After a while, the rescued girl woke up.
After drinking tea, she fainted for no apparent reason. When she woke up, no one she knew was there. Instead, a group of unknown people surrounded her, which scared the girl to the point of almost crying. Then Tang Zhao came forward and told the story of the black shop one by one. After hearing this, the girl calmed down quickly although she still shed tears.
The people of Lingzhou are very strong or very patient in this regard.
Although being knocked down in this black shop was an accident, in Lingzhou, it was not uncommon to be killed by bandits on the road, and the death of one or two relatives was even more common.
According to this girl, she was from Wushubao, dozens of miles away. She was returning to her grandma's house for a visit. On the way, she encountered an accident at a black shop. In general, in Lingzhou, especially in the countryside, an older girl would definitely not dare to go out casually. She was not alone, but was traveling with an uncle from the same village. This uncle has been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and three or five thieves cannot get close to him. In addition, the country people are poor and have nothing to steal, so they generally do not attract thieves. Moreover, this small shop was not opened the first day. In the past, when the uncle passed by alone, he also went in to have tea and rice and was not robbed. I didn't expect to encounter such a thing today.
Tang Zhao and others asked where her hometown was. It turned out that it was dozens of miles ahead. Several people happened to be passing by and sent her back.
Along the way, Tang Zhao chatted with her about local customs. The girl was not very knowledgeable and only knew the things around her, but seeing that Tang Zhao and others were young and kind-hearted, and even Wusun Tong had thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a steady appearance, she seemed trustworthy, so she gradually became less timid. Said many things.
According to her, there are still many ordinary people in this place. After all, the fields must be cultivated and the bandits must eat. We cannot all starve to death. It’s just that there are a lot of thieves, so people should go together in groups when going out, and form strongholds to protect themselves at home.
In fact, the same is true in Yunzhou. There are no individual households in the countryside. They are all large villages and towns. The outside is heavily guarded by high walls and deep ditches. It's just that in order to prevent ferocious beasts from crossing the border and various insidious disasters, Yunzhou has not specifically prevented thieves from openly entering the village, burning, killing and looting. Lingzhou is also on guard against ferocious beasts, and more importantly, against ubiquitous bandits.
Because of this, the martial arts in Lingzhou is better than that in Yunzhou, and almost all villages must learn martial arts. Children need to learn martial arts, and adults also need to learn martial arts in their spare time. Even girls themselves know how to use fists and kicks. It's just that on the one hand, the village has limited food surplus and lacks meat, so it can't support so many warriors. On the other hand, ordinary villages don't have good martial arts inheritance. Most of the village moves are superficial and easy to get injured when practicing. Therefore, ordinary villages will support a few strong men and masters.
In Lingzhou, whether there are good people in the village is a matter of life and death. If you have your own heroes, not only will petty thieves dare not invade them, but they will also have fewer offerings to the masters of the village.
Yes, all villages and towns must make offerings to nearby villages. Those mountain villages also knew that they could not drain the lake to catch the fish, and they had no scruples about robbing and killing passing merchants, while collecting offerings from the surrounding villages and towns. If enough offerings are collected, a more relaxed cottage can even provide some protection, such as sending people to exterminate the beasts when they attack. But if the offerings are not enough, chickens will be killed to scare monkeys, and villages will be massacred without mercy.
The girl proudly said that their Wushubao was the strongest village nearby. There were thousands of people in the village and there were several powerful warriors. There is also a knight named Sang. That knight-errant was not a son of a famous man, but he was born with supernatural powers and had extraordinary encounters. He had developed superb internal strength. He was considered outstanding among knight-errants, and was no worse than the several village owners of the nearby Shanzhai Jiming Village. Because he is here, the protection fees charged by the cottages are much higher than those of other companies, and even if they are delayed for a while, they will not be held accountable.
Moreover, the knight was an upright person. There were children in other villages who secretly went up the mountain to join thieves. Most of the villages acquiesced, hoping that the children would come out and benefit the village, but there was no such thing in Wushu Castle. The knight admonishes children to learn martial arts first and be a good person first. He would rather spend money to send children to a martial arts hall to learn skills than to let them become thieves.
Tang Zhao heard this and said, "If he does this, he will be resented by the thieves, right?"
The girl said: "Of course, they hate Brother Sang. Brother Sang said that being hated by evil people means that we are doing the right thing. Besides, they can't beat Brother Sang."
The girl said it innocently. Tang Zhao knew it was not that simple, but he admired such people. They not only stayed alone in the mud, but also protected their hometown. There was no great kindness.
The girl didn't walk quickly, so Tang Zhao and others didn't rush her, and they didn't arrive at Wushu Fort until night.
In front of Wushu Fort, high walls stand, trenches are filled with water, and there are arrow towers at the four corners. It really looks like a fortress. The girl entered through the gate, but Tang Zhao and others were blocked outside.
The girl said anxiously: "Uncle Yang Wu, they are good people."
The uncle guarding the gate said: "Whether it's good people or bad people, outsiders can't enter anyway. If you want them to enter the village, talk to Brother Sang."
The girl said: "Of course I want to find Brother Sang." Then she said to Tang Zhao, "Wait a minute, Brother Sang will know as soon as I tell him." After that, she slipped in.
Of course, Tang Zhao and the others did not have to live in this village. They had tents, but who knew how many bastards would sneak up on them at night in Lingzhou? Living in a village is indeed less troublesome - provided this is not another den of thieves in human skin.
After waiting for a moment, the door opened and a young man strode out.
The young man was about twenty-seven or twenty-seven years old, with a simple and upright appearance. He had a bit more of a simple country spirit than Wusun Tong. He was wearing a coarse shorts and looked like a farmer who had just returned from the fields.
However, if you look closely, you will see that his back is straight, his eyes are sharp, his muscles are strong, and his steps are steady and solid. An expert can tell at a glance that he is a martial arts practitioner with outstanding skills.
Tang Zhao looked at him and suddenly thought of Guan Lei. Although the two of them were different in size, their training methods should be similar. Among Tang Zhao's teachers, Guan Lei is not a strong one, but he is the most normal one. He is also Tang Zhao's first teacher in the martial arts. The teacher-student relationship is very good. They have been separated for several years. Now that he sees a little shadow, he can't help but Feeling good in my heart.
The young man also looked at the four people, and the more he looked, the more frightened he became. He was more knowledgeable than the others, but he had never seen such handsome people, especially two handsome young men with outstanding temperament. They were even better than the rich men in the city. Not on.
How could such a person be a thief?
Even if he is a thief, is his village worthy of being stolen from?
Thinking of this, he relaxed his vigilance, smiled and stepped forward to salute with clasped fists, and said: "The distinguished guest has arrived, and I am not welcomed from afar. Sang Jialiang is here to apologize."
Tang Zhao and others also returned the gift, and Sang Jialiang warmly invited them to the village to rest.
He confirmed that Tang Zhao and the others were good people. Everyone including the gatekeeper suddenly relaxed and had smiles on their faces. It was obvious that the whole village, old and young, believed in Sang Jialiang's judgment.
After passing through the thick wall, the village elder stood in the village to greet him, and children all over the street gathered to see what was new. Tang Zhao saw that the houses in the village were one after another and very crowded. Most of them are thatched huts with thatched roofs and earthen walls, which are quite simple. Obviously, the village has many people and little land, and is not wealthy. In addition, there is traffic on the streets and dogs and chickens hear each other, which is quite peaceful.
Tang Zhao had never seen the villages in Lingzhou. If it were Yunzhou, these villages would be considered poor.
Sang Jialiang took a few people to his home to rest. His house also has earthen walls, but it is wider than other houses and has a few tiles on the top. There was no decent furniture or furnishings when we entered the house, but it was clean. There is an earthen kang in half of the inner room, and there is a table on the kang. Sang Jialiang asked them to sit on the kang, then turned around and went out to prepare food.
Yunzhou and Lingzhou are all in the north, and there are earthen kangs in the houses. Tang Zhao skillfully took off his shoes and got on the kang. Wusun Tong and others were surprised. They mostly lived in yurts in Liangzhou without earthen kangs, so they followed suit and sat on them. The little girl came in and brought each of them a bowl of oil noodle tea.
Tang Zhao took a sip of the oil noodle tea and felt that it was steaming hot and fragrant, and felt very comfortable.
It’s clean and safe, with no additives.
After drinking a big bowl of noodle tea, I heard the chicken crow outside. It turned out that Sang Jialiang was digging out the chicken coop, obviously intending to kill the chicken diners. Tang Zhao got off the kang and went out: "Please don't bother me. We don't eat chicken, especially my senior brother...he doesn't eat anything with wings."
Hearing this, Jiang Shenyi poked his head out of the window and said, "That's right, my junior brother also has a bad stomach and can't eat fine food. After a while, he was made to eat the coarsest cornstarch."
Sang Jialiang picked up the chicken and said, "You are the ones who are welcome. We raise chickens just for food. If we don't entertain you heroes and heroes who are brave enough to do justice, are we going to make it easier for the rooster bandits who come to the village to cause trouble? Don't look at them. It’s called Chicken Cing Mountain, but eating chicken is very dangerous. Hum hum, Chicken Cing Mountain—when we eat chicken, it’s like biting a thief’s flesh.”
Speaking of which, a big rooster was killed.
There was no woman in Sangjialiang's family, so the village elder helped to call a village woman who was good at cooking. She stewed the rooster, picked some sprouts and mushrooms and stewed it in a large pot, specially steamed a pot of white flour steamed buns, and took out another Tanjia's collection of turbid wine for guests. The village elder, several martial arts masters in the village, and Sang Jialiang accompanied them to dinner.
It was inevitable to chat while eating and drinking. After a few bowls of wine, the village elder's face gradually turned red, and he relaxed and asked, "Where do these distinguished guests come from?"
Tang Zhao did not hide anything and said: "We are from Yunzhou, and these two are from Liangzhou."
The village elder made a sound and praised: "Yunzhou is a great place. When I was young, I heard that it was very wealthy. Everyone has food and drink, and is carefree?"
Tang Zhao muttered: "You can't say that. It's better in the city, but in the countryside it's just about food and clothing." At least three years ago, he followed Xing Ji to the countryside. The common people only had a simple diet. A bucket of surplus grain at the end of the year and a new suit of clothes was considered a good year. View.
The past two years are said to have been better, at least the weather has been smooth for a few years, and there have been no natural or man-made disasters. But since ancient times, even in the peaceful and prosperous times, the people of the world dare not say that they have enough food and clothing.
Sang Jialiang said in a low voice: "But it's peaceful over there, right? There aren't so many damn thieves?"
