The end of June and the beginning of July in the lunar calendar is the hottest time of the year, and the south of the Yangtze River is even hotter and humid. In such weather, pedestrians on the road generally choose to hurry up in the early morning or evening, and at noon, when the temperature is at its highest, everyone either finds a tea shop inn to rest, or burrows into the woods to escape the scorching sun overhead. But at noon on the second day of the seventh month of the seventh lunar month of the tenth year of Xiande, there was a group of travelers who still walked on the official road from Liling to Changsha Mansion despite the scorching sun.

The size of this hurried procession was not large, and two ox carts and seven or eight servants in green clothes and hats were all of it. Although the scorching sun made the servants sweat and everyone was soaked, it did not stop them from moving forward. And on the bullock cart covered with light gauze, although Liu Pinglan, the owner of this team, did not have to measure Changsha step by step with her feet like the domestic servants outside the car, and there were personal maids next to her who kept fanning her fans, but the steamer-like carriage and anxious mood still made her sweaty, and her clothes were sticky and wet on her body, which was very uncomfortable.

The torment of the high temperature and scorching heat and the hardships of the journey from Nanchang made Liu Pinglan's resentment even stronger, and she couldn't wait to cramp and eat the bastard Jiangnan lord Li Yu who made her in such a situation. It was this fearless and faint king who fell for the counter-plot of the Zhou State that even a fool could see the flaws, and gave his uncle Lin Renzhao to death without asking questions, and sent all his uncle's wives and children to the distant Qianzhou. If it weren't for the envoy who had always cherished his aunt's message, who lied that he was just a relative who lived in the mansion temporarily, and secretly stuffed a lot of gold and jewels to the general of the forbidden army who was in charge of raiding the house, so that he could leave the Lin Mansion smoothly with a few maids, servants and servants who were usually responsible for serving him, as well as a lot of money, I am afraid that now he would not be in a hurry to Langzhou, but on the road to exile Qianzhou. Moreover, it was precisely because of the murder of his uncle that when he rushed to the house of his future father-in-law, who was the assassin of Yuanzhou, to seek refuge regardless of his face, what he got was not comfort and protection, but the cold faces of his fiancé and his parents, the documents of divorce, and the ruthless decision to inform the court that he and his uncle were close relatives, so as not to implicate his family in the future. Fortunately, his old housekeeper overheard the other party's conversation, which allowed him and the people around him to take advantage of the opportunity of the other party's family going out to a banquet to escape from Yuanzhou City and escape the catastrophe.

It's just that escaping from Yuanzhou City is only a temporary safe, and I think that the Yuanzhou Assassin Shi family will not give up after finding out that they have escaped, and they will inevitably send someone to chase after them. Thinking that he would have to live in exile in the future, standing outside Yuanzhou City and looking around blankly, he couldn't help but burst into tears when he didn't know where to go. In the end, it was only under the reminder of the old housekeeper that he remembered that he had a distant cousin in Langzhou - if he hadn't thought that he would have lived better in the Lin Mansion, after his parents died, this distant cousin would have taken him to live in Langzhou. Although the last time I contacted this distant cousin named Liu Houpu was more than a year ago, I don't know if the other party, as the Wuping military magistrate, avoided the Langzhou Rebellion and whether he continued to live in Langzhou City, but now that he is desperate, he has no choice but to try his luck there. Even if he can't find that distant cousin, Hunan has already escaped from the jurisdiction of the Tang State, and he no longer has to be afraid of being hunted down. With the gold and silver he carried, it was enough for his master and servant to settle down in Langzhou City and do some small business to make a living. It is precisely the hope that they can see their relatives as soon as possible and hope to settle down as soon as possible, so Liu Pinglan and his party will be in such a hurry, and they don't care about the hot sun at noon, just hope to be able to arrive in Changsha as soon as possible, so that they don't have to walk on their feet as much as they are now, but take a boat instead, enter Dongting Lake along the Xiangshui River, and then go up the Shuoyuan River to Langzhou.

In the evening, the weather was much cooler than at noon, and the pace of the people gradually quickened so that they could arrive at a village ten miles away before dark. According to the information I heard in the previous town store, the village in front of it was to prevent bandits, and after dark, the gate of the village would be closed, the suspension bridge would be pulled, and no one would be allowed to enter the village. If you can't get there before dark, you'll have to sleep in the wilderness.

Just as Liu Pinglan's master and servant and his party were hurrying up, a chirp suddenly rose into the air in the woods on the side of the road, followed by a loud gong, and a sentry of men and horses jumped out of the woods, blocking their way - someone blocked the road and robbed. Although the sentry on the opposite side has neither a neat formation nor a majestic momentum, the clothes on their bodies are also varied, and there is no uniform style. But the bright long knives, straight spears, and several stiff bows they held in their hands would not kill people, pierce them, or shoot them because of their lack of discipline and momentum. It is said that the servants on his side only have two long knives and a few short sticks to defend themselves, and even if the eight servants each have a long knife, it is impossible for them to be the opponent of the sixty or seventy strong men on the other side.

Although he is at an absolute disadvantage, most of the family members arranged by Mrs. Lin for Liu Pinglan this time are elite soldiers who have followed Lin Renzhao to fight in the south and the north, and the sea of corpses and blood. Although they all looked full of vicissitudes and were in their thirties and forties, they were real warriors, and when they really fought each other, they were far stronger than those who had never been on the battlefield or killed anyone, and it was not their style to abandon their weapons and surrender without fighting. Therefore, as soon as the strong talents on this side appeared, the eight family members over there had already protected the two ox carts with their weapons. The old butler stepped forward and negotiated with the strongman who was blocking the way, hoping to send some money to buy a road for his own group. After all, although the servants of the family did not spare their lives, the girl Liu in the car could never be damaged here. Therefore, if he can break the fortune and avoid disaster, the old butler is still unwilling to fight to the death with the robbers on the other side.

Maybe he was not very satisfied with the old housekeeper's suggestion to use the property worth 500 guan as the money to buy the road, or maybe he felt that he had the chance to win on his side, and it was effortless to get all the other party's property, and the other party only gave 500 yuan was too cheap, so the leader of this team of strongmen did not accept the old housekeeper's suggestion, and insisted on asking Liu Pinglan and his party to leave all their belongings, so that they could let them live. Otherwise, he will "cut one by one, kill or bury".

Since the negotiation failed, the old butler stopped entangling with the other party, returned to his own team, took a short stick from the hand of a housekeeper, and prepared to fight to the death with the strongman opposite.

Just when the leader of the strongman in the way raised the long knife in his hand and was about to order his subordinates to attack, he heard the bowstring in the woods behind the strongman sound, and a sharp arrow shot out, hitting the neck of the strongman leader, and cutting off the word "kill" that he was about to shout. Immediately after, without waiting for the other strongmen to react, seven or eight sharp arrows galloped out of the woods, knocking down all the archers among the strongmen, and removing the threat of the opponent's long-range weapons in an instant. Immediately, a woman's coquettish voice came from the woods: "Bold thieves, in broad daylight, dare to block the road and rob, aren't you afraid of being thundered by the sky?" ”

After speaking, a woman in white with a gorgeous appearance and a long knife walked out of the woods slowly. Behind her, there were more than twenty sturdy men armed with long knives or bows and arrows.