…
April 16th, early morning, in Liuli City...
Nan Zhen was sitting in the city lord's mansion. There was a bowl of sticky oatmeal in front of him, with some wood chips mixed in. It looked very unpalatable.
But this is already the richest food in the city. Many people can't even eat it if they want to. Normally, it would be difficult to even take a look at it, but the situation is different now.
He bit the bullet and took a bite. Even though he was very hungry now, he still found the porridge extremely unpalatable.
"Lord Nanzhuang..."
Just after finishing oatmeal, Ku Jin came to report.
"The Han army outside the city seems to be moving..."
Ku Jin was also hungry, his heart was pressed against his back, and his voice sounded very weak when he spoke.
Nan Zhen was startled: "What's going on? Has the Han army attacked the city?"
Ku Jin shook his head: "No, the Han army seems to be showing signs of retreating. I saw with my own eyes the Han army breaking out of camp and heading eastward outside the city?"
"Huh? Take me to check quickly!"
Nan Zhuan quickly got up and followed Ku Jin to the city wall to check the reality.
Sure enough, looking from the city wall, the Han army camp was being set up. The military tent that looked dark yesterday was now missing half of it.
"Retreating now?" Nan Zhen couldn't believe it. "That shouldn't be the case. What is Bai Qi's plan?"
Ku Jin on the side said: "Master Nanzhen, the Han army has really retreated. Should we take advantage of the victory and pursue it now?"
He has been tortured a lot during this period. Ever since Nanzhen's hundreds of thousands of troops entered the city, they have quickly posed a great threat to the security of the city, and they can't even eat.
Now, Ku Jin just wants to send these noble widow Wang Shi out of the city quickly. As for whether they are dead or alive, it is no longer important to him.
"Could it be Bai Qi who tricked me into leaving the city?"
"Master Nanzhen, if it is true that Bai Qi is tricking us, we should retreat from multiple directions, instead of just going to the east."
"Then it's so good, why did Bai Qi retreat?"
"Our army is short of food, isn't the Han army short of food? I thought they were more short of food than us. They must have been unable to endure it first and knew that there was no chance of winning if they continued to maintain, so they chose to retreat."
"But they occupied Turbine City. There is a lot of food and grass in Turbine City..."
"But have you ever seen food being transported from the direction of Turbine City? Your Majesty must have gathered a large army to contain the Han army in Turbine City.
Sir, make up your mind quickly. When the Han army leaves, it will be too late for us to pursue him. Even if there is any conspiracy, we have an army of 600,000, so why are we afraid of him? "
After a while of Ku Jin's persuasion, and considering his current situation, Nan Zhen finally made up his mind: "Okay, if that's the case, then we won't wait any longer. We will send troops immediately today to quickly pursue Bai Qi and start a decisive battle with him!"
…
"Commander Bai, the troops in Liulicheng have moved and are pursuing our army with all their strength."
"How many cavalry?"
"The visual estimate is less than a hundred horses."
"Very good, pass on my military orders and act as planned."
"Here!"
Bai Qi smiled coldly, then rode his horse to join the "escape" army.
And behind the Han army...
"As the noble widow approaches, she immediately spreads her legs and starts running. Remember, every ten steps you run, you throw away some of the dry food on your body. It is best to step on it a few more times.
If you want to make the noble widow think that we are escaping in a hurry, you can wait for you to throw away all the food in the bag and then you can deal with Bai Shuai. Hurry up and move. Move. "
Thousands of Han soldiers in various transport camps, mobilized by generals at all levels, followed yesterday's plan and scattered the grain bags they carried on the road during their escape.
In the blink of an eye, the Han army's retreat was covered with bean cakes, dried meat, hard cheese, black beans and wheat bran.
"Kill~~"
The noble widows and hungry soldiers mixed together to form a sea of people, densely approaching the Han army.
Nanzhen took the lead, shouting on his horse to encourage morale.
"Brave warriors! Those despicable Han people have been frightened by us. Now is a good time to drive them out of the palace in one go.
I swear that for every enemy you kill, you will receive a silver coin, in the name of the Lord,
Fight to your heart's content, don't let any Han soldiers go, take off their heads and bring them to the king, and the king will reward you with unimaginable honors~~"
However, the noble widow and hungry soldier didn't hear what he was saying at this time, not only on the spiritual level, but also on the physical level.
Due to being in a state of hunger for a long time, many people in the army have suffered from a series of symptoms such as auditory hallucinations, vertigo, and trance.
The current army of noble widows has only one thought in their minds, and that is to run forward and run desperately.
Maybe only by running can you get food.
"Huh? Pancake? It's pancake!"
After running for two miles, a noble soldier suddenly saw the bean cakes that fell on the ground. He immediately rolled and crawled, grabbed one of the cakes, and stuffed it into his mouth.
“It smells so good!”
After taking a big bite of the bean cake, the soldier nodded with satisfaction. While chewing, he went to pick up other scattered cakes.
"Get away!"
There was a loud shout, followed by a heavy kick, which kicked the noble widow soldier away.
I saw a soldier who looked relatively strong, holding a piece of bread in his mouth, and kept grabbing the wheat bran and beans that fell on the ground.
But soon, more noble widows discovered the food on the ground and immediately scrambled to grab it.
The already chaotic military formation could no longer be described as a military formation.
"What's mine, it's all mine, don't snatch it from me!"
"Go away, I grabbed this first, why should I give it to you!"
"Put your things down or I'll chop you to death!"
Tens of thousands of hungry soldiers suddenly became red-eyed. In order to eat one more mouthful of solid food, they did not hesitate to point their swords at their own people.
All of a sudden, a bloody siege took place right under Nan Zhuang's eyes.
But Nan Zhen also knew that he was now unable to stop these hungry soldiers. Only by catching up with Bai Qi could he have a chance to reverse the situation.
"Chase, keep chasing!"
As the horse galloped, countless pairs of big feet stepped on the body of his companion and continued to pursue forward.
Along the way, soldiers continued to fight because they found dry food scattered by the Han army on the ground. Each time, there were tens of thousands of people.
In this regard, Nan Zhen chose to turn a blind eye and continue to pursue forward.
This group of hungry soldiers was also very perseverant. It was not until they chased for ten miles that they exhausted their energy and fell to the side of the road.
"Ugh~"
Even Nan Zhen was frothing at the mouth, and then he waved his horsewhip and shouted loudly to the soldiers around him: "Get up quickly and keep chasing. Once we stop, we will have no strength. Hurry, the Han army is right in front of you.
As long as you catch up with them, you can get a lot of food and grass. Get up quickly and keep chasing them. Don't waste time! "
However, no matter how much he urged, these noble soldiers refused to get up and continue the pursuit.
This made Nanzhen very angry, and he whipped a soldier directly: "Are you deaf when I ask you to get up? Keep chasing me! Untouchable, do you deserve to rest? Let's see if I don't beat you to death!"
The soldier held his head and cried loudly as he was being slapped, and kept rolling on the ground.
This scene chilled the widow soldiers who were starving with them. It turned out that their lives were so worthless in the eyes of these nobles.
Slowly, they looked at Nan Zhan with eyes filled with resentment...
