Today's New Year, the prosperous Qingzhou City is even more lively.

The peddlers and pawns shouted louder, hoping to attract some customers and return home as soon as possible after selling the goods in front of them; Pingyang Fang, which sells some calligraphy and paintings of the couplet gate, is also full of people at the moment, and the tattered scholars are looking at the passers-by with smiles on their faces, as if today is the day of the list of moves; more and more people are entering and exiting from the Qingzhou City Gate, and many of them are trotting all the way, or driving horse-drawn carriages to gallop away, splashing a burst of yellow smoke; or hurriedly coming in from the city gate, carrying large bags and small bags, the wind and dust have not stopped, not caring about the appearance at this moment, rushing to their relatives who have been waiting for a long time。

Even the beggars, who used to be sloppy in their clothes, today changed their unkempt and oily appearance, mashed them with fresh soap, washed them with some unknown spices they had picked up, dressed them carefully, put on patches but clean clothes, and stretched out their hands to ask for money from those who were richly dressed.

At this moment, the gate of Baiyun Temple is open, but there are no ordinary people to be seen.

On both sides of the gate of Baiyun Temple, in addition to the four waiting Taoist children, there are dozens of temple hunters standing next to them, wearing armor made of dark iron, reflecting a dazzling light under the winter sun. Behind it hung a steel crossbow with an quiver containing a number of arrows. Hanging from its waist are various weapons such as large knives and hammers, which look majestic. On his feet, he wore boots made of brown deerskin, the tips of which were arched forward, and it looked like they were specially made in the temple.

At this moment, their expressions were serious, scanning the various groups of people who came and went.

The hunts in Qingzhou City are usually scattered everywhere in twos and threes, specifically to deal with some small people, or to inspect some bandits in the martial arts rivers and lakes. Except for the state hall in Qingzhou City, it is rare to gather outside like this, and seeing so many people waiting in Baiyun Temple today, it should be that the state guard is coming.

The head pillar incense of Baiyun Temple, if it is ordinary, it will definitely be robbed of the head, and there are often cases of stampede to death. But every New Year, the outside of the Baiyun Temple is very deserted, even those fortune tellers on the outer street have packed up their stalls, and have already gone home to prepare for the New Year, as if they know that although the Baiyun Temple is open today, there will definitely be no other pilgrims.

Because the incense sticks of the New Year's head belong to the state guard, who dares to snatch it?

Although it is already the third pole of the sun, it is the time to eat at noon, but no one dares to relax their vigilance, and even Baiyunguan has also released several good hands in the temple, for fear that something will make a moth today, and make the state guard angry.

At this moment, two black carriages drove unhurriedly through the outer streets of Baiyun Temple in Qingzhou City, and dozens of sturdy guards stood next to them, looking at the crowd around them vigilantly. The appearance of the carriage is very ordinary, the black curtain covers it and does not see any fame, and the people around think that it is a rich merchant who came to Baiyunguan to pay respects, and he has never felt anything unusual, he is still busy with the things in his hands.

Yunhai Zhenren, the master of Baiyun Temple, came out of the view, and saw that he had a childish face, wearing a white robe, embroidered with clouds and white cranes, which had the taste of fairy wind and bones. Behind him stood the four principals of Baiyun Temple, including the Yunshan Elder who was on duty that day, and at this moment, everyone looked at the two black carriages on the outer street of Baiyun Temple, and they were also staring at the people who were flowing around.

At this time, a vendor selling sugar gourds was passing by the carriage, holding a straw stick, which was full of red sugar gourds, it seems that this is also a hawker begging for a living in Qingzhou City, and wants to take advantage of the approaching New Year to make some sugar gourds that are popular with children, and exchange some silver coins in the bustling Baiyunguan outer street.

A little girl with a ponytail next to her stopped the vendor, pointed to a sugar gourd on top of the stick, said in a childish voice, and then took out the broken silver and handed it to the vendor under the gaze of the adult.

Perhaps because he was taking business too seriously, the vendor with the sugar gourd stood in the middle of the road outside the Baiyunguan Street, not noticing the two black carriages coming by, and still concentrating on taking the sugar gourd off the grass and wood sticks and handing it to the waiting little girl.

It was only after the anxious reminder of the person next to him that the peddler came to his senses and found himself only ten paces away from the carriage.

At this time, the guards who followed the carriage trotting also saw the vendor selling sugar gourds, and the two people in front scolded the things that were not long-sighted, and then stepped forward and took two steps, ready to forcibly push the hawker away, lest he be hit by the carriage and disturb the good mood of the old man.

At this time, the vendor selling sugar gourds was only five steps away from the carriage, and when he saw the carriage getting closer and closer, he seemed to be stunned and stood still, motionless, and the people next to him thought that he was frightened stupidly, and many women covered their eyes and did not dare to look.

The two guards who stepped forward first shot out in unison, pushing the hawker on the shoulders of one left and one right, ready to push him directly away from the outer street of Baiyun Temple. Seeing the agility of the two of them, the vendor selling sugar gourds fell to the ground and suffered some minor injuries at most, which is better than being injured by the impact of the blue-maned curly horse, otherwise this year's New Year will be spent lying in bed, and naturally he will not be able to see the fireworks feast tonight.

However, just as the two guards were about to touch the vendor, they let out a bad cry and hurriedly retreated towards the carriage.

I saw that the peddler pointed to the first carriage with a stick of grass and wood, and after leaning forward, his right hand shook, and the straw on the stick was scattered all over the ground, revealing a short spear with red tassels, and all the sugar gourds stuck in the stick flew towards the black curtain covered by the carriage.

"Suffer death, Zhou Youliang!" I saw that the peddler with a red tassel short gun, taking advantage of the fact that he was only two steps away from the first carriage, jumped up, and was about to rush into the curtain first, and stabbed Zhou Youliang who was sitting inside with one shot.

Hearing this hawker shouting Zhou Youliang, everyone knew that Zhou Youliang was sitting on the carriage, looking at this movement, the hawker came to take revenge for something. In Qingzhou City, the bad things Zhou Youliang did can be said to be angry with people and gods, but because of the face of the state guard, no one dared to trouble him, and he didn't expect that someone would wait for a long time today.

All this happened in the blink of an eye, and the little girl who bought the sugar gourd just now cried so much that she couldn't coax her.

The peddler was fast, and first evaded the two guards in front, and stepped into the carriage, ready to stab the red tassel spear into the black curtain.

However, the groom who was driving the carriage only shook the whip in his hand lightly, and before he could see how fast it was, the vendor in front of him was hit by the whip, fell off the carriage, and after spitting out a few mouthfuls of blood, he was already cut off from life. There were a lot of sighs from the crowd.

And the two black carriages did not stop at all, and rushed towards the Baiyun Temple.

And at this moment, the real person of Yunhai in Baiyun Temple almost fainted with fright when he saw the scene in front of him. Although the other party came for Zhou Youliang, if he injured the state guard, then this responsibility was not something he could afford.

Seeing that the horseman made a move, the stone in Yunhai Zhenren's heart fell down slightly, and he made a look towards the steps of Baiyun Temple, and the Taoist children waiting around vaguely separated a road, and there were no people in the middle, so that the two carriages could reach Baiyun Temple unhindered.

The first carriage stood in Baiyunguan, and as the black curtain was lifted, an elegant man of about forty came out, wearing a green shirt unique to scholars, and a jade pendant hanging from his waist. He was followed by a woman who was still charming, and she looked very young under the dress.

"I've seen the state guard. Yunhai Zhenren, who was waiting next to Baiyun Temple, saluted and greeted the man's arrival with a smile on his face.

"I've seen the master. The dozens of hunters in Baiyun Temple bowed down, the armor on their bodies was buzzing, their expressions were a little serious, and many people even began to tremble. After all, today he said that he wanted to protect the safety of the state guards, and the gangsters actually stabbed under their noses, if it weren't for the one who drove the carriage today, he would have almost been killed.

It turned out that on the first black carriage, it was the state guard of Qingzhou City and his wife who sat it, not Zhou Youliang!

At this moment, a man who looked like a boy came out of the second carriage, it was Zhou Youliang, who was about to be assassinated by the vendor selling sugar gourds.

At this moment, Zhou Youliang stepped forward, saluted the state guard and said, "Uncle, are you okay?"

The wife of the state guard took a handkerchief, covered her cherry mouth and said with a smile: "How many times have you said it, you have to call him the state guard in front of people!"

The state guard waved his hand and signaled that it was okay: "Have you provoked someone recently? I want to kill you at the beginning of the New Year, such a hatred, I am afraid it is not a common thing." ”

Zhou Youliang was very aggrieved, and his face was full of innocence: "I stay in the house every day, and I rarely deal with others, so I don't know that this will provoke people." There is a way that open guns are easy to dodge, but hidden arrows are difficult to defend. Even if I sit at home, there are people who climb over the wall every night, let alone go out today......"

The state guard called a catcher over and asked in a low voice, "Is Qingzhou City too peaceful recently?"

The predator glanced at Zhou Youliang, and then said: "Zhou Gongzi's Qiu Meng was killed, but I don't know who the murderer is, it is said that it is an old man and a young man from other states, but no trace of these two people has been found yet. ”

The state guard thought for a while, and asked the horseman next to him: "That Qiu Meng, but he stayed in the state hall for a while before, and then went to Zhou Youliang?"

The groom with the whip replied: "Yes, after half a year, this person's skills are not bad, and he is ranked first in Qingzhou City." ”

Zhou Shou thought for a while and said: "Qiu Meng used to be a person in the temple, and now he is dying unexplained, which will inevitably chill the hearts of his brothers. ”

The groom nodded, and bowed over to the black carriage.

The state guard pulled his wife, walked through the gate of Baiyun Temple and walked inside, Yunhai Zhenren, Zhou Youliang and others followed behind and did not dare to speak.