Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 128: Wild Beasts Eating People
Chu Jiande started dancing again and began to lift the evil curse.

Yao Xiong's eyes widened as he watched.

He looked at Tian Zili beside him blankly, "Is this also possible?"

Tian Zili said calmly: "The Xianbei people believe in this. When they went out to fight, they would bring witches with them to do divination. The witches on both sides would cast spells on each other and then fight."

"No, I mean why does Chu Jiande know this? What's his teacher's name?"

When Chu Jiande finished the dance and took off his costume, the many Xianbei people present finally breathed a sigh of relief. They looked at Chu Jiande with fear and did not dare to get close. Only the old man came forward and talked to Chu Jiande. Chu Jiande understood Xianbei language, and the old man was stunned by what he said.

"Mr. Dugu, please bring your people to my home."

"I'll prepare some food at home and host a banquet for you all!"

Before Liu Taozi could speak, Yao Xiong said, "Didn't they say they were all starving to death? Can we still have a banquet?"

The old man was very angry when he heard this. "According to our Xianbei customs, when a distinguished guest comes, I have to prepare meat even if I have to kill my own children! To entertain the distinguished guest!!"

Hearing this, a Xianbei man not far away trembled, looked at the people around him, and asked: "My grandfather is just giving an example, right?"

At this moment, Kou Liu walked forward, took Liu Taozi's hand, looked at the old man vigilantly, and shook his head at Liu Taozi.

His meaning was very clear. Once they entered the village, they would be surrounded by these people and would not be able to escape. Moreover, these people were not trustworthy. If they could escape here, they would be in trouble once they entered the village.

The rest of the people also looked towards the village ahead.

The sky was getting darker and darker. In the night, the big tree was baring its fangs and claws. Shadows gathered under the many trees and moved back and forth, giving people a feeling of ill intention.

The old man got anxious, he pointed at Kou Liu and cursed: "You are such a fake Xianbei! Don't you even remember your own customs?!"

"I remember it very clearly. I just experienced it once."

The old man's face turned red, and he stammered with anger, but he couldn't say a word.

Liu Taozi then said: "Don't kill the war horses, and don't kill the big dogs."

He looked at the trembling fool in the distance again, "Don't kill your son either."

"Let's get some deer. Now is the season for digging snow pits for deer. Get a few and cook them. It will be enough for everyone to eat."

The old man was very happy and shouted to Kou Liu: "Did you see it? This is the real Xianbei!"

Liu Taozi led everyone to the village. Although the others were scared, they didn't dare to disobey Liu Taozi when they saw him leading the way. Tian Zili was very relaxed. He said to his left and right, "Don't be afraid. Brother, if you come here, you can save their lives. They won't take action."

The countryside was very quiet, except for the loud barking of dogs on both sides, which could be heard in every house.

The old man Potuo Luo explained to Liu Taozi very proudly, "When we were at the frontier, we liked to raise dogs. Every household raised dogs. Some raised four or five dogs, and some raised more than ten dogs."

"This dog can guard our house, help us hunt, keep an eye on our sheep, and even drive away wolves. It's very obedient."

"These things are very smart. If you like them, I can give you a good one. They are all puppies and are very strong!"

They walked into Potala's yard together, and Liu Taozi saw the leader dog he mentioned. It was pitch black and indeed strong. Potala laughed and patted the dog's head a few times before leading the rest of the people into the inner room.

There was a foul odor in the house, mainly the stench of the dead animals.

The house was filled with animal fur, internal organs, and some skeletons. This was in winter, but if it were summer and they were surrounded by bugs, the smell would be unimaginable.

Everyone frowned, finding it difficult to adapt to the taste.

Potala asked someone to open the window and said, "It's cold outside. We can't process these things outside. There are not many merchants this year. We can't sell these bones and furs."

Liu Taozi showed no sign of worry. He even leaned over to take a look at the fur, then shook his head, "It wasn't peeled properly, so the price was reduced."

Potala was stunned for a moment, then became more certain.

Just as Liu Taozi said, the feast prepared by everyone was the deer meat. It was boiled, chopped, mixed with wheat and millet, and as much water as possible was added. It was boiled again. The meat porridge was enough for everyone to smell the meat.

Everyone sat around the house with a bonfire in the middle and stone teams placed around the bonfire.

Those who couldn't fit in the seats sat in the surrounding side rooms, with the doors wide open so they could see each other.

Those strong Xianbei people were also sitting beside them, eating meat porridge together, with thick mist coming out of their mouths.

The old man wiped the juice from the corner of his mouth and looked away.

The man took out a cow horn flute and began to play it slowly.

The sound of the flute is melodious and sad, carrying an inexplicable sadness and loneliness.

Potala raised his head and began to hum a song.

The next day, everyone got up and the whole countryside became extremely lively.

Young and old, some riding horses, some walking, all were walking outside, in a hurry.

Food was extremely scarce throughout the countryside, and they could only go out to get some food when the weather was not so cold.

Po Duo Luo brought Liu Taozi to the door and said, "The number of Anping county soldiers cannot exceed 500, right?"

"Four counties, I need two thousand men."

"Ah? You're going to recruit people from all four counties from here?"

Potala smiled and nodded, "Alright, this is a good thing! There were 50,000 or 60,000 Xianbei in Ningzhou at the beginning, and Boling and Changshan occupied the majority. Now, there are only people like us left in Boling, living outside Anping. The Xianbei in other places have long been unable to ride horses or hold bows and arrows, and have become tenants."

"Give me some time, I'll see if I can gather 2,000 people."

Yao Xiong hurriedly asked: "Didn't you say that there are thousands of Xianbei households here? Why do we need to gather two thousand people?"

Potala scratched his head, "I was just trying to scare you. I don't know where you came from, so of course I have to exaggerate. In fact, our population here is less than a thousand households, not counting the elderly, the weak, women and children, there are probably more than a thousand people who can ride horses and fight."

"But don't worry, the half-grown children here can also fight on horseback."

"Then take one thousand people and bring them to the training ground."

Potala nodded, "Okay, don't worry about it, Lord Liu. Although there are only a thousand of us, we are all good fighters. Even those who have never fought in a war have been trained by us since they were young. They have seen blood, know military formations, and can obey orders. By the way, do you need us to bring extra horses? Generally speaking, one person has three horses in a war. We have feed for these horses..."

"Just discuss these matters with Tian Zili."

"well."

As everyone was preparing to mount their horses, Liu Taozi suddenly asked, "Did you send anyone to the city yesterday?"

"Never."

"Then did someone accept money from others and secretly go to the city without telling you?"

Poduoluo hesitated for a moment before saying, "Well, the people in the city have some misunderstandings about us, so every time we go to the city, it will cause a great commotion. Even if my people are bribed, it is difficult to enter the city."

"Oh, I see."

Liu Taozi got on the horse and looked at Tian Zili who was standing beside him. "You stay and discuss the recruitment with them. Go to the training ground as soon as possible."

"only!!"

Liu Taozi led the rest of the knights and galloped away, while Potola stood there and watched them leave.

His silly son stepped forward and asked in a low voice: "Grandpa, can this man really be trusted?"

"If you don't believe me, what are you going to do? Even if we survive this winter, what will we do next winter? Are we really going to become bandits?!"

Potala glared at his son, then looked at Tian Zili.

"Hahaha, don't mind me. I haven't read since I was young. Let's talk about horses and weapons!"

Liu Taozi brought his men back to the training ground.

The gate of the parade ground was open.

There were many traces of trampling inside and outside the door. The heads outside the door had long disappeared. When everyone entered the parade ground, they found that the two captives who had been hung up were also nowhere to be seen.

Yao Xiong shouted and searched around the parade grounds for several rounds, but he couldn't find the old official in charge of cleaning.

Yao Xiong started swearing.

"I knew that old man Cui couldn't be trusted! He couldn't be trusted!!"

Old man Cui staggered a few steps and was then thrown to the ground. His hands were tied behind his back, his face was covered with cloth, and his mouth was blocked. He could only hear the sounds around him.

Shortly after Liu Taozi and the others left, a group of knights rushed into the parade grounds. They took away the heads and prisoners, including Old Man Cui himself. Old Man Cui was blindfolded, tied up, and thrown on horseback.

He didn't know how long he had been walking, but he was finally thrown down and pushed forward. Suddenly, someone whispered in his ear, "Go in!!"

Old man Cui was pushed hard and fell to the ground again. Someone took the cloth off his face.

Old man Cui raised his head, panting. It was a secluded little house.

The room was dark, with only a small candle lighting it, so it was impossible to see the faces of the people around me.

The man who pushed him in raised his head and looked at the superior.

"Young Master, everything has been cleaned up. This is the old official we originally sent to the training ground. You can ask him for specific matters."

Old man Cui narrowed his eyes and looked at the person in a higher position. It seemed that the person in a higher position was a young man.

The man held the tea in his hand and took a sip.

"Logically speaking, you are also a member of the Cui family, why would you help those bandits?"

Old man Cui was horrified. "How dare I? How dare I? After I received the reward, I have been working diligently in the training grounds and have never..."

"Okay, don't be afraid. We are from the same family. I won't make things difficult for you. I just have something to ask you."

The superior put down the tea and asked, "I heard that someone gave you a few packets of food and asked you to feed them to the bandits. Why didn't you do it?"

Old man Cui explained helplessly: "It's not that I don't want to do it, it's that these people didn't cook after they arrived, and they ate dry food all day long, and they got water from the well by themselves, so I didn't have a chance at all."

"Ah! That's it!"

The superior suddenly ripped open his sleeves, and looked a little anxious.

"I also heard that someone gave you a dagger and asked you to act according to the situation. Why didn't you do it?"

Old man Cui shuddered, "Those men are tall and strong. How can an old man like me fight with them?"

The superior suddenly stood up and walked quickly to Old Man Cui.

Now, Old Man Cui saw it clearly.

The person standing in front of him was only in his teens, quite young, with a red face and disheveled clothes. He squatted beside Old Man Cui and grabbed his clothes.

"The Cui family has achieved today's success and today's family business only because everyone in the Cui family has held each other hostage."

"You didn't do anything out of fear, but you killed twenty people. Don't you feel guilty at all?"

"That's twenty lives!"

The man's face was extremely sad. He pushed Old Man Cui away and his face turned fierce again. "How can there be such an immoral and cold-blooded person like you?!"

Old man Cui begged for mercy: "It's all my fault, please forgive me!"

"It's easy to forgive you. Go and recall the conversation between those bandits word for word. Don't miss a single word. If you can do that, I will spare your life."

"Thank you, my lord! Thank you, my lord!"

Someone threw paper and pen in front of Old Man Cui. Old Man Cui knelt on the ground, recalling and writing.

The nobleman strode right over his head without even bowing his head.

Surrounded by several people, the young man walked out of the secluded room, came outside, and took a deep breath.

He really was more than ten years old, with a pale face, swollen eyes, and a sickly look. Outside the house, there were all kinds of courtyards and pavilions all around, extremely luxurious, surrounded by tall walls on all sides. Not far away, there were all kinds of ferocious beasts in cages, which were now lying listlessly.

He picked up the stick, walked quickly to a cage, and stabbed the beast inside with the stick.

It was a large spotted insect, extremely thin, with a sunken belly and unkempt hair and a dirty face. It opened its mouth weakly towards the nobleman outside, but it had no teeth.

The nobleman had more and more fun playing, and the stick in his hand almost stabbed into the tiger's eyes.

I don't know how long they played, but finally someone came out of the house and handed a piece of paper with densely written small words to the noble man.

"Young Master, he has written it all for you to see."

"Third brother gave me some fish not long ago, use them to feed him."

"only."

Just as the young man continued to play with the beast, someone came in hurriedly and whispered something in his ear.

The young man stood up suddenly, "What is he doing here? Didn't I pay him a visit?"

"do not know"

The young man was full of disdain. "He is nothing. He is just a lowly person who got to the top through flattery and even went so far as to beat the emperor. We are both court officials, but he can't compare to my father at all!!"

The servant didn't dare to say much, but just stood aside with his head lowered.

The young man dropped the stick in his hand with an arrogant look.

"Oh, forget it. I'll go see him!"

The servants prepared the carriage and the young man got on. The carriage moved forward in the mansion. After passing the courtyard wall, a larger outer wall could be seen. To move back and forth in Wu Castle, one had to use the carriage.

I don't know how long they walked before the young man jumped out of the car, cleared his throat, and then walked quickly towards the house in front.

The young man hurriedly walked into the yard, pushed open the door, and saw an old man and a young boy in the pavilion nearby.

The house here is located on a higher ground, and sitting in the pavilion, you can see the beautiful scenery below.

The young man was filled with fear and trepidation. He quickly bowed and said, "Greetings, uncle!"

The people sitting in the pavilion were Cui Jishu and his son Cui Gang.

Both of them were wearing ordinary clothes and looking around. Upon hearing this, Cui Gang hurriedly stood up to return the greeting, but Cui Jishu smiled and stroked his beard, "Master, there is no need to be polite. Come over here."

Cui Renshi then stood up and said anxiously: "I didn't know that my uncle came here. It's impolite."

"Hey, you are always like this, come here."

Only then did Master Cui carefully sit down beside Cui Jishu, pretending to listen attentively to his teachings.

Cui Jishu looked into the distance and said, "Before I came back, I met your father. Your father didn't want to leave like this, so he stayed in the house of the King of Changshan. I only told you about this matter, don't spread it to others."

"only!!"

"He knew I was coming back, so he asked me to come and warn you, saying that you should study hard and be prepared to become an official. Among all the brothers, you are the only one who has not yet taken the exam to become an official."

Cui Renshi lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry for causing my uncle to worry. It's all my fault."

He looked very sad.

Cui Jishu advised, "I know that your brother's incident has hit you hard. Don't worry. I'm afraid that King Gaoyang, who framed your brother, is also going to die."

"what?"

Master Cui raised his head and asked, "Are you going to die?"

"Yes, he was disrespectful at the state funeral, so the Queen Mother beat him with a stick. He fainted and has not woken up yet. He has to take medicine all day to maintain his health. I'm afraid he won't make it through this month."

Cui Renshi's eyes were lonely. "My eldest brother was usually very loyal and honest. He often advised us to be kind, righteous and moral. But now, he has been accused of collaborating with the thieves, and his body has been humiliated and torn into two pieces. Whenever I think of this, I feel so heartbroken that I can no longer concentrate on my studies."

Cui Jishu said: "Your father learned something about you in the court. He said that you kept wild beasts here and fed them to humans. You are extremely cruel. Is this true?"

Cui Renshi's eyes widened. "How is this possible? Isn't it enough that you have framed my brother? Are you also framing me?"

"That's good. My Cui family is a thousand-year-old clan. We have passed down poetry and literature and governed the world with morality. We are different from those who suddenly got rich. Many people are watching us, but we must not do anything shocking."

Cui Renshi bowed again and said, "Please rest assured, uncle. I will put the second branch in order and prevent such a situation from happening again. As for the other branches, I have no right to interfere."

"That's the best. Don't keep thinking about your brother's affairs. Life and death are determined by fate. It's useless to think about it."

"My nephew understands!"

Master Cui lowered his head, but there was a fierce light in his eyes.

ps: When the emperor suddenly died, Rong entered Luoyang and was about to usurp the throne. Shenwu advised him against it, but he was afraid that he would not listen, so he asked to cast a statue for divination, but it failed, so he stopped. ———"Book of Northern Qi·Biography of Shenwu"

(End of this chapter)