The sound of war drums sounded in the sky over the ancient Pucheng, and in everyone's hearts, it was like a thunderbolt on a sunny day, and the originally quiet and peaceful town suddenly became chaotic and noisy.

On the street, those officers and soldiers who were originally comfortable and casual immediately ran to their respective barracks with nervous expressions, knocking over vegetable stalls along the way, and knocking down pedestrians regardless of them.

A team of horses rushed into the street regardless of it, raising their bright broadswords, trampling on pedestrians and trampling beggars, and just whistling back and forth in the streets, everyone immediately shouted: "The thieves are coming, the war is on, clean the streets, clean the streets." ”

Clean the streets, according to the rules, that was a measure before the war, that was for fear that there would be enemy spies on the streets at this time, from now on, as long as you are walking around the street, whether it is a high-ranking official or a beggar and a homeless person, all of them will be killed.

So the people on the street were even more panicked, and those merchants and shops took their men to clean up the goods displayed outside, and threw them into the house indiscriminately, and then everyone hurriedly closed the door with the sound of ping-pong.

Another team of horses rushed into the street, each with a small flag on their backs, beating their horses through the streets and alleys, shouting loudly: "If the soldiers return to the camp, if they still do not return at an hour, according to the military law, seventy-two killings, fifty-four beheadings will not be spared." ”

Seventy-two kills and fifty-four killings are the harshest laws when war comes.

There are also patrols in the camp, arrows to show the public, and so on.

Hearing this order, those military men who were originally flying and domineering on the street immediately turned into lost dogs, and Hulala ran away in a blink of an eye.

After a while, Pucheng Street, which was originally quite prosperous, immediately became silent, only rotten vegetables broke the frame, discarded shoes were spread all over the street, and a gust of wind came, rolling up a burst of garbage, flying up and down on the empty and unmanned long street.

Yang Fan and the horses were shocked when they heard the sound of the drums. Yang Fan's face showed a burst of sadness, the horse tightened his belt, and his face was full of excitement.

Yang Fan stood up, looked at the shopkeeper who rushed out in a panic, handed the pot helmet in his hand to the shopkeeper, and pleaded: "The military situation is urgent, I have to go to the camp to report, I am afraid that I will worry about my life if I go late, I will send these things to my home, please put them on the street and send them to my home." Then he handed over the rabbit meat wrapped by the horse, and said for the horse: "Please send these to Hong'er's house." ”

The shopkeeper kept looking out, and nodded his head in agreement.

Yang Fan hurriedly took out all the copper coins in his arms and put them on the table, "Leave twenty for the old brother to work hard, and the rest will be sold and sent back to our home, telling me that my family is away from my parents-in-law, by the way, and Xiaohong, I want to save some food, I don't know when this battle will last." ”

As soon as Yang Fan said this, the shopkeeper immediately asked in a panic: "Could it be that this battle will take a long time?" ”

Yang Fan thought about it, and for the old neighbor, it was better not to hide it, so he nodded firmly.

"Why?" Ma Er didn't know the decision of the upper echelons, and asked suspiciously, and then suddenly whispered to justify: "That king of Chuang, ah, no, is to take the thief, invincible, all of them are tigers and wolves, in front of them, there is no city for more than a day, are we——"

Yang Fan looked at the horse, then at the shopkeeper with an expectant face, and saw that there was no one near him, so he explained in a low voice: "Although the thieves have enough food and food, they are invincible, but they are all facing the original unbearable guards and soldiers, who lack food and clothing, of course, they go down with a drum. But now, in our city, there were 5,000 soldiers with sufficient food and salary, and then Zhang Yuan called on the squires and rich households and himself to replenish the personnel of the thousand households and pay them in full, and at the same time, the county lord also signed 10,000 to prepare, and I saw that the army that drove into the city also had many strange equipment. ”

The horse and the shopkeeper have also seen the situation when the army entered the city, and it is indeed as Yang Fan said, it is really a soldier with enough food and complete equipment.

Seeing the two nodding, Yang Fan hurriedly explained: "This shows that the official army is determined to defend Pucheng this time, and this time, the thieves will definitely have some effort." ”

Looking at the horse's eager posture, he thinks that according to his own words, the thief will be defeated, so he can cut off more heads to receive rewards and redeem Xiaohong, only ten heads are enough.

However, Yang Fan knew that this was just his wishful thinking. Are thieves so easy to get along with? Now the combat effectiveness of the two sides, in Yang Fan's view, is really equal, just to see who can persist more, if it is really as arranged by the peak, the officials and troops from all over the country cooperate tacitly, and it is not impossible for the thieves to be defeated.

So, he explained again: "But the thief has been peeking at the Weinan Plain for a long time, and he has been recuperating in the seven counties in the north for many years, and at this time he personally brought a large army to come, how can he go back hastily?" Now, the two sides are on equal footing, and each side does not give in to each other, so a protracted war is about to start, how can it be achieved in a few days or dozens of days? Therefore, it is only right to prepare more food. ”

was discouraged and disappointed in the imperial court, and was cold and motivated, but it did not mean that Yang Fan's views on military affairs and the situation were gone.

As soon as these words came out, the two of them suddenly nodded like chickens pecking rice, and without saying a word, Ma Er took out all the copper coins in his arms, piled them on the table, and pleaded with the shopkeeper: "Uncle, I will enter the barracks this time, and I don't know when I will come out again." That's all I have, please uncle look at us miserable people no matter what, write rice noodles and send them to the little red lady, and convey Lord Yang's words to the two of them, so that they can close the door and save their lives no matter what. ”

With the chaos of war, if you really want to besiege the city, who still has the heart to find flowers and ask willows? Xiaohong's skin and meat business can't be done, and if she doesn't prepare early, she may starve to death.

The shopkeeper was kind, took the copper coin, nodded again and again and agreed, and then did not send the two people who hurried to the barracks, greeted the aunt and child, hurriedly closed the door of the store directly, and instructed his aunt and son that in the future, he would no longer do business, hide all the flour stored now, and start today, the family can only eat half a meal a day, until King Chuang wins.

Victory? At that time, the people were really looking forward to King Chuang's victory in their hearts.

Waiting for his aunt and son to agree, he carefully counted the copper coins thrown by Yang Fan and the two, and left ten first, which was the hard-earned money that Yang Fan promised, and the rest was converted into pot helmets, but fortunately, things happened suddenly today, and there were a lot of pot helmets left in the morning, and they couldn't open the door again today, so they just sent it to the two of them.

While helping him clean up, his mother-in-law muttered nervously: "It's better to give them less, in case this war lasts for a long time, we-"

The shopkeeper raised his eyes at that time and scolded: "Women, doing business is to make the money we should earn, not to take the opportunity to slander people." ”

The mother-in-law kept her mouth shut at that time and left it to the old man's arrangement.

Seeing that his mother-in-law didn't reply, he saw that the door was closed, picked up a large pile of pot helmets with a hundred catties, pushed open the back door and said, "Look at the house, don't open the door if anyone knocks." Then he went directly to Yang Fan and Xiaohong's house.

Closing the back door and putting a stick on top of it, the shopkeeper's aunt quietly came to an inconspicuous corner of the house, knelt down reverently in front of the portrait of a young scholar on the wall, clasped her hands together and whispered: "I beg the mercy of the king, no matter what, you must take the county seat, and free us." ”

Yang Fan and the horses ran into their barracks with the soldiers running in embarrassment on the street.

As soon as I arrived at the camp gate, I was panting and didn't stand firm, but I saw countless brothers also rushing from all over the place, but I didn't see my own thousand households and other big officials standing at the camp gate, and I was a little relieved at that time.

Rushing into the camp gate, on the school field, now it is even more chaotic, and the brothers who are running back in all directions are all panting, running with crooked helmets, shouting and swearing, pushing and shoving to find their own team, their own small flags, and their own superiors. For fear that Shangguan would be unhappy at this time, he made a waiting chicken with his own knife.

Those officers were even more busy, with leather whips and guns on their backs, kicking and beating the brothers who had gathered into a group, in other teams, pulling out their own men, often pulling the wrong person, and the two commanders began to scold each other, usually, disgusted that there were many people under their hands, and even a little more money and food, but now, they all suspected that there were few people, and none of them could be mistaken, jokes, one more person, one more life-saving capital.

Yang Fan took up his responsibility, commanded his small banners, and began to gather his brothers with other colleagues.

The guards in various places have been eroded, and Pucheng is no exception, but this place is still rich, and there are more left, and there is Zhang Yuan's support a month ago, even pulling and coaxing, but for the first time in the past, there are a full hundred men under Yang Fan, and the swords, guns and baggage are also complete.

Since Yang Fan usually leads the army and has a set, it turns out that he is the first to complete the whole team is his hundredth household.

Busy with the whole team, the whirring and panting horses, holding the tattered helmet with one hand, and running to Yang Fan with the handle of the knife in the other, loudly reported that the rectification was completed.

The horse is capable, so Yang Fan saves a lot of effort, so Yang Fan carefully observed the camp hall, hoping to see some clues there, but only saw thousands of families strictly guarding against letting people approach, but no one came in or out, thinking that those big people were holding a meeting to study and judge the military situation.

In fact, things had been prepared two months ago, and there was nothing to judge, so all that remained was to arrange the men and horses in the city.

The defense of the city is not all on the line, but it must be divided into shifts. Yang Fan really hoped that he was not the first wave to go to the city, because, in the siege battle, the first wave was the most tragic and the most casualties. When the besieging side loses its sharpness, then the rest is to see who on both sides has consumed whom. Yang Fan hoped that his brothers would live until after the war.

Seeing that the horses were finished, he nodded with satisfaction.

The horse suddenly asked in a low voice, "My lord, you say, can we win this battle?" ”

Yang Fan frowned and glanced at the horse, is this what can be said at this time, on this occasion?

"Wait for the adults to decide." Looking at the lobby again, there was still no one in or out, and I couldn't help but sigh and think to myself. "Who wins and who loses, what does it matter to me, just do your part."