The Beacon of Kyushu

Chapter 51 Falling off a Cliff

That night, Zhang Pu and Wan Jianfeng found an inn to stay, and the next morning they hired a carriage and went straight to Yinzhou.Wan Jianfeng was lying on the roof of the car along the way, enjoying the scenery along the way, while constantly tasting the fine wine along the way.

Unknowingly, the surrounding scenery slowly changed from green water and green mountains to an endless loess plateau, and snowflakes fell from time to time, making it even more desolate.Wan Jianfeng was lying on the carriage, his mind was filled with the taste of mutton ramen and Liangzhou fine wine, and he seemed unaware of the increasingly cold weather.

After more than a month's long journey, the carriage finally approached Yinzhou, and it only took a few days to go west to reach Xiazhou.Wan Jianfeng came to Yinzhou for the first time, and looked around curiously. He saw that the city wall here was built of loess, and there were countless soldiers in Song military uniforms standing at the gate of the city. a feeling of.

Wan Jianfeng lay curiously on the side of the car, poked his head into the curtain of the car, and asked Zhang Pu: "Brother Zhang, have you made a mistake! Although the Dingnan Army is attached to the Song Dynasty, it is still a part of the Dangxiang clan. Why don’t you have a single member of the party, but all the officers and soldiers of the Song Dynasty? Could it be that your leader Li Da has given up the land of the five states and completely surrendered to the Song Dynasty?”

Zhang Pu frowned and remained silent, with a feeling on his face that he was facing a formidable enemy.Suddenly, they heard a mess of footsteps, accompanied by the sound of rolling wheels.This kind of voice said that the army was going out, it was too chaotic, and it was said that it was a wedding and funeral for the people in the city, and the battle was too big. At this time, Wan Jianfeng had a thought in his mind-the people in the city were moving with their families under the command of the Song Army. .

Sure enough, a large group of gorgeously dressed party members walked out of Yinzhou in a chaotic manner under the command of Song Jun, and marched slowly to the southeast.There were different shapes in the crowd, some had joyful expressions on their faces, some had sad faces, and some even hugged the Yinzhou city gate and wailed loudly, as if they were mourning a concubine.

Don't say that Wan Jianfeng was confused by this battle, even Zhang Pu, who grew up in Yinzhou, was dumbfounded.But both of them knew one thing in their hearts, that is, the Dingnan Army and even the entire Yinzhou must have had an earth-shaking event, and the Dangxiang clan was facing a critical moment that had not been seen in a century.

Zhang Pu hurriedly asked the coachman to stop the car, then he lifted the curtain and quickly got out of the carriage.While quickly looking at every familiar or unfamiliar face in the crowd, he tried his best to go upstream and squeeze into Yinzhou City, which was crowded with people and vehicles.Wan Jianfeng also turned around, jumped out of the carriage, and followed Zhang Pu to squeeze into the city.

It took a lot of effort for the two of them to squeeze through the city gate and reach the middle of the street, Zhang Pu said: "Young Master Wan, I have some important things to do urgently, please wait here for a while."

Wan Jianfeng smiled and said: "Important matter? Could it be that it was crowded just now, and someone fumbled with his purse, leaving nothing to be desired. If I don't have money to invite this young hero to drink, I just want to rub my feet with oil - run away!"

Zhang Pu shook his head and said sternly: "Young man, the party is in great trouble right now, I really don't have time to joke with you, please forgive me!" He saluted Wan Jianfeng respectfully as he spoke, and then walked away quickly.

Seeing Zhang Pu leaving, Wan Jianfeng glanced at his back with some displeasure, and was about to taunt him casually.Suddenly he heard a commotion not far away, as if someone was arguing in the street, he was curious, so he couldn't help walking over.After walking for three or four feet, turning a corner, I saw a young man from the party standing in front of a carriage, pointing fingers at the carriage, "Hey, let me tell you! The bastard thought I borrowed a full 20 taels of snowflake silver, and now you are quietly dragging your family and car and leaving, because you want to renege on the debt!"

At this moment, an old man with gray hair was sitting in front of the car, holding a whip in his hand, and behind him sat a woman and two young children.The family of four seemed to be honest and responsible people. Even if Wan Jianfeng was killed, he would never believe that the two young children could manage such a fierce-looking and burly young man to borrow 20 taels of silver. .

The old man seemed to be very afraid of the young man, and he repeatedly cupped his hands and said, "My little brother, the little old man is a tenant of the big chief's family. Now that the big chief is gone, the little old man has no choice but to leave Yinzhou with his family. She hid her debts and went away. Besides, the little old man has only these two useless guys under his knees. The older one is only seven years old this year, and the younger one is only three years old. How can I borrow the 20 taels of silver from you?"

The young man curled his lips, pointed at the older child, and said, "I'm not mistaken, this little bastard was the one who took care of the money I borrowed the day before yesterday, and you, an old bastard, can't be wronged! Hurry up and return the money. I'll let you go, otherwise don't blame me for leaving this little bastard to pay off the debt!"

"You bastard, why did you borrow so much money behind my back and still not give this little brother an apology!" The old man said with a stern face, turned his head and glared at the eldest son, then turned around and said, "Really I'm sorry, the little old man is incapable of teaching his son, which caused the dog to make a big mistake! I also hope that the little brother will see the little old man's face and let us go there for now, and we will pay double in the future!"

Unexpectedly, the old man's voice fell, but the child couldn't stand the grievance, and shouted: "Father, I don't have any! I don't know this guy at all. His 20 taels of silver are gone. It's none of our business. Why should he let him go?" I'll apologize to him! He's such a rascal, a rogue, and a scum, and I won't apologize to him!"

Hearing this, the old man's heart trembled suddenly, and he wanted to teach his son a lesson in the street, but he was afraid that the man would take the opportunity to make trouble and change 20 taels into 40 taels, and 40 taels into 80 taels.However, the young man finally got his hands on it and said loudly: "Old man, I think we are all fellow villagers, so I don't have the nerve to ask you for interest. But your son ignored me and called me a rascal in the street. , Auntie, it seems that we really need to calculate the interest carefully!"

The woman glanced at her ignorant child, sighed, took out a bracelet of poor quality from her bosom, walked up to the young man, held the bracelet in both hands and handed it over, "Brother, we are poor, We really don’t have that much money! The only valuable thing we have on us is this jade bracelet, if you don’t mind it, just… just take it.”

The young man looked at the bracelet, his mouth was almost turned to the back of his head, "Huh! What kind of rags are used to cover things up! It's just such a rag, it's not even enough to pay back the interest, and it's just a vain attempt to let me let you go. Yinzhou, dreaming!" He said as he grabbed the bracelet and threw it hard towards the side of the street.

How could the jade bracelet withstand such a violent fall, it only made a crisp sound when it fell to the ground, and was immediately smashed to pieces.Although the bracelet was of poor quality, it was the only valuable gift that the woman gave when she got married.For so many years, the woman was reluctant to take her with her, but now she was easily broken by the rogue, and her eyes darkened and she almost passed out.

The old man hurriedly supported his wife, pointed at the rascal and said: "This jade bracelet...you don't want to forget it, why bother to throw it! Now that we have nothing valuable on us, if you want to blackmail us, we will not be afraid of you." Already!"

Poppi sneered a few times, and said: "A broken bracelet, I will drop it! Why, with your old arms and legs, do you still want to fight with me? If you have the ability, you punch me to the ground , it’s the grandson who can’t be beaten!”

Seeing this rogue getting more and more presumptuous, the old man trembled with anger, and couldn't bear it any longer, and he punched rogue directly in the chest.Unexpectedly, the old man dared to make a move, so he hurriedly dodged to the side, and then pushed the old man lightly, turning him over on his back. "Hey! Someone was beaten!" The old man fell to the ground and groaned, feeling that his spine was about to break.

Poppy stepped forward a few steps, and was about to punch him, but the woman quickly grabbed his arm desperately, not letting his fist drop.The older child finally couldn't sit still anymore, and ran up to Poppi in two steps, grabbed Poppi's thigh with a pair of small hands, opened his mouth and bit on Poppi's thigh.The three-year-old child was so frightened by the scene in front of him that he sat alone in the car and cried loudly.

"Are you looking for death!" Poppi's eyes were fierce, and he easily broke free from the old woman's restraint with a flick of his arms, and punched the child in front of him on the head.His punch was fast and hard, let alone a child of six or seven years old, even an adult who does not know martial arts, if he receives such a punch on the head, he will be seriously injured if he does not die.At this moment, many people in the city were attracted by the noise, pointing around the carriage, filled with righteous indignation.Rao Wan Jianfeng never cared to meddle in other people's business, seeing this situation, he couldn't help but step forward a few steps to teach this rascal a lesson.

Suddenly there was a sound of horseshoes coming from outside the crowd, and a middle-aged man with a kind face and gray hair walked into the crowd.He was wearing plain clothes, with a saber on his waist, a brown army horse in one hand, and an innocent and lively child in the other, with a calm expression on his face.Seeing the old man, the surrounding people were all relieved and made way for him one after another.The rogue also restrained his ferocity, and stepped back a few steps in fear.

The middle-aged man approached, pointed at the poppier and said, "Ran Niu, you are relying on your strength to not do your job, and you have been bullying goodness in Yinzhou. It's not a day or two! In the past, the big bosses ignored you, Yue It's not easy to make a move, now that the big boss is gone and there is no one in Yinzhou City, you are becoming more and more unscrupulous, really hateful! If you are really capable, you dare to compete with Yue Mou!"

The kid beside him also chimed in: "Yes, although Daddy's martial arts are not as good as Uncle Li's, but he is more than enough to teach a scoundrel like you a lesson! How about it, dare you compare with my Daddy!"

Ran Niu clenched his fists, intending to compete with the middle-aged man, but he knew that he was by no means his opponent, so he said after a while: "Master Yue, I, Ran Niu, also came from a poor family, and my parents died early. , I have strength but no other skills. Be a mate. People think I’m thick-hearted. Be a craftsman. People think I’m strong. You say I don’t bully honest people. How can I live? I can’t live hungry Die!"

The middle-aged man nodded, and said: "Nowadays the land of Wuzhou is troubled. If you want to change your ways, you might as well follow me to see Mr. Jiqian. Maybe he can be useful to you."

When Ran Niu heard this, he laughed immediately, "You... what you said is true! Let me, Ran Niu, follow Mr. Jiqian, that would be great! I don't have a family, I don't have a job, so it's easy Very well, let's go now!"

The middle-aged man said: "You broke someone's jade bracelet, beat someone's husband, and you want to leave without compensation?"

Ran Niu hesitantly helped the old man on the ground up, then groped in his bosom for a long time, took out a gold key the size of a pinky finger, and stuffed it in the old man's hand with distress, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it was me just now. Ran Niu bastard offended the old man, this gold should be an apology!"

The old man held the gold, wanted to accept it but didn't dare, Chi looked at Ran Niu in a daze, not knowing what to say.The old man surnamed Yue smiled, and said kindly: "Old brother, Yue Chun, the commander of Xia Yinzhou, is here to greet you! You don't have to take this golden key, it's a long way to go to Tokyo, do whatever you want on the way. As for this rascal, Yue must take him to the son of the successor to be an exorcist, and never let him do harm to the neighbors again!"

"Thank you, Master Yue! Thank you, Master Yue!" The old man hurriedly pulled his family to kneel in front of Yue Chun, kowtowing to thank him.However, Yue Chun was not polite, and lifted the old man from the ground with both hands, "You don't need to be like this, brother, take your family and go out of the city quickly!"

The old man nodded, gave another deep bow, and drove the carriage with his wife and children away from Yinzhou.Yue Chun was about to take Ran Niu away when he suddenly saw a young man walking over slowly.But I saw that this man was dressed in the Han family, he was tall and mighty, his two sword eyebrows were like paint brushes, his tiger eyes were not angry and majestic, his long hair like a black waterfall poured down through the headband on the top of his head, and two strands of blue hair were floating around his temples By the side, the whole person is mighty yet domineering, majestic yet gentle.

Yue Chungui was the commanding envoy, and he was also good at martial arts. Seeing this person, he couldn't help but smile and cup his fists, "My dear brother, why are you here? It's only been a few days since I saw you, how can you lose weight? Wait for brother Yu to take this bastard away." After meeting Young Master Jiqian, let's go home together, let your sister-in-law cook some delicious dishes for you, and make up for you!"

The child opened his hands when he saw the person coming, and ran over with a smile, "Uncle Li! Uncle Li! I have already practiced the sword technique you taught me last time. When will you go home and teach me the next move! "

"Little brother heard the commotion here, and thought there must be a dispute, so he wanted to take care of it. Now that brother Yue has taken care of it, there is no need for me to take action." The young man smiled and patted the child's head again. Reaching out his hand to take the reins from Yue Chun, he led the horse and the two out of the crowd.

Ran Niu, Yue Chun and the others spoke Chinese, but Wan Jianfeng could understand it, but later the young man spoke fluent Dangxiang dialect, and Wan Jianfeng couldn't figure it out.Curious, he tugged at the sleeve of his sleeve watching the excitement, and asked, "Hey, who is this young man? This young man sees that he is so young, but he actually calls him a brother and brother with a dignified commander, and look at this Lord Yue's appearance, it seems that how can this person's official position be higher than this Lord Yue?"

The middle-aged man whose sleeves were held by him flicked his sleeves in disgust, and said impatiently: "Ask him? His name is Li Ruoyun, and he is a friend of Mr. Jiqian. I heard that the two grew up together! You are a beggar, and you are worthy of inquiring about him, do you still want to go to his house to beg for food!"

"Li Ruoyun." Wan Jianfeng murmured softly, looking at the direction where Li Ruoyun was going away, slightly lost in thought.Before he knew it, Zhang Pu brought a young man dressed in black, tall and straight, with a handsome face and a knife on his waist, to him, "Wan Shaoxia, what's wrong with you? But wait, are you in a hurry? "

(End of this chapter)