"Fortunately, I have those two pieces of iron armor. I'm fine." Xu Muxue's weak voice came from the car, because it could be heard that there were many people around He Qizhou. Even if Xu Muxue could avoid the stray arrows, he would attribute the credit to the iron armor.
On the head.
"Let's go take a look in front, be careful." He Qizhou said.
"Okay, be careful too." Xu Mu replied.
Xu Muxue's car was the last one and received the most arrows. Her driver was quite clever and escaped to the front early. The penultimate car was also hit by many arrows, and the horse pulling the cart was injured and fell to the ground.
They kept wailing after them. After the seven people walked out a few steps, they saw several people walking backwards carrying shields from the east.
"Is it the fourth brother or the second brother? The people behind have been dealt with!" Guo Wen shouted to those people to prevent them from killing each other.
"I'm Jiang Li, that's good. The road ahead has been opened. Let's get out of the canyon first!" Fourth brother Jiang Li replied loudly.
He Qizhou and his entourage followed Jiang Li and others towards the mouth of the gorge. The last half mile or so of the road was covered with a thin layer of ice. It was easy for people to slip when walking on it, and it was even more difficult for vehicles to move. Moreover, the gorge was slightly elevated, and the wheels
It kept slipping. The camels were okay, but the horses couldn't pull the cart at all. No wonder the front team moved slower and slower.
The group of people chipped away at the thin ice on the ground as they walked to clear a path for the convoy, and then replaced the dead horses with the ones left by the robbers outside the canyon. It took more than half an hour to get everything out of the canyon.
After everyone came out, after calculation, three of the Lotus Gang guards were dead, two were seriously injured and one was slightly injured, and the coachman was not injured; two of the Salt Gang were killed and two were slightly injured, and one of the dead and injured was the guard who had been guarding the exit after exploring the road.
, the other is a coachman, but unlike the Lotus Gang, the coachmen of the Salt Gang also have good skills;
Fifteen of the horse bandits who came in from the entrance of the canyon were killed and two were captured, while at the exit a total of twenty-six people were killed, and five were captured alive. Only one escaped, which was Xiaohu himself, but he was stabbed by his second brother.
Palm was seriously injured, and his ability to escape was entirely due to his quick decision and familiarity with the terrain.
The horse bandit who was caught at the entrance couldn't stand the torture and had already told the details. It turned out that at three o'clock last night, Hong Lei was poisoned and fled to the mustache's lair. He encouraged the mustache who originally belonged to the Pei family to steal money. The mustache couldn't resist the temptation.
People were sent overnight to burn the snow at the east exit of the canyon and pour it into the canyon, making it extremely difficult for heavy vehicles to pass.
After seeing clearly that the convoy had no backup, the gangs came out to ambush a mile away from both ends of the canyon. Therefore, the two groups of Salt Gang people who went out to explore the road were not aware of it. Moreover, it was normal for the ice on the road to cause no exploration.
Alertness of passers-by.
After everyone entered the canyon, the bandits a mile away rushed to the two canyon entrances. The people at the east entrance used crossbows and iron caltrops to seal the exits, hoping to rely on the bandits heading west to kill all the people in the canyon, because
Mustache knew very well that once he entered the canyon, he would not be able to see clearly when he looked back. The crossbow arrows under the strong wind were extremely lethal. This was the method used to annihilate the entire Lotus Gang caravan last time.
The key is to seal the exit in front, so the gangsters arranged more masters at the east exit, hoping to get a certain amount of casualties in exchange for the final encirclement and annihilation. Unexpectedly, most of their people on the east side died, and there was still nothing in the canyon.
There was no movement, which led to the failure of the operation.
After discussing with Guo Wen, the second brother Sikong Lang decided to leave some people to look after the goods, while the others asked the horse bandits to lead the way to Xiaohu's lair. He Qizhou didn't want to go, but Guo Wen insisted on taking him with him, so he had no choice but to let him go.
Xu Mu should be more careful.
Not many people went, but they were all good players. Second brother, Guo Wen, Wanyan Gang and two salt gang guards. The horse bandit who confessed had long been frightened. Hearing that the other party could not kill him, for Er
All my requests were complied with.
The mountain road to the bandits' lair was ups and downs and extremely twists and turns. Along the way, the second brother thanked Guo Wen repeatedly, saying that if the Lotus Gang had not blocked those crossbowmen, the casualties of their Salt Gang would have been greatly increased, and the driver might have been injured.
Uneven.
Guo Wen hurriedly passed the credit to He Qizhou, saying that it was Deren who rushed into the pile of crossbowmen and stopped the rain of arrows. Of course, He Qizhou could not let the two people find out his true identity, so he hurriedly said that it was Guo Wen who attracted all the crossbows.
With his hand, he quietly touched the mountain wall on the other side. Guo Wen thought about it. If such a fast arrow was discovered to be close, how could he escape? And the second brother was at the other end of the canyon, so he saw that Guo Wen had no doubts.
I believe what Qi Zhou said.
The second brother said that two people from the Salt Gang originally stayed at the east end exit. When they saw a large group of bandits coming on horseback, one of them went back to the gorge to report the news, while the other died in the battle. Because the ice was too slippery, all of them from the Salt Gang dismounted.
He hid himself behind the shield and rushed out. However, the ground was covered with iron caltrops and crossbow arrows were flying randomly on both sides. So it took a long time to clear out the horse bandits outside the canyon, and then ran away with a mustache. When he was about to return to meet the Lotus Gang,
Unexpectedly, the Lotus Gang also eliminated the killers behind.
Judging from the crossbows they used, they were all military items. Anyone with such ability in Xizhou must have been provided by the Pei family. Now if they can catch the main culprit Xiaowu, Hong Lei, they will definitely get it when they get to Xuancheng
With the imperial court's help, we might be able to recover some lost goods in the bandit's lair.
But to their great disappointment, they found only a few old and frail corpses in the caves, and only ashes that were still warm were left in the caves where the goods were stored.
"These people have been dead for some time. Hong Lei must have known that Mustache was gone and would never come back, so he killed the old and weak who were left behind and escaped first! It seems that he was also worried that he couldn't control Mustache and wished he would come and die.
"Second brother said.
"Most of the mustaches have also come back. He should have come back to look for the medicine in the largest cave." He Qizhou said. He regretted that he did not find the medicine he needed, nor did he find Yun.
Come to the inn to make some potions.
"If there is no longer such a nest in the mountains, most of them will sneak back to Xuancheng, and they may even kill each other. We'd better remind Xuancheng to pay attention." Guo Wen said to his second brother.
"Guo Gang leader is right. These two people have always been a major concern for our two gangs. Not only the court, but our Salt Gang will also work hard to kill them."
When the convoy set off again, only 16 of the 20-member Salt Gang team were left, plus two minor injuries. Zhai Biao was one of the injured. After he rushed out bravely, an arrow took away a piece of flesh from his arm, and he was still injured.
He fought hard and refused to retreat. The entire clothing on his left arm was soaked with blood and turned into a hard object like ice.
The Yan Gang has seen many skin injuries like this in winter. He immediately treated Zhai Biao's wounds after setting up camp, which made He Qi Zhoukong worried.
The losses of the Lotus Gang were much greater. Three of the guards were killed, two were seriously injured, and two were slightly injured. When they arrived in Xuancheng, the Salt Gang was still able to draw manpower from the sub-rudder, and although the Lotus Gang also had a gang member, it was basically impossible to find one.
Who came out? Guo Wen sighed secretly. He could only rely on the Yan Gang to help him along the way. Fortunately, Deren and Wanyan Gang were really good, especially Deren. With him around, he seemed to have a particularly solid feeling.
, I even have the urge to give the other party more money.
There was no danger for the next four hundred miles. The convoy finally arrived in Xuancheng four days later and stayed at the Yunlai Inn. The Yan Gang would almost always open an inn in any city where they might settle, and few people on the road dared to stay in the Yunlai Inn.
They came to make trouble in the inn.
Xuancheng is located in a large piece of flat land between hills and Yinshan Mountains. The city has a population of nearly 100,000. It was considered a big city in the Northern Zhou Dynasty because it is located between Zhongjing and Xijing, a must-pass for business travelers; there are also nearby
With many iron mines and tin mines, Xuancheng can be said to be a prosperous city second only to several capital cities.
Walking all the way from the east gate to the inn, He Qizhou felt a solemn atmosphere all the time, not only because the gates of the city were strictly patrolled, but also because there were almost no people on the roads in the city. Even if there were people, they were all walking nervously, their eyes even
They would not deviate from the direction they were heading, but instead there were groups of horse troops patrolling the city. There were many times more officers than pedestrians.
The second brother and Guo Wen did not abandon the corpses of the horse bandits. They handed over all the dead and alive bodies to the Qinglong Temple in Xuancheng. They also received a bounty of thousands of taels, which was divided equally between the two families. Guo Wen said to He Qizhou,
The toll money on the road is far more than this amount, but if we can catch felons like Hong Lei, Xiao Hu, or even the head of the Pei family, the reward may be worth one or two cars of goods, and I will definitely consider it then.
He Qizhou didn't care about this at all.
Originally, the caravan only planned to stay in Xuancheng for one day, but because the Lotus Gang suffered too many losses, Guo Wen proposed to stay one more day and recruit some good people before setting off, because there were four more wagons of leather goods to be taken along with them in Xuancheng.
He also knew that when things really happened, the Yan Gang would definitely look after themselves first and only consider helping him if they had enough energy to spare. Agreeing to go together this time was just to give the second princess some face.
Not long after entering Xuancheng, Guo Wen spent some money and posted a small notice next to the big bulletin board in the Governor's Yamen offering a reward for the surviving members of the Pei family, saying that tomorrow, the Lotus Gang would spend a lot of money to recruit guards at the Yunlai Inn.
, because he was worried about the safety in the city, he actually asked Deren to accompany him to the Yamen.
He Qizhou couldn't laugh or cry. It seemed that Gang Leader Guo had already gotten close to him. The red list caught He Qizhou's attention. The bandit leader said: Pei Xianyi's life and death don't matter ten thousand taels of silver; the bandit leader: Pei Zhenglun doesn't matter his life or death ten thousand taels of silver...
…Two new ones were added at the end, the habitual gangster: "Mustache", regardless of life or death, one thousand taels of silver; the gangster: Hong Lei, who captured two thousand taels alive and had five hundred taels of heads. However, there are only a few strokes on the portraits of the two.
I really can't compliment you.
On the way back, He Qizhou curiously asked Gang Leader Guo, Pei Xianyi and Pei Zhenglun were obviously not of the same generation, so why were the bonuses the same? And why was there such a big gap between the price of Hong Lei's life and death?
Guo Wen replied: "Pei Xianyi is the younger brother of Pei Xianyong, the former governor of Xizhou, and is now the natural leader of the Pei family; and this Pei Zhenglun is even more extraordinary and mysterious. I never knew there was such a number one person with profound martial arts skills.
Chai is Pei Xianyong's nephew, Pei Xianyi's son, and the boss behind the Iron Palm Gang.