Chapter 33 The masked cavalry in the canyon jungle in the fourth quarter

At twilight, a group of chariots and horses rattled out of the manor and divided into three routes at the mouth of the Decanggu River: two draped carts drove onto Handan Avenue, while two fast horses galloped like arrows to the northwest direction. mountain plateau.About half an hour later, two fast horses entered a precipitous canyon, and one of them flew towards them to report that the Jingyun martyrs had gathered their cavalry to wait in the valley forest.Lu Buwei said to go, and flew into the forested Grand Canyon in the first place.After three or five miles, the canyon gradually widened, and beside the gurgling water stood a large piece of green and yellow Populus euphratica forest. When you entered the forest, you could see a statue of Populus euphratica standing under each umbrella-shaped Populus euphratica under the dim moonlight. The dark thing, the man in the leather armor with the horse and the mask, stands still like an iron tower!When Lu Buwei walked into the forest, the black iron towers suddenly shone with swords and shouted in unison: "See Lu Gong!"

"You righteous men," Lu Buwei cupped his hands on the horse, "Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching, Buweitt came to pay a visit, and hang around to drink!" As soon as the words fell, there was another cheery voice thanking Lu Gong from the forest.The shouting ceased, and the horse on the front right came to the middle and shouted loudly: "Brothers of strong men! Jing Yun informs you of a big news: Lu Gongye has settled all the 103 families including us, and each family has 300 people. Gold plus two hundred acres of fertile land! I will be expelled from the government for my past crimes! From now on, brothers are no longer the most important criminals pursued by the government, and the family and clan will no longer be burdened by us! Well, what am I waiting for in return?"

The iron towers in the forest were silent, and suddenly there was a thunderous roar mixed with sobbing and choking: "Follow Duke Lu! Be loyal to Duke Lu! Death will never come!" But Jing Yun in front of the team said loudly: "Grand Lu's meaning: We wait for you!" The mission of protecting the business has been completed, and after the Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone can return to their hometowns and return to the cultivation of mulberry and hemp! If any brother has something unfinished, he can explain it tonight, and Mr. Lu should sort it out within ten days and save me Wait until you leave Zhao safely! What do you think, brothers?" The strange thing is that there was silence in the forest, only the heavy panting mixed with the occasional scent of war horses could be clearly heard.Lu Buwei was a little surprised. Seeing that Jing Yun was about to speak, he heard someone in the forest ask loudly: "What is Brother Jing Yun's plan? Return to his hometown?" The Lord rescued me from the whale torture, I will not repay this kindness, and I will never lose my heart! Right now, Duke Lu’s major event is at the final stage, Jing Yun wants to send Lu Gong out of Zhao, and then leave, and he cannot go with the brothers.” Lin Zhong There was a commotion among the iron towers, and a voice shouted: "Brother said well! Who am I waiting for who is not Lu Gong, a dangerous criminal who is hard to rescue in the prison execution ground? If the elder brother does not leave, how will I wait!" "Yes! If the elder brother does not leave, How can I go!" "I won't go!" "I won't go either!" "How can you go without reporting!" The shouts finally merged into a roaring wave: "Grand Lu! Never leave Zhao, I will never leave Zhao!"

Jing Yun galloped over and said in a low voice, "Grand Lu, all brothers are of the same mind, there is nothing I can do." "Okay, let me explain." Lu Buwei took a few steps forward on his horse, cupped his hands and said in a loud voice, "All righteous men, what Lu Buwei did back then was to commemorate your chivalry and hate the government's harsh government for harming the people. It has been more than ten years in a blink of an eye. , you have shared joys and sorrows with Lu's trading company, and have gone through hardships and hardships, so that the huge motorcade of Lu's trading company has suffered repeated disasters without a single loss. If this is not the case, how could Lu Buwei succeed! There were three people, and ninety-six were injured. Every time Buwei thinks about this, he feels pain and guilt that can't be added! Such great achievements in bloodshed and fighting have repaid Lu Buwei's financial rescue more than a hundred times in the past! Go? Even if Zhuan Zhu, Nie Zheng, and Yu Rang are reborn, who dares to say that the righteous men will go away without reporting!" The horse team was silent and the wind was blowing, Lu Buwei couldn't help but choked up, calmed down a little and said, "That's why the righteous men are dismissed today Cavalry, there is no one, because Buwei has abandoned business and pursued politics. Politicians, Zhengye. After more than a hundred years of reforms in the Warring States Period, all major countries have strict policies and laws. General Buwei will become an official. How can there be a private cavalry to follow? To tell you the truth, Lu Buwei will leave Zhao to enter Qin within this autumn. You are all righteous men from Shandong, and each family has more or less bloody hatred with Qin. If you follow Buwei to Qin, how can you not Seriously? Buwei has nothing else in his heart, but he only thinks of all the chivalrous men, returning to their hometowns will give them what they want, and Buwei will have nothing to worry about." After saying that, Lu Buwei got off his horse and bowed deeply to the iron tower-like cavalry in the forest. "This heart is sincere, and all righteous men are considerate."

The horse team in the forest was silent.Following the style of the Warring States Period, this is disapproval but a few words are unclear.Seeing this, Jing Yun came over and said in a low voice: "Mr. Lu, I don't think we should talk about this matter for a while. It will be a few days. Later, I will talk to my brothers in private before it is too late." "Alright!" Lu Buwei smiled generously Waving to the forest, "Brothers, the moon is bright and the wind is clear tonight, and there are all kinds of old wines from all over the world! Let's not talk about whether to go or not, let's get drunk first!"

"Long live Lu Gong!" The forest shouted happily. A heroic night drinking until the east turns white.The bonfires in the Populus euphratica forest are filled with the smell of wine and a rack of roasted sheep and pigs is a sight to behold. The mahogany wine barrels are carried up and down, and the knights remove their armor and pick their faces. The big pottery bowls splash hops, and the jungle and river valleys are full of laughter.Lu Buwei was drunk, Jing Yun was drunk, and all the one hundred and three knights were drunk.It wasn't until the sun was setting and it was twilight that Lu Buwei's two riders came out of the Taniguchi, and their emotions along the way were indescribably mixed.

This cavalry team is really close to Lu Buwei.Twenty years ago, when he first entered the business and reached the first salt business with Tian Dan, he deeply experienced the dangers of long-distance cargo transportation.From the salt field on the coast of Jimo to the big city in the Central Plains, it is more than a thousand miles away, with one or two hundred ox carts and three to five hundred people, it is really easier said than done!However, the most critical point of doing business is not that the affairs are difficult. After all, the Warring States period is much smoother than the roads with numerous checkpoints and barriers in the Spring and Autumn Period. It's not hard to be busy but not chaotic.The key to doing business lies in the word "safety", and the danger lies in theft.Pirates are the name given to the turbulent people who were outside the government's legal net in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In fact, they are what later generations call bandits.In the Warring States Period, there were continuous wars, natural disasters and man-made disasters one after another, and the number of "thieves" bred greatly increased compared with the Spring and Autumn Period.Robbers, or severely wounded soldiers who were abandoned after the war returned home without a plan, or convicts (prisoners) and revenge murderers who escaped from various countries did not dare to return home, or escaped slaves of various names and colors without a home But they are still homeless, or the dying orphans left behind after the great starvation, or they are still displaced after fleeing the tyranny of their own country and going to other countries.All these people flocked and gathered in the dangerous mountains and rivers at the junction of various states. The government can't reach them, the poor mountains and rivers are poor, and the hunting is not enough to survive.

As a salt merchant at the beginning, Lu Buwei either gave a sum of money, or unloaded half a carload of salt bags, or dropped a few bags of dry biscuits and sauce meat and a few barrels of good wine, which were necessary for business travel. Buy a smooth road without injury.However, after a long time, the appetites of the thieves swelled, and the group of thieves often asked for five or seven carts of goods, and Lu Buwei was overwhelmed.At this time, Tian Dan was fighting against Yan in Jimo, and Lu Buwei was entrusted to make the general preparation for secretly supplying supplies to the Qi army. Whether it was scattered purchases or centralized transportation, every piece of business was very urgent and no accidents could happen midway.For the first few times, Lu Zhonglian personally led a team of temporarily recruited horses to escort the truck.After half a year, Lu Buwei felt a lot of inconvenience.One is that Lu Zhonglian cannot be dedicated to assisting Tian Dan; the other is that the knights recruited in a hurry are inevitably mixed, and they were bought by the leaders of the bandit group several times.

After thinking over and over again, Lu Buwei asked Lu Zhonglian to recommend a righteous man, and re-selected reliable warriors to form a team of caravan guards who could share weal and woe.Lu Zhonglian was also worried about the war crisis in Jimo and couldn't get away. After hearing this, he nodded again and again, saying that there is a righteous man in Qi who can be called a hero in the world, I'm afraid you and I can afford him now.Lu Buwei then asked where is this person?Lu Zhonglian said that this person was called "Osprey Ranger" by the people in southern Qi, and now he is serving hard labor in a prison camp more than a hundred miles east of Jucheng; Occupied the prison camp where more than 30,000 people were detained in the southern part of Qi State, and wanted to send these prisoners back to Yan State to fill in hard labor; There are many unjust prisons, and the Qi people can redeem the criminals with money and goods to return to their hometowns, and the criminals who have no one to redeem are at the disposal of the Yan army!

Lu Buwei smiled and said: "This gentleman has a high opinion, so he was redeemed long ago?" Lu Zhonglian smiled angrily: "But you are ignorant! The people of Qi were scattered, and the Yan army looted all their goods. Eighty-nine, who has a lot of money to redeem prisoners? Who can be deceived by Le Yi if he is empty-handed?" "So that's the case." Lu Buwei suddenly realized, "This time you escort the ship to the north, and I will go to Jucheng Yanjun University camp!" Three days later, the two headed north separately by land and water.When Lu Buwei arrived in Deju City, he found a rich man named Tian Qi in the valley outside the city. He pretended to be an old man and followed him.After Qin Kai heard this, he smiled coldly: "This person is so stubborn that he broke out of prison in the prison camp. Tomorrow, he will be sentenced to death, so he is not included in the redemption." Lu Buwei took a step forward and said with a smile: "My master Dongyuan has nothing to do with this person, and it doesn't matter whether he is redeemed or not. It's just that my master, Dong, suffered greatly from the tyranny of the old Qi Dynasty. He wants to set an example for the Qi people to show that the Yan army is benevolent. Unbearably stubborn, but he did many good deeds in the past and is very popular. If he can be redeemed, the people of Qi will look at Yan Jun with admiration. If he can be redeemed when he is about to kill, he will see Yan Jun's generosity and love. We, the people of Qi There is no doubt about it! This old man’s words, I hope the general will think twice.” Qin Kai laughed for a while and said, “It’s rare for a family elder to make such remarks! Wait a little longer, and I have to report to the general to make a decision.”

In the early morning of the next day, a group of knights escorted a general and flew to the camp of the Yan army. General Le Yi actually came to deal with the matter in person.Le Yi said that although this person can be redeemed, he must pay double the ransom, otherwise he will not be able to punish the stubborn people, and even if there is a benevolent government, it will still fail.Lu Buwei hastily tugged at the lapel of "Zhu Dong", and "Zhu Dong" generously agreed. When this "Osprey Ranger" was carried out of the filthy cave, he was already wounded and dying.Lu Buwei, who is proficient in medicine, immediately cleaned Osprey Ranger's wounds, and clearly remembered that there were sixty-six wounds, large and small!Then he was bound up with a large sackcloth soaked in medicinal juice, he was carried into a sealed black car covered with three layers of animal skins, and he drove back to Chencheng by himself day and night.The boss of the trading company, Ximen, has received the news that he has invited the miracle doctor of Chu State who lives in seclusion in Jingshan.The big cloth was opened, and the old genius doctor with beard and hair like snow frowned at a glance: "This person has internal injuries, external injuries, new injuries and old injuries overlapping, poisonous pus and feces, his life is dying, and the old man is helpless." Lu Buwei was in a hurry. , and fell over with a muffled groan.After waking up for a while, the old genius doctor muttered: "The injury is not difficult to cure, but the poisonous pus is difficult to get rid of. If you get three sticks of hooked grass and one poisonous feather, it may be helpful. It's just that these things are really hard to find." Lu Buwei suddenly got up and turned around then go.Fortunately, it was in Chencheng, where the north and the south met business travelers. Within two days, Lu Buwei actually bought two kinds of highly poisonous substances from a big Lingnan drug dealer at a shockingly high price of three thousand gold.The old genius doctor put poisonous feathers into wine, and then used the poisonous wine that people smelled to change color to clean the wounds overflowing with poisonous pus, cut off the carrion, and wrapped the new flesh wounds with a cloth soaked in the medicinal juice made of hookweed.After more than a month like this, Osprey was miraculously brought back to life. During the month of March, You Xia just wandered around in the back garden silently all day, even at the small celebration banquet held by Lu Buwei for him, he kept a dark face and said nothing.Lu Buwei never talked about things, and only went to the hut in the forest to chat and ask for advice on swordsmanship.The ranger seemed impatient with noise, and always met Lu Buwei's chatting and laughing in silence.Once it was unbearable, he held up the big pottery bowl and gulped it down, wiped the corner of his mouth with his big hand and said: "My lord not only redeemed me, but also saved my life, if there is death, just say it, so why bother talking all day long!" Lu Buwei immediately had a big fuss With a red face, he bowed solemnly to the end: "You are a hero, and Buwei is famous from Lu Zhonglian, so he saves you with admiration. Buwei saves you, and he has no heart of revenge. He only wishes to live and die with you. But think carefully, if you think that what you don’t deserve should be done by you, then you can do it, and if you don’t do what you don’t do, then don’t do it. If you don’t have the heart to repay, the heavens, the earth, the people and the gods will perish!” After saying that, he strode away. Ten days later, on a bright and clear night, Lu Buwei received an urgent report from Mr. Ximen that most of the leather armor brought back from Lingnan was robbed by mountain robbers on the north bank of Dongting Lake. Depressed, he walked in the back garden and suddenly saw a person in the forest. Kneeling naked at the intersection with thorny brambles on his back and blood bubbling on his back, he was clearly the Osprey Ranger!Shocked, Lu Buwei rushed forward to untie the thorns to help him up, but he was panting for a while and couldn't speak.The ranger bowed deeply, and said a few words in a low voice: "Your Majesty is a merchant of righteousness, I am a warrior of the world, and I will live and die together with you to plan great things, starting from today!" Without saying a word, the two hugged each other tightly. The white linen robe was stained with bright red blood, and the hot tears covered the naked body... That night, the two drank three barrels of strong Zhao wine. , The fast talk continued like the wind, until the red sun was high, no one was drunk. You Xia said that his real name was Jing Yun, and he was the great-great-grandson of Jing Nan, the guard of Shang Yang in Qin State.Lord Shang died, and Jingnan arranged all the funeral affairs of Lord Shang, then fled Qin State, first entered the Mo family, after the death of the old Mo Zi, the Mo family fell apart, and Jing Nan lived in seclusion on the coast of Qi State in his later years.Since the third generation, the Jing family has reached more than three hundred people, and their martial arts have not declined, and there have been knights from generation to generation.Jing Yun was born, he began to learn the basics of martial arts at the age of three, he was already a first-class swordsman at the age of fifteen, and he was crowned at the age of twenty-one.At that time, King Min of Qi's tyrannical government harmed the people and imposed heavy taxes. Jing Yun couldn't bear the complaints of the people in the village, so he led the people in the four villages to surrender and stop farming.Unexpectedly, King Qi Min heard that instead of exempting taxes (labor) and reducing taxes (in kind), he sent troops to arrest the chief culprit and wipe out the rioters!In anger, Jing Yun led more than 3,000 people from the Jing family and the peasants who had stopped farming to escape to an unnamed island overnight. No one was injured or injured in the incident.Because of this, Jing Yun got the name of Osprey Ranger.Three years later, Jing Yun landed to buy fishing boats and fishing gear. Unexpectedly, he was captured by the government in Jimo and sentenced to lifelong hard labor without pardon. One of the convicts wriggling in the fields.The Yan army wiped out Qi in a big way, and the Qi army guarding the prison was in panic. Jing Yun was extremely vigilant, and immediately instigated the prisoners to riot in the middle of the night!Just when the panicked officers and soldiers were being killed, and they were about to flee in groups to the nearest Jucheng to find Diao Bo to be an anti-Yan rebel army, 100,000 Qingqimen from the Qin Kai Department of the Yan Army rushed like lightning, and blocked 30,000 prisoners in the mountain pass!General Yan, who guards the prison, finds out that Jing Yun is the leader of the uprising, and allows him to serve as the chief of the prisoner battalion of Yan State and reduce the charges of all the prisoners, on condition that he persuades the prisoners to move to Yan to do official labor for life.Jing Yun angrily reprimanded General Yan and flatly refused.General Yan was furious, tied Jing Yun to a stake and beat him to death with a leather whip, and locked him in a cold and dirty grotto.Yan Jiang didn't believe that there is such a tough bone in the world, ten lashes a day, he must subdue Jing Yun.Although blood flowed profusely every day, Jing Yun didn't say a word, and when he returned to the grotto, he secretly planned to contact the prisoners to riot and escape from the prison.If it wasn't for the old jailer from Qi who sent the news to vent the wind in his sleep, and confessed Jing Yun under torture, the storm in the prison camp would have erupted before Lu Buwei arrived... Lu Buwei sighed with mixed feelings, and he generously proposed to make friends with Jing Yun to "cut the neck".Jing Yun was silent for a long time, but shook his head.Lu Buwei was puzzled.But Jing Yun said: "Righteousness does not depend on ordinary friendship. If you want to do something big, you can't die if you don't deserve it. Why should you sacrifice your life for the righteousness of the whole person? If you are born as a warrior like me, you will be in the battle. If you hang your head on your waist, you can just throw it away." Throw it away. Cutting the neck with the lord is to complete the small righteousness and discard the great righteousness, which is really unrighteous!" Lu Buwei had nothing to say, so he asked Jing Yun to be the general manager of the trading company.Jing Yun shook his head again and said: "What the public lacks is not the talents of business, but the talents of warriors. For example, if Tian Dan was in business in the past, he had two hundred death-death cavalry. Across the world. Jing Yun thinks that he is not bad at martial arts, so he will definitely seek to save hundreds of dead men for the public. However, there are four requests, and the public must do it earnestly." Lu Buwei nodded solemnly.Jing Yun stated four conditions: first, not to participate in any affairs of the company, second, not to attend any public entertainment, third, not to reveal the names and backgrounds of the cavalry warriors to anyone, and fourth, not to accept orders from anyone except Lu Buwei. Lu Buwei remembered that he solemnly accepted all four invitations from Jing Yun. One month later, Jing Yun's appearance changed drastically, a handsome and handsome young man disappeared forever, and standing in front of Lu Buwei was actually a tough man with beard and beard who couldn't tell his age!Lu Buwei's eyes were full of tears and he choked with sobs, but the bearded man bowed his hands and left.Half a year later, Lu Buwei had a cavalry team of 30. After two years, the cavalry gradually increased to 116 people, and it has not decreased since then.Jing Yun said that a fast cavalry team is not as good as a large army in a battle formation. It is more important to be capable and capable, and a hundred people are enough!All these knights were special dead men secretly sought out by Jing Yun. They were either convicted for the crimes of the people and became prisoners, or they were refugees who escaped from vendettas.Jing Yun was looking for one, Lu Buwei tried to save one, spending a total of 30,000 gold in a few years! From then on, after more than a dozen times in the first two years, the convoy of Lu's Trading Co. has never had any major incidents.Jing Yun is not a reckless chivalrous man, but a decisive and decisive leader. He keeps making friends with various bandits through various channels. After more than ten years, the six kingdoms of Shandong have been unimpeded.Lu Buwei was deeply moved, and sighed to Jing Yun several times: "Brothers are great generals! You were born in the Warring States Period at the right time. If you were not born as a general, then you should help with all your strength." Jing Yun, who has always been unsmiling, laughed loudly Laughter: "If Lu Gong is the chancellor for a day, Jing Yun will be the general!" Lu Buwei also laughed out loud. Three years ago when the business was closed, Lu Buwei wanted to arrange for warriors to disband the cavalry, but Jing Yun kept shaking his head, so the matter was put on hold.It wasn't until Lu Buwei returned from Xianyang that he talked to Jing Yun and began to make various arrangements.Jing Yun didn't care about it, and still abided by the agreement and creed, living in the canyon jungle consistently, leading the horse team to gallop and practice all day long.Coming this time, Lu Buwei seems to feel that the cavalry warriors have changed a bit, their masks and vests are neat, just like Qin's armored warriors.I wanted to ask, but in the end I didn't want to do the arrangement of the Jingyun cavalry, so I didn't say anything, but I just kept a thought in my heart: how should the knights pass through the pass of Zhao if they want to walk behind me? "Sir, Boss!" Yue Jianwu raised his whip and pointed at him. Under the setting sun, a bronze chariot came flying like flying, the driver in the front compartment held the reins standing upright and his snow-white beard fluttered wildly. It seemed that the old boss Ximen was coming in Lu Buwei's high chariot.This chariot was seldom used after Lu Buwei tried to enter the government and lived in Handan for a long time. One is that the chariot is all made of bronze, luxurious and fastidious about three horses, and its behavior is too eye-catching; With the curtain hanging down, passers-by can see clearly whether the rider is sitting or standing, so there are a lot of entertainment on the road.Today, Mr. Ximen personally drives a bronze chariot to meet Canggu River, there must be something unexpected! "Father Ximen, what's the matter?" Lu Buwei said loudly while reining in his horse. "Xianyang secret envoy is here!" The old boss also said loudly while braking, and then he shook the rein and panted the car and said with a smile, "This person is doing a great job, so I will drive a car to welcome you back, lest others laugh My company is shabby." "Xianyang? Secret envoy?" Lu Buwei was very surprised, "Who ordered it? Is there a letter?" "The Dashi Pai!" Ximen's old boss smiled, "I didn't even say anything, I just said that I want to see Lu Gong." Lu Buwei got off the horse and got into the car with a smile: "Father is too, don't care what he does, I'll be mine. Let's go!"