Suyuan Town is not big, with only about 700 people in total. Most of the houses are earthen houses, and the overall appearance is earthy yellow. Looking around, you can only see a little bit of color at the entrance of a courtyard in the center of the town.
The compound is a house that is being renovated. It is located near the ruins of the old escort agency. Craftsmen hired for free from the town are painting the walls around the house. There is a flagpole at the entrance of the house, with fast yellow cloth and colorful embroidered horses hanging on it.
The flower horse.
Such a broken house is not even as impressive as a small sect in Yunzhou in terms of style, but it dares to set up camp at a fixed location, which is already considered a very powerful force for the people of Liangzhou Jianghu. After all, no matter how beautiful the house is,
, if you can't keep it, it is also used as a wedding dress for others. Generally, horse bandits who have no fixed abode will want to dress up their appearance.
As the house is about to be completed, Ma Rulong, who has been drifting in the Gobi Desert in Liangzhou for half his life, feels a little more comfortable. He stays in the house every day to supervise the construction and watch the progress of the work.
As the leader of a caravan with more than a hundred swordsmen, it seems funny to outsiders that he is so attached to a small house, but outsiders have no idea what a house means to a horse bandit.
Liangzhou is a land of pure wilderness. The iron laws of the Wei Dynasty have lost any binding force in the thousands of miles of Gobi Desert. If you want to survive here, you have to either become a docile sheep and rely on wool and mutton in exchange for a habitat under the feet of carnivores.
Those who don’t want to be sheep can only become carnivores and use their sharp teeth and sharp mouths to gain a foothold. A few of these people have become the bosses of gangs and escort agencies, while most of them have become horse bandits wandering around.
.
Horse bandits are not wanderers. They are killed by the court, gangs, and other gangs, and they do not need any reason. From the day they cross the horse and pick up the sword, they are destined to be unable to stop. They are either on the road or become someone.
Road signs, or heads were exchanged for a few taels of silver rewarded by the court.
Ma Rulong was born in the den of horse bandits. He has been in Liangzhou for more than thirty years. He has never stayed in one place for more than half a month. He has robbed countless gold and silver, killed many people, and also enjoyed people in the county.
This is a luxurious treatment that only a master can have, but I still don’t know what it’s like to get up in my own home in the morning.
Seeing that the house was about to be completed, Ma Rulong even moved furniture in advance, placed a tea set from the county in the living room, and brewed Kung Fu tea shipped from Yunzhou.
Although it took a long time to slowly drink it, it was not enough to drink a sip, and it was far less flavorful than strong liquor, but the leisure and comfort that could only be seen from the Lord Juncheng was something that other horse bandits could not even imagine.
Ma Rulong was so happy about this that he even considered whether to have all the kiln girls in the town come over. He would drink tea on the table while the kiln girls would eat other things under the table. It is said that all the big men in the city did this...
But it is a pity that horse bandits are horse bandits after all, and they should not forget the blood and tears experience of death if they stop.
At noon, facing the rugged Ma Rulong, wearing an open-chested sweatshirt and drinking tea behind the tea table, the second in the gang suddenly ran in and said:
"Gang leader, a caravan has come outside, with about twenty people, and there seems to be a female family member. The escort leader came directly in. He seems to be a ruthless person, and we don't dare to stop him."
Ma Rulong blew the hot tea and said casually:
"No matter how ruthless the character is, can he be as ruthless as Jiang Zahu? Nowadays, the Hongshan Gang has to give me three points of thin noodles. What are you afraid of, a coward? Just go ahead and say that you want to buy food and fodder in the town. Pay tribute first. One
One tael of silver per head..."
"The leader of the horse gang."
Before Ma Rulong finished speaking, a clear voice came from outside the hall.
The caravan thugs who were leaning in the yard all got up and picked up their weapons at their sides, while the craftsmen who were working with their heads full stopped.
Ma Rulong frowned, raised his eyes and looked outside, only to see five people coming in from outside the courtyard.
The leader was a young man dressed as a bodyguard, with a hat on his head, a knife in his hand, and a big white bird standing on his shoulder. His appearance looked familiar.
To the left of the young escort is a young man in brocade and white robes. He is very tall, but his chest muscles are too developed. At first glance, he looks like a woman disguised as a man. He is probably a young lady from a wealthy family who is out to play in the county.
And among the three people behind, there is a long-haired old lady who is over sixty years old, and she looks like an old servant.
The other two were tall, bronze-skinned guys who looked silly, and they should be grooms.
The scholar dressed as a scholar next to him looks like a master...
Ma Rulong has traveled north and south for many years, so it's not like he has never seen the world. When he saw this battle, he knew he was a nobleman from a certain county.
Liangzhou was in chaos, but not every place was a wasteland. The major counties and cities in the middle, such as Dingxi City where King Liang lived, were also very prosperous. No horse bandit dared to run there, and the big people inside
The master is not something you can just rob.
Seeing this, Ma Rulong put down his tea bowl, stood up, and made a quaint salute:
"Does this little brother know Mr. Ma?"
Ye Jingtang had long forgotten it, but Yang Chao reminded him just now, so he still remembered it. He strode to the tea table and asked:
"Do you still remember the Honghe Escort Agency in Honghe County, Ma Gang Leader?"
"Red River Escort Agency..."
Ma Rulong frowned: "No...you!"
Bang——
Before Ma Rulong finished speaking, the back of his neck suddenly sank, and then he realized with horror that the young escort who was passing by had come to his side at some point, clasped the back of his neck with one hand, and pressed him directly against the tea maker next to him.
On the small iron kettle.
呲~
"ah--"
Ma Rulong screamed, but he immediately suppressed it and endured the severe pain and said urgently:
"I remember! I remember! I robbed the hero's escort three years ago, and it was only ten taels of silver. The hero wanted the eagle at the time but didn't give it to him. He left without wanting to do anything... Small compensation! Pay ten times..."
"I don't even want the Hongshan Gang to pay a thousand times the compensation, so why don't you just give me ten times the compensation?"
Ye Jingtang picked up Ma Rulong and pressed him on the tea table:
"Besides, if money can be paid, how can the fate of Mr. Hong be calculated?"
"He was the one who made the first move. He killed three of my brothers, and I came here to take revenge... I know my fault. I was the first to do harm, so I should kill him! But I really can't kill him. Killing a hero will get me into trouble. I have offended him in the past.
I can afford to pay..."
Ye Jingtang didn't kill him directly, he wanted to ask about Liangzhou's current situation. Seeing what Ma Rulong said, he asked:
"What trouble could I get into?"
"I worshiped the Black Flag Gang this year. I have become a member of the Black Flag Gang. I have settled here and collected some passing money. My life is nothing, but killing people from the Black Flag Gang is not easy for a hero to explain...
…”
Ye Jingtang knew that the Black Flag Gang had a background in Prince Liang's palace and helped Prince Liang's business to earn extra money. Indeed, no one dared to provoke them in Liangzhou, but he was obviously not afraid.
Ye Jingtang ignored this and continued to ask:
"To go from here to Honghe Town, you have to cross the Barren Bone Beach. What kind of forces are there on the way? Where do they usually hang out?"
Ma Rulong quickly replied: "Didn't the imperial court start to trade with Beiliang last year? From outside the customs to Yunzhou, the Huanggutan route is the closest. However, there were too many horse bandits, so the Black Flag Gang moved their base there and recruited many horse gangs.
Looking along the road, I am one of them, the road is very peaceful now..."
Ye Jingtang was quite surprised. He guessed that this was secretly instructed by the King of Liang, so that the horse bandits would not rob the Northern Liang court's caravan and discredit the court.
Ma Rulong knew how much he had done to lose his head. He might survive with a gang, but he would definitely not survive with an escort. For this reason, after he finished speaking, he continued to speak:
"Hero, please spare your life. I can really compensate. I have good things. The hero will definitely like it..."
Seeing this, Ye Jingtang became interested and asked:
"what?"
Ma Rulong raised his hands and stood up slowly, then moved the tea table away, lifted up the floor, and took out a small package from underneath.
After opening the package, there were several pieces of iron inside, with cloud patterns on the surface. Just by looking at the texture, you knew it was not ordinary iron.
Dongfang Liren had been standing at the door and watching. When he saw the iron block, his eyes narrowed slightly:
"Square steel?"
Ma Rulong held the package in both hands and nodded quickly:
"This girl knows the goods. It is scaled steel. It is forbidden by the imperial court. It is impossible to get it in the world. It is very valuable..."
Ye Jingtang didn't know much about these materials, so he turned around and asked:
"Is this thing very precious?"
Dongfang Liren frowned and responded:
"Kilin armor is made of scaled steel. Only Yazhou produced a small amount and mostly used it to make heavy armor and high-quality weapons. After the founding of the Wei Dynasty, the mineral deposits were returned to the imperial court. In order to prevent them from falling into the hands of the enemy, this material would not flow into the outside world at all.
"
Ye Jingtang knew that the sturdiness of the unicorn armor was only inferior to the sky-high-priced armor of Prince Yan. Heavy cavalry would basically be able to walk sideways on the battlefield when wearing it.
"Where did you get this?"
Ma Rulong said quickly: "It was stolen. I helped the Black Flag Gang guard the gate here. One time, the Black Flag Gang's caravan passed by and rested here. I accidentally discovered that there was a lot hidden under the carriage, so I took a few pieces, but nothing was found.
Dare to take action. If the hero needs it, spare my life and I will find a way to get you more..."
When Ye Jingtang heard this, he knew that he had discovered something big. After waiting for Ma Rulong to finish speaking, he took the iron block and handed the person to She Long and Shang Jianli to deal with. He walked out of the door and came to the big hall with Dongfang Liren.
Outside the hospital.
After Dongfang Liren went out, his expression turned cold:
"This Black Flag Gang is so audacious that they smuggled corrugated steel to Beiliang. Do they want to overthrow the world?"
Ye Jingtang understands why Dongfang Liren is so angry - scaled steel can cast invulnerable heavy armor. If a large amount of it flows into the Beiliang frontier army, hundreds of more heavy cavalry in armor and riding equipment can sometimes be enough to affect others.
The victory or defeat of a war is blatant collaboration with the enemy and treason.
Ye Jingtang thought for a while and said: "Behind the Black Flag Gang is Prince Liang's Mansion. Is it possible that Prince Liang is secretly sponsoring the enemy?"
Meng Jiao has been following behind and said:
"The King of Liang does not have scaled steel. All heavy armors are cast by the imperial court and then distributed to the Liangzhou frontier army. The production area of scaled steel is controlled by the Yazhou frontier army..."
Ye Jingtang frowned and felt that something was wrong - the Yazhou Army was the empress's private army, and its commander was Wang Yin, the Duke of Zhenguo, who was Wang Chihu's biological father, the empress and his stupid uncle. If this was found out,
With the news that the Wang family has tangled with the enemy, the Wei Dynasty may have to change the situation on the spot.
Dongfang Liren obviously realized the seriousness of the problem and did not want to discuss it anymore. He turned around and walked out of the town:
"Until the matter is investigated, it must not be made public."