Faced with the sudden information, Liu Chan began to think and calculate quickly in his heart.
First of all, he almost immediately ruled out that the opponent was the Wu army who came to support him.
First, the direction is wrong.
If a large Wu army comes, it will either come from the direction of Baqiu in the southwest, the land entrance in the northeast, or the south-west direction of Linxiang.
But it won’t be the southeast.
Secondly, the flag is wrong. It is impossible for the Wu army to mobilize within its own territory without showing the flag.
The few Wu soldiers who had just been let go to report the news had already been "tailed" by themselves, so naturally they were not the reinforcements they invited.
This is interesting.
"Go into the mountains to hide and let them come over."
"yes!"
At present, the incoming enemy and friends are unknown, and there are few people on our side, so it is natural to occupy a favorable terrain and wait for work.
Liu Chan ordered people to drag the corpses out again and pile them up at the gate of the village as a roadblock. Archers and crossbowmen were in place on both sides.
The soldiers lined up behind the village gate and were waiting.
Hu Li led the ninth and tenth teams back into the mountains and forests, ready to make tactical detours at any time.
Scouts were lurking at various high points along the mountain road, and all the carriage horses at the foot of the mountain had gone into hiding in the valleys on the side of the mountain.
Everything is ready, just waiting for the enemy to come.
The people on the other side didn't know that they had not entered the mountain yet, so they had been under surveillance and observation by Liu Chan's troops.
"Report! The enemy troops have entered the mountain. They are dressed up and have different weapons. They are not like the Wu army."
Sure enough, it was just as I guessed.
Thinking about this empty village, Liu Chan thought of a possibility.
If that were the case, it would have saved me a lot of trouble.
…
Chai Rong felt uneasy since he left the village.
Recently, the government and the army have been in constant action, and they have continued to use troops against cottages in various places.
Once conquered, they would be forced to move, farm and pay taxes, and strong men would be forced into military service.
The situation in Changsha County was better. Because they had to guard against Guan Yu's heavy troops in the direction of Jingzhou, the elite Wu army did not dare to move rashly.
Even so, their lives are getting harder and harder.
As before, they are scattered everywhere, fighting on their own. What awaits them is the fate of being defeated by each one.
So this time he took his troops out of the mountain to contact the leaders of the large and small villages and send troops together to catch the officers and soldiers off guard and plunder them first.
This trip went particularly smoothly. Under increasing pressure, people from other villages hit it off with him and agreed to send troops.
But the longer time passed, the more frightened he felt.
Finally, I couldn't help but lead a large group of people and went back to the stronghold to check on supplies.
Who knew...
Looking at the gate of the village that had been breached, corpses were piled up, blood was constantly flowing out, and the fishy smell was overwhelming.
Seeing this scene, Chai Rong's eyes were about to burst, and he was about to lead his men to kill the generals and take back the village, when he suddenly heard someone yelling.
"If you step forward again, don't blame our arrows for being ruthless!"
With a slightly hoarse voice, Chai Rong was planning to ignore the shout and order an attack.
But I heard the soldiers in the village shout in unison: "Those who get closer will die!"
The murderous roar echoed in the mountains, carrying a fearless momentum, and even more so because of the killing just now, there was still a murderous aura that had not dissipated.
But it was very different from Wu Jun that Chai Rong had seen before.
Many soldiers on the left and right were frightened by the momentum and retreated timidly.
He immediately (forced to) calm down.
After regaining his senses, he observed carefully that what seemed to be Wu Jun's corpses were piled up at the gate of the village, and no one familiar in the village was seen.
He felt a little at ease, and then looked at the wall of the village, where a young general wearing mysterious armor and standing with a spear looked majestic and showed no fear. He seemed to be the leader of these people.
"Who are you? Why are you attacking my stronghold and massacring my people!" Chai Rong was born with a loud voice, and the volume alone was not inferior to the roar of the armored soldiers just now.
But in terms of momentum, it was far behind.
"Husband? It's husband! You're wrong, don't fight!" Among the people under guard in the village, the girl wearing Wu Jun's robe suddenly screamed and ran out, but was stopped by the soldiers and could not move forward.
Others also reacted and started talking.
"The village leader?"
"The village leader is back!"
Seeing this, Liu Chan waved his hand towards the soldier and said, "Let her come over."
The girl staggered over and bowed her head to Liu Chan before climbing onto the wall.
Looking at her husband coming with people from a distance, all the fright and grievances she had suffered burst out. She burst into tears and cried out: "Husband! Husband!"
Chai Rong was overjoyed when he heard the voice: "Madam, are you okay?!"
The girl quickly shook her head and shouted: "I'm fine, you misunderstood! It was this general who led the people to save us, please stop using the weapons!"
"……ah?"
…
After confirming his identity, Liu Chan ordered his people to move the body out of the gap at the gate of the village.
Although the girl was frightened, her longing for her husband finally overcame her fear and she stumbled out.
When they came to her husband, they held hands and looked at each other, talking in low voices.
Later, the woman took her husband into the village.
Liu Chan came down and walked closer to look at the man.
Chai Rong was also looking at Liu Chan. He was far away just now, but now he realized that this general was so young.
"You have some courage to come in alone."
Upon hearing this, Chai Rong took his wife and bowed down: "If the general wants to kill me, there is no need to spare the lives of the young and old in this village."
Liu Chan helped him up with a smile: "Get up. When the road is uneven, it is the right thing to draw your sword to help."
This person is not stupid, and he has some courage.
It's up to you.
A plan gradually took shape in Liu Chan's mind, but he still needed time to complete it.
"When the road is rough... draw your sword to help?"
Chai Rong tasted this sentence, which he had never heard before, and felt that the words were full of knight-errant heroism, and he couldn't help but feel more fond of the young man in front of him.
He bowed again and said, "General, save the lives of the young and old in our village. If there is a mission from now on, Chai Rong will die in repayment. I don't know... what is the name of the general?"
Liu Chan paused for a moment and said seriously: "My name is Song Jiang, and my courtesy name is Gongming."
"It turns out to be General Gongming. I don't know what General Gongming is here for. How did he save my Chaijiazhai?"
As if feeling that this was a bit of a cross-examination, Chai Rong quickly explained, "If General Gongming comes here and can use my Chai's stronghold, even though we are not as good as the general's heavenly soldiers, we can still do the work of dogs and horses."
Liu Chan said with a smile: "Since we are friends and not enemies, let's put down our weapons first and talk after drinking to calm down the shock."
…
By the time the village was cleared, the sun had already set.
A torch was lit in the village, and Chai Rong respectfully invited Liu Chan to sit in the main seat in the hall, while he and the other five village leaders took their seats below.
The bandit leaders who had seen Liu Chan's military appearance up close had no objections to this.
Moreover, when they withdrew their troops just now, they were surprised to find that Liu Chan had hidden an ambush force in the forest.
If our side attacks the mountain stronghold from behind...
Several people couldn't help but feel scared when they thought about it, and even broke into cold sweats.
Fortunately, there was no fight, otherwise even though there were many of them, they would not necessarily be able to get any advantage.
Chai Rong took out the few meats and rice wine in the village to entertain him, and several people took turns toasting to Liu Chan.
Then he asked about the previous matter.
Liu Chan knew how drunk he was, so he quickly took the opportunity to put down his wine bowl: "We came from Wu County. Because of the strong military power there, we were forced to abandon the stronghold and move here to fight."
Chai Rong and others were dumbfounded when they heard this, and looked at each other with the leaders.
...Are you also a bandit?
General, do you have any misunderstandings about the profession of bandit?
Liu Chan saw the expressions of several people and added: "My family is also from a wealthy family in the Central Plains. In the past, we moved to Yangzhou to avoid the disaster of war. We did not want to pay the taxes of the Sun family, so we went up the mountain."
Chai Rong and the others were relieved.
These days, there are many wealthy families who go to the mountains to avoid disaster, and there are also some elite private soldiers among them.
"The general is so powerful that he is forced to abandon his stronghold and leave... Is the situation already so difficult?"
Liu Chan saw that they were a little frustrated and said hurriedly: "The four major families of Sun and Wu are all in Wu County. Although our army is strong, it is ultimately outnumbered. If we can unite and rely on the dangers of the mountains and forests, what do we have to fear?"
My plan still needs the cooperation of these Dongwu Shanyue, but I can't let them be discouraged at this time...
