More than 300 elite Jiaoshan Yellow Turbans were shot dead in one attack, and the morale was extremely low after the hasty retreat.

Qu Shuai Zhai Mian and several deputies were furious, but more than 2,000 Zhushan villagers across the river five or six zhang wide occupied a favorable terrain, and they had no less than 300 strong bows and crossbows.

What made Zhai Mian and others even more frustrated was that thousands of acres of ground in front of the battle position were bare and uncovered, the west was a steep mountain covered with forests, and the east was an endless sea, and there was no chance to take advantage of the night to sneak attack, not to mention that they came hurriedly over the mountains, and the food supplies they carried were exhausted, and there were a lot of money and valuable silk utensils looted from Wangjiazhai, and there were more than 30 cattle and horses. Unable to defeat the thousands of Zhushan villagers who were stubbornly defending across the river, the two thousand brothers would starve to death unless they returned to the old nest in Jiaoshan as soon as possible.

After weighing it repeatedly, Zhai Mian, who had made up his mind to preserve his strength, told all the leaders that he would not be able to take Zhushan Village, which was crowded for a while, and because of the lack of food and grass, and low morale, it was impossible to launch another large-scale attack before dark, so it was the best policy to retreat decisively and wait for the next day, and he must not stay too long in this dead place where there is only one mountain road leading to the outside world by the mountains and the sea, otherwise once the officers and soldiers of Xiahe City come to help, it will not be a matter of losing three or five hundred people.

After hearing this, the big and small leaders who were originally indignant and asked to attack again immediately understood that their situation was not as optimistic as they had estimated, and in the face of the strong resistance of the people of Zhushan Village, even if they launched another strong attack, they had little chance of winning.

After a moment of silence, the leaders who grabbed a lot of money and exquisite pottery gave up their previous ideas, expressed their obedience to the orders of the marshal, and finally shouted out the cruel words of "It is not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years".

With Qu Shuai Zhai Mian's order, the two thousand yellow turban thieves immediately moved, carrying the stolen grain, cloth, thousands of exquisite pottery and two precious pottery tripods, pulling more than 30 cattle and horses to the foot of the mountain, retreating along the winding and steep road, leading the two leaders behind the palace to suffer heavy losses.

At dusk, Liu Cun led nine brothers who were covered in blood and physically and mentally exhausted to rush back to the village, and after dismounting, Liu Cun didn't care about his wife and children at home and more than 20 apprentices, and went straight to the village to learn from Mengxue, respectfully and respectfully to Mr. Mengxue, Gongsun Pei, Huo Jian, Zhao Rong, Qin Zhi, Bao Laosan and other brothers who stood up and led the villagers to protect their homes at the time of crisis.

Gongsun Pei and others hurriedly returned the salute, Liu Cun held Gongsun Pei's hand and thanked him again, told what happened to his group of eighteen people, and finally endured his grief and anger and told everyone:

"The two brothers sent by your gentlemen to send me a letter are still in Xiahe City, and I asked them to report to the county government the disaster of thousands of Yellow Turban thieves slaughtering villagers and burning Wangjiazhai, and asked to send officers and soldiers to help quickly, but in the current situation, I am afraid that the county adults are powerless, in the past few days, tens of thousands of Qingzhou displaced people have continuously gathered in Xiahe, and the city and outside the city are chaotic, and the slightest carelessness may lead to a popular uprising, and the two thousand soldiers temporarily recruited by the county governor Dong are very difficult to deal with, and I am afraid that they will not be able to divide troops to help. It's up to us. ”

Everyone had already guessed this ending, so there was no surprise, and now the thieves had retreated, and there would be no danger in the short term, so everyone behaved very calmly.

Huo Jian thought about it for a moment, and quietly pulled Gongsun Pei for a moment.

Gongsun Pei nodded, and reported the confession of the two injured bandit leaders to Liu Cun in detail: "There is something that needs to be considered by the master, according to the confession of the two bandit leaders who were injured and did not have time to escape, five days ago, their Qu Shuai Zhai Mian obtained 5,000 grains and five stones of sea salt from Taolin Township, south of Jiaoshan, these rice grains and sea salt were given by a group of landlords and rich gentry in Taolin Township, not by coercion and blackmail. ”

"Taolin Township?" Liu Cun stood up and turned to look at Wang Qi, who was also shocked.

Wang Qi took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the anger that rose in his heart: "Sure enough, it's the Xu family!" Most of the land in Taolin Township belongs to the Xu family, and the Qiangfu, Xiangzuo, and Pavilion Chief are all the children of the Xu family's side branches, and even Xu Jin, who resigned from the post of postal supervisor in the north of the Langya Kingdom last month and moved his family to Yangzhou, is also from the Taolin Xu family! ”

Liu Cun looked up to the sky and sighed: "I should have thought of this thief-hearted Xu Haoqiang!" I thought that after we united with the wealthy Mi family, the Xu family, which had been struggling with each other, would be more restrained, but now it seems that I was careless! If the hidden danger had been eliminated earlier, so many brothers would not have been killed......"

"Lord, do not condemn yourself!"

"It's not the Lord's fault!"

Gongsun Pei, Huo Jian and others hurriedly stepped forward to explain, Qin Zhi, Lu Jiu and others repeatedly said that it was their fault and failed to find out the situation in time, and Wang Qi also took Liu Cun's hand and took the responsibility on himself.

Liu Cun waved his hand again and again, endured his shame and anger, and turned to Gongsun Pei and others to clasp his fists and salute: "Gentlemen, you have worked hard, let's rest for the time being, there are the third and hundreds of brothers patrolling and guarding, and the thieves will not dare to come again in a short time, gentlemen, rest assured to go home to accompany your family, I will give an explanation to my father, fellow villagers and dead brothers as soon as possible!" ”

After Liu Cun finished speaking, he left, Wang Qi, Lu Jiu, Bao Laosan and others hurriedly chased out, and soon followed Liu Cun on the horse and went to Fenghuanggang in the north.

The crowd gradually dispersed, only Gongsun Pei, Huo Jian and Zhao Rong were left in the wide school, the three of them looked at each other and did not speak for a long time, and finally Zhao Rong stood up and poured a cup of tea for everyone, and after sitting down, he said thoughtfully: "I'm afraid it's lively tonight." ”

Gongsun Pei took a sip of tea, smiled and whispered, "No matter how lively it is, you can't see it." ”

Zhao Rong smiled, and Huo Jian, who was still in the dark, asked curiously, "What did the two virtuous brothers say?" ”

Gongsun Pei slowly pushed the beautifully made pottery cup in front of Huo Jian: "If you still don't understand, just look at this thing, this is a carved diamond pottery cup from the hands of the master, and it can be easily sold for five thousand yuan when you get it outside!" ”

Huo Jian suddenly realized: "The two of you mean that the Lord has already determined that the Xu family is the culprit behind the scenes?" ”

Gongsun Pei nodded: "From the robbery of the caravan to the invasion of thieves, this interlocking poisonous plan is by no means something that those Yellow Turban thieves who do not learn and have no skills can come up with, just a little scrutiny, it can confirm our previous speculation, alas! As the head of Langya's Haoqiang, the Xu family is indeed too greedy, the means are too despicable, bullying our young lord is humble, has no foundation, and under the lust for profit, he regards the lives of my three thousand suffering villagers as grass mustard, I don't know if they ever thought of the anger of the puppeteer, and they will kill themselves if they do more injustice! ”

Huo Jian was shocked: "So, the Lord is going to attack the Xu family?" ”

"Hey, hey! Didn't Brother Ziyi just now see that although the Lord was full of grief and indignation, his eyes were already red and bruised? Based on what the Lord has done over the past few months, what is there he that he does not dare to do in anger? He even did things such as making strong crossbows and forging knives and guns on a large scale, and in order to avenge the unjust death of dozens of brothers, what did he do if he fought back and killed a few people who were plotting behind him? ”

After Zhao Rong finished speaking, he put down the exquisite pottery cup in his hand, turned the wide table, and came to Gongsun Pei and Huo Jian with a smile and sat down: "If there is chaos today, the four counties in the north of Langya Country in the remote area have been in ruins, and nearly half of the area is still occupied by groups of Yellow Turban Bandits, including the sudden attack of the Jiaoshan Yellow Turban Bandits, and the Jiaoshan in the north is a hundred miles away from Xiahe City where the displaced people gather in the south. If our young lord doesn't seize this fleeting opportunity to do something, maybe the little brother will really re-evaluate him, haha! ”

Huo Jian was shocked, and after a little consideration, he stood up and said goodbye: "The two of you sit less, such a big thing must be cautious, otherwise it will bring countless troubles, I have to go and see it to rest assured!" ”

Looking at Huo Jian's tall figure leaving in a hurry, Gongsun Pei thought for a while and turned to Zhao Rong: "Does Brother Yande plan to leave this remote place with his family once the situation is settled?" ”

"This, hey, hey......"

Zhao Rong knew that he couldn't hide anything from the far-sighted but suffering hermit in front of him, so he smiled and asked, "Has Brother Botao made up his mind to die here?" ”

Gongsun Pei showed a faint smile: "What's wrong with this place?" Surrounded by mountains and seas, picturesque scenery, people's minds, harmony and friendship, only need to work hard for a year and a half, it must be a paradise with the fragrance of fishing rice, haha! ”

Zhao Rong smiled again, stroked his long beard and asked again: "What Brother Bo Tao said just now doesn't seem to have revealed his true meaning, right?" ”

Gongsun Pei's face was calm: "I'm afraid Brother Yande is asking knowingly, right?" I don't know how Brother Yande felt about Brother Ziyi's hasty departure? Others may not know Huo Ziyi's details, but you and I know it well, and there are probably not many people in the world who can make him, a descendant of the Mo family who entered the world to practice, admire, right? Ha ha! ”

The calm smile on Zhao Rong's face gradually disappeared, and he couldn't help but sigh after a moment of silence: "Liu Zijian is indeed a rare genius in the world!" Open pottery kilns, make beautiful utensils, repair salt pans, dry sea salt, its magic skills, breathtaking, even the children of the Mo family with unique skills are willing to bow to the wind, and then humbly ask for advice, willing to be driven by it and willing, he also in just a few months to do more and more, gather hundreds of craftsmen, gather a huge amount of wealth; What is rare is that he is determined to forge ahead, such as building workshops, revitalizing education, repairing wharves, building sea ships, showing his lofty ambitions everywhere, and what is even more rare is that he is generous and benevolent, sincere and fraternal, and has spent huge sums of money again and again to buy grain to help the displaced people, not to mention for the time being, but only to spend a huge amount of money to settle down 3,000 displaced people and then return all the deeds of selling themselves, build houses and farm tools for all the victims, and then generously donate more than 20,000 acres of land to 3,000 displaced people, you can see his incomparable bearing and noble character. It is indeed worthy of the respect and follow-up of thousands of people! ”

Gongsun Pei nodded frequently: "In that case, why can't Brother Yande make a decision?" Do you feel that at this time of chaos in the world, you have failed to live up to your talent and lofty ambitions? ”

"This ......"

Zhao Rong was told by Gongsun Pei, and he was embarrassed for a while, and he didn't know how to answer.

At this moment, Huo Jian, who had left in a hurry just now, came back in a hurry, and after coming in, he picked up the cold tea on the table and drank a few big sips, then put down the teacup and took a long breath, facing Gongsun Pei and Zhao Rongyou, who were full of anticipation, and said: "The Lord has rushed to Xiahe City, and only took thirty elites with him. ”

Zhao Rong was taken aback: "How can this work?" Didn't he know that the Xu family alone had as many as a thousand nursing homes? ”

Huo Jian sighed again, shook his head and stopped talking, obviously he persuaded Liu Cun, but his opinion could not be adopted by Liu Cun.

Gongsun Pei was slightly taken aback and then pondered, and after a while, he stood up with a smile: "Don't you two think that it will be more convenient to move if there are fewer people?" Rest assured to go back to sleep, maybe after dawn, our young Lord will appear in front of everyone's eyes, haha! ”

Huo Jian and Zhao Rong looked at each other, and quickly understood the meaning of Gongsun Pei's words, and while worried, they were full of expectations for the outcome of Liu Cun's trip.

**********

ps: Recommend and collect, no one is missing, please!