Chapter 20: Smoke of gunpowder (2)

The days in Ibertayri are getting harder and harder. For the desert, late April is already late spring, and the poisonous sun at noon is shot unblocked on the thick sand, like a natural warm nest. The sand that absorbs enough heat remains hot even at night. The north wind that has ravaged the entire winter and spring in the desert seems to have been magically pumped away, and even the air is condensed together, so that every breath requires a lot of effort. Nowadays, all of Ibertay's life is maintained on the wells in the middle of the camp. With them drawing a steady stream of sweet springs from the underground river, about a hundred people from the Ibertay's outsourcing team and hundreds of prisoners in the underground prison were able to survive in this environment.

But recently, Wu Xun and Lao Pan have many worries, one of them is about these wells. Since the beginning of spring, the surrounding area of ​​Shatuochi is drier than in previous years, and the water level in the well has dropped very quickly. Although Lao Pan has been in Yibotai for seven years, this is the first time he has seen this situation this year, so he is more nervous than Wu Xun who is ignorant. He comes to Wu Ziwei to discuss countermeasures every day. Lao Pan even suggested that Wu Ziwei send some members of the non-staff team back to Tingzhou. According to Lao Pan, summer is about to enter. Both bandits and caravans on Shatuochi will definitely disappear. It is fortunate that the prisoners in the underground prison will not die of heat, and they will never choose to escape to the desert in this season. It is undoubtedly a matter of going to die. Therefore, there is no big problem for less people to station Yibotai.

But the Captain Wu Xun became stubborn again and refused to let go of the bandit suppression. He and Lao Pan were in a stalemate, and it depends on the situation of the caravans on Shatuochi these days. If there was no movement, he would send Lao Pan back to Tingzhou to find the governor of Qian three days later. Old Pan was forced to go around and became angry. When he was helpless, Yibotai did not welcome the caravans or bandits, but instead welcomed an old friend: Princess Mengdan and her cavalry team.

The scorching sun in the desert did not damage Meng Dan's beauty. When she appeared in front of Wuxun and Lao Pan in the morning that day, the two men who were extremely depressed in Yibotai felt that the sky had become much more beautiful. Because the day was too hot, Meng Dan and the cavalry had already moved to night. She came to Yibotai just to say hello to Wuxun's captain. Spring was about to pass, and she was going to take the cavalry back to Saiye City. Yibotai was located in the middle of Shatuochi, and the cavalry team was resting here for a day, and they had to continue on the road when the sun sets.

At noon, Wu Xun entertained Meng Dan and Haslaer to have a simple meal together. Everyone talked about the situation of suppressing bandits. Wu Xun couldn't help asking: "Princess Meng Dan, have you ever heard that the government has announced that the business roads on Shatuo Di are unobstructed?" Meng Dan's pretty face sank and pouted his mouth and said, "No way, the government has no notices, and I don't know why these days, some caravans left one after another before they even sold out the goods, and they all walked on the south and north lines, but they didn't hit Shatuo Di." "Mom!" Wu Xun swung his fist and slapped the table, and his face was pitch black: "This money is back to the south, and I really fooled me! His grandma! What bad idea did Li Yuanfang come up with, bullshit!"

Meng Dan didn't like to hear it anymore and curled his lips and said, "Qian Guinan is not a thing, why are you scolding Li Yuanfang?" Wu Xun still cursed with his eyes and said, "Why can't I scold him? If he hadn't had any idea to write a military newspaper, I would have gone to Tingzhou to find Qian Guinan by myself, and so much time wasted!" Meng Dan snorted, "Person Wu, it would be useful to go to find Qian Guinan by yourself? He still shot you and sent you away with a fake shot." Old Pan quickly interrupted: "Yes, yes, Princess Mengdan makes sense. In fact, you will send me back to Tingzhou, and there will be no result. Anyway, it's almost summer, so let's put the bandit suppression matters aside..."

"Should you give me your mother!" Wu Xun was furious and pointed at Pan Dazhong's nose and shouted: "I tell you Lao Pan, if I hadn't been to suppress the bandits, Wu Xun, I wouldn't have come to a ghost place like Yibotai. I have to suppress this bandits, and I have decided to suppress it! Since I'm talking about this today, Lao Pan, you will set off to Tingzhou tonight! Walking the night road like Princess Mengdan and the others, I will send two people to three camels for you. If you don't want to get an explanation from Qian Guinan, don't go back to Yibotai!"

Pan Dazhong lowered his head silently. No one heard his teeth creaking, nor did anyone notice the fierce light like a trapped beast in his eyes.

The night had just arrived at Shatuo, and the surrounding area finally became cooler. Mondan and Hasler were reluctant to delay too much, so the sun was west and led the cavalry team to set off. Lao Pan was still there and he was still ignoring him. Even if he was delaying until midnight, he had to leave tonight with people. The night became deeper, and Ibertae fell into silence, because the wolves began to rage again, and the bonfire by the camp pan once again ignited. So Ibertae, who had finally cooled down, fell into the boundless heat of smoke and fire, which was distracting, and desperate and helpless. The huge cage of sand and fire encircled all the vitality of Ibertae.

Ibertaine was silent, and the last light was extinguished in the largest barracks where Wu Xun lived. Secretly, Pan Dazhong and his two subordinates walked out of their barracks, but did not lead the camels behind the camp. Instead, they moved silently to the back door of Wu Xun barracks. In front of the small barracks at the left and right exits of the underground prison, guards standing at night stood, turning a blind eye to the actions of the old Pan and the other two, obviously knowing what they did.

Old Pan listened to the movement at the back door. Wu Xun's snoring in the barracks was shocking. He gestured to the guards in front of the two small barracks on both sides. The two guards understood and turned around and called inward. After waiting for a while, soldiers wearing sharp blades quietly emerged from the two small barracks, and lined up neatly behind Wu Xun's barracks. A team of people in the middle followed Lao Pan and surrounded Wu Xun's barracks. The two guards led the rest of the people to slowly disperse in Yibotai. In the entire barracks of Yibotai, soldiers who were also armed with guns and gathered with the two teams.

Old Pan saw all this clearly with the glory of the bonfire. He nodded with satisfaction, turned around and stretched out his short blade, and tweaked it on the back door of Wuxun barracks twice. The door lock fell gently, and Old Pan and the other two tiptoed in.

The firelight penetrated through the window made the barracks half-light and half dark. On the mud kang under the wall, Wu Xun was sleeping soundly. Old Pan came to stand in front of the kang, and a grinning smile slowly appeared on his face. Finally, he bent down and called softly: "Prince Wu, Prince Wu, wake up!"

"Ah?" Wu Xun suddenly woke up from his dream. As soon as he stood up, he felt a cold neck. He was so scared that he was completely sleepy. He looked at Old Pan's shiny round face, which was twisted and deformed under the shaking fire. Wu Xun shouted: "Old Pan, are you crazy?! What do you want to do?!"

"Person Wu, I'm not crazy, but you are probably going to be finished!" Old Pan smugly withdrew the short blade. Wu Xun was about to get off the kang, but he was viciously pushed up by two of his subordinates and held it firmly. Wu Xun realized that the situation was not good. He struggled and shouted, "Old Pan! Do you want to rebel?" Old Pan took a few steps back, raised his arms to admire Wu Xun's embarrassment, and asked with a smile: "Rebellion? Captain Wu, it seems that you really think you are the commander of Yi Botai? Tsk, tsk, it's so sad. Even if your doomsday is about to come, you are still ignorant, and you are still dreaming of spring and autumn!"

Wu Xun stared at Lao Pan with his eyes splitting: "Pan Dazhong, please make it clear! I am not the commander of Yibotai, can you still not do anything? You, don't do anything randomly..." Lao Pan smiled all over his face: "Haha, Captain Wu, if I had not helped me, Pan Dazhong, you would have fed the wild wolf. You didn't say you were grateful to me, but you kept pointing fingers and showing off your superiority. I would have had enough of it. Today, you fell into this field and it was entirely your own fault!"

Wu Xun was completely confused. He stopped struggling and thought for a while before saying, "Old Pan, you know that I, Wu Xun, have a bad temper. If you offend me on weekdays, Wu Xun will compensate you today. We are all good brothers of Han Navy, and you have indeed rescued me. Wu Xun knew in his heart. We have something to say, can't we do?"

"Hahahaha!" Pan Dazhong laughed to the sky and said, "No wonder everyone says you are a brave but unscrupulous man! Do you think my old Pan is so petty? I can even endure the revenge of killing my brother. I have been with Lu Jia for seven years before I can endure him. To be honest, if you hadn't been too tight today, I wouldn't have been so anxious to start a trouble!"

Wu Xun hurriedly said, "Well, just to let you go back to Tingzhou? Oh, why is that? If you don't want to go back, let's discuss it again..." Pan Dazhong's face darkened: "It's no need to discuss it again! Humph, when Li Yuanfang was there, I still had some concerns. Once he left, you would be completely nonsense here, and it's not worth fearing! You don't think about it. Yibotai is the kingdom of **. You can't be a rank of lieutenant. This whole Yibotai has your soldiers and half of your subordinates? In the past, the outsourcing team was all Lu Jia's people. Once Lu Jia died, I, Lao Pan, spent the longest time with them. Do you think they listen to me or you?! If I, Lao Pan, had not surrendered to you, Wu Xun, you wouldn't be here for a day! Now you look outside the barracks and you will know that my people have controlled the entire Yibotai and you are completely finished!"

Wu Xun shouted: "Old Pan! How do you explain to the Han Navy Department and to the Tingzhou government? Besides, everything I do is to suppress bandits. Don't you want to make great contributions to the bandits?!"

"Hahahaha!" Old Pan smiled so hard that he leaned back and forth, shook his head repeatedly, "Wu Xun, Wu Xun! You are so naive. Suppressing bandits? What bandits are we? We can't suppress ourselves, right?" This time, even the two soldiers who were holding Wu Xun giggled. Wu Xun was completely confused and asked with his mouth wide open: "What do you mean, what do you suppress yourself?"
Chapter completed!