Although the rain stopped, it was dark and the roads were muddy. More than a thousand cavalrymen drove off in a hurry with only a dozen torches. This trip was not to avoid conflicts that could be avoided in a war, so in order to avoid the bandit army in Yidu. , the team detoured from 20 miles due east, and successfully broke into more than dozens of miles northwest of Yidu at dawn, but also entered the territory of Changyang Tusi. Fortunately, there were only marginal villages and no villages there so early in the morning. No one noticed their whereabouts when they saw people.
After a few miles, there was a big river blocking the road. The river was actually a branch of the Yangtze River, the Qingjiang River. It ran east-west and blocked the team. There was a small hill on the bank of the river called Jitou Mountain. Chang Yu ordered to rest at the foot of the mountain and sent the troops People went to explore the road to see if the river was frozen and whether there were village ferries nearby. The soldiers made fires to boil water, drank and fed the horses, or closed their eyes and took a nap. Chang Yu, Li Muxian and the three guides held branches on the ground and discussed in low voices.
Kuang Ren came running from a distance, saying that there was a village in the southwest corner of Jitou Mountain. The people inside came out. When everyone looked up, they saw dozens of people armed with weapons looking towards here from a distance.
"There's no need to say anything. They may not know who we are. They may think we are Zhang Xianzhong's people. As long as we are not looking for trouble, we should not provoke." Chang Yu said calmly, and asked someone to pass the order to Ji Jike. His people were on guard outside, so be careful. .
But Li Muxian had other ideas. After muttering with Chang Yu for a while, he took three guides and walked over there. He wanted to talk, but he couldn't understand the dialect, so he had to rely on the guide to translate.
After a while, the cunning old man came back with a playful smile on his face. Chang Yu could see through his mind at a glance: "Maybe they are not colluding with the thief."
Li Muxian nodded: "It's almost the same. Pindao came up and said that we are Zhang Xianzhong's people and want to go to this place along the Yiling route. We have no other intention. After hearing this, the leader of the village just said that it's okay if we are just passing by, but we can't stay for a long time."
Chang Yu also smiled after hearing this. Although Zhang Xianzhong had just established a country in Sichuan, its foundation was very unstable. Now he not only had to deal with the officers and soldiers, but also the chieftains from all over the country. His policy was to fight against the officers and soldiers and to fight against the chieftains, and to treat peace as the most important thing. .
Right now, he is recruiting those chieftains around big cities such as Chengdu and Chongqing. He doesn't have the energy to deal with these small chieftains or small forces in the fringe areas yet. It's better for both sides to maintain the status quo and not interfere with each other!
This also made Chang Yu and others relieved, at least they didn't have to worry about them teaming up with the bandit army to deal with them.
The explorers from the other side also came back. Although the Qingjiang River was frozen, it was only for pedestrians and not for horses. They had to break the ice and sail across the water. Everyone went around looking for villages to search for boats. Oh, you can’t call it a search, it’s a borrowed one, because this side is In the chieftain's territory, you have to be polite to others. Nowadays, they don't care whether you are an officer or a thief. You have to say good things, otherwise they won't hang you. After all, they know the current situation in their hearts and everyone wants to win over them.
Don't borrow it!
That's right, some villages are adamant about not borrowing it, or to be exact, they won't borrow it in vain!
Since the loan is not in vain, I will give you money. Anyway, there is no shortage of money.
Who the hell wants your money? What’s the use of it!
That's right, at this time, most toasts from all over the country were still in the era of barter. Ordinary people didn't know how to spend the money you gave them. Instead of money, they preferred some practical daily necessities, such as pots, pans, clothes, etc. Weapons and even food and drink will do.
This soldier couldn't give them anything at all, so he had no choice but to trade with them for dry rations. Although it was dry rations, it was different from that of ordinary troops. There was a lot of fish and meat in it. When he left Xuzhou, Gao Jie gave him a lot of bacon. When he left Anqing, When they were with Jiujiang, Huang Degong and Yuan Jixian gave them a lot of salted fish.
Finally, before noon, Chang Yu led his troops to cross the Qingjiang River. He felt a little relieved. This way, he didn't have to worry about the bandits in Yidu City chasing after them. Moreover, they didn't seem to realize that a troop of troops had quietly crossed the border. .
But Chang Yu was only slightly relieved, because after crossing the Qingjiang River, the terrain immediately became narrow. A few miles ahead was the Yangtze River clinging to the cliffs. The road along the river was extremely steep, and there was also the Xiaoting Pass.
At this time, the guide said that he knew a way. He turned around in front of Xiaoting and went straight west to cross the mountains and reach Wanzhou. He did not need to go north along the river to Xiaoting, pass Yichang, Badong, Wushan, and then turn west to Wanzhou. This way Can save a long way.
Chang Yu and others were overjoyed when they heard this and quickly asked him to lead the way, but the guide also said that horses were not allowed on those mountain roads and could only be marched on foot. Li Muchian couldn't help but cursed out, "Fuck you!"
Bai Kong rejoiced.
The soldiers were very fast, and Chang Yu could not spend too much time in front of a pass. The longer he stayed in such a place, the greater the risk, so he ordered Ji Jike to send people to investigate first, and when the army approached the mountain pass, they were also sent there. intelligence.
There is good news and bad news.
The good news is that Xiaotingguan is on the other side of the Yangtze River!
That's right, on the other side, the garrison troops of the bandits are mainly concentrated in Guancheng.
The bad news is that the terrain on the river bank is very dangerous. Although the rebels do not have a large garrison, they have built a sentry above the dangerous place. There are about ten rebels stationed there. From a high position, they can see everything on the mountain road below.
beat! The generals called for battle without hesitation, and only a dozen people were stationed there. No matter what the swords and fires, they would be pulled out, and the bandit army across the river would not be able to come to the rescue for a while.
Some people may wonder why a pass is only garrisoned on the other side? In fact, the reason is very simple, because the road to Sichuan from the east is on the other side, and many towns are on the other side of the river, so troops must be stationed there. As for this side, there are almost no roads and no cities because of the dangerous terrain, so troops are stationed there. What to do in the barren mountains and ridges is not a waste of troops?
So the bandit army just built a simple lookout post on the cliff of the riverside trail here, but you can't underestimate this lookout post. If you don't pull it out, it will lift rocks from above and hit you. There is no place to hide if you want to.
This operation was called Operation Drawing the Sword, and the generals enthusiastically requested a fight, but Chang Yu finally gave it to Wang Fuchen and asked him and Wu Mushan to lead 20 personal guards to climb up from the foot of the southwest mountain to raid the outpost on the cliff.
It was far easier than imagined. It only took Wang Fuchen and his team half an hour to clear the sentry post, and the army set out to cross the border. The bandits at the pass on the other side were vaguely visible, but they couldn't cross, thinking that the river here was not frozen at all. , even if it freezes, I probably won’t dare to come over easily.
But Chang Yu believed that they would immediately send people to Yichang upstream to report. Maybe by the time they arrived in Yichang, people would already be waiting for them.
There is nothing we can do about it, because the road here is a trail. The trail in the mountain stream is narrow and rugged. Sometimes you have to dismount and walk, which is not as fast as running on the other side. Although the road over there is not as wide as the plain, it is much wider than the plain. The other side is much flatter.
But the guide said that this section is quite good, but it is difficult to get to Yichang, and there is even no road.
Everyone felt that dark clouds were coming over them again.
Chang Yu couldn't help but sigh. Li Taibai said thousands of years ago that the road to Shu is difficult, and it is difficult to reach the sky.
Now that I saw it with my own eyes, I knew that this drunkard was not bluffing.
