When the world is divided into Kyushu, Yangzhou is the most prosperous and rich.
Within Yangzhou, Jiangning County, Yicheng.
There is a big mountain in Yicheng called Dayan Mountain, and there is a Zhuangzi at the foot of Dayan Mountain called Tengjiazhuang. Every household in Zhuangzi is very close together, like a whole. Around the entire Tengjiazhuang, there is a large nine-foot-high wooden fence.
With the protection of this wooden fence, the wolves on the mountain cannot easily enter Zhuangzi and eat people.
In Tengjiazhuang, a dozen or so people were gathered in the courtyard of one of the households. One of them, a brawny man in short shirts who was nearly thirty years old, was wandering anxiously outside the door.
"Yongfan, don't dangle around there." A serious voice sounded, and the person speaking was a grizzled old man with a thick back.
"Master, I..." The burly man in short shirt didn't know what to say.
He couldn't help being nervous, his wife was giving birth inside, and women's first births were generally more dangerous, and it was not uncommon for women to die due to dystocia. He had been married for nearly eight years before his wife became pregnant, and he also attached great importance to this child. At this time, of course he was flustered.
"Brother Fan, have you thought about your child's name yet?" A lean man next to him smiled and changed the subject.
"My child is from the generation of 'Qing', and I have already thought of a name. The boy is called 'Qingshan', and the girl is called 'Qingyu'." The burly man in shorts, 'Teng Yongfan' rarely showed a smile.
The voice just fell—
A loud baby cry came from inside the house.
Everyone turned their heads to look at the door of the house at the same time, only heard a creak, and a woman ran out with a baby in her arms, with a pleasant smile on her face, and she said loudly: "Yongfan, yes! Boys, boys."
"Where's Alan?" The burly old man was the first to shout.
"Patriarch, Alan is fine, mother and child are safe." The woman smiled happily.
At this time, Teng Yongfan had already taken the baby from the midwife, and took a closer look at it, with a smile on his face: "Haha, it's a son, haha, I, Teng Yongfan, finally have a son..." At this moment, the burly old man next to him gave him a hand. Take the baby from his arms.
"Master, take care of the child, I'll go see Alan." Teng Yongfan immediately rushed into the room.
But the burly old man smiled and looked at the baby in his arms.
"This little guy, he cried loudly just now, um, not bad." The burly old man had a smile on his face.
"Master, this little guy is staring at you." A group of people next to him smiled and watched.
"Look, those little black eyes are staring at me unblinkingly, haha..." The burly old man laughed heartily, and then reached out to fiddle with the baby's little nose, "My good grandson, Xiao Qingshan, Come on, call Grandpa!" As he spoke, the old man couldn't help laughing himself.
After all, the child was just born, how could he be able to speak
…
There was laughter all around, but Teng Qingshan's mind was very chaotic.
"What's going on? I, am I dead?"
Teng Qingshan clearly remembered that after Mingyue Lake and the Kingdom of God organized the two giants 'Shiva' and 'Vishnu' to fight, and killed Shen Yangming, he died.
When I regained consciousness again, I was already in the mother's womb, and I was born in a short time.
"This old man is my grandfather? My mother's father?" Teng Qingshan carefully observed the old man in front of him, "I can understand the language of the people around him, and it's also Chinese. Look at his clothes and the clothes of the people around him. And the style of clothes... obviously It's not modern society. This is ancient times! I, how did I come to ancient times?"
Even though Teng Qingshan had been trained as a killer, no matter how determined his mind was, he was completely shocked at this moment.
But at this moment, Teng Qingshan felt tired and drowsy for a while: "The baby's brain is not yet mature, so I'm tired after thinking about it for a while."
Teng Qingshan closed his eyes and began to sound asleep.
*****
Teng Qingshan's first winter in this world.
The goose-feather-like snow drifts wantonly, and the whole world seems to be dressed in silver.
"Qingshan, is it beautiful in snow?" The kind-faced woman 'Yuan Lan' hugged her son 'Teng Qingshan', admiring the snow scene.
"Hmm!" Teng Qingshan's face was flushed red.
Less than a year after birth, the vocal cords have not yet fully developed, and the child can only babble. But Teng Qingshan often acted like a little grown-up, would nod his head and then say 'um', but he could only pronounce 'um' and 'ah' that's all.
"It's almost noon, and your father hasn't come back yet." Yuan Lan said.
"Hi, sister-in-law." At this time, there was a voice from outside the courtyard door, the door was pushed open, and a young man in coir raincoat came in with a big hare smiling, "The hunting team up the mountain is back, this hare is yours." From home. Well, put it away, I’ll go back first.”
Then he put the hare by the threshold.
"Thank you." Yuan Lan said with a smile.
"It's okay." The man walked out.
After all, Teng Qingshan has the wisdom of an adult. In just a few months, he has already known about this Tengjiazhuang. This Tengjiazhuang is self-sufficient. There are often teams going up the mountain to hunt. The contribution of the village is distributed among each family. Like Teng Qingshan's father 'Teng Yongfan' was the first blacksmith in Tengjiazhuang.
The weapons made are very popular in Yicheng, and naturally, they have a high status in Tengjiazhuang.
suddenly-
The earth trembled, as if an earthquake had struck.
"The robbers are here to collect the 'annual money'." Yuan Lan's expression changed, and she immediately tied Teng Qingshan on her back, then picked up a red-tasseled spear at home, and ran out.
In the entire Tengjiazhuang, no matter the strong men, the old men, or the women, they rushed out with spears, bows and arrows.
"Bandits?" Teng Qingshan was startled.
"Qingshan, don't be afraid, it's okay." Yuan Lan comforted her son on her back while running.
Soon, Yuan Lan came to the largest martial arts training ground in Tengjiazhuang. This training ground was two hundred meters long and wide. Holding a red-tasseled long spear, many people also held strong bows.
"Alan." A burly man dressed in fur and bare-chested also came over with a spear, and it was Teng Qingshan's father 'Teng Yongfan' who came.
"Brother Fan." Yuan Lan immediately approached.
Teng Qingshan looked over, in this cold winter months, his father was only covered with fur, his thick arms and strong chest muscles were all exposed, obviously he was a very strong man. It is impossible to be an excellent blacksmith without enough arm strength.
"Son, don't be afraid." Teng Yongfan pampered Teng Qingshan.
"You guys are here, don't run around." Teng Yongfan asked, and immediately rushed to the front.
The heroes of Tengjiazhuang are all standing at the front of the martial arts training field, and the women, children, old and young are all holding weapons in the back.
"Hey, you guys from Tengjiazhuang!" A loud voice came from outside the fence.
Through the gaps in the crowd, Teng Qingshan saw the crowd outside the fence, all of them were riding tall horses, the leader was a man covered with black hair on his bare chest, and there was a deep knife mark on his face, he shouted loudly He said, "It's time to pay the yearly money, the old rules, one and a half taels of silver!"
"That man is wearing only single clothes in the cold winter months, he is definitely a master." Teng Qingshan made a judgment at a glance, "The number of these robbers is unclear, but there are hundreds of them, there are still."
"However, there are hundreds of good men in Tengjiazhuang, and they are definitely not so easy to bully." Teng Qingshan can also see that the men in Tengjiazhuang have experienced years of training. Standing there, each one is like a head. beast. Although the robbers outside are ruthless, although there are many. But it is also difficult to win.
At this moment-
The crowd in Tengjiazhuang separated, and a strong old man with gray hair walked over.
"Grandpa." Teng Qingshan recognized it at a glance.
Teng Qingshan's grandfather, named 'Teng Yunlong', is the patriarch of the entire Tengjiazhuang, and has absolute prestige in the Tengjiazhuang, and Teng Qingshan's mother, 'Yuan Lan', is the adopted daughter of Teng Yunlong.
"Haha, this time it's the third head of the family, you come in person." The patriarch Teng Yunlong laughed loudly, "We also know the rules, one person and a half taels of silver, our Tengjiazhuang has 500 households with 2,000 people, one thousand taels of silver, I said right?"
"Haha, old man Teng, you are right, one thousand taels of silver!" The man with the scar laughed.
The population of Tengjiazhuang is certainly not the exact 2,000 people. But that's about it. The bandit leader doesn't care about this.
"Open the door." Teng Yunlong shouted.
"Quack~~~" The high gate of Tengjiazhuang was suddenly opened, and at the same time, two men from the clan each carried a big box, went directly to the gate, put it down, and smashed it on the snow.
"Third masters, please order, there are five hundred taels of silver in each box." Teng Yunlong shouted.
"Go ahead." The man with the scar immediately ordered his subordinates.
Immediately, two of his men jumped off their horses and ran over to open the box. Only part of the box was silver, and the rest were strings of copper coins. Each string of copper coins was one hundred pieces. The two robbers obviously did this often and were very skilled. After just a moment, he nodded completely and turned his head to the man with the scar.
"Old man Teng, you go back to eat, haha, children, let's go!"
Hundreds of robbers rode on steeds, roaring away.
…
On the martial arts training field in Tengjiazhuang, the clansmen also began to disperse one by one.
"Son, let's go back to eat." That Teng Yongfan smiled and hugged Teng Qingshan with one hand, but Teng Qingshan was still thinking in his heart: "The robbers actually have hundreds of horses, and the price of each horse is not low. With so many horses, it seems that they are also a very strong gang of robbers."
According to the scene just now, Teng Qingshan also understood in his heart: "Pay annual money? Since it is an 'annual money', it should be paid every year. This gang can make Tengjiazhuang pay protection fees every year. The hundreds of people who are dispatched should Not all of them."
"It turned out that the White Horse Gang came to collect the annual money. I thought it was some other bandit." The voices of other men in the clan were talking next to them.
"Other gangs of robbers come to mess with our Tengjiazhuang, they are looking for death." Those guys were full of blood.
But obviously, there is nothing they can do about the White Horse Gang.
"How strong is this white horse gang?" Teng Qingshan thought.
However, he is too young, his vocal cords are not fully developed, and he can't speak at all. Even if he could talk, how dare he ask his father—'Father, how powerful is the White Horse Gang? ', his father would probably be petrified, and the whole Tengjiazhuang would be full of uproar.