Pingcheng and Tongqian City are separated by two mountains. One of them is said to have been occupied by a group of bandits, but before his arrival, the government sent troops to annihilate it.
Now there are only empty hills and a circle of dilapidated wooden villages.
Chen Yu did not go this way, but chose another path.
The reason why he mentioned it was because on the way over the mountains and ridges, he met a caravan that was also heading to Pingcheng.
According to a middle-aged man among them, the caravan had encountered this group of gangsters earlier.
Fortunately, there were guards accompanying them at that time, and the bright silver sword light scared the opponent away. After all, they were just a group of ordinary people, and they could not be named farmers before they took over the mountain and became the king.
It's okay to bully ordinary passers-by. If you really encounter people like them, you can only avoid them with your tail between your legs.
Don't dare to offend.
"Brother Chen is so courageous that he dares to run alone in these barren mountains. I heard that he is from Shiya County?"
"Exactly, but he doesn't have much courage. He just relies on some superficial martial arts and is not afraid of the thieves who bully the weak and fear the strong as the old man said."
"Taoist?" The middle-aged man looked surprised, then smiled even more heartily, saying that his mother believed in it.
As for his rudimentary martial arts skills, he regarded it as the humility of the young man in front of him.
A young Taoist priest who has walked hundreds of miles alone, especially in this increasingly chaotic world. If there is no adulteration in his words, then his martial arts level will definitely not be low, at least not the superficial level the other party said.
In fact, Chen Yu was not modest. He really felt that his martial arts were too superficial and he could only compete with third-rate martial artists in the world.
Of course, now that we have the art of sound attack, we may be able to improve a little bit, but Dingtian will be at the bottom of the second-rate. Far inferior to the old Taoist priest during his lifetime.
The middle-aged man didn't know what Chen Yu was thinking, and he was inviting Chen Yu to go with him. Both parties were going to Pingcheng, and it would undoubtedly be much more convenient and safer to follow the team.
They can also take care of each other.
The other party is indeed good at talking, looks completely unsuspecting, has a square face, and has a bold temperament, which makes it easy for travelers to fall in love with him.
Chen Yu did not shirk. He glanced at it before and saw that there were men and women in the caravan, old and young, and the carriages were full of goods, piled with fur mountain products. They were not dressed up as bandits.
"Hahaha, with the help of the little Taoist priest, this journey will be less dangerous!"
Seeing Chen Yu agree, the middle-aged man laughed and his words were full of compliments.
"Just kidding, I should have thanked the caravan for taking care of me."
Who takes care of whom...this is a matter of opinion.
He had seen the entire team. The guards on several carriages were all armed with force, and their temples were bulging high. This was a sign of strength that had been practiced to the core.
As for the middle-aged man next to him, although he seemed to have sloppy steps and a fat waist, he was not like Lian Jiazi. However, Chen Yu had sharp eyesight and noticed the thick layer of calluses on the other man's hands, especially on the index finger and thumb.
The cocoon skin is so thick that it is almost covered with pulp.
He is probably good at martial arts such as claws and fingers.
The strength is not weak, and the spirit is driven to test, and you can vaguely feel the slightest needle light coming towards you, and the energy and blood are strong.
It's guaranteed to be strong, but I don't know if it's a small success.
Chen Yu glanced at it and felt that he had probably mastered Rou Jin, otherwise he would not have been able to continue his business in this chaotic world until now.
On the side, the old man was still eloquent, talking non-stop about the past glory of the caravan.
In fact, the other party is indeed well-informed. According to him, the caravan was founded by his father and later handed over to him. Over the past ten years, he has traveled north and south, including Yunzhou, Baizhou, Leyanzhou and other places among the seven southwest states.
He is very familiar with him. As for Xizhou at his feet, he has traveled all over, and there are acquaintances in all the four prefectures.
Chen Yu's words went in one ear and out the other, because they had nothing to do with him.
The other party has good eyesight, and may have seen something in him. He wants to recruit, but he obviously will not stay in this caravan.
But what is certain is that the caravan has indeed traveled to many places in the past. After chatting with him, he learned a lot of new things about the situation in Pingcheng and the surrounding prefectures.
…
It's night again.
As we get closer to Fuzhi, the official road becomes open and flat, unlike what Chen Yu saw when he passed by Chenzhong County, which is cramped and shabby.
"Let's just spend the night here tonight."
The group of people came to about two miles outside the official road. There was a City God's Temple built here. It was probably built by people from nearby villages. Not only was there a statue of the City God, but there were also wooden cases and tribute bowls.
The bowl was empty and covered with spider webs.
"This place was built by the Shilan Village next door. It was originally dedicated to the Hundred-Eyed God. Later, Emperor Wu promoted a lot of wild sex activities and it was changed into the City God's Temple."
The old man named Liu Mu pointed to the temple in front of him that was much taller and wider than the average Chenghuang Temple.
Chen Yu nodded, saying that he had seen a lot of the City God's Temple in his memory, but the building in front of him was indeed a bit too much. Only then did he understand after listening to Brother Liu's explanation that the original enshrined owner had been torn down long ago.
"OK."
He responded, and then followed the others to prepare for tonight's stay, mainly collecting firewood and spreading powder to repel insects.
In fact, this place is only more than ten miles away from Pingcheng, so you can reach it with a little walking.
But Pingcheng is not a copper gate. There is a curfew. When Xu hour comes, the city gates will be lowered and closed to prevent entry and exit.
If I rushed back now, I would probably have to spend the night outside the city enjoying the cool breeze. After thinking about it, I found a place like this to rest and recuperate.
After working for a while, everything was in order.
Everyone lit bonfires and fell asleep to rest.
Outside the temple, there were caravan guards patrolling each other in groups of two and three. Chen Yu slept in the corner on the right side of the Chenghuang Temple, and the innermost position was given to the female relatives in the caravan.
That old man Liu was also blocking the doorstep, wrapped in some unknown fur and snoring.
Everyone slept soundly.
Until a certain moment, a exclamation came from outside the temple, waking everyone up. Chen Yu was the first to get up. But the first one to rush out of the temple was Brother Liu.
I saw him grabbing his waist knife and slashing it vertically twice in the air, making a shrill whine.
His face turned red, he ran out muttering and cursing.
Chen Yu, who was standing on one side, thought that this person was probably ignited when he got up, and he was probably burning with anger at this time.
When I went out, I saw, as expected, seven or eight skinny guys in civilian clothes fell to the ground, moaning and groaning.
Two patrolling guards were supporting each other and were injured.
"Whoop whoop! What a fart!"
clang!
The back of the knife hit the stone, causing the thief who was wailing against the soil to turn pale. He didn't dare to scream anymore and just whimpered for a while.
"Little Taoist, these guys are here to rob, and they are acting as gangsters under the name of Jiulong Village in the next county."
"Don't take a piss to reflect on your own virtue."
When Chen Yu approached, several thieves had been subdued on the ground, and two of them were silent. However, this was not worthy of sympathy. Since they took this road, they had to think of such a day.
Afterwards, everyone interrogated and found out that these people were not from the so-called Kowloon Village at all, but from a village called Fengquan on the other side of the mountain.
They are all farmers.
This year I suffered from banditry and harvested very little food, so I didn't know which of my ribs was wrong, so I brought my iron pick and wooden stick to work as a highway robbery.
In order to be able to meet with fellow villagers in the future, a few people did not rob on the spot, but came to Guandao, where there were many pedestrians, and there were many wealthy merchants coming and going.
"With big eyes and a small belly, who can you beat with your shabby hoe?!"
Brother Liu who was awakened was still cursing, but when Chen Yu saw that the matter was over, he returned to the City God's Temple again and closed his eyes to rest.
I can't sleep anymore, so I might as well sharpen my mental energy.