The feet are steaming and rustic, and the back is burning in the sky.
The weather in midsummer and June can turn a person into a tan.
Xia Houhui, who was riding a horse and wandering around the area between Fuling and Hengjiangpu, felt as if the water in his body was about to be dried out, and he always had the urge to pull out the water bag and drink it.
But he can't.
The water bag is already half empty, but it's not yet noon.
As for why you didn’t bring more water bags~
The fate of the cavalry scouts is closely related to the war horses beneath them.
In order to ensure that they can escape or pursue at any time, every scout will save as much power as possible.
If you don't bring long soldiers or armor, you will only carry a few days of dry food, a water bag, a bow and quiver, a ring-headed knife and a small round shield tied to your forearm whenever you go out.
Xia Houhui also brought two quivers because he could shoot left and right, so he naturally chose a small water bag.
However, the beautiful Wusun horse under his crotch is very adaptable to this kind of weather.
While walking steadily, he would occasionally twitch his ears and let out a pleasant snort.
Perhaps it's because when I first came to Huainan, it rained for seven or eight days in a row, and the summer in Wusun, the western region where it grew, was also very hot.
But Jiang Ban's war horse couldn't stand it any longer. From time to time it would raise its head and shake irritably.
Jiang Ban couldn't help but ask, "General, the sun is too hot and it's not war time. The soldiers of the bandit Wu will not rush on their way at this time. If not, let's find a cool place to take shelter first and wait for a drink."
Are you going to look for the thief Wu Bingzu after the horse?"
Yes, he came too.
Just as he could not stop Xia Houhui from risking his life to lure the enemy, Xia Houhui could not stop him from insisting on following him.
In his words, if something happened to Xia Houhui, he and the cavalry would definitely not be able to escape the blame after he returned. It would be better to have him by his side to take care of him and make the cavalry feel at ease.
As for those cavalry, there is no one to restrain them~
No need to worry.
In addition to being good at bow and horse, cavalrymen who can be selected into the scout camp must also be brave and careful.
With or without the restraints of Jiang Ban, he can sneak to Fuling and lie dormant smoothly.
Hearing this, Xia Houhui turned his head and looked at Jiang Ban's good horse, which was born in Bingzhou and was already showing signs of mania, and felt helpless in his heart.
I told you not to follow me, but you must follow me.
The results of it?
After wandering for only two hours, the horse couldn't bear it anymore.
"That's alright. What Gongjun said makes sense. Let's get out of the sun first."
Nodding lightly, Xia Houhui responded.
He also turned the horse's head and headed towards the small forest extending from the mountain range to the north.
Perhaps sensing that Xia Houhui's tone was unhappy, Jiang Ban, before turning his horse to the north, apologized with a hint of embarrassment, "My original master was ill a few days ago, so I had no choice but to turn him over."
This spare horse belt was brought out, but now it has delayed the general's affairs, alas."
"Haha~"
Xia Houhui chuckled softly and waved his hand, "How can you say it's a mistake? The prince can bring the cavalry."
At this point, he suddenly choked his words, leaned back and hit the horse's butt. With one hand, he pulled the horse's reins hard to make the horse run sideways, and with one hand, he slapped Jiang Ban's horse on the belly hard to make it run away.
Changing the route, the voice was urgent and urgent, "Gongjun, avoid the arrow!"
Jiang Ban was suddenly startled.
But out of the veteran's instinct, he had to lean back for a moment.
As he controlled the horse with his calves and turned to gallop, he happened to see three black lights shooting from the corner of his eye out of the corner of his eye.
One of the arrows missed the tip of his nose and passed by dangerously. The tip of his nose was sore from the strong wind, and it also caused goosebumps and cold sweat all over his body.
There's an ambush!?
Jiang Ban, who straightened his back and sat upright, felt half ashamed and half happy in his heart, and drew his bow and arrow neatly.
I was ashamed. Naturally, I was a veteran of the scout camp, and I followed Xia Houhui on the pretext of taking care of him. However, I discovered the danger only after being reminded by Xia Houhui.
And the joy was that he could vaguely see the military exploits~
Needless to say, the opponent must be the thief Wu soldiers and there were only three of them, otherwise they would not have only shot three arrows.
There were only three of them, but Jiang Ban was still confident that he could kill them all.
However, just when he was readying his bow and arrow, and was about to retaliate, he saw a man standing up suddenly at the edge of the woods, clutching his chest and falling down on his back, wailing.
Xia Houhui, who had already ridden his horse, straightened up on his horse at this moment.
It turned out that while he was lying on his back on the horse, he drew his bow and arrow and fought back, killing him with one arrow!
The general is mighty!
With praise in his heart, Jiang Ban didn't say anything else, but continued to gallop to the left, approaching the grove with Xia Houhui in a tacit understanding of the situation.
At this time, the two Wu soldiers in the grove, seeing that the sneak attack was not successful but also killed Yipaoze, they did not dare to continue the fight, but turned around and ran towards the mountains behind the woods.
Two legs cannot outrun a war horse, but a war horse cannot climb mountains.
And the route they ran was very organized.
Every time he ran a few meters, he would suddenly move to the left or right, using trees to avoid the incoming arrows.
It's just a pity that they were unlucky.
One of them, after avoiding the third arrow, was nailed into the back by Jiang Ban. He lay on the ground and twitched for a few times before becoming motionless.
The other person, while changing direction, was shot through the thigh by an arrow from Xia Houhui, who had already predicted it. He turned several somersaults on the ground, and then burst into mourning.
Obviously, he was left alive by Xia Houhui.
After putting away their bows and arrows, Xia Houhui and his two men rode into the woods. When they passed by the first Wu soldier who was shot dead, they realized that they were very lucky.
Because the Wu soldiers had their clothes open, water bags, and some bamboo slips wrapped in cloth bags were neatly placed on the ground, and three ring-headed knives were placed at random - it was obvious that these three Wu soldiers were destined to
He was the messenger carrying news between Hengjiangpu and Fuling. He also came to the woods to take a break to escape the heat.
"My lord, I will go and drink the horses."
After driving his horse to the wounded but not dead Wu soldier, Xia Houhui jumped off his horse and led Jiang Ban's mount to the creek bank, "You will interrogate him."
"Okay~"
Jiang Ban, who was a little excited, touched the tip of his nose that was still slightly sore, walked forward quickly and beat the Wu soldier hard, and then stepped on the arrow wound on his thigh, exposing his face.
Ferociously, "Tell me, who are you?"
"What are your duties in the military?"
"What are you doing here today?"
"How many people are stationed at Fuling now?"
A quarter of an hour later.
When Xia Houhui came back with his war horse, Jiang Ban seemed to have finished asking questions.
He still had one foot on the prisoner's body, and he was feeling quite comfortable, taking off his upper garment and fanning himself with his hands.
"Did you ask anything?"
"Well, he said it all."
"Now that I've said it, let's give him a good time."
"Okay~"
Clang!
The knife was unsheathed and then dropped.
The sudden burst of blood left a shallow trace on the ground.
After wiping the blood spattered on his face with his hand, Jiang Ban wiped the blade of the knife on the dead body, then leaned over and cut off one of its ears, and randomly twisted a piece of cloth into a thin rope and strung it together.
After finishing it, he carried it and looked at it carefully, then showed a satisfied smile and ran to find the other two corpses.
Cutting off ears to measure merit is a habit of scouts.
Because the head is too heavy, it is inconvenient to carry and consumes horsepower.
After a while, Jiang Ban came back and sat down next to Xia Houhui, who had three of his ears pierced. He took out dry food and gnawed it without paying attention to the blood on his hands, and narrated the results of the interrogation in unclear words.
"The thief Wu Fuling will report military information to Hengjiangpu garrison every day. These three people are the messengers on duty, but they belong to Hengjiangpu, not Fuling."
"General, our army is very happy~"
"Because there has been no fighting in the past two years, and the bandit Wu thought that our army would not resume the expedition after the Battle of Shiting, he transferred some of the garrison troops from Fuling back because of the lack of manpower in the field at Hengjiangpu and the inconvenience of transporting grain.
Today, there are only about a hundred people in Fuling!"
There are only about a hundred people?!
Hearing this, Xia Houhui's face was also filled with joy.
I finally understood why Jiang Ban was so excited since he interrogated the prisoners.
With their twenty elite cavalry and their sneak attack from the rear, it was not difficult to defeat the bandit Wu's Fuling garrison in one fell swoop.
The capture of more than a hundred heads, coupled with the achievement of burning a garrison point, not only allowed all the cavalry to receive generous rewards, but was also enough to add to Jiang Ban's resume of achievements.
Could it be that God is helping me?
Or can we say that the thief Wu Sunquan is really my "lucky star"?
Suppressing the joy in his heart, Xia Houhui asked cautiously, "Does Gongjun think this is credible? Could it be that this traitor knows that he will die, so he deceives and deliberately lures us into his trap?"
"General, be cautious, I might as well!"
After complimenting him first, Jiang Bancai said with a smile, "However, general, there is no need to worry. I have served as a scout in the army for many years, and I have personally interrogated many prisoners of war. If they make false statements, I will definitely be able to tell them.
.”
"That's good."
After holding up his palm and praising him, Xiahou Hui calmed down and said softly, "In that case, we will rest for a while and then rush to join the cavalry and take the opportunity to burn the Fuling garrison of Wu."
"General, it's not too late~"
Jiang Ban swallowed the dry food in two mouthfuls, stuffed the blood-stained ears into the lapel of his clothes, and urged, "As I see it, I will rush to meet the cavalry now, and I will catch up with the thief Wu Rimu."
When you relax in making food, you will have the opportunity to make great achievements in one fell swoop!"
It’s not too late~
I think you are impatient for military success.
Xia Houhui couldn't help but feel funny.
But he didn't want to spoil the fun, so he nodded and stood up, climbed on the Wusun Liangju and looked at Fuling away.
The whole journey was silent.
When they met up with the cavalry and climbed up to overlook the Fuling garrison point in the east of the Yangtze River, based on the smoke rising from the kitchen, it was estimated that just as the Jiangdong prisoner said, there were only a few hundred people in the camp.
In Hengjiangpu, there were also countless smoke dancing in the sky at this time.
In the Chinese army tent at the garrison camp, a general was frowning and staring at the clerk below, "Before I came to take up my post in Hengjiangpu, was there any case of a messenger not returning overdue?"
"Return to the general, not yet."
The junior official responded respectfully, "Since the Battle of Shiting, when Your Majesty personally visited Niuzhuji, and the messengers in the Shen Army were ordered to be beheaded if they were overdue, there has never been a case of failure to return overdue!"
When the general heard this, a cold light suddenly appeared in his eyes.
Well, he is from Lujiang and serves as a partial general. He was transferred to Hengjiangpu as a chief general at the beginning of this year.