Northern Dynasties

Chapter 293
On the rugged mountain road, a group of knights came on horseback. The hood and cloak were covered with a thick layer of hoarfrost, which showed that they had traveled a long way.

A few miles away, there was a fort built next to the mountain wall. When they heard the faint sound of horseshoes in the open valley, the guards in the castle suddenly became serious. on alert.

Soon the group of knights came to the front of the fortress, and one of them went straight to the closed gate of the fortress, raised his head and shouted upwards: "Xi'an Prefecture Yang Shijun came here on inspection, so hurry up and open the door to welcome him!"

While speaking, he untied another command talisman from his waist and threw it into a basket under the tower.The defenders put the baskets on the top of the city, and after careful inspection, they hurriedly ordered to open the city gate. The garrison leader led several soldiers hurried out to greet Yang Zhong, who was in the team, and said with his hands crossed: "The envoy is here in person, It's really impolite to welcome someone with a humble rank..."

Yang Zhong just waved his hand to signal everyone to enter the fort temporarily, not paying much attention to these customary etiquette.After entering the fortress, he frowned and asked before he could take off the hood and robe that had been soaked by the frost, "How is the situation in Black Salt Pond?"

A few days ago, there were a lot of wandering soldiers in Xi'an Prefecture.These people's whereabouts are uncertain and their purpose is unknown, which naturally aroused the high vigilance of the people in the territory.

Because of the salt pond in the border, there are many gangsters in Xi'an Prefecture every autumn and winter. Yang Zhong, the governor, also made many arrangements for this situation. He personally led the army to sit in the largest salt pond in Wuyuan, and dispatched scouts to patrol Everywhere, to ensure the smooth flow of information in the country, no matter where the situation occurs, we can be informed and responded to in the first time.

Hearing Yang Zhong's question, the lord of the garrison led him to a watchtower in the castle, pointed to the northeast direction of the watchtower and said, "There is Heiyan garrison a dozen miles away, and a warning beacon was suddenly lit the morning before yesterday. Humble official immediately led his troops to investigate and rush to help, but was stopped by the bandit army ambushing on the mountain road. The bandit army I saw was at least a thousand, and the Humble official had only two hundred troops. Lead the troops to retreat, and immediately send a message to Wuyuan..."

"So, the Black Rock Garrison has fallen, and the Black Salt Pond has also been occupied by the enemy?"

The lord of the garrison nodded with a serious expression: "I have been sending envoys to make inquiries for the past two days, but they have not responded. The Heiyan garrison has indeed fallen. After the thieves occupy this garrison, they can hold the east. The channel to go can transport the salt stored in the black salt pond to the outside. The only congratulation is that there are not many horses and carts driving there, but if the thieves themselves have them, then..."

Hearing this, Yang Zhong frowned tightly. He knew that the old lord Duguxin had spent a lot of effort on his transfer, and he didn't want to make such a big mistake when he took office, so he asked again in a deep voice. : "Is there a way to take back the Black Rock Garrison as soon as possible?"

"Yes, there is, but it's too dangerous!"

After hearing the words, the garrison lord hesitated for a while before replying hesitantly.

"It's good to have it. I'll talk about whether it's dangerous or not later. Let's fix some diet first to satisfy our hunger."

Yang Zhong heaved a sigh of relief when he heard that there was still a solution, and then ordered the accompanying soldiers to take off their frost-soaked robes and enter the fort first to warm up, have a meal, and rest.

In the evening, Yang Zhong and his entourage, who were full of food and drink, were full of energy. Under the leadership of the garrison master, they bypassed the eastern mountain road that had been controlled by the thieves, and arrived at the bottom of a high and steep cliff along the mountainside.

"The Black Rock Garrison hangs in the middle of the mountain, and the terrain is steep. In addition to a frontal attack, you can also sneak in along this mountain wall. It's just that this road is too dangerous. The casualties were too heavy and it was abandoned..."

The garrison lord was just standing at the bottom of the cliff, feeling the mountain wind blowing on his face, he couldn't help becoming nervous, hesitating again and again, but finally he said boldly: "Although this mountain road can go directly to the back of the Black Rock Fortress, but It is not suitable for a large group of people to pass by. If there are only a few people, even if they are lucky enough to sneak in, it may be difficult to take back the fortress from the bandits, it is too risky!"

Yang Zhong ignored the garrison master's advice, and only pointed to a slightly thin subordinate among his subordinates, and the soldier left the team, went to the cliff to look around, and then climbed up with his hands and feet. Going up, the movements are vigorous and flexible, as if walking on flat ground.

Seeing this scene, the garrison master immediately widened his eyes in surprise. Before he could react, the thin sergeant had already climbed away and disappeared behind the cliff.

Yang Zhong was not idle either, and asked the garrison master about the internal layout and defenses of the Heiyan garrison in detail, and kept these information in his heart.

It was getting late, and more than half an hour passed quickly, and there was another rustling sound from the slope above the cliff. After a while, the sergeant went back and forth, and jumped down from the mountain wall with a light figure. , and then said to Yang Zhong: "My lord, it can be done, but it's not easy to carry too heavy equipment."

After Yang Zhong heard the words, he nodded, summoned a sergeant who accompanied him and the garrison lord together and said: "It is reported that the passers-by will speed up their march and must arrive here before midnight. After arriving, first enter the garrison fort to rest and wait Immediately after I sent out the beacon signal, I rushed to the mountain road to defeat these thieves in one fell swoop!"

After hearing this, the sergeant clasped his fists to promise, but the lord widened his eyes and said in shock: "Could it be that the envoy wants to personally..."

Yang Zhong did not explain too much, but selected more than [-] people from among the entourage, and carefully checked and counted their belongings several times. Some uncarryable utensils were temporarily brought back to the garrison by soldiers who did not participate in this operation. Fort, Yang Zhong and others set up a simple tent under the mountain wall and continued to rest.

It was getting dark quickly, but the vision was not completely dimmed.After the eyes have adapted to the dark night, the light refracted by the snow on the surrounding mountains allows people to see without hindrance.

"set off!"

Yang Zhong looked up at the ups and downs of the stars in the sky, and when the time reached the moment he expected, he stood up and gave an order.

All the sergeants got up one after another, stretched their arms and kicked their legs for a little movement, and the thin sergeant set off again in the afternoon, and the others followed one by one, climbing horizontally along the few relay points on the mountain wall.

Because of the previous pathfinding, the group of people advanced smoothly, but the mountain is too wide and the distance is far away. The cold wind in the mountain blows on the back, and sometimes there are some tiny frost debris mixed in, like a hand. The file kept rubbing against the shoulder, neck and back of the person.

"Persevere, it's already halfway through!"

The sergeant leading the way spoke up to cheer everyone up, but his tone of voice trembled unconsciously. When he passed a relatively wide stone platform, he finally freed his hand and took out a leather bag to his mouth. It was filled with spirits that had been warmed before leaving.

The sergeant took a sip of warm wine, then handed the wine bag to the back, and continued to climb forward with the strength of this drink.Everyone in the back road also followed suit. When it reached the last person, the huge wine bag was empty, and there was no drop left, and the soldiers walking in front had already walked down the cliff one after another and set foot on the ground. .

Black Salt Pond is located in the middle of a range of mountains, surrounded by coal veins, some coal mines are simply exposed, forming a black belt between the mountains, so the salt pool here is named.

Heiyan Garrison is located in the southwest of Yanchi, hanging on the middle of the mountain, overlooking the entire Yanchi valley, and connected to the mountain peaks behind by a stone beam. The terrain is very prominent.

Yang Zhong and others bypassed the entire mountain ridge and directly arrived at the rear of the fortress. The distance from the fortress was only a dozen feet away, and the lights of fireworks and the movement of figures in the fortress were already clearly visible.

Probably because they had full confidence in the terrain of the fort, and because they had just captured the fort and were not familiar with the layout, the thieves did not arrange patrolling guards in the area of ​​the fort, so Yang Zhong and others touched the fort wall all the way Next, the inside is still completely unaware of this.

As it got closer to the critical moment, Yang Zhong and others tiptoed under the wall to wait and see for a while, chose a slightly low position, and directly climbed up the more than ten-foot-high wall in the way of building a human wall.

Inside the wall is a place to store charcoal and sundries. Yang Zhong, who was the first to climb over the wall, felt something was wrong as soon as he landed. Waiting for the subordinates to speed up their movements, they felt a warning sign in their hearts. They looked straight to the left front corner, and saw a Hu pawn in the shadow standing with his legs crossed, holding his crotch with one hand, staring at him dumbfounded. .

This situation surprised both parties involved. Yang Zhong took a small step back subconsciously, and immediately reacted, he swung his fingers like a hook and grabbed the Hu Zu by the throat, and the Hu Zu was finally panicked at this moment. , with a shrill cry: "There are enemies sneaking in..."

The shouting stopped abruptly, and Yang Zhong directly scratched the Hu Zu's throat with one blow, and fell down limply, but the cry before his death also alarmed the other Hu Zu.

"who?"

A few Hu soldiers on the left rushed over with big strides, drew their knives in their hands as they ran, and slashed straight at Yang Zhong.

Even though Yang Zhong was unarmed, he was fearless in the face of the steel knife coming straight down from the top of his head. He dodged to avoid the oncoming knife, and swung his fist straight to the shoulder of the Hu pawn. There were only a few muffled clicks. Half of the pawn's body went limp, and his body was even thrown into the air, smashing the companion beside him more than ten feet away.

Hu Zu's fallen saber was copied by Yang Zhong, and it became even more powerful immediately. Amidst the flickering of the sword, several Hu Zu who came after hearing the news all lay dead on the spot.

"Move faster!"

After killing all the enemies in front of him, Yang Zhong yelled at the wall behind him again, and then he held a knife in one hand and a long spear in the other, strode forward for more than ten feet, and rushed straight to this place. Thieves.

The sergeants outside the wall heard the sound of fighting inside, and they all speeded up their movements to climb over the wall. When they each drew their knives and rushed to the battle place, the area where Yang Zhong was passing had already killed or injured dozens of soldiers.

The Hu soldiers had never seen such a mighty and ferocious enemy, killing people like mowing grass, they were frightened for a while, and they all turned around and ran to the rear to escape for their lives.

More and more sergeants climbed over the wall and followed Yang Zhong to hunt down the bandits.Right now it is the middle of the night, there are not many thieves on duty at night, there are about [-] people scattered here, under the hacking and killing by Yang Zhong and others, they were killed and injured very quickly.

However, the screams of the fighting also alarmed all the bandit soldiers in the fortress. The bandit soldiers who had been sleeping in the barracks put on their clothes and walked out one after another, but what greeted them was Companions running around in panic.

The scale of the garrison is not too large, and there are only a hundred or so guards. After the bandits captured it, six to 700 people, including the wounded, were arranged to guard the garrison.Panicked thieves can be seen everywhere as the entire fort fell into chaos.

More than [-] people including Yang Zhong chased and killed them like wolves and tigers. Even though some of the thieves managed to organize a resisting formation hastily, they were already given up by the panicked crowd of their own side before they could fight the intruders. Disperse.In order to survive, some Hu Zu even rushed to the top of the wall and jumped down in a panic.

This chaos lasted for less than half an hour before it gradually subsided. The pawns in the fortress had either been hacked to death, or fell to the ground and wailed, and some simply knelt down and surrendered to beg for mercy. Few of them fled anymore. resisters.

The sergeants who had been scattered to create disturbances and hunted down the bandits gathered again, all of them were covered in blood, and they couldn't tell whether they were their own or the enemy's.They first drove the remaining Hu soldiers in the fort to the barracks and locked them up. Then they searched the fort thoroughly and found several defenders who had been captured and detained by the bandits before.

The bandit army also spent a great price in order to capture this fortress. There were many casualties. There were more than two hundred wounded soldiers adopted in the fort alone. Then just give up.

More than 120 defenders in Heiyan guarded until the last moment, killing the enemy several times more than themselves, helplessly outnumbered.After the fortress was breached, most of the defenders were killed in battle, and the rest were massacred by the bandits, leaving only a few to torture information.The corpses of the defenders were still piled in a corner inside the wall, which was creepy and sad to see.

Mercy does not command soldiers, Yang Zhong did not feel any emotional turmoil because of this, but commanded in a deep voice: "All the thieves in the castle, regardless of whether they are injured or not, will be killed! Light the beacon and send an order to attack. After dawn, let the people in the valley No more thieves!"

The blazing beacon smoke soared into the sky, and spread for an extremely long distance under the night. The people who had been resting and waiting in the western fortress saw this scene, and immediately rushed out to fight the enemy who had lost their way. Stronghold of the bandit army.

In the camp next to the Black Salt Pond, most of the thieves and soldiers are still asleep, imagining that the salt goods looted this time can be exchanged for various wine and meat goods. , The enemy's swords and guns have been stabbed down!
　Thank you for the great love of the lord, it's embarrassing, I saw one more lord when it was time to post an update, thank you. . .Jiageng has to be arranged in the next year. After the sun has passed, he has been in poor spirits. After using his brain for a long time, he has dizziness, chest tightness and insomnia. . .

　　
　
(End of this chapter)