At first watch, the moonlight in winter is much dimmer than in summer.
With a "pop!" sound of closing the door, Uncle He closed the door of Meihua Villa tightly, took out a pair of large bronze locks, strung them horizontally, put the keys away with a "Kaza" sound, and there were two people standing behind him, one of whom was holding the key on his back.
Zhu Kui, who is wearing a parcel and carrying a dragon scale dagger at his waist, with his fluttering Confucian shirt and holding a scribe's sword, his high-knotted hair tied up with a brocade bun and a jade hairpin inserted horizontally, looks like a decent figure in martial arts novels.
The style of an old-timer.
More than half an hour ago, Zhang Jian finally couldn't overcome Zhu Kui's stubborn temper and agreed to let him follow him to Jiangxia.
Zhang Jian's dress finally made Zhu Kui realize firsthand that the Confucians of the Han Dynasty were strong. Only those who truly mastered the six arts of a gentleman, etiquette, music, archery, imperialism, calligraphy, and mathematics, can be called true Confucians.
Zhu Kui always thought that the sword in Zhang Jian's study was just a decoration. After he took it off and played with swordsmanship, he realized that this old master was also good at fencing, maybe not like the brave generals.
Their hands were covered with calluses and they could chop and kill with great force. However, these Confucian scholars had a unique courage of scholars. This kind of courage could kill people with a sword, but their heart was as strong as iron. This was something that later generations of Confucian scholars could never compare with.
The scribes of Qin and Han Dynasties cannot be described as having no strength in their hands. In fact, after the Sui and Tang dynasties, scribes began to abandon their swords in favor of pens and took pride in holding folding fans. Among the six arts of the gentleman, archery became a decoration and became a
A dispensable existence.
Uncle He picked up two boxes of luggage, walked to Zhang Jian, raised his eyes and gestured, asking if it was okay to set off.
Zhang Jian turned around, looked at the plaque of Plum Blossom Villa, and took one last look. He was about to flee again at this other courtyard left by his ancestors. His ancestors were once kings with different surnames, and he didn't want future generations to be inferior to each other.
After living a life of hiding, I felt ashamed of my ancestors. I took a deep breath and said lightly: "Let's go!"
Uncle He picked up his luggage in response, looked behind him and Zhu Kui signaled departure, and followed closely.
After all, this is the place where I have lived for three months, and I feel a little bit reluctant to leave. Zhu Kui also looked at the Meihua Villa silent in the dark night, so lonely and desolate, and murmured in his heart: "I hope these county soldiers, rangers and others,
If you discover the villa and realize that everyone has escaped, be more sensible and don't destroy every room or wood here."
There were no other valuable objects in the villa. All the gold, silver, pearls and jade were collected in Uncle He's burden. The important books were also taken away one by one. Apart from the ordinary letters stored in the study, there were only wooden cases, straw mats and other furniture.
Zhu Kui was not worried about the angry knights and county soldiers. After discovering the collection of books in the study, he vented his anger by destroying them. In the Han Dynasty, books were very precious objects, especially in the eyes of ordinary people. Even if they were illiterate, they would collect them.
, so that future generations will have the opportunity to use it.
Therefore, in history, there are often records of nobles burning books, but it is rare for common people to destroy books.
The only thing I'm afraid of are those reckless men who burned down the villa with a fire without discovering the books in the study. That was the greatest destruction. But now I can only pray for God's blessing, but unfortunately there is nothing I can do. With a sigh, Zhu Kui trotted away.
He got up and chased the two of them from a distance.
Late at night, the plum blossoms were particularly fragrant in the cold wind. The three of them were running quickly in the plum blossom forest. Under the night, people's sight was only three feet away, but it did not have a great impact on Zhu Kui and the others who were familiar with the terrain. As long as
If you can clearly see the four or five plum blossom trees in front of you, you will not lose your way. After half an hour, you will have almost reached the outskirts of the plum blossom forest.
During the day, the county soldiers and rangers who had entered the plum blossom forest couldn't find the villa after searching for a long time. After nightfall, they had no choice but to light a bonfire, eat dry food, wait for dawn, and continue to circle around in order to find the villa and catch them.
When Zhang Jian arrived, he still refused to give up the reward.
They didn't expect that the bonfire in the dark night gave Zhu Kui and the others a big warning. The bright lights just let people know where there was someone and where there was no one, so they could easily avoid it.
Soon, as long as you pass the four groups of plum blossom tree circles in front, you can turn out of the plum blossom forest and go down the mountain.
Suddenly, there were several shouts and curses coming from the front, which made Zhu Kui and the others who were about to relax immediately became more courageous. They stopped and listened carefully. Zhang Jian even slightly pulled out his sword.
"You bastard, when you were hiking up the mountain stream during the day, you actually dropped the ignition stone into the water. We couldn't even light a fire tonight because we were so cold." A bitter curse came from a man...
"I... wasn't this careless..." Another male voice was timid.
"Okay, stop arguing. Let's go quickly and look to see if we can meet anyone else so we can borrow a fire." The last voice should be that of the leader.
It was such a familiar voice. He had heard it somewhere. As soon as Zhu Kuiluo thought about it, he remembered the three county soldiers he saw by the stream when he returned to the mountain during the day. The fearful tone of voice of the bearded county soldier was particularly easy to remember.
Easy to recognize.
"There are people in front of me. I'm afraid I'll be bumped into by accident if we go by this way." Zhang Jian stopped and said with a frown: "I heard there were three people. If we take a detour, we have to go back a long way. If we take another way, I'm afraid we will be delayed.
A long time."
"Teacher, I know the first three are county soldiers. I met them by chance by the stream outside the forest earlier. I remember their voices." Zhu Kui said while thinking about countermeasures.
Zhang Jian secretly calculated in his mind whether to give it a try. In the dark night, it was not a question of whether to kill three ordinary county soldiers. He said coldly: "Three county soldiers also want to touch me." He snorted and was about to do it.
Go up and do that thing where the brave wins when you meet on a narrow road.
The scholar was angry and wrote about the Spring and Autumn Period, but he also dared to kill people, let alone an old scholar of the Han Dynasty like Zhang Jian, who had never seen anything like this. He had been avoiding pursuit by the court for more than three years, and he had already killed county soldiers, and there was something in his eyes.
murderous look.
Zhu Kui grabbed his hand and persuaded: "The teacher has taught the disciples that a gentleman should speak more and use less hands. The disciples have ways to distract them. The teacher and Uncle He can first go to Chai Fu's house down the mountain to wait for a while. Disciple
Will catch up to the round soon.”
The Chai Fu family were the mountain people who Zhu Kui taught his son how to read the Analects of Confucius in exchange for firewood. They had known each other for a month and had a good relationship. Zhang Jian didn't know the address of the small village at the foot of the mountain, but Uncle He had been with Zhu Kui.
I've been there, everyone knows me.
"Teacher, please believe me, disciple."
"Are you really sure?"
"Um!"
Looking at Zhu Kui's firm gaze, Zhang Jian felt that his disciple's young face was full of confidence and wisdom, and he told himself that he could trust him in his heart. He stroked the beard on his chin and agreed: "Well, be careful yourself.
.”
"I will." Zhu Kui responded, and then said to Uncle He: "Uncle He, lend me your white shirt. I will use it a lot."
Uncle He didn't ask any more questions. After listening to his words, he put down the luggage in his hands, unpacked the package on his back, flipped through it, and handed the white coat to Zhu Kui.
Zhu Kui took over, spread the white coat flat on the ground, and cut two plum branches from the plum blossom tree on the side, one long and one short. He tore off a sleeve of his body to make a cross, and then put the long coat on the ground.
It was tied to the cross and turned into a long white flag.
Zhu Kui carried the long banner and left. He turned around and signaled to Zhang Jian and the others. After hearing that he had made a noise to distract the soldiers from the three counties, he allowed them to pass immediately.
He walked lightly and walked forward slowly. After walking for nearly a hundred steps, he heard the sound of the swordsmen in front of him slashing the surrounding branches and weeds. Zhu Kui calmed down, took a deep breath, and checked the distance between the three people.
The direction, and the route that your teacher needs to take.
After tightening the clamp, the long flag in his arm started up like a cunning rabbit, looked up to the sky and shouted: "Zhang Jian, where are you running? You can't escape tonight." Then he moved in the other direction and pulled out his legs.