Niujiao Mountain, like two horns towering at both ends, there is a canyon in the middle, it is also the only way to the east, and it is one of the military important places on the border between Dongsheng and Ningyuan. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Looking at Niujiao Mountain in the distance, Xia Liang was puzzled, did the other party really retreat? Otherwise, why would such a military stronghold be abandoned?

Seeing Xia Liang's hesitation, Ma Lan took the initiative to ask for battle and said, "General, let me take someone to the front to explore the way." ”

After being silent for a long time, Xia Liang looked at Ma Lan: "It's okay, you take two hundred cavalry to take a look, remember, once you find that the enemy army can't fight, return immediately." Ma Lan answered the order and ordered everyone to leave.

The canyon of Niujiao Mountain was not long, and it looked like it was three or five miles, and it didn't take long for a group of cavalry to come back and return to life, but no trace of the enemy was found, and the east exit was safe.

Xia Liang took a deep breath, laughed at himself, felt that he was too nervous, and ordered the troops to move out, cross Niujiao Mountain to the east to station for defense, and wait for the follow-up troops to come to change the guard.

Five thousand men and horses, through the Niujiao Mountain Gorge took a whole afternoon, when the last baggage troops through the valley, the sky was getting dark, at this time, the troops who passed in front had already set up camp outside the valley mouth, scouts and horses also brought back news, forty or fifty miles ahead found the main force of the enemy army stationed, judging from the tents and flags, there were about 30,000 horses, no intention to attack was found.

Xia Liang took a deep breath, she was not worried about the enemy's surprise attack, although they only had five thousand people, as long as they retreated to the valley, it was not easy for the enemy to eat their own people, now, she just had to wait for the follow-up troops to arrive, and when the time came, whether to advance or retreat would depend on the decision of Dong Yunkai, the general.

There was nothing to say all night, and early the next morning, Xia Liang felt a heartbeat, and the bad premonition became stronger and stronger: "Li Chunxiang, hasn't the herald who went back to report come back yet?" ”

Li Chunxiang walked into the dormitory and shook his head and said, "No, general." ”

Xia Liang was very uneasy, and walked out of the tent to look at the valley behind, suddenly, his face changed, and he hurriedly ran back to the tent to unfold the map, and said to Li Chunxiang: "Which area are the scouts who investigated the loss of Niujiao Mountain in charge before?" ”

Li Chunxiang was just a personal guard, and he didn't know much about these, so he saluted and said, "I'll go check it out." With that, he turned and left.

After a while, a female lieutenant in charge of the scout unit followed Li Chunxiang back and pointed out the areas that those people were responsible for, and as a result, both of them were scared into a cold sweat, because those scouts who failed to return were almost in charge of the same areas.

Indicating the location on the map, Xia Liang solemnly ordered: "Send all the people in your hands to check these places, and give me a careful inspection of each place, and there must be no omission." The female lieutenant was well aware of the seriousness of the matter, and ordered her to leave and take someone to check it out herself.

Xia Liang said to Li Chunxiang: "Let the female soldiers of Xizhou retreat to the west of the valley and build a defensive line, and then let Lei Hua retreat into the valley with his baggage, and the others will be on standby." Li Chunxiang took the order and rushed away with Xia Liang's token to convey the military order.

The movement of troops made everyone baffled, especially Lei Hua, who ran to Xia Liang to ask the reason, Xia Liang briefly said his analysis and guess, which startled Lei Hua, and hurriedly went back to retreat to the valley with the people of the headquarters.

The valley is narrow, and it can barely accommodate two or three thousand people, plus the baggage carriages and reserved passages are a little crowded, and even tents cannot be set up.

Yuan Fang took a sip of the mountain spring water that Yang Xing had gotten, lay on the donkey cart full of grain, crossed Erlang's legs, pillowed his arms, looked at the narrow sky like a frog at the bottom of the well and muttered: "I don't know what's going on, don't wait for a good camp, you have to get us to this ghost place, isn't this a toss." ”

Yang Xing smiled: "Why don't you ask?" ”

Yuan Fang turned over: "Forget it, we are just a small soldier, we still have self-knowledge, those are their generals' business, let's not worry about it." ”

Yang Xing looked left and right: "I think this place is not bad, the wind can't blow and the rain can't get wet, but I can't see the sun, it's a little cold." ”

Yuan Fang tightened the clothes on his body: "Bear with me, I didn't listen to the logistics guys, the cotton clothes will arrive in a few days." Then, Yuan Fang pointed to a bulge on the cliff above the valley mouth and said, "You say, how many people will be killed if such a big stone falls, Yang Xing, don't run down there if you kid is fine." ”

Yang Xing looked up and said disapprerovantly: "It's okay, it hasn't fallen off for so long, it won't be that coincidental, we haven't done anything wrong, we shouldn't be so unlucky." ”

The female soldiers of Xizhou were stationed at the mouth of the valley in the west, everything went well, and nothing unusual was found, but Xia Liang was still frowning, those scouts sent to re-investigate had been out for a long time but had not come back yet, and the heralds had also disappeared for a long time, and they seemed to have lost contact with the Chinese army behind, and they were in a dilemma.

Xia Liang was thinking about whether to retreat to the west of the valley, and at this moment, the scout captain who had been sent out before rushed into the big tent covered in blood, and as soon as he entered, he hurriedly said, "General, the enemy has been discovered." ”

Xia Liang's heart sank, and he stood up and helped the scout lieutenant to sit down: "Take a break, talk slowly, what's going on." ”

Taking a breath, the lieutenant recounted the matter.

Here's the thing, the scout troops rushed to the west side of the valley, according to the previously marked location scattered to check, at first it was very smooth, and did not find anything abnormal, but to the farthest place marked, suddenly by the fierce attack of the enemy scouts, the scout captain with his subordinates desperately rushed forward, into the encirclement, found several large hiding holes in the distance, which were densely packed with enemy troops, but the specific number is unknown, they took a lot of effort, paid the price of most of the manpower to successfully break through the siege, and brought the news back.

Xia Liang's face became extremely ugly, the enemy army has been exposed, I believe that there will be action soon, there are two choices in front of her, one is to retreat to the west side of the valley as soon as possible and join the Chinese army behind, the other is to hold the valley and wait for the Chinese army to come to support, but if the latter is chosen, if the enemy in the east chases them, they will be flanked by the front and rear, the pressure is huge, even if there is a valley danger as a reliance, if the enemy continues to attack, it will cause a lot of losses, and it is difficult to say whether it can be held in the end.

Just when Xia Liang was about to order the retreat to Xigu, the herald arrived, and brought a very bad news, the emperor died two months ago, the two princes fought for the throne and the court was defeated and both were injured, the Great Sima and his descendants were all wiped out, the Praetorian Guard suffered heavy losses, the throne was vacant, no one inherited, and the empire fell into chaos.

In addition, Dong Yunkai's Chinese army was blocked by the enemy and fell into a bitter battle, and the follow-up troops had returned to retreat to Dingbian because of the death of Da Sima and no one to command, in other words, they had no backup.