The Red Mansions

Chapter 137

Chapter 137

It was already evening, and Jia Heng led five hundred soldiers in ambush, along the rugged and steep mountain road, and advanced into the depths of Cuihua Mountain.

"My lord, the valley a hundred steps ahead is the one." Zhao Yi, who was leading two scouts to explore the way, turned around with his back bent, pointed at the direction of the valley behind him, and said in a low voice.

Jia Heng nodded, and followed Zhao Yi forward for about a hundred steps.

Standing under the hazel tree, looking at the valley, I can see that in the valley, there are scattered green brick and tile houses built on the flat land, thieves and bandits come and go, and there are even women washing clothes by the small river.

Cuihua Mountain is guarded by thieves, with cloth scarves on their heads, standing on the bamboo tower with a knife, patrolling back and forth, looking like a small village from a distance.

"You just went there, did you find the secret whistle?" Jia Heng asked in a low voice.

Zhao Yi said: "I found two of them, and they're gone. I just went over to take a look. The cottage was empty. There were only about [-] thieves with knives. The rest were robbed old and young women and children, washing clothes for the thieves. , chopped firewood to boil water."

Zhang Wu, the leader of Cuihua Mountain, also brought the second leader Luo Xiong and the third leader Qian Qing with more than 600 people in the early morning. go.

Only Zhou Gen and Fan Yi, the fourth masters, were left in the village, leading more than [-] people to stay behind.

Jia Heng nodded, followed Zhao Yi and walked fifty steps forward to the left, standing on a high hill covered by lush hazel pine, overlooking the valley, and had a panoramic view of the village's layout, with a gloomy complexion, and said in a low voice : "Zhao Baihu, when it gets dark later, you lead 100 people to attack from the southwest corner, and I will lead people to attack from the front."

Zhao Yi frowned and said, "My lord, it's too dangerous to attack from the front. It's better than me to attack from the front."

Although the fortifications and arrow stacks built by the thieves are all made of stone, soil and bamboo, they look rather crude.

But if it is used well, it can still cause damage to the attacking side. If Master Jia made a mistake, how would he treat Mr. Dai?

"It's okay, when these busy old and weak people return to the village, it's the time when the bandits are most relaxed. The gate of the village is wide open, and we take the opportunity to kill them. As long as you respond from the side, we can minimize the casualties .” Jia Heng said in a low voice.

Hearing this, Zhao Yi looked at the young man with admiration in his eyes.

It is no wonder that he dared to risk his arrows and strive to be the first. It is no wonder that he said when he resigned from the title, he should not be grateful to his ancestors, but take fame for himself.

……

……

At the same time, at the intersection of Yangji, five or six miles away from Chang'an County, six or seven hundred bandits led by Zhang Wu also entered the forest next to the intersection to hide.

In the afternoon, when Luo Xiong saw the convoy approaching in the distance, he shouted "do it".

Hearing the sound of the trumpets, hundreds of bandits jumped out from the grass and tree branches, and killed the officers and soldiers pretending to be traveling merchants.

"Don't mess up! Copy guys!" Cai Quan looked at the soldiers who were about to abandon the car and left, shouted angrily, pulled out the Yanling knife from the compartment full of goods, took the hand crossbow, and shot at the bandits according to the car.

"Whoosh"...

As the officers and soldiers finished firing a round of crossbows, a dozen bandits immediately fell to the ground with a "groan of pain".

Luo Xiong snorted coldly, raised his knife to kill Cai Quan, but was stopped by Qu Lang holding the knife.

Afterwards, the officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp ambushed all over the place, attacking the thieves and bandits.

There were only 300 officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp, but because Jia Heng had greeted Huang Tai in advance, Huang Tai gritted his teeth and dispatched [-] elite soldiers.

Although Zhang Wu was shocked, he thought it was the ambushing army of the Beijing camp, blocking Huang Tai's troops and the army of the Beijing camp, and covering Luo Xiong who had looted some of his property to break through, while retreating towards the mountains and forests.

Huang Tai's unit and Cai Quan's unit were holding tightly to Zhang Wu's group, so the entire Yangji intersection was full of fighting noises, and gradually there was a tendency to fight into a mess.

Because the Yangji fork was close to Chang'an County after all, the thieves were timid, facing the Shangguan army's brigade, they encountered bows and crossbows, and the casualties became heavier.

The 600 people who were originally brought out, under the volley of crossbow arrows from the army, killed a hundred of them, and there were still three or four hundred trapped in the formation.

Zhang Wu was angry and furious for a while, and he turned around and took more than a hundred thieves who had escaped, and turned around to rescue them.

Due to the disparity in the strength of the two sides, and the excellent military equipment of the officers and soldiers, it was not a bad battle in the end. Until the night fell and the vision was limited, the Cuihua bandits left more than 200 dead bodies and more than [-] wounded and captured. After the accomplices, this is out of contact.

In the forest, Zhang Wu's face was gloomy, and he was filled with remorse when he saw that there were only two hundred men left behind him.

But on Jia Heng's side, as soon as it got dark, he took his [-] recharged soldiers, divided them into two teams, and rushed to the gate of the village in the valley under the cover of the twilight.

At this time, the old and young women and children in the village were returning from washing their clothes and chopping firewood. They were walking slowly towards the gate of the village, but they were rushed by the officers and soldiers and fled in all directions.

"Enemy attack..."

On the crenel of the gate of the village, which was as tall as one person, a bandit who was eating with steamed buns suddenly panicked when he saw this.

However, at this moment, he saw a flash of light from the knife, and the thief squinted his eyes slightly, only to feel his consciousness go dark, and a cloud of blood sprayed from his neck.

Jia Heng swung the Yanling Saber in his hand, beheaded a bandit, and headed towards the interior again.

On this trip to suppress bandits, he did not bring a sword, but found a knife to kill the enemy conveniently.

"Seize the gate!"

While shouting loudly, Jia Heng headed towards the inside of the cottage, and when he saw the bandits with knives, he chopped them off.

At the same time, a hundred soldiers led by Zhao Yi also shot out from the other side, and the two sides were like two arrows, strangling the bandits.

The thieves were caught off guard, and there was a great chaos. After six or seventy people died, they finally couldn't hold on, collapsed completely, and knelt down to ask for surrender.

When the night shrouded the mountains and forests and the bright moonlight shone on the valley, the killing sounds stopped in the Cuihua Mountain village.

Jia Heng frowned as he smelled the bloody atmosphere around him, and walked to the Juyi Hall of the five halls before entering the hall. The cheeky scholar came out of the Juyi hall.

Hu Ji said with a smile: "My lord, a thief leader has been captured alive."

Hearing this, Jia Heng sized up the square scarf scholar whose hands were cut behind his back and tied with a rope. Seeing his fair skin and elegant temperament, especially his calm eyes, he frowned and said, "Let's go in first." , I personally interrogated."

Hu Ji winked, and the two soldiers followed the scholar and walked towards the interior.

"Is this lord the Royal Guard of the imperial court?" Fan Yi asked without waiting for Jia Heng to speak, staring at the flying fish suit Jia Heng was wearing.

"Honestly, kneel down!" Two soldiers kicked Fan Yi's legs, Fan Yi's face showed pain, but she just groaned.

"Seeing that you are also a scholar, why are you following a thief?" Jia Heng looked calm, waved at Hu Ji, and motioned for the two soldiers to retreat. Then, without waiting for the scholar to answer, he looked at the scholar's lame leg, frowned and said, "This is The thieves from Cuihua Mountain beat it?"

Fan Yi said indifferently: "It was interrupted by a gentleman in Beijing."

Jia Heng frowned, and was about to speak, when suddenly the Baihu named Hu Ji was holding a blue cloth bag and said with a flattering smile, "My lord, I found this from the scholar's house."

Jia Heng reached out to take it and opened the cloth bag, but was attracted by a document stamped with the official seal of a school official in Hubei, and frowned, "Fan Yi? The son of Xiangyang Prefecture, Hubei, Chongping 13th year..."

Reading the words on it, Jia Heng's eyes flickered.

As a Juren, he has the privilege of being exempt from taxes and corvees in the local area. Even if he is lame, he should not be a thief.

That's right, just now Fan Yi said that he was beaten by a public official in Beijing, the details here are quite interesting.

Jia Heng's face was frosty, his eyes were fixed on Fan Yi, and he said: "Your leg was broken in order to catch up with the exam, why didn't you report it to the official?"

How arrogant to actually break the leg of a candidate rushing for the exam!

Later generations heard a professor surnamed Zhai say that when a system prevents the reserve members of the ruling elite from feeling their way up, and thus despairs of the system, it is a precursor to a change of regime.

Generally speaking, if you want to rebel with mud legs, you are the king's pioneer.

If a scholar (student) rebels, he will fail in three years, but if a scholar combines peasants and workers...

Seemingly feeling the "wrath" of the young man's eyes, Fan Yi sighed inwardly, and said with a wry smile: "The student is a student who entered Beijing for the exam in Chongping in 12, and because of conflicts with others, he offended a member of the Wucheng Military Division. The little official, the green skin in the east of the city was hired by the little official, and his lower leg was broken. The student also reported to the official. They were all sent by the petty officials there to report the case to Yousi, and the students lingered in Shenjing, exhausted all their money, and wanted to return home, but were captured by the bandits here, and it has been two years since then."

Jia Heng's face was gloomy, and he said coldly: "Wucheng soldiers and horses? Is there such a bold and reckless person?"

Fan Yi sighed, and said: "The student knows that he is a traitor, and it is impossible to escape death. I just beg you, can you clarify the student's doubts?"

Jia Heng frowned and said, "Confused?"

Fan Yi looked up at the boy and said, "How did your lord find out where this cottage is?"

Jia Heng said: "You mean this bandit's lair?"

Fan Yi nodded, sighed and said, "To tell you the truth, my lord, the student gave Zhang Wu a strategy not to build a city on a high mountain, but to temporarily live in a valley, and to hide in the mountains at any time when encountering an officer or army."

When Jia Heng heard this, his heart moved slightly, and he said: "The thieves colluded with the Ningguo Mansion and wanted to harm me. I learned from the thieves' confessions that you would go back and forth to the bandit's nest within a day. So I used the three crimes you often commit. At the place where the fork roads converge, calculate the location of the bandit's nest!"

When Fan Yi heard the words, she stood there in a daze, her face trembling slightly, and she was quickly thinking about the words of the young man in front of her.

Many things are like this, often separated by a layer of window paper, once pierced, resourceful people can instantly gain insight into the key points.

Fan Yi looked at the young man with a complicated expression, and asked, "I don't know, sir."

Jia Heng said indifferently: "Jia Heng."

"People from Jia's family in Shenjing?" Fan Yi asked in a startled voice after pondering for a while.

"Ningguo lineage." Jia Heng said calmly, his stern eyes fell on Fan Yi's face, and asked: "Mr. Fan finished questioning me, now it's time for me to interrogate Mr. Fan. The bandit leader of Cuihua Mountain seems to be called Zhang Wu? How many bandits are there in the mountains? How did they collude with Jia Zhen and Chang'an Jiedu envoy, and is there any correspondence between them?"

Fan Yi was silent for a while, and said: "If the student tells the whole story, can the adults agree to the student's unfeeling request?"

Jia Heng said: "If you don't invite me, please?"

"If a student dies for the imperial court, please hire a carriage to take the student's body back to his hometown Xiangyang for burial." Fan Yi said.

Jia Heng said: "It is also human nature for people to return to their hometown when they grow old, and for leaves to return to their roots. I can promise you this."

Even though there is a bit of love for Fan Yi in his heart, it is not easy to promise right now.

Fan Yi thanked her, and then began to talk about the details of the Cuihua Bandits.

Jia Heng's face was gloomy, and the more he heard it, the more frightened he became.

But the Cuihua bandits bribed Chang'an Jiedu envoy Yun Guang, sending 5 taels of silver every six months (Yun Guang didn't tell Jia She the truth), and sent them three times, adding up to 15 taels. Coupled with various gifts, the wealth is overwhelming.

"These transactions of gold and silver are all recorded in the account books." Fan Yi said.

Hearing this, Jia Heng quickly winked at Hu Ji, a hundred households beside him, and asked him to search for letters and account books in Chen Wu's house.

After a while, Hu Ji held a wooden box and respectfully handed it to Jia Heng's desk.

Jia Heng picked up a letter and began to read it. The person who wrote the letter was Yun Guang, the Jiedu envoy of Chang'an!

Jia Heng's eyes were deep, and he breathed a sigh of relief.

With this letter, Yunguang can be taken down, but do you want to ask Shenjing for an order?

Will there be any leaks?

Jia Heng thought about it, and suddenly Zhao Yi entered the Juyi hall, his cheeks were flushed, he clasped his fists and said, "Master, everyone has been detained, the property has been counted, the silver is 26 taels, the silk is [-] pieces, and the jade jewelry is [-] taels." Five boxes of..."

Jia Heng's complexion moved slightly, he looked at Zhao Yi, and said in a deep voice: "Have someone close the gate of the village, carry the corpse away, put the blood on the loess pad, and tell the brothers that the bandits will return to their nest in at most two hours, let them Install the crossbow, let's close the door and beat the dog!"

Just now from Fan Yi, I learned about the realities of the Cuihua bandits. Zhang Wu brought out six or seven hundred bandits.

(End of this chapter)