The breeze, the ancient road, the white horse, the old tree, the wild goose, the frog.

The sound of horses' hooves of 'tapping and tapping' echoed on the ancient road, and a scholar rode a white horse alone, driving dejectedly. The scholar's name is Sun Hao, he is a scholar in Sanhe County, Qingzhou, Song Kingdom, it was the scorching summer July, it was the triennial scientific expedition day of the Song Kingdom, but the scholar walked alone on the official road three hundred miles away from the capital, which was extremely strange.

Sun Hao himself also felt quite helpless, he was the only one in Sanhe County this year to catch the exam, it stands to reason that there will be a county school official to notify early, but the confused county order actually made a mistake in the start time of the scientific examination, the notification time was a month late, and when he knew the truth, it was too late, even if he spared no horsepower, he only rushed half the way in ten days, the scientific expedition has now begun, Sun Hao is bound to not be able to catch up. Helpless, he had to drive his horse slowly, just to go to the capital to see the world, and it was not worth the trip.

Today is dusk, Sun Hao is just a teenager after all, he has no experience in going out, he doesn't know how to stay in the store early, he missed the post station, and now he has fallen into this embarrassing situation of not being in the village and not being in the store. Fortunately, on the way over, I saw a ruined temple on the side of the road, which should be uninhabited. Seeing that the sun was getting low, he hurriedly drove his horse and turned around and hurried towards the ruined temple.

The temple is a deserted temple, it has long been in disrepair, only a group of old crows are still perched on the old trees at the entrance of the temple, and they are shocked by Sun Hao, an abrupt outsider. Sun Hao didn't feel a little scared, although he was just a scholar, but when he was young, he climbed the barren mountains with his father, who was a hunter, and he was already strange.

The sky had already darkened, and the temple was dark, eerie and somewhat terrifying. Sun Hao drove away a few old crows hovering on his head, gathered some firewood and grass, and lit a bonfire at the entrance of the temple. In the wild, it is impossible to do without fire, and if you encounter a pack of hungry tigers and wolves coming down the mountain to feed, I am afraid that there will not even be any bones left.

The flames were beating slowly, emitting an orange light, Sun Hao lit the fire, silently gnawed on two stiff cold steamed buns, and sat beside the fire and started the flute. As the saying goes, 'Ten years of hard work, once a gold list', this is probably the dream of every reader. Sun Hao is also a rare genius in Sanhe County in a hundred years, he was only sixteen years old when he was admitted to Xiucai, and he was about to participate in the Beijing examination. Thinking of this, Sun Hao couldn't help but feel a little indignant, these stupid officials who are vegetarians, if they can rule the court one day, they must make them look good, Sun Hao thought a little distractedly.

Just as he was stunned, the white horse tied to the old tree suddenly became a little restless and neighed twice. This made Sun Hao a little vigilant, after all, he was in the barren mountains, there were many beasts in the mountains, if he really encountered a tiger and wolf, I am afraid that it would be really fierce. He hurriedly got up, picked up the luggage rack, and hid in the temple.

Half a sound, there was no movement outside the house, Sun Hao thought that he was too sensitive, smiled self-deprecatingly, and let go of the heart that he had been carrying. Suddenly, there was a sound of horses' hooves, and they gradually approached the ruined temple. Listening to the sound, it should be a horse team, and the ground under Sun Hao's feet was shaken.

This made Sun Hao's heart that he had just put down lifted, the average caravan would not rush overnight, and there were only two kinds of people who rushed overnight, one was in a hurry, and the other was a horse thief. This is what Sun Hao's second uncle told him, his second uncle had roamed the rivers and lakes when he was young, and he was very familiar with some things on the road, and most of the horse teams passing by in the middle of the night were horse thieves. Horse thieves usually travel overnight to prepare for a night raid on some small towns or villages, and those they encounter are usually killed. Sun Hao was a little at a loss, after all, he was a rookie who had never been out, if it was an old Jianghu, he would have already hid in the mountains. But Sun Hao stupidly shrunk behind the statue and prayed that the horse team would not stop at the broken temple.

But it backfired, and the sound of horses' hooves got closer and closer, and they stopped before the ruined temple. Sun Hao carefully hid behind the statue and begged the Buddha for protection.

There was a noise outside, and there was a faint sound of conversation, and a hoarse voice said: "Big brother, there was someone in this piece just now, the fire is still on, and there is a horse, looking at the footprints, it should be a person, do you want to chase it." ”

"What to chase, why do you chase more than a dozen horses, you can hear it a mile away, generally dare to live alone in the middle of the night in this wilderness, most of them are some outlaws, this will go into the mountains early, where to chase, untie the horse and take it with you, it is important to do the right thing. ”

"Yes, big brother is wise. However, there is no explanation of where they are going this time. This just ran for nearly a thousand miles, and then it was the capital, if you ran into the government, I am afraid it would be difficult to say. ”

"Silence! What are you, the head of the house is naturally measured, just do your job well, if you ask questions again, be careful that I break your legs, don't hurry up and tell the brothers to get off the horse and rest, there are many road checkpoints behind, it's not easy to walk, and the tricks are bright. ”

"Yes, that's it. ”

There was no movement outside the house, only the noise of a group of people dismounting and resting, and the helpless neighing of white horses. Sun Hao sat down a little helplessly, this is really a house leak that happened to rain overnight, and he couldn't catch up with the scientific expedition, but now it's even worse, even the horse is lost, and I don't know when I will be able to get to the capital. Just as he was thinking, a wail and the neighing of a white horse suddenly startled him, and he mustered up his courage, carefully stretched out half of his head, and looked out.

It turned out that a big man was about to untie the reins of the white horse, but he was kicked by the white horse, and he was in the lower abdomen, and the six or seven feet tall man couldn't get up for a long time. The rest of the crowd surrounded the white horse, furious and trying to subdue it. Sun Hao couldn't help laughing, this white horse is the second uncle's favorite thing, and he has a very strong temperament, and only a few juniors are allowed to ride it on weekdays, if Sun Hao didn't go to the imperial examination, he wouldn't be able to borrow this horse.

While he was snickering, the leader who had been sitting in front of the fire roasting potatoes stood up and drank angrily: "A bunch of waste, even a horse can't be controlled, if you can't take it away, you can kill it with a knife, don't miss the business." ”

With the boss's words, several big men were still helpless just now, pulled out steel knives from their waists, and cut a few bloody cuts on the bright fur of the white horse with a few knives. Sun Hao saw it in his eyes and was anxious in his heart. This horse is the second uncle's beloved thing, if it dies, the second uncle doesn't know how sad it will be. As soon as he was excited, he took a step under his feet and kicked over the luggage rack under his feet, and a pile of debris knocked over the ground with a loud noise.

A group of big men suddenly stopped what they were doing, and surrounded the broken temple in a few breaths. It's not that they haven't looked inside the temple, but the house is too dark to find Sun Hao. If others see their faces, and then report to the government, there will be no good fruit to eat in a group of people, and for a while, the entire dilapidated temple will be full of murderous spirits.

The moon had risen to the sky, and the whole earth was gilded with a silvery white, and a few old crows had flown there for the night, leaving only an empty nest. Sun Hao was tied up and knelt on the ground like a zongzi, a little at a loss. In front of him was the leader who was baking potatoes before, and this time he was frowning and looking at Sun Hao in front of him, not knowing what to think. Sun Hao lowered his head and didn't dare to speak, he had enough reason to believe that this man who didn't look like a bad guy could roast himself on the fire like a potato. Halfway through, the leader lowered his head and asked in a deep voice, "Are you a scholar?"

Where did Sun Hao dare to lie, and hurriedly nodded yes. The leader grinned, showed a smile that was uglier than crying, scratched his thick beard, and suddenly pulled out the steel knife on his waist, pressed it against Sun Hao's neck, and said loudly: "You dare to lie!"

Sun Hao dared to resist, so he could only bite the bullet and said loudly: "I'm a scholar, don't you see that my luggage is full of books." The leader's steel knife was tightened, and he said with a murderous expression: "What a scholar, now is the summer examination, why are you not going to participate in the imperial examination, but you are alone 300 miles away from the capital? Hmph! The current government is really brainless, can even such a boy with no hair grow come out to be a secret agent? Quickly call your comrades out, maybe Uncle Ben can leave you a whole corpse." ”

"Okay! Good scolding!" Sun Hao was put on the neck with a steel knife, and he burst out with an inexplicable courage and cheered. The leader was dumbfounded, this kid was obviously already a dead man, and he dared to teach him a lesson, and he couldn't help but show a little amusement on his face for a while. I only heard Sun Hao continue, "Just like you said, the current government is indeed a group of brainless fools, I, Sun Hao, was originally a three-year talent in the Qianyuan Dynasty, coinciding with the three-year big exam, and it should have been the title of the gold list, glorifying the ancestors, but the county order was hateful, and I was notified of the wrong time of the big exam, and I was delayed for a month in vain, and now I am trapped in this broken temple, and I am harmed by you ** people, if there is an afterlife, I must find this county order to settle accounts." ”

"Hmph, the reason is good, but why should I trust you, don't think you can escape from my palm today. Sun Hao was silent, and the leader also withdrew the steel knife. In fact, he has seven points of faith in Sun Hao, such a weak scholar, it is indeed not like a secret agent of the government, and he has not been able to find the warrant of the government from Sun Hao's luggage, which is a necessary item for every secret agent. But he still pronounced Sun Hao's death sentence in his heart, this kid saw his face, and he must not let him escape.

The leader was about to ask his subordinates to drag Sun Hao to the corner to solve it, but the second leader next to him leaned into his ear and whispered: "Boss, why kill this kid and dirty your hands." Have you forgotten what the boss told you? Shopkeeper Feng is dead, and the owner asks you to find a scholar who can settle accounts to sort out the accounts in the village, isn't this kid a good candidate. ”

"Well, that's true, it's just that this kid doesn't know where he came from, forget it, just find another one, there's no need to take this risk. ”

"Big brother, go where to find it, now all the people who study in the world are in the capital, how can these few people kidnap people from the capital. If you can't find someone in the village, I'm afraid it will make the head unhappy, although this kid doesn't know the details, but he is just a weak scholar, and when the time comes, the knife will be on his neck, and he won't be able to make any waves. ”

The big boss hesitated, this is indeed a good opportunity, if the head of the family is happy, he can naturally be promoted and raised, if the head of the family is unhappy, the big leader can't help but shrink his neck, then his head is in danger. Thinking of this, he looked at Sun Hao's eyes as if he was looking at a baby, where he would move a knife.

After a while, the people were almost resting, and the horses were fed. The leader gave an order, and a group of people packed up their things and turned on their horses, and a big man put the thin Sun Hao on his white horse, and helped the reins to his saddle, not caring about Sun Hao's struggle and cursing. As soon as the group patted the horse's back, they drove the horse away from the ruined temple and disappeared in the darkness.