With the cooperation of the artillery, the Vanguard Battalion's attack was extremely fierce, which put a lot of pressure on the pirates on the high ground. They did not dare to relax for a moment and were always in a state of desperate defense.
These pirates, who had been brainwashed by the leader, did not believe the persuasion of the Vanguard Battalion below at all. After all, they were all elite pirates under Wolf One. They usually did a lot of bad things. Even if they could be spared from death, they would definitely be punished. In short, they dared not surrender easily because they were afraid of being punished.
Of course, the main reason why they refused to surrender was that they still had a glimmer of hope. They thought that as long as they defended seriously, they might be able to hold the defense line. In that case, they would not be punished.
However, if the Tang Army's Vanguard Battalion broke through the defense line, they would still choose to surrender when they had no way out. But surrendering at that time and surrendering early were two completely different treatment. They could not be compared.
While the battle ahead was in full swing, five miles behind, a group of pirates was ready to demolish the bridge. As long as the bridge was demolished, it would be a good way to block the advance of the Tang Army.
However, just as they began to demolish the bridge, several pirates who were reporting the situation and asking for help ran over. When they saw that their own people were demolishing the bridge, they were immediately frightened. If the bridge was gone, they would be abandoned. Without support and food supplies from the rear, they could not hold on at all.
"Don't demolish it. You can't demolish the bridge. The battle ahead is fierce. If you demolish the bridge now, what should we do?"
A pirate ran over to stop them.
"This is the king's order. Whoever dares to disobey, come and arrest them."
The leader of the pirates said angrily.
"We've been abandoned. We've been abandoned. Go back."
Several pirates ran back angrily and immediately told the situation to the more than 200 pirates who were desperately resisting in the front.
"What? The king sent people to demolish the bridge? Bastard, this is too unrighteous. He actually treats us as abandoned pawns. This is outrageous. We're rebelling. We're not defending anymore."
The leader of the pirates in charge of the defense was very angry. The consequences were very serious.
"The Tang Army is attacking. Should we surrender now?"
A pirate asked.
"Immediately tell the Tang Army to stop attacking and negotiate."
The leader said angrily.
"Don't fight. We surrender. We surrender."
A pirate with a loud voice yelled.
"Damn it. Now you want to surrender? Put down your weapons and stand aside."
The general of the Vanguard Battalion scolded angrily, but he was still willing to accept the surrender. After all, the terrain pressure was too great.
The leader of the pirates shouted, "We have conditions. We want to talk about it."
"We can talk, but come down and talk! I'm waiting. "
The general of the Vanguard Battalion agreed.
"Okay, I'll go down.
The pirate leader threw caution to the wind. He put down his weapon and ran down to negotiate.
.... I.... you..... ...........
The officer of the vanguard said in admiration.
The pirate leader first asked about the treatment they might receive after surrendering and how severe the punishment would be. After getting a satisfactory answer, he nodded happily and expressed that he was willing to surrender. Moreover, he was willing to lead the Tang army to attack together.
"What's going on? He figured it out so quickly."
.............
. "The leader said," We have no choice. Since His Majesty is not benevolent, we don't have to be polite to him anymore. Since we have surrendered, we might as well make a great contribution now and forgive our sins. "
"Oh, your Majesty is not benevolent. What bad things did he do? Tell us."
The officer of the Vanguard Battalion, who used to be a pirate leader, asked with great interest.
The leader said truthfully, "We risked our lives for him in the front, but he sent his trusted men to tear down the stone arch bridge behind us to stop your advance. But in this way, we have no way to retreat. Isn't this forcing us to a dead end? How can we not rebel? "
"He's too much. He's far worse than our King Bai. He deserves to be betrayed."
The officer of the Vanguard Battalion said angrily. He hated disloyal behavior the most. Although he had surrendered to the Tang Army, White Wolf, whom he was loyal to, had also surrendered. What could he do?
"No, if the bridge is torn down, how can we get there? Don't waste time. Lead your troops to stop the bridge from being torn down. We'll catch up later."
The officer of the Vanguard Battalion said in a hurry.
"Yes, yes, yes. We can't let them really tear down the bridge. I'll take the credit."
The pirate leader said as he ran back. He waved his hand and led two white men to rush to the location of the bridge to seize this very important bridge.
Seeing that all the people on the other side had withdrawn, the officer of the Vanguard Battalion completely believed what the leader said. He immediately led 1,000 men to climb up the checkpoint, leaving only a few guards. Most of the people immediately followed, ready to help seize the bridge.
When the leader of the pirates led 200 men to the stone arch bridge, another group of more than 100 pirates was working hard to tear down the bridge. They used all kinds of tools. However, the stone arch bridge was very sturdy, which caused them a lot of trouble to dismantle it. They were so tired that they complained.
"Which grandson built it? It's so sturdy. I'm so tired."
A pirate complained loudly.
"You're courting death! How dare you complain about our King? This bridge was built by our King. Who dares to have an opinion? "
The leader rebuked angrily.
Now, the only hope in all of their hearts was to tear down the bridge. They thought that only in this way could they stop the Tang Army from closing in step by step and escape this disaster.
After being scolded, the pirates no longer dared to complain. They all worked hard to tear down the bridge.
"Stop, all of you stop. Don't tear down the bridge."
The leader of the pirates who led the troops here was so angry that his eyes turned red. The feeling of being betrayed was really uncomfortable.
"Do you want to rebel? This is the King's order. "
The leader of the bridge-tearing team said angrily.
"So what? I'm rebelling. What's wrong with that? I'll kill whoever doesn't stop tearing down the bridge."
The leader of the pirates said angrily. He raised his crossbow and aimed at the pirates who were tearing down the bridge.
The pirates who were tearing down the bridge were all shocked and stopped.
"Continue tearing it down. This is the King's order. Who dares to disobey?"
The leader of the bridge-tearing team refused to give up.
A dozen pirates began to tear down the bridge first.
"Shoot the arrows."
The leader, who was trembling with anger, ordered his men to shoot the arrows, killing a large number of bridge-tearing pirates in front of him and making the scene a little chaotic.
The leader in charge of tearing down the bridge was trembling with anger, but he had very few men under his command, only 100. How could they be a match for 200 people? He was in a dilemma and did not know what to do.
"The Vanguard Battalion of the Tang Army is here. Everyone, surrender immediately."
Not long after, 1,000 men of the Vanguard Battalion rushed over and mixed with the pirates who had surrendered, forming an even more powerful force.
"Brothers, block them. Block them."
The leader of the bridge-tearing team gave the order nervously and ran back, ready to go back to report the situation.
As soon as the leader ran, the pirates behind him threw away their tools and ran back. They were holding tools for tearing down the bridge, not weapons.
"Go, occupy the bridge."
The Vanguard Battalion strode forward, ready to occupy this strategic place and repair the destroyed bridge.
"Surrender and you'll be spared."
The leader of the bridge-tearing team wanted to escape, but he suddenly found that his escape route was surrounded by a group of elite Tang Army soldiers, and a total of 10 crossbows and 10 bows were aimed at him.
These soldiers were naturally the elites of the Sky Army under the command of the Southern Brigade. In addition to the elites who flew airplanes, the Sky Army also had soldiers who were responsible for dropping bombs. These soldiers also had a skill to train, which was airborne. Therefore, they seemed to be more elite.
The Southern Brigade led his men and quietly landed at a position a certain distance from the bridge and quickly gathered. When they arrived near the bridge, they happened to encounter two groups of pirates fighting, so they quietly ambushed behind, waiting to see a good show.
Now that the pirates who had torn down the bridge wanted to escape, they naturally had to rush out to stop them and eliminate them.
There was an invincible enemy in front and behind, and the more than 100 bridge-tearing pirates completely softened. At this moment, there was only one outcome if they did not surrender, and that was death.
The leader of the bridge-tearing team looked down the bridge. Below was a deep and turbulent river suspended in the air. After jumping down, there was no hope of survival. The other pirates also felt weak in their hearts and had thoughts of surrendering.
"Why aren't you surrendering? Do you want to jump down and feed the fish?"
The leader of the Vanguard Battalion used the tone of a pirate and loudly berated.
"I surrender, I surrender."
"Don't kill me, I surrender."
Soon, the pirates surrendered one after another, raising their hands and kneeling on the ground.
"Surrender, I also surrender."
The leader also softened, and could only raise his hands and choose to surrender.
Taking down the strategic bridge without shedding a drop of blood and capturing more than 300 pirates, Sky Army's contributions couldn't be ignored. However, the biggest contributor was undoubtedly the pirate leader, Wolf One. If he hadn't ordered the bridge to be demolished, the 200 pirates at the front wouldn't have chosen to surrender. As such, Li An's plan wouldn't have been so easy to carry out.
After taking down the strategic bridge, there were still three important checkpoints behind, where the total number of pirates was more than 400. In the cave at the back, there was Wolf One and his 300 most elite men.
The Southern Brigade looked at the surrendered pirates, then looked at the officers and soldiers of the Vanguard Battalion and loudly said, "I have a brilliant plan that can directly attack the pirate's nest, and I need your cooperation."
"Commander Southern Brigade, what good plan do you have? Just say it."
The officer of the Vanguard Battalion asked with a smile.
The officers and soldiers of the Vanguard Battalion had always admired Tian Jun. Moreover, their Vanguard Battalion were all criminals, so naturally they did not dare to steal the limelight from Tian Jun, lest they offend the most elite troops of the Tang dynasty.
The Southern Brigade raised his spirit and proudly said, "The Vanguard Battalion will select 200 elites to wear pirate clothes. The leader of the pirates will select 50 elites. You will form a vanguard unit and go to the front to deceive the pirates guarding the checkpoints. Then you will take down the checkpoints in one fell swoop, and the rest will follow. In this way, we can quickly go south to the three checkpoints and finally capture the pirate leader Wolf One."
"Good idea! You are really worthy of being Assistant Minister Li's favorite. You can actually come up with such a good idea. Let's do it. "
The Vanguard Battalion commander was overjoyed. Then he looked at the two surrendered pirate leaders and sternly asked, "Are you willing to lead the way for us?"
"Yes, yes."
The pirate leaders were scared out of their wits and did not dare to oppose.
The two hundred elites of the Vanguard quickly changed into the clothes of the pirates and formed a large retreating group with the other fifty pirates. Among them, two small pirate leaders walked at the very front and were responsible for leading the way. Only in this way could they deceive the pirates guarding the checkpoint.
After coming up with the idea, the Southern Brigade commander was no longer responsible for the battle. He returned to the main camp with his elite troops and told Ang Lee what happened in the front and listened to Ang Lee's opinion.
"Southern Brigade, well done. You are worthy of being the elite troops of the Tang dynasty. You solved the big problem as soon as you took action."
Ang Lee loudly praised the Southern Brigade commander for handling the matter well. In this way, they would be able to capture the pirate leader Wolf One later today.
Of course, what Ang Lee praised most about the Southern Brigade commander was that he knew the severity of the matter. After taking the strategic bridge, he did not continue to lead the troops to fight for credit. Instead, he wisely chose to return to the main camp. After all, the Sky Army would not play a big role in the following battle. If there were any casualties, it would be a huge loss for the Tang Empire. It was the most suitable choice to let the Vanguard Battalion fight and capture the pirate leader Wolf One.
In addition, the Vanguard Battalion, which was formed by the original pirates, was very much in need of meritorious service to wash away their sins. They would be very grateful to the Southern Brigade commander for giving them this glorious task. This would further strengthen the relationship between the Sky Army and the Vanguard Battalion. In this way, it would be very beneficial for the joint operations in the future. It would also be easier for the Southern Brigade commander to command the Vanguard Battalion.
The Southern Brigade commander's suggestion was very good. Under his suggestion, a 250-man Vanguard Battalion smoothly approached the checkpoint at the back and boarded the checkpoint.
"Hey, why are you back so soon? Has the bridge been dismantled?"
The leader of the checkpoint at the back asked in confusion.
"Yes, all of it has been dismantled. Our brothers are rushing back to report it."
A leader said as he commanded his men to board the checkpoint.
Because the 200 elites of the Vanguard Battalion who had sneaked in were also pirates, their skin color and appearance were not much different from the pirates here. Therefore, it was impossible to tell them apart. After all, there were 5,000 pirates under Wolf One's command. Who could recognize so many people?
The 250 people quickly boarded the checkpoint, but they did not continue to retreat. Instead, they stayed where they were.
"The Tang Army. Nearly 1,000 Tang Army soldiers have been found below."
A pirate guarding the checkpoint was shocked.
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