The autumn wind is howling, rolling fallen leaves, and Qiao County under the setting sun has entered the typical late autumn season. On the official road near the Huanshui River, dozens of knights in costumes wearing hats and gauze skirts and wearing Liuhe boots galloped down the river from north to south, and then stopped at a building next to the official road under the setting sun.
There is a small yellow triangular flag hanging on the building, which means that this is the Huaiyou League industry that controls the important transportation channel between Jiangdong and Kansai. At the same time, there is a flag with the word "wine" hanging on it, which means that this is a typical restaurant.
The so-called restaurant is a vassal of the inn, responsible for banquets.
When the Wei Dynasty was prosperous, there were many official buildings for each post within thirty miles. At the same time, there were many private buildings on the official roads built by the Wei Dynasty. For example, Chen Ling built a happy metasequoia forest next to his residence, and this is especially true. Industrial upgrading.
However, isn’t this the collapse of the Wei Dynasty? There are bandits in almost all the prefectures and counties in the world. Most of the prefectures and counties in Hebei and the east are unable to transfer taxes. At present, the post stations in most areas exist in name only... In this case, Huaiyou, which is mainly engaged in transportation industry However, the alliance did not easily destroy its foundation, and still maintained its own business on the Huaihe River tributaries such as Huanshui, Woishui, Sishui, Feishui, Yingshui and other important tributaries.
In other words, Huaibei Northwest has suffered from a military disaster for less than half a year, and it has already been bleak to a certain extent. Who can maintain the building except the Huaiyou League?
Turning back to the front, a group of knights dismounted and went straight in, but they frowned on the spot.
Without him, the entire restaurant was empty. Only a few tables in the middle were clean, and the rest were covered in dust. What was even more outrageous was that about four or five men in the restaurant were actually playing bamboo cards and gambling on the tables. They didn't notice it until the knight entered. , but was so frightened that his face turned pale and he was stunned on the spot.
"Why is the restaurant so deserted?"
The first person took off his gauze hat, and it turned out to be a female knight dressed in men's clothing. Her voice was loud and her eyes were clear. At first glance, she was a master of cultivation. Seeing this scene, she couldn't help but feel a little serious. "Where is the deacon in charge of the hotel?"
At the table, several people had already stood up and were on guard. After hearing this, they lowered their guard a little and quickly collected the bamboo coins. Then an old man stepped forward and asked, "Excuse me, Heroine, I don't know what to call you?" We are members of the Qingchan Gang under the Huaiyou Alliance, so the heroine calls me Lao Huang."
The Qingchan Gang is a small and unpopular gang among the vassal gangs of the Huaiyou League, but it does have no problem operating around here.
"I've met Brother Huang, but I dare not call him a heroine. I am... I am Ma Ping'er, the left-wing leader of the Deposed Dragon Gang, and also the third-level protector of our Huaiyou League's direct leader." The female knight immediately returned the greeting.
When the other party heard this, he immediately heaved a sigh of relief, and then became even more respectful: "It turns out that the powerful female warrior of the Three Rivers in the east of Jianghuai, Protector Ma, is in front of me. I have admired her name for a long time."
Ma Ping'er was a little confused, but still reluctantly returned the gift.
At this time, Wang Xiongdan behind him also took off his hat and gauze, but he couldn't help laughing, which then caused Ma Ping'er to turn around and glare.
"Who is this...?" the leader in the restaurant asked again.
"Wang Xiongdan!" Wang Xiongdan said with his hand. "I've seen Brother Huang! Who won the card game just now? The money is so messy, don't make a mistake in the calculation."
"Sure enough, he is the King of Double Swords!" The man named Huang was embarrassed, but he tried his best to smile. "I should have guessed that Ma Nuxia and Wang Tianwang have always been in and out of pairs... Business is deserted and there is nothing to do. Everyone can only pass the time by playing with each other like this to make the two of them laugh... However, since they are two You're here, please rest assured, I'm going to light the fire and prepare a decent meal and drink at my best."
This time it was Ma Ping'er's turn to laugh.
"Brother Huang is the butler of the restaurant?" Wang Xiongdan was obviously a little embarrassed by the statement of the King of Double Swords, but he still suppressed his surprise and continued to ask questions. "Or have we changed the rules? Don't the deacons from the alliance come directly to sit in the restaurant?"
"It's not that the rules have been changed." Lao Huang quickly explained while waving his hand to others to prepare dinner. "The alliance is suddenly going to hold a meeting at the main helm in Huankou. Deacons and above are all going back. Deacon Wang went back in a hurry yesterday. I usually help here, so I can be considered as a guard... Aren't you two going back to the alliance for a meeting? ?"
Wang Xiongdan and Ma Ping'er looked at each other and understood each other - the coincidence of the meeting was probably related to their trip south.
After the Lishan War, the Huaiyou Alliance was greatly shaken, and even directly triggered the split of the gangs in northwest Huaihe. Now that the Dragon Gang has been deposed and swallowed up the eight counties of Jishui, the strategic situation has been completed, and the impact on the lower Jianghuai area is feared. There will be a qualitative change, and the Huaiyou Alliance may have to make a choice when Wang Ma and Wang get the specific news.
We really have to make a choice. Looking at it now, if we don't make a decision, the Huaiyou Alliance may be completely divided.
Since the two of them knew the matter was serious, they didn't say much. They just had a laugh and got over it. Then they went to the backyard of the restaurant to tie up their horses and find a room to put their belongings.
As a result, when a few people were tying up their horses, they saw the waiters in the restaurant chasing a chicken. When they took a closer look, they saw that it was an old hen, and the row of chicken coops next to it was already empty. I couldn't help but feel helpless. Ma Ping'er came back specifically to explain to Lao Huang, the Qingchangang who was in charge of the restaurant, and asked him to let go of the old hen and just cook ordinary meals. He even paid some copper coins.
Of course the people from the Qingchan Gang would be happy to do it, but in this way, the dinner would inevitably be shabby, and the bedroom was also covered in dust, so it would have to be cleaned again, which took a long time, which made people even more irritated. Fortunately, we discovered during dinner that it was just after the autumn harvest and there was still some new rice and new grains. Plus wild vegetables, fruits, and two fish, it was more or less decent.
In this way, a group of knights sat at three or four tables, and people from the Qingchan Gang sat at one table. The atmosphere was not bad, but it could not be called very good.
Seeing that this night is going to pass like this.
However, at this moment, another burst of hoofbeats suddenly came from outside the restaurant. The hoofbeats were not dense. It seemed that there was only one horse riding on it, and then it suddenly stopped in front of the door.
Everyone from the horse to the king stopped eating. Some people went directly to touch weapons. Even the people in the Qingchan Gang became nervous. The reason couldn't be simpler. Even on the official road, even if there were few people, the sound of horse hooves in the evening could not be heard. It's nothing like the sound of horse hooves in the daytime.
"Is there anyone in the restaurant?"
A loud knock sounded outside the apartment facing the street not far away.
"The hotel is full!" The mature man in charge of the Qingchan Gang had no choice but to get up and go out, and came to the courtyard door to deal with it. "Your Majesty, please go and find a place to live elsewhere... Less than a mile south along the official road is the abandoned Qingdi Temple, which is enough to accommodate you."
"In this world, how can it be possible for the guests to fill up easily?" A retort came from outside the door.
"Our restaurant is the property of the Huaiyou League. The league will hold a general meeting recently, and the restaurant is full of brothers who are rushing to Huankou." Lao Huang from the Qingchan Gang glanced at Ma, Wang and others in the hall behind him. Rarely enough momentum. "The two leaders are here, and we don't entertain outsiders."
There was obviously silence outside the door for a moment, but then he spoke again: "Head of the restaurant, I would say this is just right... First of all, you have a restaurant full of heroes and masters, so you don't have to be afraid of receiving guests at night; secondly, I also Smell the smell of rice, if there are many of you, you can spare some food to help in emergencies. I paid for it: Third, I won’t hide it from you. I am actually a Taoist priest who broke through the Baidi Temple. There is something really special about the Qingdi Temple. Guan Yu."
These words were frank, and Lao Huang immediately looked at Ma Ping'er and Wang Xiongdan.
Wang Xiongdan finally laughed: "In this case, keeping the door closed will make us look stingy. Please invite him in, and just add one or two more sets of bowls and chopsticks!"
Seeing the King of Double Swords speak, Lao Huang opened the door directly.
When someone from the outside came in, he turned out to be a short, stocky man with short hair. Although rare, he was in the standard shape of the White Emperor's Gate-Breaking Vajra. When this man came in and saw that what he said was true, he thanked everyone, put the heavy weapon in the front hall, went to the back, tied the horse, borrowed fodder, and came back to eat. As expected, he looked like he had been on a hard journey, and he was hungry. He was panicking and eating quickly.
By this time, everyone had already taken off their guard.
Wang Xiongdan, on the other hand, was brave and careful. Even though it was night, he could see the clues at a glance. So, when the other party was half full and started to eat fruits, he simply asked:
"Are the Taoists from the west?"
"How does a good man know?" the man asked in surprise. "If your shoes and trousers are wet, you must have crossed the Huan River." Wang Xiongdan replied with a smile.
Only then did the Taoist priest suddenly realize.
"However, the more important point is that if you follow the official route, regardless of whether you come from north to south, you should be known to us." Wang Xiongdan continued to explain with a smile.
"That's true." The broken Taoist priest nodded immediately. "This place should be your Huaiyou Alliance's world."
Almost everyone else in the hall nodded.
But at this moment, the Taoist priest turned his eyes to look at the feet of the others, but his heart moved slightly. He couldn't help but asked with doubts: "You heroes, are we from the Huaiyou League or the Deposed Dragon Gang?" ? Or am I walking slowly and the Huaiyou Alliance has been completely eaten by the Deposed Dragon Gang? "
This question is quite relevant, but it is also a bit sensitive.
"He is both a member of the Deposed Dragon Gang and a member of the Huaiyou Alliance." Wang Xiongdan glanced at the Liuhe boots under his feet and ignored the latter sensitive question, but responded with awe. "But I'm still curious. Since the Taoist priest is from out of town, how does he know that our deposed dragon gang gathered craftsmen to issue Liuhe boots after the war in Lishan? Is it spread so fast in the world? Is this kind of thing also spread?"
"No." The short-haired Taoist priest immediately explained. "I have a brother from that time who is also a Taoist priest from Baidiguan. He is working as a protector in the Dragon Gang..."
Wang Xiongdan was slightly stunned, and finally asked: "The Thirteen Vajras of Bashu?"
The man was startled, then stood up and put down the small melon in his hand and asked, "I am the Dwarf King Kong. Do you dare to ask me the name of a hero?"
"That is the leader of Ma Ping'er Ma, the powerful Three River Heroine in the eastern border of Jianghuai. This is the leader of the Double Sword Heavenly King, Xiongdan King..." Old Huang from the Qingchan Gang was quick to introduce.
"No wonder!" King Kong suddenly realized. "I should have thought it was two..."
Ma Ping'er looked a little embarrassed, and Wang Xiongdan smiled again: "Does your fat brother tell you any news about the gang?"
"We all came out together to find a way out for our brothers. How could we not take care of them?" Dwarf King Kong also looked a little embarrassed.
But Wang Xiongdan did not pursue too much because he had heard relevant information from Zhang Xing and knew that the leader of the Thirteen Vajras of Bashu, Mang Vajra, was a well-known master of elixir condensation in his early years. Tower, and the Thirteen Vajras teamed up, and they also had a glorious record of escaping from a reorganized elite Jingantai patrol group.
Even when Zhang Dalongtou listened to Yan Qing's report on the matter, he discussed it with the leader of the White Emperor beside him. He felt that these thirteen door-breaking kings broke out collectively from the various White Emperor temples in Bashu. thing.
From the current point of view, if these Thirteen Vajras are really organized or have a consistent purpose, they are probably to fight against Wei.
Because Mang King Kong was among the Nanyang rebels, and Fat King Kong went to their Deposed Dragon Gang.
"How is the situation in Nanyang?" After thinking this, and Wang Xiongdan already knew that the other party was coming from the west, he suddenly woke up and came to ask.
"It's very bad." After Dwarf King knew it was Wang Xiongdan and Ma Ping'er, he had nothing to hide and simply told them the purpose of his trip while holding the little melon and eating it. "After the official army was defeated in Lishan, they knew that they could not deal with the Deposed Dragon Gang in the short term, so Dongdu simply put all its efforts on Nanyang. Recruits were sent here non-stop. What's more terrible is that Bai Hengyuan of Xiangyang Suddenly he entered the war at the end of last month, and Han Yingong also entered the war this month. Attacked from three sides, all of a sudden, there were only two cities left in Nanyang. They relied on General Wu and several experts to come and go for rescue, but they also gradually became exhausted... I am here this time. I was ordered to come over and visit the Deposed Dragon Gang to see if we can rescue them... The two leaders of the Deposed Dragon Gang and the White Lady of the Yitian Sword are both former friends of General Wu."
Wang Xiongdan and Ma Ping'er were both stunned.
Upon seeing this, Dwarf King Kong quickly ate the remaining melons, then touched another basket of dates and asked, "What's the current situation of the Deposed Dragon Gang? Have they conquered Dengzhou?"
Wang Xiongdan and Ma Ping'er looked at each other. After a while, the latter responded frankly: "We captured Dengzhou with ten days left last month... It's been a full month."
Dwarf King Kong was startled for a moment, then realized: "No wonder Bai Hengyuan and Han Yingong... they are right now."
Both Wang and Ma are not easy to communicate with each other.
However, the Dwarf King Kong didn't seem to have a strong sense of belonging to the Nanyang Rebels. He immediately dropped the matter and asked: "Since Dengzhou has been captured for a month, I wonder what the Deposed Dragon Gang are doing?"
There was no need to hide some things, and since they rarely met on the road, the two of them briefly recounted some of the decrees and measures announced by the Deposed Dragon Gang.
Hearing that the Qilong Gang protected the autumn harvest, cleaned up the prisons, resettled the place, sent people to repair the ferry along the Jishui River, and even postponed the meeting to decide on personnel, Dajijing nodded repeatedly in praise;
When he heard that the rebels were being punished, one person was drawn from fifty, gifts were given to Gao Shitong and Sun Xuan, and a hundred thousand people were sent to cross the river to the north, and the land tax was also collected, Djiajingang did not say anything;
Hearing that the orphans were being collected and all the teenagers were forced to build foundations within a hundred days, and that the people who were renovating the ferry and the city were actually surrendered local rebels from the East, Dwarf King Kong finally pinched the dates and frowned slightly, obviously confused.
"What is Zhang Longtou doing?" After hearing the end, Dwarf King Kong finally couldn't bear it anymore. "Even Li Longtou is judging cases and recommending heroes, Chief Wei is busy harvesting, and White Lady is collecting orphans... It's been a month since Dengzhou was captured. What is Zhang Longtou himself doing?"
Ma Ping'er and Wang Xiongdan looked at each other and remained strangely silent.
"What is Zhang Longtou busy with?" Dwarf Kingang asked hurriedly. "As the leader of Zhang Longtou's personal guards in front of Zhang Longtou's tent, Chief Wang can be released to Huankou. What is Zhang Longtou doing?"
Several members of the Qingchan Gang were also curious to see Ma and Wang.
Wang Xiongdan laughed dryly and told the truth: "My leader is mainly busy with two things... I have been writing articles at night. It is said that it is a book on the art of war for the leaders below, how to set up camp..."
"That's it." Dwarf King Kong nodded repeatedly. "This is just like us in Nanyang. Every time we suffer, we gain wisdom. We rebels have to take this road. This is business. What about during the day?"
"We pick vegetables and make hats during the day." Ma Ping'er was talking about something and then suddenly interrupted. "Quite busy anyway."
Dwarf King Kong was stunned for a moment and didn't react for a long time.
"This is the Zhang Sanlang I know."
Two days later, in the main hall of the Huaiyou League in Huankou Town, after listening to Wang Ma's report, the surroundings were buzzing, except for Du Pozhen, who was sitting in the first place, looking up to the sky and sighing. "Everyone, this is the Zhang Sanlang I know!"
The hall instantly became quiet, and almost everyone looked at Du Pozhen's face.
Du Pozhen simply stood up, spread his calloused hands and said to everyone: "I have annexed the eight counties of Jishui, if it had been someone else...if it had been me...I'm afraid they would have gotten carried away and directly claimed the throne in Dengzhou! As a result, they took prisoners of war to pickle vegetables in order to save military rations, and brought craftsmen to make leather hats in preparation for the severe cold this winter, or winter fighting. What about us? Our situation and power are more than ten times worse than others? But in There’s a lot of bickering here!
"Those who are unwilling to cause trouble, why do you think we can still be at odds at this time? Can the court let us go, or can the Deposed Dragon Gang let us go?
"Those who agreed to start the uprising, what do they think they can do on an equal footing with the Deposed Dragon Gang? Although our Huaiyou League is big, who can compare to this Zhang Sanlang in terms of military power and scheming? "
After saying that, Du Pozhen put away his big hands, walked away in a standard manner, turned around and left the magnificent main helm lobby.
The four core members of the Huaiyou Alliance, Fu Boshi, Li Zida, Wenren Xun'an, and Miao Hailang, immediately followed, and the so-called Taibao also followed suit one after another under the leadership of Kan Leng.
This made Wang Xiongdan, who was standing in the hall, inexplicably absent-minded. Unlike Ma Ping'er, who was still a little naive, this outstanding young man had long realized that he was overwhelmed by the situation and that he would not be able to go back.
At this point, he only hoped that his adoptive father could understand the situation as he said and conspire with Uncle Zhang on big things.
PS: Good night everyone
(End of chapter)
