Chapter 962 Going to Xiaoguan on a snowy night (7)
Author: gusty wind
Chapter 962 Going to Xiaoguan on a snowy night (7)
The 30th day of the twelfth lunar month.
On the east side of Rushui River, there are endless mountains running from north to south. There is almost no life in the undulating mountains and fields. In the abandoned village, Li Shan forced a smile and said, "It's much better than yesterday."
Duan Decao nodded silently. Compared with the overwhelming wind and snow yesterday, today was indeed much stronger. He set off early in the morning, ate and drank enough, and arrived at this footing in more than an hour. The marching speed was more than twice as fast as yesterday.
"Are there any complaints in the army?" Li Shan asked in a low voice.
"Not much." Duan Decao said concisely and concisely. Last night, he finally found a village where he could warm himself by the fire, eat some hot food, soak his feet, and wrap himself up in bed to sleep. Today, he continued to march. Naturally, some people were dissatisfied.
At this time, the effect of Li Shan's selection of soldiers was reflected. Most of the 500 Yanzhou soldiers selected by Duan Decao escaped death. If they were timid, they would not be selected. However, most of the other Li Shan personal guards and Daizhou soldiers had no complaints.
Wang Junhao muttered: "According to the plan, we should be able to reach Xiaoguan by now."
"Then let Feng Duan live for another day... no, half a day." Li Shan smiled. Feng Duan, the chief general of the Liang army stationed at Xiaoguan, was Liang Shidu's confidant. He was the most respected minister in the Liang Kingdom.
The order is also the Minister of the Ministry of War.
Even if such a person surrenders, Li Shanna will never agree to it.
Hearing Li Shan's words, Duan Decao nodded vigorously. He had been on the battlefield for a long time, so he could naturally hear the implication of Li Shan's words... Even if it was night, even if it was windy and snowy, he would arrive at Xiaoguan today.
The reason is very simple. There is no other place to stay, and during the next journey, apart from what we carry, we will not have any supplies... If we don't enter Xiao Pass, the eight hundred warriors will be swallowed up by the heavy snow.
Wang Junhao also understood and added: "Although no life was harmed and I have found an excuse, it is hard to say whether the village will file a lawsuit. We can't delay it any longer."
Everyone was silent. Liu Heier glanced at Zhang Zhongjian, feeling quite impressed. He was usually taciturn, but he lied endlessly and spoke so naturally. It was really not something ordinary people could do.
Before setting off today, Liu Heier witnessed Zhang Zhongjian asking the villagers where this position was in Yuanzhou and where the nearest town was... and then explained that he was a Tang soldier who had lost his way due to wind and snow.
Thinking of this, Liu Heier glanced at Li Shan and thought that he had heard in Liang Jun that the King of Handan was easy to kill, and a few days ago the soldiers said that King Huairen of Handan was easy to kill. Today it seems that this is indeed the case... If it were him, he would definitely have ordered the killing.
Do everything possible to prevent the news from leaking, and killing can also boost morale.
After resting for an hour, they set off again. When they set off on the 28th, there were 822 people in the entire army. At this time, there were only 776 people left. Under the guidance of the scouts, the soldiers marched slowly but firmly along the mountain road.
Going northwest, they will bypass the mountain in front of them, cross the Rushui River from the north, march another forty miles, cross the Hulu River, and then...
The supplies last night obviously provided the soldiers with a lot of energy, but as time went by, numbness and machinery came again, and the body was extremely tired, but there were vigorous emotions in the chest. The strong contrast made the whole army sigh in silence.
The posture is like a beast in the snow that has been waiting for its prey for a long time.
The biting northwest wind blew the white snow and stirred up bursts of white mist. In this land covered in white for hundreds of miles, a quiet and desolate atmosphere enveloped everything. No travelers could see anything along the way.
There is no human habitation, and even the wild animals are nowhere to be seen...
But there were no animals, but there were birds. Weird cries rang in the air. Li Shan couldn't help but look up and saw vultures flying back and forth in the sky. Only then did he realize that the snow had stopped.
From the perspective of the vulture, in the vast snowy field and the winding valley, black spots as big as ants are slowly but surely moving towards the northwest. Occasionally, one or two black spots will be pulled down and then stay.
There, he could no longer move.
It was a passive soldier. Li Shanggang didn't know it at first. He occasionally looked back and caught a glimpse of it when he turned a corner. After that, he never wanted to look back.
Liu Heier suddenly took off his big bow, and the long arrows flashed in the air, shooting down the noisy vulture. However, such a superb shot did not receive praise from everyone, because everyone was numb.
It is also because no one else is willing to focus on this kind of thing and continue to walk on this road that seems to never end.
The reason why he persisted was that there was no other way to choose from. On the other hand, Li Shan insisted on walking in the front... This was also the main reason why Li Shan wanted to lead the army himself, although the march was far more difficult than he expected.
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However, the road always has an end. Li Shan looked at the not-so-wide river in front of him and thought that when he recounted this experience in the future, he would be qualified to recite the poem. He truly experienced the saying "Thousands of mountains, birds can fly, and thousands of paths can't be seen".
"The traces of people are gone", but it is a pity that there is nothing on the river, which does not fit the last two sentences of "A lonely man with a coir raincoat hat, fishing alone in the snow in the cold river".
As Zhang Zhongjian, Wang Junhao, Duan Decao and other generals walked back and forth and shouted loudly, the atmosphere in the army gradually became more alive, because this was the Hulu River, which was right next to Xiaoguan.
This also means that Xiaoguan is not far away.
Li Shan looked up at the sky, which was a little gloomy. He took out the map from his pocket and calculated in his mind, "Youshi?"
"Almost." Huangfuzhong kept remembering it in his mind, "around three quarters of You hour."
That was around six o'clock. Li Shan took another look at the sky. He also knew that it would be dusk here after about seven o'clock, and it would be eight o'clock at night.
At this time, Huangfuzhong pointed to the bridge not far away, "Fan Shiyi is back, no problem!"
"This place is only thirty miles away from Xiaoguan, but Liang Jun didn't send troops to guard it?" Qu Silang was a little surprised.
"In March last year, Yuanzhou built a new bridge on the upper reaches of the Hulu River. It was more than ten miles away from here, but the bridge was abandoned." Huangfuzhong explained: "When I explored the road last time, I came here to check it out when I remembered this matter. Sure enough, there was no garrison.
.”
After a pause, Huangfuzhong pointed downstream, "There are four or five villages on the east side of the river. To hide the traces of the march, we had to take a detour."
This is because he is being smart... Li Shan thought in his mind that if he knew that there was a heavy wind and snow, there would be no need to take a detour, and he might be able to get some more supplies.
Of course, there is no point in thinking about this now. Li Shan exhaled softly, and a white mist filled his eyes, "Let's get started, follow Zhang Sanlang's command."
Zhang Zhongjian, who had just arrived, whispered: "Fan Shiyi, Huangfu Zhong led the scouts forward, Wang Junhao, Liu Rengui, Duan Decao, and Hou Hongtao led the 200 soldiers behind them. A certain leader led 300 soldiers in the middle, Qu Silang, and Liu Heier led the remaining soldiers.
Protect Your Highness and Your Majesty."
Li Shan did not say a word. Fighting to the death was not his strong point. The meaning of leading the army personally was only in the difficult march. Now, if he had to be the vanguard, his subordinates would be tied up.
The whole army was divided into three parts, connected from front to back, slowly and carefully passed the broken bridge, and went straight to the north.