road under the cover of night.

This time the roles of attack and defense were reversed, with the Ming army becoming the defenders and the Ottoman army becoming the attackers. Although they could use darkness as cover, they lost the advantage of terrain and could only advance along mountain roads and gentle slopes, further widening the gap in equipment.

Faced with enemies more than half of whom were armed with cold weapons, the Ming soldiers relied on hiding caves, trenches, roadblocks and mountain terrain to light hundreds of bonfires, and used the firelight to aim and shoot at the densely packed crowds, with a hit rate no worse than during the day.

But the Ottomans were really ruthless. They knew that the mountain road was blocked by a large number of muskets and artillery, but they still rushed up in waves. Many of them did not carry any weapons at all, but had two gunpowder cans hanging around their necks, clearly intending to rush up and die together.

With such a high-intensity battle taking place on the front line, the emperor and commander Lei Laohu, as the chief marshal, naturally could not sleep. They sat in the tent of the temporary command center with a group of staff, wearing blankets, drinking hot cocoa tea, and keeping a close eye on the battle reports sent back by hot air balloons and messengers.

"Your Majesty, we can't retreat any further. If we lose the highest peak, the enemy will retreat into the troop caves and defend them. We will occupy them during the day and they will seize them at night, which will become a tug-of-war and waste our troops in vain! I would like to request reinforcements. Only one thousand troops are needed to stop the enemy's offensive."

When the emperor gave the order to abandon the position and retreat for the third time, an army general with a triangular gold star on his shoulder finally couldn't bear it anymore and stood up to voice his objection.

These hilltops, hiding caves, trenches and artillery positions were all fought for by the soldiers with their blood and lives. There were three thousand households of reserve troops in the main camp, but the emperor refused to send them to reinforce. Instead, he dug foxholes around the camp day and night, and even the warrior battalion and the guards became engineers.

It was right to ensure safety, but we couldn't take the soldiers too lightly. This was a battlefield after all, and if he didn't want to take any risks, why did he have to lead the army in person? It would be much safer to stay in the capital, where there were nearly 10,000 elite soldiers protecting him.

"Yang Yuanzhong, are you accusing me of shrinking from the battle?"

Hong Tao did not participate in the discussion of the battle situation at the table, but stood at the door alone, wrapped in a blanket, looking up at the Milky Way in the sky in a daze. He turned his head after hearing the words and stared at the general who was speaking with a gloomy face.

"I dare not...but the battle situation ahead is urgent and Your Majesty is having trouble making a decision, so I volunteered!"

Seeing the emperor's unhappy expression, the generals present all wilted. Some of them, with their backs to the emperor, kept winking at him. Only the one who spoke rudely showed no fear at all. He straightened his back and continued to challenge.

(End of this chapter)