Zhou Hao told Chen Hong everything he saw last night, and said: "This group of bandits is from Yuanjiazhai, and they are going to attack us today when we set off." ”

When Zhou Hao said this, he also regretted it, blaming himself for being too naïve, Cheng Yue could very well suspect that he was avenging yesterday's provocation in the martial arts field and eradicating dissent.

In fact, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, the peasant uprising was surging, the local gentry colluded with the local tyrants and bullies, and all kinds of small forces divided one side to form a large and small party force, the big one was a city, and the small one was a cottage, attacking and annexing each other.

Cheng Yue pondered for a moment and said: "Yuanjiazhai is a force founded by Yuan Gang in Jianghuai Shuihuashan, I understand that Chen Hong is not a traitor sent by Yuanjiazhai, but wants to swallow this salt by himself when our side and Yuanjiazhai are fighting today." ”

Cheng Yue didn't see Chen Hong colluding with foreign thieves with his own eyes, but the incident had already happened, there was no evidence to do an investigation, and there was no time, if this was the case, it was more important to protect the salt dart today than anything else.

I don't know if Cheng Yuecheng is deep or if he doesn't have the slightest suspicion at all, Zhou Hao tentatively said: "Cheng Zongbing, what you said below is true, if there is half a sentence of panic, ......

Zhou Hao was about to swear, but Cheng Yue stopped and said: "Brother Zhou, I believe in you, but I am afraid that the soldiers under Chen Hong in the army will cause internal commotion. ”

This so-called army is actually formed by the merger of various forces in the rivers and lakes, most of them are reckless, pay attention to the righteousness of the rivers and lakes, and have a poor sense of army organization.

Zhou Hao obviously didn't expect things to be so complicated, he just thought about getting rid of Chen Hong, but he didn't expect the consequences of the matter, if the people under the original Chen Hong attacked him, it was really possible to be divided by ten thousand knives, and now he can only blame himself for being too angry.

Cheng Yue quickly thought about how to settle this matter, and more importantly, to keep this salt dart today.

Soon, there was a commotion in the courtyard, and sure enough, it was Chen Hong's soldiers, who asked Cheng Yue to tell them how Chen Hong died and who killed him.

Zhou Hao couldn't sit still any longer, got up and said to Cheng Yue: "Why don't I go and explain the truth of the matter to them, and I will bear all the responsibility." ”

Cheng Yue hurriedly motioned for Zhou Hao to sit down, and said, "Not only will they not listen to you, but they will rebel en masse, and then the strength of the army will be greatly weakened, and Brother Zhou may also be in danger of his life." ”

Zhou Hao was about to speak, Cheng Yue got up and walked out of the house, and said to the sergeant who was coaxing in the courtyard: "Brothers, don't mess up, listen to me, last night several thieves came to rob the salt, was found by General Chen, and started a fight with the bandits, although the bandits were killed, General Chen was also seriously injured, and when he returned to the house, he was already dying, he said to me when he left, if you want to avenge him, kill the thief today." ”

"Where are the bandits?"

Cheng Yue said: "It's Yuan Jiazhai, today Yuan Jiazhai will lead troops to rob this salt dart, hoping that everyone will fight to kill the thief and avenge General Cheng." ”

Zhou Hao secretly thought to himself in the house, Cheng Yue was really an old Jianghu, which not only explained the cause of Chen Hong's death reasonably, but also transferred the anger of the soldiers to the bandits.

After a while, Cheng Yue entered the house and said to Zhou Hao: "Time is very tight, today the salt dart must set off, in this way, you pretend to be a salt dart to lure the thieves of Yuanjiazhai away, we do not know, ghosts will transport the salt out of the city, if the thieves come to rob, first Brother Zhou and several brothers alone for a moment, once out of Huai'an, I will let a small number of people carry the salt dart first, I will lead the main force to come with Brother Zhou to completely exterminate the thieves." ”

Zhou Hao pondered for a moment, with his own martial arts, it was no problem to block alone for a moment, and then said: "Okay, when you lead your troops to support, can those people keep the salt dart?" ”

Cheng Yue said: "Brother Zhou, don't worry, I have my own way to do this, how many people does Brother Zhou need?" ”

Zhou Hao said: "Give me fifty people, and I can support it for a while." ”

Cheng Yue said: "Okay, I'll give you fifty people, you only drag it out for a moment, and I will lead the troops to the rescue." ”

Zhou Hao smiled and said, "Brother Cheng, don't worry." ”

All the salt was loaded, Zhou Hao led about 50 men and horses, waving dart flags, plus some mules and packs pretending to be salt curtains to set off along the original route in advance to attract the attention of the thieves, while Cheng Yue and Qian San, Wei Qingshu and Shen Tao walked along the path as ordinary traveling merchants.

Along the way, Zhou Hao and Liu Xiong, a hundred presidents, began to discuss ways to deal with thieves.

Zhou Hao is both nervous and excited, arranging troops to fight is his favorite, this is also the first time he has led troops to fight in ancient times, and it can be regarded as a war addiction.

There are hundreds of people on the other side, and there are more than fifty people on his own side, to win more with less, Zhou Hao couldn't help but think hard, and all kinds of examples of battles that he could think of flashed in his mind.

By noon, the troops had begun to set off. Zhou Hao hid his box in a cave, which was very hidden and extremely difficult to find, Zhou Hao was afraid that once it fell into the hands of the bandits, it would be over, and it was best to hide it, only bringing a pistol for self-defense.

In front of it were undulating hills, but the mountains were very low and gently curved, except that the top of the hill was surrounded by a walled fort.

Zhou Hao couldn't help but be a little strange, and asked Liu Xiong: "Brother Liu, what's the use of building some castles on the top of the mountain here?" ”

Liu Xiong said: "At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the world was in turmoil, the homeless people and thieves were everywhere, some bandits built a castle according to the mountain, the officers and soldiers were not easy to attack, and some villages built a castle on the nearby mountain, the fort generally has food and water, etc., as well as stones to attack the enemy, etc., once there are robbers, the whole village will gather in the fort. ”

Zhou Haoling said excitedly: "So that's the case, is there an empty fort?" ”

Liu Xiong said: "There are many empty forts, some cottages are destroyed by officers and soldiers, and they leave empty forts, and some are temporary defenses, and then they are useless." ”

Zhou Hao was overjoyed and said: "Order all the soldiers and the 'dart salt' to be ready to move to the mountain fort at any time, condescendingly, and attack the enemy." ”

The hill ahead is steeper, and a huge castle rises at the top.

Zhou Hao is an expert in observing terrain operations.

The steep mountain is easy to defend and difficult to defend, making it an ideal location to strike at the enemy.

The soldier said: "This is the castle of Qingfeng Village, in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Qingfeng Village was exterminated by officers and soldiers, leaving this castle." ”

Zhou Hao ordered a guard to come forward to inquire about the environment, and after a while, the guard came down the mountain to report, there was no one inside, but there were some stones, giant logs and the like.

In the afternoon, all the guards gathered at the foot of the hill under the mountain fort, and the boulders of the hill were ready to wait for the enemy.

After a while, sure enough, a cavalry galloped towards Zhou Hao's side.

Zhou Hao said: "Everyone prepare, the enemy is coming." ”

Sure enough, the group of thieves drove towards the front of the mountain where Zhou Hao was.

Zhou Hao gave an order, and all the soldiers rushed into the mountain fort.

The bandits quickly attacked the mountain fort.

"Put the stones!"

With Zhou Hao's order, the boulder rolled down from the hilltop castle.

Zhou Hao stood on the lookout of the castle, only to see the thieves see the boulder rolling down, they all avoided, and those who were hit by the boulder rolled down the mountain with screams.

In a moment, there were more and more people on the hillside, but there were fewer and fewer boulders and rolling logs.

Zhou Hao was shocked, once the castle could not be defended and let the enemy defend it, it would be over, suffering from the lack of ancient weapons, except for bows and arrows, there were almost no weapons for long-distance attacks.

"Mr. Zhou, the boulder and the rolling wood are gone, what should I do?"

A soldier hurriedly reported to Zhou Hao.

If the opponent is engaged in a short battle, the opponent will rely on the strength of the outnumbered people, and the other side will inevitably suffer a big loss.