On the eighteenth day of the winter month, Huaibei is close to the boundary of Xuzhou.

The bitter cold wind blew the few dead leaves left on the trees to fall, and the dead grass beside the road either broke or fell.

In the face of the majesty of nature, these small beings who have come to the end of their lives can only bow down.

It's just that the fierce and cold wind couldn't stop the fast horse galloping with all its might, and hundreds of horsemen were surrounding the middle six or seven carriages and rushing straight towards Xuzhou, as if some terrible monster was chasing them behind them.

But in fact, the official road behind them was empty, and there was not even a pedestrian on it.

This great change in Huaibei has had a huge impact on everyone, whether it is the state capital or the county town, people are only huddled at home, waiting for the results. Isn't it hitting the muzzle of the rebel's gun when you go out at this time?

However, this group of people is not going to go, because they are the fish that escaped from Hengzhou City, and they are the lost dogs who seized the opportunity to survive after Hengzhou was suddenly attacked.

Among them, the most important ones are naturally Li Shoumin, the president of the Zongheng Association, and his two sons, as well as other powerful figures in the association such as the Yang family and the Chu family.

When the city of Hengzhou was broken, they could hardly believe that it could be true.

Obviously, the military reports that came before were that the rebels had been intercepted by the army hundreds of miles away, and as time went by, the soldiers and horses of Liangzhou continued to flee and dissipate. Maybe in another month or two, the rebels will collapse without a fight.

However, the situation suddenly turned around a few days ago, and the city of Hengzhou, which had been emptied, was suddenly attacked at dawn.

Although the defenders still made a certain response, but the enemy was outnumbered, blooming on all sides, but caught off guard, the thousands of soldiers and horses in the city only held on for less than half a day, and the city gates on all sides were declared lost one after another.

Fortunately, Li Shoumin had an accurate judgment when the accident occurred, knowing that Hengzhou could not be defended, so he quickly took a group of important people, took some important books, and some gold and silver, and fled under the escort of the most loyal and daring cavalry.

At that time, the Liangzhou army, under the command of Guo Yan, still put all its strength on breaking through the city, but gave them the opportunity to break through and escape.

It's just that after that, they were still chased by the Liangzhou army.

With the desperate delay of this loyal elite horseman, they finally got out of danger temporarily. However, the price is still quite large, 500 elite cavalry, so far there are only more than 100 people left, and they are all wounded, and more than half of them have even broken their weapons.

In this way, they worked day and night, and finally came to Xuzhou today.

As long as you officially flee into Xuzhou, relying on this famous city in Huaibei, plus tens of thousands of troops inside, you can not only save everyone's lives, but also reverse the situation and regain control of Huaibei.

After all, they have been operating in Huaibei for more than a hundred years, and no matter their prestige and strength, they are far from being able to defeat a mere Liangzhou army. As long as they can live and give orders, they will be able to form an elite army in ten months and completely drag down the Liangzhou army.

At least Li Shoumin, who fled for his life all the way, thinks so, as for how to achieve the final victory when the two armies really go to war, it is not something they can imagine.

"Dad, hold on a little longer, climb over the hill in front of you, and the road will be easy to walk."

In the car, Li Shoumin was retching for a while, and his two sons, Li Ju and Li Guizheng, were constantly patting him on the back, which was a good comfort.

Li Shoumin naturally understood this truth, and after feeling a little more comfortable, he said with difficulty: "You don't have to worry, the old man can still hold on."

"What's this little storm? The dangers I encountered back then were several times more terrible than today, and I still survived? Let them not slow down and keep going! ”

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sudden neighing of horses outside, and then the carriage they were riding in also slammed into it, and then rushed forward again, causing all three people in the carriage to crash straight forward uncontrollably, and exclaimed.

Li Shoumin even crashed into the wall of the carriage because of this, and his arm was bruised, but his mind was still clear, and his expression changed: "There is a problem ahead, someone intercepted it!" ”

The brothers Li Gui and Li Ju were also shocked, and quickly tried to get up, slightly lifted the curtain on the side of the carriage and looked out.

I saw that on the official road along the mountain in front of me, there was a big stone blocking the way, and there were two fast horses that opened the way next to it, and several knights were being helped up, so they were not embarrassed.

But this is not the most fatal thing at the moment, the most fatal thing is that this stone was pushed down from the mountain, and ten zhang above, there are dozens of the same boulder crumbling there, as long as you push it, it will fall one after another, turning a good official road into a fatal pass.

And after seeing their carriage and horses stopped, several fierce-looking men on the mountain above came out and shouted: "I opened this mountain, I planted this tree, if you want to pass from here, leave to buy road money!" Each of you has left a hundred taels of silver, and let you go, or else ......."

This fierce and greedy look made the people who were in a trance a little bit.

They never thought that the dignified people would be robbed and deceived by the thieves who cut the path, and they were really bullied by dogs in Pingyang!

But no matter how angry it is, now is not the time to go to war with them.

On the one hand, the other party has a favorable geographical advantage, condescending, and there are boulders available, and a strong self-attack will only increase casualties.

Both of them, they were in a hurry to go to Xuzhou to save their lives, this was going to be delayed, and the Liangzhou army caught up later, but it was over.

So, after a quick weighing, Li Shoumin said decisively: "Gui'er, you go and spread the word to the outside, let them deal with it well, even if they give some money, let us pass safely." ”

The two sons were still very annoyed, thinking that they would let their subordinates rush up to kill the thief, but now when they heard their father say this, they could only choose to obey.

At that moment, Li Gui rushed out to say hello, called a cavalry captain to him, and whispered two orders.

The one smiled bitterly, and then went back and said loudly: "Ladies and gentlemen, you are here to set up a card just to seek wealth, as long as you are willing to let go of the road, silver or anything is easy to say!" ”

"What kind of identity do you have, dare to talk to grandpa like this!"

He didn't want the bandit leader on the other side to buy his face, and immediately reprimanded: "If you want to talk, let your master come forward." Just in the car, come out and talk! ”

Everyone is named, and the father and son in the car can't continue to hide, which will only hurt the morale of the people below.

After a little hesitation, the two sons still helped their father and walked out of the carriage with difficulty......