Looking at the back of Li Bao leaving in a hurry, Zhou Ping walked to the bronze mirror and frowned to look at his figure, and finally tore a few holes in the sheepskin jacket before walking outside.

When Zhou Ping came to the entrance of the village, the small group of distant guards had already arrived under the big locust tree, there were about ten horsemen, and these fierce and light knights did not dismount, and looked vigilantly at the people who were walking towards this side.

"A few military masters, it is better to meet by chance, it is also fate for us to meet here, I have the best old wine of Zhendingfu in the car, or come down to drink and relieve fatigue!" Liu Sheng stood in front of the horse with a smile, looking familiar. The few people behind him looked at the cavalry vigilantly, their hands tightly on the hilt of their swords, looking like they were about to fight.

"Who are you, why are you hiding in this village!" The leader of the remote barricade was a Khitan who had been deeply sinicized, and he skillfully spoke Chinese and shouted loudly, while raising his right hand, and his subordinates behind him drew their bows and aimed them at Liu Sheng and several people behind him.

"We're serious businessmen, businessmen!" Liu Sheng turned around and shouted to the few people behind him: "Quickly throw out the knives, you will die!" Reluctantly, the men drew their sabers and threw them on the ground. Seeing that they had lowered their weapons, the leader of the distant barricade relaxed a little and made a gesture, and his men behind him loosened their bows.

"You're lying, you are Han people who want to flee to the south, those are your luggage!" The leader did not give up, he pointed to several carts not far away and shouted, "Tie them all up and take them away!" ”

"Master Jun, Master Jun!" Liu Sheng smiled and opened his arms: "The car is loaded with salt." You can go and see how you can go south with salt, and you can look at the ruts, they are all from the south! ”

The leader snorted coldly, beat his horse to a chariot, and poked a pocket with his hand, and sure enough, all that flowed out of it was white salt, and he asked one of his men to go outside to look at the ruts, and after half a ring, the subordinate also came back and answered. He beat the horse and circled the carriage twice, and suddenly pointed a horsewhip at Liu Sheng's nose. shouted: "It's not the Han people who fled south. That's also a spy of the Southern Dynasty! ”

"This is unjustly killed, how can a spy come with so many carriages!"

"It's going to be a war, where are the merchants who come from, they are clearly spies!"

Zhou Ping watched from the side, although his voice was getting louder and louder. But the beads of his eyes are rolling around. The other Khitan cavalry behind him also looked lazy. Without such a guarded appearance, his heart moved, and he took a few steps forward with a smile. Walked to the cavalryman's horse and arched his hand: "Villain Han Chang, I have seen this nobleman, dare to ask what the nobleman is called?" ”

The distant stop looked Zhou Ping up and down, and asked rhetorically, "Who are you?" ”

On the side, Liu Sheng interjected: "This is the villain's owner!" ”

"Oh?" The remote blocker sneered, pointed at the surrounding carriages with his whip and asked, "So these carriages are yours?" ”

"Not really!" Zhou Ping said with a smile: "The nobleman doesn't know, it is precisely because the two families are going to fight and the trade route is cut off, so if the villain's batch of salt goods can be transported over, it can be sold at a high price!" These carriages and the goods on them are all five or six shops in partnership, and they can take care of each other on the road! ”

"That's what happened!" When the distant blocker heard this, he had already believed it for seven or eight points, and he had other thoughts in his heart, and asked, "Then how much profit can you make this trip?" ”

"If this trip can be completed, it will be four or five times more profitable. I heard that many places in Yingzhou have been eating lightly for half a year. Speaking of this, Zhou Ping lowered his voice and stopped Na Yuan: "How much benefit can you get from sending our carriages to the camp?" It's better to just be as if you didn't see us, and the villain will naturally have a heart. ”

When the distant man heard this, he was overjoyed and asked, "What is your intention?" ”

Zhou Ping turned around and walked to a carriage, took out a leather bag, returned to the far stopper, and handed it over. The far man opened his leather bag and saw that it was full of silver cakes, and there were more than ten of them. A smile immediately appeared on the face of the Yuanjiaozi, stuffed the money bag into his arms, patted Zhou Ping's shoulder and said with a smile: "No wonder a sensible person like you can make a fortune!" ”

"Thank you for your good words!" Zhou Ping sang a fat song and said with a smile: "There is still some good wine in our car, why don't a few nobles take some to quench your thirst on the road." ”

These people were all good drinkers, and a few who could understand Chinese translated Zhou Ping's words to their companions, and the rest of them also had smiles on their faces. Zhou Ping turned around and made a gesture, four or five people sent wine gourds over, those far stoppers drank a few sips, and they were really very thick, and they couldn't help but praise it, and Zhou Ping also took some dried meat for them to drink. They were eating and drinking comfortably, but they didn't notice that before they knew it, Zhou Ping and the rest of the caravan had walked away.

"Click!"

With a bang, the huge impact of the crossbow bolts fired at close range from the twenty divine arm bows sent the human body flying, and blood and alcohol mixed together and flowed on the ground.

"Hurry up, it's a spy from the Southern Dynasty!" A remote blocker who was not hit by an arrow flew up and jumped on his war horse, rushed towards the entrance of the village, and it was too late to reload the crossbow arrow on the divine arm, Xue Liangyu hurriedly picked up his bow and shot at the fleeing enemy.

"Whew!" A distant blocker who was hit by an arrow in the lower abdomen roared, pulled out his saber and rushed towards Xue Liangyu, and in a hurry, Xue Liangyu turned sideways, and the arrow didn't know where it flew, at this time, a person next to him waved a knife and cut the injured Liao soldier to the ground, but it was Zhou Ping, who shouted coldly: "Don't let go of this live mouth!" ”

"Yes!" Xue Liangyu pulled out an arrow from Hu Lu and aimed it at the man's vest, but the far stop seemed to have an eye on his back, and one turned over and actually got under the horse's belly, and the arrow shot into the air, and he was about to rush out of the village.

At this moment, a man rushed out of the stab, picked up a wooden pestle in his hand and smashed it on the head, only to hear a miserable neigh, and the horse's head was struck and fell to the ground. The far block couldn't dodge, and his right leg was suddenly broken when he was pressed under the mount, and he passed out instantly.

"Except for the one whose leg was crushed, the rest of the Khitans are dead! There are also nine war horses, all good horses. Xue Liangyu bowed down and said to Zhou Ping, his face was still a little pale, he didn't expect that he would miss one under the accumulation of twenty divine arm bows, if it wasn't for the reckless man Niu Gao rushing out of the stab, he almost let one run.

"Hmmm! Let the doctor show him, take care of him, don't let him run away! Zhou Ping looked at Xue Liangyu and said in a low voice: "That Niu Gao is under you, what to do, you can do it yourself, I don't care!" ”

Xue Liangyu was stunned when he heard this, and immediately understood that Zhou Ping wanted to let him decide how to reward his subordinates, so he answered and went outside.

Looking at Xue Liangyu's back, Zhou Ping showed a smile on his face, if he went to Yingzhou this time, if he used the words at that time, it was "pulling the pole", and each of the more than 100 people under his command had to be an officer, of course, these people either followed him from Jeju, or they were also carefully selected from tens of thousands of "daring soldiers", whether it was martial arts or archery, but being an officer and being a pioneer are two different things, in addition to being an officer, he also needs to reward and punish his subordinates properly and win the hearts of the people. After all, Xue Liangyu is still young, and he is still a little worse in this regard, but there are too few people he can trust at hand, and it is better to let him experience some things earlier.

Just as he was thinking about it, Li Bao came in from the outside, bowed to Zhou Ping and said, "Lord, those distant barricades have searched their bodies, and the dry food on their bodies is only half a day, and the horse's fat has almost fallen." ”

"Hmm!" Zhou Ping nodded, Li Bao's meaning was very clear, obviously these distant barricades came back from patrolling, otherwise the horses would not be so thin, judging from the rations, the base camp of the Liao army should be half a day's journey from here at most. Zhou Ping thought about it for a while, and said in a low voice: "Wait until it gets dark before setting off, pass the order, don't raise fires, everyone can only eat cold food, double whistle at the entrance of the village!" ”

"Whoa!"

Xiongzhou, that is, today's Baoding Xiongxian County, Hebei Province, is located in the middle of the North China Plain, that is, Guiyi County of Youzhou in the Tang Dynasty, after the first year of Tianfu of the Jin Dynasty (936 years) Guiyi County entered Liao with the sixteen states of Yanyun, belonging to Zhuozhou, after Zhou Xiande six years (AD 959) Zhou Shizong relatives conquered Liao, recovered Waqiaoguan (now Xiongxian Nanguan). Waqiao Pass is located on the top of Yishui, is an important ferry port of Yishui, when the central power of Dingdu Bianjing and the secession regime of Dingdu Yanjing clashed in the fifth dynasty, Waqiaoguan was a strategic point for both sides to fight. After Zhou Shizong seized Waqiao Pass, he added Rongcheng and Guiyi two counties and called it Xiongzhou together, and named it Weilie, in order to show martial arts, and had the meaning of deterring Northern Liao. On the other side of the river is Guiyi County in the north of Zhuozhou in Liaoguo, bounded by Baigou.

The palace is heavily guarded, although the two Xuanfu envoys Tong Guan and Cai You, the deputy envoy of Xuanfu in Hedong and Hebei, have not left Bianliang, but the Baojing Army Jiedu envoy and the generals who served as the commander of the capital have already arrived here to prepare for the major event of marching into the army. As a veteran with very rich political and military experience, the heart of the master is actually not willing to rush into the risky and unjust war, but the kind of loyalty to the court that has been ingrained in his mind makes him have to obey the orders of the commander he despises very much. It is completely based on the interests of the Son of Heaven, the court, and the country; How can he "invite profit and fight" like Tong Guan and plunge the country and the army into the abyss of danger? But now that the will of the imperial court has been issued, all he can do is to try his best to win. (To be continued......)