Lu Ming

In fact, at the fourth watch, there were faint voices and hoofbeats coming along with the wind.After realizing this sign, the caravan did not dare to act rashly.

In the early morning, with the rising sun, the two parties who had never faced each other but were looking for each other were finally able to gaze at each other.

The caravan figures huddled on top of the wall looked through the shallow mountain stream and dirt road in the middle, and landed on the opposite mound.

The gang centered on the mound has a total of about 500 people.These people had no scruples and swaggered on both sides of the official road.

Judging from their attire, the gangsters were clearly divided into three groups.

Located on the top of the mound, the big man occupying the C position is tall, with wide eyebrows and thin eyes, and a pie face with obvious Mongolian blood.This person was riding a yellow puma, wearing a greasy yellow military overcoat, with a leather cap on one side, and behind him were hundreds of big men in yellow riding in the same attire.

Behind the pie-faced man is a white flag two feet wide and four feet long, with a black word "righteousness" embroidered on it.

The left hand of the pie-faced man is a tall, thin, middle-aged man with a sharp face.This man was wearing a homespun jacket, simple attire, and riding a rough horse.

Although it looks inconspicuous, the number of younger brothers behind the knife-faced man is the largest among the gangsters.However, most of these gangsters in homespun costumes are horseless people with weapons.

There is also a recognition flag behind the knife face, with the word "Gu" embroidered on it.

On the right hand side of the pie-faced man is a well-proportioned man with a yellow face and a pair of eagle eyes.This person is riding a fine Mongolian horse, wearing a felt robe and a felt hat.The dozens of riders who came with him were all dressed like this.

This group of gangsters on horseback didn't have a flag, and most of them had bumpy marks on their faces. They were obviously horse bandits who had been walking in the windy and sandy land all year round.

While the two sides were looking at each other quietly, accompanied by a loud scolding, the gangsters gathered in front of the pass suddenly made a loud noise.Immediately, all kinds of scolding, strange laughter, and even obscene words resounded through the valley and echoed in the mountains.

Seeing this situation, there was not much commotion on the city wall... Anyway, it was an old convoy traveling north and south, and the simple threats of the gangsters couldn't scare people.

Sure enough, seeing that the defenders with swords on the top of the city didn't panic, the gangsters quickly quieted down.

However, this is only the beginning.

Seeing that the clamor had no effect, the knife-faced brother and the C-positioned brother nodded, waved their hands, and a knight sprang out from beside him, kicked his horse, and walked unhurriedly towards Guan.

Accompanied by the sound of hoofbeats, Wu Qian quickly recognized the person on the wall: Gu Laocheng, the Taihang spy who had been let go by him before.

At this time, Gu Laocheng is no longer the posture of running in a hurry before.I saw him lazily, not rushing, enjoying the tense atmosphere, feeling the gaze of countless eyes closing and closing, and slowly stopped the horse in front of the gate.

Glancing and closing a glance, Gu Laocheng first showed a sinister smile, then raised his voice and shouted: "Listen up on the wall, today Guangyi helps Ha Da to be the head of the family, Taihang Mountain Gu Da is the head of the house, and Xuanhua Maye is the leader of the three flags. I want to find you and wait for a profit."

"If you are sensible, just open the door to welcome guests honestly, and you can save your life. If Mr. Lao Fei makes a move, it will be like nothing!~"

After shouting the last sentence, Gu Laocheng raised his hand, and finally shouted: "Old rules, a stick of incense kung fu, you can choose what you want."

Seeing the figure of Gu Laocheng riding his horse back, the wall fell silent for a while.Although from last night to now, many people have fantasized about the current dangerous situation countless times, but when things really come to this point, many people still cannot accept it for a while.

At this moment, others can be in a daze, but decision makers cannot be in a daze.Quickly suppressing the negative emotions in his heart, Shopkeeper Wu settled down and asked, "We all know about Taihang Gu Ming and Xuanhua Majie, but what is the origin of the Guangyi Gang in the middle?"

The old guard on the side looked as if he had eaten shit, and replied slowly: "This Guangyi gang is a gangster that has only emerged in recent years. All members have horses, and they come and go without a trace. I heard that this gang is vicious. It is difficult to entangle tightly. The leader of the generation is Ha Liu. It is said that he was a horse bandit on the grassland in the early years, and he also served as an officer and soldier for a few days. Later, he turned against the Shangguan because of a gap, and came out to do it again in the past few years. The horse bandits."

Hearing what Old Fu said, Shopkeeper Wu relaxed his mind instead: "In this way, we have no way out today."

Surrender is impossible to surrender.At this point in the matter, if they surrender, even if the people in the caravan save their lives, they will be punished for a long time after returning, and their families will also be implicated.

So for Shopkeeper Wu, the only thing that needs to be done now is to mobilize all the staff to stand by and wait for help.

Other than that, there is no other way.

And the words of old Fu just now have already shown that the opponent will not keep alive, so this time the shopkeeper Wu will save trouble.He didn't need to spend too much time mobilizing the guys. Everyone would definitely fight the gangsters for their own lives.

A consensus was quickly reached on the wall.

After that, shopkeeper Wu found Ma Youbu, a veteran who was at a loss in the courtyard.

Since there were only eight people, the original owner of the pier, Ma Youbu, the official army force, had actually lost the dominance of the pier and turned into a melon-eating crowd.

But this does not prevent Comrade Ma from exercising his own official authority: calling the police.

For a pier with only eight guards, its official duties are very simple: "The police raised smoke as a signal, and Kou Zhi fired a cannon to report the news."

This is also what shopkeeper Wu asked him to do after he found Lao Ma: fire a cannon to warn.

Note that it is not smoke, but cannons.

"Giving up smoke as a sign" is the most common "flashing wolf smoke" in history books.

Once the wolf smoke is released, the surrounding pass will also release smoke, and the smoke will spread sequentially.At this time, as far as the Shanxi Border Pass in the west and Yanshan, the capital city in the east, the entire northern military defense system of the Ming Dynasty will become tense.Because in the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, the only thing worth letting go of is the invasion of the Tartars.

In today's situation, if the old horse had set off the smoke, a large number of officers and soldiers could have been summoned to disperse the bandits... However, after the Shangguan finds out the inside story, the ones waiting for the old horse and everyone in the caravan are the Zhujiu Clan Big crime... The ordinary people dared to pretend to be forced by King Zhou You, and they were wiped out in minutes, and it was useless to know anyone.

Shopkeeper Wu naturally understood this truth, so his request was simple: sound the horn.

Firing cannons is a formal procedure for dealing with small groups of bandits.When the pier fires the cannon, the officers and soldiers at the nearby checkpoints will hear it and send people to check it.

Of course, with such a large-scale bandit, it is unknown whether the general on duty at the checkpoint will send troops.

Chapter 686 Returning to the North (Eleven)

After negotiating with the official forces represented by Ma Youbu, the big shopkeeper distributed money to the eight-person group on the spot.

This time, it's done.The veterans with silver in their arms were all gearing up, planning to go up to the wall to fire the trumpet.

However, they were stopped by the big shopkeeper: get ready first, when to fire the cannon, listen to the yelling.

Shooting the trumpet is tantamount to completely tearing apart the face of the gangsters.As far as the current situation is concerned, time is on the side of the caravan.Not to mention the variables such as business travellers, patrolling officers and soldiers that may appear at any time, in the long run, there are also self-made reinforcements here.

Therefore, firing the trumpet is the last step of last resort, and we still have to strive for negotiations.It can be delayed for a while.

After a stick of incense, Gu Laocheng rode his horse again and came slowly to Guanxia.

This time, before Gu Laocheng could open his mouth, Shopkeeper Wu leaned forward and shouted: "Since the three masters are in front of you, and you have ambushed a good spy, Yi Xinlong should admit defeat today!"

After a pause, shopkeeper Wu continued to shout: "There is currently 500 taels of cash in the convoy, and I used to take out all of it to pay the toll. I will also offer some red goods, which can be regarded as an early New Year greeting for the masters...the future will be long, It's convenient today, we will meet again someday."

The conditions that shopkeeper Wu just mentioned are already the maximum bottom line he can bear.The cash sent to the family at the end of each year can be discarded, but the valuable goods cannot be discarded anyway. These are the foundation of Yixinlong's business name and the foundation of maintaining the reputation of major customers.

Guan Xia Gu Laocheng heard the words and sneered: "The shopkeeper Wu really doesn't know the importance! The three heroes gathered thousands of miles away today, can we get rid of us with money?"

"Never mind!"

When Gu Laocheng said this, he sighed: "If you don't see the coffin, you won't shed tears. I will stop thinking about you today!"

As soon as the words fell, Gu Laocheng reached out and grabbed from behind, then raised his hand suddenly, and threw something into the sky.

The dark object fell down in a whirl, and by coincidence, it happened to fall into the hands of Master Wu Fazheng, who subconsciously opened his arms.

The next moment, Wu Fazheng looked at the object in his hand, but it was an extremely familiar face: Uncle Ping.

Seeing Uncle Ping's furious eyes and the bloody incision on his neck, Wu Fazheng broke his guard in an instant, and shouted at Guan Xia with grief and indignation, "Huo Gui, you will die!"

Immediately afterwards, Wu Fazheng turned his head and shouted, "Fire the cannon!"

As the sound of the "rumbling" guns spread among the mountains, the merchants and thieves had no way out, and the confrontation began immediately.

……

The first group to rush forward were the Taihang miscellaneous bandits.

This group of people are all low-level gangsters under Gu Dadao's family. They work in the mountains when they are busy, and go down to work in the mountains when they are free. They belong to the standard atmosphere group.

The cannon fodder also had no equipment, each of them wore tattered earthen cloth and short brown, holding hatchets and torches in their hands, and the crowd also carried a tree trunk with the mouth of a bowl, which was used to hit the door.

When they got to the gate, the members of the atmosphere team threw the burning torch onto it while making deafening screams.At the same time, the ramming team rushed towards the closed door carrying the tree trunk.

In the face of this three-dimensional offensive, the response to closing the door is also very simple: put out the fire in time, and shoot arrows to block the enemy.

Wuhuodun is a large pier between the beacon tower and the checkpoint. It has a thick wall about three and a half stories high in later generations, and it can be regarded as a miniature pocket town.

Piers of this height are difficult to knock down in a short time when the defender has sufficient manpower.

Therefore, the gangster's siege method can be easily guessed: it is nothing more than hitting the door + attacking with fire.

As for the most common ant-attached siege... The gangsters came overnight after seeing the fireworks signal last night. They were not mentally prepared to attack the stronghold, nor did they have time to build siege equipment, such as ladders.

The ending of the first wave was almost as expected: the torches flying into the sky, whether they landed on the wall or in the courtyard, were immediately extinguished by the prepared defenders.

As for the door-slamming group, after only hitting the door twice, three people were pierced by sharp arrows shot from above, and then collapsed and turned around and ran away.

The first round was short-handed and ended in just 3 minutes.The attacking party retreated like a wind, leaving a few wailing wounded on the spot.

On the defensive side, except for the two unlucky guys whose arms were scalded by the fire, all members were unscathed.

Seeing this situation, the three big brothers on the slope did not have any mood swings: Yi Xinlong has been doing business inside and outside the mouth for many years, so it is bound to be a tough idea, and it is unreasonable that it will collapse at the first touch.

It was a trial just now, and the following is the dinner.

After about half an hour, the second wave of attacks by the gang organization began.

He is still the subordinate of Taihang Gu Boss.It's just that the people who participated in the battle this time are all elites, commonly known as old bandits.

It is different from the previous atmosphere group.The second group of elites not only temporarily made some arrow-proof bamboo and wooden cards, but also equipped with some miscellaneous hunting bows and crossbows.

After rushing to the pass, the old bandits quickly completed the division of labor and cooperation.The door-slamming group with shields carried the tree trunks and slammed into the door at the first time, and the rest with various long-range weapons began to shoot at the wall.

From this moment on, the battle really started, and entered the cruel stage of consumption.

As soon as they fought, there were casualties both above and below the city, and there were wounded people on both sides who were shot through their faces and bodies by arrows.In addition, the gray bottles and stones suddenly thrown from the top of the wall also caused casualties to the door-slamming team wearing shields.

However, elites are elites after all.Although several of them were knocked down and injured, the door-slamming team, which was constantly replenished with fresh troops, was still hitting the door non-stop.

The elite old bandits, who were much more tenacious in fighting will than the atmosphere group, persisted in the city for quite a long time this time.It wasn't until the door was knocked precariously that the old bandits couldn't bear the casualties and began to retreat.

This wave of brutal offensive and defensive battles resulted in a sharp attrition of more than ten people on both sides.In contrast, the gang lost more, more than 30 people.This number is tolerable for caravans, but it is very expensive for gangsters.

Taihang Gu Boss seems to have the most manpower among the three groups of gangsters, but elites are not Chinese cabbage, they are the backbone of the team, and one dies less than one.

After the second round of fighting, seeing that the sun had reached the top of the head, both sides knew that the fight could not continue, so they both tacitly began to repair and lick their wounds, preparing for the third round of attacks in the afternoon.

The shopkeeper Wu, who was commanding the wall with a short knife throughout the whole process, saw the gangsters burning water and roasting dry food from a distance, and finally heaved a sigh of relief, and began to arrange for the aftermath.

He first replaced all the people on the wall, and ordered the fresh troops on standby below to come up on duty.

This is where the defender's advantage lies: the reason why Wuhuodun was originally chosen here was because the terrain was steep on three sides, and only the front could deploy troops.

In this way, the defender with a small number of people can only defend one wall, and the disadvantage of human resources can be made up for.

After the wall was settled, shopkeeper Wu walked down the steep stairs to the courtyard.

In order to prevent fire attack, the center of the courtyard is empty.All vehicles and livestock were placed under the wall.The valuable goods industry has been urgently moved into the premises.Shopkeeper Wu checked and found that everything was in order before entering the barracks.

The barracks where officers and soldiers used to sleep have become wounded barracks.

The expressionless young master Wu Fazheng was temporarily acting as a hygienist, disinfecting a wound with salt water and a damp cloth.On the side bunk, there were several wounded men and guards waiting for medical assistance, and from time to time let out a painful cold snort.

Helping to treat two wounds, shopkeeper Wu encouraged the army before leaving the door: "They are all heroes on the cabinet, and each person will be rewarded with ten taels of silver. The wounds are inflamed, and the emperor will be relieved!"

This statement is very useful.Everyone knows the miraculous effect of Huang An San. The promise of shopkeeper Wu is equivalent to saving everyone's life, so the morale of the wounded has been significantly improved immediately.There are those who are not seriously injured, and they still say that they can fight again.

After settling the injured number, shopkeeper Wu finally had time to check the most critical city gate.

It is different from the tall city walls.The gate of Wuhuodun is just an ordinary wooden gate, thicker at best, and there is no gate hole, which is a weak point of defense.

When shopkeeper Wu checked, he found that the city gate was really broken, and half of the gate was already crumbling, and he could see through the gap to the opposite side.

"Here is the winner."

Staring at the city gate with his hands behind his back, shopkeeper Wu said calmly to Wu Qian who was beside him.

After the battle, Wu Qian went to the city gate to check immediately.When shopkeeper Wu came over, he was picking and choosing among the piles of equipment on the ground, accompanied by the monk and the dumb two generals.

This pile of equipment, including cotton armor, paper armor, knives, axes and shields, is all Ming army weapons stored in the warehouse of the pier according to regulations.

The knives, axes and shields that can be used in the equipment have been used on the wall before.And because of well-known reasons, half of the armor that Wu Qian and the others are picking at the moment has been rotten, so they can only piece together.

"The government has prepared stones at the gate. We will carry them in the afternoon, and we will block the door with stones."

After Wu Qian came up with a solution, he took advantage of the opportunity to blackmail the officers and soldiers: "It's just not sending troops after seeing the gunfire, what a coward."

Shopkeeper Wu couldn't help laughing when he heard this: "It's all expected, why bother with him."

According to the formal procedures, at this time, Shan Nei Pass, which is the closest to Wuhuodun and guarded by a large number of officers and soldiers, must have sent people to investigate.

However, when he heard that there were so many gangsters, the guard probably gave up...

Shopkeeper Wu has dealt with officers and soldiers too much, and he knows what the other party thinks very well, so he only focuses on himself today: "We all know the temper of the gangsters, so we have to survive today. Even if they have the courage to stay tomorrow, it will not be a problem. .”

"That's right."

... Shopkeeper Wu's judgment was not wrong.

For gangsters, the combat mode of forcibly attacking strongholds like today is not the norm.

Scattered and poorly organized gangsters are organizations used to rob merchants and travellers. They can't be like the regular army, besieging city strongholds for a long time and carrying out tragic offensive and defensive operations.

What's more, this time it was a temporary cooperation between three gangs from all over the world. This kind of fragile alliance could not withstand the internal friction caused by repeated downsizing, and could fall apart in minutes because of a trivial matter.