(4)
Glittering little stars were scattered densely in the sky, illuminating the path forward for the two people who were hiking under the full moon. They walked through the deep alley where they had fought fiercely just now and walked into the inn they originally wanted to reach. Tuoba Yan, Tuoba Guang, and A Bian had already gone to bed, but Bai Feng and Zhao Kuo didn't even eat dinner.
Zhao Kuo and Bai Feng sat by the window. The former shouted: "Waiter, come here quickly!"
"Hey, the little one is here." The waiter who was taking a nap in the chair straightened his clothes, put a yellowish white rag on his left shoulder, hurried to Zhao Kuo, and said while wiping the table. : "Sir, you are finally here! Prefect Xu specially ordered the shop to entertain the heroes of this city. What would you like to eat?"
"Um... what is your store's most famous dish?" Zhao Kuo asked.
"The shop's 'sauce beef' is famous far and wide."
"Then give me two pounds!"
The waiter turned around and went to the kitchen to supervise the serving of food. Then Zhao Kuo said to Bai Feng: "How can we eat beef without good wine to accompany it? I'll go find a pot or two."
"Brother Zhao, I don't have to." Bai Feng said.
"You don't drink? Then why are you carrying a gourd all day long?"
"That gourd is a very important thing to me... Besides, the gourd is just a container and may not be used to hold wine."
"Tsk. Brother Bai, how many things have you hidden from me?"
"When the time is right, I will tell you naturally."
"Okay, I'll drink it myself!" As soon as he finished speaking, Zhao Kuo left his seat to look for wine. When he came back, the "sauce beef" had also been delivered, so the two chatted while eating.
Zhao Kuo was the first to ask: "Brother Bai, you see, I have already announced my family status. Are you sorry if you don't tell me something about yourself?"
"Okay..." Bai Feng took a sip of tea and said, "Do you know why I recognize the sores on Miss Jiang's hands?"
Zhao Kuo was puzzled: "Why?"
"Because my sworn sister died of this disease."
"Sister?" Zhao Kuo filled a bowl of wine with a pottery bowl as big as the palm of his hand, drank it all in one gulp, and then said, "Why do you have a sworn sister?"
"On the way to Yangcheng, we once passed the ruins of a village, Xiangyang Village in the west of the city. I once lived there."
Zhao Kuo was slightly drunk and said: "This...I know this. Your behavior at that time was too abnormal. What about your parents?"
Bai Feng looked at the bright moon and starry sky outside the window, squinting his eyes, tears lingering in his eyes, and said: "Six years ago, the Xianbei cavalry attacked Xiangyang City and flattened Xiangyang Village. Both my parents died tragically at the hands of the soldiers. If it weren't for my sworn sister, If we fight to the death to save him, I’m afraid I’ll go with my parents too.”
Zhao Kuo's face, which was originally relaxed due to drunkenness, became serious after hearing those words, and said sympathetically: "Bai...Brother Bai, are you okay..."
"Ha." Bai Feng sneered: "Every time I see Miss Jiang, I always think of my sworn sister. If it weren't for me to survive, she would never have gotten that incurable disease."
"Um...then what did you do for the next six years?"
"I met my master, and the flute and gourd belonged to him."
Zhao Kuo suddenly said, "No wonder you always keep them with you." Then he put a piece of beef into Bai Feng's bowl and said, "Brother Bai, eat some food slowly."
"Stop drinking, we have to do business tomorrow."
"Okay, I won't drink anymore." Zhao Kuo wiped away the remaining wine drops from the corners of his mouth and said. After a while, the two talked and ate, then went back to their rooms to rest.
The next day, Bai Feng and Zhao Kuo got ready early in the morning and planned to visit the militia leader Wu Yi. After arriving at the place indicated by Xu Taishou, they set out to find Wu Yi's whereabouts.
There are three earth-tiled houses standing inside the stone outer wall. In front of the largest tiled house in the middle, there is a row of various spears: some are long, some are short, and some are decorated with gorgeous dragon patterns. , some with red tassels. And they all have one striking thing in common - the gun body is spotless and the gun tip is shiny. It must be because their owners take good care of them. The two smaller tile-roofed houses are separated on both sides, and a larger space is enclosed between the three houses. The militia leader Wu Yi should have practiced martial arts here on weekdays.
Bai Feng and Zhao Kuo went straight to the middle house because its door was open. When I got closer, I saw a woman in plain clothes cleaning the house. Zhao Kuo stepped forward and asked, "Does the militia leader Wu Yi live here?"
The woman looked up and saw two young men with unfamiliar faces, and replied slightly panicked: "You are..."
"It was Prefect Xu who asked us to come," Bai Feng said as he cupped his hands and stepped forward.
"Oh, I'll call him out right now!"
After a while, a sperm-like man wearing a blue singlet came over. He spoke first: "Two young heroes, Wu Yi is really disappointed."
Zhao Kuo replied: "No need to be polite, do you know what I asked Prefect Xu about?"
Wu Yi said calmly: "I understand. To be honest, I have been keeping in contact with the guards who went out to conquer the city through the 'flying pigeon message'. So I can generally understand their situation."
"Brother Wu, please inform me quickly."
"At present, they are camped fifty miles south of the bandit camp, forming a stalemate with the bandits. But in terms of military strength: the enemy has 500 people and more than 100 war horses; we only have 400 people, and the war horses are only the commanders of each department. There are only three horses and spies, and there are only thirty at most. So we are at a disadvantage in terms of military strength. However, I have good news and bad news..."
"Let me tell you the good news first," Zhao Kuo said.
"The good news is that we rescued more than a hundred people who were taken captive from bandits a few days ago, and there may be the person you are looking for among them." Wu Yi coughed, cleared his throat, and continued: "The bad news is that , more than a hundred people means that part of the troops must be allocated to protect them, which makes the war situation even more unfavorable."
"Can't we withdraw the people to Yangcheng first?" Bai Feng asked.
"The risk of doing this is too great. The thieves have sent mobile cavalry posts around the camp. If a part of the troops are used to protect the people from retreating, the enemy will take the opportunity to attack the camp. We, who are already at a disadvantage, have almost no chance of winning; if the entire army retreats If we do, our army will have wasted all its efforts, and the bandits will only become more rampant!" Wu Yi looked at Bai Feng and sighed, with a look of helplessness on his face.
"Then can you take us to the camp?" Zhao Kuo said eagerly.
"Young Master Zhao cares about you so much, I can understand it. But the sentries on the road are very dangerous and inhumane. They kill men when they see them, and capture women when they see them for rape and humiliation!"
Zhao Kuo looked at the ground and said sadly: "Is there really no way..."
Seeing how depressed Zhao Kuo was, Wu Yi said decisively: "There is a trail away from the main road. There may not be sentries on the road. I can take you there. However, the number of people traveling with you should be as small as possible. Otherwise, the risk will be greater."
Zhao Kuo and Bai Feng looked at each other for a while and nodded to each other.
"When do you two plan to set off?"
Bai Feng joked: "I think Mr. Zhao will definitely not be able to wait until tomorrow."
"Let's go now!" Zhao Kuo said with firm eyes.
"Then when you two are ready, we will gather in the north of the city."
After Bai Feng and Zhao Kuo left their home in Wuyi, they went directly back to the inn to explain the situation to Tuoba Yan, Tuoba Kuang, and A Bian, and finally decided to let Tuoba Kuang and A Bian stay in Yangcheng to protect them. of personal belongings. Tuoba Yan walked with Bai Feng and Zhao Kuo.
The three of them were walking in the morning market and saw many vendors and pedestrians on the street: there were vegetable farmers selling vegetables, butchers selling meat, hunters selling animal skins and meats from the mountains, and craftsmen selling various handicrafts. It was completely different from what Bai Feng and the others saw when they first arrived. The three of them were walking and chatting with great interest.
"Yangcheng is indeed the important trading town in the south. The variety of goods and the prosperity of people are far beyond my imagination." Zhao Kuo said.
"After all, this was once the capital of the country. The desolation we saw that day should be because people were afraid of the 'Three Black Wind Evils'." Bai Feng responded.
Tuoba Jin sighed in his heart: Such a prosperous street scene was once destroyed by his own people, and now it is in danger... For him, who has long been tired of wars and killings, he is not willing to let history repeat itself.
Just when Tuoba Yan was thinking to himself, Wu Yi in front was waving to Bai Feng and his party. He was wearing armor, his wrists and ankles were tied with gauze, a breastplate was placed on his chest, he carried two short spears behind his back, and he held a dragon-patterned spear in his right hand, as if he was going to fight on the battlefield. .
"Mr. Zhao, put on these scale armors!" Wu Yi held three sets of worn-out scale armors in his hands, which seemed to be able to withstand only one powerful attack.
Bai Feng and Zhao Kuo put on their armors one after another, but Tuoba Yan refused.
"The leather armor I'm wearing is enough."
"Okay then, I haven't asked you for your name yet." Wu Yi asked.
"Tuoba Yan."
The four of them walked on the road for more than ten miles, then turned into a trail. The trail is very narrow, overgrown with thorns and ferns. If you are not careful, your skin will be scratched. Only one person can pass at a time, so it is difficult for the bandit sentry to detect or set up an ambush. Everyone was marching fairly smoothly, and the surroundings were surprisingly quiet, as if all the sounds had been frozen. Because Bai Feng, Zhao Kuo, and Tuoba Yan didn't know the terrain, they could only follow the path Wu Yi had taken, and it was difficult to pay attention to the things around them.
"Listen, there is the sound of water flowing." Wu Yi finally soothed his tense nerves and said, "As long as you cross the wooden bridge in front, you can reach the camp soon."
After saying that, everyone quickly walked out of the path and suddenly became enlightened. In front of me was a bridge made of broken wood that spanned both banks. It was just wide enough to accommodate one person, and two or three feet below the bridge was rapid water. The sound of the water hitting the rocks and the banks filled the four people's ears.
They crossed the bridge one by one, with Bai Feng walking at the end. Suddenly, a cold arrow shot from the other side and hit Bai Feng's spleen. Bai Feng's limbs suddenly felt weak, and he lost his balance and fell under the rapids.
Wu Yi threw his short spear in the direction of the arrow, only to hear a scream, and a Han bandit fell from the vegetation. Zhao Kuo and Tuoba Jin called out Bai Feng's name eagerly, but Bai Feng, who was hit by an arrow, was swept farther and farther away by the current until there was no trace. The two men had no choice but to give up and follow Wu Yi at a faster pace to the camp to discuss countermeasures.
Bai Feng, who was washed downstream by the current, was unconscious for a long time. A clear bell sound came from nowhere and awakened his consciousness. He opened his eyes and vaguely saw a slender figure wearing yellow-green clothes with a string of copper bells tied to his feet. Then he became exhausted and fell asleep again.
