The bandits and mobs running amok in the Central Plains annoyed Cai Bin to no end. After all, General Cai was old. The Central Plains army under his command seemed mighty and majestic, but in fact, they were also known as the "retirement army". Their encampment was in the middle of nowhere. Other than occasionally quelling rebellions, they were basically used as reinforcements to the border.
At this time, most of Cai Bin's forces were in the north and west. He didn't have any eagle armor and was cautious by nature. He didn't dare to take any risks, so he was annoyed by the mobs.
Gu Yun spent three to five days figuring out the ins and outs of this group of mobs. He personally checked the terrain against the map and then sent someone to contact General Cai to prepare two buns of bread and a fried dumpling.
The rebel bandits didn't know who was leading the troops from the capital. After probing a few times, they found that this group of people was even better than Cai Bin. They used heavy armor and guns to scare people, but they never opened fire. They only sent out light cavalry. Every time they chased them for one or two li, they would beat the gong to retreat. They determined that this army was good-looking but useless. Just as they were planning to surround them, Cai Bin suddenly changed his style of only attacking and not chasing. He sent out all the troops left behind by the Central Plains garrison to launch a surprise attack on the rebel mobs.
In fact, there weren't many troops left behind by the Central Plains garrison. If they were to fight, neither side would be at a disadvantage. However, the bandit gang was used to the "you advance and I retreat" method. They thought that they were slippery loaches and were unwilling to use their family's resources to fight head-on. Therefore, they used the same trick again. They fought as they retreated, taking a roundabout route to Cai Bin. However, they met Gu Yun who had been waiting for them for a long time.
Gu Yun ordered the heavy armor to set up the guns and guns and aimed at the bandit gang. When the bandit leader saw that the young master's soldiers were here to scare people again, he immediately ordered his men to charge into the heavy armor formation. The heavy armor defense line was broken in one charge. The light cavalry "pathetically" rushed in. When the bandit leader saw that there was indeed no ammunition in the cannon muzzles, they were purely made of paper. In his great joy, he became more unscrupulous and directly led his troops to charge forward with light armor.
By the time the entire bandit gang was caught in the crossfire, those 'paper paste' heavy cannons suddenly fired. The bandit gang was caught off guard, their men and horses were thrown off their feet. Before they had time to retreat, the light cavalry and the Cai Family troops who had just arrived surrounded them from both sides and really surrounded them.
The bandit gang was utterly defeated, and the legendary leader of the "Fire Dragon" was captured alive. Gu Yun's eyes hurt because of the ugly bandit leader. She planned to throw him to Shen Yi to play with. She ordered, "Ask him where his accomplices are, who instigated them, where their lair is, and if there's anything we can use against him …"
Shen Yi choked and coughed violently, "Marshal, you are so poor that you have gone crazy!"
Gu Yun waved his hand. "If he doesn't say anything, I'll beat him up … Torture him to force a confession. I'm going to catch up with Old Cai."
When he finished speaking and was about to leave, he suddenly saw a bodyguard holding a strangely shaped short knife in his hand. It was slightly longer than a dagger, and the tip of the knife was slightly hooked. There was a beautiful arc on the side, which was very different from the short knives of the Central Plains. Gu Yun saw it and felt that it was a little familiar, so he reached out and took it.
"Marshal, this was found on the bandit leader's body."
Gu Yun pulled out the short knife and used his finger to scratch the blade. He narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Is it from the barbarians?"
"It's a short scimitar from the 18 tribes." At this time, Chen Qingxu walked over. "Marquis, is the steel plate loose?"
"No, I'm sorry to trouble Miss Chen to follow us around in the middle of the night." Gu Yun shook his head and held the short knife's hilt. "Oh, won't the hilt be too short?"
"The hilt is not short. This is a woman's knife." Chen Qingxu took the scimitar and held it in her hand. "The 18 tribes of Bei Man live in the wind and drink dew. They fight with the beasts on the grassland for food. Therefore, there is often a groove on the hilt. If you encounter a strong beast, you can prevent it from falling out of your hand during a fight. The steel mouth of this knife is very good. The original owner must have a high status. The hilt is most likely tailor-made for her. Her hands must be very small, about the same as mine. She should be a woman. Marquis, look here."
She turned the hilt around and showed it to Gu Yun. There was a circle of complicated patterns under the hilt. It looked like a totem entwined with countless flower vines. In the middle, there was the shape of a flame.
Chen Qingxu said, "I saw this flower vine pattern in a relic abandoned by the 18 tribes. I heard from the kidnapped Han slaves that this seems to be the symbol of the 18 tribes' goddesses."
"I know." Gu Yun's face suddenly became serious. "I also know who the symbol in the middle represents."
Shen Yi came over and saw the pattern. He gasped slightly. "The heart of the earth?"
Chen Qingxu was puzzled. "Who?"
Shen Yi: "Hu Ge'er … Xiu Niang, she … didn't she die many years ago? How could she … "
Gu Yun waved his hand at him. He took the short knife and turned to walk to the place where the bandit leader Huo Long was locked up. He waved his hand and dismissed the guards.
He held the short knife. There was no joy or anger on his face. The slightly curved knife was very old, but it was still sharp. It had a ruthless feeling that it would cut off a piece of flesh if it stabbed into the body. Gu Yun put the tip of the knife on Huo Long's chin. "I heard that you didn't tell me the location of your rebel army and who urged you to take advantage of the situation to pester the Cai Family Army?"
Huo Long: "Bah, gigolo!"
Gu Yun smiled. He felt a little flattered. In his opinion, calling a man a gigolo was the same as calling a woman a vixen. It only meant that the person being called a gigolo was good-looking.
"It's up to you whether you want to say it or not," Gu Yun said calmly. He turned his head and ordered Shen Yi, "The country is in danger. This person has colluded with a foreign country and is in cahoots with Bei Man. Your barbarian father hasn't entered the Pass yet, but he has already licked his feet … It's a waste of my time to interrogate you. Tomorrow, I will announce your death by a thousand cuts to the public!"
Huo Long was confused when he heard half of it. Then, he looked more and more horrified. When he saw that Gu Yun was not joking and was about to get up and leave, he struggled hard. "Slander! Dog official! My brothers all know that I am a man of indomitable spirit. How dare you slander my reputation with such nonsense … "" Slander? " Gu Yun waved the woman's knife in front of Huo Long. "People in the Central Plains call this thing wolf teeth steel. The curved tip in the front is a typical barbarian's work. Is this yours?"
Huo Long was stunned.
"The scabbard and the groove are specially made. It's a high-quality leather scabbard. The totem on the handle is exquisite. It must be made by a famous master. Ordinary barbarians can't afford to use this. The original owner must be rich —" Gu Yun raised his chin slightly and looked at Huo Long. "I say, ugly, your brothers all know that you carry this thing with you all day long, but no one knows the origin of this thing, right? Tsk, a bunch of ignorant bumpkins … "
"Wait! Wait … wait! "Huo Long shouted," That's … that's my enemy's thing. It's not … "
Gu Yun laughed and said, "Yes, it sounds real. I've seen people carry their lover's things with them, but this is the first time I've heard of someone who can't forget their enemy. What kind of hatred is there for you to be so sentimental? Come, let me see."
"That woman drugged more than a hundred of my brothers in the village and stabbed them one by one. In the end, she even set a fire and burned the top of the mountain. Even the birds on the mountain were roasted. I was the only one who ran out and left these scars on my body. I don't know where she came from, and I don't know that she's a barbarian. I carry this knife to remind myself of the shame of the past! " Huo Long was furious and roared, "Dog official, you can slander me, but if you dare to slander me, I'll bite you to death even if I become a ghost!"
Shen Yi put on a fake smile and said, "Then you're quite sharp-tongued. Continue to make up stories. A barbarian woman went into a bandit's lair for no reason and burned a mountain of bandits to death by herself? That's fresh — — Marshal, does the opera troupe your residence hired have such a good story? "
Gu Yun sighed and said, "You can't even afford to eat meat, but you give me porridge at home every day. You even have an opera troupe …"
Huo Long was stunned and said, "Marshal … which Marshal?"
Gu Yun twirled the knife in her hand and looked at him with a malicious smile.
Huo Long suddenly came back to his senses and gasped, "You, you're Gu … Gu …"
"Don't randomly claim relatives. Who is your aunt?" Shen Yi interrupted him, "Tell me how you colluded with the barbarians to take advantage of the village."
Huo Long's face suddenly turned red, "I already said that she's my enemy! If there's a single word that isn't true, I'll be struck by lightning! "
"That woman originally followed a small caravan. She seemed to have been separated from her family, so she spent money to get someone to bring her along. We didn't know where she was going, so we intercepted the caravan on the way. Seeing that she was somewhat beautiful, we caught her and brought her to the mountain. At that time, she was carrying a baby in swaddling clothes. It looked like she was less than a month old, and she was pregnant with …"
Shen Yi was secretly shocked, but he tried his best to remain calm and asked, "When did this happen?"
Huo Long said, "Nineteen … twenty years ago."
Under the dim light, Gu Yun and Shen Yi exchanged an obscure look. It sounded like what happened when the barbarian goddess escaped. Then, the baby at that time should be Changgeng. But what about the one in Xiu Niang's stomach?
Shen Yi asked, "What happened after that?"
Huo Long leaned back and said hoarsely, "Most of the other people who were tied up on the mountain tried to kill themselves, but she was different. That woman's face was not bad, but her brain didn't seem to work very well. She didn't respond when others talked to her. She didn't know how to cry out in pain when we hit her. She didn't resist when we asked her to do anything. Within a few months, she gave birth to a premature baby. "
Gu Yun's hand that was holding the dagger slightly tightened. He didn't know why, but when he heard this, he suddenly had a feeling of fear and trepidation. The intuition that he hadn't missed for so many years seemed to be plucking at the string in his heart again.
"It's said that women who have just given birth are not clean. No one touched her for a while, and no one cared about her. They were afraid that she would run away, so they locked her feet in the house and gave her food every day. She didn't die … After a while, a little brother of mine who had water in his brain kept thinking about that woman's beauty, so he secretly ran over to take a look. When he came back, he was shocked and inexplicably told me that there was only one baby left with her, and the other one was missing."
Shen Yi almost forgot that he was trying to fish for information. He blurted out, "Which one is missing?"
"Damn it, who knows? They were both half-dead babies, as skinny as rats." Huo Long was immediately alert, "Why are you asking this?"
Shen Yi was stunned. Then, he threw the horsewhip in his hand to the side and said coldly, "Why are you talking if you don't know anything? What's so strange about one more or one less barbarian baby? I'm asking you to tell me something. What are you waiting for? "Huo Long was not angry.
His face tightened, "… No, it's not strange to have a dead baby. This kind of baby is cheap. It's not a big deal if one dies … What's strange is that my brother said that he didn't see where the body was. The woman was locked in the house and couldn't get out. She couldn't be buried in the ground. But she didn't throw it out or put it in the house. The baby … just disappeared into thin air. At that time, a brother who was on guard said that he saw a fire in the woman's house in the middle of the night. At first, he thought that she was secretly cooking something to eat. Later, he heard that there were many crows circling around the beam of her house all day …"
Shen Yi had goosebumps all over his body. He subconsciously glanced at Gu Yun.
Huo Long's burnt eyes twitched a few times, "This matter once caused panic among the people. Some people said that this woman was bewitching and abnormal. They wanted to kill her. There were also a few who were obsessed with her but couldn't bear to. They argued for a long time but there was no result. At that time, my eldest brother saw that she could do whatever she wanted. She could work and was energetic in bed, so he made the decision to keep her. Together with the half-dead baby, they kept her for a few years …"
"That person is really a monster …" Huo Long sighed, "Really, if no man went to find her at night, she would torture the baby next to her. The howls could be heard even across the mountains. The brothers in the stronghold couldn't stand it anymore and asked her to restrain herself. She would agree on the surface, but later on, she would do it again."
Gu Yun suddenly stood up.
Shen Yi's heart was in suspense. He saw Gu Yun reluctantly put the hand that was holding the dagger behind his back. The veins on the back of his hand were about to burst.
Fortunately, Huo Long didn't notice it. He seemed to be immersed in his memory and muttered, "As the old saying goes, even a vicious tiger will not eat its cubs. Although we are all ruthless and unafraid of retribution, we have never seen such a ruthless woman … However, I don't know what kind of bewitching potion she fed our eldest brother. He insisted that this kind of woman who was not from a good family should be kept on the mountain and should be one of our people. He was momentarily obsessed and lost his life!"
Gu Yun's voice was a little hoarse, "How did he lose his life?"
"She poisoned him. The barbarian woman's body was full of poison. She endured in our stronghold for many years and didn't give herself away. Gradually, the brothers let their guard down against her and easily fell into her trap. She killed everyone in the stronghold, including the women, slaves, and hostages who were captured on the mountain like her. She didn't let anyone off. In the end, she set a fire to burn the mountain." Pain flashed across Huo Long's face and he cursed loudly. He spoke a long string of obscenities.
This time, no one interrupted him. Gu Yun's face was so unsightly that he almost couldn't hold it in.
"I had a stomachache that day, so I didn't dare to drink too much wine and water. I barely had enough strength to climb out of the sea of fire and save my life. That dagger … that dagger was pulled out from my eldest brother's chest. If I see that woman again, I will definitely cut her into eight pieces! "
Gu Yun said in a low voice, "She brought a child with her to kill and burn the mountain."
"She put that child in a basket," Huo Long said, "and carried him on her back. That child always looked half-dead. He lay in the basket as if he had no bones. He kept looking at the dead people on the ground, but he didn't even cry. After so many years, if he didn't die in that woman's hands, he must have been a monster with a reign of terror."
Gu Yun turned around and left without saying a word.
Shen Yi hurriedly chased after him, "Marshal, Marshal!"
"This person can't be left alive," Gu Yun lowered his voice and said quickly, "Old Cai is still here. Before he notices, let's make this fiery head shut up forever. Do it cleanly."
As he spoke, Gu Yun suddenly thought of something. He stopped in his tracks and his face was full of haze, "No, I forgot that there is still Calais Yinghou. When he was in Yanhui, he had been secretly communicating with Xiu Niang. That barbarian must know something."
Shen Yi said in fear, "Marshal …"
"He didn't tell me," Gu Yun's shoulders suddenly collapsed, but the steel plates on his body made him unable to bend down. His standing posture was indescribably stiff, "He never told me. He didn't even mention it … I know that barbarian woman's mind is full of revenge. She won't treat him well, but after all, they are related by blood …"
Shen Yi hurriedly said, "You don't know what that crazy woman Hu Ge 'er did. Twenty years ago, you were still writing with your nose running. Alright, Zi Xi, this has nothing to do with you!"
"That time when we picked him up in the snow, it wasn't because he was young and ignorant and sneaked out to play," Gu Yun said in a low voice, "He obviously couldn't bear the abuse, so …"
And they actually sent him back 'out of kindness'.
Shen Yi was speechless.
After a long while, Shen Yi said in a whisper, "If … I'm just saying hypothetically, if the child left behind isn't the son of the Imperial Noble Consort …"
Shen Yi couldn't help but recall the scene many years ago when the young Changgeng calmly said in front of him that he wasn't a prince and that the disability on his feet was caused by the Xiu Niang.
Gu Yun suddenly raised his eyes, "What do you want to say?"
"It doesn't matter who the mother is. It doesn't make much difference whether the mother is a witch or a witch's sister. The problem is … whose child is Hu Ge 'er pregnant with?" Shen Yi licked the corner of his mouth with difficulty.
Back then, the Imperial Noble Consort's sister lived in the palace and was going to marry a member of the imperial family. Would Yuan and the late Emperor do such a thing?
If the late Emperor was really so shameless, then everyone would be relieved. But what if … he wasn't?
If it wasn't the late Emperor, then the most suspicious person would undoubtedly be the person who helped them escape back then. He had evil intentions but could enter and leave the palace freely. He even had the ability to let the witches of the 18 tribes escape. Many years later, he took over the spy that the two of them left in the palace …
When these conditions were added together, it was easy to associate Master Liao Chi with his large group of Dongying spies.
Shen Yi's body turned cold, "Marshal, this …"
Gu Yun raised his head and glanced at him. His gaze was like a knife, and Shen Yi suddenly fell silent.
"Let it rot in your stomach." Gu Yun lowered his head and stroked the short knife in his hand. He said firmly, "As for Bei Man, I'll deal with him sooner or later. Don't mention this again."
Shen Yi said, "… Yes."
Gu Yun walked away with a gloomy face. His back, which was supported by the steel plate, looked particularly thoughtful. He went to find Chen Qingxu.
"Miss Chen, can I have a word with you?" Gu Yun said.
Chen Qingxu didn't understand and followed him to the side.
Gu Yun said, "Miss Chen is proficient in medicine and has stayed in the barbarian territory for more than half a year. I have a question to ask you."
Chen Qingxu quickly restrained herself and said, "I don't dare."
Gu Yun absent-mindedly helped her up, "Do they have any special witchcraft … that can be used on babies?"
Chen Qingxu was suddenly shocked.
Gu Yun immediately caught the look of surprise on her face. "What's wrong?"
Chen Qingxu was silent for a long time. She paced back and forth uneasily on the spot. Then, she sighed deeply, "Marshal … have you heard of Wu 'er Gu?"
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