Shi Qingxue was startled, "What are you doing?"
Mo Junhao hugged her tighter and said seriously: "Then it's not safe to walk out of the house due to the fire. There may be many people waiting for us below. I'll take you to jump directly from the window sill to the backyard and ride away on horseback."
After saying that, he hugged Shi Qingxue and jumped to the stable in the backyard.
Without giving Shi Qingxue a chance to protest, he hugged Qingxue's willow waist and flew onto his horse, and left the inn before the assassin guarding the front yard chased him.
Mo Junhao's horse riding skills were second to none, and he disappeared from the eyes of the two of them as soon as he left the inn.
When Qingxue looked back, she could only see a faint red light, but the road ahead was dark.
She hugged Mo Junhao resignedly, but after a while she felt something was wrong again -
Those assassins have clearly caught up!
Qingxue raised her head and met Mo Junhao's heavy eyes. She saw worry in his eyes, and the future was uncertain.
"us… "
Mo Junhao hesitated for a while.
Shi Qingxue immediately said: "Go left, I heard the sound of water, it should be a river."
Mo Junhao didn't understand why a river was the escape route, but he still ran to the left as told.
The two rode horses for some distance, and actually saw a fast-flowing river. They followed the direction of the flow of the river.
Three sharp arrows shot out of the air and flew straight towards them. Mo Junhao swung his long sword and fired two arrows from his crotch, but the last arrow was aimed low and hit the horse's leg.
"Hiss!"
The horse let out a tragic cry, its center of gravity tilted, and Mo Junhao had no choice but to hug Shi Qingxue and abandon the horse to the ground.
The two rolled in a circle on the ground and barely regained their balance, but four or five assassins had already caught up with them and surrounded them.
Mo Junhao held Shi Qingxue firmly in his arms and waved his sword to resist the assassins' attacks.
The exchange of weapons lasted for nearly a quarter of an hour, and both of them understood: this group of people came completely for Shi Qingxue, and had no intention of harming Mo Junhao.
At this time, as long as Mo Junhao puts down Qingxue, he can escape completely.
Mo Junhao's body had been "mistakenly scratched" with several scars. Even when Shi Qingxue felt that the other party might not be able to bear giving up, Mo Junhao fought his way out as if he was risking his life.
"Take a breath!"
After the warning, Mo Junhao hugged Shi Qingxue and plunged into the rushing river, disappearing all of a sudden.
The only three assassins left on the shore were stunned.
The leading man was so angry that he slapped the fat man in the face and cursed angrily: "Asshole! Master said that as long as Shi Qingxue lives, who allowed you to kill the Fourth Highness?"
The fat man covered his face and said aggrievedly: "But you have also seen that the Fourth Highness was so protective of the calf just now that he would rather get hurt than..."
Before he finished speaking, the other side of his face was slapped hard again, "If something happens to His Highness the Fourth, ten of your heads won't be enough to compensate!"
The short man next to him said quickly: "Your Highness, the Fourth Highness, is highly skilled in martial arts and was not seriously injured. He should be safe and sound. But Shi Qingxue, a little girl who doesn't know martial arts, will definitely die in such a fast river. Should we go first?" Downstream, I will help His Highness the Fourth Highness, and by the way, where will Qingxue collect the body at that time?"
The boss glanced at the short man and said nothing, thinking in his mind: That's what I said, but there is no guarantee that something unexpected will happen. If His Highness the Fourth is really injured, they will definitely die; in other words, His Highness is safe and sound, so that the other party can Knowing that they are the culprits, is it possible to give them good fruits to eat
After thinking for a while, he coughed, "We just followed the master's wishes and assassinated Shi Qingxue all the way, but His Highness the Fourth Highness insisted on protecting Shi Qingxue and escaped with Shi Qingxue. This is what happened today, you understand Yet?"
The other two people were stunned. The fat man wanted to say something, but the short man stepped on him and responded quickly: "I understand, everything is as the boss said."
"Okay, let's go back and recover!" The boss looked at the fast-flowing river again and led the two of them back.
—
Three days ago, the Shi family army camped in a hidden forest at the foot of Qingluo Mountain.
"We have camped here for more than half a month, but our several attacks were either blocked by the surrounding defenses of Qingluo Mountain or were fooled by the strange formations in the mountain. Now the emperor has issued three imperial edicts in succession, asking us to How can we capture Qingluo Mountain within a month?"
Liu Caishu, the deputy general of the Shi family army, sighed with sorrow on his face.
Another lieutenant general, Fu Chuan, was even more anxious than Liu Caishu: "The emperor didn't understand the situation in Qingluo Mountain but he still pressed us hard. He forced us to attack the mountain before we were ready. He was not his soldier, which cost him a lot." It’s not a loss, is it?”
"Okay, stop complaining." Shi Junhe interrupted the two of them lightly, his eyes falling on the terrain map, "Now we have more than ten thousand people, and it is easy to take down a group of bandits head-on. Even if the opponent's defense facilities are impregnable, we There are talented people who can break it, but the Five Elements Formation is extremely treacherous and difficult to conquer."
He pondered for a moment and then said: "Yesterday, I ordered people to hurry up and deliver a message to my friend Shang Ping in Fancheng. This man is proficient in Qimen Dunjia. If he can come, Qingluo Mountain can be defeated."
"Shang Ping?" Wen Renchi repeated in a low voice, his lowered eyes unable to conceal his complexity.
Shi Junhe thought he hadn't remembered it for a moment, so he explained with a smile: "Chi'er, you should have heard of this person's name, right? Shang Ping, I, and your father are all close friends, but he is used to being idle and has been hiding for a long time. He went to Fancheng to live in seclusion and refused to come out easily.
Speaking of which, he has a closer relationship with your father. I didn't think at first that it would be more appropriate for you to write the letter. "
His original intention was to hope that Wen Renchi could keep in touch with his late father's friends, and there were multiple escape routes.
After hearing what he said, Wen Renchi was silent for a moment, and then he responded: "Then I will send someone to deliver a letter to Uncle Shang."
Shi Junhe thought about it and felt it was inevitable, so he asked Wen Renchi to handle it, while he continued to discuss military affairs with Liu Caishu.
Wen Renchi quickly arranged everything, and the people he sent out were familiar with the terrain. By taking shortcuts, they might be able to reach Fancheng faster than the previous person who sent the message.
Late at night, outside the camp, he stood quietly facing Fancheng for a long time. He didn't come back to his senses until his legs became numb. He sighed heavily, turned around and walked back.
Suddenly the sound of horses was heard behind him. When Wen Renchi turned around, he saw his subordinate who had stayed in Kyoto hurriedly jumped off his horse and knelt in front of him, "Master, something happened."
While talking, he handed a letter to Wen Renchi.
Wen Renchi opened it and took a look. His originally solemn expression turned completely dark. He suppressed his anger and asked, "When did it happen?"
"I'm afraid it's been three or four days. As soon as my subordinates received the news, they immediately ordered people to make secret visits throughout the city. There was no news. They only confirmed that the person was no longer in Shifu, so they immediately came to report..."
Wen Renchi was so angry that his fists trembled, and the letter paper had been crumpled into pieces by him, "It's useless! A living person can't take care of her. Do you know what she did?"
The person who was scolded knew that he had neglected his duty, had no temper at all, and did not dare to hide it at all. "The Duke's wife completely concealed the matter. Not many people knew about it, but the subordinates heard that the Duke's wife had sent people to guard the south gate. One day, my subordinates boldly guessed that someone might be coming..."
Wen Renchi felt as if something had hit him hard in his heart. He quickly closed his eyes before he managed to suppress his emotions and listened to the other person continue speaking.
"It's just that my subordinates drove all the way towards Qingluo Mountain and didn't find any traces, so they can't be sure..."
"Okay, no need to say more." Wen Renchi couldn't bear to listen anymore when he heard that he couldn't find anyone. He waved his hand to let people go down, and he walked quickly back to the general's camp.
Shi Junhe was the only one left in the camp. As soon as he entered, Shi Junhe looked up.
Both of them saw anxiety and worry in each other's eyes and spoke at the same time.
"What happened?"
"What happened?"
Everyone was stunned, and then said
"You speak first!"
"You say it first!"
The two looked at each other for a moment, and Wen Renchi, who had always been humble, couldn't hold his breath and said hoarsely: "Qingxue ran away from home and her whereabouts are unknown. She may be heading here."
"What?" Shi Junhe was shocked and cursed angrily: "How could this happen? Why is she running to the battlefield for nothing? Isn't this nonsense?!"
But then he felt something was wrong, "How did you know?"
The expression on Wen Renchi's face froze, his lips opened and closed several times, and he was speechless.
He was not used to lying to Shi Junhe, but he also couldn't explain the news that even Shi Junhe didn't know yet. Why did he know it first
However, when Shi Junhe saw him like this, his heart softened. He did not ask any more questions, but took the initiative and said: "Just now, the emperor sent three more imperial edicts in a row, asking us to act as soon as possible. We must not remain silent for a long time. Anyone who disobeys the order will be punished by military law."
Wen Renchi frowned and said awkwardly: "We have lost 20% of our troops in the first three attacks. If we attack rashly, it will be difficult to win."
How could Shi Junhe not know this truth, but the imperial edict was in front of him, and the envoy delivering the edict was outside. If the Shi family army didn't make any noise, it would be a complete disobedience.
"Tomorrow we will organize an elite group of thirty people, and you will lead them to try to attack the mountain from the side cliff again."
Wen Renchi nodded silently, not paying attention to the danger of this mission at all. Instead, he said: "Qingxue, do you need to send more people to look for her along the way? I'm worried that she is a girl. If she encounters danger along the way, what will happen? What to do.”
The worry in his eyes was real, even more than the concern for his own safety. Shi Junhe couldn't help but analyze it calmly: "Since that girl can avoid being tracked by many parties, she must have used some method. It's hard to find her now." Don't even think about finding anyone. If she really came to Qingluo Mountain, then we just have to wait here and she will show up sooner or later."
As he spoke, his face was completely confident, and he was sure that Shi Qingxue would be able to get here.
Wen Renchi stopped talking and turned around to make arrangements for tomorrow's attack on the mountain.