Chapter Sixty-Eight: The War Bandits
After Ma Biao received the letter, he was overjoyed. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info replied to the river road, his first group of people have been gathered, and now he will set off first. Jiang Hexing was surprised and sent someone to tell him that as long as he could form a fleet, he could go first, and how did he do it?
It turned out that when Ma Biao's fleet arrived in Fan County, it was earlier than Ma Yuan, and it was just after noon. The bridge was also erected immediately, so that people could go ashore immediately. As soon as his party reached the Golden Causeway, he saw a group of refugees running along the Golden Causeway from the east, numbering only thirteen people. Ma Biao blocked the way, and the group of refugees knelt on the ground in fright and begged for mercy. Ma Biao ordered them to be lifted up, brought dry food to them, and asked them why they had run away like this.
The first person was a middle-aged black-faced man, and he stepped forward and said: "There are bandits in front of him who ransack the village, bully men and women, do all kinds of evil, burn, kill and loot. The officers and soldiers are all fighting, and they don't know where the bandits come from, and no one cares. ”
Ma Biao asked, "How many of them are there?" ”
The man said: "I really don't know this, in the afternoon, I heard that there were bandits, I went out to see, I can't tell how many people are in the crowd, at least there are thousands of people." ”
Ma Biao asked again, "How far is it from here?" ”
The man said, "About 20 miles." ”
Ma Biao saw that the man was also strong, so he asked if he could ride a horse, but who expected that. Then he asked: "Do you dare to go back and pick up your relatives, we will protect you, and we will take care of your family here." When you see the villagers, just tell them to come up and gather here. Do you dare? ”
The man hesitated, looked at his family, saw that they were eating dry food, and then nodded and said, "I do." I still have a lot of relatives over there. ”
Ma Biao sent a carriage for the man to go up, and there were some soldiers in the cart, with helmets and armor, bows, arrows and spears in their hands. was about to go east, at this time, another man stood up in the group and said: "I also have relatives, and I haven't come out yet, can I save them?" ”
Ma Biao prepared another car, and the two cars headed east.
Someone was sent to pick up the refugees and wait on the Golden Causeway, and ordered someone to watch over them. He led the troops, along the Golden Causeway, and followed the two cars just now to the east.
The team walked forward for about 15 miles, and a group of people in front were running in this direction, looking at the cavalry and carriages here, and stopped one after another. Ma Biao asked the team to shout: "To save your life, go to the Golden Embankment." The team shouted in unison: "Save your life, go up to the Golden Causeway", the group of people heard it, hesitated for a while, and saw that the dust behind them was heavy, and some people began to run towards the Golden Causeway. Ma Biao ordered people to go down to the golden embankment and go to the pursuers.
The cavalry archers, first went down, and soon came to the front of the group of pursuers, and the Pingzhou army did not speak, looking at the people on the opposite side, there were those on horseback, some on foot, some with knives, some with spears, and some with wooden sticks, and their clothes were even more messy, and there were short clothes in winter, and women's clothes, it seems that bandits are also amateurs?
As soon as the Pingzhou army gave an order, arrows rained down, and the group of bandits may not have reacted yet, or they may not have thought of encountering regular troops here. The crowd of spectators fell one by one, and the cries were heard one after another, and without any order, they turned around and ran. The archers of the Pingzhou army did not stop the bows and arrows in their hands, and refused to let go of the live targets, and the bandits were shot down one by one, at this time the saber team arrived, the archers stopped, and the saber team killed people even more amazingly, galloping on horseback, raising his right hand flat, and stabbing into the back of the bandits. When they passed, only corpses were left on the ground. On the golden embankment, above the refugees, they first cheered, and then when they saw that the sabre team was so brave, they were even more frightened, and they were so frightened that they didn't dare to speak.
At this time, Ma Biao arrived, looked at the bandits underground, and sent people to the top of the golden embankment to invite a few brave people to come.
Someone introduced to Ma Biao that after Liu Kuang, the king of Dongping, and Dongjun Taishou raised troops, many people were homeless because of the collection of money and grain, and they just happened to know that a group of thieves came from there, the leader was called Uncle Caozhong, and he had a son named Cao Shaoyou. In the past two days, people have been organized here to make waves, and there are more and more people, and now there should be several thousand. Killing people everywhere and setting fires is simply evil, and the people are disgusted when they hear it.
Ma Biao thought for a while, separated his team into three regiments, led by three regiment commanders, and equipped with all arms, to encircle and suppress this bandit, and let the refugees widely spread that he was saving refugees. On the top of the golden embankment, the sailor was in charge, and several shelters were set up to send people to meet and protect the refugees.
Ma Biao thought about it again, it was important to deal with these bandits first, and not let them harm the people here. It should not have gone far now, three regiments, he swept forward in the middle.
When the order was passed down, they were about to leave, when the two refugees returned in a carriage, followed by a group of refugees. It turned out that the bandits were camping around a water pool in the south. Although there were few soldiers on these two carriages, when they encountered a few arrows from the bandits just now, the bandits were scared away and did not dare to engage in battle, so many people were saved.
Ma Biao was overjoyed and ordered someone to settle down. He commanded himself to go to the water on the south side. It was already evening, and Ma Biao ordered the team to be lined up in a horizontal line, stretched wide, so that when it was just right, they would be surrounded. The cavalry archers were in the front, followed by the convoy, then the cavalry sabers, and finally the pikemen, the infantry, which is now a rare infantry in the Pingzhou army.
The horses were flanked by carriages, not very dense, with cavalry leading the way in front, and the ranks were several miles wide. This place may be close to the Yellow River, with many ponds and forests, and the rest are green wheat seedlings that have just poked their heads out. The team was not fast, and after the wheat field passed, there were horseshoe prints, rut marks, and Ma Biao looked at it and sighed deeply.
After walking for just 5 miles, bandits began to appear in front, some riding fast horses, some were leading cattle and sheep, and when they saw the army rushing towards them, they turned their horses' heads, threw away their cattle and sheep, and galloped backwards.
When the cavalry saw this, they urged their horses forward, and the arrows chased after them like meteors. Ma Biao saw that there was a trace of the enemy, and he didn't think about it anymore, and gave the order to go, speed up, and encircle and annihilate this gang of bandits near Shuibo.
Heading south, the ground was a little drier, the pools were much less, and the ranks were once again like battle divisions, with the cavalry taking the lead, one by one, hunched over, holding the reins of their horses in both hands, and galloping forward.
A few miles away, as soon as I arrived, a large meadow appeared in front of meadow, and the withered grass was yellow. Behind the meadow is the pool of water. In the water, under the afterglow of the setting sun, the golden reeds are mixed with green and yellow branches and leaves, and the north wind blows and rustles. Wave after wave of reeds swayed in the wind, and the reeds flew into the sky, fluttering and swaying, scattering in all directions.
Luhua flew around Shuibo, which had a radius of about 3 miles, and the bandits in the north saw the cavalry on the opposite side, pounced on them, shouted, and ran south around Hubo. The reeds in the sky are drifting, and the bandits in the underground are galloping. Lu Hua is not in a hurry, she is not slow, she is very good, as if she wants to see this group of bandits lively, and always follows this group of bandits.
The Pingzhou army was not interested in Luhua, they drew their bows and arrows one by one, and shot arrows out one by one at the rushing bandits. One by one, the bandits fell, and the wails rang out. On the grass, bandits lay on the ground, with bows and arrows stuck in their bodies, and Yin Hong's blood flowed on their bodies, staining the barren grass for a week.
To the east and west of the lake, the bandits fled south like sheep being chased by wolves. They were ragged, some wore single clothes, some wore women's clothes, and some wore double clothes; There are those who wear shoes, those who are barefoot, and those who wear two completely different shoes; The men in their hands were even more disorganized, some with knives, some with spears, some with sticks, some with axes, some with sickles, and so on. The bandits ran forward, turned their heads and looked at the pursuers in horror, you squeezed me, I touched you, the sound of bows and arrows breaking through the air kept sounding above their heads, and their hearts trembled, and their legs and feet trembled. Listening to the terrifying bow and arrow, some heard the cavalry shouting as he shot arrows: "Whoever descends will not die!" ”
The voices were getting closer, more and more, louder and louder, and one by one they could no longer take a step. One stopped, a group of people stopped, and the weapons in their hands began to be placed on the ground. Looking at the cavalry that came by, they opened their eyes wide in horror to see what the cavalry would do with them.
To their disappointment, the cavalry did not stop, but continued to gallop south. Looking north, there were carriages running towards them, and the carriages were actually four wheels, and on them stood several soldiers with bows and arrows in their hands, staring straight at them, some with knives, and some with spears. The carriage followed the cavalry further south, passing by groups of bandits who did not dare to resist. The group of bandits finally rested, one by one panting heavily, with hot air on their heads, and seeing that no one paid attention, they did not dare to move, and waited for orders.
Ma Biao rode past the group of bandits, looked at them, and gave orders for the infantry behind them to escort the prisoners away. After giving the command, Ma Biao rode his horse and continued south. Look at the reeds on the right, the rustle is heard again, and the battlefield is silent.