"Are you sure there are no fish that slipped through the net in the city?"
Looking at the soldiers running past him, Pang Tong asked the lieutenants beside him.
The answer I got was just shaking my head and sighing.
"Weird..."
Pang Tong muttered to himself. Although he did not have the Jiangdong map he made, as a map maker, he was naturally familiar with the data in most areas. The garrison of Le'an should be more than a thousand. He remembered correctly.
, and in the post-war report, nearly half of the defenders were missing out of thin air, which is certainly something that should not be underestimated.
"Then... have you checked the secret passages in the city? Maybe they are hiding in the secret passages."
Pang Tong continued to ask, and this time he finally got a relatively positive answer.
Not long after, some subordinates quickly came to report that they had discovered secret passages that were suspected to lead to the outside of the city in several houses beside the city wall. Although it was not a hiding place, it did give the city defenders the chance to escape quietly.
opportunity to escape.
After learning about this, Pang Tong calmed down a lot.
What can five hundred people do?
Facing an army of 20,000 and a well-equipped army, even if the weak 500 defenders fled, there was no need to pay too much attention to anything.
but…
I don’t know why Pang Tong had an ominous premonition lingering in his heart...
As if something suddenly occurred to him, Pang Tong stopped when he was about to withdraw his troops and move to the next city, Poyang.
"Is there a place called Dahua Mountain around here?"
Under Pang Tong's verification, the soldiers were a little surprised. They quickly looked up the map and saw that the map indeed marked a mountain range named Dahua in the southwest of Le'an City.
"Well...I reported back to the military advisor, it is indeed true, but...is there anything strange about this mountain?"
It's just a mountain. Could it be that Pang Tong wanted to go up the mountain to worship the gods?
I heard that Dahua Mountain is one of the immortal mountains supported by Taoist priests. Maybe there are some enlightened old immortals on the mountain?
Of course, such thoughts are just idle conjectures of some people.
Pang Tong quickly gave his answer:
"No, look at the route on the map. There is only one highway from Le'an to Poyang. But if we want to take the highway, we will inevitably have to make a big circle to the south - "
"The Chi Road is obviously built around Dahua Mountain, but if we can take a small road from the north of Dahua Mountain to Poyang, we might be able to save a lot of time. The only problem is..."
Of course Pang Tong was in a hurry because he didn't know what Cao Cao was doing in the north. Every second they delayed would give Cao Cao more time to mobilize his troops. If they really went to war with Cao Cao in Jiangdong, even though Pang Tong didn't think they would necessarily do it.
lose--
But they will never win so easily, not to mention... not to mention that there is Yi Xiaotian who he has never met before...
Liu Bei and others were not sure, but he, Pang Tong, witnessed the marriage escape plan with his own eyes. A man named Zhantang came quietly and left quietly, toying with everyone's applause——
Pang Tong was 90% sure that the other party was definitely Cao Cao's man, but what he was really worried about was the remaining 10% possibility...
What if...what if the other party is the rumored Yi Xiaotian?
So their plan to rebel against Zhang Zhao and launch a surprise attack on the entire territory of Jiangdong could have been anticipated by Yi Xiaotian?
All in all, time is extremely important to Pang Tong.
Otherwise, he wouldn't hesitate here.
However…
Wei Yan walked over, took the map from the soldier's hand and looked at it carefully.
Soon he discovered the problem.
"This... if we take the north path... we must go through a valley... right?"
Pang Tong did not deny Wei Yan's discovery.
Dahua Mountain is not an isolated peak. It is continuous and has several towering peaks. Therefore, if you want to take the shortest shortcut through it, you will inevitably enter a valley.
The valley is not long, and because there are so few people nearby, it is not named on the map at all, but...
At this time, everyone thought of the news about the disappearing enemy troops that Pang Tong had asked about before.
Five hundred people…
If they run away, that's it.
But if they hide in the mountains and forests, who knows whether the 20,000-strong army will be dealt a blow by them?
Defending a city and fighting in the mountains are completely different things.
Although in most cases, relying on tall city walls and sufficient supplies in the city, defending the city is a better choice than mountain warfare.
But it also depends on the opponent.
Facing such a huge army of 20,000 people, if the city defenders only have 1,000 people, they will be easily overwhelmed.
But mountain warfare is different.
Five hundred people dispersed into the hidden mountains and forests, relying on danger and other preparations to conduct small-scale contact battles.
It can also rely on the terrain to carry out subtle attacks on relatively dense armies.
"or…"
Liu Feng could see the hesitation of Pang Tong and Wei Yan, so he suggested from the side:
"How about we take a detour?"
"No... if you take a detour, you will miss the best opportunity. Sir, have you ever thought that they are not ambushing in the mountains and forests, but are going to spread the news?"
"Yes...that's right."
It was only Pang Tong's rebuttal that forced Liu Feng to keep silent about his previous proposal.
"Oh, okay, okay, what's there to worry about?"
"Five hundred old, weak, sick and disabled, plus the guard who I haven't seen yet?"
"Why don't you, military advisor, select a thousand soldiers and horses for me? I will go to the mountain to investigate first. By the time you rush over, even if there are people, I, Wei Yan, will have easily eliminated them."
Wei Yan hesitated for a while, knowing that hesitation was not the solution, he simply said to Pang Tong.
Unexpectedly, Pang Tong actually agreed to him directly.
"Let's do it this way. There is no better way. We must capture Poyang as soon as possible..."
"But you have to be more careful. Although you rejected General Zilong before, his words are not unreasonable - there are not necessarily only those wandering city defenders in the mountains, there may also be people from the mountains..."
"Oh, they are just some mobs, what can they do to me? Military advisor, I, Wei Yan, am no longer the adventurous person I once was. Let's see how I can open up a dangerous path for the army!"
"Zhang Ying and Wang Wu, order all your troops and horses to follow me out of the city!"
"Here!"
Before leaving, Pang Tong reminded Wei Yan.
However, Wei Yan was full of confidence. Of course, as a military general, it is a good thing to have confidence in yourself. Wei Yan was someone who had personally experienced the Battle of Hanzhong. Although he made mistakes that led to the defeat of the army, he was also the only trustworthy general beside Pang Tong at the moment.
.
In short, Wei Yan ordered his troops and horses, then fought out from the south of the city, running all the way towards the Dahua Mountain on the southwest side.
Pang Tong was slightly behind him. After collecting as much supplies as possible in the city, he left only a thousand soldiers and horses and quickly left Le'an.
