After crossing Qishui and climbing Longma Mountain, the farther west you go, the more desolate the scenery becomes.
Not a single person was seen on the winding and muddy mountain road for a long time. As far as the eye could see, there were only rows of lush cypresses and short, twisting shrubs.
In the deep frost of autumn, yellow, orange and red fallen leaves are everywhere. Horses step on the dead leaves, making a rustling sound.
The sun gradually sets in the west, and the brilliant rosy clouds fall in through the shadowy branches and leaves, scattering mottled patches.
Everyone has been walking for seven or eight days, but they are still wandering around in the mountain den. Whether they are soldiers who came to seek fame in the army or traders who plan to go out to sell goods, their moods are extremely low. Although the leader, escort officer You, repeatedly reassured everyone
, it is said that Jincheng is behind the previous mountain. But there are so many mountains in Minzhou. When you climb over one mountain peak, another one will come up to you, which makes people feel numb.
Li Kuo, the captain of the Xuanjie School of the Shence Army's Suzaku Regiment, was riding on Qingfeng at this time, his mind full of melancholy. Since they fought out of Shanggui City, everyone had not replenished food rations along the way. They had no worries about the fresh water in their bags, walking in the deep mountains.
Among them, there are clear rivers everywhere. As long as everyone is willing, they can drink to their fill anytime and anywhere. However, this dry food cannot be produced out of thin air. Although he deliberately ordered the sergeants to hunt along the way to supplement their rations, not everywhere
One or two antelopes and mountain deer would suddenly appear in the valley. Looking at the gradually withered robes around everyone's waist, (Note 1) Li Kuo sighed lightly, if he did not get out of these continuous mountains within a week, everyone would be in danger of running out of food.
"General, look over there!" Dou Qing pointed toward a bush and shouted.
Li Kuo broke away from his deep thoughts and turned his horse in the direction of the bushes. After turning over and dismounting, he walked more than ten steps into the forest, but the young man was shocked.
More than twenty corpses lay in the bush, half rotten and rotten. All the dead were left with only headless remains, and the state of death was extremely horrific. Almost all the items weighing money on the corpses were taken away, even the dead bodies.
They didn't let go of the brocade clothes, which can be seen from the threads scraped from the bushes on one side.
You Longtiao dismounted from his horse and strode towards the bushes. When he got close, he leaned over and touched the back of a deceased person without hesitation, squeezing the touch gently, not worrying at all that the ghost would come and kill him.
Mistaken for the murderer.
"This group of people have been dead for about a week, and the cold weather kept them from rotting away." Yolong stood up, walked a dozen steps west from the direction of the deceased, and stopped at a bush. He saw him
He leaned down and picked out a carved feather arrow from the weeds at the corner of the tree.
"That's right. This group of people should be some merchants selling goods. They were walking from Longma Mountain, but unfortunately they encountered horse bandits on this mountain. They should all have horses, and they headed towards this bush under the leadership of the leader.
They fled in the direction of Cong. The trees in this forest were low and branchy, and the traders found it difficult to move a short distance away. So they got off their horses and ran all the way north. "Yu Long peeled off his cocoons and restored the scene step by step."
At this time, the horse bandits were gradually catching up. They fired arrows, and the unarmed vendors were shot to death instantly. This also explains why the dead all landed on their faces. They were shot while running for their lives."
Li Kuo nodded lightly, but said suspiciously: "If it is what Brother Yiyou said, it is reasonable. But I am a little puzzled. Since these traders were shot from behind, why can't they find a feather?"
arrow?"
You Long smiled and said: "General Li, you don't know something. In these remote mountains and ridges, feather arrows are very precious. Generally speaking, most of the horse thieves in Xiaogangzi cannot afford feather arrows and only rely on a saber.
Bastard. Any horse bandit who can afford to use feather arrows is a big boss with a radius of hundreds of miles. But even they are not willing to waste their feather arrows on a group of traders. Pull them out and take them away for next time.
Use it."
"But why did you find an arrow from the corner of the tree over there?" Zhang Yanji jumped out of nowhere, his face full of suspicion.
"Well, if you are a vendor and you are being chased by someone right now. Behind you are some extremely vicious horse bandits who kill without hesitation, which direction will you flee to?" You Long let it slip and deliberately teased Zhang Yanji.
"Well, it should be to the north. The trees in the north are dense and the horse bandits can't catch up!" Zhang Yanji blurted out without even thinking.
"Wrong, it's obviously to the west. Mortals, mortals." Zhou Wuwu rolled his eyes at Zhang Yanji and sighed.
You Long clapped his hands and said: "What Captain Zhou said is right, we should flee to the west. Although there are bushes to cover the north, they will eventually be caught up by the horse bandits. Besides, the horse bandits have enough arrows in their hands to kill them in
Shoot him a hundred steps away! And if you turn west, it seems to be separated from your companions and more dangerous. But if you were a horse thief, would you chase a sheep or a group of sheep?"
"So that's it!" Zhang Yanji patted his head and suddenly realized. "This vendor did the opposite and ran away in the opposite direction of his companions. Naturally, the horse bandits would not let him go and would spread out to the west. But they
But it was impossible to send someone specifically to hunt down this vendor, because there were greater benefits waiting for them. But the vendor successfully escaped, and the arrows were scattered in the corner of the tree."
"You're not hopelessly stupid." Zhou Wuwei shrugged, with a nonchalant look on his face.
"You, damn fat man, who are you calling stupid?" Zhang Yanji, however, refused to suffer a loss in vain, so he stepped forward to show fists with Zhou Wuxin.
"You two, stop making trouble and listen to Brother You's analysis." Li Kuo sternly stopped the quarrel between the two and nodded to You Long.
"Actually, it's very simple. If I'm not wrong, this is a paid murder." Youlong tapped his fingers and came to a conclusion. "If it is a robbery, there is no need to be so ruthless. If it is,
If it is a vendetta, no one will be left alive. The only reasonable explanation is that they paid the murderer to kill. After they took the buyer's money, they would naturally kill all the traders. However, if one or two people were occasionally missed, the buyer would not pay attention.
This is why all the dead have no heads, this is a token!"
"His grandma's is the same as the way we record military achievements in the Tang Dynasty. One head and one force." Pu hit the trunk of the tree hard with a sledgehammer, knocking off a fallen leaf.
Li Kuo frowned and said, "But if it wasn't a robbery, why didn't the horse thief even let go of the deceased's clothes?"
Youlong shrugged and said: "I'm not very sure about this. Maybe it's to cover up. However, for these horse thieves, they don't taboo about any gods and ghosts. What they do is a business of licking blood from the knife edge, so it should be
If you can make more money, make more money."
"Then we'd better leave this place earlier, so as not to be targeted by this group of horse thieves and suffer consequences for nothing." Zhang Yanji turned away and left without a word of complaint.
"I didn't expect that the dignified commander of the first brigade was afraid of ghosts." Ni Xin's annoying big face appeared again at some point, and his words were full of burrs.
"Who is afraid of ghosts? There are no ghosts in this world at all. They are all fabricated by you guys who feel guilty. Besides, even if there are real ghosts, I, Zhang Yanji, am not afraid. Hundreds of our brothers all have them in their hands.
With a sharp blade, why are you afraid of these lonely ghosts? They were bullied ghosts in life, and they can't take advantage after death?" Zhang Yanji put his trembling hand on the handle of the horizontal knife, emboldening himself.
.
"Then you'd better follow closely and don't get left alone." Ni Xin walked slowly to Zhang Yanji's side and whispered in a very low voice: "Ghost, I love to bully timid men like you.
.Do you know why? You are more courageous than a ghost!" After saying that, he walked quickly to the mount, jumped up, and climbed onto the horse's back.
"You, big pie face, come back here!" Zhang Yanji waved his fists and gasped for air.
"I don't want to walk with rats for fear of being possessed by ghosts!" Ni Xin whipped her horse and whipped her, and left in the dust.
The setting sun lengthened the light and shadow, and the withered grass stretched horizontally towards the evening sky. Among the lush curling branches, a leaping black dress made the red leaves in the middle of the mountain disappear in an instant.
Note 1: 衡袢: 衡袢 is a kind of cloth bag that has been used by Chinese people for a long time in the past. It is usually made of very strong domestic cloth, rectangular, and has an opening in the middle. It contains paper, pens, ink cartridges, letters, stationery, seal ink pads, and land deeds.
Documents, certificates, account books, etc. are all tools for handling documents. In the past, businessmen or accounting clerks would always put it on their shoulders when they went out, leaving both hands free for easy movement.
ps: Please collect it, please!
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