I

Of course the Datong Army can't fly, but Zheng Zhi is walking too slowly.

Li Dingguo asked the soldiers to bring three days of dry food. Facts have proved that he thought too much. It only took the vanguard of the Datong Army half a day and half a night to catch up with Zheng Zhi's army.

One party was dragging his feet, carrying a lot of baggage, and most of them were civilians and warriors.

One party moved at full speed, carrying only a small amount of dry food, and all of them were elite troops.

In other words, even if it were replaced by Vietnam's elite troops, the situation would not change much. Zheng Zhi led an army of 60,000 to the south, but was he overthrown by Ruan's 100 elephant soldiers?

This bad old man is simply addicted to human food. He doesn't know how to fight but always fights by himself.

The first one to catch up was Yuan Shizhong. He abandoned the infantry, took the entire division of cavalry, and rode quickly along the official road. Then he abandoned his war horse, temporarily transformed into an infantryman, and ran all the way with his equipment.

There was no fear of going the wrong way. Zheng Zhi's tens of thousands of troops trampled countless crops along the way, and even those who were not blind could see.

More than two thousand comrades, holding torches, chased them in the early morning.

Zheng Zhi's tens of thousands of troops were still sleeping and didn't even bother to set up camp. There were paddy fields all around and they couldn't set up camp. They lie on the ridge of the field, or several people sit together, resting back to back. Fires were lit every three to five o'clock. There was no open flame, only wet grass was used to smoke out the mosquitoes, and someone was on duty to add grass to each fire.

It was the soldier who was on duty to smoke out mosquitoes when he saw the Datong army approaching with torches. He was so frightened that he shouted: "The pursuers are coming, the pursuers are coming!"

The Zheng army nearby was in a panic. The first reaction was not to defend the enemy. Instead, they jumped into the paddy field and fled for their lives through the muddy water.

It was difficult to form a formation in this poor place during the day, let alone being attacked at night.

When Yuan Shizhong heard the chaotic shouts in front, he immediately ordered: "No need to wear armor or fire guns, kill the enemy immediately!"

After the order was passed down, more than two thousand soldiers gradually put down the armor they were carrying. He didn't even want the musket, he threw it directly on the edge of the field, and rushed forward bare-chested with a cold weapon.

"Kill!"

The soldiers of Datong, holding a torch in one hand and a sword in the other, ran quickly along the field ridge. From time to time, someone slipped and fell into the field.

When encountering a fork in the field, they will automatically divide into several teams to prevent the entire army from forming a long snake.

Zheng's army stretched for several miles and collapsed one after another at this moment. Those far away from the Datong Army subconsciously ran away without even understanding what was going on.

There were also some Qinwang gentry who took the night attack of the Datong Army as a good opportunity and ran away with their village warriors. Otherwise, they will follow Zheng Zhe into the ravine, and they don't know when they will be able to return to their hometown.

Under the moonlight, torches danced wildly in chaos.

Due to the hot weather, the Datong army went into battle shirtless, holding only cold weapons in their hands. More than 2,000 people chased tens of thousands of enemy troops.

Zheng Zhe and Zheng Zha, father and son, could only control the troops on a few field ridges around them. They couldn't figure out how many pursuers were coming. They could only hear people fleeing from all directions.

Fortunately, Zheng Zhi has been on the battlefield for a long time. Although he has never won any battles, he has rich experience in defeating them. The old man in his seventies, as if on adrenaline, led his troops to escape quickly. He had seen this kind of situation too many times and was not frightened to death. He knew that saving his life was the most important thing now.

Yuan Shizhong chopped down several people one after another, and he knelt on the field in front of him.

Yuan Shizhong shouted angrily: "Get out of the way quickly. Those who surrender should go to the fields. Don't block the road on the ridge of the field!"

It's a pity that he didn't bring a translator, so the enemy soldiers couldn't understand him at all.

However, the waist knife in the hands of the Datong Army is the universal language. After cutting out corpses all over the field ridges, the enemy soldiers understood that few of them dared to kowtow on the field ridges.

This kind of terrain makes it easy to defeat the enemy, but it is not easy to kill, chase and capture the enemy.

More than 80% of Zheng Zhi's tens of thousands of troops successfully escaped. They were running sideways in the rice fields, and they couldn't tell the direction. They could run as far as they could. Most will flee back to their hometowns, and some may gather as bandits.

After all, Zheng Zhi was still too old. After only running a few dozen steps, he was exhausted and panting.

He ordered his soldiers to carry him on his back and escape, but the field ridge was narrow, making it more difficult to maintain balance while carrying someone on his back. While running, the soldier lost his footing and fell into the field with Zheng Zhi.

Zheng Zha looked back at the Datong army that was getting closer and closer, and then at his old father who fell into the paddy field. After a slight hesitation, he gritted his teeth and left, pretending that he didn't know anything.

The soldier finally got up. When he saw the pursuers approaching, he ignored Zheng Zhi and ran away through the muddy water.

Zheng Zhi, who was over seventy years old, struggled in the paddy field and finally climbed back to the field ridge. He said angrily: "You traitor, come back and save your father!"

Hearing this, Zheng Zha ran faster.

He has saved this old father several times. The situation was similar, that is, the army suddenly collapsed, and then he took his father and fled the battlefield quickly.

There is really no way to save this time!

Li Shenzong and Li Zhenzong, father and son, were squatting on the edge of the field and shivering.

Yuan Shizhong led his troops to pursue him. Li Zhenzong quickly held his head and pretended that the ostrich could not see anything.

However, Li Shenzong stood up and shouted in the Chinese he learned when he was young: "I am Emperor Li... I am the Supreme King of Annan. May heaven's soldiers descend on you! May heaven's soldiers descend on you!"

Yuan Shizhong stopped quickly and asked: "Are you the Lord of Annan?"

"I am," Li Shenzong pointed to his son and said, "I am the Supreme King of Annan. This is the king of Annan. I ask the heavenly soldiers to help my father and son restore the country!"

Yuan Shizhong laughed loudly: "Save a few people to keep an eye on these two men!"

Li Shenzong said again: "The traitor of the Zheng family ran in that direction. General, hurry up and chase him."

Yuan Shizhong smiled even more happily: "I remember your contribution in guiding me!"

Zheng Zhi felt like his waist was broken, and his back hurt every step he took. He simply abandoned the ridge and hid in the paddy field, using the knee-deep seedlings as cover and crawling among the seedlings like a dog.

I really just let him run away!

There were so many deserters and they were working in the dark that the Datong soldiers could not take care of them at all.

Whenever he felt that there were pursuers approaching, Zheng Jie would lie down in the rice field, even pressing his face into the muddy water. When a group of pursuers passed by, he continued crawling, and climbed several fields in succession.

I crawled until dawn and managed to escape, covered in mud, and fled to a village community.

There must have been a rout of troops here, and the villagers were so frightened that they hid in their homes, and there wasn't even a ghost around.

Zheng Zhi did not dare to stay any longer, and felt the pain in his waist getting more and more painful, so he limped towards the outside of the village community.

The bad old man in his seventies was really tortured and half his life was lost. After stopping and resting, he didn't know how far he had walked. Anyway, the sun was almost setting, and he finally arrived at the second village community with a hungry stomach.

At this time, he was tired and hungry. Zheng Zhi touched his waist and found that there was only one scabbard left. His sword was lost somewhere.

Zheng Zhi did not dare to enter the village. He wandered outside the village for a long time and finally saw a shepherd boy returning home from herding cattle.

"Little brother!" Zheng Zhi shouted with a smile on his face.

Seeing that he was covered in mud, the shepherd boy thought he was a beggar from somewhere, and immediately laughed and said: "Beggar, you don't take a bath, you are so embarrassed!"

Zheng Jing suppressed the anger in his heart, took off the jade pendant from his waist, wiped the mud and said, "What do you think this is?"

The shepherd boy's eyes lit up: "So beautiful."

Zheng Zhi seduced: "You go home and get some food, and I will give you this jade pendant. Remember, don't tell others, they will come to snatch this treasure."

The shepherd boy spread his hands and said, "Give it to me first."

"Bring you some food, and I will give you the jade pendant." Zheng Jie had already made up his mind. As long as the shepherd boy brought him food, he would take the opportunity to strangle him to death so as not to reveal his whereabouts.

But the shepherd boy said, "Give it to me first!"

Zheng Zhi was so hungry that he had to hand over the jade pendant, then hide and wait for the shepherd boy to return with food.

The shepherd boy grazes cattle for the landlord's family, and the family doesn't have much to eat. After a long time, he brought some old bran rice porridge in a bamboo tube, handed it to Zheng Jie and said, "Take it and eat it quickly. This is what I saved. I will still be hungry if I eat it for you."

Zheng Zhi grabbed the bamboo tube and poured it into his mouth. The coarse bran was so unpalatable that it made him want to vomit, and it also rubbed against his esophagus and made it difficult to swallow.

After swallowing it hard, Zheng Zhi saw the shepherd boy turning away, so he quietly chased after him and stretched out his hands.

"Woooooo~~~"

The shepherd boy was suddenly strangled by the neck. He subconsciously grabbed Zheng Zhi's wrist and struggled wildly with a painful expression.

The intensity of the struggle became weaker and weaker, and finally he finally breathed his last.

With a ferocious look on his face, Zheng Jie let go of the shepherd boy's body, turned around and fled further away.

But after walking a few steps, Zheng Zhi suddenly covered his lower back. He was thrown to the ground last night and had a slight bone fracture. He crawled and walked all the way, and now he strangled the shepherd boy to death, which finally made the injury to the fractured bone more serious.

Zheng Zhi could no longer walk or crawl. As long as he exerted force on his limbs, his waist was so painful that he almost fainted.

Night falls.

The body of the shepherd boy lay there, a few meters away. Zheng Zhi could not move even half a step, and in the end he could only lie on the ground and wait for death.

Time goes back to dawn.

Zheng Zha ran away with dozens of soldiers, and there were fewer and fewer people running along the way. Some soldiers pretended to fall, fell into the paddy field, and then fled sideways through the muddy water.

One of the soldiers was caught. Although they couldn't communicate with each other, in order to survive, they shouted and pointed out the direction of Zheng Zha's escape.

Zheng Zha didn't know where to flee. Thang Long Mansion was gone, Zheng's clan in Thanh Hoa was captured, and his troops were completely disbanded. Even if he escaped into the mountains, he could only remain a savage.

"Plop!"

Zheng Zha finally fell down due to weak legs, and the soldiers behind him quickly helped him up.

Then, the classic drama unfolds.

A soldier said: "The Shenglong Mansion is gone, I don't know if our family members are still there."

Another soldier said: "You still have to go into the mountains?"

"Going into the mountains to eat grass?"

"I don't want to run away anymore. I was on my way yesterday and now I'm exhausted!"

"If you don't escape, you will be caught and beheaded."

"Catch this guy and ask for help. He will definitely survive."

"Yes, catch him and perform meritorious service!"

"Bullshit, the seller wants glory, let me go!"

"..."

Several soldiers pulled off Zheng Zha's belt and tied up his hands and feet.

They returned the same way, and when they encountered the Datong Army from afar, they shouted: "Prince Zheng is here, Prince Zheng is here, Prince Zheng is captured!"