Dragon Soul in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 47

Zhu Gan patted the neck of the war horse under his seat, and the restless horse calmed down a lot. At this time, his body was stained with blood, his white straight skirt was dotted with stars, his eyes were particularly bright, and he looked up at the city. A mocking arc was drawn at the corner of his mouth, and he patted the horse and led the people towards the wide part of the street.

The rescued red-clothed soldiers didn't know who Zhu Gan was, they just followed behind them and asked them what kind of torture they had gone through in the past few days.

There are ghost sounds every night, it is no different from a ghost town. Most of the proletarians have left, leaving only a lot of businessmen. Taoist priests or monks are invited every day, and they recite scriptures every day. The scent of incense and candles is flying all over the sky. It settled down a lot, and gradually many people came back.

I didn't expect that Dezhou City would be besieged suddenly today, and what I didn't expect was that all the dormant ghosts would riot for a while. The bone knife made many brothers panic and didn't know what to do.

As a result, the brothers guarding the urn didn't notice the movement below, and they succeeded in sneak attacking. The brothers blamed themselves, and the centurion led them to guard the city gate. Those thieves saw that we were brave and fearless, and many of them died. They couldn't open the city gate, and they didn't know what magic they used. As a result, the city gate cave collapsed, and many brothers died, but the ghost screams disappeared.

The man who was talking about the scene he saw before had a broken arm and never cried out about the pain, but now he shrugged his head and sobbed.

His tone was full of sadness and helplessness for his brother's death.

Zhu Gan felt that his mood was heavy, and the faces of all the guards around him were gloomy. At this moment, they all had a kind of violence that wanted to kill these thieves.

But this time is not a good time to act impulsively. He immediately waved his hand and said, "Go, you are all doing well. Let's go to Nancheng and find the brothers."

Looking at Zhu Gan who rode his horse across the street, Cheng Jiao kicked the butler who came to complain to the side, and roared at his nephews: "Look! This is what you have done, if If we took them down just now, so many of our people would not have been killed."

Cheng Shaogeng felt a burst of contempt in his heart. If it wasn't for the unity of the Cheng family at this time, he immediately turned around and left. More than 50 strong servants would be slaughtered by these people. In the wilderness, the cavalry charged. It is estimated that all of them will be killed. It is ridiculous to expect the sheep to trap the tiger. These householders and tenants can only be spectators.

Shaking his head, he held down the younger brothers who wanted to talk, and said in a harmonious voice: "Uncle Cheng, although we have won Dezhou City, after all, the folks in the village condone family members and tenants to plunder. Even if the court can explain it, I am afraid that in the future Everyone is not good at being a good person, let's send someone to restrain them!"

Cheng Jiao said nonchalantly: "My naive nephew! Have you read too much and made your brains stupid? This is a war. We didn't pay a tael of silver for the army. Let them work for us, no How can we give some benefits, the emperor is not short of hungry soldiers! We are just landlords, why should we think so much, the most important thing is to keep Dezhou City, the imperial court will reward us."

Sheng Yulin said encouragingly from the side: "Yes! Brother Cheng is right. Since ancient times, a general will be successful and his bones will be destroyed. It's nothing to die some people. As long as we keep Dezhou City, history books will sing praises for us."

After all, they haven't been disturbed too much by the secular world. What they have learned in books on weekdays is full of great principles, but now the reality is in front of them, and they cannot accept it.

Although they felt uncomfortable, reality still defeated ideals. For the prosperity of the Cheng family, the brothers had no choice but to arrange for their subordinates to occupy several key places in the city against their conscience.

Now that the decision has been made, Cheng Shaogeng doesn't need to worry too much about his worthless conscience. He gathered a few confidantes of the Cheng family, and temporarily summoned a lot of people to go from the chaotic Texas to that place. The armory is gone, they need better weapons. <>

The blood stained the street red, the flames spread rapidly, and the blue smoke shot up into the sky, like a big flag fluttering in the wind, and the flag was full of angry wailing and cursing, Zhu Gan was tired of hearing this sound, all he had to do was Let the people regain their confidence and know the horror of war. Even a familiar fellow countryman may suddenly become a life-and-death enemy one day.

Riding their horses and raising their swords along the way, they traversed the entire city of Dezhou. Their bodies were stained with a thick layer of blood mud, and the blades of the treasured swords were cut into sharp edges, but their expressions were still high. There are also red soldiers gathered on the city wall.

Seeing the fight on the stairs, Zhu Gan rode his horse into it without hesitation, and immediately turned his back on his back. These people were Liba on the pier he met first, and the leader was a short and strong man with a fist in his hand. Swinging the big ax as lightly as a swift, he repeatedly chopped off the ankles of the red-clothed soldiers on the stairs, the method was extremely cruel.

Immediately, Zhu Gan swung the Yanling Saber, pointed at the short man, and shouted, "Kill him."

Wang Chengen rode on the horse, and he felt like he was lifting weights lightly. His whole body was clean, but he was the one who killed the most people. He held an ordinary wooden spear in his hand. Just a touch of the tip of the spear would take away one person. Order, listening to Zhu Qian's angry compound.

With a wave of his hand, the spear whizzed away, and the short man who used the ax also noticed something, and turned his hand to strike with the ax, but the cut was empty. I looked down, and saw a rough wooden stick passing through my chest. I threw away the ax and grabbed the stick with both hands, trying to pull it out, but I couldn't exert any strength.

Wang Chengen rode his horse up the ladder, grabbed the wooden stick inserted into the stone ladder, shook it vigorously, threw the man on the gun out, and followed the red-clothed army to kill.

Although these people are not afraid of death, but where have they seen such a fierce posture, when they are hit by cavalry, they will either be knocked into the air, or their heads will be chopped off directly. Death, seeing that the timing was wrong, immediately scattered and fled.

Being disturbed like this, the pressure on the red-clothed army was reduced a lot. Those centurions with sharp eyes recognized Zhu Gan at a glance, and immediately cheered, at least for the time being, they had hope of survival.

Zhu Gan looked at the few people who could barely stand on the top of the wall, and couldn't help but feel sad, thinking that these people were just officers and soldiers who only knew how to eat and die a few days ago, but now they are just instilled by him. The idea of ​​the country for the people, and then with a few taels of silver, he willingly died for him. No one escaped until this moment of the battle. How cheap life is at this time!

Taking a deep breath, he said loudly: "Brothers, I have worked hard for you, and I will definitely avenge you for today's revenge!"

A group of people looked at Zhu Gan silently, in their eyes was the dead silence after the rest of the war, the death of the rabbit and the fox hurt others, not to mention that these were brothers they already had a sense of identity with.

Zhu Gan looked at their expressionless eyes, feeling a little cold in his heart, pulled a centurion, slapped him in the face, and then kicked him in the stomach again, turning him over on the ground. On the ground, he cursed loudly: "Dog, are you still my brother Zhu Gan? You are only capable! Although you used to be in the army, you all voluntarily joined the Red Army. You are now the Red Army." Even if you are a ghost, look at you now, if the dead brothers have spirits in the sky, and find that you are like this now, I am afraid that you will be ashamed. How could you call a group of cowards brothers and sisters... "

Zhu Gan was spitting all over the place without any scruples at all. The centurion who was kicked to the ground was the first to wake up. A stout Shandong man lay on the ground and began to cry, sometimes moved It doesn't need to last forever, as long as you grasp the key points, one day is enough!

Looking at the sound of mourning, Zhu Gan couldn't help but his eyes turned red. In his previous life, his greatest belief was to fight for his brothers, so that the brothers around him could live. Those who formed combat effectiveness in a short period of time still moved them.

Perhaps these people who survive today, as long as they are given a chance, no matter how big or small, they will do something in the future.

Zhu Gan no longer concealed it, and cried with these people, his eyes were red. This is the best time to buy people's hearts. In the future, these people will treat him more sincerely than real money.

Wang Chengen couldn't understand Zhu Gan any longer. Ever since he was separated from the capital, Wang Chengen had been eccentric everywhere. Not only had he become much younger, but of course his appearance matched his actual age at this time.

He even didn't understand how, as the Ninth Five-Year Lord, he would hug and cry with a group of Qiuba. Maybe he had changed, so he used his death to hide the secret, but he was able to laugh it off. lucky.

Such a person will either become Liu Xiu in history, or Chengzu after Jing's grief. He believes that one day, as long as Zhu Qian's power reaches a certain level, and the name Zhu Youjian is used, there will be nothing in this world anymore. Difficulties can stop him from going forward.

The trapped dragon in the shoal, just fights and plays with fish and shrimp. He is domineering by nature, how can he endure humiliation, once he enters the sea and ascends to the sky, he will stir up the wind and rain for nine days.

Looking at the gunpowder smoke in the city, he had to quickly sort out his mood. At least the moment he stood up, there was no trace of sadness in his heart. Seeing everyone looking at him, he said in a deep voice, "Remember what I told you? Talk? What is the war for?"

Everyone roared in unison, although there were only two hundred people, they had the momentum to shake the world.

"So that we can eat, and then we can feed more people."

This roar is like a spiritual spring pouring into Zhu Gan's heart. No matter what he thought, but now he has affected them, and they are also affecting him now. With a long knife, he also roared: "Now we It is for the sake of the common people at dawn, the spirits of the brothers in the sky will protect us, kill us!"

Looking at the fanaticism of the crowd, Wang Chengen really wanted to persuade Zhu Gan to wait for the reinforcements, but he swallowed the words again and went crazy with them!As long as you protect His Majesty, it will be fine.

Afterwards, no matter whether it was the members of the Cheng family or the Cao Gang, they only had one impression of the Red Army, that is, they were completely lunatics. This group of people dared to kill more than 200 people. What.

The city is in a mess everywhere, burning, killing and looting are everywhere, and Zhu Gan and his group are also red-eyed, rushing forward to chop and kill, almost chopping those rioters into meat paste, at this time their team More and more people gathered, and the people followed the red-clothed army, yelling, cursing and making noise, and kept gathering towards the city.

Seeing that the ranks of the red-clothed army continued to grow, several Cao Gang leaders in Dezhou could no longer calm down at this time, and regardless of whether they would reveal their identities, they came out from behind the scenes and began to discuss with the members of the Cheng family. , How to bring together an elite team.

Obviously, the minds of these mobs are already wild, and it is a time of joy to make troubles everywhere. They will not listen to their greetings, and it is even more impossible to confront the red-clothed army head-on. It is simply courting death.

Although no firearms such as cannons, birds, and guns were found in Dezhou City, but the situation was critical, and they could not hide their secrets. Each of them had a direct descendant in their hands. Although it was a little less, they were equipped with elite equipment. When, they scattered them.

The reputation of the Cheng family has been completely ruined in Dezhou. Under such circumstances, the brothers had no choice but to fight desperately to keep the city of Dezhou. Seeing the bravery of the red-clothed army, although they were afraid in their hearts, they had no choice but to bite the bullet. go up.

The mourning army will win, the ancients are honest, only after the baptism of fire can the phoenix be reborn, and the red army has been cruelly tempered by the fire, obviously for this so-called elite team that has never been on the battlefield , The moment they accelerated and collided from the intersection of the street, the outcome had already been decided.

Those who cut melons and vegetables fought all the way, while the servants and wharves in front of them fought hard, and they scattered in a hurry.

Da da!Da da!The thunderous sound of horseshoes sounded, and the red-clothed cavalry who had been ambushing outside finally arrived. At this time, the four doors were wide open, and they rushed into the city without any hindrance. Facing this chaotic situation, these red-clothed soldiers were taught by Zhu Gan. Faith, evildoers will be killed without mercy.

There were voices of begging for mercy and remorse in the city, but in the end the overall situation was settled, and whoever said that the same strategy could not let the same enemy be hit twice.

……

Lu Xiangsheng went all the way down the Yellow River to Jinan Prefecture, but found that there had been no trace of the red-clothed thief for a long time. After inquiring, he found out that the red-clothed thief disappeared one night while surrounding the city. They found the red-clothed thief the next morning. The thief's camp was empty, and people were sent to investigate everywhere, but there was no trace.

But it was just one night, so how could so many people disappear without a trace, Lu Xiangsheng guessed that it was very likely that the governor of Shandong was incompetent, and it might not just be as simple as one night.

And the purpose of the red-clothed thief going to Shandong is clear at a glance, just to disturb the situation. It is very likely that he disappeared suddenly after passing through Jinan Mansion and heading towards Qingzhou, Laizhou and other places. However, he did not get the exact news about the red-clothed thief. Dare not rush to pursue.

At this time, Lu Xiangsheng was standing at Sanchakou, going south to Jiaozhou, east to Qingzhou, and north to Dezhou. There was no breeze under the scorching sun. He didn’t know when the drought would leave. With a little cool wind, he could make a clear decision, but unfortunately he didn't, and quietly thought about what to do.

The three-way army of red-clothed thieves, all the way to the north to meet the White Lotus Sect, all the way south to the bustling land, all the way to Shandong, their purpose seems very obvious, like a peasant army, go around guerrilla, eat wherever they go, anyway. Toss the court to death.

Lu Xiangsheng turned his head to look at the post road to Dezhou, and a few smiles suddenly appeared on his white and thin face: "Cunning thief in red! The purpose of the three cunning rabbit caves is to avoid being caught by hunters. I didn't expect that you, the three-way army, are not In order to avoid natural enemies, but want to catch the hunter, the ambition is very big!"

At this time, he was complacent after seeing through the chess game Zhu Qian had laid out, with a confident smile on his face, and whispered from time to time: "A person who is willing to lead 2000 people away from the Zhuozhou that he captured, such a person is obviously It is decisive enough to get rid of the influence of the White Lotus Sect. How could it be possible to separate 1 people to go north to mix with the White Lotus Sect again? Looking at what this person has done, military discipline is strictly enforced wherever he goes, and he never disturbs the people , Such a person is either a hero with a heart for the world, or a pedantic benevolent person, obviously this person is the former, and he will never show mercy when he should make a move. It can be seen by killing all the officials in Tongzhou City and the Cao Gang."

"I am afraid that of the three armies, only the one going south is real, and it is very likely that 3 people went south together. However, the time is not now. We must wait until the end of the war. After all, Dezhou City is too important, and the imperial court will continue to send troops. Come to encircle and suppress, and the red-clothed thieves must have enough warships to leave, so the fog going south must be hiding somewhere, waiting for the end of the war."

After some analysis, Lu Xiangsheng's mind became more and more clear. If he was hit by the trick, he must be chasing and going to Dengzhou. .

So what we have to do now is to find out where the red-clothed army is hiding. The most likely thing is to return to Dezhou to join the red-clothed army that went north. Together.

With a calm and confident face on his face, he pulled the rein of the horse, turned around and said, "Pass my order, leave the luggage behind, everyone only takes three days' worth of food and the necessary weapons, and head to Dezhou City."

Then he sent people to Jinan Mansion to inform Shandong's chief envoy, asking him to summon civilian husbands to transport cannons and some necessary food and grass.At this time, Lu Xiangsheng was appointed by the imperial court as the prime minister of military affairs in Jiangbei, Henan, and Shandong, and he was bestowed with Shang Fangjian. He acted cheaply. Although there were two fewer provinces than the five governors in history, it was almost a year earlier.

Lu Xiangsheng was indeed worthy of the name of King of Hades. Once the decision was made, there would be no further changes. The entire Tianxiong Army ran towards Dezhou City with great momentum. A tough battle that tested both sides was about to start.