The rooster crowed all over the place, and the sky in the north was still dark and he couldn't see his five fingers, so Li Zicheng's men and horses stepped on the faint starlight and quietly set off to the north.

Liu Zongmin, the chief sentinel, together with several generals such as Hao Shaoqi, Liu Fangliang, and Yuan Zongdi, led more than 30 partial generals and more than 4,000 carefully selected soldiers to walk in front. Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu led more than 20 partial generals and more than 3,000 soldiers to break the rear. Gao Yiquan led more than a dozen generals, more than 2,000 soldiers, and more than 200 child soldiers to protect the old battalion. King Chuang took his own soldiers and some of the generals, and all the remaining soldiers walked between the front team and the old camp. Liu Zongmin's two wives, Gao Yigong's wife, Li Guo's wife and adopted son Li Laiheng, as well as many dependents of the generals and soldiers who protected their dependents, all rode horses and marched with the old camp.

The hunchbacked guide rode on a large grey mule, wore a tattered felt hat of sauce that had been handed down from his father, and wore an old cotton robe that King Chuang had given him the night before, with open buttons, and a thick rope twisted from various strips of rags around his waist, and pimples where he broke. There was no other dry food to bring at home, so he carried two persimmons in his arms. On the rope of the girdle, a large scythe is inserted on the left, and a short-handled axe for chopping wood is inserted behind the back. Striking is that he holds the reins in one hand and a five-foot-long oak stick in the other. The stick had obviously been used for many years, and it had been worn out. When he was young, he spared mules and horses for the rich man, so now he is no layman at all on the big mule. He has lived under the feet of rich men for most of his life, and he is not even as good as a pig or a dog; It wasn't until this morning that he rode on the big green mule and walked in front of the general Yuan Zongdi, followed by the army of King Chuang, and Yuan Zongdi and his brothers were affectionate to him, that he felt for the first time that he was living like a person, living an interesting life, and his brows began to stretch.

Yuan Zongdi originally heard that this hunchbacked farmer was a person who didn't say three words all day, so he didn't talk to him much. Walking and walking, suddenly the sound of a donkey came from across the mountain, and Yuan Zongdi couldn't help but ask:

"Fellow, what's the place on the other side of the mountain?"

"Where are you asking about the long neck?" Hunchback turned around and asked, spitting out words a little slowly, but he didn't stutter, "Yes, where is it?" ”

"That's Chenjiawan. Someone started five sets of mills. ”

It is said that Chenjiazhai is a century-old village, the Chen family has been operating here for a hundred years, and the savings in the village are piled up, which is what their team urgently needs. Now, seeing that he was about to arrive, Liu Zhongmin, who had been silent, felt a nervousness for no reason, and this kind of nervousness had not even been in the face of thousands of troops and soldiers of the official army, and in the face of Lu Shi's strong spearmen.

"How is Xiang Yong?"

"Not much."

"Do you spray too many firearms and elms on the stockade?"

"Not a few." Hunchback recalled, "But those things aren't for ordinary people to fiddle with, so they're not terrible. The hunchback turned his head and smiled, sighed and said: "The old lady has not yet been born, no one takes care of her, if it weren't for this, master, don't look at my age, the turtle grandson will not follow you!" ”

The brothers who walked together were interested in him and planned to persuade him to join the gang and go to Henan together. He was asked:

"Fellow, are you familiar with the road to Henan?"

The hunchback was a little surprised, and smiled: "Brother, aren't you taboo when you speak?" ”

"We don't care." The brother replied,

"Hey! Hey! It's better to be taboo. The hunchback said again: "The strips to Henan are not very familiar." If it is cooked, I will definitely bring you the strips, and I will be glad to bring them to the edge of the sky. The hunchbacked old man did everything he could to cater to these poles that he led the way, for fear that if one was not good, he would become a ghost.

The brothers couldn't help but laugh, not only for being a good man and for answering well, but also for being so fond of talking black words. It turned out that there were many words that were taboo in the local poles and in the ranks of peasants in various places, and they were replaced by words created by others, which were passed down from generation to generation and were called black words. For example, the road is the same as the word dew of the dew, and it is said to be a strip, and the guide who leads the way is called a strip; Rice and offense have the same sound, and it is said to be a gourd, and eating is called a gourd; The chicken and the urgency are the same sound, the chicken is said to be sharp-mouthed, and the chicken's cry is said to be sharp-mouthed; Duck and rhyme have the same sound, and duck is said to be flat-beaked. There are also some words that are not unlucky for sounds, and are replaced by other words, such as saying that the dog is skin, and the dog barking is fried as skin; The creek is said to be a belt; The bridge is said to be Confucius, etc., there are a lot, the former type of vocabulary is more taboo, and the latter type can be sloppy. Li Zicheng's peasant army had long been "regularized" and did not pay much attention to this taboo; Especially Zicheng and his left and right generals, there are even fewer taboos. If they sometimes speak of the way as a strip, it is simply in accordance with the custom of the lower brothers. The hunchbacked old man thought that there were many taboos for the king's men and horses to speak like other people's horses, especially in such a dangerous time, and he had to be especially careful when he spoke, and he could not "slow down", so he was particularly cautious.

Hearing that everyone was laughing, he was strange at first, strange that these poles he received at this time were indeed different from other poles, and he not only did not coerce and scold the villagers who went back to his village, but gave more or less some money and food, especially they also claimed to be the king of Chuang, but with his own experience and knowledge of going south and north, especially the real army he saw when he had secretly gone to Shaanxi to smuggle some potatoes, he judged that this team was definitely not a real army, and then said in his heart: " The people who break into the king are different from yours! It's a pity that my life is not good, if I was born in Shaanxi, I can't say that it is more than a dozen acres of good land, and I will have a good life of working with some wages. ”

They talked for a while, until they heard the shouts and shouts of the people guarding the cottage, and they stopped talking, and the hunchback's heart was a little nervous, but not afraid. Then his nervousness disappeared, and he thought to himself ridiculously: "How did you do that?" I haven't said so much in half my life! ”

The sentinel crossed a mountain pass and entered a deep canyon. There are peaks and dense forests on both sides, and the moonlight does not shine, so it is very dark. There is a cottage on the hill on the left, and the gate tower is higher than the forest, showing in the cold moonlight. The whole stockade was foggy, as if watching the people and horses in the canyon pass by. From the cottage came the sound of the guards of the village, mixed with the intermittent crow of the rooster. There is no light on the wall, only a few cold stars hang in the corner of the haggard building, everyone is walking forward, while looking at the mountain, suddenly heard a village keeper shouting in a hoarse voice:

Dawn of the fifth watch,

Beware of robbery,

Guarded well!

This last word dragged on for a long time, echoing on the mountainsides on all sides, giving a sense of sorrow in the frosty wind, and then the voice asked:

"Guys, are you doing a good job?"

Another voice replied, "Well guarded!" ”

"Is it well guarded?"

"Hold it firm!"

These questions and answers, with echoes, sank into the canyon like a challenge, and many of the people in the team began to whisper insults at the cottage, some spitting hatefully, some mocking contemptuously. Liu Zongmin ordered in a stern whisper:

"Pass forward and backward, don't make a sound!"

"Pass, don't make a sound!"

These words, forward, backward, in a low and serious voice, came out one after another. When it came to King Chuang, he was also like an ordinary warrior, and he was very accustomed to repeating it. So this order was passed through the mouths of the generals and soldiers and the dependents behind his back, through the mouths of the generals and soldiers, through the mouths of the dependents, through the Chinese army and the old battalion, and quickly to the rear team.

Suddenly, there was not a single sound of speech in the canyon, not even the sound of a gentle cough, only the sound of horses' hooves, footsteps, the clashing of guns, swords, and halberds, all of which were mixed into the boundless sound of pine waves on both sides of the canyon.

"Have you arrived?" Li Zicheng sat under a big tree and whispered to the school that ran back to report.

"The striker has arrived, no more than three hundred steps away from the wall of Chenjiazhai."

"I didn't find it." Li Zicheng asked worriedly, this time to seize the village, in order to preserve the strength and reduce casualties, the method of sudden attack was adopted, which really allowed the township to get an early warning, not to mention that the fortress built in the middle of the mountainside in a dangerous position is a burst of wolf smoke, and the rescue men and horses of the fortress near and far are enough for themselves and others, after all, although the current team still has 100,000 horses in name, but these 100,000 horses are already weak, not more, as long as there are 10,000 elite villagers, you can completely make your team collapse in an instant.

Now, take Chenjiazhai by surprise attack, get enough food to feed the 100,000 army, and then simply vent in that village, then everything will not be afraid in the future.

Food, rest and recuperation, is what Li Zicheng needs most now, and it is also what must be done.

"Okay." Stood up, flicked the soil on his buttocks, and glanced at the sky, the sky was slightly bright, it was the coldest time in the winter night, it was the season when the so-called cold ghosts bared their teeth, and when they thought they were safe, they would hide and roast the fire, and it was the best time for them to wait for a sneak attack.

"You immediately notify the chief sentinel Liu Ye, immediately form a team, prepare to charge, and you must take Chenjiazhai in one go." Li Zicheng commanded.

The little colonel clenched his fists in agreement, turned around and ran away.

Looking at the long queue that had stopped, Li Zicheng was still not at ease after thinking about it, so he said to Mrs. Gao beside him: "Gui Ying, you are here to take care of the old camp team, I will go to the front to take a look." ”

Mrs. Gao knows her husband's current mood, this is already a battle related to the survival of the entire army, and victory will change the survival situation of her team, and the most important thing is that it will change the nature of her team, and defeat, it will make this team become a rogue again.

"You can go with confidence, I will allocate all the most elite subordinates of King Dachuang to you, and you must win this battle."

Looking at his wife's infinite support for him, Li Zicheng couldn't help but be moved, husband and wife are one, so, what else can stop him in this world? So, he took Mrs. Gao's hand, tightened it gently, said no more, turned around and ran to the front.

This battle must be won.