The April season in southern Henan has turned back to autumn.
The undulating foothills welcome the rain, and the forest is both damp and cold with the lingering feeling of winter.
The mountainous areas were already inhabited in early years. Although they are too remote, generations of people have survived to this day by relying on the mountains and mountains. Several small villages in the mountains are now controlled by the militia, and many villagers have been forcibly recruited into the militia.
, it sounds nice to say that he wants to help Han to fight against Yuan, and to safeguard the republican people, but in the end he can't even eat a mouthful of food, and he disturbs the originally peaceful little life for no reason.
After all, it is a remote place. The few remaining villages in such a huge mountainous area cannot afford the material supplies of the civilian army. All food is confiscated, all livestock are requisitioned, and even all the men are reduced to strong men. The lives of the civilian army are not
It was difficult for the middle and high-level officials to tightly control the meager resources, including weapons, ammunition, and food, while the militia soldiers at the grassroots level could only get two steamed buns and some rice soup that could be seen in the bottom every day.
In fact, since the beginning of the year, even the middle and high-level people in the civilian army have been living in a very tight life. Several leaders and officers used to be able to eat meat and drink wine with every meal, but now they can only have a little meat every few days.
, as for the wine, all the wine was gone. The grassroots militia soldiers were even worse. Some of them were originally honest mountain people. After being forcibly recruited into the army, they not only had to be sent to the front line to fight against the official army, but also to be used as artillery fire.
Even wives and daughters were taken away by the officers.
It is said that the wives and daughters who were taken away were all used as logistics, sewing clothes and mending shoes for the soldiers, making ammunition, etc., but whether this was purely true, no one can say clearly, and no one dares to say clearly.
Not only the local mountain people who were forcibly recruited, but also the little minions who followed the master in the early years were also miserable.
After all, the officers are well fed and well clothed, and they will not be the first to rush to the front line and endure the gunfire during the battle. The minions are like ants, not worth paying attention to at all. So in the past few months
There have been many deserters here, but unfortunately in the deep mountains, the consequences of those who escaped were not necessarily very good. They would either get lost and die, be captured and executed, or accidentally enter the territory of other militia troops and be beaten to death.
Even if you are lucky enough to escape from the mountains, all the important transportation towns outside the mountains are guarded by government troops. There are really jackals in front of you and tigers in the back. How much luck do you have to be able to barely survive?
Li Zuting's team gathered in the col area of Hexi Mountain, occupying two large villages and one small village, with a total of about 1,500 people. Hexi Mountain is called "Little King's House" locally, although it is not too small.
Although it is high, it is the most convenient place for transportation in the entire southwestern mountainous area. The mountain col is located on the yin side of Hexi Mountain, making it easy to advance and retreat. However, it is covered by dense wild forests. For the vast majority of officers and soldiers who are greedy for life and fear of death, it is natural.
I would not and dare not take the risk of walking in here.
For Li Zuting, although his hiding place has a relatively flat and wide path, once the officers and soldiers make up their mind to launch a surprise attack, they can quickly reach here with only a guide to lead the way. However, the real barrier for the Hexi Mountain Col is
It is not the mountains and woods, but the two militiamen of Ge Xingyu and Guanyunzheng located in the northeast.
Compared with Li Zuting, these two civilian armies are located closer to the government troops stationed in Nanyang. It is absolutely impossible for the government troops to single out Li Zuting to attack alone, not to mention that Ge Xingyu and Guan Yunzheng cannot know about the government troops.
With the military in mind, whenever they find traces of officers and soldiers entering the mountainous area, they will inevitably set up an ambush to stop them.
The door of the cabin was pushed open, and several militia soldiers walked in carrying a skinny man. The man who was being carried was like a puddle of mud, and it seemed as if all the bones had been removed, and he was just limp.
He dragged his legs and let the civilian army soldiers drag him into the small house.
The wooden house has only two rooms, inside and outside. It is a typical mountain village hut. Several people have been waiting in the outer room. Judging from their clothes and demeanor, they must be senior leaders of the people's army.
With a "pop" sound, the militiamen threw the man on the ground viciously. The man just grunted and his whole body trembled faintly, but soon became motionless again.
"Did he say anything?" A middle-aged leader standing by the window asked the militia soldiers.
"Back to the Second Commander, I still said the same words. No matter how much I torture them, I can't come up with anything else." A civilian soldier replied.
The middle-aged young leader who was called the Second Commander thought for a while, and then looked at the other leader standing not far away.
The leader was younger than the second commander, and he looked like a gentleman in the yamen during the Qing Dynasty. He pondered for a moment and said unhurriedly: "It seems that there shouldn't be any
It’s fake. Chen Ergou escaped down the mountain privately before, and was captured by the army. Now the army has released him again, specifically with these words of surrender. That’s obviously what happened.”
The Second Commander sighed slightly and asked in a solemn tone: "Sir Officer Li, tell me, what should we do now?"
Siguan Li shook his head and said, "This matter... still needs to be decided by the Commander-in-Chief."
While he was talking, there was a sound of footsteps in the inner room. After the door curtain was opened, Li Zuting staggered out. He had the habit of taking a nap and had just taken a nap in the inner room, but the rainy weather aroused his arousal.
I have an old injury on my left leg. Last year, when I went to the army for the first time to fight, I was hit by a stray bullet in the thigh bone. Now the bullet has not been taken out, and it hurts unbearably every time it rains. With this bad weather and the torment of the leg injury,
It made his face look very ugly.
After everyone waiting in the outer room saw Li Zuting, they all bowed respectfully and said hello.
Chen Ergou, who was lying on the ground without daring to move, suddenly trembled with fright when he heard someone calling Li Zuting to say hello, and curled up in a ball involuntarily.
Li Zuting was almost fifty years old and had traveled around the world all year round. Although he had a strong body, his appearance looked older. He glanced coldly at the people on the ground and asked in a hoarse voice: "Is this
Chen Ergou?"
The second commander quickly replied: "Commander, this person is Chen Ergou. This morning, the brothers found him outside the col. The outpost caught him after checking that no one was following him."
Li Zuting was silent for a while, and then said in his sandy voice: "I just heard you say that the army captured him and then released him specifically? What happened?"
Siguan Li took a step forward, briefly repeated what he had said before, and then added: "It is said that it is an official army coming from Shangqiu. The Yang army that recaptured Shangqiu has obviously changed its strategy and will suppress it."
It became a recruitment. According to what Chen Ergou brought back, one of Bai Lang's troops has accepted the recruitment, and this time they came to Nanyang with Zhong Yang's army, saying they wanted to persuade us to surrender together."
Li Zuting said contemptuously: "Zhong Yang Army? Previously, He Fenglin and Zhang Xiyuan also said that they would be adapted into Zhong Yang Army. Judging from their quality, Zhong Yang Army is nothing more than this. They are just changing the soup without changing the medicine. I
Are you afraid of him?"
Siguan Li changed his tone and said seriously: "Commander, I'm afraid that this central yang army cannot be compared with He Fenglin and Zhang Xiyuan. I have heard about it before. This central yang army is really transferred from the north.
The leader of the sharp troops is Yuan Su, who is currently the governor of Shanhaiguan and is also the nephew of Yuan Shikai."
It's not that Li Zuting has heard nothing about him. In fact, he is still somewhat interested in Yuan Shikai, his nephew. To say that the hardship during this period has worn out the will of many people, it can be said that there are deserters every day among his troops.
It's just that his subordinates concealed it and didn't report it. But concealing it doesn't mean that he didn't know it.
He Fenglin also sent out news to recruit people before. The reason why he ignored He Fenglin was that he believed that the terms offered by this person would never be too good. In addition, there were many militiamen gathered here at that time, and in front of so many green forest leaders
It is obviously very shameless to surrender in front of others.
Now times have changed, and the momentum of the Henan People's Army has dropped sharply with Bai Lang's transfer.
Li Zuting had to think about his own way out. For gangsters like them who made a living by robbing roads, there were only two results if they wanted to escape unscathed, either to hide incognito and secretly hide, or to accept the government's recruitment. From the day he rose up,
He had already planned his escape route in his mind. He was not like Bai Lang or other militia forces, who had lofty revolutionary feelings and the moral imperative to rob the rich and give to the poor.
It's nothing more than taking advantage of the trend, doing one vote to earn one vote, and then hiding with the trend.
It's just that the situation developed a bit unexpectedly. Wouldn't it mean that we lost our old nest and were forced into such a poor place in the mountains and forests by the army? Not to mention that we didn't earn a single vote, but instead we lost money.
I've made a lot of mistakes. Now we have nowhere to go or retreat. Even if we want to accept Zheng Fu's offer, we can't just walk away.
"What do you think?" After a long silence, Li Zuting slowly asked his confidants present.
"Commander, we have been hiding in this mountain forest for almost five months. Not to mention there is nothing in the mountain, no food, no ammunition, no medicine, not even a day of good weather. It is raining in spring.
, It will be summer in a while, and the humidity and heat in the forest will become uncomfortable." The second commander said with a sigh.
No one else said anything, but it could be seen from everyone's faces that they agreed with the second commander's words.
"Commander, brothers can't bear it anymore. Food is getting less and less every day, and bullets are missing every day. In fact, these are just small things. As long as we can send people to go south to Hubei, we can still buy some supplies.
. But the key issue is... alas..." Another small leader said worriedly, but he only said half of what he said and stopped talking.
In fact, everyone knew what he was about to say next. Indeed, supplies were a trivial matter. The biggest problem currently plaguing Li Zuting's team was the threat from Guan Yunzheng and Ge Xingyu. When Bai Lang sent to Henan
After Zhu Wenwei's troops in Nanshan District evacuated, the order in the entire mountainous area was gone. Guan Yunzheng and Ge Xingyu soon began to expel other militia teams as landlords. Some small teams were squeezed out and disbanded on the spot.
Teams with some strength were defeated one after another by the two of them. At present, the only foreign team left in the entire mountainous area was Li Zuting's team.
However, Li Zuting himself has always been very taboo about his subordinates saying these things. On the one hand, the reason is that Li Zuting's brand name is no worse than that of Guan Yunzheng and Ge Xingyu. On the other hand, he is really desperate now. He can't beat Guan Yunzheng and Ge Xingyu, and he can't retreat.
Wherever I go, this feeling of being in a dilemma is always annoying.
"The day before yesterday, our outpost in Xiabian Village was fired with black guns again. Eighteen or nineteen shots were fired in succession. The wooden beams at the outpost were almost broken. Two brothers were injured. Although both
It's just a minor scratch, but this is the third time this month. If anyone with a gun in the mountains is Ge Xingyu besides Guan Yunzheng, it's obvious that they are the ones behind it." The second commander was very angry.
said.
Li Zuting suddenly kicked the table beside him. The table hit the wall with a clang, and the tea bowls on it fell everywhere, making a series of clanking sounds.
This sudden change shocked everyone present, and they all held their breath and fell silent.
Li Zuting took a deep breath, and with endless anger in his hoarse voice, he said viciously: "Guan Yunzheng and Ge Xingyu, these two bastards, don't even understand the simple truth of lips dying and teeth cold. Humph, with such despicableness
When the villains come together, I am really blind. I, Li Zuting, have always been the only one who has given others a bad look, and no one has dared to give me a bad look. I have written down this grudge, and I will make Guan Yunzheng and Ge Xingyu repay it tenfold.
"
Under the glare of everyone, Siguan Li had no choice but to ask: "Commander, what do you mean..."
Li Zuting roared angrily: "Shut up, I'm all here. You are all doing this little good. The government and the army randomly sent someone to say that they want to surrender. Look how greedy you are. Do you really think that recruiting people to surrender is a good thing?"
?Don’t say whether this is true or not. Even if it is true, how do you know what the officers and soldiers are planning? Even if you put aside all this, think about it for yourselves. If we accept the recruitment, we will not get out of this forest.
, I have already asked Guan Yunzheng, Ge Xingyu and the others to ambush."
Siguan Li was so frightened that he turned pale, and for a while he didn't dare to say a word. Everyone else also looked helpless and could only pretend to be wrong, lowered their heads and said nothing. But fine
Thinking about it carefully, Li Zuting's words may not be unreasonable. It is a simple matter to say that he was defeated and captured and then recruited for peace. But now he is in the deep mountains, and there are Guan Yunzheng and Ge Xingyu's men in front. Even if he accepts the recruitment and passes by Guan Yun
Right, when Ge Xingyu defended the area, he would definitely have to fight his way out to get out.
The officers and soldiers did not send anyone to bring a message to Guan Yunzheng and Ge Xingyu, but they came directly to Li Zuting. It always felt like this was a deliberately designed conspiracy.
"Hmph, drag Chen Ergou out and behead him. From now on, no one is allowed to discuss the recruitment in private. As for where we will go... let me think about it for a while." Li Zuting said with great momentum, but at the end of his words he said
Showing a bit of indecisiveness. After he finished speaking, he didn't stop any longer and walked back to the inner room with faltering steps.