golden scales

"Master, there have been a lot of outposts and cavalry in the past two days. Is the imperial court going to send troops again?"

Sitting on a high wooden back chair is a one-eyed strong man.A knife mark slashed from his forehead to his cheek, as if his head had been split in two.It was the knife that took his eye.Now there is only a pit of meat left.With his only remaining eye, he scanned the left and right subordinates in the hall, and said in a low voice, "Isn't there any news from the city yet?"

As soon as the voice fell, I heard footsteps outside, and someone shouted: "The military division is here!"

A scribe in a dirty robe with a disheveled bun and a square scarf came striding forward, holding a folding fan in his hand, slapping the palm of his hand, laughing before saying anything, a bit crazy appearance.

The others didn't care and looked at him quietly.

"Good thing! Very good thing!" The fallen scribe walked to the chair on the left side of the one-eyed gangster, the boss sat down politely, and said: "These days the horses are galloping, so it turns out that the imperial court wants to send troops to Luoyang."

"What's so good about this?" The gangster didn't take it seriously, and looked at his military adviser with one eye.

"It was the crown prince of the East Palace who went to appease the army. The emperor's old son granted him the honorary guard of the emperor. Now there are two banners flying outside the gate of the East Palace. "The scribe was full of joy, and he finished speaking in one breath, and suddenly his face turned cold: "So I asked someone to pull the spy out and beat him up."

"Oh? Why did you beat him?" asked the boss.

"I'm afraid this guy just listened to two stories in the teahouse, and he dared to come back to deceive us!" The scribe said angrily, "The crown prince is Fujun, not Luocao, what is he writing about 'doing justice for the sky'!"

"That's right, we didn't write it down." A leader echoed.

"How about we write one too?" Someone suggested.

"Pick up people's teeth and wisdom, and they will be used up!" Someone objected.

"Even thieves will say 'follow the heavens', and we still 'do justice for the heavens'?"

……

For a while, there was a lot of discussion in the hall of the cottage, but the topic had already turned to what banner to play.

"Shut up, everyone!" The one-eyed bandit yelled violently, raised his index finger, and slowly pointed upwards.

Everyone moved their eyes up inch by inch following the finger of the head master. When the finger stopped, they also saw the plaque on the high hanging hall. dignified.

"See?" The giant man raised his arms high and asked three words coldly.

Everyone lowered their heads one after another, not daring to be presumptuous in the slightest.

"Loyalty, filial piety and sincerity!" The giant man paused every word, and his voice was like thunder: "We are living in the grass, and we have loyalty and filial piety in our hearts. Could it be that the past few years have passed, and you have already forgotten the supervisor!"

Everyone lowered their heads.

The giant man took a deep breath, turned to the sloppy military adviser, and said, "From the military's point of view, what's so good about this news?"

"The crown prince's work suits my taste. I think it's good for him to go to Luoyang to Fujun." The military adviser didn't look like a resourceful man at all, and regardless of the cold weather, he threw off his fan and fanned it fiercely.The folding fan was originally plain, but it was already dirty and yellow, and there were still some wine stains and oil stains on it.

"Bullshit." The head of the family's complexion darkened: "I'm asking if you have any crazy ideas."

"I don't have a ghost idea." The military adviser said proudly: "I do have an idea to make you ghosts return to the sun."

"Stop talking nonsense!"

"Go and seek refuge with the crown prince, and get yourself a family." The military adviser said with a natural look.

"I don't care about family background." The head of the family's complexion darkened, but the one eye that remained turned around: "But...doesn't the supervisor even have a posthumous title?"

The military division shook his head.

"Tell me, if we recruit, can we change the posthumous title for the supervisor?" The head of the family seemed to have an idea, and carefully asked for proof: "Didn't you say that all literati must have that in order to be considered a lifetime of worthless work?"

"Fix the king's affairs in the world, and win the fame before and after his life. Alas, alas, alas..." The military commander's face was full of pain, and he closed his folding fan in his hand, beating his palms heavily.

"What are you crazy about?" The head of the family scolded: "Speak clearly, what is your plan?"

"It's this..." The scribe wearing a square scarf turned his hand away, scratched the itchy spot on his back through his clothes, and said, "The brothers have made a name for themselves in this area in recent years. The queen also looks like a dog, but think about it carefully, how much weight do we have?"

As soon as these words came out, everyone was silent for a while.

"I'm just a master who supervises the food and grass under the tent of the supervisor, and I'm not a crooked talent." The military commander said lonely: "You are just a personal soldier, and the supervisor has never even spoken to you. These people Not to mention, it's a ball!"

These bandits in the mountains heard the military adviser scolding people, but they didn't even have the courage to refute.

Because what he said was indeed true.

In this mountain, the one-eyed dragon with the most courage, and the poisonous scholar with unparalleled resourcefulness are actually just two little people.

real little people.

There are no tigers in the mountains, and monkeys are the little people who are called kings.

"Recruit a ball! Who will recruit us! As soon as the officers and soldiers arrive, we will be wiped out without even a chance to defend ourselves!" Poison Scholar pointed at these minions and shouted loudly.

Cyclops sighed and said: "The military adviser makes sense." He raised his head again and said: "But every time you go crazy, you have a not-so-stinky idea, tell me about it."

"Idea?" Poison Scholar sneered, grabbed the bowl of water on the table, gulped it down, and said, "There is only one: defect."

"Go for refuge?" Cyclops was taken aback.

"What if you don't defect?" Poison Scholar yelled, "If we are a governor who has no soldiers, we can still use the banner of the governor to find a way out. However, when you meet the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace, you go to ask for help. Who are you? Do you say you can fight in Xiao Donglou? Or do you say you have a beautiful face and can serve wine?" The south wind flourished in the late Ming Dynasty and reached the army.Many governors and generals will find a tender boy to serve wine, just like a beautiful concubine.

Xiao Donglou, that is, the head of the one-eyed dragon, raised his hand to touch the scar on his eye, only to feel a burning pain.

"Stop the bullshit!" Xiao Donglou scolded, "Would they want us if we go to the past?"

"You dog day is just a gangster in the market. You were accepted as a servant in the military camp after being appreciated by the supervisor. Isn't it the same if you return to your old career?"

"This is [***] Mao's family property!" Xiao Donglou cursed back, looking at the bosses under his command.Most of these people were comrades-in-arms who joined the army in the past. After the defeat, they gathered together and turned into bandits. On weekdays, they robbed houses and harassed business routes. Because he was the best at fighting, they regarded him as the big shopkeeper.Speaking carefully, brotherhood is still more than the difference between master and slave.

"Master, military advisor, I, Heipi, just ask: What kind of person is Donggong? Is it worth our lives?" There was a leader with plaster on his bald head. He was black from head to toe, like a pile of carbon. The ones who crawled out of the house are average.

As soon as Heipi opened his mouth, the other bosses couldn't help mumbling, all of them lost confidence in the officials and gentlemen of Daming.If there is another talented person like the supervisor, it will be fine even if he is completely confused.But if there is a mediocre person on the table, it would be better than the Wuthering Mountain Forest, and when they encounter fat sheep, they will draw their knives and eat meat.

"Let me tell you this." Poison scholar put his hands on the table, curled his legs and squatted on the chair, tilted his head and thought for a while, and said: "The prince left the palace two months ago and lived in Wangfu Street. Disaster relief Epidemic prevention. It’s the pimple plague.”

Everyone took a deep breath when they heard the pimple plague, and their faces were filled with shock and solemnity.These people are all from Hebei. They know the severity of pimple plague. Once it spreads, more than half of a village will die. As long as they are infected, there will be no way out.

"The crown prince came from Taiwei Xing, and quickly suppressed the plague." The poisonous scholar took it for granted.

"This prince is quite capable, he is a good prince." Xiao Donglou responded perfunctorily.

"If it's just like this, I wouldn't want to go to him." Poison Scholar snorted, and said again: "Then guess what happened? The small families in the city will not suffer from the plague, but those big families, wealthy nobles The family began to suffer from the plague, and once it happened, the whole family died, and no one escaped."

"Did the prince let the God of Plague go?" Everyone discussed with horror on their faces.

"Hey, if the prince wants to have this ability, can't he just open the altar? Still need to go out of the palace?" The poisonous scholar mocked: "Since then, those nobles in the city have started donating money to the prince." He paused, He asked again: "Do you understand?"

Xiao Donglou was the first to react, and slapped on the table: "If you don't pay, you will suffer plague, this is so fucking cruel!"

"Are you a reckless prince like you?" The poisonous scholar glanced at Xiao Donglou: "Who can bear it if the plague really breaks out? In the entire capital, the crown prince is the only one who understands the plague. Two of his subordinates Dial people. One is called Qingshan doctor, who is the imperial doctor of Taiyuan Hospital. The other is Donggong guard camp. Qingshan doctor said that whichever house suffers from the plague, the guard camp will live in groups, and no one can leave. Understand Is it gone?"

"If you say you suffer from the plague, you will suffer from the plague, and if you don't suffer from it, you will suffer from it! Hahaha!" Xiao Donglou laughed loudly: "This prince has an expert by his side!"

"That's right, he's most likely the king who went down the mountain!" The poisonous scholar gave him another look: "From this matter, I feel that this prince is really the seed of his old Zhu family! Just like Taizu and Chengzu, he has hands black!"

"This...then...if we follow the prince, we will suffer in the future?" Hei Pi was dumbfounded.

"You are worthy too? If you want to be feared by the emperor, you have to be a prince first!" The poisonous scholar spat on the ground, looked at Xiao Donglou: "Go or not, you say!"

Xiao Donglou touched the scar on his eye, and said in a deep voice, "I just want to know one thing."

"What?"

"Even you can tell that the prince is doing this. Everyone in the capital is an idiot? Didn't any high-ranking official rape him?" Xiao Donglou looked at his military adviser suspiciously.

"Are you sick?" The poisonous scholar said disdainfully: "That's the prince! The emperor's own son! I want to say that your mother-in-law raped me, do you believe me or your mother-in-law? Besides, all those who died of the plague were burned to death!" Ashes, not even a human figure, you said that he was hacked to death by the crown prince without the plague, what is the proof? If you have no evidence and no proof, you dare to frame the crown prince? Do you think it is too long?"

Xiao Donglou looked suddenly enlightened, slapped the table heavily, and said: "This bastard prince is brave and resourceful! I have to hang out with him, maybe I can really earn a posthumous title for the supervisor. What do you say? ?”

There are more than a dozen gangsters and bosses below, all of whom are engaged in the business of licking blood on the edge of a knife, killed from the pile of dead people. Hearing what the shopkeeper said, his heart was unavoidably turbulent, and discussions began.Under the plaque of loyalty, filial piety and sincerity, there was a soft sound of everything.

To go, or to stay, that is the question.

Because of this either-or question, the voices of discussion became louder and louder, and finally turned into disputes and curses.

"Save a ball!" Hei Pi suddenly jumped onto the long willow table, pulled out his waist knife and stabbed it on the table: "I began to think that killing a few big families, robbing money, food and women is more refreshing than serving as a soldier. Over the years, it has become more and more boring! What kind of name is this killing? When I followed the supervisor to kill thieves and slaves, he was a good man! If the head of the family wants to leave, I will follow. We are officials and thieves at odds!"

"Hei Pi," Xiao Donglou stared at Hei Pi, and called out, "You bastard, how dare you draw your sword in front of me?"

Hei Pi's pride disappeared in an instant, like a wilted eggplant, he laughed at himself and climbed off the table.

"This matter," Xiao Donglou looked around the scene, "you have to make it clear to everyone in the village. If someone wants to stay, it's fine. But those who leave each have a set of armor and weapons. The rest depends on how well they guard. Can’t live here. It’s not a day or two since those rammed goods in Erhushan have been targeting us.”

"Master, military advisor," said a middle-aged man in front of the table in a deep voice, "Many brothers have families, if they want to follow, will they abandon their wives and children?"

Xiao Donglou pondered for a moment, then looked at the military division.

The military adviser frowned: "Once the head of the family leaves, most of the village will not be able to hold it. If you have such a surname, those who want to leave should join the prince's army. If you don't want to join the army, you can share the money and buy some land to live a peaceful life." .In the future, if the brothers are lucky enough to survive, they will have a better future, and they will be taken care of when they get old."

"The military adviser is right!" Xiao Donglou patted the table: "That's it, everyone, go out and explain clearly to your brothers. We were originally officers and soldiers, and we were bandits! If you want to leave, you can stay and listen. There is nothing to force. Let me count the number of people earlier!"

"Yes, master!" Everyone agreed one after another, clattered and took their weapons, and swarmed out.

Xiao Donglou shot like lightning, grabbed the military division's wrist, and tugged lightly.

With just a light tug, Poison Scholar was pulled staggeringly, almost being dragged into Xiao Donglou's arms.

"You just said that my mother-in-law is cheating on you, isn't it true?" Xiao Donglou asked in a low voice.

"Guess." The poisonous scholar looked like a cunning villain, but in fact, his bones ached from being pinched by the giant man's iron-like hands.

"It must be fake!" Xiao Donglou said firmly.

"Do you believe me?" Poison Scholar asked again.

Doubt flashed in Xiao Donglou's eyes, and he said: "Although you are just a master, you have a bad mouth... But your words are still reliable... I killed her eighteen generations of ancestors! Did she really love you?"

"Hey, guess what!" (To be continued.)