The Linsong Valley, located at the foot of the Horseshoe Mountain to the west of the Qilian Mountains, is a cultural place that scholars always like to pay homage to. In order to visit this place, Xiao Hua and Yuan Zai deliberately changed their route and decided to take a detour from here to Dunhuang. They stopped to admire the sages.
The excavated Matishan Grottoes allow you to experience the legacy of the great Confucians of the Wei and Jin Dynasties.
Zahu Zhonghou couldn't understand this kind of behavior. Isn't it just hillside trees? Liaodong is full of these things. Although it is to pay homage to the sages, there is nothing to pay homage to, not even a pile of graves.
They had never heard of the celebrities in Hexi such as Guo He, Guo Yu, Liu Kui, etc. that Xiao Hua mentioned, and they didn't know what there was to admire about these guys.
While the two of them were exploring the cave, the two bastards were waiting at the entrance of the cave, chatting boredly.
Sharp whistles were heard from the bottom of the hillside, and dozens of bandits on horseback, waving weapons in their hands, surrounded the cliff. The target seemed to be the four of them.
The two lieutenants quickly got on their horses, drew their swords from their waists, and looked at these ragged bandits with wary eyes.
The leading man held a long-handled battle ax in his hand, had a fat beard on his cheeks, and was riding a fat horse. The armor on his body was extremely rusty, and seemed to be hand-made from a variety of armor pieces.
"It's not in vain that we have been waiting in this valley for many days, and finally a few fat meats have arrived. If you want to survive, just do it yourself, peel off the money and the inner and outer layers of skin, and put them on the horse.
Let’s bring it over!”
The two lieutenants narrowed their eyes, and their eyes gradually became fierce. The bandit leader pointed his ax at the two men and shouted: "What are you looking at! Take off your breastplate and soft armor, or you will die!"
"
The two of them nodded tacitly, and one of them held the handle of the knife and clasped his fist at the bandit and said: "Head of the family, we are the court officials. Don't you know what the crime of robbing the court officials is?"
"You bastard court officials forced me to fall into the trap of a bandit. Today, you two bastard officials are in my hands and you two are in bad luck."
Xiao Hua and Yuan Zai, who were visiting the cave, had already heard the noise outside. They were both weak scholars. They were so frightened that they leaned against the stone walls on both sides of the cave and covered their mouths and noses, not even daring to take a breath.
One of the lieutenants softened his tone and said in a consultative tone: "Since you all make a living by looting, I don't think it's better to do this. We have a few copper coins on us that we can give to you. But the armor and horses are the foundation of our lives.
, can’t give it to you.”
"Hahaha!" The bandits laughed wildly, and the leader laughed sarcastically: "Your lives are almost in danger, but you still dare to bargain with us."
As soon as the bandit leader finished speaking, one of the lieutenants suddenly jumped on his horse and swung his sword to cut off the leader's head. The bandit leader blocked it with an axe. The two men exchanged hands with each other twice on horseback.
Lying down on the horse, he stood out from the gangsters' encirclement and ran toward the valley.
Another man rode a horse and suddenly came from the side. He quickly chopped down the two bandits with a knife and fled towards the valley.
The galloping war horses were simply unstoppable to the bandits walking on foot. They all avoided the horses' heads and immediately chased them in the direction in which they fled.
Several bandits who were chasing at the front were riding war horses, always chasing them a few feet behind. One of the lieutenants quietly took out a horn bow from the side of the horse, drew out the arrow and set it on the string, and suddenly stood up straight and jumped from the horse.
He twisted around on his back, fully drew the bow string and let go, shooting out, hitting a gangster in the face.
The gangster screamed and fell off his horse, falling into the green onions.
"Ha," Zhonghou smiled proudly and continued to gallop on his horse. These bandits were armed with simple swords. If they wanted to deal with them, the court military attachés who were skilled in bows and horses and well-equipped, they simply overestimated their capabilities. All they had to do was come one at a time.
After running around a few times, you can disperse these people and kill them individually.
But just the next second, the gangsters chasing behind them seemed to have no intention of hiding. They took out a crossbow from somewhere, put the flat end in their hands and pulled the crossbow machine. Three arrows hit the back of one of the lieutenants.
Heart, body lying back on the horse.
Zhonghou, who was fleeing at the front, let out a frightened cry, glanced back and quickly fell down on his horse, shouting in panic: "You are not bandits!"
The bandits were suddenly stunned, and then they whipped their riding whips faster and faster, determined to kill the imperial official who exposed the truth on his horse.
After Zhonghou understood his situation, he quickly adjusted the direction of his escape. If he fled from a flat valley, there would be no cover behind him and he would be easily shot by the pursuers. Instead, on the opposite side of the hillside facing Songshan Mountain, the pine forest was full of arrowheads.
, which can serve as a cover. He rode his horse back and forth in the pine forest, and the straight and thick tree trunks blocked the arrows fired by the pursuers.
He sneered and looked back, but the horse's hoof suddenly sank forward. Between two pine trees, two teams of people pulled up the stumbling rope, causing the horse to somersault and fall to the ground with a neigh.
Zhonghou was thrown off his horse and fell to the ground. He got up and continued running wildly. However, the pursuers were already close to him. They raised their flat ends and bent their crossbows, buckling the strings and firing arrows one after another like nails.
It hit his back and fell with a thud among the piles of pine needles.
A man carrying an ax walked forward slowly, raised the ax with both hands, and struck down hard on the corpse lying on the ground.
The bandits took off the clothes and armor of the two lieutenants, and also took away their slightly injured horses.
Xiao Hua and Yuan Zai shrank their heads and hid in the cave. The darkness obscured the expressions on their faces. Only the violent sound of their heartbeats could describe their fear. They anxiously hoped that the bandits would not leave and come back, but things happened.
Contrary to their expectations, the bandits returned to the cave and untied their horses from the trees.
The bandit leader deliberately shouted loudly: "There are two more horses here. It seems that there are more than two officials. Let's search the cave, find them and kill them!"
Xiao Hua was so frightened that he almost cried. Yuan Zai lamented in a low voice in despair: "My life is at an end!"
Suddenly, there was another bandit shouting outside the cave: "Oh no! Leader! The cavalry of the Imperial Ning army appears in the Linsong Valley!"
"Hurry! Hurry! Brothers!"
…
Quietness quickly returned to the outside of the cave. There was only the sound of the rustling wind blowing through the pine branches. The urgent breathing of Xiao Hua and Yuan Zai gradually became smoother. They stood up slowly holding on to the cave wall and quietly moved to the entrance of the cave to explore outside.
.
It was indeed deserted, with only sparse pine trunks and green onions everywhere. The two of them walked out of the cave with relief, but the horses were gone.
Xiao Hua lamented, there were their luggage and dry food on the horses, but fortunately they had their official status and seals on them. With their official status, they could borrow horses from the inn to ride on, so the situation was not too bad.
The sound of horses neighing suddenly sounded again at the foot of the hillside in the pine forest. The two people, like frightened birds, quickly turned around and ran in the direction of the cave. Their legs seemed to be cramped and they couldn't control themselves. The sound of horse hooves was getting closer and closer. This is really a misfortune that never comes singly and a blessing comes from both!
"I am the captain of the cavalry camp of the Ning Kou Army! Why are you two running so fast?"
The two of them stopped and froze, then slowly turned around and looked up to see a young general wearing silver mountain armor standing on horseback with his hands raised.
Both of them were exhausted physically and mentally, and each showed a smile of relief, just like two civilized people who had stepped into the wilderness and saw the dawn of civilization again.
"We were dispatched by Zhongshu Lingcheng to come to Hexi on official business. A certain person is Xiao Hua, a doctor in the Ministry of Punishment, and he is Zhi Yuanzai, the chief minister of Dali Temple."
The young general turned over and dismounted and said with a smile: "It turned out to be a messenger sent by the imperial court. We just intercepted a group of bandits in the valley. They left two horses and fled in a hurry to see if they are your horses and luggage."
He waved his hand and ordered his soldiers to bring the horse over. The two of them nodded excitedly and said, "Yes, this is our horse."