The night is deep, the wind is gradually rising, and the deep twilight renders the entire canopy overhead a mysterious black, and the stars the size of rice grains are dotted on it, giving people a unique sense of tranquility and beauty.

Under this gloomy night, the earth has also gathered its own vitality of the day, on the edge of this vast and vast sea of sand, facing the wind and sand smashed from the north, standing alone in a small city that is not good-looking, the city that is tall on all sides, in the night, also shows a kind of silent black, there is no other building around the small city, just like a reef in the sea, beating against the waves, the sea breeze blowing, leaving the world independent, lonely and lonely, but there is an indescribable sense of tenacity.

Located in the south of Huangsha County, the county government office occupies a small area, as the center of the entire city, but there is no far away that kind of bright lights, Ambilight, compared to the bustle of the market there, here is simply like a piece of land as quiet and quiet.

The main gate of the county government, because the workers have been re-found to renovate the damaged part, the current building is extremely simple and atmospheric, on both sides of the eaves, there is a statue of a kiss, called the swallowing beast, can extinguish the fire and eliminate the disaster, many large households, will also decorate the eaves with this kind of sacred beast, all in order to pray for the blessing of the gods, just to have a peace of mind.

Just next to the drum that had been re-sewn, there were four soldiers with spears in their hands as guards, among the four, there were both middle-aged people who were obviously no longer young, and there were also sturdy young men who had just come of age, without exception, all of them looked resolute and did not squint, just standing there, they were more upright than the spears in their hands, and their military demeanor was fully displayed.

Not only these four people, but also the front and back doors of the entire county government, including the surrounding areas, there are also six teams with a total of more than 100 people to patrol and guard all night, interspersed back and forth, there is no gap, in order to prevent any unknown person from secretly climbing over the wall and entering the hospital, such a strong defense force, this is more than a hundred times stronger than when the people of the county government were attacked and assassinated by the masters of the horse bandits at night.

In this way, it can be regarded as having the appearance of a county king's mansion.

The surroundings are silent, even the insects are very rare, the sun shines down in the northwest during the day, the heat is unbearable, the north wind blows at night, the cold is like winter, there are not many insects that can survive and reproduce in this extreme environment.

Suddenly, in the distance, there was a very obvious sound of footsteps, which was coming slowly.

This is obviously someone who is here, after all, it is the middle of the night, where will there be uninteresting people who are bold enough to dare to wander around the county government, and die?

In addition, the sound came from far and near, and the other party was obviously walking towards this side without hesitation, and the four soldiers who were standing guard at the door instantly lifted their spirits, as if the clay statues suddenly came to life, and looked over there in unison.

Among these four people, the one who is already middle-aged in terms of age is the best of the horse bandits who were escorted by Xiong Zhenjun after being captured in the previous battle in the mine, not only is his martial arts not weak, but also after being recruited and surrendered by Lu Yi, his loyalty is also the most top-notch among them, otherwise he would not be able to serve as one of the four guards at the main gate.

As for the other three, one is the descendants of the Rakshasa clan who have migrated from the city for a long time, and the other two are ordinary locals of Huangsha County, because they are all very loyal, coupled with hard training, and their abilities are extraordinary, so they were all strongly recommended by Zhu Dachun.

The four of them knew their tasks, and they didn't dare to slack off, and after glancing at each other, they didn't even need to say anything more, just made eye contact with each other a few times, and immediately two of them understood, holding spears in both hands, facing forward, step by step, cautiously meeting them, while the other two stood in place, staring intently at the backs of their companions in the past, ready at any time, and if something was wrong, they immediately ran to sound the drum that could be used as an alarm for the time being.

Hearing the sound of footsteps in the distance, they were almost approaching, the two soldiers frowned, tightened the spear in their hands, hesitated for a moment, couldn't hold back any longer, and immediately shouted softly to the opposite side: "Stop!

The black shadow in the distance suddenly stepped one of his feet into the bright circle of light emitted by the two lanterns hanging high at the main gate, and then, the whole person walked in from the dark and thick night, and then the light over there could finally see his face.

Ma Mingze inevitably had a misunderstanding, and hurriedly hugged his fists to report his identity and said: "It's me!

When the four soldiers heard this, they looked at each other for a few breaths, and for a moment they could distinguish the sounds, until they were sure that each other was correct from each other's eyes, and quickly reversed the head of the gun, leaving only one alone just in case, and the other three came up together.

Even fools know that if you want to climb up and get a higher status and power, there are two things that are the most important, one is seniority, and the other is ability, and Ma Mingze's qualifications naturally don't need to be said, this is the first group of people to follow the prince, even if the status in the mansion is not too high for the time being, but where do they ordinary soldiers dare to snub each other.

At the very least, people can see a few adults who are really in power in the city at any time, and how many others can win this honor?

The three of them walked up to the front defenselessly, and just as they were about to open their mouths to compliment, they suddenly walked from behind Ma Mingze coldly, and a person in a black robe walked over.

This person shrouded his whole body under a layer of impermeable black robes, not only the exact identity, but even the most basic men and women could not be seen, which was particularly mysterious.

Seeing that the person had been keeping his head down, he stood quietly behind Ma Mingze, did not move, did not speak to report his identity, between his own duties, one of them hesitated, and finally couldn't help but ask Ma Mingze suspiciously: "Brother Xiaoma, who is this?"

Ma Mingze's expression remained unchanged, but he just hugged his fist at the other party again and explained: "This is tonight's guest in the mansion, I will take him in." ”

The three of them suddenly showed a clear look, it seems that this is the meaning of which adult in the house, they don't doubt him, after all, they are familiar with this young man, they have trained together in the military camp, and these days in the county government, they don't look up and don't look down, and they are familiar with each other's character, besides, the young man is doing things well under the prince, and seeing that the future is bright, how can he do something out of the ordinary?

The three of them immediately said politely: "In this case, with you here, let's rest assured, then there is no need to waste time on checking, but do you need us to escort together?"

When Ma Mingze heard this, he just shook his head slightly, and then said with a smile: "Thank you for your kindness, it's just that the lord of the house has instructed you in advance, and I don't dare to bother you, I will come alone." ”

A few people knew the severity, so they didn't dare to say anything more, nodded lightly, and then directly got out of the way and let go.

Ma Mingze hugged his fists for the third time, and greeted the four of them one by one before saying: "You are loyal, I will say a few kind words to Lord Lu, when the time comes, remember to go to the back door to drink a bowl of ginger soup to warm up your body and then go back to rest, this night is cold, don't freeze your body." ”

The hearts of the four of them were slightly warm, and when they heard that they were going to say good things for them in front of Lord Lu, they couldn't help but have a little joy on their faces, and they hurriedly hunched their waists, waved their hands, and their tones became polite.

"Brother Pony, where are you, this is what we should do. ”

"Brother Xiaoma's kindness, my brothers will keep it in mind, and in the future, you will go to the soup and go to the fire, and you will not give up!"

"Brother Pony, you have to do something, don't delay, please come here!"

"Little Brother Ma, please!"

After being polite to each other and nodding their heads to each other, Ma Mingze hurriedly crossed the threshold of the county government with this mysterious person who had not spoken a word.

When he arrived in the courtyard, there was no one around, only the night breeze blowing, so he grabbed a lantern from the side to illuminate it, carried the lantern, and silently walked in front to lead the way.

The young man stepped on his feet very solidly, and the distance between the front and back was exactly the same, there was no difference, one hand was holding a lantern, the other hand was hanging down, and he did not shake with the pace, and his whole body was full of energy, which showed that he had worked weekdays.

In the dark night, the bright moon faded, and as the moonlight like a thin veil gradually faded, the places where the entire county government was dark suddenly became even darker.

In the empty corridor, quietly, Ma Mingze walked in front with a lantern, and the people behind followed step by step, but even if he had already entered the mansion and there was no one on the road, this person still grabbed the black robe covering his body tightly from the inside with both hands, and walked with his head down, without revealing anything.

After arriving at the county government, the defense force that should be on the surface looks rougher, although because the tax has been raised, the county government has money, so there are lanterns hanging everywhere, but there are very few soldiers standing guard in the house, and occasionally a team of five people will walk by, when they saw that it was him, they did not stop to interrogate anything too much, and they didn't even look at the mysterious person behind them, but just said hello familiarly, and left in a hurry.

The two of them seemed to be dumb like this, and walked to a separate room, Ma Mingze stopped at this time, first inserted the lantern in his hand directly into the shelf next to him, and then stepped forward and knocked lightly on the door three times.

"Knock knock!"

I saw that the lights inside were bright, and people were faintly visible.

Lu Yi quickly responded, and shouted outside without being salty.

"Come in. ”

Ma Mingze turned around at this time, stretched out his hand to the person behind him with a calm face and said, "Please!"

The person who came couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart, hurriedly stepped forward, pushed the door open, and then walked in quickly, Ma Mingze behind closed the door for him with interest, without making a sound, and then turned around, just stood at the gate, and waited.