As night fell, the gunfire gradually stopped, and the men in the camp began to light fires and cook food, and when they looked up, they could not tell whether the smoke of cooking was in the sky or the smoke of gunpowder that had not yet dissipated.

Thinking back to the experience of the past two months, and then looking at the Changmao camp less than 300 steps on the opposite side of the trench and the Chenglingji beyond, Wu Zhongyi felt like he was in a dream. I can't believe that I have been fighting with the long-haired real knife and real gun for so long, and I can't believe that this battle has been fought so smoothly, first in the three battles on the bridge, more than 2,000 long-haired battles were killed, and then the long-haired nine camps were tied in Gaoqiao.

Those long hairs have been killed, Wu Zhongyi believes that the soldier Luo Zenan Luo is here, and it is a matter of time before he recovers Chenglingji and exterminates those longhairs who retreat to Chenglingji.

He was secretly determined to wait for the capture of Chenglingji after his hands and feet must be fast, and he could not be taken by the left sentry like last time, and he killed more than a dozen long hairs with his life, and also damaged three brothers, but he failed to seize a few taels of silver, and suddenly there was a sound of footsteps behind him.

"Second brother, someone from the detective agency and the editorial office are here."

"What do detective agencies and editorial offices do?" Wu Zhongyi relieved himself, turned to look at his younger brother and asked.

Wu Zhonggan stood on tiptoe and looked at the front of the formation, and said with a smile while raising his hand to greet the brothers on duty: "It is dedicated to investigating the military situation, and then compiling the military information found in the investigation into a book and presenting it to the commander." I heard that they seem to be all people from the grain table, all of them are the cronies of the handsome, and they can't be offended! ”

Wu Zhongyi had only heard of the camp office and the general grain station before, and had never heard of any detective offices and collection and editing offices under the general grain station. But thinking that most of the camp officers were not only scholars, but also most of them were students of Master Luo, he felt that he should still treat each other politely, and motioned to the third Luo Zhong to stare at the long hair on the opposite side of the ditch, and then walked to the camp with his knife and asked, "How many people are here?" ”

"There are six of them, and the leader is a man surnamed Zhang, who brings a bookstore, and four soldiers."

"Coming for me?"

"Second brother, you are a sentry officer, didn't come to look for you, could it be that you came to me?" Wu Zhonggan asked rhetorically, and after thinking about it, he couldn't help but smile: "Don't worry, it must be a good thing." ”

"How do you know it's a good thing?"

"I inquired with the brother who sent them, and they said that Master Zhang came to interrogate the long-haired man we captured last night. Fortunately, I kept an eye on it, and didn't let the brothers kill that long hair, if I killed it and there was no one to live, who would Master Zhang come all the way to interrogate? ”

Wu Zhongyi respects and admires the scholars very much, especially Luo Zenan, who is like a god with soldiers, but he also feels that the people from the general grain station are rushing to interrogate Changmao as if they are rushing to attack, and he can't help muttering: "I estimate that Chenglingji will be captured in three or five days, and the battle has been fought to this point, and there is a hammer to investigate." ”

"Second brother, you can't talk nonsense, don't let Master Zhang hear it."

"Okay, let's not talk about it."

……

Walking quickly through the camp full of bonfires, and came to a camp tent, Wu Zhongyi dressed up and hugged his fists to ask the soldiers guarding outside the camp tent to report. When he heard a "please" from inside, he leaned over and walked into the tent, bowed down and said, "Wu Zhongyi, a lowly officer, to meet Master Zhang!" ”

Zhang Dejian glanced him up and down by candlelight, closed the roster of soldiers he had just flipped through, and asked with a smile while motioning for him to sit down and talk: "Mr. Wu Qian, I heard that you captured a long hair last night?" ”

Listening to the accent of not being a fellow villager, Wu Zhongyi didn't dare to open his mouth, and hurriedly arched his hand: "Master Zhang, I captured a long hair yesterday, but it was not captured in front of the battle, but by the small river in the west. The turtle son should have known that he couldn't win this battle, and wanted to escape while it was dark, but he was bumped into by his humble position. ”

In the past half a year, Zhang Dejian has been serving under Zeng Dashuai, specializing in helping Zeng Dashuai to investigate the military situation, not only did he interrogate the captured Changmao in peacetime, but even disguised himself more than once to spy in those places occupied by Changmao, but today he is not here to inquire about the military situation, but to be entrusted with loyalty, to see what kind of people the Wu family brothers mentioned in Han Sixin's words, and how they are mixed under Luo Zenan.

Because of this, Zhang Dejian didn't ask about Changmao again, but asked with a smile: "Mr. Wu Qian, how many brothers do you have?" ”

Wu Zhongyi was stunned, and subconsciously said: "Master Zhang, there were originally one hundred and twenty-one brothers under the humble position, and there have been no wars in the past few months, nine of them have been killed, twenty-eight have been wounded, one has died of illness, and now there are eighty-three. ”

"All fellow villagers?"

"It's all, it's all from Chaling's hometown with the lowly position," Wu Zhongyi was afraid that there would be fewer soldiers under his command, and when the whole post was dismissed after this battle, he hurriedly said: "Master Zhang, the lowly post has already let people go back to their hometown to recruit, this matter has been reported to Master Luo, and Master Luo also gave the lowly post an official document." ”

Zhang Dejian secretly thought that he was no different from other sentry officers or even battalion officers, looked down at the roster, and said with a smile: "Mr. Wu Qian, looking at the roster of money and grain, you have not been in the army for a long time, and you have accumulated merit to Mr. Qian in just half a year, and you are really a strong general!" ”

"Master Xie Zhang, in fact, the time to join the army is not short, but it is just ...... Just ......"

"Just what?"

"Master Zhang didn't know, he began to quell the chaos two years ago, and at that time, Changmao ran from Guangxi to our Hunan, and those heaven and earth in Chaling would rebel. Master Zhang in the village held a group exercise, and several brothers from humble and lowly positions did this, and followed Master Zhang to suppress the chaos of heaven and earth. After the Heaven and Earth Society was annihilated, Master Zhang saw that the lowly rank and others had nothing to do, so he wrote a letter asking the lowly to take the brothers to Touluo Master. ”

"The old man Zhang you are talking about has a relationship with Luo Zenan Luo?"

"Master Zhang is a student of Master Luo."

"I see," Zhang Dejian nodded slightly, thought about it and asked: "Mr. Wu Qian, judging from the roster, how many brothers do you have, are they brothers or cousins?" ”

"There are brothers, and there are cousins."

"They're good."

Wu Zhongyi felt that the old man Zhang in front of him was a good person, so he actually started his daily routine, and couldn't help laughing: "Thanks to Master Zhang, they are all fine." The second in the family is the lowly one, the third Wu Zhonggan, you should have seen it just now, the old man Monroe brought him, and the lowly became a sentinel, and the third is now the lowly sentry chief. The fourth Wu Zhongdang is now the head of Team A, and another cousin and cousin have also become the head of the team. ”

"Where's Brother Ling?" Zhang Dejian asked quietly.

Speaking of Wu Da, Wu Zhongyi said hatefully: "Master Zhang, my brother was killed by a traitor and has been dead for several years, and he doesn't even know where he is buried. Those who have revenge and do not avenge non-gentlemen, and only kill their brothers are too far away, and they can only remember their humble duties first. ”

"Too far, how far?"

"As far as I know, two of them not only went to Zhili but also became officials, and one heard that the lowly position served under Master Luo, and he also mixed up with an official and a half-position, and he was worried that he would be approached by the lowly position, so he was scared to go to Zhili."

Zhili is so far away from Hunan, and Hunan is so big, there are so many green battalions and regiments in the province, where the Wu brothers are Han Xiufeng is not clear. When receiving Han Xiufeng's letter, Zhang Dejian's first reaction was that he made a big fuss, but he still asked his subordinates to help pay attention.

Unexpectedly, it was a coincidence, but I found out that Luo Zenan's subordinates not only had a Chaling sentinel surnamed Wu, but also the three brothers joined the army together, so they came to confirm under the guise of arraignment Changmao. As a result, not only did he find out the whereabouts of the main master, but also confirmed that the main owner really held a grudge.

Zhang Dejian sighed secretly, and pretended to empathize and said: "The enemy is also an official, so do you know how many grades he has in the official residence and what position he holds?" ”

"Master Zhang, I heard that one of the enemies was not good at one or two points, and he actually became a Tongzhi on the south bank of the Yongding River in Zhili, and an enemy became the president of the green camp."

"Oh, Tongzhi is the same as the fifth product, the same product as Master Luo Zenan Luo, and it is the same knowledge of the five products in the land of Gyeonggi. Mr. Wu Qian, if it wasn't for Zhang to say frustrating words, I'm afraid your brother's revenge will not be easy to revenge. ”

"If it's not good, you have to report it, and when the time comes, please ask Master Luo to help you make the decision."

Please ask Master Luo to help make the decision, Zhang Dejian is waiting for this sentence, because it means that the three brothers will not send someone to Ba County to attack Han Si's family for the time being.

As for whether Luo Zenan can help the three brothers get justice in the future, Zhang Dejian feels that the possibility is very small. After all, there must be evidence to fight a lawsuit, and if there is no evidence, Han Si is not afraid of bringing the lawsuit to the capital. What's more, whether he is Wu Zhongyi, the head of Qian, or Luo Zenan, the veteran of the Hunan army with the rank of Zhizhou, he is not an official in the economic system, and Han Si is not only a court official of the Eight Classics, but also a saint.

Thinking that the handsome man was at the time of employing people, Zhang De firmly decided that this matter could be put aside, got up and arched his hand: "Mr. Wu Qian, as you said, if you have revenge, you will not revenge a gentleman, and this sea of blood and hatred will naturally be avenged." But there is an old saying that it is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years, and the top priority for you and me is to kill the thief and quell the chaos. ”

"Humble duty understands."

"It's good to understand, as for the long hair you captured, I plan to bring it back for retrial. If anything happens in the future, you can go to the grain station to find me. As long as I, Zhang Dejian, can help, I will never refuse. ”

"Thank you for your care, and thank you for your support."

"Don't thank you, hurry up and get busy, you have to keep an eye on it at night, don't let the long hair attack the camp."

"Master Zhang, rest assured, there is a lowly position, and the long hair can't attack the camp!"

……

The war was tight, Zhang Dejian didn't dare to stay here for a long time, and ordered his subordinates to escort Changmao back overnight. A few simple questions on the way, confirming that it was just a small minion, and he was afraid that he was in trouble with him, so he simply asked his subordinates to cut down the little minion, and the corpse was thrown in the dark wilderness.

Returning to the grain and grass camp where he was staying, he took out Han Si's letter and read it again, and after reading it, he raised it to the candle and lit it, burned it to ashes, and then looked up and said, "Someone." ”

"What does Master Zhang command?" A sturdy man lifted the curtain and walked into the tent.

Zhang Dejian picked up a pen and paper, wrote a letter, and said expressionlessly: "Lao Jiu, you and I have been for half a year, others can still be an official and a half-job when they are born and die, even if they are unlucky, their families can still receive some bereavement pensions and burn silver." In my case, it is the same as birth and death, but even if you have great merit, don't expect to get ahead, or even die in your own hands, and if you die, you will die in vain. ”

The sturdy man was stunned, and he didn't know how to answer for a while.

Zhang Dejian glanced up, and then said: "Take my letter to Master Hu early tomorrow morning to listen to it, I don't want you to go into battle to kill the thief, just help Master Hu handle the food and salary." And then there is the Mr. Wu Qian who saw him at night, and the money and food they saw in the future will help them be accommodating if they can be accommodating. ”

The sturdy man has gone deep into the enemy camp with Zhang Dejian more than once, and he knows very well that Zhang Dejian will never mention that Wu Qianzong for no reason, although he doesn't know what is wrong with the surname Wu, but he still bowed down and said: "Obey the order, the little one will go early tomorrow morning." ”