Liu Xiyao, commander of the first infantry battalion of the First Corps of the Third Army, was galloping around Dahong Mountain with 5,000 infantry under his command at this time.

Dahong Mountain is the watershed between the water and the water.

This is the only way to rush to Xiangyang from the Hindu Chengtianfu, and Xiangyang is the northern gateway of Huguang, and Azig must pass through Xiangyang to leave Huguang.

If Azig retreats from Wuchang Mansion and does not go to De'an Mansion and Chengtian Mansion, he will have to pass through Hongshan, otherwise there will be rivers in other areas to block it, which will affect the speed of withdrawal.

The third battalion of infantry led by Chen Zilong has rushed to De'an, and even if Azig goes to De'an, he will encounter the resistance of the Guards infantry battalion.

Of course, now Azig is going to Chengtianfu, and he will also encounter Liu Xiyao, the infantry battalion of the Guards, in the area of Dahong Mountain.

The First Corps of the Third Army of the Guards Army was ordered to be stationed in Xinyang, Henan Province after the end of the Yangzhou rest in early June.

According to the instructions of the Generalissimo's Mansion, Liu Fangliang rushed to De'an and Chengtian with the two infantry battalions of Liu Xiyao and Chen Zilong, and did not come to the rescue of Wuchang, just so that he could block Azig's retreat in the future.

The distance from Xinyang to Dahong Mountain in Chengtianfu is much closer than the distance from Xinyang to Wuchangfu, and the infantry battalion of the Guards Army is a light infantry, which can quickly cross Dabie Mountain, and naturally can quickly travel to the territory of Dahongshan in the shortest possible time.

What's more, the most important subject in the infantry training of the Guards Army is long-distance cross-country, and the southern soldiers have always had good foot strength, and running in the 100,000 mountains of northern Hubei can be said to be like walking on the ground.

But as soon as he entered Dahong Mountain, Liu Xiyao, as the commander, did not dare to slack off, he knew that this was the first time that his infantry battalion was independently responsible for intercepting the Qing army's iron cavalry without the help of cavalry and artillery, and it must be intercepted, and he could not miss Azig's cavalry, otherwise his 5,000 infantry would waste their energy all the way.

Liu Xiyao gasped heavily, sat on an open field, looked at the fertile field in front of him, and couldn't help but squint his eyes.

At the same time, Liu Xiyao took a few experienced former border soldiers and grassroots officers who were born as thieves to lie on the ground and listen for a while, and even asked people to go to various river beaches to check the traces of the Azig cavalry.

"Returning to the commander, I have seen everywhere, there are no horseshoe prints within a radius of ten miles from the mountain pass, and it seems that no cavalry has appeared here", an infantry sentry came on horseback and said to Liu Xiyao.

"There was no sound of shaking on the ground, and it seemed that we had not come late, and commanded our brethren to rest quickly, for we had just run all morning, and our feet were still very hot, and we were not allowed to go into the water, nor to drink cold water, nor to go down to the river to bathe because of the heat! Rest in place, don't move! Half an hour later, the commander and envoy went to fetch water. ”

It is now June, which is the season when the scorching sun is high, and the weather in the northern part of Huguang has always been extremely hot at this time, which is not much different from the furnace Chongqing by the Yangtze River, and the infantry of the Guards who have been running all morning under the high temperature are naturally hot and thirsty.

However, as a veteran, Liu Xiyao is naturally more experienced than the Xiucai people in the camp in terms of life, and knows that the more strenuous the exercise and the more thirsty he is, getting cold water and cold water is extremely harmful to people, just like not being able to drink water immediately after running 10,000 meters, Liu Xiyao also strictly forbids his officers and soldiers to go down to the river to draw water at this time.

As for dipping in cold water, needless to say, although it is very refreshing for a while, it will also leave a lifelong hidden disease, resulting in extreme ankle pain in every rainy season.

Seeing the sunset, a gust of evening wind blew away the afternoon heat, and when the Guards infantry hiding in the dense forest began to enjoy the nectar of the cold spring, the sentry of the infantry battalion ran over: "Commander, there is a large force of cavalry ahead!" There are more than 10,000 rides! ”

"Sure enough, I came in this direction, whistled, let the brothers calm down, and waited for the enemy cavalry to get close before fighting, and immediately sent a few people to Wuchang overnight, informing us that we had encountered more than 10,000 iron horsemen in the area of the rich water port of Dahong Mountain!"

Liu Xiyao finished speaking, threw a slice of marinated beef jerky into his mouth and chewed it, and at the same time pressed the hat ring woven with flowers and plants lower.

Dong Zhining was lying behind Liu Xiyao at this time, and he only felt that the surroundings were very quiet now, and he could hear Liu Xiyao's breathing quietly.

But at this time, Liu Xiyao also glanced back at Dong Zhining, but saw a five-step snake head suddenly poking out of Dong Zhining's shoulder, spitting out a letter on Dong Zhining's shoulder.

Perhaps Dong Zhining was too focused on observing when the Qing cavalry in front of him appeared and didn't notice that there was a poisonous snake crawling on his shoulder.

Liu Xiyao also slowly retracted, made a silent gesture to Dong Zhining, and then quickly grabbed the head of the five-step snake with his hand, took it off, and pulled out the bayonet to cut off the head of the five-step snake.

Dong Zhining couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat when he saw this.

Liu Xiyao returned to his original position as if nothing happened.

In this midsummer, it is a humid place in the south like Huguang, and there are many poisonous snakes and beasts in nature, not only poisonous snakes, but also leeches in this kind of river beach land.

This is also the reason why Liu Xiyao, even if it is hot, strictly forbids the officers and soldiers under his command not to take off the leggings and take off their outer robes.

Fortunately, Dong Zhining was born in a wealthy businessman in Ningbo, and he didn't know what a leech was since he was a child, and he only habitually pulled it out when he saw something attached to the back of his hand, and he didn't realize that the place where the back of his hand was bitten by a leech had been bleeding.

"Commander, they went in the northwest direction, and did not come this way", at this time, the sentry suddenly came to report.

Hearing this, Liu Xiyao immediately stood up: "Chase along the dense forest, you can't let them run!" ”

Liu Xiyao stepped out first, and quickly shuttled through the bushes, while other officers and soldiers of the infantry battalion also followed, and there was a sparse sound, and I don't know who screamed, obviously bitten by snakes and insects.

Liu Xiyao saw the Qing army's iron cavalry appearing in front of him, waved his hand hurriedly, and let the officers and soldiers under his command hide.

At this time, the Qing army's iron cavalry also came over, and more than a hundred Qing army sentry horses shot arrows into the dense forest, and the heavy arrows came whistling, and they directly sank into the grass.

"Don't be restless, this is the enemy cavalry exploring the way, if they want to go back, they have to dismount and climb the mountain, and when they dismount, we will catch him off guard!"

As soon as Liu Xiyao finished speaking, he felt a sharp pain in his arm, but when he saw that an arrow happened to hit his right arm, he had to stand up, without making a sound, and grabbed the grass and bit it in his mouth.

At that time, thousands of iron horsemen appeared in the valley in front of the woodland, dismounted, took the reins of the horses and began to walk into the forest, and most of these horses were breathing rapidly, indicating that they were very tired from running.

"Hit!"

Liu Xiyao shouted.

Dong Zhining fired a shot first, and a bullet in his hand directly broke through the leaves of a white-armored soldier in front of him, knocking the white-armored soldier to the ground.

At the same time, there were other dense gunshots.

Thank you book friends for looking back at the city of tears 399 book coins for rewarding

(End of chapter)