Outside Luoyang City.
"General Xu, if you speed up a little more, we must arrive at Zhushiju within an hour and meet up with Captain Zhang!"
Xun You was running out of breath at this time, but still felt that the speed was too slow, so he shouted to Xu Rong.
"As you command!"
Xu Rong nodded and immediately ordered the entire army to speed up.
"Gongtai, we can't speed up anymore. If we go any faster, someone will fall behind." Chen Gong panted, "Even if we don't fall behind, our soldiers will lose their combat effectiveness. Once the enemy catches up, we will have no power to fight back. "
"No, we must speed up!" Xun You immediately shook his head, denying Chen Gong's statement.
It sounds like we have the strength to fight now.
There are more than a thousand people behind them. Once they are overtaken by the enemy, they will only be slaughtered.
It's not that the soldiers under Xu Rong's command are not very effective, but the Xiliang army stationed in Luoyang is almost all cavalry. When these more than a thousand infantry met the heavily armed cavalry, one can imagine their fate.
According to Xun You's calculations, from the time he left Luoyang, to the night watchmen discovering the tragic situation in Cai Mansion, to the time he summoned troops to go out of the city to pursue him, the whole process would take at least half an hour, or even longer.
And half an hour was enough for his group to escape more than ten miles.
It was still night at this time, and the visibility was extremely low. With this buffer of more than ten miles, he could successfully rendezvous with Zhang Heng. Finally, just cover up the tracks and find a hiding place to hide.
In this way, it only takes a few days, and it will be considered completely safe. Then we will find a way to escape from the Henan Yin territory.
The most dangerous section of the road is the journey from Luoyang to Zhushiju.
It is a straight official road with no forks along the way. Once the enemy catches up, there will be no chance of survival.
Therefore, Xun You tried his best to speed up.
But his plan was obviously a bit unrealistic.
Not to mention the imperial soldiers under Xu Rong's command, Cai Yong was already nearly sixty years old and had no energy to carry out such a long-distance attack. Now he could no longer hold on. As for Dong Bai, who was tied up with five flowers, he was already sweating and running. If his mouth hadn't been blocked, he would have cried out.
On the other hand, Cai Yan's performance was really surprising.
She held her sister Cai Wan's little hand and ran all the way. Although she was exhausted, she still gritted her teeth and persisted without complaining.
Xun You sighed and said to Tai Shici: "Ziyi, send some people to help Cai Gong."
"good."
Taishi Ci nodded and hurriedly ordered his soldiers to help Cai Yong, but he grabbed the little girl Cai Wan and carried her on his shoulders.
Of course he knew the truth about men and women not being intimate, but he didn't care about that much at this time. However, Miss Cai Wan was still a little reluctant, but unfortunately her objections were ignored by Tai Shici.
After walking in a hurry for about half an hour, even Chen Gong could hardly hold on anymore. Xun You himself turned pale, sweating profusely, and panting like crazy.
"Gongda, please stop and rest... The pursuers may not be able to get out of Luoyang at this time... The front is up to ten miles... and they will reach their destination." Chen Gong shouted incoherently while panting.
"Okay, General Xu, please order to slow down." Xun You shouted.
This short sentence almost exhausted all his strength.
Of course it is impossible to stop, but you can slow down and regain your strength.
After hearing Xu Rong's order, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and the team's speed suddenly slowed down.
"Ziyi, what time is it now?"
"I don't know, but it should be almost midnight."
Taishi Ci replied that even though he was carrying a burden, he was still walking as fast as he could without showing any sign of fatigue.
"Zi Shi..."
Xun You remembered clearly that it was the fourth quarter of the year when he took action. The whole process from committing the murder to leaving Luoyang should take about half an hour. Assuming it was midnight, then my group should have been running for more than an hour.
According to the speed just now, they should have traveled at least thirty miles.
Assuming that the enemy had pursued us half an hour later, he would have pursued us for more than twenty miles by now.
In other words, the enemy is several miles away at this moment.
No, we can’t stop here!
Thinking of this, Xun You ordered to speed up again.
Everyone was confused now. They had just slowed down. Before they could take a breath, they were speeding up again?
"Gongtai, let's take a rest." Chen Gong said helplessly.
"No, it's not time to rest yet. Even if you die from exhaustion, it's better than dying by a thief's sword!" Xun You's tone left no room for doubt.
Helpless, everyone had to speed up.
At this time, Li Ru's pursuers had already left Luoyang for half an hour, and were indeed less than ten miles away from Xun You and others.
Xun You made conservative estimates, but Li Ru discovered the fight in the Cai Mansion in advance and chased after Xun You and others as soon as they left Luoyang. This resulted in a distance between the two parties that was almost as Xun You expected.
"How far away is the thief?"
Li Ru asked coldly on the horse.
Naturally, there are many people in the Xiliang army who are good at tracking. By following the traces of Xun You and others on their way, they can roughly judge the distance between the two sides.
"Sir, the thief just passed by not long ago. He is less than ten miles away from us!" a soldier replied.
"There are still ten miles left?" Li Ru sneered, "This thief can actually run away."
"Sir, there are no ruts or horse hoof marks in this trace. I guess the thief must have traveled lightly. He may not have even brought much dry food, so he went faster."
Li Ru nodded, "Speed up and continue the pursuit!"
It has not rained for many days, the land is extremely dry, and the spring is windy. Once the distance is far away, the traces will be faded, and it is very likely to be traced and lost.
"As you command!"
The commander-in-chief responded with clasped fists, and immediately ordered the march to speed up.
Another half an hour passed.
Xun You and his party finally arrived outside Zhu's city.
Here, Zhang Heng and his party have been waiting for a long time.
At this point, the two groups of people finally met.
After meeting Zhang Heng, Xun You finally breathed a sigh of relief, and a smile appeared on his pale face.
At least from this moment on, his mission is completely completed.
Seeing Xun You, Zhang Heng and others rushed to greet him.
"Gongda, how was the result of this trip?"
Xun You clasped his fists and said, "Fortunately, we did not disgrace our orders. All the thieves in Duke Cai's mansion were caught in one fell swoop. The leader of the thieves, Dong Min, was beheaded by Ziyi himself!"
Zhang Heng immediately cast an approving look at Tai Shi Ci.
"Well done!"
After getting a word of praise from Zhang Heng, Tai Shici felt that the whole night of fighting was worth it. He quickly clasped his fists and said humbly: "The killing of the thief this time was all due to Mr. Xun's strategic planning. The general will not dare to take credit."
Hearing this, Zhang Heng nodded again.
Taishi Ci was brave and brave, but he was not arrogant. He was a general worthy of training.
Just when he was about to say a few more words of encouragement, Xun You said: "Captain, this is not the place to talk. Although what happened tonight was a great success, it was extremely dangerous. Just before the action, there was suddenly an extra thousand xi in the city. Liang Jun..."
Xun You gave a rough outline of his guess about the pursuers.
"Captain, the pursuers are not far away. Let's leave quickly."
Zhang Heng said with a smile: "Don't panic, Gongda. Do you know why I chose this meeting point?"
"I don't know." Xun You shook his head.
Zhang Heng pointed to the dark distance and said: "A few hundred steps away from Gongda, there is a bifurcated road. One road leads to Hongnong County through Yicheng, and the other leads directly to Yangren and Luyang, leading to Nanyang County. "
Chen Gong on the side immediately said: "What the captain means...the troops will retreat in two groups?"
"No." Zhang Heng shook his head, "The troops were divided into three groups."
