weaving

Chapter 188 What are your plans for the future?
In the 11th year of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, on December [-]th, Maoshi, the sun was still hidden below the horizon, and the sky was gray and foggy.

To the northwest of Julu, about fifteen miles west of the Haoshui River, there is a large dense forest, several miles wide, and the west of the forest is the Fuyang River, which is now frozen over.

Snow covered the entire land, from the thin ice of the Fuyang River to the forest, and looking around, it was all silvery white.

In the depths of the dense forest, strips of flame-like bright red cloaks were connected one after another, surrounding the big trees, forming a slightly narrow space.

Among the flames, there were occasional pieces of felt cloth interspersed, and in the space they surrounded, the sound of war horses snorting could be heard from time to time.

If you listen carefully, you can hear faint snoring sounds. If you look carefully, there are also some slightly raised snowdrifts outside the cloaks and felt cloth, which seem to be intentional. For that.

These snowdrifts are all connected with those thick big trees, it seems that there is something hidden behind those snowdrifts, and it seems that they are the willful works of those howling cold winds, in short, it is unpredictable.

The heavy snow yesterday fell all night, but fortunately, the howling cold wind has started to weaken since the time of You, especially in the depths of this dense forest, the cold wind seems to have lost its majesty.

Zhang Cheng leaned against a tree trunk, the surrounding snow was swept away, and it was piled up in a semicircular row outside, and a felt cloth was spread on the exposed ground, and he sat on it.

A war horse leaned in front of Zhang Cheng, lying on its stomach, motionless. Zhang Cheng had just hugged it last night to survive the cold winter snow night.

He was still covered with his own woolen cloak, surrounded by felt cloth, and above his head, the same felt cloth built a roof with the help of tree trunks and branches to prevent snowflakes from falling around him.

In this vast dense forest, apart from Zhang Cheng, only Zhang Guangda, Wu Zhizhong and other seriously injured generals were treated like this.

…………

Zhang Cheng lazily leaned against the tree trunk. He was already awake, but he didn't want to move. It felt like cold wind would penetrate into his body if he moved. He just wanted to just sit here quietly and do nothing. .

"General, wake up!"

A soft greeting came from Zhang Cheng's side, and he recognized that it was Chen Zhong's voice, so he replied, "Zhongzi, how are you all?"

After a burst of noise around Zhang Cheng, Chen Zhong came over, ducked into Zhang Cheng's small tent, handed over a piece of dried horse meat, and then a water bag, and said, "General , that’s all for this bag of wine, take a few sips to warm your bones.”

Zhang Cheng took it casually, took a sip of wine before biting off a piece of jerky, and said softly, "Go and see, how are Huzi and Lao Wu doing?"

Chen Zhong responded, then turned around and left. Zhang Cheng was still leaning on the tree trunk, eating jerky and drinking a few sips of wine. He felt very tired and really didn't want to move, so he just stayed here.

After a while, Chen Zhong and Chen Zheng came back together. Chen Zheng squatted in front of Zhang Cheng, and said softly: "General, I just saw it. His beard is fine and he is sleeping. Old Wu is bleeding a lot and his body is very weak. .”

Zhang Cheng nodded, and asked again: "Brothers, how many times did they break through, and the Tartars didn't come after them?"

"More than 470 people came out of our camp, and only a hundred people followed from Buying, but Mr. Liang Qian didn't follow, I'm afraid it's bad luck.

There are more than a dozen seriously injured, who did not survive last night.In addition, there are less than [-] brothers from Zhang Qianzhang from the Supervising Biao Battalion, and they are hiding in the woods with us.

The Tartars chased us for a while yesterday, but after I led Wang Tieren back, I stopped chasing them. It was snowing heavily this night, and now they want to find us, but they have nowhere to go. "

Zhang Cheng secretly said "It's a pity!" before saying to Chen Zhong: "Give me a hand!"

Chen Zhong hurriedly stood up and stretched out his hands, pulled Zhang Cheng up, moved his hands and feet, and Zhang Cheng said again: "Command the soldiers, light a bonfire as soon as it is lit, covered by these cloaks and felt cloths, the bright sky, the Tartars It's hard to find the child, so burn some snow water on the spot to drive away the cold air for the brothers."

Chen Zheng took the order to leave to arrange the layout, Zhang Cheng said to Chen Zhong: "Let's go, let's go and see Hu Zi and Lao Wu."

…………

Zhang Guodong has already got up. He is standing by a tree, looking at a snowdrift more than ten steps away. In front of the snowdrift, a few people, including Lu Xiangsheng's supervisor Ding, Liu Jinhai and Chen Huzi, are kneeling there. In front of the snowdrift, it seems to be muttering something silently.

There were less than 200 people in the Supervising Battalion this time. Among them, Liu Jinhai, Chen Huzi and other family members respect Lu Xiangsheng the most, but when it comes to military positions, it is Zhang Guodong, the general manager, who is the most respected.

After a while, Liu Jinhai and the others came to Zhang Guodong's side. Everyone took out a small piece of dried meat, grabbed a ball of snow, and gnawed it.

"Haiko, what are your plans for the future?"

Zhang Guodong hasn't eaten yet, he has been thinking about what to do in the future.

When Liu Jinhai heard Zhang Guodong's question, he didn't answer directly. He glanced at Chen Huzi and the few surviving family guards, took another big bite of the snowball, swallowed it, and said, "What's your plan? Serve as a soldier to eat food." Kill the Tartars, we bastards have no other livelihood besides here."

"Mr. Qian, what do you think of this guerrilla general Zhang?" Chen Huzi asked in a calm tone, a little cold.

Zhang Guodong didn't answer in a hurry, he got up and walked to a tree not far away, stood there for a long time, then turned around and came back, as if he had made up his mind, he said in a deep voice:
"Let's follow General Zhang. A certain view, he is also very affectionate, and he loves his subordinates very much. Moreover, the governor is still in Japan, and he also admires General Zhang very much. He has high expectations!"

Hearing this, Liu Jinhai glanced at Chen Huzi and the others, and saw that everyone nodded in agreement, so he said to Zhang Guodong: "We are all rough people, so we should follow the example of Mr. Zhang Qian."

Chen Huzi on the side also interjected: "Hey...we really have a confrontation with the brothers in General Zhang's camp."

"Well, I have made up my mind to follow General Zhang Cheng and continue to kill Tartars, but before that, I must take care of the offspring of the governor, you can settle down under General Zhang's command first, and when I come back, we will still be together. "

After Zhang Guodong finished speaking, he turned his head and looked towards the edge of the forest, but he still couldn't see a ray of light. He followed Lu Xiangsheng all the way to fight for many years. Now, the governor has also died for the country, and there are only more than a hundred people around him, but this The world has not seen the slightest improvement.

The Tartars are still wreaking havoc on the land of Gyeonggi, the people have been taken into captivity, their homes have been burned, and there is no one to govern.

What's even more hateful is that the commander-in-chief's army jumped up and dived, with tens of thousands of troops, and defended Jize. Although it was dozens of miles away, he refused to come to rescue. How dare the Qing army let go of their hands and feet and gather troops to attack!
(End of this chapter)