The howling cold wind blew the earth, and the heaven and the earth were slaughtered.

On the official road from north to south, a procession of dozens of people is walking.

Five or six of them were at the front, loaded with goods, flanked by a dozen men dressed in black and armed with knives and guns.

At the back of the convoy, forty or fifty people followed, including scribes on horseback, women on donkeys with parcels on their backs, and many more on foot with parcels on their backs.

It's clear that these people aren't a group, they're more like improvised teams.

This is a troubled time, with soldiers and bandits, all threatening the lives of pedestrians. People who go out have to gather together to travel together, and many will choose to go with the caravan, after all, the caravan is guarded, enough to deal with small groups of thieves.

Sima Qian sat on the mule, her body rising and falling slightly with the mule, and her head turned around, looking at the scenery on both sides.

On her side, there was a middle-aged man wearing a sack robe and pedaling shoes, in his forties, with fluttering sleeves and vigorous steps, fluttering out of the dust, it was Sima Qian's father, Sima Hui.

"The fields are barren, the bones are on the side of the road, and there are few pedestrians. Grandpa, it is said that General Zhennan will govern Jingzhou at night, and this place also belongs to Jingzhou, why is it still such a scene? Not much better than Yingchuan? Sima Qian said as she looked.

Sima Hui smiled slightly: "This is Huyang, although it belongs to the jurisdiction of Jingzhou, but it is too far north, and after crossing the Han River to Xiangyang, it is really the territory of General Zhennan." ”

Sima Qian said: "It is said that General Zhennan has 100,000 people with armor for thousands of miles, and this place is so close to Xiangyang, why does it belong to his rule, why do you ignore here?" ”

Sima Hui said with a smile: "Nanyang is still nominally under the rule of General Zhennan, but it is stationed in Cao Situ's army. ”

Sima Qian said: "I hope Xiangyang really wants to be as good as others say, grandpa, I really miss our hometown Yingchuan." ”

Sima Hui sighed and didn't speak again.

It is said that it is difficult to leave his homeland, why does he want to leave his homeland? No matter how good Xiangyang is, it's not its own home.

However, the land of Yuzhou has been in turmoil for many years, with rebellious soldiers, bandits, and the rampant expropriation of officials and soldiers, and it is really difficult to live in his hometown.

At present, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are facing off in Guandu, not far from Yingchuan, and the war is likely to spread to the entire Yuzhou, and Yingchuan will never be able to avoid it at that time. Under the war, the people of Yingchuan did not know how many people would survive.

It was under this circumstance that the uncle and nephew of Pang Tong Pang De in Jingzhou sent a letter inviting him to Jingzhou, and Sima Hui left his hometown with his daughter after thinking about it. I hope to live a stable life in Xiangyang for a few years, and by the way, I will find a good family for my daughter Sima Qian, who is about to be married.

"Grandpa, when I was camping yesterday, I heard that the territory of Huyang is not very peaceful, do you think there will be thieves and bandits?" Sima Qian said again.

Sima Hui was just about to answer his daughter's boring words, when his eyes suddenly froze, and he saw countless figures suddenly appear in the dead grass on both sides of the road in front of him.

Ragged and armed with swords and forks, what is it if he is not a bandit?

"Grandpa, it's really a thief!" Sima Qian exclaimed faintly excitedly.

Sima Hui rolled his eyes, how could he have given birth to such an idiot daughter!

"Grandpa, I'm going to help the caravan guards deal with the thieves." Sima Qian said as she pulled out a short sword from her waist and was about to urge the mule to step forward, but Sima Hui grabbed the reins.

"Grandpa!" Sima Qian looked at Sima Hui in surprise.

Sima Hui shook his head slightly, and said nervously: "There are too many thieves, let's take a look first." ”

The leader of the caravan shouted, and more than twenty guards drew their weapons and blocked the wagon, and the men who accompanied the caravan also pretended to be brave and stood behind the caravan guards.

More than 100 thieves with weapons slowly approached from the official road, surrounding the caravan in the middle.

Looking at the situation of the thief, the corners of Sima Hui's eyes twitched slightly, and he was shocked to see that there were more than ten crossbow archers among the thieves.

Big trouble!

The leader of the caravan sent men to negotiate for money to buy a road, but no sooner had the men left the group than they were shot in the thigh by a crossbow arrow.

"Fight with the thief!" The leader of the caravan screamed in despair, and rushed towards the thieves with more than twenty guards, trying to get close to the fight and reduce the damage of the crossbow arrows to his side.

More than a dozen feathered arrows flew by, and five or six guards fell on the way to the charge, and then the guards rushed into the midst of the thieves, and the two sides fought together.

In the eyes of the caravan leader, these guards of his were well-trained samurai, and each of them was skilled in martial arts, and as long as they rushed close to fight, they might be able to kill the thieves.

However, when he was really fighting, he was desperate to find that these thieves were not weak at all, all of them were not bad at martial arts, and they knew how to cooperate with each other, and they were experienced old thieves at a glance!

"Father, let's go help!" Sima Qian was about to urge the mule to rush forward, but was stopped by Sima Hui.

"If you can't beat it, you can only lose your life in vain, Ashie, you take this opportunity to run quickly!"

"Father, how can I leave you!" Sima Qian shook her head and said.

Sima Hui said: "As long as the father surrenders, he may not lose his life, but you are different, you are a woman, if you fall into the hands of thieves, the consequences are unimaginable." Assie, your mule is fast, you can escape, and then find someone to save your father. ”

Sima Qian shook her head vigorously, but she refused. Sima Hui didn't say anything more to her, took out a knife from his arms and inserted it into the mule's buttocks, and the mule immediately got up and ran wildly on all fours, leading Sima Qian into the distance.

"Father!" Sima Qian screamed sadly, and tears flowed out at once.

Seeing the mule girl rushing towards her, several thieves laughed wickedly and tried to intercept them. Sima Qian grabbed the reins in one hand and the short sword in the other, leaned forward to the left, and the short sword easily swept past the neck of a thief, who immediately threw the spear in his hand, and tried to cover the bloody neck with both hands.

Raising another sword to separate a spear, Sima Qian rode a mule and rushed out of the thief's interception. The mule under the crotch was like crazy, and when Sima Qian turned his head to look, the caravan guards had been overwhelmed by the thieves, and his father could no longer see it.

"Father!" Sima Qian cried, she wanted to turn around and kill her father back, but she knew that she couldn't, so that both father and daughter would fall into it.

"I must find reinforcements and rescue my father!" Sima Qian wiped away her tears, rode the mule and continued to run wildly, and ran for more than ten miles, the mule fell to the ground, and Sima Qian fell to the ground unprepared.

When she got up from the ground with difficulty, she saw that the mule was no longer foaming at the mouth, and that there were two feathered arrows stuck in the hind hips of the mule.

I must find reinforcements to rescue my father, Sima Qian thought as she ran forward, and finally, when her strength was about to run out, a city appeared in front of her, and two seal characters were written on the gate of the city, Deng Yi.

ps: One shift in the morning, and the second shift in the evening.