King of Song

Chapter 379 Li Donglin

The spring was sunny, and even the northwest felt the warmth of the spring breeze. The trees grew new leaves, and there were many unknown wild flowers blooming in the mountains.In the valley, a small river flows slowly, and the water volume is quite abundant. It is not only the melting of the snow on the distant mountains, but also the nourishment of the spring rain.

The warm sun shines in the valley, the river water is sparkling, and occasionally there are a few small fish swimming in the water, which makes the originally desolate and desolate northwest land a bit more alive.Everything is so bright, so harmonious, and it is a pleasing picture.

It's a pity that there are always some discordant factors that break this beautiful scene.The little fish in the river were frightened by something, and suddenly swam away and dived into the bottom of the water.Immediately afterwards, the clear stream like a small waterfall suddenly became a little turbid, mixed with blood red.

Bloody, yes!It's blood!
A group of people were fighting on the river beach, and the weapons they used were not whistle sticks popular in the Central Plains, but swords.It's no wonder that although the Northern Song Dynasty had very strict restrictions on weapons, it was only in the Central Plains.In the northwest border area, wars are frequent, and the frequency of weapons use is relatively high.Coupled with the tough folk customs, how can weapons be banned casually?
Not only that, the situation in the northwest was chaotic.In addition to the Xixia and Tubo tribes, there are many bandits.Among them, Longyou is the most serious, but the territory of Song Dynasty to the east of Longshan is not absent.

Looking at the chaotic fight, and looking at the costumes of both sides, it really looks like bandits robbing a caravan.

The valley here is the traffic artery from Huanqing Road in the southwest, Qinfeng Road, and even Tubo's business roads to all parts of northern Shaanxi, and even to Hedong.Although it is a relatively remote trail, its importance cannot be underestimated...

Although there are direct official roads, it is inevitable that there will be some detours after connecting the market towns and cities. In many cases, mountain paths are shortcuts.Some businessmen also want to avoid taxes in this way. The more checkpoints they pass along the way, the more taxes they will naturally pay.In order to avoid being exploited layer upon layer, it is common for merchants to avoid mountain paths.Of course, there is no lack of smuggling of materials among them, and they want to avoid the eyes and ears of the government in this way.

Over time, the valley here has become a traffic artery that has not been noticed by people!
The mountain path is a shortcut, which can save a lot of time and cost, but it is naturally much weaker in terms of security, and it often becomes the target of bandits.

The pros and cons of things always complement each other, this is the best embodiment of the two sides of everything!
It seems that such a caravan was attacked by bandits today, so that there was some turmoil in the calm valley again. Not to mention some chaos, the harmonious scenery was also destroyed.

For ordinary caravans, the consequences of being robbed by bandits are undoubtedly unimaginable.Especially in the northwest, it may mean going bankrupt.Therefore, merchants dare not take it lightly, and often invite some people, especially samurai who are proficient in martial arts, to accompany them.Although it has strengthened the strength of the caravan, but in many cases, it is still a drop in the bucket, unable to resist the bandits...

But today's caravan is an exception. Their guards seem to be very powerful, but there is no one-sided massacre or looting.One of them, who was a scholar, was holding a long sword, and he couldn't stand up to the bandits. His swordsmanship was elegant and agile, and he kept walking back and forth in the battle circle. For a while, the bandits couldn't do anything to him.

On the contrary, the scholar kept swinging his long sword, wounding several bandits in a row, which was very powerful.It's just that the strength of the other caravan guards seems to be average, and they seem to be unable to resist the trend, so after all, the bandits still have the upper hand.

Furthermore, the number of bandits is obviously slightly superior, and there are dozens of people who can't find many.The caravan's escorts were relatively small in number, even with such masters as young scholar swordsmen, they were still a bit powerless, obviously they were not opponents, and soon some of them were injured.Blood continued to flow out, and the river was even dyed red. The scene was a bit tragic, and the situation was critical...

"Young proprietor, hurry up and take people away..." Some caravan servants shouted loudly, as if they couldn't resist, so they asked their key people to leave as soon as possible.As for the young proprietor he was talking about, he seemed to be a scholar with nimble sword skills.

"Want to leave? No one wants to leave today. It would be a pity to let the best treasures of the Western Regions, the rare ruby, go away?" The leader of the bandit over there was riding on a horse, laughing wildly.The banditry in the Northwest was able to become popular, on the one hand, because the area itself was relatively chaotic.Furthermore, the mountains and rivers in the northwest are complex, which is conducive to the hiding of bandits.

Just imagine, even if the government intends to arrest them, when the officers and soldiers arrive, they will just drill into the deep mountains, and no one can find them.Another point, which is also a crucial aspect, is that the bandits have horses, they are cavalry, and they are very mobile!
This is why there is a market for Hehuang Tubo horse smuggling. In addition to the Northern Song Dynasty frontier soldiers secretly buying them, bandits from all over the Northwest are also their frequent customers.Once there are horses, the bandit will be upgraded to a horse bandit, and there is no doubt that both strength and destructive power have been upgraded to several levels.

This group of robbers obviously didn't follow their strength, and what they were waiting for today seemed to be another big fish, so they were motivated to kill early, wanting to take all the treasures for themselves.

It's just that I didn't expect to meet such fierce resistance, especially the leading scholar, whose swordsmanship is really good, and he couldn't help him for a while.The bandit leader was also a little anxious here, and hurriedly sent several capable men to attack.

There is a saying that two fists cannot defeat four hands. Even if a scholar has superb swordsmanship, how can he resist the siege of several murderous bandits?As a result, he soon fell into a disadvantage. Fortunately, his swordsmanship is good, at least he can barely protect himself.

After seeing this, a steward of the caravan couldn't help being very anxious, and shouted for the young proprietor to escape.Although the goods are precious, there can be no mistakes easily. What could be more important than life?

It's just that the scholar didn't seem to hear it at all, and the long sword in his hand was dancing more and more quickly, as if he was going to fight the bandits desperately.

After seeing this, the bandit leader couldn't help but sneered and said: "Little baby, what kind of hero are you? Just relying on you, do you still want to fight against the crowd with one person? Are you kidding me?"

What he said was correct, as far as the strength of the scholar swordsman was concerned, there was no problem with self-protection.If the opponent is only one or two people, it may not be difficult to win.It's just that there are too many people on the other side, and the bandit will naturally not talk to you about fighting alone, fairness and justice, so the situation of the scholar is getting worse.

An old man who was the leader of the caravan saw this situation, he was very anxious, and repeatedly lamented: "Back then, the eldest son died on the way to trade, but now if the young master has any troubles... how can he explain to the old owner?"

Obviously, this is a loyal servant.

Just at the moment when he was in a hurry, there was a sudden sound of rumbling horseshoes in the distance, and the momentum was extraordinary.The bandit leader was also shocked, and when he saw clearly that it was the banner of the official army, he became terrified.They hide in the mountains on weekdays, they can be arrogant and say that the government can't do anything to them...

But if they met head-on, how would they dare to hold back the slightest bit?How can a group of mobs be opponents of the official army?Losing the protection of the mountains and being truly exposed to the officers and soldiers, they will naturally be terrified.It would be fine if they were infantry, they could escape by taking advantage of their horses, and even be arrogant, but what appeared in front of them now was a cavalry team.

One only needs to take a look to know that this cavalry is well-equipped and powerful, and it is obvious that they are not waiting for nothing.face them?What will be the consequence?Therefore, all of them were terrified, turned their horses' heads hastily, and scrambled to escape, otherwise they would soon be trampled into flesh by the war horses.It is said that some time ago, such a scene happened under the city of Gyeongju, but most of the casualties were Xixia soldiers, and they did not want to repeat the same mistakes...

Can they run away just by running?How can their inferior horses compare with the Tubo horses ridden by the Chinese cavalry?Therefore, it will soon catch up and be surrounded by groups.

Some irrational people immediately expressed resistance and died instantly from the butcher's knife.With this precedent and lessons learned, the other bandits became much quieter in an instant.Their leader was trembling even more, terrified... He was very surprised, why did the officers and soldiers suddenly appear?How can officers and soldiers in such a poor and remote area come as soon as they say it?It doesn't look like this cavalry is an ordinary state capital garrison?
Who are they?Just when the leader was in doubt, he was kicked to the ground, and then officers, soldiers and knights stepped forward to tie them up...

At this time, the doubts in the hearts of the bandit leaders became more intense. Who are they?Where did this army come from?

Needless to say, this mighty cavalry was exactly under Lin Zhao's command, and it was the bodyguard guarding Lin Zhao and Liang Yibu for the peace talks in Suizhou.Because Liang Yibu had a special status and the peace talks were a special task, Lin Zhao and Liu Changzuo didn't want to follow the official path in a high-profile manner and make it known to everyone.In that case, it will not be a good thing for the face of the Song Dynasty and Xixia, and if you leak your whereabouts casually, there may be unnecessary troubles...

No one could have expected what happened next, and it was best to deal with some things in a low-key manner.Therefore, they did not take the official path swaggeringly, but took the shortcut path.In this way, they can rush to Suizhou as soon as possible, and the peace talks and transactions may be earlier.To be honest, Lin Zhao was too worried about Zhe Wenxin, and it would be a lie if he was not in a hurry.Although he appeared calm and calm on the surface, he was actually quite urgent in his heart.

As for the safety issue, they naturally don't have to worry about it. No matter how rampant the bandits are, can they be more powerful than the 3000 elite Western Army?Presumably no ignorant bastards did anything out of the ordinary.Going all the way, traveling in mountains and rivers to enjoy the scenery is quite pleasant.It's a pity that this kind of comfort was interrupted at this time...

They were walking on the road, and suddenly a scout came to report that there were people in front of the two parties who were fighting hard.Lin Zhao couldn't help being a little surprised, because he was escorting such an important person as Liang Yibu, so he needed to be extra careful, and he needed to be on guard against even the slightest sign of trouble.

Two teams fight?Who are they?Will it cause any trouble to myself and Liang Yibu in the prison car?Lin Zhao subconsciously thought of many things.Now is a critical moment, it is inevitable to think too much when encountering things, and even have a little imagination.

As soon as Lin Zhao received the news, he put three thousand soldiers on alert, and at the same time sent a large number of scouts to investigate.But I didn't expect that it was just a false alarm. After the scouts inquired in detail, they found out that it was just a common thing for bandits to rob caravans.

Lin Zhaoyu's Liu Changzuo breathed a sigh of relief, as long as it wasn't directed at him.Although the matter had nothing to do with them, they did not hold it high.Especially for these bandits that affect normal traffic, if they can be cleaned up by the way, it will also benefit the local businessmen traveling north and northwest.

Therefore, he ordered hundreds of cavalry to come to rescue the caravan. If the powerful cavalry of the Western Army took action, it would definitely be easy to catch.How can a few small gangsters be opponents?They were killed in an instant, and the whole army was wiped out in the end!

After the battle, an old man with blood-stained clothes in the caravan hurried over and expressed his gratitude: "Thank you, General, for your rescue. I can't thank you enough?"

"Who are you?" Lin Zhao asked in a deep voice.

"We are merchants from Xizhou..."

After a simple conversation, Lin Zhao understood.It turned out that this was a group of businessmen from Xizhou.I often travel to and from the Tubo Tea Horse Road to buy some materials from the West, and then transport them to the East for sale. I am engaged in the business that many businessmen in the Northwest are doing. This is not special at all.

But this time, they were lucky and bought some jade articles from a Western Region merchant in Hehuang Tubo.It also contains treasures such as rubies, which can be said to be priceless.

It was originally a good thing, but it leaked the wind when I was in Tubo, and it was missed by those who cared.It was because of this that they were targeted by the bandits on the way.Although they had been very careful, after dodging a few times, they were not so lucky this time, and they happened to be intercepted by bandits.Seeing that they were about to be unable to resist, but they didn't want a large number of cavalry to rescue them suddenly. It could be said that they were of great help to them, and they were extremely lucky.

Therefore, everyone in the caravan is grateful to Dade, and this meeting will come here specially to thank you!

"It doesn't matter, arresting bandits is the duty of officers and soldiers..."

"Thanks to all the soldiers, otherwise today's consequences would be unimaginable..." The old man of the caravan obviously had lingering fears, and his thanks were also very sincere.

Lin Zhao shook his head and said, "Your guard skills are not bad, for example, that young master's swordsmanship..." While speaking, his eyes fell on the scholar with good swordsmanship from afar. Obviously, Lin Zhao was a little curious .

The old man of the caravan hurriedly explained: "That is our young proprietor Li Donglin, who is bandaging the wound, and will come to thank you in person later!"

(End of this chapter)