Fifty miles south of Kunyang, in a small forest, the Pinglin soldiers from Dingling were resting.

Liu Xiu nibbled on the dry and hard bread, leaning against the trunk of the tree, and his expression was full of fatigue.

They had been two days and two nights in a row, and they had not slept properly. Now this short break will only last an hour or two at most, and then we will be back on the road again.

Even if it was a short hour or two, it was an opportunity that was won with great difficulty.

The baggage had been almost completely discarded yesterday, leaving only three days' dry rations that each person had brought with him. But what happens when you're done with dry food?

Even Li Tong, who was smiling all day long, had a trace of melancholy on his face at this time.

Ten days ago, Liu Xiu sensed that something was wrong. The defenders who were originally tightly besieging Kunyang suddenly began a large-scale activity. The encampments were retracted, and the outer encirclement network was withdrawn layer by layer, and began to transform into a state of marching.

Then, the army that was originally entrenched outside Kunyang City like a huge monster and could only react passively stretched out as if its entire body had turned into tentacles.

The new army did not rush to engage Liu Xiu, but tried to spread its troops in the direction of the activities of Liu Xiu's troops, and then gradually tightened.

The Forces of the Forces nouvelles were scattered, searching for Liu Xiu's tracks in a large area south of Kunyang, but they would never again try to engage in contact as soon as they were discovered, but hung from a distance, calling for friendly forces to come and meet them.

If Liu Xiu left it alone, then the troops behind him would snowball bigger and bigger, and the new troops in the rest of the surrounding directions would gradually move closer to their positions.

But if Liu Xiu took the initiative to turn back and wanted to defeat him in one fell swoop before he found that the size of his troops had reached a certain level, the other party would never take the initiative to engage him, but immediately turned around and retreated.

Now, Liu Xiu's range of maneuvers has become smaller and smaller, and no matter which direction he goes, he will quickly encounter a small group of troops of the roaming New Army, and then repeat the snowball process above. Even if the occasional forced march can temporarily distance itself from the enemy and disappear from the enemy's sight, it will soon be discovered by the overwhelming new army.

The fatigue of the soldiers has reached the limit. If this continues, it may not be possible for the place to completely close the encirclement network, and the troops will have already broken up first.

Liu Xiu swallowed hard a mouthful of dry food and let out a sigh: "Li Tong, what do you think of the current situation?" ”

"If it had been three days ago, we might have had a chance to forcibly crush one or two units of the new army, and then move south in the direction of Wancheng. But now ......" Li Tong shook his head with a wry smile: "So far, the enemy army in the south is the most. It seems that Wang Yi and Wang Xun are also most worried that we will break through to Wancheng. I'm afraid this road won't work. ”

When Li Tong said this, he looked up at the sunlight falling through the shade of the tree, and the soldiers around him who were panting and stumbling under the tree: "I haven't slept for two consecutive days, and I finally got rid of the chasing army behind me, and the physical strength of the soldiers has reached the limit." Now, even if there is no interception in front of you, I am afraid that it will be very difficult to outrun the pursuers behind you. ”

Liu Xiu frowned tightly and looked in the direction of Wancheng to the south.

There, the siege continues...... When exactly will the main force come to the rescue?

If there are no more reinforcements, not only Kunyang, but even his own life, I am afraid that it will come to an end.

"Brother, do you know that I can't hold it anymore? If Kunyang falls, you ......"

Liu Xiu muttered to herself, but her whole body suddenly shook, and her eyes lit up: "Wait, Li Tong, I thought of it!" We still have a way to live! ”

"What's the way out?" Li Tong and Ren Guang looked happy at the same time, and asked in unison.

"Since the new army is afraid that we will flee in the direction of Wancheng, and the south is the most heavily defended direction, then relatively speaking, the north is the emptiest." Liu Xiu thought for a while: "If we go north in the direction of Kunyang, maybe we can break through the encirclement outside the city and rush into Kunyang City!" ”

"This ...... Is this what is called a way of life? Ren Guang's eyes widened: "Even if the so-called emptiness, it is only relative to the direction of the south!" Between us and Kunyang City, there are at least more than 100,000 new troops! What's the difference between this and sending to death?! What's more, even if we can really break through the encirclement all the way and rush to the bottom of Kunyang City, how many of us can finally enter the city? ”

"Is there a difference? It is...... The difference between 10 out and 9 out of 9. Liu Xiu smiled: "Since it is difficult to fly, why not choose a direction that still has a glimmer of hope?" Even though there were more than 100,000 enemy troops in this direction, first, they would not have thought that we would counterattack northward, and second, it was impossible for all of these 100,000 people to be in front of us. Now that they have been drawn out of camp and advanced, there must be gaps between each of these new armies. As long as they can pass through the gap before they react and close, then ......"

"It really looks like that's the only way to go. While the soldiers' physical strength and morale have not been exhausted......" Li Tong patted the crumbs of dough on his hands, nodded and stood up: "Then, let's go north and break into Kunyang!" ”

"General, the enemy has bitten up, and there are still ten miles." A partial general trotted to Liu Xiu's side and reported in a low voice: "Are we fighting or ...... Continue the retreat? ”

Liu Xiu took a deep breath and stood up: "The whole army, go north to assault, the target is Kunyang!" ”