Lin Fan had just arrived in Gwangju with his army, and before he had time to stop repairing, he proposed to Gwangju that he should go to the two armies to take a look at it first.

The people from Shenzhou are so active, there is no reason for Gwangju to refuse, and they still wish that all battalions in Shenzhou would join the battle group immediately!

Accompanied by several military attachés in Gwangju, Lin Fan led An Ning, Zeng Liang and other generals and more than a dozen elite cavalrymen to quietly come to a small hillside not far from the enemy camp and observe the thief camp a few miles away.

Lin Fan was on a high place, holding the reins in one hand and putting the horsewhip on his forehead with the other to block the sun, he wanted to see what was going on with the thieves on the other side.

While he was observing the enemy camp, a Gwangju general named Zhang Qi was also explaining to him some information about the known thief camp in Gwangju.

The people of Shenzhou have just arrived, although they have done some homework on the road, but everyone still does not fully understand the situation here. Therefore, everyone listened very carefully to what he said.

This place is not far from the camp of the thieves, and it may be discovered by the thieves at any time.

Although they knew that it was useless, everyone still tried to keep their voices low and speak, and they didn't even dare to take a breath.

However, Lin Fan was not too nervous, in order to ease the somewhat dignified atmosphere, he pointed at the enemy camp with a horsewhip, and said with a smile to the Gwangju general: "General Zhang, the thief army is quite disciplined, it seems that the enemy general is also from the army, and there are many people, no wonder the Gwangju side can't support it." ”

Seeing that Lin Fan was still in the mood to joke, Zhang Qi was also a lot more relaxed: "The thief's name is Du Zishan, who is the confidant of the traitor Chen Xinglong, who was named a second-grade hypocrite, and is a hot big man in the thief army. He was also a military attache of the imperial court, but later he lost a battle when encircling and suppressing the thieves, and he was afraid of the punishment of the imperial court, so he simply led the remnants to surrender to the thieves. ”

After Lin Fan took office in Shenzhou, in order to avoid Zhang Feng'er's incident as much as possible, Lin Fan also sent people to collect a lot of news about Xingwangjun.

Du Zishan is an important figure in the Xingwang army, and many of those news mention him. Therefore, Lin Fan also has a certain understanding of Du Zishan: "As a general, Du Zishan can gain Chen Xinglong's trust, and his ability to achieve this position in the thief army can be seen." ”

While talking to everyone, Lin Fan did not forget to get down to business. He roughly estimated the size of the enemy camp and the number of tents in the camp, and combined with some of the news just mentioned by the general, he mentally recalculated the number of thieves in the camp.

The figures he came up with are not much different from what General Gwangju said, and it can be seen that Gwangju has not done nothing during this period of time.

According to his estimates, the number of this thief army is not too much, but it is not small, about 7,000 to 10,000. As for how much, it will have to wait until after the fight.

Judging from the layout of the barracks, the intensity of the soldiers' patrols, and the interval between each change of guards, their training was also better than the ones he had encountered before.

The thieves in the battalion seemed to be very familiar with these things, and there was no confusion in the process. If these thieves were not trained, they would not have been able to do this.

The crowd stops on the high slopes, which is easy to observe, but also easy to spot by the enemy.

Sure enough, the scouts in the thief camp soon spotted the people on the high ground, and they found that there were more than just people

Riding a horse, the armor style is also different from that of ordinary soldiers, unlike ordinary scouts, and should be an important figure in the official army.

Soon several hundred horsemen left the camp and slaughtered the crowd.

When An Ning saw that the envious eyes of these horses were about to fall, it was like looking at a treasure trove of long legs.

Although Lin Fan also wanted these horses, he also knew that it was not the time to think about them now. Seeing that the thieves were about to approach, he whispered to the crowd and ordered, "Withdraw!" ”

In this dangerous situation, those people in Gwangju have long wanted to leave. Now that Lin Fan gave the order, the group no longer hesitated, and everyone turned their horses and galloped in the direction of the official army camp, wanting to get rid of the pursuers.

However, unexpectedly, the enemy cavalry did not chase too far, and after chasing for several miles, they stopped, stopped pursuit, and returned to the camp.

The reason why the thieves stopped was because they found that the distance between the two sides made it difficult for them to catch up, and the front was getting closer and closer to the official army camp, and the thieves were worried that the officers and troops had set up an ambush in front.

What the thief general didn't know was that his stop this time made him miss an opportunity to wipe out almost all the generals and above in this battle, including Lin Fan. I don't know how he would feel if he learned the news in the future.

Although the Shenzhou soldiers were guest troops, according to the imperial court tradition and Shi Qiuming's military orders, this battle was still led by Lin Fan, a civilian official.

Therefore, after returning to the camp, everyone gathered in Lin Fan's military tent to exchange opinions on the results of this expedition.

Gwangju General Zhang Qi smiled bitterly: "I didn't expect that there were a lot of cavalry in the thief camp, this is very difficult!" ”

Deng Wentong and Zeng Liang's faces changed a little when they heard this, and Deng Wentong asked with a solemn expression: "The Gwangju side has already fought with the thieves, and they don't even know this news?" ”

Zhang Qi's face became even more bitter: "The first few battles were all city defense battles, and the thieves didn't send cavalry to fight, so we just knew that there might be some cavalry in the thief camp, but we didn't find out how many there were." ”

Knowing that the other side can survive a hundred battles, so far in the war, the Gwangju side has not even explored these most basic news, which makes it a little difficult for everyone in Shenzhou.

Zhang Qi also understands that in the hearts of Shenzhou people, they must have put a hat of incompetence on themselves and others.

However, he explained, "Until you arrived, there was a shortage of people on the Gwangju side. It is still difficult to defend the city with this little force, where is the strength to go out of the city and fight the thieves head-on. We sent several scouts to investigate the enemy, but none of them brought back much useful information. ”

Gwangju, like Shenju, has three battalions of city defense on the surface.

But that was the number of people on paper, and in fact, the phenomenon of officials eating empty salaries was widespread, resulting in many false amounts. The real strength of Gwangju is only more than 2,000 people, and it is indeed difficult for some strong people to let them go to confront the elite of the thieves head-on.

Zhang Qi said that these people in Shenzhou also understand, but understanding does not mean that they will definitely agree.

Everyone present had more or less contact with the thieves, and they all had their own understanding of the combat power of the thieves.

Past experience tells them that Gwangju is approaching

With a strength of 3,000, how could it be beaten like this by less than 10,000 thieves.

Under normal circumstances, it should be the officers and soldiers chasing after the thieves and beating them.

What's more, now that the victory of the official army has been decided, the official army of Central Plains Province is winning one after another, and they are about to end Chen Xinglong's hometown, but Gwangju has fought like this, isn't this a joke that makes all the provinces in the world look at Huainan Province?

For the Gwangju soldiers who were forced into such an embarrassing situation by the thieves, everyone on the Shenzhou side inevitably felt some contempt in their hearts.

Zeng Liang was unimpressed by Zhang Qi's argument, and said: "No matter how powerful the thief is, how powerful can he be, so that you can't find any news?" Now that my eyes are black, how will this battle be fought next? ”

He didn't say that this battle really couldn't be fought, Zeng Liang didn't think that the official army would not be able to win this battle, he still wanted to stimulate Zhang Qi and others.

Some of the disdain revealed in Zeng Liang's tone made Zhang Qi a little resentful, but he wanted to refute but had nothing to say.

The shame made Zhang Qi's face turn red, and he said in a rough voice: "Whether you believe it or not, this thief army is different from the past, its combat power is extraordinary, it is not worse than ordinary officers and soldiers, you must not take it lightly, otherwise it will only be you who will suffer." ”

Lin Fan didn't participate in their argument, he went through the information he had just seen in his mind again before he spoke: "The appearance of cavalry in the thief camp is not necessarily a bad thing!" ”

As soon as he spoke, everyone stopped arguing and looked at him in unison, wanting to hear what he had to say.

Lin Fan said to everyone: "General Zhang is right, our opponent this time should not be underestimated, it must be the elite of the thieves, maybe it is still the descendants of Chen Xinglong." ”

Zeng Liang dared to question the Gwangju army led by Zhang Qi, but what Lin Fan said had to make them a little cautious.

It's just that Zeng Lianggang said the above words, and it was not good to ask directly, so he glanced at his deputy general Fan Sixi.

Fan Sixi comprehended and asked, "Why did the adults say that?" Is there something different about this army of thieves compared to the previous ones? ”

"Cavalry is a rare object, but it is not something that ordinary people can raise, because raising a cavalry is too expensive to raise. This is true for the official army, and even more so for the thief army who lack financial resources. ”

"The appearance of cavalry in the thief camp shows that Chen Xinglong is really anxious and eager to open the way south. Chen Xinglong dispatched all the cavalry, when he sent the infantry army, how could he send a group of rabble to delay time? And everyone in the thief camp just now also saw that the inspection and change of guard in the thief camp were done in an orderly manner, and there was no chaos at all, which also showed that the thieves were well-trained. We must not despise some thieves because we have fought them in the past, and think that they must not be our opponents. ”

Zhang Qi also interjected: "What Lord Lin said is right, we also thought that these thieves were no different from the previous ones, and we didn't take them to heart at all. But I didn't expect to suffer a big loss as soon as I fought, not only did I lose a lot of brothers, but even the city was almost lost, so I knew that it wasn't like that at all. ”

Having said that, everyone in Shenzhou also put away their contempt and attached importance to the upcoming war.