Chapter five hundred and seventy-ninth: Jiangshan Fog Cage, White Clothes and Swords
A long procession of more than a thousand people arrived at a small town on the way.
"Longbow, arrange for manpower to patrol at night."
Dusk was approaching, and Xu Mu had no intention of continuing on the road. He had enough time, and it was not a forced march.
"Lord, don't worry."
This time, the more than a thousand Shu cavalry accompanying them were mostly from the Shen Gong Camp of Gong Dog. They were mounted as sentinels and dismounted as walking bows.
"Meet my lord." The county guard of the town was an old captain of the Xu family army who had retired to the second line. When he saw Xu Mu's arrival, he hurriedly led the town's officials to greet him at the city gate.
"No need to be polite."
After replying, Xu Mu raised his head and looked at the small town in front of him. Xu Mu also had an impression of this town when he first invaded Shuzhou.
At that time, the town was extremely barren, with mostly thatched and wooden houses. But now, it has become vibrant, and there are countless adobe houses as far as the eye can see.
With the harvest of autumn rice, the eyes of the people in the town who gathered around finally had a little sparkle in their eyes.
Xu Mu felt happy in his heart.
"Knowing that the lord was coming, the people in the town donated seventeen lambs, thirty-five pieces of Sichuan brocade, eight loads of medicinal materials, and ten laying hens——"
"Tell them that I don't need this, let them keep it to earn a living."
"I said it before...they forced themselves on me."
"Just tell me that this is my king's wish. If you don't take it back, you will be fined money."
The old captain nodded and asked his subordinates to carry the things on mule carts and return them one by one.
"By the way, my lord, there were a few knights who wanted to enter Chengdu in the past two days. But I received the official report and knew that my lord was going to pass through the town, so I asked them to wait here."
Xu Mu was startled and turned to look at Yin Hu next to him. Yin Hu thought about it and shook his head.
"I only heard the other knights calling the leader Shangguan Hall Master."
"Why did he come to me? He thought he went back to collect food and grass. By the way, where are the others?"
"My lord, I went outside the city earlier and I have already sent someone to inform you."
About an hour later, Hou anxiously went to Shangguanshu and came back on horseback. Behind him were several knights carrying swords.
"The mountains and rivers are covered in mist. Don't wait for a moment in white clothes with a sword on your back. The master of Fangzhengtang, Shangguan Shu, pays homage to the chief helmsman!"
"Meet the chief helmsman!"
Xu Mu had a strange look on his face when he heard this, thinking that he would learn more swordsmanship when he had time in the future.
"rise."
The few knights who got up found chairs and sat down in the county governor's mansion.
"Master Shangguan Hall, he left and came back again. Could it be that something happened?"
"Exactly." Shangguan said without any pretense, "Halfway there...I received a piece of information."
For ordinary things, Shangguan can just send a message. But with the current situation, it is probably not a small matter.
"At the beginning of summer this year, in the area near Lingzhou, rumors came out from nowhere that gold scraps were found on the river beach. Many people who went there caught a lot of gold scraps. When the news came, people came everywhere to fish for gold scraps.
.These people entered the river naked, and heard that gold fragments were also found upstream, so they salvaged all the way from Lingzhou to the west."
"Master Shangguan Hall, how many people are there?"
"At least more than 100,000 people. From the looks of it, they are all poor refugees."
"What's going on with Zuo Shiren?"
"They picked young men to serve as soldiers, and pretended to build a few porridge shacks, and then left it alone. These people were naked and walked from the lower reaches to the upper reaches, either riding on awnings or building stern boats, all the way up until
The location of Chuzhou and Cangzhou."
Xu Mu frowned. If there really was gold, and it was in the Lingzhou area, with Zuo Shiren's methods, he should have taken it for himself.
"Master Shangguan Hall, where are these people behind?"
"It's strange that after crossing the river naked, many people disappeared. When I came back this time, I just received information about the gold fragments. I finally found out that it was a forgery by a rich man from Chuzhou.
A few days ago, a wealthy businessman was suddenly killed in his mansion. There were more than forty people in his family, but only two wealthy businessmen and young masters escaped. Under the desperate protection of a group of family soldiers, they escaped."
"One of these two wealthy businessmen is a distant relative. He was originally from the inner city. He went to Chuzhou to visit his relatives because of something bad happened to his family."
Listening, Xu Mu fell into deep thought. This method seems familiar... Or maybe this so-called gold scrap thing is a cover method. In the upstream position, Chuzhou and Cangzhou disappeared?
"Master Shangguan Hall, are there still people fishing for gold scraps now?"
Shangguan Shu shook his head, "Chief Captain, let's not mention that it is winter now. After the news about Chuzhou's rich businessmen, who will go fishing?"
"If you send more people to this matter, it's best if you can find out one or two things."
"The mountains and rivers are covered in mist. Don't wait in white clothes with a sword on your back! The leader of Fangzheng Hall, Shangguan Shu, has received the order from the chief helmsman!"
"Accept the command of the chief helmsman!"
"Master Shangguan Hall, there is no need to be polite. Come see me in the future and just say hello."
"The mountains and rivers are covered in mist, the white clothes are carrying swords -"
"Yin Liuxia, see me off!"
…
Under the cold wind in Shuzhou.
Ten figures, covered with bamboo hats, stand coldly on the top of a mountain.
The leader was carrying a huge wolf tendon bow, with a cold expression on his face.
"Master Baili, we found out. The commoner thief is not in Chengdu, but left the city and went south."
"Leaving the city? Are you looking for death?"
"Master Baili, don't be careless, the commoner thief is extremely cunning——"
"Do you know the range of the eight-stone bow?" Baili Xiong turned his head and looked coldly at the Liangzhou dead man who spoke.
The dead man swallowed a mouthful of saliva, "I don't know...but Master Baili, we have to cross the mountain this day and there are no horses to drive. Even if you have the strength, you should rest for a round and recharge your batteries."
"No need, since there is no horse, just grab it."
After saying that, Baili Xiongying looked coldly and quickly raised his bow and arrow.
"Master Baili, don't—"
It was already too late, the wolf-head arrow roared out, and on the official road nearly 400 paces below, a villager couple sat side by side. Before they could make a sound, they both died on the driver's seat of the carriage.
After the carriage, it was also pulling some newly purchased items from the city, probably New Year's goods.
"Beads are strung together." Baili Xiong grinned.
"Don't be alarmed. I told you before. I can clearly see the nearby places with my Baili Xiong, Monkey-armed Eagle, and no one is coming for the time being. Second or third son, quickly get the carriage and drive to the south of Shuzhou. If there is an opportunity along the way, grab it again.
Two cars.”
A trip over the mountain resulted in three people falling to death. Now, the only nine Liangzhou dead men left nodded in shock, jumped down using Qinggong, and pulled the carriage over.
"Afraid of encountering Shu people's scouting posts, the objects stained with blood were abandoned in the woods."
Festive lanterns and rolled bacon were thrown out of the carriage from time to time. Even an innocent Spring Festival couplet was torn apart and thrown out of the carriage just because of the use of red ink.
On the half-torn Spring Festival couplets, there are still four characters left.
"peaceful always".
tread.
Baili Xiong's feet stepped coldly on the "Su Sui Peace", and then crushed his feet, leaving only a piece of turbid dirt.