Chapter 2 Leaving the Fortress (Part 1) Along the way, Xu Da pointed with his eyes and sighed with emotion for such a big city. How many soldiers can be hidden, how many people can be gathered, how much food can be stored, etc. Li Xu nodded and agreed like a sleeping insect.
As he looked, what he was thinking about was that in such a big city, with such a dense flow of people, how much income could he make every day by opening a grocery store in a busy city? One of them looked at Pan Xiongfei and said, the other listened without caring, but they also cooperated with each other.
De Yizhang
"The First Emperor unified the world. General Meng Tian once stationed 20,000 troops here throughout his life. The Huns did not dare to go south to herd horses!" Xu Dayan jumped off his horse and pointed to a dilapidated ancient temple.
The paint on the temple is mottled and peeling off, and it looks even more desolate compared to the lively scenery around it. However, the local people do not find it shabby. Everyone who passes by the temple gate dismounts their horses and walks slowly. Even the vendors setting up stalls along the street try not to get close to the temple entrance.
"Meng Tian, wasn't he killed by the second emperor?" Li Xu jumped off the horse and asked in a low voice. After walking around the streets for a long time, he and Xu Dayan finally found a common topic.
"Xi Wei died at the hands of a foreign race!" Xu Dayan shrugged his shoulders and sighed that Li Xu, who was just like a follower next to him, was very different from his character. Xu Dayan had already suppressed a lot of unknown anger towards this boring gourd who was always absent-minded.
But there is only one person in the entire caravan who has read books. No matter how dissatisfied he is, he can only accommodate him.
Little Li Xu didn't have time to listen to his long sigh. As soon as he jumped off the horse, his eyes were attracted by a two-story small building with carved beams in the distance. The whole building was painted in bright colors, and there was faint sound of silk and bamboo inside.
Those who approached and walked out of Zhisheng's door were all well-dressed high-rollers, all of them with extremely rosy faces, as if everyone had just concluded a big deal.
"It's just a brothel, what's there to see?" Xu Dayan shouted in a low voice, looking at his companion with even more disdain.
Next, Li Xu's reply made his eyes fall out of anger.
"Isn't the brothel painted with paint? Why does it have such a weird name? What kind of goods are sold inside? Brother Maogong, would you like to go and have a look!" Li Xu pulled the reins of the horse and stepped forward step by step.
"We don't sell goods, we only sell laughter!" Xu Dayan was so angry that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he stepped forward and grabbed him.
"Are you kidding me?" Li Xulu was stunned for a long time before he realized that the brothel was actually a brothel, and suddenly his face turned red to the base of his neck.
"Is it possible that the folk customs in Shanggu County are so simple? You have never even heard of a prostitute!" Xu Dayan couldn't bear that his companion was so ignorant, and his voice increased a few points without realizing it.
Li Xu turned away again and stopped talking to him. Xu Dayan thought that he had spoken too harshly, which made him feel annoyed. Just as he was about to change the topic elsewhere, Li Xu suddenly turned around, blushing, and pulled back.
He pulled his sleeve and said: "Uncle Zhang, Du Scaran, Wang Mazi, they all went to the brothel, no, they were dragged into the alley by an old woman next to the brothel!"
"They are common people. They have spare money. If they don't do this, what else can they do?" Xu Dayan jumped on his horse and said angrily, "Let's go quickly, these places are really dirty!"
Seeing that his companions suddenly became extremely unhappy, Li Xu had no choice but to jump on his mount and follow the brave and righteous Sun Jiu, the treacherous and stingy Du Scaran, and the ferocious and lustful Wang Mazi. For several days, dozens of merchants and hawkers were like Arhats in the temple.
Faces, each with a different face, he didn't know which one was the real face of Xing Shang, or in other words, which face would become his future self. He just felt empty in his heart and was really confused.
The street was crowded with people. The two teenagers wanted to leave quickly but couldn't get up quickly. They could only walk more than a hundred steps. Suddenly there was chaos in front of them and everyone squeezed through.
"It's a fight, it's a fight!" A rogue, fearing that the world would not be in chaos, squeezed into the crowd and shouted to cheer for the perpetrators. However, the people watching in front refused to cooperate, suddenly stepped back, and
The gangster pushed him to the ground, and several big feet wearing straw sandals stepped on him without any explanation.
"Oh, my grandma, you're a bastard!" The little scoundrel was trampled so hard that he screamed and cursed. He got up and tried to find someone to fight for. He raised his head and looked forward. He was so frightened that he broke into a cold sweat and couldn't even dare to lose his headscarf after being stepped on.
After picking it up, he ran towards the shops on the roadside. The shops were closed and their windows were closed, lest someone take advantage of the situation and steal their goods.
The broad street became empty in an instant. In the middle of the street, two men dressed as Turks brandished machetes, "ping, ping, ping" and slashed at several small vendors. Although the vendors who were being chased were more in number, they did not take advantage of them.
The weapons were only carried by the sellers' burdens, and while resisting and escaping, some people had already seen the color on their arms, and the goods fell all over the ground. However, the powerful Hu people still refused to let go. While cutting, they shouted and cursed in Chinese:
"Ask me for money. I am your emperor's guest. Do you understand that even your emperor dare not ask me for money? Who lent you the courage!"
Hu people are unreasonable. This is the consensus of the people in border counties. Therefore, when buying and selling goods, it is rare to bargain with Hu'er who has passed by.
into the hands of the Hu people, giving him the opportunity to see the goods first and then pay. These traders were probably merchants who came all the way from the south and did not understand the rules of doing business with the Hu people. The Hu people took the goods in vain and tried to negotiate for them.
After returning the money, he was hunted down by the angry opponent.
"Stop!" Li Xu yelled at the top of his voice. Although his parents repeatedly told him to mind his own business on the road before setting off, he immediately ignored his parents' instructions when he saw that someone was about to die on the spot.
After shouting, Li Xu remembered that he didn't bring a self-defense knife when he went out today. The two barbarians were obedient, gave up on the hawker who was being hunted, and walked over with a sinister smile.
Riding his horse to escape, it was obviously too late to have Xu Dayan by his side. Li Xu didn't want to be underestimated too much. He jumped off the horse with both hands, bent down and went to the roadside to pick bricks. How could he find broken bricks and tiles in such a bustling street?
In the panic, someone put a door bolt in his hand. Li Xuhu roared, picked up the door bolt and rushed forward.
In the middle of the street, Xu Dayan had already fought two barbarians. With a horse whip in his hand, he actually blocked two scimitars. Then Li Xu desperately ran forward to help. Xu Dayan recovered.
He was so brave that he whipped a horsewhip so loudly that the wind whined, and in a blink of an eye, the faces of the two barbarians were covered with flowers.
The two barbarians were slapped on the face by Xu Dayan, and accidentally hit by Li Xu on the waist. They were so angry that they screamed. When the people around saw the two barbarians suffering a loss, they immediately shouted loudly at the two young men who were desperate for their lives.
Come cheer
"Okay! Hit him, hit him hard!"
"Okay, smash, smash him!" (Note 2) Through the crack in the door, the people cheered loudly.
The two barbarians had been living in the Central Plains for more than a year, and their Chinese language was more familiar than their hometown dialect. The two teenagers had been fighting for a long time. When they heard the cheers of the people again, they were aroused and became angry. When their steps changed, they immediately felt cold under the light of the sword.
This is the tactic used by the barbarians to win their lives. The bully of a few hawkers just now was just a joke in the eyes of the barbarians. As a result, the situation on the field suddenly reversed. The whip in Xu Dayan's hand was soft and it was difficult to parry. He was struck by the scimitar.
Forced to retreat continuously, Li Xu used a door bolt as a weapon, but he didn't have any instructions from a famous teacher. He couldn't move his hands in any order. He could only swing wildly with a strong force.
"Bang!" Xu Dayan's whip met the scimitar, and the barbarian who was fighting against him saw the advantage and quickly spun around, and the scimitar slashed at his arm like a horse. He was resisting the other man.
Li Xu, armed with a scimitar, saw that the situation was not good, gave up on his opponent, raised the door bolt, and chased Xu Dayan straight into the back of the head of the Hu man.
"Dang!" The door latch was separated by a barbarian with a scimitar. The two barbarians, one behind the other, caught Li Xu in the middle. Xu Dayan rushed forward to save him. It was already too late to watch the two scimitars running towards him.
Li Xu’s knees
"Brother!" Xu Dayan's head buzzed, and he waved his fists and tried to rush forward to fight. Although today's troubles were all caused by Li Xu's meddling, as a companion who went out together, he still couldn't bear to see Li Xu young and young.
The earth becomes lame
At this critical moment, a black light suddenly flashed in the air and two "dang, dang" sounds were heard. The two scimitars that were determined to win were opened one after another, and an eight-foot-long sword lay in front of Li Xu like a giant python.
"Stop it!" A burly officer on horseback shouted angrily.
The two barbarians had already gotten angry, but they were willing to stop and take a half step back, stagger their bodies, and actually formed a combined attack formation, howling and rushing towards the officer.
"Dang, Dang", there were two more crisp sounds, and the two scimitars flew into the sky at the same time. The python-like horse trembled, and stopped motionless between the two Hu men. The horse's head shone with cold light, shooting directly.
On the duo's throat
"We are the guests invited by your great emperor!" The two barbarians did not dare to move their bodies anymore and said in an arrogant voice, "You, you can't, kill me!"
"We in the Sui Dynasty welcome guests from far away, but if there are evil guests who bully us, the answer will be just one word!" The officer sneered and said with a shake of one hand, he pulled back the eight-foot-long branch, and then shouted, "Get out of here."
!”
"Get out!" On both sides of the street, countless heads poked out from behind the windows, shouting and cursing. Amidst the laughter and scolding of the crowd, two barbarians scurried away with their heads in their hands.
When everyone had laughed enough, the officer handed the horse to his entourage and jumped off his mount. He smiled at Xu and Li and asked: "You two brothers are so brave. You dare to stop the barbarians from committing murder with your bare hands. I don't know what you are doing."
Where are you from? Can you please leave your name?"
"This, this..." Li Xu suddenly panicked again. At such a young age, the biggest official he had ever seen was Zhao Ergouzi, an errand boy in the county government. Other big shots had only heard about it and had never had any contact with the guest in front of him.
The officer who asked him polite questions had no idea what rank the other person was in, and he didn't know how he should salute him. He was so panicked that he even forgot to put down the door bolt that had been cut into holes in his hand, and held it tightly.
across the chest
"We brothers are from Shanggu. We heard that Ji County is prosperous here, so we came here without telling our family to open our eyes. I didn't expect that the barbarians here are so cruel. Thanks to the general, who came in time, otherwise, my two brothers would have been hacked to death.
No!" After all, Xu Dayan had seen more of the world than Li Xu. He pulled Li Xu forward a few steps, bowed his hands, and thanked the officer.
"Thank you, General, for coming in time and rescuing my two brothers!" Li Xu's voice suddenly became a little stuttering, not sure whether it was because he was frightened or because of his restraint.
"My brother has always been timid. General, don't blame me for not knowing the name of your savior and under whom he has performed meritorious service!" Xu Dayan spoke to the general and kept silent to his benefactor, but refused to reveal the identities of himself and Li Xu.
The officer was also an open-minded man. Seeing that Xu Dayan had carefully hidden his identity, he stopped asking and waved his hand, smiling: "What kind of general am I? I'm just an old soldier in Luo Gong's account. Please call me."
According to my opinion, Lao Bu, your brother is very courageous, and he dares to risk his life to save you!"
Saying this made Li Xu's face turn even redder. He cursed himself a few times, and finally plucked up the courage to say: "I'm not brave, I'm just anxious and rude! It's Bu.
General, knocking down two scimitars with one spear is a rare feat!"
"This is a well-known infantry general. He once picked off more than 20 Khitan bandits with a single spear. How can two mere Hu'ers be opponents!" On the side of the road, the people who had recovered from the shock said in a hurry.
After hearing this, Li Xu and Xu Dayan expressed even more admiration and gratitude to the officer in front of them, which made the officer surnamed Bu feel embarrassed. They separated the crowd with them and explained as they walked: "You just
As soon as I fought with the barbarians, I had already arrived, but I didn't expect them to dare to commit murder on the street, so I took action late. You two brothers, don't blame me!"
Xu and Li were stunned when they heard this, and then they showed frank smiles, "If I had known that the general was protecting him, I would have beaten the two barbarians more desperately and broken the legs of the two barbarians to see if they still dared to be
Street murder!"
"That's not pretty!" the officer surnamed Bu waved his hand, "Zhuo County is a frontier place, and fights in the streets often happen among the people. As long as no one is hurt or the other party's life is harmed, the government is happy to turn a blind eye.
Close one eye, if someone is injured, or if a lawsuit is filed with the Yamen government, they will have to come forward to deal with it. The evidence collection and hearing will take a lot of time. When the lawsuit is over, the two brothers' fun will probably be ruined."
Li Xu and Xu Dayan are both smart people. How could they not hear the protective reminder in the words of the officer surnamed Bu? The two immediately saluted again and thanked General Bu Gao Yi. The officer surnamed Bu took a few steps forward.
He looked back and saw that no one was following him, smiled, and said: "To be honest with you two, Hu'er is too bullying. If I were in the position of you two, I would rush up and beat them up.
So, there is no need to say thank you, get on your horse, I will take you out of the city, so that no one in the place will get into trouble!"
The two young men mounted their horses as ordered, accompanied by the general named Bu and several of his followers, and walked slowly towards the outer city. Not far away, sure enough, a local police officer carrying an iron ruler and chains rushed over with great fanfare to see an officer here.
, the "warriors" didn't dare to cause trouble, so they collected the guys and hid quietly on the roadside.
"Is this still my official of the Sui Dynasty?" Even though Xu had big eyes and big eyes, he was so angry that he was trembling with anger when he saw the official put on such a show.
"They are also acting under orders. They don't dare to mess with the barbarians, so they have no choice but to bully their own people!" Officer Bu said with a wry smile as if he was used to it.
"If I had known this, the general would have killed the two barbarians with one blow to save others from suffering further harm!" Li Xu spat on the ground and cursed fiercely.
"It's easy to kill them, but I'm afraid I'll get Mr. Luo into trouble!" Officer Bu shook his head and smiled bitterly.
"Does it mean that even with the power of General Luo Gong, the powerful general, he dare not provoke a few barbarian rogues?" Xu Dayan asked in surprise.
"What I'm afraid of is not these scoundrels, but the fear that someone will use this reason to start a border quarrel. The Turks are already eyeing the Central Plains, and the princes in the court don't know to be on guard. Instead, they repeatedly tell the border generals not to cause trouble once the Turks and their tribesmen are killed.
When a famous fighter comes to the door, even if the brothers repel him, the people inside will not let my general go!" The officer surnamed Bu shook his head and sighed, and explained the complicated reasons to the two men in a low voice.
It turns out that the man stationed in Jixian at this time was Luo Yi, the general of the Tiger Army. His martial arts and strategy were among the best among the border generals. In addition, with the thousands of brothers under his command who shared life and death, the name of the Iron Cavalry of the Tiger Army was enough to scare away children on the grassland.
I cried at night, but this General Luo was good at everything, but he was not born into a wealthy family. Although he was promoted to general based on his martial arts, luck and the emperor's appreciation, in the eyes of the wealthy Huagon family for generations, he was still a ruffian.
Therefore, in order to avoid being picked on for no reason, Luo Yi could only restrain his subordinates not to cause trouble for him.
"Luo Gong is really a great man!" After listening to the officer surnamed Bu's story, Xu Dayan raised his palms in admiration.
"Is Luo Gong really born in the military?" Li Xu's focus never seemed to be in the same place as Xu Dayan. He raised his head and asked expectantly.