Chapter 23, Changes in the Night Road

The county seat of Pinggang County is not completely wrapped by the city wall. There is a section of terrain in the northwest, and a big mountain is blocked here. The city falls against the mountain, and the mountains are intricate. Successive governors have more or less repaired here, which has become a natural barrier. Although Taiping Road and Zhang Wan's rebels also blocked some places where they could climb over the mountain, the defenders in the city also sent a man to garrison on the hill, holding danger and strangling their throats. Therefore, both sides did not dare to use troops easily here, and could only hold each other at a distance, which was also a complete block of the county.

At this moment, Zhou Zhi has already gathered a few cavalry team left in the city, with a total of only 400 people, all wearing armor. Mr. Liu's order, he had to obey, even if this move was extremely risky, and he was born as a martial artist, he must not have any intention to be greedy and afraid of death. After two days of thorough preparation, he led the cavalry and quietly crossed the road from the northwest of the county.

The mountains are continuous, and the road is not rugged, but it is winding enough.

A line of more than 400 cavalry can't let go of its speed and gallop due to terrain restrictions.

Starting at night, you will pass the last friendly sentry post in the mountain forest at night, announcing that you may encounter enemies at any time on the way ahead. In the case of lack of intelligence, on the one hand, the specific strength of the traitor in this area is not completely clear, and on the other hand, it is not sure how many blind the traitors have arranged. Once attacked by the enemy in the deep mountains and forests, the cavalry will not play any geographical advantage, and may even be in trouble because of the geographical environment.

Zhou Zhi is naturally very clear about this risk, but considering that the number of troops that can launch a breakthrough in the city is really limited, not to mention that the purpose of this breakout is to seek help from the outside world, and the city has to continue to stick to it during the period of seeking assistance. If you break through from any city gate, it is bound to be better on the journey, but fight head-on with traitors several times more than yourself. Such risks are really greater, and the worst result is the destruction of the whole army.

The quiet breakout over the mountains can not only avoid the sharpness of frontal combat, but also have room to retreat back even if it is unfortunately attacked by traitors. Of course, in addition, the most important thing is that as long as you can successfully climb over this mountain, the rear is the endless plain and hilly terrain. Under such geographical conditions, it will inevitably speed up the journey after breaking through and breaking through. Even if you engage with the traitors, you can also show the advantages of cavalry.

Along the way, Zhou Zhi did not say a word and stared straight at the road ahead.

The branches and leaves are complicated, and the moonlight casts heavy reflections, filling the surrounding air with many unpredictable strangeness and gloomy, so that Buddha may accidentally break into the ambush circle of traitors at any time.

The scattered sound of horseshoes, fast and slow, mixed with all kinds of night bugs in the depths of the nearby mountains and forests. Even so, these sounds seem so quiet and fragile.

The terrain is becoming more and more winding, and there is a downward trend gradually.

Zhou Zhi's heart, which had been very tight, eased slightly: he finally passed the mountain.

This road in the mountains is actually not too long. It's just because it's too roundabout, so it's not so easy to walk up. Under normal circumstances, a half-day overnight of diplomacy has already crossed the ridge. At least there is still mount assistance at this time, so the journey will naturally be a little faster.

He expects that around dawn tomorrow, he will be able to almost reach the downhill section. The terrain of the whole downhill will be flatter than from Shanyin Mountain, and the next risk will be greatly reduced.

At this moment, a small colonel suddenly followed him and came to Zhou Zhi and whispered, "Your Excellency, we have been walking for nearly five hours. Why don't we take a break first?" Even if people are fine, the horse has to rest.

Zhou Zhi's face was stern and he said coldly, "Didn't you say before departure that the night road is the most dangerous? How can you stay here?"

The little school sighed, "Yes, that's the truth. But after dawn, after crossing the mountains, it is very likely to encounter those traitors. If people are trapped at that time, it is really difficult to fight and break through. There is no reverse movement of thieves along the way. In the deep mountains, the thieves are obviously not familiar with the road, and most of them go back to the mountain at night.

Zhou Zhi is not an unreasonable person. He carefully thought about the words of the primary school, and there was no lack of reason. He hesitated for a moment and immediately said, "Let's talk about it first, and then walk forward for a while. The road is a little wider, but we want to see if the thieves really don't arrange their ears and eyes in the mountains."

Although it is not a wise choice to stay in an open place, Zhou Zhi is always worried that the deeper the forest is, the more likely it is for thieves to be ambush. He is not going to fight against the thief now. He just hopes to filter through some dangerous areas first. If there is no thief in these dangerous areas, he can further infer that there is really no enemy in the mountains.

After a bumpy walk along the mountain road for another quarter of an hour, the trees in front of it gradually became sparse and open.

Zhou Zhi was finally relieved. He ordered the whole army to rest temporarily nearby and arranged sentries to guard nearby.

Although continuous marching has long been a common thing for the cavalry, after all, the mountain road is no better than the plain, and the horse's back is still a little uncomfortable. Everyone dismarched one after another, simply moved their bodies and bones, and sat on the ground. Everyone did not dare to speak too much, but seized the time to have a good rest.

More than a dozen sentries were scattered around the team's resting place, some climbing trees and some hiding behind the rocks.

However, a sentry was about to explore the way ahead. As soon as he walked out of about ten feet, he suddenly seemed to find something strange and immediately turned his head and was about to run away: "There is an ambush...ah..."

As soon as his voice came out, seven or eight figures suddenly jumped out of the nearby grass, raised the weapon in his hand and hit the sentry. The sentry took a heavy blow to the back of the head and suddenly turned to the ground, motionless. Those dark shadows chased up and smashed the sentry's body fiercely.

At the moment when the sentry shouted, Zhou Zhi immediately stood up from the ground and his face changed instantly.

Soon, screams and shouts came one after another. I don't know where the Buddha jumped out of nowhere, waved all kinds of weapons, and swarmed at the resting cavalry. Those sentries who were originally on alert in the periphery did not have time to warn. Most of them were knocked down by the enemies who had already lurked on the side, and the rest were quickly surrounded.

"There are enemies in the west and enemies in the west..."

"Huh, get on the horse."

"I was hit by an arrow, ah, save me..."

Zhou Zhi hurriedly climbed on the horse's back, tied the reins to the sleeve of his broken arm, and waved a knife with only one hand to meet the enemy.

He was very surprised. It was not that the great enemy was coming, but that these thieves had obviously been ambushed here for a long time. Did he let these thieves know in advance about his preparations for the breakout? However, the city was sealed, and there were strict soldiers on all the important roads. How did the news leak out?

The surrounding trusted guards quickly approached and protected Zhou Zhi with their bodies.

"My lord, run away!"

"Escape, quickly, go back."

Zhou Zhi was confused and could not command the overall situation at all, so he could only follow the crowd of his trusted guards.

After hearing someone shouting, the team hurriedly retreated in the direction of coming.

There are more and more dark shadows gushing out in the forest. They are all some ragged ordinary people. The blades in their hands are either hoes or sickle, and there are also some swords and bows. Fortunately, these ordinary people don't know how to ambush at all. They only know how to suddenly scare these officers and soldiers, and then fight. Everyone rushed forward without a brain. The terrain was originally uneven, and they may have collided with each other.

Although most of the cavalry did not rush to get on the horse, after all, they are all veterans who have been fighting all year round. They can soon form a defensive formation and face the blades together. The traitors who rushed to the front were quickly cut down, and the subsequent traitors failed to keep up in time, resulting in waves of attacks within a certain period of time.

While the traitor's attack was not consistent, the cavalry was barely able to retreat back for a distance.

It's just that the house leaked and rained all night, and suddenly there were bursts of shouts on the road behind.

First, a rain of arrows flew from the darkness, shooting more than a dozen cavalry to the ground, and some horses were hit by arrows, hissing tragically. Then, a group of rebels jumped out of the dark forest, and the sound of killing shocked the world, directly blocked the way for the cavalry to retreat, and launched an attack more fiercely than those ambushed traitors.

Zhou Zhi looked at the gradual collapse of the left and right, and his face became more and more surprised. After a moment of silence, he couldn't help sighing and said to himself, "Is it that I'm going to die?"

The thieves from the direction of Maolin covered the cavalry for a while, completely defeating the defensive formation that the cavalry barely gathered together. More than 400 people are surrounded in this way, and the encirclement is shrinking smaller and smaller. Screams came one after another, and soon there were even some cavalry begging for mercy and crying.

The fight lasted for about a quarter of an hour. Although the cavalry collapsed and did not take shape, there were still some bloody men who broke out to kill in a desperate situation. There was no way to survive, so they lost a fight. For a moment, the surrounded thieves were too scared to approach.

There was no room for the Buddha to change. Zhou Zhi watched his subordinates fall one after another, simply raised his sword and put it on his neck. He is a northern captain and must not let these traitors humiliate. Just as he was about to kill himself, some fires lit up in the direction of the downhill of the mountain sun, but it was so obvious and eye-catching in the dark.

"What kind of person... don't, don't... your own...ah!"

A surprised shout came from the outermost part of the encirclement, which was immediately replaced by a scream.