Anping was a rough man, and although he couldn't figure out who had done what, his battlefield instinct told him that if he delayed here, he would be in danger. However, although the waist-deep river water could barely allow people and horses to pass through, wooden carts loaded with countless weapons and food could not pass through. Even if they could barely pass through, the things they were transporting would be soaked and scrapped.
Anping had no choice but to order a large group of troops to guard the vehicles and supplies, and sent out two groups of reliable soldiers to explore upstream and downstream along the river to see if there was a place where they could cross the river.
The two groups of soldiers came back after two hours. The soldiers who went downstream found nothing, while the soldiers who went upstream said: There was a shallow beach one hour away from here. The water was just deep enough to cover the ankles and the current was not fast, which was just right for the team to cross the river. However, after crossing the river, there was only a mountain path to go on.
After hearing this, Anping hesitated.
The army is afraid of taking unfamiliar roads and narrow paths when transporting food and military supplies. According to intelligence, this path on the other side of the river occupies both roads, which is dangerous and must not be taken unless there is no other way. In the current situation, instead of rushing to take the small road to meet the main army, it seems better to rest and guard the place, and then send a reliable person to contact the Shanyin County camp and ask them to send a large group of troops to meet him.
Anping had just made up his mind when a man came running down from some hill with a tattered piece of paper in his hands and handed it to Anping with both hands.
Anping was a military man and could not recognize a few words. Fortunately, the note was not complicated, with only a few words: Go to the shallows upstream, take the small road back to the main road, and quickly deliver military supplies and food to Shanyin County.
The signature is just two simple words: Zheng Yu.
Anping read the shortest warrant over and over again, as if he wanted to see through the paper on which the warrant was written. He suddenly stretched out his hand as big as a bowl, grabbed the soldier who delivered the letter, and shouted: "Tell me the truth, are you a lackey of the court, sent to lure me into a trap?"
An Ping's move was so fast and fierce that the soldier who was delivering the message was caught off guard. He was immediately grabbed by the collar and almost lifted up. He hurriedly explained, "General... General... I really came here to deliver the message on the orders of the Second Prince... How... what did you get from saying this?"
Anping smiled angrily, his eyes wide open as he said, "Don't lie to me. You want me to drive such a large group of people into a small path deep in the mountains. Do you want to annihilate us all?"
The soldier had an innocent expression on his face: "General, I'm just a messenger. I can't even recognize all the words on this piece of paper. How would I know the principles you are talking about? If the general has any questions, the second prince is on the mountain. It is better to go up the mountain and ask in person..." As he said that, the soldier struggled to raise his right hand and pointed to a mountain behind him.
Anping looked towards the top of the mountain in the direction of his finger, and sure enough, he saw a group of people moving on the mountain among the woods. The leader was a fat man, and his face was indeed the second prince Zheng Yu.
Upon seeing this, cold sweat immediately broke out on Anping's forehead. He hurriedly put the messenger, whose feet had been lifted off the ground by him, back to the ground carefully, and then respectfully saluted in the direction of Zheng Yu on the mountain.
Since it was indeed Zheng Yu's order, Anping had no reason to resist. He had to call his soldiers and move upstream of the stream.
Anping's previous point of view was not wrong. That path was indeed an excellent place for the enemy to ambush.
And Zheng Yu had his reasons for issuing that order just now - the Lingnan army was now running out of food and grass, and Anping had safely transported the food and military supplies to a place only a day's journey away from the camp; under such circumstances, it would be satisfying to lure Qiu Yizi out and then capture or kill him, but obtaining food supplies from Anping's large convoy was also an excellent option.
Therefore, Zheng Yu suddenly changed his mind and asked Anping, who was at the foot of the mountain, to escort the food and military supplies from the front path and rush to the camp outside Shanyin City to complete the handover of the military supplies first.
Anping came from the Jinling camp, and he didn't know how badly the soldiers besieging Shanyin County were short of food. He just felt that Zheng Yu's order was too risky. However, he didn't have as much experience as Sun Hao, and compared to that veteran, he didn't have the courage and determination to disobey Zheng Yu's order.
So Anping urged his soldiers and food team to set off upstream of the stream.
This small river was originally a stream. After a night of rapid flooding, a lot of silt, gravel and rotten branches had accumulated on both sides. This team of people, escorting dozens of large carts, had to move on the mountain without paths. It was extremely difficult - from time to time the wheels got stuck and could not be extricated, and they could only move forward by being pulled by horses and pushed by people.
In this way, the journey that was supposed to take only an hour took Anping half a day to drive the convoy to the intersection of the path.
Zheng Yu, who gave the order, did not dare to be a hands-off boss. He went back to the camp first, but he was unwilling to move with them. Instead, he moved on the mountains on both sides. There were no small paths on the mountain for them to travel. It was very difficult for Zheng Yu's more than a thousand elite soldiers to pass through the dense jungle, and they had to take a detour. Even if they were traveling light, they could not surpass the convoy led by Anping at the foot of the mountain.
When Zheng Yu arrived at the "path" mentioned by the scout, he immediately regretted that he had given the order too hastily - he saw that although the path was flat, it was extremely narrow and could only accommodate two large carts passing side by side. If the enemy intended to ambush here, it would not take much effort to completely block both ends of the path.
Zheng Yu was panicked, fearing that Qiu Yizhi, who was full of conspiracy, had set an ambush here, and wanted to tell Anping, who was at the foot of the mountain, to turn back immediately, but they were one step faster and had already walked into the mountain path. There was no other way, Zheng Yu could only order his already exhausted elite soldiers to work harder, rush to the front of Anping, and then order him to stop and turn back immediately.
The Lingnan Army had always been good at mountain warfare, so these few steps of rapid mountain advancement were not a big deal in their eyes. After walking for half an hour with all their might, they could already see Anping and his men driving their vehicles and horses forward at the foot of the mountain.
Zheng Yu was about to send soldiers down the mountain to pass on the order, but he saw that he was not standing on a gentle slope, but on a cliff. Although the cliff was not steep or high, it was still an insurmountable chasm for ordinary people. Even if he sent soldiers who were good at rock climbing to pass on the order, it would probably take more than a moment to climb down the cliff.
Zheng Yu then had an idea, and quickly wrote a new order, had someone tie it to the tip of a sharp arrow, and ordered the sharpshooters in the army to shoot at Anping at the foot of the mountain.
The archer's skills were indeed superb. The sharp arrow shot from his carved bow hit the horse right in front of Anping, who was leading the way.
Anping saw that he was walking normally, and suddenly an arrow was shot from the front. He thought it was an enemy attack, so he quickly ordered his soldiers to prepare for the enemy. However, the rain of arrows he expected did not come as expected, and he saw that the arrow stuck in the mud had a circle of cloth wrapped around its head, which seemed a little strange.
So Anping did not instruct others, but mustered up his courage, stepped forward a few steps, pulled out the arrow, tore off the cloth wrapped around the arrowhead and unfolded it to see - it was another order from the Second Prince Zheng Yu, asking him to turn the team around immediately and return to the original route.
Generally speaking, a general would feel resentful when his superiors change their orders every day. This was especially true for someone as impatient as Anping.
But now that he received such an order, he was not angry at all, but rather somewhat fortunate - with this order, he could finally lead his men back to their original place and leave this path that seemed like a trap.
However, the path under Anping's feet was too narrow and cramped. The vehicles he was escorting were long and large, so it was not easy to turn around on the spot. Anping's military orders were urgent, and his soldiers did not dare to neglect them. However, haste makes waste. Several large vehicles collided with each other during the turn, forming a dead knot, completely blocking the already very narrow road.
When Anping saw this scene, he immediately became furious, but he was a rough man after all. Although he was angry, he could not think of a way to reorganize the team.
It was an experienced old soldier in his team who offered a clever plan - there was no need to move the cart. All he had to do was to pull down the oxen, horses, donkeys and mules that were pulling the cart, tie them to the back of the cart with ropes, change the rear team to the front team, evacuate this dangerous area first, and then reorganize the team in a spacious area.
Anping had no better idea. After hearing this suggestion, he immediately made a prompt decision and ordered his soldiers to act according to the old soldier's instructions.
However, Anping's movements were still slow.
Just as the Lingnan Army transport team was busy and clumsily changing direction in the valley, they suddenly heard a strange cry from the hillside on one side of the path: "Yohoo! Brothers of the Lingnan Road down the mountain, listen up! You are surrounded. Hurry up and abandon your carriages and leave this place, and you can still spare your lives!"
The strange cries and shouts were very melodious, echoing repeatedly in the mountains, and finally reached the ears of the Lingnan Army soldiers at the foot of the mountain.
These soldiers were still concentrating on moving the cart, and were somewhat confused when they heard such a sound. They stopped their work, raised their heads woodenly, and followed the sound to observe the situation on the mountain.
An Ping, the leader of the army, was only responsible for commanding the team's actions. He heard the sound coming from the mountain clearly. After all, he was a veteran warrior. He knew that at this time, he could not hesitate. He cursed and said, "What are you doing? They are just a few bandits who are cutting off the road. Let's transport the food and grass to the camp first, and then we can trouble them when we come back to our senses!"
Seeing that their commander was still calm and composed, the soldiers felt a little relieved and hurriedly lowered their heads to lead the horses and drive the carriage.
At this moment, suddenly countless wooden logs and rocks rolled down from the hillside and hit the last few carts in the team. The wreckage of the carts, together with countless broken stones and wood, finally blocked the retreat of the Lingnan Army.
An Ping cried out inwardly, "Not good!" He could no longer maintain the composure he had managed to maintain just now. He shouted sternly, "Don't panic, don't get confused, don't retreat, hurry forward, as long as you can get out of this path, there is a chance of survival!"
But the more he shouted "Don't panic, don't get confused", the more panicked and disorganized his soldiers became. Those who were a little more honest still remembered to follow orders and look after the vehicles and horses; those who were quick-witted had already abandoned the baggage and supplies and fled forward.
But they had not walked far when countless pieces of rubble and rotten wood rolled down from the mountain side of the road ahead like hail, blocking the way forward.
As a result, the army led by Anping was like a long snake with its head and tail cut off. It had to huddle in a ball on the rugged and narrow mountain road, waiting for the opponent's next move.