With two strong mules, they walked very quickly, climbing over low hills and passing through lively fishing villages, getting closer and closer to Wendeng County.
The women selling fish sat beside the dirt road, shouting loudly to attract passers-by, although there were not many passers-by.
They shook their arms with copper bracelets to attract attention, clapped their chests, swore and cursed, and hung beads and necklaces on their chests, all to prove that the fish in their baskets was fresh enough and would not be short of a pound.
Wu Xiao stopped in front of the fish stall next to the tea shed at the entrance of the village. The setting sun shone on his face, making him tired and warm.
When everyone stopped to have a rest and drink tea, he bought three yellow croakers, asked the waiter at the tea shed to bake them for him, and ate them with two steamed cakes.
Wei Yidao put down the rough porcelain tea bowl, glanced at Wu Xiao, and knocked the dagger twice on the dirty wooden table:
"Hey! Is this the Roujiamo you talk about every day on the ship?"
Wu Xiao devoured the food and ignored the Tianjin servant.
He has been eating Roujiamo buns for 17 years in Sanyuan, Shaanxi Province. This is the first time he has eaten fish meat inside Roujiamo.
He secretly made a promise to himself that when he returned to Wendeng County later, he would eat a mutton steamed bun immediately.
Only by heartily drinking a bowl of steaming mutton soup can we temporarily forget the bloody three months of displacement.
"Eat quickly and get on the road. Get to Wendeng before dark! Wei Zhao!"
After eating five steamed cakes, Pei Dahu touched his belly, pointed at Yang Hao's head servant, and shouted to Wei Zhao like a landlord commanding his tenants:
"After eating, just take the mule behind to eat grass. Master Yang still has to ride it for ten miles!"
Wei Zhao spat, cursed and left the bench.
Looking around, among the group of people, except for the six Korean soldiers who couldn't understand a word they were talking about, no one else looked like they had been grooms.
At this time, he remembered that the dozen brothers who had followed him from the Yang Mansion were all gone, and only he and Mr. Yang were still alive.
Otherwise, they can now feed the horses, no, the mules.
Wei Zhao came to the pillar of the straw shed with a lonely expression, untied the rope from the mule's nose ring, and walked towards a pile of dead grass in the distance.
Master Yang's hoarse voice sounded behind him:
"Xiao Weizi, when I return to Liaodong, I will recruit a dozen servants for you, and you will still be in charge of them."
Wei Zhao's eyes felt sore for a while, but he suppressed tears and held the mule tightly and walked forward without looking back.
The scene of the battle under the city of Pyongyang twenty-five years ago appeared in front of my eyes. At that time, Wei Zhao also led Yang Hao's horse. Master Yang led a group of Qi family army ants to attack the city. The cannons of the Japanese soldiers on the top of the city rained down like raindrops. The Ming army advanced one after another, but was eventually repelled by the Japanese soldiers. General Li's army hacked and killed the defeated troops a hundred steps away, and finally managed to hold down the position. The only people alive under the city wall were Wei Zhao and Yang Hao. The master and servant hid in the blind corner of the city wall, and the Japanese soldiers' iron cannons rang above their heads for a long time. Finally, Li Rusong led the Liao Town servants to climb the city wall and defeated the Japanese soldiers.
That was the first time that Wei Zhao followed Mr. Yang through life and death. After that, he lived in Liaodong with Mr. Yang until the Battle of Saarhu broke out. Master Yang led a group of proud soldiers to die, but only Liu Zhaosun led the East Route Army to repel them. He became a slave and came back alive. After the war, Master Yang became the target of public criticism. Everyone was scolding him and wanted Yang Hao to die. The emperor had exempted him from being a commoner. If it weren't for the fact that Marquis Ping Liao was his son-in-law, Master Yang would have died countless times.
Siluke
However, although Yang Hao lost power and was ostracized in Tianjin Wei, Wei Zhao never left the Yang Mansion and continued to be Master Yang's servant.
The noisy people at the tea shed could no longer be heard clearly. Wei Zhao walked across a stone's throw and came to the middle of a wasteland near the official road. He put down the reins and let the two mules eat in the withered grass.
Wei Zhao stabbed randomly in the grass with his dagger, mistook the dead chrysanthemum in front of him as Dongchang Fanzi who killed his brother.
Among the group of people alive, except Shen Lian, Wei Yidao has the strongest desire for revenge.
Twelve servant brothers, Master Yang's life savings, and hundreds of thousands of southern goods that Master Yang borrowed from Lu Tongzhi, all sank into the sea.
All this is thanks to Dongchang and Japanese pirates.
The breeze blew and the grass blades were flying.
Wei Zhao's face and bun were covered with dead wood and grass leaves.
A moment later, he was promoted from the leader of a down-and-out servant to the elder of the Seven Pockets of the Beggar Clan.
"Kill Xu Xianchun!"
"Kill Tian Ergeng!"
"Kill Lu Demin!"
"Kill the old thief Miyamoto!
Suddenly, the dagger hung in the air, and the sound of horse hooves came from the ground.
Wei Zhao has fought several major battles with Master Yang and has a keen perception of the battlefield.
He lay low in the grass, curled up like a hedgehog, hiding the dagger in his hand, leaving only his eyes exposed.
After a few breaths, a group of elite cavalry with red flags on their backs flew past the grass like the wind, causing the two mules grazing next to them to scream strangely.
"Strange, why not take the official route?"
Wei Zhao was still surprised when another horseman came from behind, and a horseman with a Dengzhou accent shouted:
"I'm your father (I'm your father), run slower, Kaiyuan Bing didn't ride a horse! You can't run far! I'm tender to you, please slow down!"
The few horsemen who passed by in front whipped their horses and shouted back:
"Chaoba (idiot), there are only more than twenty heads left, each head is worth eighty taels! Follow us on a shortcut!"
The two waves of horse soldiers looked toward the southwest and headed away. Smoke and dust rolled up in the wilderness, and the grass on the roadside trembled slightly.
When the sound of horse hooves faded away, Wei Zhao stood up suddenly and ran towards the tea shed without bothering to pull the two silly mules.
The servant leader had just run a few steps when his feet suddenly slowed down. Finally, he stopped where he was, gasping for air. Suddenly he took out the stringed short crossbow from his arms.
On the country road around the tea shed, a dozen cavalrymen wearing red mandarin duck jackets were slowly approaching their target in a fan shape.
The fishermen who were selling fish in the tea shed just now have long disappeared. Pei Dahu, Wu Xiao, Han Chao and the others have raised their weapons. The six of them are protecting Yang Hao, Zuo Miaoqing and Xu Guangqi from all sides.
"Damn it, we're going to fight again!"
Wei Zhao cursed and looked up at the horse soldiers.
The cavalry soldier walking at the front looked familiar. Wei Zhao thought for a while before he remembered that this bastard was the soldier basking in the sun in Balipu just now.
"What a wolf-hearted thing!"
Pu Bing, who was lean and lean, had lost his lazy attitude and was a completely different person. Holding the flag gun, he looked at the tea shed with eager eyes, like a ferocious beast sizing up its prey.
Wei Zhao bit the dagger with his teeth, tied the binding on his arm, and whispered:
"I am the number one swordsman in Jinmen. I have traveled across the north and south of the Ming Dynasty. I have never been afraid of anyone!"
He had already run a hundred paces outside the tea shed, shouting at the oncoming horse soldiers.
"Hey! Kaiyuan soldiers escaped over there! Hurry up and chase him! One head costs eighty taels of silver! Over there!"
The cavalry soldiers were attracted by his shouts, and they all turned around to look at the beggar who suddenly broke in. The soldiers recognized Wei Zhao, and greeted him behind him, and the enemy group immediately separated into cavalry.
The horse soldier carried a waist knife and roared towards him.
Two light arrows whizzed towards Wei Zhao's front door.
