One day earlier, it was late at night, and Yu Chong was silent and looked carefully into the distance.
This place is overgrown with uninhabited grass, and there is a mass grave nearby. On the distant hills, there is a fire burning in the night, but there is no sound here.
This Yu Chong was born in several generations of the family, and had meritorious service and loyalty for several generations, so he was given the surname Yu and enjoyed the same treatment as the branches of the Yu family. Now he regards himself as a member of the Yu family.
Yu Chong watched for a moment and then said to a spy: "Brother Qiu, please tell me carefully what is going on."
After all, it is not a regular army, you can tell by the name.
The spy was Qiu Yin, who was also a son of the same family. He said in a deep voice: "We have figured it all out. This is Fang Mao from Pingshou County. He was originally the fire chief of the Xiang Army in the county. He offended someone and fell into disgrace."
"This man gathered gangsters and some old bandits and occupied the mountain. There were about sixty people in total. He often kidnapped and ransomed women and robbed women. However, he still had some sense of control and did not cause the county to encircle and suppress him."
Everyone nodded, as this was normal. Yu Chong pondered for a long time. He believed that he could lead the Yu family army to capture the stronghold, but if there were only casualties, the gains would outweigh the losses.
The Yu family's army is still a private soldier, it has no reputation, and its capital is too small to withstand consumption.
But he finally made a decision. He waved his hand and said calmly: "A team of armor-piercing, strong archers go first!"
This small team has a small establishment but a full range of arms. This is prepared for future military expansion.
"Yes!" After issuing the military order, he immediately responded, and the atmosphere became solemn.
The group of people climbed up in silence. When they saw the small stockade on the top of the mountain, there were still two people patrolling. Yu Chong sneered: "This Fang Mao is indeed the chief of fire of the Xiang Army, and he also knows some art of war - shooting!"
Just two "Puff" sounds were heard, and two long arrows passed by. The two lazy patrolmen immediately fell over and screamed.
Yu Chong looked back and saw the five fire chiefs in front of him, who were waiting solemnly for orders. He said in a deep voice: "Go in, leave no one behind, kill them all!"
The five people saluted together, and the armor leaves clanked: "I'll take your orders!"
Immediately, fifty people rushed over and climbed into the two-meter wooden wall. At this moment, someone inside shouted: "There is a thief!"
The thief shouted to catch the thief, only to hear a cry from inside: "A thief is attacking the stronghold..."
At this time, the people who had climbed up had jumped down, and Yu Chong immediately breathed a sigh of relief. In just a moment, the village gate opened wide, and a group of people rushed in.
Never overestimate the reaction speed of bandits at any time. Just after you kill them, you see someone rushing out of the house. Before the bandits can form a formation, the archer ordered: "Shoot!"
Immediately, several bandits who had just rushed out of the house screamed and fell backwards. After shooting, the soldiers and the bandits collided with each other and started fighting. Yu Chong looked in a deep voice and saw the light of the fire.
They were fighting in the middle, screaming continuously, but although these bandits also had people with outstanding skills, how could they have any military rank?
Each of them fought with only their blood, but the soldiers were trained in the martial arts of the Great Yi, paid special attention to joint attacks, and fought many times on the grassland, so they could be called elites.
Also protected by armor, he was instantly invincible, and anyone who stood in his way screamed in agony.
In the blink of an eye, more than ten bandits who came out were killed, and only a few who saw that the situation was not good broke through the formation and tried to escape for their lives.
Yu Chong stood at the door, calmly watching the fight. There were five soldiers and five archers standing beside him quietly, waiting for the next order.
Seeing this situation, Yu Chong calmly ordered: "Brother Xiao!"
A captain of the archers immediately responded: "The mark is clear - shoot!"
Just hearing the sound of "Puff", a fleeing bandit let out a long scream. This bandit seemed to have some martial arts skills. He was jumping onto the wooden wall, but he was hit by three long arrows. He suddenly looked like a sandbag.
, fell down, fell with a bang, and blood continued to flow out of his body. Then, two more screams came, and the fleeing bandits were shot dead. On the entire battlefield, there were only five enemies left fighting to the death.
I saw only one person in the middle, a man about thirty years old. He was roaring angrily. He had several wounds on his body and was dripping with blood. He was killing with all his strength with a knife. However, he also had some shadows of the Great Yi martial arts, but too little. The spy was Qiu Yinzhi.
He said, "This is Fang Mao!" Before he could finish his words, he heard two "puff" sounds, and two long knives came from two angles, breaking through his leather armor and piercing deeply into his body.
Fang Mao's roar suddenly stopped, and with a draw of the long knife, the body fell to the ground. On the ground, he was dead, but his eyes were wide open, and he refused to close his eyes.
Only then did Yu Chong enter, his expression unchanged, and someone reported: "General banner, all the bandits have been killed, no one on our side was killed, and only eleven people were injured."
Yu Chong said: "Clean the battlefield, check the corpses, and give last hits." Someone responded: "Yes!" Everyone cleaned the place, stripped off the weapons and armor, and counted the silver and two-meter bags, and asked Yu Chong for instructions.
, Yu Chong said calmly: "Write it down in the booklet, take a rest today, and immediately find out the truth about Yejiazhuang tomorrow."
"Also, the bandits' clothes must be washed and put on. We must attack as bandits."
"Also, use these thieves as sacrifices, ask for the protection of my Yu family god, and clean up these Ye clan gods first!"
"Yes!" Everyone responded, and after half an hour, a simple altar was set up. The corpses of sixty gangsters were piled in front of it. Two hundred and fifty Yu Jiajun, all with solemn faces, kowtowed to the altar. At the venue,
The smell of blood spread quickly, and there was a faint shadow coming over, and a group of crows were hovering in the sky. On the day of the state examination, the Ye family home in Pingshou County was also solemn. This is an ancestral hall with high bluestone walls.
At that time, there were thousands of tribesmen in the open space outside the ancestral hall, and none of them even made a sound.
Yejiazhuang is a village in itself. There are about 800 households in the village, 200 households are members of the clan, and there are tenants who have children with their families, and they have multiplied and multiplied to form the current structure.
Ancestor worship is a major event for a clan. It was originally held during festivals and during the New Year, but it can still be held during major events. This time, more than 3,000 people came, and the ground was full of people.
The men of the Ye family all stood in the front, while the women and children could only stand in the back, while the children and tenants of the family could only stand on the outside and watch.
Everyone in the Ye family who has some knowledge knows that there are ways to suppress oppression in the examination room, but they also know that the core children of the family are struggling in a city thousands of miles away, which will determine the fate of the Ye family in the next thirty years.
Out of their inner expectations, all the clan members spontaneously gathered in front of the ancestral hall.
In the main hall of the ancestral hall, the patriarch Ye Mengqiu led Ye Zifan and other backbone family members to pray together: "My descendants Ye Mengqiu and the clan are united in this. May the ancestors bless and allow Ye Qing to perform without hindrance..."
There are five levels in the ancestral hall, which are built according to the rules of "three people, five nobles, seven kings and nine...". To put it simply, ordinary people can worship three generations, nobles can worship five generations, nobles can worship seven generations, and emperors can worship nine generations.
.
I saw three tablets on the first high platform. They were all wooden, with red paint on them, but the names were in gold, and the tablets also had cloud patterns. This is the Juren tablet, the shrine in the home. Below are the densely packed ancestors.
The tablets are arranged on four levels one by one according to seniority. They are also made of wood, but there is no red paint and no moire. The names are all written in ink.
At this time, someone came up and handed out three sticks of incense. The people in the front were officially offering incense. Ye Zifan was standing in the back, watching the gray-haired old man offering incense, and couldn't help but feel sad.
The family's character is red, and the children and scholars are just fine, but it cannot affect the candidates. Therefore, they don't dare to pray for success, and can only euphemistically hope that their children will perform well - smart people know, which imperial examination is only based on performance?
Since his ancestors were elected three times in one school, neither his father nor Ye Qing could get much help from his family this time. Now gathering people to worship is just a kind of emotional sustenance.
Just as he was thinking that it was Ye Zifan's turn, he stopped thinking about it, took three sticks of incense to the incense burner, lit it on the candle, bowed sincerely three times, and offered the incense to the incense burner. After offering the incense, he looked up and saw
On the top floor, three tablets are surrounded by red spiritual light, while on the lower four floors, thousands of tablets are surrounded by white spiritual light.
The whole thing turned into a light red cloud, shrouding the ancestral hall.
Of course, Ye Zifan knew that this was the aura of the big family's sacrifices, but it benefited the ancestors, and this condensed luck also protected the descendants.
"After the incense burning, the clansmen bowed down!" After the incense burning, Ye Mengqiu ordered, and the order was immediately conveyed. The clansmen outside who were not qualified to enter the ancestral hall all looked solemnly and bowed to the ancestral hall together.
The surrounding tenants and their children also bowed down. When these three thousand people bowed, they saw that the entire ancestral hall was filled with white and red aura, but it was full of a sense of sanctity.
After a moment of ceremony, Ye Zifan hurriedly stepped forward to support his old father and said, "Father, don't worry. Qing'er is the leader of Longjun's banquet. Longjun has promised to be a Jinshi, so there will be no hindrance."
Ye Mengqiu's eyes were gloomy, but he knew that the job of holding a position was not trivial, and he was afraid that the Dragon King's banquet would not be enough at all. However, he could not say this at this time, and just waved his hand: "I understand, I am tired too, you go and host the clan banquet.
Let me toast to everyone!"
Just as he said that, there was a sudden sound, and everyone was suddenly horrified. They looked around hurriedly and saw a sacred tablet on the five-layer shrine suddenly cracked. If you could look at it, you would see that the original red light was extinguished immediately.
Almost at the same time, two other divine cards suddenly lit up, the red light blazing brightly, and it connected with the white and red energy of the entire ancestral hall, seeming to resist.
The dark wind blew through the ancestral hall, and the sound of swords and soldiers could be faintly heard, and the bloody smell conveyed the last message. Ye Zifan was a scholar, and he was different from others. Tears suddenly burst into his eyes, and there was an empty space in his heart. He instinctively knew that it was a sudden change in the underworld, and the ancestor god was suddenly attacked by other ghosts and gods.
And kill, and there are two others who are immediately alert and defensive.
The situation seemed very critical. Ye Zifan felt his legs were weak and his body was shaking. He had an ominous feeling that something big was about to happen. He was at a loss for a moment, but he couldn't react.
At this moment, Ye Mengqiu finally regained his composure and quickly calmed down. He pressed the shrine mechanism and displayed the preset array and patterns. The red light gradually stabilized. Then, Ye Mengqiu's face turned pale.
Ashen, he hit the ground hard with his crutch and shouted sternly: "This is the ancestor god's warning, there must be a big change outside!"
"Sound the alarm and order the clan members to enter the clan wall immediately. The clan soldiers will immediately arm themselves and go up to the wall to defend!"
"Fan'er, go out and take charge personally!"
After three orders, everyone immediately had a backbone, obeyed the order, and stepped out.