"Sir, the front is Hutou Village." Wang Tong retreated from the front of the team to Li Huaixin and Guo Binchang.
"Send the order and let the whole army rest in place for half an hour." Li Huaixin, who was riding on horseback, ordered.
"Yes." The messenger Xiaoqi agreed and ran to deliver the general's order.
Guo Binchang, who was sitting in the sedan, opened the curtain in front of the sedan window and said to Li Huaixin: "Since we have arrived at Hutou Village, why don't the army go up the mountain?"
Li Huaixin got off the horse and handed it over to the soldiers beside him. He then said: "There are a lot of bandits on Hutou Village Mountain. They will not be willing to surrender and will definitely defend and resist. The bandits are waiting for work, but we are from the county seat." Come here, we are tired, I will let the army rest for half an hour to allow the soldiers to recover their strength."
After hearing this explanation, Guo Binchang didn't say anything.
He lowered the curtain in front of the sedan window, asked the bearer to stop pressing the sedan, and walked out of the sedan.
The soldiers guarding the main camp fell to the ground in a mess, not caring about the wet mud on the ground rubbing against them.
Marching twenty miles all the way was a hardship for the soldiers who had not trained for a long time. If the ground was not so cold, many of the soldiers would want to lie on the mud and not get up.
Before dispatching troops, the garrison camp only brought one meal of dry food, which was already eaten by the time they passed through Dongshan. Many soldiers had to go to the river east of Hutou Village, break open the thin layer of ice on it, and get water from it. drink.
Guo Binchang and Li Huaixin had two thousand households. Naturally, they would not drink the ice water directly from the river. There were soldiers who made fires and drank the boiled river water.
When the bandits guarding the foot of the mountain discovered the officers and soldiers, they immediately passed the news back to Hutou Village.
Half an hour passed quickly, and the resting soldiers were driven up by their respective flag officers, regrouped, and began to climb the mountain road.
Xu Laosi led the thugs from the Xujia iron yard and walked in front of the officers and soldiers.
The Dwarf Tiger who was once the head of Hutou Village was from the Xu family. Xu Laosi had been to Hutou Village once and was quite familiar with the roads here.
There is a road leading to the mountain behind Hutou Village, which was naturally not spared by the officers and soldiers. Li Huaixin sent two general banners to guard the road to the back mountain.
The mountain road leading to Hutou Village is not difficult to walk. The road has been widened and there are drainage ditches on both sides. There is no problem for large vehicles to walk on it.
The mountain road was paved with cinders and gravel. Although it had just snowed, it was not difficult to walk at all. There was no wet mud sticking to your feet. It was easier to walk than the official road at the foot of the mountain.
"The bandits in Hutou Village have too much money to spend on building such a good mountain road,"
"Thankfully you are still from the iron yard. Who doesn't know that Hutou Village's iron yard in Dongshan earns money in vain every day? Building a road for yourself is nothing."
"His grandma is a group of bandits from the mountains. They didn't go out to rob and plunder honestly. They even opened an iron farm and became the proprietor. The business of the iron farm is so good that it is better than our Xu family."
"I heard that the bandits in Hutou Village didn't need to rob at all. The passing caravans took the initiative to give them money, which seemed to be called safe money."
"Yes, yes, I've heard about this too. Look at how comfortable it is for someone to work as a bandit. While collecting money from passing caravans, he can also make a lot of money by driving the iron yard."
"It feels good. I have offended some of our big ironworks proprietors in Dongshan. This will not only provoke the government and the army."
The Xu family's thug who was leading the way kept talking as he walked up the mountain.
Compared with the soldiers in the camp who were underfed, the thugs raised by the Xu family in the iron yard were well fed and slept well. They were fat and energetic.
There are many large trees that are more than ten years old in the woods on both sides of the mountain road in Hutou Village. Because of the cold weather in winter, all the leaves on them have fallen off. However, there are some people hiding inside, and it is difficult for people walking on the mountain road to find them.
At this time, a group of people were hiding in the woods.
A short wandering bandit ran over from the direction of the mountain road and whispered: "Coming, coming, the army will be here soon, get ready."
As his voice fell, Wang Yuncheng, the archer captain who led the team this time, said: "Quick, all the archers are ready, aim at the mountain road, wait for the archers from the official army to approach, fire a volley, and then immediately return to the mountain along the path. .”
The archer hiding in the forest picked up the long bow, drew the bow string, and aimed the arrow at the mountain road up the mountain.
The sound of footsteps and horse hooves gradually spread into the forest, and at the same time, there were also chaotic voices.
The thugs from the Xujia Iron Farm walked past the edge of the forest, and an officer from Baihu who followed behind said, "If I were a bandit from Hutou Village, I would definitely set up an ambush in this forest."
The commander-in-chief on the side smiled and said: "The mountains are just a group of bandits who have been left without food. They don't know the art of war. Besides, with the people of the Xu family in front, even if the bandits on the mountain make any moves, they will be dealt with first."
Two men and horses from a hundred households walked past the forest, and the only archer from the official army appeared in a group.
Hundreds of people had passed in front of them, but nothing happened. No one thought that there would be people hiding in the woods. The archers in the army carried their bows and arrows on their backs and put their hands into their sleeves to keep warm.
At this moment, a rain of arrows suddenly fell from the sky, densely packed.
"Enemy attack, enemy attack."
A soldier shouted loudly, but he only yelled twice. An arrow penetrated from his mouth, and the arrowhead was exposed through the back of his head, killing him on the spot.
There was no cover on the mountain road, so the soldiers in the army had no choice but to jump into the drainage ditch on the side of the mountain road and get covered in mud.
In just one round of arrow rain, most of the archers of a general banner were killed or injured. Many of the surviving archers were injured and could not continue to draw their bows and shoot arrows. Moreover, not many survived, only a dozen or so, intact. Five.
Most of the arrows fell on the archers' heads, and soldiers who were too close to the archers were hit by arrows.
Suddenly attacked, many soldiers in the army became confused and hid everywhere.
Walking behind the general flag of the archers was Guo Binchang's sedan. Two arrows hit the sedan, so frightened that the bearer fell to the ground, and Guo Binchang fell out of the sedan.
Guo Binchang, who got up from the ground, was about to scold the sedan bearer, but when he saw the tragic situation of the archer not far in front of him, he couldn't help but hold the sedan door and vomited.
Li Huaixin reacted very quickly. The moment he saw the rain of arrows, he turned over, jumped off his horse, and hid behind his mount.
After waiting for a while, he found that no more arrows were coming, and then he left his mount and bowed close to Guo Binchang's sedan.
Guo Binchang, who had been vomiting for a while, stopped vomiting now, but his face was pale and there was a lot of vomit stuck to the hem of his official uniform.
"Master Guo, are you okay?" Li Huaixin asked in a low voice.
Guo Binchang waved his hand, gasped and said, "I, I really don't have the strength. Mr. Li, can you give me a hand?"
Only then did Li Huaixin notice that Guo Binchang's legs were trembling and half of his body was leaning on the sedan.
