Guo Ning climbed to the top of the slope and looked at the Gucheng store.
The evening wind blew through the forest, shaking the branches and leaves, making strange whining noises and crackling sounds of branches and leaves breaking. But Guo Ning still controlled his steps carefully to avoid making any noise.
Earlier, he retreated from the mountains into Hebei with a large number of defeated troops. He took the route from Qingbaikou to Zhuozhou, and then turned southwest along the mountainous area. Guchengdian was one of the routes.
More than a year later, he still has an impression of this settlement.
This area, close to the mountains in the north, produces many medicinal materials, so it was once the location of several major drug dealers in Zhuozhou. In addition, there are also wine shops in villages and towns, which produce the famous soju from all over the country.
The defeated army passed through this place the year before last. Hundreds of people had just suffered huge casualties. Under the terrible mental pressure, many people's emotions were wandering between mania and collapse. In addition, due to lack of food and clothing, hunger and cold, military discipline deteriorated. At that time, Guo Ning himself couldn't help but rush into the home of a local wealthy family with others and forcefully borrow food with a knife.
After all, the officers and soldiers of the Jin Dynasty were not the legendary king's masters. They would freeze to death without demolishing their houses, or starve to death without looting. Don't even think about it. After Guo Ning, several groups of defeated troops passed by, and soon the whole village and town were empty of all ten rooms.
It wasn't until last year that Han Renqing, a veteran soldier familiar to both Guo Ning and Li Ting, settled in the Gucheng store and slowly gathered his military and civilian companions. Although the population is less than 20% of its peak, and the scale of village construction is even smaller than before, a few paddy fields have been reopened and a few cattle have been raised.
I heard that Han Renqing recently recruited a big wine maker and planned to start selling soju again. Many people think this idea is absurd, but it is a fact that among the general embarrassment of the defeated army strongholds, the Gucheng store is considered wealthy.
Looking now, many people have died in the villages and towns, and cows have also died.
In the open space in the middle of the village and town, corpses were piled up and down. They were far away, and the sky was dark. They could be vaguely distinguished, and they seemed to be both men and women. There was actually a cow skeleton next to the body. The beef was picked cleanly and the bones were white.
Next to the corpse, some soldiers were cutting beef; some soldiers tore down houses to use as firewood and were busy building fires; some soldiers gathered in groups, sorting out cloth and money plundered from unknown places; and some soldiers Holding a knife and ax in his hand, he shouted loudly at a group of tied people by the wall, and made gestures from time to time, seemingly intimidating.
When he saw Han Laier's body just now, Li Ting was furious. At this time, he had already adjusted and just cursed softly: "Killing people and eating beef! These bitches!"
Guo Ning patted him on the shoulder and told him to concentrate: "I've heard that the house in Gucheng Store was renovated by Lao Han. Now it seems that the inner and outer circles are indeed perfect. There are high walls in the outer circle For shelter, there are ditches on the northwest sides of the high wall, and outside the main entrance on the south side, there is a wall of sheep and horses, which is difficult to use with troops. As for the east side... there are fields in the east, and the terrain is open, and the high walls in this direction have collapsed everywhere..."
"One, two, three, three places." Li Ting reminded.
Guo Ning paused, raised his finger and pointed: "Look behind the big tree to the north."
Li Ting frowned for a while and nodded slightly.
"Yang An'er's men poured in from these four places." Guo Ning continued: "There are about one hundred and fifty people staying in the outer circle. Among them, there are forty or fifty who are waiting in the open space to share the beef. There are ten people guarding the prisoners. There are also sixty or seventy people sitting on the two terraces in the north and south. There are also a few people standing guard at the main entrance of the village. There should be a few more people a little further away from the main entrance."
Li Ting thought for a while and continued to nod.
"The rows of big houses in the inner circle are all on the north side of the open space. The three sides of the big house face inward, so you can't see clearly what's going on inside, and you don't know how many people there are. Fortunately, there are some soldiers moving around the house. It seems that we were there just now. The ones we met on the other side of the Qihe River?"
"That's right, they are one hundred soldiers. Including the one hundred and fifty outside, the total is two hundred and fifty. They can fight a dozen!" Li Ting was eager to give it a try.
"It's almost the size of a general and well-equipped." Guo Ning said cautiously: "In addition, the Beiyushang Village and Nanyunshang Village, fifteen miles further to the north, should also be under Yang An'er's control. We have to move faster. , otherwise, we may be attacked by reinforcements.”
"Let Wang Shixian lead some people and pretend to be on the east side. I will lead the people and rush in from the main entrance. Guo Liu, you will follow. Within a moment, they will be defeated!"
Soldiers like Li Ting who had fought fierce battles along the trenches did not take the soldiers and horses transferred from Shandong seriously, but Yang An'er was not a trivial person after all. Guo Ning thought for a while: "Let's go back first and take a look. Master Huifeng, have you gained anything?"
Li Ting frowned: "I wonder where Monk Luo went?"
"Master Huifeng has his own plans." Guo Ning said: "Let's go first and be careful. Yang An'er's troops are not ordinary rebels. I guess there are hidden sentries on this high forest slope."
"Hey! You didn't tell me earlier!" Li Ting lowered his already low voice a little lower: "Let's go, let's go."
Guo Ning's judgment was correct. There was indeed a hidden whistle on Gaolin Slope.
Being on this slope, the line of sight is enough to cover the entire village, making it an excellent sentry location. If Guo Ning is stationed in a village, he will also set up sentries on the slopes. This is common sense.
However, there are miles of lush forests on the slope that block the view. From the top of the slope, it is easy to look down, but it is difficult to look around. And because the night wind was picking up, it was difficult to hear anything nearby.
In this regard, Yang An'er's troops are ultimately lacking compared to the outstanding figures who have fought for the rest of their lives in Northern Xinjiang.
So Guo Ning and others retreated safely.
Just as the two of them were going down the slope, in the north of the forest, at a mountain col that was better sheltered from the wind, Yang Feixiang, the secret sentry who had been sent out by Ji Junli, stood up from the bushes, beat his waist, and shook his robe. fallen leaves on the ground.
Yang Feixiang is from Zizhou, Shandong and a fellow villager of Guo Yao'er. The two are about the same age. They both participated in the rebellion during the Taihe period and are both old thieves.
However, Guo Yao'er had the ability to march and fight, and soon became the leader of Yang An'er's retainers, while Yang Feixiang was always a pawn. Moreover, it is still the kind that is not taken seriously by others.
Half an hour ago, he watched his old acquaintance Guo Yao'er lead his men into the Gucheng store, and then the soldiers in the village began to be busy. He watched the soldiers killing cattle and sheep with knives and axes, watching the bonfires being lit, and the meat being thrown into the cauldron to cook, but no one came to replace him... Have you forgotten me?
When they distributed the money just now, it wasn't my turn! He just handed me two banknotes! A consistent one, a consistent one! What is it worth? I could exchange my consistent cash for a piece of pancake last year, but in the past two months, I couldn't even exchange it for a handful of brown rice!
There is beef to eat now, but you won’t give it to me! What about the person who changes the shift? Where have you gone?
"When I get back down there, I'll go talk to Guo Yao'er! Ji Junli is not a good person, Guo Yao'er must give me a bite of meat!" Yang Feixiang grumbled and walked a few steps outside the mountain col. Observe your surroundings.
Naturally, there is nothing gained. The setting sun has set at the end of the vast land. Within the scope of sight, large shadows are like ink and are about to become one.
He looked over it and felt that the wind was strong at night, so he planned to hide in the woods in the col.
However, as soon as he turned around, he saw a fat, bald man with a round waist in front of him, smiling evilly at him.
Yang Feixiang was about to shout, but with the shout still in his throat, a casserole-sized fist hit the side of his neck. He felt a sharp pain and fainted.
The bald man is Monk Luo.
Before he became a monk in Xuanzhong Temple, he served as a village envoy under the command of Qianhu in the north of Datong. He was in charge of a small village with not many people, but no matter whether a large army was dispatched from Datong Mansion or a small number of elites went to the grassland to attack, he would lead his sons to serve as scouts.
After more than ten years, this person's skills have been perfected, just as the art of war says: "Seeing the traces of water, you will know how early or late the enemy will come; watching the movement of the trees, you can check the speed of the invaders."
Finding a secret sentry sent from a place in the dim night is simply impossible in the eyes of others, but in Monk Luo's eyes, all the signs are clear enough to track, but the difference is just how much time it takes.
At this moment, he succeeded with one blow and returned carrying Yang Feixiang. There was an extra person in his hands, but his steps were still light.
After crossing the Qihe River, after walking a few steps, I saw Li Ting coming up to me: "Monk, have you succeeded?"
Monk Luo raised the living person in his hand and showed it to Li Ting: "What's so difficult about this?"
After saying that, he punched the prisoner Youyou awake.
Guo Ning said quickly: "Master Huifeng, come and ask, as soon as possible."
Monk Luo didn't refuse, looked around, and then carried Yang Feixiang to the rocks beside a river.
After a while, he turned back. Both palms and arms were dripping with blood, and the gray bunt he was wearing was also stained with blood. I really don’t know what he did to that prisoner, the blood could flow like this.
"What do you mean? How many people are there in the village?"
"The first to arrive were the 230 people from Jijunli's department, including 80 soldiers, and then came the 100 soldiers from Guozhaoer's department, accompanied by Yang An'er's nephew, Jiulangjun Yang You.
Guo Ning was surprised. "
"Fortunately, Master Huifeng is here!" He thanked him and looked at Li Ting, who also frowned.
The two of them had always kept a distance from Yang An'er's Tiewagang Army, but they had a basic understanding of it. They knew that this army was based on the establishment of the armed guards established in Daxing Prefecture in Zhongdu during the reign of King Sejong, that is, one captain commanded the two capitals. General, a general will lead ten lieutenants, a lieutenant will lead a team of two, and a team will lead twenty soldiers.
In fact, because Army A is one to two, the number of troops under one general's command is usually about 250 to 300, of which Army Army is less than 100.
Yang An'er himself is the deputy capital commander, and his two generals are Li Siwen and Liu Quan. The four generals are Zhan Hui, Wang Min, Ji Junli, Wang Lin, and Guo Yao'er, who has the same status as the general. .
According to the strength of Han Renqing's troops, he could be wiped out by sending almost one general.
Therefore, both of them thought that the people they bumped into here just now were the subordinates of the general who attacked the Gucheng store. But I never thought that there was a group of people here too?
There are more than 300 people, and most of them are soldiers! Ji Junli and Guo Yaoer are both here!
This is not easy to deal with.
