Chapter 74
When Meng Yi and his men had retreated for more than a quarter of an hour, a group of cavalrymen arrived outside the secret vault and saw three bodies in disarray. Someone stepped forward to check and judged from the condition of the bodies that they had been gone for about a quarter of an hour.
Behind the house next door, someone bravely pushed open a crack and asked, "Is that General Kino? General Kino from the Cavalry Battalion?"
Kino looked over and said, "It's me!"
The old man inside pushed the door open and came out, "General Kino, we've finally got you here. That group of people almost rushed into the secret vault."
Kino's face darkened, "They found this place but didn't break in?" He felt a little regretful. If they had entered the secret vault, they could have caught them all in one fell swoop.
"Yes, those of us guarding here were ready to serve the Marshal. But they only argued a few words outside the gate, killed three people, and then ran away."
"Hmph, they're pretty fast. How long have they been walking?"
"About a quarter to two quarters of an hour."
It was about the same time as they had just estimated.
The old man looked as if he wanted to say something but was hesitant, and it was obvious that he had something else to say.
"If you have anything else, tell me."
"The old man seemed to see General Zhou Yushu among the group."
"I see."
The henchman asked, "General Kino, should we give chase?"
"Chase!" General Kino said, "There are two shortcuts from Funing to the military settlement. Let's split our forces into two groups. You lead one group and I lead the other. You stay here and wait for Mr. Shi to come up and report all the situations to him." The last sentence was said to the old man.
"Yes." The confidant and the old man responded in unison.
On Meng Yi's side, the old soldiers and the new recruits were talking animatedly. This burst of jokes quickly dispelled the discomfort the new recruits had just felt after seeing the blood.
As he was speaking, the scout beside Meng Yi moved his ears and then scratched the ground.
"Is there something wrong?"
Soon the scout stood up and said, "General Meng, a cavalry battalion is chasing us."
It came really quickly, Meng Yi thought.
The new recruits looked at each other in bewilderment. Fortunately, they retreated decisively. If they had really gone down to the secret vault, they would have been caught in the trap.
"Let's move forward at full speed!"
But how can a two-legged person outrun a four-legged horse?
The sound of horse hooves was getting closer and closer, and the morale was a little affected. Meng Yi immediately urged, "Hurry up, hurry up, the largest tributary of the Yichun River is ahead, and the ice on it has not melted yet. Let's go straight over. The other party is on horseback and dare not chase us." If you are not afraid of the ice breaking, just chase them!
Everyone was cheered up, thinking that they would be safe once they reached the major tributary of the Yichun River ahead.
Obviously, even in the middle of the night, Kino was very clear about the terrain nearby and was ordering the cavalry to speed up.
"General Meng, the enemy cavalry is getting closer and closer. I'm afraid they will catch up with us before we reach the Yichun tributary. What should we do?" asked the personal soldier beside him.
Meng Yi stared ahead, calculating the distance between the two sides. He was just about to grit his teeth and lead the veterans back to hold off the cavalry to buy time for the new recruits to reach the tributary when someone called out to them, "Is that General Meng? I'm Ji Ze, and I'm here to meet you. Spread out now and run to both sides! Quick!"
Meng Yi and more than a thousand soldiers were delighted when they heard it. "Did you all hear it? Run to both sides, quickly!" He shouted loudly, and then ran to the right first.
The people Ji Ze brought with him were arranged on both sides of the road. "Here, here—quickly cross the ice and cross the river."
Meng Yi asked, "What about you?"
The other party pointed to the trip rope and other items and said, "We have set up some small tricks to make the pursuers retreat, and then we will retreat."
Meng Yi nodded and said decisively, "Alright then. I'll take them downstream, and leave the upstream for you to retreat."
Ji Ze couldn't help but patted his shoulder, "Good brother, you've thought of everything."
"That's it." After saying this, they stopped talking and started crossing the ice.
Since ancient times, small boats are easier to turn around, and the same is true for people. After receiving Ji Ze's signal, Meng Yi and his men were able to quickly change course to the sides. The cavalry chasing behind them, due to inertia, found it difficult to change course immediately.
Although Kino didn't hear Kize yelling at them to run to the sides, he could tell at a glance that there was a trap ahead. A trap for cavalry wouldn't be a tripwire or a chevaux de frise. With such a short time to prepare, a tripwire was the most likely option, as chevaux de frise took time to dig.
"General, should we continue chasing them?" We'd been chasing them for so long without catching a single person, which was really frustrating. But if we continued chasing them, the road was lined with small woods, making it easier for a single person to pass, but it would be difficult for them on horseback.
"It's too late." They were afraid that the group of people they were chasing had already crossed the ice of the river. "Shoot arrows on both sides!" General Kino gave a decisive order.
At his command, the cavalry behind him rushed to shoot arrows at the woods on both sides of the road, firing indiscriminately as if to vent their anger.
"Get down, everyone get down!"
After shooting, Kino was still unwilling to give up. It was late at night and in the dense forest, and the damage he could cause to them was limited.
"General, are we going to go into the jungle and fight them?" There were traps in the foreground, and their horses couldn't ride forward. But if a single soldier went forward to clear the trap, the enemy would definitely shoot them. But if they didn't clear the trap, they could only go into the jungle alone and fight them.
"No." The cavalry were precious. He couldn't use them as ordinary soldiers. It would be a waste of natural resources. "Retreat."
Hearing this, the cavalry retreated without a word. Undoubtedly, this pursuit was a failure. Kino and his men were not retreating as fast as they had been when they had pursued them.
Seeing them retreat, Ji Ze did not order the reinforcements to withdraw.
"Turn back and charge!" General Kino, who had walked back a short distance, suddenly shouted.
Then, one-third of the cavalry turned around. They even released one horse, and the handsome, unrider steed neighed and charged forward, testing whether the enemy was still there and whether the trap was a tripwire or a barricade.
Wang Lang watched the scene unfolding before him with a piercing gaze. "Here they come! They've really pulled off a surprise counterattack!"
Seeing Mu Ye's sudden counterattack, Ji Ze was still frightened, "This Mu guy is really cunning, Wang Lang, it's a good thing you reminded us to take precautions, otherwise we would be in danger." If they were crossing the ice, the other party only needed to release a few horses to rush across the frozen river, which would be enough to make them all fall into the ice and be wiped out. It was really a close call.
The handsome horse that was charging forward did not reach the ice surface, but fell on the ground where he suspected there was a trap. It was a chevaux de frise!
Kino rode his horse back to the trap site. The forest was completely silent on both sides. Although the enemy hadn't made a sound, Kino knew they were still there. This was trouble. Since they had set up barricades, they must have also set up trip wires. And there were some smart people in the enemy team who had anticipated his counterattack!
With the cover of darkness and the dense forest, he really couldn't do anything to them. If he wanted to capture them alive or cause casualties, he would have to resort to a strategy of exchanging pieces, but such a method was not cost-effective for them and they would not be able to gain any advantage.
"Retreat, go back." Kino ordered.
"The other side should really withdraw their troops this time, right?" Ji Ze said.
Wang Lang also thought that they must have really retreated. "That's right, but let's wait a little longer. It's better to be safe than sorry."
"Well, Wang Lang, you have done a great job tonight. First of all, the rendezvous location was chosen very well! Secondly, you saw through Mu Ye's surprise attack. After we go back, I will definitely ask the general for your credit!" Ji Ze praised Wang Lang.
"General Ji, you are the one who deserves the most credit."
"It's all ours. We all deserve credit."
"Yeah." Wang Lang was also a little excited at this time. The long-lost feeling of being in charge of strategies on the battlefield was fascinating.
They waited for a while, but Kino didn't come back, so they all started to cross the river and go home.
*******
When Mu Ye led the cavalry back, Shi Mei was already waiting there.
Shi Mei saw that only their own cavalry had returned, without a single prisoner, and couldn't help but ask in disappointment, "How was it?"
Kino replied, "We were a step too slow!"
"It's not that you are a step slow, but the other party is too cunning." He has already asked clearly, and the other party passed by a treasure mountain without entering, which shows that he is decisive and rational.
"When we chased after them, the other side sent a team of people to support us." Kino explained the situation clearly. It was not that they did not try hard, but that the other side was strong.
Shi Mei thought for a moment and said, "It should be someone sent by Xing Changfeng." The military settlement no longer had the strength to send out troops to support them.
Shi Mei asked again, "What about Huangshi?"
"The report from over there said that the people had already escaped. Our people said they just wandered around Yellowstone and then ran away."
Shi Mei: So, the other team he sent came up empty-handed again, right?
Shi Mei's face darkened. This was his first official confrontation with the Yichun military garrison's advisors. He had struck first, and should have been the one to suppress Xing Changfeng. Unexpectedly, the military garrison's advisors joined in, taking three steps ahead, and he was constantly outsmarted. Every move he made was anticipated, and they responded appropriately. The thought of this made him feel suffocated.
"Mr. Shi, now that things have come to this, don't overthink it. Let's return and report to the Marshal." None of them, the warriors, resented defeat, and Mu Ye understood his feelings. However, the situation was already over, and there was still much to do. There was no need to dwell on it. Furthermore, having secured the Marshal's second secret vault, they had accomplished their mission, though they hadn't gained anything in return. Furthermore, they had also assessed the strength of the Yichun military settlement, and it wasn't without benefit.
Shi Mei responded absentmindedly, but in his heart he was thinking, when he got back he must ask the Marshal to find out who had come up with the subsequent battle plan for the Yichun military settlement. If he didn't figure this out, he would probably lose his appetite.
After Meng Yi and his men carefully crossed the ice, they waited for Ji Ze and his men on the riverbank, taking a short break. Relaxing, the new recruits were all thankful for their quick run, as they were truly being chased by the cavalry.
"General Zhou, the cavalry of your Yichun camp is really powerful. Who was the one leading the troops just now? He has such a fierce and imposing aura." After spending many days with Zhou Yushu, the soldiers in the military settlement no longer treated him as an outsider and asked him questions casually. Moreover, he had followed them all the way today, but he had not done anything to alert the people in the Yichun camp. In a word, they were very satisfied with Zhou Yushu.
"That's General Kino, he's the cavalry general of the cavalry battalion."
"Oh, General Zhou, have you always wanted to build a cavalry battalion yourself?"
"Um."
Qi Lao San sighed, "The Yichun Camp is so rich, how can they have so many horses?"
Zhou Yushu: ...If you don’t say anything, we can still be brothers.
Meng Yi was listening nearby and couldn't help but burst out laughing. "You're overthinking it. The Yichun camp isn't wealthy enough to support two cavalry battalions."
Soldier Qi Laosan opened his mouth wide: Ah, aren’t there two cavalry battalions?
"It's true that the Yichun camp doesn't have two cavalry battalions, but you have a good physique for a cavalryman and you're an excellent archer. If you have the chance in the future, you should try to join a cavalry battalion." Zhou Yushu said with a smile.
Meng Yi suddenly jumped down from the dam and said, "Zhou Yushu, believe it or not, this time the general returned, he may not have brought anything else, but he must have brought back a lot of war horses."
Zhou Yushu was puzzled. What did he want to do by saying this?
"What I want to say is that our cavalry battalion is also going to be expanded. I sincerely invite you to stay, stay in our military settlement. I will strongly recommend you to the general, and you will form a new cavalry battalion in our military settlement. You don't have to go back to the Yichun camp and wait for the opportunity. We can still fight side by side in the future." Meng Yi formally made an invitation to Zhou Yushu for the first time.
The soldiers nearby also started to jeer, "Stay, stay!"
Zhou Yushu was startled at first, then quickly said, "Everyone, please stop making a fuss!" But they continued to shout, so he could only say loudly, "Everyone, let me think about it."
Meng Yi saw that it would be difficult to get Zhou Yushu to submit for the time being, so he shouted to the new recruits and veterans who were making a fuss, "Enough, enough, stop making a fuss! Don't you see what time it is? You're disturbing people's sleep!" He had a look of disgust on his face as he spoke.
Soldiers: ...General Meng is such a jerk! I really want to put him in a sack! He doesn't even think about who they're helping! Even crossing a river and then destroying a bridge is so quick!
Zhou Yushu watched this scene with a mixture of anger and amusement. It would be a lie to say he wasn't moved by the enthusiasm of Meng Yi and over a thousand soldiers, but he felt he couldn't impulsively agree to this. If he wanted to stay, he would have to think it over carefully.
Meanwhile, Marshal Zhu was also feeling relieved. His heart was in his throat when he learned the enemy had already reached the secret vault's door. Fortunately, he had mobilized his troops in time.
Because of this incident, several parties did not sleep all night.
Yao Chunnuan was the hardest-working. After finishing the first half, she was already starting the second. She was either the main character or the lead in both scenes. In the latter scene, no one could replace her. Her only feeling now was the pain of childbirth. It was like someone cutting her open with a sharp knife.
"Push harder, I can see the child's head."
Following the midwife's shouts, she mechanically pushed again and again. By the end, she couldn't tell if it was sweat or tears on her face, or perhaps it was a combination of both. Amidst the midwife's loud cries, she truly used all her might to squeeze out the contents of her stomach in order to end this torture.
She didn't remember how many times she pushed, she only remembered that after pushing, her whole body relaxed, and she heard the midwife happily say, "It's out, it's born!"
Then came the sound of a child crying loudly.
"Master Yao, congratulations on the birth of your daughter."
Yao Chunnuan was feeling weak and let them help her clean herself up. Upon hearing this, she smiled. My daughter, she's doing fine.
One of the midwives cleaned the baby and wrapped it up, and after she had cleaned up, she placed the baby next to her. As everyone knows, the newborn baby's skin was red and its appearance was not good, like a little old man.
The midwife was very experienced and told her that the child would look good. Her red skin meant she would have fair skin in the future, and her eyes would be narrow and long, so her eyes would not be small when she grew up. Her daughter also had a full forehead and a small, straight nose, so it was foreseeable that she would be a beauty.
Yao Chunnuan was delighted to hear this. She and Wang Lang were both good-looking, and with good genes, their child would have a strong foundation. The midwife had delivered many babies and was very experienced in childcare, so her words were probably true. Yao Chunnuan was so happy that she told Luo Suyi to review the rewards for everyone who was busy tonight.
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