In the darkness outside the rebel barracks in Xicheng, Zhang Yanling and his party were hidden in an alley not far away, looking towards the entrance of the barracks.
The gate of the military camp is closed, but there are shadowy figures swaying on the watchtowers on both sides of the gate. Strings of wind lanterns are hung on high poles in the camp, illuminating the surrounding area with bright light. The camp is surrounded by high walls, and there are many horses
It is surrounded and protected by wood thorns and other objects.
"Master Marquis, it looks like it's not easy to get in. I don't know how many soldiers and horses are inside." Chen Shi said.
Zhang Yanling whispered: "There must not be many soldiers and horses inside. But it is really difficult to get in. Not only is there a sentry tower at the door, I guess there are sentry towers all around. I didn't expect that their defense is quite tight. I took it for granted.
Yes, they are rebels, but they were originally our Ming Dynasty border troops. This is the military camp of our Ming Dynasty border troops, not a bandit camp."
Chen Shi nodded and said, "That's true. If we had known this, we should have stripped off the armor of the soldiers killed in Prince Qing's Mansion. It was a miscalculation."
Zhang Yanling shook his head and said: "That's not a miscalculation. I thought about it, but taking off the armor of those dead bodies is tantamount to telling the rebels that we have to pretend to be them. We don't have time to deal with those corpses. They will understand what to do when they see the corpses."
That’s why I didn’t order you to do that.”
Chen Shiyi suddenly realized that the Marquis had already thought of this. Indeed, he was pressed for time in Prince Qing's Mansion just now and had no time to deal with those corpses. That would immediately reveal his intention to the enemy, which would be an unwise move.
"How about I go in and take a look. I want to go in, but they can't stop me. The high wall is only two feet high. I'm sure I can get in. Maybe I can steal some armor." Chen Shi said.
Zhang Yanling shook his head and said: "We can't take this risk. If you go in, you won't be able to get more than ten sets of armor out. Moreover, you will take risks. It's just that I gave up this plan because I didn't think well. We can't expose our traces now, otherwise we will
He was immediately surrounded by soldiers and horses from nearby, and had nowhere to escape."
Chen Shi thought about it and felt that the risk was really not worth taking. It would be really difficult to get more than ten sets of armor by himself if he went in alone. On the contrary, it would increase the risk of being discovered.
When Zhang Yanling frowned and thought quickly about a solution, suddenly there was the sound of footsteps. A group of soldiers walked quickly along the wall of the military camp from the north. The leader was holding a torch, and the soldiers behind were fully armed and looking around with swords in their hands.
.
"It's their patrol. Go back quickly." Chen Shiyi whispered.
Zhang Yanling, however, looked happy and said in a low voice: "Yes. If we can kill them, wouldn't we have armor?"
Chen Shiyi frowned and said: "But how to kill them? Unless we lure them over and kill them, there is no way to do it."
Zhang Yanling frowned and thought. Ma Zhanbao suddenly whispered: "Master Marquis, I will lure them over, and you will ambush them, kill them all and take off their armor."
Zhang Yanling looked at Ma Zhanbao in surprise and said, "Are you going to seduce him?"
Ma Zhanbao said: "I am a local, so I won't let my words show any flaws. I lied to them that I was a local, and I found traces of fine work, so I went to report it. They will definitely be fooled."
Chen Shiyi frowned and said, "How can that happen? Wouldn't it mean recruiting a large number of people? Wouldn't it be bad?"
Ma Zhanbao said: "That's true. What should we do?"
Zhang Yanling whispered, "Not necessarily. Brother Ma, that's what you said."
Zhang Yanling whispered a few words quickly into Ma Zhanbao's ear. Ma Zhanbao nodded repeatedly.
Zhang Yanling patted him on the shoulder and said: "Brother Ma, go ahead. If you can succeed, you will have made a great contribution. I will reward you heavily when the time comes."
Ma Zhanbao said: "Master Hou, I am not doing this for rewards. I have been hanging out with you these past few days, and I feel that all of you are heroes, and I admire you very much. I thought, if I can work with you in the future, I will
Then I was satisfied. Lord Marquis, if I have made a contribution, can Lord Marquis let me be your subordinate? I don’t want to be a hunter all my life. There is no future. I have long wanted to join the army to kill the Tatars."
Zhang Yanling chuckled and said: "So that's what Brother Ma thinks. That's not easy to handle. This time you have made a contribution, and I will take you to the capital to join our Zhenwei Camp. You are very skillful and courageous, so you can join our Guards Camp."
There is a place for you. From now on, you can work with General Chen and others."
Ma Zhanbao couldn't help but feel very happy. In the past few days, he followed Zhang Yanling and his entourage from Helan Mountain to Ningxia City. He saw that Zhang Yanling's men were all fierce, well-equipped, and courageous, and he had already developed an admiration for them.
Heart.
He had long been tired of the boring life of hunting in the mountains and forests, and had been thinking about this in his mind. Now he mustered up the courage to speak out, and he actually got a positive answer, so he was naturally very happy.
"Ma Zhanbao, go quickly. Whether you can join the capital camp and follow the Marquis depends on your performance now. Don't screw it up." Chen Shiyi whispered.
After hearing this, Ma Zhanbao came back to his senses, calmed down, breathed a sigh of relief, and walked out of the alley.
A dozen rebel soldiers were patrolling around the military camp. Normally, there was no need to patrol around the military camp because no one dared to cause trouble around the military camp. But it was different tonight. There were 1,300 soldiers and horses in the camp, except for 600 people.
In addition to the patrols and garrison at the gates and walls of the West City, 500 soldiers and horses among the remaining 700 people were dispatched not long ago to the vicinity of Prince Qing's Mansion for reinforcements.
It is said that the fierce fighting in Prince Qing's Mansion was fierce, and the enemy was very powerful. Therefore, the deputy Qianhu of the camp specially formed two patrol teams to patrol around the military camp to strengthen the alert. Everyone in the military camp also boarded several watchtowers to monitor the surrounding area.
.
The leader of this patrol team was a small flag officer named Mo Danian. He was promoted to a small flag officer recently and led more than ten of his men out to patrol. When they attacked the prefect's Yamen that day, Mo Danian killed him with his own hands.
The son of An Weixue, he was promoted to Xiaoqi because of his meritorious service. Mo Danian was full of energy, so he was very attentive and volunteered for this patrol.
The figure walking out of the darkness was immediately spotted.
"Who is it? Stop, what are you doing?" Mo Danian shouted in a deep voice.
"Master Jun, Master Jun. I have something important to report." Ma Zhanbao said hurriedly.
Mo Danian saw clearly that it was just one person, so he waved his hand. The soldiers around him swarmed up and surrounded Ma Zhanbao.
"Who are you? What's important? There's chaos in the city, why are you running around? Is this just a trick? Why don't you recruit people based on the truth?" Mo Danian shouted.
"Master Jun, the little man Ma Zhanbao lives not far away. He is not a thief. He is here to report something to the lords. There is a commotion in Prince Qing's Mansion. I heard there is a thief causing trouble, right?"
Ma Zhanbao said hurriedly.
"Why do you ask this? How did you know there was a commotion in Prince Qing's Mansion?" Mo Danian shouted.
"Oh, there was a rumbling like thunder over there. The military men in front of my house ran over holding torches. Is there something wrong? Wang Huzi, my neighbor, ran home from over there and said that there was something wrong. Otherwise, there was something wrong. How do you know?" Ma Zhanbao quickly raised his hands.
Mo Danian said: "Then what are you doing? If you don't just stay at home, why are you running out?"
"I also want to stay at home, but some strangers appeared in my sheepfold and I was scared to death. How dare I stay at home?" Ma Zhanbao said with a sad face.
"What? There is someone in your sheepfold? Who is it?" Mo Danian was startled and asked quickly.
"How do I know who they are? Just now I went to the sheepfold to feed the sheep. I heard something moving inside, so I looked in through the crack in the door. I saw two people hiding inside. They seemed to be injured, and they were covered with bruises. Blood. They were wearing black clothes with their faces covered, like gangsters. I was so scared that I almost peed my pants. Thinking about what happened at Prince Qing’s Mansion, I wondered if they were people being arrested in the city. They were injured so They were hiding in my sheepfold. So I hurriedly came secretly to report to the military men. Please go and arrest them. Otherwise, how could I dare to go home if they were hiding in my sheepfold?" Ma Zhanbao bowed and begged. road.
"What? Is there such a thing?" Mo Danian's eyes lit up. "Are you serious?"
"I'm kneeling down for you, please, please hurry up. I'm scared to death. I'm a duty-bound person and don't want to cause trouble. If you don't care about me, I'll go find someone else on the street." Why are you so unlucky to end up in this kind of thing?" Ma Zhanbao sighed sadly.
Mo Danian turned around and said to the people around him: "Brothers, the opportunity to make meritorious deeds has come. Do you want to make a fortune? I'm afraid this is a trick to make trouble. If we take them away, won't we still be rewarded and make a fortune?"
Several soldiers nodded and said, "Yes, yes, we have to go get them."
A middle-aged soldier said solemnly: "Mo Banner Officer, why do we need to cause trouble? Isn't it good to patrol Ansheng here? What if we go to fetch someone and hurt our brothers? We just want safety, but Mo Going on an adventure.”
Mo Danian sneered and said: "Old Marquis, you are too timid. Otherwise, how could you have been a soldier for ten years and still be nothing? You are just too timid and afraid of getting into trouble. You don't want the credit that comes to you?" Haven’t you heard? There are only two of them, and they are injured. This is simply a waste of effort."
Lao Hou smacked his lips and said: "Mo Qiguan, I have an elder and a younger one, so I don't want to cause trouble. If I die, seven or eight of my whole family will be hungry. How can I be careless?"
Mo Danian waved his hand and said: "Stop talking nonsense. Are you in charge? I am your leader. How can you not take credit for your achievements that have fallen from the sky? If you keep talking nonsense, I will not accept it."
Lao Hou frowned and said, "How about asking more brothers to go with us. It would be safer."
Mo Danian scolded: "What a fart. Do you want more people to share the credit? We are rewarded with one hundred taels of silver, and our eleven brothers will share it, and each of us can still get ** taels. How can we ask dozens of people to share the credit? Besides, You may not get a reward of one hundred taels, maybe only ten taels or twenty taels. Are you asking so many people to take advantage of everyone? Are you out of your mind?"
"That's it, Boss Mo, don't listen to Lao Hou's nonsense. He doesn't want to go, just let him stay here. Then there will be less people to share the reward."
"Lao Hou, if you don't go, don't delay everyone's efforts to make a fortune. You are not allowed to tell anyone. Let's go get the detailed work and receive the reward."
The rest of the people said one after another.
The old Hou didn't say anything when he saw this. He didn't want to miss the good thing about sharing the money.
Mo Danian said in a deep voice: "Stop talking and go get someone. Don't make any noise, lest Lao Hu and the others follow."
"Let's go." Everyone was gearing up.
Mo Danian said to Ma Zhanbao: "Lead the way. I'm warning you, if you deceive me and make this trip in vain, you will suffer a lot."
Ma Zhanbao said with a sad face: "Commanders, please hurry up. If those two people hide elsewhere again, I can't guarantee it. When I came, they were bandaging the wounds in my sheepfold."
Mo Danian waved his hand and said, "Why don't you lead the way?"
Ma Zhanbao nodded repeatedly and walked towards the dark alley.
Mo Danian frowned and said, "Why not take the high road?"
Ma Zhanbao said: "Take a shortcut. The road goes a long way and what if people run away? Cut through the alley here and you'll be there in a while."
Mo Danian was eager to achieve great results, but he was also afraid that people would escape. So he stopped talking and followed Ma Zhanbao into the dark alley.