Night 7: Thirteen Days of Death (5)

Although the track was violent, there was still a certain distance between the two sides, and the dreamman took the cavalry battalion that had become a foot soldier into the mountains and forests, and carried the mountain road that was difficult for horses to move to the west-northwest, so as to limit the speed of the pursuers.

From this point of view, they will reach the east bank of Xixi, a tributary of the Jiulong River, and follow Xixi all the way north for another 80 miles, and soon they will reach Donghaiguan, and then follow the mountain road to the northwest for about 150 miles, and then enter the boundary of Xinxian County.

However, the plan could not keep up with the changes, and although the Donghai team tried every means to delay the speed of the pursuers, they themselves could not move fast because they needed to find food all the way, and they could only rely on high-intensity marching for more than sixteen hours a day to make up for it.

Even so, their daily advance in this hilly area was only a pitiful thirty miles, and it was not until dusk on the seventh day that they came out of the mountains to the east bank of the West Creek in Jiulongjiang. At this time, the distance between the pursuers and them was also approaching to within half an hour.

Half an hour's journey is about five miles on flat land, but it is much closer in the mountains, only a mile in a straight line. In other words, if the East China Sea team is at the foot of the mountain, then the Lizhou army is on the top of the mountain. At this time, if the other party shoots with a bow and arrow, with the help of the height difference between each other, it can completely form a blow to this group of fleeing guys.

In fact, the Lizhou army did try this, but the effect was not good, and it also allowed the dreamers to take the opportunity to recover a lot of arrows, otherwise the part they brought with them would have been almost consumed in the ambush of the eastern bandit camp.

In order to get rid of the pursuers who were already close at hand, the dreamer had to cross the river again at night, and this was the third time in seven days that they had played around the Jiulong River and the Lizhou Army, and each time they could delay the opponent's speed somewhat.

However, this time the distance between the two sides was too close, and the Eastern Navy almost crossed the river under the noses of the other party, and there was no secret at all. If it weren't too late, the officers and soldiers would have even crossed the Kowloon River west after them.

In view of this situation, the three stinkers of the East China Sea team had to discuss this issue.

As the captain, Sima Fuqiang first said, "I think we should rush overnight, at least to widen the distance between each other to more than four hours."

Huang Zhi objected, "If this is the case, we must reduce the rest time by four hours, otherwise this advantage will be lost tomorrow during the day." But if we do reduce the rest time by four hours, I am afraid that the speed of progress will be affected by the lack of physical strength during the day tomorrow, and by the rest time tomorrow night, I am afraid that the advantage of four hours will only be two hours at most. ”

"That's also much better than the current situation." Sima Fuqiang still insisted on his opinion.

"And then?" Huang Zhi asked rhetorically, and without waiting for the captain to answer, he continued, "Then three days later, when the distance between us and the official army is shortened to half an hour again, do you plan to let everyone cross the river again?" ”

Now Sima Fuqiang was asked. Now they can still make a fuss around the Jiulong River, but after two days, once they cross the boundary of the East China Sea Temple, they have to move away from the Jiulong River and turn to the mountain road in Goxin County. At that time, I am afraid that it will be more difficult to get rid of the pursuers behind me.

Seeing that the two of them fell into silence, Zhang Wei, who had not spoken, expressed his opinion, "This matter is actually not as complicated as the two of you imagined. ”

Hearing his opening remarks, Huang Zhi and Sima Fuqiang suddenly became interested, and their focused eyes were on this tactician master of the East China Sea team at the same time.

Zhang Wei didn't care about the eyes of the two, but turned his head to stare at the officers and soldiers who were camping and resting on the other side, "If we just escape, we will definitely not be able to escape, and sooner or later we will have to fight with them." ”

Not only Huang Zhi and Sima Fuqiang, but also the other listeners of the Donghai team nodded in agreement.

Zhang Weiyao pointed to the officers and troops on the other side, "The art of war says that attacking halfway is the best time for the weak to defeat the strong, and instead of giving up the current good opportunity, do we have to wait until the officers and troops catch up with us on the mountain road before fighting?" ”

The other two of the three stooges couldn't help but be amazed when they heard this, they had been running all the way for the past few days, and they had long forgotten that there was still a way to resist. In fact, the number of pursuers from the state capital army closest to them was not very large, about three battalions. These pursuers belonged to the same army as the two battalions that were ambushed in the bandit camp that night, and took over from the vanguard to continue the pursuit of the Eastern Navy.

The two battalions whose command system was half-crippled by the Dream Man were reassigned several lieutenants to command the troops, and then temporarily rested and recuperated near the eastern village, and waited until the other five battalions of the army could catch up before following up together.

At this time, the large force of seven battalions was a day's lag behind the Eastern Navy, and it was not possible to join the brother battalions in front of it for a while. In other words, there were as many as 5,000 troops chasing the Dream Man, but the only one who could really threaten them was the 1,500 people who followed closely behind.

If it was in the past, even if it was a ratio of one to three, the East China Sea team would have taken the initiative to lead troops to meet it. With the strength of the dream man himself, coupled with the good combat effectiveness of the cavalry battalion, he was completely able to defeat the officers and troops three times his own. The reason why he chose to retreat earlier was entirely because he did not want to be dragged down by this vanguard force, so that he would be caught up by the large army of officers and troops. Later, running away became a habit, so much so that both of them became rigid in their minds, and they didn't think about fighting back against each other at all.

At this time, they were reminded by Zhang Wei, and the two of them thought about it in their hearts at the same time, and immediately came to a conclusion. As long as Huā spends two or three hours on the riverbank during the day tomorrow to snipe the officers and troops crossing the river and defeat them, the distance between the pursuing troops can be stretched to about a day.

After paying attention, Sima Fuqiang asked Du Ziteng to arrange the ambush during the day tomorrow first, and then let everyone sleep peacefully.

The soldiers of the Eastern Navy were able to sleep peacefully, but the people in their dreams could not, and in order to make it better to attack halfway after dawn, they deliberately sacrificed two hours of rest time, and took advantage of the last darkness before dawn to secretly return to Jiangdong to disturb the pursuers.

Zhang Wei's battle plan was very simple, at this time, the autumn was high and cool, and the weather was dry, which was most likely to cause forest fires. Their night attack this time was to set fire to the temporary camp of the army leaving the state capital, and first consume some of the opponent's troops, and then talk about it, if they could retreat from the enemy because of this, it would be better.

Just after the end of the hour, the sentinels on duty fantasized about the dreamman according to the agreement, and as the commander of the cavalry battalion, Du Ziteng naturally got up early.