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The sun was setting fast. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoWhen night fell, soon the land was dark, and as far as the eye could see, there was no light in the endless plains.

Shen Ruoliao has been running wildly; Everyone was running as hard as they could, not knowing where they had gone. Second-rate people are tired, really tired - even second-rate people are tired. He finally decided to slow down and stop to take a look.

His second-rate son carried two people, one was him, and the other was an old talent who was over seventy years old. Zhong Kexi, who followed him, was also two people immediately, and the other was also his guard. There were only four of the remaining nine guards, three died in the pursuit of the Yan army, and two more, listening to their companions, the horses under the crotch were tired to death, and they didn't want to drag their companions down, so they ran behind, and now they don't know where they are, and they haven't seen them for a long time.

They stood on the side of the road, and as far as the eye could see, all the way there were terrified Southern soldiers who had lost their armor and were running, running towards the front of the road, and they had opened a large distance, and they looked sparse, and both ends extended to the point that they could not be seen. Actually, there is no such thing as a road, it's just that so many people are running in the same direction.

I can't see Yan Bing.

"Where are we?" Gao Wei asked tremblingly.

No one answered; Nobody knows.

Shen Ruoyu sighed softly, untied the water bag, and handed it to Gao Wei. Lao Xiucai took it gratefully and drank it in one gulp.

Zhong Kexi brought his water bag to Shen Ruoliao, and there was still a little left in it.

"Forget it, I'm not thirsty anyway. You give it to them. Do you still have fire with you? It was dark and I couldn't see anything. ”

All five soldiers shook their heads. Everyone has lost weapons and armor, which are related to the lives of soldiers, and who will keep torches.

"Let's go further on, maybe pass by the village. There is no need to run, the enemy has not caught up; It's time for the horses to rest. ”

They walked slowly south, and soon the fleeing soldiers of the Confederate army recognized them and joined them. Along the way, many soldiers who really couldn't run also joined them. Shen Ruoyu ordered all his men to dismount, and the old Xiucai Gao Wei also insisted on getting down and walking, giving up the horse to the warrior who had already collapsed.

After walking in the darkness for about an hour, there was a spark in front of me; The team finally got some spirits. Gradually, the firelight was also neatly formed, vaguely outlining the shadow of a city wall.

Where is that?

Baoding? Xiongxian? These two places are now the territory of the Yan army. If everyone desperately escaped for a long time, but still couldn't escape from Yan Jun's palm, what would they do?

If it wasn't Baoding or Xiongxian, where would it be? They should have been running south; If the direction is right, then what other cities are there along the way?

The sunset is only two hours; It can't be a river.

Most likely, it is still under the nose of Yan Jun.

Shen Ruoyu thought for a while and said:

"Stay here and stay still, I'll find out. Zhong Kexi, if there is an emergency, you should immediately lead the team to leave, act at the opportunity, and leave me alone. ”

Zhong Kexi said: "My lord, where are we going with you." ”

"There are so many people, you can't leave them alone. I don't have to worry about you. After Shen Ruoyu finished speaking, he clicked on his toes, worked lightly, and disappeared in an instant. The rest Zhong Kexi and the five soldiers looked at each other and sighed.

Shen Ruoyu ran close to the city wall in a hurry, dived down in the shadow of the trees, and carefully observed the movement of the city tower.

Neatly lined up with torches on the women's wall, the banners and the soldiers guarding the city were silent, and on the surface, it seemed to be just an ordinary vigil, without any other arrangement.

Still too far away; The grove was close to the main road, and it was two hundred paces from the city wall. The night was so thick that he couldn't see the color and handwriting of the flags, or the attire of the soldiers defending the city, so he couldn't tell which side of the territory it was.

Shen Ruoyu's eyes suddenly lit up; He also had a bow and arrows on his body. The arrows are still the red feathered arrows of the two guards of Yulin, and all the arrows are engraved with a forbidden word. Regardless of whether the defenders of the city are the Southern Army or the Yan Army, when they see such an arrow shooting up the tower, they should all go out of the city to check.

However, at such a distance, whether he can shoot is a question.

It's worth a try. He drew his bow and arrows, aimed at the battlement in the center of the city above the city gate, and fired two arrows in succession. Then he put away his bow and waited quietly.

Almost at the same time, a faint shout came from the castle tower. There was a commotion, and he saw a fire running and moving on it. Torches were thrown off the walls, but there was nothing underneath.

It wasn't long before the gates opened, and a group of about twenty soldiers ran out of the gates and ran towards them. Shen Ruoyu shrank into the bushes and observed carefully.

The group of soldiers quickly ran down the road. He heard someone say:

"Go to that side; The others come with me. ”

So I saw that their soldiers were divided into two ways, one left and one right, and went into the bushes by the roadside, each holding torches, and searched carefully.

By the light of the approaching fire, Shen Ruoyu finally saw clearly, the handkerchiefs wrapped in these soldiers and the cover on the back, the red scarves around their necks, the rattan armor shirts, and the eye-catching clear characters on the backs were far different from the black soft leather of the Yan army from top to bottom.

He jumped lightly out of the bushes, jumped into the middle of the road, raised the red feather arrow in the middle of the road, and asked:

"Are you looking for this?"

Twenty soldiers defending the city were taken aback, and immediately gathered around, drew their weapons, and looked at him nervously.

"Who are you?"

Shen Ruoyu didn't answer, but only asked, "Do you recognize this arrow?" ”

The soldiers looked at each other suspiciously; Someone spoke:

"Only the Yulin Guards in the palace have red feather arrows; Who is your Excellency? What does it mean to put arrows on the tower? ”

Shen Ruoyu continued to ask: "Tell me, what kind of place is this, where is this city wall, and which guard are you all in?" ”

The answerer looked at him carefully, and replied with some hesitation:

"This is Cangzhou, and we are all Cangzhou defenders."

"Cangzhou?!" Shen Ruoyu couldn't help but be taken aback.

The soldiers looked at him strangely.

"Did I really go to Cangzhou? Who are your commanders? Shen Ruoyu asked in surprise.

"We are all General Xu Kai's people; Who the hell are you? What are you doing here? ”

Shen Ruoyu was a little skeptical for a moment if he had been running for a day and a night. He clearly remembered that he had just begun this lifeless escape, only two hours ago, at sunset. At this time, they had already run from the Baigou River to Cangzhou. For second-rate people, this is not a miracle; However, so many soldiers, after a whole day of fierce fighting, the horses were exhausted, and they could only escape on two legs, and they ran to Cangzhou with his second-rate sons.

It should be true, this is obviously the territory of the Southern Army; The Cangzhou guard is Xu Kai. He finally understood what it meant to be a real escape.

He put away his arrows and said:

"I am the military counselor of the 600,000 army of the imperial court, Shen Ruoliao. During the day today, our army was defeated at the Baigou River, and retreated all the way south to this point, not knowing that it had reached Cangzhou; The brigade was two miles away. Have any other troops been there? ”

The soldiers, who seemed astonished when they heard his name, withdrew their weapons, and replied:

"We haven't seen anyone come this day, and we don't know the news of the rout of the army."

Shen Ruoyu said: "I'll go and bring people over; You go back quickly and report to General Xu Kai; After a short time, Shen Ruoyu would bring about a thousand men and horses to call the door under the city and ask General Xu to let the soldiers into the city to rest. ”

He ran back to where the team had stopped; Everyone was still waiting for him. To his surprise, there were tens of thousands more people in the team than Fang at once, and Sheng Yong and his men were also waiting there.

"Lord Shen, where have we been?" Sheng Yong shouted when he saw him.

"Cangzhou City is ahead, and General Xu Kai is waiting to welcome the army into the city. General Sheng, how many people do you still have? ”

"Of the 30,000 people in our department, more than 10,000 were lost, and I don't know whether they were killed or wounded; You and I combined, maybe 20,000. ”

"Is there any news from the other ministries?"

"I don't know; I only saw that General Guo Ying, Marquis of Wuding, led the crowd to the west, and no one else saw it at all. ”

"Where's the general?"

Sheng Yong shook his head.

"I originally saw the general retreating south, so I followed all the way, but I didn't expect to see the general's shadow again, but I ran into Lord Shen."

"Let's talk about it in the advanced city. Wait two days, and there will definitely be news from other ministries. ”

They took the 20,000 deserters who were still frightened and walked to the city of Cangzhou; Xu Kai, who was taken aback, immediately opened the door and let them in, and arranged for them to rest.