Nanming Engineer

Chapter 17 Unexpected Order

These shouts were like heavy hammer blows, hitting Wang Huan's chest one after another, and his mind was racing.

"What's going on? Why did you stop suddenly? Did you find something and need to stop and rectify?" Wang Huan spun a few times in her heart, and patted her hairless head again and again, until it became big , and didn't understand the reason behind the order to postpone the departure.

Delaying the departure is of course a good thing. A delay of two hours, according to the marching speed of the huge convoy in the supply camp and the marching speed of the old, the weak, the sick, the city of Huai'an will not be defeated before dark tonight, and after dark, so For a large team, it is absolutely impossible to drive in the dark, as the risk is too great, and if a vehicle turns into a deep ditch on the side of the road with black lights, the loss outweighs the gain.Tonight, they must have camped tens of miles away from Huai'an.

However, everything is impermanent and there must be a demon. Tu Hai will not give this time-consuming order inexplicably. Wang Huan has no way of knowing what kind of medicine is sold in his gourd after thinking for a long time.

He was not the only one who was troubled by this matter. Soon, Li Yan hurried over with Li Tingyu's inquiry. There was only one question, why delay the departure?

Li Tingyu is anxious. The plan has reached a critical juncture, and all the preparations are in place. Seeing that tonight, taking advantage of the dark moon and high wind, he is going to kill someone with a knife. If someone notices, hundreds of heads will fall to the ground. The hundreds of my brothers finally see a little hope of surviving and returning to their hometowns, but they must not fail if something goes wrong.After such a short time, Li Tingyu's mouth was bubbling with anxiety.

Hearing Li Yan's intention, Wang Huan was also very anxious, but the problem was that there was no intelligence at all, and there was no insider in the Qing army. The reason why Tuhai made this decision was unknown. Guessed.

Wang Huan walked back and forth on the ground, frowning deeply. When Chen Ergou and others saw Li Yan coming, they walked aside wisely, circled an open space for the two of them, and watched from a distance.

Li Yan watched Wang Huan walking back and forth anxiously, not daring to show his breath, for fear of disturbing the monk's thinking. This master is now Li Tingyu's most important counselor, the only think tank. He is trying to find a way, but the current hope where.

Suddenly stopped under his feet, Wang Huan stopped abruptly, paused on the spot, looked up at the sky, and said a word: "Wait!"

wait?Li Yan was stunned.

"Just wait. There must be a reason for the Qing army to do this. We don't know the situation, we don't know anything, we can't judge, we can only wait." Wang Huan said firmly to Li Yan: "Tell Master Li, please calm down, our The plan should not have been revealed yet, otherwise, with the style of the Qing army, they would have surrounded and killed us all long ago, and now that we are fine, it means that the Qing army has other plans, or simply wants to rest."

Li Yan looked confused and said hesitantly: "Your Majesty, what you mean is that if the Qing army discovers our plot, we might as well strike first before they start, even if they use wooden sticks and kitchen knives." If the fish is dead and the net is broken, maybe a few people can be killed."

"Don't do it." Wang Huan hurriedly said: "We are unarmed, we don't even have a knife, and we will only suffer losses if we fight head-on with the Qing army. If that happens, all previous efforts will be wasted. Go back and tell Master Li right away, and say that I am going to die again." Ninety-nine percent sure, this postponement of departure is not aimed at us, please calm down and wait patiently!"

These few words were spoken in a serious tone, very solemn, Li Yan didn't dare to be negligent, so he hurriedly wrote them down seriously, and stopped talking, said goodbye, and left in a hurry to return to his command.

After Li Yan left, Wang Huan walked back and forth a few more times, frowning and thinking deeply. After a long time, the eyebrows that had been frowned into a "Chuan" stretched out, and said to himself: "It's impossible, it's impossible. It may find us, but it must not be aimed at us."

He looked up at the sky, the morning sun had slowly risen, drawing a round of red light in the sky, everything in the world was shrouded in a red haze, vague and specious, filled with a faint sense of mystery, Just like the mood at the moment.

Wang Huan clenched his fists tightly and said to himself, "Wait, wait a minute, then you'll know everything."

However, the Qing army didn't make him wait too long. After two hours passed, the Qing soldiers rode over and yelled all the way over. The whips danced in the air and "snapped", urging people to go on the road.

The huge and bloated team that looked like a refugee camp began to slowly move along the loess official road against the sun that was already three poles high, still walking forward at a leisurely pace at the same speed as the previous few days.

What is more unusual is that the Qing cavalry who used to gallop on both sides of the team no longer wield their whips to brutally beat those who walk slowly, but just silently follow them on both sides, watching to see if anyone takes advantage of the chaos to escape.The Qing soldiers in the team also walked lazily at the same speed as the main team, without the usual urging and swearing. It seemed that the banquet last night had exhausted the energy of these soldiers.

It is rare for people to stop being beaten and scolded. Of course they are happy. No one thinks why these soldiers suddenly changed their temperament and became indifferent to themselves. Since the whip does not fall on the head, of course they can rest when they can. Well, the families are no match for the tried and tested military.

But the happy time is always short. After noon, after eating lunch by burning fire beside the official road, the Qing soldiers suddenly changed back to their original state, becoming active like a stimulant. At the beginning, raindrops fell on the slow head and face, and the screams were endless.The soldiers in the team also began to urge loudly, their voices were more impatient than the previous two days, punching and kicking if there was any delay, the marching speed of the whole team suddenly accelerated, everyone was afraid that the terrible whip would fall on their heads, and they did nothing. Walk with all your might.

"Are these Qing soldiers crazy?" Chen Ergou looked at the Qing soldiers waving whips, and said puzzledly: "If you don't rush in the morning, you will start urging your life in the afternoon. If you really want to hurry, don't delay in the morning. "

"That's right, which song is this?" Xu Goudan echoed, "Those old people and children are so pitiful, they can keep up."

"If you can't keep up, you will be whipped." Chen Ergou said: "Those Qing soldiers are not Bodhisattvas."

Xu Goudan looked at Wang Huan who was walking beside him, but saw that he was staring at the road under his feet, walking and looking, without raising his head, frowning and thinking about something, as if there was something strange on the road, I looked at it myself, and it was just an ordinary loess road, nothing special.

"Wang Huan, what are you thinking?" Xu Goudan wondered.

This question woke Wang Huan up from his contemplation, one of them didn't pay attention, staggered and almost fell, Chen Ergou and Xu Goudan quickly stretched out their hands to hold him back.

"What's wrong with you?" Chen Ergou looked at Wang Huan strangely: "What's wrong?"

Wang Huan wiped the beads of sweat on his head and asked the two of them eagerly: "Leave me alone, let me ask you, are you familiar with the place in front of this road?"

The two looked at each other inexplicably, shook their heads, and said in unison: "Not familiar."

Wang Huan wiped his forehead with his hand, and said in a low voice, "Is there anyone he knows who is familiar with the terrain around here?"

Xu Goudan thought for a while and said: "Yes, there is. In the past few days, I have met a family from Huai'an. Their children are about the same age as us. They saw that we have white rice to eat these two days, so they came here to ask for it. Food, once you come and go, you will be familiar with it."

Wang Huan was overjoyed when he heard the sound, grabbed Xu Goudan's arm and said anxiously: "That's great, where is that family? Can you find it?"

Xu Goudan stretched out his hand and pointed ahead: "It's not far, they're walking a little ahead."

Wang Huan pulled Xu Goudan closer to him, and said in a deep voice, "Hurry up and ask him one thing, is there any dangerous and desolate place on the road from here to Huai'an, especially where the terrain is complicated and narrow? Come back and tell me quickly!"

Xu Goudan obviously didn't react. He wanted to ask clearly, but he saw Wang Huan's serious face and his eyes were about to burst into flames. His heart tightened and he didn't dare to fart even if his feet didn't touch the ground. He hurried forward and ran forward.

Not long after he left, Xu Goudan ran back and found Wang Huan. Wang Huan was waiting anxiously. When he saw him coming back, he quickly pulled him to his side. After checking that there were no suspicious people around, he asked, "How is it? what did he say?"

Xu Goudan breathed heavily. He ran all the way without stopping. Now he calmed down and said in a low voice as he walked: "The kid is very familiar with this area. He said that he will go from here to Huai'an. They are all flat official roads, and there are many villages and towns on the road. There is only one place, which is a mountain range with a canyon in the middle. The official road passes through the mountain, just passing through the canyon. Legend has it that there are wild beasts infesting, insects and ants harming people, and there are almost no people living in the surrounding area for more than ten miles, if you want to say that the narrowest place is narrow, it is there."

After hearing this, Wang Huan clenched his fist and said in a deep voice, "That's right, it must be there!"

Seeing Wang Huan's appearance, Xu Goudan became even more nervous, and said in a trembling voice, "What is there? Wang Huan, what will happen there?"

Wang Huan sneered and said: "We don't know what will happen now, but it is definitely not a good thing. The Qing army delayed first and then rushed. This strategy clearly wants to drive the entire supply camp to where they want to go."

Xu Goudan blinked his eyes, seemed to understand a little bit, but seemed to be even more confused, opened his mouth, and didn't know what to ask.

Wang Huan leaned close to his ear and told him, "Hurry up and find an excuse to go to Mr. Li, and ask him to send someone to come to us. In addition, you must send him a few words, and you must tell Mr. Li personally. .”

Xu Goudan hurriedly said: "Okay, no problem, what are those words?"

Wang Huan looked dignified, and said slowly: "Drive the sheep into the pen!"

(End of this chapter)