Chapter Sixty-Nine: Flying Flowers and Moons
When General Chen saw He Mengjiao throwing the problem to himself again, General Chen muttered in his heart: "Enter the canyon, how to explain to the princess if you fall into an ambush? Even if you don't get ambushed, the princess will personally lead a large army to help, but the army of grain has already left the canyon, so that the princess will be nameless, will the princess resent herself because of this? If you don't enter the canyon, if there is really no danger in the valley, and the princess will not be regarded as cowardly if you miss the opportunity to fight? How is this good?"
General Chen hesitated for a while, and finally thought of a countermeasure to get the best of both worlds, he cleared his throat and said: "Qin Cha is on top, and the young general does not dare to make his own decisions, his subordinates think that the army should rest outside the canyon for a while, as soon as the princess's reinforcements arrive, our two armies will come together inside and outside, our army's grain and grass will enter from the entrance of the canyon, and the reinforcements will meet at the exit of the canyon, so as not to live up to the princess's compassion for all the soldiers in Luokoucang, but also to make the princess division famous!
He Mengjiao scolded to herself: "This General Chen is really an old treacherous and cunning person, and in doing so, he not only pleases the princess, but also reduces the risk." If the situation changes, he will shift half of the blame to the poor reception of reinforcements. But as soon as the imperial court reinforcements arrive, I'm afraid that Xu Zhi will be even more difficult to deal with!"
It turned out that He Mengjiao deliberately let General Chen's grain truck travel half a day early in order to let Xu Zhi and them get the grain smoothly, and the imperial court's reinforcements were half a day late. But General Chen made up his mind and did not dare to enter the Orangutan Gorge without permission, which He Mengjiao never expected.
Xu Zhi and the eleven Shaolin monks stood on the top of the canyon, and when they saw that the imperial court's grain army had not entered the canyon for a long time, they knew that the situation had changed. Seeing that the hungry people behind them were a little restless, Li Yin and Xue Atan hurriedly whispered to comfort them, and said to Xu Zhijin: "Everyone can't hold back the excitement in their hearts when they see the grain truck in front of them, can they rush down the mountain and catch the officers and soldiers off guard?"
Xu Zhi whispered comforting: "Now that the enemy situation is unknown, and the imperial army has not entered the canyon, I see that they are lined up neatly and their morale is high, we rush down the mountain without permission, we will inevitably be surrounded and suppressed by the official army, and we will be annihilated." ”
An Jingsi said worriedly: "Brother Xu, don't rob the grain at this time, if the imperial court reinforcements arrive, wouldn't it be more difficult to deal with?"
Xu Zhi strengthened his thoughts and explained to the monks: "As long as we wait patiently, sooner or later, this batch of grain and grass from the imperial court will pass through this orangutan gorge, and it will not be too late for us to take him by surprise." Besides, it is getting late, as long as we continue to wait, the officers and soldiers are in the light, and we are in the dark, the officers and soldiers must not know our identity and number, so it is also extremely beneficial for us to rob the grain, that is, the officers and soldiers reinforcements arrive, as long as we take advantage of the dark and troubled waters to fish and kidnap their princess or boss, then this operation will be seven or eight points certain!"
Seeing that Xu Zhi analyzed very thoroughly, everyone stopped talking, Xu Zhi was worried that there would be a similar commotion in the valley opposite, so he hurriedly raised a big branch in his hand and danced back and forth in the air several times, so that everyone could calm down, wait for orders, and don't act rashly.
In the blink of an eye, the sunset reflected everything in the Orangutan Gorge, and with the sound of horses' hooves and military drums, the imperial court's reinforcements also arrived at the Orangutan Gorge as scheduled. General Chen remembered the sound of military drums when he saw the exit of the Orangutan Gorge, and knew that the reinforcements of the imperial court had reached the opposite exit as promised, he nodded to He Mengjiao, and ordered the soldiers behind him: "All the soldiers listen to the order, the reinforcements on the opposite side have arrived, let's light the torches, quickly enter the canyon, and meet the reinforcements on the opposite side!" The soldiers behind him heard the general's order, raised the torches in their hands, and slowly entered the Orangutan Gorge.
Xu Zhi stood on the top of the mountain and saw that the torches were lit at the bottom of the valley in turn, and the torches at the bottom of the mountain filled the entire canyon. Xu Zhi estimated that all the grain carts of the imperial court entered the canyon, he bent his bow and arrows, and shot a rocket into the air, the hungry people on both sides of the mountain saw it, and shouted one after another, and hundreds of large and small fireballs instantly ignited on the top of the mountain on both sides of the canyon, rolling to the bottom of the valley, and then there was a burst of sound of boulders falling, and suddenly the entire orangutan Gorge was on fire, and the flickering torches were cut into several sections by the fireballs, and there was a sound of consternation, crying, noise, and horse barking everywhere.
Xu Zhi saw that there was chaos in the canyon, and shot a second rocket into the air, and the hungry people on the top of the mountain on both sides were led by the eleven stick monks of the Shaolin Temple, holding sickles, hoes, wooden sticks and other instruments, and rushed to the bottom of the valley like a tide, fighting with the officials and soldiers. Those officers and soldiers were frightened, and saw that the dark woods were full of hungry people, plus the generals did not see the soldiers, the soldiers did not see the generals, and the command was in chaos, those officers and soldiers resisted alone for a while, and saw that the hungry people gathered more and more, all of them were masked, and their hair was scattered, like evil ghosts in the mountains, and they could not help but be demoralized, half of the soldiers abandoned their weapons and surrendered, and the other half of the soldiers fled to the valley mouth on both sides.
General Chen and He Mengjiao saw that their officers and soldiers trampled on each other and killed each other in order to squeeze out of the valley earlier, and they could no longer suppress the bullets, so they had no choice but to flee from the Orangutan Gorge on horseback with the remnants of the defeated army. The hungry people also took advantage of the chaos to jump on the grain cart, open the rice grain, and do their best to carry half of the rice grain up the valley, and the other half in the undamaged grain cart, quietly waiting for the monks' orders.
Xu Zhi, An Jingsi, Xue Atan, Likong, and Lichen led the hungry people to escort the grain cart and rushed to the front, while Master Zhide led other stick monks to protect the rear, and rushed out of the canyon with the officials and soldiers.
Xu Zhi saw that outside the canyon was a lush crape myrtle forest, full of clusters of crape myrtle flowers, Fang knew that he had gone in the wrong direction, and at this time he could not return to the canyon again, and was ambushed by the official army, so he had no choice but to lead the hungry people to continue to rush out of the canyon. Xu Zhi stopped, and in the depths of the woods, a large group of officers and soldiers were ambushed, all of whom were waiting with torches and bows and arrows in their hands. Most of the soldiers who had just escaped from the canyon were killed by the group after entering the woods.
Xu Shangshang took a few steps forward, and only then did he see that the leader of this group of officers and soldiers was a beautiful girl, riding a white horse, wearing a red windbreaker, wearing white armor inside, and holding a piccolo in her hand, which was the princess Xiuyun of the imperial court. Yun Feiyang, Zhou Chen, Hui Feng, Ou Yangguang, Liu Jingren and other generals lined up behind her, and many soldiers who fled for their lives knelt down in front of her horse, including General Chen, Vice General Huang and He Mengjiao.
Li Xiuyun glanced at General Chen on the ground and asked, "General Chen! The imperial court asked you to escort 100,000 quintals of grain and grass, where is the grain and grass now?"
General Chen kept kowtowing and said: "Princess! The subordinates are incompetent! Fallen into the way of this group of hungry people, and fell into an ambush in this orangutan gorge, and 50,000 loads of grain and grass have been lost! There are still 50,000 loads in Vice General Zhao, and they will be transported soon! Please spare the princess's life?"
General Chen hurriedly knelt on the ground and kept kowtowing: "Princess! Your subordinates are incompetent! You have fallen into the way of this group of hungry people, and you have been ambushed in this Star Gorge, and 50,000 loads of grain and grass have been lost! There are still 50,000 loads of grain and grass in Vice General Zhao!
Li Xiuyun glanced at Yun Feiyang beside him and said, "General Yun, this General Chen is not good for escorting grain and grass, so I will leave it to you to deal with!"
Yun Feiyang responded and ordered his subordinates to detain General Chen and bring him back to Dengfeng for trial.
Li Xiuyun glanced at He Mengjiao, who was kneeling on the ground, and knew that it was not good to favor her at this time, so she had to endure the pain and said: "Sister He, you are not a person in the army, so this time the grain transportation failed, and this princess does not blame you, but as the princess's Qincha, you miscommanded, and let 50,000 loads of grain and grass fall into the hands of the grass coward, and the princess has now removed you from your position in the army, and stayed by the princess's side to make meritorious contributions!"
He Mengjiao smiled: "Thank you princess for knowing the grace of the encounter, Mengjiao is not a general, and I ask the princess for permission to leave the officialdom, Mengjiao is willing to be a civilian!"
Li Xiuyun comforted again: "Sister He's talent is rare, how can she retreat because of a setback, doesn't my sister want to continue to stay in Songshan and fulfill her wish?"
Li Xiuyun's words reminded He Mengjiao, and He Mengjiao thought: "It's not for Brother Xu in front of me to endure the humiliation, if I can't bear the humiliation for a while, how can I help Brother Xu achieve great things?"
Li Xiuyun saw that He Mengjiao was no longer talking, and thought: Sister He is thin-skinned, she shouldn't punish her in front of so many soldiers, she naturally can't get over it. Since she stopped talking, it means that the matter has passed, and she acquiesces not to leave herself. Li Xiuyun was overjoyed, and asked someone to bring a good horse for He Mengjiao to ride.
After Li Xiuyun finished dealing with the affairs of the army, he turned his gaze to Xu Zhi and the others, and said with a smile: "Xu Daxia, I didn't expect us to meet again so soon! Why are you acting more and more out of order!"
Yun Feiyang saw that as soon as Li Xiuyun saw Xu Zhi, he didn't know how to speak, he was unhappy, and took over the topic and said: "Princess! This Xu Zhi is the leader of this grain robbery, you are too polite to him, let your subordinates capture him first, and then hand him over to the princess!", after speaking, he rushed towards Xu Zhi.
Xu Zhi was not in a hurry, neither dodging nor retreating, waiting for Yun Feiyang to ride his horse closer, jumped up, flew and jumped on his horse's head, the two fought on horseback, because it was a hand-to-hand fight, Yun Feiyang could not exert the power of the Nine Dragons Whip, and the two had to fight with their bare hands. Xu Zhi used a move of the Changjiao Gang, "Stormy Waves", with both fists out and kicking forward with his back feet.
Yun Feiyang had never seen such a sharp move, and quickly leaned back to dodge Xu Zhi's three moves, but Xu Zhi's leg crossed Yun Feiyang's chest, but kicked the horse's head, the horse neighed, raised his hooves, Yun Feiyang turned around and jumped off the horse, stood on the ground, and Xu Zhi also jumped off the horse.
Li Xiuyun saw that Yun Feiyang and Xu Zhi were meeting opponents, and they were inextricably fighting under the horse, urged the horse to take a few steps forward, stopped under a crape myrtle tree, and shouted: "Stop for the time being, Xu Zhi, as long as you let these hungry people return the grain and grass to the court, this princess will spare you this time!" After speaking, he asked the soldiers around him to put down the bows and arrows in their hands.
Xu Zhi saw that Li Xiuyun was only less than a hundred steps away from him, he suddenly deliberately showed weakness, retreated a few steps, jumped on the cloudy flying war horse, turned the horse's head, and rushed towards Li Xiuyun, Li Xiuyun's soldiers hurriedly raised the bows and arrows in their hands and shot at Xu Zhi.
Xu Zhi jumped up from the galloping war horse, jumped on the crape myrtle tree, dodged the dense rain of arrows, and then a "hanging golden curtain upside down", another move "Haidilao Moon", grabbed Li Xiuyun's thin waist, picked her up from the horse, hugged her in his arms, and then jumped on another crape myrtle tree.
Yun Feiyang was shocked when he saw that Xu Zhi took advantage of the chaos to capture Princess Xiuyun, and he didn't dare to let the soldiers release arrows, so he had to order the soldiers to surround the crape myrtle forest layer by layer, and he also jumped on the crape myrtle trees with Xu Zhi.
Xu Zhi saw Yun Feiyang holding a sword in his hand, following behind, he embraced Li Xiuyun and did not dare to slack off at all, and ran forward with all his might. The three of them ran back and forth on the branches of the crape myrtle tree, causing the branches of the trees to tremble, and the pink crape myrtle flowers fell from the sky like snowflakes and fluttered in the wind in the moonlight.
Li Xiuyun was held tightly in Xu Zhi's arms, her face was shy, she opened her eyes carefully, and saw that she was fluttering, flying in the air, and the pink flying flowers passed by her eyes and ears, bringing a faint fragrance of flowers, just like in a dream, she sighed softly: "It's like a dream, it's like being intoxicated!" If you can get a confidant in your life and live such a splendid life, you are not a princess, and you are willing to abandon fame and wealth!"
Xu Zhi saw Li Xiuyun talking to herself, thinking that she was frightened, and he felt a little unbearable, so he comforted softly: "Princess Xiuyun!
Unexpectedly, Li Xiuyun hugged Xu Zhi tightly with her backhand, smiled like a flower, and said with a red face: "Xu Zhi, you are really bold enough, you dare to hold this princess hostage, see how this princess will deal with you in the future?"
Xu Zhi said with a smile: "Could it be that the princess will break Xu Zhi's corpse into ten thousand pieces, and the nine clans will not succeed?"
Li Xiuyun also smiled and said, "You know that you are scared now, right? Since today, why bother in the first place? What are you going to do with this princess?"
Xu Zhi also replied calmly: "Please rest assured that the princess has no hatred with the princess, as long as this matter is settled, the princess will be released immediately!"
Li Xiuyun said angrily: "Xu Zhi! This princess doesn't care about this grain robbery, didn't this princess promise you to spare you this time? What I asked was that you hugged the princess and blasphemed the princess, how to give this princess an explanation?"
Xu Zhi was very silent, and deliberately smiled: "If I don't hug the princess, then how can I hold the princess hostage?
Li Xiuyun scolded with a smile: "Xu Zhi, this princess doesn't look like a humble gentleman when she sees you, so she won't talk to you!", after speaking, she pursed her lips and turned her head.
At this time, An Jingsi and Xue Atan also walked to the front of Ziwei Lin and confronted the officials and soldiers face to face. An Jingsi saw Xu Zhi holding Li Xiuyun and was chased by Yun Feiyang with a sword, and then a stone popped out of his hand and flew towards Yun Feiyang's right leg.
Yun Feiyang was bent on catching up with Xu Zhi and rescuing the princess, but there was no vigilance in the dark, and he was hit by a stone, with an "oh" sound, a little delay, Xu Zhi took Li Xiuyun over his head and jumped to An Jingsi and Xue Atan's side. Zhide and the monks of Shaolin Temple saw that Xu Zhi had kidnapped a beautiful girl with black hair like clouds, and knew that she was the princess of the imperial court, so they all rushed forward to help.
At this time, Yun Feiyang held on to the injured leg of the bloody forest, limping back to the array of officers and soldiers, and Zhou Chen asked with concern, "General Yun's injury is not in the way, right?"
Yun Feiyang ignored his own pain and replied: "It's okay! Order the soldiers to surround Xu Zhi and this gang of robbers, today we will not only rescue the princess, but also capture Xu Zhi and a few other thieves! Break them into thousands of pieces!"
He Mengjiao saw Xu Zhi embracing Li Xiuyun in the midst of thousands of troops, and her heart ached faintly, but she thought again: "Now that the enemy is present, don't think too much, the most important thing is to help Brother Xu get out first!" and deliberately reminded: "General Yun, now the princess is coerced by Xu Zhi, if she is strong, if she accidentally injures the princess?"
Hui Feng didn't want to see Xu Zhi make any mistakes, and also persuaded: "General Yun! Although thousands of thieves are not enough to trouble, but they have the princess in their hands as a shield, whether they advance or retreat, the soldiers are very embarrassed!"
At this time, Xu Zhi put down Li Xiuyun and whispered in her ear: "I have wronged the princess first!", and then shouted loudly: "Generals! Princess Xiuyun is now in my hands, we might as well make an exchange, you let go of these hungry civilians, and then I will release the princess, and I will never break my word!"
Suddenly, there was a commotion and sighs in the camp of the official army, the soldiers saw that their princess was captured, and their morale was low, Ou Yangguang saw that the soldiers were afraid of accidentally injuring the princess, and they all had the intention of retreating, and asked: "General Yun, the princess has been captured, you are now the commander of our army, how do you think the current situation should be handled?"
Hui Feng also persuaded: "General Yun, I won't tell you, Xu Zhi is a subordinate brother for many years, and his subordinates believe in him as a person, he does what he says, and saving the princess first is the best policy!"
Yun Feiyang saw that Zhou Chen didn't speak, and knew that he was also in favor of saving the princess first!
Yun Feiyang relied on thousands of elites, but he was played by Xu Zhi alone, he was angry in his heart, and said sharply: "Xu Zhi, General Ben still advises you to turn back, it is a capital crime for you to rob the military rations of the imperial court, and it is also a capital crime to kidnap Princess Xiuyun, if you release the princess first, General Ben may be extrajudicial to you!"
Xu Zhi saw Yun Feiyang going around the bend, threatening and intimidating himself, and in front of Li Xiuyun and everyone, he deliberately smiled: "General Yun, I heard that you have always had a soft spot for Princess Xiuyun, but now it seems that it is all hypocrisy, you don't care about the safety of the princess, but you use the princess as a bargaining chip to negotiate terms with us thieves, isn't the princess's life worth the 50,000 loads of grain and grass in your eyes?"
Xu Zhi's words hit the key point of Yun Feiyang, he admitted that it was not, he didn't admit it, as long as he stood up for a long time, he scolded: "Xu Zhi, you despicable villain, you dare to provoke the feelings between General Ben and the princess! Even if General Ben lets you go today, he will find you to settle the grievances and grievances between us in the future!", After speaking, he turned his head painfully, and very helplessly ordered the soldiers to get out of the way, watching the Shaolin monks and hungry people drive the grain cart through smoothly.