In the Jiangduhe Fort on Yansui West Road, hundreds of soldiers were busy reinforcing the city wall and sorting out their own equipment. Some of the wounded were helped into a relatively clean room in the military fort, and more than a dozen medical personnel were treating their wounds under the guidance of several doctors.

Among the wounded, Ho Chongwei, the leader of Jindingshan's infantry team, was undergoing surgery to suture the wound. A long cut in his right arm was cut open by the enemy, and although it did not hurt the bones, the injury indicated that Ho would not be able to pick up arms again for the next few days.

At this time, Zhang Mengjin, the supreme commander of Duhe Fort and the great boss of Jinding Mountain, walked in. He had just returned to the military fort when he learned that the brother who was following Guan Zhiqing was actually injured, so he hurriedly came to check on He Zongwei's injuries.

"What's the matter, didn't Guan Er say that you guys played well, why did you get injured after winning?" After Zhang Mengjin saw He Zongwei's wound with his own eyes, he breathed a sigh of relief and asked about the reason for He Zongwei's injury.

"Damn, I capsized in the gutter and was injured by a stinky boy lying in a pile of dead people." When He Zongwei saw the big boss come in to condole, he didn't say anything pretentious, and directly said that he was injured because of carelessness.

"What about the arm binds that Xiucai sent before, why didn't you use them?" Zhang Mengjin saw He Zongwei's wound very strangely, it stands to reason that the leaders of the cottage are equipped with arm bindings made by Jindingshan, and He Zongwei's wound should not have been injured because of this.

"I was careless, thinking that the battle was over, so I took off my armor in a fit of heat. Fortunately, I reacted quickly at the time, otherwise I would have to go down to drink with the blind bear and Yang Liu. Thinking of the previous scene, He Zongwei is still a little scared. At that time, the enemy's dagger was very close to his heart, and he almost really followed in the footsteps of the other two Jinding Mountain leaders who had already died.

When Zhang Mengjin heard this, he said with some hatred: "Yes, this time it just makes you increase your memory." I told you a long time ago to get rid of the stinky problems in the border army before, but this time it was miserable, and I actually injured myself when I was short of manpower. ”

Regarding the lessons of the big boss, He Zongwei can't say anything, he can only blame himself for being too lax. In fact, this has to be placed in other Ming army troops, and He Zongwei may not be injured for this reason. Because the other officers and infantry are accustomed to cutting off the opponent's head immediately after killing an enemy, there is generally not much chance of making the opponent play dead.

However, Zhang Mengguang, the strictest leader of Jindingshan, was well aware of the drawbacks of unnecessary losses caused by the cutting of officials and troops in battle. Therefore, when the leaders were thinking about the construction of Jindingshan's merit evaluation system, they insisted on judging according to the battlefield performance, and the controversial first merit system did not prevail in Jindingshan in the end.

He Zongwei was born in the border army, and his temperament is also a bit rough. has not been able to change some habits that he has developed before, even if Zhang Mengguang has repeatedly spoken out to persuade him, He Zongwei still goes his own way. Sometimes because Zhang Mengguang is annoying, he will quarrel with him.

Although Zhang Mengjin, as a big boss, also opened his mouth to persuade him, Zhang Mengguang was his brother after all. If he kept helping Zhang Mengguang speak, it would inevitably make He Zongwei, who was also the leader, have some unbalanced thoughts in his heart.

Therefore, the big boss Zhang Mengjin can only point to the end every time, trying his best to stop the conflict between his second brother and Zhang Mengguang. When you usually go on a mission in a team, try to separate the two as much as possible.

However, this time He Zongwei suffered a big loss, and Zhang Mengjin, as a big boss, felt that this might be an opportunity to teach He Zongwei a good lesson and let him change some of his bad habits.

"It's not that I'm talking about you, people are right every time Meng Guang quarrels with you. The battle formations he has experienced in the north and south are the most people in our village. Although he sometimes has a fierce tone, he actually wants to be good for you. Some of your faults really need to be corrected by this opportunity. ”

After He Zongwei heard the reprimand of the big boss, he remembered the scene of the quarrel with Zhang Mengguang before. Although he was somewhat unconvinced, reason told him that he was indeed wrong. But this is a matter of face after all, He Zongwei can't put down the shelf at this time, so he has to keep his head shut and deal with the big boss in silence.

Seeing that He Zongwei didn't speak all the time, Zhang Mengjin knew that he couldn't pull it off. However, since He Zongwei did not find a reason to refute, it means that he does know that he is wrong. So Zhang Mengjin was about to persuade a few more words, but another infantry leader, Li Yang, walked in and interrupted the advice of the big boss.

"The big boss, the old car and the old fan, they are back." Li Yang saw that the atmosphere of He Zongwei and the big boss was a little strange, but he didn't pay too much attention to it and directly reported the latest news.

Zhang Mengjin looked at He Zongwei, who was silent on the side and was still undergoing suture surgery. After sighing, he said: "The same man from northern Shaanxi, some things should not be too good. ”

After saying that, Zhang Mengjin and Li Yang left this place and went together to ask the returning sentry leader about the latest enemy movements. And He Zongwei pursed his lips, but in the end he didn't say anything.

……

"God, how are they moving, and how many people are there now?" Zhang Mengjin saw that his two sentry leaders had no damage except for some more sand and dust on their bodies, so he directly asked about the news they had inquired about.

"The Descendants around Ninsey seem to be reversed, and now they have all gathered in Ninsai Fort. At present, there are almost 3,000 horses under Shen Yikui's command, and if they join the people who are following the people who are making trouble on the willow stream in the west, they should have four or five thousand men under them. After Fan Shunjiang took a sip of water, he directly answered the question of the big boss.

"Shen Yikui, they are almost ready, and most of them are about to fight out of the fort, but I don't know where he will fight first." Che Jibao also reported the information he learned, and he originally wanted to continue to inquire again. But time didn't allow, he should return to the fort immediately, so he only knew the news that Shen Yikui was about to start the operation.

After Guan Zhiqing heard that Shen Yikui's brigade was finally about to act, he expressed his opinion: "I led the team outside before and wiped out a rebel army of more than 100 people who were looting outside. ”

The statement of the second master of the cottage is very reasonable, it is currently the autumn harvest season, and there are still many crops in the field that have not been harvested. There are thousands of people in the Shen Yi Kui tribe, and robbing the people to get food is indeed the most likely thing for Shen Yi Kui and the others to do.

Zhang Mengjin had already taken out his cigarette stick at this time, and after hearing Guan Zhiqing's words, he said with confidence: "The army sent out by Shen Yikui to the south to loot before has been pushed back by me with all the people. Now Jindingshan has also prepared everything, and the people in the surrounding camps have gathered to the cottage with food. There are Lao Zhou and Xiang Bo and they are there with people to watch the scene, plus there are so many mouths in the village, and the gods can't be moved. ”

Previously, the Zhang family knew in advance that Ningsai's Dingding was going to rebel again, so Jin Dingshan started various preparations in advance. Although Ningsai's rebellion was a little earlier than the gang knew, Zhang Mengjin and his gang still succeeded in slowing down the opponent's actions through deception.

After thinking that Zhang Mengjin and his gang would also follow the rebellion, Ning Sai only sent a small force south to plunder, but was repelled by the soldiers under the command of Zhang Mengjin himself. Zhang Mengjin later divided his troops and sent Zhou Shaoteng and Ma Xiangbo back to the cottage to hold on, and he himself returned to Jiangduhe Fort with the rest of the troops.

Jinding Mountain currently has thousands of people, including the captives who surrendered, entrenched in the stockade. With Zhang Mengjin's hard work, he has also successfully completed the harvesting of most of the farmland, and there is food for some people, plus the fortifications that everyone has been building for several years, and the defense of the cottage is the least worry-free.

"The third child hasn't come back yet, so it's possible that he stayed in the Jingbian camp and guarded the fort with Cai Xiaozi and them. If Jingbian chooses to stick to it as before, the Shenyi Kui tribe who has suffered losses may not fight Jingbian. Zhang Mengguang also heard his third brother talk about Li Ruozi's stubborn defense of the Jingbian camp before, although now there is a new military commander, but he thinks that Jingbian is still possible to learn from the experience of the last time, relying on the fortifications to hold on to help.

"Then it seems that most of them will come to attack the Duhe Fort. If they want to conquer Baoan County again, they must have to worry about whether Duhe Fort and Jindingshan will send troops, and Shen Yikui and Huang Youcai will not be stupid enough to expose their backs to us. After lighting his cigarette stick, Zhang Mengjin first expressed his inference before starting to smoke his first cigarette of the day.

"Then why don't we also choose to stick to the military fort, and wait for the other official reinforcements to arrive, and then join forces with them to deal with them."

Li Yang is more supportive of the strategy of holding on, because as far as he knows, the officers and soldiers of the other military forts are all shrinking in the fort after knowing that Shen Yikui has rebelled, and they dare not come out to fight, and most of the attention is to wait for the imperial army to come to help. Since his side can't get assistance from other officers and soldiers in a short period of time, Li Yang thinks that simply avoiding a field battle with the reacting gods is the safest choice.

Zhang Mengjin, the big boss, thought about it and felt that he had already made his mentality clear to the imperial court, and there was no need to continue to fight with the people of Shen Yikui again, so it was not bad to choose to stick to the military fort. So he opened his mouth and said: "That's it, when Wan Kui and the others come back with people, we will stick to Duhe Fort and wait for the reinforcements from the imperial court to come." ”

Not long after Zhang Mengjin's words were spoken, the three masters of Jindingshan walked in with Wei Heyong. Although they had almost completely annihilated an enemy army of more than 100 men before, their faces were now a little wrong.

Zhao Wankui did not report to the big boss Zhang Mengjin first, but after seeing Fan Shunjiang present, he asked the leader of the sentry cavalry with some concern: "Old Fan, did you see Ma Er on the way back, he brought someone to pick you up before." ”

After hearing the question of the three masters, Fan Shunjiang replied directly: "After I led people to lead away those rebels, I came back directly by detour, and I didn't see Ma Xiangzhong and them on the road. ”

Zhang Mengjin, the big boss sitting in the upper seat, after listening to the conversation between the two, already understood what was going on. So he immediately spoke: "Wan Kui, where are you separated, Lao Che and Lao Fan, you work harder, and take someone out to find it." ”

After Zhao Wankui heard his brother-in-law's question, he immediately said the location where he and Ma Xiangzhong were separated. When Zhang Mengjin, Guan Zhiqing, and the other leaders present heard this, they immediately found a map and began to speculate on the possible location of Ma Xiangzhong's troops.

After that, even He Zongwei, who had just completed the suture operation, joined the discussion, and after summarizing several possible positions together, Che Jibao and Fan Shunjiang immediately got up and prepared to summon their subordinates to go out again. But at this time, Zhang Zhaoen walked in and said, "Eighth uncle, there is a sentry of Shen Yikui outside the city. ”

After Zhang Mengjin heard his nephew's report, there were only three words left in his heart.

"I'm in trouble."