Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 293 Brother, you are my own man!
The distance between beacon towers on the Ming Dynasty Great Wall was about ten miles, which means that it takes ten miles to get to the next beacon tower from both ends of the Sanshandun beacon tower.

However, there are places where the distance is shorter, the shortest being only five miles, but these are only found in the beacon towers near Xuanfu, because that is the direction where the Mongols usually like to invade. Shortening the distance between the beacon towers also makes it easier to monitor the movements of the Mongols outside the Great Wall.

According to the convention, to inspect the beacon tower, one has to walk half the distance to both sides, which means it takes at least 20 miles to go back and forth. The Great Wall on the border is relatively intact overall, but in fact, due to lack of funds and years of disrepair, some places are not easy to walk on, and some are even badly damaged. They look good on the outside, but the bricks inside have collapsed and even broken. It was because of this that Jiang Tou's old friend accidentally fell down.

He has to walk with one foot high and one foot low, pay attention to his feet, and always keep an eye on what is happening outside the Great Wall in the north. The patrol is very tiring.

However, Jiangtou had gotten used to it over the years. What was a hard job for others was easy for him to do. Not only did he walk smoothly, he also gave instructions to the boy behind him along the way, teaching him some key points to pay attention to during daily patrols.

"Uncle Jiang, do you think the imperial court will really let us go back to the garrison?" When they were some distance away from the beacon tower, the boy asked Uncle Jiang in a low voice.

With outsiders gone, the young people started to address Jiangtou in a different way. Considering his deceased father, it was only natural to call Jiangtou "Uncle Jiang".

"You are still thinking about this?" Jiangtou was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

The boy scratched his head in embarrassment and said with a simple smile: "Uncle Jiang, you know the situation of my family. I can work in Sanshandun thanks to your support. Without you, I would not be able to eat the imperial rations. But now the garrison is saying that the court will take over Sanshandun in the spring. No one knows what will happen next. I am always worried. What if I really lose this job? What will happen to my mother and brother? How can they live without this ration?"

Nodding silently, Jiangtou reached out and patted him on the shoulder: "I can't say for sure. Hey, I'm just a small sergeant. To be honest with you, nephew, I've asked people a long time ago, but there's no definite answer from the garrison. We can only take it one step at a time. Besides, even if the court takes over Sanshandun directly, there must be someone guarding this place, right? We have been here for so many years, and the court may not send people to garrison here again, right?"

The young man was immediately delighted and asked Jiangtou, "Doesn't that mean that this job is saved?" But Jiangtou still shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying that this was just his guess and he didn't know the truth. He should wait and see what happens next.

After hearing what Jiang Tou said, the young man felt a little heavy-hearted. He followed Jiang Tou to inspect. After a few steps, he almost slipped without paying attention. Fortunately, Jiang Tou grabbed him. Jiang Tou sternly warned him not to be distracted during the inspection. If he did this again, he would not have to accompany him and go back to the beacon tower to warm himself. Don't forget how his father died. Jiang Tou didn't want this kid to end up like his father because of carelessness.

The young man was ashamed and quickly apologized to Jiangtou. Seeing that the boy had perked up and stopped thinking about random things, Jiangtou's stern expression finally eased. Then he led him to continue his inspection. The two of them walked one after the other and took some time to reach a place five miles to the east. They stayed there for a while and then turned back.

This section ends when you return to the beacon tower. Next, you will continue to walk the same distance west from the beacon tower, and then return to complete the patrol.

But who would have thought that when they were about two miles away from the beacon tower, Jiangtou, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped and squatted down. The kid behind him hadn't reacted yet and stood there stupidly. Jiangtou turned around and yelled at him. The kid suddenly realized what was going on and quickly imitated Jiangtou and squatted down.

"What's wrong, Uncle Jiang?"

"Listen..."

"What are you listening to?" The boy was still confused, with a blank look on his face.

"Listen carefully!" Jiangtou said with a serious expression.

The boy listened carefully, and all he could hear was the sound of the wind and the rustling of falling snowflakes. But just when he was about to say something, there was a very slight clicking sound. He thought he had misheard at first, but when he listened carefully again, a similar sound came again after a while.

"Is this...someone?" the boy asked uncertainly. After thinking for a while, he asked again: "It's not a wild animal in such a heavy snow, right?"

"No! These are the footsteps of people, and there is more than one..." Jiangtou said seriously, and then a puzzled expression appeared on his face, because this movement did not come from outside the Great Wall, but from the inside of the Great Wall. Judging from the size of the sound, it was not far away from them. "Follow me, be careful, be alert, and don't act rashly without my order!" Jiangtou looked at the beacon tower that was already vaguely visible in front of him. Although it was not far away, it was too late to run over and call for help. Jiangtou made a decision in his mind instantly. He picked up the three-barreled gun in his hand and checked the charge of the three-barreled gun. Then he took out the fire plug and lit the fuse to get ready. Then he lowered his voice and told the boy behind him.

The boy nodded repeatedly, a little excitement appeared on his nervous face, and the spear in his hand was clenched tightly. Then, Jiangtou was seen trotting forward with his back bent. He was on tiptoe when he ran. His posture looked a little awkward, but his speed was not slow, and he ran silently without making any sound.

Imitating Jiang Tou's posture, the boy also ran on tiptoe and bent over, but his speed was far slower than Jiang Tou's. Moreover, after running a few steps, he felt that his toes could not bear it and it hurt badly. But Jiang Tou ran very easily, like a civet cat.

Jiang Tou ran nearly a hundred meters in a blink of an eye, and then hid behind a parapet. He took a few deep breaths, took advantage of the parapet to look outside, and then quickly retreated. His speed was very fast, and his movements were very small. If you didn't pay close attention, you wouldn't notice it at all.

"Uncle Jiang...?" At this time, the boy had already run to the vicinity of Jiang Tou, and hid behind the parapet like him. When he was about to ask something, he saw Jiang Tou's sharp eyes sweeping towards him, and he immediately swallowed back all the words that were about to come out of his mouth.

She raised her hand and signaled to the young man to stay put and not move. At this time, the footsteps coming from outside the parapet became much clearer. Although covered by the wind and snow, the distance was very close and the footsteps became one. Although not loud, they could still be heard clearly if one listened carefully.

"Where did these people come from in this awful weather? Could they be the Mongols who sneaked in through that gap?" It was such a cold day that sweat broke out on Jiangtou's forehead. This was the first time he had encountered such a situation. If the noise was caused by the Mongols, it shouldn't have happened. Even if a small group of Mongols sneaked in through a gap in the Great Wall under the wind and snow, why would they come here in this season?

Besides, once you enter the Great Wall, you will be in the territory of the Ming Dynasty. If a small group of Mongols come in like this, they will not be afraid of being discovered by the Ming army. When the time comes, they will be caught in a trap. Are the Mongols so stupid? Jiang has never seen such Mongols in all his years at the border, but who else could it be if not Mongols? Could it be a merchant who wanted to get out of the border? But in such a heavy snowstorm, the merchant caravan had already stopped. Which merchant would lead a team to Mongolia in such weather for money?
For a moment, Jiangtou was not sure what was going on, but as the people came closer to him, he stopped thinking about it. In any case, this group of people was probably not from a legitimate background. Although he was just a small sergeant, since he had taken this job, he should at least live up to his status as a frontier soldier. Besides, he still had the three-barreled gun. With the support of the Great Wall, as long as the three-barreled gun sounded, the brothers on the beacon tower would be able to react. It would not be a problem to wait until they came to support him. In addition, there were large guns on the beacon tower. It sounded that the other side did not have many people, so he should be able to keep them.

Having made up his mind, Jiang waited for the footsteps to get closer. They were almost at the Great Wall. If he continued to move forward, he would be closer to the Great Wall.

Estimating that the distance was about right, Jiangtou suddenly extended the three-barreled gun in front of the parapet, aimed directly at the figure closest to the Great Wall, and then shouted loudly.

There weren't many people coming, probably only about ten. They approached the Great Wall quietly and were about to touch the parapet. Compared to the outside of the Great Wall, the inner side was not so steep, and the parapet was not that high. In addition, the parapet in the area they chose was only about one meter high, so those who were agile could just flip over.

Unexpectedly, when these people thought they were about to get close and then easily climb over the parapet, a three-barreled gun with a burning fuse suddenly stretched out from the other side of the parapet, followed by a loud shout, which scared them all.

The person walking in front suddenly felt his legs go limp and he fell flat on his face. The person behind him looked at the black three-barreled gun pointing at him and his face turned pale, his whole body trembling slightly.

"Who is down there? Tell me your identity now!" Jiangtou asked, and at the same time winked at the young man who was less than three meters away from him.

This boy was also smart. He imitated Jiang Tou's tone and started shouting from behind the parapet, waving the spear in his hand while shouting.

"Don't fire! I'm one of us!" As Jiang Tou and his men shouted, one of the people who sneaked into the Great Wall suddenly shouted, raising his hands and waving towards Jiang Tou.

"One of our own?" Jiang Tou was slightly stunned, and then he cursed loudly: "How can one of our own be so sneaky? Do you want to climb over the Great Wall instead of taking the main road? In this heavy snow, which one of our own would have the time to do this? And you still want to deceive me? Bah! Are you guys spies from that tribe? It would be fine if you surrender quickly, otherwise my three-barreled gun and big gun are not vegetarians, and I will shoot you all back home with one shot!"

"Brother, we are really family!" The man walking in front with his hands raised shouted in tears. The few people behind him who were far away had already hidden themselves, and the guy who slipped first also cleverly hid himself, leaving him alone to face it.

He cursed inwardly, but had to explain: "Brothers above, I am from the Jinyiwei, brother, please don't shoot! I am one of you!"

(End of this chapter)