Ma Jiu turned around, and several people wearing water jackets came forward and knelt down on one knee with the smell of river water:
"Master Ma, Second Master, we went to the other side and divided into two roads. We walked all the way to the front of the camp. From a distance, we saw soldiers and horses coming from the east entering the camp and the soldiers and horses in the camp walking out. I don't know why.
A group of people also went to the pier to check. There were eleven sampans and three sand boats moored, and there seemed to be about forty or fifty people guarding them. There are two sentries on the pier, and the defense is very loose.
Listening to the chatter of the sentry, it seems that someone else will be transferred soon to take over. There is a small water village a hundred steps away from the dock. It seems that the boatmen and sailors live there. "
"Do you want to take down the water village as well?" Mr. Zhu looked at Ma Jiu.
"No, our goal is the dock and the ship, and we don't care about the rest. Without these two, the people in the water village will be useless!" Ma Jiu judged that if there was a disturbance or a fight, it might affect the plan to seize the ship, so he dropped it This kind of thought.
"Okay, I understand. Now that I'm going to get a boat, please inform Tan Ying Zheng and they will prepare to board the boat as soon as possible. I estimate that it will take four round trips to send them all over!"
After saying that, Mr. Zhu clasped his fists and raised his hands, and Ma Jiu also clasped his fists and wished him immediate success. Second Master Zhu left with his men and quickly disappeared into the night.
The pond is always the most lively place in summer, with the sounds of insects and frogs chirping one after another, the occasional sound of fish jumping out of the water, and the murmuring of various birds in the grass.
A small green snake crawled cautiously. It stared at the movement in front of it. It was a lizard that came out to hunt for food at night. But the snake didn't know that on the canopy above its head, an owl was impatiently tilting its paws backwards, wondering what it would eat tonight. Which can't make up its mind.
Suddenly, all this was interrupted by noisy voices. A large string of torches are coming from far and near, and the procession is spectacular.
People happily walked through the paths, scattered into several branches on the field ridges, and then gathered in the ponds. These people discussed how they would eat well after seizing the food, and argued endlessly about how they would loot Guangxin after occupying it.
Almost all creatures were frightened by these bright torches, knives and guns, and the crops and reeds shook desperately, indicating that they were all scrambling to escape, running as far away from these rough and reckless men as possible.
The owl lost its goal of dinner and spread its wings in disappointment to fly to the quieter woods in the distance. Maybe there are more, fattier prey out there worth trying.
When it flew into the woods, it finally landed on a branch that seemed to have a good view. It looked around carefully, and its round eyes widened in surprise.
In the grass and behind the trees, people crouched with swords and guns, and some commanders and sentry officers in armor were whispering to each other in a low voice.
Looking at the torches and crowds getting closer and closer over there, the owl was finally a little disappointed. He was probably going to be hungry tonight.
It grunted twice in dissatisfaction, and suddenly saw someone holding a bow turning back and looking this way. It was so frightened that its fur almost stood on end, and it immediately did not dare to make any more noise.
Okay, as long as you don't cum on me, I'll see who wins and who loses in the end. That's okay, right?
The owl turned its little head and looked here and there, but no matter how it looked, there were not that many people in the forest, which made it a little worried for the people below.
Well, those guys who scared away my food are disgusting, but you can't defeat them with so few people. Can't you count them yourself?
At this time, a man bent over and ran silently, shouting in a low voice: "Brother Rang Rang, borrow it!"
He ran to a tall black shadow, and the shadow whispered: "Sunshine."
"Good luck!" The man replied, and the black shadow waved his hand and led him around to the low-lying area behind the two circles of curtains. The owl noticed that it was the only place with some light in the surrounding area. Because of the curtains, the owl would not have been able to reach it if it were not for the owl at a high place. , otherwise it cannot be seen.
"Sir, they are coming!" The man just knelt down on one leg and reported. There was a person leaning against the tree. He took off the scarf covering his face, and Li Dan's face was revealed in the sparse moonlight.
"Five thousand people?"
"We secretly captured a straggler. It is said that there are some people left in the village to supervise the civilian workers to load supplies. It is estimated that they will go down the mountain late as the rear group.
This part
There are less than 1,000 people, and the main force that has gone down the mountain is 5,000, but in fact there are only 4,000 old bandits, and the rest have been coerced or recruited in the past two months.
There were less than three thousand people going to Dayuandu, and the old bandit had about a thousand. It is said that the Lou family gave Dayuandu to Yintuo, and they were ordered to take it over. "
"How about inspection, now everything is right!" It turns out there is someone on the other side of the tree. At this time, I heard a horn blowing "woo woo" from the direction of the pond.
"The enemy must have discovered the retreating migrant workers and blew the horn to chase them." Zhao Jingzi finished speaking quietly and seemed to laugh.
"Xianfu, fortunately we adjusted in time, otherwise Maocai might not have had time to leave the city. Are all the teams in place?" Li Dan asked the sentry to go down to rest, turned his head and said behind him.
"Except for the fact that Daxia Shen and Douziwan went to select people and haven't reported back yet, the rest have arrived.
Oh, by the way, Shen Wu came back when you fell asleep, and he had completely handed over the winery affairs to Jia Mingjiu and Qin Jiuhu. I'm thinking about letting him monitor the enemy's stronghold in Dayuan? "
"Wait, I want to send Shen Wu elsewhere. I expect Yin Tuo will stop after suffering losses and wait until daybreak before attacking again, so I plan to let Shen Wu lead a few people to sneak into the enemy camp while they retreat!
You let him eat and drink first and rest for a while, then bring him to see me. "Speaking of Shen Wu, Li Dan suddenly thought: "Is there any news about Sanqianzi (Feng Shen)?"
"Not yet. I wonder if it's because it's inconvenient for the enemy to move here?"
"It doesn't matter. We just need to grasp the general direction when it comes to Lou Zi. It doesn't matter whether it's sooner or later. I judge that his father and son will withdraw their troops sooner or later. If we defeat Yin Tuo, he will have more reason to withdraw, right?"
"Well, even if he can take the opportunity to recruit some of Yin Tuo's troops, he won't be able to digest them for a while, and the military rations will be even more scarce. Even if he doesn't want to retreat, he will have to retreat!" Zhao Jingzi was obviously grinning, because his mouth was full of light under the moonlight. White teeth.
"Hey, Zhao Xianfu is getting better and better, not bad!"
The two of them looked back and saw Wu Mao walking out of the darkness. He smiled and cupped his hands: "I came back late, don't blame me for the inspection!"
"Where!" Li Dan hurriedly motioned to Mao Zaidi to bring him a mazaar and asked him to sit down, and asked, "How is the situation in the city?"
"Fortunately. More than 6,000 kilograms of food have been transported, and people's hearts have calmed down a bit. The bows, arrows, armors and weapons made the general very happy.
I explained to them that the fire guns and general guns were brought after defeating the enemy, as well as the twenty-odd gangsters and thieves we singled out who were burdened with blood debts. The prefect said that he would later clarify the canonical punishment and execute the law on the spot. In order to boost the morale of the people in the city. "
Li Dan nodded while listening. He knew that in addition to these, Wu Mao also handed over gold, silver and jewelry worth more than 4,000 taels of silver confiscated from various battles.
However, this wealth was transferred quietly, and the only people who knew about it were the prefect and the general.
"I heard that Yin Tuo came down the mountain and hurried back. Why, they are almost here?"
"Is there any problem with the city gate? Where are our civilians and vehicles?" Zhao Jingzi asked quickly.
"Don't worry, the city gate will be closed after we come out. There are nearly 300 civilians staying in the city, and they will help put the food into the warehouse. The rest have come out, and we are running fast in the carriage, with the torch behind us. There’s still a mile to go.”
"So, they must have seen you and came after you?" Zhao Jingzi stood up and walked up to a high place to see the current location of the fire dragon.
"Your bait is very good, Yin Tuo must be furious." Li Dan said with a smile: "Now they have to chase even more fiercely. Otherwise, all the food on the other side of the river will shrink back to Guangxin City, and they will have nothing in the bamboo basket." "
"Is the wall of your bridgehead strong enough? These are five thousand people. This is the first time we have faced so many enemy troops at the same time in a battle!" Wu Mao said, wiping the sweat from his head with his sleeves.
"You can bump your head against it yourself." Li Dan joked, and both of them laughed silently.
"Inspection, the enemy is still two hundred and fifty steps away from the fort wall!" Zhao Jingzi suddenly shouted softly from above.
"Hey, how do you know how far away he is in the middle of the night?" Wu Mao was surprised.
asked.
Li Dan led him up and explained: "He built a bag with stones two hundred steps away, and put a sign on it that read 'Tomb of the Invading Bandits.' Presumably It’s time for those guys to get in front of that sign.”
After speaking, he came to Zhao Jingzi's side, took the telescope from Mao Zaidi and looked at it. He didn't notice Wu Mao listening behind him, shaking his head at this childish behavior.
The camera was not very clear in the night, but fortunately the enemies were all wearing torches. With a "squeak" sound, a firework jumped into the air from the direction of the ferry, and then bloomed with a "pop".
The team at the foot of the mountain stopped and looked up. Under the illumination of the fireworks, everyone suddenly noticed the obviously tall pile of rocks in the middle of the road and the sign on it.
Some people boldly stepped forward and pointed, and then Li Dan saw a leader-looking man step forward, pull away the onlookers, and asked someone to use a torch to look up and down at the sign. Suddenly he pulled it out with a strange cry. Dao Lai swung the wooden sign into two pieces.
The people around him cheered, and then they became excited. They all raised their weapons and rushed toward the ferry along the ruts in the soil.
"Very good, the show is about to begin!" Zhao Jingzi murmured excitedly.
Wu Mao wondered in his mind, what kind of "good show" was he talking about? He used his binoculars to stare at the leader running at the front, and suddenly his eyes widened.
In the camera lens, it looks like a big hole has opened in the ground, and people are constantly being pushed and pushed by the crowd coming from behind and falling in. The cries and screams suddenly startled all kinds of birds and flew up from the grass and woods.
It wasn't until it was almost full that the people at the back realized something was wrong and hurriedly stopped. They faintly heard someone shouting: "Pull people up quickly and see how many people are still alive!" The people in the front stretched out their hands downwards, trying to pull out the wailing people inside. Companion pulled out.
"What kind of magic are you... using?" Wu Mao was so surprised that he couldn't even close his mouth.
"Where is the magic?" Zhao Jingzi chuckled: "I just asked Gu Da and others to dig a trench. Well, there are a lot of wooden stakes and bamboo sticks erected in it."
"Hiss...!" Wu Mao felt his hair standing on end. Before he could say his own comment, he suddenly heard the crackle of firecrackers below, and he couldn't help but tremble.
This trench happened to be about ninety steps away from the fort wall, and Zhao Jingzi had already walked through it himself when digging the trench in advance.
According to the agreement, as soon as the enemy fell in, it was a signal for Liu Hongsheng's men to shoot. The gunman immediately raised the gun and pulled the trigger, even skipping the platoon leader's whistle.
"General, the Second Platoon of Guns listens to the order, press the calibrated target, light and fire!" After the platoon leader on the gun platform gave the order, the igniter lit the fuse and then quickly jumped back two steps, squatted down and covered his ears. "boom"!
Due to the recoil caused by the shooting, the gun truck retreated backwards, but was pulled by the traction rope on the long spike driven into the ground in front. The wheels backed up a few steps and then rushed up to the dirt behind. Then they reached a certain height on the slope and stopped. , and moved forward again under the action of gravity, but was pulled by the traction rope that was also fixed on the long nail at the back. It could not move forward or backward, and it swung back and forth a few times before returning to the original place.
Six tow handlers immediately came over to hold it back in place and make sure that the tow rope was intact.
The filling team came and cleaned, brushed dry, inserted new charges and wood chips, inserted the pellets, punctured the packs and planted the fuse, and then the radiology team aimed, calculated, adjusted angles and heights, and finally yelled : "Ready to play!",
After the platoon leader gave the "ignition" command, the ignition hand came forward. This cycle goes on and on, and the entire platoon of fifteen people proceeds nervously and orderly.
But that's not all. There are five people in the transportation and ammunition squad in the audience who are responsible for transporting ammunition, towing and driving the carriage at any time.
Chen Sanwen stared at the movements of the general's gun and kept shaking his head. It was too complicated to operate with so many people, and the interval between the two launches was indeed relatively long as Li Sanlang said.
He felt dissatisfied in his heart. Li Sanlang was right. There should be a way for five or six people to operate a copper gun, and the interval between two launches could be shortened from one cup of tea to half a cup of tea, or even shorter. !
He stared intently at the firing of the general's musket and kept recording his thoughts. concentrate on others
During the battle, Chen Sanwen ran from one musket platoon to another, paying attention to observing and comparing their operations.
The general's musket was pre-set and aimed at the pile of rocks two hundred steps away, hitting the opponent's team who was still behind and didn't know what was happening in front.
Hearing the shouts and screams in front of him, he was still in shock, and the projectiles fell, instantly creating two alleys filled with flesh and blood.
Some people woke up and saw the miserable death of their comrades around them and the broken limbs everywhere in the firelight, and immediately screamed in horror. Someone turned around to escape and bumped into someone else.
At this moment, there were two more "bang, bang" sounds, and at the same time, the firecrackers fired again, and the team became more and more chaotic.
Fortunately, at this moment, there was a sound of gold ringing from behind, and everyone retreated as if they had been granted amnesty, abandoning the weapons, flags, and the groaning wounded along the way.
Yin Tuo in the back was confused. He and his soldiers were walking in the middle of the army and couldn't figure out what happened in the front team? He was shocked when he heard screams and gunshots, smelled blood and smoke.
Yingyingchuochuo saw from the firelight that there seemed to be a wall and some pillar-like things on the opposite side, and then someone came running to report that the front team had been attacked.
But... I don't know the situation, because no one dares to go over and find out. What happened? He angrily called to his lieutenant commander: "Deng Beard, go find someone who understands and ask what happened?"
It didn't matter if he didn't ask. After Deng Huzi's investigation, he ran back and reported to Yin Tuo in a low voice, which really shocked him.
"What did you say? In just a moment, more than 300 people were killed?" He was furious. Doesn't that mean that almost half of the vanguard was killed?
"Where is Chen Bandou? Why didn't he come to report? Doesn't he dare to come to see me?" Yin Tuo roared angrily and turned around to ask the leader of the personal security team to arrest him.
"General, don't bother. Chen Bandou was the first to fall into the trap and has already gone to hell." Deng Huzi told him softly.
"You bastard, damn it!" Yin Tuo cursed for a long time with his mouth bulging, and then asked: "Has anyone seen clearly what is going on on the other side?"
"They built a castle at the end of the bridge, with at least three or four towers, fire guns and two general guns."
"It's only been a few days, but they have time to build a fort? What nonsense! I think it's just a mud fence at most. Didn't Lou Shiyong say that they used bamboo as a fence in Nanshan?
These bitches were so frightened that they just made it up casually to please me! ” He finished cursing angrily and tapped his boots with the riding crop, which was his habit when thinking.
"Taoist Priest, do you think Lou Shiyong is hiding something and not telling us?" he finally asked.
"Probably not." The purple-robed Taoist priest shook his head while twirling his beard: "Of course it will be beneficial to the Lou family if we defeat this group of people. What good will it do to his family if we defeat them?"
The old Taoist thought for a moment and then said, "General Deng, has he asked how big the fort is?"
"Oh, I heard it's not big, just less than a hundred paces wide."
"What? Just such a small size?" Yin Tuo looked over in disbelief.
