Early spring in March.

It was supposed to be the season of drizzle, but there was not a drop of spring rain, and as far as the eye could see, the whole earth seemed to be gathered in a dry earthy yellow. On the loess slopes on both sides of the post road, a few fields gradually opened, and some wheat seedlings were sparsely planted, but the fields were dry, and the wheat seedlings that had just been planted were hanging their heads and drooping in the field, lifeless.

There was no rain and the wind was blowing, and the sand on the loess slope was swept into the air by the wind, and then fell again. Everything is covered with a layer of loess, covering the original color. The wheat seedlings in the field did not know whether they were scorched yellow or covered with dust, and they could not see the green color, so they merged with the loess slope.

There was a large caravan unhurriedly on the post road, and where the horses' hooves had trodden, a large cloud of dust had been raised, making the whole caravan look as if it had come from a yellow mist. The people in the caravan were all covered with long anti-sand veils, and they were wrapped around their necks two or three times, and so did it, but their hair and clothes were still covered with dust. Everyone walked silently, all of them bowed their heads and squinted their eyes, for fear that the dust would be astringent.

Mu Qing was dressed in a stone-blue plain cloth robe, and accompanied him in this caravan, feeling a little anxious, and raised his eyes from time to time to look around, except for the high and low loess slopes, there was nothing else. Seeing that it is already twilight, I am afraid that I will have to sleep in the wilderness again tonight.

More than ten days ago, Kang Saburo came to Du Mansion and knocked on the door in a hurry, saying that he had inquired about the first wave of merchants going to Yanmen Pass in Kaichun for her, and it was the team led by the Shi brothers who were familiar with him. The Shi family's caravan has always been huge, although it is slower, but his brothers have a good reputation in the industry for their dignified character, and they are easy to get along with, and it is safest to follow them.

Mu Qing immediately responded, hurriedly changed into a bearded outfit, and followed Kang Saburo to his wine shop to meet the Shi brothers. That Shi Liulang and Shi Jiulang heard that they were close to Kang Saburo, so they readily agreed.

It's just that the Shijia caravan didn't pass through Loufu, but detoured to Yanmen Pass. That's okay, if she leaves the team at the closest place to Lou Fu on the way, she can reach Lou Fu in just half a day's journey. So she asked for a drink, paid for the accompanying fare, and said it right away.

Early in the morning on the day of departure, Mu Qing rode to the gate of the city, and the Shi brothers were indeed waiting for her there, but the team surprised her. The caravan was enormous, and roughly swept through, as many as fifty or sixty horses, two side by side, and stretched out in a long stretch.

Mu Qing sighed in her heart, she didn't know much about the things in the caravan, and she had only heard Liu Ao talk about it a few times. In this world at present, such a large caravan has been clearly traveled, wouldn't it cause people to stir up trouble and increase the trouble, but it would be better to break it down into parts and march in stages.

Thinking about it again, the Shi brothers are really experts, how can they not understand the truth, maybe they have other plans, they don't know, and there are many people, if they really encounter a robbery, they will also have a strong resistance.

Mu Qing raised his hand and pulled the gauze on his face up again, took advantage of the situation to hold the reins in his hand, and shook his sour arm. Somehow, she suddenly felt that the silence at this time was a little weird, there was no movement, there was some lifelessness, there was always something not quite right.

If you look around, you can't see anything unusual. She said in her heart that she was too careful, and the journey was safe and smooth, and she was about to leave the team alone, and she didn't expect any accidents. Thinking about it like this, she calmed down, but she didn't know if she could go to the place where she was scheduled to leave tomorrow.

She glanced at the man walking beside her, and leaned over to him, intending to inquire. Just as she was about to speak, suddenly, a chirping sound burst through the air with a scream, straight through the vest of the man beside her, and he didn't even have time to call, only snorted, shook twice, and fell off the horse.

Mu Qing's mind exploded with thunder, and he immediately understood what was happening. She hurriedly withdrew her leaning body, her hands gripping the reins. Before she could shout, two more arrows came from behind. One fell to the ground, and the other shot at a horse in front of her right, and the horse suddenly suffered pain, pouted its hind hooves, and jumped up, neighing several times, and threw the horse to the ground.

Everyone in the caravan woke up, and although they were a little panicked, they were not chaotic. In the crowd, Shi Jiulang shouted decisively and loudly: "Hold a knife!" The crowd drew their swords from under the goods on horseback. Mu Qing hurriedly learned to take out the Yinghua sword at his waist, but his hand trembled violently, and a layer of fine sweat oozed from his palm, which was slippery and greasy, and he almost couldn't hold the hilt of the sword.

"Don't stop, hurry up!" Shi Liulang's hoarse voice sounded at the front of the group. But after walking two steps, he could no longer walk, and the road in front of the post road was cut off by several thick and round broken tree trunks. Everyone had to turn over and dismount, and before they could react, there was a heavy sound of running on the ground, which raised a thicker layer of loess dust, and they were suddenly fascinated by anything.

In just one or two breaths, a group of bandits rushed up from behind the caravan with their knives, and cut people when they saw them, and in a short moment, the two sides were already in one place. Mu Qing endured his fear, trying his best to stop trembling. Suddenly, a big man with a broad-faced broadsword rushed up to her, she closed her eyes tightly, grasped the hilt of the sword with both hands, and slashed left and right indiscriminately, not teaching him to get close.

Within a dozen or so strokes, the sword was suddenly framed and could not move. She opened her eyes, the big man's broad-faced broadsword was against her sword, so that the force pressed down, where did she have the strength to withstand this horn resistance, it didn't last long, the big man suddenly turned his hand and slammed her long sword upward, and the sword was immediately picked and flew out.

Then the big knife slashed at her head, and she screamed, hugged her head and lowered her body, dodging a knife. When she looked down, she saw a cold light flashing under her feet, and a sharp arrow lay at her feet. Without hesitation, she reached out and grabbed the arrow, and the big man's feet were not far from her, only a distance from raising her hand. She raised her arrow, with all her strength, and stabbed it into his foot.

Mu Qing didn't expect that he could have such a great force, and this piercing pierced through the instep of his foot and penetrated straight into the ground. The big man howled, but he was pinned to the spot and did not dare to move, and after a little struggle and heart-rending pain, he left her aside.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Mu Qing hurriedly escaped from under his knife, hurriedly looked up, the caravan had been fighting and fighting, the nearest loess slope was not far from her left, she quickly planned to go back, as long as she ran behind the dirt slope and hid for a while, she might be able to save her life.

Having made up his mind, he spread his legs and ran towards the dirt slope. She didn't take a few steps before she tripped over something soft, and she fell to the ground with one cheek rubbing against the rough sand.

She lifted her face from the dry loess and choked on the dust, and when she opened her eyes that had been miserted by the yellow dust, the cough suddenly stuck in her throat, causing her to scream. I saw a frightened face facing her, close at hand. One of the eyes on the face was half-protruding from its sockets, and two blood stains extended from under the sockets to the cheeks.

Mu Qing sat up from the ground, screaming and trying to struggle to get up, but his hands and feet were weak, and he couldn't stand up for a while, so he had to support the ground with his arms and sit back. After retreating a few steps, it turned out that the man was already exhausted, with a long knife still stuck in his chest, and black and red blood was suddenly gushing out. It was one of his horizontal legs that tripped just now.

She pressed her heartbeat on her chest as if it was scurrying around, and turned around to take a look, this gang of bandits was numerous and well-organized, and seeing that the people brought by the Shi family brothers were gradually losing their support, they might not be able to support it for long. If any thief notices her, or if the big man who was nailed by her arrows recovers from the severe pain, she will not be able to resist and escape.

She gritted her teeth, tried her best to support her soft hands and feet, and got up from the ground, and ran to the dirt slope regardless of the ground.

Fortunately, she was so small that no one noticed her for a while, so she ran to the edge of the dirt slope in one breath, and in a flash, she disappeared behind the loess slope. She leaned her back against the dirt slope, gasping for a heart, her heart pounding violently in her chest, as if she were about to spit out half of it.

It took a while to adjust before the wheezing and heartbeat gradually eased. Mu Qing took several deep breaths of the air with the smell of blood and loess mud, slowly sat down along the dirt slope, clenched his fingers into fists, and silently listened to the roars and screams outside.

I don't know how long it took, but it was already dark, and the sound on that side gradually faded away, as if someone had lit a large number of torches, and the light of the fire flickered on the dirt slope on the other side of her. After a while, I suddenly heard someone say in a rough voice: "This ticket is worth it, and the goods are good." Don't let people move it soon! ”

Mu Qing's heart sank when he heard this, the people in the Shi family brothers' caravan may no longer have a living mouth, and the thieves have already shouted to bring back those looted goods.

"A few of you, go to the dirt slope over there and take a look, but there is still a living mouth, don't teach people to leak the news, and then bring the officers and soldiers to suppress it." The hoarse voice suddenly muttered such a sentence.

Mu Qing's heart suddenly lifted to his throat again, and he didn't know the back of the dirt slope he was pointing to, but this side where she was hiding. After a few breaths, she no longer doubted, for she could clearly hear the sound of someone cursing as she walked, getting closer and closer.

She covered her mouth and nose with one hand, for fear that under the fright, her breathing would be too loud to be heard, and her heart hung in her throat, and she hardly dared to let it beat at will. Her other hand crept into her cloak, and she was carrying the small elbowed silver knife in her arms.

The dull sound of clattering footsteps had already stepped behind her, and it seemed that only the dirt slope was separated. The dirt slope was not very thick, and he could see her two steps further. Mu Qing was so nervous that he almost fainted, and the hand holding the handle of the small silver knife unconsciously increased his strength, ready to pull out at any time. The footsteps paused behind the dirt slope, and then walked away, and she exhaled again, and her high heart fell back to its place.

Before he could exhale the second breath, the footsteps suddenly sounded again, three steps and two steps, so fast that people couldn't react, and in a moment, one of Mu Qing's arms was firmly grasped by an iron pincer-like hand, and he was dragged out from behind the dirt slope with force. The man turned back and shouted, "There's one more hidden here!" ”

As he spoke, he grabbed her by the neck with one hand and pinned her down the dirt slope, and with the other hand raised a short knife, with a hideous face, aimed at her heart, and was about to stab down.