Chapter 30 First cry

The scouts reported that Danyang gathering was controlled by a group of unknown people. They looked up the elderly and children in the village and forced the strong young people to do things for them. At the same time, they were quite generous. Anyone who listened to them was rewarded with a lot of things, so that although the villagers were afraid of them, they did not hate them very much. On the contrary, they also consciously protected them and were very cautious about the scouts who came into the village to inquire about the situation. When the scouts asked indirectly who those people were, they all closed their mouths carefully and were unwilling to say a word.

The scouts waited outside the village for two hours and saw two barbarians who were different from the villagers from afar. They immediately came back to report that they didn't know what those people looked like and how many people were.

Deng Ai felt confident. He probably was the remnants of Ma Su and Wuling Barbarians. But now he couldn't figure out the number of these people and the position of Ma Su. This village is not small. With the people in his hands, he could not surround the entire village and capture them all in one go. Once he forcibly attacked, he was afraid of alerting the enemy. At that time, Ma Su and his remaining soldiers fled, and the matter would not be resolved.

He invited Liao Hua and Shuai Zeng to discuss it. After hearing his thoughts, Liao Hua nodded and said, "The barbarians couldn't think of so many people. There are only ones who can do this. Ma Youchang, but he hid in the village and didn't come out, and we couldn't attack in quietly. Things were really difficult. We can't waste time with him here. We must solve him within two or three days so that we won't delay our trip and affect the war in Jiangnan."

Deng Ai thought so in his heart, but now when Liao Hua was also in this opinion, he naturally nodded and said with some embarrassment: "In today's affairs, besides strong attacks, we can only take away wisdom and lure them out to catch them all. Look at what if we dress up the soldiers as civilians who transport grain? Five hundred people dressed up as soldiers who transported the escorts, and one thousand five hundred people dressed up as civilians, their armor and weapons will be hidden in the carrying loads, and it will be convenient to pick them up at that time."

Liao Hua and Shuai Zeng looked at each other without any objection. They did it as soon as possible. Liao Hua and Shuai Zeng were familiar with the matter of transporting grain. They picked out five hundred soldiers who looked thinner and handed them to Shuai Zeng to lead. Deng Ai and Liao Hua both pretended to be strong civil servants and carried the grain loads. Early the next morning, the 500 soldiers pretended to be escorted 1,500 civil servants, carrying the real and false grain loads on the road, and hurriedly walked towards Danyang.

In the afternoon and evening, they walked fifteen miles outside Danyang, but they were still very quiet along the way, and there was no sign of each other. Shuai Zeng, who was escorting, was a little anxious. He raised his whip in his hand in a fake manner, and reprimanded the soldiers who were pretending to be civilians, and slowly came to Deng Ai and Liao Hua.

"Don't be lazy, be careful to beat me to you." Shuai Zhuan roared with a slutty and cowardly inside.

Liao Hua couldn't help laughing, and he also shouted seriously: "Jiang, you've been driving for a day today. We don't walk empty-handedly like Mr. Jiang, carrying such a heavy burden on his body, but we're so tired. Let's take a break."

Shuai Zeng blushed by Liao Hua's smile, pretended to raise his whip and thrust it in the air: "What are you resting? It's important to hurry up and hurry up." He said, but looked at Deng Ai who was watching from all directions. Deng Ai laughed when he saw it and shouted: "Master Jiang, let's take a break. It's so tired that everyone can't drive tomorrow. If something goes wrong, Master Jiang will still suffer."

When Shuai Zeng heard Deng Ai say the same thing, he ordered a rest, and then sat majestic in a tree by the side of the road. Deng Ai and Liao Hua pretended to be flattering and approached Shuai Zeng. Shuai Zeng saw Deng Ai standing, but he was sitting alone, feeling a little uncomfortable, so he quickly got up to let him go, but Deng Ai stopped him with a wink.

"No, this place is close to Danyang gathering. If Ma Youchang is here, he will definitely send the scout here. If there is a flaw, we will be in vain." Deng Ai said softly.

"No." Shuai Zeng sat down again and glanced at the surroundings calmly: "Sir, why didn't you see a suspicious person along the way? No one of the barbarians saw it."

Deng Ai smiled: "If it were me here, I wouldn't have sent a barbarian to inquire about the situation. The barbarian's special outfit will make people see the flaws at a glance. I guess Ma Youchang must have bribed a few villagers and asked them to come out to inquire. They are locals, and their accents are hard to detect, and the terrain is familiar. They are the best scouts."

Liao Hua nodded and smiled, "Yes, I also paid attention to it along the way. There were basically no abnormalities in front of us. I have seen two people pay more attention to us in the five miles. I stared at us for a long time, unlike ordinary villagers who hid far away. One of them even followed us on an excuse for a while. I deliberately cut a hole in the grain bag and sprinkled some food on the road for him to see."

Shuai Zeng looked at Liao Hua in surprise: "Why didn't I notice such a person?"

Deng Ai glanced around and chuckled softly, "It's nothing strange. You have always been introverted. Today, it's hard for the general who pretends to be a fox and a tiger. Naturally, there is not much time to pay attention to other links. Yuan Jian and I were mixed in the crowd, not paying attention to others, so we naturally have time to observe the situation around us. There is basically nothing in the first thirty miles, and it's only these five miles that I saw suspicious people. Ma Youchang stayed here for so long and did not reveal the wind. Obviously, he was more careful. His range of activities should be within these ten miles."

Shuai Zeng suddenly became a little nervous. His body became stiff, and he forced himself to suppress his eyes: "Then... should we continue to move forward or just rest here."

Deng Ai said quietly: "The wilderness here is not a good place to ambush. Since we want to lure him out, we must find a suitable place for him. I heard from the scouts that we should walk forward for more than a mile and then turn to the south three miles. There is a small valley, which is a good place to ambush."

Shuai Zeng looked at the sky and said in a little embarrassed manner: "Turn to the south? Let's not go to Danyang to gather?"

Liao Hua chuckled softly, "Huairou, you are stupid. If we two thousand of us go to Danyang gather, can Ma Youchang not doubt it? He will be careful. If we turn south, then he will think that we are really transporting grain. In addition, we are rushing to the night and act very nervous, so that we can transport grain more like transporting grain. The trick of Shizai is called the tactic of hard-get. Don't worry, if Ma Youchang is always there, he will definitely not be suspicious. After a while, you have to pretend to be more fierce, force us to rush to the night and act like an urgent military situation. We have to argue with you. You have to pretend to be a little bit too much, and don't reveal your flaws in the end."

Deng Ai nodded: "What Yuan Jian said is reasonable and kind, just do it."

Seeing that they were sure of it, Shuai Zeng didn't say anything else, so he asked the soldiers to rest for a while, then stood up and shouted and urged the soldiers to go on the road. In order to perform like a show, he also grabbed a whip and whipped a few soldiers. Deng Ai and Liao Hua took the opportunity to shout loudly, had a small improvisation performance, and then continued to walk forward.

When the moonlight was rising, they rushed to the small valley. Shuai Zeng stopped and asked someone to make dinner. He took the people to sway around, pretending to understand, and commanded them blindly, and set up a simple defensive formation. Then he returned to the valley to rest. The soldiers had their meals and gathered together early to rest. Deng Ai and Liao Hua got together, and the guards surrounded them, carefully guarding.

There was nothing to say in the middle of the night.

Shuai Zeng was lying in the marching tent, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. He was a subordinate lying here, while Shangguan Deng Ai slept outside in the open air. It was late autumn and the night wind was quite cold, which made him a little uneasy. What made him even more uneasy was that no enemy soldiers appeared so far. Does it mean that the situation they expected was deviant? Ma Su was not gathered in Danyang. If so, they could only return to the army to attack Danyang tomorrow morning.

He thought carefully about everything on the road and guessed where the little celebrity from the Ma family in Xiangyang, whom the general was quite concerned about. On the way, Deng Ai said that the general had been talking about Ma Youchang recently, saying that there was a saying in Xiangyang called "The Five Ma Family, Baimei is the best". Now Baimei Ma Liang has died in Wudu, but Ma Youchang suddenly appeared, which was really unpredictable.

Where was Ma Youchang, who made the general feel unpredictable? Shuai Zeng sat up and couldn't help but want to talk to Deng Ai.

Ma Su was on the hillside next to him. He had been watching the food-carrying men at the foot of the mountain for two hours, and his body was blown cold by the night wind and he had not moved. Since Shamoke was killed, he did not escape south, but walked north as planned, and indeed avoided Fazheng's pursuit. Fazheng went south, and he wanted to chase after him, but looking at the hundreds of remaining soldiers under his command who had already broken their courage, he still had a plan to dispel him. He stayed there for two days and gathered the disbanded remaining soldiers. There were still seven or eight hundred people. However, these people had just been destroyed by others, and the leader was killed in the battle. His morale was very devastated and he had no fighting spirit at all.

Ma Su led these barbarian soldiers who were lost in power to the north and stayed in Lishui for a while. Later, because it was inconvenient to obtain food and other daily necessities, he took Danyangju with these barbarian soldiers who gradually recovered their energy. In Danyangju, he used both soft and hard methods, imprisoned the villagers' families and coerced Jingzhuang to do things for him. At first, the villagers were not very obedient, so he killed a few, and then rewarded a few obedient ones, so he controlled Danyangju. He did not dare to act rashly in Danyangju, and the people sent out to inquire about ten miles nearby, for fear of causing Cao's intention. Although he didn't know where Le Jin's 4,000 army was hidden, it was probably not far away. He didn't want Le Jin to see the problem, and then the 4,000 army came over and killed all of his hundreds of people.

It was precisely because of his caution that Le Jin did not realize that a nail had been nailed behind him. The recent robbery of food and grass was robbed, and he thought that it was delayed on the road, and he did not suspect that it was robbed by Ma Su. Ma Su was forced to rob the food and grass. He also heard that Huang Zhong and Zhang He had taken Yiyang, and Zhang Fei had already taken Yiyang with people. He was afraid that Le Jin would take this opportunity to take Linyuan, so he had no choice but to rob the food, so that Le Jin could not attack the city for the time being, and delayed a little time so that Zhang Fei had time to go back.

Today he received news that another batch of military rations passed by here, and he did not immediately order to rob him, for fear that Cao's army in Jiangbei discovered the abnormality and placed bait. Until he heard that the group of people were almost in turmoil because of the road, he turned to the south. The target was not Danyang Gathering, so he felt a little relieved. Despite this, he was still not relieved. After observing the mountain for two hours, he still did not decide whether to rob the batch of military rations.

The food that Liao Hua deliberately sprinkled on the road is now held in his palm.

Ma Su spread his palms and looked at the snow-white rice with the moonlight. He leaned to his nose and sniffed it deeply. Yes, this is the fragrance of Xiangyang's new rice. These people did come from Xiangyang. He had smelled it more than ten times in the middle of the night, so there would be no mistake.

"Master Ma, do we want it..." Two villagers came over and said, "They were asking for information on the road. Because they were more obedient, they had been rewarded by Ma Su several times and subconsciously thought that they were Lord Ma's confidant. Seeing that more than a thousand dans of grain, they had already planned that if they could get these five hundred soldiers who didn't seem very strong, they could get several bags of white rice, so that the whole family could have a good meal of white rice, and maybe they could have a good New Year.

Ma Su didn't say anything. He looked up at the sky, then looked at the quiet valley below, touched the stubble that had just emerged from his chin, pondered for a moment, recalled everything he saw and heard, and then waved his hand decisively: "Action!"

The barbarians who had been impatient in the night wind immediately became energetic when they heard this, pulled out their long swords and rushed down the hillside. In an instant, the sound of killing sounds in the small valley became loud. The night watchmen who were dozing off were startled and turned around and ran away when they saw the barbarians rushing down the hillside. Ma Su saw the weak army Sima rushed out of the camp in panic, and fled in panic without much resistance. He allowed his subordinates to surround the panic civilians in the middle. He couldn't help but smile, turned around and took his personal guards down the hillside, walked to the military tent where Shuai Zeng was resting, lowered his head and looked inside. A barbarian soldier rushed in, and soon came out with a map again, shouting happily: "Mr. Ma, map."

Ma Su glanced at him and didn't mind. He had seen Park Gan's map and no longer looked at maps of this level. He was about to roll it up and put it away, but he chuckled behind him: "Ma Youchang, why don't you look at the reverse side of the map?"

Ma Su was shocked, and he suddenly turned around and saw two young men dressed in civilian costumes standing in front of him for about ten steps left and right. Behind them were civilians holding long swords and smiling. However, now, Ma Su no longer believed that these people were civilians, because the few barbarians who had originally smelled their hands had fallen behind them, motionless, and obviously he was exhausted.

The master has such a quick killing technique that even these fierce barbarian soldiers have no chance to resist. They must be masters. Ma Su thought subconsciously.

The sound of killing came again, and Shuai Zeng, who was driven away, roared loudly and killed the soldiers again. The men who were originally panicked suddenly turned into evil wolves, one by one, pulled out long swords from the food bags beside him and rushed towards the barbarians beside him. The matter was hastily, and the barbarians who were immersed in the joy of victory had not yet come back to their senses, and the rest had been cut off, and the rest were all broken. No one would like to ask, the flee, and the surrender.

"Who are you?" Ma Su shouted loudly and stroked the long knife in his waist.

"You can just look over and take a look." Deng Ai pointed to the map in Ma Su's hand and said slowly.

Ma Su glanced at him, flipped over the map in his hand, and vaguely saw a few lines of words written on the back of the map. He leaned close to the torch and looked at it.

I saw it read: "Ma Youchang, so late, Deng Shizai, Nanyang, Liao Yuanjian, and Fang Ling, waiting for a long time."

"Yuan Jian?" Ma Su was stunned.

"You Chang..." Liao Hua laughed: "It's a good thing that you still remember me. It's not easy, it's not easy." As he said, he took the torch from the guards, strode over, stood in front of Ma Su, looked at Ma Su carefully, and sighed: "How could the Qianlijiao of the Ma family become so down and out? It's a pity. You Chang, you have been suffering in Danyang these days."

Ma Su and Liao Hua are acquaintances and often interacted in Xiangyang. Unexpectedly, they met again after more than three years. Liao Hua turned around and said, "Youchang, this is Deng Ai Deng Shizai, a military adviser in General Zhennan's mansion. This time, he was ordered by General Zhennan to come to meet Youchang specifically. Unexpectedly, Youchang didn't come until midnight, so he asked me to wait for a long time."

Ma Su looked around. In less than a moment, few barbarian soldiers were still standing. Cao's army formed a round formation and surrounded him and several guards tightly in the middle. He sighed, let go of the map in his hand, pulled out the long sword and crossed it around his neck with a clang, and said with some regret: "Ma Su claimed to be familiar with military books and was full of wit, but unexpectedly he lost repeatedly. In this way, he was defeated by a young man. What face do I have to live in the world."

He was about to wipe his neck, but Deng Ai suddenly said, "Ma Youchang, do you want to make the Ma family in Xiangyang die?"

Ma Su was stunned. He glanced at Deng Ai, and a sense of ominousness suddenly arose in his heart, and his voice trembled: "How do you say this by Lord Deng?"

Deng Ai sighed, took a few steps, and stood side by side with Liao Hua. The five tiger soldiers who Cao Chong specially assigned him by him rushed over, stood behind him, and looked vigilantly at Ma Su holding a long sword.

Deng Ai looked at Ma Su with a pity: "Half a month ago, my brother Ma Jichang was gone in Wudu...."

Ma Su's face turned pale instantly as if he was struck by lightning. Their five brothers, the three brothers in front of him, unfortunately died early, and only he and the fourth brother Ma Liang depended on each other. However, he could not believe it for a moment when he heard the news of Ma Liang's death, but looking at Deng Ai's face, it seemed that there was no need to joke with him. He was stunned for a moment, howled to the sky. His body, which had been hardworking for several months, could no longer withstand this sudden blow. He blurted out a mouthful of blood and fell on his back with a plop.
Chapter completed!