Fu Song

Chapter 493 Conflict
Four thin wooden pillars with the mouth of a bowl prop up a canopy covered with thick thatch, and there are seven or eight benches and crooked stools scattered here and there, but there is not a single table.

At the back of the shed, there is a large iron pot on a simple earthen stove, but it is steaming at the moment, and the hot water inside is boiling. An old woman is holding a gourd ladle to scoop the boiling water into a wooden bucket.

There were some green leaves in the wooden barrel, and when the boiling water was poured, the leaves immediately rolled and floated up in the water, and the water slowly turned yellowish brown.

Ningqing is a kind of local fruit tree. The fruit looks like apples, but it is relatively small. Compared with the fruit, its leaves are more popular among the people.

Collect the green leaves, dry them and store them well. In summer, brew them in boiling water. There is no taste at first, but when the water cools down, it is very sweet and delicious. It is the most thirst-quenching in hot summer. .

The shed on the side of the road is the most common tea shed. There is no good tea, but the most common condensed green tea, which is enough for a penny.

It's just that this shed is located on the intersection of the three roads, and there are a lot of people coming and going. Although the profit is small, the daily income is enough to support the life of the family.

The old woman boiled water, but it was carried by an old man with a slightly hunchbacked back, and a large bucket as high as one person was placed in a basket.It seemed that the water source was not close, and when a bucket of water was carried on his back, the clothes on the old man's body were all wet with sweat.

But the one who poured tea for everyone was a young woman in coarse clothes, with a doll on her back. The child seemed to be only a year old, and she was drowsy little by little on her mother's back. , and by the side of the stove, there was a slightly older child who was holding a small bundle of firewood and stacking it at the stove door.

One could tell it was a family, but there was no strong young man in charge of the family.

But after thinking about it, I know that in the current situation on Shaanxi Road, the young and strong men who are in charge of the family may all be conscripted away.

Nowadays, most of the people coming and going on the road are soldiers, young and strong transporting food, grass and military equipment.

A penny is nothing, and no one collects money. There is a wooden box where people enter the shed. Those who enter the shed or not enter the shed. Throw a penny into the box, and then call for tea. A young woman with a child will bring you a wooden bowl.

The tea is placed in the shed, and the two big buckets are cold.

It's just that there are too many people today, and the cold ones have been sold out long ago, but now the ones in the bucket are still steaming.

Some are impatient and don't bother to drink tea anymore. They are just tea sellers. They scoop up a bowl of unheated well water in the big vat and drink it with their necks raised. The well water is authentic mountain spring. Even if you don't burn or put the condensed green leaves, it is refreshing.

The old man has worked so hard to recite it, and a bowl is worth a penny.

When the weather is hot and there are many people, business will naturally be good.

The more money you earn, the more smiles on the faces of the family.

The old man carrying the water went back and forth again and again, the clothes on his body were already the same as those he had picked up in the water.

The young woman who brought everyone tea came and went like a gust of wind,
Even the little boy who was picking up firewood outside was also bouncing around and looking happy.

Only when you make money can you have meat to eat!

A scream was heard suddenly, and the noisy tea shop suddenly fell silent, and everyone's eyes turned to the direction where the scream came from.

The one who screamed was the young woman with the child on her back. With her face flushed, she was glaring angrily at the group of soldiers in front of her.

It was a group of soldiers of the Fourth Army from Bianliang, with a long red cherry on their helmets, which was very different from the local Forbidden Army in Shaanxi in terms of attire.

The guy who looked like an officer was stared at by the young woman, but his face was full of indifference, and he stared frivolously at the young woman's bulging breasts. The young woman was obviously breastfeeding, and at the moment she was carrying the child on her back, walking around When the rope is stretched, the figure looks even more proud.

"Hey, you're still angry, look at this face!" The officer stood up with a smile, and approached the young woman, "Where's your man? It's better to tell the Sajia family, is he going to do hard labor? Go back to the Sajia family Find a way for you to get him back."

The young woman's eye circles were red, and she turned around and was about to leave. Unexpectedly, another soldier from the Fourth Army stood up and pretended to casually reach out to stop her, but that hand firmly grabbed her chest. a handful.

The young woman screamed again.

The group of soldiers from the capital laughed, and surrounded the young woman, pushing and shoving her hands.

The old man hadn't come back yet, but the old woman ran over and only dared to beg for mercy loudly. The older cubs stared at all this in a daze, obviously not understanding what these adults were doing.

With a bang and a scream, a bench broke into several pieces, and a soldier of the Fourth Army fell down with his head covered in blood.

There was an uproar in the tea shed.

When the soldiers of the Fourth Army turned their heads to look back, they saw behind them a Shaanxi Imperial Guard with a head wrapped like a rice dumpling, holding a half of a bench in his hand, and looking at them sternly.

And behind this wounded soldier, there are more than a dozen local imperial guards, but none of them are intact, and all of them are wounded.

Obviously, this is a group of wounded soldiers withdrawn from the battlefield.

"Han Tou, Luo Wu can't do it!" A panicked voice came from behind the officer.

The soldier of the Fourth Army who was hit by a bench on his head actually died.

The soldiers who just came down from the battlefield, how could the hostility in their hearts dissipate in a short time, if they didn't make a move, it would be dead, and if they did, it would be a deadly move. The guy sent to the west.

There was a moment of silence in the tea shed, and then there was the sound of a knife being unsheathed.

The young woman with the child on her back cried and fled out of the shed, the old woman dragged the older cub and ran out as well, the old man who had just returned from carrying the water hadn't figured out the situation yet,

The soldiers of the Fourth Army never imagined that a trivial incident of molesting a village girl on the roadside, which they thought was nothing serious, actually resulted in the death of a soldier, and then aroused a fight between the soldiers of the Fourth Army and the local Forbidden Army. Fighting with weapons.

Everyone moved their knives.

Because this is the main point where the three roads meet, and now, it is the time when the armies from all walks of life converge on the front line. A young man who transports food, grass and weapons.

From the initial fight involving only thirty or fifty people together, it finally evolved into a large-scale fight involving hundreds of people.

Even a lot of young adults were involved in it.

When Zhang Cheng got the news, he was still dozens of miles away from here.

He was ordered to go back to Jingzhao Mansion to meet the new commander Cui Ang, but he didn't expect that Cui Ang hadn't seen him yet, but he saw such a scene first.

The wounded suffered a great loss.

Even if the local young and strong joined in to help these local forbidden troops later, the combat effectiveness of the wounded soldiers was greatly reduced, and the fighting skills of the young and strong were really poor.

There is a big difference between trained and untrained.

Don't think that the Fourth Army was beaten mercilessly by the frontier soldiers, but in terms of personal quality, these guys are tall and powerful, and they are all quite good.

Hundreds of wounded soldiers lay all over the ground.

The tea shed on the side of the road had been burned down to ruins, and the four pillars hadn't been burned clean, and the upper half of the bare ground was black and twisted to the sky.

The two old people who sell tea in that family, a young woman with two children, are embracing and weeping, but at this moment, no one cares about them.

When Zhang Cheng arrived, he saw such a scene.

The ins and outs are very clear, and the right and wrong are also clear at a glance.

But how to deal with this matter is really an extremely troublesome matter.

That's good, I haven't fought against the Western Army yet, my family started to do it first.

"Bring me all the people!" The exhausted Zhang Cheng said with his back to the burnt tea shed.

Beside him is the tea seller.

Soon, the two groups of people who clashed at the beginning were brought in front of Zhang Cheng, and half of them were carried over.

"Do you recognize me?" Zhang Cheng asked.

"I recognize it." A group of wounded soldiers naturally recognized them. Not long ago, they had just launched a charge against the Western Army on the opposite side under the banner of this general.

"I know!" The Fourth Army from Bianliang said with a guilty conscience.Zhang Cheng's father, Zhang Chaotong, has led the Fourth Army for many years. This yamen has a great reputation in the Fourth Army.Later, Zhang Cheng led the forbidden army to fight against King Jing's rebellion, and his momentum soared. It can be said that the reputation of being able to fight in the fourth army now came from Zhang Cheng when he was in the capital.

"It's good if you recognize it, then I will judge this case, are you convinced?" Zhang Cheng said coldly.

"Convince!" The two groups looked at each other, as if they were confident in their hearts.

Zhang Cheng glanced at the officer of the Fourth Army, pointed to the tea seller next to him, and said, "Do you know why they are such an ordinary family, why they can open such a tea shed in this place to make a living?"

The officer shook his head.

Zhang Cheng sneered: "Then let me tell you, the reason why they can open here is because this family originally had three sons, one died in a battle with the Western Army seven years ago, and the other died in a battle with the Western Army two years ago. In one of the border conflicts with the Western Army, there is another one, which is currently fighting fiercely with the Western Army in Shentangbao."

The officer's face turned pale.

Zhang Cheng didn't bother to talk nonsense with these people, so he just waved his hand, and the soldiers behind him rushed up and pushed all of these people to the ground, even those who were beaten to death during the conflict.

"Cut!" Zhang Cheng's voice suddenly became cold.

Without waiting for these people to complain, the soldiers drew their knives, and with a cracking sound, more than a dozen heads rolled to the ground.

"The general is wise!" At the scene, the local imperial guards and young adults shouted loudly. Although the soldiers of the Fourth Army on one side lowered their heads and did not dare to make a sound, their eyes were obviously not angry.

Zhang Cheng's gaze turned to the wounded soldier who led the conflict.

"Seeing injustice on the road, you are quite heroic, but you forgot, you are a soldier." Zhang Cheng said coldly: "The other party is contemptuous of women, but he is not guilty of death. You beat people to death, and even caused conflicts between the two sides. , so many casualties, what crime should we know?"

The wounded soldier raised his head and said: "The villain knows that the villain is the general's soldier, and he is willing to be a military law!"

Zhang Cheng nodded.

Two personal soldiers stepped forward and knocked the wounded soldier to the ground, another head fell to the ground while the cold light flashed.

"Rebuild the tea shed for this guy!" Zhang Cheng ordered, "When I come back, I will see this tea shed reopened, and I will drink a bowl of tea here before leaving."

After leaving this sentence, Zhang Cheng got on his horse and ran towards Jingzhao Mansion.

At the scene, the two groups looked at each other for a moment, but turned their heads away from each other.

Liangzi has already been formed, so many lives, how can it be easily untied.

"General, you're still the best. Today's incident, if it's another person, I'm afraid that if you're not careful, it will cause even greater disaster!" On the horse, the soldiers flattered heartily.

Zhang Cheng didn't feel complacent at all.

The Upper Fourth Army from Bianliang was severely restrained in the capital. They dared not be presumptuous in that place where they could easily encounter powerful people, but when they came out, they were a little unrestrained, with a kind of arrogance in their bones.

It's really strange, the two beatings of Xiao Ding and Wang Zhu didn't seem to wake them up.

The military discipline of these people is such that it is doubtful how much combat effectiveness can be maintained.

And this matter, I am afraid that it will soon spread throughout Shaanxi Road. It seems that I have calmed down the matter, but to put it bluntly, I still hit [-] boards and mud.What really calmed things down was his prestige in both armies.

But can it last?

Can such two armies really help each other and overcome difficulties when facing a strong enemy?

Zhang Cheng was full of worries.

Jingzhao Mansion was right in front of him. Zhang Cheng reined in his horse and looked at this steep city for a long time before he rode in.

In Jingzhao Mansion, more soldiers, horses, food, and weapons gathered.

Cui Ang is really not a commander Zhang Cheng would like to see.

But the reality is like this, there is nothing he can do except bow his head.

Now Zhang Cheng, the only hope is that this self-proclaimed master of the army will not make any mistakes. After all, the defeat in Hebei has given Zhang Cheng a clear understanding of the talents of this leader.

I am not a general like Qin Kuan who can be manipulated by Cui Ang. In front of the officials, I can also speak up, and on Shaanxi Road, the pacifier Lan Sixin should be my natural ally. Together, we are not afraid of being unable to stand up to the commander.

If he really messed up.

Zhang Cheng made up his mind to return to Jingzhao Mansion.

He is going to work with Lan Sixin to take over the commander-in-chief and get the general power first.

Only in this way can we decide for ourselves.

He doesn't mind letting Cui Ang get the most credit after the battle, but he will never allow anyone to destroy the battle of revenge that he has waited so hard for.

(End of this chapter)