The rain was crashing, knocking down the eaves, and on the long street in the rain, the one who bowed to the horse team was a middle-aged man in a mink robe.
"... My brother's surname is Zhao, Zhao Si. Thanks to everyone on the road, I gave my brother a bandit name, which can cover it. Whenever there is something in Luliang area, I can usually say a word to Zhao Si. Since they are After taking the road of the big boss, the next thing will be wrapped up in Zhao. Dare to ask the brothers, what do you call them?"
"You can cover it, this name is not simple." The scholar on the horse bowed his hands, "In Ningyi, Jianghu people sent the bandit number Xuehou Rentu, next to this is Zhu Biao, who is burning the city, and the next All the brothers, have seen Duke Zhao."
The young scholar's voice was slow, but he spoke in a straight-forward manner, full of eccentric aura. A young man named Zhu Biao from a horse next to him greeted him and lowered his head, his eyes lit up: "Burning City Spear... What a nickname." The "can cover it" cupped his hands and said, "Long Yang."
In the past, he walked around Luliang, but he had never heard the name "Zhao Gong". After looking at the two of them, I said in my heart, "It's like a few young children..."
The power ecology in the area of Luliang Mountain is complex. Although Qingmu Village has opened its doors to do business, it has already reached a certain scale, but it is still very difficult to take the smuggling road of Luliang. The average person has nothing to do with it, and it is basically difficult to find someone to match up. This Zhao Si was one of the guides of Qingmu Village outside. He seemed to be in his 30s or 40s, with a slightly rusted knife on his back, his eyes flickering. There is also a somewhat shrewd look. He belongs to the kind of person whose martial arts may not be very high, but he is more open to the Tao. This may be the reason why Qingmu Village chose him.
Ning Yi and the others came here, and left all the carts nearby, and changed them into horse teams carrying goods into the mountains. They used the contact information and incision that Hongti had left behind. Although it belongs to the relationship of the big boss, there is nothing surprising. It is difficult to say where the relationship came from.
That Zhao Si looked at the caravan all the way, and soon after, he had a scruple in his heart. The group of people in front of him were obviously from some big families with backgrounds in the south. Just look at the leaders who are still young. I knew that it should be the successor from the big family who came out to experience. It should be the first time for the caravan to go this way, but seeing that the men in the rear team are not weak in physique and martial arts, the spirit and spirit of walking may have something to do with the soldiers, at least in the south of Luliang Mountain. . It should be considered a half-tailed dragon.
only. Such a strong dragon. Once over the mountain, it is often nothing. Businesses from south to north, especially from Luliang. What is needed is not agility, but the adaptability to find a way in any environment. Otherwise, once we cross the mountain and the fish and dragons are mixed, the dragons have to be on their backs, and the tigers have to lie on their backs. A team of one or two hundred people can’t be strong no matter how strong they are. What I’m afraid of is the young leader who is strong and easy to break. .
Zhao Si thought so in his heart, but as a leader, what should be done should be done in place. Although Qingmu Village developed from Luliang Mountain, it still looks like a bandit village to the outside world, but internally it has been very disciplined and rewarded. In the eyes of Zhao Si and the others, this is the rule that the big master "Blood Bodhisattva" learned from the army in the south, but they don't know that the one who set these rules for them is the young man in the rear carriage.
After the two sides converged, it took another half day in the rain to truly enter the range of Luliang Mountain. This piece of place has long mountains, rugged roads, and fewer people. It is already a different place from the south.
Located on the border, Luliang Mountain is not only in the midst of war for many years, but another problem is barren. The vertical and horizontal loess slopes, sparse vegetation, the crops planted here, the harvest is usually not good, the potatoes that are relatively suitable for planting here have not been introduced to China at this time, and the water is not very short, but if it encounters heavy rain, it is easy to turned into a flood.
People living in such places either left or died, leaving behind not so much the inability to leave their homeland, but rather no idea of migration at all. Two hundred years ago, this place was relatively peaceful. Since then, the war and the grassy valley have been combed through here year by year. Some people died, and some people hid in the mountains, looking for new places to survive. The total amount of food is not much, and a part is taken away, and the rest can only be cannibalized.
During the famine years, it is not strange to eat people in the mountains. After the Wu Dynasty gradually developed, except for Luliang, there was enough food. Although it is difficult to say what directly helped Luliangshan, in the past few decades, there have not been many famines that cannibalize people, but people are still starved to death. is the norm. Under the circumstance that the total amount is limited, if some people have to be fed, the other part will starve to death. This is the most cruel rule of survival, regardless of human compassion.
If a person is in a state of being starved to death, he will do anything. This piece of land is like a place for keeping Gus. Over time, most of the order has been broken, and morality has become almost non-existent, and there is no one to talk about morality. Only survival itself becomes clear. The people who survived in this environment were either extremely cruel, or extremely innocent, or both... It's not that no one wants to establish order, but those who do this usually fail, with blood End with death.
Occasionally they will have some conflicts with the outside world, and occasionally, the outside army will come in when they think it is profitable, find a way to kill a group of people, and then hand it over to the state as the result of bandit suppression. This kind of thing, except for the murdered person himself, is basically ignored.
If you want to survive under such circumstances, there is actually not much difference between humans and wolves in the mountains.
"...No matter where this mountain is, it's not peaceful. Outsiders basically can't get in." The rain had stopped, and while walking along the mountain road, Zhao Si pointed to the surroundings and introduced, "Here to the west, there used to be a horse thief named Zhang Da. Belly, after a period of time, maybe... two years, and then he died. He was killed by the second master in the village. The body hung on the mountain for a few months. It took less than half a year for the second master to take the throne, and the village was gone. Now Several groups of people were calling and fighting, but they were all deadly. A group of hunters set up a camp there, and they were very arrogant, and no one would give face, so we have to detour now. "
"... To say that it can be regarded as a number one, it is a little northeast. The more famous one is Xiaoxiang Maqiu Mengtang. I heard that he has something to do with Tiger King. Now he has a lot of people and he has a lot of momentum. After the past, there is Chenjiaqu's 'Ranshan King' Chen Zhenhai, the 'Black Skull King' Luan Sanlang of the Skeleton Village. After passing our Qingmu Village, there are probably Fang Yiyang brothers from the Fang family... In addition, a group of Liao people recently came to the north. I heard that the Liao Kingdom died. There will be more than 2,000 soldiers in the future defeats. We have had a few conflicts with Aoki..."
Zhao Si is a local snake, and he knows a lot about the great forces in Luliang Mountain. Sometimes when a group of people appeared on the side of the mountain road, he would go over to negotiate, and after making an incision for a while. The other party also let go silently. In fact in such a mountain. The trouble is not the big power. But some completely unruly little plucked horses. When the power is large, there are often rules to be said, and only those who have eaten the last meal do not care about the next meal. It's very nerve-racking to shoot a wolf in a different place. Even if Qing Muzhai had set the rules with them, maybe after a few days, this group of people would have died on the mountain and replaced with another group of people. Therefore, in order to maintain a crooked road into the mountain, Qingmu Village also spent a lot of effort.
Many times, Ning Yi and others could see the wooden stakes near this mountain road, and some of the wooden stakes still had corpses and skulls on them. The bones and corrosion are inserted into the high loess. This is the most savage warning line, but there are not many corpses anymore. It can be seen that the number of killings has decreased recently, and more are just empty pillars that have been erected for an unknown time.
"The leader of the group just now was called Huang Yuan, who was fighting the wolves, but he also had to give us face... These places were all brought to us by the big boss back then. At that time, the row was full of human heads, with blood from above. Flowing down, the entire dirt slope is red." After sending off a group of blockers, Zhao Si came back, waved his hand to introduce the surroundings, looked at Ning Yi and the others, and his face was quite contented, "Now I want to enter the mountain, If Mr. Ning has his own team, it is naturally led by a certain person from Zhao. If there are some retail investors, let them wait for a group of people to enter together. We still have to send dozens of people to follow. This is the case now. messed up..."
What Zhao Si said was the state of Qingmu Village when he just did these things. Although Lu Liangshan is chaotic, there have always been cases of smuggling from here. It is either a real daring escort who takes black darts, or some businessmen who take a chance and take risks. Although Lu Liang is chaotic , after all, the land is vast and sparsely populated, once it passes, you can make a lot of money. When Qing Muzhai and others first approached these merchants, it was not easy. Even if they were locals, they had to fight several times in the past.
After arriving, the business began to expand. Qingmu Village could provide income and meals, and it also expanded rapidly. In order to maintain a relatively stable road, Hongti and others traveled almost all over the hills. Negotiating conditions, saying hello, fighting, killing, or killing small and small, or fighting in big and big, in the end, as many sticks are inserted on the whole road, there are basically as many heads.
During this period, there are naturally people who want to get a piece of the pie, but in fact, only Qingmu Village has really opened up the whole road. If ordinary people want to lead the team through, they often become the "wolves" who are guarding the roadside. food. There are also those who are not afraid of the sky and the earth, and run to block the road, or destroy it, and want to blackmail Qingmu Village - this is naturally extremely stupid, and soon after, someone will lead a team to kill.
"...That's it, sweeping over and over again, until now, when we mention the name of the 'Blood Bodhisattva', the leader of Qingmu Village, who would dare not retreat!" The horse team moved forward, Zhao Si said while looking at Ning Yi, he I wanted to use these cruel things to scare this young man, but after talking for a long time, I felt a little boring.
Ning Yi listened to these things with gusto, and when Hongti saw him in the past, he would never bring up these things. Naturally, there was no mention of the bandit name "Blood Bodhisattva" that gradually became scary in Luliang. Blood Bodhisattva... How much do you have to kill people to get such a nickname... Compared with the good nickname of "Heshan Iron Sword", "Blood Bodhisattva" or something is clearly a dummy name. You have to laugh at her when you meet. Not possible.
"It's also because of this. From last year to this time of year, the people in the stockade haven't been hungry. Because of the profit of our Qingmu Village, the nearby hills are much better." After all, Zhao Si is still a simple mountain person. At this time Look at Ning Yi, "Young Master Ning came from the south, you haven't seen people starve to death, have you?"
"Last year there was also a famine in the south." Ning Yi smiled, "Speaking of which, it was recently reported that your female head is going to recruit relatives..."
Zhao Si's eyes turned cold, "Could it be that Young Master Ning is also interested in this?"
"I really want to meet you."
He said he wanted to see, not to participate. Zhao Si's brows opened slightly: "Hmph, it's just a rumor on the road, I don't know who is spreading it in secret, so that the recent group of people are rushing to the stockade. It's hard to get close to a hundred people, how can those mediocre people be comparable! Fighting to recruit relatives, a group of people who don't know how to die..."
He rambled: "From that year to the present, the great masters have traversed Luliang for hundreds of miles with one sword, and how many heroes and ruthless hands will change their color. Lu Chang from the previous year. The ruthless person among the ruthless people. The six relatives did not recognize us, and they went to our Qingmu Village to make trouble. They were chased by the owner of the village for a day and a night and then killed. Last winter, the most powerful old wolf who ran across the western vein of Luliang saw that our Qingmu Village was powerful. Chasing and killing all the way in the mountains, the big boss has a sword and a torch. He also encountered the most deadly wolf pack in the winter. He was just killed by the big boss. Seven days later, the old wolf master thought the big boss was dead. As a result, he was beheaded by the boss in front of everyone. When it was further away, there was a horse bandit in Fenyang…”
Seeing that Ning Yi was interested in this kind of thing, Zhao Si was quite content when he talked about the "big master". It was only after chatting for a while that I noticed that the expression in the eyes of the young man beside him seemed to have changed. I saw that he was still smiling and asked softly: "At this time, do you still want your village master to run outside? Woolen cloth?"
"There are naturally people around the village master." Zhao Si waved his hand, "But Lu Liangshan is too chaotic. Some people follow the rules and some people don't. It's hard to tell you these things clearly... Moreover, our village master's martial arts skills. How tall is it? Let me tell you, I, Zhao Sizhi, learned the three ultimate moves under the master of the village. After I came out to do things, I could hold the name. It's hard to tell you these things. understood… "
Being accused of only letting the Zhaizhu go out to do things obviously made Zhao Si feel a little uncomfortable and added a lot of words. Ning Yi smiled and stopped asking. After walking for a while, there was another mountain col in front, and a team of people in the col was looking towards this side from a distance. Zhao Si made a gesture, and then went on to negotiate.
It was already afternoon, and after a while, everyone camped in a nearby mountain. This hill is not barren. There are strange rocks, shrubs, shrubs and grasses near and far, and a small stream winds through the mountains. As the sun went down, everyone chose a place with a wide field of vision. In the distance, you could see the ruins of a village, which was obviously uninhabited now. Ning Yi stood on the foot of the mountain, watching the direction the sun was setting.
Zhu Biao came from not far away with a gun in his arms: "I have had a few tricks with that one just now. The martial arts here are different from those in the south. They are all learned from life and death fighting, and the most important thing is the momentum. If you can't bear that desperate ferocity, you will be killed with two swords, but if you can bear it, things will be hard to say."
However, Ning Yi also smiled: "Practicing swords here is not a competition. If you can hold it, they will naturally turn around and run, and then come back with revenge at all costs."
Zhu Biao's martial arts attainments are much higher than Ning Yi's, so he naturally understands these things. In fact, although the mouth is talking about Zhao Si's momentum, but in terms of Zhao Si's cultivation base, whether there is momentum, in the real trick, there is no difference for Zhu Biao, this is mainly because Because the difference is too big. He smiled and said, "Brother Ning, are you thinking about Senior Lu?"
"When I thought about Lu Liangshan, I was thinking of smuggling." Ning Yi put his hands on his back and frowned, "Opening the door to do business is all about interests. But with interests as the core, it is difficult to cultivate enough loyalty. Heart. I'm afraid that several bosses will be combined for the benefit, and they usually develop very well. When they really want to make a move, everyone is afraid."
He paused: "So I reminded her at the beginning that the core of the armed forces in her hands is the most important, and those who can fight should be controlled with the strictest discipline, and when cultivating cohesion, her personal martial arts and charm To use it, as long as a martial arts master knows a little bit of management, the possibility of being betrayed will be much less. But now it seems... Her charm has been cultivated a little too much."
When Ning Yi spoke, the tone was quite complicated. When I first entered the mountain, I found it interesting to hear various things, but Lu Hongti's nickname of Blood Bodhisattva was only used as a joke. As for things like killing and killing, although Ning Yi yearns for a peaceful life, he has a deep understanding of the dark side of the world. It's just that Zhao Si's complacent bragging has been heard for a long time. Only then will the complex emotions really come out of it.
"...What Lu Chang, what the old wolf master. Of course there is a discount if you can cover it, but it must not be too fake. What about one person, one sword and one torch, facing a group of wolves in the ice and snow, and there are people behind to kill, I wish you brother, you What do you think?" He remembered the scene of the woman facing the wolves in the ice and snow, and he felt quite beautiful for a while, but then he couldn't help but sigh.
Zhu Biao shrugged: "Yeah. I think... wolves are also human. If there were only one or two wolves, I might be able to scare them away. Senior Lu is so powerful, a normal wolf would not dare to bite her at all. ."
"But it's icy and snowy. I've been hungry for a winter's pack of wolves..." Ning Yi waved his hand. "Her martial arts are already high. Speaking of personal charm, it's enough to show off every year. The rest... high-pressure policies, mysticism are not useful, and she likes to do things herself. Let her raise a group of people to do things for her, don't they look good? Is it? This time, I have to take a good look at her cottage... "
Zhu Biao has been working under Ning Yi for more than a day or two. Ning Yi has also taught him a lot of things. At this time, he pouted and smiled, but he knew that he didn't need to say anything. At this time, he suddenly noticed something, and looked not far away, there were birds flying out of the sparse poplar trees there, and then there was a loud bang, the sound was not loud, and the sound was too loud. A sound, and then it returned to silence.
Like a gust of wind suddenly blowing through the foothills, half of the more than 100 people who started to camp from far and near were alarmed at this moment and looked over there.
It was almost suffocating silence. In the camp, Zhao Si dashed out, jumped on a big rock, took off the steel knife, and waved his other hand to the back: "Don't panic!" Of course, no one panicked at all.
Breathing, breathing, another figure suddenly flashed between the poplar trees, and in the intercourse, there was a short scream of "ah", and then, a figure appeared on the tree, and the sound of weapons clashed. Only a simple voice is heard here.
"Who!"
"come out-"
"Ah ah-"
"Everyone be careful, the idea is-"
Some of these voices shouted, some stopped abruptly. The poplar trees were stained with blood, a human head rolled across everyone's field of vision, and then another corpse with a split chest was thrown out. Obviously, just now, in this small forest, two small groups of people met silently, and then started a short but deadly fight.
Zhao Si still couldn't figure out what was going on, so he looked back. In the setting sun, the people in the rear scattered among the mountains one by one, some with knives, some with guns, and some with crossbows. Several people were still looking at him on the big rock suspiciously. A young man who had talked to him before and was hiding behind a stone tilted his head and silently said to him: Why are you standing there if you haven't come down yet.
Farther away, the two young people who led the team had also changed their positions slightly, and looked at everything below silently and quietly, and there was almost no surprise in their eyes. In fact, with Ning Yi's character, in such a chaotic place in Luliangshan, it is impossible for him to only rely on a leader in Qingmu Village for his safety. Suddenly something unexpected happens, and some people are brainstorming. It may seem troublesome, but it is still Not to surprise him.
Turning back, beside the Yang Shulin, as the corpse was thrown out, a figure slowly exited the forest. It was a tall man, Zhao Si had seen him in the horse team today. This man has a scar on his face, a burly stature, steady steps, and his skills seem to be quite good. In addition, his expression is silent and serious. Even in Luliangshan, I am afraid that it is a tough idea that others would not dare to mess with. In Ning Yi's team, he served as a team leader. At this time, the steel knife in the man's hand was stained with blood, and he made a few gestures towards the top. He walked behind a rock and covered his figure. After that, several people in the forest withdrew one after another. Squad member.
"There are three to four hundred people, coming from the southeast..." Zhu Biao read the message from the other party, and talked to Ning Yi, who nodded: "Accompany Nie Shan and the others to come up."
Nie Shan in his mouth was the name of the man below. This Nie Shan was originally a small leader in Liangshan. He was brutal by nature and killed a lot of people. Later, in the Dulonggang camp, he was instructed by Lu Hongti in martial arts—mainly after being beaten. Diligent. In fact, for most skills, whether it is martial arts or art, what can drive breakthroughs after reaching the bottleneck is often philosophical comprehension, that is, the tempering of xinxing. The confessions in Dulonggang certainly have a twisted side, but they also bring an element of extreme fanaticism. Such people, coupled with the later training of the team as a team, fought in a small area like a sentry in the woods, they were almost nightmare-like existences, and the outpost elites who secretly entered the woods were killed almost as soon as they came into contact with them. .
The movement between the mountains was quiet and orderly. Some people were vigilant, some people were packing things, and Nie Shan and others had already come from below. Far away, when the first group of people appeared in the field of vision, Zhao Si saw that there were two people pulling bows and arrows here. More and more, from the southeast around.
"Fourth Master Zhao." Ning Yi approached, "Three or four hundred people can come here at this time, who do you think they are?"
"Damn it." Zhao Si gritted his teeth, "This is still the site of Xiaoxingma, and he said hello to their people when he passed that mountain col. He Qiu Mengtang is dying, and he started to attack us, what do you think, his mother !"
With these words in his mouth, Zhao Sichao glanced around, seeing the gathering and movement of more than 100 people, and the spirit of each person was not disturbed at all, and finally confirmed that the origin of this group of people is not simple. As soon as he gritted his teeth, he rushed out to the side where the figure appeared.
"Qiu Mengtang! Qiu Zhai Master!" He shouted at the figure over there, "I'm Aoki Zhao Si, I'm leading the brothers to pass the customs today, it's the meaning of the master! You have already collected the road money, what are you doing! You have eaten wrong. Medicine! Dare to break the contract with my Qingmu Village—"
One of his younger brothers in the cottage dared to challenge the opponent, and here is the power of the blood from Qingmu Village. In the warm yellow sunset, there was a voice over there, and it was the little rattling horse that crossed Luliang.
"Zhao Si. I want to stay with the group of people you brought with me today. I will tell the Blood Bodhisattva about the future." The tone of voice sounded a little lazy, but it was driven by internal strength, and it was also because of this. The atmosphere was chilling and quiet, and it rang through the entire mountain for a while, and a cold lingering voice rolled up, "Just say it once, you can go."
On the mountain ridge, Ning Yi frowned: "It's really inexplicable that something happens all the time..." (… )