After throwing the spear, Totobuka did not draw his sword, but replaced it with a seven-leaf hammer, a short-handled weapon about a meter long, with a sharp tip and a heavy steel blade, enough to shatter bones and tear armor. Tokhoff Buhua hammered the seven leaves on his head twice, and smashed the head of a thief who had just gotten up from the ground, and then was satisfied to see the head shatter like a melon that fell to the ground.

The silence of the night camp was broken by the sound of rumbling horses' hooves, and the Mongol cavalry who rushed into the camp brandished their weapons, some pulled out the burning branches of the campfire and threw them at the thieves, and the attackers let out inhuman screams, some rose up to resist, but many more simply fled aimlessly, and the attackers effortlessly caught up with them and cut them down from behind

Tian Mishu did not participate in the battle, he stood aside from the beginning, staring at the scene in front of him in amazement, the figure swaying in the firelight, and occasionally the flash of iron armor and weapons could be seen. Suddenly there was a terrible neighing of horses in the darkness, and then he saw a carriage rushing towards him, it must have been some daring thief who had snatched a carriage and tried to escape, but the hay on his carriage was set on fire, and the carriage became a live target under the firelight, and arrows flew from all sides, and soon the carriage was seven or eight paces away from Tamihide and fell into the deep ditch by the roadside. He hurriedly ran over, only to see that the bold coachman was already lying on the ground, more than a dozen feather arrows made him look like a broken pocket, blood was pouring out of the wound, and a right leg was pressed under the wheel, it was not difficult to see that it was no longer good, and when he saw Tian Jianxiu, he smiled strangely: "Is there any wine?" Give the mouth bar! ”

"No wine, just water!" Tamihide took out the skin bag from his waist. Handed it over. The dying man tried to reach out to take it, but his hand could not be lifted, so he finally tried to raise his neck so that Tamihide could pour water into his mouth. Tami-su bent down, pulled out the stopper, and collapsed. The thief's throat squirmed rapidly, but most of the water still ran down his cheeks, washing the blood away from his face, revealing a straight face.

When the water was poured, the thief licked the remaining droplets on his chin with his tongue: "It's so good, if it's wine, it's even better, I want to take a sip of wine!" ”

"No wine." The thief on the ground: "What else can I do for you?" “

"Be merciful!" The thief pointed to his chest: "Pierce it from here, neatly!" ”

Tian Mixiu didn't speak, he pulled out the dagger from his waist. Carefully aimed at the thief's heart, the deceased convulsed and died. Tian Jianxiu pulled out the dagger and wiped it on the deceased's sleeve before the blood stained was dry. He touched the corpse, and the only thing he found was a dozen copper plates and a few small pieces of silver, which he tucked into his waist.

By this time the battle was over, and in fact it should be called a one-sided massacre, in which a third of the thieves in the rationing squad were killed, and the rest were captured. The attackers triumphantly searched for loot on corpses and captives. Sometimes they even quarreled over the fight, but there was no fight. At this time, it is not spent back. Behind him were three more captives.

"Listen up, I will ask you anything later, you will say anything, if there is half a truth!" Totobuhua pointed at Tian Jianxiu and said: "This is your senior, I stripped you all naked and tied them to a tree, and let the wolves gnaw you alive!" ”

As if to confirm the effectiveness of detachment without threatening flowers. There was a wolf howl in the darkness in the distance, which was not too loud compared to the noise around them, but it was full of hunger and thirst and thirst for flesh, and the three thieves trembled violently.

"We'll be telling the truth!"

"That's good!" Totobu laughed. He began to ask which group of thieves this grain brigade belonged to, where their old camp was, how many men and horses there were, how much grain was stored in the camp, what was the surrounding geographical environment, how well the fortifications of the old camp were repaired, and many other questions. When he finally got an answer, he motioned for his men to take the thief away, and fell silent. Tian Jianxiu, who was on the side, was about to retreat when he saw this, but was stopped.

"Jianxiu, are you familiar with the two people of Ge Liyan and Lao Huihui?"

Tian Jianxiu saw that he asked about the two leaders of the grain team, and hurriedly bowed down and replied: "Lao Hui's surname is Ma, his name is Shouying, he is a native of Suide, Shaanxi, and because he is a Huizi, he has this nickname." He used to be a border soldier, the earliest of the uprising, he was a deserter during the Apocalypse, although the number of his subordinates was not large, but most of them were border soldiers, or they were Huizi and Tartars, good at riding and shooting, the armor was complete, and he was top-notch among the thieves, this guy had the best relationship with Cao Cao on weekdays, I don't know why he didn't camp with Cao Cao. “

Toktoku Buhua saw that Tian Jianxiu answered in great detail, nodded with satisfaction, and asked, "What about the Grim Eye?" ”

"Ge Li knew that his name was He Yilong, he was originally He Renlong's brother, because he violated the military order, he was going to be beheaded by He Renlong, and when he saw that the situation was not good, he escaped and set up a battalion on his own!"

"What does that mean?"

Tian Jianxiu smiled slightly, and said: "My lord, you don't know, the mouse in our official land is called Geli, this mouse can see closely, and you can't see clearly a few feet away." Naga Yilong was born short-sighted, and he couldn't see clearly when he was a little farther away, hence this nickname! ”

"That's a thief!" Tokhova laughed, a look of disdain on his face.

"My lord, you don't know, although this He Yilong has bad eyes, but he is very fatal in fighting, Lao Hui Hui's army is very strict, and Ge Liyan fights hard, and he is outstanding among the thieves."

"What about that Cao Cao?" Tokhoff asked, "I heard that Lord Hong suffered at his hands. ”

"My lord, Cao Cao also has a nickname called Liuliqiu, and he is the most treacherous. But although this man is cunning, he also has a benefit, he is very righteous towards his brothers, and the leaders of all families are willing to join forces with him! ”

"So, this Cao Cao is the leader of the thieves?" Tokh Buhua sneered, he called one of his subordinates, asked him to restrain the soldiers to rest, and took two prisoners and Tian Jianxiu to the old camp.

After Liu Cheng left Huanxian, he left Xu Xianming to lay down an empty line there, and he led the main force to the northeast and set up an old camp in a small village called Pingyuan Village at the western foot of Taibai Mountain. He did not rush to the west, but sent a small group of rangers. Kill the thieves' outposts and food teams, and wait for the fighters. As time passed, the food in the army became less and less, and Liu Cheng became more and more anxious. At this moment, the detachment did not come back.

After informing Liu Cheng of the strength and location of the camp where Ge Liyan and Lao Hui had attacked, he suggested taking advantage of the fact that the enemy had not yet discovered the approach of the official army. Swift dispatch of troops to raid. Liu Cheng was overjoyed in his heart, patted his shoulder, and said with a smile: "Okay, I didn't expect you to make a great contribution just after your injury, you are really my blessing!" ”

"I am willing to die for my lords!" Tokh didn't spend any effort to hide his joy, the months when he was recuperating on the couch were the months when Liu Chengfei was Huang Tengda, and he saw the rest of his colleagues follow the chicken dog to heaven, but he stood still. The heart of detachment and non-flowering is like a hundred claws scratching the heart, and seeing that there is another opportunity to catch up with meritorious service, it is really an indescribable joy.

"The thief camp is not afraid!" Liu Cheng paced in the house while muttering to himself: "I have rockets and birds, even if the thief camp is strong, it is not difficult to break through, but it is necessary to wipe out the head of the canal, which can be regarded as a complete achievement!" ”

"Your Excellency. We have cavalry, and thieves can't escape! Totoku said with a smile.

"Not bad!" Liu Cheng nodded. He thought to himself that although the situation of the other bandits was not very clear, just as carnivores had their own predation ranges, these thieves would generally keep two to three days of travel with each other in order to obtain sufficient supplies, unless there were strong officers and soldiers pressing the territory. As long as you fight quickly, you don't have to worry about supporting each other.

"And how many troops do you think it will take to defeat the thieves?" Liu Cheng asked Du Guoying, who had just arrived.

"Two squadrons, plus cavalry are enough!" Du Guoying replied confidently: "We have complete armor and firearms, and there may not be one of the ten thieves who has armor." There are not enough bows and arrows, and we will take advantage of the three of them by beating them alone! ”

(The first level of infantry is the largest first-level tactical unit in Liu Chengxi's team, usually composed of 400 soldiers and 100 to 50 supplementary soldiers who undertake miscellaneous duties.) The replenishment took care of the livestock and wagons while marching and camping, and the baggage of the soldiers when they went into battle, making up for the shortages of the soldiers when necessary. The spearmen were divided into spearmen, archers, and jumpers, the ratio was usually 5:4:1, and the spearmen had helmets with nose guards, cloth iron armor to protect the whole body, twelve-foot spears, the front end of the spear had a foot-long leaf-like blade, and a one-and-a-half-foot-long iron sleeve to prevent the enemy from cutting off the spear, and the end was an iron spike, which could be fixed by inserting the iron nails at the end into the dirt to resist the enemy's cavalry charge; Second, when the spear is broken, it can be turned around and used as a spear head. The archery team is equipped with leather hats, sleeveless leather armor, bird guns and tendon angle step bows, Liu Cheng did not let the shooting team use all bird guns - because on the battlefield, the rate of fire of arquebuses is good for one shot a minute, and sometimes it is slower, and an ordinary foot archer can shoot four to five arrows a minute, so Liu Cheng mixed bird guns and foot archers in the shooting team according to the ratio of six to four, the former piercing armor, and the latter making up for the lack of fire rate of the former. As for the rib and angle compound bow, from the perspective of modern mechanics, the ancient rib and angle compound bow is actually a laminated structure, which accumulates energy through bending and deformation and transmits it to the arrow to kill the enemy when released, in order to achieve the best energy storage effect, this laminated structure has different physical properties for the inner and outer laminates of the bow arm, and its compressive performance is required for the inner side of the bow arm; In order to achieve this special mechanical requirement, ancient bow makers usually used horn pieces on the inside of the bow arm, and animal infrastructure on the outside, and glued it to the bow tire made of tough wood with animal glue made of fish bladder and fish skin. The performance of a bow largely depends on the quality of the horns and animal tendons, so in ancient times, high-quality tendons and horns were a strategic material necessary for the manufacture of weapons, and due to the trade with the Mongols, Liu Chengjun's bow workshop had an abundant supply of tendons and horns, and the bows made were naturally better than ordinary bows and arrows. The jumping team is composed of brave and skilled warriors selected by Liu Cheng from the army, and their military pay is twice that of other teams, and they do not need to undertake duties in the camp on weekdays. They wore plate cuirasses, iron helmets with face protection, iron gloves with locks, skirts, shins, and iron boots, and used two-handed battle axes, two-handed swords, iron maces, and heavy weapons in the flail. ）

"Two less teams!" Liu Cheng laughed: "I'll give you three teams, but if the thieves don't come out of the stockade, don't attack it, wait until I arrive with the old camp, and attack the camp with rockets!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Du Guoying bowed down to receive the order.

In this way, Liu Cheng asked Totobuhua and Gesang to lead 400 cavalry to set off quickly, and Du Guoying led three teams to set off later. Liu Cheng himself sent a document to the other Ming troops, asking them to guard the defense area separately to prevent the thieves from escaping. After lunch, Liu Chengcai set off with the last team with the old battalion and baggage, chased the army in front, and prepared to personally supervise the battle.

On September 23, Lao Hui came back very early, although he was a Hui/Min, but he had already been assimilated by the Han people at that time (in fact, China's ancient Yi \ Lan religion has always followed the path of Confucianism and Hui interpretation, that is, to use Confucian creed and words to explain the Yi \ Lan doctrine, that is, the old religion, and the more organized and aggressive Protestantism imported from the outside was only in the middle of the Qing Dynasty), there is no difference from the Han people in terms of food and customs, but it retains the habit of praying and kneeling five times a day. After kneeling and praying, he went to the front and back gates of the camp to check whether the guards were slack. When he saw that everything was fine, he casually asked: "Have all the brothers who went out to gather food have returned?" ”

The little leader guarding the door replied: "Big leader, Hu Wang's team also came back last night, and Wu Chunke's team is left, maybe something happened on the road." “

"Wu Chunke hasn't come back yet?" Lao Huihui's brows habitually wrinkled, he had a long face, his cheekbones were prominent, his eyebrows were thick and dense, and there were few smiles on his face on weekdays, and this time he looked even more scared, he wrenched his fingers: "It's been five days since the day of departure, shouldn't it be that I met officers and soldiers?" Anything else that hasn't come back? (To be continued.) )