Because the road was muddy and they were traveling all night, Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, Guo Min and their party traveled more and more slowly, and only moved less than ten miles in the past half an hour.
Seeing that the time had passed half of the ugly time, Ouyang Bo finally felt impatient and suggested: "If it doesn't work out, let's not take the carriage. Leave the carriage on the roadside and leave a few people to look after it. We will just go there directly."
Ride to Nanjing!"
Qian Bodao looked a little pale and said: "It's late at night, and the road is not easy to walk. It's easy to get into trouble when riding a horse... At the current speed, it will only delay arriving in Nanjing for an hour at most. It shouldn't be a problem! But riding a horse
Traveling at night is too risky!
Last year, I followed Zhao Gechen to the borders of Shaanxi and Gansu. Zhao Gechen was very optimistic about a military attache named Zhang Cheng. He marched too fast during the war and drove all night. As a result, his horse stumbled and almost fell to death. In the end, he was seriously injured and had to leave the border army secretly.
We have completely lost our great future...we people cannot afford this kind of thing..."
Guo Min opened the curtains of the carriage again, carefully observed the situation near the official road, and then said with a solemn expression: "I also suggest riding on horseback. You must stay away from the nearby area as soon as possible. The surrounding water is getting bigger and bigger, there is definitely a problem!
If we still delay our trip, the risk may be even greater!"
Qian Bodao accused: "I didn't delay my trip because I was waiting for you, otherwise..."
But before Qian Bodao could finish his words, several shouts suddenly appeared outside the carriage. It seemed that the guards at the rear of the team had discovered the abnormal situation and were warning some people not to continue approaching.
At this late night, besides my own group, there is actually another team that is rushing through the night? And it is still approaching me quickly?
After hearing the commotion, the three Zhao Mansion staff members were all stunned, and did not bother to continue arguing. They all turned around, opened the rear curtain, and gathered to observe the situation carefully.
Then, these three Zhao family aides saw a horrifying scene!
I saw more than a dozen ferocious strong men riding their horses quickly towards where I and others were. I could vaguely hear the panicked shouts of these ferocious men, which seemed to be "dam break", "flood", "run away"
"etc!
Before the three Zhao family aides could sort out their thoughts, these dozen or so vicious men had already rushed several feet away.
After the guards and followers in the team saw this situation, they quickly gathered together, all holding weapons and short sticks, trying to stop this group of vicious and strong men from approaching.
The result... three strikes, five divided by two, almost in the blink of an eye, these vicious men knocked down all the guards and followers in the team.
These vicious men were extremely ruthless when they attacked. One guard just had a slightly more fierce resistance, and half of his hand was cut off on the spot!
Robber? Bandit? Horse thief?
Have you met a strong man?
Although the three staff members of the Zhao Mansion each had their own strengths, they were just three powerless literati. After seeing such a scene, they all looked panicked and pale.
The next moment, the vicious man at the head had already galloped to the side of the carriage, raised his knife and ordered the coachman to stop the carriage.
Under the threat of the bright blade, the coachman naturally did not dare to resist, and immediately stopped the carriage. The evil man kicked the coachman over, opened the curtain and leaned half of his body into the carriage.
Seeing this situation, the three Zhao family aides became even more panicked. Guo Min in particular behaved badly, huddled in the corner of the carriage and trembling.
In comparison, perhaps because he had followed Zhao Junchen in the Shaanxi-Gansu war, Qian Bodao had seen blood after all. When Zhao Junchen was chased by the Mongolian cavalry, he had once protected Zhao Junchen with a knife.
At this time, he was the calmest and the first to react.
But that was only a relative term. When he opened his mouth to speak, Qian Bodao still couldn't stop his voice from trembling.
"Good man! This good man! If you want to ask for money, we will let you withdraw all the money we have. As long as you leave here immediately after getting the money, this matter will be treated as if it never happened. We will never pursue it afterwards.
, but if you want to kill yourself, you have to think clearly, I will wait..."
However, before Qian Bodao could finish his words, he was interrupted by the evil man's glare and said quickly: "Damn thief! I don't seek money, nor do I want to kill you! I'm here to save your lives!"
Who among you is the boss Guo Minguo?"
Ouyang Bo calmed down a little at this time and wanted to say something, but Qian Bodao immediately betrayed his colleague and turned his attention to Guo Min, who was huddled in the corner of the carriage.
Under the evil man's gaze, Guo Min's body trembled again, and her face became increasingly pale.
But the next moment, with the villain's further explanation, Guo Min finally calmed down a little!
"Boss Guo, don't panic! My name is Hu Youyi, and I am from the shopkeeper Zuo Ci! I have been ordered to come and guard you secretly! There is a great crisis coming nearby, and I discovered the signs in advance, so I don't care.
I have hidden my traces, so I have no choice but to meet you directly and try my best to save your life! Don’t ask anything now, just follow me immediately!”
This "Hu Youyi" is obviously Hu Xiao, but he has always been cautious and naturally will not reveal his real name to others at will, so he calls himself "Hu Youyi".
After saying that, Hu Xiao didn't wait for Guo Min to react. He reached out and grabbed Guo Min's skirt and pulled him out of the carriage. Then he turned around and greeted loudly: "Abandon the carriage immediately and let the horse out.
Everyone is running on horseback! Run to higher ground! Everyone is running to higher ground! Move quickly! If you slow down, it will be too late!"
Seeing Guo Min being dragged out of the carriage by Hu Xiao, and what he said about the rescue seemed to be fake, Ouyang Bo and Qian Bodao also hurriedly got out of the carriage and looked at Hu Xiao in confusion as he directed everyone under his command.
A bad guy acts.
"This good man...you said that there is a huge crisis approaching nearby, but you don't know what kind of crisis it is? As long as you explain it a little bit, we will definitely cooperate with you!"
Under Ouyang Bo's gaze, Guo Min asked cautiously.
At this time, Hu Xiao was commanding a group of villains to collect horses and supplies. After hearing this, he explained impatiently: "Just in the northwest, more than ten miles away, a group of people are digging and destroying the embankment. The embankment is located at
The upper reaches of the river will collapse at any time, and then there will be monstrous floods. Everything within a radius of twenty miles will be reduced to a vast ocean. Where we are, we will face this flood directly, and we must immediately find a higher ground.
Save your life and avoid disaster!"
Upon hearing Hu Xiao's explanation, Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, and Guo Min were shocked.
Although they also noticed something unusual, they still couldn't believe it after hearing Hu Xiao's explanation!
Who is digging the dam at night? What is their intention? What kind of chain reaction will it trigger?
Guo Min wanted to ask again, but Hu Xiao couldn't care less about talking to him.
At this time, the desperadoes under Hu Xiao had collected all the supplies and horses, so Hu Xiao issued an order again, asking all the desperadoes to ride on horseback and bring along a Zhao family aide or a Zhao family aide's accompanying entourage, consisting of two people.
Riding on the same horse, the outlaws were responsible for controlling the horse and running, while Zhao's staff and accompanying entourage were responsible for holding torches to light the way forward.
It is worth mentioning that Hu Xiao deliberately handed over Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, and Guo Min to the care of his desperadoes, and when he was riding on horseback, he took with him the man whose hand they had cut off before.
The accompanying guard.
Afterwards, Hu Xiao said hello, took the lead in waving his riding whip, and led everyone to gallop towards a higher position nearby.
Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, Guo Min and others were already under the control of others at this time, so naturally they did not dare to resist, so they had no choice but to follow the desperadoes.
At the beginning, these three Zhao family aides were still suspicious, thinking that they had been kidnapped by strongmen, and their lies about dam bursting, floods approaching, etc. were just to temporarily stabilize their lies.
But after only half a cup of tea, Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, and Guo Min completely believed what Hu Xiao said!
Not long after everyone was galloping, they heard a dull loud noise in the distance in the sky, like thunder or a landslide, and the whole land trembled slightly.
Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, Guo Min and others were riding with the outlaws and did not have to control the horses themselves, so they had time to turn around and look in the direction of the source of the loud noise.
Then, they were shocked to see... at the end of their vision in the northwest, an endless raging flood like a sky curtain, mixed with broken trees and gravel, rushing down from the upstream position, and was rolling towards them.
!
Wherever the flood rushed, it was like a gluttonous creature was devouring everything in the world. Everything was vulnerable. It was swept into the turbulent water and disappeared in an instant. The rumbling sound was slapping the earth at the same time.
, also completely frightened Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, Guo Min and others.
In this way, there is no need to wait for Hu Xiao and others to remind them. Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, Guo Min and others have already fully cooperated, hugging the waists of the desperadoes in front of them, shouting and urging them.
The villain tried to ride as fast as possible.
The violent flood came from far away in the sky, but it was very fast and arrived in an instant. It was far beyond the reach of the horse power. Even if the desperadoes spurred the horses with all their strength, they still could not escape the pursuit of the flood and escape to higher ground in time.
safe location.
Seeing that the monstrous flood was about to catch up with him, Hu Xiao made a prompt decision. He directly raised his elbow, twisted his waist and struck back, knocking out the guard who was riding with him with his hand cut off.
As a result, the man fell off his horse.
After losing this burden, Hu Xiao's riding speed instantly increased a lot, and he jumped to the front of everyone.
But as everyone was eager to escape, few people noticed Hu Xiao's little move. They thought it was because the guard couldn't hold Hu Xiao tightly after his hand was cut off, so he lost control and fell.
*
After about a cup of tea, Hu Xiao finally took the lead and led everyone to escape to a safer location on higher ground.
At the last moment, the torrential flood had caught up with everyone, but as everyone continued to run desperately towards higher ground, the momentum of the flood became weaker and weaker. In addition, the desperadoes under Hu Xiao were all in the sea.
Born as thieves, they are all skilled in water, so although they were in a very embarrassing situation, they managed to save most of the people's lives.
After Hu Xiao realized that he had finally escaped the catastrophe, he finally felt a little relieved, and then began to count the number of people and losses.
The final result was that one of Hu Xiao's desperadoes was missing, while eight of the escorts under Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, and Guo Min were missing.
Just like the accompanying guard who had his hand cut off and was riding with Hu Xiao, the other seven people also "lost control and fell off their horses" at critical moments.
But fortunately, the three Zhao family aides were more valuable. Unless it was absolutely necessary, they would not be allowed to "lose control and fall" at will. At this time, they were all safe and sound, but they were all exhausted and collapsed on the ground.
I couldn't get up for a long time.
When Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, and Guo Min left Suzhou City, they were accompanied by a total of twelve attendants and guards.
But at this moment, apart from the three of them, only two people were lucky enough to survive.
Hu Xiao didn't bother to comfort Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, and Guo Min. He turned around and glanced at the turbulent ocean at his feet, and then raised his hand towards the tall eyes not far away.
After Gao Dayan saw Hu Xiao's call, he quickly walked to Hu Xiao's side.
At this time, Hu Xiao had completely calmed down. He raised his arm and hooked Gao Dayan's shoulder in a friendly manner, praising: "Gao Dayan, you are worthy of being my most relied-upon and most trusted brother! If you hadn't been there in time this time,
Warning, no matter how skilled we are in water, we will all become water ghosts! Brother, I owe you a life! All brothers also owe you a life! From now on, your tall eyes will be my fool.
Xiao’s biological brother!”
Hearing such praise from Hu Xiao, Gao Dayan was naturally very proud. He smiled brightly and said: "What the hell! I can send a warning in time because of Brother Hu's advance warning! If Brother Hu hadn't been alerted to something wrong in advance, he would have reminded me
I must hide my whereabouts, because those who dug up the embankment might have discovered my whereabouts and killed me, and I would not have the chance to send a message to Brother Hu to warn me!"
Speaking of this, Gao Dayan recalled the well-trained and ruthless soldiers of "Chaofeng", and he couldn't help but show fear and asked: "Brother Hu, what kind of force do you think is secretly digging up the dam? This
Are the methods too sinister? Although we are also pirates who kill without blinking an eye, we are far inferior to them."
Hu Xiao sneered and said: "No matter what force is secretly digging up the dam, since we have discovered the traces in advance, it is nothing to worry about! Gao Daeye, have you seen clearly the faces of those who dug up the dam?
Physical appearance?”
Gao Dayan nodded again and again: "Don't you know my eyesight and memory? There are many people who dug and destroyed the dam, but I hid in the distance, but I could see clearly the appearance and figure of the two leaders. One of them was
There is a handsome and noble young man, and another is a strong man in his forties with a scar on his face and dark skin... The image and temperament of these two people are extremely eye-catching. I will never forget it. I will see you next time.
They can identify them on the spot!"
Hu Xiao nodded with satisfaction and said: "Very good, this information is very valuable! Let's not tell Boss Guo first, and wait until the critical moment to give him this information to sell favors! Before that, we must first investigate the gang
The specific origin of the person! In any case, the other party is in the open and we are in the dark. They don’t know that we have discovered them, so they have no precautions, so the advantage is mine!"
"Goodbye, Brother Hu!"
*
However, Hu Xiao did not know that at this moment, at another higher position nearby, Jiang Xiao was holding a telescope and carefully observing every move of all of them.
In the late Ming Dynasty, a large number of telescopes had been introduced from the west to the Ming Dynasty. As a former elite member of Liaodong Town, Jiang Xiao was also given a telescope by Liaodong Town. He regarded it as a treasure and always carried it with him.
.
Not long ago, seeing that the embankment was about to collapse, Jiang Xiao took Lu De and a group of "Chaofeng" soldiers to leave the vicinity of the embankment in advance and hid on higher ground near the official road to avoid being affected by the flood.
Then he used the telescope to carefully observe the direction of the official road. He originally wanted to witness with his own eyes the tragic situation of Ouyang Bo, Qian Bodao, Guo Min and others being swallowed up by the flood.
Because they were traveling all night, several of the Zhao family's three staff members held torches and candle cages for lighting. After Hu Xiao and others stopped hiding their traces, a group of desperadoes also lit up their lights.
Torch, so Jiang Xiao quickly found the trace.
Then, Jiang Xiao saw everything that happened next - from Hu Xiao and others suddenly showing up to intercept, to Hu Xiao and others tying up Guo Min and his group to run away desperately, and finally to the dangerous escape.
After being devoured by the flood... all these things were seen by Jiang Xiao!
After seeing Hu Xiao's figure, Jiang Xiao, who had always been calm and composed, couldn't help but tremble.
The telescopes of this era were still very backward and were not particularly clear. Although both teams on the official road had people holding torches for lighting, they still could not completely dispel the darkness of the night...
However, almost instinctively, when Jiang Xiao saw Hu Xiao's figure, he discovered the other party's true identity immediately.
For Jiang Xiao, Hu Xiao is the existence that he "haunts and dreams about". He has been thinking about it for many years. He has engraved all the characteristics of Hu Xiao into his heart, so even if it is just a figure, Jiang Xiao is still
You can quickly determine the identity of the other party!
"Brother Hu...Long time no see! I miss you so much! Over the years, I have been thinking about you in my dreams! I know you have always been naughty and difficult to deal with! But now, it is me who is hiding and you who are hiding.
, I calculate with intention but without intention, but the advantage is mine... I want to see how you can avoid me this time! It's time to settle the account between us!"