stubborn thief

Chapter 113 Xingzi River

In the peaceful Xingzi River Valley, Lin Wei, the steward of Prince Qing's Mansion, led his servants to climb the earth mountain.

On the other side of the valley, hundreds of hungry people pushed stone and earthworks to the mountain fort that was about to be completed.

Lin Wei is the son of the teacher of Ningxia Zhongwei Health School. Because of his beautiful birth, he was accepted by Qing Fan as the Yibin of the Lord of Shajing Township after he was awarded the title of scholar.

Because of insulting the lord, he was sentenced to exile, but according to the law, the lord was still unable to be exiled, so he was thrown into Ansai's Wangzhuang to be in charge.

Holding a monocular crystal telescope, he raised his arm and pointed at the castle, and said to the left and right: "This castle has three piers on both sides, which must be repaired before winter."

The servants of the left and right Wangzhuang looked at each other and said boldly: "Lin Chenglang, Lindong is only a month away. This, no matter what, can't be repaired."

The servant next to him also chimed in: "Yes, Manager Lin, the one who urged the worker to die."

The Yibin of the Wangfu was originally an official position, but because the husbands of the county and township monarchs often choose among the Yibin, over time, it has become a synonym for the husband of the lord, just like the son-in-law.

Lin Wei is the husband of the township monarch, so he has the official position of the sixth-rank Chengwulang. Although he has made mistakes and violated the law, he is still a relative of the emperor and cannot be regarded as a commoner.

After hearing the words from the left and right, Lin Wei put down the binoculars and turned his head, looked at the servants of Wangzhuang with disdain, and said sarcastically, "Dead...before I came, didn't you have a few people who were forced to death by your fleshy heads?"

As soon as these words came out, the servants were not happy. This steward is wearing a sinful body, but don't be different from the steward.

Someone had a fierce look on his face: "Lin Chenglang, what you said is too much, you might leave at any time, we princes and farmers will live here forever, let's make do with it for a few years, then you should be exiled, don't make trouble in the end It's not good for anyone to die here."

"I wish I could die here, to tell you the truth."

Although Lin Wei is an outsider, he is not afraid: "My lord has been ill for many years. When will she leave? When will I go to the army? I was born in the Northwest Frontier Guard. Where can I go to the army? Going to Liaodong is just a death. Keeping this Zhuangzi is my hope of living, if you fight against me."

He looked at the servants one by one, and said with a light smile, "Before I die, I will take you all away."

He can really scare the servants, they are all Qingfan village households, let alone kill him, if a Yibin dies here, the whole Zhuangzi will suffer.

But on the other hand, this Yibin is a person who will die sooner or later. This kind of person who wants to live but must die is much more terrifying than someone who wants to die.

It was the most courageous servant among the previous servants who spoke, his tone softened, and he asked, "But what does repairing this stone castle have to do with your life?"

"A bunch of meat heads, let them recruit hungry people, I don't know why they recruited hungry people; let them build a castle, I don't know why they built a castle."

Lin Wei raised his chin and cursed, and then explained helplessly: "A group of thieves have risen near the Fucheng. This Wangzhuang Ansai knows a lot, but Fucheng knows a little. They recruit hungry people for Wangzhuang, open stones to build houses, and give them a ration. It won’t cause chaos, even if small groups of thieves come to the village, they will be able to resist.”

"A few days ago, Yulin sent a letter to buy horse grass. You all know that Li Bei will be appointed as the general of Yan'an, and you also know."

Lin Wei, who came from a family of health educators, was used to seeing his father teach the soldiers how to read and explain the principles of scriptures since he was a child. Now he is the same, looking at the servants with expectant eyes, and persuasively said: "There is a difference between the two. , What does it have to do with our building of the castle? Think about it."

The servants looked at each other: "What's the connection? General Li is invincible against thieves. If he becomes a general in Yan'an, the thieves will be gone. It's too peaceful. If it's too peaceful, why build a fort?"

"If all the thieves are like you, the world will really be peaceful. How about occupying a fort in such a place? They won't run away when the army comes?"

Lin Wei was furious, and hated that there was no table in front of him for him to photograph: "Now the thieves are gathered together, hiding in various places in Yan'an Mansion. On the surface, it looks peaceful, but behind the scenes, why are there so many thieves doing? How many big households Cao Cao has robbed in half a year since the incident, and Liu Chengzong, who went far away in Shanxi, killed and attacked Yanshuiguan, but there was no movement in Shanxi, and he will not come back?"

"You hide if you don't beat the thieves. If you beat the thieves, you can't run around like a hornet's nest? There are few officers and soldiers, but there are many thieves. Can you guarantee that no thieves will come here?"

Who can guarantee this thing.

Several servants looked like eggplants beaten by frost, with their heads hanging down and not speaking.

In the past, most of Wangzhuang's managers were eunuchs, who were difficult to serve but few in charge. After all, there were ways to deal with them, but they had nothing to do with Lin Wei.

You can't be coaxed, you can't be intimidated, you can't be provoked, you can't fight, you can't even talk.

But this person regards the management of Wangzhuang as a lifeline. With him, the servants of Wangzhuang will not be able to live comfortably.

Lin Wei didn't care about them any more, with his chin raised and his face full of pride, he stood on the dirt hill with his hands behind his back, but his brows were furrowed and he couldn't help worrying.

He hoped that the large amount of goods sent to Weizhou would make King Qing happy, and maybe he would be exempted from punishment.

At this moment, someone looked towards the lower reaches of the Xingzi River Valley, and the farm households collecting firewood in the distance suddenly dispersed, ran towards the village, and hurriedly said: "Boss Lin, look over there!"

Lin Wei turned his head, his expression changed drastically, and when he put the binoculars up to his eyes, he felt that his hair was tightening.

In the direction of Ansai at the end of the valley, the horse team is advancing.

The cavalry of hundreds of people did not shout to fight, did not draw their swords to charge, it was very quiet.

They were wearing red and blue frontier armor, some were dark armor with cotton cloth on the outside, and some were light armor with a piece of armor on the outside.

Everyone rode a donkey or mule, led a war horse or a big mule, wore a four-petal bowl helmet and a tall helmet spear, and spread out slowly and neatly on both sides of the river valley, driving the farmers in line and moving forward.

Looking at the formation alone, it clearly left a preconceived impression in Lin Wei's mind-this is an army.

Although their strength is small, they have a wide spread because of one man and two cavalry, and their organization is very clear.

Every third person has a horse holding a spear, and a small red triangular flag is hung on the spear.

The horse team composed of more than a hundred people has 25 small triangular flag spears and five triangular large flag spears. None of the flags are written.

Lin Wei recognized that it was the flag of Marshal Sifang.

The Marshal of the Western Horse, white as snow.

He hastily searched the valley with his eyes.

Soon, billowing smoke and dust were found on the hillock on the other side of the river. With the same flag and the same establishment, a cavalry team lined up on the hillock, all of which were blue flags, and a cavalry general holding a mace was painted on the blue flag in the middle.

Marshal Dongfang Wen, green as indigo.

and also!

The mountain ridge behind him also raised smoke and dust. A horse team holding a black flag passed through the mine and headed northwest quickly. The banner they held was a white painting on a black background, and the painting showed a general riding a tiger and holding a whip.

Marshal Zhao from the north is as black as iron.

Immediately afterwards, another team of horses holding red flags stopped on the mountain ridge. The horse soldiers reined in the horses, donkeys and mules.

Marshal Nanguan is as red as blood.

The four cavalry troops were divided into four places. When Wangzhuang was in chaos and it was too late to react, they surrounded the valley in all directions. On the westernmost river bank, there was another yellow flag cavalry team that arrived late.

The flag is painted with a single whip step general, which is the Chinese Wang Lingguan.

There are more mule troops under the flag than the Quartet cavalry, and they are divided into two teams. One team carries firearms, and the mules carry artillery on their backs.

The other team consisted of more than [-] people, all of them rode war horses and led donkeys and mules, surrounded by a very fine flag with the character Liu on a red background and yellow border.

Lin Wei stared blankly, watching the five cavalry teams surround Wangzhuang with blank eyes, but did not move at all.

Ever since he was sent to Ansai to take care of Wangzhuang amidst the chaos in the northwest, he had thought about encountering thieves countless times.

I even encountered it once, hundreds of people were naked, their stomachs were swollen with hunger, and they were holding sticks and farming tools, rushing from the direction of Ansai towards the Xingzi River Valley.

At that time, Wangzhuang had not yet built a mountain fort, but only twelve stone houses were built in Dongguanzhuang of the river valley.

The village households each hold light bows and crossbows to guard the stone houses. Seven or eight arrows will scare the thieves out of range.

After two days of siege, 11 people were shot to death by crossbows and spears, more than [-] people died of starvation, and hundreds of people ran away.

In the end, Lin Wei lost all fear of being attacked by thieves. He sent people to pick out a hundred of them who had never eaten Guanyin soil and had a way to live. They found a piece of land in Dongguanzhuang and rented it. They set up a porridge factory and arranged for them to dig stones. Picking grass.

Because of this experience, he always thought that he was not afraid of thieves.

At that time, I was not afraid, but now a large number of stone houses have been built in Siguanzhuang, east, west, north, south, and north. The stone castle on the mountain will be repaired in a month or so, let alone thieves.

But... But Lin Wei doesn't know how to describe the surrounding Wangzhuang right now.

Speaking of the army, he was born in Zhongwei, Ningxia, and he has never seen an army with a minimum establishment of four people.

What's more, the official army establishment is three horses and seven steps. It takes a lot of time to recruit war horses from the army and local horse households to be able to have one person with two horses or even three horses.

In his impression, for a gang of thieves who would starve to death standing still, it would be nice if the head of the thieves had a big mule to ride on.

They said they were thieves, they definitely didn't run away, but... who would dare to call such a team thieves?

Just behind the big flag with Liu characters on the red background and yellow border, three or four hundred men in cotton clothes stood in line with bare hands, it is okay to say that they are elite thieves.

Counting the six flags and six teams in front, this has already surpassed Lin Wei's imagination of thieves.

What is it?
"Why is Steward Lin in a daze, what should I do!"

Under the servant's urging, Lin Wei managed to calm down.

Looking around, the river valley was in chaos, with cattle and sheep running around, donkeys and horses running around, and those farmers who used to hold bows and crossbows to defend against thieves. Blindfolded and scurried into the mountains.

"Yes, let's go quickly, you and I will gather the dealers, you can only attack the two teams in the west first, if you wait to be surrounded by all sides, there will be no chance of survival!"

As he spoke, Lin Wei put away the binoculars in his arms, and led the servants to run down the mound with their knives.

Just as he was running towards Dongguanzhuang, Liu Ying made five whistles, and mule teams on the north and south sides meandered down the mountain road, and the east and west sides also squeezed slowly towards the middle.

They all took Liu Chengzong's order, and they didn't intend to kill people, but used strict military forces to suppress the psychological defense of the village households, causing them to collapse and surrender.

In fact, this purpose has been achieved.

The solid stone houses in the East and West Guanzhuang were the best defensive area in the valley, but under the slow oppression of the horse soldiers, most people abandoned their houses and fled inward.

There were only a few people standing on the house holding bows and crossbows as if they were in a desperate situation.

But times have changed.

Under the yellow flag, Cao Yao, who belonged to the artillery post of the battalion, waved his hand, and the artillerymen under the sentry untied the tiger squat cannon and the pearl cannon from the back of the mule.

A team of five carried the cannon body and the ammunition box and ran forward, and stood thirty steps outside the house, relying on long shields and full armor to ignore the incoming arrows as if they were nothing, and reloaded ammunition in an orderly manner.

The equipment of the crossbowmen on the roof is not good, they are all light bows and continuous crossbows, and their skills are not good.

Cao Yao stood next to the two cannons with his three-eyed blunderbuss in his hands, waiting for Liu Chengzong's order to fire the cannons to kill these people.

Unexpectedly, Han Shipanle of the Jiading team immediately stepped forward and said: "General, let us brothers go, there is no need to waste gunpowder."

Liu Chengzong knew in his heart that the two brothers here wanted to show off in front of him, and he also wanted to see what skills these two strong and powerful leaders of the Guyuan clan had.

He waved his hand and said, "Let's go."

The two brothers got the order, and the horses came out through the cracks in the artillery post. The two riders got together and said something, then they turned their horses and separated, holding their bows on the left and the right, picking up arrows and outflanking the stone house. .

The straight arrow is a broad-bladed arrow. Compared with many arrows such as spear-shaped fast arrows and needle-shaped armor-piercing arrows, the wide-bladed arrow can cut more muscles and ligaments. It is difficult to escape with an arrow aimed at an unarmored target.

The disadvantage is that the blade has a large surface, and the range is relatively close, and it will miss if it is far away.

Liu Chengzong didn't look at their arrows, but only looked at the two brothers galloping between the horses. The coordination between the body and the horse's height was extremely natural, and the riding skills were quite exquisite.

With this kind of riding skills, riding and shooting on horseback is a matter of course.

Ordinary cavalry soldiers need to carry two bows. For an infantry bow of [-] catties, a cavalry bow costs [-] catties. For an elite cavalry soldier, a cavalry bow of [-] catties requires [-] catties.

But what Liu Chengzong didn't expect was that the two brothers didn't intend to fight again when they got closer.

There were still more than 20 steps away from Cao Yao's artillery, and nearly [-] steps to the stone house. The two brothers drew their bows one by one on the left and one on the right, and let the arrows go.

At this distance, Liu Chengzong had to use a fast arrow to be sure of hitting it.

Han Shipan's arrow missed by an inch, and hit the low wall of the roof, causing some sparks; while someone on the other side of the roof screamed and fell under Han Shiyou's arrow.

Just a moment later, there were two more arrows, two people fell from the roof, and the two brothers were both hit.

Amazing!

Then the figure on the roof disappeared without a trace, and the remaining three jumped on the wall, abandoned the stone house and fled westward.

The two brothers galloped past Cao Yao's artillery, and chased after them with two streams of smoke.

In the blink of an eye, the three running figures fell down one after another.

Liu Chengzong saw a few figures running towards this side from the earth mountain farther away, and the two brothers turned their horses' heads and were about to return to the formation. It seemed that they saw those people, and Han Shipan on the left lightly knocked on the horse's belly, and then rode the horse over.

A few hundred steps away, Liu Chengzong saw that those people seemed to know that they could not escape from riding and shooting, and the first one drew out his knife in an extremely brave posture, holding the knife in front of him and posing as a throwing arrow, trying to stop him with steps. ride.

Then he was pushed down to the ground by the people behind him. They kowtowed to Han Shipan from a distance, said something, and actually escorted the man to the front of the formation.

Later, when the two riders met briefly, Han Shiyou patted his horse and ran back into the formation, rolled his saddle and knelt down, clasped his fists with joy and said, "General, my brother has captured the steward of Wangzhuang, and he is still a villager and Yibin!"
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Note:
①. Yibin Official Positions and Criminal Punishment Reference Paper "Research on Yibin Groups in Ming Dynasty"

②.Shanxi governor Yuecao Datong East Road two 840 riders, 120 steps and 47 meters set target, [-] people can hit five to seven out of ten shots, one person is eight out of ten shots, named Du Jiyue, incorporated into Iron riding class.

——Shanxi Governor Wu Rendu "Wu Jishu Collection Volume Nine"

　Good morning!Report to everyone, it should be on shelves next Friday.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)