Xia Nan understood that under the conditions of this time and space, it was impossible for the infantry to launch a night attack on the cavalry at night when they could not see their fingers, and it was dark that Abatai could get time to breathe. After a night's rest and recuperation, after both sides recovered a certain amount of physical strength, the Houjin cavalry with one person and two horses was able to give full play to the advantage of mobility, and Liu Guozhu's subordinates were left with little left, unable to continue to implement today's daytime tactics, and then going up was to die, and there was only a theoretical possibility left to pursue and kill Abatai.

He threw his whip on the ground in hatred and said, "Damn, it took so much effort to stop Abatai!" ”

Sima De said: "If the order of the military department arrives early, if Wang Hong, the chief soldier of Tianjin, is willing to fight, he can stop Abatai in Jinghai, and he doesn't have to chase after him so hard." ”

"Exactly, if the military department is happy, we can justifiably recruit local soldiers and horses; If Wang Hong had half of Liu Guozhu's consciousness, even without the order of the military department, he would be able to build an encirclement and leave Abatai with no way to escape. Xia Nan sighed, "It's a pity, everything can only be assumed, Abatai has already stepped out of our pursuit range with one foot after all, and it is only a matter of time before he runs away completely." ”

As night fell, the two warring sides were separated by less than ten miles, and almost at the same time stopped and set up camp.

Even though the possibility of a night attack is not great, Houjin's camp is still brightly lit, the torches are not extinguished all night, the army does not disarm, the horse does not unsaddle, and the Qiong navy suddenly appears so that they can get on their horses and flee at any time.

Abatai took off his heavy helmet, put on chain mail, and sat in the tent with his eyes closed. The daytime pursuit and counter-pursuit had exhausted almost all of his energy, and only this moment could he relax for a moment.

Gartu walked into the camp tent and asked worriedly: "Lord Belle, according to the report from the scouts, Qionghai Town is less than ten miles away from us, is this distance too close, do you want to pull out the camp for ten miles and stay away from them?" ”

"Why, I'm the leading warrior of the Blue Banner Gartu, am I afraid of the Ming army to such a point now?" Abatai closed his eyes and asked lightly.

Old Gartu's face flushed, and he defended: "The subordinates just want to think about it thoroughly, not because they are afraid of them...... If you don't attack the Dajin camp overnight, no one will dare to do it, and your subordinates will worry too much. ”

"That's not necessarily, these people are chasing from Shandong all the way to Tianjin like mad dogs, and there is nothing they dare not do." Abatai opened his eyes slightly and said, "It's unlikely, but it's not to be taken lightly. There is no need to pull out the camp, and the order is to keep everyone on guard, loose on the outside and tight on the inside, ready to leave at any time. ”

"My subordinates know."

When Gartu had left the tent, Abatai closed his eyes again. The tiredness came over him and made him drowsy. However, a trace of humiliation in his heart made him unable to sleep at all, when will Dajin's warriors be chased by the always weak Ming army and become lost dogs? Such a humiliating thing happened to him, as long as he was known by Azig and others and reported to Huang Taiji, then he would become the object of ridicule and ridicule from everyone, and this stain could not be washed away for a lifetime.

In the process of being pursued, he once thought about committing suicide, so as not to return to Liaodong in the future and suffer endless humiliation. But before the saber was raised, he convinced himself again, it is better to die than to live, he was so suppressed by Huang Taiji in Liaodong, and he lost face, didn't he survive it? Besides, Qionghai Town is a rare rival in his life, and it is not shameful to lose to them, who dares to laugh at himself and let him fight, Abatai believes that under the same conditions, no one will do better than himself, and he will be defeated in the hands of Qionghai Town after all, the difference is only in the length of time.

In the camp tent in Qionghai Town, Nan had no intention of sleeping in the summer. He was haunted by the failure of the pursuit, and he sulked alone.

The curtain of the tent was lifted, and Yang Youji walked in and reported in shame: "General, my subordinates have not completed what you have explained, please punish the general." ”

Xia Nan stood up: "Yuki is back?" What's the matter, I didn't let you be reasonable, just grab it directly, what difficulties will there be, can't you do it? ”

"My subordinates underestimated the shamelessness of those people, I didn't expect them to do such a thing......" Yang Youji recounted the afternoon's experience indignantly.

"Burned all the granaries directly? This trick is a draw from the bottom of the kettle, and it simply cuts off our back road! Xia Nan gasped, and in this way, the last trace of theoretical possibility was also in vain, and when the remaining grain and grass could not last for two days, he could only watch the Houjin army run away under his nose. He was very unwilling, stood up, put his hands behind his back, paced back and forth, and went through the ins and outs of the matter.

"It's not as simple as you seem." Xia Nan figured out the key to it, and stood up and said, "There must be a mastermind behind the scenes, and the power and status are not low, at least at the level of a cabinet scholar or a scholar of the six books, and it may even be instructed by the emperor himself, otherwise a small soldier does not have such a big courage to dare to burn tens of thousands of catties of grain, otherwise he will not have enough heads to cut off!" ”

Yang Youji asked suspiciously: "But we are far away in Guangdong, and we have not had a holiday with the big people in the capital, who would be so scheming to deal with us, even at the expense of helping the Tartars?" As for the emperor, it's even more impossible, isn't it just for him to solve the trouble by beating the Tartars? ”

"Politics is very dark, who can tell?" Xia Nan said, "Since there are people who would rather let the Tartar fishermen benefit than cut off our back road, then I have to find out." The open gun is easy to dodge and the dark arrow is difficult to prevent, we can't stand in the open and let the family make a stumbling trick, we have to find this person out, so as to prevent future troubles! ”

In the early morning of the next day, the Houjin army began to pull out the camp, and the order they received was to drive a hundred miles in one go, and only eat and rest after arriving in Xianghe County, so as not to give Qionghai Town a chance to catch up. The Houjin soldiers, who had regained some of their strength, mounted their horses one after another, turned their horses' heads and headed north, the rumbling hooves resounded across the plain, and in less than half an hour, everyone walked away.

Soon after, the army of Qionghai Town arrived here.

Yang Youji turned over and dismounted, touched the ashes of the bonfire for heating, and then reported to Xia Nanyu: "General, the ashes still have residual warmth, and it has been gone for less than half an hour!" ”

"There are no miracles in the world, after all, let them go. Hey, the snipe and the clam compete, and the fisherman profits! Xia Nan sighed, "They have one person and two horses, and they can maintain the speed of two hundred miles a day, on our side, Liu Guozhu has almost become a bare-pole commander, without the help of his cavalry, our two legs will not be able to catch up no matter what." ”