In the wilderness on the barren land of Liangzhou, there is an abandoned mountain temple behind the mountain ridge on the left side of the official road. The dirt road in front of the temple door is stained with blood, and one of the blood stains is particularly obvious, which has not been covered and dried by the wind and sand.
A young man wearing gray clothes was climbing hard on the ground. There was a knife stuck on his back. Brown blood flowed out along the wound and formed a blood stain under his body.
Someone quickly caught up from behind, stepped on the handle of the sword, and pierced his thin body. The young man spat out a mouthful of dirty blood, completely cutting off his life.
"Is it solved yet?"
The murderer, with a green face, turned around and said with a smile: "It's over!"
"Bring the body back!"
At this moment, in the back hall of the mountain temple, six or seven bodies were lying together, including men, women, old and young. Four men wearing incomplete armor sat on the base of the statue, staring at the money spread out on the cloth.
.
Among the pile of belongings were three coins, gold hairpins and steps, and a few silver particles.
The gang leader sighed, pointed at the money and said, "It's not worth killing a family of seven for this little money."
The bald man next to him rubbed his head: "There is nothing wrong with it. We stay in this ghost place to wait for the mutton and grab some money in our spare time. We want to avoid being empty-handed and at least be able to buy fights in Dunhuang City."
Good wine.”
"San'er, Ah Wu."
"Yes," the two thin young men replied.
"Chop the carriage outside into firewood, drag the family out and put it on the firewood pile to light. Remember to add more kerosene, otherwise it won't burn out."
"knew."
Not long after, a raging fire broke out outside the mountain temple, with black smoke billowing and evaporating on the horizon.
These four people are a group of stubborn bandits, active in Liangzhou, Ganzhou, and Guazhou. Their methods of killing and stealing goods have no limit, unlike those desert swordsmen who abide by the rules.
The bandit Zhang Kuo was once a commander in the border guard city. Because he was unwilling to live a boring border life, he often did dirty work behind the back of his superiors. In the end, his whereabouts were exposed and he escaped with his three closest brothers.
He began to be active on the Silk Road, plundering lone business travelers.
Three days later,
Zhang Kuo climbed up the ridge next to the mountain temple with his bald Sha Jin, looking at the flags gradually appearing on the official road in the distance.
The Governor of Anxi came back to Chang'an in early autumn to pay tribute, and is now on his way back to the Western Regions. Dozens of large flags are fluttering in the wind in the loess trampled by the horses' hooves.
"We have never made a high-grade two-legged sheep before. Remember to be extra careful this time."
The bald Sha Jin snorted coldly: "Don't we know everything about this guy? He is just a cook who has obtained an official title for serving food. Even if he has some skills, he is still a chicken who has never experienced a killing formation. Among the Sixth Army of the Emperor of Wei in the capital,
It’s all just food and wine, brother, don’t be too careful.”
Zhang Kuo said nothing, staring at the group passing by him at the foot of the mountain. When these people disappeared into the distance, he blew his nose and said: "I followed them disguised as merchants along the way. After passing Yangguan,
This person will be left alone, so we take action in the desert and sink his body under the yellow sand. This is called death without evidence."
They climbed down from the cliff and returned to the mountain temple. Two boys were sitting on the ground grilling prey in front of the bonfire, roasting four legs of lamb until they were yellow and black.
Zhang Kuo sat opposite them, took the leg of lamb from San'er, stretched out his hand to tear off the unpeeled fur, looked at the fire and said leisurely:
"I'm going to tell you a story. Everyone should prick up their ears and listen carefully."
The two young men showed knowing smiles and whispered: "The boss is going to tell a story again."
Bald Sha Jin narrowed his eyes, looking impatient.
Zhang Kuo ignored their impatience and started talking: "There once was a bandit in the desert named Shali Fei. He was a lone wolf and liked to act alone. One day, they targeted his family and moved to the Central Plains.
A family of Hu merchants from the Western Regions. The total number of Hu merchants is... a total of..."
Seeing that the boss was still unable to answer the question, Ah Wu took the initiative and said: "There are six people, a couple, an old man, a child, two servants, and three camels."
"Nonsense, there is obviously only one servant and a family of five."
"Boss, when you talked about it last time, there were obviously six people."
"Fart, don't make trouble!"
Ah Wu lowered his head in annoyance, and Zhang Kuo continued to tell the story: "Shali Fei attacked a family of five in the desert. He first killed the husband and the old man, and then the servants. Because he saw the beauty of Hu Shang's wife, he
Then I started to covet and possess it, what do you think the final result will be?"
San'er and Ah Wu were about to nod, but when they saw the boss's slightly annoyed expression, they quickly shook their heads: "I don't know."
"Yeah, I don't know."
Zhang Kuo snorted with satisfaction and said: "When Shali Fei took possession of Hu Shang's wife, a child cut off his neck from behind."
He looked over with wide eyes and said solemnly to the three of them: "This story tells us that you can despise your prey, but you must not ignore or despise them, otherwise you will end up like Shali Fei in the end."
Bald Sha Jin grunted from his throat, suddenly spread his hands and complained: "Whatever decision you want to make, just tell me, don't tell stories every time, my ears are getting calloused!"
"I have told you many times, but you have not understood the meaning of caution. When we follow the guard's team through Yang Pass, we will hire two swordsmen to ensure nothing goes wrong."
"What are you doing?" Sha Jin immediately quit: "You still want to hire someone? But if we kill a seventh-grade dog officer, our employer has internal contacts and can let him go alone!"
"The prices of these desert swordsmen are very high! Most of them are unwilling to do such dirty work. If we let them take some money away, how much will we have left?"
"Um?"
Zhang Kuo was not angry, the two tufts of beard at the corners of his mouth trembled with a smile, and then he stood up with his hands on Sha Jin's shoulders.
"Be careful with your ten thousand year ship. As long as you have life, you can continue to make money, but once you lose your life, you will lose everything. This time, the nobles of Chang'an City spent 100,000 yuan to buy this man's life. We
Even if it costs several thousand or tens of thousands more to hire a swordsman, it is still worth it."
"For this business, I specially asked an expert to do a divination in Lanzhou City. If the number is six, it will bring good luck. I have to believe this. We brothers will do this job beautifully and everyone will be safe and sound.
When the time comes, I invite you to spend the night happily with the most handsome girl in the best brothel in Lanzhou City."
Sha Jin could only nod his head dullly. He had never been able to defeat the boss on this matter of prudence. Yes, everyone was right. Zhang Kuo's acting style was like this. Even if he crushed an insect to death, he would have to do it.
Use a lot of force on the soles of the shoes, lest the bugs come back to life and bite them back.
By the way, the girls in Lanzhou City's most high-end brothel are not cheap. Since Zhang Kuo is willing to pay such blood, he has no objection to hiring two more people.
After persuading his accomplices, Zhang Kuo ordered the three of them to eat quickly: "We will set off immediately after eating. The guard team is all cavalry. If we run far away, we are afraid that we will not be able to catch up."
As the sun sets, four figures galloping on horseback grow longer and longer on the horizon.