Puzzle Six

Dozens of left-wing sergeants, led by the centurion, trembled through the wilderness. In all directions, no human voices could be heard, and there were few chirping of autumn insects, and occasionally a long aria was heard in the distance, which was the howl of a wolf on a moonlit night.

With the howl of the wolf, a few small light blue lanterns appeared in the field, rolling, gliding over the tips of the grass, and swirling gently, as if someone was walking with a lantern. When the soldiers rushed over with torches, the blue lantern disappeared again. In the mud beneath his feet, there were only a few white broken bones.

"Hell, you don't let people live in peace at night!" The soldiers on the night patrol muttered and cursed, expressing their dissatisfaction with the environment and the tasks on their shoulders.

The ghostly city is the northern gateway of Quanzhou. The soldiers guarding here can be said to have been moldy for eight lifetimes, not only has no oil and water to fish in the city, but they also have to be on guard against the broken army at all times. Even if there is no threat from the enemy, the ghost fire in the field is unbearable. As soon as the sun goes down, it pops up in dots, like tens of thousands of people, gathering with lanterns, and the more I look at it, the more panicked my heart seeps.

"It's the soul of the Mongol butcher's knife!" The centurion lowered his torches, folded his hands, and prayed for the souls of the deceased. He also prayed that the gods in the underworld would open their eyes and bless their group through the night and complete their damn city patrol mission. As for what will happen tomorrow, I don't dare to care in my heart.

The so-called city is already a pile of rubble. This is true of Xinghua, Xianyou, and Kamata. In the past, thousands of acres of grain fields have all been abandoned into wild land. The well-known Xinghua rice and Kamata porcelain were also cut off. It turned out that Xinghua Bay, where thousands of ships gathered, no longer had a piece of sail into the port. All that remains are the rotten masts on the beach, the rotten docks, and the bustling nearby harbor.

This was once the granary of southern Fujian. Since the Tang Dynasty, the people have successively built Yanshoupi, Nan'an, Taiping, and Mulan Sipi, constituting the four major water systems that irrigate the Putian Nanyang Plain, making a large number of tidal flats and saline-alkali land in the lower reaches of the original Mulan River into 10,000 acres of fertile land. At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Chen Jiazi brought back rice seeds from Annan to Zhancheng, so that the people in Xinghua no longer starved.

It was also once the silver vault of the Great Song Dynasty. Every year, the sea ships going to and from Quanzhou usually go to Xinghua Bay to replenish grain and fresh water, and by the way, purchase some porcelain and lacquer plates that are special products of Xinghua to fill the unfilled cabin. At the same time, it brings the locals the specialties of the coastal countries.

All prosperity is disappearing in the moment two years ago. The Mongols attacked in large numbers, and Pu Shougeng of Quanzhou City behind him surrendered with the left-wing army on which the people of southern Fujian had high hopes. The Xinghua army and the common people were unwilling to hand over their hard-built homes to the bandits, and under the organization of the Chen father and son, they spontaneously defended the country and the land. How could the people be willing to serve the country, but the officials wanted to preserve their own glory. Soon, the general Lin Hua surrendered to the enemy and sentenced Cao Chengsun to open the city and surrender to the Yuan, and Min Guangxuanfu made Chen Wenlong arrest and died of hunger strike

Weiji, Wenlong's son Chen Zan (recorded in the history books, Chen Zan is Wenlong's uncle, but according to the novelist Tanaka, he is the son of Wenlong) killed Lin Hua and regained his city. Suodu was furious, and the starry night came to attack. Chen Zan led the people of the city to stick to the lonely city for seven months. In the end, Xinghua City was once again broken by Suodu and Pu Shougeng. Chen Zan was torn apart, and Suodu ordered the city to be slaughtered for three hours, and since then it has become a ghost.

There is no wind, and the clouds drift very slowly. Behind the light gray clouds, a half-moon slowly emerges. The moonlight hit the people's faces, and they glowed faintly yellow.

"Boss, I think, why is this moonlight so permeating!" A pawn with a lantern leaned into the centurion's ear and whispered.

"I'm angry, let's go. Go to the vicinity of Mazu Temple, and burn pillar incense by the way! Under the shadow of the lamp, the convulsions on the centurion's face were clearly visible, and he hurried down the dirt slope that turned out to be the outer city wall with his men. Faintly, he also felt unsteady in his heart, but he couldn't tell for a while what was wrong.

Maybe it was because he was following the Mongolian army and killing people at that time, killing too much. Many soldiers sighed and thought about it, and their hearts were full of remorse. The Left Wing Army is the private army of the Pu Shougeng brothers, in recent years, the Pu family has risen on the blood stains of the Song family, and the left wing army has been acting as a steel knife in the hands of the Pu brothers, killing people without counting. It's just that recently this knife has cut in the wrong place and made a few gaps.

If the Breakers from across the river come over, will they let us go? The faint-hearted, while repenting, look around. The first target of the Breaker Army is at the foot of Gaogai Mountain, not far away, and the two sides have already fought each other last month in order to fight for control of the Fuqing area. Within one day, 5,000 elites of the left flank army were killed. From that moment on, all the officers and soldiers of Xing'an Prefecture (another name for the Xinghua Army) understood that it was a matter of time before this place was "returned" to the Great Song Dynasty. The difference in combat effectiveness between the two sides is the difference between sheep and lions, and it is not at the same level at all.

That tragic battle is still engraved in the minds of the left-wing soldiers.

At the beginning of last month, Pu Shougeng heard that a broken army had crossed the Min River and conquered Fuqing. Furious, he immediately sent five thousand elite heavy armor to meet the battle. Although they knew that the other party's strength was very strong, the Pu brothers did not think that the left wing army under their command would lose. In the whole of Fujian, the Left Wing Army was the most well-equipped. The head of the brand (ten ladies long) and above are covered with cowhide armor, and the centurion and above are all fine iron willow leaf armor, lined with cowhide. This is a heavy equipment that only the Mongols have, and looking at the new annex armies that have taken refuge in the Great Yuan, only the Pujia Left Wing Army of the rich world can afford to equip it.

Two armies, both with great confidence in their own combat effectiveness, collided outside the city of Fuqing. At first, seeing that they were outnumbered, the Breakers slowly retreated to the city walls, leaving an open buffer zone between the two armies. The five thousand troops of the Left Wing Army, under the leadership of Huang Qian, the commander of ten thousand troops, rushed over.

Pu Shougeng is not thin on everyone, the monthly salary can be paid on time, and the families of the war dead can also receive heavy pensions. With the idea of dying as a confidant, the 5,000 Left Wing Army rushed without hesitation.

Just when they were still more than a hundred steps away from each other, a white light suddenly flew in midair. Like lightning, it slashed straight into the charging ranks. The sound of gold and iron resonated, and countless heavy armor soldiers were shocked to see that the armor they had always trusted was like paper paste, and a big hole was torn open. Blood, like a spring, spurted out of the breach and splashed on the ground.

It was a crossbow, a crossbow without a carved feather, it was it that made the distance of a hundred paces the boundary between life and death. Stimulated by the heavy reward, the impact of the Pujia Left Wing Army was desperate. But the iron armor could not stop the spurting of the crossbow arrows. The kind of crossbow called the broken bow has also been seen by the senior generals in the left wing army, and the Pu family also tried to imitate this sharp weapon, but after trying for a few months, they found that the cost was too high, so they had to give up, and thought that with the financial resources of the broken army, it was impossible to equip too much in the army. As a result, when they arrived on the battlefield, the generals found that almost every soldier on the other side had a steel crossbow in their hands.

"The first row, shoot, retreat and load the crossbow. The second row, shoot, step back to load the crossbow, the third row, go up five steps, shoot! Under the command of the machine, the five hundred captives moved back and forth, setting off waves of people who rose and fell. With every wave that swelled, a whole line of left flanks fell.

Four hundred and fifty steel crossbows, cross-firing a dead zone. No life in the area can straighten upright. Although many soldiers looked at the bloody scene in front of them, they still followed the battalion's orders, mechanically loading, shooting, retreating, and advancing.

The left flank in the front row was shot over and fell to the ground. The soldiers in the back row couldn't stop their steps and rushed forward with their robes. After a few steps, he fell to the ground again. Someone else's boots stepped on their bodies again, wading through rivers of blood and rushing into the arms of death. It's too late to be afraid, and it's too late to hesitate.

Fifty steps, someone finally waded through the fifty steps of the river of blood and saw the faces of the soldiers of the Broken Army on the opposite side. "Chong, recapture Fuqing City, and reward each person with two taels of silver. Behead one level, and each person will be rewarded with half a banknote! Commander Huang Qian shouted loudly, brandishing a steel knife and rushing to the front row.

Even if he can't enter Fuqing, he will annihilate the crossbowmen under the city. In the blink of an eye, more than 5,000 brothers under his command had fallen more than 1,000, and the huge loss had made him lose his mind.

Opposite, the young man in an officer's uniform smiled, lowered his bow, and raised his hand vigorously.

Dozens of iron lumps flew up from behind the crossbowmen, emitted light smoke, and fell at the feet of the hoplites. Before they could react to what the other party had thrown, there was a loud bang, and countless corpses flew into the air. The survivor suddenly woke up from his frenzy, dropped his weapon, and retreated like a wave. Where is there still time, exposing the back to the other party is a taboo for survival on the battlefield.

Blood, splashing like a river on the ground. Angry bolts chase every life in front of them. Accompanied by the rhythm of the war drums, the bowstrings of the captives were crisp and neat.

The bowstring was noisy and like a song, and countless people fell unwillingly. The frequent death ** and the sound of crossbow arrows breaking through the air are intertwined, just like the Sanskrit singing in the evening bell of the Buddhist temple.

After retreating for half a mile, Huang Qian, who had escaped a catastrophe under the desperate protection of his own soldiers, stopped and tried his best to gather his subordinates. Before he could count the numbers, the footsteps of the pursuers were already heard behind him. Five hundred soldiers of the Broken Army chased after them with their bright steel swords, chasing closer and closer, and chasing closer and closer.

The other party was not carrying a crossbow and light armored infantry, and the surviving officers and soldiers of the left wing army were relieved. Before they could decide whether to fight and leave or organize a counterattack, a sharp whistling suddenly sounded in midair.

A few projectiles emitting light smoke whistled down from the city. Fell into the midst of the soldiers who had gathered together. When the survivors opened their eyes from the smoke of gunfire, no one dared to think that the place where the projectile exploded was still human. Their robes were gone, and where they had stood, the fire of hell was blazing, and severed arms, stumps, and human heads were flying in the air, hovering, and falling.

Several more projectiles flew in and exploded in front of the startled soldiers. With an expression of disbelief on his face, Huang Qian, the elder lady of Qian, flew into the sky. Watch your subordinates fall apart in front of you, watch your beloved monkey armor break to pieces. Looking at his arms and thighs, he suddenly realized that those things belonged to him, and then he fell into endless darkness.

It turned out that being slaughtered was such a horrible thing. The survivors were armed and did not know whether to continue to run for their lives or kneel and beg for mercy. They no longer had the courage to choose, and people ran as fast as the cannonballs and crossbow arrows that flew in the sky. begging for mercy, when he followed the Mongolian army to kill all the 30,000 people in Xinghua City, who ever took pity on the people in the city was his own compatriots!

Hundreds of steel knives were slashed over, and the officers and men of the Left Wing Army, who had lost their opinions, mechanically grabbed their weapons and met the battle. Then it was cut down without resistance. Habitually flee in front of killing, then be stabbed by a steel knife that catches up.

Someone fell to his knees, threw away his weapon, plunged his head into the dirt, and put his fate in the hands of the other. To their relief, the sound of the blade breaking through the air did not sound overhead. A few older people who had read books gathered them together, registered them one by one, and made a book. Then he drove them to the gates like cattle.

At the gate of the city, a group of profiteers-looking people pointed at the battlefield.

In that battle, only more than 300 people escaped back from the 5,000 left-wing army heavy armor. More than 2,000 died outside the city of Fuqing, more than 1,800 were taken prisoner, and hundreds of others are missing. And the means of how to deal with the prisoners of the Broken Army soon spread from Fuzhou. (The heavy armor soldiers of the Song Dynasty had a different definition from the heavy armor soldiers in Europe, and the equipment was much lighter)

Those who have not participated in the Xinghua Massacre are considered prisoners, and they can choose to go home or join the reserve of the Broken Army, and become supplementary soldiers after training and education. And those who followed the Tartars through the city had to go to the mines to do ten years of labor. Only when they realize their sins can they be atoned by their families.

"Ten years of hard labor, in a dark mine!" The left-wing sergeants on the night patrol cowered, worried about their future fate. I knew this, so I didn't follow Pu Shougeng to kill people, I only saw the joy of killing and robbing, but I didn't expect it, I owed a debt, and I needed to pay it back sooner or later.

After all, this is the land of the Great Song Dynasty, and the Mongols were proud for a while, but they were not proud for a lifetime. Once they lose their own military superiority, the Chinese people will throw them back to Mobei with one brick at a time. The words that circulated in the folk newspapers made everyone think about it. This kind of newspaper, which spread from the Fuzhou area and was distributed to all parts of Dayuan with traders and homeless people, was sometimes more lethal than crossbow arrows.

"I've heard that if you defect before the battle, you can be exonerated!" Those who have a clever mind, after reading the newspaper, secretly string together. At the last moment of the Battle of Shaowu, they had heard about Yang Xiaorong, who was against the water. Although Da Yuan killed Yang Xiaorong's entire family afterwards, the 6,000 brothers who followed Yang Xiaorong against the water have all become a broken army. The bad things done in the past are written off.

"Boss, if the Broken Army attacks, what do you say we should do!" The pawn with the lantern followed the centurion and asked incessantly. I longed to hear the most beneficial answer from the centurion's mouth.

"What's the matter, Master Pu is kind to everyone, it's a big deal, bah, bah, you don't fuck open which pot!" The Lady Hundred kicked the pawn fiercely and scolded.

Pu Shougeng is kind to everyone, but he doesn't want to die. I don't want to be blown up in a daze before the opponent can see clearly. I don't want to be accused of being a traitor after I die. The newspapers circulating in various places have made the definition of a traitor very clear, whether it is the Song people of the Southern Dynasty or the Han people of the north, as long as they are lackeys of the Mongols, they are traitors who slaughter their own compatriots. No matter what his knowledge, his position, and no matter how high-sounding excuses he has. It is said that in the month when the newspaper spread, several old Confucians vomited blood in the capital.

The disciple of the old Confucian who had the name "Mr. Jiang Han" wrote many articles to justify his defection to the Mongols. As a result, the more they tried to cover it up, the farther the name of the traitor spread with these defenses.

In the distance, there was a rustling sound in the grass, like the wind blowing, thin, dense, from far to near. The howl of wolves in the wilderness abruptly stopped. Under the blood moon, something seemed to move in the barren meadow, and then, the waist-high weeds shook again, becoming more and more violent.

"It's not the wind, someone!" A few of the night watchmen shouted, picked up the gong in their hands, and were about to knock it.

"Knock you on the head, I'm afraid I'll die slowly!" The centurion snatched the gong, protected it to his heart, lowered his head, lowered his waist, and ran away, shouting as he ran, "Don't go into the inner city, follow me through the south gate, go back to the countryside, if you don't want to die, hurry up!"

The soldiers suddenly realized, threw down their weapons and followed. A few people who had a trace of loyalty to the Pu family were eager to fight, but before they could find out how many opponents there were, they had been nailed by crossbow arrows on the dirt slope that was once a city wall.

"The Breakers are coming, the Breakers are coming!" Some people shouted in the streets of Xinghua City, trying to organize the remaining people to resist. As a result, he was greatly disappointed, and in the alley where there were no more houses, the sound of chattering doors and windows soon sounded.

The survivors of the massacre are hoping that the Captives will come to avenge them. Someone was lying behind the window, looking at the messy left wing army, and a smile slowly welled up on the corner of his mouth.

Someone stealthily at the entrance to the street and threw down a torch. Uninhabited houses were set on fire to light the route of the attack for the Breakers. Someone secretly used torches to remind their army that Xinghua City was a hollow-shaped, double-layered. The inner city is more tightly defended than the outer city. There are also people who grab the latch of their house and hide in the shadows on the street corner.

A lone left-wing soldier stumbled into the corner, trying to find a place to hide. A brick flew up from the shadows and hit him in the back of the neck.

The little soldier screamed and fell softly. Several children under the age of 10 rushed out, took bricks and sticks, and knocked him in the face. In an instant, the cry for mercy became **.

Slowly falling silent, the children hid behind a low wall with the spears of the deceased. The cold tip of the spear shimmered slightly under the blood moon. Even colder than the gun's edge are the children's eyes.

During the massacre, they escaped by hiding under the corpses of their family members, and then grew up in ghosts. Whoever sows hatred in their hearts will return the fruit of hatred.

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