At noon on 11 September, the vanguard of Liangshan had already arrived in Dulonggang.

Seeing that the terrain ahead was complicated, the roads were crisscrossed and narrow, and the army was afraid of being ambushed, Sergeant Liangshan set up camp on the spot and prepared to send someone to investigate the road first.

In this attack on Zhujiazhuang, the leader was not Song Jiang, who repeatedly asked for his life, but the big boss Chao Gai. A few days ago, he hijacked the Su Jialou boat in Heshui, not only found nothing, but also damaged dozens of brothers, which made him feel shameless, if he didn't make achievements for a long time, how could the brothers obey him.

So he refused Song Jiang's request and personally led the army to kill Zhujiazhuang, wanting to re-establish his prestige with this victory.

Due to the problems of material transportation and personnel scheduling, the Liangshan army was divided into two groups and went to Zhujiazhuang.

The first group was led by Chao Gai, accompanied by Qin Ming, Dai Zong, Zhang Heng, Zhang Shun, Yang Xiong, Shi Xiu, Yang Lin, Ou Peng, Bai Sheng and other leaders, about 1,700 lightly armed foot soldiers and 100 horse troops. The second group was led by Song Jiang, accompanied by Hua Rong, Li Jun, Li Kui, Mu Hong, Deng Fei, Ma Lin, Huang Xin and other leaders, with 1,300 foot soldiers, and 50 cavalry followed. The cottage camp was guarded by Wu Xuexue and the rest of the leaders.

After setting up the camp, Chao Gai sat down in the tent in the army, and called the leaders to come and discuss the matter.

Waiting for everyone to gather, Chao Gai said: "The road in this Zhujiazhuang is too tortuous and looping, and the army cannot rush forward, and a few brothers must go to explore and find out the path before they can march again." ”

The matter started because of Yang Xiong and Shi Xiu, and they immediately stood up and said, "Brother, I'm willing to investigate." ”

Chao Gai looked at the two of them and said, "Brother Shixiu naturally goes, but Brother Yang Xiong's face and temperament are quite extraordinary, and if you do something carefully, you may be exposed, but you can't go." ”

Shi Xiu replied: "I can go alone, but it is easy to be exposed when there are many people." ”

Chao Gai thought for a while, "It's too dangerous to go alone", and looked at Yang Lin as he said: "Brother Yang Lin is good at dressing up, why don't you and Brother Shixiu retouch it, and go together to find out the truth of Zhujiazhuang, if there is an emergency, it is good to have a response." ”

Yang Lin clenched his fists and said: "But according to my brother's orders." ”

Chao Gai nodded and said, "You wait and prepare, and go to inquire immediately." ”

Not long after, Shi Xiu pretended to be a folk husband and went to Zhujiazhuang with a load of firewood.

Shi Xiu walked for more than ten miles, but saw that the path was twisting and turning, the surrounding bays and ditches were similar, and the trees were thick, making it difficult to recognize the road, so he put down his burden and rested.

Suddenly, there was a sound of iron rings colliding from behind, from far and near. Shi Xiu turned around to take a look, but saw Yang Lin wearing a broken hat, wearing an old magic robe, and holding an iron and stone magic ring in his hand, swaggering all the way through the city.

Seeing that there was no one around, Shi Xiu stopped Yang Lin and said, "I went to Zhujiazhuang with Li Daguan, but it was late at that time, and I couldn't see the details of the road clearly, but I didn't know how to go to Zhujiazhuang again." ”

Yang Lin shook his head and said, "Why bother with the straight path, you just follow the road." ”

Shi Xiu didn't doubt him, so he picked up firewood again and looked at the road to go first.

After walking for a long time, Shi Xiu suddenly saw more than a dozen families in front of him, three or five inns and hotels, and walked over.

When I got closer, I saw that there were knives, wooden guns, steel forks and other instruments inserted at the door of the store, and the clothes worn by the people in the hotel were written with a big word "Zhu". The same is true of the people who come and go around you.

Suddenly, an old man passed by, Shi Xiu waved at him, and asked, "Old man, what are the customs and habits in this realm, why do all families put knives, guns, and sticks at the door?" ”

The old man looked at him and frowned slightly: "Where are you a guest?" He didn't know the rules of the village, so he left quickly. ”

Shi Xiu replied: "The villain was originally a guest selling dates in Shandong, and he lost his capital and couldn't go home, so he picked up a load of firewood to sell here, but he didn't know the rules here." ”

The old man said, "Since you don't know the rules, then leave quickly." Sooner or later, there will be a big battle to be fought here. ”

Shi Xiu pretended to be surprised: "In such a good place, why is there a big battle to be fought?" ”

The old man said angrily: "Do you really don't know or don't know?" Let me tell you: this place is called Zhujiazhuang, and the village is the Zhuchao Fengfu Ya. A few days ago, he offended the heroes of Liangshan, and now he is sending a large number of military horses to attack, and he is stationed outside the village at this time. There has been an order from above, so that the young people in my village can get ready, and when the order arrives, they will go to respond to the army of the Zhu family. ”

Shi Xiu asked again: "Old man, dare to ask how many families are in the village?" ”

The old man said: "In my village alone, there are tens of thousands of families. There are also Li Jiazhuang in the East Village, Hu Taigong Zhuang in the West Village and I Zhujiazhuang have signed an alliance oath to support each other. ”

Shi Xiu said loudly: "That is the case, I am afraid that Liang Shan will do anything." ”

The old man smiled slightly, and whispered, "Aren't you from Liangshan?" ”

Shi Xiu was shocked in his heart, and he didn't know where to reveal his flaws, and pretended to be puzzled: "Where did the old man say this?" ”

The old man said, "Whoever you are, come to the house with me first." With that, he turned and walked towards a dilapidated wooden house.

Shi Xiu was shocked and suspicious, so he had to follow.

After entering the house, Shi Xiu was about to fall to the ground, but the old man casually held his arm.

Feeling the astonishing maneuver in the old man's thin arm, Shi Xiu was even more frightened.

But I heard the old man say: "You don't have to panic, although I live here, I am not a local person in this Zhujiazhuang." The whole village is surnamed Zhu, and I am the only one who has the surname Zhongli. ”

Shi Xiu wanted to speak and stopped: "Why do the old people ......?"

The old man said lightly: "Zhujiazhuang is tyrannical and domineering, colluding with the government to be the one to the disaster, I am different from his ways, and I do not conspire with each other." ”

Shi Xiu said suspiciously: "Didn't the old man test me?" ”

The old man said, "Yes." You and other so-called Liangshan heroes, and this Zhujiazhuang people are the same, I am happy to see you and other vicious dogs sumo, which is dead and which is injured, all are great good. ”

Although the old man looked down on Liangshan's heroes, it seemed that listening to his meaning would help Liangshan to lead the two tigers to fight, Shi Xiu then answered: "I hope the old man will give him a lesson or two." ”

The old man snorted lightly and said: "This Zhujiazhuang is located on the hill, surrounded by winding roads, because of the strange scenery of the mountains, the roads in and out seen by the human eye are not the same, often easy to enter, but it is difficult to get out." ”

Shi Xiu exclaimed: "Is there a way to crack it?" ”

The old man replied, "It's easy to say. When you go out, just keep an eye out for the poplar trees, and remember that every time the poplar trees turn, if there are no poplar trees, it will be a dead end. Roads without poplar trees are often full of traps, and if they are lost, they will be captured alive. ”

Shi Xiu learned of the doorway and said, "Thank you for the great kindness of the old man, the boy will be rewarded in the future." With that, he wanted to leave.

As soon as I arrived at the door, I heard a burst of people and horses outside, which was very noisy, and I vaguely heard someone say "catch a fine work".

Shi Xiu was taken aback and hurriedly went out to see. I saw more than a dozen armed soldiers escorting a medium-sized flatbed truck, and there was a person tied to it, who was stripped of a red strip in the shape of a "big" character, and if you looked closely, it was Yang Lin.

The people watching from the side of the road asked the reason, and heard a sergeant say: "This guy is so bold, he came alone to do that fine work, pretending to be a magician, but he couldn't know the way, he looked at the road and left, and he turned around for a long time, and was bumped into by the brothers who were patrolling, and called all the men and horses to catch him. Some people recognize him, it is the Liangshan thief, called Yang Lin, the brocade leopard. ”

Someone from the side instigated: "Since this person is a thief in Liangshan, I heard that Na Chao Gai is leading the army to be stationed outside the hill, why don't you cut off the birds of this guy and send them to Na Chao Gai?" ”

Everyone laughed, and they all applauded because they didn't think it was a big deal.

The sergeant smiled and said, "I'm willing to do it, but the third young master has already ordered it, so I can't touch him for the time being." ”

Hearing this, the crowd was in high spirits.

Shi Xiu was secretly anxious, but he didn't have a good way to rescue Yang Lin for a while, so he was ready to go back and tell Chao Gai about the situation here.

The old man suddenly grabbed his hand and dragged him into the shadows.

He was in doubt, but he saw a man and a woman riding horses in the distance.

The man was riding a white horse and carrying a silver spear, which was Zhu Biao whom he had met.

The woman rode a black horse, dressed in a light short fight, holding the reins and galloping on the horse, and when she got closer, she could see her face clearly: her face was like a knife, her eyebrows were like strokes, her nose was high, her thin lips were scarlet, and her long black hair was tied straight behind her head.

The old man saw Shi Xiu staring at the woman, and introduced to him: "That is the daughter of the prince of Xicun Hu, a young man and a third mother, who makes the sun and the moon in one hand. With your realm, you can't go through ten moves under her. ”

Shi Xiu was indifferent to the old man's ridicule, but said in surprise: "There are such strange women in the world!" ”

Zhu Biao and Hu Sanniang have a marriage contract, and they will be married in two months.

The two of them reined in the crowd, only to hear Zhu Biao say loudly: "All the families are young and ready, tonight with the red light as the signal, it is necessary to arrest Chao Gai and other thieves, and escort the government to ask for a reward." From this point on, no one is allowed to leave the village without the documents of the Zhu family. Once someone is found to have left the village without authorization, he will be treated as a traitor who fornicates with the Liangshan bandits. ”

Everyone is accustomed to it, and there is no objection. Only Shi Xiu secretly complained.

Seeing that there was a sergeant guarding the joint of the pass, Shi Xiu couldn't, so he had to go back to the house with the old man first, and then mediate in the evening.

Chao Gai waited in the military tent for a long time, but did not see the two come back, fearing that something had gone wrong with them, so he sent someone out to investigate. After a while, someone came to report. It is said that Zhujiazhuang claimed to have caught the "fine work", and at this time it was under martial law and did not allow people to enter or leave.

Chao Gaiden was in a hurry, Yang Lin and Shi Xiu were ordered by him to enter Zhujiazhuang, and they were held at this time, and he had to rescue him no matter what.

Summoning all the leaders, Chao Gai said straight to the point: "Yang Lin and Shi Xiu brothers are afraid that they have been caught, I don't care about his big roads and small roads, tonight I just have to kill the generals and save the two of them." I don't know what you think? ”

Qin Ming and the others clasped their fists and said, "It's all up to my brother's orders." ”

At nightfall, the leaders of Liangshan led one hundred and eighty people, holding torches, and went straight to Zhujiazhuang, and when they were approaching, they began to wave flags and shout, beat drums and gongs, and held high the big swords, mighty.

Before arriving at Dezhuang, I found that the door of the village was closed, and the suspension bridge under the village was also hoisted.

Qin Ming, the former commander of the army, challenged and scolded loudly in front of the village, but there was no movement in the village, and there was not even a torch on the horse.

Chao Gai saw it and was suspicious. Suddenly, Dai Zong said in the rear: "Brother Chao Gai, the road when you came has disappeared and is difficult to identify. ”

Chao Gai looked around, it was pitch black, and he suddenly came to his senses and exclaimed: "Didn't this Zhujiazhuang know that we were going to come to attack at night, I'm afraid I fell for it." ”

hurriedly shouted loudly: "The rear army is looking for a way, after the front army is broken, withdraw the army as soon as possible!" ”

At the right time, a beam of red light flew into the night sky in Zhujiazhuang, blooming bright flowers in the explosion, countless torches suddenly lit up on the gatehouse, and thousands of arrows immediately roared, showing the cold along the night wind.

It turned out that the sergeant of Zhujiazhuang had been waiting for a long time, and when he saw the signal, he began to attack.

The soldier who had time to raise his shield in the future was suddenly overturned on his horse by the person who shot him, and Chao Gai was frightened and shouted at the same time to retreat.

After dropping a few hundred corpses, the Liangshan army withdrew from the range of Zhujiazhuang. But the surrounding wilderness is also lit by fire, as if there are countless enemies surrounding and killing, at this time Zhujiazhuang also put down the drawbridge, a military horse out of it, straight to the Liangshan army.

Chao Gai didn't dare to fight, and was bent on retreating.

Due to the twists and turns of the road, the army was already in chaos at this time, and many soldiers even lost their weapons in order to flee for their lives.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Brother Shixiu is back." But when he saw Shi Xiu come to Chao Gai's side, he said loudly: "Tell the brothers to hold the torches high, look for the poplar tree along the road, and turn when you see the poplar tree, remember, the road with the poplar tree is the way to live, and everything else is the road to death." ”

Chao Gai's face was overjoyed, and he hurriedly ordered the information to be disseminated.

Recognizing the road, the army had some order and began to retreat slowly, and after the rear army Qin Ming, Yang Xiong and others were cut off, they fought with the Zhujiazhuang sergeant to one place. In the situation of fighting and retreating, the formation could not be formed, and there were countless casualties.

Chao Gai and the others walked for three or four miles, and found that there were more and more people blocking the attack in front, so they stopped the army in surprise.

Shi Xiu pointed to a bright light and said, "Brother, look at the red light over there, they used that light to block us in advance." Wherever I went, the lamp pointed. ”

Chao Gai looked at his finger, and sure enough, there was a bowl of lights. The bowl of light was not too far away from them, and he hurriedly drew his bow and arrow, and shot an arrow at the bowl of light.

The arrow flew away, but it just slashed past and nearly hit. The man who held the lamp noticed it and moved around. Chao Gai wanted to make a second arrow, but looking at the constantly shaking lamp, he was out of options.

He slapped his head suddenly: "I knew that Brother Huarong was here, and I would definitely be able to extinguish the bowl of lights." ”

However, at this time, the Liangshan army had been surrounded by the men and horses of Zhujiazhuang, and it was too late for Chao to regret it, but he did not dare to hesitate, and led the army to break through head-on.