After two blows, Du Qiyi kicked away the opponent, and escaped from the house with a crawl, covered in blood, howling like a pig about to be slaughtered.

A soldier rushed back with the looted belongings on his back, hurriedly threw away his baggage, and raised his knife to slash at the man who had just been chased out. The man turned and fled into the house, and after a while he heard the sound of a clang.

"Hit, kill this bastard." Du Qi grinned, either hateful, or gritted his teeth in pain.

The pro-soldiers did not dare to break in rashly, but just bluffed loudly, attracting a few more bandits. There were so many people that these guys went in cautiously with their swords in their hands. But there was no one in the house anymore, and the man smashed the plank with his axe and fled through the hole with the woman.

"Search, catch that bastard for Lao Tzu, and get it back. Damn*-" Du Qi scolded while asking people to bandage his wounds, "Damn, poor ghost, it's really touchable, incomprehensible." ”

"Yes, General." The soldiers were afraid that Du Qi would be angry, so he accompanied him and said carefully: "The poor ghost is sometimes as well-behaved as a lamb, and when he sees the master, he either runs or hides." As long as you don't hurt them, they'll send women to your side. But maybe sometime the* will come out and play with you. ”

"That must be her man." Another pro-soldier guessed.

"What man, would, would not even want his life for his wife? I think that boy, Ken, must be from her own family, either a brother or a cousin. Du Qi inhaled the cold air and sweated in pain.

There was a chaotic search, the courtyard door and the door of the house were smashed open by the dingguang, and the bandits ransacked with more ferocious actions. But what made Du Qi depressed was that the man who attacked him, along with the woman and the child, was nowhere to be found. Whether he escaped from the village or hid in a secret place, no one can tell.

A fire was lit on the threshing floor, and the bandits gathered around in a hurry, pulling their chains, pulling their ears, and driving the big fat pig over, killing it, and roasting it on the fire. Several old men were forced to bring food and homemade local wine for the Qing soldiers to drink.

smelling the stronger and stronger aroma of meat, they were all elated, but Du Qi was holding his head, lame, gloomy face, drinking stuffy wine, and he didn't know what he was thinking.

"General—" said one of his own soldiers, in a low voice, "when the party has left the village, I will take a few brothers to stop halfway through, and when it is almost dark, I will touch it back, and I will definitely catch the boy and the woman, and let the adults dispose of it." ”

Du Qi nodded, his face softened slightly, and he gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "Damn*, Lao Tzu is going to cut that bastard with a knife, that woman, hmph, I will reward you." ”

"Thank you, General, thank you, General." The pro-soldier was successful, although it had not yet touched the woman's side, but there was a lewd smile on his face.

……………

Did Du Qi really want to ransack all the villages in his territory?

In fact, he's not that stupid. Kicked out of the county seat and forced out of Crossroads Town, he already knew that he was not welcomed.

There is no place to stay here, there is a place to stay here. Du Qi took the small amount of grain and grass materials that Zhou Gui gave him like a charity, and walked out of Crossroads Town with hatred. Either he didn't come back, or he brought the men and horses back, Du Qi had such a thought, so he took the villages closer to the Crossroads Town as the target of looting, in order to maintain the morale of the people and horses, and accumulate money and materials.

In other words, Du Qi did not regard these villages as his own territory, his eyes were on Zhukou, a medium-sized town occupied by Meng Jiucheng, and he envisaged taking Zhukou as the center and then operating the surrounding villages as the territory and foundation for development and growth.

There is naturally a certain amount of truth in this, and the strategy cannot be said to be wrong, but such looting and looting provided Meng Jiucheng with more favorable conditions to meet the enemy, and laid the root of his own demise.

When a village is plagued, there are always people who escape, let alone several villages, and the news of the bandits coming north spread, causing a great deal of panic and chaos.

The fleeing people, in groups of three or five, came north. They didn't know where the bandits would hit and just fled for their lives in the opposite direction.

Over the flat-topped mountain, in a sheltered clearing, the tired people, some lying and some sitting: the young mother lifted the shirt with the cold wind on her back, and the child; The girls waited with their old parents with their bloated burdens in their arms; The old woman whimpered and cried and cursed; From time to time, the men spoke irritably, or looked around in fear.

The soldiers with red scarves around their necks ran around, carrying bundles of firewood and raising fires, so that the hungry and cold people had some warmth.

"Master Bing, can you give me some hot water? The child is very sick. An old woman begged, beside her daughter-in-law, her face blue from the cold, holding a child in her arms, cowering and bowing her head to the fire.

"Don't call it a soldier, we are also ordinary people." Chen Hong glanced at it with pity and said, "Wait a minute, there is not only hot water, but also hot porridge for you to drink!" ”

"Thank you, thank you, Master Bing." The old woman thanked her repeatedly, and asked curiously with some doubts: "I don't know which family you are, so good to people?" ”

"Our leader is General Meng." Chen Hong paused for a moment, and then added: "The big Meng Jiucheng, it turned out that in the Taoist Temple of Zhuqi Mountain, people called him Han Taoist. ”

"Han Taoist?!" The old woman was surprised and surprised, and only nodded again and again after a while, and said, "No wonder you are so kind-hearted, it turns out that she is a monk." Knowing him, very, very that, honest and honest child. Now, have you become a general? ”

A man next to him listened to the conversation, couldn't help but have a flash of his eyes, and asked, "Master Bing, are you here to stop the bandits?" ”

"yes!" Chen Hong nodded vigorously and said, "Our family members are in those villages and towns in the north of the mountain, and we can't let the bandits scourge us." ”

"Can you stop it?" The man didn't dare to show too much suspicion and contempt, but his words revealed this meaning.

Chen Hong looked at this man carefully, his face was displeased, and said: "General Meng, Coach Mu, and Qiao Niangzi are all superb in martial arts, as well as thunder and thunder, and we will definitely be able to stop it." The rebels were defeated, and Ma Si was also destroyed by us, and there was no one left. Besides, for the sake of his family, don't you risk your life to fight the bandits? ”

The man stretched out his thumb and praised: "Good man, a certain family is really ashamed to compare with you!" ”

The girl next to the man was caressing the whiplash wound on her body, and when she heard this, she couldn't help but raise her head and look at Chen Hong carefully.

Compared with what generals and tubas, Meng Jiucheng found that he was still more well-known. Moreover, in this troubled world, the name of foolishness seems to be more secure and easier for the people to trust. As the old woman said, the alternative explanation is to be honest.