Xuanxia

Chapter 70 Sanshui Village

Fu Qingzhou and Tang Jiao walked along the muddy path around the farmland and soon arrived at the nearest village.

There is a big stone at the entrance of the village with the words "Sanshui" inscribed on it. I guess this village is called Sanshui Village.

As for the reason, it is easy to guess... In ancient times, the names of such villages were very simple and crude. This village is surrounded by water on three sides. Although they are just small streams spreading from nearby mountains, it is these streams that irrigate large tracts of farmland and support the livelihoods of the villagers.

When Fu Qingzhou and his companions arrived at the entrance of the village, the sun had already set behind the mountain and night was approaching. Smoke was rising from every household, and several old men were sitting at the entrance of the village.

Seeing the two of them, the old men looked obviously wary.

Fu Qingzhou knew at a glance that they had mistaken them for bandit spies...

"A few old men."

He stepped forward first and clasped his fists. "Excuse me, I was introduced by the chief constable of Luotie Town nearby. I heard that you are offering a reward for someone to deal with the bandits?"

The phrase "Luotiezhenputou" is meant to dispel the other party's doubts.

Sure enough, when they heard him introduce himself, the old farmers' eyes lit up.

But soon, one of them said in a hoarse voice: "Hey... Young man, our village is small, so we can't pay too much money."

Fu Qingzhou felt relieved when he heard this. There was indeed a reward!

He smiled and said, "I wonder how many bandits there are, what their abilities are, and how much the bounty we are offering is?"

"Go find the village chief."

Another old farmer pointed and said, "Look, that's the village chief's house. He keeps five pigs there. We can find it right away."

After thanking the old farmers, Fu Qingzhou and Tang Jiao immediately rushed to the village chief's house.

But before he got close to the house, he heard a noise inside.

"Dad, we can't wait any longer!"

This is the voice of a young man: "If those bandits don't come today, they will come tomorrow. We have to find a way!"

"What can we do?" An old man responded in a sad voice, "There's not even a ghost in our broken village, how can anyone come to help us fight the bandits?"

"If you don't have it, go out and look for it!"

The young man said bitterly, "I heard about it when I went to Luotie Town yesterday. A lot of gangsters came here a few days ago and caught a lot of big thieves for rewards. We can hire someone if we spend more money!"

"Alas..." the old man sighed, "Even if we gather together from all over the village, we can only come up with three taels of silver. How can we hire those heroes?"

Hearing this, Tang Jiao raised her head and looked at Fu Qingzhou with some embarrassment.

Fu Qingzhou also scratched his head.

Three ounces of silver?

That's indeed a bit less...

Not to mention anything else, the two of them had asked about the price of the inn in Luotie Town before. Just staying there for one night would cost three hundred coins, plus eating and changing clothes... Tang Jiao's shoes were worn out from walking all the way and had to be replaced.

When Fu Qingzhou was escaping from pursuit before, he had suffered many wounds on his body, especially those caused by Li Jingzhe's long sword. Although he no longer felt the strange bone-deep pain like before, these wounds would never heal. He suspected that it was caused by some special martial arts technique. He might have to see a doctor and get some medicine.

If you calculate all these expenses, three taels of silver would definitely not be enough.

But the thought only flashed through his mind before Fu Qingzhou had an idea.

He laughed: "Don't worry, leave it to me, big brother."

After saying that, he walked up and knocked on the door of the village chief's house.

The door opened quickly, and a weather-beaten, dark-faced man in his twenties or thirties poked his head out from the crack of the door. He was obviously a farmer who had been working on the farm since he was young.

"who are you?"

He frowned warily.

Fu Qingzhou bowed and repeated the story that the Luotie Town constable had told him.

When the man heard this, his face suddenly lit up with joy, and he turned around and shouted into the house, "Dad! Someone is here to kill the bandits for us!"

"Ugh……"

The village chief in the house sighed and then slowly walked out.

The village chief clearly looked like an old farmer, his body was still covered in mud, and he probably just came out of the fields not long ago. He looked worried and said, "Two young men, our village can't afford much money."

Fu Qingzhou smiled and said, "I just heard it outside the house. It's only three taels of silver."

"Yes, only three or two."

The man asked curiously, "Would you be willing to kill the bandits for us just for three taels of silver?"

Fu Qingzhou laughed again: "I have a better idea."

As he said that, he glanced into the room and said, "How about we go in and talk?" "Oh, please come in!" The man hurriedly welcomed the two in.

Tang Jiao's legs and feet were sore from walking all the way, so she immediately found a wooden bench to sit down on, while Fu Qingzhou simply looked around the room...

It is indeed very poor and shabby.

Even though this was the village chief's home, it was just a shabby mud house with only a tiny oil lamp in the whole house. The light was dim, even brighter than the darkening sunset outside.

On the table was the father and son’s dinner for the night - two bowls of overcooked porridge.

"I think so."

Fu Qingzhou got straight to the point and said, "I don't need these three taels of silver. You can use the money to buy me a better iron bow and some good arrows - yes, and an iron sword."

"After we kill the bandits, the property in their village will of course be returned to you...but I want 30%."

He smiled and said, "How about that? Do the work first, then get the money. That's reasonable, right?"

There was deep joy in the eyes of the village chief and his son!

"Reasonable! Reasonable!" The old village chief nodded vigorously with trembling hands.

Tang Jiao also chuckled at the side: "Brother is really amazing, I can't think of this method."

The man stood up suddenly and grabbed Fu Qingzhou's hand: "Young man, please do what is right! But..."

He quickly calmed down, looked at Fu Qingzhou, and then looked at Tang Jiao: "There are dozens of bandits, can you two do it?"

His emotional intelligence was obviously not high and his question was not very nice, but Fu Qingzhou didn't mind.

"That's exactly what I was asking."

He patted the man on the shoulder and said, "Do you know the exact number and strength of these bandits?"

"I know something." The man pondered, "In the past few years, they have come to rob grain every autumn. Every time they come, there are more than 30 people, and there are probably... five or six horses?"

"The leader is their leader. The bandits call him 'Panshan Dragon'. He wields a big axe."

Fu Qingzhou nodded slightly.

About thirty people and five or six horses, this lineup can be handled by myself.

If we get some poisonous weeds on the mountain and use the old method we used in Bailu Mountain to temper the arrowheads, it will be much easier to kill people.

Moreover, there must be very few of these bandits who can open their martial arts skills. I don't know how powerful the leader Panshanlong is.

But these bandits are so small in scale and can only harass small villages, so I don't think they can be very strong.

"understood."

He smiled slightly: "I can handle it."

The man was stunned at first, then he was ecstatic: "Really?!"

"Yes." Fu Qingzhou nodded: "But my brother and I have to stay in your village for one night, and the iron bow and sword..."

"I'm going to Ironfall Town now!"

The man hurried into the inner room: "Dad, where is the money?"

The old village chief hurriedly stood up and went to help find the silver. Soon the father and son were arguing in the house. The man began to ask his father to get some food for them. The village chief began to consider whether to kill a chicken in the backyard...

Fu Qingzhou listened where he was and smiled.

The villagers here are still simple and honest.

They never thought about...what would they do if they took the iron bow and turned around and left?
That was three taels of silver that their village had managed to scrape together.

But fortunately, I am not that kind of person.

"Take a break."

Fu Qingzhou said to Tang Jiao: "Once the weapons are ready, let's go kill the enemy together."

Tang Jiao glared: "I'm going too?"

"Go, why not." Fu Qingzhou said with a smile: "You are also a warrior who has opened his martial acupoints. Since you want to help me, help me kill some people."

Tang Jiao became visibly nervous.

Only then did she realize that the sword Fu Qingzhou wanted was for him.

But she quickly bit her lip and calmed down, nodding vigorously: "Okay! I also learned some sword skills in Beijing before... I can help big brother!"

"It's okay. I'll teach you another set of sword techniques."

Fu Qingzhou squinted his eyes and said, "That's the swordsmanship of the young leader of the Wulin Alliance."

(End of this chapter)