Sword from the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 21: Spring in the Xingyang Tuku! (5.178k)
To the north of Yongqiu City, there is a small building with upturned eaves not far from the city gate.

In the evening, the sound of footsteps was heard.

A thin man entered the small building and stopped in front of a half-open door.

"Report!"

The thin man said word by word:

"There are already no fewer than two thousand people gathered at the foot of Master Mountain, and more are continuing to gather at the Taiping Dojo. The dojo's gates have been closed since noon, but there are still people coming in and out. The interior should be properly arranged."

"News has come back that the Taiping Heavenly Master will set up an altar and raise the flag tonight, proclaiming himself the Great and Good Master."

"Explore again." A voice came from the inner room.

"Yes."

The thin man retreated, and with a creaking sound, another door opened.

Yue Sigui walked out with a smile on his face.

He looked towards the western suburbs where Taiping Dao was located, and said with some urgency, "If I hadn't been busy tonight and couldn't get away, I really wanted to go to Fuzi Mountain and take a look.

That Zhou Tianshi has many tricks up his sleeve, and perhaps he can create some miraculous phenomena that will entice a crowd of worshippers to worship him."

Another male voice continued, "Sigui always mentions Master Zhou Tianshi. Even I want to see what kind of amazing person he is."

A man six feet four inches tall, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist came out.

He was dressed in a plain white brocade robe, with an ebony quiver hanging from his waist, and a few sparse strands of green beard under his chin, looking quite heroic.

Yue Sigui took a breath and said, "I've only met this person twice, but I have a strong feeling that he is extraordinary. If he were to join the Secret Lord's camp, he would be a great help."

Ying Wu's wife said "Oh" and said, "Don't worry about this."

“The righteous army we raised in Yongqiu, even if mixed with some heroes from the Jianghu, is no match for the Yingyang Prefecture Army.

As long as we contact Mi Gong, the Taiping Daoist Army may not be able to hold out for long. At this time, we can use our manpower in Taikang to rescue them and recruit this Zhou Tianshi into our army.

At that time, he would no longer need to be a great and virtuous teacher, but could be a great and virtuous minister to Lord Mi."

"That's the best thing."

Yue Sigui nodded in thought: "Master Zhou's skills are very strange. You must know that there is an old master in the Taiping Dao. This person has extraordinary skills and is also close to the number one person in the Dao. Such help cannot be given up."

"I hope everything goes well and nothing goes wrong."

Ying Wuhanzi patted Yue Sigui on the shoulder and said, "Master Wei praised Sigui for being cautious, which is absolutely true."

"However, in this world, relying solely on force will never accomplish anything. Some people wield swords, while others are swords. They cannot be equated. Even if this Zhou Tianshi is truly miraculous, he is limited by his vision and will inevitably fail to understand the current situation."

"Think of returning home and be at ease."

He looked delighted and talked to Yue Sigui about the movements of the Yingyangfu Army.

The two of them had a lot of topics to talk about and they chatted animatedly.

Before we knew it, night had fallen.

At this moment, a more rapid sound of "dong dong dong" footsteps suddenly came.

"Emergency news, urgent news!"

The person who brought the news had obviously run back from afar. He was panting and sweating profusely.

"What happened?!"

Ying Wuhanzi's brows furrowed and his voice suddenly rose, for fear of hearing any unfavorable news about Yu Migong.

Yue Sigui held his breath slightly and stared at the person who brought the news.

"Fire! Big fire!"

The messenger wiped his sweat. It seemed that he had run too fast and was out of breath.

"What fire? Tell me clearly!" Yingwuzi scolded.

Yue Sigui thought to himself that something was wrong: "Could it be Fuzi Mountain?"

"Yes, it is."

The messenger took a deep breath and said, "A huge fire has broken out on Fuzi Mountain. All the wooden houses have been burned down, and the flames have lit up half the sky!"

Yingwu Hanzi was shocked when he heard this.

The messenger took a breath and continued, "The altars set up in the temple were also completely burned."

"Where's Master Zhou? Where's that Master Zhou?"

Yue Sigui asked hurriedly.

A strange look appeared on the messenger's face as he told the information he knew:
"In the evening, the Heavenly Master Taiping ordered his servants to carry the rice stored in the Taoist temple down the mountain and distribute it to the poor farmers at the foot of Confucius Mountain who were preparing to join the rebel army. He also left behind two scrolls of medicinal recipes for healing and saving lives."

“As night fell, I was still collecting rice at the foot of the mountain when I suddenly saw a huge fire on the mountain. By the time I got to the top, the fire was out of control!

Flames shot up into the sky, and only peace talismans could be seen flying everywhere. Someone shouted that it was the Heavenly Master praying for peace and returning the world to a pure land.

Yue Sigui was still asking: "Where is he? Where is Master Zhou Tian?!"

The messenger swallowed and said, "After that, the crowd surged and the noise was chaotic. We couldn't see clearly and couldn't hear clearly."

"It is said...it is said that the Heavenly Master walked into the sea of ​​fire with the 'Secret of the Pillow Treasure Garden' in his arms and disappeared without a trace."

“It seems there is a message left.”

"What?"

"It is called... joy, sorrow, and grief, all return to dust. Pity us mortals, for we have so many worries."

Yue Sigui became serious, and Yingwu fell silent.

The messenger ignored their reactions and dutifully concluded:

"The farmers who received the stored rice were so grateful that they kept looking back every three steps as they descended Fuzi Mountain.

Many martial artists rode away, and some strong men howled and called out to the Heavenly Master on the mountain, but soon left as well.

After a while, Yingwu Hanzi waved his hand, and the messenger left with a sense of relief.

That was all the news he got.

Because there were too many people and too mixed in Fuzishan, especially some bad-tempered muscular men squeezing in the crowd, the area around the temple gate was extremely chaotic.

"Bourdan, what do you think now?"

At this time, a female voice sounded in the house.

Then a beautiful woman in white with long hair that fell to her shoulders walked out. Her eyes on her pretty face were bright, flashing with wisdom, and even revealing a sharpness.

Na Ying's son from Wuhan is none other than Wang Bodang.

He sighed: "Luoyan, I'm beginning to believe what Sigui said. This Zhou Tianshi is really not simple."

"When the world is in chaos, so many people indulge in the fantasy of becoming king and hegemon. He is so young, yet he possesses such determination."

“Although the Taiping Dao left Confucius Mountain using absurd methods, it still lives on in Yongqiu.”

"I want to recruit him to the Migong army more than Sigui does."

"He doesn't need to be a great and virtuous minister. This kind of preaching method is the talent of a national teacher."

This pretty beauty is naturally Li Mi’s first military advisor, Shen Luoyan.

“This may be a little difficult.”

"Since he chose to escape, he must have known we were behind the scenes."

She stared towards the western suburbs, and the flames on Confucius Mountain seemed to appear in her mind. She also seemed to see a young Taoist priest walking towards the flames with a scripture in his arms.

Yue Sigui hit his left palm with his right fist and sighed with regret: "I'm afraid we will become enemies now."

"Military Advisor, the Taiping Dao's righteous army is gone. What should we do with the situation in Yongqiu?"

Shen Luoyan was extremely calm: "The first team of the Yingyang Mansion Army is not large, so we will test it first. If Mi Gong is really hiding among them, he must have a purpose."

"Spread the news and say that Yuwen Chengdu set fire to the Taiping Taoist Temple. We will get some people involved in the name of revenge."

"Take action"

……

The news that the Taiping Heavenly Master walked into the sea of ​​fire with the Taoist treasured book became the biggest topic in Yongqiu in the past two days.

Even the street vendors mentioned it and sighed, as if I was there at the time.

The wanderers in the teahouse were talking about the past battle between Master Zhou of Cao Mansion and Taoist Mu.

When some old men in Jianghu talk about this, they often take a sip of wine first, spit out the alcohol and say proudly:

"What Master Zhou Tianshi practiced was the 'Secret of the Pillow's Treasure Garden', a Taoist secret. I didn't expect Taoist Mu to be able to withstand two times his power. He really has some skills."

Some people say:

"After being defeated by the Heavenly Master, the Taoist Mu's personality changed drastically. It's said that he traveled south to eliminate evil, successively wiping out the Baling Gang's branch, the Haisha Gang's salt pit, and also killing the four major bandits and the members of the Iron Cavalry Society.

Although he is being hunted by many forces, his actions are admirable."

At this time, the old men in the martial arts world were also very relieved, saying that Taoist Mu had been enlightened and was finally not a piece of rotten wood.

Of course, upon hearing that Master Zhou Tian was becoming famous, many people expressed their desire to fight him.

Unfortunately.
There was a fire at Confucius Mountain, and Master Zhou Tianshi disappeared without a trace.

Where can I find it in this vast world?

On the evening of the third day after the fire, a cavalry unit of the Yingyang Prefecture Army encountered an ambush near Yongqiu City and engaged in a fierce battle with the rebel army on the way!
Two cavalry brigade commanders were shot and killed in the chaos, causing riots.

The Sui army's cavalry captain You Hongda could only lead the vanguard to retreat and join the main army.

On the official road from Yongqiu to Waihuang.

As the sun set, hundreds of defeated and wounded soldiers walked into the scattered hills, rested their horses at the foot of the mountain, and drank water from the stream.

"Captain You, are we going back like this?"

A centurion of the cavalry unit looked at the burly You Hongda with a worried look in his eyes. "What about the Taiping Dao rebels? Will the general blame us?"

Captain You scooped up the water in both hands and gulped down more than a dozen mouthfuls. "What Taiping Dao rebels?"

He frowned and said, "The Taiping Dao rebels are completely wiped out. We killed 3,000 of them and burned them all on Fuzi Mountain. The rebel leader is being pursued by the masters of the Tiger and Leopard Camp. We will be able to recapture the Dao book soon."

"This is a great achievement."

As the team listened, they remembered the rumors they had heard along the way, and suddenly their eyes lit up.

"Captain, what you said makes sense!"

"Then where did this rebel army come from?"

You Hongda shouted angrily, "Li Mi has a skilled archer under his command, named Wang Bodang. Li Mi's men are naturally the remnants of Yang Xuangan!"

"We've found the remnants of Yang Xuangan. Another great achievement!" The team's worry turned into joy. "Brilliant! Captain, brilliant!"

"Report this to General Yuwen immediately. We must wipe out this remnant before General Zhang Xutuo does!"

……

The Cai River flows southeast and reaches the west of Fule in Chenzhou.

About eight or nine miles outside the city, spring mist floated on the surface of the river, and the new buds of the weeping willows on both sides were like curtains, and the tender yellow color was faintly visible in the mist.

A young man about eighteen or nineteen years old was squatting by the river, holding a willow branch in his mouth, carrying a short sword on his right shoulder, with a small bundle on the end, looking relaxed and natural.

Ever since coming out of Yongqiu, Zhou Yi's whole spirit and energy seemed to have completely changed.

As Chang Quanzi said: "My body is like a white cloud, freely rolling and unrolling. The ends of the earth and the coast, free and unfettered."

In this state of mind, even my luck in meditation improved.

Looking towards the fields in the distance, I saw a farmer driving a bullock into the field, and several children were picking up cow dung from behind with dung baskets made of what looked like wicker, having a lot of fun.

It’s a pity that they don’t have firecrackers and can’t blow up the cow dung.

Zhou Yi smiled and quietly enjoyed the rare peace in this chaotic world for a while.

After about a cup of tea, a canal boat floated down from the Tongji Canal branch that was winding like a silver chain.

Seeing this, Zhou Yi immediately retreated from the river.

After leaving Yongqiu, he headed straight south, and his first stop was Yucheng.

At that time, he didn't expect that there were people following behind him, also on a similar canal boat. Seven or eight people jumped off and ran straight towards him.

We had a battle with this group of people by the Yucheng River. The other side thought they had a sure win and introduced themselves as being from the Tiger and Leopard Camp of the Yingyang Mansion Army.

Different from ordinary soldiers.

They are all proficient in martial arts, and the worst of them are at the same level as Kuang Hui.

It can almost be concluded that these people chased us all the way from Fuzi Mountain.

Fortunately, I escaped from Yongqiu quickly, otherwise I don’t know what kind of situation I would face.

He finally shook them off, and Zhou Yi didn't want to be caught up again.

It would be bad if a more powerful master came.

With this thought in mind, Zhou Yi leaned towards the ridge beside the road and asked a man who was fiddling with a plowshare:

"Brother, may I ask how to get to Fule City?"

The man said without even looking up: "Just follow this path straight ahead."

"Is there a shortcut?"

"There's no shortcut. There's only one road. There's a river four miles ahead. It's been raining lately and the river is swollen. The water on the left is so deep that people have drowned. You can cross the river on the right."

At this moment, he raised his head and glanced at Zhou Yi:
"If you Jianghu people like to drink, there's a small shop less than two miles past the bend ahead. They serve some good wine. But don't cause trouble in the shop, as this shop has quite a reputation."

"Thank you."

Zhou Yi saw two dirty kids beside the man, looking at him curiously, and smiled and waved, "Come here."

The two kids walked over without any fear.

Zhou Yi took out two pieces of glutinous rice from his bag. Malt sugar, also known as malt sugar, is malt sugar made from grains.

He bought this when he passed through Yucheng.

"Eat less, it's very sweet. Be careful not to break your teeth."

The two kids were so happy that they kept saying “We’re not afraid of sweet things”. Zhou Yi simply gave them all the big pieces of candy, which made the two kids cheer for joy.

She held a small piece in her mouth, feeling the sweet taste, and walked in the direction the man pointed.

The man's expression had been indifferent all the time, but now he grinned at Zhou Yi's back and started fiddling with the plowshare again.

Zhou Yi had walked less than half a mile when he suddenly smelled the aroma of wine.

The man didn't lie.

He quickly turned the corner of the mountain and immediately saw a tavern perched on the edge of a rock. In front of it was a wide area with a shed.

A wine flag was hung on the eaves with the words "Dapengju" written on it.

The mountain wind blew, making the wine flags rustle, echoing the lively scene under the thatched hut.

There were eight or nine tables in the inner room, some with two people sitting at the table, and some with five or six people sitting at the table.

There were horses tied to the poplar trees beside the road. A caravan coachman was left to watch the carriages, but he was staring at the tavern and drooling.

But the host was cautious and didn't allow drinking.

The person driving the carriage is not the one riding in it. What if he falls off a cliff while driving drunk?

Zhou Yicai stepped in front of the tavern when there was a sudden movement under the straw shed and three people stood up instantly!

Three pairs of fierce eyes stared straight at him.

Zhou Yi took a quick glance and thought something was wrong.

They were the same people who had fought with him in Yucheng before.

Unexpectedly, after they got off the boat and changed horses, they actually ran ahead of him.

The three strong horses beside the three men snorted loudly, and the tall man on the right snorted coldly: "Kid, let's see where you can run this time!"

Zhou Yi noticed something was wrong.

According to common sense, these three people should have taken action immediately, but they just watched and did nothing.

Thinking of what the man in the field said, I suddenly understood.

At this time, he looked at the three words "Dapengju" on the wine flag and found a table to sit down.

Upon seeing this, the three masters from the Tiger and Leopard Camp immediately came over aggressively, and one of them drew his long sword!

"What?"

At this time, the old shopkeeper who was wiping cups and plates on a high chair at the counter asked coldly.

Someone from the Tiger and Leopard Camp said, "Boss, it's not that we don't give him face, but this kid killed one of our brothers. How can we tolerate such hatred?"

The people around tilted their heads to watch the show.

Zhou Yi felt very strange that the people in the Tiger and Leopard Camp suddenly became much more restrained.

Even in this strange inn, they would not hide their military nicknames.

"Hey, man, give me some wine, the best wine here."

With someone to help him, Zhou Yi sat down and asked for wine.

"Okay~!"

The waiter shouted into the inn, "The best wine, a jar of Xingyang Tukuchun!"

The three men from the Tiger and Leopard Camp looked at the shopkeeper, only to see the old man bluntly say, "What good does killing your brothers have to do with our shop? Even if I kill your whole family, you can't cause trouble here. Otherwise, you're not giving Master Peng face."

After hearing this, the three men were furious but did not vent their anger. Instead, they put away their weapons and sat down with Zhou Yi.

People who don’t know the situation would think they are together.

Who is this Mr. Peng?
After the waiter brought the wine, Zhou Yi asked, "I'm not very knowledgeable. I don't know who Mr. Peng is..."

The waiter put down the wine jar:
"Master Peng is naturally our gang leader Tao Guangzu."

Zhou Yi said, "Oh," the leader of the Yellow River Gang!
The largest gang among the eight gangs and ten associations in the world, it has taken root in the Yellow River for hundreds of years and is a powerful force in the Yellow River basin.

The gang leader's nickname is "Dapeng".

This man not only has great martial arts skills, but also has a wide circle of friends. In Chang'an City, people from all walks of life have to give him face.

Even many figures in the Li family were trying to win him over.

The Tiger and Leopard Camp is composed of the Yuwen clan, and they probably don't want to offend this person.

It is said that Dapeng is very fond of gambling and spends a lot of money at the gambling table.

Unexpectedly, he was another wine lover.

"This Xingyang Tukuchun is Master Peng's favorite. Since you are a wine lover, you must remember that this wine is far superior to Wucheng's Zhuxiachun!"

Zhou Yi was curious: "I've heard of both of these wines, but I didn't know there was such a saying."

The guy put on a matter-of-fact expression:
"Then you should remember it even more clearly. Master Peng said that Huang An is the person who knows the least about wine. Although Wucheng's Zhuxiachun is also a famous wine, it is seven or eight times weaker than Xingyang's Tukuchun because of its contamination! No, it's more than ten times weaker!"

The guy laughed out loud after saying that.

Many people outside the inn found it amusing and started laughing too.

Huang An
Zhou Yixun began to think.

Huang An is the leader of the Taihang Gang and a sworn enemy of Tao Guangzu.

My goodness, did he open this hotel just to compete?
The waiter opened the lid of the jar and found a red paper on the front with the five words "Xingyang Tukuchun" written on it.

Pour a full bowl for Zhou Yi.

"Please take your time."

Zhou Yi reached out and patted the wine jar, then said, "No hurry, please give these three a bowl as well."

The man in the middle of the Tiger and Leopard Camp had a stern expression on his face: "What do you want to do?"

The waiter added three bowls, filled them up one by one, brought them to the three men, then turned and left.

As long as they don't fight, it's none of my business.

Zhou Yi then replied:

"The three of you should drink a few more bowls. Drinking the wine now will warm your blood. When we leave later, I will kill you. Your blood will be warm then, so you won't feel any pain."

"Ha ha ha ha!!"

After hearing this, the man in the middle of the Tiger and Leopard Camp burst into laughter.

He picked up the bowl and drank it in one gulp!

……

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(End of this chapter)