In the past three days, Chen Xian's intelligence team left in Xizhuangzi has also lost its response.

It is not known if it was because the roads were blocked, or if the intelligence team had been dug up.

After sending these two groups of people, Chen Xian concentrated the regular army under his command in Dongzhuangzi.

After three months of development, the army under Chen Xian's command has undergone some changes.

After the battle with Liu Erzu, Chen Xian stepped up the construction of the army, and he transferred all the men among the 1,000 high-quality and right-age teenagers sent by Yang Miaozhen for the first time.

A total of more than 600 people were drawn from the young soldiers recruited from Dongzhuangzi and the teenagers sent by Peng Yibin. These people were originally not old enough, but after more than a year of adequate nutrition and sufficient exercise, they have now reached Chen Xian's standard for conscription.

He broke up the 600-strong men and the regular army of the previous battalion and reorganized them into two battalions.

These teenagers themselves already have two years of experience in paramilitary life, and the military skills they should have mastered have been basically mastered.

In addition to the regular army, which has increased to two battalions, in the past three months, Chen Xian has initially established an artillery company while testing artillery and training gunners, and this artillery company has 12 artillery pieces, including two seven-pound guns, two five-pound guns, four three-pound guns, and two one-pound small guns.

Don't look at the fact that the number of artillery has only doubled, and the firepower has increased more than three times.

In addition to infantry and artillery, Chen Xian also had a 100-man cavalry company this time.

After thinking about it, Chen Xian mobilized 600 militiamen from more than 1,000 militiamen under his command to 600 people.

These 600 militiamen, Chen Xian intends to use as a reserve force, arranged in the woods between him and Xizhuangzi, in case the war does not go well, he can use guerrilla tactics to block the enemy and cover the retreat of the regular army, the musketeers are relatively suitable for jungle warfare, but these militias can only come in handy after the Orion militia that Chen Xian transferred before returns.

After concentrating his forces in Dongzhuangzi, Chen Xian did not move blindly, he lined up all the small cavalry under his command, and roamed around Dongzhuangzi to reconnoiter to prevent the enemy from sneaking through the forest and launching a sneak attack.

In the afternoon of the same day, the fifty Orion militia and two squads of soldiers on track who had gone to inspect the pier sent people back to report.

The pier platform had indeed been occupied by the enemy, and they annihilated more than 20 Bai family generals who occupied the pier, and found the corpses of the soldiers of a squad who had all died tragically.

Through the interrogation of the captured Bai family generals, the pier platform had been lost three days ago.

After getting this news, Chen Xian basically determined that Xi Zhuangzi's cutting off his trade route was by no means a temporary idea, but a bait for a trap.

In the three days that the pier was lost, something must have happened in Xizhuangzi that the enemy did not want him to know.

After receiving the reward, Chen Xian sent an order to the troops attacking the pier, asking the fifty Orion militia to leave ten people to help the regular soldiers of the two squads guard the pier, and all the others were withdrawn, and he also ordered the soldiers guarding the pier to continue to use cooking smoke to convey the news of safety to Baijiazhuang and the rear.

When Chen Xian first set up this pier, for the sake of secrecy, he canceled the practice of transmitting flags during the day and changed it to cooking smoke.

In the whole new pier, there are a total of two communication systems, one is naturally the beacon, in case of emergency, the beacon is lit.

Another communication system is the cooking smoke in the pier, if everything is normal, the soldiers in the beacon tower will raise a smoke during the cooking time every day, and the lookout in Zhuangzi only needs to observe whether the pier is raising the smoke on time every day to know whether the pier is operating normally.

After the people of Baijiazhuang raided the pier, the guards of the pier who tortured asked how the pier operated.

After asking about the situation of the cooking smoke interrogation, the Bai family simply took the method of cooking tobacco interrogation and used it themselves, and they also followed the habit of Chen Xian's subordinates every day to raise the cooking smoke three times a day in the morning, noon and evening, this cooking smoke not only conveyed the false information that the pier was safe to the East Zhuangzi, but also tantamount to thinking that the West Zhuangzi was transmitting the true information that everything was normal and in the mastery.

The Bai family will make plans, and Chen Xian will also plan now, if he can confuse the Bai family for a day, maybe he will be able to let the lookout on the pier see some useful situations.

After dealing with the matter of the pier, in the second half of the night, Chen Xian received a message from another group of Orion militia who escorted the young soldiers from Xizhuangzi back to inquire about the news.

This group of Orion militia planned to bypass Xizhuangzi from the foot of the mountain north of Xizhuangzi, and then infiltrate from the northwest direction of Xizhuangzi, because that direction was opposite to Dongzhuangzi, and the Orions felt that the defense there should be weaker.

However, just as the Orion militia was passing through the forest north of Xizhuangzi, they heard a commotion coming from the southern part of the forest.

The Orion militia had sent a few old hunters to sneak in and take a look, and found a very large and simple barracks not far from the edge in the southern part of the forest, and what they heard was the noise of some soldiers in the barracks drinking and gambling around the campfire.

After listening to Orion's report, Chen Xian sent his most elite reconnaissance cavalry overnight, and under the leadership of the Orion militia, he returned again to reconnoiter the camp in detail.

Chen Xian waited until noon the next day, when the reconnaissance cavalry returned, and they reported the results of the reconnaissance to Chen Xian, "The camp is not small, about less than 2,000 people are stationed, all of them are foot soldiers, judging from the armor and banners, they should all be the troops of the Jin State. ”

Hearing that there were only two Meng'an in the enemy's ambush, Chen Xian couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Consciously figuring out the enemy's intentions, Chen Xian once again decided to take the initiative.

He first replanted the nearly 100 Orion militia that had been recovered into the 600 militia that would be drawn, and then he divided the 700 militia into seven teams with the Orion militia as the captain and backbone.

These militiamen would be sent by Chen Xian to the woods west of Dongzhuangzi, on the one hand, to prevent the enemy from detouring through the forest behind Dongzhuangzi, and on the other hand, in case the war was unfavorable, these militias would also be able to meet the retreat of Chen Xian's regular army.

After settling down, Chen Xian let the troops rest for another night, and in the early morning of the next day, two infantry battalions brought enough dry food, one after the other, and protected twelve large and small artillery wagons and drove out of East Zhuangzi, heading straight for West Zhuangzi, while the militia of 700 people was divided into seven squadrons and followed behind the regular army.

After the troops drove to the intersection of the woods west of Dongzhuangzi, they rested in place, and the militia behind them entered the woods first, and the large force of the militia advanced along the forest road, while a part of the Orion militia broke away from the large force and burrowed into the woods on both sides.

After the militia entered the forest, Chen Xian's regular army followed the militia about 400 meters behind and also entered the forest.

Following the safe road found by the militia, Chen Xian's regular army spent nearly half an hour through this forest seven or eight miles wide and entered the territory of Xizhuangzi......