The ferry to Changshu is only more than 100 miles, and now the journey is nearly half, but the scouts on all roads have not encountered the Song army of the brigade. Basa knew that they suddenly crossed the river, which caught the Song army by surprise, and most of the Jiangdong troops were transferred north to attack Yangzhou, but there should not be a situation where it is difficult to see people in the villages for dozens of miles along the river, such as entering a no-man's land.

"Wanhu, don't hesitate. The area along the river has always been an important military place of the Southern Dynasties, and it is also a place where our dynasty and the Southern Dynasties frequently compete, and it is not surprising that it is sparsely populated. In addition, in order to spy on the reality of the Song army, the cardinal commander sent troops across the river many times, and in order to avoid losses, it was common sense for the Southern Dynasty to move the people along the river inward. Seeing that Basa's march was slow, Bald not only violated the order of the privy envoy to march quickly, but also brought difficulties to their next attack on the city, so he persuaded him again.

At present, whenever there is a three-way intersection on the way to the march, the whole army in the mountains and dense forests will stop, and they will order the brigade to move forward after careful search by scouts and cavalry, and send rangers to the high places to lookout; If you encounter a dense forest valley, then you must first send scouts to the depths to search and explore, and then march after there is no abnormality. For the sake of safety, the commander also set up a code for each department, which was used to identify the main and guest soldiers when they did not know each other, and to avoid the enemy's camouflage. Insurance is insurance, but it also greatly affects the speed of the march.

"Well, but we entered the hinterland of the enemy territory alone, and once we were surrounded, we would never recover!" Basafi was a reckless man and acted cautiously, which was also the original intention of Yuxi Timur to make him the vanguard army.

Because Yuxi Timur also had doubts in his heart, he understood that if he rashly marched and fell into the encirclement of the Song army, it would be a place of death. That's why a cautious man was needed to find the way, and the army followed. If he was ambushed by the Song army, in order to avoid the annihilation of the whole army, Yuxi Timur would never order the army to cross the river to rescue, but would turn west to save Yangzhou. Then they will become an outcast, and it will be difficult to withdraw to Jiangbei again.

Although Basa knew that he had made preparations, he also had to consider the countermeasures of Zhongfu, after all, they had already entered the enemy territory, and they were not familiar with the geography, so it was impossible to avoid all accidents. When passing through the valley and dense forests and narrow mountain roads, the detectives inside hurriedly searched and did not find it. Therefore, in such a situation, once an ambush is encountered, it will inevitably be disconnected from end to end, broken into several parts, and it will not be possible to unify the command.

Therefore, when passing through such a place, it is necessary to change the formation to the continuous bead rewinding method. Take a team of 1,000 people as an example, divide this 1,000 people into ten teams of 100 people each. When crossing the mountain road, the first team advanced, walked to the position where the first scout horse stayed, saw what flag the scout horse was holding, and lined up here to guard the mountain after there was no danger information; Then the second team crossed the first team and advanced to the second scout position, just as the first team was on guard against the mountain, and the rest of the teams advanced in this order. In this way, step by step, even if the enemy soldiers are ambushed, they can be prepared.

"Wanhu, but if we are slow to advance, Changshu will inevitably be prepared, and the effect of the surprise attack will be lost, once the war falls into a stalemate, it will affect the plan of the cardinal commander, and will be severely punished by military law!" Bald knew what Wan Hu was worried about, but the current situation was that following the commander's order was not necessarily death, but if the military plane was delayed, death was inevitable. The two trade-offs are self-explanatory, so he spoke again regardless of Wan Hu's ugly face.

According to the people captured along the way, most of the Jiangdong garrison has crossed the river, leaving only some state troops to garrison the ferry." At this time, the scout who had searched westward returned and returned to the road.

"Well, can you find out why the villages and towns along the river are ten rooms and nine empty?" Basa had fewer doubts in his heart, nodded and asked. In order to obtain accurate information, he ordered the detectives to find and arrest the local residents on the way, but in order to prevent these people from providing false information, he could not just listen to what one person said, but searched for a lot, and then questioned these people separately to corroborate each other to see if the information provided in the end was consistent.

"Ten thousand households, the small ones have been inquired." "According to the captured people, because our army crossed the river many times to attack the fortress, the people were all afraid, and after the autumn harvest, the government let them move thirty miles inside to hide, and only a few people who did not want to leave home stayed behind. After the war between the two countries, the imperial court requisitioned young Zhuang from Yanjiangzhou County to serve as husbands to transport grain and grass, so there was no one in the villages and towns along the river. ”

"Okay, let's explore again!" The scouts who searched to the east immediately returned and found that the news was much the same, except that they found that the soldiers stationed at the fort along the river had abandoned the fort and retreated to the nearby state city, as if they wanted to hold on to the city.

After listening to the explanation, Basa breathed a sigh of relief, he understood that the two sides of the Yangtze River have always been a dense area of conflict between the two sides, although there is no such major war as the current one, they can constantly attack each other, attack forts, villages and towns with fewer garrisons, loot people and property, destroy water conservancy facilities, and use them to create panic. In order to avoid major losses, both sides will set up buffer zones and relocate people inward to reduce losses. The Song army had always taken the initiative in the past, but with the arrival of Yuxi Timur, their own side also strengthened their raiding activities, and the Southern Dynasty was forced to also take an internal relocation action, of course, it may also be to prepare for the northern crossing to capture Yangzhou.

"Wan Hu, don't pay attention to those stragglers, and the cardinal commander has already ordered that you don't need to pay attention to those states and counties along the way, you can bypass the direct driving target!" Seeing that Wanhu had the intention of relenting, Bald immediately hit the railway while it was hot.

"Ten thousand households, the small one was ordered to search and advance south along the main road, and the avant-garde had reached less than ten miles below the city of Changshu. On the way, no Song army was found, but the people of the villages and towns near the city fled into the city. The detective returned to report.

"Can there be people in the villages and towns?" Yasa ignored Bald and instead asked about the detective riding path in return.

"Thousands of households, no population was found in the villages and towns, but the sundries and livestock left behind during the escape can be seen everywhere, and some houses are even unextinguished. The Scout replied.

"Oh, so they're all in the city?" Basa frowned and said, he knew that if Ding Zhuang entered the city, it would be equivalent to adding the help of defending the city for nothing, which would naturally bring difficulties to them in attacking the city.

"Thousands of households must also know that the south of the Yangtze River and the Central Plains are different, there are many rivers and lakes here, and the harbor is vertical and horizontal, and it is surrounded by twists and turns. Therefore, after the police, many people moved to the lake with their families, and they usually studied boating skills, which made it convenient for them to come and go. There are even some large squires who will build water docks on the islands in the rivers and lakes, store food and equipment, and recruit villagers to protect them, so as to avoid the war. The scout said with a wry smile, they also found that there were lonely people, and wanted to capture and interrogate them to get more information, but these boats entered the water, and they were unable to go into the water to pursue, so they could only watch them row boats and hide in the alleys.

"Then why don't they take refuge in nearby cities or in the mountains?" Yasa asked, a little puzzled. Castles are often defended by garrisons, and the mountains can come and go more freely, which is much more advantageous than in the water.

"Ten thousand households, the scarcity of animal power in the south of the Yangtze River, the limited load of vehicles, the sedan chair is expensive and slow, and the rivers and lakes in the south of the Yangtze River are vertical and horizontal, and the daily traffic mainly depends on boats, and large households have boats. If there is a lot of food and utensils, you can also hire a number of boats, which have a lot of room for detour and are not easy to be found. In addition, the mountains in the south of the Yangtze River are short, there is no lofty to fear, it is easy to be searched and killed by bandits in turn, and the manpower and animal power to carry food are far inferior to ships, even if they are lucky enough to avoid the search mountain, they will soon starve to death, so it is a good policy to take refuge in the mountains. "As for the reluctance of the people to enter the city to take refuge, they are afraid of the prestige of our army, and they are afraid that once the city is breached, the jade will be burned, and if they flee into the rivers and lakes, they may still be able to survive!" ”

"Pass my order, all departments are moving forward at full speed, the diet is solved immediately, and you must rush to Changshu City before dark!" All the problems seemed to be explained reasonably, and Yasa's worries were greatly reduced, and after looking at the sky, he finally gave the order to march quickly.

However, although the whole army accelerated to attack Changshu, it was still underestimated, and the speed was still not fast. The water network in the south of the Yangtze River is dense, and even the main road has to pass through many ditches, ponds, and rivers of unknown sizes. And the further they went, the soldiers and civilians who had been warned did not forget to tear down the bridges and hide the ships on the way back, so as to buy time for themselves to escape. In addition, the south of the Yangtze River is full of paddy fields, during which the ponds and ponds are dense, even if there is a road in the field, it is muddy and difficult to walk, and the war horse will be trapped when he strays into the paddy field, and his legs can't be pulled out, and he can't get around if he wants to.

It's good to encounter those small rivers, the water flow is slow, the depth of the water is not large, although the water is cold and biting, you can endure it and ride a horse to float across. But when the army was blocked by a great river, and the water was too deep for boats, and the piers of the bridge were destroyed, then they had to send a good water man to swim to the opposite bank with the thick ropes of the army, and set up the ropes on both banks. Then the soldiers cut down the bamboo and wood, made rafts, placed them on ropes to make suspension bridges, and led the horses to cross the river carefully.

If there is no forest nearby, it is even more helpless, so you can only use a spear as a temporary material, tie it up and put it on a rope, and then lay clothes and armor on it as a road emergency. In order to avoid being attacked by the half-crossing or the enemy setting up an ambush, after the bridge is built, it will not all cross the river, but first send the elite troops to cross the river, and then set up a formation to guard and protect the troops crossing the river behind, and then every time the team crosses, they will occupy the favorable terrain and set up a formation to cross the river in turn. This greatly slowed down the march.

Although it was a quick horse, when Basa saw Changshu City, it was already a bright moon, and the city in front of him was not the small city like the earthen wall, the lights on the city wall stretched for miles, like the stars in the sky falling, obviously ready......