In the past few days, Niu Xunda was so angry with the gang of bandits in Mangdang Mountain. When he saw twenty or thirty horsemen approaching, he thought it was Liu Xuanfeng's men provoking him again. When those knights came within shooting range, he let go and killed Yu Xunda. The arrow was sent out. Niu Xunda's martial arts and archery skills are average, but he is holding one of the few hard bows in Wan County. He can send arrows 200 steps forward without any problem while standing on the city wall.
But if you want to kill someone, two hundred steps is still too far. So Niu Xunda calculated that when the knights were more than a hundred steps away from the city wall, he loosened his bow string. He was not sure who to aim at, thinking that with so many people, he couldn't miss all of them.
But when he saw the next scene clearly, he was immediately stunned and stunned.
This arrow was shot with great accuracy and flew towards the leading knight. But no one expected that the leading knight would actually reach out and catch the oncoming arrow.
The clouds are clear and the wind is gentle.
Niu Xunda was startled and subconsciously opened his mouth.
"When did Liu Xuanfeng have such powerful subordinates?"
He looked at Sun Kaidao and found that the magistrate's eyes were still a little wandering, so he reached out and gave him a hand. Sun Kaidao woke up from his daze and smiled apologetically at Niu Xunda.
"They are not Liu Xuanfeng's bandits."
Sun Kaidao looked outside the city and couldn't help being startled: "Look, those knights are all wearing the standard black armor of the Sui warriors, and they hold spears in their hands. Although Liu Xuanfeng's has two or three thousand bandits, one long spear is No. These peopleare the Sui Army!"
"Sui Army!"
Niu Xunda's face was happy, but his heart immediately became heavy when he thought of the county magistrate's worry. At this time, the Sui army coming must be the soldiers and horses of the left vanguard. Could it be that Yin Poshan's army of more than 200,000 people couldn't stop the left vanguard from heading north? Even if they lose the battle, relying on the danger of Mangdang Mountain, they should not let the left midfielder come over easily.
"Sir, what should I do?"
he asks.
"Let's see and then talk."
Sun Kaidao collected his thoughts, walked a few steps forward, stood by the city wall and looked down carefully. The twenty or thirty horsemen stopped about a hundred paces outside the city. The leader, a man without armor and dressed in black, reached out and took a bow from the guard next to him. Then he put the next feather arrow on the bowstring and raised the bow hard. He stood up and pointed the arrow cluster at the city wall. No matter how he aimed, the arrow suddenly left the bowstring and flew over, grazing Niu Xunda's face with a thud and piercing into the city bricks.
The agitated gravel left a bloodstain on Niu Xunda's face, and if the arrow had been missed by even one point, it would have left a hole in his face.
"He wanted to kill me"
Niu Xunda said subconsciously.
"No, if he wanted to kill you, this arrow would not miss by a single point on purpose."
Sun Kaidao shook his head: "A person with such shooting skills must be in a high position even if he is in the Left Front Guard. I don't know which general is here It seems that Yin Poshan's rebels have been captured by the Left Guards." The avant-garde has been completely defeated. Will the hundreds of thousands of troops from the left avant-garde really want to go north? "
"What should we do?"
Niu Xunda asked.
"We?"
Sun Kaidao shook his head: "Actually, this day will come sooner or later, I just didn't expect it to come so soon. Tell Min Yong not to shoot any more arrows. If the general on the left vanguard is offended, he can easily attack us by rushing into the camp. The county was demolished. During the war, the left vanguard massacred the county town on the pretext that all of us in Wan County were traitors, but no one blamed me for saving Wan County after all my efforts. We can no longer bring disaster to the people of Wan County."
"But Sir, once the city gate is opened, if those people on the left vanguard know that you have descended on Yin Po Mountain, it will still be a bloody disaster."
"I'll go out on my own."
Sun Kaidao waved his hand: "You all stay!"
Without waiting for the civilian heroes to stop them, Sun Kaidao ran down the city wall in large strides, and then ordered the soldiers guarding the gate to open the city gate. Niu Xunda and the civilian warriors followed behind, but Sun Kaidao scolded him and insisted on staying. Inside the door.
He walked toward the twenty or thirty riders alone, adjusting his breathing as he walked. He knew what he was facing and couldn't escape it. No one knew the pain in his heart, and no one could shield him from the infamy. In order to protect the people of Wan County, he did not hesitate to sacrifice his beloved woman to Yin Poshan. In order to prevent the people from being slaughtered, he even became a disciple of a martial artist in Yin Po Mountain. He carried all these shames and humiliations himself.
Now, not many people in Wan County understand him, and they all regard him as a traitor. Behind his back, no one knew how many people were spitting and scolding him.
He saved a whole city of people, but no one thought of him well.
He himself didn¡¯t think about how it could become like this. Even those civilian heroes didn't all understand what he meant. Those men took up crude weapons just to surround their homes and not because of his call.
"Sun Kaidao, the magistrate of Xiaguan Wan County, I wonder which general has arrived?"
He walked up to the knights and bowed deeply.
"Are you Sun Kaidao?"
"It's the official."
"Take it"
The leading young man in black robe waved his hand, and immediately two guards jumped off the horse and held Sun Kaidao down. Niu Xunda, who was in the city gate, cursed and called for others to rush out with him to save the county magistrate. However, when he ran out, he found that there were very few civilians following him.
"You idiots!"
Niu Xunda cursed in pain, brandished his sword and rushed towards the knights.
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Niu Xunda rushed over with a dozen civilian warriors, but was knocked down by a tower-like man. The strong man, who was half the height of an average person, knocked over Niu Xunda and others as if he were dealing with a dozen young children. A dozen soldiers came from behind him and pressed their swords on the shoulders of Niu Xunda and others.
"Sun Kaidao, you are the magistrate of Wan County, and the people of Wan County respect you. Now I have a few things to ask you."
The leader of the young man in black robe was Fang Jie. He pointed at Sun Kaidao with his riding crop and asked, "I heard that you surrendered the rebels and were knighted? Is this true?"
Sun Kaidao was stunned for a moment, lowered his head and said: "Yes"
"I heard that Yin Poshan admired you very much, so he didn't rob the people of Wan County. Is this possible?"
"have!"
"Um"
Fang Jie hummed, waved his hand and said, "Behead him."
Two soldiers came over, one pressed Sun Kaidao's neck, and the other drew his sword and was about to chop him. Sun Kaidao struggled and shouted: "I have something to ask for. The general will kill me before he hears it!"
Fang Jie raised his eyebrows slightly: "Say"
Sun Kaidao raised his head and said: "I have indeed committed a serious crime, which cannot be forgiven. But general, please kill only me. The others were forced by me and became thieves as a last resort."
Fang Jie snorted coldly: "I will naturally find out who is a thief in Wan County City. You are the first culprit and cannot be spared. Others who dare to rush out of the city to save you are expected to be your accomplices. You guys A man who receives a salary from the imperial court but regards a thief as his father Even if you kill the nine clans, it¡¯s not an exaggeration!¡±
"You fart!"
Niu Xunda struggled desperately and shouted: "If it weren't for the county magistrate, all the people in the city would have been massacred by the rebels. Mr. Sun is willing to bear the humiliation and bear the burden to protect the people in the city. This is a good official! You don't care about the indiscriminate consequences. Just kill people, what¡¯s the difference between them and those rebel thugs!¡±
"Snapped!"
Qilin slapped Niu Xunda on the face, and that half of his face immediately became swollen.
"If you disrespect the general again, I will kill you immediately."
Sun Kaidao looked at the blood on the corner of Niu Xunda's mouth and sighed: "The biggest mistake I, Sun Kaidao, made in my whole life was to be an official If the general wants to kill him, just kill him."
Fang Jie looked at Zhuo Buyi, who smiled and nodded.
Such people, even if they are greedy for life and afraid of death, they still have a bottom line.
"Is there any food and grass in the city?"
Fang explained the question.
"No!"
Sun Kaidao raised his head sharply and replied: "Although the rebels did not kill anyone, they looted all the food. The people in the city have no food for tomorrow and no food at all!"
"Ha ha!"
Fang Jie couldn't help laughing, waved his hands and ordered: "Untie them, Mr. Sun, you come with me, I have something to discuss with you."
Qilin helped Niu Xunda up, smiled and said he was offended. The other minyong were also let go and looked at each other, no one knew what was going on. Sun Kaidao was let go by Fang Jie's soldiers and rubbed his painful shoulder: "General, what do you mean?"
"My general just wants to see if you really want to surrender the thieves or if you really want to protect the people."
Zhuo Buyi dismounted and helped Sun Kaidao: "I'm offended. If not, I'm afraid I won't be able to test your true intentions. After all, you can deceive Yin Poshan, but you can't deceive us before you see it."
"Who is this general?"
Sun Kaidao finally realized what he was doing and sighed in his heart. I thought that if I had just fallen to the ground and begged for mercy, I was afraid that this would look likeA general with a handsome appearance will immediately have his head chopped off. He would not have had such a desire to die in the first place. If he was really not afraid of death and did not hesitate to die, he would not have been so flattering to Yin Poshan in the first place. It's just that in these days, the people have insulted him, the people have been cold-hearted, and when he heard the news about Zuo Qianwei's victory, he was worried and under various emotions, he actually lost the idea of ??living.
"My general is the imperial envoy sent by His Majesty to Huangyang Road to supervise the war."
Zhuo Buyi introduced with a smile.
"Imperial imperial envoy?"
Even though Sun Kaidao had already guessed that the other party had a high status, he did not expect that he would be an imperial envoy.
"My name is Fang Jie, and I'm here to accompany Mr. Sun."
"The Martial Arts AcademyFang Jie?"
Sun Kaidao asked subconsciously.
"Exactly"
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"There is no need to mention Wan County's matter again. I offended you before."
Fang Jie clasped his fists at Sun Kaidao and said, "It only involves thousands of lives and deaths, so I have to be careful. I led the men and horses to cross the mountain first to explore the way for the army, so I must be cautious. I want to know if there are rebels entrenched in Chu County. , please let Master Sun know if there is a granary for the rebels."
Sun Kaidao was silent for a while and shook his head: "General, please forgive me. Since the general is here to ask me, why not tell the truth? The general may not be here to explore the way for the army, right?"
Sun Kaidao had calmed down, took two steps back and said: "If the left vanguard crosses the mountain, he must not be taking the path in the mountain. How can an army of hundreds of thousands of people come over the mountain? Even if the men and horses can cross, the baggage, armor, and attack There is absolutely no way Luo Yao can get through these things, let alone whether he can cross the mountains. Even if he can, he will go to Luo County, which has flat terrain and crisscrossed official roads, rather than Chu County, which has rugged mountain roads. "
Fang Jie's eyes changed slightly, and he thought that Sun Kaidao was indeed a person.
"You don't need to pay attention to these. If you don't want to tell me, I will just send someone to investigate."
Sun Kaidao shook his head: "The governor of Chu County has surrendered the rebels, and there are rebels stationed in Dayang City, the city governed by Chu County. The subordinates all know what the general wants to ask. But the subordinate has one condition, as long as the general agrees I am willing to personally lead the general through Chu County and seize the rebels' baggage."
"How did you know I was going through Chu County?"
Fang explained the question.
"If the general wants to join the imperial army, he must go to the Yangtze River ferry. It is not to explore the way for the left vanguard, but to go to the rear of the rebels. The official heard that Yang Kai, the king of Xujun, has a group of troops in Langru Mountain, so he concluded It¡¯s not difficult to figure out where the general is going.¡±
"Tell me your conditions."
Fang Jiedao.
"There is a group of bandits on Mangdang Mountain, about two to three thousand people, who are causing trouble for one side and are more ferocious than the rebels. If the general is willing to remove this cancer for our Wan County, I am willing to serve you from all fronts!"
¡°Achieve two birds with one stone?¡±
Fang Jie couldn't help laughing: "You are a smart man!"
Sun Kaidao blushed and said sarcastically: "Your Excellency, your eyes are as bright as a torch."
"I will get rid of that group of bandits for you, so Wan County has no worries for the time being. The rebels have been defeated in Shannan. Once the imperial army comes, you will not be able to hide the fact that you surrendered to the rebels. Sooner or later, you will die. So, you know On the surface, you are asking me to eliminate harm for Wan County, but in fact, you are thinking about your own future, right? "
Fang Jie glanced at Sun Kaidao: "Don't try to scheme against others, otherwise you will lose your life if you don't scheme well."
Sun Kaidao did not dare to answer. It was the first time that he realized that his thoughts could be seen through so easily. The young-looking general in front of him seemed to be terrifying as he had a pair of eyes that could see through people's hearts.