While Fang Yingwu complained about the thief's injured war horse and his ignorance, he and others jumped out of the cart and crouched behind the cart to guard against the thief on the other side of the river.
Captain Niu held a steel knife and knocked on the wheel, "This time we meet on a narrow road. I hope I still live to receive the merit!"
Fang Yingwu looked across and saw that Miss Sun had drawn out her bow and arrow, so he moved over and asked, "How is it? Can you hit it?"
Miss Sun squinted her eyes and made a few gestures, shook her head and said: "The thief is too far away, and the arrow is not powerful enough."
After she finished answering, she suddenly discovered that although the thief was far away, Fang Xiucai was so close to him that she could feel his breath clearly, and they could rub each other with every move, and their words seemed to be whispered in their ears.
Same.
Although Miss Sun has never been a stay-at-home young lady due to her livelihood, she has never been so close to a young man.
Her heart skipped a few beats, and she moved to the side involuntarily, wanting to get further away from Fang Xiucai.
However, she discovered that Fang Xiucai accidentally stepped on the hem of her skirt. Damn it! How annoying!
Seeing Miss Sun twisting and turning, Fang Yingwu was very worried. He quickly put his head over and reminded her very caringly and considerately: "Sister Sun, hide your body and don't move around. Be careful to expose any flaws for the other side to see."
After reminding Mrs. Sun, Fang Yingwu turned to comfort the others and said: "The situation is not bad, we don't need to worry too much!"
The Second Lieutenant Niu Ma stared blankly, and did not relax at Fang Yingwu's words. Today's lesson was profound enough.
Fang Yingwu pointed to the other side secretly, "The bandits were good at riding and shooting, but they refused to enter the shooting range. What does this mean?
This shows that they are also wary, I think. Maybe they are worried about the eldest sister of the Sun family's skills, or maybe they are worried about the loss of men and horses. They don't want to cause any further harm."
When everyone thought about it, it was indeed true. If they didn't have a sharpshooter like Mrs. Sun, the thieves wouldn't have anything to worry about.
The thieves either surrounded them and pounced on them, circling around and shooting random arrows; or they just ignored them and flew past them.
But now these thieves reined in their horses and stopped far away on the other side of the river, obviously afraid.
Fang Yingwu continued his analysis: "In terms of long-range attacks, of course the thieves are stronger. But the problem is that we who hide behind the car have stronger defenses, while the thieves are directly exposed to us with their men and horses.
.
After witnessing the Sun family's eldest sister's shooting skills, the thieves must have used a deadly weapon. They also understood that if they really wanted to shoot at each other, no matter what the final result was, they would definitely suffer heavy casualties.
I guess that in their view, it is normal to be brave and not afraid of death on the battlefield, but it is not worth it to get entangled with a few of us "common people" from the Central Plains to the point of heavy casualties, so they are unwilling to move forward."
Having said this, Fang Yingwu had calmly, sharply, detailedly and thoroughly analyzed the enemy's situation, and then remained silent.
The second captain Niu Ma continued to stare at him with big eyes. He didn't say anything. Mrs. Sun's beautiful eyes shone with admiration for scholars, and she was too embarrassed to speak.
Finally, Sun Jingxian couldn't help but ask: "In the opinion of Mr. Fang, what should we do?"
Fang Yingwu, who was no longer trusted, had a hard time waiting for this, and quickly put forward his own idea: "Now these thieves have gone deep alone. There have been casualties. What they want most is to get through.
He returned to Gaojiabao's main formation and probably had no intention of continuing to fight with us.
And we also wanted to cross the river and continue to Yulin. Since we didn’t want to risk our lives, why bother going up against the ox here?
In my opinion, we should not cross this bridge, but continue to walk downstream along the river here and cross the river elsewhere.
And after we left, the bandits crossed the river and went back to Gaojiabao. There was no need to risk death and injury and fight with us."
Sun Jing often travels between Shanxi and Shaanxi and is familiar with the roads. He said doubtfully: "There are not roads and bridges everywhere. I think there is only one road leading to the hinterland of the south. There may be only one bridge connecting the roads. Go downstream.
You may not be able to cross the river."
Fang Yingwu admitted that what Sun Jing said was reasonable. In these days, transportation was not as developed as in later generations. It was not unusual for there to be only one bridge across the river for dozens of miles.
But he still said confidently: "It's okay. If we can't cross the river downstream, we can turn back. By then the thieves will probably have gone far away, and we can still cross the river here."
So in the final analysis, they have already gone deep alone, and there is no way they can continue to give in. It is better for us to take the initiative to retreat and let them go first. As the saying goes, when a poor enemy is defeated, be careful of a dog jumping over the wall."
Niu Xiaowei suddenly patted the side of the car and said, "What Fang Xiucai said makes sense, let's do it!"
But Lieutenant Ma next to him gave a wry smile and said, "Fang Xiucai was right every time today, but which time was he right? Don't you believe in evil, so you still do it this time?"
Fang Yingwu snorted, "Then I have another idea. The thieves are a little further away and not close to the bridge. So we all gathered on one side, using horses and vehicles as cover, and slowly crossed the bridge.
go.
Once we cross the bridge, we quickly go downstream along the river and stay away from here. This is equivalent to betting that they also want to let us go, so how about they won't rush forward and fight?"
The second captain Niu Ma broke out in a cold sweat and asked them to cross the river facing the thief. It was a test of their character and courage.
Fang Yingwu chuckled and said: "Either go downstream along the river here, or cross the river. These are the two ways. Choose one of the two, I don't make the decision, you just choose one!"
Colonel Ma and Captain Niu looked at each other and said helplessly: "It's better to go this way."
Having made up their mind, the group of people used the carriages and horses as cover, bent over and led the horses forward slowly. While being wary of the thieves on the other side, they headed downstream.
This time Fang Yingwu's speculation did not come true. As expected, the thieves were just circling on the other side of the river and had no intention of pursuing them.
It wasn't until the thief was no longer visible that everyone let out a long breath. Those who drove the horses and those who got on the carriages got on the carriages and continued swimming downstream at full speed.
This time we were really lucky. After walking for more than ten miles, we found another wooden bridge. Fang Yingwu and others crossed the river from here.
It's just that in this way, we are further away from Yulin and the border wall. It is equivalent to a larger circle. But compared with the safety of life, the extra detour of one or two hundred miles is really nothing.
The northwest is much less densely populated than the mainland, and neither Fang Yingwu nor Sun Jing dared to spend the night outside the castle. So they did not sleep in the wild that night. The two cars drove all night, occasionally resting and taking a nap.
On the way, Fang Yingwu struck up a conversation with Miss Sun again and kept praising her as a rare pink hero in the world.
Mrs. Sun couldn't bear the praise from Fang Yingwu, so she said helplessly: "It's not unusual at all. Didn't you see some girls riding horses and shooting arrows just now?"
Fang Yingwu was very surprised, "When did you see it?"
"Among the thieves, the one whose crotch was shot by the servant is actually a woman. Her helmet has fallen off, haven't you noticed yet?"
Fang Yingwu said in surprise: "Really? I really didn't notice it."
"I'm not going to lie to you, I can see clearly, it must be a woman."
Fang Yingwu thought about it. At first, he was shocked by Miss Sun's amazing shooting skills, and he could only focus on Miss Sun;
Secondly, those thieves are all covered in leather armor, and the exposed facial skin is relatively rough. From a distance, who can tell the difference between men and women without careful identification and good eyesight?
This female thief is definitely not an ordinary person. No wonder after her horse was injured and went crazy, several other thief chased her closely, but ignored the other thief who fell off the horse.
But her behavior is really strange. What kind of woman should be used as a scout? Nowadays, Beibei is not so short of men.
Fang Yingwu suddenly had a thought. According to his historical knowledge, among the several Beibei tribes currently entrenched near Hetao, one of them was Mandulu, the nominal Great Khan of Mongolia.
The bandit who came to Gaojiabao this time might be Mandulu Khan. Mandulu was not famous in history. But one of his wives was very famous, and was called Manduhai in history books.
This Madam Manduhai was good at fighting, riding and shooting, and often went to battle in person. The most interesting thing is that Mandulu died a year later, but she married her grandnephew. Was it her she just met?
Fang Yingwu felt a little regretful. If this was the case, he should have tried to take a chance just now. Whether he killed her or captured her, it would be a rare and huge achievement!
But now that I think about it, it's useless. History is amazing, but I missed the opportunity to change history.
After walking nearly two hundred miles in one go, at the evening of the next day, Fang Yingwu saw densely populated areas and fortresses ahead along the road. He looked at the map again and said with great joy: "We have entered Mizhi County. Today we have entered Mizhi County."
You can sleep well tonight!"
Sun Jing went to the passers-by to inquire a few words, and then came back and said: "Ahead of us is Yinchuan Station in Mizhi County. There must be many shops nearby, so we can just go and stay there."
Niu Xiaowei said angrily: "There is no need to find another store. We are escorting the imperial prisoners. Just go to the post station. If you just want to eat well, you have to pay for it yourself."
Of course, staying in an inn is safer than staying in a hotel. Sun Jing bowed his hand and said, "I'm going to take advantage of the two military masters."
For the errand of escorting Fang Yingwu with oxen and horses, the Second Captain cannot enjoy the benefits of riding in the post, nor can he enjoy the enshrinement in the post.
But after all, he was a person appointed by the emperor himself. It was no problem to arrange one or two rooms for accommodation at the inn along the road and provide two meals of porridge.
Without mentioning any gossip, they said that after entering the post station, they showed their credentials and an old post guard led Fang Yingwu and his party towards the inner courtyard.
Sun Jing, an old man from the martial arts world, had a family affair with the postman, "My old man's original surname is Li, but I don't know which branch he belongs to."
Fang Yingwu felt that Yinchuan Post in Mizhi County was very familiar from just now. Then he suddenly remembered something and asked the postman loudly: "Is this old man from Lijia Station in this county?"
The old postman turned around, his eyes widened, and said in disbelief: "That's true. Could it be that the young gentleman can figure it out?"
The two captains of Niu and Ma all looked sideways. In the past two days, had Fang Xiucai been addicted to Tieguang? This time he started to calculate the origins of others again, and it seemed that he really got it right.
Fang Yingwu was in an extremely strange mood. If history develops normally, one hundred and fifty years later, a young man named Li Hongji or Li Zicheng in Yinchuanyi, Mizhi County would be laid off.
Li Zicheng's ancestral home is Lijiazhan, Mizhi County. This old postman's surname is Li and he is also from Lijiazhan. Could it be that he is Li Zicheng's ancestor?
Thinking of this, Fang Yingwu couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "History is really wonderful."
It's a pity that others can't understand Fang Xiucai's prophetic state of mind. They can only see Fang Xiucai staring at the old postman for a long time, with a fierce look in his eyes.