Chapter 29 Hunting
Although no one knows exactly where the two logging teams disappeared, it is not completely impossible to follow the direction: in order to transport the wood, the auxiliary soldiers will move along the Yanshui. In this way, they only need to push the cut tree trunks into the river. Let them flow down the river, and the river will naturally send them outside Yan'an Mansion, where other auxiliary soldiers waiting there will just drag them up. However, the big trees close to the river have long been cut down. To find aniseed materials for rafts, you have to leave the river bank and go deeper to the east, which can be found further away.
The riders followed the river bank all the way north. Every time they saw a trail that could be used by people or had traces of heavy objects being dragged, they searched in depth. They wandered aimlessly for more than an hour without any clue. After traveling another twenty miles, we reached Ansai County. Just as he was about to return, Guan Jianlin noticed something unusual: a group of crows were hovering in the sky about half a mile to the northeast. Gu Baihua, a horse thief, is very familiar with this scene: there are corpses on the ground, and they are being eaten by predators. The crows are waiting for the predators to leave!
The people on high alert rushed up a small slope. Just as Master Xiao Luo had predicted, there were seven or eight headless corpses lying on the ground on the other side! When the few hyenas surrounding the corpse saw the shining knives and guns, they reluctantly ducked more than ten feet away with their tails between their legs. They stopped to lick the blood from their mouths and noses and looked back here.
There was no need to wait for Guo Qinglin to come over and identify them. The scattered ropes and tree trunks lying on the ground without having time to cut off the branches proved that these headless corpses were one of the missing groups!
Although he had expected the outcome, Luo Shifan was still a little confused by the scene in front of him and asked: "Don't these people run away when attacked? Even if they don't run away in the end, shouldn't they die together?"
Gu Baihua didn't answer. He clamped his legs under the horse's belly and galloped forward to circle the scene a few times. He examined it carefully and understood the general idea. He turned to Luo Shifan and said, "Young Master, the enemy is an elite force." Judging from the footprints and hoof prints, there were about a dozen horses, and at most twenty or thirty infantry. It seemed that the infantry set up an ambush here, and the horse soldiers were hiding by the forest further north. When the ambush signaled, they would follow us. They came up from the small road and blocked the way back, and then chased the scattered people back. They might even say that they would not make it difficult for the auxiliary soldiers. These guys believed it, so they were pulled over obediently and beheaded! Look at the neck cavity The blade of the knife is cut very low, and only with the Adam's apple attached can you achieve the first-level skill. This is the technique of the army... A certain person also cut people's heads like this before." He said with a proud smile.
Luo Shifan was a little nervous when he heard that there were dozens of officers and soldiers, and subconsciously looked around. Seeing this, Gu Baihua suddenly became proud and said with a smile: "Don't panic, young master. I guess what the dog officers and soldiers want is to cut off some heads and go back for reward. A dozen or so heads would be enough. Even if they don't come back now, Zhan Zhan, he won’t stay nearby, he should go somewhere else to set up an ambush. Besides, even if we bump into each other, brothers like Gu are not vegetarians, so they can definitely keep the young master safe. The young master can be at ease. "
Luo Shifan felt relieved after hearing this. When he turned his horse's head, he didn't notice that Gu Baihua made a "silence" gesture to everyone who was hesitant to speak, and raised his saber to signal everyone to stay alert.
After getting the answer, everyone no longer bothered to find another group of missing auxiliary soldiers, and rode straight back to the city. Then Gu Baihua's loud voice disturbed Guan Shengyun's erotic dream.
Most of Guan Shengyun and his generals have served as soldiers and thieves, and have accumulated rich experience in these two special fields. Therefore, they are familiar with handling such problems without Master Luo having to worry about it. After a brief discussion, the generals came to a unanimous conclusion: According to the thinking of the sneak attack officers and soldiers, the auxiliary soldiers who felled the trees were all consumables for the old, weak, sick and disabled. If a dozen of them "ran away" in a day or two, it would not attract attention—— Indeed, Guan Shengyun didn't take this seriously, and would grab more people and throw them out of the city to continue chopping wood. At most, each group would send one or two thieves to watch and don't desert - well, that's what Gu Baihua thought from the beginning. The only variable was that Master Xiao Luo happened to hear Guo Qinglin’s report!
Taking all the circumstances into account, and analyzing them in terms of time, this group of officers and soldiers can only come from the east extension direction - the army is coming from the north, and there is no danger behind it. If there are officers and soldiers coming from the west or south, they must be large forces. , I can't hide it from my own scout Tang Qi, and if it is the opponent's elite scout, there is absolutely no way that they can covet these unsightly head skills and risk exposing their whereabouts to the old and weak auxiliary soldiers!
Dozens of people traveled three to four hundred miles round trip - they couldn't dare to take the official road in a big way. From Yanchang, they had to walk north to Yanchuan for a while, then turn west, cross the Qinghua River, and then enter the forest to ambush. A dozen heads with gray hair or no beards could be exchanged for a small amount of money, and even if we conducted a thorough investigation, it would take three or four such heads to be converted into a level one. Therefore, it is very likely that these guys will continue to lurk in the mountains for a few more days in order to cut off a few more heads. Moreover, in order to avoid being discovered and triggering vigilance and encirclement and suppression by soldiers, they will not go near Fucheng, especially not along the official road for reconnaissance!
Countermeasures were quickly formulated.
Before evening that day, five elite search teams set out one after another along the river bank. With the location where the body was found as the center and a radius of ten miles from north to south, a semicircular reconnaissance network spread out to the east. The search team does not need to go too deep into the forest. They can just find a hilltop to lurk and observe where there is fire. At night in the mountains, the dog officers and soldiers will definitely light a fire, whether it is to keep out the cold or to drive away wild animals. The mission of the scouts is simple: after discovering the enemy, note down the location and report back immediately.
Guo Qinglin was responsible for finding a dozen people who were usually unpleasant to look at to form a death squad, and set out to the location where the enemy was ambush early the next morning to cut down trees as bait. More bait will allow the dog officers and soldiers to spend more time chasing and slashing.
Another 50 elite cavalry and 200 infantry were picked from each camp and were on standby outside the north gate before dawn. When the decoys were chased and killed, the elite cavalry blocked the back roads and fought to contain them, while the infantry immediately entered the forest to surround and annihilate them.
Li Shaobing raised his head and looked at the westward sun, and issued a whistle indicating the withdrawal of troops: Until now, no suitable target has been found, and there is no hope for today. Earlier, I heard the faint sounds of people and logging in the distance, but Li Shaobing, who was familiar with the terrain, knew that it was a little too close to the official road from Ansai to Yan'an Prefecture. This section of the river is close to the official road. Both areas are in the hands of thieves, and soldiers passing by with orders from time to time. As his small force of fifty people went deep into the enemy's rear, Li Shaobian did not dare to take the risk of being accidentally discovered by the thieves. Gu Baihua was right: Li Shaobian's team had nine horsemen and forty infantry. , but seven or eight of them were auxiliary soldiers, responsible for cutting grass, feeding horses and building simple camps deep in the woods, and did not participate in the hunting of the logging auxiliary soldiers.
Back at the camp, the auxiliary soldiers took the reins, unsaddled the horses, and led them to a stream in the forest to drink water. Because it was a long journey and a sneak attack behind enemy lines, the soldiers only wore half armor. Even so, I was exhausted from being in ambush for most of the day. Everyone helped each other remove their armor, sat on the brand new short wooden piles, and drank the cool stream water from the water ladles brought by the auxiliary soldiers - the first two times The ambush was a complete success, and the soldiers brought back not only heads, but also many axes and saws, which are great things! When the auxiliary soldiers came, they carried a lot of dry food and a lot of lime (for salting the head, otherwise it would be a pity to rot), and they only brought two small hand axes.
Today's ambush was unsuccessful, but the trap set by the auxiliary soldiers actually caught a deer! At this moment, the skin has been peeled off, washed and peeled, and placed on the firewood pile. There is a large iron pot on the stove next to it, with water from the deer's head and intestines waiting to be boiled. Although they were hungry, everyone just swallowed and watched eagerly. Everyone knows that for safety reasons, one has to wait until it is completely dark before lighting a fire. In the evening when things are still visible, the smoke in the forest is likely to cause death.
It was much darker in the forest than outside, and soon everyone couldn't see each other. To be on the safe side, Li Shaobing waited until the faint moonlight filtered through the tree crown before ordering a fire. The ancients went to bed early and got up early. At this time, most people had already fallen asleep, and the dense forest would block the light of the fire. Twenty or thirty miles away, the clock on the city wall would not notice the smoke hidden in the thick night.
The red flames licked the iron pot, and the soup inside began to boil. The infantry soldiers surrounded them, dipping the dry food into the broth and putting it into their mouths to bite off a piece. Some people used branches to pick out the intestines of the deer, cut them into pieces with daggers, and chewed them up while sucking in the air. The grease from the barbecue dripped into the fire, sparking sparks, and the aroma filled the air. Two auxiliary soldiers stood hunched on both sides of the fire, cutting off pieces of golden barbecue with knives and handing them to the horses sitting around. Soldiers. The latter took the hot barbecue, reached into the pouch at his waist, dipped in a few grains of salt, wolfed down the dry food, and then took a sip of the broth in the wooden bowl in front of him. Another auxiliary soldier stood at one end of the fire, licking his lips and carefully turning the grill so that the exposed raw meat of the general could be grilled just right.
After the cavalry soldiers had eaten enough and moved out, several infantry leaders and veterans gathered around again and picked out the shreds of meat from the gaps in the skeleton... Then, the skeleton was smashed into pieces and put into the empty large iron pot - and then cooked. After a while, this was the delicacy of the auxiliary soldiers.
The soldiers who had eaten satisfactorily stood up and, illuminated by the mottled firelight, urinated one after another. They each found a more comfortable place to lie down. After a while, snoring began.
No one noticed that there were a few pairs of vigilant eyes watching the fire here on the slope a few miles away.
No one knew that this meal of roast meat and broth would be the last supper for almost all of them.
Knowledge points in this article:
1. Marching and camping in ancient times was much more troublesome than imagined: burying pots to make food, cutting firewood, fetching water, setting up tents, building shelters, etc. Needless to say, trenches, trees, and simple camp walls and fences were often required. The status of the auxiliary soldiers is low, but without the auxiliary soldiers, no matter how powerful the army is, it will immediately lose its mobility, and then lose most of its combat effectiveness within a few days.
2. In ancient times, marching troops carried a lot of supplies, including not only iron pots (the iron pots of the Ming Dynasty were a good thing, but the Mongolian steppes did not produce iron, and the Mongolian compatriots would even fight to the death for these things), wooden bowls, axes and saws. , ropes, shovels, hoes, sickles, etc. are indispensable. Salt is even more valuable and can be spent as money.
