On 8 July, Hu Wenke walked out of the camp with his soldiers and horses from the previous night's camp, and it was just dawn, but he continued to advance without resting much.

Theoretically, the road along the bank of the Yangtze River will be better, but in fact, it is similar, because the road between Zhongxian and Wanxian has not been walked for many years, and it is generally by boat. Therefore, whether it is by the river or inland, there are vegetation jams everywhere, and although Hu Wenke's route is relatively inward, Daniel Zhang, who is advancing in parallel along the river, is not faster than him.

Before camping yesterday, Hu Wenke estimated that he had completed two-thirds of the way between Zhongxian and Wanxian, and that he was still about 70 or 80 miles away from the target. As a general who has been stationed in Sichuan for many years and participated in the defense of Chongqing, Hu Wenke does not need Li Guoying to popularize to know Yuan Zongdi's strength.

In addition to the five hundred armor, Hu Wenke also brought more than 1,000 unarmored soldiers, and he estimated that the armor strength in his hands was about three to one-quarter of Yuan Zongdi's, but even if Yuan Zongdi had one or two thousand soldiers with complete armor, he would definitely not dare to go out of the city to counterattack; Hu Wenke estimated that Yuan Zongdi would hold on to the city while waiting for information. As long as Hu Wenke is the first to run to the city of Wanxian, he can start to rob Yuan Zongdi's crops, how can this be regarded as the first achievement, right?

In addition to harvesting a large number of crops, Hu Wenke also looked forward to capturing a group of Yuan Zongdi's captives to supplement his strength. was annihilated by Deng Ming once, and in addition to losing his troops, he also had to ask Governor Li for ploughing cattle and farm tools to redeem his own soldiers; Since then, Hu Wenke himself has no face to go to the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi to ask for more military pay to expand his strength, but fortunately, he was captured by Deng Ming for the second time and relied on coupons to get through, otherwise the economic and image losses would be even greater.

This time, we must rush to Wanxian County first, and supplement ourselves with Yuan Zongdi's auxiliaries and crops!

Hu Wenke secretly made up his mind, although Li Guoying had a lot of complaints about this kind of armed parade, Hu Wenke and the other Ganshan Green Battalion were still more willing, after all, going on the expedition meant that they could get the promotion fee and more military rations, and it was also a bonus for the generals. Besides, this is not to fight Deng Ming, if Deng Ming is annihilated, then the military rations and promotion fees will not make up for the loss of his own soldiers; But Yuan Zongdi is completely different, not only can he get additional allowances, harvest Yuan Zongdi's crops, and maybe have a bonus for meritorious service. When the crops are tired, it is estimated that the governor should also arrive with the follow-up soldiers and horses, and at this time, of course, it should be the turn of others who have not yet made meritorious service -- Hu Wenke, by the way, avoided the strength of the attack on Wanxian, and was able to return to Zhongxian one step ahead without being dragged down by wounded soldiers, and return to Chongqing by boat as soon as possible -- this is called one step first, step by step.

Returning to Chongqing early, in case Admiral Deng came to reinforce it, it had nothing to do with Hu Wenke, but for insurance, Hu Wenke still brought all the coupons given by Deng Ming. Not only did he bring his own ones, but Hu Wenke also asked for his ten tickets from Gao Mingzhan who stayed in Chongqing -- they were all given by Deng Ming when he gave Governor Gao this intermediary commission, anyway, Governor Gao didn't need this when he stayed at home.

Gao Mingzhan did not refuse Hu Wenke's request, but pointed to the date on the coupon and said to Hu Wenke: "It's all expired." ”

"It's okay," Hu Wenke said nonchalantly, "Is Admiral Deng such a calculating person?" ”

Hearing Hu Wenke say this, Gao Mingzhan gave him eight, and he also picked up two expired coupons: "General Hu is right, Admiral Deng is generous, and the official has to keep two for preparation, if there is a case, the official will use two as one, can't he redeem himself?" ”

After leaving, Hu Wenke inquired with Wang Mingde and them, and found that everyone in the Chongqing department brought expired coupons with them, and even the Manchurian Taijun who followed them asked Wang Mingde for a few as talismans. Only Daniel Zhang not only did not bring it, but also ripped off all the coupons given by Deng Ming.

"Hero!" After hearing the news, Wang Mingde gave a thumbs up in front of Hu Wenke, praised Daniel Zhang for his heroism behind his back, and then said with some regret: "It's better to give it to me, I heard that there are more than a dozen." ”

Wishing for Yuan Zongdi's crops, cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks, Hu Wenke continued his march eastward, and the army walked through the hilly areas of eastern Sichuan, scouts constantly discerning directions and scouting the roads available for the army.

At this time, one of the scouts hurried back and reported to Hu Wenke: "My lord, from the south, less than two miles away, about three hills, there are some men and horses who look like thieves. ”

"How many?" Hu Wenke asked casually, the Ming army that appeared around his army could only be the enemy's scouts, this place was still dozens of miles away from Wanxian, the probability of hitting the Ming army's scouts was very low, and the probability of encountering a scout team of more than three horsemen was almost even lower.

"There seem to be hundreds of ......," the scout of the Qing army replied nervously.

"You're wrong." Hu Wenke said without thinking: "What you see is Admiral Zhang's men. ”

Hu Wenke estimated that his distance from the Yangtze River was about seven or eight miles, and if Daniel Zhang, who was walking along the bank, encountered a cliff blocking the way, and if he went around, he might encounter his own scouts. Besides, the side of the road is either hills or woods, and it is normal for scouts to not be able to see each other's flags and uniforms clearly.

"At first, the little ones also thought it was Admiral Zhang's soldiers and horses...... "The scout reported that at first they didn't pay attention to the soldiers, and continued to look for a good way to go, but when they passed by, they saw that the other party seemed to be waving a red flag. When the scout came back to report, his companion continued to observe the suspicious soldiers.

"You must have read it wrong." After Hu Wenke finished speaking, he pondered for a moment and shook his head: "Forget it, be careful to sail the ship of ten thousand years." ”

After saying that, Hu Wenke rode his horse with a few guards, and asked the scout to take him to see - although Hu Wenke had a few horses, he was definitely reluctant to waste his horsepower at this time, and now he was still dozens of miles away from Wanxian, and he was still at a relatively safe distance.

But Hu Wenke did not find the scout, the scout who had just come to report the news ran north to report, and in order to catch up with Hu Wenke, he chased out a little more east, and walked two miles south around the hills for two weeks, Hu Wenke saw neither another scout nor those suspicious thieves.

"Let's just say you're wrong." Hu Wenke sighed, no longer continued to move forward but turned around to chase his large army, he did not criticize the scout, in this tense march, it is very normal for the scout to have some illusions, according to Hu Wenke's experience, the vast majority of intelligence is chaotic and wrong, at this time, it is necessary to rely on the general to judge with experience and common sense.

After walking along the way home, Hu Wenke walked around from behind a small forest, and a small hill that he passed by not long ago appeared in front of him, but there was no one here when he came, but at this time there was a pair of cavalry leisurely riding up the mountain, led by a general with gold helmets and silver armor, pointing to the guards beside him.

The red flag behind the general suddenly made Hu Wenke look stupid, and he stared at the flagpole more than two feet high for a long time before he could react.

"Yuan Zongdi!" Hu Wenke shouted, and there was a big "Yuan" written on the other party's red flag, so that Hu Wenke could judge the identity of the other party without too much effort.

……

"I was turned around by the Tartars!" When the encounter happened just now, Yuan Zongdi was also startled, yesterday he did not force the march but conserved his strength, and camped and rested after traveling more than 30 miles with the cooperation of the boat. The auxiliaries and soldiers who carried the armor had been well connected, and there had been no disjointedness or any other incident.

If it was on an open plain, the intelligence network of the cavalry scouts could be stretched for fifteen miles to ensure that the army would not be raided, but in a hilly area full of dense forests, the cavalry could not open such a large area of warning even if the horses were exhausted. While marching, Yuan Zongdi maintained a cordon of about two li—a large number of scouts were required to maintain this.

However, Yuan Zongdi was stronger than the Qing army in that he judged the approximate distance between the two armies more accurately, and today he sent a search team to the shore early and detected the approximate location of Daniel Zhang and others.

Yuan Zongdi's cavalry was more and closer to the logistics base, so he soon received a report that the first batch of 800 soldiers had already been armoured, and Yuan Zongdi had plans to ambush the Qing army advancing along the river.

What Hu Wenke's scouts saw just now was the group of Yuan soldiers who were advancing in the direction of the river and following the scouts to ambush the position. When Yuan Zongdi's scouts were drawn to the south, Hu Wenke's troops passed by the Ming army a few miles north of Yuan's army, and Hu Wenke happened to pass through the gap between the front and middle armies of the Ming army.

Yuan Zongdi led the guards to the predetermined battlefield, while deploying tasks and explaining tactical intentions to his subordinates and heralds, and as a result, he collided with Hu Wenke, who came back from the horse.

"Li Guoying has about 5,000 armor in Chongqing, even if he goes crazy, he has to leave 2,000 to guard the house, right? There are only 3,000 people who can be transferred to Zhong County, and Zhong County will stay behind and put some along the way, and the most people who can come over can have a maximum of 2,000 armor. The reason why Yuan Zongdi dared not wait for the 3,000 people behind him was because he concluded that the first batch of troops he brought would be comparable to the entire Qing army: "The river boat reported that there seemed to be 2,000 armor soldiers marching along the river bank. ”

After discovering that the other party seemed to be a general, Yuan Zongdi followed closely with his guards, and at the same time hurriedly sent orders for the Chinese army and the rear army behind him to turn. Due to the incomplete information of the water division, Yuan Zongdi did not expect that there would be a Qing army behind him, but he believed that this was a Qing general who came out with guards to investigate, and at most there was a search detachment around him, no more than a hundred subordinates.

Because Yuan Zongdi transferred the backup to encircle and suppress the fleeing Qing generals, he immediately asked people to notify the front army, so that the people in the head could stay hidden and not startle the snake - there were only more than 100 people at most, and Yuan Zong's 1,200 armor soldiers with thousands of auxiliary soldiers would search and suppress, and they would soon be able to eliminate this Qing army detachment. Even if the main force of the Qing army in the south was alarmed and rushed over, it would definitely be too late, and then Yuan Zongdi could still make a maneuver and flank the front army to attack the Qing army that came in a hurry.

……

"All the army is in armor!" After escaping back to his army, Hu Wenke shouted angrily, just now he recognized Yuan Zongdi and fled as if he was flying, and finally returned safely.

"Yuan Zongdi probably has one or two thousand armor soldiers, and the enemy is expected to count him as two thousand, so why do you have to leave half of them in Wanxian?" Hu Wenke was very surprised that Yuan Zongdi dared to come out to ambush the Qing army, and it was even more difficult to believe that the other party dared to choose the ambush site dozens of miles away from Wanxian: "A thousand soldiers, the main force must have gone to the riverside, even if there are 300 people around him." I have five hundred armor and more than 1,000 armor, which is more than enough to deal with the people around him. ”

"Kill!" After the Qing army finished putting on the armor, Hu Wenke shouted viciously and commanded the troops to rush south to arrest Yuan Zongdi.