world festival

It was already September in the land of Huaibei, and the fertile fields that should have been full of crops waiting to be harvested were full of thatch and brambles, with a few clumps of wild valleys growing sparsely in the middle.In the distance, several villages were seen in ruins, without fireworks.In the past seven years, Yang Xingmi, Bi Shiduo, Sun Ru and others have fought and fought here, vying for the throne of the overlord of Huainan.

"Living people leave nothing behind, and thinking about it breaks people's hearts." Gao Chong felt emotional when he saw the desolate scene around him.Wang Qinian next to him was sitting on his back, not listening, but staring closely at the slow-moving convoy, whether anyone or livestock was left behind.Suddenly there was a commotion from the front team, he grabbed the waist knife next to him, jumped onto the bare-backed horse next to him, like a white ape.With a clamp on the horse's belly, he stepped forward quickly, and quickly reached the front of the convoy.

I saw more than ten guards holding horizontal knives, surrounded by a group, one of them was lying on the ground, his body was shaking like sifting chaff, just kept kowtowing, a basket was tilted beside it, and there were some remaining wild grains in it. Scattered all over the place.Someone nearby held the horse and reported loudly: "Lieutenant, this man is hiding in the grass by the roadside. He is sneaky. He thinks he is a spy for a thief. He was captured by someone. Let the captain decide how to deal with it." Wang Qinian jumped off the horse. , I poked the basket with my foot, and there were only some wild grains in it.He said to the man: "Look up, where are you from? Why are you hiding in the bushes by the roadside?" The man raised his head tremblingly, and everyone couldn't help but gasped. He is also upright, but he is out of shape due to hunger, his cheeks are almost bones, and he looks like a skull at first glance, and his eyes are like two will-o'-the-wisps, fluttering and lifeless.The voice of the reply in his mouth was low, everyone couldn't hear clearly, it was vaguely the words "hungry, food". It can be seen that he has no clothes on his body, but only a piece of rag cloth, which can't hide anything important.Wang Qinian felt sore in his heart,

"Looks like he's not a spy of thieves, let him go, Wang Er!" He turned his head and said to the man who reported it just now, "Bring two pieces of beard cake, give it to him." went.

"I didn't expect that Wang Erlang of Luzhou, who is so decisive in killing and attacking even the famous "Cai Thief" in the world, has softened his heart today." .

"It's not soft-hearted, it's just that this person has nothing on him, and he has obviously been hungry for many days. He just wanted to pick some wild grains to survive. Huainan has gone through many scuffles over the years, and there are hundreds of people living in Huainan. Back then, you and I followed Yang Shijun to raise troops. The crusade against Bi Shiduo and Sun Ru is just to protect the family property privately and seek fame and wealth; is it to protect the village with the public to bring peace? If it is not necessary, why kill more?"

"Oh, you're right. That man just now is really pitiful, and it looks like he won't live long. I'm afraid this time we will finally get pig iron and cloth from Ma Yin. The situation in the north is tight!"

It turned out that these two people were not ordinary business travelers, but subordinates of Yang Xingmi, the Jiedu envoy of Huainan.He originally came from the Jianghuai group of bandits, and later joined the local army in Luzhou (now Hefei). He was very brave, open-minded, and quite prestigious in the army. Later, in the third year of Zhonghe (883 A.D.) Launched a mutiny to evacuate Shangguan, and became Huainan Yaya, who knew about Luzhou affairs.In the battle for hegemony in Huainan after the death of Gao Pian, the governor of Huainan, Yang Xingmi defeated Bi Shiduo and Sun Ru successively, and became the master of Huainan, one of the most powerful vassals in the world.That Wang Qinian was the adopted son of Wang Maozhang, a general under Yang Xingmi's command.

After years of melee in Huainan, people's livelihood has been extremely poor, but Jianghuai has the benefits of tea and salt. Although it has been destroyed by war, the foundation is still there.These industries were actively revived after the war.Yang Xingmi accepted the suggestion of Shucheng Gaoxu, the secretary in charge, not to forcefully exchange these special products for the cloth of the people (if this is done, it will only lead to currency depreciation, soaring prices, and the people's betrayal), but to barter trade with tea and salt with neighbors , in exchange for the materials and cloth needed by the army; The salt and tea trade debts were paid in one lump sum, and there were more than 200 carts of grain, pig iron and cloth, and the pig iron alone weighed more than 6000 catties.Only then did Wang Qinian, a rare cavalry general in Huainan, be sent to escort him.

The 150 guards in the convoy are all elite soldiers from Heiyundu. They are fully equipped with armor and weapons. Even the only thousand cavalry in Huainan have mobilized more than 50 people. "Cai thief".In the Tang Dynasty, the people of Caidi (today's Runan, Henan Province) were known for their ruthless self-esteem and incomparable bravery. People all over the world called them "Cai Thieves". Yang Xingmi suffered a lot from them.After Sun Ru was killed by Yang Xingmi, there was no food in the army, so he surrendered Yang Xingmi. Yang Xingmi paid him twice as much as other armies. Whenever he encountered a strong enemy, he was the vanguard, invincible.The person speaking next to him is Gao Xu's cousin Gao Chong, the secretary of the Jiedu Mansion, and a person involved in the secret.The two looked around, seeing such a scene, and thinking of the cruel reputation and great strength of that person in the north, they couldn't help frowning.

Suddenly Wang Qinian jumped off the carriage and put his ears on the ground.Seeing this, Gao Chong quickly asked: "What's the matter with Erlang?" At this moment, a horse galloped towards him from a distant hill, and the horse shouted something, which was too far away to make it clear, but it was the sentry horse sent earlier .The front of the convoy also rushed out of six or seven riders and surrounded them.After a while, he brought spies over and knelt down to report: "Two to 3000 people are coming here more than ten miles ahead, which is obviously not good for the convoy."

Gao Chong was shocked, but he heard Wang Qinian asking next to him: "Do those people have bows and crossbows, do they wear armor, how many horses do they have, what banners are they playing, are the ranks chaotic, and how long will it take to get here?"

The spy reported loudly: "Except for a few leaders, the other party has no armor, and there are women with gray heads mixed in. Most of the weapons are bamboo spears and wooden sticks. There are only twenty or so leaders on horseback. The team is messy. It will take at least an hour to get here. The flag is even more chaotic, there are only some random patterns drawn on it, and the font size cannot be seen. When the subordinates approached about 60 steps away, feathered arrows shot at them, and finally when they reached about 40 steps away, the feathered arrows shot at them It is quite rare and weak, it is estimated that the opponent may only have some hunting bows and short bows, and the feather arrows are quite rough, so the subordinate even picked one up." Speaking of which, the spies took out a feather arrow from the side and held it with both hands.

Wang Qinian took the feathered arrow, saw that the arrow feathers were messy, the shaft was not straight, and the front of the arrow was just a piece of sharpened animal bone, he said: "It seems that they are just some rioters, not Zhang Nasi, the governor of Haozhou from the left, who came here. Robbery." Turning around, he took out two pieces of money from the car, threw them into the spy's arms and said, "You observed carefully, and approached the enemy army to personally commit danger. You will be rewarded with these two pieces of money, and when you return to Luzhou, you will be rewarded with two acres of mulberry fields. But next time at least two people should go to investigate together, and one should stay far away, if the other party has a strong crossbow or fine cavalry and hurts you, who will report the news?" The spies were overjoyed, repeatedly said yes, received the reward and left.

Seeing that Wang Qinian is as calm as ever, and his command is determined.Gao Chong praised loudly: "Sure enough, the tiger father has no dogs and sons. Erlang is only 25 years old and he is the sole leader of the army. The name of the milk tiger in the army is well-deserved. It is better to have too many foolish brothers." Wang Qinian turned his head and smiled, and jumped into the car with his hands together. Going up, looking around, jumped out of the car again, pointed to the high ground about half a mile away, and sent an order to the dental soldiers on standby next to him: "The whole army is in armor and the troops are dispatched. The cavalry go to the high ground by the river ahead, and cover the convoy. Arrive at the high ground, and after going up to the high ground, surround the convoy into two circles, with an interval of 30 steps between the two circles. The carts loaded with cloth and silk are in the inner circle, and the livestock mules are in the inner circle. The carts are covered with soil. Put down the wooden planks on the inner side of the cart , Heiyun's elite soldiers are within the two circles, and the coachman is within the inner circle."

Everyone in the convoy knew that a strong enemy was on their side, they were in a dangerous situation, and they moved fast.It took only half an hour to prepare everything, and then take turns to remove the armor, drink water, eat and rest.About half an hour later, I saw a large group of refugees surrounded by them. They were resting in a row. Some people were so thirsty that they ran to the river to drink water, and some people were squeezed into the river. It was a mess.

Gao Chong saw clearly from a high place, and asked: "Why didn't Erlang mount his horse and attack the thieves, taking advantage of their unstable foothold, and destroyed them in one fell swoop. The number of the enemy is very large. We are in a desperate situation and have no reinforcements. I'm afraid when they stabilize It's troublesome."

Wang Qinian said with a smile: "Brother Gao doesn't know something, the river bank is flat, there are only more than 200 people on foot and riders, and although there are more than 30 coachmen and handymen, they have never seen a battle where arrows meet. Fortunately, both sides can see clearly in broad daylight. The difference in numbers is too big. If the battle is stalemate, it will be difficult. It is better to wait for them to form a team. Although the high ground is only more than 2 feet above the flat ground, two sides are cliffs. It's by the river, and the army can be deployed less than a hundred paces wide. The opponent can put up a maximum of 300-[-] people at a time. It's already afternoon, and it gets dark early in this season. When they attack once, they will rush forward bravely The casualties must be the heaviest, because they are determined to win. At that time, the sky was already dark, and they rushed out, and the opponent could not distinguish the truth from the truth, and they were bound to flee. This battle alone can make the bandits frightened, and the opponent will also be defeated at night It is impossible to collect deserters, and it is impossible to chase down a certain class in the future. Wouldn't it be better, brother Gao think?"

Gao Chong listened, full of admiration, and said: "Sun Tzu's Art of War says that before a battle is planned, I finally know what it means today, and I will meet Erlang."

After a while, Gao Chong saw that the refugees below were gradually getting orderly and divided into three parts, but no one came forward, only five or six men with relatively neat armor stood in front and walked back and forth.When they returned to the camp, more than a hundred people left the camp to cut down the remaining trees around.

"Not good. It seems that although the bandits are mobs, there are people who know how to fight. Quickly order the handymen to bundle the thatch that you just dug and collected, and pour it with kerosene for use." Gao Chong turned back and said to Wang Qinian: " Erlang, there are so many thieves and bandits, if it only takes half an hour to make a shield, some people may not be able to withstand the darkness, so what should we do."

Wang Qinian didn't answer, he turned around and summoned the spy just now, and whispered in his ear.After talking a dozen or so sentences: When the other party nodded to show understanding, he said loudly: "I heard for a long time that you were famous for riding and shooting in Sun Ru's army.