Chapter 405 Hunting

Four days later, two thousand people from Liao Ping and Tan Zhang, who set out from Jinpo Town, came from the east and met Song Nan in the valley. The number of people increased, but it did not bring any benefit to the team's march. The discharge was delayed for a long time, and the action became slower.

However, time is not a problem in Song Nan's plan. The focus is on searching and driving along the way. The thief soldiers are somewhere on this ancient road, and the most important thing is not to pass by them. When everyone didn't enter the mountain, they always thought that there were 5,000 thieves and horses, which should be a big goal. But in fact, when they entered the mountain, they knew that if 5,000 people and horses were hidden between the mountains and valleys, they could not be seen at all. Song Nan himself was a little unconfident.

In order to avoid mistakes, the army had to send more than a dozen teams to climb over the peaks on both sides at great risk and form a search belt with each other with beacon fire. The so-called risk is not only the danger of climbing in dangerous places, but also the attack of fierce beasts in the mountains and the risk of hiding thieves.

In this case, it takes less than seven or eight miles a day, and the road of mountains, if it is at the current speed, it will take at least a month to walk. Fortunately, Taihang is facing each other with the soldiers and horses of Xijiang Bin, which can save at least half of the time.

The climate in the mountains is unimaginable. From the day of departure, there will be snow and hail every day. In this kind of weather, the difficulty of marching can be imagined. In the day, you have to endure the danger of wind and snow and falling into the cliff at any time. At night, you have to endure the pain of cold to the bone marrow and beware of the attack of the mountain wolves that are boldly approaching. Song Nan also secretly admired that the thief soldiers could survive in the mountains, and they would not show up for nearly two months.

On November 17, the tenth day after the army entered the mountain, according to the accompanying pharmaceutical farmers, the army had entered the center of the mountains and passed one-third of the journey. Just when Song Nan was worried that he had missed the trace of the thief soldiers, several teams searching parallel on the south side suddenly sent a message.

Although the parallel search teams are far apart, according to the agreement, they must keep in touch with each other every day. Every night when camping, they set up a bonfire in a conspicuous place and see a bonfire between them means that everything is safe. If they encounter an enemy, they will launch flames and arrows to notify each other and quickly pass the message to the big The team.

However, last night, a team marching on the mountainside north of the peak did not light a bonfire as agreed, nor did it send out fireworks and arrows to warn. The two nearby teams at the top of the mountain and the valley did not hear from them all night. Because the sky was steep, they could only send people to search at dawn.

As a result, the bodies of 20 team soldiers were found in a snow valley on the mountainside. The bodies were flesh and blood were incomplete and frozen hard. When the news came back to the brigade, Song Nan immediately ordered the army to stop moving forward and led the camp firearm team with Wang Yong to rush to the scene.

At noon, the crowd finally climbed over the peak and arrived at the scene, and the waiting team flag officer introduced the situation to Song Nan.

"Big Governor, there are groups of wolf hooves scattered around. We suspect that this team was suddenly attacked by the wolves in the dark in the evening, and all of them were bitten to death by the wolves before they could issue an alarm. You see, the internal organs have been hollowed out, which is the characteristic of the wolf attack.

Song Nan looked carefully at the scene for a while and frowned: "What are the equipment of the search team?"

The flag official said, "General Xu Tai personally set a ration for us; each person has a long knife, a pair of short bows, and a pot of arrows; another person has 20 pieces of charcoal cakes, five catties of dry meat shop, and ten catties of dry food. The flag officer is equipped with five fireworks and arrows.

Song Nan nodded and said, "It's enough for you for more than ten days. General Xu has rationed enough. Ten days have passed. How many supplies do you have left now?

The flag officer said, "Each of my team still has five pieces of charcoal cakes left, some dry food in the meat shop, and only a few bows and arrows are shot out to drive away the approaching beasts at night."

"That is to say, your supplies can still last for a few days, right?" Song Nan asked with a frown.

The flag official was puzzled and nodded, "There is no problem in five days."

Song Nan pointed to the bloody body and said, "Why didn't I find their remaining supplies, dried meat, biscuits, and even charcoal cakes on the body?"

The flag official was stunned and said in astonishment, "I didn't pay attention to it. I only paid attention to checking the blade and arrows. Maybe it was scattered in the snow."

Song Nan shouted in a low voice, "Find them all for me within a radius, and let me know if you find them."

Yingnuo, a group of guards, scattered around and carefully searched along the hillside, but half an hour later, the hillside within a radius of one or two miles was searched, and no carbon cakes or dry food bags were found.

Song Nan frowned more tightly, took people to walk slowly around the snow valley, and suddenly waved his fist and said, "Stop."

Wang Yong and others quickly stopped. Song Nan sighed and said, "As expected, Wang Yong, what do you think that is?"

Wang Yong calmed down and saw the outline of several loose branches in the snow. With a long knife, he picked up one and shook off the snow on it, just like a rough round thing made of pine needles.

Wang Yong was puzzled and asked, "Your Excellency, what is this?"

Song Nan frowned and said, "These 20 brothers were not killed by wolves, but were all killed by a sudden attack."

Wang Yong asked stupidly, "Is it because of the lost carboniferous cakes and dry food in the meat shop?" The wolves will not eat dry food and eat charcoal cakes. They must have taken them away after the thief attacked.

Song Nan nodded and said, "That's exactly what they need now is to warm up and eat. Although they are suspected of leaking their whereabouts, it is also worth taking a risk. Their deliberate immobility of blades and arrows creates an illusion of being attacked by wolves; there are many mountain wolves, and people die. Later wolves will come to eat, just to cover up their tracks.

Wang Yongyang raised the thing in his hand and said, "What the hell is this thing?"

Song Nan said, "I have been thinking about what kind of attack will make them unable to even issue an alarm. It must be a sudden attack without warning; on such a hillside, it should not be so easy against the white snow. They didn't have time to light a bonfire, which means that it's not a night attack. How can they launch such a sudden attack in broad daylight?

Wang Yong said, "Yes, how can it be?"

Song Nan pointed to the woven round pine branch and said, "This is their way. The only way is to hide under the snow. This must be the lid they use to cover the snow hole. These thieves have long dug the snow hole to hide in it and waited for the arrival of this team of soldiers, and then took advantage of it. Unprepared to kill several times, and then fake it to look like being attacked by wolves.

Wang Yong didn't say a word and ordered someone to take a long gun to sweep the snow in front of him. Last night's loose snow fell down. Sure enough, he found snow holes large and small, and many woven snow covers were found in the surrounding snow one after another.

Song Nan's words are right. Hide in it and cover it to prevent snow from being buried, and you can peep at the outside from time to time. When you are in trouble, you can lift the cover and attack, and you are not afraid that there will be snow flying to block the view.

After confirming that it was killed by the thieves, the atmosphere around him suddenly became tense. Wang Yong immediately ordered people to go all over the realm. Since the thieves could ambush on the road, they obviously took the route, that is to say, every move of the army may be under their peeping.

Song Nan also didn't expect that the thief soldiers hid in the mountains for two months and adapted to the situation in the mountains so quickly, and also learned to carry out raids based on the terrain. Song Nan believed that the thief's nest was almost there, and perhaps between the gray mountains in front of him, there were eyes secretly peeping this side.

"Immediately withdraw all the teams and inform Xu Tai to move forward cautiously. Soon, they will encounter thieves and beware of the ambush of thieves." Song Nansen ordered.

Wang Yong said, "Your Excellency, we have to go back before dark, bury the bodies of these brothers and go."

Song Nan shook his head and said, "We won't go."

Wang Yong said in astonishment, "Your Excellency, why don't you leave?"

Song Nan said, "The side of the brigade can't be without ears and eyes. Besides, I also want to see the traces of the thief soldiers as soon as possible. The thief soldiers will not stop and will hunt the flanking team. Now we have to turn from light to dark. It's better to catch them alive and find their camp, so that we can swing the army directly."

Wang Yong said, "Your Excellency, this matter can be done. You have to sit in the army and can't be in danger. After all, the enemy has appeared, and we are in danger."

Song Nan patted Wang Yong on the shoulder and said, "Dangerous? What dangers have we not experienced? Are you afraid of these thieves? Don't worry, our 100-guard * battalion has enough ammunition. As long as it doesn't disturb all the thief soldiers, a small band of thieves are not afraid.

Wang Yong knew that persuasion was useless, so Song Nan liked to do it himself. In addition, if Song Nan left, once he found that a large band of thieves would have no way to deal with it, he no longer insisted.