By the time we arrived near Houcheng in Fengzhou, more than half a month had passed. It's nearly April, spring is warm, flowers are blooming, and the mountains and fields are covered with fragrant grass. The weather is getting warmer, and there are more birds. They are chirping, which is very festive.
The two of them first settled in Houcheng and bought some spring clothes. Li Bochen originally had more than 3,000 yuan, but suddenly he lost more than 600 yuan. In fact, if I only buy ordinary clothes, it only costs about two hundred. But the next stop was Sujiatun, and he thought that he and Lin Qiao were standing together. Such a handsome man and beautiful woman could not keep a low profile no matter what. It is better to dress more elegantly, so that people will know that you have a good background at a glance, and you will avoid a lot of trouble, so it is rare to have a luxurious time.
During the three days I stayed in Houcheng, I also inquired about some things about Mengjiatun.
Zhu Hou is doing well in the Jinghu Mountain area and has a solid foundation. Qin Le previously said that he had three hundred soldiers under his command, but now he seems to have a thousand soldiers. Li Bochen did the math and concluded that if he had only 500 men, it would be a battalion, not just a thousand men.
When he was in Wuliang City, he had commanded a battalion of 500 people, so he knew that the cost would be huge. Even if Zhu Hou's people are not as well-equipped as Wuliang's army, they still have to be supported by ten thousand people. However, considering that those bandits may also be able to farm their own fields, one or two thousand people will probably be enough.
But even so, a place where one or two thousand people live together can be considered a large town or even a small county. On the way, he also returned to that realm to make some insinuations about Bai Twenty, and learned that the situation was similar to what he learned here. It's just that the jurisdiction of Baitwen is not Fengzhou, so you can't visit it in person.
He could indeed ask Bai Twenty to get the Yin Chao here to that realm, but if he really wanted to inquire about Zhu Hou from another Yin Chao, it would probably be strange for the two of them to talk to each other in private. He, the newly promoted Beichen Emperor, was always at a loss when doing things and was helpless. Fortunately, I feel that the foundation of the Qi-nourishing realm has become more and more solid recently, and I will probably be able to advance to the Dragon-Tiger realm soon.
If he could really keep the Demon King's clone in the Jin state, everything would be easily solved. However, another problem is that he also wants to find something from the "Dongtian Ruins" mentioned by Qin Le to see how to deal with the clone when the time comes. In this case, Zhu Hou's problem must be solved first.
In this way, it becomes a dead end. Li Boxen could only comfort himself: after getting through this incident, everything will be clear. No matter how hard you have spent these days, the information you have gathered may not be useless.
Three days later, the two of them left the city.
After traveling for more than forty miles, we entered the territory of Mengjiatun. Stretching mountains can be seen in the distance, and one of them is expected to be Jinghu Mountain. At this time, fields can be seen on both sides of the road. When we were in Sanguan City, there were large fields outside the city that were abandoned, but looking here, we could see people working in the fields, and it was a prosperous scene.
Lin Qiao saw it and wondered: "Ah Chen, why does it look better here than outside Sanguan?"
Li Bochen said: "It's because of Zhu Hou. There are several groups of gangsters outside Sanguan. If I leave and you come, there will never be a peaceful time. On the contrary, here, only Zhu Hou is powerful, half official and half bandit, so the trouble is not so fierce, right? .”
Having said this himself, he felt a little ironic and sighed again: "Anyway, even the worst order is better than no order. From this point of view, Zhu Hou is really a character."
Lin Qiao thought for a while: "Then you plan to let him go?"
Li Bochen couldn't help laughing and said: "This is not a question of whether I should let him go or not. Don't people in Houcheng say that Zhu Hou can smash a boulder with one punch and shoot lightning from his eyes? If those rumors are true , maybe the dragon and tiger realm. If I fight him, I can’t say I will win.”
"Besides...Zhu Yi's two guards saw our appearance, and they are afraid that they will repay Zhu Hou now. I killed his son and made him unable to gain a foothold in Sanguan. It is likely that he will not let me go. "
Having said this, he raised his hand and touched his face. When Zhu Yi's two guards and the bandit leaders saw him, their faces were still full of beards. They shaved them off after they took Lin Qiao away. A person with a beard and without a beard are completely different. Lin Qiao used some tricks to draw his cheekbones and browbones. With just these subtle adjustments, he no longer looked like Li Boxen before. So many days have passed, and I may not recognize those people when I meet them on the road.
However, Lin Qiao's appearance was so outstanding that even if she disguised herself as a man, she could not conceal her beauty, so she put on a bamboo hat and lowered her veil. The wind is strong in spring in the North, so this is also a very common dress for women.
The two agreed that Li Bochen would change his name to Chen Boli, and Lin Qiao would change his name to Lin Xianyin. He only said that he came to Fengzhou to avoid trouble because he caused trouble in other states. You can just ignore the details and adapt to the situation in the future.
Lin Qiao said: "Then... let's find a place to stay first?"
She lifted her veil and looked into the distance. She could see many houses dotted among the fields. People in Houcheng said that Mengjiatun has now become a lively market town. As expected, you can see a stretch of houses and several streets in the north. Outside this market town, there are many larger courtyards, which should be the residences of wealthy families nearby.
Li Bochen nodded and said: "Yes. But we can't stay in an inn this time. Let's get a private courtyard by ourselves."
Lin Qiao was stunned: "Are we going to stay here forever?"
Li Bochen also looked into the distance. The northern part of the Li Kingdom is much colder than the Sui Kingdom, but the Sui Kingdom is cloudy and rainy, but the northern part has four distinct seasons, and there is bright sun every day. Looking at it at this time, I can see distant mountains like black grass, green fields, and courtyards with black tiles and white walls dotted among them, creating a peaceful scene. The bright sunshine shines between the sky and the earth, and the spring breeze brings the fragrance of the vegetation, which is really refreshing.
If he was asked to choose a place to live in seclusion, he really planned to stay here.
He was stunned for a moment, then smiled and sighed: "I really want to, but not for this. The Chang family are my relatives, but after so many years, Chang...my mother secretly left home on her own back then. I don't know. Do they recognize it or not?”
"And I don't know what their character is like. If I suddenly come to see my relatives and ask them if they have any trouble, I don't know if they will hand me over. It's better to find a place to stay and take a look... There's nothing we can do about it. In this kind of place, most people keep kissing each other. If the two of us stay in a market town and stay in an inn, we will be noticed over time. It's not too much to say that we came here to avoid trouble. Attractive."
Lin Qiao thought for a while and said with a smile: "What Achen said makes sense."
Two quarters of an hour later, the two entered the market town. This place is not as prosperous as Zhangcheng, Sanguan, and Houcheng, but it can still be called lively, which is beyond Li Boxen's expectation. There are many pedestrians on a long north-south street, but most of them seem to be farmers. There are also many people with their families, who seem to have fled from far away.
He saw something strange. He looked left and right and found a blacksmith shop on the street. There were four wooden pillars in front of the shop door. He saw people changing horseshoes and said, "Xiaoman, let's go there first and ask about it."
The two dismounted in front of the bunk. Li Bochen led the horse to the door and took a look inside. He saw that the room was slightly dim. A man in his thirties was sitting on a recliner drinking tea. He half-closed his eyes and hummed something small. Qu, seems very leisurely.
In an ordinary blacksmith shop, the fire should be bright, but here it was deserted.
Li Boxen said: "Excuse me, can you get on the horseshoe?"
The blacksmith glanced up at him and said, "Yes, yes, do you have any iron?"
Is there any iron? What is this nonsense? Li Boxen said: "Don't you have any horseshoes here?"
The blacksmith was still lying down and said lazily: "Brother, are you from outside?"
"Yes, passing by the precious land."
The blacksmith smiled and said, "Ironware is not allowed to be kept secretly in this village. Except for the pot for cooking, I don't have a single iron nail here. If you want to shoe your brother, you have to prepare it yourself."
Don't hide iron weapons privately... Li Bochen thought of Zhu Hou. Is he going to make armor and collect all the iron weapons? This man is quite ambitious. But listening to the blacksmith talking, he seemed to be very talkative, so the question was not in vain.
Li Bochen thought for a while, took out the iron leaf from his arms and said, "Forget it. My thing is broken, can it be repaired?"
He had beaten this iron leaf in a town more than ten days ago. He had nothing to do these days and blew it, and the sound was really different from Konoha. It's less desolate and mute, and more passionate and clear. But a few days ago, he wanted to use Yaohou to trim the corners, but accidentally scratched the mouthpiece.
Seeing that he still didn't leave, the blacksmith stood up from the recliner and walked over. He took Tie Yezi over and looked at it, frowning and saying, "What is this?"
Then he said: "Please come inside."
Li Bochen tied up the two horses and walked through the door with Lin Qiao. He paid attention to the blacksmith and found that when Lin Qiao walked in, he didn't even look at it, he just stared at the iron leaf carefully.
This is somewhat unusual. Although Lin Qiao has her face covered, she is well-dressed and has a beautiful figure. She has a hazy and unreal beauty through the veil. Ordinary people would look at it no matter what their thoughts were, but this blacksmith didn't care at all. Listening to what he said, there was no vulgarity at all, but rather he was generous and decent, and seemed to be very well-educated.
Li Boxen thought to himself, I am afraid this person is not simple. He looked at the blacksmith carefully and saw that although he had a beard, his face was fair, his hands were not rough, his breath was long when he spoke, and his eyes were very bright... This man must have some cultivation. body.
But that’s not a big deal. In this village, the blacksmith should be considered a prominent figure. If you are from a well-off family and have practiced Dharma, it is normal to give it a try.
Li Bochen found a clean wooden bench for Lin Qiao to sit on and rest, and said to the blacksmith: "This is an instrument. I scratched the mouthpiece. I want to repair it."
The blacksmith looked over and over again and smiled: "This is easy to handle."
After saying this, he walked back to the recliner with the iron leaf and sat down, and said to Li Boxen: "Brother, please sit down too. You are not just here to repair this thing, right? Tell me, what do you want to know?"
Li Bochen was slightly stunned. The first thought in his mind was, is this person ambushing here? Is it Ye Lu's accomplice? But seeing the blacksmith's calm expression, he knew he was wrong.
The blacksmith seemed to have guessed what he was thinking, and said with a smile: "Brother, don't worry too much. You two have extraordinary bearings. When you come to this village, you are probably not just passing by, but want to join General Zhu Da on Jinghu Mountain. Let me guess. Guess - did you offend someone and avoid disaster?"
Li Bochen slowly sat down next to Lin Qiao and said, "Oh? So there are many people like me?"
The blacksmith said: "Many. General Zhu? Recruiting soldiers and horses. Heroes come to vote. This month, hundreds of people have come from all over the country. They are all heroes of the green forest."
His expression was normal when he spoke, but Li Bochen always felt that there was a hint of sarcasm in his words. He was silent for a while and said: "If I really mean this, do you have any connections? What do you call me?"
The blacksmith smiled and said: "The surname is Yu, and the name is a fierce character. When it comes to connections, of course there are. But there is a great general on Jinghu Mountain, more than a dozen generals, commanders, and countless commanders. If brothers want to The way to go depends on how much gold and silver you have."
Li Bochen was stunned when he heard this. The military systems of the Six Kingdoms are similar. They all have four generals of the Zhu Kingdom who founded the government. In each mansion, there are four towns and four generals. Most of those with these names were descendants of the Wang surname. They had a respected position but did not necessarily command the army.
The generals under him are the ones who really lead the troops. According to the system, each general has to command one hundred thousand people, and his generals have to command thirty thousand people. Did Zhu Hou, who proclaimed himself a general, really appoint a bunch of generals and commanders? This is the first time I heard of a general with only a few hundred soldiers.
This blacksmith is also really quick to talk. But this made Li Bochen feel a little uneasy - he wanted to find someone to inquire about the situation of Zhu Hou and the Chang family, but when he found him, did he find the right person?
Then he smiled and said: "It's a pity. I don't have much gold and silver, and I don't know how to be a soldier. I'm afraid Brother Yu's career will be blocked."
Yu Meng chuckled and said: "What? Brother, are you worried? It doesn't matter. To tell you the truth, I'm not the only one who has this kind of career. Go take a look around the streets and see those who dye cloth, butcher pigs, and sell refreshments. Yes, they all have ways."
He leaned back again and said: "——Who doesn't have a relative or friend working under that general? The nephew of Lao Liu, who is weaving baskets across the street, used to be a sheep herder, and now he has become a commander. You You can also ask him."
This shouldn't be a lie. Li Bochen felt relieved after hearing this.
Seeing that he was silent for a moment, the blacksmith stood up again and said, "Do you want to repair this iron leaf?"
"build."
The blacksmith went to the other end of the room and turned on the bellows.
The room became noisy. Li Bochen turned around and looked outside, confirming that there was nothing unusual, and whispered: "Xiaoman, do you think this person..."
Lin Qiao said softly: "I think it's nothing."
Li Bochen nodded. Lin Qiao may not be as good as him in cultivation, but after spending more than ten days together, I gradually realized that she was very accurate in judging people. She said it was nothing, and he was really relieved.
He said, "Brother Yu, let me ask you something again. Are there any houses for rent or sale nearby?"
Yu Meng didn't look back and said loudly: "You are late. Three or four months ago, empty houses were everywhere. Now a group of green forest heroes have come, many of them have small families, and they have almost occupied them. You really want to find ——This is Mengjiatun, you go to Mrs. Meng."
After a pause, he added: "Looking to the west after leaving the market town, there is an old poplar tree on the hill, and her home is at the bottom."
