Guerrilla general Lu Cheng arrived at Jingjiagou at night.
His army failed to send scouts to report the situation on time. According to the prior agreement, something happened.
General Su Rong stood in the drying area, with more than 400 officers and soldiers under his command standing silently on foot and cavalry.
The other commander took off his armor and was kneeling next to him, shirtless. More than 200 soldiers under his command were scattered around the village, looking for possible traces.
They all knew the general was angry.
The village was eerily quiet, illuminated by Tangqi's torches, and the courtyard walls still bore holes made by lead pellets and arrows.
Lu Cheng, who was wearing a helmet and armor, stood expressionless in the sunbathing area under the night.
There was a compacted shallow pit under his feet, which was the mark left behind the cannon after the Tiger Crouching Cannon was fired.
Not far from this mark, there was a damaged car and a large bloodstain covered by loess.
It seemed that the corpse had been taken away, the thieves left in a hurry, and the traces were sloppily covered.
Soon, someone ran out of the compound and shouted: "General, we found it!"
Lu Cheng glanced at the commander kneeling next to him, with an unkind look on his face: "Why are you still kneeling here? Go and see your soldiers!"
Guerrilla general Lu Cheng was actually not very angry with his men.
The order for more than 800 subordinates to eat in four villages was given by him personally.
It is not that the two generals and eight hundred generals under his command acted without authorization.
When he gave the order, he knew that making such a decision would easily lead to an attack and be defeated by the thieves one by one.
But is there a way?
According to the regulations of the imperial court, the government troops could not receive supplies at the news site until the day after the troops were mobilized.
Secondly, even if the Yanchuan County Government wanted to provide them with supplies, it would not be able to do so.
Ten days ago, Lu Cheng led his troops into Yanchuan, and all the rations he brought with him were eaten up. He even thought that Yanchuan County had fallen into the hands of thieves, and all the post stations along the official road were robbed.
Express shops were also burned down.
His soldiers endured hunger for three days and ran back. After eating for several days, they crossed Anding County and came back through Qingjian.
As a general, Lu Cheng knows best what kind of people his soldiers are.
Jingbian Fort was unable to provide them with military rations, so they scraped together six meals of dry rations for three days.
These six meals of dry food are for pursuit and siege, and cannot be eaten.
Qin soldiers are all good men who can endure hunger the most, and they never compromise on the execution of any of his orders.
Lu Cheng ordered not to eat. His soldiers would never take a bite until they starved to death.
The bandits must be suppressed and the soldiers must be fed. Yanchuan is so poor that the people are just chewing grass roots. There is not even a big village that can feed them.
What can he do?
You can only let the soldiers scare the people away, and let the soldiers eat whatever is left.
Just for this, the subordinates have to be dispersed. If they don’t disperse, it’s a trivial matter for a village to not have enough to eat. You have to leave something for the people, right?
If you are attacked or not, you can only leave it to fate.
There are some roads that we know are impassable, so we have no choice but to walk on them.
"General, Mr. Wang Bai is still alive."
Helpless, when he heard that his subordinate Bai Zong was still alive, Lu Cheng became angry again, stepped into the back house of the compound, took a look and then went out.
He said to the left and right: "Get them some water, damn it."
The scene in the back house of the compound was very infuriating. There were scores of border soldiers, their mouths were gagged, their hands and feet were tied, and their bodies were stripped naked. They were lying on the ground one by one.
The thief was afraid that they would freeze to death, so he thoughtfully got quilts from the village and covered them evenly.
Head to head, foot to foot, four people cover a bed, and everyone is warm.
Lu Cheng walked out of the yard, and General Qi from the other side also ran over and lowered his head to report: "General, Paoze's body is over there."
"Let President Wang Bai put on his clothes and come to see me."
The corpses of the officers and soldiers were spread across two courtyards and placed neatly. Their armors, weapons and personal belongings were all gone.
After a while, the weak Mr. Wang Bai put on the cloth he found in the village and knelt down: "General, you are humble and incompetent, and you were attacked by thieves..."
"Where did the thieves come from, how many were there, how were they beaten, and where did they go?"
Lu Cheng looked around among the corpses expressionlessly, covered the eyes of his subordinates who were still staring at death, and asked four questions in a row.
When he walked to a corpse, he stopped and recognized it as another one of his subordinates. He lifted the blood-stained mid laner attached to his body and saw that the blood on his chest had changed color.
The spearhead without the wooden pole was still on his body.
Lu Cheng narrowed his eyes, and finally couldn't hold back the anger brewing in his chest. He turned to glare at Mr. Wang Bai and said, "How can his soldiers let the enemy get close enough to kill him? The whole team deserves to die!"
Mr. Wang Bai kowtowed to the ground and spoke very quickly: "The thieves came from nowhere. There were more than four hundred of them. They came roaring with many light cavalry, and arrows were like rain.
I defended the courtyard and used flying cannons to fight back. The bandit army was a mob and was defeated by our troops with flying cannons. Only then did General Qi lead his troops out.
Unexpectedly, the leader of the thieves was extremely brave. He hid in a stirrup and rode out of the formation alone. He threw a spear and killed General Qi Bai. He also shot several of our men to death with his bows.
The thieves were greatly inspired by this. The cavalry regrouped and moved up with two wings to cover up the enemy. We were outnumbered..."
"Then you surrendered to the thieves?"
There was no emotion or anger on Lu Cheng's face. He lowered his eyes and glanced at Mr. Wang: "There's not even a single injury on his body. He was stripped clean, like a pig being tied up."
Mr. Wang Bai had nothing to say and kowtowed to the ground again.
Lu Cheng didn't say much on this matter. He had seen many enemies surrendering after the battle was over, so he asked angrily: "What about the leader of the thief?"
There are many brave people in this world.
Only in a mob can individual bravery reverse the decline.
Because the rabble does not understand fighting or war.
They can be scattered when a cannon is fired, and they can be reunited if they are brave enough.
Scattering and gathering are just a manifestation of the defeat of the mob.
They should neither disperse nor gather together, they just need to stick to their posts and remain motionless.
"Northern army helmet, two-petal, red frontier commander's armor, cavalry, and...and the horse." Mr. Wang Bai raised his head and said eagerly: "Red-maned Northern horse."
Lu Cheng suddenly realized that this bandit was a deserter.
The northern army's armor, skillful bows and horses destroyed all the express shops and post stations from Yan'an Fucheng to Yanchuan.
They can all go up against him, and it should be Liu Chengzong who entered Yan'an Mansion not long ago.
"You came out on your own and saved us a lot of time."
Lu Cheng nodded slowly.
When he received the order from General Shen's Mansion on Yansui Middle Road, he was still worried that the two brothers Liu Chengzu and Liu Chengzong who rushed into Yan'an Mansion to rob the prison had served as border soldiers, and their father had served as a minor official.
This family knows the border troops very well, and may have hidden them long ago, making it difficult to catch them.
For this reason, they specially sent people to Yuhebao to ask about their situation, and mentioned that Liu Chengzong had a dyed red horse.
Unexpectedly, they were so courageous. Instead of running away, they dared to intercept the officers and soldiers.
Thinking of this, Lu Cheng's mood improved again: "Do you know where they went?"
"Bizhi, I heard someone outside the hospital whisper about Shanxi."
Shanxi, Shanxi... Lu Cheng thought, suddenly with a serious look on his face: "Oh no, they robbed you of your uniforms and armor, and they served as border soldiers. They are afraid they want to deceive Yanshui Pass!"
Quick, gather all the troops and rush to Yanshui Pass! "
In Jingjiagou at night, the officers and soldiers lit torches like fire dragons winding across the mountains, crossing Yanchuan County and rushing toward Yanshui Pass forty miles away.
