Ever since he saw the thief coming from the west, Qi Shuangquan had been sullen on the southeast corner of Wen'an Yi City.
He is the commander of the third team of the Yan'an Camp Outpost Zuosi.
My brother-in-law's name is Ma Maoguan. He went to the west to have his head cut off and did not come back.
It’s broken, my brother-in-law is gone.
Then the rebels surrounded Yicheng on three sides, and bursts of cannon fire soon came from the mountains to the south.
I asked the general's servant, who was familiar with him, and he looked sad. He told him that there were too many thieves and the southern outpost might not be able to hold on.
Qi Shuangquan did not think that the people surrounding the post city were thieves. They were well-formed and well-equipped, and they were clearly an army.
It was completely different from Wang Zuoguai, King Hun Tian and even Cao Cao who were being chased earlier.
He preferred to call these people rebels.
It was completely dark.
The rebels piled firewood everywhere under the city and lit tall bonfires to illuminate the city.
Qi Shuangquan aimed his gun at the rebels, trying to avenge his brother-in-law.
He hit a thief holding firewood, and the lead penetrated the brave helmet. A handful of firewood fell to the ground. The thief fell to the ground and twitched for a moment. He looked like a young man in his fifteenth or sixteenth year.
There is also a soldier of his age who is a soldier from the Xi'an Guard. He was often bullied by the veterans in his hometown, so he always clings to him and sleeps back to back with him in the field.
The soldier had only seen money a few times since he was a child, and had never had a penny of his own, so he had an extraordinary desire for military pay. He even cheered when he was hooked into the Yan'an camp.
I kept asking him all day long.
"Sir, do you get military pay if you become a camp soldier?"
"How much military pay can I have?"
"What should I do after receiving military pay?"
Very annoying.
Qi Shuang didn't know how much money he would make in a year by following the Yan'an camp.
The wind in the turret at night was very cold, and Qi Shuangquan was huddled back to back behind the battlements, holding a gun and a small soldier. There were too many people crowded in the post city, and the narrow streets were full of soldiers lying down.
Although the bonfire was right next to him, it didn't make him feel any better. On the contrary, he felt even more uncomfortable because he was hot and cold at the same time.
While half asleep and half awake, Qi Shuangquan had a very messy dream because of the soldier's constant nagging about military pay.
In the dream, he took his three nephews and his sister into the military camp. His brother-in-law took them and said that they had been paid, a lot of pay, all the pay owed from the Wanli Year had been paid, and all the restaurants in Xi'an Fucheng were filled with soldiers.
A loud bang woke him up, and before he could react what was happening, a scream flew over his head.
The solid iron bullet smashed through the eaves of the turret, the tiles shattered in all directions, and half of the body of the bullfighting beast whirled and hit behind him.
Turning his head, the sleepy soldier covered the back of his head and slowly turned his face, giving him a labored and slow giggle, as if he wanted to say something.
Then his body went limp, and he didn't even let out a moan. He just twitched slightly every few breaths.
Before Qi Shuangquan could react from his stupor, the soldier lost his life.
There was chaos at the top of the city. The soldiers, who were afraid of being surrounded, woke up from their sleep and hung armor on their bodies indiscriminately.
Own or someone else's, wearing an unknown person's armor, holding an unknown person's weapon, looking down nervously.
Looking at the bright lights below the city, looking at the darkness on the other side of the river.
The sergeants in the city, those who lived in the streets and those who slept indoors, gathered in groups and climbed onto the city amidst the sound of trumpets.
They first stared at the people next to them nervously, until they recognized the robe next to them, and then looked nervously outside the city.
There was no movement.
It was as if the sound of the cannon was their hallucination.
It's just that the blood flowing out of Xiaobing's head is real.
Just when they relaxed their vigilance, someone pointed at the figure gradually appearing deep outside the city.
There were more than a dozen figures on horseback. They seemed to be worried about being bombarded. They stood scattered in a large line, pacing forward slowly in the shadows.
As they got closer, they shouted loudly at the bonfire, waving flags and running around the bonfire.
Under the light of the bonfire, Qi Shuangquan heard someone say that it was the flag stationed at the back post of Liangjiahe.
No one knows what the situation is like at the back posts, but the morale of the soldiers in Yicheng is low.
General Ai climbed to the top of the city and paid a special visit to the southeast corner tower, his eyes full of compassion.
He asked Xiao Bing's name. He wanted to cut off a strand of hair and take it back to his family, but was told that Xiao Bing had no family, so he had to lean over and close his eyes full of curiosity about the world with his hands.
When the general left, everything returned to calm.
Qi Shuang leaned against the cold wall and closed his eyes but couldn't fall asleep.
He went to the southwest to fight against She Chongming, and saw life and death many times.
A dead person shouldn't have trouble sleeping or eating.
But when he closed his eyes, the soldiers came to him asking for military pay.
This is unusual.
He touched Xiao Bing and found that he was already cold. Everyone else was fast asleep, but he was the only one who was still thinking about what Xiao Bing wanted to say before he died.
After thinking about it for a while, Qi Shuangquan took out a penny from his waist pocket and put it in the clothes on Xiao Bing's chest. After thinking about it, he took it out and opened Xiao Bing's closed mouth, put the Jiajing Tongbao in and closed it.
This time he was finally able to fall asleep.
During the night, the rebels fired two more cannons. One was a long-range shot from a large cannon, and the other was to push four small cannons to the river bank, fill them with powder and shoot towards the city.
Qi Shuangquan slept intermittently for more than an hour that night.
When I woke up in the morning, it was still dark, but the rebels outside the west gate were fighting. I heard that they were outpost troops stationed in Huoshuogou and launched an attack on the enemy's flank.
Therefore, the rebels' eastern siege troops were also moving westward.
The general issued an order in the post city without blowing the golden drum. He selected five teams to go out of the city to delay the rebel reinforcements, and sent horsemen to Yulin for reinforcements.
As soon as the city gate opened, the artillery on the other side launched a bombardment from two hundred steps away. Hongyi and Franji fired solid iron bullets into the city gate hole.
Qi Shuangquan listened to the screams not far away, rubbed his beard irritably, and cursed: "Who the hell was the first to build the city gate?"
Those who want to come in cannot get in, and those who want to go out cannot get out.
The supporting infantry were all hit by artillery shells and could not reach the city. In the end, only about 20 cavalry rushed out of the city. The rebels were hit by a row of muskets across the river bank and half fell down. The rest also broke up and were defeated by the enemy cavalry. chase.
The sound of fighting in the west soon stopped, but the bandits did not stop, leaving the troops trapped outside the city, and the large forces attacked Huoshaogou in the west.
The Hundred Corps mentioned by Qi Shuangquan was withdrawn from the corner tower.
They can sleep in the house tonight, eighty-seven people, four rooms, one of which has no roof.
But the brothers couldn't be happy after carrying the soldier's body down to the city.
The corpses were carried to the official office in the north of the city, where more than twenty corpses were placed. Those who were directly killed by artillery were miserable, and the soldiers were not bad looking.
Even after retreating to the city, we couldn't be idle. The old trees and roofs in the post city and the weeds in the city were damaged.
In the afternoon, the stinking general's eldest son and his servants took away all the untanned leather belts, leathers and boots of the infantry and horsemen, and also collected spare straw sandals from the army.
There are three wells in the city, but only one is functional, and it is difficult to supply drinking water for thousands of soldiers even if they draw water day and night.
One of the other two wells was blocked by gravel, and there are still soldiers going down to dig it out.
There were dead people soaking in the last well, and I heard people said that the first official seal was fished out. It seems that the postmaster was pushed down during the uprising of the postmen.
The well had been cleared out in the morning under the general's order, and the one who went down to hold the body was the eldest son Ai Huaiguang.
Otherwise, many people would rather be thirsty and grab water from others than go down a well to do this.
On the second night of the siege, the Guanzhong soldiers had the most luxurious and simple meal since they were dispatched.
Horsemeat roots and hay are used to cook noodles.
General Ai's three sons in the army all took their servants to join the team and ate with the sergeants from Guanzhong.
The eldest son Huaiguang ate very quickly. His clothes were dirty, so he changed into the clothes of a dead man with blood on him. After a brief wash, he sat in the queue and chatted with the sergeant.
Qi Shuangquan asked him: "Major General, if you didn't put the skin away today, why is it not on the inside?"
"Do you want to eat it?" Ai Huaiguang smiled and shook his head: "I have tasted it, but I can't bite it. It needs to be soaked for two more days. The water issue has been solved."
"The general asked me to dig a well today, um..." Ai Huaiguang felt like vomiting when he mentioned digging the well. He gritted his teeth and endured it, saying, "I wiped the bottom and waited for two days to wash out the dirty water. Let’s go, we have three wells with enough water.”
"Don't worry about military rations. We carry four-day military rations for more than a thousand people, as well as six-day emergency military rations, as well as mules, donkeys, oxen, and war horses. The four-day military rations are mixed with grass roots, hay, rawhide, and large animal meat. , enough for eight days, and we can kill the animals when the time comes.”
"There are no ordinary people around here, so why can the thieves outside the city surround us for a month? We have asked Yulin for help today, and General Du will send troops to help if he can't."
Ai Huaiguang sat cross-legged on the ground like a soldier, waving his hands and saying: "Brothers lived a good life in Guanzhong, but were recruited by the general to eat roots and skin in this post city."
"The general said that after we are beaten out and the brothers can eat a lot of meat and fish, he will take me to eat bear paws; but as long as we are in this city, whatever the brothers eat, we father and son will eat what is left in the pot, as long as We are not starving to death, so you don’t have to worry about starving to death.”
As he said that, Ai Huaiguang turned his head to the south, which is the direction of the rebel camp outside the city: "If I am going to starve to death, I will go out and catch two thieves for you to eat."
Amid the applause of the sergeants, Qi Shuangquan looked at the high-spirited Ai Huaiguang and realized.
People say that Ai's family has three generations of generals, and each generation has brought their sons with them in the army.
In the past, Qi Shuangquan always felt that father and son soldiers still had the courage to go into battle, while father and son generals seemed useless in going into battle, and they would be wiped out once they died.
But today his mind changed.
It is really useful for a general to have his son in the army.
The son can do what the soldier doesn't want to do; the son can eat what the soldier doesn't want to eat.
The general's son has eaten it, so what can't the soldiers do? The general's son has eaten it, and it's delicious, so what can't they eat?
Ai Huaiguang walked back to the gate tower of the south gate at night. The morale of the sergeants had been greatly boosted. The rebels fired a few more shells at the city, which troubled him very much.
'Can't this thief run out of gunpowder? '
The roof of the city gate building was covered with dust from cannonballs. When he walked into the city gate building, Aimu was covering his rice bowl with a military book and waving his hand to drive away the falling dust in front of him.
"Ahem... Huaiguang, how is your military morale?"
Ai Huaiguang cupped his fists and said, "Father, your military spirit is available."
This made Aimu feel relieved. He blew away the dirt on the chair and sat down again. He sighed without knowing what he thought of, then smiled and took away the military book covering his rice bowl.
With the shallow soup base in the bowl and the two stamped square skins, Aimu smiled and said, "I should have listened to you, I really can't bite."
Huaiguang glanced into the bowl, showing an embarrassed look as if he wanted to laugh but didn't dare. Then he said seriously: "General, you have to put your health first. If it's skin and grass, let the children eat it."
Ai Mu chuckled and said: "Your father is in very good health and can kill a cow with one punch. If your grandfather's military exploits hadn't overshadowed the general, I would have taken the martial arts examination like your uncle Yuhua." "
"These pieces of skin can't kill me."
When the word death was mentioned, Aimu was obviously stunned.
When his father Ai Yingzhao was still alive, Ai Mu never thought that one day he would die.
I always thought I had unlimited time to do whatever I wanted to do.
But when his father died, it was as if a stopped hourglass was suddenly turned upside down, containing the rest of his time.
He could clearly see the end of his life.
Like a big hand behind his back, pushing the person forward and making him look back for fear of leaving the doll behind.
Ai Huaiguang didn't understand his sudden silence. He just cupped his fists and asked, "General, what's wrong?"
"Huaiguang..."
Aimu shook his head, took a deep breath to adjust his mood, and said seriously: "Sergeants must treat each other with sincerity. Some things can be concealed, but some things must not be concealed."
"As a father, you can tell the soldiers that we have enough rations to last until next month."
In fact, their food supply is very tight. Even if they follow the rations that cannot guarantee their combat effectiveness, they can only last for half a month.
Because the sauce and vinegar are not enough.
Without sauce, there is no salt, without salt... After fifteen days, the entire team will become soft-footed shrimps.
Moreover, Du Wenhuan and Ai Mu were not sure whether Du Wenhuan had the courage to lead troops to help.
Being able to get Ai Wannian to bring troops means that the incense in the Ai family's ancestral graves this year has not been burned in vain.
It's just that Ai Wannian may not be able to leave now, so about reinforcements... Ai Mu actually doesn't expect reinforcements in his heart.
"But you can't lie to the soldiers and say that a father and a soldier eat the same food, when in fact they eat different things."
Ai Mu pointed at Ai Huaiguang and said with a smile on his face: "In your opinion, this is a trivial matter, but in the eyes of the soldiers, it is an insult. According to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, soldiers and civilians beat their own officers, and if they do it for themselves, Humiliation is innocent, do you want your father to be beaten?"
As the moonlight shone on the earth, the sound of fighting came again from the west of the city.
This time the battle lasted longer and was more intense.
Aimu hurriedly walked out of the city gate tower. He saw that this time, the bandits outside the city made no move, and the troops besieging the east side were still firmly in place.
This made him frown.
Immediately afterwards, a sergeant from the city wall ran quickly and reported to him: "General! General Zhang Qian of the outpost led his troops to rush into the enemy formation and pushed back the enemy troops in the west of the city for two miles. Now they are walking along the pontoon bridge on the moat to the west gate. The door cannot be opened. ?”
"Open the door quickly, what are you waiting for?"
"He, their luggage was stopped by thieves!"
