Volume 1 Chushan Bandits Chapter 77: The Great Bandit Chen Zixiao
In the forest opposite the northern cliff of Mopanling, Xu Huai, Xu Xin'an, Xu Wukun and Han Qi watched silently as a group of people passed through the canyon at the foot of the mountain.
They came from the direction of Taibai Peak. There were more than 300 people on horseback, their armor and clothes were worn out, and they had a dark blue cloth tied on their arms as an identification.
Xu Huai, Xu Xin'an, Xu Wukun and others who were familiar with the banditry in Tongbai Mountain could tell at a glance that these were the Black Scarf Army under the command of Zhong Changqing, the Green-Eyed Wolf of Taibai Mountain.
Zhong Changqing is a member of the Zhong family, but Xu Huai and his men would never think that the bandits from Hutouzhai were heading towards Zhongjiazhuang to plunder, and that Zhong Changqing was leading the Black Scarf Army to provide reinforcements at this time.
It is true that Zhong Changqing is a member of the Zhong family and his family was quite well off at first. However, his father died shortly after he was born. His widowed mother raised him until he was seven or eight years old. However, she was falsely accused of adultery by her clan members and did not even have a chance to appeal to the government before she was drowned in a pond by her clan members and executed.
Zhong Changqing was driven out of Zhongjiazhuang by his clansmen when he was young. His land and houses were divided up. He lived on the streets for several years and was later adopted by Ji Zitong, the former bandit leader of the Black Scarf Army.
Zhong Changqing was a brave and ruthless man. After the death of his adoptive father Ji Zitong, he was elected as the leader by the Taibaiding bandits. He then led the Black Turban Army to plunder Zhongjiazhuang repeatedly.
As for the Black Turban Army, they would basically not harass the villages around Taibaiding if they paid tribute, but when they looted Zhongjiazhuang, they often committed murder and arson.
The Zhong clan has much fewer members than the Xu clan and is financially weaker, but the farm always has nearly a hundred armed farmhands. Ultimately, this is due to the repeated attacks by Zhong Changqing, who harbors a deep hatred for the clan.
After Guo Caoling's death, Pan Chenghu and Chen Zixiao, who had fled to Hutouzhai, raised their flag without any scruples, claiming that they would rob the rich to help the poor, and intensified their recruitment of soldiers and horses. In just a few days, hundreds of young men from impoverished families who were struggling to make a living in Tongbai Mountain fled there.
Ten days ago, Xu Wufu sent people to find out the details of Hutou Village and roughly estimated that there were only four or five hundred bandits in Hutou Village. However, Xu Huai, Xu Wukun and others did not expect that today, the bandits including Chen Zixiao, Pan Chenghu, Wu Qi and others who were pulled out from Hutou Village to attack Zhongjiazhuang actually numbered seven or eight hundred .
What they didn't expect was that under the planning of Zheng Hui and others, Hutouzhai had joined forces with the Black Turban Army of Taibaiding.
At this time, Zhong Changqing led three hundred bandits and obviously attacked Zhongjiazhuang from behind.
After the Black Scarf Army's troops passed by, their scouts scattered on both wings were also withdrawn. Xu Huaicai, Xu Xin'an, Xu Wukun, and Han Qi followed carefully behind and moved towards Zhongjiazhuang.
The terrain of Mopanling where Zhongjiazhuang is located is steep, especially the entrance, which is surrounded by steep cliffs on both sides and is difficult to climb.
Zhongjiazhuang built a solid wall at the mountain pass to prevent bandits, but after passing the mountain pass, there were about seven or eight hundred households scattered in the valley, unlike the Xu family who had more than 4,000 people living together in four solid villages.
Xu Huai and his men reached the vicinity of the valley of Zhongjiazhuang and hid in the woods. From afar they saw that in addition to the troops of Hutouzhai, they had already gathered at the pass of Mopanling. In addition, there was a group of more than 200 people who raised a brown and yellow flag on the left side of the black tiger flag bandits of Hutouzhai. They were the bandits under Gao Xiangzhong, the Yellow-faced Tiger of Shixizhuang.
The bandits from Hutou Village and Shixi Village advanced towards the mountain pass in large numbers, attracting all the defensive forces of Zhongjia Village to the front. Then Zhong Changqing, who was familiar with the terrain of Mopanling, led the bandits directly into the heart of Zhongjia Village from the rugged path. Looking at this deployment, Xu Huai also knew that Zhongjia Village, which was unprepared beforehand, would be doomed this time.
Even though he could see the fate of the Zhong family at this moment, Xu Huai did not leave quietly.
Xu Wufu and others knew for sure that Zheng Hui and others were hiding in Hutouzhai with bad intentions, but they were determined to build Yuhuangling, Shituoling and Xiemashan into an iron wall so that Zheng Hui and others would retreat and dare not lead the bandits to cause trouble.
With this mentality, Xu Wufu's reconnaissance of Hutou Village was superficial, not to mention arranging people to infiltrate Hutou Village as spies.
Xu Wujiang in Xiema Mountain and Xu Huai in Jinshagou had very limited manpower available and had always lacked understanding of the situation inside Hutouzhai.
This is a good opportunity to closely observe the combat effectiveness of the bandits in Hutouzhai and the extent to which they have joined forces with Shixizhuang and Taibaiding Black Scarf Army. How could Xu Huai miss it?
Although Zhong Changqing led the bandits to attack secretly from the back mountain, the bandits from Hutouzhai also launched a real attack on the mountain pass where Zhongjiazhuang’s elite villagers and clan soldiers were concentrated to defend in the morning.
The terrain on both sides of the mountain pass is steep and difficult to climb. A dirt road extends from a distance. In front of the mountain, there is a valley about 20 to 30 feet wide, but it is blocked by a thick brick and stone wall nearly 20 feet high.
If outsiders want to enter Zhongjiazhuang, this is the only way.
Although there are trails on the back mountain of Mopanling, they are winding, surrounded by dense forests and dangerous roads. Without the guidance of local villagers, it is impossible for others to find their way in.
At this time, Zhongjiazhuang obviously did not expect that Zhong Changqing had already led his troops into the back mountain through this path.
The troops of Gao Xiangzhong, the Yellow-faced Tiger of Shixi Village, did not move, they were mainly observing the battle and keeping watch; of the seven or eight hundred bandits in Hutou Village, except for two hundred who were stationed on a slope as a reserve team, the others were divided into five teams, mainly armed with swords and shields, carrying ladders and taking turns to attack the defense wall of the mountain pass of Zhongjiazhuang.
In addition to the fact that the bandits attacked the village wall in an orderly manner, nearly half of them were wearing various types of armor, which greatly increased their fighting effectiveness.
It can be seen that in addition to helping Chen Zixiao train the bandits, Zheng Hui and others had also secretly transported a batch of soldiers and armor from outside into Hutouzhai.
In the entire Zhongjia Village, including the inferior leather armor, there may be less than forty pieces, not to mention the even greater gap in equipment between the two sides in terms of swords, guns, bows and crossbows.
The bandits of Hutou Village swarmed under the village wall. In addition to shooting longbows at the top of the wall, there were also a total of thirty or forty crossbows that took turns to fight. It seemed that the crossbowmen had been practicing for some time.
This time the attack on Zhongjiazhuang was more like a drill for the Hutouzhai bandits, and a display of powerful military force in front of the two bandits from Shixizhuang and Taibaiding who were invited to join forces.
After several rounds of attacks, hundreds of Zhong clan soldiers were killed or wounded. Even if Zhong Changqing had not led his troops to attack from the rear, it was hard to imagine that Zhongjiazhuang could hold out until nightfall.
Zhong Changqing climbed over the back mountain from a small path and appeared in the sight of the people in Zhongjiazhuang. The defense of the mountain pass collapsed directly. The bandits in Hutou Village seized the village wall, but did not rush into the valley. Instead, they opened the village gate and let the bandits in Shixi Village go in first to burn, kill and loot. Some bandits in Hutou Village wanted to take advantage of the chaos to go in and loot, but they died at the hands of the supervision team. The order was much better than expected.
Not to mention Xu Wukun, Xu Xin'an and others were also unusually silent as they watched the scene before them.
It is obvious that the attack on Zhongjiazhuang was just a test run by the Hutouzhai bandits, either for training or to win over the Shixizhuang and Taibaiding bandits.
After Wang Xiaocheng left Tangzhou, the bandits in Tongbai Mountain gradually recovered and still made trouble from time to time, but they rarely made any big moves, let alone joined forces to attack a large stronghold like Zhongjiazhuang.
Over the years, the mountain bandits and the big clans have been in a stalemate where they have been keeping each other in check, neither can destroy the other, and both have to tolerate the existence of the other.
This time Zhongjiazhuang was breached so easily. On the one hand, the bandits from Shixizhuang and Taibaiding would most likely depend on Hutouzhai from now on, and the bandits would obtain tens of thousands of taels of money and tens of thousands of stones of grain from Zhongjiazhuang, and their strength would become stronger. On the other hand, the other stubborn bandits who had been dormant in the mountains and forests for many years and had become bored would surely become restless when they heard about this.
Even if these bandits and stubborn robbers are not all lured over to Hutouzhai, as long as they come out of the deep mountains and old forests with fanfare, recruit soldiers everywhere, and lure and lure those young and strong people who are impoverished and have no means of making a living to take risks and join them, the situation in Tongbai Mountain will become more chaotic and bloody.
In the past, the big clans and the mountain strongholds kept each other in check. The mountain strongholds were relatively restrained in their intrusions into nearby villages, mainly extorting money and property. However, the bandits from Shixizhuang and Taibaiding rushed into the valley from the north and south, and it was obvious that they were no longer restrained.
From a distance, I saw the bandits rushing into the valley. The villagers fought back with swords and bows at the slightest resistance. Soon, dozens of houses on both sides were set on fire, with black smoke billowing up. The bandits chased the women and no one stopped them...
Xu Huai clenched his teeth, and tiny blue veins on his cheeks were twitching slightly.
Xu Xin'an let out a breath of anger and said, "Deng Gui had sent people to keep an eye on the movements of Hutou Village before. Maybe he is organizing local soldiers to rush to Mopanling right now!"
They did not have enough manpower to keep an eye on Hutou Village all the time, but Xu Xin'an, who was in charge of scouts, would run to the banks of Paohu Creek every now and then to take a look. He had also noticed that Deng Gui had sent people to keep an eye on Hutou Village.
Seeing the mess in the valley, Xu Xin'an still hoped that the military camp could send troops to attract the attention of the bandits so that the ordinary villagers of Zhongjiazhuang would suffer less harm.
Xu Xin'an did not complete his transformation from soldier to bandit.
"Let's go!" Xu Huai said gritting his teeth.
Deng Gui sent people to keep an eye on Hutouzhai, but after Guo Caoling's death, he, who knew the inside story, was worried that Zheng Hui and others would secretly control Hutouzhai and make big moves, but the basis of everything was just self-protection.
To be honest, Deng Gui was able to organize the local militia on a larger scale, strengthen the defense of the military camp, and inevitably limit the increasingly serious bandit problem to the west of Baijian River. This was a great ability.
At this time, it was neither realistic nor wise to expect Deng Gui to hastily dispatch troops from the Huaiyuan Inspection Army Camp in order to prevent these bandits from committing fewer crimes in Zhongjiazhuang.
It was beyond his expectation that Hutouzhai had suddenly made such a big move and made such thorough preparations in secret. He had to consider, if the Huaiyuan Inspection Army Camp could not stop the banditry west of Baijian River, how much effect would Xu's deployment at Yuhuangling, Xiemashan and Jinshagou have?
The three gangs of bandits from Hutouzhai, Shixizhuang and Taibaiding combined had a total of 1,300 to 1,400 soldiers. They captured Zhongjiazhuang and seized a large amount of money and food, which further expanded their influence. It can be predicted that the number of bandits will further increase in a short period of time.
Three to four thousand, or even five to six thousand bandits crossed the Baijian River and swarmed towards Yuhuangling. How should the Xu family respond?
Once this banditry spreads, with Zheng Hui and others hiding behind the scenes to plot and secretly transporting large quantities of weapons and armor, it will be even more ferocious than when Wang Xiaocheng was appointed as the governor of Tangzhou twenty years ago. He had underestimated Zheng Hui before, and their ruthlessness and cruelty to any means necessary!
Just as Xu Huai turned around and wanted to quietly withdraw from the other side of the woods with Xu Xin'an, Xu Wukun, Han Qi and others, several riders from the two hundred-plus bandits who stayed outside the valley as a reserve force from Hutouzhai rode out on horseback. Perhaps it was because the setting sun was shining brightly on the face of the leader, allowing Xu Huai to vaguely see the outline of his face.
At this moment, there seemed to be a weak current flowing through his brain, and suddenly a paragraph of text flashed in his mind:
"In the first year of Jianhe, the emperor wanted to flee to Nanyang to avoid the invaders. At that time, the Huaishang bandit Chen Zixiao gathered troops and blocked the Tongbai Mountain Road. The general Han Shiliang defeated him..."
