"Boss, the road ahead is Liangjiang Road. Should we go forward?" In the dense forest near Liangjiang Road in Annan, five flexible figures loomed in the dense forest. If you look closely, you will find that although these people are wearing the military uniforms of the Annan Army, they are covered with fishing nets, and the mesh is filled with branches, flowers and plants. This is the method Gao Heng gave Lu Tao before. Lu Tao learned and used it to disguise himself. got up.
Gao Heng handed over fifty people from his guard to Lu Tao. However, although these guards were highly skilled in martial arts, their level of sentry detection was still far behind. Lu Tao also understood that professional people do professional things, so he sent them to Lu Tao. The guards stayed on the outskirts of Tuoxian County to guard.
This was the third line of defense for his sentinel team, and the original fifty people went forward to Jiling, which was the place where the Zheng court originally transferred overseas Chinese. Gao Heng only asked them to ensure a safe distance within twenty miles, but in fact Lu Tao's men divided into several teams, moved fifty miles forward, and directly placed the surveillance area near Jiling.
The reason why Lu Tao went to Jiling was not a blind choice, because although Shenglong is not particularly far from Tuoxian, it is definitely no problem for the army to reach directly, but it is impossible for the refugees. According to the agreement between Gao Heng and the Zheng court, the number of people and the lives of the refugees are guaranteed. Safety must be guaranteed. Before falling out, the Annan people still have to do the procedures that need to be done. At the very least, no flaws should be exposed. Therefore, the large army will definitely transit in Jiling and use the original camp in Jiling to let the refugees rest. In this case, Lu Tao simply pulled the team to lurk near Jiling.
However, this was only his second line of defense. Lu Tao was born in Jinyiwei, he was bold and cautious, and definitely had the adventurous spirit he should have. He selected five masters from among his men and continued to move forward, getting closer to Shenglong Mansion. The better. The generals and military advisors all judged that the enemy might take large-scale military action. If this was the case, there would be military camps near Thang Long Palace or there would be abnormal large-scale mobilization of troops. They could definitely see some clues.
Unlike when he was a Jin Yiwei, he could blend in with the crowd. Outside the country, they didn't understand the language, and their appearance was similar to that of the Annan people. If you look closely, you can find clues. He can sneak into the city for a short time, but if he moves for a long time, he may Know how to tell the truth. Simply, Lu Tao led people to lurk in the wild. When he was hungry, he ate the dry food he brought with him, and when he was thirsty, he drank water from the stream. He could also shoot some animals on the way to supplement his meat supply, which was not a big problem.
When we were approaching Langjiang Road, one of his men asked if he wanted to go forward. Lu Tao thought for a moment and said, "In this case, you guys will stay here while Li Xiang and I go to the front to explore." After that, he stayed. The three of them, Lu Tao and Li Xiang, walked towards Liangjiang Road together.
Li Xiang is young, smart and has strong learning ability. He has followed the old monk for many years and learned a lot of knowledge. He can understand a lot of Chinese characters, but it is still a bit difficult to speak them. He can only simply bounce out some words, and it is a bit troublesome to speak coherent sentences.
Lu Tao groped forward with him for a while, and could vaguely see the road ahead. This should be the official road leading to Liangjiang Road. Li Xiang gestured with his hands and said to Lu Tao: "General, I'm in front, Big tree.”
After speaking, he pointed at a huge tree not far ahead. Lu Tao immediately understood what he meant. Li Xiang was good at climbing trees, so he seemed to want to go up there and have a look. He nodded, and Li Xiang immediately ran up the tree like an ape, opened his hand curtains, and looked into the distance. Lu Tao was observing the movements of the official road under the tree. Of course, there was actually nothing to see here. Lu Tao's original intention was to explore further, but he was worried that patrols or passing crowds might appear on the official road, exposing their secrets. There are no traces, so we observe for a while first. This is also a routine action of the sentinel team.
The time for a cup of tea passed quickly, and Lu Tao was about to blow the whistle to ask Li Xiang to come down. Suddenly, Li Xiang heard a few bird calls from the tree. This rhythmic chirping of birds was their prescribed code, proving that Li Xiang had discovered something unusual.
Lu Tao immediately lowered his body, completely hiding his body in the grass. Li Xiang suddenly slid down from the tree and landed next to Lu Tao. Lu Tao lowered his voice and asked, "What's going on?"
"People, a lot of people, over there in the city." Li Xiang was afraid that Lu Tao wouldn't understand, so he gestured for a while, and it turned out that he was looking at the direction of Liangjiang City from the tree, and there were many people coming this way. The weather was good today, cloudless. With such clear weather and good visibility, Li Xiang climbed to the top of the tree and could easily see what was happening on the other side of the city.
Li Xiang suddenly discovered that there were a large number of people leaving the city at the city gate, and they were gathered together. They did not look like ordinary people, so Li Xiang immediately slid down to report.
Lu Tao signaled him to hide his figure, and the two of them stared at the movement on the official road. If someone really left the city, they would definitely be at their current ambush position within two-quarters of an hour.
As soon as Li Xiang squatted down, Lu Tao noticed that the pebbles on the ground seemed to be shaking slightly. He immediately lay down on the ground with his ears close to the ground, listening for something.
"This?" Lu Tao's expression changed and he was so shocked. Could it be that they were cavalry? The sound was getting louder and closer. Lu Tao and Li Xiang clearly saw that a dozen cavalrymen were riding across the official road at high speed, heading straight to the northwest road from the fork in the official road. Lu Tao had not had time to do so. Take out the map. Boom, boom, more cavalry appeared from the official road, and they galloped past the official road in groups.
Lu Tao quickly clicked. Although they passed by in batches, they basically had a fixed number. They were about two hundred cavalry in a group. Moreover, these cavalry were different from the Imperial Guard cavalry they had encountered before. Their armors could It can be seen that they are very sophisticated, but very old, obviously due to frequent use. Many people's helmets are skewed, looking a little careless, but Lu Tao's heart is beating wildly, because he can see the Ming Dynasty frontier army from the appearance of these cavalry. The shadow of a soldier dressed in this way is either a waste or an elite. Obviously, the cavalry can only be the latter.
Lu Tao silently recited "One, two, three, four, five." A total of five groups of cavalry passed by, which meant that at least a thousand cavalry passed in front of him. Although Annan had cavalry, the total number of cavalry was not large. It is very rare to see thousands of Annan Army cavalry in action together at one time.
Li Xiang tugged at the corner of his clothes, pointed at the official road and reminded: "Human."
Clicking, clicking, a neat infantry team strode forward. They were five people in a row, carrying various weapons, including firecrackers, bows and arrows, and swords and guns. Lu Tao gritted his teeth and said, "They have murderous intent. These are not ordinary soldiers." .”
He and Li Xiang had been lurking in the woods for more than an hour. They saw at least four to five thousand people passing through the official road. The ones in front should be elites, and the army behind should be the Fourth Town soldiers. This was a mixed force. Form troops. Although Liangjiang City is the structure of a Fucheng, the garrison in the Fucheng will not exceed a thousand people. These troops, especially the cavalry in front, are obviously field troops and cannot be the soldiers stationed in Liangjiang.
So what do these field troops do when they suddenly appear here or move northwest? Lu Tao unfolded the map, and a possibility suddenly flooded into his mind. Their direction is Wuli County. If they reach Wuli County and follow the tributary of the Red River to the north, they will reach Tuo County. Could it be that the general and military advisors really predicted correctly that the Annan people were going to attack them.
Lu Tao quickly picked up Li Xiang, and the two of them rushed back to the starting point. Upon hearing this, everyone who responded suddenly felt that the situation was serious. Lu Tao said: "We will retreat immediately, gather people, and focus on the direction of Wu Li."
A few days later, after leaving the county military office, Gao Heng slammed a letter on the table, "I figured it out, these scoundrels really have no good intentions."
Cheng Zilong rushed to the military office in a hurry. He was very busy these days. The recruitment and training matters took away most of his energy. After receiving Gao Heng's order, he rushed back immediately. As soon as he entered the door, he heard Gao Heng's angry voice.
"What's wrong, General? Have Lu Tao and the others returned from sending a message?" Cheng Zilong said as he entered the door.
"Yes, military advisor, you and I have no problem. Please read this military report." Gao Heng handed over the letter.
Cheng Zilong scanned it with ten lines, immediately put down the letter, walked to the map, pointed to the location of Wuli County and said: "Here, only fifty miles away from Tuo County, is an excellent place to hide troops. Lu Tao and the others have made a great contribution. So It seems that their intention is obvious. They will first gather the troops in Wuli County in batches, and then the overseas Chinese will be handed over according to the original route, setting up a fascination formation, so that our attention will be on the refugees. When the handover is completed, After Zheng Zuo got it, the army immediately set out from Wuli County to surprise us and catch us by surprise."
Gao Heng nodded and said: "That should be the case. Lu Tao and the others have focused on the vicinity of Wuli County and are still monitoring it. According to intelligence, at least five to six thousand troops have been accumulated here, and they are all elites of the Annan Army. According to Lu Tao's Description: It is estimated that the Annan people brought back the border troops, otherwise there would not have been so many cavalry. Lord Zheng was really generous. In order to deal with our small survival brigade, he actually put the border troops into it, and also I’m so willing to give it up.”
Cheng Zilong then said: "Look at it this way, Lu Tao has made a meritorious service. If we follow our original plan and limit the scope of investigation to twenty or thirty miles, we will only explore the road to Jiling at most, and we will not find any abnormalities at all. If It was not that they took the initiative and went all the way to Langjiang Road. Who would have thought that they would divide their troops there? Master Zheng really took great pains."
"That's good. Now that we know their movements, it's easier for us to move forward and set up an ambush in the west of the city. We will choose a position between the tributary of the Red River and the county seat. We will set up a pocket formation for them and wait. They rushed in." Gao Heng said firmly.
Annan sent someone to send a message, saying that the handover was expected to take place ten days later, that is, around October 20th. They had gathered the expats from all over the country in Thanglong Palace, and from Thanglong Palace Set off to Jiling. After a short rest in Jiling, you can go north to Tuoxian County. If Gao Heng is worried, you can also send someone to check.
Gao Heng and Cheng Zilong knew that this was just a smoke bomb by the Annan people. On the surface, they thought the Annan people had changed their gender, but now they had a heart of benevolence and righteousness, and invited them to send someone to supervise.
Gao Heng didn't care so much, he arranged for Jackie Chan to continue to connect with the Annan people, while the entire army was making final preparations. On October 15, five days before the handover, two thousand elite members of the survival brigade set out from Tuo County and set up an ambush in the west of the city. The ambush location was arranged in Laohu Valley, ten miles away from Tuo County.
Annan has a tropical climate, which is suitable for animal reproduction. Therefore, there are many tigers in Annan, which should be of the Indochinese tiger species. These tigers often appear in dense forests. Although there are hunters who hunt and drive them away, they are still allowed to pass by. Pedestrians caused a lot of trouble.
For example, there are traces of tigers in this area, so the locals call it Laohu Valley. It is said to be a canyon, but in fact it is just a road sandwiched between two rising hills. Originally, this road was difficult to travel. Later, Wuli County and Tuo County invested in widening the road, so now it is possible for vehicles and horses to travel. Generally speaking, it is not a big problem for the army to pass here. Two cavalrymen can pass through in parallel.
Two thousand soldiers and horses quickly arrived at Laohu Valley. For this battle, Gao Heng also spent a lot of money. It was like a gamble. Gao Heng put almost all the chips in his hands on it. This battle could only be won. He cannot be defeated, so Gao Heng is careful and cautious. Arriving so many days in advance was to familiarize his soldiers with the terrain. Gao Heng himself also climbed two hills to view the landscape of the entire battlefield. This is the basic quality of an officer.
In later generations, as special forces, they often fought in ambushes. It should be said that ambush battles were a common experience for him. It's just that in the past, it was a team of a dozen people ambushing dozens of enemies, no more than a hundred at most. Now he has to command 2,000 people to ambush tens of thousands of enemies. Gao Heng himself is not sure whether he can fight well.
During these few days, the soldiers must maintain absolute concealment and are not allowed to light fires for cooking. The entire army is not allowed to remove their armor and lurk in the dense forests on the back of the hills. The exposed parts of the army's armor must be painted Oil paint, front-line ambush troops are all equipped with fishing nets or nets made of ropes, covered with branches for cover. Gao Heng has seen it in person. Ten steps away, as long as a soldier remains still and lies on the ground, he can completely merge with the ground. It is difficult to distinguish it with the naked eye.
Not only that, Gao Heng moved almost all the equipment over, and the craftsman's shop rushed to make a lot of explosive bags designed by Gao Heng to set up traps and arrange explosive points.
