"Supervisor, we can't go any further south."
Du Wenhuan took the reins of Lu Xiangsheng's horse, stood in front of the horse, and slowly shook his head.
"The soldiers can't move anymore..."
Lu Xiangsheng, who was on horseback, had a gloomy look on his face, and the fatigue between his frowning brows was hard to conceal.
"Where is this place?"
Lu Xiangsheng slowly raised his head, looked at the city not far away that had been burned into ruins by the fire, and asked aloud.
"Giant deer."
"Giant deer?"
Lu Xiangsheng's expression changed slightly, and his heart felt desolate.
He once visited Julu. At that time, Julu was bustling with people and cars.
But now, Julu City is deserted and deserted.
Looking up, you can see the endless snow-covered wilderness. The residential buildings outside Julu City have long been turned into scorched earth, and there are only dilapidated ruins one after another as far as the eye can see.
Julu City was set on fire by the Qing army. The houses in the city had been reduced to ruins. The city was deserted and there was no living person.
"Jiannu has filled up all the wells inside and outside the city. If our army camped in the city to draw water, it would not change..."
"There is no river in Julu City..."
Lu Xiangsheng frowned slightly. He saw Du Wenhuan's lowered head. He already understood what was happening in the city.
"Go southeast and look for water to camp."
Along the way, the Qing army attacked and plundered cities, burned buildings, blocked wells, and threw corpses into rivers.
The waterways in Julu City are probably blocked by pieces of corpses. The water cannot be entered at all. Even if it is drinkable, no one is willing to drink it...
Lu Xiangsheng raised his head and took one last look at the giant deer that had turned into a ruin in front of him, then turned his horse's head and headed southeast.
The queue of Xuan's army was eerily silent, and the flow of people on the official road turned around, following Lu Xiangsheng as he continued to move toward the southeast.
However, the flow of people is surprisingly slow, even slower than ordinary pedestrians walking...
After traveling for another five miles, they finally found a suitable place to camp near the river. A group of Xuan Army soldiers arrived at the designated location and began to slowly set up camp and build fortifications.
As the camp was set up, dozens of small groups of rangers also ran out of the main group.
Their mission is to explore the surrounding situation and replace the scouts who were previously scattered around the perimeter.
As the camp was set up, streams of smoke slowly rose from Xuan Dajun's camp.
It's just that the rising smoke... is really too little for Xuan's army of eight thousand people...
Lu Xiangsheng sat in the newly built Chinese military tent with his head lowered, leaning on the desk, carefully observing the map placed on it.
The map is that of Shunde Prefecture. It records the distribution of cities and rivers around Julu in quite detail. It also draws the situation around Guangping Prefecture, which is nearby.
Du Wenhuan and Yang Guozhu were sitting separately in the tent. They had already arranged the camp affairs, and now they were waiting for Lu Xiangsheng's order to enter the tent.
Hu Dawei and his vanguard reconnaissance cavalry were still outside and had not yet returned to camp, so they were not in the tent.
Du Wenhuan and Yang Guozhu were sitting in the tent. Neither of them spoke or moved, they just sat quietly.
Lu Xiangsheng looked at the map on the desk calmly. After a while, he slowly raised his head and spoke to break the dull atmosphere in the tent.
"It seems that Jiannu wants to make Julu the place where I will be buried..."
Lu Xiangsheng's words made both Du Wenhuan and Yang Guozhu look over.
"You two should have noticed it too."
Lu Xiangsheng's eyes passed over Du Wenhuan and Yang Guozhu, and then fell on the map on the desk.
In late November, when he was leading his troops to Zhending, Sun Chuanting was leading his troops to Baoning.
The Jiannu who were scattered and looting suddenly began to gather a large number of troops, and then turned all the way south to capture the city, passing through Zhending Prefecture, directly into Shunde and Guangping Prefectures, and lit the beacon fire to the south of Beizhili.
So he led the army all the way from Zhending, passing through Zhaozhou, Ningjin, and Longping all the way south to aid Shunde.
We also encountered Jiannu along the way, but Jiannu did not like to fight, but retreated after a short fight.
The further south they went, the faster Jiannu retreated. Even before they arrived, Jiannu's troops retreated early.
This is highly unusual.
The Jiannu were not a force that was afraid of the enemy. They could not blindly escape like this just because of a few small defeats.
Since he led his troops into Shunde, he has encountered more and more slave-building troops along the way, and the harassment along the way has also begun to intensify.
The sentinel reported that the Jiannu people were moving frequently, and many Jiannu cavalry suddenly appeared in Xinhe in the north.
This is the biggest anomaly, because Jiannu clearly advanced all the way from Zhending Prefecture to Shunde Prefecture in the southwest, entered Shunde through Zhending Prefecture, defeated Julu first, then turned west to attack Ren County, and besieged the city of Shunde Prefecture.
Lu Xiangsheng led his troops all the way south to relieve the siege of Shunde Fucheng.
But at this time, a large group of slave cavalry suddenly appeared in the north on their way.
Lu Xiangsheng has been on the battlefield for a long time, so he doesn't understand his situation at this time.
The main force of Jiannu was in the southwest to lure him south for rescue. I am afraid they wanted his life and annihilated the army he led in Shunde Mansion.
When he led his army into Julu territory, Jiannu's hidden cavalry blocked his way. At this time, Jiannu's main force was not far from them in the southwest of Julu.
Jiannu has many troops to the east of Julu at this time. The forward led by Hu Dawei has been attacked two or three times today. Jiannu's rangers are also increasing in number, oppressing the rangers under his command.
A few days ago, I could still receive urgent documents from Shunde Prefecture, but these days I haven't heard any news about Shunde Prefecture.
Various signs indicate that the main force of establishing slaves is approaching. The purpose of establishing slaves is not in the city of Shunde Prefecture, but in Lu Xiangsheng.
Jiannu put down the bait to lure him over. Above the bait was a big net woven by Jiannu, a big net that could kill him.
Lu Xiangsheng saw it, and so did Du Wenhuan and Yang Guozhu.
Du Wenhuan said at the beginning that he could not go any further south. One reason was that many of the soldiers in the army were really exhausted and exhausted. The other reason was to dissuade them.
The Qing army had weaved a siege net against them in the south of Julu. If they went further south, they would undoubtedly be playing into the Qing army's ambitions, and they would not be able to go any further.
Du Wenhuan clasped his hands in his fists, lowered his head slightly, looked outside the tent sideways, and said in a deep voice without looking at Lu Xiangsheng.
"Our army traveled all the way, sleeping in the open and eating without any replenishment. The food and grass in the army had already reached the bottom. Although the soldiers below did not complain or make any noise, they had already reached their limit. The distance traveled in the past few days It's getting shorter every day just because of physical strength..."
Starting from November, the army has been cut off from pay and wages. The cut off of pay is still a small matter. After all, pay and wages only affect morale.
However, the impact of food shortage is difficult to eliminate.
Starting from mid-November, the military rations provided to them have been intermittent. The soldiers in the army can only get half of the usual military rations every day, and they cannot eat enough at all.
If you don't even have enough to eat, where will your fighting power come from?
This is why, even though Gaoyang City is right next to Baonyeong Mansion, they can only sit back and watch the fall of Gaoyang City.
In Zhending Mansion, they received very little supplements along the way. Even if the military rations were halved, the army's food and grass supplies were almost exhausted.
Lu Xiangsheng's expression was gloomy. He knew that Du Wenhuan was right.
Make bricks without straw.
In another two or three days, the army will be completely out of food. At that time, the Qing army will not even need to attack, and they will collapse first.
After Du Wenhuan finished speaking, the atmosphere in the tent became silent again.
Lu Xiangsheng was speechless. He lowered his head and did not raise it.
The sun sets over the west mountain, the light is dim, the light in the tent is weak, and everything is dim.
Lu Xiangsheng's face was hidden in the darkness, and no one could see his expression.
There was silence in the tent for a long time. I don't know how long it took. The sky outside the tent had already turned completely dark, and the silent atmosphere was broken by a burst of rapid horse hooves.
Du Wenhuan and Yang Guozhu followed the sound and went outside the tent. They looked up and saw Hu Dawei, who was covered in wind and rain, walking in from outside the tent.
"Hu Dawei, see the Supervisor!"
Hu Dawei strode into the tent, knelt down on one knee and saluted Lu Xiangsheng with great energy.
Lu Xiangsheng, who had been looking up with his head lowered, also made a move at this time, and slowly raised his head to look at Hu Dawei.
"Supervisor, I met a group of people from Guangzong in the southeast. They seemed to be local squires."
"Speaking of what, I heard that the Superintendent is coming with the army. I must ask him to see the Superintendent."
"The Superintendent warned me before that I should be humble when meeting the people when I lead the army. I didn't know how to deal with it, so I brought the people here first."
Hu Dawei lowered his head and reported to Lu Xiangshenghui respectfully.
Hu Dawei is the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Town. He usually does not accept Lu Xiangsheng's supervision, but he still respects Lu Xiangsheng.
He had only been fighting with Lu Xiangsheng for a few months, but within these few months, Lu Xiangsheng had already convinced him.
Lu Xiangsheng was not like other governors who hid in the background and made random comments, and he never said any official empty talk to them.
In the past few months, Lu Xiangsheng had always been clear about rewards and punishments, kept his word, and commanded well. He led them to fight many battles, always being at the front line, and even leading his guards to charge into battle.
So he took Lu Xiangsheng's instructions to heart.
"Guang Zong?"
Lu Xiangsheng's eyes were slightly focused, a little confused.
Guangzong is located forty miles south of Julu.
They passed Julu and walked all the way to the southeast. The reconnaissance cavalry spread out for a distance of twenty to thirty miles. Guangzong County could indeed know the arrival of the army.
He knew that Guangzong City had not been captured, but with the current chaos of war, how could anyone come all the way from Guangzong?
(End of chapter)
