The morning light rose, the sky gradually brightened, and the eighteen knights who traveled two hundred miles in one night appeared at the southern foot of the mountains in the west of Changping County.

"Phew—"

With Lu Jiu's long call, the eighteen horsemen quickly slowed down and quickly stopped at the edge of the stream at the turn of the official road.

Lu Jiufei, who was familiar with the terrain and was experienced, dismounted, came to the front of Liu Cun, who was covered in dust and grinning teeth, and helped Liu Cun, who was wearing out his thighs and suffering from the misery: "Lord, this place is less than five miles away from the incident area, we have to let the horses that have been running all night rest, let the horses drink enough water, and then feed the horses, otherwise it will be unbearable." ”

Liu Cun, who clearly saw that the horses had reached the end of the crossbow, was as good as a stream, untied the ring head long knife at his waist, hurriedly wiped off the sweat and dirt on his face, and raised his head to look at the endless hills and mountains in front of him: "This place is full of undulating mountains and dense forests, I'm afraid there is more than a radius of fifty miles, right?" ”

"Almost like this, the road in the mountain is quite smooth, and after walking through this hill for more than ten miles, you can see the plain on the east bank of Wenshui." After Lu Jiu finished speaking, he raised his head and drank half of the water in his skin before he let out a sigh.

After finishing up, Wang Qi and Qin Yi gathered around, standing beside Liu Cun while drinking water, while looking at the verdant and reckless mountains in front of them.

Liu Cun thought for a while, turned to Wang Qi and whispered: "Big brother, along the way, I always feel that something seems wrong, but I don't know what the problem is?" Alas...... Forget it, let's talk about the present, if the bandits who occupy this place have a sentry, I'm afraid we will be discovered before we reach the place of the incident. ”

Wang Qi nodded silently: "I also have such worries, there is such an official road to the north ahead, and there are either jungle-dense hills on both sides, or lush mountains, if the bandits set up an ambush in advance, I am afraid it will be difficult for us to escape." ”

"Let the little one go ahead and explore the way!" Qin Yi, who didn't say much, took the initiative to ask.

Before Liu Cun and Wang Qi had time to discuss, Lu Jiu strode forward: "Let me take a brother with me, I am familiar with this place, and my horse has walked this road many times, if there is a wind and grass, it can quickly retreat." ”

Liu Cun looked at the still hazy mountains in front of him again, and made a decision after thinking for a moment: "Don't fight, wait for the horsepower to recover and go in together, there should be no danger in moving quickly, as long as you reach the area where the caravan was robbed, you can see a lot of things, at that time, adapt to the situation, if the bandits still talk about morality, they will definitely promise us to redeem the surviving brothers with money." ”

The brothers deliberated for a moment, and finally agreed with Liu Cun's decision, and soon walked to the horses drinking by the stream by the roadside, untied the small bags of concentrate on their horses, and began to feed the horses.

Half an hour passed, the horses that had eaten the essence and drank enough water basically recovered their strength, and Liu Cun, who had already sorted out their weapons and set a plan for advancing and retreating, turned over and got on the horse, and gradually increased the speed of the horse at a trot, and entered the depths of the mountains without hurrying.

The sound of horses' hooves shattered the silence between heaven and earth, and hundreds of birds fluttered their wings from the dense forest with screams.

The five-mile distance was completed in a blink of an eye, and after the eighteen horsemen rushed through the corner, Lu Jiu, who was in the lead, raised his left arm to slow down, signaled that the problem was found in front of him, and then rushed to the open field where the carriage in front of him was overturned with blood, and then flew off the horse after looking around vigilantly, and walked to the two bloody corpses next to the grass and squatted down to check in a few steps.

Liu Cun and the others quickly rode over, and were shocked to find that there were many corpses of different shapes and broken axles scattered within a radius of ten zhang, and they knew that the caravan of more than 20 people was no longer alive.

The grief-stricken Wang Qi jumped off the horse, walked quickly to the familiar corpse in front of him and squatted down, gritting his teeth and slowly straightening the familiar head that had been cut off half of his neck by a sharp blade.

Angry and sad, Liu Cun turned over and dismounted, and just wanted to step forward to comfort Wang Qi for a few words, when he suddenly heard Lu Jiu's exclamation: "Get on the horse!" There's an ambush—"

Before the words fell, hundreds of thieves armed with bows and crossbows wrapped in yellow scarves poured out of the dense forests on both sides, howling and firing arrows and crossbows at Liu Cun and others in the encirclement.

Liu Cun, who was shocked, didn't have time to remind the brothers, so he suddenly jumped forward, and used his body to block three sharp arrows for Wang Qi, who was unable to react.

Seeing that nearly half of the brothers were hit by arrows one after another, Lu Jiu, who had already turned over and was hiding under the belly of the horse, roared angrily, and Qin Yi, who rushed on the other side, fought back with a riding bow in his hand, and after killing several thieves in a row, he threw away the riding bow and drew a long knife, and together with Lu Jiu and other brothers who hurriedly met, he killed the side and the front without fear of death, and stopped the dozens of thieves who rushed towards the lord Liu Cun and Wang Qi with their knives and guns in advance, and waved the long knife and slashed regardless of it.

Wang Qi, who came back to his senses, dodged another round of sharp arrows, dragged Liu Cun, who was embarrassed and got up, and eagerly asked how the injury was?

Liu Cun, who took out the long knife, didn't have time to explain, pushed Wang Qi away, turned around and killed the two thieves who tried to snatch the horses: "Big brother, get on the horse!" Kill it with all your strength to survive, hurry! ”

The two thieves who snatched the horses were stunned by Liu Cun who rushed quickly, and before they could react, Liu Cun's long knife broke through the wind, and with a "poof" slashed off half of his head, and went straight to the other side of the thief who hurriedly raised his knife to block.

The long knives slashed together and made a huge collision sound, the numb thief was shocked and took two steps back, Liu Cun, who was advancing at high speed, forced up again, and the long knife in his hand stabbed into the throat of the thief, and the unlucky thief was pierced before he could scream, and the blood sprayed Liu Cun was drenched all over his face.

Liu Cun didn't care about wiping the blood on his face, he quickly grabbed the saddle and turned over, and with a clamp between his legs, he rushed towards several thieves who were swinging spears and approaching Lu Jiu, roaring angrily and brandishing his long knife and slashing, killing two people in a row in a blink of an eye, and the remaining momentum suddenly crashed into the encirclement that was rushing towards Lu Jiu and the other seven brothers, and let go of his voice and shouted: "Hurry up, follow me and rush out-"

Wang Qi, who had snatched the spear in the rear and killed several people in a row, responded in a loud voice, turned his horse's head and rushed to Lu Jiu and Qin Yi and others who pulled the three injured brothers on their horses, and the spear that flew like the wind struggled to kill and disperse the dozens of thieves who surrounded him again, and braved the flying arrows to cover Lu Jiu and the others to evacuate from the horse, and quickly caught up with Liu Cun, who had fought a bloody road ahead, and rushed out of the ambush circle carefully arranged by hundreds of thieves and thieves.

Liu Cun and the others, covered in blood, escaped more than 20 miles in one go, and when they stopped, they found that there were only eight horses and eleven people left, and all of them were wounded, nearly half of the brothers had not yet taken off their arrows, and one of them was not only wounded all over his body, but also lost a right arm.

Liu Cun quickly dismounted, stepped forward to pick up the dying brother with the broken arm on Lu Jiu's horse, and put it on the ground to rescue him in a hurry, who knew that he had just tied the broken arm to stop the bleeding, and the brother in his arms had died because of excessive blood loss, his young face was full of pain, and his eyes that had lost their luster could not be closed for a long time.

Grief-stricken Liu Cun hugged the silent corpse in his arms, and under the painful tearful gaze of the brothers, he gritted his teeth and let out a beastly wail: "I'll fuck your ancestors—"

Wang Qi, who was still bleeding from his ragged shoulders and back, walked to Liu Cun and squatted down, pulled Liu Cun's hand away, picked up the dead brother and handed it to Qin Yi, and helped Liu Cun, whose eyes were red and his chest was heaving, to help him up: "Brother Xian, this revenge must be avenged, but you have to make a good calculation before taking revenge!" ”

Liu Cun, who calmed down, took a deep breath, looked around at the brothers around him who were not intact, squirmed several times in his throat, and said something unexpected to everyone:

"Today's encounter is far beyond my expectations, thinking about it, it seems that our every step is in the calculations of others, but I never believe that this remnant of the Yellow Turban has such an interlocking scheme, and after robbing and killing our Wangjiazhai caravan, they will set a trap and wait for us to throw ourselves into the net, they absolutely have no ability."

"The Lord means that there is someone else behind it?" The perceptive Lu Jiu hurriedly asked, and the brothers' eyes immediately widened.

Liu Cun nodded heavily: "On the way to the previous rush, I felt that something was wrong, and I thought about many possible things over and over again, according to common sense, after this group of Yellow Turban thieves who occupied the mountain was king, they robbed the caravan, and deliberately let two people go back to report the news, obviously to obtain greater benefits, there is no reason to kill all the brothers in the caravan that were detained, and there is no reason to set a trap and wait for us to fight to the death after we arrive, unless there is a common hatred, or kill us in exchange for greater benefits, otherwise it can't be explained!" ”

Wang Qi's eyebrows fluttered, and his tiger eyes flashed: "Isn't it for the caravan, but for us?" ”

Lu Jiu suddenly realized: "It must be, it must be!" I have debuted for more than ten years, followed Master throughout the Central Plains and the five states in the north and south, and have never encountered such a thief, what this thief did is not only immoral, but also contrary to common sense, thinking about what happened before and after, it is definitely a well-arranged trap, which must have an ulterior conspiracy! ”

Liu Cun's mind became clearer and clearer, and he took a deep breath and instructed the brothers: "No matter what, I believe that the truth will soon come out, let's bury the dead brothers for the time being, leave this dangerous place as soon as possible, and immediately recruit troops from the homeless people after returning, and then come back to take revenge!" I swear: I will kill all the yellow turban thieves, and leave no chickens and dogs behind, so as to comfort all the dead brothers! ”

Just as Liu Cun and the surviving brothers hurried back, more than 2,300 Jiaoshan yellow turbans had already followed the narrow mountain road where Liu Cun had fled to Wangjiazhai, crossed the Iron Mountain and quickly pounced on Wangjiazhai at the bottom of the mountain.

Wangjiazhai, which has increased to more than 70 households and more than 400 men, women and children, has lost its tranquility and laughter at this time due to the robbery of the caravan. Unbeknownst to them, more than 2,000 thieves had crossed the mountain col and were rushing at speed with impunity.

The first to find the abnormality was more than a dozen watchdog dogs in the village, the manic dog barking alarmed the more than 100 women and children who gathered outside the patriarch's house with children, and saw more than 2,000 fierce thieves armed with knives and guns rushing to pounce quickly, the women and children panicked and screamed repeatedly, so frightened that the men who gathered in the house to discuss major matters rushed out to check out.

"Oh my God......"

"The thieves are coming! The thieves are coming—"

The exclamations and cries rang out, and the more than 2,000 thieves who swarmed over the two-foot-high wall that had just been built by the river laughed fiercely, and rushed to the villagers who fled in all directions with their souls scattered, and in the blink of an eye, hundreds of men and children were slaughtered, dozens of young women were drowned in the wild laughter of the leader of the bandits, and groups of thieves rushed into the newly built houses with excitement and inexplicability, and the screams and wails came and went, echoing among the mountains for a long time.

In the messy grove in the south of the village, the usually taciturn Fourth Uncle Wang escaped the sight of the thieves who were crazy about looting, killing and setting fire, and escaped from the woods and crossed the pontoon bridge with his seven-year-old son in one hand and the other, and hurriedly pushed his seven-year-old son onto the horse: "Son, don't care about anything, don't look back, run south along the river, and immediately go south when you get to the beach, hurry up to your Uncle Qizi and Uncle Liu's Zhushan Village to report the news!" ”

"Dad, I'm not leaving, my mother is still at home!" With tears on his face, the seven-year-old still stubbornly looked at the smoky village, only to find several thieves screaming and chasing after him through the woods.

The anxious Fourth Uncle Wang couldn't help but give his son a slap, grabbed the reins and stuffed them into his son's hand, and then swung out a palm and hit the horse's buttocks, and the frightened horse immediately galloped southward, so frightened that the child on the horseback hurriedly leaned down, grabbed the horse's mane and cried endlessly, and fell crookedly and fell to the ground with the horse speeding away.

Several thieves who chased to the river were annoyed when they saw the precious horses fleeing with a child, and the two thieves scolded and untied their longbows, and fired arrows continuously across the river more than ten zhang wide, one of which accurately pierced into the vest of Uncle Wang, who stumbled and looked at the child from afar.

Fourth Uncle Wang's thin body was suddenly stunned, and after kneeling softly, he was hit by two arrows, and his desperately raised head slowly drooped, but he still faced the direction of his son's escape for a long time.

Located at the highest point of the village, the patriarch's courtyard was already full of corpses, and the sturdy Yellow Turban Qu Shuai Zhai Mian, who was about thirty years old, raised his horsewhip in annoyance, pointed to the people and horses who fled farther and farther away from the sea, and the more than ten big and small leaders around him were also annoyed by the appearance of fish that slipped through the net.

Zhai Mian, who was full of beard, turned around and looked at the burning pottery workshop and piles of firewood and grass in the river bay below, listening to the constant cries of women and the laughter of his brothers, and couldn't help but be angry again: "Dog! Lao Tzu's words were not listened to, as soon as this fire burned, our whereabouts were immediately exposed, and Zhushan Village, ten miles to the south, would definitely be alert, how would this battle be fought? ”

The big and small leaders around looked at each other, and Wu Jian, who was the deputy marshal, stepped forward: "Great marshal, most of the brothers have defected from different places, and it will be really difficult to use the military discipline of the past for a while, according to the subordinates, immediately gather the brothers to kill Zhushan in the south, even if there are only more than 3,000 weak homeless people, Zhushan Village, even if it is prepared, it will definitely not be able to stop the attack of my more than 2,000 brothers like wolves and tigers!" ”

Zhai Mian nodded helplessly, puffed up his chest and gave a decisive order: "Chuan Ben Shuai's edict: Kill all the villagers immediately, burn all the houses, and only carry money and property for all seizures, and all teams within the half-burnt incense must be assembled, and kill Zhushan Village in the south with me!" ”

"Order—" A group of big and small leaders replied loudly, and then ordered their teams to shout and curse.

A stick of incense is not enough, the Wangjiazhai within a radius of one mile has become a sea of fire, the rising smoke rises into the sky, soaring dozens of zhang, and the reassembled more than 2,000 thieves and Kou team crossed the wooden bridge in the south of the village, and then accelerated their speed to the south of Zhushan Township to kill.