Country color

Chapter 35
In the soft snow under the night.

The servant girl's expression showed extreme panic, all the hairpins on her head fell into the snow, and against the background of the torch of the supporting woman, her face was full of panic.Li Chongjiu saw that there was an extra skirt knife under the woman's wrist.

The thieves wielded their knives and whined, full of obscenity, holding torches in their hands, their gazes were as if they were hungry wolves.

When the thief was about to catch up, the woman suddenly shouted to the man beside her, "The thief is coming, leave me alone, go quickly."

The man guarding the woman turned red, but instead pushed the woman vigorously and shouted: "Er Niang, run to the temple to hide."

After all, the big man turned around and stood on both feet, obviously wanting to fight to the death.

But the sound of the horse's hooves was rumbling, and Li Chongjiu saw that the big man was trembling, not to mention facing the enemy, he couldn't even hold the knife steadily, and only heard a bang.

Kuai Mafei bumped into the man, and the man flew out like a sandbag.

boom!A hole was punched out in the slush, and it was difficult for the man to know whether he was dead or alive.

Seeing that the last barrier was removed, the thieves let out ferocious laughter like night owls, and drove their horses towards the master and servant.

At this time, the skirt knife in the woman's hand flipped, and she was about to swing the knife.

At this moment, there was a loud buzzing sound, the horse neighed suddenly, and a healthy horse suddenly turned on its back.

The thieves still couldn't see what had happened, but at this moment there was another bang, and everyone saw a shadow flying out of the temple. A rogue had shot an arrow through his throat and sprayed blood from his neck!

The thief turned over and fell off the horse, with one foot still hooked on the stirrup, the horse neighed, and immediately dragged the thief around.

In a short breath, two of the four horse thieves had been killed.

The two horse thieves were immediately terrified, but at this moment, at the head of the village, the torches were brightly lit, and the sound of yelling came. It was obvious that the people in the village had discovered that there was movement here.

The two horse thieves didn't know how many people were in the temple, so they immediately lowered their bodies, stuck to the horse's back, pulled out the horse and left.

There was another bow sound, and the third arrow passed by the horse, and the two horse thieves escaped faster.

Li Chongjiu let out a long breath, and withdrew his bow from the window. It is difficult for him to miss the distance within twenty steps with his archery skills, not to mention that the enemy is attacking in the open and we are in the dark, otherwise he would not be able to face it. In front of four guarded thieves, they rescued the two.

At that moment Li Chongjiu raised his bow and ran into the snow, he ran to the big man first.

Hearing that the big man's eyes were round and protruding, his throat was gurgling, and he was breathing in but not out. Li Chongjiu knew that the man was seriously injured and couldn't survive, so he shook his head immediately.

Immediately Li Chongjiu walked up to the woman and the maid.

At this moment, the torch that fell to the ground blew, illuminating the woman's face flickering. Although Li Chongjiu saw that the woman's face was pale, she couldn't hide her brilliance.Although she didn't have Li Zhiwan's national beauty, but she was also a little bit cute and pitiful, which made people feel very pity.

"Hero, save me." The woman whispered.

However, Li Chongjiu sneered to himself. He could see clearly in the temple just now. When the horse thief approached, the skirt knife in the woman's hand was not about to stab himself. She committed suicide to protect her innocence, but was about to stab at the one beside her. maid.

It seems that the maid was injured and fell to the ground, delaying the pursuit of the horse thief.As for the big man just now, he was willing to sacrifice his life for her because of what the woman said.

He was originally unwilling to save her, but he couldn't bear the innocent maidservant's death, so he shot an arrow.Li Chongjiu pointed to the man who was about to die, and asked, "Who is this?"

Seeing this, the woman quickly got up and ran to the man's body, crying loudly.Although Li Chongjiu heard the woman crying loudly, she had no intention of mourning at all, and she knew that she was secretly worthless for this man.

The servant girl revealed a mournful voice, and said: "That is the husband-in-law of Miss."

Li Chongjiu nodded. At this time, the barking of dogs at the entrance of the village kept rising and falling, covered by torches. Li Chongjiu saw that there were about 30 young and strong people in the village, all holding hoes and sticks. Come, therefore resist together.

Li Chongjiu secretly praised these people for their quick response. In this day and age, it is common for villages to set up households to protect themselves.

If the government can protect itself up to the county seat, then the state capital will be fine. As for the villages below, it is still up to the villagers to protect themselves.The leader is the head of the village (Note [-]).Lizheng's surname is Zhou, and his name is Zhou Duyan. When he was with Yang Su, the Duke of Yue, on the Turkic expedition, he was shot blind by the Turks in one eye. After returning to the village, he served as Lizheng.

Holding a bow in his hand, Zhou Duyan saw four corpses in the snow, then looked at Li Chongjiu and asked, "You were the one who yelled like a thief?"

Li Chongjiu shook his head, pointed at the man on the ground who had just died, and said, "It was he who shouted."

Zhou Du took a look at the man who was throwing himself in the snow, and the lonely horse spinning around, and immediately guessed something.Zhou Duyan went to squat down in front of the corpse of the thief lying on the ground in the slush, checked the weapons of the thief, and suddenly there was a bit of anxiety in his eyes.

Now Zhou Duyan said to the crowd: "It's not an ordinary thief, it's a deserter, it should be a deserter going to Liaodong."

Everyone was shocked when they heard it.

Zhou Duyan walked up to the girl, the servant girl, and asked, "I'm the head of the village, where is the little lady from?"

The woman leaned on the man's body as if she was overly sad, she didn't answer, but the servant girl said: "Report to the head of the village, my young lady is the daughter of the Yuan family in Hucao, Chongyang County."

Zhou Duyan was startled, Hucao was already an overshadowing figure in the local area.

When Zhou Duyan turned around, he said seriously: "Little lady is frightened."

The woman kneeling in the snow stood up and said: "Lizheng doesn't need to be so polite, there is no such thing as Chongyang Yuanfu now."

"There is no Yuan family in Chongyang?" Zhou Duyan was surprised.

The servant girl whimpered and said: "The chief doesn't know, Chongyang County has been captured by the exiles! The whole county has been looted, and the master unfortunately died in the hands of the exiles."

Speaking of this woman, the servant girl was even more sad, and couldn't help crying.

This time even Li Chongjiu was surprised, Xin Dao that this bandit is too powerful, even the county town has been breached.

All the villagers were buzzing and whispering to each other, deeply feeling that this time the thief was different from the past.

At that moment, a big man turned to Zhou Duyan and said: "Li Chief, what should we do? Even the county town has been breached, so the next step is that the thieves can loot the surrounding areas. What should we do if they come here?"

"What are you panicking about?" Zhou Duyan shouted immediately, "Isn't there still an imperial court? The imperial court will definitely send troops to encircle and suppress such a big event as the bandits breaching Chongyang County."

"But……"

Seeing Zhou Duyan staring at him, everyone swallowed their words.Li Chongjiu knew that everyone wanted to say in their hearts that the imperial court was currently conquering Liaodong, and there were no surplus soldiers in the surrounding counties.

Then Zhou Duoyan said: "Li Daniu, you immediately go up the mountain and report this matter to the abbot, and say that a group of thieves have arrived at the foot of the mountain, there are still a lot of people, please make preparations early."

"And how to settle these two girls."

When they just came, all the young men's eyes were fixed on the face of Miss Yuan's family, all of them couldn't take their eyes off, when had they seen such a beauty.

Zhou Duyan glanced at everyone's intentions and immediately shouted: "What time is it? We are still fighting. We killed the thief, and this gang will definitely come to revenge. Everyone still has this intention. "Everyone was shocked when they heard it.

Now Zhou Duyan turned his attention to Li Chongjiu.

Li Chongjiu clasped his hands and said, "The head of the village, am I the one who shot and killed the two thieves?"

Zhou Duyan stared at him, and shouted: "You are an idiot, if such a thief who bullies women doesn't take action, he deserves to be called a man with eggs."

After hearing Zhou Duyan's few words, all the villagers applauded.

Zhou Duyan also knew something about Li Chongjiu. At the beginning, this young man was gentle and elegant, and he had dinner together again. Now he saw him shoot and kill the thieves and protect the safety of the village, so he immediately liked him.

At this time, the woman surnamed Yuan stepped forward, bowed down to Li Chongjiu and said: "When I was in trouble, I was very grateful to be rescued by a strong man. Please accept my worship. The grace of saving life will be repaid."

Li Chongjiu saw that the woman brushed the bangs on her forehead lightly, she was not very coquettish, and knew that she was using her feminine charm to seduce her, but it was a pity that Li Chongjiu knew her snake-hearted heart.

Li Chongjiu said with a smile: "It's a little effort, don't mind."

At that moment, Li Chongjiu turned away and said to Li Chang: "Since there are thieves coming, please ask Li Chang to send more people to take precautions."

Zhou Duyan couldn't help nodding his head and said, "Exactly, exactly."

The woman surnamed Yuan turned her head away when she saw Li Chongjiu's words changed, she couldn't help being surprised, this person was not moved by her beauty.

Just at this time, suddenly there was a whistling wind from the foot of the mountain, as if it was pouring in a noisy sound.

A villager suddenly pointed his hand down the mountain: "No, it's a thief!"

Li Chongjiu turned his head to look, and sure enough, dense torches were lit at the foot of the mountain, and he didn't know how many people were going up the mountain in an instant.

Zhou Duyan opened his eyes and yelled that it was not good.

Li Chongjiu immediately said: "Don't stand still, follow us to the Shaolin Temple!"

While talking, the villagers started to scatter with a bang, and each of them rushed home to call for their families.

Li Chongjiu looked at it, turned over and jumped on the bandit's horse, and went straight to the mountain.But the woman surnamed Yuan called several times, but Li Chongjiu didn't seem to hear it, and drove the horse straight into the mountain.

Seeing that the other party ignored her, the woman surnamed Yuan panicked.At this time, a few villagers who were greedy for his beauty came to help, and the woman surnamed Yuan changed back to her lovely and pitiful look, and hurried up the mountain together.

The mountain was in chaos.

At this moment, the Shaolin Temple on the mountain also heard the news, and the bell rang.

Note [-]: In the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were five families and one neighbor, five neighbors and one mile, and five mile and one party.

In the Sui Dynasty, in the local prefectures and counties, there were five families as guarantors, with one guarantor chief, several guarantors as one mile, one mile chief, and several more mileages as one party, with a party leader.

The work of party chiefs and village chiefs generally involves checking household registration, supervising farming, collecting taxes on acres, and collecting corvee and military service.

(End of this chapter)