All the county soldiers were overjoyed to be able to break through the Wagang Army's interception without using a single spear or arrow. At the moment, they had no intention of fighting the Wagang Army because it was too uneconomical. The imperial envoy who came to ask for help at midnight yesterday announced personally,
Now go to the fortress. As long as you kill three enemies, you can get one promotion. If you get two promotions, you can be promoted to the next level! He also emphasized that this is the emperor's oral order and he will never go back on it.
Such a reward is obviously much higher than fighting against the Wagang Army, so although everyone is farther and farther away from their hometown, they don't have much nostalgia in their hearts. Like General Qin, who is famous far and wide, like General Li, who was granted the title of Marquis at a young age, and like General Luo,
It used to be the dream of many people to hang their portrait in the palace. Now the opportunity is in front of them, so the county soldiers are full of hope for the future.
"Jie, the emperor will not regret it later!" Some people were not sure about the credibility of the court and lowered their voices to ask the people around them. His doubts were immediately interrupted by a burst of contemptuous ridicule, "Do you think the emperor is one of those people?"
Where is the King of the Mountain? He turned around and swallowed the words he said? Do you know the golden words? That is, even if he spits out the foam, it will cause a hole in the ground. What matters is the word "faithfulness"!
After listening to his companion's words, the suspicious man had to blush and hide his thoughts deep in his stomach. "Does the emperor talk about credibility?" In his memory, he had vaguely heard rumors about Emperor Shengming's reneging on his word, but he did not have the courage to publicly accuse the Sui Dynasty.
Emperor. Besides, everyone is in high spirits at the moment. No one can dampen everyone's interest.
A good general is a courageous soldier. With brave generals like Qin Shubao and Li Xu leading the way, the courage of the generals will naturally increase a lot. When the county soldiers were suppressing bandits, they often used a few to defeat a large number, so they did not feel that
My own strength is weak. Based on past experience, the more enemies there are, the more heads will be assigned to everyone in the end. It is a common phenomenon to be assigned three enemy heads in a battle. Based on the same number, after reaching the fortress,
, as long as you can survive three fierce battles in a row, you will be able to wear an official robe when you return to Qi County. Everyone does not seek to honor your ancestors, at least you can straighten your waist a little when talking in front of the children of the aristocratic family in the future.
"When the time comes, I will make a new suit of Gejia, starched to a hard texture, and hang out in front of Xiaoqi's father every day. Let's see if the old guy dares to look down on my son-in-law, who is a soldier!" Some people think about becoming a soldier.
I happily look forward to the situation after becoming a military attache.
"You're so small, just look in the mirror first. If you put a golden helmet on a monkey, he won't be able to lift an iron pole!" The people around him struck with some kindness.
"Don't look down on people. Let's see if it's a mule or a horse!"
Everyone was talking and laughing, and happily headed north. Few people noticed that the several generals on their side were not as happy as the brothers around them. On the contrary, since breaking away from the Wagang Army, the atmosphere under the Central Army General
It has been very dull. Even the soldiers responsible for protecting the general were somewhat affected. They all tightened their faces, as if they were deaf to the discussions around them.
General Li's waist has always been very straight, like a flagpole standing tall in the center of the team. Everyone can see his calmness and strength, but several close companions know that Xuzi's body at this moment does not look like anything
The appearance shows that he is so strong. The so-called strength is just a shell sealed by ice. At this time, someone can give him a light blow and maybe he can be completely defeated.
No one wanted to see Xu Zi get hurt, so Zhang Hong and Luo Shixin kept trying to find some topics to distract Li Xu. But they were obviously not very successful. Although after finishing each topic, Xu Zi
Everyone smiled politely and nodded. But that was just polite, and anyone with a discerning eye would know at a glance that he didn't hear anything at all.
"I didn't expect that man surnamed Cheng, relying on his bravery, ended up getting himself involved!" Zhang Hong glanced at Li Xu secretly and raised a new topic again.
"That man surnamed Cheng has no self-awareness at all, and he actually competes with Brother Qin in terms of physical strength. He doesn't even ask around to find out who else in Henan can compare with Brother Qin in strength!" Luo Shixin knew that what he said was unfair.
, but he didn’t mind talking about Wagang Jun even more unfavorably, as long as it could pull Xu Zi’s heart out of the depression of losing her friend, “Not to mention him, even Shan Xiongxin and him would have no chance of taking turns!
If he hadn't defeated me, the Wagang generals might actually have engaged in a wheel battle."
Sure enough, Li Xu didn't want to slander his opponent, so he smiled and said: "You two, stop burying the enemy, the Wagang Army is not that dirty! The second brother Qin borrowed the horse power, and Cheng Zhijie pulled out on foot. He was already eating.
What a big loss!"
"You will inflate other people's ambitions and destroy your own prestige!" Seeing that the trick worked, Luo Shixin continued to pretend to be crazy, "Be careful, Brother Qin will not be happy after hearing this." After saying this, he turned his head to Qin Shubao and kept winking at him.
"Cheng Zhijie's strength lasts longer than mine!" Qin Shubao refused to answer the question. After thinking about it, he said solemnly. "When I fought with him, my arms were numb from the shock, but he seemed to be fine. I guess he was.
I didn’t want to pull it out, so I didn’t use all my strength!”
"You and Zhong Jian are in love!" Luo Shixin didn't expect such a useless answer. He couldn't accept it and said angrily.
"It's not that I'm being modest, but that's the truth. I could clearly see the last pull he made. His eyes were round and his arms were tense, but the mark of his foot in the soil was not as deep as the first two times!
"Qin Shubao shook his head with a smile and added, "In the end, he deliberately let the water go out of fear that someone would come up to pull it out and prick it, so he simply broke it!"
"Are you saying that Cheng Zhijie let us go on purpose?" Luo Shixin's eyes widened with confusion on his face.
"Not only is Cheng Zhijie willing to give in, but if the Wagang army doesn't want to let us go, they can still regret it even if they lose!" Xuzi took over the conversation with a smile and concluded.
"Although this group of people is different from us, they can still be regarded as well-known men!" Qin Shubao looked back, with a thoughtful expression on his face.
Such a conclusion made Xuzi feel a lot more relaxed. Although he and Big Eye have become strangers since then, after all, he made friends with a hero, not a habitual gangster who only knows how to bully ordinary people. "I'm a little worried now.
Mr. Zhang, those guys from Dongdu are useless. The Wagang Army will definitely take the opportunity to counterattack when they learn that we are leaving!"
"Master Zhang has already made some arrangements before we leave! If he doesn't attack in the next few months, there should be no problem in holding on to the position with the troops on hand!" Qin Shubao's eyes turned from the mountains behind him and fell on him again.
On the battle flag. This was made by the fathers of Qi County a few months ago for the sons who were about to go on an expedition against Wagang. It has been somewhat faded by the wind and rain, but the pattern on it is still clear.
It was a tiger that came out of the mountain forest, looking towards the unknown distance, with countless ravines hidden in its heart. The elders gave this flag to the county soldiers, hoping that they would be as powerful as the tiger that came out of the mountain. No one expected that this tiger would now leave
To get to the fortress, the distance traveled was beyond everyone's expectations.
"Master Zhang probably values the emperor's life more than his own. It's useless for us to worry, we can only try our best to go back as quickly as possible!" Luo Shixin finally said a coherent sentence, with a vague tone in his voice.
dissatisfied.
It was the best choice to leave quickly and return quickly, so everyone did not dare to make any delay. After replenishing the necessary luggage in Dongjun, they immediately boarded the river boat that the local officials had prepared. After crossing the Yellow River, they walked along the official
The road headed west, and two days later we made a second supply trip at the county town of Hanoi County. Then we turned around and headed north, crossing the Taihang Mountains along the official road.
Along the way, local officials were so surprised when they saw that such a small team dared to go north to King Qin. "Tai, Taihang Mountain is not peaceful." Tang Yi, the governor of Hanoi County, pulled the reins of Xu Zi's horse and said,
He stuttered and told that he had met Xu Zi once when he was pacifying the Yang Xuangan rebellion, so he couldn't bear to see his old friend die.
"Thank you, Mr. Tang, for reminding me that this road is the closest and will save you seven or eight days compared to going around Hebei. Besides, there is no peace anywhere in the world right now!" Xuzi smiled and cupped his hands to Tang Yi, thanking him.
"General Li is still as brave as before!" Sheriff Tang sighed and loosened the reins of the horse in his hand. This is still the Xu Zi he knew back then, upright and enthusiastic. The situation in front of him is also the same as before, with many places holding heavy troops.
The officials all refused to move because of the long journey, but General Li rushed forward without hesitation.
It's a pity that we don't have a second General Li in the Sui Dynasty! Watching the figures of the county soldiers disappear into the twilight in the distance, Tang Yi sighed in his heart. There is no way that these soldiers and horses can reach Yanmen County. The area near Taihang Mountain has long been
In a big gangster's den, any big gangster has a crowd of tens of thousands. More than a thousand county soldiers came to the door, but it was not enough to give him a toothbrush.
Perhaps out of the mentality of treating others like others, from then on, Sheriff Tang waited for news about his old friend every day. He asked himself that he did not have the courage to die with Li Xu, but he did not want to let his old friend die in the wilderness. This made him feel a little bit sad.
Disappointed and extremely fortunate, five days later, there were rumors from the outside world that the cavalry, who was not afraid of death, actually passed through the bandit area safely and arrived at Shangdang. Along the way, no bandits tried to embarrass them, and some even formed a camp to fight for themselves.
The villagers, who did not like the government or the bandits, took the initiative to provide them with food and grass.
"Is General Li's reputation so great, or have all the bandits in the Taihang Mountains changed their temper?" Tang Yi was puzzled. This question continued to bother him until decades later, when he met a man who was once the leader of the Taihang Mountains.
We met at a banquet and found the answer from the other person's words.
"Yang Guang deserves to die, but he should die under the knife of us Central Plains people. So, after receiving the letter from the Wagang Army, everyone decided to avoid officialdom."
"Yes, that guy Yang Guang is a bastard, and he is also a bastard of us Central Plains people!" Another former bandit and later general came forward, put his arm around his colleague's shoulders and said drunkenly. "Besides, the leader of the army
He is our Xuzi, who would have the nerve to go under the knife with him unless absolutely necessary!"
That day, the well-known Tang Yi and two errant and vulgar warriors got drunk and had a good time. (To be continued)
