At this time, the aroma of fried bacon wafted out from the yard. Xu Xin'an shouted, "The hungry worm in my stomach has come to life", and ran to the backyard. Then, amidst Di Niang's scolding, she grabbed a piece of sausage and ran out.
People who practice martial arts have the greatest craving for food. Xu Xin'an and Xu Wujiang went to Hutouling in disguise and spent three or four days eating dry food from mountain springs and streams. How could they bear the smell of meat?
However, he did not forget to give half of the sausage to Xu Huai, pointing to the long bundle on Xu Huai's back: "What's in this? Why did Aunt Seventeen say that you went to help Liu Qiong'er who redeemed himself from Yuehong Mansion, and you didn't want to stay in the military camp?"
Are you here yet?"
"Uncle Wu Liang also asked Miss Liu to hire me to help. This is an old bow he gave me. Can I exchange it for him with a new bow that I got from the military camp?" Xu Huai unpacked the baggage and showed it to Xu Xin'an.
Xu Xinan opened the baggage and saw an old bow with several cracks in it. He said disgustedly: "He has a good idea!"
Inspecting Si Junzhai, long knives like iron pieces are easy to get, but good bows and armors are rare items wherever they are placed. In addition, there are several divine arm crossbows in the army stronghold that are strictly prohibited from entering the civilian population.
There are so many people in the Xu clan, and there are many differences between them. Xu Xin'an doesn't think that Xu Wuliang's relationship with them is close enough to help Cong Junzhai get a good bow.
He thought Xu Huai was stupid and was deceived by Xu Wuliang's good words, so he agreed to the matter and said to him: "Don't worry about this. If Xu Wuliang asks you for a bow, just give it to me."
Xu Xin'an was elected as a sentinel detective in the Inspection Department, and his spirits became high.
Xu Wuliang said that he was the elder of the clan, but after marrying into his wife, he had been guarding the small blacksmith shop for more than ten years without any success. Xu Xinan looked down upon him somewhat.
Xu Huai smiled inwardly, wrapped the old bow in burlap, and said, "If you don't help me, I'll talk to Uncle Seventeen about this."
"You idiot, what benefit does Xu Wuliang give you? Do you remember that his mother-in-law snatched the wheat cakes from your arms and ran to your mother to make a fuss? With your little brain, you may have forgotten...
I won’t get angry with you, you can talk to Uncle Seventeen yourself and see if he scolds you for being stupid.” Xu Xin’an said.
Xu Huai came back with two guans of money to find someone to change his bow privately, and thought that Xu Xinan would help him directly. Now it seems that these two guans of money cannot be saved.
Although Xu Xin'an was angry at Xu Huai's lack of knowledge, he was curious about Liu Qiong'er's redemption from Yuehong Mansion.
He returned to Junzhai less than an hour ago and heard several people talking about this matter. They also said that Liu Qiong'er stayed overnight in Junzhai the day before yesterday and made a special trip to see Mr. Wang Zhen. He was curious about what was going on.
"By the way, why did Liu Qiong'er redeem herself from Yuehong Mansion? It was Old Master Wang's request that you go to help her. What's the matter with asking Xu Wuliang to help her? His blacksmith shop is closed?
"
"If you don't help replace a broken bow, how can I know that it's troublesome?" Xu Huai said in a loud voice.
"You are stupid, but you really don't believe me," Xu Xin'an said to Xu Huai, looking at no one in the yard, "With this old bow, it is not difficult to replace it with a good one from the military camp, but there is no benefit, who would be willing to use it
I have a good bow in my hand and can I give it to you in exchange? At least I have to give away two or three guan of money here. Xu Wuliang is bullying you for being stupid and does not understand the market. Let me ask you, are you holding a bowl of boiling water in your hand?
I'll bring you a bowl of glutinous rice for the greasy bacon, can you give it to me instead?"
"I will exchange it for you, but I don't know if I will exchange it for you?" Xu Huai asked, "Uncle Wu Liang said that I would exchange this bow for my use."
Xu Xin'an was startled and said angrily: "Forget it, I'll help you change it for Zhang Lianggong, so that I won't be bullied by your stupid mouth."
When Xu Huai saw that Xu Xinan was fooled, he secretly laughed in his heart and was glad that he could save two or three dollars.
At this time, seeing Xu Wujiang coming from outside with a gloomy face, Xu Huai had a bad feeling in his heart. Xu Xin'an also walked over with some anxiety and asked: "Uncle Seventeen, what's wrong?"
"Deng Langjun asked me to lead my soldiers to guard Qingxi Village and block the entrance for the bandits to come out of Hutou Village. After the clans have agreed on the specific terms of joining forces, we can then march together to suppress Hutou Village!" Xu Wujiang spat!
He took a sip of saliva and said in a loud voice.
Qingxizhai is an ordinary village in the middle reaches of Paohu River. It is the place where the bandits from Hutou Village must pass when they come out from the depths of the mountains in the northern ridge of Tongbai Mountain and approach the horse trail. It was this village where dozens of women and children were arrested a few days ago.
The thieves in Hutou Village took it away as meat tickets, and no one has redeemed it until now.
Xu Xin'an was like a cat whose tail was stepped on, and she screamed: "Deng Langjun, isn't he bullying others? The master of the house is with Deng Langjun, why doesn't he say anything for help?"
Not to mention how dangerous it was to lead the team to defend Qingxi Village at this time, he had just returned from sneaking with Xu Wujiang to investigate the bandits near Hutouling. Before he could take a breath, he was about to be sent out again. Who wouldn't call him?
?
It’s not like there are no other soldiers to dispatch in the patrol camp, so how can we just trim their hair?
Xu Huai also had an angry look on his face when he saw Xu Wujiang. Obviously Xu Wufu did not speak for him, and might even agree with Deng Gui, forcing Xu Wujiang to lead his team to Qingxi Village.
At this moment, a shadow suddenly fell over Xu Huai's heart, and a slight chill seeped out from his back.
He remembered that Liu Qiong'er said that she had heard in Yuehong Mansion that the assassin had found out that Xu Wufu and Xu Wujiang had long been at odds with each other. Who did the assassin pass on to Xu Wufu?
…………
…………
Deng Gui did not have any foundation in Huaiyuan Town, but Xu Wu and Fu all attached themselves to Deng Gui, which deprived Xu Wujiang of his greatest support for disobedience.
Xu Wujiang was dissatisfied, but after returning to the house and having a quick meal, he took Xu Xin'an and rushed to the barracks.
Tomorrow morning we will set off for Qingxizhai. There are too many things to arrange. Xu Wujiang feels resentful in his heart, but he doesn't care about it. He also has to hold down the soldiers below from getting angry. At this time, he is not in the mood to ask Xu Huai about Liu Qiong.
His son redeemed himself from Yuehong Mansion and he and Xu Wuliang went to help out, etc.
Xu Wujiang was originally responsible for arranging the security around Wang Chen, but this time it was handed over to other sections. Xu Huai went to see Wang Chen at night, and two soldiers from another team were replaced in the courtyard.
The military soldiers of the inspection department were all local soldiers recruited from the local area, but the clans in Tongbai Mountain had been fighting for land, water and forests for many years, and it was not uncommon for clans to fight with each other.
This reflected that within the Inspection Department, the relationship between soldiers in different teams was not as harmonious as imagined.
Most of the soldiers under Xu Wujiang were protective of Xu Huai, but the courtyard on Wang Zhen's side was guarded by another group of soldiers. When they saw Xu Huai coming at night, they drove him away unceremoniously, and even picked up dirt lumps and threw them at Xu.
Throw it over me:
"You stupid donkey, what are you looking at for nothing? Get away!"
Xu Huai pushed the door open and walked into the courtyard. He stretched out his hand and pushed the soldier to stagger and sit on the ground. When the man got up and rushed towards him for a struggle, he grabbed the collar of his soldier's uniform with one hand and pushed him against the earth wall.
Staring at him and asking: "Who are you calling a donkey?"
Another soldier was holding a spear and watching the fun, and sneered at his companion:
"Your grandson, do you think you are still mean-mouthed? This stubborn donkey of the Xu family is capable of cutting off his head, but with his strength, he can easily beat you two or three times. How dare you pick him off?"
Seeing that his companion's face and neck were flushed but unable to break free from Xu Huai's grasp, he came up to dissuade him.
"Okay, okay, Xu Huai, you stubborn donkey, stop messing around, let go, don't really suffocate Chen Heipi to death. Bandits are rampant these days, Deng Langjun is worried that someone will be unfavorable to Mr. Wang, so he
Strict order prohibits all idle people from approaching Mr. Wang, you’d better go somewhere else to play!”
Wang Zhenliu was demoted to live in Tangzhou, and the local government had the responsibility of guarding him. In other words, Deng Gui had the power to prevent outsiders from approaching Wang Zhen.
Of course, Wang Zhen must want to meet someone. Deng Gui is in a low position and is unlikely to forcefully stop him. However, this will definitely be written into official documents and reported to the higher authorities, which will become evidence of Wang Zhen's "restlessness in the local area."
.
Xu Huai did not intend to join the Inspection Department and be under the control of Deng Gui, but he had been hanging out in the military camp for two years. Of course, he could not do anything that would make Xu Wujiang unable to clean up the matter. He let go of his hand, put the man down, and patted his butt.
go out.
Xu Huai walked to the willow forest and waited for a while before Lu Xiong came over.
"Liu Qiong'er moved to Tieshi Lane. Yesterday evening, some thieves came to spy on them. I lured them out of the market and killed them..." Xu Huai told Lu Xiong what happened in the past two days.
Xu Huai had previously deliberately concealed the fact that Liu Qiong'er personally received the assassin when he stayed at Yuehong Mansion, and Liu Qiong'er overheard many other details. At this time, Lu Xiong heard that Xu Huai had a bandit who came to spy on Liu Qiong yesterday.
He was startled by the movement around him and asked in surprise:
"Miss Liu redeemed herself from Yuehong Mansion, and she actually caused Zheng Hui and others to disturb her here?"
"Liu Qiong'er is guarded by Xu Wuliang at this time, so there is nothing to worry about for the time being. After all, Zheng Hui and others still can't figure out our reality," Xu Huai said, "But it was Deng Gui. Xu Wufu's reaction was a bit unexpected.
Already?"
No matter how ferocious the more than two hundred bandit soldiers in Hutou Village were, they did not have the strength to attack the city. Zheng Hui could not tell the ordinary bandits about the assassination.
The possibility of an invasion of Huaiyuan, or of a small group of elite bandits raiding Huaiyuan Town, is extremely slim.
However, Deng Gui and Xu Wufu colluded together and dispatched Xu Wujiang and other soldiers to Qingxi Village so quickly to resist the Hutou Village bandits from the front, which was beyond Xu Huai's expectation.
Xu Huai didn't expect this possibility, but he didn't expect it to happen so quickly, so fast that he didn't even have the ability to react.
New soldiers were appointed to guard the courtyard, and no one explained to Lu Xiong what was going on. They only said that they were following Deng Gui's orders.
Lu Xiong didn't want this series of changes to happen, so he felt troubled and asked: "Have you seen Xu Wufu? He definitely knew that the assassin was targeting an old soldier of the Jingsheng Army and his father-in-law, so he followed Deng Gui and deliberately called him Xu
Wu Jiang’s team of soldiers were sacrificed?”
"I don't have a reason to meet him yet, but it's not like I know the full story,"
Xu Huai shook his head and analyzed, saying,
"There are a total of seventeen Xu clan members who returned to the clan from the Jingsheng Army. My father died young and Xu Wuliang married into Huaiyuan Town. There are still three people who have little savings and returned to their hometown to buy land and houses to make ends meet; apart from that,
, and there are twelve people who all join Xu Wufu. The Xu family organizes autumn training for rural soldiers every year during the off-season. These twelve people are the absolute backbone. They usually work around Xu Wufu and are very reliable. Xu Wufu and
Uncle Seventeen is at odds with his heart, and the group of soldiers led by Uncle Seventeen, even in Xu Wufu's view, can be sacrificed if not only his life is obeyed, but he relies on the eleven and two as his right-hand man.
There is no reason for him to give up so easily!"
Although the rural soldiers are the absolute main force in maintaining local security, there are more than 800 households in Yuhuangling, and it is impossible to maintain the military equipment of 600 or 700 people all year round. Most of them are organized for autumn training during the off-season, and they are always on hand.
There are only forty or fifty people in the village.
Among these forty or fifty people, one can imagine how important the twelve veterans of the Jingsheng Army were.
If Xu Wufu got mad, would he sacrifice these twelve people?
