Nanming Engineer

Chapter 230 The Killing in the Sound of the Clapper

Watchman Zhao Laoguan has been working as a watchman in Chengdu for more than 20 years. He has been a watchman since he joined the army during the Wanli period and followed Li Rusong in North Korea, lost half of his ear and lame one leg and returned to his hometown of Chengdu. Bangzi's watchman has been working rain or shine for more than [-] years, knocking every day from when the sky darkens at night until the dusk fades and the morning stars shine.

In the past [-] years, the situation has changed, Sichuan has experienced several catastrophes, and the city of Chengdu has been looted several times by soldiers and civilians. He was still dragging a lame leg to tell the time faithfully along the street. Seeing that he was poor and pitiful, those murderers ignored him, and Mr. Zhao was able to continue his meager wages.

Mr. Zhao is so persistent. On the one hand, he has the inherent honest nature of the people of this era. On the other hand, it has something to do with him serving in the Korean army and getting used to seeing mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Compared with the cruel and bloodthirsty Japanese, what happened in the Tonight's riot was little more than a drizzle.

He huddled in his small room, gulped down the last sip of bad wine in the rough porcelain cup on the table in front of him, smacked his lips, and glanced at the wooden hourglass by the door, the last grain of sand fell into the groove below .

Old Man Zhao said to himself: "It's time to go out." He stood up, picked up the bamboo clapper and a long wooden stick by the door, tightly wrapped around his tattered linen clothes, and pushed open the door.

The overwhelming sound of crying outside suddenly became clear, including the angry yelling of men, the pitiful cries of women, and the helpless howls of children, all mixed together into a hellish symphony.

Old Man Zhao frowned slightly, turned back, changed to a thicker wooden stick, weighed it in his hand, grinned in satisfaction, and plunged into the night again.

On the street, groups of soldiers were running around the city, shouting and smashing open closed wooden doors, or simply breaking in, forcing their way in and arresting residents. If some people resisted slightly, more people would immediately be attracted. Many soldiers killed him in his own home.

Mr. Zhao's team turned a deaf ear to all this, and focused on walking along the street with their lame legs, knocking on the clapper while walking, and shouting for more. They should have added warning reminders such as "dry weather, be careful of candles", But he looked at the burning fire and the soldiers who set it on fire, shut his mouth, and said nothing.

Zhao Laoguan's home was in the west of the city. He followed the cross street and crossed the outer city. He took a "kou" route and reported updates along the way. Slowly, he came to the southwest corner.

At this point, half of the journey for the first watch has been completed. As usual, Mr. Zhao, who has inconvenient legs and feet, has to rest by the corner door. He takes out the bamboo tube he carries with him and takes a drink of water to rest. This neighborhood is full of poor people. The soldiers wandering around were too lazy to come here where there was no oil and water, so there was a rare tranquility in Chengdu at the corner gate.

Old man Zhao dragged his lame leg to the side of a horse tie stone with great difficulty, sat down on it, groaned comfortably, and was about to beat his leg, but unexpectedly heard a sound from the corner door not far away.

Amidst the "squeaking" sound of the wooden shaft opening, Zhao Laoguan was surprised to find that the door in the southwest corner, which was originally closed, slowly opened. There were more than a dozen burly black figures gathered beside the door. The blocking stone was moved and the city gate was opened.

Those dark shadows apparently also spotted Mr. Zhao, and whispers came from the darkness.

"Someone found us over there, do you want to kill him?"

"It's a watchman. It doesn't matter. The master is already outside the door anyway. It's business to open the door quickly!"

"Okay, everyone, work harder."

In a few words, the heavy city gate was completely opened, and a fire was lit up among the group of people, and it swayed outside the city in the darkness to the wind.

After a while, Mr. Zhao suddenly felt the ground shaking slightly, as if countless pairs of feet were running towards him. Not long after, a white sea of ​​people surged out from outside the corner door.

The group of black shadows hurried forward to meet him, Old Man Zhao heard someone shouting from a distance: "Master Wang." Someone shouted: "Master Wang." The tone was extremely affectionate.

Those who came in from outside the city were all dressed up in white robes, and they were as strange as Bai Wuchang, which made Old Man Zhao startled at the beginning, but he was also a veteran who had killed people. After hearing those people talking, he had already Come to understand, these people in white robes are human beings, not ghosts.

After meeting with the person who opened the door, the white-robed man and the person who opened the door briefly gathered together and said a few words, then separated immediately and turned into many small streams of people, running towards the surrounding streets in different directions.

None of them had torches, so they recognized the road by the light of the burning houses in the city, and ran away like a surging river divided into streams.

And at the city gate, groups of white-robed men entered the city one after another, continuously entering. In a short period of time, thousands of people entered the city, and there was still an endless stream of people behind.

Old Man Zhao was stunned. He sat on the stone in a daze and didn't dare to move. He could tell that the white-robed men who came in in the dark were definitely not the Great Western Army. The city is in such a mess now, what are they going to do?
A group of men in white robes passed directly in front of him. This group of people was burly and their white robes were bulging. They must be wearing armor, holding long spears with crossbows in their hands, and crossbows hanging on their waists. block.

In the crowd, a young general was particularly eye-catching. He was too young, probably only twenty, but he was surrounded by many big men like stars and moons. Judging by the tense appearance of those strong men, he should be a A great man.

Old Man Zhao shrunk his body into a ball as much as possible, not so conspicuous, and carefully watched the white-robed soldiers entering the city in all directions. He didn't realize that he had become the witness of the Kuizhou army entering the city. No.1.

"Zu Bian goes to the east of the city, Li Tingyu goes to the south of the city, and Zhang Jianchun goes to the west of the city." Wang Huan hurriedly said to Li Yan who was following him, "Ma Wannian is going to the inner city, and I will go straight to the north gate. You take people and go to the city." Dongshui Pass, no ships are allowed to enter or exit!"

Li Yan agreed in a low voice, said hello, and led two centurions, and walked down a side street on the road.

There are five centurions beside Wang Huan, the most powerful among the generals who entered the city, so he took the heavy responsibility of rushing to the north gate on his shoulders. The soldiers are also there, and the fight must be the most intense.

Running on the street, before finishing a street, a group of Daxi army with torches and noisiness came head-on.

There were about fifty soldiers in this group. They were dressed in colorful clothes and had everything they could wear. They were not muscular and their weapons were dilapidated and inferior. One could tell at a glance that they were a group of soldiers, and they were very poor soldiers.

They were escorting a group of people tied up with ropes. Apparently, they were ordered to arrest people and destroy their homes. Most of the more than 2 people Wang Yunxuan had were this kind of people.

The two groups of people collided head-on, and the soldiers of the Great Western Army were obviously stunned for a moment. They didn't know who the person in the white robe was on the other side. He rushed over loudly.

The leader of the Great Western Army who led the team felt something was wrong, and just about to yell, he saw a person rushing towards him like a whirlwind, without even looking up, he arrived in front of him like lightning, and stabbed a long knife into his lower abdomen.

The leader opened his mouth, but couldn't make any sound, and collapsed, Wang Huan drew his knife in his hand, plunged into the group of Daxi soldiers, and quickly stabbed another person.

He wanted to assassinate another person, but unexpectedly, countless long spears stretched out from behind him. They were much longer and faster than his knife. They steadily and powerfully got in front of him and stabbed the dozen or so Daxi troops who were leading the army into sieves. .

At this time, the Daxi Army behind realized something was wrong. Some were confused about the situation and wanted to fight hard, some turned around and ran when they saw many people on the opposite side, and some were so frightened by the bloody scene that their legs went weak and they became confused for a while.

The white-robed soldiers like this kind of enemy huddling together the most. It is easier to stab than a target. On the not very spacious street, more than a dozen long spears lined up rhythmically stab out and retract, thrust out and retract, and in a blink of an eye In a short time, more than 50 bandits turned into corpses all over the place.

No one in the white robes made a sound during the whole process, only the "puff" sound of spears like meat and the screams of the Daxi army were endless.

Wang Huan shook off the blood on his long knife and silently looked back at the forest of spears behind him. In the shadow of the night fire, the pupils of the white-robed soldiers reflected the red light of the fire, faintly glowing.

Letting go of the frightened people, Wang Huan waved his hands and ran forward along the street with the white-robed soldiers.

(End of this chapter)