Guangxi in 1852 was a poor place, and in this poor Guangxi, Dayao Mountain was even more barren and wild. Densely packed with trees and shrubs to the front and left, and grass to cover your legs, Weez's party walked through the barren mountains and mountains where there were no roads to be found.

Weeser, who is at the forefront, naturally has to take on the role of opening the way. The branches of a tree were neither high nor low horizontally blocking Wei Ze in front of him, and Wei Ze neither bypassed nor pushed away the branches. He swung the single knife in his hand as a chopping knife, and the tough branches the thickness of his thumb were broken. Cutting off the branches, Wei Ze temporarily stopped his pace, and while trying to breathe, Wei Ze looked at the dense forest on the hillside where his vision could not penetrate for a moment, and muttered in his heart, "Look at the mountain and run a dead horse!" ”。

It has been five days since the city of Yong'an, and more than a dozen Qing troops were annihilated in yesterday's encounter, and the joy of this victory did not last long. Before this departure, everyone carried a square marching backpack on their backs, carrying dry rations and their own equipment. After winning the battle, he carried the equipment of the captured Qing army on his body, which increased everyone's physical consumption. The clothes on everyone's chest were soaked with sweat. The warriors with spears used their spears as crutches, and those with heavy muskets were even a little stiff and glazed. The body is consumed too much, and it is already crumbling when it walks. Marching on this uninhabited mountain for several days, the Taiping brothers who had been following Wei Ze had long been exhausted. Wei Ze paused for a moment, and the team behind him automatically stopped.

"Hah...... Ha ......, fourth uncle, we have to ...... Do you want to take a break? Seeing Wei Ze pause, Wei Changrong, who was following behind Wei Ze, asked. Because he was too tired, Wei Changrong's face was a little white. After asking this sentence, Wei Changrong had no strength to continue speaking, and only bent over and panted with the barrel of his gun.

Wei Ze could fully understand Wei Changrong's desire to rest, and led his team through the mountains where there was no road to be found, and he had long lost count of how many branches that blocked the road, and how many wild grasses and shrubs more than half a man tall had been cut along the way. Even Wei Ze, who was full of body, was covered in sweat at this time, and his feet were swollen and painful, but the problem of marching in the mountains and forests in Guangxi in winter was not only "looking at the mountains and running dead horses", unlike the dry and cold winter in the north, the winter in Guangxi was wet and cold. The moisture in the air penetrated through the gaps in his clothes and down to his skin, and after just standing like this for a moment, Wei Ze felt a chill to the bone.

Looking up and continuing to look in front of the impermeable woods for a moment, Wei Ze turned around and shouted, "Brothers, we also rested in the forest last time, but we couldn't walk after resting. Later, I continued to walk forward and realized that I could go out of the forest only a dozen zhang further. The yin qi in the forest is so heavy, it hurts the body if you rest for a long time. The first few times, my brother had a cold and fever, since we have suffered this loss, why should we rest in the forest like before? Now keep walking! ”

Wei Ze's voice was clear, and he was full of anger when he shouted out such Hakka. After shouting, he continued to walk. Seeing that Wei Ze was so persistent, Wei Changrong didn't say anything more and continued to follow Wei Ze forward. It was true that some of the brothers in the back had caught a cold because they had rested in the woods for a long time, and when they heard Wei Ze say this, they began to march with heavy steps. Someone took the lead, and the whole team moved on. After walking for a while, they finally passed through the forest and came to a gentle hillside clearing. Having an open space means being able to rest, and the brother who has been holding on until now immediately sits limply on the ground.

The first to reach the clearing, of course, was Weze, who did not sit down when he arrived, but stood on the hillside and looked around. Seeing that there were no people around, and the team also walked out of the woods, Wei Ze shouted: "Zhang Yingchen, Wei Changrong." Lead your men to make a fire and cook. After speaking, Wei Ze swung his chopping knife and chopped the branches beside him.

Zhang Yingchen and Wei Changrong were both army commanders, and each had four soldiers under them. They saw that the commander had taken matters into his own hands despite fatigue, and life was clearly something that was good for everyone. The two of them took their own deployments and endured the fatigue together. Even a team of five plus Wei Ze, eleven people were busy not long before two bonfires burned. The wet and cold weather in Guangxi is indeed difficult, and even the brothers who are almost paralyzed on the ground are moving. The crowd staggered to their feet and gathered around the fire. When everyone had gathered around the two campfires, Wei Ze sat on the square marching backpack like the soldiers.

Half a month ago, the Qing army's complete military and economic blockade had cornered the Taiping army, and Yang Xiuqing, the eastern king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, ordered many small troops to go out in an attempt to find a way to communicate with the outside world. In the past half a month, Wei Ze has led the team several times. This sortie was the furthest it had ever traveled, and the troops had been marching for five days in a row.

The heat of the fire drove away the chill from the soldiers, and some of them looked angry, and some couldn't help but take a nap. One of the warriors was trying to change his sitting position, but his body twitched, and he let out a sudden groan, and fell to the ground clutching his legs. The warrior hugged his leg and let out a painful sound from his mouth, and he couldn't help but inhale violently because of the sharp pain. No one was surprised, everyone had this experience several times these days, and the warrior had cramps.

The warrior next to him went up and straightened the warrior's leg according to Professor Weze's method, and pulled his straight foot back, slowly turning it in a clockwise direction.

"The cramps are because I haven't eaten salt for too long! This time, let's go around to the back of the Qing demon, and we must get salt! Otherwise, if you go for a few more days, no one will be able to withstand it. Weser said loudly. For nearly five months, the Manchu siege of Yong'an had not worked. However, the comprehensive material blockade for more than three months has dealt a great blow to Yong'an City. Gunpowder and salt were scarce in Yong'an City.

The lack of gunpowder allowed the Qing army, which relied on firearms, to gradually begin to reverse their combat disadvantage relative to the Taiping army, and the lack of salt directly began to weaken the Taiping army's combat effectiveness. Loss of appetite, weakness in the limbs, cramps, headaches, these are all the results of a lack of table salt. If this continued, sooner or later the Qing army would be able to gain a comprehensive advantage over the Taiping army.

The cramped soldier was a young man after all, and he couldn't hold back his tears under the severe pain, and after a while, he recovered with the help of his comrades.

"Hot rice!" Weeser shouted. A small amount of gunpowder and a small amount of table salt were seized from the Qing army that was wiped out yesterday. Wei Ze wanted to save some salt, but now he can't see it. He ordered Lin Asheng, who was in charge of logistics, to take out the salt and distribute it to everyone, the Qing army did not carry much salt, and it was not a small amount to be distributed to each brother. Immediately, a brother put a few grains of salt into his mouth, and although he frowned and smashed his mouth, the comfort in his heart could not be concealed at all.

Zhang Yingchen, the commander of the army who was sitting next to Wei Ze, took out his own food like the other soldiers. It was a small bamboo tube that had been broken in half, and it had been re-tied with long grass to make it intact before it was broken. A bamboo tube is a meal, easy to calculate, and easy to carry. Everyone put their bamboo tubes next to the fire and heated them with fire. Sitting by the fire and rubbing his calves for a while, Zhang Yingchen said, "Wei Sima, the Qing army is stationed everywhere, and it is too difficult to bypass from the north. Let's go this way, and then we will probably reach the territory of the Yao people to the north. We might as well go back to Yong'an first. After returning to Yong'an, we will not go north, but east. There are Qing troops on the roads in the north, and there are many roads in the east, so there should be fewer Qing troops. ”

Without answering Zhang Yingchen's words, Wei Ze took out a cowhide bag from the marching bag, which was a "leather bag" made by punching some holes on both sides of a whole piece of cowhide, folding the cowhide from it, and piercing the holes with rattan tendons. Weser pulled out a ledger from it. After opening, some of the blank pages of the ledger were sketched with charcoal for the terrain, which was drawn multiple times and the handwriting was of different thicknesses. After looking at the map for a while, Wei Ze pointed in one direction and asked Zhang Yingchen, "Is it the southeast?" ”

Zhang Yingchen, as the commander of the army, also undertakes the task of identifying the direction. He casually looked at the sky, then at the mountain, and replied, "It is due east." ”

"Very well, let's go southeast." Wei Ze said to Zhang Yingchen. After speaking, Wei Ze turned his head to look at Wei Changrong, "Changrong, when you get to the pipeline, you follow me to charge!" ”

"Don't worry! It will definitely be able to kill the demons! Wei Changrong replied confidently.

Zhang Yingchen is a native of Yong'an, and he joined the Taiping Army after the Taiping Army conquered Yong'an. After the Qing army besieged Yong'an City, the Taiping army fought with the Qing army many times, and even if the Taiping army was not defeated, it was not able to break the Qing army's encirclement.

After being assigned to Wei Ze's men, he has been dispatched several times to explore the way in the past half a month. The Qing army blocked all roads north of Yong'an. The Qing army numbered in the hundreds, and as few as fifty or sixty men, and they were armed with a large number of muskets. Wei Ze's team of 26 people walked around after encountering the stronghold of the Qing army. Only yesterday when they encountered the Qing army, which had fewer troops than the troops, did they start killing the enemy.

Yesterday's battle was easy, because the Taiping army carried out an ambush, and the number of people was still twice as large as the other side. Even if this kind of victory is not a victory, it does not make Zhang Yingchen feel that there is anything unusual. The arduous march in the past few days has made Zhang Yingchen's nerves almost numb, and compared with the fatigue and psychological exhaustion on the **, a small victory is not a special encouragement at all.

Zhang Yingchen didn't feel that there was anything excessive about his questioning. After the first few explorations, Wei Ze simply went to a place where there was no road this time. Along the way, he overcame thorns and thorns, crossed mountains and valleys, and after spending countless efforts, it seemed that he was still wandering around in the mountains. Zhang Yingchen himself is a native of Yong'an, and the path Wei Ze took was a place that he, a local, would not go. Turning around, Zhang Yingchen didn't know where he had gone. If Wei Ze really thinks that he can defeat the Qing army, then why is there such a move. It is clear that Wei Ze still can't defeat the Qing army.

Seeing that the official road was mentioned, not only did Wei Ze look like he was winning, but the "veterans" of the Taiping Army, who were also depressed during the march, were also full of confidence. Zhang Yingchen was particularly puzzled by this, why did Wei Ze and the "old Taiping Army" have such confidence?

Just when Zhang Yingchen was doubting in his heart, he saw Wei Ze shouting: "Eat!" Dine! ”

After receiving the order, the soldiers took their bamboo tubes one after another. Untie the grass wrapped around the bamboo tube, and inside the bamboo tube is the cooked rice, which is mixed with a lot of other beans. The brothers sprinkled the salt grains in their hands on the rice, and other than that, there was neither a dish nor a sauce. This kind of meal has been the norm for the Taiping army in the past month.

The bamboo tube had been placed by the fire for a while, and the cold rice inside had become hot again, and the hungry soldiers buried their heads and began to eat the military rations of this meal of beans and rice, which only tasted savory.

Tips: The new domain name "biquge.info" has been launched by Biquge, and the original domain name is about to be discontinued. Please tell each other, thank you!