Chapter 36 Night Exploration of Linglong Village 2
The two of them continued to walk upwards. Although the caves were surrounded by caves, the bandits were coming and going day and night, so the road was very smooth.
Some of the steep paths protrude from the stone walls and cling to the side walls. Chains thick as wrists are also hung on the side walls for people to hold on to. The cave is damp, and the chains on the stone walls are stained with water vapor everywhere.
Wet and very sticky.
Song Yanqing was a bit of a germaphobe. Even if there was a bottomless deep cave next to him, he would never touch the chain and walk alone on such a steep path.
Chu Shouke could not reach this level. He was afraid that the soles of his feet would slip and fall into the terrible and turbid cave pool, so he always reached out to hold the chain and did not dare to let go.
The climbing path stretched out from the stone wall. The two of them climbed the stone steps of different shapes step by step. They didn't realize until they reached the end. They didn't know whether it was leading to the next cave or directly to the village.
The exits were sealed tightly.
Chu Shou held his forehead and sighed: "Why did a stone gate appear for nothing?"
This is completely a cliff cave created by nature's miraculous craftsmanship. How could it be possible?! A stone door appeared for nothing! It's unreasonable, very unreasonable.
"It's okay." Song Yanqing raised his right hand and touched his fingertips to the carved patterns on the stone door. They were wetted by the wind and some traces had been hidden. His fingertips quickly followed the carvings on the stone door.
Chu Shou quickly stretched out his hand to take the fire folding piece, came closer to light it for him, and reminded: "Meng Liang knows the Xuanmen mechanism formation, but his skills are not sophisticated. I think it is just the model in the book."
The stone door was glowing with candlelight, and the patterns on it were weird and difficult to distinguish. On the upper right side, there were 18 lotus flowers with rotatable petals and symbols engraved on them. The nine-hole round hole in the middle that looked like a lotus root was facing the
Chu Shou's face.
Song Yanqing was about to turn the lotus-shaped mechanism, but Chu Shou raised her hand to stop her. She said seriously and sincerely: "There is definitely a crossbow needle hidden in this small hole..."
Song Yanqing looked in the direction of the small hole, her throat twitched, she nodded slightly, and raised her hand to protect her behind her. This kind of mechanism, four on the left and two on the right, should not be wrong.
He gently turned it to the left, and the stone door roared. His hand holding Chu Shou's wrist tightened instantly. After the noise subsided, there was no movement around him.
Chu Shou swallowed lightly and said, "Azhi, continue..."
Song Yanqing looked back at her, nodded firmly, and immediately pressed the four decoding mechanisms on the left and two on the right to start turning. He quickly finished turning, and heard another rumble from the stone door. Chu Shou grabbed Song Yanqing's arm tightly.
This narrow path, coupled with the loud rumbling noise, and this deep culvert, would have scared me to death even if I hadn't been penetrated by the crossbow needle.
Then there was another burst of deathly silence. The two of them looked at each other for a while. In an instant, nine plum blossom crossbow needles shot out of the nine-hole hole, and the figures of the two of them flew straight to the front and disappeared out of sight.
In the five-fingered darkness.
This series of frights was no problem, but a woman's exclamation came from the dark place ahead, followed by a burst of rapid and chaotic footsteps, and the chains on the side wall were pulled and shook, making a clear sound.
Chu Shou tremblingly stretched out his hand holding Huozhezi, and with the faint light, the woman's face gradually became clear.
After seeing it, Chu Shou breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help laughing. He walked down a few steps to her and reached out to pluck the crossbow needle that was inserted into the woman's hair. "You should be more grateful for your height."
"you!"
Keyan Yue held the chain tightly with her right hand, and pointed at Chu Shou with her left hand, who was quite gloating about his misfortune. She stamped her feet and was furious, her voice was high-pitched but was suppressed very low, and she was filled with fear for the rest of her life.
"Why are you here?" Song Yan lowered his eyes and asked in confusion.
"Yeah, why are you sneaking here with us in the middle of the night?" Chu Shou looked at her with his eyes lowered, his arms folded across his chest, and his tone was cold.
Keyan Yue said incoherently: "Who... who followed you, I can go wherever I want."
Before he finished speaking, the stone door seemed to have been in disrepair for a long time, and suddenly there was a roar, and it opened slowly. Song and Chu both looked back at the same time, and both glanced at Keyan Yue. Time waited for no one, and they were ready to continue immediately.
leave.
Keyan Yue looked at the backs of the two people turning away and shouted anxiously: "Hey! Wait for me!"
She got up in the middle of the night and wanted to tease Chu Shou to repay the humiliation of the day. Unexpectedly, she watched her flip to another room. After the two of them walked out of the inn, she wanted to give up, but she came and saw everything.
Already...
So I followed their footsteps through the military camp and entered the pitch-black cave.
It was very scary here. She didn't want to be left here alone, so she lifted up her skirt and hurriedly followed the pace of the two of them.
After exiting the cave, there was a cellar, because there were a lot of fruits and vegetables stored in large jars and small jars. Chu Shou put out the fire, picked up a green fruit, wiped a handful on his sleeve, and put it in his mouth.
Inside, he said vaguely: "Yes, it seems to be a cellar."
She had long forgotten the specific setup of the secret passage, but she still remembered it clearly in the village. The top priority was to find Meng Liang. She didn't believe anyone else. But she still had to go through some troubles to get close to Meng Liang's residence.
The officers and soldiers have been surrounding the place for several days. The stronghold must have been heavily fortified and patrols stepped up.
"Eat one." Chu Shou took a few more fruits and handed them to Song Yanqing. Song Yanqing looked around, then turned around and took the fruits.
Behind her, Ke Yanyue climbed up, looked at the rich fruits and vegetables in the cellar, and calmly took out a vegetable basket. Suddenly she touched something cold and iron-like. When she opened it, she saw that there were actually things underneath these fruits and vegetables.
They are handy weapons such as crossbows and arrows.
"This..." She was stunned for a moment and took out a crossbow.
Chu Shou also turned around and pushed the fruits and vegetables away from the basket. Sure enough, there were weapons under the basket, but he was just holding the fruits and vegetables to cover up.
Before the two of them could recover from their surprise, a sound of "Uh huh huh" came from the corner of the cellar in front. Song Yanqing raised her hand to signal Chu Shou not to move, and took out a bow from the basket.
Crossbow, loaded with arrows, walked slowly towards the corner.
He first raised his hand and tilted it towards the person, tilted his head and frowned, turned to ask Chu Shou: "Are there still people in custody here?"
Chu Shou walked over in confusion and saw a person lying on the ground, tied up with five-flowered ropes, his hands and feet were wrapped with circles of hemp rope, and a fist-sized cloth was stuffed in his mouth.
He was squirming and squeaking. When the man saw Chu Shou, his eyes instantly lit up and he became excited, eager to say something.
Chu Shou took a closer look and found that this man looked familiar. After another closer look, wasn't this exactly the person they were looking for? Meng Liang, nicknamed "Linglongzhai Military Advisor"?
"If I hadn't seen the officers and soldiers still at the foot of the mountain with my own eyes, I would have thought they had gone straight to the mountain stronghold."
After Song Yan listened, he knew in his heart that this person should be the Meng Liang that Chu Shou had mentioned. He put away his crossbow, squatted down, raised his hand to take out the cloth covering Meng Liang, and slipped it out of his sleeve.
Flying knife, cut the hemp rope for him.
Meng Liang first exclaimed, then looked at the entrance of the cellar as if he was a thief with a guilty conscience, lowered his voice and asked, "What? The officers and soldiers are still at the bottom of the mountain?"
After the hemp ropes on his hands and feet were cut one by one, he climbed up with difficulty holding on to the cellar wall, straightened his clothes, picked up the hairpin that fell on the ground, inserted it firmly into his hair, and stood up to bow.
Chu Shou raised his hand to stop him, and then looked at a woman following behind him, so he just turned to a small salute.
Chu Shou saw that he looked troubled and hesitated to speak, so he asked: "What happened in the village?"
"Last month, the big boss went down the mountain and robbed a group of Youyan caravans, and kidnapped a young lady from the caravan up the mountain. Unexpectedly, the young lady knew the art of witchcraft and poisoned the big boss on the day of their wedding.
, the first boss is still unconscious in bed. Later, this woman colluded with Yang Hu, the second boss, broke the agreement with the government, and went down the mountain to burn, kill and loot, which led to the officers and soldiers surrounding me. I claimed to be a righteous hoe, but my hands were empty and powerless, and they were
I was tied to this cellar and left to fend for myself."
As Meng Liang spoke, tears welled up in his eyes. Chu Shou couldn't bear to speak and was about to speak, but Ke Yanyue took the lead and asked, "Is that woman mute?"
Meng Liang wiped away his tears, frowned and recalled, "Oh? It seems that he never heard her speak."
"Do you know her? If she were from the Canaan tribe, then this matter would be much easier to handle." Chu Shou looked at Keyan Yue and asked.
Keyan Yue lowered her head and said dullly: "We know each other, and my brother and I came here to find her."
Song Yanqing pondered: "Isn't this just right?"
Chu Shou also nodded.
"No..." Keyan Yuebu said, "She is the direct disciple of our clan leader. Her name is Cangcuo. Originally, the clan leader sent her to meet the Wu clan in Youzhou. Who would have thought that a month later, the heavenly officials were there to see her off?"
It’s over, and she hasn’t come back yet. When I sent her a message, she had never been to Youzhou. My brother and I followed the clan leader’s orders and followed the places she passed. We thought we would gain nothing..."
Unexpectedly, she accidentally followed Chu Shou and Song Yanqing up the mountain, and she happened to know that Cang Cuo was here. Although she and Cang Cuo had no communication on weekdays, their relationship was worse than just acquaintances.
, Cangcuo is a weirdo, no one can have a good relationship with her...
"She is proficient in the art of witchcraft. Although she is mute and looks weak, her temper is astonishingly weird. In our tribe, no one can defeat her, and no one can influence her decision. She is poisonous,
She can also control the poisonous insects. Originally, the clan leader stipulated that these should not be used easily when going out, but since she has activated the poisonous insects, you must have made her angry. If my brother is here, I can try to persuade her to let go and go down the mountain.
If it’s just me, I definitely can’t do it.”
Chu Shou nodded slightly and thought to himself: If she was kidnapped by a group of bandits to be the wife of the village, let alone being angry, she might be able to do something like a bloodbath in the village...
"Aren't you going to civilize the village and become wiser and wiser? Why are you tied up here?" Chu Shou said angrily. At the beginning, he couldn't go down the mountain. He had to calm down the banditry before he could end it. He tried to persuade him eight hundred times but refused to listen.
This time I almost fell down here.
Meng Liang scratched his head and said: "I was working hard, but the master believed Yang Hu's alienation and gradually lost trust in me. Some plans and measures were interrupted. Seeing that they started atrocities again, I couldn't bear it.
I stayed there and argued a few words, and then I was thrown into this cellar..."
Then he added, with a somewhat annoyed and self-reproaching tone: "They were just temporarily blinded. I believe they can always get better. They have been self-sufficient in the past few years and no longer need to live by robbing families..."
Chu Shou was angry after hearing this, and felt uncomfortable in his heart. Seeing this, Song Yanqing took a few steps forward, raised his hands and asked, "Mr. Meng, how is the situation here now?"
"I heard from the people who came here to arrange weapons today that there should be nothing unusual in the village as usual. Because of the advantage of the terrain, Yang Hu became the boss again, but he was eager to sing, drink and have fun every night.
They didn’t seem too anxious and just made some rough arrangements.”
Chu Shou nodded slightly, touched his chin, and thought: "Since she has a different kind of martial arts, she can just kill people from the mountain, so why would she commit herself to working with Yang Hu? I'm afraid that Cangcuo has other plans."
For a moment, everyone was speechless. Meng Liang looked left and right, and asked Chu Shou: "I dare to ask, these two are..."
Chu Shou came back to his senses and introduced: "This is Ke Yanyue of the Canaan tribe. This is..."
Chu Shou put his hand on Song Yanqing's arm and patted it gently. He was worried about Ke Yanyue and didn't know how to introduce him for a moment. Song Yanqing didn't say anything, only slightly raised the corners of his mouth, waiting for Chu Shou, she
He paused for a moment before saying, "This is my bodyguard. My old general gave it to me specifically to protect me..."
After all, Chu Shou inexplicably did not dare to raise her hand to look at Song Yanqing's face. She had too many scruples and did not know which identity of Song Yanqing she should introduce to him.
"Then what should we do now?" Keyan Yue asked softly.
"It's better..."
Keyan Yue raised her eyes and asked tentatively: "How about we lead the officers and soldiers from the secret passage and take advantage of the bandits' relaxation to quell the Qingzhou bandits?"
In this way, Cangcuo can be brought back, and she and her brother have completed their mission.
"This..." Meng Liang hesitated after hearing this. He was unwilling to use force to quell the banditry from the beginning to the end.
Originally, there were no bandits in Nanshan. These bandits were workers in the Houshan mine. In the early years, the mine collapsed and many people died here. Their families ran around to argue with the government and begged to speak. Who knew that this time
Just a few years.
The government treated them coldly and ignored them. Many families lost their fathers, sons, grandfathers, and grandchildren and were left in poverty. With hatred and helplessness towards the government, they were forced to go to Liangshan. The former head of the family took them to the mountains to seek a living and opened up Linglong.
Only then did they settle down peacefully in the village, but over time they became the Qingzhou bandits who caused trouble.
Before Meng Liang decided to go up the mountain, he was also afraid, but after staying for a long time, he found that the village was like a small village. Although everyone was called a vicious bandit, they also respected the old and loved the young, and the men cared for them.
Women, children, and even young children attach great importance to the academic education. At the request of everyone, he even opened a small private school in the village, teaching the children in the village to read with their heads bouncing.
If we really draw the officers and soldiers here, there will probably be another bloody storm, and I don't know how many innocent people will be hurt.