Nanming Engineer

Chapter 9 Escape from Yangzhou
The two people's faces were bruised and bruised, as if they had been pushed into a ditch and beaten severely. Even one of Chen Ergou's eyes was swollen.Wang Huan was shocked when he saw the two of them. Looking at the other monks, they all looked like this.

When Xu Goudan saw Wang Huan, he cried, "Wow!", as if seeing his relatives, and sat on the ground with his knees softened. Wang Huan hurriedly supported him, and asked repeatedly: "What's wrong? What's wrong? Like this?"

Xu Goudan's character is weak, so he couldn't make a sound at this time. Chen Ergou on the side covered his swollen right eye and said harshly: "It's not that Tian Xiong who surrendered to Qinggou. He knows that we are going to follow General Li Shen, and we will die today. Call us, from morning to night, almost never let us rest, punch and kick if anything goes wrong."

When Chen Ergou opened his mouth, other monks also surrounded him, crying like Wang Huan as the backbone. They were all sixteen or seventeen-year-old children with poor nutrition. After such a torture, how could they endure it? Wang Huan looked at it, and there were even two people whose arms were broken, hanging on their chests with a piece of rag, looking extremely miserable.

"We are pretty good. Yuan Hui and Yuan Zhi passed out from hunger because they didn't eat. They treated them as dead people and threw them into the fire and burned them to death." Xu Goudan calmed down and cried. .Wang Huan was startled. He counted the number of people and found that there were indeed two people missing.

A surge of anger surged in Wang Huan's heart. Damn, how could you bully children of the same clan like this?Your mother has the courage and ability to fight against the soldiers, what is it to bully the weak?
However, after all, he is an adult student who has experienced the workplace in later generations. He has a sense of calmness. A group of crying children.

"Wang Huan, I figured it out. In this state, even if we run out, we will not have a way out. The defeated soldiers of the Ming Dynasty killed people, and the Qing dogs also killed people. The Ming army who surrendered the Qing dogs even killed people without blinking an eye. , There is no way out in this troubled world, I want to go to Luocao, become a king of the mountain, even if I die, I can be a hero!" Chen Ergou was infected by the sad atmosphere, and roared angrily.

Immediately, several young monks echoed, and the crowd in the firewood room became furious. A tall monk who was as strong as Chen Ergou also shouted: "Whether you can escape or not, I will kill those dog soldiers tomorrow. Take revenge for the two senior brothers!"

Wang Huan saw that everyone's voices were getting louder and louder, and he felt anxious. He quickly waved to these angry young monks to silence them, and said angrily: "What can we, a group of unarmed monks, do? Go out and fight them to the death. Can you fight it? It will only kill your own life in vain! Have you forgotten the promise you made to me last night?"

When he said this, the momentum of the crowd disappeared immediately, they just stood there angrily, watching Wang Huan without making a sound.

Wang Huan continued: "I said that as long as I can go out, I will definitely take you with me, but the prerequisite is that you listen to me, otherwise everyone will be ruined, have you forgotten?"

Monks, you look at me, I look at you, and whispered in a low voice: "I haven't forgotten."

"It's fine if you don't forget, let me tell you the truth, tomorrow, tomorrow morning, we can leave here!" Wang Huan gave a reassurance.

When everyone heard it, they were really excited and surprised, and kept asking: "Really? You really have a solution?"

"How could I lie to you? I have already taken refuge in General Li Shen, and I will go to his barracks early tomorrow morning. Once there, I will not be afraid of being bullied." Standing in the middle of the circle, Wang Huan said in a low voice: "General Li Can Go north to Xuzhou, escort the luggage, and we will go with him."

None of the monks had heard this news. They whispered among each other, some were happy and some were worried. One monk asked: "General Li? Hasn't he also surrendered to the Qing troops? Where should we go with him?"

Wang Huan glanced at everyone. To be honest, he was not at ease with these children. If someone leaked the escape plan, it would not be just one or two people who lost their heads. The relationship was too big to be revealed until the last moment.So he thought for a moment and carefully said: "Li Shen is going to do something for the dead soldiers in the army. We are with the army for this reason. Everyone has a good rest tonight. We will go to General Li Shen's camp tomorrow. We will go there after setting off the day after tomorrow." The rituals have begun.”

The monks listened quietly, Wang Huan immediately became happy when he said that it was a practice. In this troubled world, someone finally remembered their original use and did not need to do coolies anymore, so he burst into tears and cried.

The tall monk who was yelling for revenge with a rough voice just now stood up and shouted: "Why are you crying? Junior brother Wang Huan is going to take us out of the sea of ​​suffering. Thank you Wang Huan!"

Wang Huan recognized this big monk. His surname was Hu and his name was Dahai. He had thick eyebrows and big eyes, a square face and a wide mouth. Young, but powerful, straightforward, but also illiterate, the abbot gave full play to his strengths and was responsible for lighting fires and doing odd jobs in the temple. He didn't talk much at ordinary times, but when he was emotional, he was extremely passionate. He was a standard stunned young man.

When he yelled like this, all the monks immediately realized that everyone's hope of survival was pinned on this junior brother, they stopped crying, followed Hu Dahai to worship at Wang Huan's feet, and thanked him repeatedly, sniffling.

Wang Huan wanted to stop them, but after thinking about it, he slowed down a bit, and after everyone bowed down, he slowly accepted the salute, helped them up, and said repeatedly: "No need, no need, we are all senior brothers, why should this be so!"

Hu Dahai raised his head, stared at Wang Huan and said, "Brother Wang Huan, if we can be blessed by the Lord Buddha this time, I can escape. I don't want to be a monk anymore, so I will follow you. I can see it now. Everyone is unaccompanied when they escape, and wandering in troubled times, it is better to follow you, maybe there is a way to survive."

Wang Huan was overjoyed and thought that this is what I want. Hu Dahai is really considerate.

But in his mouth he said in a hypocritical manner: "Brother, get up quickly, it won't be too late to say these words after we leave Yangzhou, let's stop fussing tonight, everyone, hurry up and rest."

Seeing Wang Huan speaking, Chen Ergou and Xu Goudan seized the opportunity and hurriedly called all the monks to rest. The group of people made a fuss just now, which made them very nervous. They kept looking outside, afraid that the Qing soldiers would overhear In fact, Tian Xiong and others have already gone out to the streets impatiently. There is no one else in the temple except for two Qing soldiers who are guarding the gate.

There was nothing to say that night. At dawn the next day, Li Tingyu knocked on the door and wanted to take them away. A group of young monks walked out of the woodshed, all with panda eyes. It seemed that they basically didn't sleep much last night.

Wang Huan was surprised, and asked Chen Ergou, who had the biggest panda eyes, "What's wrong? Didn't fall asleep?"

Chen Ergou couldn't hide his excitement: "Of course, how can I sleep when I think that today's hard days will be over?"

Wang Huan had no choice but to lead the group of sleep-deprived monks, followed by Li Tingyu and Li Yan, and walked out of the temple.

The two Qing soldiers standing guard at the door were yawning and bored. When they saw Li Tingyu coming with a group of young monks, they quickly cheered up and came to stop them, but they were kicked to the ground by Li Yan one by one.

With a dark face, Li Yan ignored the two soldiers shouting on the ground, and urged Wang Huan and the others: "Hurry up, let's leave before Tian Xiong comes back."

Hearing the sound, Li Tingyu groaned, but didn't speak, his face was as heavy as ice and iron, and he clearly said: I'm afraid he's a bird!

But he left faster than anyone else. Wang Huan knew that this was because Tian Xiong came back. It might not be so easy to leave. This kind of character who betrayed the lord is like turning over a book. He will not take things he promised seriously. Li Tingyu I also know this, so although I am dissatisfied in my heart, it is better to walk quickly in order to avoid complications.So Wang Huan urged again and again, and led the group of young monks to follow closely behind.

On the main street, the eyes are full of broken eaves and broken walls. The once prosperous city of Yangzhou is shrouded in black clouds and mist. , reflecting a dark red light and shadow.This area has been cleaned up, and the corpses have been removed and burned. Walking on the street, there is not even a ghost on the wide and quiet road. The breeze blows by, and there is an inexplicable chill in April.

This area belongs to the south city, and the Qing soldiers had already scoured it several times, and felt that there was no value in searching, and they had gradually moved to the north city, so they didn't encounter a single Qing soldier on the way.A group of people walked tremblingly, as if walking on thin ice, but they walked out of the city gate safely and passed the inspection of the guards.

Li Tingyu walked without stopping and led everyone along the way. He walked five miles in one breath and entered Liu Liangzuo's army. He found his camp and felt relieved.

Liu Liangzuo's camp was surrounded by Qing army camps, close to the Qing army's central army, and separated from each other by deep ditches and high fences. From this point of view, it is clearly visible that the Qing army was deeply wary of the Ming Dynasty's surrendered generals. .

The camp of the white pole soldiers is on the outermost side of Liu Jun’s camp. More than 100 dilapidated tents are distributed in a depression, not close to a water source. It is rainy and muddy. It is basically the worst campsite. up.

Li Tingyu approached the gate with all the monks, Li Yan took the first step, saw something in the distance, turned to Li Tingyu and said: "My lord, your name is still on the gate."

Li Tingyu looked intently, and saw a battle flag with a white background and red border fluttering above the gate made of rough wood. The flag was as big as a giant wheel, with a black "Li" embroidered in the middle, and the flag was close to the flagpole. At the place, there is embroidered a line of small characters written vertically "Daming guards Chongqing general".

Seeing this flag, Li Tingyu's tall body swayed and suddenly stopped. Wang Huan, who was following behind, was caught off guard and almost bumped into his back.

(End of this chapter)