On May 30th, the 13th year of Chongzhen reign in the Ming Dynasty, night enveloped the earth, the wind howled, and the surrounding fields were covered in darkness.
At the foot of Tuanshan Mountain, ten miles away from Yongning City on Xuanzhen East Road, there is a village. It is not large in area, but it is surrounded by mountains and rivers. It has a beautiful environment and is home to about a hundred families.
There are large acres of land to the south of this village, and to the north of the village there is a large house with four entrances. There are many pavilions and pavilions in it. From a distance, you can tell that it must be the home of a wealthy man.
It was already past the second watch of Haishi, and it was the dead of night. The only sound was the gusts of wind blowing the eaves tiles of the courtyard walls and roofs. Some of the dilapidated wooden doors of some houses swayed and creaked in the wind.
Outside the west gate of Zhuangzi, dozens of men in black were leaning down and sneaking among the low grass and shrubs, slowly approaching the west gate of Zhuangzi. Although this place was located in Xuanzang Town, it was not an extremely dangerous place.
It is also close to Yongning City, where deputy generals, staff generals, and garrison generals gather together. There are many soldiers, and it has always been peaceful. In addition to a watchman arranged on each village wall to patrol and knock the clock, it is even more special. There are no other guards.
"Ding ding ding..."
A series of jingling sounds came, and the master who was knocking on the clock on the wall of the village was still twenty steps away, but in the dead of night, he heard something strange, and he walked towards here with a lantern.
The light of the lantern was very dim and could not reach far, especially at the end of this month. There was no starlight or moon shadow in the dark sky. The master walked forward for more than ten steps and saw something that seemed to be on the wall of the village. The dim light of the lantern reflected flickering dots of light.
Suddenly, a dark shadow climbed up from outside, and the master realized that something was wrong.
"have……"
As soon as he shouted a word, an arrow shot from under the wall of the village pierced his neck. He was stunned and stood there motionless.
With a soft sound of "Peng", the lantern in his hand fell to the ground and burned instantly. The two black figures who had just climbed up the village wall were trotting. Suddenly, they saw one person swooping down and suppressing the burning lantern. Darkening into the black night.
The other person rolled over, raised his hands to support the fallen master's body, and then slowly and gently lowered him to his side without making any sound.
At this time, an abnormality seemed to be discovered in a high-rise building near the center of Zhuangzi. A not very bright lantern was raised high towards this side and swayed from side to side.
A dark figure ran over quickly, holding a lantern of about the same size in his hand. He took out the fire stick, put it to his mouth and blew on it before lighting the lantern. He also raised it high and waved it up and down in the middle of Zhuangzi. stand up.
A laugh and curse came from the tall building in the middle of Zhuangzi: "You idiot Wu Lao'er must have gone to Yongning to have fun during the day. Damn, his legs got weak during the night patrol, and even a broken lantern was extinguished three times."
"Tch, I'm just jealous. After nightfall, you just go and have a good time..."
"Hey Hey……"
Immediately, the lantern swayed up and down a few times, and then was taken back into the tall building. They saw that the lantern on the west wall of the village was still dim, but it was swimming towards the north on the wall of the village. The people in the tall building were relieved. Everyone started chatting.
…………
Zhang Guowei sent Zhang Cheng away, but he did not leave the study. He was thinking about how to handle Zhang Cheng tomorrow and give him some blood, so that he could know that Zhang Cheng was not a god in Xuanzang. !
He was thinking that even if he couldn't defeat Zhang Cheng this time, at least he would know how powerful he was and make him retreat to Dushikou and let him control the Lower North Road.
When the time comes, he will try to transfer the current Chicheng garrison Zhang Guodong and replace him with his own people. At that time, with the addition of Longmen garrison Gao Jinggong, he will be able to completely control the Lower North Road. Are he afraid that Zhang Cheng can overturn the situation?
Gu suddenly heard a burst of chaotic footsteps outside the study. Zhang Guowei frowned and felt angry in his heart. He came to the door and shouted loudly: "What's so noisy outside?"
After a while, a slightly older servant's voice came: "Sir, I accidentally knocked down the lantern."
Zhang Guowei trembled a little when he heard his voice, but he didn't pay attention. He thought that the old servant was just panicked and changed his tone because he was afraid of punishment, so he cursed: "Idiot, you haven't cleaned up yet!"
"Master... run quickly... ah..."
The sudden loud cry shocked him, especially the miserable howl that followed. Although he had been pampered in recent years, he was a veteran in the army after all, so he immediately noticed something unusual.
Zhang Guowei quickly ran towards the sword hanging behind the big desk in the middle of the study. With a "bang" sound, the study door was kicked open, and a strong man appeared in front of the study door with a fierce look on his face.
Zhang Guowei rushed to the back of the big case. He had just pulled out the sword in his hand and shouted: "Who is coming? This is the General Military Mansion. Don't mess around..."
"Bang!"
The study door suddenly opened, and several black figures flashed into the study in the night. Zhang Guowei had just half pulled out the sword when he saw a crossbow arrow hit his right shoulder. The half-twitched sword instantly fell to the ground.
Zhang Guowei suddenly became alert and shouted: "You...are...the one who came with Zhang Cheng..."
"Ah...I am the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Xuanzang...I can help...ah...you..."
Zhang Guowei was still sitting in the Taishi chair, with his head raised and a sad look on his face, and he was pleading. The big monkey Hou Mingli stepped on Zhang Guowei's chest and asked with a hoarse voice and a strange smile: "Hey, you Aren’t you awesome? Aren’t you the ones with the power of life and death?”
Zhang Guowei had a look of panic on his face and said tremblingly: "I am an official of the imperial court. If you kill me, it will be equivalent to treason, and your general will also be involved."
The big monkey Jie Jie said with a strange smile: "Today, we will kill you and see what happens."
Zhang Guowei was stunned for a moment before shouting: "How dare you..."
As soon as he finished speaking, the big monkey stepped forward quickly, kicked him in the chest again, and said angrily to him: "I send my greetings to Deputy General Zhang on behalf of my lord."
"hey-hey!"
The big monkey sneered again, and then a cry of mourning came from the Yongning Deputy General Military Officer's Office, spreading far away in the silent night.
…………
The west door of the village at the foot of Tuanshan Mountain outside Yongning City slowly opened, and a black shadow slipped in through the crack in the door. After a while, the large mansion to the north of the village was seen rising into flames.
The entire village was wailing, with people and horses neighing and mingling with each other. Every household closed their doors and windows, for fear that the bandit chaos would spread to their own homes.
In the streets and alleys in Zhuangzi, the sound of horse hooves could be heard, and the sounds of wailing could be heard one after another. The military households in the village were often angry with Zhang Guowei's uncle Zeng Jinlai, but most of them tolerated it because their calves couldn't twist their arms. .
