According to Zhang Ling's order, Zhou Xian led 500 soldiers to pull nearly 60 large chariots full of food and grass and weapons, and slowly turned back along the mountain road. On the way, he encountered many defeated soldiers and people who escaped from Dachang City, and learned from them the real situation in Dachang City. At this moment, Zhou Xian was completely sure that Li Bin was the spy sent by Zhang Xianzhong, but it was completely too late to know about these things.

But Zhou Xian still sent Jimu to ask him to take the shortcut to the front line, informed Zhang Ling that the information he had received, and asked him to return quickly. Along the way, more and more defeated soldiers, and the situation became more and more chaotic. Some chaotic soldiers saw that Zhou Xian and the others were carrying food, but they even wanted to snatch them with weapons. Fortunately, the number of participants was not too large, so Zhou Xian ordered them to beat them back. The relationship between the chaotic soldiers along the way and the food guards was tense, and everyone's heartstrings were tightened to the extreme.

Although it was almost noon, the fog in the mountains had not dissipated. The sun slightly exposed and emitted a dark white light, and could not feel any warmth. The tired soldiers sat on the ground leaning against each other, protecting the sixty carts of supplies in the middle. They bit the slightly dry cakes in their hands to supplement the consumption along the way.

Zhou Xian stood on a rock, looking at the rioters and the people who were slowly moving back with exhausted steps, his face looked very ugly. There were not many soldiers in Chongqing at this moment. If Zhang Ling could retreat in time, he could slightly delay Zhang Xianzhong's advancement speed. When more than 10,000 white-rod soldiers led by Qin Liangyu could arrive in time, he might be able to reverse the situation. Otherwise, before Yang Sichang arrived, Zhang Xianzhong would be completely rampant in the entire Sichuan.

At this time, a shout suddenly came from not far away, and Li Kai helped Ji Mu and walked over quickly. Zhou Xian's face changed slightly, and he quickly walked up to him. Zhou Xian saw that Ji Mu was messy, covered in scars, and a deep feeling of fatigue appeared all over his body. He thought he had suffered a lot on the way back. "Jimu, where is the military lord now? Are you already on the way to retreat?"

Ji Mu's face was dim and he opened his mouth and said, "Person Zhou, the more than 3,000 brothers led by the military have been wiped out."

"What?..." Zhou Xian grew up with a big mouth in shock. When the soldiers around him heard this, they stood up and looked at this side.

Zhou Xian looked ugly. "What's going on? Tell me quickly."

"That Li Bin is actually Zhang Xianzhong's adopted son Li Dingguo. He lured the military gate to Wushan, but in fact, Dachang had not yet fallen at that time. He knew that the military gate had to pass Zhuguoping to Dachang, so he set up five thousand bandits to block it in advance. In order to go to Dachang to rescue Governor Shao, the military gate ordered his brothers to charge many times, but they could not break through the enemy's formation. Later, he..., he led the team to charge, killing several bandits in succession, but was shot and killed by Li Thief Dingguo. After the military gate, our army was in chaos. The bandits took advantage of the situation and attacked fiercely, and less than 30% of the surviving soldiers were still alive."

Zhou Xian sat down on the ground in depressedly. "It's over... As soon as Zhang Ling's army was destroyed, I'm afraid that even the small demand for Zhang Xianzhong's offensive could not be met. Li Dingguo! This person who supported half of the Ming Dynasty in the later period is really extraordinary."

Seeing Zhou Xian's decadent face, Li Kai pondered for a moment: "The second young master, Governor Shao and Army Wan were defeated by Zhang thieves before, and Deputy General Zhang was also defeated at this moment. The bandit army may arrive in a flash. I think we should burn these food, grass and weapons, and return to Chongqing as soon as possible."

Zhou Xian smiled bitterly and said, "It's probably too late to return now. It's at least half a day to return to Chongqing from here. Judging from the several battles between Zhang Xianzhong and our army before, he has a very good understanding of the geography of Shuzhong and the situation of our army. Now there are defeated soldiers along the way, and a small number of thieves can cause chaos. I'm sure he will definitely not miss such a good opportunity. Perhaps he has sent people to this nearby at this moment."

Li Kai's face changed drastically, and he frowned and said, "That second young master, what should we do now?"

Zhou Xian sighed, looked up and suddenly saw the mountain peak not far away, with cliffs and extremely steep. He was delighted and turned to Jimu and asked, "Jimu, what's the name of that mountain?"

Jimu looked at it with a puzzled look on his face, but replied honestly: "Person Zhou, it's not a mountain, but two. The one on the left is called Liangshan, and the one on the right is called Fushan. There is a road between the two mountains, which is the only way to return to Chongqing."

Zhou Xian said happily, "Is there a path that can circumvent the two mountains? That is to say, if we stationed here and the thieves attack, will they circumvent our army from elsewhere when they can't capture it?"

Jimu thought for a while and said, "Yes, yes. But it takes more than ten miles of mountain roads to reach them without a short period of time. And this is still the case that they are very familiar with the local terrain."

Zhou Xian stood up and said, "Go, go there and set up a barrier. If it is a soldier, I will stop me and participate in the defense. If it is an ordinary citizen, I will conduct a strict investigation and then let it go."

Li Kai looked shocked and said, "Second Young Master, are you planning to defend here?"

Zhou Xian nodded and said, "When you withdraw at this time, you will likely be caught up by the bandits, resulting in the annihilation of the entire army. The bandits won a lot of victories before, and even if pursuers come, they will definitely be small scouts. Liangshan and Fushan are in a dangerous terrain and are a natural suitable place for defense. We gather the defeated soldiers there and block the bandits at the defense and garrison pass. After defeating them, we will retreat."

Zhou Xian divided three hundred soldiers into two teams, garrisoning on Liangshan and Fushan respectively. Half of the other two hundred soldiers set up passes on the road to strictly investigate the people coming. The other one hundred people set up dozens of military stoves to cook rice and porridge. If they were ordinary soldiers, they could eat as much as possible, but the premise was that they had to participate in the garrisoning. If they were ordinary people, each person would be given a dou of rice and drove them away as soon as possible.

In less than a minute, nearly five hundred defeated soldiers were collected. Most of them were ordinary soldiers, but there were also some low-level generals, but the number was not large. Zhou Xian picked some of the low-level generals, and also picked some familiar ones from the 500 strokes he led, so that they could help him control the soldiers.
Chapter completed!