After drinking the Zhuangxing wine, the 10,000-strong army followed Feng Cheng and left the city from the north gate.

The Han soldiers and civilians along the way all stood silently on the side of the road, watching them go away. Then speed up their pace, rush to their respective destinations, seize the time to rush to transport food, and must not waste the time they have won with their lives.

The 10,000-strong army marched north along the official road, and it was not until it was dark that Feng Cheng ordered the whole army to rest.

Because it was a rapid march, the army did not go down to the camp and did not light a fire, and of course it could not make a noise. All of them rested on the hillside beside the road, and there were scouts and rangers on the periphery.

The soldiers sat on the hillside, quietly eating dry food.

Yu Min also leaned on the cover roll and untied the bag of dry food.

Dry food was prepared in advance so that the soldiers could eat it at any time.

Yu Min's dry food bag contains rice and noodles. Among them, the rice is fried rice, which is first fried in a pot with salt and yellowed, then ground into powder, and can be eaten with a flush of water. You can also eat it dry with water.

The noodles are steamed wheat noodles. After steaming, soak the wheat noodles with salt and vinegar, dry them, and soak them again until they are not soaked, then grind them into noodles and wrap them. It can also be eaten dry in water, or soaked into a paste.

And dry food is not something that can be eaten casually, it is only allowed to eat dry food in battle, or when it is too late to make a fire to cook, on the order of an officer. Even how much to eat at one time must be obeyed and never too much.

This is the crystallization of the experience of the Ming army for many years of fighting, and it is always right to strictly enforce it.

Yu Min took out today's ration of dry food, tied up the dry food bag, and then ate it with cold water, the taste was far worse than the sauerkraut bacon and red rice at noon.

He couldn't help but regret a little, he knew that this was the case, he shouldn't have thought too much about it at that time, and as a result, those slices of bacon didn't taste good.

When he was annoyed, someone suddenly tapped him on the shoulder, Yu Min looked up, and hurriedly said softly: "Qianhu...... Oh no, deputy commander. ”

That person was Qi Xiang, he pressed Yu Min, who was about to get up and salute, sat down beside him, touched his head and said with a smile: "You kid fell into my hands again." ”

"Hey, hey." Yu Min grinned, the only thing he was happy about today was that after the reorganization, he became Qi Xiang's subordinate again. Hurriedly asked in a low voice, "The deputy commander's leg is completely healed?" He remembered that when he was discharged from the hospital, Qi Xiang had just thrown off his crutches.

"Or call me Qianhu, the deputy commander always feels like he is calling someone else." Qi Xiang smiled bitterly, patted his left crotch and said: "It's also old, and the legs and feet are always unfavorable, but fortunately, Lao Tzu has a horse, and it doesn't affect anything." ”

"Qianhu are all deputy commanders, they should be in the rear, what kind of front line are they on?" Yu Min said softly.

"It's not a military emergency, there is no one in the city." Qi Xiang said with a smile: "Xuan Feng has been selected to the military hospital, and the minor injuries and illnesses have been called, how can I, the deputy commander with a post and no officer, still be able to stay?" ”

In fact, there was another reason why he didn't say it, that is, the official position was promoted too quickly, and he was suddenly promoted from a thousand households in the fifth rank to a deputy commander in the third grade, which made him feel a little uneasy.

He knew that this was the result of Mu Ying and Guo Ying's efforts. Although it is natural for someone in the court to be good officials, he also has to give them a long face. Of course, you can't embarrass the emperor. Therefore, the battle must be the first to be the most basic.

After a brief chat with Yu Min, Qi Xiang stood up with his shoulders and stuffed something into his arms at the same time, and then continued to patrol forward.

Yu Min opened the oiled paper bag and saw that it was a sauce duck leg.

~~

The army rested for the night. The next day, when the sky was bright, they set out again, and after a day of non-stop marching, they arrived at the mountain of sacrificial insects at dusk.

At this time, the scouts sent out also brought back the latest enemy information.

According to the scout's report, the enemy communist soldiers from the direction of the Songmeng were divided into three routes, all the way to the direction of Phoenix Mountain, all the way to the Sacrificial Insect Mountain, and the official road to go all the way, preparing to enter the dam from Dabanqiao.

Feng Cheng immediately asked people to open the map, looked at it for a moment according to the scout's report, and sighed: "We must also divide our troops." ”

Qi Xiang and several senior officers nodded when they heard this.

There are several entrances to Kunming Dam, and there is no danger to defend, otherwise King Liang would not have heard that Qujing was lost, and he fled from Kunming City in fright.

The terrain that was good for them is now a disadvantage. The enemy troops entered the dam in three directions, apparently in order to prevent them from concentrating their forces to block the attack.

At this time, if the army is still concentrated in one place, it is likely that the other two rebels will take the back route. Under the front and back attacks, the situation is too dangerous.

But their forces are already limited, and if they divide their troops, they are also not optimistic.

But they had no choice. The blocking war is originally a battle where soldiers come to block it, and water comes to cover it......

So Feng Cheng decided to divide the troops, he personally led 3,000 soldiers and horses to garrison the Sacrifice Insect Mountain, and another commander took 3,000 soldiers and horses to Phoenix Mountain. Then he looked at Qi Xiang and said: "Commander Qi, you take another 3,000 soldiers and horses to Dabanqiao to set up defenses, and stop the enemy army in Dabanqiao for three days, even if the task is completed." ”

"Yes!" Qi Xiang hurriedly responded in a deep voice, this was the first time he had led troops alone, but he didn't expect it to be so severe.

In the end, he looked at his cavalry Qianhu and said: "Liu Qianhu, you lead a thousand cavalry as a reserve, cruising between the three lines of defense, and where there is a need, you will make up for it." ”

"Yes!" Liu Qianhu replied loudly.

"Let's go!" Feng Cheng nodded to the generals and said in a deep voice, "We'll see you in three days." ”

"Yes!" The generals responded with a bang and went their separate ways.

Qi Xiang also took his 3,000 soldiers and horses and rushed to Dabanqiao, ten miles away.

~~

The big plate bridge is a stone slab bridge, which belongs to a part of the official road, and the Ming army stepped on this bridge at that time and drove into the Kunming dam.

When Qi Xiang arrived at Dabanqiao with 3,000 soldiers and horses, the first problem he encountered was what to do with this sturdy stone bridge.

He first ordered the soldiers to immediately dig trenches, set up deer villages, erect shooting towers, and build fortifications on the shore. He took Yu Min to stand on the bridge and fell into deep thought.

It is said that the bridge should be demolished as soon as possible to delay the enemy's crossing of the river. But standing on the bridge, you can really see that the Baoxiang River under the bridge is not one

a big river. If it was in the spring and summer season, the water flow was turbulent, but now it is the end of September, the water flow has slowed down, and the river is only a dozen zhang wide.

Compared with the Baishi River, which was 100 zhang wide at the beginning, it was not an order of magnitude.

Looking at the large white water stains on the piers, he knew that the water level had dropped a lot, and he tried it with a bamboo pole, and the deepest part of the river was only a zhang.

In other words, if the enemy wants to cross the river, it is not very difficult to build a bridge or a raft.

After thinking about it for a long time, he finally made up his mind, and said to his subordinates in a deep voice: "Don't demolish the bridge, keep it for them to attack." ”

"Why is that?" His subordinate Lu Qianhu asked puzzled.

"If there is a bridge, they will attack from the bridge first." Qi Xiang pointed to the stone bridge that was only seven feet wide under his feet and said, "And this bridge will cancel out their advantage in strength." ”

As he spoke, he pointed to the river and said, "On the contrary, without this bridge, they will build a raft and force them to cross as soon as they come up, that is the correct way to give full play to their superiority in troops, and we must let them wake up as late as possible." ”

(End of chapter)