The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 274 Chasing Troops
With two strong mules, they walked quickly, crossing low hills, passing through bustling fishing villages, and getting closer and closer to Wendeng County.

The women selling fish sat by the dirt road, shouting loudly to attract passers-by, although there were not many people.

They shook their arms with copper bracelets to attract attention, slapped their chests and swore curses, and hung Buddhist beads and necklaces on their chests, all to prove that the fish in their baskets were fresh enough and not short of weight.

Wu Xiao stopped in front of the fish stall next to the tea shed at the entrance of the village. The setting sun shone on his face, tired and warm.

When everyone stopped to rest and drink tea, he bought three yellow croakers and asked the waiter at the tea stall to grill them for him. He then ate them with two steamed buns.

Wei Yidao put down the coarse porcelain tea bowl, glanced at Wu Xiao, and knocked the dagger twice on the dirty wooden table:

"Hey! Is this the roujiamo you were talking about every day on the boat?"

Wu Xiao ate voraciously and ignored the Tianjin servants.

He has been eating roujiamo in Sanyuan, Shaanxi for seventeen years, but this is the first time he has eaten roujiamo filled with sea fish.

He secretly made a promise to himself that when he returned to Wendeng County, he would immediately have a meal of mutton soup with steamed buns.

Only by drinking a bowl of steaming mutton soup can I temporarily forget the hardships and bloodshed of the past three months.

"Hurry up and eat, get on the road, and get to Wendeng before dark! Wei Zhao!"

After eating five steamed buns, Pei Dahu touched his stomach, pointed at the head of Yang Hao's servants, and shouted to Wei Zhao like a landlord commanding his tenants:
"After we finish eating, we'll take the mule to the back to graze. Master Yang will ride it for another ten miles!"

Wei Zhao spat and left the bench cursing.

Looking around, among the group of people, except for the six Korean soldiers who were chattering and I couldn't understand a word they were saying, no one else looked like they had been grooms.

At this time, he remembered that the dozen or so brothers who had followed him out of the Yang Mansion were all gone, leaving only him and Master Yang still alive.

Otherwise, now you can let them feed the horses, no, the mules.

Wei Zhao walked to the pillar of the straw hut with a lonely look, untied the rope on the mule's nose ring, and walked towards a pile of dry grass in the distance.

The hoarse voice of Master Yang sounded behind him:
"Little Weizi, when we return to Liaodong, I will recruit a dozen servants for you, and you will still be in charge of them."

Wei Zhao's eyes felt sore, but he held back his tears, held the mule tightly and walked forward without looking back.

The scene of the battle under Pyongyang twenty-five years earlier flashed before his eyes. Back then, Wei Zhao had been holding Yang Hao's horse as Master Yang led a host of Qi's troops against the city walls, their artillery raining down like raindrops. The Ming army fought bravely, but was ultimately driven back. General Li, from a hundred paces away, hacked away at the fleeing soldiers, barely holding the line. Wei Zhao and Yang Hao were the only ones left alive beneath the city walls. Master and servant hid in a blind spot, the Japanese cannons blazing overhead for a long time. Finally, Li Rusong led the Liaozhen retainers up the walls and routed the Japanese.

That was Wei Zhao's first encounter with Master Yang, and after that, he settled with him in Liaodong until the Battle of Sarhu. Master Yang led a group of arrogant and brave generals to their deaths, but only Liu Zhaosun led the Eastern Route Army to repel the Jiannu and returned alive. After the war, Master Yang became the target of public criticism. Everyone cursed him and wanted Yang Hao dead. The emperor had already demoted him to a commoner. If it weren't for his son-in-law, Ping Liaohou, Master Yang would have died countless times.

However, even though Yang Hao lost power and was ostracized in Tianjin Wei, Wei Zhao never left the Yang Mansion and continued to serve as Mr. Yang's servant.

The noisy voices from the tea stall could no longer be heard. Wei Zhao walked across the distance of an arrow and came to a wasteland near the official road. He let down the reins and let the two mules eat among the dry grass.

Wei Zhao stabbed the grass with his dagger, mistaking a patch of dead wheel grass in front of him for the Dongchang thief who had killed his brother.

Among the living people, apart from Shen Lian, Wei Yidao has the strongest desire for revenge.

The twelve servant brothers, Mr. Yang's life savings, and hundreds of thousands of southern goods that Mr. Yang borrowed from Lu Tongzhi, all sank into the sea.

All this is thanks to the East Factory and the Japanese pirates.

A breeze blew by, and the grass leaves fluttered.

Wei Zhao's face and hair were covered with dead wood and grass leaves.

A moment later, he had risen from a poor servant to a Seven-Pack Elder of the Beggars' Sect. "Kill Xu Xianchun!"

"Kill Tian Ergeng!"

"Kill Lu Demin!"

"Kill that old thief Miyamoto!

Suddenly, the dagger was suspended in the air, and the sound of horse hooves was heard on the ground.

Wei Zhao had fought in several major battles with Master Yang and had a keen sense of the battlefield.

He crouched in the weeds, curled up like a hedgehog, with the dagger hidden in his palm and only his eyes exposed.

A few breaths later, a group of elite cavalry with small red flags on their backs passed by the wild grass like the wind, startling two mules grazing nearby and making them scream strangely.

"Strange, why don't you take the official road?"

Wei Zhao was still in amazement when another horseman came galloping up from behind. A cavalryman with a Dengzhou accent shouted:

"My father (I am your father), run slower! Kaiyuan soldiers don't ride horses! They can't run far! I'm weak, run slower!"

The cavalrymen who passed by raised their whips and spurred their horses, shouting back:
"Chaobala (idiot), there are only a dozen heads left, and each head is worth eighty taels! Come with us and take a shortcut and chase them!"

Two waves of cavalrymen galloped away to the southwest, raising clouds of dust in the wilderness and causing the weeds on the roadside to tremble slightly.

When the sound of horse hooves faded away, Wei Zhao stood up suddenly, not bothering to pull the two stupid mules, and ran towards the tea stall.

The head servant ran a few steps before suddenly slowing down. Finally, he stopped, breathing heavily, and suddenly pulled out a strung short crossbow from his bosom.

On the country roads surrounding the tea shed, a dozen cavalrymen wearing red mandarin duck jackets were slowly approaching their target in a fan-shaped formation.

The fishermen who were selling fish in the tea stall just now had long disappeared. Pei Dahu, Wu Xiao, Han Chao and others had already raised their weapons. The six of them protected Yang Hao, Zuo Miaoqing and Xu Guangqi from all sides.

"Damn it, another fight!"

Wei Zhao cursed and looked up at the cavalry.

The cavalry soldier walking in front looked familiar. Wei Zhao thought for a while before he remembered that this bastard was the soldier who was basking in the sun in Balipu just now.

"What a wolf-hearted thing!"

The lean soldier had lost his previous lazy demeanor and had become a completely different person. Holding a flagpole, he stared at the tea stall with a fierce gaze, like a beast sizing up its prey.

Wei Zhao bit the dagger with his teeth, tied the binding around his arm, and whispered:
"I'm the best swordsman in Tianjin. I've roamed the Ming Dynasty from north to south and I've never been afraid of anyone!"

He had already run a hundred paces outside the tea stall, shouting at the oncoming cavalry.

"Hey! The Kaiyuan soldiers are fleeing over there! Hurry and chase them! Eighty taels of silver for one head! They're over there!"

The cavalry were attracted by his shouting and turned to look at the beggar who suddenly broke in. The soldier recognized Wei Zhao and called out to the people behind him, and the enemy group immediately sent out a cavalry.

The cavalrymen rushed over here, holding their swords.

Two light arrows whizzed towards Wei Zhao's face.

(End of this chapter)