Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 224 Ambush! Ambush!
Huo Yong got up early in the morning.

Getting up early in such cold weather must be something important to do.

A group of new recruits came in today, and these brigades that are short of personnel can pick a few to supplement the troops.

The previous battle of Yongle City and the fighting in recent months had caused some serious losses to his team. A few days ago, he received a notice from the captain saying that a few people could be selected to reinforce the team.

Their battalion is fully staffed with ten soldiers, but now with him there are only five, and they can still select two more.

Huo Yong rushed to the parade ground breathing out white air. The parade ground was already bustling with noise. The noisy recruits were like ducks being driven, trying to line up in a chaotic manner. However, no matter how the captains who were there to maintain discipline beat, scolded, pulled and tugged at them, they still could not form a line.

Huo Yong watched the joke for a while, and when he saw someone, his eyes suddenly lit up. He quickly trotted over and shouted, "Old Captain, Old Captain!"

Wei Chun looked at Huo Yong unhappily and said, "What the hell are you yelling about!"

He scolded, then saw the hideous scar on Huo Yong's face, and was stunned for a moment: "Is the injury so serious?"

Huo Yong smiled, and suddenly the hideous scar on his face, which ran from his left eyebrow across the bridge of his nose to the lower right corner of his mouth, began to tremble like a frightened centipede.

Wei Chun felt a chill in his heart and said quickly, "Don't laugh, it's scary."

Huo Yong quickly calmed down and said, "It's good enough to be alive. This is nothing."

Wei Chun sighed, nodded and said, "Yes, it's good enough to be alive. More than 200,000 people died. You are a lucky man."

Huo Yong smiled and said, "How can I be considered lucky? In my life, I have only been cautious."

Wei Chun couldn't help laughing and said, "You kid! You are afraid of death!"

Huo Yong did not argue with Wei Chun, but quietly stuffed a piece of silver into his hand and whispered, "Can I choose first?"

Wei Chun slapped the silver coins back and said, "No one else wants them, but you are proactive."

Huo Yong sneered, "They don't want it because they want to collect empty salaries. How foolish! It is right to have more brothers together and survive. They don't understand this principle. Now their bodies have rotted into bones."

Wei Chun shook his head and said, "There won't be a major war. Just eat more empty salaries. After a few years, you will have some money for retirement when you return to your hometown. You should also think about your future."

Huo Yong shook his head and sneered, "I don't think so, old captain. Do you think the court will be willing to accept the defeat of Yongle City? I think we will have to fight again after the spring, and it will have to be a big battle. I have to survive first before I can think about my retirement."

Wei Chun shook his head and said, "I am just an old thief who helps the army. What do I know? If you want to pick it first, then pick it first. Anyway, others may not want it, so we can only force them to take it when the time comes."

Huo Yongxi said happily: "Okay, then I won't be polite. Old Captain, if you don't want this money, I will treat you to a meal and a drink in the future."

Wei Chun smiled and nodded, "That's right, you are really blind to give me money!"

Huo Yong chuckled. The old captain still treated him the same as he did in the past. If the old captain had not blocked an arrow for him and crippled one of his legs, he wouldn't have to retreat to the second line and deal with the recruitment of soldiers now.

Sure enough, when the selection started, Wei Chun asked him to go first. Some familiar captains laughed at Huo Yong and said, "Second Huo, pick more. That way, someone will carry you back."

Huo Yong ignored them and used his eyes like a hawk to select the person he wanted. He had already picked out a few before, but after being pushed and shoved, he didn't know where they went.

"Hurry up, hurry up, if you keep picking like this, you won't be able to finish by the evening!"

Someone urged.

Huo Yong was not in a hurry. If he couldn't pick the right one, then he might as well just give up.

Huo Yong quickly found the three new recruits he had his eyes on, picked them out, and asked for two more.

Huo Yong searched quickly and suddenly his eyes fixed: What a big man!
The big man stood at the back of the team with his head down. If he hadn't walked over to him, he would have been ignored.

Huo Yong was delighted to see the prey, so he strode over and pulled the big man out from the crowd.

It is good to be big and strong. If you have a good physique, you must be strong. If there is such a person in the team, you can bring more food, water and bows and arrows.

Huo Yong shouted: "Keep your head up and your chest out!"

The big man quickly raised his head and then straightened his back. Huo Yong's eyes suddenly lit up: So tall!
Huo Yong couldn't help but grab the big man's chest. The big man was frightened and took a step back, saying, "What are you doing!"

The sound is clear and has a unique flavor.

Only then did Huo Yong notice the big man's appearance. Huh?

What a handsome young man!
He had been looking down before, so he didn't notice what he looked like. Now that he could see clearly, Huo Yong was very surprised.

Huo Yong looked at him carefully and asked, "What's your name?"

The young man said: "My surname is Xin, my name is Qiji, Xin Qiji."

Huo Yong frowned: "Xin Qiji?"

The young man straightened up quickly and said, "Yes!"

Huo Yong sneered and said, "Well, you and I are destined to be together. My name is Huo Qubing, and you will be with me from now on."

Su Yun: “…”

This Xin Qiji is naturally Su Yun.

He asked Qi Keyong to arrange for him to join the army, and ordered him not to leak the secret. Qi Keyong directly stuffed him into the new recruits, so that no one knew which camp he went to, which was quite good.

But this ferocious-looking captain must have something wrong in his brain. The name Xin Qiji is also worthy of ridicule.

Huo Yong picked another young man with a good physique, then took Su Yun and a few others to say hello to Wei Chun, and then returned to his barracks.

Afterwards, he took Su Yun and a few others to get quilts, clothes and other things. In this kind of horrible weather, if these things were not arranged first, people would freeze to death.

Su Yun thus successfully got in.

This barracks is in Suide City. The house is quite sturdy. If it weren’t sturdy here, people would freeze to death.

The barracks had no windows and was pitch black inside. As soon as I entered, I smelled a very complex smell, a strange smell combined with feet, food residues, not taking a shower for a long time, not drying the quilts, and not ventilating the room.

Mm, the smell of a male college dormitory.

Good.

Huo Yong, who led them in, didn't care. He walked into the barracks first, kicked the beds one by one with his big feet, and shouted, "Get the hell up! These are new brothers. Get up and meet them!"

Four or five disheveled old soldiers who stood up reluctantly looked at Su Yun and others.

Under Huo Yong's scolding, several people told their names, and then Su Yun and others also introduced themselves, and they joined the group.

From this moment on, Su Yun truly joined the army.

Then, the first day, nothing to do.

On the second day, I slept in the barracks. I had porridge mixed with water for lunch and porridge mixed with water for dinner. There was also a steamed bun, but there was no oil on it. Haha, there was no such thing as breakfast.

On the third day, I had nothing to do. I grabbed some porridge for lunch and had a steamed bun and some porridge for dinner.

On the fourth day, I slept in the barracks. I didn't dare get up early because I would get hungry easily. I grabbed some porridge and drank it, then quickly lay down on the bed to rest.

On the fifth day, we finally have something to do. Today is the day for training.

Su Yun and others got up early under the leadership of Huo Yong, mixed a thick porridge, and actually had a full meal. Oh, they had to practice today, so they ate better.

The so-called training was just practicing formations and brandishing swords and guns. The intensity was similar to the military training for college students in later generations, but Su Yun actually felt tired.

I haven't eaten meat for four or five days, and I can't even get enough staple food, so naturally I can't keep up the energy.

Because it was a training day, we had a more substantial lunch at noon. Everyone had an extra steamed corn bread. In the evening, we still had porridge that was as thin as water. Well, the training was over.

Then the second five days begins the same cycle over again.

On the eleventh day, Su Yun felt a little emotional: It was already remarkable that such an army could maintain the territory at the beginning of the founding of the country without geographical barriers, and even expand a little.

It is a bit strange that the Song Dynasty invested half, or even up to 80%, of its annual income into the army, and then they just ate porridge every day?

Oh, yes, building a fortress costs a lot of money and requires a lot of troops, but are they really that poor?

There is no need to think too much, it is nothing more than corruption at every level.

The upper layer was flooded with water, the middle layer had small rivers and streams, and when it came to the bottom layer, only the roof was leaking.

This has been the case throughout all dynasties, but if you rely on such an army to fight a war, you are bound to get slapped in the face.

No matter what time it is, people are the most important. When people's bodies are not nourished and they have no faith, you ask them to fight for their lives. Isn't that nonsense?
These soldiers don't have enough to eat every day, and every soldier knows about the corruption and blood-sucking. Do you think they are willing to fight and die?

Isn't this funny?

Under this premise, things like using culture to control the military, generals not knowing their soldiers and soldiers not knowing their generals, the worst land barriers, internal discord in the court, the officials not being wise and brave enough...it's all bullshit!
Your most basic soldiers don’t have enough food to eat and have no will to fight, and then you talk nonsense about the system and other conditions not being good. It’s all bullshit!

Previously, Su Yun was still marveling at how the Western Xia, with a population of three million and an effective territory of less than 30,000 square kilometers, could withstand the Song Dynasty, which had a population of over 100 million and 18 Han provinces, without collapsing. It was so damn tenacious. But now it seems that it was the Song Dynasty that was able to maintain its national power for more than a hundred years. That was truly amazing!
Then there was something else, the sergeants beat and scolded the soldiers, and dragged the soldiers to do the sergeants' private work at any time. Su Yun encountered this situation. On the twelfth day, Huo Yong came in in a hurry and greeted everyone, "Hurry up, there is work to do!"

Suddenly, the four or five soldiers were extremely fast and quickly put on their clothes. Su Yun and others didn't understand why, so they also quickly put on their clothes. Then they followed Huo Yong to bring a cart and go to the river to unload the cargo ship.

At first, Su Yun thought it was military rations or something like that, but he didn't expect it to be the goods of an ordinary business, and not even military supplies.

Then Su Yun saw the captain of their city chatting and laughing with the owner of the fleet, and then settling the remuneration with him.

I see. Take private jobs to make money.

But Su Yun and his friends also had some benefits. They had a full meal with some oil in it at noon, and even a few slices of fatty meat at dinner.

——No wonder those old soldiers are so active.

This kind of thing of being pulled out to do private work from time to time happened frequently in the next few days. It should be because it was the Spring Festival before, so it was suspended. Now that the Spring Festival is over, it can be regarded as restarted.

Basically, apart from sex, the rest of the time is basically spent doing private work.

This way I can go out and earn some food, which can be considered as replenishing my body a little?

On the 30th day after Su Yun officially entered the camp, they received a mission to go to Qingbian Village to change guard. The other four armies also went with them, totaling five armies, which is the military strength of a command camp.

Logically speaking, the troops of Wudu should be 500 people, but Su Yun looked at the number and it seemed that there were less than 300 of them. It seemed that they were collecting empty salaries.

Qingbianzhai is the fortress closest to the Western Xia border, across the river from Yongle City.

Huo Yong arranged for Su Yun to carry a huge bag of food and a huge quiver of arrows, which together weighed an estimated sixty to seventy kilograms, and then set off with the army.

In recent days, because he was often taken out to do private work, he had enough to eat, so Su Yun's strength was maintained pretty well and he could still keep up with the team.

That day, they crossed the Wuding River and then walked upstream along the river. At dusk, Qingbian Village was in front of them. Then the team began to become a little chaotic because they saw smoke rising from the fortress in front of them.

"Alert! Alert!" The cavalrymen passed the message back and forth, and the team suddenly became chaotic.

Huo Yong shouted loudly: "Hold on! Hold on! Don't run around, or you'll be dead! Follow the main group, don't fall behind!"

"Move forward quickly and enter Qingbian Village as soon as possible. As long as we enter the village, we will be safe!"

The cavalry quickly sent messages back and forth.

After a brief commotion, the team was calmed down again, and everyone moved forward nervously. Su Yun could hear the soldiers in front and behind him breathing heavily with nervousness, and the atmosphere was very depressing.

Su Yun was also very nervous when he saw Huo Yong's hideous and ugly face, and kept urging them to move forward.

After walking for a while, they saw a cloud of dust rising up ahead. Then the cavalrymen who were sending messages shouted miserably: "Beware! Beware! Abandon the baggage! Turn left immediately and go up the mountain! Go up the mountain! Everyone go up the mountain to set up positions and prepare for defense!"

Each captain shouted orders in a shrill voice. Huo Yong shouted at Su Yun and others to quickly go towards the low mountain. The team ran towards the low mountain in a noisy manner. They were still several miles away from the low mountain. They ran all the way, and each of them was out of breath.

But no one dared not to run, because the Western Xia army was mostly cavalry. If they were blocked in the river valley, they would soon be slaughtered. Only by running up the mountain and using the mountain as a position could they resist a little.

Huo Yong was desperately urging the people in his team, holding a panicked recruit in his hand, and followed by a few old soldiers. Su Yun saw that the old soldier was pale, but was running steadily in front.

Su Yun, carrying sixty to seventy kilograms of food and a quiver on his back, followed Huo Yong with his long legs.

Huo Yong originally wanted to come over and throw away the weight on Su Yun, but seeing that Su Yun was still able to keep up, he let Su Yun carry it.

If we were surrounded, both food and quivers would be the key to survival. If we could keep them, it would be better to keep them.

More than 200 people ran quickly all the way to the foot of the mountain. Although it was called a mountain, it was actually just a mound of earth, no more than a few dozen meters high. Fortunately, as long as they could occupy the high ground and look down from above, they could slightly resist the cavalry.

Just as everyone was rejoicing, the sound of horse hooves suddenly rang out in the low forest. The commander on horseback who was running in front screamed shrilly, shouting, "There's an ambush! There's an ambush!"

Su Yun raised his head and looked forward, only to see about dozens of cavalrymen galloping out of the forest and running head-on into dozens of the commander's personal guards. The dozens of personal guards were protecting the commander, but as soon as they faced each other, they were cut in by the cavalrymen.

In just a moment, more than ten of the dozens of personal soldiers fell. The cavalry rushed past, but ignored the soldiers behind them. Instead, they turned around and charged into the commander's personal guard formation again.

To catch a thief, you must first catch the leader. The Xixia people also understood this principle.

After two consecutive charges, Su Yun saw the commander's head being cut off by a cavalryman and tied around his waist.

"Run!"

Suddenly there was a loud roar from the Song army, and more than 200 soldiers scattered instantly.

Huo Yong shouted loudly: "Don't run! Don't run! There are only a few dozen of them. Let's form a battle formation! Form a battle formation!"

But no one listened to him at this moment, even the heads were running away.

Several new recruits with Su Yun also wanted to run away, but were grabbed back by some old soldiers. Even the old soldiers did not move and stayed by Huo Yong's side.

Huo Yong shouted, "Don't run! Don't run! If you run, none of you will survive!"

Su Yun threw the food directly on the ground, quickly opened the quiver, carried the quivers on his back one by one, then quickly untied the black cloth wrapped around his bow and quickly strung it.

Huo Yong saw Su Yun's bow and narrowed his eyes and said, "This is not the army's bow, it's your own...hiss, is this the Badou heavy bow?"

Su Yun quickly strung the bowstring, stretched out his hand and pulled it slightly, and the bowstring made a muffled humming sound.

Seeing that the Song army had fled in all directions, the dozens of Xixia cavalrymen made a quick gesture, and then the cavalrymen dispersed and chased after the Song army separately.

It was a massacre for them now, and there was no need to maintain the attack formation.

Su Yun and Huo Yong said: "Captain, protect me!"

Then Su Yun looked at the three or four cavalrymen coming in this direction, surrounding and charging. Their group gathered together and attracted the attention of the Xixia surprise force.

It was still about sixty or seventy steps away. Generally speaking, fifty steps was the limit for the Song army's bows and arrows. If it was more than fifty steps, they would have to shoot over a large area.

Seeing that Su Yun had already raised his bow to shoot, Huo Yong quickly said, "Put it in a little."

With a buzzing sound, Su Yun let go, then raised his hand and quickly pulled out an arrow, and shot it out with another buzzing sound. Huo Yong said anxiously, "Shoot closer!"

Hardly had he uttered these words when he saw a Xixia cavalryman about fifty or sixty steps away being hit in the face by an arrow, causing him to fall off his horse. In a millisecond of time, another arrow hit another knight in the face, causing him to also fall to the ground.

This scared the other two cavalrymen, and they immediately clamped their legs together, turned their heads left and right to get out of the shooting range, and at the same time, quickly shot an arrow.

"defense!"

Huo Yong yelled loudly.

Su Yun was neither surprised nor afraid. He shot out the third arrow quickly, and then pulled out another arrow with incredible agility and shot it out with a whoosh!

The two men happened to have their backs to Su Yun, and two arrows shot out of their chests, and they fell to the ground immediately.

The four horses lost control of their owners and stopped in confusion.

Huo Yong stared at Su Yun in astonishment, and said with his mouth agape: "Xin Qiji! You... you... you are a general?"

Su Yun didn't have time to say anything more, and quickly said, "Captain, gather the troops and quickly climb the mountain to build a position!"

Su Yun kicked his long legs and jumped out from among the people. He rushed to a horse, jumped on it, and headed towards a place where Song soldiers were being surrounded.

Su Yun shot an arrow from his horse with a whoosh, knocking off his horse a Xixia cavalryman who was leaning over and swinging a sword. Then he shot another arrow and killed another person. Suddenly, two arrows flew towards him with two whoosh sounds.

Su Yun ducked and made way, and the two arrows missed the target. The two Xixia cavalrymen saw that Su Yun was a great archer, so they rode over on their horses, shooting arrows as they galloped, forcing Su Yun to stop shooting. When they were about ten steps away, they drew their swords and came forward.

This was to destroy Su Yun's superb archery skills and engage in close combat on horseback.

Su Yun also drew his sword, squeezed his legs together, and galloped on his horse to meet the two cavalrymen.

When Su Yun approached, he pulled the reins and the horse immediately went to the side, avoiding the attack from two riders, and it was the knight's weak side. The knight was shocked, but it was too late. He crossed paths with Su Yun and his head flew into the air.

Su Yun retracted his sword, turned around and shot an arrow, and the knight also shot an arrow.

Su Yun shot out a sword and then fell to the side to avoid the arrow, but the Western Xia cavalry shot an arrow at him. Then his head buzzed and the sky and the earth suddenly lost their color!
Huo Yong was speechless at this time. Su Yun could shoot arrows quickly with a heavy bow on the ground, and killing enemies from fifty or sixty steps away was already miraculous. On horseback, he could also shoot arrows quickly with a bow weighing eight dou. This was truly a rare sight in his life.

The key point is that Su Yun fought one against two Xixia cavalrymen on horseback. He first beheaded the opponent's cavalry with a sword, and then killed the opponent with an arrow.

But then Huo Yong's eyes burst into tears because he saw Su Yun fall off the horse!

He was hit by an arrow!

Huo Yong shouted loudly and was about to rush forward to save Su Yun, but he saw Su Yun actually climbed back on the horse.

Hide under the horse!

"Captain! Quickly gather the brothers, retreat to the mountain, and set up the position!"

(End of this chapter)