In the past few days of preparation, Xia Ming has already selected eighty personal guards, but the selection of these eighty people is not limited to the internal guard camp, but has expanded to the entire ghost guard. Xia Ming suggested to Zhang Xiaowu that it was better to let the officers of each battalion to be promoted go to the guard battalion as the general, the reserve captain as the soldier of the guard, the reserve commander as the commander of the guard, and the captain of the guard, so that these 80 officers and guards became Zhang Xiaowu's henchmen and followers, and became Zhang Xiaowu's "imperial study".

Zhang Xiaowu thought of the officer training class, and praised Xia Ming's good ideas, why didn't he think of catching the grassroots officials in his hands, and then further controlling the ghost guard. Don't look at the scarcity of the eighty-person personal guard, but all of them are cadres, and they are the core of the future ghost guard, since they follow Zhang Xiaowu, they are his henchmen, and they are only loyal to him. In this era, as long as a person is labeled as a certain faction, it is a lifetime, and eighty people can only follow Zhang Xiaowu to the dark from now on.

"How did I never find out that you had such talent?" Zhang Xiaowu exclaimed.

Xia Ming thought for a while and said: "I used to be clever, but I was greedy for life and afraid of death, but since I was disfigured, I simply let go of my mind, my life was picked up, what else is there to worry about." As he spoke, Xia Ming shook his head and loosened the mask on his face, allowing air to flow into it, and the cold air made his face a little more comfortable. The mask is still a little uncomfortable to wear on the face, this mask is carved from wood, and it is a little stuffy on the face, and if you wear it for a long time, it hurts and itches. Zhang Xiaowu once wanted to make an iron mask for him, but it was a pity that the craftsmen of Mucheng could not create a mask suitable for Xia Ming.

Some people's shortcomings and advantages are obvious, some people's strengths and weaknesses are not obvious, and some people cover up their shortcomings because of their strengths, such as Zhang Xiaowu, and some people have shortcomings that cover up their advantages, such as Su Yu. However, Lu Yao knows that Ma Ma has been popular for a long time, and most people survive in the world, not because of his shortcomings or advantages, but because this person has both advantages and disadvantages.

Xia Ming is a good example, once he was greedy for life and afraid of death, but after dying once, he was no longer afraid, he used to be a mediocre official who followed the crowd, but since he came to the ghost guard, he was with this group of soldiers who had a future, which stimulated the ability in his body, but let him discover his own ability.

People need to push themselves, after all, people are forced out.

In the second year of Dade, on June 20, Zhang Xiaowu and his team of face saints began to hit the road, eighty elite ghost guards, each wearing armor and a wolf helmet and a black scarf, they were armed with three knives and feather arrows, wearing scarlet cloaks, one person and two horses, everyone was full of morale.

Zhang Xiaowu looked at it and suddenly laughed: "In less than half an hour, you must be as hot as a dog, hurry up and remove your armor." ”

Xia Ming and other sergeants also laughed, all for the sake of making the travel ceremony more solemn, but it was useless, wearing thirty catties of armor, plus helmets with three knives and feather arrows, the outfit added up to fifty catties.

"Come on, come on, it's all your own people, you don't need to show off." Zhang Xiaowu smiled again, "Captain Xia, I found you a little sullen." ”

Xia Ming scratched his head and smiled, people rely on clothes and horses to rely on saddles, he felt that this body was down, and no one in the Jingshi dared to underestimate the ghost guard. But I have to admit that although Xia Ming is ugly, his optional clothing and equipment are far better than those of the people in Mucheng, and the sergeants are really heroic when they dress up, and even the women in the city can't help but blush when they see it. In particular, the eighty people only showed their eyes, which gave people a sense of mystery and majesty - except that they were too hot to hold back.

After the soldiers were undressed and strong, Zhang Xiaowu waved goodbye to Xiao Kai, Wu Song, Guan Xiang, Hu Sanwan and others, and led the crowd south to enter the Beijing Saint.

Now that the summer is hot, the march is uncomfortably hot when it reaches the halfway point, but fortunately, everyone is riding horses, but there is no need to consume foot strength, Ruan Qingwen calculated the speed of the march, and said: "If you march south with this, you can reach the Beijing division in twenty days." ”

Zhang Xiaowu said: "I have forgotten the life in Guannai, and even forgotten the roads in Guannai, I have been away from home for too long. ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "The general is from Hejian Mansion in Yongzhou, I remember that Yongzhou is between Hunzhou, Bingzhou and Sizhou, and the general can go back to his hometown to see." ”

Zhang Xiaowu thought for a while and shook his head: "Go back and do something, I have no relatives at home for a long time." ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "You still have neighbors, don't they treat you very well?" ”

"Well, without them, I'm afraid I would have starved to death." Zhang Xiaowu said with a smile, "When the face saint returns, I will go back to my hometown to take a look. Listening to the envoy, the plague and drought in many places in the Central Plains do not know what happened to Yun County and whether the disaster is serious. If the disaster is severe, they may be able to be taken out of the customs to earn a living. ”

"The drought outside the customs is not light, and the East Lake and West Lake have long dried up. At this time last year, the water of East Lake and West Lake could still support tens of thousands of dogs. ”

"Yes, last year's flood, this year's drought, this god is changing the law to bully us." Zhang Xiaowu smiled bitterly.

Ruan Qingwen sat on horseback and fanned the wind desperately with a fan, Wang Yijin smiled and said, "It turns out that Mr. Ruan is also afraid of heat." ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "I am not only afraid of the heat, but also afraid of the heat. ”

Zhang Xiaowu handed him the water bladder and said, "Mr. Ruan is afraid of heat because Mr. Ruan is a scholar. ”

Ruan Qingwen said: "In this military camp, where are there still scholars. ”

Everyone laughed, not far away, but saw a group of caravans slowly coming in the distance, everyone was surprised, because since the beginning of the plague in the Central Plains, the two wolf passes have been closed, where did this caravan come from? Everyone hurriedly rushed over, and the guards of the caravan were so frightened that they immediately drew their knives and prepared to fight, but it was obvious that compared to this team, the guards of the caravan were only emboldening themselves.

When the two sides got closer, the caravan was relieved to find that it was actually an official army, and a banner with a grimace like a skeleton was erected high.

Looking at this flag, someone recognized it and said: "Saibei Ghost Guard, it is Saibei Ghost Guard." ”

Wang Yijin immediately stepped forward and asked, "Where is the Ghost Guard Legion of our Holy Han Empire's Saibei Protector Army?" ”

The other caravan immediately raised the flag, the word "Gu" rose high, and a shopkeeper got out of the carriage, stepped forward and greeted: "The general is sorry, the chief shopkeeper of the Saibei caravan in the lower Gu family business, and the surname Zhang Mingcai Dongliang, specially led the caravan to Mucheng this time to restart the Gu family business in Mucheng." Here is the customs clearance document and the business contract, and please take a look at it from the general. ”

Wang Yijin stepped forward to check and found that the documents were in good condition, and returned them to the other party to report.