Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 420 People are like dogs

As evening approached, a rebel soldier named Pang Xiaoer leaned against a tree pole and took a nap. His brows were furrowed in his sleep, and his expression looked a little twisted.

The sharp whistle sounded again, and he woke up from his nightmare and stood up quickly. Not long after, several comrades came out of the woods cursing, and they appeared in all directions.

"Eating dog intestines, have you found your uncle?"

"The team has been found."

Pang Xiaoer thought they had found Xue Bai. When he turned around, he saw Kong Rang, the captain of the team, was holding a hare's ear in his hand and said, "Isn't that Prefect Xue a rabbit?"

The soldiers burst into laughter.

"Captain, I heard people say that the Yang sisters are so beautiful. It's really a good thing that they slept with them and got promoted."

Kong Rang nodded solemnly and said: "When we take Xue Bai and cook his meat and eat it together, we can easily make beautiful women fall in love with us."

"Really?"

It’s like saying you’re going to go hunting, but when you’re about to set out, you end up saying, “Go, catch that mouse.”

"Get her!"

"There's someone there!"

"Commander, let's bake it. How long will it take for so many people to deal with one Xue Bai? Nanbai Village is not far away. I've done a good job and I'm just in time to come back to eat."

~~
The setting sun dyes the clouds on the horizon red. In the evenings in the past, Nanbai Village was often the busiest time with bursts of smoke. Today it seemed extremely quiet, and no one could hear the chickens or dogs.

"Ok."

The next moment, a sudden change occurred.

Kong Rang's general Lu Ziqi was killed in the bombing. He was lucky not to be transferred to Zhending City at the time, and thought the descriptions of his colleagues present were too exaggerated. After seeing it with my own eyes today, I felt discouraged.

"Is this the thunder and fire that day?"

They quickly rode away, leaving behind a bonfire still roasting the hare, turning the skin into the most attractive golden color bit by bit.

Kong Rang kicked the sand on the ground hard and covered the fire, which relieved the dissatisfaction in his heart. Since the rebellion, they had received a large number of rewards, and had been indulged in burning, killing, looting and kidnapping. When their morale was high, they all looked forward to rushing to Luoyang as soon as possible to fight, so being assigned to besiege Xue Bai was a bit boring.

Deng Siniang, who was kneeling next to the corpse, turned her head and saw dust and smoke flying in the last rays of the setting sun. Rows of cavalry appeared across the bridge like mountains and forests.

"Idiot!" Kong Rang scolded: "To enter Chang'an, what kind of woman do you want? Why bother? Hahaha."

Deng Siniang ran out of the woods and rushed into the village. She accidentally tripped and fell to the ground. What tripped her were two corpses lying on the ground, which were neighbors she knew. Going further, her man's body was lying beside the bridge.

Even though she is just a village woman, she actually has the pride and pride that makes her worthy of being an enemy of thousands of troops.

A group of knights ran straight towards her, moving from horizontal lines to columns like water, raising their weapons.

She ran across the bridge and rushed to his side. When she looked up, she saw that the village was full of corpses, some of which had been eaten by wild dogs. This situation made her eyes sore and she burst into tears.

Kong Rang also shot an arrow, but before he could recover from the fright, his hands were shaking so badly that the arrow floated directly into the river.

"No! The general is ordered to go immediately without delay!"

The arrow then "swooshed" and fell towards the river beach.

"Eating dog intestines."

There was a flapping sound in the woods behind him, and the sudden movement frightened the birds away.

The laughter got louder, which was also a sign of high morale, but Pang Xiaoer couldn't understand what they were saying.

Pang Xiaoer originally did not belong to this team. His team leader Nie Pinglu had a conflict with Sun Rang and was killed by General Lu before he was assigned to Kong Rang's command. He couldn't tell how he felt after experiencing all this, his mind was in a state of confusion.

Although there were hundreds of people, it was like thousands of troops came just for her.

The lively offensive that had just been going forward suddenly stopped, and everyone was stunned, staring at the half-body body on the ground in a daze.

Suddenly someone shouted, and everyone took a closer look. Sure enough, someone was running by the river beach below.

The feeling of oppression was overwhelming, as if she was a tiny ant and the entire Mount Tarzan was pressing down on her head. At the same time as she felt fear, there was another illusion.

"Shrink the encirclement, don't let them escape!"

He was the second team to rush across the bridge. He was only about ten steps away from the person who was thrown away. He could clearly see how the armored body was torn into pieces. The broken armor also injured a soldier not far in front of him. Half of the soldier's nose was cut off, and he screamed in agony, which was shocking.

"Hahaha, yes." Kong Rang laughed, "Brothers, we have been to that village, and we will go there again today."

"boom!"

He didn't say it, but in fact, he was already timid before fighting.

"Quick, shoot him!"

No wonder everyone attaches great importance to Xue Bai. How can an ordinary pawn like him defeat such a character?
"There's someone in the river!"

The small bridge exploded with a bang. The two cavalrymen on the bridge were blown to pieces in an instant, including their horses. Two of the cavalrymen who had already rushed across the bridge were lifted high and fell to the ground, split into two pieces.

"it is good!"

The flames burned the rabbit skin, and the fat was baked out, making a "sizzling" sound. Kong Rang looked at it and said, "We can go there after we finish eating. It's too late."

Kong Rang then led his men to roast rabbits and eat them. After the fire was lit for a while, the frequent and sharp whistle sounded again. Soon a cavalry came running from a distance, shouting: "Xue Bai has entered the south." Bai Cun, go to the siege immediately!”

Kong Rang finally calmed down the frightened war horse. When he came to his senses, he first cursed to relieve the fear in his heart. He found that his body was already soaked with cold sweat.

It only took a short time for the entire Nanbai Village to go from silence to movement. There was noise from all directions as if it had been agreed upon. The thundering sound of horse hooves, the sound of signal horns, and various shouts.

Originally, I thought it would be a simple matter to just rush into the village and pick up people, but now, the rebels must reorganize across the river and build a bridge.

~~
The rabbit placed on the fire was scorched bit by bit, and the skin and flesh gradually turned from golden to charred black. In the end, even the bones were burned to charcoal.

The firewood was burned out and the fire went out.

~~
Kong Rang was so hungry that his chest pressed against his back. He thought he would just surround the village tonight to prevent Xue Bai from escaping, but after nightfall, Tian Tinglin arrived in person.

The captains rushed to meet him, looking ashamed.

"What's going on?" Tian Tinglin looked ugly, "The army is about to leave camp at five o'clock, and the general is still waiting for news!"

He used to call Tian Chengsi "Brother", but calling him "General" now seemed more solemn. He should have been reprimanded severely by Tian Chengsi before setting off.

"Another fire broke out from the sky and the ground. There were people in front of and behind the village. Six people were killed and more than 30 people were injured. The casualties were minor. I was afraid that there would be thunder. I acted rashly at night, allowing Xue Bai to escape in the chaos. not good."

"I don't want to listen to the explanation!" Tian Tinglin shouted: "The army has been here for sixty miles day and night, and how many days will it be delayed because of a mouse?!"

He was very strict, and he also brought two hundred people with him. He immediately ordered these two hundred people to open up the siege, and the rest went into the village to capture and kill Xue Bai.

More torches were lit, and the fire became brighter.

"Cross the bridge."

Kong Rang held the torch in one hand and the reins in the other. He looked at the newly built bridge in front of him. He was still frightened. He turned around and shouted, "Pang Xiaoer, you cross first!"

"Here."

Pang Xiaoer was also afraid of being blown to pieces, so he received the order with a pale face, kicked the horse's belly, and drove the horse forward. However, the horse was also frightened by the loud noise, smelled the pungent smell of gunpowder, and refused to get on. forward.

"Little beast, let's go."

Pang Xiaoer had no choice but to dismount his horse and pull it across the bridge. There was no explosion this time. When he reached the other side, he walked more than ten steps forward and saw several corpses lying in front of him, which were killed by his team leader.

"Search from room to room!" Kong Rang urged as he walked behind.

This village is quite large, and the houses are all made of loess. There are pitted earth walls on both sides of the alleys. When you shine a torch, you can see the spider webs on the walls, but the long and narrow road ahead is still dark.

Pang Xiaoer kicked open a door and saw the body of a child lying inside. He was immediately stunned and felt a chill on his back and sweat on his forehead.

"It's not here. Let's look for it again."

The group turned back to the alley.

Pang Xiaoer was distracted, looking around, and finally asked: "Did you hear...the child's voice?"

"Eating dog intestines, don't talk nonsense, look for it carefully."

"I don't think it's right." Kong Rang said, "We are walking in the open with torches. If we run into Xue Bai head-on, can we kill his people?"

He thought that Tian Tinglin was too hasty. Whether 300 or 500 people dispersed into this village, they would encounter Xue Bai's men and horses, and there would be some casualties. It's better to have a good night's rest and search again during the day.

"Walking in this alley like this, it's easy to be ambushed..."

"puff."

Kong Rang felt blood splattered on him, looked back, and immediately shouted: "Here!"

Behind the alley, two fierce-looking men appeared at some point. They were fully armored and holding sharp long-handled swords. They had raised their swords to strike down again.

These two people didn't bring torches. They just waited and didn't need to bring them.

"Somebody come!"

Kong Rang clearly had the numerical advantage, but he was timid at first. It took him a while before he remembered to blow the whistle, and he brought the whistle to his mouth in a panic.

"Shh-"

The whistle had just sounded, and Mo Dao had already slashed down with a "swish", diagonally slashing into his neck.

Pang Xiaoer, who was walking at the front, turned around and couldn't see clearly what was happening behind more than a dozen comrades. He could only hear his comrades shouting "The team is dead" and pushing him forward.

There were also soldiers among them who wanted to fight to the death, but in such terrain, they could only be pushed around. If they escaped too late, the sharp Mo Dao would strike at them without mercy.

Before Pang Xiaoer could even see the enemy's face clearly, he was pushed to the point where he dropped his weapon. He simply ran forward regardless. Only then did he notice that several people were shouting "Here!"

Whistles sounded one after another, as if the whole village was filled with Xue Bai.

The front suddenly opened up, and the alleys extending in all directions converged into an ancestral hall in the middle of the village. The escaping soldiers from each team rushed to the same place.

There was a school captain who was trying to control the situation and shouted: "Don't mess around, line up, line up!"

Pang Xiaoer subconsciously wanted to run over, but what Kong Rang said just now came to his mind again, causing him to wake up suddenly.

Xue Bai was not the prey hiding somewhere in the village, but the hunter who laid an ambush and waited for his prey to come to him. They rebels are the prey...

"boom!"

This was the third explosion, but the damage caused was by no means comparable to the previous two. Explosives exploded among dozens of rebel soldiers as they huddled together in confusion.

Following the trend, the fire ignited from the center of the village and swept away in all directions.

~~
Tian Tinglin also knew that she was a little anxious. Xue Bai was not an ordinary opponent. He was an official as a prefect and could borrow money to mobilize a lot of civilian forces. Although he could not withstand a large army, he was very advantageous in this kind of small-group battle.

An eager search will probably result in a lot of casualties.

Of course, this is also done to consider the overall situation. Because Taiyuan was not captured, and Li Guangbi was recommended by Xue Bai as the deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu, if Xue Bai was not captured and killed, the Hedong governor would most likely go to Taiyuan to attract reinforcements, fight back to Changshan, and cut off the rear of the army.

Compared with this concern, Tian Chengsi could completely afford the price of injuring a few soldiers and getting rid of a heart problem as soon as possible.

There was a rumble in the distance, which once again caused quite a commotion among the soldiers, but Tian Tinglin had expected it. He knew that Xue Bai must still have gunpowder, but when the gunpowder is always used up, it is worth spending the lives of more than ten or twenty soldiers to consume it.

Afterwards, the fire in the village lit up, getting brighter and brighter.

"They set fire to it."

Tian Tinglin frowned, realizing that the casualties might be greater than expected.

Seeing this situation, the secretary-general of his army also stepped forward and whispered: "General Tian, ​​I'm afraid something is not right. Xue Bai has such a sharp weapon of thunder, thunder, earth and fire. It is not difficult to break through. Why is he cowering in Xiaoyinan?" Bai Cun?”

"You mean, he is setting up an ambush?" Tian Tinglin looked ugly.

"I also heard that he also has a thing called a 'Thousand Mile Mirror'. It's hard to say whether it can see a thousand miles away, but at least it can see things several miles away. Not to mention breaking out, he shouldn't be easily surrounded."

"No matter what, he must go west." Tian Tinglin said, "I guarded against him."

"Tell me, why is it so quiet in the west? The general is surrounding three buildings. Is there an ambush in the west?"

Tian Tinglin suddenly raised her hand, interrupted the staff, and said, "Listen."

The wind blew up the fire in the village and brought screams. But that's not what Tian Tinglin wanted to hear. He turned around, looked behind him, and murmured: "Someone is coming."

"The general has sent troops again?"

Tian Tinglin raised her head and looked at the sky. It was already the third watch. Tian Chengsi must have ordered the army to prepare food and prepare to break camp. She was tired of waiting for news from Xue Bai and wanted to urge him again.

Gradually, a group of cavalry appeared dozens of steps away from him, showing a solemn silhouette in the moonlight.

"Who is coming? Correct the flag!"

The other party didn't respond. They stopped their horses one after another, adjusted their queues, and let the horses rest.

Although it was dark and far away, Tian Tinglin could feel that the horse on the opposite side was scratching its hooves on the ground, preparing to charge. He took a deep breath and shouted: "It's the enemy!"

The whistle sounded urgently again. There were a lot of rebels, but they were too scattered in order to encircle and hunt them. They rushed to respond to the enemy, and they had to be gathered in the shortest possible time.

But Xue Bai's men had already begun to charge. There were not many of them, but like a sharp dagger, they stabbed Tian Tinglin's heart unexpectedly.

~~
In Nanbai Village, the fire became stronger and blood splattered everywhere.

Pang Xiaoer ran away frantically, and finally escaped back to the river, shouting to the other side: "General! He was ambushed!"

However, all he got in response was panicked shouts.

"The enemy came from outside the village..."

Pang Xiaoer didn't understand that the enemy was clearly in the village, so how could he be outside the village? In any case, Tian Tinglin's attack destroyed his last will. He only had one thought in his mind, which was to escape as far away as possible.

He looked around and saw that the west side was the quietest, so he fled to the west side. Feeling that the armor on my body was heavy and inconvenient, I simply took off the armor and felt much relieved.

As I ran, the sound of water flowing in front of me got closer and closer. Nanbai Village was on the bank of Hutuo River. In front of me was the bend of the river, and there was a large lake. Finally, he saw sparkling waves.

Pang Xiaoer couldn't swim. Hearing the killing cries in the distance, he kept running along the river. He gradually couldn't run anymore. When he was desperate, he saw a small boat moored by the river. He quickly ran up to it. , reaching out to untie the cable.

"Hu-hu-"

He was so tired that his fingers had no strength. The more anxious he became, the more unable he was to untie it. Suddenly, he received a heavy blow on the back of his head and fell into the mud by the river.

"Forgive me, I'm not rebelling, no!"

Pang Xiaoer didn't bother to look back and begged for mercy.

There was severe pain in his head, but the knife on his back did not strike again. Seeing the use of begging for mercy, he was sure that the person who came was not his comrade.

"Really, I went north to join the army because I wanted to guard the border for the country. Captain Nie was telling me, 'Don't teach Huma to cross the Yinshan Mountains.' I really didn't want to rebel. They forced me, forced me..."

As he said this, Pang Xiaoer burst into tears.

He is the second son in the family. His brother is fifteen years older than him and died in the war with the Khitan in his early years. His mother-in-law is fifty-two years old this year. Her hair is gray and she looks old. He desperately hopes to earn military honors and return home as soon as possible to serve his mother-in-law.

"Really, I haven't read a book, but I know the word 'loyalty and filial piety'. General, please spare my life for the sake of my poor mother-in-law."

"I will spare you, but who will spare my child?"

Pang Xiaoer was stunned when he heard the sound behind him. He turned around and saw a peasant woman standing behind him holding a knife.

The original fear in his heart immediately dissipated a lot.

"You killed my child!" the peasant woman roared and slashed with her knife.

Pang Xiaoer stretched out his hand to block it, grabbed her hand, and pushed the knife towards her neck with all his strength, and the two started fighting.

Fighting to the death, he used all his strength. Pang Xiaoer's whole face turned red, and he finally pressed the knife onto the peasant woman's shoulder little by little.

His eyes almost exploded, and then he looked at her, and immediately felt an extremely strong hatred. At this moment, he guessed who she was - the two people who died before him The mother-in-law of The Child Under the Knife.

But the first thing Pang Xiaoer felt was that he had been wronged. What could he do? The king of Dongping County rebelled, the general rebelled, and Que Zheng was killed. If he hadn't taken action at that time, he would have died.

This is the helplessness of troubled times, which the two of them have never experienced before.

When troubled times come, it's like a huge wave hits them, smashing small fish and shrimps like them to pieces.

A trace of guilt rose in Pang Xiaoer's heart.

"puff."

At this moment, the knife was pressed heavily into his neck, and blood poured out.

His eyes widened and he let out one last sob.

In troubled times, he and Deng Si's little black dog suffered the same fate.

"Ugh."

Deng Siniang stood up and heard her child's murderer whimpering like a puppy. Her nose became sore and she cried.

She has returned home.

When she rushed to the backyard, she saw two big rocks placed above the water tank and was stunned. He rushed forward and pushed the stone away, along with the lid of the water tank to the ground.

The force was so strong that she fell to the ground.

"Five babies!"

At that time, she cried and shouted, but there was no response for a long time. She didn't dare to look into the water tank, but in her mind she imagined the scene after she fainted in the main room.

"Captain Kong, those bitches even hid a baby in this tank."

"Then help her hide it and cover it, hahaha..."

Deng Siniang wanted to die at that time.

When it was dark, the explosion on the bridge prevented the rebels from entering the village immediately. She dug a big hole in her backyard and buried her dead child.

After crying loudly, she walked back to the bridge to bring her man back and bury him.

It was at that time that she saw a group of soldiers holding torches and leading horses across the rebuilt bridge. The faces of several of them made her feel hatred at the first sight.

So, using the cover of darkness and her familiarity with the village, she quietly followed them, thinking of exchanging her own life for one with one of them.

During the process, Deng Siniang actually caught a glimpse of another group of people. She knew that they were the subordinates of Prefect Xue. She did not dare to get close and witnessed their surprise attack on the rebels from a distance.

Those people would not chase after an escaped fish, but she could not let go of the hatred in her heart, so she chased after her and finally killed an enemy, even though she knew that the other person was forced to do so.

At this time, her last wish was gone. Deng Siniang picked up the long knife in her hand, but her eyes caught sight of the corpse on the ground. She did not want to die with the murderer, so she boarded the boat, cut off the cable, and propped up the pole. Paddling deep into the Hutuo River.

She leaned down and looked at the dark and deep river, hoping that it would wash away the dirt on her body.

Just as he was about to jump, suddenly, there was an earth-shattering sound from the west bank.

That was the true momentum of thousands of troops and horses. The momentum was more majestic than the hundreds of cavalry in the evening, and the world seemed to be moved by it.

The fire was bright, like the sun rising from the west.

"Right by the river!"

Deng Siniang once again felt the sense of oppression and pride of being surrounded and suppressed by heavy troops, which made her forget to die for a moment. She watched the changes in the firelight from the other side, imagining the brutal fighting she had never seen before.

The boat kept being pushed downward by the river water.

She paddled hard, but she was still getting further and further away from the battlefield.

Until the screams of death gradually stopped being heard, she felt the surroundings became quiet again, and she prepared to throw herself into the river again.

At this moment, a ray of morning sun fell on the river, dispelling the darkness.

The water reflected the morning sun and fell into Deng Siniang's eyes. She couldn't help but be stunned for a moment and found several corpses floating on the river.

One of the corpses caught her attention. Judging by the attire, it was clearly from the group of people she met with Prefect Xue yesterday. She quickly pushed the boat over, hooked it with a bamboo pole, and pulled it closer. She took a closer look under the rising sun and found that it was not the Xue Prefect she thought she was.

I don’t know what happened to the battle last night.

Then, she heard a slight choking sound.

(End of this chapter)