Late Ming Dynasty: Starting with the overthrow of the county magistrate, a rebellion was launched to

"What exactly is Zhang Da's intention?"

When it comes to war, Li Dingguo likes to get to the root of the problem. Even though the Ming army scout squad had been completely wiped out, with not a single one escaping, his regret over not leaving a single survivor only deepened the doubt between his brows.

Li Dingguo couldn't understand why Zhang Da would send such a small scout team of a dozen men deep into this area. The mountains were high and the forests dense, the roads rugged and treacherous—definitely not a route for a large army. Zhang Da would never make such a pointless move…

"Could it be that Zhang Da has already discovered our ambush deployment and sent scouts to investigate whether there are any ambushes at Shanmu'ao? But if that's the case, the scouts should have been cautious and stealthy, leaving marks along the way, and retreating immediately upon discovering anything unusual. They would never have walked into the ambush zone so unprepared."

"Or perhaps this is Zhang Da's feint, deliberately sending out small groups of scouts to pretend to explore, but actually wanting him to mistakenly believe that the Ming army is going to flank from Shanmu'ao, thereby dispersing the defensive forces of Huaqiao Pass and creating an opportunity for the main army to launch a strong attack on the pass..."

But...didn't the scouts report that the large front only had about ten thousand people?

The terrain of Huaqiao Pass is treacherous, and even if some troops are dispersed, the main force will find it difficult to break through. This feint is far too clumsy...

So Li Dingguo abandoned the idea again.

"Could it be that this scout team wasn't deliberately dispatched by Zhang Da, but rather lost its way during the march and stumbled into Shanmu'ao by accident..."

Or perhaps Zhang Dayi intended to lead a large, lightly armed army to flank Huaqiao Pass from Shanmu'ao, so this scout team was merely a preliminary exploration, with a larger army following behind?

Li Dingguo pondered the matter, his head throbbing with pain. After ruling out every possibility, only one explanation remained: Zhang Da had indeed sensed a potential threat on the flank of Huaqiao Pass and dispatched a scout team to investigate, hoping to confirm whether there were any ambushes and decide whether to flank the pass.

"Haha, but Zhang Da didn't expect that I would personally lead my elite troops to ambush them here. So the scout team was wiped out as soon as they entered Shanmu Pass, without even a chance to send a message."

For reasons unknown, Li Dingguo suddenly felt cheerful, and after that, he exclaimed from the bottom of his heart:

Zhang Da is indeed a man of great reputation. He is so meticulous and cautious in his military tactics. Such a person should not be underestimated. If he is not eliminated as soon as possible, he will surely become a major threat to the Great Western Army in the future!

Hehe, that's good too, it will be more interesting to defeat him!

"But... but Zhang Da's scout squad was completely wiped out, and they never returned. Even if they couldn't deliver the message, it's useless now. Zhang Da will definitely be on guard... I'm afraid that staying here any longer would have rendered the ambush pointless."

Moreover, the terrain here is narrow and not conducive to the deployment of cavalry. If Zhang Da suddenly makes a foolish mistake or discovers the truth and leads a large army to surround and annihilate us, we only have five hundred elite cavalry under our command. Once surrounded, we may be killed by this scoundrel.

Upon realizing this, Li Dingguo made a decisive move, raising his hand to signal the entire army to assemble. "Order the entire army to immediately withdraw from Shanmu'ao and return to the Huaqiao Pass defense line via the original route. They must arrive before dawn without fail!"

……

……

The night grew increasingly deep, and a cold mist suddenly appeared from nowhere. Moreover, as time quietly passed, Zhang Da's army had already entered the latter half of the night.

At this moment, Zhang Da, leading eight hundred elite personal guards and elite soldiers, was still struggling forward through Shanmu'ao, cursing and swearing.

Just then, scout Gou Sheng, drenched in sweat and with tattered clothes, staggered to Zhang Da's side, then knelt down with a thud, his voice hoarse and trembling, "My lord! Something terrible has happened! Enemy tracks have been discovered in Shanmu Ao ahead, about a hundred cavalrymen have passed through. They left fresh hoofprints and broken branches, so it's probably not long ago. Captain Chen is leading the brothers to investigate, and he specifically asked me to inform you of this news first."

Zhang Da found the report unbelievable.

I only wanted them to scout ahead, how did they end up discovering enemy troops?

So Zhang Da quickly bent down and grabbed the scout named Gou Sheng, asking incredulously...

"You saw it clearly? There really were enemy traces? And how many cavalry were there?"

Gou Sheng naturally kowtowed repeatedly, choking back tears.

"Absolutely true! I saw it clearly. The hoofprints were dense, indicating at least a hundred riders. Captain Chen personally led his men to cover our retreat so I could return with the news. Now his fate is unknown. I beg you, my lord, to order a rescue!"

After hearing this, Zhang Da slowly stood up and looked up at the sky.

What does the garrison commander of Huaqiao Pass mean by this?

The garrison at Huaqiao Pass was already small. They had to defend the pass against a feint attack from over ten thousand troops on the front, and also divert troops to guard against movements in the surrounding areas. It was impossible for them to spare a large mobile force. At this point, the hundred cavalrymen they could muster were their limit.

But why did he do that?

"The enemy general guarding the pass is short of supplies, so he dispatched a hundred cavalry to raid the scattered villages around Shanmu'ao to replenish his army's provisions?"

"Perhaps this hundred riders are a messenger team heading to contact Feng Shuangli's main force?"

Feng Shuangli led his army in a fierce attack on the northern outskirts of Hengzhou, echoing the enemy forces guarding the pass. Both sides needed to exchange military intelligence at all times, so a hundred elite cavalrymen were dispatched to escort the messengers to prevent them from being intercepted and killed by the Ming army en route... There was nothing wrong with that.

"Or perhaps the enemy general guarding the pass noticed the Ming army's feigned attack from the front, became suspicious, and sent a hundred cavalry to patrol the flanks to guard against the Ming army splitting its forces to flank them?"

However, the frontal defenses of Huaqiao Pass were formidable, with the main force of the Ming army deployed. If they were to split their forces to flank the enemy, they would not send only a small force. This hundred cavalrymen seemed more like a routine patrol than a targeted deployment.

"There is another possibility: these hundred cavalrymen were not the main force of the enemy army guarding the pass, but rather stragglers who followed Zhang Xianzhong in breaking out from eastern Sichuan. After being separated from the main force, they mistakenly entered Shanmu'ao... This is the least likely..."

Zhang Da thought it over and over, considering all the possibilities. He felt that all his reasons were reasonable, so he always believed that the hundred cavalrymen were just a small force and, no matter what their purpose was, they were not enough to stop him from leading eight hundred elite troops to flank them.

So Zhang Da, preconceived notions, concluded from the scout's one-sided account that the enemy only had a hundred cavalry, and thus felt relieved...

"Captain Chen is truly loyal and brave. After we defeat the enemy, I will certainly reward that brother handsomely."

Zhang Da said, then looked at his soldiers, "The enemy's hundred cavalry have already left, and there are no more heavy troops in Shanmu Pass. We cannot delay here and waste our opportunity. The whole army must speed up our advance and reach the rear of Huaqiao Pass before dawn to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop!"

Upon hearing this, the eight hundred elite soldiers responded in unison. So, despite their exhaustion from days of marching, they gripped their weapons tightly, quickened their pace, and, illuminated by the torches, continued their advance deeper into the Firwood Pass.