Zhang Ren led the mule and trudged along the winding country path in the mud that covered his feet.

On the back of the mule were hunched the stomachs of several men, as well as a saber.

That knife once belonged to Lao Shichang.

When the Song army counterattacked and recaptured the small hill, only two walls of the adobe house were left.

After digging through the ruins, the first thing everyone saw was a Zhanma sword stuck deeply into the ground. The handle of the knife was so burned that only less than a hand was left, but the blade was not damaged at all because it was stuck in the ground.

Lossless.

Zhang Ren asked for the knife.

The camp commander Zhou Quan agreed to him.

As the only survivor in this world, Zhang Ren naturally has to take over many other things that he must bear while possessing this knife.

It can be seen that the skeletons of the nine people were crowded together. It was obvious that the last living person dragged everyone's bodies together before setting the house on fire.

Along with the sword, the identity plates of nine people were dug out.

It is owned by every soldier. A small iron plate is engraved with the owner's identity information. The return of each plate represents the death of a soldier.

This is the tradition of the Yunnan-Guizhou army.

When people pass by, they leave their names, and when geese pass by, they leave their voices.

Now this tradition has spread to all armies of the Song Dynasty.

The war has been going on for a month. As the first to engage the enemy and withstand the enemy's fiercest attack, this unit has suffered serious attrition. There are more than a thousand troops, including those who were killed in the battle and those who were injured and were sent to the rear.

Only half of them were able to fight on the battlefield again.

Originally, Wei Wu wanted to leave this army behind to guard the food and grass, but the battalion general Zhou Quan stood outside the general's gate for a day carrying the nameplates of hundreds of war dead. In the end, even the wounded soldiers who were recuperating nearby were rushed away.

Come over, some are even carried here.

In the end, Wei Wu agreed to their request.

But they definitely have no part in the main frontal battlefield!

After all, only half of them were able to fight, and they were no longer able to independently undertake combat tasks in one direction. The task assigned to them was to guard the flanks of the army and prevent the enemy from infiltrating from this direction.

Wei Wu actually didn't think his opponent would come from this direction.

Because this direction is basically all mountain roads, which are extremely difficult to travel. Heavy weapons cannot be transported through here. And even if some light infantry comes from here, what effect will it have on the battle situation?

Of course, that's not what he said to Zhou Quan.

He told Zhou Quan that although this was not the main direction of attack, it was related to the flank weakness of the entire camp. If the enemy came from here, it might threaten the supply camp at the rear of the army, so the mission was very important.

Zhou Quan never expected that Wei Wu would lie to him. He happily accepted the mission and then set off towards the target with more than 500 of his subordinates. Among them, there were some lightly injured soldiers.

In Zhou Quan's view, the most difficult time has passed. He led the troops through the most difficult time and sacrificed so many comrades, but he did not achieve much in battle. This will prevent the dead comrades from receiving more compensation.

.And now that the whole front has turned to counterattack, it is the time to get a lot of military merit. If they are allowed to rest in the back and not participate in the battle, then after the war is over and rewards will be given based on merit, their camp will not gain much.

This made their early losses meaningless, at least, to the soldiers who died.

Only by continuing to participate in the war can you get military merit, and then you can get more rewards, and then you can distribute more of the rewards to those who died.

This is the only thing Zhou Quan can do for them.

A rain made the march more difficult.

After a whole day's march, they finally arrived at their destination when night was about to fall.

The formerly docile Agate River became extremely violent during the flood season. The dark red river water roared down from the upper reaches, hitting the rocks on the shore, splashing waves as high as a person, and from time to time something like wood hit the river heavily.

On the shore, it was pushed away by the flood and continued all the way down.

The most terrifying thing is naturally those whirlpools that appear and disappear suddenly from time to time. You don't know where and when they will appear, but anything they hunt will be pressed down in an instant and never have a chance to float again.

stand up.

[To be honest, I have been using Yeguo Reading recently to catch up on books, change sources, and read aloud with many sounds, and it can be used on both Android and Apple.]

There is a stone bridge on the Agate River, which is the target they want to guard.

In Wei Wu's words, the enemy is likely to advance from here.

Zhou Quan looked at the roaring river and the stone bridge that could allow a carriage to pass, and fell into deep thought.

Will the enemy come from here?

In fact, the entire camp was full of suspicion.

But out of his long-standing admiration and respect for the iron-footed general Wei Wu, Zhou Quan never thought that Wei Wu would lie to him. He still ordered the army to set up a defensive line in a strict manner.

Half of the soldiers began to set up camp a few miles away from the river.

The other half walked towards the bridge with a crowbar and pickaxe.

Stones were dug out and tied with ropes. Several people shouted and carried them to the middle of the stone bridge and began to build a wall.

After several parapets have been built on the bridge, walls will be built on both sides of the wall. Several crossbow machines will be placed behind these parapets to protect the bridge deck. Of course, they can also be used to block the possibility of enemies on the river.

of forced crossing.

However, looking at the turbulence of the river, everyone felt that there was no possibility of forcible crossing.

Zhang Ren is now a team leader.

It has to be said that the speed of promotion during the war is indeed the fastest.

A month ago, Zhang Ren was still a soldier.

His Shi Zhan is gone, and he is the only one left.

Then he was assigned to another class.

In one month of fighting, he climbed up step by step from a soldier to a corps leader, then to a captain, and then to a team general.

If you want to be promoted quickly during the war, you still need several necessary conditions.

The first thing is that you have to survive.

Secondly, you must have clear military exploits to convince other survivors to obey you.

Zhang Ren did it all.

The former Zhang Xiucai became Zhang Butcher in just one month.

From a recruit and scholar who was looked at askance at, to a big brother that all soldiers admire sincerely, it only took one year.

The felt blanket was spread on the ground. Zhang Ren leaned on the stone wall, took out a piece of leather and slowly wiped his sword.

The handle is newly attached.

The blade is two feet long and the handle is three feet long.

Zhang Ren slowly wound up the thin hemp rope on the handle bit by bit. These skills were taught by Lao Shichang. How to wrap them so that the hemp rope would not fall off at the critical moment and cause trouble.

Zhang Ren had no idea about it before.

The blade of the knife was shiny, but the gaps between the hemp rope were filled with some purple-black stuff. No matter how you washed it, it couldn't be cleaned. These things turned the hemp rope and the handle into a whole.

In the Song Army's base camp in Suixian County, the top general was no longer Wei Wu. Gao Yingxiang, the general from the eastern camp, arrived here quietly. Like the court, he concluded that the Liao Army would definitely make a last stand, and this

The last stand must be in Suixian County.

As long as they succeed in Suixian, they can go straight down and threaten Shangqiu and Songcheng.

Even if Shangqiu and Songcheng cannot be captured in the end, the advance of the troops will destroy all the Song army's efforts in this area over the past year.

More importantly, they will loot what they need most from this place.

You must know that at the beginning, Shangqiu, Songcheng and other places had preserved the vitality of these places as much as possible because of Huang Chun's decision to surrender.

In this battle, due to the desperate resistance of the Song army at the front, the autumn harvest in this area was successfully completed.

If they can capture this area, they will get the food they dream of.

On paper, there are only about 10,000 troops of the Baiyu Army led by Wei Wutong in the entire Sui County, but dozens of miles away from Sui County, another 10,000 elite troops mobilized by Gao Yingxiang are silently waiting for the outbreak of war.

These troops arrived in stages and then gathered quietly. At the same time, the Imperial City Secretary Zhiqiuyuan and the army began to observe silence on the battlefield.

This area can only be entered but not exited.

In the direction of Jingdong, the Song generals led by Li Yan began a strategic deception. The navy came and went, seemingly transporting people and food ship after ship to Peixian.

In fact, those soldiers who disembarked in high spirits during the day boarded the ship from another direction at night, and then returned to the same place to disembark during the day, just with a different flag.

It seems that the Song Army is preparing to launch a large-scale counterattack in the direction of Beijing East.

"This time Lu Ben'an gathered all the infantry and cavalry of the Liao army in the direction of Jingdong. Qu Zhen even sent out the main force. Moreover, Lu Ben'an also transferred 10,000 people from the puppet Qi Liu Yu. This time his opponent made a big investment.

, fifty thousand troops are opposite us, divided into three directions to attack us." Gao Yingxiang pointed to the map and said.

"On the right side of Jiebao, 10,000 infantry and cavalry came from Qixian County. Chen Tiansong led 10,000 Qi State infantry and cavalry to attack us from the direction of Ningling, while Lu Ben'an personally led the main force of 30,000 infantry and cavalry from the direction of Minquan.

Come on. At the beginning of the war, our troops will retreat back and lure the enemy to the vicinity of Suixian County before fighting the enemy. After our troops fight with Lu Ben'an's troops, you will use the fastest speed to defeat Jie Bao on the left and right.

and Chen Tiansong, it would be best if they could be forced to move closer to Lu Bengan’s Chinese army.”
To be continued...