It was almost dusk, and a team of no more than half a hundred people rode out of Jiangning City and headed straight north.
The people in Jiangning City had seen the grand scene where the children of the Yue clan gathered at the master's house a few days ago, but now this little disturbance obviously could no longer attract their attention.
The royal cavalry team heading north were naturally the ones who had stayed at Yijian Villa for many days.
There were a few people missing from the team, and it was Ye Dangting who arranged to return to the villa to deliver news to Mr. Qinglan and Senior Sister Chen Qi, as well as inform him of his subsequent plans.
At the same time, there was one more person. That person was wearing blue clothes and carrying a long sword at his waist. He was walking beside Lin Manliu.
In Yijian Villa, everyone who has a close relationship with the young man knows the identity of the woman in blue and the thoughts of their junior brother Lin.
Now seeing the beauties side by side, no one would think of disturbing them, except that old liar who was full of bad taste.
When Ye Dang heard that the two of them were silent for a long time, he sighed with pretense of sadness.
"Literati all say that this autumn day is so lonely, but we see that this autumn day is refreshing, isn't it quite good?"
Lin Manliu rolled his eyes at the old liar and retorted: "When you feel comfortable, hurry up and hurry up. If you get there late, you won't have anything left. Isn't it just a wasted trip?"
Ye Dangting said to himself: "When I was chatting with Ran everyone earlier, she once said what her daughter was thinking. She understood and knew it, and she saw it all..."
Lin Manliu thought that the old liar was here to disgust him and take advantage of him.
As a result, from this tone, he came to persuade Hanzhi?
When she left Yue Mansion, Aunt Ran did not go out to see her off. Only Yue Zhimian sent a message saying that the mistress was tired, so she stopped seeing her off.
As a result, Yue Hanzhi, who decided to go north with Yijian Villa, inevitably felt a little disappointed and guilty.
She knew that her mother did not want to see her involved in danger.
She also knew that if her mother stood in front of the courtyard gate when parting, she would definitely not be able to walk as freely as she did just now.
Yue Hanzhi nodded and said: "I know..."
Lin Manliu saw this and said in the sidelines: "According to the old liar's virtue, he must have told Aunt Ran about everything about you! Don't worry too much!"
Yue Hanzhi said: "I guess that must be the case, otherwise my mother wouldn't be so easy to talk to."
Seeing the two people's attitudes changing so quickly, Ye Dangting stopped interfering in their conversation and rode forward alone.
He did not forget to shout, brothers, hurry up and hurry up, don't let Master Lin feel too slow!
The disciples of Yijian Villa who responded to the words all laughed and cursed, but you, the old liar, were the slowest!
...
The pace of Yijian Villa is neither fast nor slow. In just three or two days, it has penetrated deep into the north. It only takes a little longer to reach the border of Dongdu.
However, as they went further north, they could see some people moving south one after another on the road.
There were hundreds of escorts accompanying him, and more than a dozen carriages loaded with merchants' sons...
There are also poor people who are walking south with their baggage on their backs...
There is also a miserable man who is alone and in ragged clothes...
No need to inquire, you can all know that these people were forced to move south because of the war in Dongdu.
During these days of travel by Lin Manliu and the others, they roughly learned about the changes in the war outside Dongdu City.
It is said that the rebels resisted stubbornly. Even though they were cut off from food and fodder by the defenders of Dongdu, no one surrendered, and there were even signs of counterattack at any time.
The people in the nearby villages and towns were naturally panicked, fearing that they would be affected by the war.
As for those wealthy families, they heard the news from nowhere, saying that the world would be in chaos and the country would be unrest. The south would be more comfortable than the north, so they could avoid disaster by going south earlier.
Therefore, the group of people from Yijian Villa are undoubtedly an outlier in the official world. Everyone is fleeing south. Fortunately, they are heading north at this moment, which will inevitably attract some people's secret prying eyes.
Lin Manliu and others would not care about the looks of others, but at noon, their situation had undergone some subtle changes.
Someone is following them...
Several people led by Yijian Villa, including Yue Hanzhi and Qin Mo, began to pay attention to the woods on both sides of the mountain road.
Lin Manliu and the others had walked this road once before when they went north. There was a village two miles ahead.
So the peeps that appeared at this moment must not be a good thing.
When there was no one else on the mountain road, Ye Dangting pulled the reins and rode his horse to the front of the crowd.
Qin Mo moved accordingly, and when he reached the side of the yellow-shirted figure, he immediately grasped the saber at his waist.
Ye Dangting was the first to speak out: "I don't know which group of heroes came here together, why don't you come forward and tell us!"
After a long time, no one on both sides of the mountain road responded, but the peeps at Yijian Villa still did not diminish by half.
Ye Dangting had no choice but to speak out again, the arrogance and disdain in his tone unmistakable.
"If you don't dare to speak out, then simply don't follow me. How can a cowardless person want to get rich?"
Throughout the ages, the method of provoking generals has been very practical. After all, there are always capable people who will take the bait.
Suddenly, twenty or thirty people appeared in the forest on the right side of the crowd. Looking at the clothes of these people, they seemed to be bandits here.
The leader raised his sword and pointed it directly at Ye Dangting's face.
He shouted loudly: "I opened this road! I planted this tree! If you want to..."
But before the man finished speaking, Qin Mo, who was standing next to the yellow-shirted figure, had already drawn his sword out of its sheath and looked at the man holding the sword with a gloomy expression.
How can the mountain bandits be compared to the men in the army? The man looked at the fierce look on Qin Mo's face and almost fell to the ground.
He said in a trembling voice: "We are...mountain patrol guards in this area..."
Ye Dang smiled and said, "Can you tell me what a patrolling guard is?"
The man glanced at Qin Mo, who was holding a knife, and then at the figure in yellow shirt. The word fear seemed to be written all over his body.
But somehow, he suddenly stood upright and clenched the sword in his hand again.
The man closed his eyes tightly and shouted: "What are your intentions in going north? If you want to do evil! Get through us first!"
Perhaps it was the man's performance that caught Ye Dangting's attention. He nodded towards Qin Mo, signaling the other party to sheath the sword first.
Ye Dangting spoke up again: "I never thought that no officers and soldiers would stop this group heading north, but they were stopped by you patrolling guards..."
The man opened one eye and glanced at the yellow shirt. From the corner of his eye, he saw Qin Mo put away the knife.
The pressure in his heart suddenly decreased a lot, and he was no longer as nervous as before.
The man spoke up: "So, what is your purpose of going north?"
They secretly followed Yijian Villa for almost four miles without any intention of stopping to rest. In their opinion, it was too abnormal.
No matter how little news there is, looking at the people traveling south, they should still know the current situation in Dongdu.
But these people are still here, in his opinion, they must have some conspiracy!
Suddenly there was a voice, and the man quickly looked around. It was not Ye Dangting in front of him, nor was it Qin Mo.
"Brother Gu, I haven't seen him in the past six months, but he has become a lot tougher..."
When he hesitated, two cavalry figures walked out from behind Ye Dangting, namely Lin Manliu and Yue Hanzhi.
The man first looked at the two of them with some confusion, and then began to rub his eyes, as if he didn't believe the scene before him.
After seeing the young man's face clearly, the man was shocked and shouted loudly: "Are you the hero?!"
Ye Dang listened to the laughter and said, "The reputation of Hero Lin has spread to this place. It's disrespectful!"
The young man ignored the old liar's weirdness and looked directly at the man in front of him.
The person who stopped them with many "dog legs" was Gu Laosan who they met when they returned south last winter.
Lin Man said in six words: "Brother Gu, you are fine!"
Gu Laosan quickly threw the Pu Dao to the ground and looked at the young man with a flattering expression.
"If it weren't for the hero's advice that day, how could there be Gu Laosan today? The flood has really washed away the Dragon King Temple today!"
Lin Manliu's face became stiff when he heard Gu Laosan's metaphor.
However, in order to understand the situation, the young man had no choice but to ask: "Brother Gu, what kind of trouble is there in the village right now?"
Gu Laosan originally wanted to continue to flatter him, but when Lin Manliu asked once, his attitude changed.
"I wonder if you heroes, have you ever heard about the rebellion by the rebels?"
Lin Manliu nodded and said, "I heard something..."
Gu Laosan raised his finger and pointed to the north, with an ugly expression on his face as he explained aloud.
"Although the rebels who appeared out of nowhere were stopped by the generals defending the city in Dongdu, the rumors are getting more and more mysterious..."
"Some say that those people are doing justice for heaven, and some say that they are doing it to cause another war. In short, there are all kinds of theories, which means that the north will not be stable from now on..."
"Our village is not far from the border of Dongdu. There are many more old, weak, women and children in the village than in other villages and towns. There is no way to escape south with them..."
Hearing this, Lin Manliu could guess at least 70%.
He said, "But you were worried that someone would invade this place, so you patrolled everywhere?"
Gu Laosan responded: "Well, that's what Brother Zheng means. These are the only young and strong men left in the village behind us. We said we were patrolling the mountains together, and we all protected the villagers." OK!"
Zheng Shuan is quite a real person...
Lin Manliu said: "Brother Gu and fellow villagers, don't worry, we are from Yijian Villa in Hangzhou. We have no malicious intentions in going north this time, and we will not disturb the people in the village later!"
Listening to the young man's words, the men standing in the forest holding farm tools all looked at each other in confusion.
Some of them had met Lin Manliu, and they were quite trustworthy in the young man's words and deeds.
Gu Laosan also wanted to follow the young man to stabilize the mood of the villagers.
He turned around and raised his arms.
"You must have heard what my brothers said about the scene where we were taught a lesson earlier! This hero and the people behind him are all heroes in the world and will not invade the village! Don't worry, guys!"
Gu Laosan turned to look at the young man again and laughed loudly: "That's right!"
Lin Manliu nodded, got off his horse, and hugged the villagers one by one.
