Just as Gongsun Yan's motorcade slowly drove into Lone Bamboo Manor, a yellow gelding horse ran out of the dense forest beside the village wall.
A thin man lay on the back of a horse and galloped westward.
After running over the mountain pass, another man led a horse to meet him.
Two people and four horses galloped in succession at extremely fast speeds. In about half an hour, they arrived at a valley camp.
This camp is very simple, with only a log wall erected, which is in disrepair and is tilted. The widest part can almost effortlessly fit an adult into it.
Against the side of the cliff, there is a row of low and dilapidated long houses, with large cracks in the loess walls, and the thatch bundles on the roofs were blown this way and that by the fierce cold wind.
Due to its location, it is very humid here, and there are large areas of mold and moss on the walls.
The two peeping knights led the panting horses all the way to the innermost part of the camp.
There is an open school field there, and the originally solid ground is full of pits and no one has maintained it.
There is a huge log shed in front of a prominent cliff behind the school grounds.
Compared with the rickety longhouse outside, this shack is obviously much more decent.
There was a large fire pit burning in the center of the hall, which could accommodate a gathering of 100 people, and half an inch of soot was smoked out from the sides of the pot.
At this time, many people gathered in the shack.
There are people of all ages, some wearing Gebu short jackets, some wearing only a pair of armors, and some wearing Hu people's sheepskin fur.
Everyone was armed with long knives and short daggers. All of them had disheveled beards and hair, and their faces were stained with stains left by years of not washing them clean.
At this time, these people gathered together and talked loudly.
When the two knights who were peeping returned, they were immediately greeted by someone.
Someone felt distressed and took two yellow gelding horses to wipe their sweat. In the winter, there was not enough food for the people and there was not enough food for the people. There was no soybean meal to feed the horses.
These yellow geldings were so thin that their ribs were visible and lacked physical strength. They were out of breath after only running for this period of time.
Someone also took a gourd gourd and scooped out a large spoonful of water that was so refreshing to the two skinny men who were spying on them.
The two of them didn't choose, they took a sip and drank it all.
Seeing them coming back, everyone in the hall started asking questions.
"how is it going?"
"Is the young lady really here? Are the white horse soldiers really as strong and powerful as the rumors in Lingzhi City?"
For a moment, the hall was extremely noisy, and the two knights were embraced into the house.
"Don't make any noise!" shouted a deep, powerful voice. The sound was so penetrating that it hurt people's ears like thunder.
The owner of the voice was obviously very prestigious, so everyone stopped talking and looked at the top of the line in the middle of the hall.
There was a polished straw mat and a desk. On the table was a clay pot filled with turbid wine, with a wooden spoon leaning inside.
Next to the clay pot is a large, empty lacquer tray.
A tall, fat man sat behind the desk with his legs crossed.
This strong man is about forty years old, with a face as unruly as a steel needle.
He was holding a torn and messy fat chicken in his hand, with a layer of grease on his lips and some minced meat scattered on the stacked belly.
"How is the situation?" the fat man asked the two spying knights.
Gu————
Before he could answer, he heard a long bowel sound.
At first, the thin man held his stomach in embarrassment. In order to find out the news, he went out before dawn.
He didn't even drink a mouthful of uncooked bean porridge until the sun set in the west, and he was already extremely hungry. When he saw the fat chicken in the leader's hand, he couldn't bear it anymore.
A trace of disdain flashed in the fat leader's eyes. He tore half of the chicken carcass, which had no meat left, and threw it to the ground like a dog.
The thin little man immediately picked it up on the yellow mud ground as if he had received a gift, and chewed it together with the chicken bones and the soil on it.
"How is the situation?" the fat leader asked again.
"The young lady brought many people, horses and baggage. There were infantry in front and many civilians behind. There were many knights on white horses cruising on both sides of the team."
"I can't see the exact number. The opponent has sentries patrolling, so they don't dare to get too close."
"Those knights are all riding tall horses from the North, and they are extremely powerful."
"Are there really that many cavalry?" someone asked in a trembling voice. Thinking back to his disgraceful behavior in the past few days, his heart began to beat.
The thin man held a small chicken bone in his mouth, and a trace of fear flashed on his face, "Those knights are all wearing those weird black robes that are easy to recognize, and they all carry bows and swords. They must be White Horse Yi Cong."
"
"Hey——" There was a sudden sigh in the hall.
They are all part of the Lone Bamboo Manor, some are refugees and some were originally frontier soldiers.
There has been no owner living in Lone Bamboo Manor for a long time. They stick together and just do some small things of bullying the poor households and the hundreds of workers. They only dare to squeeze more money from those helpless households like duckweeds.
But no matter how hard they try, these poor people who can't squeeze out a few ounces of oil from their bones can't get any benefits, so they often only use their wives and daughters to compensate.
Even if you take those dry women home, they will just have more mouths to eat.
A few months ago, Lady Xuan, who came for a hunting trip, revealed the news that General Gongsun was defeated and burned himself on fire, and his whole family was gone.
Lone Bamboo Manor will be in the hands of Lady Xuan.
Their thoughts began to wander, and they tried to please the new master.
Unexpectedly, some of the disabled old troops and the steward Zhou Xing who had retired from Gongsun Zan's army had a bad attitude and were unwilling to obey Lady Xuan's dispatches.
Because there is an excellent hot spring in the village, Lady Xuan comes here every year for winter or spring hunting, and Manager Zhou treats her as a distinguished guest.
But when news of General Gongsun's defeat came, Manager Zhou instead expelled Lady Xuan as some evil guest who occupied the magpie's nest.
Naturally, they wanted to protect their new master, so they had several conflicts with the old, weak, sick and disabled led by Zhou Xing.
At that time, I was thinking, could the news about Mrs. Xuan, the most beloved daughter of the family owner, be false?
I never thought that the news was true!
The real owner of the manor, Lady Yan, is not only alive, but has also arrived in Lingzhi!
This puts them in an extremely embarrassing situation.
There had been several fierce conflicts before, and there were even casualties, and the relationship had already been completely torn apart.
Now that the real owner of the manor has returned, how should they deal with it?
The returned master's family was not what they expected. They no longer had any support and were as weak as a dodder flower.
On the contrary, more than 200 white-horse Yi Cong, who once scared the barbarians to retreat, accompanied them. It is said that they defeated the many with less, and almost annihilated Aduna who was wandering around Lulong Qian'an. Anyone with such an momentum must weigh it before provoking them.
My own weight.
What's more, they were cut off from supplies by their supervisor, Zhou Xing.
They are originally a tribe dependent on their master, but they can be disposed of at will. What will be the fate waiting for them?
Thinking of this, the hall suddenly filled with mourning, and everyone looked eagerly at the fat leader, hoping that he would come up with an idea!
He was the one who took the lead in the beginning, now he should be responsible for coming up with an idea!
For a moment, everyone's eyes were focused on the fat leader, and there was silence in the place, just waiting for him to speak and express his position.
However, before he could speak, an unruly voice sounded: "So what if there are many people? If we all gather together to control the number of people, there will be a lot of people. Besides, we have lived here for many years and are familiar with the terrain, so we may not be able to defeat them!"
There was a moment of silence in the field, and then someone echoed fiercely: "Yes, we are familiar with every inch of this place and every mountain col, so we may not be able to defeat it!"
The hall was in chaos for a while, with some people shouting to cheer for their side, and others wailing and urging them not to go against the master's family.
At this time, the fat leader's face was as dark as water, and he was staring at the unruly young man who had just spoken.