The team did not retreat but advanced, and accelerated their speed.
An hour later, everyone arrived a few miles south of Banlaning Market Town. Zhou Che personally took the two of them to the market town to inquire about the news. The news they brought back was good news. As expected, the enemy had not passed Nianzi Mountain, but the people in the market town fled.
The news spread so fast that the people were not willing to stay and risk their lives.
After getting the news, Li Hui and others quickly entered the market town. After taking a short rest, Li Hui found an open space and ordered people to unload the spirits and clay pots from the car. They all started to work under Li Hui's demonstration.
Make a spirit burning jar. The method is very simple. Fill the jar with spirits, stuff a linen strip into the mouth of the bottle, leave half of it, and seal it with wet mud.
The prepared incendiary bombs were carefully placed in wooden boxes and surrounded by grass to prevent collisions.
Everyone started working together, and the surrounding area was filled with the aroma of wine, making everyone feel drunk. In less than half an hour, more than a thousand burning pots for spirits were completed, and all the spirits were used cleanly.
Li Hui and Zhou Che came to the west side of the market town to investigate. Not far away, three or four miles away, was Nianzi Mountain. The mountain is not high, with an altitude of only more than a hundred meters, but it stretches from north to south.
This is a typical hilly landform between the Jianghuai River and the Huaihe River. Most of the hills here are not tall, but they are very common. But even such hills are blocked by lush forests. If there is no road in the mountains, the only way to pass is to go down the mountain.
"It seems there is no movement. They have indeed not come. Otherwise, Magistrate Li, we have to go up the mountain quickly and find a good ambush location." Zhou Che observed for a while and said.
Li Hui frowned and said: "Lieutenant Zhou, their large group may not have come, but they must have sent people to guard the mountain road. Once we get close, they are likely to find us. Maybe the enemy is observing us on the hillside.
.”
Zhou Che was startled and secretly cursed himself for being careless. He already knew that there were more than a hundred people from the other side on the mountain, so how could he go up the mountain under their noses? Wasn't that a clear way to let them know his whereabouts?
"Exactly, I'm so confused. I almost made a big mistake. We have to take a detour. The mountain road that goes through the mountain is in the valley below the south side of the highest hill. County Magistrate Li, look, there is a road to the north of the market town.
A forest leads to the hillside. If we use that forest as a cover to reach the bottom of the mountain, we can just go to the back of the north side of the east slope. If they guard the mountain road, their vanguard troops will be on the south slope, because the mountain road is on the south slope.
"Zhou Che quickly thought about it and quickly found a way.
Li Hui followed the route he pointed out, and sure enough, there was a row of woods on the north side of the market town that led directly to the bottom of the slope of Nianzi Mountain. It looked like it was artificially planted, and it was lush and green in rows, and it was very conspicuous among the large green and yellow wheat fields.
And Zhou Che’s judgment should also be correct. The location of the mountain road in the valley between the two higher peaks in the north and south is correct. And the hillside facing the railing set has a slightly deflected southeast direction. In other words,
, forming the back side of the north side. If you can touch the north slope, you can go up the mountain without anyone noticing.
Li Hui immediately decided to go up the mountain in a roundabout way. In order to ensure that he would not be discovered, Li Hui asked the hundreds of people left on the railing to act as bait to attract the enemies on the hillside. To put it simply, he let them go to the south of the market town with great fanfare.
Move on the ridges of wheat fields to attract the enemy's attention.
At the same time, Li Hui and Zhou Che led people from the east side of the market town to the north, and quietly arrived at the row of woods leading down the hillside.
Soon, Li Hui and others successfully arrived at the row of woods. After arriving, they discovered that it was a small river. The river was full of water plants, and most of the trees on the bank were willows. It seemed that it was a small river. Leading down the hillside, a ditch was formed by the rainwater on the hillside. Local people planted willow trees along the river to consolidate the embankment and store water, so over time, a ditch lined with green trees was formed.
Li Hui ordered to cross the shallow river and march from the north bank. In this way, not only the trees blocked the traces, but also the lush reeds and aquatic plants in the ditch became a cover. You must know that those reeds and aquatic grasses are all As tall as a person is, it can completely cover them.
At noon, Li Hui and Zhou Che led more than two hundred people to successfully reach the foot of the mountain. After diving into the pine forest on the north slope, everyone let out a long breath. Obviously, the other party was not aware of anything, otherwise They will have time to react.
Entering the pine forest on the north slope, the movement became more cautious. The team once again reorganized into two teams. Zhou Che led the people in the front to conduct reconnaissance and groping along the hillside. After confirming that there was no danger, a large number of people in the rear moved forward. Although the movement was very slow, It is slow, but in order to ensure that the enemy is not alerted, this is the only way.
We were almost touching the southern hillside, but we didn't see any enemies. This made many people think that maybe there were no enemies on the mountain at all, and everything was being too cautious.
However, both Li Hui and Zhou Che agreed that the enemy must be in the mountains. The enemy was a regular army. If they decided to travel through the mountain road, how could they not investigate the mountain road in advance to ensure the smooth flow and safety of the mountain road. Even a group of bandits and bandits would know Do this.
Sure enough, after crossing the southeastern ridge, Zhou Che discovered the enemy's whereabouts.
After receiving the report, Li Hui immediately followed Zhou Che and went out to observe, asking the others to stay put so as not to alert the enemy. The two of them walked forward four to five hundred steps and saw two people sitting on a tree at the foot of the slope in front of them. Heavily armed soldiers below.
The two soldiers were sitting against a big tree, not talking, with their heads drooped as if they were dozing off. Not far away, down the slope in front, out of sight, there were sounds of laughter and curses, and there seemed to be people. The sound of splashing water.
Li Hui and Zhou Che hid behind the tree and discussed in low voices.
"What do you think, Brother Zhou?" Li Hui asked.
"Xiaoguan estimates that the front is their camp. These two people are sentries on the slope. On such a hot day, they will not stay on the mountain road and will hide in the woods to rest." Zhou Che said in a low voice.
Li Hui nodded and agreed with Zhou Che's judgment. It was noon now, the weather was extremely hot, and the enemy would definitely be hiding in the woods. The temperature in the mountain forest was cool, which was a good place to escape the heat. Everyone was cautious just now because they considered that the enemy was likely to hide. Because of being in the woods.
Listening to the movement in front, there should be a lot of people not far ahead. The noisy people are really like a temporary camp.
"I don't know how many of them there are." Li Hui asked in a low voice.
Zhou Che was startled. He heard the implication of Li Hui's words. When County Magistrate Li asked, was he planning to attack these people?
"Catch the sentry and ask, then we will know." Zhou Che said in a low voice.
Li Hui whispered: "Are you sure?"
Zhou Che smiled slightly and said, "County Magistrate Li still doesn't know what I, Zhou Che, am capable of. I'm going to catch those two guys now."
Zhou Che was about to take action as he spoke. Li Hui quickly waved his hand to stop him and whispered: "First check if there are any other sentries before taking action."
Zhou Che nodded hurriedly, cursing himself for not being careful enough. He really needed to check his surroundings carefully. If there were other hidden whistles, it would be terrible if he was discovered here.
The two of them moved to both sides to see if there were any other sentry posts. The good news was that there were no other sentry posts on this side. The bad news was that when they came back, they saw two people dozing off under the tree.
The enemy sentry actually woke up. The two men were chatting without saying a word.
Zhou Che didn't care. He tightened his belt and slowly drew out his knife and prepared to attack. Li Hui also drew out his dagger and prepared to follow suit.
"There is no need for Magistrate Li to help, it's just for the subordinate officials." Zhou Che said in a low voice.
Li Hui thought for a while and felt that since Zhou Che was so confident, he wanted to see his true abilities. Furthermore, he was really not sure that he could help. He was about a hundred steps away from the two sentries, so he might be able to use his best skills.
Rush over at a fast speed, but it will definitely alarm them and give them time to react and warn them. On the contrary, it is worse.
"Okay, then it's up to you. You don't need two survivors, just leave one for questioning." Li Hui said in a low voice.
Zhou Che nodded, leaning forward and slowly touching the side and front. He could be seen lifting his toes lightly and hunching his body, like a civet cat hunting in the forest. The birds in the forest were chirping and the wind was blowing on the trees.
The shouts covered up his voice, allowing him to get closer to the enemy step by step without being noticed.
But Li Hui frowned. It was impossible to reach them in this way. Although the two hidden sentries were located at a low place, there were few trees around them, so it was impossible to reach them.
Discovered by the other party.
However, just when Li Hui felt doubtful, Zhou Che jumped up to a big tree next to him, and quickly climbed to the top of the tree. Li Hui was just wondering when he saw Zhou Che jumping from a tree.
Arriving at another tree.
The hillside slopes downward, and trees grow along the hillside, forming uneven heights. In addition, they are all pine trees, and the tree crowns are dense and flat. People on the tree crowns act as a natural barrier. People cannot be seen from below. Unless you hear someone.
There was a noise. Even if I looked up after hearing the noise, I could only see the dense tree crowns and no people.
From Li Hui's position, he could actually see Zhou Che jumping on the tree crown. The further down the slope he jumped, the clearer he could see. Li Hui felt both excited and worried. Zhou Che was indeed very skilled.
It is not easy to jump on the tree crown. But what Li Hui is worried about is how he will get through the last twenty or thirty steps in the area with sparse trees.
Zhou Che jumped up and down in the tree crowns, and after jumping over a dozen trees, he found the sentry post in front of him, more than twenty steps away, and there were no trees in the middle that he could jump to approach.
But Zhou Che no longer needed any trees. On the canopy of the last pine tree, Zhou Che jumped up like a big bird and swooped down to the ground. This leap landed more than ten steps away, two people were
There are only eight or nine steps left for the chatting and joking sentry.
The two enemy sentries were startled by the sudden figure falling from the sky, but they reacted quickly. The two stood up quickly. The one on the left had already pulled out the saber from his waist, and the one on the right grabbed the bamboo whistle hanging on his chest.
Bring it to your mouth with your hand.
One person fights and the other warns. This is the cooperation of experienced sentries.
But Zhou Che was faster, and the distance of eight or nine steps was only a blink of an eye. The sword flashed past, and a blood-red crack appeared on the face of the man on the left. At the same time, a fist shadow was waved out, and the enemy on the right
The bamboo whistle that the soldier had brought to his mouth was knocked away by a punch, and he was also punched in the face, causing him to fall backwards.
Zhou Che stepped forward and grabbed the chest of the fallen soldier. The blade flashed and was already on the soldier's neck.
The whole process was as fast as a flash of lightning, which was dazzling. In just a flash of lightning, one person had been killed and another person restrained.