At that moment, everyone stayed in the cave for an afternoon, and in a blink of an eye, it was dark outside the cave, so Zhao Hongtao ordered to go down and light only two small spark lamps in the cave for lighting, because there was still a lot of gunpowder in the cave. He also asked the able-bodied people of the village to keep vigil in turn, in case the enemy attacked and killed them in the cave. At the same time, he distributed a lot of dry food and water to the people, and instructed: "Everyone is full of food and drink, and tonight is to keep their spirits up, even if they spend a while with the Mongol thieves, they must be consumed to death." After that, he said to the three of them: "You can find a place to rest, there is still a lot of food and water in the cave, so don't worry too much." ”

Po Lu thought to himself: This small cave has been crowded with people, and a large open space has been set aside to store gunpowder, but he doesn't know where the food is hidden, maybe there are still mechanisms in this cave, and then he thinks that these caves are used by the people of this village, and it may not be impossible to make preparations in advance, but he is an outsider and does not know the mystery of this.

Two of the three were depressed and didn't eat at the moment, so they each found a place to rest. Only Po Yu replied: "Thank you Zhao seniors for taking it in." The younger generation has one thing in his heart, and after thinking about it for a long time, he still wants to talk to the old gentleman, so it should be a reminder. But you are so handsome and brave, you may have told a lie in the morning. Zhao Hongtao was not surprised when he heard this: "Actually, I also noticed that Junyong didn't know where he went last night, and he didn't come back for so long this morning." It is no accident that those Mongolians found this place so quickly today, but as the saying goes, if the son does not teach, the father is at fault. Although Junyong is not my biological son, he was brought up by me since childhood, although he is known as a master and apprentice, but in my heart I have long regarded him as a family, and even sometimes, I still thought in my heart about marrying Xue'er to him. The matter has not yet been concluded, in fact, to put it mildly, Junyong, this kid is also a miserable person. ”

Po Yu was bored, but he didn't know what the two newly married sisters were messing with, so they ignored him, and now when he heard Zhao Hongtao say this, he suddenly became interested and stared at Zhao Hongtao. Zhao Hongtao was not surprised, but continued with a light smile:

"I came to this village eleven years ago, when it wasn't a village, just a wilderness place. But because of the years of fighting, many soldiers have long been homeless, so they slowly gathered here, forming such a small village, and because I came first, they were also willing to call me Brother Zhao, and they all listened to me. It was also at that time that I met Jun Yong, who was very thin and ragged at the time, and when I asked him, he didn't know where he came from, and he just said that an uncle had rescued him, and the cannon had killed his mother. At that time, I knew that he must have escaped from the war, and I also saw that he was pitiful, so I took him in, and I didn't know his name, but I only heard him chant 'call, Lin', so I named him Junyong, and my surname was Lin. I also taught him all my skills. He is talented and intelligent, but he didn't let me worry about it, and he helped the village to do a lot of things, this eleven years have passed in a blink of an eye, and today's things are only afraid of resenting him, and the fear of death that he has buried in his heart since he was a child has not been dispersed to this day. ”

I saw that after Zhao Hongtao finished speaking, there were tears in his eyes, and when he saw that he fell into memory, he didn't want to disturb him, but quietly walked away to find a place to rest, but he didn't expect that Zhao Hongbo stopped him again: "Linxiang, you and I have only known each other for two days, but in Cao Sanpao's face, my daughter can become brother and sister with you and Cao Rou, I think that she will have you two to rely on in the future, and my heart is relieved, my old Zhao has never been afraid of anything in his life, I am afraid that my daughter will be hurt, please treat her and Miss Cao as brothers." When he heard him say this, he was only puzzled, and suddenly thought about it, but he was afraid that this Zhao senior thought of Lin Junyong, and he thought of Xue'er, so he didn't ask much, and responded softly.

I saw Zhao Hongtao smiling and waving his hand, and said, "Hurry up and rest, tomorrow morning may be a vicious battle." Then he went to look around the entrance of the cave and kept vigil. The night should have been fine, but Po Yu tossed and turned, couldn't help but get up, and saw that one of the two lights had been extinguished, so he realized that most of the night had passed. Only the other candle flame lit up half of the cave, and the sound of breathing in the cave came and went, and it turned out that everyone was already asleep, and when I went to see the two sisters, they were also sleeping soundly. Suddenly, looking at Zhao Xue again, it was a note and a sealed letter, pick it up and look at it, but it was written by Zhao Hongtao to his daughter, at that moment, Po Yu remembered what Zhao Hongtao said to him in the first half of the night, and after thinking about it, the more he felt that something was wrong. hurriedly went to find Zhao Hongtao, but he found the entire cave, where was there still Zhao Hongtao's shadow, and then asked the night watchman, but said that Brother Zhao had changed the guard with him half an hour ago, and he had already gone out of the cave. Po Yu knew that something was happening, and the answer was on the paper, so he turned back into the cave, shook Xue'er awake, and woke Cao Rou up.

Po Yu explained the situation to the two of them softly, only to see Xue'er's face change greatly, just afraid that her father would do something stupid. At that moment, the three of them came to the dim candlelight, and Xue'er opened the letter, only to see that it was written: Xue'er, the Mongolian only said that he wanted one person yesterday, presumably your handsome brother told my identity, and the Mongolian came to take revenge. As the leader of Shiba Village, how could my father be greedy for life and afraid of death, and kill the lives of the whole village. There is no food in this cave, and you are trapped in it, and I am afraid that it will not last more than two days. Dad made his own decision yesterday and let you recognize Brother Linxiang and Sister Cao Rou, presumably these two will treat you like a brother and sister. Dad is still worried about your handsome brother, now Dad will go to find him, and after you see the letter, he will hand over the production method of the "three cannon gunpowder" in the envelope to your brother Linxiang, and the burden of this Shiba Village will fall on you in the future, please forgive Daddy for his selfishness. When the morning comes, if the Mongols do not leave, use this gunpowder to blow up the back of the cave and flee for your life with your brothers and sisters.

Po Yu thought to himself: It turned out that this Zhao senior thought that the Mongolian soldiers were coming to him for revenge, and they all said that Cao Sanpao was a righteous hero, and sure enough, his sworn brother was not bad. After Xue'er read it, tears fell like rain by the way, Cao Rou took the envelope and looked at it, and sure enough, it was his father's secret recipe for making gunpowder. At that moment, Po Yu hurriedly comforted Xue'er and said: "Sister, don't worry, maybe the Mongols don't want Zhao seniors." What's more, the traitor outside is not necessarily Lin Junyong. Take 10,000 steps back and say, if the old man really falls into the hands of the Mongols, we should find a way to rescue him now. ”

Sure enough, as soon as Po Yu finished speaking, Xue'er stopped crying, and only listened to the soft sobs. Cao Rou was also busy comforting on the side: "Sister Xue'er, don't worry, your brother is very capable, and he will definitely save your father safely." Xue'er responded: "I have been dependent on my father all my life, and now I have met you two good brothers and sisters." Now my father's affairs are naturally all up to you, and Xue'er is all up to you. ”

The three of them have been together for less than half a day, and they didn't know each other well before, but because of this Zhao Hongtao, they trusted each other, and at this time, they seemed to be as close as brothers and sisters. That Zhao Xue saw that Po Yu was smart, but in her heart she admired him more and more, but when she thought of her father, she panicked again. At that moment, he discussed with the two of them: "Old Zhao went to the enemy village alone, just to protect the lives of the villagers, in this case, we must not live up to his wishes, so when it is dawn, if the Mongols do not withdraw their troops, the snowman sister will gather the villagers to blow up this back mountain, so that they can flee for their lives, and find another place to live." ”

"Sister Xue'er, can you do it?" he said as he looked at Zhao Xue. Zhao Xue nodded: "The villagers here trust my father very much, and usually my father has also instructed me to spread some news." ”

"That's very good, when the villagers are settled and their lives are safe, your father's greatest wish will be fulfilled. Then he told me before that I want to protect you thoroughly, and I will go with your sister Rou to find out the whereabouts of your father, and you will wait for us somewhere near here, and then we will meet you, what do you think?" said to Zhao Xue again.

Zhao Xue knew that these two people wanted to protect themselves, but she was very worried about her father, how could she let the two of them take risks for herself, but she also knew that this prisoner had already been decided, and it seemed that he was discussing with himself, but he would never let himself be in the slightest danger, so he verbally agreed: "There is a big stone dam around here, everyone around knows where it is, if you find out about your father, where can you find me." ”

At that moment, the three of them discussed, only to see a beam of morning light entering the entrance of the cave, the first rooster crow sounded in the distance, and the candle flame that had been struggling all night had been quietly extinguished.