Pingyang Fu of the Red Chamber

Chapter 523 Feeling uneasy at night

"Report, general, the army ahead has set up camp, and scouts have been sent out to explore the terrain of Fallen Leaf Valley."

"Report, General, fifteen miles behind, the scouts are here to report, there is no enemy."

"Report, General, there is a large village about five miles to the left. It is an empty village. All the people in it have died long ago."

"Report, General, there is no one anywhere within a ten-mile radius on the right wing."

On the slope,

Bonfires were lit,

Gu Ping, the general of Jingnan, was sitting there with a sword in his hand and a map spread out on his knees. He was listening to the reports from the scouts all around. The bad feeling in his heart was vaguely buried in his heart. Qin Yunjiang of Linyue Fucheng, you are here at this time. What you are doing is so close, but suddenly it feels so far away.

Qin Yunjiang, the old brother who fought with him, must be saved. Time is running out. Tomorrow, he will raise his troops and go south. Victory or defeat depends on this. Thinking of this, looking at the bonfire in front of him, he felt a little bit. warmth,

"General, come on, have something to eat."

Deputy General Chai Ding took the heated dry food and handed it over with a worried look. Gu Ping put away the map, took a bite of the dry food, and took a sip of water.

"Chai Ding, tomorrow you will lead the 5,000 people from the old camp to guard the camp and wait for news. If, if, the army in front really cannot be withdrawn, you should not go any further. Take these 5,000 brothers with you. Don’t go back to Linshan County, that’s where you’ll die, and retreat directly to the west, guard the border of Qingchuan County, report to the court, and ask for rescue by the army.”

Chai Ding was not willing and replied excitedly,

"General, I will never run away like a villain. If something happens to the general, I will never live in this world and make others laugh."

Seeing the determined look on the deputy general's face, Gu Ping grabbed Chai Ding's arm, knowing that he would definitely not retreat, so he could only patiently point to the map.

"This is the Fallen Leaf Valley in front of us. After passing the valley, we went south for about thirty miles to Linyue Fucheng. Whether it is far or close, the march will take half a day, so I plan to send five thousand people from the front army there first. After some testing, 20,000 people will follow closely behind, and your 5,000 people will be behind you. Depending on the situation, if the enemy is vulnerable, I will directly attack them head-on to relieve the danger of the city."

"Then general, what should we do if we are outnumbered and outnumbered, so we cannot defeat him?"

Chai Ding asked immediately, and Gu Ping raised his eyes, looked south, and said firmly,

"If there is no hope of victory, I will lead my troops to attack, close to Linyue City, and join forces with Qin Yunjiang. We will definitely break through within three days. No matter how many people die in the battle, they will definitely come to Fallen Leaf Valley, so your task is to guard the retreat. , do you understand?"

"Don't worry, General Mansion. If you are in the valley, you will be there. If you are not, you will still be in the valley. We will guard you until the last person."

Chai Ding nodded firmly.

"General, do you want to send troops to continue exploring south, or even break into Lin Yue Mansion directly and deliver the letter?"

Gu Ping continued to look south and asked,

"How many more cavalry are there?"

"The general also has more than 2,000 cavalry who can fight,"

Chai Ding stood up excitedly, thinking that the general would send him to fight, but Gu Ping glanced at him and another young general Qian Jiang beside him said,

"Qianjiang, you take two thousand cavalry, cross the valley, and then wait for an opportunity to approach the city. Find a way to bring a message to Qin Yunjiang. Even if you can't drive in, find a way to let the city defenders see you, and then protect yourself and retreat directly. , if it doesn’t work, come back.”

"Yes, General, I will understand."

Qian Jiang clasped his fists and accepted the order. He took the spear and went to the camp to order people to go out. Chai Ding asked,

"General, won't you send someone to respond?"

"No, let him use his own troops. If he can't defeat him, he will run away. If we send troops over and the soldiers are tired, what should we do? Let's test him today."

Gu Ping didn't want to send troops today, but if the defenders failed to hold on, it would ruin the situation. He could only find a way to notify the city that reinforcements had arrived.

This is to stabilize the morale of Qin Yunjiang's army and defend the city. We don't know how many people there are in the rebel army.

Just when Gu Ping was thinking of countermeasures,

At Dazhuangzi, ten miles away from Daying, a group of uninvited guests arrived. It turned out that they were Kong An from the Right Guards Army under the former crown prince, who escorted military advisor Xun Wen to this place.

"Military advisor, why are you so sneaky? Why don't you just mobilize the army and follow him? It seems that Gu Ping is ready to fight again tomorrow. Let's take a chance and go directly behind him, round him up, and then we'll be done with it."

Kong An's big voice rang out. Only Xun Wen found a second-story attic, walked up, and looked to the southeast. He saw a bonfire camp in front, and the army was stationed here. The faint sound of cauldrons could be heard. I also know that Gu Ping will definitely leave behind a back-up, which is really not easy.

"What do you know? At this time, Gu Ping is like a frightened bird. The slightest disturbance can arouse his vigilance. We are following him behind. If the trap is exposed, with Gu Ping's temperament, we must return to the army to clear the way out. Only when there is a crisis can we go on the road. How can there be a fight between two tigers at that time?"

Kong An looked at the military advisor in front of him and felt a little cold. He did not dare to say anything more, but if Gu Ping did not go south, his troops would not be able to move, and the young master could not stay in Weizhou for a long time, so he was worried.

"What the military advisor said is absolutely true, but why did Commander Zuo suddenly change his mind and stop going south and surround Gu Ping's troops from behind? Should he just leave them alone?"

"Humph, you can imagine, but Commander Zuo can't think of it. He planned to surround Gu Ping's headquarters before, but do you know that the Taiping Sect across the street, according to insider reports, they now have 150,000 people, and the number of refugees exceeds 300,000. There are too many people, so we take this opportunity to gather people and go straight to Linshan County, capture the county and get supplies as soon as possible, and then wait for the imperial reinforcements to arrive, mainly food. Everything in the south of Jingnan is good, but there is no food. "

Xun Wen was also a little hesitant. He originally thought about his previous decision to deal with Gu Ping's troops first, and then go back to kill Linshan County. However, with the large number of people, the ration consumption was too large. Now the food and grass are unsustainable, even if there is money, You can't buy it. At present, only the county towns still have enough official warehouses and grain merchants there. There must be a large amount of grain. With grain, everything is available.

"Yes, military advisor, the last general is Meng Lang. I didn't expect this, so why are we here today?"

Kong An still didn't know why he brought a partial army here just to watch a show?

"Nothing else. We are here to see if Gu Ping really goes south tomorrow. If there is a fight with the Taiping Religion, we will retreat directly to Chenzhou City and watch on the spot to provide cover for the army led by Zuo. We have captured so many people. If we consume it a little, we won’t be able to hold on ourselves.”

"Yes, military advisor."

After the discussion, the two stopped talking. Only the soldiers they brought stood around Zhuangzi. After watching for a while, they found that there was a faint light of fire coming out of Gu Ping's camp and heading towards the Fallen Leaf Valley. This was Gu Ping's first move. Yes, Xun Wen felt happy in his heart,

"General Kong, it seems that you have hope in the battle of the county and city. Send an order for the entire army to withdraw to Chenzhou, leaving two thousand troops to defend the city. The rest will go to meet Commander Zuo."

"Military advisor, why are you leaving now? Didn't you just come here?"

Kong An was a little confused for a moment. Just now he said he would keep an eye on Gu Ping's camp, but now he was about to leave. It became too fast. Unexpectedly, the military advisor ignored him and went down to the attic. In the dark room, It was even more chaotic, with many corpses still lying there, not to mention more dead people on the street outside. Looking at Zhuangzi who was like hell, Xun Wen had a gloomy look on his face,

"General Kong, Gu Ping has even sent out his trusted cavalry. Do you think it is still possible for him to retreat? He will surely gather his troops to go south tomorrow. Leader Chu must have known about it for a long time and will definitely pursue and intercept him. As for how to fight, I don't know. , but here, in such a big Zhuangzi, everyone is dead, do you know who did it?"

Kong An was still thinking about the camp, when he suddenly heard the military advisor asking Zhuangzi about Zhuangzi. He didn't know why and looked over, only to see corpses lying on both sides of the street, which was extremely cold.

"It goes without saying that it must have been done by the Taiping Sect. Those people are very ruthless."

"You guessed it wrong. This is what the officers and soldiers said before. They killed good people and took credit for their merits, and then forced them to rebel here. In the end, they were slaughtered. It is really a sigh."

Xun Wen couldn't help but feel a little sad. The people were so innocent. They were all caused by officials who behaved recklessly. They really deserved to be killed.

"This, hey."

Kong An opened his mouth, but finally sighed without saying a word.

"withdraw!"

Then many soldiers came out from a hidden place, took out their horses and left quietly. No one knew who else had been here.

And Fallen Leaf Valley,

Guardian Zuo had already led 40,000 troops to the entrance of the valley in advance. He also sent people to ambush on the back slopes on both sides of the valley. Only a few scouts were left to watch in the valley, while the rest began to prepare for the rear army to set up camp. .

In addition, at the southern exit of the valley, Chu Yiyue, the deputy leader of the Taiping Cult, led a hundred thousand people to block the entrance of the valley, and set up camp at Zuo Ling's camp. Apparently he did not want reinforcements to go south.

Suddenly, there was a sound in Fallen Leaf Valley,

"Shh, there's movement."

Halfway up the hillside on the left, several scouts were eating dry food. Suddenly they heard a vibration on the ground and immediately became alert. The team leader lay on the ground with his ears to the ground and suddenly shouted,

"No, the cavalry is coming."

Then he quickly ran back to inform the main camp. Chu Yiyue, who was at the entrance of the valley, had known that Gu Ping's troops were here. He arranged for his confidant and former protector Wei Siyuan to lead 30,000 troops to block the exit and camp, while he himself was five miles behind. Set up a camp everywhere.

at this time,

It was already night. Qian Jiang led the cavalry through the valley quickly and reached the exit. Who would have known that the entrance of the valley was brightly lit with fire and traps to stop the horses. There were actually soldiers stationed here. He thought it was Lin Yue Fucheng. The officers and soldiers looked up and looked at the flag set up by the camp in the light of the fire. It turned out to be a yellow flag that they had never seen before. This must be the people of the Taiping Religion. Why are they here?

In the midst of shock, I saw a large number of people and horses suddenly gathered in the camp in front of me. They came closer. The leader was riding a horse with a full beard and a powerful look. He shouted loudly:

"Where did the kid come from? He dared to break into this protector's camp. He is so impatient!"

His arrogance was fully revealed, and he smiled contemptuously when he looked at the only two thousand cavalry on the opposite side.

The mouth of the valley is blocked, and only the inside of the valley can be walked. However, although the terrain in the valley is flat, there are hilly slopes on both sides and some mountains blocking it, making it difficult to gain the advantage of the cavalry.

The cavalry general Qian Jiang saw that the entrance of the valley in front was blocked and knew that the rebels had been prepared, so he immediately ordered

"Prepare the crossbow, shoot two rounds on horseback, and then turn around."

"Yes, General."

After saying that, he immediately put away his spear, then took out his crossbow and pointed it at the general on horseback in front of him. He seemed to be a big boss. After he was ready, he shouted,

"Get ready, let go!"

Immediately afterwards, a swarm of crossbow arrows came out, densely shooting toward the opposite side.

In the camp, the guardian Wei Siyuan behind the horse turned pale when he saw the crossbow and shouted,

"Hold up your shield,"

Then he rolled sideways, slid off his horse, and hid behind the shield of the soldier behind him. Then there was a "dongdong" sound, and the crossbow was nailed to the big shield. However, many believers were unable to dodge and were shot by the crossbow. They fell to the ground wailing, and many people were shot directly in their vital organs and died.

Even the protector's mount was hit by several arrows and ran wildly in pain, causing a commotion. As a last resort, the protector Wei Siyuan shouted,

"Kill it."

Immediately, regardless of the congregation, they stabbed each other with spears, and with a neighing sound, the horses fell to the ground.

The blood on the ground was shocking. Wei Siyuan was furious and shouted,

"Archers prepare, one hundred and fifty steps, scatter, release."

Immediately afterwards, a dark cloud of arrows flew out from the Taiping Sect camp. When General Qian saw it, he turned his horse's head and retreated behind him.

"Quick, turn the horse's head,"

Although the reaction was quick, it still took time to turn the horse's head. I saw the rain of arrows falling, and the person at the back was naturally Soul Broken Valley, and the people on the opposite side had already sent troops out of the camp. There were about 20,000 people. We were outnumbered. Widow, I'm afraid I won't be able to complete what the general told me to do, and I won't be able to rush through.

"General, what should we do? There are too many enemies, and they are wearing armor. They must be the main force of the thieves. I'm afraid we won't be able to rush through them."

The cavalry colonel behind him felt his scalp numb as he looked at the densely packed Taiping congregation. It made no sense why there were so many people.

"Retreat, go back."

General Qian saw that there was nothing he could do, so he led his troops back on horseback. Halfway up the mountain on both sides of the valley, the ambush soldiers from the Zuo Protector were lying in wait. When they saw the people leaving, they frowned and let them go. The intention of ambush was halved. Gu Ping would definitely think that there was an ambush and would never be easily fooled. This would be difficult.

This man was indeed difficult to deal with, and he actually sent cavalry to explore the way.

"Come here, tell the brothers, bury the pot and make rice, and rest. Gu Ping won't be here today."

"Yes, Protector Zuo. I will go now."

The hall master behind him took the order and went down to make arrangements.

General Qian hurried back to the camp with the remaining cavalry. He dismounted and went straight to General Gu's tent. He opened the curtain and rushed in. He saw a pot of charcoal fire placed in the center of the tent with a pot on it. The tea was boiling, and the deputy placed the firewood at the bottom and sat down.

Seeing Qian Jiang walking into the tent in embarrassment, Chai Ding asked anxiously,

"Qianjiang, what happened? Why are you like this?"

"General, the general is incompetent and has killed some brothers, but he can't get out of the valley at all."

Qian Jiang took off his helmet, then with a sad expression on his face, Gu Ping pointed to what was happening next to him and said,

"You sit down first. If my guess is correct, is the other entrance of Fallen Leaf Valley blocked by Taiping Cult people?"

"Yes, general, the Taiping Sect has camped directly at the mouth of the valley. There are 30,000 people with weapons, armor, bows and arrows. The soldiers of the sect are not like refugees, they are comparable to the government army."

Qian Jiang told what he saw, especially the other side's soldiers, who turned out to be warriors who dared to fight. They were no worse than the government troops, and they were so numerous that it would be difficult to go south to Lin Yue Mansion.

"What, how is it possible, the Taiping Religion brought so many people?"

The deputy general Chai Ding on the side had a look of disbelief. If there were really so many people, including the soldiers and horses surrounding the city, there would be a hundred thousand people. Otherwise, it would be impossible to divide the troops so boldly unless the troops were sufficient.

"General Chai, everything I said is true and I don't dare to deceive. Also, the terrain in the Fallen Leaf Valley is flat and the view is wide, but there are hills and mountains on both sides. Now that spring has begun, there is green, and the general has not sent anyone there. We can’t tell the situation through investigation, but the place where the Taiping Religion camped is the same as the place where our army camped, and the width is about the same, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.”

This trip to Qianjiang was not without success. First of all, the situation in the valley was clear at a glance, and the topography was memorized. He also vaguely felt that the people of the Taiping Religion opposite were very unusual. They did not look like refugees at all, but like the imperial army.

Gu Ping sat in the upper seat, carefully groping for the edge of the teacup, with a sullen face and without saying a word. Hearing what Qian Jiang said, the Taiping Sect is not simple. There are so many soldiers and expert guidance. If you want to pass this I'm afraid it will be difficult in Fallen Leaf Valley, and if there is nothing strange on both sides of the valley, I would be sorry for the general on the opposite side. This person should be Chu Yiyue, the deputy leader of the Taiping Sect. The silver robbery case in the capital was brilliant and famous in the world. It's really difficult.

"Tomorrow, Qianjiang will follow. Only a thousand people will be left in the camp to guard the camp. Chai Ding will attack Taniguchi tomorrow. The general has changed his plan."

Chai Ding's face lit up and he replied,

"When a general receives an order, he must follow the general."

Seeing Chai Ding's look, Gu Ping waved his hand,

"I'm not asking you to attack the camp, but there are other important matters. Since the entrance of the valley is sealed, there must be something fishy on both sides of the valley. Therefore, tomorrow I will lead an army of ten thousand to monitor the bandit camp in the south. You and Qianjiang, each led eight thousand men and horses, divided into two sides and began to sweep the hillsides on both sides of the valley. I predict that there must be an ambush in the valley, and they must be cleared away, and then we can find a way to kill them."

Gu Ping put down his tea bowl and looked at the two of them and said, since the Taiping Sect dared to face a head-on confrontation, they must have something to rely on, and they must have arrived long ago when they set up camp. An ambush is not impossible. It would be prudent to postpone the move south.

"Yes, General, I have received your orders. Tonight, we will send elite scouts to explore the road first to see if there are any ambushes. Tomorrow, we will catch them off guard."

A cold look flashed in Chai Ding's eyes. Since there was something fishy, ​​he wouldn't wait until tomorrow and let the people from the scout camp go over to find out what was fishy in the evening.

Gu Ping nodded,

"Be careful, don't alert the enemy!"

(End of this chapter)