Worried that the Ma brothers would really set fire to the prairie fire, Cao Daqiang led hundreds of men and horses to rush out and tried to surround and annihilate them. However, the Ma brothers refused to fight at all and led dozens of subordinates to turn around and run away. Cao Daqiang led the men and horses in hot pursuit. Abandon.
The Ma family brothers and their subordinates were all born in horse households and had lived with horses since they were young. Each of them had better riding skills than the other, and the horses they rode were all good horses. In addition, with the cover of night, it was not easy to get rid of the pursuers. Difficult matter.
But these people deliberately did not run away. Instead, they kept their speed, neither too fast nor too slow, and led the pursuers in circles on the large meadow to delay time.
Cao Daqiang was able to become the leader of the guard, so he was no longer stupid. He vaguely felt that something was wrong, so he gave up the pursuit and led the men back to the ranch.
"Open the door, open the door quickly, we are back!"
"Where are the people? Where have they gone?"
…
After returning, Cao Daqiang shouted several times, but the door did not open for a long time and no one answered inside. When he looked up again, there was not a single guard on the wall.
Obviously, something is wrong!
But the door of the barrier is locked. I don’t know what’s going on inside, and no one is answering. What should I do?
There is only one entrance and exit in the valley, and there is no way to get in from other places. There is no other way but to break in by force.
"Something must have happened inside... Come here, find a thicker log and break the door open for me!"
"Chief Cao, I'm afraid we can't find the logs in the middle of the night!"
"Trash, if you can't find logs, then go chop down a big tree, chop it down immediately!"
"promise!"
Cao Daqiang ordered his men to go to the nearby woods and use their swords to forcibly chop down a large poplar tree. After repairing it slightly, it was carried by more than twenty sturdy men and slammed into the gate.
"Boom-boom-boom!"
"Push harder and push it away. You must push it away!"
The barrier at the entrance of the valley was built to defend against enemies, so it was built high and strong. The same was true for the gate. It was made of the hardest iron wood, a full foot thick, and was also reinforced with iron sheets and copper nails. Reinforced.
Therefore, the guards used the strength of nine oxen, two tigers and eight camels, and hit it several hundred times before breaking the door into pieces and being able to enter. Then they were dumbfounded.
I saw all the guards on the barrier falling to the ground, some foaming at the mouth and unconscious, and some being hacked to death with swords.
Looking further inside, there were corpses everywhere on the hillside. They were bloody and horrific, including the Eighth Young Master, Fan Renshan. His head and body were separated by more than ten feet, with a face full of horror and a look of death.
All the thousands of horses raised in the valley were gone, along with the gold, silver, grain, furs, cloth... and various valuables in the warehouse.
"Look quickly and see if there is anyone alive...Who did this? Who did this?"
"Found it, alive!"
After some searching, they found two cooks, two concubines, and some old and weak women and children alive. They were gagged with rags, tied up, and thrown into relatively hidden places.
After untying these people, Cao Daqiang quickly asked: "Tell me, who murdered our ranch with blood?"
"I told Leader Cao that it was a large group of masked men in black who did it, just over half an hour ago."
"How many masked men in black are there?"
"I don't know. It's a huge area of darkness. It's probably not a thousand people, but maybe eight hundred people. They are armed with all kinds of weapons, and they all kill without blinking an eye!"
"The barrier at the entrance of the valley is extremely strong, and there are people stationed on it. How did those masked men in black get in?"
"I don't know, we were sleeping soundly when they suddenly came in, killed everyone, grabbed things, and then ran away!"
…
Cao Daqiang asked more than a dozen questions in a row, but he didn't even get any useful information. He was furious, but there was nothing he could do. It had happened. What should we do next?
Lead the men and horses to chase them out and get back the lost gold, silver, and horses?
inappropriate!
Those masked men in black were able to quickly break through the barrier and take away all the gold, silver, grain, and horses inside, which shows that they are many in number and have very strong fighting power.
He only had a few hundred men under his command, it was dark, and the situation was unknown. If he chased them out so rashly, he would not only be unable to recover the lost gold, silver, and horses, but would also lose his own life.
I just work for the Fan family. For the salary of several hundred taels a year, I don't have to work too hard. If I die, what will happen to my mother-in-law and children at home?
Just to be on the safe side, it’s better to ask for help!
"Come here, light the beacon fire and ask for help from the garrison in Weiyuan City!"
"promise!"
Following Cao Daqiang's order, his men boarded the observation tower and lit the firewood pile above. The raging flames immediately rose into the sky and could be clearly seen dozens of miles away!
The guard of Weiyuan City, Song Yaowu, is the son-in-law of the head of the Fan family. He has a lot of troops in his hands. When he sees the fire calling for help, he will definitely lead his troops to come to the rescue. The two places are more than fifty miles apart. With the speed of the cavalry, if If you run with all your strength, you can arrive there in half an hour. Then if you unite your troops and pursue those black-clothed and masked men, your chances of winning will be much greater.
Unexpectedly, Cao Daqiang waited for more than half an hour, but no reinforcements from Weiyuan City appeared. What was going on?
What happened tonight was so evil?
After waiting for more than half an hour, seeing that everything in the east turned fish belly white, the reinforcements from Weiyuan City arrived. More than a thousand troops arrived in a chaotic and embarrassing formation. They were led by a burly general. , in his thirties, riding a bay-red horse and holding a Spring and Autumn sword, it is Weiyuan City guard Song Yaowu!
"Leader Cao, why did you light a fire to ask for help?"
"Returning to General Song, a group of thieves came to the pasture to cause trouble. They said they were going to set fire to the prairie land. I led hundreds of people to chase them out. However, the thieves ran too fast and could not catch up. When they came back next time, , only to find out that they had fallen into the trap of luring the tiger away from the mountain; while I was away, another group of masked thieves rushed into the valley, robbed thousands of horses in the valley, stored gold, silver, grain, and furs, and killed many people. , even the Eighth Young Master was killed!"
"What, the Eighth Young Master is dead, how should I explain this to my father-in-law... The thief has gone there, why don't you lead someone to chase him?"
"The thieves have already escaped. There are so many of them and it's dark. I don't dare to pursue them rashly, so I have to light fireworks to ask for help. Why are you here so slowly?"
"Oh, forget it. On the way to rescue, my team was blocked by this little thing, and many people were injured!"
While talking, Song Yaowu took out an iron caltrop with four sharp spikes on it and stained with blood!
Seeing the fireworks calling for help in the direction of the ranch, he knew that something serious must have happened. Song Yaowu immediately gathered 1,500 elite soldiers to come to the rescue. Unexpectedly, not far from Weiyuan City, the vanguard team fell and fell on his back. After checking, You know, the road is covered with caltrops, making it impossible for the team to pass.
There were too many caltrops and it was too troublesome to clean up. In order to save time, the team had to change to a path. Unexpectedly, the path was also covered with caltrops. Several trenches were dug and many roadblocks were set up. make life difficult for.
There was no other way. In order to rescue the Fan family ranch as quickly as possible, Song Yaowu could only lead his troops through the wilderness... In the wilderness, there were thorns, piles of rocks, and pits, making it extremely difficult to walk. It took more than an hour to finally get there. We rushed to the Fan family ranch and injured many people and horses on the way.
Obviously, this is all a trick of the thieves. One link is closely linked to the other, and their intentions are really vicious!
"General Song, what should we do now?"
"Leave some people to clean up the mess here. You and I will lead the main force to pursue the thieves. We must recover all the lost gold, silver, and horses, and then kill the thieves one by one to avenge the Eighth Young Master and the others. avenge!"
"good!"
At this time, the sky was getting slightly brighter, and the field of vision became clearer. You can see the fresh hoof prints left by the horses running wildly on the grass.
Song and Cao led the main force and started chasing wildly along the horse's hoof prints... As they chased, they heard the sound of running water in front of them, and it turned out that they had reached the bank of the Yellow River.
"The horse hoofprints here are very dense, and there are also fresh horse dung, indicating that the thieves stayed here. Could it be that they crossed the river from here?"
"It's impossible. You can see clearly. This is Huanglong Gorge. How can the thieves cross the river unless they fly over with wings."
"Master Song is right. I was so confused that I didn't recognize that this is Huanglong Gorge!"
…
Not far to the west of Chi'er Mountain is the Yellow River. One section of the river is very narrow, the water flow is fast, and there is a lot of sand. Looking from a distance, it looks like a yellow dragon shuttling across the earth, so it is named Huanglong Gorge.
Not only is the water flow here in Huanglong Gorge fast, but there are also dense underwater reefs. No matter whether it is a large or small wooden boat or a sheepskin raft, it is impossible to cross the river from here... If you force the river to cross, the boat will definitely be destroyed and people will die!
The thieves are not fools, so how can they seek death?
Besides, it has only been about two hours since the thieves left the ranch.
In such a short period of time, just a few hundred people wanted to transport thousands of horses and a large amount of gold, silver, food, and goods across the river. Even a ferry with a gentle flow could not do it, let alone a fast-flowing river with dense reefs. What about Huanglong Gorge!
It can be concluded from this that the thieves did not cross the river and still stayed on the east bank of the Yellow River!
Since it was left behind, there must be traces to be found.
