The oppression and exploitation by Pan Luo Huan and his minions made the people who chose to stay in the city regret. They all cursed themselves for not following the Perak Army into the mountains a few days ago, so that now their wives and daughters were insulted and their houses were seized. , property was looted. In the desperate situation, these people thought of the Perak Army again, so they quietly sneaked to the temporary camp of the Perak Army outside the city and knelt down to cry and beg. At this moment, there are also several small schools from the Xinjin City Navy who are coming to the camp to join the camp. These people were introduced by Mr. Yu. Pan Luohuan broke the promise to jointly attack Chongqing Fucheng, but he also expressed his anger at Yu Laodou, who was the liaison officer, for no reason. His several slaps not only strengthened Yu Laodou's determination to defect to the Perak Army, but also made the naval officers and soldiers thoroughly see Pan Luohuan's moral character, and they all began to think of defecting to the Perak Army. These junior colonels came to the camp. Come and contact me about your move.
Because of the seriousness of the matter, Huang Dagen held urgent discussions with Yu Laocha and others, and decided to surrender the naval officers and soldiers to the city in batches at midnight, and Yu Laocha led them into the mountains by waterway overnight. There were only one platoon and three squads of the Perak Army in the temporary camp. Except for one squad following Yu Lao's digging operation, the other two squads were led by Huang Dagen to rush to Yixing Township overnight. As for the people in the city who want to go into the mountains again, if they can make it in time, they can take a boat with Yu Laodou. If they can't make it in time, they will be given road guides and dry food to let them go to the mountains on their own. Pan Luohuan's minions found someone escaping after dawn, and they would definitely send people to pursue them. Although they could not catch up with Yu Laodou, Huang Dagen and others, it was hard to say for the civilians who dragged the old and the young. They move too slowly, and they can only hope for luck if they can escape pursuit.
At dawn, Pan Luohuan, who was sleeping soundly, was awakened by the loud screams of his men. At this moment, he was lying on the stolen civilian girl and having a sweet dream. He dreamed that he was in a splendid house, hugging the beautiful woman on the left and right, and the table in front of him was filled with precious food and fine wine. Anyone would be angry if their sweet dream was interrupted. He wiped his drool, put on his clothes and left the house, and slapped the noisy man twice without any explanation. When Pan Luohuan learned that more than 150 navy soldiers had fled, and most of the people in the city had also fled, he was shocked and furious and gave the person who reported the report two slaps in the face. He kept roaring and wanted to send people to chase him. The unfortunate guy who was slapped repeatedly muttered that because of the heavy fog, only a dozen old and weak people were recovered. According to them, those deserters started to flee as early as the middle of the night. Heading to Wanjiaping. These words made Pan Luohuan even more furious, which meant that he not only got an abandoned empty city, but also lost a quarter of his soldiers and warships out of thin air. There were 1,000 naval troops in Xinjin City. In addition to the 200 people who guarded the stronghold, Pan Tongzhi also took away 200 people when he attacked Chengdu to transport baggage by water. Pan Luohuan only brought 600 people to Chongqing Mansion.
Just as Pan Luohuan roared, Huang Dagen and his party had arrived in Yixing Township. Yixing Township is located on the main transportation road from Chongqing Fucheng to Dayi City and Qiongzhou City. It is a fertile land rich in products. Before Kuaduan entered Shu, it had a population of over 10,000, but it is now dilapidated and dilapidated. Huang Dagen and his party wandered around the township for most of the day and found seven or eight small villages with a total population of no more than 200 people. When people in the village saw Huang Dagen and his entourage carrying weapons from a distance, they either hid or closed the fort tightly, refusing to open the door no matter how they identified themselves, let alone informing them of the news about Glauber's salt. This kind of short fort made of wood and mud can only protect against small thieves. Not to mention that it cannot block firearm attacks. It can even knock down a slightly larger gang of thieves. However, Perak military discipline strictly prohibits disturbing the people, and the officers and soldiers have also deeply accepted Ouyang Xuan's philosophy of loyalty to the country, diligence and love for the people. Therefore, Huang Dagen and the soldiers who taught him cannot use force against civilians, let alone use force to attack Wubao. , so I had to go to the next place to try my luck. In the afternoon, they finally got the news that there was a small village with a Glauber's salt mine on the side of Wugen Mountain in the northernmost part of the country. It was almost dusk when Huang Dagen and his party arrived in a hurry. When I walked into the village, I found that the broken walls and ruins were deserted, and the Glauber's Mine had turned into a fox den overgrown with weeds. Disappointed but helpless, Huang Dagen had no choice but to return home the next day.
Wugen Mountain District is located at the junction of Jinyuan County, Yongkang County, Chongqing Prefecture and Dayi County, Qiongzhou, and is under the jurisdiction of Jinyuan County. Its mountain trend is parallel to the Longmen Mountains where Wanjiazhai is located. Its terrain is in the shape of a strip about thirty miles long and only ten miles wide at its widest point. Because it is surrounded by plains, it is incompatible with the surrounding plain terrain and appears It is abrupt and isolated, so it is named Wugen Mountain. Although Wugen Mountain is called a mountain, it is actually just a low hill covered with bamboos, trees and shrubs. Its western end is about ten miles away from Dayi County, and the eastern end of the mountain is also ten miles away from Hengyuan Town and Yongqu Township respectively. Inside.
Huang Dagen and others want to return to Wanjiazhai, and they have two options: the near and far. The shortcut is to go northwest through Wugen Mountain. After going down the mountain, walk another five miles to Hengyuan Town. Although this road is short, it is difficult to walk and it has to pass through the bandit activity area. The long way is to follow the mountainside path to the northeast, and after 40 miles, you will reach Yongqu Township. As for returning along the original route, which was both far and required to pass through Chongqing Fucheng occupied by Pan Luohuan, they were directly ignored. After careful consideration, Huang Dagen decided to take the mountainside path. Although this path was far away, it was safer.
The soldiers of the teaching company are carefully selected and trained as reserve officers. The two classes led by Huang Dagen were the best among them. Not only were they physically agile, strong and disciplined, they also traveled very fast with light equipment and had covered thirty miles by noon. At this time, we have reached the edge of Wugen Mountain. There is a broad plain area in front of us. We only need to walk six or seven miles on the plain area to reach Yongqu Township. Seeing that it was still early, Huang Dagen asked the whole team to rest for a while before continuing to advance. While everyone was drinking water and eating solid food in silence, there were faint sounds of footsteps and voices coming from the front. Huang Dagen made a gesture, and everyone hid in the grass beside the road. While holding my breath, I heard the voices getting closer and closer - it turned out to be a few men with weapons in their hands walking and talking. Although these men were still wearing thin clothes in winter, the skin exposed outside the linen clothes was dark. At first glance, it looks like someone who has lived on the water for many years. Huang Dagen was wondering where the fishermen in this mountainous area came from? But I vaguely heard the words Yongqu, navy, warship, and miss, and suddenly I remembered that the people Yu Lao was leading were traveling by water, and they would definitely pass through Yongqu Township, and what they were riding on was the navy warship. Boat. Could it be that these people are talking about them? These men were carrying weapons and were probably related to the water bandits. Perhaps the water bandits' lair is nearby. When the men walked a little further, Huang Dagen sent two people to follow them, while the others waited in place.
In the afternoon, while waiting anxiously, the two soldiers who were following us came back. As Huang Dagen expected, the water bandits' lair in Yongqu Township was in an extremely hidden ravine two miles away. No wonder Dong Hu's scouts searched for him many times in the plains around Yongqu Township but to no avail. It turned out that he was hiding in the Wugen ravine more than ten miles away from Yongqu Township. According to the tracking soldiers, the mountains surrounding the ravine where the water bandits' lair is located are steep, and there is only one exit hidden in the woods, making it extremely difficult for outsiders to find it. However, when the two of them followed them to the mouth of the ditch and saw many sentries, they did not dare to move forward. According to their observation, there were twenty or thirty houses in the ditch near the mouth of the ditch. It was estimated that there were at least a hundred water bandits.
