No matter how good the carriage is, it can't stop the cold wind of the twelfth lunar month, and no matter how good the carriage is, sitting for a long time is not as good as being at home. Li Mingqi sneezed in the car.
"Here comes someone." Nian'er immediately called out.
The attendant maid beside the carriage immediately came forward to ask, and Li Fengjing also politely came over to greet him after hearing the news.
The eldest girl was about to show off to the young lady, so Nian'er took the initiative to make a decision: "It's too cold. I've been traveling for three consecutive days. Let's stop and rest early today."
The entire team will not have any objections to the eldest lady's request.
But after all, she was not a real eldest lady. Li Fengjing couldn't help but said: "It's too cold, so we should hurry up and get to Taiyuan Mansion before it snows, otherwise we will be delayed for a long time."
Nian'er was also unhappy: "But I'm too tired."
The farthest place she has ever been to when she was so old was Li Mingqi's maternal grandfather's house.
The novelty of the journey and the excitement for the future have now faded away, leaving me feeling exhausted.
Li Mingqi lifted the car curtain: "It will be even colder if you are stuck on the road when it snows. My fourth uncle is right."
Xiang Jiuding came over to smooth things over: "We can get to Zhenbao River tomorrow. There is a ferry over there and there is a big post station."
So the carriage and horses continued to move forward, and Nian'er sat back in the carriage, holding a warm hand stove and angrily saying: "He comes out as a concubine, and he is really acting like a master. What's more, Miss, you are here to solve his problem, and he threw the eldest daughter away."
Otherwise, the old lady and the second master will skin him."
Li Mingqi was wrapped in a cloak and holding a small cup while drinking tea slowly, without any rush or annoyance: "The Fourth Master is here for the convenience of traveling, don't think too much about it."
"That's not true." Nian'er retorted, "If she were really a eldest lady, the fourth master would definitely not dare to say a word."
"So, what are you complaining about?" Li Mingqi asked.
Nian'er was speechless, and then complimented: "Miss, you are so flattering and unfazed."
Li Mingqi rolled his eyes at her: "I'm not stupid. How could I not know the right balance between true and false? I pretended to be a young lady for others to see, not to trick myself and pour tea."
Li Mingqi stretched the small cup forward.
Nian'er took it with a smile, and was about to pick up the teapot from the small stove nearby when there was noise from outside.
"Take the people back quickly."
"Bring more people."
“Turn around, turn around.”
A few words came out in the chaos, and the annoyance that Nian'er had just shrinking suddenly emerged again, and he pulled open the curtain: "What's the matter? Why do you have to turn around and go back when you are in a hurry?"
When the car curtains were lifted, the noise became even louder. Many people in the convoy were turning around and gathering back.
The eldest lady was always accompanied by someone in front of her carriage. When she heard the question, she quickly replied: "It's not that everyone is going back, but something happened later. The Fourth Master and Xiang Jiuye want to go take a look."
"What happened?" Nian'er was puzzled.
The attendant seemed to find it difficult to speak. He lowered his head and whispered: "The dowry army behind us was robbed."
"Who dares to rob us?" Li Mingqi also sat down and asked in surprise.
This is also the question of Li Fengjing and Xiang Jiuding. They did not hide their whereabouts along the way. They hung the flag of the Jiannan Road Governor's Palace and held the name of the Longyou Jiedu Envoy. They were welcomed and entertained by the prefectural and county roads wherever they went.
Accommodation and board will be arranged, and local dignitaries will also hand over name cards.
They are not nameless civilians walking around in vain.
Although the dowry convoy was exaggerated and eye-catching, those escorting the dowry were officers and soldiers, wearing armor, swords, guns, and crossbows.
"It's a bandit." the guard replied.
Bandits are no strangers. Recently, there have always been reports of bandits making trouble. Li Fengjing and Xiang Jiuding looked at each other. They were originally at Xuanwu in Huainan, but they have also made trouble here?
Xiang Jiuding took out his knife: "It's just that we are not the officers and soldiers of Dou County."
Li Fengjing thought more carefully and stopped Xiang Jiuding: "Yes, those are soldiers and horses from Jiannan Road. How can the bandits do anything to them?"
Don't act rashly yet. If even the soldiers and horses of Jiannan Road can't do anything to the bandits, wouldn't they be willing to die if they go?
The soldiers escorting the dowry, who were covered in blood and seemed to have crawled out of a mountain of corpses, struggled to call the fourth master: "We were ambushed in a valley. The bandits used smoke and poisonous insects. Everyone was caught off guard.
There is no battle."
As he spoke, he fell to the ground and sobbed.
Xiang Jiuding was angry: "When it comes to using smoke and poisonous insects, your Jiannan Road troops are the best."
In the southern border areas of Jiannan Road, miasma and snake poison are rampant, especially when fighting against barbarians.
The soldier lying on the ground lowered his voice and said in a muffled and ashamed voice: "Who would have thought that this kind of method is also used in the hinterland of the Central Plains." He continued to whimper and plead, "The bandits are not far away yet. The fourth master and Xiang Jiuye will help chase them."
As soon as Xiang Jiuding urged his horse forward, the Xiang family's men and horses immediately followed.
Li Fengjing still stood there and yelled a few times. Seeing Xiang Jiuding leading the people farther and farther away, he had to follow: "We can't leave people here either."
The motorcade stopped to rest as Nian'er wished, but she was not happy, only uneasy. Layers of people and horses formed a military formation to surround the eldest lady's carriage and horses in the middle. Nian'er stood on tiptoe and couldn't see outside.
I didn't dare to go out, so I kept asking for news.
At dawn the next day, Li Fengjing and Xiang Jiuding came back. They forgot to report the situation to the fake eldest lady and went directly into the camp to discuss. Li Mingqi had to come and inquire by herself.
"It's better for me to know these things clearly. After all, I'm going to Taiyuan Mansion." She explained the purpose of her visit.
This little girl is well-behaved and knows how to behave. Xiang Jiuding has a good impression of her. The most important thing is that there is no pressure from Li Minglou to be superior.
"You're right." He said kindly and asked Li Mingqi to sit down. "Now the three of us will discuss it together."
Li Fengjing was angry: "If there's anything to discuss, those bandits can't catch it."
Xiang Jiuding told Li Mingqi the process. Since the last meeting, the dowry convoy was not too far away from them. They galloped with people and horses, asked the nearby villagers, confirmed that there were indeed bandits here, and then rushed to the bandits.
In the valley where the murder was committed, I saw a group of men and horses in military uniforms lying here and there in the valley. The dozen or so surviving soldiers who led the way were like delicate women, kneeling on the ground and crying to death.
"Because the bandits carrying the dowry baggage moved slowly, I discovered their whereabouts with my men and horses and followed them," Xiang Jiuding said.
Li Fengjing interjected: "There are many of them and they are hiding in dangerous places."
Xiang Jiuding ignored his interruption: "We are unfamiliar with the environment here and cannot act rashly. I will declare my home first..."
Li Fengjing said bitterly on the side: "It turned out that these bandits were ignorant and asked what Longyou and Jiannan Road were. Master Jiu was really good-tempered and actually explained it to them."
Xiang Jiuding was angry: "I was trying to intimidate them."
Li Fengjing sneered: "In the end, I scared people away and left nothing behind."
Xiang Jiuding took a deep breath and decided not to talk to Li Fengjing, and looked at Li Mingqi: "They are stalling for time and took the opportunity to run away with their things. We don't dare to venture into the deep mountains and forests, and we are worried that the eldest lady is in danger here, so we will come back first."
Already."
Li Mingqi nodded: "Master Jiu is right. These bandits are not afraid of the name of Jiannan Road. They are very vicious. I don't know what they will do."
This little girl spoke much better than Mr. Li San, so Xiang Jiuding hummed.
"What should we do now?" Li Fengjing frowned.
The person was lost, the dowry was also lost, why did this errand become more and more dead end.
"Anyway, the eldest lady left on her own." Li Fengjing clenched his fists, "The dowry cannot be defended by the soldiers and horses of Jiannan Road, and it has nothing to do with us."
Xiang Jiuding despises people who only want to shirk responsibility when something goes wrong. Xiang Yun is right. Mr. Li Si should ignore it.
"We don't have enough troops and are not familiar with the local area, so we can't act rashly. I want to contact the local government first and ask them to reinforce the troops to suppress the bandits." He said to Li Mingqi.
Li Fengjing shouted: "How long do we have to wait here? What if we can't catch them after the New Year? Those bandits are not even afraid of Jiannan Road, what can the local government do to them?"
The confused waste can always say one or two words that hit the point. Xiang Jiuding stared at Li Fengjing.
"Fourth Master, Ninth Master." The surviving leader of the dowry army knelt down and said, "This is our dereliction of duty. We will stay here to pursue the bandits until death. Please continue to move forward. It is too dangerous to stay here."
Of course, please ask them to write a letter to Jiannan Road to explain, so that they can get away with the crime and make meritorious service.
Li Fengjing was eager to leave here immediately, so that nothing more happened: "If these bandits are more evil and kidnap the eldest lady and demand ransom, our Li family and Xiang family's face will be completely lost in the Great Xia Dynasty, and our Mingyu's
How can I still be a Jiedushi envoy? It is very likely that the emperor will take back the banner."
This is not impossible... Xiang Jiuding, who has been constantly having things happen along the way, is also exhausted mentally and physically. The most important thing is people. As long as people are around and the Xiang family and Li family get married, everything else is trivial.
The dowry that could last for several months is really not a trivial matter, Li Mingqi thought, but she just thought about it, it was really dangerous to go out.
Li Fengjing and Xiang Jiuding reached an agreement and immediately set off to speed up to Taiyuan Prefecture, writing letters to Jiannan Road as they drove.
The surviving dowry troops who stayed on the spot watched as the convoy turned into black dots on the horizon. Those who were sitting, lying, injured and dying all jumped up, the dejection on their faces wiped away.
"Are we going to go with Uncle Yuan and the others?" they asked.
"We stay here to suppress the bandits." The leader, who had been crying in front of Mr. Li Si in a cowardly manner, shook his head solemnly.
Others were puzzled: "We have already killed all the bandits here, and we still used them to pretend to be the dead bodies of our people."
The leader looked at the mountains here, the towns in the distance, and the vast world beyond: "The eldest lady asked us to tell the local government that our dowry in Jiannan Road has been hijacked. We want to recover it here. When will we find the dowry?
It’s time to leave.”
If you can't find them, of course they won't leave. If the local government drives them away, they will ask them what their intentions are? Are they working with the bandits?
The officials and bandits colluded and went to the court to file a complaint against them. The banner in the hand of Jiannan Dao'er Jiedushi was not for display.
The leader picked up the Jiannan Dao flag that had fallen on the ground and shook it. The dust-covered and dimmed flag suddenly disappeared, flying in the cold wind.
…
….
The cold wind in Mobei had already mixed with snowflakes. Wu Ya'er stood in the courtyard and carefully swept away the snowflakes, one after another falling.
"Crow." Several men opened the door and walked in quickly, "There is news."