The heavy rain that had been falling for half a night finally stopped, but turned into a thick white mist again. It was so thick that it was impossible to see anything beyond a foot away.
The soldiers at Zhennanguan turned a blind eye to this. After breakfast, they began normal training without any intention of sending troops.
Eunuch Shao was old, so he kept his eyes open for a long time with a group of generals. Then he cursed his adopted son, and hurried back to catch up on his sleep.
Yuan Xingwen watched him leave, then looked out the window at the vast expanse of white with no expression on his face.
"As the saying goes, heavy fog lasts only three days. After three, eighteen days." He asked: "What day is it today?"
"Back to General, it's already the fourth day."
Yuan Xingwen nodded and said inexplicably, "The fog is a good thing."
He changed the subject, "Since the drumming is the tradition of Nanguan in my town, then we should beat it once at midnight, noon and lunch time. Each time for an hour."
The generals had strange expressions on their faces, looked at each other and then dispersed.
Huchou Mountain.
Nestled in the mountain forest, Ren Ning and his party wiped the fog off their faces.
It was dark and rainy last night and the road was slippery. They rested in the forest and did not move again.
At this time, the thick fog persisted, and no one could be seen beyond a foot away. No matter what they wanted to do, they were somewhat unaware.
The three thousand leaders remained silent and gathered around to look at the map. After discussing a few words in a low voice, they waved a flag for the team to follow and continued towards the Huchou Valley.
Ren Ning's eyes were cold and he walked silently.
He has never been to Tiger Sorrow Valley.
However, Yun Chui's scouts had already known these strategic locations very clearly, and even drew detailed maps. Therefore, Ren Ning was no stranger to them either.
Huchou Valley is a small sinkhole. Except for the east side, which leads directly to Huchou Pass, the other three sides are cliffs that are difficult to climb and are more than ten feet high.
The warehouses used to store grain and grass in the pit are all made of bricks and tiles. Launching rockets from the top of the surrounding cliffs from a long distance is basically useless. In addition, deep ditches were dug around the warehouses to store a large amount of water. If a fire breaks out, they can still
Get water from nearby to extinguish the fire.
As for the east side of Huchou Valley, there are sentry posts on the mountains on the left and right sides. At twelve o'clock every day, there are people from Nanfeng watching the surroundings.
It can not only alert the enemy to attack, but also prevent the enemy from controlling the commanding heights, so that they can kill the reinforcements coming from Huchou Pass in an advantageous manner.
It can be said that it is easy to get down to this small Tiger Valley, but it is not easy to come back alive.
"General, should we go directly as planned?" asked the commander of the first battalion Qian.
According to the previous plan, the first battalion attacked the garrison on the left hilltop while the second battalion attacked the right hilltop. Then they collectively blocked the reinforcements coming from Huchou Pass after hearing the news.
As for the fifth camp, they rappelled directly into the sinkhole and burned all the food and grass with petroleum, flint and other flammable materials.
"There's no rush." Ren Ning shook his head and looked thoughtfully at the vast white fog in front of him: "This fog will last for more than ten days. We have plenty of time, so we don't need to be reckless."
He only has a thousand men under his command, but he can't afford to have more than half of them die in just one visit to Huchou Valley.
The team slowly moved down the mountain.
Wangchuan was running wild, and as it approached noon, there were gradually more mosquitoes around.
We finally arrived at the top of the tiankeng cliff.
"A hundred people from the fifth battalion will clean up the surrounding areas. Twenty people from each of the first and second battalions will find out the situation of the left and right sentinels and the time of guard change. The others should hide themselves. No one is allowed to use mosquito repellent powder."
The smell of mosquito repellent powder is very pungent, and you can definitely smell it as long as you get close. No matter how well you hide, there is no point.
No one had any objections, and they all performed their duties. Those who should work should work, and those who should hide themselves should just bury themselves in the dead leaves and soil.
Ren Ning picked up the telescope and looked at the bottom of the valley.
Unfortunately, the surrounding fog was too heavy and he couldn't see anything. There wasn't even a red dot under the golden finger.
Hesitating.
Suddenly, clatter!
The Huchou Pass was filled with people.
In an instant, the drum-dong-dong sound started again, as loud as the sky.
Ren Ning's heart moved and he raised his head to look north.
At this time, in Zhennanguan, flags were flying and drums were beating loudly.
Yuan Xingwen sat expressionlessly in the Chinese army tent, wiping his shiny sword over and over again, turning a deaf ear to the commotion outside.
Not long after Eunuch Shao fell asleep, he was so frightened that he rolled out of bed.
He opened the mosquito net and cursed: "Xiao Luzi, what happened outside? Why are you beating the drum again?"
Xiao Luzi ran in crawling on the ground, and reminded with aggrieved face: "Father, didn't General Yuan say that last night? It is Zhennanguan's tradition to play drums from time to time."
He scratched his arm that was swollen by mosquito bites and complained in a low voice: "There are mosquitoes everywhere in this damn place. It's really impossible to live."
Only then did Eunuch Shao react. He stretched out his hand and swatted a mosquito to death: "Yuan Xingwen didn't send troops?"
Xiao Luzi shook his head and said resolutely: "Absolutely not. It's just for drum beating, everything else is normal. The city gate to the south has always been closed tightly and has never been opened."
"That's good!" Eunuch Shao rubbed his forehead, which was sore due to lack of sleep, and breathed a sigh of relief: "It seems that General Yuan still knows the general situation."
He sat there for a while like a sick chicken, then suddenly banged the bed board.
Zhennanguan would beat the drums so loudly from time to time, which greatly affected the normal work and rest. Although Shao's father-in-law was a descendant, he still wanted to live for a few more years.
"Xiao Luzi, since the imperial edict has been sent, everything is as usual at Zhennanguan. You can pack your luggage. In the afternoon, father and son, we will go north to see the situation at Yingshan Camp. If everything is okay, we will return to the Imperial Capital to resume our duties."
"Father, is it true?" Xiao Luzi's eyes lit up.
"My son is going to pack his luggage now." After receiving the confirmation, he ran out happily.
Although I have only been here for two days, little Luzi has had enough of the dense mosquitoes and oppressive and humid climate here in the south.
In the afternoon, Eunuch Shao bid farewell to Yuan Xingwen and left Zhennanguan for Yingshan Camp.
The driver had not gone a few miles when he ran into a neat and menacing team.
Eunuch Shao quickly ducked away, looked up and stayed there.
A large red flag was flying at the front of the team, and the logo on it looked so familiar.
Block the falling stars with one sword and one sword!
"It's Xingluo..." Mr. Shao was about to ask.
boom!
He had been knocked unconscious from behind. The entire team was also directly controlled and escorted back to the Yingshan camp without any resistance.
Wei Junqian came out, looked at the old eunuch, and waved his hand expressionlessly, "Lock them up! They cannot be released without my order."
When it was time for dinner, Zhennanguan beat the war drum again. This caused everyone from Huchouguan in the south to the general down to the soldiers to panic and curse.
"Report! All the Xingluo Legion from Yingshan Camp are out and heading south."
"What?" Ruan Qianren was very angry.
He was refreshed and asked quickly: "Where is Zhennanguan?"
There are only 30,000 Xingluo Legion stationed in the Yingshan camp. Without the help of Zhennanguan, Ruan Qianren has 200,000 troops at his disposal, but he is not afraid at all.
Before the spy could reply, there was the sound of horse hooves outside again.
"Report!"
"Canglan County and Baihua County blocked the eastern sea. All our ships going north were intercepted, three were sunk, and the envoys sent by the king have been beheaded."