stubborn thief

Chapter 211 A Pingliang City
South of Guyuan Prefecture.

On the east and west banks of the Qingshui River, soldiers and horses marched southward for twenty miles.

People shouted and horses neighed, the sea boiled and the mountains were destroyed, the dust rose up, the sky was blocked out, the river was chaotic, and the day was dark.

Liu Chengzong sent his troops to the south, but before the troops arrived, the Wating gatekeeper retreated three houses, inspected and fled in a hurry, and the postmen opened the city to surrender.

After crossing Longshan Mountain for a few days, all parts of Guyuan Prefecture were watching the wind and descending. Liu Shizi's department plundered Qingpingyuan, Heishuiyuan, Kaichengyuan and even Hanfan's herds. There was no place where they could grab war horses, donkeys and mules let go.

Not only won tens of thousands of war horses, donkeys and mules, but even absorbed thousands of soldiers.

Surrendering was easier than fighting. After all, when they reached their territory, they couldn't fight again. The defense was hungry, and they directly wrapped up their families and soldiers.

It's not troublesome at all, anyway, the hungry army and the poor army still have their families by this time, it is already very rare, and most of them are bachelors.

Immediately turned into Longde County, Pingliang Prefecture, Fangcheng, a small county of Longde, looked insignificant.

However, under Yang Dingrui's strong dissuasion, the Lion Camp did not besiege Longde County, but only stationed troops in the suburbs after looting horses from pastures to buy winter supplies from the people.

It's already August now, and the weather will turn cold in a blink of an eye. The team is getting bigger and bigger, and there is not enough winter supplies.

There is no other reason why Yang Dingrui refused to let Liu Chengzong attack the city. This small city was named Deshun 400 years ago and belonged to the Xixia Kingdom. The guard Ma Jianlong never feared the Mongolian army's invasion.

Although the city fell and people died in the end, he took the initiative to attack and win a victory on the first day when the Mongolian army arrived in Deshun under the circumstances of the city and the city being defeated.

Yang Dingrui does not suggest that Liu Chengzong waste time and morale on the siege, they have more important things to do - save the king of Han.

To save King Han, one must first put him in an unsafe situation.

The men and horses in the headquarters of the Lion Camp could not move, and Sunday Qiang was next to him, so he could only send a message to the eldest brother in Zhenyuan County. Liu Chengzu quickly sent back a message, informing the team that they had entered Pingliang Mansion by taking the mountain road and lightly packing.

When he learned the composition of this team, Liu Chengzong laughed happily, he can always trust his elder brother.

Liu Chengzu knew the importance of this mission, and he could not make mistakes in the play, so he sent Luo Rucai to lead the team, mobilized some troops from the Zai Department of the Han Dynasty and the Li Laozhen Department, reorganized them, and handed them over to the Guyuan soldiers from Wang Wenxiu's Department.

In particular, Luo Rucai's group of sisters Hua, including himself, were stripped clean, and they tried to change into the uniforms of the Guyuan Army, and they didn't let these Yan'an people talk.

All the things that need to be opened are all done by the Guyuan soldiers under Wang Wenxiu.

This team of nearly 2000 people sneaked across Liupan Mountain and arrived at Kongtong Mountain in the west of Pingliang Prefecture on the third day of departure.

"Grandma's killing me!"

Luo Rucai supported the iron lock road donated by Han Wangfu to rest in the mountains, took off his helmet and was sweating profusely.

He looked down at the vast plains of the Jinghe River Valley in the east, and the fertile fields could not be seen at a glance. It was not until his eyesight was exhausted that he could see the outline of Pingliangfu City in the haze at the end of the fields.

Luo Rucai raised his finger and said, "Did you see it? You can see it from such a distance. There are high walls everywhere in the city."

Kongtong Mountain is like a Hanwang Mountain. The temples and Taoist temples on the mountain are all repaired by the Hanwang Mansion. It was either repaired by Zhu Zhenren or the wife of the Han Fanzong Wang.

Yang Chengzu was also sweating profusely from exhaustion, and regretted endlessly, he said: "If I had known that I should learn from Uncle Luo, I would have rested at the foot of the mountain. a monument."

"Why do you, Cao Cao, love climbing so much? You haven't climbed enough of the mountains in Yan'an Mansion?"

Luo Rucai gave him a blank look: "You think I want to go up the mountain? Before the departure, the boss told me that he wanted to climb the mountain to overlook the terrain. He also said that there is a Taoist Palace on Kongtong Mountain. It is the place where the Yellow Emperor met Guang Chengzi. The Great Emperor Zhenwu must have someone who has attained the Dao."

The boss he was talking about was not Liu Shizi, but his general Liu Chengzu.

Yang Chengzu rolled his eyes and said: "It's none of your business to be a master of Taoism, I will worship you when you ask the handsome man to come over."

Luo Rucai said with a smile: "Handsome, handsome, you call me handsome, I didn't see it, you Yang Chengzu is such a hard-working man, you also learned that, what is flattery?"

"Flattery."

Yang Chengzu made it up for him, and then he waved his hand and said: "It's not flattery, if it weren't for the handsome man, I would have been eaten by wolves in the ravine, and I can call it a lifesaver."

"Master Yang is right!"

As soon as Luo Rucai said that, he knelt down on the ground with a playful smile, and kowtowed to Yang Chengzu three times, almost frightening Yang Chengzu to the bottom of the mountain, and quickly dodged to the side: "You, you, what are you doing?"

Luo Rucai got up and wiped the mud formed from sweat and dust on his head, and he still had that playful smile on his face: "If Master Yang hadn't died, Xiao Luo would have died in that ravine too. It's not an exaggeration to kowtow to your savior."

Yang Chengzu smiled and scolded: "You give me this again, we are better than anything else alive... The overlook is over, let's go down the mountain and attack the city?"

Luo Ru just waved his hand, glanced up the mountain, and said: "The work is not finished yet, the boss will send someone who is a master of Taoism to go back, and it is best to tie up a few more apprentices."

After speaking, he commanded the soldiers who were still climbing the mountain behind, and gave them the order to climb the mountain and bind the Taoist priest.

"What are you doing by kidnapping Taoist priests?" Yang Chengzu was stunned: "Who is the boss planning to save?"

"Exceed your fart."

Luo Rucai pointed to the west: "The commander-in-chief wants to go to Qinghai, which is the place of pirates, you know that?"

Yang Chengzu nodded.

They, the officers of the two battalions, had heard about this, but it didn't matter to him where he went. He ran back and forth for more than a year, and experienced life and death several times.

"The world is far and wide, ask Qiankun, where can a madman be tolerated?" Yang Chengzu read a sentence of Song Jiang's words and clenched his fists: "Fight, the northern captives can dominate that country, and the western thieves can't? We also used a trick in the past. Please do it."

"That's right, but in the past, if you were not familiar with the place, you would definitely have to deal with it. Others believed in Fanjiao, and you still believed in Fanjiao after being surrendered. How do you trust them, and how do you distinguish them from the enemy?"

Luo Rucai repeated what Liu Chengzu said to him, and raised his hand very easily and proudly: "Taoist, it's a pity that the king is a high-ranking official, otherwise he is better than the old Taoist."

Speaking of this, Luo Ru sighed, and said enviously: "Boss means to build a Taoist temple on a high mountain in the past, and cast a real martial arts statue in the image of the general."

Yang Chengzu swallowed his saliva, rubbed his chin beard with one hand, and pinched his knuckles with the other hand to figure out secretly, muttering: "Two battalions of fifteen sentinel commanders, the captain...can you cast 36 generals?"

He made some calculations, he is now in charge of Luo Rucai's sentry team in the Yuzi Camp, there are too many people competing for the 36 generals under the Emperor Zhenwu, but there is still a chance.

Just asking, knowing that Luo Rucai said it doesn't count, Yang Chengzu became murderous: "For meritorious service, let the handsome man cast a bronze statue for me too!"

Luo Rucai was also stunned.

This is an illusory and meaningless thing at the moment, but... becoming a god?

He can also be admired by generations like Guan Yu.

Like Mu Ying, who died 200 years ago and still guarded his land and fought for him?

Just thinking of this, Luo Rucai's body seemed to be electrified, from the top of the sky to the tail bone.

Make him smile: "You, you mean, I can also stand on a mountain with a bronze statue? His grandma, Lao Luo's family is about to go out of their way!"

After a while, the subordinates who went up the mountain tied seven or eight Taoist priests down.

Strange to say, the same military uniform and armor would look majestic on others, but on Luo Rucai and his group, they would look like a group of rout soldiers, so there was no need to act.

The Taoist priests were startled and frightened at first, but their livers trembled with fright when they saw these gangsters. They thought they were the guards of King Han’s mansion. king!"

The soldiers reported: "Boss, this is Master Ha from Wendao Palace, and his ancestor is Ha Zhao, commander of Pingliang Guard in Tianshun year."

Luo Rucai was reminded by Yang Chengzu, and felt that he also had the opportunity to be worshiped by the statue, and Taoist priests especially liked it in his heart.

Hearing this surname again made me even happier.

The ancestors are Mongolians, this is not only a professional counterpart, but also a bloodline match!
"Release the old man quickly."

Luo Rucai was overjoyed, so he immediately untied the Taoist priests, saying: "Come with us, it's a great thing for you!"

Zhenren Ha and his apprentices went in without knowing it, so they asked a group of stragglers from Luobu to escort them down the mountain.

The ambitious Yang Chengzu was determined to make meritorious service, and immediately asked Luo Rucai to lead the two teams into Pingliang City.

Now they have broken two cities with Liu Chengzong, once infiltrated and once attacked, and have some experience in falling into the city.

Pingliangfu City is obviously not a city that is easy to capture. There is a martial arts arena in the west of the city, and there is an urn city in the west gate. If you want to break it, you can only sneak in, but it is still difficult to capture the palace.

But as the saying goes, one Hanwang's mansion, half of Pingliang City, Yang Chengzu led his men to take off their armor, changed into civilian clothes, and approached the city pretending to be pawns and traffickers, only then did they know what it meant.

The city is wide in the west and narrow in the east, long horizontally and short vertically, and lies in the Jing River Valley.

It is not a simple city, but a series of cities. Standing on the hills in the south of the city and overlooking it, the mountains and rivers outside the west gate are full of gardens and pavilions of dignitaries, and the water mill bamboo forest is rich in fruits and vegetables.

Xicheng is a complete city with four gates, an urn, and a high-walled compound in the city. The prince, the county prince's mansion, the academy military guard, the government office, the Shanxi Taipu Temple and the Pingliang Yuanma Temple all occupy the city.

Among them is an inner city with a wall of two feet high, which occupies a quarter of Pingliang. Yang Chengzu estimated that it was Han Wangfu.

In addition to the north gate urn city to the north of Liuhu Lake, a small city was built with the north city wall as the south wall, enclosing the pavilions, terraces and waterside pavilions of the other courtyards of dignitaries and nobles.

Outside the urn city in the east of the city, a Jiacheng was expanded to the east with the east wall as the west wall. To the east of the Jiacheng, there was another city, Dongguan City.

Looking from west to east, within twenty li of the inner and outer three cities, there are all red walls and tiles, all of which are the residences of dignitaries.

Inside Dongguan, there are many buildings, and it is a place where business and commerce flourish. To the east of Dongguan, there is another small town, and there is a pagoda Yan'en Temple in the east of the city.

This is really a prosperous scene that Yang Chengzu has never seen in his lifetime. There are many shops in Wangfu Mansion, Jiangjun Mountain Villa, and shops, with red walls and green tiles everywhere, and noble and luxurious clothes are worn among them.

But the elegance and beauty of the pavilions are not conspicuous in this city.

On the contrary, at the foot of Yang Chengzu, at the corner between Dongguan City and Dongwai City, there are thatched houses and brick and tile houses in disrepair, spreading along the roots of the city walls and willow trees on the river bank to the east valley.

In the distance, the barren tombs and grassy hills are connected into a patch, and the people in scanty clothes are mixed in it, which is very dazzling.

Yang Chengzu stood on the top of the mountain, and spat out into the ground: "Pingliang Mansion built five Liancheng, why is there no one for the common people to live in, all the mansions of dignitaries?"

This city is very difficult to break through, the most difficult part is the martial arts field and the garrison outside the city, so he sent someone to report to Luo Rucai that if he can capture the Xicheng Pass, don't plunder the bustling city, first occupy the Xicheng Pass.

He rubbed his sweaty palms, and raised his arms to point to the bustling Dongguan City: "Go and find out the news first, if it doesn't work, climb up from the south wall of the West City tonight. So strong, so hard to mix."

There is a clear distinction between the poor and the rich, how can this get into the city?

After that, Yang Chengzu carried the iron chain and stick, and led the carts to the slums at the corner of Dongguan.

It was difficult for his convoy and mule team to travel outside the city, but there were no officers and troops to stop him, but there were too many beggars along the street.

Walking around outside the city brought more emotion to Yang Chengzu than he did being a bandit in Yan'an Mansion for two years.

The men who had been slaves to the royal family for half their lives in the fields bent their backs under the pressure of the wooden plow, with their trousers clinging to their skinny legs, scrambling to beg for work with the foreigners who came to do business.

A little girl of thirteen or fourteen years old, a aunt in her twenties, in a sweltering day in the open air, wearing a dirty ragged padded jacket, standing in a row under the edge of the thatch with a grass label inserted behind her neck.

Yiwei in the flying fish suit covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief and stood frowning in the distance, disgusted by everything around him. His servants picked and picked among the crowd and led three or five women back.

The ones who were chosen happily kowtowed to thank them, and those who were not chosen hugged their legs and pulled their clothes, crying, even if they were poisoned and their faces were broken, they would not cry.

He just curled up on the corner of the muddy street, feeling wronged and puzzled, and continued to secretly look at passers-by with eyes full of hope.

Yang Chengzu leaned on the stable bar outside the car shop, watching the whole process with cold eyes, he didn't see the payment from the beginning to the end, or he didn't need to pay.

The clerk in the car shop was pouring out the sewage, seeing Yang Chengzu in a daze, he smiled and said: "Guests, don't stand in the stables, Pingliang City is not always like this, it's just that there is nothing to do in a disaster year, it is a good thing to be bought by the palace to teach music and dance. "

Yang Chengzu turned his head and smiled at the buddy: "Do they always come out to buy people?"

"There are many palaces in Pingliang City, so it is impossible for nobles to go out of the city. Sometimes they are not buyers. They take them back when they see them. Our car shop is good at this. You can always see nobles. If there is no Lumi from them, Pingliang It's already a mess."

Yang Chengzu smiled with satisfaction, went back to the car shop to find ten taels of silver, asked the clerk to look at it, and said: "That's a good thing, I have a batch of good treasures here, I want to meet a general and lieutenant, the shop will help me please come back, this is How about yours?"

Seeing Yinzi, the young man smiled happily: "If the guest can give half of it first, it will be covered by the villain."

"Isn't that hard to say?"

Yang Chengzu gave the money, and seeing the back of the young man rushing to the Chengguan, he smiled and shook his head.

"These trees are growing really well."

Yang Chengzu looked up at the ancient trees that had taken root for hundreds of years in the mountains, thinking: one is not too many, one is not too many, each tree should have its own clan.
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Note: For the layout of Pingliang Prefecture, refer to "Pingliang Prefecture Chronicles" written by Zhao Shichun in Jiajing Year

　good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)