The next day Ma Maoguan took the team on the road.
He had heavy dark circles under his eyes after not sleeping all night, and he didn't talk to anyone on the road.
Even when his brother-in-law asked him where the military commander and the commander-in-chief had gone, he ignored him and just said that he was asked to run an errand.
Last night, he thought about many things.
I first thought that if I could work under the governor's door, I might be able to find a wife in this life.
If he wants to find a career under the military commander, he may be responsible for the glory of the old Ma family. .
It’s not just about getting promoted and making a fortune, it’s even about... ideals.
In the second half of the night, Ma Maoguan lay on the soft bed in the official room of Yicheng, thinking about many things.
I want to one day earn myself a fifth-grade general with martial virtue, and create a fifth-grade royal wife for my wife and my old mother who is blind at home.
Thinking back to when I was young and could not use farm tools, I already knew that Guan Yunchang, Yue Pengju and Wen Tianxiang wanted to be like that kind of people most, who were loyal, courageous and powerful.
He definitely doesn't want to be a thief in the gutter when he grows up.
Ma Maoguan walked at the front of the team and said to his brother-in-law: "I don't want to be a thief anymore."
Qi Shuangquan didn't react at all, but said thoughtfully: "I listen to my brother-in-law."
This made Ma Maoguan very relieved. For a moment, he didn't bother to ask Qi Shuangquan why he was in a low mood, he only thought about the next step.
He had to think about how to avoid being hacked to death by Liu Chengzong.
This is difficult.
Just when Ma Maoguan was still worried, Qi Shuangquan, who looked worried, finally made up his mind and said to him: "Brother-in-law, I don't know whether I should tell you or not. Someone seemed to have touched the seal of the cash box last night."
"Has anyone tampered with the seal?"
Ma Maoguan stopped, his face changed drastically, and asked: "Did you see clearly?"
Qi Shuangquan shook his head and said, "I'm not sure either. I've been thinking about it for a long time. I'm afraid something might happen so I'll tell you."
"Yesterday I was joking with Lao Qi to see if we could move a box of silver. I remember that the word "安" on the seal of the box had ink stains like two dots."
"But I can't find the box today. It's all a dot. Lao Qi also saw it, but he can't read."
Ma Maoguan was trembling all over: "Stop the team and look for it again. If you don't find it, open the box."
Breaking the seal without authorization is a capital offense, and opening the box is naturally a capital offense.
Qi Shuangquan said quickly: "Brother-in-law, what if I made a mistake?"
He was just worried and had no other choice, so he told Ma Maoguan about the matter, but he didn't expect Ma Maoguan to react so violently.
Unknown to Qi Shuangquan, Ma Maoguan thought of another possibility.
Maybe there is no such thing as pie-in-the-sky good things in this world. What if the money has been taken away, but the blame is placed on him?
The thought made him fall into an ice cave.
"Are you sure the seal has been tampered with?"
With his family and life at stake, Ma Maoguan couldn't keep his temper and circled around twenty carriages, which made the officers and soldiers who came from Guanzhong nervous for a while.
When word spread in the team that the seal might have been tampered with, everyone panicked.
People gathered around the silver box, ranging from whispers to complaints.
In the steep and deep valley of Yangchang, between the continuous mountains of Yiyuan, five hundred men panicked because of a paper seal.
"Open it."
Ma Maoguan's voice was extremely firm, his whole body was shaking uncontrollably, and his eyes were fixed on the silver box.
"Brother-in-law, I don't know, just open the seal..."
"You will die if you don't open it." Ma Maoguan turned his head and glared at his brother-in-law, and said very quickly: "There is no money in it. Will Liu Shihui let us go? He can still bear the responsibility of losing the silver box!"
During this period of time, his mind was spinning rapidly. This thing looked good everywhere, but turned into a pitfall everywhere.
Qi Shuangquan gritted his teeth and reached out to touch the seal. Just when he was about to open the seal, Ma Maoguan jumped on the carriage and shouted to everyone around him: "Brothers, listen to me."
The surroundings gradually became quiet.
He wiped his chin viciously and said to everyone: "Now that the matter is over, if there is silver in the box and the seal is broken, we will not be able to repay it, so we will divide the silver twice and return to Jinsuoguan. Those who are unwilling to leave home will only say that the silver has been stolen." Liu Chengzong snatched it away."
"If you are willing to leave home, take your family and deceive the Golden Lock Pass and flee into northern Shaanxi. If there is no money in it and the officer is putting the blame on us, then follow me and join Liu Shizi. We will not let him have an easy time by putting the blame on me!"
Everyone was silent, no one dared to raise his head, and then the seal was torn open.
Ma Maoguan sighed heavily and pushed the wooden box filled with rubble to the ground with all his strength. The people carrying the cart and horses stood up in shock.
The crowd was boiling like hot oil splashed with water.
Then one seal after another was opened, and box after box of rubble was dumped to the ground.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Ma Maoguan covered his forehead and paced among the rubble. Suddenly he raised his hand: "Guanyin, Guanyin is in Yichuan."
"You all wait here for me, don't go anywhere!"
After that, Ma Maoguan just asked his brother-in-law to restrain the soldiers, unhooked the four horses from the carriage, mounted them and galloped towards the north.
The Lion Camp is waiting at the junction of Yan'an Prefecture and Yanzhou.
Nearly two hundred miles apart, Ma Maoguan forcibly changed horses at three post stations along the way: Zhaidao, Sanchuan, and Fucheng. He met Liu Chengzong at noon.
When we met, it was as if we were meeting our savior.
"General Liu, the official bank is not here!"
Ma Maoguan's ideal of taking the right path was once again shattered, and he could only run to Liu Chengzong for help.
Liu Chengzong was not as angry as he imagined. He just asked him to tell the story in detail with an expressionless face. After thinking about it for a while, he asked: "If you think too much, maybe Bing Beidao just wants to bypass me. I don't believe you guys." Guanzhong soldiers, what should we do?"
Liu Chengzong thinks this is very likely.
If Zhang Yundeng wanted to use this to frame Ma Maoguan, it makes no sense.
If it hadn't been for seeing him yesterday, Zhang Yundeng wouldn't even know who Ma Maoguan is, and why would he frame him?
If you want to pass the blame, just pass it to the Lion Battalion. Liu Chengzong, such a big and golden sign, has lost two generals. Is it too much to grab some money?
There is no need to come up with this set of things to frame a small person like Ma Maoguan.
Liu Chengzong felt that the biggest problem in this matter was that Zhang Yundeng did not expect that a tool would actually have a mind of its own and dare to break the seal without authorization.
Liu Chengzong cared more about why Zhang Yundeng did this than the matter itself.
Normally, Zhang Yunden should be worried about Yanchuan. After all, he defeated Aimu in Yanchuan last time.
But Zhang Yundeng deliberately gave up Yan'an Fucheng and walked exclusively to Yichuan and Yanchuan.
Liu Chengzong didn't understand why.
Did someone leak the information?
But it shouldn't be.
Liu Chengzong thought about it, he only had Ma Maoguan as an internal agent in the Yunyin Team, and Ma Maoguan would never expose himself.
What's more, even if Zhang Yunden knew that Ma Maoguan was an inside agent, he should not continue to let him lead the team forward. He also had to specifically check whether he was the one who robbed the food. If so, he would ask Ma Maoguan and others to give up resistance.
This is very strange.
Liu Chengzong wondered whether the government had grasped the situation in which his father and brother and Mr. Yang of Yan'an Prefecture were estranged from Zhang Nian?
Then Yan'an Prefecture is not safe.
Just when he was thinking about this, Tangqi came to report that in Zhiluo Town in the southwest, Li Laochai led his troops to the west. He said that he didn't have any share of the money anyway, and he was going to Qingyang Mansion. Attack Heshui County.
Liu Chengzong also wanted to go, because he didn't have much food and grass.
But in front of me, the money in this village rather than this store is more important.
After thinking about it carefully, I don't think this is a bad thing for him. At least this situation shows that the government has no intention of ambushing him for the time being.
At most, it would just make him take the blame.
Otherwise, Zhang Yundeng would not have to look forward and backward on the route.
On the contrary, it is still a good opportunity.
Now there are two Yunyin teams.
One person can only rob one in a short time. If Liu Chengzong robbed the silver transport team in Yanzhou, then Ai Mu's servants can rob the silver transport team in Yichuan.
Thinking of this, he felt quite happy, and asked Cao Yao to take Feng Yushao to the east first, and then sent Yang Yao to take Wang Wenxiu to Yanzhou to confirm that the silver box containing the gravel mentioned by Ma Maoguan was there.
As for himself, he stayed in the middle and watched for problems on both sides. If there was a problem, he would rush to help as soon as possible.
The next day, the Lion Battalion first confirmed that Ma Maoguan was not lying, and then seriously comforted Ma Maoguan and promised to reward him with the entire team's 10,000 taels if he could succeed later and had 130,000 taels.
However, he needs to figure out how to deal with Jinsuoguan by himself. When his family comes back, the Lion Camp will still provide him with some land.
Liu Chengzong didn't know Ma Maoguan's psychological struggle, but he thought that this man was not bad. Even if he was like this, he still knew how to come to him.
Immediately, the lion leader moved northward outside the city, and then headed eastward.
If the south is false, he can rush to the east as quickly as possible;
He vaguely felt that the huge sum of 130,000 taels was a lot for the imperial court to send thousands of people to guard. But if Ma Maoguan and others were removed, there would be less than 500 people left. As long as this money was targeted, it would be almost useless. It's like gone.
The imperial court should not be so wealthy yet.
On the way, he was still confused as to where the officers and soldiers had the courage to divide their forces. He had only been active in Yanchuan some time ago.
On the evening of the second day when Ma Maoguan set off, Liu Chengzong arrived in Yanchang County, and on the third day he arrived in Yanchuan County, looking at the road leading to Yanchang County from a distance.
On the fourth day, He Yong from the north came.
At this time, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Yansui, who was far away in Yulin Town, also received news from Zhang Yundeng asking for help.
Hong Chengchou was the governor of Yansui who had just taken office in June. However, he had served in Shaanxi for many years and was familiar with frontier officers, but he could not care about it for the time being.
Neither he nor Du Wenhuan paid attention, they were busy treating Wang Zuoguan to dinner.
This news was brought by He Yong. He Yong came over to persuade him and said: "Lion, you must not be provoked. Now that Wang Zuogao is staying in Suide, he is still looting excessively. Hong Chengchou, the governor of Yansui, does not like it." Someone who can knead into the sand.”
"I'm not a person who can rub sand into my eyes. What does that mean?"
He Yong carefully looked left and right, and then whispered: "Du Wenhuan is being mobilized from the north to go south. I heard from the general that if Wang Zuogao continues to loot like this, his life may not be saved."
What He Yong means is that Yansui Town is sending troops to Suide and Yuhe Fort is in the north of Suide. The Lion Camp should be careful.
If Du Wenhuan finishes dealing with Wang Zuoguai or even doesn't deal with Wang Zuoguai, and directly leads his army southward, He Yong will not have time to report the news.
Liu Shizi had already seen the strange situation in Shaanxi in the Tangbao residence. The governors of the three sides were people who wanted to appease, while Hong Chengchou was a person who wanted to destroy.
The two of them are no longer fighting secretly, they are fighting openly, one wants to appease the other.
When Liu Chengzong led his army to Yanchuan, Tangqi sent by Cao Yao to the south still didn't reply, which even made Liu Shizi think that he had gone astray.
Fortunately, on the sixth day, forward Tang Qi finally ran into an army scout from Yanzhou, and the two sides started fighting in a place called Yunyan Town.
There were more than 400 officers and soldiers. The only one who arrived at the battlefield first from the Lion Battalion was Wei Qian'er's more than 100 Tangqi.
But people like Wei Qian'er have experienced many battles, and their actual combat experience is no worse than that of the Yanzhou officers and soldiers.
Then Liu Chengzong led a hundred cavalrymen to rush to the battlefield, climbed to the top of the mountain and looked through the telescope.
The terrain here is that the valley flows from northwest to southeast. The west bank is slightly wider, with more than a hundred steps; the east bank is narrower, with only more than 60 steps.
It seems that the officers and soldiers of the Yunyin Brigade used the mountain wall on the east bank of the river to shade themselves from the sun in the morning.
This group is using dozens of riders to cover the river bank, protecting the carriage in the middle, and the infantry wearing armor on the outside, trying to get across the Yunyan River, which is as shallow as the calf.
Wei Qian'er's Tangqi was on several mountain ridges east of Hexi and Hexi, and drove the Tangqi soldiers down the ridges with more and less enemies.
Liu Chengzong was happy to see this situation. A while ago, he was still thinking in his mind that the summer temperature determines the shape of the war, which is to expand the controllable area and activity space of the army.
Give armored soldiers a chance to rotate into units, replenish fluids and get rest.
At this moment, the actions of the officers and soldiers reminded Liu Chengzong that he had ignored a very important point during the day, the sun.
The temperature and glaring sunlight of midsummer can cause armored infantrymen to quickly suffer from dehydration and heatstroke, and can also make it difficult for archers to aim.
It was past noon and the sun was setting to the west, so whoever captured the west bank of the river would have the upper hand in the afternoon battle.
Seeing that the troops behind him were still marching and it would take some time to reach the battlefield, Liu Chengzong ordered the servants: "It is said that the servants are wearing armor and are harassing them. They are not allowed to cross the river!"
After issuing this order, Liu Chengzong added to Zhong Bao: "Fan Sanlang stays here."
The captains of the two teams of servants happily accepted the order. The sergeants put on their armor and then rode into formation. Under the envious eyes of Fan Sanlang, who was wearing a helmet and carrying armor, they waded across the river from the northeast of the battlefield and galloped away from the west bank to the south of the battlefield. .
"Why doesn't General let me go? Why, I've been practicing for two months!"
Sleeping on the back of a mule after practicing for two months?
The entire servant team regards Kowtow Saburo as a treasure. If this little guy is killed on the battlefield, his servant team can charge directly towards the enemy.
Liu Chengzong glanced at her, turned his head and continued to observe the battlefield expressionlessly, with a serious tone: "You can protect me."
Fan Sanlang's face turned red from suppressing it, and he was speechless by these words.
She is not the fool that Wei Qian'er was when she first joined the Lions Camp. She wanted to challenge Liu Chengzong to a duel on the first day.
She had already inquired about it.
It's hard to say where Liu Shishi's martial arts ranks in the camp. There are too many people to compare him with.
But it is generally accepted that in the battle of Jingjiagou in the early days of the Lion Camp, Liu Shizi relied on his skill with bow and horse to turn a defeat into a great victory.
Fan Sanlang especially wants to ask: Do you still use people to protect you?
Finally, she laughed in anger, snorted, and stood aside obediently, listening to Liu Chengzong explain to her why he wanted to seize the West Bank.
The officers and soldiers also discovered this galloping horse team and quickly asked dozens of horsemen in the team to cross the river to seize the river bank position and allow the troops to move across.
The left team led by the Han brothers separated fifty or sixty steps, opened up the horizontal team and shot arrows towards the river bank.
The right team was surrounding them, riding in groups of three or five, waiting for an opportunity to engage with the enemy cavalry who came to block them. They were six or seven steps apart, raising their muskets and letting out bursts of gunpowder smoke.
