I

The rice fields by the river have been harvested, and all the food has been snatched away by the Mysore army.

Thousands of Jin nobles' coalition forces were killed and fled in all directions.

The king Doda Wodeya did have two brushes. The Jin aristocratic coalition was hesitant to move forward, so he simply withdrew his troops while the food road was cut off, and sent his vanguard troops back to try to open up the food road behind him. At the same time, he lured the noble coalition to pursue him and led the main force to fight back.

"No need to chase!"

After the aristocratic coalition collapsed for dozens of miles, Doda Wodeya felt that it was safe, so he led the main force back to open up the food channel.

His large army was too bloated, and the boats in the river and the oxcarts on the shore were full of goods. And they mainly focus on food, because it happens to be the harvest season, and there is rice everywhere they can plunder.

Even if the food route was cut off, the Mysore army was not short of food.

However, the marching speed was very slow. In order to protect these belongings, they could only advance twenty miles a day.

"Da da da!"

The vanguard sent a few cavalry back to report: "Your Majesty, Alumbavur's warehouse was burned down. The grain, spices, cotton cloth... were all burned to ashes, and even the gold and silver were melted all over the ground. .”

Doda Wodeya was filled with rage when he heard this. He had robbed all these goods with his own skill!

After thinking about it, Doda Wodeya planned to speed up the march. Anyway, the Jin aristocratic coalition has been destroyed, and there will be no more danger. Three thousand people can be left to take the slaves to transport the baggage, and the rest of the large army will go all out to pursue and suppress the enemies who have cut off the food road.

As for how many enemies there are, no one knows. There may be thousands of Chinese troops.

The defeat of the noble coalition forces had already made Doda Wodeya relax his vigilance, and he finally chose to divide his forces. He asked his son to command three thousand troops and slowly escort the baggage with slaves. With more than ten thousand troops and grain transport ships, he accelerated towards Sun Kewang.

He passed several transfer stations in succession, all of which were burned down by Sun Kewang, who made Da Da Wodeya chase him faster and faster.

The prince who stayed behind to escort the baggage was named Chika Devaraj Wodeya. This guy whipped the slave all the way, but he couldn't increase his speed, so he could only walk slowly. He only had 3,000 soldiers, but nearly 10,000 slaves were needed to transport the equipment.

In the evening, stop and set up camp.

The work of setting up the camp was also entrusted to slaves, and three thousand soldiers were sent out to guard it, while Chica Wodeya sat down to rest.

Weng Yingqi, who had been dormant in the southwest mountain village for many days, also moved out with his infantry at this moment. After receiving the news at noon, he immediately set out from the mountain village and marched more than 30 miles in an afternoon. On the way, he had to cut down trees to make rafts to cross the river, and then followed the traces left by the enemy.

Such a fast march was unimaginable to Chika Wodeya. This prince has been on the battlefield before, but where has he seen troops that can forcefully march?

After the slaves set up camp, they were divided into several groups and slept outside the camp. Only soldiers, livestock and baggage could stay inside the camp.

Weng Yingqi's infantry were further downstream, eating dry food and recovering their strength.

The sky is getting dark and night has fallen.

Hundreds of Mysore soldiers patrolled outside the camp, alerting enemies and guarding slaves. These slaves are all captured Jin people, and they will run away if they are not careful.

The Kshatriya officer in charge of the patrol found it very boring and sat down against the wall of the village to take a nap. The lower-level Vaishya officers also went to rest elsewhere, leaving only the Sudra soldiers in charge of patrolling.

After wandering around for a while, the Shudra soldiers were too lazy to move around and stood in groups of twos and threes chatting in low voices.

The moonlight is good tonight, and the big moon is hanging high.

And the temperature is also comfortable, having dropped to 20 degrees. It's a bit nauseating during the day. It's almost late autumn. The temperature during the day is actually above 28 degrees, and it can even reach over 30 degrees when the sun is shining brightly.

Don’t say that Indians are too lazy. When we were marching a few days ago, the temperature was a full 36 degrees. Weng Yingqi himself was so hot that he didn't want to move, so he walked around day and night, looking for places to hide from the sun during the day. Even when he was hiding in a house, he was so hot that he stuck out his tongue.

Along the way, quite a few slaves fell down from heatstroke.

The south side of the camp was close to the river. Weng Yingqi divided hundreds of infantry into two groups and moved toward the east and north of the enemy camp.

The perimeter of the camp was full of slaves, and they were ordered to lie down. Anyone who dared to sit or stand would be executed for running away.

A team was walking around to the north, and suddenly a soldier felt that he had stepped on something soft.

The soldier looked down and saw a slave looking at him under the moonlight.

Most of the enemy troops on patrol were lying down and sleeping, and occasionally some were sitting down and taking a nap.

"ah!"

The slave who was stepped on was so frightened that he stood up and ran away, and the nearby slaves also stood up. They had no idea what was going on. They had been tired, hot and hungry during the day, and now they were sleeping soundly. After waking up from their dreams, their tense nerves suddenly exploded.

The Han soldiers didn't fire a single shot or even light the torches. The slaves outside the camp began to boil and fell into a crazy camp roaring state.

"Fire the gun!"

Weng Yingqi took the lead in firing forward, and the other soldiers followed suit.

This approach was purely to drive away the slaves, lest the slaves rush in and trample the Han soldiers.

Gunshots rang out in the east and north, and the nearly 10,000 slaves who were already camped subconsciously ran towards the south and west. The simple stockade wall couldn't stop them at all. Anyway, the slaves only knew how to escape. The soldiers on patrol were also awakened and fled after hearing the sound of gunshots. They were trampled to death because of their slow movements.

His Royal Highness Prince Chika Wodeya took off his heavy armor and went to sleep. He woke up suddenly to the sound of gunshots and shouts, and immediately understood that he had been attacked at night.

While dragging his armor out, Prince Chica shouted: "Blow the trumpet quickly, the soldiers gather towards me, don't be scattered by the enemy!"

At night, except when on duty, which soldier would sleep wearing armor?

They scrambled to their feet and had no time to put on their armor before the officers called for them to assemble. In this situation, trumpets can be blown to rally, and in terms of military quality, the Madurai army can be thrown away for a few streets.

It's just that before most of the soldiers had finished gathering, Ying Xiao's slaves had already rushed over. These slaves only knew how to run away and shouted without any clue. A large number of Mysore soldiers were scattered, and the soldiers subconsciously turned around and ran away.

In the end, even the officers ran away because no one knew how many enemies were coming.

Prince Chika Wodeya finally managed to gather three or four hundred troops. Faced with such a situation, he didn't know whether to go to meet the enemy or run away as soon as possible to escape.

Without thinking much, Chika Wodeya decided to run away.

He is a prince and will be the king from now on. It doesn't matter if he loses the battle, it doesn't matter if his whole army is wiped out. These things are not as precious as his life.

The prince ran away on horseback, as did the noble officers with horses, and even the prince's infantry bodyguards were left behind.

Chika Wodeya ran from midnight to dawn. His horse was so tired that he was foaming at the mouth, and he stopped in shock. Looking around, there were less than ten people left, all of them Kshatriya officers with their own horses.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion. They still don't know where the enemy came from or how many enemy troops they have come.

All they knew was that the three thousand soldiers were gone and the goods they had escorted were gone.

Night raids are rare in India. Most of the soldiers are Sudras and a smaller half are from the Vaishya caste. What meat do they usually have to eat? Many suffer from night blindness, making it impractical for such soldiers to move at night.

After resting for a while and waiting for the horse to regain its strength, the prince took a few officers and rode to find his father.

"How come the baggage is gone?" Doda Wodeya said in disbelief.

Facing his father's question, Chika Wodeya lowered his head and said: "The enemy launched a sneak attack at night, and the slaves went crazy and scattered my troops."

"How many enemies are there?" asked Doda Wodeya.

Prince Chica said: "I don't know."

Doda Wodeya suppressed his anger and said: "Get out of here and wait for the punishment."

There are still more than 16,000 people in Mysore's army, and they originally had plenty of food and grass. However, the prince's entire army was wiped out, and now only some grain ships still have food and grass. At most, we can last another half month, and then we will all starve to death here!

The king ordered the whole army to move forward quickly. He didn't want to get back the belongings anymore, so he hurried to the mountain pass. Through the valley was his own land.

A bloated army of more than 10,000 troops cannot defeat a small group of elites. There were still dozens of miles away from the mountain pass, and Weng Yingqi gradually caught up.

"How many enemy troops are there?"

"Only a few hundred."

Doda Wodeya's expression was gloomy and uncertain. He was frightened by the elusive Han army. Now he felt something was wrong with everything he looked at.

He has more than 16,000 people, but the other party only has a few hundred people.

Hundreds of enemy troops are chasing after them in a swaggering manner. Could it be that they are bait? Maybe there is a large army ambushing behind, maybe the enemy is just stalling for time, and more enemy troops are surrounding them.

After much deliberation, it was better to return to the mountain pass quickly, so that we could fight or retreat calmly.

The king said to his younger brother: "Chama, you lead the cavalry to intercept the enemy. Even if you defeat the enemy, you can't pursue them too far. Once you encounter the enemy's army, rush back to the mountain pass to join them!"

There are not many cavalry in southern India, and they only brought out a few hundred cavalry this time.

The king continued walking with the large army, not paying attention to the hundreds of enemy troops behind him. He firmly believed that this was bait and was not the main force of the enemy at all. Even if he ate them all, he would be in danger.

Chama Wodeya was experienced in the battlefield and led the cavalry to rush over.

The two sides were evenly matched in numbers, but since they were cavalry, they could easily win. He separated half of the cavalry to flank them, and then charged from both sides, only to see the enemy forming a strange hollow square formation.

The first wave of charges failed in a daze.

The second wave of charges failed again.

The cavalrymen who escaped back all looked horrified.

Chama Wodeya asked: "What's going on? They are all rushing close. Why are they avoiding the enemy and running away?"

The subordinate officer replied: "The enemy's formation is not disordered. The front of the muskets has a sharp blade, and the horses avoid it and are unwilling to charge forward."

"Useless things!"

Chama Wodeya personally went into battle and charged together on the other three sides except the side facing the river.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The bodyguards around Chama Wodeya fell, but he himself rushed closer and closer. Finally, only a few steps away from the enemy, he raised his spear and prepared to fight. He believed that the enemy would inevitably fall into disarray in the face of a cavalry charge.

Suddenly, the war horse under his crotch disobeyed, automatically slowed down when facing the bayonet array, and then walked around the array avoiding the bayonets.

"Bang bang bang bang!"

A bullet was fired from two or three meters away, and the Mysore royal fell from his horse and fell to the ground.

Of the hundreds of cavalry, less than two hundred fled back.

When the king heard the news, he was even more frightened by the fighting power of the Han people. He was so frightened that he abandoned his excess supplies and accelerated his march. He had a premonition that if he didn't leave, he would be surrounded by an army.

What a bullshit army. Zhao Kuangli only has a few people under his command. This king is purely trying to scare himself.

Weng Yingqi repelled the cavalry and did not continue the pursuit. Instead, he retreated to find his donkey.

These hundreds of donkeys were captured during night raids, and they were used to carry food along the way. The weather here is too hot. He doesn't want to leave during the day, so he can just chase along the river bank at night.

As for the small town at Taniguchi, the wealth and food had long been moved away by the slaves. Sun Kewang led hundreds of cavalry to observe the situation in the direction of the town from a distance.

The King of Mysore forced him to leave, but no one could stop him.

(The chapter says that a book friend posted a map of the game. The year of the map is wrong. I will post one in the menu chapter. The map comes from Mr. Bukharin.)