across the Quartet

Meng Dong.In the wild northern country, the new snow has only accumulated two or three inches thick.It was a fine day, and a group of more than a dozen chariots and horses came from afar in the field.Not long ago, this area was a battlefield, and most merchants and travelers stayed away. For a hundred miles, there were only barren villages, wild mounds, weeds and dead bones; occasionally one or two living people could be seen, and they were also ragged refugees or thieves.However, this convoy is very eye-catching, the horses are fat, the vehicles are glamorous, and the formation is very neat, and the people and horses are silent, like a well-trained army.

At noon, the chariots and horses waded through a small river that was not yet frozen, and then rested by the river for a while.A man and a woman got out of the leading car: the man was tall, with open collar, wearing a black mink fur cloak, holding a three-foot-long sword in his left hand; the woman wore a collar of scarlet cloud and thunder pattern silk She wore a cloak, a snow cap, and a circle of Firefox fur around her neck, which made her skin look like creamy fat, and her temples were like ink stains. She was a stunning beauty.The two walked to the water's edge, and the sword-wielding man suddenly took out a map drawn on yellow silk from his arms, spread it on his arms, and compared them carefully.

"Lord Wei Zhuang, is the map Gai Nie left behind accurate?" Jiaren waited quietly behind him for a moment, and couldn't help asking.

"Don't worry. Although my brother's brain is not very good, he still has a good memory." The man replied with a half-smile, "Look here, even the direction of this small river is marked. It can be seen that he has a good understanding of the terrain in this area." The water veins are really well known."

"The markings of these red dots are..."

"This is estimated by Gai Nie. Luo Wang may have ambushed in advance in order to contact the escaped Guo Kai. However, I sent people to investigate nearby, and there is no sign of anyone stationed yet." The man pondered. Zhong quickly calculated the footsteps of the quicksand and the time when the opponent escaped from Handan, and drew his index finger carelessly on the map.

When Gai Nie was in Chu State a year ago, he said that exchanging one hundred thousand gold for his own life was not just a joke.Within a few days of his detention, he drew an extremely detailed topographic map of the western suburbs of Handan, and asserted that the route Guo Kai took to escape must not be outside this map.After Wei Zhuang considered it, he believed that what he was planning was indeed feasible.There are many mountains in the southwest of the State of Zhao. If Guo Kai wanted to take chariots, horses, goods, and private soldiers and slaves from Handan to the State of Qin, there were not many routes he could choose.And one hundred thousand gold is really a lot of wealth. Since someone can sell a country for it, it is really nothing compared to running thousands of miles and waiting for a few more days for it. .

Ever since hearing that Qin State raised troops to attack Zhao again, Liusha began various secret preparations.Wei Zhuang first sent a small number of spies, disguised as refugees fleeing from refugees, to inquire secretly on the Qin-Zhao border.He himself left Chen Di and returned to Yunmeng Mountain for a while.A few days ago, Baifeng's birds found the news of Li Mu's death in Handan City.Wei Zhuang immediately led the crowd to set off, traveling day and night, first arrived at Shangdang, and then pursued from the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain to Handan.

But now the journey has been too smooth, and the Qin people have never noticed the ambush.Could it be that Ge Nie's judgment was wrong, and Guo Kai's escape route was not to the west, but to the east into Qi, or even north to the Xiongnu?Or was he too impatient, even though Li Mu died, Guo Kai still had the protection of King Zhao, so there was no need to flee for the time being?Wei Zhuang was pondering over it, when suddenly the two spies he sent out hurriedly returned from the east and reported, "Master, there are wolves blocking the way."

"A pack of wolves?" Wei Zhuang laughed, and he couldn't help but wonder; there were wolves in Yunmeng Mountain, and he knew a thing or two about the nature of wolves: wolves like to hunt at the turn of the morning and evening, and sometimes at night, but rarely compared to day Moreover, although wolves are greedy and cunning, they are very knowledgeable about the times. If they are not extremely hungry and encounter predators that are much larger than themselves, such as the Xuanhu and Weizhuang that often appear in Guigu, they will come out at the right time. avoid.It was the first time he had seen a pack of wolves who dared to block the way in front of a strong team of horses.

"lead the way."

Wei Zhuang folded the map and stuffed it back into his sleeve, and followed the two men to the east.The woman in red pulled out a handle that looked half like a soft sword, half like a long whip from her waist, held it in the palm of her hand, and followed behind step by step.About a hundred paces away, a pack of gray and black wild wolves was already in sight, there were as many as thirty or forty wolves: the young and strong were on the outside, and the old and weak were on the inside. Things surrounded Gaixin; the leading horses kept staring at the approacher vigilantly, baring their canine teeth from time to time.In the distance, there are a few vultures, standing high or low on the treetops on the ground, not daring to approach.Wei Zhuang took a closer look and found that the mass of flesh and blood guarded by the wolves in the center was vaguely in the shape of a person.The woman who was following him probably also noticed it, and couldn't help but let out an "ah".

"A large army was once stationed here." Wei Zhuang pointed to the upper reaches of the river, where there was an open space that had never been covered with snow, the ground was covered with a layer of black ash, and some burnt logs could be seen faintly. "That's a corpse rack. Generally, after cleaning the battlefield, the corpses of the dead soldiers are piled up and burned on a wooden frame. However, it is not surprising that the Qin army left in such a hurry that some corpses were too late to clean up. The strange thing is, These wolves have protected their food so far, and they don’t know how to avoid people when they come, so it’s possible that they have never suffered from people’s hands?”

As he spoke, he slowly pulled out the shark's teeth, his movements were soft, and there was a hint of a smile on his lips, but the surging sword energy rushed in all directions like a strong wind; the leading wild wolf barked like a dog, and let go go.

It wasn't until they saw what the wolves were surrounded by that they were truly shocked—it was a lying man, the clothes covering his body had long since shredded into shreds, and his body and legs were bloody.There was a mass of feathers and flesh mixed together in his hand, and it was vaguely recognizable as a bird.At this time, another gray wolf came with a vulture in its mouth and placed it gently on the man's chest.

"It, what are they doing?" The woman in red asked in surprise.

Wei Zhuang took a step forward, used the tip of his sword to pick away the torn clothes on the man's body, and took a few glances. "The leg is broken. The body is tortured. There is still breath."

"This person is still alive?!"

"That's right. If there were no wolves, he would have died a long time ago. Those wolves were not trying to eat him, but...feeding him." Wei Zhuang thought of something he had heard a long time ago.

Probably also stimulated by Wei Zhuang's sword energy, the injured man let out a thud and slowly woke up; but seeing his face covered with dried blood and dirt, his eyes could not be fully opened.Even so, he seemed to be aware of the figure standing in front of him, and suddenly became excited, shouting in a hoarse voice: "...Gai, Gai Nie!"

Wei Zhuang's face turned dark immediately.

However, he tried his best to conceal it, the shark's teeth touched the protruding part of the man's throat, and asked in a deep voice, "Who are you?"

"You're not Gai... Hehe, of course you're not. He ran away a long time ago, how could he come back to save me. I'm afraid they all thought I was dead—" the man murmured to himself.He was already half dead, and he was not afraid of the sharp knife that hit his neck. Instead, he picked up the dead bird in his hand and bit it to his mouth, drinking the blood without paying attention.Seeing the woman in red almost wanted to vomit.

"Chi Lian, let them drive over and take this strong man up for treatment." Wei Zhuang became interested instead.He put his sword back into its sheath, squatted down beside the man with a heart-to-heart look, and asked, "Could it be that the strong man is from Zhao? I don't know how your Excellency met Gai Nie, and how did you end up here?"

The man stared at him suspiciously, and asked for a while, "Who are you? You also know Gai Nie?"

"I'm a Korean. I heard that Gai Nie from Zhao is quite good at swordsmanship, and I'm fascinated by it. I want to compete with this person." Wei Zhuang seems to have good intentions to grab the door of the connection and slowly send his true energy into it. Inside the body, the wounded person naturally felt warm and comfortable; although it was only a hair's breadth away from taking his life.

Wei Zhuang, as the orthodox inheritor of vertical and horizontal techniques in the present age, has unparalleled proficiency in speech; his diction can be as sharp as a sword or as sweet as honey.Coupled with his ingenious understanding of people's hearts, he often guesses what the other person is thinking before they say it, so what he says will definitely match his liking, or arouse his thoughts, and unconsciously reveal what Wei Zhuang wants most. detected content.

When Chi Lian came back with the convoy, the man had completely put down his guard and said nothing to Wei Zhuang.According to him, Gai Nie was originally his subordinate; they were ordered to attack the camp of the Qin people at night and fought hard all the way, but Gai Nie was ungrateful in the end and just ran away by himself.I thought I was going to die, but the Qin people caught him as a spy and tortured him to extract a confession; if they asked about the military situation, it would be fine, but the torturers kept asking about "Ge Da" or "Gai Nie" The origin of "Ghost Valley" and the relationship between Zhao Guochaotang.Puzzled, and indeed ignorant, he was tortured repeatedly.Once he couldn't bear the torture and passed out. In the coma, he seemed to hear the jailer say "National Teacher" and "Changping Lord" and other phrases, but he didn't understand the meaning.

"I see. Your Excellency's experience is indeed embarrassing. I don't know how you escaped later?"

"I was imprisoned in the prison camp, sleeping and waking up, and I didn't know how much time passed. Just a few days ago, the army of Qin State was about to dispatch, and it sent a prison car and ten soldiers to escort me westward. Going to the Luowang stronghold in Taiyuan. I heard that there is a powerful person there, and there is nothing he can't ask... Fortunately, on the way, I accidentally found the trail of wolves, so I called them at night. It was another bloody battle, and I finally escaped from the cage, but my legs are crippled and I can’t move, thanks to them hunting for me so far.” Speaking of this, he stretched out a thick palm and stroked the closest one. gray wolf back.

"The strong man really has skills." Wei Zhuang withdrew his hand, took off the wine bag from his waist, and put it to the man's mouth; he immediately drank greedily. "If you don't mind, I have a family member who can bone a strong man, please get in the car and tell me."

"You and I have never met before, sir, I have written down your kindness." The man nodded his thanks.This person is actually extremely shrewd, knowing that the person in front of him probably has other plans to save him; however, given his current situation, he has no choice at all, he might as well find a place to stay first.The person in front of him is dressed richly and has deep inner strength, so he must be an unusual person.

"By the way, I haven't asked you what your address is?" Wei Zhuang stood up tall, gesturing for someone to lift him up.The wounded man smiled wryly and shook his head, "A certain person has no name and surname, but now he is a dead person, and he can't even use his past pronouns. You might as well call him a 'wolf'."

"Wolf?" Wei Zhuang's thoughts flashed, and he had an idea.He has a strong desire to control and likes orderly things. He originally planned to name all the masters in Quicksand with the word 'no', but Bai Feng and Chi Lian ruined the beauty; For the descendants of the royal family, Wei Zhuang can't care about their self-assertion.But he thought about it again, the two people, one red and one white, just corresponded to the color of the square; just add one blue and one black to make it complete.Thinking of this, I feel at ease in my heart. "It's a bit weird to call it a single word. There is a saying in Xiaoyaoyou: 'The sky is blue, is it righteous and evil?' I will add a word for you, and it will be called 'Canglang', okay?"

"Thank you benefactor for the name." The man was also very kind, and he readily agreed.

The convoy walked for half a day after picking up the unexpected guest.By evening, many messy horseshoe prints and ruts were found ahead.Wei Zhuang ordered the coachman to follow the trails and change direction, walked about one or two miles, and entered a desolate valley: the valley was wide on the inside and narrow on the outside, shaped like a jujube stone;The corpses of people and horses were scattered messily on the ground, some were killed by arrows, and some were killed by swords.The corpse was frozen very stiff, but judging from the wounds, it didn't take too long to die, nor was it eaten by wild animals.Several carriages were found near the edge of the rock wall, three of which had been overturned and damaged. Although the rest were still intact, the shafts of the carriages were broken, and the horses pulling the carts were missing.

Seeing such a tragic scene, everyone in Quicksand was greatly surprised.Wu Jiu was startled and said: "Could it be that someone got the news of Guo Kai earlier than us, and got there first?"

Chi Lian said: "Or, since Li Mu is dead and Guo Kai has lost value, there is no need for Luo Wang to take care of them, why not kill them all?"

Wei Zhuang said: "It should not be the hands of Luo Wang. For people like Guo Kai, the King of Qin does not really value them, but at this time, Qi still has the next victory, Chu still has Li Yuan, and Wei and Yan don't know how many people there are. The court figures are all caught in the net; Guo Kai's ending is like the example of the Qin Dynasty in the world. If the king of Qin can't protect Guo Kai and other middlemen who have the merit of destroying the country, it is inevitable that the middlemen in other countries will also have dissatisfaction As he spoke, he walked to several carriages and opened the curtain of the carriage in the middle, and suddenly a strong smell of blood rushed to his face: two corpses lay lying in the carriage, all of them were dressed as nobles of the Zhao Kingdom. groomed; one of the fatter ones had been decapitated.

"This person is..."

Wei Zhuang used shark teeth to cut open the outer robe and inner garment of the headless corpse, inspected it carefully for a moment, and smiled.He ordered eight people to be allocated from the quicksand to guard the exits on both sides of the valley. Half of the remaining people searched for identifiable objects on the corpses in the valley, and the other half thoroughly investigated several overturned carriages.Except for the one found by Wei Zhuang, there were no dead bodies in the other cars; however, a total of twenty locked wooden boxes were found in the hidden compartment under the seat of the car. The gold nuggets and gold cakes are stacked neatly, and the weight is estimated to be more than [-] catties.

Such a huge wealth, even Chi Lian, Wu Jiu and others who are used to seeing treasures are amazed.Chi Lian glanced at the headless man with a belly full of disgust, "Then this person must be Guo Kai? Who on earth attacked him before the quicksand? The person who attacked him didn't even take away the gold hidden in the car , I wonder what their purpose is?"

Wei Zhuang smiled slightly. "them?"

Chi Lian could hear that there was something deep in his words, but he didn't know how to ask the question, so he could only stare blankly at Wei Zhuang stepping out of the car, walking among dead people, dead horses, and scattered wheels like a stroll in a courtyard. After a pause, he suddenly bent down and pulled out an arrow from a corpse. "Look at this arrow—what's so special about it?"

Chi Lian shook his head to express that he couldn't see it.But at some point, Bai Feng came over, reached out and touched the goose feathers at the end of the arrow, "Hmm—very new?"

"That's right. The arrow feathers are made of new plastic, but they are still too new. The feathers at the tail don't look damaged at all. Even if it has only been used once, as long as it is put on the bowstring or loaded into the crossbow machine, the arrow will be fine. It is impossible not to leave traces of strings on the tail. And this arrow seems to have never been used at all."

"But it killed people." Bai Feng looked at the blood on the cluster of arrows.

"It's the feathered arrow that flies out; but it's the swordsmanship that kills." Wei Zhuang said, grabbing the arrow with his backhanded sword posture, and suddenly with his right arm, the feathered arrow flew out of his hand and was deeply nailed into it. Inside the crossbar of a carriage. "This is the sword of 'Cicada Kill'."

Chi Lian's eyes lit up; she remembered a person she met when she escaped from Xinzheng with Wei Zhuang more than a year ago - that person also threw an arrow with his bare hands, killing the snare assassin "Ye Xiao" who was hiding in mid-air, and relieved him. The crisis of quicksand at that time. "It's him?"

"Yes. Not 'they'. It's him."

Wei Zhuang looked at the two-person team that transported all the wooden boxes full of gold to the quicksand carriage and smiled without saying a word.After a long while Fang said: "He may not be the only one who has such skills in the world; but he is probably the only one who has such skills but treats all kinds of treasures as nothing."

Chi Lian still couldn't believe it.At this moment, two people who were sent to check the surroundings came back, carrying a cowhide drum. They said they found it at Taniguchi, and felt a little strange, so they brought it back.Wei Zhuang was really interested, he lifted the drum up and down, looked it up and down, threw it on the ground and beat it twice, and said to himself: "So that's how it is."

The people in Quicksand, who had packed up the corpses and stolen goods, gradually gathered around and listened attentively to Wei Zhuang's explanation of the clues. "At first glance, this incident seems to be done by a group of people, but as I said just now, it is hard to imagine that a group of people, no matter whether it is a ranger or Li Mu's subordinates, killed Guo Kai for the purpose of revenge, but the fortune No money is taken. Wei has only met one person in the world who really values ​​promises over profit."

"... Gai Nie." Bai Feng spat out two words and stared into Wei Zhuang's eyes.

Chi Lian was surprised: "Is he really the only one?"

The light gray pupils turned for a while, their gaze swept over Baifeng and Chilian, and then turned back to the original direction. "Look at this drum. Why do you think it's here?"

Wu Jiu tore open the cowhide of the drum, and checked it upside down, "This drum is old and worn out, big in size, light in weight, and there is no hidden compartment inside. Besides, Guo Kai has already put the drum full of gold and silk into it." The box is in the carriage, there is no need for him to hide any treasure with such a conspicuous and space-consuming thing."

Bai Feng crossed his hands in an old-fashioned way. "Guo Kai didn't have any reason to bring this thing. Because this drum didn't belong to him in the first place."

Chi Lian said: "This place used to be a battlefield, could it be that this army drum is left after the war?"

Wu Jiu shook his head and said: "When we found this drum, there was almost no snow on it; however, it has been snowing for the past few days before we left, so it can be seen that it fell not long ago, at most it will not exceed a day and a night."

"Then there is only one possibility left—the drum was brought by Ge Nie."

"Why would he carry such a burden?"

Wei Zhuang raised his eyes, and asked without answering, "There are still these arrows. They were not shot by the police, but were thrown by people like spears. What do you think is the reason?"

Bai Feng thought for a moment, then answered irrelevantly: "Last night, there was fog."

Wei Zhuang smiled approvingly. "That's right, all of this is foreshadowing. It's a puppet show designed by Ge Nie. Most assassins want to hide their body so that the enemy can't know their existence; but here he does the opposite In other words, it is probably because the strengths of the two sides are too different."

"Great disparity?" Chi Lian thought to himself that if Gai Nie really has similar strength to Master Wei Zhuang, why should he be afraid of a mere Guo Kai.Wei Zhuang seemed to see through her mind, and said with a smile: "Never underestimate the power of numbers. There is no such mysterious martial art in this world that can kill thousands of people with one move. The so-called one is ten, one is hundreds, but It is when you are surrounded by many people, use your movement to disrupt your opponent's pace, seize the openings and break them one by one; but at the moment when you draw your sword, your opponent is only one person."

Wu Jiu and Bai Feng both nodded empathetically.Wei Zhuang continued: "Even if you fight against someone whose martial arts are far inferior to yours, it is very disadvantageous to be surrounded by several people. What's more, Ge Nie's prey is protected by nearly a hundred private soldiers, retainers, and domestic servants. Half of the people are worthy of a fight, but if he makes a hasty move, the most likely result is to be caught in a wheel battle with dozens of people, while Guo Kai himself looks for an opportunity to escape. So he used three things - thick fog, the sound of drums, and These arrows."

He said and pointed to the corpses of the people and horses lying on the ground.

"If my guess is correct, the situation last night was like this: this place is more than a hundred miles away from Handan, Guo Kai must have relaxed his vigilance a little, and ordered his chariots and horses to rest under the rock wall to shelter from the wind. Gai Nie instead copied to the west of the valley. At the exit, taking advantage of the fog, they suddenly beat the drum vigorously. The so-called "first strike", Guo Kai and his vassals knew exactly what they were fleeing for, and what they were most worried about was the revenge of Li Mu's former troops. At this moment, there was a charge ahead The sound of the drums must have terrified them, thinking that an army had already ambushed and intercepted here. Ge Nie used throwing arrows instead of shooting arrows, because it saved time by not needing to open the bow and crossbow, and his intention was not to aim. It is to throw the most arrows in the shortest time, so that Guo Kai and his party are more convinced that it is an army, not a single person. In this way, most of Guo Kai's men will panic. , Losing the will to fight: Meng Chang’s three thousand disciples, Feng Yuan is the only one who is willing to stay with him when he is in trouble. Gai Nie only needs to keep shooting arrows from a distance, and the dense fog can hide his figure, so that the enemy cannot Judging the facts, most of the people would abandon Guo Kai and just run for their lives; Determine which carriage Guo Kai himself is in, and the confusion created by the sound of drums and stream arrows forces Guo Kai to give orders and control the situation, and those who observe from the side can guess which carriage is the one for everyone to protect Then Gai Nie finally showed up, killed Guo Kai and took away his head; the remaining followers will also be scattered like birds and beasts."

"But... that Gai Nie, he really thought so much?" Chi Lian couldn't help doubting.

"Although he is stubborn, he is still my fellow sect." Wei Zhuang said, "If it is false, it will be real, and if it is true, it will be false. Ge Nie chose this tactic, but it was also a helpless move. Probably Guo Kai escaped from Handan very early. , to his surprise, ordinary horses can't catch up at all. Only the horse I sent him and his own lightness can have a chance. So he can't find any speed that can match him companions, had to come and go alone.”

Bai Feng smiled and said: "But he finally left us valuable things as agreed."

"The matter has come to this, even if you take revenge, what's the benefit?" Wei Zhuang gently stroked a sword mark left on the carriage with his fingers, as gentle as if he was touching his lover's face. "He seemed to have praised Li Mu a lot before, but Li Mu died under his nose. To be able to take such painstaking efforts to do such a meaningless thing, it seems that this time, Senior Brother was really angry."

Chi Lian pursed his lips and said: "It's nothing but a reckless man to be arrogant."

Bai Feng said: "But if you have no spirit, don't you live like a dead person?"

"Do you have to find fault with me in everything?"

"Don't dare. I just think that this person is just an amateur as a killer, and it's not bad to be able to do this."

The two people here are still bickering, but Wei Zhuang fell into deep thought and didn't say a word for a long time; suddenly he raised his head, his face was still giving orders, but his index finger resting on the shark's teeth twitched slightly , as if heralding some kind of indescribable excitement.

"Wugui, you take a carriage and three suitcases and go to Yangdi to send a letter to Lord Hengyang. Chilian and Baifeng, you two return to Yunmeng Mountain with the rest of the people and goods. Canglang is handed over to the disease-free doctor. I have other plans, and I won’t go with you all the way.”

"I don't know where my lord is going?" Several people asked in unison.

Wei Zhuang smiled and got on his horse.

"Handan."

TBC