As soon as the sky was bright the next day, Ma Zuoheng got up, because he was in high spirits in the middle of the night last night, he was a little sleep-deprived, with two dark circles on his eyes, and most of his five hundred subordinates were like this, which made those people very strange, and they were more curious about what kind of person these officers and soldiers shouted in the middle of the night who were willing to serve him to the death, where is it, there are so many strong soldiers who are willing to serve him loyally, I think it must be a magnificent, burly and powerful general.

Ma Zuoheng didn't give them the time and space they imagined, and after they ate the simple dry food provided by the Kuizhou army for breakfast, he gathered them together and asked where they were going.

People, you look at me, I look at you, dazed and helpless, where are you going? yes, where are you going?

They are generally from Shandong, Hebei, Zhili and other places, all of them were captured a few years ago when the Tartars entered the Kou and looted, and they were gone for seven or eight years, and some were more than four or five years, and now they have been taken to Sichuan to fight, and their hometown does not know what it has become, and their families are still there. Far from here, the north is basically the territory of the Qing Dynasty, if you go back, you will be caught by the Qing soldiers on the way, according to the law of harboring the crime of fugitives, you will definitely be beheaded.

So after hesitating for a while, an old man standing in front, a little older and with gray temples, leaned forward, knelt down with a "plop", and cried with tears streaming down his face: "Master Jun, where are the little ones going?" After being away from home for so many years, I have left my hometown, even if I want to go back, I can't go back, please have mercy on the military master, let us stay here and give us a place to stay. ”

He knocked his head on the ground and banged it, and the other people knelt down with him, crying and shouting, "Please accept me and others!" ”

On the top of the mountain, the head of the person was pressed by a black man's head lying on the ground, and the sound of "bumping" knocking on the ground with his head came and fell, which suddenly made Ma Zuoheng feel sad and uncomfortable, and hurriedly reached out to help, and said in his mouth: "It doesn't have to be like this, it doesn't have to be like this, get up quickly." ”

After a long period of chaos, Ma Zuoheng calmed down the emotions of the group of people and calmed down and waited for the arrangement.

According to the plan, Ma Zuoheng was to be stationed on the Sky Ridge all the time to guard against the Tartar sneak attack, and he couldn't leave, and the dry food he brought was limited, so that so many people couldn't afford to eat and supply. How these people deal with the resettlement makes him a little troubled, but he knows that with Wang Huan's principle of doing things, he will definitely take in refugees, and he doesn't have to worry about being punished and blamed for making decisions without permission.

He thought about it for a long time before he came up with an idea, and decided to send troops to send these hundreds of people to Chengdu, where the city is vast, and there is no problem in accommodating such a few people. Just do it, taking advantage of the high sun, Ma Zuoheng immediately sent a few veterans to lead the way and led the people along the trail.

Before the people left, Ma Zuoheng was sitting on the stone and napping, when he saw a soldier leading the way running back in a hurry.

Ma Zuoheng "chuckled" in his heart, could something have happened in his heart? Hurriedly stood up.

I saw the soldier running quickly, and before he reached the front of the winner, he shouted from a long distance: "Mr. Ma Qian, Mr. Ma Qian, my lord is here, my lord is here!" ”

"Your Excellency is here?" Ma Zuoheng hadn't come back to his senses yet, and said strangely: "Which adult?" ”

Before the words fell, his eyes widened suddenly, and he said in shock: "My lord is here!?" How could the adults come? ”

Three steps and two steps, Ma Zuoheng ran towards the south of the Sky Ridge, and before he could get close, he saw some people climbing up along the rope from the south cliff in an endless stream, the one standing at the front, young but calm and cold, with a delicate face, sword eyebrows and starry eyes, a white robe on a sturdy body, heroic and powerful, not Wang Huan, but who is it?

"Your Excellency!" Ma Zuoheng stepped forward excitedly, and as soon as he called two words, he was interrupted by Wang Huan.

"I heard you and the Tartars had a fight last night?" Wang Huan asked.

Ma Zuoheng was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly said: "Yes, there are about five or six thousand people in the Tartars, trying to bypass the Sword Gate Pass, but I didn't expect that we also have guards here, and the last general will set up an ambush and attack, and win a big victory!" ”

"Take me to see the battlefield." Wang Huan was resolute and instructed Ma Zuoheng to lead the way.

Ma Zuoheng led Wang Huan and his party to the north slope of Motianling, and after a night, at this moment, they returned to the place where the fierce battle was fought yesterday, and everyone could still see the intensity of the battle at that time from the corpses everywhere and the dark and purple blood stains, but the Tartar corpses were basically smooth, and the white flowers were a little funny.

Wang Huan went down to the slope, carefully examined a few corpses, turned his head and asked, "These are not banner people, but Han army, who is the leader of the team?" ”

Ma Zuoheng said: "The last general cleaned up the battlefield and picked up a few recognition flags, all of which were the flags of the officers of the Tartar Han Army, among which the official position was the largest, with the words Li Guohan written on the blue flag of the Qing Han Army, and asked a few prisoners, the main general should be Li Guohan Undoubtedly." ”

"Oh, Li Guohan actually died here?" Wang Huan frowned, a little surprised.

In the history of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Li Guohan was a general in the southwest with Wu Sangui, the king of Pingxi, who was the official marquis, and attacked three generations, and successively quelled many anti-Qing uprisings in the southwest corner, and led the troops to suppress the rebellion of Jiang Jiu in Datong, and made great contributions to the stability of the southwest and northwest of the Qing court.

died in a daze.

Wang Huan couldn't help but glance at Ma Zuoheng, the other party obviously didn't understand what kind of person this Li Guohan was, and the official position of the Qing court was different from that of the Ming court, Ma Zuoheng didn't know what kind of official he was, whether it was big or not, how big it was, he didn't know, so he looked back at Wang Huan with a confused face at the moment.

"That, my lord, do you know Li Guohan?" Ma Zuoheng asked cautiously.

Wang Huan couldn't help but smile, and said: "I don't know, but you can make a great contribution this time, and you can write it down, and when the war is over, you will discuss the promotion and reward." ”

He patted Ma Zuoheng on the shoulder and encouraged: "Although it is a Han army, it is also a Tartar soldier, you are the first person in my Kuizhou army to kill a Tartar, a miracle, but you have to make persistent efforts and continue to work hard." ”

Every time he patted it, Ma Zuoheng felt that he was a little lighter, and after a few beats, his whole body floated up, more comfortable than eating honey, his face flushed, he knelt down on one knee, and shouted excitedly: "The last general must remember, must remember!" ”

Wang Huan smiled and said, "Okay, let's go, where are those live mouths you caught?" Take me to see me. ”

Ma Zuoheng's hair fluttered under his feet, and he staggered and took Wang Huan to the place where the prisoners were bound, and the Tartar Han soldiers were gagged and tied hands and feet, and from time to time they were kicked and poked a few sticks by the guards, rolling their eyes and leaving half a life, lying on the ground and humming.

Wang Huan ordered these people to take turns to a secluded place, and he questioned them alone, these people seemed to be a big official, in order to save their lives, tears and snot flowed to answer all questions, what to say. Wang Huan asked carefully, asked the details of the firearms configuration and military composition of the Haoge army, and then asked where the rest of the Great Western Army fled.

Ma Zuoheng stood quietly to the side, and quietly said to Ma Long, the familiar Qianzong: "The adult's official words are really good, clear and clear, and what the Tartar said is so jerky and ugly, the adult can actually understand it." ”

He said this because the official dialect of this era, that is, the Mandarin before the improvement of later generations, not everyone could speak it, and only scholars and businessmen who traveled from south to north could speak it. Wang Huan is from later generations, of course, Mandarin is smooth, and he is a field engineer and technician, running around in the north and south, and knows some local dialects.

"Of course, adults learn to be rich and have five cars, and this bit of official talk is not a matter at all." Zubian's ears were sharp, and when he heard Ma Zuoheng's words, he leaned over and said: "You also have to learn more, otherwise you will fight the world with adults in the future, and send you to the Tartar territory to be the chief soldier and prepare for the road, and you can't speak official words, but what should I do?" ”

Ma Zuoheng and Ma Long were stunned, and suddenly felt that it made sense, and they both groaned thoughtfully, and then nodded together, deciding that they would learn Mandarin when they had time.

A few people were talking nonsense, but Wang Huan had already finished the interrogation, hurriedly ate a little jerky, drank some freshly boiled hot water, and summoned all the generals around him.

He sat casually on the ground, with a few stones in front of him, and pointed out to the generals around him: "Everyone, this general will lead the troops to take all the hardships and dangers, and he will not take the official road, but he wants to climb the mountain on this Yinping Road, do you know why?" ”

Ma Zuoheng was stunned for a moment, and said in his heart: Aren't you here to support me?

He blinked, saw that everyone else was contemplative, and knew that it must not be so simple, so he closed his mouth and did not dare to say it.

"The Tartars are cunning, intending to take the back road of my Sword Pavilion, they can do this, can't we do it?" Wang Huan put his finger on a stone on the ground and nodded: "They want to take Chengdu, but they don't know that we want to take his Hanzhong, please see, the terrain in Hanzhong is dangerous, guarding the throat of Shaanxi and Sichuan, if you want to go out of Sichuan and Shaanxi, you can't avoid it." The ancients had a cloud: to get Longwang Shu, without Hanzhong to start, it is impossible to occupy Longxi to let Shuzhong into the bag, on the contrary, if you want to occupy the land of Longxi horse raising, Hanzhong must be taken by my Kuizhou army, otherwise, we are frogs locked in the well after all, and we will not see the world. ”

"Hanzhong and Xi'an, but five hundred miles, from the Longxi counties are also within easy reach, so with Hanzhong, my Kuizhou army can attack, retreat can defend, advance and retreat are all in a thought, on the contrary, if the Tartars occupy Hanzhong, then we not only can no longer form cavalry, but also heavy troops in the Guangyuan Sword Pavilion line, empty money and food, so, Hanzhong, this will be determined to win!"

Wang Huan's hand repeatedly gestured on several stones representing the cities of Hanzhong, Xi'an and Longxi, while the onlookers listened carefully, carefully pondering and digesting Wang Huan's extremely strategic words.

Wang Huan paused, gave everyone a little time to reminisce, and then designated the food on the largest stone representing Hanzhong, and continued: "Haoge is now Guangyuan, and Ma Xintian confronted Jianmen Pass, He Zhen rebelled in Fengxiang, restrained the soldiers and horses of the Qing army in Shaanxi, in order to protect Xi'an, Haoge and Meng Qiaofang, the governor of Shaanxi, will inevitably draw troops to reinforce Guanzhong, Hanzhong has become a power vacuum at the moment, if I wait to kill from Yinping Dao, I will unknowingly approach Hanzhong and take it in one fell swoop, Then Haoge's 100,000 army is equivalent to being stopped by our army and slashed, and the grain road is cut off by me, you say, is he panicking? ”

Wang Huan laughed, showed a mouthful of white teeth, tapped the stone with the knuckle of one finger, and said: "As soon as he panics, he will rush to Hanzhong desperately, and the siege of Jianmen will be relieved, and we can smoothly set up ambushes and reinforcements, so that the city of Hanzhong will become a meat grinder for Tartar!" ”

(End of chapter)