Chapter 244 Seizing the Blade
Waves of screams penetrated the forest. After a while, six people covered in blood emerged from the forest. They were the revengeful mountain lairs.
The leader is called Shi A, who was originally the son of Tingfu of Mi County. In the past, his father was a court official and an assistant to the magistrate of Mi County. Although he did not have the authority of the county magistrate or county captain, he still had the important responsibility of supervising the five township ministries, encouraging farmers to grow mulberry trees in spring and summer, and collecting annual taxes in autumn and winter. In the previous position of the imperial court that Shi A's father held, he could make millions of money just by collecting sacrifice money in one year, of which two or three hundred thousand were given to Shui Bo of Jishui to marry him, and the rest was shared with Zhu Wu. Just money.
Later, Shi'a's father was very honest and did not pay any taxes other than regular taxes. But if he didn't accept it, he would also cut off other people's ways of making money, and he would be isolated by his colleagues. Later, as the new magistrate of Mi County, Suo Qi was always obstructed by Shi'a's father and regarded him as a thorn in his side.
After that, Shi'a's father disappeared. When Shi A found his father again, his skin and flesh had been separated, and he was miserable. Only the copper seal hidden under a stone was left to Shi A. Afterwards, Shi Aben checked for clues and finally found out that Suo Qi was responsible.
When Shi A was young, he met a hermit named Wang Yue in Mishan. He learned swordsmanship and became unparalleled. But no matter how conceited Shi'a was, he still had no confidence that he could assassinate Suo Qi in the midst of numerous soldiers, so he had been holding back until now, and finally had a blood feud.
Shi A patted the two heads on his waist and said to the five companions:
"The Han Dynasty has no virtue, so I want to defect to the Taishan Army. The leader of the Taishan Army is General Chongtian, an insurrectionist, and a rioter. He upholds justice for heaven and punishes the guilty. He is my lord. You all are willing to join me and join me to gain wealth." ”
In order to avenge Shi'a, the five of them didn't even pick up the gold horseshoes on the ground just now. How could they not be willing now? Therefore, the six of them paid homage to Shi'a's father for a while, and then took Suo Qi's head to find the Taishan Army.
When the righteous Shi Aliu arrived at the gate of Mi County, the Taishan Army was attacking the outer walls of Mi County. The battalion generals responsible for the attack were the two brothers Lu Xiang and Lu Kuang.
Since the two brothers joined the army in Dongping, they have made many meritorious deeds. Later, the army continued to expand, and the two brothers also became generals of the 500-man camp. This time to attack Mi County, Zhang Chong chose these two men to attack with a thousand soldiers.
At the moment, the person in charge of the defense at the head of Mi County is the county captain Hou Feng. Although the magistrate of Mi County abandoned the city and fled, Mi County was still able to resist the attack of Taishan's army because of Hou Feng's presence.
In the final analysis, the Nami County Magistrate is just a wandering official, while Hou Feng is the real low-income man. He is not just a county captain, he is the successor of the old Situ Houba during the Guangwu period.
After becoming a duke, the Hou family of Mi County was highly respected in Mi County, and half of the land in the county belonged to their family. Now the Mi County magistrate hung up his seal and ran away with his suitcase. But the entire Hou Feng family is here, how can he escape? Therefore, Hou Feng raised 800 troops from his clan and merged with 500 county soldiers in the city, vowing to coexist with Mi County.
The two battalions of Lu Xiang and Lu Kuang had about a thousand people in total. Except for a small number of Taishan people, most of the officers and soldiers in the camp were from Dongping and Yingchuan. To be honest, the combat effectiveness of the two battalions can only be ranked in the middle of the many battalions of the Taishan Army. Now, there were more guards in the city than them, and they were united. Lu Xiang and Lu Kuang even failed to reach the top of the city when they personally led the attack team.
Just when the battle situation was at a stalemate, Shi Aliu, a righteous man, took the head of Suo Qi, the magistrate of Mi County, to Lu Xiang's camp.
——
"Is this the head of the magistrate of Mi County?"
Lu Xiang asked as he looked at the withered head.
At this time, the six people from Shi A went to Jiuzheng and were welcomed into the tent by Lu Xiang for questioning.
When Lu Xiang asked about this, Shi A lowered his head and said:
"Return to the general, it's the head of that dog thief."
Lu Xiang was overjoyed and hurriedly asked people to find a bamboo pole and send it to the front of the battle to show the stubborn Han soldiers on the tower, so as to kill their majesty.
Shi A gave Lu Xiang such a great gift, so Lu Xiang naturally wanted to reward it. He asked:
"What do you want, I want to reward six of you."
Shi A shook his head. He didn't even want gold, so would he care about other rewards? He raised his head with bright eyes:
"General, the six of us want to surrender to the army. The "Kill the thieves and welcome peace" that the heroes of Mishan fought before was my handiwork."
"Kill the thieves and welcome peace?"
Lu Xiang recited this slogan and slapped his thigh:
"This is good, this is good, you are a talent. As long as you are a talent, our Taishan Army will not reject anyone. In this way, I will give you a piece of cake. I recommend you to go to Laoying to become a calligrapher. You are stable and leisurely, you are a good person. Errands.”
Seeing Shi A shaking his head again, Lu Xiang was happy:
"Okay, you are an ambitious person, and you know how to spend your heroic spirit in the old camp. In this case, I recommend you to work as a field official, where you can do practical things."
Shi Azai shook his head and said directly to Lu Xiang:
"General, I feel that I have some strength, and I want to be a soldier under your command."
Lu Xiang was annoyed. Although he admired this boy who avenged his father, he still cursed after hearing this:
"Boy Wu Zhuang, do you know that you will die on the battlefield, but it is different from your vendetta. There is no reason there, you can only go with a knife and come with fire. If you are not good enough, let alone earn merit, you will not be able to earn your life back. Look at yourself again, you are fair and tender, do you look like a warrior? ”
Shi A did not defend this, but said rather proudly:
"Please give it a try, General."
Lu Xiang stopped talking and asked a guard next to him to go up and teach this kid a lesson.
This guard wears a helmet and carries armor. He has big shoulders and a round waist. At first glance, he looks like a warrior in the army. The guard threw a handful of wooden trusses to Shi'a. Shi'a took it, smiled, and signaled the soldiers to attack.
The soldier raised his scabbard and struck with lightning, but suddenly his arm hurt, and the boy had already raised the wooden stick and stabbed him in the arm.
The soldier was annoyed, so he cut him again and hit his arm again. In this way, three, three crosses and three hit his arms. At this time, everyone saw that this man named Shi A actually had exquisite swordsmanship. No wonder he wanted to join the army.
Lu Xiang was also surprised. His martial arts skills were naturally superb, so he could see the subtlety of Shi'a's swordsmanship better than ordinary people. But now he was a little helpless. He made a few excuses:
"Well, Shi A, you are indeed good at swordsmanship. But the battle depends not on martial arts, but on courage. Thousands of people lined up in a large formation, with spears poking at them, spears poking at them, and knives slashing at them. Kill him indiscriminately, just rush in together. Even if you have great martial arts, you can't do anything. But one man, Jia Yong, can kill ten people. So, if you are good at martial arts, you must be brave enough!"
In fact, Lu Xiang was a bit messy at this point. In fact, he also coveted Shi'a's good martial arts. Now that he was in his hands and wanted to be his soldier, he would have been happy to death. But isn’t it because I’m stuck here? I subconsciously have to argue about right and wrong.
But after hearing this, Shi A made it clear.
This confused Lu Xiang. I didn't even understand what you understood.
Then I saw Shi A suddenly pull out a guard's ring-headed sword, and then handed it to the armored soldier who just used the scabbard, indicating that he would use it to compete again.
The soldier said doubtfully:
"Are you sure you want to use a real knife?"
Shi A shook his head, threw the wooden stile away, and said lightly:
"No, I want to grab the sword with my bare hands."
——
The sun was three poles high, and the August sun shone on the city making people drowsy.
Wei Houfeng of Mi County stood on the top of the city, looking at the continuous military tents below the city with a sad face. He whispered to the military officer next to him:
"Have the people who asked for reinforcements from Jing County and Xingyang set out?"
The military officer nodded and said that he was lowering the city and had already gone north.
But the military officer still said:
"County Lieutenant, the Taishan bandits under the city are only at the front, and there are large forces behind. How can we defend ourselves when the time comes?"
Hou Feng had nothing to say, but his frown deepened.
At this moment, a horseman came from the enemy camp, holding a bamboo pole with a human head hanging on it. His face could not be seen clearly, but the enemy horseman was holding a bamboo pole and galloping under the city shouting:
"The thief is asked to be beheaded, and he will not open the door to surrender." He shouted several times, and the Han soldiers on the gate tower heard it clearly.
Although most of the people in the city were members of the Hou Feng family, there was still a lot of discussion when they suddenly heard that the Mi County magistrate was dead.
Hou Feng heard a few of the following words, either he abandoned the city and fled, or the thieves killed him, but in short, no one was angry. In order to prevent panic from spreading, Hou Feng straightened his body and said to the soldiers:
"The magistrate of Mi County died for his country. In order to prevent the people of Mi County from being attacked by swords, he told me that he would keep the enemy outside the county, so he resolutely led his troops out of the city and stationed themselves at Wuzhi Ridge, five miles away. But. The moth thieves were so hateful that they pounced on our army with a large number of people, and the Hou County Lord was outnumbered and captured. However, the County Lord was unwilling to be humiliated and took advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness. He finally jumped off the cliff and died heroically. "
The people present were very excited when they heard this. They really didn't expect that their own county prince would have such a heroic side. They will not doubt why the Mi County magistrate went five miles away to stop the enemy, nor will they doubt where the Mi County soldiers came from to attack the enemy. They would not even doubt why the county captain in the city seemed to have witnessed the scene of the county king's heroic death.
In short, with the support of a few backbones, a few more rumors were spread:
"The yellow turban thief will rob your house, your fields, your wife, and your money."
Although many Han soldiers muttered a few words:
"I have no land, no money, no house, and no wife. Why are they robbing me?"
But he was immediately reprimanded by the corps commander and other low-level military officials:
"You don't have it, but the county captain does. If you don't take up swords and guns to defend the Hou family, who will you borrow money from when you pay taxes later?"
The Han soldiers who were reprimanded immediately realized, yes, the captain was right.
So, he picked up Chang Ge again and looked at those moth thieves wearing yellow turbans below with hatred. They were the ones who wanted to make it impossible for him to borrow money!
Seeing that his morale had recovered a lot, Hou Feng finally said a few words of relief. He looked at Jing County in the north and Yuanling in the east with longing.
Where are your reinforcements?
What Hou Feng didn't know was that reinforcements from the second county had already set off. But this time, the last one alive has just been killed by the Yellow Turban Thief.
It turned out that when Zhang Chong sent troops from the Lu family to besiege Mi County, he had already made preparations to encircle the point and bring reinforcements. The most important thing is to mobilize the troops in Jingxian County in the north.
Geographically, Mi County is already at the southern foot of Songshan Mountain, and Jingxian County to the north is right at the mountain pass where Songshan Mountain enters the Hewai Plain beyond Xingyang. In other words, if the Taishan Army wants to advance into Xingyang as quickly as possible, the fastest way is to take the mountain road between Mijing.
But for a normal attack on Jing County, not to mention the rugged mountain roads, not many troops can be sent. So they could only pretend to attack Mi County, mobilize Jing County in the north to come out on their own, and then stage an ambush.
Generally speaking, the tactic of encircling the point and attacking for reinforcements works best when used for the first time. The enemy did not realize that the bandits' tactical level was so high, so it was easy for them to fall into the trap. Since the Taishan Army entered Henan County, it had not used any tactics beyond the level of the rebel army, so it was convenient for Jingxian County to send troops without much thought.
Then He Yi led 2,000 of his own troops to ambush and kill the 800 reinforcements from Jingxian County in the mountain road.
He Yi volunteered for this mission. Seeing that none of his subordinates, the Runan Yellow Turbans, had made any achievements on their way north, he was worried that he would not be able to gain a foothold in the army, so he took the ambush mission.
Zhang Chong thought for a while and agreed. After all, this task was indeed not that difficult. Since He Yi was uneasy, he should reassure him.
After He Yi cleaned the battlefield, he threw the corpses of the Han soldiers into the mountain col, then put on the armor and uniforms of the Han soldiers, and headed towards Jingxian County in the north, obviously to gain access to Jingxian County.
But unfortunately, they just shouted from below, defeated, defeated, and wanted to open the city gate from above. There was a hail of arrows from above.
Not surprisingly, He Yi apparently ignored that all his subordinates were from Runan, so how could the Runan accent fool the Jingxian people above him.
He Yi was angry, and since his tactics failed, he resorted to force, so he ordered people to build a ladder and led people to attack Jingxian County.
Unfortunately, most of the soldiers in Jingxian County have been thrown out. Now there are not enough people standing at the top of the city. How can they withstand the bravery of the Runan Yellow Turban. Within an hour, the capital of Jingxian County was destroyed.
He Yi originally wanted to learn from Zhang Chong's example, enter the city well, pacify the people, and be a master of the king. But these military leaders under He Yi have been severely restrained since joining the Taishan Army Camp. After entering the city, they finally indulged themselves, broke down the walls, burned, killed and looted.
He Yi looked at the villains under his command with a headache and cursed loudly. It was necessary to order a few people to be killed and to clean up the military discipline. Uncle He, the young commander on the side, advised:
"Nephew, let the sons and daughters play tricks. You want them to work hard, don't you feed them first?"
Uncle He is He Yi's uncle from the same family. After the elder said this, he didn't say much, so he only said harshly:
"Just give it two hours, and seal the sword after two hours."
But the original intention of He Yi's order was to only give him two hours. But this order undoubtedly gave tacit consent to the burning, killing and looting. The Runan Yellow Turbans who were still outside the city, upon hearing this military order, without further delay, hurriedly swarmed into the city and joined the looting army.
Time is tight and the task is heavy, can we be more flexible?
Senior military officers such as He Yi and Uncle He did not join. Anyway, they had their share anyway, so why bother fighting with the people below.
At this time, He Yi suddenly turned around and said to Uncle He:
"Uncle, I have thought about it, we are going to make a big deal."
"What?"
"We won't go back, we will attack Xingyang directly."
"Deadly!"
"Yes, it means Han Ting's life."
"Shit, I'm going to kill Uncle Xie."
……
Uncle He and all the military officers tried to persuade He Yi, but He Yi was unmoved and determined to attack Xingyang. We must win the biggest spoils of this battle at the end.
And once He Yi, the commander-in-chief, made up his mind, the soldiers had no choice but to accept it no matter how unwilling they were. So, two hours later, without further delay, He Yi rushed to Xingyang forty miles away with two thousand sharp soldiers.
Only Uncle He was worried and sent three more messengers to report the matter to Zhang Chong's main army in Yuanling.
It was a smooth journey north, but trouble started again.
(End of chapter)