CHAPTER XX

On the night of the breakthrough, Gao Guiying saw Zuo Guangxian's men and horses killing like a tide, and Cao Bianjiao also had countless torches moving, so she temporarily decided to change her original plan and break through to Henan. At this time, Gao Yigong and Yuan Zongdi had been separated, and Liu Fangliang was also surrounded by enemy troops and was fighting in a melee. While rushing east with the old camp, she sent someone to tell Liu Fangliang, but this person died without seeing Fangliang. All that was left of her was the remnants of the old battalion guard, which she had formed improvised during the day, and a part of the child soldiers. Fortunately, He Jinlong found her and opened the way in front, but there were only a dozen or so people left by Jinlong's side. They continued to break through the encirclement, and when they encountered an ambush of officers and soldiers on the bank of a small river, a scuffle broke out on the bank and on the beach. Although the enemy was defeated, some soldiers, children's soldiers, and some family members died here. Rushing to the junction of Henan and Shaanxi, they met Liu Fangliang, and Fangliang opened the road in front and continued east.

They walked less than a few miles on the barren mountain path when they encountered a group of officers and soldiers and village warriors shouting and killing from the woods. The soldiers around Mrs. Gao were already sleepy, and when they suddenly encountered this enemy, they were shocked and panicked. Liu Fangliang and He Jinlong blocked the enemy in front and sent people to persuade her to retreat quickly with the soldiers and dependents of the old battalion, so as not to fall into encirclement. She did not accept the advice, but told none of the soldiers and dependents of the old camp to move, and prepared to fight to the death. She said to her family, "Follow me, don't move." If our old camp moves, the brothers in front of us will not be able to withstand it. After saying that, she took a few of her own soldiers and rode her horse to the front to watch the situation. There were about 7 or 800 officers and men of the enemy company and village warriors standing in the way, some of them were carrying red tassel guns, some were carrying white wooden sticks, some were holding steel forks, and some were holding large knives, iron whips, and other weapons, and they shouted loudly and forced over. Because the terrain is narrow and crowded, the front is like a wall, and most of the people behind are unable to exert their energy, so they can only shout and cheer. With such a formation, it is not easy for the enemy to encircle the rebels, but it is not easy for the rebels to rush over.

About a mile behind the rebels is a river, the terrain is slightly open, which is conducive to cavalry combat, and it is a three-way junction, with more room for maneuver. Mrs. Gao immediately asked her soldiers to go to the old camp to collect some baggage and sundries, handed them to Liu Fangliang, and told him that this is so, and then she returned to the old camp and led the men and horses of the old camp to move back in an orderly manner.

At this moment, three or four miles away, people shouted and neighed, getting closer and closer. This is clearly Zuo Guangxian's pursuers are coming. In the face of this treacherous situation in which there was a stubborn enemy in front and pursuers in the back, people were even more panicked. Mrs. Gao hurriedly sent someone to tell Liu Fangliang and asked He Jinlong to lead dozens of soldiers to resist the pursuers. After He Jinlong went, she also led the old camp to retreat to Sichuan. People understood very well that even though the terrain was steep and favorable to He Jinlong, it was impossible for him to resist Zuo Guangxian's pursuers with his dozens of tired men and horses, and he could only stop them for a while. If Zuo Guang rushed over first, wouldn't this rebel army, regardless of men, women, and children, be all over?

Liu Fangliang began to retreat from the front, and the killing sound behind him was closer. When Liu Fangliang retreated to the open Sichuan, he pretended to be defeated and fled, throwing his baggage and sundries on the ground. The officers and soldiers and the townsmen all fought for their belongings, and the ranks were in chaos. Taking advantage of this moment, Liu Fangliang reflexively killed back, and the people of the old camp also stepped forward bravely, desperately rushing to kill among the officers and soldiers and the villagers. Although the enemy was numerous, most of them were robbing things, and they did not care about fighting, and they completely became a group of unorganized rebels, lost their combat ability, and in the blink of an eye, they were killed and wounded, and they fled backwards. Liu Fangliang was about to fight his way out of the bloody road in one go, but the enemy's rear team rushed up again, and the generals of the officers and soldiers and the leaders of the township also cut down a few of their subordinates, suppressed the position, and blocked the way for the peasant army to break through to Henan.

He Jinlong had already fought with Zuo Guangxian's pursuers on the mountain road. The officer army had more than 100 cavalry and 3 or 400 infantry, led by a staff general. Although there was a huge disparity in strength between the two sides, He Jinlong took the lead and took advantage of the danger, condescendingly, let all the soldiers dismount, use a cliff on the side of the road as a cover, and use arrows and stones to resist the officers and soldiers. The officers and soldiers could not get close for a while, so they attacked upward with arrows and firearms. Knowing that he was too small in numbers and had no firearms to defend for long, Jin Long sent a brother on horseback to report to Mrs. Gao, telling her to try to escape as soon as possible, and to abandon the old camp and his family as a last resort. Mrs. Gao hurriedly commanded:

"You go back and tell you General He, if you want him to keep it for as long as he can, try to keep it for a while!"

She glanced at the many enemies blocking the way in front of her, and listened to the shouts and firecrackers behind her, and the thought of committing suicide with her daughter suddenly flashed in her heart. However, she noticed that many people around her were looking at her in panic, and at the same time, the few words that King Chuang had told her when she was about to break through also flashed in her heart. She calmed down and said to the people around her, "Don't panic, calm down." We will definitely rush to Henan! In order not to be separated from her daughter in the breakout, Laneige rode with her on the same horse. At this time, she called a personal soldier to carry Laneige over, took a war drum, rode forward, and came to the front team, personally beating the drum to supervise the battle. The enemy saw a female general supervising the battle in the hazy dawn and moonlight, and guessed that it must be Li Zicheng's wife, Gao, and shot arrows at her. Her soldiers on the left and right kept being shot and some falling off their horses. One of her own soldiers grabbed the reins of her horse and said urgently, "Take a step back!" Take a step back! Mrs. Gao struck his hand with a drumstick and shouted, "Lose your hand! You're afraid of yourself backing up! As soon as the soldier let go, she knocked the stirrup while beating the drum, and Yuhua Cong took a few steps forward in the rain of arrows. In the deafening sound of drums, in the earth-shattering sound of rushing and killing, the people on the left and right kept hearing Madame Gao's calm and urgent orders:

"Huiying, shoot the one in the red robe! Zhang Cai, shoot that flag bearer! Huimei, shoot this official in the distance! ……”

Suddenly, she was hit by an arrow in her right leg, almost three inches deep. In a moment, her drumming stopped. Taking advantage of the fact that the soldiers on the left and right did not see it, she gritted her teeth and pulled out her arrow, and the war drums sounded from her horse again. Hui Ying saw this, and saw that the blood had stained a large area of her cotton pants, and quickly said:

"Madam, stand down and give me the drums of war!"

"Don't make a noise! Quick, shoot that white horse! ”

In the critical juncture of war, it is often a fortuitous success that can have a big impact. Hui Ying shot the enemy general who was riding a white horse and wielding a big sword with an arrow, and this person was an important general of the enemy. As soon as he died, the enemy panicked and tried to retreat to a dangerous place, took a defensive position, and waited for Zuo Guangxian's pursuers to arrive. On the side of the peasant army, Liu Fangliang and the soldiers saw Mrs. Gao personally beating drums to supervise the battle, and they moved forward desperately one by one, even those who were seriously injured refused to take a step back. Now taking advantage of the enemy's retreat, Liu Fangliang waved the red tassel gun and said, "Follow me!" "With dozens of soldiers, he rushed towards the center of several hundred enemies, and at once he overwhelmed the enemy. The enemy was defeated and scattered, trampled on each other, and many died. The peasant army rushed across the mountain pass to the border of Henan, and captured many horses and dry rations. After walking for a few more miles, Mrs. Gao stopped and asked Huiying to tear her clothes and tie the wound for her. Her face was already sallow because of the excessive bleeding. But she endured the pain, didn't make a sound, looked left and right and asked:

"Didn't the golden dragon come back?"

The people on the left and right looked at each other, but no one made a sound. Everyone listened in the direction of the mountain pass where He Jinlong was last guarded, and they could no longer hear the sound of shouting and killing. Mrs. Gao understood in her heart, and couldn't help but say excitedly:

"I will never forget the golden dragon's fierce loyalty!"

Some of the soldiers suggested that a few people should be sent back to look for He Jinlong. Mrs. Gao shook her head. She knew that the area was now full of officers and soldiers, and that it was impossible to send people back, and that a few more brothers would be lost in vain, and that there would definitely be several pursuers searching for her whereabouts, and perhaps they would have come to a close place. So she gave the order to set off and continued to run towards Henan.

Around the time Lady Gao said that she would not forget He Jinlong's fierce loyalty, Jinlong opened his eyes from the pool of blood. His side was littered with the corpses of rebel soldiers and enemies, some on top of each other, some clutching each other, and some faintly**. He listened, and seemed to understand that most of the enemy had left the battlefield. The extremely heroic battle just now was quickly recalled. It turned out that he had just sent a brother to urge Madame Gao to rush out of a bloody way to break through, and the officers and soldiers attacked the bottom of the cliff, and about dozens of officers and soldiers shot arrows upwards so that his soldiers could not raise their heads, and another group of infantry climbed up from the side path, and saw that they were about to seize this place. He had already been wounded three times and was bleeding profusely. Most of his brothers were either killed or fell from serious wounds. At this critical moment, he was bent on preventing the officers and soldiers from rushing across the mountain pass to chase Mrs. Gao, and kept saying to the brothers: "Shoot hard, shoot hard." We are alone in life, don't think about this opening. Iron Bull, you can't draw a bow, help pick up the arrows! As he spoke, he lifted a rock with all his strength and threw it at the enemy who was about to climb up. The enemy screamed, fell down, and then rushed down the people behind him, and together he tumbled down the steep path, while he himself snorted heavily, and fell as well. The officers and soldiers were so badly wounded at the bottom of the cliff that they temporarily stopped the attack and only kept firing arrows upwards. After a while, another group of officers and soldiers came. He Jinlong heard someone shouting loudly near the cliff:

"Uncle Golden Dragon! Uncle Jin Long! Don't shoot arrows. I am Guoyong, and I am here to find you on the orders of the fourth uncle. Uncle Jin Long! Uncle Jin Long! ”

He Jinlong waved his hand to stop the brothers from archery, raised his body and asked, "Guoyong, what are you doing looking for me?" Did you come to me to die? ”

"Eighth Uncle Jinlong, we are all members of the He family, and our deputy general specially ordered me to come and save you. He wants you not to die here, give your life in vain. Eighth uncle, take your brothers with me, not only to save your life, but also to be an official. Eighth uncle, hurry up and come with me, don't let down the kindness of our deputy general! ”

He Jinlong said angrily: "Beast! You have to persuade Lao Tzu to surrender! Although we are all surnamed He, we are all of the same family, but you are the eagle dogs of the Zhu family's court, and I am a general under the word 'Chuang', each protecting its master, and the road is divided into two ways. I, He Jinlongsheng, am a person under the word 'Chuang', and I am a ghost under the word 'Chuang' when I die, and I would rather die in battle here, and there is no reason to surrender. Get out! On the battlefield of the two armies, don't blame your eighth uncle's sharp arrow for not recognizing his relatives! ”

He Guoyong took a few more steps forward, less than fifty steps away, and said loudly: "Eighth uncle! Uncle Eight! King Li Chuang failed to break through, he has been captured by Cao Zhen, Gao Guiying has committed suicide on the battlefield, don't you hurry up and follow me? ”

The golden dragon pulled out his bow and scolded, "Damn, Lao Tzu shot you little bastard!" Then there was a whoosh, and the arrow left the bowstring. He wanted to shoot the other party in the throat, but his strength was very weak, and when the arrow reached the opponent's face, it fell downward, and happened to hit the heart guard. He tried to shoot another arrow, but he couldn't lift his right arm.

The officers and soldiers immediately began a ferocious attack, using the firearms they had obtained, causing the defenders to quickly suffer casualties and capture the cliff.

After He Jinlong woke up from the pool of blood, he looked left and right, thought about it, and said to himself in a vague voice:

"Madame, is it all over?"

"Nope. I heard that she had gone east. ”

"Iron Bull, you're not dead yet?"

"No, sir. I was seriously injured and was afraid that I would not survive. ”

He Jinlong was still bleeding, his throat was very dry, and his voice was vague: "Thirst, thirst." He tried to struggle, but the lower half of his body was crushed by the corpse of an enemy, and he couldn't move. He said again: "As long as she escapes." Then he closed his eyes, passed out, and never woke up again.

After dawn, many local villagers and civilians came to the battlefield in this area to search for dead and wounded mules and horses, collect property, and strip the dead of their clothes. They found that there was a half-pile child of sixteen or seventeen years old who had not yet died, and was born with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a square mouth and a high nose, and was very handsome and clever. A few people were kind enough to carry him back to the cottage and save his life. After he was able to speak, he knew that he was He Jinlong's personal soldier, named Wang Tieniu. When Tie Niu's injuries were about to heal, he decided to go to western Henan to find Mrs. Gao's troops, escaped from the cottage, was chased by Xiang Yong, had a fight, and was killed on the spot.

This story, soon called Huazi into an allegro, and then into a lotus fall, sung in the mountains in this area, sung for several years, excited the hearts of countless teenagers.

At the beginning of November, it snowed in the mountains. Thousands of peaks and mountains, as far as the eye can see, are all white. The next day, the sky was clear and the sky was as blue as the sea. In the morning, it was quiet in front of several thatched huts, and a small sparrow stood on the bamboo fence and chirped. The snow on the slope of the house was darkly melted by the sun, and although there was not yet a drop of water on the eaves, there were ice bars hanging down. If you look closely every once in a while, you will see that the ice bars are slowly lengthening, enlarged, and shining silver. Milky white smoke rises from the sunny hills, swirling, steaming, converging into clouds, one by one floating away in the blue sky and sea.

The small courtyard was cleaned. The snow swept away was piled up on the edge of the hedge. Two paths were swept outside the chai gate, separating to the left and right. After a while, Hui Ying pulled Laneige out of the hut and scared the little sparrow away. Recently, Mrs. Gao and her sisters have stayed in this mountain village, and every day after breakfast, Laneige sits at the small table next to her mother and writes a "Shangda Kong Yiji", and then goes to the small courtyard with Huiying to practice swordsmanship, and then goes down to Qianchuan to learn archery. Mrs. Gao didn't want her to become a first-class figure of Fan Lihua and Mu Guiying when she grew up, but she didn't know when the war would end, and she had to learn a little martial arts, so that she could defend herself and protect herself among the horses. In addition to a beautiful sword, she also has a small mulberry arc bow and some small goose feather arrows. But these bows and swords, in a ten-year-old girl, if they are weapons, they are more appropriate than toys. After all, Li Laiheng is a boy, and he is also a year or two older than her, and he has been excited and excited to shoot the enemy with a small bow and arrow on the battlefield several times. Laneige's bow and arrow were never used. But she hopes that she will soon be a little older and able to participate in battles, and be able to use her martial arts to protect her mother when she is in danger. So despite her small age, she is very enthusiastic about learning martial arts. At first, Mrs. Gao regarded her liking for learning martial arts as a play, and said to her: "The girl's family is already ten years old, and in addition to knowing a few words, it is serious to learn to do needlework." In the future, I don't expect you to become a female general and lead soldiers to fight, it is enough to learn a little martial arts, and you don't need to practice so hard every day! Every time she heard this, she seemed to have been greatly wronged, and she pursed her little mouth. Slowly, Mrs. Gao understood her wishes, and because she was an only daughter, she no longer asked her to learn needlework, except for reading books in the morning and evening, and writing an imitation after breakfast, the rest of the time was as she pleased. In fact, in the eyes of the little girl, there is not much difference between practicing martial arts and playing.

Because she lived a life of fighting horses all year round, and sometimes had to fight with the enemy like a man, the female soldiers around Mrs. Gao were all bigfoot. It is said that it is a big foot, but it is not exactly a heavenly foot. Not only did they bind their feet before they became female soldiers, but now they have not consciously rebelled against thousands of years of traditional vices, and they have to be a little more entangled, indicating that they are not the same as men. Laneige is a little girl who grew up in such an environment, and has less pain than the older girls. This situation has become a convenient condition for her to practice martial arts and learn to manipulate fierce horses.

But she said that when she came to the courtyard with Huiying, she happened to see a crow falling on a leafless oak tree outside the bamboo hedge, because it was blowing a strong northwest wind today, so it turned its head to the northwest and crowed twice hoarsely on the shaking branches. Laneige immediately took the small bow, put on the arrow, held the bow in his left hand, put his index finger against the shaft of the arrow, clasped the bowstring with his right hand, spread his feet, and turned his head slightly to the right, aiming at the crow in the tree. Then the bowstring sounded, and the goose arrow whizzed out, and although the crow flew away, a dozen feathers fell one after another. The little girl was ecstatic about her achievement, jumping up and cheering loudly. But Hye-young immediately winked at her and twisted her mouth. She looked at Hye-young, who was smiling in her eyes, stuck out her tongue and covered her mouth with both hands. Then she ran out of the fence, picked up a few large black feathers scattered on the ground, looked at them, turned back to Huiying, who was following her, and gestured with her fingers, and whispered:

"Sister Huiying, it's just a little bit away!"

"Okay, in less than a year, you'll catch up with Xiao Laiheng."

"Sister Huiying, really? Really? ”

"Really, as long as you practice with your heart. Come on, you can show me again. ”

Laneige put on a posture and made a gesture of drawing a bow to shoot, and asked Huiying for advice. Huiying looked up and down, correcting the little girl's posture of standing on her feet, and admonished:

"Laneige, your feet are not standing properly, and you fork too wide, how can you use your strength? Remember: 'Ding is not Ding, eight is not eight, and the feet are seven or eight feet apart.' That is to say, standing on the ground with two feet, like the character 'Ding' is not like the character 'Ding', like the character 'eight' is not like the character 'eight'. In addition, the knees should be separated, the hips should be inhaled, the waist should be dark, and the chest should be prominent, so that it is in order. ”

"Sister Huiying, my two feet are less than one foot seven or eight apart, why do you think my feet are too wide?"

Hui Ying smiled and said, "Silly girl! 'Shakuchi-Eight' means that adults say, you are a little girl, how can you compare with adults? Come on, you put on a new stance, I'll see. ”

The little girl regained her footsteps, drew her bow full, her back hand was less than three inches from her chest, the arrow was between her chin, her body was straight, and she set up her arrows calmly, so that Huiying had to nod her head again and again. She carefully corrected Laneige's wrist posture and said:

"Laneige, in terms of archery posture, the most important thing is the word 'ping'. Hold the bow in your left hand and keep the back of your hand flat; The right hand buckles the string, and the wrist should be flat, and it cannot be flat without force; The front fist should be level with the right eye; The back elbow should be level with the right ear. This is Siping. The back of the head and spine should be in a straight line. Your wrists are sometimes uneven, so you don't have the strength and the arrows you shoot are not easy to aim. That's right, that's right, that's it. Okay, shoot at the old owl's nest. Shoot! ”

As soon as the bowstring sounded, a goose arrow passed through the middle of an old eagle's nest on a tsubaki branch, and dropped a few dry branches and hay. Laneige jumped on her feet and screamed with joy. Hui Ying hurriedly made a gesture, and made a look, paused for a moment, and whispered:

"Madame's heart is unhappy, you must not jump and scream in the future, you know?"

The little girl stuck out the tip of her tongue and fell silent. Thinking of the unhappiness in her mother's heart, her heart immediately sank, and dispelled the ecstasy just now without a trace.

For about 20 days since she arrived here, she knew that her mother had been suffering from arrows in her legs from time to time, and that because of the great defeat, the whole army had been separated, and the lives and deaths of her father, uncle, brother Shuangxi, sister-in-law Huang, and nephew Laiheng were unknown, which made her mother even more painful. Especially when she got the news that He Jinlong and his gang all died next to the cliff in order to block Zuo Guangxian's pursuers, and none of them escaped, nor were they captured or surrendered, my mother couldn't help crying. Laneige hadn't seen her cry like this in many years. After that, although her mother neither sighed for the arrow or the troubles in her heart, but still calmly called Uncle Liu Fangliang and the old camp manager to ask and tell some things every day, how could her pain hide from Laneige? In the past few days, my mother's arrow wound has been much better, but her heart has become heavy. About two or three days ago, after dinner, my mother called a group of child soldiers, who cared about everyone's recent lives, asked long and short questions, talked and laughed, and told us two interesting stories from the early rebels. When these children inquired about King Chuang's news, their mother smiled and said, "Don't worry, King Chuang and the generals will not have any trouble, and they will meet us soon." But when the children were gone, Laneige saw her mother's sad face, staring at the light for a long time, sighing softly, and then pulling her to bed.

That night, Laneige somehow woke up and seemed to hear (or rather feel) her mother sobbing quietly. But when I listened closely, there was no sound. She pressed her face against her mother's face and found that her face was wet and the pillow was also wet. She stretched out her little hand to wipe the tears from her mother's face, and at the same time called "Mom! The mother suddenly hugged her tightly and couldn't help crying bitterly. Later, when she heard the sound of Huiying and Huimei's bed, her mother quickly held back her crying, covered the heads of the mother and daughter with the quilt, and quietly continued to sobbed for a long time. But the next morning, as in the past, she still discussed things with Liu Fangliang and others, and also talked and laughed with ordinary people and women.

Mrs. Gao's pain, Hui Ying and Hui Mei are very clear. In particular, Huiying is one year older than Huimei, and she is a person who pays attention to everything, so she knows more about her wife's situation. Every time Laneige or Huimei laughed out loud and shouted loudly at different times, she was always immediately forbidden by her glances or gestures. Now she pulled Laneige back to the courtyard and whispered:

"Come, I'll teach you how to dance the sword, but don't shout."

Because the little girl's heart is heavy, she also feels bored with practicing sword dancing. When Huiying saw this, she took out two bamboo swords from the house, gave one to Laneige, and took one for herself, and let the little girl stab her for a while, and then she stabbed Laneige. If she saw Laneige dodging and blocking skillfully, she complimented her with a nod and a smile on the corner of her eyebrow. Otherwise, she let Laneige slash or stab her in the same way, but the movements are doubly fast, and she makes her own dodge or resist for Laneige to see. It was this battle of wits and courage that the little girl's interest was greatly raised.

They were practicing vigorously, and Huimei ran back panting, with a bow and arrows on her back and a sword on her back. His handsome face was blown by the cold wind, and he ran hot, and it was as red as a ripe apple. Before she entered the wood gate, she shouted excitedly:

"Sister Huiying! Sister Huiying! There are so many wolves here, I just shot another one! ”

Hui Ying stopped the bamboo sword and asked, "What about the wolf?" Why don't you carry it back? ”

"I shot it in the back leg and let it escape."

Huiying pursed her lips and smiled: "Seeing that you are happy to win Jingzhou, it turned out that you only shot one of the wolf's hind legs, and let it escape again." ”

Huimei pouted and said, "I didn't ride a horse, and there was heavy snow, so naturally I couldn't catch up with it." You're capable, you go catch up! ”

"I don't have to chase after me, I can hit the vital point with an arrow, so that it can't escape."

"Who called you a sister, a year older than me?"

Huiying deliberately teased her again: "It's just that you don't care about practicing archery on weekdays, but it's not a year and a half younger than others." Besides, you must be a little afraid of wolves, so you don't dare to chase it alone, even if it is wounded. ”

These two sentences really annoyed Huimei. She simply didn't know what to say. Although she was still embarrassed to put the smile on her cheeks, it seemed to have frozen, and was secretly dissipating, about to disappear.

Yes, how can it be said that she doesn't care about practicing archery on weekdays? How can it be said that she is a timid girl? If she was afraid of even a wounded wolf, she wouldn't be worthy of following Mrs. Gao's side at all! Not long ago, when Mrs. Gao broke through to Henan, she was ordered by Mrs. Gao to turn back to take a look at some of the color numbers and dependents that fell behind, resisting a group of villagers alone, and rescuing everyone.

It's a very interesting story, and it's still often told as a story. At that time, she was ordered to turn her horse back alone, and when she turned around the foot of a mountain, she saw more than 20 villagers cutting off a wounded person and their dependents on the side of a small bridge. How is it good? She suddenly came up with an idea, beat her horse, and boldly ran towards the bridge, shouting: "Kill these earth leopards, Madame Gao has come to meet you!" At first, the villagers believed it and planned to flee to the mountain, but when they saw that there was only one "female thief" and a young girl, they stopped running. When the dependents and wounded heard that Mrs. Gao had come to pick them up, they couldn't see it through the trees and bushes, and thought it was really coming, so they rushed across the bridge with a shout. The villagers had no horses, and they turned around to catch up, but they couldn't catch up, but they all wanted to get foreign wealth from the peasant army, so they refused to give up. Hui Mei was very annoyed and thought it was funny, so she told everyone to catch up with Mrs. Gao, and she herself immediately waited for Xiang Yong under a big pine tree.

The sun has come out very high. The villagers saw very clearly that the eldest girl not far in front of them was handsome, riding a tall war horse with a slight pink, which was even better than the Zhaojun out of the fortress in the New Year's painting. Someone wanted this girl, someone wanted this war horse, and they screamed and pounced on her. Huimei had seen some big scenes with Mrs. Gao, and she didn't pay attention to this group of earth leopards on foot at all. Unhurriedly, she pulled out an arrow and made a gesture to a villager who was running in front. At first, the townsfolk in front of him were startled and didn't dare to chase her, but then he saw that she only drew her bow and didn't let go of the arrow, thinking that she, a big girl, must not be able to shoot accurately, and boldly chased after her. She was virtual again. The villagers were stunned again, stopped, and stared at her. She said in a tone of challenge: "If there is a seed, come up!" Why not come? The young townsmen in front of him saw her smile, even her snow-white and neat teeth, and heard her voice so beautiful, it was really tender, crisp, round, and a little brute, all a little confused. According to what they later talked to, this sound was better than that of the yellow warbler in spring. Who would have believed that such a beloved big girl would really fight and kill? Someone in the village laughed greedily and whispered:

"Look, it's still big eyes and double eyelids!"

Huimei also heard this sentence, and a flush appeared on her cheeks. When people saw her only drawing a bow, they all said that she would not shoot or not, and that she was deliberately scary, and suddenly heard the sound of the bowstring, and a person fell to the ground. Everyone was horrified for a moment, but immediately they deceived her and pounced on her with a shout, thinking that if she missed an arrow, they would rush to her and catch her with the horse. Huimei shot down another person, and the villagers were less than ten paces away from her. She turned her horse's head, ran a little way, turned back from her horse, and determined to shoot a few more of them, and beckoned with a deliberate smile:

"Come on, I'm waiting for you!"

The villagers did not give up and chased after her again. There was a pock-faced villager who carried a red tassel gun and replied mischievously as he ran:

"Girl, I'm here!"

Huimei shot another arrow into the stomach of the pock-faced youth. People are getting closer. She grabbed it from her quiver, and instead of an arrow, she grabbed her beloved flute. She quickly touched it again, and the quiver was empty. She used the flute as an arrow to startle those who were chasing her. She shook the flute and said, "I'm sorry, I don't want to be messed with you." After that, he turned his horse and left. After a while, she looked back and saw that some of the villagers who had been left a mile away were carrying the dead bodies, and some were looking at her. She snorted hatefully, then laughed.

After coming to Kunshan, Huimei did not tell the details of what happened this time. First of all, the rescued Cai Hao talked to the family members, and after Mrs. Gao and Huiying asked, she added some words with a shy smile. Huiying was originally very good with her and treated her like a sister. After knowing this story, she liked Huimei even more.

Now seeing Huimei's aggrieved look, Huiying laughed softly, took her hand and whispered:

"Silly girl, I'm joking with you. Look at how high your little mouth is, you can hold a small donkey! ”

"If you don't tease me, will I pout? You make people angry, and you laugh again. Hmph, it's still my sister! ”

"Don't shout, okay? If you hadn't yelled so loudly, I wouldn't have spoken of you. Hui Ying put her arms around her neck and whispered, "Don't you know that Madame is unhappy today?" ”

Huimei asked in a low voice, "What is she doing now?" Still embroidering the banner of the word 'Chuang'? ”

Hui Ying nodded: "It's going to be embroidered soon." ”

Huimei snorted and said, "I didn't sleep all night last night!" ”

Laneige asked: "Sister Huimei, my father is not here, and my mother embroiders the banner of the word 'Chuang' whenever she has nothing to do these days." Do you know what she is doing with this banner? ”

"I didn't know, and I didn't dare ask. Sister Huiying, do you know? ”

"Is this still a guess? It must be that she is worried that King Chuang will lose the banner when he breaks through, so she embroiders a ready......" Hui Ying just said this, when she saw Mrs. Gao coming out, she unconsciously shrugged her shoulders and didn't dare to say anything more.

During the period of living in the mountains to recuperate, Mrs. Gao embroidered the banner of the word "Chuang" as soon as she had nothing to do, and in the past two or three days, the embroidery has become more energetic. Last night, she took Huiying and Huimei to embroider until after the second watch before going to bed, but at some point she quietly got out of bed alone, added a few pieces of charcoal to the black tile brazier, lit the wick, and sat at the table to continue embroidering. Sometimes she stopped her needlework and looked up in contemplation, her brow furrowed, wondering how many questions, speculations, suspense, and worries weighed on her mind. But often after a period of contemplation, a look of determination and hope appeared in her big eyes, and a smile appeared from the corner of her mouth, which showed that she was full of confidence in King Chuang's safe breakthrough and the re-establishment of the banner in the near future. Late one night, Huiying was awakened by a mouse, looked up, and whispered:

"Madame, go to sleep. When did you get up again? ”

"Sleep, leave me alone." Mrs. Gao didn't look up, haha frozen fingers, and continued to embroider the flag.

Hui Ying knew that Mrs. Gao was in a troubled mood and used needles and threads to pass the sleepless night. Her heart was sad, and she tossed and turned on the pillow for a while, then she also got up quietly, took a cotton dress and draped it over Mrs. Gao's shoulders. Mrs. Gao turned her head sharply, looked at her, and said:

"Go to sleep, it's still early."

But how could Hui Ying leave Mrs. Gao to sleep? She sat down on the other side of the square table and helped embroider the flag. Mrs. Gao urged her to go to sleep twice, but when she insisted on refusing, she stopped urging. After a while, Hye-young accidentally dropped the scissors on the ground, waking Hye-mei up. Huimei rubbed her sleepy eyes with her hands, and when she saw Mrs. Gao and Huiying embroidering flags under the lamp, her sleepiness dissipated. After a moment's pause, he heard the roosters crow in the village, so he got up in his clothes. Hui Ying was completely like a sister, and whispered:

"Huimei, the chicken is just calling all over the place, what are you doing when you get up? Sleep, I'll wake you up to practice martial arts. ”

Huimei giggled childishly, didn't answer, got out of bed and wiped her eyes and hands with a wet hand towel, sat opposite Huiying, grabbed the corner of the banner and started to work. Seeing that Huiying was still looking at her with wide eyes, she said:

"Don't stare at me. I've slept enough. ”

"Dress thicker," said Mrs. Gao, "it's cold on the fifth watch, be careful of catching a cold." ”

When the rooster crowed twice, the crow on the branch began to crow. Mrs. Gao felt sleepy and cold. She put down her needle and thread, yawned, stood up, took her sword from the wall, and said:

"The night is long! I went to the courtyard to get some movement. ”

Hui Ying whispered in surprise, "Madam, the arrow wound on your leg has not healed yet!" ”

"What are you afraid of, it's almost closed."

Huimei also advised: "You better rest for a few more days, don't be in a hurry to move." ”

"Alas, because the arrow wound is not good, the horse cannot be ridden, the road cannot be walked, I don't know how many things have been delayed! I'm going to go crazy if I live like this any longer. Taking advantage of the fact that my body is a little cold now, I try to move my muscles. If the wound didn't hurt much, we wouldn't be bored in this mountain nest anymore. ”

When the two girls saw that she could not be persuaded to stop, they had to carry their swords and follow her to the small courtyard. Genius Ma Ma Liang. The cold wind is biting. Mrs. Gao tried to dance the sword, and as soon as she kicked her right leg, the wound hurt violently, and her body tilted to the side, and she gasped at the same time. The two girls immediately held her up and persuaded her to go back to the house, but she pushed them away, gritted her teeth, and continued to dance with her sword. When her right leg moves, she doesn't dare to move too fast, let alone exert too much force. The two girls saw that she was suffering from pain, and tried to persuade her, but they did not dare to persuade her. It was not until the corners of her forehead were sweating that she put away her sword, and as if she had won a battle, she said with a smile:

"I can probably ride a horse too." Then he sighed and said, "Alas, I haven't been out of the saddle for so long in all these years, and it's been more than half a month!" ”

She seemed to have a premonition that she would soon be able to use the banner of the word "Chuang", so she took a short rest after breakfast, sat down and continued to embroider the flag, and finished the rest of the stitch in one go. She wanted to unfold the flag on the bed, but it was too big and could only be spread halfway, and the other half had to be pulled with both hands. A person admired the hand-embroidered "Chuang" word flag, and her heart had indescribable happiness, as if she heard the drums of war again, and saw the banner of King Chuang fluttering in the wind in front of thousands of troops, and the tip of the flag spear and the mane of the flag flashed white in the sun. She saw the banner advancing, and the men and horses rushed forward......

She folded the flag, and it took her half a day to calm her heart. She was supposed to get some sleep. She also wanted to get some sleep. But a distant neighing of horses dispelled her sleepiness. She walked out of the house silently, leaned against the doorframe, looked at the sky with a serene expression, at the dense cedar forest on the opposite hill and the delicate sun hanging over the pine forest, and then turned her eyes to Huimei, and asked:

"Huimei, have you found Master Liu?"

"Mrs. Hui, I saw Master Liu. He said that please let Mrs. relax, the people have already been sent away, and this time they will definitely go to Shangluo Mountain, and there will be no loss on the way. ”

"What kind of person do you pretend?"

"Pretend to be a Taoist priest who goes to Wudang."

Mrs. Gao paused for a moment and asked uneasily, "Does he understand some of the rules of the monks?" What if he encountered a checkpoint, the officer and soldier became suspicious and asked him to recite a sutra and try not to show his feet? ”

"Madam, don't worry, you won't show your feet. Liu Ye asked me to return to Mrs. Hui and said that the person sent this time was an old sentry under him, a person from the west of Lingbao, and his accent was very right. When this person was young, because there was no food at home, he went to Huashan to become a monk, and he understood the etiquette of the monks, and he could also recite scriptures, recite mantras, and draw talismans. ”

Mrs. Gao smiled and said, "As the saying goes, 'there are hundreds of people, all kinds of people', which is really true. You see, there are so many talents in our rebel army! ”

Laneige immediately said, "Mom, even singing lotus flowers!" ”

This sentence caused everyone to laugh.

"Huiying, you go and prepare two horses to bring here." Mrs. Gao commanded.

"Madam, what are you doing with the horses?"

"You come with me to Maekawa to try out horses. I don't leave the village for many days, and I even dream of riding a horse. ”

Huiying knew that she could no longer use "the arrow wound has not healed" as an excuse to dissuade her, so she had to say:

"But there's snow in the river, ma'am!"

"There wasn't much snow yesterday, so you can try the horses."

Huiying didn't dare to say more, so she went out of the chaimen to the stable. Huimei looked at Mrs. Gao and asked:

"Madam, shall I go too?"

"If you stay at home, someone might come to me."

Laneige demanded, "Mom, shall I go?" ”

Mrs. Gao nodded and said, "Okay, go and lead the horse." ”

After a while, the three war horses were led to the mountain road outside the chaimen. Mrs. Gao was still in pain from the wound when she got on the horse, and she frowned unconsciously. Huiying hurried to help her, but she didn't let her, gritted her teeth, got on the horse, and said, "Go!" As soon as the whip was raised, Yuhua Cheng hissed excitedly in the face of the sun, and walked down the mountain on the dry ice and snow. Hui Ying helped Lan Zhi get on the war horse, gave Hui Mei a few words, and then got on the horse and set off by himself.

Huimei stood in the small courtyard and watched them gallop in the middle of the river, feeling very lonely. He took out the piccolo from his quiver, leaned against the wooden door, and blew it.

In the neighborhood, many ordinary people are basking in the sun in the yard and outside the chaimen, the women are gossiping while collecting the soles of their shoes, the children are shouting and building snowmen, the elderly are gossiping slowly, turning over the torn cotton jackets to catch lice, and many people are watching Mrs. Gao galloping in the river with curious eyes. When Huimei was blowing, all the sounds stopped, and everyone tilted their heads to listen to her flute. An old woman could hear it, and her mouth was missing, and the spit flowed out of her mouth, hanging down in long threads, swinging, and finally falling on her lap before she knew it, and the new saliva hung down into a thread. Listening and listening, the old men's staccato gossip ceased, and they stopped catching lice. A baby was woken up by a diaper ice and had just cried and was immediately gagged with a nipple by his mother. A goat bleated two or three times, and was punched hard in the back by a half-pile boy, and did not dare to make a sound.

Listening and listening, everyone silently approached the small courtyard where Mrs. Gao lived, but they did not dare to get too close, for fear of alarming the girl who played the flute. Ermao, who was recognized as the naughtiest child in the whole village, was so hot that his cheeks were red because he was building a snowman with his brothers just now, and now he was also attracted by the sound of the flute, dragging his nose and tiptoeing to Huimei. But he was not satisfied, and wanted to get closer, but as soon as he took one more step forward, he was knocked on the chestnut by his brother. In normal times, he would have jumped and screamed to resist and retaliate, but now he retracted his head, stuck out his tongue, and took two steps back in a proper manner.

A wisp of white clouds, like a light veil, was slowly blown by the morning breeze, and floated from the tops of a pine forest, and stopped at the head of the Pied Girl, as if it was nostalgic and could not bear to leave; After a while, somehow, it suddenly dispersed, fluttered upward, and melted into the deep, blue sky.

Huimei continued to lean against the wooden door and play the flute, her big bright eyes covered with a thin layer of hot tears, no one knew what she was thinking. She was the daughter of a farmer in Songjiang Prefecture near the East China Sea, and her father was forced to death by the landlord's usury, and her mother took her and her younger brother to live with her uncle. My uncle was a village doctor and was also in debt. His father's creditors continued to persecute his mother to use Huimei as a maid to repay the debt of Hades. The mother was forced to commit suicide by throwing herself into a ditch in the village on a dark night, taking advantage of the high tide. Later, my uncle was also forced to live by loan sharks, so he fled from his hometown with his wife and Huimei's sister and brother, and somehow arrived in Chuzhou. At this time, Huimei was only nine years old, herding cattle for a landlord and learning to play the flute with the shepherd boys. A year later, none of the shepherd boys in the nearby villages boasted as well as her, and even the adults praised her. It turned out that some older boys often bullied her, and later, because they all liked to listen to her play the flute, they fought to help her and protect her. If one day the master's family gives her anger, it is assumed that within three days several children will throw stones into her master's yard in the middle of the night, and learn to cry and cry behind the house.

When Huimei was thirteen years old, the peasant army, under the leadership of Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, and Li Zicheng, fought near Chuzhou, and she and her twelve-year-old brother were captured by a peasant army. happened to meet Mrs. Gao on the road, saw that she was smart and handsome, and had a sharp body, asked her about her life experience, and asked her to come out and stay by his side. Her younger brother was also sent to join the Children's Soldiers. Later, the peasant army conquered the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum and captured a group of royal musicians, all of whom were eunuchs. Because Mrs. Gao appreciated Huimei's musical genius very much, she asked a eunuch who was good at playing the flute to give her some guidance, and her flute was even more brilliant from then on. Xiao Zhang Nai was a small leader in the children's soldiers at that time, and he got a flute in the imperial tomb, which was an old thing in the Beijing palace 170 years ago, and was brought to the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum by a eunuch of the Bell and Drum Division. The body of the flute is painted red with the most precious lacquer, and you can see the figure in the moonlight. The top is engraved with the fine knife technique of the Chunshan cattle herding picture, as well as the inscription of Zhao Ziang's two-line Juanxiu, and the inscription of the Song people's poem "The shepherd boy returns to the back of the bull, and the piccolo blows without a cavity"; The next topic is "the first year of Chenghua". The lines of the painting are inlaid in stone green, and the inscriptions are inlaid in red gold, although the color is as new after more than 100 years. The tail of the flute is a piece of ivory, and the whole flute looks very elegant. Zhang Nai gave this treasure to Huimei. She loved it so much, she loved it like her own eyes. She loved it, first, because it was a royal object in the palace, elegant in form and beautiful in tone; second, because the pictures engraved on it often reminded her of the bitter life in Chuzhou for several years; Third, because it was given to her by Zhang Nai, and she secretly loved Zhang Nai in her heart.

A few months earlier, her brother had been killed in battle in Zefandi. Since then, she has only three relatives left in the world. The first relative was Mrs. Gao, and Huimei treated her as a life-saving benefactor and mother. The second relative is Hui Ying, who treats her as a sibling sister. The third relative is Zhang Nai. But although she loved him, secretly cared about him, and sometimes dreamed of him in her dreams, she never showed a trace of unusual feelings in front of him, so Zhang Nai's infinite affection for her was unexpectedly unaware. Mrs. Gao also intended to marry her to Zhang Nai, but one was because they were not very old, and the other was because of the tension of the war, so she just thought about it and didn't say it, and even King Chuang didn't know what she meant.

She blew for a long time, and when she knew that the men, women, and children of the neighborhood had come to listen nearby, she left the chaimen, went to the courtyard, and finished blowing the last part into the hut. She was not afraid of others eavesdropping, but afraid that others would see tears in her eyes. When she finished blowing, she wiped away the tears hanging from her eyelashes and looked at the ice strips hanging on the eaves. By this time, the sun was warmer again, and every ice bar was fluttering and falling water droplets.

Although the neighbors saw Huimei every day, everyone walked to the door with fresh feelings and curiosity, and looked at her through the wooden door and the bamboo fence. Ermao led two or three little boys and two little girls to tiptoe to the courtyard, tentatively walked to her side, looked up at her face, and quietly touched the flute in her hand. Huimei was embarrassed, and poked her finger lightly on Ermao's forehead and asked, "You don't know me?" Like a flock of chickadees, the children flew out of the chaimen with a loud roar. A little boy stumbled on a stone because he was riding a bamboo horse, but he did not cry.

Huimei was about to go to the house, when someone called out outside the chai door: "Girl, are you home alone?" She quickly turned around and saw that it was the village's lady who was carrying a basket and smiling towards the courtyard. She hurriedly moved a small chair for Wang Mai Po to sit in the sun, and asked in a low voice:

"Aunt Wang, when did your old man come back?"

"I stayed at my daughter's house last night, eight miles from here. I came back early this morning after eating a nest and a nest, the road was difficult to walk, and I just returned to the village. No one else wants me to alarm you, so I have to hide near here and wait for you to finish playing the flute. Girl, I've never heard a flute play so well. If you blow in our mountains in the spring, you will definitely make a hundred birds come to the court! ”

Huimei smiled embarrassedly, and asked in a low voice, "Have you gone to Tongguan?" ”

"Naturally."

"Got important news?"

"The news is very important. Girl, ask Madame to come back, and I will report to her. You see, I've been in the village all the way here, and I can't even go back to my own home! ”

Huimei is usually extremely worried about the whereabouts of King Chuang and Zhang Nai, but at this time, because she didn't know whether it was good or bad, she just had a heartbeat, so she didn't dare to inquire down. She ran out of the chaimen, stood on the moss-mottled cliff, looked at Maekawa, and blew the flute, and the sound of agitation continued to cross Maekawa and swing back on the high mountain opposite, and the aftermath was endlessly dispersed into space. Immediately, she saw Huiying looking at her on her horse, and she quickly drew her sword and swung it three times in the sunlight. Seeing that Huiying also swung her sword three times, she ran back to the small courtyard and said excitedly to the seller:

"Auntie, you old man wait a moment. Madame will be back soon. You bake your own fire. ”

There is a river in the river, and the body of the river is wide and shallow. In winter, the river dries up, and only rocks are piled up. Occasionally, where there is standing water, it has also been frozen, and the thick ice is covered with a layer of snow. The river is a road that is made out of the rocks, and in some places it is covered with snow, and in other places the snow is blown by the wind to the side of the road or in the middle of the road, piling up into snowdrifts. The sun shines on the snow, shining with a dazzling silver light.

These days, the silent mountain village and the narrow thatched hut are like a prison to Mrs. Gao, suffocating her to death. Now that she has arrived on this road, she feels suddenly brighter, as if she is going to resume her horse career from today or tomorrow, flying freely in the boundless sky like a bird. At the beginning, she only let Yuhua Cheng run slowly. After a while, she loosened the reins a little, and at the same time raised the whip behind Yuhuacong's ear. Yuhua Cong fully understood what its master meant, and this meaning was exactly what it had wished for many days, so it soared into the air with four hooves and flew forward like a meteor. Hui Ying was taken aback, but she was afraid that Mrs. Gao's right leg was not yet well, and she would not be able to manipulate it well when she encountered any obstacles on the road. She whipped her horse and followed closely. Laneige's horse saw that the two companions in front of him were galloping, and even though he was a gelding, he did not show weakness, and followed closely behind the yellow hussay. Hui Ying quickly glanced back and shouted, "Laneige, hold on to Saddle Bridge!" "The road is bumpy. Three horses often had to leap over stones, snowdrifts, and potholes. The more bumpy and thrilling it is, the more enjoyable Mrs. Gao is. How could she not be overjoyed? How many days she hasn't ridden like this! To reduce the bumps, she lifted her hips off the saddle and almost stood on the stirrups while leaning forward. It was then that she felt that her right leg could not exert as much force as her left. But she deliberately kept putting her strength on her right leg, as if she was deliberately trying to find an awkward relationship with her own pain. Sometimes she gritted her teeth, sometimes she frowned, once, twice, three times...... She stubbornly endured the painful experiment, and finally she proved that she could almost withstand the long-distance bumps, and she could also manipulate the fierce horse, and the joy in her heart was like breaking through the middle capital Fengyang.

After a few runs like this, Mrs. Gao moved the reins slightly and sat down in the saddle. Yuhua Cheng understood what she meant, and immediately slowed down and continued to gallop smoothly. Hui Ying was happy to see that Mrs. Gao was able to steer the horse galloping on the bumpy road almost as she usually did, but she couldn't help but ask with concern:

"Madame, your right leg still hurts, right?"

"Where! It only hurts a little! At this moment, Mrs. Gao felt a burst of pain, as if the muscles around the wound were burning and throbbing. But she still had a smile on her face, looked at Huiying and said, "In another three or five days, Huiying, let's kill out of Kunshan and let the officials and soldiers know that I am not dead!" ”

Huiying smiled and said, "Madam, it's really strange, why do the officials and soldiers rumor that you have been killed in battle?" ”

"What's so strange about that? They wish that we people would die as soon as possible. ”

After a pause, Huiying said again: "But the battle that rushed across the border of Henan was really dangerous enough, if you weren't so calm and personally supervised the battle, the whole team might have died there." The rumor that you were shot first and then killed by yourself is not completely unremarkable. ”

Mrs. Gao smiled, but did not look back at Huiying, nor did she say anything else. This breakthrough was so difficult and dangerous, and the casualties were so heavy, that it seems like a nightmare when I think about it to this day. She galloped slowly on her horse, silently recalling some of the past. The bright sunlight lost its brilliance in her eyes, as if she were in a murderous, moonlit night again, and some exciting scenes and figures jumped out of front of her eyes, while some never-to-forgotten words, shouts, and the clash of swords appeared in her ears. Thinking of those dead soldiers and their dependents, especially thinking of He Jinlong and a group of heroes who resisted the pursuers and refused to retreat to the death, her eyes couldn't help but moisten. But after a while, she thought that this was the first time in her life that she had left her husband to lead a group of men and horses alone, and if she panicked when she was in danger, or if she threw everyone away and ran for her life, what would be the result today? Alas, that was terrible, and I won't have the face to see King Chuang and all the soldiers again in the future! Thinking of this, she said in her heart:

"Self-contained! Where are you now? Where is it? Alas, I don't miss you for a moment! ”

As soon as she looked up, she realized that Yu Huacong had walked to the place where she had started. She felt her feet ache from the cold between the stirrups, so she led the horse for a while, and threw the reins on the saddle. He walked up and down beside the horse, and from time to time he paused his feet and folded his hands. She was still thinking about King Chuang, her mind was confused, she frowned, and she didn't pay attention to Huimei and Huiying's "code" at all. Hui Ying walked up to her and said:

"Madam, Huimei just swung her sword three times, and that was the secret sign I made with her: If there is something important, please go back immediately."

"What's the matter?" Mrs. Gao looked at Huiying and asked. Without waiting for her to answer, he immediately commanded, "Okay, get on the horse!" ”

Wang Maipo was sent by Mrs. Gao to Tongguan to find out the news, and stayed in Tongguan for two days, and found out that the official army did not catch King Chuang and any important generals, nor did they find their bodies on the battlefield, but it was rumored that the remnants of King Chuang had fled to Shangluo Mountain, which attracted the attention of the officials and soldiers. She also said that Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting led 50,000 officers and troops to King Qinwang in Beijing, went to the territory of Shanxi, and when they got the report, they sent He Renlong to lead 2,000 men and horses to rush back in the starry night to search and suppress. He Renlong had arrived at Tongguan a few days ago, and the more than 1,000 officers and troops who remained in Tongguan were also under his command, and now they were urgently collecting grain and grass, and they were going to Shangluo Mountain.

These news made Mrs. Gao happy and surprised: happily, she was now convinced that several generals such as King Chuang and Liu Zongmin were safe and sound; Surprised, she was worried that He Renlong would chase him into Shangluo Mountain, making King Chuang unable to gain a foothold. After rewarding Wang Po with a little silver and sending her away, she sat in the house, silent at the brazier, and her heart was as excited as if she had turned over the river and the sea. In the past twenty days, she has dreamed several times at night that King Chuang and his generals on the left and right have also been awakened by bloody and fierce dreams. Here are the wives of Gao Yigong and many generals, who burn incense and make wishes every day, tell fortunes and make fortunes, and cry behind her back. She herself often held back her tears and said some reassuring words to them. In the middle of the night before yesterday, she dreamed of her younger brother Gao Yigong again, as if he was a child, herding sheep on the mountain outside the village. She saw a wolf running towards her brother, and was about to cry out loudly, but she was sweating and woke up in a flash. Hurriedly opened his sleepy eyes, and saw his brother's shadow flickering in front of the bed, flashing out towards the door. She put on her coat, jumped out of bed, and when she opened the door, there was nothing but the vast moonlight shining on Maekawa. A biting cold wind blew in her face, and she couldn't help but shiver. When she went to bed again, she listened to the footsteps of the old battalion guards patrolling the neighborhood, and made a change of sound until dawn, when she could not sleep, and secretly shed many tears. Now has he also gone to Shangluo Mountain to be with his brother Li?

After the excitement calmed down a little, Mrs. Gao asked in her heart, "Could it be that you just watched Maniac He go to attack Shangluo Mountain?" After thinking about it again, she suddenly got up from her chair and blurted out:

"Can't! A thousand can't! ”

Both female soldiers were startled, looking at her with strange eyes and resolute looks on their faces, not knowing what was going on in her heart. Huiying asked in a low voice:

"Madame, what can't?"

"I mean, you can't let the He madman go to Shangluo Mountain, a thousand can't!" Mrs. Gao replied. Her eyes were wide open, looking directly into Hye-young's eyes, and a pair of slender eyebrows were raised upward, so that people could see the resolute character between her eyebrows.

"You say, can we stand by and let Madman He lead a large number of people to Shangluo Mountain?" She asked, as if waiting for Hyeyoung to answer. Then she turned to the other female soldier: "Huimei, you say?" ”

Huimei was forced by Mrs. Gao's gaze to take a half step back and did not answer. Originally, what could a shy seventeen-year-old girl say about such a big thing? In fact, Mrs. Gao herself doesn't have to answer anything.

Hui Ying muttered, "Madam, of course we can't stand idly by and watch this matter, but ......"

"Go outside, all of you, and let me think about it alone."

Mrs. Gao stayed alone in the hut, sat down at the square table with the embroidered banner of the word "Chuang", supported her cheek with her right hand, and pondered silently for a while. Several solutions appeared in her mind, but they were all unhurried, and she gave up one by one. "What to do?" She asked herself blankly, distressedly. "Is there no way?" Her dark eyes were turning, turning, and occasionally landing on the folded flag, on the half of the word "Chuang". Suddenly, her heart moved, and a thought flashed through her heart. She quickly grasped this thought, thought about it repeatedly, and felt bright in her heart.

"It's a good idea," she said in her mind, "just to take a risk." The risks to be taken are huge! ”

She continued to ponder, but there was no other way. What's the point of taking a little risk for your husband? On the night of the breakthrough in the southern plains of Tongguan, wasn't she just preparing to lure the enemy under the banner of breaking into the king, so as to save her husband from danger? The hardships were far greater than the ones that would be encountered! But she thought of her arrow wound. Because there is no doctor, there is no secret recipe of Shang Shenxian Jin Chuang, and this arrow wound has not healed very much to this day. If only it would be another three or five days! She hesitated for a moment, and then suddenly said ruthlessly:

"No, no! Can't wait that long, can't delay! ”

She saw clearly that she needed to make a decision on this matter, and she couldn't delay a little. If successful, it will be easy for King Chuang to gain a firm foothold in the Shangzhou area and regain his strength as soon as possible; If she fails, she may die and never see her husband again. She was determined to take this great risk, and instructed Huiying to say:

"You go and send a personal soldier to find Liu Ye on horseback immediately, I have an urgent matter to discuss with him."

CHAPTER XXI

Because of the lack of houses, Liu Fangliang and some soldiers were stationed in Wanzi, two miles away, and only some of the dependents and the guards of the old battalion were stationed in the village, and some of the dependents and children were stationed in another small village. After Huiying went out to convey her order, it took more than a moment for Liu Fangliang to come on horseback. After Mrs. Gao told him the news of Tongguan, she asked:

"Mingyuan, the current situation in Shangluo Mountain is very urgent. I think King Chuang's people and horses in Shangluo Mountain must be very few, scattered, everything is not ready, maybe most of them are wearing heavy colors, how can they fight against He Renlong's two or three thousand men and horses? If they are driven to the point where they have nowhere to stand, then it will be bad. What do you think? ”

Liu Fangliang thought for a moment and asked, "Can we quickly rush through the Lancao Pass and go to Shangluo Mountain to meet King Chuang, lest they be too thin in number to fight against the official army?" ”

"No, I can't. You're talking about the next step! If you think about it, isn't there a good plan? ”

"I can't think of it for a while, I'm afraid there is no other good plan."

"Now that we count the child soldiers and lightly wounded soldiers, there are less than 300 people who can fight on horseback, and there are also dependents and seriously injured people, how can we rush through the Lancao Pass to the Shangluo area? Even if you can rush through, won't you have to lose your troops again? Not to mention the loss of troops, even if all of them reach Shangluo Mountain, there are only 300 people who can fight, how can it help! ”

"Madame, what do you have in mind?"

"I have a brilliant plan, and I must leave immediately."

"You name it, and I'll do it at once."

"We immediately set up the banner of the word 'Chuang' and rushed to the city of Tongguan, and shook a shot, so that He Renlong thought that the real King Chuang was here with us, not in Shangluo Mountain, and lured the officials and soldiers of Tongguan and He Maniac to come over."

Liu Fangliang was known for his bravery and good fighting under King Chuang, but he was silent when he heard this strategy, picked up a firewood stick from the ground, and slowly cut it off in his hand.

"Mingyuan, why don't you speak?"

Liu Fangliang raised his head, smiled, shook his head, and said, "I also flashed this thought in my heart just now, but when I thought about it, I felt that this method was unworkable, so I didn't dare to say it." ”

"Why not?"

"There were originally more than 1,000 officers and troops stationed in Tongguan, and with He Renlong's, there were more than 3,500. All the prefectures and counties east of Tongguan have officers and soldiers, ranging from hundreds to more than 1,000. If we set up the banner of 'breaking', the officials and troops of Tongguan will inevitably chase after them, and the officials and troops of various states and counties will intercept them separately, how can we withstand it? ”

Mrs. Gao said: "Tongguan is a military important place of the imperial court, and it is inevitable to leave the army to garrison. Since it is rumored that there are people and horses in Shangluo Mountain, plus we have a surprise attack, He Renlong not only does not dare to chase after us, but also leaves some more people behind. If he can't catch up with us, he will only be blamed by the court, and he will lose his head if he loses Tongguan. In my opinion, he led at most 1,500 men and horses out of the pass, leaving 500 men and horses to assist the original garrison troops to defend the pass. ”

Liu Fangliang couldn't help nodding again and again, but still frowned.

Mrs. Gao also said: "As for the nearby states and counties, although there are some officers and soldiers, there are not many of them. When they heard that King Chuang was here, they were terrified, and they each defended the city, who would be willing to send an army away from the city? If they send troops to chase after them, we have a way to make them have to defend the city. After more than ten years of fighting, is there no small way at all? ”

"Ma'am, you're all right. But in any case, this is a risky move, and if you can, you won't move. Think twice. ”

Mrs. Gao provoked him with words: "Alas, Mingyuan, you followed the self-formed uprising at the age of nineteen, fought in the south and the north, and made countless achievements, and was promoted from a junior colonel to a general. Not to mention that everyone in our rebel army admires your bravery, even the officers and soldiers also retreated when they saw your white flag and a red tassel gun. I never thought that after the battle of Tongguan, you would become so timid! ”

Liu Fangliang's white face turned red, smiled bitterly, forgot to call "madam" according to the habit of the past two years, and suddenly shouted:

"Sister-in-law! You look down on me too much! ”

Mrs. Gao asked with a smile: "Brother, isn't what my sister-in-law said?" ”

Liu Fangliang stood up and said excitedly: "Sister-in-law, when Tongguan broke through, King Chuang ordered me to protect the old camp. The old camp is separated, Yigong and Lao Yuan don't know whether they are alive or dead, and the whereabouts of the dependents of many friends such as Jiexuan Tongbuzhi are unknown, and you have also been wounded by arrows. I am often ashamed to die for this. Now I'll tell you the truth: I only cried once the year before when my brother was killed, but how many tears I secretly shed for this! If I make another dangerous move, it will be very good if I succeed, if there is a bad pool, I will not be able to come back for a while, and the old camp will fall into the hands of the officials and soldiers here, so what face will I have to see King Chuang in the future?! ”

"This place is full of lofty mountains, there are no villagers within a radius of 200 miles, let alone officials and soldiers, and the people nearby get along well with us and are willing to help. If the officers and soldiers come from afar, and the old battalion is well-informed here and can move at any time, what can the officers and soldiers do? You can rest assured. If there is a slight mistake, sister-in-law, I will bear it alone, and no one will complain about you. ”

Liu Fangliang thought for a moment and asked, "Madam, do you think the old camp will be foolproof here?" ”

"I'm sure nothing goes wrong. The officers and soldiers are deaf and blind when they come to these hundreds of miles of mountains, but we send spies everywhere, and there are common people who report the news, not to mention a small number of officers and soldiers, even if all the people and horses of the madman Linghe come, they will only look at the mountains and sigh, and they can't find the shadow of our old camp! ”

"Well, in that case, I will select 200 brothers to go with me to play with the officers and soldiers, and leave the lightly wounded soldiers and child soldiers to guard the old camp. If I can't lead the madman He to the mountains like a blind donkey, I will no longer be surnamed Liu! ”

"When are you going to leave?"

"Please Madame, please quickly call a few dependents to sew the flag. As soon as there is a banner, I will set off. ”

"The banner is ready-made."

"Ready-made flags? When breaking through, wasn't the banner brought by King Chuang himself? ”

"I've been fine lately, I've already embroidered one side."

"Hey, ma'am, you're such a caring person!"

Mrs. Gao pursed her lips and smiled: "Sister-in-law has been fighting with you for so many years, and she has not eaten white rice. ”

"Now that the banner is ready, I can set off at any time, please give the order from Madame."

"You go pick the men now, have lunch early, and set off as a team immediately after the meal. The affairs of the old camp are arranged by me. We must march day and night, and run to Tongguan as soon as possible, lest the madman go to Shangluo Mountain. ”

"You stay here with the old battalion, and you don't have many generals around you to protect you, so it's hard for me to rest assured."

"I have my own way, I don't need you to worry about me."

"Yourself? ……”

"I'll go with you."

"Sister-in-law, you don't need to go out in person!"

"Nope. I have to go. As the saying goes, one person is only two wise. This is a risky move, and there are many difficulties, and I will work with you to help you come up with an idea. ”

"Because it's a risky move, I will never let you go out in person."

"I have to go. Don't talk about the public; In terms of selfishness, I am my sister-in-law, you are the elder brother, you have to listen to your sister-in-law now. ”

"But your arrow wound is not healed yet."

"I've just tried, and it doesn't stop riding."

Liu Fangliang paused and said, "Sister-in-law! Tongguan has been called a natural hazard since ancient times, and it is heavily guarded by the imperial court. We only have 200 cavalry to go, and we have to cross the two county towns of Lingbao and Ruxiang, which is not a joke. Even if He Renlong only led 2,000 men and horses out of the customs, it would be ten times our number. In order to rescue the danger in Shangluo Mountain, I, Liu Fangliang, did not even blink my eyelids even if I was crushed to pieces. In case you have something bad to do, madam, call me, so that I will never see King Chuang again without a face in this life! ”

"Mingyuan! When we go to lure the enemy, we may not have ten times as many people as we have to deal with, but probably more. Just because this is not a joke, I must go with you. I'm not as good as you when I charge into battle, but you're not as good as me when the opportunity arises. Let's go together, so that we can make this dangerous move. ”

"Alas, after eight years together, I have never seen you so stubborn as you are today!"

"Mingyuan! You just let your sister-in-law be stubborn this time! ”

Liu Fangliang sighed helplessly, shook his head, and left.

Mrs. Gao instructed Hui Ying and Hui Mei to hurry up and prepare. After a while, she ordered Huiying to go out and call Zhang Cai, the leader of the pro-soldiers, and prepare to leave; Instructed Huimei to call the old battalion manager and give him the responsibility of staying behind in the rear. Then she personally went out to Gao Yigong's wife and entrusted her with the care of her family. In order not to leak the news, she only told Gao Yigong's wife that she and Liu Fangliang led some of the brothers out to collect food, and by the way, they watched the movements of the official army. After returning from Gao Yigong's wife, she took Laneige into her arms, sat on her lap, buttoned an unbuttoned button for her, and tied the red velvet rope that was loosened from the braids for her. Laneige said with tears in her eyes:

"Mom, will you take me with you?"

Mrs. Gao held back her tears and replied, "I can't take you this time." You live with your aunt and wait for me to come back. Every morning and evening, good students study and write hard, play if you are willing to play during the day, and practice martial arts if you are willing to practice martial arts, whatever you want. Although as the saying goes, 'a woman's lack of talent is virtue', and reading and practicing martial arts are not women's professions, but our situation is different. We are rebels! You can learn a little more skills, and in a few years you will be your father's helper! ”

She admonished, and her heart ached. In order to quickly rescue King Chuang and Liu Zongmin from the danger in Shangluo Mountain, she had to take an arrow wound and personally go to disturb the dangerous Tongguan in the ice and snow, and deal with the powerful officials and troops. But who are their own soldiers and generals? There were only 200 of them! She had never encountered such hardships since the uprising, nor had she carried such a burden alone. Fighting a war is not child's play, and even if you win every battle, it is inevitable that someone will die. If you go, maybe it's the mother and daughter......

Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there have been emperor's temples everywhere in the country, and almost every household has a statue or tablet of the emperor's god. The peasant army was influenced by the historical atmosphere of the time and believed in Guan Gong. Mrs. Gao cleaned her hands with clean water, burned the incense watch in front of the statue of Guan Gong, knelt down and kowtowed three times, and secretly wished three things: the first wish, King Chuang and several generals, Shuangxi and Xiao Zhang Nai are all in Shangluo Mountain, safe and sound. The second wish is that she will go to the flag to win and not lose her soldiers. The third wish is that she and King Chuang can meet as soon as possible and reunite with each other. After she got up, Huiying and Huimei knelt down and kowtowed, and they also had their own wishes. Except for wishing this victory and Mrs. Gao safe and sound, the other is different. It's a stubble matter, so let's not mention it.

After eating lunch in advance, the people lined up in the river. Liu Fangliang sent a small colonel to invite Mrs. Gao. Mrs. Gao led the men and women to ride down the mountain, and the men and women of the old camp and the people in the village stood on the cliff to see them off. Running to the front of the line, Mrs. Gao saw the end of the platoon from the head of the platoon with a friendly eye, and then took the banner of the word "Chuang" from the hand of the leader of the pro-soldiers, and shouted solemnly:

"Liu Fangliang takes the flag!"

Liu Fangliang stepped forward and caught the flag with both hands. Mrs. Gao said loudly:

"Protecting the banner is like protecting the king. You are in the flag, there must be no mistake! ”

Liu Fangliang said loudly: "Madame, don't worry! As long as I, Liu Fangliang, am here, the banner is lost, and I will see you when I raise my head! Then he turned around and said, "Flag bearer, take the flag!" ”

Before the flag bearer caught the flag, and before she had time to raise it, Mrs. Gao said:

"Along the way, the flag is silent, and the secret is sought. Wait until near Tongguan, listen to my orders, and then wave the flag. ”

"Obey!" The flag bearer replied right away, and rolled up the flag.

Mrs. Gao saw the whole team from the head of the platoon to the end of the platoon, and then looked at the dozen or so mules and packs that followed the end of the line, turned to Liu Fangliang and whispered:

"Mingyuan, you give the order."

Liu Fangliang waved his whip and said loudly: "Get up!" So this small group of people and horses set off in high spirits in the mountains. They took the remote road, elusive, day and night, at dawn on the fourth day, they arrived at the mountain in the southwest township of Ruxiang County, Tongguan City was faintly in sight.

Tongguan City is condescending, the terrain is precipitous, and it is rare to attack from the east gate since ancient times. Because Mrs. Gao passed near Tongguan with King Chuang twice, she already had an understanding of the geographical situation of Tongguan City. After arriving at the border of Ruxiang County, she asked the horses to hide in the mountains, resting while sending people to inquire about the movements of the officials and troops in Tongguan. After inquiry, she learned that the officers and troops had prepared all the grain and grass and the mules and donkeys that would carry the grain and grass, and they were scheduled to pull out the flag and set off on an auspicious day on the zodiac in November. The south of Tongguan City runs through several valleys and rugged roads in Henan and Shaanxi provinces, and now because Tongguan has been relaxed, there is no police in Siye, and the government thinks that the remnants of King Li Chuang have fled to the Shangluo Cong Mountains two hundred miles away, so the defense of these valleys is no longer as tight as a month ago, and the defenders of Tongguan South Gate and Water Gate are also very thin.

On the third day when Mrs. Gao came to the southwest of Ruxiang, that is, on the auspicious day he chosen, He Renlong led the men and horses of his headquarters and most of the original defenders of Tongguan to march towards Shangzhou. After the procession was launched, he also rode out of the city, but deliberately did not go out of the south gate, but went out through the water gate. Because he thinks that there is a "dragon" on his name, the dragon can get water to make clouds and rain, and if he gets an auspicious luck from the water gate, he can win and succeed. The gentry of the city sent him out of the city from the water gate, and made a trip for him in Tongluochuan, wishing him to sweep away the "remnants" with one drum, so that the court would not have to worry about the west. He Renlong thought that Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin were probably killed, even if they were not dead, the remaining people around him were also very limited. He drank several large glasses of wine in a row, and in high spirits, he said goodbye to the officials and gentry who saw him off, flew on his horse, and chased after the brigade with a whip. The people who saw him off looked at his banner and the soldiers and staff who were gathered in front and behind him and turned around the foot of a mountain, so they rode horses or sat in sedan chairs, and scattered back to the city.

In the afternoon, around the beginning of Shenwei Youchu, Mrs. Gao and Liu Fangliang led the team to Tongguan. I ran for more than fifty miles in one go, and after dusk, I came to a village seven or eight miles away outside Tongguan City. The men and horses immediately surrounded the village and did not leak the news. Beforehand, Mrs. Gao figured out from the guide's mouth that there was a local tyrant and gentry in this village who colluded with the government and the fish and meat township, and the family had a lot of money and a herd of mules and horses. The peasant army entered the village by surprise, arrested him, hacked him to death in public, and killed more than 20 members of his family, and then opened a warehouse for relief. Liu Fangliang called the people of the whole village to the scene and told everyone that they had come here to challenge the officials and troops of Tongguan under the leadership of King Chuang himself, and there were also a large number of men and horses besieging the county seat of Ruxiang. When the common people saw that they killed the bullies, opened a warehouse and gave relief, and acted extraordinary, and saw the banner of the word "Chuang" and the neat team, they completely believed Liu Fangliang's words. Mrs. Gao was still afraid that she would not be able to deceive the officials and soldiers, so she picked a person from among the soldiers in advance and pretended to be the king of Chuang, appeared in the scene once, whispered a few words to Liu Fangliang, as if giving instructions, and then hurriedly patrolled around the village with him. So the common people were even more convinced of King Li Chuang's arrival in the village.

After Liu Fangliang dispersed, he only asked everyone to help do one thing, that is, when the challenge was met, the whole village went to the bottom of Tongguan City to shout and cheer. The people have been shocked by the prestige of King Li Chuang for a long time, and they have benefited again tonight, and it is expected that the officials and soldiers will not dare to go out of the customs at night, so they have agreed to do so. Some poor young people who had no food to eat, no clothes on weekdays, and were oppressed by the rich and powerful, begged to be taken in. However, because of the lack of horses, the peasant army could not take in more, so they only selected five young and strong young men who had nothing to worry about at home, and gave them three good horses and two mules that they had obtained at the local tyrant's house.

During the third watch, Liu Fangliang personally led 30 soldiers to the foot of Tongguan City with the shotguns and firearms collected along the way, and stood in a place beyond the reach of rolling logs, stones, arrows and guns, and shouted insults and challenges to the officers and soldiers defending the city. The soldiers and ordinary people standing behind a stone's throw shouted and cheered. The garrison woke up from their dreams and rushed to the city, artillery, bows, and crossbows fired indiscriminately, and rolling logs and stones fell together. Liu Fangliang ordered shotguns and firearms to be fired into the city. The officers and soldiers had just gathered most of the people at the east gate, and were about to send a group of men and horses to fight, when suddenly the cannon sound outside the south gate and the water gate rose again, and the flames soared to the sky, shouting challenges, and saw that there were many torches in the woods, and they were coming and going, and they could not figure out the reality of the peasant army, so they had to retreat in Tongguan City, waiting for the dawn. The peasant army made a fuss outside the city until the fourth watch, and suddenly withdrew, and disappeared.

When the peasant army challenged outside the city, Ding Qirui was afraid that the city would be lost, so he rushed to the south of the city, supervised the soldiers to defend it strictly, and at the same time sent people to sneak out of the west gate of Tongguan, and Pegasus chased after He Renlong, telling him to return to the division quickly. After the peasant army retreated, he sent people out of the city to inspect, and saw a stone tablet with Li Zicheng's challenge to He Renlong, and asked him to meet near Zhangmao Town, east of Shaanzhou, within ten days; If He Renlong does not go to battle, King Chuang will come back to attack Tongguan. When asked the people outside the city, they all said that it was indeed Li Zicheng's men and horses, who saw the banner of the word "Chuang" with their own eyes, and saw Li Zicheng himself wearing a green cloth arrow jacket and a small white felt hat, riding on a tall gray and green horse to command the challenge. Ding Qirui immediately reported to the emperor on the one hand, and told Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan, on the other. One of the staff was a little suspicious of this, and before his recital had yet to be issued, he went up to him and said:

"My lord, Henan Prefecture is a feudal land, and there must be no loss. Regardless of whether this group of thieves has rebelled or not, the documents to Li Futai in Henan should be sent out as soon as possible. It's just that this urgent letter to the imperial court and the urgent report to the Ministry of War can be sent out a little later? ”

"What do you think, old gentleman?" Ding Qirui asked, shaking his head slightly.

"From a humble point of view, this group of thieves last night may not have rebelled. Please consider again. ”

"How do you know that there may not be rebellion?"

"When the thieves broke through and fled, they were divided into two groups, and the elite soldiers went to Shangluo Mountain. If the rebellion did not die in the chaos, he would have fled into Shangluo Mountain with this force, how could he go to Cuihan Mountain? There is no doubt about this, lest you fall into the cunning of thieves. ”

Ding Qirui laughed, then tapped the table with his fingers and said, "The old gentleman still doesn't know who Li Zi becomes!" This thief is the best use of soldiers, and cannot be dealt with by common sense. In the humble opinion of the students, Li reversed the deception of the officials and soldiers that day, divided into two routes, and he himself sneaked with the old and weak and fled to western Henan. Ma Ke and Sun Futai both fell for him, thinking that he would defend himself with fine horses, so they mistakenly pursued all the way to the southwest. If Sun Futai had been chasing and killing eastward at that time, how could the thieves escape? Unfortunately, Sun Futai could not see this, resulting in a fall short, the worries of the monarch's father, and the troubles of the place. ”

The staff member still did not dare to agree, and said, "Your Excellency is aware of the thief's feelings, and what he sees is very reasonable. It's just that the humble position still doesn't understand: at that time, the army was gathered, surrounded by iron buckets, and the thieves planned for themselves, leaving the elite, and breaking through with the old and weak, wouldn't it be very dangerous? ”

Ding Qirui smiled again and said: "In the past few years, students have paid close attention to the investigation, and Li Zicheng's use of troops often coincides with the art of war. Even in terms of his breakthrough with the old and weak this time, it is also the so-called virtual reality and unprovoked changes. "The Art of War" cloud: 'Therefore, soldiers are impermanent, and water is impermanent; Those who can win due to the change of the enemy are called gods. The reason why the traitor Li Zicheng was able to wander through several provinces and repeatedly frustrated the officials and troops, and who has not been able to be eliminated so far, is that Gai Pi's soldiers often secretly cooperate with his grandson, and he is out of the ear of the gods. After a pause, he said, "That night, many people saw the female thief Gao here. According to common sense, there is no such thing as a husband and wife fleeing for their lives separately. Even if the thief wants to abandon Gao, how can Gao leave her husband? People say that the Gao family still has skills, but no matter what, she is a woman after all, don't think of her as too extraordinary. ”

"The adults have analyzed it thoroughly, and there should be no more suspicions about the humble position. But I heard today that there were not many thieves who attacked Tongguan last night. After the new defeat of the thieves, since the number of people is very small, how dare they be so rampant? Aren't you afraid of being pursued by an army? ”

Ding Qirui stroked his beard and said: "The reason why this Li Zicheng is Li Zicheng is also!" ”

The staff member stopped talking, and the rest of the staff praised in unison: "Your Excellency is wise, and what you see is very true." "Two urgent documents sent to Beijing were thus sent.

However, it was said that two days after Mrs. Gao and Liu Fangliang entered the disturbing Tongguan, they suddenly attacked Lingbao at night, occupied Niangniang Mountain, which was more than a mile away in the northeast corner of the city, entered Dongguan, and burned several houses, and the flames soared into the sky. The magistrate and the garrison rushed up the city wall in a panic, and in the firelight, they saw the big banner of the word "Chuang" waving, and the cavalry came and went as if shuttling. Mrs. Gao sent Zhang Cai, the leader of her own soldiers, to ride all the way to the vicinity of the drawbridge, and shot a letter to the city, telling the elders in the city in the name of King Chuang not to panic, he just wanted to force He Renlong to go out of the pass to fight, and not to attack the city. One of the defenders looked down and asked:

"Hey, whose men the hell are you?"

"We are the king's centaurs."

"Didn't King Li Chuang finish his work in Tongguan Nanyuan?"

"Shit! Our men and horses will never be finished! ”

"Who are you?"

"Do you ask Grandpa? Well, listen! ”

Zhang Cai cleared his throat and replied to the city in a set of rhymes, with pride and contempt for the enemy in his voice:

Your grandfather's house lived

Beishan Nanli,

Nanshan Beili,

A village with trees,

Dog-bitten camp.

There are surnames on "Hundred Family Names",

The notice of the imperial court is inscribed.

At the age of fifteen, he followed the king,

The whip of the sheep herder was replaced with a knife and a gun.

Your grandfather walked through Pingyang,

Will pass through Xingyang,

Beat Fengyang,

Conquered Nanyang,

Surrounded by Yunyang,

Broken through Jingyang.

This year, your grandfather has gone far:

Entered Sichuan,

Visited Gannan,

I've been to Zephani,

Outside the Great Wall,

Came to Henan without a long time.

Conquered Tongguan three days ago,

Now come to Lingbao to play casually.

After singing this paragraph, Zhang Cai turned his horse and left. By the time a flurry of arrows fell from the city, he was out of range of the crossbow.

The peasant army did not kill anyone here, but only filled the grain stores with food from the pangs, and threw some of the grain into the streets for the poor to pick up by themselves. After making a fuss, the whole team withdrew. At this time, the number of this peasant army found in the city was not large, but because it was night, they did not dare to go out of the city to chase after them, and only scolded at the head of the city. Mrs. Gao was afraid that she would be completely exposed, so she did not allow the brothers to scold back, but she smiled at Huimei and said:

"Huimei, play a flute for the city to hear."

The people in the city could not hear the peasant army scolding back, but only heard the wonderful sound of the flute suddenly appeared in the midst of the noise of horses' hooves, and they stopped scolding. The peasant army was getting farther away, and the sound of horses' hooves was no longer heard, but the flute was heard continuing to blow. After a while, the cheerful and melodious sound of the flute became faint, in the distant hills, in the vast moonlight, endlessly. Some people in the city were talking, others were still tilting their heads sideways, holding their breath until they could hear nothing and felt as if a distant and subtle flute had drifted into their ears.

Mrs. Gao and Liu Fangliang led the horses to the foot of Bears Ears Mountain, and then entered Yongning County. One afternoon, when the men and horses had just walked out of a mountain pass, they heard a shout at the bottom of the mountain, and at the same time saw more than 20 people, men, women, and children, carrying burdens and weapons in their hands, running out of a walled gate. A woman riding a pony broke off with three men on foot with a knife. More than 100 men with knives, swords, red tassel guns, clubs and other weapons shouted behind and chased after them. The woman fled for a while and suddenly stopped, carrying a bow and arrows, but wounding two men chasing in front of her with a slingshot, and then walked again. After walking a short distance, he turned back and injured a person who was chasing closer. Although she didn't miss a shot, she was outnumbered after all, and she was tired by her luggage, and she saw that her two dozen people were about to be surrounded. Mrs. Gao pointed with a whip and asked Liu Fangliang:

"Look, what's going on?"

Liu Fangliang stared carefully for a moment and said, "That group of people who escaped are obviously running horses. You see, the old man walking in front of him is still holding a monkey. ”

"Ah, I see. The middle-aged man in the red robe behind him who commanded the chase must have been a local bully. Let's go and save them, or they'll suffer a big loss. ”

Liu Fangliang didn't say a second sentence, took the lead, and led the men and horses to gallop forward. The people who chased them out of the village suddenly saw this group of cavalry and the big banner of the word "Chuang" rushing from the foot of the mountain, they were shocked, stunned for a moment, and fled back to the village in a hurry, closing the gate of the village. A gong sounded in the village, and the wall was immediately filled with people. The small group of entertainers, seeing that the sudden rush of men and horses had come to their rescue, stopped in front of a land temple. As soon as Mrs. Gao and Liu Fangliang arrived, they all knelt down to thank them for saving their lives. Mrs. Gao saw that the woman who could use the slingshot was about twenty years old, and that she was in good shape, jumped off her horse, and pulled her up with her own hands, and asked:

"You are an entertainer, how do you get into a fight with them?"

Liu Fangliang said on the side: "Don't be afraid. We are King Li Chuang's people, she is the wife of King Li Chuang, and I can't pity your friends who eat on the rivers and lakes the most. ”

The young woman hurriedly saluted again and said, "Ah, we have heard of Madame's name for a long time, but we did not expect to meet Madame here, and we will never be grateful for Madame's great kindness!" ”

"Don't be so polite. Tell me, why are they chasing you? ”

The young woman's eyes were red, and she said hatefully, "I don't do anything, just because I'm a horse runner, and others think it's easy to bully, and they don't treat us as human beings." Madam, although we are poor and show our heads to mingle with the rivers and lakes, we rely on our own skills to eat, and we don't sell our bodies, how can we be bullied by people casually! There is a bully in this village, I heard that he is in charge of Zhuangzi for Yongning Wan'an Palace, and he wants to bully me. At first, we swallowed our anger and told him good things, but who knew that he was angry, and as soon as we shouted, more than 100 foxes and dogs came up and beat us. We knocked down a few of them on the spot, picked up their luggage and fled out of the village......" She wiped her tears with her sleeve and said, "Alas! Madam, you see, it's not easy for us to eat a bowl of rice! ”

Mrs. Gao looked her up and down carefully, and felt that although she was a woman, she was heroic between her eyebrows, and saw her slingshot with her own eyes, and she liked and sympathized with her very much, and took her hand and asked:

"How old are you?"

"Twenty years old, of sheep."

"Is your man with you?"

The young woman, blushing from the floor, shook her head and bowed her head.

The old man who led the monkey replied on her behalf, "She hasn't left the pavilion yet." The disaster in her hometown was great, and her in-law's family fled the famine the year before last, and now she hasn't gone back, so she can't get out of the cabinet. ”

"She's your daughter?" Liu Fangliang asked.

"It's not. Her parents died early. I belong to the same village as her master. ”

"Where are you from?"

"The small place is Nagaki Prefecture, the daimyo prefecture. In our place, there are a lot of boxers and monkeys. Since she was a child, she has learned several sets of martial arts from her master, including bows, horses, knives, and swords, and walking ropes is her specialty. Since her master died the year before last, she has led our team to run north and south to earn a bowl of rice for everyone. But this year, the girl is older, and she is born with a look, this bowl of rice is really unpalatable! The old man sighed deeply and shook his head repeatedly. After a pause, the old man continued: "This spring, we were performing in Yu Town, Qixian County, and we were also bullied by local bullies. But if you don't eat this bowl of rice and disperse the team, can't you let everyone go home and starve to death? Alas! Alas! It's hard to put into words! ”

When Mrs. Gao heard about Yuzhen, she remembered that Chongzhen had walked there when she returned from Fengyang in the eighth year, so she asked:

"Is it the town in Nanxiang, Qixian County? What's the year like there? ”

"It's Yu Town in Nanxiang, Qixian County, and the year is also very bad."

The girl who was performing suddenly continued: "That Li Gongzi is really benevolent! In the bad year, in addition to taking out more than 100 stones of grain from his house to help the poor, he also made a song of persuasion, persuading the rich and wealthy to give food to alms. There are no poor people in the county who don't say that Li Gongzi is good. ”

Mrs. Gao groaned and said: "We passed near Yuzhen that year, and I heard that there was a big family surnamed Li, Lao Tzu was a party of Wei Zhongxian, who was originally the governor of Shandong, and hung the title of secretary of the military department in the last year of the Apocalypse. At that time, some people also advocated breaking through the Li family's village, forgetting why King Gao Chuang did not agree, so he went straight to Kaifeng from near the edge of the village. Later, seeing that Kaifeng was on guard, our men and horses came west from Zhuxian Town. Is the Li Gongzi you are talking about the son of this military department Shangshu? ”

"Yes, yes. Although the dead old lady of his family has something to do with Wei Zhongxian, this Li Gongzi is a rare benevolent and righteous gentleman, and he also likes to make some friends in the rivers and lakes. Last year, the White Lotus Sect east of Kaifeng rebelled, attacked Qixian County, and broke many villages, but the brigade beat Li Gongzi's village several times, and Qiu did not commit any crimes. ”

"What's the name of this Li Gongzi?"

"His name is Li Xin, and his words are Boyan."

The old man who led the monkey added: "I heard that he has a cousin named Li Deqi, who is also very good. ”

The girl corrected and said, "Deqi is the character of the second son, and his official name is Li Yun." ”

Seeing that it was not early, Mrs. Gao was in a hurry to leave, and had no time to talk, so she asked the girl and the old man:

"There are not many of you, right?"

The girl said, "Not a lot, not a lot." I used a slingshot to make the dogs afraid to approach, and there were a few good martial arts guys in front of me to clear the way and bring everyone out. ”

Mrs. Gao exclaimed: "You guys played well, you played well. It would be bad if you were a little weaker in front of this group of vicious dogs. ”

The girl smiled and said, "In winter they wear very thick clothes, and we will fight where they are not clothed." ”

The old man who led the monkey continued: "Those vicious dogs didn't believe that our class master was powerful, so they pounced forward. The leader is the teacher of the village, holding a bright big knife, scolding ugly words while chasing. Our class leader said, 'Bastard, be honest with me, put down your big knife!' He scolded even uglier. Our class leader struck him in the right hand, and the big knife he was holding fell to the ground, so frightened that he shook his hand and retreated. Another vicious dog is even worse, carrying a red tassel gun, squeezing his eyes and crooked mouth, very obscene. Our class leader said, 'I'll blind you in your left eye first!' As soon as he said that, the guy shot in the left eye and shouted, 'Not good!' He covered his left eye and squatted down. The people who were chasing were all so frightened that they didn't dare to approach. But the leader of the bullies' village shouted, 'Chase! Chase! 'Drive the crowd forward. Our class leader said, 'Watch your nose!' The guy couldn't dodge, he was shot in the nose and his face was full of flowers. When we ran to the Zhaimen Cave, the villagers were closing the gate, and our men whipped one down, and the other two villagers fled for their lives. After we left the village, they still did not stop. It's just that we are afraid of lawsuits, and we dare not let go of the fight and hurt people's lives. Otherwise, ma'am, it would not be difficult to kill a few of their dogs. Our class master is also a good shot in archery. No matter how thick the cotton clothes they wear, they will not block the arrows. Our class leader has been holding back and refusing to shoot their people with arrows! This time, although we refused to harm their lives, we also gave them a taste of strength. ”

The girl said, "They are the snakes of the land, the tyrants of one side." There are too few of us, and we are dragged down by the old and weak, if we don't get to be rescued by our wife, we will suffer a big loss after all. ”

Mrs. Gao said: "It's a pity that there are only about 20 of you, including the old and weak! ”

The girl said, "There were originally forty or fifty people in our team, but because it was not easy to earn money, we sent one or twenty people to the city. ”

The old man continued: "Our class master, don't look at it as a woman, but he acts very justly. She never swallows the money she earns, and always distributes it to everyone according to her share. Some eat three servings, some eat two servings, some eat one portion, and how much should be eaten. Because she is selfless in her work, the guys are willing to follow her wholeheartedly. There were only twenty-eight of us in Japan, and now there are almost fifty. ”

Mrs. Gao smiled and looked the girl up and down, and then said, "You guys go quickly." While we are resting here, the people in the village will not dare to come out after you. When you're far away, we'll go again. ”

The old man and the girl said a few words of gratitude, hurriedly bid farewell to Mrs. Gao and Liu Fangliang, and led everyone to set off. But as soon as they had taken a few steps, Mrs. Gao stopped the old man who was walking at the end, and asked with a smile:

"Maybe we will meet again in the future, your class master's surname?"

The old man hurriedly replied, "Don't dare, don't dare." The villain's class owner's surname is Xing, his girlfriend's name is Red Lady, and his stage name is Red Lady. In the eastern Henan, northern Henan, Jinan and Luxi areas, if you meet the rivers and lakes to sell art, ask the red lady who walks the rope, everyone knows. ”

Mrs. Gao smiled and nodded, watching the group of horses go north. She said to herself: "Red Lady, Red Lady, this girl's stage name is very chic." Then she also got on her horse and hurried with the men and horses. After walking for a while, she still couldn't forget the girl who ran a horse and sold a solution, and said to Liu Fangliang with a smile on the horse:

"Mingyuan, this girl just now, I don't know how to do other martial arts, I think her slingshot is a hundred shots."

Liu Fangliang smiled, but didn't make a sound.

Mrs. Gao praised again: "It is not difficult for a woman to know a few martial arts, but the difficult thing is that she is a big girl who has not yet come out of the cabinet, and she can lead a group of people to go north and south on the rivers and lakes, and get the support of her subordinates, and the rivers and lakes are also respected." Rare, rare! ”

After He Renlong rushed back to Tongguan, because of the arrears of wages and a little afraid of Li Zicheng, he stayed in Tongguan under the pretext that he was a Shaanxi army and did not bear the task of "suppressing thieves" in Henan. It was not until half a month later that Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan, negotiated with Ding Qirui, the new governor of Shaanxi, to seal the important land with the Luoyang Domain, and there was no way to lose, so he was transferred out of the customs to "chase down the thieves". But Mrs. Gao decided not to fight him, and only went around in circles with him in the mountains for hundreds of miles. At that time, from Shaanzhou to Zhengzhou, in the counties south of the Yellow River, there were large and small poles and White Lotus uprisings, all over the place. This situation is very conducive to Mrs. Gao's activities.

Mrs. Gao led the men and horses to stay in the mountains of Yongning Realm for ten days, resting and collecting grain and grass. Later, I heard that He Renlong led the army to Lingbao, in order to lead the official army to continue to the east, she suddenly went north from Yongning, conquered Maozhen in the east of Shaanzhou, and then went east, through Yangshao Village in the northwest of Mianchi City, through many mountains, to a Yellow River crossing called Horseshoe Nest. It has only been a month since entering the Tongguan Pass, and the number of people has doubled.

It was a cloudless afternoon, and the men and horses were camping in the small streets of the horseshoe nest. Mrs. Gao took a dozen men and women to climb a mountain, and immediately in the sunset, looking at the Zhongtiao Mountains in Pinglu County, Shanxi Province opposite, Tong Mountain is bald, overlapping, and the snow peak is connected to the blue sky. Towards the setting sun, silver and gold light shimmer at each other, which is a truly strange sight. Looking down on the Yellow River, sandwiched between the high mountains on both sides, it looks like a zigzag belt. The river is frozen and there is snow on the ice. From time to time, pedestrians come and go on the ice, stepping on a large road. The body of the river, where the silver light is dazzling in the sun, is dark in the shade, and it has been shrouded in twilight. Although there are a few thatched huts in the horseshoe nest, they are cut off from curling smoke. A flock of jackdaws returning from the wilderness circled in the twilight and landed down the treetops. The big banner of the word "Chuang" is erected on the bank of the Yellow River, and the sunset is swept in the west wind. Mrs. Gao looked at the flag, as if she could hear the flag hula. Facing the majestic natural scenery, Yuhua raised her head and tail, Xiao Xiao hissed, and then kept kicking the rocks with her hooves. Mrs. Gao also evoked a string of memories in her heart. In November of the seventh year of Chongzhen, she crossed the river from here with the rebel army led by her uncle Gao Yingxiang and entered Henan. In the first month of the following year, the 72nd battalion of the 13 families was held in Xingyang, which greatly changed the situation of the war......

She continued to ride the mountains and turned her eyes to the northeast. In the past few days, she has been receiving news that the Qing soldiers continue to penetrate and are about to arrive in Jinan. If it weren't for the fear that the old camp in the Kunshan Mountains would be lost, she really wanted to cross the Yellow River from here and go north to see the situation!

"Well, where are the Tartars going to go?"

She stared northeast for a long time, full of doubts, until the smoke floated on the hill and the twilight was thickening, and then she led her soldiers down the mountain and back to the camp.