Northern part of El Tino on August 5, 567 in the Altino calendar

The scorching sun is blazing, and the scorching sun seems to burn every trace of water on the surface, mercilessly blooming light and heat. Looking at it, the ground in front of you is cracked, the grass and trees are yellow, and the scenery shakes like a mirage under the heat, making people sweat and be a little dizzy.

A team of more than 100 people walked slowly, armor, swords and guns reflected a dazzling silver light, and judging by the color of their uniforms, they were actually Altino's regular army.

"Stop the army and rest!"

Hua Fengmiao, the leader of the hundred cavalry, gave the order to rest, then took the water bag from the adjutant's hand, took a big sip of it freely, stared at the hot air in front of him, and couldn't help frowning, thinking to himself.

(It's true that things haven't been good in the north these months...... ）

Of course, this is just his personal opinion! The situation in the north of Altino in the past six months is definitely not something that can be described as "bad."

Since the middle of June, the rain has not fallen here, the weather should have turned cool, the sun is still hot like a furnace, mercilessly scorching the earth, more than 100 large and small streams, all dry to the bottom, even the largest Guokang River in the north is only shallow and clear, not to mention a large area of withered yellow and dried flowers and trees, as well as crops that are vital to the livelihood of the people.

It is common knowledge that a major drought not seen in hundreds of years will inevitably lead to famine. The scribe of the royal city recorded only a few strokes of this: "In the autumn of the fifth or sixth year of the Altino calendar, the sky did not rain, and there was a great drought. But there is no mention of the tragic situation of people who have been displaced and dying on the side of the road.

Altino had an official warehouse in the local area, and in the event of a famine, it should distribute grain for disaster relief to relieve the people's hunger. However, the head of the Huazi family, who controlled most of the power in the north, only sent someone to lightly say to the representatives of the victims: "I have sent a letter to the central government, hoping that the palace will transfer food as soon as possible to relieve the famine." On the other hand, the official warehouse was also opened, not for disaster relief, but all of them were transported to the Huajia rudder in various places, and even the large amount of relief materials sent by Reins and Wu Lian also went into the warehouses of the Hua family rudder everywhere.

It's not that he loves the people, it's just that it's all used on the children of the Hua family, even if people with foreign surnames die, they can only blame them for their bad luck and the wrong surname, what does it have to do with the Hua family?

Faced with this situation, the people naturally resented and even took action. But in the troubled times, the weak eat the strong, the Hua family has controlled the power in the northern part of Elteno for nearly a thousand years, and is a first-class martial arts master on the Continent of Winds.

The wild is full of hungry trees, and the children are easy to eat...... and so on, and so on, it seems that it is not far away. Hua Fengmiao thought about the recent situation, and naturally frowned.

However, it was not for the famine of the people! As a descendant of the Hua family, although he was not a relative of the emperor, he was also a nobleman, and he had a military position and a good life, so how could he care about the joys and hardships of ordinary people?

What worries him is the recent instability in the surrounding area. The victims were so hungry that they went crazy, and there were more than a dozen cases a day, and many people simply formed a group of thieves to raid homes and houses, and attack passing merchants. The Hua family was furious at the atrocities of the untouchables, and adopted thunderous means to suppress them, but how could they get so much? Later, the children of the Hua family, who held military positions and were responsible for suppression, also began to feel uneasy.

There is certainly nothing to be afraid of those untouchables, who are unarmed and unarmed, and they are killed with hoes and sickles, but the cost of their own mistakes is staggering. The untouchables don't want gold, don't want silver, just simply thirst for food, and the soldiers who are alone and captured by the sneak attack are often immediately divided and eaten, and the bones are gone, even at the time of suppression, many hungry people without weapons, the easiest way to attack is to bite when they open their mouths, and the children of the Hua family are not good at protecting the body, and the inverted frieze may be torn off a piece of meat.

Everyone has seen a lot of such examples, and when it comes to going out to suppress it, who is not afraid of three points in their hearts?

It's just starvation, why can a person become so powerful?

The answer to this question is that the children of the Hua family, who have been eating all day long, have no chance to know it for the time being.

Hua Fengmiao's group is responsible for transporting more than a dozen truckloads of grain to the rudder collection of the Hua family in nearby cities, and it is inevitable that they will be attacked by a large number of bandits.

He took another sip and looked at the back of the line, the dozen or so travelers who were clearly not soldiers. At this time, many of the merchants who wanted to cross the north could only stay in the army, and set off together during the march to ensure safety, otherwise they would encounter a large number of disaster victims, and they would be robbed of their belongings.

Hua Fengmiao was reluctant to take this string of burdens on the road, but this group of merchants from the Free City paid him quite handsomely when they came to the door this morning, and had to reluctantly do it.

"The dust is old, the weak and sick, and the rice is like a pearl and is young and strong.

There is gold and silver there for every pawn!

The belly is high and lying in the sun.

Peel the elm tree meal and pick wild vegetables to taste, eat yellow immortal is better than a bear's paw, and fern root powder is used to replace the glutinous beam.

The goose intestines and bitter vegetables are boiled by the roots, and the bamboo shoots and reeds are dirty with leaves, leaving the wolfberry willow and camphor. “

The army stopped to rest, and a low and mournful song came from the rear, listening to the meaning of his words, it was to lament the suffering of the people from time to time in the famine years. Hua Fengmiao's face changed color, and she stared at the end of the line to see an extremely beautiful man, who was playing the harp and singing a song.

Most of the soldiers were just coarse people with a lot of writing and ink, and although they were literate, how could they understand these quaint words, but they just listened to the beautiful melody, which echoed endlessly, and they applauded loudly. Just looking at the appearance, no one would have imagined that this handsome man who looked as charming as a beautiful woman would be one of the most dangerous people on the continent today, and some rude soldiers looked at it, and even showed lustful and covetous eyes.

The business travelers who traveled with the beautiful man, several elderly and sophisticated people in the middle of the period, couldn't help but worry about him when they saw this.

"Xiao Wu! Look at the appearance of those military masters, the situation is not good! I only hope that I can arrive safe and sound today and smoothly. ”

"Oh, I thought so too. ”

He replied lightly, but smiled wryly in his heart.

It is impossible to be safe and sound today......

The place where I was resting right now was a valley. The surrounding mountains are not steep, but they just enclose the valley completely, and only one trail is the only entrance, which is almost the so-called Jedi in the mouth of the soldiers.

From the place where everyone started to the target they were going to, the treacherous terrain along the way was the most important, and if someone wanted to launch an ambush, then in addition to this place, there should be no second thought. In other words, if there is peace today, then the two sides who are ambushed here and waiting for the ambush really don't know what to do.

Sensing the tension of the air around him, he maintained his usual relaxed smile and did not pay any attention to it. At this moment, a merchant who had come with him from Free City asked casually.

"I said Xiao Wu, you have been with you for so many days, but no one knows your name yet, what is your surname?"

"Gengoro. He said lightly: "Gengoro Amano!"

With a "boom", an arrow shot into the sky, making a strange sound, and then exploded into a ball of pink fireworks. At the exit of the valley, dozens of riding shadows suddenly appeared, blocking the exit, and galloping towards this side.

Seeing this, the soldiers gasped. In this famine year, almost even the roots of the turf trees were dug up and eaten, and this team could still have horses?!

appeared at this juncture, although he did not shout the line "leave the road money", but looking at its posture, no one knows that it is robbers and bandits. In fact, the arrow that burst into pink fireworks came from a group of thieves who had become very famous in the territory of Altino in recent years, the Forty Thieves of Alibaba!

All the thieves who gather together for thieves and block the road to rob are easy to do with many people. In these troubled times, it is not uncommon for thieves to have hundreds of people at every turn, and there are even large bandit groups of more than 1,000 people in the free city, with swords, guns, bows and horses, almost the size of a small army.

However, the regular armies of various countries never cared about these bands of thieves. The numerical advantage is not necessarily equal to the victory on the battlefield, although it is called a thousand, but it is often the scale after bringing the family and dependents, and it is okay to rob and bluff people, if it encounters a regular army, it will collapse into an army in three or two strokes, and it is clear that it is a military merit.

What is really terrifying are the bands of thieves who keep their numbers in the dozens in order to maintain the organization's high mobility. Even if they encounter a local army, because most of the members are martial arts experts, the officers may not be left behind, but the ordinary soldiers are not opponents at all, and they can only be slaughtered like vegetables and melons.

Maybe it's luck, or maybe it's some long-forgotten allusion, I don't know when the number "forty" has become the established number of small and medium-sized thieves. At this time, I don't know how many groups of forty thieves were active in the entire Wind Continent, and the soldiers had a headache when they heard the number forty.

However, since mid-May last year, "Forty Thieves" has gradually become an exclusive synonym.

There is a group of forty thieves named "Ali Baba", bold, actually plundered a number of priceless treasures of the Shizi family, in the face of the joint wanted of various countries, fearless, but simply entered the Altino, wandering in the Shi family's territory to plunder, and many times with the Shi family's personal guards to fight, although always down, but completely implement the principle of advancing and retreating like the wind, it is impossible to prevent it, and in the past year, I don't know how much property the Shi family has lost.

At the end of July this year, when the famine was in place, the horse thieves suddenly left the Shi family's territory and entered the north under the control of the Hua family, specifically attacking the team that transported grain to the Hua family's rudder, and plundered all kinds of rice grain. In the past few months, he has successfully committed more than 100 crimes, and even had the bold act of robbing twice a day in a row, which only made the children of the Hua family stare at the light gruel and jump to their feet in anger.

This group of bandits is also extremely proud, originally fireworks rockets are used to gather companions, contact matters, but after they made a name for themselves in the Shi family's territory, they specially made a kind of arrow that will release pink fireworks, as soon as this arrow comes out, it is to advise the target not to resist more, so as not to cause unnecessary sacrifices!

Moreover, the soldiers had heard a strange rumor: since the forty thieves entered the north, the original leader suddenly became a woman!

"When you go out, just to seek wealth! Put down the food and walk, don't make boring movements, I guarantee your safety with my honor!"

From a distance, the brisk voice of her daughter's family clearly reached everyone's ears. In the blink of an eye, dozens of riding shadows rushed to the front like a whirlwind, and the movements were so skillful that before the soldiers could even realize that they were coming, they had already occupied a favorable position and surrounded the more than 100 people in the center.

In terms of numbers, it is natural that the army has the advantage, and the soldiers are dressed in armor, holding spears, and are fully equipped, so they should not be at a disadvantage in any way.

However, while the forty thieves approached, they took out a delicate crossbow in their hands, which was the current extremely new "Silver Shuttle Meteor Bow". Three at a time, fifteen times in a row, no need to reload, the small arrows fired by the machine are enough to penetrate the steel, and if the poison is quenched, even if the soldiers are wearing armor, it is difficult to keep them safe. Moreover, when the forty people approached, there was still a faint sound of banter and laughter, but once they immediately stood still, all of them were engrossed, staring at the target they were responsible for, and a dignified killing atmosphere shocked the soldiers and did not dare to act rashly, and the two sides made a judgment.

Hearing that they had only come to loot grain, the merchants who followed the army were relieved. But several of them were secretly surprised. Alibaba's forty thieves have been famous for a long time, if it is composed of a group of martial arts people, then it is fine. But now it seems that the martial arts of these people are still secondary, but they are meticulous in their actions, and they are not scattered by ordinary bandits, but full of fierce wind, obviously in the way of orthodox military training, if they are not thieves, then they are a healthy brigade, and the person who takes the lead is really not to be underestimated!

There are several officers in the army who are descendants of the Hua family, and they are skilled in martial arts, so they didn't take this little crossbow arrow in their eyes, and they were about to attack, when a woman's voice sounded again.

"It's better for you not to move, otherwise the arrows will fly in a while, even if you take the lead, it's okay, but if your subordinates die, it's still difficult to explain when you go back!"

With the sound, a riding shadow came out of the crowd, and the eyes of everyone present lit up.

It was a young girl. The facial features are delicate, heroic, and she is really a pretty beauty, and she is dressed in a black power suit, outlining the tall and graceful figure of her figure. But the most eye-catching thing is still the pair of slender legs that are extremely well-shaped. The girl is obviously well aware of her strengths, short skirts and stockings, showing the beauty of her legs to the extreme.

This girl is the leader of the Forty Thieves?

The soldiers were in disbelief. In the past, I had heard that the Forty Thieves had a female leader, but as usual, if it wasn't for the super glamorous demon queen type, or a muscular monster woman, I would never have imagined that it would look like this.

On the one hand, they were pointed at with a strong crossbow, and on the other hand, the soldiers were shocked by the girl, and it was quite difficult to mention the hostility, so they let the thieves approach the grain truck without resistance.

Watching the movements of her subordinates, the girl's mind was focused on the movements around her. The force in front of him was no match at all, and it was worth noting that there was a murderous aura on the hill, and I thought that this operation would be easy, but at present, it seems that it will take a little more effort......

The girl moved her gaze to the top of the valley, sneered slightly, raised her hand, and said, "Brothers, everyone stays ......"

Before he finished speaking, a figure suddenly flashed in the crowd, and hurriedly shouted: "Be careful with the arrow!" Then it collided, the force was so fierce that the girl was caught off guard, and actually knocked off the horse, and a cold arrow was shot at this time, penetrating the saddle, the horse neighed sadly, foamed at the mouth and died, and the arrow was obviously quenched with poison.

The thieves were frightened, and were about to look, when there was a loud sound in the air, and arrows rained down from the sky.

The members of the Forty Thieves were stunned. In the past, the Shi family's personal guards and the forty thieves themselves knew that it was almost impossible to get that little demon to fall. More than once in the past, they had seen this girl calmly flash a rain of arrows on horseback with astonishing softness and speed, and also performed all kinds of fancy moves along the way, which made her opponent angry.

Such a person would fall off her horse, and all her companions would think that she must have been the victim of a plot. Before they could investigate, a large number of feather arrows had broken through the air, and the forty thieves hurriedly responded, and the shield blocked the feather arrows, but in this way, the original encirclement net was exposed, and the suppressed soldiers launched a counterattack, attacking both internally and externally, and the forty thieves were in a hurry.

But they are not weak, although they are not masters, but everyone's martial arts are also above the level, they have drawn their swords, while waving their shields to block feather arrows, while fighting with the officers, although they are at a disadvantage, they are not at all.

If the whole army besieged each other together, the forty thieves would inevitably be more difficult, but the feather arrows had no eyes, the enemy was condescending, and the accuracy was not much better, but the soldiers of the Hua family were shot with their heads in their hands, wailing everywhere, and they could not attack the enemy together.

The number of enemies lying in ambush on the top of the hill seems to be quite large, and the rain of arrows falls for a while, and its momentum is increasing instead of decreasing. The forty thieves will inevitably lose their time for a long time, and suddenly heard a few neighing sounds, but several horses were hit by arrows, bent their legs and fell to the ground, and the riders on their backs were snorted by the arrows.

However, Rao was very busy, and they were still concerned about the leaders who had not yet fallen to the ground, and while fighting fiercely with the enemy, they couldn't help but ask, "Where's Miss Niel?", "Is Miss Nile okay?", "Is she injured?", and none of them were ready to retreat, and their concern was fully revealed.

The situation was in danger, and a familiar angry scolding came into everyone's ears.

"A bunch of rice buckets!"

Everyone glanced over happily, but saw the figure shaking, the blue and white sword light appeared, and several officers who were still fighting suddenly felt a gust of wind coming, and before they could react, their bodies were hit into the air with a strong force, and in the scream, they were nailed into hedgehogs by feather arrows.

"It's just such a small scene that messes up, do you still have the honor of being a thief?"

In an instant, several enemies were killed, and the girl Niel snatched a horse, turned over on horseback, and sent out a long series of orders one after another.

"Each formed a phalanx, a team of five. The first and second groups are responsible for covering with me, the third and fourth groups ensure the way out, if the exit has been blocked, don't fight hard, the fifth and sixth groups go to the entrance of the valley to find a way out, the seventh and eighth groups ensure the grain trucks, try to take them away for me, and if there are any merchants who are not dead, protect them and retreat with them!"

Everyone claimed that it was, and because they saw that the leader was safe, their morale was greatly boosted, and they followed the usual drills, in groups of five, and quickly acted according to orders.

However, the bad news came one after another.

"Miss Nier, the grain cart is full of chaff, and there is no rice!"

"Miss Nier, the entrance and exit of the valley are all sealed by big stones, and we can't get out!"

"A total of six people were saved. But seven of our brothers were wounded, and twelve horses fell, and the situation is not good!"

Listening to these words, Niel sighed in her heart. blamed himself for being sloppy, and he rushed out without first judging whether the goods were delivered or not, and this time he must have returned empty-handed. It seems that most of the soldiers in this group did not know that the grain carts were filled with waste, and even if they did, they would not have known that there would be such consequences. I don't know who is in ambush above, and he is so ruthless that he even kills his own people!

"Miss Nier, we can't hold it anymore, let's go!" The situation became more and more unfavorable, and everyone finally showed fatigue, but until this moment they still believed that this female leader would have a way to get everyone out safely!

"No way, the two of us ride a horse, take care of the injured, each of us prepare the No. 9 equipment, follow me, and get out of here at full speed!"

The battle situation is unfavorable, and Niel reluctantly admits defeat in her heart and gives the order to retreat.

It seems that this time I want to lose face in front of my brother......

Everyone rode their horses and galloped, at this time the rain of arrows suddenly stopped, a large number of men and horses appeared on the top of the mountain, there were two thousand, led by the general blue helmet and blue armor, laughed loudly: "Yamamoto thief chieftain listen! The valley has been sealed by our side, you have no way out, quickly abandon your weapons and surrender, or you may be spared death!"

(It's this guy again!!, chased him here!)

Just listening to this voice, the forty thieves already recognized that it was Hua Fengcang, who had been watching their movements closely in recent months. Nier was even more annoyed in her heart, the first two trips had been with this man's grain cart, at that time he did not have many people, he had known that after robbing the grain, he would slaughter him easily, and there would be no trouble today.

For this surrender, no one paid attention to it. That guy is ruthless, and when he ambushes him, he even kills his own army as bait, so how can he be merciful to others? Moreover, he only said "maybe" that he would avoid death, showing that he was deliberately deceitful and insincere, and believing him was a fool!

At this time, everyone had rushed to the exit of the valley they had entered before, only to see several huge rocks stacked on top of each other, each of which weighed more than a thousand catties.

There was a loud noise from the mountain, and hundreds of cavalry rushed down the hillside, two pieces of bread. It was all an iron cavalry team dressed in iron armor made of fine iron, ordinary bows and crossbows were difficult to penetrate, and they were the most elite troops at present, and at this moment everyone was tired and tired, how could they fight with them again?

But this point was expected by the girl, and she couldn't completely solve her own problem by releasing arrows alone, so the other party would inevitably send the main force, although the use of the Iron Cavalry was a bit out of budget, but as long as someone came down, there was an opportunity to take advantage of it......

"Shoot the arrows!"

At Nell's order, everyone put down their crossbows, took out their official longbows, and shot their ninth device.

A branch of feather arrows with special herbs shot into the mountain wall, emitting a foul smell of smoke, the Chinese want to vomit, the iron cavalry endured the smoky smell and continued to rush down, then the second wave of feather arrows arrived, and I don't know what substance was involved in the powder of the first wave of feather arrows, when the second wave of ignited rockets came into contact with it, there was a loud explosion of earth-shattering sounds, flying flames, and the momentum was terrifying.

More than 100 people in the vanguard of the Iron Cavalry were hit by this blow, and the people fell into shock, blocking the advance of the rear and causing chaos among themselves. Only after this delay, the forty thieves had already rushed to the exit of the boulder, only to see the girl kick on horseback, fly forward like arrows, shoot at the road-sealing boulder, and charge their palms with their hands, and hit a boulder fiercely.

There was a bang, the stone was shattered, more powerful than any zha medicine, several huge rocks were scattered in all directions, and the blocked passage was cheerful, and everyone quickly passed through this passage and escaped without a trace.

The chasing soldiers at the back finally settled the chaos, and were about to catch up, when a few feather arrows were thrown in the form of throwing arrows, and the strength was surprisingly strong, and they pierced several people in a row, so that the iron horsemen immediately stopped, staring at the mountains and rocks in front of them, and they were stunned and shocked.

The female leader who had heard of the forty thieves before was not weak in martial arts, but she didn't expect that she would be so clever, if she had performed this martial arts early in the morning, she would have no fear of everything, and rushed straight up the mountain, no matter what kind of iron horse and strong bow he had, a few palms in succession, it would definitely cause heavy casualties, and the situation would be completely different from now.

Several officers looked at each other, and they all saw the same melancholy in each other's eyes.

(The power of this female robber is domineering, shouldn't she have surpassed the realm?)

The Forty Thieves are also troubled by emergencies. The failure of the robbery and the injuries of the members were a little frustrating, but they were not panicked. After all, being a thief is far from being as beautiful as it seems, and everyone has already tasted this kind of hardship.

The crowd galloped to safety and let the six rescued merchants go. They all knew that the heart of the leader of Niel was very soft, and he could not bear to see this group of merchants die innocently, and if it were not for the fact that everyone was tired and suffering at this moment, according to the past records, perhaps they would have sent brothers to escort this group of people on a journey, so that they would not be robbed by other bandits on the way. Because of this, although the forty thieves committed crimes everywhere, they were not evil among the common people.

When the survivors thanked and left, an uninvited guest appeared. He must have been with the merchants, for they knew him, but when they came to the rescue of the wounded, no one saw him, and he rode all the way, and no one followed, but when the merchants were leaving, he appeared like a ghost in the crowd and waved at them.

"I'm not an enemy! If I hadn't been desperate just now, Miss Nill might have been injured by a cold arrow!"

In retrospect, everyone seemed to have such an incident, that cold arrow was fast and ruthless, and if there was no pounce from this person, it would be difficult to prevent it. And this man's handsome appearance, smiling and leisurely demeanor, could hardly make people hostile to him, so everyone looked at the leader and listened to what she had to say.

Niel stared at the handsome man who was smiling so cheerfully, and her heart was furious.

This bastard thing completely reversed right and wrong, he had long been aware of someone on the mountain, although he did not find that someone had released arrows, but he was on guard in his heart, and he could flash it when he thought about it, so he could catch the arrows with his hand, and then ordered the brothers to fight back.

But Bisheng was pounced by this person, knocked himself off the horse, and couldn't give the order to respond at the first time, which made the defeat so ugly today. At that time, I wanted to find out this person and cut him into eight pieces, but the scene was chaotic and I couldn't find him for a while. And what's even more hateful is that when he knocked him down, his body rubbed and rubbed, and he really touched a lot of places that shouldn't be touched, although I don't know whether it was intentional or unintentional, in short, it was hateful!

Also, even if you don't care about this, when you see his smiling face, I don't know why, I just spew up with a thick fire......

was about to have a seizure, but he was preemptive again.

"Beautiful Miss Nier, I'm Gengoro Amano, and I would like to extend my sincere greetings to you when we meet you for the first time. ”

Gengoro's right hand drew a half arc extremely gracefully, bowing to the body, with a noble posture with solemnity, although it was a cloth robe, it was as elegant as a prince and nobleman.

After bowing, this handsome and incomparable beautiful man, touching the ground on one knee, half-knelt in front of the beautiful man's shadow, his expression was solemn like a knight waiting for the emperor's award, and with his unique melodious voice, like a song, he gently said the sentences that had been prepared for a long time.

"I have come from thousands of miles away to send you my true heart, beautiful Miss Nil, will you marry this humble man whom you have been infatuated with for a long time?"

The voice was as beautiful as a love poem sung, and although the forty thieves were rude warriors, they couldn't help but revel in the atmosphere. However, when they thought of the meaning of the words, everyone couldn't help but look at each other and was stunned, not knowing whether to continue to immerse themselves in this romantic atmosphere or to beat this madman severely.

Fortunately, someone made the choice on their behalf.

Unmoved by the touching proposal, the girl leaned over on her horse, raised her jade feet briskly, and kicked her suitor in the face fiercely.

"Oops~~"

Just like the last trip in the dark night in Siam, this time it ended in the same way, although the foot that kicked the face was of different size, but the strength was the same......

"Propose marriage as soon as we met!You're too undisciplined!" The girl sneered, "Don't pay attention to this madman, let's go!"

"Mountain...... Miss Yamamoto, please listen to my ......"

Just as he was about to pat the horse, the poor suitor seemed to say something. Many people know that the female leader of the Forty Thieves has the surname Yamamoto, and her full name is Yamamoto Nil, which is very normal, but when she heard this name, the girl's figure trembled slightly, and a frightened expression appeared on the faces of all her companions.

Then came the eruption!

"Nonsense! Even the wrong name dares to come to me and talk nonsense. Guys, beat me so hard that his mother doesn't even recognize him!"

The second encounter between a handsome man and a beautiful woman ended with such a fierce scene.