Unofficial History of Song and Liao Heroes

Wen Ruoxu took advantage of the fact that everyone was resting in a small village temporarily, so he shared with Ran Nanyuan and the others the plans and countermeasures he predicted the bandits might adopt, including whether the burning of Xingshan Mountain would mourn his ancestor Wu Tianwang Ran Min's disrespectful concerns were also brought up.If the bandit leaders also gather at the side, they will definitely suspect that there is some traitor on their side. Wen Ruoxu's prediction is surprisingly similar to their plan, even more thorough than their plan.Not only did they include almost all the bows, crossbows, horses, and poison boats they could use, but they also predicted when and where it would be most effective to carry out an attack and ambush.Wen Ruoxu tried to guard against many of the thieves' own specialties, but in fact, the thieves had no intention of using these trump cards-they were not life and death brothers, and they didn't trust each other. They were afraid of being plotted against by others during the siege. They are on guard against each other.Ran Nanyuan and the others admired Wen Ruoxu's conjecture. After all, he only speculated that the gangs of thieves had lost patience with the treasure map that could not be taken for a long time based on the fact that the frequency of bandit attacks has decreased recently and the number of people has become more complicated. , made up his mind to temporarily form an alliance to obtain the treasure map.Based on the terrain near Yexing Mountain, etc., the possible attacks and countermeasures of the bandits were speculated.As for whether the arson he was worried about would disturb the spirit of Wu Mourning Heavenly King Zaitian, Ran Nanyuan thought over and over again and said:

"My ancestor, Wu Mourning Heavenly King Ran Min, was born in troubled times. He once tried to bring order out of the chaos, make the world peaceful and the people live and work in peace and contentment. However, he started killing thieves from a young age, and he couldn't kill them until he died. Now we will set fire to the thieves, Although he may disturb the ancestors, but he has a spirit in the sky, and he will be able to smile when he learns that the descendants are still killing bandits. Therefore, Mr. Wen does not need to worry, and please do your best to eliminate a bandit for the people of the world!"

After speaking, Wen Ruoxu bowed and bowed, hurriedly supported him, even saying that he didn't dare to do it.However, Ran Nanyuan said that the banditry was really difficult to eradicate in the Song Dynasty. Many strong people were either forced to make a living or were killed by the government and bandits.Among them, the most powerful ones are Song Jiang in Liangshan, Shandong, and Fang La in Jiangnan. It took the Song court an unknown amount of military expenditure and the lives of soldiers to put them down. The civil uprising was just not as grand as it was.His Majesty Emperor Huizong of Zhao Song Dynasty had long been devastated by the successive civil uprisings. Since Song Jiang and Fang La, the two largest bandits, were wiped out, he turned a blind eye to the remaining small groups of bandits.The generals under his command let him destroy the bandits if they can relieve the king's worries, but the generals are really incompetent, as long as they don't get killed by the bandits, they will let them go.On the contrary, all kinds of strange "auspiciousness" reported by officials from various places can attract his attention, such as the discovery of colorful auspicious clouds in a certain place, the sudden spring of sweet spring in a certain place, and the sudden falling of cranes in a certain place , a certain place is dry and prays for rain, and it rains heavily... Once these sporadic things are named as "auspicious", they can directly overwhelm the emergency of the Northwest Military News, and they will be sent to His Majesty the Emperor of Song Dynasty to take care of everything. desk, in exchange for praise and rewards from the Ninth Five-Year Supreme.With such an effect from top to bottom, the official style of the entire Song court is in decline. Tong Guan, Yan Song and his like even sell officials to confiscate nobles, entrap Zhongliang, not to mention the situation of the ants and small people below.Although Ran Nanyuan can't be ranked in the temple, he is still concerned about the country and the people. He can't turn the tide, but he can take this opportunity to do a little bit for the people, which is also a merit.Everyone stopped to discuss, and each made preparations.

The next day was clear and clear, Ran Nanyuan packed up early, and when he saw a little red waving on the top of the hill in the distance, he took his wife and daughter and went to Yanxing Mountain with everyone.After walking for an hour, they came to a ten-acre-sized depression, which had accumulated water last year, and the pampas grass grew taller than a person.A few days ago, Ran Nanyuan and others deliberately followed Wen Ruoxu's instructions, and asked many local villagers which road was the closest to Yexing Mountain, and most of these villagers pointed to this road.There are usually no bandits here, and the mountain is still very safe from this road.Seeing that after a few steps, weeds will grow thickly, and the withered and yellow reeds are still standing tall, and they have not been replaced by new spring reeds.Ran Nanyuan reined in the horse suddenly, threw the luggage aside, and grasped the spear and halberd with both hands, while Dugu Xiaoqiu, Gao Yurou, Ran Qianxue and others took out torches from the luggage and started to light them, and then threw them to the edge of the pampas grass.On the other side, the sound of bowstrings kept ringing, and someone yelled in horror from the depths of the pampas grass not far ahead:

"Fire! They're setting fire! Run for your life!"

It turned out that the bandits were ready to ambush in Puwei, they had already heard from the villagers that Ran Nanyuan was going to pass through here, but they didn't expect that this was Wen Ruoxu's trick to deceive the enemy, and deliberately tricked them into setting up an ambush here.When they arrived nearby, Wang Zhenguan, who had been ambushing on the top of the mountain in the early morning, waved a red cloth to send a signal to Ran Nanyuan. When Ran Nanyuan led the people to the depression, the bandits had just set up a tripping rope deep in the pampas grass, ready to destroy their Horses, leaving them nowhere to go.Unexpectedly, Ran Nanyuan led people to set fire in front, and Wang Zhenguan shot rockets behind him. In addition, the sun was shining at this time, and the withered vegetation last winter was dry and flammable. Started a prairie fire.At this time, because of the sudden arrival of Ran Nanyuan and others, all the thieves who hurriedly took their positions were in a mess. Yu Fengge, Abe Shibingwei and others were super intelligent, and immediately led the people around them to rush out, and then ran around in disorder They don't have the time to manage the bandits.These people finally ran outside with flames all over them, and they just sat on the ground and beat the flames.A few unlucky little bosses just rushed to Ran Nanyuan's side, but Dugu Xiaoqiu didn't talk to him, but drew his sword and stepped forward, sending them to Huangquan Road in a flash of cold light.As soon as Yu Fengge and the others were in shock, they quickly retreated to the distance, and Ran Nanyuan also led the people away. The wildfire in the ten-acre depression was more violent than expected, and the hot wind and thick smoke made them unbearable.The screams in the fire became smaller and smaller. Occasionally, a human torch almost rushed out of the sea of ​​flames, but finally fell to the ground. Instead of the screams, there was an increasingly loud howling wind. The wind helped the fire, and a fire tornado suddenly appeared , Rolling straight into the sky, the momentum is frightening.The remaining thieves and bandits gradually gathered, and there were only a dozen of hundreds of people left, and all of them were in a mess, smoky, and scarred.Ran Nanyuan restrained everyone to keep a distance from them. After all, Gao Yurou and Ran Qianxue were by her side, so if there was a scuffle, they might not be able to protect them well.Yu Fengge and the others didn't want to continue fighting either. The fire made them shattered, so they stood guard and looked at Ran Nanyuan and the others.Suddenly, Hong Shaoyao came out from the crowd, took off the red veil covering her face, and said to Dugu Xiaoqiu:

"Dugu Xiaoqiu? Are you still alive?"

Dugu Xiaoqiu felt very familiar with Hong Shaoyao's voice, but her pretty face was covered with a veil, which surprised him.Seemingly knowing what he was thinking, Hong Shaoyao took off the veil covering his face, and a familiar oval face appeared in front of Dugu Xiaoqiu, making him feel as if struck by lightning, and murmured:

"Sister Hua'er..."

Although Dugu Xiaoqiu yelled like this, his eyes were full of uncertainty, and Ran Nanyuan was also in shock while sitting on the horse.Because Hua'er at this time is completely different from three months ago. At that time, Hua'er was a lively little girl in the grassland, but now the woman in front of her is wearing a large red kimono, with clogs on her feet, and a mask on her face. White makeup, short black dot-like eyebrows, and strange cherry-shaped red lips.People who know it will say that this is the old makeup of the Qin and Han Dynasties, and it has been popular in Japan since then, but those who don't know it think she is pretending to be a female ghost.Seeing Dugu Xiaoqiu staring at her non-stop, Hua'er, who is now the red peony, snorted, and hurriedly walked to Dugu Xiaoqiu with the hem of the kimono, raised her foot and stepped on Dugu Xiaoqiu. Qiu's feet twirled, causing him to scream, and he said bitterly:

"Du, Gu, Xiao, Qiu~! You actually set me on fire?! Set me on fire?! Are you blind?! You scared me to death, you know?!"

Although her feet hurt deeply, Dugu Xiaoqiu was very happy in her heart, stepping on her feet was obviously what Huaer liked to do to her the most.In particular, Hua'er is not from their Dugu family, but a girl who married into Dugu's natal relatives visited relatives to play with them, but suffered a catastrophe that night, making Dugu Xiaoqiu feel that the Dugu family owed her.Seeing her safe now made me feel very happy.Ran Qianxue also rushed forward happily, jumping up and down with the red peony in her arms. At that time on the grassland, her first friend was Huaer.At that time, she was separated from Hua'er, thinking that she had been trampled on by someone and turned into mud and dust, which made Ran Qianxue feel sad for her for a long time.Now that she is safe and sound, Ran Qianxue feels that the whole world is cheering up.Hong Shaoyao stepped on Dugu Xiaoqiu for a while, exhausted enough, hugged the two of them and cried and laughed, but seemed to remember something, wiped away the tears with her sleeves, put on the red veil again, and hoarse said:

"Let's go! Now I and I...Master, I am no longer with my master, I can't be with you, you should leave quickly. May Changshengtian bless you all!"

"Sister Hua'er! Don't go!"

"Red Peony! Come back!!"

Dugu Xiaoqiu and Ran Qianxue were about to continue to stay, when the leader of the Dongying people, Miyamoto Songshiro, suddenly called out and told Hong Shaoyao to go back.Hong Shaoyao turned her head to look at him, gently pushed away the hands of Dugu Xiaoqiu and Ran Qianxue holding onto her sleeves, turned around and walked back step by step.Ran Qianxue was about to go after her when suddenly Ran Nanyuan shouted:

"Mice dare to listen!"

At the same time, he jumped up from the horse and flew towards Ran Qianxue. The spear and halberd in his hand flew like flying, covering her down.