Fu Song

Chapter 687
Fang Yuan flew down from the horse lightly like a bird, trot forward a few steps, threw herself on the spot, stretched her neck long, put her beak into the flowing brook greedily Drink water.

Immediately afterwards, a huge shadow enveloped him, and when he turned his head to look, it was his own horse, which also brought its huge head up, drinking water next to him!

People and horses are all thirsty in this hot weather.

After drinking his stomach full, he filled his skin bag with water, and then Fang Yuan sat down relaxedly, took off his straw sandals, and put his feet in the cold stream, feeling more comfortable all of a sudden. The heat of the whole body disappeared without a trace along with the gurgling stream.

After about a stick of incense passed, more people appeared on the road where Fang Yuan had just come.

Fang Yuan stood up, put on the straw sandals, waved and shouted at everyone.

He is the scout of this team.

And this team is a fairly well-known team of horse bandits above the border of Henan.

He ran around committing crimes, robbing both officials and civilians,

Killed the rich and robbed the poor,
Kill more and get more.

Anyway, it's just for fun.

But now the good times are over.

Zhao's army has nothing to do with them, but it doesn't mean that the Liao people have nothing to do with them.

The people of Liao want the ropes of Hebei and Henan to be tighter and tighter. For these people, they are given two ways, either surrender and be reorganized, or die.

People are still courteous before soldiers.

He actually sent someone to deliver the letters to them one by one.

Although the content of the letter is very rude.

The boss of Fangyuan's team readily agreed to join the army, and since then he has changed his mind and behaved as a revolutionary, and he will never do anything wrong again. In the end, he gave the messenger two golden pancakes to make him leave with satisfaction.

Of course there are also tough ones.

Fang Yuan knew that there was another team of horse bandits that was bigger than their name and had more heads, the bandit was called Gust of Wind, and arrogantly made the messenger into a kite and flew it into the sky, and then continued his business without money.

Then, he fell headlong into the trap of the Liao people.

It wasn't until this time that a gust of wind realized that it was Liao's Pishi army who wanted to punish him.

This time, he had a strong rainbow, but he didn't regret taking the medicine.

Except for those who died on the spot, the rest of the team of more than 100 people were put into leather bags, and then they were trampled by the Liao people, and they were all trampled into meat paste.

It's scary to think about it.

Fang Yuan trotted to the head of a black-crested horse, stretched out his hand to grab the bit, and looked up at a guy in his early thirties who looked like a scholar and didn't look like a horse bandit sitting on the horse: " Big Brother, it’s not far from Zhou’s Fort, let’s have a good rest, this weather can be tolerated by humans, but horses can’t stand it either!”

The leader waved his hand and said: "Everyone rests their feet, washes themselves and the horses, and makes them look more energetic. They are all sloppy, and they don't look like quack heroes at all, but like Some beggars!"

Everyone laughed and got off their horses, "Brother, we are going to defect to Zhoujiabao, not to visit our son-in-law. What's the use of washing it up? What Zhoujiabao wants to see is our ability, right?"

Although the mouth is teasing, the body is still very honest.

It can be seen that the leader's words are still extremely useful to them.

This leader is called Hu Fei. Although he looks gentle and elegant, he looks like a handsome scholar. In fact, no matter whether it is immediate or scheming, he is very good at kung fu. In the past few years, there have been turbulent times, and many heroes have suddenly jumped up. Falling down like a comet, their team has been standing still.

He has always kept the team at the size in front of him. If it is small, it is easy to be swallowed by people, and it is not easy to hunt good prey. You must know that good prey basically has a certain strength.But it is too big, but it is easy to attract people's attention, and the pig is too fat, and it is easy to attract the butcher.

"Boss, I never figured it out! We are going to vote for the army anyway, so why go around and vote for Zhoujiabao first?" Fang Yuan wrung out the water from the handkerchief and handed it to Hu Fei hand, asked in a low voice.

"To live!" Hu Fei smiled and patted Fang Yuan's head. He liked this clever little scout very much. At a young age, his equestrian skills were already superb, and his archery skills were also remarkable. If the arm strength is strengthened, he will definitely be a marksman.

Fang Yuan was taken aback: "You mean if we go to join the army like this, we will be killed?"

"That's not true!" Hu Fei found a shady place to sit down and said, "It's just that we will be torn apart by them and divided into different teams."

"That can't be done!" Fang Yuan said, "We came together, of course we have to share together!"

"When you are under someone else's roof, do you still have to decide?" Hu Fei laughed. "When the time comes, if you dare to make trouble, military law can easily kill you."

Fang Yuan couldn't help but lose face.

"If they are scattered, there will be no one to take care of them during the battle, and maybe they will be sent out to do some missions that never come back!"

"That's exactly the reason!" Hu Fei laughed and said, "So we need to find a backer first! The strength of the Zhou family castle is extraordinary, and I have an old relationship with their castle owner, so we have already made an appointment."

"I didn't expect that even Zhoujiabao would not be spared this time!" Fang Yuan shook his head and sighed, "They are so powerful that they can pull out two or three thousand soldiers!"

Hu Fei chuckled: "When the emperor was angry, he bleeds, and the two powers are fighting each other. We are just a small boat in the vast ocean. No, Zhoujiabao is a small boat, and we can only be regarded as a leaf. If there is more hope of survival, we can only attach this boat."

"But brother, this small boat may not be able to survive!"

"At least it's bigger than our hopes!"

The rain is coming and the wind is all over the building.

Hu Fei already smelled a bad smell, but he couldn't avoid it. He could only try his best to find a place where he could get a little shelter from the wind and rain.

Although the big men said they didn't care, they actually made themselves tidy. It's not like they haven't been to Zhoujiabao, it's a big family.

Moreover, along the way, the boss also told them that there are quite a few people who voted for Zhoujiabao this time, and they may not all want them all, they always have to pick and choose.Although everyone is very confident in their own abilities, since the boss has said it, we still have to support the boss more.

If you have enough face, you can occupy a good position in Zhoujiabao, so you can have more confidence in your future survival.

Everyone is a person who has been licking blood for many years, and the seriousness is still very clear.

The sun slanted westward slightly, and the crowd waited and started on the road again.

It would take at least a day to walk a distance of several tens of miles with two feet, but for horse thieves like them, it was only a matter of hours.

But when they saw the tall fort wall of Zhoujiabao, they were still taken aback.

Because there was no less than a thousand people gathered outside Zhoujiabao.

It seems that there are quite a few smart people.

Under the current situation, the bandit couldn't do it anymore, so he could only find a thick thigh to hug him.

Furthermore, Zhou Shuguang, the lord of Zhoujiabao, is also a very loyal person in the world.

Xinzheng Zhoujiabao, within a hundred miles around, is really a well-known tycoon.

Even when Daliao broke through Tokyo and swept around, they did not take Zhoujiabao.At that time, the general of the Liao Army who led the troops, only took one look at the size of Zhoujiabao, and then led the team away.

He just wanted to ask for money, but he didn't want to work hard to crack the tortoise's shell.

On Hebei Road, they didn't have much to do with those simple tortoise shells, but the tortoise shells outside Zhoujiabao looked like stubble.

At that time, the army of Daliao was only thinking of making a fortune, making more money and going home. Who would want to gnaw on such a hard bone?
This surprised Zhou Jiabao, who was waiting in full force.

Going further back, the Liao people withdrew their troops and Cui Ang came to power.

Cui Ang sent an envoy to recruit Zhou Shuguang to become an official in the court, but Zhou Shuguang politely declined.

Later Cui Ang was finished and Qu Zhen was replaced, Zhou Shuguang just refused to enter the court as an official.

However, he had a lot of money for the taxes that the Yue State had to collect, and he also organized people to complete the corvee service seriously.

Both sides live in peace.

Neither Cui Ang nor Qu Zhen was willing to provoke such local tyrants.

As long as everything is okay on the whole, then everyone will be able to live in peace.

On the borders of Hebei and Henan, there are actually quite a few powerful tycoons like this.In particular, there are more lands in Hebei, and those places in Hebei are powerful and have inexplicable connections with the Han family of Liao Kingdom in the land of Youyan, so the situation is even more complicated.

"Brother, we really opened the door to convenience, do we want to accept these people?" Zhou Shuqiang stood beside Zhou Shuguang, looking at the piles of men sitting there under the fort, his brows were deeply frowned. The Sichuan character. "These people are all bandits, how can there be any rules? In fact, our castle can form two thousand infantry, and the cavalry can also pull out a hundred people. The imperial court may give you the official position of commander, and then provide money and food. , wouldn’t it be better to recruit some innocent people?”

Zhou Shuguang shook his head.

"The people in the fort are all close relatives of our Zhou family. Are you trying to drag everyone out to die?"

Zhou Shuqiang was stunned: "Why do you want to die?"

"Why not go to die!" Zhou Shuguang said lightly: "The Empress Dowager Chengtian of the Liao Kingdom doesn't want to wait any longer. In less than two years, Daliao will inevitably launch a large-scale southern expedition again. This time, the Empress Dowager Chengtian may think So it’s about raising a horse to cross the Yangtze River, right?”

"Where did you see it, brother?"

"Since Yelu Longxu took office as the governor of Hebei Road this year, the prices of various materials including grain, pig iron, tung oil, hemp rope, etc. have been rising all the time. Although the increase has not been large, it has never When it fell back, even in winter, it was also rising steadily. What does this mean? It means that the government is collecting all kinds of materials. It’s okay to collect materials for war, of course.”

Glancing at his brother, Zhou Shuguang continued: "In the land of Hebei and Henan, a large-scale bandit suppression operation suddenly launched, and the Liao people went against the norm and used both suppression and appeasement. As long as they are willing to surrender and reorganize, they will forget the past. Why? Because they need a lot of bandits. Manpower. Our castles have always been used for self-protection, but now, we must send troops to serve the king, otherwise it will be against the order, it is a rebellion, and we must send troops to attack."

"Even if you come to fight, don't be afraid of him!" Zhou Shuqiang said angrily.

"You really don't know the heights of the sky and the earth!" Zhou Shuguang gave him a sideways glance: "They didn't make things difficult for us before because they thought it was not worthwhile. Anyway, we have always satisfied their demands and never spared money, but now, money can't afford it. If they are full, they must be tied together, which means that the person who made this decision is someone they cannot resist at all. If we confront them at this time, we will definitely end up dead."

Only then did Zhou Shuqiang understand: "They all know that our Zhoujiabao can pull out so many troops. If there are not so many by then, they will inevitably trouble us again!"

"It's not just for this reason!" Zhou Shuguang said: "Although the rules of those bandits are not good, they are really good at fighting. If they are gathered together, adapted, and restrained by strict military regulations, they will be a powerful help. It is the reason why I open the door of convenience. Moreover, it is not a fool who can think of joining a team like ours instead of going directly to the army. In troubled times, stupid people are very deadly."

"But brother, what if Tokyo really wants us to attack Jiangning's army at that time? With this fight, a traitor's hat can't escape!" Zhou Shuqiang said: "We have been fighting for so many years, but we still can't escape in the end. !"

"Isn't there still a Supreme Emperor as an excuse?" Zhou Shuguang whispered: "We are working for the Supreme Emperor, not for the Liao people."

"Isn't this deception?"

"What can we do? Unless our family abandons this Zhoujiabao now and flees overnight!" Zhou Shuguang sighed: "Even if we escape, we may not be able to escape! Second brother, we are just people in this era. For a drop of water, there is no other way but to follow the tide. As for what will happen in the future, we can only take one step at a time. But now, the most important thing for us is to strengthen our strength. The stronger our strength, the stronger our voice The bigger you will be, the more you will be able to take your own destiny in your own hands, rather than let others rub it or not."

"Yes!"

"After a while, you should be more polite to those people!" Zhou Shuguang said: "Be more respectful, if you want someone to work for you, how can you not pay some capital? At this time, face is not important. At that time, these people If you work harder, your life will be more secure."

"I remembered!"

"Let's go, follow my brother to welcome these heroes into the castle!"

The gate of the Zhou Family Fort opened wide, and Zhou Shuguang strode out with a smile on his face.

(End of this chapter)