Pei Gonggui

Pei Jun seemed to hear the rustling of chariots and horses. Looking around, he saw that he was standing in the middle of the large group of people who had gone northward for hunting. At a glance, the road was covered with snow, and the cold wind blowing from a distance was piercing.

In surprise, the fingers of his right hand were suddenly grasped by a pair of cold hands behind him, and when he looked down, he saw Jiang Xuan holding a hemp rabbit in his arms, looking at him seriously and saying, "Uncle, help me!" Concubine mother."

……

"Xuan'er!"

Pei Jun's whole body trembled, he woke up suddenly, and found himself lying in a cave.

"Da Xian'er, are you awake?" Fang Mingjue came over in a panic after hearing the sound, touched his forehead with one hand and muttered "the fever is gone", and greeted Yan Yuliang with the other, "Brother, hurry up, bring some water!"

Pei Jun hissed, only to feel a soreness in the back of his neck, a slight movement, and a sharp pain in his left arm.Taking a closer look, it turned out that there were two wounds on his arm. Although he had been bandaged, he could still see the blood oozing from the gauze, and when he moved his fingers a little, the meridians of his arm were also pulled out with slight pain. .

Holding the water bag, Yan Yuliang sat cross-legged beside him, supported his head with one hand, held the water bag with the other to feed him, and said hoarsely: "Ziyu, you bleed a lot, and the wound has just healed. Can't move."

Yan Yuliang was disheveled and his clothes were torn, while Fang Mingjue behind him was also disheveled and had a bruise on his forehead.Behind the two of them, there are about thirty elite guards sitting around. They should be the survivors after the battle on the riverside, many of them were slightly or seriously injured, and they are currently living in the cave here with the three of them. Recharge your batteries and avoid hunting.

Pei Jun narrowed his eyes slightly, and carefully identified them, and saw that Pei Yan, Jiang Xuan, and Mei Linyu were not among these people.

Sunlight shone through the cracks above his head, signaling the dawn of the next day.For a moment, the picture of the shipwreck in the thick smoke on the river before he fell into a coma appeared in front of his eyes along with the sunlight, and Pei Yan's screams and the sound of the ship's plank breaking when Mei Linyu met the blade also seemed to ring in his ears.

His chapped lips trembled, and he asked Yan Yuliang unwillingly: "Where is the second boat?"

Yan Yuliang paused the hand holding the water bag, glanced at Fang Mingjue beside him, lowered his eyes and shook his head.

Pei Jun clenched his fist and slammed it hard on the ground, the soreness in his eyes rose for a moment, penetrating into his chest like steel needles, piercing his heart and lungs with severe pain, causing him to close his eyes and roar, "It's all my fault...it's all my fault!"

Fang Mingjue slapped Yan Yuliang on the back shoulder, glared at Yan Yuliang with red eyes, pushed him away and sat beside Pei Jun: "Daxian, don't listen to his nonsense! When we left yesterday, although the second boat sank, But there are still many guards who fell into the water, and...they are all water-resistant, so your sister, nephew, and Young Master Mei are not sure what to do. When the pursuers outside are gone, let's look for it again—”

"I'm going to look for it now!" Pei Jun stood up abruptly, grabbed the silver gun beside him and stood up, pushed away Fang Mingjue who was helping him, staggered to the entrance of the cave, raised his legs and stepped out.

For a moment, the dazzling sunlight stung the bottom of his eyes. He saw that the place where the people were located was a low hill in a dense forest, and he could faintly hear the sound of the river flowing in the distance.

His legs and feet softened, but at this moment he stood firm with his spear and pestle. Then he raised the gun and strode towards the direction of Jiang's sound.

"Ziyu!" Yan Yuliang yelled angrily at the entrance of the cave, seeing that he should not respond, he could only call the guards to follow him, and he ran a few more steps quickly, at least he stepped forward to support him.

The people hid their tracks and searched and stopped all the way, but found nothing. After walking about two sticks of incense, they walked back to the riverside where they ran aground yesterday.

The rising sun on the surface of the river shone brightly on the tidal waters of the river. Fishing gulls were flying around, birds and beasts were singing quietly, but there was no trace of human beings.If it weren't for the first ship damaged yesterday that was still on the riverside, it would be as if nothing had happened here.

Pei Jun closed his eyes on the riverside, and carefully searched for clues about the second boat in his memory, but at this moment, he could only think of the crackling and exclamation in the thick smoke of that boat, and what followed immediately was The black under the hood in front of the eyes.

He knew that the waters in this area were full of reefs and many undercurrents. Even if the current was not too fast, it would be more difficult for a person to swim from the center of the river to the shore. Not to mention that the second boat was surrounded by pursuers. Pei Yan was still carrying Jiang Xuan. Under such circumstances, even if there were guards around, the hope of the three of them still alive was very slim; Once on the shore, you have to hide and look for food, and if you encounter pursuers again, you will definitely be escorted back to the capital——

With his only remaining troops, even if he could take the risk of catching up with the pursuers, he would definitely not be able to save Pei Yan and the others.

For the current plan, the only way to dispatch more people to search for the whereabouts of Pei Yan and the other three is to rush to finish the remaining day's journey and arrive at Ningcheng to join Jiang Yue!

Thinking of this, Pei Jun didn't want to delay, so he endured bitterness, chanted the blessings of gods and Buddhas silently, and quickly called everyone to come to clean up the wreckage of the first boat on the shore, and dig out the supplies that had not fallen into the water Bring clothes and clothes, take them with you, prepare to go southeast along the road to the next village, and then find a horse and horse to rush to Ningcheng.

But when everyone was getting ready to go, there was a rustle in the grass behind them.

Pei Jun thought that the pursuers were coming, so he immediately took up weapons with all the guards and turned back to defend, but when he looked closely, he saw that the bushes parted, and among them was a big black dog with dirty hair .

Half of the big black dog's hair was burnt, and a piece of exposed skin was also burned. There was a deep bone wound on the hind leg, making it hard to imagine what it had gone through.

But despite being so embarrassed, the dog's face still clearly showed a pair of bean-yellow eyebrows.

Pei Jun was taken aback when he saw it, and secretly called out: "It's Xuan'er's dog!"

The black dog also recognized Pei Jun immediately, and was about to run towards Pei Jun, but stopped abruptly after taking two steps, then glared at him viciously, and barked angrily.

For no reason, Pei Jun saw the black dog jumping up in the air and pounced towards him suddenly, he couldn't help but tremble, and subconsciously clenched the silver gun in his hand.

But before he raised his silver gun, the black dog jumped in front of him, and with a groan, opened its mouth to bite a sharp arrow that was shot in the air!

"There are pursuers!"

Everyone scattered in shock, but the black dog had already thrown off the arrow feathers, swooped straight, jumped into the grass and started tearing.

Immediately there was a scream in the grass, and a bloody man in black struggled to climb out of the grass, ignoring his thigh bitten by a black dog, and raised his hand to press the crossbow in his hand.

With sharp eyes and quick hands, Pei Jun raised his gun and struck the black-clothed man's wrist.The man in black let out a miserable cry, broke his wrist, and was immediately killed by the surrounding guards, but at this moment, the machine crossbow in his hand had already sent out a loud arrow, whistling into the sky.

"Not good!" Fang Mingjue said anxiously, "They must have sent someone to patrol here. Once they realize that we are here, they will send a letter to ask the brigade to come. We have to go!"

As soon as he said this, voices came from the dense forest in the southeast direction of the crowd.

Seeing that the pursuers were about to arrive, and the southeast where they originally planned to go was exactly where the pursuers had come, Pei Junying's eyebrows twitched, and her mind suddenly turned in a hurry.

After a while, he picked up the dog in front of him, looking north at the river and west at the mountains, he had to sigh badly, and ordered:

"Go! Take a detour and enter the mountain!"

At the same time, the two groups led by Jiang Yue and Li Si have already stationed at the foot of Xiaolong Mountain, and will arrive in Ningcheng in the evening, and are currently making final rest and deployment.

Jiang Yue wore a bright silver armor, polished his long sword in the tent, put it on his waist, and took out a letter from the front of his chest that was frayed due to too much friction, opened it again, and lowered his eyes. Looking closely, a faint smile overflowed from the corners of the eyes and lips.

At this time, someone outside the tent suddenly sent a message: "My lord, General Li is asking to see you!"

The smile on Jiang Yue's face stopped, he couldn't help folding the letter properly, opened a carved box on the table, and put the letter in his hand among the thick stacks of letter papers piled up in the box, and when the box was closed, Fang Ruo So thought: "General Li, please come in."

General Li is the name for Li Si in the army at this time.

After the Southern Uprising, Li Si proclaimed himself "General of the Way of Heaven", meaning to act on behalf of the heavens, and vowed to help his father Li Cunzhi and the people of the Southern Lands crusade against corrupt officials to avenge their blood, revive the Qing court, and restore peace to the world. .

Jiang Yue originally thought that Li Si's power could be turned into the key force for him to return to Beijing to seize the throne, but when he arrived in the south, he discovered that although Li Si had the ability to fight and the anger of the people, the uprising was all based on blood and anger , without any grand plan.If it weren't for the local officials' tyrannical government and the people's grievances, Li Si would definitely not be able to recruit so many people, and it would be absolutely impossible to persuade a few guards to surrender to become his help.

The reason why Li Si is still alive now depends on the right time, place and people; his subordinates are still there, and they are all condensed in one place by resentment, and they still share the same hatred for the time being.But if one day, these people lose their leaders, or become more powerful, without deterrence, they will probably run around like a mess of scattered sand, wandering around without a leader, and Li Si only knows how to fight, but doesn't know how to lead troops. Relying on Jiang Yue's need for his own troops, he didn't listen to Jiang Yue's advice at all, and sometimes acted like a domineering man. If this continues, it will only be a matter of time before the army starts fighting.

Jiang Yue knew this very well, so in order to prevent changes in the army, he had already established iron rules these days, but Li Si thought that he wanted to raise the air power and take over the rebel army, so he approached Jiang Yue closely. China's leading strategy has become more suspicious and defensive, just like today.

Li Si entered Jiang Yue's tent from outside the tent, seemingly in a hurry, but when he came in, he saw Jiang Yue sitting on the edge wiping his sword. The dealer said, Cai Yan's people have already gained the upper hand in the capital, we have to deal with not only the imperial army, but also him, will we not be able to deal with it?"

Jiang Yue glanced at him indifferently, turned the sword in his hand and said: "Gu has asked Xiao Lin to lead his troops back from the north to King Qin of Beijing, even if Cai Yan has tens of thousands of mercenaries, those soldiers and horses are just powerful domestic dogs. The opponent of Saibei Iron Cavalry. General Li doesn't need to start worrying about the battle of the capital right now, the camp is about to be pulled out, so let's go and order troops first."

Having said that, Li Si had no other questions to ask, so he had to quit again, but he felt very uncomfortable.After returning to the tent, I talked with the master who was working for him. The master pointed out his worries and said: "The king of Jin is a relative of the emperor. I advise your soldiers and horses to go to Beijing together. I really want you to help him conquer the world, but you can conquer the world." Afterwards, who will bear the blame for the rebellion? When Jin Wang becomes the emperor, won’t you be the only one left to blame? At this time, he will always find someone to rule you. The loyal general of the Xiao family for generations, Xiao Lin Isn’t he the best candidate? General Li, the King of Jin brought us to Ningcheng to make peace with Pei Jun, but the news he received never made it clear to us that Pei Ziyu has always been called a traitor by the court, and now he has fled. Going out of the capital... Even if these two people have been kind to the general, this time is not as good as the other, the general still has to plan for himself."

After hearing what the master said sentence by sentence, Li Si felt more and more uneasy. After thinking about it for a while, he finally pondered: "What the master said is indeed reasonable..."

When it was dark that day, King Jin's men and horses went first, and the two groups of men and horses hurried forward with all their strength, and finally arrived at Shilipo, south of Ningcheng, before midnight.

Unexpectedly, just as he got off his horse and set up camp, there were suddenly random arrows flying towards the camp.

Jiang Yue hurriedly ordered people to get on his horses to prepare for the battle. He stared at the sudden flames all around, and saw that the forest here was already surrounded by strange soldiers and horses who didn't know where they came from.

He drew out his saber, and asked in a British voice, "Who is here?"

Between the lights and shadows in the forest, a man wearing a black armor and iron helmet rode out slowly on a horse, reined in and smiled lightly:

"Prince Jin, I have been admiring you for a long time! We are under the orders of Dudu Cai and Lord Pei, and we are here today to clean up the dust for Prince Jin!"