Better to die

Sun Ji hugged his knees and looked at the setting sun on the horizon, bored. The thieves had occupied the stockade for more than ten days. They were only allowed out, not in, and they couldn't leave even if they wanted to. These days, they lived in Pan's father's house.

Sun Ji felt a little embarrassed after eating so much rice at home.

It's almost Mid-Autumn Festival, and although the leaves of the trees are still green, they have lost a lot of color and are not as vibrant as in summer. There seem to be fewer birds in the bamboo forest nearby, and they no longer sing all day long like they did in the past few days.

Non-stop.

When Pan's father came back from the village, he saw Sun Ji and bowed hurriedly.

Sun Ji returned the gift and said: "Are those thieves in the village still there? When will this day end!"

Pan's father said: "No need to worry, officials. I heard that those people will leave soon."

After hearing this, Sun Duan jumped up from the ground and asked: "They will leave? Why will they leave?"

Dad Pan said: "This afternoon, many people came down from the Guanshui River Valley, carrying many large copper pipes. I heard that they are called artillery, and they are very powerful when used on the battlefield. The people who came to the village are the Jin people.

, hiding here, just waiting for the artillery. Now that they have snatched the artillery, if they don’t run back to the north quickly, the imperial army will definitely clear them out."

Sun Ji nodded and said: "So that's it——"

As a Luoshan native, Sun Ji had heard the name of artillery before. But he didn't know what it looked like and how to use it. The Jin army spent so much effort to grab it, so it must be very useful.

This village is located in the mountains, not far from Shangcheng Town. It is indeed a good place to hide soldiers and horses. To the north of Shangcheng City, it soon leaves the Dabie Mountains and is an endless plain. After the Puppet Qi Dynasty occupied Shouchun,

The Song army only had one stronghold in Lu'an, so there was nothing they could do against the Jin army.

Returning to Pan's father's house, Sun Ji was uneasy. Although he was just a civilian, he had seen the ferocity of the Jin army in the past few years, and also experienced a stable life under Wang Xiaolie's rule. The artillery was an artifact of the Song army, and was used by the Jin army.

The army snatched it away and felt that this matter was very abominable.

After dinner, Sun Ji couldn't help it anymore. He told Pan's father and came outside the village. He heard people in the village shouting and neighing. It was a mess. He didn't know how many Jin people came. The people's homes were destroyed by Jin.

When someone robbed someone, someone scolded them. The Jin Army at this time was not as kind as when they came here. If anyone dared to scold, they would kill with swords. At this time, more than half of the people in the village were killed by swords in just over an hour.

Down.

Lying in the shadow outside the village, looking at the tragic scenes in the village through the moonlight, Sun Ji felt mixed emotions in his heart. These are his fathers and fellow countrymen, and it is really pitiful to die in such a tragic way. He is just alone, so what does it matter?

way?

After watching for a while, Sun Ji sighed and turned to leave. Suddenly he heard a scream in the village. Looking up, he saw a man suddenly running out of the house, with disheveled hair and a terrifying look.

On the street, a Jin soldier was patrolling with a sword. When he saw someone coming, he cursed angrily and slashed him with his sword.

After being hit by a knife, the man was covered in blood. He pointed at the Jin soldiers and cursed loudly: "I am from the Song Dynasty. If I die here today, I will not go back with you!"

Jin Bing took a step forward and stabbed the man's chest with a knife. He smiled and said: "Since you want to die, then just die! Why are you talking so much nonsense!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a Jin Army general came out from the corner of the street with a pot of meat. After seeing the scene in front of him, he couldn't help but asked in shock: "Who did you just kill?"

Jin Bing pointed to the house in front and said: "The one who came out of here——"

"How dare you!" Jin dropped the basin in his hand on the ground, and the juice splashed everywhere. "There is a cannon craftsman locked up in that room, how dare you kill him!"

After hearing this, Jin Bing was stunned for a moment, not knowing what to do. He had just succeeded in killing him, but he didn't expect to cause a big disaster.

At this moment, more than a dozen people rushed out of the room and rushed towards the Jin soldiers holding swords. Someone shouted: "A good man, Mr. Xin, died here! We are from the Song Dynasty, how can we be inferior to these pigs and dogs?"

Let’s go north! It’s better to die than to dishonor our ancestors!”

From Tuanfeng Town to Macheng, we traveled 200 miles a day and a night, and more than a hundred Jin soldiers were killed. When the waterway was exhausted, we built a frame with big wood and carried the artillery. A two-thousand-jin artillery had to be carried by fifty people.

. Marched all the way to this stronghold. Along the way, more than two hundred people died. By the time they arrived at this stronghold, the Jin army was already exhausted and on the verge of collapse. Many people killed people in the stronghold just to vent their anger.

The captured Song Dynasty craftsmen suddenly burst into action. The Jin soldiers who were eating around them didn't think at all. They picked up their swords and guns and killed them. In the past few days, many Jin soldiers were in a fog of confusion. How could they think so much?

Before the generals of the Jin army could give orders, all the craftsmen of the Song Dynasty were killed, and the ground was a mess.

The general of the Jin army was also stunned by his men. He was experienced in the military and knew that he could not suppress the situation at this time, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous. He could only wait for the incident to pass and the soldiers to calm down, and then slowly think of a solution.

Sun Ji saw it outside the village and was stunned for a moment. The ground inside the village was covered in blood and flesh, and the bodies were almost incomplete.

The breeze blows, already bringing a cool feeling.

Autumn has come.

In the Henan government office, Wang Xiaolie slammed the official document on the table and said angrily: "This is a traitor who fails to accomplish anything but fails more than he does!"

Wang Ruohai picked up the official document and read it over. After a moment of silence, he asked: "The artillery has been snatched away by the Jin army, and there are no chasing troops around. What should I do?"

Wang Xiaolie stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the falling yellow leaves outside.

After a while, he said: "What else can be done? We have artillery in the army, and the Jin army will learn it sooner or later. But I didn't expect to learn it like this. When Zhe Yanzhi came to Luoyang, he was afraid that the court would not be able to learn how to cast cannons. From then on,

The ready-made artillery, the craftsmen who cast the cannons, and even the drawings of the artillery were all taken away. Who would have thought that they were all given to the Jin people! Zhe Yanzhi deserves to be killed!"

Wang Ruohai has been with Wang Xiaolie for many years, and this is the first time he heard Wang Xiaolie curse someone, and the first time he heard Wang Xiaolie say that a person should be killed. Seeing Wang Xiaolie standing there in front of him with a murderous aura, he didn't know

What to say.

After a long time, Wang Xiaolie slowly calmed down his emotions. He said in a deep voice: "After seizing the artillery, the Jin army will definitely learn to use it as soon as possible. It will take time. This autumn, there may not be a big war. But next year, the Jin army will

The army will definitely attack in a large scale, and we must be prepared in advance."

Wang Ruohai nodded and said: "If the Jin army does not consider the cost, they can cast a lot of cannons in a year. But they have not enough time to learn how to use them in the army."

Wang Xiaolie said: "It's definitely not enough. We have spent several years, gone through many drills, and had many people offer suggestions, but we still didn't use it well. In the battle in the west of Beijing at the beginning of this year, although the results were brilliant, the cost was also real.

Quite a few. In fact, most of the artillery in the army are broken. It’s just that the artillery is not difficult to repair as long as it doesn’t explode. The Jin army’s cannons will have no fewer problems than ours.”

Having said this, Wang Xiaolie turned around.

Wang Ruohai was about to speak, but Wang Xiaolie raised his hand to stop him. He said: "I have always said that artillery is a powerful weapon in the army, but we cannot rely on artillery. What really determines the outcome of a war is not one or two weapons, but the army itself.

In the next year, while building artillery, the most important thing is to train the army. Our main attack direction remains unchanged, still in Hedong. We must use this year to form a sure-win trend against Taiyuan!"
Chapter completed!