When he arrived at the gate of the Li family's compound, Li Hongji went into the house to tell Li Shouzhong, while Li Guo arranged for people to carry luggage and take care of the horses.

When Li Shouzhong heard that it was not only Gao Jie who was coming to stay temporarily, but also two generals and three cavalrymen, he immediately rushed out in a panic.

Gao Jie saw Li Shouzhong, and hurriedly saluted: "Uncle Li, the kid took the liberty to come and harass for a few days, I hope to forgive me!"

Since Li Shouzhong knew that his children and grandchildren's martial arts had made great progress, it was all because of Gao Jie, although he was surprised by Gao Jie's mystery, he was more grateful, and hurriedly replied: "Gao family nephew, you have a great favor to my Li family, and you can come to the cold house today, but the old man can't ask for it." ”

He then hurriedly greeted Chen Dake and Xie Jun.

Li Shouzhong has always been frugal, and although the yard at home is not too big, there are more than a dozen rooms. While he arranged for the people to clean up the room, he asked the kitchen to arrange dinner quickly.

The Li family finally cleaned up three empty rooms, Chen Dake and Xie Jun each lived in one room, and the other three cavalrymen squeezed into one room. Originally, I wanted to arrange a separate room for Gao Jie, but the three children insisted on being in the same room, and Li Shouzhong had no choice but to let them, but fortunately, the kang in Li Hongji's room was wide enough, and the three of them were not too crowded to sleep together.

Because the two generals dined together, Li Shouzhong had no choice but to arrange a rich dinner, and also took out his daughter Hong, who had been stored for more than ten years, to entertain the guests.

Chen Dake has a bold temperament, and the amount of alcohol is also very amazing, according to him, because he loves wine, he will be as red as a jujube for a long time, and he doesn't know whether it is true or not.

And Xie Jun has the demeanor of a Confucian general, and the drinking is only a light taste, Gao Jie feels that since they met, this Xie Jun has been full of smiles, very kind, and he has a good mouth, extraordinary literary talent, humble and polite, and there is no hundred generals.

At this time in the Ming Dynasty, the quality of the army was low, the military discipline was sloppy, and some officers and soldiers were almost no different from bandits. The three cavalrymen under his command also ordered a ban, and when they ate in the side room, they did not drink a drop of wine, and they were not in order, so they were relieved.

During the banquet, everyone learned that Chen Dake and Xie Jun were also born in the rivers and lakes before, and the two were still brothers.

And their master turned out to be Cheng Zongyou, a top martial arts senior.

Hearing that these two generals turned out to be Cheng Zongyou's apprentices, Li Shouzhong was surprised.

Cheng Zongyou, the word Chongdou, a native of Xiuning County, Huizhou Prefecture (now Anhui), Huizhou Prefecture was called Xindu County in ancient times, so he was also called "Xindu Gengsuo". He is 62 years old this year, and he has been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and he has the ambition of a great bird. Later, he traveled to Shaolin Temple, practiced stick method from Shaolin monk Hong Ji, Hong Zhuan, Zongxiang, Zongdai and Guang'an, etc., and carefully studied the art of bow, horse, knife and gun, for more than ten years, and was quite attained. Later, he learned the sword technique from Liu Yunfeng in Zhejiang, and resumed learning marksmanship from Henan. When you visit Shouchun (now Shou County, Anhui Province), you get a "copper machine" from the local native caves. After his careful study and reform, he created a new type of lightweight and suitable "Tension Crossbow". The strength of martial arts techniques is famous all over the world.

Just this year, the Houjin began a large-scale invasion, and the imperial court sent troops out of the fortress to resist. Due to the poor quality of the training of the soldiers and soldiers, they were on the verge of defeat. At the end of February, Cheng Zongyou was summoned by Li Pi, the governor of Tianjin, and was appointed as the secretary of the secretary, leading more than 80 disciples to bring their own food and salary, and rushed to Jinmen Congrong. With the powerful crossbows, knives and spears he created, he trained the soldiers day and night. He advocated attaching equal importance to "courage, will, and martial arts," not sticking to ancient methods, and striving to train troops based on the needs of actual combat.

Cheng Zongyou has no prejudices, and there are many people who teach art from You, of course, there are only a few disciples who can get his true inheritance.

Among his personal disciples, Chen Dake was the first to get started, and he was the senior brother, while Xie Junnai was the second disciple. Chen Dake has a bold temperament, and his single-handed "cultivation and surplus marksmanship" is the most outstanding; Xie Jun is both civil and military, and he has also practiced the "cultivation and surplus knife method" innovated by his master according to the Japanese knife method to the realm of Dacheng. Moreover, both of them have the true inheritance of "Jumping Crossbow".

After the two of them came out of the school, they also joined the army, although they had superb martial arts, when was their luck bad, they were in their thirties, and the two were only small seven products and hundreds of households.

Although the two of them are of good character, it does not mean that they have no ideas. Today, Chen Dake saved Zhu Youzhen, the king of letters, and now he came to protect the righteous brother of the king of letters with his junior brother Xie Jun, and both of them felt that it seemed that official fortune was coming.

Especially seeing that Gao Jie did not have anyone in his eyes because of the identity of the righteous brother of the king of letters, he was humble and bold, and he had the style of a chivalrous man, and the two of them also liked it very much.

After dinner, Gao Jie was invited by the two to drink tea and chat in Chen Dake's room.

Because during the banquet, Chen Da could see that Gao Jie seemed to be very interested in the crossbow, so he called the cavalry to bring the package on his horse's back and take out three light crossbow bows from it.

These three are crossbows, all of which are crossbows made of mulberry wood, and are made of solid sandalwood as crossbow bodies, hemp as strings, copper as organs, three crossbows are different in size, but they are light and strong, and they are cheap to carry.

Xie Jun smiled, pointed to the smallest crossbow and said, "This is an arm-open crossbow, with the power of three stones, it can be loaded quickly, and the range can reach three hundred steps!"

He pointed to the medium-sized crossbow and said: "This is a knee crossbow, the power of five stones, the loading speed is average, and the range can reach seven hundred steps!"

Finally, he pointed to the largest crossbow and said, "This is a full-width crossbow, it is the strongest crossbow, it has the power of ten stones, the loading speed is slow, but the range can reach a thousand steps!"

After speaking, he and Chen Dake both looked proud.

Gao Jie couldn't hold back for a long time, and picked up the three crossbows on the table with great interest to admire, and was full of praise.

Gao Jie thought to himself while playing with this famous ancient weapon: "It is incredible that this crossbow can shoot hundreds of steps without moving, and the distance can reach thousands of steps. Compared with the musket, the weight and volume of the arrow are far greater than the bullet, coupled with the large and cumbersome wings on the windward side used to maintain balance, the air resistance of the whole arrow is much higher than that of the bullet, and the ejection force and muzzle velocity are far lower than that of the modern high-efficiency smokeless gunpowder driven bullet, this is how it can shoot hundreds of steps, even thousands of steps, and then accurately hit the target with a diameter of no more than half a meter in the distance, and can also penetrate the metal armor, which is really much more powerful than a modern sniper rifle!"

Seeing that Gao Jie couldn't put it down, Chen Dake and Xie Jun glanced at each other, nodded secretly, as if they had made up their minds, and then listened to Wang Dake say: "The two of us see Xiaojie that you like this crossbow so much, why don't I give you this crossbow today, and make it a gift for the first meeting." Wait a few days for my junior brother to have someone make a knee crossbow and a foot crossbow, and bring it to you together!"

When Gao Jie heard this, he waved his hand again and again and said: "Brother Chen, don't do it, this is a peerless weapon that your master has secretly passed down, how can you give it to me casually?!"

Chen Dake pretended to be unhappy and said: "Xiaojie, since we are already brothers, we are in love, what is it for the two of us to be brothers to send you a weapon from the division, don't you look down on it?"

Gao Jie just wanted to explain, but Xie Jun took over with a smile: "Actually, this crossbow itself is not a rare weapon, because it is not difficult to make, and my master does not like to hide secrets, so whether it is the army or the people in the rivers and lakes, many people are using it." Don't put it off!"

Gao Jie thanked Chen Xie and the others at this time, holding his arm and crossbow, and was inexplicably happy.

I heard Xie Jun continue: "What is really rare is the method of Zhang crossbow. Only the method of the crossbow passed down by my master can make this crossbow be loaded and launched in the shortest possible time. This crossbow method, the two of us have passed it on to you in the past few days!"

Gao Jie no longer shirked, and said happily: "Thank you two big brothers! The two big brothers treat the younger brother like this, but I can't repay it, and I feel ashamed in my heart." ”

Chen Xie and the others laughed and said: "Xiaojie, you are quite heroic, and you have a bright future in the future, I believe that you will not shirk when you can help us!"

Gao Jie understood what they said, and said with a smile: "Of course!"

The three of them laughed together.

In the east of Mizhi County, there is a house that covers a large area, the houses are scaled and proportioned, rockeries and strange stones, small bridges and flowing water, ancient trees and shrubs, famous flowers and different grasses, in the meantime, the garden layout is very exquisite, it is the house of Ai Zhao, the patriarch of the Ai family.

At this time, above the main hall of the house, Ai Zhao sat on the main seat, and on the right hand side of the lower head sat a lean and capable man in his thirties, who was wearing a flying fish suit, and he was actually a brocade guard. On the lower left seat sat an obese middle-aged man, about 50 years old, dressed in a brocade robe with a nervous expression.

I only listened to the Jinyi Wei Yin and said: "I thought that your Ai family was the No. 1 force in this Mizhi County, but I didn't expect that even two people couldn't hold it and couldn't kill it, and now they have arrived in the garrison army, and there is no chance to attack secretly." I knew that it would have been up to us Jinyi Guard to take action, and the Lord is very dissatisfied with this matter!"

When Ai Zhao on the main seat heard this, he hurriedly got up and saluted: "What Lord Zongqi said is that this time my Ai family is a little underestimated, but I didn't expect the other party to be so strong. Ten days ago, I arranged for eight clan masters to ambush at the foot of Yongfeng Mountain, but not only did I not succeed, but the man escaped, and my Ai family also lost three people, so it is estimated that it is difficult to be lucky. Today, I finally found Changliang Bay, but who knew that the person was snatched away by the official cavalry from nowhere. Ai Zhao was ineffective, so he asked the Lord General Banner to ask the commander to ask for guilt on behalf of the contemptible people. ”

The fat middle-aged man on the left hand side also got up and said: "Lord Zongqi, just those two people will never be able to escape the ambush of the eight masters of my Ai family, there must be something strange among them, the ambush failed, there is a reason for it, and it is not that my Ai family did not do their best!"

Yan Lixin, the general banner of Jinyi Wei, stared at the fat man with a cold gaze, and said coldly: "Lord Ai, do you think that the lord will not be held accountable because of your speculation? You are the Qipin county commander in charge of Mizhi County, and only by helping the lord do things well will he have a future! There is no need to mention other excuses!"

Mizhi County made Ai Chun break out in a cold sweat and sued again and again.

Yan Lixin's tone changed again, and he said slowly: "However, this small place in Mizhi County is really a hidden dragon and a crouching tiger, you are missing three of the best hands of the clan, and I also had three subordinates mysteriously disappeared more than ten days ago, and there is a small flag among them." Hehe, it's getting harder and harder!"

Ai Zhao and Ai Chun both looked at each other when they heard this, and their eyes flickered.

Ai Zhao pondered for a moment and said, "Here, the only ones who have the ability to do this are the two Li families. According to my report, the person who was hiding this time was a hunter in Changliang Bay, and the son of this hunter had a close relationship with the squire surnamed Li in the village. This squire surnamed Li is even more interesting, he also came to the county seat yesterday, and took three boys to Li Qingdong's house of the Li clan in Tai'anli as a guest. ”

Ai Chun hurriedly said: "Does the head of the family think that this matter was done by the Li family in Tai'anli?"

Ai Zhao was silent, but just looked at Yan Lixin.

Yan Zongqi stood up suddenly, his eyes became more and more gloomy, and said: "You guys check first, if there is evidence that this Tai'anli Li clan is involved in it, hindering the major affairs of the Lord, it will definitely cause other clans to perish!"

Ai Zhao and Ai Chun glanced at each other again when they heard this, and a smile appeared at the corner of their mouths.