Li Rui's fingers had been pulled, and the sound of the spring sliding after the pull could even be heard in the quiet room.

He closed his eyes and greeted the coming pain and death.

Whoosh!

Li Rui was trembled by the vibration belt emitted by the crossbow machine, and there was a muffled sound of "poof" from the mouth of the crossbow machine close to his heart. The force caused by the spring topped his chest with pain.

But it was just a little pain, definitely not the heartache he imagined.

Could it be that he has already trained to be copper-skinned and iron-clad, and he is not even afraid of crossbow arrows?

Li Rui, who had already closed his eyes and calmly went to death, opened his eyes suspiciously, looked at his chest, and then looked at the "Divine Crossbow" in his hand.

There was no blood in his chest. There are no more arrows in the crossbow cavity.

What about his arrows?

Zhang Zhi leaned against the wall, gasping for air. He just remembered that in order to worry that his nephew would accidentally touch the spring of the crossbow machine and hurt himself when he fell asleep, he had already withdrawn the four crossbow arrows in the crossbow cavity after Li Rui fell asleep.

He was also flustered at the time, and he really forgot about it.

Seeing that Li Rui was still looking at his crossbow machine in shock, Zhang Zhi snorted coldly and shook off a few crossbow arrows from his sleeve pocket. The crossbow bolt fell to the ground and was kicked back by him, and the rolling "buzz" sound reached Li Rui's ears, bringing him back to his senses.

escaped death, and he was no less frightened than Zhang Zhi.

"Don't look any further, I'm afraid that your arrows will be returned by mistake if you deduct the mechanism by mistake. If you had just pointed your crossbow arrows at me and threatened me with a talisman to save people, although I would have been annoyed, I would still have to praise you for your decisiveness and ruthlessness, but you turned the crossbow head and aimed the arrows at yourself, which can only make me look down on you! Zhang Zhi approached Li Rui and gave him a slap.

Syllable!

"The body is skinned, and the parents are received. I think you have been raised a lot by Mrs. Qiu, and you have developed a woman's habits! Still learning to kill yourself and persecute others? Why don't you cry and hug my legs? Zhang Zhi looked at Li Rui, who was slapped and lowered his head and said nothing, "Okay, since you are forced to die, I will save Li Mao." ”

Li Rui raised his head in surprise.

Zhang Zhi saw Li Rui's appearance, and he didn't know what Lu Dao was doing.

"You will definitely regret it one day, because this world is so cruel, and in the future you will question everything you have done now."

His eyes looked at Li Rui, as if he was looking at something else through him.

"But when people are young, they always have to do a few bloody things, so that they can be young for a while......"

"It's just that, no matter what, you have to keep in mind that until the last moment, don't talk about life and death lightly. I'm disappointed that you're doing that today. No matter when, suicide is a matter of pain for relatives and happiness for enemies. ”

"To this day, when I think of your mother, I can't help but grieve in my heart. Do you know how unforgettable the pain of the suicide of a loved one is to others? Your uncle's pain is only deeper than mine, and he even behaves like two people before......"

"Think of your grandmother, and your dead parents......"

Li Rui lowered his head in shame. It was an accident just now, and he was not a person who could do such a thing as forcing him to die. It's just that after facing all kinds of pursuits, exhaustion, and depression when rushing for a long time, his nerves have been tense, and after hearing his uncle's "good for you", he suddenly broke off, and he became disgusted with this world.

Now that he is not dead, he can no longer hold up the slightest thought of dying.

He thought that no matter what kind of difficulties he encountered in his life, he would think about how he felt when he pulled the crossbow machine spring tonight, and he would cheer up again.

"If you die, and I have a prince of the Xinguo Mansion here, what will the world think of me at that time? You might as well kill me faster! ”

Zhang Zhi couldn't help but kick Li Rui, Li Rui stood straight and didn't dare to dodge.

It was he who was reckless and fell into an atmosphere of "sacrificing his life for righteousness" and could not extricate himself, no wonder his uncle was angry.

He was too strong just now.

"My nephew has been taught, and he won't do this again."

Zhang Zhiqi was also angry, afraid and afraid, and listened to Li Rui and Chen Qing's interests, and really couldn't bring up any tossing. After all, this child is a nephew, and no matter how bad his uncle is to him, his blood and family ties are constantly cut. Li Rui even wanted to force him to die, he delayed it like this, he was afraid that this kid would be the first to hate him, and he couldn't afford the revenge of the old lady Qiu in the Xinguo Mansion.

"The talismans and the letters are with me. Since you want to save it, come with me to the border camp. ”

Lingyuan County Yanai.

Li Mao, who was finally able to wash up well, immersed his whole body in the bath bucket and made a pleasant "whirring" sound. The wounds on his right leg and right hand had already broken open in the pursuit, but he insisted on taking a shower before treating the wounds.

Because what was more unbearable than the pain in his hands and feet was the itching and embarrassment that he hadn't taken a shower for more than ten days.

He's grown this big, and he's never been so dirty.

It was when he saw himself in the mirror, the greasy hair knotted on his head, and the dust and dirt on his face, and the dark lines on it that could no longer be seen, but only a piece of dust, as if the down jacket had been pulled out of some pit, Li Mao almost fainted.

When he entered the city with Wang Zhiming, he greeted the ordinary people who looked sideways and smiled warmly, and bowed his hand in a friendly manner.

He always thought that the people here were very good......

Let's let him die!

Li Mao had the urge to faint when he thought of the move of the state prince to get close to the people when he put out the money of the state prince everywhere. He had to divert his attention, picked up the bath beans, wiped his hair and body carefully, and ordered the messenger in the government to change the water twice, and finally felt that his body was light, and he returned to the appearance of "Guogong".

Li Mao took the clothes that Wang Zhiming had prepared for him and changed them and walked out of the bath. It's just that his hair hasn't dried yet, so it's inconvenient to go out of the inner room, so he has to sit by the charcoal basin and dry his hair while keeping warm.

At home, every time after washing his hair, his wife personally helped him dry and comb it up, and after being rescued by the people, he lay on the bed to recuperate from his injuries, and his hair was disheveled, anyway, no one said that it was ugly, and there would be no imperial history to impeach him for being untidy.

When he arrived in Lingyuan County, he couldn't remember how to tie up his hair.

Li Mao wiped his hair with a dry cloth while thinking about how to solve the matter of the Fenzhou Racecourse.

Not to mention those unknown armies, if there are really so many horses in the horse farm, the top priority is to transfer the horses out first, so that the people and dogs in the Fenzhou horse farm will jump over the wall and kill all the horses, and not a single war horse will be left for them.

There is also that army, Lu Mo should have led people to kill a lot, he has already ordered the others to drag back all the corpses and equipment of those dead people, and when the time comes, carefully check where the winter clothes are and where the weapons are.

A year ago, after he was appointed to the Armament Department in charge of the Ministry of War because of his mother's "Qiu's wrenching fingers", he had already required that all weapons and clothing leaving the warehouse be marked in the dark, and there was no need to tell the soldiers and generals where the mark was.

Originally, this was just a backhand left by him to avoid eating empty salaries and selling weapons privately at the border gates, but he didn't expect it to play a role here.

As long as there are new weapons in the past two years, they will definitely show their feet!

Li Mao was thinking about the next layout, and the door was suddenly pushed open with a "snap".

The only people who enter without knocking like this are ......

He looked up, and sure enough, it was Lummer and Suluk.

"Lord Li, I have gathered most of the Qian, and when the army saw that it could not resist us, it fled to the grassland." Lu Mo looked at Li Mao, who was holding the towel and looked at him blankly, "...... What's wrong, my lord? ”

"Can you close the door before you speak? It's cold in Fenzhou. ”

He had just come out of the shower, wearing only a thin jacket, and his hair was still wet. The two men stood at the door and spoke with the door wide open, did they really think that he was as strong as they were?

Suluk turned around and closed the door, and said disappreciably: "Master Li, why did you become squeamish as soon as you returned to the place of the Han people!" When you were hiding from the chase in the grassland, you followed us and slept by the horse without clothes or quilts, and I don't see that your brows are furrowed. Now when you arrive at the Han people's house, you have lit a brazier, and you are still too cold when you open the door. ”

"On the grassland, there are no conditions, so I have to grit my teeth and persevere. I haven't suffered much since I was a child, and when I first returned to a familiar place, I suddenly relaxed, which made you laugh. ”

Li Mao smiled good-naturedly, "Those people fled to the grassland, is there a way to catch them?" ”

"If they make a fire to cook, we can trace their traces. It's just that now there is a shortage of manpower, and the strong men we borrowed have returned to the tribe, and the original discussion was to rescue you and my people, and if you want them to work again, you have to pay more. Lu Mo looked at Li Mao and asked with some doubts:

"You'll give that money, right?"

His golden pig is still mortgaged there. There is also Lord Wang, Lord Wang seems to be very poor, he has brought out all his savings, and he doesn't have much money. If it weren't for the fact that he was wearing the official uniform of Da Chu and said that he was in charge of more than 10,000 Han people, I am afraid that he would not be able to borrow anything.

"Yes." Li Mao nodded affirmatively.

"I will ask His Majesty for this payment. If Your Majesty refuses to allow it, I will pay the money. Isn't my life worth five hundred taels of gold? The Han people also pay attention to 'a promise of a thousand gold', so you can rest assured. ”

Seeing that Li Mao's attitude was not perfunctory, Lummer and Suluk both smiled happily. They borrowed men and horses from the people in the east with the credibility of the tribe, and if they broke the contract, the deposit was small, and they would not be able to gain a foothold in the grassland.

"You have a good rest today, and follow me to Fenzhou Racecourse tomorrow."

Li Mao thought about it, but he was relieved only if he took the people to the horse farm. Although the military department is equipped with officers and soldiers according to the specifications of 5,000 horses, looking at the appearance of those unknown troops, there may be hidden soldiers in the horse farm. With only a few hundred officers and soldiers surrounding the horse farm, I am afraid that it will be dangerous.

Li Mao waited for his hair to dry and went to the main courtyard of the back office where Wang Zhiming lived to discuss tomorrow's affairs. At first, he was worried that there were female dependents in the backyard, and it was inconvenient for him to visit, but when he asked, he learned that the county magistrate had sent all his wives and children away, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

This county order, I'm afraid that life and death have been put out of the way.

He had a very good impression of this Wang County Order, so he put aside his concern and visited overnight.

He and Wang Zhiming discussed the matter of going to the racecourse tomorrow to inspect, and his imperial guard of honor was lost in the escape, but fortunately, the seal of the Xinguo Mansion and the seal of the military department are still there, which can be used as a proof of identity.

It's just that it's hard to say whether this Fenzhou Racecourse still listens to these things or not.

Wang Zhiming is also worried about this, but the matter of Fenzhou Racecourse should not be delayed, and he has no good ideas. He had already handed the fold to the commander of Fenzhou a few days ago, but there was no movement until now.

Early the next morning, Li Mao first went to the place where the corpses of the Chu army were placed.

As soon as Li Mao arrived in Yizhuang, he found a corpse whose flesh and blood were not so blurred, squatted □ and began to pick up his clothes.

The eyes of the people who were waiting on the side and Wang Zhiming's beads were about to pop out, especially Wang Zhiming, looking at Li Mao, he looked like the kind of corpse watcher in Yizhuang who would sell everything.

"My lord, although our local government soldiers do not have the elite of the regular army, they still have weapons and armor, so there is really no need to peel things from these dead people......

Li Mao opened the placket of the dead man's clothes, reached under the armpit of the cotton coat with his hand, and touched the sleeve tube, and sure enough, he found a line of protruding words. This is embroidered and extremely difficult to blur.

"Who cut off this sleeve ......"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lumer drew a knife and slashed off the garment along with the dead man's arm.

"I'm just looking at the clothes...... That's it. Li Mao sighed, shook the arm off, and turned the sleeve tube over.

Inside is embroidered with the bright red words "Dingbei Army, Sixth Army".

He unscrewed the handle of a Mo knife next to the corpse, which was also engraved with "Dingbei Army, Sixth Army".

"Your Excellency, are you looking for a sigil?" Wang Zhiming also saw what Li Mao was doing, and asked in surprise: "Do you see where the armament came from?" ”

"The Sixth Army of the Dingbei Army is the unit of Wang Taihe, the general of the Northern Army."

Li Mao stood up.

"Before the Great Chu was built, this person was a subordinate of Chu Ke, the younger brother of the former emperor, King of Qiyang, and followed the King of Qiyang to conquer the world with the first emperor. Later, the king of Qiyang was sealed in a remote place, angry and rebelled, and then the war was stalemate, this Wang Taihe automatically asked Ying, personally rebelled against many generals under the king of Qiyang, and made great contributions. ”

Li Mao is familiar with the troops and ins and outs of all the generals of the Sixth Division of the Fifth Army, and he has memorized the information of all the generals in the year he first entered the court. At this time, it is time to tell the story and solve everyone's doubts.

"Later, the rebellion of the King of Qiyang was pacified, and the King of Qiyang and several brothers of the current saint were executed, and this person was transferred to the Dingbei Army, with a total of 60,000 troops in charge of the fifth, sixth, and seventh armies, and was the right-hand man of the current Zhenbei general Yuan Xi."

Li Mao sighed. "Is it related to King Qiyang again? Could it be that the rebellion back then was fake? ”

He threw the Mo knife and sleeves to the ground, and said to Wang Zhiming:

"You don't have to go to Fenzhou Racecourse, I'll go alone. If there is a rebellion in the racecourse, you can still ask for help to save me. If we both get stuck in it, that's terrible. ”

"In that case, why don't you let the lower officials go......"

"It's useless for you to go, you have a county order, and it is impossible for the post man of the horse farm to ignore you. Only if I go, he will be afraid and worried, and he will either fight back or confess his guilt, and no matter which one it is, the matter will have a clear outcome. Once they tore off their true faces, the imperial court division became famous, and the commander dared to transfer troops. ”

"Only the Holy Lord, me, and another squire of the Ministry of War know about this matter of armament marking, and in addition, the treasurer of the Armament Division and the chief of the 'Weapons Department' of the Ministry of Industry also know a thing or two, and they will never leak it. In which year these things will be out of the warehouse, and which one of them will be handed over, you will know when the time comes. As soon as Li Mao saw that it really involved the Dingbei Army, and even the participation of the old department of King Qiyang, he was already talking carefully to Wang Zhiming with the psychology of delivering the aftermath.

Wang Zhiming heard Li Mao's explanation, couldn't help but reddened his eyes, choked up and said: "Please take care, my officers and soldiers in the three places here, please bring them, as long as Lu Mo is left." If there is really something wrong with Lingyuan, I can ask Lu Mo to ask the Hu people for help again, and the adults must not miss ......"

Li Mao patted Wang Zhiming's hand. "Let's get the news out of the possibility of chaos in the Dingbei Army first, and the post station and the command department must send someone to deliver the letter, and this matter cannot be delayed any longer. Rummer, I'll leave it for you. ”

Li Mao touched his body and gave Wang Zhiming the only remaining gold and other scattered silver.

"I heard that Lord Wang gave all his belongings to those Hu people as a deposit in order to borrow soldiers, I went out in a hurry, and most of the money I brought was with the subordinates, and there was still so much left on my body, so I will give it to you first."

Although these gold and silver were scattered, at this time there were two taels of gold and ten taels of silver, and there were already two or three hundred taels of gold and silver.

"How dare the lower officials ......"

"Take it. If you borrow someone, you can't do it empty-handed. ”

If he dies this time, I'm afraid that no one will ask the emperor for a reward, it is not easy for this person to be a magistrate here, he has not had a few hundred taels of silver for so many years, and he seems to be a clean official, how can he be bankrupt.

He only has this money left for others to keep.

Li Mao arranged everything and set off for the horse farm with 500 officers and soldiers and 200 people.

When he arrived at the racecourse, he revealed his identity and asked to go into the racecourse to inspect. Na Mu Cheng first made various excuses and did not want Li Mao to enter, and then Li Mao proposed to see Liu Peng, the senator who sneaked into the racecourse to investigate, but was also refused.

If Wang Zhiming was here and ordered these officers and soldiers to attack the racecourse, the officers and soldiers would not necessarily obey the order. However, Li Mao was a high-ranking official and a dignified and respected state, and he couldn't knock on the door of the racecourse, and these officers and soldiers knew that this matter must be very bad, and they were all shocked.

Li Mao ordered everyone to rush to the door together on the grounds that the subordinate officials of the Fenzhou Racecourse "disobeyed the order", and those who violated the order must be arrested. The shepherd didn't know where he got three or four hundred soldiers, and he pointed his bow and arrow at the gate with a bow and arrow, relying on the fence of the horse farm.

"Are you going to rebel? Fenzhou Racecourse is directly under the Ministry of War, where is the reason why the officers of the Ministry of War are not allowed to conduct a thorough investigation? Are you the soldiers of Great Chu or the soldiers of this herdsman? Rebellion is a crime of clan punishment, you don't think about yourself, you have to think about your family! ”

Li Mao shouted loudly.

Although some of the soldiers inside also showed hesitation, the longbow in their hands still did not let go.

Li Mao saw that these people were really bold, and his uneasiness became more and more uneasy.

"Rush! Anyway, let's talk about the racecourse first! ”

In addition to the seconded officers and soldiers he brought this time, there were also those Lingyuan County soldiers who were originally surrounding the racecourse. Li Mao brought more than 100 people on horseback. The men rode their horses and charged, slammed open the gate of the horse farm, and rushed at the archers who were hiding behind the arrow holes in the doorway.

They lay down on the horse's body, shielded the arrows with the help of the horse's body, and soon rushed into the horse farm, and the infantry behind saw that the archers had been eliminated, and hurriedly followed the people to rush inside.

Li Rui was surrounded by more than 100 soldiers, and rushed into the horse farm with the flow of people, only to see that the horse farm was full of horses, but only halfway through, he had already seen no less than three or four thousand. There are also many stables and stables in the racecourse, and if you count them, I don't know how many horses there are in the road.

Those who possess less than 10 war horses will be stabbed for 3,000 miles, and those who sell more than 10 war horses will be killed. There are so many horses here, and it's not enough for people up and down this horse farm to die hundreds of times!

"Count the number of horses, capture the Mu Cheng and the other soldiers, I want to live for questioning!"

Li Mao saw that there was no danger, and his heart was also relieved, so he hurriedly sent people around to control the situation, and asked others to go back to report the news, and asked the commander in charge of military affairs here to send someone to take over the racecourse.

"Report! Mu Cheng is dead! Those soldiers in the horse farm cut their own people like crazy! ”

Seeing that the situation was out of control, a soldier quickly reported back.

Li Mao's face was ugly, these people were not going to stay alive.

At this moment, the war horses also suddenly neighed, some vomited and vented, and some kept hitting various things, and a foul smell began to fill the air.

"Not good! That Mu Cheng is delaying time in order to poison the horse! ”

Li Mao shouted: "Control all the stables first, and kill those who get close to the stables!" Leave the horses on the outside alone, save the inside first! ”

Suluk put away his long knife and said to Li Mao: "Let's try to see if we can save it." We herders are the best at raising horses, and if they take poison, we have to clean their stomachs first. ”

Li Mao was overjoyed, fortunately he brought these people here!

"So, it's all up to you!" Li Mao asked the officers and soldiers to follow Suluk and others, and divided a part of the people to find the pharmacy in charge of treating horses in the horse farm first, so that after they found the medicine, they quickly took the medicine to these people.

Li Mao looked at the chaos in the horse farm, some guarded the stable, some wanted to subdue those who resisted, and some wore the clothes of Da Chu but were cutting their colleagues without mercy, and his mind was swollen.

He suddenly felt that the matter had fallen to the dust, and suddenly he felt that there was something strange everywhere here, and it was really incomprehensible.

Most of the soldiers who were subdued surrendered after seeing their colleagues in the horse farm cut down their own people. The rest of those people saw that they were powerless to resist, and they killed themselves one after another, and those who died together died together, and the nearly 1,000 people who Li Mao rushed into the racecourse were a makeshift team, and they were usually negligent in training, and they didn't know how to attack together, and they lost hundreds of them at once.

He was angry and anxious, and his face couldn't help but show anxiety, when a cold arrow shot at his head.

Li Mao had already had a conditioned reflex to this kind of attack on the grassland, and immediately fell forward, falling straight down, the sharp arrow grazed the back of his head and shot backwards, taking away a large piece of flesh and skin, Li Mao only felt a pain in the back of his head, and then fell heavily to the ground, his forehead hit the ground, and he was dizzy for a while.

He covered his forehead and sat up, and the officers and soldiers beside Li Mao shouted, "Protect the country!" He quickly surrounded him and surrounded him.

The man who shot the cold arrow saw that he could not succeed in a single blow, and immediately dodged and fled.

Several officers and soldiers went to chase him, and Li Mao took out a handkerchief to cover his forehead, and asked the officers and soldiers to escort him to the pasture.

Inside is the room of Mu Cheng and other subordinate officials, and there will always be some clues left.

"My lord is not good, there is a fire in the back! The fire is spreading to the front! ”

"Fight the fire!"

"My lord, the fire is too big, we don't know the situation of the racecourse, and we don't even know where the water is taken!"

Li Mao looked at the manger around him, pointed to the water in it, and said, "Use the water that the horse drinks first!" It's good to find as many as you can, and to be able to save a room! Send someone to rob everything in the house! Booklets, books, paper, anything, as long as there are words, you have to save them! ”

"Yes!"

Since they entered, the entire Fenzhou Racecourse has been on fire in seven places and smoke in eight places, and Li Maoyuan thought that as soon as he occupied the Fenzhou Racecourse, his actions would be clear. At this time, it was indeed clear, but no one expected this group of people to be so fierce, not only killing their colleagues to kill their mouths, but even committing suicide so simply.

Not only that, but the horses in the horse farm were also poisoned, and the horse farm caught fire again, which is obviously a situation that will end up together!

Li Mao suddenly had a great self-denial of himself, and he began to wonder if he had come too hastily, so that he forced everyone to burn everything, and he was about to make a big mistake!

Just when Li Mao was in various negative emotions, a group of officers and soldiers who were ordered by him to guard the situation on all sides to prevent someone from escaping in the racecourse came over to report like ashes:

"Great, sir...... An army came from the north, from the direction of the pasture, and surrounded our horse farm! Under the banner of 'Chu', they say that we are rebels! ”

"What?"

Li Mao was shocked, grabbed the soldier who reported the news and asked, "How many people!" What flags? ”

"My lord, there is only the 'Chu' flag, there is no military flag, and the number of people is ...... About three thousand or so. ”

"Is there a catapult with a sasshole?"

"Nope! It's all cavalry! ”

Cavalry! How many war horses have been raised in this Fenzhou horse farm!

If these war horses can be incorporated into the army as soon as possible, Da Chu why worry about the scarcity of cavalry!

Shengshang heard that Zhang Xuan predicted that there must be a greater snow disaster outside the northern pass, and his heart was already worried about the possible border war in the coming year, and all the armaments were trying their best to transport the northern border pass......

Li Mao was suddenly discouraged, and he trembled his lips and couldn't say anything.

In order to facilitate horse grazing, the Fenzhou Horse Farm was built in the plain area, with a soil slope on one side, an exit to the grassland on one side, and an inland direction on the other side. The horse farm was very high, but it could not withstand the onslaught of the army.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the soldiers in the horse farm had closed all the gates and sealed them with huge logs. But this gate can't even be blocked by these officers and soldiers, let alone the cavalry troops. It's hard to say how much time it can be delayed.

Everyone was waiting for Li Mao to come up with an idea.

Li Mao looked around, these people were all government soldiers from all over Fenzhou, who used to catch robbers at most, and were in charge of local defense and torture, but now they were transferred by them to assist in the investigation of the horse farm, and they were all trapped here. Even if in order to prevent these people from dying in vain and being charged with a "traitor", he has to find a way to escape with these people.

There is still an old and young family in his house, how can he die here!

The author has something to say: Little Theater:

Li Mao followed Wang Zhiming into the city.

Citizen A: Look, there's Hanako riding on a horse!

Citizen B: The clothes are still neat, not like Hanako, like a homeless man.

Citizen A: We are all so nice, last time we took a child named Hanako, and now we have rescued a wanderer and given him a horse to ride.

Citizen A: He smiled at me, did he take a fancy to me? It's scary!