Chapter 404 Long Mountain Road

"Guys, the thief soldiers can't come out of the mountain. I'm afraid we will swing our army into the mountain and drive them out of the mountain." Song Nan took a sip of hot tea and said.

Everyone was stunned and looked at each other for a long time and said tentatively, "Big governor, it is a taboo to go into the mountains to suppress thieves. The mountainous terrain is not conducive to our army's action. If the thief soldiers skillfully plan to set up an ambush, it will be even worse. If they are not humble and timid enemies, the thief soldiers are already the end of the strong crossbow. As long as they are trapped in the mountains, they can live and die. Why do they have to be in danger?

This statement also speaks the hearts of many people. Everyone's eyes are on Song Nan's face. Although there are only 5,000 thieves, what's the difference between 5,000 people and 50,000 people in the mountains? Only a few people can walk in parallel on the narrow mountain road. As long as some places are firmly occupied, they can be a man. No matter how many people are there are. Use.

Song Nan ignored Lu Wan's words and glanced at the crowd and slowly said, "Gentlemen, on the way here, the emperor sent Yang Tinghe, a cabinet scholar, to come to commend the labor army. The emperor also entrusted Yang Ting and asked me when the thief soldiers could be completely eliminated? At that time, I asked Yang University to bring a message to the emperor that the thieves on the West Road were shrinking in the mountains and could not be wiped out for a while. I think that after Yang Ting and the emperor, the emperor must be a little disappointed. Although the affairs of the soldiers are not transferred to the emperor's wishes, and I will not lead the soldiers and make arbitrary decisions, the emperor has ordered us to suppress thieves, how can we ignore the worries of the king?

Everyone was silent. Naturally, the emperor's wish is to eliminate the thief soldiers as soon as possible. This is Song Nan's command. The emperor just asked tentatively. If it were others, I'm afraid it would be a strict order to exterminate them; however, how easy is this.

"The generous strategy I made before was to trap them, but now the situation has changed and adjustments must be made. Before, I thought that in the middle of winter, the weather was freezing, and the mountains were sealed with heavy snow, and the thieves would not stay in the mountains, and they would take the initiative to attack, which would give me a opportunity to annihilate the enemy and save us from looking for them. But it has been ten days since the heavy snow this winter, but the thief soldiers have not made any movement, which shows that they have not been knocked down by the cold as we would like. Maybe they have built houses and chiseled walls in the mountains to resist the wind and cold. There are plenty of firewood and grass in the mountains, and it is said that there are many wild animals. Thieves and soldiers can hide in the mountains to be savages, and it is beyond my expectation that they choose not to fight with our army.

Song Nan knocked on the table and paused and continued, "If we insist on trapping the thief soldiers, we will consume more than ten times more than the thief soldiers. As you all know, after this disaster, hundreds of counties and prefectures have suffered the disaster, and the imperial court has made great efforts to rebuild, and we need countless goods and food; I led the army to the north After passing through many states and counties, after the heavy snow, the people were hungry and hungry on the road. I think we have to end all this as soon as possible and put everything in the court on the right track, instead of consuming food in vain and waiting for the soldiers to destroy themselves.

Everyone whispered, and some people began to nod.

"We are surrounded by nearly 40,000 soldiers, 13,000 soldiers in Jinpo Town, and nearly 25,000 soldiers in Xijiang Bin, Taihang, and a total of nearly 80,000 troops trapped these 5,000 thieves. If the thief soldiers can persist until next spring, 80,000 in bloom, there will be 80,000 in these months. The horse will consume 230,000 stones of grain more than stationed in the territory. These hundreds of thousands of stones of grain alone can make countless people alive, not to mention the extra money and rewards of the army.

Zhang Yong nodded and said, "What the governor said is that the governor is far away than I waited. It is really unwise to spend so many soldiers and horses for several months. Now the court continues to save money and food to help the people. If the army can save, it is also to share the worries of the court. Besides, it is also a big event that the army will return to the garrison as soon as possible and participate in the reconstruction of the local state capital as soon as possible.

Song Nan nodded and said, "What Grandpa Zhang said is that I just don't want to be dragged by these 5,000 thief soldiers until next spring. Maybe one day the thief soldiers will not be able to survive out of the mountain, but we can't afford it, and we can't let these 5,000 thief soldiers have another chance to come out of the mountain to cause disaster. I don't want to celebrate the New Year and the whole country's New Year. It was also blocked by the pimples left by the 5,000 thief soldiers, so we must completely eliminate the thief soldiers before the New Year.

Liao Ping raised his hand and said, "I agree with the humble position, and I am willing to lead the army into the mountains."

When Liao Ping took the lead, the generals immediately expressed that they wanted to lead the army into the mountain, but Lu Wan frowned and closed his lips tightly and did not want to agree. He disagreed with Song Nan's adventurous approach.

How could Song Nan care about his mind? He saw Lu Wan's psychology of not seeking merit but seeking nothing. He didn't put his opinion in his heart at all, so he raised his hand and clapped his hands and said, "Don't argue. Everyone's worries just now are also right. When you enter the mountain, many people are useless. This time, I only plan to take me to the mountain. Five thousand soldiers and horses of the brocade guard went together, and the rest of the soldiers and horses were on standby. Five thousand to five thousand. If I was defeated by the thief, it would be Song Nan who didn't have the ability.

Everyone was stunned and only took 5,000 soldiers into the mountain, which was too big. In case of failure, even the rescue could not be saved.

Song Nan waved his hand to stop everyone's discussion and said solemnly, "This matter has been settled, Ma Ming, you can quickly return to Jiang Bin's camp in the afternoon and let Lord Jiang choose 5,000 soldiers and horses to prepare. I have selected 3,000 soldiers and horses to enter the mountain from the fallen horse pass, and General Liao Ping of Jinpo Town selected 2,000 soldiers and horses to enter the mountain. Let's start from this character. The three entrances are compressed in, so that the thief soldiers have no way out.

Liao Ping was overjoyed and said, "Thank you, Governor. I will go back to prepare for this position."

Song Nan said, "There must be no mistake if we start to march six days later."

Ma Ming hurriedly said, "That humble job is about to leave now. It will take four days to go south from Bauhinia Pass to Weizhou and then south. You can't miss a big deal."

Song Nan smiled and said, "That's hard for you. When you see Lord Jiang taking care of me, you have to choose elite soldiers and strong generals. I guess that my firepower is fierce, and the thief soldiers will definitely run to the west. I'm afraid I will encounter you head-on."

Ma Ming patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, don't you know Lord Jiang's ability?"

Song Nan laughed. Looking back, Song Nan knew what they thought and said without saying anything. "You don't have to look at me. All the generals here must follow me into the mountain. You can't let them watch, but the soldiers and horses under them will be spared."

The crowd was cheered and secretly praised the governor's interest. If they did not have the opportunity to participate in the last battle to eliminate the thief soldiers, they would be cut off when they were rewarded for their achievements in the future. This was a great loss. Fortunately, the governor was well aware of this point, and no one could escape.

Ma Ming immediately left the inverted Maguan and returned to Shanxi without mentioning it. Liao Ping and Tan Zhang also quickly returned to the Jinpo Town station and began to select soldiers. According to Song Nan's requirements, the soldiers entering the mountain did not want to be strong, but flexible. Mountain marching, coupled with snow barriers, flexible soldiers are the best choice. It is best to climb mountains and climb trees like apes, and must Don't be afraid of the cold, snow camping is not a joke.

According to this standard, Song Nan also selected 3,000 people in the army of the fallen horse pass, most of whom were sent by Xu Tai. In the cold-resistant item, the soldiers of Xuanfu were too much higher than the soldiers and horses in Jingnan.

After careful preparation, six days later, Song Nan led 3,000 soldiers and horses accompanied by more than a dozen generals to enter the northwest into the mountain pass. In order to ensure the control of the terrain, Song Nan hired three old drug farmers who were familiar with the terrain.

Stay on the foot pass and look at a flat river in the valley. The snow-covered ground is as flat as a carpet, but as soon as the army stepped into the mountain pass, it is difficult to walk. Under the white snow, there are pitted stone caves. Once the soft snow is trampled, half of the body will fall into the stone cracks and can't get out. If you can't walk a cup of tea, you will be hurt. There were dozens of soldiers with feet, and Xu Tai scolded them and drove them back.

Finally, three old medicine farmers came forward to identify the old road and marked the ruins of the plank road a little wider with branches, which put the team on the right track; a flat land covered with snow outside the mark was an unwalkable rocky valley; they walked in, and after the valley closed, they escaped from the ground. At the innermost part of the canyon, although the road is narrow and steep, it is already on the ground.

Three thousand people, the old elders pulled by the team, circled the nearest mountain for miles, with cliffs on one side and cliffs on the other side, and slipped to the bottom of the mountain if they were a little careless. Everyone walked until noon, but they walked seven or eight miles of mountain roads, but they were exhausted.

Finding a slightly flat hillside, Song Nan ordered to camp and rest on the spot. Such a road could not walk without light at all. It was serious to camp and rest early. The soldiers piled up the snow on the hillside into windshields, set up tents behind the wall, raised bonfires, and boiled dry food with snow water to drink warmly. After a large basin, they fell asleep one by one.

After the sun sets, there is a vague dark shadow in the mountains, looking at the mountains in the east and the towering peaks in the west. In addition to the mountains, there are mountains, and the dark sky on the mountains makes people feel small and powerless.

The cold night wind sends the howls of unknown beasts from all sides, increasing the feeling of weakness and helplessness in the heart.

Song Nan stood on the hillside for a long time before entering the tent to rest at Wang Yong's urging.