In the second half of the night, Lin Baotong suddenly woke up. He is a long-time martial arts practitioner, and his hearing is naturally excellent, and he can sensitively perceive the subtle sounds of the night.

In the night breeze, there is not only the aroma of grass and the sweet smell of the earth after the rain, but also ...... There is also a peculiar smell that emanates from men.

The grass stems made a slight "salsa" sound under the footsteps of the men, and it was supposed that enemies from three directions were closing in.

Lin Baotong quietly glanced at the small bowl, let go of the hand holding the scabbard, and re-selected the whistle stick.

Suddenly, a figure flashed from behind the bonfire, and Master Lin stood up, poked his stick behind him, and smashed it with his hand regardless of the "sigh" sound from behind.

Before the man on the other side could stand firmly, he saw that the stick had reached the top of his head with the sound of the wind, and hurriedly raised his shield to block it, but the stick was very powerful, and a muffled sound smashed him backwards a few steps, and finally he couldn't stand still and fell into the pond with a "plop" sound.

By the time he came out, Lin Baotong had already knocked down two or three more in succession.

At this time, Xiaowan'er also woke up, and still didn't understand what was going on.

He grabbed his Qi Mei stick and dodged it, blocked two weapons, and hit one of them on the calf, but was forced to return to the master by the shield knife of the other person.

And Lin Baotong also encountered two martial arts who were better at forcing him, and he was besieged by several people later. In his desperation, he kicked over the stand, and the clay pot hanging from it toppled over, and the remaining fish soup doused the campfire.

Without the light, these people immediately panicked, Lin Baotong sneered and knew that the plan worked, so he no longer panicked, and fought in the dark, and the numerical advantage of this group of people was gone.

He began to move closer in the direction of the apprentice. Suddenly, he heard a step that he hadn't seen before.

"Get out of the way!" A voice shouted, "Surround the thieves, don't let them get away!" Sounds familiar.

Before Lin Baotong could think about it, a cold knife light slashed, he hurriedly hid and dodged, and the knife light chased after him, knowing how he was going to dodge, Lin Baotong hurriedly flashed again, and took the opportunity to sweep it away, but it was empty.

In this way, the two of them went back and forth six or seven times, only to see the swords flashing, the wind whistling, and the people around looked at the figures longingly, but they didn't hear any sound, and they were all stunned.

Suddenly, he saw both sides dodge away, and the cry of the knife said, "Stop! On the other side, but the disciples of Longhu Mountain or Sanqingguan?"

Lin Baotong smiled: "I also think your voice is familiar, but I can't remember it for a while. Isn't it in the dark world that your own family collided with your own family?"

When the big man heard this, he hurriedly beckoned to his men: "Fetch a torch and shine my face!" A torch lit up, reflecting the well-defined face of the judge.

"So it's Senior Brother?" As soon as the words fell, Lin Baotong walked out of the shadows, clenched his fists and asked teasingly: "Longhu Mountain has been separated for many years, why did the senior brother actually start cutting the path here?"

"Hah! Senior Brother Liuxin, why did you make trouble for half the night, it was you?" Zhen Jie couldn't cry or laugh: "Which one is the king of the mountain? I'm now working for the Southern Metropolitan Inspection Department of Yugan, and I'm half a public servant.

When I received the news, I thought I could catch a big thief, but who knew that it was my junior brother, what is this called!" After speaking, he told Xiang Yong to put down his weapons.

Lin Bao looked around, and the black and swarthy human heads numbered half a hundred, to say the least. "What about me?" He asked immediately.

"Master, I'm here!" The little bowl agreed, and squeezed it from behind the person.

"Here, let you meet a big man. This is your uncle, one of the three heroes of Jiangnan, Suo Tiangang Jujie hero, hurry up and kowtow!"

Xiao Wan'er looked at the bearded man in amazement, and hurriedly lay down and kowtowed three times.

Suo Tiangang laughed, stretched out his hand to pull him up, patted him on the shoulder twice, asked about his age, nodded and said, "Most of my brothers here are good in the army, but I didn't expect you to be able to fight back and forth with four people, it's not easy, it's not easy!"

This made Xiao Wan'er's face feverish, but fortunately, it was still dark and no one saw it. In fact, he was already out of step just now, and he only had the ability to parry, and he was quite embarrassed to be praised by others, so he had to grin and smile.

"Okay, since it's your own family, it's easy to talk." examine

Jie turned around, and a young man wearing blue arrow sleeves, no armor, and a gray red tasseled felt hat appeared in the firelight.

"Chief Zhou has worked hard to keep the brothers on guard on all sides, so I will chat with the junior brothers here, and rest by the way."

"Yes!" The officer gave a military salute and turned back to greet his commanders.

Soon the bonfire was lit again, and the three of them all sat down on the ridge, and Shen Jie untied his cloak and dried it on the fire, while chatting with Lin Baotong's master and apprentice about where to collect the apprentices and other topics.

Lin Baotong unintentionally swept down, knowing that people had already been arranged around, and there were about twenty people standing on both sides without squinting. That week, the sentry commander also pressed his knife and stood one step behind Zhen Jie's side. ap.

He suddenly moved in his heart, and looked at everyone attentively, and they were all wearing robes and hats at this time.

They came with robes and hats, he thought. "Senior brother's excitement on this big night is very majestic!" Lin Baotong said casually with a smile.

"Mighty fart!" Xianjie smiled bitterly: "You didn't see it, these people are all militiamen of the district team under the Santang Inspection Division.

They were supposed to sleep in the warm bedding at home, but when they heard the warning that they were going to catch a girl, they ran here to get rid of the net, but unexpectedly it was your brother who was caught."

"I'm not a woman." As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly realized a question: "You came to the net, knowing that we will go this way?"

"Of course! If you go to Santang Town, where else can you go? This is the nearest way to go."

"How do you know I'm going to Santang?"

"Because you've had our men with you along the way."

"You're following me?" Lin Baotong was taken aback and thought, "No, if someone was following me, I should have found out!"

"How can you find a man miles away?"

"How is this possible?"

"How is this impossible? We've got a clairvoyant!" As he spoke, Shen Jie took out a brass tube-like thing from his satchel and showed him, "When the day dawns, you can try it, and you will know whether what I said is true or false."

"Okay, even if what you say is true, where did you start tracking?" Lin Baotong still didn't believe it.

"You noticed it from our observation post as soon as you came out of the camp of Tatehanako, and the news was reported to the Intelligence Section, and the order was ordered to follow you up, and then three groups of people relayed and followed you west.

When you found out that you were indeed going to Santang Town, a sentry rode a mule to the ferry along the port to raise a flag to inform the other side of the river, and the inspector of the inspection department on the other side immediately rode a mule to Santang to report the news.

Then we sent out a sentry and crossed the river from the port in a wagon to round up. That's how it goes."

"No wonder you came so fast, it wasn't on foot!"

"Walking is tiring and slow, but it is not as fast as riding or wagoning.

Actually, we have other ways, for example, if you don't stop here, there are boats on your way back and on the surface of the Santang River in front of you, and no one can escape anyway!"

"So Tatehanako didn't get any news from Kosai, did you deliberately cover it up?"

"Yes!" Jujie grinned, then stretched out his hand, "Take it."

"What?"

"The bandits must have a letter to the people of Huxi, right?"

Lin Baotong blinked his eyes twice, at this time the sky was dark, he could see that those villagers were tightly surrounding this place, and there was Xianjie by his side, and he knew that it was impossible to kill him today.

"Do you think I should give it to you, or will I give it to you?"

"Or else? Do you still want to chase it to the underworld to deliver a letter for Katehanako?"

"What do you mean, brother?"

"Chen Yuanhai's father and son have been beheaded a few days ago, and the people and horses they are entangled are scattered like birds and beasts, and the Chen family's Sinophora no longer exists! Where are you going to send this useless letter?"

Lin Baotong looked at Shen Jie dumbfounded for a while, then reached into his arms and took out the letter and handed it to him.

"I'm just a messenger, only

In order to repay him for saving his life, now that things have not worked, I have to go back and repay him in another way." Lin Baotong was a little troubled after speaking, he thought that he could get out of the sea of suffering, but now he .......

"Senior brother doesn't have to be like this." Shen Jie received the letter and said, "The eldest husband should be for tens of millions of people in the world, or, why bother with a small favor for himself?

He saved you, and you promised to deliver the letter, did it have to be delivered? It doesn't make sense! You didn't know in advance that the Chen family father and son were in the law, and it was not your fault that the letter was not delivered.

You and he have already made up their minds, so why bother yourself? Besides, Tatehanako has fallen into the strategy of the capital inspection, and he can't protect himself, and his junior brother still wants a moth to fight the fire, so can he be martyred with him?"

Lin Baotong lowered his head, admitting in his heart that what Xianjie said made sense. However, the new goal he had just had was lost all of a sudden, and he was a little unsure of what to do. Lin Baotong looked at the apprentice and reached out to put his arm around Xiao Wan'er's shoulder.

In the morning light, Shen Jie noticed the shiny scar on his right cheek, and he couldn't help but sigh:

"Back then, Uncle Shi had already reached the safe realm, just because Peng Yazi had saved his life, so he went back to help him, but you left such a scar on your face.

Does this story have to be repeated again? Listen to me, a character like Katehanako is not worth it!"

"I also know that his character is not good, but ......, alas! I don't know what to do, do you want to go back to Santang Town, or you send me to the prison of Yugan County?"

"How the hell did you get involved with Katehanako?" Hearing Shen Jie's question, the little bowl next to him said something to him one by one.

"Oh, according to you, you didn't join the gang, but he kept him back for a while. What kind of sin is that?"

Juan Jie shook his head: "You are not prisoners at all, and I have no reason to send you to prison!" He thought about it and suggested:

"Why don't you go to Yugan for a few days, meet with the capital inspector, rest for a few days and think about where to go and what to do, and then talk?"

Lin Baotong turned his face to look at the small bowl, and when he saw the apprentice nodding repeatedly, he smiled and arched his hand: "This kid has long wanted to get acquainted with Li Sanlang, and if he can get his wish, he will be very lucky!" I'll leave everything to my brother."

Juan Jie laughed, saying that it was easy. Then he got up and patted the dirt, and invited him to go to Santang Fort first, from where he could take a fast boat back to Yugan on the same day.

"Will you be back the same day?" Lin Baotong repeated in surprise.

"Yes, take the car and boat!" Jujie proudly told them, "Haven't you seen it? The car and ship were fast and steady, and were not limited by the force and direction of the wind.

In the past, the water wheel was driven by manpower, but now it has been improved, and the four-wheeled water wheel can only use two clutches, two navigators and two donkeys, which is very convenient to transport people and goods back and forth!"

As he spoke, he beckoned Captain Zhou to assemble the team. The sentry commander listened to their conversation, and then looked at Lin Baotong's master and apprentice, and he was much gentler and smiled.

They walked in the middle of the group, with two people in front of them and the rest of the people following behind. On the way, Lin Baotong suddenly remembered and asked Jie, "Why are they so active?"

"There's money to be made." Ju Jie told him, "If you catch a live female cadre for fifty taels and die for thirty taels, you will have no results in battle, and as long as you go on duty, you will have six cents of silver."

Lin Baotong said: "No wonder that knotweed flower seed can't get the news of Huxi, such a heavy reward, isn't it to catch one by one?" Even like me, don't you almost get out of the way?"

His words made Xianjie laugh, and even Mr. Zhou and those villagers laughed when they heard it.

"It's called all the soldiers." Shen Jie said: "In Li Sanlang's words: let the evil turtle of Tatehuazi fall into the big net woven by the people. Hey, see where else he can bite!"

The evil turtle sneezed three or four times in a row, blew his nose and scolded, "Which mother-in-law wants me to go back earlier, shrink in the bed and read Lao Tzu!" The leaders around him laughed.

Getting up so early in order to try to attack Yu Gan today, Tatehanako decided to go to the north gate first to try her luck.

However, this idea was opposed by several leaders, on the grounds that there were many low-lying water pools in the north of Yugan City and the water system was vertical and horizontal.

For flood prevention purposes, the city on both sides of the Pengze Gate (North Gate).

The wall was built very tall and strong, thick and strong, not to mention that no one had attacked it, not even the flood had taken it, so did you think you didn't let us take the eggs and touch the stones?

But Tatehanako didn't think so, he felt that this was a county seat after all, no matter what, the county's financial and material resources were there, you couldn't build a Nanchang Mansion, right?

Besides, he sent someone to investigate last time, and reported that the Yugan city wall was in disrepair, and as for those group exercises, they were just bluffing outsiders and middle cadres, so he didn't think it was so terrible.

It's a mule or a horse, so you have to pull it out and walk it. He decided to go to the north of the city first to try it and see how it went.

Although it was a tentative attack, the shelf still had to be stretched. Ordered 2,000 people, with siege ladders, the brigade of men and horses rushed towards the north gate.

There is a hanging bell on the tower of the north gate, and there is a patrol to ring the bell immediately to warn. Li Dan took Zhao Jingzi and others to the city to inspect the enemy's movements, and Fan Xianzun also trembled.

"Why are you here, sir?" Li Dan hurriedly stepped forward to hug each other and asked with concern: "I heard the day before yesterday that adults occasionally feel cold, and their bodies are not yet well, how can they work, so I will leave it to me here, so it's okay."

Fan Xianzun's face was pale, making it difficult to figure out whether he was weak or frightened after his illness. "Although the inspection is so, the thief is the first time in Bocheng, how can I have the reason to lie on the sickbed, I must come and see with my own eyes." He said tremblingly.

Everyone had to borrow a chair for him to go to the nearest house, and just after sitting down in front of the battlement, they saw the team of Tatehanko swaggering into view.

All the commanders (including the county lord) took out the clairvoyant from their satchels and looked at them, when they heard the lookout loud report from the watchtower:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the enemy team in front of you is playing the 'Tatezi Banner!' Between 2,000 and 2,500 people!"

Why more? Because the captured civilians were used as auxiliaries, carrying siege ladders and other equipment, the team appeared longer and more bluffing.