The sun had set on the hills to the west, lazy, and no longer domineering at noon. When the heat fades, the cool breeze rises, carrying the smell of water on the river, and blowing on the face makes people feel refreshed.

Gao Daquan took two of Xu Ping's personal sergeants and walked all the way along the avenue by the left river.

The willow branches fluttered in the breeze, and the boats of all colors rushed by on the water, and while it was cool, the number of pedestrians on the road gradually increased. Vendors who had been hiding from the heat all afternoon reappeared, selling all kinds of food along the streets, and some people carried freshly picked lychees and walked slowly along the road.

Taipingzhai, which gathers a population of nearly 10,000 people, has the appearance of a large town in just two or three years, and its prosperity and liveliness are directly chasing Yongzhou.

With the slanting sun on his back, Gao Daquan arrived at the door of Liu Dahu's wine shop.

The little guy at the door who was leaning on the willow tree and watching the street scene saw Gao Daquan and hurriedly greeted him: "I've seen it!" ”

Gao Da nodded and asked, "Is there a guest in the master's house today?" ”

"Yes, a few little ladies from the Lifting Division have had an afternoon of wine in the backyard."

"Take me there!"

The little servant listened to the order, hurriedly led the way, and led Gao Daquan and the two sergeants into the door.

When I arrived in the backyard, I saw that Liu Dahu and Qiu Niangzi were still accompanying Liu Xiaomei, and the banquet had not yet dispersed.

Qiu Niangzi moved to Liu Xiaomei's side, took a few pieces of gold and silver jewelry in her hand, and was trying them on Liu Xiaomei one by one. Liu Xiaomei was born poor, and the only valuable jewelry in her life was a gold hairpin given to her by Gao Daquan, and she was reluctant to wear it like a baby. Now that I am wearing gold and silver, I feel uncomfortable.

On the other side, Liu Dahu had already drunk too much, a little confused, and he didn't know what to say, and no one paid attention to him.

Seeing Gao Daquan coming in, Liu Dahu's eyes lit up: "The cadre is finally here, you will become my brother-in-law in a few days, come and have a drink together!" ”

Gao Daquan looked at Liu Dahu's appearance and frowned: "Find a free time in the future, just today." The officials couldn't see Xiuxiu, so I asked me to look for it and go back before dark. ”

"What's the hurry!" Liu Dahu waved his arm violently, "Taiping World, what happens even if you go back at night?" Could it be that there are still people who dare to spread wild in Taipingzhai? Let's do a drink! ”

Over there, Xiuxiu took the jewelry that Qiu Niangzi gave Liu Xiaomei and compared it on her body, and she was also having fun. She followed Xu Ping, gold jewelry was not daring to wear, Xu Ping had already warned her. At this time, there is a gold ban, and it is strictly forbidden for the people to sell gold as a tool, and gold jewelry is naturally not allowed to be worn. During the Zhenzong Dynasty, even the concubines in the palace were forbidden to wear gold jewelry, and the punishment was very severe.

Seeing that there was a mess, Gao Daquan secretly shook his head and said to Duan Yunjie: "The official instructed that you must rush back to the village before dark, and you will get here today." ”

Qiu Niangzi put the jewelry on the table and said to Gao Daquan: "No matter how urgent it is, it's not bad for this moment, why don't you drink a glass of wine?" ”

After speaking, he poured a glass of wine to toast Gao Daquan.

Gao Daquan saw that Liu Xiaomei was sitting there and had no intention of moving, so he had no choice but to drink the wine.

After this glass of wine, he couldn't stop anymore, and was pulled by Liu Dahu and Qiu Niangzi and pressed on the stool.

After three rounds of drinking, Gao Daquan saw that it was getting dark, but he still couldn't move, so he had to recruit a sergeant to come over and ask him to go back to report it, and he would return a little later.

Seeing the soldiers leaving, Qiu Niangzi asked the little maid to light the lamp and serve the food again.

In the freight yard by the Zuojiang River, Huang Conggui drank the wine in the bowl in one gulp, and the bowl fell to the ground with a "snap", and shouted: "It's dark, don't do it, what are you waiting for here!" ”

Director Fang gave him a disgusted look, but couldn't help but say nothing. This Huang Ya is open-mouthed, unscrupulous, and extremely annoying. So many people got together, and what they did was not a righteous and bright thing, but Huang Conggui kept yelling and yelling, completely ignorant of restraint, which made the people around him worry.

Huang Wei looked at the sky and asked Director Fang in a low voice: "It's been half an afternoon, and Tian Er in the room hasn't moved at all, will there be any accidents?" ”

"Leave him alone, the man is asleep like a dead pig, and he can't wake up without anyone shouting!"

Hearing what Director Fang said, Huang Wei nodded, stood up and said in a loud voice: "It's not early, let's go and do something." Remember, tonight's affairs involve a lot, everyone will be rewarded if it is done well, if it is not done well-" After looking at everyone, his voice was lowered: "Then prepare for the aftermath early!" ”

After saying this, the crowd was silent, and the atmosphere froze suddenly.

Huang Conggui didn't like this feeling very much, most of the people tonight were his cronies brought out from Chungju, but it turned out that Huang Wei was an outsider who gave orders.

Standing up lazily, Huang Conggui said: "Why do you want to say so scary, it's just to rob something, haven't you inquired about no one guarding it, what are you worried about!" ”

Huang Wei said in a deep voice: "What Yanai said is true, but there is only a river away from Taiping Village here, if the incident happens, the soldiers and horses in the village will soon be able to chase it out, and then it will be troublesome!" ”

"I'm here, you're fine!" Huang Conggui said with a grin, "In this area, who dares not to give us some face in Zhongzhou!" As long as you don't enter Taiping Village, then you will be safe! ”

Director Fang snorted behind Huang Wei: "It seems that Zhongzhou is still in his hands!" ”

Huang Wei coughed, asked Director Fang not to speak, and smiled at Huang Conggui reluctantly: "Of course it's good that the yamen is so sure." It's getting late, let's hit the road. ”

Here, Huang Conggui and his party packed up and sorted out the horses, and the supervisor went to the outside of the house, listened to the movement in the house, took out a lock and locked the door, and said to the doorkeeper: "You two are guarding the door, if the person inside comes out, just take his life!" After we're gone, you keep an eye on the yard and don't let people in. ”

After the order was finished, Director Fang followed Huang Wei and Huang Conggui and his party out of the freight yard.

At the foot of Jinguangding Mountain, a row of thatched huts was temporarily erected, and the people who built roads under Gao Daquan lived here. Because the construction has not yet started, there are no people, and only six people are here to guard the supplies.

By the light, the two guards drank wine to pass the long boring hours of the night. Two more were on patrol and two were resting, and in the middle of the night they were changing shifts.

In the past few years, Yongzhou has been in good weather, the government is harmonious, and there are few people who break the law and commit crimes, and the whole society is immersed in a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, and people are slowly beginning to be lazy. Gao Daquan's subordinates who built these roads, most of them were the more soldiers of Fujian Road, except for the military registration, who stayed in the sugar business, and after two good years, they also lost the spirit of a soldier, and they also lost their vigilance in the army.

It was late in the month, and the moon did not rise until the second half of the night, when the sky was full of stars, but it did not illuminate the earth, and everywhere was pitch black.

Zhou Kun, who was patrolling, heard a gentle rustling sound in the distance, and said to his companion Qian Sanlang: "Third brother, do you hear that someone is coming?" Let's take a look. ”

Qian Saburo said in a sullen voice: "At this hour, where are there still people!" Deep in the mountains, jackals, tigers and leopards are indispensable, be careful of being harmed! Let's not leave where the lights shine! ”

Hearing Qian Saburo say this, Zhou Kun kept his mouth shut and didn't dare to mention it again. The tiger and wolf are just fine, there are six of them here, and those fierce beasts are not stupid, so they dare not provoke them. I'm afraid it's not a tiger and wolf, but a poisonous snake, and if you bite it accidentally, you will die, who to reason with.

walked back and forth a few times, but the sound was getting louder and louder, Zhou Kun frowned, but he didn't hear it.

A gust of mountain wind blew, Zhou Kun subconsciously shrunk his neck, and raised his head suddenly, only to find a figure flashing not far away.

"Third brother, it's not a beast, there are really people!"

This shout startled Qian Sanlang, who was walking with his head bored, stopped in place, was stunned, looked around, but found no movement, and said to Zhou Kun in a muffled voice: "People are scary, they will scare people to death!" What are you shouting nonsense! On such a dark day, you can't see the road clearly, where will someone come! ”

As soon as the words fell, a figure came out of the shadows, sent a steel knife in his hand, and stabbed Qian Saburo in the abdomen.

The steel knife entered the abdomen, and the man raised a kick to kick Qian Saburo to the ground, and pulled out the steel knife.

Qian Saburo clutched his stomach, blood kept pouring out of the wound, and with many years of experience in the army, he knew that he was dying. Raising his head on the ground, he said with difficulty, "There really are—"

Before he finished a sentence, he tilted his head and lost his life.

This time it was as fast as lightning, and Zhou Kun reacted that Qian Saburo had fallen to the ground.

Vaguely seeing the blood on Qian Sanlang's abdomen, Zhou Kun slammed a spirit, and swept away his laziness, the instinct cultivated in the army for many years returned, and the Pu knife in his hand swung violently behind him.

Although this knife cut through the air, I heard someone in the dark shadow "Huh", but it just happened to force back the person who was about to sneak attack.

By swinging the knife, Zhou Kun turned around and shouted: "There are thieves, prepare for war!" ”

With the shout, he strode back and moved closer to his partner behind him.

The two who were drinking heard the sound, kicked the table to the ground, took advantage of the situation to carry the Pu knife leaning on the table, and stood back to back in the light.

Zhou Kun retreated to the two of them, leaned against them, and said in a deep voice: "I don't know how many thieves there are, Qian Saburo has lost his life, and there is wolf smoke!" ”

The two sleeping people were awakened and were coming out of the house, and when they saw the scene in front of them, they asked in surprise: "There is a thief?" How many people? ”

"There are thieves, I don't know how many, wolf smoke! Fast! ”

When they heard that there was a thief, they came to their senses, one went to fetch a knife, and the other ran to the pyre with a torch.

"Straight lady thief, this gang of killers is vigilant! It's hard to start in the dark, they all come out, and fight with them with real knives and guns! I don't believe that the sons and daughters can't fight these thieves! ”

Huang Conggui jumped out of the dark shadow, brandished a steel knife and pointed at a few people under the light and scolded.

Huang Wei walked over slowly, and said in a deep voice: "Don't fall in love with war, take someone over and kill the wolf smoke, shoot the rest of the random arrows to death, take the things and leave!" ”

Huang Conggui turned his head and glared at Huang Wei, but fortunately he didn't lose his brain this time, turned around and waved, lit seven or eight cronies, and pounced on the person with the torch with a knife and gun.

In order to prevent fire, the beacon smoke and firewood pile was some distance away from the grass house, and the person who lit the fire was blocked by Huang Conggui and his people before he arrived. Seeing that there was nothing to do, the guard gritted his teeth, threw the torch in his hand high, and threw it at the pyre.

Huang Conggui had already stared at it, jumped up and knocked down the torch with the knife in his hand, ran over and stepped on it with his feet, and scolded in his mouth: "Kill talents, dare to play tricks in front of me!" Today you are a death! ”

The guard sighed secretly, turned to join his companion, and took a whistle stick in his hand.

Zhou Kun looked around and said in a deep voice: "Let's kill it, we have to light the wolf smoke no matter what, otherwise we will only be afraid of our lives tonight!" ”

The others responded together, forming a formation and slowly moving towards the pyre.

At this moment, Huang Wei in the shadow shouted: "Release the arrow!" ”