The snow has completely melted. The earth began to have a hint of revival, and the sky changed from its previous haze to a clear blue color.

Chen Qingzhi and Ma Fonian set off from Jiankang and went to the Yixing military camp. Zhu Yi also specially selected several highly skilled personal guards to follow Ma Funian as his entourage.

When he arrived at the camp, Chen Qingzhi introduced everyone one by one, "This is a newcomer to the army, Ma Buddha Nian, and a talented person." You must be courteous. ”

After seeing each other, Chen Qingzhi ordered everyone to go back and continue to practice. After everyone left the camp, Ma Funian arched his hand and said to Chen Qingzhi, "The late students have just arrived, I don't know if I can bother the main book and take the late students to get familiar with them in the camp?" ”

Chen Qingzhi smiled and nodded, "Of course, please!" ”

Out of the big tent, Chen Qingzhi first took Ma Funian to the school field.

Xu Jin was loudly directing the cavalry drill. The horse's hooves flew and kicked up billowing dust.

The cavalry were in good formation and skillful. Mounting, shooting, sprinting, slashing...... Plus the change of formation, or long snake, or sharp arrow...... In addition to these, they also had to dismount and practice infantry tactics such as fighting, defending, and forming formations.

Ma Funian watched from the sidelines and was amazed, "Lord Shu, your elite horseman, in my big beam, I'm afraid there is no one like it!" ”

"Wencai praised it falsely, how good it is, and you have to go to the battlefield to know in the end."

The infantrymen's drills are also in full swing. Some are practicing formations; Some are practicing wrestling; Some are armed with spears and spears practicing assassination; Some practice their crossbows against the target...... Accompanying them from beginning to end was the sound of Yu Tianshu's shouting and shouting.

Hui Ze was also on the school grounds, shirtless, sweating like rain. I saw him holding a trunk with a thick bowl mouth on his body, rotating left and right, whirring the wind. There were marks of abrasions all over the skin, but there was no intention of stopping.

"What a momentum!" Ma Funian was full of praise, "With this iron army, what else are the main books and Mr. afraid of!" ”

Ma Funian turned his head and asked with a hint of doubt, "It's just that there is one point, I don't understand it very well in my later life, and I still hope that the Lord will support the teaching." ”

"It's okay to ask."

"In his later years, he also read military books and knew a little about the art of war. But the late life observed that there did not seem to be a special crossbow soldier in the infantry army of the main book, but all the infantry seemed to take turns to practice bow and crossbow? ”

"Wencai is worthy of being the proud protégé of Brother Yanhe, and after such a while, you can see it." Chen Qingzhi said with a smile, "The number of our army is limited, less than two thousand, where can we divide the troops so carefully, the long-range is the crossbowman, and the short-range is the person who is trapped, which is also a last resort." ”

"Late life understood!" Ma Funian pointed to the army practicing on the school ground, "Divide the infantry army into several teams, first bow and crossbow, then form a formation, three charges to kill, and four to fall into battle!" Each team took turns to practice, and took care of the situation on the battlefield, and the way of the main book really made the late students admire. ”

"Wencai is really talented, he can see it clearly, and the future is terrifying!"

"It's just that this method has drawbacks."

"Oh? I would like to hear about it. ”

"The combat effectiveness of the soldiers trained in this way according to the main book should definitely not be underestimated. However, this kind of training method inevitably has extremely high requirements for personal quality, and in this way, the scale of the military source is limited, and it is impossible to form a large number of troops. ”

What Wen Cai said is extremely true. However, our army currently does not have the financial and material resources to recruit on a large scale, so it can only build an army with elite soldiers. ”

"The late students are a little curious, what criteria is used in the main book to select soldiers?"

"Although these are all children from my village, they don't take the only son. Then with weight, wrestling, endurance and other tests, those who pass can enter the army. ”

"In this way, although they are elite soldiers, the number is too small, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to make a difference." Ma Funian whispered.

"There's nothing to worry about." Chen Qingzhi is very confident, "Since ancient times, the victory or defeat of a war has never been determined by quantity. If it was determined by the number of troops, in the first battle of Weishui, Fu Jian threw a whip and cut off the stream, and the world would have been unified long ago. ”

"What the Lord says is not unreasonable, but it is a late life."

Chen Qingzhi came this time and planned to stay longer. He had to do a good job of practicing the tactics and formations he had figured out, with a view to finding out the flaws and improving them.

On this day, in the big tent, Chen Qingzhi was using chess pieces to deduce the battle in his imagination.

According to Chen Qingzhi's instructions, Ma Funian was reorganizing the roster of the generals on the side, after all, the roster that Yu Tianxuan had made before was too sloppy.

At this time, Yu Tianxuan rushed into the tent in a hurry, "Ziyun, it's not good!" Our rations have been robbed! ”

Hearing this, Chen Qingzhi suddenly stood up, "Robbery of grain?!" But then he regained his composure, "Brother Yu, don't worry, what's going on, say slowly." ”

"Our grain and grass were all transported by Chen Sibao's brothers after they were purchased in Jiankang, and there has been no mistake all along. But this time, the military rations were robbed! ”

"This Yixing area is the hinterland of my Daliang, and now the country is safe and secure, and I have never heard of bandits running rampant." Ma Funian was surprised and said, "Who is so bold?" ”

"Where was it robbed? How many robbers are there? Are there any casualties? Chen Qingzhi asked.

"There was only one robber who was robbed near Panlongling, but he was strong in martial arts, and he overturned the escort brothers with his bare hands, but there was no major problem, and the most serious thing was that two brothers had dislocated their shoulders."

"Alone?!" Mavrian's eyes widened in surprise.

"How much rations were lost?" Chen Qingzhi asked.

"You may not believe it," Yu Tianchou said with an incredulous expression, "There were five truckloads of military rations, and the robbers only robbed one cart and asked the brothers to take the rest of the rations away." ”

"Only one car?!" Chen Qingzhi and Ma Funian couldn't believe their ears.

"Single-handedly, bare-handed, and only taking one cart," Ma Funian said with some excitement, "This is still a thief!" ”

"Although it's just a cart, it's also dozens of loads of grain, you can't leave it alone, otherwise what will you do if you come back in the future?" Yu Tianshu said loudly.

"Of course you can't ignore it, you have to find this thief!" Chen Qingzhi said resolutely.

"Okay! I will immediately bring people and horses, even if I dig three feet into the ground in the Panlong Ridge area, I will find out the people! Yu Tianshu said and was about to turn away.

Chen Qingzhi hurriedly stopped Yu Tianshu, "Brother Yu, if you lead a large group of people to go, you will definitely startle the snakes, I am afraid that you will return empty-handed." ”

"What then?" Yu Tianshu looked dazed.

"In this way, you go and call Xu Jin and Hui Ze to come over and come with me."

"Ziyun, are you going in person?" Yu Tianshu categorically denied, "And just the three of you? In case you have to make a little mistake, how can you get it, you can't do it! ”

"Don't worry, it'll be fine." Chen Qingzhi said with a smile, "It's just the three of us, so it's convenient to investigate." Brother Yu, you can rest assured in the camp, just practice as always. ”

"Okay, then you have to be careful!" Yu Tianshu didn't argue anymore and turned to leave.

Ma Funian leaned over from the side and asked tentatively, "Lord Shu, can you also bring your later students with you?" ”

"Oh, you're interested in this thief too?" Chen Qingzhi looked at Ma Funian.

"This person's behavior made the late life quite curious, so he wanted to see what was going on and hope that the Lord's book would be completed."

"If so, let us go with us. It's just that this trip is still a bit risky after all, so Wen Cai should always be careful. ”

Chen Qingzhi, Xu Jin, Hui Ze, Ma Fonian, a group of four people set off from the barracks on horseback and went straight to Panlong Ridge.

"Brother Chen, although this Panlongling is densely wooded, and it is the place where the avenue between Jiankang and Yixing passes, after all, the mountain is low and not steep, so it doesn't look like there will be thieves." Xu Jin asked suspiciously.

"This is no ordinary thief, so I'm going to find out for myself." Chen Qingzhi's expression was serious.

"But then again, this thief actually dares to rob the military rations on the avenue, and he is still alone, which is really a bit bold." Hui Ze said.

"Humph! When Brother Chen finds him out, I will definitely teach him a good lesson, and then tie him up with all kinds of flowers, and see if anyone dares to rob our soldiers in the future! Xu Jin rubbed his fists and was eager to try.

"Don't be careless." Chen Qingzhi said, "There are more than ten soldiers who carry food, but this person is single-handed, and he is bare-handed, which is by no means ordinary. And he only took a cart of food, and he didn't take a heavy hand on the soldiers, presumably there was a hidden secret. ”

"With me and Hui Ze here, as long as you find him, you will definitely let him be arrested!"

"Eh, try not to do it unless you have to." Chen Qingzhi advised, "This person should be reasonable, you must not be impulsive, let me negotiate with him first, ask him about the reason for robbing the grain, and then make a decision." ”

The group arrived at Panlong Ridge and slowly rode along the avenue.

Ma Fonian looked around, although the trees were dense, the terrain was stable, with some hills and occasional undulations, "There are so many trees, it is indeed suitable for hiding and ambushing." It seems that it is no accident that we chose to do it here. ”

"It's not a way to find it this way, we have to find out if there are any clues." Xu Jin said.

"Well, we really can't mess around like headless flies." Hui Ze echoed.

"Take a break, and take a look at it." Chen Qingzhi's proposal.

They dismounted and came to the side of the road, and sat down on an open space.

Huize took out the dry food and distributed it to everyone. Xu Jin stopped, "When you get to the forest, what kind of dry food do you eat, everyone wait a while, there must be rabbits and pheasants here." So saying, he took his bow and arrows, and ran into the depths of the woods.

Xu Jin tiptoed through the woods. Suddenly, he crouched down, and not far away, a pheasant was leisurely squiezing on the ground, unaware of the lurking Xu Jin.

Xu Jin lightly stretched his bow and arrows, held his breath, and aimed at the target.

As soon as the finger pulling the string loosened, the arrow hit the target directly like a meteor. But almost at the same time, Xu Jin clearly saw that a dart also accurately hit the pheasant.

"Who is it?" Xu Jin stood up angrily and shouted angrily, "You dare to rob my prey!" ”

"Why is it your prey? I shot this chicken too. An unhurried voice rang out.

Xu Jin followed the prestige, and not far from the other end of the pheasant, a tall figure was leaning on the trunk of the tree, the shadow of the tree was swaying, and the face of the person could not be seen at all.

"But I shot first!" Xu Jin didn't give up, "Of course it's mine!" ”

"I don't agree with that, in my opinion, we shot at about the same time."

"I'm too lazy to reason with you." Xu Jin walked towards the pheasant, "I took this chicken." ”

"That's not good, you took it, what am I going to eat?" The man also emerged from the shadow of the tree and walked towards Xu Jin.

Xu Jin finally saw the other party's face clearly. The person who came was tall and long-armed, and had a strong body; He was draped in a dirty, old gray robe, and his right arm protruded from the chest of the robe, revealing the narrow-sleeved black robe inside; The long hair was haphazardly tied at the back of the head, but there were still many strands scattered on the forehead and cheeks; The face is thin, the eyebrows are slender, the eyes are languid, and on the left cheek, a slender scar is quite obvious; There is a thick short beard around his mouth, a straw pole in his mouth, and a cynical smile on his face.

And what attracted Xu Jin's attention the most was the nearly one-man high horse chopping knife that the man was carrying on his shoulder.

Xu Jin saw that the other party was also coming towards the prey, and decided to strike first. He sped up and flew towards his target.

The man, apparently unwilling to give up easily, flew over.

The two arrived in front of their prey almost at the same time. The atmosphere suddenly became tense, and the conflict was on the verge of breaking out!

Both stared at each other. Xu Jin's eyebrows were tightly locked, and he was ready for battle; And the other party seemed to be much more relaxed, even if he stared at Xu Jin firmly, the cynical smile still hung on his face.

In Xu Jin's view, this is completely an arrogant provocation! "It seems that no one wants to eat this chicken today, regardless of whether it is high or low."

"Little brother, it seems that you are quite confident in your skills."

"Without further ado, how's it going, are you ready?"

"You can do it at any time." The other party said in a flirtatious tone.

Xu Jin was completely enraged by the other party's attitude!

He threw away his bow and arrows and swung his fist at the other man.

With a slight flash of his opponent's body, he dodged Xu Jin's fist. Xu Jin punched the air, couldn't help but be angry, his blood surged, he picked up his fist, and punched and kicked his opponent violently.

In the face of Xu Jin's attack, the other party looked at ease, just kept swinging his body to dodge, and didn't even fight back.

"Little brother, you are completely dominated by your own anger." The man still had time to speak, "Your fists and feet are so wide open, but you can't hit me." ”

"If you can't hit it," Xu Jin still waved his fists and feet suddenly, "I won't know until I fight!" ”

"It's pretty good," the man said with a chuckle, "but sometimes it's important to listen to other people's opinions." ”

"Where is so much nonsense." Xu Jin began to gasp a little.

"Why did Brother Xu Jin go for so long?" Chen Qingzhi couldn't help but ask.

He, Hui Ze, and Ma Funian have been sitting in place and waiting. Hui Ze also felt that something was wrong, "It's been a long time, nothing will happen, right?" ”

"Why don't we go and find it together?" Mafron proposed.

Chen Qingzhi and Hui Ze looked at each other and nodded.

"Take the horses all along," Hui Ze picked up the iron rod in one hand and grabbed Xu Jin's gun in the other, "The two of you must follow the little monk." ”

The three of them slowly followed the trail in the direction Xu Jin left.