Chapter 701 Dock Wall
Taishi Ci held the horse and looked at the dilapidated and leaky stables in front of him. There were already three or four mules and horses stuffed in the small stable, and there was even a strong war horse chewing grass in the manger.
Including his own group of eight horses, this small stable can be said to have no place to stay. So, Taishi Ci loudly said to the disciple in front:
"Is this stable stable? Don't let the snow accumulate overnight and collapse the shed."
The wind and snow were so loud that Taishi Ci had to shout at the top of his voice.
But even with such a loud sound, the disciple in front didn't seem to hear it, and was still tying the pack horse to the horse post.
It wasn't until Deng Dang behind him heard it and pulled Tu Li that he realized what he was doing.
Seeing that this person was absent-minded, Taishi Ciruo asked pointedly:
"With such heavy snow today, have all your people in the mountains settled down?"
The disciple nodded hurriedly and said with gratitude:
"Liao Guiren is a good man. If he hadn't given us this dock wall, our whole family would have froze to death in the mountains."
Tu Li's words made Tai Shi Ci alert, and he asked:
"Are all your clan in Wubi? How many people are there?"
Tu Li replied honestly:
"I don't know how to count, and I can't tell how many people there are. But don't worry, noble people, we all live in the back, and the guesthouses on the dock wall have been cleaned, making sure that the noble people will be comfortable."
Speaking of this, Tu Li also took the initiative to ask:
"Nobles, are you the Taishan Army?"
As soon as these words came out, Taishi Ci and Wang Yao looked at each other, and Wang Yao directly scolded:
"Don't pry when you shouldn't pry."
Tu Li bent down to apologize, but still kept talking about the topic:
"It would be great if the nobles were the Taishan Army. Everyone in our mountains has heard that King Zhang is generous and generous, and wants to allocate land to the poor in the world. I heard that people in many places already have their own land. Our clan leader also heard that Zhang The king decided to take us down the mountain only after he got to the capital.”
After hearing this, Wang Yao relaxed a little and couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.
Yes, our Taishan Army is so popular. When the owner of the dock wall heard that our troops were arriving and left in a hurry, poor people swarmed in.
The disciple continued:
"I see that the nobles are wearing bright clothes and riding horses, and they can walk on the official road with such swagger. I think only the Taishan Army can do it."
Wang Yao didn't hide it and nodded:
"Yes, we are from the Taishan Army, so you can rest assured that we will not disturb you."
Hearing Wang Yao's admission, the disciple was overjoyed and said to him sincerely:
"The nobles are really the Taishan Army. That's great. I will tell our clan leader that we will give you free food and accommodation. When the Taishan Army comes, we must entertain them well."
With that said, the disciple was about to leave.
At this time Wang Yao waved his hand and said:
"This won't work. It's as much as it should be. Our Taishan Army won't take a drop from the masses. We won't make it difficult for you, and you shouldn't make it difficult for us."
Tu Li was stunned for a moment, but still smiled and said:
"That won't work. You are kind to us. If you are stingy with your benefactor, even the ghosts in the mountains will not let us go."
At this moment, Tai Shici suddenly asked:
"What's this little brother's name?"
Tu Li smiled and said:
"People in the mountains don't have names, so they all call me Sparrow."
Taishi Ci nodded, looked the sparrow up and down, and then asked:
"Sparrow? It looks a bit like it."
After saying that, he bowed his hands to the sparrow and introduced himself:
"A certain family is called Taishi Ci. This is me, Wang Yao, Paoze, and the two over there are passers-by we met on the road. I am going to disturb you here tonight, so be sure to take us to see your clan leader later. We want to Express gratitude.”
The sparrow was still smiling, nodding and shaking his head.
At this time, Taishi Ci suddenly changed the topic and asked:
"How long have you been here? The stable shed has a hole. It needs to be patched up with some thatch, otherwise something will happen if it snows this night. Forget about our eight horses, you also have so many mules and horses here. There is also a war horse, so I can’t help feeling sorry for him.”
As he spoke, Taishi Ci pointed at the war horse chewing fodder and said doubtfully:
"Do you still tame war horses in the mountains?"
Wang Yao also saw something was wrong. He looked at the sparrow fiercely and touched the handle of the knife.
The sparrow was very clever. When he heard Taishi Ci's unkind tone, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed:
"I dare not hide it from you nobles. We picked this up in the mountains. It must be a war horse that was lost somewhere. Then we took it out of the mountains with it."
After hearing this, Wang Yao walked towards the horse in the stable, looked at the horse's butt, and then said to Taishi Ci:
"It belongs to the Han army. It should have been lost by the defeated army that fled from Kyoto."
Taishi Ci squinted his eyes and kept staring at the sparrow, which put great pressure on him.
At this time, he had begun to doubt this place, so he asked the sparrow to still kneel and interrogated this person:
"How long have you been here?"
"Let the sun set five or six times."
"How many of you are here?"
"Noble sir, we really can't count this. Anyway, we can't count them with one pair of hands and one pair of feet."
"Do you have a knife?"
After hearing this, the sparrow looked up at Tai Shi Ci in confusion and said:
"Noble sir, we are all mountain lodgers. We should carry a knife with us in the mountains, otherwise we will not be able to walk."
Taishi Ci ignored this and continued to ask:
"You said that the dock master left before. Where did they go? Why did they leave this inheritance to you?"
The sparrow was about to cry now, and he begged:
"Noble sir, we really can't say this. We are just a junior in the clan, and we all came down with the clan members. Anyway, the clan leader told us that this will be our new home in the future. He also said that when the Taishan Army comes, we will give If we divide the land, we can live a good life.”
Speaking of the good days, the sparrow's eyes were filled with tears.
No need to think about how hard life was in the mountains, let alone in the mountains of Gyeonggi Province.
Taishi Ci kept looking at him, and finally showed a smile. He bent down and helped the sparrow up, and apologized:
"I passed by a certain family, hey, we martial artists just speak straightforwardly. We really didn't mean to do it."
As he spoke, he smiled at Wang Yao next to him:
"Look, we were too careless and scared this little brother. Xiao Wang, didn't you have a bag of wine? Give it to this little brother as our apology."
When Wang Yao heard this, he was startled and shook his head:
"Don't talk nonsense, I don't have wine."
But Taishi Ci ignored him at all, walked straight to Wang Yao's horse, took the water bag from the side of his sash, and handed it to the sparrow:
"Go and tell your clan leader that the Taishan Army is coming. Bring whatever good you have to us. We have money."
After saying that, he looked at the sparrow with a smile.
The sparrow looked at Tai Shici suspiciously, as if he couldn't resist the temptation of the drink, and finally took the water bag, and then said:
"I'd better help you pile up the hay first, and then spread the thatch on the stable..."
Taishi Ci interrupted and said with a smile:
"Leave this place to us. You go to the clan leader first and ask him to get some good meat and stew it first. We have enough wine here."
Then he sighed:
"My God, there is wine, meat, and a fire pit. What a beautiful day."
So, the sparrow could only leave the stable with one step and three turns, leaving Tai Shici and others behind.
Watching the sparrow go away, Wang Yao approached Tai Shici and asked doubtfully:
"Do you believe this sparrow?"
Taishi Ci snorted:
"Pretend it for me. Did Xian Yi Ang Ma hear it?"
Wang Yao was puzzled, and then Taishi Ci explained:
"This is what the sparrow said just now. Have you ever seen countless people who just said 'the horses are angry in bright clothes'?" Wang Yao excused the sparrow:
"It's nothing, maybe I just listened to what the merchants said."
Taishi Ci shook his head:
"Something's wrong. There's something wrong everywhere here. In short, we have to be careful about the people here."
Wang Yao asked softly:
"What about the two Yellow Turbans? Do we need to be on guard? Then the place where Old Liu brought us here should also be on guard."
Taishi Cisenhan said:
"What do you think?"
Over there, Deng Dang, Lu Meng and Lao Liu tied up the horses, added fodder to the manger, and poured some water into the trough.
After that, the three of them went up to the stable to set up some firewood, branches, and thatch, and reinforced the stable before the three of them came down.
After the three of them finished doing this, Taishi Ci packed up all the weapons in the war horse's sack.
Eight iron bone flowers, twelve halberds, six ring-headed knives, four iron spears, four crossbows, eight pouches, and four pairs of iron armor.
Taishi Ci and Wang Yao took all these short soldiers, and left the remaining iron spears, crossbows, and armors to Lao Liu, Deng Dang, and Lu Meng.
After doing this, the five of them walked towards the dock wall not far away, carrying all the equipment on their backs, facing the wind and snow.
The wind and snow got worse this night.
……
Inside the dock wall, when Guo Shu and Zhang Xiang walked into the dock wall through the covered prison entrance, the door was locked.
Guo Shu was about to step forward and knock on the door when he suddenly heard the prisoner say hoarsely:
"Boy, I'm a little anxious, could you please make it easier here first?"
Zhang Xiang was about to rebuke angrily, but Guo Shu nodded in agreement. After all, you have to poop and pee outside now. If you poop inside for a while, the smell will be mixed with the smell, so you may have to wash it out more.
So Guo Shu asked Zhang Xiang to take him to the edge of the snow for his convenience.
Zhang Xiang had no choice but to push the man there.
But when he reached the ground, the man just stood but didn't move at all.
Zhang Xiang slapped the man on the head and cursed:
"Why bother?"
The man seemed used to being treated like this and said calmly:
"My hands are tied and I can't pull them. How about you untie the shackles for me or help me."
Zhang Xiang laughed angrily, kicked the man in the hind legs, then ripped off the man's nose and cursed:
"Teasing Naigong? Just squat down and pull me."
The prisoner was obedient and just squatted on the snow and peed, then stood up after a moment of excitement.
Seeing him like this, Zhang Xiang still needs to give him a hakama.
Zhang Xiang ignored him at all and pushed the man towards the wall of the dock.
Along the way, the man couldn't stand it anymore, so he squatted down and used a wooden shackle to lift the calf's hakama, which took a lot of effort.
Guo Shu just glanced at it, not caring what Zhang Xiang did, and then turned around and slapped the wall door hard.
Soon, four men rushed over and quickly opened the door.
As soon as the door opened, the wind and snow blew wildly into the dock wall, and a strong man with a face full of burn scars roared:
"Come in quickly."
After Guo Shu and three others entered, these people closed the door together.
At this time, Guo Shu and others felt more comfortable, so he began to look at the four people in front of him.
The leader among them is the one with burn scars on his face, then there is a tall and thin one, a dark one, and the last one is not tall, but very stocky.
These four people have different shapes, but they all have a strong spirit. Guo Shu and Zhang Xiang knew that something was wrong without even winking at each other.
But the four people were unaware. The man with the burn scar in front of him smiled and said to Guo Shu:
"Guests, please stop standing. A fire pit has been set up inside. Go inside to warm yourself."
Guo Shu smiled and said:
"Then let's talk about the master."
As he said that, Guo Shu pulled the prisoner and Zhang Xiang behind and followed the four of them with a solemn expression, holding on to the handle of the knife and not daring to let go.
From the wall door to the hall is a section of the yard, which was originally used as a place for stacking goods and drying grain, but it was already covered with thick snow.
Guo Shu and others looked around carefully and saw nothing unusual.
After a while, everyone walked outside the hall. Thick furs were hung in front of the hall to block the cold wind outside.
The man with the burn scar took the initiative to lift the animal skin curtain for Guo Shu and the others, and said with a smile:
"Guests please."
Guo Shu let out a breath, and Zhang Xiang protected the prisoner one after another, and then bent down and entered the hall.
As soon as he came in, a wave of heat hit his face, and at the same time, a smell of smelly sweat hit his face, which made Guo Shu burst into tears.
After he recovered, he looked at the situation in the hall.
There are two groups of people.
One of them was accompanied by women, eight of them, like a family, surrounding the fire pit in the middle. When these people saw Guo Shu wearing apricot-yellow cloaks, they stood up immediately, looking panicked.
The other wave of people should be the people in the dock wall. Their number cannot be counted at all, and they are constantly busy in the hall.
It is worth noting that these people are all men.
The man with the burn scar smiled at Guo Shu and said:
"There are still a few guests. I will find a place for you to warm yourself by the fire pit."
Guo Shu frowned and looked at the eight people in the fire pit without turning his head and said:
"There are five more outside. Arrange us together and bring some hot soup."
The man with the burn scar nodded hurriedly and said with a smile:
"Not only is there hot soup, but we are also simmering meat soup in the back. We are in the mountains, and there are always silly rabbits that bump into each other and turn into a pot of soup."
As he said that, the other Wubi people in the hall laughed together.
But Guo Shu did not laugh. Instead, he walked straight to the fire pond and asked condescendingly to a middle-aged and bearded scholar among the eight people there:
"Where are you from?"
This middle-aged scholar wears a crown of advancement. Although he has a gray face and white hair, he still has an extraordinary bearing.
This person saluted respectfully and said:
"These are my family members and tribesmen in Zhou Shang, Xialujiang. We used to stay at a friend's house in Gyeonggi Province. Recently, my friend's family suffered a disaster and could not protect us, so I returned with my family to my hometown."
Guo Shu looked at this group of people carefully.
In addition to this middle-aged scholar, there was a beautiful middle-aged woman in linen. Although she had a face scarf on her face and her eyes were red as if she had cried, she still had no less charm.
Guo Shu was attracted by this woman.
In addition to this woman, there is also a handsome young man who is very outstanding.
When Guo Shu came over, everyone including the middle-aged scholar and the beautiful woman were actually nervous. Only the young man was concentrating on peeling pears with a knife.
Guo Shu kept staring at him until the man finished peeling the pears, then he raised his head and said to him:
"One?"
Guo Shu stared at the young man and suddenly smiled:
"Thank you."
After saying that, he turned his back, his eyes extremely cold.