CHAPTER XVIII

Everyone's stolen goods were taken

Pei Xingyan did not choose to return to Beijing after the battle against the Khitan in Liaodong, but chose to follow Yang Yuanqing, which is also the intention of the Pei family.

After the reform of the military system, the regiment owner was renamed the captain, commanding a battalion, 300 to 500 soldiers, and belonged to middle and low-level officers.

Although Pei Xingyan's military rank is not high, he is quite useful because he follows Yang Yuanqing, and this time he arrested the Yuwen brothers to smuggle contraband, and he led a thousand cavalry to run to Xiling Ferry.

Xiling Ferry is located about 30 miles west of Dali City, is an important civil and commercial ferry port in the North Yellow River of Wuyuan County, this area has a gentle water flow, there is a section of natural stone steps, very suitable for the construction of wharves, several large flat-bottomed ferries go back and forth on both sides of the Yellow River every day.

At Xiling Ferry, a huge caravan was preparing to cross the river, and a flat-bottomed ferry boat that could transport more than 100 people docked at the wharf, and several crew members fixed the plank with a width of one foot and five feet to the shore.

"Get on board!"

The crew shouted, nearly a thousand mules and horses and hundreds of camels loaded with goods began to line up and slowly board the ship, and nearly a hundred men were busy running back and forth, beckoning livestock and preventing the goods from slipping off their backs.

On the shore, Yuwen Zhihe rode on a high-headed horse, and watched indifferently as the mule and horse team boarded the boat, followed by seven or eight tiger guard soldiers, all of whom were his henchmen, and around him stood in a line of two hundred men with knives, all on horseback, who were the guards of this caravan.

The leader of the caravan was a chubby middle-aged man surnamed Wang, an old family member of Yuwenshu, who traveled back and forth between the Great Sui and the steppe all the year round, and could speak fluent Turkic language.

This time he was extremely nervous, this time it was not just as simple as smuggling pig iron, but transporting 10,000 weapons, which was the forbidden among the contraband, once he was caught, he would be beheaded all over the house, the situation was very serious, and even Yu Wenzhi and himself came to escort the team.

But fortunately, they met a group of patrol soldiers yesterday, and Yu Wenzhi went to negotiate, and the patrol soldiers just briefly looked at the tax bills and customs bills, and did not check the goods, so they let them go directly.

Now because the emperor inspected Wuyuan County, there were many fewer border troops to inspect along the way, and Leader Wang remembered that they inspected three times last year, but only encountered one this year, which was their luck.

Leader Wang's eyes looked at dozens of carts, which were loaded with hay and heavy, one of which was pulled by two oxen.

"Third son, it's better to let the cart cross the river first!" Leader Wang stepped forward and whispered to Yu Wenzhi.

"What are you afraid of?"

Yu Wenzhi glared at him dissatisfiedly, "With me here, who dares to come and check!" ”

Leader Wang touched a nail, trembling, not daring to say more, he looked around uneasily, surrounded by an empty Gobi, no one inhabited, the sun shone brightly on the pebbles on the Gobi.

At this moment, Leader Wang suddenly saw dust flying in the south, and he shouted in horror, "Third son, here, the army is coming!" ”

Yuwen Zhiji was taken aback, he squinted his eyes and looked south for a long time, and couldn't help laughing, "At most dozens of cavalry, normal patrols, what are you afraid of?" ”

The cavalry team is getting closer and closer, and sure enough, there are not many people, at most more than thirty people, it is an ordinary border army patrol.

In a moment, the patrol came at a gallop and shouted, "Where is this caravan, have you paid taxes?" Where is the tour leader? ”

Asked three times in a row, the tone was very stern, Yuwen Zhihe gave Team Leader Wang a look, Team Leader Wang hurriedly took out the tax bill, stepped forward with a smile on his face, and said continuously: "There is a tax bill!" There is a tax bill! ”

At the same time as taking the tax bill, he deducted a piece of gold in his hand, about ten taels, and handed the tax bill over, but under the tax bill, he stuffed it with gold to the first team.

This is the rule of the side race, when encountering the border army inspection, even if the procedures are complete, the tax payment is not bad, and the wine money can not be less, otherwise the business will not be done, the general wine money is based on the size of the caravan, like the king leader This large caravan with more than 1,000 mules, horses and camels is at least ten taels of gold, and the king leader has been in the border for more than ten years, and he has long been familiar with these rules.

The moment he got the gold, the first team was stunned, and then laughed, his smile was as bright as the sun, and he waved his hand, "Since you pay taxes, it's easy to say, I'm just doing a routine inspection!" ”

Team Leader Wang's heart was relieved suddenly, and he said with a smile: "The goods don't need to be checked again!" ”

"No, we're crossing the river too."

The leading officer led his men to urge the horses to the shore, but intentionally or unintentionally stood beside dozens of carts, which made Yuwen Zhiji's heart suddenly lift, he glanced at these soldiers suspiciously, and asked the leader Wang in a low voice, "What are they going to do?" ”

"They said they were going to cross the river too."

Seeing that there was only one boat on the dock, half of which was already occupied by his mule and horse team, Yuwen Zhi immediately ordered: "Let all our men get off the boat and let the patrol go first!" ”

Leader Wang hurriedly ran to give orders, and at this moment, the sound of the running hooves of a large group of war horses suddenly came from behind him, and a family member shouted: "Team leader!" A large group of cavalry came. ”

Seeing that there were thousands of cavalry, Yu Wenzhi's face changed, and he ordered: "Push all the carts into the Yellow River!" ”

The family went to push the cart one after another, the previous more than 30 patrol sergeants suddenly attacked, the leader of the officer was Yang Shilang, their task was to prevent Yu Wenzhi and the dog from jumping off the wall in a hurry, the evidence was destroyed, he gave a low order, more than 30 soldiers drew their knives and slashed at the cart, in an instant, the axles of the cart were broken, several carts tilted and overturned, and the high haystacks on the cart were sprinkled all over the ground, revealing a large black wooden box with copper skin hidden in the haystack.

Yuwen Zhihe was so shocked that his heart almost jumped out, and he screamed: "Kill them!" Kill them! ”

More than 200 guards brandished their swords and swarmed towards Yang Shilang and his men, but Yang Shilang did not fight with them, and ran not far away as soon as he dropped his horse.

Yang Shilang drew his bow and arrows, he saw several big men want to move the box, pulling the bow is an arrow, a big man screamed, was hit by an arrow in the back, fell on the box, and other soldiers released arrows one after another, and shot over several housekeepers who moved the box.

Yu Wenzhi and his forehead were already sweating, he turned his head to look, more than a thousand cavalry were getting closer and closer, it was less than a hundred steps, he knew that it was over, turned the horse's head and fled eastward.

Pei Xingyan saw him early, he pulled out an arrow, slowly pulled out his two-stone hard bow, aimed at Yuwen Zhiji, and shot an arrow, the arrow was like a meteor, 'Poof! The ground shot Yuwen Zhi and his shoulder, Yu Wenzhi and screamed, planted from the horse, he got up and wanted to escape, Pei Xingyan had already arrived at his side, and the cold lance was against his chest, "Move, I will kill you!" ”

Several soldiers rushed and tied Yuwen Zhi and him like a pig with ropes, causing Yu Wen Zhi to scream in pain.

More than 200 family members have been surrounded, and Leader Wang has also been captured by Yang Shilang, who is prostrate on the ground, trembling all over, and his face is like ashes.

Pei Xingyan galloped over, and with a wave of his lance, he smashed a large wooden box, 'Wow! With a bang, the shiny horizontal knives in the large wooden box poured out, and there were as many as a hundred.

Pei Xingyan's angry gaze shot at Yuwen Zhiji, and he dared to sell the Sui army's horizontal sword to the Turks. "Take them all!"

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In Dali City, Yang Guang and hundreds of officials are visiting the unique caves of Dali City, the bottom few large caves are full of military rations, bags of military rations are neatly stacked, Yang Yuanqing explained to Yang Guang and hundreds of officials on the side.

"This cave is twenty zhang deep, three zhang high, twelve zhang wide, can stack 50,000 stone grain, we call it a single cave, is a single stone cave, there are two same single caves next door, and the above just now His Majesty saw several layers of caves called even the hole, the holes are connected to each other, these caves took three years to gradually complete, is the last line of defense of Dali City, can accommodate more than 20,000 people to take refuge, if Dali City is broken by the Hu people, all the soldiers and civilians will withdraw into the cave, for the final defensive battle, But we don't want that to happen. ”

"I don't want that to happen, if such a strong city as Dali City is also breached, it will be the incompetence of the defenders!"

Yang Guang glanced at Yang Yuanqing, and said with a smile: "I am very interested in these caves, and I hope that these caves will be used as warehouses and wine cellars forever. ”

"Wechen remember His Majesty's words!"

Yang Guang nodded with his hands behind his back, "Let's go!" I want to go up to the city to see it. ”

Hundreds of officials hugged Yang Guang and walked out of the cave, Yuwenshu followed Yang Guang not far behind, he stared at Yang Yuanqing with resentment in his eyes, his complaint last night seemed to have no effect, which made him extremely annoyed in his heart, could it be that the saint was so partial to this person?

At this time, he saw a burly officer walk up to Yang Yuanqing, handed a letter to Yang Yuanqing, and whispered a few words, Yuwenshu recognized this officer, it seemed to be Pei Ju's grandson, he couldn't help but glance back at Pei Ju, only to see Pei Ju's face showing a knowing smile.

Yu Wenshu scolded secretly in his heart, but he saw Yang Yuanqing hand the letter to the saint, and what did he say to the saint, the saint turned around, and a stern gaze shot at him, Yuwenshu was so frightened that he jumped up in his heart, and he didn't know what was going on?

"Where's the evidence?" Yang Guang asked sharply.

"Back to Your Majesty, just outside the grotto."

Yang Guangda walked out of the grotto, all the ministers looked at each other, I don't know what happened, they all followed out of the grotto, the sun was shining outside the grotto, surrounded by thousands of guards, in a vacant space in front of the grotto, dozens of large wooden boxes were placed, the lid of the box was opened, inside were all new weapons, mainly horizontal knives and spears, densely packed, there were tens of thousands of pieces.

There were more than 300 men kneeling next to the box, all with their hands tied behind their backs, kneeling on the ground, all the officials were in an uproar, and many people recognized that the person kneeling in front was Yuwen Zhiji, the second son of Yuwen Shu, Yuwen Shu's face was pale, and he immediately understood what was going on.

Yang Guangtie's face was blue, and he pointed at Yu Wenhua and shouted: "Arrest this Turkic spy for me!" ”

Dozens of guards rushed up and pushed Yu Wenhua to the ground, Yu Wenhua and he was so frightened that he couldn't speak, and when he looked up, he happened to meet his brother Yu Wenzhi and his eyes, and what he saw was a pair of eyes full of despair.

Yu Wenhua and his heart sank, as if he had fallen into an abyss.

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