Chapter 41 Remember to explore the bushes

After receiving the military order, Li Yuanhui did not dare to delay and immediately led more than 3,000 cavalry from Xuchang to Chen County.

Chen County is more than 200 miles away from Xuchang. If the cavalry marches at full speed, they can arrive there in two days.

Along the way, Li Yuanhui encountered several gangs of bandits, but after seeing the large group of cavalry of the Yan army, they all fled and escaped to the mountains for refuge.

The march went smoothly, and the army reached Chen County in two days as planned. However, Zhou Menglong's troops, who had surrounded Chen County, fled before Li Yuanhui's troops arrived.

When Chenjun Prefect Huang Lian saw the reinforcements arriving and the enemy army retreating, he immediately led his people out of the city to welcome them and prepared food and fodder for the people and horses.

After Li Yuanhui entered the city, he immediately ordered his soldiers to eat and rest. At the same time, he asked Huang Lian to send out guides and scouts with reinforcements to track the whereabouts of Zhou Menglong's troops.

Towards evening, scouts reported that Zhou Menglong might have learned that the Wagang Army had turned towards Jiyin County, so he did not choose to continue eastward, but instead turned around and headed west back to Ruyang.

After learning of the rebels' whereabouts, Li Yuanhui did not rush to send troops, but decided to let the cavalry, who had been marching for two days and one night, rest for one night and wait until the next day to send troops.

On the second day, early in the morning at the hour of Mao, before daybreak, the various troops began to gather and eat, and left the city after half past the hour of Mao.

It took most of the day to catch up with Zhou Menglong's troops.

At this moment, Zhou Menglong's troops were wading across the Cai River, which later became the Jialu River. Because it was the transition period between autumn and winter, the river was shallow and there were places where they could wade across. The 800 light cavalry under the command of the lieutenant Liu Tong of the front army were only five or six miles away from the rebels and could already see the rebels crossing the river.

Liu Tong wanted to launch an attack immediately. After all, these bandit troops were no match for the elite Yan cavalry.

Although there were many people, they were in a chaotic state. Most of them were holding farm tools and sharpened sticks. A few were holding weapons captured from the Yan army, such as spears and swords. No armor was seen.

Just as Liu Tong was about to give the order to charge, a messenger from behind came up with a flag and shouted, "The general has ordered that the front troops must not attack without authorization after encountering the enemy."

When Liu Tong heard the military order, he immediately frowned. He could only order his subordinates to wait where they were and sent out scouts to check whether there were any ambushes on the east bank of the Cai River.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the central army led by the commander-in-chief caught up.

Li Yuanhui, along with his personal guards and two captains, climbed a small hill and came directly to the front of the battle formation. Seeing this, Liu Tong also turned his horse and came over.

What comes into view is a river bend. The originally narrow river channel suddenly widens here, and the water surface expands to nearly twenty meters, reflecting a dazzling white under the autumn sun.

On the opposite side of the river, the embankment runs across the north and south, extending into the distance with no end in sight.

Liu Tong rode up to Li Yuanhui and said, "General, this is the only place where we can wade across the river. We should attack immediately to prevent the enemy from crossing the river and then attacking us halfway through. If we try to cross the river from somewhere else, we will waste a lot of time."

If this was a plain area, Li Yuanhui would immediately agree with Liu Tong's suggestion. It would only take one charge to break through the rebel formation, and then it would be a one-sided harvest.

But the current terrain made him a little worried. The east bank of the river was flat, but the west bank was blocked by a naturally formed dam, with no view.

At the river bend, countless ragged bandits were wading across the river, crowding the originally wide river channel like dumplings.

There were still many bandits crowded in the back, loudly urging the people in front to move faster, so that some weak people were even pushed directly into the deep water of the river, shouting for help.

"General, give the order."

Liu Tong said anxiously.

Li Yuanhui continued to watch the situation without saying a word, then said, "Guide, come here."

The knight behind him rode forward and said, "General."

Li Yuanhui pointed his whip at the river bend ahead and asked, "Can we wade through here normally?"

The guide was a veteran soldier from the local prefecture, and was very familiar with the local terrain. He thought for a moment and said, "General, we can wade across the river in winter, but not in the summer during the flood season."

"What about the water level? Is it always like this?"

"It's a little hard to see here, it seems to be about like this, it looks like the water is higher than in previous years"

"Go to the river and check the water level, then come back and answer me."

"The rebels are still by the river, how can I get there?" "You can avoid this place and go upstream or downstream, go quickly"

The guide rode his horse quickly to the river, but Liu Tong said anxiously: "General, if we don't attack now, the rebels will cross the river. By the time they have all crossed the river, it will be too late to catch up with them."

Liu Xuanji and Guo Xiaoke said nothing and just looked at Li Yuanhui.

Li Yuanhui frowned and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? Isn't there still a need for war these days? Since you asked for a fight, lead your troops to attack, but don't go straight to the rebels at the river. Use arrows to harass them outside the river bend."

"General."

Li Yuanhui smiled and looked at the other party and said, "Captain Liu, this is a military order."

After hearing the word "military order", Liu Tong realized that his behavior had gone too far. He clasped his hands together in salute and immediately turned his horse back to the main formation. He ordered: "Two teams form a group, harass along the river bend in a circle, shoot arrows in the battle, and do not charge into the formation."

Then he took the lead and led two teams of 100 cavalrymen to ride out first.

At this time, seeing that the government cavalry finally moved, a middle-aged man on the west bank of the river suddenly became excited, "Hahaha, the government troops are moving, damn it, they finally moved. If it succeeds this time, I, Zhou Menglong, will be rich."

The middle-aged man was standing by the river. He was more than seven feet tall, wearing a standard armor of the Yan army, but no helmet. He was very strong, with a sword at his waist and a heavy axe in his hand. He was the leader of this rebel army, Zhou Menglong.

He was originally a powerful man in Runan. He liked to make friends with bandits and had great prestige in the village. He was wanted by the government for smuggling salt, but fortunately he rebelled. Within a few months, his team had grown to more than 10,000 people, and defeated the commander of Runan County several times.

And in the most recent battle, he was chopped to death directly. The man wearing the iron armor belonged to the captain named Wang, who seemed to be from the Wang family of Langya, and was of a very high class.

But what's the use of being born high? It's still killed with one sword, right?
"Uncle, don't be happy too soon. The Yan army is very cautious. This strategy may not work."

The man who was talking to him was a young man in his early twenties, very fair-skinned, wearing a clean Confucian robe and with a neat short beard, looking like a scholar. It was his nephew Zhou Shuyu.

As soon as Zhou Shuyu finished speaking, he saw the two cavalry teams led by Liu Tong start shooting before rushing to the river bend.

Hundreds of arrows fell directly into the dense crowd, splashing dozens of blood flowers and screams one after another.

This also accelerated the pace of the bandits crossing the river, making the river bend more crowded, and those who crossed the river quickly fled westward.

However, after firing several rounds of arrows, there was no one on the east bank of the river left. Only more than 200 corpses and more than 100 bandits who were still alive, screaming and struggling but had lost their ability to move.

At this time, the guide also came back, "General, the water level seems to be normal."

Li Yuanhui nodded, then led his personal guards on horseback to the riverside where the bandits were crossing the river.

Ignoring the screaming bandits, Li Yuanhui dismounted, walked to the river, and looked at the mud above the water level.

At this time, Deputy General Jiang Yi said, "General Li is worried that the bandits are storing water upstream and will release the water when our army attacks or crosses the river? However, the water flow is almost dry in autumn and winter. If water is stored upstream, the water flow here should have been cut off and dried up, right? The water is not flowing!"

Li Yuanhui looked at him and smiled: "From General Jiang's point of view, why is this so?"

Jiang Yi said, "This must be because the bandits have stored water upstream and downstream, so that there is water in this section of the river, but it is not flowing. If we had just ridden out, the riverbank would have been muddy. The enemy could have let the front troops pass and then released water, but I was unable to take care of the rear. The general is cautious in using troops, and I admire him."

Li Yuanhui smiled and said nothing. He had to be cautious, as the lives of these 5,000 people were in his hands.

Will there be a war?

Li Yuanhui asked himself this question before going on the expedition, and his answer was that he knew a little, but not much.

But he can play the king.

In the canyon, if you check every bush, there is a high probability that you will not be ambushed.

Unless the opponent is an expert at blocking vision.

So don't cross the river easily when there is no enemy vision.

This is the inner monologue of a chicken who has been caught ten thousand times while poking his head into the bushes in the canyon.

(End of this chapter)