"Ambassador! Go to Mount Mangdang! Go to Mount Mangdang!" roaring hysterically, the scouts galloped to Zhang Xutuo's handsome flag before dismounting, and then rushed to Zhang Xutuo almost rolling and crawling. He yelled before he was able to salute: "Ambassador Zhang! Mangdang Mountain found the traces of Meng Rang's rebel army, and the rebel army was in chaos and stagnant. It seems that the former army has been attacked!"
Zhang Xutuo's bloodshot eyes suddenly shot out light, and Qin Qiong, He Tingyu and others next to him were also very pleasantly surprised, and couldn't wait to ask: "Are you sure it's Meng Rang's team? What kind of attack did they suffer? Is it our team?" Zhi Youjun made a move?!"
"I'm sure it's Meng Rang's team!" The scout replied panting, "The mountain road is too narrow to find out the specific situation of the battle. I only saw the chaos in the rear of his team and heard them shouting to kill and charge. Break through the interception!"
"Breakthrough interception? The team that came to intercept them?" Qin Qiong, He Yanyu and other generals were even more pleasantly surprised, and quickly turned to Zhang Xutuo, rushing to say: "Commander, this is a good opportunity, we can't miss it, we should enter the army, we should immediately Enter the army!"
Zhang Xutuo was not in a hurry to order troops, first he closed his eyes and made some calculations, then opened them angrily, and shouted: "Here's an order, Tang Wanche will lead a thousand troops to guard the food and supplies, and the rest of the army will go to Mangdang Mountain to fight with all their strength." Break the enemy!"
"No!" Amidst the neat promise, the Sui Army of Qi County, which had been preparing to rest on the spot, resumed its big pursuit. They lined up in four columns, followed them, and galloped towards the battlefield of Mangdang Mountain. . Only Tang Wanche, who was named by Zhang Xutuo, led the army to stay, guarding the food, grass and supplies with a full face of displeasure.
Joy and excitement hung on the faces of every Sui army soldier, making them forget the hard work and exhaustion of chasing thousands of miles, and filling them with excitement and fighting spirit. Luo Shixin, who was at the front, even joked with Mulan, saying It was a competition who killed the most enemies on the battlefield, and the loser had to be rewarded with the military achievements of the battle. Although Qin Qiong and He Yanyu had nothing to do with their bet, they couldn't wait to check their weapons and equipment, and kept silent He stared at the front loudly, wishing he could grow wings, immediately fly to Mangdang Mountain to kill the enemy, and cut off the head of his old opponent Meng Rang!
Zhang Xutuo didn't have much excitement on his face either. Judging from the geographical location, Zhang Xutuo had already guessed that it was the Qiaojun army that was intercepting Mengrang's bandit army in Mangdang Mountain, but Zhang Xutuo had already learned from Mulan's introduction and In Chen Yingliang's letter, he knew the situation of the Qiaojun army, and knew that Chen Yingliang currently only has twelve regiments in combat force, which is far inferior to Mengrang's army. And his old opponent, Meng Rang, after more than a year of actual combat training, burning, killing, looting and capturing on the battlefield like locusts crossing the border, has armed an elite team with equipment that is by no means inferior to the regular army. The combat effectiveness must not be underestimated. It is extremely difficult for the short Qiao County team to stop them for a long time!
"Chen Yingliang, I heard that you are not only a fierce general, but also a wise general." Zhang Xutuo said in his heart: "I hope you will use your brain to fight, so that you can take advantage of the narrow and long mountain roads. I don't want you to be able to defeat the enemy, as long as you can Persevere until our army reaches the battlefield, and I will give you the first credit!"
After throwing down the supplies and galloping at full speed, in just over half an hour, the rolling peaks of the Mangdang Mountains appeared in front of the Sui Army of Qi County. What made the Sui Army soldiers of Qi County ecstatic was that, Not only did they immediately see the flag of their old rival Meng Rang's bandit army, they also saw that the enemy's rear was in complete chaos and seemed to have lost command and control. Overjoyed, all the generals and soldiers of the Sui army cheered and charged more violently and swiftly , Luo Shixin and Mulan quarreled on the spot in order to let whose team enter the narrow mountain path first.
"Command! Luo Shixin is the vanguard, take the lead to enter the mountain road!" Zhang Xutuo, who knew that the mountain road is difficult to walk, ordered decisively, "Qin Qiong is next! He Yanyu and Hua Mulan follow behind, and the rest of the team gather in the open area for orders! And again, Bring some prisoners, I want to interrogate the confession!"
When the order was conveyed, Mulan roared in disappointment. Luo Shixin, who was only fifteen years old, laughed wildly, and led his team to rush into the mountain road first. Qin Qiong led the headquarters to follow calmly, followed by He Yanyu, Zhang Xu, who were full of reluctance and stern expressions. Tuo asked the Chinese army to stay in the open area outside the mountain road. While letting the soldiers rest for a while, while waiting for the news of the enemy, he silently prayed in his heart that his old opponent Meng Rang would not have time to break through Chen Yingliang's interception.
Noisy shouts and cries came quickly, and became louder and more chaotic. Judging from the distance of the voices, Zhang Xutuo found that Luo Shixin's team was advancing very fast, and they were not intercepted by any decent. He rushed into the densely packed place of Meng Rang's team like a bamboo shoot, and as a result, Zhang Xutuo was very surprised, and said to himself: "Isn't it right? Why is Meng Rang's team so chaotic that there is not even one leading the army at the rear?"
Zhang Xutuo's question was quickly answered. The prisoners Qin Qiong sent to escort them were all sallow and emaciated in ragged clothes. As soon as they met, they knelt on the ground and kowtowed, crying and begging for their lives. Knowing that it was Meng Rang who had come to serve as cannon fodder to replace the dead ghost's miscellaneous soldiers, Zhang Xutuo's face also changed a little when he realized the reason why Luo Shixin advanced so quickly. Using their huge numbers to block the narrow mountain roads and slow down the pursuit speed of the army, his elite team is fully attacking the defense line of the Qiaojun army. The army still has no absolute certainty to wipe out Meng Rang's backbone team! There is still a great possibility that the old enemy Meng Rang will slip away from his nose again!
Worried, Zhang Xutuo hurriedly asked the prisoners for their confessions, but Zhang Xutuo was dumbfounded by the confessions given by the prisoners—these prisoners confessed that they had never seen Qiao The half shadow of the county officer and army didn't even know what happened in front of them at all. They just heard the sound of gongs, drums and horns in the forest, and then heard that the mountain road was broken. Leader Cao organized people to clear the mountain road. Then Zhang Xutuo's team rushed to the front and arrested them here for interrogation.
"The mountain road is broken?" Zhang Xutuo asked in shock, "Where did it break?"
Several prisoners shook their heads and couldn't explain clearly. Only one prisoner timidly said that it seemed that the position of the baggage team was broken. Zhang Xutuo was even more shocked when he heard it, and hurriedly asked: "Then how did your family march? Where are Meng Rang and your cavalry walking?"
"Master Huiguan, King Meng and the others are at the front." Several captives rushed to reply: "King Meng led the cavalry and armored soldiers to the front, the baggage train walked in the middle, and we recruits walked in the middle! "
"Ah! Damn!"
Zhang Xutuo suddenly roared, and threw the horsewhip in his hand heavily on the ground, frightening the captives to howl and kowtow again, begging for their lives. Fan Hu and Zhang Zhizhi next to him will ask the reason in surprise, Zhang Xutuo Furious, he roared, "Chen Yingliang, boy! Do you want to intercept Meng Rang, or do you want to give Meng Rang a chance to escape? Meng Rang's elite ranks first, and he even cut off the connection between Meng Rang's front army and the middle and rear army. What exactly is he trying to do? Let these miscellaneous soldiers, baggage trucks, and rolling stones block our pursuit, and let Meng Rang's elite take the opportunity to escape?! These miscellaneous soldiers, what's the use of killing more?"
"Commander, Chen Yingliang may want to cut off the contact between Meng Rang's front army and the middle rear army, so that he can take the opportunity to deal with Meng Rang's elite soldiers with all his strength, so that he can reduce the pressure." Zhang Zhizhi quickly analyzed.
"He's dreaming!" Zhang Xutuo roared with a livid face, "Even the mob under his command wants to stop Meng Rang's main elite? Whether Meng Rang sends Wang Xin'e or Li Chou, a single charge will kill him." Can break through his interception! It's not like you haven't seen Meng Rang's elite group, they can barely withstand the frontal attack of our Bafeng Battalion, let alone the more than 2,000 recruits under Chen Yingliang's hands?"
No matter how angry you are, it's useless. In order to fight for the last chance, Zhang Xutuo immediately sent someone to order Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong to charge forward with all their strength. Don't worry about how many enemies you killed, and don't care about those who escaped by taking small paths. The stragglers, no matter the cost, go forward with all their strength, as long as they can bite Meng Rang's elite team! At the same time, in order to let Luo Shixin, Qin Qiong and other generals understand the importance of time, Zhang Xutuo must let the messenger tell Qin Qiong and others the important situation that Meng Rang's elite soldiers are in the front team.
After finally catching up with the old enemy Meng Rang, the pursuit was blocked by the friendly team taking the wrong medicine. When they heard the news, Qin Qiong and He Yanyu, who had better tempers, inevitably roared with anger, let alone their personalities. Luo Shixin and Hua Mulan were in a hurry, especially Luo Shixin who rushed to the front. His first soldier was completely slaughtering innocent people. Although many enemies died under his spear, almost all of them were resisting forces. Killing miscellaneous soldiers, women and children is not only useless but also unconscionable, but it is impossible not to kill them. Luo Shixin can only desperately stab these miscellaneous soldiers, women and children with spears, stepping on their corpses to pursue, rushing towards the denser miscellaneous soldiers ahead. Soldiers continue to kill innocent people and walk hard on their corpses and blood.
It wasn't until he got close to the road blocked by chaotic trees and rolling stones that Luo Shixin ran into some bandits who could barely fight. As a result, after killing the bandits escorting food and supplies, the remaining bandits were full. Luo Shixin, who was covered in blood, had to organize soldiers to clear the road, but not only was it blocked by rolling stones and fallen trees pushed down by the Qiaojun army, but also blocked by the Meng Rang army's supply and grain trucks. Evacuation possible? Luo Shixin was so angry that he screamed, but he was helpless.
Qin Qiong, Mulan and others also led troops to this place to help clear the road for Luo Shixin, but the mountain road was too narrow for the army to deploy, and the clearing work was still slow. Finally, Zhang Xutuo also led a team to the scene and saw Zhang Xutuo had no choice but to ask Luo Shixin, "Do you hear the sound of killing in front of you?"
"The sound of killing in front?" Luo Shixin was startled, and then listened attentively, and then exclaimed, "No! There is no sound of killing!"
"Oops! Meng Rang might have slipped away!" Zhang Xutuo wailed loudly, and then roared: "Don't move, pile up the things, pile them up, and cross over here on a ramp! You don't need these supplies, food and grass, hunt them down." Meng Rang is urgent!"
After receiving Zhang Xutuo's order, Luo Shixin and the others realized that they were on the edge of their horns. In their anxiety, they forgot that since it is difficult to clean up the debris in a short time, it is better to step on the debris directly! After slapping their foreheads and feeling annoyed, the soldiers of Qi County hurriedly piled up the ramp, threw all the military tents and food bags on the sundries, and piled up the obstacle ramp. Take advantage of it.
After wasting quite a bit of time, the officers and men of Qi County finally paved a ramp to cross the roadblock. The impatient Luo Shixin was the first to cross the roadblock. Zhang Xutuo followed to the top and looked down the mountain road. In the end, I didn't even see a single person, only countless ox carts and donkey carts full of luggage left on the mountain road, and many of the cattle and donkeys on the carts didn't even have time to untie them and take them away. In a great hurry. Seeing this scene, Zhang Xutuo inevitably had a glimmer of hope again, saying: "The enemy didn't even have time to take the donkey away. They must have retreated in a hurry when they saw us approaching. Maybe Meng Rang hasn't gone far! Chase quickly!"
I hope that the surviving chase will start again, this time Zhang Xutuo simply walks in the front - the horse can't get over the roadblock, Hua Mulan and Qin Qiong hurried to protect him, Luo Shixin can't wait to grab Zhang In front of Xu Tuo, Qi Jun soldiers followed closely on foot. However, Zhang Xutuo and the others hadn't walked three miles forward, but they suddenly heard noisy singing coming from ahead, and when they listened carefully, they were even more surprised to hear that these singing turned out to be incomparably obscene and promiscuous lyrics —For example, eighteen touches and the like.
Stepping forward again, after turning around a small hill, Zhang Xutuo and others were stunned to see that under the setting sun, on an open field in the mountains, countless soldiers of the Sui army who had been killed and covered in blood were resting on the spot Next to the open space are piles of human heads and ordnance, and countless precious war horses that are more expensive than gold. In addition, there are many soldiers who are salvaging something in a pond, and a general of the Sui army in Mingguang armor is roaring beside the pond , "Are you fucking blind? You are stepping on that rock, quickly scoop it up! We will use such an expensive thing in the future, so don't waste any of it!"
The generals and soldiers of the Sui army in this area saw the arrival of the friendly troops, but what kind of people brought what kind of soldiers. When these soldiers saw Zhang Xutuo and others appear, not only did they not stand up to greet the guards, but they all laughed loudly. , laughed very happily, and someone whistled frivolously. At the same time, Mulan finally recognized the general of the Sui Army by the pond, and exclaimed, "Ma Sanbao, why is it you?"
"General Hua, why are you here now?" In fact, Ma Sanbao had already noticed the arrival of Hua Mulan and others, but he deliberately pretended to be surprised, and said with a playful smile while coming over to salute: "General Hua, I'm sorry , you are late, we have already done the big business, you can only do small business."
"I'm Zhang Xutuo, who are you?" Zhang Xutuo asked with a straight face.
"You are Zhang Xutuo?" Ma Sanbao, who was about to say a few jokes, was taken aback, quickly changed his serious face, and said to Zhang Xutuo: "Ma Sanbao, Lieutenant of Qiaojun Township Military Academy, see Ambassador Zhang."
"Sure enough, it's your Qiaojun team." Zhang Xutuo nodded, and asked again: "Where's Meng Rang's main team? So where?"
"Ambassador Zhang, some of them were killed by us, and some of them took off their armor and ran into the woods." Ma Sanbao replied truthfully.
"It's over!" Zhang Xutuo patted his forehead, knowing that with the temper of his old opponent Meng Rang, he must have escaped into the deep mountains and old forests, and he would surely make a comeback in a short time.
"A part of it ran away? Then why didn't you chase after him?" Mulan asked angrily.
"General Hua, it's going to be dark soon, how do you chase after him?" Ma Sanbao pointed to the sun that was already slowly setting, and said, "Besides, brothers have fought so hard, you should take a break."
Mulan raised her eyebrows and was about to send out a squall, when suddenly a neat and clear military song rang out from the mountain road to the southeast, and it was the well-known military song "Serving the Country with Allegiance". Hearing this sound, The soldiers of the Sui Army in Qiaojun, who were still slack at first, immediately jumped up to form a line like chicken blood, and they lined up in a neat line at almost the same speed as Xiangfei. It turned out that at this time, Zhang Xu Tuo and the others were surprised to find that Ma Sanbao's team here had only five regiments with more than a thousand people.
Amidst the resonant military song, a group of Mo Dao soldiers appeared first in front of Zhang Xutuo and the others. All of these Mo Dao soldiers looked like they had just been fished out of a puddle of blood. The knife had also been cut with a gap in the curly blade, covered with hair and blood, and the number of people was also not many. Judging from the flags, there were only two regiments. Then I don’t know who gave an order, the military song stopped, and the Mo Dao soldiers separated left and right to make way for a narrow road. A handsome young man in white robe and silver armor came out more and more. The silver armor was like a mirror, and the white robe was like snow. Not stained with any dust, pretending to be coquettish to the extreme!
Biting his chapped lips, the dusty Zhang Xutuo strode forward and asked, "Your Excellency is Chen Yingliang, the governor of Qiao County?"
"It's the next official." Chen Yingliang bowed his hands and asked tentatively: "The old general is very brave. Could it be the old general Zhang Xutuo, the famous general of the Sui Dynasty and the arresting ambassador of the twelve counties of Henan Province?"
"I am Zhang Xutuo, but I don't dare to be a famous general. I am an old soldier." Zhang Xutuo nodded slightly, and then asked seriously: "Dare to ask Chen Tongshou, since you are here to intercept Meng Rang's traitor, why did you set up roadblocks?" , to intercept our army's pursuit?"
"Ambassador Zhang, there are three reasons." Chen Yingliang replied truthfully: "First, I want to cut off the connection between the front army of Meng Rang's bandit army and the army in the middle and rear, so as to prevent his army in the middle and rear from making trouble; Let the retreat route be easy to severely damage and annihilate his main force; the third is for training, take the opportunity to temper our new army, and practice hammer and anvil tactics in actual combat by the way. In addition, cutting off the connection of Meng Rang's team also has the effect of hitting the enemy's morale and confusion The effect of the enemy's military spirit."
"Namengrang's elite soldiers training?" Zhang Xutuo was a little tongue-tied, and said again: "What is the hammer-and-anvil tactic, why have I never heard of it?"
"That's right, Meng Rang's bandit army is quite elite, and their equipment is also good, which is suitable for our army to practice in actual combat." Chen Yingliang replied truthfully, and then said: "As for the hammer and anvil tactic, it is a Western Region tactic that has never appeared in China. If Ambassador Zhang is interested, I can give you a detailed introduction."
"Did you make a mistake?" Mulan became furious, and roared, "Namon asked the rebel army to train soldiers? Are you making fun of the court's affairs?"
"General Mulan has said it before." Chen Yingliang said with a smile: "If the new army is not allowed to go through actual combat training, how can it be considered a trifling army capable of conquering a hundred battles? What a big mistake."
"Have you missed anything?!" Mulan was even more furious, and shouted, "Where is Meng Rang? Where are the thieves Wang Xin'e and Li Chou who have committed many crimes? If you don't get rid of these thieves, you will be killed." What's the use of having more bandit soldiers?"
"It turns out that General Mulan meant Meng Rang and these thieves?" Chen Yingliang smiled more easily, and turned around and shouted, "Bring them up!"
"promise!"
Amidst the neat singing of promises, four blood-stained Qiaojun soldiers strode forward carrying two captives one by one, and another soldier carried a head forward, followed by Mulan, Luo Shixin and others. The general of Qi County screamed, "Meng Rang! Wang Xin'e! How is it possible? Did you capture Meng Rang and Wang Xin'e? Or did you capture them alive? And Li Chou's head? You also killed Li Chou Already?!"
Exclaiming, Hua Mulan almost stared her eyes out of her sockets, only Zhang Xutuo did not scream, looking at the dejected old enemy Meng Rang who was pushed in front of her, Zhang Xutuo showed a relieved and relaxed smile, and said with a smile : "Old friend, we finally meet again."
Looking up at Zhang Xutuo with difficulty, Meng Rang suddenly struggled and roared like crazy, "Shameless! Despicable! Despicable villains! You tyrant lackeys are more shameless than the other, and pretend to be Du Fuwei's emissary to deceive Me, digging traps and cloth traps is not counted! Give me arsenic! Chin bean! Give poison to my war horse! You shameless villains, shameless! Shameless!"
"Arsenic? Chin bean?"
The Qi County team was in an uproar again, only Zhang Xutuo did not scream in surprise, but just bowed to Chen Yingliang, solemnly said: "Chen Tongshou, you fought beautifully, you have worked hard."
Chen Yingliang returned the salute with cupped fists, and said calmly: "Thank you for your compliment, old general, for serving the imperial court and being loyal to the Lord, I dare not say hard work."