After hearing the black-robed man's agreement, Lin Manliu helped Jiang Yanlin up again and took him to the horse's position not far away.
"Yan Lin, wait for me here for a moment!"
"Well..." The two people jumped out from behind the horse, and the tall horse ran wildly. After the man in black robe killed the snake, he stopped again and stopped in the direction they came from.
Watching the young man in a short shirt working back and forth, the man in black robe found an empty space and sat cross-legged. He took off the long sword he was using and wiped it back and forth between his knees, trying to wipe away the blood on the sword as much as possible.
Not long after, Lin Manliu trotted up to the man and shouted: "Senior, everything is packed!"
"Take the snake letter with you..." the man in black robe said.
"Yes!" The boy in short shirt responded and ran towards the village again. The man in black robe slowly exhaled and continued to wipe the sword in his hand.
How long will this delay take? Forget it, just wait... It turns out that from the moment Lin Manliu gets busy, the man in black robe will pay attention to every move of the young man.
At first, the young man in short shirt just wanted to give a simple burial to the horse that was frightened and was crushed to death by the black snake.
But after Lin Manliu finished, he turned around and saw the man in black robe wiping his sword, and he began to hesitate.
Seeing that the other party did not urge him, the young man in short shirt dug some soil and buried the broken limbs and blood stains under the eaves.
Seeing the young man busy back and forth, the man in black robe wiped the sword repeatedly and pretended to wait.
Lin Manliu picked up some dead grass leaves from the bushes, tied up the fishy-smelling snake letter and held it in his hand.
He asked the man in black robe: "Senior, what is the use of this snake letter in the future?"
"Just take it and let's go!" After the man in black robe said, he tied the sword behind his back again and walked towards the south.
The boy in a short shirt asked Jiang Yanlin to get on the horse. Just as he was about to put the snake letter on the horse's back, Jiang Yanlin's lips began to tremble.
"Brother Liu... Why don't I bother you to carry it..." Lin Man said in six words: "He is dead, Yanlin, don't be afraid!" Jiang Yanlin only dared to look at the boy as thick as his wrist after listening to the young man's voice. Snake letter son.
Blood oozed from time to time on the snake letter, falling from the tip of the forked tongue. Jiang Yanlin immediately turned his head away and did not dare to look at it anymore.
"Hey, I won't scare you anymore, let's go on our way first!"
"Okay!" The man in black robe looked back, and Lin Manliu hurriedly said: "Senior, wait for me!" Then the young man in short shirt led the horse and chased the swordsman in black robe who was walking quickly.
When Lin Manliu caught up, the man in black robe talked about what he saw, regardless of whether the young man wanted it or not.
"Snake problem". In his early years, he heard that there was a big snake here, which was the black dragon. However, no one has seen his true appearance, and no trace of him can be found. It is just said that there is a snake den in the barren mountain outside Lizhou City.
People who went into the mountains to collect medicine did indeed see small snakes on the barren mountains, and there were a lot of them. Therefore, every year, villages and towns here, led by witches or famous people, would offer tribute to the barren mountain.
There are pigs and sheep that have been raised for a year, vegetables and fruits specially left during the harvest, and cloth and silk left at home for dowry.
But as time goes by, how can there be a harvest every year? Is there a surplus every year? The villagers and people who were unable to hand over the tributes, under Wu Zhu's persuasion, had no choice but to use their family money to purchase the tributes.
Lin Manliu said: "I once heard my father say that the south of Fengcheng is even poorer, and life in the city is not easy..." Jiang Yanlin, who was sitting on the horse, did not listen to the words of the man in black robe. Complete, naturally listening to Brother Liu's words was a little confusing.
"Brother Liu, are these black snakes hindering the harvest of the folks?" The boy in a short shirt shook his head and said, "'Snake plague' disturbing the people is only one of the causes, and in terms of relative impact, it is far less than the latter..." The man in black robe said: "What really brings disaster to this place is never the 'snake plague', but greed with no bottom line!" It is those famous people in the rural villages, those who come out every festival.
The witch wish of "Dancing the Great God" is the greed and desire in their hearts. As long as a villager goes to the mountains to collect medicine and sees a snake, or is even disturbed by a snake, they can use this to falsely claim that they have disturbed the black dragon!
Then you can ask for property and money as tribute from nearby villages, towns and townships. Originally, this place was not far from Fengcheng, but compared with it, this place was completely different, let alone the prosperous places in central Guizhou and Jiangnan.
There is only one reason for being so depressed! This is what comes from people’s greed
"Snake problem"... Jiang Yanlin listened to the black-robed man's explanation and couldn't help but feel...
There was a "click". Because these words were also said to him by someone before. It was what the Bodhisattva with the jade face and red lips said behind the table on the high platform in the palace wall of the deep courtyard.
"Ah Huan, do you know why the descendants of those with prominent backgrounds and high statuses become more wealthy and extravagant? But the descendants of those with humble origins and poor family circumstances become increasingly poor?"
"Ah Huan doesn't know..."
"Because the rich and powerful can always find ways to squeeze and oppress the poor at will. Just exploit a hundred poor people to make a rich person rich again. If you exploit thousands, ten thousand, or tens of millions people!"
"The poor will get poorer and the rich will get richer..."
"Ah Huan understands, that's the best!" Jiang Yanlin's back felt so cold that he still couldn't hear clearly what the man in black robe said.
Lin Manliu, on the other hand, listened intently and took in all his words. In his subsequent narration, it is this time
How the "snake epidemic" completely broke out. When the man in black robe rushed to Lizhou City, the snake plague had invaded various villages and towns, so he went to the snake den alone.
But when he entered it, he only killed a few small snakes, not even as good as the ones in the village before.
But he found that the snake's cave was filled with sulfur and there were signs of burning. Hearing this, Lin Manliu reacted quickly and even stopped.
The young man in short shirt said: "Someone did it on purpose? To force the black snake...even the 'black dragon' hiding in the cave out?" The man in black robe laughed contemptuously and responded: "I'm afraid someone wanted to I want to exchange the lives of the people here for a chance to make a name for myself!" Lin Manliu said to himself: "During Yangfeng Valley, the Slaughter Evil Sect also used this method to deal with the Heaven and Earth Alliance..."
"Little brother, do you still know about the Evil Slaughter Sect? Can you mention these things casually?" the man in black robe said. Lin Manliu said: "Although I still don't know the identity of my senior, I can see that my predecessor's act of killing the snake, even if he puts aside his own reasons, must be for the safety of the people here!" The man in black robe smiled and said: "Why can't I be Then someone who wants to make a name for himself? Why couldn't this 'snake trouble' be caused by me on purpose?"
"Those who want to be famous should cultivate themselves, just as a good horse should be equipped with a good saddle. I'm sorry that I can't see the slightest bit of the clothes and swords of the seniors!"
"Oh? Say, say, say?"
"If the senior had never carried a sword and walked around the market with his face hidden, his appearance would be no different from that of ordinary people..."
"You mean my clothes are not good enough?"
"Ahem...Furthermore, when Senior was cleaning his sword just now, I saw that the long sword used by Senior, in terms of material, wear and style, is no different from the one sold in the city's shops..."
"You little kid, how dare you say that I can't use my sword?" Lin Manliu started to meditate on the strange focus of the black-robed man in order to explain it accordingly.
The man in black robe had no choice but to raise his hand and knock his sword, then let out a long sigh and continued moving forward.
...The three of them walked at a neither fast nor slow pace. They reached the north gate of Lizhou City in two hours.
The man in black robe said: "Throw the snake letter at the door! Use more force!" Lin Manliu raised his hand and threw it, and he threw the snake letter in his hand.
When the snake letter fell to the ground, it stirred up dust all over the ground. Only then did the boy in the short shirt see clearly what was on the ground.
Under the snake letter he threw away, there were nearly thirty more snake letters. Most of them had been broken into pieces by the scorching sun, but there were still a few that were glowing with blood... Needless to think, these were all It was the man in black robe who did it.
"Before you guys came, I had been killing these black snakes for three days, right? I still couldn't find the 'black snake'..." Listening to the words of the man in black robe, Lin Manliu stared at I wrote to those snakes.
"Young man, please go with your seniors!" The top of Lizhou City was not high, and the people stationed at the top of the city also heard the noise outside the city.
Soon some people were shouting on the top of the city: "Thank you, hero, for your help! Thank you, hero, for killing the snake!" The man in black robe ignored him and turned around to leave.
Lin Manliu looked at Jiang Yanlin and said: "Yanlin, you stay in the city and wait for me. This place should be safe!" Safety, on the one hand, means that you can avoid being attacked by black snakes, and on the other hand, through the previous black robe Judging from the man's words and the garrison situation here, it can be concluded that there will be no Yanyang soldiers in the city.
Jiang Yanlin glanced at the city gate, then at the man in black robe who was about to leave, and finally looked at his brother Liu.
He opened his mouth and said, "Yan Lin also wants to go with Brother Liu!" The boy in short shirt was a little undecided and had to look at the man in black robe.
"I was talking to you two before. If you don't want to die, just follow me!" The voice of the man in black robe came from afar.
Lin Manliu reminded: "Nan Yanlin, remember, stay by my side at all times, and be sure to protect yourself!" Jiang Yanlin nodded and said, "Yes!"
"Senior, we have thought about it!" The boy in a short shirt shouted. The man in black robe said: "According to what I have seen in the past few days, as you go northwest, the black snakes you encounter become bigger and bigger. From now on, you will continue to enter the mountain forest!" Lin Manliu and the others followed the pace of the man in black robe. , the shirt suddenly remembered about
Rumors of "Snake Infestation".
"Senior, when you have been traveling these past few days, have you ever seen any mountain roads or forests with swamps?"
"Are you betting that the 'black dragon' is hiding in it?"
"According to what was said before, these black snakes that were originally hidden in the snake den should have been forced out by throwing sulfur and burning them. In addition to harming the people here in a short period of time, these animals also need to find a place to remove the smell of sulfur!"
"In this case, it is indeed possible to hide in the swamp in the forest..." Listening to Lin Manliu's explanation, the man in black robe gave the young man a thumbs up.
Lin Manliu said: "Although it is just an ancient rumor, but if it can be passed down word of mouth and everyone can believe it to be true, then it must be half true and half false!" The man in black robe said with a smile: "A bit That’s right! Let’s go!”
