When the procession of more than 4,000 people passed outside the city of Qingzhou, Pang Gang ordered the team to stop, and at this time, outside the city gate, the prefect of Qingzhou, Wei Tongtong and the commander of the capital, Song Xinghe, were already waiting outside the city, and behind them were dozens of Qingzhou gentry and wealthy families and a long mule and horse convoy.

"Lord Wei, Lord Song, the humble armor is on your body, please forgive me for not being able to pay full courtesy." Pang Gang hurriedly got down and hugged his fists to salute the two adults.

Song Xinghe smiled and rushed to Pang Gang and said with a smile: "Pang Qianhu doesn't need to be polite, how can this official and Lord Wei be pedantic people." ”

After speaking, Song Xinghe quietly said in Pang Gang's ear: "You kid hurry up and take away those things at the city gate, the official will not see it, if the official regrets it, he won't give it to you." ”

Pang Gang smiled lightly and did not answer, he walked in front of the gentry and arched his hand with a smile, "You have worked hard, Pang Gang has thanked you here." After speaking, Pang Gang waved his hand at the people of the baggage camp on the side, and immediately the people of the baggage camp came to take these mules, horses and carts away.

Seeing these cars being taken away one by one, the hearts of all the gentry were dripping blood, it was this god who killed Pang Gang, and yesterday he actually led troops to threaten them, so that each of these gentry gave each family another 25 stone of grain, and these grains totaling more than 1,000 stone were divided into more than 700 carts and equipped with mules and horses for them to wait at the city gate the next day. Whoever wants not to go, this god of killing has said, if anyone dares not to give food and mules and horses, then he does not mind personally leading troops to their house to give them an adulterous Tartar.

In the face of such a vicious villain, the gentry could only helplessly express their submission, and now they are watching these Qiu Bahao driving the cart into the distance, their hearts are dripping blood, alas, these people have gone to provoke this fierce god so that they are now blackmailed by him, why bother?

On February 27, the ninth year of Chongzhen, there was a small town called Sitong Town, which was 60 miles away from Dezhou Mansion, an important town in Shandong near Hebei, which means that it was a place that extends in all directions, and there were originally hundreds of households in this town, but now the people have run out, leaving only vacant houses and wild dogs that infest the streets from time to time.

In the evening, the sound of horses' hooves was heard from the southeast, and after a while a small group of cavalry appeared in the town.

There were eight cavalrymen in this group, they were wearing relatively light cotton armor, and even the men and horses were full of dust, they stopped outside the town, and a big man with a meaty face said to a few companions around him: "It is estimated that this is what the people call Sitong Town, now divide two people to quickly feed and water the horses to restore the horsepower, and the others and I will go to the side hillside to observe the enemy situation." ”

The big man who spoke had a waist knife at his waist, four short javelins stuck in his back, and a leather holster with handcuffs around his belt. This big man's name is Gu Chen, he is a small banner under Pang Gang's command who does not collect at night, and is good at making knives and javelins. Because at all times in any country and army in the world, scouts and scouts are always the most elite soldiers in the army, and this has never changed since ancient times.

Gu Chen's words came out, and an ordinary-looking, tall and thin Ye Bushu next to him asked with some concern: "Gu Tou, you must know that our horsepower is almost exhausted, even if we feed soybeans and water now, it will take at least a few hours to recover our horsepower, what if we encounter the Tartars' brigade at this time?" ”

Gu Chen glanced at the night: "Fang Laosi, you kid are afraid of death, just say it, don't talk about these useless things." Now where will I Lingshanwei have extra war horses to match us, the huge man said, whoever wants to ride two horses alone will take it from the hands of the Tartars. ”

The man named Fang Laosi smiled brightly: "It's boring for you to say that, don't you know what Fang Laosi is like?" If we're afraid of death, we won't go into the night and won't accept it.,I mean it's better not to fight hard with the Tartars.。 ”

Although the two of them talked, they did not move slowly, and soon they climbed to the top of the hill, and from the hillside they looked down, the road from the northwest was within their sight. Especially now that spring has not yet arrived, the ground is still a piece of dry grass, and people on the hillside can see the road in the distance clearly.

The people behind followed one after another, and five or six people each occupied an unobtrusive place to observe the situation in front of them.

Night is the elite of the Ming army, the highest requirements for non-soldiers, but also the most stringent, at the same time it is also the highest casualty rate of a class, no matter what army, for the other party's scouts, spies are the most hated, so Pang Gang in the formation of the night does not collect there are strict regulations, if you want to enter the night does not collect, you must have a strong martial arts, keen vision, good riding skills, one of the most headache is to be literate, because you are illiterate, you can't write down the information and pass it on.

Therefore, Pang Gang only recruited 100 people among tens of thousands of homeless people and military households, and some of them were the result of him digging corners from other thousands of households. Therefore, the military salary that is not collected at night is also the highest, and their monthly salary is two taels of silver plus five buckets of rice, and Pang Gang also gave everyone who does not collect at night 50 acres of land.

Everyone observed for a while and still didn't find any trace of the Qing soldiers, the sky had already begun to darken, Fang Laosi crawled to Gu Chen's side and whispered: "Gu Tou, I haven't seen the shadow of the Tartar now, I estimate that the Tartar should not appear today, and it will be dark in half an hour, should we find a place to rest?" ”

Gu Chen didn't look back and said: "Then wait until it gets dark, who the hell knows if the Tartars will come over at this time, have you forgotten the instructions of the huge people?" The more you feel safe on the battlefield, the more dangerous it is. ”

Seeing that Fang Laosi was continuously deflated, several people around him sneered and laughed when they didn't accept it at night. Fang Laosi's face was a little unbearable, and he said angrily: "What are you laughing at, I don't believe that you won't be tired after running for so many days, it's just that you don't dare to say it."

After Fang Laosi finished speaking, he sat on the ground with some anger and took out the saber and began to wipe it up, Fang Laosi took out the saber handle is a combination of cast aluminum and wood, the fist guard, the scabbard, and the blade are all chrome-plated, the handle and the fist guard smell of copper clamping blades, the scabbard is a leather bag, the knife room is wooden, the double hanging ring, the curvature of the knife body is slightly larger, the blood groove is wide, the total length is 0.96 meters, and the total weight is nearly three catties. This is the 65-style saber used by our army in later generations that Pang Gang cashed out from the "Encyclopedia of Modern Weapons". This kind of saber is more durable and durable than the sabre equipped by the Ming army today, and it is easy to chop, and once it is equipped, it is loved by many people who do not collect it at night. Pang Gang had a rule that soldiers who did not collect at night could choose their own weapons according to their preferences, so many soldiers who did not collect at night would pick a saber to carry with them.

After Fang Laosi wiped the saber, he took a piece of withered grass and put it in his mouth as a toothpick and slowly picked his teeth, while lying on the ground and looking into the distance, suddenly his face changed slightly, and then he turned over and put his ears on the ground, and after listening to it for a while, he immediately got up and said urgently: "Gutou, there are cavalry coming from the northwest, I estimate that there are about twenty horsemen, according to the habit of one person and two horsemen of the Tartar soldiers, there should be more than ten people." ”

As soon as Fang Laosi said this, everyone's faces began to become solemn, Fang Laosi was recognized as the one with the best ear power in this team, and he could distinguish the sound and direction of the horse's hooves more than ten miles away. Gu Chen glanced around at everyone and said, "Now the ten ** people who come from the northwest are Tartars, and our horses haven't rested yet." Now if you run back to report the news, you will definitely not be able to outrun the Tartars' one-man two-rider, but if you let them go, they may find the traces of our team, what do you say? ”

Everyone was silent after listening to Gu Chen's words, if they let the Tartar over, it would be to ignore the safety of the team behind them, but if they started fighting, would they be sure.

At this time, a tall, thin and handsome man who always spoke with a face, "What are you afraid of, people die and birds don't die for thousands of years, we die in battle, at least there are a huge number of people in the family to take care of, but if we put these Tartars over, we will have to eat military law." If you want me to say, let's just do his vote! ”

Fang Laosi also stomped his feet violently, gritted his teeth and said: "Yes, Wei Laosan is right, fuck it, we fought with those dog-called tartars!" ”

The corners of Gu Chen's mouth tugged upward, "Okay, let's just do him, Fang Laosi, you immediately go and inform the Zhang family brothers to lead the horse to the hillside and wait, Wei Laosan and Wu Ming go down to pull the horse rope, and the others will follow me to the roadside ambush, we must leave this group of Tartars behind." ”

Fang Laosi smashed his mouth and said, "Damn, the heads of these Tartars are worth a few hundred taels of silver, if you can catch a few living credits, it will be great." ”

Gu Chen patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "Don't dream, while you still have some time, you should hurry up and arrange your tripwire." ”

As they spoke, everyone went down and arranged their heads, a thick and swarthy tripwire was placed on the road, and it was covered with a layer of floating soil, and the other end was ambushed on the side of the road, and Fang Lao Si pulled it in his hand.

After a while, more than twenty horses came from the northwest direction, and more than a dozen figures were riding on horseback, and Gu Chen counted a total of thirteen people.

After a while, everyone had clearly seen the faces of the cavalry on the opposite side, and these people were indeed Tartar spies, and everyone's faces began to become solemn

(To be continued)