Chapter 74: If You’re Too Late

“Rattling ……” The tattered eunuch chair shook incessantly, its seams rattling unbearably.

Su Yan was draped in a smelly outer robe worn by an unknown number of people, looking up at the head of the thief sitting in front of the big horse. He was carried into the fortress when he was awake, still pretending to be unconscious, sack-like hanging on the shoulders of the thieves motionless, the line of sight to take the opportunity to go up from the bottom, the entire bandit fortress swept a whole.

As soon as he entered the room, he was thrown on the wooden floor, he sat up in pain, and immediately afterward was slammed in the face with a rough outer robe.

Wang six moved to two chairs, right in front of him, sitting on one, two arms to the back of the chair a spread, set up the legs, flow in the air, shaking feet, crooked head to scrutinize the newly kidnapped meat ticket. Wang Wu sitting posture than his slightly convergence, but also a face of banditry, cheekbone edge and a knife scar.

Speaking of this pair of thieves brothers are still a bit gangly and handsome, but unfortunately do not do good things. Things have come to this, can only improvise, looking for a chance to get away, Su Yan thought, endured the moldy smell to put on the outer robe, sitting cross-legged. The outer robe is long enough to reach the bend of the knee, just enough to cover the thighs and crossed ankles, only revealing the folded half of the knee.

Wang Liu muttered, “It’s so damn white.”

Wang Wu drank: “Say, what exactly is the origin! Don’t bullshit about being poor, our eyes are very poisonous! If you don’t tell the truth, we’ll chop you up section by section, starting from your fingers and toes, and throw you to the back of the mountain to feed the wolves.”

Wang Liu added: “In the hands of our brothers, there is only one way to avoid disaster, you obediently recognize your own bad luck, hand over all the gold, silver, fine and soft, and then write a letter to go back and let your family prepare the ransom. One hand to hand over the money, one hand to release, never ambiguous.”

Su Yan smiled bitterly: “Two big brothers, I’m a scholar whose family has fallen, I have no possessions, which has what gold and silver. A small broken mansion in the capital, before leaving the door was also smashed, the night before traveling to sleep or the door. Speaking of which, I was still whisked out of the capital, this way to sleep and eat, see finally to get to the ground, was caught by the two big brothers.”

He spoke with such affection that Wang Liu muttered again, “It’s fucking miserable.”

Wang Wu glared at his brother and turned to press, “What was the offense that got you thrown out?”

Su Yan said, “There was a rich and powerful old thief who forced to rape my sister, and was cut off an arm by me with a sword, and my family threw me out in order to avoid trouble.”

Wang Liu slapped his thighs, “Well done! I’m not accustomed to seeing a lecherous man who bullies others! If I had been there, I would have chopped him up and down!” He tsked at Su Yan, “I didn’t realize that you, a powerless scholar, could still carry a sword and chop people, you have a lot of guts, you’re a man!”

Su Yan also slammed the floor, and then the painful hand hidden behind the straight shaking, righteous indignation: “When I avoided this storm, later returned to the capital, will be according to the big brother said, cut him up and down both ends! Damn old dog animal, bad things to do not let people scolded? Remember to hate me in the hall scolded him, behind the back everywhere to make trips framed me, causing me to almost be killed by the stick, but also put the evil dog bite me, but also to the government first to complain …… I’m leaving, the home is also he smashed, but also want to cut my nose, but fortunately I ducked in time …… “

He even scolded with spit bitter water, a gushing, said to hate the angry hair straight pounding the floor, the king listened to a six froze, and even gave birth to a common enemy emotions, angry: “I just think Shaanxi is not a place where people stay, but the original root of the Imperial City at the foot of the Son of Heaven, there are also such shameless pickled things! In exchange for the master me, now go back to the capital to go, that old dog to chop into meat sauce, afraid of what he has the power, the big deal is to spell out a life do not want to, people die diao towards the sky, big brother with you said ……”

Wang Wu pushed the taiwanese chair, got up and pulled his brother out of the room.

Wang Liu was interrupted in his speech and asked irritably, “Do what?”

Wang Wu whispered, “You’re getting wrapped up in this little scribe’s words!”

“Ah? No, I saw that he was quite unlucky and poor, so I let him go and let him take his revenge.”

“…… If he was really poor, where did he get this fine skin and subdued demeanor?”

“But I look at him–“

Wang Wu cut off Wang Liu’s words, “I say brother, you will not see that he was born well, moved the fire, right? This kind of gentleman, you want to play is fine, but don’t take people’s ghost words as true again, and be abducted instead.”

Wang Liu was unconvinced: “Brother, you say this, think I have no brain? Who can abduct–wait, what did you just say? It’s okay to play?”

Wang Wu patted his shoulder, “I see you’ve been holding back lately.”

Wang Liu was poked in the heart, a little embarrassed muttered, “Lao Zi just said, the most unaccustomed to the power of the lecherous rogue, did not want to go to be a lecherous rogue …… himself Besides, we are a good man of the Green Forest, randomly raping a good woman …… er man. The reputation is bad.”

Wang Wu was about to praise him for his awareness and determination.

I didn’t expect Wang Liu to change his words and added: “However, if I run into one like this, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so I don’t care about the reputation. The big deal is that I’ll get the person out of the village, and if it’s going to be bad, it’s going to be bad for me.”

Wang Wu spat at him, “Take this ghostly thought you have against brother and use it against outsiders!”

Wang Liu heatedly said, “It’s not fresh! I’ll make him nod first, and if he’s happy, I’ll call you too.”

The two agreed, then pushed the door again to go in, just opened a slit, then saw a snow bright electric light from the slit, stabbing straight to the throat.

Wang Liu shouted and did a supine diagonal iron plank bridge, and the electric light just managed to graze past his chin, cutting out a bloodstain.

Inside the half-hidden door, a teenager’s voice said coldly, “Stay alive, I still have something to ask.”

–

Wang Fifth and Wang Six were removed from both shoulder joints, their wrists were tied with twine, and with a cold sweat, they were forced to kneel in front of Su Yan.

Just want to raise a little eyelids, neck was cut out by the blade of the sword a threatening blood, Wang Liu ate the pain and cursed: where did the bogeyman come from, sneak into the fortress, but not a single brother noticed! If it wasn’t for the sneak attack, would I have let him win so easily?

It turns out that Jing Hong chasing is good at tracking, follow the trail to find the bandit village, relying on the light tricky body quietly sneaked in, touched the house of imprisonment Su Yan. Coincidentally at this moment, Wang Wu, Wang six brothers out of the house door to talk, he rolled over the window and entered, see Su Yan cloaked in dirty robes nestled on the floor, angry eyes full of blood red killing machine.

If it wasn’t for Su Yan’s command to keep the survivors, he could have slaughtered the entire fortress right after he killed the two heads of the thieves.

Su Yan pulled over the creaking tai shi chair, sat on it, and drank in return, “Say, what name, what origin! If you don’t tell the truth, I’ll chop you up section by section, starting from your fingers and toes, and throw you to the back of the mountain to feed the wolves.”

Jing Hongchou cooperated by moving the blade to Wang Liu’s hand, gesturing which section to chop first.

Wang Liu was a good man, but had to confess, “My name is Wang Liu, my first name is Wang Chen, and my brother Wang Wu, my first name is Wang Wu, and I’m from Qingyang Prefecture in Shaanxi Province. A few hundred brothers under his command, known as the ringing horse pirates, because the government is chasing tightly, currently hiding in the area of the Eagle’s Nest Mountain.”

“What happened to what you just said about Shaanxi not being a place for people?”

Before Wang Chen could answer, Wang Wu sneered, “What’s going on has nothing to do with you, aren’t you a poor scholar who came to the capital to avoid trouble? Just keep avoiding trouble in another place.”

“Don’t be rude to your lord!” Jing Hongchu slapped his sword on his undershirt.

Wang Wu’s lungs suffered internal injuries, and he spat out a large mouthful of blood with a puff. Wang Chen called out urgently, “Brother!” Busy kowtowing to Su Yan: “Our brother has eyes to recognize Mt. Tai, offended the lord, you don’t kill my brother, come and ask me if you have something to say, I’ll tell you one thing, and two things at the same time.”

Wang Wu’s mouth is full of blood, still hardened: “Where is what adults …… really if an official, eight carries a sedan chair to sound the gong to open the way, before and after the guards are soldiers, but also a person bare ass bathing in the lake?”

Su Yan almost laughed in anger, calling out to Jing Hongchou, who was chipping at his throat with a sword, and said, “There is no need to argue with the reckless man, wait for me to finish my questioning.”

“Speak rudely to your lord again, and I’ll cut out your tongue first!” Jing Hong chased after Wang Wu and kicked him hard, kicking him out another mouthful of blood and fainting instantly.

Wang Chen was anxious, glaring fiercely at Jing Hongchou, but his life was in the hands of someone, so he dared to be angry.

“Don’t worry, your brother can’t die yet, as long as you answer honestly.” Su Yan said, “If I’m not mistaken, before you become a ringing horse, are you from a horse family?”

Wang Chen asked back in surprise, “How do you know?”

“The horses in your fortress, most of the hips branded with the official horse, either the Yuanma Temple raised its own, or the Taisu Temple handed over to the horse households to raise. There’s also Wang Wu, although he’s a bandit, there’s still some military air on his body, I think he must have been a sergeant.”

Wang Chen froze and said, “That’s right, our brothers are indeed from horse households. My brother also spent a few years in the herding army.”

Su Yan asked, “Since you are horse tenants and soldiers, why do you supervise the theft and fall into the grass?”

Wang Chen said, “If you can’t survive, what else can you do but fall into the grass!”

“How?”

“It’s not because of some bullshit ‘household horse law’ from the imperial court! Giving military horses to us civilian households to breed and pay for the foals on schedule is said to offset half of the field tax.”

“Civilian herding, but also to reduce the pressure of official herding, more war horses, the country’s military strength can be strengthened, in order to not be bullied and humiliated by foreign enemies, how bad?”

Wang Chen pooh-poohed: “The government talks a good game! Our horse family, five Ding to raise a horse, from 15 years old to 60 years old, can not be raised to death, every two years, but also to turn in a foal. Raise dead, can not be handed over, we have to lose money. Foal compensation 20 to 30 taels, adult horse compensation 50 to 60 taels, our whole family sold can not afford to pay!

“If you raise chickens and ducks and have a chicken and duck plague, can you raise a horse and guarantee that it won’t get sick or die? How can you guarantee that you will have a foal? If we can’t give birth to a foal, we can’t do it for the horse! Easy to give birth to a foal, raised with fear and trepidation, eating grass and bean cake than people are fine, to pay the period, sent a hundred miles to the Imperial Household Servants Temple, all the way to the people tired. Acceptance of the officials and a variety of picky, after checking that the horse is not qualified, how to come on how to go back. Raise two years for nothing, not to mention, but also to lose money. In order to pass the test, the horse households had to put together money to bribe the inspection officials and ask them to let people off the hook.

“In order to raise horses, we delayed planting the land, couldn’t pay the public grain, and the county magistrate was not happy, and competed with the Taishu Temple for manpower. One side urges us to plant the land, the other side urges us to raise horses, just a pair of hands, skin and bones can not do this much, you say this ‘household horse law’, is not a torture of the people, what is it!”

Su Yan fell into a deep thought. Ming Taizu pioneered the civil animal husbandry policy, although it alleviated the pressure of the state to raise horses, but it is to transfer this pressure to the people, in addition to the fields and labor, but also added a new burden.

Yuanma Temple, Taisu Temple, Emperor Taizu stacked like a set up from the central to the local horse management institutions, operating costs increased greatly, the officials have to eat and drink to receive wages but also deductions and extortion, no wonder that the people do not live in peace.

Emperor Taizu wanted to use horses to offset the tax, but I can only say that the idea is very beautiful, but it is difficult to implement in place, and it will only further stimulate social conflicts, leading to the rise of the desperate people. In “Journey to the West”, the Great Sage Qi Tian, who said, “If you dare to ask me to be a horse-rider, I will make a fuss about the Palace of Heaven,” was not alluding to this policy, was he not?

Su Yan lightly sighed: “‘Household horse law’ is really bitter people, if the government grazing can be self-sufficient, there is no need to increase the people grazing. By the way, Shaanxi is close to the Hetao area, I remember the grassland stretches, suitable for grazing horses. According to reason, just Yuan Ma Temple and garrison soldiers to raise horses, already enough to supply, your brother as a pastoral army, why do you want to be a deserter?”

Wang Chen hated and said: “He also does not want to be a deserter, but the pastoral army is not much better than the horse households! I heard that many of the official horses in the prison court were stolen and sold, the pasture was also occupied by many powerful people, and those officials are corrupt. No one takes care of the official horses, they are all sick and thin, and everyone in the border army raises private horses and sells them to the government. My brother’s horse was poisoned to death one night, he was afraid of losing his head, so he had no choice but to flee back and join us in the pasture.”

“Even the border army is also involved in it, this Shaanxi horse politics is really rotten ……” Su Yan frowned tightly, realizing that the new errand he took over is not only a hot potato, or a huge mess, must be behind the interests of the network is intricate and complex, dealing with tricky to deal with.

Collapsing on the floor, Wang Wu coughed up a few mouthfuls of bloody foam, gradually coming to his senses and gasping for breath, “Are you really an official? What are you doing here in Shaanxi ……”

Su Yan got up and approached. Wang Wu only saw a pair of bare feet in front of him, white jade carving also like exquisite and beautiful, even if the soles of the feet are stained with dust has not lost its color, is a natural beauty almost spring breeze, autumn and moon. He couldn’t help but hold his breath and forced himself to cough, not daring to splash blood foam on it.

“I am a royal inspector appointed by His Majesty himself, and I have come here to rule the place, to straighten out the officials, to bind up the horse government, and to return Shaanxi to a clear and peaceful place.”

The young official said in a voice that was not resonant, but clear and firm, “I want all of you good men who were forced to go to Liangshan to be relieved of your armor and return to the fields, so that the officials can do their jobs and the people can live in peace and contentment.”

The Wang brothers were stunned. Wang Wu muttered, “The royal historian …… admiral …… angel?”

“It’s also right to say so.” Su Yan smiled faintly, “Do you really want to spend your lives as ringing horse thieves, hiding in the pursuit of the government?”

Wang Chen said loudly: “If you can live peacefully, who wants to do this kind of blood licking business! What is said to rob the rich to help the poor, in fact, but the figure of their own peace of mind, really want to starve to the head, regardless of the good people and bad people, robbed also robbed, kill also killed, anyway, already outlaws, forced to do what can not be done out of what?”

The tip of Jing Hongchu’s sword stalled slightly, and a trace of gratitude and deeper affection swept through the silent eyes that looked at Su Yan – if he had not met Lord Su, what difference would there be between him and these rattlesnakes who had fallen into the grass and become bandits? He was just a lone outlaw. Lord Su not only saved his life, but also gave him a future to look forward to, a chance to be a man again.

Su Yan sighed and pressed his hand on Wang Chen’s shoulder.

Wang Chen’s body trembled violently as if he had been branded with a cannon, and he couldn’t help but look up at him.

Su Yan said, “When the world clears up, you’ll break up and go back to your hometown to be good citizens, how about that?”

A hot blood stirred in Wang Chen’s heart as he shouted, “Untie my wrist!”

Su Yan nodded toward Jing Hongchou. Jing Hongchu picked off the ropes with a sword and roughly connected the dislocated shoulder joints of the two men.

“If there really is such a day, I won’t be a rattlesnake thief or mountain king anymore, go back to what I should do and live my life.” Wang Chen endured the pain and swung his shoulder, helped Wang Wu to get up, and raised his palm towards Su Yan: “High five for an oath!”

Jing Hongchu reflexively wanted to take out his sword when he raised his hand, but was stopped by Su Yan with a look. Su Yan reached out and struck his calloused rough palm against his hand three times, saying, “The oath cannot be broken.”

Wang Chen laughed out loud and said, “Good!” Turning his head to Wang Wu again, he said, “Brother, what do you say?”

Wang Wu said, “We are brothers of one mind, whatever you say.”

At this moment, someone outside the house called out in a loud voice, “Big Boss! Second Boss! Are you guys inside?”

“In, what’s wrong?”

“Brother Yang, with more than two hundred brothers, had a fight with a group of tough guys in the mountain pass! The other side don’t know what kind of organization, just 20 people, very solid, wasted 70 to 80 of our brothers, brother Yang ordered me to find the two masters, ask you to go out!”

Su Yan was stunned and said, “That’s my guard!”

“Aiya aiya aiya,” Wang Chen raised his voice toward the door, “You quickly go and inform Yang Hui to hurry up the ceasefire, and say that it’s a misunderstanding, and that their lord is a guest in the fortress!”

Su Yan said, “They won’t stop until I step in, it’s better to hurry up and send me there and explain clearly.”

Wang Chen oohed and was about to open the door.

Suyan: “Wait! My clothes! I can’t dress like this!”

Wang Chen was stunned, “In this way, it’s also quite pretty ……”

Jing Hong chased his face with a murderous aura, looking to cut out people’s tongues, Su Yan hurriedly said, “Find me a new set of clothes and pants that no one has ever worn.”

–

Into the night, the walled city around the big fire pots, in the square in front of the main hall, the horse thieves put the square table put together a long seat, and plain clothes of the Jin Yiwei ride big bowl of wine, big pieces of meat. Since ancient times, military bandits are not divided, a few bowls of yellow soup, became a brotherhood of wine and meat, have rowed and punched GuanDou, shouting and screaming, from time to time bursts of laughter between the seats.

Wang Wu suffered internal injuries, took the injury medicine given by Jing Hongchou, his face improved, but he still couldn’t eat wine, he could only drink tea in a depressed manner. Wang Chen filled a bowl for Su Yan and brought it up with both hands, “To the imperial historian!”

Su Yan drank a large sea bowl, saw him pouring again, waved his hand and laughed: “I have this amount of alcohol, moderate, moderate.”

Wang Chen was holding a full bowl of wine, looking at the face of the imperial historian in the light of the fire and fuming, and the wine spilled onto the back of his feet before he jumped up as if in a dream and drank the wine with a tilt of his neck. He snapped, “Our brothers apologize to the adults, speak rudely, and carry you as a sack ……”

Su Yan laughed dryly: “Don’t mention the embarrassing things, mentioning it is embarrassing for everyone. Besides, your brothers didn’t really do anything to me, so let’s leave it at that.”

Wang Chen thought to himself, “If your guards had been late, I’m afraid it would have been a real “how”. But this is not dare to say this, in order to cover up the inner turmoil, he drank three bowls, decided to get drunk, after waking up, completely cut off the delusion, no longer think nonsense.

Su Yan’s head is heavy, after vomiting a game, quietly asked Jing Hong chased: “Is there any fish soup to drink?”

Laughter flashed in Jing Hongchou’s eyes, “Yes, as you said, use a casserole pot for an hour, simmer it to a thick milky white color, strain the bones and meat, then fry the soup with oil flowers and ginger slices, sprinkle fine salt and scallions, and put nothing else in.”

Su Yan felt the fresh aroma on his tongue just by listening to it, and couldn’t help but lick his lips, “Pour me a bowl while it’s hot.”

The tip of the reddish-pink tongue flickered between the lips, coloring the lips with a thin layer of watery luster. The former assassin with excellent eyesight, the current guard couldn’t help but feel heat in his ears, and even the depths of his body burned. He pressed down this strange emotion and said in a somewhat dark voice, “Yes, my lord.”