weaving

Chapter 1200 Return My Mother to Me

On May 17, at the hour of You, although the sky was still clear and cloudless, the sun had already set. As the sun no longer scorched the earth, people suddenly felt much cooler, especially with the occasional evening breeze.

Three miles south of the new city is a large camp of government troops, stretching for more than ten miles from east to west. It is surrounded by layers of flower hedges and trenches, and high and thick earthen walls inside, like a bunch of blooming morning glories.

Inside the earth wall, there are several horizontal and vertical avenues that divide the camps. It looks messy, but in fact, there are rules to follow. Although there are various military flags and camp flags, it is not very noisy.

It was dinner time. The soldiers gathered in teams, eating steamed buns and drinking bowls of dried meat stew. Each team was also given a can of dried fish to add some meat and nutrition.

The face of every Yongyi Army soldier was glowing red, with beads of hot sweat running down their cheeks. Some of them wiped it with cloth towels, while others even lifted the hem of their clothes and rubbed it.

The soldiers from each team were all familiar with each other. They would chat and laugh in low voices while eating, but they kept it within the range where they could hear each other. After all, if they made loud noises and were heard by the patrolling superiors, they would be punished by having their ears pierced.

The one in the middle of this large camp is the central military camp of the Weiyuan Camp of the Yongyi Army. The central military headquarters of Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, is also located here.

The Weiyuan Camp only had the Yulin Cavalry, the Huwei Cavalry, and three baggage carts accompanying them to fight in southern Henan. The Suzaku Camp's heavy cavalry with armored cavalry was also under the command of the headquarters. In addition, Chen Zhong's Yanhe Camp with more than 3,000 horses was also stationed with the Yongning Earl's central army camp.

Therefore, this central army camp alone covers a very large area. Although there are not many people and horses, they are almost all cavalry. In addition to brave warriors, there are also many war horses and mules.

What's more, at this moment in the central army camp, there are three baggage carts and a large amount of food, gunpowder, artillery shells and other military supplies!

Inside the camp, there were rows of chest-high wooden fences, dividing the entire camp into smaller camps, each with its own gate, road, kitchen, toilet, etc.

If an outsider rashly enters this huge military camp without anyone to lead the way, he will inevitably get lost and become a prisoner of the soldiers guarding the various intersections and camp gates.

…………

The billowing smoke from Shuipoji seemed to be frozen in that sky. Even the rumbling sound of artillery and the screams and wails there did not affect Xincheng due to geographical limitations.

According to the unified arrangement of the Yongning Earl's headquarters, the camps of the Yongyi Army are further strengthening their camps in preparation for the upcoming thundering attack from the Chuang Army.

At the same time, pre-war mobilization was being carried out intensively within each camp. In addition to constantly convening officers of all ranks to preach the general policy of "building a strong camp and using defense as offense", they also held a series of unique "cultural performances".

Yes, it is a “cultural and artistic performance”, and this term was put forward by Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning himself!

This "cultural and artistic performance" included both military song choruses and local operas, but the most popular program was the "drama", because its performance form was novel and very close to life, it was really popular in all the camps of the Yongyi Army.

Even the singing competition among the teams held in the middle of the cultural performance could not overshadow the "drama performance".

…………

When Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng and his companions arrived at the small training ground, the performance had already begun.

I saw a high platform built in the east direction, which was six meters long from north to south and more than thirty meters wide from east to west. There was also a felt shed on it, which was enough to protect against the sun, wind and rain.

There were more than a dozen shadowy figures on the high platform. Behind them were musicians playing various traditional Chinese instruments, and in the front were six or seven actors, including young people, old people, women and children.

When Yongning Earl Zhang Cheng and his entourage arrived, the middle officer Zhang Chengfang was about to step forward to arrange seats for them in the front, but was stopped by Zhang Cheng.

However, a centurion on duty who was maintaining order at the scene also saw Zhang Cheng and his group. He hurriedly trotted over to salute, and then was about to report to his superior, but was stopped by Zhang Cheng who waved his hand.

At this moment, there were nearly a thousand audience members at the scene, all of them were watching the performance attentively. Many of them were gritting their teeth with tears in their eyes.

Although Zhang Cheng and his team were already in the last row, they could still hear the actors' voices faintly, just a little quieter. If there were other noises, they might not be heard clearly, but now the stage was surprisingly quiet. Zhang Cheng pointed to the performance stage in the distance and whispered to Sun Shixiang, "How many large vats are buried underneath? We are so far away, but the sound is still clear to our ears."

Sun Shixiang smiled and replied, "The three-foot square vat can hold as many as fifteen people."

Zhang Cheng also smiled and nodded. He seemed to want to say something, but his eyes were attracted by the stage in front of him and he watched it intently.

Several ragged men and women rushed out from the east side of the stage, each of them holding a basket of earth or a straw bag in their hands. Following closely behind them were three sturdy men dressed as rebel soldiers.

"Listen to me, if you can't fill up the moat in front of you today, you won't have any food!"

An old man seemed to want to turn around and argue with the man dressed as a soldier: "We haven't had any food for three days. We are almost starving to death. How can we have the energy to fill the trenches? General, please be kind and give the children some food first..."

The soldier seemed impatient. Before the old man could finish speaking, he drew the steel knife from his waist and swung it fiercely. The old man let out a scream and fell onto the stage.

Almost at the same time, a stream of blood spurted out from where the old man fell...

There was an immediate cry of surprise from beneath the stage, mixed with a few curses, but they were quickly stopped by the superiors and did not spread.

But then a naked woman on the stage rushed forward, picked up the fallen old man, and shouted in a sharp voice: "Dad... Dad..."

The woman cried out a few times, but the old man was already dead, so how could he respond to her...

Suddenly, the woman jumped up and rushed towards the soldier, shouting angrily: "I will fight you!"

However, before she could get close, she saw a flash of cold light, and blood gushed out again. The woman fell to the ground on the stage with a "thump", and there was no sound anymore.

"Do you want to end up like her?"

"If you don't want to die, go and fill the trench for me. When you come back, you must bring back a brick. Otherwise, you will starve to death!"

At this moment, a child of eight or nine years old suddenly rushed over, hugged the soldier's thigh and cried, "Mother, give me back my mother... give me back my mother..."

"what!"

Following a scream, the child was chopped down by the bandit soldier. When blood spurted out again, curses rang out from the audience...

"Beast... what a fucking beast..."

"A thief is really not a human being... He doesn't even spare women and children. Is he still a human being?"

Some of the brave soldiers were so angry that they threw stones and dirt they had picked up from somewhere onto the stage...

There were even three soldiers sitting in the front row who jumped up, shouting "I'm going to fight you", and were about to climb onto the stage to fight the four rebel soldiers.

Fortunately, the soldiers guarding the stage reacted quickly enough and pulled them back in time, preventing any greater chaos or accidents!

…………

Zhang Cheng was watching the performance on the stage and the soldiers' reactions. Although his expression remained calm, the slightly raised corners of his mouth revealed his attitude towards the performance.

He turned around and whispered to Liu Chengzu, "Chengzu, your story of 'forcing the hungry people to fill the trenches' is very good."