In the middle of the night, it is said that the sky in the middle of the moon should be bright and starry, but this snowy winter day seems to have accumulated all the grievances, the wind is dashing, the ice particles are scattered, the white snow on the ground and the blue-black bricks and tiles appear more and more mottled, and in the dim light, the old city of Xingzhou is a little more desolate and decayed.

Because of the defense between the horses, kings, and Cao families in Xingzhou City, at night, in addition to the defense of each section on the city wall, there are no patrolling soldiers in the city to guard, so at this time, except for a certain section of the city wall, there are still standing soldiers walking back and forth under the firelight, the city can be said to be pitch black, occasionally a few points of light flashing, but it is just a servant who is busy with chores at night.

Quietly, as if it were not like the world.

A few sneaky figures shuttled through the streets and alleys of the south of the city, occasionally crouching down, burying something in the corner, and then gesturing to each other a few times, and creeping on.

There are not many of them, scattered throughout the dark city, and no one can notice them like rats stealing at night.

As time passed, their figures slowly converged, three in groups, five in groups of the Ma family's treasury and the horse farm in the city.

"Light under the soles of the feet, neat hands and feet!" After whispering to a few people behind him, Min Wenhou shrank in the shadows, his eyes staring at the gap in the high wall not far away, where a figure hurriedly flashed, "Jin Hub, hurry up, how is it inside?" ”

The figure called the golden hub who came out of the gap ran over, squatted down close to Min Wenhou's side, paused for a while, and then replied a little breathlessly: "Brother Monkey, the weather is too cold, the bastards inside are all shrunk in the house, and they didn't come out at all, I tied the jar with medicine to the door, their granary is very simple, only a thin wooden plank, there are two or three small jars smashed on it, as long as the fire is strong enough, it can be burned through in a few breaths......"

After listening to the report of his subordinates, Min Wenhou sniffed, forcibly held back the feeling of sneezing, and said viciously: "Well done!" But, Golden Hub, how much pepper did you brat sprinkle on you? Smoke me to death! ”

"Hey, hey!" Jin Hub chuckled a few times in a low voice, "Brother Monkey, if you don't spread it, no one will come out there, but there are a lot of long-haired green mastiffs scurrying around, I don't want to be targeted by them." ”

"Donkey ball ball...... Min Wenhou cursed, turned his head and beckoned to the people behind him, "Let's start preparing, it is estimated that there will be two hours before the sky is bright, eighteen, send a signal to the horse farm!" ”

The one who is called Eighteen is Cui Shibalang, who has been in the scout team since Shirvan, and this slick boy has become much more alert now. He didn't reply, he left his two hands free, deliberately flicked his sleeves, and slapped his hands a few times in a row irregularly, the sound of "poof" sounded, and then the mouth learned the hoarse "meow" of the wild cat after suffering a loss, and in the silent night, the sound of stray wild cats fighting for food can be far away.

After a moment's pause, a slightly weaker, equally hoarse wildcat meow came from a distance.

"Hey, it seems that the old boy of Wumaiti is ready......" Min Wenhou smiled lowly, "Eighteen, untie your backpack and take out the jar, Meng Bo has the best arm strength, staring at the wooden door of the warehouse, the golden hub and eighteen respectively find the firewood stack over there, ready to start, pay attention, run quickly after throwing, there are other places!" ”

"Great!" Several people all drank in unison, and their men were not idle, and took out fist-sized clay pots of fire oil from Eighteen's backpack, and scattered them left and right, and then with a few shakes of the fire sickle, the oil pots were set on fire, and without the need to forgive slogans, these things began to roar towards their destination......

In an instant, several flashing arcs of fire were thrown across the night sky, then there was a crackling and crisp sound, followed by several more arcs of firelight, and suddenly, one after another dog barked one after another, and the night sky suddenly began to light up, and a few heavy and rapid squeaks of the door panel were pushed open, and then ...... Suddenly a large flame burst into flames that lit up almost half of the space outside the warehouse, and a continuous scream came to mind, and then cries for help, curses, and thunderbolts rang out with the sound of chaotic footsteps......

A little farther on the other side, the horse family's horse farm in the city, was more lively than this one, and the voices of people could not be heard in the distance, but the neighing of horses and the sound of anxious running kicks began to spread throughout the night's silence......

After throwing the last jar in his hand, Min Wenhou looked around, and found that everyone had become empty-handed, and the two of them also pulled out the short knives that were obliquely inserted at their waists, and the snowy blade turned into a magnificent bright line under the reflection of the firelight, much brighter than the white snow on the ground.

It's so conspicuous!

"Bastard, put the knife away!" Min Wenhou hurriedly shouted, "Hurry up, clean up your body neatly, and withdraw!" ”

It's just that before he finished shouting, no one on the side of Jin Hub, Eighteen, and Meng Di replied at all, put away the knife and backpack and slipped away, and he had to curse in his heart to follow behind.

They ran cleanly, and the warehouse of the Ma family behind them was unlucky. The bottom of the granary is made of bricks and stones, the upper part is mostly half of the wooden perforated structure in order to dissipate moisture and dust, and the top is covered with green tiles, and the entrance gate at the bottom is poured with fire oil and burned through, the whole warehouse becomes a large stove, and the perforation above becomes a chimney in disguise.

The people guarding the warehouse are very unlucky, the door is placed in the stumbling white phosphorus ignition of the fire pot, this thing is different from the small canister thrown, it is a deflagration type, the oil and gas stuffed in the jar is ignited by the deflagrated white phosphorus, the consequence is only one, pottery shards and oil droplets splashed everywhere, with the spark of oil splashed on the person, only by the sand to isolate the air can be extinguished, but the people of this era do not understand this at all, the ground is full of snow, and the night watchman wears a lot of fur leather robes, and the result is a series of coincidences together, And so the tragedy begins......

The unlucky ghosts who run around or roll on the spot covered in burning oil, the implicated people who desperately try to put out the fire but are stuck to their bodies by the flames, the so-called clever ghosts who only know that they are scurrying around looking for the perpetrators, and they are mindless and stand there in panic and shouting for help...... Coupled with the green mastiff who was frightened by the flames and barked desperately, what a mess.

On the other side, even more so than the barnhouse, the horses and camels in the horse farm had completely bombed the camp, and the four-legged cattle, frightened by the projectiles, had kicked the fence and began to scurry around the streets of Xingzhou City.

By the time the Ma family woke up from their sleep and drove out of the room, the flames in their barn had risen to the highest, illuminating half of the city, and the horse farm on the other side could not be extinguished because of the riot of livestock, and there was a tendency to burn down the company's camp......

When Ma Zurong came out of the bedroom wearing a fur coat, he saw a night sky as bright as day, and if it weren't for the support of the guards, he would almost collapse to the ground - the direction of the fire was the direction of the granary, and the granary was the Ma family's public warehouse, which stored most of the stored grain.

He who knew the urgency of the matter best was finally very sober, and shouted almost hoarsely, "Xuanji, recruit someone to fight the fire!" I couldn't save it, so I pushed the surrounding houses to it! Fast! ”

"Second brother, Zu Ming, hurry! Defend the main house and scout around to prevent someone from sneaking up! ”

"Coyote, what are you still doing? Take people around to see where the fire started! Go and see what the Wang family and the Cao family are doing! ”

“……”

What to do? The drink made the somewhat stunned people busy, and he stood on the ground of the courtyard and asked himself deeply.

There is no doubt that there are only two possibilities that can achieve this level, one is the Wang family and the Cao family who are familiar with the situation in the city, and the other may be the ruthless newcomer in Lingzhou who can't figure out the details.

It's just that the Wang Cao family is counted as one side, and Lingzhou is counted as the other side, and neither of these two enemies can afford to provoke the current Ma family.

The most important thing is, how can you survive this winter without food? Not to mention the ruthless man who sneaked up on Lingzhou to the south, there was nothing to eat, and the mobilization of soldiers planned by the day immediately became impossible, and the small tribes south of Xingzhou were all protected by the other party, so there was no need to expect to grab food from the small tribes at all.

So what's the solution?

Snatching from the minions of the North or the East? Trading from Zhao Song's side?

The former is impossible, because this land is still ruled by the party, and the Ma family is only one of the small and medium tribes, if you don't want to exterminate the clan, then you need to be honest, as for the latter? There is no need to worry about the cost, but it is too far away, and it will take at least a month to go to the nearest field in the east, and if all the grain in the warehouse is burned, the remaining food can support everyone in the Ma family for half a month at most, so ...... That's impossible.

If it wasn't winter, you could go hunting in the pastures, or go west to fight against the Guiyi or Uighurs, and in any case, catching hares would keep your people from starving.

But, most crucially, it's winter when snow keeps falling.

With a gloomy face, Ma Zurong stood alone in the open field surrounded by busy crowds, cursing the damned arsonist in his heart, cursing this damn winter.

He couldn't guess who was in charge of such a thing, but his vague intuition told him that it was the Lingzhou people who acted strangely the afternoon before yesterday to do it, but he knew that if it was really the Lingzhou people who did it, it could only prove that the Lingzhou people were powerful beyond his imagination, and they were the kind he couldn't provoke.

I can't help but say that Ma Zurong is worthy of being called the head wolf of the Ma family, and in a short period of time, he figured everything out.

After thinking for a long time, Ma Zurong, who had a knife face, raised his head sharply and shouted at the attendants left and right: "Only the Wang family and the Cao family know the location of our granary best, they want to squeeze us out of Xingzhou City!" Summon, go and rob the granaries of the Wang family and the Cao family, otherwise everyone will starve to death! Just go! ”

The Ma family members whose eyes were a little red all heard these words, and in addition to those who were still busy fighting the fire, the chaotic crowd began to flock to the north of Xingzhou City.

This night, which was originally snowy and silent, was completely chaotic.

……………………………………………………………………………………

P.S. It seems that if you don't yell a few times, it will be difficult to see anyone giving feedback. I don't know if anyone likes such a plot, it feels like a one-man show. I don't like this, I hope to see the perception of book friends, thank you!