treacherous world

The little tiger in Tianzun's hand may have been picked up from the military camp. It looks fat but not clumsy. It seems that the reaction is a bit slow. It looks like it has just eaten.

Zhan Zhao reached out and grabbed Bai Yutang's hand that subconsciously stretched out to pinch the tiger's paw, and glanced at him by the way. Bai Yutang didn't know where he developed the habit. Whenever he saw a cat, the first thing he did was pinch the paw. "I went to their barracks just now, and saw it crawling out, so I picked it up by the way." Then, Tianzun reached out to ask Bai Yutang for silver, "1000 taels, do you want to buy it?"

Bai Yutang was about to take out the money, Zhan Zhao held him down and glared at him—the tiger is not a cat at this time, it will grow big and eat people!

Bai Yutang felt a little regretful, and stared at the little tiger for a long time, then stretched out his hands to pinch the little tiger's ears to make it look up, staring into its eyes...

At this time, Zhan Zhao also realized that this tiger was unusual. From the beginning, he felt strange—although it was a small tiger, it was too obedient, and there were so many ferocious beasts in the barracks below, how could it be possible for the elephant and The tigers stood side by side, as if each other didn't exist, and tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the whole camp could be killed by wild beasts, why are they so obedient.

Taking a closer look, everyone found a problem, the little tiger's eyeballs had a layer of faint fluorescent green, in the form of powder.

"The beasts may be controlled by drugs." Bai Yutang said, "My sister-in-law once mentioned that many animal trainers give some drugs to the beasts to make them obedient or addicted, so that they are easy to control."

"It's not easy." Zhan Zhao looked down the mountain again, "If there are thousands of troops and horses, it's fine. How can they fight with so many beasts? Don't talk about people, even the horses dare not approach."

"And if those ferocious beasts are all under control, it will be difficult to make them eat poisonous things. In other words, it won't work." Bai Yutang frowned, "It's not easy to kill one by one, with sharp teeth Leaving aside, how do we deal with those elephants?"

"This is what Zhao Pu has to consider." Tianzun stroked the little tiger's head, feeling quite obedient.

Zhan Zhao asked him, "Tianzun, you have visited the barracks, have you found that there is a commander or a king in this barracks?"

"No!" Tianzun obviously went for this, so he felt even more puzzled, "It's strange, I went around, and every tent in this military camp is exactly the same, but there is no commander or superior, and every alien Soldiers feel like wooden men."

"It's so strange..." Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang looked at each other, thinking about how to deal with it, when they heard the sound of horns coming from the foot of the mountain.

The three of them looked down the mountain with their heads... Immediately, they had nothing but admiration for Zhao Pu.

This Zhao Pu really used 3000 people to pull out a military camp for hundreds of miles. From visual inspection, it feels that at least hundreds of thousands of troops are stationed here, which is too deceiving!

"It's imposing!" Zhan Zhao couldn't help admiring, and asked Bai Yutang, "How did he do it?"

"It's about the formation." Bai Yutang couldn't help but nodded, "Zhao Pu really has some skills."

"Of course." Zhan Zhao smiled, "If he only knows how to play hooligans, he won't be able to be a general of soldiers and horses."

"But how will we fight this battle?" Bai Yutang asked Zhan Zhao, "I'm not afraid of fighting alone, but in case the two armies will fight each other later, we will ride horses and others will ride elephants. It's much shorter than half."

"Huh?" Zhan Zhao seemed to have discovered a very interesting question, "If you ride an elephant to fight, how long should your weapon be? It should be as long as Xiaoyu's clothes-drying pole."

"Or like a kitchen lady, flying fire sticks."

"Then what if you come up on a tiger?"

"Oh, that's nothing to be afraid of." Bai Yutang replied calmly, "It's ugly to ride a tiger with your legs bent!"

Zhan Zhao nodded seriously.

Tianzun stood aside and looked at the two people talking admiringly—these two are really young and out of blue. Seeing that this place is not surprised, he didn't pay attention to those elephants and tigers. It seems that he has confidence in Zhao Pu and believes in him. We must be able to come up with a strategy against the enemy.

When the three of them went down the mountain to the barracks, they saw that Hou Yin had returned, eating noodles with a noodle bowl, looking for chili noodles everywhere.

Zhao Pu sat behind the Shuai case not far away, not looking at the map or studying the art of war, but playing rock-paper-scissors with the younger brother.

Gongsun peeled the tangerine leisurely, stuffed the orange into the mouth of the fourth son, and gave another to Xiao Liang, the only one who was reading the book of war seriously. Finally, he stuffed the smaller half into Zhao Pu's mouth, and then peeled it again.

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang felt suspicious - did they have an idea?

"Hey, old ghost, what are you holding in your hand?" Yin Hou curiously stretched out his hand and raised the little tiger captured by Tianzun to look at it, "Slaughter the bar..."

Before he finished speaking, Tianzun kicked him.

"marshal."

At this time, Zhe Ying ran back and reported to Zhao Pu, "I roughly counted. There are more than 300 elephants, about 10 tigers, a lot of jackals, estimated to be more than [-], about [-] tents, soldiers and horses. At least [-] people, and some of the military camps are hidden in the woods and cannot be seen."

"What's in the woods?" Zhao Pu seemed to pay attention to details.

"The ones in the woods are neither tents nor soldiers and horses." Tianzun said suddenly, "It's coffins."

"The coffin?" As soon as Tianzun said this, Zhao Pu and others were taken aback, and looked at him, "Whose coffin?"

"I roughly counted. There are hundreds of coffins, and they are all old coffins. The moss on the top of the coffin looks more like it has just been dug out of the mud, and a pile of stones is pressed on the top of the coffin lid, forming a coffin. The small mountain is guarded by a special person, and there are many dogs, I was afraid to scare the snake, so I didn't open it." Tianzun reached out for the chopsticks, grabbed the eggs from Yin Hou's bowl, and ate them.

"Why is the coffin hidden in the mountains... and it is still pressed down with stones?"

"Using stones to hold down the coffin is a custom in the Nanban area." Bai Yutang said, "I have been to Nanban before, and the funeral customs there are actually similar to those here, except that they have more wetlands, and sometimes water will wash out the coffin. The ground is exposed to the outside. At this time, stones are usually used to press down the lid of the coffin until it is buried in the ground again. It is said that it is to suppress the evil spirit and prevent the corpse in the coffin from cheating."

The fourth son listened to this sentence at once, and clenching a small fist in one hand to face Zhao Pu's big palm, he turned his head and asked Bai Yutang, "Would it be deceitful if the coffin was washed out by the water?"

"So it's a custom." Bai Yutang shrugged, "At that time, my second brother and I were sailing by and found many such coffins on both sides of the river. The boatman told us that sometimes when dredging the river or digging the cellar, we would encounter coffins that had been buried earlier. , Dig it up first, pile up mountain-shaped stones on the cover to hold down the block, and wait until you find a suitable place to find another place to bury.”

"Satisfaction seems to believe in the theory of ghosts and gods, and the rules are also strict." Zhan Zhao contacted some barbarians he had come into contact with before, and expressed his feelings.

"Hmm..." Zhao Pu rubbed his chin and said to himself, "It's interesting."

"What did you think of?" Gongsun poked him.

Zhao Pu narrowed his eyes and smiled, looking at Tianzun. Before he could speak, Zhan Zhao spoke first, also to Tianzun.

Zhan Zhao asked, "Tianzun, have you noticed whether the coffin is covered with moss or mud? Or is it both moss and mud?"

When Zhan Zhao asked about it, Zhao Pu raised his eyebrows——Sure enough, Zhan Zhao is handsome, meticulous in observation, and extremely smart.Seeing Bai Yutang drinking tea calmly while holding the teacup, Zhao Pu straddling Erlang's legs secretly complacent - God help me too.

Seeing Zhao Pu's half-smile expression, Gongsun looked at Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang from time to time, and knew that he must have thought of how to "use" these two good helpers.

"The moss is muddy, and the moss is very wet."

"So, Master made it out of a damp cave." Zhan Zhao said.

He didn't say a word without thinking. Fortunately, all the people here are not brainless, and they all understand.Zhe Ying asked, "You mean, these coffins were originally stored in a huge cave, but they were moved out and temporarily placed in the woods?"

"There is indeed a tradition of cave burials in the barbarian area." Gongsun nodded, "It is more common in mountainous areas, and hundreds of coffins are stored in natural large caves."

"So." Yin Hou put down the noodle bowl, "The other side emptied that big cave, why?"

"The opponent doesn't have a commanding account, and he didn't see anyone talking, so he just hid in the cave? But to command soldiers and horses to fight, the position should be high, maybe halfway up the mountain wall above the black water. Gongsun speculated, "In the cave where you can control the overall situation."

"A more reasonable explanation is indeed like this..." Zhao Pu seemed to sense something strange, "It's interesting."

"You said something interesting." Gongsun couldn't help asking, "What's so interesting?"

Zhao Pu smiled, "I have an idea."

"What idea?" Everyone asked in unison.

Zhao Pu said, "Zhuge Liang borrowed the east wind back then, and I want to borrow some rain."

Everyone frowned.

The fourth son looked at Zhao Pu with wide eyes, "You can even borrow the rain?"

Gongsun shook his head, "The weather these days is extremely good, and it will definitely not rain for half a month."

Zhao Pu shook his finger, "Not only is it going to rain, but it's also going to be a heavy rain that doesn't happen in a hundred years. It's best to wash away half of the mountain.!"

Everyone stared wide-eyed at Zhao Pu - so heavy rain? !

Zi Ying shook her head and curled her lips at Zhe Ying—the prince started to have a problem again!

"How much rain do you want..." At this moment, Bai Yutang suddenly asked.

Zhao Pu rested his chin on one hand, "The kind of heavy rain that can cause mountain torrents."

Zhan Zhao immediately thought of the trend of the mountains along the Heishui River, and remembered the location of Zhao Pu's joint camp and the location of the opponent's camp. , that is, it is built under the slope of the mountain wall, and there are no trees on the slope on that side, which is prone to flash floods.The other party is probably good at predicting the weather, and they figured out that it won't rain in the near future, so they set up camp there with confidence. If it does rain, no one can resist mountain torrents and mudslides no matter what kind of elephant or beast!The terrain on both sides of Heishui is not conducive to Nanban, but to Dali. This is one of the reasons why Heishui is regarded as a natural moat, easy to defend but difficult to attack.

"How can it rain?" Gongsun frowned, "Can you really ask for rain?"

Zhan Zhao leaned over and asked Bai Yutang, "Do you have a solution?"

Bai Yutang nodded, "There is no other way."

"What method?" Yin Hou was also curious, is Bai Yutang's brain so good?

Bai Yutang said, "In fact, there is a big drop between the upper and lower reaches of the black water, and many places are more rapid than waterfalls. If the water from the upper reaches can be diverted to the other side to form a natural waterfall, heavy rain will not be a problem! It will wash away half of the mountain. Yes! And there is a depression on the opposite bank, and there is no fear of rushing downstream to wash away people when there is a flood. When it is full, it will naturally flow into the black water next to it and continue walking. There should be no danger of drought or flood along the coast.”

"That's a good idea!" Zhe Ying asked Zhao Pu, "Shall I take the diggers to dig the river?"

"Digging is too much noise now." Zhao Pu waved his hand. "Besides, mountainous areas are no better than earth pits. Digging is not easy and it is easy to scare snakes. Digging pits to divert water is indeed a good plan, but it is a bit slower, not as fast as praying for rain."

The fourth son stood on Zhao Pu's lap, scratching his head curiously, "Jiujiu, how do we ask for rain?"

Zhao Pu laughed, "Honest boy..."

"Just pray for rain."

At this time, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang, who had always been called honest people, spoke.

Everyone looked at the two of them.

Zhao Pu wanted to laugh—the two were enlightened!

Zhan Zhao was funny, actually what Zhao Pu said was right at all, they had always thought that things should be "honest", marching and fighting shouldn't be too honest.

Xiao Liang put down his book of war, "Soldiers never tire of cheating, since the opponent believes in gods, Buddhas and ghosts so much, why don't we set up an altar to pray for rain and bluff.

Everyone nodded——Xiao Liang must have grown up to be great, and Zhao Pu's true biography!

Ziying clapped her hands, "That's right! Suspicious tactics, Keshui..."

"If you don't dig a hole, how do you divert water?" Zhe Ying continued to ask

Zhao Pu smiled slightly, "I found some treasures from Huaizhou just now."

Bai Yutang had an idea, "Thunderstorm?"

Zhao Pu chuckled, "There must be thunder before the heavy rain, what else..."

"Yue Ya'er and Chen Xing'er came with the disciples from Yingxue Palace." Bai Yutang said, "The energy inside Yingxue Palace is cold, and the rain in this big sun is easy to be misunderstood. The effect of the top will be more realistic!"

Zhao Pu clapped his hands, "Okay, everything is ready."

"I don't understand one thing." Tianzun interrupted, "Since you have a thunderstorm, you can wipe out the enemy army by blowing up the mountains and diverting water. Why do you want to create the effect of praying for rain?"

Everyone also felt puzzled.

"Because the opponent doesn't have a commander." Zhao Pu said in a low voice, "No matter how scheming he is, the commander can't leave his soldiers and horses and hide by himself. Not to mention that the morale of the army will be unstable, and he also has the meaning of disregarding the safety of the soldiers."

"You suspect that the commander of these foreign soldiers in the Southern Man doesn't care about their lives?" Gongsun thought that although Zhao Pu's thinking was strange, it was also reasonable.

Zhao Pu looked up at Zi Ying and Zhe Ying, "If I brought out a hundred thousand soldiers, lined up along the river, and then I left with all the generals, leaving these soldiers behind, what would they think? "

Everyone looked at each other.

"Are you telling the truth?" Zhe Ying asked.

Zhao Pu's face sank, "Of course the truth."

Zhe Ying touched Zi Ying.

Ziying said honestly, "If it was another marshal, then we would probably feel abandoned, or the marshal is greedy for life and afraid of death."

"What about me?" Zhao Pu asked.

Zi Ying was silent for a while, and said, "The hundred thousand soldiers and horses will all be prepared to die, because they know that they may be dead soldiers, and the prince will not do such a thing unless it is absolutely necessary."

"Dead man..."

Everyone frowned.

"Those soldiers and horses seem to be well-trained, and they don't panic at all." After all, Tianzun has experienced it himself, "If you can't convince the commander or a commander who is greedy for life and fear of death is leading you, you can't bring out this kind of soldiers!"

"Maybe the other party is ready for the hundred thousand troops to be dealt with?" Bai Yutang was puzzled, "Why?"

"The mantis catches the cicada and the oriole is behind." Zhao Pu whispered, "I have seen a lot of people who can use tricks. The so-called tricks are the same as gambling. He sent me such a heavy bet of [-] soldiers and horses to lure me into the trap, and I must get more!"

"So you use the trick of begging for rain to shake the opponent's morale?" Gongsun wondered, "But the opponent is already a dead soldier, how can he be shaken?"

"What needs to be shaken is not necessarily the morale or loyalty of the army, but a certain belief." Zhao Pu pinched the braid tied behind the head of the little four, "The southern barbarians and the northern barbarians and the western barbarians are the same, they are not my race, and the way of thinking is different. It’s different. The barbarians have a small area, and they only think about expansion or self-protection. The Han people may think about factions, interests and power. The only one who can find [-] dead soldiers in the Song Dynasty is my Zhao family army, because they believe in me and know me. They will not let them die easily. Conversely, the barbarians can find so many dead soldiers from different races, which means that they have a common belief and reason for dying, and they believe that someone can give them what they want most. , as long as I can prove that I am better than that person, what that person said may be a lie... the morale of the army will be shaken, the hearts of the people will be moved, and the entire cooperative relationship will collapse."

Yinhou and Tianzun silently looked at each other and touched their chins - no wonder they can never beat Zhao Pu in chess, I dare to say that this kid has never played chess with real skills, he has a careful mind.

"Speaking of it, why did the Nanman spend so much effort to surround Dali in an attempt to threaten the Southern Border of the Song Dynasty?" Gongsun said to himself, "Haven't they all coexisted peacefully?"

"It was said before that the number of Nanmans began to increase." Zhao Pu detoured the two small braids of the fourth son, and then slowly took them apart, "I remembered something."

As soon as Zhao Pu finished speaking, Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang nodded together, "I understand what you said."

Zhao Pu smiled happily, and cupped his hands to the two of them, "Then please leave it to the two of you."

Zhan Zhao and Bai Yutang didn't say anything more, they got up and left.

Everyone in the room looked dazed except Zhao Pu.

Tianzun poked Yin Hou, "What is it?"

Yin Hou dismissed it, "You really think about it seriously, I gave up a long time ago."

Gongsun stretched out his hand to hug the fourth son, and carefully smoothed out the hair that Zhao Pu had rubbed into a chicken coop. He also roughly understood the mystery, and the original intention of their coming here was exactly the same. It turned out that the earliest dead leaves gave them a hint , is far more than just as simple as Heishui and Fuyao!It seems that Zhan Hao is real, not necessarily an enemy.