Two hundred miles west of Ningwu Pass of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, along the broken wall of the Inner Great Wall, there is a pass called Yajiao Fort, built on the edge of Luliang Mountain, the castle is not big, but a small earth fort rammed with loess on all sides, there are seven fire road piers along the mountain around, combined into a perfect defensive position. The tranquil Guan River flows under the ancient castle and winds its way westward, eventually emptying into the Yellow River.

The inner Great Wall is renovated and rebuilt on the basis of the Great Wall of Zhao in the Warring States Period in the Chengzu period, the loess is mixed with glutinous rice and other things rammed, from a distance, the yellow long wall and the pillbox on the yellow soil ridge are almost integrated with the mountain, grand and magnificent, how many migrant workers' blood and sweat have created this project to resist the grassland nomads, under each section of the earthen wall, there are countless corpses of the people who built the wall at the beginning.

Yajiao Fort is the intersection of the outer Great Wall and the inner Great Wall, so there is a mountain named Yajiao Mountain, and the castle is called Yajiao Fort. The Ming court stationed a thousand households here, which was jointly guarded by Datong Town and Shanxi Town. The stretching inner Great Wall arrives here, combined with the outer Great Wall, and looks down from the sky, like three yellow lines concentrated in one place, one to the north, extending to Xuanfu; one to the west, running far away to Yansui; And the last one, zigzag to the south, is the inner Great Wall.

In the fourth year of the Yongli period of the Southern Ming Dynasty, the thousand households here have long been abandoned, because of disrepair, the earthen wall is full of pits, and the holes of the big head can be seen everywhere, and some places even collapse into mouths. The earthen fort was overgrown with weeds, the houses were dilapidated, the thatch on the roof was blown away by the strong wind, and the crooked beams were empty; The dung of sheep and horses was piled all over the ground, and the fort was empty, and even the huge flagpole erected in the middle of the earthen fort was broken into two, and the wooden bucket fell to the ground.

All indications are that this pass, which the Mongols once regarded as a moat, has become a smooth road, and the footprints of some men and horses and the ruts of carts loom in and out of the crooked city gates, which proves this fact.

The wind blew, rolling up the dust.

Twenty miles away from Yajiao Fort, in the gravel dust, a group of black figures hugged the cart, along the desolate dirt road, slowly walking towards Yajiao Fort.

From a distance, there are not many figures, but there are about a hundred people, holding more than a dozen carts, with sacks of goods tied to them, among which there are thirty or forty big men with sturdy figures, carrying guns and knives, and they are very eye-catching in the crowd.

However, the caravan did not take this path.

Don't take the avenue, but the official pass, you can naturally evade a huge amount of taxes, and you can also avoid the greedy appetite that the soldiers can never fill, don't underestimate this expenditure, it is even higher than the profit of a long trip.

But the trail naturally has the danger of the trail, wild beasts, ringing horses, bandits, local snakes of the people and thieves, and so on, constituting all kinds of dangers of the smuggling trade, one is not careful, it will kill people, luck is allowed, and it is common for a team of people to die allow.

Therefore, the big family or good businessman, there is no complete certainty, will not risk stealing the trail, although Ningwuguan and Yanmen Pass are ruthless, but it is better than safety, the picture is a stable word, so in the past two years, although Yajiaobao has opened a hole here, it is bandits, and ordinary people dare not go.

And this group of people happens to be a group of bandits.

Men of thirty or forty people, carrying twice their number, men and women, old and young, were bundled into twisted flowers, crying and crying and sorrowful, ragged and disgruntled, staggering forward in the dust, and on the wheelbarrows, there was a mess of everything, iron pots and porcelain bowls, clothes, shoes and hats, and even a cupboard that looked a little exquisite.

The leader, called Meng Lao Er, is a small flag officer of Wei Yuanwei in Datong Town, Datong Town, Jiang Huang ran out of this guy anyway, and there was nowhere to go left and right, relying on some martial arts to gather a group of the same stragglers, and the grass fell in the remaining veins of Luliang Mountain, and lived a life of adding blood to the knife edge.

This trip was quite rewarding.

"Big brother, there are a lot of pigs in this vote, look at those girls, although they have smeared the ashes of the pot, they can still see a little eyebrows, wash and wash the dripping water, the Mongolians must rush to ask for it!" A strong man approached Meng Laoer's side and said with a blushing face: "After selling for a good price, we may have a good life for a few days!" ”

Meng Lao Er had a yellow skin, rode on a mule, carried a long-handled knife under him, touched a handful of beard on the side of his mouth and smiled reservedly: "Hehe, I want to be lazy!" After doing this ticket, I have to make a few more big trips, accumulate grain inventory in the cottage, and prepare more to feel at ease. The Tartars and the Ming army are fighting in the past few days, and the ghost knows if it will spread to this side, in case it comes, we still have to run, and when there is no stock, what will our brothers eat and drink? ”

The bandit touched his head and thought for a long time "hehe" and smiled: "It's still the eldest brother who thinks thoughtfully!" ”

"Of course, how can you be your big brother?" Meng Lao Er said: "Still not optimistic about pigs? Run away, Lao Tzu will beat you to death! ”

The bandit went in a hurry, and another thin bandit came up again, with a horse's face and a smile, and said flatteringly: "Big brother, there are fewer and fewer Zhuangzi in this vicinity, and it is difficult for people to find one within a hundred miles, and it is more and more difficult to catch meat pigs and transport them to the Mongols to sell." According to the small one, there have been more caravans taking this road recently, and I heard that a few days ago, the people of the flying eagle on the Big Worm Ridge also made a big ticket, and they grabbed more than a dozen truckloads of goods, and they went big! There is no one left and right in this Yajiao Fort, so it is better for us to occupy it, be a general who guards the customs, collect the customs fees, and save effort and oil and water, why not? ”

Meng Lao Er glanced at him, and a big mouth twitched over, making the thin monk Zhanger confused, and scolded in his mouth: "Lao Tzu sucked you to death a lard-covered idiot!" The land in Yajiao Fort is a good land, but can you and I occupy it? How many of us are there? It's only thirty or forty people! The gang of debris on the Great Worm Ridge can destroy us, and they don't dare to occupy it, so how dare we go? ”

The thin man covered his face, Venus popped around, and said, "Big, big brother, I just said ......"

Meng Lao Er slapped over with another big mouth, but the thin man stood a little open, didn't fan, and almost flashed his waist, so he scolded again: "Why are you standing so far away?" Come here! ”

The thin man blinked his eyes and refused to go over, but was secretly pushed by the other bandits laughing and staggered over, Meng Lao Er slapped him back, and taught him a lesson: "Yajiao Fort is a good place, everyone can see it, why doesn't anyone dare to go?" Well? Just because it's so good, every time the Mongols enter the customs, you dare to the to collect the Mongols' taxes? Well? You don't want a head anymore? ”

The thin man was completely beaten and scolded, and shrunk his neck to hide to the side, and a group of bandits persuaded: "Big brother, big brother, rest your anger, stop being angry, Li Dazi has a lard brain, don't be like him." ”

Meng Lao Er was still scolding, but the thin man Li Da Nephew hid on the tail of the team, far away, and didn't dare to reply, trying to please the boss, but was slapped with two big ears and patted on the horse's hooves. The more I thought about it, the more angry I became, the more I thought about it, the more aggrieved I became, I couldn't get it out of my chest in one breath, and I didn't dare to go to others with a black face, and when I looked up, I saw several women dragging on the tail of the team, and I immediately found the object of venting.

"Damn, why are you walking so slowly? Haven't you been opened by a man yet? Li Dazi jumped over, pulled out the sheathed knife and hit the head and face, watching several women fall to the ground and scream, their black faces gradually turned red, and their excited expressions were revealed from their hideous expressions like a timid and greedy wolf.

A few bandits nearby pointed at him and said with a smile: "Mr. Li is looking for a pig to be angry again." ”

He also shouted at him: "Be careful! If you break the pig, you can't sell it at a good price, and the boss will smoke you again! ”

Li Dazi gritted his teeth and snorted, "Is the fight bad?" It's all fucking pretended, Lao Tzu stomped his feet, this gang of bastards crawled faster than rats!"

As if to confirm that he was right, Li Dazi pulled the belt of his trousers, twisted his waist violently, lifted his big feet, took a breath, and stomped on the ground.

Several bandits laughed and looked at him as if they were watching a play.

Feet hit the ground, stepping on a burst of dirt.

Several of the women who had been knocked to the ground were all discolored, and they were slightly startled, and they hurriedly got up, screamed, and stumbled and ran forward in spite of the ropes that bound them.

Li Da was happy, and then strangely found that the bandits who were laughing at him nearby also turned around and ran.

The whole team was running, and the bandits ran wildly, not even the pigs and the carts, because they were in a hurry, and knocked over several cars, and the bits and pieces fell to the ground.

And those so-called pigs, that is, the people to be sold, you pull me and I pull you into a string of ropes tied to each other, crying and screaming, but they can't run, and some smart ones start to jump into the ditch by the roadside.

It's like he's hiding from something terrible.

Li Dazi kept stepping on the ground, his expression was sluggish, he couldn't have imagined that the kick he stepped on casually had such a big effect, yes, this kick was very hard, but he had stomped his foot countless times in the past, and he had never seen such a big battle.

The ground was trembling, and tiny stones were trembling among the loess with a visible amplitude, jumping, trying to fly, and with the wind in their ears, they could hear a faint sound in the distance behind them.

It seems to be thundering.

No, this rain has just stopped, and it's going to rain again?

Li Dazi turned around and saw a black cloud, pressing down from the sky.

His pupils dilated instantly, and he immediately saw that it was not his mother's cloud, it was a cavalry, after several years of fighting between Luliang Mountain and the Mongols!

The black-pressed cavalry was rushing towards this side like a dark cloud, even if it was far away, the tremor from the ground could already make Li Dazi's feet numb.

The paralysis went all the way up from the center of the foot, trembled between the legs, and then rushed straight to the heart, so that Li Dazi almost didn't lift it in one breath.

"Mongolian, Mongolian, Mongolian~~!" In the heart-rending scream, Li Dazi turned around and ran, tripped on the ground in a hurry, fell, got up and didn't even have time to wipe the sticky soil, and ran again.

The black clouds behind him were overwhelming, like the tide of the loess, surging.

In the Kuroshio, Bental Khan, a branch of the Zasaktu branch of the Khalkha tribe of Mongolia, sat upright on his horse, and his handsome heroic posture was not dimmed by the flying loess, on the contrary, a kind of excitement because of the imminent challenge and great enemy jumped on his face.

The war horse swept over, like a strong wind blowing through, stirring up smoke and dust that soared into the sky.

(End of chapter)