He washed a stone seed in his hand in water, and then shined it against the sun. It was crystal clear and very beautiful. Zhang Ren had collected dozens of such small stone seeds.

No wonder this river is called Agate River?

Aren’t these tiny stone seeds just beautiful agate?

"Take this stone back and ask a craftsman to polish it. It will look very beautiful when made into a bracelet." Suddenly a voice came to his ears. Zhang Ren turned around and saw Yingjiang Zhouquan. "But the cost of hiring a craftsman to polish it is not cheap.

The cost is no cheaper than a set of gold jewelry."

Yingjiang Zhouquan initially looked down upon Zhang Ren.

At that time, Zhang Ren, who had just joined the camp, had not yet shed his air of a playboy, and the residual scholarly aura on his body also made Zhou Quan extremely displeased. If it weren't for the fact that Zhang Ren looked pretty good, he put on the armor.

He looked so impressive when he stood there, I wonder how he could deal with him!

Ma Wei, another official son who entered the camp with Zhang Ren, was killed at the beginning of the war. That guy has never been integrated into the army, and he has an air of arrogance, even if he is squeezed out every day

He refuses to bow his head even when cleaning the toilet.

Such arrogance is nothing in peacetime, it's just a lack of friends, but during the war, it can be fatal.

The war broke out suddenly, and as expected, Ma Wei was among the first batch of casualties.

Even if Zhang Ren is like this, it is because Lao Shichang deliberately gave him a way out.

At that time, no matter who the commander appointed, he could escape on horseback.

In the face of war, the power of an individual is really very small.

Even though this war has been going on for more than a month, every time Zhang Ren closes his eyes, he can still think of the ragged bandits surrounding them from all directions like wild beasts under the moonlit night, even if the people in front were chopped with knives.

The situation of being fragmented and still pushing forward.

Of course, what impressed him most was the momentum of countless galloping horses.

At that moment, Zhang Ren felt that nothing could resist such an offensive.

But in a subsequent battle, the Song Army's infantry made him realize what it means to be as solid as a rock.

Three battle camps, with more than 3,000 soldiers, formed three square formations, facing the impact of countless cavalry in an inverted formation.

In front of their military formation, there were only some thin horses and antlers.

First came the bow feathers that blocked the sky and the sun, then the roaring repeating crossbows, and then the infantry withstood the impact of the cavalry.

In front of the big shield, there were a forest of spears, and the horses neighed and collided with each other. Zhang Ren, as a swordsman, could see some of the soldiers carrying the shield flying up, and some of them languished on the ground like mud on the spot, bleeding from all their orifices.

But the charging horses were forced to stop, and then countless spears poked through them, killing both men and horses in an instant.

As soon as the opponent's speed slows down, it's time for the swordsmen like them to attack.

With a sword in his hand, he rushed out on the broken shield.

There are no tricks, just mechanically raising the knife, cracking, raising the knife, and cracking again!

The one in front died, and the one behind followed him, still raising his knife and cracking.

Behind them, the spearmen followed closely, poking out spears from their sides. Further behind, the crossbowmen pulled the bow strings desperately, releasing arrows into the distance.

Human life is not worth a penny at this time.

Even a guy like Zhang Ren who originally cherished his life had no other concepts in his mind at this time, he only knew that crack, crack, crack again.

As long as you are not dead, you have to swing the knife.

It has to be said that Zhang Ren's physique gives him a great advantage in such hand-to-hand combat. Others can kill people with one knife at most, but he often cuts people into two pieces with one strike.

But it was this kind of performance that allowed him to step up from the ranks of corps commander, captain, and team leader.

After this battle is over, if he doesn't die, Zhang Ren feels that he can become a governor or something and lead a team of a hundred people.

Under the command of Bai Yujun

Each battalion has more than a thousand men and horses, which is twice the number of regular combat battalions.

This was also the result of Xiao Cheng's acquiescence in their expansion after the Southwest Army moved north.

Zhou Quan now admires Zhang Ren very much.

From looking down upon to admiring, it was just a matter of fighting a few battles.

When he first saw Zhang Ren return and Lao Shichang and the others all died in battle, Zhou Quan didn't say anything, but he felt extremely sad in his heart.

Like Lao Shichang and others, Zhou Quan also came from Guangxi.

But after several battles, he finally understood why the old commander let Zhang Ren escape.

Such a person, if he does not die, will definitely become famous.

If you are exhausted, you will be able to become a controller or something like that in the future, but this person's future is hard to say.

A powerful general must be sent to the army of soldiers.

If this soldier is unparalleled in bravery, comes from a scholarly background, and comes from a family of officials, then when he climbs up, he will not be able to compete with these rough guys.

Although after the great defeat of the Song Dynasty, the status of military personnel was greatly improved, and after Xiao Cheng came to power, he worked hard to bridge the differences between the civil and military parties, but ordinary people's respect for scholars is still universal.

"For the girl you like?" Zhou Quan pinched an agate and asked with a smile.

Zhang Ren shook his head: "No, I'm going to give it to my mother!"

"Ah, so that's it!" Zhou Quan said with a smile. "I didn't expect Mr. Xiu Cai to be so filial!"

"This thing is still very rare. Why don't General Zhou get some for Madam-in-law to take back? We are just leaving. We don't know when we can come here again next time?"

Zhou Quan burst out laughing: "Your family is from a wealthy family. If you like something like this, my mother-in-law will only ask you to bring me some stones. Why? She likes yellow gold, white silver, and tinkling bells."

The rustling copper coins!"

Zhang Ren also laughed.

He heard from the old chief that Zhou Yingjiang's wife was very powerful. Although Zhou Yingjiang yelled in front of them, he was extremely afraid of his own wife. The main reason was that her wife had given birth to three boys and two children.

Nvwa, even in front of the elders at home, is very respectable, at least more respectable than Zhou Quan.

"It's a pity that we can only defend this place and can't go to the main battlefield!" Zhou Quan was still a little depressed, "Look, the Liao general doesn't have a brain disease, so why would he send people from here?"

"Not necessarily!" Zhang Ren shook his head and said, "General, have you looked at the map? If a Liao army really comes from here, it will be less than fifty miles away from our logistics camp in the rear of Suixian County. It will be very dangerous indeed.

of."

"Fifty miles, the infantry has to walk for a whole day. If you think it still has fighting power, it will take two days. There are two thousand people guarding the heavy supply camp, and they are equipped with all kinds of weapons!" Zhou Quan said with a smile: "There are only a few people.

It doesn’t work. There are too many people, and there is no suddenness at all. When they arrive, our team will be fully mobilized, so what’s the use?”

"What if it's cavalry?" Zhang Ren asked.

Zhou Quan pointed at the other side and said: "You have a rough idea of ​​the topography around here, right? How did the cavalry get here? From the enemy-controlled area to our place, there are several rivers along the way, which cut the terrain into pieces.

The mountain was so steep that they couldn't reach it within ten days and a half. General Wei sent us here because he saw that our battalion had suffered heavy losses, and in order to gain more military glory so that the brothers who died in the battle would be able to do so in the future.

It’s just a little more reward. When we get here, we can be considered to have participated in the war, right? Defending the logistics camp, I can’t even talk about the merits.”

"General Zhou Ying still has face in front of General Wei!"

Zhou Quan smiled proudly: "I served as General Wei's personal guard! One of the first batch of personal guards."

Zhang Renruo nodded with enlightenment. No wonder General Zhou Ying was so praised for his archery skills. It turned out that he had been a personal follower of General Wei Wu.

General Wei was very accomplished in archery, and even these small soldiers knew about his reputation.

While joking, the sound of horse hooves suddenly came to his ears. Zhou Quan stood up and looked to the opposite side, but his expression changed in an instant.

Those who ran ahead were the ones who let themselves cross the river.

The scouts only went out in a group of five, but now there is only one person coming back, and behind him, two cavalry are chasing after him, but they are obviously enemies.

"Zhang Xiucai, you crow mouth, you really have enemy cavalry!" Zhou Quan's eyes widened, but his hand reached behind: "Bow, bow!"

His personal guard quickly sent over the big bow and a bag of arrows that he carried on his back.

On the other side, arrows whistled, and the Song army scout's war horse staggered, knocking off the soldiers. Then after running forward two steps, it fell to the ground whining.

The Song army scout got up and ran wildly. Behind him, two Liao cavalry were chasing after him, their arrows flying towards him.

Zhou Quan was furious and jumped over the stone wall of the bridge with his bow in hand and ran forward in large strides. Zhang Ren quickly followed with his knife in hand.

The two of them ran across the river and stood at the end of the bridge. They bent their bows and set arrows. The arrows flew towards the two pursuers like lightning.

Unexpectedly, the two pursuers were not mediocre. They easily dodged Zhou Quan's arrows and still had enough energy to fire another arrow at the scouts.

Seeing the arrival of reinforcements, the scout relaxed a little, but just by relaxing, he was hit by an arrow in the back and fell to the ground.

"I'm going to save him!" Zhang Ren roared, dragging his sword and running forward.

The fallen soldier raised his upper body, stretched out his hands forward, and looked at Zhang Ren who was running towards him.

"Help me!" he shouted.

Zhou Quan didn't dare to shoot anymore, because Zhang Ren was standing between him and the two Liao cavalry at the moment. If one of them failed, he would hurt one of his own.

He stamped his feet and ran over with the knife in hand.

Zhang Ren ran ahead of the two Liao cavalry and ran behind the scout. He held his sword in both hands and stared at the approaching horses.
To be continued...