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The Xiangjiang River is a beautiful and rich river, with many tributaries and beautiful scenery, both sides of the river have been economically developed and prosperous cities since ancient times, and the whole river basin is almost the richest area in the whole Hunan. In addition, it passes through the city from Changsha, the provincial capital, and is the most important water transportation artery in the province.

Outside Changsha, in a small village not far from the wharf on the Xiangjiang River, dozens of families are scattered in the woods by the river, and the environment is elegant and quiet. A barracks were stationed in the village, so there were several times more soldiers in military uniforms than ordinary people in and out of the village, and the noise brought by the large number of soldiers also disturbed the originally quiet village.

Outside the village, there is a dense camphor forest, because it is winter, there is no leaf to shade, you can see that there is a courtyard inside, curved and chic flower walls, beautiful glazed tiles, like a villa of a rich family. In the summer, when the foliage is thick, there is no trace of the house from the outside.

The sound of horses' hooves came from far and near. Along the main road by the river, more than ten war horses galloped, and immediately there were fully armed cavalry, these cavalrymen held rifles in their hands, and they also carried big knives behind their backs. The cavalry were clustered around a carriage, which was covered and tightly covered, and the cavalry and carriage went all the way to the camphor grove at the edge of the village, and went straight to the flower-walled villa.

Outside the camphor forest, behind the village, there are dozens of ragged people, under the supervision of the soldiers, digging a trench, these people are doing their work, and from time to time they are scolded by the soldiers who oversee the work, and in the cold north wind, they are struggling to dig the hard land with shovels. There was a dark-faced man, dressed in tattered clothes more than the others, and looked like a beggar. He is actually a beggar, the boss of Duan Laosan.

Lao Gao had been working here for several days, first digging bunkers by the river, then digging trenches behind the village, where he was captured by the soldiers.

The cause of this goes back a few days. That day, Lao Gao was in the surveillance point in Changsha City, taking turns as a surveillance post, before dawn. It was not surprising to find a carriage, several cavalrymen, walking along the street towards the outside of the city, and the soldiers were originally out of the city. But Lao Gao was a careful man, and he found that the carriage escorted by these soldiers was tightly covered, and he did not go fast, and when there were bumps in the road, he carefully bypassed it, very carefully. Moreover, judging by the outfit of the cavalry, it is the broadsword team, and these "royal forest troops" have no important tasks in peacetime. It will not be dispatched, what is the origin of this carriage, and it is worth escorting with a broadsword team?

The sky is not yet bright, and in the early morning of winter, it is the most cold, and these cavalry and carriages usually get up so early for only two reasons: one is to walk a long way, in order to travel more; The second is to cover people's eyes and ears. Quietly out of town. If it is the second type, it will be even more strange, Zhang Jingyao is the emperor of Hunan, what does he do. can be blatant and unscrupulous, a carriage out of the city, do you still need to hide people's eyes and ears, sneaky?

Lao Gao felt that this matter could not be let go. He was the only one in the surveillance point, so he left a mark on the door and quietly followed behind the cavalry and carriage. Tailgating out of town. Fortunately, the carriage did not go fast, so he followed it all the way, and the carriage followed the main road without stopping, and came to the camphor forest outside the village.

The villa in the woods, Lao Gao saw it, but he didn't dare to go into the woods, let alone get into the villa, he could only watch from afar, this piece of camphor tree, it seems to be disorderly, but it is very neatly cleaned, the branches and leaves have traces of pruning, and there is no grass underground, which is obviously carefully managed by the main family. The cavalry tied their horses to the outside of the courtyard, unloaded the wagons, and looked through the branches of the woods as they moved things into the courtyard in a hurry.

The owner of this villa is high and powerful, and there is no doubt about it, but what to carry in it, Lao Gao can't guess it even if he wants to break his head. He was wandering around the woods when suddenly a shout came from behind him: "Stop, what are you doing?" ”

Several GIs rushed around him with guns, Lao Gao was startled, and quickly pretended to be pitiful, "Boss, I haven't eaten for two days, give me something to eat." ”

What he wore and what he held in his hand were all original beggar appearances, and a soldier scolded: "****** is called Hanako, don't you want to eat?" Assemble over there. ”

"Boss, I have to go elsewhere to ask for food to feed my family's ......"

"Fart, ramble, throw into the river to feed the fish." The soldiers scolded and scolded around them, smashed them with the butts of their guns, and drove Lao Gao to the outside of the small village, where there were still more than a dozen ragged civilians, who seemed to have been arrested, and everyone started digging trenches and bunkers under the coercion of the soldiers.

At that time, Wu Peifu garrisoned Hengyang, if he led the army back to the north, it was most convenient to take the waterway, Zhang Jingyao built a lot of defense facilities on the riverside in order to prevent the attack of the Wu army, some ordinary people were often caught to do hard labor on the riverside, not only did they not get paid when they worked, but they also often starved, were beaten and scolded by the soldiers, and even killed and disabled, which was more severe than the labor in ancient times.

In this way, Lao Gao took a shovel and began to do hard labor with other people, he took advantage of the guard's inattention, and quietly asked the others, who was the owner of the camphor forest villa, and someone told him: "In the past, the woods and houses there belonged to a rich man in the village, and then I don't know who bought them, and sometimes I saw soldiers coming and going, and the common people were not allowed to approach, and if there was a probe to probe the brain, they were arrested." ”

In order not to make the soldiers suspicious, Lao Gao deliberately worked hard, he quietly observed the camphor forest, and saw the soldiers escorting things into the villa twice, but the items were tightly covered, because they were far away, and they couldn't see clearly.

The soldiers are very strict with the laborers, because escape incidents occur from time to time, no matter day or night, there are people with loaded guns and ammunition around the area, plus the village is the barracks, Lao Gao tried a few times, and found that it was not easy to escape, but if the trenches here want to be dug up, I am afraid that it will be more than three or two months, Lao Gao thought of a way to go and the soldiers guarding it.

"Sir," he said, taking advantage of the rest, to get to a bearded GI, who, according to a few days of observation, was a very addicted to smoking, and was smoking a dry cigarette when he had nothing to do. He smiled and said to the bearded soldiers, "I want to smoke too, so I'll lend you a fire." ”

"Get out."

Lao Gao was not annoyed, "Sir, you taste my cigarettes, I got them from an old tobacco farmer, and the taste is very pure." He pulled a cigarette pouch out of his pocket and handed it over flatteringly, "You taste, you taste." (To be continued.) )