The nine-year-old Yuan body will not die, but the words will last for thousands of years.
If you want to know how loyal and trustworthy you are, you should dismount your horse when passing the tomb.
——"Lei Wanchun's Tomb" Fan Chengda [Song Dynasty]
…
Bai Fuxing galloped through the night and arrived at Yongqiu via the Bianhe River a few days later.
At this time, the puppet Yan general Linghu Chao was leading his troops to attack Yongqiu, and the city was surrounded by the puppet Yan army.
Bai Fu looked from a distance on the hill. The puppet Yan army should have tens of thousands of people, and the Tang army in Yongqiu City should not have exceeded 5,000. There was a huge disparity in strength between the two sides.
Bai Fu observed the sky and concluded that tonight, with the moon hidden and few stars, would be a good day to camp. Bai Fu decided to sneak into Yongqiu City during the night.
Bai Fu ate his dry food, meditated and rested. Waiting until the third watch, he sneaked into the puppet Yan army camp as planned.
He climbed over the fence and entered the military camp. Bai Fu took advantage of the situation and killed a soldier who was urinating at night. He put on the soldier's armor in a quiet place. With the disguise, Bai Fu swaggered through the Puppet Yan military camp and headed towards Yongqiu.
Head towards the city wall.
Bai Fu walked to the gate of the military camp and was about to find an opportunity to sneak out of the camp and climb over the wall into the city. When he looked up, he suddenly saw countless men in black emerging from the top of Yongqiu City, forming neat rows and densely packed. When he looked around,
No less than a thousand people.
The men in black slew down from the top of the city one after another neatly and swiftly. Their movements were uniform and silent. It seemed that they were taking advantage of the dark night and high wind to attack the military camp.
The Pseudo-Yan soldiers on patrol at night also discovered the military situation and hurriedly reported it to the general Linghu Chao.
Linghu Chao looked confident, as if he had expected that the Tang army would attack tonight and had already prepared for it.
With an order, thousands of crossbowmen poured out from the military camp like a tide, drawing bows, setting up crossbows, and firing thousands of arrows. The crossbow arrows were like a swarm of bees flying out of a beehive, shooting at the top of the city while standing and reining the rope.
The man in black below.
Thousands of people in black were hit by several arrows and screamed in agony. Bai Fu felt a pain in his heart and couldn't bear to look directly at them.
Linghu Chao stroked his beard, laughed loudly, pointed at the city head and said: "Zhang Xun, Zhang Xun, I had expected that you would steal the camp tonight! The barrage of crossbows and arrows will definitely cause you to lose your troops and generals!"
Zhang Xun, Zhang Xun, you are just a mere county magistrate in Li Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty has more for you, but less for you. Li Longji is not very kind to you. You have been in officialdom for many years, and you have not been promoted. Why should you serve the Li family?
Father and son working hard?
Now that Li Tang's strength has been exhausted, why should he stick to the isolated city and die for Li Tang?
Surrender as soon as possible, and I will protect you as a high official, a generous salary, and prosperity!"
Before he finished speaking, a person appeared on the city tower, protected by heavy shields. It was the county magistrate Zhang Xun.
Zhang Xun sneered and said: "Old Linghu, you are also a member of the official family, and the court treats you kindly. I have promised myself to be loyal and righteous throughout my life. Where is my loyalty with today's actions?
Are you ashamed to make trouble for a bastard and humiliate your ancestors?!"
Linghu Chao became angry and pointed his finger at Zhang Xun on the city, yelling: "Generals, listen to my orders and shoot me to death! Whoever kills Zhang Xun, a common man, will be rewarded with a hundred taels of gold!"
If I don’t kill this man, I swear I won’t be a human being!”
There must be a brave man under the heavy reward. The officers and soldiers of the Pseudo-Yan Dynasty were overjoyed, and they took out the carved feather arrows with their names engraved on them and shot them at the tower.
Just listen to the loudspeaker of the machine, "swish, swish, swish", thousands of arrows are like meteors and flowers, streaking across the sky, shooting at the man in black on the tower of Yongqiu.
The more than a thousand men in black had no time to escape and screamed repeatedly, their bodies filled with arrows, like hedgehogs.
Bai Fu had a thought in his mind and thought to himself: "That's wrong?! These people have all been shot into hedgehogs. How come they are not dead yet and are still screaming? There is a trick involved. Could it be that they are scarecrows in disguise?"
After a while, Linghu Chao also noticed something strange. He waved his hand and hurriedly stopped, ordering the crossbowmen to stop firing arrows.
It was too late, I only heard Zhang Xun laughing on the tower, and said in a loud voice: "Thank you, Lord Linghu, for the arrow!"
The Tang troops guarding the city burst into laughter and shouted in unison: "Thank you, Lord Linghu, for the arrow!"
The soldiers of the Tang army hid behind their shields, alternately pulling with their hands, and happily pulled more than a thousand black scarecrows filled with arrows onto the tower.
"Fell into a trap!"
Linghu Chao was so ashamed that he felt dizzy and almost fainted and fell to the ground. The soldiers quickly helped him back to the camp and sent him to the big tent to rest.
The Pseudo-Yan archers and crossbowmen slowly retreated to the camp amidst the roars of laughter from the Tang army. They hung their buckets high and closed the camp door tightly.
…
It turned out that Yongqiu had been besieged for several months without any weapons or supplies. After many offensive and defensive battles, there was no arrow defense in the city.
When the three armies were tired and frustrated, and the generals were at their wits' end, Zhang Xun cleverly used the trick of "borrowing arrows from a straw man" and earned hundreds of thousands of crossbow arrows, many of which were crossbow iron arrows and well-made carved feather arrows.
.
Bai Fu secretly raised his thumb and praised: "This Master Zhang Xun is amazing!
The Taifu said that he was a Jinshi in the late Kaiyuan period. He was well versed in books and knew how to fight. Although he was just a county magistrate and his rank was not high, he always interacted with adults and elders.
When I saw it today, it certainly lived up to its reputation!"
When the military camps of the two sides were all silent, Bai Fu took advantage of the darkness to climb over the fence of the military camp and came to the city gate on the other side of Yongqiu. He touched the city wall with his tiptoe, flew up, and jumped several feet up in one breath.
After a few feet, the true energy became turbid, and Bai Fu's figure was about to fall.
Bai Fu opened his arms and relied on the Xunding Cauldron's true energy to sense the wind to find the air whirlpool in the air. With the help of the air current, he glided to the end of the city wall like a big bird.
He tapped the slightly convex city bricks with his toes and jumped up again. After a few gliding ups and downs, Bai Fu leaped onto the city tower.
Hundreds of Tang soldiers on the city tower were counting the results of the battle, and they got hundreds of thousands of arrows without any effort! Such a beautiful thing made all the soldiers smile. It was like fishermen pulling a net to catch fish and returning home with a full load.
When Bai Fu appeared silently at the top of the city like a big bird, the generals were shocked. They were stunned for a while before they gathered their weapons and surrounded Bai Fu.
Bai Fu smiled freely and waved his hands, indicating that he was a friend rather than an enemy. The soldiers surrounded Bai Fu and waited for Master Zhang to come and deal with it.
In less than a cup of tea, Zhang Xun came over after hearing the news. Bai Fu passed the soldiers and handed Zhang Xun Taifu Xu's autographed letter.
Zhang Xun read the letter by the light of the fire. Bai Fu also took the opportunity to look at the Zhenyuan County Magistrate, who was famous for his ability to win more with less.
This man is about fifty, with deep-set cheeks, sparse beard and beard, and is dark and thin. The bags under his eyes are swollen, but his eyes are as bright as shooting cold stars.
Zhang Xun was overjoyed after reading the letter and quickly ordered his soldiers to withdraw from the siege.
Zhang Xun stepped forward quickly, held Bai Fu's hand tightly, and said with a smile: "It turns out that the leader of Yuanxi is here! With Bai Shaoxia, we don't have to worry about thousands of thieves and bandits!"
Returning to the command post of the city tower, Zhang Xun ordered his people to bring food and water, and said apologetically: "Yongqiu has been besieged for several months, there is a shortage of food, and there is nothing to entertain."
Bai Fu looked at the taro and wheat bran cakes on the plate and estimated that these were the best foods in Yongqiu City.
A warm current surged in Bai Fu's heart. He walked up to Zhang Xun and saluted with a military salute. Bai Fu said, "Sir, Bai Fu is not talented, so I am willing to serve you to the best of my ability!"
Zhang Xun hurriedly helped Bai Fu up, ordered people to go to the corner tower post, and called his two fierce generals to meet Bai Fu.
The first person to enter the tent was General Lei Wanchun. He was slender, as tall and straight as a javelin, with thick eyes and a dignified appearance.
Zhang Xun introduced: "Wan Chun's real name is Lei Zhen, and his courtesy name is Mingkong. He studied under the old man Mojing of Chisong Mountain in the Forty-eight Village. The old man Mojing gave him the Dharma title Daochan."
Lei Wanchun introduced himself to his past experience. He studied martial arts in Chisongshan for sixteen years. After learning boxing and art of war, he came down from the mountain to join the army.
After An Lushan rebelled, on the recommendation of his sworn brother Lei Haiqing, Lei Wanchun took another sworn brother Nan Jiyun and defected to Zhang Xun, the magistrate of Zhenyuan County.
Just as he was talking about Nan Jiyun, he heard a loud voice coming from outside the account: "Sir, this business was done very well today! Without spending a single soldier, I made Linghu hundreds of thousands of crossbow arrows for free!"
As soon as the curtain was lifted, a tiger general marched majestically into the tent. His helmet was pierced through his armor, his body was majestic, his chest was broad, his nose was like tiger gallbladder, his eyebrows were like paint brushes, his weapons were majestic, and he had the majesty of a tiger that shakes the sky.
Zhang Xun pointed at the person coming and said with a smile: "Nan Ba, come and see Bai Shaoxia."
The visitor stared angrily, grabbed Bai Fu's palm, exerted his strength in his palm, and squeezed Bai Fu's metacarpal bones tightly. Bai Fu smiled and said nothing, his palms were like steel.
Lei Wanchun frowned and scolded: "Third brother, don't be rude!"
The visitor laughed loudly, released Bai Fu's hand, patted Bai Fu on the shoulder, and said: "Good boy, with such strong hands, you can shoot a five-stone bow!"
Nan Jiyun is upright, straightforward, bold and uninhibited, and instantly wins Bai Fu's favor.
…
The four of them had similar spirits, drank water instead of wine, and talked and laughed happily.
While they were laughing and joking, the logistics craftsmen who repaired the weapons came to report and asked what to do with these thousands of scarecrows.
Lei Wanchun said: "The old method is to chop the straw with a guillotine, soak it in water and feed it to the horse."
Zhang Xun's eyes turned, and he had a plan in mind. He waved his hand to stop him and said, "Wait a minute. In the next few nights tomorrow, we will follow the same pattern and lower these thousands of scarecrows down to the city."
Lei and Nan were puzzled. Nan Jiyun asked: "Sir, if we repeat our old trick, how can that old thief Linghu Chao be fooled again?"
Zhang Xun laughed but did not answer.
Bai Fu had a flash of inspiration and captured Zhang Xun's plan. Bai Fu tapped his fingers on the table with a smile on his lips.
Zhang Xun laughed and said, "Young Master Bai guessed it?"
Bai Fu had a clear understanding and said with a smile: "When falsehood is true, truth is also false." Lei and Nan were at a loss.
Zhang and Bai looked at each other, cherished each other, high-fived and laughed.