Cutting over the end of the Ming Dynasty: a dog-leg knife at the beginning

Chapter 24

"county seat!"

"County! I saw the county, I saw the county!"

"Thank God, we finally made it to the county seat!"

In the distance, a small corner of a city wall was exposed in the dim light, and the villagers of Xiaojiazhuang immediately cheered in surprise. go.In just one day, they collided with Houjin Youqi twice, each time the killing was extremely tragic, and they narrowly escaped death. They walked through the wind and snow for a whole night, and they might collide with Houjin Youqi at any time. The cold and fear made these villagers almost I was desperate, but now that I saw the county seat, I immediately felt hopeful.It is better to hide in the county town than to stay in the wild. With a thick wall to protect, the enemy will not be able to rush in so easily. If they are lucky, they may survive this war.

Yang Menglong, who was sleeping soundly curled up on the cart and covered with a torn blanket, was woken up. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, just in time to see the city wall not far away.He breathed a long sigh of relief, and said, "It's finally here, and my life is saved!" No matter how ignorant he was of military knowledge, he knew that the cavalry's attacking ability was very weak, and it was impossible for the horse to fly on the ground with wings. Go to the city wall?If they get off their horses and attack the fortress honestly... Huh, what they wish for, the cavalry dismounts and fights on foot, which is equivalent to giving up their unique powerful impact and maneuverability, which is much easier to deal with!Cities like Ningyuan and Jinzhou, which constitute the Guanning line of defense, are all small cities. Houjin spent dozens of places and could not take down the Guanning line of defense. Send hundreds of people to attack the city, and they will die ugly.

Qi Hu, who had been following him on horseback all the time, had a serious expression on his face, and said, "It may not be possible to save my life when I get to the county seat, or I might lose my life instead."

Yang Menglong was stunned: "Why?"

Xu Gong, who was lying next to him, also woke up, clutching his wound, with a pained expression, and squeezed out four words between his teeth: "Kill the good and take the merit!"

Yang Menglong's eyes were as big as ping-pong balls: "No way!?" No matter how bad his proficiency in ancient prose is, he wouldn't be so bad that he couldn't even understand the words "killing the good and taking the merit". The army is raging on its own land, hacking and killing its compatriots wantonly. As a soldier, he doesn't want to think about how to defend his home and country, but instead points his knives at his compatriots, trying to claim credit for his compatriots' heads?What the hell is this world, is there any law for the king!
Qi Hu said: "This kind of thing is really very common. Some generals were ordered to suppress the bandits, and they dared not fight with the bandits, so they accused a large number of good people as bandits, beheaded them all, and then cut off their heads and sent them up to reward their meritorious deeds... There are also people in the border who do such vile things, send troops when they see the opportunity, take down a small village, kill all the people in it, regardless of age, and then cut off the heads to claim credit, this is the so-called grass shop." He pointed to the armor and weapons piled on the cart, the thirty-odd war horses, and a dozen heads, and said, "Putting these things in the hands of a thousand households is enough for him to be promoted by half a level and get a sum of money." It's a generous reward, anyone would be tempted, it's better to be careful."

Yang Menglong still finds it incredible.

At this time, several villagers had already run outside the city gate, and some figures appeared in the distance, obviously people from other villages and towns fled to the county seat.They struggled in the wind and snow, and some people fell to their deaths on the road from time to time. They came here only after dropping more than a dozen corpses. They all looked panic-stricken as if there were wild animals chasing them, and shouted from a long distance: "Open the door! Open the door ! Open the door and let us in, the enemy is coming!"

The soldiers guarding the city were startled, and after seeing it clearly, they yelled: "Screaming, screaming, screaming? The time has not come yet, just wait outside, and when the time comes, you will naturally be let in!"

Some ordinary people with many snowflakes hanging on their hair and clothes begged: "Master, you can do it, we have been walking all night, cold and hungry, the enemy may chase us at any time, you just open the door and let us go!" Go in and rest!"

The soldiers guarding the city gate didn't let in any trouble: "You have survived the whole night, do you still have this little time to go? Just wait...Huh, everyone is pretending to be pitiful. Who knows whether you are slaves or not?" A spy sent to make money in the city? I can't be fooled by you!"

When such a big hat was buckled down, the people who were still screaming suddenly didn't dare to speak.It's a small matter to be cold for a while, if he is caught and killed by the military master as a slave and spies, it will be called injustice!In fact, it’s also their fault that they don’t know each other. These soldiers were all transferred from Henan. In this ghost place, the county magistrate invited them to station in the city, and relying on himself as a civil servant, superior to others, bossing them around, these soldiers have long been furious!This belly is very angry, so big that even the biting cold wind can't extinguish it. Seeing those ordinary people keep begging to open the door, they are even more angry.Damn it, we stood on the top of the city and blew the cold wind all night, our stomachs were as hard as iron armor, and you didn't know how to give us some benefits!So you want to go to town?dream!Based on the principle of not getting up early without profit, these soldiers have noses higher than their foreheads, completely ignore the pleas of the common people, and refuse to open the door if they don't open it. What can you do to me?Come and bite me if you have the ability!

Yang Menglong saw that there were more and more people, and the cries were endless. Some children were so cold that their faces were pale and trembling like leaves in the autumn wind. They might fall down at any time. What's the matter with the guy, you didn't open the city gate until it was broad daylight, and deliberately blocked us outside the city to freeze us to death, or waited for Jiannu to chase us and hack us to death one by one?"

Xu Gong smiled wryly: "They are waiting for us to send them food, rice and silver money to feed them. These guys, every one of them stretches out their hands in the coffin——Desperate for money, even if they touch eggs Lose a few points!" It seems that he, Zhang Qianhu's servant, has also suffered from these little soldiers, and he gets angry when he mentions it.

Xiao Yufang hugged Xiao Jun who was shaking from the cold, and said: "Master Xu Jun, please tell them, tell them to open the gate of the city quickly and let us in, okay? Xiao Jun is too cold to bear. It's too cold for so many children..."

Xu Gong said: "Miss, you are welcome, I will do the same without you asking." Standing up unsteadily from the cart, Wang Ding called a small flag on the top of the city: "Is it Zhang Laosan? "He tried his best, but he was seriously injured and lacked energy. In addition, thousands of farmers were crying and begging at this time, and their voices were noisy. Let alone the people on the top of the city, they couldn't hear him even ten steps away. sound.However, he was covered in blood, and he stood taller than everyone else standing on the cart. He was very conspicuous. The Xiaoqi spotted him at a glance, was startled, and roared angrily: "You gangsters, Shut up all the time, otherwise I will let you drink the northwest wind outside for a whole day!" This guy was fierce and his voice was loud, so many farmers didn't dare to shout anymore, and the audience was silent.

Little Banner Officer Zhang Laosan looked at Xu Gong for a long time before calling out uncertainly, "You...you are Xu Laosan?"

Xu Gong heaved a sigh of relief, his body swayed and he just wanted to sit down, and smiled wryly: "You have recognized me."

Zhang Laosan stared wide-eyed: "Didn't you go out and tell the people to evacuate to the county seat? You were fine when you went out. Why did this happen?"

Xu Gong said: "It's unlucky to say that, on the way back, I bumped into the enemy and fought fiercely, killing and wounding many of them. I also received a sword, and it became like this."

Now the scene was completely cold, everyone's eyes turned to this side, looking at this blood man, only to realize that this group of people was not simple: they brought dozens of strong horses, and there were still a lot of horses on the cart. The armor and weapons were all stained with blood, and most of them were broken. Obviously, they were all brought back from the battlefield.The most convincing thing is the dozens of heads piled up on the cart, and the weird hairstyle with long braids on the forehead. Even if they haven't seen it before, they can recognize it at a glance. This is Jiannu's. head!Many people exclaimed:
"Ah, they really fought against Jiannu, and it looks like they killed a lot!"

"Look at those heads, there are a lot of them, at least a dozen or twenty, right? On the battlefield, these heads are enough for several thousand households to use their brains like dogs!"

"Many of them were wounded. They were injured when fighting Jian Nu?"

"After bumping into Jiannu, not only survived, but also beheaded so many heads, it's amazing!"

"How did they do that!?"

"A group of mud-legged people actually defeated Jiannu? Are you lying? I heard that some officers and soldiers like to kill good people and pretend to be meritorious. They kill us good people, then shave off the hair on the forehead and tie it into a braid. Jiannu's head is used to invite credit..."

"The heads can be fake, those Liaodong war horses, those armor weapons can't be fake, right? And you see, the looks of these heads are not quite the same as ours..."

The discussion became louder and louder, and countless people surrounded the villagers of Xiaojiazhuang, exclaiming.The villagers of Xiaojiazhuang accepted it frankly and held their chests high. They only felt that all the suffering along the way was worth it to be able to show off the limelight!The faces of the soldiers of the Ming army in the city changed constantly. Zhang Laosan pulled a soldier over and whispered, "Go and tell Mr. Zhang!" "Second Xu, I didn't expect you to make such a great contribution in this trip. It's amazing, it's amazing! How about it, how many did you kill?"

Xu Gong said: "Two!" This was also assigned in advance.

Zhang Laosan asked: "Did you bring the head back?"

Xu Gong said: "Nonsense, if I don't bring back the head, isn't my sword in vain?"

Zhang Laosan was extremely envious: "Two heads are worth 80 taels of silver, right? You can also be promoted to a higher level, which is amazing! From now on, my brother will rely on you to take care of me... Sigh, if I had known this, I would have done it too." Go for a trip, maybe you can get a head back for a few taels of silver!"

Xu Gong became impatient: "Now is not the time to gossip, open the door quickly and let me in, my wound is still bleeding!"

Zhang Laosan said: "Okay, okay, wait a moment, open the door right away, open the door right away!" He led the two soldiers down.

Only then did Xu Gong sit down limply and said, "It's done, get ready to enter the city."

Qi Hu said in a low voice: "Not necessarily!"

(End of this chapter)