Two hundred Chu troops crossed the river early in the morning, and after almost an hour, they came to an abandoned pavilion barrier, where the soldiers were divided into four routes, and went to different directions to observe the enemy's situation, and met here at noon tomorrow.

The defenders of Broken Iron had not crossed the river for several years, and only some of the veterans remembered the terrain, so they served as guides.

Fifty soldiers in each direction, divided into a group of five people, or a team of ten people, separated by several miles, sometimes near and sometimes far away, limited to being able to see each other before and after, waving the flag as a signal, Han Ruzi is the commander, and there are more people who stay around, plus he is a total of twenty people.

Han Ruzi was in charge of watching the east, bypassing a hill and advancing along the riverbank, his team was at the rear, and the several squads in front of him often paused, but never found anything.

Du Chuanyun was very excited about this operation, and every time he paused, he had to ask questions, but usually did not get answers, and when he chased ahead, he found that the pause was only caused by a pile of stones left over from a long time ago, or a few pieces of dried horse manure.

The traces left by the Chu army in Hebei have not completely disappeared, and many items left behind were seen on the first day's trip.

Before dark, the ranks stopped, gathered together, the squads outside, the generals inside, about half a mile apart, no fires, no noise, first fed the horses, and then wrapped in blankets and rested on the spot.

Du Chuanyun's excitement was gone, and he didn't dare to speak loudly, so he could only ask in a low voice, "That's what scouts do?" It didn't seem to be of much use, and I didn't go far all day, it was slower than a march. ”

"This kind of thing can't be done in a day or two." Han Ruzi also replied in a low voice, he had read the book, listened to the explanations of the veterans, and knew a little more, "Let's march here, leave a mark, the next group of scouts don't have to be so cautious, they can march quickly, and then continue to move forward until they are a hundred miles away." ”

Du Chuanyun nodded, Han Ruzi looked at Fang Daye not far away by the moonlight, it usually doesn't take a hundred miles to check the enemy's situation, he wants to hear the veteran's opinion.

Fang Daye's huge body fluctuated slightly, as if he was asleep, and he refused to say a word.

The first inspection was successfully completed, and no trace of the enemy was found in any direction, Han Ruzi wanted to prove that this was not a child's sudden whim, so he formalized the inspection operation, and all the soldiers took turns to participate, and the children of Xun Gui were no exception.

has the experience of Cui Teng's past, no one dares to oppose it openly, but Xungui is Xungui, his hands and eyes are all over the sky, and naturally someone speaks for them.

On this afternoon, another messenger came as usual, and unlike before, he brought not only ordinary documents, but also a letter from Wu Xiu, the general guarding the pass, in which he politely requested the secondment of more than ten people to serve as staff members, and the dispatch order issued by the Great Sima of the Northern Army was delivered with the letter.

These more than ten people are all famous sons of nobles, but there is no Cui Teng, he is the son of the Great Sima of the Southern Army, and he can't go through the path of the champion Hou and the imperial uncle Wu Xiu, for some reason, Cui Taifu has not shown concern for this son.

Han Ruzi found the master bookkeeper and asked him to write a more politely worded reply, and dictated the general idea by himself: Outside the lonely suspension of the broken iron city, the defenders of the city are only too few and not too many, and no one can let go. He also asked the master to remind Wu Xiu that General Zhenbei was directly under the command of General Han Xing, and although the position of the Great Sima of the Northern Army was high, he could not transfer General Zhenbei's subordinates at will.

The next day, more than a dozen people on the list were sent out to participate in the inspection, which lasted for six days, bringing more horses and grain and grass.

Cui Teng was happy and publicly ridiculed these self-defeating noble children, so he was also sent to serve.

Han Ruzi once again personally led the team.

Winter is getting closer and closer, the Huns have no sign of attacking, Chai Yue is inexperienced after all, and he is anxious, so he also participated in the operation and led the team to another direction.

The number was increased to four hundred, one hundred men in each team, with thirty or forty horses in addition, which were specially used to carry grain and grass, and each soldier had to carry a part of his own rations.

This is not a tour, you can neither see the pleasing scenery, nor enjoy the good food and wine, the so-called ration is hard dough and fried rice, each person has a bag of wine, at most three days can drink, the rest of the days can only get water on the spot.

Cui Teng and the others were not easy to control, they were all left by Han Ruzi's side, two days passed, these people changed their appearance, their lips were cracked, their faces were pale, and they confessed their mistakes to the tired marquis one after another, swearing to the sky that it was never that they wanted to return to Shenxiongguan, it was their father and brother who made their own decisions.

Cui Teng looked away, didn't beg for mercy, didn't complain, looked at everything fresh, hehe Zhile, at the end of the day, not only drank up his own bag of wine, but also turned his fight with Du Chuanyun into jade silk, he was willing to ask, Du Chuanyun, who had experience, was willing to answer, the two quickly abandoned their previous suspicions, and Du Chuanyun even gave his wine to Cui Teng.

At noon on the third day, the team saw a grassland, the grass was yellowish, and the sky was high and refreshing, which made the audience feel more and more relaxed.

"Why didn't Da Chu build a city here? Much better than a broken iron city where birds don't? Cui Teng's eyes lit up, and he picked up the wine bag and took a sip - he and Du Chuanyun's wine were gone, snatched a bag from someone else's hand, and threatened the other party not to complain to General Zhenbei.

"It's too far." Du Chuanyun is used to answering, even if he doesn't understand, he has to give a guess.

Han Ruzi walked so far for the first time, he was in a good mood, and said with a smile: "The construction of the city depends on the terrain, the broken iron city is desolate, but the north is close to the river, the east is leaning on the mountain, and the south is south to the Shenxiong Pass, which can be attacked and defended. ”

"The Huns don't come now." Cui Teng's face changed slightly.

The previous scouts had already been here, leaving a pile of stones to mark it, and after entering the grassland, the march slowed down significantly, and after another day's walking, they could turn around and go back after noon tomorrow.

In the evening of that day, the front team came with a flag message, and they noticed an anomaly, and soon after, another flag came out, indicating that the situation was serious and the team behind should be ready to face it.

Although it has been practiced many times in the Broken Iron City, at this time, everyone is a little nervous, even afraid, even Cui Teng and Du Chuanyun, who are usually the most curious, did not ask questions, but immediately gathered around General Zhenbei.

Han Ruzi glanced at Fang Daye, the old flag hand was expressionless, and he didn't take the abnormality in front of him seriously at all.

A scout in front rode back and reported that several tents had been found five or six miles away, not like barracks, but probably ordinary herders.

The Huns did not distinguish between military and civilians, and the herdsmen usually followed the army to move around, but a few people were separated from the group for various reasons.

Han Ruzi ordered to probe again, and quickly formulated an attack plan with a general of the army, and there were frequent contacts between the Huns, and if you catch a few people, you may be able to ask about the movements of Prince Zaheshan.

The attack began in the evening, when the sun was half set, and a hundred men were divided into three teams, one team to attack, two teams to intercept, and before the sun had completely set, the attack ended.

A total of three tents, seven Huns, dozens of cattle and horses, suddenly encountered the Chu army, the Huns ran on the horses, all were intercepted halfway, and were immediately sent to the general of Zhenbei.

Han Ruzi did not participate in the attack, and watched from a distance with a dozen guards, the battle was simpler than he imagined, a few shouts, several miles of galloping, everything was over, he didn't even see how those Huns were caught.

Xungui's children all stayed by his side as guards, at first they were very happy, they found that the battle was so simple, they regretted it, Cui Teng took the lead, and they all had to participate in the sweeping battle, Han Ruzi refused all, and finally only sent them and some soldiers to search the tent.

Seven Huns were brought, two women, three children under ten years old, and two gray-haired old men.

The woman and the old man knelt down and begged for mercy, and the three children were pushed down by the soldiers, and Han Ruzi couldn't understand a word of their words. ”

"Ask them about the movements of the Huns." Han Ruzi stepped aside, the night was rapidly darkening, and there was no need to advance today, so he ordered to rest on the spot, according to the rules, the enemy's tent was easily unusable.

He hoped that these Huns could provide some useful information, and he had been preparing in the Broken Iron City for more than a month, and he also hoped that something would be accomplished.

The interpreter soon came, "They claimed to have come from the west, and they had seen the Hun army retreating westward more than a month ago, but they had not seen the Hun cavalry that remained. ”

"The Huns retreated west, why did they march east?"

The interpreter scratched his head, "They said the west was haunted, so they fled to the east for refuge. ”

"Haunted?"

"The Huns' statement is probably panic and drought." The interpreter couldn't ask clearly.

Han Ruzi was about to ask the interpreter to continue asking, when there was a cheer from the other side of the tent, as if something good had been found. Han Ruzi glanced at Fang Daye again, this is exactly what the old standard-bearer called "a group of children".

One of the nobles rode back first, shouting from afar, "Catch, catch." He rode up to the front and reined in his mount, and said happily, "Catch a traitor from Da Chu." He suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly put away the excitement on his face, "Oh, maybe it's still an acquaintance of the general." ”

Not long after, Han Ruzi took Du Chuanyun into a tent, Cui Teng and the others held swords in a half-circle, saw him come in, and made a passage.

It was dark in the tent, someone lit a candle in his hand, and the dim light illuminated a man lying on the ground.

That's Jin Chunbao, the eldest brother of Jin Chuiduo.

He looked very weak, his hands and feet were bound with leather ropes, and it seemed that he was captured by the Hun women and children.

Cui Teng shook the knife in his hand and said: "General, you are the most law-abiding person, it is nothing to let the Jin family go once in the past, this time the two armies are fighting, you won't release people again, right?" You've never been so magnanimous to us. ”

Han Ruzi didn't answer, staring at Jin Chunbao's eyes.

Jin Chunbao looked a little dazed, and it took a while to recognize who the person in front of him was, straightened up, sat up suddenly, and said loudly: "Tired Hou, go and save people...... No, no, run, run as far as you can! (To be continued.) )