During the years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Langshan County, 20 miles south of the city, was the endless Erlang Mountains, with a winding mountain road in the mountains. Although this mountain road is difficult to walk, it runs from north to south.
Trafficking goods from the north to Bianliang takes about 2 days less time than taking the official road. Therefore, although this mountain is difficult to walk and there are many thieves, there are still many businessmen who are willing to go.
There are several villages scattered in the valley northeast of Erlang Mountain. There is a small forest behind Liujia Village and a small fenced yard in front of the small forest. This is Carpenter Zhang’s home.
Carpenter Zhang was not a local resident of Liujia Village. He was picked up by Mrs. Zhang’s father on the roadside when he was doing carpentry work. Seeing that he was pitiful, his father took him as his son and raised him as a son. Not only did he teach him carpentry, but he also made his daughter his wife.
As the sun set, in the small courtyard, a 20-year-old farm girl was busy feeding the chickens and ducks. She would look up at the road in front of the door from time to time, her eyes full of anxiety, and she kept thinking in her heart: "Why aren't you back yet?"
It turns out that early this morning, Li Yuanwai, the richest man in Lijia Village , sent someone to invite Carpenter Zhang away. He said that he had a huanghuali material on his hands and wanted to ask Carpenter Zhang to make a bed with dragons and phoenixes for his son's wedding.
Carpenter Zhang often went out to work, but before, the sun was still high on the mountain, so he came back. Today, I don’t know what happened. The sun has been blocked by the mountains and has not returned yet. How could Mrs. Zhang not be anxious?
The anxious Sister-in-law Zhang could only comfort herself in her heart: "Maybe it's because the master is good at his craftsmanship, but Mr. Li left him at home to have a drink." But Sister-in-law Zhang could not let go of her worry. She heard from people in the village that the mountain roads were not peaceful recently, and bandits were often seen.
It was the middle of the night, but Carpenter Zhang had not come back yet; the day of the fifth watch, when the white fish belly just appeared in the east, Mrs. Zhang put on her clothes and hurried to Lijiazhuang. Her father passed away in the second year after she married Carpenter Zhang. Now Carpenter Zhang is her only relative in the world.
When Sister-in-law Zhang arrived at Lijiazhuang, she went straight to Yuan Li's maternal home. Li San, the concierge of Mr. Li's wife's house, heard that she was here to see Carpenter Zhang, so he took Mrs. Zhang to a room in the backyard and asked her to wait there while he called Carpenter Zhang over.
Mrs. Zhang entered the room without doubting his presence, but as soon as Mrs. Zhang entered the room, Li San locked the door from the outside. The naive Mrs. Zhang thought that this was the rule for wealthy people living in deep residences, so she didn't think much about it.
Unexpectedly, the sun was about to go down, and the husband-in-law Zhang Carpenter still didn't come, and even the concierge Li San was nowhere to be seen. Mrs. Zhang was anxious, but she had no other choice but to continue waiting patiently.
The sound of a key unlocking the door came. Mrs. Zhang thought it was her husband, Carpenter Zhang, who was here, so she quickly got up and walked to the door. But what came in was a man in rich clothes. Li San said: "Second Young Master."
The polite Second Young Master bowed to Mrs. Zhang and said hello, and said: "Carpenter Zhang is indeed working in the house, but he is not here, but with other people." He and the craftsmen went to Wangjiazhuang to get wood. "
Mrs. Zhang learned that her husband was in Wangjiazhuang, so she wanted to go to Wangjiazhuang to find her husband. Unexpectedly, the second son said that there were more than 30 miles of mountain road from Lijiazhuang to Wangjiazhuang, and there were bandits on the road. Let Mrs. Zhang stay at the house for one night, and Carpenter Zhang will be back tomorrow.
Although the second young master looked polite, Mrs. Zhang felt uncomfortable with her eyes. No matter what, I don't want to live in Li's house. The second young master said to please, but secretly signaled to Li San with his eyes. Li San knocked Mrs. Zhang unconscious with a knife.
Seeing that Mrs. Zhang was fainting, the second young master also completely put down his disguise, and an evil light appeared in his eyes. If Li San was not still around, he would have had things to deal with later, and he would have brought Mrs. Zhang to the bedroom immediately.
Late at night, it was quiet outside, but carriages kept coming and going from the backyard of Li Yuanwai's house in Lijia Village. Li Yuanwai and the second son kept directing people to load large boxes wrapped in copper sheets onto the carriage.It turns out that Mr. Li has another identity, that is, he is the third boss of the Erlang Mountain bandits. In the name of doing business, he is responsible for gathering intelligence and selling stolen goods for the bandits.
He is responsible for storing the gold, silver and other belongings of the bandits in Erlang Mountain. These carriages come to the Li family to collect gold and silver. The bandits in Erlang Mountain were very cunning. As the saying goes, the gold and silver they robbed were never placed in the bandit's lair. Instead, they were all stored in another col of Erlang Mountain through Li Yuanwai.
Sister-in-law Zhang woke up leisurely, broke the bowl on the table with her feet, squatted on the ground, picked up a piece of bowl, cut the rope, and sneaked out of the room.
But the Li family was heavily guarded, and Sister-in-law Zhang did not dare to be careless, and only dared to go where no one was. By accident, he came to the backyard, and while no one was paying attention, he hid in the carriage loaded with large boxes and left Lijia Village.
"Where did he go?" The second young master pushed open the door and saw only a broken bowl and a cut rope. He slapped Li San and spun him around three times, causing him to fall to the ground. Blood was pouring from the corners of his mouth, and a few teeth were missing, but Li San didn't even dare to raise his head. "Trash, if you don't hurry up and look for me, I'll miss you. I'll kill you." The second young master walked away with a puff of his sleeves.
It turned out that the second young master was assigned by Yuanwai Li to look at the silver in the bank at Erlang Mountain. And this boy is a pervert, and he originally planned to take Sister Zhang there for fun. Unexpectedly, Mrs. Zhang was lost. The carpenters hired by the Li family were not building beds with dragons and phoenixes, but were secretly sent to another mountain col to build a bank.
In a col of Erlang Mountain, the carriage stopped. Listening to the noise of people and horses neighing outside, Mrs. Zhang hid in the box and did not dare to move.
Sister-in-law Zhang was anxiously thinking about a strategy to escape. Suddenly, the sound of "swish" arrows was heard in the air, followed by the cry of killing. Mrs. Zhang was so frightened that she didn't dare to express her anger. After a long while, the sound of fighting ended. There was the sound of boxes being opened again, and Mrs. Zhang was filled with thoughts, thinking that she would have to explain it here today. It's like stepping out of the tiger's mouth and into the wolf's den again.
Suddenly her eyes lit up, and Mrs. Zhang knew that someone had opened the box where she was hiding. Mrs. Zhang was about to stand up when two knives were placed on her neck. A big man asked coldly: "Who are you?"
"What's going on?" A big man with a beard yelled impatiently.
"General, there is a person in the box." The man who had just opened the box said with his hands.
"Oh?" The general came over with a look of disbelief. When she saw Mrs. Zhang squatting in the box, she couldn't help but have a surprised look on her face. Ask your subordinates to take good care of them and do not neglect them.
Sister-in-law Zhang was surprised when she looked at the general's face. Especially when the general turned around, the general's figure was so similar to her husband, Carpenter Zhang.
At the same time, on the Erlang Mountain Road, there was a caravan of more than 100 people pulling more than fifty vehicles full of goods and driving in a mighty manner.
When we passed several mountain cols and entered the depths of Erlang Mountain, suddenly there was the sound of rocks rolling down the hillside, and then hundreds of big men with swords, guns and clubs sprang out from the woods on both sides of the road. These people are the bandits of this generation entrenched in Erlang Mountain, and they make a living by robbing passing caravans.
The bandits blocked the way of the caravan, and without any nonsense, they rushed towards the caravan. But the caravan was not a vegetarian either. They all pulled out their long knives from the carriage and started fighting with the bandits.
How much fighting power can the caravan have? The bandit leader thought that it would be easy to capture him, but he did not expect that in one encounter, the bandits killed more than 200 people.
The bandits had never seen such a powerful caravan, and they all fled towards the mountains. But the caravan was in hot pursuit, not even wanting the goods. The bandit leader immediately understood the abnormal behavior of the caravan. This was not a caravan. It was clearly here to destroy their officers and soldiers.
It’s not that the officers and soldiers didn’t come to Erlang Mountain to suppress the bandits. It’s just that Erlang Mountain stretches for hundreds of miles, with high mountains and dense forests. Thousands of officers and soldiers wandered in the mountains for more than a month without even touching their shadows, and then it was settled.
Unexpectedly, the government troops came disguised as a caravan this time.The bandit leader quickly gathered the scattered team, fought and pushed back towards the depths of Erlang Mountain.
This group of bandits has been entrenched in Erlang Mountain for decades and has been run by several village owners. How can they have no means. As long as they retreat to the first line of sky, these officers and soldiers pretending to be caravans are like lambs waiting to be slaughtered, unable to make waves at all.
But what the bandits didn't know was that another group of officers and soldiers had already climbed up from the cliff, quietly tore up their mountain stronghold in Pheasant Ridge, and were currently attacking Yixiantian from the back.
Sure enough, when the bandits fled to the sky, the cold arrows from the sky kept taking away their lives. Only then did they realize that the bandits' nest had been destroyed by the army.
Member Li's house in Lijiazhuang was surrounded by officers and soldiers on three levels inside and out, like an iron barrel. It was difficult for a fly to escape. Officer Li and his family all knelt on the ground. At this point, the bandits who had been harming the Erlang Mountain area for decades were completely uprooted.
Besides, Mrs. Zhang has been feeling uncomfortable since she was brought to Zhenyuan General's Mansion by the general. In the General's Mansion, not only was there delicious food and drinks, but there were also a lot of maids and women waiting on her. These maids and ladies also called her Young Mistress.
Although Mrs. Zhang kept explaining: "She is not the young mistress, she was just brought back from the mountains by the general." But no one believed her and still called her the young mistress. Aunt Zhang felt that there was something wrong with these maids and women.
Sister-in-law Zhang originally wanted to ask the general what was going on. But the general was not at the house at all. She made up her mind to leave and find her husband when the general came back.
During this period of time in the General's Mansion, Mrs. Zhang never tried to leave secretly, but she was caught every time by patrolling soldiers. Fortunately, the general told her that as long as she didn't leave the general's mansion, she could do whatever she wanted, so she wasn't that bored, but she just missed her husband.
On this day, Sister-in-law Zhang was sitting in the room, thinking wildly, when suddenly the maid ran in cheering, "Grandma, the young general is back."
Sister-in-law Zhang subconsciously asked: "Who is the young general?" "You are the young lady, and the young general is naturally your husband-in-law!" The maid looked at Sister-in-law Zhang with strange eyes, with a puzzled look on her face.
Sister-in-law Zhang looked embarrassed and was about to explain again that she was not a young mistress. Suddenly a general in white robes and silver armor walked in. Looking at this familiar face, Mrs. Zhang was stunned for a moment, and she couldn't help but murmur in her heart: "Why does this general look so much like her husband?"
While Mrs. Zhang was in a daze, the young general stepped forward directly and held Mrs. Zhang in his arms. Mrs. Zhang kept struggling, trying to break away from the young general's arms. But Mrs. Zhang is a weak woman, there is no way she can escape. I couldn't help but shed tears.
When the young general saw her crying, he quickly let go of her and asked with concern: "Xiaoqin, what's wrong with you? Did I mess with you?"
Xiaoqin is Mrs. Zhang's name. Only her husband-in-law called her this way, and no one else knew about it. Xiaoqin couldn't help but asked dully: "Who are you?"
I am your husband-in-law Zhang Carpenter! The young general said. As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves to show Mrs. Zhang the row of tooth marks on his arm. This row of teeth marks were the marks left on her body by Mrs. Zhang on their wedding night.
"When did you become a major general? I'm confused." Mrs. Zhang said with a confused look.
It turns out that Zhang Carpenter is the son of General Zhang Tiequan, the general of Zhenyuan, and has been in the army since he was a child. This time, in order to completely wipe out the bandits entrenched in Erlang Mountain, he pretended to be unconscious and was picked up by Father Liu on the roadside.
In the past few years in Liujiacun, he used his identity as a carpenter as a cover to constantly explore the bandit's lair. He accidentally discovered that Yuanwai Li of Lijiacun had close contacts with the bandits. After many follow-ups, the bandit's lair was identified. By coincidence, Li Yuanwai sent him and other craftsmen to the bank where the silver was hidden to expand the bank.
How could he let go of such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? So there was the destruction of the Erlang Mountain bandits.
