Uncle Zhou sat on the bed, just thinking about his own thoughts. After Mrs. Cui finished her work, she saw that Uncle Zhou was silent and just bowed his head in thought. She felt a little strange and said softly: "Dad, you have been back for a long time without saying a word. What are you thinking about?"
Uncle Zhou sighed and said: "Oh, it's nothing. Originally, our villa was just a family like us, taking care of each other. Living together was nothing more than farming and working, and we were all members of a family with responsibilities. Since the master came, I thought it was useless to start this school. But the second son and the Wang family and the Zhou family all agreed, so it was up to them. But now it is a hassle to run the group training Baojia. It's getting bigger and bigger, I always feel that this matter is getting bigger and bigger. I really don't know whether it is a blessing or a curse for our villa. Today is a good day, but I am going to sell smuggled salt. This is a matter of beheading, I am afraid that it will be a crime for the villa. Are you bringing trouble?"
After hearing this, Ms. Cui said softly: "His father, even though you never said it, I have already seen that you do not approve of what Zhou Xing did. , It’s just because of the second brother and the others that he just obeyed. Dad, tell me, how is this kid Zhou Xing?” In terms of talent and learning, no one can compare with them. They have worked so hard, and these children have grown a lot, and they are also very diligent and enthusiastic."
Ms. Cui said again: "Then let's do it. My second brother, what do you think?"
Uncle Zhou replied: "It goes without saying that my second brother has always been a first-class figure in the brotherhood since he was a child. He is smart and capable. He said that the brothers and nephews were also whole-hearted. In this original villa, why did people come to me to pick the first one for any big or small matter? It seems that I was the first to come. In fact, most of it was because of the work of the second and third brothers. Smart and responsible, my eldest brother has really taken advantage of my brothers!”
Cui smiled and said, “Dad, you can see clearly. Brother, they are supporting me. If you were not loyal and honest in your work, you may not be able to convince other families just by being smart and capable. You must know that the Wang family, the Zhou family, and the Chen family are all arrogant. "People."
Ms. Cui paused and then continued: "I know what you are thinking. You hope that our villa will always be as harmonious as before. Please forgive me. Let's live a peaceful life forever."
Uncle Zhou raised his head, looked at Mrs. Cui and said, "You are right. When you married me into a farmer's family, you persuaded me to move to this mountain. It is said that it is too chaotic outside, and only in these barren mountains and valleys can we live a peaceful life. We have lived very well in the past ten years. We just opened a school. What is the use of the training of the Baojia regiment? Why don't you go out to fight?"
Ms. Cui sighed and said, "His father, these peaceful days are naturally good. Otherwise, I won't be able to do well. I'll lose our fields and properties outside. Please tell me. Everyone moved here. But although this valley is remote, it is not completely connected to the outside world. If we can move here, others can come in. So many people like Huang Hai and Zhangjiang came here at once.people? ”
“There are few people, so naturally they are united and everything can be easily handled.” But if there are too many people, if thousands or tens of thousands of people come in, just relying on this kindness is not enough. Who knows what someone is thinking? Really need a set of rules to control it. As for Zhou Xing's methods, although they are a bit cumbersome, they are really effective, aren't they? Nearly a hundred families of victims were now well placed. Although our villa has so many people, we are still more united than before. Isn't this all the result of Zhou Xing's protection and the public rent of public land? ”
Uncle Zhou said: “We say that Baojia and Gongtian are not good. I think that the regiment is training to be brave. Everyone is busy with work. It is already hard work and they have to practice often. It’s like Army Yeah, that's useless.
Cui said: "Dad, this is your short-sightedness. This villa is getting bigger and bigger. It is inevitable that some unscrupulous mountain bandits will come to harass you in the future, or some stragglers." Damn it, if we come into the valley and are unprepared, we will become chickens and fishes waiting to be slaughtered. Dad, you don’t know, the defeat of these stragglers is the most abominable thing. Although we can’t fight, if it harms our common people, they will all be bold and cruel and kill without batting an eye.”
Zhou The uncle nodded and said: "I also know this truth, but I always feel that Zhou Xing's group training is not as simple as you said.
Cui said with a smile: "That's natural. This kid Zhou Xing is really broad in his approach. In my opinion, as long as he uses these methods well, it won't matter." One county can be pacified, and one state can be pacified. This is indeed a good way to govern the world and bring peace to the people. To be honest, he is a county prince after all, and his knowledge is extraordinary. "
Uncle Zhou said: "What I'm afraid of is that he can't forget his identity as a prince, and he will be obsessed with it, which will drag down our villa in the future. ”
Cui said: “This kid is not the kind of person who is ambitious and wants to make achievements. He seems a bit down-to-earth, taking whatever steps he takes. It can be seen that he really wants to do something and contribute to our villa. If it weren't for this, the second brother and the others wouldn't be able to listen to whatever he said. "
Uncle Zhou nodded: "Yes, my second brother is more knowledgeable and knowledgeable than me. Since he is very supportive, he must be right. It seems that I am worrying too much." ”
Seeing Uncle Zhou’s change of mind, Mrs. Cui extinguished the pine trees and the couple went to have a rest.
At dawn, Huang Hai, Zhou Bao, Zhou Can and Wang Tong were four The people packed up their forks, ropes, waist knives and bows and arrows, greeted each other, went out of the mountain, and walked all the way down the river valley. The road along the river was originally a mountain stream stall, barely pedestrian, and it couldn't really be called a road. Go straight. It took more than an hour before they approached the official road.
We still didn't know how the battle outside was going to be, so the four of them didn't dare to be careless. They prepared their bows, arrows, knives and forks neatly and walked to the official road. Looking towards the official road, it was quiet and lifeless. Zhou Can volunteered to explore the road ahead. Zhou Bao knew that Zhou Can was smart, brave and careful, and his martial arts were not bad, so the four agreed immediately. After hearing the whistle signal, go to the officer one after the other.Touch it on the road.
Zhou Can was not reckless. When he arrived at the official road, he lay down in the forest and used a tree to hide his figure. He looked carefully to the left and right. He saw the winding pipes extending gracefully along with the mountain. There was no human figure, and as far as the eye could see, there were no abnormalities in the grass and woods beside the road, with birds flying in and out. Zhou Can imitated the song of birds and whistled, notifying the three people behind him. He followed the official road and relied on the trees and stones beside the official road to move forward. Every few hundred steps he took, he followed the same pattern again. Observe carefully and decide that there is no danger before moving forward. Along the way, we have avoided three hurdles.
Looking at the middle of the day, the four of them followed the official road and approached the mouth of a valley. Although there was nothing unusual outside the valley, Zhou Can did not dare to be careless at all. He still concealed himself and walked closer into the valley. search. Less than a mile into the valley, I saw a few faint tents set up on the mountain, and there were soldiers moving around. When I looked closer, although there were no people, there were lights piercing from time to time in the forest beside the road within a hundred steps. Chan understood that it was the sunlight reflected from the swords of the officers and soldiers who were ambushing and standing sentry. Since there was an ambush, the valley seemed impassable.
Zhou Can quietly retreated, and the four of them went deep into the forest, eating some dry food and discussing their whereabouts.
The mountain road has been blocked, and there is no other way to think of. They go over the mountains and ridges, and then go around. The four of them are young and strong, and they are from mountain households. They have no idea about climbing over the mountains. Not afraid, after resting for a while, the four of them got together, determined the direction, and climbed directly up the mountain and through the forest. There were some cliffs and valleys blocking the way. The four of them worked together to go around as much as they could, and as far as they could. , although it was difficult to walk, fortunately, I could concentrate on walking, and the speed did not slow down much.
It took three hours to climb over several mountains on the side of the valley. This side of the mountain is the boundary of Sanquan. When the four of them stood on the top of the mountain and looked at it, they saw a huge basin in front of them. . The radius is more than 20 miles. The official road passes through the valley in the north, and in the basin, heading south, less than 2 miles away, is the city of Sanquan County.
Although Sanquan City is just a county town, this city is located at the entrance of the valley official road leading to Xingyuan, and is guarding the throat of Chengdu Prefecture Road into Hanzhong. Ever since Wang Jian entered Sichuan from Lizhou and seized the land in the east and west Sichuan, he gradually had more than 100,000 powerful soldiers, and he had long had the intention of plotting against Hanzhong. It's just that King Yuqi Zhou Maozhen's army was not weak and he never dared to act rashly.
Qi Wang Zhou Maozhen knew that Wang Jian was not a good person, and his main territory was Hanzhong and the southern part of western Guanzhong. Although the court was jealous and refused to take over the Shannan West Road Jiedushi, the current The governor of Shannan West Road was his adopted son Zhou Jimi, and he was also one of his own. As the rear base of King Qi, Hanzhong has always been an important town with strong military strength. Naturally, it will not relax its defense against Wang Jian's Shu army.
There are the troops of King Qi in the north of Hanzhong, and there are high mountains and ridges to the east and west, with no roads. Therefore, Zhou Jimi’s main concern was on Wang Jian in the middle of Shu, and Sanquan County was as a At the throat in front, Zhou Jimi was very careful. Not only did he put more than 10,000 elite soldiers, but the city was alsoAfter repairing and repairing, it became extremely tall and strong.
At present, King Qi and King Dongping are fighting fiercely to control the imperial court. In several battles in Guanzhong, King Qi was defeated and was besieged in Fengxiang City. The situation was so critical. Although he knew that Wang Jian was eyeing Hanzhong, King Qi Zhou Maozhen couldn't wait to look ahead and continuously mobilized elite troops and generals from the west road of Shannan to go north for reinforcements. The troops left behind in Hanzhong are much weaker than before.
Wang Jian, the king of Shu, was originally a man of great power and wisdom. Fengyunjihui occupied the land of two rivers. If there is this opportunity, there will be no end. On the one hand, he kept secretly writing letters to Zhu Quanzhong, encouraging Zhu Quanzhong to go west to Guanzhong, attack Fengxiang, and fight for control of the imperial court. On the other hand, he claimed that the emperor was threatened and sent an army of 50,000, with his adopted son Wang Zongdi, the former Dongchuan Jiedu envoy, as the general. , conquering Hanzhong in the name of the envoy.
This Wang Zongdi is profound and wise, the most famous general in Wang Jian's hands. After receiving the general's order, with Wang Zongbo, the righteous son of the King of Shu, as the vanguard, the army quickly marched out of Sichuan. The land of Shu was already rich, with sufficient supplies and well-organized soldiers. They marched all the way and were unstoppable. The army was approaching the gates of Sanquan City.
Zhou Jimi, the envoy of Shannan West Road Jiedu, has been stationed in Hanzhong for many years and is well aware of the importance of the three springs. Although his generals are constantly being transferred and the overall strength of the army is weak, these three springs Not only did his garrison not decrease, but he gathered 20,000 reinforcements and personally led them to quietly garrison Sanquan.
The Shu army sent troops for a month, conquered the city and captured the territory, and was invincible. There was some arrogance in this army, especially the forward leader Wang Zongbo, who was even more arrogant. He had long regarded the Hanzhong army as a rustic. Dog, although he heard that Zhou Jimi was increasing his troops, he didn't care at all. He thought that Sanquan was just a county town, so why didn't he just go down in one fell swoop? Without waiting for the army to gather together, he brought his own vanguard and five days' worth of food and grass, and attacked Sanquan City directly. The Shu army had just arrived at Sanquan City. Before they could station themselves, ambushes arose from all sides. Zhou Jimi personally led 10,000 elite troops and fought out of the city. The vanguard of the Shu army, who had been marching for days, was already exhausted. Seeing tens of thousands of Hanzhong troops rolling towards them, the troops were in panic and fell into disarray. More than 15,000 people suddenly collapsed. Wang Zongbo led his guards and fought hard before breaking out of the siege. The Shu army retreated for more than 20 miles and relied on the stronghold the day before to gain a foothold. Wang Zongbo gathered the defeated army and broke it in half, leaving only more than 7,000 people.
Wang Zongbo felt a little frightened when he saw Zhou Jimi's pursuers approaching the mountain stronghold and wanted to lead the defeated troops back to the central army. Liu Xiuye, a confidant beside him, hurriedly tried to dissuade him: "General, don't retreat. The generals in the king's army are all the king's adopted sons. Although the general surrendered his whole family when the king attacked Shuzhong the year before last, he was regarded as his adopted son by the king of Shu. Who can be more trusted than those old men in the army? This time the general has the important task of being a vanguard. If he retreats in defeat, won't he be given a hand when the wall is overturned? You can't escape with your life!"
Although Wang Zongbo has always been arrogant, he is also a famous general and is not a fool. Hearing what Liu Xiuye said was reasonable, he asked what should be done. Liu Xiuye said: "The day before yesterday A battle, thoughOur army was defeated. It was just that our army was caught off guard, its ranks were disrupted, and its generals were in chaos. I think the strength of the Hanzhong army is not as strong as one of us. If we stick to the stronghold and occupy a favorable position, even though Hanzhong's army is large and Zhou Jimi has no courage, he will definitely not be able to defeat our army. As long as we persist in not retreating, we will naturally hold back Zhou Jimi's main force in Hanzhong, and our army can divide our forces to attack Jinniu, Heishui, Xixian and other places. "
"Besides, as long as the general is leading the troops and has military power in his hands, even if there are villains who slander him, the king will be wary and will not deal with the general. Once time passes and our army captures Hanzhong and defeats Zhou Jimi, it will be a great achievement for the general to hold on today. Nine times out of ten, the reason why an army is defeated in an ambush is because of the strong wind. Even if the king wants to settle the score of the defeated army, it will only equal the merits and demerits, and there will be no reward or punishment. It is better than going back now and being slaughtered. "
Wang Zongbo was very impressed after hearing Liu Jingxiu's words. He immediately asked Liu Xiuye to be the counselor of military affairs. While he was reorganizing his troops, repairing the camp and holding on to the danger, he sent a letter to the commander Wang Zongdi, asking him to surrender. They transported grain and grass and divided their troops to plunder the land. Taking advantage of the victory, Zhou Jimi came to the stronghold and attacked with his troops. Zhou Jimi himself also knew that many of the Han soldiers were not well trained and were not strong in combat.