The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

I dare not say five thousand words, I dare not say nine thousand words, and I dare to say ten thousand words: ask for a red ticket.

——

Xun Zhen said to Xun You and Xi Zhicai: "Now it seems that this 'inside and outside' strategy can be implemented!"

There are two ways to implement the "inside and outside" strategy: one is to buy off the enemy's interior, and the other is to send someone to penetrate the enemy's interior. Xun Zhen currently doesn't know much about the Yellow Turbans, and it is not easy to buy them, but with Yuanpan in hand, it is still possible to break into the enemy's interior.

When Yuan Pan arrived, Xun Zhen informed him of his plans, saying: "Today, the main force of the thieves is crossing the Henan, leaving some troops to be stationed in Xiangcheng and Jia counties. The people are angry, and now their main force has left, leaving only two partial divisions to stay. I can take this opportunity! I plan to take the opportunity to attack these two counties. Xiangcheng is close to me, Yingyang, and I want to take this county first. Before the thieves A few days ago, I was defeated in Yangzhai and scattered everywhere. So far, there are still many defeated soldiers wandering outside, unable to join the main force of the thieves. I would like to ask Shi Xue to pretend to be the scattered thieves, infiltrate Xiangcheng, and cooperate in the city. I'm taking the city. I don't know what the original teacher thinks?" He asked for his opinion.

Xiangcheng and Jiaxian counties, Xiangcheng is close to Yingyang, and if they want to capture it, they must choose to attack Xiangcheng County first.

As mentioned above, after the Taiping Dao uprising, Yuanpan had always been worried that he would be implicated, or he would not have been summoned by Xun Zhen and brought his children to join the army. Said: "Although it is dangerous to sneak into Xiangcheng, it is also a great opportunity for me to make a great contribution and completely separate from the bandits!" He immediately agreed.

Xun Zhen was overjoyed.

Yuan Pan brought with him fifty disciples from the book. These fifty people are also Taiping Dao believers. They are familiar with the internal situation of Taiping Dao, and they play the role of "thief soldiers" so vividly that they can go with Yuan Pan. In order to ensure success, Xun Zhen recruited another 100 people from the army. These 100 people were all his former disciples and today's military officers.

He also selected two people from the generals in the tent to be Yuan Pan's assistants.

When choosing these two people, he took a lot of thought and finally settled on Chen Bao and Liu Deng.

Chen Bao is meticulous and cautious, Liu Deng Wuyong is invincible. With the two of them cooperating with Yuanpan, the possibility of success is greatly increased.

Yuan Pan, Chen Bao, Liu Dengping and the 150 men took off their armor and put on ragged shirts in the camp, and then replaced most of the original weapons such as spears and halberds with hoes. , bamboo spears, etc., and they all wear yellow scarves on their foreheads. At first glance, they look very similar to the costumes of yellow scarves soldiers. ——The soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army do not have uniform dress, the only thing used to identify their identity is the yellow turban on their forehead.

After changing their clothes, at the third watch in the evening, everyone left the camp and quietly crossed the river ten miles southeast of Yingyang.

In order to avoid attracting the attention of others, Xun Zhen did not send them off, but made an agreement with them before they left: "I will lead my troops to cross the river tomorrow night, from the south bank of Yingshui to Xiangcheng County, and I will arrive in two hours. After the river, I will lurk in an ambush near Xiangcheng County. If you can successfully infiltrate the county tomorrow, you can start a fire in the county at the third watch. As soon as I see your fire, I will urge the army to advance at full speed. , I am attacking it from the outside, and Xiangcheng County will definitely be able to do it!"

This means that if Chen Bao and others can successfully sneak into the city, if they cannot successfully sneak into the city, Xun Zhen also has a countermeasure. He said: "If you can't sneak into the city tomorrow, don't worry. I will wait for you outside the county. At the third watch, if I don't see you making fire and making trouble, I will retreat to the shore of Yingshui again. When you can sneak into the city, I will respond when you can!"

...

After Chen Bao, Yuan Pan, Liu Deng and others crossed the river, they turned to the southwest. Xiangcheng County is thirty or forty miles away. After a few miles, the sun will rise.

Yuanpan said to Chen Bao and Liu Deng: "This time the rebels rebelled, and some of us in Yingyin also participated. The surnamed Li was from Dongxiang. Because of his big eyes, he was nicknamed 'Big Eyes'. You and I are both Yingyin. Accent, if we encounter thieves and soldiers questioning later, we can pretend to be Li Damu's subordinates. If the thieves soldiers ask again, they will say that after Yangzhai was defeated, we ran away desperately. We wanted to escape home, but we were on the road. But I heard that the master gathered his troops in Xiangcheng County, and because he turned south again, he came to defect."

Chen Bao and Liu Deng said, "Good!"

Chen Bao said in his heart, "Mr. Xun really had foresight to call Yuan Pan in advance. Otherwise, this 'inside and outside' plan would be difficult to implement. If nothing else, just this 'Li Damu', the whole army will not be many. Personally know."

It wasn’t long before the Yingchuan Yellow Turbans unveiled the flag and rebelled. The siege of Yangzhai was just lifted. The county government has not been able to get in touch with the local counties and townships. At present, we only know that their leader is Bo Cai, and so is the name He Man. I just heard about it two days ago. The people in the prefecture really don't know much about the other Commanders Qu and Xiaoshuai in the Yellow Turban Army. This is not surprising. After all, no matter how powerful the Yellow Turbans are now, they are only ordinary people at the bottom. Even leaders such as Bo Cai, He Man, and Li Damu are just businessmen and farmers. Most of the officials in the prefecture are children of clothing, how can I usually know about them? If this is normal, even if they meet on the road, the people in the county will not give them a second look - and it is the people they look down on, and now the empire has been turned upside down.

Yuanpan was the first, followed by Chen Bao and Liu Dengdian. Facing the brightening sky, more than 100 people flocked to Xiangcheng County.

After walking for a while, Chen Bao felt that something was wrong. He turned around to look at the crowd, suddenly realized, and said, "I said, why do I always feel that something is wrong? Yuan Shi, we are defeated soldiers, and we don't know when we are walking. That's how it should be!"

Yuanpan heard the words, and also looked back at the people behind, and found the problem.

The fifty li middle-aged children he brought were nothing more than no training, and they walked in a messy way, but the hundred guests assigned to them by Xun Zhen had been trained by Xun Zhen all the year round. "Going deep into the enemy's territory" is about to take on the heavy responsibility of "inner response". It is inevitable that you will be highly concentrated. When you walk, you will line up neatly, or hold your spear, hoe, or knife handle tightly, looking left and right from time to time. Full of vigilance.

At this time, the sky was bright, there were no pedestrians on the road, and there was no one in the fields beside the road.

Chen Bao called everyone to stop and said, "We are a rout. We can't be so neat when we travel, we have to be scattered! Don't be too vigilant. From now on, even if we enter the territory of Xiangcheng County, all of them will be in Xiangcheng County. It's our 'friend', it's a safe place, you all relax, don't always hold your sword, spear, and halberd, as if you're going to strike at any time if something goes wrong!"

Liu Deng came up from behind the battle, and after listening to Chen Bao's words, he also said: "A Bao is right! Anyone who looks at your appearance will know that there must be a problem! It's not that we haven't fought against the bandits. The thieves and soldiers are a mob, marching and fighting in a disorderly manner. Your appearance is too far from them! Don't be nervous, what's so scary? That day, outside Yangzhai City, our Cong Xun attacked the thief formation several times. At that time, there were ten thieves soldiers. In the crowd, my generation can come and go freely, not to mention today? There are only a few thousand thieves in this county! In the past, when Xun Jun used to train us, he often said: cheer up. Today, we will dress up as defeated soldiers, and I have another sentence to say. : Let go of your spirits!"

The guests laughed and responded, "No!"

Yuanpan listened to the two of them teaching the guests to pretend to be a broken soldier, and said to himself, "I have long known that A Bao is a careful person. I didn't see much about Liu Deng when I was in Xixiang before, I only heard about him. You can’t be brave, but I didn’t expect to be a person who is both coarse and fine! I have been in the army from Xun Jun for the past two days, and I have observed the generals in his tent, such as Le Jin, Xin A, and others. Not to mention Xu Zhong, Jiang Qin, and others, they are all warriors and brave men, like Xi Zhong and Xun You, who are resourceful and resourceful. In times of military chaos, it is not only when the people are suffering, but also when heroes make achievements, it is obvious that Xun can get the help of these people. Your Majesty, in the future, he will be able to achieve great things in pacifying the thieves and chaos, and his future will be limitless!" He sighed and thought, "Xunjun used to have all kinds of extraordinary things in Xixiang! Looking at it now, his extraordinary things are even more extraordinary! better than ever.”

The morning breeze is cool, blowing lightly.

Yuan Pan and the others, either carrying spears or hoes, walked loosely on the official road. From a distance, it looks like a group of farmers returning home from the fields.

Rows of pine and cypress trees were originally planted on both sides of the road. After Bocai and He Man led their troops, they cut down a lot of these roadside trees to make weapons and siege equipment. The beauty of Qingpin" is no longer there. Looking around, there are many newly cut tree stumps on both sides of the road, and some trees that have been cut down but are probably not suitable for use are randomly discarded by the roadside, some are crooked in the roadside fields, and are overwhelmed by long trees. Out of the young seedlings that are not too tall.

Along the way, I passed several wild pavilions and villages.

The pavilions of several wild pavilions are empty, some gates have been taken away, and some courtyard walls have been pushed down. When walking outside the Ye Pavilion, there were two pavilions with bloodstains hidden in the courtyards, and one of them had several corpses lying down under a tall locust tree. There were two black crows on the tree, when they saw them approaching, they croaked and fluttered away.

Chen Bao said: "This must be the time when the thieves began to rise, and the officers and soldiers in the pavilion failed to resist and were killed instead."

Although he is now appointed by Xun Zhen as the Chief Qu, his job is still the Chief of Fanyang Pavilion.

There were no people in the few wild pavilions, and the villages that I passed by were also empty, almost no one came in or out. I happened to meet one or two people, and when I saw them, they all ran away like a ghost. back in. Yuanpan sighed: "I've been to Xiangcheng County before. At that time, people were densely populated, the roads were full of pedestrians, and there were villagers coming and going in and out of the townhouse from time to time. Cai and He Man swept their troops in all directions, there was no one on the road, the village was empty, and the villagers saw us as if they saw ghosts, so that must be why!"

More than ten miles southwest, the sky is bright.

The road was no longer empty, and groups of people began to appear. Everyone encountered two or three strands one after another. Most of these people were in rags, some were wearing ill-fitting silk clothes, and some were even wearing women's clothes.

Yuan Pan and Chen Bao looked at each other, and they both knew in their hearts, "These guys must be thieves!"

Chen Bao calmly fell to the back and whispered to Liu Deng, who was standing in the line, "A-Deng, we are about to arrive in Xiangcheng, and we have encountered thieves one after another. From now on, we must be more cautious."

Liu Deng replied, "Okay."

The two were whispering, and the team stopped.

Chen Bao was busy looking forward, but was stopped by a dozen people. The dozen or so people were headed by a knight who was wearing black armor and carrying a spear, but instead of a horse, he sat down and rode an ox.

Chen Bao gave Liu Deng a wink and signaled him to be careful, and then hurriedly walked to the front of the team, whispering to the guests who passed by and the children brought by Yuan Pan: "Don't be nervous, don't be nervous! Look! I give orders to act." At the front, Yuan Pan was talking to the knight.

It should be the knight who was asking about their origins, Yuanpan took out the fake story he had made up before, and said: "I am Li Damu's followers, Yang Zhai was defeated and separated from Li Damu, and I wanted to return home. On the way, I heard that the master was gathering all the troops here, and because Fu came to join the army again." He asked, "I wonder if my commander, Li Damu, is in the county now?"

The knight looked at Yuan Pan a few times, then looked at Chen Bao who was walking over, and then looked at the hundred and fifty people scattered on the road, and asked, "Are you from Yingyin?"

Yingchuan County is not a big place, and it is much smaller than the big counties like Runan, but it is different in ten miles, different customs in a hundred miles, and the accents and dialects of each county are also different. Yuan Pan and Chen Baode knew clearly that this knight was the accent of Junbei, and the two felt relieved immediately. People in the north of the county may know Li Damu, but they are definitely not familiar with the details of the Taoist disciples in Yingyin.

Yuanpan smiled and said, "Yes."

"Li Damu's followers?"

"Yes."

"Master has been in Xiangcheng for several days, why are you only here now?"

Chen Bao replied: "It's too late to get the news! When you come, you have to pass through Yingyang again. Now the thief Xun is in Yingyang. Stay, I walked for a few days, and I just crossed the Yingshui last night."

The knight was attracted by the word "Xun Thief", pressed the ox's horns, leaned over and asked, "Have you met Xun Thief on the road?"

"No, but I met his bandit soldiers!"

"Who led the soldiers?"

Chen Bao didn't expect that he would ask such a detailed question, and he blurted out eagerly, "It's Chen Bao."

"Chen Bao?" The knight lowered his head and thought for a while, then said, "I haven't heard of it, I think he's just a nameless person."

The knight raised his eyes again to look at the more than 100 people behind them, and said, "You are late. The master led the main force to cross the Henan to take the father city. Your commander, Li Damu, also followed."

"Ah? My family, Shuai Qu, is not in the county? How can this be good?"

The knight stared at Chen Bao and Yuan Pan, holding a spear in his right hand, pointing back at himself with his left hand, pointing to his nose, and asked them both, "Do you two know who I am?"

Chen Bao and Yuan Pan looked at each other, wondering what he meant. Yuanpan replied cautiously, "I don't know. Ask the general's name?"

The title of "General" of the Han Dynasty is very honorable. This knight has only a dozen people under his command, not even a "Xiang Xiaoshuai", just a "leader". He is honored as a general by Yuan Pan. He said, "You must have heard of my name. My surname is Huang, and the army gave me the nickname 'Yellow Bull's Horn'." He patted the scalper under his crotch with his left hand, feeling quite proud.

The generals in the Yellow Turban Army have nicknames, and these nicknames are not random, they are all related to their people. For example, Yingyinqu Shuai is nicknamed Li Damu because he has big eyes. Some people are nicknamed Lei Gong because of his loud voice. Some people are nicknamed Baiqi because they like to ride white horses. Another person, such as this one, nicknamed "Scalper Horn", obviously came from his mount, this scalpel.

Chen Bao and Yuan Pan said in their hearts, "You're a little thief, how can we know your name?" Thinking like this in their hearts, they flattered: "It turns out that the general is a 'scalper's horn'! We have long admired your name."

"Haha, haha! I think you have heard of my name. When Yangzhai was besieged that day, Xun thief led people out of the city several times, and I rode this bull to attack him many times, killing dozens of thieves before and after him. So much! The master personally rewarded me and called me a warrior."

Yuanpan didn't know the specific circumstances of the Yangzhai Battle, but Chen Bao was the one who witnessed it, so he knew it. Xun Zhen took the guests out of the city several times to fight, and the total number of casualties among the guests was not as many as "dozens". Chen Bao flattered and said, "Yes, yes. We have been hearing about the brave name of the general for a long time."

"Your Commander Qu has already gone south from the master. You are only here now, and you won't be able to catch up. Even if you catch up, there are tens of thousands of people going south. Instead, it killed your life." The knight Huang Niujiao said here, stopped, and squinted at Chen Bao and Yuan Pan, obviously waiting for them to answer.

Chen Bao said in his heart, "This guy is beating around the bush, he's boasting, and he's trying to frighten us. What is he trying to do? Hey, 'in case he is mistaken by the sentry for meticulous work', no matter what he wants to do, this sentence is right. , Nai Gong is a 'detailed work'!" Pretending to be afraid, he said, "This, this, ... Alas, what the general said is very true, but we have come all the way, and we can't just go back like this. Ask the general, what should we do?"

This knight Huang Niu Jiao was waiting for his question, and immediately said: "That's it, or you can follow me first. I think you group of people are lazy and don't seem to be able to fight, but in the end they all It's my own Taoist people, and I can't watch you go to death. I am a horned champion, and I will not treat you badly if you follow me!"

Chen Bao and Yuan Pan, one of them is sophisticated, the other is older and experienced. When they heard this, how could they no longer know the thoughts of this "brave champion" scalper, and said in their hearts, "I've gone around so much. Huan, it turned out to be the guy who wanted to drag me into his place!"

Chen Bao and Yuan Pan didn't know that the reason why Huang Niujiao had this intention was related to the reorganization of Bo Cai and He Man two days ago. Although the Daoist disciples in their county have not yet been reorganized, looking at the posture of Bo Cai and He Man, they will have to adapt sooner or later. He only has a dozen people under his command. At most be a "very long". He has been worrying about this for the past few days. He didn't expect that he was dozing off and handing over a pillow. Today, he went out to hunt for food. On the way, he met Chen Bao and Yuanpan, a "collapsed soldier" of Yingyin. Chen Bao and Yuan Pan brought 150 people, plus a dozen of his original subordinates, there were more than 160 people. More than 160 people, almost can be compiled into two villages, one song! If you can pull this man into your hands, it will be a "curved leader"! One is long, the other is long, which one to choose? it goes without saying. Therefore, he put so much effort into boasting and intimidating, and his only purpose was to coax this "collapsed soldier" into his hands.

Chen Bao and Yuan Pan looked at each other again and understood each other's thoughts.

Huang Niujiao felt that when he met their group, he was "handing over the pillow when he fell asleep." For Chen Bao and Yuan Pan, when Huang Niujiao pulled them into the group, wouldn't it also be "handing the pillow when he was asleep"? There is no unreasonable reason, but it can't be agreed too quickly, so that this scalper will not be suspicious. Although it is estimated that he will not be suspicious, the play still needs to be a complete set. Yuan Pan and Chen Bao pretended to hesitate.

Huang Niujiao said in a feigned anger, "What? I pity your life, so I am willing to let you follow me, but you don't want to?" The dozen or so soldiers behind him fought for him, and those with knives threatened them. Those without knives raised their hoes to intimidate, or shouted, scolding them for not knowing what to do, or persuading them to persuade them to quickly agree to the words of the "brave champion" general Huang Niujiao.

Chen Bao and Yuanpan then said, "Thank you General for your kindness! We are willing to follow General."

"Okay!" Huang Niujiao laughed, looked at Chen Bao and Yuan Pan, and said to himself, "These two Shuzi don't know how to lift up, this young man is nothing, this old man didn't look at me when I spoke just now. Live to the sides and look back, you don't look like an obedient person, he must be an old cunning, ulterior minded. After a few days, when I find a chance, I will first get rid of this old man! Then I will kill this young man. Yes. These 100 people, haha, aren't they all mine?"

Yuan hope is really wrong. Even if he was calm, he was afraid that his children would feel guilty, so when he was talking to Huang Niujiao, he couldn't help but turn his head again and again, and signaled to the people behind him to be calm and not to show any flaws, but he never thought, This action fell into the eyes of Huang Niujiao, and it became that he "is not an obedient, but must be a cunning and cunning person with ulterior motives".

Chen Bao asked, "The general is not in the county. Was he on patrol under orders?"

"Bah! What's the patrol! I'm the best of the whole army, what's the use of patrolling this trivial thing? I'm here to copy food."

"Copy food?"

"The county was already short of food, and yesterday, when the master led the main force southward, he took away most of the food that the army had collected in the past few days. Those of us who didn't go south with us wanted to eat our food, so we had to come out and loot again. Yes! You are also lucky, and just happened to meet me. Otherwise, even if you go to the county, you will have no food to eat, and you will be hungry. After leaving, follow me to pick up the grain."

Chen Bao and Yuan Pan looked at each other in dismay, and when they invested in this scalper, they wanted to take the opportunity to infiltrate the city, but they didn't expect to follow him to copy food before entering the city! However, he also got a piece of news from the mouth of this scalper, that is: as expected by Xun Zhen and others, Bo Cai divided the ten thousand people who stayed on the north bank of Rushui into two equal parts, Jia and Xiang. There are 5,000 people in each of the two counties.

This ox horn has been in Xiangcheng for quite a few days. He is very familiar with copying grains. He took Chen Bao, Yuan Pan, etc. to walk back along the official road, and then got off the official road and turned to the road. to the countryside.

In the village where they arrived, everyone started working together, breaking into the house like a wolf like a tiger, smashing pots and pots, turning the bottom upside down.

While directing the looting, Huang Niujiao taught Yuanpan, Chen Bao and others: "The county has been looted several times in the past few days, don't just look outside, go inside to see if there are any cellars and the like. Be careful to loot things! If you can't loot, you will starve tonight!"

The villagers did not dare to stop them, but swallowed their anger. The old man knelt down and kowtowed and begged.

Yuanpan couldn't bear to witness the miserable condition of the people, and sighed secretly. A disciple from another clan asked, "Master Yuan, what are you sighing for?"

Seeing that there was no one left or right, Yuan hoped to say: "The great virtuous teacher taught us to be upright and do good deeds. Seeing these thieves and soldiers looting everywhere, robbing people, food and wealth, how can there be any signs of being upright and doing good deeds? Alas, fortunately we don't have any. Follow it, fortunately we didn't follow it!" Yuanpan is glad that he did not "follow the thief", and not everyone in the 100,000 Yellow Turban army is like a scalper, looting the people without mercy, there are also people like Yuanpan. Humans, but the situation is stronger than people, tens of thousands of people gathered in two counties, there is no food, how can we eat if we don't grab it? It is also a last resort to plunder the army. Don't talk about thieves, even if the army is official, isn't there any looting in battle? Thieves pass like a comb, soldiers pass like a grate. Officers and soldiers grab things more ruthlessly than thieves. Therefore, it is said: Prosperity, the people suffer. die, the people suffer. As long as there is a rebellion, it is always the people who suffer.

Chen Bao found a free time and discussed with Liu Deng and Yuanpan: "Before we came out, Master Xun made an appointment with us, saying that when we could sneak into the city, he would respond to it when we were outside. I didn't expect it to be so smooth today. With the ox horns as a cover, he will definitely be able to enter the city today. Look, did you send someone to inform Xun Jun? It’s good for him to know.”

Liu Deng and Yuan Pan agreed.

The three chose a fine guest and told him to sneak away when no one was paying attention, and return to Yingyang to deliver a letter to Xun Zhen. They brought a total of 150 people, and no one noticed if one was missing.

Because Bo Cai and He Man led the main force south, the Yellow Turban soldiers who stayed behind in Xiangcheng County, such as Huang Niujiao and others, could no longer be limited to the "food places" originally assigned to them, and could loot freely. After robbing this village, there is not much to gain, only a little bit of crumbs and a little wealth, and Huang Niujiao is very dissatisfied, so he took everyone to other places and continued to loot.

It wasn't until evening, after changing four or five villages successively, that Huang Niujiao gave an order and brought everyone back to the city.

Most of the more than 100 people grabbed something, carried their handbags on their shoulders, and walked back to the city in the twilight. From time to time, I encountered "friendly troops" on the road, and these were also the soldiers of the Yellow Turbans who returned to the city after looting, and they were all elated. Dao Zuo meet, meet acquaintances, and often ask each other a few words about the harvest? Those who have grabbed good things will show them proudly to the other party, and if they meet generous ones, they will also ask them to have a drink in the evening.

When he walked outside the moat, Chen Bao raised his head to observe the garrison in the city.

I saw that the city gate opened, and there were ten or twenty guards standing loosely outside the gate, and some guards patrolled the city wall. Other than that, there are no defensive measures. Liu Deng was very brave in today's looting, and he was loved by the ox horns. Chen Bao and Yuan Pan also followed. Chen Bao dragged Liu Deng and motioned him to look outside the city wall and the city gate.

Liu Deng took a few glances and nodded.

After crossing the moat, it merged with the soldiers of other troops in Guixian into a stream of people.

At the gate of the city, more than 20 guards guarding the city simply checked and called them in.

People enter the county.

Originally, when the main force of the Yellow Turbans was there, only the direct descendants of Bo Cai and He Man lived in the county, and the rest of the troops were stationed outside the county. Now, Bo Cai and He Man took the main force to cross the Rushui South. In order to facilitate the defense of the city, the remaining Yellow Turban soldiers all moved to the county to live. There are planned camps. However, many soldiers did not live in the camp because they thought the camp was simple. Instead, they seized private houses in the county and lived outside.

Huang Niujiao was a poor family, but now he has rebelled and has made trouble. He risked losing his head to do this rebellion. Of course, he must enjoy it, because he did not live in the camp.

He lives in the north of the city. This was originally the home of a "middle family" in the city. After Xiangcheng County was breached, He Man marched into the city to loot. The people of this "middle family" tried to resist, but the whole family was killed. Before the main force of the Yellow Turbans went south, this house was occupied by a direct line team under He Man. Yesterday, after the main force of the Yellow Turbans went south, the house was vacant, and Huang Niujiao took the opportunity to live in it.

The dozen or so people under him also lived here with him.

The house is not very big, after all, it is just a "middle family" house, which can't live in too many people. The one hundred and fifty people led by Chen Bao, Yuan Pan, and Liu Deng couldn't live in. They should have gone directly to the camp. However, today is the time when the ox's horns will change from "Shen Chang" to "Qu Chang". On a good day, he decided to invite these future "men" to dinner, because he brought them all.

The house is small, and I can't sit inside the house, so I just sit on the alley outside the house.

There used to be more than 30 households in this house, but now there are only a dozen households left. The rest were either killed or fled. These vacated houses now live in the yellow turban army. leader. They know each other. Huang Niujiao asked his subordinates to find them and borrowed some tables and dishes, and spread them out along the alley outside the door, filling the entire alley.

Then, he asked someone to gather all the things he had stolen today, and like a magic trick, he pulled a rooster out of his back room, and said with a smile, "Today is the day for new people to join the team, a good day. Open meat for everyone!" Tens of thousands of yellow turban soldiers lived in Xiangcheng and Jia counties for several days, and they had already scraped the land in these counties over and over again, not to mention chicken, now it's hard to find even a chicken. , these people under Huang Niujiao cheered and said, "Thank you, General, thank you General!"

The ox's horns enjoyed themselves, and laughed with satisfaction.

After the cases were opened, the fire was lit to cook, and the little leaders and soldiers of the Yellow Turbans who lived in Tongli came to congratulate after hearing the "good news" of Huang Niu Jiao. The ox horns are not rejected, as long as they come, they will all stay, and they will be invited to eat together. Yuanpan is a veteran of Taiping Dao, and he is very familiar with the classics of Taiping Dao. Chen Bao and Liu Deng retreated to the corner of the house.

Chen Bao said in a low voice, "We made an appointment with Xun Jun and said that there will be chaos in the city tonight at the third watch. God helped us and let us infiltrate the city smoothly, which is the first step. There is only one point, we need a lot more. Get ready."

"Which preparation?"

"There aren't enough people in this house. After dinner, I don't know how this ox horn intends to settle us? Will we be sent to the camp to stay? The camp is no better than here. There are fewer thieves here, and there are thieves in the camp More. We have to be prepared: if we are here, how to activate it; if we are in the thief camp, how to activate it!”

Liu Deng thought for a moment and said, "In my opinion, there is no need to think too much. Tonight, we will do it here! It is not too far from the north gate of the city, and it is also convenient for us to steal the gate here. , welcome Xunjun to enter."

"You're right. It's definitely better to start here than in the thief camp, but what if the ox horns send us to stay in the thief camp?"

Liu Deng smiled and said, "A Bao, you are sometimes too cautious and over-conceived. In my opinion, he won't send us to live in the thief's camp."

"Why?"

"After dinner, it's getting dark, and he can't let us go to the camp in the dark? Even if he wants to send us to the camp, we can't refuse to go. In addition to the thieves who live here, there are also There are only people in other houses, we can take the initiative to ask to live in these houses!"

Chen Bao nodded in agreement, looked around carefully, and said, "There are a lot of thieves living here, so don't be careless when you start tonight."

Liu Deng nodded yes, and said, "Let me leave the bandit soldiers here. When you start tonight, you can just say hello to the scalper and his subordinates."

"We also have to beware that when we start, someone will come in from outside, and the people inside will run around screaming." Chen Bao thought for a moment, and then he made a plan, and said, "The hundred people we brought, you will lead eighty people. , to deal with the thieves and soldiers in the li, and the other 20 people will be led by me to deal with the ox horns and his subordinates. Please lead the disciples he brought to watch the limen, and at the same time control the people in the li."

"Very good, just do it."

"Don't be merciful when we start tonight! After the thieves are killed, we will set fire to the house, and then make a noise and go to the north gate! You can throw torches along the way. In short, the more chaotic the county, the better. !"

Liu Deng agreed. The plan was agreed, and seeing an opportunity, Chen Bao told Yuan Pan about the plan again. Yuanpan had no objection.

The twilight was getting deeper and deeper, candles rose in the house, and torches were lit in the alley.

When the food was cooked, it was first presented to Huang Niujiao, Chen Bao, Yuan Pan, Liu Deng, and several small leaders of the Yellow Turban Army who lived in the house, and then to the people sitting in the alley. The rice is not good, not even brown rice, mostly scum, bran and other things. The only one rooster, only Huang Niujiao, Chen Bao, Yuanpan, Liu Deng and others have a good time to enjoy, and the rest of the people only have a small bowl of "chicken soup", which is said to be chicken soup. Nearly 200 people drink it, almost no oily water. Also no wine.

Although the meal was simple, the little leaders of the Yellow Turban Army and the subordinates of the Yellow Bull Horn all ate it with relish.

Before the uprising, these people were poor people, and it was good to be able to eat normally. After a meal, they didn’t eat the next meal, and even this scumbag was not often eaten.

People with ox horns are in good spirits on happy occasions, and they keep persuading people to eat meat and drink soup. In fact, he did not need to persuade. A rooster was snatched away by the little leaders of the Yellow Turbans in an instant, and the rest of the chicken soup was also snatched away. After eating the meat and drinking the soup, it was not enjoyable. Two little leaders bent down and picked up the chicken bones that had been thrown away earlier, and put them in their mouths to chew.

Chen Bao, Yuan Pan, and Liu Deng are not used to this situation. The three of them all grew up in the countryside, and the original conditions of the family were not good, and they were used to seeing poor people eating.

After dinner, it's night time. The little leaders of the Yellow Turbans said goodbye and left, returning to their homes to rest.

When Huang Niujiao arranged for Chen Bao, Yuan Pan, Liu Deng and others to stay, it was exactly as Liu Deng expected. Since it was too late, Huang Niujiao felt that it was not good and sent them back to the camp for accommodation, so he simply divided them up. When I arrived at other houses in Lizhong, a family lived in a dozen or so.

Huang Niujiao was in a good mood, in good spirits, and not sleepy. After settling in everyone's accommodation, he took Chen Bao and Yuan Pan, and chatted by candles in the room at night, constantly boasting and telling Chen Bao and Yuan Pan, "You two. Now that you are with me, you are really with the right person! I tell you two, the master once said: This prince and general does not have to be a noble person to be able to be! We can also do it! When the day comes, I will When the Dao is successful, Huang Tian replaces the sky, follows the way of Da Shun, and the great teacher brings peace, you and I are also considered meritorious people! As long as you follow me and work hard, Wan Hu Hou is not a problem!"

The night was dark, and the shadow of the moon moved westward.

It's almost three.

Chen Bao thought to himself, "Should Xunjun be out of the county?" He pretended to be casual and glanced out the window. Through the thin window paper, I saw people in the courtyard, and I heard Liu Deng's loud voice saying something. Liu Deng looted "Brave" today and was kept by Huang Niujiao as a personal guard, so he could stay in the courtyard. This also makes it easier for them to do it.

Huang Niujiao was in high spirits, and his conversation was intense, but when he saw Chen Bao turned his face and looked out of the window, he became unhappy and said, "This general is talking, you don't listen carefully, what are you looking at?"

Chen Bao turned his head and gave Yuanpan a wink. Yuanpan nodded knowingly, and quietly put his hand to the side of his leg.

Chen Bao smiled and said, "General, you just said, 'The master once said: This prince and general does not necessarily have to be a noble person to be a noble.' I don't think what you said is quite right."

"What's wrong?"

"Therefore, the governor of the northern post, the current county soldier Cao Xun Xun, who is both civil and military, the county and the country is talented, and will definitely be able to go out and enter the prime minister's office in the future. His family is a prominent family in Yingyin, and he is the descendant of Xun Qing, his grandfathers and fathers. There are many people who hold office up to 2,000 stone, and he is a noble species!"

"I said 'it doesn't have to be a noble breed', but I didn't say 'certainly not a noble breed'... Huh? No! What do you call Xun Thief? 'Xun Jun'?" Suddenly felt wrong, and saw Yuan Pan reaching out to touch his thigh, pressing down on the seat, jumping up, and asked, "What do you want to do?"

Chen Bao and Yuan Pan took off their sabers before being called by Huang Niu Jiao into the inner room to talk. Yuan Pan took out the "pai-pi" beside his leg, and with the blade in his hand, jumped up, threw himself on Huang Niu Jiao's body, and stabbed it with the blade.

The ox horn fell on the seat, struggling and screaming, shouting and asking, "Who are you waiting for? Why did you stab me?"

In the room, besides Chen Bao, Yuan Pan, and Huang Niujiao, there was also a subordinate of Huang Niujiao, sitting leaning against the wall, dozing off.

Chen Bao also drew out his short blade "Pai Bi~www.wuxiaspot.com~" and jumped up, strode in front of this man, stabbed him to death before he could react, then turned around and ran to the front. Yuan Pan, who was twisted into a ball, knelt on the ground on the edge of Huang Niu's horns, and together with Yuan Pan, held down Huang Niu's horns' arms, one stabbed his chest and abdomen, and the other stabbed his neck.

Blood splashed everywhere, the ox horn struggled desperately, but was unable to break free, both horrified and frightened, staring at Chen Bao, whose throat was stabbed, his voice was hoarse, and he hissed, as if he was still asking, "Who are you waiting for? People? Why did you stab me?" His blood splashed on Chen Bao's face, and Chen Bao wiped it off with a smile, "I have already told you my name, my name is Chen Bao, the one you said" Nameless'." He swung the blade backhand, cutting his throat. At the moment of dying, Huang Niu Jiao's eyes were wide open, his face full of disbelief. When the three of them were fighting, they knocked over the candlestick, the indoor mat was lit, and the flames rose. Moonlight shone into the room. Moonlight, firelight, blood. The ox's horns were lying on the ground, and the heroic words of "the prince and general Xiangning have seeds" are still in his ears, and he himself has become a corpse on the ground.

Chen Bao and Yuan Pan lifted the blade and pushed out the door.

Four or five corpses were poured into the courtyard, and Liu Deng stood among the corpses with his bare hands. Like Chen Bao and Yuan Pan, his clothes were covered in blood. The few people who died in the hospital were the ones he killed just now.

"Where are the other people under Huang Niujiao?"

"The person who accompanies us in Lizhong's house."

"The person who accompanies us in the house" is like a sheep in the tiger's mouth. The person who originally planned Chen Bao to lead someone to kill the horns was no longer needed. Chen Bao made a decisive decision and said: "Master Yuan, please bring people to Limen to guard the defense, no one is allowed to enter, and no one is allowed to go out! Deng, you and I are going to kill the other thieves in the Li, you go from the north. Kill from the south, I will kill from the south to the north!"

The three of them were discharged from the hospital on Tayue and worked separately.