I

The main routes for fleeing north and jumping west are all heavily guarded, and all business travelers coming and going are inspected.

Whether Li Huchong fled to Hami, Qinghai, or fled to the Hetao Grassland, he would definitely be searched out quickly. He has a forearm, broken at the elbow, which is really easy to recognize.

According to Li Huchong's original plan, the best plan after the incident was to flee north or west. However, Yu Xian's sudden surrender completely disrupted his plan, so he immediately launched a backup plan and walked directly from Zhongnan Mountain to Hanzhong Basin.

This is a dead end. After arriving in Hanzhong, it is impossible to escape directly to Qinghai.

Either go to Hubei, Sichuan, or return to Shaanxi. The shortest route from Hanzhong to Qinghai is to go north from Chencang Road, and the exit of Chencang Road happens to be Qinzhou (Tianshui), where Jiang Liang's army is stationed.

Therefore, after Li Huchong arrived in the Hanzhong Basin, he could only find a place to hide and wait for the government to relax before looking for an opportunity to escape.

Li Huchong's villa at the foot of the mountain is not far from Yugu Road.

This passage was only a mountain path in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It was officially turned into a post road in the Yuan Dynasty. It continued to be widened in the Ming Dynasty and could now be used by business travelers.

Between the mountains, a team of more than 40 people passed through various valleys in the Qinling Mountains, heading from northwest to southeast.

There were men and women. In addition to the maids and slaves, there were even two patrol soldiers who were Li Huchong's confidants.

Li Huchong's money had long been melted into gold cakes, which were small and easy to carry. These gold cakes are hidden among real goods, so there will generally be no problems. Because there were very few business travelers taking the Yugu Road, and there was only one checkpoint on the way, Qianyou Pass. They were very strict about the business travelers going north (they might be smuggling), but they were much more lax about the business travelers going south.

After passing through two valleys in succession, Yang Bin woke up early in the morning. With a gloomy face, he went to Li Huchong and said, "Uncle, two domestic slaves are missing. One man and one woman, they may have run away together. I just counted the gold and found that it is missing." A golden cake."

Li Huchong said angrily: "Every evening, don't you have to collect and count the gold?"

Yang Bin explained: "I was so tired yesterday that I neglected to do the counting in the evening."

Li Huchong wanted to rebuke angrily, but he still endured it. There could be no more conflicts at this time.

Yang Bin said: "Uncle, when we first set out, some slaves ran away, and they probably reported to the officials. Now two more slaves have escaped. I'm afraid the officers and soldiers will catch up before we get to Jiayou Pass!"

"These two escaped slaves will not report it to the officials. If they stole the gold, they will definitely hide it and spend it themselves," Li Huchong thought, "but the officers and soldiers may indeed come after them, so continuing to flee south is not an option. We will take the goods on the mountain road, and But the officers and soldiers are traveling lightly, and they will surely catch up with us halfway. We need to find a place to hide!"

There is nothing else in the Qinling Mountains, and there are many hiding places.

They also brought a lot of food and salt with them, so they could hide in the mountains for a year.

After continuing on the road for a while, Li Huchong ordered the mules and horses to be led up the mountain. He even walked at the end himself, taking care of the footprints and tangled weeds.

After walking hard in the mountains for a day, I found some broken houses.

Those houses were originally built by villagers in the valleys along the post road who abandoned their homes and moved to the mountains to avoid the bandits and Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers. The New Dynasty of Datong regained Shaanxi. When the mountain people came out to buy salt, they gradually learned about the policies of the new Dynasty, so they moved back one after another. After all, the land in the valley was more fertile.

There was no one in the house, so Li Huchong ordered it to be cleaned and all the gold and supplies collected to prevent anyone from running away with the property.

How could you not run?

These domestic slaves of the former Qin Dynasty were registered and allocated fields by the new Datong Dynasty, so they could have farmed the land honestly. They felt that farming was too hard, and they felt that they could not learn it, so they continued to work as slaves with Li Huchong because of their indolence in work. Now, how could they be willing to follow Li Huchong to escape hardship and endure hardship?

On that day, two domestic slaves were sent by Li Huchong to collect firewood, and they ran away while picking up firewood.

When Li Huchong learned the news, he was immediately disappointed.

There was a time when, faced with the flattery and service of many servants, he really regarded himself as a prince. That kind of lofty feeling made a battle-hardened general's IQ drop off a cliff, thinking that he could control everything, and the domestic slaves were loyal to him.

At night, the pregnant little beauty secretly took out two gold cakes from under the bed.

She quietly sneaked out of the house and got into the nearby woods. Yang Bin had been waiting for a long time.

The little beauty asked: "Brother, do we really want to run away?"

Yang Bin said: "It's impossible to run away. You can't stay here, and there are too many people to look out for. Sooner or later, we will be chased by officers and soldiers. If we are just two brothers and sisters, we won't be so eye-catching. Don't worry, I have already done a full set of paperwork, and we will pretend A couple who goes south to visit relatives can easily get through Qianyou Pass."

"But... one day's love lasts for a hundred days, and I am already pregnant with the master's child." The little beauty was actually a little attached to Li Huchong.

Yang Bin said angrily: "Do you really regard him as your husband?"

The little beauty was in a dilemma. Under the urging of her brother, she made up her mind and decided to leave.

The brother and sister had not taken a few steps when they saw a figure vaguely appearing in the darkness ahead.

"Aunt...uncle?" Yang Bin was trembling with fear.

Li Huchong sneered: "I have been fighting for more than ten years, and I was very vigilant when I fled. Do you really think you can steal gold from under my nose? The Yang family has been invaded by dogs. If it weren't for you, I would still be a lord!"

Yang Bin knelt down with a thud: "Uncle, please forgive me. My nephew was blinded by lard. As long as my uncle spares my nephew's life, I will definitely be loyal to my uncle from now on. I will never..."

"fart!"

Li Huchong finally regretted it. Since he had not been corrupted for a long time, the money he had gained from corruption in the past two years was only more than 10,000 taels. More than three thousand taels were spent on various enjoyments, and the remaining silver was hidden in two places. Now I only have time to take away half of it.

All turned into gold, only about a hundred pounds.

For this little gold, he actually lost his title, official position, and maybe even his life. Why bother?

He placed all his resentment on the Yang family. If the Yang family hadn't dragged him into trouble, he would still be a glorious lord now. He has official salary, title salary, land income, and salt shop income, so he can live a prosperous life. Even if his wife is a tigress and he is not allowed to take concubines, he can still keep an illegitimate wife secretly. As long as he is not too greedy, no one will come to investigate him.

Immediately afterwards, he complained about Yu Xian.

It's not that he resents Yu Xian for surrendering, but that he resents Yu Xian's lack of strict control over his subordinates. Li Huchong never thought about smuggling grain and ironware. After all, it was a matter of losing his head. The people below were so outrageous that as a superior, there was no way they could stop them.

However, after learning about the smuggling of grain and ironware, Yu Xian struggled and blamed himself, while Li Huchong chose to give up on himself. Anyway, if your head is going to fall off if you are investigated, then you will break the jar and smash it. Li Huchong also became more and more serious about enjoying himself.

Not only did he raise the beauties of the Yang family in Zhongnan Mountain. In another villa, he raised beauties sent by the Li family and supported the Li family to check and balance the Yang family. The remaining gold was also hidden there.

"It's all you who hurt me, it's all you who hurt me!" Li Huchong's tone became increasingly resentful.

He felt that he was greedy for too little, so it was not worth throwing away everything. But he didn't want to think about it. He had only been greedy for two or three years and had already collected more than 10,000 taels. Moreover, the money is not even. The illegal income is increasing every year. If he is allowed to be greedy for a few more years, the money will definitely exceed one hundred thousand taels.

If no investigation is carried out for ten years, the amount of embezzlement may reach hundreds of thousands taels!

Yang Bin trembled and knelt down: "Uncle, please forgive me, uncle, please forgive me!"

The little beauty also knelt down and cried: "Husband, please spare my life. For the sake of the children, please let us brothers and sisters go."

"child?"

Li Huchong was already a little nervous and said with a ferocious smile: "You still don't know whose bastard the child in your belly is?"

The little beauty cried out: "I'm wronged. I am loyal to my husband and have never done anything disobeying my husband."

Li Huchong didn't speak anymore, but stood quietly and meditated.

He also felt that continuing to lead people on the run was not a problem. There were too many people and the target was too big. He was reluctant to part with gold before. He couldn't carry so much by himself, so he took his slaves with him.

Now, life is more important than gold!

Clang!

Li Huchong drew his sword out of its sheath and walked over lamely.

Yang Bin was so frightened that he couldn't care about his sister anymore. He got up and turned around to run for his life.

Li Huchong's legs and feet were not convenient and he knew it would be difficult to catch up. He raised his arm and threw the sword out, piercing Yang Bin's back hard.

The little beauty was so frightened that she almost fainted, and then suffered severe pain in her abdomen. She had been traveling for days and climbed mountains. If she was frightened again at this time, there were already signs of miscarriage.

Li Huchong went over and stepped on Yang Bin's body. Regardless of the other person's whining and begging for mercy, he pulled out his sword and slashed it down again, directly cutting off his head at the neck level. When he walked towards the little beauty again, he found that she was holding her stomach and shaking. After much hesitation, she finally had the heart to take action.

She had a miscarriage in the mountains, and there was no doctor here. Even if she didn't kill her, she would probably have a hard time surviving.

Let her fend for herself. She is lucky if she survives.

Li Huchong returned to the house, called the beauty up, and said in a deep voice: "Take your son and follow me immediately!"

He took out two gold cakes and threw the other gold cakes on the ground casually, waiting for the slaves to pick them up tomorrow. As long as the slaves take gold, they will do everything possible to avoid the government instead of going to the government to report their whereabouts.

He was missing half of his arm and his legs and feet were inconvenient, so it was impossible to kill all the slaves.

"Husband, what...what's wrong?" the beauty asked in horror.

Li Huchong said: "Don't ask any more questions, just take your son and follow me!"

He has lost everything now, not even gold. He only has this baby beside him to cherish. He was afraid that he would not be able to support his son by himself, so he took the child's mother with him.

The next day, the slaves woke up and quickly sensed something was wrong.

First, Yang Bin's body was found in the woods, and the little beauty who had a miscarriage had disappeared. They went to Li Huchong's room again and found gold cakes all over the floor. They started to fight over them, divided the gold, and then ran away.

(Thanks to the leader of Zhen Yi Zi for the reward.)

(It’s late spring, so remember to keep warm. My wife and children are both hospitalized here.)