"So Xiao Lu, how are you going to teach me this martial arts?"
"What, aren't you looking forward to this, haha."
"No!"
After Lu Hanjiang and Shanglu rested for a night at the city guardhouse, they continued their journey to the south the next day. They probably didn't mention the matter much along the way, so it was this girl who became anxious first.
The two of them were now sitting in a warm carriage, with a flag officer in charge of driving. Lu Hanjiang could finally enjoy this trip comfortably and comfortably.
He leaned on the cushion, took out a stack of documents from the paper bag on the side, handed it to Shangluo and asked, "Do you know what this is?"
Shang Luo glanced at it briefly. Although she didn't understand the meaning of what was written on it, the format of this document was familiar to her.
"A wanted order issued by the court?"
As a Jianghu person, Shangluo is naturally familiar with these things. Not to mention, when she was in Jiangnan, she would always see several wanted posters with different portraits indicating bounties at the city gate every day.
"That's right," Lu Hanjiang rummaged through the wanted order, pointed to the big beard painted on it and said, "This man's surname is Ma. He has gathered a group of people to occupy the Qinggan Mountain area, specializing in road robbery.
, on the road, he is called the leader of the horse."
"Robbery on the road...isn't this a bandit?" This sounded like a bandit, and Shangluo didn't notice anything wrong.
Lu Hanjiang also nodded and said, "That's true. He is a typical representative of mountain bandits."
"Typical...what do you mean?" Shangluo asked doubtfully.
"Love money, like beauties, admire force, hate the imperial court, and fear the royal guards." Lu Hanjiang said.
"That's quite simple and easy to understand, eh," Shangluo thought about this sentence for a while, then asked, "Xiao Lu, are you going to deal with the bandits?"
"Of course not," Lu Hanjiang shook his head and said, "This kind of thing is the responsibility of the local county magistrate. There is no way I can be asked to do it."
"In that case, what does he have to do with us?" Shangluo didn't quite understand Lu Hanjiang's intention of suddenly mentioning this bandit.
"Don't worry."
Lu Hanjiang placed the wanted order for the leader of the horse on the top of a stack of documents, and said slowly and unhurriedly: "This man has been at large in the local area for many years, but the county has not sent anyone to deal with him."
"Why?" Shangluo's eyes were full of doubts.
"Well, to put it simply, it's just not cost-effective."
Lu Hanjiang spread his hands and said helplessly: "This group of bandits is neither weak enough to be easily eliminated, nor strong enough to require the court to send heavy troops to encircle and suppress them. Their power is just stuck at a level that makes the county magistrate very embarrassed.
"
"What... does this mean?" Shangluo asked, looking at Lu Hanjiang blankly.
Lu Hanjiang explained: "To deal with mountain bandits, generally speaking, either the county sends its own people or asks for help. The local Magistrate Ma - well, don't get me wrong, he just happens to be named Ma. This Master Ma can control
The officer and soldier who was on duty happened to be about the same size as these bandits, and besides, he was not very courageous, so he never dared to take action himself."
Shangluo's brows were squeezed together and she said, "Then wouldn't it be better if he just went to the top for help?"
"This should be the case, but you have to know that in the area under your jurisdiction, if there are bandits that are too powerful and cannot be easily eliminated, it is a sign of incompetence as an official."
Lu Hanjiang put his hands behind his head, leaned back comfortably, and said: "And our Mr. Ma is a flatterer who knows how to please the superiors. Naturally, the documents reported here only report good news but not bad news, so we let this gang of Shangguan
The thief has been living freely until today, and he has become a prominent figure in the green forest."
"So that's it."
Shangluo nodded in understanding, and then asked: "How did you know that, Xiao Lu?"
"Of course the Jin Yiwei found out," Lu Hanjiang said quite amusingly when he said this: "At first, people in the Yamen thought that the county magistrate had colluded with the bandits to raise the bandits for his own sake, but they didn't expect that it was him who was cowardly and incompetent and raised them in vain.
Damn this bandit."
"So, in the end, it's up to you, Xiao Lu, to deal with these bandits?" Shangluo said very depressedly. Didn't this bring us back to the starting point? What did she say wrong just now?
"No," Lu Hanjiang still shook his head and said: "How stupid the county magistrate is, how he should be punished is a matter for the officials in the court to care about. How powerful the bandits are, and how to eradicate them is also a matter for the officials in the court to worry about.
All I have to do is take them and do an experiment."
"What experiment?"
"Don't you believe that everyone in this world has a price? I will prove it to you now."
Lu Hanjiang flicked the wanted poster for the leader of the horse, and said: "Let's go and see the style of the leader of the horse, and then see what price we can pay to buy some of his things, how about it?"
"I'm a bandit. Wouldn't I grab something myself? Or should I ask Xiao Lu to give him money?" Shangluo was not optimistic about Lu Hanjiang's idea.
Lu Hanjiang shrugged and said, "Of course it's not money, but there are dozens of bandits. You think I look like a rich man. Can I feed them all in one go?"
"Well, it's not like that, Xiao Lu, you are usually quite stingy." Shangluo analyzed it very seriously.
The natural consequence of such an answer was that Lu Hanjiang hit his forehead with a knife, and he said with a straight face: "Talk too much."
"Obviously you asked me to say it..." Shangluo muttered aggrievedly.
...
The group continued and entered the territory of Qinggan Mountain. The mountains here are high and densely forested, which is the most suitable place for bandits to attack. And they don’t know whether it was good luck or bad luck, but they happened to run into a group of thieves.
Taoist.
Call——
The flag officer driving the car reined in the horse's rope and stopped the car. Shangluo couldn't wait to stick her head out of the window and take a look outside. Lu Hanjiang also observed the situation outside through the corner of the car curtain.
The bad thing about this is that they ran into bandits, but the good thing about it is that the people who were robbed were not them, but another group of people.
About seven or eight men in uniform uniforms and armed with iron bars stood guard outside the two carriages. They faced bandits several times their number.
In front of the first carriage, a middle-aged man with a Chinese character and a moustache shouted softly, took the iron rod in his hand and slammed it on the ground. One end of the iron rod suddenly sank three or four inches into the ground. With this hand, he could see several people around him.
The bandit looked hesitant.
The man looked straight ahead from a distance, a bearded man wearing a big black cotton waistcoat and said: "Boss Ma, although your Qinggan Mountain is famous, I, the Zhenwei Escort Agency, are not easy to mess with. I wouldn't want you to sell me a favor."
How about we just let it go and make friends between our two families?"
"Hahaha," the sturdy man's rough laughter echoed in the mountains and forests. He pointed the simple knife in his hand at the man and said, "What Mr. Chen said makes sense, so please leave the carriage and property and leave quickly.
Ma will never make things difficult for you."
"In that case, I'll be brave enough to come and learn the martial arts from Chief Ma!"