The morning was completely white, with a thick layer of hoarfrost covering the fields and ridges, and the weather was getting colder.
A hare jumped from the bushes in the distance, jumped onto the field ridge, and suddenly discovered that in the crack in front, under a layer of dead branches and leaves, there were densely hiding countless living people, with eyebrows exposed under the iron armor.
They were all covered with hoarfrost, and hundreds of eyes were staring at it. The nearest eyeball was less than a foot away from it. The hare was so frightened at this moment that it was stiff for a while, and then it disappeared like a sharp arrow.
Like this, the bushes scurry away when passing by.
"Hey, if this rabbit scurries in again, I can bite it with my mouth open!"
The man closest to the hare complained in a low voice regretfully.
Jiang Ang turned back and glared, telling the man to shut up, then turned back and looked into the distance through the covered leaves.
Dozens of cavalry soldiers were scouting, and their free-reining horses were slowly walking towards them in the unobstructed wilderness.
Neither of them looked like they were in danger. Their swords were sheathed, and their crossbows were either hung on the side of their saddles or slung behind their backs.
The goal of their trip was to ride up to a hill four or five miles away to detect any signs of rebel gathering or activity nearby.
Stepping into the encirclement, the leading prisoner's heart suddenly palpitated as if alert, but at this time it was too late to react. Amidst the thrilling sound of crossbows and crossbows, dozens of sharp arrows "swish, swish, swish" towards their respective targets.
Shoot away.
"Walk!"
The prisoner turned his head and let two sharp arrows pass by the tip of his nose, but his left shoulder seemed to be bitten. Without even thinking about it, the light leather armor he was wearing had been penetrated by the sharp arrow clusters, even hurting his shoulder.
Bones, but his face
His color just condensed, he gritted his teeth and broke the arrow shaft, drew his sword and commanded his troops to break out diagonally forward.
In addition to the soldiers with bows and armor who continued to look for opportunities to shoot arrows under the cover of the sword and shield men, other Jian Rui held Mo Dao and lifted the branches on their bodies and jumped out of the ditch where they were hiding.
Just as the captives were breaking through the encirclement, although there were only six of them, they showed no fear and slashed forward violently with their swords.
Those who could serve as scouts were all elites. Although almost everyone among the dozens of captives was in danger when they were attacked by surprise, they knew that if they wanted to survive, they had to avoid entanglement. They desperately held on to the reins and forced their horses to find an opening to break through.
A battle broke out suddenly but ended quickly.
Except for the four captives who were seriously wounded by arrows and hit critical parts of their faces, they fell off their horses before they could hold on for long. The other captives galloped away quickly, and the ambush soldiers couldn't do anything with their feet.
It is extremely difficult to catch up with the fast horse or even complete the encirclement.
The escaped knights were each hit by at least three to five arrows, and their blood overflowed and dyed their armor red, but it did not prevent them from escaping for a short time.
Of course, the result of such an ambush was not satisfactory. Fortunately, the four captives fell down, and the horses under their crotches stopped quietly and did not scatter in all directions, which was quite comforting. Wu Chishi asked people to move the four soldiers.
He cut off the head of a famous soldier and brought his war horse over. Without pausing for a moment, he led his team to move to the mountains and forests to the south and returned to Hongjue Temple at noon.
"Little Shitou, why did you achieve this little result?"
Xu Fang didn't have the patience to lead the rebel army from the beginning. When he stayed at Hongjue Temple, he sat on a huge rock as a sentry post. When he saw Wu Chishi leading his team from the forest on the right, he led four people with him.
a war horse, one of
There were four bloody heads hanging next to the horse's saddle, and they came to him to make fun of them.
Xu Tang is the most tyrannical figure of the younger generation in Chushan. His fighting style of commanding troops is extremely brave. He has made great achievements in the battlefield of Ma Jianhe. He is also a leader of the younger generation. Naturally, Wu Chishi is convinced, and he hangs his head.
I talked to Xu Pang about the details of ambushing the enemy's scout team, and wanted to ask him how he could improve his tactics.
"Don't listen to Xu Wei's nonsense. The most important thing for you is to disturb the captive soldiers and bring them back to me. At this time, cut off a few more prisoners' heads or less. It's all trivial. It can't be done.
You have played a role in the core goal of the campaign, and you will be punished for your merits. Do you still want me to teach you the things in the school from scratch?"
Generals and soldiers are brave and courageous. Xu Huai certainly cannot dampen their enthusiasm, but they also need proper guidance.
Xu Huai patiently explained to them that their most important combat intention at the moment was to preserve their own strength as much as possible, to constantly harass the Japanese soldiers approaching Niushou Mountain day and night and to surrender the Han army, making it difficult for them to take their time calmly in a short period of time.
Which military stronghold does it pose a threat to?
After breaking through the numerous blockades and gathering the rebel generals, Xu Huai first placed them in the military strongholds on the north and south wings of Niushou Mountain for organization and reorganization.
Xu Huai would not let the Wuchi Stone be misled by Xu Tong.
"Someone is coming into the mountain..."
Xu Fang's eyes were sharp and he saw several people emerging from the ravine on the opposite side. In a blink of an eye, they disappeared into the dense forest of the valley south of Hongjue Temple.
Xu Huai also watched for a while but saw no one coming out, and wanted to turn around and leave. At this time, Zhu Hang and Zhu
Tong walked out of the temple.
"Maybe it's a messenger sent from Beijing to contact us!"
After getting into Niushou Mountain, Zhu Hang had nothing else to do and just stared at the narrow paths leading into the mountain. He thought that when the capital heard the news that Xu Huai had arrived in Jianye, he would definitely send someone to contact him, but he didn't expect that he would be the sixth person today.
Damn it, I haven't seen the messenger sent by Beijing to communicate.
In six days, in addition to the northern and southern Jiuzhaigou of Niushoushan, they organized as many young and strong people as possible who had been drilled in the village. The number of rebels and rural soldiers who heard the news and came to join them from further away totaled more than 3,000 people. As a result, there was no one in Beijing.
There was no news, so Zhu Hang couldn't be anxious. He regretted not insisting on returning to Jianye that night when he arrived in Jianye.
He was in the temple just now. He crossed the monk's room and saw someone emerging from the other side of the valley. This was not on the normal route from Jiuzhaigou to Hongjue Temple, so he pulled Zhu Tong and ran over quickly, wanting to confirm immediately whether he was from the Jingzhong sect.
The messenger came out.
Seeing that Zhu Hang was so eager, Xu Huai patiently accompanied him and stood in the open space in front of the temple to wait.
After a moment of burning incense, the figure emerged from the dense forest again and came to the stone arch gate of Hongjue Temple at the foot of Zutang Mountain.
There were guards there conducting an investigation. Xu Huai and the others looked over from a distance and saw clearly that they were six hunters dressed up, carrying an unconscious injured person to the foot of Zutang Mountain.
The guards came over to investigate and quickly led the seven people up the steps to the front of the monastery.
The six hunters were disguised as the rebels of the nearby Qingliu Village. They pretended to be hunters and lurked in the dense forest at the southern foot of Yuntai Mountain to patrol and alert. They encountered a small school claiming to be Zuo Xuanwu Army who was ordered to go out of Jianye City to spy on the enemy, but on the way they encountered an injured enemy rider.
Qian Wenyun
, after initially confirming that his identity was correct, and seeing that he was seriously injured, they directly escorted him all the way to Hongjue Temple on Zutang Mountain.
Before the military doctor came, Xu Huai took off his cloak, spread it on the stone steps, and let the injured lie on the cloak. He saw that his face was pale and he had suffered severe blood loss. He was about forty years old, and his skinny cheeks were tattooed with the words "Shengweijundi"
The words "Qian Wenyun, a soldier of the Third Team of the Fifth Battalion of the Sixth General" show that he is a soldier of the Western Army who was sent to the army in the early years. He was incorporated into Zuo Xuanwu's army as a military official after the year of Tianxuan. He was seen pretending to be a farmer.
The tattered linen jacket he wore also had a piece of leather armor inside, but arrows penetrated his shoulder sockets, side armpits and back in several places.
It should not affect his running. The military official named Qian Wenyun had already reluctantly pulled out the arrow cluster, but the wound was only simply bandaged, and the blood had already soaked the leather armor and robe.
The accompanying military doctor rushed over, looked at the wound and bleeding situation, and shook his head helplessly, saying that such severe blood loss could not be saved.
Xu Huai was about to ask someone to carry Qian Wenyun to the monk's house for proper placement. Just as he was lifting him up, he woke up with a groan. When he saw Xu Huai, his eyes glowed with strange brilliance, and he weakly shouted: "Zuo Xuanwu Army Corps
Qian Wenyun, the first general (xiang) of the primary school, visited Xu Shijun..."
"Do you recognize me?" Xu Huai asked.
"Xu Shijun led his troops to assist Qinshui. Qian Wenyun and several brothers fled to Qinshui County. They were taken in by Mr. Zhong Yingqiu and participated in the defense of the city. They met Xu Shijun..."
Qian Wenyun tried hard to describe the scene when he first met Xu Huai in more detail, saying that he had never forgotten that scene, but he choked on the blood stuck in his throat and coughed. The blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth, and it took him a while to catch his breath.
Come, he said weakly,
"A few days ago, when I saw the soldiers retreating slightly, my brothers and I agreed that it was Commander Xu who sent troops to help. Others didn't believe it. General Zhou asked someone to come out of the city to spy. I was the first to respond. I didn't expect to see Commander Xu. I
Death without anything..."
Qian Wenyun didn't finish his last sentence before his hands fell down.
After a while, he saw that Qian Wenyun's chest was no longer rising and he could no longer breathe with his hands. Xu Huai, with a heavy heart, motioned to carry Qian Wenyun's body down for a simple burial.
Zhang Xiongshan came over after hearing the news at this time. From Wu Jishi's description, he learned that the messenger had put in so much effort and died without even saying a few words. He frowned and complained unabashedly in front of Zhu Hang:
"Prince Ping Yanzong has no intention of sending more troops to the south bank. Currently, there are 8,000 infantry soldiers and 2,000 cavalry soldiers attracted by us to the west of the Caocha River. There are only less than 100 soldiers outside Jianye City.
There are 5,000 infantry and cavalry, but the Suwei imperial army is still stuck in the city and does not dare to go out. They only dare to send out scouts at night to find out the news. When the three or five scouts come out of the city, they have long been targeted by the prisoners, and we have no way to take the initiative.
Get in touch!”
The defensive tactics that Xu Huai believed in and passed on to the generals in Beijing and Xiang must be positive. This was most clearly reflected in the initial construction of Chushan City. Although Chushan City relied on the main city wall to form a multi-layered defense system, in order to protect enough and
Quickly sending troops to counterattack, Chushan City built five large and small gates on the side facing the plain on the left bank of the Mingxi River, and no moat was built.
At this time, the soldiers and horses in Jianye City were far higher than the outside soldiers. They were still completely passive in Jianye City and did not dare to make any move.
No wonder Zhang Xiongshan complained and looked down upon him.
Xu Huai looked at Zhu Hang and asked: "Is Mr. Zhu still in a hurry to return to the capital? I will arrange for manpower to escort you back in the next two days, so as to save the capital from needlessly sacrificing the lives of generals!"
