"Hahaha, I guessed it right. How can Yang Chao have the energy to deal with you? Let me remind you that the North and Central Route Army poses the greatest threat to the remainder of the Sixteenth Army. Yang Chao will kill people with a borrowed knife." Jin Man couldn't help but look at the depressed Ding Kui.
laughed.
"What!" The more Ding Kui thought about it, the more likely it became, "Then I can't stay here any longer, I'll leave it to you."
"Hey, if you don't want to help me, I'll leave. Okay, say hello to the Chief of Staff for me. If he has no place to go, he can come to my place." Jin Man didn't really mean to keep Ding Kui.
"Uncle Man, this is not true of you. You are not short of staff here, and you are still thinking about the chief of staff." Ding Kui had already stood up, but now he sat down again.
"Why can't I lack staff? Aren't you tired of working with more people? You have enough people, don't compete with me. Don't you want to leave? Why sit here?" Jin Man began to chase people away.
"Okay," Ding Kui stood up again, walked two steps, and then turned back and said, "It seems that your troops have suffered heavy casualties these days. I have a junior brother named Xu Bin, who lives in Huling City, Pingzhong County. He is a mature man.
He is calm, capable and quick in his work. He has a heart to serve the country but has nowhere to turn."
"Well, thank you." Jin Man did not refuse Ding Kui's kindness.
Ding Kui knew that Xu Bin would not come to him because he was worried about his family, so he simply recommended him to Jin Man as a favor. Working under the famous marshal would be no worse than joining him.
Arriving outside the camp, Ao Yu asked: "Where are we going?"
Ding Kui stared at the south in a daze. Ao Yu knew that he was thinking and did not continue to ask.
"Not all problems have to be solved by force. Yang Chao is indeed the old commander-in-chief of the military headquarters. He seems to be better than me, the deputy commander-in-chief. No, I can't let him borrow that knife. Let's go to Nanguo County to find our own people."
Ding Kui's expression returned to normal.
…
Zhuoshui River is the first hurdle to test the fleeing army.
Hu Rui still chose to siege, and only rested for one day in Jinyan City. The team, which had regained its strength a little, was back on the road.
"Report, three platoons and four platoons have taken control of the ferry, and other troops are collecting more than 50 large and small boats nearby."
The 1st Special Operations Battalion brought another surprise to Hu Rui, "Very good! Give up driving and leave the horses to women, children and the seriously injured. Troops who can swim across the river will wade across the river, and the rest will board boats in batches." He immediately ordered to cross the river.
The horses in the team were collected by Shaodian's secret agents and forcibly bought in Jinyan City and nearby areas. They could barely scrape together five or six hundred horses to pull the cart, and could not be used as war horses for battle.
"The river is not wide and the current is not fast. In fact, in the end, we can order people to build a boat bridge so that horse-drawn carriages can cross." Lei Feixiang suggested that he should keep driving.
"No, we have to cross the river later. Not every river can build a boat bridge. We will carry those who can't walk or ride a horse. We have already walked through the difficult and dangerous mountain roads, and there will be no problem if we walk on the flat road."
Hu Rui knew the noble family members in the team, and the seriously injured ones were able to move after rest and recuperation.
When he got off the boat and came to the other side of the river, he found a mess at the ferry, with many people wearing local army uniforms lying on the ground.
Lei Feixiang explained: "The local army is guarding this place. This morning a platoon launched a surprise attack and not a single person was let go. The rebels don't know what happened here yet."
"Your troops are unpredictable, so awesome!" Hu Rui praised sincerely.
"Every soldier in the special operations group trained by Master Ding can go to the mountains and go to the sea, and can complete various combat tasks. It is most suitable for small-scale operations, so the general said that they are the most suitable unit." Fan Yuzhen swept his words when he said it.
A glance at Rong Yan.
Rong Yan kept a straight face and said nothing. He was still unconvinced but would not deny the capabilities of the 1st Special Operations Battalion.
The special operations battalion is not necessarily better than the 151st Division in fighting conventional battles, but it is indeed better than the 151st Division in fighting under special circumstances. Rong Yan can see the clues by inspecting the battlefield at the transition point.
"The humble post has passed our transfer plan to Master Ding. I believe Master Ding will be here soon." Shaodianmi activated the set of first-level secret words he had.
"Consort Ding's ability to fight behind enemy lines is undoubtedly the best in the country. If he can come here, we will be safe." The old man of the Bao family seemed to be superstitious about Ding Kui's ability.
"Ahem, with Prince Consort Ding helping us, everyone will have no worries." Hu Rui heard more rumors about Ding Kui in the past two days, and had to admit that Ding Kui was powerful in the face of the real results, but as the top commander of this team, he
It's a little embarrassing to hear someone say that.
"Okay, I'll hand you over to Brother Kui and I'll complete the mission." Ruan Xingzhu waved his fist.
In her eyes, the Sixteenth Legion and others are just tasks.
At Ma's house in Jixi County, Ma Hun slapped his horse and ran into the side door. He quickly dismounted in the courtyard. He didn't have time to hand over the whip to the servant, so he grabbed it in his hand and ran to the study.
Tuk-tuk-duk, he knocked on the door of the study room.
"What's the rush? Just gather your breath and come in by yourself." Ma Rong's voice came from inside the room.
Ma Hun then threw the riding whip to the servant who ran behind him, straightened his clothes, and used his fighting energy to adjust his breath. When his breath stabilized, he pushed the door open and entered.
"Father, we found traces of the remnants of the Sixteenth Legion."
"Oh?" Ma Rong was actually painting, "Where are they? How many people are there?"
"Yesterday they captured Jinyan City. There were about three to four thousand people. They left the east of the city early this morning. The exact location and location are not yet known, but I estimate that they wanted to cross the Zhuoshui River eastward."
"Three to four thousand people, Ding Kui is back, did you know?" Ma Rong put down his pen.
Ma Hun was confused. He was obviously talking about the people of the Sixteenth Legion, so why did he suddenly get involved with Ding Kui?
"Well, I know now, kid."
"Why did Ding Kui come back? He didn't come earlier to have fun, but he came just when the remnants of the Sixteenth Legion appeared. Isn't his purpose obvious?"
"You mean he's here to take care of the remnants of the Sixteenth Legion?" Ma Hun was overwhelmed by Ding Kui when he was a child, and now he is even more in awe.
"Why was Jinyan City lost so silently? You lost it yesterday and you just received the news today. The Sixteenth Army Corps just escaped from Hailin Prefecture. If you didn't attack Xilin City and Zhongyang City, why did you attack Jinyan City?"
"Hey! Ding Kui has come to us?" Ma Hun was shocked. No one in the Ma family could deal with Ding Kui.
Ma Rong pointed to the teapot and motioned for his son to pour tea, "That's not necessarily the case. Now that Ding Kui's status is different, he doesn't need to take action on this small matter personally."
Ma Hun poured his father a cup of tea.
"He has a special forces unit specially used for fighting behind enemy lines. The whereabouts of that unit are secretive. They may arrive at the doorstep at any time. It is very difficult to deal with." Ma Rong turned the tea cup with one hand.
"Isn't Commander Yang going to send reinforcements?" Ma Hun was a little panicked.
The Ma family's territory consists of a county town and a medium-sized city nearby. The total private army is less than 10,000 people, and they have to defend two cities. If the villages and towns outside the city are attacked by Ding Kui's troops, the Ma family is really powerless.
"Originally, a division was prepared to come over, but because of the tightness on the front line, Yang Chao transferred it back." Ma Rong obviously had objections and called Yang Chao by his first name.
"Then should we take care of those in the Sixteenth Legion?" Ma Hun had actually heard what his father meant.
"They will never stay in Jixi County. They will definitely flee to that territory. Maybe Ding Kui will take them to Nanzhao Prefecture. Bring a thousand people with you and pretend to chase them, but you must stay with them for more than two days.
journey.”
Ma Rong must show off to the other nobles in Jixi County, otherwise he will lose his prestige as a prince in front of everyone. From now on, everyone will defend themselves with troops, which will isolate him.
Ma Hun boldly asked: "Why do we have to keep two days' journey?" If he didn't understand, he would mess up the matter.
"As they go east, they have to cross a river for several days. You have to give them one day to cross the river. If an ignorant city lord sends troops to block them, you have to give them one day to attack the city. There is a two-day buffer.
You won’t really catch up with them.”
It's not that Ma Rong thinks too much. Someone actually dares to block Hu Rui's way.
Count Liu Dun of Linchuan City personally led two thousand city defense troops to the Linchuan River and prepared to intercept the fleeing troops at the narrowest point of the river.
In fact, it was not that Liu Dun was ignorant, but that Yang Chao ordered Jixi County and Nanguo County to round up the remnants of the Sixteenth Army and asked the Allied Forces of his country to send troops to help intercept them.
Yang Chao's original intention was to invite his own country to send troops, but he could not explicitly ask his own army to deal with the remnants of the Sixteenth Army alone. On the surface, he wanted to call on the local armies of the two counties to join forces.
Most of the nobles in those places where he wanted to go were acting treacherously and would not really send troops to intercept a force of more than 2,000 regular troops unless the county guard gathered all the private troops in the county. But Jixi County did not have time to give Ma Rong, Nanguo County's Mu Jing wanted to
Facing the threat of the 21st Army Corps, neither of them could assemble the entire county's private army.
Liu Dun was stubborn, and his territory had a natural barrier, so he thought he could at least drive away the remnants of the Sixteenth Army.
Two thousand soldiers and horses were deployed on the opposite side. The 1st Special Operations Battalion did not cross the river in advance to eliminate the threat. Instead, they searched for various types of ships up and down the river bank.
After hearing the news, Hu Rui rushed to the front and inspected the enemy's situation with a group of key combatants.
"Local army? It looks like there are only about 2,000 people." He couldn't believe his eyes.
"That's right, two thousand local troops." Pi Sanying saw it most clearly.
"They don't have warships, so they intercept us on the shore?" Hu Rui suspected that the other side had some clever tactics.
Rong Yan glanced at Lei Feixiang and said, "Are all local armies that powerful now?"
Fan Yuzhen stood on horseback, raised a telescope and observed carefully. While looking at it, she said: "The battle formations are scattered and the military appearance is not in order. Can this be called an army?"
"Basic information shows that Linchuan City only has 3,000 city defense troops, and Count Liu Dun has 500 strong private troops. However, there have been no large-scale battles here in the past few hundred years. Half of Liu Dun's private troops were sent to accompany him.
My son joined the rebel army, and the troops on the opposite side should be the city defense army." Shaodianmi memorized all the information about Zhongwangzhou in his mind.
"Attack halfway across the river? Can their bows and arrows penetrate heavy armor? I will send a large group upstream and downstream to cross the river. What will they do?" Rong Yan suspected that Shaodianmi's information was wrong.
In the eyes of the regular army, local armies of equal strength would not dare to confront them head-on under any circumstances.
"Bah! It seems true. Some soldiers were peeing next to the battle formation." Fan Yuzhen spat. She saw something she shouldn't have seen.