Dajing, the autumn of the nineteenth year of Yong'an, Nanyang City, Yanzhou.

In late autumn, not only is the north frosty, but the south is also bleak and slaughtered. Under the thick night, a big mountain is pressed at the intersection of only ten miles away from Nanyang City, the lights on the mountain are bright, like the eyes of the giant beast shocking the comings and goings, reflecting the left side of a river all red, and at the foot of the mountain on all sides, the officers and soldiers holding the fire saber guard the key rush, the mountain is surrounded by a flood, a rough count, about thousands of hundreds, for this sparsely populated southern town, it is already a big battle that has poured out of the nest.

The wind blew through the cold, and even the officers and soldiers couldn't help but shrink their necks, but the master who was riding on the horse was sweating profusely, pacing back and forth anxiously, and was almost thrown off by the old horse.

Although Nanyang City is by the mountains and rivers, but there is no moat fortress, this point cui mountain in front of you is the extension of the Yunshan Mountain Range, not towering and tall, it is difficult to be complex in the terrain, the grass and trees on the mountain are not luxuriant, birds and beasts are not rare, except for a few families who hunt and collect medicine for a living, few people go to the mountain.

Until two months ago, a large number of bandits and bandits fled here, occupying the mountains and harming the neighborhood.

The current prefect of Nanyang City is from the capital, what mistakes have been made, offended who is still unknown, to make a good performance in this mediocre place to reinstate the official is estimated to be hopeless, go to office for almost three years and still idle hair, finally came to this group of thieves, the prefect got up from the bed of the concubine in the middle of the night, gathered people to suppress the bandits, but did not expect that there are many practitioners among this gang of bandits, once failed, twice defeated, the third time even the head of the two people died, The clothes of the corpses brought back were scrawled in large letters, saying, "If you don't offend me, I won't offend you."

The audacity of the thief can be seen.

The prefect, who had begun to retreat, was completely silent at this time, and he paid money to compensate the family of the deceased, so he turned a blind eye to this gang of bandits, but fortunately, the thieves were also a little measured, whether they came and went to the business or the people of the county, they only asked for money and did not hurt their lives, and there was never a matter of setting fire and looting down the mountain, and the two sides maintained such a delicate balance until now.

However, if you walk a lot at night, you will always bump into ghosts, and the prefect is still thinking about how to recruit peace with the master, and there is an urgent report from the official - two days ago in the night, a dart team passed by Diancui Mountain and was robbed by bandits.

The trouble is that this is the convoy of the Zhenyuan Dart Bureau, escorting two large boxes of red goods, in the face of the bandits blocking the road and robbing, the dart master can not give in no way, so the two sides fought at night, and finally the strong dragon was difficult to suppress the head snake, the bandit side killed and injured nearly 20 people, and the dart team of 16 people were killed and wiped out.

It stands to reason that this matter is unaware, if the bitter lord is found, the prefect will push four, five or six will also pass, but no one expected, the dart team actually has seventeen people, that survived is the eldest lady of the Zhenyuan Dart Bureau Li Mingke, the first time in his life to go darts, follow the elders to gain some experience, before the case went to the forest alone to relieve his hands, did not want to come back just to bump into the scene of the bandit slaughtering the dart master, hated so much that the eyes were split but not reckless to send to death, the hand pressed the waist knife to hide behind the stone, the face of the thief and the origin of the place to see clearly, after the thief left, Picked up the blood-stained dart flag, walked ten miles to Nanyang City to report to the official, and at the same time sent an urgent letter at the post station to inform the robbery to his home.

Zhenyuan Dart Bureau had the reputation of "the first dart in the world" during the first emperor's years, even if the rivers are declining now, it still has an extraordinary influence among the rivers and lakes, not to mention that Li Mingke privately revealed to the prefect that the two boxes were entrusted by wealthy merchants to be sent to the nobles in the capital.

In this way, the prefect can no longer pretend to be deaf and dumb, and he stubbornly ordered all the men and horses overnight, and even dispatched officers and soldiers to patrol the city, which is bound to take down all this gang of lawless thieves.

There were about 200 of these bandits, many of whom were good and occupied advantageous positions, and the officers and men wanted to enter from the mountain road, but they were attacked by rolling stones and bamboo arrows, and several people were damaged at once, and one of the officers and soldiers was crushed by the rolling stones on his thigh, and others could not save them, so they could only die of pain, and the miserable cries were still heard in their ears, which made everyone present frightened.

Diancui Mountain is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the master can only send troops to surround this place first, and plan to slowly consume it with them, after all, the bandits do not produce, and there are not many wild things on this mountain, or they will face the dilemma of running out of ammunition and food in a few days, and it is better to attack again at that time than to let the officers and soldiers come forward to die now.

However, the government can wait, but Li Mingke can't.

She is the eldest lady of the Zhenyuan Dart Bureau, there are many close elders in the dart team, the murder happened in front of her eyes, although she resisted the impulse for revenge, it was inevitable that she would not be able to sleep and eat afterwards, seeing that the news had not yet been transmitted back from the rudder, and the government could not attack it for a long time, Li Mingke only felt anxious, lying on the bed tossing and turning, and finally got up and went to walk on the street.

At this time, the second watch has passed, although there is no curfew in Dajing, at this time, only the wine shop and gambling hall are still brightly lit, Li Mingke is dressed in black and tied with white linen around his waist, and he is like a wandering soul on the long street under the shadow of the lights. At this moment, there was a sudden noise in front of him, Li Mingke looked up, and saw a circle of people outside the door of the gambling house, the innermost was a middle-aged man with a hippie smile and a drunken woman, and there were four or five gambling house thugs in short clothes standing next to them.

Li Mingke listened casually, it turned out that this woman's name was Du Sanniang, widowed in her early years, five years ago she took her son to settle in Nanyang City, opened a bun shop to make a living, she has good skills, life should be passable, but I don't know where to get into gambling, it is a famous gambling stick in the city, this time I drank too much wine and met a hard stubble from other places, and lost fifty taels of silver in gambling, and now she can't lose money, and the winner and the gambling house are not willing to give up, only detain her, and send someone to her house to get money.

Knowing the cause and effect, Li Mingke also lost his nosy mind, and was about to take a detour to leave, the servant who went to get the money had already returned with a half-grown teenager, she fixed her eyes, this Du Sanniang's son looked only twelve or thirteen years old, thin figure, delicate eyebrows, although he was wearing coarse linen clothes, but there were no patches and dirt, there was a kind of bookish air of a reader, not like a child who could be raised by a rotten gambler.

Fifty taels of silver, the orphans and widows who sell buns to make a living naturally can't take it out, the young man hurriedly rummaged through the house and only took out twenty taels, is bowing his head for his mother and pleading, hoping that the gambling house can be graced for some time, and it is not a big deal in normal times, but the middle-aged man who is a creditor is not good at stubble, as soon as he heard that the money is not enough, he immediately said in a strange manner: "Master, I will leave here in two days to do business, where is the time to give you grace, if you delay again and again, won't it make me lose both people and money?" ”

The young man was a little embarrassed, and said in a low voice: "I will not owe you money, give me a day or two, and borrow it to repay you." ”

"Master Ben lacks your money?" The middle-aged man snorted from his nostrils, "All in all, either pay the money and leave now, or ......"

After a pause, he rolled his eyes to look at Du Sanniang's still charming face, and his smile took on a bit of disgusting obscenity: "Or, let your mother accompany me for two days, and write off thirty taels of silver." ”

Du Sanniang is in her thirties this year, but she looks very good-looking, and she is busy coming and going on weekdays and does not see her figure out of shape, compared to those big girls and little daughters-in-law, she is not bad at all, and she is not less eye-catching in Nanyang City, and now she is drunk again, her pale face is flushed, and she seems to be coated with rouge.

As soon as the middle-aged man said this, the gamblers and idlers around him laughed, and someone stretched out his unruly hand to touch Du Sanniang, and was pushed away by the young man, he protected Du Sanniang behind him, and looked at these people vigilantly, like a little wolf dog guarding the door, but unfortunately after all, he was young, and his fists were hard to beat with four hands, and he was quickly pulled away, and the shout that had just come out was blocked back by rags.

Li Mingke finally couldn't stand it anymore.

The middle-aged man had already taken Du Sanniang in his arms, pouting and about to kiss, but his lips touched not warm nephrite, but an unsheathed knife, before he could react, the scabbard was like a slap in his face, directly knocking the person back a few steps, Du Sanniang was also in Li Mingke's hands, but he hadn't sobered up yet, standing softly, muttering a few nonsense from time to time.

"Fifty taels of silver, I'll give it to you." Li Mingke took out a silver ticket from his waist cover, lost it without looking at it, and in front of everyone, the light and thin paper flew two feet and fell straight into the hands of the middle-aged man.

She is a foreigner, although the matter between the Zhenyuan Dart Bureau and the Cuishan bandits has been full of trouble in the city, but the people don't know that this girl is Miss Li, and they only see the three-inch long knife in her hand, and the cold light is like a scorpion tail sting hurts people's eyes.

The people in the market have never been entangled with these Jianghu people who lick blood from the knife edge, and the people who watched the excitement immediately retreated, and the gambling house didn't want to make a lot of trouble, seeing that Li Mingke was about to come out, he hurriedly persuaded the ugly middle-aged man: "Master Lu, that woman is already a half-old, you take back the fifty taels of silver and go to Yihong Courtyard to find a young and beautiful girl who can come to trouble, isn't it better than her?" I have some friendship with the old bustard, and as long as you pass, I will serve you comfortably, you see......"

The middle-aged man known as "Master Lu" was obviously a little reluctant, not for Du Sanniang's complexion, but it was not easy to swallow for a breath, but although Li Mingke was young and not weak, he was now blocking the mother and son behind him, his face was like frost, and it was even more terrifying than the blade, so he swallowed all the curses he was about to export, took the silver ticket and scolded and left.

There was no excitement to see, the street was soon empty, Li Mingke also put the knife into the sheath, seeing that Du Sanniang was still drunk, his brows were slightly wrinkled, and he said to the young man: "The matter is over, take your mother home, be careful on the road." ”

"Thank you for your help!" The young man supported Du Sanniang with his shoulder, and made a nondescript fist salute, his face was confused, "I ...... the fifty taels of silver."

Fifty taels of silver is a drop in the bucket for Li Mingke, and she waved her hand: "You don't have to pay it back, let your mother restrain herself in the future, and live a good life." ”

"The grace of a drop of water is reciprocated, where can it be easily calculated." The young man hesitated for a moment, then looked up at Li Mingke, "Dare to ask the woman if she can give my mother and son a ride, when I get home, there will be a gift, it is not a valuable thing, count it as my heart, please accept it." ”

Li Mingke wanted to refuse, but after thinking about it, he was worried that Master Lu would turn around and find trouble, so he simply agreed.

Du Sanniang's family lives in Lihua Lane in the south of the city, not too far from this gambling house, and soon arrived, the young man settled his mother, first poured a bowl of tea for Li Mingke, and then went into the house to rummage for a while, and soon walked out with a roll of drawing paper.

Li Mingke thought that he was going to give himself a calligraphy and painting, but he didn't expect it to be a map of Cuishan when he spread it out!

The paper had been yellowed, apparently a few years old, and the painting skills were obviously a little clumsy, but the lines were clearly marked, a little more detailed than what she had seen in the government, and there were many mountain paths and trails that were not known to outsiders.

"You ......"

"My surname is Xue, my name is Hongbi, and I would like to thank Miss Li for her kindness in relieving the siege." The young man saluted her seriously this time, "I have nothing to repay for saving my mother, but to add a helping hand to your revenge." ”

Li Mingke's heart skipped a beat, and his right hand subconsciously pressed the handle of the knife: "Do you know who I am?" ”

Xue Hongbi showed a somewhat sly smile: "No one in Nanyang City knows about Diancui Mountain, and the only young woman who has a saber at this juncture is Miss Li, those people didn't recognize it just now, but they read less books, and their brains didn't turn fast enough." ”

He is not very old, and his words are so gentle that Rao is Li Mingke is full of sorrow, and he can't help but be amused.

She picked up the map and looked at it carefully, and raised an eyebrow: "You drew it yourself?" ”

"It was my husband's, his old man loves landscapes, the landforms around Nanyang City are all seen in his eyes and remembered in his heart, I am an idle skin, I used to be full of mountains and wilderness, I know more than others." Xue Hongbi knew that she still had doubts in her heart, so she replied carefully and carefully, "I heard that the officers and soldiers suppressed the bandits today but couldn't attack them for a long time, what are your plans?" ”

Li Mingke put away the map, shook his head and said: "That gang of thieves is powerful, and the bandit leader has good martial arts, I originally wanted to go up the mountain in Tianming to explore the truth, but now I don't have to waste my efforts if I get your map, I can only wait for the elders in the family." ”

"That's the case......" Xue Hongbi hesitated for a long time, "Miss Li, I don't know whether to say something or not." ”

Li Mingke is most annoyed by the problem of squirming and pinching of readers: "There is something to say directly." ”

"If you want revenge, I'm afraid you can't wait any longer." Xue Hongbi looked up at her, "If I guessed correctly, those bandit leaders on Diancui Mountain will definitely escape tomorrow night at the latest, and even if you go all over the cottage, you can only catch those scattered sand minions, and the culprits have already fled." ”

Li Mingke was taken aback: "What did you say?" ”

"Those mountain bandits are originally a gang of rogues, and the brotherhood may have some righteousness, but now there is a big disaster, first there are officers and soldiers surrounding the mountain, and then there is a Zhenyuan Dart Bureau to collect blood debts, and the green mountain will undoubtedly be broken, so that the stubborn resistance will become a battle of trapped beasts, and it is their broad road to fly separately when the disaster comes."

"There are more than 200 thieves, and the officers and soldiers do not withdraw day and night, how can they escape?"

"Therefore, only those few bandit leaders can escape." After a pause, Xue Hongbi asked Li Mingke, "Dare to ask the eldest lady, how many darts were robbed and how much was it worth?" ”

Li Mingke was silent for a moment, and finally replied: "Two boxes of red goods, worth 10,000 taels." ”

"That's right." The corners of Xue Hongbi's lips hooked, "These thieves are not only the bandits, most of them are farmers, and now they are in trouble with the Zhenyuan Dart Bureau, even if they are lucky enough to escape, it is impossible to make a comeback in the future, and if the two boxes of goods are distributed to the cottage, each person will only get a star and a half, if you are the bandit, how to choose?" In my opinion, while the officers and soldiers surrounded the mountain and the bandits were tired of coping, several bandit leaders would inevitably share the spoils privately, and then abandon the mountain and flee. ”

Li Mingke's gaze fell on several hidden and dangerous roads specially marked on the map, and the back of the hand holding the knife was bruised.

Yes, if she wants to take revenge, she only has one day and one night.

Xue Hongbi said all this, seeing Li Mingke put away the map, he knew his decision in his heart, so he suggested: "I know that the eldest lady is not afraid of thieves, but after all, it is their territory, you are not good alone, it is better to ......"

He stood on tiptoe and whispered in Li Mingke's ear, the gloom in the latter's eyes gradually dissipated, but the eyes looking at the young man gradually dimmed, and he could no longer treat him as a child.

“…… Good. Li Mingke raised a finger and said cautiously to Xue Hongbi, "As long as I can take revenge, the Zhenyuan Dart Bureau owes you a favor, and if I ask for something in the future, I will never refuse!" ”