It's still cold in the mountains in early spring.

Although the Haiphong battalion was founded at the beginning, it was required by Xu He that each person needed to carry an oilcloth tent and a special quilt, and these things had to be packed and bundled, and they would be carried behind them when they left the camp.

But on such a cold day, in the wild, even if there were quilts and tents, everyone was still shivering with cold.

"If only I could make a fire! On such a cold day, it is best to burn your feet and drink some hot water, which is called a comfortable! In the tent, a soldier sighed wrapped in a quilt.

Another person scolded: "You are so content, we still have at least the quilt and winter clothes issued by the son, look at the guards of the new security guard, who are still wearing several layers of single clothes and stepping on straw sandals!" ”

"Yes! Xiong Er, we are here to fight, not to string relatives, if you have this condition, you can meet it, besides, let's ambush here, what's the matter with a fire? What about playing? ”

"Hey! That's all I have to say! By the way, you say, will the thieves come from here? ”

"Come or not, that's what the secretary considers, let's just rest well, where are there so many problems!"

Just when the soldier named Xiong Er wanted to speak again, suddenly, Shi Chang's voice came from outside the tent: "Xiong Er, Li Kuo, what are you two talking about without resting?" Tomorrow I will go to your commander's and get ten sticks each! ”

As soon as the sound outside the tent fell, the sound of rustling in the surrounding tents all stopped.

At this time, in the col on the back of the mountaintop, Zhou Bi was holding the military book given to him by Xu He in a tent.

The oil lamp on the small table suddenly exploded into a spark.

Zhou Bi was awakened by this sound, he slowly picked up the iron stick next to the lamp and muttered, "The lights are exploding, and good things are coming." Calculate the time, the results of the childe's exam should come out, and I don't know how many children have taken the exam. ”

Just as Zhou Bi refocused his gaze on the book, suddenly, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the tent.

In the dead of night, according to the camp rules set by Xu He, all irrelevant people are not allowed to move around noisily.

At this time, such a hurried footstep sound......

Something happened!

Zhou Bi stood up suddenly.

Sure enough, the next moment the knife hurriedly walked in from outside the tent: "Secretary, there is movement on the river." ”

"How many boats?"

"Thirty or forty ships, big and small!"

It's coming, it's really coming!

Zhou Bi suddenly felt that his whole body was trembling, it was that kind of trembling of excitement.

He took a deep breath and tried to look as steady as possible before he said to the knife, "Go and call the brothers up, be quick!" In addition, send someone to Santan to inform Xiao Er of them, hurry up! ”

After saying two things in quick succession, he strode out of the tent.

Because it was night, it was impossible to raise fire to notify the next brother in the place where the thief fleet had just been discovered.

They had to run some distance and then ride in the dark to the next outpost, three miles away, and then the brother at the next outpost would raise a fire to inform the other sentry brothers who were delivering the news.

In this way, it was handed down from post to whistle, and after calculating the time, the thief should have been less than thirty miles away from Qinglian Village.

Zhou Bi stood on the top of the mountain, looking east in the dark night, and the sound of various teams of soldiers getting up was heard at his feet.

It didn't take long for the knife to report with a solemn face: "Secretary, our people have been assembled!" ”

Zhou Bi nodded and said, "Go down the mountain, quickly!" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a fire flickering three times at the foot of the mountain to the west.

This is a fire specially designed by Xu He.

In fact, it was an iron cover over the torch.

There is a fire door with an opening in the hearth on the cover.

Turning on and off the fire door can cause the effect of the volcano flashing and extinguishing.

By the number of flashes of fire, the person receiving the fire can know what the person who sent the signal is trying to say.

For example, just flashed three times, it was Xiao Er telling Zhou Bi that everyone was ready!

Seeing Xiao Er's fire news, the big stone in Zhou Bi's heart finally fell.

He couldn't sleep just now, because he was afraid that if the thieves came, Xiao Er would be in trouble if he didn't receive the news.

……

The reason why Zhou Bi stationed his team on this mountain was that it was convenient to observe the movements of the thieves, and second, there were scattered beaches and reeds to hide the ten modified centipede boats led by Xiao Er.

The third is a bamboo forest in front of you.

The soldiers had already been told by the commander, the chief, and the general that after descending the mountain, they would hide in the bamboo forest by the muddy river, and no one was allowed to make noise, raise fire, or move.

After the soldiers entered the bamboo forest in an orderly manner.

Zhou Bi nodded to the fire signal soldier behind him.

I saw him flash his torch twice towards the opposite bank.

Soon, the other side also replied twice.

Zhou Bi saw the reply from the other side, and turned his head to the east of the river.

Just now, because he had to arrange the engagement of the battle, Zhou Bi had no time to think about it.

But at this time, everyone was already in place, and the thief had not yet arrived, and he couldn't help but get nervous during this free time.

It didn't take long for him to realize the tension that came with this being the first time he was leading his troops into battle.

To relieve the tension, he stretched his neck, exposing it to the cool breeze of an early spring night.

In an instant, he calmed down.

"Zhou Liangfu, Zhou Liangfu, the thieves are full of less than a thousand people, you have seven hundred people, you have a heart or not, and you have been prepared, what are you afraid of?"

Zhou Bi secretly cheered himself up in his heart.

To put it bluntly, Zhou Bi is only a young man in his early twenties this year.

Although he has a family history, he is the first time to lead the army after all.

It's not easy to do that.

The knife stood behind him and was also observing Zhou Bi, and found that he was always as calm as a mountain, and he couldn't help but admire him.

Thinking about the time when he followed his third brother to ambush a merchant ship on the lake, he was so excited that he was trembling all over his body, and his teeth were chattering.

"The third brother is really right, Secretary Zhou is a person who can lead soldiers!"

At that moment, there was another rush of footsteps.

The soldier suddenly became nervous, and all the eyes hidden in the bamboo forest stared at the man and rushed towards Zhou Bi.

Zhou Bi didn't turn his head and asked, "Is the thief already five miles away?" ”

"Secretary, exactly!"

"Probe!" Zhou Bi waved his hand after speaking.

The fire signal soldier picked up the torch, opened the fire door, and drew a circle in the air.

Soon, the torches on the other side were also lit.

Seeing the bright light, more than 20 soldiers rushed out from behind the knife.

When they came to the river, they found a stake, and one of the big men reached out and laboriously pulled out a rope from under the face. Seeing this, everyone hurriedly stepped forward to help pull up the iron cable and wrap it around the stump twice.

After a while, the river calmed down, but if a boat passed by at this time, it would not be noticed......

At this time, the muddy river is about an arm's length away from the river, and an arm-thick iron cable is lying below the river.

And such an iron cable, there is still a distance of about three miles upstream.