Tibet

Du Qing seemed to have missed the mark and fell off a cliff. The lack of people in the village was not an accident, but was evacuated in an orderly manner.

It is very possible that they fell into a trap and were trapped on the Three Gorges Road. The key is that they only have three days of dry food left. How long can they last?

He didn't know what to say to Li Zhen, but he had to say it, so Du Qing had no choice but to bite the bullet and run forward.

Li Zhen was checking the place where the plank road was missing. The entire mile-long plank road had been demolished. Below was a cliff of ten thousand feet, and the rapid Yangtze River roared below the cliff.

He turned back and asked an experienced captain: "How long does it take to lay a mile-long plank road?"

"It's not difficult to lay a plank road. One mile can be laid in a day. Your Highness, the key is that we don't have the materials."

"What materials are needed?"

"You need wooden stakes, a foot-long wooden stake, drive it into the hole in the rock, and then lay it with wooden boards, so you need wooden boards, but we don't have any."

Detective Li asked anxiously: "Where are the trees around here?"

A general said: "Either it is the village we passed by last night. I remember there are a lot of bamboos there, and the planks can be obtained by demolishing the houses."

That village was at least forty or fifty miles away from them. It would take a day to get there and back, and it would take another day to build the plank road. There would be no dry food. What if there was no one in Xialao Town ahead?

Everyone is very confused. It is too far to go back to the village and it is unrealistic. What should we do?

At this time, a general had an idea and said quickly: "Is it possible to tie up the spears, stuff them into the cave, and use the shields to make wooden boards?"

Everyone cheered in unison, and Du Qing came over and said loudly: "No!"

Li Zhen's face sank, and he was really unhappy and said: "This is the best way we can think of, why did Sima say no?"

Du Qing sighed and said: "Your Highness, do you think the plank road will disappear for no reason? There must be an ambush waiting for us on the other side."

"What if the villagers spontaneously demolished the plank road?" Li Zhen retorted.

"Your Highness, this is unlikely. There are no people and no food in the villages along the way. If it is a spontaneous retreat, there will definitely be some old people who are unwilling to leave. But there is no one in more than a dozen villages and not a grain of food. Your Highness, its not right!"

The generals looked at each other, and they all felt that it made sense. It couldn't be such a coincidence. The village was evacuated and the plank road was also demolished.

The captain who laid the plank road also said: "Your Highness, Du Sima is right. Ordinary people are not allowed to demolish the plank road. Even the government cannot demolish it, it can only repair it. Only the army has the right to demolish the plank road."

Li Zhen's face softened slightly and asked: "Then what does Du Sima think we should do?"

"Go back immediately and join the backup army. We must get food supplies immediately, otherwise the soldiers will starve to death on the road."

Although Li Zhan was very reluctant, he had no choice. They only had three days of dry food left, and they had to get food replenishment as soon as possible. They had no choice but to return to Zigui first, and then come back to build the plank road after getting enough food.

He immediately ordered: "The army turns around and returns to Zigui!"

The 30,000-strong army turned around and marched back quickly. Unknown to them, something had happened in Zigui County.

Twenty thousand reinforcements, led by general Zhou Kun, were driving toward Zigui County in large quantities with grain and grass carts.

The Three Gorges Road is relatively complex. There are narrow roads on the cliffs and even artificial plank roads. But there are also wide areas between the mountains. These wide areas can grow food, raise poultry, pigs and sheep, and have formed many villages and small towns. , and even the county town, there is also a Yangtze River wharf, which can be traveled by land or water.

Zigui County is located in an open area between two mountains, but on both sides of the open area, there are dangerous mountain roads that are dozens of miles long.

The reinforcements were about twenty miles away from Zigui County. The road ahead was also blocked by hundreds of giant trees. Moreover, hundreds of giant trees were locked by three iron chains. It was impossible to throw them one by one into the Yangtze River. .

Being locked by iron chains means that hundreds of them must be pushed down the Yangtze River together, which is impossible. Therefore, three iron chains must be untied before the giant trees can be thrown down the Yangtze River one by one.

Zhou Kun didn't see the iron chain on the giant tree, so he immediately ordered: "Go up, hundreds of people, and throw all the wood off the cliff!"

Hundreds of soldiers immediately rushed up. The ground was full of branches. The soldiers didn't pay attention and ran on the branches. As soon as they got close to the giant tree, several rockets suddenly shot from the opposite side, 'Boom! ’ With a sound, fire ignited under the soldiers’ feet.

The soldiers were so frightened that they crawled back and ran away. Countless soldiers were covered in fire, panicked and fell off the cliff screaming. Some soldiers were squeezed off the cliff. More soldiers ran and fell to the ground. He couldn't get up either.

Of the more than 360 soldiers, less than 30 escaped in the end. They were all soldiers at the back, and their bodies were completely burned.

Zhou Kun and the soldiers were frightened and retreated. At this time, the giant wood began to burn.

Suddenly a soldier pointed forward and shouted: "General, there is a huge pile of wood ahead!"

Only then did Zhou Kun discover that there was a pile of identical giant trees a mile east of the burning giant tree, and there seemed to be another pile further forward. His heart suddenly went cold. How could he live with this?

At this time, Zhou Kun also realized that the Tang army had cut off their connection with the front army. To be precise, it had cut off the supply line of the 30,000 front army. He didn't know if the Third Highness and the others could capture Yiling County and the army could find food supplies on their own. ?

With no choice but to do so, Zhou Kun had no choice but to order: "Retreat back to Badong County!"

The 20,000-strong army turned around and withdrew to Badong County to the west of Guizhou. The mountain road was inaccessible, so they had no choice but to retreat to the county seat and wait for news. They could not stay on the mountain road and wait forever.

After two days of arduous march, Li Zhen led 30,000 troops to retreat to Guizhou. At this time, it was still thirty miles away from Zigui County, and Xingshan County was ten miles ahead.

Thirty thousand troops encountered the same problem. A section of the plank road, which was about a mile long, was also demolished. It was fine when they went there, but when they came back it was gone.

The generals looked at each other, and everyone realized that there was a problem with Zigui County's surrender. There must be Jingxiang and Tang troops ambushing near Zigui County, otherwise who could dismantle the plank road?

Anger burned in Li Zhen's eyes. He suddenly turned around and glared at Du Qing fiercely: "Du Sima, how do you explain this?"

Du Wang was so frightened that he almost urinated. He opened his mouth for a long time but couldn't say a word. But in his heart, it was like a mirror. They had been tricked by Yang Zilin. They were brothers fighting for the throne and everyone was their master. It was all made up. It was most likely that Li Ye's army came and took over Jingxiang, and Yang Zilin betrayed them.

However, the army cut down tens of thousands of bamboos on the road and demolished private houses to obtain a large number of wooden boards. There was no shortage of materials. Li Zhen immediately ordered: "Lay the plank road immediately!"

The soldiers began to get busy, driving thick bamboos into the holes in the rocks, and then laid wooden boards. Without nails, they tied them with ropes and fixed them with ropes. Long boardwalks take time.

The soldiers had only one and a half days of dry food left, so they had to work hard to survive for a few more days. The soldiers sat leaning against the stone wall. Each soldier was filled with worry. What would they do if there was no dry food? There are only a dozen war horses in total, which is not enough to satisfy the hunger of thirty thousand people.

If it doesn't work, we can only dig up the grass roots and peel off the bark. But what if we have eaten both the grass roots and the bark?

When the sky darkened, there were still a few feet left on the plank road. At this moment, hundreds of soldiers suddenly appeared on the opposite side. They raised their crossbows and fired at the soldiers who were laying the plank road. The soldiers were caught off guard and were hit by arrows one after another. , screams were loud, dozens of people rolled and fell off the cliff, and more than a hundred other soldiers were so frightened that they rolled and crawled back and fled.

The soldiers on the opposite side immediately took action and laid out several wooden planks several feet long. Dozens of soldiers came over with cans of kerosene. They poured kerosene on the plank road and quickly retreated.

A quarter of an hour later, hundreds of soldiers holding shields and crossbows cautiously approached the cliff.

At this time, several rockets hit the plank road, and a fire immediately broke out on the plank road, and hundreds of Li Linjun soldiers were immediately engulfed in the flames.