Li Yanqing followed a team of merchants for five days to cross the snow-covered Jingxing and arrived at Zhending Mansion. He then turned south and headed to Xiangzhou, the southernmost point.

At this time, there were two heavy snowfalls in Hebei. There was a snowy world everywhere. But as the New Year approached, the official road was quite lively, with pedestrians, caravans or vendors coming and going everywhere. The snow on the road was trampled and mixed with soil and cow dung. It was dirty and smelly, which really made it difficult for pedestrians to get in.

On both sides of the official road are endless wheat fields. The wheat has been harvested. The fields are covered with heavy snow, as if they are covered with an endless white blanket, with only gray-white woods and villages, adding some mottled color to the huge snow blanket.

That afternoon, Li Yanqing and Yang Liang arrived in Handan County, Cizhou. Handan County is located in the north of Cizhou, a central county. When you walk into the county town, you feel that it is similar to Tangyin County, with the same people, the same streets, and the same shops. In fact, every county in the Central Plains is similar.

Although it was dusk, the streets were quite lively, with groups of children playing with snow everywhere. Pedestrians pushing wooden wheels hurried across the street. There were various New Year's goods in the wooden car.

"Join the army, let's go to that inn!"

Yang Liang pointed to an inn diagonally opposite him, "I lived with my uncle a few years ago. The room was clean and the price was not expensive."

Li Yanqing looked at the inn. A lantern said 'Lao Xu Inn'. There was a restaurant next to it, also called 'Lao Xu Restaurant'. The inn and the restaurant should be one.

He nodded, "Just go to its house!"

The two urged the horse to come to the inn, turned over and got off the horse, and a friend came out, "Do you two officials want to stay in the hotel?"

"Can there be a separate courtyard?"

"There is a single courtyard, which costs 150 cents a night."

This price is indeed not expensive. Bianjing costs one tael of silver overnight, Taiyuan costs 500 cents, and big counties cost two or three hundred cents, but it only costs 150 cents here.

The reason why Li Yanqing wanted to be a single courtyard was because they rode military horses, and the market price was hundreds of taels of silver. Nowadays, public security is generally poor in various places. Strong military horses are easily targeted and stolen. The small inn cannot afford to pay for it. The owner can only think that he is unlucky. Li Yanqing would rather spend more money to keep the military horses in a single courtyard.

"He helped us feed the horses and took them to the yard. I will reward you with all the money!" Li Yanqing grabbed a handful of money for him.

"Okay! Officials, please rest assured and make sure to feed the horses with good feed."

The two of them unloaded the horse bags, and the guy took the horse to the backyard. Li Yanqing entered the lobby of the inn. There was almost no one in the lobby and it was very noisy. It turned out that there was a door on the left of the lobby that led directly to the next restaurant. There were many guests sitting in the lobby of the restaurant, and there were also female prostitutes singing songs and accompanying wine. The sound came from there.

At this time, the inn shopkeeper showed half of his fat face from behind the counter and smiled at them, "Please stay here when you stay in the hotel!"

"I want a single courtyard and stay overnight."

"Yes, the shop now has two separate courtyards, both with livestock sheds, one with a slightly larger one with four houses, and the other with three houses. Three houses for two of you are enough for one hundred and fifty cents a night. Let me clarify first, the price is not about food!"

"no problem!"

"Would you like to ask about the names and hometowns of the two pass by our county or come to our county to do business?" the shopkeeper asked with a thick registration book.

Li Yanqing reported the names and hometowns of the two, and touched him a half-two-pound piece of silver, "No need to find it, just go back and get two meals for us."

Seeing that he was generous, the shopkeeper smiled and said, "Please rest assured, please don't worry, you can eat well and sleep well!"

After the shopkeeper finished registering, he personally took lanterns to lead them to the backyard, "Let's go here!"

The shopkeeper led the way in front, and asked Li Yanqing with a smile while walking, saying, "You two are from the army!"

"How do you know?"

"I have seen a lot. Your horse is a military horse, wearing military boots, and the sword is also an authentic saber. Most people dare not dress like this."

Li Yanqing was dressed as a scholar and did not bring weapons. He looked back at Yang Liang and saw that he was wearing a saber and had a military card of the Northwest Army hanging around his waist. No wonder the shopkeeper knew that he was from the army. He quickly winked Yang Liang and asked him to put away the military card.

"I heard that public security has not been very good in the past two years."

The shopkeeper sighed, "The taxes are so heavy, and it is difficult to make money. Everyone has to support their families. In order to make a living, many people have to survive. However, these few months are particularly chaotic, so you must be careful."

"Why?"

"You don't know?" The shopkeeper turned around and looked at Li Yanqing strangely.

Li Yanqing shook his head quickly, "We just came from Taiyuan Prefecture, what happened?"

"Last month, Liangshan Army invaded Daming Mansion."

"What!"

Li Yanqing was shocked, "Have the Liangshan bandits killed in Hebei?"

"Well! Today, May began. First, they captured Yunzhou and Jeju, and later crossed the Yellow River and captured Liaocheng, Bozhou. Last month, I heard that thousands of Liangshan troops had invaded Daming Prefecture, and even defeated Guantao, Guanshi and Wei County. They showed off their power outside Daming County before they withdrew their troops. They were a little better, at least not killing people indiscriminately. However, more than a dozen riot bandits appeared in the two routes of Hebei, all claiming to be the Liangshan branch, killing people and plundering money everywhere, and the public security was in chaos."

"Does the government care?"

The shopkeeper smiled bitterly and shook his head, "The government is very bullying the people, but when they encounter these desperate people, they all pretend to be deaf and dumb."

Li Yanqing felt a little heavy. He always thought that Song Jiang and his gang were operating in Shandong. He never thought that they would come to Hebei, but they actually fought to Daming Prefecture. Xiangzhou was next to Daming Prefecture. Will it also be affected by Liangshan's rebellion?

......

In the middle of the night, Li Yanqing was suddenly awakened by a terrifying cry. He sat up suddenly and grabbed the dagger from the head of the bed. He listened intently for a moment. The shouts were made by many people, including the cry of women. Li Yanqing knew that the situation was not good.

Fortunately, the shopkeeper's words made him mentally prepared. He slept with his clothes at night without even untied his headscarf. He turned over and sat up, carried the horse bag on his shoulders, and strode out of the door.

Just as Yang Liang also ran out in a panic with a knife, "Join the army, what happened?"

Li Yanqing waved his hand to stop his panic. He listened for a moment, and the shouting was louder than before. There was a faint fire in the sky opposite. It seemed that there was also a shouting in the front yard of the inn. Li Yanqing pulled out a short sword from the horse bag, hung the chess bag around his waist, and handed the horse bag to Yang Liang, "Go and lead the horse!"

Yang Liang ran to the horse shed. At this time, a hurried knock came from outside the gate, "Officiale Li, it's me, open the door!"

It was the shopkeeper's voice. Li Yanqing stepped forward and opened the door lock. A group of people rushed in, which scared Li Yanqing. Fortunately, he immediately recognized the shopkeeper and two friends. Seven or eight other people were young women, with bright dresses and all of them were frightened. They were all female prostitutes who were drinking in the inn.

The shopkeeper knelt down and put his hands together and begged Li Yanqing, saying, "I know you are military masters, please help us!"

Suddenly, a loud shout came from outside: "Here!"

Three big men rushed into the outside, carrying a knife and a torch. The leading big man stared at a group of women with a ferocious look, "I said where did the flock go? It turned out that he was hiding here. Come and have fun with the old men!"

As he said that, he waved his knife and slashed hard at a friend. The women in the yard were so scared that they screamed. A flying stone hit him, and he screamed in the temple of the leader. He screamed "ao!" and fainted on the ground. The two men behind him turned around and fled. Li Yanqing beat two stones in a row, and he was extremely heavy and knocked them out.

"Close the door!" Li Yanqing waved his short sword, and the two men reacted and hurriedly ran forward to close the yard gate.

Li Yanqing pointed to several women and said to Yang Liang: "Take them into the house first!"

Yang Liang brought a group of women into Li Yanqing's room. Li Yanqing then asked the shopkeeper: "What's wrong?"

The shopkeeper Yaguan fought and said, "It seems that the bandits from Fushan have entered the city."

"Who are the bandits in Fushan?"

"I don't know, I only know that they have two leaders, one is called Hunshan Hu Tao Jun and the other is called Jinying Jia Jin, who also claim to be heroes of Liangshan."

Li Yanqing snorted coldly, and cut off the throat of the leader with a casual sword. Blood burst out and sprayed the shopkeeper all over, which scared the shopkeeper so much that he almost fainted. Li Yanqing killed another sword, and then kicked the third bandit awakened.

Li Yanqing used a cold sword to hold the bandit's throat, "I have both killed them. Tell the truth if you don't want to die."

The bandit's eyes showed a look of fear, "I said! I said!"

"How many people have you come, and who is the leader?"

"The leader is King Jia, and more than 70 people have come."

"How many people are there in the copycat?"

"I don't know much about three or four hundred people."

"What are you doing in Handan County?"

"Come and grab some New Year's goods and get some women back."

"Thank you!" Li Yanqing stabbed into his throat with a sword.

Li Yanqing wiped the short sword on the bandits and turned around to ask the shopkeeper: "How many bandits have entered the shop?"

"I don't know either, I'll just see these three people at the moment."

Li Yanqing picked up three stone chess, and Yang Liang sighed, "It's a pity that there are no bows and arrows when he joins the army!"

Li Yanqing's copper bow and iron arrow were brought back to the capital to his father. The leopard head bow was destroyed in the war. If there was a deputy bow and arrow, he could shoot the bandits a hundred steps away. His flying stone was only thirty steps away.

At this time, the shopkeeper suddenly said, "We have a deputy bow and arrow in our store!"

Li Yanqing was overjoyed, "Where are the bows and arrows?"

The shopkeeper quickly said to a friend: "Go and bring the bow and arrow in my room, put it in a wooden box in the corner of the wall. It seems that there are two pots of arrows under the bed, so I will bring them together."

The guy was a little scared, and Li Yanqing said to Yang Liang, "You go with him!"

Yang Liang grabbed the guy and said, "Follow me!"
Chapter completed!