Chapter 1: The Great Thief (5b)

"Since the spring, there is a legend on the grassland that two young men from the original generation helped the Xia tribe eat a large tribe with a population of nearly 10,000, but I didn't expect to be rescued by me today. Aren't you calling for wind and rain in the Haze? Why did you become a guest of Ah Die's house again? Without waiting for Li Xu to sort out the mystery in his heart, Liu Jizhen, a Turkic man dressed in animal skin, asked first.

"It's a long story.......," Li Xu's eyes darkened, and he replied in a low voice. The impression of a few horse thieves around him was not bad, except for a bad reputation, these people did not behave like the legendary thieves at all. Even Liu Jizhen, who opened his mouth to get to the bottom of it, didn't look as annoying as Ashina Qiyu.

He briefly described how Ashina Choyu came to the Susibu Division; how to use the intention of alcohol to promote the marriage contract of the Aslan family and use the situation to force the Patriarch of Sir into a corner; How to facilitate the marriage of the Sir family and the Ashina family has been talked about again. just hid the affair between himself and Tao Kuodesi, and at the end, he added gloomily: "Since the Su Si Department already has the big backer of the Turks, Brother Mao Gong and I are naturally no longer important. Instead of waiting to be driven out, it is better to take the initiative to go home! ”

"I'm afraid that the Ashina family robbed you of your heart, so you left in a bad mood!" The young man who was called Kuroko by everyone unceremoniously "exposed". Li Xu frowned, unwilling to deal with this guy who was provoking everywhere, but Heizi followed again with no reluctance, "Phew, the elders of the Su Si Department are all blind, and they haven't seen such a simple serial scheme." Without you and the surnamed Xu, what is the value of the small tribe of ten thousand people in the eyes of the Ashina family? When the time comes, when people destroy the marriage contract, won't they end up with chickens and eggs? ”

"That's not necessarily, Zhong Jian left the silver wolf in Su Si's department, which is equivalent to leaving a big chip in Su Si's department." The big man Liu Hongji shook his head and commented in a low voice. He didn't know that Ganluo was forcibly withheld by Su Sibu, and thought that it was a live chess piece that Li Xu deliberately left in the tribe in order to sabotage Ashina Choyu's trick. After saying a word, he smiled and looked at the young man in front of him again, and his evaluation of him in his heart was inevitably a little higher.

"If he had taken the wolf away, it is estimated that before he reached Wulieshui, he would have been hacked to death by those Hu people on the grassland!" Kuroko raised her eyelids and mercilessly debunked a fact.

"That's right, those beards adore the silver wolf very much. The two of them are two and a half big men with a silver wolf, which is equivalent to swaggering around with 10,000 taels of gold, don't say that the mongrels of Xibu, Khitan and Turkic will be red when they see it, and I Lao Liu will be the first to rush up and grab it! Liu Jizhen added angrily. He didn't care that he was also a Turk, he opened his mouth and scolded the mongrel with his mouth closed.

"The Khan of the people made a silver wolf to fill the façade, what do you want a wolf to do as a horse thief?" Heizi didn't seem to be happy if he didn't fight, and just after taunting Li Xu, he began to trouble Liu Jizhen again.

"You know how to fart!" The Turkic Liu Jizhen was not as polite as others to the sunspots, and opened his mouth to say a dirty word: "My surname Liu is the real master of this grassland. I'm the leader of the horse thieves today, so I'll get a big hat to show you someday! ”

"Well, I'll watch with my eyes open!" Kuroko responded with a smile. Liu Ji is really a bastard, and it is better to fight with him.

"This group of people is fighting and fighting on the surface, but they are very harmonious with each other!" Li Xu nodded secretly, and his favor for the horse thieves was a little more. At this moment, I heard the vendor ask, "So, you went to Ashina Choyu's camp and taught him a big lesson while he was unprepared?" ”

"How could we want to provoke such people?" Li Xu shook his head and smiled bitterly, "He forced us to stay on an errand in the Turks, so Brother Mao Gong and I had to steal the horse and escape!" ”

Seeing that the other party looked puzzled, Li Xu had to briefly talk about his grievances with Ashina Choyu. As for the matter of setting fire to the door, I will skip it, judging from today's situation, even if he and Xu Dayan don't set fire, Ashina Qiyu's camp can't be saved.

At the mention of Xu Dayan, his heart began to sink again. Although he set his clothes on fire last night, he didn't know if he had attracted all his pursuers. The Turks have hunting dogs in front of them, and Xu Dayan is tired and tired, is there any chance to escape the hunting dogs?

Thinking of this, he hugged his fist at Liu Hongji and asked in a low voice: "Master Liu Zhai, I don't know if you blocked the Turks last night, did you see a Han man who is about the same size as me?" ”

"Are you asking Sage Xu? There is certainly no him in the valley. Liu Hongji shook his head and replied. The dozens of people who chased you into the valley were all killed by us. The more than two dozen outside the valley were cooked by Brother Ji Zhen. He's the owner of the village here, and I'm just making a deal along the way! ”

Li Xu was stunned for a moment, and turned his gaze full of surprise and doubt to the Turkic man. When the other party saw his gaze sweeping, his head immediately shook into a rattle, "No, definitely not." The brothers did things neatly, and they didn't let go of the people and dogs. Among them, there is definitely no Xu Sage you said, he is now so famous on the grassland, I must go back to the village to be a military advisor when I see it! ”

"I'm afraid that people will think you're Liu Adou!" Kuroko couldn't help but interject again.

"If I were Liu Adou, I would arrest you as Jiang Wei. Let you die of exhaustion in front of the battle, and I will be a free man by myself! Although Liu Jizhen is a horse thief, he can recite the deeds of heroes with the same surname. The two sentences were brushed together, and the sunspot was choked again.

"The parents of the Hei Min brothers were forced to death by the government, so it is not pleasing to anyone. Don't mind, he's like this, he's still a good person! Zhang Liang saw Li Xu's surprised appearance and explained to him with a smile.

Li Xu smiled and didn't make a sound. What surprised him in his heart was not the sharp teeth of the black man, but the surprise that Liu Jizhen was actually the head of this group. Whether it is external image or internal temperament, Liu Hongji is more like a green forest tycoon with heavy troops. And although Liu Jizhen looks fierce, he does not have a heroic spirit that makes people respect.

"We have few people, but there are many people, so either we don't do it, or we have to kill a whole group of chasing soldiers. Only in this way can the other party not be able to figure out our reality and not dare to catch up easily. By the time he has mustered enough men, we will have already crossed the Great Wall! Zhang Liang continued to explain to Li Xu the reason why the horse thieves were ruthless, as if he was afraid of leaving a bad impression on the other party.

"As it should be! Zhang Zhai is really a thoughtful person! Li Xu was perfunctory. For Zhang Liang's enthusiasm, he always has an instinctive wariness. Ashina is also enthusiastic about treating people, and he ridiculously ruined everything he had. As soon as the owner of Zhang Zhai met, he called him a brother and a brother, could it be that he wanted to pull himself into the gang?

"I'm just a horse dealer, where is the owner of the village!" Zhang Liang shook his head with a smile, "Right now, horses are expensive in the Central Plains, but Ashina Choyu doesn't allow the nearby herdsmen to sell horses to us." Everyone was forced to have no choice, so they worked together to kill him. And that's thanks to you lighting his stable first, otherwise we wouldn't have had a chance to do it! ”

Horse dealers? Li Xu's eyes widened again. He couldn't believe that Zhang Liang was really a peddler, although this person's dress was no different from his father, Sun Jiu and others, and his smile also contained the same philistine spirit as Wang Mazi and others. But that astute mind and the fierceness between the flashes of his eyes would never be that of an ordinary peddler. In the words of Xu Dayan, people with this kind of eyes have at least killed people or commanded soldiers, and people who have never seen blood will not have a murderous aura on their bodies.

A few people talked about it, and gave a general explanation of the origins and names that can be known to each other. The young man who was looking for someone to fight was called Wu Heimin, an orphan whose parents had died, and he was now following Zhang Liang as a buddy and swordsman. The one named Liu Hongji is really a child of a family, but his family background has long been broken. This time, the emperor ordered a large number of troops and gave him a chance to serve the country, but he failed to report to the state in time because he had no money to buy horses. As a result, the official lord waved his pen and put him in prison as a deserter. Thanks to a few friends in the rivers and lakes who paid for it, they had the opportunity to "escape from prison" and escape to the grassland.

The Turkic man named Liu Jizhen was a young master of horse thieves, and the name "A Gust of Wind" was the nickname given by the herdsmen to his brothers. This group of men and horses walked on the side fortress, and the officers and soldiers of the Great Sui Dynasty took refuge outside the fortress when they came. When the Turkic officers and soldiers came to suppress them, they fled to the Great Sui and lived happily. And the ordinary Lang Zhong surnamed Niu Mingxiu who was treating Hei Feng's injuries in the distance was also a horse dealer, and because of Zhang Liang's heavy accent, Li Xu heard his surname as "You".

"Dare to ask the heroes, is the road in the valley still smooth?" After Li Xu got acquainted with everyone, he asked tentatively. He didn't want to be with the horse thieves for too long, and although the Li family was not a big family, they were very strict. If the parents who are far away in the Central Plains know that they are mixed with the thieves, even if the other party is a hero of the green forest, the parents will not be able to raise their heads in front of people for this. If the valley hadn't been blocked by rocks and sticks, he planned to say goodbye to everyone and go around alone to find Xu Dayan. Regardless of whether the other party has left or not, only by getting accurate information can Li Xu himself rest assured.

"What, are you going to go back to your brother Maogong?" Wu Heimin pursed his lips and asked with a sneer.

"I want to go back and see that he jumped off his horse alone last night in order to get me to escape!" Li Xu replied calmly. Xu Dayan can sacrifice himself to save himself, and he should do the same for him. Regardless of whether the Turks will come or not, they must do it themselves.

Liu Hongji, Zhang Liang and others all nodded approvingly, and after listening to Li Xu's introduction, they also admired Xu Dayan's courage and chivalrous heart. If such a young hero is captured by Ashina Choyu, everyone should find a way to rescue him no matter what.

"Do you really believe that he jumped off the horse to save you?" Wu Heimin's thoughts are always different, and it seems that if he doesn't make some trouble, he will be uncomfortable.

"What do you mean by that?" Li Xu was a little angry in his heart, and his eyes widened and he asked. No matter how sarcastic this black-faced guy tries to mock himself, for the sake of saving his life last night, he can bear it. If he insults Brother Mao Gong, he can only compete with him on the bow horse.

"Kuroko!" Liu Hongji scolded in a low voice. As soon as they met, Wu Heimin talked nonsense without knowing the depths, even if he was replaced, he would still feel uncomfortable.

"What do you mean? Laugh at your stupidity. If the black light is blind, is it the goal of the horse or the goal of the man? Wu Heimin ignored Brother Liu's scolding this time, and took care of his own quick words: "Give the horse to you, obviously he suffers, but secretly let you attract all the pursuers." Anyway, the horse has no strength anymore, and it can't run far! ”

"Shut up!" Li Xu was furious, and his hand suddenly pressed on the hilt of the knife. "Brother Xu is definitely not that kind of person, Brother Xu can not even get rich and rich for me!" He argued loudly, and his body was trembling with anger from Wu Heimin. Seeing this, Zhang Liang and Liu Jizhen hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed his arm.

"It's not a matter of life and death, it's a good brother who doesn't lose each other in life and death. Besides, the horse was stabbed in the buttocks, hurting his muscles and bones, although he ran fast in a short time, the war horse would be crippled if he couldn't run far! Wu Heimin was unforgiving, and continued to run his tongue with his mouth full.

"Draw your sword, I'll share the victory with you today!" Li Xu shook his shoulders, shook off Zhang Liang and Liu Jizhen, and strode towards Wu Heimin. The rage had completely burned his eyes, and he was going to cut down the guy in front of him to defend his friend's reputation.

"Come on, come, who is afraid of you!" Wu Heimin jumped out of the way and picked up his iron fork again. Seeing that the two were about to merge, Liu Hongji stretched out his hand and drew his knife, blocking the middle of the two young people.

"If you don't chew your tongue, I can't suffocate you!" He swung his knife and knocked Wu Heimin's iron fork first. Then his body twisted with a twist, and the steel knife in his hand rested on the scimitar that Li Xu had chopped over.

"Dangchang!" The two weapons collided with a piece of spark, and the scimitar in Liu Hongji's hand was thin and broke into two at once. Seeing that Li Xu's angry knife was about to cause trouble, an iron rod and two short knives were horizontal in front of Liu Hongji at the same time.

"Hey!" At the critical moment, Li Xu shook his body continuously, split the scimitar diagonally, and slammed it heavily on the grass beside him. The long autumn grass was immediately swept up by the sword wind, and the green snow flew away into the distance like a flutter.

"Little brother is so strong!" Liu Hongji, who was almost slashed by Li Xu, laughed, snatched a short knife from Zhang Liang's hand, and blocked between Li and Wu again.

Seeing that he almost killed the innocent, Li Xu had to suppress his anger. Although he hated the sour mouth of the surname Wu, he didn't dare to really fall out with everyone. There were more than a hundred horse thieves in the distance, and one knife down was enough to chop him into meat sauce. Moreover, if it weren't for the cheapness of weapons, he might not be Liu Hongji's opponent.

"If you offend, please forgive Brother Liu!" Li Xu glared at Wu Heimin fiercely, and inserted the scimitar back into his waist. Wu Heimin, who was holding a steel fork, did not relent, and shouted loudly: "You have a trick to cut me, and the old cow will come over later, and you will know if I am justified if you ask him about the injury of the war horse!" ”

"Shut up, believe it or not, I sold you to the Turks as a minion!" Liu Hongji's eyebrows were upside down, and he let out a broken drink. Wu Heimin was really angry when he saw him, his tongue stretched out, and he stopped talking. Liu Hongji frightened him, and immediately turned around again, shouting at Li Xu: "Friends are in a letter." If you believe him, what's the use of others chewing on the root of their tongues? If you have doubts in your own heart, you will seal everyone's mouths, and your own doubts will not be sealed! ”

One sentence was like an initiation, which made Li Xu's whole body cold and transparent. Xu Dayan gave up Su Sibu to send it to the snow, in order to fight for himself not to enter the camp of Su Sibu, and gave up the rich and noble temptation of Qiyu to flee from the horse and other past events, one by one passed through his heart. If such a friend will betray himself in the moment of life and death, then who in the world can make friends?

Since he came out of the plug, the experience of being betrayed and deceived has made Li Xu lose the least trust in people. If he hadn't met Liu Hongji today, maybe he would never trust anyone again in his life. And Liu Hongji's words just broke through the demon barrier in his heart, and made him instantly understand the subtle difference between suspicion and vigilance.

He smiled and bowed to Liu Hongji, "The kid is taught, thank Brother Liu for the order!" ”

"Watching people for a long time, not at one time!" Liu Hongji smiled and received Li Xu's long snort, and added in a low voice.

At this moment, Niu Jinda, who had been treating Hei Feng's wounds, came over. When Wu Heimin saw it, he immediately rushed up to ask for help: "How is the injury of that Teller Biao, is it useless!" ”

"It's okay, it didn't hurt my bones." You Jinda replied wiping the sweat from his forehead. Ignoring the fight that had just taken place here, it seems that he cares more about animals than about people.

Hearing this, Liu Jizhen and Zhang Liang both breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone has a common friendship to resist the enemy, if you don't go out of the grassland, you will first get up with yourself, and this trip will be a little worthless.

"Sweaty horses have large skeletons and thick flesh. If it was a regular horse, it would have been abolished a long time ago! Wu Heimin glanced at Li Xu and muttered in a low voice.

Li Xu heard it and smiled slightly, as if he heard the autumn breeze. No matter what others say, what Xu Dayan has done for himself cannot be erased. Liu Hongji said well, "The friendship of friends is precious in a letter." "Although today's fight was a little reckless, in the recklessness, people realized a crucial truth in life.

Alcoholic note: For Liu Hongji's early deeds, see "Book of Tang", the original text is: Liu Hongji, a native of Chiyang, Yongzhou. Less to make up for the right servant of Sui. At the end of the great cause, from the conquest of Liao, the lack of money, the line and Fenyin, the later period and punishment, so he and his subordinate vertebral cattle broke the law, and the sarcastic officials were arrested. For more than a year, in order to redeem himself, because of his death, he stole horses and provided for himself. ......

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!