stubborn thief

Late at night in the west of Baoji City, the Third Battalion of the Ningxia Army was restless.

They had just moved south from the north in the afternoon, and the old camp in the north was burned down at night. The night was so dark that they didn't even know where the marshal's army came from.

Under the shock, all the camps were making noises. In the sudden change, Cao Wenzhao had no time to put on his clothes. He ran out of the tent with a fat bag like a tiger and a bear and a general's belly. He almost skipped the thinking process and immediately rushed out of the tent. Two orders were issued.

The first step was to order his younger brother Cao Wenyao to send cavalry to form two hundred-man teams.

One is a team of [-] sentries, each with five horses, crossing the Wei River on a raft, patrolling for ten miles in front of the north bank, and reporting back if there is an emergency.

One was a hundred-man vigil team, which set out hundreds of steps from the south bank of the Wei River. Each team was in groups of two, rotating throughout the night in preparation for a sneak attack.

The second order was to order his nephew Cao Dingjiao to form a patrol team to patrol the three battalions to check whether the soldiers were absent from duty or deserted, and to check whether the horses, gunpowder and army rations were stored safely.

After the two orders were issued, Cao Wenzhao calmed down, walked back to the camp and put on his thin battle coat. After thinking for a moment, he added to the servants following him: "General Shen Shen ordered his sergeants to rest facing north. To prepare for the Liu thief's field battle...Bu Shen moved the battalion closer to the east so that he could rest at ease."

"Let someone tell General Zuo that there are no warning signs in the north, so he should not panic."

Cao Wenzhao felt that Bu Yingdi's troops were stationed closest to Baoji City. According to the virtue of the Baoji defenders who did not dare to shoot arrows when they arrived at the city, it could be completely ignored.

Ignoring Baoji City, the eastern flank is shielded by Zuo Liangyu, Long Zaitian and other friendly forces, which is a fairly safe direction.

Now that Liu Chengzong and Chen Bing are in the north, there will definitely be a big battle in the next two days. Naturally, all the battalions in Ningxia must be very energetic and prepare for war, and they cannot all be mobilized by the strategy of tired troops.

At least one battalion was properly rested, allowing them to have more strength in the event of an engagement.

But it was this coward who was ignored by him that Luo Ru ordered people to kill him from Baoji City.

The general chosen by Luo Rucai was named Li Rugui, and he was a general.

This man was born as an orphan in Ansai. He was thirteen or fourteen years old. He worked as a beggar with a group of rich eaters, carrying ladders and carrying sticks for others. Later, Yan'an Prefecture ran out of food, and the group of rich eaters dispersed.

By the time Liu Chengzong gathered several battalions of peasant troops for a decisive battle with Li Bei at Jiapao Mountain, he was already starving to death. He was hiding in the mountains with others, waiting to pick up the dead after the battle at the foot of the mountain.

Later, Luo Rucai asked if he dared to kill someone. Li Rugui said yes, so he ran to the camp to eat food, and then followed Luo Rucai.

At that time, he had been homeless for more than a year and could not even remember his own name. He only knew his surname: Li.

The name Rugui was given to him by Luo Rucai's uncle Luo Dayen later on the way to Qinghai.

Before that, because he was so hungry that his whole body was swollen and he had a big belly, people called him a starving ghost or a little devil.

Li Rugui was like most small leaders of the peasant army in this era. His martial arts and knowledge were not outstanding, but he obeyed orders numbly, fought tooth and nail in every battle, and dared to fight and kill. He neither took his own life seriously nor the lives of others. Take your life seriously.

Luo Rucai appointed him as the leader of the ghost soldiers, not because of his extraordinary talents, but because his name sounded suitable for being a ghost soldier.

Luo Caocao was shrewd and sinister, with extraordinary empathy. When he saw the fire of the Ningxia military camp, he immediately assumed the mentality of the two Ming armies Zuo Liangyu and Cao Wenzhao respectively.

Zuo Liangyu besieged him during the day. When he saw the situation changing at night, he must be on guard against his troops leaving the city.

Cao Wenzhao's three battalions had just gone south during the day, and before they joined the siege, there was trouble in the rear. This must have been frightening.

According to common sense, Baoji should not send troops out of the city tonight.

Because the role of ghost soldiers is to take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, infiltrate into the enemy's camp, destroy it from within, and disturb the enemy.

At present, several flashes of fire in the northwest have caused all the troops outside the city to fall into panic. Even the dullest people have woken up. The few ghost soldiers they sent out to rush over are just fighting people in a night battle.

Even if the average person is Lu Bu, they will still be beaten into sieves by cannons.

However, Luo Rucai did the opposite. He said to Li Rugui: "Zuo Liangyu attacked the city in the daytime. This will protect us. The Ningxia soldiers who just moved the camp are different. You go out of the city and make a circle to the north, fighting along the way. When you raise the flag of the Left Army, you don’t have to worry about the sentry cavalry and the Tangqi cavalry. When you meet anyone, ask what happened to the west, and rush into the camp and kill everyone you see!"

"When the big thing is done, let's release the sounding arrows under the city, and I will send troops to the city to respond!"

Luo Rucai felt in his heart that the burning of the Ningxia Army camp in the northwest was a sign.

The Generalissimo has signs of big moves tonight.

On this basis, he doesn't mind making tonight more lively through his own small efforts.

Li Rugui accepted the order without saying anything. He had no intention of returning to Baoji City alive. He just said: "General, get a bowl of wine for your subordinates to drink."

Luo Rucai laughed loudly, ordered people to bring wine, and prepared meals for Li Rugui's men.

Li Rugui selected three hundred of his subordinates, put them on their horses, kowtowed three times to Luo Rucai and Luo Dain respectively, wrapped their horses' hooves and quietly led the troops out of the city from the west gate.

After leaving the city, in accordance with Luo Rucai's order, he first made a circle to the north, then ran a hundred steps to light a torch, unwrapped the horse's hoof, and ran westward while holding the open fire and shouting.

"Don't block the road. What's going on in the west? Why is the camp burned down?"

Bu Yingdi's night sentry outside the city was also in a panic because the northwest camp was burned. When they suddenly encountered this group of cavalry, it was difficult to distinguish their uniforms at night. What's more, the Changping Army and Yunnan Army in the east had different uniforms from them. , for a moment they thought they were friendly forces from the east.

No one dared to block the way, and some even wanted to join the team to lead the way.

Li Rugui only dared to ask for one person to lead the way, but he dismissed more people with a few words, saying only that there were leftist troops coming to support them later.

In fact, he knew that he had both Han soldiers and Tibetan soldiers under his command. It was better that the Tibetan soldiers didn't speak. The Han soldiers had a smooth northern Shaanxi accent. The more they talked on the road, the easier it was to reveal their secrets.

Fortunately, the Marshal's Army was also a regular army. He said that he was the commander-in-chief of the Changping Army, so the Ningxia Night Sentence did not dare to talk to him and just led the way, which saved him a lot of trouble.

The first thing he passed along the way was Bu Yingdi's camp. Li Rugui wanted to rush over to it, but seeing that Bu Yingdi's defense was lax, he asked Tang soldiers to lead him to Cao Wen's edict, thinking that if he walked more and saw more, if Cao Cao The battalion is also guarded in this way, and he can kill a general officer tonight.

Unexpectedly, after passing Buyingdi's camp, the road suddenly became heavily guarded.

The three hundred horsemen were stopped by the night patrolmen under Cao Wenzhao and were not allowed to move forward. Then the night patrolmen summoned Cao Dingjiao and questioned him.Cao Dingjiao led several horses to come after hearing the news. He was very busy tonight, patrolling the three camps. Many soldiers were frightened by the burning of the northern camp.

He didn't take Li Rugui seriously. Firstly, if something happened on the West Road, it was normal for Zuo Liangyu to send troops to inquire. Secondly, it was all in the Chinese army, and they were led here by the sentry cavalry.

Subconsciously, he didn't think about it in the direction of the rebels. He felt that things like passwords and numbers must have been corrected before.

Without any precautions, Cao Dingjiao came over to greet the guerrilla Cao Dingjiao, and asked casually: "I am the guerrilla Cao Dingjiao, and this is Brother Li from the Changping Army? The thieves burned four camps in the north, and there is no action left. We are tired of the friendly troops coming, please also invite us." Please report back to Commander Zuo and tell him to be careful of the enemy troops in the north tonight. My commander is worried that this is a plan to attack the east and attack the west."

Li Rugui was so nervous that his heart almost jumped out of his chest, and he swallowed his saliva unconsciously. Fortunately, Cao Dingjiao didn't seem to take it seriously. He only asked a little and quickly replied: "Yes, I will go back and report to the general."

"General?"

Cao Dingjiao was stunned when he heard this title and asked casually: "I wonder which general Brother Li belongs to?"

Li Rugui thought to himself that Zuo Liangyu's soldiers should be called handsome, and the title of general was obviously wrong. He lowered his head and glanced at Cao Dingjiao's followers from the corner of his eye. He thought about the probability of succeeding in the sudden attack and answered in his mouth. He said: "Back to General, my humble position is General Luo's subordinate commander."

In fact, Li Rugui had already planned to take action at this time, with his hands touching his waist. However, he hesitated because he saw that Cao Dingjiao was strong and had many horsemen and soldiers around him, and was worried that he would not be able to succeed in a sudden attack.

Unexpectedly, Cao Dingjiao said with a clear face: "Oh, General Luo is known as a strong general in Henan. No wonder Brother Li has a Yan'an accent."

The General Luo Li Rugui mentioned was Luo Rucai from the Marshal's Mansion.

The general Luo who Cao Dingjiao heard was Luo Dai, the guerrilla general of the Ming court's suppression army.

Luo Dai is from Yan'an Prefecture, but he has been suppressing bandits in Henan. Now he is affiliated with Zuo Liangyu's reinforcement and suppression army, and he is known as a strong general.

It turned out to be a blind cat meeting a dead mouse.

When Li Rugui saw this, he quickly said: "I will go back and report now. Since the rebels are attacking in the east and west, please be careful tonight, general."

Cao Dingjiao nodded in agreement and said goodbye to Li Rugui.

Li Rugui turned his horse back and silently made gestures to the left and right. For a while, more than ten horsemen were tense. Some held bows and arrows in their hands, while others raised their hands to their waists, getting ready for battle.

Cao Dingjiao also turned his head and rode his horse for a few steps. Suddenly doubts arose in his heart. It was strange... Why would Zuo Liangyu send one of Luo Dai's generals over?
Thinking of this and hearing the movement of the cavalry behind him, he turned back and said, "Brother Li, please stay!"

Unexpectedly, Li Rugui turned his head, raised his hand, drew his bow and nocked an arrow, and a loud arrow shot over!
The chisel arrows of Ming Dy made a short and piercing scream, and they were nailed to Cao Dingjiao's body in just an instant. At the same time, the horsemen led by Li Rugui opened their bows and nocked arrows, and fired random arrows at the place indicated by Ming Dy under the cover of night.

Then in a very short period of time, there were two more arrows, and hundreds of arrows shot Cao Dingjiao and more than ten of his followers into a hornet's nest. The horses fell to death one after another, and people were not sure whether they were alive or dead.

In the midst of the lightning and flint, Li Rugui's cavalry soldiers rushed forward in a swarm, rounding up the soldiers with golden gourds and knocking them down. Several more dismounted from their horses and pounced on them with wild goose feather knives.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. The sound of the ringing arrows and the sound of disprosium caused Cao Wenzhao's army to be in chaos, and many soldiers under the camp rushed out.

Li Rugui didn't care about this, he just reined in the reins and whistled, then fired a loud arrow in the direction of Bu Yingdi's camp, and then three hundred cavalry swarmed towards that side.

With shouts of "The rebels from the north are coming!", they ran rampant between the three camps, rushed straight into the Bu Yingdi camp where there was no protection, kicked over the brazier and set the military tent on fire.

Bu Yingdi's men had just received the military order from Cao Wenzhao to rest at ease not long ago. When they heard the sound of arrows, they all panicked and rushed out of their tents one by one. They only heard the news that the rebels were coming from the north, and many people just looked to the west. He went, but was knocked to the ground by a golden melon from the cavalry running past.

Li Rugui's cavalry entered the camp and rampaged, killing everyone they saw, shooting arrows when they were far away, and slashing when they were close, using their hooves to scatter and trample the horses in the Ming army's restrained camp, and they ran everywhere. , in a blink of an eye, the killing was like a fire, and people fell on their backs.

The officers of the Bu camp did not know how many enemies there were. They only knew that they came from the west. Everyone thought that Cao Wenzhao and Shen Guangxian's two battalions had been defeated and that the situation was over.

Many officers hurriedly gathered dozens of soldiers and broke out to the east. There were also many brave men who rose up with their troops and fought without knowing where they were with Cao Wenzhao's troops who were pursuing Li Rugui.

Bu Yingdi himself put on his armor and rushed out of the general's tent. Looking at the chaos in the camp, he wanted to die and couldn't move his legs at all.

However, his stunned state in despair made the Ming army officers who gathered around him feel reassured: the general was calm, and it was probably nothing serious.

Soon, the chaos in the camp gradually subsided as dozens of ghost soldiers who had no way to escape were killed. The border troops of Cao Wenzhao and Bu Yingdi, who were fighting outside the camp, also clarified the misunderstanding and helped to collect the soldiers who fled in various directions in the chaos. of defeated troops.

But the initiator of this incident, Li Rugui, had already fled to the east.

Around him were more than 600 people on foot and on horseback.

Less than half of his cavalrymen escaped from the camp, and the rest were those from Bu Yingdi's tribe who ran out in panic due to the chaos.

Li Rugui never expected that the Ningxia soldiers would break out with him, so when more than 300 people gathered around him, he realized that only half of them were his own.

However, they were unable to get off the tiger, so they attacked the camp and fled overnight. The remaining [-] or so men couldn't bear the physical strength of another one-on-one fight, so they could only bite the bullet and continue to collect the broken troops and continue to flee eastward.

At this time, he didn't know what to do. He wanted to escape back to Baoji City, but he was afraid that he would be killed by the Ming army who reacted below the city.

He ran all the way through the west gate, and then ran outside the north gate. He wanted to continue running eastward, but he saw dozens of cavalry standing in front of him with fire barricades in front of them, shouting loudly: "Stop whoever is coming!"

Li Rugui was overjoyed: General Luo sent someone to respond!

He immediately became confused, why did someone come out before I fired the arrow?
Unexpectedly, hundreds more horsemen and cavalry rushed out from the shadows. Someone at the front of the queue shouted: "I am Zuo Shuai's subordinate Luo Dai, who is coming?"

Li Rugui was dumbfounded and cursed in his heart: Damn it, why is this General Luo!
But when he came, he rolled his eyes, thought about it, and gave the left and right a look. More than ten riders all rode and said to the left and right: "Pass this to the soldiers, this is the gate of Baoji City. I'm afraid the people coming are Luo Rucai's people." , all hold your weapons and listen to me firing arrows."

More than a hundred cavalry whispered orders one after another, and the news was quickly spread among the six hundred cavalry.

For a while, a few Luo tribe's ghost soldiers murmured in their hearts. More and more Ming troops collapsed, no doubt that he was there, and they all drew out their weapons to prepare for the attack.

Li Rugui then led dozens of his trusted cavalry forward on horseback. As he ran, he shouted loudly: "I am the commander-in-chief of the guerrilla general Cao Dingjiao. General, help me, the rebels are coming!"

Amidst the sound of galloping hooves, the cavalry launched a roaring assault toward the fire.

Under the cover of night, a loud arrow made a sharp whistle. (End of chapter)