The sun shines through the dense jungle, stingily sprinkling a little bit of light, shining on the forest full of tree roots and intricate stones, and also shining on Qian Xiangmin, who is gasping for breath.

Panting and walking hard, Qian Xiangmin's feet didn't know whether he tripped over the root of the tree or the rattan, and suddenly a dog ate and fell to the ground, He Er and Qin Sange, who were waving a sidecar to open the way, hurriedly turned back to check the situation, and then sat up with the pampered Qian Xiangmin, and then the painful and desperate wail voice once again echoed in the lofty mountains and mountains of the remaining veins of Taihang Mountain......

"I can't walk! I'm not leaving! I'm not leaving! Even if you kill me, I won't leave! I'm not right for this official, I want to go home, I want to go home! I miss my son, I miss my daughter-in-law, I miss my concubine Atin! I want to go home! ”

"Money joins the army, money joins the army, you calm down, calm down! Don't shout so loudly, be careful to be heard by the Turkic scouts, if they do, we'll be finished! ”

"Yes, Master Qian, I can't call it, the sound in the mountains is far away, in case a Turkic soldier enters the mountain to search, it will be troublesome to hear your voice."

Can't blame our money to join the army is useless and incompetent, it's our money to join the army is too bad luck, after leaving the main force of the Qian Peng Sui army to go north first, our money to join the army on the official road is still a smooth journey, but after passing Xiurong County, before we have time to approach Xinkou, our money to join the army is like leading a small number of cavalry north to grab the credit of Li Yuan Li Ambassador, extremely unlucky to run into the Turkic army's guerrilla sentry horse, was chased by the Turkic sentry horse greedy for property mounts and ran for more than a hundred miles, there was no time to meet Xinkou's Qinwang army, Forced by the Turkic sentinels to flee directly to the direction of Wutai County in the northeast, and finally relying on a guide to lead the way and a little luck, although the three of Qian Senjun and his party were lucky to get rid of the Turkic pursuit, the three mounts were successively killed by arrows and died of exhaustion, and finally could only walk on their legs.

By the way, the three mounts of Qian Senjun and his party died one after another, and in the final analysis, Chen Yingliang was also to blame for his stinginess, because he was not optimistic about this mission at all, and he also knew that Qian Senjun would not be able to take a mount on a mountain road, so he was reluctant to take any divine horse mounts for Qian Senjun and others to ride, and only gave Qian Senjun and others three horses to travel - three points inferior to the horse that Chen Yingliang rode from Daxing to Luoyang, the eastern capital, and such a mount naturally could not afford too much tossing.

The mounts were all tired, and they didn't want to join the army at all, of course, they wanted to give up halfway, but after the guide Qin Sange carefully identified the terrain, he told Qian to join the army that this was already near Jian'an Township in Wutai County, not far from the county seat of Wutai County, and considering that there were already a large number of Turkic sentinel cavalry activities in the rear, Qian Senjun changed his mind again, and led Qin Sange and He Er to continue to Wutai County, wanting to stay and rest in the county seat, and then consider whether to sneak over the mountains to Yanmen City. -- Note that we are reconsidering, our money is not yet loyal enough to join the army, so even if we sacrifice our lives, we have to complete the task assigned by Chen Yingliang.

The ideal of staying and resting is very full, but the cruel and bloody reality is very skinny, Qian Senjun and his entourage walked eastward, and before they had time to see the county city wall of Wutai, they immediately encountered the Turkic guerrilla sentry cavalry, if it were not for the small bandit He Er alert and Qin Sange who were familiar with the terrain and roads in this area, and fled to the mountains and forests in the north with Qian Senjun in time, our Qian Senjun would definitely not even have a chance to escape. At the same time, when it was time to ascend the heights, Qian Senjun and others were stunned to see that the inside of the county seat of Wutai County was already full of smoke, and the wilderness outside the city was full of people's corpses, which had obviously fallen into the hands of the Turks.

There is no way, there is no way to enter the city to rest, and there is no way to go back, there is no choice, Qian joined the army and had to listen to the little bandit soldier He Er's construction, and simply took the mountain road north to Yanmen City, so that he could not only avoid the Turkic cavalry who were as fierce as jackals, but also maybe he could really touch the city of Yanmen and send Chen Yingliang's recital into the city - fortunately, the recital was not lost, it had been hidden by Qian Senjun, and the dry food and the replacement of herdsmen's clothes were still on the shoulders of He Er and Qin Sange, although the amount of dry food was not much, Save a little, but there is still hope to support it until it arrives at the foot of Yanmen City.

After talking for a long time, our money finally calmed down, stopped crying and shouting, wiped tears and sobbed and asked, "How far do we have to go before we can find a populated place to rest?" ”

The only one who can answer this question is the local Qin Sange, who was temporarily recruited, pointed at the mountain beam in front of him with a satchel, and introduced: "Don't worry, sir, it's not far, after crossing that mountain, it is the mountain road leading to my hometown Tantou Village, and when we get there, the road can be better, and then we can rest overnight and eat a hot meal in Tantou Village." The beachhead village is deep in the mountains, and there should be no Turks to raid. ”

Desperately glancing at the towering mountain beam, our Qian Senjun wiped a handful of tears, choked up: "Then let's go, He Er, you help me a little." ”

In this way, with the support of the little bandit soldier He Er, our money joined the army and went on the road crying again, limping and slipping on the road step by step, stopping to rest and rest from time to time, and lamenting from time to time that it was too difficult to be an official, and he had to endure such hardships for a pitiful salary, and kept complaining that his luck was too bad, but he ran into a vicious boss like Chen Yingliang, a ruthless official, with that sad and painful appearance, even hard-hearted people would cry when they saw it. Third Brother Qin and He Er kept whispering comfort, persuading Qian to join the army to think about the benefits, and think more about what kind of rich rewards he would get after sending the song into Yanmen City.

No matter how generous the reward is, it has nothing to do with the unambitious Qian joining the army, the biggest wish of Qian who has a family and a room to join the army is to go home alive, the current ideal is to quickly find a populated place to rest, that is, relying on the support of this belief, our money to join the army finally barely crossed the mountain beam, relying on the guidance of Qin Sange, and touched the road of Beachhead Village, which is relatively easy to walk. At the same time, the little bandit soldier He Er also judged the traces on the Guò mountain road and determined that there were no large crowds walking on this mountain road recently, so Qian Shenjun and his entourage cautiously turned up the mountain road and began to march towards the beachhead village, the hometown of Qin Sange.

This path is indeed easier than walking in the dense forest, and the speed of Qian Senjun and others has finally accelerated a little, but after walking a few ways, Qian Xiangmin and others have just climbed to the top of the mountain road, and when the little bandit He Er inadvertently turned back, he accidentally found that there were two people following him under the mountain, and He Er, who is experienced in mountain warfare, hurriedly called the police in a low voice, and pulled Qian to hide in the grass on the side of the road, so he carefully looked at the people coming down the mountain, and what made He Er relieved was that the two men under the mountain were dressed in Central Plains, Not Turkic soldiers or Hu people in fancy clothes. But He Er was still a little worried, and asked Qin Sange next to him in a low voice: "You are familiar with the ground, take a closer look, are these two guys Turkic soldiers disguised?" ”

Third Brother Qin opened his eyes wide and looked carefully, and suddenly exclaimed, "Liang Xiaosi! How is Liang Xiaosi in our beachhead village? ”

"Is it from your village?" He Eryi was overjoyed when he heard this, and said happily: "Great, with your fellow villagers, we can be much easier now." ”

"It's not going to be easy, there's going to be trouble." Third Brother Qin hurriedly shook his head, gritted his teeth and said: "I and this Liang Xiaosi are sworn enemies in the village, I don't know how many fights I have fought since I was a child, he peeked at my sister-in-law taking a bath, sprinkled white ash into my family's flour, and smashed stones into my family's thatched pit, one year my walnuts grew well, but the tree was suddenly cut down at night, and I haven't found out who did it, but I suspect that this son of a son of a girl must have done it, because I have a grudge against him in the village!" ”

Hearing this, He Er, who was born in poverty, nodded his head, feeling that Liang Xiaosi under the mountain was very hateful, but he didn't think so that he had eaten the money he had seen to join the army, and waved his hand and said, "What a big deal?" When you were a child, was there anything you were naughty? Since we are from the same village as you, then we don't need to hide, get up and walk quickly, and strive to get to your hometown before dark. ”

felt that Qian Senjun was reasonable, He Er and Qin Sange didn't care, so they left the grass and moved forward again, as a result, Liang Xiaosi and Hou Junji at the bottom of the mountain finally discovered the savings of Qian Senjun and his party, and after being taken aback, after taking a closer look at the appearance of Qian Senjun and others, Liang Xiaosi also scolded angrily, "Qin Xiaosan!" How did this son of a son of a girl raise it? ”

Hou Junji was surprised to ask Liang Xiaosi why he was angry, and Liang Xiaosi said truthfully: "He and I are from the same village, but I am mortal enemies with him, this bastard, he has secretly touched my sister, urinated in the water tank of my house, and poured dung in front of my house, and my wheat stack was burned a few years ago, and I have always suspected that he did it!" Growing up, I don't know how many fights I had with him! ”

Hou Junji, who was born as a hooligan ruffian, didn't have the kind of mind to join the army, and as soon as he heard that his guide had suffered such a loss, he immediately felt the same hatred for the enemy, waved his hand and said: "Well, if you catch up with him in a while, you will kill him and give you anger!" This official is Tang Guogong's guard, and killing such a small grass citizen is like pinching an ant to death. ”

Liang Xiaosi, who hated Qin Sange deeply, was overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly thanked him, and hurriedly accelerated his pace with Hou Junji to chase Qin Sange and others, and Hou Junji, who really didn't put Qian Senjun and others in his eyes, was really ready to kill, but when he finally got closer, Hou Junji was immediately dumbfounded, because Hou Junji saw clearly that Qian Senjun and his party were all carrying snow-bright swords, and even if he and Liang Xiaosi had weapons, they were two against three, and they really started to do it only for their own side to suffer.

At the same time, He Er also found out that Hou Junji and others had bad intentions, so he quickly pulled out his shoulder knife and looked at Hou Junji and Liang Xiaosi vigilantly. ”

"Who the fuck are you scolding?" Liang Xiaosi was even more furious, and went to pull out the knife without saying a word, and the third brother Qin here also immediately pulled out the knife, and scolded even more, Liang Xiaosi couldn't bear it and relied on Hou Junji's help, and rushed up with a loud roar, clumsily came to cut the third brother Qin, but was kicked in the chest by He Er, who had learned a lot of martial arts with Ma Sanbao, and kicked a four-legged to the sky, and then He Er stepped forward again, stepped on Liang Xiaosi's hand holding the knife, put the knife on Liang Xiaosi's neck, and looked at Hou Junji coldly to show threat.

"Huijiazi!" At present, Hou Junji, who is still relying on bragging and patting his ass to eat, although his martial arts are low, he has never eaten pork, but he has seen a pig run, and he immediately saw that He Er has some martial arts, and he can't see how high his skills are, but he is definitely better than himself! - So Hou Junji's half-drawn sidecar was immediately inserted back.

"Oops, what's the fight?" Qian Chengjun, who was barely good-hearted, opened his mouth, and said kindly: "Little brother lying on the ground, about you and Brother Qin, Brother Qin also told us a little bit just now, you are all from the same village, what do you care about those grievances in the past?" Forget all the things in the past, just forget about the past. ”

Hou Junji, who was inferior to others and boasted just now that he wanted to avenge the guide, immediately changed his face, nodded and said: "This brother is right, Brother Liang, don't worry about the trivial things that you and Brother Qin have in the past, let him pass all the past things." ”

He Er's knife was on his neck, of course Liang Xiaosi didn't dare to have any objections, so he could only quickly agree, He Er snorted coldly, and then withdrew the knife, and Qian joined the army and asked Hou Junji again: "This brother, dare to ask your high surname, where did you come from, and where are you going?" ”

"In Xiahou Junji, from Wutai County, the Turks captured Wutai City and prepared to go to Tantou Village to escape the war." Hou Junji returned the salute and asked rhetorically: "This brother, may I ask your high surname, where are you going?" ”

"My name is Qian Xiangmin, and I will ......." Qian was not too stupid to join the army, so he changed his words in time and said: "I also went to Tantou Village in the mountains to escape the war." ”

"Really? That's too coincidental, so Brother Qian, how about we go the same way? Hou Junji asked suspiciously.

Qian Senjun wanted to agree, but when he saw Third Brother Qin and Liang Xiaosi, who were still looking at each other angrily, Qian Senjun still changed his mind, shook his head and smiled: "Forget it, your guide and I happen to be enemies, and if we walk together, there may be another conflict, so let's go separately." You are young and fast-paced, please first, see you in beachhead village. ”

Hearing Qian joining's words, Hou Junji was not polite, he led Liang Xiaosi and left first, and Qian Senjun, who was already in his forties, led Qin Sange and He Er to follow, and the distance between them quickly widened again, and it was at this time that He Er reminded Qian Joining: "Join the army, the one named Hou Junji just now, it seems that he didn't tell the truth, he said that he fled from the county seat, but we saw that the county seat had been burned two days ago, if he had escaped from the city, he would have walked in front of us a long time ago, how could he walk behind us?" ”

"him!" This is Qian Senjun's arrogant reply, "No matter where he comes, as long as he is not a Turk." ”

At the same time, Liang Xiaosi also asked Hou Junji why he didn't help just now, but Hou Junji puffed out his eyes and said angrily: "Help?" Didn't see that they were three people, we were two people? Also, the kid named He Er just now has obviously practiced martial arts, and his martial arts may still be above me, how can he fight them? ”

"Then I'll beat them for nothing?" Liang Xiaosi asked with a sad face.

"What's the hurry?" Hou Junji said coldly: "We can't beat them head-on, we can come from behind, as long as we kill that Huijiazi named He Er first, it's easy to kill your enemy." ”

After drinking his guide, Hou Junji pondered in his heart again, and said secretly: "Where did that Qian Xiangmin come from just now, and what are you doing here?" He said that he was from Wutai County, but he couldn't hear my accent if it wasn't a local accent, and it was obvious that he wasn't from Wutai County either, so why did he lie to me? ”

In this way, the two groups of people who had the same purpose but didn't know each other's details continued on the road, the young and strong Hou Junji and his party walked in front, and He Er and others, who were dragged down by Qian to join the army, walked in front, and the distance between them was always kept within one or two miles, and when it was slightly dark, Hou Junji and Liang Xiaosi first turned a mountain col, and then suddenly stopped, and did not move for a long time, Qian Xiangmin and others felt strange, and when they hurriedly caught up, they were also as stunned as Hou Junji and others.

The reason for staying is that the beachhead village, the hometown of Qin Sange and Liang Xiaosi, is located in a basin and is already scorched everywhere at the moment, all the houses have been razed to the ground, and there is not even a little black smoke to be seen, it is obvious that it has been destroyed for a while, and then Qin Sange and Liang Xiaosi shouted almost at the same time, and both rushed to their hometowns, Hou Junji hurriedly followed, Qian Xiangmin and He Er glanced at each other, and also hurriedly followed.

Follow the two guides into the village, there is no population in the village, only a few corpses lying on the ground, Qin Sange and Liang Xiaosi each went back to their respective homes, each looking for their own mother, He Er and Hou Junji respectively found a corpse and squatted down to examine, looking for various clues to analyze and judge the time of death of these corpses, and then soon, He Er ran back to Qian Xiangmin's side, and said in a low voice: "Join the army, the death time of these people should not be more than three days, it should be Turkic." ”

"Turkic?" Qian Senjun's little face changed a little, and he quickly looked left and right and asked in a low voice, "You must be Turkic?" ”

"Turkic, of course." He Er replied in a low voice: "The Great Sui army in this area must all go to King Qin, so do you have time to go to this deep mountain to rob your house?" Besides, our officers and soldiers came to collect grain and took it away, so why should we use it to slaughter the whole village and burn the whole village? ”

He Er's words were a little arbitrary, but they still scared Qian Senjun into a pale face, and hurriedly looked left and right at the surrounding environment, for fear that the Turkic soldiers who killed people and did not blink suddenly rushed out of that corner, the result was that the Turkic soldiers did not find it, but they heard Liang Xiaosi's cry first, Qian Senjun, He Er and Hou Junji followed the sound to find it, and soon saw Liang Xiaosi kneeling in a courtyard, crying loudly in front of several blackened corpses, Hou Junji hurriedly went in to comfort, Qian Senjun and He Er also hurried to find Qin Sange, As a result, he found the home of Qin Sange at the diagonal door of the Liang family.

Of course, Qin Sange's home was also burned to ruins, but he didn't hear Qin Sange's cry, only saw Qin Sange rummaging in the ruins, Qian Xiangmin and He Er knew that he was looking for the bodies of his relatives, so they didn't bother, just helped him lift the burned beams and rummaged through the ashes of the beams, but after rummaging for a long time, Qin Sange raised his head and said very curiously: "It's weird, what about my brother and my sister-in-law?" And what about my little nephew? Where did you go? ”

"How many people do you have in your family?" He Er asked.

"My parents have passed away, only my brother and sister-in-law, and a little nephew." Third Brother Qin replied truthfully.

"There are two possibilities, one is that he was captured by the Turks, and the other is that he escaped with your little nephew." He Er, who had been a bandit, was very clear in this regard, and immediately pointed out: "Your brother and your sister-in-law are both young and strong, and they must run fast when they find that the Turks are coming, and even if they are stopped by the Turks, they are generally captured and taken as hard laborers, and the Turks will not kill these strong laborers lightly, so you can rest assured, as long as there are no corpses of them in the village, they will definitely be alive." ”

When Qin Sange heard the joy, he hurriedly went to the village to check the corpse by moonlight, Tantou Village is a small village, Qin Sange didn't spend much time to see the corpses in the village, and then cheered: "There is no one from my family on the ground, my brother and they must have run away." ”

"Be quiet!" Qian Senjun rushed forward quickly, covered Qin Sange's mouth, and shouted in a low voice: "Don't talk loudly, the Turks may not have gone far, if we attract the Turks, we will die!" ”

Third Brother Qin was startled, quickly closed his mouth, and then said with a puzzled face: "How did the Turks find our village?" Our beachhead village is far away from Wutai County? The Turks over there in Wutai County shouldn't be able to find it here? ”

Hearing Qin Sange's words, Qian Qian, who didn't count the dry food, joined the army, and then hurriedly grabbed Qin Sange and ordered: "Quick, take us to the mountain road leading to Yanmen City in this village, and let's go there to see the situation." ”