The Prosperous Era of Longwan

On a hillside more than 30 miles away from Ava City, a small group of Ming troops hid in the forest 7 or 8 miles away from the main road, staring at the large group of Burmese troops passing by.

"It seems that they were chased by Marshal Li very badly, and they are so embarrassed."

Zhao Paoer said lightly and jokingly.

"Shut up."

The subordinate spoke, and was immediately stopped by Zhang Tou.

What a joke, although the scouts have strong individual combat capabilities, there are so many Burmese troops under the hillside, and one person's spit can drown them.

If they are exposed now, they will definitely die.

This small group of Ming troops is the Ming scouts who returned from the reconnaissance of Ruibo City yesterday.

Originally, they should have been able to rest for a while, and they didn't need to accept new tasks in the short term.

However, not long after they took the reward silver and went down to rest, they were found by the superiors and assigned new tasks.

Yes, that is their current task.

It is not to continue to scout the enemy, but to find a way to avoid the Burmese army and contact the Ming army following them.

To be honest, this mission is not difficult. The main thing is to predict the location where the Burmese army may come into contact and find a place to hide.

After the Burmese army passes, continue to move forward until you meet the Ming army, pass on the message, and the mission is completed.

The work of messengers is really not difficult for these people.

The reason why they were arranged to go there is that they have been around this area before and are familiar with the terrain. Li Rusong is worried that the letter will be intercepted.

It is easier to go north and it is easy to run into the Burmese army going south.

Once the messenger is intercepted, it is equivalent to telling Mang Yinglong the news, which is not what Li Rusong wants.

After thinking about it, only this team of scouts is more reliable to take on the task of delivering the message.

They are very alert, otherwise they can't do the job of scouts.

If they are a little careless, I'm afraid the grass on their graves will grow tall.

So, Zhangtou's team of scouts accepted a new order to pass the message to the north and brought supplies out of the city overnight.

At this time, they hid in the forest, and the horses were led up the mountain and found a place to hide behind dense trees. The horses were tied to the trees and muzzled to avoid making any noise.

Now, they were standing by the bushes, nervously watching the Burmese army passing by at the foot of the mountain.

As the old saying goes, a thousand people can connect the sky and the earth, and ten thousand people are boundless.

What does it mean?

This proverb means that when the number of people reaches one thousand, people will feel that the sky and the earth are connected, as if they can touch the sky.

And when the number of people reaches ten thousand, people will feel that there are no boundaries around them, as if they are in an endless space, which is to describe the momentum, a very spectacular momentum.

In fact, everyone who has seen the movie "The Decisive Battle" knows that there is a section where the Kuomintang army marches, and the director chose to use aerial photography to show the boundless momentum of the large army of tens of thousands of people.

It should be the Battle of Xuzhou and Bengbu. Near the Grand Canal, the army formed countless long lines, and there were convoys of tanks and cars marching on the vast land. The majestic and tense atmosphere suddenly hit us.

At this time, in the eyes of this team of scouts, the feeling was actually similar, and because it was a personal experience, it was slightly different.

At this time, the roads that could be seen were full of enemy soldiers.

After Zhang Tou's scolding, everyone shut up and dared not say a word, even though this place was far away from the road, they were worried that the enemy would hear the movement.

But although no one said a word, everyone could feel their own heartbeats, and the continuous heartbeats.

"Boom, boom, boom"

There is no doubt that a small team of scouts is under great pressure.

Finally, someone couldn't help but start to crawl back.

They didn't dare to get up and walk back, worried that the enemy would discover their movements, so they could only move back little by little.

If they can't see, they don't have to bear this kind of pressure.

An hour passed, and there were still dense Burmese soldiers on the road.

Two hours passed, and the Burmese soldiers on the road were a little more relaxed.

Another half hour passed, and finally, they saw the end.

Another group of loose Burmese soldiers were rushing all the way, and behind them, there was no trace of the enemy.

"Oh my goodness, we finally finished the journey."

Zhao Paoer couldn't help but speak again. He had good endurance and was very calm, but he also felt suffocated before.

Tens of thousands of Burmese soldiers just passed by them, and they even saw the wide bamboo baskets on the backs of several elephants.

The people in the bamboo baskets were dressed in luxurious clothes. Although they were running for their lives, Mang Yinglong and his treatment was definitely not that of ordinary soldiers. They needed to measure the length of the road with their feet.

In fact, when he saw those people, Zhao Paoer couldn't help but touch his hand to the bird gun, and almost wanted to shoot at the elephant's back.

Fortunately, he held back.

Knowing that the current environment was not conducive to doing so.

A reckless move could put their team in an irretrievable situation.

After making a sound, Zhao Paoer immediately reached out to cover his mouth, and at the same time he saw Zhang Tou staring at him fiercely.

The people in the army are used to being brave and fierce. Since Zhang Tou can become their leader, he is naturally the most powerful one. Who in the team has not been beaten by him?

Finally, the last column of Burmese troops passed in front of them, and Zhao Paoer whispered again: "Zhang Touer, it seems that the troops have finished. Should we set off quickly? We have been climbing for several hours."

Before coming into contact with the Burmese Army, some people in the team judged that they were about to encounter the Burmese Army brigade by lying on the ground and listening to the sounds, so the first team chose to hide themselves.

However, with this kind of ability, there are actually errors in judgment.

They evaded for almost half an hour before the Burmese soldiers arrived belatedly.

Regarding this, the brother said, "It was a mistake in judgment. Who would have thought that the Burmese cowards would be so lazy."

After all calculations, they had been hiding here for more than three hours. They had not done much activity for several hours. At this time, everyone felt that their hands and feet were a little stiff.

"Move around a little, but you still have to hide well. There's no chance that the enemy's team will break up behind you."

Zhang Tou whispered something, and moved his hands and feet first, but he was still lying on his stomach.

Others followed suit and began to move.

Less than half an hour later, there was no trace of the Burmese army on the road. Zhang Tou then stood up and said, "Everyone, get moving, lead the horses down the mountain, and let's go."

In fact, they were also lucky. If it was a normal march, before the large group of people appeared, there would definitely be enemy scouts several or even ten miles away.

However, along the way, there was no danger ahead, and no soldiers from Ming Dynasty appeared, which made Mang Yinglong become careless.

Furthermore, last night, I learned that there were occasional contacts between Ruibo City and Ava City, and they had agreed to send messages to each other if they found the enemy, so Mang Yinglong misjudged that there would be no Ming army here.

Therefore, along the way, Mang Yinglong did not send scouts to investigate in the front, nor did he send troops to intercept the rear.

Otherwise, Zhang Tou's small group of Ming troops would encounter the Burmese army scouts out of nowhere.

Of course, it's just a possibility.

After all, they were very careful and had started hiding their traces a long time ago.

The most likely possibility is to hide in advance, and then quickly see the Burmese army's scout team, and then the main force of the Burmese army.

Soon, a dozen Ming army scouts led their horses down the mountain until they reached the roadside. Then they all got on their horses and headed north.

This place is still more than 20 miles away from Ripple City, so there is nothing to worry about, unless they encounter the Burmese army's rear-cutting troops in a very bad luck.

But luckily, an hour later, they did not encounter enemy troops and were already close to Ripple City.

Just like last time, get off your horse early to avoid the road and get into the woods on both sides of the road.

Then take the mountain road and get closer to Ripple City.

In the hidden place yesterday, he hid the horse first, and then went into the woods in front to observe the movement of Ripple City.

They did not choose to lead their horses around the city directly, but wanted to see the situation first.

Today's Ripple City seems to be unchanged compared to yesterday, but the city gate is open.

There were also sparse crowds of people on the roads near the city, and there were even occasional carriages heading into the city from outside the city.

"Zhang Tou, are they recruiting nearby people?"

One of his subordinates asked in a low voice.

Yes, at first glance, it looks like Ripple City is recruiting nearby people into the city.

"Fortunately, we didn't go directly around the city. I remember there are two forked roads ahead. If we go straight there, we might meet these people."

Zhao Paoer whispered again.

"They should be clearing the field at the strong wall, which means that the commander's troops are almost here."

Zhang Tou spoke.

The gates of Ripple City are open, which means that the Ming army is at least far away from here, at least twenty miles away.

Otherwise, the city gate would never dare to be opened so wide to admit people.

However, although the main force of the Ming army is still far away from here, the urgency of the situation can also be seen from the urgency of the opposite side.

In addition to people constantly entering the city, are there carriages and sergeants hurriedly leaving the city?

"Zhao Pao'er, you lead the way, let's go to the road you mentioned first.

We don't have time to linger here, so we can only wait for the opportunity when no one is around, cross the road and continue walking north to find the commander's team. "

Zhang Tou spoke.

"Skinny man, go to the back and ask them to bring the horse over."

If they wanted to go north, of course they couldn't rely on two legs, they still had to go on horseback.

Therefore, they have to go there with their war horses.

However, this time the wait took a long time.

It took them more than two hours to cross the two main roads, because from time to time, Burmese people passed by with their families on the main roads.

Moreover, although they could kill people and silence them, there were other people far away, so they couldn't drag everyone into the woods and kill them.

Therefore, they could only wait, wait for a gap when no one was around, and quickly cross the road without revealing their presence.

Finally, Zhao Pao'er led them around to the north of the city, glanced at the heavily guarded north gate, Zhang Tou and the others finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"We'll go a few miles further, then we'll get on our horses and take the main road."

Only when we got here did we become bolder.

Even if they were discovered by the scouts of the Burmese army, they would only think that they were Ming troops sent by the Ming army to the north for reconnaissance, and would never think that they came from the south of Rippo City.

"Bang bang."

There were two gunshots, and one of the enemies on the opposite side let out a scream and quickly went into the woods on the roadside.

"Ignore them, let's go sideways."

Zhang Tou now unfurled his bow and nocked an arrow, using his legs to control the horse and run forward.

Behind him, Zhao Pao'er had no time to load the musket, so he held the reins in one hand and hung the musket on the saddle with the other, replaced it with a five-eyed musket and followed closely behind.

The cannons were of course shot by the Ming army.

They rode their horses and ran a few miles before encountering a group of 10 Burmese scouts.

Zhao Paoer and his men decisively opened fire at that side, while several other comrades also shot several arrows with bows, causing certain casualties to the other side.

After the other side dodged, they passed by them without stopping. Zhang Tou and several other archers also shot several arrows at the Burmese soldiers hiding on the roadside.

Zhao Paoer and another firearmsman aimed their five-barreled guns at that side, but did not light the fuse.

In this kind of contact battle between scouts, the bird gun was indeed lackluster.

The firing rate was not good, and it was completely beaten by the archers.

However, the bird gun still had some effect, not only could it scare the other side, but it would also have pressure in terms of momentum.

At a closer distance, they would choose to use the five-barreled gun, which could not only fire five bullets quickly, but also swing the gun as a small hammer and use it as a melee weapon.

In fact, some of the Ming army's three-barreled guns did not have only three barrels, but five to seven barrels, depending on the user's arm strength.

However, this type of gun with a barrel is generally called a three-barreled gun.

After encountering this team of Burmese scouts, they were more careful on the road, but they did not encounter the enemy for half a day.

Soon, the sky darkened and the night was about to cover the earth.

"The woods ahead, spend the night there tonight."

Zhang Tou ordered.

Although they should continue to go north to find the Ming army to send intelligence, they, the scouts, knew the dangers in the dark night, and dared not continue to go north rashly.

If they encounter the Burmese army, it is likely to be the opponent's scout team.

This kind of encounter depends on who discovers the other party first, and the danger is not small.

However, when they approached the woods, Zhang Tou suddenly pulled the horse's head and carefully observed the woods.

A moment later, he suddenly pulled the horse to the other side of the road.

"Be careful of ambush."

Zhang Tou only had time to shout.

In fact, when Zhang Tou pulled the horse, the tacit understanding of many years had already made others alert.

When Zhang Tou rode to the other side, everyone made the same action, and many people even hid in the stirrups, hiding their bodies directly on the other side of the warhorse to avoid being shot by the enemy in the woods.

When they hurried to the other side of the road, they startled countless birds in the forest.

After the men observed the surroundings and found nothing unusual, they began to confront the people in the opposite woods.

"Boss, let's go around and walk a little further."

Zhao Paoer reminded again in a low voice.

There should be someone in the opposite woods, otherwise it would not be so quiet before.

"Who are you?"

Just as Zhang Tou was about to speak, the voice of the Han people suddenly came from the opposite woods.

"We are the people of Li Rusong, the young general."

Hearing the shouting from the opposite side, Zhang Tou thought for a moment and answered.

"Why are you here?"

The other side continued to ask.

"But are you from Marshal Li?"

This time, Zhang Tou did not answer, but asked.

The other side was silent for a moment, and finally answered again: "Yes, the army is not far from here, you put down your weapons and come over."

"We are General Li's messengers, and we have an important letter to deliver to the Marshal."

Zhang Tou finally shouted loudly this time. (End of this chapter)