After the Tang cavalry rushed out of the valley, they were divided into two teams, and Wang Yuan ordered Liu Jun to lead two hundred cavalry to pretend to pursue and defeat the fleeing enemy, but it was only a pretend, in fact, it was chasing farther and farther. The purpose of this is to maintain the pressure on the Xi people and drive them away. If you really chase and kill desperately, the other party will really turn around and fight for your life, and your own side will still be at a great disadvantage in terms of numbers, so it will be self-defeating.

Wang Yuan himself led and guarded in front of the valley mouth, waiting for the more than 100 archers who had lost their horses to evacuate from the cliff in the rear. There were also archers of the Xi clan on the top of the cliff, Wang Yuan was not sure if these hundred archers would come out alive, but half an hour later, when he saw the figure of a hundred archers running from the valley mouth, Wang Yuan was completely relieved, and they even had time to push more than ten carts full of supplies. Obviously, the Xi archers on the top of the cliff realized that their side was defeated and evacuated as soon as possible.

After the team was assembled, Wang Yuan ordered the whole army to march westward, and those who lost their horses rode in tandem, although the horses were too heavy to travel far, but at this time time time was precious, and they must stay away from this place immediately. The sentinel reported that the Xi people had recovered and were gathering, and there were signs of turning back, and at this time they couldn't care about whether the horses were dead or alive.

The soldiers and horses quickly marched west along the edge of the continuous peaks on the west side of Jiming Mountain, and after more than two hours of fighting, the excitement of the soldiers passed, and one by one they looked extremely tired. The hot sweat on his body was blown by the cold wind, and his face was pale and shivering from the cold.

Wang Yuan realized that there was no way to go on like this, the sky was gradually getting dark, and he had to find a way to find a place to rest, from the morning to now, the soldiers were tired, tired and frightened, and they had to be fed and rested.

Gongsun Lan rode a horse from the rear to catch up with Wang Yuan's horse head, she was entrusted by Wang Yuan to go to the rear to check the enemy's situation, without waiting for Wang Yuan to ask, Gongsun Lan said: "The remnants of the Xi tribe have been assembled, and they are chasing us fifteen miles away in the rear, and it is estimated that they will be able to catch up with us before dark, and I am afraid that we will have to fight head-on at that time." ”

Wang Yuan looked at the desolate mountains and fields around him, and after leaving Jiming Mountain for more than ten miles to the west, there were no tall peaks around, only rolling hills and low slopes, and a desolate land overgrown with barren grass, and there was no way to set up an ambush at all. And with the current state of the soldiers, it is impossible to experience another big war. I have to say that Liu Dehai's regimental training soldiers are too weak, and they made a lot of mistakes when they were fighting just now, and they can't withstand continuous combat at all.

"The team needs to rest, and the enemy forces are chasing after them, so it seems that the situation is not good." Wang Yuan frowned.

"I have bad news for you." Liu Dehai said: "During the battle just now, we lost a large number of supplies, and there were only a few dozen tents for camping at night. And the dozen or so water trucks that accompanied us were all discarded, and now we don't even have water to drink. ”

Wang Yuan's brows furrowed even tighter, and he said in a deep voice: "Is there any dry food?" ”

"There is still some dry food, and several of the dozen or so carts pushed out by the archers when they withdrew from the valley were our food. But they only cared about food, but they forgot to drink water. Look at these horses, all of them are foaming at the mouth, and after half an hour of running, all the horses will be finished. ”

Wang Yuan no longer hesitated, and immediately ordered: "Immediately order people to find a suitable place to camp around, there must be a water source." Even if we are caught up by the Xi people, we must eat and drink enough to meet this battle. ”

Liu Dehai shouted a promise, rode away and gave an order, and soon more than a dozen cavalry left the team and began to search around.

Seeing that there was no one around him, Wang Yuan sighed and said to Gongsun Lan: "Cousin, I want to explain a few words to you, it seems that this catastrophe in front of you is still difficult to survive after all." We're going to have to go head-to-head with them after all. In the event of a head-to-head battle, we will be defeated. If the situation is urgent, my cousin will leave me alone and leave directly. After returning to Chang'an, I have to take care of my family, Lan Xinhui is pregnant with my blood and bones, and I will ask my cousin to take good care of my flesh and blood in the future. ”

"What did you say? I said I'd get you out. I'll do my best to keep you safe. ”

Wang Yuan frowned and pointed to Zi Yun'er and Qing Yun'er, who were riding together not far away, and pointed to Liu Jun, who was still energetic on a white horse, and said, "But what about them?" Do you want me to flee on my own without regard for their safety? That's impossible, and if I run away like this, I won't be able to rest at ease for the rest of my life. So please cousin be sure to promise me. If one person can be saved, save Liu Jun, he didn't need to go through this catastrophe, he was involved because of us. ”

Gongsun Lan thought for a while and said, "Let's not talk about this first, let's talk about it then." Didn't we just win a battle? How to say these depressing words. If we had fought head-on, we would have lost less than a hundred men and had seven hundred men left to fight. Although there are still nearly 2,000 soldiers and horses of the Xi people, this battle may not be lost. ”

Wang Yuan smiled bitterly: "My cousin, if it's really just those Xi soldiers and horses behind, will I still be so worried?" Yan Zhuang and An Qingxu must have known about the disappearance of the defeat of the Xi people, and they will definitely take their soldiers and horses through the canyon to join in the fun. And I dare to conclude that they must have mobilized troops and horses from other places to surround us, and our trouble is not only the Xi people. If we don't reach the boundary of Yunzhou for a day, we will be in the tiger wolf's den for a day. ”

Gongsun Lan was speechless, nodded for a while, and said, "Although I don't want to believe your words, I'm afraid this is the truth." That's it, let's not think about it much, everything has its own destiny, and it's useless to worry at the moment. I'm also going to look for a water source and a place to rest, maybe we can find a place to set up an ambush. ”

Wang Yuan hurriedly said: "You rest for a while, you have the hardest day this day, let Liu Jun go." ”

Wang Yuan shouted at Liu Jun, and Liu Jun leaned over on his horse and shouted, "Teacher, what's the matter?" ”

Wang Yuan said: "You go ahead to explore the way, find a camp and a water source, we need to rest." ”

Liu Jun nodded and said, "Obey." Teacher, goodbye Aunt Gongsun. ”

After that, he urged the war horse to gallop out, his white horse was really a good horse, still full of energy, as fast as lightning, and there was no fatigue at all.

"This kid is born to fight, look at him, he is not nervous at all, he seems to be enjoying it." Wang Yuan said with a smile

"Why did he change his name to call me aunt?" Gongsun Lan frowned.

Wang Yuan said in a low voice: "I asked him to change his words, I call you cousin, and he also calls you sister, isn't this a divergence of generations?" ”

Gongsun Lan said: "What do you call aunt, call me old." I'm that old. ”

Wang Yuan laughed, stared at Gongsun Lan with a smile and said, "My cousin will never be old in my heart, forever eighteen years old." You can rest assured, it's just a long and young wheel. ”

Gongsun Lan smiled and said, "When did your mouth become so sweet?" I know you're lying, but I love to hear it. ”

……

After the time of Zhuxiang, Liu Jun galloped back on a white horse, followed by Liu Dehai and several low-level officers, Wang Yuan rode up to meet him, and asked loudly: "Have you found a suitable place?" ”

Liu Dehai had a sad face, but Liu Jun said directly: "Teacher, I don't know if this is bad news or good news, the problem of water source has been solved, and there is a big river in front of it." But the river is so wide that we can't get there. ”

Wang Yuan was taken aback, waved his hand and said, "Take me to take a look." ”

The crowd galloped out, and ran forward for four or five miles, and then they heard the sound of flowing water, although they did not see the surface of the river, they could hear from the sound of flowing water, and the flow of the river was very turbulent.

Soon after everyone came to the riverbank, a big river in front of them from north to south in front of them, the flowing water was surging, the white waves were surging, and the momentum was very majestic. The width of the river is thirty or forty zhang, and it is by no means a large river that can be crossed.

"Envoy Qin, I asked the Fanyang soldiers in our army, and they said that this river is called Yanghe, the river. It is very deep, there are only three bridges on the bridge, one is in the territory of Wende County in the upper reaches, and the other is in the territory of Yongxing County in the west of the Jiming Mountain in the lower reaches, and there is no bridge to cross the river in addition to this. Liu Dehai frowned.

Everyone in the entourage was worried, everyone knew what it meant to encounter such a desperate situation, this was really no way forward, there were chasing soldiers behind, and something was wrong.

Wang Yuan frowned, in such weather, the river was close to freezing. The river doesn't show the slightest sign of freezing, which indicates that the current is strong enough. It is impossible to swim across, not to mention the depth of the water, even if the icy river water is not enough, I am afraid that not many people can go ashore after entering the water. I can't cross the river, I can only find a good place to camp and defend, and tonight will be a difficult night.

Wang Yuan rode his horse up and down the river bank for hundreds of steps, and he noticed a small grove growing on a raised hill above a river embankment, so he galloped into the woods, and found that this was a typical northern forest dominated by poplars, and the ground in the woods was very dry, with long yellow grass.

Out of the woods to look around, nearly four or five miles to the left are in the field of vision, backed by the Tangtang River, with this small forest as a foothold is a good place. Because of the lack of tent supplies, camping in the forest can at least have some cold wind, and there can be some small fortifications around this small forest. Although this will not be able to withstand a frontal attack, at least there is some geographical advantage.

"It was getting dark, and there was no hope of crossing the river, so we had to camp by the river tonight. Ordered the whole army to camp in the woods, Liu Dehai, and led 200 people to follow me to set up fortifications outside the forest, in case there was a battle tonight. The rest of the people cut down trees and built sheds, made fires to cook rice and boil water, and ate and drank enough to nourish their spirits. Wang Yuan gave the order.

Although it is taboo for soldiers to camp with their backs to a desperate road, there is no choice at this moment, and everyone can only follow Wang Yuan's orders to do their own things. Soon after, more than 700 soldiers and horses entered the woods, cutting down trees in the forest, building shacks, lighting fires and boiling water, cooking and feeding the horses, and were busy. Wang Yuan led Liu Dehai and 200 soldiers and horses to the edge of the woods and set up the improvised fortifications he had in mind.