Red Mansion: Bastards rule the roost

Chapter 178 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 3
  Lei Tai is a majestic and burly man, about twenty-six or seventeen years old, with a Chinese character face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, a straight nose and a square mouth, with calm and calm eyes. Although he is not old, he has a weathered look.

The other man has slightly short hair on his head and a faint scar from the incense stick. He is also tall and muscular, with long hands and feet. He is a few years older than Leitai. He is wearing a shabby monk's robe and has a string of rosary beads hanging around his neck. He has a peaceful expression. Namaste and salute.

Jia Cong's eyes lit up. The spirit and demeanor of these two people showed that they were not ordinary people. He said, "What tricks do you two have?"

The monk smiled and said: "Both the poor monk and this benefactor have the martial arts skills of a three-legged cat. They came here to ask for a bowl of meat."

Jia Cong smiled and said: "Master is a disciple of Buddhism, but he also eats meat?"

Kongxing proclaimed the name of the Buddha and said with a smile: "You can kill people, and you can eat meat."

"Who did the master kill?"

"To be honest, sir, the poor monk accidentally killed Qingpi in the countryside and came here. Now he wants to kill thieves again, and he doesn't care about eating meat. As the saying goes, wine and meat pass through the intestines and remain in the heart of the Buddha. As long as you have a Buddha heart, you can come here. Buddha wouldn’t blame me either.”

Jia Cong laughed and said, "Well said. Lei Tai, why are you here?"

Lei Tai cupped his fists and said, "Sir, I was originally the arrester of the Luzhou Yamen. Because my brother took revenge and killed the local squire, he was assigned to this place."

Jia Cong nodded and said, "Just use whatever means you have."

"Please, sir, give me two knives." Lei Tai said.

Jia Cong nodded, and the sergeant presented the frontier army's standard weapon, the oxtail knife.

The blade of this knife is tilted upwards and looks like an oxtail, hence the name. It is very light and sharp, and is suitable for dealing with Tatars without armor, but it is not good for breaking armor.

Lei Tai held the sword in his hand, gently curled it up, and said: "It's a little lighter, it can barely be used. General, please enlighten me." He looked at Wang Jin as he spoke.

Jia Cong and others all laughed. He dared to challenge Wang Jin. It seemed that he was definitely not a mediocre player. No one of his talents could withstand a move in his hands.

Wang Jin also smiled, nodded and said, "Come on."

"The villain has been offended." Lei Tai shouted, his swords danced into a ball of rotten silver, and he strangled Wang Jin.

Everyone secretly praised him. With just one move, they knew that this person's martial arts skills were extraordinary and definitely not inferior to those of Su Can, Wei Wuji and others.

"Well done!" Wang Jin's gun trembled, and tens of thousands of pear blossoms bloomed, melting the force of his sword and counterattacking.

Lei Tai did not panic, and walked with the sword. Two balls of sword light protected his whole body, without leaking, and he was both offensive and defensive. He fought evenly with Wang Jin.

Jia Cong nodded repeatedly. He was also an expert in using swords, and he felt that this person's sword skills were not inferior to his own. Unless his divine power returned to its original state, he would probably not be his opponent.

The two of them fought for twenty or thirty times, when suddenly there was a burst of wind and thunder. Lei Tai changed his sword technique. Different from the dense rain just now, he opened and closed it wide and slashed hard. Every time he swung the sword, he stirred up shouts. The sound of wind blowing, and Wang Jin's gun clashed head-on.

After fighting for more than twenty rounds, Lei Tai saw that he had no success, so he changed his sword technique, and suddenly rolled forward close to the ground. The two swords danced into a ball of white light, firmly protecting the top of his head and the whole body, and sliced ​​towards Wang Jin's lower body.

"Okay!" Wang Jin's marksmanship has already reached the point where he can do whatever he wants. It can be hard or soft, close or far, and it is unpredictable. No matter how Leitai's sword skills change, he will never be able to hit him.

After another twenty or thirty rounds of fighting, Lei Tai gradually became exhausted, and his sword power stagnated slightly. Wang Jin already pointed a gun at his throat, so he had to abandon the sword and admit defeat.

"What a good man!" Everyone nodded in praise.

Wang Jin nodded and said, "You have good skills. If you didn't have enough food, energy, and weapons, I would have to be three hundred feet away to defeat you in one and a half moves."

Lei Tai cupped his fists and said: "The general is brave, but the villain will never be defeated."

Jia Cong smiled and said: "Good Leitai, good Leitai. It is really commendable to be able to persist in the hands of Coach Wang for such a long time. It is worthy of eating meat."

"Thank you for the reward, my lord."

Kong Xing waited for Lei Tai to finish the comparison and said to Deng Lei: "General, can you lend me a weapon? The poor monk usually only uses a Zen staff. Now I can't find anything similar to the general's weapon."

Deng Lei laughed and said, "I'm in a hurry today. One of them can borrow a bow and the other a stick. I can lend you the stick, but I won't give it to you. This is the guy I eat with." A six-edged copper stick was thrown to him.

This copper stick was large at both ends and narrow in the middle, weighing fifty or sixty kilograms. The force of Deng Lei's throw was so huge that the copper stick shot towards Kongxing's chest like an arrow.

Kongxing smiled slightly, and lightly flicked his hand. The castration stick immediately became docile, turned a few times in his hand, and then struck the ground with a pop.

"How dare a poor monk ask for the general's beloved thing? I wonder which general is willing to give me some advice?"

"I'll do it!" Zhang Yi shouted, holding out the mace and beating those trash just now, which was really not satisfying.

Everyone was refreshed. Both of them were heavy weapons, so they were worth seeing.

"General, please." Kongxing smiled.

"Monk, look at the stick!" Zhang Yi pressed the stick on his shoulder, and the stick head behind him suddenly bounced high and hit Kongxing on the head like a mountain.

Kongxing turned sideways slightly, stretched out his hand, and thrust the copper stick towards Zhang Yi's chest.

Zhang Yi dragged the mace back to block.

The two of them rolled and fought together. A ball of yellow light and a ball of black shadow collided from time to time, making loud noises that made the ear drums of the spectators buzz.

After fighting for dozens of times, Zhang Yi complained repeatedly. The great monk was very cunning. He knew that the head of his club was powerful, so he did not touch it. He only took advantage of the opportunity to hit the stick. He touched it nearly a hundred times, which shocked him. His arms were numb, his arms were weak, and the mace had lost its original flexibility.

After fighting for 140 to 50 times, Zhang Yi was restrained at every turn. Jia Cong shouted: "Stop!"

The two of them retreated.

"Old Zhang, you lost. The master's strength is not inferior to yours, and his stick skills are exquisite, but they are not comparable to you." Jia Cong and other brothers laughed.

Zhang Yi also shook his head and said with a smile: "Master is much better than me. I, Zhang, am defeated."

Kongxing held the copper stick and returned it to Deng Lei, clasped his hands and said: "The poor monk dare not say victory, it's just a draw."

Jia Cong shook his head and said: "Master is superior in skill, and my brother is not someone who cannot afford to lose, so why should he be too modest?"

"I thank you for your kindness." Jia Cong thought for a while and said, "Who claims to be a blacksmith? I think there is a blacksmith shop in this city. I will clean it out tomorrow and make two hand-made weapons for Master Lei Tai and Kongxing."

"I obey, little man." The blacksmith hurriedly rolled out and kowtowed.

"Thank you, sir!" Leitai and Kongxing hurriedly thanked him.

Jia Cong asked twice more, but no one among the prisoners came out again, so he waved them away and said: "Those who want to eat meat can wait until the Tatars come and behead one level before they can eat meat. As long as they practice steadily. Although the laborers do not have meat to eat, they do have two loaves of bread for each meal.”

All the prisoners breathed a sigh of relief, finally having a good meal.

"Unexpectedly, there are dragons and tigers hidden in the grass. I am very happy to have a good general today. I am very happy. Come and get some wine!"

Several soldiers hurriedly fetched wine bowls and brought them out.

"Master, Lei Shaotou, Xie Hui, Wang Fei," Jia Cong called several people's names, looked at Fan Ming aside, and said with a smile: "There is also Fan Xiucai, come here. I brought this from Fengtian You must have never tasted the Immortal Drunk, come and try it."

Jia Cong ordered people to pour wine for Wang Jin, Su Can and others, as well as You Jiaxi and Yu Hong, the two thousand presidents. "I am happy today, so I will make an exception to have a bowl of wine. Go ahead!"

"Do it!" Everyone shouted in unison, and drank it all in one gulp.

Kongxing and others raised their necks and got busy.

Ahem, Fan Xiucai is a light drinker. He has never drank such a strong drink before, and he choked and coughed.

Everyone laughed.

"It's really a fairy brew, good wine and good wine." Lei Tai and Xie Hui praised continuously.

Jia Cong said: "No matter how good the wine is, there is only this one bowl. If you want to eat, I will treat you to a full drink after the Tatars are defeated."

"Just to tell you this, the villain will definitely kill a few more Tatars." Leitai said with a smile.

Jia Cong waved his hand and said: "From now on, you don't have to call yourself a villain. Now I am temporarily exempting you from the status of criminals. Kongxing, Lei Tai, Xie Hui, and Wang Fei. The four of you will be the sentry commanders. You will lead the remaining prisoners and select the captain and chief. .”

"I humbly obey my orders!" the four of them said in unison.

The system of the border army is different from that of the inland guard station.

The inland guard station has a guard commander with official positions such as Qianhu, Deputy Qianhu, Baihu, Trial Baihu, General Flag, Xiaoqi, etc.

The frontier army consists of a team of five people, with a team leader. Two corps are one team, with a captain. Three teams are a team, with a captain. Three teams are a sentry, with a sentry chief. Five sentries are a commander, with a general commander. Five commanders are a battalion, with a thousand commanders.

However, there are now very many vacancies in the border army establishment, and all battalions have been downsized. Two thousand generals, such as You Jiaxi and Yu Hong, should have been in charge of more than 2,000 people, but in fact they only managed a thousand people.

It was already dark by this time, and many torches were placed around the school grounds.

Yan Shuangying brought a bowl of broth and a few pancakes and said, "Third Master, you have been busy for a long time. Let's use some rice."

Jia Cong looked around and said, "Have all the soldiers eaten?"

You Jia said happily: "Everyone has eaten, and the patrols and guards in the city have also been replaced."

Jia Cong then nodded and said, "Then let's all eat." He led everyone to sit down in an empty room next to the school grounds.

When Wang Jin saw that Jia Cong abided by the rules in the Art of War, "If soldiers don't drink all they drink, generals won't go near the water; if soldiers don't eat all they eat, generals won't taste food." He was pleased. Brother Cong had the style of an ancient general.

Jia Cong took a sip of the hot soup to dispel some of the cold air and said: "The four sentries composed of criminals are divided into the hands of your four generals. They are divided into teams and sentries for strict supervision and training. But Anyone who complains, shakes the morale of the army, attempts to escape, cheats, gathers a crowd to cause trouble, or refuses to obey discipline will all be killed!"

You Jiaxi and Yu Hong hurriedly stood up and said, "I obey my orders."

Jia Cong motioned for the two of them to sit down and said, "Let's talk while we eat. There's no need to be polite."

"From tomorrow on, Acan, Lao Deng, Lingkong, Lao Zhang, Wuji, you will also be assigned to your generals' subordinates to learn how to lead troops in war."

"Yes." The five said in unison.

"Instructor Wang is still in his old profession, and is responsible for the training of soldiers, prisoners, etc. We must make the ragtag crowd in the prison camp form a fighting force in the shortest possible time."

Wang Jin was very strict with himself. He stood up suddenly, stood up straight, bowed his hands and said meticulously: "This is a humble post!"

Jia Cong smiled bitterly and waved his hand, asking him to sit down.

"Next, let's talk about defense. The two Presidents Qian have been in the border army for a long time. Can they teach me?"

Yu Hong said: "I don't dare to do this because of my humble position. Please give me some advice. Looking at the situation in the city, the Tatars must have made a surprise attack at night. They sent a small group of elites to quickly cross the wall and shoot the beacon tower soldiers first. Then they went on. Broken city.

Therefore, I thought it was necessary to dig a large number of criss-cross trenches in the front and left and right sides of the fort, and cover them with branches, soil, etc., so that the enemy could not approach quietly, let alone attack the city comfortably and massively. "

Everyone nodded their heads.

You Jiaxi continued: "Shifang Temple Fort is more than thirty miles away from Shangyulin Fort. There are six beacon towers on the peaks along the way. Each tower must be guarded by a team to ensure that the beacon fire can be transmitted smoothly. In addition, excess houses in the city must be demolished and sufficient preparations must be made. Stones, rolling logs and other materials needed to defend the city. All the trees around the city must be cut down to broaden the view and store firewood."

Everyone nodded.

Jia Cong thought for a while and said: "You two are right. Let me add two more points. In the trench, I inserted bamboo sticks soaked in dung water. And the art of war says: the more expensive the city gate is, the less expensive it is. The more expensive it is, the more expensive it is to open it. Gui Shu.

Now there are only two gates in the castle. Once they are blocked, we will be the turtle in the urn, and it will be difficult for us to advance or retreat. Therefore, it is necessary to dig a secret passage in the city, which does not need to be too long, just a few miles, and can secretly pass through the mountains and forests on both sides, so that our army can raid the enemy's rear at any time or attack his camp at night, making it impossible for him to rest day and night. "

You Jiaxi and Yu Hong's eyes lit up and they praised: "Your Excellency, I admire your wonderful ideas. I am humbled by this."

Jia Cong waved his hand and said: "It's just a small trick. From tomorrow on, defense matters will be left to you two."

"Yes!" the two said solemnly.

(End of this chapter)