When Hong Chengchou returned to his camp, it was already dark, and the accident on the hillside made him physically and mentally tired, but he couldn't sleep at all. The sound of shouts of slaughter and arrows flying overhead still echoed in his ears, and he bowed his head in weariness.

"Sir!" There was the delicate voice of the scholar Yumo in his ears, and two pairs of weak and boneless hands reached out to his temples to massage Hong Chengchou, and soon he felt that his tense nerves were gradually relieved. Hong Chengchou's head rested on the back of the seat, and his breathing became smooth and even. Seeing him like this, Yumo slowly slid his hands towards Hong Chengchou's neck, shoulders, and ****.

"So be it!" Hong Chengchou stretched out his hand and pressed Yumo's hand, and said in a low voice: "I'm a little tired today, you go outside, don't disturb me if you don't have anything important!" “

"Yes, sir!" Yumo withdrew his hand, with a hint of resentment in his tone. Like many scholars in the late Ming Dynasty, Hong Chengchou was also a man. Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang set the rule, officials are not allowed to bring their wives to office, and prohibits officials from prostitution, although the second rule has become a dead letter later, but after all, it will also become the target of political opponents, and it is inconvenient to travel with women in ancient conditions, so male sex has become the choice of many Confucian scholars to vent their desires, and over time, male sex has also become a characteristic of the upper class society at that time. Hong Chengchou is no exception, he also has an inexplicable relationship with the scholar Yumo, but at this time he is really not in the mood to think about these things.

Hong Chengchou lay down in bed, and soon fatigue overwhelmed him, but he did not sleep peacefully, the war did not go well, the moodiness of the Son of Heaven, and the attacks of political enemies did not let him go in his sleep. Hong Chengchou's mouth kept opening and closing, as if he was defending himself. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, only to realize that it was just a dream of Nan Ke. Hong Chengchou wiped the cold sweat on his forehead and found that the voice he heard in the dream was not illusory, but came in from outside.

"There's a military intelligence!"

"Your Excellency just fell asleep. Something to make him wait! “

"Please be accommodating, it's an urgent military situation, and there is a thief in the valley who sent an envoy to surrender to the imperial court!"

"Hmph, my lord worked hard last night, and he just fell asleep, a group of thieves, what are he afraid of?"

Hong Chengchou Huo jumped off the couch, walked out of the door barefoot, and shouted, "What's the matter?" Where are the people? ”

Seeing Hong Chengchou walking out barefoot, the Chinese officer hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, "Disturb the rest of the adults." The villain deserves death! People are out there. ”

"That's it, bring him in right now!"

"Sir, put on your shoes!" Yumo took the shoes out of it and was about to put them on for Hong Chengchou, but Hong Chengchou snorted coldly, kicked them down, and said in a deep voice: "If you let me see the next time, don't blame me for not being emotional!" ”

Jiao Haoyun knelt on the ground, his forehead pressed against the ground. It was the first time he had met a high-ranking civil official like Hong Chengchou, and the nervousness made his body tremble slightly unconsciously, and he tried his best to show composure, but it backfired. Not only did his body tremble, but even his teeth involuntarily fought.

"Are you Jiao good luck, look up!"

Hearing this majestic voice, Jiao Haoyun hurriedly raised his head. Seeing a middle-aged man in a moon-white shirt looking at him majestically, he hurriedly kowtowed again and said, "Villain, villain is Jiao Haoyun!" “

Hong Chengchou looked Jiao Haoyun who was kneeling on the ground up and down. He could vaguely recall that the other party was a member of his own sentry not long ago, and he coughed in a low voice to make his voice softer: "Mr. Jiao, you will recount the events in the thief camp, be careful!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Jiao Haoyun paused slightly, so as to brew the language, and then he was captured after his break, and escorted to the tent for trial, Cao Cao gave himself wine and meat to eat, revealing that he wanted to surrender, and he persuaded him, Cao Cao expressed his willingness to surrender, and let himself contact Hong Chengchou This series of things are explained one by one, and in the end, he took out the blood-stained rag from his arms and handed it over. Hong Chengchou took it and looked at it casually, put it aside, asked a few words about Cao Cao's appearance and dress, and finally asked, "How is the furnishings in the thief's tent?" ”

"Tell your lord that the thief's tent is covered with animal skins, the utensils are exquisite, and there are several beautiful women waiting for him, and he also said that if your lord is willing to accept his surrender and keep his furniture, he will definitely give a generous gift."

"Generous gift!" The corners of Hong Chengchou's mouth showed a sneer of disdain: "If he is willing to surrender to the imperial court, he will naturally not be blamed for the past, and who will touch his furniture!" Speaking of this, Hong Chengchou stood up, paced back and forth in the tent a few times, and suddenly asked, "That guy said that his people were on duty in the east valley tonight?" ”

"Exactly! He also made a pact with the villain to call a torch and a crow! “

"Well, well, then you can go back tonight and tell the thief leader that the official has promised him, but a rag is not enough, he has to do something as a proof."

"Yes, sir!" Jiao Haoyun kowtowed: "But what is it?" “

"Set fire to the granary!" Hong Chengchou's voice suddenly became cold and hard, just like the half of the mixed bread in Jiao Haoyun's arms: "Then the inside and the outside should be together, and together they will break the thief, and I will promote him to be the general of the right battalion of Ningxia Town!" ”

"Yes, sir!"

The night was already deep, the bright moon was hanging high, shining on the grass at the mouth of the valley in the east, and Jiao Haoyun could see a few fires not far away, which were the sentry posts of the thieves at the mouth of the valley and the watchtowers on the slopes on both sides. He took a deep breath, took the sheepskin from the lantern, lifted it high and spun it three times, and learned the crow to crow three times, but there was no movement on the other side. Jiao Haoyun couldn't help but be a little anxious, and he was about to do the same again, when three crows were heard from the high left side, and then the firelight also turned around three times.

"Great!" Jiao Haoyun excitedly put down the lantern, ran towards the valley mouth quickly, and when he walked to a place about thirty steps away, he saw four or five men with torches running over, and shouted in a low voice: "It's Lord Jiao?" ”

"It's me!" Jiao Haoyun responded.

"Great!" After confirming that it was Jiao Hao's luck, the tone of the person who came immediately became affectionate: "It's finally time for you, come with me, there are trenches and traps here, don't hurt you!" As he spoke, the man led Jiao Haoyun around several traps and came to a trench, where he whistled. The sergeant on the opposite side placed a bamboo ladder on the trench, and Jiao Haoyun carefully crossed the trench, and then the bamboo ladder was put away. And they used the ramparts of earth on the ladder. Jiao Haoyun smiled: "You guys are very guarded here. ”

"You're always smiling!" The man smiled and used a torch to light the way in front of Jiao Haoyun: "I won't tell you the truth, I used to be a border soldier guarding Fengsui in Ningxia, and I dealt with the captives all day long. “

"The border soldiers guarding the beacon?" Jiao Haoyun was stunned when he heard this, this beacon is the beacon tower, and in the border defense system of the Ming army, the beacon is the defense base of the first line. It is different from the military towns of Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, and Datong Town, which are close to the imperial capital Beijing. The town of Ningxia, located on the northwestern border, had far fewer resources and could not form a continuous wall between the beacons on the first line. The soldiers guarding the beacon were actually in a state of isolation, and their hardships and endurance were counted in the army.

"Then why do you want to be a thief?" As soon as Jiao Haoyun's words came out, he knew that he had said the wrong thing, and hurriedly explained: "That's not what I meant-"

The man didn't think it was wrong, and said with a smile: "What else can there be, Shangguan deducts food and salary, he really can't stand it, either he will be a thief or starve to death." Speaking of this, he sighed: "It would be best if Lord Hong could forgive me and other sins." ”

Hear the other person's answer. Jiao Haoyun remained silent, and the group walked in silence for a while, and the man stopped, pointed to the tent with light not far away, and said, "Please." The big boss is inside! ”

When Jiao Haoyun walked into the tent, Cao Cao was holding the two women, drinking and having fun, while Li Guo sat on the side. There was still a slight embarrassment on his face. Seeing Jiao Haoyun coming in, Cao Cao pushed away a girl and said with a smile: "Go over." Have a drink with Brother Jiao! ”

The woman walked over with a twist, holding a wine glass in her hand, where did Jiao Haoyun have the heart to drink for fun at this time, he lowered his voice and said: "Big boss, I will drink the wine later, I have something important here!" ”

Cao Cao was a little interested by Jiao Haoyun's words, and he slapped the ass of the woman next to him twice: "Get out, get out of here!" There were only three people left in the tent, Cao Cao, Li Guo, and Jiao Haoyun, he coughed lowly and asked, "Brother Jiao, have you brought my words to Lord Hong?" “

"Hmm!" Jiao Haoyun nodded: "Lord Hong has already agreed to you, but there is one condition!" “

"On what terms?" Cao Cao's eyes showed a fierce light: "Do you want me to kill someone?" No problem, except for my brother, I can get the head of anyone in the valley for Lord Hong! “

"No, it's burning the granary! Lord Hong wants you to burn down the granary in the grain to make a vote! “

"Burn down the granary?" Cao Cao and Li Guo glanced at each other, and saw each other's fear from each other's eyes, Hong Chengchou's request can be said to have grasped the key point of the peasant army, in order to coax the officials and soldiers to be fooled, Cao Cao would not mind taking the head of a certain small boss as bait, but the granary is another matter, in the northwest of Chongzhen's five years, food is life, no, food is more important than life.

"Please go back and tell Lord Hong, it's not impossible to burn the granary, but you have to work together with the inside and outside, and the officials and soldiers must also do their best!" Cao Cao's speech was very slow, almost word by word: "Otherwise, everyone has no food, and they will definitely have to fight with me, and adults don't want to fight with more than 10,000 thieves who have no way out, right?" “

"That's nature!" Jiao Haoyun said in a deep voice: "Raise the fire as a number, the inside should be combined with the outside!" “

"Okay, then it's a deal!" Cao Cao threw the wine glass in his hand to the ground, and the wine glass fell on the thick animal skin on the ground, rolled twice and stopped.

Hong Chengchou tried his best to keep his eyes open, observing the enemy ramparts at the mouth of the valley in the distance. Although he was a civilian official, his experience over the past few years had allowed him to accumulate considerable military experience, and he did not put the agreed time at night, so as to avoid all kinds of accidents caused by night operations, and secondly, to catch all the thieves. The time was getting closer and closer to the appointed hour, but the smoke did not rise, only the crows hovering in the open space in front of the barricade at the mouth of the valley, the hoarse noise, the diners of the battlefield fighting each other, screaming and chasing each other, for the corpses left behind by the battle seven or eight days earlier. A thought suddenly flashed in Hong Chengchou's heart: "The only victor in the war is this group of unlucky birds, right?" “

Just when Hong Chengchou had lost his last patience, a red flag suddenly rose on the barrier watchtower at the mouth of the valley, and almost at the same time, a thick smoke also rose in the valley, Hong Chengchou could even clearly see the rising flames, he turned around sharply and said in a deep voice: "Lord He, send troops!" ”

"Yes, sir!" He Huchen, the deputy chief soldier of Yansui Town, bowed down to receive the order, and after Hong Chengchou replaced Yang He as the highest military commander of the Ming Dynasty in the northwest, he immediately transferred Du Wenhuan, who was most trusted by Yang He, to Ningxia, and the military generals of the northwest towns also noticed this attractive position, and He Huchen was one of the people closest to this position.

He Huchen's manpower is not large, about 500 people, which is a bit small compared to a deputy commander-in-chief. The reason is very simple, Hong Chengchou didn't really trust the leader of the thieves who was begging, in fact, he didn't believe anyone. The task he gave to He Huchen was also very simple: control Taniguchi, cover the successor army, and leave the rest to those traitors, anyway, the blood of traitors is worthless.

When He Huchen arrived at the mouth of the valley, the gate made of more than a dozen logs had been pushed open, and there were bursts of shouts of killing from the inside of the wall, and Li Guo was greeted at the door with his whole armor in his body. He Huchen vigilantly looked at the thieves inside the lower city gate: although only a few people were armoured, everyone in the first row had a round shield that was enough to protect their whole body, the shield was made of wicker, covered with dry cowhide, the people behind were armed with spears and axes, and on the left and right wings were archers in leather clothes, not so much begging as preparing to fight.

"Lao Tzu is He Huchen, the deputy chief soldier of Yansui Town, who are you, don't give way!" He Huchen's eyes showed a hint of murderous intent.

Li Guo was not overwhelmed by He Huchen's arrogance, and turned sideways to make a way: "Lord He, please come in!" ”

He Huchen glanced at Li Guo and made a gesture, and the Ming army behind him rushed in, but the thieves next to the gate still maintained a state of facing a great enemy, He Huchen snorted coldly, and said in a commanding tone: "The person who led you led the way in front!" (To be continued.) )