The bell of the carriage rang crisply all the way as a group of carriages slowly drove out of Fu Shun City. After passing through Fu Shun Pass, they headed south and passed through the deserted Deck City before turning east. Zhou Qingfeng sat beside the shaft of the carriage as the Jurchen coachman beside him lashed out with his whip. Zhou Qingfeng was in a daze.
When the group of carriages arrived at Sa Er Hu City along the Hun River, they stopped to rest. Zhou Qingfeng was shocked when he heard the name of the place. In front of him were undulating hills and mountain ridges, lush vegetation, and the chirping of insects and birds. To the north of the Hun River was Jie Fan Mountain. It was really an ordinary place.
Gu Yuanwei, who had not yet recovered, was in the carriage. Yang Jian helped him down the carriage. A few Jurchen slaves moved the tables and chairs and carefully served him, taking good care of him. Zhou Qingfeng stood motionless at the side, not even intending to help. Yang Jian had been snorting coldly all this time. He was extremely displeased with him.
The matter of Fu Shun was temporarily put on hold. The transmigrators were entrusted to Guo Jiao, so it should not be too bad. Gu Yuanwei decided to seek refuge with Wild Boar Skin, so Zhou Qingfeng had no choice but to follow. The next day, the three of them were arranged by Ma Chengta to go to Hetuala.
However, after the disaster, the relationship between master and disciple, which should have been closer, did not improve. Instead, it became even more distant. Gu Yuanwei did not say anything, but Yang Jian felt that Zhou Qingfeng's idea of breaking free from control was' half a traitor ', so he hated and loathed him.
As for the geographical environment of Sa Er Hu, Zhou Qingfeng asked the coachman a few more questions. After all, a battle that decided Daming's fate had taken place here — the famous saying, "No matter how many roads you come, I will only go one" came from here. The border rebellion that could have been easily pacified developed into the ultimate disaster that destroyed the Great Ming Dynasty, and also contributed to Nurhachi's illustrious reputation.
If Du Song, who had arrived at Sa Er Hu first, could have held on for half a day, Ma Lin, who came from the north, could have surrounded Wild Boar Skin. If Du Song and Ma Lin could hold out for two more days, Liu Da from the east would be able to take down Hetuala. If … There were no ifs. Du Song did not hold on, Marlin did not hold on, Liu Yi did not hold on, and even Daming did not hold on.
Only Zhou Qingfeng stood in the vast wilderness, his heart filled with anxiety.
"Let's go, let's go." After lunch, the coachman came to invite Gu Yuanwei.
Zhou Qingfeng jumped onto the seat and sat with the coachman. He would rather stare blankly at the monotonous scenery than go into the carriage and look at Gu Yuanwei's lifeless face. However, while he was sitting outside, someone came to talk to him. A gloomy-looking fellow carrying a strange wicker basket on his back took the initiative to walk up to him and asked, "Brat, are you the Zhou Qingfeng who caused havoc in Fushun Horse Market?"
This person's smile was very frightening. His face was deathly pale, and his eye sockets were deeply sunken. There were no whites in his eyes. What was even more frightening was that his jet-black eyeballs occupied his entire eye sockets, making people feel a chill in their hearts even in broad daylight. Zhou Qingfeng did not understand the purpose of his visit, so he did not want to bother with him. However, this person wanted to grab Zhou Qingfeng, revealing a withered arm and shriveled claws. "Brat, let me take your pulse."
"Hmph …!" Inside the carriage, Gu Yuanwei said angrily, "Where did this wild cultivator come from? Scram!"
The gloomy-looking fellow seemed to be a member of the convoy, and was arranged by Ma Chengta to follow them. He wanted to touch Zhou Qingfeng, but was stopped by Gu Yuanwei and even suffered a sound wave attack. However, this person only shook his head, laughed a few times, and walked away as if nothing had happened.
Inside the carriage, Gu Yuanwei said to Zhou Qingfeng, "In the future, stay away from this Ghost Cultivator. These unorthodox cultivators are unorthodox, and they like dead people."
Zhou Qingfeng did not understand what 'Ghost Cultivator' was, but he instinctively disliked this half-human, half-ghost fellow. He asked the coachman a few questions. The coachman trembled with fear and said that the person was called Jia Gang, a wandering cultivator who wandered around the border of Liaodong, and also did some business. However, the things that this fellow sold were not proper, and were all voodoo, corpses, and ghosts.
After passing Sa Er Hu, the convoy turned southeast, passing through three checkpoints. Zhou Qingfeng stayed a night in Tulun City, and the next day, he followed the Su Zi River to arrive at Hetuala City, which was located at the mouth of the Three Forks.
This was a special city. For ease of defense, the entire city was built on the hill of Chimney Mountain. The city was built against the mountain, and was surrounded by the Su Zi River. The east, south, and west sides were cliffs that were far above the river, and only the northwest side faced outwards. From afar, it looked quite majestic.
The convoy arrived at the ferry, and looked across the river from Hetuala. Because the Jurchen tribes were at war all year round, and this was the capital of Jianzhou, it was heavily guarded, and outsiders were not allowed to enter easily. Gu Yuanwei could only stay at the ferry for the time being, and Ma Chengta had to report to his superiors before he could enter.
The ferry was called Taxuo. The ground was muddy, and there were feces and urine everywhere, and the stench lingered. There were simple and crude caves everywhere in the ferry, and most of the people were not wearing clothes to cover their bodies, and their expressions were numb. The people who lived here were all farmers and slaves, and their living conditions were very poor. Arriving here, the barbarism and backwardness of the Jurchen tribes were immediately revealed. In comparison, the low-rise houses in Fu Shun looked like mansions.
Zhou Qingfeng and his party stayed at the warehouse at the ferry, which was used to receive foreign envoys and merchants. This was the only place that could be considered clean. After they settled down, Gu Yuanwei entered his room and did not come out again. Yang Jian personally took care of his daily life. Zhou Qingfeng was given a single room, but the room was simple and dirty, and he did not want to stay in it at all.
"Junior Martial Brother, where are you going?" Yang Jian poked his head out of the window of the warehouse, and called out to Zhou Qingfeng, who was walking out.
Without turning his head, Zhou Qingfeng waved his hand. "It's too stuffy in the room, so I'll just wander around."
"Don't go too far," Yang Jian shouted. After a while, two Jurchen soldiers armed with knives rushed to Zhou Qingfeng's side. They said they were 'protecting', but in reality, they were 'monitoring'. In any case, Zhou Qingfeng could no longer use his sorcery, so there was no need to worry about him causing trouble.
There was a yard near the warehouse, and there were many people gathered around it. They all looked travel-worn, and their clothes were tattered. They looked like refugees. Zhou Qingfeng curiously asked the guards accompanying him, "Who are those people?"
The guards were sent by Ma Chengta to listen to Gu Yuanwei's orders. Both of them were bare-chested, and only wore simple leather robes. This kind of robe was not well tanned, and was very hard. However, there was no hair on it, and it was suitable for summer wear. Looking at their strong and muscular bodies, they were much stronger than those emaciated soldiers in Fu Shun.
However, the two of them did not understand what Zhou Qingfeng was saying. They only knew that the person in front of them was a young master, so they followed behind him, smiling foolishly. It could be said that they were doing their best. Zhou Qingfeng asked for a snub. He had nothing better to do, so he walked into the crowd and asked them. In the end, he found out that they were indeed refugees who had come to seek refuge with Nurhachi.
Among them were Han, Koreans, Mongolians, and people from other Jurchen tribes. They were all people who could not survive in other places, so they wanted to try their luck and come to Jianzhou to become slaves. When Zhou Qingfeng appeared, many people thought that he was here to pick people, so they all squeezed forward and smiled obsequiously.
As Zhou Qingfeng strolled through the crowd, he saw that the ghost cultivator who wanted to capture him yesterday was also walking back and forth in the crowd. This guy specially picked the young children to observe, and if he was satisfied with them, he would ask the parents of the children to buy them. If the parents refused to sell, he would threaten and bribe them, saying that this was the rule of joining Jianzhou, and if they did not sell their children, they would be chased away.
Jia Gang took a fancy to an eight or nine year old child. He stretched out his hand and refused to let go, insisting that the parents of the child sell the child to him. His appearance was frightening. Just by looking at his hands, he looked like a ghost. Who would dare to agree to him? The parents of the child should be Han. The father hugged the child tightly, not daring to let go, and kept shaking his head. The mother kept kneeling and begging for mercy, but did not dare to offend the ghost cultivator.
Zhou Qingfeng came closer, and could not help but shout from behind, "Hey, you half-human half-ghost guy, let go! This is not your territory, the parents won't sell their children. If you don't let go, I'm going to call for help. "
As soon as Jia Gang turned around, he saw Zhou Qingfeng with two female soldiers as his henchmen. Zhou Qingfeng was only 1.3 meters tall, but his aura was stronger than anyone else's. He did not care that he could no longer use his spells. Instead, he shouted loudly, "What are you looking at me for? I told you to scram. If you look at me again, my master can kill you with a single finger. "
Being insulted by Zhou Qingfeng, the ghost cultivator Jia Gang immediately revealed his nature of bullying the weak and fearing the strong. As an unorthodox cultivator, he really could not afford to offend a disciple of a prestigious clan with an extraordinary background like Zhou Qingfeng. He only snorted twice, then turned around to look for a suitable target.
The child who was saved was still crying, and his mother hurriedly hugged him and comforted him. The father knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Zhou Qingfeng, thanking him for his kindness. He kept shouting, "Thank you, Little Master."
"I'm not some Little Master. I'm also a Han, and I haven't been here for very long." Zhou Qingfeng originally wanted to help the kneeling man up, but he was a bit too dirty. "Get up, get up. Where did you come from? "
The kneeling man saw that Zhou Qingfeng was dressed neatly, had a full face, and was followed by two female Daoists, so he didn't dare to look down on him. He still knelt on the ground and replied, "This lowly one is called Mao Ada, I escaped from the Iron Mountains."
"Ah, why did you escape?"
"This lowly one is a craftsman, forced by the officials day and night, I can't pay my debts, so I ran away because I couldn't live any longer. I heard that even servants in Jianzhou can make a living, so I came here to try my luck. "
Zhu Yuanzhang was a self-taught Emperor, so he often came up with policies that he took for granted. This military craftsman system was something that he himself thought was quite good, but it was a system that caused people to die. Craftsmen were craftsmen for generations, unable to do anything else. The officials in charge of craftsmen could casually order them around like servants, making it so that the craftsmen couldn't even sell their children to survive.
Mao Ada carried a bow on his back, and after Zhou Qingfeng asked him, he found out that he was a bow craftsman. His ancestors had been doing this for more than ten generations, and he was a craftsman. A few generations ago, his family was sent to the Liaodong Guards as a fugitive, and now he once again escaped to Jianzhou.
Mao Ada's child was grabbed by the wrist by Jia Gang, and although he managed to escape, a black handprint was left on his wrist. The female Daoist soldier following Zhou Qingfeng took out a sharp knife, and pierced the skin to let out the black blood. When the black blood landed on the ground, it was extremely stinky, making people want to vomit. But the child stopped crying, and Mao Ada's family was even more grateful to Zhou Qingfeng, and the whole family kowtowed together.
When this family was deeply in love, Zhou Qingfeng felt a special power coming from Mao Ada's body, it was very weak, but very strong.
This scene was seen by Yang Jian, who was watching from afar. When Zhou Qingfeng returned to the warehouse, the former mocked him, "Junior Apprentice Brother, you're quite smart. You want to become the Buddha of all people, and gather incense and worship to cultivate? But it's a pity that the gratitude of these foolish people is too little, and it won't last long. "
Zhou Qingfeng's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "What did you say?"
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