The soil on the road is a bit wet. There must have been a light rain here yesterday. The clearest days after the rain are the cleanest. The green mountains, brown roads, and green tiles are all bright and clear, as if they have just been washed.
The air is also very fresh, a good day. Zhang Ning likes such warm days with a cool breeze in front of him.
A young man in his early twenties came out of the "Temple". His skin was fair and fair, his eye sockets were slightly sunken, his nose was not flat, and his face was quite pleasing to the eye. Zhang Ning thought of the young man who just said that he went in to find "Erlang" and guessed
This young man was probably the son of Monk Yao. However, he did not know the name of this young man. Before that, he had not even learned from Yao Ji that his uncle Monk Yao had a son.
After a while, Yao Erlang approached the dark-skinned young man. He looked a little shy, as if he didn't know how to speak. After all, people in the mountains rarely come into contact with strangers.
I am young and have little experience, so I am afraid that I am not very skilled in socializing and entertaining.
Zhang Ning was relatively calm and took the initiative to introduce himself: "My name is Zhang Ning, whose name is Ping'an. I was ordered by my mother to come to visit my uncle whom I haven't seen for many years. My mother's surname is Yao, and my uncle is the owner of Yao Village here. Just now we walked to the river bank.
It was these brothers who brought it to the village."
After hearing this, Yao Erlang hurriedly bowed and saluted, and he spoke clearly and clearly: "Master Yao is my father, and we have already received news that His Highness is coming. It's just that something urgent happened today, and my father can't greet him in person, so he ordered me to come.
Welcome, my greetings..." As he spoke, his legs moved a little, as if he wanted to kneel down but was a little hesitant. After all, Zhang Ning looked very young.
Zhang Ning looked at him, naturally supported him, and said kindly: "We are cousins. I am a fourth-year student in Jianwen, so I should be older than you?"
Yao Erlang hurriedly said: "Yes, my cousin is three years older." Seeing Zhang Ning nodding with a friendly smile, he added, "Let's go to the temple to meet my father. He is discussing important matters with the village elders.
.”
The group of people walked forward together. Zhang Ning's expression remained the same, cordial and enthusiastic, but he did not ask what important matters the village was discussing, although he was curious. Perhaps he had learned the way of being a man subtly in the officialdom.
It influenced him that it is a better way to get along with people he doesn't know well, but to be warm and polite but talk less.
However, after some pleasantries, Yao Erlang's mood was aroused, and he gradually became familiar with him. As he walked, he took the initiative and said: "There is a group of bandits a hundred miles away, harming the countryside and robbing merchants. Because our Shenzhai is in a radius
He is quite famous in the area. Two months ago, he was invited by the nearby Miao, Tujia and some prominent village elders to teach the bandits a lesson. Later, I heard that the bandit leader’s biological son was killed in the melee. So.
We settled a grudge. Originally, my father didn’t pay much attention to a bunch of gangsters. Unexpectedly, today it was reported that Feng Village behind the mountain was attacked, and my father was planning to summon young men and armed rescuers to rescue them.”
Zhang Ning asked casually: "Why didn't the bandits go straight to seek revenge on my uncle, but instead went to harass another village?"
"On the surface, these people are fierce and fierce, but in fact they are bullies and fearful of the strong!" A look of contempt appeared on Yao Erlang's young face, "Our main stronghold has horses and soldiers, and a large number of weapons, bows and crossbows. There are many bandits.
Dare to come."
Zhang Ning didn't think about it carefully and said casually: "Beware of besieging the city and calling for reinforcements."
Yao Erlang probably had never heard of this word before. He was slightly stunned and then nodded and said: "Remind my father later and listen to what he says."
As they talked, they walked to the entrance of the temple. Yao Erlang motioned to his followers to stay, and then walked into the "temple" with Zhang Ning. There were only a dozen people standing scattered inside, making a lot of noise. Most of the so-called "elders" were in their prime.
, but there were not two old men. There was a clay statue enshrined above the big room, filled with incense and candle smoke. A bald man stood in front of the clay statue. When he saw someone coming in, he turned to look at Zhang Ning and Yao Erlang, and nodded lightly.
Zhang Ning clasped his fists and bowed from a distance, but said nothing when he saw everyone was busy.
The men in the big house looked very excited. Yao Erlang whispered: "There are many relatives among several villages. Either the daughter of the elders is marrying there, or the father-in-law is in a neighboring village, so everyone is anxious to ask for his father."
Order rescue."
Zhang Ning nodded in agreement. If he refused to save her, how would relatives and neighbors meet in the future?
At this moment, another young man came in from the door. The bald monk Yao in front of the statue raised his hands to calm down the noise. The young man came forward, knelt on one knee and clasped his fists and said: "This is to the owner of the village, there is no one near the village.
There are traces of mountain bandits; there is heavy smoke in Feng Village behind the mountain, and the houses in the village are burning..."
Everyone was in an uproar and shouted: "Feng Village has been attacked. Our people have gathered and distributed weapons. Please give the village owner an order!"
Monk Yao asked loudly: "Where is the mountain?"
The young man who came in to report replied: "The people who went up haven't come down yet, so I don't know very well. From a distance, there is nothing unusual."
"Shut up!" Monk Yao shouted, "Send the order and leave a small number of men to guard the village. The rest of the people set off and take the wood-cutting path on the mountain."
Someone asked: "The matter is urgent, why did the village owner take the small road?"
Monk Yao turned to stare at him, and the man's face suddenly showed some fear. Monk Yao still explained: "Fengcun has defenses, and since the bandits can break through them, there is no way they can use the Tiaohu Lishan plan to sneak attack on the main village, so we only need to
A small number of troops are left behind. The bandits are seeking revenge on me, but they attack Fengcun. They are likely to ambush them halfway. The situation on the mountain is unknown, so wouldn’t it be true for us to take the main road rashly? Set off immediately and take the wood road over the mountain!"
After hearing this, everyone was convinced and left one after another. Monk Yao and the attendants around him came down and said politely: "Are you...Zhang Pingan? I encountered something urgent today and have to rush out again. Let Erlang receive you.
Let’s talk about it when I get back.”
After hearing this, Yao Erlang said: "I want to go with my father to fight bandits."
When Monk Yao was about to scold him, Zhang Ning hurriedly said: "I have three followers who are all very skilled. I am willing to follow my uncle to do my best."
"If something unexpected happens, how can I ask your mother?" Monk Yao immediately refused.
Yao Erlang also helped to plead for mercy: "Just now, my cousin asked me to remind my father to beware of siege and reinforcements. Now is the time to employ people, and my cousin can help." Zhang Ning then said: "I am not here to enjoy the scenery.
.”
Monk Yao frowned and said, "Go to the back of the team and Erlang will keep an eye on you."
Zhang Ning then went out to greet Lao Xu and three others, leading their horses to follow the others. They passed through the village and saw more than a hundred people gathered behind the village, walking up the mountain road in an orderly manner. These people were fully armed, carrying not only long and short weapons, crossbows and arrows
, some also wore homemade mail armor and large-rim iron helmets, and most of them wore hard bamboo scale armor and wore goggles on their chests and other vital parts. Although the clothes and armor were different, they didn't look like a group at all from a distance.
The gathered villagers looked like an army from more ancient times. No wonder they dared to provoke the bandits, because they were a group of strong men.
Yao Erlang led Zhang Ning and others behind the team, climbing up the mountain along the path between trees, weeds and thorns. This mountain is probably at least a few hundred meters high, and it is estimated that it will take a long time to walk. Zhang Ning and others
We arrived just before noon and were already hungry without eating. However, Lao Xu and the two women did not complain and followed the team silently.
The road up the mountain had been climbing for an unknown amount of time. Zhang Ning was already sweating and panting. Naturally, he couldn't ride the horse. Fortunately, it was a Shu horse. It was no trouble to hump and walk on the road. Only now did he feel for himself that marching may be more important when fighting a war.
, without physical strength, everything is nonsense.
Fortunately, after persisting for a while, we reached the ridge, and then it was downhill, which at least saved a lot of effort.
Zhang Ning was looking in the direction of the sun. It was estimated that the hour had not passed yet. Suddenly, there was shouting in front of him, followed by shouting and killing sounds, and the faint sound of strings could be heard. People left the path and dispersed into the woods. Zhang Ning asked
Looking down, I saw people running, but I couldn't see what was going on, and I couldn't see the shadow of the bandits. Qiuye pulled out his long sword, pulled Zhang Ning and hid behind a big tree, stretched out his neck and looked
The following situation.
Yao Erlang said: "My father is very good at predicting things. I guess he has encountered bandits. Don't worry, cousin. We will attack from above. The bandits will definitely not be able to resist."
The shouting didn't last long, and after a while the people in front of them called on them to continue down the mountain. Zhang Ning didn't understand the situation, so he walked for a while, and finally understood when he got to the mountainside. There was a dirt road at the bottom of the mountain, and there were large and small objects collected on the mountainside.
Many stones... Apparently the bandits wanted to wait for the reinforcements to pass by on the road down the mountain, hit the road with stones, and then rush down to kill people in the chaos. But now the stones on the side of the mountain have not been pushed down, it is already a mess, and from time to time there are still
One or two corpses can be seen, and the battle here is over.
Zhang Ning looked up at the scene down the mountain. There was a village not far away that was filled with smoke, and fires were burning in the smoke. Some people ran from the other end of the village to the opposite mountain. Some of Monk Yao's men had already rushed towards the village.
"If you run away, it's hard to chase her into the mountains." Yao Erlang stamped his feet and cursed through gritted teeth.
The group of people followed into the village at the foot of the mountain, and heard only wailing. The fire spread and the smoke filled the air. The surrounding earthen walls also collapsed, and the entire village was almost in ruins. There are indeed great hidden dangers in Han villages in the mountainous areas. In order to cultivate
Because of the convenience of harvesting, people generally do not want to live in mountains with dangerous terrain. Instead, they build villages on flat land and build city walls for defense. This defense is obviously limited.
There were corpses everywhere, some of them had been dragged out and had been burnt black. Many people were holding the corpses and crying. The scene was horrific. This was what happened when they first arrived here. When Zhang Ning looked back at his entourage, he only saw their faces.
The door was also pale. Following Xu Wenjun's gaze, he saw a child nailed to a door panel with blood stains on it. At this time, another naked woman with disheveled hair crawled out from the haystack.
The man hurriedly shouted: "Find some clothes!"
(Sorry, it’s really difficult to get online in my hometown. I will resume stable updates as soon as possible.)
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