Lu Yuanyuan has been away from Jiangdong's home for many years, serving in the army alone, and there is no help from the army; And he was often a front-runner and a surprise attacker, so his retinues were not full of sons, servants, and relatives like many generals, but were all brave men who were carefully selected from the army and skilled in arching horses. In terms of pure personal prowess, many officers of more than 100 generals were inferior to them.

Lu Yao came to Youzhou this time and brought fifty people with him, the leader was Ma Rui, and Pang Yuan, who was born in the county, was his deputy. At present, Youzhou has no owner, the attrition of the state soldiers is very serious, and many generals do not know what to do, so fifty cavalry is enough to maintain Lu Yao's safety. They are all equipped with one person and two horses, and even if they face great danger, at least getting out is not a problem.

But at this time, Ma Rui grabbed Fang Mianzhi's shoulders and stepped forward slightly to cover him, but his expression was a little dignified. Fang Mianzhi was stunned, and then reacted: Although the two teams of people facing each other outside the manor were not dressed as regular soldiers, judging from their body shape, eyes, and even the posture of holding weapons, it was certain that they were all martial artists who had experienced battlefield battles, and they were by no means ordinary ruthless men in the countryside.

There's nothing to be nervous about, though. The Youzhou soldiers and horses scattered all over the country have long been under the supervision of Daijun, no matter how fierce these people are, they are just some wealthy clans, will they be taken into account by the elite of Daijun? Fang Mianzhi just thought so, but saw Ma Rui turn sideways slightly, causing the warriors behind him to rush out. The first few people to step into the open space in front of the manor immediately mounted their horses and galloped to a little farther away to guard; The rest quickly formed a formation to cover Lu Yao and the others who were in their hearts. At the back of the line, ten more people returned to the official road to cover everyone's retreat.

Facing Fang Mianzhi's puzzled expression, Ma Rui stretched out his hand and pointed out two directions, and said in a low voice: "Look." ”

Fang Mianzhi looked at the angle pointed by Ma Rui, but saw smoke and dust rising from behind the bushes on the east side of the manor, and someone shouted the sound of horse neighing. Obviously, the two groups of men and horses facing each other, the eastern one was only the lead, and there was a large group following behind, and not only the infantry, but also the number of mules and horses was also very large. Fang Mianzhi is young and intelligent, learns things quickly, and has some eyesight in the Daijun Army for a while. He estimated that in total, there would be a force of nearly three to five hundred people.

At this moment, it is the time of autumn planting, and all the villages and communities are busy with all their efforts to ensure the agricultural affairs, and even the powerful families with thousands of apostles may not be able to draw many manpower. The use of such a large amount of force, but the failure to overwhelm the men and horses in the west, proves that both sides of the confrontation are strong, and second, it also proves that these two sides must have special and important purposes before they come to the manor of the former Youzhou Sima.

Although Lu Yao and the others lacked expectations for the appearance of these two teams, Lu Yao and the others were also uninvited guests to these two teams. Many of them had turned to the guard, and the situation was about to become more complicated, and the atmosphere was already a little strange.

Lu Yao and his entourage rode lightly, originally planning to visit Qi Hong secretly, but in the current chaotic situation, it was obviously not suitable to continue. Youzhou has always been under the rule of the Great Jin Dynasty, which is different from those places where the Hu people are entrenched, and the current Lu Yao is even more different from the past. At this critical juncture, it is especially important to take care of feathers to avoid tarnishing your reputation. If it is delayed any longer, if the identity of General Yingyang is revealed, it will inevitably be very different from the original intention.

What should I do next?

Fang Mianzhi said categorically: "General, this place is not suitable for a long time, we might as well take refuge for a while." ”

Everyone went to see Lu Yao together.

Lu Yao stared at the two teams of people, frowning slightly, but did not speak.

I only heard Ma Rui whisper with some dissatisfaction: "What to avoid? We don't care about these miscellaneous soldiers......"

Fang Mianzhi didn't care to explain to Ma Rui, and asked Lu Yao again for instructions: "General? ”

I don't know what Lu Yao was looking at, the other party's reluctant request was as if he had heard nothing, and after a while, he waved his robe sleeves slightly: "Wait a minute." ”

"Yes." Fang Mianzhi didn't dare to say more, and bowed down to receive the order.

The sound of the clanging armor behind him sounded, and Pang Yuan, the other leader of Hu Cong's own soldiers, strode forward. He squeezed Fang Mianzhi away, saluted Lu Yao and Ma Rui, and said in a deep voice: "There are no special circumstances nearby, and the state soldiers of Jixian County have not moved. ”

Unlike Ma Rui, who has a heroic personality, Pang Yuan always looks a little gloomy, and he ignores civil officials like Mian Zhi and has a bad attitude. Fang Mianzhi didn't think it was upset, chuckled, and stepped aside half a step.

Pang Yuan's figure was extremely tall, half a head taller than Lu Yao, and his shoulders were far wider than ordinary people. But he was so thin that he was clearly dressed in iron armor and had a long sword hanging from his waist, but behind his wide robe, the fabric hung dangling on his shoulders, and there was no trace of the armor at all. He was a horse thief who surrendered to Daijun, and he had only been under Lu Yao's command for two months, and Lu Yao actually took him as the leader of his own army.

Pang Yuan led ten men from the knight to return to the place to guard, and soon found out the surrounding situation, and was even more sure that the encounter between these two groups of men and horses was purely an accident, not a conspiracy against Lu Yao and others. However, after hearing Pang Yuan's report, Lu Yao still stared at the front of the manor, not knowing what he was thinking.

Ma Rui scratched the wound on his cheek that was gradually forming a thick scab, and beckoned: "Lao Pang, what do you think these two people are coming from?" ”

Pang Yuan glanced at it twice, and replied casually: "These in the east, the robes and faces are very neat, the horses are not carrying bags, and the weapons used are well-calculated, but the systems are different, and there are no rules for the queues of different troops. In addition, many of these people wore leather boots and frequently interacted with Hu'er on weekdays. As for those on the west side...... The number is slightly smaller, but it is better than the long-trained and neat movements, and it must be the elite. ”

Pang Yuan looked at it again and said categorically: "Look at their clothes and the bags they carry, they probably came from the south for a long journey. ”

"South? Where? Ma Rui asked.

"I don't know." Pang Yuan shook his head and pointed: "The saddle sheath they use is very exquisite; Although the costumes are ordinary, many of them wear expensive and ornate belts. Do you see the knight who is closest to us? Look at his hook, carved in the shape of a phoenix. I've never seen anything like that...... It's definitely not from Youzhou, maybe it's ...... Is it a noble person from Jizhou? ”

Ma Rui muttered and scolded: "You thief who kills a thousand knives, have you never seen it?" ”

He blamed Pang Yuan for this. When Pang Yuan was a horse thief in the past, it was necessary to evaluate the situation of traveling back and forth and judge whether it was worth plundering. But the horse thieves only care whether the goods are abundant or not, and where they pay attention to the details of their clothes and clothing; What's more, after all, the Daijun thieves are only in the northern Xinjiang, and Pang Yuan has never crossed the scope of Youzhou in his life, so his knowledge is limited.

"It's not Jizhou ......" Lu Yao suddenly interrupted the conversation between Ma Rui and Pang Yuan, and said word by word: "It's Luoyang." ”

Before the words fell, the main gate of the manor, which had been closed, suddenly opened.