Not far away, a dark and dreary forest, even more gloomy in the moonless season, a group of soldiers on alert stood quietly in the opposite line, staring nervously at the place with guns in hand, ready for the enemy to rush out and attack.

When Cao Meng arrived there, under the light of the torches, there was an old man in thin clothes and trembling all over his body standing on the edge of the woods, hunched over, with a gray beard with ice chips, and he was explaining in a timid and timid old voice: "Don't get me wrong, all the heroes of King Chuang, those people in the woods are all people from the surrounding villages, and they are the people of the base area who received the favor of King Chuang's righteous master not long ago. ”

This explanation made the soldiers breathe a sigh of relief in their hearts, but they still did not put down their guns, and their vigilance was still the same.

The old man saw that the heroes were still facing him as if they were facing a great enemy, and hurriedly continued to explain: "During the day, we heard that the army built an ice castle here to resist the scourge of the officials and soldiers, and we are grateful, but, we, we" We twisted up embarrassedly for a long time, and saw that people did not have the slightest sense of blame, so he put his heart down and continued: "We are timid, and we dare not come to help the king and the righteous master to repair the fort during the day, so we connected it in series at night, and secretly concealed the landlord's owner to come to help, and asked the hero to come and verify, Let us go and be stupid for the righteous teacher. “

Cao Meng was shocked and then delighted when he heard it, and was surprised that the people secretly rushed to help him regardless of the future revenge of the landlord Haoqiang, which was how much risk he had to bear, and he was happy that the name of the righteous master of Chuang Wang had taken root in these people who had just been attached, although the people still had doubts and hesitations, but as long as this battle was fought well, then they were the most staunch supporters of the base area.

Cao Meng hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed the old man's cold and trembling hand, shook it constantly, and said again and again: "My name is Cao Meng, I am the leader of these brothers, the old man has worked hard, I thank you." ”

The old man hurriedly lowered his bow, and tried hard to pull his hand out of Cao Meng's hand, and he didn't know what this army called him, so he said with trepidation: "I don't dare to accept the king's thanks, I will wait for some mason's craftsmanship, and I should have come a long time ago, but, it's just ———."

"Hahaha, uncle, what kind of king am I, you are about the same age as my father, just call me my eldest nephew."

Speaking of which, when I was called the king by others, I was still beautiful in my heart, but now I have not been a king for many years, and I am called the king again, but I feel awkward in my ears. But looking at the old man's appearance, he hurriedly said again: "Or just call my milk name Mengzi."

The old man was still honestly afraid, but this time, the emotions of the two were brought closer, and the old man dared to straighten up.

"The King." Look at Cao Meng's deliberate color, indicating that he was born, and hurriedly changed his words: "That, Brother Mengzi, it's not early, do you want to ask a few brothers and Xiao Lao'er to go into the forest together to verify?" ”

"Okay, okay, I'll send a few brothers, and the old brother will wait a minute."

The sergeant immediately ran into the woods with a few brothers who had mobilized the people to organize a militia in this area to verify the authenticity, and when they ran into the woods, they were startled, the black and oppressive woods were full of people, all with tools in their hands, although they were also ragged, but most of them were young and strong, even some women, all of them were strong, and there were more than 2,000 people in general. The first few were the militia representatives he had received, and he didn't doubt it anymore and hurried back.

The old man lowered his head and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, I'm a little late, and I've delayed the volunteer army project." ”

Cao Meng said nonchalantly: "Don't say it, brother, I understand everyone's thoughts, as long as you come, everyone quietly go over to help, before dawn, regardless of whether the ice castle is successful or not, everyone must disperse, at the same time, those who came today are asked to write down the names of these militia squad leaders, and after a few days to defeat the official army, we ask King Chuang to give fifty catties of wheat to each person according to today's head to thank you." ”

The old man hurriedly excused himself, not even daring to say anything. But there was a low cheer behind him, and the old man didn't know what to say.

Cao Meng laughed and said loudly: "I am not an official army nor an official master, let alone a pole, we agreed at the beginning, we will not forcibly conscript labor and do not pull the husband, even if we need everyone to work to build water conservancy to increase food production, we must also be in the farm, and at the same time, we must provide free food, let's talk count, so we can't make this exception today, now the time is urgent, don't be polite, hurry up and start work." ”

When he said this, the old man was at ease, turned around and stomped his feet to greet him: "Folks, what are you doing in a daze?" Don't hurry up and get started? ”

Immediately, the people swarmed out of the woods and joined the army that was building the ice castle. Cao Meng was also able to pull out his brothers at this time, some of them patrolled the sentry, and the other soldiers lit honeycomb coals in this forest to warm up and rest, recuperating and preparing for a battle that might arise at any time. The people were guided by the soldiers to build forts.

There are many people with great strength, and the tools are also complete, the speed of building the ice castle has been greatly accelerated, and during this period, there are people from far away to secretly come to join the period, that is the ice chisel ice, the water lifting, the fire to freeze the ground and take the soil, although I dare not hit the torch, but there is no delay at all, watching the ice castle in the joint efforts of everyone to build the next section of the elevation.

In the middle of the night, Cao Meng saw that everyone was already slightly tired, and the speed of work slowed down significantly, too, the soup and water that the people ate at night were almost exhausted by the physical strength, and calculated the rations he had reserved, except for the part taken away by the cavalry, there were still five days available, and as long as he held on for two days, King Chuang would lead the reinforcements to arrive, and now, the rich way of playing, leaving three days' share, and the remaining two days' rations were taken out to cook a meal for the people, and there were too many people, It's impossible to eat enough, but it's okay to boil some rice porridge to warm your stomach.

The captain of the prison sergeant squad who stayed behind was also moved by the enthusiasm of the villagers, and violated military discipline and killed a donkey carrying a heavy burden to cook porridge for everyone, which made all the people grateful, Cao Meng also persuaded him: "This brother, according to the regulations on breaking into the army, killing a large animal is a punishment of fifty lashes, how to explain to Zhao Xing when you go back?" ”

The captain of the sergeant squad laughed and said, "The people treat me like this, what is the pity of a donkey?" Even fifty lashes were willing. Speaking of this, he laughed heroically and said: "Besides, I am ready to die here with Brother Cao in this battle, for a dead person, what can the captain Chen Che do with me?" Cao Meng was speechless for a moment, but immediately laughed with the squad leader of the sergeant.

Some young and strong mothers-in-law and aunts were organized, and regardless of the surveillance of the officials and soldiers in Ganquan City, they lined up the cauldron on the construction site, without saying a word, rolled up their sleeves, and began to cook for everyone.

The defenders of Ganquan are now standing on the city wall, holding swords and guns, looking at more and more thieves outside with a nervous expression, because it is dark, they can't see the number of people clearly, and they can't see the men, women and children clearly, they just feel like there are many thieves pulling the sky, and there are constantly people and horses gathering there, shouting and greeting, and the loud trumpet buzzing through the world, even the county and the thousand households were woken up, thinking that the thieves were going to attack the city overnight, and the county zun was scared to go directly to the bed to chant Buddha.

Qianhu, who was not sleeping steadily, was also shocked by the shouts of the sky, and hurriedly put on his armor, arranged for the family to hide in the cellar with a soft hand, and then raised the big knife and beckoned all the pro-soldiers, including the family members, to run up to the city, while running, and while cursing in a low voice The thief does not follow the rules and credit, I have tolerated you like this, why do you still want to attack the city? It's dark and dark, how can you let me defend the city with hundreds of people?

After running to the head of the city, the souls of the dead who were even more frightened by the scene outside the city were rising, the original thieves were only five or six hundred people during the day, but look at now, three miles away, the torches are all over the sky, bonfires are everywhere, the crowd comes and goes, I am afraid that there are four or five thousand people, and then look at the hundreds of old, weak, sick and disabled people around them who have been panicked, not to mention the hard fight to defend the city, that is, the thieves rushed up, under this dilapidated and low city, a person threw a stone, then these people have to become meat sauce in a blink of an eye, how to defend this city?

"My lord, there are big thieves outside, let's run." A hundred households suggested in a whisper with their upper and lower teeth in unison.

Qianhu glanced at him, you ran away, how dare I run, the law of the Ming Dynasty is here, the guards will abandon the city, no matter what the reason is, the whole family will be beheaded, where do I run? If he doesn't run and die in battle, at least his son can still grace a hundred households and save the lives of the family.

I was just about to tell everyone to cheer up and prepare to die, but after a closer look, I found a problem, outside the thieves, it was not a bonfire before the war, but a row of cauldrons, and a group of mothers-in-law and aunts were talking and laughing and pouring rice noodles into the pot.

Looking at the crowd behind the fire in the stove pond, there were ants carrying earth and stones to the higher and higher fortress, and few people looked at this side at all.

I was in a good mood at the time, laughed, and after explaining to the subordinates around me, I commanded loudly: "The little ones, don't make loud noises to make the thieves misunderstand, and the others, go back to sleep with me." With that, he strode back home relaxedly, leaving only the county lord still chanting words under the bed.

The meal was opened, one by one, with a head full of steaming heat, the people who rushed over to receive the meat porridge took the porridge bowl and squatted aside to eat it quickly, handed the bowl to the next one, and continued to join the hot fort repair army without speaking, Cao Meng and the captain of the sergeant squad and the captain of the sixth team couldn't help but sigh deeply: "With the support of such people, where else do we have enemies that cannot be defeated?" King Chuang is right in his conversation about building a base area, and with a heart for our people, we have the greatest guarantee for defeating all enemies. ”

Thousands of people after a night of busy, a high of more than four zhang, up to half a zhang thick ice castle just before dawn towering in the middle of the official road, the top of the ice castle also with wood cover, covered with thick frozen soil on the cover, on the frozen soil also watered into ice, one to prevent arrows and two to prevent fire, in addition to the long-term siege is definitely an impenetrable fortress. Due to the preparation of the defense, the ice castle did not open the door, and everyone climbed inside along the rope.

Declined some young men who wanted to stay to assist in defending the city, and sent away the villagers who disappeared in the rising sun, Cao Meng, who was standing on the ice castle, thought with emotion. "With such people, can the base area still be breached? Dog officer, you can dream about it. ”