The fishing creek field is not big, and the two talked and watched, and unconsciously walked out of the town.

It was already dawn, and the two left the river along the road and walked to the southeast of Yuxi Temple. There is an independent courtyard in the barren field, about 100 steps away from the northern defense line of the official army, the Yuxi River and the Yuxi Temple.

This independent courtyard was originally a barn shared by several large families, and was used as a barracks by the officers and soldiers of Zhang Ying.

The two rode out of the courtyard, calmly dismounted, and walked into the courtyard gate from the gangplank set up in the trench.

The soldiers in the courtyard were squatting on the ground eating breakfast. A sea bowl (Note 1) for each person, with a spiky pile of brown rice and a large piece of pickles inserted along the edge. Everyone was muffling to deal with the bowl of dry rice, and no one noticed the two adults walking in at the door. A middle-aged officer standing saw it and was about to give an order, but was stopped by Ma Gan waving his hand.

Seeing that many soldiers had already put down their bowls, Ma Gan asked aloud, "Have you eaten enough for breakfast?" ”

"It's full! My lord! ”

Seeing that the kind Lord Ma and Lord Yang came in, the soldiers hurriedly replied. Ever since the soldiers handed over their suicide note to Master Ma, they have been less in awe of him and more in trust. As for the bold Lord Yang, the soldiers are more familiar.

The officer walked over and bowed to Ma Gan and Yang Mingshi: "Two adults, now we have entered the Protector Army in advance. Meals are treated according to the Protector Army, three meals a day, and it doesn't matter if you are full! ”

"Entered the Protector Army in advance!" Oh, that's right! Is it praise or sarcasm?

Ma Gan promised Zhang Zuokai that he would be paid by the army now, but he would have to be reimbursed by the prince in the future, so Zhang Zuokai, the iron rooster, was rarely generous and opened three meals a day.

Ma Gan couldn't help but take a serious look at the middle-aged officer. I saw that he was tall and long-armed, with a big shoulders and a round waist, a messy beard, and a pair of big and round eyes under thick eyebrows, a typical rough and reckless martial artist.

Seeing that Master Ma noticed the officer, Yang Mingshi asked for Ma Gan: "What is your surname?" Where are the people? Any position in the military? ”

"The last general Cheng Weiguo, a native of Yuanling (Ming belongs to Chenzhou Prefecture, now Yuanling County). The last general surrendered to Yuanling, and later followed General Zhang from Guizhou to Sichuan. Now the general will be under Li Dusi (Xiangchun) as the general of the hundred, leading the three hundred brothers in this courtyard. ”

From Guizhou? That is the veteran who participated in the pacification of the Lu'an Rebellion. At that time, Ma Gan was just a talent in his hometown. But after more than ten years of fighting, why is this person so young?

Perhaps seeing Ma Gan's doubts, Cheng Weiguo explained that he was in the army in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, and he was only fifteen years old at that time.

"Old qualifications!" Ma Gan nodded with emotion, and asked him why he was just a small Bai Zong, and he didn't even take the micro boss.

Immediately, a veteran exposed Cheng Weiguo's old background, saying that he had been promoted to the capital division twice, and then he was demoted by one rank due to greed for alcohol, one rank for robbing the people, one rank for fighting for the first rank, one rank for looting grain, and one rank for fleeing in Baoning Mansion.

There are also veterans who add fuel and vinegar: "He wants to vote for the National Protector Army of the New Deal Dam!" Halfway through, he was caught back by Master Li, hung up and beaten half to death! It's not that the big war is imminent, when Shangguan hires people, he must have cut off his head and sacrificed the flag! ”

"Our brothers all drew a charge to Zhang Jiangye, which spared his life!" Other veterans hurriedly declared.

"The last general is not a family member of any family, and he didn't sign the life and death contract of Naraushzi! Besides, Lao Tzu didn't bring any weapons and armor, and he greeted the brothers before leaving, why did he say that Lao Tzu abandoned the army and absconded? Lao Tzu was paid for eating as a soldier, that was a matter of course! Whichever family has a high salary, Lao Tzu will go to which family to be a soldier! If you don't pay food, you are so hungry that you panic, Lao Tzu doesn't grab a knife, isn't that a living person suffocating to death with urine? ”

Cheng Weiguo didn't care about Ma Gan's face at all, and only retorted with confidence. At the end, he noticed Yang Mingshi, and hurriedly asked Yang Mingshi if after joining the Protector Army, the families of officers and soldiers could rent the fields of the palace.

"Of course! The prince once issued a clear decree that five acres per person should be rented forever, and half of the harvest would be harvested. Don't you know that you have no jokes? Ma Gan ignored Yang Mingshi's surprised eyes, and also answered for Yang Mingshi.

Cheng Weiguo, who was smiling, immediately announced loudly to the surroundings: "Master Ma has said it, then it must be true!" Master Ma also said that as long as we guard this broken fishing stream, we will be the people of the National Protector Army! ”

"Okay!" The courtyard suddenly cheered, and some soldiers in the Yuxi Temple not far away leaned out of the temple wall to check the movement.

"Soldiers!" Ma Gan loudly promised Cheng Weiguo and his soldiers, "As long as this battle is over, this official will immediately play the son of the world and invite the brothers of the whole battalion to join the national protection army!" ”

"Do you hear that? Joined the Protector Army, one person has five acres of land, and there are also people who died in battle! Cheng Weiguo is as strong as an ox, and his voice is like a bell, "If you haven't eaten yet, hurry up and take the bowl and continue eating!" After eating, all the armor is lined up! There must be a fight today! Those who dare to take half a step back, Lao Tzu ......"

A veteran interrupted Cheng Weiguo's precept.

"I don't need you to make a move, I'll wait for myself to break it! That shrimp doesn't crawl hard, don't blame the old men for turning their faces and not recognizing people......"

"Five acres of land for one person! Who doesn't work hard? The other veterans chimed in.

On the way back, Ma Gan and Yang Mingshi had no more to talk about, and they were silent.

Cheng Weiguo and the soldiers, who are they fighting for?

Not the imperial court!

Not the Emperor!

Questions and answers at a glance!

……

The warm sun of spring is high, but there is no fragrance of flowers, no leisure, only the tension before the war.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Three cannon shots announced the beginning of the general assault on Yuxi Farm.

Zhang Zuokai had expected that the Soil Rioters would attack from the north, where there was no water barrier. Jinbaozhai has used up a lot of gunpowder in the past two days, and there are not many cannons left, so it does not pose much threat to the local tyrants who set up camp in the north of the town. So when Ma Gan and Yang Mingshi were inspecting everywhere, he took Li Xiangchun and other personal soldiers and generals to Yuxi Temple to check the movements of the local rioters.

When the local thugs came out of the camp and lined up, the corners of Zhang Zuokai's mouth pulled an arc: everything was expected.

However, Zhang Zuokai was a little more proud.

Not exactly as Zhang had expected, the attack of the local rioters did not begin with a large-scale onslaught, but with the removal of obstacles and fortifications on the periphery.

As a result, there was such a strange picture: tens of thousands of local rioters sat outside the range of the official and army's Furlong machine guns and tiger squat cannons as if watching a play; Hundreds of death squads braved the bows and arrows, firearms, and even artillery bombardment of the officers and soldiers, scattered and zigzagged forward, crawling and crawling, and used small knives to dig out the horse rejection stakes and bamboo sticks buried by the officers and soldiers in front of the trenches one by one.

As there were fewer and fewer obstacles at the front of the position, the officers and soldiers gradually discovered the secret of the Rioter's substitution: as soon as the Rioter dug up a wooden stake or ten bamboo sticks, they quickly pouted and ran back, replaced by another cringing guy.

"X! These local thugs are smarter than Lao Tzu thinks! The veteran Zhang Zuokai stood on the wooden pedal inside the wall of Yuxi Temple, angry. He cursed as he estimated with his eyes the width of the thug's spread and the distance the cavalry would need to charge.

"General, the cavalry are all outside the south gate of the temple. The last general will now transfer them into the temple, and suddenly open the north gate to attack, and they will definitely be caught off guard! Li Xiangchun, the capital secretary, deserved to be the main general's confidant, and hurriedly proposed.

It was indeed feasible to attack with a small force of cavalry.

Zhang Zuokai listened to the suggestion and was quite moved. But he was silent for a moment, and finally shook his head: "Lao Tzu thinks the taste is not right today!" These thugs must have a backhand! ”

As he spoke, Zhang Zuokai pointed to a small dirt bag behind the side of the Soil Riot Front, where there might be ambush soldiers!

Later, Zhang Zuokai learned that he pointed at the nameless Xiaoshan bag at that time, which became the pinnacle of his military career.

Zhang Ying had a total of 300 cavalry, and most of these people were his private families, that is, the essence of the army he raised at the cost of hungry auxiliary soldiers and short salaries of the battalion soldiers. Once these people are gone that day, they will probably not return.

Because behind that small dirt bag, the Tyrant took advantage of the undulating folds of the terrain to hide more than 500 cavalry. These cavalry were put together collectively by the four masters, and almost all the horses of the local tyrants were used.

The strategy of the local tyrant was very simple: once the official cavalry attacked, first use their own cavalry to block the passage of the north gate of Yuxi Temple, and then the infantry swarmed up and pressed the official cavalry into the trench they dug. In the words of the Heaven-Shaking King Bai Jiaolong, the officials and soldiers who come out are sent to death, and if they don't come out, they are waiting for death, and sooner or later they will die.

……

By noon, the thugs had finally cleared the barrier outside the trenches of the northern defensive line at the cost of a few hundred casualties.

The flags of the four families shook together, and then the drums sounded, and tens of thousands of local thugs armed with knives, guns, iron forks, hoes and clubs, roared and roared towards the defense line.

By this time, it was clear that the attack methods of the local rioters had changed greatly from the previous days: only the homeless, the old and weak, and even the women were rushing wildly in front, and the sturdy people in the back were not in a hurry to accelerate, but slowly and neatly approached the defensive line. The time difference between the front and back teams allows the front team to clear the way for the back team at the cost of flesh and blood.

Hundreds of bamboo ladders were built on the trench, and then the door panels on the bamboo ladders and the earth poured into the trenches, and the deer barricades buried in the earth were quickly torn loose and cut off.

The officers and soldiers guarding the trench lined up in a long spear formation to meet the battle, stabbing the outside of the earthen ramparts with their spears, bamboo spears and trident bell rakes, while the archers and sword players in the back row threw bows and darts into the sky.

The local tyrant stepped on the door panel of the bamboo ladder, the lower plate was unstable, and the weapons, martial arts and array density were not as good as the officers and soldiers, and of course they would suffer a big loss in the thorn. From time to time, there was a loud bang on the artillery barricade high above the earthen wall, and a large number of earth thugs were swept into the trench.

But although the local rioters suffered heavy casualties, there were many people. One thug screamed and fell down the trench, and another thug rushed up. The corpses replaced the earth, filled the trenches, and leveled the earthen ramparts. When the tyrants threw 3,000 men into battle, and the defenders blew up a cannon, the officers and soldiers finally showed fatigue. More and more local thugs rushed to the earthen ramparts and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the officers and soldiers. At this time, the numerical advantage of the local rioters is becoming more and more obvious, and perhaps with a little more force, the official army can collapse.

Not only did the local thug attack method surprise Zhang Zuokai, but even the main attack location was also beyond his expectations.

The point of the thousands of strong attacks was not the expected center of the defensive line, Yuxi Temple, but the easternmost point of the northern defensive line, that is, the area that connected with the tributaries of the Yuxi River. If the thug breaks through here, he will be able to cut off the instep and toe from the neck, and finally reach the heel - where Zhang Zhuokai has prepared the core position for himself.

Zhang Zuokai knew that the situation was serious, and Li Xiangchun, who was guarding Yuxi Temple, and the soldiers also knew it. However, the range of their Tiger Cannons was too short to threaten the enemy at a distance of 100 paces. The three or four Franc machines could not hit that far, except for firing cannons. But even if it can be hit, the cannon is just a small solid iron ball, even if it plunges headlong into the crowd, how many can it kill?

Zhang turned around and jumped off the pedal next to the temple wall, shaking up a cloud of dust on the dry ground.

"Li Xiangchun!" Zhang Zuokai straightened up, pointed to the east flank of the defense line and yelled at his beloved general, "Go quickly, the cavalry counterattack!" ”

"General, I can't go now!"

This time, Li Xiangchun did not echo Zhang Zuokai. He arched his hand and said, "The thieves have just passed Hao, and it's too early to fight back now!" Our cavalry rushed over and crashed head-on into the wooden fence! ”

As a battle-hardened veteran, Zhang Zuokai certainly knows that it is too early to fight back. But if the tide of local thugs is allowed to flood into Changzhen, lose the core position, and lose all the belongings is a trivial matter, but the life safety of the two civil officials Ma Gan and Yang Mingshi is a major matter!

"General!" Seeing Zhang Zuokai's hesitation, Li Xiangchun arched his hand again, "Let the right wing hold on for another quarter of an hour, and then withdraw sideways to the west!" We set up shield carts and horses between Yuxi Temple and the barn to meet them! If the enemy is in hot pursuit, we will fight back again! ”

But in this way, the 100-step open space between the barn and the tributaries of the Yuxi River was completely open. The thugs could easily follow this path and pounce on the core position. If Ma Qian and Yang Mingshi are missing......

Outside the temple walls, the shouts of the local thugs came and went, and a rain of arrows shot in from outside. Li Xiangchun's eyes were quick, and an arrow step was in front of Zhang Zuokai. An arrow was impartial and stuck right on Li Xiangchun's vest.

"Xiangchun!" Zhang Zuokai grabbed Li Xiangchun's shoulders and shouted.

"Master General, I'm fine!" Li Xiangchun pulled out the arrow on the armor with his backhand, "General, you can't hesitate!" ”

Zhang Zuokai made up his mind this time.

"Okay, right flank retreat! Hurry up and report to Master Ma! Let him prepare early! When necessary, use the next step to get a fucking jade burn! ”

Note 1: Sichuan dialect, very large bowl.