According to the results of Sun Dewang's military meeting, the main force of Mengshanzhai took the initiative to attack without waiting for the official army to go up the mountain.

Zhangjiazhai is a small village at the foot of the mountain, and the village that once had more than 100 households now has less than 100 people, and the wall has been dilapidated. It is of great significance to Mengshanzhai, because this cottage is located at the throat of the cottage to the west.

So the decision was made to steal the camp. Sun Dewang sent people to convene the captains of each team to discuss the army, and ordered to slaughter a pig, so that the sons and daughters who went out tonight could have a full meal.

The leader of the team was Sun Deming, the third and eighth infantry teams and three auxiliary troops, a total of 500 soldiers and nearly 400 soldiers, carrying about 180 foreign guns, and the rest were traditional weapons such as broadswords, spears, bows and crossbows. Not everyone had the weapons of the soldiers, even broadswords and spears, and they were ready to rush into the village with the soldiers to grab things. Cottages make a living from looting, and the officers and soldiers are the best robbery targets, not to mention guns and ammunition, military uniforms, and leather boots are all in demand for cottages. The rules of the cottage, except for ordnance such as foreign guns, are generally things that belong to whoever rushes them. It is said that the soldiers can't get anything, but Sun Dewang and Liu Yu judged that since the official army used Zhangjiazhai as the advance base for attacking Mengshan, they would inevitably hoard a large amount of grain, and food was the most scarce material in the cottage.

Taking advantage of the darkness, the attacking troops launched a sneak attack on the officers and troops stationed at the foot of the mountain.

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and where there are rivers and lakes, there are factions. There are more than 2,000 people in Mengshanzhai, which is actually divided into two major factions, the sitting faction of the Sun Dewang brothers and the foreign faction of Liu Yucai and Zhou Huanan. When Mengfu, a farmer in the fifth house, was originally a wealthy family in Mengyin, and when he defected to Mengshanzhai with a huge amount of money, Liu Yucai and Zhou Huanan were still wandering around Henan, so Nong Mengfu can also be regarded as a land-sitting faction.

The first team to attack was the Sun brothers' cronies, and the third team was Liu Yucai's old foundation with Mengshan, plus an eighth team formed by miscellaneous soldiers who had only gone up the mountain in recent months, and this arrangement showed the golden mean that penetrated into the bones of the Chinese.

Several leaders had no objection to such an arrangement for the big chief.

For the leader of the attack force, Zhou Huanan proposed that Long Qian, the captain of the eighth team, lead him, but Sun Dewang rejected the proposal of Zhou Huanan, the fourth leader, on the grounds that Long Qian's qualifications were too young to convince the public. The reason why Zhou Huanan nominated Long Qian is because although he has been in the occupation for a short time, he has outstanding ability and many achievements. In Zhou Huanan's view, the eighth team, which was formed at the latest and with the worst equipment, actually had the first combat power in the cottage. But except for Thursday, no one acknowledges this judgment.

The cottage's foreign expedition is generally the responsibility of the three masters Sun Deming, since Sun Dewang occupied Mengshan, in the face of a strong enemy, Sun Deming personally led the expedition is a matter of course. Zhou Huanan suggested sending another team, but Sun Deming thought that the camp at night was a sneak attack, not because of the number of troops, but because of the surprise. As long as the advance of the official army is defeated by a surprise attack, half of the battle will be won.

Sun Deming's opinion was agreed by all the leaders. In these years, fighting a war is the morale of fighting, and if the first battle is won, the morale of the victorious side will be raised. The other side will inevitably be frustrated, and will lose in the next battle.

The procession departed. Liu Yucai rushed to the starting point of the troops and watched the three infantry teams form a mess after a sumptuous dinner. The sun had already set, and the open space in front of the Temple of Light was crowded with minions dressed in various costumes. The Spring Festival has passed, but spring has not really arrived, and the cold weather on the top of the mountain after nightfall is pressing. Liu Yucai and Zhou Huanan inspected the queue, Zhou Huanan sighed in a low voice, "The eighth team was established the latest, but it has surpassed our old third team, you look at the people__"

Liu Yucai's eyes had already been fixed on the eight teams that had completed the whole team. It's not accurate to say it's messy, Long Qian's eighth team is very quiet, and the team of more than 100 people is lined up in a horizontal line of three people, Long Qian is standing in front of the team and talking about something, probably the precautions for tonight's battle.

"It turned out that they all joked that Xiaolongzi practiced the queue all day long to be full, and in my opinion, this is the secret of military training. These guys who don't understand fart just let him practice in a disciplined manner. What a genius. It was still Zhou Huanan who spoke, "It would be good to let Xiaolongzi grasp the cottage training earlier." ”

"He's too junior and his origins are unknown. It's normal for big bosses to have concerns. Liu Yucai listened attentively to what Long Qian said, but there was a wind on the mountain, and they were at the downwind outlet, so they couldn't hear it clearly. I don't know why, Liu Yucai didn't move over, stood for a while, tightened the leather jacket on his body, and turned around and walked towards the third team of his old army.

Zhou Huanan didn't move. "Unknown origin?" He pondered Liu Yucai's words, thinking about Long Qian, a kid who always surprised him. Long Qian went up the mountain in the early summer of last year, and it was his nephew at the time, and Zhou Yi, who is now the captain of the third team, brought him up the mountain. Zhou Yi went down the mountain to run errands, met the lost Long Qian, the two sides clashed, Long Qian single-handedly knocked down Zhou Yi and several people, showing superb martial arts. But he was forced by a few foreign guns, so he could only be captured. Zhou Yi, who was watching from the sidelines, suddenly fell in love with his talents, and after a conversation, he actually brought this mighty-looking man to the cottage and became a member of Mengshanzhai.

According to Long Qian's own claim, his ancestral home is Taiyuan Prefecture, and his family starved to death in the great drought that swept through Shanxi a few years ago. However, in Zhou Huanan's view, Long Qian's words have a lot of flaws, the "Ding Chou Strange Famine" Shanxi during the Guangxu period is indeed the hardest hit area, it is said that one-third of the population died, but the flaws in Long Qian's narrative are very obvious, one is Long Qian's accent, not like the soft Shanxi dialect but like the official accent of Beijing, and the second is his strong body, where is it like fleeing from the famine to ask for food?

However, although he had doubts, Zhou Huanan still left Long Qian. Many people in the cottage are a little reluctant to talk to people, after all, they are Xiangma bandits.

In the future, Long Qian walked into the field of vision of Liu Yucai and Zhou Huanan. Liu and Zhou are both somewhat educated, and it is easier to communicate with Long Qian, who is full of experience. Zhou Huanan was amazed by Long Qian's skills, not only was his martial arts outstanding, but the ordinary people of the cottage couldn't go a round under him, and the martial arts he showed couldn't see the sect but were extremely practical, boxing, wrestling, and flying knives were all good at it, and he refused to say his teacher's origin. It's no wonder that there are always some strangers with unique skills who refuse to reveal their secrets. But to Zhou Huanan's surprise, Long Qian is also extremely good at fast guns, and his marksmanship is simply a hundred steps through Yang. Not only that, but this kid can actually repair foreign guns, and in a few clicks, he can disassemble and put back the foreign guns that make everyone in awe. Zhou Huanan guessed that Long Qian must have been in the official army, and he didn't know what he did to escape from the army.

Long Qian knew too many things, he knew the Tao of the imperial court officials, and he also knew many things about foreign countries. A quick robbery, he can tell whether it is imported or produced in Hankou, and he can even tell which country the imported foreign gun is! This made Zhou Huanan puzzled. As for foreign countries, Zhou Huanan only knew that Britain and France, which had invaded Beijing 40 years ago, and Japan, which had defeated the Beiyang Navy a few years earlier. And Long Qian knew that there were obviously more than this. How did he know the Tao? Not only that, Long Qian is also literate, and his speech and demeanor are definitely not those in the village who can't even write his own name, he must have read a lot of books, and those minions like to listen to Long Qian tell stories, talking about the past and the present, which makes those short-sighted minions extremely enjoyable, and they feel more enjoyable than watching a big drama in front of the Guangming Temple.

These are the little things. What Zhou Huanan admired the most was Long Qian's ability to lead the troops. It is not difficult for such a person to make meritorious contributions, and since Long Qian went up the mountain, none of the errands handed to him could not be completed. Eight teams were established, and even Sun Dewang nominated Long Qian as the captain. It was this eighth team that was the worst in the eyes of the leaders, and it had only been five months since it was handed over to Long Qian, and now it has become the most elite infantry team in the cottage. Long Qian's method of training the eighth team was simply incredible in Zhou Huanan's eyes, but his incredible methods were effective, and he knew the result by looking at the military appearance of the eighth team.

Zhou Huanan thought, after this hurdle, he must let Long Qian be in charge of the training of the cottage, what is it to give him a position as a leader? If you want to do big things, you can't be stingy.