After listening to Sun Deming, Zhou Yi, and Long Qian's reports on the battle process, the leaders were all silent.

Liu Yucai pondered Long Qian again, and felt that the mystery shrouded in this person deepened. It's not that he suspects that Long Qian is a spy of the imperial court, this kind of nonsense suspicion doesn't even believe Sun Laosan, who is most unaccustomed to Long Qian. Last night's record was not a fraud, there were so many players in the eighth team, it was impossible for them all to lie for Long Qian, and Long Qian's trophies were enough to prove that his eighth team had indeed attacked the village, if it weren't for Sun Deming's command, Cao Kun's forward infantry team would have been wiped out last night. If Cao Kun's reinforced infantry team had been completely annihilated, and according to Zhangjiazhai, they could fight another battle with the reinforced enemy, then the situation would be completely different from what it is now.

But now it is about to face the attack of the official army.

"Don't be upset, third, victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers. What's more, we can't be defeated, and the infantry of the official army is disabled by you. It was Zhou Huanan who spoke, "Look at this, the officers and soldiers must be coming along the west road, let's hurry up and prepare." ”

"That's what the fourth said." Sun Dewang knocked the cigarette pouch on the bottom of his boot a few times, "Xiaolongzi played well and didn't disappoint me." Reward the eight teams with two hundred taels of silver and ten flower tickets, and you can do it. He said to Mengfu, the fifth farmer, and turned his gaze back to Zhou Huanan's side when he was done, "Fourth, it's up to you for the first battle, I will hand over the second and fourth teams to you, and I will definitely defeat the spirit of the official army." They have a lot of ammunition, but we have a good place. "A painting ticket is a free ticket to a brothel for fun.

"Please rest assured, eldest brother, I will go to settle here." Zhou Huanan got up and left.

"Wait," Liu Yucai stopped Zhou Huanan, "I heard Xiaolongzi say, this group of officers and soldiers may have Western cannons, and they are all flowering shells, you have to pay attention to this." ”

"! Can his cannon go up the mountain? Sun Deming folded for a while, and his heart was very depressed.

"The third child!" Sun Dewang said in a loud voice, "Your second brother is right. Think badly of everything. This group of officers and troops is not simple, what if they have a way to drag the cannon up the mountain? Fourth, you go and get ready! ”

Zhou Huanan turned around and went. He first found Long Qian, who had returned to the village to rest, and discussed the issue of defense.

There is no doubt that the official army will follow the road to attack the mountain, and now the camp of the official army has been set up in Maoyang Town, starting from Maoyang Town, passing through Sucheng, Lianghe, Zhangjiazhai up the mountain, over the mountain beam commonly known as the donkey's leg, passing through Liucheng, Dongyu, Louzi, Tianmen to Guangming Temple. This main road is also the most out of the mountain in the stockade, where is the right place to put the main defensive position? Zhou Huanan already had a plan in his heart, but he still wanted to ask for Long Qian's opinion.

Dudu Village is about five miles south of Guangming Temple, under a shallow ditch, through a dense pine forest, you can see more than a dozen rows of gray houses built according to the topography, these houses are built by the bandits themselves, because they are close to the Dudu Ridge, it is called Dudu Village. Because there is a small and hidden but deep cave here, it was originally a warehouse for storing materials in the cottage, and later the number of people in the cottage surged, and the camp of the Guangming Temple could not live there, so houses were built here one after another. Now there are six or eight infantry teams and a dozen prostitutes, the prostitutes live in a separate courtyard with strict guards, and the prostitutes are managed by the people of Sun Dewang's guards, who manage a dozen captive women like a brothel, some of them are originally bitches, and more are women of good families, who have been taken captive into the cottage for various reasons, and are called the objects of the bandits to vent their sexual desires. If you want to find a woman, you have to pay the guard. Sun Dewang had the shrewdness of a businessman, and transferred the gold and silver rewarded to his meritorious subordinates back into his own pocket with the body of a prostitute.

The person sent by Nong Mengfu had just sent the reward of the big leader to the eighth team, two hundred taels of silver and ten flower tickets stamped with Nong Mengfu's private seal were placed on the rough table in Long Qian's room, when Zhou Huanan came in, the three squad leaders of the eighth team were discussing something with Long Qian, probably discussing how to distribute the reward.

"Four masters...... Seeing Zhou Huanan coming in, Long Qian, who was half-lying down just now, hurriedly got up.

"What are you talking about?" Zhou Huanan asked with a smile.

"Get out of here, all of you. Fourth, the master has a task for us. Jiang Yun, pour water for the four masters. Long Qian waved his hand and drove Wang Mingyuan and several other team leaders out of the house.

"It's okay," Zhou Huanan sat down in a simple chair. Removing a plate of clay kang, this chair and that table are all the furnishings in this room, "I want to ask you, the officers and soldiers are coming from the west road, where are we going to fight?" ”

Long Qian obviously had already thought about it, "The terrain at Donkey's Leg is steep, but there are not many soldiers on it, so it can't be used as a blocking position. The terrain of Liu Cheng and Dongyu is not conducive to defense, if you follow what you said, I think you can only set up two blocking lines in Louzi and Tianmen. But," Long Qian looked at Zhou Huanan's eyes, "The four masters, with all due respect, simple defense cannot win, and you have to consider withdrawing from Mengshan." ”

Zhou Huanan trusts himself, and Long Qian can say his thoughts freely in front of him.

"Withdraw if you don't fight? The main force of the officers and troops is not damaged, and it is very annoying to be behind us. What's more, the big boss may feel that he can repel the official army by virtue of natural danger. Their baggage is very troublesome."

Listening to Zhou Huanan's words, he agreed to fight and leave, if he hoped that the food and grass logistics of the officers and soldiers would not be good and he would take the initiative to withdraw from the army, a 200-man infantry team would carry more than 500 soldiers from the cottage alone, and Cao Kun's unit in Zhangjiazhai had already shown far more combat effectiveness than the cottage. After Long Qian returned to the mountain, he kept thinking about the gains and losses of the battle of Zhangjiazhai, how could he completely annihilate that infantry team? A few squad leaders were summoned just now to discuss this matter.

"You can hit it, but you can't kill it. The officers and soldiers have much stronger firepower than us, and their individual skills are also above ours. In my opinion, it is better to withdraw now, leaving one infantry to delay the enemy after being broken, and the rest of the main force to quickly break through. I estimate that the official army will attack the mountain tomorrow at the latest, and it will be troublesome to be stuck by them. "Long Qian has a worry, is the East Road already being seen dead by the officials and soldiers now?" In addition, when breaking through, you must travel lightly, and don't bring those jars and jars. It is better to take the southern route, the enemy does not expect to have heavy troops in the south. ”

Zhou Huanan was taken aback, "Do you think the official army has blocked the East Road?" ”

"I'm guessing. Cao Kun had a formal military education, and it was impossible not to investigate the terrain__"

Zhou Huanan's expression became solemn, and he saw a map drawn on straw paper on Long Qian's desk, which was a topographical map of Zhangjiazhai, "Are you still thinking about Zhangjiazhai?" ”

"I'm talking to them. It would be nice if we wiped out that infantry team__"

"Your eight teams fought well in that battle. These are the rewards for you. Zhou Huanan pointed to the silver taels and red tickets on the table, "You still don't go to the brothel?" For what? ”

Long Qian shook his head and didn't say why.

"I haven't heard of __" Zhou Huanan swallowed half of his words back, he wanted to say that there were rumors that Long Qian couldn't be in the cottage, of course, because he never went to the brothel to seek fun. But these words are too hurtful for a man, Zhou Huanan believes that Long Qian must have another reason, "You, you are good at fighting and training, but your life is too hard." These silver taels have already been divided? ”

"Not yet. On the mountain, there is no place for silver. ”

This is not true. Although there is no business in the cottage, in addition to the brothels, there are also places to spend money, such as the tavern opened by Sun Dewang's cousin Mao Xuandao, which is a lively place. Of course, the price of food and drinks is expensive, and ordinary minions can't afford to eat them.

"Four masters, you must give advice to Sun Da. I am afraid that it will not be possible to rely on natural danger to defend the cottage. This group of officers and soldiers is much more powerful than we thought. ”

"How much do you know about them?" Zhou Huanan picked up the tea bowl and drank tea, and the tea was already cold.

"I'll tell you the truth," Long Qian smiled bitterly, "When I ran away from home, I heard that Yuan Shikai was training a new-style army in Tianjin, and the salary was high, so I had the idea of joining the army in Tianjin." But I heard that they have a lot of reputation for recruiting soldiers, and they want the township to be a guarantor. I'm a bum, who will vouch for me? Later, I met Zhou Yi__By the way, I heard that Captain Zhou was injured, it doesn't matter, right? ”

"Ha Luha, it's a shame that you didn't go to the official army. Otherwise, we'll have a big rival. His injuries didn't matter, they didn't hurt his muscles or bones. "Zhou Huanan has seen the injury of his nephew Zhou Yi, and he did not hurt the bones, so it is not serious.

"I heard that Yuan Shikai took the path of Li Lianying, the most powerful eunuch in front of the Empress Dowager of the West, and obtained the right to train the Dingwu Army that was originally in Tianjin, hired Germans to do teaching, bought Western guns and artillery on a large scale, and spent a lot of effort on training, and it is said that even the Germans praised it. It was called one of the three armies of Beiyang by the imperial court. This time, Yuan Shikai came to Shandong as a governor and brought his personally trained troops to Shandong__"

"You know a lot." Zhou Huanan's face became solemn. In the first battle of Zhangjiazhai, the old third team suffered heavy casualties, this was the cronies he and Liu Yucai brought to Mengshan, Zhou Huanan was naturally distressed.

"I'm just hearsay."

"It's okay, don't worry about anything with me." Zhou Huanan stood up, "You can rest, I still have something to do." After speaking, Zhou Huanan got up and left.

Sending Thursday to leave, Long Qian summoned his squad leader and Shi Chang (squad leader) again to complete the post-war analysis of the battle of Zhangjiazhai, which had just been half analyzed. Since Long Qian took over the eighth team, every time he went out on a mission, he had to do an analysis afterwards. Even if he did not participate in the small operation led by the team leader, Long Qian asked the person who carried out the task to describe the process in detail and find out the shortcomings.

Last night's battle of Zhangjiazhai was the biggest battle since the establishment of the Eighth Team, with seven dead and four seriously injured.

It was not until late at night that Long Qian ended this longest-running post-war analysis, and he told his subordinates that the fierce battle was still to come, master their own soldiers, recuperate, and meet the test.