weaving

Chapter 1153 Exposed

The surrounding fields were silent and the night wind was light. Except for the "sand...sand..." sound of the wind blowing the green grass, there seemed to be no other movement...

However, if you listen carefully, there seems to be dull sound of hoofbeats among the rustling of green grass. It is dull and powerful, with a strong sense of rhythm, but it gives people a feeling of being far and near, seeming to be there, and every time When you listen carefully, the only sound left is the rustling of grass.

Under the cover of the night, there was indeed a group of knights moving forward slowly, like elves under the night. They were in groups of three, with a total of four groups in front and behind, stopping and walking, heading southeast along the embankment, about It took half an hour to walk more than three miles...

Zhao Xingguang, who was at the front, suddenly reined in his horse and stopped, raising his right hand at the same time. The two knights behind him also hurriedly reined in their horses and raised their hands to signal. The others behind him also stopped in the same way.

"Dismount...Chen San, you stay and tell the rear team to dismount and move forward on foot. Leave one person in each group to look after the horses. Don't make any noise!"

"Here."

Chen San responded softly, casually took the reins of the horses from Zhao Xingguang and the other two, and stopped where they were, waiting for the rear team to arrive. Zhao Xingguang took more than ten steps forward and crouched behind a mound, using the cover of weeds to look southward. Continuously.

Soon, team leader Chang Zhengcheng quietly came up to him and took a closer look. Through the weak moonlight, he could vaguely see the sparkling river in front of him, but it suddenly stopped thirty or forty steps away and went into the distance. It looked pitch black, with no more light visible...

"right here?"

Faced with Chang Zhengcheng's question, Zhao Xingguang replied: "It's almost the same. The moonlight reflected on the river seems to be broken. It should be the place where the river water is blocked!"

"The river didn't rise, so they must have diverted the water elsewhere."

"Chang Tou, there must be thieves guarding the cutoff ahead. We must guard against it. How about I take people to explore further, and you can support us here by raiding the formation, how about...?"

"Need not."

Chang Zhengcheng said categorically: "Let Zhou Zhongwang lead two people behind to look after the horses. I will lead them up to the dam to investigate. You also lead two people under the dam, and then ask Xing Jinyin to lead two people to stay here at any time." Just respond.”

"Here. I'll make arrangements right away."

After a while, Zhao Xingguang sneaked over quietly with Xing Jinyin and several brothers. He nodded heavily to the team leader Chang Zhengcheng, indicating that everything had been arranged.

But Chang Zhengcheng was still a little worried. He stared at the commander of the right team, Xing Jinyin, and whispered to him again: "Remember, keep ten steps apart up and down, leave one person on each side, and you should be in the middle to provide support. If something happens in front, remember not to go forward." , just stay here to respond.”

"Here. Don't worry, Changtou."

Chang Zhengcheng nodded, then looked at Zhao Xingguang, and when they looked at him, they nodded again and whispered to each other: "Be careful."

Then they went up and down separately.

…………

As the sun approaches, it should be clear that the full moon is in the sky and the night is like day.

It is precisely because of this that Chang Zhengcheng dared to take the risk and lead a team to conduct night explorations. Otherwise, even if he had the courage, he would not be able to see any information about the interception and location of the bandits from a distance.

But God seemed to be against him. The night sky that was bright with moonlight and sparse stars just now was suddenly covered with a thin layer of clouds. Even the bright moon hid behind the clouds as if shy, no longer shining for Chang Zhengcheng and the others. Brighten the road ahead.

"Damn it, this shitty moon is also causing trouble for us. Why do we suddenly get so angry?"

"Silence!"

Chang Zhengcheng gave a soft drink, which made the talkative subordinate tremble. Chang Zhengcheng whispered again: "I think this is God helping us. The bright moon was hanging high when we came here to light the way for us, but now The big moon is hiding to provide convenience for us to spy on the bandit camp."

After hearing this, the two people who acted with him also felt that this was the truth. Before they had time to express their agreement, they heard Chang Zhengcheng say softly: "Move gently and speak less. We should be not far from the bandit camp." , We must guard against thieves and send secret sentries outside."

In fact, the moon is not completely invisible behind the clouds, but is chasing each other with the clouds, just like playing a game, flickering in and out, which also makes the moonlight shining on the earth flicker...

Chang Zhengcheng and the three of them made perfect use of this celestial law. Whenever the moon was exposed outside the clouds, he would stop moving forward, but carefully observe the plants and trees in front of him. When the moon was hidden behind the clouds, He then led his two subordinates and walked forward quickly.

In this way, "when the moon is bright, it stops, and when the moon is dark, it advances." After a while, he steadily moved forward for nearly a hundred steps...

Suddenly, just as the moon was alternating between light and dark, Chang Zhengcheng grabbed He Cheng who was about to get up and said softly: "Stop, don't move yet!"

He Cheng was stunned and didn't dare to move. He didn't dare to suddenly lie down, nor did he dare to continue to stand up straight. He had to hide behind a clump of grass and breathe carefully and softly.

"What's up, Chang Tou?"

"Don't move, there seems to be movement ahead..."

At this time, Han Zhaohui on the other side also said softly: "It seems... there is fire, but it is weaker."

"You read that right, it is indeed the dim light of the campfire. We should be approaching the bandit camp ahead."

After Chang Zhengcheng finished speaking, he looked at He Cheng and said, "Okay, don't be so impatient, just lie down first."

Only then did He Cheng dare to move. He lowered his body gently to the ground, stared into the distance for a moment, and then said: "Chang Tou, you can't see clearly from here. Why don't I go forward and touch, maybe I can catch the thieves' camp." See the whole picture.”

"Not urgent."

Chang Zhengcheng waved his hand to stop him from exploring forward, and then said softly: "We are all here. We are not in a hurry. Let's stay here for a while to see the situation."

As time gradually moves forward, the moon gradually sets towards the afterimage of the green grass in the west... A bit of fish belly white suddenly appears on the seemingly distant eastern horizon. Although it seems very far away, it does not affect the scenery in front of you at all. In the light, the earth seemed to be waking up from sleep, and it looked particularly energetic. Even the crystal clear dewdrops on the green grass a few steps away were faintly visible.

Looking at the rebel camp in the distance, wisps of light smoke curl up into the sky, like a dreamlike fairyland. At this moment, how can we think of their past of destroying people everywhere, coercing people, and killing people?

In order to be able to see clearly the situation in the bandit camp, Chang Zhengcheng ordered He Cheng and Han Zhaohui: "You two stay here and watch the movement on the other side. If anything happens, you can respond to me at any time."

After he finished speaking, he followed the route he had observed in advance, jumped forward for more than thirty steps to the left, and came to a slightly raised mound. He squatted half-crouched and took advantage of the cover of green grass to move forward. The thief camp observed carefully.

The little white fish belly in the east keeps rising, and a huge sun gradually reveals its head. The sunlight shines on the earth in the early morning, which is both gentle and a little dazzling.

Chang Zhengcheng squinted his eyes tightly, resisting the influence of the dazzling sunlight, trying his best not to let the tears in his eyes fall, and stared at the bandit camp in front of him to watch carefully...

The bandit camp in front of us is more than 130 steps away, and it is nearly four miles long from east to west. It is impossible to estimate the north and south, but it is at least two miles away. The north side is alternately made of wooden fences and earthen walls, and there is no camp gate. There are only camp gates on the west and south gates for people and horses to enter and exit. It seems that this is to prevent the officers and soldiers from Shuipoji from coming to destroy the dam.

Seeing that there was no camp gate facing him, Chang Zhengcheng became more courageous and couldn't help but bend down and continue to quietly cover up a mound fifty steps ahead.

Chang Zhengcheng vaguely saw a large pond in the bandit camp. He took out his telescope from his arms and raised it to take a closer look. Sure enough, there was a one-mile-square pond in the southwest corner of the bandit camp, with a wooden fence on the outside. of enclosure.

Along the pond, we also saw a water channel leading directly outside the bandit camp. Although the camp wall and wooden fence blocked some of the view, we could still vaguely see the water channel, which was less than ten steps wide. One end extended towards the Jialu River in the west, and the other side Then it continued to flow to the southeast, apparently heading to the next artificial pond.

Chang Zhengcheng was waiting to take a closer look at the situation of the traitors in the enemy camp, when he suddenly saw a cavalry of about a hundred traitors, whipping up their whips and urging their horses to gallop away towards the west gate.

"No... no!"

As a leader of the brave and resolute army who stayed at night, Chang Zhengcheng always maintained a high degree of vigilance. Now when he saw that the bandits dispatched more than a hundred elite cavalry to gallop westward without any warning, he immediately guessed It must be Zhao Xingguang's group, which was discovered by the bandits under the embankment.

Knowing that the matter was urgent, he no longer had the intention to observe the movement of the bandit camp. He rolled over and rolled down the mound, hurried back to the hiding place just now with his body bent, and said in a hurry: "Quickly, retreat."

At this moment, He Cheng and Han Zhaohui didn't know about the bandit camp's cavalry running out of the west gate. They just thought that the bandit soldiers had discovered them, so they didn't ask any questions and hurried back along the way behind Chang Zhengcheng. .

…………

Chang Zhengcheng's guess was indeed correct. It was Zhao Xingguang and three other people from the other group who wanted to check the thickness of the dike used by the rebels to cut off the Jialu River, so they were accidentally discovered by the patrolling soldiers.

However, Zhao Xingguang and others are extremely outstanding among the "Yong Yi Army" of the Ming Dynasty's first army, which is unparalleled in bravery and everyone can be called the king of soldiers. They are simply the king of soldiers among the kings of soldiers.

Even if there are only three people, it is no problem to deal with a dozen thieves patrolling the night. The servants will directly kill three thieves as soon as they engage in the battle. When the remaining ones are panicked, they naturally do not pose much of a threat and are nothing more than a desperate struggle. .

But the clanging of their weapons and the loud shouts of the thieves during their fight still attracted other thieves...

Zhao Xingguang and the other three became more and more courageous as they fought, but the enemy soldiers killed more and more, almost ten times as many as themselves. They were also afraid of being surrounded by the enemy soldiers, so they could no longer break out.

I saw Zhao Xingguang shouting loudly: "Handgun, thug, gunshot, rush out first and then talk!"

The three of them fought with swords and axes in their right hands. They seized the gap and pulled out the short-handed guns from their waists, flipped the safety on their armor, "Bang...bang...bang..." and pointed at the thieves around them. It's a blast.

Although only three muskets were fired, such a close distance was almost equivalent to shooting from close to the body. The huge impact actually sent the thieves flying backwards several steps away, and the huge roar of the muskets was added. The sound made the thieves retreat in fright.

Taking advantage of this gap, Zhao Xingguang and the other three people rushed out of the bandits and retreated along the way they came. However, a cold arrow came from nowhere, and Zhao Xingguang, who was walking at the back, was shot in the right leg.

He suddenly knelt on one knee on the ground. Fortunately, Zhou Xiaoshan and Yu Zhongtian who were following him noticed him in time, picked him up one by one, and retreated quickly.

But even after such a delay, the bandit soldiers who had just retreated rushed forward again. Zhao Xingguang and others had no choice but to retreat while fighting.

Because they had to help Zhao Xingguang retreat while fighting the pursuing bandits, Zhou Xiaoshan and Yu Zhongtian were cut and stabbed in many places by the bandits. On the contrary, Zhao Xingguang had no other wounds except the arrow wound on his right leg. , which shows how hard Zhou Xiaoshan and Yu Zhongtian protect it.

They fought and retreated like this, walking and stopping. Even if each of them took out the second musket they carried and fired a shot, they only killed three thieves and were still unable to kill the pursuing thieves. , not allowed to escape.

When the bandit soldiers discovered that Zhao Xingguang and others had infiltrated, they flew to the camp to ask for help. This was exactly what Chang Zhengcheng saw through the telescope.

…………

Although he expected that Zhao Xingguang's side would be discovered by the bandit soldiers, he would urgently dispatch the cavalry to pursue and intercept him, but Chang Zhengcheng did not know the specific location of Zhao Xingguang's current location, and he did not dare to guess at will, so he could only follow the original path. return.

Although there are only twelve people in their group, if they can gather together and mount their horses to fight with the bandits and cavalry, there is nothing to be afraid of. Even if they cannot defeat the thieves and drive them back, they can return them whole body. Very sure.

What Chang Zhengcheng is most worried about right now is that Zhao Xingguang and three others were intercepted by bandit soldiers!

If that's the case, at least one commander, two elite knights, plus the three knights lost previously, would be lost in this battle. That would be a whole team. How could Chang Zhengcheng be willing to do so?

Although they were not wearing iron armor for the convenience of movement when out sentry, the necessary protection was still indispensable, and they were also covered with slightly lighter chain armor. At this moment, when they were running hard, everyone's face was filled with tears. There were a little beads of sweat, but they didn't dare to stop for a moment.

Chang Zhengcheng, in particular, was even more agile and gave full play to his hunting skills in the mountains. He strode across ditches and ridges with long strides, not following the way he came, but taking shortcuts and running in a hurry.

How could He Cheng and Han Zhaohui compare with him? Naturally, they were far behind. Although they ran hard, they were still pulled further and further away...

Chang Zhengcheng knew that the incident happened suddenly and there was no time to arrange it calmly. Seeing that he was less than a hundred steps away from where Xing Jinyin was staying, he hurriedly took out the short-hand gun from his waist and fired it at the already very bright sky. Type out.

"Bang!" A loud bang broke through the tranquility of the morning. It spread far and wide and reached Xing Jinyin's ears. Even Zhou Zhongwang, who was guarding the horses at the rear, could vaguely hear it...

(End of this chapter)