Sun Zhongshan thought at first that Shang Cheng had seen his own people clashing with other grain teams, so he suddenly stood up, but when he looked around, he didn't see anything unusual by the seven or eight fires set up by the grain team, and more than 300 people, regardless of the soldiers, all sat around the fire to eat, drink, and laugh. The bright red tongue of fire sandwiched the shining sparks, with the crackling sound of firewood and the explosion of firewood, the figures by the fire were laughing and laughing, and the air was filled with a smell of barbecue and the fragrance of wild vegetable and mutton soup. He stood up and looked out in the direction Shang Cheng was facing, the inky black night sky was pressed against the ground like an upside-down iron pot, and a large meadow a few miles away had only a black outline. A few stars dotted on the sky, flickering with a cold light. The cool breeze of the summer night whined and whined over the tips of the grass, and the tongues of flame a few feet high on the fires everywhere swayed from side to side...... But I didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

But Shang Cheng's grim expression made him feel unsure. He turned his head suspiciously to look at the watchtower in the barracks behind him. The watchtower that stood on the top of the great meadow was almost completely hidden in the darkness, and Sun Zhongshan would not have been able to distinguish it if it weren't for the vigilant sentries on the roof who blocked the light of the stars. Seeing that there was no red lantern hanging on the watchtower, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief, and he was so surprised that he almost thought that it was the Tuqi people who had called!

Shang Cheng looked at the east for a while, pinched the cake and sat down slowly, and continued to eat his dinner.

Sun Zhongshan also squatted down, tore off the grass in his hand, and asked, "What did the adults see just now?" ”

Shang Cheng's face was tense, his long well-defined face was cloudy and uncertain in the flickering firelight, and the deep gaze in his left eye was still in the distance. He didn't seem to notice that Sun Zhongshan was talking to him, and just slowly chewed on the dry, hard dough. After a long time, he said, "...... Didn't see it clearly. Maybe I'm dazzled, aren't people calling me a 'blind businessman'? He lifted the blindfold, took out a cotton handkerchief and rubbed his eyes a few times,

Sun Zhongshan grinned and didn't know how to answer. In mid-April, they carried grain into the steppe for the first time, and on the way back, they collided head-on with a group of Turquoise troops, and the two outpost frontier troops led 100 farmers and more than 50 steppe cavalry engaged in an encounter. Shang Cheng used foot soldiers to defend the circle formation with vehicles, and more than 60 cavalry outflanked from the flank, and almost no effort was wasted to beat the Tuqi people and fled, only there were more than 20 heads of the Tuqi people, and five prisoners were captured, and 120 grassland horses were captured. This incident caused quite a stir in the Right Route Army, and the nickname of "Shang Blind" and the name of "Able to Fight" of the West Malaysia Zhibian Army came out at that time. He was silent for a long time before swallowing his saliva and saying, "That's all nonsense from others, don't take it to heart, adults." ”

Shang Cheng lifted the blindfold to his forehead, holding a cotton handkerchief in his hand to wipe his eyes, and when he heard him say this, he smiled: "How could I ......?"

Qian Laosan was holding a blackened yellow leg of mutton and cutting meat with a knife to eat, and when he heard Sun Zhongshan's words, he bit the lump of mutton tendons in his mouth and said loudly: "There are a lot of people who spread this now, and they can't beat it!" When I was in Mogan Dazhai, I met Lao Li from Hurong Village, who was also a blind man and a blind man, and I smashed him with a punch without saying a word! He spat out the lump of tendons and scolded hatefully, "Fellow of the sissy! Don't even look at what you are! The nickname of the blind man is also something he can shout? ”

Qian Laosan scolded and grinned in his mouth, a "blind businessman", and all the border soldiers who were eating and drinking around the fire wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh. Bao Kan was sitting next to Zhao Shishi eating and chatting in a whisper, and when he heard that there was no cover in his mouth, he picked up a bald lamb bone and smashed it on him, scolding: "Shout again!" If you don't let others shout, you can shout? Gnaw on your bones! Qian Laosan reacted at this time, shrunk his neck and closed his mouth. He secretly glanced at Shang Cheng, and in the flow of firelight, he saw that Shang Cheng's face was tight, and he sat upright on the saddle like a stone statue without moving, and thought that he had committed Shang Cheng's taboo, so he hurriedly said with a bitter face: "My lord, this is what they said, it is their nickname that they call you behind their backs, so ...... Actually......"

Qian Laosan explained his reparations in a sigh, and everyone next to him saw that Shang Cheng's face was not quite right. The soldiers all stopped eating and drinking. Several officers looked at each other, not knowing how to persuade them for a while. Seeing that the corners of Shang Cheng's left mouth had been hung downward, it was obvious that the attack of anger was right in front of him, Bao Kan sharply interrupted Qian Laosan's words: "Qian Laosan!" What the are you talking about! Seeing Shang Cheng stand up suddenly, he hurriedly came over and stopped between the two, and persuaded, "My lord, Qian Laosan, this bastard has a stinky mouth......

Shang Cheng didn't even glance at him, he turned past him in two steps, walked around the fire and walked straight to the border soldiers on the other side before he stopped, stood up and said nothing, and stared at the east with two cold eyes.

Only then did several officers realize that something was wrong, and hurriedly rushed over and gathered around Shang Cheng, stretching their necks to look. But they looked at the meadow a few miles away, and apart from the pitch-black expanse of the earth, there were only a few sparse stars in the night sky; Hold your breath and listen attentively, except for the singing and laughter of the soldiers and soldiers in the vicinity, and the more drums and trumpets of the battalion in the distance, there is only the whimpering night wind......

Zhao Shi suddenly shouted: "Look! What's there? ”

Everyone looked in the direction of his finger, and saw a dim light hidden in the darkness, which was not much bigger or taller than a tail finger, flickering and flickering and inscrutable, as if there was a pale meteor hanging at the end of the heavens and the earth, and as if someone had lit a huge bonfire beyond the end of the sky......

Fire?!

Everyone was shocked!

Sun Zhongshan stared at the hazy light and shadow, his heart beeped, and he hissed in two cold sweats and ordered: "Lead the camel here!" ”

At this time, the side soldiers were already standing around, and when they heard his order, the two soldiers ran away quickly, and in an instant they pulled a camel. The packman was about to drink and make the camel kneel, a soldier had already bent down and made a ladder with his hands and ten fingers, Sun Zhongshan stepped on the soldier's hand and body and climbed the hump, turned over with all his feet, and immediately shouted loudly: "My lord, it's the fire!" It's blocked by the meadow, and it can't be seen really! ”

Qian Laosan nervously wrapped his head: "What direction is that?" ”

Before Bao Kan could speak, Shang Cheng had already said coldly: "North and southeast." Looking at the distance and the size of the firehead, nine times out of ten it is the left-hand army depot of Alegu. He turned around, stretched out his hand to pull down the blindfold to cover his right eye, and without looking at the soldiers around him, he said in a deep voice, "Order!" Pack up the camel and horse vehicles immediately, and the grain team is ready to move! ”

Before he could finish his words, a little red light flashed between the pitch-black sky and the earth in the distance, and then a fire exploded like water sprinkled into a hot oil pot. At the same time, a dense gong warning sounded in the camp, and a string of red lanterns rose from the towering watchtower in an instant. In a moment, the three camps were all drums and horns, and the urgent orders came and went. In less than half an hour, the gate of the rear camp suddenly opened, and two teams of soldiers were snatched out of the door, and they quickly cleared the several rejection horses set up at the door, and a cavalry had already poured out of the large camp, galloping away in the southeast direction like a lightning......

The soldiers and soldiers on a grassy beach outside the camp were stunned by this sudden scene, and opened their mouths as if they were stupid to watch one or two thousand cavalry whistling in front of them with torches. Some people were muttering to themselves with wide eyes, some people looked at a loss, some people stared at the fire worms and swallowed saliva one after another, and some people trembled and turned pale.

Shang Cheng repeated the order he had just given again: "Order!" Pack up the camel and horse vehicles immediately, and the grain team is ready to move! ”

Several leading officers stepped forward and raised their arms to touch their chests, and roared, "Obey!" He put down his arms and rushed to gather and put his people in order. Bao Kan saw that the people around him were in a mess, and the other grain teams in the distance were still panicking, so he approached Shang Cheng and reminded in a low voice: "My lord, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to order the transfer at this time." Our movement is too big to inevitably make others more panicked, if it triggers a camp roar, it will be a capital crime to kill the head when it is investigated! ”

Shang Cheng watched the cavalry snag through the darkness like a fiery snake, shook his head lightly and said, "It's too late to go now." More than 40 miles away, even if nothing happens on the way, it will take an hour, and when they arrive, I am afraid that there will be nothing left in the grain depot. He turned around and stared at the string of red lanterns on the watchtower, sighed leisurely, and whispered, "How can it be that the Turquoise people have made a plan to move the camp of the Left Route Army, just to burn a grain depot?" Occupying the Alegu military village is to cut off the back of the left army......" He paused, and did not look at Bao Kan, Xiao Se's gaze slowly swept from west to north, and said with a chuckle, "There is a strong enemy in front, and there are strange soldiers in the back, if there is another army of men and horses from the north, my army will be surrounded on three sides and suffer from the enemy on its back, there is no food and grass inside, no reinforcements outside, and the terrain is not dominant, and it cannot support for a few days." There was an indescribable tiredness in his voice, as if he were talking to Bao Kan and as if he were talking to himself, but the scene he sketched was shocking. Bao Kan was already dumbfounded.

After a long time, Bao Kan dropped his head vigorously, as if he couldn't accept Shang Cheng's assertion, gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "There are more than 10,000 and 20,000 people in the Left Route Army, and more than 10,000 people, plus 30,000 people, there should be no problem in guarding for ten days!" Ten days is enough time for the Middle Route Army to come to the rescue! ”

Shang Cheng was noncommittal about his words, instigated his lips and just looked carefully at the camp on the left side of the camp, nodded thoughtfully for a long time and shook his head, and then turned his head to look at the warning lantern upstairs, as if waiting for something.

Bao Kan followed his gaze to the left camp and then to the watchtower. But he was not Shang Cheng after all, no matter how carefully he looked, he couldn't see the truth, his mouth opened a few times, and finally he couldn't hold back the urgency in his heart, and asked in a dumb voice: "When do you estimate that the people of Tuqi will arrive?" ”

"Anytime." Shang Cheng had already seen several soldiers coming out of the big camp, holding his waist and swords, and hurriedly went straight to this grassy beach, but he didn't pause, pointing to the left camp and saying, "These two small camps are the primary goal of the people of Tuji, and they use thunderbolts to defeat the small camps one by one and disturb the morale of the big camps. He pursed his lips and sneered, "Kill the chicken and show it to the monkey!" It's an old trick, Nanguan has seen it once! ”

The heralds who came out of the big camp had already rushed to the nearest place, opened their throats and shouted in unison: "Li Shuai has an order, all the grain teams immediately organize the camel and horse vehicles and enter the camp to wait!" He shouted several times in succession. At this time, the people who were already panicked on the grass beach still remembered to follow their grain team, and everyone wished that their parents would give them two more legs, and the swollen hornets rushed towards the camp gate like a swarm of wasps, and the men shouted that the horses were neighing and smoky, and the sergeant guarding the gate could not be suppressed with a spear and whip, until four or five guys who were rushing and scurrying in front of him in a row, and then some order was restored a little. Shang Cheng's grain team had already prepared, and had already lined up on the side of the road, and immediately soldiers came to lead them into the camp, and took them to the designated meeting place at the innermost part of the camp.

When leading the horse into the camp, Shang Cheng raised his head again and glanced at the watchtower on the top of the slope.

I don't know when, three strings of lanterns have been hung on the watchtower......