On the cliffs on both sides of the small village.

In the moonlight, two men riding a maroon horse stood side by side, and although the night was dark, it could not hide the majestic silhouette of the maroon horse.

Both of these horses are rare and good horses, and the two on horseback are also extraordinary.

One of them was wearing a robe, a black gauze hat, and two mustaches at the corners of his mouth.

He held his head high, overlooking the bottom of the cliff, his eyes were full of ambition, and he looked full of officialdom.

The other man was tall, wearing a red cherry helmet and a suit of steel soft armor, holding the reins in one hand and a large sheathed sword in the other.

It is obvious that civilian officials and military generals are dressed.

The general's name was Guan Xu, and he was an army commander stationed in the area. In fact, his station is located in the middle of the territory of this large remnant country, and it is very peaceful on weekdays, there is no rebellion, and there is no invasion by foreign enemies, he just manages some local security.

But this time, however, he suddenly received an order from above, and an envoy from the second rank of the dynasty came to his station in person and asked him to assist the envoy in completing a task.

However, this task seems to be very hidden, not only is it not mentioned in the order, but even after the governor himself arrived, he kept it secret.

He didn't dare to ask more, after all, the governor didn't dare to do anything at will, and he had to kill him, a small six-rank petty official?

Since the governor named Qi Wen arrived in the local area, he has not done anything, but just stayed in the government to practice calligraphy, so that people can't figure out what kind of medicine he sells in the gourd.

It wasn't until yesterday that the adult urgently issued an order, asking Guan Xu to personally lead five hundred officers and soldiers to follow him and drive all the way into the depths of Astragalus Mountain.

The danger of Astragalus Mountain is very clear to him, the local stationed general, and even the outlaw thief who kills people and sets fire to Kou does not dare to enter Astragalus Mountain, it is almost a dead end.

However, they did not dare to disobey the order of the governor's envoy, so they could only come in hard. As expected, in just one day, more than 100 of the 500 officers and soldiers were damaged, and many others were bitten by poisonous insects, and it seems that they will not live long.

Such casualties are still due to the fact that there are herb pickers who are familiar with the terrain of Astragalus Mountain to lead the way, otherwise there will only be more casualties.

Under the stars and moon, it took them a day and a night to finally come to this cliff.

Guan Xu forcibly suppressed the dissatisfaction in his heart, and asked the governor envoy with a respectful face: "My lord, I really don't know why we have to come to this Astragalus Mountain overnight, and please explain it to your lordship." It's not that I deliberately offended adults, but more than 100 soldiers died on this day, or did they die for no reason, and the morale of the other soldiers was very low, and I really can't explain it. ”

Qi Wen didn't even look at him, but said to himself: "Do you know about the alliance of the Yamato Kingdom entering our Dayu Kingdom a few days ago? ”

The military general suddenly exclaimed: "What, those people turned out to be Yamato's army!" I only knew that there was an army with a large number of people from the north of Dayu all the way south, and the momentum was huge, but I didn't expect it to be from Yamato! Haven't they always contradicted us, how could the emperor let them enter our country, isn't it that the north has been attacked? ”

When he thought that the north was breached, he, who was used to being a comfortable general, would also have to go into battle to kill the enemy, and he was a little scared in his heart.

Qi Wen shouted angrily: "Nonsense! The north is an important defense line of our country since ancient times, is it so easy to be breached? The soldiers in the north are all iron-clad men, how can they be as useless as you who are afraid of death? ”

This military general is also a weak man, and after listening to the angry rebuke of his superiors, he did not dare to fight back, but only greeted him with a few words, so that the governor of De Na made the lord calm down his anger.

Qi Wen continued: "Do you think the emperor wants to do this? To tell you the truth, the battle on the northern frontier has long been stopped, and now all the armies are retreating south, not only our own army, but also those of Yamato. ”

When Guan Xu heard this, he was even more puzzled and said, "Then why is this happening?" Isn't it enlarging in the army of the country to lure the wolf in? ”

Qi Wen said disdainfully: "Hmph, what do you know about a little sesame official?" There is an extremely important plan involved in this, and even I don't know very well, let alone you? You'd better weigh yourself, and don't ask what you shouldn't know. ”

Guan Xu didn't dare to be disrespectful in front of this governor, and hurriedly said yes.

Qi Wen continued: "But our coming to this mountain this time has nothing to do with the emperor's plan, we are here to get something. ”

Guan Xu asked curiously: "I don't know what it is?" ”

Qi Wen sold another pass and said, "Do you know the woman from the Middle Earth Sect who was arrested by you ten years ago? ”

Guan Xu has only been transferred here from other places in recent years, and he is not very clear about the old things here, so after thinking about it carefully, he suddenly realized: "Is it that sword cultivator woman from Middle-earth?" ”

Qi Wen said: "Yes, our country originally had to sell the face of Middle-earth, and turn a blind eye to what she left here. But now it's different, they ignore us, so we don't have to look at their faces. This time I came to the mountains to take one of her things, and with this thing, although it only makes the situation slightly better, we must now accumulate every strength. ”

Guan Xu was still a little confused when he heard it.

He didn't understand what it was, and it took so much effort to find it. And the governor said that he wanted to accumulate every strength, and he did not know why.

However, he was obviously not stupid to be able to get into the position of the commander of a place. Since the person above was unwilling to explain, of course he didn't dare to ask, as long as he did the orders above. As for the more than 100 people who have died, they can only be blamed for their bad luck and encountering such a chore.

The remaining 300 people of this small team were ready, and they were ambushed in the upper and lower reaches of the river valley and on the edge of the cliffs, and surrounded the small village, waiting for the most relaxed before dawn to launch an attack and capture all the people of the village.

……

Xu Huaigu had already left the small village and walked downstream along the river valley. Because the water area near here is a basin of Qishui, and all rivers, no matter how big or small, will eventually flow into Qishui, so Xu Huaigu is not worried about getting lost.

He walked along the riverbank, and another advantage was that he was able to stay away from the monsters in the woods. If a demon beast came to attack, he could hide in this river, and he didn't want what happened three months ago to happen again.

Xu Huaigu walked forward, but saw a few scattered fires at the water's edge downstream, which was extremely strange against the backdrop of the night. The caution in his bones made him stop and take a closer look at what it was.

Those few points of firelight emitted a faint light, it should be a torch or something like illumination, and it was far away from him, but because he was already a monk of the Second Realm, and this firelight was very conspicuous in the dark night, he could see it clearly. As for those with torches, they must not be able to see Xu Huaigu.

Xu Huaigu's vigilance was raised, such a group of people of unknown origin appeared in the hinterland of Astragalus Mountain at night, obviously very suspicious, and he was ready to lean forward to investigate carefully.

He slowed his steps, and got a little closer, about ten feet away, before he could see the clothes of the group.

There were about fifty of them, standing on both sides of the river, all of them wearing soft armor and the standard long knives of the government, and they were obviously dressed as officials.

Xu Huaigu was a little curious about why the people from the official mansion appeared here, but then he heard their conversation.

"What the hell, what kind of broken order is this, it actually told us to come to this fatal place in the middle of the night, in just one day, the brothers have died so much, I really don't know what Commander Guan is doing!"

"Complain less. It's no wonder that Commander Guan, I saw with my own eyes that there was a person dressed as a civil official, but when he was walking in the mountains, he was even ahead of Commander Guan, and at first glance he was a big official, and even Commander Guan had to obey him. ”

"Then you can't joke with the lives of your brothers! It's only been a long time, so many people have died, and you have asked us to stay by this river in the middle of the night, what do you say this is for? ”

"That's right, everyone saw the danger on the road when we came, and we don't know if we can go back alive. No matter what his orders are, how can our lives be important, I wouldn't have come if I had known it was such an errand! ”

This group of officers and soldiers chattered and discussed, most of them complaining about the sinister nature of Astragalus Mountain, and some bold people scolded the officials above in a low voice.

Xu Huaigu probably figured out what was going on from these people's words. They seem to have come to the lower reaches of the river to block and set up a jam to prevent anyone from escaping. Xu Huaigu thought about it, except for the small village he just left in this river valley, where are there still people?

Aren't you here to arrest the people in this small village?

The thought flashed through his mind, and he couldn't calm down anymore. Although he didn't know how these people in the government knew that there was a small village here, and why they wanted to arrest the people here, since the Yu family saved his life, he couldn't stand by and watch this matter no matter what.

He didn't dare to hesitate for a moment, and immediately turned back and ran in the direction of the small village.