Zhou Zhong was also very vigilant and turned over, instinctively reached out to grab the bow and arrow, and said in a low voice: "What's wrong?" ”

"I don't know yet, there is the sound of horses' hooves! Come this way. Wang Yu said.

As he spoke, a knight had already emerged from the night, and when he came to the pier, Zhou Zhong raised his voice and said, "Who is coming!" If you don't make it clear, don't blame us for not having long eyes on the arrow! ”

The knight could only see the general outline, but could not see his face at all, and both of them were armed with bows and arrows, and if the man did not answer correctly, he would shoot at once.

The knight beat his horse and spun in circles, but shouted anxiously: "Don't shoot arrows, your own people!" I'm Ding Xu Meng, an adult from Ten Mile Shop! It's the Zhou Zhong brothers? Ten miles of shop to the big green mountain thieves to surround! ”

Zhou Zhong was really a little familiar when he heard his voice, and after hearing the content of the words clearly, he was even more surprised: "What? Big green mountain thief? Where did all that crumbs come about? ”

Not far north of the border fort defense line in Datong Town is the continuous mountain range, in which the Great Wall is located. The north of Zhenqiang Fort, and even the north of the entire Xuanda two towns, the mountains that stretch for thousands of miles belong to the remnants of Daqingshan, and the main peak of Daqingshan is outside the northeast of Zhenqiangbao.

In ancient times, the northern part of the Jin Dynasty was called Shuofang, which was originally a very rich place in the south of the Yangtze River, with many people and prosperous towns, and I don't know how many regimes had built a capital here. However, with the continuous harassment after the retreat of the Mongol Tatars to the north, and even after the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the Xiaoice River era did not "read the novel ybdu" to arrive, but it became more and more poor and hungry. Especially after the Wanli year, there were frequent disasters, starvation was everywhere, and the people fled in all directions and were displaced. The imperial court was unable to provide disaster relief, and local officials, in order to avoid local chaos, even sent troops to drive away the victims, killing a large number of people.

These victims who could not survive had to take risks, either starving to death or rebelling, and there was still a way to live.

Most of them became the main force in the uprising army of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng, and some of them were unwilling to do business that was against the imperial court, so they went up the mountain and fell into the grass. Although both are illegal transactions, it is like stealing ten dollars and robbing a bank, which is a completely different nature, and there is always a severity. The imperial court has a lot of troops in the nine sides, but it is enough to deal with the Tartars who go south every year, and it is even more powerless to exterminate these thieves.

He had to go.

Daqingshan is a steep mountain with many dangerous passes, and most of the trade routes leading to Mongolia in the Ming Dynasty passed through them - although most of the time the Ming Dynasty forbade trade with Mongolia and Houjin, but the people did not care about this at all. In particular, some Jin merchants did not know what their home and country was, and they used to sell a large number of grain, cloth, ironware, and other materials that were most needed by Houjin through Chahar and transported to Liaodong. They provided food to the Manchus during the most difficult time for the Later Jin Dynasty and helped the Later Jin tide over the difficulties.

It is precisely because of such a relationship that after the founding of the Qing Dynasty, the eight Jin merchants who played many key roles in the rise of the Manchu Qing Dynasty were canonized, known as the Eight Great Imperial Merchants. These eight imperial merchants, relying on the sale of their ancestors, have been prominent in Shanxi for a hundred years.

In fact, if it weren't for the smuggling of the Jin merchants, then the old slave would have been killed by the blockade policy of the Emperor of the Apocalypse. Therefore, in a sense, the Jin merchants used the blood of the Han people in Guannai to earn their own money - just like the scum merchants of the Republic of China who smuggled American aid to Japan during the anti-Japanese period of the Republic of China.

It is true that businessmen pursue profit, but they always have to have some conscience.

With the trade route, there is naturally a target for robbery, plus from time to time to fight the grass valley, on the whole, the life of these green mountain thieves is quite good.

However, they generally don't dare to provoke the government, why did they surround Shilipu this time? Looks like this is going to be a big bunch!

The pier has been woken up by the movement outside, and many rooms are lit up, Dong Ce got up in his clothes and said loudly: "What's wrong?" ”

Wang Yu said loudly: "My lord, the ten miles are surrounded by thieves, and Lord Xu sent someone to report the news!" ”

"What?"

After determining Xu Meng's identity, the door opened, Xu Meng walked in quickly, and when he saw Dong Ce standing in the middle, he quickly knelt down and kowtowed, and said hurriedly: "My lord, the situation is critical!" Please also send troops quickly, otherwise it will be ...... ten miles."

Before he finished speaking, Dong Ce helped him up: "Don't worry, be careful." ”

He looked at Xu Meng, Xu Meng's body was full of blood and soil, the knife in his hand was also bloodstained, and there were several wounds on his body, which were hastily wrapped, and the whole person was quite embarrassed. Obviously, it is not easy to report the news from Shilipu.

Xu Meng calmed down and carefully explained the process.

It turned out that in the evening today, about 100 horse thieves suddenly killed the periphery of Shilipu, and wanted to seize the gate and kill it while the city gate was not closed! It was also a coincidence, Xu Rujian was delayed on the road, and Xu Meng and a few people had just escorted him back at that time, but they happened to run into him. Xu Meng and a few soldiers insisted on killing those horse thieves and closing the gate.

But the situation is also extremely critical.

There are only 50 defenders in Shilipu, and there is no need to mention equipment or anything, and the morale is even more low. And the horse thieves outside came one after another fifty or sixty reinforcements, and now it has reached the scale of one hundred and forty or fifty people, and each of them has a horse, and the archery skills are all quasi-evil. They were beating horses around Shilipu, and the defenders of the city approached without paying attention, and were killed by an arrow. When it was time to fight back, he found that the people had fled far away.

It's really precarious, and it could fall at any time!

Xu Rujian was also an ant on a hot pot and didn't know how to act, so he had to send a few henchmen to ask for help, and there were people in Zhenqiang Fort and the surrounding side piers.

"My lord said, he has hated the garrison of Zhenqiang Fort, and I am afraid that if he goes to Zhenqiang Fort and the forts below, he will not send a single soldier to him! Within a dozen miles around, the most capable of fighting are your subordinates, there are soldiers and horses, and the soldiers are strong and strong. Your Excellency, you must be saved, Lord Xu! ”

Xu Meng was really loyal to Xu Ruji, knelt down again, kowtowed heavily, and his voice was already crying.

Dong Ce listened, his face sinking like water.

Of course, Dong Ce knows very well that the thieves in reality are not the same thing as those mentally retarded garbage TV series in his previous life. Heroic and righteous, robbing the rich and helping the poor, not killing the good, there are almost no such thieves, for the vast majority of thieves, this is nonsense without crying! They kill people when they see them, rob things when they see them, wantonly abuse women, and burn them to the ground when they leave!

Their behavior is no different from that of beasts.

"Whose is it?" He finally spoke, asking in a deep voice.

"It's Bai Mazi's gang!"

As soon as he heard this, Dong Ce's face immediately became even more ugly.

There are many horses in the north, and many of these bandits are horse thieves, and they are even better equipped with officers and men -- the 570,000 war horses on the accounts of the military department in Shaanxi have been eroded by officials at all levels, and there is not even a single horse bone left, and there is no such serious corruption among the bandits.

Some horse thieves are one person and two horses, coming and going like the wind, and with a saber, it is a force that should not be underestimated. The brave among them, who even dared to go to the north to rob the Mongols, also gave these Mongols a taste of abuse.

This is the case with the white pockmark.

This guy can be called one of the most famous people in the entire North Hebei Province - notoriety. He has been rampant in Hebei Province for three or four years, and no less than ten villages have been destroyed and slaughtered by him, and the people who died in his hands are thousands! Other bandits are native to their hometowns, and they have a little scruple after all, but he is extremely ruthless, and he will always slaughter the village without mercy.

The name of white pockmarks can stop children's night crying in North Hebei Road.

The officers and soldiers also encircled and suppressed several times, but unfortunately he was able to learn the news in advance every time. In addition, his lair was deep in the mountains, the road was extremely difficult to navigate, and the brigade could not spread out, so he had to give up.

This also made Bai Mazi even more rampant.

A while ago, he had just slaughtered the two villages and towns on the other side of Zhenchuan Fort, but he didn't expect that this time he would hit the idea on Shilipu!

"To save, or not to save?!"

This matter is not difficult to decide, his mother, his own woman, and his own family business are all in the ten mile shop. Under the nest, will there be no eggs? Saving Xu Rujian is actually saving yourself and your family!

No choice!

"The female dependents stayed, Li Gui, your injuries are not well, take someone to stay. All the adult males of the rest are wearing armor and galloping to the aid of Shilipu! Dong Ce yelled.

"Yes!" The crowd agreed.

After the battle with Jiannu, the soldiers of Anxiangdun have gradually learned to deal with this situation, quite methodically.

Li Gui commanded the women to take out the war horses, these war horses are very expensive in Anxiangdun, and they are fed with good horse feed mixed with soybeans and eggs every day, and some people specially comb their manes and brush their bodies. One by one, the fat and strong people who served were full of spirit, and they couldn't wait to jump around. He took out the horse, put it on the saddle, and hung the horse material for eating on the road next to the saddle.

Li Gui is very handy in doing such logistical things.

Shi Jin, on the other hand, opened the door of the arsenal, took out the armor and weapons inside, and distributed them to everyone.

Shi Jin and Wang were tall and strong, and they each wore a set of fish scale iron leaf armor, Wang Hun took the captured giant hammer, and Shi Jin took a giant axe. Zhou Bo, Zhou Zhong, Wang Tong, and Su Dacheng wore red satin copper nails and copper leaf armor, and Zhou Bo was holding a long iron spear, while Zhou Zhong's archery was accurate, but for convenience, he hung a long iron knife on his waist. Wang Yu had less strength, wore leather armor, and held a long iron knife.

The lightest leather armor of these armors weighs a full eighteen pounds! For example, Shi Jin and Wang Hun are two, and the weapons and armor are already fifty catties.