Sha Po Lang

A large flag was slowly raised on the top of the mountain. At first glance, I thought it was "Xinghua Village" again. When the wind blew over and looked carefully, I found that it said "Xingzilin".Bandits, big and small, showed their heads through the cover of vegetation, wearing homemade earthen armor, and aimed their longbows and daggers at the people down the mountain.

There was a flash of silver light on the top of the mountain, Chang Geng squinted his eyes and saw a heavy armor looted from nowhere standing on the top of the mountain, the person under the mask could not see clearly, standing like a target.

Jie Dao Jie came to An Ding Hou, Chang Geng couldn't help but laugh at him for a moment.

But when he looked back, he found that Gu Yun wasn't smiling. Not only was he not smiling, but his expression was very ugly. He squeezed two words between his teeth: "Idiot."

Chang Geng quickly changed his mind, and said in a low voice: "So the collusion between officials and bandits in southern Xinjiang is not a legend, but the truth?"

Gu Yun didn't say a word, his face became more and more serious.

During the Liang Dynasty, the local specialty of the East China Sea was pearls, the local specialty of Loulan was fine wine, and the local specialty of Southern Xinjiang was bandits.

In the past two years, as soon as the puppet farming was implemented, the farmers could not find work. Some of them followed the traveling merchants to the north to beg for a living, and some of them did not know what to think. At that time, fewer and fewer people were hoarding goods and food, and they hoarded gold and silver one after another, which greatly improved the robbery efficiency of bandits.

Bandit culture is prevalent here, and there are more nests than wild rabbits. It can be said that "the wild fire is endless, and the spring breeze blows and regenerates."

The Southern Border Army was originally raised by the stepmother in the Ministry of War, and the funds allocated were not enough, so they couldn't afford it at all.

Although the bandits are superior in numbers, they generally have limited combat effectiveness. If they fight against the regular army, it means that they will destroy every litter. When they see the garrison, they will be very nervous.

When people have money, they want to pursue peace and stability, and they don’t want to be chased away with their heads on their belts all day—bandits are people too.

So over time, the Southern Border Army and the local bandits formed a subtle symbiotic relationship.

Fu Zhicheng, the commander-in-chief of the Southern Border Army, was originally from bandits. On the one hand, he restrained the bandits and tried to keep them from collecting money without hurting others.

Collusion between officials and gangsters is of course not a matter of face, but Gu Yun knows it well. In the past two years, the emperor has promoted farming puppets and opened up business routes. It is obviously a good policy for the country to be rich and the people strong, but he does not know where the problem lies. , the national treasury is dissatisfied with anti-aircraft, and military expenditures have to be cut again.

The south has just experienced a flood, and the disaster has not been relieved. If there is another fight, bandits will run wild in cities and villages, and the people will suffer even more. If the imperial court really dismisses the commander of the Southern Border Army because of this incident, Gu Yun doesn't want to No one can control southern Xinjiang.

In the power of two evils, the only option is to choose the lesser, and Gu Yun has no choice but to keep Fu Zhicheng temporarily.

After these two years, the ancient Silk Road has been completely built, the inland trade routes in Daliang have been fully opened, and a batch of silver from overseas can flow into Daliang, which will let the country breathe a sigh of relief. At that time, not only will it send troops, but it will also send troops from Bashu to Sichuan. The road to the southern border has been repaired, and the control of the land far away from the emperor Tiangao has been truly strengthened. Only by working together can the banditry be completely dealt with.

It's a pity that other than his worries, no one else seems to understand these things.

In fact, it may not be difficult to understand, but in their eyes, drumming orders and flattering the emperor in the future are more important to get promoted and get rich.

On the way here, Gu Yun had been thinking about how to save Fu Zhicheng, so he sent him a letter deliberately and quietly, but unexpectedly, in the middle of the trip, someone gave him such a trick.

Which family's bandits mobilized all their nests to rob, and even rolled up flags and beat gongs and drums?The other party clearly knew who he was.

Intercepting and killing imperial envoys, what is the difference between this and rebellion?

Chang Geng has gone deep into the folks and traveled all over the years, and he is no longer ignorant of the current situation and people's livelihood. After thinking about it for a while, the cause and effect are clear. He looked at Gu Yun's expression, and said in a low voice: "Father, I don't think this may be the case. What General Fu meant."

Gu Yun said coldly: "Nonsense, how can Fu Zhicheng be so stupid?"

These big-headed bandits who occupy the mountains as kings can be said to be very illiterate. If they want to find someone who can write and count, they have to share the same accountant on several hills. Maybe they heard some gossip leaked somewhere. So he robbed them on his own initiative, and tried again, so that he could show his merits to Fu Zhicheng.

I saw a mountain bandit waving a simple copper roar at the height, shouting at Gu Yun and the others down the mountain as if singing an opera: "Who is coming, tell me your name!"

Shen Yi was beside him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, while pulling out an arrow from behind: "Commander?"

Gu Yun: "Shoot it down."

The arrow in Shen Yi's hand came out almost at the same time as Gu Yun's voice, and shot the bandit with a copper roar like a bamboo shoot, a bird screamed soaring into the sky, and the sharp sound echoed throughout the valley.

The whole valley was fried.

Seeing this, Sun Shilang didn't care about his complacency at all, he grabbed Fu Zhicheng's handle, frightened, jumped out of the carriage in three steps at a time, and said in a loud voice: "You can't do it! Marshal, absolutely! No way, there are at least a hundred or so bandits in this mountain, and there are only a few of us, and none of the generals have any armor on them, so they are unarmed! There is also the Fourth Highness, the Fourth Highness is a valuable person, and there is no room for loss..."

Gu Yun didn't even look at him, and waved to Chang Geng: "Your Highness, have you put down your kung fu?"

Chang Geng leaned forward and said, "It should still be qualified to be a small cavalryman under the commander's command."

"Come on, I'll teach you how to go into the mountains and fight monkeys."

After Gu Yun finished speaking, he galloped his horse straight to the high place. Chang Geng immediately followed without any hesitation. Master Sun screamed in a lingering voice: "Marshal, you can't do it—"

The next moment, the back of his neck tightened, and he was suspended in the air. Shen Yi picked him up in the air with the hilt of his sword, and threw him onto his horse's back.

Sun Jiao rolled his eyes with a "crack" sound.

Shen Yi said helplessly: "Don't call Mrs. Sun, the general will definitely protect you from death, don't worry."

When General Shen said this, he couldn't help but feel sorry for himself——that Marshal Gu was born as a young master of the Marquis's Mansion. It's really not a thing for someone to be an old lady.

Having said that, Shen Yi looked at Mr. Sun who rolled his eyes and passed out, and said in his heart: "It's the first time I've seen such a eunuch-like servant."

On the top of the mountain, the little bandit said to the bandit leader: "Brother, I heard that eunuch calling Marshal just now."

The bandit leader was buried in the heavy armor. He pushed the iron mask and said angrily: "Nonsense, don't shoot arrows! Surround! Surround!"

The trombone in the valley sounded again, and bandits, big and small, roared and rushed forward, condescendingly rushing towards Gu Yun and his "strength" of two or three kittens.

The bandits didn't know whether it was for courage or something, they made an encirclement circle with great fanfare, people at one end ran down, and people at the other end had to knock pots and bowls, howling and "surrounding" from the opposite mountain, running in a mess Dust splattered.It's a pity that most of their horses were snatched from passing caravans. How could they catch up with the one-in-a-million horses in the Xuantie camp? They were left behind in an instant. Gu Yun made a gesture, and the soldiers behind him immediately understood The troops were scattered, and the targets of the feathered arrows shot by the bandits were scattered, and they immediately became disorganized.

Faced with a group of bandits, Gu Yun drew his sword indifferently, with a long blade like snow, and said to Chang Geng: "Remember, before the battle, whoever doesn't want to die should die first..."

Chang Geng was almost dazzled by the sword in his hand.

His sword was like a swimming dragon, blood sprayed all the way, two in and two out, the bandits and horse corpses on the ground rolled into a ball.

Gu Yun completed the second half of his sentence: "...even if your enemies are a bunch of idiots."

The bandit leader held clairvoyance from a high place, and when he saw that something was wrong, he immediately said angrily: "I let you surround me, what's going on!"

The little bandit next to him said with a bitter face: "Brother, I don't know!"

At this time, a black-faced bandit ran over: "Brother, something is wrong!"

But in a blink of an eye, a light cavalry rushed up the mountain pass. Before the bandit with a trombone had time to shrink his neck, he saw a flash of a knife, and his head was already in a different place.

Gu Yun's equestrian skills are superb, and he is like walking on flat ground across the mountains and rocks. He crossed an extremely narrow mountain path, swung the sword in his hand, and there was a scream from behind the boulder - there was someone ambushing there - The blood on the sword shook off, as if he had waited for Chang Geng for a while, and said: "There are many shelters in the mountains, and there are often local snakes behind the shelters. You are superb in martial arts, so you may not be able to escape the plot."

Chang Geng glanced, and sure enough, he saw that the mechanical crossbow behind the stone had been set up, and was waiting to shoot the arrow to hurt people.His horse is not a war horse, and it was a bit difficult to follow Gu Yun, but he felt that the blood in his whole body was heating up, and he asked, "Father, how do you know?"

Gu Yun frowned: "It's familiar."

As soon as the words were finished, a rock rolled down from above. Gu Yun seemed to have eyes on his head, and clamped the horse's belly fiercely. The horse suddenly jumped forward, and the mane on its tail almost touched the rolling rock. At the same time, Gu Yun Yun left the saddle and stood up, grabbed a vine next to him, swung quickly in the air, and hoisted himself up. When Chang Geng heard a "poof", he instinctively leaned back. The adoptive father spattered his face condescendingly with blood.

Looking at him from a height, Gu Yun raised his eyebrows and smiled, and blew a long whistle, and the horse immediately followed him in a well-trained manner.

Chang Geng's heart beat wildly, Gu Yun's smile almost sucked his soul away.

Gu Yun shouted at him from a high place: "When hunting monkeys in the mountains, remember to grab the high place first—"

At this time, the joke-like "encirclement" of bandits was in chaos, and several high passes were quickly occupied by people. The bandits became a bunch of headless flies, running around and being dropped from high places The arrows that came killed me very much.Chang Geng hurriedly chased after him, only to see Gu Yun turned over and remounted his horse, at the same time he quickly took out a special arrow from behind.

The bow and arrows were both very heavy, the longbow weighed at least a few tens of catties, and it carried a small box the size of a thumb. Chang Geng's eyelids twitched, and he thought, "There is a gold box on the bow?"

The next moment, the white steam from the longbow confirmed his guess. The shaft of the arrow seemed to be made of iron, and when it was released from the string, there was a piercing scream, like twenty monkeys rushing hoarsely at the same time. Going up to the sky—the iron arrow is like a miniature white rainbow, piercing the sun, and the sound of gold and stone ripples like waves in the mountains, and the iron arrow hits a huge rock.

The hustle and bustle flew like wild horses galloping, and the big rock shook for a moment before falling down without warning.

The group of monkeys scattered, but the bandit leader was hindered by the heavy armor on his body, and he raised his head after a while—before he could see anything, he had already been armored again, and was buried underneath with a "bang".

Chang Geng smiled and said: "Father, I know this, is it right to capture the thief and capture the king?"

He was guarded by Gu Yun all the way, whizzing past hundreds of bandits, not even a hair was messed up, his clothes fluttered, he still looked like a handsome young master.

Gu Yun gave a "tsk" in his heart, and said in his heart: "It's over, next time I go back to the capital, there will probably be half as few girls throwing handkerchiefs to me."

Half an hour later, Gu Yun brought his "unarmed" soldiers of the Black Iron Battalion to the bandit's den in a big way.

Most of the bandits fled immediately when they saw their silver boss was dead. They were familiar with the terrain, and once scattered into the mountains and forests, they disappeared in a blink of an eye.

Gu Yun brought a small number of people, so it was inconvenient to chase after him, so he only tied up a few who didn't have time to run away, and they were strung together like quails.

Gu Yun sat down on the bandit leader's tiger leather chair, but felt something was wrong, stood up and peeled off the tiger skin on the chair, amused: "The King of Guishan's throne is really ingenious."

I saw that the four legs under the majestic tiger-skin chair had been sawed off, and there was a pile of gold bricks underneath, with a layer of wooden planks on top.

Gu Yun: "Can sitting here lay golden eggs?"

Shen Yiyou coughed dryly for a long time, signaling for the commander to speak humanly.

At this time, Mr. Sun, who was so frightened that he wet his pants just now, changed his pants, and came back like a dog again. Seeing this, he immediately realized that the opportunity must not be missed, and he changed his mind and yelled "I can't do it" just now. Xiong Xiang took a step forward, and asked with awe-inspiring righteousness: "Who gave you the courage to rob the imperial envoy along the way? Who initiated this matter? Tell me!"

Chang Geng was playing with Gu Yun's special bow. Hearing this, he raised his head and said, "The imperial envoy is an accomplice to the crime of rebellion. As long as it is not a bandit leader, an ordinary bandit might be a conscript. Heroes like you..."

He said that there is no more to say here, just smiled meaningfully, ignored the trembling bandits, seemed to have just mentioned something unintentionally, and quickly turned his attention to other things, and asked Gu Yun with a smile: "Father" , Your bow and arrow are really good, can you give it to me?"

Gu Yun waved his hand: "Take it."

Sun Jiao froze, not sure what the meaning of this Fourth Highness whom he had never met before.At first, he thought that he had no airs, had a gentle temper, was good at chatting, and was not deep in the city, but then he suddenly realized that he might have been mistaken.

After Chang Geng said such a sentence, the bandits were not that stupid, and immediately stamped their feet and cried out.

"The grass people don't know that the imperial envoy is here, my lord, please spare me!"

"It's not easy to make a living on the road. In our small place, we don't see a single person for ten and a half months. Who knew that we would run into imperial envoys as soon as we opened our business. The grassroots were wronged... ah no, in fact, they were not wronged. Small, it's not easy!"

Sun Jiao: "..."

At this moment, a Xuantie battalion soldier suddenly walked in quickly, and whispered in Gu Yun's ear, "Commander, Lord Kuai, the governor of Nanzhong, sent someone to deliver a letter saying that he heard that Lord Hou was harassed by bandits in the local area. Two hundred generals will be here soon."

Gu Yun raised his eyes expressionlessly, just in time to meet Sun Jiao's gaze. The blood on Gu Dashuai's body was still wet, and he was scared back by the flash of color that flashed in Sun Jiao's eyes.

Fu Zhicheng was born as a mountain bandit, and even if he was recruited and surrendered later, it is very unreasonable to accept such a person as a feudal official with great military achievements.However, during the rebellion in the Western Regions, Nanyang Xiaoxiao also took the opportunity to invade the territory of Daliang and wanted to take advantage of the fire. Gu Yun had already gone to the west, and there was really no one to use in the court, so he had to use a dead horse as a living horse doctor, and ordered Fu Zhicheng to lead the southern border garrison.

But Emperor Yuanhe was still worried about him. The governor of Nanzhong was specially appointed to contain Fu Zhicheng back then. Even though the generals were unable to fight against the troops stationed in southern Xinjiang, it was not difficult for them to break through the siege and send messages.

Kuai Lantu and Fu Zhicheng can be said to be close enemies, and I am afraid that they both want to kill each other, and the visitor may have bad intentions.

Gu Yun: "As soon as I broke into the bandit's den, Governor Kuai 'heard' about it. He's more informed than the land lord."

Sun Jiao also knew that Kuai Lantu came too fast and didn't grasp the timing, so he hurriedly said: "To tell you the truth, our trip was supposed to be a secret trip, but who knew that we would meet the Fourth Highness on the way, how could I put the prince in danger? We had to inform the governor of Nanzhong to support one or two..."

"Master Sun has a heart," Chang Geng said with a smile, "but how do you know that going south is risky?"

Sun Jiao probably knew that his backer was approaching, so he straightened his back a little, cupped his hands and said, "This time, I have heard about the rampant bandits in southern Xinjiang. Before I leave, I specially asked Your Majesty I asked for a drumming order—unexpectedly, it didn’t happen, but fortunately, Lord Hou has experienced many battles and never messed up in the face of danger.”

Gu Yun looked at him with a half-smile, and didn't accept the flattery.

Sun Jiao Yizheng said: "This group of bandits are rampant. They are really bold. They even dare to rob the officials ordered by the court, let alone the local people? This disaster will not be cured, and the Southwest is not stable. It seems that the order by the officials to beat the drums is considered a crime." Bring it right, this is the first drumming order from Daliang, and the lottery falls on General Fu."