Chapter 27: Saving the Father

The fiery red sun slowly set towards the western land, and the fiery light burned the sunset red in the sky, and it was blood-red.

More than ten zhang wide water, the river is rushing endlessly, and the turquoise in the river cannot be seen.

Five people and ten horsemen by the water side rushed up the river, trying to find a narrow and shallow place to cross the river on horseback.

Half an hour later, about 100 horsemen followed the trail of the previous 10 horsemen who had fled.

The distance from Yiyang to Linyuan is two hundred miles, even if two horses take turns to change without resting, it will take two days to travel 100 miles a day.

The five people and ten horses who are galloping have no time to take care of it, and there is a town forty miles up the Zishui from Yiyang to the west, which is called Taojiang Town. The goal of Jiang Shanyi and the five people was to go to Taojiang first, then cross Zishui, and then return to Linyuan in the north.

The four Shadow Guards in charge of communications had already released the three carrier pigeons they were carrying, and as long as they crossed the water, they should be able to meet reinforcements after continuing northward for half a day.

After more than an hour of galloping, Jiang Shanyi and five people arrived at the ferry port of Taojiang Town, and spent a lot of money to delay a stick of incense, and the five of them successfully passed the water, and only two horses were transported.

The ferry boat is narrow, once to ferry people, twice to cross horses, if you want to send ten horses to the shore, it must be an hour. What's more, it's getting late, and no matter how much money is paid, the boatman won't send it back.

Jiang Shanyi stood on the north bank of Zishui and nibbled on the dry food, picked up the water bag and drank water, looked at the dotted towns on the south bank, swallowed the dry food with water, sighed heavily, looked at the northeast and said: "More than a dozen good sons are gone, it seems that the Wandering Army is still paying attention to Wuling, if I can't go back this time, they will think that Wuling will be chaotic, and they will have an opportunity to take advantage of it, and the abacus is good." ”

The four shadow guards around him were not easy to answer, they just quickly ate dry food and drank water, as a family guard, death is glory and responsibility, but the brothers who were still by their side in the morning disappeared in the blink of an eye, and only four of the twenty people who went out together were left, all of them were flesh and blood men, and sadness was inevitable.

After a while, Jiang Shanyi heard the sound of horses' hooves on the south bank, and then the chickens and dogs jumped in the quiet town, crying all over the sky.

Jiang Shanyi shook his head and said, "When you go back, find out who is in command of this group of cavalry, and you should kill them." ”

"Pack up, feel the darkness and hurry away. It will take a while for them to cross the shore while they are playing. Fortunately, the horses can't get by, they all rely on two legs, and it depends on who lasts to the end. Jiang Shanyi ate the last mouthful of dry food, turned around and led the horse to the north, and his own guard point circled the torch to lead the way.

By the time all the displaced troops had crossed the water, it was already two hours later, and it was already night, and the horses could not be transported. The leader of the Wandering People's Army had no choice but to let everyone rest, and then sent two teams of scouts to find the traces of Jiang Shanyi and a few people, and then made marks along the road. Two other scouts were sent back to Yiyang to report the news, and cavalry was sent to cross the water from Yiyang early tomorrow morning and search in the direction of Linyuan.

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Linyuan Jiang Mansion.

Jiang Ge, who had just finished dinner, was taking a walk in the back garden, and Fu Bo was still standing under the eaves not far away, leaning against the pillar and napping.

A rush of footsteps woke Fauber, who whispered something in Fauber's ear, took out a small bamboo knot containing the secret letter, handed it to Fauber, and waited aside.

After listening to the servant who sent the letter, Fu Bo took the secret letter in his hand, quickly walked to Jiang Ge's side and said softly: "Three carrier pigeons have just returned to the nest one after another, all of them are carrier pigeons taken away by the head of the family, the three secret letters are all the same, 100,000 urgent, Jiang Shanzhong is already on the way here, the head of the family is in trouble, at this time all the resources of the Jiang family are under the orders of the young master." ”

After Fauber finished speaking, he handed over the open secret letter of the flying pigeon.

"What? Father hunted down by the Exile Army? Didn't you say that you could get along with the grain, grass and goods you sent? Jiang Ge was extremely anxious when he heard Fu Bo's words, and his hand that opened the secret letter trembled a little.

The secret letter reads: "Respond quickly, danger!" ”

A few words, so that everyone who saw it was shocked, until the last resort, Jiang Shanyi would not put back the secret letter with the same content on the three flying pigeons at the same time. What's more, just a few words have fully explained the danger.

As soon as he finished reading the letter, Jiang Shanzhong had already rushed to Jiang Ge's side and said: "The situation is critical, I have ordered the military camp outside the city to prepare, and there are still a hundred Tsing Yi guards and twenty shadow guards in the city have been assembled and can set off at any time." The eldest brother is in distress, and the affairs of the clan should have been decided by several chief stewards and discussions, but now that the nephew is in charge of the Jiang family, he can order up and down to save the eldest brother from danger. ”

After listening to Jiang Shanzhong's words, Jiang Ge immediately said: "It's getting late, the letter did not explain the specific location of my father, according to the previous agreement, I should go north from Yiyang, and if I encounter danger, I may change the route." The fact that I was able to receive a flying pigeon meant that my father was still on the way. ”

Jiang Ge touched the beads of sweat on his forehead and continued: "I will take two teams of shadow guards and ten teams of Tsing Yi guards, and set off immediately, following the established route to meet my father, one person and two horses. In addition, ten teams of Tsing Yi guards were sent to spread out and search south. The clan soldiers sent 500 men behind me to meet me, and sent 500 men to the south, although the other Tsing Yi guards went south. The remaining 2,000 soldiers left 500 men, and the rest stood guard at the border waiting for our return. It was reported that the soldiers of the Hanshou tribe galloped to the border of Linyuan, the soldiers of the Longyang tribe guarded the border, and the soldiers of the Yuannan tribe guarded the border. ”

Jiang Ge finished talking about the arrangements he could think of in one breath and asked: "Uncle Clan can see that there are omissions, if there is something ominous, Uncle Clan will sit in Linyuan and control the overall situation." Since the exiles dared to assassinate my father, they had the idea of violating my borders. All other affairs are in charge of the clan uncle. I've got to go, Faub is waiting for us at the border. ”

Without waiting for Fu Bo and Jiang Shanzhong to answer, Jiang Ge jumped back to the room a few times to change into short clothes, and then jumped on the roof and ran towards the South Gate Square.

Jiang Shanzhong originally wanted to lead his troops to meet Jiang Shanyi, after all, Jiang Ge was the future head of the family who escaped death from the Central Plains, no matter how urgent this kind of thing was, he shouldn't go, the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and the Jiang family has not reached the point where there are no usable people.

It's just that after listening to Jiang Ge's short-term blurted out of the deployment, Jiang Shanzhong's heart was shocked, what kind of keen and meticulous heart is needed to make such a coherent arrangement of rescue and defense in the blink of an eye, and find out nothing wrong.

Jiang Shanzhong looked at Jiang Ge, who could jump onto the roof in two steps, and then at Fu Bo, who was looking at him, shook his head and sighed: "Fusheng, it seems that we have a few more years to live, so we can see how far this kid can go." It's okay to do chores. ”

Fu Bo stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Don't worry, the young master has his own measure." We'll talk about that later, and God knows what it will be like in the future. You go to the council chamber, and I'll have to take someone to the border to set up a defense. I hope that the old master can get out of the whole body, and the young master can be safe and sound. ”

Jiang Shanzhong and Fu Bo left separately, and their own shadow guards shuttled through the dark night to give orders to the four directions.

When Jiang Ge arrived at the South City Gate Square, the Tsing Yi Guard and the Shadow Guard were already quietly waiting in line with one person and two horses.

Jiang Ge, who was dressed in a gray suit, rode on the jujube red horse led by the city gate guards, turned around and saluted the guards with his fists: "My father is in trouble, I hope you brothers and uncles will help the boy." It's hard work! ”

The guards replied in unison, "Follow the young master's order to welcome home." ”

Jiang Ge grabbed the horse rope and shouted: "Open the city gate, get on the horse, and light the torch." ”

Creak~

The huge gate slowly opened, and the guards on horseback each held torches, illuminating the entire south gate, except for the wheezing of horses and the cracking of torches.

As the city gate opened, ten scouts rushed out to explore the way in advance with torches in both hands.

Then Jiang Ge took the lead and ran out of the city, followed by the sound of horses' hooves like thunder and torches like long dragons.

A fast-running band of light went out of the city from the south gate of Linyuan City in the dark night, crossed the Yuanshui Bridge, and rushed south.

Soon after Jiang Ge and his escorts left, a group of well-trained soldiers in iron armor stepped on a unified pace, holding a spear shining with cold light in one hand and a torch in the other, and quickly ran towards the border across the Yuanshui Bridge.

In front of the horse team galloping at night at a high speed, Jiang Ge on horseback looked serious, the torch shone on Jiang Ge's side face, flickering bright and dark, his resolute face had faded into immaturity, and his deep eyes were like two arrows shot out quickly, cold and deadly.

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Jiang Shanyi and the five people have been walking for more than three hours at this time, although they are extremely tired and tired, they still dare not stop to rest, if the first-class civilian army catches up at night, the five people will definitely die. What's even more difficult is that there are no horses, even if you walk all night at night, tomorrow when the sky is a little brighter and you can see the road clearly, the wandering army will definitely have cavalry to catch up quickly, and then you can only obey the fate of heaven.

The four guards have been training for a long time, and their physical fitness is very good, but they are all extremely tired at this time, not to mention that they have never practiced martial arts or exercise, Jiang Shanyi, who was still a fat man before, is really relying on perseverance to persevere. I couldn't hold on anymore so I climbed on a horse and rested for a while.

The two horses are Jiang Shanyi's last hope, and after running around for a day, if he doesn't accumulate some physical strength, when he really wants to be caught up, he has no chance to escape on horseback, so he can really only sit and wait for death.

At this time, Jiang Shan was walking hard with a stick, and he didn't know how many blisters on his feet had worn out, but he still had no intention of stopping to rest. One more distance is likely to give you a better chance of escaping.

The son who has not yet reached the crown is not enough to control everything, and he needs to make more preparations, and the head of the family is facing the fate of hundreds of thousands of lives. Such a huge pressure can't be transmitted to Jiang Ge's body too early, and he can resist again. Wait for the little saplings to grow up and be bigger.

Jiang Shanyi asked, "How far have you come, what time is it now, how long is it until dawn?" ”

The shadow guard on the side said, "It's been almost four hours, about forty miles. In two hours it will be dawn. ”

Jiang Shan looked at a few people, they were all extremely tired, Jiang Shanyi stopped and said: "Rest for half an hour, otherwise the other party will be able to catch up soon after dawn, and there are plains and hills between Yiyang and Linyuan, which is too conducive to cavalry action." Take a break, then try to walk as fast as you can, and get some distance. ”

After Jiang Shanyi finished speaking, he found a tree and sat down, and the other four people also put out the torch and sat cross-legged around Jiang Shanyi's four directions. Take out the water bag and dry food and eat slowly.

In fact, no one can fall asleep in this situation, just like a few days ago, if you don't pay attention to it, you will be injured by a dark arrow, and the reason why the four shadow guards can become shadow guards is that they can choose one out of a thousand miles from the clan soldiers, and then they will become a Tsing Yi guard after training, and then one out of a hundred miles from the Tsing Yi guard, and finally they can become a shadow guard after training without being eliminated.

There are only 100 Shadow Guards in the entire Jiang family, and when they crossed from the north to the south, they actually lost more than half, and the Tsing Yi Guards lost even more.

For Jiang Shanyi, it is very distressing to die one more guard. It is extremely difficult to cultivate a Tsing Yi Guard, let alone a Shadow Guard who is one in a hundred.

Jiang Shanyi's body was extremely tired, but his spirit was very clear, and after trying to force sleep twice to no avail, Jiang Shanyi said in a low voice: "Do you think you can survive this time?" ”

One of the Shadow Guards replied, "It doesn't matter if we don't live or not, the head of the house must live." ”

The other Shadow Guard continued, "The defenders are dead, and so can we, at least before the head of the family. ”

Jiang Shanyi: "The defenders don't necessarily die, I have a feeling that he is still alive." The two brothers of the defenders pulled me out of the pile of dead bodies in the Central Plains and escorted me all the way back to Wuling. The army is brave and brave, and the defenders are clever. Maybe you're on your way back like us. ”

The shadow guard, who was sitting on the south side and didn't speak, said: "I don't care if I don't die for a long time, I'm just a little aggrieved, I didn't die on the battlefield of killing Hu, I was chased by a group of homeless soldiers and became a lost dog, the head of the family, the little one said something unpleasant, it's really a wretch, don't be angry." ”

Jiang Shanyi laughed and said: "I also feel like a fucking bag, when my son comes, he will definitely kill them, throw away their armor, not one of them will be left, all of them will be slaughtered, good farmers are not appropriate, what kind of rebellion." ”

The shadow guard, who had not spoken, was not very old, in his early twenties, and said a little shyly: "I admire the young master, I was stunned to kill for three days and three nights in Chang'an City, how many Hu people have to be cut down, I can slaughter dozens of Huns with my bare hands, I can't do it, the Huns are very strong, I can only wait for death if I can turn over three." ”

Another Shadow Guard of a similar age continued: "I heard that the young master was ambushed by the Qiang many times in Wushan with the big butler on his back, and each time he was an elite scout of the ten-man team, and none of them escaped. It's really amazing. ”

Jiang Shanyi didn't answer, just listened to the guards around him constantly praising his son, there is nothing in the world that can compare.

Jiang Shanyi, who was originally tired and nervous, was also in a much lighter mood at this time, and she fantasized about how domineering and handsome Jiang Gede was wearing battle armor across the field.

Jiang Shanyi took out the map and looked at it carefully for a while, then thought about it and said: "There are still twenty miles to the Prince Temple, let's go to the Prince Temple before dawn to see if we can find a few horses, the village is not very good to have a place to hide." Outside, if you chase after you, you will die, so it is better to stay in one place and wait for reinforcements to come. ”

After a short rest, the five of them continued to walk, and after resting and recovering from their strength, they walked a little faster.

More than an hour later, the sky was just slightly bright, Jiang Shanyi and the five people finally rushed to the Prince Temple, and there were dozens of families in the village, and it was too early, and no one was seen.

Luckily, he found a mule cart that was pulling goods, and Shadowguard found two more sturdy mules and horses in the backyard.

After waking up the farmer and explaining his intentions, Jiang Shanyi spent a lot of money to buy mules, horses and carts, and the farmer saw that he had earned a lot of money and ran to another farmer to pull out a Yunnan horse, and asked for twice the gold before.

The Shadow Guard quickly set up the car, the two of them sat in the car, one rode the short Dian horse, and Jiang Shanyi and the more shy guard rode the big horse, and quickly went north along the country road.

Mules and horses and Yunnan horses have more endurance, habitual camel heavy objects forward, only more than 200 pounds at this time feel like no camel, the running speed of the joy is not slow at all, the Yunnan horse is also a uniform movement, running is not fast, fortunately can always maintain a speed.

Soon after Jiang Shanyi and the five people left the Prince Temple, more than ten scouts followed the trail to the Prince Temple, and after confirming the direction of Jiang Shan's escape, three arrows shot into the sky in turn, and the quiet and peaceful small village suddenly jumped with chickens and dogs.

Less than 20 miles away from the Taizi Temple, nearly 1,000 people rushed from Yiyang overnight to reinforce the army, led by Wang Qian, the son of Wang San, one of the ten exiles.

Suddenly from a scoundrel in the market to a battalion commander who commanded thousands of people, he really turned over as a serf and sang, if he wanted to be more and more than he wanted, after seeing his father Wang San's secret letter, he almost blossomed with joy, what is the battalion commander, he can catch the head of the Jiang family in Wuling, and his father can barely keep his position as the regiment commander in Du Shuai. That's a prince who rules tens of thousands. This kind of opportunity to be delivered to the door is simply the favor of God.

So after receiving the news that the cavalry sent out had failed to encircle and suppress, he became angry and gathered all his men and horses overnight to catch up with the team that had crossed the river from Taojiang Town. After resting for a few hours, Wang Qian, who was impatient, urged the team to move north in the dark two hours before dark.

There were many scouts on the way from the Prince's Temple to Wang Qian's location, and when three arrows rang out in the air, one after another broke the silence of the early morning.

As a result, nearly a thousand horses began to speed up and run.

Jiang Shanyi, who also heard three arrows, tightened his heart, Jiang Shanyi looked at the flat terrain around him, sighed and said: "An hour will definitely catch up with us, but still can't give up, speed up." ”

Jiang Shanyi, who was riding a war horse, could have left quickly at this time, but he still maintained a uniform speed with the carriage, and the Shadow Guard persuaded Jiang Shanyi to run away quickly with one person and two horses, and the other party might not be able to catch up.

But Jiang Shanyi just smiled and said: "There are generals who abandon soldiers, but there is absolutely no head of the Jiang family who abandons his family." ”

The four guards were moved in their hearts, and they didn't say anything else, only hoping that the young master would arrive in time.

Or, four of them could die in front of the head of the house.

Selfless.