As soon as someone ran, everyone ran forward with a "bang", and the people lying on the ground also got up and ran, and the officer sat in the carriage and shouted: "Don't run around, gather in front." ”

Shi Suo was about to run with everyone, but Hu Bolt held him down, and no one cared about the two of them anymore, they turned down and watched the team run out of the woods in a while. Hu Shuan pulled the stone lock, and the two slowly shrank back in opposite directions.

Out of the woods, he stepped back step by step from the field, and for a moment he could not hear the sound of the army running in front of him, when the moon rose from the east, and shone brightly on all sides, and when he looked around, there was no human figure, and the wilderness was silent.

After discerning the direction, the two of them decided to go south along the main road, and Shi Suo suddenly remembered, "Just said to go south, now we are penniless, how to walk?" When I met an inn, I didn't have money to live in. ”

Hu Xuan thought about it, just now he only cared about escaping and getting out of danger, completely forgetting anything else, so he said to Shi Suo: "Then let's go back to the woods quietly to see, did they leave anything behind?" ”

The two cautiously sneaked back to the woods, the forest was empty and there was no figure, they only searched for a long time, but they didn't find anything, their baggage had already been snatched by them, and they couldn't find it back. I had to walk out of the woods a little dejected, and Hu Xuan said, "Let's go like this first, take one step at a time." Anyway, it's a blessing to get rid of these rotten soldiers. ”

After walking for a while, the two of them talked about the strange sound they heard just now, and they both felt very bizarre, Hu Xuan said: "It must not be a ghost, but a human voice, which was deliberately to scare these soldiers. ”

After walking forward for a long time, there was no shadow of the town in front of them, so the two of them found a melon shed in the field and slept all night.

2

The next day, before dawn, Hu Bolt and Shi Suo were awakened by a dull thunder, opened their eyes and looked at the sky, there seemed to be no sign of rain, and then listen carefully, the thunder rumbled and still sounded, but there were no dark clouds and lightning, Shi Suo said: "It is not thunder, it is the sound of cannons in the distance." ”

Hu Xuan was happy, "There is the sound of cannons, which means that the place of battle is not far away, and we are about to find the Southern Army." ”

The two got up, found some raw beans and corn in the field to satisfy their hunger, and then walked south along the road full of hope, asking the people all the way, but no one could tell where the battle was taking place, let alone where the southern army was and where the northern army was. The sound of the cannon was intermittent, sometimes mixed with gunfire. The two looked for the direction of the gunfire and walked for a long time, but did not hear any definite news.

"Don't worry," Hu Xuan encouraged Shi Suo, "the people only care about fleeing, and they will not distinguish between north, south, east and west, as long as we find the army, we can figure it out." ”

In a town far ahead, the two of them quickened their pace, and saw some people coming out of the town, helping the old and the young, looking panicked, and asked forward, saying that the soldiers were about to come, and an old man kindly persuaded the two people: "You should also hide quickly, don't go forward, there must be something urgent, wait for the soldiers to pass." ”

Walking into the town, it was empty, it was estimated that the people were about to flee, and a merchant with a flat burden came to meet him, and when he saw two people walking into the street, he shook his hand and said, "Run, the soldiers are coming." ”

Before he finished speaking, the dust in front of him was raised, there was a sound of horses' hooves, and a group of horses rushed over, all wearing military uniforms and hats, the horses ran fast, and after a while they came to the front, the merchant threw down his burden, jumped off the road and ran into the field, several cavalrymen ran to Hu Bolt and Shi Suo, a big man pointed at Hu Bolt with a horse whip, and smiled at the soldiers behind him: "There are two young ones here, quickly take them and send them to the platoon commander." ”

Hu Xuan asked the cavalry, "Are you the Southern Army?" ”

The big man glared and said, "How about we are the Southern Army, you carry this burden and follow us." He pointed to the burden that the merchant had thrown down with his horsewhip.

Hearing that it was the Southern Army, Hu Xuan was happy for a while, and he couldn't ask for it when he went with them, but it was a little inappropriate to carry the burden of the merchant, and he said to the big man: "This burden belongs to the merchant, and we can't take other people's things." ”

The big man of the "horn" slammed the bolt with a horsewhip, and the bolt was caught off guard, and was being whipped on the shoulder, and the big man scolded: "** is a lot, go quickly." ”

"I want to see your sir." Hu Xuan shouted angrily.

"Less nonsense," said the big man, with his whip raised, and the rest of the horsemen laughing, and one of them said, "all right, take up your load, and come with us to the chief." ”

Seeing that he couldn't reason with these soldiers, Hu Xuan thought that it would be better not to eat the immediate losses first, so he picked up the burden, and a small cavalry led two people into the town, and the remaining few people drove their horses and continued to run forward.

When I entered the street, I saw some horses tied to the trees in the street, and some soldiers walking around the street, as if they had just arrived. The little cavalryman walked to an ancestral hall with a bolt and a stone lock, handed the two to a small soldier, and said, "Newly captured, give it to the platoon commander to see." ”

The little soldier led the two into the ancestral hall, and a fat soldier in the courtyard was washing his face, and the little man reported: "Platoon commander, grab two." ”

Hu Xuan stepped forward and said to the soldier who washed his face: "No, we came to join the army of our own accord, defected to the Southern Army, and followed Mr. Sun." ”

The fat platoon leader raised his head, wiped his face with a towel, looked at the two people, and suddenly scolded: "Fucking can talk, come automatically, did you take the wrong medicine?" ”

Hu Xuan was stunned for a moment and said: "I am a student in Tianjin, and I really heard that Mr. Sun launched the Dharma Protection Movement and came to join the army, and he has come here from Tianjin. ”

The platoon commander frowned, "In this way, students, oh, I see, you polite students will sell your mouths, and you are not as good as the common people." You report to the recruit class. ”

The little soldier said, "Follow me." He led two people out of the ancestral hall and down the street to a large courtyard, where there were soldiers and a few people who looked like ordinary people, sitting or standing under the wall. The little soldier said a few words to a bald soldier, and the bald man looked sideways at the bolt and the stone lock, and said, "Register." ”

After a while, someone sent a bunch of military uniforms, Hu Bolt led, and put the military uniforms on, two people still didn't want to wear them, and the bald head came to them "Bang" is a kick, "** don't wear it?" ”

After putting on his military uniform, he was led out of the courtyard by the bald soldier, saying that he was going to "carry things." Shi Suo whispered to Hu Xuan: "This is the army we want to vote for?" No, don't you say that they are the saviors of China? ”

"Maybe some people are rude, they won't all be like that." Hu Xuan hesitated.

The so-called "moving things", Hu Bolt thought it was military supplies, but it turned out to be smashing open the doors of the people's homes and robbing the food and property left by the people at home, this time, Hu Bolt was a little confused, he ignored the order of the bald soldier who led the leader, and plucked up the courage to say to him: "This is not good, we are robbing the people ......" Before the words were finished, the bald head slapped Hu Bolt with a slap in the face. Shi Suo saw it next to him, but he couldn't see it, so he jumped over, grabbed the bald man's wrist with a horizontal eyebrow, and was about to hit him. Hu Xuan hurriedly pulled the stone lock, and the bald head saw that someone was resisting, and shouted: "Someone." ”

A few soldiers ran in from outside, and when they saw that the bald head was grabbed by the arm, they rushed over, so they twisted the stone lock, and shouted beside him: "Don't move, this is what I caused, and something is coming at me." ”

There was a commotion here, and the little soldier ran up from outside and said to the bald head: "Squad leader, there is an order from above, and the director of the headquarters is here to give a lecture, so let's gather quickly." ”

When the bald head heard this, he said to Shi Suo and Hu Shu: "I'll settle accounts with you later." Gather. ”

A group of soldiers ran out in a mess, according to the orders of the squad and platoon leaders, ran to an open field, and were shouted by the officers on duty to gather with passwords, Hu Xuan looked at it, it is estimated that there are 1,800 people, probably about the strength of a regiment, these soldiers have new recruits and veterans, and there are many obviously newly captured civilians, who do not understand any orders, passwords and the like, and are like a pot of porridge in a mess.

For a long time, the sound of passwords and scolding sounded in the empty field, and the soldiers were barely lined up, Hu Xuan looked at these soldiers with sad faces, and there was an indescribable feeling in his heart.

After waiting for a while, from outside the empty field, a group of officers entered, and at the front was a thin officer with eyes, and behind him was a group of tall and short officers in straight uniforms, these people were brightly dressed, full of spirit, and shiny riding boots, which were inversely proportional to the group of soldiers who were standing in a mess.

The thin officer with glasses stood at the front of the line, slowly took off the white gloves in his hands, looked up at the air, and said slowly, "Brothers. ”

An officer next to him shouted, "Stand up." ”

There was a commotion on the field, some soldiers stood upright, some were at a loss, the officer raised his hand, and continued: "Brother is ordered by Commander Yang to give you a lecture to the regiment, your regiment commander is Commander Yang's old subordinates, your regiment is also our main regiment, this time, we were ordered to sweep Duan Qirui Feng Guozhang's Beiyang Army, you are all pillars of the country, you all have to show desperate courage to unify the country, everyone is a hero." ”

Although the thin officer was thin, his voice was quite loud, and after a while, he said things like "obey orders, and soldiers take loyalty and obedience as their duty", and sometimes make a few words of literary language, and the soldiers on the field were standing crookedly, and they were a little dizzy from the sun, like a pile of frosted eggplants.