Great Han Empire

Chapter 198
Sun Jian asked loudly, "Is there another way?"

Xu Rong nodded, stretched out a thick finger, started from Yuzhong City on the map, and drew a big circular arc, extending all the way to Hanyang County.

"We rushed from Yuzhong City to Tuoling, then crossed Kuishan Mountain from Tuoling to Hanyang County, and then walked directly to Muyuan. From Muyuan back to Pingxiang City, there are still more than 300 miles to go." Xu Rong is not worried. He said slowly, "It takes an extra seventy or eighty miles of mountain roads to take this road, and it will take about an extra day. That means we will need at least four days to return to Pingxiang City."

Zhou Shen and Sun Jian were overjoyed.A rare smile appeared on Zhou Shen's face.

"Is this road safe?" Sun Jian asked, "Do the rebels know?"

"Of course I know." Xu Rong said with a smile, "This road is the way for bandits to smuggle private salt or escape into Jincheng County after robbing Kuiyuan Gorge. It is also the way for rebels to escape our surveillance and suddenly occupy Kuiyuan The reason for the garden gorge."

"It's really unexpected that Lao Bian hid his troops on this road. If they hadn't suddenly occupied Kuiyuan Gorge, I would have really overlooked this road on Kuishan Mountain. This road is rugged and very hidden. People who are not familiar with it can easily get lost."

Sun Jian was taken aback.He glanced at Xu Rong warily, and asked, "Does everyone in Xiliang know this road?"

Xu Rong thought for a while and said, "Except for the bandits, there are not many people who know this road. Some people know but have never walked it. I need to suppress bandits, so I take this road every year. Go a few times and get more familiar with it.”

"Can the war horse pass this way?" Sun Jian asked again.

"Yes. Kuishan is not very large, with a radius of one hundred miles, and the mountain is relatively gentle. I used to take cavalry into the mountain, which can save my foot strength." Xu Rong replied, "If you walk on two legs, it will be very tiring. .”

Sun Jian nodded slightly, looked at the map, and looked at Xu Rong, and suddenly asked: "Since Bian Zhang knows this road, why do you think this road is safe?"

Xu Rong looked at Sun Jian and knew that he still didn't trust him.

Xu Rong smiled helplessly, and explained: "Since Lord Taiwei arrived at the Xiliang battlefield, we Xiliang people have no chance to speak, especially for some important actions, we are often the last to know, so the old man There is every reason to believe that you will not know the way."

Zhou Shen and Sun Jian looked at each other without making a sound.

"Currently, part of the rebel troops are in Yuzhong City, and some are in Kuiyuan Gorge. They are concentrating their forces and preparing to give us a fatal blow. It is impossible to leave a part of the army and continue to ambush this road." He pointed to the map on the map. Mu Yuan continued: "This road leads to Mu Yuan. After knowing that we took this road to bypass Kui Yuan Gorge, the old man will definitely rush here with a large army to ambush us. They arrived a day earlier than us, waiting for work at ease, Even if we can fight out, there will be heavy casualties. So..."

Xu Rong looked up at the two of them, and said slowly: "This road is definitely safe, but if we want to walk back to Pingxiang City safely, it will be very difficult."

Zhou Shen stroked his long beard with his hands, his brows tightened, and he remained silent for a long time.

The bitter fruit of the lonely army going deep must be eaten by himself.As long as he doesn't die in Kuiyuan Gorge, with his 5000 troops, killing Huiping Xiangcheng will definitely not be a problem.If Li Hong's reinforcements could arrive in time, perhaps his losses would not be too great.

"Leave in the middle of the night." Zhou Shen said resolutely.

===

In the early morning, Han Sui received the news that the Han army quietly retreated from the camp outside Yuzhong City in the middle of the night.

Han Sui was taken aback, put on his clothes hastily, and flew to the east gate on a flying horse.

Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Li Kan, Zhang Heng and other generals who rushed to the top of the city tower rushed up to meet him.

"Is there any movement in the direction of Kuiyuan Gorge?" Han Sui asked loudly as he hurried upstairs.

"General, not yet." Li Kan replied, "Things are very strange. It is only a dozen miles from here to Kuiyuan Gorge, and the enemy has climbed there even if they climbed, but we have not found any movement in the direction of Kuiyuan Gorge until now. "

Han Sui walked up to the city wall and raised his eyes to look east.There was nothing in the sky, not even a bird.On the green field is the blue sky, a few curling white clouds, a quiet and peaceful morning.

"General, if the enemy retreats in the middle of the night, they will have already reached Kuiyuan Gorge. As long as they rush into Kuiyuan Gorge, the fire will burn, and we should see smoke columns rising into the sky at night." Zhang Heng said loudly, "Yes Isn't it that the enemy has just retreated and hasn't reached yet?"

Cheng Yin patted him lightly, and said with a smile, "Stop talking nonsense here. Zhou Shen is an old man, doesn't he know when to retreat?"

"Will the enemy take Tuoling, cross Kuishan, and flee into Hanyang County from the west of Kuiyuan Gorge?" Hou Xuan looked west and said doubtfully, "In this way, they can avoid Kuiyuan Gorge, that is to say, they You can escape our ambush and escape back without any danger."

There was a sudden silence on the tower, and everyone turned their heads to look at Kuishan in the west.

"Have you sent a scout?" Han Sui was secretly surprised, and hurriedly asked.

"Not yet." Cheng Yin replied, "I will send someone to Tuoling immediately."

Zhang Heng clapped his hands violently, and shouted: "That old boy Zhou Shen may have gone west. Many Xiliang generals know that road, especially Xu Rong. He used to run several times a year in order to catch bandits. Come on. He is from Youzhou, and he might help Zhou Shen at this time of life and death."

"He must help, otherwise he will die in Kuiyuan Gorge, do you think he is a fool?" Li Kan said loudly.

"If the enemy fled in the middle of the night, they have already been gone for two or three hours. Now there is no movement in the direction of Kuiyuan Gorge, which means that the enemy is not going east at all. If the enemy does not flee east, the only possibility is to go in the direction of Kuishan Mr. Wen Yue, what do you think?" the candidate asked.

Han Sui's face was gloomy, and he looked at the Han army camp below the city with cold eyes, feeling extremely angry in his heart.He was almost certain that Zhou Shen had escaped with his troops from Tuoling over Kuishan, otherwise, Kuiyuan Gorge would have been in flames long ago.

After planning hard for more than a month and running more than 1000 miles, it fell short.

Han Sui was disappointed, depressed, painful, and angry.

"Mr. Wenyue..." the candidate called out in a low voice, "Mr. Wenyue, I heard that the road is [-] to [-] miles long, and it is very difficult to walk. It is estimated that it will take at least two days for the officers and soldiers to reach Muyuan."

Han Sui turned to look at him, waiting for him to continue.The candidate is Xiao Qushuai from the Qiang tribe, who studied under Han Sui when he was young and was one of Han Sui's first disciples of the Qiang people.He is not tall but very fit, agile and quick-witted. Han Sui liked him very much.

"Mr. Wenyue, we can rush to the pastoral garden first, occupy a favorable terrain, wait for work at leisure, and hit the officers and soldiers hard. The officers and soldiers must be exhausted after walking on the mountain road for two days, and their combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced. We can completely annihilate them." The candidate waved. Clenching his fists, he said confidently.

"Are you familiar with the path from Kuishan to Muyuan?" Han Sui asked.

Cheng Yin and the others shook their heads at the same time.

"Only bandits are familiar with that road. Yang Qiu, Cheng Yi and the others used to run often. The few of us just heard about it and never walked it ourselves, so..."

Han Sui pointed to Zhang Heng and asked, "Where's the stick? Why aren't you familiar with it?"

Stick is Zhang Heng's nickname.Zhang Heng is dark-skinned, tall and thin, like a stick.He has a long face, but his facial features are all small, squeezed around his nose, which makes him look ugly.He used to be a horse bandit, who ran wild in Longxi area.Zhang Heng hurriedly replied: "General, I am active in the area of ​​Baishi Mountain in Longxi, and I usually don't come here. This area is all Yang Qiu's territory."

"General, you mean let us catch up?" Cheng Yin asked cautiously.

Han Sui shook his head and said rather annoyedly: "I just want to know why I neglected that road? You are not familiar with it, and I am not familiar with it. It is likely that this is the reason for my negligence. I take it for granted that the enemy is not familiar with it either. A small negligence has caused more than a month of painstaking efforts to go to waste, alas..."

"General, what should we do now?" Li Kan asked.

"Lead people out of the city, and transport all the luggage discarded by the enemy back to Jincheng." Han Sui thought for a while, and immediately said, "As soon as the scouts have news, let me know."

Bianzhang's room was filled with a strong smell of herbs.

Han Sui lowered his head and paced back and forth in the room.

Bian Zhang sighed softly and said: "This is indeed an oversight, we are too careless."

Han Sui walked slowly to Bian Zhang and stopped, and said firmly, "Old Bian, I plan to take the troops to Muyuan."

Bian Zhang groaned a few times, closed his eyes in pain, and said slowly: "If we want to discuss the terms of surrender with Zhang Wen, we must destroy Zhou Shen's 5000 troops, so that the court is helpless." Then He opened his eyes, looked at Han Sui, and continued, "The terrain of Muyuan is not conducive to ambushes. If we fight them face to face, the loss will be too great. I think we should move the battlefield forward and ambush them as much as possible." , strive for complete annihilation."

Han Sui's expression changed, and he suddenly smiled.

===

It took Zhou Shen's army two full days to finally arrive at Muyuan.Surprisingly, there was no one in the ten miles or so around Muyuan, let alone any rebels.

After Zhou Shen received the report from the scouts, he was very puzzled.Did the rebels give up their pursuit?He didn't feel like the rebels had no reason to give up chasing and killing him.Then why did the rebels give up the chance to stop and kill themselves in Muyuan?I led the army to walk the mountain road for two days in a row, and I was exhausted. If the rebels were hit head-on, the losses would be heavy.

Sun Jian and a group of generals were also puzzled.Why did the rebels give up the great opportunity to attack in Muyuan?What exactly does Bian Zhang want to do?Give up, or is there another way?Although everyone was worried, but because they were temporarily out of danger, the fear and tension of the past few days were thrown into the sky, and everyone felt relaxed, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.Now even if the rebels chase after them, they are not afraid. The [-] troops are more than enough to stop the [-] rebels.In the absence of any worries, it might be possible to severely damage the rebels.Now, the army's food and grass can last for two days, and the journey is still three hundred miles away. If there is no accident, the army will be able to return to Pingxiang City safely in three days.

The army rested for a while in the pasture garden, then strode away and headed towards Pingxiang City at high speed.In the evening, the army rushed to Juyuan.On this day, the army hurried for nearly a hundred miles, and the soldiers were extremely exhausted.Many soldiers have fallen behind.Zhou Shen still wanted to leave, but was persuaded by Sun Jian, Xu Rong, and Qu Yi.If they go any further, the soldiers will lose their physical strength. If they are chased by the rebels, they will not even have the strength to hold weapons.

The army immediately stationed in Juyuan.Juyuan is a small mountainous area with gentle terrain and dense forests, without any dangerous terrain.

Although it was said to be camping, since all the luggage was discarded under the city of Yuzhong, the soldiers brought nothing but weapons and food, so everyone just camped in the open air and lay down with only their clothes on.Due to the continuous long-distance march, the soldiers were exhausted physically and mentally, and soon fell asleep.

===

Qu Yi's army camped on the west side of Juyuan.

It was midnight, and Qu Yi was still up, chatting with a few soldiers on duty at night.

"My lord, there seems to be some noise?" A soldier who was sitting on the ground stood up suddenly, pointed to the distant mountain and said, "There is a burst of sound, like a pack of wolves."

"Everyone is marching during the day, and we have to take shifts at night. It's too hard." Qu Yi pointed to the soldier and smiled, "You must be too nervous, and there is something wrong with your ears. You mistook the sound of the wind for the footsteps of wolves."

The soldier smiled shyly and said, "Sir, I used to be a hunter. There is a big difference between the sound of the wind blowing the leaves and the sound of animals moving. I can hear it. There must be wolves there."

Qu Yi was amused, and laughed lightly with several soldiers.

"Fork, it's late at night, don't scare people."

"If you're afraid, throw some twigs into the fire and make it bigger."

"Chazi, don't be suspicious, if you can't hold on anymore, just run back and forth here a few times."

Everyone talked at once.The soldier named Chazi ignored everyone's teasing, and listened intently to the movement in the distance.

"My lord, the voice is getting louder and louder, it seems to be a large group." Chazi looked at Qu Yi, and said solemnly, "How come there are such a large pack of wolves around here, it can't be the enemy who came to attack."

The smile on his face suddenly froze.

"Our mobile sentry has been deployed ten miles away. If it is an enemy, it would have been discovered by these mobile sentries." A soldier laughed, "You are too nervous."

Fork said unconvinced: "How many people are there at the mobile post? If the enemy intends to make a surprise attack, in order to hide their tracks, of course they will send someone to kill them first."

Qu Yi looked up at the dark mountains around him, and a chill suddenly swept over his body like lightning.Qu Yi shuddered all over, feeling the hairs on the back of his head stand on end.

"Chazi, did you hear me right?" Qu Yi asked loudly.

Fork shook his head and said in a low voice, "It's absolutely true, it's the sound of animals moving, and there are many animals. Such a large group, if it's not wolves, it's sheep, or it's..."

"It's the enemy." Qu Yi roared, "It's the enemy."

"Beating the drum... beating the drum..." Qu Yi didn't even think about it, and screamed wildly, "Being the drum..."

The sound of the war drums was monotonous and rapid at first, then more and more louder, and in a blink of an eye, the war drums in the entire camp were beating violently.

The sound of the drum was like thunder, resounding through the night in an instant, shaking the entire mountain forest.

The soldiers suddenly woke up, jumping up from the ground one by one nervously, dazed, shouting and picking up their weapons.The big camp suddenly boiled like a frying pan.All burning fires in the camp were extinguished.

Qu Yi looked at the mountains and forests in the distance, smiled and said to Chazi and the soldiers around him, "I am so powerful that I even pulled the army to Juyuan to ambush."

A soldier timidly glanced at the noisy camp and asked in a low voice, "My lord, what should we do if we made a mistake? Maybe the fork didn't hear right, maybe it's a pack of wolves."

Qu Yi smiled proudly, and said loudly: "What should we do? Everyone just go on sleeping. Does anyone else dare to settle accounts with me?"

Chazi said unhappily: "Why don't you believe me? I am a famous hunter in Xihai, my..."

Before he could finish his words, the thunderous sound of war drums suddenly erupted in the east of Ju Yuan, followed by a loud bang, and the shouts of killing suddenly erupted.

"Okay, there's a fight in the east." Qu Yi shouted loudly, "Beating the drum..."

"Array... dense array..."

"Arrow up... archer up arrow..."

At the camp of the Chinese army, Zhou Shen was putting on his armor with the help of his attendants.He looked calm, unhurried, and gave orders in an orderly manner.

"Order Xu Rong to organize the troops immediately, tear apart the enemy's formation, and open the way for the troops to break through."

"Order Hua Xiong and Qu Yi on the left and right flanks to quickly move closer to the central army, so as not to be divided and surrounded by the enemy."

"Order Sun Jian of the rear army to stand firm and not take a step back."

Lao Bian chose this place for the ambush, which was beyond everyone's expectations.Zhou Shen admired Lao Bian very much, thinking about it carefully, ambushing himself in this place is indeed much more ideal than Mu Yuan.First of all, the troops marched in a hurry for three days in a row. The soldiers were exhausted, their physical strength was exhausted to the limit, and the difference in combat effectiveness was obvious.Secondly, it is paralysis of thought.Everyone thought that the enemy would appear near the pasture garden, and everyone was fully alert, always on guard against the enemy's attack, but it turned out to be a false alarm, and the rebels did not appear.Afterwards, although everyone was uneasy, everyone was lucky, thinking that the enemy might have given up the pursuit, and their tense nerves unknowingly relaxed.Once you relax, it will be difficult to maintain such a high level of vigilance.The timing of the sneak attack that Lao Bian chose was indeed very good.

===

(End of this chapter)