A bearded cavalryman with a full beard was holding a raw rabbit leg and gnawing on it. The rabbit had obviously just been killed, and the Hu cavalry was biting at the flesh on the rabbit's leg, and the remaining muscle tissue on the rabbit's leg was still shaking and jumping. The bearded rider squinted, greedily tore the meat one bite after another, chewed a few times and swallowed it. The look and action of him gnawing on the raw rabbit leg made people look bloody and unacceptable. However, his expression of enjoyment was as if this rabbit leg was a peerless delicacy.

Beside him, several other horsemen sat around him, and the rest were either holding a part of the poor rabbit and chewing hard, or sharpening their blades and arrows on a flat stone that they had managed to find on the side. I also stick out my thumb from time to time to test whether the blade and arrow are sharp.

The bearded Hu Qi tore off another piece of rabbit leg meat and chewed it heavily. He turned his head to look, and the dense forest was full of horsemen who were biting raw meat, nibbling on cakes, and drinking water. The horses were gathered and tethered to a forest not far away, and were guarded by a few men. The sound of the rest of the people biting and chewing raw meat was mixed in, and it was very distinct in the silence of the forest. These horsemen looked up and knew that they were battle-hardened people, all of them hung bows and knives from their waists, and their quivers were either carried behind their backs or tied behind their waists. Looking forward to it, people feel a sense of fear when they see it.

A horseman, who was sitting on a branch in the dense forest, was bored and munching on a cake, when he suddenly saw a horse tethered to a tree wagging its tail, and a lump of egg-shaped horse dung fell one after another on the grass behind its hips. Seeing this, the rider on the branch hurriedly jumped down from the tree with a curse, ran quickly behind the horse that had fallen the dung, untied the dung bag tied to the horse's breech, and began to lean down to pick up the horse manure that had just fallen out.

When the horseman had finished collecting the manure that had been scattered, he tied the cloth to the back of the horse's hips again. Seeing this, another horseman on the side turned around.

"Cavalry Chief......" The cavalry who was collecting dung looked at the person who walked over, and there was a hidden inexplicable fear in his eyes. But the captain stopped behind his horse's hips, and his eyes fixed on the ground beneath his feet.

"Look, you've been picking it up for a long time, what have you picked up?" Commander Shi pointed to a small lump of horse dung left on the ground, and scolded the cavalryman who had just picked up the dung in a nonsense voice: "Next time, you will pick up the horse dung left behind and eat it!" ”

The horseman immediately said yes in a panic, and then untied the cloth pocket from the horse's hip, and once again picked up the small piece of horse manure left on the ground into the cloth pocket, tied it again, and tied it to the horse's hip.

Seeing that the cavalryman who was collecting dung was so obedient and well-behaved, the cavalry commander turned and left. As soon as he turned and took a few steps, the cavalryman who had been collecting dung immediately changed his face of hatred, and spat on the ground.

And as his spit fell on the ground, he saw several horsemen running all the way to the place where the horses were tethered, and they came to their horses, and then untied the reins of the horses tied to the trunks of the trees, and then stepped on the horse's back, and trotted out.

When the soldier who collected the horse's dung saw this, he was a little stunned. Looking at the leader, he asked, "Captain Shi, what are you going to do?" ”

When the commander of the horseman, who had already trotted up on his horse, saw the soldier, he replied nonchalantly: "The flag has come from the sentry at the mouth of the valley, saying that an enemy sentry has entered the valley. We were ordered to intercept it. Someone will come and lead the horse later, and you will wait here. ”

With that, Nash rode long and clamped his legs between the horse's belly, and then the war horse under his crotch picked up his speed and rushed out of the forest.

Tao Heng and his cavalry traveled more than two miles, but there was still no trace of the rest of the enemy as expected. Many of the accompanying horsemen were already suspicious. They looked at Tao Heng, who was in the lead, and the chief beside Tao Heng had already inquired and asked: "Tao Bairen, go to the valley for a long time, except for the horse dung that I saw just now, there is nothing that can support the enemy's movements, could it be that the horse dung is left by wild horses?" ”

"Impossible!" When Tao Heng heard this, he categorically denied: "If the wild horse is left, how can there be only that little lump?" And if the wild horses were left, I should have seen the rest of the horse manure everywhere on the way here. But apart from that little lump just now, have you ever seen any other horse manure? In my opinion, this is what the enemy left behind on horseback. Although the enemy cleaned it up, they did not clean it up, so a small lump was left there. ”

"This kind of attempt to cover up the trick is a bit of a captive ride." Tao Heng sat on the horseback and sighed. When he was in Longxi, he dealt with Hu Qi all the year round, and he was no stranger to this. These Huns have been moving to the Central Plains for a long time. But he is still a master of running and hiding. They come and go without a trace, and if you want to trace their tracks and destroy them in one fell swoop, it is really difficult to reach the sky.

However, in dealing with these Hun cavalry for a long time in the sword light and sword shadow, Tao Heng also summed up a set of tracking methods. To sum up, it is "one look at the dung, the second look at the grass, and the third look at the horseshoe print." "Even if these horsemen were able to collect the manure by hand, and take it away, hide it, or bury it, it was unlikely that they would erase all the tooth marks left by the horses gnawing on the grass, and the hoof prints left by the muddy and soft ground on the way to the gallop.

As for the horseshoe print, Tao Heng has already summed up his experience. If it is a horse hoof print, it is shallow and the distance between the hoof prints is short. The Guy Mustang is free, strolling around leisurely, and rarely does the sport of galloping. As for the cavalry horses, one is heavy and the horse's hoof prints are deeper, and the other is because there are more galloping times, and the distance between the horse's hooves is longer.

While he was walking, Tao Heng suddenly stopped, and then raised his hand and signaled the cavalry who were following him to stop together. He went to the edge of the grass and saw a dense blade of grass that had apparently been eaten. The blade of grass was stunned in an intact meadow, but it was unusually abrupt and conspicuous.

The horsemen behind Tao Heng also dismounted, walked to the grass, and carefully observed the grass in front of them with Tao Heng. Several of them were still in the old department under his command when he was in Longxi. They looked at the grass that had been gnawed up in a mess, and a captain said: "Looking at this grass, it seems that more than ten horses have eaten here." ”

Tao Heng nodded, looked at the grass again, and replied, "At least ten, maybe more." After that, he raised his eyes to look at the seemingly dark, hollow and deep mountain forest in front of him, and felt a trace of unease in his heart.

Tao Heng looked up at the sky. The sky was clear, and the afterglow of the setting sun rendered a brilliant glow in the distance, but his pupils contracted sharply. He turned and galloped to the war horse he was riding, and immediately shouted, "Retreat!" The enemy is in the middle of the forest! ”

After that, the rest of the cavalry rushed back to the side of the war horse they had just ridden, stepped on the stirrup with their left foot, and with a strong leg, they had already stepped on the horse again, and followed Tao Heng's footsteps one after another, returning to the way they came.

The bearded man on the mountain, who chewed on the rabbit legs, threw away the rabbit legs that had been gnawed to the point of not a few strands of meat. He jumped up and quickly rushed to the place where the horse was tethered, shouting in nonsense as he went: "Sons, get on your horse quickly, and follow me!" Don't let these enemy spies run away! ”

When the rest of the surrounding Hu Qi heard this, they got up one after another and ran towards the forest. In a short time they had already run to their horses, and then they mounted their horses, and then turned their horses' heads and galloped away towards the forest.

Tao Heng and the others escaped not far away, and they heard the rumbling sound of horses' hooves behind them. This was followed by the occasional sound of arrows flying through the air. Tao Heng crouched on the horse, and when he turned back slightly, he saw the Hu cavalry chasing in the distance. They were about seventy or eighty paces away. Most of the arrows that flew in were too far away, and they fell behind them. Occasionally, one or two arrows from a hard bow flew by, most of them were blown away from their original flight trajectory by the wind, but there was no significant threat.

Tao Heng galloped, together with a horse under his command, letting the whistling wind blow through his ears, and his ears hurt in the rapid gallop. Tao Heng looked back at the Hu cavalry chasing behind, and saw that the distance between them and his own sentry cavalry seemed to be constantly being narrowed and narrowed.

"Hurry, hurry!" Tao Heng roared hoarsely, his left hand tugging on the reins of the horse, and the whip he held in his right hand kept whipping the horses under the seat. With this continuous thrashing, the horse neighed, and galloped with all his strength towards the road from which he had come.

"Watch out for both sides!" Tao Heng shouted, reminding the horsemen who were following him closely. Since this enemy cavalry did take shelter in the valley, there must have been enemy sentry cavalry eyeing the mountains in the winding valley they had experienced before.

Hearing Tao Heng's reminder, the horsemen who followed him behind him lowered their bodies one after another. The cavalry kept speeding and rushed towards the valley where he came.

Fortunately, before entering the valley to investigate, these generals had all changed horses with sufficient physical strength. Tao Heng secretly rejoiced in his heart, but the sporadic arrows shot by the enemy sentries on the mountains on both sides couldn't help but make his heart tense again. An exclamation suddenly came from behind him, which made his heart fall to the bottom.

He turned his head to look, only to see a soldier at the end of the group turning sideways from his horse. The arrows fired by the enemy sentry on both sides hit him, and the horseman was obviously not experienced enough in battle, and the reins of his horse obviously did not grasp the reins, even if they were shot off the horse's back.

"Hold on!" Tao Heng shouted, and wanted to turn around and rescue the soldier. However, when the chief on the side saw this, he was very anxious, and he was already whipped on the horse's hips under Tao Heng's seat: "Hundreds of people will not be allowed to be in danger, and they hope to report back to Changshi as soon as possible." I'll save people! ”

Tao Hengzhi was stunned for half of his body and looked back obliquely, but when he saw that Nashi Chang quickly turned the horse's head, galloped to the rear, and hid in a stirrup on the horse's back, he rescued the fallen horse soldier. And as soon as the fallen horse soldier sat on the horse's back, and behind him to the left and right, dozens of feathered arrows shot at him.

A feathered arrow pierced through the leather armor on Nash's body, digging deep into his back. He stumbled on the horse's back, and almost fell off the horse, but he still managed to hold his body. And just as he swung his whip and struck the horse's buttocks, another feathered arrow pierced through the diagonal stab and struck him in the right arm impartially.

Shi Chang was in pain, and his right hand whip fell to the ground. He was about to kick the horse in the belly with his legs, when more arrows came from behind. He landed behind his back with several more feathered arrows.

"Marlon!" Tao Heng saw that Nashi Chang fell under the horse in a blink of an eye, and immediately his eyes were cracked, and he roared. However, it was clear that he could no longer hear his cries.

"Hundred generals, let's go!" Seeing that Tao Heng had the intention of returning to the horse again, another rider on the side waved a horsewhip and whipped on the horse's buttocks under Tao Heng's crotch. The horses were in pain, and when they landed, they jumped out dozens of paces.

Tao Heng's department, which has sufficient horsepower, gradually accumulated advantages in the gallop. When he rushed out of the valley, he had thrown the captives a hundred paces away. Seeing this, the leader of the captives, who had led his men in pursuit of this cavalry, shook his whip hatefully, then took out his bow, put it on the string, pulled it away with all his might, pointed diagonally at the sky in front of him, and let go of his hand to shoot the arrow in anger.

Tao Heng saw that the enemy army was no longer pursuing, but he still did not dare to relax his vigilance. All of them were four people holding the horse's belly and constantly whipping the horse's buttocks. After a short time, he saw the rest of the horsemen who followed.

Tao Heng gathered the cavalry of his subordinates one after another, and then ordered all his subordinates to send messenger sentry cavalry to find the cavalry led by Li Yanzhi, Cao Jian and other generals. After sending out Tao Heng's sentinels, Li Yanzhi had already sent people to inform the various departments, and ordered Cao Jian's cavalry, who had not had time to rest for a while, to change horses and go forward again to participate in the encirclement and suppression of this captive cavalry.

The encirclement consisting of more than 1,000 cavalry, consisting of the cavalry of Wu Wei's army and the cavalry of Xie Ai's department, approached the valley one after another. After receiving the military report jointly signed by Li and Xie, the Guangwu Army also sent hundreds of cavalry soldiers led by Su Fu to gather in this area one after another, preparing to encircle and suppress. Because the ferry has been controlled by their own foot soldiers. Although Li Yanzhi knew that the decisive plan of the first battle could not completely annihilate the enemy army, he still felt that there was a kind of temple calculation, and there was no fear under his control.

The cavalry of the brigade encountered Tao Heng's department who turned back. Tao Heng reported to the main force, saying that many captives were indeed hiding in this mountain, and after learning of the situation, Li Yanzhi immediately sent a herald cavalry, contacted the cavalry of the various departments near the left, and then ordered the whole army to speed up, and these more than 200 cavalry soldiers took the lead towards the mouth of the valley to meet them.

When it was only five or six miles away from the valley mouth, the sentry in front finally reported that they had found traces of the enemy. And Li Yanzhi led his troops forward, and saw the horse's hooves at the mouth of the valley ringing, and the captives who had been hiding in the middle rushed out in a queue!

"Send a sentry to inform the troops to speed up their advance, and our troops will step forward first and drag this captive cavalry!" After Li Yanzhi finished giving the order, several horsemen immediately galloped out. And he himself, shaking the horse lance in his hand, clamped the horse's belly between his legs, and took the lead in chasing in the direction of the enemy's infested horse!