"What kind of person is Zhang Xutuo?" "Will he be able to tolerate me?" On the way to the south, Xuzi, who had suffered a big loss in the hands of Yuwenshu, was always nervous. After crossing the Qi River, he finally stopped worrying, because greater trouble came to him. A gang of scoundrels followed from behind, targeting Black Wind under his crotch and the luggage on the back of another mount.

Xuzi galloped several times, hoping to get rid of the gang with speed. His destination, Licheng, was not far from here, and if he hurried, he could see the open gates in half an hour. But the gang was obviously very familiar with the terrain, and whenever Xuzi thought he had thrown them far away, the wanderers would always come out of the path in the fork or from behind some mountain, blowing a kind of poignant trumpet to inform their friends of the exact location of the "fat sheep".

Li Xu was very helpless about this group of homeless people, if he pulled out his knife, none of the dozen or so ragged men would want to leave alive. But he was unwilling to add a few more innocent lives to his sword. Those people are also a last resort, on the way to Qi County to take office, Xuzi has seen too many tragedies.

The land of the Henan counties is far more fertile than the Hebei counties, and the rushing Yellow River moistens every handful of soil here to produce oil. With abundance and nutrients and warm weather, even in November, the fields are oily and green. Isn't that green and neat thing wheat? Asahiko didn't dare to confirm it. In his hometown, only one crop can be planted a year, and after the first crop is harvested, even if he sows the seeds in a hurry, the seedlings that grow will not survive.

According to Xuzi's guess, areas with fertile soil and warm climates should be richer. After all, this place is south of the Yellow River, close to the East China Sea, and when Yuwenshu's army returned to Luoyang for a long time, it did not spoil these places. Yang Xuangan's chaotic soldiers did not affect this place. But the facts he saw along the way were exactly the opposite of what he expected, and anyone who had seen the scenery along the way, unless his heart was made of stone, could understand why so much smoke rose in the sky over the counties of Henan.

The counties of Henan are indeed rich, especially the cities, and if a small nameless county is pulled out, it is ten times more generous than the county of Shanggu County, Xuzi's hometown. The tall city walls, neat official offices, straight streets, and vermilion gates are all scenes that cannot be seen in Yi County. Compared with the rich mansions in Henan counties, the yamen of the county government of Shanggu County can be regarded as a dilapidated family at best. But two miles out of the city, there is another world in front of you. Thatched hut after hut lined up so densely packed that you never saw the end. Only three feet, at most five feet high, there were no windows, the door was just a handful of straw, and the owner of the shack sat in the doorway, his eyes blank and his face sad.

The emperor's royal chariot did not pass through here, and they were not forcibly driven out by the government. In addition to the government, there is also a thing called money, which makes them disqualified from living in the city.

In the shack area, which is closest and furthest from the city walls, there are always two lively bazaars. There was no supply of meat, fish, grain, tea, and other necessities of life in the bazaar, and there was only one kind of goods in it, and that was the living. Three hundred dollars for boys, one hundred dollars for girls, half hanging in the prime of life, one and a half hanging for young women, and two hanging for young girls. If you're a big buyer, traffickers will give you a discount. Occasionally, a well-dressed person passed by on the official road, and the "shopkeepers" immediately waved the leather whips in their hands and displayed dozens of living people like cattle. And those men and women with hemp ropes tied between their ankles and straw sticks on their heads are at the mercy of people like clay puppets and wooden stalks. They don't know how to resist, and they have lost the meaning of resisting, they are as cold as zombies, and only occasionally sneezed by the north wind to make people understand that they are still breathing.

"Doesn't the government here take care of it?" When drinking horses at the post station, Xuzi once complained to an old post man. The pawn looked at him in surprise and screamed as if he had encountered a monster. "My lord, if you have a good heart, you can buy a dozen of them for three or five dollars. It's their fate! Some people buy it, and they can still live as slaves and slaves. If they can't find a buyer when they don't find a buyer, the traffickers will lose their money and drive them out, and they will starve to death! ”

After listening to the old man's words, Xuzi understood that he had made a joke again because of the overflowing sympathy. As a result, he became more and more disgusted with the traitors. If it weren't for those people who burned and plundered everywhere, the imperial court wouldn't have had to raise so many soldiers. If the imperial court did not raise so many soldiers, the taxes would not be so heavy. If there were no heavy taxes, the displaced people would be able to live and work in peace. Xuzi anesthetized himself with the simplest reasoning, as for whether this reasoning made sense, he didn't dare to delve into it, and when he looked deeper, he was afraid that he would have nightmares at night.

As an officer and army general who has experienced the battle against bandits, Xuzi never believes that the rebels are "doing the right thing for heaven". The facts outside Liyang told him that the most serious damage to the people was precisely those traitors in the name of justice. No matter how corrupt the military discipline of the officers and soldiers is, at least it will be restrained in the city or in front of the main general. This is not the case with the rebels, who have no military discipline at all.

The whistle sounded again in the woods on the left side of the official road, this time three times, indicating that there was another wave of homeless people who had the idea of fighting war horses. Asahi glared in disgust at where the whistle remembered, then shook the reins and sped up the speed of the two horses. He regretted that he had put too much faith in his past experience, and turned down the personal soldiers recommended by his colleagues before taking office. If there are three or five pro-soldiers at this time, even if they are coming for various purposes, they can at least frighten those bold homeless people by their numbers, so that the other party will not dare to come forward and provoke easily.

"Squeak-squeak-squeak-!" Seeing Li Xu fleeing, the whistle sounded three more times, this time two long and one short, as if conveying some order. Immediately afterwards, a dirty rope bounced up on the official road in front of him, "I opened this mountain, I ......planted this tree" More than two dozen people who were unclothed and holding wooden sticks jumped out from behind the woods and blocked Xuzi's way.

"There's nothing new at all!" Xuzi lowered his head and pulled out the black knife from his waist, and the moment he raised his hand, he had already cut the rope into two pieces. Black Wind and another war horse carrying luggage let out two long neighs, and ran in front of the roadblockers like a demonstration, leaving behind a shouting and scolding.

"Little thief, don't go!" "It's all our people in front, you can't run away!" The homeless people shouted in a strange dialect. "Fools are playing with you!" Xuzi replied in the northern official dialect, sped up, and rushed to the mountain beam in front of him along the official road.

It was a hilly lot, and each mound was not high, but one next to the other. Horses are physically demanding and prone to danger when running on this terrain. After about half a column of incense, Xuzi slowed down. He thought that the outcasts should catch up after seeing his sword skills.

Before he could breathe a sigh of relief from Black Wind, the whistle sounded again in front of the left. This time it was more poignant, more hurried, and accompanied by the faint sound of horses' hooves. Xuzi realized that something was wrong, and the homeless people should not be so bold. He clearly remembered that he had also met homeless people on the official roads of Hebei counties three months ago, and those people were stronger than the ones he had just encountered, but those people never dared to fight the idea of war horses.

A group of "cavalrymen" rushed out of the valley diagonally, three people in front rode horses, one in the middle rode a long-eared mule, and behind the mules there were more than a dozen people, wielding kitchen knives and bamboo spears, and the mounts under the crotch were sedan donkeys for pulling carts.

"Stop, stop, what kind of silver (man) are you, and where is it called? It is not allowed to go forward. The leader of the team had a gray-white horn flag behind him, and he shouted loudly as he rushed towards Asahiko. He had no armor on his body, and the weapon in his hand was a wooden pole with a scar, except for a knife tied to the tip. Due to the light weight of the equipment on his body, the centaur was extremely fast when charging at short distances, and as he spoke, he had already rushed to Asahiko's side.

"Poof!" With just one sword, Li Xu cut the person who came and the weapon in his hand into two pieces. encountered a traitor, Xu Zi did not dare to show mercy to his subordinates. The documents and the seal were all in the bag of another mount, and once they fell into the hands of the rebels, the other party would definitely not easily spare him, the martial general who was about to assist Zhang Xutuo in exterminating the rebels from all walks of life.

He heard the whizzing of the wind, the sound of feathered arrows breaking through the air. The thieves had bows in their hands, but their archery skills were poor, or they were reluctant to shoot two horses. The inferior arrows flew far away from his sides, and soon lost their power, sending up a cloud of smoke and dust on the hard ground on both sides of the official road.

"The bow is less than one stone!" Xuzi drew conclusions based on the experience of trading blood on the battlefield. His horned bow hung behind the saddle, but he did not dare to take it and return fire. There were more and more rebels in front, shouting and pressing towards the official road. Luckily, they weren't fast enough, or no one wanted to repeat the leader's mistakes. All the rebels did their best to keep pace with their teammates so that they weren't the first to touch the black, glowing blade.

"Kill him, kill him!" The bandits shouted menacingly. The voice became more and more high-pitched, and with it, the courage grew. "Whoever stops him gets a horse!" I don't know which leader issued the order, and rewarded many brave men, and someone dared to jump on the official road and stab Xuzi in the thigh with a bamboo pole in his hand. The black wind galloped past him, and Xuzi's arm thrust down hard, and then, the dazzling blood wave jumped up in the sunlight, jumping into the air with a puff of smoke, and then, the smoke rose higher and higher, and the soul flew away, and the blood was blown away by the wind like petals.

"Kill him, kill him, kill Tugen'er, kill him to avenge Tugen'er!" The bandits shouted like madness, without any formation, and swarmed up.

Asahiko cut down the first person who tried to block the way, and wiped out the second. Soon, the third life fell to his sword. The thieves were taken aback and scattered like flies on both sides of the official road. But not knowing what price their leader had offered, these cowardly but greedy fellows shouted and gathered around again. All the weapons beckoned to Xuzi, and almost no one tried to hurt the warhorse.

Soon, the clothes on Xuzi's body were soaked with blood, and not a single drop was his own, all of them belonged to someone else. These bandits are even worse trained than the anti-thieves under the command of Yuan Wuben, and they are almost sent to the tip of the knife. Asahiko couldn't remember exactly how many people he had cut down, but he saw Kurofeng kick at least three with his front hooves. Not to be outdone, the other chrysanthemum whose reins were tied to the saddle of the Black Wind did not give it a chance to get close to it.

"Coax!" The bandits' team was forced to rush out of a river of blood by Xuzi, and the road ahead was clear again. Xuzi swung his knife and slashed away from one of the most aggressive thieves, then quickly looked up. The road in front of you leads to another mound, on which there is a gazebo for passing travelers to rest. The four walls of the pavilion were three feet high, and several people on horseback were standing in it watching.

Those people are wearing the iron armor of the Great Sui military generals! Asahiko's spirits suddenly lifted, and he found his companion. Almost at the same time, he was also spotted by the people in the gazebo, and two riders remained in the gazebo, bending their bows to keep guard, and the other two rushed down the mound on horseback, one left and one right, and quickly rushed to his vicinity.

"Stop, stop! Don't let them come close, don't let them come close! The rebels shouted incoherently and hoarsely. Dozens of strong men broke out of their ranks, trying to separate Xuzi from the people who came to the rescue. A large number of feathered arrows, bamboo spears, and wooden sticks flew up from the enemy, and the rebels were red-eyed, and no one cherished Xuzi's crotch and the two war horses beside him.

"They are very afraid of those who rush down!" Li Xu realized the reason why the enemy killed the killer. He asked himself if he had the ability to slash all the feather arrows in one go, and while dancing the black knife into a ball of light to protect himself and the black wind, he desperately urged his mount, trying to use his speed to escape from Shengtian.

Most of the feather arrows lost their target, two bamboo spears were picked off by the black knife, and one stabbed Chrysanthemum in the stomach. Chrysanthemum Qing, who was carrying the luggage, let out a painful cry and fell down softly. Li Xu cut the reins with a knife and avoided the tragedy of Heifeng being pulled down by Yu Huaqing. Then, with a quick turn of the horse's head, he circled in a very short radius, and turned back, cutting off all the arms that were close to Chrysanthemum.

Several of the men who tried to snatch the baggage jumped away with their shoulders in their hands, their fingers covering their severed arms, and watched as blood spurted from the wounds. They didn't expect that Li Xu was a master who sacrificed his life and money, and his eyes were full of anger and incomprehension. After a few breaths, the faces of several people turned pale and fell to the ground one after another.

"I'm sorry!" Asahiko muttered in her heart. At this moment, he really had some pity for the enemy. Soon, the pity in his heart turned to fear, and more people pounced on the fallen chrysanthemum, like a hungry wolf seeing its prey. "There's a lot of money on horseback, otherwise the guy with the black knife won't give up and run away." The bandits thought so and scrambled to be the first.

"There's no money in there! Get out of the way! Xuzi shouted angrily, swinging her knife as fast as she could, cutting the rope that tied her luggage. Then lean over, lift the luggage roll with one arm, and place it on the back of Black Wind. The other arm quickly danced the scimitar, slashing off more arms and heads.

Carrying too much weight, Hei Feng's body was no longer flexible, and he rushed left and right in the crowd, and was injured in many places. Li Xu, who was trapped in the crowd, was also in a hurry, his eyes were blood-red with anger, and his knives were all killing moves. A wooden spear stabbed him in the arm, and the owner of the wooden spear was too weak to hurt his muscles and bones. Xuzi snatched the wooden spear with his hand, and then stabbed the wooden spear into the throat of the visitor with one arm.

Two scythes, three wooden sticks. At the critical moment, Xuzi's senses became extremely acute. He remembered all the moves that the coppersmith had taught him back then. Knocking a scythe off and slashing over the owner of the other scythe that was trying to hurt Black Wind. At the same time, turning sideways, dodging the tip of the wooden stick, the blade slipped down the wooden stick, and with the inertia of the war horse's forward rush, he chopped off several fingers. There were still two wooden sticks that couldn't be dealt with, and Xuzi tensed his muscles and tried to carry them twice. The expected pain did not come, and two feathered arrows flew out of the pavilion, shooting the owner of the wooden stick in front of Asahiko's warhorse.

At this time, reinforcements from the left and right also pierced the interceptor's ranks. It was two young people who were about the same height as Xuzi, making them both long. With the impact of the war horse and the good elasticity of the lance, they only waved their arms a few times, and they lifted the strong men who stepped forward desperately into the air.

A bandit fell from mid-air waving his limbs, and the general who was sandwiched to the left side of Asahiko stabbed the bandit in the neck with a long lance, instantly piercing the bandit's neck. Immediately afterward, he threw the corpse at the enemy with a forceful flick. Then he stabbed over one of the bandits closest to Li Xu, crossed the lance on the horse, leaned over, and quickly cut off the noses of two people with a knife.

"I want to count!" The man threw his nose into the leather bag behind the saddle, and then smiled at Asako, revealing a mouthful of neat white teeth.

"Luo Shixin, Luo Shixin!" Asahiko heard the frightened shouts of the bandits, and immediately found that her side was empty again. The bandits quickly retreated, lest they run behind their companions.

The general who rushed to the right rode after him, and his lance flew over, stabbing four or five enemy troops in an instant. He circled diagonally for half a circle, and actually forced the surrounding enemy troops to drive more than twenty steps away. Then, this person quickly circled back, and together with the general on the left, protected Li Xu's wings.

"Licheng Luo Shixin!" The young general, who had a baby face and a habit of collecting the enemy's nose, smiled and stretched out a big bloody hand to Li Xu.

"Li Zhongjian in the upper valley!" Li Xu stretched out his hand and struck the other party with both palms.

"Licheng Qin Shubao! I've seen General Lee! Another Great Sui general immediately stretched out his hand and struck Li Xu with both hands. The three horses turned their heads and quickly rushed towards the gazebo.

"You are the Li Zhongjian who crossed Liaodong?"

"You are Luo Shixin, who was specially ordered by the emperor to draw a graphic for the ministers?"

"I've heard of General Qin's name for a long time, but I didn't expect to meet here!"

"Qin has also heard of General Li's name for a long time!"

The three of them exchanged pleasantries, not caring how many pairs of vicious eyes there were behind them.

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