Zhang Heng couldn't think of anything that Master Xu could do with him, so he could only nod his head and said: "Okay, I understand. Prepare some more food for tonight, and I will bring it to my master."
"Yes, sir."
Grandma Sun withdrew respectfully.
After Grandma Sun left, Zhang Heng came to the map hanging on the wall, looked at it and fell into thought.
“Rongcheng!!”
Zhang Heng frowned slightly.
Yangjiang, Echeng, Kangcheng, Rongcheng.
These are the four counties along the southwest coast of Handong Province, but unlike the other three counties, Rongcheng, a coastal county, is occupied by warlords.
This man claimed to be the Marshal of Rongcheng and was the nephew of Prince Wuyi. After arriving in Rongcheng, he formed an alliance with local maritime merchants to protect the maritime business in the coastal areas.
Although his military strength is not large, only three to four thousand men, he has a type of military unit under his command that Zhang Heng does not have, the navy.
Of course, the navy is actually just a few second-hand gunboats, which control the shipping business of several counties and the exchange of goods with South Vietnam, Siam, the Philippines, and Malay countries.
The most difficult thing for Zhang Heng now is how to deal with him.
Solved by force.
At present, his three regiments have not yet formed combat effectiveness, and it is not suitable to use troops in a short time.
Furthermore, it is easy to defeat the Commander-in-Chief of Rongcheng, but what is difficult is not to be put in the shoes of Prince Wuyi and not to be disliked by the Maritime Merchants Alliance.
No one is rich without business.
Zhang Heng is a modern man and knows the importance of business very well.
Let alone being far away, once a fight breaks out, it is easy for the wealthy businessmen in Chengdu to run away, but it is difficult to get them back. What he wants is a complete, prosperous and wealthy Chengdu, not a mess.
Solving it by force is the last resort.
The best policy is to return to peace without losing blood.
But this is even more difficult. There is no one around Zhang Heng who can talk to Rongcheng, and his current strength is not enough to make the Rongcheng commander surrender and follow him as the second commander.
"Developing yourself is the last word. Let those in Chengdu give it a break first."
"When next spring comes, I will have three reinforced regiments with six to seven thousand troops. Then it will be time to consider Chengdu. Now, I am too anxious to eat hot tofu."
Zhang Heng took a deep breath and looked away from the map.
...
night...
Zhang Heng carried the food box and came to the Taoist temple.
"Master, look what I brought here, your favorite Dongpo elbow."
When Zhang Heng came in, Zhenren Xu was instructing Zhang DaDa to refuel the Changming lamp.
Seeing that Zhang Heng was here, Xu Zhenren had a smile on his face and said directly: "A Heng, are you done with your work over there?"
"I'm done with my work. It's all trivial matters. I won't disturb Master if I tell you about it."
"But don't worry, Master. I'm only busy for a while. I just need to sort out the things at hand and leave the rest to the people below. I only need to steer the boat and don't need to row the boat."
As Zhang Heng spoke, he put the food box on the table and warned: "Master, you eat it while it's hot. This Dongpo elbow must be hot. It won't taste right when it's cold."
"good."
Xu Zhenren sat on the chair, opened the food box, and boldly gave Zhang instructions without looking back: "Eat first, and then cook after eating."
"Yes, Master."
Zhang DaDa agreed happily.
Sitting next to Xu Zhenren, holding chopsticks, he looked anxiously at Xu Zhenren's food box: "Senior brother, have you made my favorite braised lion's head?"
"Has your senior brother ever been careless in his work?"
Xu Zhenren opened the food box.
As you can see, the food box is divided into five layers. The first layer is Dongpo pork elbow, the second layer is fried mutton with green onions, the third layer is braised lion head, the fourth layer is a platter of four kinds of cold dishes, and the fifth layer is a
Small bowl of rice.
"It's such a waste to do so much every time."
Xu Zhenren said this, but he couldn't stop smiling, just like those parents whose children went home and bought gifts, full of joy, but complained about the expense.
When Zhang Heng saw this, he did not expose it. He took out the Huadiao wine he brought and said, "Master, I will drink two cups with you."
"Wait a minute."
Xu Zhenren reached out to stop Zhang Heng: "Do you have anything else to do tonight?"
Zhang Heng shook his head: "No."
"Then don't drink and keep your spirits up."
Xu Zhenren explained: "After dinner, later in the night, I will take you to meet some friends."
"meet friends?"
Zhang DaDa looked puzzled: "Master, what kind of friends are you meeting so late at night?"
Xu Zhenren smiled and said nothing.
Zhang Heng, on the other hand, had some guesses. Looking at Zhenren Xu and Zhang Dadan, they had been apprentices for a while, but they had never faced those things directly.
I went to see my friends late at night. These friends were probably not serious friends.
"Senior brother, do you know?"
Seeing the thoughtful look on Zhang Heng's face, Zhang DaDa couldn't help but ask.
"To know is to know, and to know is to know."
Zhang Heng didn't criticize it and just said: "Eat quickly and eat more, they are all your favorite dishes."
Zhang DaDa was a little confused, but then he stopped thinking about it and kept his head down while taking a big gulp of rice.
It takes two sticks of incense.
After eating and drinking, Xu Zhenren stood up and said, "Go and say good night to the founder."
"Yes, Master."
Zhang Heng and Zhang boldly walked to the statue, knelt down, pinched the magic spell with their hands, and bowed three times: "Good night, Grandmaster."
"time to go."
When they turned back, Xu Zhenren had already set up the donkey cart.
The two of them followed Xu Zhenren and got into the donkey cart. They walked for an hour.
"Senior brother, why are you here at the mass grave?"
Looking around, Zhang DaDa looked confused.
"You forgot, Master wants to bring a friend."
Zhang Heng places a heavy emphasis on the word friend.
"ah!"
Zhang boldly touched his belly.
I ate too much at night, and when I went out and the cold wind blew, my stomach started to feel uncomfortable for some reason.
"I've already seen it during the day. There are good friends hiding here and there. You start digging."
Xu Zhenren took two shovels from the car and handed them to the two of them without any explanation.
"Master, I can't do it anymore. I'm going to go take some time first."
Zhang boldly covered his stomach and ran away quickly.
"A lazy ass rubs his body and pees a lot!"
Xu Zhenren looked at it and shook his head.
"Master, let me go first."
Zhang Heng took the shovel and started digging at the spot Xu Zhenren said.
Since this was a mass grave and the burial was not deep, he soon dug out a thin coffin from inside.
"It's a coffin, you're lucky."
Seeing Zhang Heng dig up the coffin, Xu Zhenren showed a look of pity.
Zhang Heng didn't understand the logic behind this and couldn't help but ask: "Master, why is the coffin blessed?"
"Coffin, coffin, promotion and fortune."
"The first time I went out with my master to meet friends, what I found was wrapped in bamboo mats. It looked like, eh, so disgusting."
Master Xu knew that Zhang Heng did not understand this, so he added: "The ones in the coffin are in better condition. When you vomit later, you should be able to vomit less."
Zhang Heng swallowed and spit.
I looked back at the place where Zhang DaDa disappeared. He had eaten four bowls of rice in the evening, and he would suffer a lot later.
"What are you waiting for? Let's open the coffin."
Xu Zhenren made a coffin-carrying gesture.
Zhang Heng knew that he would not be able to escape today.
I was cruel, took a deep breath, walked up, grabbed the lid of the coffin and lifted it hard.
Crunch...
Because it is a thin coffin and the person was buried in mass, there are no coffin nails on this coffin.
Zhang Heng pulled gently, and in an instant, he lifted the coffin lid aside, revealing his friend lying inside.
"Don't close your eyes. The more dangerous it is, the more you have to open your eyes wide and look carefully."
Xu Zhenren put his hand on Zhang Heng's shoulder: "Look carefully, look carefully until you are no longer afraid."
Zhang Heng endured the discomfort and saw a guy with half his face rotten lying in the coffin under the moonlight.
"How are you? Are you afraid?"
Xu Zhenren came closer with a faint tone.
"Not afraid."
Zhang Heng swallowed his saliva and said resolutely: "It's just a little disgusting."
"Aren't you afraid?"
Xu Zhenren held a Bagua mirror in his hand, looked at the moonlight, and then looked at the corpse's face: "You will be afraid later."
Click!
Kaka!!
When the light on Bagua was illuminated, the body began to shake.
When Xu Zhenren saw this, he took out the bell again, first touched the corpse's eyebrows, and then gently shook the bell: "Get up!"
Zhang Heng saw clearly that the corpse stood up straight from the coffin.
"It's all on you."
Xu Zhenren pulled out the mahogany sword on his back and threw it to Zhang Heng. Then the bell pointed to Zhang Heng: "Go!"
"Master, come up and start fighting?"
Zhang Heng looked at the mahogany sword in his hand and the corpse rushing towards him, and said with a wry smile: "Is the progress too fast?"
"How can we make progress if we don't hurry up?"
Xu Zhenren shook the bell: "Stab his chest. The tip of the sword should be inserted horizontally. If it is pointed vertically, it will get stuck in the ribs."
Zhang Heng took a few steps back.
Fortunately, the speed of this thing is not very fast, and there is still time for him to think.
"Stab!"
Poof!!
Zhang Heng exerted his strength and pushed the peach wood sword in directly.
The heart was hit and the body fell to the ground instantly. At the same time, Xu Zhenren also showed a look of satisfaction: "Yes, after this first time, you won't hesitate the second time."
"Master, is there a second time?"
"Don't talk about the second time, the third time, the fourth time too. This is what your master taught me back then."
On the way back.
Zhang Heng's face turned pale, and Zhang Dadan even vomited while holding the carriage.
He hit the jackpot today.
His friend was wrapped in a mat, which was much scarier than Zhang Heng's.
In addition, after eating so much, Zhang boldly vomited when his friend pounced on him and swung the bugs at him. It was not because he was afraid, but because he was too disgusted.
...
A few days later.
Every night I train my courage + hands without stopping.
Not to mention, it really works, and you get used to it after vomiting.
A week later, Zhang Heng's expression remained unchanged.
His heart was as cold as his peach wood sword.
According to Xu Zhenren, he is now qualified to say that he is a Taoist priest because he cannot vomit.
Don't underestimate the words "cannot vomit", there is a lot of knowledge in it.
You talk so much that you vomit when you see the real master. People don’t believe you when you say you are a Taoist priest because you are unprofessional.
What does it mean to be professional? Being able to sleep with a corpse in your arms and the corpse bugs falling into your mouth is like chewing a peppercorn. My mouth tastes even better. This is called professional.