The official road from Su City to the capital has always been filled with people coming and going in an endless stream. It is the most famous and lively official road in Daqi. However, today, it is sparsely populated. General Xu and his party are escorting Sui Gong. For most of the day, I didn't see a single passerby.
"General Xu, it's time to rest at Xu's hour." A deputy general reined in his horse and came to General Xu's side, reminding him.
General Xu nodded, the sun had been setting for a while, and we would arrive in the capital in about two days, so there was no rush. The order was given: "Send the order for the entire army to rest here and set up camp, with many torches erected around it."
The deputy general turned his horse back and left with the order. Soon, the entire Sui Gong team gradually stopped. Fortunately, the terrain this time was still wide, which was suitable for setting up a camp.
The men and horses stopped, and the soldiers pushed the vehicles escorting Sui Gong together, formed a circle, lit torches, and set up a camp outside Sui Gong.
General Xu reined up his horse and took a few soldiers to observe the terrain. He walked around in a big circle and came back. He cheerfully said to the lieutenants: "The terrain here is pretty good. There are mountains on the left and rivers on the right. There is only one road in front and behind, and there is such a big place in the middle." It’s an open space. It’s a dangerous place!”
"Then I can sleep peacefully tonight!" A young deputy general said happily.
"Hey, no! Just hold on for two more days. When you finish sending off the annual tribute and return to Su City, I'll let you sleep as much as you can in the Zuichun Tower!" General Xu said with a straight face, and smiled narrowly at the end of the sentence. stand up.
The rest of the people also understood what General Xu meant, and they all laughed, slapped the young lieutenant, and made men's "jokes."
The soldiers buried pots to make rice, and fetched nearby water to roast and cook the ingredients. The aroma was full of fragrance, and all the soldiers had a delicious meal.
At night, the young deputy general arranged patrols and hidden sentries, yawned and sat in front of a torch, and soon started to take a nap.
Four patrol sentries held torches and patrolled back and forth between the camps. Four secret sentries lay in the grass outside the camps. They applied some peppermint liquid on their military uniforms to protect against snakes, insects, rats, and ants.
The night was getting darker. The patrol saw the young lieutenant taking a nap and sleeping soundly. They quietly walked to a remote place one by one, hid behind the tent and quietly started to cat. The patrol guard also had a fight with his eyelids while lying in the grass, and quietly stood in the grass. fell asleep.
The torches were extinguished one after another, and only one young soldier on the patrol guard was still holding on, constantly relighting the torches everywhere. The patrol guards all lay down on the ground and fell asleep.
In the second half of the night, the little soldier on patrol gradually became unable to hold on any longer. His eyes became blurry and his steps became heavier with each step.
Suddenly, there was a rustling noise on the official road in the distance. The little soldier raised his head and looked around, but saw nothing. He only saw some plants and trees swaying, and then he lowered his head again, confusedly. Patrolling with dragging feet.
In the darkness, two black figures flashed and fell together. The four secret whistles did not make a sound. Some people even tilted their necks and died immediately while they were still sleeping.
The young soldier heard the movement at the secret post and held up a torch to take a look. However, because of the distance and the fact that the secret posts were all lurking in the grass, he couldn't see anything when he raised the torch.
The little soldier bravely shouted: "Big dog, Ermao, what happened?"
No one responded.
The young soldier immediately drew the knife in his hand, ran to the young deputy general, and gently pushed him awake: "Vice General Wang...Vice General Wang, there seems to be movement."
The young deputy general was pushed awake, yawned and asked, "What's going on? It's so late at night."
The little soldier said: "I just seemed to hear some movement from Big Dog and the others, and no one answered me even if I called..."
The young deputy general said impatiently: "They must have fallen asleep again, go, go, go."
The young soldier was pushed away by the young lieutenant and looked at the place where the secret sentries were standing. There was indeed no movement: "Maybe I am really too sleepy..."
The little soldier yawned and put his knife back into its sheath. He also yawned and stretched.
Suddenly, the little soldier's eyes widened, and with the faint light of the fire, he saw a shocking scene: a long-haired woman was sitting behind a tent at some point, and she slowly turned her head, and it turned out to be the head of a fox. !
"Monster...monster..." The little soldier was so frightened that he stammered.
Before the little soldier could shout, a large number of "monsters" suddenly appeared in the grass and on the official road. The little soldier turned his head and took a look, and was immediately frightened out of his mind: some monsters had human bodies and horse hooves; some monsters had their hands and feet upside down; Some monsters have skinless faces, and their white teeth and protruding eyeballs look extremely scary...
"Monster!" the little soldier finally shouted, running around desperately, shouting repeatedly: "There is a monster! Everyone, get up quickly, there is a monster!"
The officers and soldiers in the camp were woken up by him one after another, and they came out of the tent sleepily one by one. Before everyone was fully awake, they saw the same horrifying scene as the little soldiers. The difference was that they saw more at this time. Countless "monsters" were approaching the camp from all directions.
"Monster!"
"There's a ghost!!"
"Help, run!"
The fear spread instantly. The soldiers who had just been awakened didn't know what was going on. They were frightened by their comrades, and then frightened by the "monster" that kept approaching. They suddenly panicked and ran around in fear.
General Xu also went into the tent to have some wine quietly in the evening. At this time, he was awakened by the commotion outside and rushed out with his sword in hand: "What happened? Why are you running around!"
There were no soldiers to answer. Everyone wanted to find a place to hide. General Xu glanced left and right, and he suddenly understood. He didn't need anyone else to answer. The "monsters" appearing in all directions were the answer.
The young deputy general ran to General Xu and gasped: "General Xu, this general is incompetent. Where did these monsters come from?" The young deputy general was awakened and hid for a long time. When he saw General Xu coming out, he seemed to have seen Like a life-saving straw, he ran to General Xu and pretended to try his best to counterattack.
General Xu ignored the young lieutenant, drew his sword and pierced the chest of a "monster" crawling towards Sui Gong. The "monster" screamed and fell to the ground dead on the spot.
"Did you see? These are not monsters. Don't be afraid or mess up. These are not monsters. They are all people pretending to be gods! They want to grab the annual tribute and form an array!" General Xu raised his sword and pointed it at the people running around in the camp. shouted the soldier.
But now everyone was in panic, and no one could care about him, let alone form a formation to resist the enemy.
The young deputy general was next to General Xu. At this time, he had a backbone and his mind was much more stable. General Xu killed another "monster" on the spot, which made the young deputy general feel more at ease: since he will die, it will be easy to handle. .
The young lieutenant picked up a spear and charged at the "monsters". He stabbed and picked the "monsters" with the spear in his hand, and he killed two "monsters" on the spot.
"General Xu, leave all this to the end...ah" Two figures suddenly jumped out of the grass and attacked the young deputy general. One choked him and the other grabbed his waist. The young lieutenant was killed on the spot by the two men, and the remaining words were crushed in his throat and never uttered again.
The two figures succeeded in striking and jumped away immediately. General Xu's sharp eyes saw the two jumping towards another deputy general who had just come out of the camp.
Another person jumped out of the darkness and stopped in front of General Xu. It was Elder Sun from outside Su City!
"General Xu, don't be impatient for a moment. You'll be fine in a while." Elder Sun smiled sadly.
Without saying a word, General Xu drew his sword and struck at Elder Sun. Elder Sun also followed him and started fighting with General Xu.
Soon, General Xu's lieutenants were killed one by one by those two figures. When the two figures saw that Elder Sun was still fighting with General Xu, they flew towards them. As expected, it was Elder Wang and Elder Zhu who set off with Elder Sun outside Su City! These "monsters" were naturally the group of beggars who were traveling with them at that time. Three elders and more than a hundred disciples followed them all the way. Naturally, this was the place they had chosen in advance. They calculated the schedule and it was the best place. Hands-on opportunity.
"Do you know how serious a crime it is to rob Sui Gong?" General Xu confronted the three elders, glanced at them and shouted sharply.
Elder Zhu snorted coldly and smiled: "You just want to break the rules, and we have to settle this year's tribute!"
General Xu glanced at the "monsters" around him. The soldiers under his command had already fled, and a few soldiers were still fighting with these "monsters". It seemed that the situation was not optimistic.
General Xu suddenly felt angry. He was still two days away from the capital, but now something like this happened. This annual tribute is not a small amount, it is a total of eight million taels. If it is lost, not to mention that I can't explain it to the prince when I go back, and if the court blames it, then Nanhuai...
"You deserve to die!" General Xu became angrier as he thought about it. He raised his sword and started fighting with the three of them...
The dark clouds in the sky gradually dissipated, and a full moon appeared. Its light shone on the mountains, rivers and land, as if it was going to cleanse all the darkness in the world. Under the moonlit night, a group of "monsters" were squatting on the ground picking up silver coins. In the chaos just now, two large cars were knocked over and the silver coins were scattered on the ground. Next to them lay the corpses of some soldiers and several "monsters", as well as General Xu, who was still staring at death.
Elder Zhu and Elder Wang supported Elder Sun, and the three of them sat on the ground panting.
"There is indeed some skill." Elder Zhu said first.
Wang Changlong nodded in agreement: "If we fight against the prince, Nanhuai will definitely lose."
Elder Sun was the most seriously injured and was kicked several times by General Xu. At this time, he kept coughing up blood: "Pack up... Let's go, in a while... It's dawn, and there are more people on the official road. Let's go to Licheng and wait... Elder Tang."
After everyone finished packing, they pushed Sui Gong and headed south, toward Licheng.
