As night fell, every house lit up its lights, and after a turmoil, Usa's night became quieter and quieter. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

In the quiet Yaqian Street, a faint whistle and the cooing of birds suddenly sounded.

It didn't take long for a few pigeons with gray spots on a white background to fly out of the brightly lit yamen, and they deftly flapped their wings and hovered in mid-air for a moment, as if to discern the direction, and then flew in several directions, such as east and south.

However, what was unexpected was that a few pigeons had just flown out of the county and passed through the surrounding mountains and forests, when dozens of arrows suddenly shot out of the dense forest.

Whoosh~

After a dense rain of arrows, the dead bodies of several pigeons appeared on the ground not far away.

"Yes, yes, Ah Yi is worthy of being the archer in our village, and his archery skills are amazing!"

Three or four men in black coats and trousers came out, and one of them, a slightly older man with a short beard on his lips, stooped down and picked up an arrow with a pigeon stuck in it, and he praised his companion while examining it carefully.

Sure enough, a thumb-sized wooden tube was found on the pigeon's right paw.

"I haven't practiced at home yet, otherwise, I don't need a helper at all,"

Ah Yi in the mouth of his companion, a dark and thin young man in his twenties, holding a bow in his hand, did not feel complacent because of the praise of others, but said with a little regret.

"That's good, do you think these birds are ordinary birds in the mountains?" The short-bearded man picked up all the arrows with the carcasses of the pigeons, and beckoned a boy of thirteen or fourteen.

The boy was clever, and without the short-bearded man's command, he turned around directly, revealing a bamboo basket on his back.

The short-bearded man put the things into the bamboo basket, secretly counted them, and made sure that there were no omissions, so he was relieved to lead a few companions back to the county seat overnight.

Ma Zhongtai handed over the Zhu family, and the Zhu family also 'cooperated' to take out the antidote, and Ah Zhuo happily released Ma Laozhai and others.

The children were young and frightened, and when they returned home, they were sent back by Ma Zhongtai and handed over to the care of his henchmen.

The old village owner and four or five clan elders sat in the main hall, the old village owner was in the right position, and the other clan elders sat on the two chairs at the bottom, each of them held a hookah gun, no one spoke, and there was only the sound of grunting and grunting in the whole room.

Ma Zhongtai was the youngest person in the house, and the chair was no longer his share, so he only moved a pestle to sit next to the old village owner.

“…… Alas~~"

But after one night's work, the old village owner seemed to be much older, with several wrinkles on his well-maintained face, and a trace of heavy twilight on his body.

He put down the hookah gun and let out a long sigh, "After many years of operation, it was ruined, I, I am really ashamed of my ancestors and clansmen." ”

"Daddy, it's useless to talk about his son, he made mistakes again and again, which made Qi Jinzhi take advantage of the loophole, that's why-"

The others were just the same, and Ma Zhongtai was the first to kneel down and ask his father and the elders of the clan for their guilt.

The old village owner waved his hand, "I don't blame you for this, the main thing is that we are too light on the enemy, who would have thought that the surname Qi would be so well-informed?" He's only been here for a few days, and he's found out so much? Alas, although I hate him to the core, I must admit that he is indeed a difficult character. ”

Ma Zhongtai lowered his head, and the more his father said this, the more ashamed he became. Obviously, he had already lost once because of a light enemy, but he didn't remember the lesson, and he actually stumbled in such a big matter, almost harming the entire family.

His teeth creaked, and since the failure of the plan, Ma Zhongtai wanted to whip himself. Defeat is defeat, blame yourself for not being strong enough, how can you push the blame on 'the enemy is too powerful'?!

Seeing Ma Zhongtai like this, the owner of the old village said: "The matter was so urgent last night, but you were able to quickly come up with a way to rescue a few of our old guys, which is not easy." ”

Although he is a little ruthless and shameless, for the sake of the family, the old owner of the village agrees with his son's decision.

Several clan elders also put down their hookah guns and echoed the gossip.

"Yes, you really can't blame the second boy for this." If you want to blame, you will also blame Zhu for acting too carelessly.

"Alas, who would have thought that those families in Shuixi would also come in?" With more bullying and less, it is reasonable for their Ma family to lose.

"Not really...... The second boy's next few things were even more beautiful! "This clan elder directly credited Ma Zhongtai with all the 'credit' for burning the official warehouse and blowing up the road.

Ma Zhongtai saw that the clan elder had misunderstood, and did not correct it, so he said some words of plead in shame, and made enough 'humility' in front of several old men, and then got up.

At this moment, someone outside replied, saying that Ah Yi and the others had come back to make a business.

A flash of joy flashed in Ma Zhongtai's eyes, but he didn't show it, and glanced at the old village owner.

The old village owner casually raised his hand.

Ma Zhongtai hurriedly ordered someone to call the archers in.

Ah Yi, Short-bearded Man and others entered the main hall, saluted, and sent a few pigeons directly to the old village owner.

The owner of the old village is old and refined, and he is a person who has seen the world, and he recognized at a glance that these pigeons are not ordinary birds and sparrows, but 'carrier pigeons' specially domesticated by the Shuixi camp.

"Isn't this the carrier pigeon that Qi Jinzhi is delivering the news towards?" The old village owner's tone could not hide his surprise.

Ma Zhongtai bowed, "Although our side has failed, as long as the news can't get out, the prince's side will have a chance to win." ”

Chrysanthemums bloomed on the face of the old village owner: "So you ordered people to destroy the roads on all sides, forcing Qi Jinzhi to use a 'trick', and then ambushed the archers in advance and stopped all the carrier pigeons of the Qi family?" ”

Ma Zhongtai didn't speak, only smiled embarrassedly.

Because he really didn't do the traffic, he didn't dare to lie to his father, so he could only deny it but not deny it.

The best thing is that the owner of the old village will blow up the road and shoot the carrier pigeon together, and now, there is no need for Ma Zhongtai to show his own credit, and a few people who do errands will take the initiative to help the master become famous.

"The old village owner is wise, it is indeed the second master who ordered the little ones to go to the outskirts of the city to ambush,"

The short-bearded man was the leader of several people, and he was also articulate and respectful: "Not long after the little ones went, they found the carrier pigeons in the city, and everything was as the second master had predicted in advance. In addition, the second master also instructed the younger ones to pay more attention to the mountain paths to prevent the dog surnamed Qi from jumping off the wall in a hurry, in a vain attempt to transmit the news to the outside through other channels. ”

"Good, good,"

The sorrow on the old villager's face disappeared instantly, and he said three good words in a row, and looked at Ma Zhongtai with great affection, "It's still Atai who thinks thoughtfully, so he should do this!" ”

All the roads are blocked, the news of the turmoil in Wusa cannot be transmitted, and the Zhu and Ma families colluded with thieves to intend to rebel, and there is no way to know about it, let alone suspect the world-famous 'fool prince', so that Annan's side can continue to act according to the plan.

Ma Zhongtai glanced at the short-bearded men, and a few of them bowed down knowingly.

There were a few important people in the clan left in the room, and Ma Zhongtai did not shy away from it, and cautiously reminded him: "However, in case of anything, we must also be prepared for news leakage." Otherwise, the son will write a letter to the palace and return the details to the concubine. Whether to attack Shuixi as originally planned, or to turn around and raid Shudi, it is all up to the concubine to decide. ”

Hearing this, the old village owner was silent for a moment, and then nodded with satisfaction: "Well, your concerns are also somewhat reasonable. Okay, just do what you want. ”

Between the words, the old village owner became more and more satisfied with the ability of his second son.

Seeing this, several clan elders had their own plans in their hearts.

The Ma family has been down the mountain for decades, and the sinicization is quite deep, and the inheritance of the family business also strictly follows the inheritance system of the elder.

However, in addition to the official 'industries' (such as tea farms, salt quotations, horse farms, and many official resources), the Ma family also has a cottage with hundreds of ethnic groups in the village, and a silver mine that has been discovered but not mined...... In both cases, an heir needs to be chosen.

The old owner of the village has four sons and more than a dozen nephews, and when the new owner is selected in the future, he will have to choose from more than a dozen nephews.

In all fairness, Ma Zhongtai is indeed capable, but which of his own brothers and cousins is a waste?

And Ma Zhongtai also has the most fatal weakness, he admires the Han culture, and the Miao aura on his body is getting weaker and weaker, and he is a small official in the county and can help the family take care of the industry.

But if he is asked to go back to the mountains to be the owner of the village, well, that picture, I feel disobedient when I think about it.

Of course, if Ma Zhongtai's ability is very strong and his importance to the family far exceeds that of other competitors, it will be a different matter.

Several clan elders secretly pondered to themselves, the more the old village owner and his son talked, the more energetic they became, and the more excited they became, only to hear the old village owner say: "By the way, you added a sentence in the letter, the palace is in trouble this time, and our Majiazhai will definitely help." ”

In the past, it was the Zhu family that was closely connected with the palace, and the Ma family was more of a starter, and in the eyes of outsiders, it was like the Zhu family's followers.

It's not that the Ma family doesn't want to be their own boss, but they are habitually cautious and cautious, they want to seek benefits, but they are unwilling to take risks, so they hide their heads and tails.

However, in recent months, the Ma family has been hit repeatedly, and now they have sold the Zhu family in order to 'get rid of their crimes'.

The owner of the old village thought thoroughly, in the past, there was the Zhu family in front of him, and the Ma family could advance or retreat, and it would not hurt the foundation of the family.

But now that the Zhu family is finished, the Ma family must stand up, either close to the imperial court, or take refuge in the Annan Palace, if they continue to be centrists and intend to be left and right, they will become the common enemies of the court and the palace.

The current situation is that the Ma family and Qi Jinzhi have formed a mortal enemy, and when Qi Jinzhi is in the southwest, the Ma family cannot choose to be close to the court. Even if you get close, you will be killed by Qi Jinzhi.

Therefore, the Ma family can only choose the palace. And this 'choice' is not simply to do a favor and support a little food and grass, but to send troops with real knives and guns.

No one is a fool, except for the prince Xiao Rugui in the palace, everyone is as good as a monkey, and the old village owner does not dare to play tricks with the palace.

Ma Zhongtai and several clan elders were stunned at first, but quickly understood, and nodded one after another: "That's right, there are hundreds of warriors in our Majiazhai, and there are dozens of good horses on the horse farm, all of which can be arranged by the palace." ”

finally decided to stand in line, and when he said this, the few people present not only did not have any fear or panic, but gave birth to inexplicable excitement and excitement.

The palace has been prepared for more than ten years, there are thousands of private soldiers, and the grain, grass, equipment, armor and so on are all complete, and there are powerful people in the capital to help, and the Tartars in the south and north have already formed an alliance...... With so many favorable conditions, there should be no problem in occupying a southwest.

When they succeed, their Ma family will be the founding heroes!

Just after experiencing a turmoil, several bosses of the Ma family have risen to great fighting spirit after a short period of fear, and their eyes are glowing with a strange red light!

……

Amid the sound of cicadas, June passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye, it entered the end of July.

The saint's birthday festival is approaching, and the capital is also lively, with envoys dressed in foreign costumes entering the city every day, and vassal kings from all over the country returning to the capital with rich gifts.

At several gates of the capital, there are pedestrians and busy traffic every day, and there is a festive atmosphere everywhere in the city.

The happiest are still those merchants, such as Xie's firm and some other shops dealing in gold and jade jewelry, celebrity calligraphy and paintings, and antique toys, since June, business has been extremely hot.

What three-foot-high coral tree, what longan-sized pearl, what double-sided embroidered longevity kang screen, what the best Buddha carved from mutton fat jade...... But the price of all the 'luxuries' that can be used to celebrate birthdays has increased several times, and even so, some rare treasures are still in short supply!

The trees are wrapped in colorful brocade, and the street is lined with blooming flowers, making it a rich scene of flowers and brocade.

Many people from Fanbang who came to the capital for the first time couldn't help but be speechless, and looked around with novelty in their eyes.

Of course, there are exceptions. Different from those curious 'hillbillies', these men's eyes only pay attention to the soldiers at the city gate, the soldiers patrolling the streets, and the location and defense of the yamen such as the soldiers of the five cities, the governor's office of the five armies, and the Jinyi guard.

What's even more strange is that foreigners enter Beijing in order to join the excitement of the Wanshou Festival, and the mission naturally has to live in the post house under the Honglu Temple, while the merchants stay in the inn and basically leave the capital after the Wanshou Festival.

But those men were different, they went into the city early in the morning and went out before curfew in the evening, and they didn't buy anything, and they didn't look like they were visiting relatives and friends.

It's just that their whereabouts are secretive, and there are too many people who have recently entered Beijing, even if the soldiers at the city gate are dutiful, they may not be able to remember these people, let alone find anything abnormal.

In the evening of that day, when it was time to close the city gate, more than a dozen strong men rushed out of the city in front of the gate and hurried out of the city amid the scolding of several soldiers.

They followed the official road all the way to the west.

It was completely dark, and a dozen or so people walked for an hour before they arrived at their destination, a remote mountain forest.

More than a dozen people followed the winding mountain road to the halfway up the mountain, facing an open flat land, and there was a dilapidated Guandi Temple in the place of the mountain.

They pushed open the temple door familiarly, walked through the courtyard, and were about to enter the main hall, but they didn't want to see dozens of people standing under the verandah of the hall, they were wearing uniform clothes, and even their expressions were similar.

The dozen or so people were stunned, didn't say much, relaxed their steps, and came to the porch to meet their companions.

Through the half-rotten window paper, the people outside could vaguely see the situation in the main hall: under the offering table, a man and a woman sat cross-legged across knees, and a rectangular wooden model was placed in the middle, and the two were gesturing with their hands......

PS: It's late to update.,I'm really sorry.,What's that.,Tomorrow a certain sa must be updated early.,Shake the claw! (To be continued.) )