Li Zhen's heart moved. He secretly thought that Bai Gui would lead his army to fight, just in time to defeat Bai Gui and boost his morale. Li Zhen looked at the soldier who reported the news and asked: "How long will it take for Bai Gui to lead an army of more than 40,000 to catch up?"
"We can catch up within half an hour." the soldier said with certainty.
Half an hour, almost an hour.
Li Zhen carefully estimated Bai Gui's marching speed and secretly guessed that it might be about forty minutes.
"Sir, I have a question."
Just when Li Zhen made up his mind, Liu Taiping's voice suddenly sounded in his ears.
Li Zhen's eyes flashed with excitement, and he was still excited about Bai Gui's participation in the battle. He said casually: "Sir, if you have any questions, just ask, don't be reserved, Bai Gui will lead his army to kill, and they will catch up within half an hour." , we must seize the time to deploy.”
Liu Taiping looked at the soldier who reported the news and asked: "Are there any foreigners pursuing us?"
The soldier shook his head and said: "There are no foreigners, they are all Baigui's soldiers."
Liu Taiping said in a low tone: "Sir, it's not normal for Bai Gui to just lead the army to fight. I think this is a ploy by foreigners to kill people with their swords. I want to use Bai Gui's soldiers to weaken your army, even though Bai Gui's soldiers are not strong in combat effectiveness." It is impossible for the two armies to engage in a head-on battle without losing or injuring soldiers. There are more than 40,000 soldiers in Baigui, but we have less than 5,000. If every one dies, one will be lost. There is no way to replenish the troops. It is not cost-effective."
Li Zhen frowned and said, "Sir, do you want to retreat?"
After listening to Liu Taiping's words, Li Zhen also felt that fighting was not worthwhile.
No ambush can be set, and five thousand soldiers cannot go to the battlefield.
Liu Taiping nodded and said in a deep voice: "Commander, I think we have no choice but to retreat. The retreat now is for future victory. When Bai Gui sees that we are retreating without a fight, although he will pursue us, he will become even more arrogant. It’s also good for us, let’s let Bai Gui be arrogant for a while.”
"Okay, just follow Sir's method."
Turning his eyes, Li Zhen looked at Qi Zhenhai and said: "Zhenhai, you lead the soldiers of the cavalry company to rush back to the camp immediately, and order the soldiers to pack up and prepare to retreat. Also, each of the soldiers of the cavalry company you lead carries three mines. , come quickly and join me."
"yes."
Qi Zhenhai agreed and was extremely excited.
At first, Qi Zhenhai proposed to form a cavalry company of 100 people. Although Li Zhen agreed, the cavalry company was not reused after it was formed. Now that the soldiers of the cavalry company have received orders and have a place to use, Qi Zhenhai is very happy. If Zhenhai wants to prove his vision, he definitely wants the cavalry company to shine.
Li Zhen looked at Huang Shihai again and ordered: "Huang Shihai, you lead the soldiers of the first, second, third and fourth regiments to retreat. After returning to the camp, lead the army to retreat fifty miles to temporarily avoid its attack. "
"yes."
Huang Shihai agreed and passed on the order.
Zhu Wu asked: "Commander, what should we do with the Sharp Sword Camp?"
Li Zhen said with a serious look: "All the soldiers from the Sharp Blade Battalion will stay and follow me. We will temporarily retreat with the army and speed up to distance ourselves from Bai Gui's army. After the army returns to the camp, we and the cavalry company will The soldiers blocked Bai Gui together to delay the attack."
"yes."
Zhu Wu nodded, also extremely excited.
In less than fifteen minutes, Huang Shihai ordered the soldiers of the four regiments to set off back to the camp, and Liu Taiping also hurried on.
On the official road, only Li Zhen, Zhu Wu, and the soldiers from the Jiandao Camp were left.
Li Zhen and Zhu Wu led the soldiers of the Jian Dao Battalion to follow the army. Li Zhen was sizing up the surrounding situation along the way. The official road in this area was flat. If an army of 40,000 soldiers came to attack, the Jian Dao Battalion and the cavalry company would not be able to stop it, or even Not even time can be delayed.
Li Zhen thought about it, but the surrounding roads were all flat and there were no valleys, so it was difficult to use high points to ambush. In this situation, Li Zhen also felt a little embarrassed.
Fortunately, there is still time to retreat and buy more time.
When retreating, Li Zhen sent ten soldiers from the Jiandao Battalion as scouts to find out information.
Thirty minutes later, the first soldier who inquired about the news came back on horseback and reported that the distance between the two sides was still thirty minutes to catch up. Li Zhen did not expect that Bai Gui led the army so quickly, so he immediately sent an order to Huang Shihai to let him go. Huang Shihai led his army to advance at full speed, making sure to widen the distance between the two sides.
At least, postpone the distance to an hour's journey.
After receiving the order, Huang Shihai ordered the soldiers to advance at full speed.
The five thousand soldiers under Li Zhen's command were all elites, brave and skilled in fighting. When the five thousand soldiers accelerated their advance, they immediately distanced themselves. Within an hour, the soldiers of the Jiandao Battalion who were on horseback to inquire about the news sent back the news that the distance between the two sides was It has been postponed from thirty minutes to one hour.
During this hour of continuous running, the soldiers under Li Zhen's command were almost twice as fast as the soldiers under Bai Gui's command in order to keep the distance.
At this time, Qi Zhenhai led the cavalry company back, and each soldier brought three landmines.
When Li Zhen saw this, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
With hundreds of landmines, it was possible to temporarily stop Bai Gui's pursuit. Otherwise, Bai Gui would stalk him and Li Zhen would not be able to get rid of Bai Gui. It took another fifteen minutes for Li Zhen to lead the sharp knife battalion and the cavalry company to follow the army. After returning to the camp, Li Zhen asked Huang Shihai to lead the army to leave the camp, but Li Zhen led the sharp knife battalion and the cavalry company to stop and rush in the direction where Bai Gui came.
The road from the camp to Guangzhou City is flat and has no valleys, making it difficult to lay an ambush.
However, there are green paddy fields on both sides of the road.
Bai Gui led the army to attack, taking the official road, not the paddy field, so Li Zhen led the soldiers from the Sharp Saber Battalion and the Cavalry Company and chose a road about twenty meters wide and one hundred meters long. Both sides of this road were completely It was a green paddy field full of rice. The soldiers of the cavalry company brought 300 landmines. Li Zhen ordered the soldiers to bury all 300 landmines on the road, stop at one end close to the camp, and wait quietly.
Fifty minutes later, the road ahead was filled with smoke and dust.
When Li Zhen saw this, he knew that Bai Gui had led an army to catch up. Bai Gui knew that Li Zhen was very good at shooting, so he was surrounded by dozens of guards for fear of being shot by Li Zhen.
"stop."
When Bai Gui saw Li Zhen leading a few soldiers to stop on the opposite side of the road, he ordered to stop advancing.
This situation is a bit strange.
There were soldiers standing around Li Zhen, surrounding Li Zhen like making rice dumplings. Li Zhen laughed loudly and shouted: "Bai Gui, Bai Gui, you dare to lead an army of 40,000 to chase you, why don't you have the guts to kill him?" Come here."
When Fu Zhiyun saw this, he shouted: "Where is Qin Shiba?"
"The end will be here."
Qin Shiba was a commander under Fu Zhiyun and was extremely brave. Qin Shiba was the eighteenth in the family. Thirteen of the seventeen brothers and sisters in front of him died in infancy, leaving three sisters and one brother. Qin Shiba was born strong and thin, with shining eyes and thin lips, giving off a mean feeling.
Fu Zhiyun shouted: "You are the vanguard of the army, lead the troops and rush over."
"As commanded."
Qin Shiba got on his horse and with a wave of his hand, more than 400 soldiers under his command rushed out. However, Li Zhen raised the corner of his mouth and shouted: "Zhu Wu, order the soldiers of Jiandao Camp to prepare and aim for me." After finishing speaking, Li Zhen got off his horse and stood on the ground, leaning his gun butt on his right shoulder. Through the gap left by the soldiers, he aimed at Qin Shiba, who was on horseback preparing to charge.
"boom."
A gunshot rang out, followed by a scream.
A bloody hole appeared on Qin Shiba's forehead. The legs that had just clamped the horse's belly were released, and his body moved to the right. He fell to the ground with a snap. The soldiers around him were shocked when they saw this. Thinking that Qin Shiba would die before he could fight out, the soldiers who had just taken a step forward stopped and did not dare to move forward.
A fear spread in the hearts of the four hundred soldiers.