Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Du Tou, we caught a thief and made a secret!"

"bring it here."

At night, Zhu Ming was awakened by the messenger, and Chen Ziyi ran over when he heard the noise.

Not long after, bandits came.

"Master, I have been ordered to surrender." The bandit was a young man, his eyes were rolling, and he seemed to be very smart.

Ju Ming asked: "The front is blocked, how did you get here?"

The bandit replied: "The ones responsible for guarding the cliff tonight are Brother Qian and Brother Meng. I am Brother Qian's man. I was lowered quietly with a rope."

Ju Ming asked again: "How does Fourth Brother Qian plan to surrender?"

The bandit said: "In the middle of the night tonight, Fourth Brother Qian will lead people to kill the village leader and set a fire on the mountain as a signal. The military master can lead people to kill in the chaos."

Ju Ming did not speak, but thought quietly.

Zhang Guangdao led people around to attack at night, either tonight or tomorrow night. He would easily collide with the bandits, which would affect his judgment.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Ming finally said: "Go back and tell Fourth Brother Qian that if he takes action, he will beat the gong on the top of the cliff in front. Dang-dang-dang-dang, dang-dang-dang-dang, dang-dang, dang-dang-dang, four, four, three, four, just like this , I realized it was him who sent the signal."

"Four, four, three, four, I've written it down." The bandit nodded.

Ju Ming waved his hand and said, "Go ahead."

The bandit was immediately taken away, and Chen Ziyi asked: "Brother Zhu really believes his lies?"

Ju Ming smiled and said: "It doesn't matter whether it is true or not, we will not take the opportunity to attack. If it is true, let the bandits fight among themselves. If it is false, we will just avoid the danger. Brother Zhang has already led his troops to attack, we just have to believe Brother Zhang, there’s no need to take risks just because of a bandit’s words.”

"That's how it should be. I'm afraid Brother Zhu will believe it." Chen Ziyi felt relieved.

Ju Ming called the messenger: "Tell the soldiers to be on guard tonight and don't move without my order!"

Yin hour and two quarters.

Suddenly there were shouts of killing on the mountain, fires were lit in many places, and gongs were being beaten on the top of the cliff ahead.

Ju Ming just pretended that nothing happened, lying on the mountain road and sleeping against the campfire.

The bandits struggled for a long time, making themselves nervous, but found that the officers and soldiers did not move at all.

Yang Ying gritted her teeth and said, "These thieves are not fooled!"

The fourth master was also quite speechless. He thought this plan was brilliant, but it was useless.

This stalemate continued for another day.

The third day of fighting, late at night.

Zhang Guangdao and more than thirty people have gradually reached the back of the mountain stronghold.

Four people were lost along the way, all of whom were injured in falls, and were placed together in a mountain col.

The other archers were extremely exhausted.

But no one flinched and followed Zhang Guangdao up the mountain with gritted teeth.

Their idea was very simple. Ju Ming gave them adequate food and salary and treated them well. It would be unjust to give up halfway. What's more, there is also military law. If you escape from the battle, you will be beheaded. What if you are really beheaded?

It was kind and powerful, enough to sustain the three-day trek.

"Take out the torch!" Zhang Guangdao said.

The archers took out bamboo tubes one after another, which were cheap versions of fire seals.

Vine, wormwood, reed flowers and other materials are pounded and dried, rolled up layer by layer, and the outermost layer is rolled with straw paper. After lighting it, put it back into the bamboo tube and cover it with a lid that has small holes for ventilation.

A smoldering fire can burn for an hour or two, and it can turn into an open flame by simply removing the lid and blowing on it.

Zhang Guangdao took out a fire knife and tinder and lit some dead branches and leaves. The other archers came over one after another with ignition tubes, lit them, then covered them with lids and hung them around their waists.

Everyone continued to climb up, and Zhang Guangdao climbed at the front alone.

He had a rope in his hand, and when he encountered a steep place, he climbed up first. After finding trees and tying them, the ropes were thrown down. The archers grabbed the ropes and followed them in batches.

At about dawn, Zhang Guangdao took the lead in climbing to the top of the mountain.

One after another, the archers climbed up along the rope, and then lay on the ground panting.

Zhang Guangdao did not immediately order an attack, but sat there and waited. When the breathing gradually became quieter, he whispered: "Light the torch, five people in a team, and burn anything you see!"

The cap of the ignition tube was torn open, and as soon as he opened his mouth and blew, the flame ignited, and more than 30 torches were quickly ignited.

There are also bandits standing guard here, but there has been no fighting for two days. Not to mention the sentinels on the top of the mountain, even the killing tiger's mouth is a bit slack.

Zhang Guangdao led his men holding torches and rushed more than twenty meters before the sentries were finally awakened.

The first reaction was not to fight or warn, but to run away, and then shouted all the way: "The officers and soldiers are coming to kill, the officers and soldiers are coming to kill..."

"Shout! Kill!" Zhang Guangdao yelled.

"Kill!"

The archers shouted and rushed aimlessly, setting fire to flammable objects whenever they saw them.

The five-person team was all in chaos at the moment. After all, the training time was too short and they couldn't care about each other at night.

Fortunately, the bandits were more chaotic than them.

First I heard shouts of killing, and then there were fires in many places. I had no idea how many officers and soldiers were coming to kill them.

The old thieves were still a little calm, but the young men recruited temporarily were frightened and threw away their weapons and ran away crying.

Many young people are fleeing in one direction, where the old and the weak are housed. They want to run to find their families and protect the safety of their families.

…

Hearing the movement on the mountain, Ju Ming suddenly woke up halfway up the mountain and was sure that this time it was Zhang Guangdao who was attacking at night.

He drew his sword and shouted: "Zhang Dutou successfully attacked the camp, light the torch and stand by!"

Torches were gathered around the bonfire. Zhu Ming listened carefully to the movement ahead. He did not launch an attack immediately, but ordered: "Beat the drum first and shout, kill the thief!"

"Dong dong dong dong!"

"Kill!"

"Kill the thief!"

After beating drums and shouting, and after fires broke out everywhere on the mountain, the officers and soldiers finally began to take action.

Chen Ziyi was still the pioneer. The door panel was abandoned, and the sword and shield hand's weapons were replaced by pot lids and hand knives.

The old thieves stationed at the checkpoint, as well as the old thieves ambush above, were shouting in a panic: "Don't run away, don't run away, it's important to guard the tiger's mouth!"

Who is so obedient?

Before the officers and soldiers came to suppress them, most of the elite old thieves were dead, and all their men were young and strong farmers. At this moment, there were flames all over the village, and it was obvious that the officers and soldiers had really arrived, and the officers and soldiers below were also shouting. Being attacked in front and behind, all of them just wanted to escape.

Shouting and shouting, several old thieves also ran away!

"Gather the troops, gather the troops!"

Yang Ying rushed out of the house with her pants in hand and found that the village was in complete chaos. He ran with the spear for a while, but only gathered more than a dozen bandits, and it was not clear where the enemy had reached.

"Dad, your horse!" The son came leading the horse.

It was the horse of the former village owner Yang Jun. Yang Ying had only acquired it half a month ago, and he had "borrowed" it from his nephew.

His riding skills are not as good as those of Ju Ming. How can he dare to ride and kill at night?

Yang Ying roared angrily: "What do I want this beast to do? Go and gather your men!"

The father and son moved forward together, and before they had gone far, they bumped into the fourth master head-on.

There are only a few bandits around the fourth master. This guy actually still remembered the promise made by the government and the army, and with a desperate mentality, he shouted with a simple knife: "I have surrendered to the government, if you kill Yang Ying, the government will reward you with a hundred guans!"

"Straight bitch!" Yang Ying was furious.

This guy led his men to fight and ran, with only a few people left around him.

Yang Ying's martial arts skills were not very good, and the morale of the bandits following him was also low. On the other hand, the Fourth Master, all of them risked their lives to come over in order to receive the reward of one hundred guan.

The moment the two sides fought, Yang Ying's side quickly collapsed.

The fourth master led several bandits and began to surround and kill Yang Ying and his son.

Yang Ying took the knife and cried out in pain: "I'll die, and you won't be able to please me. No official can trust me!"

"I'll kill you first," the fourth master scolded angrily, "You're a thief, you're so unjust, I wanted to chop you up and feed you to the dogs!"

"Dad, help...ah!"

Yang Ying resisted randomly and suddenly heard her son scream.

He was filled with rage, and just as he was about to fight for his life, he received another knife blow on his back.

The Fourth Master took the opportunity to pounce and hit Yang Ying on the forehead with a knife.

Yang Ying's eyes widened and she fell down without closing her eyes.

The fourth master immediately squatted down and cut off the head, holding the head and saying: "I have killed Yang Ying, please follow me to receive the reward!"

The man ran down the mountain and encountered several groups of defeated soldiers on the way.

Baiford almost met the fourth master. He didn't know that Ju Ming was the leader of the officers and soldiers, so he thought that as long as he escaped and reunited with his family, he might be able to escape as a transparent person.

The fifth master was also ready to rebel, but unfortunately he was unlucky. He led his men around and could not find Yang Ying.

Zhu Ming and Chen Ziyi had led their troops into the village gate, and heard someone shouting from the front: "I'll kill Yang Ying, I'll surrender to the government!"

Ju Ming sneered: "You can still survive if you surrender early, but is this called surrender? The whole team, kill them all!"

The person who killed Yang Ying must not be alive.

What if he was a bandit leader and had a large amount of land under his name, how could Ju Ming fight for land distribution?

"Kill the thief!"

There is no way to form a mandarin duck formation in the dark, and it doesn't matter whether they are in formation or not.

Seeing the officers and soldiers rushing towards him, the Fourth Master immediately understood that Ju Ming was not trustworthy, threw away Yang Ying's head and ran away. He planned to jump off the back hill to escape, but he didn't care about his wife, children and property.

This guy ran away for a while and unexpectedly bumped into Zhang Guangdao.

Zhang Guangdao shouted: "You thief, please give me Brother Yao his life!"

The fourth master was so frightened that he lost his mind: "I didn't kill Brother Yao. Brother Zhang let me live. I will definitely repay him heavily in the future."

"Go to hell!" Zhang Guangdao was furious.

The fourth master didn't dare to engage in the battle at all, so he threw out the simple knife in his hand and fled in the other direction.

Zhang Guangdao narrowly avoided Pu Dao, chased him with all his strength, and stabbed Si Dangjia in the back with a dart.

Zhu Ming and Chen Ziyi each led several teams of archers, and ordered the soldiers to shout along the way: "Surrender and avoid death, surrender and avoid death!"

Wherever they passed, bandits put down their weapons and lay on the ground praying for their lives.

The fifth master, who had been wandering around, and several other leaders all chose to surrender, holding a trace of luck in their hearts.

There was actually a bandit who killed the son of the former village leader Yang Jun and came here to claim credit.

Although Zhang Guangdao hated Yang Jun, he couldn't help it at this moment. He kicked him and shouted angrily: "You are a bird, you are selling yourself for glory, why don't you have any shame!"

After Zhang Guangdao vented his anger, Zhu Ming stopped him: "Don't fight. Brother Zhang, go collect the property. Brother Chen, go take care of the prisoners. Let's settle down here first."

Byford lay among the prisoners, not daring to say a word. He had already recognized Ju Ming.

The sky was getting brighter and the chaos subsided.

Ju Ming's real work has just begun. He must completely control this place within a day or two and become the new master of Black Wind Village.

There is no other way but to...spend money!