The Huaxia army was biting the pursuit of Aobai's army, and Aobai's heart was like a fire, seeing that the Huaxia army was chasing closer and closer, the scout cavalry was sticking to the body like a dog's skin plaster, and he couldn't get rid of it, the cavalry of the Huaxia army was chasing closer and closer, and had already fought with the cavalry after the break, according to the reconnaissance of the scouts who infiltrated farther away, the Huaxia army was already approaching a distance of fifty miles.

At this time, the Qing army had fled for nearly 300 kilometers, and it was close to the border area of Huguang, crossing the river, at least able to get rid of the Huaxia army for a day, Ao Bai said to the generals around him: "Who will block the cavalry of the Huaxia army for me?" Cover the army across the river? ”

A young general stood up and said, "Adult, small wish." ”

Ao Bai glanced at it, this person is the son of the university scholar Sony, Suo Etu, the clan of the Qing Dynasty, and couldn't help nodding and praised: "Okay, when you come back, I will guarantee you to the emperor as a guard with a sword in front of the emperor, and reward you with the title of Viscount of Gushan Bei, remember, we must drag the cavalry of the Huaxia Army and buy a day for the army, so that after the army crosses the river, it will have two more days, and the army will be safe when it enters the territory of Hubei Prefecture." ”

"Yes, my lord, the villain must live up to the trust of the adult, and even if he dies in battle, he will accumulate time for the adult." Soetu said.

Ao Bai nodded at him, "In addition to one Niulu soldier in your headquarters, I will give you three more Niulu, a total of 2,000 full soldiers, and transfer two Mongolian cavalry brigades to you, a total of 8,000 Mongolian cavalry, and leave you all the slave soldiers under the clothed minions, 2,000 infantry, and a total strength of 12,000 soldiers and horses."

You must hold them back, the enemy is still a day away from our army, you go here to destroy their scout cavalry first, and then drag their cavalry brigade, and when the enemy's army arrives, you can retreat, and by then, our army has penetrated deep into the territory of Hubei Prefecture, and you can decide for yourself whether to continue to deal with the enemy in Huguang, or cross the river, get rid of the enemy and catch up with the army. ”

Suo Etu watched the soldiers and horses transferred to his subordinates one after another, and the generals of the various armies came to him, while Ao Bai fled with the army overnight, looking back at the night, he could vaguely hear the sound of the scout cavalry and the broken cavalry fighting with the enemy cavalry in the distance, stared for a long time, and then ordered to set up camp and wait here for the scout cavalry to return.

The scout soldiers also have more than 1,000 troops, and the cavalry also has more than 1,000 troops, so it can be said that Ao Bai directly threw a small half of the 40,000 soldiers and horses of the headquarters to him, and reduced the strength from more than 40,000 troops to 30,000 troops.

Ao Bai is still very capable, more than 50,000 soldiers and horses in the headquarters, all the way to escape more than 300 kilometers, but only lost a few thousand soldiers and horses, and left more than 40,000 soldiers and horses, at this moment it depends on himself.

Because the Qing army's artillery was too heavy, so the escape began, the Qing army lost all the heavy cannons, and only brought some light imitation of the Chinese army's three-pounder cannons, even if the Qing army's casting process is no longer good, the three-pounder cannon is only more than 300 catties, and mules and horses can still be dragged away.

At this moment, Ao Bai even threw these cannons to him, and even threw some of the slaves of the Qing army's clothed slaves to him, these slaves include Han slaves, who have been captured for more than ten years, as well as the second-generation slaves born by the captured Han people decades ago, as well as the newly captured Han slaves, as well as those Han Chinese, Mongols, Koreans, and even Russian Far Eastern slaves who took the initiative to defect.

Compared with the loyalty and usefulness of the coated minions, these slaves are another kind of realized cannon fodder, mules and horses, their job is to carry weapons, luggage, collect firewood, cook, laundry slaves for the Mongols and Manchu Jurchens, their heads, coated minions Ao Bai are taken away, they are abandoned, anyway, there is no shortage, give up and catch again.

However, because of the successive defeats, there are a lot fewer of these people, and now the whole army is only 2,000 people, and if these people are lost, then the clothed minions will have to take on their roles, pushing carts, driving mules and horses, and continuing to contribute to the Mongols and Manchu Jurchens.

Of course, Suo Etu did not care about the life or death of these people, and now these people were ordered to camp, while the Mongols and Manchu soldiers sat on the ground, waited for the camp to be set up, and then entered the camp, where they fought a decisive battle with the Chinese scout cavalry and the pursuing cavalry, buying time for the army.

In the distance, as the first rays of the morning sun rose, the defeated scout cavalry and the broken cavalry, who had fought all night, retreated with the corpses of their companions and the horses that could still be gathered.

The news brought back was that the scout cavalry of the Huaxia Army had returned to the camp of the Huaxia Army, and the cavalry camp of the Huaxia Army was only ten miles away from here, and the cavalry of the Huaxia Army also hurried overnight and chased after them.

Brother Zhu, who had led the cavalry, was still very cautious, and when he found out that the enemy was camped, he quickly gave up the pursuit, camped on the spot and waited for dawn, who knew if the enemy had an ambush in the middle of the night, the Huaxia army has always been cautious, and he was no exception, so he missed the best opportunity to pursue Aobai.

Xiao Fei was still fifty miles away with the army, and after midnight, the army was already close to thirty miles away.

Then the overall situation chose to camp and rest in the early morning, and Brother Zhu had to fight independently.

Brother Zhu fought a big battle with the Qing army, the first battle of Raozhou Mansion, he was on the defensive side, and the cavalry outside was Huang Tao, and now the Minister of Civil Affairs led the Second Cavalry Brigade to do it, he was also the first time to face the enemy's cavalry, cautiously camped, and after transmitting the news back to the army, he took the personal guards and personally followed a team of scout cavalry who attacked last night to check the enemy's camp.

The size of the camp has obviously become smaller, which proves that the enemy has divided his forces, and judging by the banner of the camp, there is no banner of worship, indicating that the enemy's army has left.

Last night, the scout cavalry fought with the enemy's Han army banner cavalry, and the pursuing vanguard cavalry fought with the enemy's broken Mongolian cavalry, which proved that the enemy must have left the broken Han army flag and the Mongols, and Zhu Ge misjudged on this point.

He still doesn't know much about the generals of the Manchu Dynasty, although the Ministry of Military Intelligence has grown a lot in recent years and its efficiency has improved a lot, but Zhang Qiang has never made a list of the enemy's generals, so he can't figure out who the general who camped on the opposite side is, whether it is a Manchu or a Ming general, or a Han army flag general of Han blood, some Han people have been assimilated by the Manchus, and their names are also Manchu names, so Zhu Ge really can't figure out the reality of the enemy on the other side.

The enemy also saw them, but did not send cavalry to expel them, because the scout battle last night was too fierce, and Suo Etu did not want to drive the scout cavalry and the cavalry after breaking the battle for most of the night to drive out the enemy, but just camped and ignored the enemy, creating a mysterious appearance.

Brother Zhu probed for a long time, walked around the enemy camp for more than ten miles, and did not dare to go too deep, for fear of an ambush by the enemy, and his scout cavalry was also the same as the Qing army, fighting for half the night, also tired, heavy losses, can only rest for a while, and then talk about it later.

It was still rewarding to run a lap, at least he figured out the approximate size of the enemy, less than 20,000 troops, and cavalry was the majority.

This was about the same strength as his cavalry troops, and he had a rough plan in mind, and then led his troops back to the camp.

(End of chapter)