At the end of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 152
The village in front of me has been abandoned for an unknown number of years. The vegetation is deep, the thorns are everywhere, the dead trees are entangled with strange vines, and the moss is covered with strange rocks. It is indescribably desolate and lonely. There is no way to enter the village. The broken wall exposed among the vines silently proves that this place was once an inhabited village.

In modern China, there are not no abandoned villages, but most of them are caused by urbanization and population migration to cities. However, in the agricultural society with backward productivity, there are many reasons for the demise of a village, such as plague, military disasters, and bandit robbery. A village can be easily destroyed due to factors such as changes in the geographical environment, etc., but most of the causes result in the death of the entire village.

Because the people at the bottom of the feudal farming society were tied to death on the land, they could only support themselves by planing food in the land, working at sunrise and resting at sunset every day, unless the villagers were all dead, it was unlikely that they would give up the whole A village, of course, it is also possible that this village is really not suitable for living anymore, for example, if the water source is cut off, there is no way but to move collectively.

It was dusk, the sky was gloomy, several black crows landed on the dead tree, their eyes were fixed on Gao Bufan, the group of uninvited guests who came suddenly, and they uttered a few creepy screams from time to time, It made the whole deserted village even more gloomy.

The so-called feudal superstition, as the name suggests, people in feudal society are very superstitious. From the princes and nobles to the common people, they all fear ghosts and gods. For example, this deserted village in front of you is an unlucky place in the eyes of everyone. Living here It was inevitable that there would be bad luck, so they all looked at Gao Bufan hesitantly.

Naturally, Gao Bufan doesn't have so many scruples. Ghosts and gods are just nonsense to him. The only thing that can make him afraid is the plague. However, this village should have been deserted for some years. Even the plague has disappeared long ago, which is no problem. It is desolate, and there are absolutely few people coming. Camping here happens to be safer.

whoosh...

Gao Bufan flipped his wrist, his bow stretched out like a full moon, and there was a bang, but seeing the arrow go to the shooting star, the three crows standing side by side on the dead tree were quite strange. Bufan's sharp arrow shot empty.

That bastard Li Yi followed the brigade in a muffled voice for the past few days, and he was quite honest, but being a man with his tail between his legs made him very uncomfortable. At this time, he was about to let out a few laughs when Gao Bufan shot his second arrow. The first arrow was shot almost at the same time, and the three crows just left the branch, and before they had time to fly high, they were pierced into a string by the second arrow and fell directly from the air.

There was a moment of silence, and then there was thunderous applause, Li Yi was dumbfounded, the sneer on his face instantly froze, and the sneer in his throat quickly swallowed back, and it turned into a leaking cock crow, Immediately drowned in the cheers like the tide.

Pei Xingyan couldn't help but blurted out: "In the past, there was General Changsun who killed two birds with one arrow and became famous in Turks. Now there is Gao Changqing who shot three birds with one arrow. His skills are amazing, and he will shock Goguryeo!"

Su Dingyue and the rest of the guards were also full of admiration. Among other things, Gao Bufan would be absolutely sure if he took part in the four imperial examinations for his archery skills alone. No wonder even Changsun Sheng and Ke Dun had their eyes on him.

Dou Xianniang looked at her elder brother Gao with beautiful eyes, her pretty face could not hide her pride.Gao Bufan put away his horn bow, said with a light smile, "It's just a coincidence, brother Pei is too famous."

Gao Bufan was originally very sensitive to the six senses, and he had to be taught by Changsun Sheng, and his cultivation was getting deeper and deeper. Now, although he can't say that he is perfect in archery, he is not much better than Changsun Sheng.

At this moment, another crow landed on a dead tree. The two boys, Liu Gou'er and Liu Qijin, rushed to shoot arrows, but they all missed. Screaming and flying away, the crowd roared with laughter.

"You son of a bitch, Qijiner, you need to practice your stinky arrows for a few more years." A guard joked.

Liu Gou'er looked dejected, but Liu Qijin didn't care. He quickly ran to the dead tree to pick up the bunch of crows, and said with a smile, "No matter how small a mosquito is, it's still meat. Extra meal tonight." Return it to Gao Bufan, and then string the three crows with grass and hang them under the waistband of his trousers.

A group of government soldiers and villagers couldn't help being very annoyed, regretting that they were slow to respond, Pei Xingyan smiled and said: "Qi Jin is a smart kid."

"Seven catties, give me one." Liu Gou'er stepped forward to ask for it, but the latter refused, and was about to snatch it, but Gao Bufan said: "Don't grab it, throw it away."

"Why?" Liu Qijin and Liu Gou'er asked in unison.

"This thing eats carrion. It's very dirty. I don't know how many germs it has on it. Be careful of getting the plague." Gao Bufan said calmly.

Liu Qijin was so frightened that he quickly threw away the dead crow, and rubbed his palm on Liu Gou'er. It is said that in the feudal society where medicine is extremely backward, even people in modern society will turn pale when they talk about it.

"Mr. Gao, why didn't you tell me earlier." Liu Qijin pulled out a clump of weeds and wiped the blood off his hands vigorously, it seemed that he almost took out the thing in his crotch and licked it a few times.

Gao Bufan laughed and said: "It's okay, if you don't eat it, you won't get sick."

Liu Qijin felt relieved after hearing the words.

"Enter the village, and camp in the village tonight, brother Pei is in charge of guarding the perimeter." Gao Bufan ordered.

Gao Bufan showed off his ability to "kill three birds with one arrow", and his prestige in the team increased a little. With an order, everyone began to clear the weeds and open a road into the village, while Pei Xingyan led his cavalry Be vigilant around the village and sweep away wild animals, snakes, insects, rats and ants.

At this time, it was already dusk, a mansion soldier who was chopping thorns with a knife suddenly fell to the ground with a scream, and several mansion soldiers nearby hurriedly surrounded him, and found an arrow sticking out of the mansion soldier's shoulder. Changed, and quickly shouted: "Enemy attack, there are ambushes in the village!"

The people who were spreading out to clean up the weeds hurriedly retreated and gathered together. Gao Bufan rushed to the scene after a few ups and downs, and his eyes quickly locked on a broken wall in the direction of ten o'clock.

At this moment, Pei Xingyan also arrived, and after meeting Gao Bufan's eyes, the two rushed towards the broken wall from both sides in a tacit understanding.

bang...

An arrow shot straight at Gao Bufan from behind the wall, and Gao Bufan swung his knife to chop the arrow down. His foot speed did not decrease at all, and he fell on the broken wall with his body. The waist knife in his hand was like a long river. At this time, Pei Xingyan was also killed. Ma Qian used the poisonous dragon to explore the sea, and plunged into the broken wall with a click, overturning half of the broken wall, and several people behind the wall panicked and avoided.

brush……

The knife in Gao Bufan's hand slashed down like a wind and thunder. Seeing that the attackers behind the wall were about to die under his knife, Pei Xingyan suddenly shouted: "Brother Gao, show mercy."

Gao Bufan froze his sword in the air, clicked, and the hornbow raised by a sneak attacker was broken by his unstoppable blade, and the man was so frightened that he lay on his back and did not dare to move.

Taking a closer look in the dim light, Gao Bufan found that although the sneak attackers were dressed in rags, they could vaguely recognize the clothes of the Sui Army, so he couldn't help frowning: "Are you the Sui Army?"

With the blade close at hand, the Sui soldier swallowed his saliva awkwardly, and nodded cautiously: "You... you too?"

"I'm not, he is!" Gao Bufan pointed to Pei Xingyan behind him.

Pei Xingyan put away the horse and said: "I am Pei Xingyan, who is in charge of you?"

The three sneak attackers were stunned for a moment, and then they showed joy, and replied: "This subordinate belongs to Zuo Wei, under the command of General Xu Guogong Yuwen."

Gao Bufan's heart moved, it turned out to be Yu Wenshu's defeated soldiers, he said coldly, "Why did you attack us?"

The three sneak attackers couldn't see Gao Bufan's identity, but seeing Qianniu preparing himself, Pei Xingyan seemed to be the only one to look forward to, and this person's martial arts were too powerful, even arrows shot at close range could be chopped into the air. It was inhuman, so he replied tremblingly: "We didn't see clearly when it was dark, and we thought it was the Goguryeo soldiers who searched and killed them. It was all a misunderstanding."

Gao Bufan observed his words and guessed that the other party was not lying, so he put away his waist knife and asked, "What's your name?"

"My lord, are you asking about the younger one?" the Sui soldier whose horn bow was cut off asked cautiously, seeing Gao Bufan nodding, he replied, "The younger one is called Ruan Xiaofu."

"The name is good. Is your father Ruan Dagui?"

Ruan Xiaofu said awkwardly: "My father's name is Ruan Wanbao, and my elder brother's name is Ruan Dagui."

"Little Ruan Dagui has met the young master." A Sui soldier next to him spoke up.

Gao Bufan almost fell head over heels, but after a closer look, the two of them were quite alike, and they were brothers, so his eyes fell on the third person, and he asked casually, "What about you, isn't your surname also Ruan? ?”

The thin Sui soldier was wielding a spear, he shook his head and said, "My surname is not Ruan, but Zhao, everyone calls me Old Zhaotou."

"When did you hide here? Just the three of you?" Pei Xingyan asked in a deep voice. When he found this deserted village during the day, he even checked it out and found no one there. That's why he suggested that Gao Bufan camp here today. , Now that something went wrong, it can be regarded as his dereliction of duty.

Old Zhao Tou seemed to be the leader among the three of them, and he immediately replied: "We arrived half an hour earlier than you, and more than 50 brothers came after us. .”

Pei Xingyan's expression was a little relaxed. It turned out that the other party had just arrived, so he could not be regarded as dereliction of duty.

Gao Bufan saw that the old Zhao was answering calmly, so he asked: "What is your position in the army?"

"The smaller one is the captain." Old Zhao replied.

The lifespan of the Sui Dynasty was too short, so short that many systems perished before they were finalized, so there are not many records about the Sui Dynasty in the history books. For example, the military system of the Sui Dynasty seemed rather chaotic. There is no detailed record of the organizational system. Even military units at the same level have different strengths. A team is about 50 people. fire long.

This old Zhaotou is a team leader. He said that there are more than 50 brothers coming. Doesn’t it mean that his team is still organized? The defeated soldiers are all stragglers, and it is very rare for them to be organized.

"In that case, go and bring all your people here." Gao Bufan said calmly.

Old Zhaotou stood up quickly, Gao Bufan stretched out the knife, put it on Lao Zhaotou's shoulder, pointed at Ruan Xiaofu and said calmly: "He goes, you and Ruan Dagui stay."

Old Zhao's face changed slightly, so he had to squat down again, and Ruan Xiaofu stood up nervously.

Gao Bufan winked at Pei Xingyan, who immediately pointed at Ruan Xiaofu with Ma Yang, and shouted: "Let's go."

(End of this chapter)