Geng Zhongming was thinking about it, when he suddenly heard a miserable scream, the tunnel was full of dust, and it was impossible to see in the already dim tunnel. The soldiers who were digging and carrying the wasteland were stunned for a moment, and then they were in a mess. Shocked and angry, Geng Zhongming pulled out his waist knife, slashed the two closest rebels to the ground with two swords, and shouted: "Death to those who act recklessly!" What are you panicking about, Lao Tzu is still there! ”

Because the tunnels were full of Geng Zhongming's personal soldiers, under the authority of the general, the riot was suppressed, and as the dust gradually dissipated, Geng Zhongming finally figured out what was going on: there was a big hole in the ground, apparently a soldier had fallen into the hole just now, so he screamed.

"You, and you, go over and see what's going on!"

Under the threat of the bloodstained steel knife, the two unlucky men glanced at each other, walked to the cave, looked into the cave, and then they let out a violent cough: "Ahem, woo, poisonous smoke!" He fell to the ground, grabbed his throat with his hand, and rolled in despair.

"Toxic smoke?" The soldiers in the tunnel are like a hornet's nest that has been stabbed, fleeing to the entrance of the tunnel in a chaotic manner, in the narrow and unventilated tunnel, the poisonous smoke is much more terrible than swords, bird guns and red-clothed cannons, martial arts, bravery, armor and luck can not help you, no matter who you are, death will choke your throat without discrimination, you gasp for breath, but it is useless, your face will become bruised, and you will even scratch your throat, gouge out your eye beads, and finally die a tragic death with convulsions.

"Don't mess up, don't mess up, plug the hole, don't let the poisonous smoke pour in, otherwise everyone won't be able to escape!" Geng Zhongming shouted loudly, trying to regain control of his subordinates, he cut down the two first deserters, but the soldiers who had been frightened crazy by the poisonous smoke did not listen to his orders at all, and in the blink of an eye, Geng Zhongming was knocked to the ground by the iron drill and the pickaxe, people pushed, squeezed, trampled each other to escape, but only a very few people were able to do it, and the vast majority of them were entangled and fighting with each other in the narrow tunnels, like a group of crabs in a bucket. Soon, more and more poisonous smoke poured into the tunnels, and the sounds of fighting and cursing were replaced by coughing and moaning, and then the sound became quieter and quieter, and finally became a dead silence.

At the entrance of the tunnel, Kong Youde sat on a broken wall, although he tried his best to show his composure, but from the corners of his twitching eyes and trembling fingertips, it was not difficult to see his nervousness. Dozens of days of hard work, hundreds of lives, whether to break the city first, or to abandon the previous efforts, a few hours later, will be known. He looked at the entrance of the tunnel with some anxiety, it had been a while since the basket of wasteland had come out, and he had encountered stones? Or did something else happen? Kong Youde stood up anxiously, wanting to go into the tunnel to see for himself.

But when he reached the entrance of the tunnel, he stopped again. Second Brother Geng is inside, what is there to worry about? Everyone on the battlefield has their place, and my place is here. Kong Youde returned to the stone and sat down again: "Come on, pour me a glass of water!" ”

Kong Youde just took a sip, and felt that the fire in his heart had dropped a lot, and suddenly heard a noise in the tunnel, and he just wanted to go over to take a look, and saw several soldiers escaping from the tunnel, looking like a group of hungry wolves were chasing behind him. He hurriedly stepped forward, grabbed the one in front, and asked, "What's going on in the tunnel?" ”

"Poisonous smoke, poisonous smoke!" The soldier was out of breath: "The tunnel was discovered by the defenders of the city, they poured poisonous smoke into the tunnel, and there were dead people everywhere!" ”

"Toxic smoke?" Kong Youde's eyes were dark, he was an old expert in attacking the city in the tunnel, and he naturally knew that poisonous smoke was the most terrible thing in the tunnel, and there was no ventilation in the narrow tunnel, and only a few people could escape by trampling on each other in a panic.

"What about General Geng? Where's your General Geng? ”

"My lord, he is in the innermost, I'm just afraid-" The soldier stopped when he said this, but Kong Youde had fully understood what the other party meant, he pushed the soldier away violently, strode to the entrance of the tunnel, and the soldiers on the side hurriedly pulled him down: "My lord, what are you doing here?" ”

"What's the matter, I'm going to rescue Brother Geng!"

"My lord, there is poisonous smoke in the tunnel, and many people will die if they go in! Besides, everyone inside is running outside, and the tunnel is so big, you can't get in! "The pro-soldiers hurriedly pulled Kong Youde out, and it would be enough to lose one Geng Zhongming, if even Kong Youde was lost, according to the military law of Houjin, none of their pro-soldiers could escape, and they were all dead.

Under the pull of his subordinates, Kong Youde gradually came to his senses, and there were fewer people who escaped from the tunnel, obviously the fate of the remaining people was self-evident, he sat on the ground with his ass in his eyes, his eyes were full of exhaustion.

The Great Tent of the Later Jin Army.

"So the tunnel siege failed?"

"Yes, it failed, the defenders found out about the three tunnels, they poured poisonous smoke into our tunnels, and almost three hundred people died, and Vice General Geng also died." There was anger in Kong Youde's admitting tone, but more of a deep bitterness. Yue Tuo sighed, stood up and patted Kong Youde on the shoulder: "Since this is the case, then we don't have to wait for news from the scouts, you let the artillery team clean up and withdraw tomorrow!" ”

Acton lay on the ground, dug up the soil with his hands, carefully removed the soil on it, and then stuffed the fat rhizome of the dragon head cabbage (another name for bracken) into his mouth, chewed it, and a slightly sweet slurry flowed into his mouth, stimulating his mouth, a long-lost satisfaction filled his body, making him feel extremely happy, and his mind remembered what his mother had said to him when he was young: "Acton, the dragon head root after autumn is the most fat, it is a charming treasure given to us by the mountain god, I don't know how many lives have been saved!" ”

Although a white-armored soldier with a yellow flag, Acton was born into a group of Jurchens who lived in the deep mountains and dense forests of the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang and Ussuri rivers, and lived mainly as hunters and gatherers. The Ming Dynasty government called it the East China Sea Jurchen, or Savage Jurchen, to distinguish it from the Jianzhou Jurchen and the Haixi Jurchen, which had already entered the life of agriculture and animal husbandry. Because their economic and cultural level lagged far behind the Jianzhou Jurchens and Haixi Jurchens, they often regarded them as savages and discriminated against. After Nurhachi became the lord of the Jurchens in Jianzhou, he often sent troops to recruit and weave the captured Ding Zhuang women into the Eight Banners to increase his own strength and population, and Actun became a member of the Yellow Banner at the age of eight, of course, as Aha (slaves). Acton was not ashamed of this, for it was not uncommon for the tribes to attack each other among the beggars, and a war would arise over hunting grounds, water, marriages, and so on. Danger and death were commonplace in the glamorous life of the beggars, and since there was no surplus food to feed the captives, the defeated side was often left to die, or even eaten as food, and it was a lucky thing to be able to grow up as a slave. With God's strong physique and a little luck, Acton was promoted from Aha to an unarmored walking man, from a minfu to an unarmored soldier, from an unarmored soldier to an armored soldier, from an armored soldier to a armored soldier, and from a armored soldier to a bakeshi, and from Bakshi finally to a white-armored fangla, that is, the white-armored guards who made the Ming army fearful, and the hardships and dangers experienced during this period were not enough for outsiders. But the constant victories have made Acton establish the belief that the army of the Eight Banners is invincible!

But now that belief had been shattered by the night's fiasco, Acton's lures did everything they could, and they did attract the attention of most of the defenders and set the stage for Haug's infiltration, but the god of luck was not on Acton's side this time. Instead of breaking down the defenders' command center and killing or capturing Min Min Begi alive, Hauge was stunned by the sudden explosion, and the raiding force that had lost its commander was defeated by the men led by the improvised arrival of the Sugu Hai, while Acton they fought until dawn, but their resistance ended there, and the terrible ironclad cavalry broke the ranks of the Jurchens, knocking them down, piercing, trampling, and crushing the resisters. Acton couldn't remember the rest, he didn't even know how he had survived the ironclad monsters, and when he came back to his senses, he had only a leather boot on his foot, his head bare, his quiver and bow pouch empty, and the only weapon on his body was a dagger at his waist.

In the days that followed, Acton's only concern was to find a way to feed himself, and in his body, the brave, fierce, and cruel Jurchen warrior gradually died, and the beggar charm was resurrected in him, and all the grassroots, wild vegetables, and rats that could fill his stomach were stuffed into his stomach, and the only thing he thought about was to find a way to live. Around him were more than forty defeated soldiers, who at first had four or five horses, but soon the horses were filling their bellies, and the only thing that the group of people who had escaped the crushing defeat now wanted was to live.

Acton reluctantly swallowed the last bit of the rhizome of the dragon head vegetable in his hand, he knew that this was not good, and he didn't know when he would find these delicious plants next time, but if he didn't eat them, he might be eaten by a companion who didn't know which one, so it was safest to swallow in his stomach. Acton was just about to stand up, when he suddenly saw a shaking in the grass not far away, and his movements immediately stopped, holding his breath, and staring cautiously at the roots of the grass.

I don't know how long it took, but Acton felt that almost a century had passed, and finally out of the grass came something yellow, it was a marmot, its fat and short trunk crushed the roots of the grass, it looked around with its short-sighted eyes, and made sure that there was no danger, so it lowered its head, and cut out the roots with its thick front paws, and began to eat.

"I haven't eaten meat in days!" Looking at the marmot's fat body, Acton secreted a large amount of saliva from his mouth, and he could almost feel the taste of meat. As a beggar, Acton knew how to pounce on this prey from the elders of the tribe while he was still babbling, and he drew the dagger from under his armpit with as slow as he could, the only weapon he had on him, and then he judged the direction of the wind and made sure that he was upwind - marmots had average vision, but their sense of smell and hearing was extremely acute, and he did not expect such a behemoth of himself to be able to avoid the ears of the other when he moved. Anyway, he was only a dozen steps away from the marmot, and he was still very sure of this distance.

Acton took a deep breath and flicked his wrist, and the marmot seemed to sense something at this moment, and jumped to the side, but it was too late. A sharp dagger pierced its abdomen, pinning it to the ground. Acton pounced, grabbed the little beast by the neck and twisted it so hard that the marmot stopped moving with a slight click.

Acton weighed the prey in his hand, the beast was fattened by the abundant food of the autumn grassland, and his fingertips could feel the fat under the fur, which weighed six pounds. Acton suppressed his ecstasy, lowered his head and searched the grass, and soon he found what he was looking for, a trail of a beast, which he followed for almost a mile, ending at a small mound about three feet above the ground. Acton snapped off a bush, marked the mound, and hurried back.

"Look what Acton brought back!" A Jurchen cheered, and around him, thirty or forty Jurchens, sitting or lying, saw the marmot in Acton's hand, and every man's eyes showed a greedy appetite.

"Peel this thing and clean it on the bubble, it stinks fast!" Acton threw the marmot on the ground and said in a commanding tone, "I need ten men now, who are dexterous and able to keep their mouths shut!" ”

"What tone are you talking to us? Begging charming? An angry voice came to mind in the crowd, Acton's eyes looked at the place where the voice came from, and saw an angry man standing up from the ground, Acton recognized the man's name as Naransagai, who belonged to Yehebe, and his ancestor seemed to be a man, and he looked down on himself most in the army on weekdays, and at this time he had obviously endured it for a long time. He turned his head, as if he didn't notice Nalan Sagai rushing towards him at all, and said to everyone: "This thing always lives in groups with holes, there are seven or eight in a litter, there should be a lot of grass roots and grass seeds in the cave this season, I have found the nest, if it goes well, everyone can at least ten more days of food, and fur is also useful!" ”

Hearing Actun say that there were more marmots, the crowd suddenly stirred, most of these people were selected from the noble children of the Haixi and Jianzhou Jurchens, although they were skilled in martial arts, riding and shooting, and hunting, but most of them were deer, roe deer, bears, wild boars and other big prey, such as marmots, which were usually only caught by the poor, but they had never been hunted. Now on the prairie, there are no horses, and my eyes are green from hunger. I heard that you can get meat, where can you care about what beggars are charming and not begging charming. (To be continued.) )