Episode 35 The Twelve Hairpins

"Why, still can't find it?"

Li Gensheng sat in the command car, drinking strong tea.

The commander of the gendarmerie company in front of him lowered his head and said carefully:

"Commander...... This...... It's just the second time, maybe it's not clean, and the subordinates will tell them to go through it a third time, and this time it's going to be more detailed......"

Li Gensheng drank tea, waved his hand, and let him out.

The captives were not sent to the prisoner camp, they were still in place, guarded by the soldiers of the People's Guard, and the gendarmes even went into battle with more than 100 people to sieve the thousands of prisoners. The purpose was to find out the commander of the Eighth Banner Division, Ha Feng'a, and the main officers of his direct troops.

It was already past nine o'clock in the morning, and it had already passed twice, but only a dozen divisional staff officers, division guard company commanders, military police company commanders, and other officers had been found.

It is said that after the war, it took a little effort to select the officers from the thousands of prisoners. Officers don't want to be recognized as officers, and they do everything possible to pretend to be small soldiers, and the more senior the officers, the more so. But it's just a little bit of effort, and it's not that hard. After all, there are so many other prisoners, and their commanders will always recognize them, and they will always be identified by those petty prisoners of war.

But now it seems strange, this has begun to be the third time, and the division commander and the few people in the core seem to have evaporated. Li Gensheng had already offered a reward among those captives, and the first one to identify Ha Feng'a was rewarded with 50 yuan. That's a lot, that's 31.1 grams of gold. Even if it is converted into the silver dollar of the Northern Qing Dynasty, there are more than 100 yuan. But even if the prisoners of war were lined up in front of the guards who saw Hafona every day, they could not be found.

At present, many troops have repeatedly searched this combat area, and many scattered Qing soldiers hiding in the bushes and groves have been found, but there is no trace of Hafeng'a. When they were interrogated, they all said that after the tanks of the People's Guard broke through the anti-tank lines, no one had seen the division commander.

Not only the captives, but even the corpses in this area were turned over and looked at, but Hafenga was not found. Even the corpses that were mutilated and had their heads blown off were not wearing generals' uniforms.

The only possible explanation is that Hafenga ran over the mountain. This long and narrow combat area, with the Waiqinhuai River to the north and the People's Guard's offensive to the south, could not have escaped from these two directions. To the east is the Tangshan Mountain Range, and to the west are the General Mountain and Niushou Mountain. Both of these mountains are not high, and although it is difficult for large troops to cross, it is not difficult for scattered people to cross empty-handed. After statistics, nearly 1,000 Qing troops were missing, and it is estimated that many people fled over the mountains. There is no doubt that Hafona also climbed the mountain and ran outside.

The west side of the Niushou Mountain in the General Mountain is the Yangtze River, which is the battlefield, and it is still fighting, if Hafeng'a keeps going west, he will be bumping into the arms of the defenders of the Ming army.

To the east is the Tangshan Mountain Range, which is higher and wider, and it is more difficult to climb over, and after passing it, you will reach the boundary of Jurong City, and then go to the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty. It doesn't seem to be a good option to flee either.

But there is no other explanation.

……

In the command car, Li Gensheng was answering the phone call with a stomachache.

"Brother, hahaha," the stomach hurt and laughed, and everyone was very happy after winning the battle, "How about it, it's not easy for you to find Ha Feng'a over there, right?" We are all our own brothers, and if we need my brother's help, we can speak! The few security teams under my brother's command are much more professional than your military police, huh? Hahaha! ”

Li Gensheng frowned, very unhappy, but still said with a smile:

"Hehe, Brother Ziteng, it's okay, we are all our own brothers, if necessary, my brother will definitely not be polite to you...... Well, yes, the brother can still handle it himself for the time being...... Hafenga must have escaped over the mountains, and I have already sent several search teams to climb over two mountains and search in depth from east to west...... These officers who have been singled out are going to have Brother Lao Ziteng, hehehe......"

"That's nature, that's what we do. But if you want to help, you have to speak, brother! ”

"Hehe, that's for sure."

Li Gensheng hung up the phone and sat by the car door, watching them select prisoners in the distance.

He had lost the joy of winning the battle at all, and was completely annoyed by the fact that Hafona had escaped. This guy slaughtered more than 40 villagers in Zhangjia Village, and now he has run away without a trace, I don't know if he can be caught. The matter has been reported quickly, and now Her Majesty knows about it.

After a while, I called the adults three times to ask about the results. I sternly instructed my lord that Ha Feng'a was probably the culprit of the Zhangjiacun massacre, and now that we have completely annihilated his division, if he himself runs away from under our noses, it will really be impossible to explain to Your Majesty, nor to those forty or so unjust souls. What's even more troublesome is that it will not be able to explain to the people of the whole Ming Dynasty. This has already been reported, and now several major newspapers in Nanjing may be rushing to print out of the number. By tonight at the latest, the evening newspaper and radio company of the whole Ming Dynasty will report on this matter. If Ha Feng'a is not caught in the end, this brilliant victory of the People's Guard will be diluted a lot.

Li Gensheng guessed that the phone call with a stomachache just now was not a joke, and the stomachache was not so boring, and it was estimated that he was also under some pressure, such as hinting to the adults that he took the initiative to help with the screening, so he made a phone call, half-truthfully testing whether he wanted to help.

Alas, if you can be sure that Hafona is still among these prisoners of war, it doesn't matter if you go and beg him yourself. The problem is that it is almost certain that Ha Feng'a has already run out, and this will depend on the sea of people to search for it, no matter how big your security team is, it is useless!

Li Gensheng looked out irritably. The prisoners of war were numb from the interrogation, and lined up, mechanically passing over the gendarmes and the captives who knew Hafon'a once more.

The bounty has been raised from 50 Mingyang to 100 Mingyang. Li Gensheng beckoned, called the commander of the military police company, and ordered:

"The bounty has been raised to 200 Mingyang. Go ahead! ”

The commander of the gendarmerie company ran out and shouted:

"Listen to everyone who wants to get rich, now it's 200 Mingyang......"

But Li Gensheng almost knew that this would be of no use at all. He suspected that even if it was raised to 100,000 Mingyang, no one would be blessed to get it. Because Haphona is not in it at all.

……

The great victory of the People's Guards under the city of Nanjing bought time for the defense of Nanjing. The two divisions of the capital garrison in Jiangning had already left for the battlefield on the riverside at night, trying to block the opening. In the morning, three of Qixia's four divisions had also arrived at the battlefield and entered the battle.

The strategic reserves in southern Jiangsu and Anhui came faster than expected, and on the morning of the 21st, six divisions had already left for the riverside and entered the battle. Follow-up troops are coming in a steady stream.

At this point, the comparison of the strength of the two armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties in the area of Zimuzhou has risen to 150,000 in the Qing Dynasty against 110,000 in the Ming Dynasty, and the situation has been greatly eased. The most important thing is that the Ming army fought on its own land, and materials, ammunition, food, medical care, etc. were guaranteed. When the Qing troops crossed the river, they basically had to rely on themselves.

The reinforcements of the Ming army all drove smoothly along the highways and railways, and every reinforcement of the Qing army had to brave the rain of bullets on the river, and their heavy equipment: artillery, military horses, vehicles, etc., had to come cautiously on the pontoon bridge. In order to ensure safety, only one car or heavy artillery can be on the pontoon bridge at a time, and the next one can only drive on the pontoon bridge after this one, which is extremely slow.

In addition, it is now daylight, and the visibility has improved dramatically. According to the law of these days of war, every night, the Qing army's offensive will be fierce, and during the day, it will slow down.

But Emperor Guangwu of the Northern Qing Dynasty had already released his words that he would go to the Forbidden City in Nanjing on Chinese New Year's Eve. Today is already the 21st, and the 23rd is the Chinese New Year's Eve, and if it cannot be attacked in three days, the Qing emperor will beat himself in the mouth. For the Qing army, the deadline was imminent, and the Ming army was even tighter, fighting to the death with all its might, and did not dare to relax at all. Now the first two divisions to meet the Qing army in Zimu Island, one of the division commanders has been martyred. The other was also seriously wounded, and would have been martyred had reinforcements not arrived.

Xiang Xiaoqiang withdrew the headquarters from Yuhuatai to Xiaolingwei. Just as Xiang Xiaoqiang watched the officers dismantle the telephone lines in the meditation room, clean up the map, and sand table, Master Fayun greeted him with a smile, clasped his palms and bowed deeply, and said:

"Amitabha! Lord Xiang was really brave and powerful, commanded well, and strategized and talked and laughed, and tens of thousands of Qing captives were wiped out, and not even a single cannonball fell on this rain flower platform. Daming has a general like Lord Xiang, which is really a blessing for the country! ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled:

"The master has won the prize. I asked the Buddha to bless me and defend the Yuhuatai, and it seems that the Buddha agreed. Compared with those soldiers who fought the battlefield of Zimu Continent, Xiang was really a lucky one. ”

Master Fayun smiled slightly, beckoned back, and the little monk behind him held a tray, which was covered with silk. Lifting the satin, inside are small ebony boxes.

Xiang Xiaoqiang has already guessed that this is probably the Yuhua Stone that he promised to give to himself, right?

Sure enough, Master Fayun carefully opened the small boxes. Each small box is lined with satin lining, and on top of it lies a colorful rain flower stone. There are a total of twelve small boxes, and Master Fayun opened them one by one, but he saw that the patterns of the rain flower stones in the twelve boxes were different, and what was even more rare was that the patterns on each stone were like a human figure, sitting or standing, lifelike.

Master Fayun smiled:

"These twelve pieces of rain flower stone is a set, called 'Jinling Twelve Hairpins', which is the best of the temple's collection. This kind of stone of quality, don't say that on the hill of this Yuhuatai, it is not often seen in today's auctions, hehe. The old man now sends it to the lord, and looks at the lord to lead the soldiers under his command, repel the Qing captives, and protect the country and people of my Ming Dynasty. ”

Although Xiang Xiaoqiang could see that these Yuhua stones were good, he was really shocked when he heard that the old monk said that the grade was so high. But after thinking about it, the old monk is so generous, isn't he just looking forward to knowing it in his heart and repaying a large amount of sesame oil money?

"Ah," he said with a smile, "thank you so much, Master. ”

He waved his hand, asked the personal guard to take the bag, and then laughed and pulled with Zen Master Fayun. Zen Master Fayun was not in a hurry, and accompanied Xiang Xiaoqiang Mountain to chat with each other in the South China Sea and the North with a smile. Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly flashed a thought and asked:

"Master, are these 'Jinling Twelve Hairpins' the Twelve Jinling Hairpins in "Dream of Red Mansions"?"

Master Fayun smiled slightly:

"Hehe, it's an allusion borrowed from Cao Xueqin's pen."

Xiang Xiaoqiang nodded, although this place in the south of the Yangtze River is no longer called the Qing Dynasty, it did not affect Cao Xueqin's birth, nor did it affect him to write "Dream of Red Mansions". It is no wonder that it stands to reason that the areas most affected by historical variations are first politics, then economic, military, etc., and literature and art should be less affected. Books like "Dream of Red Mansions" do not deal with "realpolitik" and do not have a clear date, so there is really no reason why it should not appear because of the change of dynasty. Moreover, the writing soil of the Ming Dynasty is many times better than that of the Qing Dynasty, and it is more suitable for the formation of everyone's works.

Jinling twelve hairpins, yes, twelve hairpins, doesn't it correspond to their "twelve dozen" ideals? Very good, you can't just give Qiu Yu one person, you should send one by one when you enter the door, at least twelve people. First come, first served.

Go back and give it to Qiu Yu to play with first. Although Qiu Yu is a native of Nanjing, he may not have such a good rain flower stone at home.

Master Fayun in his ears is preaching Buddhism again through the tragic fate of the "Twelve Hairpins of Jinling".

Xiang Xiaoqiang woke up violently: "Jinling Twelve Hairpins" is the most unlucky thing for girls! The twelve women in "Dream of Red Mansions" all ended up extremely miserable in the end, and they were the ones who fell into the "Thin Life Division".

…… He died of hatred, begged and froze to death, was abandoned, was abused to death by her husband, married far away, became a nun, and committed suicide...... It is really a well-deserved "a thousand red holes (crying), and ten thousand Yan are in the same cup (sad)".

Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly became very superstitious: if he really gave the "Twelve Hairpins of Jinling" to his future confidants, what would be their fate? Also on "Thin Destiny"?

…… Five years later, the "Five-Day Tour of Huiming" expired, and the Time and Space Administration took them back, and they still had to live in this time and space for the rest of their lives...... They will probably ask fate, why did the person they thought they could entrust with their life suddenly disappear? Why is the happiness I look forward to only five years?

When Xiang Xiaoqiang thought of this, he was already sweating. For the first time since he crossed over, he seriously asked this question.

Could it be that today's few rain flower stones are heralding this inevitable end?

Master Fayun looked at him differently and asked:

"Lord Xiang? Lord Xiang is a little tired of commanding the battle all night? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang's body trembled, touched the sweat oozing from his forehead, and said with a smile:

"Oh, oh, the master can see that I am indeed a little tired. Oh, and it's just so time that we're almost done packing up, and we're going to leave it at that. Master, I'm causing trouble for the treasure temple this time. ”

Master Fayun also smiled:

"To resist the Qing Dynasty and defend the country, we Buddhist disciples must also do our part. Lord Xiang fought against the Qing captives on the Yuhuatai this time, and he also left a good story for our temple. Hehe......"

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at him just "hehe", but his eyes seemed to be waiting for something. …… Well, this look is very familiar, as if I have seen it somewhere.

Oh, by the way, Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly realized, just like in a foreign movie, after the hotel room service is done, the waiter stands there very embarrassed and refuses to leave, waiting for the tip.

Xiang Xiaoqiang hurriedly said:

"By the way, Xiang forgot something in the meditation room, the master waited, Xiang X will come when he goes."

He walked into the meditation room, took out the checkbook from his bosom, and tried to fill in the numbers on it.

How much money should be given for sesame oil? It's good that my identity is here, and they sent such a valuable rain flower stone...... He thought that if in the later generations, the commander of a large military region or a member of the Central Military Commission went to the Buddhist temple to give money for sesame oil, and generally the amount given was not a loss.

Renminbi...... 50,000? Too little. 100,000? I can't take it either. 500,000 is almost. Converted into Mingyang...... Less than five thousand? Sounds too little.

Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled: Whatever, anyway, he is not a few thousand Mingyang. When I bought the "Ryukyu Star" for Qiuyu, more than 50,000 Mingyang also spent it easily. Besides, that "mineral map" is still in my mind, and that one will be the big one in the future.

He swiped the check and filled in 10,000 Mingyang, signed his name, tore it off and put it in his pocket, and walked out with a smile.

"Hehe, master," Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and handed the check with both hands, "The disciple has a relationship with Buddhism, and a little sesame oil money is a piece of the disciple's heart, I hope the master will not push it back." ”

Master Fayun took it with both hands with a smile, swept his gaze upwards with a sophisticated look, and immediately smiled, and said with a straight smile:

"Amitabha! If the donor is so sincere, my Buddha will definitely bless the donor...... and the ...... of the donor's family"

Well, "the family of the family", that is to say my wives. This old monk is much more able to speak than Fahai. Xiang Xiaoqiang was also very happy, and said goodbye to Master Fayun with his palms, and led people to rain on the flower platform.

……

Now the city of Nanjing is full of wounded soldiers. Originally, the wounded soldiers of the Ming army fighting by the river occupied all the hospitals in the city, but now there is another battle in the southern suburbs, and so many wounded soldiers of the People's Guard have been sent in. As for the wounded soldiers of the Eighth Banner Division, they naturally did not have this treatment, they were in a temporary prisoner of war camp in the eastern suburbs, and doctors and military doctors were dispatched from all over the place to treat them.

Not only army hospitals, navy hospitals, but even ordinary hospitals were full of wounded soldiers of the Ming army. They were brought in after being urgently bandaged by military doctors on the battlefield. Wrapped in bloody gauze, wrapped in head, face, and severed limbs, he lay in the hallway wailing, moaning, or silent, waiting for his turn.

In Qinhuai District, south of the city, the Jinling Naval Hospital is also full of wounded soldiers. These female military doctors and nurses of the Navy have never experienced such a big scene, but the quality of the soldiers has not allowed them to collapse, and they are all under the command of the wounded quickly and methodically.

Xiuxiu has been living here for a month. Now the broken bones have basically grown and can move on the ground, but they can't do strenuous exercise yet. Rao is her quiet personality, and this month still suffocates her.

Xiang Xiaoqiang came to see her a few times, and each time he held her hand in front of the hospital bed, said occasional love words, and told her jokes. But during the formation of the People's Guard, he was too busy after all, and the number of times he came was limited, and on two other occasions, he called to the hospital and called him away. It's Qiuqiu, who comes to accompany her more often.

There are also the members of the original Grasshopper, they come very often, and everyone knows that she has established a relationship with the commander, and they have become very attentive to her, buying a lot of things every time, and complimenting her, the feeling of close comradeship in the past is gone.

She has been trying to be discharged from the hospital for the past few days, but the doctor refuses to let her, thinking that although she has healed, it is better to recuperate for a while. But today, the doctor took the initiative to find her and approved her discharge. Xiuxiu knows that every hospital bed is precious now. Even if she hasn't healed, she will ask to be discharged from the hospital and go back to recuperate.

……

"Hehe, Xiuxiu," the military doctor in charge of her helped her with a smile and walked down the corridor, "You are about to become Mrs. Xiang, why didn't Commander Xiang come to pick you up from the hospital?" It's really ......."

Xiuxiu lowered her head in shame, often next to a row of wounded soldiers, and whispered:

"What's the ...... Xiang is a person who does great things...... He had just commanded a night of fighting and annihilated the Eight Banners Division, and now he needed to rest...... Qiu Yu said to pick me up, don't get in the way......"

……

In the pile of wounded soldiers next to him, a bloodied captain was half-lying, his head and face covered with gauze, and only two nostrils were exposed.

He pricked up his ears to hear this, and his body shook slightly, and his bloody hands gripped the terrazzo floor fiercely.

He leaned over to a second lieutenant next to him. The second lieutenant turned his head, saw his collar badge, his throat rolled, and asked:

"Sir, you're from the People's Guard, aren't you? …… I heard that you wiped out a division of Qing prisoners there this morning, right? ”

The captain nodded, pointing to his gauze-wrapped face, indicating that he could not speak.

The second lieutenant wanted to ask again, but the captain with a gauze face suddenly stood up, tore a slit in the gauze around his eyes with his hand, and walked away under the surprised gaze of the second lieutenant at his feet.

The captain looked around and made sure that the two women in front of him, who were walking and laughing, were the speakers he had just heard. A cold light flashed in his eyes as he slowly followed.