Ma Quanyou's troops were known for "coming and going like the wind" and had terrifying mobility. All of their soldiers came from nomadic tribes on the prairie. Ma Quanyou's family used to be a royal family of the nomadic tribes, but now they are large ranchers who own tens of thousands of square kilometers of grassland.
These soldiers grew up on horseback, and their mounts are their most loyal friends and partners.
Even when they encounter a strong enemy and are outnumbered, they can rely on their mobility to retreat calmly while often causing great damage to the enemy.
Ma Quanyou's troops had been active in the northern region for many years and were a feared grassland warlord. Even Qi Huaide, the governor of the northern border, was somewhat wary of him.
But in Lijiaying on the banks of Xiaotang River, the extremely arrogant grassland cavalry felt unprecedented fear for the first time.
The bandits who were killing and burning in the village seemed to be in chaos, but they had their own unique way of communicating. They could blow out various tones and music with the whistles hanging around their necks. They were not only blowing for their beloved girls, but also as a warning tool for each other during combat.
Therefore, when they heard the rapid whistle of two long and one short, the bandits nearby naturally went over to help.
Initially, this kind of whistle was only sounded in the central area of the village, and naturally it encountered resistance from the militia organized by the wealthy households in the village.
But gradually, the whistle was blown in more and more areas, indicating that the situation was extremely dangerous and calling for help.
Gradually, this kind of whistle could be heard from all directions.
Ma Santui was a platoon leader. In a farmer's house, he was approaching a little girl with a lewd smile on his face and reaching out to untie his belt.
But suddenly, he heard a warning whistle outside. Ma Santui cursed, although he was reluctant, but if he heard his companions calling for help and ignored them, he would be buried alive by his superior commander if he was exposed.
He picked up the carbine beside him and walked out of the thatched hut. He ran a few steps towards the whistle, only to see a dozen of his companions crawling behind a pile of earth, firing fiercely at a fenced yard.
“Damn, little guy, what’s in there…” Before Ma Santui could finish his words, he suddenly saw a black grenade thrown out from inside and landed accurately behind the pile of earth that his companions used as a cover.
With a loud "bang", although Ma Santui was still far away, he still felt dizzy. He took a few steps back and sat down on the ground. His stomach felt a burning pain, as if he was hit by shrapnel. He heard painful screams in his ears.
Whether it was the extremely long distance the grenade was thrown, the precise angle, or the judgment of the explosion time, it was all simply perfect, leaving the enemy with no time to react at all. This was almost impossible for a normal soldier to achieve through training.
Of course, this was something that Ma Santui figured out only after a long time.
Ma Santui only remembered that in the thick smoke, he seemed to see three dark shadows vaguely, appearing like ghosts. They covered each other's shooting, and his companions fell to the ground one by one.
Afterwards, Ma Santui fainted.
…
The horse was beating its four legs desperately, and there were seven or eight companions around it, all beating the horse desperately, just wanting to get as far away as possible.
That village is now a horrible hell.
It was like a nightmare for more than ten minutes. I couldn't react at all. It seemed that there were few survivors on our side. The enemy was devils, terrible devils, who seemed to have suddenly emerged from the ground. Three devils were in a group, reaping the lives of their companions at will.
When he saw the company commander, Brother Ma, suddenly have a hole in his head, his brains splattered out, and he fell straight down beside him.
The horse's four legs completely collapsed. With a whistle, his most loyal companion came galloping over. He mounted the horse and fled desperately.
He even forgot what a good friend the person under him was, and instead whipped his close friend with the whip so hard that there were blood marks on his buttocks.
It seemed like he had run more than ten kilometers in one breath.
The horse neighed and ran at an extreme sprint, which made it unable to control itself and there was faint white foam at the corners of its mouth.
"Is my third brother still alive?" Ma Situi asked loudly to the dozen or so riders around him who had managed to escape.
Just at this moment, a strange roar suddenly came from the sky.
"What is that?" One of the companions pointed at the sky in horror.
In the distance, a black dot was approaching very quickly and getting bigger and bigger. It was a steel-like machine flying in the air with a propeller on top spinning rapidly.
Ma Situi had heard of this thing and shouted, "It's a machine gun plane! Scatter, scatter!" He whipped the horse whip suddenly and urged his mount to run to the side.
The sound of machine guns rang out.
In the corner of the horse's eyes, he saw the image in the child's hole. A companion and the horse under him suddenly spurted out countless blood, screamed and the horse wailed, and suddenly fell to the yellow earth, like a bloody rain.
Just when he was terrified, his body suddenly flew out like a cloud, but the horse under him was so tired that it stepped on the soft crops and exerted uneven force. Its front hooves softened and it fell sideways. After landing heavily on the ground, it quickly rolled over and got up again.
But the horse's four legs had already been broken and he fainted.
The horse had no idea how long it stayed by his side, licking his face, hoping that its master would wake up, even though the master had just gone mad and whipped him until he was covered in blood.
A figure approaches, "There's a prisoner here!"
"What a loyal horse!" said a tall woman wearing a red mask.
…
"Too much!" Lu Ming frowned and looked at Chang Lei and Hong Ying, "We have to calculate the economic account in the future. Just run as many as you want. We use helicopters to chase them. Do we have enough fuel in our fuel trucks? And you are wasting machine gun bullets. You are just using anti-aircraft guns to kill mosquitoes. Do you understand?"
Neither Chang Lei nor Hong Ying dared to speak.
"Although we have always been fighting a war of the rich, you are my guards, not to mention that the value of one person's equipment is equivalent to that of an infantry company in the Northern Territory. If it is to reduce our casualties, there is naturally no need to calculate the account, but using helicopters to chase the cavalry? Just because I said to annihilate them completely?"
"My lord, I was wrong!" Chang Lei's face was full of shame.
As several guard companies directly under the Prince's Headquarters Guard Bureau, each guard company commander was trained by Bizhu herself, and Chang Lei was no exception.
He has followed Lu Ming for a long time, and has always been the chief guard of the incarnation of "Commissioner Zhang" beside Lu Ming.
Red Eagle was tall, with her face covered by a red mask, so her expression could not be seen, but she hung her head, and she was obviously frightened.
In fact, the helicopter belonging to the Red Feather Guard had been following Lu Ming closely and did not participate in the battle, because no matter what time it was, the Red Feather Guard’s first priority was to protect the safety of its master.
"A few of them escaped after all. This Ma family army has something special." Lu Ming thought for a moment and said, "Okay, you guys go!"
When he was reprimanding his two most trusted subordinates, naturally there was no one else present.
This is a flower hall in the mansion of Li Chengru, the old patriarch of Lijiaying.
If it weren't for the three-man Hongling combat team that infiltrated the Li family mansion the fastest, the Li family members would probably have been beheaded by now.
Li Chengru simply regarded Commissioner Zhang as a living Bodhisattva. He insisted on inviting Commissioner Zhang to his home and even brought his son, grandson and the whole family to kowtow to Commissioner Zhang.
This is completely different from the attitude of Pengjiazhai clan leader Peng Zhengwang in recent days, who was respectful but kept his distance from the Black Mountain Army.
But now, Peng Zhengwang's mood was obviously completely different. As soon as Chang Lei and Hong Ying left, he came to the flower hall accompanied by Li Chengru.
How did the two old men, who had been enemies for their entire lives, feel when facing each other at this moment? Only they themselves knew, but they both had smiles on their faces and looked very close. They were equally respectful and polite towards Lu Ming.
"Commissioner Zhang, from a military perspective, it seems that it would be a taboo if you stationed troops near Lijiaying on this side of the river?" Peng Zhengwang said with a smile, "Is that right? Or should we go back to Pengjiazhai?"
Li Chengru frowned, but it was difficult to refute what the old fox said.
Lu Ming waved his hand and said, "I'll go out for a walk!" This was not a question that the gentry could discuss with him at all. After all, they were just villagers and did not have much knowledge.
"Okay, okay!" Peng Zhengwang and Li Chengru both stood up.
…
Lijiaying was still shrouded in misery. Many people had died, many houses had been burned down, and there were cries everywhere.
Lu Ming walked in the village and sighed softly: "I didn't expect that Ma Quanyou's troops were no different from bandits. They would massacre obedient villages. If I had known earlier, I should have driven them out yesterday."
Li Chengru was stunned. "Commissioner, if you say that, everyone in our village will be ashamed!"
"Hmm? Li Moyu, come here!" Lu Ming waved to a figure who was hiding far away on the side but seemed to want to squeeze over.
Li Moyu ran over quickly, with sadness and anger in his eyes, but more of excitement.
"I heard that you also participated in the battle?" Lu Ming asked.
Li Moyu was a little embarrassed, "Not really, sir..."
Indeed, when he followed the main force across the bridge, the battle here was already in its final stages.
But I heard from some villagers that Lord Zhang's troops were like divine soldiers and generals, elusive and invulnerable to swords and guns, and those bandits were no match for them.
Li Moyu continued asking and finally confirmed that Li Dadou saw with his own eyes that a magic soldier was shot, but he just fell down and got up quickly as if nothing had happened. What he said was all true and he was not lying.
Standing next to Lord Zhang at this moment, Li Moyu's heart was filled with gratitude, excitement and excitement, but also great fear, and his mood was extremely complicated.
Over there, Lu Ming looked at Li Chengru, then at Peng Zhengwang, "As for the so-called water source, actually Heishan has the technology to dig deep wells and electric pumps to pump water. When peace and stability are restored, we can bring it in, at least for irrigation of farmland. There is no need for you to argue about who draws more or less water from the Xiaotang River. Now the Xiaotang River is almost dry, and you all blame each other."
Li Chengru and Peng Zhengwang had no idea what Lu Ming was talking about, so they just remained silent.
"Now, we still have to protect our homes and gardens! Black Mountain law does not allow gentry to organize militias, but the county office will uniformly register the militia reserves and send instructors to conduct military training during the slack season." After a pause, Lu Ming said, "But the situation here is special. The militias of your two villages will be merged into one and renamed the Xiaotanghe Militia Company. In real combat, we ordinary people will definitely not need to go to the battlefield. We will mainly maintain order in the rear. In a battlefield, logistics and stability in the rear can be said to be the top priority. The Black Mountain Army has just arrived in Anshan, and many people are still the same as before. They think that another mountain king has been replaced. It doesn't matter. As long as the war doesn't burn to their village, it has nothing to do with them."
Lu Ming looked at the gloomy sky in the north and said, "Time will tell!"
"Sir, I want to be a soldier, a Black Mountain soldier, and go to the battlefield!" Li Moyu couldn't help shouting. Seeing Lu Ming's gaze, he immediately felt guilty and lowered his head, "I know, I'm not qualified..."
Lu Ming smiled and said, "Not really. We will recruit new soldiers in Yanzhou Road and Songshan Road. You are welcome to sign up when the time comes."
"Okay!" Li Moyu was so happy that he clenched his fists tightly.
"Sir, I heard that Black Mountain is like heaven..." Li Chengru said, "Officials must be elected by the people, right?"
Lu Ming looked at him and smiled. Obviously, unlike Peng Zhengwang, Li Chengru still cared about the outside world.
Peng Zhengwang was afraid that he had never heard of a place called Heishan before.
"It's not that exaggerated!" Lu Ming smiled: "Let's work hard in this direction." He waved his hand: "Okay, I'm going back to the barracks. I still have a lot of things to do!"
Several Red Feathers immediately stood behind Lu Ming, preventing everyone from following him.
Li Chengru and Peng Zhengwang took the lead, and dozens of people bowed and saw them off.