The bandits were gossiping and resolutely resisted Tan Sanniang.

So the old woman and the lactating woman were thrown onto the official road by the bandits, while Liang Ying and Tan Sanniang were tied and blindfolded, and their mouths were gagged.

The woman's house was delicate, and two strong bandits each carried one into the mountain.

There are several hills in Manluan Mountain, and there are hundreds of bandits in the cottage, who ignore the law and entrench themselves here to rob the rich merchants and the imperial court money and grain, which is a major cancer in the local area.

Given that this mountain is located at the junction of Cangzhou and Suchang, the governments on both sides have a headache.

The government also sent troops to encircle and suppress, but because of the steep geographical environment and deep jungle, once they entered the mountain, they almost did not see the light of day, and they failed several times, so they gave up.

In today's chaotic world, disputes are rife in various places, and I have no spare energy to deal with this group of bandits, so I have been putting it on hold.

Originally, there were only a few dozen people in the cottage, but after Zhao Pheasant came, it grew to more than 100 people, plus the families of the bandits, and the group grew to more than 300 people!

With so many people to feed, the efficiency of the bandits in doing business is naturally not low.

To get back to the point, Liang Ying's eyes were blindfolded, and they couldn't see the way into the mountain at all. The bandits who carried them into the mountains did not speak, and all of them walked deep into the mountains with their heads bowed.

The further you go, the thicker and taller the canopy becomes, and the ground is covered with thick fallen leaves, damp and full of snakes and insects.

Not only that, but there are also hunting traps in the forest, and if an unwitting outsider comes in, one will be accidentally hit.

The horses ridden by the twenty or so men had been dispersed by the trainers, and they were raised deep in the forest, while the stockade was halfway up the mountain.

The bandit leader Zhao Pheasant is extremely cunning, the Barbarian Luan Mountain is undulating, there are several mountains, and he has set up dens everywhere, and it is not easy to distinguish between true and false.

It is precisely because of this kind of truth and falsehood that the officers and soldiers who besieged him before were confused and could not be lawless for a while.

The group walked for a long time to reach the foot of the village, and there were strange rocks on it, and it was impossible to climb up at all, even if it was not easy to use a ladder.

Huang Pizi made a gesture, and Liang Ying and Tan Sanniang were cut and fainted again.

A bandit whistled below, and after a while the top responded to the cuckoo call, four long and one short.

The two sides exchanged codes and made sure that it was their own people, so they put a cage made of iron to come down, which could pull a weight of 500 catties at a time, and two donkeys were used to drag the pulley chain to transport people and materials up the mountain.

In this way, everyone rose in the air one after another and was sent halfway up the mountain one by one.

If you look down, the steepness of dozens of meters is terrifying, and when you encounter the timid, you will almost collapse to the ground.

After everyone went up the mountain safely, Liang Ying and Tan Sanniang were locked up in a stone house. They had checked their baggage, and all the money and money had been looted except for their clothes.

It wasn't until late in the afternoon that Liang Ying woke up from her coma. She looked at the stone house in a daze, and there was only a straw mat and a toilet on the ground.

The windows in the stone house were too high to reach and you couldn't see outside.

Liang Ying panicked in her heart, and hurriedly pulled the locked door, making a clang.

Tan Sanniang in the corner was sober and sober, sat up with difficulty, rubbed her shoulders and neck, and said, "This group of rough men, I really don't know how important it is. ”

Seeing that she was sober, Liang Ying stepped forward and asked, "Tan Niangzi, what should I do now?" ”

Tan Sanniang was calmer than her, and said: "It's all here, so naturally you want to live." ”

Liang Ying kept her mouth shut, she naturally wanted to live, and finally escaped from the ghost place in the palace, how could she be damaged here.

But the current situation is not good for them.

Liang Ying opened the burden on the straw mat, and only clothes were in it, and the copper plate and makeup were all taken away. The copper plate is gone, but the makeup is gone, and it will be fatal.

Tan Sanniang on the side saw that her money and silver were taken away, and cursed a few words of dogmatism.

When the two of them were worried, there was a sudden sound outside, and a bamboo basket was thrown into the window above.

Tan Sanniang was bold and reached out to take it, which contained their dinner, there was a pottery teapot, the water in the pot was still warm, and the rest was four coarse grain steamed buns and a plate of bean curd.

Liang Ying shouted boldly, but no one outside responded.

After hearing the footsteps and walking away, Tan Sanniang said: "Don't waste your efforts, fill your stomach first." ”

Liang Ying wiped her hands, picked up the steamed bun and began to nibble.

Tan Sanniang gave her half of the bean curd, and the two of them had a meal with steamed buns, and if they were thirsty, there was also water in the teapot.

After eating, they elaborated on the current situation.

Tan Sanniang is a native of Cangzhou, and she also knows some details about the bandits in Manluan Mountain, and said to her: "These bandits kill people and set fires and do all kinds of evil, but they don't do anything about adultery, adultery, and women, which is a bit moral, so you don't have to worry about being humiliated." ”

Hearing her say this, Liang Ying was a little relieved.

Tan Sanniang looked at her carefully and asked, "Seeing that you are not very old, and you have a capital accent, why did you come here?" ”

Liang Ying showed a sad expression and said truthfully: "A while ago, something went wrong in Beijing, and the king of Chu attacked the city, and those soldiers burned and looted.

"My relatives were all killed in that accident, I finally picked up a life, rushed to Suchang to join my relatives, how could I have thought ......"

"That's the case, you're a dear, I'm afraid you won't be able to vote."

Liang Ying was silent, and after a while, she asked, "What about you, what is the situation?" ”

Tan Sanniang replied: "I am alone, and I once had a child who died of illness when he was ten years old. I have been married to four men, none of them have been long, and my mother's family does not want to see me, and no one cares if I die here. ”

Liang Ying couldn't help but feel a little sympathetic, "Tan Niangzi's situation is really bad. ”

Tan Sanniang: "Born in this world, live one day at a time, and take one step at a time, don't think so much." ”

After that, the two girls who were sympathetic to each other comforted each other a few words, and then fell silent.

The nights in the mountains are much colder than in the cities, and at night the animals hiding in the mountains begin to come out to feed, and from time to time there are bird calls or insect chirping.

The cold moonlight reflected in from the window, and Liang Ying looked directly at the moonlight, feeling kinky in her heart, not knowing where her future was.

She secretly touched the piping edge of the corner of her clothes, and the copper in the baggage was scraped away, and the silver leaf was hidden in the piping by her, and she was lucky to save it, and if she escaped in the future, she would not be penniless.

With something on her mind, she tossed and turned and couldn't sleep.

Until I felt cold in the middle of the night, I warmed up back to back with Tan Sanniang, and both of them were covered with clothes, barely able to resist the cold at night.

The next morning, the door of the stone house was suddenly opened by a tall man.

The man's face was full of beard, and his whole body was full of recklessness, which made people look frightened.

The woman behind the man was sturdy, with a round face, looked at them with an indifferent attitude, and said, "Two ladies, come with me." ”

They packed up their burdens and went out with the woman.

When they walked out of the stone house and saw what was going on outside, the two couldn't help but be taken aback.

At this time, the morning sun is rising, and I can see the warm and soft sunlight falling through the clouds.

In the rolling mountains, the overwhelming verdant canopy dominates all the surrounding mountains. From afar, they are all shrouded in the soft morning sun, full of vitality and especially magnificent.

Liang Ying's heart was shocked.

No wonder this group of bandits dares to be unscrupulous, such a ghost place, surrounded by primeval forests, officers and soldiers can find a ghost when they come in!

To their surprise, after passing through a gorge on the mountainside, there was a secluded village.

By this time, the smoke was already curling.

Every family has made a fire to cook, and in the sound of chickens and dogs, it is a peaceful and peaceful paradise scene.

Liang Ying was completely shocked, she saw the most unpretentious fireworks in the world in the expectation of the rising sun.

Although those houses are not as solid and prosperous as in the towns, and some are even built in caves, they have a sense of stability and comfort that is not found outside.

A dirt dog came running towards them from afar, and instead of barking, it wagged its tail at the woman.

The woman's surname was Zhou, known as Friday Niang, and her attitude towards them was quite cold.

For these refuge villagers, any stranger who comes in from the outside is full of vigilant hostility.

On the way to lead them into the village, many villagers secretly looked around, but they didn't ask much, and only greeted Friday Niang.

Liang Ying was also curious to observe the surroundings, there were many houses in the whole village, low and low, criss-crossed, and it was estimated that there were hundreds of households.

This subverted her stereotype of the bandit group, she thought that the bandits' dens were all extremely vicious, but she never thought that there were old and weak women and children, just ordinary villagers.

Listening to the accents they speak, it seems that there are all over the world.

No, Tan Sanniang was very curious, and asked Friday Niang: "This place is really good, it is much more stable than outside, do you know how many families there are in the village?" ”

Friday didn't answer, let alone pay attention.

Tan Sanniang shut up in a daze.

After leading the two to a courtyard, Friday Niang said: "The work you are doing today is to make rice, don't be lazy, and don't think about running away, if the work is not done, there will be no food to eat." ”

After saying that, he locked the courtyard door, leaving only the two of them in the courtyard.

There was a local dog tethered under the big locust tree at the door, and other villagers lived around, and it was almost difficult for the two to escape from under the noses of the villagers.

Tan Sanniang put down her burden and went to the kitchen to see if there was any food, there was a bowl of brown rice porridge on the stove, which was worthy of a plate of pickled bamboo shoots and fermented bean curd.

The two of them ate breakfast in the kitchen.

Tan Sanniang said: "These people still have a bit of a conscience, and they didn't let us work hungry." ”

After the two of them finished eating, they washed up briefly before going to make rice.

Liang Ying had never done this errand, and Tan Sanniang taught her to learn.

The grain is scooped out of the sack and put into the mortar, and then the grain in the mortar is pounded with a mallet, and after the mallet is pounded, the skin of the grain will be scooped out, which is the bran, and the rest is rice.

The rice is extracted through a fine sieve, the bran leaks into the dustpan, and the remaining rice grains are put into sacks.

The whole process is simple, but it is also hard.

Liang Ying stepped on the mallet for a long time and felt that her legs were weak, and she exchanged with Tan Sanniang many times halfway, and it seemed that she realized that she had been plundered to the bandits' den to do hard labor, and she had not been paid!

Fortunately, there was enough food at noon.

For several days, they were locked up here to make rice, and several times Tan Sanniang wanted to sneak out to investigate, but there were occasional men outside, and she was afraid of being beaten, so she gave up.

It lasted until five days later, when they changed to an errand job, which was pulp laundry.

These days, they have done miscellaneous work such as scooping rice, pulping and washing, and weeding in the soybean fields in the back mountains.

The villagers around them were very indifferent to them, and almost never took the initiative to talk to them.

At first, Liang Ying thought that after staying up for a while, she might find a way out, but she didn't know that after no makeup was applied, the complexion on her body began to fall off, revealing her original appearance.

Tan Sanniang realized her abnormality later, frowned and asked, "Ah Ying wiped something on her face?" ”

Liang Ying panicked in her heart, but she also knew that she couldn't hide it, and said uneasily: "I came from the capital alone, and I was afraid of changes in the long way, so I disguised myself, but I thought that I was plundered into the bandits' den." ”

Tan Sanniang: "You go and wash your face first, so you can't go out to meet people, it will arouse their suspicion." ”

Liang Ying had no choice but to clean up the things on her body.

As the saying goes, one white covers three ugliness, if it is in the capital, there are many noble girls pampered in the honey pot, and her appearance is not outstanding, but in this bandit den in the poor countryside, it is a fairy-like character.

When she saw her true face, Tan Sanniang was stunned.

I saw a face that was white and pure, and the peach blossom eyes with affection hidden panic, cowardly and worried.

Snow skin and black hair complement each other, revealing a smart innocence and beauty, although wearing a cold burlap clothes, it is difficult to hide the noble and elegant water out of the hibiscus.

Such a character suddenly appeared in this vulgar rural place, which really made Tan Sanniang stunned for a long time.

Seeing that she didn't react for a long time, Liang Ying was even more worried in her heart, and shouted tentatively: "Tan Niangzi? ”

Tan Sanniang came back to her senses and said, "Tut" said: "It's the first time I've seen such a beautiful girl, what grains do you have to take to raise such golden branches and jade leaves, you tell me honestly, is it the daughter of a big family?" ”

Liang Ying hurriedly shook his head, waved his hand and lied: "I have only worked as an errand in the rich merchant's mansion, and I am not a delicate master. ”

Tan Sanniang was skeptical.

She tentatively rolled up her sleeves and looked at her arms, which were white and tender, the same as lotus roots, and then looked at the palms of her hands, which had been tossed rough these days, but she could still distinguish the fine skin and tender flesh if she looked closely, which showed that she was a pampered master.

Such a girl without fireworks is credible if it is said that the daughter of the merchant is credible, and the golden branches and jade leaves in the princes and nobles are also credible.

"Don't coax me, what kind of errands have you done before?"

"I have served the master's pen and ink."

"Can you read?"

"Recognize some."

Tan Sanniang still didn't believe it.

Liang Ying flickered her and said: "At the feet of the Son of Heaven, there are many powerful and rich businessmen, and you can find a maid like me if you look for a family, and Mrs. Tan doesn't need to make a fuss." ”

Tan Sanniang was silent for a while, and then said seriously: "It's good for my daughter's family to be beautiful, but in this kind of world, beauty is a sin, and who doesn't want to take it by force." ”

Her words couldn't help but Liang Ying remembered what happened in the Qianzheng Palace that day, those beautiful girls were ruthlessly ruined by the soldiers, and she was even more frightened in her heart.

Seeing that her face was not good, Tan Sanniang came up with an idea: "Take my headscarf and put it on." ”

So in order to cover up her appearance, Liang Ying deliberately made her face dirty.

It's just a pity that within two days in the village, it was rumored that the little lady who was captured was born white, like a little fairy, and even many people were curious to watch, all wanting to increase their knowledge.

This frightened Liang Ying.

In the evening, a woman surnamed Gong and a man came over.

The woman was dressed in a blue cloth robe, and she looked like she was in her forties, and she was kind and kind-eyed, and she looked like she was very talkative.

But the man behind her was bluffing, with a horizontal face, a scar on the eyebrow bone, and the eyebrows were cut in two, like a Mount Tai standing behind the woman, it was the yellow skin.

"Little lady Wang?"

Hearing shouts from outside, the two men in the house walked vigilantly to the door.

Liang Ying was frightened by the tall man, and hurriedly hid behind Tan Sanniang.

Tan Sanniang was much calmer than her, and asked, "Who is this?" ”

Aunt Gong smiled and said, "I am the servant of Mrs. Zhao's side, and her old man wants to meet Mrs. Wang, so she sent me to invite her." ”

Tan Sanniang asked unceremoniously: "Which Mrs. Zhao?" ”

Huang Pizi replied: "The mother of the big shopkeeper." ”

These words frightened Tan Sanniang, and Liang Ying behind her panicked: "What is the bandit leader's mother looking for me?" ”

Tan Sanniang has no bottom in her heart.