(Thanks to Fischer, the 45th new alliance leader...)
In the forest opposite the north cliff of Mopanling, Xu Huai, Xu Xin'an, Xu Wukun, and Han Qi watched silently as a group of people passed through the canyon at the foot of the mountain.
This is coming from the direction of Taibaiding. There are more than 300 people with shabby horse armor and a green and black cloth scarf tied to their arms as a mark.
Xu Huai, Xu Xin'an, Xu Wukun and others who were familiar with the banditry in Tongbai Mountain said that they could tell at a glance that this was the black scarf army under Taibai's blue-eyed wolf Zhong Changqing.
Zhong Changqing was a descendant of the Zhong family, but Xu Huai and the others would never think that the thieves from Hutou Village were coming to loot Zhongjiazhuang in large numbers. Zhong Changqing led the black scarf army to rush for reinforcements at this time.
It is true that Zhong Changqing is a child of the Zhong family, and his family background was quite good at first. However, his father died soon after he was born, and his widowed mother kept him until he was seven or eight years old. However, he was falsely accused of adultery by his clan members. He had no chance to appeal to the government, so he was
Executed by sinking into a pond.
Zhong Changqing was driven out of Zhongjiazhuang by his tribe when he was a child. His land and house were also divided up, and he lived on the streets for several years. Later, he was adopted as an adopted son by Ji Zitong, the former bandit leader of the Black Turban Army.
Zhong Changqing was a brave and ruthless man. After the death of his adoptive father Ji Zitong, he was elected as the chieftain by Taibaiding thieves and led the black scarf army to repeatedly plunder Zhongjiazhuang.
The Black Scarf Army basically showed respect to the villages around Taibaiding and did not harass them. However, when they plundered Zhongjiazhuang, they often committed murder and set fires.
The Zhong clan had much fewer people than the Xu clan, and their financial resources were also weaker. However, Zhuangzi always had nearly a hundred armed bankers. In the final analysis, Zhong Changqing, who harbored a deep hatred, had forced them out through repeated attacks.
After Guo Caoling's death, Pan Chenghu and Chen Zixiao, who defected to Hutou Village, set up a banner without any scruples, claiming that they would rob the rich and help the poor. They intensified their recruitment efforts. In just a few days, hundreds of thousands of people were living alone in Tongbai Mountain.
Young people who were living in dilapidated households fled to the past.
Ten days ago, Xu Wufu sent someone to find out the details of Hutou Village. It was roughly estimated that there were only four to five hundred thieves in Hutou Village. However, Xu Huai and Xu Wukun did not want Chen Zixiao, Pan Chenghu, Wu Qi and other thieves to come from Hutou Village today.
The thieves who were pulled out to attack Zhongjiazhuang actually numbered seven to eight hundred people.
What they didn't expect was that under the plan of Zheng Hui and others, Hutou Village had joined forces with Taibaiding's Black Turban Army.
At this time, Zhong Changqing led a group of three hundred thieves, obviously taking the back route of Zhongjiazhuang.
After the men and horses of the Black Scarf Army passed by, their sentinels scattered on both wings were also withdrawn. Xu Huaicai, Xu Xin'an, Xu Wukun, and Han Qi carefully followed behind and headed towards Zhongjiazhuang.
The terrain of Mopanling where Zhongjiazhuang is located is steep, especially the entrance with steep cliffs on both sides, making it difficult to climb.
Zhongjiazhuang built a strong wall at the mountain pass to prevent bandits. However, after passing the mountain pass, there were about seven or eight hundred families scattered in the valley. Unlike the Xu family, which had more than 4,000 people living together in four strong villages.
inside.
Xu Huai and the others reached the vicinity of the Zhongjiazhuang Valley and hid in the woods. From a distance, they saw that in addition to the soldiers and horses from Hutou Village, they had gathered in front of the Mopanling mountain pass. In addition, there was a group of more than 200 people, in front of the mountain pass.
A brown and yellow flag was set up on the left side of the black tiger flag bandits in Hutou Village, but it was the bandits of the yellow-faced tiger Gao Xiangzhong of Shixizhuang.
The thieves from Hutou Village and Shixi Village invaded the mountain pass in large numbers, attracting Zhongjiazhuang's defense forces to the front. Then Zhong Changqing, who was familiar with the terrain of Mopanling, led the thieves directly into Zhongjiazhuang through the rugged path.
Seeing this arrangement in the hinterland of the village, Xu Huai also knew that Zhongjiazhuang, which was unprepared in advance, was in doom this time.
Even though he could see the fate of the Zhong family at this moment, Xu Huai did not retreat quietly.
Xu Wufu and others knew for sure that Zheng Hui and others had bad intentions in hiding Hutou Village, but they made up their mind to build Yuhuangling, Shituoling, and Xiema Mountain into iron walls to prevent Zheng Hui and others from retreating in the face of difficulties.
Lead the thieves over to cause nuisance.
With this mentality, Xu Wufu's reconnaissance of Hutou Village was superficial, let alone arranging for people to directly infiltrate into Hutou Village as spies.
However, the manpower available to Xu Wujiang in Xiemashan and Xu Huai in Jinshagou was too limited, and they had always lacked understanding of the internal situation of Hutou Village.
This time was a good opportunity to closely observe the combat effectiveness of the bandit soldiers in Hutou Village and to what extent they had joined forces with Shixizhuang and Taibaiding Black Turban Army. How could Xu Huai miss it?
Although Zhong Changqing led his band of thieves to secretly attack from the back mountain, the Hutou village thieves attacked the mountain pass at Zhongjiazhuang before noon where elite villagers and clan soldiers were defending, but they also launched a real attack.
The terrain on both sides of the mountain pass is steep and difficult to climb. A dirt road extends from a distance. In front of the mountain, there is a valley mouth about seven or eight feet wide, but it is blocked by a thick wall of bricks and stones nearly two feet high.
.
If outsiders want to enter Zhongjiazhuang, this is the only way to go.
Although there are trails in the back mountain of Mopanling, they are winding and winding, densely forested and dangerous, and without the villagers inside to lead the way, it is impossible for others to get in.
At this time, Zhongjiazhuang obviously did not expect that Zhong Changqing had already led his troops into the back mountain through this trail.
The yellow-faced tiger Gao Xiangzhong's troops in Shixizhuang did not move, mainly observing the formation. Among the seven to eight hundred thieves in Hutou Village, except for two hundred who were stationed on a slope as a reserve team, the others were divided into five teams and fought with swords.
Mainly with shields, they took turns carrying ladders to attack the defense wall at Zhongjiazhuang Pass.
In addition to swarming and attacking the stronghold wall in a systematic manner, nearly half of the bandit soldiers were wearing various types of armor, which increased their combat effectiveness.
It can be seen that in addition to helping Chen Zixiao train the traitor soldiers, Zheng Hui and others also secretly transported a group of soldiers from outside into Hutou Village.
In the entire Zhongjiazhuang, including inferior leather armor, there may be less than forty pieces, not to mention that the gap between the two sides in the equipment of swords, guns, bows and crossbows is even greater.
The thieves of Hutou Village gathered under the wall of the village. In addition to longbows shooting at the top of the wall, there were a total of thirty or forty divine arm crossbows taking turns in the battle. They had been watching the crossbowmen practice for some time.
The attack on Zhongjiazhuang this time was more like a drill for the bandits of Hutou Village, and a display of powerful force in front of the two bandits of Shixi Village and Taibaiding who were invited to join forces.
After several rounds of offensives, the Zhong family's soldiers had suffered hundreds of casualties. Even if Zhong Changqing did not lead his troops to attack from the rear, it is difficult to imagine that Zhongjiazhuang could hold on until nightfall.
Zhong Changqing crossed the back mountain from the small road and appeared in the sight of the people in Zhongjiazhuang. The defense at the mountain pass collapsed. The thieves of Hutou Village captured the wall, but instead of rushing into the valley, they opened the gate of the village.
The thieves in Shixizhuang were allowed to enter first, burn, kill and loot; some thieves in Hutou Village wanted to take advantage of the chaos to enter and plunder, but died under the sword of the supervising team. The order was much better than expected.
Not to mention Xu Wukun, Xu Xin'an and others were also unusually silent when they looked at the scene in front of them.
It is obvious that the attack on Zhongjiazhuang was just a small test for the Hutou Village thieves, either to train their troops or to win over the Shixi Village and Taibaiding thieves.
After Wang Xiaocheng left Tangzhou, although the bandits in Tongbai Mountain gradually recovered their strength and made troubles from time to time, they rarely made big moves, let alone teamed up to attack a stronghold like Zhongjiazhuang.
Over the years, the cottage bandits and the big surname clans have kept each other in check. No one can destroy the other, and everyone has to tolerate the other's stalemate.
This time Zhongjiazhuang was captured so easily. On the one hand, Shixizhuang and Taibaiding thieves were most likely to rely on Hutou Village from then on. The thieves obtained tens of thousands of money from Zhongjiazhuang, and countless
With ten thousand stones of food, the strength will become stronger and stronger. On the other hand, other stubborn bandits who have been dormant in the mountains and forests for many years and have long been suppressed in their hearts will definitely be ready to take action when they hear about this.
Even if all these bandits and stubborn bandits are not won over by Hutou Village, as long as they come out from the deep mountains and old forests with great fanfare, recruit soldiers everywhere, seduce, and win over those young and strong people who are in ruins and have no way to make a living and take risks to join, they will be called Tongbai Mountain.
The situation became more chaotic and bloody.
In the past, the big surname clans and the Shanzhai forces restrained each other, and the Shanzhai forces were relatively restrained in intruding on nearby villages, mainly to extort money and materials. However, the thieves from Shixizhuang and Taibaiding entered the valley from the north and south, and it was obvious that they were no longer restrained.
.
Looking from a distance, we saw the thieves rushing into the valley. The villagers used their swords and bows to fight against the slightest resistance. Soon, more than a dozen houses on both sides were set on fire. Black smoke rose into the sky, and the thieves
There is no one to stop and restrain the pursuit of women...
Xu Huai gritted his teeth, and the small blue veins on his cheeks were twitching slightly.
Xu Xin'an let out a breath of anger and said: "Deng Gui had sent people to keep an eye on the movements of Hutou Village. Maybe he is organizing rural soldiers to rush to Mopanling at this moment!"
They did not have enough manpower to keep an eye on Hutou Village at all times, but Xu Xin'an was responsible for scouting, so he still ran to the bank of Paohu Creek every now and then to take a look. He had also noticed that Deng Gui had sent people to keep an eye on Hutou Village.
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Seeing the chaos in the valley, Xu Xin'an still hoped that the military camp could send troops to attract the attention of the traitors and save the ordinary villagers of Zhongjiazhuang from harm.
Xu Xin'an did not complete the transformation from soldier to bandit.
"Let's go!" Xu Huai gritted his teeth and said.
Deng Gui sent people to keep an eye on Hutou Village, but after knowing the inside story, after Guo Caoling's death, he worried that Zheng Hui and others were secretly controlling Hutou Village to carry out big operations, but the purpose of everything was just to protect themselves.
To be honest, if Deng Gui could organize the rural soldiers on a larger scale, strengthen the defense of the military stronghold, and inevitably limit the increasingly fierce banditry to the west of the Baijian River, he would have been extremely capable.
At this time, it is unrealistic and unwise to expect Deng Gui to hastily dispatch troops from Huaiyuan to inspect Si Junzhai, just to let these traitor soldiers do less evil in Zhongjiazhuang.
Hutou Village suddenly made such a big noise and was so well prepared in secret. This was beyond his expectation. He had to consider that if Huaiyuan Inspection Division Junzhai could not stop the banditry at Baijian River
To the west, how effective can Xu's deployment in Yuhuangling, Xiema Mountain and Jinshagou be?
The three groups of thieves from Hutou Village, Shixizhuang, and Taibaiding combined together already numbered 1,300 to 400. They captured Zhongjiazhuang and gained a large amount of money and food. They also increased the momentum. It can be expected that the thieves will soon
It will expand further over time.
Three to four thousand or even five to six thousand bandit soldiers crossed the Baijian River and swarmed towards Yuhuangling. How should the Xu family deal with it?
Once the banditry spread, with Zheng Hui and others hiding behind the scenes and secretly transporting a large number of soldiers and armor, it would actually be more violent than when Wang Xiaocheng came to Tangzhou twenty years ago - he had seen it before
I look down on Zheng Hui and their unscrupulous ruthlessness and cruelty!
Just when Xu Huai turned around and wanted to quietly evacuate from the other side of the woods with Xu Xin'an, Xu Wukun, Han Qi and others, the more than 200 thieves in Hutou Village who stayed on the outside of the valley as a reserve team were riding their horses.
Galloping out, perhaps it was because the setting sun was just right at this time, shining on the face of the leader, allowing Xu Huai to vaguely see the outline of his face.
At this moment, there seemed to be a weak current flowing in his mind, and a paragraph of text suddenly flashed out:
"In the first year of Jianhe, the emperor wanted to flee the captives and wanted to go to Nanyang. At that time, Chen Zixiao, a big bandit in the Huaihe River, gathered a large number of troops and blocked the Tongbai Mountain Road. General Han Shiliang destroyed him..."