The night was solemn, the pine waves were gusting, and the wild wolves were hissing.

Under the sleepy eagle cliff in the middle of the night, Yu Zhishan put on a cloak and looked at the canopy of the trees swaying in the wind to the top of the cliff, and was silent for a long time.

Nalan Songhan, Lu Shikun and Wang Zhiyou sat around a bonfire, and they were also silent, only hearing the sound of pine branches beeping under the plucking of the flames.

Not far away, the soldiers of the Yuzhishan Guard were scattered and guarded.

Wang Zhiyou took the lead in opening the chatterbox, "Brother Fu Nian, in the middle of the night, we are sitting like this?" ”

"Lisan, Lao Lu is also trying to find a way, we don't count what we say, we still listen to the old man." Nalan is naturally of the same heart as Lu Shikun, since they are buddies, they have to work together.

Wang Zhiyou wanted to say something, but when he saw that Lu Shikun, who was usually not thin on him, was silent, he was embarrassed to say anything more.

Seeing that there were not many pine branches in the fire, Nalan Songhan stood up and snapped his fingers at the guard who was closer to him, and the guard was very clever and ran over.

"Director, what do you command?"

"Bring a few more people, go and find some pine branches nearby, the fire is about to go out, you can also light a fire to keep warm."

The guard answered.

About half an hour later, the leading guard ran over, "Director, what do you think this is?" ”

Nalan took it in his hand and saw that it was a palm-sized shield-shaped copper waist plate, with a tiger head carved on the front in the middle, a "double knife" pattern engraved on the back, and a copper-colored tassel decorated with yellow agate beads tied on it, his brows stretched slightly, "Where did you see it?" ”

"Right behind that big rock on the side of the road."

Nalan waved his hand to the guard and retreated from him, "Lisan, have you ever seen this thing after so many years of fighting in the north and south?" ”

Wang Zhiyou raised his sleepy eyes, "I haven't seen it." Which dart game is this like? ”

Lu Shikun looked up and grabbed it in his hand, "Fu Nian, you and I will go over and have a look." Then, he lit a torch and walked straight to the big rock under the Trapped Eagle Cliff.

It was a huge rock, slightly egg-shaped, standing diagonally on the side of the road, and if a bullet hit the top of the cliff opposite, it would be a good place to cover up and fight back.

Wang Zhiyou also cheered up at this time, as if he had found a treasure, "Look----- what is this?" ”

Lu Shikun and Nalan also came over, and when they looked up, they saw a mark at the waist of the stone, as if it had been drawn with an iron tool, a short arrow shape, and an irregular "mouth" and "he" characters were engraved on the arrow.

Wang Zhiyou was puzzled, "What does this mean?" ”

Lu Shikun was very excited at this time, "Fu Nian, this is ten years ago, Zimo and I married Jin Lan, I made this brand as a gift to him, when he went out to run business and encountered difficulties, show my waist card, if necessary, I can also save the emergency." What we see now is the code of instruction he left for us. ”

Yu Zhishan heard that they seemed to have found something, and walked over unhurriedly, "Yuntong, what did you find?" ”

Lu Shikun briefly talked about the waist card, which made Yu Zhishan feel that things were not so confusing to him, "Okay, it's really hard to find a place to step on the iron shoes, and it takes no effort to get it." Yuntong, in my place, don't be embarrassed, our friendship is not a day or two, you can have time to accompany me to relax, it makes me very content. In the past few years, haven't we all lived like walking on thin ice? Today, when I got out of the racecourse and entered the mountains, it was different and comfortable. ”

"In the middle of the night, I'm flattered to have such a big chief accompany me."

Nalan groped his hand around the stone, muttering in his mouth, "Mouth...... ......"

Wang Zhiyou walked around the big stone, "Look, fourteen bullet casings have been picked up here, all of them are bullet casings from box guns. ”

"It seems that there was a shootout here, and judging from the marks left, it must be the marks left by Brother Yan Zimo, and he can take the time to leave the marks, which means that he is not dead. However, I don't understand what these 'mouth' and 'together' mean, but I don't understand it for the time being. ”

Yu Zhishan stroked his beard, "Maybe it's not two words, can it be one word?" That's a 'ha' word. ”

"Huh? What do you mean, what is 'huh'? Or 'ha' or something? Nalan was a little confused.

"Yes, when our family was the envoy of the East Side Road Town, there was a Harba Ridge in the direction of Yanji, where the mountains were deep and dense, and there were often bandits, and at that time I also thought that after all, it was the poor people who were forced to live to get to this point, as long as I didn't disturb the people, I just turned a blind eye, could it be that your brother was kidnapped by the bandits of Harba Ling?"

Lu Shikun woke up like a dream, "Well, I think it's possible." ”

After all, Yu Zhishan is also a bandit and has been in battle for a long time, "In this way, Lisan left me five motorcycle guards, and you take one back to Xinjing quickly, and order Xing Shilian, director of the Army Training Department and commander of the Jichang District Garrison, to lead troops to Harbaling to meet us; Our brothers rode first and continued to chase in the direction of Harbaling. Damn, I don't think anyone who has long eyes and I can't get along with my old age, Lao Tzu is angry and has nowhere to spill, so that Lao Tzu has also had the addiction of war. ”

"Elder Yu Ge, why don't we chase after it first, you and Lisan will go back to the city first, and wait for our good news." After all, Lu Shikun thought a little more, he didn't want to owe Zhishan too much favor, "Old man, my big brother, after all, you are a high-ranking minister of military affairs, if you don't greet the Japanese Kwantung Army Headquarters, nor greet the director of the General Affairs Department of the Ministry of Military Affairs, and the adviser Tada Jun, you will go out and not return, will it be bad?" ”

"Don't care so much, the generals will be outside, and the king's order will not be affected. Don't care so much, Lao Tzu has less to suffer? I'm about to fart and ask them, and today I'll go wild to see what they can do to me? I have the notoriety of betraying my ancestors, I have to be a grandson in front of them every day, and I have a Japanese girl who looks at me every day, so I can't let go of my hands and feet, no matter so much, Yuntong don't say that you have something, that is, you are fine, I still have to go out of the city to slip away, let's go for a walk, let's chase it immediately, maybe we can catch up on the way! After speaking, he walked towards his own "smoke".

Nalan and Lu Shikun glanced at each other, nodded, and both flew on their horses and galloped towards the bottom of the Trapped Eagle Cliff, and the five motorcycle guards behind them also followed.

Yu Zhishan and the others walked along the winding mountain road for nearly two hours in the night, turning over two mountain ranges, and did not find any valuable clues along the way, the mountains on both sides of the road became higher and higher, and the forests became denser and denser.

At this time, Yu Zhishan was a little tired, "Huh----- Huh------" He reined in his horse and said to Lu Shikun and Nalan who rushed over: "Two brothers, if you remember correctly, this should be Harbaling, my five motorcycle guards didn't keep up, probably because there was no gas, so this horse riding has the benefit of riding." ”

"I see that at the bend of the mountain road, the pine forest is not very dense, and there seems to be an open place, let's go there and rest for a while, and let the horses rest for a while."

"Rest for a while, our horses are not ordinary horses, and it will be okay to run another two hundred miles." Nalan wiped the beads of sweat from his head with his hat.

So the three of them drove their horses up the hill, and when they came to the open field, they saw a pony shelf on the side, and quietly, there was no spark in the fire outside, only an iron teapot was placed there.

Nalan dismounted and held a torch to the outside of the horse shelf, "Is there anyone inside?" ”

No one answered.

Nalan asked again, "Does anyone have any?" "It's a lot louder than it was before.

"Who? It's more late in the middle of the night. Then there was a crisp spitting sound, and out of it came an old man in a sheepskin coat, bareheaded, with white eyebrows and beards, and a face full of walnut lines, about seventy years old. ”

"Brother, this is Harba Ridge?"

"Ah, what do you say? Louder voice, my voice is a bit ---"

"I asked the old man, is this Harba Ridge?" Nalan deliberately amplified his voice.

"Ah-yes----- why didn't you take the wide mountain road on the southern slope? Of the three mountain roads that cross the mountains in the south, north and middle, only the road on the middle slope is the most tortuous and difficult to walk, and it is even more difficult to walk further up. The old man yawned as he spoke.

"Brother, we are passing by, we are on the wrong side of the road after dark, hungry and thirsty, do you have anything to eat here?" Lu Shikun had eyes to look carefully at the old man dressed as a hunter.

"I'm a poor hunter, and I don't have anything to eat, look at your outfit like a person with status, we people in the mountains don't have any taste, the day before yesterday I shot a roe deer, and half of it, I didn't eat it, don't dislike it, just make do with it, and some sorghum rice, it's the rest of what I eat."

"We'll give you more money, please heat up the roe deer meat and sorghum rice, and boil some water."

"Well, the horse rack is very dirty, and the place is still small, so a few of you will sit outside." After saying that, the old man wiped his face a few times with his hands, took a few pine roots from the side, lit them with fire, and put a small black pot on them.

"How many years has my brother been in this mountain?" Nalan and the old man struck up a conversation.

"How many years? I don't know, anyway, since I was a child, I have been mixing with my father in this mountain, and if I fight a big beast, I can sell it for a good price, make do with it, I will go into the mountains to live in the autumn, stay in the mountains for a winter, and the next mountain during the New Year in the middle. This world is not as good as a year. The old man set up the pot with a tantalizing smell of meat.

Yu Zhishan took out the stem of his cigarette pouch from his waist and plucked tobacco leaves into the cigarette pouch, "Seeing that your brother is not much older than me, let me ask you if you know how many bandits there are on this ridge?" ”

"What do you say? -----Brigand? ”

"There are not so many of them, there are scattered gangs, some have joined the army, some have been annexed, and there are still three shares left. The most famous is the Black Eagle Peak Dazhai 'Black Wind Lone Wolf' - Lang Sandao, but he was killed by his brother Shan Ku eight years ago, and now the head of the Black Eagle Peak Dazhai is the 'Golden Retriever Fox' - Shan Ku, there are hundreds of people with sabers and guns; Then there is the 'Cao Da Pole' on the nearest pine hair fence from here, there are also hundreds of people, and there is the 'Mountain Flower Lady' of the badger's nest, there are more than 100 people. These guys, bullying the weak, ruthless, bullying men and women, doing all kinds of evil, much worse than that Lang Sandao, people are robbing the rich and helping the poor, the old and weak do not bully, and they are chivalrous and righteous, but these people are finished. ”

(End of chapter)