stubborn thief

Chapter 157

Since seeing the thief from the west, on the southeast corner of Wen'an Post City, Qi Shuangquan has been sullen.

He is the commander of the third team of the Zuo Division of the outpost of Yan'an Camp.

The brother-in-law is called Ma Maoguan, and he went to the west to cut off his head and didn't come back.

Broken, my brother-in-law is gone.

Then the rebels surrounded the post city on three sides, and bursts of gunfire soon came from the mountains to the south.

I asked the familiar general Jia Ding, who had a sad look on his face, and told him that there were too many thieves, and the rear outpost in the south might not be able to hold on.

Qi Shuangquan didn't think that the people surrounding the post city were thieves. They were well-organized and well-equipped, and they were clearly an army.

It is completely different from Wang Zuogua, King Huntian and even Cao Cao who were chased earlier.

He preferred to refer to these people as rebels.

It was completely dark.

The rebels piled firewood around the city and lit tall bonfires to illuminate the city.

Qi Shuangquan aimed at the rebels with a blunderbuss, trying to avenge his brother-in-law.

He hit a bandit soldier holding firewood, the lead pierced through the brave helmet, a handful of firewood fell to the ground, the bandit soldier fell to the ground and convulsed for a moment, he looked like a young man of fifteen or sixteen.

He also has a young soldier of this age under his command, who is a military household from Xi'an Weigou. He is often bullied by veterans, so he always clings to him, and sleeps with him back to back in the wild.

The little soldier had only seen money a few times since he was a child, and had never had a single penny of his own, so he had an extraordinary desire for military pay, and he cheered happily when he was hooked into the Yan'an camp.

I pestered him all day asking.

"Sir, do you get paid as a battalion soldier?"

"How much military pay can I have?"

"What should I do after paying the military salary?"

very bothersome.

Qi Shuangquan didn't know how much money he would be able to pay in a year when he followed Yan'an Camp.

The wind in the turret was very cool at night, and Qi Shuangquan curled up behind the battlements with his blunderbuss and soldiers back to back. There were too many people crowded in the post city, and soldiers lying down were everywhere on the narrow streets.

Even though the bonfire was beside him, it didn't make him feel comfortable at all. On the contrary, it was even more uncomfortable because it was cold and hot at the same time.

In the half-asleep and half-awake state, it was all the fault of the soldier who forced Qi Shuangquan to talk about his salary all day long, which made Qi Shuangquan have a very messy dream.

In the dream, he brought three nephews and sister into the military camp, and his brother-in-law dragged them to tell them that they had been paid, and that they had paid a lot of money. All the money owed since Wanli was paid, and all the restaurants in the entire city of Xi'an were full of soldiers.

A loud bang woke him up, and before he could react to what happened, the screaming sound flew over his head.

The solid iron bullet smashed through the eaves of the turret, the tiles shattered and shot in all directions, and the half body of the bullfighting squatting beast whirled and hit him behind him.

Turning his head, the sleepy soldier slowly turned his face while covering the back of his head, and smirked at him slowly and laboriously, as if he wanted to say something.

Then the body went limp, without even making a moan, just twitching slightly every few breaths.

Before Qi Shuangquan could react from his sluggishness, the little soldier lost his life.

The city was already in chaos, and the soldiers who were in fear of being surrounded woke up from their sleep and put on armor all over their bodies indiscriminately.

Their own and others', wearing unknown armor, holding unknown weapons, looking down nervously.

Looking at the bright lights below the city, looking at the darkness on the other side of the river.

The sergeants in the city, those who slept in the streets and those who slept indoors, gathered in groups to the sound of horns and boarded the city.

They first stared nervously at the people beside them, until they recognized Paoze beside them, then looked out of the city nervously.

There was no movement.

It was as if the sound of the cannon was their hallucination.

It's just that it's true that the soldier's head is bleeding all over the ground.

Just when they relaxed their vigilance, someone pointed to the figure gradually appearing in the depths outside the city.

There were more than a dozen figures on horseback. They seemed to be worried about being bombarded. They stood scattered and lined up in a large line, slowly walking forward in the shadows.

As they approached, they shouted victory around the campfire, waved flags and galloped around the campfire.

With the light of the bonfire, Qi Shuangquan heard someone say that it was the flag stationed at the rear post of Liangjiahe.

No one knows what's going on at the outpost, it's just that the morale of the soldiers in the post city is low.

General Ai climbed to the top of the city and went to the southeast tower to see it, his eyes were full of pity.

He asked Xiaobing's name, and wanted to cut off a strand of hair to bring back to his family, but was told that Xiaobing had no family, so he leaned over and closed his eyes full of curiosity about the world with his hands.

After the general left, everything returned to calm.

Qi Shuangquan leaned against the cold wall, closed his eyes but couldn't fall asleep.

He went to the southwest to fight She Chongming, and he saw a lot of life and death.

A dead person shouldn't make him sleepless.

But when he closed his eyes, it was the soldiers who asked him for military pay.

This is abnormal.

He touched Xiaobing, and it was already cold, everyone else was sound asleep, only he was still thinking about what Xiaobing wanted to say before he died.

After thinking and thinking, Qi Shuangquan took out a penny from his waist pocket, first put it in the clothes on Xiaobing's chest, and after thinking about it, he took it out and forcefully opened Xiaobing's closed mouth, put the Jiajing Tongbao in it, and closed it.

This time he was finally able to fall asleep.

In the night, the rebels fired two more cannons, one time the cannons fired from a long distance, and the other time they pushed four small cannons to the side of the river bank and shot towards the head of the city.

Qi Shuangquan slept intermittently for more than an hour that night.

When I woke up early in the morning, the sky was not yet full light, but the rebels outside the west gate were fighting. I heard that they were the outpost troops stationed in Huoshaogou, launching an attack on the enemy's flank.

Therefore, the eastern siege forces of the rebels are also moving westward.

The general issued an order in the post city, without sounding the golden drum, selected five teams to go out of the city to delay the rebel reinforcements, and sent horsemen to Yulin for help.

The city gate had just opened when the artillery on the other side launched a bombardment two hundred paces away. Hongyi and Franji drilled solid iron bullets into the city gate hole one after another.

Qi Shuangquan heard the screams not far away, rubbed his beard irritably, and cursed: "Who the hell built the city gate first?"

Those who want to come in cannot get in, those who want to get out cannot get out.

The supporting infantry were all bombarded by artillery shells and could not reach the city. In the end, only twenty or so cavalry rushed out of the city. chase.

The fighting on the west side soon stopped, but the bandits didn't stop, leaving the troops trapped outside the city, and the large troops attacked Huoshaogou to the west.

Qi Shuangquan's Baizong team was withdrawn from the turret.

Tonight they can sleep in the house, 87 people, four rooms, one of which has no roof.

But the brothers couldn't be happier when they carried the soldier's body down to the city.

The corpses were carried to the government office in the north of the city. There were more than 20 corpses inside.

Even if you withdraw to the city, you can't be idle. The old trees and roofs in the post city and the weeds in the city have been damaged.

In the afternoon, the stinking son of the general and his servants took away all the untanned leather belts, leather sheets and boots of the infantry and horse soldiers, and also packed up spare straw sandals from the army.

There are three wells in the city, but only one is functional, and it is difficult to supply thousands of soldiers with drinking water day and night.

Of the other two wells, one of them was blocked by gravel, and there are still soldiers going down to dig it.

In the last well, there were dead people soaking in it. It was said that the first official seal was fished out. It seems that the postman was pushed down when the postmen rioted.

The well had been cleared out in the morning under the order of the general, and the one who went down to hold the corpse was the eldest son Ai Huaiguang.

Otherwise, many people would rather be thirsty and snatch others' water than hang themselves down a well.

On the second night of the siege, the Guanzhong soldiers ate the most extravagant and humble meal since dispatching troops.

Horse meat grass root hay boiled noodles.

General Ai's three sons in the army all took their family members and scattered in the team, eating with the sergeants from Guanzhong.

Eldest son Huaiguang ate quickly, his clothes were dirty, he changed into bloody dead clothes, washed briefly, and sat in the queue chatting with the sergeants.

Qi Shuangquan asked him: "Major General, didn't you put away the leather today, why is there no inside?"

"Do you want to eat it?" Ai Huaiguang smiled and shook his head: "I tasted it, but I can't chew it. I need to soak it for another two days. The water issue has been resolved."

"The general asked me to dig out the well today, um..." Ai Huaiguang felt like vomiting when he mentioned the well, he gritted his teeth and endured it, and said: "I wiped the bottom, wait for it to wash for two days, the dirty water will flow Come on, we have three wells with enough water."

"Don't worry about the military rations. We carry four-day military rations for more than a thousand people, and six-day emergency military rations, as well as mules, donkeys, cattle, and war horses. The four-day military rations are mixed with grass roots, hay, rawhide, and large animal meat. , enough for eight days, and then kill the animals when the time comes."

"There aren't even civilians around here. How can the thieves outside the city besiege us for a month? We have asked Yulin for help today, and President Du will send troops to help soon."

Ai Huaiguang sat cross-legged on the ground like the soldiers, waved his hands and said: "Brothers live a good life in Guanzhong, and were recruited by the general to eat grass roots and leather in this post city."

"The general said, when the brothers are able to eat big fish and meat, he will take me to eat bear's paws; but as long as we are in this city, we father and son will eat what is left in the pot, as long as We didn't starve to death, so you don't have to worry about starving to death."

As he said that, Ai Huaiguang turned his head to the south, which was the direction of the rebel camp outside the city: "If I am about to starve to death, I will go out and catch two thieves for you to eat."

Amidst the applause from the soldiers, Qi Shuangquan looked at Ai Huaiguang who was in high spirits, and he realized.

People say that Ai's family has three generations of generals, and they have brought their sons into the army from generation to generation.

In the past, Qi Shuangquan always felt that it was courageous for a father and son to go into battle, but it seemed useless for a father and son to go into battle as a general, and he would lose his family if he died.

But today his mind changed.

It is really useful for the general to bring his son in the army.

What the soldier does not want to do, the son can do; what the soldier does not want to eat, the son can eat.

The general's son has done it all, what else can the soldiers not do; the general's son has eaten it all, and it is delicious, so what can't they eat?
Ai Huaiguang walked back to the gate tower of the south gate in the night, the morale of the sergeants had been greatly boosted, but the bandits fired a few more shells into the city, which annoyed him a lot.

'This thief can't run out of gunpowder? '

The roof of the city gate tower was hit by shells and dust fell all over the ground. When he walked into the city gate tower, Ai Mu was covering his rice bowl with his book of war, and waved away the falling dust in front of him.

"Cough... Huai Guang, how is the military spirit?"

Ai Huaiguang clasped his fists and said, "Father, the military spirit is available."

This made Ai Mu feel relieved, and he blew away the floating dirt on the chair and sat down again. He sighed for some reason, then smiled, and took away the book of war that covered his rice bowl.

There are two pieces of square skin with tooth marks on the shallow soup base in the bowl. Ai Mu smiled and said, "I should listen to you, I really can't bite."

Huaiguang glanced into the bowl, showing an embarrassing expression that he wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh, and then said seriously: "The general should put the body first, let the children eat the leather and grass roots."

Ai Mu chuckled lightly and said: "Your father is in very good health, you can kill a cow with one punch, if your grandpa's military merits hadn't overshadowed the general, I would have gone to the martial arts exam like your Uncle Yuhua. "

"These pieces of leather won't kill me."

When the word "death" was mentioned, Ai Mu was obviously taken aback.

When his father Ai Yingzhao was still alive, Ai Mu never thought that one day he would die.

I always think that I have unlimited time to do whatever I want.

But when my father died, it seemed that suddenly a stopped hourglass was turned upside down, and it contained the time left by him.

He could clearly see the end of his life.

Like a big hand behind the back, pushing people forward, and making him look back for fear of dropping the doll.

Ai Huaiguang didn't understand his sudden silence, he just clasped his fists and asked, "General, what's wrong?"

"Huaiguang..."

Ai Mu shook his head, took a deep breath to adjust his mood, and said seriously: "Sergeant should treat each other with sincerity, some things can be lied to, but some things must not be lied to."

"As a father, you can tell the soldiers that we have enough food for the soldiers, enough for the next month."

In fact, their rations are very tight. Even if they follow the ration that cannot guarantee combat effectiveness, they will only be able to eat for half a month.

Because the sauce and vinegar are not enough.

No sauce, no salt, no salt... After fifteen days, the whole team will become soft-legged shrimp.

And Du Wenhuan, Ai Mu is not sure whether Du Wenhuan has the courage to bring troops to help.

Let Ai Wannian bring troops here, it is considered that the incense of the Ai family's ancestral grave this year has not been burned in vain.

It's just that Ai Wannian may not be able to walk away now, so the matter of reinforcements...Actually, Ai Mu didn't expect reinforcements in his heart.

"But you can't lie to the soldiers that the father and the soldiers eat the same food, but in fact they eat different food."

Ai Mu pointed at Ai Huaiguang, and said with a smile on his face: "In your opinion, this is a trivial matter, but in the eyes of the soldiers, it is an insult. Humiliation, but innocent, do you want to be beaten for your father?"

While the moonlight was shining on the earth, there was another battle sound from the west of the city.

This time the fight lasted longer and was more intense.

Ai Mu hurried out of the city gate, and he saw that this time, the bandits outside the city did not move, and the besieging troops in the east were still standing firmly in place.

This made him frown.

Immediately afterwards, a sergeant on the city wall ran over quickly and reported to him: "General! The outpost Zhang Qian led his troops to rush into the enemy's formation and drove back the enemy for two miles to the west of the city. Now they are walking along the moat bridge to the west gate, and the gate cannot be opened. ?”

"Open the door, what are you waiting for?"

"He, their luggage was stopped by bandit soldiers!"

　good evening!

　　It took too long to ponder the plot, I will update it temporarily tomorrow, and I will adjust the time, otherwise the update will not be on time all day long, and it will be too hard for friends who follow the update.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)