——August 14, Hukou Zhou Military Camp -

Early in the morning, in the tent of the commander of the Zhou army, all the generals gathered together, staring solemnly at the huge marching map placed on the table.

"Haven't you found any trace of the Taiping Army?" Standing at the table, looking at the marching chart on the table, Xie An asked in a deep voice. Judging from the fact that he kept tapping his fingers on the table, Xie An's mood at this time was by no means as calm as his face.

"Yes......" Ding Qiu, the second-generation leader of Jinling, lowered his head and hugged his fists, and said in a deep voice, "Captain Modu...... Oh, no, Mo Fei has led the brothers in Dongling to chase after the thief army, and it won't be long before he can find out the whereabouts of the thief army! Halfway through speaking, Ding Qiu remembered that he and Mo Fei had been temporarily dismissed from their positions by Xie An, so they changed their titles halfway.

"Hmm!" Xie An nodded slowly and muttered, "That's so smart, that Liu Qing...... It seems that she knows very well that once she withdraws to Jingzhou, our army will immediately launch a pursuit and cover up the kill...... I really didn't expect that she would resolutely withdraw her troops in the middle of the night after the defeat the day before yesterday! ”

"yes!" Liang Cheng, the commander of the Great Liang Army, said with a wry smile, "Generally speaking, in order to stabilize the morale of the sergeants and soldiers after the defeat, you should not withdraw your troops immediately before facing the ......," he said with a slight sigh.

The generals in the tent were silent when they heard this, not to mention that they didn't expect it, even Xie An didn't expect it, and he didn't expect Liu Qing to act so decisively. And the embarrassing thing is that when the 35,000 Taiping troops quietly withdrew from Hukou, the nearly 70,000 Liang troops of the Zhou army were still immersed in the joy of six battles and six victories, and even Xie An, who was the commander-in-chief, was enjoying the joy of men and women with his arms around Qin Keer, but he didn't expect that Liu Qing would withdraw so simply, even most of the baggage and banners in his military camp were abandoned, and only the soldiers were given up with only a little dry food left. The overnight withdrawal of troops completely ruined the Zhou army's original plan to pursue and cover up when it withdrew.

As if noticing Xie An's solemn expression, Gou Gong coughed and said in a low voice, "My lord, although the Taiping Thief Army was able to hide from our army for a while and escape at night, I thought that General Feng He would definitely be able to intercept it!" - The thieves are all pawns. General Feng He has 9,000 cavalry, even if he is ten hours late, he can catch up, once General Feng He bites the tail of the thief army, he will buy enough time for our army. There is no escape from the thieves! ”

"Hmm!" Xie An nodded slowly when he heard this, looked at the marching map, and suddenly stretched out his left hand and spread his palm evenly.

What does that mean?

Gou Gong looked at Xie An suspiciously, as well as his outstretched left hand.

And at this moment, Qin Ke'er, who was beside Xie An, picked up a cup of tea and put it on the palm of Xie An's left hand.

"That's a good point!" Under Gou Gong's somewhat stunned gaze. Xie An took a sip of tea, let out a long breath, and said, "Although our army set off a little late. However, the Taiping army will not be able to escape our hands, and this government believes that General Feng He will be able to intercept it! As he spoke, he held the teacup in his left hand. Before Gou Gong could react, Qin Ke'er lowered his head and took the tea cup in Xie An's hand. Then he handed a thin wooden stick cut to the thickness of his little finger to Xie An.

"Here!" Pointing to the location of Pengzejun on the march map with the slender wooden stick in his hand, Xie An said in a deep voice, "At present, Liu Qing's army is short of food, and she also knows that our army will definitely chase after it will catch up quickly after learning that it has withdrawn at night, so she will definitely not dare to make a detour, and she must plan to withdraw to Jingzhou in the shortest possible time!" ...... from here From Jiujiang Port, through Lushan, through Ruichang, Baiyang, along the Yangtze River upstream river, Huangshi, Dushan, and finally arrive in Jiangxia! - Jiang Xia, it's our last chance to pursue the Taiping Army! As he spoke, he casually raised the wooden stick in his hand, Qin Ke'er took the wooden stick, placed it on the table, and then picked up the teacup and handed it to the palm of Xie An's left hand, which was still holding it flat.

Looking at Xie An, who was drinking tea with hot air, and then at Qin Ke'er, who was silent with his head bowed beside him, Ding Qiu gently pushed Gou Gong beside him with his elbow, and pouted in the direction of Qin Ke'er.

[You have been by the side of adults for more than three years, why is it not as good as this woman who has a tacit understanding with adults?] ]

[How do I know?] ]

Gou Gong glanced at Ding Qiu angrily, and then glanced at Qin Ke'er with complicated eyes, after all, he has always claimed to be Xie An's closest confidant and cronie, but looking at Fang Cai's affairs, he is far inferior to Qin Ke'er, a woman whose identity is still very problematic, at least she knows what Xie An needs at the moment, and she doesn't even need Xie An to speak, just a look and an action.

"......" Gou Gong looked at Qin Ke'er with some depression.

You must know that although he Gou Gong joined Xie An halfway, he always felt that he was Xie An's most trusted confidant, after all, Xie An handed over the position of Shaoqing of the Great Prison Temple to Gou Gong, why doesn't this mean that he Gou Gong is the descendant of his family Lord Xie An?

It is precisely because of such privileged treatment that Gou Gong can be said to be loyal to Xie An, when he was assassinated by the Guangling assassins, Gou Gong resolutely broke off alone, and asked Xiao Li and Xu Jie to escort Xie An to go first. For an Assassin by training, this was unimaginable in the past.

Although they have only been together for three years, Gou Gong has somewhat understood Xie An's character, and sometimes Xie An only needs a glance to sign, and Gou Gong can understand it.

And now, this woman whose identity has not yet cleared her suspicion actually knows her own adult preferences better than herself? How long has she been here? It's just January, right?

As if sensing Gou Gong's strange gaze, Qin Ke'er raised his head to look at him, and then lowered his head in a panic.

It's not that she's afraid of being seen through by Gou Gong, it's just that she instinctively noticed something wrong, and she didn't know what was wrong with her.

Just like Fang Cai, as soon as Xie An raised his hand, no one in the tent knew what he wanted, but he could know what he needed, this feeling......

Unexpected feeling of inexplicable satisfaction?

Unconsciously glanced up at Xie An beside him, Qin Ke'er couldn't hide the indescribable and inexplicable feelings in her heart, and the corners of her mouth raised a slight smile.

And her heartfelt smile made Gou Gong even more dumbfounded.

Thinking about what kind of character he Gou Gong was, it would not be an exaggeration to call it a myriad of women, he didn't know how many women from good families had been harmed before Congliang in the early days, so he could see at a glance that Qin Ke'er was not yet a virgin at that time. But now......

What's going on, this woman?

Shouldn't she be hating adults? But look at this look, it doesn't look like it......

"Gou Gong? Gou Gong? In his ears, Xie An's suspicious inquiry came.

"Huh?" Gou Gong, who had just woken up from a dream, came back to his senses, hugged his fists under Xie An's stunned gaze, and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, my lord, I just got distracted...... I don't know what the adults are talking about? ”

"That's right......" Xie An smiled and waved his hand. didn't care, and asked, "This mansion is asking you, with Mofei's footsteps, when will you be able to catch up with the Taiping Army?" ”

"This ......" left Qin Ke'er's abnormality behind. Gou Gong pondered for a moment and said in a deep voice, "The third brother Mo Fei is the best at tracking assassinations, and the Taiping Army will definitely not be able to escape, calculate the time, at the latest this evening." Then there is news......"

As he was talking, suddenly a Dongling assassin broke into the tent, knocked on the ground and hurriedly said, "Lord Qiqi." The traces of the Taiping Thieves have been found! ”

"Good!" Casually handing the teacup in his hand to Qin Ke'er, Xie Anfu snorted his palm, and then asked in a deep voice, "Where is it now?" ”

"Lushan! - According to our verification. General Feng He waited two hours before me to enter Pengze County and chase after the Taiping thief army! ”

As soon as the words fell. The generals of the Great Liang Army in the tent praised again and again.

"It's worthy of an adult, the Taiping thief army really plans to withdraw from Lushan to Jingzhou in the shortest distance!"

"Feng He, that guy is amazing, he was able to arrive at Lushan two hours earlier than Captain Modu......"

"Isn't that nonsense? Feng He's guy is leading the cavalry, and the thieves are all foot soldiers, if they can't catch up, ask Feng He to go back to his hometown and plant sweet potatoes! ”

"Hahaha! ——After Lushan, the terrain is open, even if there are 35,000 Taiping thieves, Feng He's guy can bite its tail to death! Perhaps, without our help, Feng He's 9,000 cavalry alone is enough to defeat the thief army! ”

"That's right, the thief army has lost six battles and six defeats, so it can be said that it has almost no will to fight!"

"Tsk! Asked Feng He that guy to pick up a big bargain! ”

"Then why didn't you go that day?"

"Who knew it would turn out like this? ——It was originally a hard errand to go out of the camp to blow the cold wind, but in a blink of an eye, it became the first achievement......"

"That's life! - Appoint! ”

Listening to the words of amazement and regret from the generals in the tent, Liang Cheng shook his head helplessly, and when he turned around, he inadvertently saw Xie An's face full of doubts, and subconsciously asked, "My lord, what's wrong?" ”

"Something is wrong...... Looking at the marching map, Xie An frowned and asked, "How far is the lake mouth from the Inner Lu Mountain in Pengze County?" ”

"This ......" The tent will look at each other.

And at this moment, a person in the tent said in a deep voice, "Hukou is sixty miles away from Neilu Mountain in Pengze County!" ”

Including Xie An, everyone in the tent subconsciously turned their heads to look at the corner, but saw a general in armor standing there. This person is not the general of the Great Liang Army, but the former prefect of Pengze County under Yu Li, and the actual leader of the 4,000 Pengze Army, Zhang Yi.

Probably noticing the silent embarrassing atmosphere in the tent, Zhang Yi hugged his fist towards Xie An and said in a deep voice, "Lord Shangshu, don't blame, the last general just saw that the generals didn't know the geography here, so he dared to intervene!" As he spoke, he glanced at the strange-looking people in the tent, gritted his teeth and said, "Lord Shangshu Mingjian, Yu Li's thief is in contact with the thief army, I really don't know about the Pengze County Government, and the county soldiers are even more innocent. ”

Xie An nodded, after all, judging from Peng Zebing's anger after learning the truth of the matter, Xie An did not think that the Taiping Army could completely control a county, at best, it was just a local official like Yu Li, but for the sake of prudence, Xie An still did not plan to use the four thousand Peng Ze soldiers, so as not to have the details of the Taiping Army.

As for why this Zhang Yi is in the tent, it's just that Xie An can't bear this general to kneel and knock outside the tent several times in the past few days, and ask Ying to be the vanguard several times, just for Yu Li's matter, and wants to atone for the merits of the court on behalf of Peng Zejun. After all, if this matter is reported to the imperial court, even if the soldiers and civilians of Pengze County do not know, I am afraid that they will suffer a lot of crimes, you must know that Yu Li committed an unforgivable felony of rebellion and thieves seeking the country.

After pondering for a moment, Xie An chuckled and said, "General Zhang Yi should not be too restrained, and this government also believes it." The soldiers and civilians of Pengze County are all subjects of my Great Zhou, and they are like scum such as Yu Lina, but they are still a minority...... Come, General Zhang Yi and take a few steps forward, this mansion has something to ask you! ”

"Yes, Lord Shangshu!" Zhang Yi hugged his fists, took a few steps forward, stood in the position that the soldiers of the Great Liang Army had given up for him, and then gratefully hugged his fists towards the generals.

"General Zhang Yi. Just now you said, Hukou is only about sixty miles away from the Lujiang River in Pengze County? Looking at Zhang Yi, Xie An asked in a deep voice.

"Roughly so!" Zhang Yi nodded and replied.

"Didn't go wrong?"

"Your Excellency!"

"......" Xie An looked at Zhang Yi deeply, and the latter looked directly at Xie An without flinching. The expression is frank, and there is no intention of dodging.

Nodding with satisfaction, Xie An took a slight breath, looked at the marching map and frowned, and said slowly, "If what General Zhang Yi said is true, then the Taiping army is still near Lushan. It's a bit of a problem......"

"What do you mean?"

"Liang Cheng, what is the speed of the Great Liang Army's one-day march?"

Liang Cheng was stunned, and replied with a fist, "Sixty miles of foot." Ninety miles of cavalry! ”

"That's it, Liu Qing withdrew his troops in the middle of the night the day before yesterday, and it has been one day or two nights so far, in other words. It's almost sixteen hours, and yet. The Taiping army is still in the vicinity of Lushan...... Oops! Speaking of this, Xie An's face changed slightly, and he muttered, "Could it be that Liu Qing plans to ambush Feng He in Lushan?" ”

The generals in the tent looked at each other when they heard this, and looked at Xie An intently, but saw Xie An looking at the marching map with a solemn expression, and muttered to himself, "Then Liu Qing withdrew his troops overnight the night before, obviously because he was afraid that our army would pursue him later, if I were her, if I wanted to escape, I would inevitably call the whole army to rush forward, but what about her, the march was unhurried, and she only drove sixty miles in sixteen hours, which is unreasonable......"

Gou Gong frowned when he heard this and said, "My lord, do you compare the Taiping thief army with the Great Liang army, do you think a little too highly of the thief army?" The Great Liang Army is a well-trained army, while the thief army is just a rabble with weapons! ”

Xie An shook his head, frowned and said, "Gou Gong, you are wrong to think so, the Taiping army is just not good at large-scale battles, because they used to avoid the pursuit of the Great Zhou court, so they could not conduct large-scale training exercises, at best, they were only dozens or hundreds of people, so as not to be caught by the imperial court, which is also the reason why our Great Liang Army was able to temporarily change the formation as a bait and easily defeat the Taiping army when the two armies fought a few days ago." But it cannot be said that the Taiping army is a rabble, they are only good at fighting small-scale battles...... In other words, Liu Qing only traveled sixty miles in sixteen hours, which is unreasonable! - The only explanation is that she knew that our army would pursue, so she took a step ahead and set up an ambush in front of her......"

"Isn't that right, my lord?" Wang Huai, the general of the Great Liang Army, said in surprise, "If that Liu Qing really wants to ambush us, why would she retreat quietly in the middle of the night, at least she should let our army find out......"

"So, what she wants to ambush is not our army, but General Feng He's nine thousand cavalry!" Frowning, Xie An Zhengse said, "She knows very well that once she dares to withdraw her troops, our army will pursue, so she quietly withdrew before our army reacted, so how would our army respond?" ”

"Send cavalry to rush to intercept and buy time for the rear army?" Liang Cheng shouted in surprise.

"Not bad!" Pounding the table hard, Xie An gritted his teeth and said, "To intercept the Taiping army that withdrew a day and a half earlier, our army can only ask General Feng He to chase after it in a hurry, and only if General Feng He bites the tail of the Taiping army and buys time for the rear army, our army can have enough time to catch up with the Taiping army and kill it in one fell swoop!" - That's why, then Liu Qing waited for the rabbit in Lushan, she knew that General Feng He would lead the cavalry to pursue first...... What a strategy to reverse the situation and separate the forces of our army! As he spoke, Xie An raised his hand and pointed at the Dongling soldiers who came to deliver the news, and said in a deep voice, "You immediately notify Mo Fei, and ask him to find a way to inform Feng He, postpone the pursuit, once you pass Lushan, the terrain is flat, even if the Taiping army has wings, it will never be possible to escape from Feng He's 9,000 cavalry, so he doesn't have to be in a hurry!" - Liang Cheng! ”

Liang Cheng's face turned pale, and he clenched his fists and said in a deep voice, "The end will be!" ”

"Are the whole army ready to move?"

"Returning to my lordship, I have already prepared it, and I can only give orders!"

"Good!" Slammed the table, Xie An shouted in a deep voice, "The three armies are out!" ”

"Yes!" The generals in the tent clenched their fists and shouted.

-- At the same time --

On the cliff on the side of the Lushan trail sixty miles away from the mouth of the lake, Liu Qing, the leader of the Taiping Army, was condescending, looking at the cavalry of the Zhou army quietly marching in the mountain path with a cold expression.

"Sure enough...... Then Xie An really sent cavalry to chase and intercept our army! Feng Xi, the general of the Taiping Army, crossed his arms and said with a chuckle.

"It's easy to guess." Looking at the cavalry of the Zhou army in the mountain path in the distance, Liu Qing said expressionlessly. "That Xie An attacked our army's granary in Poyang Lake and cut off our army's grain and grass, but he didn't attack our army's camp, just to sit back and wait for our army to collapse. Once our army ran out of food and withdrew, he led the army to cover the killing, and in the case of facing the Zhou army, even if our army had 500,000 people, it was not enough for the Zhou army to kill...... That being the case, before it reacts. Evacuate early! ”

"But how could Her Royal Highness the Princess guess that Xie An must have sent cavalry to chase after him, instead of the three armies moving together?"

"Those who are good at fighting have no great feats! - [Yan Hu Ji] Liang Qiu Wu became famous in a battle eight years ago, and turned defeat into victory, but is she really a famous general? No! If she was a good fighter, she wouldn't be in danger in the first place! As a good general. Never fight a battle with no certainty, no strange victory, no wisdom, no bravery, the battle will be won, and the retreat will not be defeated......"

"According to the princess's words, isn't Xie An also a good general?"

"Heh," Liu Qing chuckled when she heard this, shook her head and said, "Is it difficult to understand?" In fact, in my opinion. That Xie An is much more difficult to deal with than [Yan Hu Ji] Liang Qiu Wu, that guy is really difficult, you also saw it a few days ago, he doesn't fight. Our army can't help him at all! - This kind of person leads the troops, has no great merits, and will not suddenly come up with any clever plan that can completely annihilate the enemy's army, he is using the army in the right way. Death haunts you, you advance and he retreats, you attack and defend. When you're exhausted, he'll start a counterattack...... This kind of person will not be the best general, but it will definitely be the toughest! - In contrast, I am more inclined to fight wits with Li Xian, at least it is still some fun, as for that Xie An, it is like a quagmire swamp, and I really don't want to stalemate with him...... I finally understood why Li Xian would ask that Xie An to hold back our army! No wonder, no wonder ......"

A cadre of Taiping sergeants beside Liu Qing looked at each other.

"Whew!" With a long sigh, Liu Qing sneered and said, "Then Xie An is too cautious, even if he learns that our army has withdrawn overnight, he will not immediately pull out the camp to chase after him, after all, our army has lured him several times, and it has had some effect...... That guy is bound to find out the true position of our army, and then the cavalry will chase after it, so that our army will have enough time to deal with the cavalry of this Zhou army! ”

"Her Royal Highness the princess is clever!"

"Is it smart?" Liu Qing sighed self-deprecatingly, shook his head and said, "If I were smart, I would have taken the barracks with Xie An a long time ago, why did I end up in this situation?" As she spoke, she paused, took a deep breath, and said, "Since you can't calculate Xie An's cautious guy, you can only start with the people under him!" - If Xie An led this force of 9,000 cavalry, he would never dare to go deep into such a narrow mountain path, he would have climbed high and watched us from a distance, and after we left this place, he would lead his troops through this path...... There is really no good way for a guy who is so cautious! - But it seems that the commander of the cavalry of the 9,000 Zhou Army is not as cautious as Xie An...... The general of the cavalry of the Zhou army probably didn't expect it, just because he was in a hurry and wanted to catch up with our army as soon as possible, but not only did he die, but even the nine thousand cavalry under his command could not be guaranteed......"

"That's right!" Feng Xi, the general of the Taiping Army, chuckled, as if the 9,000 cavalry of the Zhou Army were already cattle and sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

"Right now, Xie An's biggest advantage is cavalry! ——Since Lushan, the terrain is flat, if our army cannot set up an ambush again to annihilate this Zhou cavalry, it will inevitably be caught up by the Zhou army. On the other hand, if Na Xie An loses this cavalry, then there will only be foot soldiers left under his command...... Therefore, it is better to delay the speed of the march for most of the day, and to annihilate this cavalry of the Zhou army here! ”

"Yes!" Feng Xi, the general of the Taiping Army, hugged his fists, then glanced at the trail, and said in a low voice, "Your Royal Highness Princess, hundreds of cavalry of the Zhou army have entered the valley mouth path, it should be a test ......"

"Hmm!" Nodding, Liu Qing said in a low voice, "Can the crossbowmen be in place?" ”

"Everything is ready!"

"Very good, tell the soldiers in ambush not to act rashly, wait for all the cavalry of the Zhou army to enter the trail, halfway through, and then ask the soldiers in ambush to push down the gravel to block the exit of the valley cliff behind the road, when the time comes, our soldiers only need to climb high and release arrows!"

"Why don't you block the intersection in front of you at the same time?"

Liu Qing shook his head and said in a deep voice, "If there is a glimmer of life left for it, most of the Zhou army will choose to forcibly break through." And if the intersection in front of them is blocked together, the Zhou army knows that there is no life, and it is bound to fight back on the verge of death, and with the consciousness of going to death, he will try his best to climb the cliff and fight with our army. There is no need to take such a risk! ——The gravel at the intersection in front, when the Zhou army breaks through to the place, push it down! At that time, even if this cavalry of the Zhou army held the consciousness of death, it would no longer be able to inflict any casualties on our soldiers! ”

"Her Royal Highness the princess is clever!"

Glancing up at the sky, Liu Qing said, "Move fast!" In my opinion, this trick can be concealed from others, I am afraid that Xie An will not be able to hide it, and it is bound to completely solve this cavalry of the Zhou army before he leads the army to arrive! ”

"Yes!"

On August 14, the fourth year of Jingzhi of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Feng He, the cavalry general of the Zhou army, was ambushed by Liu Qing when he led his army through the cliff of Lugu Valley and almost completely annihilated.

Fortunately, Mo Fei, who had been summoned by Xie An, arrived in time with more than 100 Dongling assassins and repelled the Taiping army on the valley cliff, so that the general Feng He and the few dozens of personal guards survived.

After receiving this news, Xie An sighed, and sat alone in the temporary main tent during the march to rest, silent and did not say a word to anyone.

Looking at his sad appearance, Qin Ke'er couldn't help biting her lips, and for some reason she felt very uncomfortable in her heart.