"You quickly go and meet with the dark line ambushed in the city by the Yelang camp, let them keep an eye on the Li family, and if there are any cronies of the Li family who go out of the city, they will follow all the way." Niu Jinxing explained to Xiao Liu in an orderly manner.

"So what do I do?"

"You go to Xiongxian to report to Gongzi, I expect that the people of the Li family will go to the Tianfeng joint tonight, they have a big boat in their hands, and they will not dare to go back to Baiyangdian by water to pass through Xiongxian, and now they should still settle near Wuguandian, and the place where the Bian family inquired is is at the old site of the city, and our people must go there in advance to ambush it."

Wang Xiaoliu turned around and was about to leave when he heard this, but was stopped by Niu Jinxing, "Go out of the city from the Nanying Gate, go east to the Yudai River and then go north, and when you go out of the South Gate, remember to find a car and a horse shop to rent two fast horses." ”

Turning southeast and going north, this is naturally to hide people's eyes, but Xiao Liu was a little unconvinced when he heard it: "We all have something to do, so what are you doing." ”

Niu Jinxing seemed to have known that Wang Xiaoliu would ask, "How stupid do you think the old man of the Li family will be?" Naturally, I want to do enough here to make them feel at ease, believe it or not, there will be people from the Li family watching outside the inn. ”

"I'm a little curious, Xiucai, how can you be sure that he will definitely take the bait? You didn't say it was from the Prince's Palace. ”

Niu Jinxing said with a smile, "This kind of thing is not effective if it is explained thoroughly, although I have never been to Luwangfu, but I know a lot about the affairs of Luwangfu, and it is the same if I want to come to this prince's mansion, otherwise you must believe it when you look at the old man's appearance." This is also the son who wants to do something, originally there is no such thing as a backhand Tianfeng gang still has to take care of it, you can rest assured to go to Xiongxian to report the news, if I have nothing to do here, I will rush over to meet you. ”

"Although I haven't been to Luwang's Mansion, can the old man of the Li family be? The truth and falsehood between the words are enough to lead the other party into the alley. Niu Jinxing thought so in his heart and was secretly proud, but fortunately, he had a father who was an errand boy in the vassal king's family to be able to carry out this strategy.

Xiao Liu nodded when he heard this, and went to the Nanying Gate in the south without saying a word.

…………

After autumn, the sun sets earlier and earlier, and today the sky is covered with a layer of clouds that can't penetrate the moonlight, and a cool breeze blows, so that the minions who are keeping vigil outside can only lean on the barely rising bonfire, and huddle together against the ruins and broken walls of the ancient city of Gusuo, and keep complaining in their hearts. The only good thing is that it hasn't rained yet, otherwise it will be really difficult.

This place is separated by more than 40 miles from Renqiu County, and even the nearest city of Juzhou is still a few miles away, but even it is not as prosperous as in the Tang Dynasty, not to mention this inaccessible thousand-year-old 'ancient city', now it is known that there are horses and horses gathering here, and even the travelers who travel in groups have to make a detour in the daytime.

The sound of the water flowing of the Hutuo River came from afar, and it appeared and disappeared in the wind, drowning in the ancient city wall among the withered grass. Those who don't have to watch at night can all be wrapped in felt blankets or burrow into tents to snore, and the only building that can still show some regulation is the foothold of the ringing horse leaders, this place in the vicinity of the people in the Zhengde period to raise funds to build the dragon king temple has long been dilapidated, but now it is one of the lairs of the wind.

Guo Tianfeng's gang gathered about five or six hundred bandits here in Guzhou City, which was one of his most core subordinates, and the rest of the periphery was scattered in several other important places within more than ten miles of the periphery, some of them were to guard against the official army, and more were to facilitate robbery along the way.

A tongue planted in Renqiu County came to visit late at night with the Li family steward, so that although he arrived at this scene, there was still some dim light in the house.

"What? Didn't the old steward come to deliver the money? Guo Tianfeng, who had a fierce face, became a little unhappy when he saw that the comer and his followers were empty-handed.

The old steward had a rare salute with the bandit leader, and a smile appeared on his face, "The wind is tight these days, and I have hoped that the leader will take care of it, and the old man said that he will send someone to send money to the account in a few days." ”

Guo Tianfeng raised his eyebrows on the side of his face without an eye patch, and the scar trembled with his horizontal flesh, looking extremely impatient, "Then why did Steward Li come here at night?" ”

The steward seemed to have anticipated the bad words of the heavenly wind, and said, "That's it, there is a batch of goods on the cabinet right now, and there are exactly two hundred horses of white linen cloth missing, so the old man specially ordered the old man to come and transfer them to the leader, and it seems that there are these things in the previous batch of goods from the Bian family." ”

Guo Tianfeng didn't expect the other party's intention to be here, but he was not stupid.

"Is there anyone I don't know, but where did the buyer come from with such a big appetite? I remember that Lee Hutchison is not out of stock, this is not enough? Master Li is afraid that he will not be deceived by the spies of the Bian family. ”

Guo Tianfeng's words are not unreasonable, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no suspicion of other surnames, especially the Li family, if they really 'fish' out some evidence to sue the government, it will not be very easy to do. After all, they are all Ren Qiu's family background, and it is easy to say outside, but it is not easy for him to interfere when he arrives in the county seat, and there is more than one family in Ren Qiu, so it is difficult to guarantee that there is no more extravagant person who comes out to the Bian family to stand on the platform.

The old steward didn't think much about it, and continued: "Don't worry about the identity of the buyer, the lord has already seen it in person, and it is indeed a big merchant from other provinces, and it has nothing to do with Renqiu or even any of Hebei." ”

A hint of discoloration flashed on Guo Tianfeng's face, and he didn't seem to fully believe the old steward's statement, "But so many goods, Master Li has not come to pay the account for a long time, and now he has to take two hundred pieces of cloth first, do I know that even if there are no big households, the white linen cloth is in great demand these days, but this Mid-Autumn Festival, Master Li still doesn't plan to let the brothers pass?" ”

The old steward stroked his sparse beard, as if he was thinking about his words, "Passing the leader will make the old man embarrassed, you know the rules better than the old man over the years, and you always wait for the rumors to pass before you can talk about things, I heard that the Bian family has been asking around about the news of this batch of goods." ”

"Master Li is still too careful, how luxurious a side family can be, I don't believe they can't guess who moved the goods, and the words are just to get some face, otherwise how can outsiders know the movement."

"The leaders must not underestimate the Bian family, the so-called camels that starve to death are bigger than horses, although they have not had the background of the right path in the imperial examination in their lifetime, but I heard that they have some roots in the Hebei army."

"Hebei...... ...... in the army, "Guo Tianfeng repeated what the old steward said, as if he had heard some funny joke.

The two leaders of his cronies behind him took the first step and laughed, and one of them said in a rough voice, "We should still be some kind of backers, if there are more officials and soldiers, it doesn't matter, just let the newcomers hand over their names." ”

As he said this, there was a subtle hint of anticipation in the eyes of the other leaders, as if they were going to see something interesting.

…………

Peng Huaigui sneezed for no reason, and wrapped the felt blanket on his body tighter.

He is now a member of the old camp of the Heavenly Wind, but as his name suggests, he is constantly thinking about how to return to his hometown.

Because just two months ago, he was also a native soldier under the Baojing Prefecture Propaganda Department.

Peng Xiangqian, the consolation envoy at that time, led the army to aid Liao, and after arriving in Zhuozhou, he was seriously ill and stationed to recuperate, and these soldiers of Baojing Prefecture were already short of food and clothing all the way, and they were not treated by the places they passed and could not get much supplies, and the hunger and cold, coupled with homesickness, soon caused a camp roar, and nearly 3,000 people escaped overnight.

The people from the Wuzhai Division originally wanted to go to Tianjin to find a ship and take refuge in the south first, and then went all the way to the southwest.

But after entering the boundary of Baoding Mansion, he lost his way, and the last bit of silver he carried with him was also exhausted, so he had to go to this place and fall into the grass. There are nearly two hundred native soldiers who have joined Tianfeng with him, and only he has been pulled into the old camp because of his bravery, and now he is a big leader.

Today, in the north of Guzhou City, it was the team of men and horses he brought with him who was in charge of the night.

Compared with the Jianzhou Tartar that makes people smell and change, there is less population near this Yanzhou, which really makes people not much vigilant.

Although there are also heavy troops guarding the border on the front line of Xuanfu in the north, Peng Huaigui, who is the border army of the Ming Dynasty, knows very well what kind of virtue Peng Huaigui who marched this way, especially those soldiers who guarded the pier in Yanbian, some of them have been several generations, and they still have the appearance of a tun army as usual, otherwise they would not have been urgently transferred north from Huguang. What's more, the armaments in the hinterland of Baiyangdian and Wuguandian such as Xiongxian and Renqiu have long been abandoned, and they are some distance away from the canal, and those officers and troops are not as good as the geese in Baojingzhou.

Letting go of what he was thinking, his thoughts returned to his hometown, he had not yet married a wife and had children, he was worried about the old lady at home, and he didn't know when he would have a turnaround. I only heard that the native soldiers who also came out of Xiangxi were fleeing along the way, but there was no clear source, although Zhuozhou was not far away, but now it has fallen into the grass, and it is unknown what Lao Xuanwei's condition is. The only good news was that the emperor was dead, and the news spread faster than the situation in Zhuozhou, and the new emperor ascended the throne as usual to grant amnesty to the world, and there must have been a new way out for his sins.

He secretly planned to wait for two more days to go to the township party who was familiar with this big gang, and then go to Zhuozhou or the capital to investigate, so as to find a way out for himself in the future and return to his hometown as soon as possible.

Thinking of these troubles, Peng Huaigui unconsciously leaned on the shelter inside the earthen wall and fell asleep.

I don't know how long later, when he woke up in a bit of a daze, he only felt that the bones in his body were sore, and when he wanted to move, he was restrained and uncomfortable, and he was shocked after a while, he was actually tied up, and he stuffed a rag from nowhere, revealing a strange smell that made people sick.

I could vaguely tell that there were a few people in black around me.

Is this robbed?

No, I'm a ringing horse now, not to mention what kind of robbery is going on in this wilderness.

He was in a state of confusion when he heard a man say in a deep voice, "Do you know where the wind is?" Take us there. ”

When he was in his hometown, Peng Huaigui had fought with the red Miao of the next province in Chenjiang, although he also heard the brave name of the Jianzhou Tartars when he came to aid Liao, but he also did not have the intention of retreating, if it were not for the encounter along the way, he was afraid that he really wanted to go to the gate to meet the invincible opponent. But for some reason, when his eyes met the man in black in front of him, he felt a tremor from the bottom of his heart, and for a moment he was even a little creepy.

The clouds in the sky dispersed a small piece, and the cold moonlight shone under the earthen wall, and the blade in the hand of the man in black reflected a cold light on his neck.

Peng Huaigui swallowed a mouthful of dry saliva and nodded his head three times.

[References]

1, "Daming Huidian"

2, "Records of Emperor Mingshen Zongxian"

3, "History of the Late Ming Dynasty" Fan Shuzhi

4, "Wanli Ye Ed" Shen Defu

5, "History of the Ming Dynasty • Biography No. 8"

6, "History of the Ming Dynasty • Biography Eighty-first"

7, "History of the Ming Palace"

8, "Records of the National Dynasty" Jiao Huang

9, "Wan Department Miscellaneous" Shen Bang

10, "Shenzong's Living Note"

11. "Wanli Accounting Record" Qi Chang

12. "Research on Folk Literature in the Ming Dynasty" Zhang Bo

13, "Records of Emperor Mingguang Zongzhen"

14, "The Rest of the Tiger's Mouth" Bian Dashou