At that moment, Cheng Shi raised his heart again and ordered everyone in a low voice to get ready. Of course, if he could not fight, Cheng Shi would definitely not want to fight, because it was obvious that he could not fight.
After Yuan Wo checked the fine copper and confirmed that it was correct, Yuan Wo took the initiative to step forward and said: "It seems that the information is correct. It can only be your fate that is to blame. The news that this fine copper was stolen by us cannot be Give way.
Either you surrender and follow us back to the mountains to eat and drink, or you have no choice but to go see the King of Hell. "
It was Yuan Wo's active appearance that made Cheng Shi recognize him immediately. After all, Yuan Wo had always been with Li Hao in the capital in the past, and he had met Cheng Shi many times.
He didn't recognize him before because Yuan Wo deliberately wanted to conceal his identity from Lou Niu, so he changed into a bandit's clothes and covered his face with a cloth.
At the moment, Cheng Shi was filled with questions and couldn't figure out how the Yuan family could get together with the bandits. Could it be that Yuan Wo had rebelled.
When he was about to ask a question, he saw Yuan Wo quietly gesturing for Cheng Shi's attention, and using the cover of the people around him, he threw a small paper ball at Cheng Shi's feet.
This scene made Cheng Shi feel happy again, knowing that he would not die this time, because Li Hao's actions obviously did not really mean to kill anyone, but he was probably planning something.
But Yan Zhong naturally didn't know about Cheng Shi's operations. At this time, he said to Yuan Wo who was shouting in front: "I am the magistrate of Tongniu County appointed by the imperial court. How can I surrender the thieves for the sake of Gou Quan's life? You Stop being delusional.
On the contrary, I would like to advise you that the imperial army is on the way now. Once they learn that the fine copper was robbed today, they will definitely send out troops to conquer, and you will all be punished by death.
But if you can abandon the darkness and turn to the light now, then what you have done today will be a great achievement. I will guarantee to His Highness the Crown Prince that you will be exempted from all past sins, and you will be rewarded to honor your ancestors. "
Regarding the pie painted by Yan Zhong, Yuan Wo couldn't help curling his lips when he heard it and followed Li Hao all the time. He naturally knew Yan Zhong's background.
If this guy didn't have an official seal, the prince probably wouldn't even know who he was, so he wouldn't take his words to heart.
However, with Yan Zhong attracting attention, Cheng Shi was able to find better opportunities and quietly get the paper ball.
On the paper ball, Yuan Wo briefly introduced the reason for coming here in two sentences, and asked Cheng Shi to fake his death to escape during the subsequent war.
Although it was not detailed, Cheng Shi decided to do what was written on the note based on his trust in Li Hao.
However, considering the loyalty of his subordinates, it is obviously inappropriate to tell everyone directly, because many of them are locals of Tongniu County, although they have just proved themselves with blood.
But considering that Yuan Wo was so mysterious, he must be doing something that needed to be kept secret, and Cheng Shi was extremely suspicious of the rebel group that appeared in front of him.
Therefore, he later thought of a way to tell his cronies. As for the others, they still performed well in their original roles. I believe Yuan Wo will do things in a measured way.
It happened that Yuan Wo was still arguing with Yan Zhong at this time, which made it easier for Cheng Shi to connect in series. After Cheng Shi was finished, he sent a signal to Yuan Wo.
Yuan Wo immediately pretended to be so angry with Yan Zhong that he immediately ordered an attack and personally led his troops to attack Cheng Shi's defense line.
With Cheng Shi's deliberate cooperation, the battle here naturally ended quickly. The bodies of Cheng Shi and his own soldiers fell to the ground, and the remaining people were all captured alive.
Including Tongniu County Magistrate Yan Zhong and his family, they had been protected in the center by Cheng Shi and others, so there was no serious damage.
Outside were some officers from Tongniu County. They were not regular troops to begin with. After Cheng Shi and others who were blocking the front were gone, their will to fight naturally disappeared.
Of course, this is also related to the thieves dressed up by Yuan Wo and others. Thinking about the gang of guards, Yuan Wo and others are just here for the money. After taking the fine copper, they will leave and will not attack the county. .
In this way, the safety of their family will not be harmed, and there is no need to fight to the death. As for
They should just follow him first. At worst, they can go up the mountain and then find a way to escape.
Only Yan Zhong was so stubborn that he wanted to die in the line of duty after being captured. Fortunately, Yuan Woduo paid attention to him before and blocked him.
After the battle was over, the next step was to clean up the battlefield. This time, many people were captured, just in time to find a way to transport the fine copper away. By the way, there were also a group of people from Tongniu County, including Cheng Shi. corpses, and the corpses of one's own people.
After all, no matter what, destroying the corpses and eradicating traces is what must be done at this time, otherwise it would be exposing oneself and making a good appearance while concealing the true purpose.
As for the people under Ma Rong, there is naturally no need to transport them away, and they can be kept to take the blame.
After Yuan Wo and the others left, Ma Rong and Lou Niu came back with their people. It turned out that they had not gone far before and had been keeping an eye on the situation here.
Originally, Ma Rong wanted to mobilize all the soldiers and horses to clean up these bandits and eradicate all troubles.
[In view of the general environment,
But he was persuaded by Lou Niu. After all, the fight down here wouldn't last that long. By the time people arrived, all the enemies would have been gone, and it would also affect the next plan.
In the end, Ma Rong listened to the advice, but looking at the corpses of his own people here, he couldn't help but said angrily: "Where on earth did these bandits come from? They begged God and Buddha not to let me find them again, otherwise I would have to kill them The body cannot be broken into pieces."
But after venting, he had to consider the next practical issue: "What do you think we should do next? Yan Zhong is not dead now. If we still follow the original plan, what if he comes back alive?" Then it’s all over.”
After hearing this, Lou Niu replied: "What time is it now? How can there be time to think of new plans? Is it possible that the general really wants to go to a dead end with Peng Kun?
Now, since the people who captured Yan Zhong are bandits, the worst thing is to give them some gold and silver to buy their lives, as long as he doesn't fall into the hands of the prince.
Moreover, even if Yan Zhong lived to see the prince, a man who lost his virginity to a thief, how much credibility would his words have in the ears of others.
Especially since he is from a poor family and doesn't even have anyone to help him in the court, you don't have to worry too much. "
After Ma Rong thought about it carefully, he felt that it made sense, so he replied: "Okay, then everything will go according to plan, but now we haven't got Yan Zhong's real seal. The fake seal you gave can really deceive others." City gate."
Lou Niu replied: "Of course you can. Li Feng should be waiting at the city gate now. He will help you pass when the seal is verified."
After receiving a confirmed reply, Ma Rong went back to find the main force, while Lou Niu stayed where he was, looking at the direction Yuan Wo and the others had left in the direction they left, speechless for a long time.
At this time, Lou Niu felt a little uneasy in his heart, because what was happening now was far beyond his expectation.
It's just that now the arrow is on the string and has to be fired, otherwise the collusion with Ma Rong will be difficult to deal with. Once Ma Rong is really caught, he will inevitably be implicated.
Moreover, Lou Niu has been suppressed for too long, and he is willing to take a gamble regardless of his own safety when he finally sees hope.
After regaining consciousness, Lou Niu began to arrange for people to dig holes to bury the bodies and clean up the traces of the scene. It took a long time to finish everything.
Then he ordered his men to disperse and find ways to find out where this group of bandits came from, and to carefully trace the whereabouts of Yan Zhong.
If there is a chance, he will kill Yan Zhong directly and wait for the news of the fall of Tongniu County after everything is arranged.
Ma Rong's side moved very quickly. After all, the troops and horses had been prepared in advance. As soon as the people arrived, they set off directly to Tongniu County.
Later, with the help of the county magistrate Li Fengde, he successfully tricked the city gates into opening. After Ma Rong entered the city, he immediately sent troops to forcibly take over the four city gates.
In order to show his loyalty, Li Feng started acting in front of everyone when Ma Rong took action, angrily denounced Ma Rong and Peng Kun as traitors and traitors, and was successfully taken into prison by Ma Rong.
At this point, Ma Rong and Lou Niu's plan was halfway through. All that was left was that Lou Niu would appear alone in Tongniu County in two days and show off the feat of convincing a city guard with a single horse.
On the other side, Yuan Wo took Cheng Shi and the others back to the mountains and forests. At this time, Cheng Shi succeeded in pretending to be a corpse under Yan Zhong's horrified eyes.
However, Yan Zhong soon realized that the theory of corpse fraud was too ridiculous, and Zi Buyu had strange powers and deranged spirits.
But what Yan Zhong was thinking at this time was that Cheng Shi was conspiring with Yuan Wo to plan these fine coppers, so he angrily said:
"Cheng Shi, I didn't expect you to be with these bandits. What you did is not worthy of His Majesty's grace. You are simply ungrateful and shameless."
Hearing this, Cheng Shi hurriedly replied: "Magistrate Yan, please stop talking nonsense. When have I ever been sorry to Your Majesty?"
Then he pointed to Yuan Wo and said, "This is the commander of the personal guards around Marquis Nanzheng. I was just cooperating with him, although I don't understand what happened."
After saying that, he looked at Yuan Wo, waiting for him to give a reasonable explanation.
Upon seeing this, Yuan Wo replied: "Today's matter really depends on the help of Marquis Qu Ling, otherwise it would be very difficult to hide it from those people's eyes."
"Who are those people you are talking about? Who are the first batch of people who came out to strangle us just now?" Cheng Shi quickly grasped the key point.
Hearing this, Yan Zhong also stared directly over. Speaking of which, he actually had some guesses in his mind. After all, the process of transporting the fine copper out of the city was filled with the instigation of one person.
He hadn't thought about this matter carefully before, so he didn't feel it yet, but now that he was reviewing it, he couldn't help but feel that Lou Niu was too active in this matter.
While the two of them were looking forward to it, Yuan Wo said: "It is Peng Kun's deputy general Ma Rong who will lead the troops to attack you today. This time the prince decided to base his station in Tongniu County, so he sent my young master to make arrangements first. But this time Not long after setting off, I realized something was wrong.
Someone has been following secretly. In order to ensure the safety of the prince and prevent him from guessing the purpose of this trip, my young master deliberately took some detours and sent me out to investigate the origins of this group of people. Then he went all the way I came here just in time to save you. "
When Cheng Shi heard this, he felt something was wrong, so he asked, "Since you are facing Peng Ni, what are you doing to hide your identity?"
Yuan Wo said: "It's not necessary originally, but we got a piece of news before, that is, Ma Rong has a good friend, Lou Niu, the second eldest son of the Lou family in Hedong, and now Lou Niu happens to be near Shouchun, we I have to think more about it.”
"Are you sure? Lou Niu is really familiar with Ma Rong." Yan Zhong asked with a heavy face.
"This is absolutely true. Before Peng Ni's betrayal was revealed, someone from my Yuan family had personally seen the two of them swimming arm in arm," Yuan Wo replied.
Although Yan Zhong still had doubts about Yuan Wo's words, Lou Niu's suspicion was indeed too great at this time.
"Then what exactly are they going to do, do you know?" Yan Zhong asked after acquiescing to this matter.
Yuan Wo replied: "We just arrived and haven't had time to check, otherwise there would be no need for such a trick of concealing the truth.
But now that I know who it is, I immediately sent someone to inform the young master. When the troops led by the young master arrive, I think no matter what they do, they won't be able to cause any trouble. "
Naturally, Cheng Shi and Yan Zhong would not object to this, but Yan Zhong had another question: "By the way, where is this place now? I have to rush back to Tongniu as soon as possible. I'm worried about something happening there." .”
Yuan Wo replied: "This matter is not urgent. There may be many people from Ma Rong hiding outside now, especially near Tongniu County.
We don't have many people here right now, so I'm afraid it will be difficult for you to safely enter the Tongniu. Otherwise, you should wait for two more days. Once the young master arrives, there will be no problem. "
But how could Yan Zhong be willing to wait? In desperation, Yuan Wo could only agree that he would find a way to escort him to Tongniu at night under the cover of darkness.
But before nightfall, he heard the news that Tongniu County had been lost. After hearing this, Yan Zhong was frightened.
After finally coming back to his senses, he asked, "How could Tongniu County be lost? The city defenses there are very strong. Even if there were not many soldiers and horses in the city, it wouldn't have happened so quickly."
The visitor explained: "I heard that Ma Rong used the seal of the Tongniu County Magistrate to trick him into opening the city gate, and no one in the city had time to take precautions."
"It's impossible. The seal is clearly on me. How could it be on Ma Rong?" Yan Zhong said as he took out the seal from his arms to prove his innocence.
But as he spoke, Yan Zhong became a little shaken, because he remembered that just a few days ago, he had given the seal to Lou Niu to see. Could it be that at that time, Lou Niu forged the seal as it was.
Looking at Yan Zhong's appearance, Cheng Shi said, "What's wrong? Did you think of something wrong?"
At that moment, Yan Zhong didn't care about hiding anything, and directly told him about his friendship with Lou Niu.
Yuan Wo knew about this and was prepared in his heart, but this was the first time Cheng Shi heard about it. After all, a very important label on Yan Zhong in the past was that he never interacted with the children of the aristocratic family.
But after being surprised, he felt helpless, because he was tricked because of this, and he felt pity for himself just thinking about it.
