Early the next morning, when the sky was dark, Xu Xiao woke up Song Che and signaled that it was time to set off.
"Just now, the coalition scouts came to report that the Suzhou Army and the Yangzhou Army had met at Guankou yesterday afternoon. They conducted a landing raid that night, but the effect was minimal. Now they have set up camp on the other side of the river to confront the Feiyun Gang bandits." Xu Xiao said.
Song Che stretched out and heard the good news early in the morning, "Let the scouts report back. From the ugly hour to the Yin hour tonight, pay attention to the bolide in the sky, and launch a fierce attack at the signal."
"Okay."
"We are about to enter the mountains. If we walk together in a group, it will be too eye-catching. Just ask the soldiers to stay in small groups. In short, they should be scattered. They must pretend to be more similar."
Song Che pushed his wheelbarrow and led the battle with Xu Xiao and a dozen other soldiers. In order to prevent Wang Si from changing at the last moment, Zheng Sui personally escorted him and hid him in the team.
The refugee team, in twos and threes, was bustling and advancing into Qili Mountain.
Four or five miles into the mountain, there is a dense green forest. It may have been a long time since anyone stepped on it, and the weeds have overflowed the mountain path.
Three or four miles further on, an inn suddenly stood on the side of the road. Song Che picked up a telescope and looked around - the inn was very dilapidated, with no flags hanging, and a few horses tethered to it, indicating that there were people inside.
Post stations are often set up by officials to provide food and accommodation for business travelers. Bandits in Qili Mountain are entrenched. Who dares to seek business here?
"How is the situation?" Xu Xiao asked.
Song Che said: "It's probably the bandits who took over the inn and blocked the road to rob."
Xu Xiao said angrily: "This is not just robbery, it is clearly robbery. These bandits really think of themselves as local emperors!"
"You can just head over there later. If they block the way and ask questions, first let me adapt to the situation. If you really can't hold it, then kill them quickly," Song Che said, and then added: "Pass the message, if you see me coughing , so that the leader of the team also coughed."
"Cough?" Xu Xiao was confused.
Song Che said with a smile: "This is a trick of a suspicious person. Just follow it and you will be able to pass the test safely."
Xu Xiao didn't ask any more questions and just passed on the information one by one.
After a while, the refugee team passed by the inn, and everyone lowered their heads and hurriedly quickened their pace.
"Stop!"
Suddenly, a shout came from the inn.
Afterwards, seven or eight men came out with knives and looked fierce. At first glance, they were the gangsters who were blocking the road and robbing them.
"Where did you come from?" a bearded bandit, obviously the leader of the group, asked loudly.
Song Che took his time and said with an apologetic smile: "Back to heroes, we fled from the coast and borrowed a road to pass through this mountain. I hope it's convenient for you to let us pass?"
The bandit didn't look at Song Che and others, but walked around several wheelbarrows, "What are these?"
Song Che said: "They are all old clothes and quilts, worthless."
"Ha... I've seen a lot of people hide money under their luggage." The bearded bandit called to his men, "Search for me! See if there is anything hidden under their clothes and quilts!"
The bandits began to pull the wheelbarrow.
The soldiers' weapons are hidden under the car. If they are dug out, will they not be exposed?
Song Che held the electric baton in his sleeve tightly, and Xu Xiao and the soldiers were also ready to take action. If something happened, they would take action first.
But fortunately, there were enough clothes and quilts, and the bandits were impatient, so they rummaged through a few pieces and gave up. "Brother Dao, they are just rags, nothing valuable."
"It's really unlucky for me. I met a group of paupers so early in the morning. Get out of here!" The bearded man saw that he had lost his value and stopped making trouble.
Song Che secretly breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the wheelbarrow to leave. Unexpectedly, the bearded man suddenly came back: "Wait a minute!"
Song Che frowned, "What else can a hero do?"
This time, the bearded man began to look at Song Che and said doubtfully: "I have seen a lot of refugees. This is the first time that so many people have fled together. And most of the refugees fled from the north to the south of the Yangtze River. Why did you run to Jiangxi? "
"Alas!" Song Che sighed heavily and leaned closer to the bearded man to complain: "What the heroes don't know is that it was everyone running to Jiangnan that caused the plague to break out in Jiangnan. We...cough! Cough cough cough !!!"
He covered his mouth and coughed violently, while saying: "In order to avoid contracting the plague, we decided to transfer to Jiangxi. This team originally had more than a thousand people on this trip, but those old, weak, women and children had weak bodies, and most of them died of illness on the road. , we...cough! Cough! Cough!"
He coughed violently a few more times, and when he spread his palms, there was a mouthful of blood on his palms.
Xu Xiao understood immediately and coughed violently, covering his mouth, and the soldiers followed suit.
"Hero, I can't breathe. Hurry... help me!" Song Che turned upside down and threw himself at the bandits.
The bandit was horrified and quickly retreated, "Damn, you're still a bunch of consumptive ghosts, get out of here!"
"I just turned over their quilts, I have to wash them quickly!"
Seven or eight bandits quickly ran back to the inn and closed the door tightly.
Song Che took a sip of the blood foam, smiled coldly to himself, pushed the wheelbarrow, and stumbled forward.
Only when he was far away from the inn did he resume his pace.
At this time, Xu Xiao stepped forward and said: "So you made us cough just to pretend to be infected... Hey, is the blood in your mouth real or fake?"
Song Che slowly stuck out his bitten tongue, "What do you think?"
Xu Xiao was filled with admiration, "Sometimes a river of blood may not necessarily win the war. Brother Song can save the day with just a drop of his tongue. It's high, it's really high."
"Stop flattering and call Wang Si here quickly. We are separated in front of you." Song Che said with a smile.
Now that we have walked through the jungle, our field of vision suddenly opens up, with mountains and ridges in full view. There are two roads in front of us, a road with a gentle slope and a winding path.
After a while, Xu Xiao brought Wang Si over.
"Uncle Song, my good uncle, please do me a favor and give the antidote to this villain. From last night to now, I only feel unbearable abdominal pain. Did your poison take effect in advance?" Wang Sidang said. Even though he knelt at Song Che's feet and begged.
It's strange that your stomach doesn't hurt after eating a piece of mud.
"Don't worry, a day's death is a day's death. It won't be a quarter of an hour longer or a quarter of an hour less." Song Che pointed to the forked road ahead: "As long as you can take us to the Tiger Leaping Cliff on the Western Slope, The antidote will be given to you, why don’t you show me the way quickly?”
Wang Si rubbed his belly and stood up, and said feebly: "The main road is the downhill road leading to Jiangxi. You can take the small road to the Tiger Leaping Cliff on the west slope..."
"How far is it? How long will it take to walk?" Song Che asked.
Wang Si said: "The distance is not far, only twelve or three miles, but the trail is rugged and difficult, and it will take at least two hours."
Song Che looked around again with the telescope, and after confirming that there were no eyes on the other side of the mountain, he raised his arms and greeted the soldiers: "Everyone put the sword on his back, eat and drink enough, let's enter the mountain through the path!"
The soldiers took out their swords from under their clothes and quilts, and took out dry food and water to eat while walking. Song Che still pushed the wheelbarrow.
"Brother Song, why don't you abandon the car and push it into the mountain?"
"I said that my car is a treasure from start to finish, inside and out. Do you believe it?"
"Letter!" Xu Xiao grabbed the wheelbarrow and pushed it toward the trail.
