Three days, three whole days, Wu Shengjun completely turned the general camp upside down and found nothing. Just when Yun Zheng was already thinking about whether he was too nervous and made a big deal out of something trivial, and was about to put this matter behind him,
Peng Jiu told Yun Zheng with a dark face that two more pieces of meat were lost in the camp of Lao Shao's group. These two pieces of meat were rewarded by Marquis Yu to the two brothers who had the best work today and had been cooked early in the morning.
Because I was worried that the big rat here would cause trouble, I put it in a bamboo basket and hung it in the tent, and waited for the brothers to finish their work to see who would win the prize. Who knew that after Yu Hou announced the winner, Lao Shao went to get the meat?
When I arrived, I found that the basket was empty...
"Huang Shimi's army was less than 300 miles away from Wenquan Pass. The prefect of Yizhou once again abandoned the city and fled. The people also followed the prefect and fled to the nearest Liuzhou. Wenquan Pass was about to become the last line of defense for the Song Dynasty to block Huang Shimi.
On the defensive line, Yu Jing, the economic and strategic pacification envoy of Guangxi, made a quick report twice a day, asking Wu Sheng's army to wait for reinforcements and not allow Huang Shimi to return to Yongzhou to join Nong Zhigao.
At such a critical moment, you actually told me that there are still spies in Wu Shengjun’s camp that have not been eliminated? You are the Hou Yuhou, don’t you feel ashamed to say this at this time? "
Peng Jiu gritted his teeth, clasped his hands and made a promise before striding out. Yun Zheng sighed and had to put down the military report in hand and planned to go to the back camp to take a look. Such things are most likely to be spread as myths, especially when
Guangnan is a place where witchcraft is rampant. When Di Qing goes out on an expedition, he has to throw a hundred copper coins with the same sides on both sides and use pros and cons to calm the morale of the army.
When he first heard about it, Yun Zheng thought it was a joke. He nailed these copper coins into the ground with nails, so that no one would know that the coins actually only had one side. It was okay to deceive the fools of the Forbidden Army. Forget it if you planned to deceive Wu Shengjun.
Yun Zheng thought that his subordinates had seen the market after all. Han Niu reported that two days ago, someone said that he flew around at midnight. He thought it was a joke, but now it is no longer the case. He must find out in person.
According to the almanac, Hot Spring Pass was originally a place of great danger. When people were digging trenches these days, they unearthed many dead bones of humans and animals. There were even many bronze vessels that were already covered with green rust. After cleaning, the bronze vessels had stains on them.
It was full of strange creatures. With the money-grubbing character of Wu Sheng's soldiers, they didn't dare to leave behind these valuable bronze statues.
So what Yunzheng is worried about now is that ghosts and gods rule his military camp.
When they arrived at the back camp, they saw Lao Shao sitting cross-legged in the middle, swearing to the heavens and the earth that he would never steal food. There were soldiers around him, some of them endorsed Lao Shao, and some of them accused Lao Shao of not being optimistic about the food.
In the hall, some of the remaining people were spreading rumors mysteriously. Needless to say, it must have something to do with ghosts and gods.
"Let's disperse! It's just that we lost some ingredients. It's not a big deal. Maybe it was picked up by a mouse. I'll just make more tomorrow."
When everyone saw that the general had spoken, they dispersed in twos and threes.
Lao Shao rubbed the corner of his clothes and walked up to Yun Zheng and said, "General, the little one really didn't eat it secretly."
Yun Zheng nodded and said: "Of course you didn't eat it secretly!" Yun Zheng said firmly. Lao Shao followed him on a trip to Xixia, and Yun Zheng never doubted his character.
When Lao Shao saw what the general said, he immediately relaxed. He pointed at Peng Jiu who was digging a trench and whispered to Yun Zheng: "General, it's impossible for someone to dig a tunnel here. The groundwater here is shallow, less than one foot deep.
Water can be dug out, but it is not suitable for digging tunnels at all. Besides, we are digging trenches outside the city. If there were tunnels, they would have been discovered long ago.
In the past few days, I haven't dared to sleep to death. I kept my ears open and listened, but I didn't hear any mice or anything else coming. However, the prepared food was gone, and it was still in broad daylight.
Weird."
Yun Zheng turned around and looked around, and suddenly saw a crow landing on the city wall. He suddenly asked, "Have any crows come to harass you in the past few days?"
Lao Shao nodded and said: "Yes, as long as it is time to cook, those flat-haired beasts will fly around the tent. Look, the good tent is covered with bird droppings. Every time when cooking, the little ones will fly around the tent."
You have to use a big pole to drive these beasts away, otherwise bird droppings will fall down and ruin the food."
Yun Zheng stood up, put some rice in his pocket and handed it to Lao Shao, saying, "Put it where you put the rice that day. Let's go further and see what happens."
Lao Shao watched Yun Zheng cut a piece of meat and hang it on a pole. He followed the master in confusion and hid behind a tent in the distance, secretly looking at the kitchen.
Peng Jiu also followed, leaned next to Yun Zheng and said, "Did you find anything wrong?"
Yun Zheng hummed and said: "We have ruled out many possibilities in the past few days, and now there is only one last possibility left. I want to see if this possibility is true. Don't say anything, just watch."
At first, the red-eyed crows were plucking their feathers with their claws and occasionally croaking. They seemed to be very honest. However, this state did not last long before a crow landed in front of the dining hall tent and pecked at the ground.
The leftovers and rice grains are no different from ordinary sparrows and the like.
After a while, the remaining crows also jumped down and jumped on the ground looking for food. They seemed not to be interested in the meat sticks hung by Yun Zheng on the pole or the rice bag hung by Lao Shao on the door.
A smile appeared on Yun Zheng's face, and he said to Peng Jiu: "I am now 80% certain that these things were done by these crows. After all, they are flat-haired beasts. They have gone too far in pretending. Such a big piece of meat
Can you turn a blind eye? I don’t believe it.”
At this moment, a small monkey jumped out from behind the tent, picked up the bag of rice and ran away. The crows actually followed the monkey. One of the crows picked up the piece of meat and flew away. The other one picked up the rice.
The monkey squeaked when the bag was unloaded, and the crows worked together to grab the rice bag and flew over the city wall to a hill in the south. The monkey also ran into the grass and disappeared.
Peng Jiu put a whistle into his mouth and blew it vigorously, and said bitterly: "It turns out that these flat-haired beasts and a monkey conspired to steal our food."
Yun Zheng's face was extremely ugly. He stood up, got on a horse, slapped the horse's butt, and flew out of the city. Monkey and Han Niu also found their own horses and followed closely. Peng Jiugeng
He had already reached the base of the city wall on horseback.
Seeing the crows flying in front, Yun Zheng and his people were chasing after them. The crows were flying very slowly because they were holding on to the rice bags. He deliberately slowed down his horse and just stayed far behind.
After walking around the hill to the south and walking less than five miles, a large, deep pit appeared in front of everyone. The crows had just fallen into this pit.
Most areas in Guangnan are composed of limestone formations. After such formations are washed away by water, it is easy for geological wonders such as sinkholes and ground fissures to appear. They are widely distributed in Guangnan, and there is nothing surprising when you see them.
"This is it. If there was no underground river in this sinkhole, they would have no chance of escaping."
Su Xun, who followed, asked strangely: "Since our food was dragged away by wild beasts, there is no need for us to go to war. It makes sense to go back and continue to guard against Huang Shimi. There is no need to treat monkeys and flat-haired beasts."
Yun Zheng shook his head and said: "They are not wild beasts. These crows and monkeys are domesticated by humans. I want to know who this person is! Monkey, prepare ropes, bamboo ladders, and more lanterns and torches. Let the scouts put on armor and tie them up.
Use the rope to walk through the sinkhole, and at the same time order Zhou Tong and Wu Jie to prepare for battle. The camp will be on level 3 alert and we will not stop until this person is dug out."
The monkey took the order to find the scouts and prepare armor, ropes, and bamboo ladders. Taking advantage of this time, Peng Jiu ordered the shrubs and weeds around the sinkhole to be eradicated. Wu Shengjun never did things recklessly, so he planned to start clearing them from the entrance of the cave and move forward step by step.
A large pit stretches out.
Yun Zheng pointed at the crows circling above his head and said with a smile: "Now that I know your origin, I don't believe you have any place to stay. Ghosts, ghosts are what I am most unconvinced of. Until I solve my own mystery,
, you can’t even think of bewitching me.”
As he spoke, he took off the crossbow from Han Niu's back, strung it, raised his hand and fired out a firework bomb. The firework bomb exploded in the air, and those crows croaked and fled in all directions. After all, they are flat-haired beasts.
There is a natural fear of thunder and fire.
It didn't take long for the monkey to come over with the scouts. These people were fully armored, and even their eyes were covered under the visors. They were like a moving fortress. This was the famous Bu Renjia of the Song Dynasty. It was Yun Zhenghua Da.
The price was obtained from warehouses in other prefectures. Even Wu Shengjun only had less than a hundred such heavy armors.
After being improved by Yunzheng, useless decorations and excess weight were removed. The sixty-kilogram armor now only weighs thirty kilograms, but its defensive effect is increasing because Yunzheng removed the lining of the armor and replaced it with
It is made of light cork, so that a slightly stronger sergeant can fight wearing this armor.
More than a dozen lit torches were thrown into the tiankeng. After a short time, the sound of torches falling to the ground was heard. These torches soaked in strong fire oil fell to the ground and splashed countless sparks, illuminating the underground with light.
There was a scream from below, which seemed to be the voice of a child. Yun Zheng and Su Xun looked at each other and ordered: "The first group of six people, go down and take a look. If you can't hurt anyone, don't hurt anyone..."
Six experienced scouts were slowly descended into the sinkhole with ropes attached to them. Yun Zheng calculated the length of the rope and found that the sinkhole was not deep, only about seven to eight feet long. He watched the six scouts holding up the sinkhole.
The torch entered the side hole and ordered again: "Second team, continue down! Support the first team."
Peng Jiu exchanged places with a scout, and the first one slipped down the rope. He really wanted to know who made him reprimanded by the general. (To be continued)