Poor Family Chapter 685

  Chapter 685 Jingxing Blocking (Part 1)

Shuanglong Village is very simple, the houses are built with mud and branches, even the Juyi Hall in the village is built with rough wood, the soldiers are even more crudely equipped, and the weapons in their hands are relatively inferior spears and War knives, most of them are wearing cloth armor, many of them are holding bows and arrows, and all of them have disheveled faces. The open space in the village is full of vegetables, and there is a wheat field on the back hillside, and a group of chickens are running around in the woods.

Several rows of wooden frames were set up in the open space, covered with various furs and colorful feathers. Several soldiers were slaughtering a wild boar that had just been hunted, surrounded by a group of children. In another wooden house without walls, A dozen women are weaving homespun cloth.

Yan Qing followed Guan Sheng to the Juyi Hall, where there was a crude homemade large table with seven or eight wooden pier as chairs on both sides, and two large chairs on top, each covered with A tiger skin.

   "The conditions are not good, just sit down!"

  Guan Sheng asked Yan Qing to sit down, and asked the soldiers to bring two bowls of water. He smiled wryly and said, "There is no tea in the village, so I have to invite you to drink some mountain spring water. It tastes good!"

  Yan Qing picked up the pottery bowl and took a sip of water. He was a little surprised. Since he was robbing merchants, how could there be nothing in the village?

Guan Sheng understood what he was thinking and said with a smile: "Don't think this is still Liangshan. We intercept caravans and only take food and salt. We don't take any other property. We mainly live by hunting, so the officers and soldiers don't come to harass us anymore. Everyone is safe and well."

   "Why is Brother Guan in Jingxing? I remember that Brother Guan's home is not in Zhaojun?" Yan Qing asked puzzled.

   "It's hard to describe!"

Guan Sheng sighed softly, "When I was captured by Li Yanqing in Daming Mansion and released, I returned to Zhao County to work as a farmer, took care of my old mother, and supported my family. Two years passed peacefully. Later, Song Jiang rebelled and sent people to Zhao Jun asked me to go out of the mountain, but I didn't agree, and he reported me to the government for rebellion as he did when he forced Lu Junyi back then. As a result, I was wanted by the government, and my mother died of illness. My son came to Jingxing to be a hunter, and later his whereabouts were exposed, so I simply recruited a dozen poor hunters to go up the mountain and fall into the grass."

   "Then why did Huarong come here?"

"He rebelled with Song Jiang, but the army was completely wiped out in Daming Mansion. Song Jiang committed suicide by taking poison. Hua Rong ran to me when he had nowhere to go. He heard that I was in Jingxing, so he also came. So Yangjiaozhai was renamed Shuanglongzhai .”

   "Brother was one of the five generals of the Forbidden Army back then! Are you willing to be a bandit for the rest of your life like this?"

After Gao Qiu took charge of the Forbidden Army in front of the temple, he liked to rank martial arts, and came up with a ranking of "Shuanglong" and "Five Tiger Generals". The "Shuanglong" refers to Wang Jin with the iron stick and Zhou Tong with the bronze bow and iron arrow, while the "Five Tiger Generals" refer to the leopard head Lin Chong and the golden spear general Xu Ning. , Guan Sheng with a big sword, Dong Ping, a general with two guns, and Guang Huarong, a small Li.

Now, except for Xu Ning and Dong Pingshang among the Forbidden Army in front of the palace, everyone else is dead or gone. Guan Sheng and Hua Rong have always had a deep friendship. They were captured and surrendered when they followed Gao Lian to crusade against Liangshan. After six or seven years, they Both of them had their families ruined and their reputations ruined, and they had no choice but to become bandits.

Guan Sheng sighed and said, "Hua Rong and I were deeply hated by Gao Qiu. Originally, I didn't participate in Song Jiang's rebellion, but because of Gao Qiu's hatred, I was also included in the list of 18 criminals arrested by the imperial court. Actually ranked fourteenth, what do you think I can think of in this life?"

Yan Qing pondered for a while and said: "To tell you the truth, I am actually one of the big bandits wanted by the court, but because of my meritorious service in attacking Yanjing, I have been pardoned by the court, and I have also been named the seventh-rank Zhaowu captain and served as the scout of the Jingzhao army." Battalion general, the rewards I have earned for my military exploits alone have exceeded five hundred taels of gold, 1,500 acres of fertile land, and I also bought a five-acre house in Hangzhou, as well as Hu Sanniang, who is now a female military camp general , is Li Dutong's younger sister, and even I can do meritorious service and be accepted by officials, not to mention eldest brother and Hua Rong, you and Li Dutong have a good relationship, why don't you go and join Li Dutong?”

  Guan Sheng said for a while: "Actually, I have also considered it, but because of Gao Qiu, I am afraid that Li Dutong will not accept us."

"Brother Guan is totally wrong to think this way. Li Dutong was promoted as a teacher. His backer is a family of meritorious service, and has nothing to do with Gao Qiu. Li Dutong is now desperate for talents, and his subordinates are extremely lacking in martial arts. High-strength generals can be reused as long as they have real skills. The martial arts of Brother Guan and Hua Rong will definitely be valued by Li Dutong. It is a great opportunity to be recognized by the imperial court, even if you die for your country, you can still meet your ancestors without any shame, brother Guan must seize this opportunity!"

Life in Luocao was really difficult, and Guan Sheng considered finding another way out more than once, but he never found a suitable opportunity. Meeting Yan Qing today, Guan Sheng also saw a chance to get rid of the current situation. He pondered for a moment and said: "Let me discuss it with Hua Rong, and I'll give Brother Xian an answer!"

  Yan Qing was still not satisfied, and persuaded Guan Sheng: "Now I am ordered to investigate the situation of the golden soldiers at Tumen Pass, and it is very likely that I will encounter the golden soldiers on patrol. This is actually an opportunity for Brother Guan to make meritorious service. Don't hesitate any longer."

Guan Sheng nodded, got up and went out. After a while, Hua Rong and Guan Sheng walked in. Guan Sheng said with a smile: "We have a sentry post at Tumen Pass, which is usually used to keep an eye on caravans. There is a news from Gang that a Jurchen cavalry force of 2,000 men entered the Tumen Pass two hours ago."

  Hua Rong said calmly: "Even if you don't come to persuade us today, we will ambush the Jurchen cavalry this time, and now we are duty-bound."

  Yanqing was overjoyed. Although Guan Sheng and Huarong said it very implicitly, they were actually expressing their willingness to follow him and seek refuge with Li Dutong. What Huarong meant was that the ambush of the Jurchens was their vote.

It is about 120 miles from Tumenguan to Yangjiao Village. Even the cavalry will need a day. For Yan Qing and the others, there is still plenty of time, but how to ambush the 2,000 cavalry took them a long time. Think about it.

The opponent was two thousand elite cavalry, while the Song army had only fifty scouts. Although they were well equipped, they were too few. Among the more than one hundred and fifty soldiers in Ssangyong, there were more than forty women and children. There are only a hundred strong people, and their weapons and equipment are extremely backward.

   Wanting to stop the enemy as much as possible, the only reliance was the terrain. Of course, each scout brought three iron fire mines and five thunderbolts, but these igniters were not enough to wipe out 2,000 enemy troops.

  Shuanglongzhai soldiers are not useless. They also have an advantage, that is, they are familiar with the terrain and field combat. In addition, they are almost all hunters, so they have a natural advantage in mountain combat.

  Guan Sheng found an excellent ambush place, which is a pass five miles northeast of Yangjiao, which is the famous Niangziguan.

It's a pity that the pass has never been repaired since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and it is very dilapidated. There is no gate at the pass, and the Great Wall on the ridges on both sides has collapsed. In parallel, carts cannot stagger.

  If two caravans carrying goods are facing each other, one caravan will definitely wait outside Niangziguanxi City first, and they can pass only after the oncoming caravan passes through Niangziguan.

  This narrow mountain road is about 20 miles long, and Niangziguan is located in the only open place of this narrow mountain road. After passing Niangziguan and walking west for one mile, Jingxing suddenly opens up and enters the Peach Valley Basin.

At noon, the Song army scouts and a hundred soldiers arrived at Niangziguan. Niangziguan was built on the mountain, with a cliff on one side and an abyss on the other. It has been destroyed, and only some ruins remain. A family in Giethoorn Village has set up a food stall here all year round, and the business is quite prosperous.

  The pass is made of bluestone. Although it is old and covered with moss, it still looks very strong, but the gate of the gate and the city tower have disappeared, leaving only a bare stone city pass.

One hundred and fifty people began to pack sandbags immediately after they arrived at Niangziguan. The ruins of the buildings happened to be the best material for filling sandbags. There were a lot of sacks in Shuanglongzhai. Three sandbag walls were set up at the 40th pace, and tens of thousands of thorns were thrown within 150 paces, and the city cave was also blocked by sacks filled with sand.

  The scouts of the Song Dynasty went up to Guancheng, while the soldiers of Shuanglongzhai climbed up the side cliff, condescending, and ambush among the lush bushes.

   Time slowly arrived at dusk, and the snack stall had already run back to the village to report that the Jin soldiers were about to kill, and the people in the village were so frightened that they fled to the mountains in a hurry to seek refuge.

This is the hottest summer season of the year. The sun has already set, but the air is still sweltering, as if staying in a steamer. There was a rapid sound of horseshoes everywhere, and everyone's spirits couldn't help being shaken, and they all drew their bows and arrows, waiting for the opportunity to fight.

  The mountain road near Niangziguan is a little wider, and it can already accommodate three or four cavalry in parallel. In the distance, a long cavalry is winding like a long snake, galloping quickly towards Niangziguan.

  (end of this chapter)

Chapter end