Chapter 861: Scout Encounter
In the early morning, the Luoshui River Valley was shrouded in a thick layer of autumn mist, and the mist flowed like milk on the river surface and forest. It was mid-September, and the river water entered the dry season. The river water was very shallow, with large areas of river bed exposed, and the river bed was covered with smooth pebbles. It was extremely quiet around it. A group of fat deer were bowing their heads and drinking water by the river.
At this moment, a sharp arrow shot out from the forest, hitting a fat deer. The injured deer whined and fell on the riverbed. The deer was frightened and rushed to the forest on the other side of the river. Two Han soldiers ran out of the forest, both holding bows and arrows. One of them saw the fat deer lying on the riverbed. He jumped up with joy and ran forward and pointed at the deer and said proudly: "How about it, you lost the bet! You dare to say that I couldn't shoot."
Another soldier disagreed, "It's just a lucky draw. I don't know your archery technique yet. Today I'm just lucky."
"If you lose, you will lose. Don't miss a meal at Xinghualou!"
"It's just a meal. Is it so confusing? It's disgusting to see your proud sample."
"Don't miss the debt!"
"Let's go! Let's talk about it when you go back, don't let the head of the village wait in a hurry."
The soldiers carried the deer and left. The soldiers who shot the deer followed behind and chatted all the way. The two of them quickly disappeared by the river.
This is a twenty-person Han army patrol. Under the order of the command of the chief general Wei Yan, he patrolled the area north of the Luoshui River Valley. The head of the village was named Zhang Xin, who is local to Guanzhong and is very familiar with the terrain of this area.
At this time, the patrol cavalry were packing their luggage in the forest and preparing to set out for patrol. Zhang Xin looked around his subordinates and frowned and asked, "Does Yang Li and He Laoliu still come back?"
"Here is here! Here!"
He Laoliu's shout came from afar, and the two of them ran forward and backward. He Laoliu was still carrying a deer on his shoulder. Zhang Xin's face sank and said in great dissatisfaction: "Did I ask you two to hunt deer?"
The two of them were so scared that they lowered their heads. After a while, He Laoliu said, "We have already patrolled. There are no horseshoe marks by the river. When we are about to come back, we just happened to meet a group of deer. Yang Li must ejaculate, so I can't stop him."
"Nonsense! You obviously said you wanted to shoot a deer."
"Okay!" Zhang Xin shouted angrily, interrupting the two of them. He glared at them fiercely and said sternly: "This time I will warn you first. Next time I dare to do whatever I want without authorization, I will be punished as a violation of military discipline!"
Neither of them dared to speak, and Zhang Xin shouted again: "Get on the horse and set off!"
Everyone got on their horses, turned their heads and galloped north along the forest path.
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The plateau is uplifted in the northern part of Guanzhong, Ziwu Ridge stretches across the mountain, and the mountain continues to the west, and finally merges with Liupan Mountain. The undulating mountains form a natural northern barrier to the Guanzhong area. Among them, the Maling River and Luoshui pass through the Beishan Mountain, forming two major north-south channels, namely the famous Maling River and Yanzhou Road.
Yanzhou Road was called Luoshui Road or Luochuan Road in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was a strategic road for Gao Nu to go south to Guanzhong. The Han army also attached great importance to these two roads. For this purpose, they built military forts, each deployed 10,000 heavy troops, and were guarded by important generals. The head general of the Maling River Road was the veteran Yan Yan, and the head general of the Luochuan Road was the general Wei Yan.
This twenty-person patrol team was one of the fifty patrol teams sent by Wei Yan, who belonged to the scout camp. After Wei Yan returned after participating in the military and political affairs of Yong County, he immediately strengthened the patrol in the river valley. Jia Xu specifically proposed during the meeting that once the Xiongnu army could not capture Gao Nu for a long time, it was very likely to change its strategy and go south from the Maling River or Luochuan Road. Among them, the possibility of going south from Luochuan Road was the greatest, which put pressure on Wei Yan.
The Luochuan Valley is about two hundred miles long, with the widest place being more than ten miles, and the narrowest place being four or five miles. On both sides are rolling plateaus and mountains. The valley is covered with dense forests, and there is a relatively flat official road along the riverside, which is commonly known as the Luochuan Business Road by merchants.
The Han army scouts cavalry ran northward. At noon, they arrived at Bailong Valley. This section was the narrowest part of the Luochuan Valley. In front of it was Diaoyin County. It has always been a military center, but Diaoyin County was basically in a semi-aborted state, and most of the city walls had collapsed. When the Han army was preparing to rebuild Diaoyin County, the Hun army marched southward and the plan to rebuild Diaoyin County had to be moved backward.
"Tun Chief, take a break!"
A long-time man smiled and suggested, "Find a cave, roast the deer, and have a full meal."
Zhang Xin nodded and looked around. He pointed to a cliff in front and said to He Laoliu and Yang Li: "I remember there is a cave on the cliff ahead. You can go and take a look as a punishment for shooting deer without authorization in the morning!"
The two did not dare to resist the order, so they had to get off their horses and hike towards the cliff. The rest of the Han army sat down in front of a stream and drank water to rest.
Yang Li complained all the way, "It's obviously the deer we ejaculated, so if you have the ability, don't eat it, and you have to punish us. It's so damning."
"Okay, don't talk too much." He Laoliu scolded Yang Li for being bored with nagging.
"I haven't settled the score with you yet! How did you say in the morning? Framed me." Yang Li became more angry when he remembered what happened in the morning.
But at this moment, He Laoliu suddenly covered his mouth, pointed to the cave in front of him, and said nervously: "Look, what's going on?"
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The Han army scouts rested in front of a clear stream. Everyone was chewing dry food and drinking cold stream water. They stretched their necks from time to time to look west, hoping that He Laoliu and Yang Li would come back. If they found a cave, it would mean that they could make a fire and roast venison. They had been traveling outside for nearly ten days in a row, and almost every meal was dry food and clear water. They were full of expectations for the yellow and fragrant venison.
At this moment, a burst of rapid footsteps came from the woods in the distance. The soldiers stood up one after another. He Laoliu supported Yang Li and ran over. Yang Li was covered in blood and was almost in a semi-coma. The governor Zhang Xin was shocked and rushed forward to support Yang Li and asked, "What happened?"
"We met the Hun soldiers in front of the cave. Brother Yang was shot by a secret whistle hidden in the tree."
Zhang Xin's face became more and more serious. Hun soldiers actually appeared here. He asked again: "How many people are there?"
"I don't know how many, but I've seen about thirty or so."
Zhang Xin quickly changed his mind. This should be a patrol of a group of Huns, about fifty or a hundred people. Since they discovered Yang Li and He Laoliu, they would definitely not let them go.
Zhang Xin immediately ordered: "Everyone gets on the horse and prepares for battle!"
Everyone got on the horse one after another, and He Laoliu pointed at Yang Li worriedly and asked, "What should he do?"
Zhang Xin looked at Yang Li's injury and was shot in an arrow on his left shoulder, but he had used hemostatic glue and the blood stopped. Zhang Xin said, "He can't die. Lao Liu, take him back to Yiyun Castle first!"
Yiyun Fort is located 80 miles away. It is a newly built beacon tower and military fort by the Han army. There are 300 soldiers stationed. He Laoliu nodded and carried Yang Li on his horse. He also turned over and urged the horse to run south.
Zhang Xin kept looking at them and then got on the horse, and led the other brothers to the northeast, circled a big circle, and slowly approached the cliff.
The Han army was familiar with the environment of Zhouzhou. They came to a high ground. A soldier climbed up a towering tree. On a tree more than 20 meters high, the situation within a few miles was clear.
After a moment, the soldiers climbed down from the tree and whispered: "Tun Chief, I saw them. Just three hundred steps south of us, about fifty people, and they seemed to be searching for something?"
Zhang Xin's mind changed sharply. If there were only fifty people, he could fight. They now have eighteen people, and by ambushing, they could kill at least twenty people. He immediately called everyone forward and said to them: "There are fifty people on the other side, will we do it?"
Everyone showed excitement, but Shi Chang said a little worriedly: "I'm afraid they think so, but they eat us instead."
"This shouldn't be true. Our terrain is more familiar than them, and we know the enemy, but they don't understand us. We can use tricks to ambush, and more importantly, we can get information from prisoners of war."
Everyone nodded and agreed to take action. Zhang Xin smiled and said, "I guess they are searching for He Laoliu and Yang Li. We can take advantage of this and set a trap."
The army encountered by the Han army was a spy sent by the Xiongnu vanguard, with a total of fifty people. Their mission was to investigate the defense of the Han army. Just now, while the Hun soldiers were resting in the cave, they encountered two Han soldiers, and one person was injured by a hidden whistle hidden in a tree.
These two Han soldiers were extremely important to the Huns. From them, they could learn about the deployment of the Han army. The Huns were determined to find these two Han soldiers, but the Hun spies were also very careful. If they encountered more than two soldiers, but large groups of Han soldiers, they would suffer a catastrophe.
Fifty people were divided into three teams, and they carefully searched southwards in the forest. The only thing that could be confirmed was that these two Han soldiers did not ride horses, but ran on foot. They should not be too far away, and they were most likely hiding nearby.
At this moment, a Hun soldier suddenly saw two Han soldiers, one covered in blood, and was supported by the other and ran towards the northwest. The Hun soldiers pointed at the backs of the two in surprise and shouted, "Where is it!"
The Hun soldiers suddenly became excited and rushed to chase the two Han soldiers. They were both riding horses, very fast and skillful in the equestrians. They ran quickly in the forest and soon gradually caught up with the two Han soldiers, but no one shot arrows and they wanted to capture the two of them alive.
The Hun soldiers were chasing closer and closer. Several Hun soldiers had taken out the rope cover and were looking for an opportunity to pull over the famous Han soldiers. They had just run up a path covered with leaves. Suddenly, five or six war horses running in the front fell to a mud pit at the same time.
This is a swamp formed over the years, more than a hundred feet long and twenty feet wide. The swamp is covered with leaves and is extremely secretive. It is called "Sanlongtan" by merchants who come and go. There are four places like this on Luochuan Road. This is a relatively large place. There must be a guide and guide road familiar with the terrain. Most merchants are not familiar with the business road and can easily fall into it. There were warning signs around this quagmire, but the signs were gone at this time.
Five or six cavalrymen fell into the mud and soon disappeared. There was only a bunch of mud bubbles on it, but the Hun cavalry behind them ran very fast and stopped fighting horses for a while. They rushed in several people in a row. In just a moment, the mud swept away ten Hun soldiers, and they didn't even scream, and disappeared.
The cavalry behind were panicked, and they all held their horses to hold back their war horses, and looked at the soldiers in horror. There were also many such quagmires on the grassland, especially in the swamps by the river. They all knew that this quagmire was powerful, and no one dared to go forward to rescue them.
At this moment, two woods suddenly shot dense arrows and took the terrifying Hun cavalry. Forty Hun cavalry were crowded together, protruding their heads to check the quagmire ahead. No one expected that there would be ambush on both sides. In an instant, screams sounded on the path, and the Hun soldiers were all dismounted. Even their leader and a centurion were shot through the neck by Zhang Xin and turned over and fell off the horse.
At this time, the Hun cavalry was in chaos and turned around and wanted to escape. On their way back, they also shot three cold arrows and shot the two Hun soldiers in front of them to the ground. It was these three cold arrows that made the Hun cavalry stop their war horses and dared not break through for a long time.
The short hesitation of the Huns soldiers won precious time for the Han army ambushing in the woods. Just when the Huns soldiers suddenly realized that there was a mud behind them, and there was only one way out in front. The second round of crossbow arrows of the Han army were shot out, but eighteen arrows were shot at the war horses. Seven or eight more war horses neighed and threw the horses out of the cavalry.
The remaining nearly twenty cavalry finally reacted, desperately galloping, escaped from the Han army ambush circle, and ran north along the path. At this time, eighteen Han army scouts rushed out from three sides, stabbing spears at the Xiongnu soldiers who were falling to the ground and trying to escape. Several screams were made, and several Xiongnu soldiers were pierced into the back of their hearts and died tragically on the spot.
Zhang Xin shouted: "Leave two living people!"
Chapter completed!