stubborn thief

The golden-winged roc dives and glides, losing all its golden light the moment it hits the ground.

They shrugged their shoulders and stretched their necks, tilted their bald heads, glanced at the city gate with cautious and fierce eyes, and slowly approached the pile of corpses outside the east gate.

On the banks of the Weishui River to the west of Tongguan, groups of armored cavalry dismounted and lined up, taking off their armor. A strong man with an axle got into the bathtub, soaked himself with sulfur powder, and drank a bowl of sulfur wine.

Then he took the clothes and put them on his body, including a pair of trousers and stockings. The cuffs and trouser legs were tied tightly with strings. He put on a plain linen hood with two small holes on the top, five-claw finger gloves on the middle, and cowhide military boots on the bottom. That's it. Then put on a plain linen burqa.

From head to toe, they were covered more tightly than at a funeral.

The messenger walked to the bottom of the city gate and met a soldier from Wei Qian'er's camp who was digging a grave for himself outside the city.

The scene was very strange. A grave pit half as tall as a man was dug next to the wooden monument. In the pit sat a red-eyed monster with a swollen face and a thick neck. Next to the pit stood a humanoid creature covered in white linen.

The four eyes looked at each other.

Just like Liu Chengzong and Zhang Xianzhong looked at each other - they both felt that the other did not look like a human being.

The messenger was still a little immature. He was just doing a good job in psychological construction, and there was still a small gap between truly accepting death. Looking at the miserable state of the camp soldiers in the pit, he opened his mouth and didn't know how to say hello.

The camp soldier sitting in the grave was more discerning. He looked up at the scorching sun, then looked at the white shadow in front of him, scratched the swollen lymph nodes on his neck, and said to himself: "This is so damn evil. The door is closed, and a ghost was struck in broad daylight.”

Then he asked three times in a row: "Are you back for the first time? Which team were you in before you were alive? Is there a commander down there who is giving out equipment?"

The messenger came to his senses and said quickly: "The commander-in-chief below, the commander-in-chief above gave it to you. A living person, please send the order to the cavalry. Tell General Wei quickly. The commander-in-chief has asked us to come to support Tongguan."

The messenger spoke in a brisk and excited tone.

But the soldier sitting in the grave didn't have much emotion. He just looked back at Tongguan and sighed: "You guys are here early..."

Ever since Wei Qian'er collapsed from a high fever, the camp in Tongguanli has entered a period of plague outbreak. People have lost their combat effectiveness one after another, and the entire camp has lost its organization and collapsed in an instant.

Plague, enemies, military law, killing, death, and superiors, in just a few days, all the things that could bind these desperate fighting men together disappeared. The fall of Wei Qian'er was just the last thing that crushed the spirit of the soldiers. A straw.

Within two hours of Wei Qian'er's fall, many soldiers who were moving freely in the city died.

Some lit the house on fire and walked in while it was burning; others saw Paoze lying in the tent moaning in a fever, and then strangled him to death with his belt.

There are even those who eat in the city and eat so much that they die while eating.

There were so many people dying like this that no one had the time to tell whether they were seriously ill and died of illness while eating, or whether they ate too much and strangled themselves to death.

In short, a soldier like this soldier who digs a grave and lies down to die is considered a very environmentally friendly normal person.

They have already gone crazy.

Thousands of people, including General Wei Qian'er, would die within a few days until only one or two hundred were left, and the remaining thousands of soldiers who had not yet shown symptoms would not be able to escape the next outbreak.

No one can make it out of this city alive.

The messenger reported the situation before closing the door to the Chinese army, which directly stunned Zhang Tianlin, who was busy in the camp.

To be honest, facing this unheard-of situation, anyone except Liu Chengzong who has not seen it with his own eyes will misjudge the situation.

Zhang Tianlin was no exception. He was reminded by Liu Chengzong and came very cautiously. He made a plan to provide support to Wei Qian'er camp on the way.

But only here did he realize that the situation in Tongguan was still more serious than he imagined.

As the top commander, Wei Qian'er fell ill, more than half of the mid-level officers were incapacitated, and the lower-level soldiers had no intention of surviving. The entire camp fell apart and existed in name only.

What this camp needs is not support. The chain of command is fucking gone. Who can we support?

Zhang Tianlin took a deep breath and looked at his deputy general Zhao Zhirui: "Have you ever seen this kind of situation before when you were a general?"

Zhao Zhirui gave Zhang Tianlin a roll of his eyes on the spot, saying to himself, "Isn't it just because I'm from the Suzhou camp that your child was beaten like this?"

You fucking asked me!

But experience is experience. Zhao Zhirui's eyes were full of regret and he nodded: "The morale of the army is difficult to use and has collapsed. General, please follow the system of gathering broken troops."

Zhang Tianlin shook her head thoughtfully, but she also adopted Zhao Zhirui's suggestion: "Just as you said...a big camp, I didn't expect it!"

He is also a general of the third battalion, but he has something to do with others.

In fact, Zhang Tianlin has always thought highly of herself, thinking that their three camps were just like the three camps of the imperial court.

Even privately, he and Wei Qian'er argued over who should get the title of Three Thousand Battalions.

There was nothing wrong with Gao Yingdeng, because he and Wei Qian'er both believed that the guy who was good at using guns should be called Shenjiying.

Zhang Tianlin felt that she was the number one cavalryman under Liu Chengzong, and the Three Thousand Battalion was well-deserved, but Wei Qian'er stubbornly believed that the cavalryman who took out rockets from his crotch when they met had impure blood.

He thought about one of the three major battalions being destroyed on the battlefield.

Although this may be trivial, I have indeed thought about it, and even designed an extremely heroic destruction scenario myself.

It must be a great battle that can be recorded in history. Facing a tight siege, the friendly forces were forced to launch an assault to buy time for the friendly forces, which were dozens of times larger. In the end, the whole battalion was destroyed at the cost of massive damage.

But he never expected that in Tongguan, a well-equipped and well-trained camp would disappear in name only because of a plague.

Let the strongest warriors become weak and lose their will to fight.

When Zhang Tianlin went to the city to see Wei Qian'er, the latter was not dead, but half buried in loess.

Literally half buried in loess.

Zhang Tianlin met Wei Qian'er in the courtyard of the Tongguan Wei Yamen Office. The courtyard of the official office had been bombed and was in a mess everywhere. The broken walls were blackened by smoke.

In the ruins, the general of the general camp of the Marshal's Mansion was like a sapling that had been planted into the ground. Only his head was exposed, and he was being fed soup by the guards.

The shape is very unique.

When she saw that Wei Qian'er was still alive, able to breathe and drink soup, Zhang Tianlin immediately clapped her hands with joy and said it was a pity.

It was a pity that the Xifan Brigade did not join the expedition. Otherwise, the mute Awang, who was a wizard, would have been shocked by the uniqueness of the Han magicians in rituals when he saw this scene!

Wei Qian'er, who was doing photosynthesis, saw Zhang Tianlin's weird smile and immediately became furious: "Pull him down and beat him up. Where did he come from?"

"So and so and so, Zhang Tianlin, the star of heaven, the commander asked me to save you, I know you have a lifespan like a turtle and you can't die!"

Zhang Tianlin, who was wrapped in linen clothes, knelt down and poked Wei Qian'er's head with a hand wearing a deerskin five-claw glove: "What are you doing, what? It's not good for the commander-in-chief of the handsome mansion, Are you ready to change your career to become a tree fairy?"

Zhang Tianlin happily rubbed sulfur powder on her gloves and said: "When the city is destroyed, I will go to a monk's temple to clean up the Buddha statue, and move it there with a pot and plant it for you."

"From now on, the people of Xi'an Mansion can only ask God to send a child to my good brother Shu Qian'er, no, Shu Xian'er!"

Wei Qian'er, who was half-dead, rolled his eyes for a while. He was not killed by the plague, but he was almost pissed to death by Zhang Tianlin.

At this moment, Zhang Jingxiao, the military doctor in the camp, came forward, saluted Zhang Tianlin and said, "General Zhang should say less. General Wei has not recovered from his serious illness, so don't get angry."

Zhang Tianlin looked up and saw Zhang Jingxiao.

He knew this good doctor who was born in Prince Han's palace. He used to teach at Xincheng Academy. Zhang Tianlin stopped her smile and asked seriously: "Doctor Zhang Liang, what kind of treatment is this? Why did he plant it in the field?"

Zhang Jingxiao also shook his head and explained: "This is not my idea, but Kang Yaomin's. Well, Kang Yaomin is the newly surrendered commander of Xi'an Left Guard. He said that this is how he survived."

"Isn't this nonsense!"

Zhang Tianlin was joking with Wei Qian'er just now. She was very happy, but she didn't have a good face towards others, especially when she heard that this idea was thought up by a surrendered general. She said angrily: "Good people will die in the ground, let alone him." And got sick.”

After that, he looked at Zhang Jingxiao with his nose and eyes: "He is buried in the ground, how come you are okay?"

Zhang Jingxiao smiled helplessly in his heart.

Except for Liu Chengzong, none of the idiots leading the troops in the Marshal's Mansion have a good temper.

What could Zhang Jingxiao say? He raised his hand and lifted up his face towel, revealing the swollen lymph nodes on his neck. He said, "General, I'm also infected."

This was completely luck. He fell ill early and had a mild infection. Unlike Wei Qian'er who commanded the army despite being sick, it was easy to recover.

Wei Qian'er, on the other hand, took this matter very seriously and said, "Don't blame others when you go to Guo Tianxing. Commander Kang said this is useful, so I will give it a try. If it really works, I can save a lot of brothers."

Although Wei Qian'er is a rough man, he respects cultural people very much and has a strong filter.

Because his marshal is a scholar, and he knows everything in heaven and earth.

Although Kang Yaomin was the commander, he came from a scholarly wealthy family with two ministers, and he also had a reputation as a scholar. Therefore, Wei Qian'er had all the elements and was very fond of him. It was a late meeting at once.

At this moment, shirtless Kang Yaomin came over.

When the marshal's army entered the city, Kang Yao's people surrendered smoothly, for no other reason than that he was in prison at the Wei Yamen Office.

Because his ideas were different from those of Zhang Eryou, Sheng Yida and others, and he also spread anti-war ideas in the army, Zhang Eryou was furious and was thrown into a cell to recuperate.

However, this concept has nothing to do with it. In fact, it is still a matter of place of origin.

Kang Yaomin was a martial artist in Xi'an Prefecture, and he originally opposed Zhang Eryou's sending sick and wounded soldiers to fight in the west. This move was very dangerous for him.

If they are not careful, Xi'an, which has a population of more than one million, will be overrun by the plague. This will harm the peace of heaven and earth.

In his opinion, the most critical issue in this matter is not that his home is in Xi'an Prefecture, but that people like Zhang Eryou do not live in Xi'an Prefecture.

Of course they can talk about righteousness and price, but Kang Yao people cannot accept it.

He felt that since the marshal's army dared to attack, it didn't matter whether they lived or died. This army was already useless, and they, the Tongguan defenders, had already done their duty.

Because in terms of larger strategy, the ambitious Liu Chengzong will eventually be blocked by the plague to the west of the Tongguan line of the Yellow River, and it will be impossible for the Ming Dynasty to recapture Shaanxi.

It would be of no use to the overall situation for these dying people to decide the winner here.

It would be better for everyone to think about their own affairs and see how to cure their illnesses.

But it is a pity that his ideas have no market in Tongguan.

Regardless of the Ming army or the Marshal's army, everyone had the desperate idea of ​​dying as soon as they went wild, and no one listened to his command at all.

That is to say, when the marshal's army broke the prison and released him, Wei Qian'er had already fallen ill, and the soldiers had lost their organization and were too lazy to care about him.

Otherwise, he would have to be imprisoned again.

Kang Yaomin walked out tremblingly and bowed his hands, which shocked Zhang Tianlin.

This guy was shirtless, and there was not a single piece of flesh on his entire upper body. From his waist to his face, there were redness, swelling, pus, bloody scabs, and scars everywhere.

The whole figure looked like a corpse crawling out of a grave.

Zhang Tianlin raised her hand and scratched the linen hood, thinking that we have killed many people and seen more corpses, but this is the first time that we have handed over the corpses in salute.

But who is Zhang Tianlin? He can hook up with a horse and have his back.

He was just startled when he saw such a thing, and soon returned to normal. He said with a tiger's face: "Are you the Kangmin citizen who deceived the public with your lies and planted my handsome general in the ground?"

In fact, Kang Yaomin was also shocked.

As soon as he came out of the hut after having diarrhea, he heard someone in the government office talking about Tianxing Zhang Tianlin, the leader of the people who destroyed Buddhism and temples in northern Shaanxi, and had a very scary reputation.

The partition wall was damaged by gunpowder. As soon as he came out of the toilet, he saw a pile of Bai Wuchang in the front yard of the Wei Yamen. He just had to write "I will make money at first sight" on his hat.

"General Zhang, this is not a lie to deceive the public. Kang suffered an illness earlier and lost his pulse. He was buried in the ground by the soldiers for three days before he reopened his eyes, so it must be useful."

Although Kang Yaomin was weak, his words were very firm.

Zhang Tianlin was surprised when she heard what he said, but her face still showed scrutiny and suspicion.

Compared with Wei Qian'er who likes the intellectuals of the Ming court, Zhang Tianlin prefers the generals who lead troops for the Ming court because she was a grassroots officer.

Just like Zhao Zhirui, when you draw people who used to be your superiors to be your subordinates, you feel a sense of conquest.

He looked Kang Yaomin up and down and found that his neck was indeed not as swollen as others, so he asked: "You don't seem to have the same disease as them."

Kang Yaomin smiled bitterly when he heard this.

On the other hand, doctor Zhang Jingxiao said: "Commander Kang was originally infected with the disease, but was later buried in the soil by the soldiers. Perhaps the soil was unclean, and the dirt in it infected the sores, causing tetanus. However, fighting the poison with poison made the disease subside."

As he said that, Zhang Jingxiao looked puzzled and shook his head slowly: "I don't know the reason for this, but in the golden recipe of Sun Zhenren in the Tang Dynasty, there was Fulong liver, which is the hearth of the stove that was smoked and sintered with firewood. Mix it into mud and apply it on gauze to cure carbuncle."

"Perhaps all the dirt in the stove will be burned away by the firewood, and there will be no chance of getting sick."

After that, Zhang Jingxiao said to Zhang Tianlin: "Commander Kang's tetanus is gone. The military doctor of Tongguan Guard first used Panacea to sweat, and then used Yuzhen Powder for external application. It was Chen Shigong's prescription, but he still had diarrhea. But this is much easier to cure than an unprecedented plague."

Zhang Tianlin didn't have the patience to listen to this thing, and didn't understand. She quickly waved her hand to stop Zhang Jingxiao from chanting, and just pointed at Wei Qian'er: "Doctor Zhang, just tell me that there is no other way to cure the plague on Wei Qian'er except planting it in the ground. Can it be cured?”

"It can be cured, and it's not a terminal disease."

Zhang Jingxiao looked troubled and said: "My ancestors have been practicing medicine for seven generations. General Wei has a strong body. It is not difficult to cure him by prescribing the right medicine."

"But Tongguan Guard is an epidemic. It is necessary to prevent the disease before it is discovered and to control the disease. It cannot be cured by just a few doctors. We can only see hundreds of patients a day, and there are hundreds of thousands of new patients. The treatment cannot keep up with the disease. "

As soon as Zhang Tianlin heard this, she felt something in her heart. She raised her hand and pointed at Wei Qian'er, and ordered to the people around her: "Hurry up and dig out Mr. Shuxian'er. He's too ugly. The commander-in-chief won't be able to do anything about it then."

"The commander-in-chief said that if he wants me to take you back alive, he will give you two hard punches to avenge the loss of the master."

After that, he looked at Zhang Jingxiao again: "As for preventing diseases before they happen and controlling diseases before they happen... Doctor Zhang said these six words very well. It belongs to me. You can just let it go and treat it."

"I, Zhang Tianlin, brought my troops here to do this!" (End of Chapter)