Zhou Yueru strode along the roadside, thus avoiding several deep ruts on the road. Stepping on those uneven surfaces would not only easily sprain your feet, but also cause pain on the soles of your feet.
In early spring, there are still some farmers working in the farmland on the roadside. The official roads that used to be crowded with cars and horses are deserted. There are some scattered people carrying luggage, walking from north to south, maybe going to Anqing Fucheng.
Those who were fleeing the disaster may have gone south to seek refuge with relatives, while others were carrying burdens, probably carrying things to sell in the city, but returned due to the city's closure.
Tongcheng was not far away, and scattered residential houses began to appear on the roadside. Most of them had locked their doors, but when I passed the two doors, I found that there were still people walking around inside.
"Aren't they afraid?" Zhou Yueru wiped the sweat from his forehead. The weather seemed to have gotten colder in the past few days, but after walking on the road, he still felt a little hot.
A sound like a big firecracker came in the distance. Zhou Yueru raised his head and looked ahead. There was a line of white smoke on the sky in the direction of Tongcheng.
People walking on the road turned back to check, Zhou Yueru stopped, and within a moment, another cannon shot was heard.
"It's...the cannon!" Zhou Yueru suddenly remembered that during the drill during the city lockdown the day before yesterday, it was an iron pipe that was released on the gate tower.
Pedestrians on the road were obviously a little panicked, and they all quickened their pace and headed south. They were heading south to rush, but Zhou Yueru was heading north. She stopped where she was, not daring to move forward.
Just when I didn't know what to do, two farmers came running from the corner ahead. They raised their heads and ran with all their strength.
The two of them ran closer quickly, and a man carrying luggage asked loudly, "What happened to Tongcheng?"
A man running in front took a big breath, shouted "Run", and then passed by in a flash.
Zhou Yueru's expression changed, and she quickly asked the second person, "Are the bandits coming?"
The second person waved to the crowd repeatedly without slowing down and shouted as loud as he could, "We are fighting in Tongcheng, and the horsemen are coming."
Everyone on the road was stunned for a moment, then someone screamed and followed the two people running southward along the official road.
Sure enough, there was the clatter of horse hooves in the distance. Zhou Yueru panicked and ran a few steps south after someone else. He suddenly stopped and what Pang Yu had said appeared in his mind.
"Don't take the official road!" Zhou Yueru screamed at the backs of those facing south, "Throw your things away and run to the west, into the mountains!"
A group of hurried figures twisted and ran, no one paid attention to her.
Zhou Yueru stamped her feet with her face flushed, and looked to the left and right. There were hills outside a rice field to the west. Some places with a slightly steeper slope were not cultivated, and there were weeds growing near the bottom of the slope.
Now she lifted up her skirt and ran towards the hills as hard as she could. The sound of hooves on the official road gradually became clearer. Zhou Yueru ran quickly on the field ridge. The uneven hard mud road was usually harsh on the feet, but at this time, she felt nothing at all.
The hills ahead were swaying violently in the field of vision. The field run was almost over. His breathing was getting faster and faster, but his legs and feet did not feel tired. In such urgency, Zhou Yueru still took the time to look back and saw no horses on the official road.
figure.
But there seemed to be a few figures following him. Zhou Yueru didn't have time to take a closer look and approached the hill with all his strength. There were several tombs and a bamboo forest next to the hill. The road from the field ridge passed between the tombs and the hill.
It would be best if we could go around the hills, but it seemed that the sound of hooves was already very close.
Weeds were within reach. Zhou Yueru threw herself into the grass. Without taking a breath, she raised her head and looked north. A rider in red had just appeared at the corner.
Looking back at the road, the figures we just discovered were a man and two women. Each of the two young men and women was holding a child in their hands. They could no longer run and hid behind several graves. The last one running was an elderly woman.
, she was carrying a blue bundle and was still running slowly on the field ridge.
"Don't run here." Zhou Yueru thought in his mind and wanted to shout at the woman, but the old woman supported her waist and held the bottom of the bundle with one hand, and still stumbled towards this side.
The figure on horseback approached quickly, and someone shouted. One person dismounted and strode along the field to chase him. Through the grass, Zhou Yueru could see the sharp blade in his hand.
Zhou Yueru's heart was beating wildly, and she shrank down in the grass, laying her head on the ground, not daring to make the slightest move.
The eyes were filled with dense grass blades. In addition to the roaring hoofbeats, there was also the old woman's fierce breathing. Her breathing was like pulling a bellows violently, and she had obviously tried her best.
The violent breathing was interrupted for a moment, and there was a sound of something falling, and then the sound of breathing continued.
Zhou Yueru tilted her head slightly and saw the old woman lying on the ground in the gap in the grass, just at the position of the grave.
A pair of black tartar boots appeared next to her, and the pursuing figure had already arrived beside the old woman. It was only a few steps away from the grass where Zhou Yueru was hiding. Zhou Yueru raised his eyes, and through the blocked grass shadow, he could still see that it was a red man.
Young man in clothes.
He held a sharp waist knife, stepped on the old woman's body, and raised the waist knife high. Suddenly he noticed something strange, and looked up to see the two big and two small people behind the grave.
Both sides were shocked. The four of them looked at the young man in horror. The young woman screamed in low voice. The man next to her quickly reached out and pressed her arm to signal her not to speak.
The young man in red suddenly stopped moving, and Zhou Yueru's heart jumped into his throat. The young couple obviously saw where Zhou Yueru was hiding. If they were caught, they would probably reveal Zhou Yueru's location.
The large group of riders on the official road pursued all the way forward, quickly caught up with the people fleeing along the official road, and captured them all.
Several red-clothed riders stopped at the ridge of the field, looking in this direction, as if waiting for the young man in red. From their angles, they could not see the four people behind the tomb, let alone hear a few people talking.
Just when Zhou Yueru thought that he too was doomed, a complicated look appeared in the young man's eyes. He did not shout loudly, nor did he raise his knife to kill the couple.
The man shook his hands, took out a money bag from his arms, held it in front of him and cried in a low voice, "Please forgive me and my family, Grandpa Chitose. I will honor Grandpa Chitose with this money."
The young man did not speak, nor did he continue to look in the direction of the grave. He only lowered his head and looked at the old woman on the ground. Several bandits in the distance did not become suspicious and were still waiting where they were.
The man saw hope and quickly continued, "I beg Grandpa Chitose to let my family live. From now on, I will burn incense for Chitose every day and pray for blessings, and I will not let it go forever."
The young man in red was silent for a moment. This short silence felt like ten thousand years to Zhou Yueru.
The people captured on the official road were gathered together, and they were asked to kneel in a row. Several red figures were holding larger knives and making gestures.
Zhou Yueru was frightened, and the young man finally spoke in a low voice, "Cover the children's mouths and kill them all if they make any sound."
He was still looking at the old woman on the ground, giving the impression to people in the distance that he was asking the old woman something.
The couple quickly covered the mouth of the child in their arms.
There was a lot of crying and shouting on the official road, and when Zhou Yueru looked around, he saw that one person's head was missing.
The young man seemed to have thought of something, and said urgently, "Please, Grandpa Chitose, please spare my mother. She is over sixty years old. Thank you for your kindness!"
The old woman lying on the ground finally regained her breath. After hearing this, she suddenly said, "If you have a companion, you should watch it. It's just a thousand years old to kill me."
The young man said anxiously, "Mom, you..."
The young man didn't wait for him to finish speaking, raised the knife and stabbed the old woman in the heart. The old woman's head bounced upward, her neck tensed, her mouth opened wide, and then her head fell back to the ground.
The young couple bit their lips tightly, their heads shaking constantly, but they did not dare to make any sound. The two children's eyes were wide open, full of fear, and their mouths were tightly covered by the couple.
Zhou Yueru held her breath and watched as the young man drew out the knife, the bright red blood on the blade so dazzling.
The young man wiped the knife on the old woman's clothes, opened the blue bundle and pretended to rummage through it for a moment. Finally, he glanced at the two young and old, and walked slowly towards the official road.
When he arrived at the official road, several bandits waiting for him shouted a few words together, then mounted their horses and galloped away to the south. No one paid any attention to this side.
Zhou Yueru breathed a long sigh of relief. The four members of the family looked at the old woman's body behind the grave, sobbing softly. They could not touch their relatives who were close at hand.
After a while, the man wiped away his tears, kowtowed to the old woman with the child in his arms, and then dragged the woman with one hand, using the cover of the bamboo forest, towards the hills in the southwest.
Zhou Yueru took two heavy breaths, then lay down on the grass and crawled slowly to the west. The sharp blades of grass in the grass cut many bloody wounds on her face and hands, but she didn't feel any pain at all.
After finally climbing to the back of the hills and no longer seeing the direction of the official road, Zhou Yueru stood up, feeling dizzy. After standing there for a moment, he found the direction and followed the path between the hills to the west of Tongcheng.
At this time, the sky gradually darkened.
…
As night fell, it was pitch black outside Tongcheng. It was unknown where the bandits were hiding.
The city wall of Tongcheng is brightly lit, with a high lamp placed every five battlements. Behind the bright battlements are densely packed soldiers. Dongzuo Gate to Nanxun Gate are the focus of defense. They are set up with two rows per row and fifty rows per row.
There is a support team of ten people in Duo, who are also social soldiers. The strong squads of three squadrons are stationed in the three towers respectively. There is also a squadron as a reserve team in Doujiaqiao to support this defense line at any time.
In the Xiangyang Gate Tower, Yang Erming sat in front of the case with a heavy face, looking at Pang Yu's city defense map and listening to Pang Yu's report.
"After the rogues raided Xiangyang Gate, more than a hundred horsemen in red arrived from the official road. Seeing that they failed to capture Xiangyang Gate, most of the cavalry went south along the official road, and only fifty or sixty cavalry remained outside the city."
Yang Erming asked nervously, "Why did they let me, Tongcheng, go south instead?"
"According to the information obtained by the villain, they also did the same thing in Luzhou. They should have cut off official roads and blocked the people's escape routes. This would also prevent the transmission of information and facilitate the next attack on other counties in Anqing."
"So that's it." Yang Erming took a rough breath and asked with some worry, "There were only one or two hundred bandits today, and they almost conquered Tongcheng. Mr. Pang, do you think we can really hold Tongcheng?"
Pang Yu looked at Yang Erming and said firmly, "Although it is dangerous today, my subordinates are more sure that we can hold on than yesterday. Your Excellency is the heart of a city, and we should firmly believe in this."
"Oh? Why is Pantou Pang more sure?"
Pang Yu bowed and said, "Let me talk about the rogues first. I have never seen them before yesterday. But after arriving at the city wall today, I carefully inspected the rogues on Zilai Street and the cavalry who arrived later. I have some insights for you.
See details."
Yang Erming nodded, and Pang Yu continued, "The first batch of bandits who raided on carriages were all young and strong men. This group of bandits was at the forefront of the assault, so they must be elite bandits. Their attacks were cunning, fast and fierce, and they almost captured Xiangyang Gate. Second
A group of bandits who arrived on horseback were mostly young people. For these two groups of bandits, they were all dressed in red, and no one was seen wearing iron armor (Note 1). Most of their weapons were waist knives, long knives, and some were maces.
Twenty-three percent of them were equipped with large axes and short spears, and they were equipped with bows and arrows. Their bows and arrows killed several people at the top of the city at the beginning. Because the soldiers guarding the city looked around, they often stopped at the crenels. Later, hanging curtains were set up at the top of the city, and the soldiers
If thrown without exposing the head, the bandits' bows and arrows will do almost no damage, and then the bandits will have no other backup plan. It can be seen that they do not have many means to counterattack the city. We have the advantage when defending the city."
Yang Erming heard some truth. He didn't expect Pang Yu to be able to see so many things in one moment. He felt a little relieved. He turned to look outside the dark city and said with some worry, "We are just the vanguard of the rogue bandits who arrived today. I don't know."
If there is still a brigade behind, their brigade may have other means."
"According to the information obtained by my subordinates, Chao County and Lujiang County have been captured, but the situation in Hefei County is unknown. The bandits were marching very fast. According to the information provided by the people who escaped from Chao County, the bandits arrived in Chao County on the 22nd to fight with them.
The attacks on Hefei took about the same time, and about two days later, they began to attack Lujiang. This means that these places are not the same force. The rogue bandits should have divided their forces in Luzhou and attacked nearby cities. They may also attack Shu at the same time.
It can be inferred from these messages that the rogue bandits emphasize speed in their attacks, and it may not take too long to attack a county town. As long as we are united and united, the rogue bandits will surely retreat."
Yang Erming suddenly looked at Pang Yu and said, "If the rogue bandits split up their forces to attack Tongcheng, they will arrive today, and they will only be a few hundred people. If they want to retreat to Henan, there will be no large group coming, just these hundreds of people."
"It's best this way." Pang Yu pointed to several city towers on the map. "Even if the bandits come, there are more than two thousand soldiers in Tongcheng. My subordinates will deploy strong squads at the three southeast gates. As long as they ensure that the city
If the gate is not lost, even if the rogues attack a certain section of the city wall, they will only be able to come up a little."
Yang Erming quickly waved his hand and said, "Don't let anyone come up."
Pang Yu cupped his hands and said, "Sir, please rest assured. Although our Tongcheng Zhuangban was founded not long ago, many loyal and brave people have appeared today, and we will definitely be able to protect Tongcheng."
"Pang Bantou has worked hard. After listening to your words, I feel a lot more confident. I will also inspect various squares in the city with Jiang Zhihuai and Wang Wenyao. I'll invite you from the top of the city..."
Just as he said this, there was a burst of urgent bangs in the city. Yang Erming stopped talking in shock, and a quickie hurriedly ran to the entrance corridor, "Sir, there is a fire in the city!"
…
Note 1: Regarding the issue of the equipment of the rogue bandits, in the records of the 16th year of Chongzhen, Zhang Xianzhong’s reconnaissance cavalry was conducting reconnaissance at night and heard the sound of rustling armor leaves on the riders on the other side of the river. This was used to determine that they were official sentinel cavalry, because “only
"The officers and soldiers have armor". In many battles with the officers and soldiers, the rogue bandits must have captured armor. Therefore, it is judged that the rogue bandits placed great emphasis on mobility, but even if they retained them, they would first discard them when fleeing. As for someone who recorded it at the time
The 30,000 heavy armored cavalry commanded by Gao Yingxiang are not reliable at all. What's the point of having 30,000 heavy armored cavalry running around with their heads in their arms?