sin of nature

"I heard that the city lord suddenly has an extra wife? Why haven't I heard of it before?"

"Oh, you don't even know this! That's not his wife and children, they are the wives and children of his subordinates."

"How to say?"

"Before, the brown-clothed gang raided the treasury boldly and killed all the guards who were in charge! The city lord settled their families one by one, only this family, the wife was pregnant for seven months, and had no relatives. Your lord took pity on her, so he After receiving her from my own residence, I regard her as my hostess, and even take care of the child in her womb."

"Oh, so that's what happened!"

"That's right, the brown-clothed party is really ruthless. I heard that it was because someone from the city lord's mansion responded that they robbed the treasury so smoothly."

"There is a traitor? Who is that person?"

"This is also what I heard...their family has a very strict tone, and no one revealed it."

"The brown-clothed party is so rampant that even the city lord's mansion dares to break into... Aren't we ordinary city dwellers in danger?"

"These days the handles at the gate of the city are much stricter than before. The city lord takes his troops out of the city every day, as if he is surveying the terrain again, and seems to be dealing with them again."

"Oh, this is really... I have lived in Licheng for nearly 60 years, and the leaders of this gang have changed several times, and our people have not seen them all. If you want me to say... ...It's better to just ignore it, which one of these attacks didn't cause heavy casualties? Why bother to die..."

"Hey, old man, it's your fault. If you allow them to push forward like this and don't fight back, sooner or later, they will piss on your head, do you believe it?!"

"Of course I believe that, but did you see that they won a big victory once? When did they wipe out this group of gangsters?"

"You are making too much sense, you—"

"I--"

An old man with half-white hair and a middle-aged man were standing on the side of the street and chatting amicably, but after a while they were arguing red-faced, and then they wrestled into a ball.

The person who had just gone up to persuade the fight heard the content of the two people's arguments, and joined the battle without hesitation, stood on one side, and began to criticize the other side mercilessly.

It didn't take long for the originally peaceful street to become a stalemate with gangs fighting each other.

Not only the people in Li Li City, but also the tens of thousands of guards under Li Ran were also very tense.

Licheng has adopted the recruitment system for many years, and the number of soldiers is small. They are usually only responsible for some security patrols inside and outside the city and difficult disputes between the city residents. Occasionally, they will encircle and suppress Yitu Mountain once in a while.Three years had passed since the last siege, and most of the guards had never experienced a confrontation with the Brown Shirts.Everyone was panicked.

The treasury was robbed, so he must prepare for a counterattack, and during this period of time, Li Ran repeatedly ordered a small group of guards to go out of the city with him to survey the terrain, and on the one hand asked them what they thought about attacking Yitu Mountain.

The treasury was robbed, even though there was resentment and unwillingness in their hearts.But that kind of threat has not yet come to the fore, giving people a real feeling, and that kind of temperament is thrown away in a blink of an eye. Instead, Li Ran takes people out of the city to investigate from time to time, scaring them into fear, as if with a firm order, they will Is going to die.

There are many rumors about the Brown Shirt Party in the city, and people of different ages have different stories to tell.

The ease and peace of recent years have already smoothed people's hearts, and no one is willing to give up their own ease and peace for some gold bars stolen from the vault.

Anyway, it's not your own stuff, if you turn it in, it's not your own stuff, so what if you lose it?

Then someone suggested to Li Ran, "My lord, why don't we just forget about it—they robbed so many things this time, they should calm down in the next time, so they don't have to make fearless sacrifices, right?"

But some people objected: "These bandits are bound to make further progress after giving in again and again! This time they robbed the treasury, and next time they will rob other things, and even control our entire Li city. If we don't stop it, it may increase." their arrogance."

"You are a real person—how can you use things that haven't happened as evidence? You don't have back pain when you stand and talk, and your son is not in the guards! It's none of your business if you die, right?!"

"What are you talking about! Even if I have a son in the guard army, I have to say something like this - do I have to be slaughtered by that group of robbers every day?"

"I say you--"

........

Both sides insisted on their own opinions and refused to give in to each other. Li Ran just ran out of the city more frequently and returned to the mansion in the evening. After all, there is still no conclusion in the end.

A few days later, Li Ran left the city again with a small group of guards, but he didn't come back in the evening.

The head of the guard hurriedly led hundreds of soldiers and horses to the outside of the city to search, and the news reached the ears of everyone in the city.

Naturally, it also spread to the City Lord's Mansion.

Xiao Mingben was helping the cook feed the chickens in the side garden when he heard cries from the front yard.

He finished the task at hand without haste, and then slowly moved to the front yard, seeing that all the servants looked concerned.

The cook in a turban had just prepared everyone's dinner, and when she saw him approaching, she shed tears and said, "Young Master Xiao, listen to what they say... the city lord seems to have been attacked by the brown-clothed party, and he has not yet I'm looking for someone..." She chopped her foot hard, and cursed, "God damn it! If only our lord had something..."

A young boy glared at the cook angrily, his eyes were red, and he warned viciously, "Don't be cynical—what will happen to us adults? He came back safely when he fought the leader of the Brown Shirt Party a few years ago." Yes, this time it will definitely... be fine."

The maid on the side also burst into tears, but another maid hurriedly covered her mouth, "Everyone, don't make trouble, don't disturb the lady in the room to rest." The lady she was talking about was the dead guard who was pregnant for seven months. widow.

Everyone became quieter, but their expressions were very bad. No one was busy eating, and everyone was worried about their own thoughts. From time to time, they looked up at the door to see if anyone had come back.

The cook pulled Xiao Ming and chattered about Li Ran's affairs, as if she couldn't calm down if she didn't speak.

Until it was completely dark, the guards still haven't found Li Ran.

Xiao Ming was drinking sweet-scented osmanthus wine in the kitchen, half listening to the cook's ramblings.Another message came from the front yard—the bodies of several guards who followed Li Ran out of the city today were found.

The atmosphere in the mansion became more solemn, the cook could not speak anything, and some maids covered their mouths and cried softly.

Xiao Ming felt a little uneasy, put down the wine glass in his hand, went out the door before others noticed him, and ran straight out of the city.

There were guards riding horses and holding torches everywhere on the street, Xiao Ming followed them and left the city.

Both sides of the avenue at the gate of the city are dark forests, and there are dots of fire shining inside, and the scattered guards are searching.There were several corpses of guards under the city wall, all stained with blood.

One after another, new corpses were brought in and lined up under the city wall.

Several guards guarding the corpse muttered aside.

"It's too miserable... Your Excellency won't be caught by this group of people, right?"

"If you can't find it all the time, this is the only possibility..."

Xiao Ming searched with the search team for a while but couldn't find anyone. A group of people circled around the foot of Yitu Mountain to search back and forth, but only found Li Ran's horse that had been hacked to death. Everyone surrounded the horse helplessly. His face was full of despair.

A guard asked, "Do you want to go up the mountain to look for it?"

The general manager looked around at the soldiers who were searching all around, his eyes full of helplessness, and said, "That's the only way—"

Immediately afterwards, all the guards were summoned.

In the process of gathering, a person in the distance shouted something to someone, which attracted everyone's attention.

A guard murmured, "Who is that person? Why did he pass by alone?"

Under the moonlight, Xiao Ming walked extremely fast, and soon disappeared among the trees, grass and flowers in the mountains.

Yitu Mountain is very big, and Xiao Ming stepped on the branched weeds to walk up. The route he took should not be walked by many people. There is no one on the ground with a well-defined path. This side should be In the shade, the trees grow crookedly, thin and short.

After walking for a while, a fire appeared not far away.

It was a burning fire, and there was a crooked log cabin next to it.

He strode straight over.

There were two brightly roasted rabbits driving on the fire, and there were even two jugs of wine beside them, the red corks were just opened and scattered aside.

Xiao Ming heard the rustling footsteps behind him, his eyes flashed, but his hands did not move. The next moment, two shiny broadswords crossed and crossed across his neck from behind.

"What are you here for?" The man on the left asked in a rough voice, and at the same time approached the knife in his hand to Xiao Ming's neck again, and the blade pressed against his skin tightly.

Xiao Ming replied without thinking, "I'm here to join the leader."

"You?" The person on the right didn't seem to believe his words, walked around to Xiao Ming, looked him up and down, "What can you do?" There was disdain in his tone and eyes.

There are mostly desperadoes on this mountain, all of them are thick-backed and fierce, but suddenly a young man with thin skin and tender flesh came, so naturally he didn't believe his words.

Xiao Ming looked straight into the other person's eyes and replied "robbery".

The people standing in front of him still didn't believe it, "Just like you, you still want to rob like others? You...don't come up to save people, do you?"

Xiao Ming's hand hanging on the side suddenly tightened, and he asked back without changing his expression, "Who are you saving?"

"Hehe" the man grinned grimly, "Do you have a chance to ask me?"

The person on the left quickly stopped talking, complaining a bit, "Brother, didn't you say you shouldn't mention this to outsiders? If this person is a guard in the city, wouldn't he have leaked the news?"

"What a joke!" The man in front of him shouted, "He can join the guards like this, that's really Li Ran's eyes. Besides...you saw it just now, the guards down the mountain are all He's wearing armor."

Xiao Ming didn't speak, he had decided in his heart that Li Ran must have been taken captive to the mountain by these people.

"Then how to deal with him now?"

The person in front of him looked him up and down several times, and then he suddenly showed a malicious smile.

"You continue to guard here, and I will take him up. The eldest brother must test his ability by employing people—if it doesn't work, it's not too late to kill him... so that some people can see it, and it's not anyone They can all submit to our Yitu Mountain."

In this way, Xiao Ming was taken by that person to their lair on Yitu Mountain without hindrance. If Ya hadn't been led by someone, he didn't know how many people he would have met.

They will use some kind of whistle to communicate before approaching each level, but the arrangement is very orderly and delicate.

Seeing Xiao Ming looking around curiously, the man said to him triumphantly, "What you see is all arranged by our boss! Although he is young, his mind is no worse than those scholars! Since he became our leader, the brothers have never missed food! The life on this mountain has also become more nourishing day by day. You know the last time you robbed the treasury. The robber dares to do this? He dares!"

"If you ask me, our leader is much better than Li Ran! Compared with him, the city lord is just an ordinary person with a better background."

Xiao Ming didn't answer the words, he listened to the other person's words with his left ear in and his right ear out, and he had arrived at their village while speaking.

From a long distance, I saw a large area with bright lights and loud voices, which seemed to be a place for ghosts and ghosts in the mountains to spend the night. The village was surrounded by lush green bamboos, which looked like a paradise.

Having reached the destination, Xiao Ming didn't need to pretend anymore.Taking advantage of the man's distraction, he raised his hand and knocked out the opponent's weapon, and raised his knee to push against the opponent's knee. The opponent knelt down in pain, and he immediately grabbed the opponent's neck and said, "Li Ran Where is it locked?"

The other party was stunned, and stretched out his hand to grab Xiao Ming's palm, but found that the other party's hand was like steel and could not be moved at all, so he started to break his arm again.Xiao Ming raised his knee again and slammed into his back fiercely, making him lie on the ground, picked up the knife on the ground and pressed it against his back, warning, "If you don't tell me again, I will put you on your back." Make a flower."

Xiao Ming picked up the man from the ground, let him lead the way, followed behind, holding the knife against his lower back.

The place where people are locked up is behind the stockade, so the two of them went around.Xiao Ming saw a dark hole at the back of the village, a square cabin with only one torch stuck in it, and a person guarding the door, he pushed the person in front of him away, and charged at the doorkeeper with a knife. go.

"Ninth brother! Then the mother is here to save someone! Stop him!!" The person who was pushed away shouted, trying to arouse the other party's vigilance.

But Xiao Ming had already elbowed the man in the face, knocking him out.

Xiao Ming kicked the door open, walked in quickly, and glanced at the whole wooden house - there was only an empty iron chain inside.