Chapter 100, Surprise Attack on Pingshun Camp
At dawn, Xi Xingchen and Lian Yutang led a dozen people to Huangjia'ao, where Pingshun Camp was stationed. Among the group of people, there was an old man who stood out.
The old man is the old shopkeeper of the Crow Pavilion. If Duan Fei could see the old man, he would find that the old shopkeeper was the old man who robbed him of a donkey cart of wine last night.
The old shopkeeper was originally named Jiang Yuanying. He was a gangster when he was young. Later, he was subdued by Ximen Zhaixing and joined the Mo family. He joined the "Shadow Hall", a killer organization founded by Ximen Zhaixing. As he got older, he lived a semi-retired life. , opened this Crow House in Wanxian Ghost Street.
A person who shouldn't be there appears in a place where he shouldn't be, and there seems to be a strong smell of conspiracy in the air.
It turned out that after Xi Xingchen and the others left the residence of the county magistrate Wang Bozhen, they felt that it would be troublesome for the three of them to go to Duan Derong alone, so on Lian Yutang's suggestion, the three of them went to the Crow Pavilion.
The Mo family was traveling in the world, and the future great son of the Mo family came to visit for the first time. As the shopkeeper of Crow Crow, and as a senior, the old shopkeeper felt that he had to express himself no matter what.
So, an unlucky old man, pulling a donkey cart filled with fine wine, appeared in front of the wrong people at the wrong time, in the wrong place, and was robbed of a cart full of the wrong wine.
"Old shopkeeper, is your Mongolian and Chinese medicine good?" Lian Yutang asked the old shopkeeper with some worry.
"Whether my medicine works or not, you will know if you go in and take a look." The old shopkeeper said with some displeasure.
The entrance to Pingshun Camp is a heavy gate with watchtowers on both sides of the gate. Bright flags are hung on tall flagpoles with a large Chinese character "Yan" embroidered on them.
Normally, there would always be groups of soldiers patrolling in front of the gate. Today, it seemed a bit surprising. Not only was there no one patrolling in front of the military camp, but even the two soldiers standing guard in front of the gate were holding long guns and leaning against the gate with their necks crooked. He was fast asleep in the corner, snoring loudly.
Xi Xingchen patted the sentry's face and found that the two sentries were sleeping like dead pigs. He couldn't help giving a thumbs up to the old shopkeeper and said: "Old shopkeeper, you are really awesome."
The old shopkeeper smiled and said humbly: "It's a small trick that makes the little giant laugh."
Pushing open the door of the military camp, you can see rows of barracks. The barracks were simple wooden buildings, each housing one or more soldiers.
At this time, it was the time for morning exercises. Normally, the wake-up call would be ringing in the entire military camp. Through the windows of the barracks, you could see the busy figures of the soldiers in each barracks. But at this moment, the entire barracks was as silent as death.
Seeing this scene, Xi Xingchen and Lian Yutang could imagine with their toes that after Duan Derong returned to the camp with the soldiers of Pingshun Camp, they killed sheep for meat and drank wine that night.
Since they killed two sheep at once and had a cart full of wine, excluding those who stayed on duty in the county, the eighty-odd people who stayed in Pingshun Camp were all given half a catty of mutton and half a catty of wine. As a result, the entire Pingshun Camp was infected. .
Since Wang Dabao had been to Pingshun Camp, under the leadership of Wang Dabao, Xi Xingchen and others quickly arrived at the door of the barracks where Duan Derong lived.
When he opened the door of the barracks, he saw Duan Derong and several of his cronies lying on the ground in a mess.
"He is Commander-in-Chief Duan Derong of Pingshun Camp." Wang Dabao pointed at the officer lying on the table with a leg of lamb in his hand.
Duan Derong was the highest officer of the Pingshun Battalion. Duan Fei and several of his cronies flattered him and offered him rounds of wine, so Duan Derong drank the most and slept the most.
"What are you going to do with this person?" Lian Yutang asked, looking at Duan Derong who was sleeping like a dead pig.
Seeing this scene, Xi Xingchen couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
The secret scroll given by Wang Bozhen recorded Wang Bozhen's request for Pingshun Battalion to send troops to suppress the bandits of Huangfeng Village.
As a person involved, Xi Xingchen certainly knew who the Huangfengzhai bandits mentioned in the secret scroll were. After all, if Wang Dabao hadn't dug a tunnel in advance, would they have been able to survive the double attack of Duan Derong's cannon and crossbow? Retreat is not yet known.
Although there is no record of how much benefit Duan Derong received from the bandits of Huangfeng Village, Xi Xingchen saw from Wang Bozhen's willingness to pay 100,000 taels of silver for his life that Duan Derong must have received a lot of benefits from the bandits of Huangfeng Village. Otherwise, he wouldn't have to risk his family's confiscation and annihilation, and would be willing to use his troops for banditry.
Originally, the original intention of Xi Xingchen, Lian Yutang, and Wang Dabao to come to Pingshun Camp was to take Duan Derong's head.
Now the entire Pingshun camp has become lambs to be slaughtered. As long as they want, they can kill the entire Pingshun camp without anyone noticing.
But Xi Xingchen couldn't afford the consequences of killing all the Pingshun camp.
You must know that although the Pingshun Battalion is a disaster for Xiangli, it cannot change the fact that they are regular troops of the imperial court.
To destroy a regular army of the imperial court, no matter how rampant the bandits in Huangfeng Village were in Wan County, they would rather spend some money to get close to the Pingshun camp than dare to do so.
Because the entire army was wiped out, the Dayan court must be shocked. By then, a large army will be pressing down on the border and tying down the entire Huangfeng Village.
Naturally, Xi Xingchen also didn't dare to do things that even the bandits in Huangfeng Village didn't dare to do.
When Xi Xingchen caught the truth about the collusion between the county magistrate Wang Bozhen and Hua Shuixin, he only extorted one hundred thousand taels of silver from Wang Bo without killing him.
It is a capital crime to kill an official of the imperial court.
Moreover, the state has national laws and families have family rules. Although Xi Xingchen is a member of the Mo family, to Dayan, he is still just an ordinary citizen. He has no right to deal with anyone in Dayan, let alone anyone in Dayan. The imperial court appointed an official.
Previously, the predecessor of Xi Xingchen's body killed Dai Andong, the magistrate of Wan County, in a rage, and then drowned himself in the river to atone for his crime.
Wang Bozhen's affairs are different from Dai Andong's.
Because Dai Andong colluded with the Yao family and killed Dong Liangce's family. Wang Bozhen may have done something like this before, but since he didn't experience it personally, Xi Xingchen didn't have such a strong sense of involvement, so he couldn't do it.
In the same way, although Duan Derong colluded with the bandits in Huangfeng Village, Xi Xingchen could collect evidence of his crime and hand it over to Wu Zhiyuan, the magistrate who arrived soon, but he really couldn't do anything to Duan Derong.
Xi Xingchen couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.
At night in Pingshun Camp, the tents under the moonlight are filled with the aroma of Mongolian and Chinese medicine. Xi Xingchen and his companions lurked quietly, waiting for their prey to be caught. Their target, the entire Pingshun Battalion soldiers, have now become lambs to be slaughtered.
Before coming, Xi Xingchen's heart was filled with cruelty and violence.
After all, anyone who is bombarded for no reason will not feel much better.
But when Duan Derong, the culprit, really appeared in front of him, he could kill him with just one knife.
