The next morning, the brigade continued to set off, passed through Mengcheng, and headed towards Chengfu.
As we approach Haozhou, the road finally becomes more lively, and the number of villages gradually increases. Large tracts of rice can be seen in the fields, but the growth is not as good as the rice in the suburbs of Jiangdu.
Qin Lingsi rode on her beloved horse again and watched while walking.
Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of a military camp appearing one mile to the west, and asked curiously: "Why did the Northern Army set up its general camp here?"
The monkey touched his chin and said, "Could it be to protect the envoys from various families who came to attend the ceremony?"
The Lan family siblings followed behind on horseback. Lan Yu snorted and said, "They are the troops sent by the Northern Army to various places to raise food and grass!"
Qin Lingsi frowned and said, "Isn't collecting land tax a matter for civil servants?"
Lan Yu was young and couldn't answer for the moment.
Lan Xiangyu said: "Haozhou has changed hands many times in the past few years, and the people have been miserable. Sometimes they have to pay land taxes several times a year, so the people are very resistant to paying taxes, and the civil servants cannot collect them at all.
!"
Qin Lingsi nodded.
Around the end of the day, the team had arrived at Chengfu. After everyone discussed it, they decided to continue on their way and spend the night on the outskirts of Haozhou City.
As the hour approached, the red sun set in the west and twilight fell. Qin Lingsi ordered the team to camp by a small river, and then went to the river to groom their horses.
The Lan family siblings suddenly came over.
"Miss Qin, we want to leave temporarily and find a friend." Lan Xiangyu said.
Qin Ling asked curiously: "Do you have any friends nearby?"
Lan Yu rushed to say: "There is a Shangliuzhuang five miles ahead. When we came down from the mountain, a kind-hearted villager gave us food, so we want to repay them."
Qin Ling thought and said, "Then you go."
Lan Yu took the white jade pony off her neck and said, "Sister Qin, I want to transfer the pony you gave me to them. Will you be angry?"
Qin Lingsi smiled and said: "How could it be? What I give to you is yours. You can give it to whomever you want!"
Lan Yu said happily: "Thank you sister Qin, we will be back within two hours!" She turned around and left with Lan Xiangyu.
The two siblings walked very fast and arrived at Shangliuzhuang in less than half an hour.
When they arrived at the entrance of the village, they were stunned. They saw dozens of sergeants holding torches guarding the entrance of the village in the dark night, with tight security.
Lan Xiangyu knew something was wrong, and for fear of being seen by the group of sergeants, she hurriedly grabbed her brother and hid behind a big rock.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he came behind the stone, Lan Yu tripped over something. When he got up and took a look, he was shocked and angry, and almost screamed.
It turned out that there were many corpses piled behind the stone, all of which were villagers from Shangliu Village. What was even more terrifying was that all of these villagers had their heads smashed, and their deaths were horrific.
Lan Yu took a few breaths and looked carefully, and found that several of the villagers were the same family who gave them food. She said bitterly: "Sister, were these villagers killed by those soldiers?"
Lan Xiangyu nodded calmly.
Lan Yu gritted her teeth and said, "I want to avenge these bastards!" She stood up and rushed out.
Lan Xiangyu grabbed him and scolded him: "Do you know how many soldiers there are in the village? Are you going to die if you just force your way through?"
Lan Yu said anxiously: "We can ask Sister Qin and the others for help!"
Lan Xiangyu said faintly: "These soldiers must be from the Northern Army. Miss Qin and the others saved us with kindness, but do you want to cause trouble for them?"
Lan Yu was stunned for a long time and said: "Then let's do nothing?"
Lan Xiangyu bit her lip and said: "We sneak into the village and assassinate the leading general. If we can escape alive, we can go find Miss Qin and the others!"
A fierce expression flashed across Lan Yu's face, and she said: "This is the right thing, blood debt must be paid with blood!"
The two siblings immediately sneaked into the side of the village. Although there were soldiers guarding the side, there were not many people.
The two of them had lived in the village for a few days and were very familiar with the village. They hid in the grass, took advantage of the cover of the night, and walked on the winding road, getting closer to the village.
After a long time, the two finally sneaked into the village. The village was full of patrolling soldiers. They would often take a few steps before lurking and squatting for a long time.
When she arrived at a house to the west, Lan Xiangyu heard a noise in the house and climbed up a tree to check. She saw villagers in the yard of the house, all of whom had their hands and feet tied up.
Lan Xiangyu returned to the tree, told her younger brother the situation, and asked: "Rescue or kill?"
Lan Yu snorted coldly: "Brother Liu and his family who helped us are dead, what do the other villagers have to do with us?"
Lan Xiangyu nodded.
So the two siblings continued to explore the village, and gradually came to the outside of the village chief's house. They saw the most soldiers guarding this place, and they both guessed that the leading general was inside.
The guards were guarding the main entrance and the courtyard. After some discussion, the two decided to climb from a tree at the back to the roof.
At that time, Lan Xiangyu jumped from the skylight to assassinate the leading general, while Lan Yu responded outside.
The two discussed their escape route after success, and then tiptoed to the big locust tree behind the village chief's house.
Lan Xiangyu was about to climb up the tree when Lan Yu suddenly grabbed her and pointed in a certain direction.
Lan Xiangyu turned around and saw a general and several soldiers walking from the direction of the village entrance. The two hurriedly hid behind a tree, not daring to move rashly.
When the general walked around to the main entrance, they came out from behind the tree. Lan Xiangyu was about to climb up the tree when she suddenly heard a voice coming from the back wall.
"His Royal Highness King Yongyi, you are shocked. We have found out that the person who assassinated you was Yuan Jun Xizuo!"
The person speaking in the room seemed to be only separated from the Lan family siblings by a wall.
Both siblings showed surprised expressions.
King Yongyi is the famous rebel leader Zhao Junyong. They have heard about it for a long time, but they never imagined that they would meet such a big man in such a remote place!
And judging by what they said, it seemed that Zhao Junyong had been assassinated. Could it be that their killing of the villagers was related to this matter?
The two siblings looked at each other without speaking, and put their ears to the wall to eavesdrop.
A sharp voice was heard: "General Pan, these Tatars suddenly assassinated me. Could it be that they knew that I was going to accept the canonization of King Xiao Ming?"
Lan Xiangyu's heart tightened, and she guessed that the owner of the voice was Zhao Junyong, and Zhao Junyong mentioned the canonization, indicating that the other person was the Northern Army general.
Moonlight leaked into the house through the window, and there were two people inside. A burly man with a red scarf on his head stood at the door.
Another person was sitting with his back against the skylight, his face gloomy, it was Zhao Junyong.
The burly man was Pan Cheng, one of the top ten tiger generals of the Northern Army, nicknamed Po Tou Pan. He pondered for a while and said: "I think it's a coincidence. I'm afraid they really know about it."
Zhao Jun rubbed the ring on his thumb with his hand and said calmly: "I heard that during this conference, King Xiao Ming will also consecrate more than a dozen rebel armies?"
Pan Cheng said: "Yes, a total of fourteen rebel armies will be canonized. Counting your army, our army's total strength will exceed 300,000. By then, the three-pronged Northern Expedition will surely destroy the Yuan Dynasty in one fell swoop!"
Zhao Junyong suddenly said: "Did Zhang Shicheng refuse your canonization?"
Pan Cheng said: "Yes."
Zhao Junyong sneered: "Does your army know the reason?"
A strange light flashed in Pan Cheng's eyes, and he cupped his hands and said, "Please give me some advice from King Yongyi!"
Zhao Jun said in one word: "Because he secretly colluded with Yuan Ting!"
Pan Cheng's eyes narrowed, and he was about to ask again when he suddenly heard the voices of soldiers looking for sentries outside.
"Who?"
As soon as the voice fell, a faint sound of footsteps came from behind the wall. Pan Cheng's face changed drastically, he shouted loudly, and kicked on the earth wall.
"Wow!"
He kicked a hole in the earthen brick wall. Pan Cheng pushed with both hands, and the hole became larger. Through the hole, he could see a dozen patrol soldiers besieging a man and a woman under the night. p>
The man and woman were so skilled in martial arts that they actually knocked down several people and broke out from the west. The soldiers quickly chased after them.
Zhao Junyong said solemnly: "General Pan, these two people should have overheard our conversation!"
Pan Cheng stared at the direction in which the two people were fleeing and said coldly: "This is our territory, they can't escape!"