After a one-night delay in Xuzhou, in the early morning of the next day, the new Jiangbei escort envoy and his party went on the road again, Miss Yao's car and snacks were unloaded from the train, and the company of road guards returned home, and the guard task was taken over by the troops of the Xuhai town guard.

Chen Tiaoyuan is also really a buddy, and sent the most elite pistol company under his command to escort Chen Zikun to his post, this is a plus company, there are one hundred and fifty people, half equipped with horse pistols, half equipped with shell guns, the first three cavalry in front of him are wearing a triangular tooth flag, the flag is red silk texture, decorated with a big white circle, and inside is a black "Chen" character, this posture is clearly the pomp and circumstance of the commander in the former Qing Dynasty.

There is a lot of luggage, just Miss Yao's snacks are loaded with three cars, in addition to soft clothes, guns and bullets given by Chen Tiaoyuan, the whole team is composed of ten large cars, Rover cars are in the middle, the women sit in it, and the men are riding horses.

The horses were provided by Chen Tiaoyuan, and there were no horses in the Central Plains, and the price of raising a war horse could feed five infantrymen, so these horses were all short and inferior horses, and they could only ride and walk, far from being called war horses.

Chen Tiaoyuan personally sent them to the tea shed ten miles outside the city, shook hands with Chen Zikun and said goodbye, the convoy went all the way to the southwest, Xiaoxing stayed for hundreds of miles at night, along the way the county towns and towns saw the mighty army crossing, all chickens and dogs jumped, where to stay, where the squire had to run upside down to meet the song, although the journey was hard, but the scenery in early summer was pleasant, but also at ease.

Out of the Anhui realm, there was a big mountain in front of him, and the pistol company commander of the team leader shouted: "It's time to kill the tiger, everyone should be in good spirits." ”

The soldiers loaded their bullets one after another, and they were ready for battle, and Chen Zikun said suspiciously: "What's the point of killing the tiger?" ”

The company commander said: "After crossing this mountain, the front is the boundary of Jiangdong Province, this mountain pass is the only access road, and it has always been controlled by bandits, so I have to be more careful when marking it." ”

Chen Zikun said: "This is strange, do the bandits even dare to rob the army?" ”

The company commander said: "I just heard about the mark, the old Taishan of the Anhui overseer was unwilling to pay the road money since then, and was kidnapped by bandits, and it took eight thousand yuan to redeem it, so ......"

Chen Zikun nodded: "Zhao Yufeng, Lao Wang and Lao Li, be careful." ”

Wang Degui patted the shell gun: "It's already smelling." ”

Li Changsheng was in charge of driving the carriage, lazily pulled out a Mauser horse pistol from under his seat, put it on his knee, and continued to doze off.

Zhao Yufeng hurriedly untied the holster, pulled out the Browning pistol and put it on fire, looked up at the steep mountain, and a drop of sweat flowed down the tip of his nose: "Damn, this road is dangerous enough." ”

In fact, they have been walking uphill for the past two days, but the terrain of killing the tiger's mouth is particularly dangerous, a trail is steep on both sides, it is definitely a man who can not open, surprisingly, such a dangerous trail, and a bandit-ridden area, there are many business travelers along the way.

The convoy entered the mouth of the killing tiger and moved forward slowly, the cliffs on both sides were like knives, if the front and rear were sealed, and a team of men and horses were ambushed on it, the convoy would definitely be wiped out.

The valley was cool, and the birdsong was pleasant, but a chill crept over to the bone, and even the horses felt the danger coming, and became agitated.

A figure appeared on the road ahead.

There was only one man, wearing a white chapo coat, black cloth Burmese crotch trousers, and a hat on his head, if not the German-made shell gun at his waist, a standard peasant.

There is no doubt that he is a bandit, but how can there be only one bandit, and he has no fear in the face of the officers and soldiers, something is wrong.

The convoy stopped.

Miss Yao was dozing off in the back seat of the car, and suddenly found that she had stopped, so she lowered the window and just wanted to ask, when she suddenly saw a bandit in the distance, and immediately swallowed her words back, she was a person who had been robbed by bandits once, and she knew that she was afraid.

Jian Bing was also a little panicked, although Chen Zikun was brave and brave, and there were more than 100 officers and soldiers to escort him, but the formation in this mountain was still a little scary, she had read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Water Margin, and had personally experienced the power of the Gang of Bandits, and knew that these more than 100 officers and soldiers were not enough for the big bandits.

The bandit took off his hat, revealing a young face, his arrogant arrogance exuded unscrupulously, he stepped on the mountain rock with one foot, fanned the wind with the hat with the other, and said in a Central Plains accent: "I opened this mountain, I planted this tree, if you want to pass from here, leave to buy road wealth." ”

Chen Zikun didn't speak, looked up at the top, according to his estimates, there were at least fifty guns aimed at his team, and if they really wanted to fight, they couldn't win.

The escort company commander turned over and dismounted, stepped forward and said politely: "This is the team of the Jiangbei Escort Envoy, we were sent by the Xuhai Town Guard to escort us, and we haven't asked the boss for his name?" ”

The bandit glared: "What kind of protector, what kind of Xu Haizhen guard, when you reach the realm of the white wolf, it is the dragon that has to be coiled for Lao Tzu, and the tiger has to lie down for Lao Tzu, Lao Tzu doesn't care which way you go, you have to get money from here!" ”

The company commander was very embarrassed, he didn't have the courage to use force, and he was unwilling to pay the money, so he had to come back and ask Chen Zikun for advice.

"Didn't Bai Lang die in the third year of the Republic of China, why did another one come out?" Chen Zikun asked in a low voice.

"It's not clear under the mark, maybe it's an impostor." The company commander wiped a handful of sweat, the valley was very cool, he was sweating profusely, it seemed that Chen Zikun was not the only one who knew that there were people and horses in ambush on the mountain.

Chen Zikun nodded, urged the horse to step forward, looked at the bandit condescendingly for a while, and said, "Do you really want to buy the road money?" ”

The bandit didn't look at him, and spat on the ground and said, "It's okay if you don't pay it, you can take another half step forward and try." ”

Chen Zikun smiled: "Brave enough, I like it, let's say, how is the insurance premium calculated?" ”

Only then did the bandit raise his head: "You can do it, I know a lot of fame, yes, in fact, this is not called buying road money, it is called insurance premium, a passenger is one dollar, a pick of goods is five cents, a big car is expensive, at least twenty yuan, if you want to be cheap, buy our road ticket, ten yuan a month, as many trips back and forth as you like." ”

Chen Zikun said: "You are Bai Lang? ”

The bandit said: "Bai Lang is our big boss, I am his subordinate Donkey Kong, my name is Liang Maocai." ”

Chen Zikun said: "Then do you know who I am? ”

Liang Maocai rolled his eyes, looked at his golden epaulette and said, "You are the one who is the protector." ”

Chen Zikun smiled and said: "Yes, I am the new Jiangbei Protector Envoy, you collect insurance premiums on my land, aren't you afraid that I will send troops to kill you?" ”

Liang Maocai snorted and raised his right hand.

The thatched rocks on the mountain, which were originally stationary, suddenly moved, and the muzzles of dozens of black holes were aimed at them, and the soldiers raised their guns to the sky one after another, and the two confronted each other.

"If you want to suppress it, you can do it, so pay the insurance premium for this trip first." Liang Maocai said with a big grin, and didn't take Chen Zikun in his eyes at all.

"Okay, the kid is quite kind." Chen Zikun waved his hand, "Pay the money!" ”

The four soldiers carried a basket of Yinyang over and put it in front of Liang Maocai, Liang Maocai picked up one and blew it, put it in his ear and listened, grinned with his teeth, and waved his big hand: "Pass!" ”

The soldiers finally breathed a sigh of relief, the convoy slowly moved, and Liang Maocai squatted on the ground to count the number of people and vehicles, and also held small branches to draw the word "Zheng" one by one.

Rover drove over, Liang Mao saw it, jumped up and said, "Stop!" ”

The car stopped, and tension rose again.

Liang Maocai circled around the car, patted the carriage, and was puzzled: "How can you go without livestock?" ”

Yao Yilei couldn't help but say: "This is a car, burning gasoline, understand?" ”

Seeing a charming girl sitting in the car, Liang Maocai's eyes were straight, Yao Yilei was frightened by his eyes, and quickly turned her face.

Wang Degui, who was escorting next to him, slowly stretched out his right hand to the handle of the gun.

Chen Zikun also held the holster on his waist and stared closely at Liang Maocai's every move.

What is surprising is that Liang Maocai did not make any further moves, and his face turned into a big red cloth, and he returned to the place where he was doing arithmetic problems as if he was running away, waving his hand and saying: "Go, go quickly" The expression is not like a bandit who kills people without blinking, but like a shy country guy.

The convoy finally passed through the mouth of the killing tiger without danger, and Liang Maocai also counted the number, a total of ten big cars plus one car, with a population of one hundred and sixty, and a total of three hundred and eighty yuan in insurance premiums.

Chen Zikun asked someone to order 400 yuan for him, but Liang Maocai took out 20 yuan and threw it back and said: "There is also a way to steal, and you won't accept any more." ”

"It's interesting, boy, there's a date later." Chen Zikun arched his hand and galloped away.

Liang Maocai squinted his eyes and looked at their distant shadows, and suddenly whistled, and the bandits on the mountain withdrew like a gust of wind, and the killing tiger's mouth instantly returned to peace.

……

After the tiger's mouth, although it is still in the Daqing Mountain, the terrain is far less sinister, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, this is already the boundary of Jiangdong Province, and it belongs to the jurisdiction of the Jiangbei Protector Envoy, that is to say, every grass and tree seen here is closely related to Chen Zikun.

After walking ten miles downhill, the front suddenly opened up, a fertile field for thousands of miles, lush and not spectacular, but when I got closer, I found that this green was not crops, but weeds.

In June, it is time to harvest wheat in the summer, but this fertile land, even more unexpectedly, do not grow crops, what is even more bizarre is that after walking all the way, I can't see anyone in the field, and finally meet a village.

The further he goes, the cooler Chen Zikun's heart becomes, this is his own territory, thousands of miles of red land, barren and withered, no wonder no one wants to be this Jiangbei protector.

As I walked, I suddenly saw a green gauze tent in front of me that could not be seen, and there seemed to be a figure shaking inside.

Chen Zikun's heart sank, the secret way was not good, and he encountered bandits again.