The night of the Menggui Ancient Road is desolate and lonely.

After a tiring day, Naito Ruan and Shen Weijing soon fell asleep.

Michiko Kato lives alone in a small room in the northwest corner of the inn.

Since leaving Shanhaiguan, Shen Weijing was worried about arousing Fang Shan's suspicions and speculations, and along the way, he never dared to live in the same room with Michiko Kato when he spent the night at night.

Michiko Kato lay on the bed and slept in her clothes. She looked at the hazy moonlight shining in through the window, and couldn't sleep for a long time. Somehow, ever since she first saw the Dragon Gate Inn, she had a sense of foreboding, this little inn in the middle of nowhere, like a small house isolated in the desert, vulnerable to stormy sand. Thinking of the sneak attack suffered before this, Miyuko Kato always felt that this Dragon Gate Station was very unsafe.

also has no sleep, and Fang Bing. He settled Naito Ruan and went to the courtyard alone.

By the hazy moonlight, Fang Handle patrolled the courtyard for a week, checking the deployment of his subordinates and post soldiers.

In the post station, including the post chief, there were a total of thirty-six soldiers. The postmaster placed all his men on the high wall to stand guard, and he kept patrolling.

Fang Handle was not at ease with the dozens of soldiers who were almost old, weak, sick and disabled in the post station, so he selected thirty shrewd and capable Dongchang soldiers from among his subordinates and sent them to be responsible for the guard work of the post station together with the soldiers in the post station.

"Good evening, sir!" Seeing that Fang Handle walked into the courtyard, the post chief who had been standing in the gate of the post station and supervising his subordinates hurriedly came over to say hello.

"Is there anything suspicious?" Fang Handle first glanced at the post soldier Yong and his subordinates standing on the high wall, and then asked the post chief.

"Report to your lord, everything is normal. No suspicious circumstances were found. The postmaster shouted to the square handle.

"Tell your soldiers that tonight you must be in full spirits and keep an eye on the movement outside this station."

"Yes, sir. I have already told them again and again as you tell them not to let go of any suspicious situation, even if it is a mouse crawling by, keep an eye on it. ”

"Hehe, thank you for your hard work."

"It's not hard. As long as you are satisfied, no matter how tired I am, it will be worth it. ”

"Okay. Walk around with me outside. Seeing that the layout in the post station was in place, Fang Handle called the post chief and prepared to go outside the post station to see the surrounding terrain and terrain.

"Your Excellency, please first!" The post chief took matters into his own hands and opened the gate of the post station.

Outside the post station, the Menggui Ancient Road is empty and flat.

This was once the old road of the Yellow River, Hongwu 21 years, the Yellow River here burst the embankment, the turbulent Yellow River water poured down, washed the river that appeared. Since then, the riverbed of the Yellow River has been eroded by the wind and gradually dried out, slowly forming a wide walkway.

Because it is a vast birch forest to the south, this ancient road sandwiched between the Yellow River and the birch forest has become a transportation artery connecting the east and west.

After Ming Chengzu Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, he rebuilt the official roads in various places. This ancient Menggui road was built into an official road. Later, the government built a post station here, which is now the Longmen Post Station.

"Are you familiar with the birch forest to the south?" Square Handle asked the post chief.

As soon as he walked out of the gate of the post station, Fang Shan's first sight saw the black forest south of the post station, and his heart suddenly sank: "If you ambush a team of men and horses in this birch forest and launch a surprise attack on the post station at night, with the speed of fast horses, you can attack the front of the post station almost in the blink of an eye." ”

"It's familiar."

"Have you ever entered this birch forest in front of you?" Fang Handle continued to ask the post commander who was following him.

"I haven't been in. A few of my men have been hunting inside. Listen to them, there are wolves, badgers, and wild animals in this forest

Rabbits and other animals. ”

"How big is this forest?"

"Listen to my men, there is no boundless."

"Oh."

Fang Shant listened to the post chief's reply, and thought for a moment: once the man in black launched a surprise attack on the post station from the birch forest in front of him, how should he respond? He never forgot the group of men in black who attacked him. In the first battle of the plank road, not all the men in black were annihilated. Since their target is Naito Ruan, if they fail to succeed, they will definitely not give up.

"My lord, are you worried that there will be anything in this forest that poses a threat to us?" The post chief looked at Fang Shan's pensive appearance and asked.

"Yes, if someone suddenly attacks us from the woods, I'm afraid they will already be at the gate before we can react."

"You don't have to worry about that. My men, fearing that the wolves in the woods might threaten the safety of the innkeepers, dug a long trap at the edge of the woods, and a few days ago a gray wolf fell into the trap and was captured alive. ”

"Oh, there's still such a thing. Very good, not bad. I'm relieved. Let's go back and rest. Hearing what the postmaster said, the frown on his face tightened slightly.

What Fang Shant is most worried about is that the other party will catch him off guard.

With the existence of this trap, it can buy reaction time for the guards in the station. As long as there is sufficient preparation, and with the powerful firepower of the Wansheng Franc machine in his hand, he still has a certain certainty of holding the post station.

As long as the gunshots are fired, it will alarm the officers and soldiers of Menggui Mansion not far from here, and they are very likely to rush to reinforcements.

Fang Bing and the post commander returned to the post station and ordered the night soldiers to close the gate and pay close attention to the birch forest on the south side of the ancient road.

After everything was in order, Fang Bing returned to his room and slept in his clothes.

In the middle of the night, Fang Bing was surrounded by a quarrel in the courtyard, and then he heard gunshots on the high wall of the post station outside the door.

"My lord, it's not good. Someone raided the front of the inn! Fang Bing had just walked out of the door, and the post chief ran over in a panic and reported to him.

"Who are they?"

"A group of men in black on horseback."

"Let's go, go up and have a look." Fang Shank did not dare to slack off, and under the leadership of the post chief, he followed the steps on the high wall of the post station and climbed the high wall.

At this time, Michiko Kato and other Dongchang officials also ran out of the house, armed with weapons, and climbed the high wall of the post station.

Outside the post station, hundreds of masked people dressed in black had surrounded the post station, and all they held in their hands were all goose swords.

"It's these turtle grandsons again!" Fang Shant cursed in his heart, and then ordered in a loud voice: "Occupy a vantage point, fire suppression!" ”

Hearing the order, the Dongchang officials who had just climbed the high wall took out the Wansheng Franc machine one after another and hid behind the daughter wall at the top of the high wall.

"Hit!" With an order, more than a hundred Wansheng Franc machines erupted one flame after another, shooting towards the black-clothed man below.

At the same time, the strong bows and crossbows in the hands of the black-clothed men below also began to fire towards the high wall, and the whistling arrows killed and wounded several post soldiers.

Under the high wall, dozens of black-clothed men who were attacking at the forefront were hit by the projectiles of the Wansheng Franc machine and fell off their horses one after another.

The reason why Fang Shant ordered his subordinates to suppress the opponent with firearms first was for two purposes: first, to use the powerful deterrent power of firearms to deter the opponent; The second is to send a rescue signal to the officers and soldiers in Menggui Mansion through the sound of gunfire.

For a time, the high wall of the post station was up and down, gunfire was loud, and arrows were whistling.

"My lord, the enemy's horse team has attacked the front door of the post house in an instant, and there is no time to notify you in advance." The post chief, who was hiding behind the parapet wall, shouted loudly to the square handle beside him.

"You didn't mean that

Is there a trap on the other side of the woods? Why didn't it work? Fang Shank shouted at the postmaster with some annoyance.

As planned by the Handle, as long as someone falls into the trap, it will delay the speed of their charge. His own men can quickly prepare and use the Wansheng Franc machine to suppress the opponent as far away from the post station as possible. to delay the opponent's impact at close range as much as possible.

Now, the opponent has attacked to the feet, the enemy's bow and crossbow has effectively suppressed the personnel on the high wall to a certain extent, the next step, the opponent is very likely to climb the wall and break the door, once the two sides form a close fight, in the case of the opponent's obvious superiority, the square handle is not completely sure to win.

"I don't know what's going on. I've been staring at the woods from above, but who knows, a large group of people rushed out of it in an instant, and it was in front of me in the blink of an eye. I can only report back to you quickly. Seeing Fang Shan's angry eyes at him, the post chief was suddenly frightened and trembled.

In fact, the square handle didn't know that for the black-clothed people who mainly fished and hunted, how could a simple trap to trap wild beasts escape their eyes. The man in black hiding in the woods had already discovered the trap at the edge of the woods. They found that the trap was not wide enough to stop their horses from leaping over, so when they attacked from the woods, their horses easily crossed the trap and rushed to the front of the inn.

It didn't take long for the Wansheng Franc machine in the hands of the East Factory officials to run out of bullets one after another. The men in black outside the wall took the opportunity to attack. Under the cover of arrows, they swarmed to the front of the post station, trying to take advantage of the large number of people, smashed open the wooden door, and rushed into the courtyard.

Fortunately, the two iron-clad wooden doors of the post station were strong enough, and the black clothes hit the door several times, but failed to knock the door open.

When the door failed, the man in black began to throw his hook and crawl towards the wall.

"They must not be allowed to climb the walls! Reinforcements will arrive soon! Fang Handle pulled out the embroidered spring knife and led the team to cut down the black men who climbed to the top of the wall one by one.

The man in black, under the cover of a dense array of arrows, continued to climb the high wall. More than a dozen Dongchang soldiers were wounded by arrows, but they still gritted their teeth and persevered.

Finally, under the cover of arrows, the men in black climbed the high wall one after another, and started hand-to-hand combat with the Dongchang soldiers and post soldiers on the high wall.

On the high wall, the sword light suddenly flashed, and the sound of killing shook the sky. Men on both sides of the war continued to scream and fall off the wall.

Several men in black took the opportunity to jump from the wall into the courtyard, trying to open the gate and let the other men in black enter.

Tsukaku and Michiko Kato discovered this at the same time. Michiko Kato saw that the battle was raging on the wall, and it was difficult for Fang Handle to get out, so he shouted to the other side: "Leave it to me below, and you will command it from above." With that, she jumped off the wall and stood in front of the man in black who tried to open the door.

Seeing that someone was obstructing, several black-clothed people immediately waved the Yanling knife in their hands and slashed at Michiko Kato.

Michiko Kato was fearless in the face of the attacks of several opponents, wielding the ninja knife in her hand and fighting with the opponent.

After a few rounds, Michiko Kato used the ninja sword in her hand and the ninja shuriken in her bag to knock down several big men on the other side one by one to ensure that the gate was unharmed.

On the high wall, Fang Shant led his subordinates, and after nearly half an hour of hard fighting, after paying the price of more than 30 dead and wounded, nearly 100 black-clothed people who climbed the high wall were killed.

Seeing that the first wave of attacks failed, one of the men in black outside waved his big hand, and the second wave of attacks of the men in black began, they howled, scratched the hook rope with their hands, and crawled towards the high wall of the post station.

At this moment, Fang Bing found that on the official road far west of the post station, a team of men and horses with torches came running from afar.

"Brethren, here are our reinforcements. Let's work hard, and as soon as the reinforcements arrive, we will rush out and kill them all! Fang Handle judged that the group of men and horses in the distance was the officers and soldiers of Menggui Mansion who rushed to this side for reinforcements after hearing the gunshots.