A mere one hundred horse thieves broke through the defense line of more than five hundred Turkic wolf riders. This was indeed a victory worth celebrating. But after counting the results, the horse thieves were no longer happy. In the encounter just now, everyone at least killed
More than a hundred Turkic warriors died, but more than twenty of their companions were left on the grassland forever. In addition, there were more than a dozen seriously injured people in the team. If they did not find a place to resettle in time, none of them would be alive.
The hope of returning to the Central Plains.
"This deal is not a good deal!" Liu Jizhen, the leader of Dazhai, shook his head and smiled bitterly. This time, he brought with him all the elites of the village. Everyone had experienced the life of licking blood with a knife for more than three years. It was only one day.
In the morning, more than 30 people were killed, and it would take at least two days to walk from here to the mountainous area at the junction of Sui Dynasty and the grassland. If the tribes along the way were as fierce as the pursuers in the morning, even if they could return to the Central Plains safely, a gust of wind would be a big blow.
It's time for the flag to fall.
"We can't just run away. If we continue like this, without Ashina Queyu leading a large group of people to chase us up, these little grasshoppers will eat us into bones and dregs along the way!" Wu Heitao interjected in a low voice. He did not want to argue with others.
His words were very insightful. Even Liu Hongji and Zhang Liang, two old Jianghu people, nodded their heads after hearing this.
"We fought against them during the day, and we suffered a loss because of the small number of people. Que Yu was probably so angry this time that he didn't even consider whether it was worth making such a big fuss for a few hundred horses!" He always doesn't like to talk.
Niu Jinda interjected in a low voice. After speaking, his eyes fell on Li Xu, his eyes looking extremely strange.
"It's the boy who has dragged everyone down!" Li Xu quickly stepped forward and took the initiative to assume his responsibility. The Turkic warriors in the morning were obviously coming for him. If everyone went separately, it would be much easier for the horse thieves to escape. Instead of that, it would be much easier for the horse thieves to escape.
If you are sitting here waiting for others to catch up, you might as well come up with the idea of traveling separately.
Before he could say his suggestion, Liu Jizhen looked at him and suddenly laughed.
"You said I tied you up and sold you to Ashina Choyu. Will he give me hundreds of good horses for free?" Liu Jizhen smiled, and the flesh on his face was shining.
"This is a good idea. He set all the fires by himself, and he killed all the people by himself!" Wu Heitai stepped forward and put his arm around Li Xu's shoulders. "But what we men did,
From now on, we don’t have to see anyone anymore. Every hero in the world will spit on our face! If we wipe it, someone will spit on it again.”
Everyone burst into laughter, and the depressing atmosphere was slightly relieved. At that moment, some people began to arrange for the horse thieves to find shallow water and build sheepskin rafts to cross the river. Some people used ropes to lead the horses and led them one by one to swim to the other side. Li Xu
Unable to intervene, he could only follow Liu Hongji and watch the excitement. Watching, watching, he suddenly had a good idea.
"The Turks have the help of black eagles. No matter how fast we go, they will not lose us!" Li Xu reminded Liu Hongji in a low voice, tugging at Liu Hongji's sleeve.
"I saw it, but if that beast doesn't fall down, we can't shoot it at all!" Liu Hongji didn't look back, his eyes were still fixed on the river. On the grassland, those with big fists are respected. If they just run away blindly, the nearby tribes will not care.
Whether they have a grudge or not, they will take the opportunity to rush over and beat up the drowned dog. If you want to prevent others from chasing you, you can only cripple the few groups of people who are chasing the most fiercely.
"I guess Ashina Queyu can't summon too many soldiers and horses at the same time, so he wants to use various herdsmen to consume our strength. When we are almost exhausted, his wolf cavalry should also appear! So,
We have to find a way to eat up the latest group of pursuers, and let other tribes who want to reap benefits consider whether they are sure to keep us!"
After hearing this, Liu Hongji's eyes suddenly lit up as he was looking at the river in deep thought. He turned around and whispered: "You mean, fight back?"
Li Xu's analysis happened to coincide with his thoughts. However, the number of horse thieves was too small. The number of soldiers and horses from any tribe that caught up was more than five times that of horse thieves. In a head-on confrontation, there was no possibility for everyone to win.
"I wonder if we can set up an ambush on the other side of the river?" Li Xu nodded and tentatively suggested. In the notes left by Master Yang, there are many examples of fighting with a small number to attack the crowd. One of them is very similar to the current situation.
When the coppersmith master analyzed this battle case with him, he was very impressed with the arrangements made by Yue Gong Yang Su at that time.
"Striking halfway across the river is indeed a good way to hit more with less!" Liu Hongji looked Li Xu up and down again and praised loudly. This was also the strategy he had just thought of to defeat the enemy, but he has already done so this year.
Thirty years old, and Li Xu is only half his age.
If the two people's coincident ideas shocked Liu Hongji, Li Xu's next suggestion made him even more speechless. Pointing to the waist-deep grass on the other side of the river, Li Xu added in a low voice: "
If you let the wounded who cannot go into battle hide behind the bushes and wave flags and shout, stab more straw men, place more flags, and then randomly shoot hundreds of arrows..."
"If I were Ashina Choyu, I would have chopped you off the day before yesterday!" Liu Hongji slapped Li Xu hard on the shoulder and praised him in the language unique to horse thieves.
"So how can you say that the wizened man has bad ideas!" Wu Heitai, who happened to be pulling his horse by, smiled and made his latest comment on Li Xu.
After crossing the river, Liu Hongji summoned several leaders together and repeated Li Xu's suggestion. Everyone praised it as a wonderful idea. You and I completed the plan with each word.
Among the crowd, Liu Hongji and Wu Heita were the best in martial arts. They each led 20 horse thieves and were responsible for attacking the enemy's flanks diagonally. Zhang Liang and Niu Jinda were the best in archery among the crowd, leading 30 brothers.
Responsible for the front, first use feather arrows to create chaos, and then break through from the center to push the enemy into the water. The remaining twenty-odd brothers who can fight are led by Liu Jizhen. He is the leader of the Guofeng gang. He is in charge of the center and ready to respond at any time.
The tasks of the other brothers were his undivided responsibility. There were still a dozen injured who could not carry the sword into battle. Liu Jizhen gathered them together and handed them over to Li Xu's hands.
"You're young and you've got some glory. Don't draw your knife and fight with others later. It's your idea, and you should be responsible for how you fool the enemy!" Liu Jizhen patted Li Xu on the shoulder and whispered.
Order.
"I can go into battle! I can shoot a crow 120 steps away, and I can also..." Li Xu protested loudly. When everyone arranged the task, they actively avoided the role of confusing the enemy. They didn't know each other.
When he saw the horse thieves taking such good care of him, he was extremely moved.
"Am I the boss or are you the boss!" Liu Jizhen pretended to be angry and scolded loudly, "Go quickly and tie up the straw men and make flags. Anyone who disobeys the order will be killed!"
"Coax!" The men laughed loudly, and their bright laughter startled flocks of waterfowl.
"Where are you going to go in the future?" While everyone was busy cutting grass, Liu Hongji approached Li Xu and asked in a low voice.
"Where to go?" Li Xu put down the mugwort in his hand in confusion. When he was with Xu Dayan, the other party once suggested that the two of them join a caravan to go to the south of the Yangtze River to travel around and avoid military service. Now with Xu Dayan
After getting separated, the arrangements for going to Jiangnan had to be put aside. Returning to his hometown in Yixian County was obviously not a good choice. If the county magistrate was prosecuted for the crime of evading military service, he would inevitably be imprisoned.
Unlike Liu Hongji, I had a group of friends who were active in the officialdom. I was born in a branch of the Li family and had no relatives or friends in the officialdom. Even if I raised the gold to make some money, I didn't know who to give this gift to.
Perhaps the best choice is to become a horse thief and do nothing. This thought just crossed his mind. Li Xu himself shook his head repeatedly. The Li family has a clean family background. If he wants to be a horse thief, let alone others, his father will be the first to be killed.
own.
But is there any other way to go? He thought with a wry smile. From the time he left the fortress to now, all the roads have been taken step by step by being forced or chased. No one has ever asked him what he wants to do and what he has in the future.
Plan. Now that it was time for him to make a choice, he felt empty in his heart and completely lost his direction.
Liu Hongji saw Li Xu's expression in his eyes, smiled, and said in Li Xu's ear: "I have a family friend who supervises food for the army in Huaiyuan Town. If you have no place to stay, why not
Follow me and surrender to him. This uncle has some ideas to clear us of the charge of deserting!"
"Is it really possible?" Li Xu asked in surprise. Ever since he learned from Pan Zhanyang that those who evaded military service were regarded as thieves by the government, he had been embarrassed by his identity. Liu Hongji's words were tantamount to talking over his head.
Opening a window allowed him to vaguely see a glimmer of light in life in the darkness.
"But if I have no relatives or friends, why should I stand up for me?" The inferiority complex in his heart soon made Li Xu himself reject this hope. Liu Hongji is a child of an aristocratic family. Although the family fortune has declined, the connections left by his father's generation have
Still there. And himself... He smiled bitterly and twisted the wormwood in his hand into several pieces.
"Let's talk when we have the chance!" Liu Hongji patted Li Xu on the back, stood up and walked into the distance. The neighing of war horses could be heard from the other side of the river, and he needed to seize the time to hide his subordinates.
Li Xu shook his head and returned his mind to the grass. Some differences are innate, just like the grass in his hand. Some are born as mugwort, while others are as barnyard grass.
"But people are not animals, and they don't need names, blood, or species!" The words of General Hu Ben Luo Yi suddenly rang in his ears again. He looked up and saw that the weeds around him were tall or low, with different colors, but the top of each plant's head
It's all the same blue sky.
"Xu Zi is good at craftsmanship. Have you ever done farm work before?" Zhang Liang sneaked over at some point and asked.
"I learned a little bit at home, but I have almost forgotten it now!" Li Xu shook his head and answered modestly. His movements of tying up the grass figures were very neat. Others had not finished one of them, but he had already made three, and he could lift each one up.
Standing still in the grass without falling down, it looks like a real person hiding here.
"Where will you go after returning to the Central Plains? Will you go back to your hometown?" Zhang Liang smiled and actually asked another question that Liu Hongji had just asked.
"I can't go back! I deserted the military service!" Li Xu shook his head, with a bitter look on his face. If it hadn't been for the damn military service, he might have gone to the capital to take the Ming Dynasty examination by now. He had worked hard on the Analects of Confucius back then.
I can remember clearly which article a sentence comes from and which column it comes from.
"Listen to me, our boss has great hands and eyes, and he will definitely get the government to exempt you from military service! What do you think, follow me to see my boss when you get to the Central Plains?" Zhang Liang gently scratched the hair on Li Xu's forehead and lowered his voice.
Sound advice.
"Ah-uh!" Li Xu couldn't help but let out a low cry. Looking at his colleague who turned around, he lowered his head in embarrassment.
Among this group of new companions, Zhang Liang’s background is the most mysterious. Liu Hongji escaped to the grassland to avoid military service. Wu Heita was the swordsman hired by Zhang Liang at Yanmen Pass. Niu Jinda was a veterinarian and horse dealer, and Liu Ji was a horse thief.
The eldest son of Liu Long'er, the old boss of the gang "Gust of Wind", comes from a family of thieves. Everyone's identity is consistent with their self-introduction. The only strange thing is Zhang Liang. He calls himself a horse dealer, but he is proficient in martial arts. Not only is he thoughtful, but his behavior is also
There is a certain amount of progress and retreat, and there is a mysterious boss behind it. This time, Xiufeng helped everyone smooth the tiger beards of Ashina Choyu. It is said that he was also entrusted by that boss.
What does the mysterious owner want to do? The more Li Xu guessed, the more curious he became. It is said that it is easier to get in than to get out. Once the owner is a bandit leader who sits on the ground and divides the stolen goods, wouldn't he be entering a den of thieves by following Zhang Liang?
"Do you want to stay in the den of horse thieves and follow the leader of the village?" Zhang Liang asked eagerly when Li Xu didn't answer for a long time. "It's not a big deal if you can't do this kind of head-turning thing once. If you are trapped in trouble all your life,
In doing so, I would be ashamed of my ancestors!” (To be continued)
