Chapter 260: Kill them all, cooperate inside and outside

Chapter 260: Kill them all, cooperate inside and outside

Chapter 260: Kill them all and cooperate inside and outside

Just after the second watch, the warning sound suddenly sounded.

A shrill cry came from the far entrance to the valley: "Enemy attack!" After a moment, the ground in the valley shook, and the sound of horse hooves became louder and louder. It seemed that thousands of troops and horses rushed into the valley at the same time, which was unique to horse thieves. The whistling sound resounded through the night sky, and in a blink of an eye, they approached the camp of the grain truck.

In the dark camp, a scream suddenly rang out. Countless grooms and troops jumped out of the carriages or tents at the same time. Some people wanted to run in in panic, while others wanted to flee out in a panic. Fortunately, they were quickly found. Ten stern voices rang out, "Those who want to live are not allowed to run around!" "Those who disobey orders will be killed without mercy!"

The screams suddenly stopped, and the order issued by these voices clearly spread throughout the entire camp: "Get close to the carriage immediately and avoid the rain of arrows!"

 Amidst the roar, everyone hid behind the carriage without thinking. Almost at the same moment, a chilling sound of long arrows piercing the sky came from the night sky. Countless arrows fell in the camp, making "duh, duh" sounds on the carriage board. Someone was breathing in the cold. They screamed in anger, and someone was cursing in a low voice. Fortunately, there were no screams and pain.

“We have a lot of people, and the horse thieves will never dare to attack at night! It’s just a feint attack to disturb people’s hearts. Don’t panic, everyone, just grab your guns and sticks and guard the backs of your carriages!”

Similar words were heard throughout the outer camp, the tone was stern and calm, and accompanied by the sound of horse hooves rushing to the carriage and then disappearing, it had a particularly reassuring power. The sharp whistling of the horse thieves still echoed in the valley, but the camp gradually became quiet.

 When the first "enemy attack" sounded, Zhang Huaiji, who had been lying with his clothes on, suddenly sat up. Pei Xingjian never let him leave since dinner time, but after nightfall, he arranged a felt tent for him to rest next to the carriage. But as he watched Pei Xingjian break up his 400 troops, mix them with the coachmen and guards, and distribute simple spears, wooden sticks and other items to the coachmen, he was already in a mess, how could he still do it? Rest? I wanted to ask several times, "Is it possible that there are really horse thieves coming tonight?" But looking at Pei Xingjian, who looked indifferent and had serious eyes, he didn't dare to speak. And in the entire camp, no one dared to ask a single word, whether it was the ignorant young coachman or the tired Xizhou Buqu.

Hearing the sound of screaming and running outside, Zhang Huaiji hurriedly touched the boots at his feet and put them on. It took him a long time to put them on. He raised the curtain and heard a familiar voice, "Don't panic if you join the army, the horse thieves have retreated!"

Pei Xingjian was standing not far from the carriage. His expression was unclear in the night, but his voice was extremely calm. Zhang Huaiji calmed down a little and asked quickly, "How many horse thieves are there?"

A cool voice sounded obliquely, "You are also a member of the army when you join the army. Can't you hear the sound of horse hooves? There must be thousands of horses!"

 Thousands of horse thieves? How come there are thousands of horse thieves in Western Xinjiang? How can the six to seven hundred guards in the camp, plus a hundred elite soldiers, protect so many grain trucks? Zhang Huaiji was stunned for a moment, then blurted out, "What should we do! How come there are so many horse thieves all of a sudden?"

Qu Chongyu's voice was full of sarcasm, "Now I have to ask your new sister-in-law. Zhang Canjun, you are also a general, why don't you still understand that the military order to raise food from Xizhou was issued? From now on, is this what someone is waiting for?”

It was as if a thin layer of paper had been torn off in an instant, revealing all the things that he had never dared to look at. Zhang Huaiji turned his head and looked outside in a daze, unable to tell what he was feeling.

The sharp whistling sound, accompanied by the vibration of the horse's hooves, once again approached the convoy, and the sound seemed to be even louder. The previous shouts in the camp resounded everywhere again, "Hide your body behind the carriage, don't panic!"

There was a little smile in Qu Chongyu's voice, "As promised, the guards of these caravans you chose have such determination, it is really unexpected."

There was not much joy or anger in Pei Xingjian's tone, "The caravan guards are the people who have the most dealings with horse thieves in Western Xinjiang. These people are also the ones with the longest experience. Without this determination, none of them would be alive today. And these cart drivers, if they hadn’t traveled to Western Xinjiang all year round, they would have been in chaos.”

“Are there really horse thieves out there?”

“Some of them are probably horse thieves.”

"There are actually so many horse thieves. Keep our promise. I'm afraid you and I will underestimate the enemy."

 “Underestimating the enemy?” Pei Xingjian laughed and did not continue.

Zhang Huaiji's chest was rolling, and he had no intention of thinking about these words for a moment. After hesitating for a long time, he couldn't help but said, "Why is it today!" A few days ago in the wilderness, the grain team was surrounded by hundreds of vehicles in a circle. They were still cutting firewood and digging stoves for cooking all over the mountains and plains. Even if they had to attack the grain team, wouldn't it be a hundred times easier to attack then than it is now?

Pei Xingjian's tone became a little heavy, "You know the art of war when you join the army. If you set up an ambush like this, you will naturally kill them all! It's all because of Pei's carelessness that he allowed the convoy to enter the mountain easily. Only when he got halfway did he realize that something was wrong, and it was too late to turn around. It turned out. Thinking that Jiang Jun is here, the other party may have some scruples. Now it seems that the other party has sent more troops than expected..." He sighed, "Xingjian invited Jiang Jun here today, because now he only has If we work together and hold on to this camp, we can have a chance of survival."

Zhang Huaiji's heart also dropped all the way with Pei Xingjian's deep voice, and his chest became empty. In this kind of terrain, with random horses attacking, who can escape? The Su family and his son were not on good terms with Governor Qu and Pei Changshi, and they were just tampering with other matters. How could they commit such a murder? In their eyes, he turned out to be just a chess piece that could be thrown away after being used... Qu Chongyu sneered, "There are thousands of horse thieves outside now. If you rush out in the chaos of the army, you will die. Even if we break it, we still have a camp to defend, with thousands of civilians and 800 strong soldiers available. As long as we work together, the horse thieves may not be able to break into the camp if they want to kill us. The real action will begin tomorrow morning. We only have to wait for an hour or two and we will wait for reinforcements. "

Zhang Huaiji was already filled with despair. Pei Changshi had already enclosed the one hundred elite soldiers and all the horses into the inner camp. There were no horses in the outer camp. It was impossible for him and his troops to abandon the camp and escape even if they wanted to. Can we just wait to die? Hearing the word "reinforcements", his eyes suddenly lit up, "The prince has sent people to bring in reinforcements?"

Qu Chongyu said coldly, "Is it possible that you are still stretching your neck and waiting for them to chop you?"

Pei Xingjian's voice was also very determined, "Don't worry, Join the Army. As long as we don't mess up our position and send good heads into other people's traps, this battle will not be defeated. However, the morale of the four hundred troops led by Joining the Army is a bit low." , I should think of a way to join the army."

Zhang Huaiji was silent for a moment, gritted his teeth, raised his head, and raised his voice, "Today, all tribes must work hard to hold on and wait for help. Anyone who beheads the horse thief will be rewarded with twenty pieces of white for each head!"

“Each head can be exchanged for twenty piles of white.” This order was passed on one after another, gradually becoming louder and louder, and for a while it almost drowned out the sound of long arrows piercing the air and the circling cavalry.

In the inner camp, Sui Lu, who was listening to what was going on outside, sneered, "Twenty pieces of white stack? It's enough to support the families of the barbarians outside for a whole year. Cut off their escape and reward them heavily. This Pei Changshi is actually very familiar with the art of war. He is a man who succeeds but fails more than he does when he joins the army!"

The team beside him couldn't help but whisper, "There are thousands of civilians and seven or eight hundred tribes outside. Now that their morale has been raised, I'm afraid those people won't be able to break in easily!"

Sui Lvzheng chuckled, "What did you do with us, young master? That Pei Changshi had all the calculations, but he left us all those horses! The momentum outside tonight was just a trick to exhaust the army." , When the engine starts moving outside tomorrow morning, we will rush out on horseback!" His voice was low and cold, "We have identified where Pei Changshi and Prince Qu are, and we will trample them under our horses!"

After the roar of two rounds of horse thieves, the waning moon finally rose slowly. Looking through the gap in the grain cart, the black shadow of the horse thieves in the valley became clearer and clearer. It was a large area of ​​darkness, and from time to time several groups of horses came forward. , rushed to a place dozens of steps away from the camp and circled and roared. Some tribesmen couldn't hold themselves back and wanted to draw their bows and shoot arrows, but they were stopped by the guards around them, "This is just a trick used by horse thieves. One is to prevent us from resting tonight and we will be unable to fight tomorrow. The other is to It’s a waste of our arrows. No one is allowed to use the crossbow until dawn! Let’s take a break!”

With the **** assigned, all the people got into the tents covered with double-layered thick felt blankets or the half-empty carriages, and took turns to take a nap. However, amid the constant sound of horse hooves and whistling, only a handful of people could really fall asleep.

This night seems to be extremely long to many people; but in the eyes of others, it is terrifyingly short. Seeing the slanting moon sinking in the west and the east getting whiter, the horse thieves who had been taking turns driving their horses and shouting all night suddenly became quiet. There was an ominous meaning in this silence. There was almost no need for guards to call. Everyone got out of the tent and stood on the carriage. Behind him, he tightened his grip on the gun, club, and crossbow in his hand.

The ranks of the horse thieves became clear and distinguishable in the morning light. There were more than a thousand riders lined up hundreds of steps away. The guards' expressions changed as they originally expected that the sound of horse hooves heard at night was caused by two horses. Something suddenly changed. They had already experienced the ferocity and bravery of horse thieves. Although they didn't know when such a large group of horse thieves appeared in Xijiang, they also knew that these more than a thousand people were probably not something they could contend with for too long.

Qu Chongyu cast his gaze behind the horse thieves. He could vaguely see a large group of solemn people and horses there. He couldn't help but narrowed his eyes. "Our Protector Su is really capable. He can even find horse thieves in Western Xinjiang." So many sacrifices for him!”

Pei Xingjian's voice was very indifferent, "Don't forget, we still have cloth worth tens of thousands of dollars in our fleet. Those dozens of carts of cloth are much more eye-catching than the entire army of grain and rice in Western Xinjiang! Besides, with the With the temperament of this Su Dadu Protector, what does it mean to have a few horse thieves? Otherwise, how can the grain teams in Tingzhou and Yizhou be attacked? As for the elite soldiers..." He looked at the silent shadow in the distance, and then He turned around and looked at the grooms and Bu Qu in the camp. Their faces were clearly full of fear and anxiety, and he couldn't help but sigh.

In the inner camp, someone whistled loudly. Suiguan, who had just gone to the horse pen to take out the war horse, looked around a few times, but only looked at the coachmen who were hiding behind the carriage and peeking out. He frowned. He waved his hand and shouted: "Mount!"

More than a hundred cavalrymen got on their horses neatly, and the team was kicking their horses to catch up, "How long do we have to wait?"

Sui Brigade glanced outside with a smile, "Since there are so many people outside, why should we waste any more time? As long as they rush outside the grain truck and start a fight, we will rush out from behind!"

Tomorrow’s update will be a little later, so check it out at noon. Thank you all for the pink...

　　

　　

 (End of this chapter)