It was late autumn and noon, and the weather was still hot. On the official road in the southeast of Nanyuan City, a team of carriages and horses traveled. It must have been a long walk, and the people in the team, whether on horseback or on foot, were listless, like wilted cucumbers.

An officer with a steel knife at his waist, after receiving orders from the owner of the team, rode a jujube-colored horse, ran forward several hundred meters with a whip, and then turned back into the group.

"Lord Deng, there is indeed a small forest in front of you. ”

"Tell me a little longer, and rest in the woods for an hour. From the carriage of one of the carriages in the procession came the voice of a dignified man.

"Yes!" the officer agreed, faithfully conveying the words of the owner of the convoy.

The team immediately seemed to be injected with stimulants, and the speed was much faster, and it took only a little hour and a half to reach the grove, which was common in the neighborhood.

At that time, the world had been peaceful for too long, and the national politics of Ju gradually showed its depravity, and there were often thieves in the country. The leading officer, looking around at the surroundings with a solemn look on his face, called out to four or five capable subordinates to go to the perimeter to inspect carefully, until he confirmed that there was no problem, and then he returned to the group, and followed the crowd to nibble on dry food.

The composition of this contingent is somewhat strange, half of them are officers and soldiers, and half of them are servants, maids, etc., if they are officials on patrol, they bring too many unrelated personnel, and if they are officials who return to their hometowns to visit relatives, the formation is a little larger.

At this moment, in one of the carriages at the back of the procession, a weak young man came out, he was in his twenties, his cheeks were slightly thin, and his complexion was unhealthy pale.

The young man moved his hands and feet, asked the coachman a few gossips at random, and then looked at the official road in the distance in a daze, with a thoughtful look on his face.

The curtain of a nearby carriage opened, and a dignified woman in her fifties, looking at the young man kindly, asked with concern, "An'er, are you missing your friends in Beijing again?"

The young man slowly turned his head, the sadness in his eyes flashed away, and said with a smile: "I don't want those guys?

Behind the curtain came a delicate face, curved eyebrows, plump cheeks, and shrewdness in her eyes. I saw the woman cover her mouth and chuckle, and whispered to the woman: "Mother, uncle must miss Miss Tian." ”

Because of the proximity, the young people listened to these words word for word. His pale face flushed slightly, and he hurriedly explained awkwardly, "That's right! My sister-in-law is joking with me again." In fact, I have been wondering when my father will be recalled to the capital. ”

When the woman heard this, she sighed, looked at an old man in a green shirt and a scarf who approached at some point, and was silent, while the young woman sat back in the carriage with interest.

"Father!" the young man bowed when he saw the comer.

"My father's deposition this time was planned by Wang Changshun and others for a long time. I am on the same page with these people, and I have evidence of their favoritism and fraud, and as long as they are still in power in the court for a day, I will never be reactivated by the emperor. ”

"Did my father just give up?" the young man seemed unwilling.

The old man seemed to know his youngest son for the first time, looked at him in surprise, and sighed: "How can I give up for my father?" It's just that in recent years, the emperor has listened to the words of Fang Shi, obsessed with the ethereal way of immortality, pampered the traitor, abandoned the government, and entrusted all the power to Wang Changshun's family. It's okay to be idle, and I'm tired of being a father, so I can go back to my hometown to live in retirement.

The old man's name is Deng Zhongshu, and he was still the imperial history of Ju State a few days ago. After paying homage to the prime minister, Wang Changshun, a political enemy of Deng Zhongshu, took advantage of his power to detain him on the charge of forming a party for personal gain. The emperor remembered his past exploits in Deng Zhongshu, but he just dismissed him and drove him back to his hometown.

Deng Zhongshu only has two sons, and the weak young man is his youngest son, named Deng An, because he has been sick since he was a child, and the old couple feels sorry for their son, so they have always stayed by his side. He also had an eldest son, named Deng Hong, who guarded the frontier in a civilian capacity.

Deng An made a carriage for a long time, some symptoms of heat stroke, and drank a lot of water on the way, just about to comfort his father, he felt pain in his abdomen, so he asked one of his own guards Deng Shan to accompany him to the foot of the hill not far away. This grove is located on the outskirts of the Hung Yen Mountains, and on the west side of the forest, there are endless mountains.

After the incident, Deng An couldn't help but shiver, only to realize that the cold aura around him was extremely strong, and the closer he got to the direction of the mountain, the more obvious it became. Compared with the place where the convoy rested, there are several centuries-old trees here, covering the ground for tens of feet around it. In addition, there are some black threads floating in the air, and through the gaps in the leaves, you can see that the sun has become a little blurred, as if it is covered with a black net.

Deng An walked curiously towards the mountain for a distance, the cold aura became more and more intense, and he felt not only the cold in his body, but also the trembling of his soul. In the midst of these strange atmospheres, he always felt that there were bloodthirsty eyes staring at him.

Deng Shan also discovered the strangeness of this place, and did not dare to stay for a long time, so he hurriedly persuaded Deng An to leave. Before the master and servant had gone far, they heard several screams from the direction of the official road, followed by angry shouts, shouting, and ping-pong sounds from the impact of weapons.

Deng Anxin knew that something was wrong and hurriedly ran back.

As soon as the convoy entered the field of vision, he saw more than 100 black-clothed men armed with various weapons, besieging the convoy of the Deng family. Officer Lin Hu commanded the soldiers and the Deng family guards, surrounded a circle, and protected Deng Zhongshu and his family in the middle.

This group of black-clothed men seemed to have been specially trained, their actions were measured, their cooperation with each other was very exquisite, and they were all extremely ruthless, almost in the blink of an eye, four or five guards of the Deng family were cut to the ground.

However, the soldiers brought by Lin Hu were all good at one out of ten, and if the men in black wanted to end the battle in a short time, they had to subdue them. One of the men in black found out about this, and whispered a few words to the man in black next to him, focusing on "taking care" of Lin Hu and the others.

Deng An is not like his eldest brother Deng Hong, who can write and martial arts, he has been studying literature since he was a child, and when he saw such a formation, he was stunned when he saw the corpse that fell to the ground.

When Deng Zhongshu saw his youngest son, his heart suddenly cooled. The people of the Deng family were surrounded by the people in black, and they couldn't rush out at all, but if the people in black wanted to rush in, it would take some effort, and Deng An came out of the forest, undoubtedly a sheep into the tiger's mouth.

At this time, the man in black also found Deng An, one of whom was a masked man with a short gun on his back and standing with his hands in his hands, pointed a few times towards the crowd, and immediately divided five or six people to surround him.

Deng Zhongshu's eyes were red, and he shouted loudly: "An'er, run away!"

Lin Hu led several people to rescue, but was firmly blocked by the man in black.

Seeing the man in black rushing over, Deng An had no idea at all, until he heard his father's reminder, he subconsciously ran along the official road to his hometown, fortunately Deng Shan was clever, and dragged him back to the forest, only by taking advantage of the terrain cover, they had the possibility of escaping.

"Whoosh, whoosh......"

The two didn't run far when a burst of crossbow arrows came at them. Deng Shan felt the crisis behind him, and in a hurry, he pushed Deng An aside, but because he couldn't dodge, he was shot into a hedgehog and immediately fell to the ground and died.

"Deng Shan, Deng Shan......"

When Deng An saw Deng Shan's tragic situation, he got up and cried out in pain.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the chasing man in black had surrounded Deng An, and one of the small leaders took out a scroll from his arms, opened it and compared it carefully, and said gloomily: "This kid is Deng Zhongshu's youngest son, take him down first, and go to blackmail the old one." ”

When Deng An heard this, he wanted to rush out of the encirclement regardless of it, but he felt a huge pain in his legs, and he was kicked hard, and then he was firmly pressed to the ground.

Deng An turned his head and glared angrily at the little boss in front of him.

Inexplicably, a chill rose in the little leader's heart. When confirming that he was just a powerless scholar in front of him, he slapped Deng An hard back, and said angrily: "Look at what to see! Look at Lao Tzu first gouge out your eyes." ”

These people escorted Deng An back to the man with the gun and the others, and the man with the gun waved his hand, signaling to push Deng An to the front of the battle, and then said to Deng Zhongshu without sadness or joy: "Lord Deng, I advise you to stop making senseless resistance, immediately order your people to lay down their weapons, I will consider giving you and your family a good time." ”

"Father, don't listen to him!"

Under the crisis, Deng An sobered up a lot, if he really became his father's burden, the Deng family would suffer a catastrophe. He hated and was anxious, hating that he was caught by the man in black, and anxious that his father might give up the possibility of escape for his own sake.

"Shut up!" A bare-handed Humpty Dumpty man walked out beside the man with the gun on his back, and his palm was heavily tied to Deng An's face. Seeing this, the man with the gun on his back frowned slightly, but he didn't say anything.

The strength of this Humpty Dumpty man's hand was extremely strong, and when he slapped it, Deng An was so painful that he burst into tears, half of his face and tongue were numb, and he could only make a "hmm" sound.

"If you have the ability, kill me now!"

Deng An was already determined to die, and yelled at the leaders of the group of men in black, but those people could only see his anger, but they couldn't hear what he said.

Deng Zhongshu looked at his little son who was restrained, and couldn't help but burst into tears: "An'er, it's all because your father is not good and has dragged you down." He then looked at the man in black and shouted angrily, "Who are you?

"You don't need to know this!" the man with the gun paused and added, "You just need to know that you and your family are worth ten thousand taels of silver." ”

"Deng Zhongshu, we don't have time to talk nonsense with you!"

Humpty Dumpty looked extremely impatient, suddenly grabbed the topic, and then gave a look to the little boss who was spying on Deng An. The little leader understood, and slashed off one of Deng An's arms with a knife.

"My An'er!" Deng An's mother screamed and passed out, and her daughter-in-law sobbed and cried while rubbing her mother-in-law's back.

Lin Hu and other officers and soldiers and the guards of the Deng family clenched their weapons one by one, and their eyes were about to erupt into flames. The man with the gun on his back became more and more dissatisfied with Humpty Dumpty's actions, and there was a faint anger in his eyes, but he still didn't reprimand, but looked at Lin Hu and the others, not knowing what he was thinking.

Dou Da's cold sweat fell from Deng An's forehead, and he endured it without making a sound, he knew very well that the man in black was doing this just to attack his heart, and he must not show weakness.

Deng Zhongshu's eyes were closed, tears flowed uncontrollably, and the man who had impeached countless high-ranking officials and dignitaries felt powerless.

"The old man knows that he will not be spared today, so I just ask you to let go of unrelated people, otherwise, the old man will die, and he will have to pull a few cushions. ”

Hearing this, four or five men in black seemed to be moved, walked up to the man with the gun on his back, and discussed something in a low voice, Humpty Dumpty was a little emotional, obviously disagreeing with the others.

"Lord Deng, it's just a big deal, we'd rather fight than surrender!"

Lin Hu and the others were shocked and shouted in unison.

"Sir, don't ......"

The housekeeper Deng Sanqun and other servants of the Deng family knelt down and begged.

Deng Zhongshu shook his head bitterly and sighed: "Deng Mou has to involve innocent people before he dies, you make me bearable! I have made up my mind, and I don't have to object!"

Several leaders of the man in black seemed to have reached some kind of agreement, and the short and fat man took a few steps forward and said, "Ten thousand taels of silver only buys the lives of your Deng Zhongshu's immediate family, and has nothing to do with anyone else." As long as they don't resist, we can give them a way out. ”

"Okay!" Deng Zhongshu shouted, and Gu Jing Wubo's face became extremely hideous: "I hope you don't lose your words, otherwise the old man will be a ghost, and he won't be able to spare you!"

When Lin Hu and the guards of the Deng family reacted, Deng Zhongshu had already stabbed his wife and daughter-in-law to death with a sword, he looked at Deng An with a complicated expression, and then killed himself.

The man with the gun on his back frowned, and let out a slight sigh.

Deng An witnessed the tragedy, but calmed down a lot. At this moment, his face became pale and pale because of too much discoloration. He slowly glanced at the men in black nearby, especially the leaders of the men in black, and carved their figures firmly into his mind.

Seeing the coldness and ruthlessness in the eyes of a weak scholar, the blue-speared man frowned, wondering if the operation was worth it. The short and fat man didn't care about this, and made a palm down movement at the black-clothed man who was guarding Deng An. At the same time, a black-clothed man in charge of besieging Lin Hu and the others sneered: "They agreed to Deng Zhongshu's conditions, it doesn't mean that we also agree, brothers do it together, except for women, no one is left." ”