I am Li Shen and Li Shimin, the free kings of the Tang Dynasty

Just as his men were about to take action, there was a sound of an arrow breaking through the air, and one of his men screamed and fell to the ground.

There was a crossbow arrow stuck in his stomach, and he kept wailing.

"Who? Who? Come out."

The leader immediately looked around, but there was no one in sight.

"Whoosh~~~~"

"Ah~~~"

Another arrow flew through the air, accompanied by a scream.

"Leader, on the hillside."

This time someone saw that the crossbow arrows were shot down from the mountain.

Several people looked up together and saw six or seven people standing on the hillside. They were wearing black armor, but they were too far away to see their faces.

"Oh no, it's the palace soldiers."

One person shouted.

"Bullshit, how could the palace soldiers get here, and how could they have a crossbow that could shoot so far?"

The leader cursed loudly.

At this time, another crossbow arrow shot over. The leader tried to dodge it, but he was a step too slow.

"Pfft~~"

"Ah~~"

He avoided the vital parts, but was still shot in the shoulder.

"Run, they are not ordinary troops."

The leader shouted, and without caring about the others, he turned around and jumped on his horse. The remaining two men saw the leader and ran away.

He also quickly mounted his horse and fled.

Before they had run far, they heard the sound of horses behind them. Looking back, the leader saw two cavalrymen chasing them.

The speed is comparable to his.

"Oh no! Run!"

Although Gaochang produced war horses, they were taken over by the imperial court after the defeat, and private breeding of good war horses was not allowed among the people.

Besides, ordinary people can't afford to keep a good war horse.

The horses that the leaders rode were pretty good, but they were also ordinary horses. How could they compare with the cavalry's war horses?

As the distance was getting closer, the leader knew that he might not be able to escape today.

"Escape separately."

Among the two opponents, at least one can go back and report the news.

In an instant, the three of them fled in three directions.

The two people behind did not hesitate, one chased the leader directly, and the other chose a direction to chase.

At this moment, another war horse appeared from behind, and the man on the horse was lightly dressed and wore no armor.

He only held a crossbow in his hand.

It was so fast that it chased in the other direction in the blink of an eye.

The young man was still lying on the ground in a daze. Because it happened so quickly, he had not yet reacted.

Just now he was being tortured, but in the blink of an eye, those who tortured him were either dead or escaped.

"Are you OK?"

Suddenly a voice was heard, startling the stunned young man.

Turning around, I saw a fat, wealthy man standing not far away. He had a greasy face and looked to be about fifty years old.

The clothes she wore were bright and gorgeous, and her accessories were all gold, silver and jade.

It goes without saying that this person is either rich or noble, and this person is Wang Hongfu.

"Thank you for saving my life."

The young man tried to get up with difficulty, but the pain in his body made him fall back again.

Upon seeing this, Wang Hongfu ordered his guards to go forward and check the young man's injuries.

"What's your name?"

Wang Hongfu also came over and asked with a smile.

"My name is Ma Wenchang."

Ma Wenchang said his name.

"Ma? If I remember correctly, the Ma family was a royal family before Gaochang. Even now, it should be considered a big family, right?"

Wang Hongfu recalled and asked.

As a businessman, especially the head manager of Prince Ji's Mansion, one must have some understanding of the power in various regions.

Otherwise, how do you know who has money and who doesn’t?

Gaochang was a country in the Western Regions, but its four generations of rulers were all Han people, from the Kan family, to the Zhang family, the Ma family, and finally the Qu family, all of them were large families.

"My Lord, I am just a small branch of the Ma family, and my bloodline is very thin, so..."

Ma Wenchang said it was a bit sad, so no one cared.

Wang Hongfu understood immediately that there were many such branches in the Tang Dynasty.

"Manager Wang, his injuries are temporarily healed, but he still needs to see a doctor and take some medicine."

After bandaging Ma Wenchang's wound, the guard reported to Wang Hongfu.

"Thank you again for saving my life."

Ma Wenchang knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Wang Hongfu.

"No need to do that, I just happened to pass by here."

Wang Hongfu stepped forward to support him.

He was actually passing by here, and his destination was the cotton workshop.

They didn't know the way, and it was difficult for them to find someone to ask for the approximate direction.

For safety reasons, they also sent one person out of the team of more than a dozen people to serve as a scout.

As a result, he discovered the scene of chasing Ma Wenchang on the hillside and went back to report it.

Wang Hongfu and the guard squad leader thought they had encountered horse bandits. When they heard that there were only a few of them, they sent two men on horseback to encircle them.

The rest of the people went up the mountain and shot with bows and crossbows to protect Wang Hongfu.

Otherwise, these few people would be wiped out with just one charge.

Fortunately, the other party was interrogating Ma Wenchang and did not kill him immediately, otherwise Wang Hongfu and the others would not have been able to catch up.

Wang Hongfu looked at the ragged Ma Wenchang and brought him a piece of dried meat and a pot of water.

"You probably haven't eaten for a long time, come and eat something."

When Ma Wenchang saw the meat, his eyes glowed green and he said:

"Thank you, sir."

He snatched it away and started biting it hard. Wang Hongfu handed the water over again.

"Why are they chasing you? Are they bandits? Are they killing people and robbing them?"

After hearing Wang Hongfu's question, Ma Wenchang paused, chewed hard for a few times, washed it down with water, looked at Wang Hongfu and replied:

"My Lord, they are indeed horse bandits."

Ma Wenchang did not tell the truth because he had just heard a title - Shopkeeper Wang.

This immediately made him alert.

"Oh, that's how it is."

Wang Hongfu suddenly understood and seemed to believe it.

"Eat slowly first. If you can walk by yourself later, you can leave on your own. Otherwise, follow us to the nearby town."

After saying this, Wang Hongfu turned around and walked away, and the guard squad leader followed him.

"Squad Leader Sun, there is something wrong with this guy. He said he was robbed by bandits and killed people for the stolen goods, but you can see that he is dressed in rags.

He doesn't look like someone with any money.

Moreover, he has not bathed for a long time. What rich man would do this?"

Wang Hongfu whispered his guess.

The guard squad leader nodded.

"Don't worry, Manager Wang. I have just told the guards who were chasing them to try to keep as many people alive as possible.

Just catch one and ask him and you will know."

"Well, let's wait a while. We won't get anything out of Ma Wenchang if we ask him now."

Wang Hongfu agreed.

Ma Wenchang was eating while observing Wang Hongfu and others.

The rich fat man is obviously the leader, and those people wearing armor should be his guards.

However, these guards did not look like ordinary guards. He had seen armies, whether it was the Gaochang Army back then or the Tang Army later.

But compared with the guards in front of him, the equipment is very different.

Even the Tang Dynasty's imperial guards that attacked Gaochang at that time were far less well-equipped than these few people.

It seems that this rich fat man has an important background.