At this time, it was almost noon, and in a guest room in Elder Ai Dong's mansion, an old man was sweating profusely to treat Li Taiyang, who was still in a coma, and several maidservants were going in and out.

Ai Zhao had been in the room for nearly two hours, and the person had not yet woken up, so it was obvious that the injuries were very serious.

He stood with his hands in his hands, his brow furrowed, and he did not say a word.

Behind him, fine beads of sweat faintly oozed from the fat face of Ai Chun, the county magistrate of Mizhi County and the eldest elder of the Ai family, and he muttered something to the third elder Ai Qiu beside him nervously.

Ai's four elders Ai Chun, Ai Xia, Ai Qiu and Ai Dong are all cousins of the head of the family, Ai Zhao, these four people are from a father, and the relationship is very good, the fourth has not returned so far, life and death are uncertain, Ai Chun and Ai Qiu are anxious.

There was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps outside the door, Ai Chun and Ai Qiu stopped talking, and when they looked back, they saw the second Ai Xia rushing in.

Before the two of them could speak, Ai Xia, who was tall and a little fat, said loudly to Ai Zhao: "Family master, there is some news in Changliang Bay. ”

Ai Zhao waved his hand to stop Ai Xia from continuing, and bowed to the old doctor and said, "Ma Lao, please leave it to you here, once this person wakes up, please immediately send someone to the main hall to inform me and wait, I'm tired!"

The old doctor surnamed Nama nodded and continued to bury his head in treating the wounded.

Ai Zhao then took the three elders to sit down in the hall of Ai Dong's main house, waved off the waiting maids, and Ai Zhao signaled Ai Xia to continue to report.

Ai Xia hurriedly said: "The head of the family, a distant family of our Ai family named Ai Ji lives in Changliang Bay, just now he rushed to the county seat to report that there was indeed a shouting and fighting in the village during the third watch, and the sound of soldiers and irons was fighting, which lasted for about half a cup of tea, and the people in the village did not dare to go out to see. In the morning, I saw that Li Shouzhong took his children and grandchildren, Xiao Orion, and four officers and soldiers to start moving, and the direction was estimated to be going to Li Jiqian's village. ”

Ai Chunteng stood up and said in a trembling voice: "Li Shouzhong, they are still alive?......!" Isn't the fourth ......?"

Ai Zhao said in a deep voice: "Great Elder, don't rush to conclusions first, whether the Fourth Elder is dead or alive, I'm afraid I won't know until the outer disciple named Taiyang wakes up." However, the Li family and his party are still alive, which means that Ai Dong and Li Haiguang led more than a dozen good players to miss, could it be that this Li Shouzhong's family is still hiding dragons and crouching tigers?

Ai Chun's face turned pale, and he sat down slowly, already in turmoil at this time.

"By the way, Aegie also reported a strange thing. Ai Xia took a sip of tea, and continued: "When Li Shouzhong moved, he saw a nun from a distance who had contact with them, and she seemed to be relatively familiar!"

"Nun?!" Ai Zhao heard this, pondered for a moment, and said with a gleam in his eyes: "Third Elder, you can go and arrange to find out the origin of this nun, and in addition, you must also thoroughly investigate the two hundred households!"

Ai Qiu clenched his fists and said, "Family master, then Ai Ji has a son named Ai Pigou who wants to be an outer disciple, you see?"

Ai Zhao waved his hand and said: "You are in charge of this matter!"

Ai Qiu nodded, turned around and walked out.

Ai Zhao turned his head again and asked Ai Chun, "Great Elder, how much do you know about this injured Taiyang?"

Ai Chun thought for a moment and said, "The head of the family, this person seems to have defected to our Ai family more than ten years ago as a disciple with a foreign surname, and later arranged to follow the fourth child. The fourth brother often takes him with him on errands, and a while ago I heard the fourth child praise this Taiyang, saying that he was going to propose to turn him into an inner disciple!"

Ai Zhao said thoughtfully: "Oh, it seems that he is still a talent!"

At this time, a servant girl came in to report that Taiyang had woken up.

Li Shouzhong's moving horse team only walked more than half of the journey at noon because they were carrying a lot of luggage and sundries, and the autumn sun was still hot, so everyone found a place with a large shade of trees to stop and rest, replenish water and eat dry food, and let the horses rest and eat grass by the way.

Gao Jie had never ridden a horse in his previous life, and when he arrived in the Ming Dynasty, this horse was like a private car in later generations, it was a luxury, and he couldn't take out a loan to buy it, so how could ordinary people afford it.

Li Shouzhong's family was wealthy, but he had four Guanzhong horses produced in Shaanxi, and Chen Dake and the three cavalry horses were not ordinary horses, but well-trained Bohai war horses.

Bohai horses are born in the northeast of Shandong, although they are not too tall, but they have a sturdy physique, a well-proportioned structure, and a very fast running speed.

Along the way, Gao Jie finally learned to ride a horse under Chen Dake's hand-in-hand teaching, and of course, his learning speed made Chen Dake sigh "not a person".

Everyone was resting, and the sound of chariots and horses' hooves came from the mountain road, and Chen Dake saw a carriage slowly approaching them from a distance, and it seemed that he was on the same road as them.

Chen Dake was alert, and immediately got up and stood beside the mountain road, quietly looking at the approaching carriage.

It was a horse-drawn broken cart, and the horse was also a Kanto horse, but it looked a little old, and the things on the carriage were quite heavy, and the old horse was so tired that he was panting, and his legs were trembling.

When the carriage came to Chen Dake's side, an old man in his fifties jumped out of the car, stopped the old horse, hugged his fists and asked with a smile: "This military master, how far is it to go to Li Jiqianzhai?"

Chen Dake looked at the old man, dressed in coarse linen clothes, his hair was gray and unkempt, he was tied in a bun on the top of his head, his face was furrowed and horizontal, black and red, his face was full of dust, he was not tall, his body was quite strong, and he seemed to be a hard worker.

Chen Dake replied with a light smile: "It is estimated that there are still twenty miles of land!"

The old man hurriedly thanked him, then pulled the carriage to the other side of the road, beckoned a half-old boy in the carriage to get off, got off the wheel for the old horse, took water and dry food from the cart, and then sat down on the grass with the boy and ate it.

Gao Jie Sanxiao looked at the kid opposite with some curiosity, it seemed that he was about the same age as them, fifteen or sixteen years old, slightly shorter than Gao Jie, but very burly, wearing a patched gray coat, revealing two strong arms, his face was like iron casting, his bronzed skin was shining in the autumn sun, and he had grown some soft beards on his lips, which looked a little powerful.

The kid was eating dry food while staring at Chen Dake and the three cavalrymen, Gao Jie faintly found a hint of sharpness in his eyes, and he didn't look very friendly.

Chen Dake didn't care about the kid's strange appearance, he slowly walked to the old man's side, looked at the guy on the cart, and then squatted down and asked, "Brother, are you a blacksmith?"

The old man hurriedly wiped his mouth, and said with a smile: "Yes, the military master's eyesight is really good!"

Chen Dake smiled and said: "There is a stove and an anvil in your car, it is not difficult to guess." Listening to the accent, you don't look like a local?"

The old man nodded and said, "I am originally from Henan, I make a living by striking iron, and I arrived in Lantian in Shaanxi ten years ago. A few days ago, I heard from a friend that there was a Li Jiqian village where there were many martial arts practitioners, so I took my apprentice to open a blacksmith shop to make a living and try my luck. ”

Chen Dake chatted with the old man for a while, then walked back, leaned against a big tree and began to close his eyes and recuperate.

Gao Jie's ears were sharp, and when he heard that the old man was a blacksmith, his heart moved, and he remembered the three "Xiuchun knives" that he had always carried with him. Although this "Xiuchun knife" steel is good, it can't be taken out and used, and it is like a time bomb with him, and he has long wanted to find a reliable blacksmith to melt the knife and reforge it, destroying the corpse. The old man and his apprentice were from other places, and just now when he saw the little blacksmith looking at Chen Dake and the three cavalrymen, he knew that he was not dealing with the people in the government, so Gao Jie decided to get to know each other first, and then act at the opportunity.

He stood up, snatched a white-flour bun from Li Hongji's hand, and then walked towards the little blacksmith.

Li Hong basically thought that Gao Jie was going to play with him, but when he saw him going straight to the opposite side of the mountain road, he hurriedly pulled Li Guo, so Er Xiao also got up and followed.

The little blacksmith looked at Sanxiao who was walking towards him with some confusion, with a look of vigilance in his eyes.

Gao Jie laughed, sat down next to the little blacksmith, handed him the white bun and said, "Hello, my name is Gao Jie, I am fifteen years old this year, what about you?"

The little blacksmith froze, firstly he had never seen such a way of greeting him, and secondly, he did not understand why Gao Jie suddenly gave him a tempting white flour bun.

You must know that in Shaanxi at the end of the Ming Dynasty, ordinary people ate miscellaneous grains, and only large families could afford to eat this white flour, and the little blacksmith lived for sixteen years and never tasted the taste of white flour buns.

Gao Jie is also generous to others, seeing that the little blacksmith was stupid and silent, he knew that he was a little rash and abrupt, and he was not discouraged, and continued: "I am a small hunter in Changliangwan Village, the two of them are my friends, and we are also going to Li Jiqian Village. ”

Hearing that Gao Jie was a small hunter of similar status to himself, the vigilance in the eyes of the little blacksmith decreased slightly, and then he looked at Chen Dake and the three cavalrymen suspiciously.

Gao Jie is a good person, and immediately said: "They are also our friends, they are good people!"

The little blacksmith frowned when he heard this, hesitated for a moment, thinking about Chen Dake's kind words and deeds just now, it was indeed different from other officers and soldiers, his body slowly relaxed, glanced at the white bun that Gao Jie was still holding, and said in a muffled voice: "My name is Liu Zongmin, and I am from Lantian!"

When Gao Jie heard the words "Liu Zongmin", he almost fell on his head, he hurriedly stabilized his mind and asked, "You said your name is Liu Zongmin?!"

The little blacksmith nodded seriously, looked at the white bun in Gao Jie's hand, and secretly swallowed his saliva.

Gao Jie said in his heart: "Li Zicheng didn't find it, but now I have found Liu Zongmin first, and this trip can be regarded as a gain! Liu Zongmin, the first fierce general under Li Zicheng, was born as a blacksmith and is from Lantian, which is completely in line with it! It seems that this time I really went to Li Jiqianzhai. Following Liu Zongmin, He Chou couldn't find Li Zicheng......!

Just when he was thinking a lot of things and was wild, Li Hongji next to him patted Gao Jie and said, "Gaozi, you just give the bun to others, why are you holding it so tightly?"

When Gao Jie heard this, he realized that Liu Zongmin was only a half-old child after all, and he was wary of them, and he couldn't resist the temptation, so he reached out to pick up the white bun, but he happened to be out of the world, holding the bun and refusing to let go, which made Liu Zongmin very embarrassed, and his iron face was slightly flushed.

Gao Jie hurriedly stuffed the white flour bun into Liu Zongmin's hand, and said apologetically: "Sorry, I was distracted just now!

Liu Zongmin opened his big mouth, smiled shyly, and stuffed the white flour bun into his mouth and began to taste it carefully.

Li Guo asked Gao Jie puzzled: "What does it mean to burn sharp?

Gao Jie secretly hated that he couldn't control his mouth and thinking, and nodded seriously: "Well, it's a local dialect, I'm sorry!"

Li Guo and Li Hongji glanced at each other, and nodded seriously: "We have learned!"

Gao Jie rolled his eyes, didn't bother to pay attention to them, and introduced Liu Zongmin: "This fat man is Li Hongji, and the thin man is Li Guo, now the four of us know each other, and we will be your friends in Li Jiqian Village in the future!"

Liu Zongmin has been lonely since he was a child and has never had friends, but he didn't expect the rather handsome "little white face" in front of him to be so enthusiastic, which flattered him, and nodded his head again and again.