As soon as the villagers returned to the camp, the camp was busy again.

As early as the day before yesterday, Han Xiufeng put the shotguns and gun-carrying guns of the Hai'an, Qutang, Baimi, and Jiangyan regiments, together with the gunners, into Lu Daming's first outpost, and organized them into a gun-carrying team, two musket teams, and a quick-gun team specially envoy to the firebird guns.

As soon as Wu Wenming came back from the other side yesterday, he inquired with Wu Wenming about how the brothers Yang Hu and Yang Biao intercepted the bandits on the other side, and felt that one person was good at aiming and firing guns, and the other was about loading ammunition.

The battle was imminent, he did not dare to delay for a moment, stood on the south wall and pointed to the inconspicuous wooden stakes outside the camp, and shouted at the top of his voice, "I can see it all clearly, the farthest piles are one hundred and fifty steps away from us." The thieves can only release their guns when they go to the pile to carry the gun team and the shotgun team, so I will aim at it all, only hit the one in front of me, shoot the row of guns, and don't shoot at one place! ”

"If you know, you will hit the front." A shotgunner replied.

Shangguan actually dared to interject when he spoke, Lu Daming turned his head and glared at the unruly shotgunner, and then said, "Are the captains and captains of the musket team here?" ”

"In!"

"Hold your hands high!"

"Oh." Master Han and Second Young Master Zhang were all on the arrow tower, and the big head and Ji Daji's second-class soldiers were also crowded on the wall, and several chiefs and Wu Chang did not dare to slack off, and hurriedly raised their hands high.

Lu Daming raised his arm again and pointed to the piles not far from the trench outside the wall, "These piles are the marks of your firearms team, and they are measured when they go down the pile, and they are twenty-two steps away from the wall, and the bandits rush to the pile, and your shotguns can be hit." Like the gun-carrying team and the fast-gun team, you are not allowed to release guns without authorization, you must listen to orders, and you can release the guns if you want! ”

"Yes!"

"The brothers below also heard me clearly, all the charges and ammunition were given to me quickly, you are all behind the wall, and the bandits can't beat you, what is there to be afraid of, so there is no need to panic!"

"Sentry Chief, don't worry, we know how to pretend."

"Okay, I'll tie all the ropes to the gun later, it's easy to put the rope down, and it's also convenient to pull it up after loading the ammunition." Lu Daming looked back at the other villagers guarding the wall, and then said, "Brothers, we don't know which side the bandits will attack from, maybe they will attack from three sides, in short, our brothers who make the guns will not only defend here, and there is only such a large place on the wall, when the time comes, they will go to the west wall or the east wall to trouble you to make way." ”

"Sentry Commander Lu, you put a hundred hearts, we have weight, how can we not stand in your way."

"Okay, I'll rest assured."

At the same time, Wu Wenming was below and said to a few local students who volunteered to stay and help guard the camp, "These pennies have all been cut off, don't be afraid of 10,000, just in case, if the bandits really attack the wall, we will lead the young people to use these pennies to stab the bandits down!" ”

"Mr. Wu, are we also divided into several teams, one team to help defend one wall?" A student asked.

"We have a total of 100 people, and we can't divide the troops, not to mention that we have other errands." Wu Wenming rolled up his sleeves and pointed to a pond by the ditch and said, "Mr. Zhou has guarded Jiangning and seen how the bandits attack the city, Mr. Zhou said that the bandits will attack with fire, no matter whether the bandits shoot rockets into the camp or throw gunpowder bags into the camp, as long as there is a fire in the place, we have to quickly extinguish the fire." ”

"Okay, we'll listen to you."

"Then the thieves have cannons, and the cannons are not child's play, most of the people have never seen that battle, one is not to panic, and the other is to remember to dodge. If you have time to enter the trench, you will enter the trench, and if you have not had time to enter the trench, you will quickly lie down. ”

"I know, I told you this morning."

……

Above and in the camp are all preparing, the east, south, and west sides of the wall with boats as the support are still busy, dozens of villagers are using axes and chisels to make holes in the wall, Li Changjing while urging the villagers to hurry up, while raising his head and shouting, "Daming, is it enough to open twenty gun holes for you on one wall?" ”

"That's enough," Lu Daming leaned on the wooden fence on the wall and looked down, then turned around to look outside the wall, and then turned back and said, "Old Five, you take a few brothers out of the camp to have a look." ”

"See what?" The old five were confused.

"Let's see if there is something blocking the outside of the wall that Master Li helped us open, if there is one, quickly clean it up, otherwise the gun will stick out and hit someone?"

"Oh, I'll go."

As he was talking, Zhang Guangcheng sent away the shop soldiers who had just delivered a letter from Yiling, walked over and asked, "Lu Daming, we not only have guns, but also more than a dozen cannons." I estimate that it is unlikely that the bandits will attack from the river, they must let the bandits from the Fairy Temple cover, go ashore first and then merge one to attack from the shore, those artillery mounts are useless on the west wall, do you want to open a few cannon holes below? ”

The wall is small enough to accommodate three people walking side by side. What's more, the wooden wall looks very strong, and the gun carriage is fine, but it can't withstand the vibration caused by the cannon, so it can only be added to the west wall with the mound.

Lu Daming also felt a pity, but he didn't have any hope that the projectiles released by those gunners could hit the bandits, and he held on to the fence and said, "Second young master, the cannon hole is not a gun hole, either it is not opened, and it cannot be opened small, but if it is opened, the bandits can get in." I can't be the master of such a big thing, so you better go and ask Master Han. ”

Han Xiufeng heard it clearly on the arrow tower, and felt that the dozen or so small cannons couldn't just be used as decorations, so he leaned over and shouted, "Let's open a few, but each cannon port has to be guarded by a few people." ”

"It's not hard to keep a few holes." Without waiting for Zhang Guangcheng to speak, Li Changjing pointed to the pouch in the distance and said, "When the cannon hole is opened, move those pouches full of soil over, if the bandits really kill in front of the trench, they will use the pouches full of soil to plug the muzzle of the cannon, and then nail a few wooden stakes to block it, and the bandits will not be able to get in for a while." ”

"Okay, that's it."

Zhang Guangcheng patted Li Changjing on the arm, and immediately climbed the ladder to the south wall, and then climbed up the arrow tower along the ladder. Zhou Xingyuan and Zhang Yiguo seemed to know that he had something to say, so they went down the ladder very tacitly, and he and Han Xiufeng were left on the arrow tower.

Zhang Guangcheng looked up at the south, and then turned around and said, "Brother Han, my father has led more than 1,000 villagers to the Baita River. ”

Han Xiufeng nodded and asked lightly, "What about the family?" ”

"It's all out of the city, and I guess I've arrived in Hai'an by this time." Zhang Guangcheng thought about it and added, "Not only did my family members leave the city, but Li Changjing and Zhang Shoubei also went out of the city, but their family members did not go to Hai'an, some went to Xinghua, and some went to Qingjiangpu." ”

"It's good to come out, and we have no worries when we come out."

"yes, but it's only expedient to get them out. Brother Han, my father said again in the letter, let us act on the opportunity. ”

Han Xiufeng suddenly realized that Zhang Guangcheng said yesterday that his father had asked the thieves to copy the back road, and that he was going to give the bandits who went to Taizhou a thing to attack, so that the bandits would be embarrassed, and they were all for others to hear. Zhang Zhigao actually never thought about fighting with the bandits, but just went out of the city justifiably under the guise of not only protecting the people in the city and ignoring the lives of the people outside the city.

Thinking of this, Han Xiufeng suddenly felt that Xu Ying was a little pitiful, after moving to Taizhou, he had offended so many people and made so many preparations, but not only did those people offend in vain, but so many preparations were made in vain, and even he himself was forced to fight with the bandits.

However, in this chaotic world, whether you are an official or an ordinary person, you must first live. If Xu Ying is not driven away, it is impossible to say whether everyone, including him Han Xiufeng, will survive this month. was secretly sighing, Zhang Guangcheng reminded, "Brother Han, you have to guard nature, but you have to prepare with both hands." ”

"You know, I have a sense of proportion."

"It's good to be measured, I'll go down first."

"Go down, I'll go down later."

As soon as Han Xiufeng got out of the way, he saw a man who looked like a common man rushing over from the south, shouting as he walked, "Don't let go of the gun, I'm my own person, I'm Mr. Zhou's person!" ”

Without waiting for Xiang Yong, who was guarding the suspension bridge on the east wall, to ask carefully, Zhou Xingyuan, who was already on the wall, ran over and said, "It's my own person, hurry up and put the suspension bridge!" ”

"Oh." Several villagers guarding the suspension bridge reacted and hurriedly put the bridge down.

When Han Xiufeng climbed down the ladder and climbed down the arrow tower, Zhou Xingyuan had already asked about the situation, and greeted him and said, "Brother Han, the thieves along the way to the Fairy Temple have arrived in Hanglizhuang, and they are demolishing the house and sawing trees to assume the pontoon bridge, and they plan to cross the Taiping River from the south. ”

The place that is guarded now is actually a large sandbar alluvial from the sediment in the Huaishui, the west is Liaojiagou, and the east is the Taiping River five or six miles, the bridge on the river has long been destroyed by Li Changjing, and the civilian boats can not find a few, and the bandits can only build a bridge when they want to come over for a while.

Han Xiufeng looked back at the villagers with nervous faces, and said lightly, "It's expected, let them cross the river, let's wait for work here." ”

"Well, it's better to keep things the same."

As soon as Zhou Xingyuan's words fell, Ji Da, who had just climbed the arrow tower, put down his "clairvoyance" and shouted eagerly, "Master Han, Master Han, there is movement on the other side, there are several boats coming out of the southern estuary, and there are flags on board!" ”

Today's weather is outrageously good, it is really sunny and sunny, and there are dark clouds in the sky. Even if you don't have "clairvoyance", you can faintly see the movement of the estuary on the other side of the river when you stand on the wall.

Han Xiufeng watched with the people guarding the wall for a while, then turned around and said with a wry smile, "Brother Zhou, it seems that the piles on the river have been beaten in vain, and Liu Jinchang will first go ashore from the south under the cover of the bandits along the way of the Fairy Temple, and then attack from the shore." ”

"How can those piles be fought in vain," Zhou Xingyuan hugged his arms and said, "If we don't hit those piles, we will be attacked on all sides." The bandits tossed and turned all night, and found that there was a pile on this side that could not pass through the river, so they could only go around to the south, and we became enemies on three sides. ”

"That's right," Han Xiufeng couldn't help laughing, thinking about it and asking, "Brother Zhou, do you think Liu Jinchang will give us a Ming Xiu plank road to secretly Chen Cang, attract my idea in the south, and then send troops to quietly cross the river from the north?" ”

"If we didn't have a camp, Liu Jinchang might have done this, but we have such a sturdy camp, and we are in the camp to respond to all changes, what is the use of him repairing the plank road and secretly Chen Cang?"

"Also, we are like a nail, nailed here, if he wants to pull us out, he can only knock us out, and if he doesn't pull us out, he will be like a fish in the throat."

Zhou Xingyuan secretly thought that you said it very easily, but it was not so easy to defend, because this position is too important, and the bandits will definitely attack frantically, and it is naturally good to be able to hold it, in case you can't hold it, you can only run.

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