Mengshan Army

After listening to Sun Deming, Zhou Yi and Longqian's report on the battle process, the leaders were all silent.

Liu Yucai thought about Long Qian again, and felt that the mystery shrouded in this person deepened.It's not that he suspects that Long Qian is a spy of the imperial court. Even Sun Laosan, who despises Long Qian the most, doesn't believe this kind of groundless suspicion.Last night's record was not a lie. There are so many members in the eighth team, it is impossible to lie for Long Qian, and Long Qian's spoils are enough to prove that his eighth team did break into the stockade. If it weren't for Sun Deming's ineffective command, last night Just wipe out Cao Kun's forward team.If the strengthened troops that wiped out Cao Kun were able to fight another battle with the reinforcements based on Zhangjiazhai, then the situation would be completely different from what it is now.

But now it is about to face the attack of the army.

"Don't worry, old man, victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs. Besides, we can't be regarded as defeated. The army of the army was disabled by you." It was Zhou Huanan who spoke, "Look at this, the army must follow the west road Come on, let's get ready."

"What the fourth brother said is true." Sun Dewang slammed the cigarette pouch on the bottom of his boot a few times, "Xiao Longzi played well and did not disappoint me. I will reward the eighth team with 200 taels of silver and ten flower tickets. Fifth you go Do it." He said to Meng Fu, the fifth farmer, and then turned his gaze back to Zhou Huanan, "Fourth, it's up to you for the first round. I will hand over the second and fourth teams to you, and I will definitely kill the officials. The spirit of the army. They have plenty of ammunition, but we have the advantage of land.” Huapiao is a free ticket to Jizhai for fun.

"Brother, don't worry, I'll settle it right away." Zhou Huanan stood up and left.

"Wait," Liu Yu called to stop Zhou Huanan, "I heard from Xiao Longzi that this group of officers may have Western cannons, and all they fire are explosive bullets. You have to pay attention to this."

"Nonsense! Can his cannon go up the mountain?" Sun Deming hesitated for a while, feeling very depressed.

"Third brother!" Sun Dewang said loudly, "Your second brother is right. You have to think of the bad side in everything. This army is not easy. What if they have a way to drag the cannon up the mountain? Fourth brother, go and prepare yourself!" "

Zhou Huanan turned around and left.He first found Long Qian who had returned to Dudu Village to rest, and discussed the issue of defense.

There is no doubt that the official army will follow the main road to attack the mountain. Now the official army's camp has already set up in Maoyang Town. Starting from Maoyang Town, it goes up the mountain through Sucheng, Lianghe, and Zhangjiazhai, and climbs over the so-called donkey's leg. Shanliang, through Liucheng, Dongyu, Louzi, Tianmen to Guangming Temple.This road is also the most traveled out of the village. Where is the main defensive position?Zhou Huanan had made up his mind, but he still wanted to ask Xia Longqian for his opinion.

Duoduo Village is about five miles south of Guangming Temple. There is a shallow ditch through a dense pine forest, and you can see more than a dozen rows of gray houses built according to the terrain. These houses were built by the bandits themselves. Ridge, it is called Tuo Tuo Village.Because there is a small, hidden but deep cave here, it was originally a warehouse for storing materials in the cottage. Later, the number of people in the cottage increased sharply, and the camp of Guangming Temple could not accommodate them, so houses were built here one after another.Now there are [-] and [-] teams and more than a dozen deeds. The deeds live in a closely guarded reading courtyard. The deeds are managed by Sun Dewang's guards. Some of them were originally whores, some of them were women from good families, they were taken into the village for various reasons, and they were called the objects of the bandits to vent their sex desires, and they took the money tickets rewarded by the leaders to pay for it. You can enter Jizhai to have fun.If you don't have a ticket, if you want to find a woman, you must pay the guard.Sun Dewang had the shrewdness of a businessman, and returned the gold and silver rewards to his meritorious subordinates back to his pocket again with the body of the record girl.

The people sent by Nongmengfu had just delivered the big leader's reward to the eighth team. 200 taels of silver and ten flower tickets with Nongmengfu's private seal were placed on the rough table in Longqian's room. When Zhou Huanan came in, the eighth team The three team leaders and Long Qian were discussing something, probably discussing how to distribute the rewards.

"Four masters..." Seeing Zhou Huanan come in, Long Qian, who was half lying down just now, hurriedly got up.

"What are you discussing?" Zhou Huanan asked with a smile.

"You all go out. The Sidang family has a task for us. Jiang Yun, pour water for the Sidang family." Long Qian waved Wang Mingyuan and other team leaders out of the room.

"It's okay," Zhou Huanan sat down on the simple chair.Except for the earthen kang, this chair and that table are all the furnishings in this room, "I want to ask you, the officers and soldiers are coming from the West Road, where should we fight?"

Long Qian obviously thought about it a long time ago, "The terrain at the donkey's leg is steep, but there are not many soldiers there, and it can't be used as a blocking position. The terrain of Liucheng and Dongyu is not conducive to defense. Zizi and Tianmen have set up two blocking lines. But," Long Qian looked into Zhou Huanan's eyes, "Four masters, with all due respect, pure defense cannot win, and we have to consider withdrawing from Mount Meng."

Zhou Huanan trusted him, and Long Qian could express his thoughts freely in front of him.

"Retreat if you don't fight? The main force of the official army is not damaged, and it's annoying to be behind us. Besides, the head of the family may think that they can repel the official army with natural danger. Their luggage is very troublesome ﹍﹍"

According to Zhou Huanan, he agrees to fight and leave. It is extremely dangerous to withdraw the army voluntarily if you hope that the army’s food and logistics are not enough. A 200-man army alone carries more than [-] soldiers in the cottage. Cao Kun’s army is in Zhangjiazhai has shown a combat effectiveness that far exceeds that of the Shanzhai.After returning to the mountain, Long Qian has been thinking about the gains and losses of the Zhangjiazhai battle. How can we wipe out that team?Just now, several team leaders were called to discuss this matter.

"You can fight, but you can't die. The firepower of the officers and soldiers is much stronger than ours, and their individual skills are also superior to ours. In my opinion, it is best to withdraw now, leaving a team behind to delay the enemy. , the rest of the main force broke through quickly. I guess the officers and soldiers will attack the mountain tomorrow at the latest, and it will be troublesome if they stick to them." Long Qian was worried, whether the East Road has already been seen dead by the officers and soldiers? "In addition, you must pack lightly when you break out of the siege, and don't bring those pots and pans. It's best to go south. The enemy probably won't set up heavy troops in the south."

Zhou Huanan was startled, "Do you think the officers and soldiers have blocked the east road?"

"I'm guessing. Cao Kun has received a formal military education, it is impossible not to investigate the terrain﹍﹍"

Zhou Huanan's expression became serious, and he saw a map drawn on straw paper on Long Qian's desk, which was a topographic map of Zhangjiazhai, "Are you still thinking about Zhangjiazhai?"

"I was just thinking about it with them. It would be great if we wiped out that team﹍﹍"

"Your eight teams played well in that battle. These are the rewards for you." Zhou Huanan pointed to the silver taels and red tickets on the table, "You still don't remember the village? Why?"

Long Qian shook his head without saying the reason.

"I haven't heard of it﹍﹍" Zhou Huanan swallowed back half of the words, he wanted to say that there were rumors that Long Qian was incompetent in the cottage, of course it was because he never went to Jizhai for pleasure.But these words are too hurtful for a man, Zhou Huanan believes that Long Qian must have another reason, "You, you are good at fighting and training, but life is too harsh. Have the money been divided?"

"Not yet. On the mountain, there is nothing to spend with money."

This is not true.Although there is no business in the Shanzhai, apart from Jizhai, there are places to spend money. For example, the tavern opened by Sun Dewang's cousin Mao Xuandao is a lively place.Of course, the price of wine and food is high, and ordinary people can't afford it.

"Four masters, you must give advice to Sun Da master. I'm afraid it won't work to rely on natural dangers to defend the cottage. This group of officers and soldiers is much more powerful than we imagined."

"How much do you know about them?" Zhou Huanan picked up the tea bowl and drank tea, the tea was already cold.

"To tell you the truth," Long Qian smiled wryly, "When I fled from the famine and left home, I heard people say that Yuan Shikai was training a new type of army in Tianjin, and the pay was high. I had the idea of ​​joining the army in Tianjin. But I also heard that they were recruiting troops. There are so many well-known names in the village, so I want the village to be my guarantor. I’m a homeless man, who will guaranty me? Then I met Zhou Yi﹍﹍ That’s right, I heard that Captain Zhou was injured, isn’t it okay?”

"Haha, it's a good thing you didn't join the army. Otherwise, we would have had a formidable enemy. His injury is not a big deal, he didn't hurt his bones." Zhou Huanan has already seen his nephew Zhou Yi's injury, and he didn't hurt his bones, so it's not serious .

"I heard that Yuan Shikai took the path of Li Lianying, the most powerful eunuch in front of the Empress Dowager, and got the right to organize and train the Dingwu Army in Tianjin. He hired Germans as instructors, bought Western guns and artillery, and spent a lot of effort on training. , It is said that even the Germans praised it unceasingly. It was called one of the three Beiyang armies by the imperial court. This time Yuan Shikai came to Shandong as the governor, and brought his personally trained troops to Shandong﹍﹍”

"You know quite a lot." Zhou Huanan's expression turned serious.In the battle of Zhangjiazhai, the third team suffered heavy casualties. This was the cronies he and Liu Yucai brought to Mengshan, Zhou Huanan naturally felt distressed.

"I'm just hearing it."

"It's okay, don't worry about anything with me." Zhou Huanan stood up, "You rest, I have something to do." After speaking, Zhou Huanan got up and left.

After sending the master to leave on Thursday, Long Qian summoned his team leader and Shichang (squad leader) again to finish the post-war analysis of the Zhangjiazhai battle that was half analyzed just now.Ever since Long Qian took over the Eighth Team, every time a mission is dispatched, an analysis must be done afterwards.Even if he didn't participate in the small operation led by the team leader, Long Qian asked the executors to describe the process in detail and find out the shortcomings.

The battle of Zhangjiazhai last night was the biggest battle since the establishment of the Eighth Team. Seven people were killed and four were seriously injured. Of course, Long Qian had to do a careful post-battle analysis.

It wasn't until late at night that Long Qian concluded the longest post-battle analysis. He told his subordinates that the fierce battle was yet to come, so they should take good care of their soldiers, recharge their batteries, and face the test.