Lin'an Never Night

Chapter 74 The Unsolvable Knot
Hearing this address, Lao Qu subconsciously straightened his posture:
"Madam is in a good situation now. After all, it's been many years.

"Old thief Qin is not as strict with Mr. Yue's family as he was before.

"The money I send now is more than before, so their lives will be better."

After hearing this, Old Man Song and the other two showed a look of relief on their faces.

Qu Jianlei was originally a clerk in the army of Queen Shenwu.

The Shenwu Houjun is the official name of Yue Family Army.

Old Man Song was originally a member of the Tabai Army in Yue Family Army, which was both a light cavalryman and a scout.

Uncle Ji and Uncle Gou were members of the most elite Beiwei Army in Yue's army.

After General Yue's death, Yue's army was disbanded, and the elite main force became the main source of troops for the Southern Song court to reorganize the Three Yamen Imperial Guards.

Old Man Song injured his leg, and his ancestors had a house in Lin'an, so he simply chose to retire from the army.

Mr. Qu and his two companions were also injured and disillusioned with the court, so they followed him and retired from the army.

Thanks to the help of Old Man Song, his three comrades were able to gain a firm foothold in Qingshi Lane.

After General Yue was killed, all his family members, led by his second wife Li Wa, were exiled to Lingnan.

In order to curry favor with Qin Hui, local officials deliberately treated General Yue's family harshly and often withheld their supplies.
As a result, Mrs. Yue and her whole family lived a very difficult life, with one meal hungry and the other full.

After Qu Jianlei learned about Mrs. Yue's family's plight through his connections, he set a rule with Father Song, Uncle Ji, and Old Gou:
They said that whether they were telling stories or running a shop, they would pool all their earnings, except for the necessary living expenses, to support General Yue's family.

In fact, after the money was sent over by someone, most of it would be embezzled by the clerks and servants who were in charge of General Yue's family.

However, since they had received benefits, they would more or less take better care of General Yue's family.

Over the years, the four veterans have been silently contributing.

Mr. Qu heaved a sigh of relief and said to the three people, "Mr. Yue's family is now in a better situation, and Old Song's daughter is about to get married. These are all happy events. How about we drink a few glasses of wine today?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he glanced at Uncle Gou and said, “Little Gou, today I am making an exception for you.

"Starting tomorrow, drink less, keep your life, and try to live longer.

"Perhaps, we still have a chance to hold on until the day when Mr. Yue's injustice is vindicated..."

He slowly raised his head, looked up at the sky, and murmured, "I just don't believe that this sky will always be covered by clouds!"

Father Song, Uncle Ji, and Uncle Gou, three old soldiers over fifty years old with frosted faces,

They also looked up at the sky, as if looking forward to light and hope.

……

It was almost the fourth drum and the morning market was about to open when Old Man Song came out of the Qu family.

Following behind him were Uncle Ji and Uncle Gou, both of them arm in arm, with bruised faces and noses.

The four of them were drunk tonight. When they were drunk to their heart's content, Uncle Ji and Uncle Gou, who had always been at odds with each other, first hugged each other and cried bitterly.
After they finished crying, they started fighting, punching each other in the face.

Old Man Song and Mr. Qu just continued drinking and didn't bother to pay attention. They were used to it.

There is a grudge between these two people, and Mr. Qu and Old Man Song don't know how to resolve it.

This story has to start from fourteen years ago.

That was the last major battle against Jin that General Yue led at the front.

The second year after that, he was ordered to return to the capital and hand over his military power, but he was killed soon after.

At that time, Wanyan Zongbing broke the agreement and invaded the south, and General Yue was determined to do something big.

He wanted to concentrate his twelve armies totaling 110,000 people, and take advantage of the Jin army's rapid attack and the elongated battle line to wipe out the main force of the Jin army.

To this end, he selected 3,000 troops from the 8,000-strong Tabai Army and the 6,000-strong Beiwei Army, and went around the enemy's rear to carry out harassment operations.

The purpose was to use this armed force behind enemy lines to contain the Jin troops in Kaifeng and Zhengzhou, so as to prevent them from going south to rescue the trapped Jin troops.

The Tabai Army is a type of soldier that is both a light cavalry and a scout. They are also engineers who can build roads through mountains and bridges over rivers.

The Beiwei Army was the best equipped and had the most stringent selection criteria for its soldiers. They were General Yue's commando and death squad. Among Yue's troops, only these two teams had a large number of war horses.

Fighting behind enemy lines requires a high level of mobility, so personnel were drawn from these two teams.

These cavalrymen went deep into the enemy's rear, using the northern rebel army as their eyes and ears, making a feint to the east and attacking in the west, pointing south and attacking in the north, causing the Jin army to be in a state of panic.

At that time, Kaifeng sent a Jin army to rescue the Jin army in Yancheng and Yingchang that was surrounded by Yue's army.

The 3,000 cavalrymen of Yue's army decided to ambush the Jin reinforcements.

They set up an ambush in a place with a dense forest on one side and a lake on the other.
Send Father Song, Uncle Ji and Uncle Gou to ambush in the front.

Their mission was to observe the enemy situation and, after the Jin army passed by, burn the reed marshes to give a warning and block the Jin army's retreat.

Unexpectedly, the Jin army's cavalry heading south startled the fleeing civilians who were resting halfway. Some of them panicked and actually headed south along the main road.

The Jin soldiers were not in a hurry to chase, but just rode leisurely, shooting arrows and killing people for fun.

At this time, Lao Ji, who was lying in ambush in the reed marsh, unexpectedly saw his sister, who had been married far away for more than ten years, among the fleeing people.

He knew that if he rushed out at this time, he would certainly alert the enemy and expose his ambush.
He also knew that if he rushed out alone, he might not be able to save his sister's family.
He also knew that with the strict military discipline of Yue's army, he would be beheaded even if he could come back alive.
But how could he bear it when his relatives were being slaughtered by the Jin people right before his eyes?

Lao Ji's eyes were red at that moment, and he was about to rush out of the reed marsh like a madman.

At this time, Lao Gou saw that the situation was not good, so he rushed over and pressed him to the ground, holding his neck with one hand and covering his mouth with the other.

Lao Ji watched helplessly as his sister, brother-in-law, nephews and nieces fell one after another just a dozen steps in front of him.

The swaying reeds turned blood red in his eyes.

This Jin army was eventually surrounded and completely annihilated.

Lao Ji found Xiao Gouzi and beat him until he fainted.

Xiao Gouzi had helped him conceal his reckless actions at that time. After he beat Xiao Gouzi, his disobedience was known to the army.

His position as the guard was dismissed at that time.

Lao Ji also knew in his heart that Xiao Gouzi did nothing wrong.

But whenever he saw Xiao Gouzi, the scene of his sister and her family dying tragically in front of him would appear before his eyes.

This is a demon in the heart, a knot that cannot be untied.

……

Old Man Song walked in front, while Lao Ji and Xiao Gouzi supported each other and walked unsteadily behind.

It is the short transition period when the night market ends and the morning market has not yet opened.

The bluestone alley was silent, and apart from the three of them, there were no other pedestrians.

In the distance, on Houshi Street.

A figure flew across the roof, passing through the house and the yard, as nimble as a raccoon.

There were some pedestrians on the road. Occasionally they heard some noise and looked up, but there was only the lonely night sky with twinkling stars. All they heard was the sound of clothes fluttering in the wind, but no one was in sight.

Yang Che followed closely behind the man, moving up and down, as agile as the man in front.

Seeing that man escape to Houshi Street, Yang Che was secretly happy.

This guy's boxing skills are not very impressive, but his light body jumping skills are very advanced, and it is difficult to catch up with him for a while.

It would be better to force him into the bluestone alley, where he is most familiar with the terrain, and perhaps he could take advantage of the terrain to capture him.

Thinking of this, Yang Che suddenly took a deep breath and accelerated, doing a "swallow three-skip water move" to intercept the man in front of his left side.

As expected, the man didn't wait for him to get close, but quickly turned to the right front and increased his speed.

The place they rushed towards was the bluestone alley.

(End of this chapter)