In a small mountain col more than ten miles north of Heilong Beach, where the bandits were scheduled to ambush, there was a small village of 100 households. Because the whole village is surnamed Chen, it is called Chen Village outside.

This Chen village is surrounded by hills, like a sinkhole, the terrain is hidden, and there is only one way to go out along the river, and it is not easy to contact the outside world. Chen Village is the old nest of Chen Huainian, the second master, and Chen Huaigui, the third master, and the people in the village have been half farmers and half bandits for many years, and they are very reliable. So when Niujiaozhai decided to ambush the grain convoy of the palace, it became a temporary assembly place for the bandits.

Towards evening, the farmers of Chen Village finished their day's work and returned from the fields and the hillsides with hoes on their shoulders. Smoke gradually rises from the courtyards of dozens of thatched huts in the village, hiding the village in smoke.

At the eastern end of the village are several stone houses, made of red sandstone flakes that are abundant in the area, and are very different from the surrounding thatched huts. This is the home of the patriarch of Chen Village, and next to his house is the ancestral hall of the Chen family. Black Whirlwind, Zhang Guangzu and other bandit leaders lived in the ancestral hall. Under the eaves outside the ancestral hall, in the roots of large trees, and in the grass piles, there are countless bandits huddled densely.

Under a small tree far from the ancestral hall, there were also two bandits huddled. one has a full face and beard, making it difficult to see the real age; The other was apparently a teenager of twelve or thirteen years old.

The little bandit lifted the straw on his body a little, stretched out his head to see that there was no one around, and timidly whispered to the beard next to him: "Brother Chen, I don't want to be a bandit." ”

"Why?"

The little bandit looked at the gray sky and said leisurely: "When my parents were alive, they said that bandits were not a good thing. ”

"You want to escape? If you catch it, you will cut off the skull, aren't you afraid? ”

"I'm afraid." The little bandit replied honestly: "But I still don't want to be a bandit." Brother Chen, take me and escape. Hello people, they are not all the way. As he spoke, the little bandit suddenly turned over, reached out and grabbed his beard tightly, and the straw on his body was lifted to the ground.

"Be quiet! Don't die! The beard let go of the bandit's hand, made him lie upright, and heaped the straw on the ground on him.

"Do you really want to run?"

"Hmm!" The little bandit nodded earnestly.

The beard quietly looked around and whispered, "I can't run now." There are bandits inside and outside the village in this village, and there are bright posts and secret posts inside and outside, and most of them are dead when they run out. You can only run at night, and when the brigade marches......"

A bandit, humming a vulgar tune from nowhere, came from behind a tree and stopped on a field not far away. He fumbled to pull out the little thing in his crotch and began to shoot condescendingly.

The beard closed his eyes, pretended to rest, and waited until the bandit was far away, then he opened his eyes and said, "I heard from a few old fellows that we are going out to grab food again tonight." On the way, you make an excuse, such as pooping and peeing, and leave the team first to find a place to hide. I'll come to you. ”

The little bandit listened carefully and nodded in understanding. Then they heard a strange cry: "It's time to eat!" Bring your own guy who wants to eat! ”

This strange cry seemed to be a march order, and the village instantly boiled, and chickens and dogs jumped everywhere, and it could be heard standing on the hill outside the village.

Since the first transportation of 6,000 stone grain was very smooth, the palace decided to send all the remaining 14,000 stone grain when the next time the grain was transported. One or two hundred grain ships are not a problem, as long as the silver is sufficient, there are many merchants in Chengdu who want to do this business. The difficult part is the land transportation from the east bank wharf of Meizhou to Renshou County.

The original plan was to transport it in several shipments. But because it took too much time, it was resolutely opposed by Li Chongwen. What he was most anxious about now was to get the rations, and quickly divide the land and people, so as to keep the remaining crops in the field. But once delivered, Meizhou could not find enough carts. The last time 6,000 stone was transported, several warehouse owners took great pains to raise more than 300 two-wheeled horse-drawn carts, and they could only transport 3,000 stone of grain at a time. For the rest of the shortfall, he had to send his men to collect many chicken carts from the countryside to fill the gap.

Walking on a mountain road is not as good as walking on a flat road. The chicken bus is a wheelbarrow, and it is the best at walking mountain roads. It can go up and down the mountain, which is also labor-intensive. Each chicken bus must have at least two people, one person to hold the direction to stabilize the body, and one person to pull a rope on his shoulder in front. If the person pulling the cart wants to be more relaxed, they can also tie a donkey in front of the cart. When the slope is not too large, the chicken bus can usually carry four to five stones at a time, and the strong one can carry seven stones, but you must pay attention to the balance between the front and back, otherwise it is easy to overturn.

This time the grain was transported, and the owner of the warehouse couldn't even find the chicken bus. They really couldn't do it, and they didn't want to be responsible, so they had to submit the problem to Liu Lianzheng of the hundred households. Liu Lian had serious rheumatism, and he nested in a warm room all day long, where could he come up with any way, so he came to a contradiction shift, asking Li Chongwen to come out and eat his own food.

Fortunately, Li Chongwen didn't mind this, and agreed without thinking about it. What he lacks most now is food, and what he lacks most is people. In the past few days, more than 50,000 people have rapidly poured in from the county town to eat grain. They were all anxiously waiting, hoping to receive the family's rations and seeds as soon as possible, and then, as Mr. Li had previously announced, leave the county seat to cultivate their own land, even if it was allocated by the government.

After the bandits gathered in Chen Village had dinner, they took advantage of the light of day to drive towards the ambush area of Heilongtan one after another.

Most of the people with big knives and spears were old bandits, and most of the young bandits who had just joined the gang only had simple wooden sticks, iron forks, hoes or firewood knives. Some even cut down a tree branch as a weapon with their bare hands. Most of the bandits had only gathered together a few days or more than ten days ago, and they were not very familiar with each other except for people from the same village, and in addition to the lax discipline and scattered formation during the march, they created very good conditions for the bearded bandits and the petty bandits to carry out their escape plans.

The bandits were sandwiched in a scattered procession and walked on the narrow mountain path. As he walked, he covered his stomach and cried out, "Oops! My stomach hurts! ”

An old bandit came up to look at him and pushed him to the side of the road fiercely, "Get out of here!" Get out of the way! ”

"Oops! My stomach hurts so badly! The little bandit covered his stomach and moved small steps between his thighs, "I can't hold it back, I want to!" ”

"It's worth yelling twice about? If you want to go, go quickly! The beard also came up and pushed him, pushing him to the side of the road, "Let you grab food at night!" I told you earlier, don't drink cold water when you're swollen, you don't listen! ”

The little bandit clutched his stomach and legs, and ran towards the woods by the road amid the laughter of the bandits.

", get away! Don't fucking smoke people! The beard roared behind the bandit.

The bandits' ranks moved on. Because the little bandit and didn't return for a long time, the old bandit scolded. The beard hurriedly echoed a few words, and offered to find it himself. The old bandit glanced at his beard and nodded, "Leave him alone if he falls off the cliff, and come back quickly!" ”

The bearded beard and the bandits hid in the old forest below the hillside, watching the bandit brigade on the road above slowly pass by. The little bandit quietly asked, "Brother Chen, are we just waiting?" ”

The beard did not answer. His attention was completely drawn to the passing bandit brigade. He calmly counted the number of people passing by, until the little bandit couldn't help but gouge him with his hands, and then he replied simply: "Just do it and wait!" Wait until they're done. Then we'll run in the opposite direction! Also remember, I don't have the surname Chen! In the future, you will call me Brother Liu! ”

It wasn't until it was completely dark that the sparse bandit team finally passed. The bearded beard and the bandit waited patiently until there was no movement around them, and then they stood up and burrowed out of the woods. They ran quickly along the mountain trail in the direction of Renshou County.

At noon on the 21st day of the first month of the 14th year of Chongzhen, it was the same day that King Li Zicheng broke through Luoyang and captured Zhu Changxun (XUN) alive. The Shu Wangfu began the second grain transportation operation to Renshou County, the city of famine. 14,000 stone grain was transported by 20,000 Ding Zhuang, mighty, stretching for more than 20 miles before and after, attracting many Meizhou locals to gather on the roadside to see the strangeness.

In this grain transport, He Qiukou and He Huan father and son were still in front of the road, accompanied by 100 officers and soldiers, and behind were more than 300 carts and more than 1,000 sturdy peasant women who specialized in pulling carts.

He Zengshan, He Tingda, and He Zengshan's son He Gui commanded a hundred officers and troops in the middle, escorting more than 600 chicken carts. Liu Lianzheng was also in the middle with He Zengshan this time. He didn't dare to stay in the house, so he took a chicken bus and wrapped his legs in a quilt, like a nine-month-old woman. In order to protect the road from the warehouse, the owner of the warehouse invited more than 100 bodyguards and thugs in Meizhou to follow the officers and soldiers in the middle road.

Li Chongwen commanded the largest number of households, with 16,000 people. In order to gather these people, Li Chongwen did not hesitate to spare almost all the adult men in the county, and also brought some women. The county town had no choice but to sing the empty city plan, leaving only a dozen bodyguards of Lu San's city guard, and more than 30,000 women, children and elderly people commanded by Miss Liu.

Most of the men and women who came out to pick up grain this time had a flat pole made of wood or bamboo poles, and each end of the flat pole could pick a 50-pound grain bag. The grain bales are not packed in baskets, but are tied with ropes, and the end of the rope is knotted into a sleeve, which can be put into the end of the flat bar. They worked in pairs, taking turns to replace them, and together they picked up the hundred catties of grain. Sixteen thousand people are eight thousand groups, and they can pick eight thousand stones.

The strength of the people is great, and the troops carrying the grain move quickly. Two hours later, the last Zhuanghu grain team had already entered the Longquan Mountain Pass, and the large convoy led by He Qiukou and He Huan's father and son at the front was less than five miles away from Heilongtan.

Black Dragon Beach is a valley sandwiched by two mountains, named after the legend that Taiyi Zhenren killed the black dragon. The valley is about 12 miles long, and the east entrance is about 10 miles away from Renshou County. Tongjiang, also known as Renshou water, originates in the Longquan Mountains and flows through here to be blocked by the mountains, forming a natural river beach.

The river beach is flanked on both sides by towering cliffs with towering trees. The river beach is covered with large and small stones that have been washed down during the flash floods. After thousands of years of rapids, these stones have long since been erased from their edges and turned into smooth pebbles. In addition to the stones, there are mountain springs that trickle through the stones. Deep in some places, shallow in others.

The avenue from Meizhou to Renshou County is sandwiched between this mountain cliff and rocky beach.

On the top of the cliff south of Black Dragon Beach, Black Whirlwind Zhang Guangzu was surrounded by several minions, half lying in a circle chair in the forest. He rested his feet on a low tree, holding a tea cup in his hand, while concentrating on using the tea lid to remove the tea foam, while listening to the second master, Chen Huainian, constantly giving orders.

Chen Huaigui, the third leader, and Chen Huaijin, the fourth elder, led more than 2,000 people to ambush on the cliff opposite the river beach.

On this side of the river beach, Lao Wu took more than 1,000 people to ambush in the west to cut off the return route of the grain transport team to Meizhou.

Lao Qi led more than 1,000 people to ambush in the east, blocking the way of the grain transportation team to Renshou County.

Zhang Guangzu and Chen Huainian personally led 1,500 people to the center, responding to the east and west flanks, and could also form a front and rear attack with Chen Huaigui and Chen Huaijin, who were in ambush on the opposite side of the river beach.

Zhang Guangzu leisurely sipped tea, and once again seriously thought about his own deployment, and after thinking about it, he still felt that it was foolproof. According to the second child, this is called the "ambush on all sides". I think that back then, the overlord of Chu, who "pulled out the mountains and covered the world", finally killed himself in Wujiang, and he fell into this formation!

According to the latest report from the spies, if the grain transport team continues at its current pace, it will begin to pass through the east end of the ambush of Lao Wu in two minutes. It may take another hour to get to the east end of Lao Qi's ambush. At that time, the east and west flanks will attack, and the grain transport team can be blocked in the Black Dragon Beach; The third and fourth broke through in the center, and the grain transportation team could be cut into several sections in one fell swoop. Rao is grain transport team has more people, but there are only more than 200 officers and soldiers who carry grain, plus the bodyguards and guards who have been invited, the total is only more than 300. Under the sudden blow of the old and new brothers, is it not only the share of being driven by the mountains?

Black Whirlwind Zhang Guangzu was very happy when he thought about it, and couldn't help humming the drama on the stage: "I set up an ambush formation on all sides, so I'm not afraid that you will drill ......."

Between the valleys, a cold wind blows. The pine waves are gusting, and the water is murmuring. A ridiculous tune, hidden in it.