Liu Chengzong climbed up the mountain ridge and looked at Jingjiagou.
He helped the people resist the tax, and even led the villagers to overthrow the grain chief's house.
So I am very familiar with this village.
This valley produces salt, iron, coal, and pottery. There are many pastures, medicinal herbs, and trees growing there, but there are very few fields.
It was originally a coal mountain, but later the easy-to-mine coal was dug away, leaving the people to settle here. Even in ordinary years, they could only rely on handicraft subsidies to survive.
Clay wine bowls, pottery pots, tiles, and agricultural tools made from the poor iron ore in the mountains were sold by the cartloads for money.
The people's life was so tight that they wanted to dig out the seeds from the fields that had not sprouted last year and eat them. It was comfortable for the officers and soldiers to occupy this place.
On the mountain ridge, the reporter's name was Jing Xiaoliu. He pointed at the ravine and said with hatred: "The villagers have all run away. They have taken over the village. They dug out all the things left at home and even cooked noodles!"
Northern Shaanxi is a strange place with ravines and ravines.
The two places looked very close. Liu Chengzong was only one mile away from the village, but if he wanted to get there, he would have to go around seven or eight miles no matter which way he took.
The officers and soldiers deployed poorly in the village. In addition to the front and rear sentries that could be seen at a glance, Liu Chengzong also discovered two hidden sentries.
"Look, my brother often puts a whistle in that position."
Liu Chengzong pointed at Cao Yao, then frowned and asked Jing Xiaoliu: "You killed the horse, didn't you mean to sell it for money?"
There were two pots set up in the yard of the village grain chief's mansion, and the soldiers were putting meat into the pots.
A large group of soldiers were sitting around, gathering around the pot and surrounding it on three levels inside and three outside.
From Liu Chengzong's position, he could only see the skeleton of a large animal.
"How could we be willing to kill horses? We sold three of them for grain, as well as the good horse from the grain chief's family. No one bought the remaining three horses. When the officers and soldiers came, they were all taken into the mountains."
Jing Xiaoliu felt aggrieved and pointed to the village: "That was the lame horse of the grain chief's family. It couldn't walk or obey. The villagers couldn't take it away, and the officers and soldiers couldn't ride it, so it was slaughtered."
As he said that, Jing Xiaoliu shuddered: "I was hiding on the mountain over there when I killed it. The horse screamed so miserably that the horse was tied to a knife and had to be stabbed several times before it died."
Liu Chengzong was not interested in how the horse died. He asked, "Do you know where the officers and soldiers came from and how many there were?"
"five hundred!"
Jing Xiaoliu was so sure that he opened his hand and said, "They asked Jingjiagou to prepare meals for five hundred people, and we all ran away."
Cao Yao laughed so hard: "Damn it, no matter how grandpa looks, he can't see that there are three hundred people here!"
The village is along a road in the ravine, with the mountain pass official road to the east and the mountain mine to the west.
The officers and soldiers were all gathered in the house and kiln courtyard, and there were dozens and dozens of them.
The number of soldiers fluctuates up and down due to reasons such as lack of pay, battle injuries, and leave, but the number of middle and lower-level officers in the regular army cannot be deceived.
The two bosses and the three teams were always drinking in the big house, and the other team always looked like the unlucky ones who had been squeezed out, riding horses around the village with a few companions.
The number of officers and soldiers matched.
Cao Yao came over and asked, "Lion, what do you think about going down the mountain to discuss it with Gao Laosan and Zongzi?"
"It's good and bad. The good thing is that they have two hundred people and can move."
Liu Chengzong took a deep breath, pursed his lips and said, "The bad thing is that they are close to Manbian. Xiao Liu said that the official army was led by a guerrilla general named Lu and was scattered in four villages. Damn it."
The purpose of using his real name is to attract the attention of the officers and soldiers. After all, if he pretends to be a tiger general or a lion general, the officers and soldiers will not know who it is.
Only Liu Chengzong, the officers and soldiers knew that this man had robbed Yan'an Mansion.
But he didn't expect that using his real name would attract so many officers and soldiers.
Based on this ratio, the guerrilla general may have brought thousands of people to look for him.
Not easy to deal with.
Liu Chengzong, Cao Yao and others retreated from the mountain. On the way, they were thinking about what to do after beating this army.
As soon as I reached the mountain den where the troops were stationed, I heard the sound of horse hoofbeats.
Wei Qian'er came back with two people and four horses, with a man tied to the horse.
He went to a certain place and threw the person to the ground, smashing him into pieces.
Wei Qian'er thrust his eight-foot red tasseled gun into the ground, jumped off his horse and walked over with his head held high, extremely proud: "Chief, we caught a messenger."
He also grabbed the prisoner on the head, grabbed the iron helmet and slapped his head on it, which looked quite like that.
"Good job!"
Liu Chengzong smiled and walked over. The prisoner's mouth was stuffed with a piece of cloth, his body was tied tightly, and there was a flag on the back of the armor.
Send an order to Tangqi.
Coming from other places, he is likely to have information about the guerrilla general named Lu.
He gave Cao Yao a wink and asked the sentry commander Feng Yu to take the prisoner down for torture.
Then he asked: "This is the messenger Tang Qi, how did you catch it?"
"On the road, I pulled a rope and tripped the horse, so I beat him up."
Liu Chengzong lowered his eyes and saw that Wei Qian'er's fists were bruised and bruised, and his palms were rotten. He asked, "What happened to your hands?"
"It's burning. He wanted to set it on fire." Wei Qian'er said, "I put out the fire."
He is a ruthless person.
The fire is a large flying monkey, a type of firework that flies very high when lit.
It is used as a toy among the people and used by the military to convey warning information.
Especially at night, the screams and sounds can alert the entire camp.
Liu Chengzong found him a piece of clean cloth to wrap his hands, and then said to Cao Yao and Gao Xian who were gathered around him: "If there were no other hidden sentries, they would probably find us two miles away.
Fortunately, Jingjia Valley is closed, so we can fight in the ravine without worrying about them escaping.
However, this time is enough for them to form a formation, and it will be difficult for us to win if we set up a formation. "
Cao Yao said: "It's more than difficult. The two donkey carts at the entrance of the compound were covered with cloth. They weighed two to three hundred kilograms. I guess they were two cannons.
They formed a formation on the spot, and we were just within range.
If it's a general cannon, it can shoot us twice. If it's a Buddha-wolf machine, it will take at least four cannon shots. "
Cao Yao's meaning is obvious.
The recent attacks on Yicheng have gone smoothly, and the 500 people under his command are very popular.
Even though he knew that he was going to fight with the army, he had no obvious fear.
After all, the enemy army is small in number. Even if they have powerful bows and guns, if they stick up to them and blast them with four small cannons, there is a chance of defeating them directly without a hard fight.
But they were unable to withstand the two or even four rounds of shells fired, whether they were solid shells three hundred paces away or loose shells a hundred paces away.
After thinking for a moment, Feng Zhen stepped forward and said: "Let me clarify, there are more than 900 soldiers in the whole army, soldiers from Jingbian Camp and Jingbian Qianhu Station, and there are 200 here.
Guerrilla Lu Cheng was divided into four teams, the farthest one was twenty miles away and the nearest one was eight miles away. "
After saying that, he raised his chin and said to Liu Chengzong: "I came to see you."
Liu Chengzong smiled and asked nonchalantly: "What news did Tangqi send?"
"Routine report, once every two hours."
As soon as Feng Ru finished speaking, Cao Yao narrowed his eyes and said, "Then if the Tangqi can't go back, the officers and soldiers in the village will become suspicious. We don't have much time... Should we fight?"
"Fight, they have artillery, then don't let them form a formation, Wei Qian, didn't you say you were going to beat me to pieces?"
Liu Chengzong smiled and said: "You are very brave. Do you dare to lead the cavalry with me to charge through the village?"
"Hey, why don't you dare to do this? If you dare, I will."
Wei Qian'er held his neck and spoke forcefully, but after speaking he swallowed unconsciously, and then muttered in a low voice: "My name is Wei Qian'er, and Wei Qian is my elder."
