Xie Ming

Chapter 22: Visiting a Small Fishing Village

After Liu and Gong successfully took the bait, Gu Changting, as if he had rehearsed it in advance, took out paper and pen so quickly that Xiao Jingchuan shivered!

Fortunately, Lord Liu and Prince Consort Gong were not very cunning and did not take it seriously.

So the two of them took the paper and pen, and quickly wrote the petition with a few strokes, and signed their names without any ambiguity.

Seeing this, Qiu Zhizhong also came over and signed with the two of them.

"Okay, okay!"

"You two are truly so heroic! I admire you so much!"

"Then there is no time to lose. You two should quickly mobilize your troops and set off!"

"I, Xiao Jingchuan, am here to welcome the good news from you three!"

Xiao Lang had already implemented his plan, so he bowed and let the other party go.

"please!"

"please!"

"please!"

Liu Wenbing and Gong Yonggu did not delay and mobilized their servants.

Qiu Zhizhong followed and silently gave Xiao Jingchuan a thumbs up before leaving!

March 17th, the first quarter of the You hour (15:).

After the three men left, Gu Changting approached Xiao Jingchuan with a silly look on his face.

"General, how about it, I am still smart!"

"Just now I heard you two talking about Huarong Road and military orders, and I thought it would definitely be used."

Chang Ting is bringing up things that are not related to the topic and is asking for trouble.

"roll roll roll!"

"Go wherever it's cool for me!"

It would be fine if he didn't mention it, but he even rushed to show off his severely low IQ. How could Xiao Lang give him a good face?

After saying that, Gu Changting scratched his head, still not knowing what was wrong. But since his general was scolding him, he had no choice but to listen. He felt like he was being ignored and retreated angrily.

"Hey, come back!"

Xiao Jingchuan's expression of disdain was still there, but he suddenly thought of something and called back to Changting.

"General, what do you want me to do for you?" Gu Changting said.

"After Liu Wenbing, Gong Yonggu and the others gather their troops and leave, you take a group of our men and follow them!"

"Follow from a distance, there is no need to participate in their actions!"

"When they arrive at the small fishing village, you stay on the periphery and keep an eye on them."

"I only have one mission for you, and that is to secretly protect Qiu Zhizhong!"

"If they make mistakes in their mission, or fail completely, you are not allowed to interfere!"

"Just help me keep an eye on Qiu Zhizhong. You must protect his safety!"

"If Feiyu (Qiu Zhizhong) loses even a hair, I'll show you how I'll deal with you when I get back!"

"Do you understand?" Xiao Jingchuan ordered.

"Yes! I understand!" Gu Changting replied seriously.

"Okay, go ahead!"

"You've been with me for such a long time. When you have time, eat more walnuts to nourish your brain!" Xiao Jingchuan teased with a look of disappointment.

"Ah? Replenish, replenish what?" Gu Changting didn't react for a moment.

"Get lost! Go do your job!"

In late March of the lunar calendar, the high mountains near Xiangshan are silent, except for the pine and cypress trees that remain green all year round, and most of the grass and trees in the forest are still withered and yellow.

Literati and poets are used to talking about the spring in March when the grass grows and the birds fly. But this refers to the south.

The Ming Dynasty had two capitals and thirteen provinces, with a north-south longitudinal line of thousands of miles. The temperature difference between different regions was different, and the timing of the emergence of spring was also far apart.

At this time of year, the south was in full bloom, with birds chirping on the branches, but near the capital where Xiao Jingchuan and his companions were, spring was still brewing. There was a snowstorm yesterday, and although it was not heavy, it was still very cold and damp in the forest not far from the east bank of the Hun River.

Qiu Zhizhong followed the two masters Liu Wenbing and Gong Yonggu, and took fifty servants with them, and they sneaked and marched quickly towards a small fishing village in the west. The sound of their feet rustling in the dead leaves and grass was endless.

"Damn it, Gong Erlangzi, it seems like there's fog ahead!"

Liu Wenbing was a strong man, leading the way and standing at the head of the team.

"Liu Wenbing, Baldy Liu! How many times have I told you that we are people of status, and your fucking jokes should be appropriate in the right place!"

"Especially just now in front of that kid named Xiao, you idiot, don't I have any dignity?"

Gong Yonggu was quite serious and shouted at him sternly.

"Oh, fine, fine, we're on good terms with each other! You're still picking on me!"

"Okay, can't I just stop saying it in the future?!" Liu Wenbing tried to save his own way.

"Well, my goodness, come and see!"

As he spoke, Gong Yonggu took a few steps forward, stood beside Liu Wenbing, looked down a steep slope, and found that it was just as he said.

In the damp and cold mountain forest, night gradually falls and the cold air begins to gather on the surface.

From this, the air slowly condenses, and sometimes a fine mist rises over a large area!

"Hey! Why is it foggy up ahead?"

Just as Gong Yonggu was watching, Qiu Zhizhong also rushed forward.

"Hey, brother Zhizhong, it's alright!"

"Based on the speed we walked just now, I estimate that this place is not far from the small fishing village!"

"Call the soldiers behind us, and cheer up!"

"There's only a short distance left, let's all run through it quickly!"

"go!"

Having said that, Liu Wenbing did not stop and continued to rush into the fog first. Dozens of others followed closely behind him, fearing that they would fall behind in such an environment. If that happened, it would be even more troublesome!
It didn't take long before the whole team passed through the fog area and saw lights and smoke in front of them.

The small fishing village was very small, and most of the residents built their houses with thatched adobes.

Because Liu, Gong and dozens of others were on the ridge at the moment, they observed carefully from top to bottom.

This village has only two columns, with thatched houses standing gradually along the village path. Roughly speaking, there are about thirty households, and some of them have not yet turned on the lights.

"Hey, it's almost time. Don't wait any longer. We've been looking for a long time. There are no bandits near the fishing village. Let's go down the mountain and into the village!"

Gong Yonggu became anxious and urged Liu Wenbing to take action.

"Well, alright, brother Zhizhong, let's go, let's lead the team and prepare to enter the village!"

As he spoke, Liu Wenbing called the servants behind him, and a team of people carefully went down the mountain road towards the fishing village.

After going down the mountain and entering the village, everyone made silent gestures, and Liu Wenbing chose a large thatched house with a lamp, and prepared to start questioning from this family.

Qiu Zhizhong was also not idle. He was afraid that if he was not careful he would alarm the remaining villagers and attract the enemy soldiers to surround and cut off their escape route. So he made arrangements and asked fifty servants to disperse and hide in various places in the village to keep a close eye on them secretly.

After giving these instructions, he was afraid that Liu Wenbing and Gong Yonggu were not familiar with the way of interrogation, so he did not dare to stop and hurriedly chased into the big house.

Whether or not this trip will cause any trouble is not the point for now, but it would be better to pay attention to the task of finding out the true strength of the bandits.

Next to the village entrance, in front of an abandoned farmhouse yard, pickled fish were hung.

In the fishing villages beside the large lakes and wide rivers in the northern inland area, the fish dried are mainly grass carp, silver carp, carp and crucian carp, and freshwater fish are not as easy to handle as saltwater fish.

Dried fish needs to be cut into pieces, pickled and then marinated before it can be preserved.

At this moment, in front of the deserted house at night, a pair of thief hands suddenly stretched out and roughly pulled down the dried fish one by one!

"Dog, what are you doing?" another tall and thin man asked beside the thief.

"What are you doing? I need to get more food so I can run away!"

The short and fat man named Gouzi was muttering to himself but his hands did not stop.

"Gao Sheng, don't just stand there, hurry up and get some too!"

"Let's escape together after we get it!"

(End of this chapter)