Chitose words

Suddenly there was the sound of horse hoofbeats, and several people suddenly raised their heads and looked to the other end of the mountain stream - which was the direction of Guangling City.

A group of cavalry came with great noise. The leader tightened his reins and reined in the leading horse in the valley, and the cavalry behind them also followed closely.

When Xie Zhao saw the uniformly dressed people in the group, he frowned subconsciously and gently pushed up the mask on his face with his fingers.

Ling Youqing raised his eyebrows and asked in a low voice: "What? Do you know me?"

Xie Zhao slowly shook his head and replied in a low voice:

"Of course I don't know this person. But this team is very familiar to me."

Han Changsheng also moved closer to the two of them, and then asked cautiously:

"Could this be the defender from Lanling County not far ahead?"

Xie Zhao shook his head and said: "No, these are the uniforms of the Imperial Guards in the capital. The people who came here are a troop of Zhaoge City Imperial Guards."

Sure enough, what she said was true.

Almost as soon as Xie Zhao finished speaking, the leading general over there dismounted and strode forward. He walked up to Peng Xiao in a few steps, then clasped his fists and raised his hands in a military salute of a subordinate meeting his superior, and said in a loud voice:

"The last general, Zhaoge City Forbidden Army Colonel Li Zhuo, is late. He is here to pay his respects to General Peng!"

Peng Xiao nodded gently and politely and said:

"Captain Li, there is no need to be polite."

Han Changsheng looked at Xie Zhao and Ling You hesitantly, but unfortunately did not receive a response.

Then he murmured to himself: surnamed Li? And he is still in the military.

Could it be that he has some connection with the Li family of the Jiumen Admiral's Mansion?

However, surnames such as Li, Zhang, and Liu were also very common in the Southern Dynasties. Maybe he was overthinking it.

Unexpectedly, the next moment, Peng Ying accidentally solved his doubts for him.

Peng Ying had a thoughtful expression on his face, then hesitantly said:

"Colonel Li Zhuo, are you and Lord Li, the admiral of the Nine Sects, Li Suhe, related to you?"

Li Zhuo was startled when he heard this, and immediately raised his hands and said: "This young general looks similar to General Peng. He must be Captain Peng from Langya Pass. I am ashamed to say that Mr. Li is my uncle."

Peng Ying suddenly understood and nodded.

"Let me tell you, when I saw Captain Li looked so familiar before, it turned out that we had met each other at Brother Suining's crowning ceremony four years ago. But I was only a half-grown boy at that time. Maybe Captain Li recognized him. Don’t get out now.”

Li Zhuo was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then suddenly said with a smile in his eyes:

"It's so true. That year was indeed a great day for my clan brother Suining Jiguan. It's just that there were so many guests at the banquet and I was so busy dealing with it that I didn't recognize the young general. It's really disrespectful!"

Peng Ying waved her hands and said nonchalantly: "You're welcome, what's the big deal. Besides, four years have passed and my appearance and size have changed a lot. It's normal for Lieutenant Li not to recognize me."

Speaking of this, he looked at the dusty appearance of Li Zhuo and his party and said doubtfully:

"Captain Li, the New Year's Day is approaching. Do you have some official business to go north to?"

Unexpectedly, Li Zhuo smiled when he heard this. He bowed his hand towards Peng Xiao and saluted again, saying:

"To be honest, my official duties on this trip are to welcome General Peng Xiao to Zhaoge. Princess An Ning's wedding is coming soon, and the Prince Consort is really calm."

Because he had some connection with Peng Ying, he spoke more relaxedly and rarely made a joke about Peng Xiao.

Hearing this, Peng Xiao smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Your Majesty is worried and Brother Li is responsible for it. In fact, there were some disturbances on the road, which delayed the time.

Fortunately, several young knights came to help many times, and Peng was able to escape the disaster and did not miss the wedding date appointed by His Majesty. "

Hearing this, Li Zhuo first looked at Xie Zhao and others beside Peng Xiao in astonishment. They were wearing the long robes commonly worn by Jianghu people. They were completely different from the military attire of the surrounding Langya Pass soldiers, so they were very easy to identify.

Then he belatedly looked at the clusters of arrows stuck in the valley, and then he suddenly realized what had just happened here.

——Because the people who had previously ambushed were all on the cliff and halfway up the mountain, so even if there were bad guys who were injured or dropped their weapons during the fight with Ling You and Bo Xi, most of them were left on the mountainside. Therefore, the canyon was clean, with nothing left except some arrow clusters inserted into the ground that were not easy to detect. When Li Zhuo saw this, he was shocked and angry and said: "This is unreasonable. Zhaoge City had received a letter from Lord Yuan, the governor of Xunyang County in advance. He learned that General Peng had been intercepted and killed by gangsters outside Xunyang County a few days ago, so he sent me The officers and soldiers of the Forbidden Army came hundreds of miles away to meet the general.

Who is so bold? How dare you set up an ambush outside Lanling County to intercept and kill important court officials and relatives of the emperor! It is simply lawless and extremely arrogant! "

Having said this, he bowed to Xie Zhao, Ling You and others with a sincere face and said:

"Thanks to the few young heroes who risked their lives to help me, please give me my thanks."

If Peng Xiao was really ambushed and died outside Lanling County, I am afraid that he, the person who was ordered to take care of him, would not be able to escape his involvement. Even if the crime did not lead to death, his future would definitely be lost.

After all, this is the future Prince Consort of An Ning, His Majesty the Emperor’s confirmed brother-in-law!

If he failed in this job, even if he was lucky enough to survive, Li Zhuo would probably not have any good jobs to do in the future and would have to sit on the bench until he died.

Xie Zhao gently raised his hand to stop him and said quietly:

"'Riding one's life' to help is not considered as such, it's just a handy thing to do when the road is rough. Captain Li doesn't have to be polite."

Li Zhuo said with a grateful look on his face: "The heroine doesn't want to take credit, but Mr. Li dare not not be grateful."

His eyes fell on Xie Zhao's mask that concealed his head and tail for a moment, and he hesitated and said:

"The road is blocked by heavy snow, and it is a difficult time to travel. I wonder where the few young heroes passing by are planning to go?"

Xie Zhaoqing said "Huh" and came up with the half-true and half-false excuses, and then said slowly:

"It's like this. I heard that in the first month of Zhaoge City, there will be the most famous temple fair lanterns in the Southern Dynasty. When I first entered the world, I had only a short experience, so I wanted to go to Beijing to gain experience.

No, it's already the end of the twelfth lunar month, and I heard that Zhaoge City will be closed down early in the morning on the first day of the first lunar month. If you don't go to Zhaoge in the next few days, I'm afraid you won't be able to go in and will miss this year's temple fair. So the few of us had no choice but to move forward in the snow, and then we happened to meet General Peng Xiao who had also come to Beijing. "

The Emperor Jing of the Southern Dynasty held the Thousand-Autumn Banquet in the first month of the year.

Therefore, every early morning on the first day of the first lunar month, the four gates of Zhaoge City will be closed one after another, and no entry or exit is allowed during this period.

It would not be until the morning of the sixth day of the first lunar month five days later that Zhaoge City would open its gates again and let people in and out of the city.

Therefore, if people from other prefectures and counties intend to watch the Zhaogecheng New Year Temple Fair in the first month, most of them will choose to go to Beijing in the twelfth lunar month and stay in an inn or B&B in advance. If it is late, they will not be able to get in.

Xie Zhao's reason can be regarded as perfect and in line with human nature.

Therefore, Li Zhuo didn't think there was anything wrong, but among this group of people, there was a girl wearing a strange silver mask covering her head and face, and there was also a woman with a terrible scar on her face who clearly looked like someone from the Northern Dynasties. of bones.

After all, His Majesty Qianqiu is approaching, and Li Zhuo, as a captain of the imperial army, can't help but murmur in his heart when he sees this.

However, Peng Xiao kindly said something for them, which barely dispelled Li Zhuo's suspicion.

"Several young heroes have rescued Peng many times. Peng Xiao is willing to guarantee for them, and he also asks Brother Li to support him."

Li Zhuo came to his senses and quickly held his hands with a smile and said:

"General, what are you talking about? Since he is the general's savior and a meritorious official of the imperial court, how dare Li Zhuo be disrespectful.

Since there is General Peng's guarantee, Li doesn't dare to say anything. Those young heroes will return to Beijing with us so that we can have someone to take care of us along the way. "

In fact, he still retained one hand.

He asked to go with them, but he also wanted to take the opportunity to stay close along the way and observe whether there was anything wrong with these strange-looking charlatans.

Li Zhuo just said that, and Xie Zhao understood his concerns, but she didn't point it out. She just said with a smile:

"It couldn't be better."