"What do you mean by the twenty-ninth brother......" Xu Shaoan asked with some puzzlement.

Cheng Fei pondered the words and explained: "Starling, it's not that brothers are too careful. It's just that, according to what Brother Twenty-Seven said before, that Wednesday Lang was on the night of March 11 of the lunar calendar, when Cao Jiyun sent troops to raid the secret stronghold of the 'Dark Feather' Gu'an Branch, in order to cover the Twenty-seventh Brother, Zhong Liai's envoy, the members of the 'Dark Feather' Gu'an Branch, and the twenty-seventh brother and their entourage, he led a group of personal guards and the guards of the 'Dark Feather' Gu'an Branch to conduct a life-and-death attack with the attacking Khitans. Zuihou, lost in a series of explosions and raging fires. After the twenty-seventh brother arrived at the safe area, he also sent spies to sneak back to Gu'an City to inquire about the situation in the city and the whereabouts of Zhou Lang and others, but in addition to learning that the secret stronghold of 'Dark Feather' had been burned to ruins, they did not get any clues about Zhou Lang and others. So much so that at that time, Brother Twenty-Seven thought that Zhou Lang and the others had already died in their duties, and he was still very uncomfortable in his heart.

But now, this Wednesday Lang, who was originally thought to be dead, suddenly appeared outside the starling's camp, and there is a new face that our guards are not familiar with, don't you think this matter is a little strange, starling? After all, eight days have passed from the eleventh day of the third month of the lunar calendar to today, and many things can happen in eight days. ”

"Old Twenty-Nine, what do you mean, this Wednesday Lang may have taken refuge in the Khitans, and I came to see my brother this time because I was plotting against me?" Xu Shaoan somewhat understood what Cheng Fei meant. But he didn't believe Cheng Fei's assumption very much, and said: "But this Wednesday Lang is a personal guard who has been with Lao Twenty-seven for several years, if it comes to personal feelings, I am afraid that if he wants him to die for Lao Twenty-seven, he will rush forward without hesitation." Besides, his family is under the control of our brother at this time, brother, I really can't think of a reason why this Wednesday Lang betrayed our brother and went to Cao Jiyun, a Khitan who has no hope. ”

Cheng Fei hurriedly waved his hand when he heard this, and said, "Brother, you misunderstood what your brother meant. Brother doesn't mean that this Wednesday Lang must have voted for the Khitans, brother, I mean that although this heart of harm is not possible, this heart of defense is also indispensable. Actually, from the bottom of my heart, brother, I don't believe that Zhou Lang would betray our brother to join the Khitans, but before figuring out the ins and outs of his eight days, we should be cautious. After all, this is the battlefield of confrontation between the two countries, and many things are not only related to our brothers, but also to tens of thousands of soldiers. ”

Xu Shaoan nodded after hearing this, and said, "It's still the old twenty-nine who you think about it thoroughly." Brother, I just boasted that after several years of experience in the Later Zhou court, I have become much more cautious and cautious, and I always leave room for myself in words and deeds. As a result, once this involves his own affairs, he is still so irrational and not calm. ”

After speaking, Xu Shaoan turned to the guards who had been waiting there again, and ordered: "You go and bring Zhou Lang, just say that the master has something to ask." As for his companion with a new face, he was invited to rest in the tent where he was staying, and then he would wait for him to finish asking Zhou Lang. ”

Just when the guards were about to leave, Xu Shaoan added another sentence seemingly unintentionally: "Wednesday Lang's companion is probably also his good friend, you must be 'hospitable', you must always be by his side, don't let people say that we don't understand hospitality and neglect the guests." ”

The guard was stunned at first when he heard this, but immediately reacted to the meaning of Xu Shao'an's words, and immediately nodded again, and then turned around and went out.

The guards didn't have much time to go out, so they led Wednesday Lang, dressed as a farmer, back to the tent. Although Xu Shao'an has been stationed in Kaifeng for the past two years, Zhou Zhou Lang has been a personal guard for many years, and he is quite familiar with the "Qingyuan" brothers - correspondingly, Xu and Cheng have also served in the security department for a long time before, and they also have some understanding of Zhou Lang, a personal guard who is very appreciated by Wang Feng, and they can also recognize it when they meet. Therefore, as soon as he entered the big tent, Zhou Lang recognized Xu Shaoan and Cheng Fei, and immediately took off his clothes and knelt down, Xiangshang kowtowed: "Zhou Lang, the leader of the third squad of the first row of the subordinate guards, has seen the eighth master and the twenty-ninth master. ”

And Xu Shao'an and Cheng Fei, who were sure that it was Wednesday Lang who was kneeling in front of them, accepted his salute calmly, and then Xu Shao'an called him up and said, "Sure enough, it's San Lang." When the guards came to report the time, I still didn't believe it. ”,

"yes." Cheng Fei answered next to him, "A few days ago, Brother Twenty-Seven sent a message, saying that San Lang led a group of personal guards and the guards of the 'Dark Feather' Gu'an Branch to withdraw from Gu'an City in order to protect them safely, and contend with hundreds of Khitan soldiers, and finally all of them pulled grenades and died with the enemy. For this reason, he also asked me and Starling to go to the secret stronghold of the 'Dark Feather' Gu'an Branch after the city was broken, hoping to find your bones, so that you can be buried in peace. ”

When Zhou Lang heard that Wang Feng valued himself so much, he couldn't help but be moved, and said: "My subordinate is just an ordinary personal guard, but I can be so appreciated by the twenty-seventh master, and my subordinate really died in Gu'an City this time, and I have no regrets in this life." ”

After a few words of encouragement, Cheng Fei struck while the iron was hot and asked: "San Lang, tell me how you escaped from the siege of the Khitans this time, and in addition to you, did the other guards and guards also escape together?" ”

When Zhou Lang saw this, he quickly cleaned up his mood, sorted out his thoughts, and replied: "Eighth Master, Twenty-ninth Master, that day, the subordinates and others fought fiercely with the Khitans for a while, and estimated that the Twenty-seventh Master had already gone out of the tunnel, so after repelling another attack by the Khitans, they began to make preparations for safe evacuation. The subordinates were divided into two groups, and after destroying all possible evidence of their identities, the 'Darkfeather' guards piled up flammable materials and poured fire oil on all the rooms of the secret stronghold. His subordinates and his guards gathered all the grenades and packets of explosives on their bodies, made a large mine, and led it to the gate of the secret stronghold. Then, taking advantage of the gap between the two attacks of the Khitans, all of them retreated into the tunnel.

Almost at the same time as their subordinates retreated into the tunnel, the Khitans also killed in front of the gate of the secret stronghold. As a result, when they broke into the door, they naturally detonated the treacherous thunder behind the door. With the huge explosion that was regarded by the Twenty-seventh Master as his subordinates and the enemy, not only were the dozens of Khitan soldiers who rushed into the gate and near the gate to pieces, but several houses near the gate were also blown up. At the same time, the explosion also ignited those things that had been prepared to ignite the fire, so the entire secret stronghold suddenly turned into a sea of fire. This fire not only burned down the secret stronghold, leaving no clues for the Khitans to investigate the owner of the house, but also successfully covered the entrance to the tunnel, so that the subordinates and others had no worries about evacuation.

As for the casualties, a total of eighteen people, including the outposts on the periphery of 'Dark Feather', participated in blocking the Khitans besieging the secret stronghold. Among them, except for a 'dark feather''s outer outpost and a 'dark feather' guard, sixteen people, including their subordinates, successfully escaped and withdrew from Gu'an City. However, seven of the 16 people who escaped were injured to varying degrees. ”

"Now that you are out of danger, why don't you just return to the 'Cool Garden' and run to the lord's camp?" Xu Shaoan continued to ask after figuring out how Zhou Lang and the others were able to successfully escape from Gu'an City.

Xu Shao'an's question was logical, and Zhou Lang did not doubt it, and replied: "Eighth master, twenty-ninth master." After his subordinates withdrew from the tunnel, they were afraid that the Khitan soldiers, who had not caught anyone, would send people out of the city to search, so they went to his parents' house outside the city to take refuge under the guidance of a 'dark feather' guard.

The subordinates and others originally planned to take refuge in that small village only three or five miles away from Gu'an City for a day or two, and then return to the 'Liangyuan' after judging the movements of the Khitans. Unexpectedly, two of the more seriously injured companions worsened and delayed their departure. After the two of them were stabilized, the Zhou army had already approached the city, and the entire Gu'an City had become a battlefield, and the scouts and scouts of the Zhou and Liao sides were everywhere, considering that they might encounter unnecessary trouble on the road at this time, so their subordinates had to temporarily stay in the village.

Originally, the subordinates were ready to wait for the war to pass and return directly to the 'Cool Garden'. But later it was discovered that the Zhou army was using firearms, and his subordinates only then knew that there was a 'Shenji Army' under the command of the Eighth Master in the Zhou army participating in the siege. Moreover, judging from the ferocity of the use of firearms, the subordinates guessed that it should be the Eighth Master who personally led the main force of the 'Divine Machine Army' here. So, the subordinates changed their original intentions and decided not to go back to the 'Liangyuan' first, but to visit the eighth master and the twenty-ninth master first, and see if the subordinates could work for the eighth and twenty-ninth masters. After all, the subordinates are more familiar with the situation in Gu'an City, especially the guards of 'Dark Feather', who can be called Gu'an's 'head snake', and there are almost no things they don't know about in Gu'an City. ”,

Regarding Wednesday Lang's explanation, Xu Shaoan and Cheng Fei basically agreed. Especially Xu Shao'an, who didn't believe that Zhou Lang would defect to the Khitans from the beginning, nodded again and again after listening to it. He turned his head and exchanged glances with Cheng Fei, and saw that the other party also agreed with Zhou Sanlang's statement, so he said to Zhou Sanlang: "I see, so it is." In order to take care of his seriously injured companions, he did not hesitate to risk being discovered by the Khitans and continued to stay in the small village on the edge of Gu'an City. ”

"The eighth master praised it falsely, his subordinates and seriously injured brothers are robes, and they should live and die together and never give up." Wednesday Lang replied with a solemn expression.

Xu Shao'an nodded again and continued: "It is naturally haode that you can have the intention of serving the master, but this battle of Youyun can be said to be a national war between Zhou and Liao, and the two sides of the confrontation are as few as 10,000 people, and as many as more than 100,000 people, whether you participate in the war or not will not have any impact on the battle situation." As for the situation in the city, before the war, the 'Dark Feather' Gu'an Branch had already made a detailed report, and the master would not be in the dark after entering the city. Therefore, in Yiye's opinion, instead of staying here, it is better to return to the 'Cool Garden' as soon as possible. First, the twenty-seventh brother has been thinking about you, and you can wait to go back so that he can feel at ease. Second, the 'Flying Dragon Army' and the 'Security Army' have already begun to act, and when you return to the twenty-seventh brother and participate in the action with him, you can also earn a credit, which is better than spending half a day of effort here but not getting any reward. Moreover, now the Liao army in Gu'an City is already shrinking into the city under the attack of our army, and does not dare to take the initiative to leave the city, so there should be no obstacle to leaving at this time. ”

What Xu Shao'an said was reasonable, and Zhou Lang also felt that this was the case when he heard it, nodded again and again, bowed to Xu Shao'an again, and said: "The eighth master thinks so much about his subordinates, and his subordinates are grateful. It's just that although the two seriously injured companions will not worry about their lives for the time being, it is absolutely impossible for them to travel long distances back to the 'Cool Garden'. The subordinates want to let the other brothers go back first, and the 'dark feather' guard who is in the village with his subordinates will stay to take care of them for the time being, and then go back with them when their injuries are better and they can move, I don't know if the eighth master and the twenty-ninth master can agree. ”

Cheng Fei heard the words and said: "San Lang would rather give up the opportunity to make a meritorious career than stay and take care of his injured brother, which really makes me admire." According to the master, it is better to do this, so you and the others will send the two seriously injured brothers to the lord's camp, and the master will arrange for the soldiers in the camp to take care of them, and you will return to the 'cool garden'. In this way, it will not only help the injured brothers to heal as soon as possible, but will not affect your participation in the war and make meritorious contributions, what does Saburo think? ”

"That's good." Wednesday Lang happily replied, "The injured brothers of the subordinate generation have thanked the eighth master and the twenty-ninth master. With that, Wednesday Lang knelt on the ground again and bowed to Xu and Cheng to thank them.

Xu and Cheng hurriedly asked him to get up, and instructed the leader of his personal guards to take a few personal guards and Lang Zhong in the camp back to the small village with Zhou Lang, convey the meaning of Xu and Cheng to the guards and guards who were temporarily sheltering there, and carry the two brothers who were seriously injured back to the camp for treatment and care.

Wednesday Lang stood up and followed the leader of the guards out of the tent with joy. When he was about to arrive at the tent door, Zhou Zhou Lang stopped as if he remembered something, turned around, and said to Xu and Cheng: "Eighth master, twenty-ninth master, my subordinates suddenly thought of a good way to break the city quickly, I don't know if to talk about it." ”