Xie Ming

Chapter 164: Baoding North Gate
April 3th, at the beginning of the afternoon (15: p.m.).

Xiao Lang led a group of five people, sat in a horse-drawn carriage, and hurried to the designated assembly point ten miles outside the north gate of Baoding City.

From a long distance away, Xiao Lang and the driver, Death Star, who were sitting at the front of the carriage, saw Xu Jizu pacing hesitantly beside the mound of earth at the assembly point.

When the carriage approached, Xiao Lang jumped off immediately.

In front of the mound, Ji Zu and his men also saw the carriage and horses coming, and saw Xiao Jingchuan, so they hurried forward to meet him.

"General!"

"General!" Ji Zu trotted over and spoke hurriedly.

"Well, Ji Zu, you look hesitant, what's the matter? What happened?!" Xiao Lang also asked quickly.

"what?!"

"Hey! It's not like anything bad happened!"

"General, I never expected that the gatekeepers of Baoding Prefecture would be so strict!"

"I have been here with my twenty or so men for more than an hour."

"In the meantime, I have already sent out six heads in three waves, intending to try to get silver into the city through the north gate."

"Can"

"But this gatekeeper is very difficult to be accommodating."

"A total of three groups of people went there, and two of them came back to me!"

"I am waiting for you to report the news, so I am standing here for now. I dare not try any more, for fear that those watchdogs will notice something!" Xu Jizu reported in detail.

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingchuan also pondered.

"kindness"

"It seems that it is more difficult than we expected!"

As they were talking, Xiao Lang paced back and forth in front of the carriage.

"However, since we have been able to get some help in, at least all our efforts have not been in vain!"

"In this way, the five of us in the car will definitely enter from the north gate."

"Ji Zu, you should follow the original deployment and disperse the brothers to the various city gates to act according to the plan!"

"We'll let as many in as we can today."

"Tomorrow, those who cannot enter will gather here again."

"Match each other's clothes, change the city gate and try again!"

"We can't just hang ourselves on a tree, right?"

"Tomorrow at the latest."

"We'll take as many as we can get in!"

"For those who are unable to open the city gate, just find a way back to the camp and communicate!"

Xiao Lang dealt with the new situation in the blink of an eye.

When Xu Jizu heard the order, his sallow and rough face, which had been frowning, suddenly relaxed.

"haha okay!"

"Then General, I will lead the men to disperse to the various city gates!"

"Well, go ahead!" Xiao Lang replied.

"Just take good care of the people and don't cause any more trouble!"

"When everyone has tried, you will be the last one to enter the city!"

"Yes! Obey!"

Upon receiving the order, Xu Jizu bowed, turned around and called upon more than 20 soldiers, while saying something, and quickly left the mound.

Seeing everyone leave, Xiao Lang jumped back into the carriage!
"Death star, go!"

"It's our turn to pass!"

"drive!"

After the Death Star heard the words, he roared, and the two tall horses in front of the carriage raised their hooves with all their might, and the carriage galloped forward again!

The city of Baoding is quite large.

The city wall is thick, wide and high!
Of course, it was because of this that Xiao Lang valued this city and planned to organize troops here for the first time to fight against the invading Jiannu!
Around 3 p.m., the number of peddlers entering and leaving the city through the north gate began to gradually decrease, and the usual busy scene was no longer seen.

The reason for this is due to the strict inspection of road permits that started yesterday.

Nowadays, the gate officers at the city gates are checking very carefully.

It can be said that you don’t look good and you can’t get in.

If you are dressed strangely, you won't be able to get in. If your accent is too different, then you have no chance of getting in.

In a nutshell, in one sentence, you are wrong and you can't enter the city today!
The north gate that Xiao Lang and his group of five had rushed to was now guarded by three soldiers! According to the rules, the guards at the big city gates usually worked in shifts of four.

But rules are dead, and people are alive.

For the lower-level soldiers, being dissatisfied with their work is a common occurrence.

If you take a day off today and it's his turn tomorrow, then there will probably never be a complete break.

So now, three people are on duty, which is common practice.

As for these three people, one was a young man in his early twenties, and the other was an old man in his fifties with white hair.

Furthermore, there was a middle-aged man with a stubbled face, looking quite haggard.

The three veteran soldiers saw that the sun was setting and fewer people were passing through the city gate, so they each found a piece of the gate wall to lean against, put their arms around each other and started chatting.

"Hey, Master Xia, there are not many people here today, so the work will be easy."

"It would be great if we could have such peace and quiet all the time. Then our work would be much easier!"

The young doorman in his early twenties spoke to the white-haired old man who was leaning against him.

"Hey, haha, you're dreaming!"

"It just so happens that there will be a big execution in the city tomorrow, and in the past two days, all the Dashun soldiers have been transferred away, so the city is empty!"

"Check the road guide to prevent any accidents!"

As the white-haired doorman was speaking, he pulled out the wine gourd from his waist, looked both ways, and seeing that there was no one else around, he took a sip and continued talking.

"You are young!"

"You have never seen a big law field in this city."

"But I've caught up with it several times!"

"That's quite a lively scene!" continued the white-haired old gatekeeper.

"Wow, Uncle Xia, this one is really something special!"

"Have you seen such a big fight before?!" The two of them moved a little further outside, and the middle-aged man with a stubble suddenly interrupted.

"what"

"Haha, this one is really impressive!"

"In the past, it was rare, very rare!"

When the white-haired gatekeeper saw the bearded man interrupting him, he became ashamed and lost some interest.

"Haha, Brother Ma, Xu Baoyi was considered a big shot in Baoding Prefecture!"

"It is said that he is the descendant of General Xu Da, one of the founding heroes of the country!"

"He is a kind and generous person, so everyone calls him Mr. Xu!"

"But look at what you're saying. Such a good person, out of nowhere, how could he, he become a bandit?!" The young doorman continued to change the subject.

"Hey, stay at home and the disaster will come from the sky!"

"Who can tell for sure what's going on in this shitty world?" The bearded man said with a sigh.

After saying this, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and quickly turned his head to look at the white-haired old man.

"Uncle Xia, I heard that you had a friendship with this Mr. Xu (Xu Baoyi) before!"

"What? Why don't you go and say a word for them?" The bearded middle-aged man said teasingly.

Hearing this, the white-haired old man also turned his head and glared at him.

Judging from the attitude of these two people, they might have been at odds with each other before.

"Ma Saner, show off your ability to talk nonsense!"

"What a waste of words!"

"Give me the message, am I doing my best?!"

The old man didn't say anything nice. After he finished speaking, he turned his head away and didn't bother to pay any more attention to him.

Across from them, the young gatekeeper felt helpless seeing the awkwardness between the two of them, so he quickly interrupted the conversation, making jokes to ease the atmosphere.

"Hey, what do you mean by acquaintance?"

"I have read the notice of Xu Baoyi's crimes!"

"Gather a team of several hundred people, openly resist the Dashun troops, and rob the army's food!"

"With such a crime, even if Master Xia wanted to, he couldn't help!"

"No matter what, they are all courting death!"

"It's not unfair to cut him down!"

(End of this chapter)