The continuous snowstorm suddenly stopped on the day of Laba, the sky was clear, the sun was crisp, and it seemed to be very warm. However, after a night of clear skies in the snow-covered capital, it became even more dry and cold. Taking a breath of cold air and spitting out a white mist, the cold feeling seemed to freeze all the internal organs and flow inwards along the nasal cavity.
The weather is so cold, and there are only two days before the New Year, so naturally all those who can not go out are staying at home, enjoying the warm fire and hot wine and food. And at this time, people who have to run around outside also seem more hard and lonely.
Early in the morning, the officers and soldiers of the patrol battalion opened the Sifang City Gate on time at the specified time. The four people on the first shift at each city gate stood at the positions below the gates on both sides, monitoring the flow of people entering the city gate. When the patrol battalion was under Xie Yu's rule, the military appearance was good. King Jing's military was stricter, and no one dared to neglect, so it became more and more prudent. Although the feet were a little cold and painful after standing for a while, the four people on duty did not walk around and stomp their feet. , to keep warm.
There are not many people in the morning in winter, especially the west city gate leading to the smoky land. Except for a few people who go out, no one has come in. When it was three poles in the sun, it gradually gained some popularity, and the hawkers who set up stalls next to the city gate to make a living came out one after another, lazily selling to the sparse customers passing by the stall. After another half an hour, a group of black shadows faintly appeared on the skyline outside the city, heading towards the city gate.
"Is that a caravan?" A guard stretched his neck and looked at it for a long while, "Such a long line is rare."
"You newcomer don't know," a local veteran next to him answered immediately, "that's a caravan that transports medicinal materials. Except for two or three states in the west of Daliang, most of us are alpine and smoky areas. , but the more such a place is, the more precious medicinal materials are produced. My uncle owns a pharmacy, he said that the best medicines are shipped from the west, so there are often caravans passing by our west city gate. But the day after tomorrow, it will be thirty, This caravan has just arrived, it's really hard..."
While the two of them were talking, the team in the distance was getting closer and closer, and gradually they could clearly see the chariots, horses and people's clothes.
"Why do I think... that doesn't look like a caravan..." The recruit stared at it for a long time, and finally couldn't help expressing his opinion in a euphemistic manner, "The caravan won't be escorted by officers and soldiers, right?"
At this time, the old soldier also noticed the difference, hissed twice, and said somewhat unexpectedly: "It's really not a caravan... There is only one car in the middle, it doesn't seem to be transporting medicinal materials, that one looks like... yes... ah, It's a prison car!"
When he came to a conclusion in a very positive tone, the other guards also saw it clearly. Coming toward the city gate is a team of escorting prisoners. However, what was different from usual was that there were at least 300 officers and soldiers in the escort, and there was only one prisoner van being escorted.
What kind of important prisoners are they so hard-working and escorted into Beijing with high security? Could it be that there are still people who dare to stop the government's prison car
Under the curious eyes of the guards at the West City Gate, the long team finally reached the bottom of the city tower. Unlike the escorting officers and soldiers in the queue who were wearing armor and persevering, the man who seemed to be the officer at the front was wearing only ordinary soft clothes. This man was riding a gray horse, with a slender and flexible figure, very well-proportioned and straight. Although he had a bun on his head, his shoulders were spread out. There was a silver wire tied into the top bun on each temple, and a jade ring was buckled. Looking at the appearance on his face, he was very handsome. Although there were some wrinkles, it was difficult to judge his age. His temperament also had a kind of androgynous taste. In the tall eyes at the end of his eyes, there was always a cold aura.
"Ah..." The veterans had already judged who was coming, and they all bowed their heads and bowed to salute. The situation of the recruit is unknown, but if he wanted to lead such a large escort team, the man was a high-ranking official, and he hurriedly saluted.
In the middle of the team is the prison cart. Although the size and style are basically the same as ordinary prison carts, upon closer inspection, the cages of this cart are actually made of wrought iron. Welded to death. The prisoner in the car was curled up in the corner, chained with heavy chains, and his face was covered with black messy hair. He couldn't see his face at all. From the way he was sitting and the blood soaked on the bandage, it could be seen that his left thigh was He also suffered serious trauma, and I don't know if he had fought with officers and soldiers when he was arrested.
The city walls of Jinling are very thick, and the gate tower is naturally very long, but after the man who led his horse slowly walked into the shadow of the gate tower, he restrained his horse and stopped. The soldiers of the patrol battalion guarding the city did not dare to ask what was wrong, and could only stare at him blankly. After a while, the man laughed coldly and suddenly raised his voice: "We are about to enter the city, and we will have no chance when we enter the capital. Do you want to try again?"
This sentence flew in the air, and people were confused when they heard it. However, there was not much time left for the guards to be confused. There was only a moment of silence, and the murderous aura was in full swing. About 50 strong men rushed out of the woods on the west side of the city gate. The convoy comes. At the same time, the small vendors on the main road of the main gate of the city also neatly pulled out swords and weapons from the shadows and quickly formed a formation. Three or four of them were the main attackers, while the rest detoured and cut between the leading man and the prisoner team behind. It seemed that he was going to hold him back first. Immediately, the man's pupils shrank slightly, and he raised the sword in his hand, which turned out to be a hugely curved Hu Dao. With a simple wave of his hand, the light and energy had already rushed towards the person's eyes. From any angle, I felt that the blade was coming in the face, and I had to stop to protect myself. Only one of the people in the red shirt seemed to be unaware. appeared in another position.
The leading man let out a "Huh", as if he was extremely surprised, his face was condensed, he didn't dare to be careless, he changed his sword stance, and the response was very fast, and he had already fought several tricks with the comer.
It seems that one of the other people who attacked the leading man at the same time as the red-shirted man was the commander of the attack. Seeing that the red-shirted man had successfully dragged the leading man, he immediately whistled a few times and led the attack. All the people who were killed in the city rushed to the prison cart, and together with their companions outside the city, they flanked the guards.
Although the number of 300 officers and soldiers escorting the prisoner van was large, they were only ordinary soldiers. The combat power was not balanced with these fighters who were clearly armed with martial arts. It was even more incoherent in the chaos. Except for the dozens of elites around the prisoner van who still insisted on fighting, The others were separated by several dashes, and they didn't seem to have the advantage of being crowded. Not long after, two of the prisoners rushed to the side of the car. Unfortunately, the cage was too strong. Without opening the cage, he could only try to escape in a car.
I don't know if it was because someone came to save him or something else. The prisoner in the prison car was very excited, trying to drag the heavy shackles on his body and shaking the iron bars of the prison cage. It's like being gagged. Because of his unusually excited appearance, the prisoner commander moved in his heart, suddenly realized something, and immediately shouted: "Evacuate! All evacuate!"
Before he finished speaking, the leading man had a sneer on his face. At the same time, the icy aura in his smile spread out, and it was the breath of death brought by the nearly 100 hard archers who suddenly appeared on the top of the city wall. The prison cart was parked a few feet away from the city gate. Except for a few hidden under the gate, almost all the robbers surrounding the city wall were within the range of the archers' arrows. Although everyone immediately ended the attack and fled at full speed the moment they received the evacuation order, how could Keren's feet be faster than the flying feathers as fast as meteors? In an instant, the sound of breaking the sky and the sound of screams mingled together, and the outside of the imperial capital had become a slaughtering prison. Even if it is a Jianghu person with martial arts skills, unless it is a peerless master, it can only be used as a living target under random arrows. The difference is only how long it can resist and how far it can escape.
After several rounds of arrow rain, only about half of the prisoners escaped into the dense forest outside the city under the desperate cover of their companions. There were corpses lying on the snow, some were shot like hedgehogs, and the blood would accumulate. The snow was soaked black. Faced with such a tragic situation, the commander's eyes were red. However, he was obviously a man of tenacity, and in a second, he had controlled his madness, and ordered to rush out from the city. After being frustrated, the dozen or so people who were lucky enough to retreat to the inner side of the city gate fled. But the enemy is not an ordinary person. If there are soldiers in ambush on the tower, how can there be no one in the city? Hundreds of officers and soldiers pouring out from several alleys formed a thick encirclement in the blink of an eye. Judging from their uniform blade style and grey leather armor, it was clear that they were the elite soldiers under the command of Xuanjing Division, all of them were like wolves and tigers, and they were waiting aggressively for orders from the top.
But at this critical moment, the leading man on the official side was silent for a long time, which was a bit surprising.
From the beginning to the present, no matter how the war situation turned, there was one person who was not affected by the drastic changes in the surrounding situation at all, and that was the man in red who was fighting against the leading man. He was just fighting intently and earnestly. The leading man's superb martial arts seemed to satisfy him very much. The dark eyes on his dull face shone with the light of victory, and he shot without mercy. Forcing the leading man to resist with all his strength, in order to keep his breath from being chaotic, he couldn't say a word at all.
If the man in red can capture the leading man as a hostage, the situation will of course change again, but the prisoner's commander's eyesight is very accurate. And the soldiers of Xuanjing Division are not stupid. Although the leading man can't speak, they won't stand still like this all the time. It won't take long for them to react and launch an attack. So after a quick flash of thought, he immediately said loudly: "Good boy, we're going back, come and tear a hole!"
Hearing that he was going back, the man in the red shirt looked a little unhappy in his eyes, but he finally listened and jumped back, ghostly changing the target of his attack. In fact, when he heard the commander's words, the leading man had already made preparations and used 120% of his skill. Unexpectedly, he was easily separated from the battle by his opponent, and he almost turned around and left, without any stagnation or embarrassment. sense. Because I didn't expect such a high-level person to shoot, and I wanted to catch a few more live ones, there were no archers in the ambush in the city. Although they were more powerful than ordinary soldiers, the red-shirted people's martial arts were even better than the leading men. No matter what, it was almost unstoppable when they rushed over, and the dozen people who were surrounded were already red-eyed, and they did their best to fight for their lives. After a while, they really tore a crack in the surrounding circle. , escaped many people out.
However, the strength of the two sides is really disparate. Although some escaped, the leading man also captured three or four people and handed them over to his men to escort them away. He knew that the red-shirted man's martial arts skills were too high, and it was useless to catch up, so he simply told people to ignore him and tried his best to track the commander who had escaped into the alley in the city.
The roads and alleys in Jinling City are not particularly complicated, except for the one near the river in the center of the city. After climbing over a broken head wall, the bloodstain suddenly disappeared. Probably the other party noticed that he was bleeding and took care of it. At this moment, there are two similar intersections in front of them, passing through two different neighborhoods respectively. The leading man judged quietly for a moment, smiled coldly, quickly chased to the left, and passed through a path with courtyard walls on both sides. The child rushed to the road. Unexpectedly, just at this moment, a carriage came flying from the right. The speed of the two sides was not slow, and they almost collided. The leading man reacted very quickly, twisted his waist and jumped, and went to the other side of the road, while the driver of the carriage was very fast. He also slammed the reins and stopped the car abruptly.
"What's going on?" The people in the carriage were probably made to fall over by the sudden stop, and angrily stuck their heads out while complaining, "Who is this New Year's Eve?" As he spoke, his eyes Having landed on the leading man, he was stunned for a moment and cried out: "Sister Xia Dong, when did you come back?"
The lead man shrugged and glanced at him.
"Uh..." The man in the car scratched his head, frowned, and after thinking about it, he called out tentatively, "Brother Xia Qiu?"
The glance that came over turned into a stare, and the person being stared at took a long sigh of relief and complained, "Why don't you tell me earlier! Brother Qiu, your problem is really bad, why do you have to pretend to be with Xia? Sister Dong is exactly the same? It's scary, you know?"
"I said Xiaojin, I'm not pretending, I'm growing up like this, okay?" Xia Qiu came over and slapped Yan Yujin's shoulder, "I haven't seen you for more than a year, I've grown strong."
"It's true that your face grows from the sky, but what about your hair? You didn't dye the two white ones on purpose." "How the hell did you get this white? I've tried many dyes, but none of them work."
"Let's not talk about this for now," Xia Qiu smiled evilly, then suddenly leaned in front of Yan Yujin and stared into his eyes, "Tell me first, did you see a wounded person from Nearby?"