weaving

Chapter 52
In the 11th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, on October [-]th, it was overcast, the sun was not good, and the sky was dim.

In Xuanfu Town, on the official road, the willow trees on both sides are only dead branches, swaying in the cold wind of late autumn, blowing the golden willow leaves on the ground, rustling and rolling forward.

On the wide official road, there was a queue of people running from east to west towards the security guard city, marching in an orderly manner. They drove several carts, and also led many mules and horses, dragging a lot of things in large and small packages. .

This crowd of more than a thousand people, more than men and women, less old and weak, stretched for more than a mile along the official road. Among them, there were more than a hundred people in a team, with carts, mules and horses sandwiched between them. There were as many as thirteen teams.

Although their clothes were shabby and their faces were tired and weathered, they walked in an orderly manner. Ten large carts were fully loaded, and some wheelbarrows were sandwiched among the crowd, loaded with personal belongings, and More than a hundred mules and horses, also carrying bags, strenuously marched forward.

There were three strong and capable knights riding their horses at the front of the team. They came and went, scattered and gathered, as if they were detecting possible dangers ahead for the team.

About 300 steps behind them, there is a group of strong and strong men, about sixty in number, holding a mess of various long and short weapons in their hands, and their clothes are also shabby, but the dozen or so people walking in the front seem to be Wearing tattered armor.

"He Tou, when will we arrive in Xuanzhen?" A rough and rough voice asked.

Just behind the sixty men was a cart with two horses. Several men were lying or sitting in the cart, and a few war horses followed behind the cart. followed behind the wagon.

A steady voice came from the cart: "Sun Dashan, go and yell at the big guy, and be careful. When I saw the Chinese character shop just now, there was something fucking wrong with the horses."

The person who spoke was responsible for protecting the wounded soldiers and refugees from returning to Xuan Town. He Shihui, the officer of the Thousand Headquarters of the Right Wing Battalion, Cavalry, and the Left Whistle B Division B, had basically recovered from his injuries after days of recuperation. Not only him, but many minors The wounded sergeants have all recovered, but they are all lazily lying on the cart.

After they left Juyongguan and Zhang Guangda, the chief of the left sentry, they marched all the way. Because they wanted to save food and grain, they stopped at the peak and rested in advance every day.

They were in a hurry, traveling thirty to forty miles a day, and now they have passed the Huailai Acropolis for more than thirty miles, and the distance to the Baoan Acropolis is also about thirty miles away. .

Two days ago, when they rested at the old calligraphy shop, there were more than ten riders, divided into three or four waves, passing by their team. Two waves of riders even ran to a high place and stopped to observe them.

Last night, they took a rest near the Chinese character shop, and when they set up camp at Chenshi today, He Shihui saw three riders haunting the camp, so he sent twelve cavalry to guard the camp.

It was precisely because he was worried about the situation that he didn't start dinner at noon today. He Shihui's idea was to rush through this distance as soon as possible. The closer he was to the security guard city, the safer he would be.

After hearing He Shihui's order, Sun Dashan, the leader of the top three of the left sentry B team A, immediately jumped up from the cart, and with the help of a somersault, he sat on a horse behind the cart.

He lifted the reins of the horse, put it around the horse's head, clamped the horse's belly with both feet, and the horse neighed, and then rushed out diagonally, galloping forward from the edge of the official road, chasing the three soldiers who were exploring the road in front of the official road. go.

"I said, big stone, why don't you know how tired you are? It's a good big cart. If you don't sit in it, you have to grind your big feet." He Shihui teased Shi Zhuzi half-jokingly.

"He Tou, look quickly, what's the matter over there?" Shi Zhuzi's muffled voice came, and his tone was rather urgent.

He Shihui heard that Shi Zhuzi's tone was wrong, so he quickly sat up with his body upright, and looked towards the north of the official road pointed by Shi Zhuzi.

In the wilderness on the back of the official road, there was a large cloud of dust flying, like a sudden sandstorm. Looking from a distance, a large cloud of smoke almost covered the small mountain a few miles away.

Liu Quan, the officer of the First Brigade of the Left Whistle Brigade, who was lying beside He Shihui, also sat up and looked at the cloud of smoke and dust in the north, which could not stop rolling.

He Shihui and Liu Quan looked at each other, stood up abruptly, and shouted loudly: "Command, all stop, unload the trucks, gather the mules and horses, don't panic."

There was a commotion in the refugee team on the move, Shi Zhuzi held a long-handled sledgehammer, opened his mouth and yelled in a low voice: "Fuck you, stand up, don't move around. "

From time to time, someone jumped off the carts, got on their horses, and shouted back and forth on the official road: "Hold on, don't run, stay where you are..."

Changbai Shanzi, the [-]nd A team of the Left Whistle B Division A team, came galloping on horseback. Seeing some refugees running around and screaming, he swung his whip, whipped his head and face, and shouted, "Damn it, run around like a ball! Honestly squat..."

He galloped up to He Shihui's cart and shouted, "He Tou, what the hell are you doing?"

Seeing Sun Dashan running back, He Shihui shouted loudly: "Bai Shanzi, you command the refugees to move the cart along the north edge of the official road, and make a semicircle around the willow trees, and gather all the horses and mules to the back.

Sun Dashan, call all the brothers who can fight, put on your armor, and wait for my orders.What about Mr. Shi?Alas, Mr. Shi, you call the refugees to the back of the cart and tell the big guys to hide, don't panic, don't be afraid. "

After a commotion, ten large carts were set up along the northern edge of the official road, with willow trees sandwiched between them. There was still a gap two steps wide between each cart. In the meantime, the boxes and packages on some carts were also moved down and used as roadblocks, forming a semicircle to protect the east, north, and west directions.

To the south of the official road are several large pits and ponds, with weeds and shrubs overgrown, and the mud is very muddy, making it difficult to walk. He Shihui estimated that the bandits would not attack from this direction, so he did not plan to set up defenses here, and the focus was on the three directions of northeast and west .

The young and strong refugees among the refugees already had a wooden stick in their hands before they set off. At this time, they were arranged to stand outside and form six long square formations, each with 100 people.

Originally, when we set off from Changping, there were less than 900 wounded soldiers plus refugees, but after passing Juyongguan, refugees who had escaped in advance continued to join, and gradually gathered into the current scale of about 500 people.

The women, the old and the weak among the refugees are all concentrated in the middle of the official road, as are the mules and horses. They also have a wooden stick in their hands. When they usually walk, they are used to lean on and rest their feet, but now they are tightly held in their hands. inside.

There were 120 strong and strong men, holding all kinds of weapons in their hands, standing neatly behind the cart. They were separated from the left and right compartments, with 60 people on each side. They were the strong men with families selected by Zhang Cheng from among the refugees. Chinese.

In the past few days, He Shihui has been practicing and beating them continuously on the march, and he has already got some appearances. He Shihui is already very satisfied with this unruffled posture in the face of danger.

Sun Dashan and Bai Shanzi also galloped back. Behind them were 36 elite Xuanzhen cavalrymen, but most of them had just recovered from minor injuries, and some of them hadn't even fully recovered, but insisted on going out to fight.

He Shihui supported Liu Quan, stood on the cart, and looked at the smoke and dust getting closer to the north of the official road.

"Looking at the posture, there can be seven to eight hundred people, Lao He, it's a bit difficult to handle." Liu Quan was a little worried.

He Shihui saw two knights galloping from the north on horseback, and said, "It's no big deal, we can kill all the Tartars. These bandits are like chopping vegetables."

In a blink of an eye, two riders galloped up, rode their horses through the gap between the big workshops, and went up the official road. When they got closer, they saw a person lying horizontally on one of the knights' horses.

They rode their horses to the front of the cart where He Shihui was, and left behind a man dressed as a bandit, with unkempt hair and a beard, his hands and feet were tied, his mouth was stuffed with rags, Lying on the ground yelling "Woooooooooooooooooooooooo".

A knight rode on his horse and reported: "He Tou, Liu Tou, they are some bandits. They seem to be mixed together. They look like seventy or eighty riders. There are about 800 bandits left. We have captured them. I don't have time to interrogate him."

He Shihui couldn't help but turn his head to look at Liu Quan after hearing the report from the sentry cavalry. Liu Quan naturally understood what he meant, so he said straightforwardly, "Old He, give the order."

He Shihui didn't write any ink at the moment, nodded to Liu Quan, and shouted in a deep voice: "Shi Zhuzi, you lead the Minyong left team of 60 people, plus a young and strong centurion, guarding the official road in the west; Ma Huijun, you lead The Minyong right team has 60 people, plus a young and strong centurion team, guarding the official road in the east;

Wang Sanhu, you lead two young and strong centurions to guard the left side of the north; Du Chun, you lead two young and strong centurions to guard the right side of the north, and you two listen to the orders of Captain Liu;

Sun Dashan, you choose twenty elite cavalry, prepare to charge into the formation, capture the king first when capturing the thief; Bai Shanzi, you lead the rest of the elite cavalry, and support all parties at any time. "

Everyone whose name was called received the order loudly. For a while, the sound of orders and the sound of footsteps rang together.

He Shihui was still standing on the cart, looking at the smoke and dust on the north side of the official road. At this time, it was much closer and bigger, and the smoke and dust from the north was gradually extending to the east side of the official road.

Gradually, the sound of horseshoes stomping on the ground could be heard. Based on the sound alone, there should be nearly a hundred bandits on horseback.

In a short time, these horse bandits rushed to the official road. Some of the horse bandits, who were skilled in equestrianism, galloped their horses and screamed loudly, rolling around on the horse's back, showing off their riding skills. surgery.

The smoke and dust billowed, and the sound of rumbling horseshoes gradually approached, and the horse bandits on the opposite side could be faintly seen. Most of them had armor on their bodies, but almost all of them had cloaks or cloaks, which were blowing in the wind.

In addition to these horse bandits who have already rushed to the official road, in the wilderness north of the official road, the dark crowd more than 300 steps away seems to be some horse bandits, mixed with some ragged and skinny people, who look like they are being threatened. of the people.

These infantrymen stopped more than 200 steps away. They lined up in a row in a scattered manner. It seemed that there were only more than 800 people. Only more than 300 of them were vaguely seen, holding all kinds of long and short weapons in their hands. Some agricultural tools such as shovels, picks, rakes, and sickles, and some people even held a thick wooden stick in their hands, just like the refugees here.

(End of this chapter)