In Yunzhou, near the county seat of Anming.

A man stood outside a military tent, looking at the continuous barren mountains, loess everywhere, strange rocks, in this midsummer season of lush forests and grass, but could not see a trace of green.

Behind him was a tattered and patched military tent, and behind him were countless military tents, including many broken military tents sewn by villagers out of rags and dirty quilts.

He was surrounded by ragged soldiers, all of whom were thin but full of spirit, with solemn expressions and firm eyes, and the spears and broadswords they held tightly turned out to be excellent weapons.

The equipment on their bodies, one of them wearing only armor, or one wearing only a scarf on his head, and the armament that originally belonged to one person was worn separately by several people.

They were fine, and when they looked around, more soldiers were next to the tents, or soldiers patrolling back and forth, with several layers of cloth and sewn cloth armor, and their shoes were tattered.

There are even some people who take weeds and rattan straw and weave them into several pieces and hang them on their bodies, even if they are armor, their weapons are all kinds of weapons, axes, stone hammers, hoes, nail rakes, shovels, flat poles, everything.

But they all have one thing in common, that is, they are full of spirit, in addition to the stationed and patrolling soldiers, there are also people who are responsible for practicing the exercises, marching and arranging formations, all of them are full of energy, and the shouts are earth-shattering.

At this moment, there was a burst of dust and smoke in the distance, and the sound of hooves roared, and the man standing outside the military tent immediately looked over there, only to see the smoke and dust getting closer and closer, revealing the soldiers and horses wrapped inside.

This group of soldiers and horses was unexpectedly well-equipped, with sharp guns and halberds in their hands, and well-armoured, and the horses they rode were also fat and strong, and they ran like the wind.

In a blink of an eye, the team of soldiers and horses came to the front of the military tent, and when the first person turned over and dismounted, he knelt down on one knee to the man in front of the military tent, hugged his fists and said: "Tell General Yan, I went to the Yiduofan Temple, and sure enough, I saw that near this temple, a large number of acres of land were accumulated, and horses were raised." And the grain was hoarded in the granary, and when the monks and soldiers saw their subordinates and others, they made a gesture to resist, but they were helpless against our excellent weapons.

"Especially the dozens of hard crossbows, all in unison, they saw that the situation was not good, and in the blink of an eye, they abandoned their armor and fled. We snatched back nearly 100 horses and more than 5,000 catties of grain, and the rest were burned down, and the military horse farm was also completely destroyed. ”

The man named General Yan nodded and said, "Li Yi, do a good job, properly distribute the food to the brothers, recuperate well tonight, and continue to attack Anming County tomorrow, this time we must take this city!"

The soldiers in the back claimed to be. Li Yi stood up and only heard General Yan ask, "Have you taken back all the arrows that shot out of those hard crossbows?"

Li Yi replied: "General Yuyan, his subordinates have always been careful to follow the general's teachings, be diligent and thrifty, prohibit luxury, and make the best use of things, so they have taken back all the arrows that have been shot, and there is still one thing. He said reflexively and beckoned, and a few monks came out of the crowd of 100 people.

General Yan's eyes changed and he asked, "What is this?"

Li Yi replied: "General, these are a few monks who surrendered to Cheng when they went to the Yiduofan Temple. ”

General Yan's face was displeased, and he said coldly: "Didn't you say that if you see a monk, you should kill him, so as not to spoil the grain, why did you bring back a few?"

Li Yi replied unhurriedly: "General, the four of them are not ordinary monks, they are high monks with a foundation in cultivation, they are very powerful, I heard that one punch can kill a cow when they cultivate!"

"That's it, the key is that two of them were discovered by someone and became monks halfway, they turned out to be craftsmen in Anming City, and they had repaired the city wall of Anming County.

"So they know where they've been manipulated and cut corners. As long as we find a place tonight and dig a trench in secret, we will definitely be able to catch them off guard tomorrow!"

General Yan's face turned a little better, Li Yi peeked at him, and said, "General Yan, there are a few words that have been in the hearts of my subordinates for a long time, and I don't know whether to say them or not." ”

General Yan nodded, and Li Yi said: "General, originally we were an uprising, a famine escape and the existing poor monk households, resisting this bastard court and the temple full of evil, holding high the banner of righteousness, and attacking poorly. It is gratifying to overthrow them and let us do the right thing for heaven ourselves. ”

His tone changed: "However, we have been revolting for a while now, and we have not captured a single county town, but only demolished a few temples and grabbed some food. During the attack on Anming County, nearly 1,000 people were killed and wounded. This is the same night that a group of people secretly sent us a few truckloads of fine equipment, otherwise I don't know how many people would have died!"

General Yan's face was serious, he remembered the tragic situation of the siege of Anming City during this time, many soldiers died in vain because they were all farmers and croppers before, and they didn't know how to fight at all.

Li Yi continued: "I heard that this is the case with several other rebellious brother teams in Yunzhou. At first, it was smooth with the outnumbering of people, but then the officers and soldiers blocked it, and the legion team also participated, and we didn't have enough of these things, and their casualties were probably still above us. ”

General Yan glanced at him and said, "What do you mean?"

Li Yi quickly continued: "But recently, they have begun to accept monks to join, not only increasing their troops, but also bringing more food and weapons. According to the newly joined monks, during this time, even the government and the legions began to target the temple.

"I heard that Emperor Dawu of Junzhou gave an order to demolish thousands of temples in Dawu Kingdom and bring all the grain fields and temples into the official mansion!

"The monks have no way out, and they are tired of being soldiers, so except for those old and weak monks and nuns, they have all joined our uprising team, and they are more comfortable and happy!

"So my subordinates thought, we are also like them, we don't have to shout and kill with the monks, accept some young and strong monks, not to mention supplementing our soldiers, they are familiar with the temple, and they will be able to use the food in the future, general, what do you say?"

General Yan pondered for a while, and said to the four monks: "I won't kill you first, you can talk about how to be a monk first." ”

The four monks approached, knelt on the ground, folded their hands, and the leading monk said: "General Yan, poor monk, alas, forget it, the grass people are originally villagers, and they planted the land well, but later their family fell ill and spent a lot of money, so they owed debts, sold the land, rented the fields of the nearby temple, and became a monk household."

"I originally thought that I was young and strong, got up early and greedy for darkness, and could earn back the field by doing it for a few more years, but I didn't expect that I only needed to pay an official tax to plant my own land, and after planting the temple land, not to mention that the tax paid to the temple was doubled compared with the original, and the tax was three times heavier than in previous years with the monks who came to ask for money and food.

His tone was bitter: "What grows out of the land has not entered his belly at all, and all of them have gone out, and his hungry face is yellow and thin." The monks also frightened us, saying that if we didn't pay the official food, we would only receive a few boards, and if we didn't pay the temple taxes, we would create evil karma, which angered the Buddha, and even the next life of reincarnation was put into it, and we had to be cattle and horses and become animals. We, the villagers, don't believe in the Buddha much on weekdays, so we beg to accumulate some yin owls and live a more comfortable life in the next life, but I didn't expect that this life will not be able to live. ”

General Yan nodded when he listened, now these soldiers in his army, aren't all alive like this!

The monk saw General Yan's sympathetic face and knew that there was an opportunity, so he continued: "Later, the family's illness gradually worsened, and at this time, where did they get the money and food to go out to see a doctor, so my parents died of illness, leaving me alone.

"Although I also had a wife and a pair of children at that time, I was driven to a dead end, and I could no longer support them, and I was almost dying, just crying bitterly and sighing in the thatched house of my home.

Later, a childhood companion, I heard that he was on an errand in another temple, became a monk, and now he has a big waist and a thick waist, and when he returned to the village in those days, his waist was full of slams, and he made a clanging sound, which was really enviable. ”

When General Yan heard this, he let out a sneer, and the monk hurriedly said: "He heard about my suffering, made a guarantee, and introduced me to the temple, so I also became a monk, and I don't know how many unjust things I have done over the years." But there is one thing that my wife and children are very well fed for.

"Although I was on an errand in the temple, no one cared about the temple rules and Buddhist rules, and I went home every once in a while, bringing money and food, so happy.

"The abbot is a high monk, he knows a little practice, so he taught me what exercises, I can't practice horizontally and vertically, I only get a little fur, and my strength is much greater than others.

"But now I don't know what the world is, and the government has joined forces with the army to demolish our temple. Originally, an acquaintance from the government told me that he would come tomorrow, but I didn't expect you to come today.

"Since the horizontal and vertical are the same, we simply don't want anything, and you will make trouble. It's just that I think that my children have not grown up yet, and my wife is sick, so I can only beg the old men to find some way to live. ”

Speaking of this, the monk behind him also echoed: "General, we are similar, although we are craftsmen, we are also forced to work by those monks in the temple, and we are not paid.

"When you hear me say this, you will know that we were all miserable people, but this world really can't tolerate us. I beg the general to look at my wife and my ungrown children, so that we can join the gang. ”

The monk in the lead nodded again and again: "The two juniors in the back have both worked in the city, and they are familiar with all parts of the city, whether they burn, kill, loot, or do the way for the sky, as long as they can survive, they can't care about it!"

As he spoke, he kowtowed to a few monks behind him.