Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 127: King Gao keeps his word
At this moment, Kou Liu's eyes widened, his face full of anger.

"No wonder people looked down on me when I was in Sizhou, saying I was a Xianbei rebel. They didn't teach me anything, and now I know what a Xianbei villain is!"

"I came here with good intentions to trade with you, but you're short of food and you want to rob me? You deserve to starve to death!"

Hearing Kou Liu's scolding, several Xianbei people drew their swords with fierce eyes.

The old man signaled them to stop. He looked at Kou Liu with a smile and said, "Little kid, your family used to be officials, right?"

"Have you ever been to the frontier?"

Kou Liu had a stern face and said nothing.

The old man sneered and said, "When we were at the frontier, each of us had more than ten slaves. They would do the farming and weaving, and we would train every day, ready to go into battle and kill people. Later, when we couldn't survive anymore, we joined the army and beat those fools until they were dizzy!"

"But what about now? The big thing has been accomplished, the officials have gone to Jinyang and Yecheng to enjoy their lives, and we have been thrown among these Han people!"

"There were more than 50,000 people who came to Anping at the beginning, but what about now?! There are not even 10,000 people!"

"Not long after we arrived, the government took away our slaves. Just when we learned how to farm, they took away the land that was given to us. We have to pay all kinds of taxes, and they are not less. How can we survive?!"

"If you don't want to be a thief, you will become a ghost!"

"So what if we robbed it?"

"When King Gao asked us to come here, he promised us that the Han people were the masters here and that they would farm and weave to feed us. He said we were guests and that if we accepted their benefits, we would have to take up arms to protect them!"

"But later, when King Gao was gone, these people started to rob slaves and farmland, and even took away cattle, sheep, donkeys and horses. Since they broke their promise and stopped providing for us, why should we protect them? We must rob, seize and fight them!!"

The old man's voice became more and more intense.

Kou Liu burst into laughter.

"What a group of heroic Xianbei people!"

"Did I steal your servants? Did I steal your land?"

"Go and fight whoever robbed you. If you can't beat the strong, you can only bully the weak. And you still dare to speak so righteously. How shameless!"

The old man was furious. He stood up suddenly and untied his belt. The belt made several breaking sounds in his hand.

"You're full of morality, but you're nothing but a piece of shit Xianbei! You can only talk, but you don't do anything!"

"Oh, you don't want to do it? While we are doing things in other places, you are still stealing here!"

"Catch them! Hang them up!"

At the old man's command, the Xianbei people pounced forward. Kou Liu led his men to fight back. Within a moment, Kou Liu and his men were pinned to the ground. Three or four people lay on Kou Liu and tied him up.

Kou Liu's head was pressed to the ground, his face fierce, "Come, come, if you are brave enough, give me a knife, and when my brother comes, I will kill your whole family. If you can survive, I will treat you as my son!"

The old man sneered, "Okay, okay, I want to see for myself. There are nearly a thousand households in this village, and there are thousands of people who can fight. One of them can beat ten city people to pieces. I want to see how many heads your master has to dare to come here."

"In Anping, even if your master's surname is Cui, I am not afraid of him!!"

"Is this Cui's Wubao?"

Yao Xiong stood on the high slope, staring at the city in the distance, stunned.

There are tall dense forests on both sides, and in the dense forests, there is a huge fortress hidden. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is a military fortress. It is backed by the mountain and covers a very large area. Even in such a cold day, people are still coming in and out, and it is extremely bustling.

The knight beside him was also confused, "This is a city, right? How dare the Cui family build a city outside the city?"

“This is too”

Just as the two were muttering, the sound of hurried horse hooves suddenly came from afar. Yao Xiong and his companions hurriedly jumped on their horses. Just as they were ready, more than 30 people appeared in front of them. These people held large bows and aimed at Yao Xiong and his companions. The leader was a burly man with a fierce look. He looked Yao Xiong up and down and said, "Who dares to wander around in and out of the Cui family?!"

Yao Xiong took out his badge and said, "I am the commander of the county army! I am here to inspect and investigate thieves."

The man sneered and waved his hand, "There are no thieves here, leave quickly!!"

Yao Xiong looked at the bows in the hands of those people aimed at him, gestured to the left and right, turned around and hurried away.

Walking on the road, Yao Xiong was quite depressed.

“This is different from the ones I encountered before.”

"Let's go to the next Wubao!"

The Cui family was divided into several families, and each family had its own residence. These residential areas were nominally inside the city, but in reality they were just a city outside the city, and outsiders could not even get close.

Yao Xiong went to several other places, but there was no difference. They were all inaccessible. The roads outside the residential areas of these big families were flat, and there were no hiding places around. Standing on them, one could see the surrounding situation clearly at a glance, and it was impossible to approach them sneakily.

Yao Xiong felt very lost, and he finally returned to the training ground before dark.

As soon as he returned to the parade ground, he was shocked to see a row of heads hanging outside the parade ground.

Yao Xiong quickly quickened his pace and rushed into the training ground, where he saw Tian Zili and Liu Taozi talking about something, and not far away were two people hanging, covered in wounds.

"What happened??"

Tian Zili heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Yao Xiong coming back. "I'm glad you're okay. My brother was attacked."

"Huh? Where is it?"

"It's right inside the city! From now on, when we travel, there must be no less than five of us!"

Yao Xiong hurried to Liu Taozi's side, looked him up and down, and was relieved to make sure his brother was fine. "What's going on? Why is the city under attack?"

Tian Zili was also very puzzled, "It looks like a Xianbei."

"But we just arrived and have no enemies with the locals. These people are here just for my brother. It doesn't make sense. There is no grudge between us. After all, my brother is an official. How dare they kill him like this?"

Yao Xiong asked hurriedly: "Could it be that governor? Wasn't he very angry with my brother before? Maybe he sent someone to do it."

"It's unlikely. I just had a quarrel with him today. If something really happened to my brother, he would be the first to be investigated. Besides, I don't think he has the courage to do so."

Tian Zili thought about it for a long time but still couldn't come up with a motive.

Yao Xiong added: "Perhaps he knew that his brother was at odds with the big family, so he took action in advance. The Cui family! It must be the Cui family!"

"Otherwise it's those Xianbei people. They are afraid that my brother will suppress them. They are either from the Cui family or the Xianbei people!"

Yao Xiong gave his own conclusion, but Liu Taozi frowned and looked around.

"Where's Koulyu?"

Hearing this, Yao Xiong was horrified. He looked around fiercely, "Kou Liu hasn't come back yet?!"

"It's broken! It's broken!"

"Brother, the assassins must be those Xianbei people!"

"They couldn't kill you, so they captured Kou Liu. Maybe Kou Liu has been killed."

Yao Xiong's eyes were red, Tian Zili said quickly: "Don't talk nonsense, brother, he brought six knights, these people are good fighters, we just arrived, and we have no feud with the Xianbei people, he himself is a Xianbei"

As they were talking, they heard the sound of horse hooves not far away.

The sound of horse hooves was extremely loud.

Everyone picked up their weapons and got ready, then they saw three people rushing into the parade ground.

The three of them were dressed in standard Xianbei attire, riding on fine horses. The leader's horse was carrying a man, who was none other than Liu Taozi's subordinate.

The man looked at everyone in the training ground with a look of disdain. "Seven thieves came to our village and were caught by us. They said they were your people. Each of them was given 15 dan of grain. For seven people, we gave them 100 dan! When you hand over the grain, we will release you!"

"Ah!!"

Then Yao Xiong roared and rushed towards those people. They hurriedly rode their horses to escape, but someone closed the door in advance. Several people rushed up and pulled them off their horses. Soon, all three of them were captured, but the knights they brought with them were released.

The three men were pinned to the ground, still shouting: "Your people are in our hands!!"

The knight who was released hurriedly bowed to Liu Taozi and told him what had happened.

Yao Xiong gnashed his teeth in anger, "Brother, let's go now and kill him completely. What kind of Xianbei birdman is this? Is he the only one who can ride a horse and shoot arrows?!"

Tian Zili was alert, "Brother, don't act rashly. There are thousands of Xianbei people there, and if we go there rashly, we will die. The local county and prefecture governments can't do anything to them."

Liu Taozi pondered for a moment and said, "Let's wait for Chu Jiande to come back."

Yao Xiong was confused, "Why do we need that liar back? He can't kill anyone, brother."

Liu Taozi raised her head and looked at him slowly. Yao Xiong suddenly didn't dare to speak. He sat aside irritably, his hands trembling slightly.

After waiting for a long time, Chu Jiande finally came back with his men.

This man was different from Tian and Yao. He had a smile on his face and there were two cars following him, which were filled with all kinds of things.

Chu Jiande was also shocked when he saw the head and the body, and he quickly got off his horse and asked about the situation. After learning what happened, Chu Jiande frowned, "I went to the temple outside the city today. There is no Taoist temple here. I talked with several old monks in the temple. The monks here are quite weak. Unlike Chongguang Temple, there are only dozens of monks. Their residences and clothes are relatively ordinary. I asked them a lot of questions."

Liu Taozi stood up and said, "Tell me these words while we walk."

"Let's go to Kebozhen Township!"

Everyone got on their horses, including the three captives. Led by Liu Taozi, they headed out of the city.

Tian Zili frowned, not knowing where his brother got the courage from, but he didn't dare to ask more.

It was Chu Jiande, who was walking next to Liu Taozi at the moment, and was the closest to her. The two were talking about something, and everyone clenched their weapons, ready for a fight to the death.

After walking for a long time, they finally arrived at the Xianbei people's residence.

At this moment, the Xianbei people had already made preparations. They saw carts parked in the distance. These carts were very old and had no horses. These carts naturally formed a barrier, and many Xianbei people hid inside the carts, holding large bows, ready. The sound of horses neighing could be heard in the distance.

The sky was a little dark and not very bright. If one had poor eyesight, it would be difficult to see the Xianbei people hiding in every corner.

Seeing Liu Taozi and others, the Xianbei people in the distance finally spoke.

"Did you bring the food?!"

Before Liu Taozi gave any order, Yao Xiong and others took out their bows and arrows.

The two sides were on the verge of a fight. At this moment, Liu Taozi looked at Chu Jiande on the side and nodded at him.

When Chu Jiande got off the horse, he saw that he was wearing a fur coat. The coat looked extremely strange. Not only was it turned inside out, it also seemed to be made of the hair of many animals. He wore a feather crown and a felt mask on his head, and took out strange bones and various things from the horse bag beside him.

Yao Xiong and others stared at Chu Jiande with wide eyes, confused.

Chu Jiande threw the bones in his hand to the ground, then asked someone to light a fire, and started humming around the fire.

His voice was strange but high-pitched. He began to dance while singing. His dance steps were wide and wide. He beat the instrument in his hands and kept pointing at the Xianbei people in the distance. He danced more and more excitedly, and his voice became louder and louder.

Yao Xiong was stunned.

"Curse!! That guy is cursing us!!"

Then I heard screams coming from the other side, and everything instantly became chaotic.

Several Xianbei knights rushed out from the opposite side and quickly came in front of Liu Taozi and others, holding long swords and glaring at them, but did not dare to get close.

"Make this wizard stop! Stop it!!"

"I told him to stop!!"

Several people shouted, but did not dare to come closer.

Liu Taozi looked at these people and said, "Go and release my people, or I will curse you to be plagued by diseases, the springs to dry up, and you to vomit blood and die."

The Xianbei people were helpless and ran back and forth. After a while, they saw an old man riding a horse galloping towards them. When he saw Chu Jiande's costume and standard dance posture, his face changed drastically.

He raised his head and looked at Liu Taozi, "We can talk it out, you ask him to stop first."

Liu Taozi then waved her hand and Chu Jiande stopped dancing.

The old man was very timid. He looked at Liu Taozi and gritted his teeth, "Who are you?"

Liu Taozi slowly drew out the sword from his waist and pointed it at the old man.

At this moment, many Xianbei people picked up bows and arrows and aimed at Liu Taozi.

"Wait a minute!! Wait a minute!!"

The old man hurriedly called out to the people on his side. He looked at the sword in Liu Taozi's hand blankly, his lips trembling.

"Is that the sword of the High King?"

The old man's expression became very interesting, with shock, fear, surprise, excitement, loss, anger, and different expressions appearing one after another.

Finally, the old man looked at Liu Taozi, "Who are you? Why do you have this sword?"

"I am the county lieutenant Liu Taozi, and this sword was given to me by Lou Rui."

"General Lou"

The old man looked at Liu Taozi in front of him, his expression becoming more and more serious, "King Gao broke his promise and did not fulfill his promise to us."

"He didn't break his promise, it's just that the benefits he promised to give you were taken by someone else."

"Who?!"

"Big family."

“Han people.”

"No, big guy."

"The Han people are the rich!"

"No, the Han people are the Han people, the wealthy are the wealthy, the Xianbei are the Xianbei, and the bandits are the bandits."

“We are not robbers.”

"Then why did you arrest my people?"

"I"

The old man pursed his lips, then waved his hand, "Let their people go."

Soon, Kou Liu and several others were pushed here. They walked quickly to Liu Taozi's side. Yao Xiong dismounted, untied the ropes for them, and took the cloth out of their mouths. He gave everyone a big hug, "I'm glad you're all okay!! I'm glad you're all okay!!"

Liu Taozi looked at the old man and said, "I have something to tell you."

The old man asked everyone to stay here and motioned Liu Taozi to follow him. As the two walked on the road, the old man slowly spoke, "You want to use us to fight Cui?"

"Correct."

"Why should we follow you? Don't think that we will follow you just because you have the sword of the High King. The High King is fat on the grounds of his promise!"

"Because the people in the city are not living well."

"There are the wealthy families of the Cui family who have occupied the common people's farmland, and there are the Xianbei like you who are bandits and plunder their property."

"So, I want to subdue you guys and make you stop being thieves. Then I want to take you to subdue the Cui family and make them vomit what they have eaten. In this way, the two evils will be eliminated."

"We are not robbers!!"

The old man argued again.

"What can you give us?"

"food."

"How many?"

“I am full.”

The old man pursed his lips and said, "The Cui family is very powerful. There are four Wu forts outside the city, each one is bigger than the other, and the guards and servants add up to more than 10,000 people. Moreover, their official titles are very high, and it is easier to break into the county government than to break into their Wu forts. Can you do it?"

"do not know."

The old man smiled and said, "You are a good person. You don't brag."

"I will use you to organize the county soldiers. I will feed you and your families, but I will use military law to discipline you. If you violate military law, I will never forgive you."

The old man was very disdainful, "We are military families from generation to generation, not bandits, and we know what military law is."

The two of them walked all the way to the center of the village. Liu Taozi stopped talking and the old man also stopped talking.

The roads in the countryside are quiet, and occasionally you can hear dogs barking on both sides.

The old man listened to the dogs barking and said slowly: "We are like these big dogs. When they want to catch thieves, they let us out to bite people. If there are no thieves, they tie us up. If there is no food, they kill us and eat our meat."

He suddenly stopped and looked at Liu Taozi beside him. He looked at the Gao Wang Sword, and then at Liu Taozi's tall and scarred body.

"I can believe you again. But there is one thing you must promise me."

"Tell me about it."

"You must ask that great wizard to cast a spell to break the curse on us again, to break the evil curse he cast just now!!!"

"it is good."

(End of this chapter)