Chapter 1

Heluo ancient road.

It was originally an important commercial road connecting Heyuan and Anluo provinces.

However, since the completion of the construction of the new commercial official road ten years ago, the Heluo ancient road has completed its mission, gradually declining and inaccessible.

Today, only a few bards come here occasionally to sit and watch the yellow sand all over the sky and sigh with a sigh.

Today, however, there is a chase on the Heluo ancient road, which has been silent for a long time.

"Come on! Run!"

"Drive!"

"Wait... Wait for me, help, help!"

Running ahead was a caravan of more than 30 people. Everyone looked frightened. Many people even hung colors and tried their best to raise their whip, beat more than 10 carriages, and rolled up smoke and dust along the way.

When someone ran, he panicked and looked back. When he looked at it, the panic on his face was one more point, and the mood of despair filled the whole caravan.

About a mile behind the caravan, there was a larger violent yellow sand like a ferocious dragon.

Boom!

The earth trembled and the angry horse roared.

Experienced walkers can tell by the vibration of the ground alone that they are followed by a team of no less than 300 people!

Ghost see sorrow!

No caravans that often do business in Heyuan and Anluo don't know the name.

This is a bandit force that has been wandering between the two provinces for many years. The number of people is about 300. Its style is cruel and ruthless. There are more than ten caravans planted in its hands, a total of 658 people, and there is no living one!

They are not only cruel, but also cunning and changeable, and they do things without rules.

Sometimes they don't appear for ten and a half days, sometimes they commit crimes for two consecutive days. Heyuan and Anluo provinces have repeatedly sent joint troops to exterminate this fierce bandit, but they haven't even caught a hair of the other party.

Over time, they got the name of ghosts and sorrows. They were like ghosts in the caravan, which made each caravan walking in both places pinch a cold sweat.

The caravan watched by ghost sorrow is owned by the Wei family in bo'an City, anluoxing province.

The Wei family has been doing business for generations in bo'an city. Although they can't compare with those big families, they are also a small family with some strength.

However, recently, the Wei family had a bad time and made several losses, resulting in a shortage of family funds. Helpless, Wei Qiwu, the contemporary owner of the Wei family, decided to use all his funds to buy a batch of purple scale fish from Senhu Town, an important port town in Heyuan Province, and resell them back to bo'an city.

Purple scale fish is the most famous specialty of Senhu town. Its meat is delicious and spineless. It is a popular fish in bo'an city and even several surrounding cities.

Who ever thought that Wei Qiwu, who pointed to the more than a dozen cars of purple scale fish to return blood to the family, had just finished buying. When he walked to the critical point of the new official road, he found that the government had posted a notice here.

The government suggested that recently, a trace of ghosts and worries was found in the new official road. It is suggested that the merchant team can postpone the trip for a few days and go on the road only after the officers and soldiers have carefully investigated it.

This is very urgent, Wei Qiwu.

It's not easy to preserve the purple scale fish. If you delay for a few days and go back to bo'an City, I'm afraid his more than ten carts of fat fish will stink.

As for local resale, there is no need to think about it.

This is the place where purple scale fish is produced. The selling price is cheap. I can't handle such a large amount of goods for a while.

Seeing that it was a dead end, some of his men gave Wei Qiwu an idea.

That is to change to Heluo ancient road!

Returning to bo'an city from Heluo ancient road takes about two days more than taking the new official road. Although the distance is much longer, it is still within the acceptable range. At least the preservation period of purple scale fish has not passed.

Moreover, the Heluo ancient road has been abandoned for many years and has long been inaccessible. On the contrary, it can ensure the safety of the caravan and is not easy to meet robbers.

Wei Qiwu, who thought it was reasonable and desperate, adopted this suggestion.

In fact, they had been walking on the Heluo ancient road for two days. Sure enough, not to mention the robbers, they didn't even see a person.

Just as everyone was relieved and thought that they could return to bo'an City safely, a ghost flag floating in the yellow sand appeared at the end of their sight.

Wei Qiwu was too regretful at this time. Unwilling to wait for death, he commanded the team to escape desperately, but his more than a dozen carriages were full of goods, which was better than the ghost riding fast horse. He was about to be caught up. At that time, he must be blood stained with yellow sand.

Just when the whole Wei family team was in despair, someone suddenly shouted, "there is a valley in front of us. Let's go in!"

When everyone was at a loss, someone took the lead and rushed to the small valley not far ahead.

"Now... What should I do now?"

In a hurry, everyone finally entered the valley before ghost saw sorrow catch up.

However, Wei Qiwu, who was full of hope to get rid of ghost worries with the help of the complex terrain in the valley, felt deep despair after entering the valley.

This is just a small valley, not big. Although there are dense woods in it, there is no other way out. To go out, there is only the entrance when you came.

Isn't this a catch in a jar?

Looking at his frightened and gray faced men, Wei Qiwu was powerless for a while.

"Don't worry, sir. We are safe for the time being!"

At this time, an old man with a goatee gathered around Wei Qiwu, looking calm and confident. Unlike others, he was not in a panic at all.

"Mr. Yang, do you have a way?"

Looking at the old man in front of him, Wei Qiwu lit up as if he had caught a straw.

The old man called Mr. Yang smiled and said, "those people may not dare to come in."

Wei Qiwu was stunned, "Sir, what you mean is..."

"Stick to it!"

The old man surnamed Yang twisted his beard and said, "the number of enemies is ten times that of us, which is our disadvantage. However, the complex terrain and miscellaneous vegetation in this valley can greatly offset the number advantage of the other party."

"In addition, ghosts and sorrows are proficient in the art of bowing and horses, and if they want to enter the valley, they must change cavalry to infantry, which weakens the opponent's combat power."

"In other words, as long as we seal the only entrance in advance, no matter how many people there are, they will kill one by one!"

"This..." Wei Qiwu bowed his head and said for a long time, "what if the other party doesn't come in, encircle and don't attack?"

Mr. Yang laughed and said, "don't be afraid!"

"The owner forgot, what did our convoy deliver?"

"Purple... Scale fish!"

As soon as he said this, Wei Qiwu's eyes brightened. In a moment of panic, he forgot it.

"I see what Sir means!"

He looked very happy and said, "if ghost sees sorrow and dares to come in, we'll block the entrance and kill him. If we don't come in, we have rich materials here, which can't compare with our consumption!"

"Exactly!"

Mr. Yang caressed his palm and smiled: "ghost sees sorrow, but it is mainly light cavalry. We must not bring much dry food. As long as we delay for a day or two, they will starve to death outside!"

"Don't forget, this is the ancient Heluo Road, which has long been deserted. Where do they get supplies?"

"Moreover, when I found out that I was worried about ghosts, I sent my disciple Li Xiaoer to hide secretly. Now I'm on my way to Senhu town. As long as he leads the officers and soldiers here, we can even attack back and forth and wipe out these hateful robbers. At that time, the master of the house can be a great achievement!"

"It's worthy of Mr. Yang. There are no plans left!"

A few words made Wei Qiwu radiant. After wiping the sweat on his forehead, he recovered his calm as the owner of the house.

"Did you all hear that?"

"Don't go to the entrance to decorate!"

He glanced at the entourage who had just been startled and scolded: "Mr. Yang, this plan can not only solve the immediate danger, but also help us make great contributions to our future prosperity and wealth. Our master must have you!"

In addition to the coachman who drove the car, the Wei family's team was also equipped with more than a dozen strong bodyguards, but they were frightened by ghost worries and couldn't afford a trace of resistance.

Just now, Mr. Yang's words were reasonable. With the owner's words of glory and wealth, these bodyguards suddenly recovered their courage.

Anyway, it's also a death. It's better to spell out a future!

So he clenched his teeth, red eyes, took knives, guns, bows and arrows, and suddenly stood up. He was going to guard at the entrance according to Mr. Yang's instructions.

"Hiss -"

But just then, an untimely sneer sounded in the crowd.

"Why are you so excited? He told you to die!"

The voice sounded a little childish. When they looked for prestige, they were a 17-year-old boy in an attendant suit.

"Chen Ze, what are you talking about!"

When Wei Qiwu saw it, he immediately opened his mouth and shouted angrily.

"Boy, you can eat freely, but you can't talk nonsense!"

Mr. Yang also glanced at the young man with a cold eye, and there was a little killing in the depths of his eyes.

"Nonsense?"

The young man named Chen Ze was not afraid of Mr. Yang's cold eyes. With a relaxed smile on his face, he calmly walked out of the crowd.

He saluted Gu Qiwu Wei and said, "master, my family has been helping the Wei family since my grandfather's generation. If you are loyal, you should not object?"

Wei Qiwu was slightly stunned, his tone eased a little, and there was no doubt: "but this is not your reason to slander Mr. Yang. Apologize, my master let bygones be bygones!"

"No."

Chen Ze shook his head slightly, pointed to the old man surnamed Yang and cut the railway: "this old man is a spy who sees sorrow!"

"What are you talking about?"

When he spoke, Mr. Yang immediately became angry and shouted, "when old man came to the Wei family as a guest, your boy was still in his womb. Yellow mouth child, how dare you slander old man's innocence!"

"I slander you?"

Chen Ze glanced at the corner of his mouth, looked directly at Mr. Yang's angry eyes, and said word by word: "let me ask you, it's your idea to change to Heluo ancient road?"

Mr. Yang said angrily, "yes, it's an old idea. So what?"

"Old man was to relieve his worries for the owner!"

On one side, Wei Qiwu nodded again and again, "Chen Ze, our master agreed to this. You can't guess by this alone!"

Chen Ze sighed, "my Lord, you are really sold and paid for the number of people!"

"I'll ask you again!"

Without waiting for them to speak, he spoke quickly and said, "are you the one who called us into this valley?"

Mr. Yang couldn't help sneering, "if you don't go into the valley, you're afraid you've become a corpse. Do you still have life to talk to the old man?"

"Really?"

Chen Ze gave him a sneer and slowly spread out his right hand, "so, how do you explain this?"

Mr. Yang's face suddenly changed when he saw what he was holding.

In Chen Ze's hand was a small piece of bark. When you look carefully, there are three tiny scratches on the dry bark.

"What is this, I don't understand!"

Although surprised, Mr. Yang still said strongly, "what can you prove with a piece of bark?"

"There's more than one piece of bark."

Chen Ze looked at him coldly and said, "I have observed you for a long time. After leading us into the valley, whenever there are such nicks in the trees, you will bypass them and take us here."

"If what I expected is not bad, there is not only one entrance in the valley, but also a hidden entrance. The function of the notch is to mark the location of the hidden entrance. You avoid all the scratches, that is, you don't want us to find the entrance."

"If the owner doesn't believe it, he can ask someone to return along the way when he came to see if I'm right?"

The latter sentence was to Wei Qiwu, who frowned slightly.

As the head of the family, Wei Qiwu was not good for nothing. When he saw that Mr. Yang looked different, he also had doubts in his heart.

At that moment, I winked. There had been clever attendants walking quietly. When the road returned.

"It's just your guess!"

Mr. Yang said angrily, "I haven't noticed any nicks on the tree. Why talk about detour?"

"Besides, I've been in the Wei family for more than ten years. Can I say it's a ghost's sorrow. It's ridiculous for you to send me to the Wei family undercover more than ten years ago!"

Chen Ze grinned at him and said, "is it because of lack of money?"

"What are you... Talking about?"

The angry Mr. Yang's breath suddenly stagnated, and his voice suddenly weakened.

"Are you a third-class counselor?"

Chen Ze said expressionless, "according to the law of Qingyang Empire, the third-class counselor can receive salary from the military aircraft department every month, and can recruit 15 students."

"If I remember correctly, when you first came to the Wei family, there were indeed 15 students, but now there is only one Li Xiaoer left."

"Where did the others go?"

"I think it's because you deducted their salary that people ran away?"

"From this point of view, can you prove that you are short of money recently?"

Mr. Yang opened his mouth, and his face was green and white for a while. It took him a long time to say, "you... You spit blood!"

Chen Ze no longer paid attention to him, but turned to Wei Qiwu. "The owner, judging from the score on the bark, it should have been engraved ten days ago, that is to say, it was premeditated."

"But our goods are only purple scale fish. Although the value of purple scale fish is not low, it is not enough to make ghosts worry and spend a lot of time ambushing in Heluo ancient road."

"So I think... Lord, you should have a more valuable thing, and old man Yang knows it!"

As soon as he said this, it was Wei Qiwu's turn to change his face and cover his chest more subconsciously.