Chapter 57: The Woods

As mentioned last time, the Shu army had discarded most of the gunpowder, and the entire army had basically lost its combat effectiveness, and Liu Hou had to lead them all the way to escape.

"Shizi, 30 miles east of here is Maicheng, should we go into Maicheng to repair it." At this time, the personal soldiers came to report, apparently the information that the scout had returned, and he relayed it to Liu Hou.

"No!" Liu Hou and Guo Youzhi vetoed this mention at the same time.

"Why not? We are already out of food, and if we don't go to Maicheng to find some supplies, we will have to drink the northwest wind. Zhang Bao said.

Liu Hou and Guo Youzhi glanced at each other, and Liu Hou motioned for Guo Youzhi to explain. Guo Youzhidao: "The city of Maicheng is small, the city wall is low, and after the previous Guan Gong fought here for more than a month, the city defense has long been full of holes. At that time, Guan Gong's army had already exhausted the grain, and even the food of the people was also looted.

Later, it was plundered by the Eastern Wu army, and all the people who could flee fled. Now not long after the great war, the vitality of Maicheng has been greatly damaged, and it can recover so quickly, and it is expected that there is not much food in the city now.

And when we enter the city, the Wei army has a clear goal, once surrounded, we will have a strong enemy outside, no food and grass inside, and repeat the mistakes of Guan Gong. ”

Liu Hou nodded after listening to Guo Youzhi's words, and Zhang Bao asked, "Then what should we do?" I don't have anything to eat, so it's very uncomfortable. ”

No one answered his question, Liu Hou ordered someone to take out the map, although it was a military map, but the ancient cartographic process was extremely rough, there was no concept of scale at all, Liu Hou looked extremely difficult, so he had to be pointed out by Guo Youzhi to study it.

"There was a forest to the west, and we went into it. As for food, you can let the cavalry buy some around Maicheng, but the speed must be fast, I am afraid that the Wei army will catch up if it is late. "Guo Youzhi.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to harvest much food in this way, there are many military disasters, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to find people nearby, even if there are people, there may not be much food in stock." Liu Hou said worriedly.

"Then let's find another way, if you really can't kill the military horse, alas!" Guo Youzhi. Military horses are very valuable in this era, but they are also a last resort when the survival of the army is at stake.

"Into the woods? It's not proper, if the Wei army attacks with fire again, we will die. Besides, the art of war is cloudy, and it is really dangerous for us to rush into the woods. Guan Xing said a rare word, it seems that he can still use his brain. Guo Youzhi patiently explained to him:

"It's okay, didn't you notice that the wind has changed to southeast now? If the Wei army dares to set fire to our backs, they will inevitably burn themselves first. I know how to observe the weather, and this kind of southeast wind is very common in early spring, and I estimate that this southeast wind will blow for at least three days.

As the saying goes, 'Clouds are hooked in the sky, and rain is drenched on the earth.' You see, there are large thick clouds drifting in the southeast, and it is likely that the rainy season of spring is about to begin. This year's spring rain fell late, but once it did, it would be endless. As long as it rains, the yellow leaves of the withered grass in the ground are wet, and it is not suitable for fire attack.

The forest is not very large, and it is estimated that we will be able to get out of it in a day. It may be that the last time the Soochow army attacked Maicheng, it had cut down trees from here to make siege equipment, resulting in sparse trees in this forest, I estimate that there is not much danger in the woods, we will go into the forest tonight, rest for one night, and then set off tomorrow. ”

"Well, according to Mr. Guo's words, we will go into the woods tonight. Entering the woods will help us evade the pursuit of the Wei army. You all think of 'don't enter the forest', and it is estimated that the general of the Wei army will also think so, so he must not have thought that we would escape into the woods." Besides, the woods were not suitable for cavalry to walk, so that the tiger and leopard cavalry could not continue to track us.

And the Wei infantry is estimated not to have arrived here so quickly, and even if they do, they will definitely not be able to march as fast as us. We can also throw them off with speed. Liu Houdao.

"Yes, but we still have a couple of things to arrange." Guo Youzhi continued.

"I want to hear about it." Liu Hou arched his hand.

"First, shrink the scouts, send a small number of scouts to reconnoiter the enemy from a distance, and when you encounter the enemy, you will stay away, quickly escape, and try to avoid contact with the enemy, as long as you determine their approximate location. Of course, it is not possible to lead the enemy to where our army is.

Second, we must send a team of men and horses to be responsible for eliminating the traces left by the transfer of the army, so that the Wei army cannot track us and let them know that we have escaped into the woods. ”

Everyone nodded secretly when they heard Guo Youzhi's words, and Guo Youzhi made a lot of sense.

"Thirdly, our cavalry will not be able to enter the woods, so let them try to find a long way, go around the woods, and then throw some flags, equipment and other items along the way, misleading the enemy to a longer road, and buy time for us to move."

"Why don't you just lead the enemy somewhere else? For example, all the way to the west, wouldn't it be better to lead them in the direction of Shangyong and Fangling? Zhang Bao asked.

"Huh." Guo Youzhi replied with a smile, "Because our enemies are not so stupid." Shangyong and Fangling are much farther away than going to Jingzhou City, and the main generals of these two cities, Liu Feng and Meng Da, did not send troops to rescue Guan Gong before, and the enemy generals will definitely guess that the prince does not like them and will not take refuge in them. In this way, they will know that we are suspicious, and they will take a shortcut and rush to Jingzhou City at full speed. ”

All the questions were answered, and the army sprang into action. Until it was dark and into the depths of the woods, Liu Houcai ordered to set up camp. The trees in the woods are abundant, so after cutting down the trees casually and setting up a simple camp, everyone began to eat and rest.

The cavalry did not find much food, and the army ate all the rest of the food plus the little food they found, which was not enough to feed everyone, and it seemed that they would have to starve tomorrow.

The cavalry team worked hardest, and after they had found food, they were also responsible for eliminating the traces of the army entering the woods, and then found a long way to start a detour, throwing down flags, armor, iron pots, etc. from time to time along the way, creating a false impression of throwing away their armor and fleeing in a hurry.

However, their efforts were well worth it, and the pursuers of the Wei army were indeed misled, and they took a long detour to pursue them, wasting a lot of time in vain.

Liu Hou's life in the woods was not easy, the weather in early spring was still very cold, and at the beginning, they did not dare to light a fire to keep warm. The woods are full of dead branches and leaves, and it is easy to cause forest fires by lighting a fire in such a place, and besides, it is easy to expose one's location by lighting a fire, so the whole army issued a ban on lighting fires for heating and cooking.

Everyone had to eat what little cold and hard dry food they had, and then snuggled up to each other to keep warm. Liu Hou wrapped himself in a blanket and slept against a tree until midnight when he was awakened by freezing. He remembered reading some books before that some people would not wake up when they fell asleep, and would freeze to death in their sleep.

Liu Hou hurriedly woke up Guo Youzhi, Guan Xing, Zhang Bao and others next to him and discussed with them:

"Ladies and gentlemen, now that all our baggage is gone, we don't even have a tent to protect us from the wind, and now it's so cold that it may be even colder in the early hours of the morning. If you sleep like this for one night, you have to freeze to death, and many people have to freeze to death, what can you do? ”

"Let's just go overnight, as long as everyone walks around, slowly the body will be warm, we will come out of the sun, the weather is a little warmer, bask in the sun and then sleep." Zhang Bao said.

"Hmm." Liu Hou nodded, Zhang Bao's method is also a good way, if there is no other way, it will be done in the end.

"Let's light a campfire to keep warm. Now the moon in the sky is obscured by dark clouds, and we can't see the five fingers when we reach out, and even if we light a fire, we can't see the smoke from a distance. Guan Xing said.

"Mr. Guo, what do you think?" Liu Hou asked.

"Well, it's a good idea to travel overnight and sleep when it's warm during the day." Guo Youzhi.

Hearing this, Zhang Bao couldn't help but smile proudly.

"However, General Guan Xiao's method may be better, as long as we don't light that kind of skyrocketing fire, it is estimated that there will be no problem. Piles of small fires are indeed impossible to see when they are far away. We have now gone some distance deep into the woods, and as long as the Wei army does not chase into the woods, and is very close to us, it should not be possible to detect us. Guo Youzhi added.

"But it will ignite dead branches and leaves, and cause forest fires." Zhang Bao was unwilling to be authentic.

"This is easy to do, the prince used to dig a firebreak, and he could isolate such a big fire, so we can just dig a firebreak around each bonfire." Guo Youzhi.

"But ......" Zhang Bao wanted to say something, but was interrupted by Liu Hou: "Second brother, don't be, aren't you cold?" If it's cold, let's start a fire. ”

So they went their separate ways, and woke up all the soldiers to get up and make a bonfire to keep warm. They all found some places with relatively few trees, dug out a ring of firebreaks, lit piles of bonfires in each unit, and then lay down next to the campfires and continued to sleep.

Finally, this cold night was over, and everyone woke up hungry. The sun had already risen, and the sun was shining through the sparse branches on the people's bodies, but everyone did not feel comfortable at all, because their stomachs were so hungry.

I can't help but be hungry, I have already eaten up the little food I have left last night. The only thing we can do now is to get out of the woods and go to a populated place to see if we can find something to eat.

Some people can still find something to fill their stomachs on the march, and some lucky ones can catch some small animals, which is naturally a supreme delicacy, and this kind of person is estimated to be from Orion; Some people dig some cicada chrysalis from the dirt under the tree, which is also a high-protein nutrient; There are also some people who dig up some grass roots to satisfy their hunger, which is better than having nothing at all. These two kinds of people probably had a hard time when they were young, and they knew how to find food in the wild.

Under the guidance of the knowledgeable soldiers, Liu Hou also dug up some edible grass roots and chewed them in his mouth, which can not only slightly comfort the stomach that has pantothenic acid, but also replenish a little water, which is a good thing.

Cicada chrysalis and small animals still forget it, there is no time to make a fire to roast them, and Liu Hou does not have the courage to eat them raw. It is estimated that if he is hungry for two more days, he will see what he will bite, and he will not care so much anymore, but now he has only been hungry for half a day, and he can still hold on.

It wasn't until after noon that Liu Hou and the others finally staggered out of this small forest.