Although Sha Zha Xiangru did not finish speaking, Fuyu Zhongsheng already understood what his subordinates meant. He thought for a moment: "Well, let's send light troops to test it out first, and then send a messenger to Zhouliu to report the situation here to the king. !”
"Yes, Prime Minister!"
Two days later.
Although it is already summer, the morning rain still feels chilly when it falls on my head. As the front commander, Wang Wenzuo set an example. He was the first to pick up a pickaxe and dig a trench. Half of the soldiers were on guard, and the remaining half dug trenches and built the trenches like Wang Wenzuo. After eating dry food at noon, the two sides replaced each other. In the evening , a fortified camp consisting of trenches, earthen ramparts, fences, and bamboo sticks has been completed. The tired Tang Army soldiers are sitting around the campfire, hot soup is boiling in the iron pot, and white smoke is emitting. A veteran stirred the iron pot with a spoon and began to fill the bowls that were stretched out with hot soup. The people who were served with soup began to eat dry food with the hot soup. For a moment, the barracks felt peaceful. The atmosphere comes.
Compared to the soldiers, the content in the iron pot in front of Wang Wenzuo was much richer. There were dried bamboo shoots, dried meat, mashed nuts, and millet. When cooked in the campfire, they gave off an alluring aroma.
"After digging the soil for a day, you are lucky if you can drink something warm!" Gu Cihang smiled and handed over his copper bowl: "Here, fill up a bowl of matba mat, I'm going to starve to death!"
"Why are you so anxious? It's not cooked yet!" Shen Faseng pushed Gu Cihang's bowl away and stirred the pot with a wooden spoon: "Wait a moment!"
"It doesn't matter if it's not cooked yet, just give it hot soup!"
Master Shen frowned and was about to say something when a long horn suddenly sounded in the distance. Gu Cihang dropped the bowl and subconsciously clenched the handle of the knife, and the whole camp began to boil. Wang Wenzuo stood up. As the horn sound receded and the wind stopped howling, the soldiers stood up silently, put down the bowls and chopsticks in their hands, picked up their spears, stringed their bows, and waited silently for the next horn sound.
A war horse seemed to be infected by the solemn atmosphere and neighed. The owner of the horse gently stroked the horse's mane to soothe its emotions. In an instant, it seemed as if the entire barracks held its breath.
"Let me go and take a look," He Bayong whispered.
"That's fine!" Wang Wenzuo nodded, and then laughed loudly: "There hasn't been a second horn for so long. It should be that the outposts outside the camp encountered the bandit's scouts. Don't panic! Everyone, sit down and eat! Everyone, sit down Come down!"
The people around the bonfire did not put down their weapons immediately. After another minute or two, there was still no horn sound. People finally confirmed that there would be no second horn sound, and then they smiled at each other, as if they were ashamed of their nervousness just now. Master Shen picked through the pile of firewood next to the campfire, found a few that had been completely dried and threw them in: "The porridge is ready, who wants to serve it!"
People gathered around the bonfire, drank hot porridge, and talked in low voices with Pao Ze next to them from time to time. Wang Wenzuo was smiling, but people familiar with him could tell that he had other things on his mind at this time. After a while, familiar footsteps came from behind. He Bayong leaned down and whispered in his ear: "They are the scouts of the thieves!"
"Are there any survivors?" Wang Wenzuo was shocked.
"There is one, but he was shot through the lungs. I'm afraid he won't be able to survive!" He Bayong whispered: "There is something. It's best to join the army and come and see for yourself!"
Wang Wenzuo put down the porridge bowl, stood up and left. He Bayong walked in front, talking as he walked: "There were about a dozen of the thieves' sentries. They came along the forest of trees on the east side of the river and stepped on the ambushes set by the front camp scouts. They were discovered by our patrol sentry, so the patrol whistle hurriedly blew the horn, and the two sides started shooting at each other. When the rangers from our front camp arrived, the group of sentry scouts got into the woods and escaped. The rangers saw that it was getting late and did not pursue them!"
"We are a guest army, so it is right not to pursue them!" Wang Wenzuo said: "You just said you had something you wanted me to see. What was it?"
At this time, the two of them had walked to a small open space not far from the main entrance of the camp. A fire chief was standing there leading four or five soldiers. When they saw Wang Wenzuo and He Bayong approaching, they hurriedly bowed and saluted.
"That's all, give me that arrow!" He Bayong said.
"No!" The fire chief quickly took a feather arrow from his subordinates and presented it to He Bayong with both hands. He Boyong handed the feather arrow to Wang Wenzuo: "Join the army and see!"
Wang Wenzuo took the feather arrow and looked at it. He immediately saw something strange. He took out a feather arrow from his own body and compared it with this one.
"Why do thieves use so many arrows? Do all the arrows used by thieves look like this?"
"It's all like this!" the fire chief replied: "And these thieves are very accurate in shooting. Four of our group alone were shot!"
Wang Wenzuo nodded noncommittally, and then measured the length of the feather arrows with his palm: "One, two, three...fourteen, a total of fourteen, and the length of our commonly used feather arrows is only twelve!" (Weber explained Look, the "handle" here refers to the length from the tiger's mouth to the tip of the little finger after making a fist. This is a very common unit for measuring the length of arrows in ancient East Asia)
"Two of them have grown!" He Bayong whispered: "It seems that the bow used by the thief will also grow a lot. I'm afraid ordinary leather armor can't stop it!"
Wang Wenzuo didn't speak, but his face didn't look good. Generally speaking, the power of a bow and arrow mainly depends on three factors: draw length - the distance from the nocking point after the bow is strung to the nodding point after the bow is fully loaded. The longer the draw length, the greater the power; the strength of the bow; the strength of the bow arm. length and shape. The length of the arrow is generally in a certain proportion to the length of the saw and the bow arm. The opponent uses longer arrows, which are generally much more powerful.
In modern society, archery has become an entertainment and sport, but in ancient times, archery was regarded as the foundation of the country and a compulsory practice for scholars. Even Confucian scholars often tested bows and arrows. Many people know that under the ancient Chinese imperial examination system, as long as you study the Six Classics diligently and gain fame, you can immediately change your family's destiny. But they don’t know that as long as you can shoot a bow with a strength of more than one stone, shoot the bow from left to right, and gallop your horse to shoot, even in peaceful years, you can easily be recruited by the frontier generals to serve as their servants and live a life like a small landowner. This atmosphere is not without reason. The number of archers, especially war bow archers who can shoot through armor, is closely related to the strength of military power.
"The thief has expired. His body is right next to him. Do you want to take a look?" the fire chief asked boldly.
Wang Wenzuo took out a long breath and nodded. The corpse on the ground was wearing a deerskin short coat and only straw sandals on its feet. Under a thick beard was a deeply contoured face with disheveled hair. There was a wound on the right chest. Wang Wenzuo pulled open his coat and found that his body was light black. The skin is covered with chest hair.
