Lord: Start with a book of Water Margin

Chapter 155 West Dog Paw Mountain

After arranging the affairs of East Gouzhao Mountain, it was already time to apply for the license, and everyone took a boat to West Gouzhao Mountain.

This place is different from the East Dog Paw Mountain. This place was originally the place where the king of Liang raised dogs. Most of these people were descendants of the dog people at that time. However, they gradually divided into two groups. One group insisted on raising dogs for hunting and herding for a living, and the other group He slowly gave up on domesticating hunting dogs and moved from the mountains to the waterside to learn fishing and farming. The two places come from the same vein, communicate with each other, and support each other.

Zhao Zhen and his party first went to the fishing village at the foot of the mountain, called Xiawang Village. The boat docked, and Ruan Xiaowu, Pei Xuan, and Du Qian followed. After meeting Li, Zhao Zhen asked: "Brother Pei Xuan, Liu Tang, Shi Where’s Brother Qian?”

Pei Xuandao: "Master, the two brothers are stationed in Shangwang Village, and only three of us are in Xiawang Village."

Zhao Zhen said: "I heard that you encountered difficulties?"

Pei Xuan, Ruan Xiaowu, and Shi Qian looked at each other. Pei Xuan smiled bitterly and said, "Master, we have been coming all the way. Although there are local braves in the two villages, they saw that we were well-armed and well-organized, and there was no resistance. They all surrendered. Originally, my brothers thought that we had decided to go all the way to Xigouzhaoshan. In fact, these villagers really cooperated. The public treasury of the two villages was handed over, and 8,000 shi of grain and 3,000 salted fish were seized. "Shangwang Village also has a fur warehouse, mostly sheep, rabbits, foxes, otters, minks, dogs, and wolves. There are also three black bear skins in it."

"It's just that for some reason, wolves, bears, big insects and other ferocious beasts always sneak into Haoshan Peak on the west side of Xigouzhao Mountain, hurting people at night, and a lot of livestock on the mountain have been stolen. Now there are ten people in the two villages. The rest of the people were killed and injured. The villagers had to be constantly on guard against wild beasts attacking the village. The villagers were miserable. Only after seeing us did they agree to surrender and hope that we could help drive away the wild beasts. We divided ourselves into two places at night. Help with patrol."

After hearing this, Zhao Zhen realized the reason. Although it was not a big deal, it was not easy to worry about.

Zhao Zhen saw that it was getting late, so he asked everyone to settle down first. He was afraid that Li Yun and Zhu Fu would be unhappy, so he turned to Li Yun and Zhu Fu and said, "I forgive you, brothers. I wanted to host a banquet for you two brothers today. I didn't expect to encounter this, so I will give the two brothers some simple meals tonight. After these beasts are dealt with, I will help the two brothers."

Liu Shi stood up, cupped his hands and said, "Sir, I have a gift to offer. Please allow me to bring it."

There are 90 to 50 households in Wang Village on Gouzhao Mountain, with a population of 433. They mainly raise dogs and herd sheep, and they hunt and gather part-time. They only grow some vegetables on the mountain for daily consumption. The specialties of the village are black goats and Liangshan dogs. There were nearly 4,000 black goats, large and small, and they were considered public property of the village. After Pei Xuan and others took over Gouzaw Mountain, these goats were naturally confiscated. Pei Xuan was afraid of the villagers' resentment, so he negotiated with the villagers. The family bought all the black goats for one rock salt and two bolts of coarse cloth. From now on, they will still hire these people to herd them, and settled the matter at a very low price.

After hearing this, Zhao Zhen did not pretend to be polite and went to sit down with others in the village hall. After a while, Liu Tang and Shi Qian arrived with a short and sturdy man. Only then did Zhao Zhen notice that there was a man following Ruan Xiaowu, but he was tall and thin. Both of them had dark skin, and they were honest and somewhat shrewd.

After seeing Li, Pei Xuan made an introduction, introducing the current situation of Xigouzhao Mountain. Along the way, he also introduced Zheng Liu Shi from Shangwang Village and Zheng Liu Zhou from Xiawang Village.

After introducing the situation of the two villages, Liu Shi, the chief of Shangwang Village, and Liu Zhou, the chief of Xiawang Village, came forward and bowed down. Zhao Zhen helped them up and still let them serve as the chiefs of the two villages. They thanked them quickly. .

Liu Tang said: "The owner of the village is not a valuable treasure, but Liu Lizheng heard me say that the owner loves hounds, and he also raises Liangshan fine dogs, and a different species of Xue Shangfei. Liu Shi heard this in his heart and prepared a few as gifts. Give it to the village owner. I see it’s a few dogs, so it’s not easy to stop them. After all, it’s Shangwangcun’s intention.”

Liu Shi said proudly: "Sir, these four dogs are the best field dogs and guard dogs in our Shangwang Village. I present them to you today. I hope you will accept them." As he said this, he glanced aside. Liu Zhou seemed to be saying, "I want you to give up raising dogs." Liu Zhou glared at Liu Shi.

After some introduction, Zhao Zhen also understood the boundary of this place in more detail.

Before Zhao Zhen could speak, Liu Tang said with a smile: "Go quickly." After hearing this, Liu Shi turned around and went down. Zhao Zhen scolded: "Brother Liu Tang, these people are poor in the world, how can we let him give gifts? "

As for Xiawang Village, although it was relocated, it has more registered households than Shangwang Village, with 153 households and 733 residents. There are 4,000 acres of fertile farmland in the village, and otters and cormorants have been domesticated. In addition to farming, they also go fishing in the lake. There are more food sources such as shrimps, crabs, snails, frogs, etc. than on the mountains, so there are more people growing and raising them. As for specialties, there are none.

After a while, Liu Shi led four dogs into the hall. Everyone in the hall was a little surprised to see these four dogs, two thin dogs, and two were as big as calves. After giving the order, the four dogs sat down obediently. Zhao Zhen saw them. Fortunately, he had also seen Gao Hu's mastiff.

Li Yun and Zhu Fu saw that Zhao Zhen was dedicated to official matters and cared about them at all times. Zhu Fu said: "Don't worry, owner of the village. Not only did we see the customs of Liangshan today, but we also met so many good people. We are not unhappy at all. The owner of the village is again." He is a man who cares about the people, and when we see him, we are only happy and hope that he can serve the owner as soon as possible." Li Yun also agreed.

Liu Shi continued: "Sir, we were originally dog ​​breeders of King Liang. After King Liang, although this place was gradually abandoned, our ancestors took root here, spread their branches, and left behind dog breeds." I have always insisted on training dogs in Shangwang Village. In addition to herding, I also go hunting. The Liangshan fine dogs are the best at hunting, and these two are the best."

He pointed to the two dogs on the left and continued: "These two are the best in the village. They can understand human speech and are the fastest."

Zhao Zhen said: "Whose family do these two belong to? We must give some compensation." Liu Shi said: "Sir, these four dogs are not raised privately by each family. Every household in Shangwang Village raises dogs, so there are so many dogs. This dog is capable of giving birth. After they are born, they only pick out the good ones and keep them, and then drive the others out when they are older and let them hunt on their own. As a result, there are many ownerless dogs in the village, and these dogs do not want to be killed. Harassing people, they hunted in the mountains during the day and rested in the village at night. I also fed them with some leftovers in the winter. These four were the most intelligent and had visions. I communicated with them. , I brought them all as a gift to the Buddha.”

Then he pointed to the two dogs on the right and said uncertainly: "These two dogs should be mutated. According to our ancestors, these two dogs should be called mastiffs."

Xiao Rang said: "Master of the village, I have also heard that the dog is a mastiff with four feet. Today is the first time I have seen it. With such a physique, hunting wild boars is easy, right?"

Liu Shi said: "What this official said is that this is the first time I have seen such a big mastiff. These two mastiff dogs run slower and cannot hunt. They are best for guarding the house and the village." Most of the wild wolves that sneaked in were killed by these two mastiffs.”

Wu Yong also interjected: "It is mentioned in "Book of Rites and Justice" that dogs are divided into three categories: guardian dogs, field dogs, and food dogs. Guard dogs are raised to prevent rape, guard homes and courtyards, field dogs are for hunting, and food dogs are Dogs are used in the kitchens of gentlemen and common people. When they are raised, they can also be used in sacrifices. They are put together with millet, which means "dogs are suitable for beams."

Everyone admired the two mastiffs in the middle, but Pei Xuan pointed to the two Liangshan fine dogs on the left and said, "If I want to say the best, I think these two are still the best."

Seeing everyone looking at him, Pei Xuan said: "Master, look at this one, this one is pure black, only the ears are white, it has a name, it's called [Big King Dog], the animal is rich and noble." He pointed to the other one. He said, "Look at this one again. It's all white with tiger stripes. It also has a name, called [South Dou Dog]. A dog with tiger stripes and a South Dou. It's a royal dog. An animal can weigh thousands of stones."

After hearing this, everyone looked at the two thin dogs again, and it turned out that it was exactly what Pei Xuan said. Zhao Zhen was overjoyed and said to Liu Zhou: "Liu Lizheng has a good heart. Such a good dog is hard to come by. I'm ashamed to accept it."

Liu Zhou handed the rope to Zhao Zhen and guarded it carefully, fearing that the dog would attack Zhao Zhen. Zhao Zhen stepped forward and took the dog leash, and stroked the dogs' heads one by one. Then he took off the dog leash and asked the four dogs to sit in front of him. All four dogs did so one by one.

When everyone saw it, they were amazed. They felt that this dog seemed to be born specially because God knew that Zhao Zhen was coming. Zhao Zhen laughed loudly after hearing this, knowing in his heart that he had the [Wolf Fang Pendant] and the [Cunning Horn]. , that’s what it is. Zhao Zhen saw that these four dogs were also different species, so each of them spent a little luck to enlighten them.

Liangshan thin dog ([Big King Dog], pure black and shiny, with white ears/[Southern Fighting Dog], all white with tiger stripes.)
Race: dog
Level: Level 1 and Level 1

Attributes: Strength 12, Constitution 10, Agility 17, Spirit 7
Skills: Pounce, Track, Search, Hunt

Liangshan Mastiff (big head, long hair, shape like a lion, body like a tiger, strong character, strong and brave, big body and good at fighting, long tail and stubby limbs)
Race: dog
Level: Level 1 and Level 1

Attributes: Strength 18, Constitution 15, Agility 10, Spirit 5
Skills: Attack, Hunt, Patrol

Seeing that Zhao Zhen accepted the four dogs he offered and was praised by everyone, Liu Shi took a step back. Liu Zhou stepped forward and said, "Sir, there are also gifts from Xiawang Village." He also glanced at Liu beside him. stone.

Then he said: "Since Xiawang Village moved to the foot of the mountain, there have been fewer domesticated hunting dogs. Each family can only keep one barking dog to guard the house. In addition to farming, I also fish in Xiawang Village, but I am used to it. In order to hunt, the ancestors were not very good at fishing. They often did not catch anything in a day. So the ancestors found two helpers to replace the hounds and domesticated the cormorants. This otter was very active, except for fishing. I often pick up stones, wood, etc. that I see at the bottom of the water. Although they are mostly stones, scraps of metal, etc., occasionally I get some unexpected results.”

After saying that, he went down and got two boxes, one big and one small. Four people carried the big one up, and Liu Zhou stepped forward to open it, and then said: "Inside this box are two ivory tusks, one foot long. Originally, I only found a rib under the water. I don't know what it was. It was hard in texture, so I kept it." Later, they fished out all the bones below and found these two tusks. Only then did they realize that this was the burial place of an elephant. There were too many bones and teeth, and they were all outside. These two tusks are dedicated to the owner."

After hearing this, everyone came forward to see the strange thing. Although they had never seen ivory, they had heard of it. The nobles used it to craft various utensils, and they were also famous for their ivory chopsticks. Jiao Ting stepped forward and took out an ivory, weighed it, and said, "This ivory weighs half fifty kilograms. How many chopsticks will it make?"

Everyone laughed after hearing this. After some joking, everyone retreated. When Liu Zhou saw it, he opened the small box next to him. The inside was lined with silk and satin, and contained several pieces of silver jewelry. Liu Zhou said, "Sir, these four silver deer are also in the box." It was fished out of the water and made very lifelike. I think it has some origin and is dedicated to the owner of the village. "

After listening to Liu Zhou's words, only Wu Yong, Pei Xuan, and Xiao Rang came forward to take a look. The others were not interested. After looking at it, Wu Yong said: "Master, this thing is inlaid with gems and has a camel back coral. It comes in a set of four. It must have come from the palace. It is a nice ornament, and the owner of the village would like to decorate it."

After hearing this, Zhao Zhen took one and looked at it. It was indeed very well made, carefully carved, and the gems and corals were carefully selected. After accepting these gifts, everyone talked about the problems to be solved this time.

Pei Xuandao: "Master, after this period of hard work, Liu Tang, Shi Qian, and Du Qian have eliminated the wolves, bears and other beasts that came over. However, there are always a few coming from Haoshan Mountain every night. Then Everything is blocked by fog now. I really don’t know what happened to the main peak, Haoshan Mountain.”

(End of this chapter)