The north wind was howling, and the heavens and the earth were bleak.

It's winter, and although it's not snowing, it's already cold.

On the official road from Huyang to Pingshi County, there are few pedestrians, and both sides of the road are withered yellow weeds, shivering with the cold wind.

In the morning, a caravan slowly approached from the direction of Huyang.

A convoy of about seventy or eighty people and more than twenty carts made the caravan quite large.

Except for the more than 20 coachmen who drove the car, the rest were armed with knives and spears, and they were all caravan guards, and some of the guards also carried bows and arrows behind their backs, which seemed to be quite powerful.

In the mountains and wilderness, from time to time, people looked at the caravan from a distance, and when they saw those elite guards, they all retreated, such a scale of guards, not ordinary thieves can deal with.

Occasionally, pedestrians passed by the official road, and when they approached the caravan, the guards immediately raised their swords and spears, so frightened that the pedestrians did not dare to approach at all.

Finally, at noon, the caravan stopped in an abandoned yard by the side of the road, ready to rest and eat.

The courtyard was originally where the Huyang Pavilion was located, and there was originally a pavilion chief with more than a dozen servants stationed here, checking the pedestrian road guide and maintaining the law and order within a radius of ten miles.

However, in the autumn of this year, the thief Marshal Zhou Cang rushed into Huyang with thousands of thieves, burned and looted, and the chief of the Huyang Pavilion was killed when resisting the thieves, and the soldiers did not know where to go, so the Huyang Pavilion was abandoned, and even the roof was burned.

When the caravan arrived, there were three or four ragged men in the courtyard who were gathering around a fire, and when they saw the caravan approaching, they all looked over.

The steward of the caravan glanced at these men vigilantly, and ordered to stop and rest on the side of the road.

The coachmen untied the reins of the donkeys and mules and fed them some beans, while the guards partly lit fires to cook, and partly watched vigilantly with knives and spears.

At this moment, a man with a beard stood up by the fire in the courtyard and walked towards the caravan.

Two guards took two steps forward, blocking his path.

"Everyone, please, dare to ask what kind of goods are you brought, can you sell some to us?" The mustache was not annoyed, and asked with a smile.

The shopkeeper of the caravan hurriedly greeted him, and said with a smile on his face: "I'm sorry, this goods were ordered by someone else, and I can't sell them privately." And it's all some groceries, and it's useless for a strong man to ask for it. ”

"That's not necessarily," said with a smile on his face, "You don't know, the shopkeeper, not long ago, the thief handsome Zhou Cang robbed the entire Huyang, and now there is a shortage of everything here, a few of us are staying here, thinking about getting some goods from the past merchants, bringing them to other places to sell some money, and begging for a living." Shopkeeper, look, can you discuss and balance us some? ”

The caravan shopkeeper had a smile on his face, but he was very firm: "I'm really sorry, every cargo on the car has an owner, and I can't handle it if I don't have a little bit." ”

"What kind of goods did the shopkeeper bring?" The man is not dead yet.

But the shopkeeper shook his head and refused to say any more.

At this moment, a driver seemed to move a little bigger, and with a "bang", a sack fell from the roof of the car, the sack cracked, and a large area of yellow-orange-orange millet fell to the ground.

"You die! So careless! The shopkeeper turned his head to look at it, his expression changed greatly, and he immediately left the man and ran towards the cart, scolding angrily as he ran.

"Do you know that food is expensive now? It's not worth this bag of millet to sell you! Hurry up and pick it up for me, one less grain looks good with you! ”

The man shook his head, turned and returned to the courtyard.

The shopkeeper and a few people hurriedly took the poured millet back to the bag, and before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he saw a few men in the courtyard come out.

"Let's go?" The shopkeeper hurriedly greeted.

"Hehe, the shopkeeper refuses to even some goods, it's boring for us to stay here, go home and rest, and try our luck tomorrow." Bazihu shook his head and said.

Several people followed the official road to the east, and after walking for more than a mile, they immediately went down the official road and turned south, and soon entered a forest, where they were tethered to a few war horses. Several men rolled over their horses, the sound of horses' hooves sounded, and they disappeared into the rolling fields.

Seeing the figure disappear, the shopkeeper breathed a heavy sigh of relief and sat down at once.

"Uncle Jin, you acted well, you look decent, you really look like a shopkeeper of a trading house." Zhang Miao, who was pretending to be a buddy, stood up and said with a smile.

Zhang Jin shook his head: "Fortunately, I have been to Xiangyang with you and have seen the real shopkeeper, otherwise I wouldn't know how to act." By the way, are these people Gegang's spies? ”

Zhang Miao didn't answer, and looked at Xu Shu who was pretending to be a guard with a smile, "Strategist, what do you think?" ”

Xu Shu nodded: "It should be." It is less than five miles away from Gegang, and there are no other big bandits except for Du Liudu and seven brothers. And these people behave strangely, not like businessmen who do small business. In addition to robbers, where is there a reason to wait for people to settle goods on the official road? The excuse for this conversation is really bad, it should be a spying of the bandits. If there are no accidents, it won't be long before the bandits will appear!

Everyone grabbed a bite to eat and moved on. ”

In this battle, Xu Shu was the commander.

"That, military advisor, since the Du Liudu and Seven brothers will appear soon, why should we spend our physical strength to continue to move forward, just stay here and wait for them." A rough voice sounded, but it was Deng Tu pretending to be a guard.

This time to lure the enemy, Deng Tu contributed a lot, and half of the caravan and mules were borrowed from Deng Yi, without which it would not be possible at all.

"Since we pretend to be a caravan, we must behave like a caravan, how can a caravan not leave as soon as it rests? Isn't it plain and suspicious? Xu Shu explained.

"Haha, I didn't expect this, I deserve to be a military advisor." Deng Tu touched the scar on his face and said embarrassedly.

"Everyone cheer up, once attacked, follow our pre-drill." Xu Shu whispered to everyone.

So, the group quickly ate something, put the mules and horses on the wheels again, and continued along the official road.

After walking five miles, I saw dust rising on the official road in front of me, and the sound of chaotic footsteps faintly came, and a large number of thieves killed from the front.

"Obediently, there are more than two hundred, Father Deng Zhong, the number is twice as many as you said." Zhang Miao exclaimed.

Deng Tu touched the scar: "It should be that Du Liu and Du Qi have expanded the team in the past few days, and I let people hear more than 100 at the beginning." ”

The thieves killed in the distance were several times larger than their own, and the situation suddenly became tense. However, Xu Shu was still calm, and a series of orders came out of his mouth.

With Xu Shu's order, the convoy moved quickly, and in a very short time, a "mouth" shaped car formation was formed.

Eighty or so villagers hid in the chariot array, their arrows wound and their swords unsheathed, waiting for the arrival of the thieves.