In the early morning, the mountains were shrouded in the thin mist, and the dead leaves swayed and moaned in the breeze. The bleakness of late autumn spread across the mountains with the faint sorrow of sadness in the forest...

On the top of the mountain, a young man looked at the team of horses slowly disappearing into the mountains and mountains, feeling sad. Suddenly, he shouted wildly at the distant mountains, "Dad..."

The mountains responded continuously.

The boy's eyes were red, and tears slowly rolled in his eyes, and he was about to fall.

A tall and strong middle-aged man appeared behind the boy. He had a thick beard, long hair was scattered, under his thick eyebrows, a pair of sharp eyes like an eagle, two scars on his left cheek, and his entire left arm disappeared. The man stretched out his right hand and gently put it on the boy's shoulder, and comforted in a low voice, "Huzi, don't worry, your father will be back soon."

"Dad never let me leave his side." Hu Zi stared at the distance and said sadly, "For the years, he has to take me with him every time he goes down the mountain. Why can't this time? Is there any danger at the foot of the mountain? Are the Jurchens and the Khitans fighting again?"

"It's safe at the foot of the mountain." The man's answer was very yes.

Hu Zi thought that Uncle Tieying was the most powerful warrior in the tribe, and what he said would not be wrong, and his uneasiness gradually sootheed.

My father was the savior of Uncle Tieying. When my father took him to the Tokyo Road in Liao Kingdom with him, it happened that the Liao army surrounded and suppressed the rebels in the area of ​​Liaoyang Prefecture. At that time, Uncle Tieying was in the rebels. He was seriously injured by the Liao army and was left on the side of the road, dying. My father rescued him, and he fled into the mountains with his father, so that his father and he had a place to live. Over the years, Uncle Tieying and his father were sympathetic to his brothers. If there was danger at the foot of the mountain, Uncle Tieying would never let his father take risks alone.

Huzi believed the uncle's words, but he and his father depended on each other and never separated from him. His heart was filled with loss and longing. He became taciturn and depressed. He sat on the mountains all day long and looked forward to his father's return.

Day after day, I was eager to see my father, but there was no news about him, like a rock sinking into the sea, without any news.

A month passed, winter came, and the first heavy snow fell, but my father still did not return to the mountains.

Hu Zi was anxious and panicked. Tie Ying was also feeling worried and frowning. The entire tribe was also in panic and fear. Just as the leader of the tribe was about to send people out of the mountain to find it, the second heavy snow came. The mountain was blocked with heavy snow, and the people in the mountains could not go out, and people outside the mountain could not come in. The last glimmer of hope was completely cut off by the white snow.

Winter goes and spring comes, and when the branches are green, the iron eagle and tigers hurriedly embarked on the road to seeking their father.

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After the uncle and nephew came out of the mountain, they went straight to Monk Gou.

The monk ditch was not big, it was the market closest to the mountain. When they arrived at the market, they hurriedly asked the merchant for questions. When they encountered someone who ignored him, they begged in a low voice. But to their disappointment, they did not find any clues from beginning to end, and they also heard bad news. Last winter, the army of Jin and Liao fought a battle near the mountain. The Liao people defeated and retreated to Zhongjing. As a result, the mountains became the border between the Jin and Liao countries, and the prefectures and counties near the mountains became the battlefield for the two countries to fight.

An ominous premonition enveloped the two people's hearts. The time when the horse team came out was basically consistent with the time when the two countries fought, and it is very likely to encounter an unexpected situation.

Hu Zi became more and more afraid the more he thought about it. "Uncle, where did my father go? Why didn't the people in Monk Gate see him?"

Tieying looked cold and silent. These merchants in Monk Gou, including several old faces whom they have known each other for many years, said that they didn't see the elder brother, which only means that the elder brother hadn't arrived at Monk Gou at all, and he might have gone directly to a town farther away. Tieying didn't dare to think about it, and his heart was full of lead. "Don't worry, let's ask again. With your father's ability, there will be no problem."

It soon became dark. The uncle and nephew were penniless and could only find a corner of the house to shelter from the wind. Hu Zi ate a few sips of dry food, drank a few sips of water, and fell asleep.

Tieying couldn't sleep for a long time. He stared at the stars in the sky with a cold heart. In this year of chaos, life is like grass. If the eldest brother unfortunately encounters Jin or Liao soldiers, he may be killed. If he encounters bandits or horse thieves in the mountains, he will also lose both money. Brother, where are you? Are you still alive?

A cold wind blew, and the tiredness surged, and the iron eagle fell asleep.

In a daze, he seemed to hear something. Thunder was thundering? He was too lazy to bother to cross mountains and rivers these days, and people were exhausted and wanted to sleep very much, but he was still thinking about the children around him.

Tieying barely opened her eyes and saw Hu Zi sleeping and snoring in her nose. The child was too tired, and even if there was a thunder roar in his ears, he might not have responded. The child was not frightened, Tieying felt relieved, closed his eyes and fell asleep again.

Suddenly, a piercing pain hit the forehead. Tieying couldn't help but scream, and then opened his eyes suddenly. He saw a knife, a bloody knife. Without waiting for his reaction, the knife whizzed down and hit the door.

=

"Uncle, wake up, wake up..."

The rapid and fearful screams came from the distant sky, and they penetrated into Tieying's mind bit by bit. He slowly regained consciousness and felt that his head was cracked and hurt to the bone. Then he remembered the bloody knife. Bandits must have encountered bandits. How are the child?

Tieying used all his strength to open his eyes. Hu Zi sat beside him, with his hair disheveled, his face grim and fierce. Although his eyes were sad, it was hard to hide his deep hatred. The child was still alive and intact, which made Tieying breathe a sigh of relief, and his heart followed him was as desperate as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

Hu Zi was tied with his hands, his one arm was tied to his body, a leather rope connected the two, and the other end of the leather rope was tied to the horse's back. It was a strong war horse, and a fully armed knight sat on the saddle, holding a torch in his hand. It could be seen from the knight's costume that it was a Jurchen.

There are no Liao soldiers here, and Monk Gou is adjacent to the mountains and is relatively remote. There is only one possibility for the Jurchens to come here suddenly, to fight the grass valley. I often do this when I was in the rebel army. When I saw the bulging packages on the backs of the Jin soldiers, I knew that he was here to rob. I was really unlucky. As soon as I got off the mountain, I met the Jin soldiers who came out to fight the grass valley. Now it was all over.

Tieying couldn't accept this fact, and suddenly became angry. He turned over and wanted to jump up to resist, but his head was bleeding. After he moved, the wound was involved and the pain was unbearable. The roar in his mouth turned into a grief and groaning. The stimulation of the severe pain made his mind suddenly wake up, and the shrill crying and the chaotic horse hooves from afar made him unable to help but fight a cold war. It can be heard that there were quite a few Jin soldiers who came to Monk Gou to beat Cao Valley tonight. If he resisted, he would lose his life and not say that his child's life would be difficult to save.

"Papapapapa..." The whip of the whip fell from the sky and thrust into the two of them, "Let's go, go..." The Jin soldiers shouted fiercely, sounding particularly bloody in the dark.

"Uncle, uncle..." Hu Zi was furious when he saw the iron eagle screaming in pain under the whip. He acted so hard that he wanted to jump up and attack the Jin soldiers, "I will kill you..."

Tieying was shocked, raised her legs and bent her knees, and tried hard to block Hu Zi, "Don't seek death, save your life first."

Those who come out to hunt Grass Valley are all extremely vicious people. If you resist and threaten his life, your life will be over. But if you let it plunder, he will not take the initiative to hurt you. After all, he wants to eat, and if you can provide rations, he will lose a target for plunder. He does not need to do such a way to stop himself. Tieying is familiar with this profession, and after calming down, he will certainly not seek death.

Hu Zi glared at the Jin soldiers, his eyes were full of fire, and he wanted to eat him. Tieying was worried about angering the Jin people, so he shouted at Hu Zi, "Don't be impulsive, you still have to find your father, don't throw your life here."

This sentence worked. Hu Zi thought of his father, and his resentment suddenly became weaker. He then did not dare to fight for his own will. He stood up staggeringly, but he cursed in his heart, Jin Dog, as long as I get the chance, I will definitely chop off your dog's head.

=

The Jin soldiers plundered Monk Gou very thoroughly, and they robbed all the people they could. They returned with a full load. The backs of more than thirty mules and horses were filled with bags. In addition, more than 20 young and strong men were caught. The Jin soldiers tied them up into a long string to prevent them from escaping.

It is close to the mountains, and bandits and deserters may appear at any time, which is not safe, so the Jin soldiers walked very quickly, constantly whipping them with whips along the way, urging them to rush to rush.

Hu Zi walked in the middle of the team, Tieying followed behind, his face and clothes were covered with blood. Because he was hit hard on his head, his condition was very bad. Hu Zi was very worried and wanted to help him several times, but he was beaten back by the Jin soldiers.

After dawn, the people and horses were already more than ten miles away from Monk Gou. At this time, the Jin soldiers were tired and stopped to rest.

"Uncle, how about it? Can you hold on?" Hu Zi asked with concern while sitting next to Tieying.

"What's this?" Tieying looked at his broken arm and said weakly, "I was injured by the Liao soldiers back then, and the situation was much worse than this, but I still survived."

Hu Zi followed his gaze and looked at his empty sleeves, feeling very uncomfortable. If it weren't for looking for his father, the uncle wouldn't have gone down the mountain, let alone suffered such pain.

Tieying saw that he was depressed and wanted to comfort him, but at this moment he was deeply in desperate situation and nothing was useless to say. Suddenly he thought of something, approached Hu Zi and asked in a low voice, "What did these Jurchens say on the road?" He was from the Han Dynasty in Liaodong and could speak Khitan, but he couldn't understand the Jurchens, but he knew that the child could understand.

Hu Zi looked around alertly, then whispered: "They came from Weizhou and talked about the fourth prince. It is probably the commander of the Jin soldiers. They and the Khitans are fighting in that area."

Iron Eagle's thick eyebrows and slightly locked, and didn't say anything for a long time. Weizhou is more than a hundred miles away, and he will definitely arrive tomorrow. Once he enters the Jin camp, he will be a slave to the Jurchens. If he wants to escape, it will be difficult to ascend to the sky.

"Midnight today..." Tieying winked at Hu Zi, "Don't be afraid. You can even kill a wolf, are you still afraid that you can't kill anyone?"

Hu Zi stared at the dozen Jin soldiers who were laughing in the distance, feeling nervous and his scalp numb. Will he kill someone tonight?

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Notes:
Chapter completed!