Mr. Guo said: "Ordinary business travelers will not travel at night. Those who travel at night are either thieves or thieves. What can I do?"
Ma San said: "If you walk along the main road, you can't avoid your eyes and ears. You can only walk in the countryside."
Uncle Tang said: "Thieves also have their own ways, and they don't have to do it in the countryside."
Zhang Noi said: "Uncle Tang must be able to teach me."
Uncle Tang said: "The art of night walking is practiced by chivalrous people. If there are tens of thousands of people, they may be trapped; if there are only a dozen or so people, what difficulty is there!"
Zhang Noi said: "Uncle Tang, please elaborate."
Tang Shu said: "In detail, there are five methods: low, quick, low, light, and loose." Then he stood up and demonstrated: "The low ones walk with low steps, and the body is short without bowing; the fast ones are quick; the low ones are quick. "Before you go, you must choose a place where you can lie down, walk quickly to that place and lie down; if you are light, although your steps are fast, you must be light and silent; if you are scattered, people cannot be in groups, so they must walk dispersedly." As he spoke, he lowered his body. After running a few steps, he hid in the dark; after a while, he jumped up and ran again, and soon he crossed the square and entered the field; when he was young, he suddenly appeared in front of everyone.
Zhang He said: "Uncle Tang, his skills are so amazing that ordinary people can do them. However, the five techniques of low, quick, low, light, and scattered are in line with the key points. There may be people in the Tang Dynasty who have mastered this skill, and he can do it." Go ahead; the rest of the crowd can follow up later.”
Tang Shu said: "Sir's words are exactly what I want. Although it is forbidden to travel at night on a moonlit night, there are few people on the road, so walking along the road base will not hinder you. However, there is one thing you should be aware of. When traveling at night, the ups and downs are difficult to determine, and clothes are inconvenient. You must tie up your clothes and keep them as short as possible before walking. Otherwise, when you untie them, your clothes will be torn."
Zhang He suddenly said: "Why should we enter Qifeng?"
Mr. Guo said: "The Qin Dynasty established a military market, and we will operate it as merchants."
Zhang Ye saw that most of the people accompanying him were dressed as scholars, and sighed in his heart: Another miscalculation.
Mr. Guo glanced at Zhang Noi and understood what he was thinking, and said: "There is no need for more than ten people to know each other. It is more convenient to come in in groups."
Zhang He looked around and said: "We are all dressed in different colors. From a rough perspective, Tang and Cao are engaged in chariots; Zheng, Mang and other military soldiers are dressed in commoners with their hair tied up; Lu and Guo are engaged in business; I Wait, you are a scholar. What can I do?"
Mr. Guo said: "This is not a camp. You can change your clothes. You have to do what you do because of your clothes. In the Tang Dynasty, the carriages were short and brown, so mediocre people entered the city; the soldiers entered the city in cloth clothes. My father and son worked together with Mr. Lu. The merchants will enter the city; Mr. Zhang and others will make one or two routes, and the scholars will enter the city. Those who enter the city are now invited to stay here, and the rest will leave for Huayang someday."
Zhang He said: "Sir, what you said is true." Then he walked next to Mang Shen, who had never had any sense of presence, and said: "There are still five or seven soldiers left. It is extremely important. We must have a clear mind and ears, do it!"
Mang Shen said: "Sir, please be patient. We are just entering the city to transport grain. There are Tang Dynasties there. We will not act accordingly."
Zhang Ye said: "The roads and buildings in Huayang City, as well as the sparse distribution of troops, should also be investigated silently."
A flash of light flashed in Mang Shen's eyes, and then he said calmly: "Here!"
When I was young, Uncle Tang invited five people from the Tang family, Zheng Anping invited five military soldiers, Mr. Guo's uncle and nephew, Lu Bo, Zhang Yue and five retainers, a total of twenty-one people gathered together. Mr. Guo assigned their respective roles and tasks, while Uncle Tang agreed on various command signals for the night march, as well as the lineup for the advance. The six men of the Tang family were in the front, thinking that they would have an unimpeded road to the Qifeng city. Zhang Yue and Mr. Guo were in the middle, with a total of nine men. Zheng Anping and six soldiers suppressed the rear. Each group is about a hundred steps apart, and each group refers to one person as a link.
After the distribution was decided, everyone took off their clothes, tied them into a package, and carried them on their backs. They were all left with only their underwear. They all put on straw sandals. If they had cloth shoes and socks, they also took off their clothes and put them in the package. It was early winter, and the cold was blowing. When they took off their clothes, everyone trembled a little.
Uncle Tang looked around and made sure that no one else was watching. He took the lead and jumped down into the ditch beside the road. The other five people naturally divided into two groups of three, and then jumped down into the ditch and headed towards the main road. Then there is the squadron led by Mr. Zhang Noi and Mr. Guo, which has the largest number of people. The five disciples are divided into two groups, three in the front and two in the back, sandwiching Zhang, Lu and Guo in the middle. Guo Zhongjin retreats slightly to act as a liaison between the front and rear. When the last doorman was about to turn into a black dot, Zheng Anping whispered "Qi" and jumped into the ditch first. The other five soldiers also naturally divided into two groups and jumped forward and backward.
The so-called ditch is just a depression formed by the natural erosion of rainwater on the side of the road. When it rains, it is a natural drainage ditch. When it doesn't rain, the weeds grow luxuriantly. It was early winter, and the weeds were dry and prickly. Zheng Anping carefully tried his best to move along the grass that the person in front of him had stepped on, but his thigh was still scratched and painful. He thought to himself, if he walked a hundred thirty or forty miles like this, he would lose his leg. Fortunately, after walking onto the main road, there are often people walking in the small ditch beside the road, and there are no weeds growing, so the walking becomes a little easier. However, although there were no weeds to prick my legs, there were still rocks that pricked my feet. It was not easy to walk up there, and I was still leaning down slightly, which made me suffer a lot.
Zheng Anping looked back at the soldiers who were following him. They all had stern expressions on their faces. Some of them had sweat dripping from their faces. There was no trace of the coldness from when they took off their clothes just now.
Although there is a road from Huayang to Qifeng, it is not as broad and flat as outside Huayang City. Most of it is a trail made by pedestrians. There are not all small ditches on this road, and the concealment conditions are very poor. Fortunately, the surroundings were mostly farmland and there were few homes, so the journey was generally smooth, although it was sometimes fast and sometimes slow. As for whether he was discovered by farmers who occasionally squatted on the edge of the fields, it was hard to say. Since the roadside ditch was shallow and the main force was to travel quickly, the group simply walked onto the trail to avoid dead grass and dark rocks.
After driving for about thirty miles, Huayang City was already out of sight, and the wilderness on the roadside had replaced the cultivated land. Under the guidance of Guo Zhongjin, Zheng Anping and his party got into a deeper grass, took a short rest, and Coordinate next steps. The resting place is located next to a small ditch with gurgling water. Zheng Anping and his entourage were sweating all over and thirsty. They jumped into the ditch one after another and leaned over to drink water. Zheng Anping looked at the surrounding terrain and sent the soldiers who had finished drinking water to go out and observe the surrounding activities.
After resting for a while, Guo Zhongjin introduced: "Three to fifty miles away, there are few people and no big towns. There are only rabbits, foxes, wolves, and snakes. Thirty miles away from Qifeng, there will be more and more villages."
Uncle Tang said: "When traveling in the wilderness at night, you need to be on guard against wild beasts. There are only a few people around, so there is no need to hide their presence. Therefore, we gather at the station and walk. Those who are going ahead should find a few sticks and clear the way when they encounter deep and dense grass or jagged branches. "
Zhang Ye said: "Twenty-one people are here. I don't think we will attract a pack of wolves. Even though the snakes are cold, they dare not come out. We can straighten our clothes and walk in a group. We will discuss it at the next resting place."
Suddenly a guest asked: "It's cold at night and I'm hungry. What can I do?"
Zhang Ye said: "We must arrive before dawn to open the seal. We can only drink water on the way, but it is inconvenient to eat."
Guo Zhongjin said: "Fifty or sixty miles ahead, there is a hotel building, where we may have food and drinks."
Uncle Tang said: "There is no need to rush or cover the road ahead, but if you go in a smooth way, you will consume very little."
Zhang He looked at the sky and said: "We have decided to go out, it is already midnight. We rushed to brother Guo's house to rest before the rooster crows." After the discussion was decided, everyone put the clothes on their backs again. After putting it on and watching a group of people in different costumes walking together, Zhang Nou sighed again in his heart.
