The Happy Life of Small Officials in Northern Song Dynasty

Ninety miles to the northeast of Luzhou, there is a small county under the jurisdiction of Luzhou named Shenxian. The official road runs from Luzhou to the northeast through Shenxian, Juchao, Dingyuan, and then passes through Chuzhou to the southeast and crosses Jiangning to Yangzhou.

If you look down from the sky, this official road is like a curved back, passing through several counties in three states, not in a straight line.

In fact, this is also a helpless move. There are Huai River waterways in the north and Yangtze River waterways in the south. The counties between the Jianghuai River and the Huaihe River have suffered a lot in terms of transportation. Instead, try to connect several counties in series to facilitate the deployment of materials and troops.

In Liangyuan Township, [-] miles west of Shenxian County, the grain truck team led by Long Zhen could barely reach it before dark.

The original plan was to travel 20 miles to the east to enter the county seat, but things went against our wishes. The snow on the road was trampled into mud, causing more than [-] vehicles behind to sink. I had to unload the animals in front, put on the cart stuck in the mud, count the cattle and pull them, and then pull out all the carts.

As a result, a lot of time was wasted, and finally they had to settle down in Liangyuan Township.

It is said to be a small town, but in fact it is just a few dozen families scattered, living on both sides of the official road. Every month, people from nearby will spontaneously come to the market. The time is only a few hours in the morning. , here is deserted, it is a backcountry where birds do not lay eggs.

Long Zhen cursed and ordered his men to gather all the bullock carts on the dry road in the center of the market town, and ordered to light a fire and boil water. After a day of exhaustion, everyone longed for a good night's sleep.

Zhao Dutou and Wei Dutou found the security chief, and under the coordination of the security chief, four or five rooms were vacated for the soldiers to rest at night, while the drivers who drove the carriages could only snuggle up in the temporary tents. fell asleep with the animals.

Everyone was extremely tired, and God was considered beautiful. There was no wind. Under the baking of dozens of bonfires, everyone's bodies gradually warmed up. They ate their dry food with hot water and fed the animals. , and all the people fell into a dream.

Long Zhen drank a few glasses of wine at the nodding and bowing Baozhang's house, and he was also a little sleepy. Before going to bed, he still hadn't forgotten to ask Zhao Dutou to arrange a night vigilance. Of course, Zhao Dutou did not dare to neglect, and arranged four teams , every hour, a rotation, back and forth patrolling at the head and tail of the team.

night.There was no sound.

The long grass on the wilderness outside the town was windless, and the shadows of people in the half-person-high withered grass were mixed with the sound of weapons touching.

Someone cursed in a low voice: "Don't make a sound, hold the scabbard in your hand, and whoever makes a sound will immediately tell him to move his head."

After the order was conveyed, the noise disappeared immediately, and hundreds of people touched the entrance of the town like ghosts.

Shen Yaozu straightened up in the grass, squinted his eyes and looked at the dozens of burning fires, and asked Qiu Dabao beside him in a low voice: "Can you tell how many people there are?"

Qiu Dabao licked his lips and said: "It's not obvious, but it doesn't matter how much he does, this deal is settled."

Shen Yaozu nodded and said: "A dozen or so people are patrolling the night. After they patrol to the east, we will rush in. Even if there are many of them, at night, there are horses who are blind horses, and they are not our opponents at all."

Qiu Dabao turned his head and gave an order in a soft voice: "Listen to my orders, rush in together, only kill officers and soldiers, don't kill coachmen and livestock, we still need them."

All the people got the order, the knives were slowly drawn out of their sheaths, the bows and arrows were also stringed, and their eyes were fixed on the place where the grain trucks gathered, waiting for the order from the master.

The patrolling Ma Jun wandered around the west end of the town for a while, curled up and cursed a few words, then turned and walked east. There was a slight rumbling sound, and they turned their heads to take a closer look, and suddenly their souls were dissipated, and they saw hundreds of people rushing towards them with their weapons held high. The soldiers also thought that their ears were deaf.

"Bandit attack! Bandit attack!" The sharp voice of a horse army soldier echoed in the night sky like the siren of an air raid. With the sound of calling, people hurriedly got up and looked outside the tent.

They were dumbfounded by the sight in front of them. Hundreds of bandits rushed towards them brandishing swords and spears, and a tall man in the lead shouted with a long sword in his hand: "All the people pulling the carts stay where they are, whoever runs around Whoever wants to kill, the heroes of Bagong Mountain only kill officers and soldiers, not ordinary people."

The coachmen who originally planned to flee in all directions quickly turned their heads back, lying in the tent and covering their heads with the quilt, praying for the blessing of the Bodhisattva. The bow and arrow shot behind him was hacked to death by the overtaking bandits.

Long Zhen was sleeping soundly, when he suddenly heard shouts from outside, followed by screams and clashes of weapons, he felt a chill in his heart, knowing that he could not hide in the end, Long Zhen yelled at everyone Standing up, he put on his clothes and armor, and just as he put on his boots, the door of the house was knocked and pushed in. The soldiers on duty at night finally showed their horse spirit and fled back.

"Refer... Commander, bandits... there are bandits." The soldier almost bit his tongue in panic.

"Don't panic, how many people are there, and in what direction." Long Zhen shouted, picking up his long knife casually.

"Countless, black and dense, they are rushing here." The soldiers recovered, and their quarrels became sharp.

Long Zhen shouted: "Everyone get on their horses!"

A team leader came over and said, "Commander Long, how do we fight?"

Long Zhen scolded: "Beat your mother's thigh, how can you beat the bandits who overwhelm thousands of people? Do you want to die? Give me an order to get on your horse and rush out."

The team leader said, "What about the food?"

Long Zhen didn't turn his head back and said: "Food? Do you want food or your life? Idiot."

The bodyguard Sima Jun was well-trained, and he remained calm in times of crisis. It only took a few tens of breaths to get on the horseback one after another.

When the army of bandits rushed a hundred steps away from the place where the horse troops gathered, they couldn't help but hesitate a bit. These armored officers and soldiers riding on tall horses were menacing, and they didn't look like anyone to be trifled with; It's about to be loaded, the information is wrong, there are more than one hundred cavalry under the bonfire, at least two or three hundred, and the 400 people brought by me in a head-on confrontation will be trampled into flesh by two charges.

Shen Yaozu was discouraged, he exchanged a look with Qiu Dabao, from Qiu Dabao's eyes, he saw fear, Shen Yaozu didn't hesitate anymore, raised his right hand high, and just uttered half a word of an order of 'all retreat', the remaining three After half a word, he couldn't say it anymore, because the scene in front of him was enough to make him a fool.

As soon as the bandit leader raised his hand, Long Zhen judged that the bandits were going to attack desperately. It would be a while before this happened. Long Zhen, who had seen the bandits before, heard that the bandits were equipped with powerful crossbows and bed crossbows. They charged close, and it would be difficult to get away. At the same moment the bandits gave the order to charge, Long Zhen shouted decisively: "Turn the horse's head, all retreat."

The bandits had two legs, and the Ma Jun had six legs. Even with two legs, they couldn't catch up with the six legs. After a while, the Ma Jun had disappeared without a trace, as if there had never been this team of guards, Ma Jun. .

Shen Yaozu breathed a sigh of relief, and loudly ordered that all the coachmen be pulled out, put on horses and oxen and drove back overnight.

When the dawn light illuminated the land, Zhu Shiyong of Luzhou got the news that the food had been robbed. He marveled at the high efficiency of the bandits, and at the same time was secretly happy that everything was developing in the direction he expected.

Zhu Shiyong called his master loudly and ordered: "Quickly notify the Xiang army to go out to recover the grain, there must be no mistake."

The master twisted his ass and wanted to leave, Zhu Shiyong added behind him: "By the way, send someone to invite President Tang of the chamber of commerce, and say that I have something important to discuss."

When the Luzhou Xiang Army, which received the order, was dispatched in a big way, the scene of unloading grain at the foot of Bagong Mountain was already busy and jubilant.

In the morning, the Luzhou Xiang soldiers walked halfway and turned back. The commanding general who led the army said that the sentry came to report that the food had been transported to the cottage by the bandits, and they were too late to catch up.