Chapter 170 Weird Village
When Fang Yi wrote down the address and handed it over to Shang Lu, several of the accompanying thieves also received their equipment, led their official horses, and waited quietly in the yard of Cao Cao's office for orders from Shang Lu.
They also received a set of armor weapons from Phytolacca.
"You take the brothers out of the city from the west gate and wait for me outside the city."
Shang Lu walked out of the mission room, glanced at the thieves, nodded slightly, and turned to give instructions to Shen Tu.
"Yes."
Shentu accepted the order and immediately led these few thieves out of the city first.
With the help of several minor officials, Shangwei put on the armor and a large blouse outside to protect him from heatstroke and wind.
After finishing dressing up, Shanglu thanked several clerks before returning to Mingyue Lane.
Pushing the door open and entering the room, he greeted Sanniang and Heiyun to set off.
Sanniang said hello, and together with the oil-paper umbrella, they floated in front of Shang Lu.
Phytolacca took the umbrella and tied it tightly with him.
Sanniang's figure flashed and floated into the umbrella.
In fact, Sanniang is no longer afraid of the sun. Even without an umbrella, she can still follow Phytolacca everywhere.
It's just that she is used to bringing this umbrella.
Phytolacca was also used to it and never thought there was anything wrong.
Heiyun stood up from the corner, shook his body, and when he came to the side of Phytolacca, he snorted heavily and squinted at him.
This idiot is still angry about what happened before.
Phytolacca had a way to deal with it. He smiled and took out a wine gourd from under his blouse: "Here, I bought the wine for you."
Hearing that there was wine, Heiyun immediately forgot about his anger and screamed happily.
Without Phytolacca doing anything, it reached over, opened its mouth, bit open the stopper, picked up the gourd, and drank the wine inside in one gulp.
Shang Lu shook his head and laughed, thinking that it was a good thing that there were no drunk driving checks in this world. Otherwise, Hei Yun would most likely be imprisoned for a period of time every now and then.
"Uncle Huai, I'll leave the family to you."
Shang Lu said hello to the old locust tree in the yard, and after drinking the wine, he strode out of the door with some lingering thoughts.
Outside the west city gate, Shang Lu saw Shen Tu and Qiu Thief waiting by the roadside from a distance.
When these people saw Merchant Lackey coming, they hurriedly led their horses to greet them and saluted: "Your Excellency!"
Shangluca nodded slightly as a return gift.
Then he rode on the black cloud and called everyone: "Let's go!"
Shen Tu and the Qiu Thieves responded in unison, mounted their horses one after another, and followed Shanglun towards Xipinggou in Yunhe Town.
It was the next day in a blink of an eye.
Near noon, Phytolacca and the others arrived at Xipinggou.
This village is located in a narrow ravine between two mountains. No wonder it is called such a name.
Xipinggou faces mountains on both sides and is straight and steep, just like a natural barrier.
Between the two mountains, a stone wall was built with stones, almost as high as a person.
Behind the stone wall, there is a wooden fence and several guard towers.
On the sentry tower, there was a hunter holding a bow, staring down at the surroundings.
The entire Xipinggou is built like a fortress.
Shang Lu saw this scene from a distance and asked Shentu: "Is there a banditry happening near Xipinggou?"
Shentu shook his head: "I haven't heard of it. Maybe it's to guard against wild beasts?"
As the two of them were saying this, the hunter on the sentry tower noticed them. He hurriedly took out the whistle from his waist, put it in his mouth and blew it.
The sharp whistle instantly spread throughout Xipinggou.
It was almost noon, and no one was working outside the ditch, but people from the villages in the ditch immediately poured out.
Shang Lu and the others looked through the wooden village gate and saw a group of villagers armed with hoes, hunting forks and hatchets appearing behind the village gate and stone wall.
With a cold and hostile look, he looked at the approaching Phytolacca and others.
Without Phytolacca's orders, a beggar thief galloped out on his horse, reined in his horse just before the hunter's shooting range, took out his waistband, and shouted loudly:
"We are officials from Cao Cao's office, not criminals!"
Shang Lu had excellent eyesight and noticed keenly that when he heard that they were official servants, the expressions of several people behind the village gate became even more panicked, and they all turned their heads to look at an old man.
The old man was calm.
He ordered one person to come out and gave a few instructions in a low voice.
The man then acted as his mouthpiece and asked loudly: "The official of Cao Cao's office, what are you doing in our Xipinggou?"
"Hey."
When Shentu heard this, his face suddenly darkened and he said loudly:
"Should we, the thieves to Cao's office, report where we go and what we do? You won't let us enter the stronghold, but what have you done that you don't dare to let us know?" Shang Lu noticed that after hearing Shentu's words, The few people behind the village gate became more and more panicked.
On the contrary, the old man relaxed and whispered a few words to the people around him.
Then those people calmed down.
Although there was still a little panic in his eyes, it was not as panicked as before.
Immediately afterwards, the old man ordered someone to open the village gate, led a few people out of the village, and came forward:
"The officials have misunderstood. We are just curious about what can happen in this remote and remote place like ours. If there is anything that requires our help, we can make arrangements in advance."
While speaking, the old man winked, and someone immediately handed the money bag in his hand to Shangluk's hands.
Shang Lu didn't answer, he turned over and dismounted, and towards the old man who came out, as well as the villagers in the village behind who were watching them from a distance, he cupped his hands and spoke eloquently:
"Old people and fellow villagers, you don't need to panic. We are not here to force donations, let alone to beat the autumn wind. We are just entrusted by others to deliver letters and leave as soon as they are delivered."
After hearing what Shangluca said, everyone in Xipinggou breathed a sigh of relief.
In particular, Shentu also praised him just right:
"We are members of the county's thieves' office. We only arrest bandits and handle cases. The task of forcing donations and collecting taxes has nothing to do with us.
As for fighting the autumn wind, haha, if I want to fight, I won’t come to a remote place like yours, where I can’t even blow two ounces of oil. ”
Although they were ridiculed, everyone in Xipinggou was not angry. Instead, they kept smiling and saying yes.
However, the old man and his party did not lead Shanglu and the others into the village. Instead, they asked: "Masters, who are you here to deliver a message to?"
"Liang Jihu, is he in the village?"
When Shanglu said this, he seemed to be looking towards the village, but he was actually using his peripheral vision to stare at the reactions of the old man and the others.
These people really showed a bit of panic when they heard Liang Jihu's name.
One of the men who looked like an Orion even blurted out: "Ah...he's not here."
"Where are you going?" Phytolacca asked.
"He went into the mountains to collect medicine for his mother." Orion said hurriedly.
"Really?" Phytolacca turned and stared at Orion with bright eyes.
Orion only felt that Phytolacca's eyes were more terrifying than the ferocious wolf and tiger. He broke out in a cold sweat and said tremblingly: "Yes... yes."
"What a coincidence." Phytolacca said, seemingly believing the hunter's words.
Orion immediately breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said with a smile:
"Yes, what a coincidence. Gentlemen, why don't you give the letter to me. When Liang Jihu comes back, I will forward the letter to him."
Shang Lu shook his head and said: "I won't bother you to hand it over. Since we are all here, we naturally go to Liang Jihu's home to visit his sick mother. I can just put this letter directly at his home."
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"No..."
When they heard that Shangluca and the others were going to Liang Jihu's home, the expressions of the Orions suddenly changed, and even the old man was a little panicked.
Phytolacca stimulated the blood energy, turning into momentum and pressure, covering the group of people, forcing them to ask:
"Why not? Do we need your permission to visit our colleague's mother? Or is there something hidden in your village that we are afraid of being seen?"
The Orions were so suppressed that they could not speak.
The old man, on the other hand, said with a smile:
"What treasures can we hide in this remote and remote place? We are worried that the officials, wearing armor and carrying swords, are too evil and will hit the patient and aggravate her condition."
Shanglu laughed: "Don't worry, we are specialized in catching thieves and stealing. When we see the patient, not only can we not collide with her, but we can also scare away the disease in her body."
Seeing that there was no way to shirk the blame, the old man could only agree to Shangluca and the others to enter the stronghold.
Behind the village gate in the distance, someone saw this scene and immediately turned around and ran into the village.
Shentu led the horse and walked beside Shanglu.
He winked, and immediately some thieves took their horses and separated the villagers.
Shentu took the opportunity to lower his voice and reminded: "Sir, there is something wrong with the people in this place."
Shang Lu nodded with satisfaction. The group of thieves in Cao Cao's Department still had some discernment.
He whispered: "Let everyone wake up and see what tricks they are playing."
Shentu accepted the order and immediately passed the order to several thieves with coded gestures.
Phytolacca continued to use his eloquent words, and asked with some inducement: "You have both a stone wall and a sentry tower here. What are you guarding against?"
A person next to the old man subconsciously answered: "I dare you to let me know, these are used to guard against thieves and wild beasts."
Shang Lu continued to use his clever words: "You still have bandits here? Why didn't you report it to the Yamen?"
Under the temptation of his clever tongue, the man snorted coldly:
"Why didn't you report it? The thieves from the town came here and asked for a lot of money from Xiaojing, but they didn't dare to touch the bandits. They said they wanted to ask for help from the county...
Fortunately, with the blessing of the Great Immortal, the group of thieves and bandits were contained. I heard that the Qiu thieves in the town still looked down on their faces and pretended to take the credit of the great immortal, which is really disgusting. ”
"Great Immortal?"
Shang Lu's eyes flashed.
Why is this plot so similar to the case Fang Yi mentioned?
It's just that the mountain god turned into a great immortal.
Shang Lu immediately asked: "What immortal? Which immortal?"
(End of chapter)