In the peaceful Xingzi River Valley, Lin Wei, the strong steward of Prince Qing's Mansion, led his servants up Tushan Mountain.
On the other side of the river valley, hundreds of hungry people were carrying stones and earthwork to the mountain fort that was about to be completed.
Lin Wei was the son of a professor from Zhongwei School of Health in Ningxia. Because of his good looks, he was accepted by Qing Fan as the guest of honor of the Lord of Shajing Township after passing the examination.
Because he insulted the lord, he was sentenced to be sent to the army. However, according to the law, the lord was still unable to be sent to the army, so he was thrown to the Wangzhuang in Ansai as a steward.
He held a single-cylinder crystal telescope, raised his arm and pointed at several parts of the mountain fort, and said to the left and right: "This fort also has three piers on both sides, which must be repaired before winter."
The servants at Wangzhuang on the left and right looked at each other in shock when they heard this, and one of them said boldly: "Lin Chenglang, the winter has only lasted for more than a month. This cannot be repaired no matter what."
The servant next to him also chimed in: "Yes, Manager Lin, it will kill people to rush the work."
The honorary guest of the royal palace was originally an official position, but because the husbands of the county and township monarchs were often selected from the honorable guests, over time, it became the same as the consort, and became a surrogate name for the husband of the master.
Lin Wei is the husband of the country king, so he has the official position of a sixth-grade minister. Even if he makes mistakes and breaks the law, he is still a relative of the emperor and cannot be treated as a commoner.
After listening to what he said, Lin Wei put down his telescope and turned his head, looking at these Wangzhuang servants with disdain, and said sarcastically: "Dead people... before I came, how many of you were forced to death by your flesh-heads?"
As soon as these words came out, the servants were not happy. This steward was a guilty person, so don't be different from other stewards.
Someone showed a fierce look on his face: "Lin Chenglang, what you said is too much. You may leave at any time. We, the villagers of the royal palace, can live here for eternity. Let's just work together for a few years. When the time comes, you should serve as an army. Don't end up making trouble."
It’s not good for anyone to die here.”
"I wish I could die here, to tell you the truth."
Although Lin Wei is a foreigner, he is not afraid: "My master has been ill for many years. When will she leave and when will I be exiled to the army? I am from the northwest border guard. I can be exiled to the army wherever I go. Going to Liaodong is just a matter of death. Keep this place."
Zhuangzi is my hope of living, if you go against me."
He looked at the servants one by one and chuckled: "I will take you all away before I die."
He can really scare the servants. They are all farmers of Qingfan. Let alone killing him, if a Yibin dies here, the whole Zhuangzi will suffer.
But on the other hand, this Yi Bin is a person who will die sooner or later. The things done by such a person who wants to live but must die are much more terrible than those who do not want to die.
The most courageous of the previous servants spoke up, his tone softening, and asked: "But what does repairing this stone castle have to do with saving your life?"
"A bunch of sacks of meat are asked to recruit hungry people, but they don't know why they are recruiting hungry people; they are asked to build a fort, but they don't know why they are building it."
Lin Wei raised his chin and cursed, then explained helplessly: "There is a group of thieves near Fucheng. Wangzhuang Ansai knows more about it, but Fucheng knows less. They recruit hungry people for Wangzhuang's use, cut stones to build houses, and give them a ration of food."
They won’t cause trouble, and even when small groups of thieves come, the village can resist them.”
"Some time ago, Yulin sent a letter to buy horse grass. You all know that Li Bei will be appointed as the Yan'an military commander."
Lin Wei, who comes from a family of health teachers, has been used to seeing his father teach the big soldiers how to read and explain the meaning of the classics since he was a child. Now he is the same, looking at the servants with expectant eyes, and said: "What's the difference between the two?"
, what does it have to do with our building a fort? Think about it."
The servants looked at each other in confusion: "What's the connection? General Li is invincible in attacking thieves. If he becomes the general of Yan'an, the thieves will be gone. If there is peace, why build a fort?"
"If all thieves were like you, the world would really be at peace. How about setting up a fort in a place like that? They won't run away when the army comes, right?"
Lin Wei was so angry that he only regretted that there was no table in front of him for him to take pictures: "Nowadays, the thieves are gathered together in a group, hiding all over Yan'an Mansion. On the surface, it looks peaceful, but behind the scenes, do you know what so many thieves are doing?
?How many large households did Cao Cao rob in the first half year of his uprising? Liu Chengzong, who left for Shanxi, attacked Yanshui Pass with a guerrilla attack, but there was no movement in Shanxi. He will not come back?"
"If you don't fight the thieves, they will hide. If you hit the thieves, they won't run around like a hornet's nest. There are few officers and many thieves. Can you guarantee that no thieves will come here?"
Who can guarantee this?
Several servants were like eggplants beaten by frost, with their heads hanging down and silent.
In the past, most of the managers of Wangzhuang were eunuchs, who were difficult to serve but had little control. There were ways to deal with it, but they had nothing to do with Lin Wei.
I can't coax or scare you, I can't offend or beat you, I can't even talk.
It just so happens that this person regards running Wangzhuang as a life-saving straw. With him around, the servants of Wangzhuang cannot live a comfortable life.
Lin Wei no longer cared about them, raised her chin with pride, and stood on the mountain with her hands behind her hands, but her brows were furrowed and worried.
He hoped that the large amount of goods sent to Weizhou would make King Qing happy, and maybe he would be exempted from punishment.
At this moment, someone looked towards the lower reaches of the Xingzi River Valley. Farmers collecting firewood in the distance suddenly dispersed and ran towards the village. He hurriedly said: "Steward Lin, look over there!"
Lin Wei turned her head, her expression changed drastically. She put the telescope to her eyes and felt that her hair was getting tight.
At the end of the river valley in the direction of Ansai, the cavalry is advancing.
The cavalry of hundreds of people did not shout and fight, did not draw their swords and charge, it was very quiet.
They wore red and blue frontier armors. Some were dark armor with cotton cloth on the outside, and some were bright armor with armor plates on the outside.
Everyone rides a donkey or mule, leads a war horse or a big mule, wears a four-petaled alms bowl and carries a tall helmeted gun. They slowly and neatly spread out on both sides of the river valley, lining up to drive the farmers forward. p>
Just looking at the formation clearly left a preconceived impression in Lin Wei's mind - this is an army.
Although their troops are small, they are spread out widely due to one man and two cavalry, and their organization is very clear.
Every third person has a horseman holding a spear, with a red triangular flag hanging on it.
The cavalry team consisting of more than a hundred people has twenty-five triangular small flag spears and five triangular large flag spears. There is no writing on the flags. After the front team, several horsemen gathered together. Someone held a white flag with a picture of the horseman carrying the spear.
Will.
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Lin Wei recognized it, it was the flag of the Marshal Sifang.
Marshal Ma of the West, as white as snow.
He hurriedly searched the valley with his eyes.
Soon, billowing smoke and dust were discovered on the hills on the other side of the river. With the same flag and the same formation, a cavalry team lined up on the hills, all with blue flags, and a cavalryman holding a mace was painted on the middle blue flag. Marshal Dongfang Wen is as green as indigo.
Also!
Smoke and dust also rose from the mountain ridge behind him. A horse team carrying a black flag passed through the mine and headed northwest quickly. The big flag they held was a white painting on a black background, which showed a general riding a tiger and holding a whip.
Marshal Zhao of the North is as black as iron.
Immediately afterwards, another cavalry team holding a red flag stopped at the mountain ridge. The horse soldiers reined in the horses, donkeys and mules. Several men who looked like generals looked down at the Mudi Wangzhuang. Behind them, the red flags were painted with broadsword cavalry generals.
Marshal Guan of the South is as red as blood.
The four cavalry troops were divided into four places. When Wangzhuang was in chaos and had no time to react, they surrounded the river valley from all directions. Only on the westernmost river bank was another yellow flag cavalry team arriving belatedly.
On the flag is a single-whip general, Wang Lingguan of China.
The mule corps under its banner is more numerous than the cavalry, and is divided into two teams. Each team carries firearms, and the mules all carry artillery.
Another team of more than two hundred people, all riding war horses and pulling donkeys and mules, surrounded a very fine banner with Liu characters on a red background and yellow borders.
Lin Wei was stunned, looking blankly at the five cavalry teams surrounding Wangzhuang, but did not make any move.
Ever since he was sent to Ansai to guard Wangzhuang amid the chaos in the northwest, he had thought about encountering thieves countless times.
We even encountered hundreds of people with no clothes on, each with a bulging belly from hunger, armed with sticks and farm tools, pouring from the direction of Ansai towards the Xingzi River Valley.
At that time, Wangzhuang had not yet built a mountain fortress, and only built twelve stone houses in Guanzhuang, east of the river valley.
The villagers each armed themselves with light bows and crossbows to guard the stone house. If they dropped seven or eight arrows, they would scare the thieves out of shooting range.
After being surrounded for two days, eleven people were shot to death by crossbows and spears, more than forty people were starved to death, and hundreds of people ran away.
In the end, Lin Wei lost all fear of being attacked by thieves, so he sent people to pick out a hundred people who had never eaten Guanyin soil and were still alive. He found a piece of land in Dongguan Village to rent, set up a porridge factory, and arranged for them to dig stones.
Picking grass.
Because of this experience, he always thought that he was not afraid of thieves.
I was not afraid at that time. Nowadays, large stone houses have been built in the four official villages in the east, west, south and north. The stone castle on the mountain will be repaired in more than a month, and there is no need to worry about thieves.
But...but now Lin Wei doesn't know how to describe these people surrounding Wangzhuang.
Speaking of the army, he was born in Zhongwei, Ningxia, and he has never seen an army with a minimum establishment of four people.
What's more, the official and military establishments are all three horses and seven steps. If one person can have two horses or even three horses, it will take a lot of time to recruit war horses from the army and local horse households.
In his impression, for a band of thieves who can starve to death even if they stand still, it would be great if the bandit leader had a big mule to ride on.
They said they were thieves and they definitely didn't run away, but...who dares to call such a team thieves?
Just behind the big banner with Liu characters on the red background and yellow border, three to four hundred men in cotton-padded clothes lined up and stood with bare hands. They can be said to be elite thieves.
Counting the six teams with six flags in front, this has exceeded Lin Wei's imagination of thieves.
What on earth is it?
"What's wrong with Manager Lin? What should I do?"
Amidst the urging of the servants, Lin Wei managed to calm down.
Looking around, the valley is in chaos. Cattle and sheep are running around, donkeys and horses are rushing around, and the villagers who used to be able to defend themselves against thieves with bows and crossbows are now running away without knowing where to run. They can only
Running wildly into the mountains with their heads covered.
"Yes, let's go quickly. You and I will gather the dealers. We can only attack the two teams in the west first. If we wait for them to be surrounded from all sides, there will be no chance of survival!"
With that said, Lin Wei put away the telescope in his arms and led his servants to run down the mountain with their swords pressed.
Just as he was running towards Dongguanzhuang, Liu Ying's five sentries were sent, and the mule teams on the north and south sides meandered down the mountain road, and the east and west sides were also slowly squeezing toward the middle.
They all took orders from Liu Chengzong, not intending to kill people, but using strict military force to suppress the bankers' psychological defenses, causing them to collapse and surrender.
In fact, this purpose has been achieved.
The sturdy stone houses in the east and west Guanzhuang were the best defensive areas in the river valley, but under the slow pressure of the horse soldiers, most people abandoned their houses and fled inward.
There were only a few people standing on the house, holding bows and crossbows, as if stubbornly resisting.
But times have changed.
Under the yellow flag, Cao Yao, who was in charge of the artillery post in the battalion, waved his hand, and the artillerymen under the sentry unhooked the squatting tiger cannon and the gushing pearl cannon from the back of the mule.
A team of five people picked up the cannon body, ran forward with the shell box in hand, and stood thirty steps outside the house. They relied on their long shields and armor to look at the flying arrows as if they were nothing, and loaded ammunition in an orderly manner.
The equipment of the crossbowmen on the roof was not good, they only used light bows and crossbows, and their skills were not good. The crossbows turned over halfway through the shot, and the arrows fell sparsely on both sides, and none of them could hit.
Cao Yao stood next to the two cannons with a three-eyed blunderbuss in hand. He only waited for Liu Chengzong's order to fire off the cannons and kill these people.
Unexpectedly, Han Shipanle from the Jia Ding team immediately stepped forward and said: "General, let us brothers go, there is no need to waste gunpowder."
Liu Chengzong knew in his heart that the two brothers here wanted to show off their skills in front of him, and he also wanted to see what the two powerful heads of the Guyuan family were capable of.
Then he waved his hand and said: "Let's go."
After receiving the order, the two brothers commanded their horses and came out of the gap in the artillery line. The two knights gathered together and said a few words. Then they turned their horses and separated, one on the left and the other on the right, wielding bows and arrows to surround the stone house.
.
The Biao arrow is a broad-edged arrow. Compared with the commonly used spear-shaped fast arrows, needle-shaped armor-piercing arrows and other arrows, the wide blade can cut more muscles and ligaments, making it difficult to escape with one arrow against an unarmored target.
The disadvantage is that the blade surface is large, the shooting range is relatively short, and it will miss when shooting far.
Liu Chengzong didn't look at their arrows, but only looked at the two brothers galloping on the horse. Their bodies and horses were in perfect harmony, and their riding skills were quite exquisite.
With this kind of riding skills, riding and shooting on horseback is a matter of course.
Generally, a horse soldier needs to carry two bows. A 60-jin infantry bow costs 40 jins while a riding bow costs 40 jins. For elite horse soldiers, a 70-jin infantry bow costs 60 jins while a riding bow costs 60 jins. People like them only need to carry one bow.
But what Liu Chengzong didn't expect was that the two brothers had no intention of getting close enough to fight.
There were still more than twenty steps away from Cao Yao's artillery, and even sixty steps closer to the stone house. The two brothers drew their bows, one on the left and the other on the right, and fired arrows.
At this distance, Liu Chengzong had to use a fast arrow to hit it with confidence.
Han Shipan's arrow missed by an inch and hit the low wall of the roof, causing some sparks; while someone on the other side of the roof screamed and fell under Han Shiyou's arrow.
Just a moment later, two more arrows were fired, two people fell from the roof, and both brothers were hit.
Amazing skills!
Then the figures on the roof disappeared without a trace. The remaining three people jumped on the wall, abandoned the stone house and fled westward.
The two brothers then galloped past Cao Yao's artillery and chased after them, leaving two trails of smoke.
In the blink of an eye, the three running figures fell one after another.
Liu Chengzong saw several figures running from Tushan in the distance. The two brothers turned their horses and were about to return to the formation. It seemed that they saw those people. Han Shipan on the left lightly knocked the horse's belly and then beat the horse over.
Still a hundred steps away, Liu Chengzong saw that those few people seemed to know that they could not escape from the cavalry fire. The first person drew out his sword with an extremely brave posture, held the sword in front of him in an arrow-picking posture, and actually tried to stop him with his steps.
Ride.
Then he was pushed to the ground by several people behind him. The people kowtowed to Han Shipan from a distance, said something, and actually escorted the man towards the front of the formation.
Later, the two riders met briefly. Han Shiyou patted his horse and ran back to the formation, rolling his saddle and prostrating himself. He clasped his fists with joy and said: "General, my brother captured the steward of Wangzhuang, and he is still a local king and his guest!"
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Note:
1. Official positions of honored guests and criminal punishment. Reference paper "Research on the Honored Guest Groups of the Ming Dynasty"
2. The governor of Shanxi Province paraded two headquarters on Datong East Road with 840 riders and a target of 120 meters at 80 paces. Forty-seven people were able to hit five to seven out of ten shots, and one person was able to hit eight out of ten shots.
, named Du Jiyue, incorporated into the cavalry class.
——Wu Rendu, Governor of Shanxi, "Wu Jishu Collection·Volume 9"
***The author has something to say***
Good morning! I’ll let everyone know, it should be on the shelves next Friday.