When the seven or eight horses rushed to him, Li Zhiyun took a look, and it turned out to be the second brother and several of his personal soldiers. Li Zhiyun stood on the side of the road and said loudly: "Second brother, where are you going?" The second brother tightened the reins, reined in the war horse, and pointed forward with his hand: "We are going to the front to reconnoiter the enemy's situation." ”

The second brother attached great importance to reconnaissance of the enemy's situation, and often personally led light cavalry to carry out reconnaissance activities near the enemy camp. After the second brother asked where Li Zhiyun came from, he said, "Fifth brother, do you dare to go to the enemy camp with me to reconnoitre?" ”

"Then what's not to dare? If you dare to go, I will dare to go! Li Zhiyun said with a stiff chest. He didn't want his second brother to underestimate him.

The second brother nodded with a smile and said, "Okay, then let's go!" "Then wave the whip and ride the horse forward.

Li Zhiyun, Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu turned their horses' heads and followed behind the team. The crowd galloped for about half an hour and came to a hilly area. The second brother reined in his horse and looked around. It's already an enemy-occupied area, surrounded by small hills of varying heights.

The second brother divided everyone into several groups, and let everyone scatter to reconnoiter the enemy.

"In an hour, we'll meet under that tree." The second brother pointed to an ancient locust tree not far away and said.

"Yes!" Everyone said yes and left on their horses.

Li Zhiyun and the second brother were in a group, and the two drove their horses to the northeast. After walking for a while, the second brother pointed to a hill in front of him on the right and said, "Fifth brother, let's climb that mountain and see if we can find anything." They drove their horses to the foot of the hill, turned over and dismounted, and led them up the hill. The terrain on the top of the hill is relatively flat, overgrown with weeds and a few small trees. Li Zhiyun stood on the mountain and looked into the distance, this hill was slightly higher than the surrounding hills, so he could see five or six miles away. He looked around, not to mention that he didn't see the enemy camp, not even a ghost.

"Let's sit down and rest." The second brother sat down as he spoke, leaning his back against a tree. After a while, he fell asleep.

Li Zhiyun also sat on the grass leaning against a large rock. He had the habit of taking a nap in his previous life, and after a long walk on the street in the morning, he only felt that his eyelids were as heavy as lead at the moment, and after a while, the upper and lower eyelids were stuck together.

The brothers slept soundly on the barren hills. Their horses were grazing quietly not far away, and there was silence all around, except for the even snoring of the two of them, except for the sound of the breeze blowing through the leaves.

Beside Li Zhiyun, a rat crawled out of the burrow, its small round eyes open, looking around vigilantly. The rat crawled cautiously, looking from time to time. At this time, a thick and long green spotted snake swam out of the grass beside it. As soon as the snake found the mouse, he was immediately excited, and he could finally have a good meal. So, the snake's belly "sizzled" against the turf. As soon as the mouse saw the snake spitting the letter pounce on, it was immediately frightened, turned around and ran, and in a panic, it jumped onto Li Zhiyun's shoulder, jumped on his face, jumped from his face to the stone, and finally escaped through the crack in the stone.

Li Zhiyun slept soundly, but was woken up by the sharp claws of the mouse. He sat up, rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, and looked around, which didn't matter, and was startled at the sight. Ten feet away from him, on the hillside, a large area of black pressure was full of enemy soldiers, who were climbing to the top of the mountain.

Li Zhiyun hurriedly got up, ran to the side of the second brother, shook him vigorously and said, "Second brother, wake up quickly, the enemy is coming!" The second brother opened his eyes, stood up and looked, and hurriedly said, "Get on the horse!" The two men ran to the horses, stepped on their horses, turned their horses, and rushed down the slower side of the hill to the official road.

The enemy had discovered them and sent cavalry to pursue them. The enemy's cavalry, numbering about fifty or sixty men, pursued them closely, and pursued them closer and closer. The second brother glanced back, took out the hard bow with five stones and five buckets from the saddle bag, and drew a large feather arrow from the quiver. The enemy was startled and slowed down the pursuit, and the distance between the two sides gradually widened.

Li Zhiyun just breathed a sigh of relief, and suddenly saw a large number of enemy cavalry in front of him, about a hundred people, just blocking their way, and the two had to restrain their horses and stop. Li Zhiyun looked at the second brother and anxiously: "Second brother, what should I do?" The second brother frowned, took a closer look, and found that the official road had branched out not far ahead, so he pointed with his hand and said, "Let's take that road!" When they had reached a fork in the road, they rode their horses and galloped. Originally, they were heading all the way to the west, and this fork in the road was heading north. So, the further they ran, the farther away they got from their camp.

Behind them, the two enemy forces converged and continued to pursue them. The enemy was in close pursuit, and the distance between them and them slowly closed again. The second brother turned around and shot a few more arrows, although he killed several enemies, but this enemy army still pursued them despite the casualties, and kept biting them, as if he was bent on catching them.

The two were at a loss when suddenly, a castle appeared in front of them. Although the castle is not very large, it is well defended, and in addition to the city walls, a trench has been dug outside the castle, and a drawbridge has been erected over the trench, and the main road passes in front of the drawbridge.

As they galloped to the castle, the drawbridge over the ditch had been lowered, and a man beckoned to them and shouted, "Come in!" Come on in! The two stopped their horses, and Li Zhiyun looked at the second brother: "Can we go in?" The second brother glanced back at the enemy cavalry who was about to catch up, and decisively: "Go in!" When they entered the castle through the drawbridge, the drawbridge was pulled up again.

After entering the castle through the city gate, the two turned over and dismounted. At this time, a man hurried down the steps of the city wall. The man looked to be about forty years old, wearing armor and a burly build. He walked up to the second brother, hugged his fists and said, "I haven't seen His Royal Highness King Qin." ”

"Who are you? ……”

"The last general is Fan Botong, the head of the Jiangzhou march. Last year, I went to Chang'an and was fortunate to meet His Royal Highness. Just now, the general saw the enemy chasing the two at the head of the city, and recognized His Highness from a distance, so he asked his subordinates to lower the drawbridge and summon the two into the castle. ”

The second brother listened, nodded, and looked at the other party with some puzzlement: "How could General Fan be in this castle?" Fan Botong sighed and said: "Two months ago, Song Jingang led his troops to attack Jiangzhou, and the last general led the army to fight against him. Fan Botong said, looked at Li Zhiyun and said, "Who is this?" ……”

"Oh, he's my fifth brother, Li Zhiyun, the king of Chu."

When Fan Botong heard this, he clasped his fists and saluted. Li Zhiyun hurriedly returned the salute.

"Aren't the two princes in Chang'an? How did you get here, and be chased by the enemy? Fan Botong asked a little strangely.

Before the second brother could answer, Li Zhiyun preemptively said: "My second brother was sent by Abba to lead a large army to attack Liu Wuzhou. When Fan Botong heard this, he excitedly said: "So, the emperor sent the king of Qin to recover Hedong?" The second brother nodded and said, "My two brothers went to the enemy camp to reconnoitre, and they didn't want to meet the enemy, so they were chased. ”

"The two princes are frightened, let's go to the barracks to rest." After Fan Botong finished speaking, he led the way in front and introduced the situation here.

Dongjiabao originally had five or six hundred households, after Song Jingang occupied Jiangzhou, the army looted on a large scale, and the nearby people took refuge in the castle, and there are currently more than 1,000 households. After Fan Botong led hundreds of remnants to retreat to Dongjiabao, Song Jingang sent troops to attack several times, but they were not defeated. Later, Song Jingang probably thought that this small castle had little strategic value and was not worth his losses, so he gave up the attack.

The three of them walked and talked, and after walking a short distance, they saw a large group of soldiers surrounded by an empty field in front of them, and a woman was dancing a sword in the middle. I saw that she was vigorous, proficient in swordsmanship, moving and jumping, quite disciplined, and the swordsmanship dance was exquisite, which attracted a burst of applause from the onlookers.

After the woman finished dancing a set of swordsmanship, she retracted her posture. When she saw the three of them, she hurriedly ran over. Li Zhiyun looked carefully, this woman looked about sixteen or seventeen years old, her face was ruddy, and her appearance was beautiful, especially the big eyes, which were watery, like two black grapes in the water. The girl ran to her and called out sweetly to her father. Fan Botong stroked his beard and laughed, and said to the second brother: "This is a little girl's scholar. Then, he said to his daughter: "Shuxiang, come and salute the King of Qin and the King of Chu." ”

Fan Shuxiang didn't salute the two of them, but walked up to the second brother, looked at him stunned and said, "You are Li Shimin?" I heard that you are excellent in martial arts, do you dare to compete with me? When Fan Botong heard this, his face changed, and he said sharply: "Hugh is rude!" ”

The second brother listened, smiled and said to Fan Bodao: "General Fan, it's okay." Then he turned his gaze to Fan Shuxiang: "Miss Fan, what do you want to try?" Fan Shuxiang thought for a while and said, "It's like archery." The second brother nodded, turned back and took out the hard bow from the saddle bag, and drew a large feather arrow from the quiver.

At this moment, there happened to be a wild goose flying in the air. The second brother pulled his bow and released the arrows, and the wild geese suddenly fell down like paper kites with broken strings. Some soldiers ran over to pick it up, only to see the arrow pass through the head, and the onlookers let out a burst of exclamation.

Fan Shuxiang also took a bow and arrow from a soldier, looked up at the sky, and there were no geese in the sky, but a crow flew overhead with a "quack". She shot an arrow, and the crow fell to the sound of the strings. Some soldiers ran to look for them, and they were also shot in the head.

"The geese are big, the crows are small, the geese are high, the crows are low, this game is a tie." Fan Shuxiang said.

The second brother nodded and said, "This is fair, what is the comparison below?" ”

"Swordsmanship."

The two came to the open space, opened the posture and competed, you fought back and forth for more than a dozen rounds, the second brother suddenly stopped, and then said: "Miss Fan's swordsmanship is superb, this king is willing to bow down!" Fan Shuxiang was very happy to see that the second brother had admitted defeat. She wiped a handful of fine sweat from her forehead, walked up to Li Zhiyun and said, "King Chu, do you know martial arts?" ”

"No, it won't."

"And what will you do?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Fan Shuxiang smiled and said, "Then you won't become a rice bucket?" ”

When Fan Botong next to him heard this, he changed color and said, "You girl, Hugh is talking nonsense!" Apologize to King Chu quickly! Li Zhiyun turned his head to Fan Bodao: "It's okay, it's okay, Miss Fan has a bold personality, is fast-talking, and has a temper with this king." ”