Xiang Rong, who was scolded in Cao Village, gradually stabilized his mind after two hours of escaping. After throwing off Qin Rigang's pursuers for a distance, he also began to gradually gather the remnants of the army. After counting, only half of his original nearly 6,000 men remained, and there were less than 3,000. Some were killed, some were captured, and some simply deserted.

"Admiral Xiang, what should we do now?" Ba Deqing has been six gods and no master until now, this rout came too suddenly, and he had won consecutive battles before, aggressive, but now he was like a lost dog, and was killed by the Taiping army all the way behind.

"Fengmen Pass must not be able to go, the bandits can ambush us in Cao Village, and Fengmen Pass must have fallen into their hands at this moment. There is a willow forest in front of us, and it is almost night, so let's rest there for a while and wait for news from Vice General Liu. Xiang Rong thought calmly, after all, he had been on the battlefield for a long time, and he finally controlled his emotions at the critical moment. Vice General Liu was sent by him to take over the military power of Ulantai, and he should also be in the Ulantai army at this moment, if he can come with the men and horses of the general army of the three towns, it is not yet known who will die in this battle.

"Can Vice General Liu come with the men and horses of the three towns general? He's been there for so many days, and there's been no news. "Vice General Liu's affairs Ba Deqing also knows, this is the only thing they can count on now, if they want to turn the war around, they must rely on the support of the three general soldiers.

"Sai Shoufu has handed over the military power to me, and Ulantai's men and horses are now under my command. Vice General Liu went with my military order, and the three commanders should not dare to disobey. "Xiang Rong didn't know the bottom in his heart, if Qin Dingsan hadn't died, with his ability, prestige and courage to act, the three general soldiers couldn't help but disobey. But this Deputy General Liu is a big difference compared to Qin Dingsan, and his official position is under the general army, in case Ulantai is in the way, everything is really hard to say. Thinking of Qin Dingsan who died in Dongling, Xiang Rong's heart hurt again, thousands of troops are easy to get, and it is difficult to find a general, and he has fought with bandits so many times, and the generals who can fight under his command are getting less and less, otherwise they would not have fallen to this step of the field.

Xiang Rong and the remnants of the defeated army settled down in the depths of the willow forest, and the leaves of the trees blocked some raindrops, and the extremely sluggish military spirit gradually stabilized. On the way back, the pursuing Taiping stopped at the edge of the woods.

Xiang Rong's expression was relieved, "Are you sure they stopped?" ”

"Yes, they did not chase us any further, and stopped at the edge of the willow grove, as if digging a long trench." Tanma replied.

"Long trench?" Xiang Rong's expression sank again. The bandits are trying to trap themselves here.

"Admiral Xiang, this is not good, our dry food is only enough for two or three days, this is not a place to stay for a long time, let's hurry up, the bandits fence fence up, we can't escape." Ba Deqing said anxiously.

"Don't worry, the trench wasn't dug so quickly. Let's wait a little longer, Vice Admiral Liu's letter should be coming soon, and I have agreed with him that he will inform me by carrier pigeon anyway. Xiang Rong put all his hopes on Vice General Liu.

Vice General Liu, who was in the Ulantai military camp, was also very anxious at the moment, he came to Ulantai with Xiang Rong's military order, and the people in the army said that Ulantai was not there, and he went to Guilin to find Sai Shoufu. He took the military order to find the three general soldiers, Li and Chong, the two general soldiers were easy to say, they were very polite to each other and called each other brothers, but as soon as they heard that they wanted military power, they all said that they wanted to listen to the general soldiers, and when Ulantai left, he handed over the military affairs to Wen Dai, and Wen Dai did not nod, and they had no right to listen to the commander.

But this general soldier seems to have been playing a game of hide and seek, either to go out to inspect, or to check the grain and grass, in short, it seems to be very busy, all kinds of military affairs are entangled, or there is no Adjutant General Liu.

Vice General Liu knew that he couldn't wait any longer, although they were entertained with good food and food in the army, but he knew that Xiang Commander had been waiting for his news, and time waited for no one, so he had to see that Wendai for everything today.

"Get out of the way, I'm going to find the general soldier." Vice General Liu sent his men to secretly monitor Wen Wendai's camp tent, and reported to himself as soon as he saw him return to the camp. This time, he finally seized this opportunity and prepared to break in to meet Wen Wendai.

"The general soldier is not here, please come back next time." The guards of the tent blocked the way.

"What's not there? I know he's there. Get out of the way, or you're welcome. "Vice General Liu was furious, the chief soldier had been hiding from him, and he couldn't let him escape this time.

"Please come in Vice Admiral Liu." Wen Wendai heard the quarrel outside the camp tent, and knew that he couldn't hide this time, and if he didn't make a sound, then Deputy General Liu would really be able to break in, and everyone would not look good at that time.

Vice General Liu pushed open the camp gate and walked in angrily. "By the general soldier, your big frame is really difficult to please."

"Where is it, the military affairs have been too busy these days, and I have wronged Vice General Liu, is there a place in the army where hospitality is not good?" Wen Wendai was a big slippery head, pretending not to hear Vice General Liu's sarcasm, and said with a smile on his face.

"This is a military order to the Admiral, please Wendai inform Li and Chong that the two general soldiers will immediately pull out the camp and go to Jintian, and work with the Admiral to flank the bandits." Vice General Liu took out Xiang Rong's military order and put it on the desk of Wen Wendai.

"Vice Admiral Liu, are you mistaken, how can this military order to the Admiral command us? Although he is the governor of Guangxi, he has a higher official position than us, but we are the chief soldiers of other provinces, and it is unreasonable to command across provinces. Wen Wendai is still pretending to be confused.

"Sai Shoufu has already handed over the military power of the Ulan Tai Commander to our Admiral, don't you know?" Vice General Liu was furious and shouted excitedly.

"We really don't know about this, we've never heard of it." The scriptures were spread out with both hands, and they refused to admit it.

"Impossible! Lord Shoufu has asked Vice General Tian to come over and pass the word, don't lie to me! Vice General Liu's voice became louder, and his face flushed.

"I haven't heard of this, the general army of our three towns was sent to the commander of Ulan Taidu by Sai Shoufu, and there are documents in white and black, where are your appointment documents?" Wen Wendai played a scoundrel, and the official documents had to go through the procedure, and they were generally ten days and a half months behind. The military was urgent, and the above sent cronies over to give a verbal notice, and everyone generally recognized it, but at this moment, he asked Vice General Liu to come up with the official appointment documents, which was deliberately embarrassing.

"The appointment documents will arrive soon, and as you know, these documents must be stamped layer by layer, and it will be a few days late." Vice General Liu was so anxious that his face was red.

"Is that any? I'm sorry, but the military situation is important, and the military power is not trivial. I only recognize official documents through someone, and when you take them out, we will go with you when you take them out. Wen Dai said triumphantly.

"You 。。。。。。。" Vice General Liu was speechless, he was not the opponent of Wen Wendai when it came to playing scoundrels, and the other party held his weakness, if it was Qin Dingsan here, it is estimated that he would have drawn his knife and cut people, but he did not have the courage.

"Someone, send off!" Wen Wendai gave the order to expel the guest, and he thought to himself, even if your official document comes down, I won't admit it, unless Lord Ulantai personally orders it, you don't want to mobilize a single soldier.

Vice General Liu was driven out in disgrace, he knew that it must be Ulantai who was making trouble behind this, but now he had no place to reason, and walked back to his barracks in despair.

"Mr. Li, Mr. Li." When Vice General Liu saw Li Rui in Guzhou Town, who happened to be passing by, he pounced on him and grabbed his arm, like a life-saving straw.

Li Rui looked around vigilantly, saw that there were no outsiders, and quietly dragged him aside.

"Lord Li, for the sake of you and Admiral Xiang working together in Hunan for a period of time, hurry up and send troops." Vice General Liu pinned his last hope on Li Rui. Li Rui and Xiang Rong jointly suppressed the rebellion of the Heaven and Earth Society in Hunan, and they still have a friendship, this person treats people more sincerely, not like Wendai's slippery head.

Li Rui is quite sympathetic to Vice General Liu, and he also has a lot of respect for the old general Xiang, and Xiang Rong has also helped him in Hunan, but he can't afford to offend Ulantai, so he can only apologize: "It's not that the brothers don't help, Ulantai has ordered before he left" to "sit and wait, wait for the opponent to be killed." He's giving a death order, what if you make me wait? Vice General Liu, you should hurry up and inform Lord Xiang, don't expect our cooperation here, let him be careful. Brother can only help you get here, don't say that I told you, I'm sorry to leave. Li Rui sighed and turned to leave.

The last shred of hope was dashed, and he reluctantly returned to his tent, took out a pen and paper and wrote down the situation on the letter, and after writing it, he rolled the letter in a small bamboo tube, tied it to the pigeon's leg, and released it.

====================

That night, Xiang Rong received a letter from Vice General Li, he read the words in the letter with a heavy face, and when he saw "sit and wait, wait for the opponent to be killed", he couldn't help it anymore, and scolded: "Ulantai, this king and eight lambs, the battle has been fought to this point, and he still treats me as an opponent, and you still want me to die?" It's too much of a deception! I have a grudge against him! ”

Xiang Rong was furious, and his own soldiers hurried over again.

"Lord Admiral, it's not good, Lord Badeqing ran away with his men!" The pro-soldier looked nervous and reported in a low voice.

"What?" Xiang Rong's head buzzed again as if he had been hit hard by a sledgehammer. This Ba Deqing has always been obedient to his words, why would he say goodbye at this time?

"Have you read this letter?" Xiang Rong reacted and immediately asked.

"It is estimated that the carrier pigeon flew to Lord Badeqing first, and then handed it over to me." The messenger lowered his head, not daring to look at Rong.

"Okay, okay, as soon as I fell here, I ran away in a blink of an eye, why didn't I run when I asked for merit before? Good, good. Xiang Rong also saw the warmth and coldness of people at this moment, "There are only icing on the cake in this world, there is no charcoal in the snow, go well!" ”