On November 21, Zhang Shicai fled to Xuzhou. Before Shi Jun sent people to inform the counties, Li Xia was on Bidaoling in Mahu County.
It has been less than half a month since Li Xia reorganized his team of 500 people, and he is still training intensively.
However, the battle of Mahujiang has reached its most intense stage, and if Zhang is defeated, the battle is just around the corner.
Almost everyone in Qingfu County believed that the Song Army would win a great victory.
Only when he heard Yi Shiying mention that "Zhang Shi is not good at water fighting, Pu Shuai is deeply worried" and thought that Zhang Shi might be defeated.
The partial war has not yet concluded, so we can only tell a few people for the time being, otherwise it will not be a small crime if it shakes the morale of the army.
Li Xia didn't want to wait for news, so he planned to go to the battlefield to take a look in person. If he judged that Zhang Shi would be defeated, he might as well secure the wall and clear the country as soon as possible.
To this end, he trained a team of cavalry scouts.
Li Xia can only lead the team himself. In terms of riding skills, prestige, and experience, he can't find a satisfactory candidate for the time being.
There was also a small incident when selecting these cavalry scouts. A new recruit named "Yang Ben" wanted to be selected. His riding skills were indeed good, and his military skills were also at his fingertips...
However, Li Xia felt that Yang Ben's time in the army was too short and he did not obey discipline, so he pushed him back.
In the end, only about 20 of the 500 river patrolmen satisfied Li Xia, so he appointed two more commanders, named "Song He" and "Yu Bing" respectively.
Song He and Yu Bing are two kinds of people.
Song He was silent and ordinary in appearance. His riding skills, archery skills, and performance on the five-foot path were all ordinary, but Li Xia obeyed every order and carried it out to the letter;
Yu Ging is an exiled person. He used to raise horses in a tea horse farm. He has good riding skills. He is ugly and has a pair of bow legs. He usually talks a lot, can think, and can ask questions...
This trip west to Mahu County was their first reconnaissance trip.
Last night, they walked to Bidaoling and did not dare to go further. They climbed the mountain and looked under the moonlight for a while, but they could not see clearly.
When the sky is dark today, Li Xia has led people to stand on the top of the mountain and look out.
A ray of sunshine shines on the river far away, with more than two hundred ships parked, and people on both sides of the river walking back and forth like ants.
"What's going on?"
Yu Bing rubbed his eyes and murmured: "It's too peaceful, isn't it? Why didn't a fight start? Is this... letting the Mongolian troops board the ship?"
Li Xia didn't speak, and his figure seemed to be integrated with Bidaoling.
Song He didn't say anything, and looked at Jiang Mian for a while, and then looked at Li Xia for a while.
"It doesn't make sense." Yu Bing said: "County Lieutenant, this doesn't make sense. There is only one explanation... The navy was captured by the cavalry? But this is impossible to happen."
Still no one answered him.
"Impossible." Yu Bing shook his head and said: "Impossible. The navy is fighting on the river. How could it be captured by the cavalry? Am I dreaming? I can't dream of such a situation... Zhang Dutong is a famous general.
.”
After a while.
Yu Bing still said: "County Lieutenant, is it too far away to see clearly? Maybe they are still fighting? Let's take a closer look?"
"No need." Li Xia said, "The navy was captured by the army."
"The county captain is right," Song He said.
…
Li Xia knew that Zhang Shi was not good at water fighting.
But he never thought it would be like this. After analyzing countless times, analyzing the environment, military types, and combat capabilities, this result should not have occurred anyway.
For a long time, Li Xia could only say one word about the result in front of him.
"It's just... outrageous."
"Let's go, hurry back to Qingfu, strengthen the walls and clear the fields."
"yes."
They came down the mountain and it was already noon.
A group of people crossed the Guanhe River and returned to the east bank. They rode their horses and ran eastward for a while, when they suddenly saw billowing fireworks in the distance.
Yu Bing hurriedly reined in the reins and said, "Is this a small group of men sent by the Mongolian army to start robbing the village?"
Li Xia looked up for a while and said, "Let's go around from the north and take a look."
"Yes." Song He responded.
"County Lieutenant, I don't know how many people there are in the Mongolian army. Can I go find out first?" Yu Bing asked.
"No, just go directly."
After a while, they came around to the road entering the village from the north.
Li Xia reined in the reins, dismounted and squatted down by a small pool, looking at the horse hoof prints and horse dung on the ground.
"Can you calculate how many troops there are in this Mongolian army?"
"More than ten people and more than twenty horses." Song He said.
Yu Gang counted the footprints on the ground and said, "It should be twelve people and more than twenty horses."
"How to be sure?"
"Look at their footprints squatting by the pool to drink water."
Li Xia nodded and said, "Go into the village and kill them."
"Yes." Song He still deserved it.
Yu Bing's eyebrows twitched, thinking that the county lieutenant was acting a bit too harshly...
You Pong Village.
Smoke was rising from a hunter's house.
The hunters were three brothers. When they saw the Mongolian army entering the house and robbing food, they hid in the house and fired arrows at the Mongolian army.
The Mongolian army didn't bother to fight with them. They blocked the door and set his house on fire...
The chief named "Zana" was a little unhappy and worried that it would alarm the nearby Song army.
But after thinking about it again, he felt that it was okay. There were no states or counties nearby, so how could there be any garrison? Today, more than ten teams of people came out to collect food. They did encounter a small group of Song troops, and they had time to come to support them.
Zana no longer cared about the hunter who was burned to death, and walked through the village holding a machete.
"Hurry up and get the food! Stop playing there! If you destroy Xuzhou City, there will be many gold and silver women..."
Having said that, he was not in a hurry.
Now that they had just defeated the Song Navy and captured so many people and ships, Marshal Du was still making preparations. The army would still be stationed at Mahu River for two days, so he sent them out to search for some food nearby.
Blood was splashed on the walls everywhere, bodies fell to the ground, and women's screams came from several rooms...
Ten people are enough to massacre a small village.
Suddenly, the sound of horse hooves was heard in the distance.
Zana frowned, thinking that some comrade came over again.
But for the sake of caution, he still ordered: "Bo Rie, go to the entrance of the village and have a look."
After a while, the horse's hooves became more and more urgent, and Zana heard the sound of arrows breaking through the wind.
"No... Hurry! Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
Zana quickly pulled out a thundering arrow and shot it into the sky.
"Hey!" A long and sharp bird song pierced the sky.
Zana immediately got on his horse, gathered three Mongolian soldiers as quickly as possible, and ran towards the entrance of the village.
What came was a Song army of more than 20 people. Their archery skills were average and they did not kill Boritie who was watching at the entrance of the village.
Boritie tried to escape into the village, but was hit by arrows and hid behind a tree.
Soon, the Song army rushed forward on horseback, slashed with swords, and chopped Boritie to death...
Zana was furious, fired two arrows in panic, and roared: "Come out! The enemy is attacking!"
He did not have an advantage in numbers and the array was not deployed. He did not dare to attack the Song army hard, and did not dare to care about the Mongolian soldiers who were still in the cottage. He only hurriedly led three people and pulled a few horses carrying food.
The horses escaped from the other side of the village.
"How long! Our people..."
"Mom, I can't control it anymore. Wait until you bring people around and kill them again!"
More than twenty Song troops have come to kill...
Yu Bing followed Li Xia and rushed into a cottage.
His mind was in a state of confusion. He felt that the county captain had given orders too quickly and charged too quickly, and he could not react at all.
The roar of the Mongolian army made him feel a little panicked, and he was worried that he would be surrounded soon.
However, when he rushed into the cottage and took a look, the scene in the main room was so exciting that blood rushed to his forehead. When his brain became hot, those messy thoughts dissipated instantly.
From the moment he saw the defeat of the 30,000-strong naval force, he only felt it was unbelievable and did not realize what the defeat of the army meant.
Only at this moment, when the bodies of the men and children in the main room were placed on the ground, and the woman's heart-rending cry came, did Yu Bing know... A soldier who is a general is defeated, and it is these people who are put in this situation.
Being ravaged by the enemy's butcher's knife.
The village woman was still screaming and crying.
A Mongolian soldier lifted up his trousers and picked up his machete.
Li Xia stepped on the blood all over the ground and thrust out with his sword, stabbing the Mongolian soldier.
Yu Huan roared angrily, rushed forward with the knife, and chopped violently.
"Puff puff……"
In less than half an hour, more than fifty Mongolian troops surrounded Youpa Village again.
Zana rode his horse into the village and saw eight corpses of Mongolian soldiers that had been chopped into pieces lying on the ground, as if they were an arrogant provocation from the Song army.
On the ground, a row of bloody horse hoof prints pointed to the southeast.