Lu Ming

Chapter 685 Returning to the North ([-])

The hidden peak of the mountain appears, and the jade plate is empty.Star-studded, Moonlight Town.

In the night sky, a slender firework rushed up.Under the blue sky, the silver-white fireworks with long tail marks are dazzling, as if they are going straight into the heavenly palace and never stop.

However, at the moment when it rushed to the top of the mountains, the beautiful fireworks exploded, forming a beautiful crocodile axe, which was a silver dandelion pattern.

Watching helplessly as a cloud of silver light exploded above his head, in the Wuhuo Pier, one counted as another, and they were all shocked by the spectacle.People raised their heads, opened their mouths wide, with dumbfounded expressions, and let out a sound of "ah" and "oh" in surprise.

The last one to speak out was the shopkeeper who had reacted.He didn't feel the joy of seeing the free fireworks at all, but shouted in a terrified and shrill voice: "Flag Flower Rocket, there are spies!"

The first one to roar was the shopkeeper.The first one to move was Wu Fazheng, Young Master Wu.

For some reason, at this moment, Young Master Wu suddenly had a vague feeling that this flag flower was related to him.

The next moment, Wu Fazheng drew out the dagger at his waist, carried a windproof kerosene lamp in his hand, ran two quick steps, turned over and jumped into the hanging basket: "Quick, quick, send me down."

So the hanging basket began to wobble and descend.

After a few breaths, before the hanging basket hit the ground, the impatient Young Master Wu jumped out.

The flag flower flew into the sky in front of the pier, so the location where it was cast just now must be not far ahead.And in the short time before the hanging basket fell to the ground, Wu Fazheng also had an inference in his mind: the person who put the flag flowers was most likely someone who went to the small river to fetch water just now.

As expected.Going around a pile of rocks, Wu Fazheng saw two men carrying canvas buckets.

He remembered clearly: there were originally three men who went to fetch water from the city.

The two fellows were obviously frightened by the fireworks just now, and they stood in front of a mound of dirt, looking down at something.

After Wu Fazheng came over, he picked up an oil lamp. As expected, the scene of the crime was here.

On the top of the low mound, a black pipe with lingering smoke was quietly inserted there.

Bending down and reaching out, Wu Fazheng pulled out the tube.

The black tube is made of fine iron, round and long, just the right thickness to hold in the palm of the hand, very suitable for the grip of something.

Seeing the unique screw on the top of the pipe, a smiling face in the setting sun appeared in front of Wu Fazheng: "This knife is easy to use. It was exchanged by the young man from the seafarers at the dock. He has saved money for food for two months."

Gently untie the layer of jersey wrapped around the iron pipe, and slowly unfold it.

Revealed by oil lamps is a handsome gray men's Scottish plaid cotton sweat towel.

Another scene under the setting sun appeared in front of Wu Fazheng: "You are rewarded. Wrap this on the handle of the knife to absorb sweat and not slip your hands."

"Thank you, Master, for the reward!"

After thinking about the cause and effect, Wu Fazheng slowly turned his head and asked expressionlessly, "The one who fetched water with you two is called Huogui, right?"

"It's Huogui." The two guys finally realized the seriousness of the problem at this time, their faces were pale, and they stammered back: "It was still there just now, and the flag flower disappeared together."

At this moment, Wu Fazheng, facing the mountains shrouded in darkness ahead, let out a gurgling sound in his throat, filled with grief and indignation.

Before it was too late, an infinitely reverberating roar sounded from the mountains: "Huo Gui, you thief, I swear to kill you! Kill you, kill you!"

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Things have developed to this point, the caravan has already completed its last move, and there is no room for maneuvering.

Right now, I can only hope that the flag flower has no effect, and wait passively, taking one step at a time.

So there was nothing to say all night.

The next morning, the thief arrived as promised.

In fact, at the fourth watch, there were faint voices and hoofbeats coming along with the wind.After realizing this sign, the caravan did not dare to act rashly.

In the early morning, with the rising sun, the two parties who had never faced each other but were looking for each other were finally able to gaze at each other.

The caravan figures huddled on top of the wall looked through the shallow mountain stream and dirt road in the middle, and landed on the opposite mound.

The gang centered on the mound has a total of about 500 people.These people had no scruples and swaggered on both sides of the official road.

Judging from their attire, the gangsters were clearly divided into three groups.

Located on the top of the mound, the big man occupying the C position is tall, with wide eyebrows and thin eyes, and a pie face with obvious Mongolian blood.This person was riding a yellow puma, wearing a greasy yellow military overcoat, with a leather cap on one side, and behind him were hundreds of big men in yellow riding in the same attire.

Behind the pie-faced man is a white flag two feet wide and four feet long, with a black word "righteousness" embroidered on it.

The left hand of the pie-faced man is a tall, thin, middle-aged man with a sharp face.This man was wearing a homespun jacket, simple attire, and riding a rough horse.

Although it looks inconspicuous, the number of younger brothers behind the knife-faced man is the largest among the gangsters.However, most of these gangsters in homespun costumes are horseless people with weapons.

There is also a recognition flag behind the knife face, with the word "Gu" embroidered on it.

On the right hand side of the pie-faced man is a well-proportioned man with a yellow face and a pair of eagle eyes.This person is riding a fine Mongolian horse, wearing a felt robe and a felt hat.The dozens of riders who came with him were all dressed like this.

This group of gangsters on horseback didn't have a flag, and most of them had bumpy marks on their faces. They were obviously horse bandits who had been walking in the windy and sandy land all year round.

While the two sides were looking at each other quietly, accompanied by a loud scolding, the gangsters gathered in front of the pass suddenly made a loud noise.Immediately, all kinds of scolding, strange laughter, and even obscene words resounded through the valley and echoed in the mountains.

Seeing this situation, there was not much commotion on the city wall. At any rate, it was an old convoy traveling north and south, and the simple threats of the gangsters could not scare people.

Sure enough, seeing that the defenders with swords on the top of the city didn't panic, the gangsters quickly quieted down.

However, this is only the beginning.

Seeing that the clamor had no effect, the knife-faced brother and the C-positioned brother nodded, waved their hands, and a knight sprang out from beside him, kicked his horse, and walked unhurriedly towards Guan.

Accompanied by the sound of hoofbeats, Wu Qian quickly recognized the person on the wall: Gu Laocheng, the Taihang spy who had been let go by him before.

At this time, Gu Laocheng is no longer the posture of running in a hurry before.I saw him lazily, not rushing, enjoying the tense atmosphere, feeling the gaze of countless eyes closing and closing, and slowly stopped the horse in front of the gate.

Glancing and closing a glance, Gu Laocheng first showed a sinister smile, then raised his voice and shouted: "Listen up on the wall, today Guangyi helps Ha Da to be the head of the family, Taihang Mountain Gu Da is the head of the house, and Xuanhua Maye is the leader of the three flags. I want to find you and wait for a profit."

"If you are sensible, just open the door to welcome guests honestly, and you can save your life. If Mr. Lao Fei makes a move, it will be like nothing!~"

After shouting the last sentence, Gu Laocheng raised his hand, and finally shouted: "Old rules, a stick of incense kung fu, you can choose what you want."

Seeing the figure of Gu Laocheng riding his horse back, the wall fell silent for a while.Although from last night to now, many people have fantasized about the current dangerous situation countless times, but when things really come to this point, many people still cannot accept it for a while.

At this moment, others can be in a daze, but decision makers cannot be in a daze.Quickly suppressing the negative emotions in his heart, Shopkeeper Wu settled down and asked, "We all know about Taihang Gu Ming and Xuanhua Majie, but what is the origin of the Guangyi Gang in the middle?"

The old guard on the side looked as if he had eaten shit, and replied slowly: "This Guangyi gang is a gangster that has only emerged in recent years. All members have horses, and they come and go without a trace. I heard that this gang is vicious. It is difficult to entangle tightly. The leader of the generation is Ha Liu. It is said that he was a horse bandit on the grassland in the early years, and he also served as an officer and soldier for a few days. Later, he turned against the Shangguan because of a gap, and came out to do it again in the past few years. The horse bandits."

Hearing what Old Fu said, Shopkeeper Wu relaxed his mind instead: "In this way, we have no way out today."

Surrender is impossible to surrender.At this point in the matter, if they surrender, even if the people in the caravan save their lives, they will be punished for a long time after returning, and their families will also be implicated.

So for Shopkeeper Wu, the only thing that needs to be done now is to mobilize all the staff to stand by and wait for help.

Other than that, there is no other way.

And the words of old Fu just now have already shown that the opponent will not keep alive, so this time the shopkeeper Wu will save trouble.He didn't need to spend too much time mobilizing the guys. Everyone would definitely fight the gangsters for their own lives.

A consensus was quickly reached on the wall.

After that, shopkeeper Wu found Ma Youbu, a veteran who was at a loss in the courtyard.

Since there were only eight people, the original owner of the pier, Ma Youbu, the official army force, had actually lost the dominance of the pier and turned into a melon-eating crowd.

But this does not prevent Comrade Ma from exercising his own official authority: calling the police.

For a pier with only eight guards, its official duties are very simple: "The police raised smoke as a signal, and Kou Zhi fired a cannon to report the news."

This is also what shopkeeper Wu asked him to do after he found Lao Ma: fire a cannon to warn.

Note that it is not smoke, but cannons.

"Giving up smoke as a sign" is the most common "flashing wolf smoke" in history books.

Once the wolf smoke is released, the surrounding pass will also release smoke, and the smoke will spread sequentially.At this time, as far as the Shanxi Border Pass in the west and Yanshan, the capital city in the east, the entire northern military defense system of the Ming Dynasty will become tense.Because in the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, the only thing worth letting go of is the invasion of the Tartars.

In today's situation, if the old horse had set off the smoke, he would have immediately summoned a large number of officers and soldiers to disperse the gangsters. However, after the Shangguan finds out the inside story, what awaits the old horse and the caravan owners is a serious crime against the nine clans The people of Xiaomin dared to pretend to be forced by King Zhou You, and they were wiped out in minutes, and it was useless to know anyone.

Shopkeeper Wu naturally understood this truth, so his request was simple: sound the horn.

Firing cannons is a formal procedure for dealing with small groups of bandits.When the pier fires the cannon, the officers and soldiers at the nearby checkpoints will hear it and send people to check it.

Of course, with such a large-scale bandit, it is unknown whether the general on duty at the checkpoint will send troops.

(End of this chapter)