A stranger calls himself a woodcutter? What does this mean?
"Sir, we stay day and night and are not familiar with firewood sellers, but we will ask them immediately tomorrow," one stammered.
"But those are the only people selling firewood, so it's easy to ask." Another person also reacted and said hurriedly.
The man looked at them thoughtfully without speaking.
"Master Baihu."
There were footsteps coming from the night, and four more men came along with shouts.
Seeing these people, the man let go of his hand.
The two watchers immediately huddled together.
"How is it?" the man looked at the visitor and asked.
The four men shook their heads.
"There is no trace of him," they said.
As expected, they were looking for someone. The two trembling men on watch were woodcutter? Can a woodcutter offend Jin Yiwei?
Just as they were thinking wildly, they saw Yin Han looking over, and the two of them suddenly froze.
Fortunately, the man waved his hand.
The two watchmen were granted amnesty. These people looked very ordinary. They were not as frightened as the uniformed guards in the county. On the contrary, they looked very kind and not conspicuous at all. They were dressed like ordinary people.
But knowing their identities, I dare not treat them as ordinary people no matter what.
The two of them didn't even bother to pick up the gong for the watch, and ran away in a hurry.
"Have you discovered anything?" A man asked.
The previous hundred households looked at the night.
"I've been cooking here for two days, but I haven't found anything of value." He said, then paused, "But do you think he would cut firewood and sell it for money?"
At this he smiled.
"After all, he is also a woodcutter."
……………………………………………
"I remembered."
A few blocks away, a watchman finally realized that he had lost his gong and remembered something.
"I know a kind of woodcutter."
The other one was a little confused.
"Does the woodcutter still have seeds?" he asked blurtly.
This sounds a little strange.
"The woodcutter didn't sow, but the firewood was divided into seeds, so the woodcutter also planted seeds." The watchman from before said meaningfully, "You have forgotten that a long time ago, there was a kind of firewood in Mobei.
Not trees, but people, there is a new kind of woodcutter.”
"Could it be the woodcutter from Subi Lake?" Another watchman said suddenly, his expression suddenly became complicated, "That's a legend." [Note]
That's a legend.
A long time ago, before the fall of a powerful dynasty, there was a group of fierce soldiers who enjoyed killing grassland horse thieves and called themselves woodcutters. Among them, there was a strong man from Subi Lake who was the most legendary.
These legends were lost in the dust of history. Until Duke Cheng entered the Northland, a group of people recalled the warriors of their ancestors and secretly formed a team of woodcutter.
They often went straight into the Jin people's territory to rob and kill Jin soldiers. Just like the warriors of their ancestors, they claimed that this behavior was wood-chopping, and they were wood-chopping people.
These people were extremely brave and brave, which made the Jin people very angry. The most important thing was that these people had strange identities. They were not generals of the Zhou Dynasty, and they did not know who they were. They appeared and disappeared.
"The Jin people once offered a reward for the capture of these woodcutters. In the past, there was no need to arrest them. They only had to describe what these people looked like and they would reward them." A watchman said.
"So awesome?" Another watcher exclaimed, then covered his mouth again.
The two of them were walking cautiously along the alley.
"Yes, later on, the Jin official who issued the document was approached by the woodcutter. The woodcutter said that if you want to see what I am like, I will give you money. Then give me the money and I will let you see as much as you can."
The watchman continued to whisper, unable to help but imagine the movements and tone of the woodcutter in the night.
"What happened next?" The other person couldn't help but feel nervous and excited. He reached out and bit his finger and asked urgently.
"Later, that official was beheaded by the woodcutter." The first watchman suddenly waved his hand on his companion's neck.
The companion was so frightened that he screamed.
This cry was particularly permeable in the dark night, and the frightening watchman also screamed in fright. Lights were lit on both sides of the alley, accompanied by people's voices asking.
The two watchmen hurriedly ran away.
"You scared me to death."
"You are too cowardly."
"What happened next?"
"The woodcutter hung the official's head on his horse, and it is said that he even put it in and out of a room. He said that he would do what he said, and he would be sure to let him watch as much as he wanted after receiving the money."
"Oh, it's really scary. But then, don't you think these woodcutters are warriors? They are doing good for the Zhou Dynasty. Why do they want to arrest..."
"Maybe it's because these woodcutters disobey discipline, disobey orders from the government and military camps, and do things without authorization."
"Oh, don't talk about this. Don't worry about our business. Let's go."
The night fell into silence again.
The pot on the stove was lifted, and the spicy spicy soup was scooped out.
The ordinary and kind man acted like a real boss, steadily placing the soup bowls one by one in front of the four people sitting at the table.
The four of them sat upright, as well-behaved as children waiting for their elders to share their meal.
"Master Baihu, why don't you check on these people who chop wood?" one of them asked.
The man who was called "Sir" put the pot back on the stove, picked up the handkerchief from his waist and wiped his hands with a skillful movement as if he had been cooking here for a lifetime.
"We can check it out," he said, "but let the local guards do this. We'll continue heading south."
He said and stretched out his hand to draw a direction on the table.
"Increase manpower in Caizhou Prefecture, Huaiqing."
A man sitting at the table picked up a bowl of soup and took a big gulp of the soup. It was so spicy that he stuck out his tongue.
"It's almost June, and we still can't catch this kid. I really want to give him as a wedding gift." He stuck out his tongue and said vaguely.
"You are joking, why would you want him to make a gift?" Master Baihu said angrily, "Master is not familiar with him."
The four men stopped talking and drank soup from their bowls.
"But why did Senhu-sama want us to go south to investigate?" A man put down his bowl and said, "He should have fled back when he escaped. How could he escape south? Isn't that just throwing himself into a trap?"
Lord Baihu shook his head.
"What you say is right," he said, "just do it."
The four people responded, stopped talking, drank the hot spicy soup, stood up and left, while the adults of the hundred households neatly packed the dishes and chopsticks, hummed a tune in the summer night, washed them, wiped them clean with towels and put them on the table.
In the bowl box, the stove fires were extinguished one by one, and then they slowly left with their hands behind their backs.
When the sky was dark, four or five men in an inn stood carefully by the window and looked out.
"It's really strange, why are there suddenly so many royal guards everywhere?" someone whispered.
"As many as possible, they will do theirs and we will do ours without interfering with each other," said another.
Before he finished speaking, he was slapped on the forehead by the person in front of him.
"Why don't we interfere with each other? Are we doing anything fair and aboveboard?" The man glared and said, "If we act like this, we will easily be spotted by the Jin Yiwei. People like the Jin Yiwei are the best at causing trouble. When the time comes, it will be a trivial matter to alert the snake.
It will be troublesome if adults are involved."
The man shrank his head and said yes.
"Then what should we do?" He whispered again, "Then the little paralytic from the Fang family will stop watching?"
The men around him glared at him and closed the windows.
"If you don't want to watch, don't watch. He won't hide in Runan City forever." The leader of the man pondered for a moment and said, "Tell the adults that the plan has changed and we are waiting for arrangements."
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The woodcutter at Subi Lake.
Note: The allusion comes from Chapter 15 of "Jiang Ye" "He is the woodcutter of Subi Lake". I have received permission from Master Mao Ni to use the allusion. I would like to express my gratitude and respect.
Thanks to Zixing Qiyue and naughtyAriel for the reward of Heshi Bi.