After Li Nan handed over the command to Xiao Nai, he led more than thirty subordinates to the front line of Yunlin to reconnoiter the situation. However, before they reached Yunlin, they saw darkness on the north bank of Zhuoshui River in Nantou County. Among them, a large group of people was crossing the river from the south bank. They thought they were Japanese troops and hurriedly hid in the woods.
However, Li Nan soon discovered that these were not Japanese troops, but rebels who had been defeated from the front line. Looking at the way they hurriedly crossed the river, he knew that they had suffered a huge defeat and no longer had the courage to return to fight.
A small group of rebels swam across the Zhuoshui River and just climbed up the north bank. Li Nan led the reconnaissance team to stop them and asked, "Who are you? Where do you come from?"
The leader, who was wearing torn clothes, thought he had encountered an enemy and drew his sword to kill him. However, when he saw that it was one of his own who spoke, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and responded loudly: "We are from Yunlin." Lin Yicheng's rebel army just came from Yunlin."
When Li Nan heard the name "Lin Yicheng", he couldn't help but said in surprise: "It turned out to be Lin Yicheng's rebel army. Where is your leader Lin Yicheng now?"
The leader cried: "After we were dispersed by the Japanese pirates, we never saw Leader Lin again. Everyone fled north. Many of the brothers who were left behind were poisoned by Japanese ghosts. Too many people died!"
Li Nan couldn't help but asked nervously: "Has the Japanese army captured Yunlin?"
The leader wiped away his tears while nodding his head and said: "Yunlin City is over. The Japanese pirates have almost moved the entire county to the ground. They kill everyone they see. They spare no one, old, young, women, and children. It's so miserable. It's so miserable!"
Li Nan looked up at the faint fire on the other side of the mountain on the other side of the Zhuoshui River, accompanied by several gunshots from time to time. He couldn't help but ask: "What's going on over there in Yunlin? Wu Pengnian's Black Flag Army and Wu Tangxing's Have the troops arrived at Yunlin? How are they doing now?"
The leader said: "When the Japanese pirates arrived at Yunlin City, Chief Lin ordered us to join the Black Flag Army joined by Wu Pengnian and the volunteer army of General Wu Tangxing to besiege Yunlin City together. Later, some Gaoshan rebels joined us. , and finally defeated the Japanese pirate vanguard who broke into Yunlin City. After they abandoned the city and fled, they divided into two groups. One group ran into the mountains and forests, but we cut off their retreat and annihilated them all. The other group retreated to Meishan."
He breathed heavily, paused, and then continued: "But when we continued to pursue the Japanese pirates who retreated to Meishan, the main force of the Japanese pirates also came up, first defeating Wu Canjun's Black Flag Army, and then They cut us off, and the volunteer army of General Wu Tangxing retreated to Yunlin City. However, due to lack of heavy weapons, the Japanese pirates used cannons to blast open the city wall and swarmed in. In the end, Yunlin City fell and everyone was dispersed by the Japanese pirates! We Lin The leader wants us to break out of the encirclement on our own and gather at Bagua Mountain in Changhua, south of Dadu River!"
Li Nan nodded and said: "No wonder I saw a lot of fleeing rebels when I came here, especially near Bagua Mountain. There seems to be a small group of scattered troops gathering there. They are probably the rebels of your leader Lin!"
The leader said in surprise: "It seems that many brothers have escaped! By the way, who are you and where do you come from?" After talking for a long time, the leader thought of asking the other party where they came from, probably because they ran away Confused, he only answered Li Nan's questions and didn't know to ask about the other person's situation.
Li Nan laughed and said: "We are the Red Label Army. We were sent by the leader to come to Tainan to fight the Japanese pirates. Our mission is to recover Tainan and drive all the Japanese ghosts into the sea!"
When the leader heard that it was the Red Label Army, he couldn't help being surprised and happy, and said in a voiceless voice: "It turns out to be the Red Label Army. I heard that the volunteers of General Wu Tangxing have also surrendered to the Red Label Army. Is it true?"
Li Nan smiled and said: "Yes, it is precisely because of this that our leader hastened to send us to reinforce Captain Wu. He is now affiliated with the 9th Infantry Regiment of our Red Brand Army! We, the Red Brand Army, are not happy to shout The commander-in-chief is now called the regimental commander!"
The leader said excitedly: "Yes, Commander Wu, if Commander Wu hadn't stayed in Yunlin City for a whole day and night, holding back the Japanese pirates' troops, or else everyone would have made the Japanese pirates make glutinous rice balls, and no one would have been able to escape. !¡±
When Li Nan heard this, his heart skipped a beat and asked, "Are there many Japanese pirates attacking Yunlin County this time?"
The leader nodded and said: "There are many, two or three thousand people, and they are equipped with many Gatling cannons and field artillery. Our weapons are too crude and we are no match for them. Too many people died, and we were almost killed in the end." It¡¯s time to make glutinous rice balls!¡±
Li Nan couldn't help frowning when he heard that the Japanese army was attacking Yunlin with the size of a regiment, and asked: "Are you sure there are two or three thousand Japanese pirates attacking Yunlin? Have any Japanese pirates been found in other areas? troops?"
The leader thought for a while and said: "It seems that Huwei also heard that he was attacked by Japanese pirates, but the specific situation is unclear."?? However, this time the Japanese pirates are large in number and have sophisticated weapons. We may still be able to defeat them if we move to the mountains. If we are on the plains or in the county town, we will definitely not be able to defeat their artillery and bullets! "
Yunlin and Huwei are almost at two different points on the same east-west line. If the Japanese army has troops to attack Huwei, it means that as long as they cross the Zhuoshui River, they will attack Zhutang in the north of the stream, and then pass through Beidou. By going around Baiguo Mountain, they can complete the outflank of Nantou County. By then, the Red Label Army will be made to eat glutinous rice balls.
Thinking of this, Li Nan broke into cold sweat. Fortunately, he rushed over overnight to find out the situation. If this important information was missed, it might cause great losses to the entire mixed formation of the West Route Army.
Of course, he didn't know that a Japanese vanguard squadron had actually crossed the Zhuoshui River and was heading towards Nantou, and their more than 20-person reconnaissance cavalry team happened to pass by it, and neither of them knew anything about it. Finding each other is not known to be lucky or unlucky for both parties.
"May I ask who this gentleman is" Seeing Li Nan's majestic appearance, the leader knew that he must be an extraordinary person and couldn't help but clasping his fists and asked.
Li Nan gave him a red-label military salute and said, "I'm not an adult, just call me Li Nan!"
A Red Label soldier next to him interjected: "This is our Commander Li. He personally came to the front line to inspect the military situation!"
The leader felt that the "Captain" was a very big officer, comparable to a general soldier, so he immediately clasped his fists and said: "Captain Li, I have to rush to Bagua Mountain to join the other brothers. I'll say goodbye here!" With that said, he took the others and hurried away from Li Nan and his group.
"Captain, do we still want to cross the river?" Looking at the shadows swaying and escaping into the woods, an accompanying Red Label Army officer couldn't help but ask.
Li Nan raised his head and looked at the firelight rising into the sky in the direction of Yunlin. He pondered for a long time and said, "Let's cross the river. It's still early for the sky to get light. The Japanese ghosts can't find us in the dark yet. I want to see it with my own eyes." Look what Yunlin¡¯s situation is now!¡±
Since he heard that Huwei was attacked by the Japanese army, Li Nan decided to allocate another reconnaissance team to Xiluo, downstream of the Zhuoshui River, to inquire about the situation and see if the Japanese army had crossed the Zhuoshui River.
After his team crossed the Zhuoshui River, they headed straight for Yunlin, because Zhuoshui River was very close to Yunlin. After crossing the Zhushan Mountain, you could see a flat plain, and Yunlin was almost clearly visible.
However, when they were crossing the Zhushan Mountain, they heard a burst of intensive gunshots at the edge of a forest. Before they could take cover, they heard a burst of shouting in the darkness, and then more than twenty stumbling figures emerged from the waist-high grass in front of them. Ran over.
"Bah, bang, bang!" A burst of gunfire rang out, and the two figures behind fell to the ground with a "Ah!" They struggled to get up from the ground, but Li Nan didn't see them stand up from the grass for a long time. Getting up, the remaining people fled even more desperately, and some even ran towards the woods where Li Nan and the others were hiding.
"Signe!" There was one after another creepy screams in the darkness, and soon four or five shadows appeared. They chased the two fallen people, regardless of whether they were dead or alive. All stabbed with bayonets.
When Li Nan saw this scene, he was so angry that he was speechless. Just a few Japanese soldiers chased more than 20 people into panic and ran away with their heads in their hands. It was simply embarrassing.
"Captain, what should we do?" A Red Label soldier asked nervously, "Do you want to be a fool?"
"Commander, our mission is to reconnoiter the military situation, not to fight!" Another Red Label Army member was admonishing, "Who knows if there are more enemies following those stupid Japanese ghosts?"
"Then we can't just stand by and watch our people being chased and run around!" The Red Label Army said angrily, "Just let them kill people under our eyes. If the news spreads, we will lose." Three groups of faces!"
Hearing that he would be humiliated, Li Nan originally wanted to stand by and watch, but now he couldn't hold back, his expression suddenly dropped, and he said in a deep voice: "Send four people up, one person to deal with each, and then leave after killing them! "
The four reconnaissance cavalry took the order and went away. They rode their horses and suddenly rushed out of the woods and rushed towards the four Japanese soldiers like a whirlwind. The more than 20 Qing soldiers who were being chased and frightened thought they were Japanese soldiers. Some people were so frightened that they knelt on the ground and shouted for mercy. Some people simply threw their weapons on the ground and raised their hands in surrender. Others got into the waist-high grass and rolled and crawled in other directions. No one has the guts and courage to fight with weapons.
However, some people still saw that the four cavalrymen who suddenly rushed out were not aiming at them, but at the Japanese army behind them, so theyThey couldn't help cheering, and saw the four whirlwind-like figures rushing towards the four Japanese soldiers. With a flash of the sword, they chopped down the unprepared Japanese soldiers to the ground, then turned around and trampled the Japanese soldiers' bodies with their war horses. , trampling them until they were bloody and their bodies were deformed.
After a Japanese soldier was slashed in the face, he still wanted to get up from the ground, but his chest was soon dented by the front hooves raised by the Red Flag Army's horse, and his body somersaulted and fell four or five meters away. , fell to the ground like a puddle of mud, and then was kicked hard by the horse's hooves of the Red Label Army. Immediately, blood and flesh spattered and the corpse was twisted.
Other Japanese soldiers were cut down to the ground almost at the same time. However, one of the Japanese soldiers fired a shot before dying and wounded a Red Label cavalryman. Fortunately, the bullet passed through the arm and did not hit him. The bones were just peeled off a large piece of flesh and bandaged, so there was nothing serious.
"Who are you?" Li Nan saw that the four Japanese soldiers were eliminated in the blink of an eye, so he ran out of the woods with the others, stopped one of the Qing soldiers in tattered uniforms, and asked, "Front What's the situation like?"
"Sir, we are from the Yunlin patrol camp. Yunlin is over. All the people left behind have been killed by the stupid beasts. They don't want prisoners at all. Our brothers in the platoon surrendered and let them They've all been killed. It's so miserable! Sir, please save our brothers. They are chasing us, but they kill everyone they see and leave no one alive!" The Qing army soldier replied almost in a tearful tone, and several others After hearing this, all the Qing soldiers burst into tears.
"How many Japanese pirates are there in Yunlin now?" Li Nan became very angry when he saw their frightened and helpless appearance. If the Red Label Army was defeated like this, he would have the desire to kill, and his tone would also change. He was very disdainful and asked coldly, "Where are Commander Wu Tangxing and Commander Wu's troops now?"
The Qing army soldier wiped the stains on his face and said: "The Japanese pirates attacking Yunlin include thousands of people. They have cannons and machine guns. Their firepower is very powerful. Brothers are really unstoppable! Commander Wu is in Yunlin." He held on to the city. After the city was broken, he took the remaining troops and fled out of the city. They had horses, so they might have crossed the Zhuoshui River and fled towards the south, right?"
At this time, bursts of gunshots suddenly came from the distance, and then there were strange screams coming from far and near, and there seemed to be the sound of horse hooves running. The Qing soldiers looked at each other, Already so frightened that his hands and feet were in a panic and his face was pale, he could no longer care about Li Nan and the others. With a loud shout, the birds and beasts dispersed and fled in a panic toward the north bank of Zhuoshui River.
Li Nan glanced at Yunlin City, which was ablaze in the darkness in the distance, and then at the shouts of killing boiling in the darkness. It was obvious that the Japanese army chasing after them was the size of a small squad, and there were also cavalry. Comparing the enemy and ourselves, The disparity meant that we couldn't stay here for long. He whipped up his horsewhip and loudly shouted to the other scouts: "We will reconnoiter here tonight. All troops will retreat and return to Nantou City to prepare for the battle!"
The scouts immediately shouted in response, then surrounded Li Nan, turned their horses' heads, and ran towards the north bank of Zhuoshui River, disappearing into the pitch-black night in the blink of an eye.