Chapter 224 Su Jiakang is going to attack at night
Why were all these messy iron tools taken away during looting? Because the Tang Dynasty was seriously short of iron.
Nowadays, Huangzhu Mountain does not produce iron itself, and it is difficult to buy it in large quantities from outside. As a result, the iron needed to make muskets, swords and other weapons is not enough. Therefore, every time they go out of the mountain, they will plunder a large number of strategic weapons, including
Iron is even more of the material they focus on collecting.
After Li Xuan heard Huang Xueren's words, he hesitated slightly, and then said firmly: "Throw away the iron and other messy things first, and we will see the situation later!"
Although iron is an important strategic material, its importance in a short period of time is still not as important as that of ordnance and food. After all, the latter two are directly related to the current battle of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty.
They can't fight without weapons.
Not to mention food, they can throw away all their weapons and weapons, but food cannot be thrown away, otherwise they will be hungry tomorrow.
As for the lost iron, you can just grab it back elsewhere.
As the baggage train of the New Army of the Tang Dynasty abandoned a large amount of iron and messy things, a lot of empty carriages were vacated. In the end, a small number of these carriages were used by soldiers who were exhausted and could no longer walk, and even more
The extra carriages are used to reduce the weight of the soldiers, and put the things they carry and even weapons on the carriages, so as to reduce the burden of these soldiers whose physical strength is almost exhausted as much as possible, so that they can walk more easily
Some.
As a result, although the marching speed of the new armies of the Tang Dynasty was still much slower than before, they could still continue on their way.
At the same time, Wang Zhitan behind him was panting and cursing: "These pseudo-Tang rebels are all rabbits. They have been running all day without stopping to rest. I am exhausted!"
Wang Zhitan said he was tired, and the Ming soldiers around him were even more tired and wanted to curse!
You, Wang Zhitan, are all riding horses, which means you are tired. What do you think of us big-headed soldiers who are marching on foot? We are also very tired.
Their situation is no better than that of the puppet Tang bandits at the front, and is even worse.
Like the puppet Tang rebels, they had not had a good rest for two consecutive days. They had traveled all day yesterday and had just arrived at Zhengtai County where they fought a battle and were defeated.
At night, just after nightfall, they hurriedly ran to intercept the Puppet Tang thief army because they wanted to break through. After the Puppet Tang thief army returned to the city, they finally rested for a few hours, but by the middle of the night
, the puppet Tang bandits broke out of the city, and they were called up again and ran all the way.
They first captured Zhengtai County, and then went out of the city non-stop to pursue the puppet Tang rebels. They were so busy that they didn't even have time to eat breakfast, so they could only eat dry food in a hurry to satisfy their hunger on the road.
After marching continuously for most of the day, in the afternoon, these Ming troops finally could no longer hold on.
Many soldiers simply sat down on the ground and refused to get up and continue marching.
At first, Wang Zhitan forced them to get up, and those who really couldn't get up were asked to walk slowly behind. However, as more and more people fell behind, the puppet Tang rebel army in front did not stop and continued to escape.
, Wang Zhitan finally sighed: "Send the order, the whole army rests and reorganizes!"
If we continue to catch up, more and more soldiers will fall behind. Even if we reluctantly continue to pursue, it will be meaningless if there are not enough soldiers around us, and the puppet Tang rebels may bite back.
Seeing that the Ming army at the back took the initiative to stop and rest, Li Xuan in the front finally breathed a sigh of relief. However, at this time, Li Xuan knew that it was not the time to rest yet, and they must take advantage of this moment to distance themselves from the Ming army.
As long as the distance between the two sides is increased to more than ten miles, an initial safety guarantee can be obtained. If the distance can be increased to more than fifteen miles, then Li Xuan is very sure that the Ming army will not be able to catch up with them.
Therefore, he shouted loudly: "The puppet Ming thief army can no longer move. If you continue to hold on, as long as you hold on for one more hour, then we can completely get rid of them!"
Completely getting rid of the Ming army, these words shocked the exhausted Huangzhushan bandits. As long as they can escape with their lives, what if they are tired?
However, although the morale of the new army of the Tang Dynasty was high, it still could not change the fact that the soldiers were exhausted. In order to continue on the road, Li Xuan asked the baggage team to abandon half of the food, just to free up carriages to reduce the burden on the soldiers.
At the same time, he took the soldiers who could no longer walk and continued on his way.
"Don't give up any comrade!" This was the fatal order issued by Li Xuan's generals.
This is not because Li Xuan is soft-hearted, but because every soldier in the new army of the Tang Dynasty after these battles is a veteran with valuable combat experience. Every soldier is a valuable asset to the weak Datang Dynasty.
If they were killed or wounded in the battle, they would be killed and wounded. Since they have all broken out from Zhengtai County, how can they still be on the way to escape? This is unacceptable.
After they forced themselves to drive for a while, when it was close to four o'clock in the afternoon, they finally couldn't walk anymore. Even Li Xuan himself was exhausted, and the horses under him were also tired and out of breath.
gas.
After getting off the sweaty horse, Li Xuan felt that his legs were a little weak and he almost couldn't stand. However, he stood up straight with Zeng Ziwen's help. At the same time, he said: "Send the order, the whole army will rest for an hour."
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Counting from the time when the Ming army took the initiative to stop pursuing, they walked for about an hour and were initially estimated to be about eight miles away from the Ming army.
As long as you are careful at this time, you can stop and rest for a while.
However, he could only rest for a while. Li Xuan planned to rest for an hour, and then take advantage of the evening to walk for another two hours to open the distance from the Ming army to more than ten miles before it became completely dark.
In this case, he would dare to sleep peacefully tonight, otherwise he would have to worry about the Ming army's night attacks all the time!
After the order to rest was given, all the bandits in Huangzhushan didn't care about the queue or anything. They all sat directly on the ground. Not counting many people sitting on the ground, they even walked down directly. After a while,
Many people are already asleep.
However, although most of the soldiers can rest, there are some people who cannot do so, such as Cao Mingda's cavalry.
Cao Mingda's cavalry still needs to act as the eyes of the entire army, guarding against the sudden appearance of the Ming army and providing early warning to the entire army.
The cooks, on the other hand, were dragging their exhausted bodies to prepare to light a fire and cook rice.
The last time the New Army of the Tang Dynasty had a serious meal was already past three in the morning. Although the soldiers could eat dry food while walking on the road.
But to be honest, dry food in all eras is extremely unpalatable. Eating dry food is just a stopgap measure to fill your stomach at noon and replenish the large amount of energy consumed.
When the cooks were preparing to light a fire to cook, Li Xuan, Qian Mengjiu and Zeng Ziwen discussed defense and follow-up routes before lying down and closing their eyes to rest.
Today's escape not only exhausted the bandits below, Li Xuan was also very tired even if he was riding a horse.
After closing his eyes, he quickly fell asleep. This time he slept soundly and did not dream as frequently as usual.
Normally, Li Xuan always dreams easily when sleeping, and most of the dreams he dreams are not good dreams. He either dreams about being defeated and dies, or dreams about himself being captured by the Ming army in the capital, and he also sleeps very hard.
Qian, I am often awakened by some small noises.
Li Xuan himself knew the reason for this situation, it was nothing more than worry!
He thinks about it day by day and dreams at night. He is often afraid that the Ming army will come to kill him, so he will naturally have these dreams when he dreams.
Today's Li Xuan can be said to be extremely insecure.
When he was woken up by Qian Mengjiu, he opened his eyes and looked at the sky, and found that the sky was already red, which was the color of sunset.
After washing his face with cold water, Li Xuan saw that most of the soldiers had already gotten up and were eating and drinking soup. Naturally, the cooks were in a hurry and would not make any good meals, but in order to replenish the soldiers' physical strength, this
Li Xuan had already ordered a meal, rice was served, and broth was served at the same time.
Not to mention that rice is enough to fill you up, this broth is also considered a relatively suitable food for the soldiers at this time, and can effectively replenish their large loss of energy.
Li Xuan himself also drank broth all night, took a few mouthfuls of rice, and then took the guards of the bodyguard team to inspect the situation of the soldiers.
After walking around this time, I found that most of the soldiers were in relatively good condition. After an hour of rest, they had recovered a lot of their physical strength. Although they were still a little weak in energy, it should not be a problem to continue on their way.
However, some of the soldiers were not in good physical condition and had already lost their strength before. The small group of soldiers who could only lie on the carriages and be pulled along were still not in good condition. Many of them even suffered from heat stroke.
It's summer right now. Traveling under the sun for a long time will not only consume a lot of energy, but also cause heat stroke.
Li Xuan didn't have any good solution for this. He could only ask Qian Mengjiu, a part-time doctor, to boil a bowl of medicine for the soldiers who had fallen ill.
After the soldiers had rested and had a meal, Li Xuan once again ordered the whole army to continue marching. They should take advantage of the fact that there was still some time before complete darkness to increase the distance between them.
After walking like this for about half an hour, Ye Shie was already in full control, but at this time Cao Mingda reported back that the Ming army at the back had shortened the distance by another two miles, and was now about eight miles behind.
"Well, in that case, let's walk for an extra hour and let the soldiers lift the torches!" Li Xuan was not willing to shorten the distance he had finally opened up again, even if he had to walk at night for this.
When Li Xuan and the others continued on their night journey, the main force of the Ming army led by Su Jiakang finally caught up with Wang Zhitan's forward troops.
Seeing that Wang Zhitan's vanguard had been thrown away by the puppet Tang rebels for seven or eight miles, he cursed angrily, and after scolding, he forced his troops to continue chasing on the night road.
At around nine o'clock in the evening, Li Xuan and the others found a small valley to rest on the ground, planning to have a good night's sleep and continue their escape tomorrow.
At this time, Li Xuan didn't know that Su Jiakang behind him was still forcing the Ming army to continue the pursuit at night. The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and Su Jiakang was planning a night attack!