Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 3 Wang Shiheng, Trapped in Shunying
Since Jiashen Kingdom was difficult to come, the Dashun Army was invincible, controlling the entire Yellow River Basin, and seemed to have the potential to dominate the world.Daxi Zhang Xianzhong, who is also a peasant army, is also on the way to enter Shu, and wants to take Sichuan as his foundation.

The half of the country to the south of the Jianghuai River is still under the control of the orthodox Ming forces, and outside of Shanhaiguan, the Jurchen Empress Jin is eyeing, and the land of China can be described as a white cloud.

In the blink of an eye, it was the beginning of May of the Jiashen year. Wang Yan and Xu Yanyan had been trapped in the camp for dozens of days, but what they did seemed to have not changed. .

It's just that Zhao Yingyuan's troops left in no hurry. It seemed that he didn't have to worry about Shandong affairs at all. In his eyes, perhaps the tragic forces in the south were not worth mentioning.

Since the end of the Kuiwei period, Sun Chuanting, the governor of the three sides, died, and the attitude of the northern officials and gentry changed drastically. Those like Xu Zhi and Liu Lishun who were loyal to Ming court were few.

There were more than [-] ministers in the Chongzhen Dynasty in Beijing, and very few committed suicide. They were well-dressed and rebellious.

The Ming court in the south was busy with the Fu-Lu dispute, and the Ming army did nothing, just as Shi Kefa said bitterly, "There are very few officials in the north who die, and there are few officials in the south who seek thieves. This is a shame that has never been seen in the ages! "

Zhao Yingyuan is not in a hurry as the ministers in the south behaved like this. In his opinion, expanding the troops under his command is the most urgent task.Along the way, he has gathered several groups of refugees, causing the number of former troops to skyrocket to thousands.

With a large number of people, and the fact that the Zhao army did not manage it, the entire front army was naturally mixed, local ruffians were rampant, and incidents of molesting female relatives also occurred from time to time, which made Wang Yan feel uneasy.

After Xu Zhishen's death, Xu Yanyan seemed to be a different person, she stopped saying a word and was in a daze all day long.This made Wang Yan very worried, so he could only keep her by his side all the time, but even so, he was almost seen through by Rompie, if he hadn't desperately protected her, he would definitely have been harmed by him.

That rogue's name is Liu Shun, and it is said that he used to be a well-known scoundrel in the village, and he was extremely difficult to deal with.Wang Yan didn't want to follow Zhao Jun at all, and this strengthened his determination to escape.

It's just that although the former army was chaotic, Zhao Jun, who guarded the camp, was very responsible, and the night patrols were also very strict.

If he is fine alone, but it is impossible to bring Xu Yanyan, who is a bit demented, with him. Wang Yan waited painstakingly for several days, but still did not find an opportunity to take advantage of.

On this day, the Zhao army finally reached the border of Dezhou, and wanted to cross the Grand Canal and enter Shandong, but there was no ferry, so the army had to set up camp.

Across the river is Dezhou, a big city with abundant supplies.

Zhao Yingyuan promised everyone that as long as they arrived at his station, they would be full of food, which boosted the morale of the Zhao army.

In order to find the ferry boat, Zhao Yingyuan led the army to search along the river bank, leaving only a few sentries to guard the camp. Wang Yan felt that the best time to escape had come.

These days, he was assigned to the kitchen of the former army and was responsible for carrying water and cooking.The gentleman is far away from the cook, Wang Yanju was born, so naturally he has never cooked, but now that he is captured, he should not mention any fame, even if he is assigned to pour the chamber pot, he has to do it.

Wang Yan thought he knew nothing at first, but after entering the Huotou camp, he found that he could do everything without being taught, and he could also cook good dishes, as if he knew it from birth.

Although Wang Yan felt very strange, these skills he didn't know where he learned, especially the ability to cook delicious meals, made him highly appreciated by the old fire leader Li Mazi, and he enjoyed eating in the kitchen.

Now that Zhao Yingyuan left the camp with the main force, Wang Yan had made up his mind to escape with Xu Yanyan, so naturally he would not let go of such a golden opportunity, he waited for Zhao Yingyuan's army to leave for more than half an hour, and then went to the kitchen to look for Li Mazi.

Li Mazi, as the name suggests, had a pockmarked face.

With a shabby appearance, he was able to get a top position in the former army not because he could cook any good dishes, but because of his old qualifications.When Zhao Yingyuan was the deputy general of Henan in the Ming Dynasty, Li Mazi was his personal guard.Later Zhao Yingyuan joined Zuoge Fifth Battalion and followed Li Chuang. Li Mazi was always by his side, but now that he was old and couldn't draw a bow or wield a sword, Zhao Yingyuan arranged him to be a leader in the former army camp and enjoy the blessings.

Wang Yan went out of the tent to look for Li Mazi, and saw him squatting beside a pile of firewood, tinkering with his dry tobacco, so he took the opportunity to say, "Old Huotou, when I fetch water today, I want to take my little brother with me. Do you want to see it?"

Li Mazi was not in a hurry to answer, until he lit up the cigarette, took a puff beautifully, then glanced at Wang Yan, lowered his head and smoked the cigarette, and said angrily: "There is a rule in the former military camp that those who leave the camp must leave their relatives behind." As a hostage, what do you want to take your stupid brother for?"

Seeing that Li Mazi didn't refuse, but just asked the reason, Wang Yan couldn't help being overjoyed, and said what he had planned. "A few days ago, I offended that rogue Liu Shun, you know it, old man! These days, that fellow has been bothering me all the time, and I'm worried that when I leave the camp, he will find an opportunity to bully my stupid brother, so I just If you want to take it with you, old man, you can accommodate me."

The situation in the former camp was very chaotic. Li Mazi knew that not only the rogues, but also the old soldiers in the camp would often come and do harm. If it affects him, then don't bother with those nosy things.

He also hesitated after hearing Wang Yan's words.

Seeing that Li Mazi was hesitant to answer, Wang Yan had no choice but to say again: "I heard that the fish in the canal are very delicious. I will bring my brother back to bring you a river fish. What do you think?"

Hearing He Yu, Li Mazi, who was hesitant at first, couldn't help but lose his smile, and his pockmarked faces instantly blossomed. "Haha... that's what I want!"

The Dashun Dynasty was newly established, with no experience in ruling, and the place was still relatively chaotic. The Zhao army basically relied on looting for supplies along the way, and it was really difficult. Moon may not necessarily see a return.

Li Mazi knew Wang Yan's good cooking skills, but no matter how good the cooking skills are, there must be materials to show them off.Li Mazi became excited when he thought that Wang Yan, who could make a lot of fun out of baking a cake, could give him a whole fish.He hurriedly got up and shook the cigarette rod, then took out two wooden tokens from his pocket and handed them to Wang Yan, and then said: "Get a bigger one, it doesn't matter if you come back later, I'll tell the person who sees the value."

After receiving the wooden sign, Wang Yan was very excited, but he didn't show it. He thanked Li Mazi, and went to the camp to bring Xu Yanyan out.

Half a quarter of an hour later, they checked the wooden sign at the guard and left the camp with the people who fetched water.

In the past, a sentry followed the crowd to fetch water, but today because there were not enough soldiers in the camp, only one soldier came to watch.

Seeing this, Wang Yan was overjoyed, it seemed that he really chose the right time to escape.

The Grand Canal runs through the north and the south, reaching the capital in the north and Yuhang in the south. It is the blood of China.If you take a boat here, you can go all the way south to Nanjing.It's a pity that the once prosperous Grand Canal became depressed and lonely because Dashun captured the capital and interrupted water transport.

When they came to the edge of the canal, everyone carried the water back to the camp, but Wang Yan and Xu Yanyan did not follow. The soldier in charge of monitoring saw it, and put one hand on the handle of the knife at his waist, feeling a little displeased He said, "Why don't you two leave?"

"Oh, this big brother, the old Huotou ordered me to catch the river fish and go back. I hope you will be flexible." Seeing the action of the soldier, Wang Yan couldn't help feeling a little nervous. Although there was only one person in the other party, Wang Yan was very self-aware. He has always been a scholar who has no strength to restrain a chicken, and he dare not fight with the old soldier with a knife unless it is a last resort.

"Old man? But that Li Mazi?" Hearing the words, the soldier asked.

"Exactly!" Wang Yan nodded quickly.

After hearing the answer, the soldier put his hand on the handle of the knife before letting go, but he still hesitated, but the person who fetched water didn't stop at this time, and kept a distance from them.The soldier looked at the team going away, then at Wang Yan and Xu Yanyan, and said in a deep voice, "Since that's the case, you should go back to the camp earlier, don't make things difficult for me."

After the soldier finished speaking, he turned around and chased after the water fetching team. Wang Yan breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't expect everything to go so smoothly, but just as he was about to take Xu Yanyan away, the soldier suddenly stopped and ran all the way return.

Wang Yan was startled in his heart, but he pretended to be calm, "Why did the eldest brother come back? But what else do you have to explain?"

"Oh, I just want to ask, little brother, can you get me a fish later? After all, the food in the camp is really bad these days." The soldier rubbed his head in embarrassment.

"Of course there is no problem!" Because of nervousness, Wang Yan's voice was a little high, but he was relieved when he heard what the soldiers said, and then adjusted his mentality and continued to deceive: "I will have to rely on my elder brother to take care of me later. At dinner time, when I’m done, I’ll send it to my elder brother.”

"So, then I would like to thank the little brother!" The soldier clasped his fists in joy, then turned around and trotted to chase the water team.

When they were really far away, Wang Yan immediately dragged Xu Yanyan to the distance. The two searched for a ferry along the canal, but they found nothing. Wang Yan couldn't help feeling a little anxious.

At this time, it was getting late and they had already left the camp for more than ten miles, so Wang Yan decided to find a safe place to rest first.

He was afraid of bumping into Zhao Yingyuan's army, so he didn't dare to stay by the canal, so the two left the river and turned towards Heti, thinking of looking for a resting place a little farther away.

Wang Yan climbed up the embankment after a lot of hard work, and was about to slow down Xu Yanyan, but he was taken aback by a group of figures in the distance, and his expression changed drastically.

What are you really afraid of, what are you coming to.

Didn't Zhao Yingyuan go looking for the ferry?How come back so fast!Wang Yan didn't have time to think about it, and immediately jumped down the river embankment quickly, pulling Xu Yanyan and rushing down.

It's a pity that he was still discovered by Zhao Jun in the distance, "Who is it?" "Stand for me!" All kinds of shouts and curses came from behind.

In a hurry, the two plunged into the reeds by the river. Wang Yan turned around to watch, feeling a chill in his heart.I saw nearly a hundred soldiers of the Zhao army coming down the embankment and coming towards the reeds, obviously not intending to let them go.

If caught, is there still a way out?

　Thanks to book friend 1989354764 and book friend 1707629006 for their support, the author is a novice, thank you for your encouragement.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)