This is March 25, 189 in the Eastern Han Dynasty, this day in the south of the Yangtze River has long been full of flowers, in this bitter cold place outside the pass is indeed the beginning of the snow melting, mixed with a spring weather. The red sun rises from behind the mountain, and the pale yellow sun shines on the body without warmth.

Although the weather was cold, the three riders were galloping on their horses, and soon sweated from their heads.

Galloping all the way to the city of Fan, seeing that Tong Ruo was already waiting at the city gate, he unsaddled and dismounted: "The county soldiers have arrived fifteen miles north of here!" ”

Before the words fell, two more people rushed to the south road and said to Tong Ruo: "The thieves have arrived twenty miles to the south!" ”

Half an hour later, I saw the army in the county lined up at the north gate of Fanshi City, mighty and mighty, and was about to break through Fanshi City.

The county guard asked left and right, "Who dares to be the vanguard to help me attack the city!" ”

Everyone was silent, everyone had their own plans, they had all heard of the prestige of the Suibo army, and the army formed by the counties temporarily, no one wanted to rush out and hurt their vitality, and even thought about how to watch from the wall and pick up the benefits of the fisherman.

At this time, someone broke the embarrassment, "My lord, I have heard that the boy is very brave, we might as well surround the city, and wait until the food in the city is exhausted, and then we can destroy ourselves without a fight." ”

The county guard looked at the sound, and the person who spoke was the county commander of the Liao team, and the others also agreed when they heard it. So the county guard divided his sergeants into three groups, each of which had more than 3,000 people guarding the northern, eastern, and western city gates and main roads of the Fanshi.

Xie Wenyan saw that he only missed the south gate, and he was suspicious in his heart, only to see that the big black mountain thief Yuan Geng led the thieves to arrive and camp at the south gate.

Yuan Geng saw that the county soldiers were encamped, and he secretly thought in his heart: "This group of dog officials has their own ghosts, if everyone works together to attack the city, why not win, don't go damn wrong if you go down like this!" Although he thought so in his heart, the bandits' side did not dare to act rashly.

After a few days of siege, Tong Ruo is still fine here, but the officials and thieves have been in chaos here, the officials and thieves are logically incompatible, if it is not an expedient measure, how can the two join forces, and there are constant contradictions and conflicts in the past few days, so the soldiers of the East and West Gate moved the camp to the north for 100 meters, just hoping to get as far away from the bandits as possible.

And speaking of Tian Zan's side, since leaving the Fan's family, he and Cao Shi rushed to Luoyang non-stop, crossed the Bohai Sea and crossed Qingzhou in the middle, in addition to traveling day and night, he also used the meal time to find people familiar with the terrain in the post station to inquire about the paths and shortcuts, and finally arrived in Luoyang City after replacing four fast horses.

Luoyang is located in the middle of the world, the mountains and rivers are vertical and horizontal, the west is Qinchuan in Guanzhong according to the Qinling Mountains, the east is Songyue, the north is Taihang and there is the danger of the Yellow River, the south looks at the barberry, there is the Rao of Wanye, "the rivers and mountains arch Dai, the situation is in the world."

Tian Zan grew up in Xiangping, Liaodong County, and thought that Xiangping was already prosperous like a dream, and had heard of Luoyang's reputation, but when he came to this city, he knew that Luoyang was different from Xiangping.

Tian Zan thought to himself: "If it weren't for something urgent, I would have to play here for ten days and a half months." Thinking of this section, I couldn't help but whip my horse and hurry up the trip.

A quarter of an hour later, the two came to the door of the Luoyang bus, and Tian Zan asked the little guy in front of the door: "This is the Luoyang bus house!"

The little guy glanced at him listlessly and saw the official uniform of the person next to him and said, "That's right, you want to play the watch?" ”

"Please go in and report it." As he spoke, he stepped forward, took out a few pieces of broken silver from his bosom and stuffed them into the little man's hand.

The little guy was glorious, and said, "Wait a moment, my lord, I'll go and report to you!" After speaking, he walked into the house quickly.

About a quarter of an hour later, the little maid came out and led the two into the house to play the table, smiling and greeting warmth along the way, so enthusiastic.

Tian Zan and the others threw on the watch, and after leaving the mansion, they suddenly felt comfortable and relieved.

At this moment, a carriage came, and a person got down from the car, who was also dressed as Cao Shi, and said to the little guy in front of the door: "I am Cao Shi of Liaodong County, and I came to the table, please report." ”

The little girl heard this, and after a while, he got up and walked leisurely into the bus office.

Tian Zan and the others were about to leave, when they suddenly heard this voice, they were stunned, Tian Zan thought: "I am afraid that this Liaodong County's recital is full of unfavorable content for my side, I just submitted the recital, if he goes in now, the two recitals are reported together, then it is not necessarily who listens, it is better to find a way to destroy the recital now." ”

"Are you here to play the watch too?" Tian Zan yawned, pretending to have nothing to do and said to the man, but in fact, his heart was already turbulent.

The man looked at Tian Zan and the others, thinking that these two people were afraid that they were officials in Beijing, so they didn't dare to slack off, so he nodded and said, "Yes." ”

"I don't see you have a watch in your hand, I don't know where your watch is?"

"My recital is in the car."

Tian Zan was overjoyed when he heard this, and said calmly: "Are all the procedures for your performance complete?" Whether the signature is accurate, many people have been rejected because the table is unqualified, you take it and I will check it for you! ”

The man thought: "I'm all the way from Liaodong, if I don't pass the performance, it won't be a trip in vain!" So he took out the watch from the car, offered it with both hands, and said, "Please check it for me." ”

Tian Zan took the watch, muttered: "It's not troublesome", his eyes quickly glanced at the Liaodong official, the anger became heavier, and he suddenly pulled out the sword in his waist.

The official was stunned and shouted, "Come on! Someone's sabotaging my recital! ”

Tian Zan hurriedly covered his mouth and said: "You listen to me first, I was sent by Fanshi County to wait for you here, if you hadn't taken out the recital from the car and gave it to me, I wouldn't have destroyed him."

Therefore, we are both guilty, and no one is exempt from guilt, so instead of sitting and waiting for death, it is better for us to flee together, so that we can save our lives and not be punished senselessly, and if you agree, nod your head. ”

When the official heard him say this, he glanced at the sword in Tian Zan's hand, and nodded in agreement.

Only then did Tian Zan let go of his hand and put his sword into the sheath.

The official was really puzzled and asked, "You broke my recital for Fanshi County, why do you want to run away when you have succeeded?" ”

"My task is just to see if you have come to play the watch, but I broke the watch on impulse, this must have offended the Liaodong Taishou, and it is not interesting to continue to stay in Liaodong, so it is better for us to flee together."

Then the three of them left Luoyang City on horseback, and the little guy in front of the bus reported that Fang Hui, seeing the backs of the three people in the distance, scratched their heads, and said: "What is it!" ”

After the three of them went out of the city, they walked to a remote path, quiet everywhere, inaccessible, Fanshi played Cao Shi secretly glanced at Tian Zan, and made a knife gesture with his right hand at the neck, signaling Tian Zan to kill him here.

Tian Zan saw what he meant, but thought: "I lied to him and didn't want to go, and then killed him, how could this be the husband's doing." If we don't kill him, he will still be with us, and I am afraid that something will happen. ”

Tian Zan stopped his horse and said to Cao Shi of Liaodong County: "You and I should have fled together, but I remembered that there were other things that I hadn't done, so let's say goodbye." ”

As he spoke, he unpacked his bag, took out 50 taels of gold and silver, handed it to the man, and then said, "If you keep this money, it will be regarded as an apology for me for destroying your watch." ”

When the man saw the money, his eyes lit up, and he couldn't earn so much money because he had been an official all his life.

After putting away the gold and silver, he said with a smile on his face: "Brother, if you have something to do, just go and get busy, I'll wait here for you to come back, and I won't get in the way!" ”

Tian Zan hesitated and said: "That's it, the two of us will leave, if you haven't come back for an hour, you can leave by yourself." ”

With that, the two of them spurred their horses on another road.

Tian Zan left not long ago, and he was faintly worried that the county official would stay for a long time, and wanted to turn around to find him several times, but after thinking about it, the situation was not at stake, where would there be time to think about others.

Cao Shi of Fanshi County couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "This young master of the Tian family is indeed admirable, but this innocence and simplicity is really funny." That man might have run away without a trace if he got a windfall! ”

It is said that Cao Shi of Liaodong County was still full of sadness because of the performance of the watch, and he didn't know where to follow the two to take refuge, but now he is full of spring breeze, and he is very happy in his heart, and he just hopes that these two people can go as far as possible, and never come back.

After standing there for a while, he saw that the two of them had indeed disappeared from his field of vision, and thought, "The ghost is here waiting for you to come back!" I'd better get out of here, or it will be a big bad thing to wait for this stupid boy to come back and ask for money! ”

Thinking of this, he immediately whipped his horse and galloped away from this place in the opposite direction of Tian Zan and the others.