When Liu Da'er led his men to chase him to the north gate, there was still Zan Wanshou there, and even the dozens of soldiers guarding the city gate were missing. It was midsummer in May, and there were groves everywhere outside the lush Meizhou City. It was easy to hide, and Zan Wanshou could not be seen escaping there. He had no choice but to send people to mobilize troops and horses and urge the cavalry to come quickly. On the other hand, he sent people to search for clues about Zan Wanshou's whereabouts near the north gate. After searching around for a long time, his soldiers picked up a shivering clerk from the drainage ditch at the base of the city wall.
The clerk described what he saw in a trembling voice. He was preparing to leave the city due to official duties, but when he arrived at the north gate, he found that the city gate was closed. When he was about to return, he heard shouts of death coming from behind, so he hid aside to see the situation clearly. First, when Zan Wanshou and his party fled to the city gate, the city guard captain ordered the city gate to be opened. However, the city gate was extremely heavy and could not be opened in a hurry, and a large group of pursuers came from behind. The number of pursuers was several times that of Zan Wanshou's guards. Seeing that the two sides were about to fight, a wounded soldier among Zan Wanshou's guards suddenly rushed towards the pursuers. Due to the suddenness of the incident, by the time the pursuers screamed, the wounded soldier had already jumped into the crowd, and then a huge explosion occurred. A large area of those pursuing soldiers was knocked down by the explosion. Those who were not knocked down dispersed in a hurry and ran back.
Just as the pursuers were escaping, the city gate was opened. The captain of the city guard did not stop Zan Wanshou and his party. Instead, he shouted loudly: "Brothers, let us escort Lord Zan Wanshou out of the city together." The team of soldiers guarding the city followed him out of the city gate and escorted Zan Wanshou and his party to the north. . It was that cry that made him realize that the group of soldiers guarding Zan Wanshou was Zan Wanshou. What he saw clearly was that the wounded soldier under Zan Wanshou was covered with round iron balls. Although the explosion knocked down many of the pursuers, it also shattered the wounded soldier's body into pieces, but his still intact head fell at his feet, scaring him so much that he hid in a drainage ditch. Also frightened were the fleeing pursuers. He heard the pursuers crying loudly as they ran, "They are not human beings, they are ghosts and gods."
Liu Da'er already knew that Zan Wanshou and his entourage had entered and fled north, so he immediately ordered people to chase them. The official road from Meizhou City to Pengshan City was built on a small basin and a small plain between low mountains and hills. The flat road is very conducive to cavalry movements. But Zan Wanshou and his party will obviously not take the official road, but will take the path on the mountainside or ridge. Therefore, Liu Dal'er sent one hundred cavalry to pursue along the official road, and another 500 soldiers to pursue along the small road. In May, western Sichuan has entered the rainy season. The ground is overgrown with weeds and the soil is wet. Zan Wanshou and his party are so large that they will inevitably step on the grass stems or leave footprints on the ground. All they have to do is follow the tracks.
Hearing the sound of horse hooves getting closer and closer, Captain Ding felt happy in his heart. At this moment, they were moving forward on the ridge trail, and at the bottom was the official road leading to Pengshan. After escaping from Meizhou City, they hurriedly ran for several miles before crossing the wide flat land and reaching the low mountain beside the city. Although the mountain was low, the chasing cavalry had nothing to do. Those cavalry had to dismount and fight on foot if they wanted to attack them. This was obviously not a good choice. Captain Ding only needs to continue walking along this low mountain for more than ten miles, and then pass through a small basin in the mountains to reach the boundary of Pengshan. However, to reach Pengshan City, we have to continue through two small basins and more than ten miles of mountain roads.
Captain Ding was thankful that the north gate was opened in time. Before he followed Zan Wanshou from Jiading to Meizhou, a "fire fox" in the city sent intelligence from the general staff, saying that Liu Da'er might take action against Zan Wanshou, and that in case of emergency, he could break through to the north gate and go to Pengshan City. At the same time he received the order, Meizhou City "Fire Fox" was ready to respond. The captain guarding the city gate and his team leaders were also members of the "Fire Fox". When they saw the soldiers of the Perak Army escorting Zan Wanshou to the north gate, they ordered the city gate to be opened.
There were more than 90 people who escaped from Meizhou City, including more than 30 city defenders who followed. These soldiers guarding the city were already very angry at Liu Da'er's act of surrendering. Seeing that the team leader and other group leaders were about to escort Zan Wanshou to Pengshan City, they all followed him. In addition to these soldiers guarding the city, there are only more than fifty people in the hundred-man guard who followed Zan Wanshou from Jiading. Among them, there are more than thirty soldiers from the Perak Army, and only the guards led by Hou Xing are left. More than 20 people were killed, and more than 40 people died in the battle. Unlike Liu Da'er's men, who were mostly killed by grenades and ammunition explosions, most of the Pili Army soldiers and Zan Wanshou guards who died in battle were killed by crossbows, and only a small number were killed by Meizhou Army's grenades.
Fortunately, fortunately, how to get rid of the pursuers and return to Pengshan safely is the urgent problem. Although the cavalry on the official road could not go up the mountain and could only follow slowly below, there were a large number of Meizhou infantry chasing them from a distance on the mountain road behind. There were still more than ten wounded soldiers who escaped from Meizhou City. Although they were all minor injuries caused by crossbow arrows, with the loss of blood and sweat, the movement of these wounded people had begun to slow down, and some still needed help. Only with support can you follow the team. Although the pursuing Meizhou infantry is still several miles away, according to the current speed of travel, it won't be long before they are overtaken.
The tradition of the Perak Army is not to leave a single comrade behind, and Captain Ding could not leave the wounded in order to escape, so he decided to stay behind to stop the pursuers. Compared with the enemy's crossbow, grenades with high power and wide range of damage are more suitable for mountain warfare. They can slow down the enemy's advance speed by just throwing them in the narrow places of the mountain road. The only problem is that the grenades have been almost used in the breakout, and there are only a few dozen left. Zan Wanshou and Hou Xing agreed with him, but did not agree with Captain Ding himself to cut off the rear. Both of them are not pedantic and conservative people, and they are new to social officialdom. They are not too affected by the concept of strict hierarchy, but they still believe that there is an order of superiority and inferiority, and Company Commander Ding should not put himself in danger.
Although Zan Wanshou and Hou Xing were not Company Commander Ding's superiors, they were both members of the government and were much higher in rank than him. Captain Gu Ding thought for a long time and came up with a compromise plan, that is, Hou Xing escorted Zan Wanshou to the front, while he led the wounded forward, instead of sending three or five elite soldiers to block the attack behind, trying to buy as much time as possible. As soon as he escaped from Meizhou City, he had sent soldiers with fast feet back to Pengshan to report the emergency. Before Yu San returned to Pengshan from Jiading, he told him that the special forces had dispatched cavalry to station at the junction of Pengshan and Meizhou, so that they could quickly come to the rescue in case of emergency. Seeing his arrangement, Zan Wanshou and Hou Xing agreed.
"Master Hou, after passing through this small basin and then over the low mountain, we will reach the boundary of Pengshan Mountain," a Perak Army soldier leading the way pointed to the front and said to Hou Xing. It was almost dusk now, and everyone was exhausted from walking. Fortunately, Company Commander Ding sent soldiers to throw grenades behind. The sound of the grenade explosion was reassuring. Although it did not kill or injure many of the pursuers, it frightened the enemy so much that they cowered all the way and naturally slowed down. Zan Wanshou and Hou Xing, who were traveling the fastest at the moment, had reached the edge of the hill. Company Commander Ding was more than a mile behind with the wounded soldiers, and the pursuers were still two or three miles away.
But, how can we cross the flat basin below and safely reach the hill on the opposite side? Hou Xing looked at the small basin in front of him, and then at the enemy cavalry following him on the official road below, and he couldn't help feeling anxious. He looked back again. At this moment, the pursuers on the mountain road were getting closer and closer, and they would catch up in a short while.
