The sun shone on the almost charred woods, and the occasional leafy tree looked listless and lifeless.

The roe deer leaped through the trees, sometimes running close to the ground, sometimes jumping up the tree, over the top of the tree, and jumping to another tree at great speed. The irregular bumps made Li Xiao's stomach turn upside down, but fortunately, there was not much stomach acid in the stomach, so there was nothing to vomit.

Lao Tie grabbed Li Xiao with one hand and pinched the fur on the neck of the dry mouth deer with the other.

Lao Tie rode his secret mount, and soon arrived outside the south gate of Yuanyang City, Lao Tie carried Li Xiao, jumped off the mount, and said casually: "Zhang'er, go." He casually tore off the belt that bound Li Xiao and let Li Xiao lean against the city wall.

Li Xiao pinched each other's numb hands with his hands, and walked a few steps with his almost unconscious feet, and finally regained the ability to walk on both legs.

After Lao Tie covered his saber with a cloak, he took Li Xiao's arm and said hello to the city gate official, and entered Yuanyang City under the eyes of many guards. The limestone paved streets in the city crisscross vertically and horizontally, and the houses and buildings divided by the streets form a street market for trading, and there are no people in the square market on the periphery of the city, and the more you go inside, the more people there are. Lao Tie was worried that Li Xiao was yelling and screaming, so he glared at him and said, "You, if you speak out and speak, I will knock you out." As he spoke, he pinched Li Xiao's wrist vigorously, Li Xiao grinned in pain, and said in his heart: Hold the grass, how can I use the same method twice.

Li Xiao stomped his feet and said, "What are you bringing me here for?"

Lao Tie turned a deaf ear. The two walked through the streets and alleys and arrived at Xiaonanmenfang. At the entrance of the small south gate, there is a large archway of brick brick painted white ash with a height of 10 meters, and the stone beam on the archway is carved with four strong black characters "small south gate square".

In order to prevent Li Xiao from breaking free, Lao Tie held Li Xiao tightly and walked through the crowd.

After walking for a while, he came to a clean and tidy street, which was paved with gravel, Lao Tie let go of Li Xiao's arm and began to tidy up his clothes.

Li Xiao saw Lao Tie first pull his hair a few times, then straighten his collar, and finally pat his loose clothes and cloak; after finishing it, Lao Tie walked majestically on the gravel paved street, as if he had changed a person, with his head raised and his chest straight, his waist straight, pacing with square steps, and his bearing was extraordinary. Li Xiao couldn't help but think of Lu Xun's words: The slave is the master, and he will never abolish the title of "master".

This fang market is much more prosperous than the Jinniu Town market, and there are many people who have the opportunity to escape. Li Xiao hesitated for a few seconds, and saw Lao Tie stop in front of a mansion with two big black iron gates, the stone lions on both sides held their heads high, and a long upright plaque was hung on the upper part of the big black iron gate, with seven golden characters written on it: "Yuanyang City Merchants Help Zhangfu". Lao Tie was very close to Li Xiao, and Li Xiao had to take a few steps to follow behind Lao Tie.

The door was closed. Lao Tie took a few steps towards the gate, knocked on the black gate three times with a regular "clang, clang, clang", then knocked three times regularly, and finally knocked three more times, and then stopped knocking.

After nine knocks, a frightened eye appeared in the crack of the door, and then there was a tom-tom sound, and the two doors of the big black door were opened one after another, and a little girl of fourteen or fifteen years old came out. The little girl has a pair of big black and white eyes, a white and pink goose egg face, the upper part of the little face is slightly rounded, the lower part is slightly pointed, and the little girl who should be innocent and cute has a very heavy face.

Lao Tie and Li Xiao followed the little girl to the hall where they were entertained, sat down and drank a few sips of tea, and saw two people coming out of the back hall, the first one was very thin and short, wearing a purple robe and white clothes and pants, he was an elderly person, followed by a middle-aged man, very thin and tall, wearing loose gray clothes, similar to Lao Tie's clothes, but missing a gray cloak.

The old man in the purple robe quickly walked up to Lao Tie, saluted and smiled, "Senior Brother Wuji, why did you come early this month." As he spoke, he glanced at Li Xiao a few times.

Lao Tie was originally a native of Tiecheng in the forest, he had never seen his father since he was a child, his mother's surname was Tie, his name was Tieji, and later he changed his name to Linghu Wuji after he apprenticed in the Northern Regions.

Lao Tie returned a salute to the purple-robed old man, pointed at Li Xiao with his eyes, and said very slowly: "Zhang, helper, this, little baby, yes, barracks, want, prisoner." "The old man in the purple robe is the gang leader of the Yuanyang City Merchant Gang.

Elderly people who have little time to go have are very patient. Lao Tie's speech was very slow, but Zhang Yifeng was still able to listen carefully, while the tall and thin man in gray looked very impatient.

Zhang Yifeng said: "The person who is going to be used by the head of the barracks is also a prisoner of the barracks?"

"No...... Know. ”

Zhang Yifeng looked at Li Xiao again, and walked to Li Xiao's side with bad intentions, Li Xiao stood up in a panic, and Zhang Yifeng quickly made a monkey to touch the peach. Li Xiao was extremely ashamed, and said angrily: "Ciao, you are an old immortal, what do you want to do?" The egg-faced girl standing next to her couldn't help laughing, and hurriedly covered her cherry mouth with both hands.

Zhang Yifeng turned a deaf ear to Li Xiao's words, and said to Lao Tie: "Whether it is a prisoner in the barracks or a person who is to be used by the master of the horse, it will be handed over to the master of the horse in the end anyway." ”

Lao Tie continued: "Yesterday, he, escaped, Sun, inspected, let, advanced, sent, come." ”

The tall and thin man in gray said coldly: "Aren't those who run away all going to be killed? I see that he is so thin, why don't you raise him for a few days and bring it again?"

Lao Tie didn't answer.

The thin and tall gray-clothed man's face turned red, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, he squinted at Zhang Yifeng, and when he saw that Zhang Yifeng did not react, he snorted in his nose and smiled at Li: "Follow me." ”

Li Xiao looked at Lao Tie, and when he saw that Lao Tie didn't say anything, he knew that he had to follow.

Li Xiao had a bad feeling in his heart.

Sure enough, Li Xiao was taken to a side room, where the walls around the side room were covered with thick black iron sheets, and only a few small ventilation holes were opened at the very high part of the wall. The interior of the side room is 80 or 90 square meters, and it is divided into four iron cages and an interrogation room with iron bars. Four torches were installed on the walls on both sides of the interrogation room, illuminating the room in a fiery red.

Li Xiao was thrown into a dark and damp iron cage by the man in gray, and he saw that there was already a middle-aged man in the interrogation room, who was lying flat on an iron platform with his limbs tied, and under the light of the torches, he could see that the person was very tall.

Li Xiao found that the side of the person's face facing him had been cut off an ear, an eye had been gouged out, and the nose was still there. At such a distance, Li Xiao could see it, and he himself felt incredible.

The man in gray threw Li Xiao into the iron cage, locked the door of the iron cage, walked to the interrogation room, and casually picked up a sharp knife from the iron plate platform, a bloodstained sharp knife. He casually cut off one of the middle-aged man's fingers.

A long wail came from the mouth of the middle-aged man, who woke up from a coma, agitated and short of breath, he raised his left hand, which had only three fingers left, twisted his head to the left, looked at it with great effort, and cursed: "Linghu is not sick, draft the ancestor." ”