"Old man Zhou ran away with hundreds of craftsmen? When did this happen?" Di Lie received such bad news as soon as he came back, which made Di Lie very angry.

In order to show off the face of the guest army, he couldn't bear to kick away Lu Laoer who was kneeling in front of him.

Lu Laoer said with a sad face: "It happened three days ago. Zhou Dewang, an old killer, encouraged the Liu brothers and a group of craftsmen who were homesick. It was said that the Jin people had withdrawn from Bianjing. We craftsmen with innocent wealth could not

Don't let the grass fall... Well, now that the capital is back in the hands of us Song people, everyone can go home... Leader, I'm not running around like this..."

A Shu's vicious voice came: "Asshole! I want to call His Highness!"

"Yes, yes, your highness...your highness...it's really none of my business!" Lu Laoer didn't know how their leader could become "your highness" after going out for a while. But no matter how he was called,

Everything is fine, the most important thing right now is not to be dragged down by this old bastard, Old Man Zhou.

"You don't want to become a bandit, but you want to be a good citizen? Very good. You are a good citizen who abides by the law." Di Lie's mood gradually calmed down. He has no less than two thousand craftsmen at hand, and it doesn't matter if a hundred of them are gone. Since these

People feel that it is difficult to leave their homeland, and it is not impossible to go back. However, this kind of behavior of leaving without saying goodbye damages one's prestige, and the most important thing is...

"Where's Aji? Did he run away with his uncle?"

Lu Laoer rolled his eyes, thought for a while, nodded and said: "That little brat is really good at reading... His Highness's grace, I didn't want to leave, but I couldn't resist his uncle, that old killer, so I just dragged him away.

…”

"What?!" Di Lie was furious.

Hou Fangjing, who had been silent all this time, suddenly left his seat to accuse: "It's the villain's fault. He didn't stop him immediately when the craftsmen were making a noise, and leader Yang Fenyang was out on patrol, so..."

"Okay, now that something has happened, the first thing is to think about how to solve it. How did you deal with it?" Di Lie suppressed his anger. After he left, Hou Fangjing, Yang Fen and others worked conscientiously and took good care of the village. Nothing happened.

It's such a big mess and there's no merit but hard work, so I can't bear to blame them harshly.

Hou Fangjing said cautiously: "Leader Yang has already received the news halfway and is following him all the way. We must arrest all the escapees..."

Di Lie shook his head and sighed softly: "Since they want to go home so much, let them go. Although we are not the bandits they imagined, but... forget it, forceful melons are not sweet...

...I don’t care about other people, but I must get Aji back!” After saying this, his voice became stern.

In this world, there are only two people who can fully master the best formula of gunpowder and have skilled gunpowder making experience. One is Di Lie himself, and the other is Aji. In a sense, Aji is the master of gunpowder for future generations.

A highly sophisticated scientist who has discovered a method of making a powerful weapon will cause great harm once it falls into the hands of a hostile country. Fortunately, apart from Di Lie, there is no other person who understands Aji's true value.

Therefore, Aji must come back!

Hou Fangjing didn't know this. Although he felt a little depressed and didn't know what this inconspicuous little craftsman deserved, he still responded respectfully: "Your Highness, please don't worry. There was a sentry report a few days ago, saying that Leader Yang has been chasing him."

To the edge of the Yellow River. The Yellow River has thawed at this time, and there is only a bridge paved by golden figures that can pass through. As long as Zhou Dewang and other craftsmen set foot on this bridge, they will be stopped..."

At this moment, there was a commotion outside the makeshift meeting hall, and then a guard reported back with joy: "Leader Dayang is back, and... the escapees have been captured as well!"

Yang Fen, who was tired from work, looked tired and had a ragged beard. It was easy to imagine that this period of time was not easy. Behind him were Zhou Dewang and dozens of other craftsmen who escaped. Almost every craftsman had a bruised nose and face, and their clothes were in tatters.

There were also bloodstains on his body that were obviously from whipping. It seemed that he had suffered a lot.

Di Lie was originally very dissatisfied with these craftsmen who left without saying goodbye and disrupted the entire village, but now he looked at their miserable appearance, especially the sad look on Old Man Zhou's face, his gray hair blowing in the wind at his temples, and his shrunken and thin body.

His anger turned into compassion unconsciously, he shook his head and let out a long sigh. Then his eyes turned to Yang Fen, suppressing his displeasure and said: "Brother Dayang, it's good that you worked so hard to bring them back. However,

...Better leave them to me to punish..."

Before Yang Fen could answer, Old Man Zhou had already knelt down on the ground with tears streaming down his face: "It's not the fault of Leader Yang, it's the old man who lost his mind! Not only did dozens of craftsmen brothers fall into the hands of Jin Lu, but also his own family

My little grandnephew also... wu wu wu..."

Di Lie was shocked and stood up: "What did you say? Why did Jin Lu get involved? What happened to Aji?"

Yang Fen took a step forward and saluted: "Let your subordinates talk about this matter..."

It turned out that Old Man Zhou encouraged a group of craftsmen who were eager to return home to escape quietly. Since this place is only more than 200 miles away from Bianjing, and they had just passed through it a few days ago, there was no need to take a sidetrack, so they arrived at the Yellow River in less than two days.

Above. But contrary to Hou Fangjing's estimation, the craftsmen who had just escaped from the clutches of the Jin Man were still afraid and did not dare to walk on the Yellow River Bridge. Instead, they used their superb skills and sufficient manpower to build a wooden boat in a day and a night.

, braved the danger of the Yellow River's thunder, crossed the Yellow River, and fled back to Bianjing City.

Just as this group of craftsmen burst into tears, stroking the city wall and crying loudly, feeling sad and happy that they could return to their hometown alive, they were captured by a group of Song soldiers who rushed out of the city. They asked them to find out whether they were craftsmen who had escaped from the Jin army's prisoner camp.

Afterwards, without saying a word, they were directly tied into strings. A Dutou led thirty infantrymen and escorted the pursuit of the Jin army's rear team, hoping to "return" all the escapees.

Old man Zhou could hardly believe his ears and only had time to ask: "We are from the Song Dynasty..."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by a slap on the face from the Mingdu: "The Song Dynasty is gone, where did the Song people come from? We are now the Great Chu Kingdom - a brother country of the Great Jin Kingdom!

The nobles have not chopped off the heads of you slaves who have subjugated the country. It is already a great favor. How dare you escape? If I were not afraid of upsetting the nobles of the Kingdom of Jin, I would chop you into pieces and feed you to the dogs now!

"

When the craftsmen were strung together by thick ropes like grasshoppers and driven away with fists and kicks, Old Man Zhou looked back at the once majestic capital of the Song Dynasty, where his home was, his lips trembled, and two lines of tears rolled down the dust.

…

This so-called "Great Chu State" is the puppet regime of Zhang Bangchang established by the Jin people, intending to rule the Han Dynasty and reap profits. The "Great Chu State" was founded in early March, but it was only April at this time.

In the middle of the month, as soon as the Jin army left Bianjing, a group of prisoners fled back. Under such circumstances, even if Zhang Bangchang borrowed ten more courages, they would never dare to take them in. Moreover, these escapees were not clan dignitaries, but they were just

They are just a group of craftsmen who are worse than ordinary people. Who would offend the Jin people because of a group of craftsmen?

Relying on their status as "friendly troops", the escorting officers and soldiers of the Chu Kingdom passed through the Yellow River Bridge with great arrogance. However, they never expected that not long after crossing the bridge, they were attacked by a group of "friendly troops" - the Jin Army cavalry.

attack.

Na Dutou and his thirty soldiers were frightened by the Jin people. When they saw the roaring figures wearing fur hats, they were all scared out of their wits and ran away like driven ducks.

They all knelt down and kowtowed, saying in silence: "Spare your lives... We are the Chu army and friendly forces... Nobles, please spare your lives..."

At this moment, a tall man with a beard on his face galloped over on horseback, muttered a Jurchen language, and with a thrust of his spear, nailed the leader of the Chu State to the ground.

Nadu's last thought before he died was: "Damn it, I would have learned another foreign language if I had known..."

The rest of the soldiers who were driven away in all directions screamed in horror when they saw their superior killed. The unbelievable scene that followed made them open their mouths wide and unable to close their mouths.

But I saw another group of Jin soldiers emerging from another direction. They seemed to be Jin Army sentry cavalry. There were not many in number, only a dozen or so. But as soon as this group of cavalry came up, they launched an attack on the previous group of Jin soldiers.

The arrows swept across quickly and fiercely. After the first group of Jin soldiers fell down, the remaining ten or so riders fled in a hurry. The later Jin army sentries wanted to pursue them, but they were intercepted by the craftsmen and Chu soldiers who broke free from the ropes and fled.

There was no resistance, and in the end they had to watch hard as the first batch of Jin soldiers' "comrades" escaped.

The old man Zhou Dewang and other craftsmen who narrowly escaped with their lives took advantage of the chaos and fled. When they turned around a slope, they were horrified to find that they were surrounded by a group of golden soldiers again, and... the same ones who had just been killed had fled.

That group of golden soldiers.

When all the craftsmen were despairing and lamenting that God was playing tricks on people, the group of "golden men" pulled off their fur felt hats and revealed their true faces - they turned out to be Yang Fen and his companions from the Western Army!

It turns out that Yang Fen and his sentry detectives knew that the Jin people were powerful nowadays. They could not handle spying and patrol work like them, let alone encounter the Jin Army's large troops, even if they encountered the Jin Army's sentries and cavalry. Therefore, they basically couldn't handle it.

They were all wearing the clothes that Di Lie had obtained when he raided the remaining soldiers of the Jin army outside the Bulu village last time, and disguised themselves as Jin soldiers to fool people. Sure enough, with this "tiger skin" to bluff people, he actually escaped from the Jin army's sentry cavalry many times.

Search. But over time, it will inevitably attract Jin Bing's attention.

This time they followed quietly, but unfortunately they were a step too late and failed to intercept the craftsmen. But just when they thought the pursuit was hopeless and were about to withdraw to the stronghold, they unexpectedly discovered that the target they were chasing was escorted by a group of Chu soldiers.

Then he turned around.

Yang Fen treated these "puppet soldiers" more harshly than he treated the Jin people, and he knew their combat power better. He immediately used his "tiger skin" to rush forward and kill them, while at the same time cutting off the ropes that bound the craftsmen.

Everything was going in a good direction, but unexpectedly, a group of real golden soldiers appeared halfway. They must have been keeping an eye on these fakes for a long time, and they were ruthless from the beginning. When Li Gui met Li Kui, the outcome was obvious. If not

Because the situation is chaotic, the whole army may end up being annihilated.

And it was precisely because of this group of Jin Army sentries and cavalry that they were crossing their shoulders that Yang Fen's rescue plan failed. Only less than half of the craftsmen, including Old Man Zhou and the Liu brothers, were rescued. In addition, most of the craftsmen, including Aji, were rescued.

They were all captured by the Jin soldiers and headed north.

After Yang Fen finished describing the cause and effect of the incident, the meeting hall became surprisingly quiet. No one said a word, except for heavy breathing and old man Zhou crying with regret.

After a long time, Di Lie sighed: "I understand, firstly, you don't want to be grassroots bandits, and secondly, you want to go home. I can understand this. But... one day in the future you will understand - first, we are not grass bandits; secondly, we are not grass bandits; secondly, I can understand this."

, you no longer have a home - the country, the country, the country is gone, how can you still have a home?"

For a moment, there were only rough breathing sounds and sad faces in the entire discussion room.

Fortunately, Di Lie never thought that he was from the Song Dynasty, and the pain was not strong. He looked around and said in a deep voice: "Arrange the sentinels to keep an eye on the group of Jin soldiers sentry cavalry going north to see if they want to take our people away."

Where to go. As for the escaped craftsmen... we will punish them together after all the craftsmen are captured! That's it, let's disperse."

Old man Zhou kowtowed deeply and sobbed: "Old man thanks the leader on behalf of his great nephew..."

Then came Ah Shu's dissatisfied voice: "It's Your Highness! Your Highness! How many times do you want me to say it..."

Hou Fangjing was the last one to leave the meeting hall. He looked gloomily towards the southeast - the direction of the once glorious imperial capital of the Song Dynasty for a long time. He exhaled a long breath of turbid air in his chest, shook his head and sighed in a sad tone: "We have no home anymore, we all

No more home..."

At that moment, the setting sun stretched his figure thin and long, making him look so wandering...
Chapter completed!