Wang Zamao, who had been tricked by Yuan Sanzhong, was filled with hatred at this time. He held a torch and ran through the forest regardless of the slippery feet. Even if he fell, he got up without saying a word and continued rushing. Everyone around him knew it. He was angry and didn't dare to offend him.
Shima Mountain is a long and narrow hilly area about ten miles long from north to south and only three or four miles wide from east to west. The post where Yuan Sanzhong originally hid was not far from the southernmost point. At this time, Wang Zamao and his party had already rushed down the hillside. Just walk through the valley below for a few miles and you will reach the foot of Liufeng Mountain. This road is not only bumpy and difficult, but also has very lush trees. In addition, it is easy to get lost if you enter it late at night!
Even if there were mountain people to lead the way, he could not figure out the direction for a long time, which made Wang Zamao even more anxious and cursed the mountain people for being useless, scaring them so much that they shivered and dared not say a word.
"The Yunguang Temple is at the foot of Liufeng Mountain. If Bai Wangruo goes to rob, he must set off a fire. Let's just watch the fire go away." Some people were smart and wanted to go up the tree to check, but Wang Zamao kicked him down: "You should Is Bai Wang as stupid as you? He's afraid that others won't find him, so he lights a fire as a warning!"
Some people were determined to climb up the tree and look around, but except for the sound of wind and rain, it was a dark night, and there was no light at all... Oh, there was a faint light in a certain direction, and it was so wide that it couldn't be in the direction of the temple. There is no doubt that this is where Xu Hongji and others are.
"Where is the fire?" At this time, Wang Tizhong hurriedly walked over and wiped the rain from his face and looked up to ask the person on the tree.
Over there, the man on the tree pointed in a direction. Wang Tizhong smiled and patted Wang Zamao on the shoulder: "You still have to learn a little bit." He said, beckoning everyone to follow him.
Wang Zamao slapped his head. Damn it, how could he forget that the people behind him can actually reverse their position? Then he caught up with Wang Tizhong: "If Bai Wang enters the mountain, should we chase him?"
"Do you want to be promoted to an official position?" Wang Tizhong didn't even look back. Wang Zamao gritted his teeth and stamped his feet: "If you don't get into the tiger's den, you won't get the tiger's cubs. I've spent time with him. Maybe I'll be rich like this." Just hit the old man on the head."
"It's good if you have this idea." Wang Tizhong said with a laugh: "Now we two have taken the lead, and the rest depends on fate!" As they were talking, there was a noise in front of them, and the two frowned and saw their subordinates. The man came in a hurry with more than ten people: "General, Bai Wang's people."
When the ten people saw Wang TiZhong, they knelt down and said, "General, we have come to surrender to you, and from now on we will follow you to beg for food." Wang TiZhong took a step forward and grabbed one person: "The one with Bai Wang is Yuan Sanzhong."
The man hurriedly said: "General, I am with Bai Wang, and some brothers behind me are with Yuan Sanzhong..." Wang Tizhong raised his eyebrows: "How many of you ran out in total?"
"There must be a hundred or so." The man swallowed his saliva: "Brothers knew that the general was chasing after tens of thousands of people, and they didn't want to follow Bai Wang into the mountains and become savages, so they secretly took advantage of him to rob the monk temple. We ran a lot, I don’t know how many we ran in total, but there are about a hundred or so brothers in our group..."
Wang Tizhong and Wang Zamao looked at each other with rare smiles on their faces. Wang Zamao took a step forward and asked, "Do you know where Bai Wang is fleeing at this time? How many people and food does he have?"
"Bai Wang planned to ambush you at sunset. Later, when he heard that the army was coming, he asked Yuan Sanzhong to hold you behind. As soon as it got dark, he led him to rob the Yunguang Temple. Then we took the opportunity to escape and he entered too. As for Liufeng Mountain, we really don’t know where we are hiding now. Half an hour ago, Wang Tizhong led people through Yunguang Temple and entered the mountain..." A dozen deserters talked about everything they knew. He said: "Bai Wang only has about seven or eight hundred people under his command now, and the food is enough to last three to five days..."
"How big is Liufeng Mountain? Is there anyone in it?" Wang Tizhong asked these deserters again and shook their heads. He also asked the mountain people who led the way and said that they had only gone to Yunguang Temple to offer incense but had never entered the mountain.
Wang Tizhong narrowed his eyes: "Can all the monks in the temple be killed?"
"I will kill them all, but I don't know if they are all killed," the deserter said quickly. The king thought for a while, and then said to the deserters, "Would you like to do a job that has meritorious service?"
"General, just give me your orders. We have already promised that we will eat with you from now on." The deserters clapped their chests and shouted, and Wang Tizhong chuckled: "You go and chase him in the mountains. If you can catch up with Bai Wang and kill him, I will I'll reward you with a thousand taels of silver and give you an official title. If you can't succeed, I'll spread the news in his army. Anyone who comes and surrenders will be rewarded. Kill Bai Wang and offer his head, give you an official title, and reward you with a thousand taels of silver!" said Chong Huai. He took out a few taels of broken silver and glanced at Wang Zamao next to him. Wang Zamao was startled and then realized what he was doing and quickly took out some silver and handed it to Wang Tizhong.
Wang Tizhong put the silver into one person's hand: "Do you want to do this job?"
The deserter was a little embarrassed: "General, we brothers will naturally do this meritorious deed. It's just that we have been running away for more than an hour, let alone whether we can catch up with Bai Wang or how to win his trust if we catch up." .
"This is not difficult. Just say that you lost your way in the mountains. Even if Bai Wang is suspicious, there is no evidence. What's more, it is the time for him to hire people, and you don't have to rush to take action first. Slowly and carefully identify the opportunity before taking action. To put it bluntly This is a job of chance, whether you can do it or not!"
Done! More than a dozen people glanced at each other and nodded. They were all smart people. If they said no at this time, Wang Tizhong would chop them up immediately. Although it was risky to go back, it might not be a dead end. The big deal was following Bai. Just hang around with Wang. Besides, maybe you can really find a chance to kill Bai Wang and earn this great achievement. Otherwise, you can go into the mountains and just say that you haven't caught up.
However, Wang TiZhong did not place all his hopes on these deserters. He only kept a backup hand, which also gave Wang Zamao a new understanding. He had to use his brain when doing things, and he also had to keep a backup hand when leaving a way out.
Seeing that it was already dark and rainy and the men were exhausted, but there was nowhere to rest in this barren mountain, they ordered to continue advancing and rest at the monk temple at the foot of Liufeng Mountain. The soldiers had no choice but to grit their teeth and persevere.
After drilling for several more miles in the rain, we finally saw the road, a rugged mountain road less than ten feet wide. The mountain man who led the way said it led to Yunguang Temple in Liufeng Mountain.
Following the mountain road, everyone soon found Yunguang Temple. It was actually a large temple, but at this moment... Hey, there was a faint fire coming from inside. Wang Tizhong rushed in without letting his men explore him. , as soon as he entered the mountain gate, he saw the mess everywhere, and faint sounds of crying could be heard, so he shouted: "But the monk in the temple?" The crying inside stopped, and the fire was extinguished.
Wang Tizhong chuckled: "Don't be afraid, monk. We are officers and soldiers who went into the mountains to chase bandits. We are not interested in robbing or killing the monks. We just wanted to rest in a precious place temporarily and ask a few words. If the monks don't come out, we can I went in by myself."
Not long after, the fire in the temple lit up again, and four or five gray-faced monks came over fearfully and held up the light: "You are really officers and soldiers..." Suddenly, I saw clearly the clothes and clothes of these people outside the temple door. The thief suddenly looked frightened and his legs began to weaken.
"If it weren't for the officers and soldiers, would they be so polite to you?" Wang Tizhong walked in and looked around and frowned when he saw the corpses of monks all over the ground. Damn Bai Wang is now hysterical. You just robbed the monk temple. Well, he still killed so many monks, but of course he also knew that Bai Wang was just killing people and silencing them.
The few surviving monks were slightly relieved when they saw that although these people were no different from thieves, they had not done anything like thieves. They quickly welcomed Wang Tizhong and others into the main hall of the temple and got clean clothes for him to change into. He talked endlessly about Bai Wang's evil deeds. After entering the temple, he robbed all the food, incense and money stored in the temple and killed people at will. These monks heard the screams in the back hall and hid in the mountains in time to escape.
The king didn't care about these things, so he ordered his subordinates to go into the temple to take shelter from the rain. This Yunguang Temple has a main hall with three main courtyards and many side halls. Although it can't accommodate more than a thousand people at a time, it can be sheltered from the wind and rain under the eaves and corners. better than nothing.
It didn't take long for the entire temple to be overcrowded. The main hall, the Buddhist hall, the monk's dormitory, and even the woodshed and kitchen were all crowded with soldiers taking shelter from the wind and rain.
The food in the temple had been looted by the bandits, but there was a lot of firewood. Wang Tizhong ordered his men to make fires to keep warm and boil water to keep out the cold. He and Wang Zamao interrogated the surviving monks in the temple and learned that the Liufeng Mountain behind them The mountain is high and dangerous with no roads. The monks once went deep into it to collect medicine. No villagers were found in the mountain, at least within a radius of ten miles.
After hearing this, Wang Tizhong and Wang Zamao were secretly happy. If no villagers robbed Bai Wang, he could only rely on that little food for three to five days at most. When he ran out of ammunition and food, people would support him. Even if he If they don't surrender, their troops will collapse.
Hearing that the officers and soldiers were going into the mountains to chase the thieves, the monks felt that there was hope for revenge, but they also advised Wang Tizhong to wait until dawn before entering the mountains, because it was hard to see the Five Fingers Mountain in the rainy night and there were no roads in the deep forests. One could lose his way at any time, and the thieves would not know if they were fleeing without lighting a fire. Which direction did they go.
Wang TiZhong fell into deep thought. He stood at the door of the hall and looked towards the due north. He could vaguely see the faint flickering of fire in the distance. He knew that Xu Hongji and others were there, but the distance was at least ten miles away. This was only a straight line distance. They were actually walking in the mountains. They walked too slowly for a distance of at least twenty to thirty miles. Judging from their speed, it was estimated that they would not be able to reach Yunguang Temple until dawn.
"Let's go, we are pressed for time." Wang Zamao took a long breath behind Wang Tizhong: "Let's go together or split up?"
Wang Tizhong turned his head and looked at the simple map of the surrounding area drawn by the monks just now on the floor of the main hall. After Yunguang Temple is Liufeng Mountain, so the name implies that there are six hills. The mountains are high and dense, easy to hide and easy to defend, but there is no village in the deep mountains. If there is not enough food and grass and there are thousands of mouths around him, he can only last four or five days at most, so will he go into the mountains?
But there is a grand canyon in the mountains more than ten miles west from Yunguang Temple. There is a river in the canyon, Baiyang River!
That's right, it's the Baiyang River that flows through the west of Chizhou City, joins the Qiupu River, and then flows north into the river.
Will Bai Wang run west to the canyon and follow the Baiyang River to unexpectedly counterattack Chizhou City?
This possibility is almost slim, because he has almost no power to fight anymore at this time.
But the canyon extends in all directions. It is possible to cross the river to the west and wind around in the mountains to get out of the mountains elsewhere. For example, if you go over a few hills and reach the Qiupu River, you can follow the Qiupu River to reach Wutou Lake where Chang Yu is at this time, or even go around to the other side of Anqing.
And there are villages over there in the Baiyang River Valley, which can be plundered to replenish food and grass...
But Bai Wang is like a bereaved dog at this time. In his eagerness, will he choose to go into the mountains to hide from the limelight or run westward in the long run, enter the mountains from the canyon, plunder and look for opportunities to get out of the mountains elsewhere?
The king's body was uncertain. If thousands of people fled during the day, there would be traces left behind. But at this time, it was dark, dark and rainy, and it was impossible to determine their whereabouts.
After thinking for a long time, he still hesitated. Wang Zamao became anxious: "I'll go south into the mountains, how about you chase me west?"
Wang Tizhong was about to speak when he suddenly heard a noise outside. It turned out that some deserters from Bai Wang's men were coming to surrender. These people quietly escaped from the team in the dark of night and hid in the mountains and forests, not daring to move around until they saw the light of fire coming from Yunguang Temple. , knowing that the officers and soldiers must be coming, he hurriedly came to surrender. When he saw that he was still an old acquaintance, he felt happy and excited.
"When Bai Wang was leaving, he captured a few monks who led the way and ran away into the mountains to the west!" The deserter was sure and certain that Bai Wang was sold, but Wang Tizhong and Wang Zamao didn't fully believe it. Who knows if Bai Wang did it intentionally? Sent to confuse them!
Therefore, the two decided to divide their forces into two groups, with a small group entering the mountain and a large group chasing west. If there was no trace of the enemy on the mountain at dawn, they would descend from the west slope to the canyon to meet up.
After some negotiation, Wang Tizhong and Wang Zamao led their troops to leave Yunguang Temple, and the troops were divided into two groups to continue the search in the rain and in the dark.
