Chapter 32: When something goes wrong, there must be a demon
Perhaps it was because the last disastrous defeat caused great psychological burden to Fang Dongquan, so this time when he went to Shuilong Village, he became extremely conservative.
On the first day of the march, the left army led by him was at the front, but it moved very slowly. There were always many spies in front to explore the road, and they continued to move forward only after ensuring safety.
This conservative and timid attitude made Butcher Chen quite dissatisfied, and even Liu Bagou criticized it.
Butcher Chen said: "Your Majesty, we only walked ten miles in one day today. This is not good. If we spend too much time on the road, we will not bring enough food. We must speed up and arrive within three days."
Water Dragon Village!"
Liu Bagou also said: "What General Chen said makes sense. Our army prepares very little food for travel. The soldiers prepare their own dry food, which is only enough for three or four days. Even if we add the rice food brought by the Chinese army, it will only be enough for three or four days."
There’s only enough food for seven days.”
Fang Dongquan on the side said immediately: "Shuilong Village came to our Huangzhu Mountain last time, and was repelled by us. Now they must be on guard. We came out with so much noise this time, and the other party has most likely noticed it.
, if an ambush is set up on the road at that time, we will most likely fall into the opponent's ambush if we advance lightly!"
At this time, Li Xuan was also a little hesitant. In fact, like Fang Dongquan, he maintained a cautious and conservative attitude.
But this time Huang Zhushan's army went out for an expedition. Although it claimed to be a large army and capable of conquering the country, it actually only numbered about 130 people. Besides weapons and food, they basically brought no baggage, not even tents.
.
It is a veritable light march. Logically speaking, the marching speed should not be too slow. Even if you cannot walk forty or fifty miles in a day, twenty or thirty miles is still very easy.
Furthermore, they did not bring much food with them when they went out this time. It was not that they did not want to bring more, but that there was not much food in Huangzhu Mountain to begin with. The more than 100 people they took with them were all of the best quality when they went on the expedition.
Rice grains are used to maintain physical strength, which leaves only a small amount of rice grains and miscellaneous grains for the old, weak, women and children in Huangzhushan.
Their original plan was very simple, that is, after capturing Shuilong Village, they would directly eat the food from Shuilong Village. In Liu Bagou's words, they would eat from the enemy.
But if they spend an extra two or three days on the road, they will have almost run out of food by the time they arrive at Shuilong Village, and there may not be enough time left for them to attack Shuilong Village.
Who knows how the attack on Shuilong Village will turn out when the time comes. If it goes well, it may take half an hour to attack, but if it doesn't go well, it may take several days.
Li Xuan thought of this and glanced at Fang Dongquan.
At this time, Fang Dongquan saw Li Xuan's eyes on him, and said after a while: "It's not impossible to speed up the march tomorrow, but the risk is still a bit high, and we have to send out more spies!"
Li Xuan nodded.
Although Li Xuan was nominally the commander of this expedition, there were many things that he himself did not understand, such as which road to take, where to sleep at night, etc. These all required someone like Fang Dongquan, who was familiar with this mountain, to do it.
Make a decision.
Since Fang Dongquan said this, he should be somewhat confident.
The next day, the marching speed indeed improved a lot. On this day, they walked a full thirty miles.
Don't look at this thirty-mile road, which is only about ten kilometers in later generations. Normal people can walk there in three hours, but you have to know that Li Xuan and the others are not walking on a big road, they are walking on small roads in the mountains and forests.
, these trails are usually walked by hunters and mountain people. They are usually only allowed for a single person to pass, and many places are winding and steep, making it difficult to walk.
Even sometimes the path they took couldn't be called a road, just a wilderness with fewer weeds and trees.
Therefore, it is very difficult to walk, and the speed of this movement is naturally not that fast.
This is because they all advance lightly. If they were regular troops carrying a large amount of baggage, it would be quite good to be able to advance twenty miles in one day.
In addition to the difficulty of walking, it is also related to Fang Dongquan's caution. Whenever he passes through some dangerous areas, such as valleys and dense forests, Fang Dongquan will always send spies to check first and confirm that there is no danger before passing.
However, Liu Bagou and Butcher Chen were quite satisfied with the speed of thirty miles in a day. At least Butcher Chen no longer said that Fang Dongquan was timid and deliberately held back the army.
That night, everyone camped in the wild as usual. They didn't even have tents. Only some of them brought thin blankets, some brought thick coats, and some didn't bring anything at all. They found a leeward mountain col to rest directly on the ground.
One night.
It's all Li Xuan. He sleeps under a quilt at night, which Mrs. Bai prepared for him. He was afraid that his son would fall ill. When he fled last time, Li Xuan fell ill from heatstroke, but Mrs. Bai was worried. This time
Li Xuan said that he would personally lead the army to the expedition, but he was also very worried. Before leaving, he asked about his welfare and wanted to prepare everything for Li Xuan.
Even Dong Yunyun looked worried. The night before the expedition, she gave Li Xuan a cloak. Well, she sewed it herself, and Pearl also helped a lot.
It's a pity that although this cloak is made of fine silk and satin material, Li Xuan's appearance has obviously improved after putting it on, and he looks elegant, but this cloak is of no use.
Insulation.
So even though he brought this cloak, Li Xuan naturally wouldn't put it on on the march. At most, when the battle of Shuilong Village was about to start, he would wear the cloak to show off his coolness so that the rubbish in Shuilong Village could see it.
The style of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
After a night of silence, they continued on their way the next day, but on this day's journey, it was obvious that everyone no longer looked as relaxed as they had the previous two days, because they all knew that Shuilong Village was about twenty miles ahead.
Moreover, it is impossible for the people of Shuilong Village not to set up sentries outside, so it is very likely that they will encounter the people of Shuilong Village in the outer area of Shuilong Village a few hours later.
As the sun rose, they walked more and more carefully. By afternoon, they had only walked fifteen miles, and now they were less than five miles away from Shuilong Village.
Fang Dongquan at the front had already sent someone to report back, saying that they had found traces of the sentry in Shuilong Village, but the building was empty.
As expected, the people from Shuilong Village set up sentries outside, but the people in the sentries had already left. It was obvious that they had discovered the people from Huangzhushan and evacuated first.
Maybe it won't be long before a large number of people from Shuilong Village will appear, and a big battle will break out between the two sides!
But what surprised Li Xuan was that although the people from Shuilong Village had obviously discovered their traces, the expected large number of people from Shuilong Village never showed up.
There's something strange about this!
It’s not just Li Xuan who thinks so!
Liu Bagou also frowned and said: "When something goes wrong, there must be a monster!"