Changes in the sky
Volume 2: The Edge of Heaven
Chapter 166: Dream? Awake
At the age of sixteen, if I was alone and faced with all this, I would have led the others to rush forward waving the Heavenly Wolf without hesitation. All changes and responses depended on how you thought about them at the moment.
Fortunately, I am already twenty years old this year, and Sirius is not in my hands.
To be honest, the first reason is a bit silly, and the second reason is a bit rotten.
But at least these four years were not wasted. When I had to take on many things, I had to think carefully. The enemy was outnumbered and the enemy situation was unclear. I had to choose the best direction of attack and the priority target, and this was not something I could decide in Shanglin Garden. In fact, I had to decide everything in Shanglin Garden. Seeing the current situation, I might have to make a new decision.
If the emperor had not been in Shanglin Garden, so close to the bandits, even a light horse could have arrived overnight; if the emperor had not been ill, and was afraid of disturbing them; this battle might not have been fought at all. As long as we keep harassing and slowly dividing them, and if we don't allow them to open the spring, the Qiang people will not get any benefits, and they will probably quarrel among themselves and attack each other. Just like they did before. But I don't have these conditions. Thinking about the children behind me and the people who were killed by the Wei River, I must not only fight, but also win, and even win quickly.
To win, I have to plan carefully, in addition to planning in Shanglin Garden. From the moment I looked at the enemy camp, I had to think about everything as much as possible. It's not that I can become a hero or beast who is invincible and unstoppable just because I have the Heavenly Wolf in my hand. I know clearly that I am not a sacred beast like Xiezhi, although our names sound the same, and although many ordinary people think that we are the same.
In fact, the real reason is that I understand the value of the lives before and after better than I did four years ago.
Chencang was located to the north of the Wei River, not far from the bank, and was surrounded by the enemy camp. There were no lights on the city wall, and it was so quiet that people were worried that it was a trap. But if you think about it, it might be that the night watchmen were afraid of the Qiang people's bows and arrows. Fortunately, the bandits besieging the city lit a circle of bonfires around it, so Chencang was clearly displayed in front of everyone.
However, everyone's interest in Chen Cang is much weaker than the continuous camps that appear before them, and it is even possible that their interest in Chen Cang is not as great as that of the people in the camps before them.
But I am very interested in Chencang, and the main interest is how much help this city can give us after we start. Looking at the "scenery" in front of me, frankly, without the help of Chencang City, the difficulties I will face will be extremely huge.
But this is not something I can know now, just like I don’t know how wide the Qiang camp behind Chencang City is, or how thick the dark shadow on the southern hillside is.
Everything in the camp is very different from the Han people. It seems that the main force of this incident is the Qiang people. There is another camp on the hillside to the north, which is level with where we are, but we can only see a camp line across the hillside, and we have no idea how wide the camp is behind it.
In the endless bandit camp, people were constantly riding back and forth. When approaching the fire, people on horseback were often seen swaying, as if they were drunk. It seemed that many bandits were drinking together.
There were actually quite a few dogs in the camp. These animals seemed to be used to the situation of dozens of horses coming and going. At most, they expressed their dissatisfaction with these guys who disturbed their rest and barked twice symbolically. Captain, most herders with a large number of livestock will raise one or several of these dogs, which will make herding much more convenient.
Someone seemed to hear the sound of sheep, and soon someone pointed out that there were still many herds of livestock in the camp. Some people began to grumble that they really moved their families here. Yan Xing said that this might be because each tribe had forced its own tribe members or neighboring tribes to come together to strengthen their momentum. There were similar situations in the past. Some desperate Qiang people forced their honest and decent fellow tribe members to come. Once things went wrong, they ran away desperately and left these honest people driving sheep to the government troops... Sometimes the government troops were confused and thought they were all the same, so they captured them and reported their merits. Sometimes they would humiliate them at will, forcing those honest Qiang people to rebel next time.
Yan Xing was very cryptic. I might have believed him four years ago. But in these four years, I have heard similar stories. I know at least a little about our government and military. I think the real situation can be changed to this after Yan Xing paused: some of the government troops are also idiots. They are afraid that if they chase the desperate criminals, they will fight with them. Anyway, these people did follow them when they rebelled. No matter if they were forced or not, they just didn't resist. They just robbed a group, killed a group, and captured some more to claim the credit.
The last sentence doesn't need to be modified, it's basically like this anyway. At least it's what we see now.
Before I came here, I knew that although the terrain here is not very different, the terrain north of the Wei River is tortuous and rugged, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack; while the south of the river is a flat plateau, which gradually rises as you go south, making it easy to attack but difficult to defend.
That's why I chose to attack from the south bank.
But when I got there, I had a lot to do.
First, I had to find someone who was familiar with the layout of the Qiang settlements, so I asked the three families in the west to come forward and ask for their opinions on the layout of the camp in front of me. This was not something that could be useful if we just talked about it on paper in Shanglin Garden.
Yan Xing, Han Sui's son-in-law, said, "The Qiang people like to gather around the fire at night, singing and dancing in front of it. The fires outside the tents of the chieftains are often the largest. It seems that..."
He pointed his finger at a bonfire that was gradually extinguished on the south bank of the Wei River, facing Chencang. With the help of the firelight, the black charcoal fire and the yellow-brown land around it were a little blurry, but the boundary was still recognizable. A staggering adult man happened to pass by and suddenly fell to the ground. Everyone immediately understood the size of the bonfire. To the south of the bonfire team was a huge tent.
This tent is about several dozen feet in radius! It can hold nearly a hundred people in a hall for political discussions. And the surroundings are much larger than this one, nothing can be compared with this one. In the direction of Chencang, there is a faint light of fire from time to time. I also began to believe that there must be a very noble person living there, so I planned to break in from where and take down this enemy chief.
However, some people expressed different opinions.
"How could the chief's camp gate face north and back south? In winter, wouldn't that be windy? Moreover, this place is in the water's shade, and there are earth slopes gradually rising to the south, so it's hard to avoid haze in winter. Not to mention that the Qiang people have become semi-pastoral and semi-agricultural in recent years and have settled down in their own places. Even if they are nomadic all year round, how could the chief of a clan not know the weather and terrain? How could he choose a place like this with the gate facing north to live in?"
I think that when he was a captain, in addition to herding sheep, he must have also done the work of Feng Shui.
As if to prove his words, a piece of the south side of a tent near us was suddenly opened, revealing a beam of fire from inside the tent, and a child dressed in fur walked out and started to pee next to the livestock pen.
It seems that some Qiang people really migrated with their entire clan, even taking livestock and children with them. I was very hesitant. If I shouted to them to get out of the way, we would inevitably be exposed; if I rushed in directly, once the killing started, many innocent women and children, including some of the tribesmen who were taken hostage, would inevitably suffer. Of course, this was beyond our control.
"Captain, what do you think?" I lifted my helmet and scratched my head in distress.
"That seems to be the place where the Qiang tribes come together to discuss matters. There have been many feuds and killings among the Qiang tribes. In the past, officials who governed the Eastern Qiang not only encouraged them to farm and abandon animal husbandry, but also often instigated internal strife to eliminate their troubles and put their tribe in trouble. This time, there were hundreds of thousands of people, and it is impossible that they were from the same tribe. Someone must have mediated to make them stop fighting and temporarily put aside their old grudges. This is called 'resolving the feud', and then they swore an oath of blood to form an alliance and start an uprising together, leading to this great rebellion."
Someone then suggested that it would be better to wait until the various tribes held a meeting and then attack together to catch them all in one fell swoop.
I disagree. First of all, we have thousands of people. Once half a day has passed, it will be difficult to hide. Moreover, even if we hide well and no one finds us, we can wait until tomorrow when everyone wakes up and is in a good mood to discuss and attack. This will make it easier for others to discuss how to eat us. This idea is really not a good one.
I want to fight them only because they are not united. If they are really united, it would be a mistake for us to come here. So I want to consider only fighting a few tribes and not asking about other methods. Of course, it would be best to destroy that kingdom. Now I think it is this bastard who bewitched the Qiang people and used their dissatisfaction with the Han people to cause trouble.
However, if he can do this, using the word "husband" to describe him seems to really belittle him - he should be described as a huge husband, worse than a beast, and will have no descendants.
In fact, there is another important thing: where to cross the river!
Because considering the worst case scenario, that is, after repeated attacks, we still cannot defeat the enemy. The enemy organizes an effective counterattack and surrounds us. Then we can only choose to break out and take the opportunity to retreat to Chencang, rather than fleeing back and leading the enemy's pursuit back to Shanglinyuan. Then I must cross this frozen Weishui River.
But it is not certain where to pass in this camp.
Because these hundreds of thousands of people need to drink water, many holes must be dug in the Wei River to serve as water holes. If we rush onto the ice without investigation, it will be very dangerous. Therefore, I must see where they can pass through, and these are not things I can guess in Shanglin Garden.
If we make a big detour for safety, it will give the enemy enough time to deploy defenses between Chencang and us. In addition, the terrain north of the Wei River will put us in extreme danger.
This wait was very disturbing. Surprisingly, it seemed that there was a clear distinction between the south and north banks. Even though there were still many drunk Qiang people coming and going, no one crossed the river for quite a long time. Could it be that the Qiang people on the north and south sides of the Wei River did not come and go
The people who were originally quite excited seemed to start to feel a little sleepy, and I even heard them yawning.
Time is of the essence, so I decided to take action first. Suddenly I saw where the support from the north bank came from, which meant we could seize the opportunity and quickly get to Chencang.
Just as I was about to make up my mind, I suddenly saw two people coming out from the woods on the left and walking towards us. They immediately signaled for everyone to stand up, and a few people who were dozing off immediately perked up after hearing the news.
He quietly ordered Brother Zilong, Xianyu Fu, the captain, and ** to find a way to capture the two of them.
"I might scare people soon. Whenever I start talking nonsense, you have to help me hold it in. Do you understand? Follow my instructions and we have to choreograph something for them." I really had no other way to get people to open their mouths, so I could only try my old method. While thinking, I gave orders: "Everyone, be quiet now. Don't fall asleep. You can eat now. We will be out of time soon."
The body of the aid began to tremble. I leaned close to his ear and asked: Are you cold? He shook his head and leaned close to me: I was panicking. I patted his shoulder: Take a few deep breaths, it's okay, you will be fine after the fight.
He shook his head, I didn't finish, but I didn't say to him: Generally speaking, you will be more panicked. But at that time, you don't have time to think about how to control your panic.
In fact, I also need to work on myself to be calmer, although I think I am cool enough and relatively quiet.
Suddenly, I realized that the people in Ma Teng’s family had been silent.
It seemed that I had come to understand a little bit. From the rumors I heard in Shanglin Garden, it seemed that Ma Chao's mother was a Qiang. Similarly, Brother Fengxian also had nothing to say.
In fact, after the battle of Lord Duan, the Eastern Qiang had basically been integrated into the Han people. The Eastern Qiang were their own family, and now the Western Qiang were also their relatives. But there were indeed some cruel people among the Qiang people. Thinking of this, it seemed that someone was about to accuse them, and then the cry of a baby came from behind.
I quickly unwrapped the child, who was still wrapped in the bag. My cloak was thick, and it felt warm and comfortable to touch. The lining was also fine and would not hurt the child. But when I held her in my arms, I suddenly didn't know what to do. Although I had taken care of Yi Yue for a while before, the maidservants and nurses took over in any situation, and I had never fulfilled the responsibility of even being a foster father.
Fortunately, there was immediately a middle-aged voice in my ear reminding me: If a child is crying, it is probably because he is niggard or hungry, and he needs to be comforted quickly, otherwise it will be bad if he is discovered by thieves.
I quickly opened my cloak and reached my hand in. It was still dry. I guess he was hungry.
But where can I find my mother at this time
Another middle-aged man whispered: You can feed it with horse milk.
"Whose horse is a mare with milk?" Immediately, several people from the Xiliang princes' families came over with horses. It was a mare and could also be fed milk.
I was trying to find a penis under the horse's belly that was big enough to put into the child's mouth, and I could hear a few young people whispering in my ears.
Do these mares always have horses? Why do they always have milk
When the horses ran out of milk, they kept squeezing milk. In the past, when the Xiongnu people were going on long-distance raids, they rode on mares and drank the milk when they were thirsty and hungry. They could travel thousands of miles without the need for food or grass.
I listened to the conversation and finally let the baby suck milk. The crying stopped immediately. The mare feeding the baby did not feel any discomfort and let the baby suck her milk.
The child seemed to be struggling to eat, and his body seemed to be twisting. In the light of the snow, I could feel that the child's face had turned red. So this is what is called using the strength to eat milk. I wanted to help him, so I wanted to help squeeze the horse's *, but someone stopped me, saying that it would choke the child, so it would be better to let the child suck by himself.
While the child was being fed, Brother Zilong and his companions captured the man and brought him back.
They didn't expect that they had to thank the crying of this child. The two men were going to go in other directions, but when they heard the crying, they came over and were caught by them. When they got closer to the camp, they found that there was a large area of Han camps on the high ground north of the Qiang camp, but the flags were all in the shape of the eight trigrams and astrology, which was very strange.
I asked someone to continue to hold the child and feed him milk, and I withdrew to scare the person. The person who took over seemed to be very experienced. As soon as he held the child, he ate milk vigorously. He must be a fierce warrior when he grows up.
However, these two people were not Qiang people. They were dressed like Han Chinese Taoist monks and spoke Chinese.
They were not afraid of us, and looked at me with their chests puffed out, looking brave and confident. Even with swords at their necks, I still felt that they would not be afraid to shout out warnings.
So I asked them to put down their swords.
I asked them why they came
They said we wanted to harm their Heavenly Master. They came here to protect their Heavenly Master. Now that they have been captured, they can be killed or chopped at will. Moreover, there are hundreds of thousands of righteous troops in front of us. We are afraid of death and have no place to hide. Moreover, the Eight Outer Armies have all been defeated and fled to Chencang. We are coming here only to die.
Someone behind me sneered and said: Since you are not afraid of death, why don’t you shout and report the news
This scared me. If they are really stubborn and can't stand being teased, wouldn't that be bad
However, they hoped that the court would know their conditions. If the court could release their Heavenly Master, they would immediately withdraw their troops and return. Moreover, they were willing to offer a thousand men as the scapegoat for the crime of this incident, and the emperor could decide whether to kill or chop them up.
They even knelt down in front of me and said: General, we think you are a sincere gentleman and hope that you can find a way to rescue our Heavenly Master when you return. We are only here to ask for a favor and have absolutely no intention of rebelling against the court.
So, the original intention to scare them suddenly disappeared. I just gently replied: Stand up! If you are willing to die for your Tianshi, don't let the emperor hear if you want to kill or cut him up. If he hears, I'm afraid your Tianshi will die faster. Do you know what these evil thieves have done? I pointed to the place where the child was fed in the distance: his whole family died at the hands of the Qiang people. So, I won't go back until these rebels are defeated.
They were a little surprised at first, but in the end they laughed: "You are here..." The two stood up and looked out, as if they were looking out. However, in the light of the snow, although the slope was full of people and horses, there was nothing in the distance: "Just these people and horses? Did you know that tens of thousands of government troops were dispersed by the Qiang people the day before yesterday? Do you have a thousand people?"
But I didn't answer him. Instead, I asked directly what Heavenly Master he was and who wanted to harm their Heavenly Master.
They are Zhang Tianshi, whom Qin Hou wants to harm.
I was surprised for a moment, but then I remembered that Ziyu insisted on going back, and I felt that something was really happening, so I let them continue. Without the threat of the sharp blades around them, they didn't seem to be afraid, chanted an unknown spell, spread their hands to the sky, put them in front of them, put them down again, and then started.
They were the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, and the followers were called rice thieves in the court. In the court, I always heard that the ministers were discussing taking precautions early to avoid disasters like the Taiping Qingdao. However, it seemed that because of the New Year, the memorial had not been submitted to the emperor, and the court had not held a special meeting on this matter.
When I heard about the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, I remembered Zhang Lu, whom I had discussed with my brothers. At that time, we seemed to be discussing the love affairs of Zhang Lu's mother, but they always said that the Heavenly Master, that is, Zhang Lu, was only concerned with preaching and caring about the people of the world, and never dared to have any bad intentions.
However, "the Marquis of Qin relied on himself being the son-in-law of the emperor" and summoned Zhang Tianshi to Linjing before he went to see the emperor, and never released him again. An official - I specifically asked which official it was, and the answer was Lord Wang Guo - said that Zhang Tianshi was arrested and imprisoned, and would be executed sooner or later to prevent future troubles. Moreover, the Marquis of Qin not only wanted to eradicate the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, but also to take action against hundreds of thousands of Qiang people, intending to drive the Qiang people away from their original places of residence and eliminate them one by one. Lord Wang Guo really didn't want to see the people suffer, so he secretly reported the news, united the Qiang tribes to resolve their hatred and swear an oath to fight against the Marquis of Qin.
I don't believe Ziyu is so vicious. There is only one explanation: this group of people have been used by the kingdom. The reason why I am so confident is that, first, I grew up with Ziyu, and I must know what kind of person Ziyu is. He is lazy and a little slow, but he is a very kind person. It is not something that my second brother can do to harm so many people. Secondly, it is because I have discussed with Ziyu and others about how to deal with the Five Pecks of Rice Sect and appease the Qiang people. For the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, it is to take advantage of its weak wings and use it for our own purposes. For the Qiang people, since the Qiang people have rebelled several times since this dynasty, it is because the court has oppressed the Qiang people too much and the Han officials often bullied and killed the Qiang people innocently. We can reduce their rent and taxes, expand their habitat appropriately, and let them live together with the Han people, especially the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, to disperse and appease them.
However, it is difficult for me to guess Wang Guo’s intentions and motives.
Therefore, I can only sigh: You were misled by the kingdom, and you even said that they were the righteous army. Can you see this baby who drinks the horse's milk? The elders of the whole village were slaughtered by the righteous army you said. Your Tianshi was originally only in the palace to assist, but now he can't escape death, you killed him!
They were somewhat stunned. One of them remained silent. Another was silent for a long while, then suddenly sneered: "Don't talk nonsense and make up such lies. Now I have hundreds of thousands of righteous soldiers here. If you dare to kill our Heavenly Master, we will also rebel. The Heavenly Master has given the believers a life-saving grace. If he is not blessed, we will change him even if the sky stops us."
The soldiers were furious for a moment. Although they did not dare to curse loudly, they still uttered a lot of dirty words. The one who kept talking among the two was still very proud and continued to sneer: If you have the guts, shout louder!
I stopped yelling, thought for a moment, and sneered, saying angrily: As long as I, Ping An Fengyun Hou, am here, this day cannot be changed!
They both looked at me, and I knew that. I had lived in a remote place in the mountains and forests for the past five years, and I knew a lot of stories about a young man named Ping An Feng Yun Hou, although I always felt that many of them were not good. For example, someone actually said that I was the bastard of Empress He, which made me feel a little furious when I thought about it.
I needed this anger because I was going to start scaring people and putting on a show for them.
"Tie these two to this tree, seal their mouths and eyes, and let them watch how we defeat the bandits in one day. They actually thought we were just here to explore the way and report back... Little did they know that I was here to fight them. Because I was sent here, the court did not plan to send me reinforcements!" I was quite proud. Someone next to me also agreed immediately: Well, Fengyun Hou is here, and we should be safe immediately.
Someone immediately understood and agreed. Some people even built on my boast and continued to brag: "This time, Fengyunhou finally fought a battle where the military strength was not so disparate."
More people came to their senses: Well, in the Battle of Hanzhong, it was Marquis Fengyun who rushed into the elite Xiliang vanguard camp of more than 100,000 people and killed more than a dozen people with the surname Dong in the Dong family. It was a pity that the Xiliang beast Dong was not there at that time.
Ah, yes, that summer, the beasts of Youzhou were rioting, and Fengyun Hou rode alone with a stick, and drove for dozens of miles, and the entire Wuhuan tribe couldn't stop them. They were not as good as the Yangzhou idiots in Tianmu Mountain and Yunmeng Lake, at least they had to trouble Lord Fengyun to bring a few dozen people.
I don’t know if there are any dung buckets worth mentioning in Xiliang.
There are still some in the camp over there, but I don’t know where the others have gone.
They seemed to be enthusiastically building momentum for me, but as I listened, I found that it was getting more and more strange. They found another kind of fun in it - cursing people, especially cursing other states. In the end, it was basically the two Liang states in the northwest cursing the states in the east of the Guandong, and the southeast and northeast cooperated to curse, and the lieutenant suppressed the people of Qin and did not participate.
I laughed: If I had known you were going to compete in this battle, you would have to save your energy. This time, we can fight! This time, the matter is urgent. I am afraid that I will have to rush back to report the victory to the emperor tomorrow morning. This time, I can only give you one day. If you follow me, I will be sorry to all the gods and immortals if I can't let you fight to your heart's content. The heavenly soldiers from the nine states will come with me, and Xiezhi will report to the heaven. Gao Yao is my witness, and I dare not disobey!
I admit that I like to act mysterious, but people have already said that I am not very human.
In a blink of an eye, he saw the two men tied to the tree, and suddenly he remembered that he seemed to be showing weakness by ordering people to keep their mouths shut, which was obviously because he was afraid that they would shout and report the news. He immediately added: "I silenced you and punished you for calling these bandits who slaughtered our civilians righteous. I just want you to know how we defeated these bandits!" After scolding, he felt the blood boiling, and the whole person became energetic: "Now the Marquis of Qin has returned. Since the Yellow Turban bandits, the emperor has been worried about the rice bandits, that is, you. It was the Marquis of Qin who has always spoken for you. This time when he went to Beijing, he also invited Zhang Lu to Linjing to assist in the administration, which is a clear proof. You are so good that you mistakenly believed the words of the bandits. Now the emperor will be furious when he knows it. I'm afraid that even the Marquis of Qin can't protect your Zhang Tianshi. You guys, you really gave your Tianshi a ride." I "praised" them well. They stared at me, but they seemed to have doubts. I quite like to pretend to be mysterious and unintentional. Those who don't believe me can just think that I just want to praise the soldiers and generals of various families, but the words I use are a bit rude. It would be better if they really believe it. In fact, if they can believe in the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, they can at least accept these mysterious things. So I continue to pretend to be mysterious: "The sky has eyes, and ordinary people mislead people. Zhang Tianshi, Xiezhi has received the mandate of heaven, and it cannot be violated. I have done my best!"
I decided to act immediately, so I decided to think about it one last time to see if there were any omissions. However, for the sake of speed, I tried to keep the situation as simple as possible, so I imagined it this way: the entire Sanfu was surrounded by mountains on all sides, but three gaps were left for the east, west and north, just like a three-way intersection on a street. The neat and tall "buildings" on the south side were Mount Zhongnan, which was now dark and the same color as the sky, ignoring everything and sleeping quietly beside. The northeast and northwest ones were uneven but also densely packed, and the intersection on the west side was the Chencang in front of me. I made another joke. Now the emperor was drinking and resting in a wine shop called Shanglinyuan on the south side of the three-way intersection. At this time, a group of people from the west city wanted to come to the downtown to rob things, but they probably didn't know that the emperor was here, so they surrounded the door of a grain warehouse called Chencang at the intersection of the west street to rob grain. They must not dare to enter without permission, because they were afraid that the patrol guards who rushed in from the other two roads would block them inside. I had to send a few people in to explore and see if there was anything else to rob besides this granary. I also took only a few people to sneak outside the granary. The only thing I knew was that the granary had not been taken down yet. This group of refugees had made beds on the ground outside, drinking, sleeping and waiting, and the others needed to be observed.
It seems that I still have some playful spirit. Even at this moment, I still have the mind to joke with myself.
Notice other people's gazes and ask what's wrong or what happened
They made me suddenly laugh happily.
I turned around with a serious expression and asked softly: Is the child fed
The child was wrapped up and handed to me. I suddenly choked up, "I pity my people. I am heartbroken when I think of them." Brother Meng De's words suddenly echoed in my ears. I tied him behind me. Facing the crowd: We are different from these beasts!
When I said this, I pointed at the two people tied to the tree. We must not kill the children. Those who draw weapons to fight will be killed, those who abandon their weapons and flee will not be killed; those who are fierce and stubborn will be killed, but the old, weak, sick and disabled will not be killed!
Suddenly he fell to the east and bowed: "Alas for the people of the Han Dynasty. We, the Han soldiers and generals, have failed to protect the safety of our elders, and they have been slaughtered by the bandits. This is all our fault. Now we have no means to redeem you, and the only thing we can repay is this order."
After he finished speaking, he stood up, turned to everyone, and began to give orders.
I divided the troops into two teams. I led 800 cavalrymen to charge in first, and Brother Zilong led 200 people to charge in from behind.
Then, I let someone hold the child first, and I pulled Brother Zilong away, pointing at the camp with my hand, as if pointing at the camp and telling him how to break in, but in fact I was saying: "From now on, I will be the bad guy, and Brother Zilong will be the good guy. After we break into the Qiang camp, if things don't go well, you can help us; if things go well, they can see it, and you can let them go. Just think about the Han people, and too many villages in the east have been massacred, so let them disperse quickly, don't add guilt to their Heavenly Master, and send them a little further."
Brother Zilong understood immediately, and pointed at the camp as if discussing something with me, but asked me: Is Lord Yue so sure
I smiled, still pointing at the camp, and drew a big circle with my hand: Most of the Five Pecks of Rice sect members are ordinary poor people. Look at the two people just now. They don't seem to have fought before. Their robes are neat, their fingers are long, their palms are free of calluses, and their conversation is elegant. They look like poor scholars, and they may be the leaders of the Five Pecks of Rice sect. Looking at the location and appearance of their camp, I know that they probably don't have to fight in normal times. They don't even have a basic sentry post. There is no intention of fighting with others. I guess they were originally tricked by Wang Guo to make up the numbers and boost their courage. And just now, their Eight Outer Armies were dispersed by the Qiang people, which made me more sure. Since they are scholars, they will not follow the crowd and should understand some truths; they are mighty and unyielding, so they will not be opportunistic and should have some integrity. I am a bad person, but I am trapped in the desperate situation in the minds of the two of them, so they don't expect me to be a fraud. Since we have won the battle against the stubborn Qiang, I believe that the rice thieves will not dare to act rashly. You can be assured and be a good person.
Brother Zilong nodded and pointed to the center of the camp in a cooperative manner, "I finally understand why Zirui is so famous all over the world. Yun will not disgrace the king's order!"
However, I still made my promise in the end: if everything goes well, we will do as agreed; if there are soldiers blocking my retreat, we will seize the opportunity to attack them; if we are all killed in one blow, we will immediately evacuate.
Brother Zilong seemed stunned for a moment, but finally he clasped his fists and accepted the order.
I arranged the three families in Xiliang to be with Brother Zilong, firstly because two of them had children, secondly because they were familiar with the Qiang people and could see the opponent's flaws more easily, which was convenient for them to coordinate, and thirdly because Brother Zilong's people did not have any verbal conflicts with them. I also asked the Yuan to follow Brother Zilong, and I selected some older people to stay. Yuan naturally had opinions, but they did not dare to disobey my orders. I also handed the child to Zilong with great care, and looked at him holding the child. I asked him if he had a child, but he did not. I noticed that the personal soldiers behind Brother Zilong were a little sad, and I felt that there might be something I didn't know, but the matter was urgent, so I did not ask again.
But to be honest, Brother Zilong seems to be better at holding a baby than I am. The baby is much calmer in his arms and doesn't make a fuss in my arms.
I rode on Hei and ordered everyone to change horses. The horses neighed and I was afraid that I had alarmed the bandits, so I waved my gun. Brother Yide stood on my left, and Brother Fengxian stood on my right. The others formed a formation of arrows. The outermost people could rest inside the formation if they were not strong enough, and the young and strong people in the formation could fill the vacancies on the outer layer at any time. When we passed **, he kept rubbing the handle of the fork with his hands, panting, and looked at me without stopping, but he didn't say anything. I told him: You stay in the formation first.
He fought with his brothers Yide and Fengxian beside him, and said with a smile: "It is a blessing for me to work together with you to kill the enemy.
Then he pointed the spear forward and spurred his horse forward!
The night is still long! Everything has begun!
That night seemed to be extremely long, and I could never look forward to the dawn, just like it seemed that I could never reach the Qiang camp. But I was not as nervous as I had been at the beginning. This opponent was weaker than I had imagined. First, we attacked at night and the enemy was not well prepared. Second, they were fighting on their own and were not strong enough.
We set the fire on their tents, and some of the awakened Qiang people rushed out in dishevel and were thrown to the ground. Maybe there were innocent people among them, but I was, at this time, I couldn't stop them.
They were completely unprepared for our arrival, and their sporadic resistance was completely incapable of stopping us. But even so, some Qiang people, either foolishly or bravely, stood in front of our cavalry and tried to stop us.
In the distance, Qiang people were shooting at us with bows and arrows, but many of them were shot down by our people before they could draw their bows. Even if there were sporadic arrows flying at us, there was no harm, and I couldn't hear the sound of anyone falling off the horse behind me.
I really couldn't hear anything. My eyes gradually brightened, but I felt like I was in a dream. Could this be a continuation of the nightmare from that morning? This dream was too long. What were Yinling and Pei'er doing in my dream
Later I asked them, Yinling slept soundly, and woke up at dawn. But I knew she was lying to me.
I don't know why Pearl woke up early that day. But I know she didn't lie to me, although she would lie to me that she was fine when I was not around. But she would not lie to me about waking up early this morning.
The baby in her belly was very quiet, he or she had not woken up yet. But she just woke up, for no reason. It was raining again in Guangxin that day, and it was still dark, but Pei'er could no longer sleep. Although the air outside the quilt was a little damp and cold, it was still very warm inside the quilt. When she was not pregnant, she would often wake up in the middle of the night when she slept alone in winter, but after she got pregnant, she was always warm and comfortable.
Logically, there was no reason for her to wake up, but she did, suddenly, without any signs. Perhaps it was because of the thing in her stomach that woke her up.
It was still dark around, and Pei'er didn't ask anyone to light the lamp. She just lay there quietly, doing nothing, and she began to think about me.
I'm thinking about her too.
I knew I was at the front of the line and shouldn't be thinking about anything, but I couldn't suppress my thoughts.
But I wasn't just thinking about her.
I should be ashamed. And I am, along with waves of intractable annoyance.
I pushed my horse forward desperately, brandishing my spear. People around me might only see my bravery, but how could they know that I was just venting my anger at that time.
I heard a horn coming from the other side, and it pulled me back to the battlefield. I couldn't see the movements on the other side amidst the swords and spears. The sky was still dark, as if it was still night, and I didn't know when it would get light. A cavalry team rushed over from the west, with only a hundred or so people, and it seemed to be put together temporarily. I clearly remember jumping into it in the dark, and then I heard someone falling off his horse and screaming in the distance, and in an instant it was drowned out by the shouting and killing.
Blood danced in the snow, it was black mixed with green. Fire danced in the snow, it was red stirring up yellow. Wind whistled in the snow, it was blood combing out gray.
I was also hit a few times. The armor was thick and the cuts didn't penetrate it, but the pain went deep into my ribs.
My vision gradually brightened. Was I going to faint
It was dawn at Tianmen Gate, and Pei'er was still listening to the sound of rain outside the window in a trance. She always had clouds of mist on the mountain east of Chuntian City, which was unpredictable and made her want to go up the mountain to find out. But Nalan and the others always dissuaded her, and she didn't want to make them worry, so she had to give up. At most, they would accompany her to take a car to the waterside beside the city for a walk. Sometimes when it was really boring and she couldn't read, she would ask Lie Ya and his wife to come and accompany her, and ask them to tell her the story of my time in the north. After Lie Ya finished telling the story of the north, he would talk about Yu Lin. Lao Si was very smart. He never mentioned the situation of Yin Ling and me after she left. He only mentioned the local customs and the Xiangshui Spring we went to last time. In fact, if you go over a dirt ridge to the northeast, you can see an old rammed earth city. No one even noticed it the last time you went there. The abandoned city was sandwiched between two cliff-like rocky mountains. When the city was built here, it was thought that there was no problem with the east and west, and only the north and south roads needed to be defended. There was still a vast river to the north. Unexpectedly, the Nanyue people often climbed up the east and west mountains to provoke trouble, and even shot arrows at the city. The people and soldiers in the city were all panicked, so it was finally abandoned. It was built on the other side of the water, which is the current location of Tanzhong City. When Pei'er mentioned this, she would sigh. For hundreds of years, the relationship between the Han people and the Yue people has always been bad. After reading so many books, she couldn't think of any good solution.
She admired Yinling very much. She thought Yinling had read fewer books than she did, but she had more ideas than she did. However, she heard Yinling tell her that most of the books I read were taught by her, so I must have read less than Yinling, but I could always come up with a solution when I needed to. Therefore, she admired me very much for this.
I think I have to come up with a solution now, I need to come up with a solution, but I can't think of one, because the North Shore is still as quiet as if it were a different world.
The sky was bright, and the whole picture of the camp gradually became clear. There was basically no decent resistance in the camp, but I was not sure whether to cross the river. Chencang was still silent. Perhaps there were defenders watching behind each battlement, or perhaps they saw that we were too few and did not dare to rush out of the city to rescue.
No one turned around to attack us from behind, and Brother Zilong kept his promise and did not move.
He really didn't need to move because we were going so smoothly.
Sometimes, even going through the motions smoothly can make people feel uneasy. What is even more unsettling is the puzzling reaction from the other side.
To be honest, I never expected the situation to turn out like this.
Looking back at the Five Pecks of Rice Sect camp on the southern hillside, we can see many people looking at us, but again, they have no reaction. It's as if we are just floating mist that will be blown away by the wind at any time, and they are just looking at the scenery.
But this is not what puzzles me the most.
The most surprising thing is that there are very few living people in this camp, which is completely different from the number in the emergency report. Anyone who has experienced the Battle of Hanzhong can have a feeling of how many hundreds of thousands of people there should be. Although this is just a branch camp on the Henan side, according to the scale of the camp, there should be 100,000 people, at least tens of thousands. But now it seems that there may not be even a few thousand, and many of them are poor. There are many tents and bonfires here, but there may not be enough people.
The big tent had collapsed to the ground without any reaction. After the charge, we seemed to have returned here very naturally. There were fires everywhere, and the smoke was a bit suffocating. The fire in the big tent also caught fire on the curtains lying on it, and the fire was slowly burning. People from a distance could be seen busy putting out the fire, almost all of them were women. Some people in the team had women attacking them, and I killed a few, but most of them seemed to just stay away from these women. Everyone slowly gathered around us and looked around. There were cries of women and children everywhere. Some women were holding children and looking for something everywhere. There were moans in the wind from time to time. We didn't have time to check our casualties. Just like that, after a while, everyone gathered around me and looked at the other side with me.
Brother Fengxian and Brother Yide also naturally came to my side, saying that something seemed wrong, there were too few people, and they were puzzled by the fact that Bei'an almost ignored this place.
After reporting, Brother Fengxian seemed to be staring at the big tent in a trance. Suddenly, he seemed to have made up his mind. He urged his horse and rushed to the big tent with his legs. He casually used his halberd to cut open the burning tent. Yide and I looked at it: it was empty. Except for the bracket and the fire pit in the center, there was nothing inside.
Brother Fengxian frowned. I think everyone looking at this big tent is also confused. I have quick wits, but I can't figure out the relationship. The only explanation seems to be that things are not urgent.
I tried to calm myself down, but I found that the pain in my ribs became more obvious.
Suddenly, I noticed a situation on the other side of the shore. Many Qiang people were carrying the chevaux de frise that were used to surround the city and hurriedly moving westward.
I don't know where they are going to move to, but I can guess why they are moving there. Following the sound of horns from far and near, groups of Qiang cavalry wrapped in thick fur stood on the river bank, looking at us across the river, whistling and running westward.
So I actually came up with an idea, although I don't know exactly what they were going to do.
Someone was saying in my ear: They are raising the barricades, and the place where they are raised is where the horses can cross the river!
I know, but I don't plan to follow them because the other side has already started to assemble at the same time.
Well, I have to, that’s a good thing.
The sky gradually began to turn bluish white, and it became brighter and brighter in the east. I smiled.
This time I ignored the looks from people around me, this time I just wanted to laugh.