It took Li Yanqing five days to follow a group of merchants through the snow-covered Jingcheng to Zhendingfu, where he then turned south to the southernmost state of Xiangzhou.

At this time, there have been two heavy snowfalls in Hebei, and the world is full of snow, but as the New Year approaches, the official road is also quite lively, full of pedestrians, caravans or hawkers, the snow on the road is trampled to sparse pieces, mixed with mud and cow dung, dirty and smelly, it is really difficult for pedestrians to get down.

On both sides of the official road are endless wheat fields, the wheat has already been harvested, and the fields are covered with snow, as if a boundless snow-white blanket is spread, only patches of gray-white woods and villages, adding some mottled colors to this huge snow blanket.

In the afternoon of this day, Li Yanqing and Yang Liang arrived in Handan County, Cizhou, Handan County is located in the north of Cizhou, is a middle county, into the county seat, feel similar to Tangyin County, the same people, the same streets, the same shops, in fact, every county in the Central Plains is similar.

Although it was dusk, the street was quite lively, full of groups of children playing in the snow, pedestrians pushing wooden wheeled carts hurriedly walking through the streets, wooden carts were full of all kinds of New Year's goods.

"Join the army, let's go to that inn!"

Yang Liang pointed to an inn diagonally opposite, "I lived with my uncle a few years ago, the room was very clean and the price was not expensive. ”

Li Yanqing looked at the inn, a lantern said 'Lao Xu Inn', and there was a restaurant next to it, also called 'Lao Xu Restaurant', the inn and the restaurant should be the same.

He nodded, "Let's go to its house!" ”

The two urged the horse to come to the inn, turned over and dismounted, and a man greeted him, "Do the two officials want to stay in the hotel?" ”

"Is there a separate courtyard?"

"There is a single courtyard, one hundred and fifty dollars a night."

This price is really not expensive, Bianjing is one or two silver a night, Taiyuan also costs 500 Wen, and the big county also needs 2 or 300 Wen, and here it is only 150 Wen.

The reason why Li Yanqing wants a separate courtyard is because they ride military horses, and the market price is several hundred taels of silver, and now the public security in various places is generally not good, and the military horses with strong physiques are easy to be targeted and stolen, and the small inn can't afford to pay for them, and the owner can only admit that he is unlucky, Li Yanqing would rather spend more money and keep the military horses in the independent courtyard.

"Help us feed the horses and lead them to the yard, and reward you with this money!" Li Yanqing grabbed a handful of money and gave it to him.

"Great! Officials, please rest assured that the horses are fed with good concentrate feed. ”

The two unloaded the horse bag, the guy led the horse to the backyard, Li Yanqing entered the inn lobby, the lobby was almost empty, very noisy, it turned out that there was a door on the left side of the lobby leading directly to the restaurant next door, there were many guests sitting in the lobby of the restaurant, and there were prostitutes singing songs to accompany the wine, and the sound came from there.

At this time, the innkeeper showed half a fat face from behind the counter and smiled at them: "Please stay here!" ”

"I want a private courtyard and stay overnight."

"Yes, there are two detached courtyards in the small shop, both of which are with livestock sheds, one is slightly larger and has four rooms, and the other is three rooms, three rooms for the two of you are enough, one hundred and fifty yuan a night, let's make it clear first, this price doesn't care about food!"

"No problem!"

"May I ask the names and places of origin of the two people, are you passing through this county, or are you coming to this county to do business?" The shopkeeper asked, holding the thick register.

Li Yanqing reported the names and places of origin of the two, and touched a piece of broken silver weighing one and a half taels and gave it to him, "Don't look for it, go back and get two meals for us." ”

When the shopkeeper saw that he was generous, his eyes narrowed with a smile, "Please rest assured, the two officials, you will eat well and sleep well!" ”

After the shopkeeper finished registering, he personally led them to the backyard with a lantern, "Let's go!" ”

The shopkeeper led the way in front, and asked Li Yanqing with a smile as he walked: "The two of you are from the army!" ”

"How do you know?"

"I've seen a lot, your horses are military horses, wearing military boots, and sabers are also authentic sabers, ordinary people don't dare to dress like this."

Li Yanqing was dressed as a scribe and did not bring weapons, he glanced back at Yang Liang, and saw that he was wearing a saber and had the military badge of the Northwest Army hanging on his waist, no wonder the shopkeeper knew that he was from the army, so he hurriedly gave Yang Liang a look and asked him to put away the military card.

"I heard that the law and order have not been very good in the past two years."

The shopkeeper sighed, "The taxes are so heavy, it is difficult to make money, everyone has to support their families, and in order to make a living, many people have to take risks, but these months are especially chaotic, you must be careful." ”

"Why?"

"You don't know?" The shopkeeper looked back at Li Yanqing strangely.

Li Yanqing hurriedly shook his head, "We just came from Taiyuan Mansion, what happened?" ”

"Last month, the Liangshan army invaded the Daimyo's Mansion."

"What!"

Li Yanqing was taken aback, "Liangshan bandits have been killed in Hebei?" ”

"Hmmm! Today began in May, first captured Yunzhou and Jeju, and later crossed the Yellow River, captured Bozhou Liaocheng, last month I heard that there were several thousand Liangshan troops to invade the Daimyo's Mansion, even broke the three counties of Guantao, Guanshi and Wei County, and then withdrew their troops outside the Daimyo's county, they were a little better, at least they did not kill people indiscriminately, but more than a dozen bandits appeared in a row on the two roads in Hebei, all claiming to be the Liangshan branch, robbing houses and houses everywhere, killing people and plundering money, and the public order was in a mess. ”

"Does the government care?"

The shopkeeper smiled bitterly and shook his head, "The government oppresses the people very much, but when I meet these outlaws, they all pretend to be deaf and dumb." ”

Li Yanqing's heart was a little heavy, he always thought that Song Jiang and his gang were operating in Shandong, and he never thought that they would fight in Hebei, but they actually hit the Daimyo's Mansion, Xiangzhou is next door to the Daimyo's Mansion, will it also be affected by the Liangshan Rebellion?

．．．．．．

In the middle of the night, Li Yanqing was suddenly awakened by a cry of fear, he sat up suddenly, grabbed the short sword from the head of the bed, he listened intently for a moment, the shouts were made by many people, including the cry of a woman, Li Yanqing knew that the situation was not good.

Fortunately, the shopkeeper's words prepared him, and he slept in his clothes at night, and without even untying his turban, he turned over and sat up, put his sack on his shoulder, and strode out of the room.

It happened that Yang Liang also ran out in a panic with a knife, "Join the army, what happened?" ”

Li Yanqing waved his hand to stop his panic, he listened for a while, the shouting was louder than just now, there was faint fire in the sky opposite, it seemed that there was also a shout in the front yard of the inn, Li Yanqing took out a short sword from the horse bag, hung the chess bag on his waist, and handed the horse bag to Yang Liang, "You go and lead the horse!" ”

Yang Liang ran to the stable, and at this time, there was a quick knock outside the gate, "Li Guanren, it's me, open the door quickly!" ”

It was the voice of the shopkeeper, Li Yanqing stepped forward and pulled the bolt of the door, and a group of people suddenly poured in, which startled Li Yanqing, but fortunately, he immediately recognized the shopkeeper and the two guys, and seven or eight people were all young women, with bright dresses, and their faces were terrified, they were all prostitutes who accompanied the wine in the inn.

Shopkeeper's plop! Kneeling down and clasping his palms together and begging Li Yanqing: "I know that you are military masters, please ask the officials to save us!" ”

Suddenly, there was a loud shout from outside: "Here! ”

Three big men rushed in from the outside, carrying knives and torches, and the big men at the head stared at a group of women with hideous eyes, "I said where did the sheep go, it turned out that they were hiding here, hurry up and be happy with the masters!" ”

As he spoke, he swung his knife and slashed at a fellow, and the women in the courtyard screamed in fright, only to see a flying stone swishing at him, right in the temple of the leader of the big man, and he 'Whoa! The ground screamed, and immediately fainted to the ground, and the two big men behind were so frightened that they turned around and fled, Li Yanqing hit two stones in a row, and his hands were extremely heavy, knocking the two of them unconscious.

"Close the door!" Li Yanqing waved his short sword, and the two guys reacted and hurriedly ran forward to close the courtyard door.

Li Yanqing pointed to a few women and said to Yang Liang: "Take them into the house first!" ”

Yang Liang took a group of women into Li Yanqing's room, and Li Yanqing asked the shopkeeper, "What's wrong?" ”

The shopkeeper said with a fight: "It seems that the bandits from Fushan have entered the city." ”

"Who are the Fushan bandits?"

"I don't know, I just know that they have two leaders, one is called Chaoshan Tiger Tao Jun and the other is called Golden-eyed Eagle Jia Jin, and they also claim to be Liangshan heroes."

Li Yanqing snorted coldly, and cut the throat of the leader with a sword, blood burst out, spraying the shopkeeper, so frightened that the shopkeeper almost fainted, Li Yanqing killed one person with another sword, and then kicked the third robber awake.

Li Yanqing pressed a cold sword against the bandit's throat, "Both of them were killed by me, so if you don't want to die, tell the truth." ”

There was a look of fear in the bandit's eyes, "I said! I say! ”

"How many of you have come, and who is the leader?"

"The leader is King Jia, and more than seventy people have come."

"How many people are there in the cottage?"

"About three or four hundred, I don't know."

"What are you doing in Handan County?"

"Come and grab ..... Grab a little New Year's goods and get some women back. ”

"Thank you!" Li Yanqing stabbed him in the throat with a sword.

Li Yanqing wiped the short sword on the bandits, turned around and asked the shopkeeper, "How many bandits have entered the store?" ”

"I'm too.... I don't know, at the moment.... And he saw these three men. ”

Li Yanqing picked up the three stone chess, and Yang Liang sighed, "Join the army, but unfortunately there are no bows and arrows!" ”

Li Yanqing's bronze bow and iron arrows were brought back to the capital by Wang Gui to his father, the leopard head bow was destroyed in the war, if there is a secondary bow and arrow, it can shoot the bandits a hundred steps away, and his flying stone only has a range of thirty steps.

At this time, the shopkeeper suddenly said: "We have a pair of bows and arrows in our shop!" ”

Li Yanqing was overjoyed, "Where are the bows and arrows?" ”

The shopkeeper hurriedly said to a fellow: "Go and bring the bow and arrows in my room, in the camphor wood box in the corner of the wall, in the wooden box, and there seem to be two pots of arrows under the bed, also bring them together." ”

The guy was a little scared, Li Yanqing said to Yang Liang, "You go with him!" ”

Yang Liang grabbed the guy, "Follow me!" ”

The two of them hurried out the door.