the enlightener says

And on that night, Gao Yishui took the two of them to Yanbo Tower, and they spent a lot of money to invite the top brand Nanyan to drink and listen to music with them.

As a result, he listened to someone else's song "Swan Goose", and conveniently took the valuable jade pendant that Gongshu gave him as ransom money.

The next day when he woke up, he explained again and again that he was purely admiring Nanyan's piano skills and had no other thoughts.As a result, the Nanyan girl regained her freedom, but she had to follow him all over the world...

Qin Ke couldn't laugh or cry when he heard it, and could only sigh: "This guy, Lao Gao, is really merciful everywhere, and he can do this matter of redemption."

"You don't seem to have the right to talk about me." At this time, Gao Yishui suddenly got out from under the table of several people, startling Qin Ke, while Nan Yan walked in from the backyard, scanning the crowd, as if searching around What.

Gao Yishui said in an unastonishing way: "You forgot, you insisted on redeeming that girl Ning Xin in Jiujiang City, and even raised her near your Tai Xuetang..."

"Oh?" Cai Yan looked at Qin Ke with interest, "Why didn't I know that Ke, you still have such a chivalrous deed?"

"Cough, cough..." Qin Ke saw a few small knives faintly flashing in Cai Yan's bright eyes, and immediately his scalp became numb, and he began to explain a series of things about Ning Xin, but after a few words, he was tricked again by Gao Yi In the presence of Zhang Fu, Qin Ke's face turned red immediately, and his speech became more and more incoherent.

It wasn't until Cai Yan smashed seven or eight walnuts with his small fist that he tremblingly finished talking about his past with Ning Xin and Zhang Fu. During this time, Gao Yishui got into the crowd again and escaped from the main entrance , the sharp-eyed Nan Yan spotted him, and chased after him holding up her skirt.

At this time, Cai Yan didn't care much about Qin Ke's "love affairs", and couldn't help but want to see Gao Yishui's jokes, so he dragged Abu to follow him all the way, Qin Ke shook his head helplessly, and threw down the tea Money, and at the same time, I didn’t forget to put the nuts and melon seeds left on the table in my pocket...

The third volume of the flames of war

Chapter 429 The Old Stick's Past

Surrounded by mountains, the setting sun gradually sinks through the gaps in the leaves, and slowly falls into the distant mist.

When the sky darkened, torches were lit in the barracks, and countless flames illuminated the tents and camps, bringing some warmth to the soldiers in the camp.

The wild vegetables picked from the nearby mountains are tumbling in the cauldron, and the delicate leaves covered with some dew are rolling up and down in the boiling water, and an attractive meat fragrance blooms in it, making people sit on the side with a bowl and wait For a long time, the sergeants licked their lips.

"Hey! Old stick! When do you want to cook this, it is almost enough. We are all hungry. After climbing the mountain for a day, we are waiting for your pot of broth. You can pour it, just stir it with a spoon. It's been stirring for almost half an hour! If this continues, won't we all have to starve to death here?" Some people couldn't bear their temper and shouted.

The guy who is called "Old Bangzi" is 53 years old this year. He has been with the army for more than 30 years. Either holding a big stick or a big spoon, it can be regarded as "a person lives up to his name".

Hearing the sergeant's swearing at this moment, his complexion was not very good. In the light of the fire, he stared at the boiling water in the pot with piercing eyes. He held the pine branch with the bark peeled off tightly in his hand, and continued to stir in the pot. After a few strokes, he poked the biggest piece of meat in the pot, took a look at the color, and cursed back: "What's the hurry, your wife has a baby? Hurry, urge, you'll know, if the broth is not thick, After a while, when the soup cakes are served, it won’t be interesting.”

He reached out his hand to dig a few times in the side drawer, took out a dry biscuit, and stuffed it into the sergeant's arms vigorously: "Hungry? Eat it first, when you finish eating this, the soup is almost ready." .”

The sergeant looked at the dry biscuits in his bosom, the stickmeal ones. It didn’t mean that they were not tasty. Strictly speaking, they were good dry rations for the march, but at the moment when the broth was boiling, how could he want to eat them? Fill your stomach with this pie in advance?The other people in his company were all big-bellied men. If he ate a little slower, maybe those few people could work together to swallow the whole pot.

He said angrily: "After marching for so many days, I only caught so much wild game today, don't prevaricate me with such dry things!"

"Then close your bird's beak and wait! It's coming soon!" The old stick glared at him, and while stirring the soup in the pot, he reached out and threw a piece of salt into it, "It's good to eat if you have something to eat. A lot of nonsense, just like you, put it more than ten years ago..."

"I starved to death more than ten years ago, didn't I?" The sergeant was tired of hearing it, and waved his hand like chasing flies: "I don't know how many times you have said these words, are you annoying? Yes, you I have been with the army for more than 30 years. At the beginning, food and grass were not enough, and I survived by eating tree roots and bark for five days in a row. But you always talk about this thing, what’s the point? Yes? I heard that you have been under the general’s black cavalry for 20 years, otherwise, can you talk about the general? We came late and missed the great war that year. We have been hearing how powerful the general is. , I am also really curious..."

When this matter was mentioned, the old stick had a smile on his face, and he couldn't help straightening his back, obviously very proud of this period of history: "Of course, who is the general? He is a strategist of the Guigu faction The head of the school, the art of war is unrivaled in the world, how do you say that literati saying? Oh yes... use soldiers like ghosts, run like fire, listen, these scholars are talented, if I put them in my mouth, I can only spit out One or two words of 'good', no matter how much, there is really nothing..."

"Stop, stop!" The sergeant was looking forward to it, but when he heard this, he suddenly felt a little dissatisfied, "The more you talk, the more you go astray, let you talk about the general, what are you doing to yourself? I’ve heard it more than ten or twenty times, from the time you were 50 to 15 years old, you went up to the mountain to dig out bird nests, and went into the water to touch live fish... You almost didn’t tell the story of when you were wearing crotch pants, let’s get to the point! Get to the point!”

"I would like to say, hey, after this battle is over, I will go home and farm. At that time, you don't have to listen to it if you want to." The old man raised his eyebrows and gave the sergeant a white look.

However, he probably also realized that he was indeed digressing a bit, coughed dryly, cleared his throat, and continued: "Well... it's on topic."

He suddenly lowered his head in embarrassment, "Then I won't say it, I'm just a pawn, and I'm not one of those partial generals, where can I see the appearance of the general on the battlefield..."

"Hi?" Hearing what he said, not only the speaking sergeants, but even the surrounding sergeants couldn't help but hiss, "I don't know you're talking nonsense here for a long time, blinding us to wait. long time."

A fatter sergeant yelled and interjected: "Then tell me about the few battles you have seen, how they were fought, where they came from, and where did they get beaten? "

Several people responded at the same time.

"This." Old Bangzi pondered for a moment, glanced at the color of the meat in the pot, and slowly began to pour soup cakes, while laughing, "Actually, I don't remember too much, I only remember that I was so hungry , although the general is really good at fighting, but the military orders are also very strict. It is not uncommon to run dozens of miles a day. But we fought all the way, what Chen country, Chu country, Yan country, Ping country... They are almost all sweeps, and they have never lost a game.”

He stirred the soup cakes for a while: "It was really fun at that time. It seemed that our black cavalry only needed to charge forward with their weapons up. Moreover, we always fought more with less. For some reason, when people saw us I was so frightened that I couldn't take a few hits and ran faster than a rabbit."

"They all fought more with less? They all won?" The sergeant looked at him strangely, "How is this possible? At the beginning, the general had only 30 soldiers and horses, but the coalition forces of those countries had more than [-] soldiers and horses. How to fight, where is the number of people, what good can we get? You are not bragging!"

"Fuck!" The pine branch in the old stick's hand knocked on the side of the pot vigorously, "I'm not bragging, that's how it was at the beginning, we paid 30 yuan, and beat others with [-] yuan, we kept chasing their ass, and they kept running... ...but later a young general who knew a little bit about the art of war explained to me, saying that the reason why we were able to chase people and make them frightened was because we had been running happily day and night before, and their soldiers and horses were chasing us. Scattered, after such a dispersal, they naturally don't have as many soldiers as us, at this time, if you see the right time, turn your head and stab them hard..."

The old stick watched the soup cakes slowly floating on the upper layer of the soup pot, nodded in satisfaction, and began to hold bowls of soup, and handed bowls to the sergeants: "Later, the young general said a lot, why did you prepare it?" The front is widowed, the back is widowed, the front is widowed when the back is prepared, the left is widowed, the right is widowed, what is prepared is what is widowed, everything is prepared, and everything is widowed... Oh, I don’t quite understand anyway, what is false and true? Ah, as the young general was talking, his eyes were in a daze. In short, just listen to General Wang's words, he can go wherever he tells us to go, and we can fight wherever he tells us to."

The sergeants were confused, holding delicious soup cakes one by one, but they were not in a hurry to eat and drink. Someone asked: "The general is so powerful, why won't he take us to this battle?"

Hearing this question, the old stick felt like he had stopped breathing. How could he, a pawn, dare to discuss such an important military matter?Seeing that he is getting old, it is true that he should go home to farm after the battle.

He scratched his head and said embarrassingly: "Then I don't have much to say. I heard that this General Zhao Kuan is also very powerful. His ancestors have been generals for several generations, and the giant appointed him as a general. I think it is to give young people a sense of humor." It's a chance to get ahead."

"Oh..." Several sergeants listened and felt that it made sense. They nodded their heads and began to paw at the soup cakes in the bowl.

One of them let out a sigh of satisfaction, and said, "I also think that this General Zhao Kuan is very good. After a few days since he came out, the letters with red seals that were hot-painted in Jinzhou were one after another, but they were not seen on the general's face." To panic, we set up camp every night, we can still have a bite of soup cakes, and we can also have game to beat teeth for a sacrifice... These little days are so beautiful, where have you ever heard that you can be so comfortable when you are marching?"

"That's right." The old stick took some of the leftovers from the bottom of the bowl to himself, and the undissolved salt sank to the bottom. He only took a few mouthfuls, and he didn't know if it was too salty. The fragrant broth But he couldn't taste it at all.

He held the chopsticks, looked at the crackling bonfire, and murmured in a low voice: "Why do I always feel uneasy?"

4 Chapter Thirty General Zhao

Seeing Lao Bangzi's preoccupation, the fat sergeant beside him licked the oil on his lips, and asked rather strangely, "What's the matter?"

"No, nothing..."

The old stick was silent for a while, but he still couldn't hold back, and said in a low voice: "I can't tell. I used to be under the general's command. Although I said I couldn't eat well, I couldn't sleep well, and I walked dozens of miles a day. It was very hard work. But I always feel at ease, one hundred thousand brothers, after fighting the Four Kingdoms, counting the dead and disabled, there are less than 1. There are more than 50 gang leaders who I know well, and only six died... …Every day we are very happy, as if we are not going to fight, but just get together and travel around. But now I follow this General Zhao, although I eat well, sleep well, and wear warm clothes, but I always still I'm a little worried..."

The fat sergeant listened to what the old stick said, and thought for a while: "You probably haven't gotten used to it for a while. Anyway, we all think it's pretty good. General Zhao, although he is young, has also learned from great Confucians. He has been familiar with military books since he was a child. What he said is Let us stand still here, ambush the Tang army, and catch them off guard!"

"That's right." Old Bangzi looked at the deep forest, and there were crickets chirping in the darkness, "But it seems that we don't have all the troops here, I heard that there are still a few teams marching at Tingshanyuan. "

"Then I don't know." The fat sergeant said in a low voice, "Generals, they like to hide half and expose half, so how can they put it all on the bright side? General Zhao must be a cunning person..."

It's just that when he said the last sentence, he saw the frightened expression on the old stick's face. He was slightly stunned, and turned his head, just in time to see the solemn Vice General Zhang with his armor still on, looking at him with a pair of cold eyes. .

"Zhang...General Zhang..."

"Speak, continue." Lieutenant General Zhang Cheng sneered, his tone suddenly turned cold, "It's not a small courage to arrange the coach in private!"

"I..." The fat sergeant immediately knelt down, "General, I don't dare anymore, please don't kill me, your lord does not remember villains, I am the one who has no words..."

But Zhang Cheng seemed to be preoccupied, obviously he had no intention of paying any attention to him, he just glanced at Lao Bangzi, who was also pale with fright.

He turned around, his cloak fluttering slightly in the night wind, and walked straight to the camp of the Chinese army commander.

In the large tent of the Chinese army, the new coach Zhao Kuan was holding an oil candle, frowning as he looked at a large map propped up on a shelf. Flickering slightly, the shadow on the tent is like a dancing ghost.

"General, the scouts have already seen it. As you said, this urn mountain is like a closed urn. It can enter but cannot exit. It really is an excellent ambush point." Zhang Cheng held his sword in both hands and saluted.

Zhao Kuan turned his head, his face under the firelight was indeed immature, but his expression was extremely confident, and said: "That's natural, as early as five years ago, I sent someone to look at this place, the art of war said: There are those who pass through, those who hang on, those who have branches, those who have narrow passages, those who are dangerous, and those who are far away. It's easy to get out, we are ambushing here now, why not worry about it?"

When Zhang Cheng heard this, his eyes lit up slightly, and the uneasiness in his heart dissipated a lot, and he sincerely praised: "The general is indeed a hero of the general family. He has written every word in the military book with his own hands, and the general admires him."

Zhao Kuan laughed. Although he knew that Zhang Cheng was flattering him, he couldn't help being secretly complacent, but he quickly realized that he should be a corporal right now, so he immediately said: "General Zhang is investigating the terrain. , You have worked hard all the way, you haven’t eaten yet, come, let’s have some food together.”

As he spoke, he walked to the pot first, sat on a stool made of tree stumps, and said, "Please."

General Zhang nodded without refusing, and walked over to sit opposite him. The stewed pheasant in the pot was mixed with sliced ​​ginger and wild onion. The man moved his index finger.

But he still remembered the question he wanted to ask: "It's just general, how do you know that Tang Jun will definitely go this way? We are hundreds of miles away from Jinzhou. Even if Tang Jun wants to fight, he should go to Jinzhou to fight. How can it be big?" Come all the way to this urn valley to get into our trap?"

Zhao Kuan filled a bowl of soup, put it in front of Zhang Cheng, and said with a light smile, "Of course I know, that's why I sent a few groups of suspicious soldiers out, and instead of taking the small road, I headed towards Jinzhou from the main road with great fanfare... Who is the chief general of the Tang army, do you know?"

"I know, it's Xiang Chu, who was called the Overlord in the Southern Army of the Tang Dynasty."

"Soldiers say, Fenglin and Huoshan. He is as fast as the wind, as slow as the forest, aggressive as fire, and immovable as a mountain. He is called the overlord because his style of using troops is aggressive like fire. Compared with the tough battles of siege, he I prefer musk battles in the wild." Zhao Kuan said: "I deliberately slowed down the marching speed, and then let the suspects release the news that my army is approaching, just to let him know that we are here, and with his temperament He will definitely not obediently go to besiege Jinzhou first and wait for me to chase him to fight. He will definitely intercept our army on the road first, so that we cannot go to Jinzhou to help. As long as he can be on the road, he will defeat us. Jinzhou Yixian can not only be a persimmon that he can pinch at will, but can pinch it as he wants?"

Zhang Cheng put his hand on the rim of the bowl, and he didn't care about eating and drinking. He said excitedly, "So that's the case. No wonder you ignored Jinzhou's urging, and you ignored the general. It turned out that you had a plan in mind? The general is indeed wise, and others marched to support him." , It’s like putting out a fire, where the fire is pouring water, but the general is not in a hurry, and instead draws the fire to burn himself... And then? We are here to put it out in one fell swoop?"

"General Zhang is indeed a smart man, he knows everything." Zhao Kuan picked up the soup bowl, his brows and eyes were full of smiles, thinking of that Xiang Chu, his tone finally became a bit disdainful, and said: "The so-called knowing yourself and knowing the enemy wins every battle. I know Xiang Chuqi, but he doesn't know me. I'm afraid in his heart, I'm just a baby, how can I know how to use soldiers? In this case, I sent out suspicious soldiers and told them every way that my army was stationed at In this valley, there are nearly ten thousand shi of grain stockpiled here... My Mo family has a vast territory, his Tang army is far away from the mainland, and the transportation of grain and grass is not easy. How can Xiang Chu not be tempted? As long as he leads his troops to this valley Once drilled, my [-] troops will shoot ten thousand arrows, plus rolling logs and stones, even if he claims to have a hundred thousand soldiers, so what? Why don’t he obediently die here?”

It can be said that Zhao Kuan had prepared this plan for a long time. Even before the war started, he had already arranged it on the sand table many times. He didn't want to live under the aura of his parents. The hardworking group, so for him, he has studied the art of war for many years, and finally got a great opportunity to show his ambitions. As long as his plan is realized, he will be able to make contributions in this protracted conquest. He Zhao Kuan His name will spread to every place in the world, and everyone who hears his name will feel admiration...

Become famous in one battle, this is what Wang Xuanwei did when he was young. Now that Wang Xuanwei is old, it is time for him, a young man, to step onto the stage and become the protagonist.

He thought of his father who had lived under Wang Xuanwei all his life, even though he was also a famous general of the Mohist family, others would still laugh at him, saying that he only got the position of general because of Wang Xuanwei's reputation.

He couldn't help clenching his fists. If he came back with such a great victory, who would dare to look down on Zhao's family in the future, and who would dare to look down on his father who had passed away?

From then on, he will take over the title of general from Wang Xuanwei, and lead an army of 40 troops under his command to conquer the north and the south, and the black cavalry like billowing thunderclouds will accompany him like a shadow. , Achieve an unworldly feat!

"Xiang Chu..." Before falling asleep, Zhao Kuan stared deeply at the gully avenues on the map, feeling unstoppable blood surging in his chest, and said to himself: "I hope to be worthy of the name of Overlord, Not too timid to attack."

At this moment, the firewood in the brazier suddenly made a crackling sound, and the flame rose a few inches in an instant, as if responding to his words.

off account.

"Straighten up! Be more energetic." The old stick has been a corps commander for decades, and the old soldier leads the new soldier. The four sergeants in front of him also cheered up when they heard his stern shout, but they still couldn't help yawning. The place of residence leaked through the fingers.

"Old Bangzi, why don't you sleep, what are you going to do with these recruits?" The fat sergeant who chatted with the old stick during the meal before, his eyelids had already started to fight, "The ambush agreed, since it is an ambush, People don't know that our troops are stationed on this hillside, so what's the use of watching the night? Could it be that they have sneaked into the valley?"

"Shut your crow's mouth." The old stick scolded, "During war, the most taboo thing is to talk nonsense, understand? Good or bad spirits! Hurry up and spit, hurry up and spit."

The fat sergeant flinched from being scolded, and obediently spit on the ground, but muttered in his mouth: "Why is it a crow's mouth, I'll just talk about it..."

"When I was under the command of the general, I never dared to neglect the night watch." The old stick walked in front, and the four new soldiers walked loosely behind him. He said: "You should learn more. When fighting, you have to walk on your own Hanging a sword, thinking that if you slack off a little, the sword will cut off your head! Otherwise, if something happens and you regret it, it will be too late."

"Hanging a sword... is also the principle of the general?" A new soldier asked with his head probed.

"No." Old Bangzi scratched his head, "At the beginning, when I was in the new army, our village chief slept on the ground with his quiver under his pillow and the knife at hand. Whenever there was a disturbance, he would jump up and kill with the knife. He told me the habit saved his life!"

The new soldiers listened to the old stick with great interest, and seemed to have dispelled most of the drowsiness. They all became refreshed. They liked to listen to the endless stories in his stomach. The fat sergeant followed along, saying: "So It’s great, and I’ll have to practice like this from now on.”

But his words soon attracted ridicule, and the recruits yelled: "You just blow it up. Don't look at you sleeping like that at night, and jumping up and killing people in your dreams. I'm afraid someone will kill you." You won't even be able to get up if it hits you."

After playing for a while, the old stick also gave them a helpless look, thinking that these days, it is becoming more and more difficult to take care of the little bastards. The recruits didn't have much feeling for the cruelty of life and death in the blink of an eye on the battlefield, and they were all laughing and joking.

But he didn't bother to say anything about them, he just took them all the way to continue the night watch.

Although it is dark in the forest, there is moonlight shining through the leaves from time to time, so it is not a problem to see the road, probably because Zhao Kuan confidently declared to everyone earlier: "The Tang army is still a hundred miles away, and the generals can try their best to nourish themselves." Recharge..."

So although sentry posts were set up everywhere on the mountain, they seemed to be very lax. Some people even took a nap against the tree trunk, snoring one after another.

The old stick shook his head, thinking that if this was placed in Wang Xuanwei's team, he might be dealt with immediately by military law, but he was a small corporal leader, so he couldn't go up and say anything when he saw it.

Just at this time, a new soldier behind him suddenly said: "Old stick! Look, what is that!"

Chapter 431 Firelight

Old Bangzi frowned, bent down, and looked in the direction pointed by the sergeant's finger. There seemed to be a dozen red lights shining in the distance. He shook his head, but he didn't know what it was, so he could only guess: "Probably ours." Scout team, right? Walking at night, you can’t do it without a torch.”

"Could it be Tang Jun?" The fat sergeant said worriedly, thinking of his crow's mouth before.

"Probably not." The old stick thought for a while, "According to what the general said, Tang Jun is at least a few hundred miles away from here. How can it be so fast? What's more, there are only a dozen fires. If Tang Jun arrives overnight and wants to enter the mountain , there must be 5 people, and the torches can be scattered all over the ground."

The fat sergeant nodded and breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, you're the best old man, you can guess so many things just by looking at it."

"I'm talking nonsense too." The old stick grinned, his mouth was missing a front tooth, and he looked particularly ugly.

Only in the next moment, the old stick's eyes changed.

Perhaps God wanted to play a joke on them. At this moment, the dozen or so flames under the mountain gradually split, and finally changed from a dozen to dozens, dozens to hundreds, and finally connected one slice!

In the dark night, these fire lights are like stars shining, but there is a piercing chill on the old stick's back, and in just one breath, he feels cold sweat pouring out continuously, which wets him. vest.

"What are they going to do..." The old stick stared at the fire light, and then found that the fire light began to change and spread towards the mountain, and then the fire light seemed to burst, and gradually enlarged and enlarged...

This is to...set fire?

The old stick finally realized something, turned his head and started running back.

Several sergeants behind him hurriedly followed.

"Quick! Go back and tell the general!" Old Bangzi shouted in an anxious voice while running: "The Tang army is at the foot of the mountain, they want to set fire!"

He knew very well in his heart that the white dew was over now, the sky was dry, and the ground was covered with flammable hay and dead wood, and their army was stationed in the mountain. Once the mountain fire broke out, they would be trapped to death!

Thinking of this, he ran a little faster, even using the strength of breastfeeding, a somewhat aging heart almost jumped out of his chest.

But he didn't dare to stop, he had to run, keep running.

When Lao Bangzi entered the camp, the barracks was already in chaos. Soldiers were hurriedly putting on their armor in the tents. Weapons were scattered everywhere on the ground. Many archers didn’t even have time to get their quiver. Jian, with a very dazed expression.

"The south mountain is also full of fire!"

"North, too!"

"Fire! Fire everywhere!"

Everyone didn't expect such a change in advance. Didn't they say that Tang Jun was still a hundred miles away?Why did they reach the foot of the mountain overnight, and started to set fires in all directions of the mountain in a very tacit understanding?

At this moment, there are cliffs to the west of them, and flames to the south and north. If you want to go to the east, it will not be any better. This fire is not like a human being. Even if you stab it with a spear, it is impossible for someone to make way , Are they destined to be burned to death on this mountain tonight?

"Quiet! Quiet! Don't make a mess!" Several generals also looked nervous. From their messy armor, it could be seen that they had just woken up from sleep, with a bit of sleepiness on their faces, and they hurriedly maintained their positions. order.