Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 126 Dementia
"Is this person mentally ill?"

The county magistrate stroked his beard, watching Liu Taozi lead everyone away, and could not help but look at the chief clerk beside him.

"Mr. Zheng, the county lieutenant is either an old soldier or a foolish general. I think he is also from the military, so it is normal that he does not know local government affairs."

The chief clerk made his own judgment.

The county magistrate shook his head with disdain in his eyes, "This guy thinks this is a frontier fortress and he can forcibly requisition food at will!"

"The people in this city are either from the Cui family or the brutal Xianbei. Who can we find to forcibly collect food?"

"I won't be here long anyway, so let him make a scene if he wants to!!"

The county magistrate waved his hand, turned and walked into the house.

At this moment, Liu Taozi led everyone out of the county government office. Yao Xiong laughed, "Now that we have the county magistrate's personal letter, we can collect food on our own to gather the county soldiers!"

"Brother, should we go and share the money now?"

Tian Zili frowned and said, "I have the title, but the strength is still not enough."

"Not urgent."

Liu Taozi rode his horse slowly on the road, "Zili, go find out the situation of the big families in and outside the city first. The more detailed the better."

"only!!"

"Liu, go find out the situation of those Xianbei people, but don't tell them your purpose yet."

"only!!"

"Xiong, lead the people outside the city to check the nearby roads and terrain. Take a look at the locations of the various Wu castles."

"only!!"

"You can get both. Go to the temples and Taoist temples in the city and ask around."

"only!"

Everyone dispersed one by one, each with their own men, and fine horses galloped out from the team.

There were only two knights left by Liu Taozi.

The houses on both sides were lifeless, with various stains on the dark facades. It was already noon, but there was no smoke rising. There was not much snow on the roads in the city, and they were clean, obviously having been swept. However, in front of the houses on both sides, there was dirty and thick snow piled up. The snow was frozen into a ball and was black, which looked even worse in contrast to the flat road.

It seems that you can see pairs of eyes peeking at the road through the gaps in the doorway.

Liu Taozi narrowed her eyes and looked around.

When more than thirty people walked on the road, everything seemed so ordinary.

But when the three people were walking on the road, they felt that the city suddenly became weird.

Even the two knights following behind Liu Taozi had their hair standing on end and were looking around vigilantly.

They had an indescribable subtle feeling, as if something was watching them.

The door of the house in the distance slowly opened.

But no one came out.

The two knights looked at Liu Taozi. Liu Taozi had a blank expression on his face and continued to ride forward. The other two followed him, and the three of them arrived at the house together.

The door was open and one could clearly see what was going on inside.

This house is relatively spacious and covers a large area.

But the middle of the courtyard was empty, and there were five or six houses in front.

There was straw and other debris piled up on three sides.

There seemed to be flickering fire in the inner room directly in front, swaying and shaking.

Liu Taozi rode his horse and slowly walked into the yard, and the two knights followed him in.

"Is anyone there?!"

The knight asked.

But there was no answer from inside. Liu Taozi jumped off the horse, walked to the door and pushed it open.

"Whoosh!"

Liu Taozi quickly turned sideways, and the arrow flew past his face, leaving a cut on it.

The knight was startled and quickly drew his sword.

"Ah!!"

The straw and other debris piled up on the three sides were opened, and strong men came out from inside, holding long knives. They hurriedly blocked the door, and a group of people rushed out from each house, all of them dressed in armor and holding sharp weapons, with fierce eyes.

The war horses neighed, and the two knights looked around hurriedly. Liu Taozi held a sword and looked at the people around him.

These people were strange-looking, with weird beards and hairstyles.

Their eyes were fierce as they stared at Liu Taozi among the three and approached her cautiously.

Liu Taozi suddenly raised the sword in his hand.

"qa?! ir qaγan qrag!!" (Do you recognize this? The sword of the High King is here.)
The men looked at each other without any reaction and slowly approached again.

Liu Taozi laughed, the corner of her left eye twitched, and a hint of ferocity flashed in her eyes.

He took one step and jumped directly to the door of the house, waving the long sword in his hand. Two people fell down immediately. The rest of the people rushed over. Liu Taozi kicked the person in front of him away, dodged the slash sideways, swung the knife in his hand sideways, and another head flew out. Liu Taozi approached again and rushed directly into the house. There were two people holding bows and arrows, looking at Liu Taozi who came in, and were about to draw the bows and shoot arrows, but Liu Taozi slashed left and right, and the two people fell to the ground directly.

The two knights also followed Taozi into the house at this moment. Taozi was still hacking and killing the enemies in the house. The two knights blocked the door and worked together to attack and kill the thieves who came.

Liu Taozi picked up the bow and arrow from the ground and aimed it outside.

The road was quiet, but suddenly a scream broke the silence, followed by shouts, roars, and the sound of weapons clashing, and the street quickly became extremely noisy.

But even so, the surrounding houses were quiet, no different from just now.

The screams became more and more frequent, followed by the sound of heavy falls to the ground.

This went on for a long time.

Finally, the noise inside died down.

The door slowly opened.

A man who had lost half of his arm staggered out of the door. Holding a long knife, he took a few steps forward and fell forward with a bang, revealing Liu Taozi standing behind him.

Liu Taozi stepped on his body and walked out of the yard.

The two knights supported each other and staggered out.

At this moment, Liu Taozi had already become a bloody man, almost covered in blood from head to toe, and his appearance was completely unrecognizable.

Every step forward leaves a clear trail of blood.

The green lion and two horses walked out behind them. Liu Taozi turned around and stroked the wound on the green lion with a serious expression. The green lion rubbed its head against Liu Taozi, very intimately.

Liu Taozi returned to the house again.

Soon, the blue lion and the other horses were all covered with heads.

Liu Taozi then led the green lion and walked towards the training ground.

In that instant, the malicious peeping sounds from all around disappeared without a trace.

Liu Taozi walked away, leaving only a long trail of blood behind him.

When they walked into the alley and turned a corner, two people suddenly emerged from a house nearby. Their dress and appearance were exactly the same as the group of people just now.

They looked in horror at the direction where Liu Taozi disappeared, and then slowly walked into the courtyard.

Standing at the door, they saw a neat row of headless corpses lying flat on the ground.

The leader shuddered with fear.

"Who is this guy? Who is this guy?"

"I am the Captain of Boling."

Suddenly, a whisper came from behind.

The two men shuddered and turned back hurriedly, only to see Liu Taozi standing in front of them, covered in blood, holding a sharp blade, looking ferocious.

"what!!!"

The two men screamed in fear. Liu Taozi rushed forward, kicked one of them down, grabbed the other by the hair, swung him up and threw him to the ground, and then tied them up.

Soon, both of them were thrown onto the horses.

Liu Taozi led the horse, carrying the head and the two captives, and walked towards the parade ground, covered in blood.

This time I really left.

When Liu Taozi and his men arrived at the parade ground, it was empty except for the old man who was sweeping the floor.

The old man's surname was also Cui. When he saw Liu Taozi and the others entering the parade ground in such a state, he was frightened and almost fainted. It took him a long time to recover and he hurried forward to help. The two clerks came out of the county government office and just walked through an alley when they were stopped by someone.

The man had a smile on his face, was leading a horse, and was very polite.

"You two, please stay."

The two men looked at Tian Zili warily, sizing him up and down, "Who are you?"

"Ah, I am a military officer under the command of the county lieutenant. I used to work as an official in Cheng'an and Liyang. I have something to ask you."

"My county lieutenant asked me to feed the horses. I don't have much feed with me. I see the two cities are closed too. Where can I get some feed?"

Seeing Tian Zili's friendly appearance, the two men looked at each other and said with a smile: "You can't buy feed in the city right now. If you need it, you can go to the villages outside the city to look for it. There is a pasture in Liu Village. The township officials there may be able to think of a solution."

"I see! Thank you very much! Thank you very much!"

Tian Zili nodded and bowed, "If it weren't for you two, I would have been whipped when I returned. Alas, you are lucky to be able to stay in this county government office. I am unlucky like this, and I have to follow a warrior and be whipped by them all day long."

Hearing Tian Zili's sigh, the two men laughed and said, "We have never been whipped in the city."

"Thank you both."

Tian Zili hurriedly took out some money and stuffed it into the two men's hands. The two men refused for a moment before taking it.

"You two, I just arrived here. I don't know where the Liu family is. I heard that there is a Cui family in Anping. They are really rich and have many horses. Is it okay for me to buy some feed from them?"

When the two heard this, they burst into laughter.

One of them said, "Brother, Anping is not like Liyang. To tell you the truth, both of us are from the Cui family."

"Ah? You two are from high-class families?"

"Oops, sorry, sorry"

Tian Zili hurriedly saluted, which made the two men particularly happy.

They hurriedly helped Tian Zili up, "Please don't do this."

One of them stroked his beard and said, "Since you are a decent person, I will tell you about the situation here so that you don't have to go to their house and ask for feed."

"Our Cui family is a big clan, not comparable to the smaller families. We have been in Anping for many, many years. Since the ancient Cui Wuzi, we have been famous in the world, and it has been a thousand years now!"

"During the reign of Emperor Zhao of the Former Han Dynasty, our ancestor served as an imperial censor and settled in Anping. Since then, we have lived in Anping for generations. This has been about five or six hundred years."

"People like us are just small branches. We cannot be officials. We can only work as clerks here. This is also a way to repay the kindness of the clan. You don't have to be so polite."

"Half of the people in the city have the surname Cui. Even if the others don't, they are Cui's relatives, servants, guards, and they are all old friends. If you want to buy feed from these people, I'm afraid you won't be able to buy it. The really wealthy ones are those big families. But... Let me tell you this, even if your county lieutenant comes to these big families, he can't enter the house! Even the prefect has to wait for you at the door. Just go to the countryside honestly, and don't even think about going to the Cui family to buy feed."

Tian Zili nodded blankly, "There is such a big family, it's really amazing, amazing. No wonder when I set out, others said this is Cui's City!"

"Hahaha, some people often say that Anping is Cui's city. The guards of our big family alone are more than the soldiers of the other counties combined. Not to mention that we are divided into several branches here, and each branch lives in a different place and has long been separated."

"As for the cultivated land inside and outside the city, there is no land that does not belong to the Cui family. Whether it is the county magistrate, county deputy chief, prefect, or county deputy chief, if you come to Anping, you must first pay a visit to the Cui family. You may not even be able to see them. You can only see some junior people. If you offend them, hey, he will offend you in the city..."

"Cough cough."

The man standing next to him cleared his throat, interrupting his boasting.

The man realized that he had said too much, and scratched his nose with a smile, "If you want to buy feed, go to Liu Village. There are many horse farms outside the city, anywhere is fine. By the way, just don't go to that Bozhen Township."

"Those are all unreasonable Xianbei villains over there"

Kou Liu turned over and jumped off his horse. His face was red from the cold and he was muttering something in Xianbei language.

After being ridiculed many times, Kou Liu began to study Xianbei language hard.

He blew some air into his mouth and then looked forward.

A dilapidated path led to a village in the distance. The village looked very dilapidated. There was no trace of cultivated land around it. There were thorns everywhere in the snow. There was no fence, but some smoke could be seen.

Kou Liu led seven people. He looked back at them and then walked towards the village path.

Among the seven people behind him, three were Xianbei people. Of course, like Kou Liu, they were the kind of Xianbei people who could not speak Xianbei language fluently and were often bullied. However, one could still tell there were some differences in their appearance.

Kou Liu couldn't help but mutter, "Is this the Xianbei village? Why does it look like a ruin?"

As soon as they entered the village, several strong men rushed out from the house next door, their eyes eager, "Are you a merchant? Are you a merchant?"

These people rushed out, and when they saw the knights in front of them, disappointment suddenly appeared on their faces.

The leader stared at the people in front of him with his eyes wide open, "Xianbei? Where are they from?"

Kou Liu was stunned for a moment when he heard the fluent Chinese. "I'm from Liyang."

"Li Yang? I've never heard of you coming here to do anything?"

"I have some food. I heard that the people here are short of food. I want to exchange the food for some horses from you."

"oops!!"

The leader's eyes lit up, and he hurried forward and grabbed his reins, "Where's the food? Where's the food?!"

Kou Liu cleared his throat and said, "I am only here on behalf of my master, Ba Ren. I need to see the quality of your horses first, and then negotiate the price before I can trade with you."

"Why bother? We can just go look for your Baren. Where is he?"

There was a fierce gleam in the eyes of these people, which made Kou Liu extremely unhappy.

He pulled out his reins and looked at them, "What do you want to do?!"

Those people hurriedly shook their heads and said, "Don't misunderstand me, we just want to complete the transaction as soon as possible."

The leader quickly looked behind him, "Someone come here!!"

"A merchant is coming to see the horses!!"

"Dignified guest!"

They led Kou Liu and others into the village.

Many people walked out of the houses on both sides of the countryside. These people all looked ferocious. Some had bow legs, some had uneven eyes, and there were few with decent looks. At this moment, they were all staring at Kou Liu and others with unfriendly eyes, with fierce looks on their faces.

However, Kouliu was not afraid. Under the guidance of those people, they walked for a long time and came to the innermost part of the village. Several people went forward and knocked on the door.

Soon, an old man with messy hair pushed open the door and walked out.

The old man was old, and not only his appearance but also his clothes were very strange. He looked up at Kou Liu, and those people whispered a few words in his ear.

The old man nodded and motioned for the other party to get off. Kou Liu and others got off their horses and followed him into the yard.

There were two big dogs in the yard. They were extremely large and dark in color. When they saw the strangers, they started barking wildly and surrounded Kou Liu and the others, baring their teeth.

"Go, go!"

The old man waved his hand, and the two big dogs lay down, but their eyes were still fixed on Kou Liu and others.

"My name is Potalafu. You can just call me Potala."

As the old man spoke, he led them into the inner room.

The room was in a mess, emitting a foul smell of decay, and there were several animal carcasses hanging on the side.

He just sat in the upper seat, and Kou Liu and others sat in front of him.

The old man looked Kou Liu up and down, "You are all Xianbei from Sizhou, right?"

"Yes."

"I knew it as soon as I smelled it. There is no trace of Xianbei on the body."

The old man was not polite and asked directly: "How much food do you have? Wheat? Or millet?"

"Wheat, we have hundreds of stones of wheat."

"Hundreds of stones??"

The old man raised his head, with some surprise in his eyes, and pursed his lips, "That's good."

He pointed at the knight who came in with Kouliu and said, "How about this, you go back to find your master and tell him to send food over."

"Well, I don't want much. Fifteen stones per person. For the seven of you, one hundred stones is enough."

The Xianbei people on the side suddenly looked at the old man and said, "Grandpa, you calculated it wrong! One person gets 15 shi, so seven people get 105 shi!"

The old man glared at him and said, "You are the only one who is capable! Get out!"

Kou Liu's expression was very unfriendly at the moment, "We are here to trade, do you want to hold us hostage?"

Suddenly, a few Xianbei came in from outside, and the courtyard was already full.

The old man sighed helplessly, "In theory, we should not move the merchants who come to trade. After all, we still need you to come. Unfortunately, we have no food, not even a grain. We have to kill the horses and dogs to eat. Don't blame us."

"How about this, I'll lower the price for you to eighty stones. I want eighty stones."

"Oh, let alone eighty stones, I won't give you even one."

(End of this chapter)