Chapter 688: The Storm in Hebei (Part 2)

At night, the north wind suddenly blew, and the cold was biting. The elderly and children hid in the empty houses in the town. The refugees set up piles of fires. They wrapped in bedding and surrounded the fire to keep warm. From a distance, they saw the desolate earth with sparks of fire, and they could not see the edges at a glance.

In front of several bonfires, Ji Sheng and more than 100 of his subordinates were sitting in front of the fire, thinking silently, and moving from Mozhou to Cangzhou. Although the refugees' march was very difficult, it was still smooth, and no army came to harass him. Ji Sheng also knew that this was related to the war between Anshi, and they had no time to take care of it. However, the war between Anshi had ended at this time, and Shi Siming still did not move, which was somewhat unreasonable.

More than 60,000 refugees fled, and this goal was very big. Shi Siming could not not know. Ji Sheng had an intuition, and Shi Siming could not remain indifferent. Although he had sent scouts to investigate the enemy situation, his strong intuition still made him unable to sit still. He stood up and walked towards the fire where Zhang Xun was.

Zhang Xunzheng discussed the journey tomorrow with the elders of more than a dozen families. There were nearly two hundred miles from here to the beach. If the current speed was at least seven days, food would be a problem. Their food was not much, and it took too long to spend on the road. The elderly, weak and sick people dragged down the entire team. The marching speed was too slow every day, only more than thirty miles, which would definitely not work.

"If our daily journey can be increased to fifty miles, we can stick to the beach."

Zhang Xun looked at everyone and begged: "Everyone think of a way to make the team go faster."

"Mr. Zhang County Magistrate, what if we arrived at the beach and the boat did not arrive?" an old man asked worriedly.

"The ship should have arrived. According to the agreement, the ship should have arrived yesterday, but we walked too slowly."

"But you can't get up fast! Everyone has been exhausted after walking for so long. It's good to maintain the current speed. You can't let young people leave the elderly, weak, women and children behind and leave! They won't do that."

"What should I do? Let's think of a solution." Zhang Xun mobilized everyone again.

"Eunuch, maybe I have a way!" Ji Sheng walked over with a smile.

Zhang Xun was excited and hurriedly said, "General Ji, what should I do?"

Ji Sheng sat down beside Zhang Xun and smiled at everyone, "This is how it goes! I asked the two brothers to go to the beach to report the letter first. I guess the ship should have food, so we let the big ship sail along the floating water, so that we can get on the boat directly in the floating water, and we don't have to go to the beach anymore."

"This is a good method!"

Zhang Xun slapped his thigh hard, "Why didn't I expect it!"

But he frowned again and said worriedly: "Can the sea boat float into the water?"

"It should be possible. The floating water in front is very wide, one mile, six or seven meters deep. I think it should be possible. Even if it doesn't work, they must have a small boat. It's okay to let the small boat transport some food over, what do you think?"

Zhang Xun nodded, "These two methods are good, let's do it like this! I'm also asking General Ji to send someone to the beach immediately."

"In fact, I have sent it in the afternoon, so I have another matter to discuss it with the envoy."

Ji Sheng glanced at the old men and smiled and said, "Sir, let's talk to me!"

Zhang Xun understood and said to everyone: "Everyone will go back and continue to set out tomorrow. Don't be anxious now. Walk slowly along the floating water and wait for the food to come."

Everyone was relieved and stood up to say goodbye. After everyone left, Ji Sheng lowered his voice and said, "Emister, what I am actually worried about is Shi Siming's army."

Zhang Xun was shocked, "Is Shi Siming's army here?"

Ji Sheng shook his head, "Although there is no news yet, I have intuition. Shi Siming should have discovered us. I suspect they are on the way to this side."

As soon as he said this, he heard a burst of rapid horse hooves. He could hear clearly in the night. Ji Sheng's face changed. He stood up quickly, "Here's here, there is news."

The horse's hooves ran closer, and only a scout asked loudly, "Where is General Ji?"

"It's right there!"

The war horse galloped forward, and a scout jumped off the horse and knelt in front of Ji Sheng on one knee, "Report to the general, we found Shi Siming's army, about 20,000 cavalry, and the vanguard had passed Changlu County."

Ji Sheng and Zhang Xun's face changed drastically at the same time. Changlu County was only seventy miles away, and the other side was a cavalry, so they could catch up with them in the middle of the night.

Sweat oozed out from Zhang Xun's forehead. He realized that he had made a big mistake. Their march was too slow and he had missed the best opportunity. His heart was tightened. The situation of Shi Siming massacred refugees in Hengzhou that year still vividly remembered them.

"General Ji, what should I do now?"

Ji Sheng bit his lips tightly and said in a deep voice: "There is no other way. I will take my brother to intercept it. Now our only support is this floating water. The lord lets the refugees set off immediately. We can only look at the will of God."

Zhang Xun knew that this was the only way. He nodded and bowed, "It depends on the general!"

Ji Sheng strode to the campfire and ordered his scouts to get on the horse and bring all the weapons. In the black, more than 100 scout cavalry quickly formed a team and urged the horses to run westward.

The refugee team also began to prepare to set off. The refugees packed up their things silently, and the cry of the children echoed in the fields. The desire to survive made them motivate themselves and move eastward overnight, which significantly accelerated.

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More than a hundred Tang army scouts rushed along the floating water. Ji Sheng was not worried about this place. The floating water was very wide and the water was deep. There were no ships, and Shi Siming's cavalry could not cross the river from here. The only place to cross the river was Qingchi County. There were several bridges to the west. As long as they rushed to demolish the bridge in time, Shi Siming's cavalry could not cross the river even if they arrived. They had to continue to go west and cross the river to Nanpi.

In this way, he can get at least two or three days, and perhaps the big ship he will be able to arrive.

This is their only hope.

This scout cavalry team is all from the First Falcon Battalion of Anxi. They are all scouts among the scouts, the elite among the elite. They were sent by Li Qing'an to Hebei to carry out missions to protect the last group of refugees from Hebei. This was a plan that was made a few months ago.

The scouts also knew that it was not so easy to escape from Shi Siming's nose and would likely encounter a fierce battle. They made full preparations for this. Each of them brought the latest crossbows of the Tang army. For the sake of portability, they only brought small arrows. Each of them prepared four boxes and two hundred pieces, as well as two horizontal knives, long spears, round shields, and military blankets. They even brought twenty small sky-shaking thunders and a large amount of tiny oil.

If Shi Siming sent only a few thousand troops, then their hundred scouts could deal with it, but Shi Siming sent 20,000 people, and they were all cavalrymen. They had almost no chance and could only use ambush or sneak attacks to delay the time of Shi Siming's army as much as possible.

The scouts ran all the way. After an hour, the scouts arrived in Qingchi County. Qingchi County had become an empty city, with only hundreds of old men who were unwilling to leave their homeland. The scouts did not enter the city, let alone let anyone know that they existed. They rushed directly to the big wooden bridge in the north of the city. This is the largest wooden bridge with floating water. The floating water became narrower here, only a dozen feet wide, but the water flowed rapidly and could not flow across the river.

The dark wooden bridge spans over the floating water. It looks like a giant creature. It has stood in the wind and rain for a hundred years. It is built with huge logs. After a hundred years of wind and rain, it looks a bit dilapidated.

Ji Sheng stared at the big wooden bridge for a long time. He was not memorizing the history of the big wooden bridge. At this time, he had no such interest. He was considering how to delay the enemy's time to the greatest extent. He knew that there were two hundred miles west from here, and he could not cross the river directly. He had to rely on bridges and ferries. There were definitely no ferries. The repeated massacres and sweeps had already caused the ferry and fishermen to die. They could only rely on bridges. From here, within 150 miles, there were four bridges, two small bridges and two large bridges. The largest bridge was this big wooden bridge. The enemy's cavalry would definitely choose to cross the river from here. If the enemy discovered that the bridge had been demolished too early, they would definitely divert the way west.

Ji Sheng called two soldiers with a move and said to them: "You two bring five thunders to the west, blow up the other three bridges for me, and you will also blow up the bridge in Nanpi."

"But... will the thunder shock the enemy?" a soldier asked worriedly.

Ji Sheng looked at the sky. The sky was surprisingly gloomy, without a trace of starlight or moon. He shook his head, "No, he just thought it was a muffled thunder. Don't worry!"

The two soldiers agreed, took five thunders and rushed westwards. Ji Sheng quickly calculated that he had 122 men and himself. He had 112 people under him. He had 112 people who went to perform missions everywhere. The pressure was quite high, so he had to leave two people hiding under the bridge, two piers and one on one side.

Ji Sheng gave an order, "withdraw!"

The soldiers immediately ran towards a forest next to Qingchi County. The forest was only two miles away from the Big Wood Bridge. The official road passed by the woods, which was the best place to ambush hidden.

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Time gradually passed, and at about three o'clock, the sound of horse hooves came from the other side of the river. A team of two thousand Shi Siming cavalry vanguards rushed over. They jumped directly onto the bridge, quickly ran across the bridge, and galloped towards Qingchi County.

The momentum formed by the two thousand cavalry was also earth-shaking. The dust was flying, and the dark sky turned yellow. They were getting closer and closer to the woods. It was obvious that this cavalry did not realize that there was a Tang army in Hebei. They were anxious and wanted to catch up with the refugees as soon as possible and select the best fat sheep. For them, the best fat sheep was a young woman.

The one who came was a group of Uighur cavalry, wearing leather armor and holding battle swords. They all had excellent riding skills. The 20,000 cavalry chased this time were all Uighurs from the Pugu tribe. For them, chasing Han refugees was not a hard job, but an opportunity to make money and plunder the population. How could they let go of such an opportunity?

The Uighur cavalry ran along the official road, which was only a hundred steps away from the forest. More than one hundred scouts in the forest had already put crossbows on them. Pingduan's crossbow arrows aimed at the speeding enemy. Although there were only more than one hundred people, they were still not afraid of the two thousand Uighur cavalry.

There are difficulties and risks, but the Tang army scouts needed the horses of the Uighur cavalry, which would greatly help the refugees retreat.

Just as the Uighur cavalry rushed by about 30%, Ji Sheng issued a shooting order, "Shoot!"

‘Swoosh!’ More than a hundred arrows broke out from the string and shot strongly at the galloping enemy. Only a scream was heard, and seventy or eighty enemy troops were shot and rolled down from the horse.

The sudden attack surprised the Uighur cavalry, and they all tied their horses. At this moment, the second round of arrows hit. This time, the Uighur cavalry was like a still target. In an instant, nearly a hundred people reported from the horse that their leather armor could not resist the powerful crossbow arrows of the Tang army.

The Falcon Camp is so powerful that they can quickly adjust their shooting range through the first round of shooting. Unlike the first time, many people shoot one person at the same time.

The Uighur cavalry began to scream. They had already discovered that there were not many Tang troops in the woods. They had two thousand people, enough to strangle the other side. The overwhelming cavalry rushed down the official road and ran towards the woods. In the darkness, no one noticed the abnormality on the ground. There were mud-like things everywhere, and the air was filled with a pungent smell.

At this time, the Tang cavalry had retreated and retreated to the other end of the woods, leaving only two soldiers. They used bows and arrows, and two balls of fire suddenly lit up. Then the two balls of fire shot out in parabola and shot into the Uighur cavalry and penetrated directly to the ground. With a "boom!", the flames ignited, and quickly formed a 20-meter-long and two-wide flame belt, and the flames burned.

Although the flames soared into the sky, the Uighurs stabilized their formation after panic for a moment. Two feet were not wide. Their war horses could jump past, but at this moment, a series of earth-shaking explosions suddenly broke out in the flame belt, and the soil and flames rose into the air. These were eight thunders that exploded at the same time. The shock waves and iron fragments brought by the explosion instantly exploded hundreds of cavalry.

But what caused even greater fear was the explosion. Two thousand Uighur cavalry were in chaos, the soldiers were frightened, the war horses were frightened, and they rushed around without any brains.

The Tang army scouts suddenly came from the east. They flew around the enemy's crossbow arrows and shot one by one, knocking them off their horses. After only four or five rounds, they waved their long spears and rushed into the still chaotic enemy group.

After six or seven rounds of shooting and explosions, the Uighur cavalry had lost more than half. A group of Tang army scout cavalry like tigers broke into the enemy group. They were well-trained and entered the Uighur army as a whole, like an iron fist, smashing all enemy troops who dared to block the way.

The Tang army soldiers cut their swords and spears and rolled their iron hooves. They were extremely brave and killed the Uighurs to death, and blood flowed into rivers and corpses everywhere. Although the commanders of the Uighur cavalry wanted to assemble the army several times, they were defeated by the Tang cavalry as soon as they assembled. The Uighur cavalry had already shown signs of collapse. Their morale was sluggish, and the fear of violent explosions had already disappeared.

Ji Sheng was commanding the battle in the army. He was looking for the commander of the Uighur cavalry. Soon, he found it. The commander of the thousand-man shouted under the army flag, trying to stabilize his position. Ji Sheng was running quickly, quickly raised his crossbow and aimed at it. With a crossbow, a powerful crossbow arrow shot out like lightning, and an arrow shot into the chest of the Uighur commander. The commander of the thousand-man screamed and fell to the ground.

At this moment, two loud thunder-like sounds came from the big wooden bridge. The bridge foundations on both sides were blown off at the same time. The huge wooden bridge was shaking. The bridge pile in the middle could not support the huge body. The wooden bridge broke into two pieces and rolled into the floating water with a bang.

The tragic death of the commander and the destruction of the bridge were like the last two heavy stones that had overwhelmed Luo Luo. The Uighur army collapsed and they began to turn around and flee westward. At this time, the Tang army immediately changed its formation, like a split, and an iron fist composed of a hundred people quickly split into a team of five people, chasing the fleeing enemy. They no longer cut off the spear with their swords, but shot the enemy who were running westward with crossbows.

Hundreds of Uighur cavalry were so scared that they ran away from the pursuit of more than 100 Tang soldiers. They made an appointment to escape, and in the end, only more than a hundred cavalrymen left escaped from the pursuit of the Tang army. The Tang army no longer chased, but collected war horses and killed injured enemy prisoners.

An hour later, Dongtian gradually turned white, and the Tang army that collected war horses all returned one after another.

Deputy General Qi Yan stepped forward and bowed to Ji Sheng and said, "General Ji, seven brothers killed and twenty-one injured."
To be continued...