Five miles outside the city of thorns, cotton village.

"Driving, driving, driving......"

More than a hundred bandits rode fast horses and brandished knives, and suddenly appeared outside the cotton village, which had just finished its autumn harvest and was drying it.

"The bandits are coming!"

"Dangdangdang......"

The villagers of Youmian Village hurriedly ran to get the gong, shouting while knocking, looking panicked and walking in a messy manner.

"Close the door!"

The villagers of Cotton Village were so frightened that they did not dare to flee because the bandits were riding horses, and they could not run away at all, so they had to close the door and find a place to hide in the house.

Some hid in the cupboard, some in the pyre, and some were smarter and dug a hole under the bed early, and the bandits hid directly in the burrow.

The whole cotton village is in chaos, and everyone is in danger.

When they hid, they were shocked to find that the grain that was drying outside had not yet had time to be harvested, and they were heartbroken for a while when they thought that the grain would be looted by bandits.

There are also some smarter ones who hide part of the grain in advance, which is the difference between prepared and unprepared.

"Take all this food!"

When the bandits entered the village, they ran to the drying ground, quickly packed the grain that was drying in sacks, and put it on horseback.

This group of bandits is thirty miles away from Thorn City, on the Black Fox Mountain, and every autumn, they will go everywhere to loot food and supplies for the winter.

They have come to Cotton Village more than once, and every time they come, there is always a harvest, although Thorn City is five miles away, no one can cure them before.

This time, the leading bandit was nicknamed Ma Face, a second-order martial artist, and he used a long saber.

Because of its ugly appearance and pockmarked face, it got its name.

As for his real name, no one remembers.

When he received two-thirds of it, he shouted loudly: "Don't take it, it's almost done." ”

The bandits stopped and tied the grain they had already harvested to their horses.

There is also a new bandit, who is more greedy and wants to fill the sack in his hand.

Ma Yan walked over, kicked the new bandit over, and scolded: "You can't hear what Lao Tzu said, can you?" ”

The new bandit said aggrievedly: "The three masters, so much food, I want to take a little more." ”

Ma Yan scolded: "Damn, you took away all the grain, those villagers have to starve to death, no one farms, where will Lao Tzu go to grab grain and cotton cloth next year?" ”

The new bandit suddenly came to his senses, got up, and apologized flatteringly to Ma Face.

"You kid be smart in the future! Now go grab the cotton cloth and find the woman, and it will be cheap for you kid! ”

"The three masters are wise!"

The new bandit's eyes lit up, and he followed the old bandits to rob the cotton cloth, and the women of the village also suffered, more than a dozen of them were robbed, and their fate was predictable.

After a long time, the bandits, who had robbed the grain, the cotton cloth, and the women, rode away satisfied, and there were bursts of cries in the cotton village.

When Gu Bei learned the news of the bandits' looting, it was already the next day.

He learned the news from a housekeeper, Lao Lu.

The bandits plundered more than a dozen villages near Thorn City, looting large quantities of food and other supplies, as well as women.

These bandits are shrewd and do not rush to exterminate, but leave some life-saving food for the villagers to ensure that most of them do not starve to death.

Of course, if a few people are starved to death and freeze to death, they will not care, all they need is to continue to plunder.

These ordinary people are like leeks in this world, harvested one after another by corrupt officials, bandits and bullies.

They couldn't even escape.

First, because the household registration is fixed, if they flee without authorization, they will become homeless people, and if they are caught by the government, they will be convicted, and the homeless people can only live in hiding in Tibet, and the days are very miserable.

The second is because of the poor mountains and bad waters in the southwest border, there are not many places suitable for farming, and there are monsters and monsters in the wilderness, which are dangerous and abnormal, and ordinary people will die faster if they rashly run to a strange place.

Because of this, they can only pray that they can survive again and again, and pray that the government will have capable people to take office, and one day they can get rid of these bandits, reduce taxes, and let the people live and work in peace and contentment.

"What about the City Guards? What were the city guards doing when the bandits came? Gu Bei felt very angry.

A few days ago, he was still lamenting that today, except for the spring drought, the weather is not bad, the grain crops have been harvested, and everyone can have a full meal.

In the blink of an eye, the bandits came, and although they did not rob the Grange of the City Lord's Mansion, the villages near Thorn City were all affected.

The housekeeper Lao Lu smiled bitterly: "The number of city guards is not as large as the bandits, and the equipment is not as good as the bandits, the bandits are coming, and they don't even dare to go out of the city gate." ”

Ye Wei behind Gu Bei didn't know what she remembered, her eyes were red, and she gritted her teeth and said, "Kill, these people should be killed!" ”

I don't know if she said that the city guards should be killed, or the bandits, or all of them.

Yang Shifu was also silent, he was older and had seen too many tragedies in the world, but deep down, there was still a sense of anger, but it was not obvious.

"You guys go out first, and let me be alone for a while."

Gu Bei waved his hand, and the housekeeper, Ye Wei, Yang Shifu and others had no choice but to leave.

Gu Bei sat alone in the empty room, and various thoughts flashed through his mind.

After a long time, he finally made a decision.

"I thought that Thorn City was rotten, but I didn't expect it to be rotten to this extent, since this is the case, it is better to tear it all down, break it, and then I will rebuild it!"

Gu Bei is the owner of the fiefdom of Thorn City, and theoretically speaking, all the affairs in this land are decided by him.

In the past, he had too few things in his hands to do it drastically, and some things could only be endured, but now he is not ready to endure it.

The next day, Gu Bei gathered all the city guards together.

"What did the Six Princes summon us for?"

"It must be because of the bandits."

"Does he want us to fight the bandits? Don't make a fuss, we're not going to die. ”

……

Those city guards whispered a lot of discussions, they were all from the Gu family and the Hou family, and Yulu was also from the Gu family and the Hou family, so they didn't have much reverence for the nominal leader of the Six Princes.

Gu Bei stood in front of the city guards, and Ye Wei and Yang Shifu stood behind him left and right, protecting his safety at all times.

Gu Bei looked at this group of city guards who were standing and not standing in each other's faces, talking to each other, like ruffians, and became even more determined in his thoughts.

Gu Bei glanced at Ye Wei.

Ye Wei took a step forward, and the momentum of the third-order martial artist exploded, and he yelled at those city guards: "Quiet! ”

Those city guards were taken aback, and because of the strong oppressive power of Ye Wei's third-order martial artists, they all closed their mouths and stopped talking.

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Ye Wei immediately took a step back and returned to Gu Bei.

Gu Bei looked at those city guards and said in a deep voice: "I declare that all the city guards will immediately lay down their weapons, take off their uniforms, and disband!" ”

As soon as Gu Bei's words came out, everyone, including Ye Wei and Yang Shifu, was shocked.

Those city guards thought they had heard it wrong, and they all looked at Gu Bei in a daze, thinking that Gu Bei had made a mistake?