Although the rain stopped, it was dark and the roads were muddy. More than a thousand riders drove off in a hurry with only a dozen torches. This trip was not to avoid conflicts that could be avoided in a war, so in order to avoid the bandit army in Yidu.
, the team detoured from 20 miles due east, and successfully broke into the northwest of Yidu at dawn, more than dozens of miles away, but also entered the territory of Changyang Tusi. Fortunately, there were only marginal villages and no villages here so early in the morning.
No one noticed their whereabouts when they saw people.
A few miles ahead, there was a large river blocking the road. The river was actually a branch of the Yangtze River, Qingjiang River, and the Yangtze River. It ran east-west and blocked the team. There was a small hill on the bank of the river called Jitou Mountain. Chang Yu ordered the troops to rest at the foot of the mountain.
People went to explore the road to see if the river was frozen and if there were villages and ferries nearby. The soldiers made fires to boil water, drank water, fed the horses, or closed their eyes and took a nap. Chang Yu, Li Muxian and the three guides held branches on the ground and discussed in low voices.
Kuang Ren came running from a distance, saying that there was a village in the southwest corner of Jitou Mountain. The people inside came out. When everyone looked up, they saw dozens of people armed with weapons looking towards here from a distance.
"There's no need to make any announcements. They may not know who we are. They may think we are Zhang Xianzhong's people. As long as we are not looking for trouble, we should not provoke any provocation." Chang Yu said calmly and asked someone to pass the order to Ji Jike. His people were on guard outside, so be careful.
.
But Li Muxian had other ideas. After muttering with Chang Yu for a while, he took three guides and headed there. He wanted to talk to him, but he couldn't understand the local dialect, so he had to rely on the guide to translate.
After a while, the cunning old man came back with a playful smile on his face. Chang Yu could see through his mind at a glance: "Maybe they are not colluding with the traitor."
Li Muxian nodded: "It's almost the same. Pindao went up and said that we are Zhang Xianzhong's people and want to go to this place along the Yiling route. We have no other intention. After hearing this, the leader of the village just said that it's okay if we are just passing by, but we can't stay for a long time."
Chang Yu also smiled after hearing this. Although Zhang Xianzhong had just established a country in Sichuan, its foundation was very unstable. Now he not only had to deal with the officers and soldiers, but also the chieftains from all over the country. His policy was to fight against the officers and soldiers and to fight against the chieftains, and he believed that peace was the most important thing.
.
At the moment, he is recruiting those chieftains around Chengdu, Chongqing and other big cities. He doesn't have the energy to deal with these small chieftains or small forces in the fringe areas yet. It's better for the two sides to maintain the status quo and not interfere with each other!
This also made Chang Yu and others breathe a sigh of relief, at least they didn't have to worry about them teaming up with the bandit army to deal with them.
The explorers from the other side also came back. Although the Qingjiang River was frozen, it was only for pedestrians and not for horses. They had to break the ice and sail across the water. Everyone went around looking for villages to search for boats. Oh, you can’t call it a search, it’s a borrowed one, because this side is
In the chieftain's territory, you have to be polite to others. Nowadays, they don't care whether you are an officer or a thief. You have to say good things to you, otherwise they won't hang you. After all, they know in their hearts that the situation is like this and everyone wants to win over them.
Don’t borrow!
That’s right, some villages are adamant about not borrowing, or to be exact, they won’t borrow in vain!
Since the loan is not in vain, I will give you money. Anyway, there is no shortage of money.
Who the hell wants your money? What’s the use of it!
That's right, at this time, most toasts from all over the country were still in the era of barter. Ordinary people didn't know how to spend money if you gave them money. Compared with money, they preferred some practical daily necessities, such as pots, pans, clothes.
Weapons and even food and drink are fine.
This soldier couldn't give them anything at all, so he had no choice but to trade with them for dry food. Although it was dry food, it was different from the dry food of ordinary troops. There was a lot of fish and meat in it. When he left Xuzhou, Gao Jie gave him a lot of bacon. When he left Anqing,
When we were in Jiujiang, Huang Degong and Yuan Jixian gave us a lot of salted fish.
Finally, before noon, Chang Yu led his troops to cross the Qingjiang River. He felt a little relieved. This way, he didn't have to worry about the bandits in Yidu City chasing him. Moreover, they didn't seem to notice that a troop of troops had quietly crossed the border.
.
But Chang Yu was only slightly relieved, because after crossing the Qingjiang River, the terrain immediately became narrow. A few miles ahead was the Yangtze River clinging to the cliffs. The road along the river was extremely steep, and there was also the Xiaoting Pass.
At this time, the guide said that he knew a way. He turned around in front of Xiaoting and went straight west over the mountains to reach Wanzhou. Instead of going north along the river to Xiaoting, passing through Yichang, Badong, Wushan, and then turning west to Wanzhou, this way
It can save a long way.
Chang Yu and others were overjoyed when they heard this and quickly asked him to lead the way. However, the guide also said that horses were not allowed on those mountain roads and could only be traveled on foot. Li Muchian couldn't help but cursed out, "Fuck you!"
Bai Kong rejoiced.
The soldiers were very fast, and Chang Yu could not spend too much time in front of a pass. The longer he stayed in such a place, the greater the risk, so he ordered Ji Jike to send people to investigate first, and when the army approached the mountain pass, they were also sent there.
intelligence.
There is good news and bad news.
The good news is that Xiaotingguan is on the other side of the Yangtze River!
That's right, on the other side, the garrison strength of the bandit army is mainly concentrated in Guancheng over there.
The bad news is that the terrain on the river bank is very dangerous. Although the bandit army does not have a large garrison, they have built a sentry post above the dangerous place where they must pass. There are about ten bandits stationed there, and they can have a commanding view of everything on the mountain road below.
Fight! The generals called for battle without hesitation, and only a dozen people were stationed there. No matter what the mountain of swords and fire, they would be pulled out, and the bandit army across the river would not be able to come to the rescue for a while.
Some people may wonder why a pass is only garrisoned on the other side? In fact, the reason is very simple, because the way into Sichuan from the east is on the other side, and many towns are on the other side of the river, so troops must be stationed there. As for this side, it is really
Is it because the terrain is so dangerous that there are almost no roads and no cities? Why send troops to garrison in the barren mountains and ridges? Isn’t it a waste of troops?
So the rebels just built a simple lookout post on the cliff of the riverside trail here, but you can't underestimate this lookout post. If you don't pull it out, they can lift rocks from above and hit you.
There is no place to hide if you want to.
This operation was called Operation Drawing the Sword, and the generals enthusiastically requested a fight, but Chang Yu finally gave it to Wang Fuchen and asked him and Wu Mushan to lead twenty personal guards from the foot of the southwest mountain to raid the outpost on the cliff.
It was far easier than imagined. It only took Wang Fuchen and his team half an hour to clear the sentry post, and the army set out to cross the border. The bandits at the pass on the other side were vaguely visible, but they couldn't cross. They thought the river here was not frozen at all.
, even if it freezes, I probably won’t dare to come over easily.
But Chang Yu believed that they would immediately send people to Yichang upstream to report. Maybe by the time they arrived in Yichang, they would already be waiting for them.
There is nothing we can do about it, because the road here is a trail. The trail in the mountain stream is narrow and rugged. Sometimes you have to dismount and walk, which is not as fast as running on the other side. Although the road over there is not as wide as the plain, it is much wider than the plain.
The other side is much flatter.
But the guide said that this section is quite good, but it is difficult to get to Yichang, and there is even no road.
Everyone felt that dark clouds were coming over them again.
Chang Yu couldn't help but sigh. Li Taibai said thousands of years ago that the road to Shu is difficult, and it is difficult to reach the sky.
Now that I saw it with my own eyes, I knew that this drunkard was not bluffing.