While Diao Leixun was struggling, Su Jiakang in Zhengtai County was not in a better mood. It was only at night that he learned that Fengjiazhuang had been breached by those damned puppet Tang bandits.
After hearing the news, his first thought was to immediately lead his army in pursuit. Those puppet Tang rebels would not be able to move fast with so much food.
But looking at the dark sky outside the window, he had no choice but to suppress this thought. This night pursuit was not an easy task. If the puppet Tang thief army failed to catch up, he would get lost instead.
However, although Su Jiakang gave up his plan to directly pursue overnight, he still ordered hundreds of Ming troops in the city to prepare overnight and leave the city early tomorrow morning to join forces with Diao Leixun in Longhua Town to pursue the puppet Tang rebels.
Since these pseudo-Tang bandits went straight to Fengjiazhuang to grab food as soon as they came out of the mountain, then Huangzhushan must be short of food, otherwise they would not have such a strong purpose. If they could stop this batch of food, then Huangzhushan would
Isn’t there a shortage of food in Zhushan?
When the time comes, you don’t have to go into the mountains to encircle and suppress them, you will starve to death!
Although Su Jiakang did not know why the bandits in Huangzhushan were short of food, he could infer that these puppet Tang bandits were indeed short of food.
Therefore, the current idea is to stop these grains and prevent the puppet Tang rebels from transporting them back.
That night, Diao Leixun in Longhua Town also received a letter from a messenger sent by Su Jiakang. The letter asked him to pursue the puppet Tang rebels early tomorrow morning, and Su Jiakang himself would also set out with his troops early tomorrow morning.
arrive.
He asked Diao Leixun to catch up with the Puppet Tang thief army as much as possible, but he also said that the Puppet Tang thief army was so powerful that the five or six hundred people in Longhua Town alone might not be able to keep the Puppet Tang thief army behind, so he gave Diao Leixun the order
The purpose is to let Diao Leixun catch up and delay the pace of the puppet Tang rebel army as much as possible, and not to engage in large-scale battles until the critical moment.
After Su Jiakang and his men arrived, they gathered the two armies and looked for opportunities to defeat each other!
After Diao Leixun received the order, he finally let go of the entanglement in his heart. He wanted to pursue him at first, but he was also afraid that something unexpected would happen and he would be punished by the court.
Now that he has the support of Su Jiakang, a civil servant with a Jinshi background, he has confidence. Anyway, if the sky falls, the taller Su Jiakang will hold up.
After hurriedly preparing, Diao Leixun led about 500 people from Tong'an Qianhu Office out of the city before it was completely bright the next day, chasing towards the mountains, trying to stop the pseudo-Tang thieves.
military.
At the same time, hundreds of people also poured out of Zhengtai County, about ten miles behind Diao Leixun, and marched towards the mountains.
Naturally, the Ming troops in Longhua Town and Zhengtai County were out of the city on such a large scale. Naturally, they could not hide it from the spies of the Huangzhushan bandits. As soon as these spies who had been stationed in Longhua Town and Zhengtai County for a long time discovered that the Ming troops were out on a large scale, they immediately ran away.
And the return letter came.
Naturally, the marching speed of a single person running wildly is very different from that of an army. On flat terrain, an ordinary person can walk twenty miles in an hour.
However, carrying a large amount of equipment and equipment, they could only travel twenty or thirty miles a day.
This is why spies from both sides can report the news to the top leaders of both sides within just a few hours, but the army's actions are still so slow.
On a rural road about twenty miles outside Longhua Town, the narrow dirt road was crowded with people moving forward silently. These people were either pushing wheelbarrows, driving simple animals-drawn carts, or even carrying carry-on bags.
These people are the "Pseudo-Tang Bandit Army" that the Ming Army is pursuing so hard.
However, these people were just the baggage troops of the bandits in Huangzhu Mountain, and in front of the baggage was a group of people standing in formation and marching in neat steps.
Several miles away on both sides, there were several small groups of bandits acting as peripheral security forces to accompany the advance.
At this time, Li Xuan was listening to the report from the spies who came back from Longhua Town.
What the spies said was very simple. The Ming army from Longhua Town had left the town and was heading straight towards them. This situation was not a good sign.
After the spy was pushed down, Li Xuan immediately said to Fang Dongquan: "Send more manpower immediately, um, send out the reconnaissance cavalry as well. Be sure to keep track of the movements of this Ming army at all times!"
Then he said to Bai Yunqi: "You tell the baggage team to speed up!"
The enemy threat is right in front of us. The people in the baggage team must speed up and enter the mountains as early as possible. Otherwise, if they are stopped by the Ming army outside the mountains, the end will not be so good. A big battle is inevitable.
And more importantly, winning or losing is of no benefit to the Tang Dynasty.
Containing the Ming army does not mean to contain it through large-scale battles, but to maintain a situation that cannot be broken through fighting, so that the Ming army will be wary of entering the mountains on a large scale, and at the same time, it must avoid a direct decisive battle with the Ming army as much as possible.
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When the baggage team accelerated their march, Li Xuan also discussed with Huang Xueren, Wang Shanxu and others how to face this situation.
After much discussion, only one method was the most suitable, which was to separate the main force and the baggage force. The baggage force would go around the back, and would rather walk more than a day's journey rather than pass in front of Longhua Town.
The main force stayed to confuse the Ming army. It would be better if they could lead the Ming army around. Even if not, they should be able to buy the baggage troops most of a day or even a whole day, and this day's time
The gap is enough for the baggage troops to return to the mountains with food.
After all, they are only twenty or thirty miles away from the mountain. It is only a day's journey. If there is a gap of one day, the Ming army will definitely not be able to catch up.
After making the decision, Li Xuan immediately ordered Huang Xueren to personally lead a troop of about 300 people to go around the back.
Li Xuan himself, as well as Fang Dongquan, Chen Tufu, Wang Shanxu and most of the other generals, led the main force to deal with the Ming army.
This time, the Imperial Army of the Tang Dynasty still maintained their fine tradition of escaping very quickly, especially those in the baggage team. They were actually young and strong bandits in the standing army in the past. These people had no other ability and could only escape with their lives.
His skills are quite good.
After learning that the Ming army was about to catch up, they walked very fast without being urged by the generals above. If Huang Xueren and others hadn't stopped them, they probably would have just dropped the food and ran away.
The remaining main force of the Tang Dynasty King's Division did not continue to advance. Instead, they sent out a large number of small-scale patrol units. The task of these training units was not to find the main force of the Ming army. That was the matter of the professional scouts and spies. These patrols
The task of the team is to find and intercept nearby Ming army spies to prevent them from continuing to catch up with the retreating baggage troops.
After cleaning up, they actually allowed them to capture several spies of the Ming Army. The bandits in Huangzhushan were not polite to these spies and cut them down on the spot without giving them a chance to surrender.
Time passed bit by bit. Two hours later, at noon, Li Xuancai once again led his troops to set off, but they still did not go fast. The spies were always reporting news about the Ming army.
"The vanguard of the puppet Ming thief army is only eight miles away from us, and its main force is ten miles away from us!"
"The Ming army in Zhengtai County left the city in large numbers. It is said that Su Jiakang, the magistrate of Zhengtai County, personally led the army!"
"The enemy's headquarters is less than five miles away from our army, but their speed has slowed down!"
"The thieves have sent a forward force of about a hundred people, and they are expected to arrive within two-quarters of an hour!"
Listening to the constant reports from the spies, Li Xuan also saw the Ming army in his sight!
Although the distance was still four or five miles away, he could still see the dark mass of people and horses in the distance. Li Xuan calculated the time and found that it was almost time to leave. He immediately said: "Send the order for the entire army to set off and return to the mountain!"
Li Xuan said that he would go back to the mountain, or even go back to the mountain along a straight road, instead of taking a detour like the baggage troops. In other words, they would go back to the mountain in a swaggering way in front of the Ming army.
If the Ming army came to pursue them, they would run away.
If the Ming army ignores them and pursues the baggage troops toward the rear, then Li Xuan will have to take the next step and launch a surprise attack on the Ming army from the rear.
In the distance, Diao Leixun looked at the puppet Tang rebel army that was slowly setting off towards the northeast. His thick eyebrows slightly furrowed and he was once again unsure about paying attention.
"Are you sure that the baggage train of the puppet Tang rebel army has withdrawn first?" Diao Leixun stared at a scout of the Ming army and asked.
The scout said: "It's absolutely true, I saw them dividing their troops with my own eyes!"
"Where is their baggage team now? Where is the food?" Diao Leixun asked.
The waiter showed a bitter look and said: "It's not clear yet. When they divided their troops first, several of our brothers also wanted to follow, but they were all stopped by the puppet Tang thief army. But look at their direction.
, they should have taken a detour to the rear to enter the mountain!"
After Diao Leixun heard this, he did not try to embarrass the scout. Instead, he asked the scout in detail and rewarded him quite a bit.
He could also guess why the puppet Tang rebel army divided its forces. It was just that they wanted to leave the main force to buy time for the baggage troops. And he could also guess the general direction of the baggage troops, heading southeast.
, we will definitely be able to find the baggage team that ran away first.
But the question is, should he go to the baggage team now, or should he continue to chase the main force of the puppet Tang rebel army?
The former has the food that Huangzhushan is in urgent need of, and the latter has Huangzhushan's elite main force.
Stopping their food supply may put Huangzhushan into a food crisis, while stopping the main force of the puppet Tang rebel army may completely annihilate the enemy army.
When faced with this kind of strategic decision, he had no choice but to continue to follow Li Xuan, and then send a horse to report the situation to Su Jiakang and ask for instructions.
After Su Jiakang, who was more than ten miles away from the rear, received the report from Kuai Ma, he was quite dissatisfied with Diao Leixun's hesitant behavior. You will have to delay at least several hours by returning the letter one after another. With this time, people's luggage
The team has already run away.
Their baggage team has already fled far away. Besides continuing to pursue the main force of the puppet Tang rebel army, what other choice do they have?
However, if we can catch up with and annihilate the main force of the pseudo-Tang rebel army, the pseudo-Tang Dynasty will be completely finished.
Thinking of this, Su Jiakang looked at the sky in the distance. The sky in the distance was extremely gloomy, and the dark clouds were very low, as if indicating that a war was coming!
This battle will be a big gamble. Whether you will be promoted to the third level or be removed from the official position depends on whether you win or lose this battle!