As Zhou Tong said, the main thing that people in the green forest really care about is face if they are doing well or not having a good life. Such a statement is right for other people, and it is difficult to avoid vulgarity when attributed to Zhou Dong himself.

As a seventy-year-old martial arts saint, the old man's personality is not too much to be faulted with. In order to provide disaster relief, within a few months, he even stepped on the cottage of hundreds of bandits, heard about Ning Yi's matter, and traveled thousands of miles with his advanced body. As long as it is a good and moral thing, even if there is no return, the person concerned does not know about it, and the old man will never hesitate to pay for it, or even more price.

But over the years, he has also become the first person in the world to be respected. Although he may not care about this false name in his heart, everywhere he goes, the old man will be treated with respect, and if he puts forward ideas, others will certainly pay attention to them. Even disciples like Yan Zhuo, who may not be smart, can be inspired by his arrival to risk their lives.

And on his southward trip, although Ning Yi was respectful to him, he actually didn't give too much face-the two meetings between the two sides were like this-Zhou Tong didn't hold a grudge against this in his heart, but he couldn't put a hot face on a junior's cold butt, so when he finished what he felt he should do the next day--after leaving the idea of improving the formation--he left his leave.

When Tian Donghan handed over the pages of paper for improving the formation to Ning Yi, Ning Yi also felt a little emotional in his heart. However, at this time, his mind was no longer on these matters, and the matter of seeking revenge and deterrence had already ended after the explosion in the center of the small county town, and he would return to the capital next. Then immediately set off for the north. Due to the episode of this wedding disturbance, things have fallen behind the original plan - he had already sent a letter to Hongti informing her of the news that he was going to Luliang, and now he didn't know if she was in a hurry.

Ever since I learned about the things of Beggar Buluo and Er'er Temujin, many plans have been redone. And for Ning Yi, when a lot of information is not clear, the end point of these plans is also difficult to calculate: what enemies need to be faced in the future, what I need to ensure is the lowest is self-preservation, and the highest is impossible to calculate due to the strength of the enemy. The things that need to be dealt with cannot be estimated. It is difficult to calculate how far the minimum standard of self-protection will go.

The standard of things is uncertain, and the plan can be unlimited, and this is why. How much time is next. It's basically not enough. Even if you only do your best, the work at hand has to race against time. And even with such pressure, he is not willing to give up his family or the people he cares about. For many times in the capital, he still accompanied his wife and children.

Fortunately, he is no longer a self-made entrepreneur who is slowly groping around, even with such a tense feeling, he can still release more than a dozen lines on hand in an orderly manner: the development of Zhuji, the training of Jiawei, the control of storytelling and publicity, the research and development of new products, the use of gunpowder, the plan to operate Lu Liang, and the attention to the Miaojiang side...... After determining what was in mind, the plans for these things were rapidly expanding.

Although some of these things are still in the stage of laying the foundation with no effect, if you look at it from the back to the front, starting from February of this year, Ning Yi's plans and projects at hand have been radically inflated to almost madness, just for the idea of improving and using gunpowder, he has chosen more than a dozen directions, including mines and phosphorus fires, within a month, for the fireworks workers in the workshop to try.

Since most of these craftsmen are not geniuses, and their abilities are limited, even with Ning Yi's inspiration, many projects still encounter problems at the beginning. These projects around Ning Yi are like walking on a high tightrope, but it won't be long before people will find out that as a whole. These projects began to grow rapidly within a few months, and although some of them failed and went back to the archives, many of the ideas landed on the other side of success in a state of crazy radicalism, and walking on this tightrope was clearly an experienced acrobatic veteran.

Compared with the research and development of new items, the enrichment of Zhuji goods, the expansion of business, and the confrontation with the various families involved in the disaster relief incident, can only occupy a part of Ning Yi's mind, as for the group of green forest people in Taoting County, it is even more of a small part. It was also because there was too much trouble in the capital before, and at the party where Ning Yi married Yunzhu and Jin'er, a group of people came over to make trouble, although some of them were captured and killed on the spot, some still escaped.

That party was not grand, but many people in the Right Prime Minister's Mansion still came to congratulate them, such as Yao Zunian, such as Ji Kun, such as Monk Jueming, although they seem to be kind on weekdays, but the relationship between these people, which one is not intertwined. Yao Zunian, as a contemporary Confucian, actually has his own family behind him, Ji Kun is the chief manager who specializes in handling dirty work for the Prime Minister's Mansion, and Monk Jueming is from a royal family. Ordinary green forests and underworlds don't dare to bully these people at all.

At that time, these people were gloomy and angry, and later because the news of the Taoting County Heroes Conference came too timely, Ning Yi took the time to go south by the way, which belonged to the nature of "your position is too punctual, I can't help but kick it over". When the matter was done and Zhou Tong arrived, Ning Yi was already dealing with other things.

A hunt in Taoting County ended quickly, and most of the problems directly involved after that were solved by the government. And the expansion of the notoriety of the "heart demon" under the indirect influence, more green forest people are filled with righteous indignation, and there is a more complex cause and effect, which is difficult to attribute to this single matter.

In this tragedy, the only thing that can leave some traces in Ning Yi's heart is probably the fact that he saw Zhou Tong again, even if it is not pleasant, but this old man's preservation is not easy to forget. But it's just a little memory in Zài's heart.

It's just that although the meeting was not pleasant, after leaving Taoting, Zhou Tong still ran a lot of places for Ning Yi's matter. It wasn't until a year or two later, in some fairly direct information collection, that Ning Yi knew piecemeal that this old man had deliberately mentioned this matter in his meetings with many people, and gave explanations and guarantees for Ning Yi's behavior in disaster relief. It's just that the notoriety of the demons at that time has spread very widely, and the tragedy of Taoting has been deliberately publicized, and Zhou Dong's words and guarantees cannot actually play a decisive role.

But in any case, thinking about these things at that time, recalling these two unpleasant meetings, after all, Ning Yi still formed extremely complicated feelings in his heart.

This is a later story, so I won't mention it for the time being.

*******************

The weather is in summer, and the distant northern country is after the fall of Emperor Tianzuo. The Jin State was busy sweeping through the lands west of the extinct Liao State. And after Zhang Jue was killed. Both Guo Yaoshi's victorious army and the Wu Dynasty army stationed north of Yanmen Pass no longer made great aggressive moves and began to turn into passive defense.

The situation in the north is delicate, and in the court to the south, an atmosphere of slaughter and vigilance has also been brewing. This spring. Tong Guan was named the king of Guangyang County for his exploits in recovering the six states of Yanyun. After that, to the officer. Walk away. Tan Zhen, who succeeded him, began to actively build his political achievements: that is, to recruit and win over the displaced people and mountain bandits in the north as much as possible, and tried to recruit the tiger king Wang Qing to build a defense line centered on Taiyuan in the north.

Whether or not such unscrupulous efforts can play a necessary role has not yet been tested in practice. However, it is conceivable that the figures on the books can become very beautiful in the future, and at the same time, the deficit and blank in the logistics accounts of the household department and the military department will be expanded. Qin Siyuan and others tried to write a letter to advise, but the privy envoy who had just ascended to the throne, the emperor was willing to give trust, knowing that things would not have a result, and after symbolically refuting it, Qin Siyuan had no choice but to give up.

In any case, compared to a master like Tong Guan, in the eyes of Qin Siyuan and others, Tan Zhi can only be regarded as a bastard with mediocre qualifications, with mediocre qualifications, and the damage he can cause is limited.

Of course, this limited qualification is also relative to Tong Guan, and a hint of wind and grass in the court will set off great waves among the people. Because Tan Zhen's first fire required political achievements, the review, leadership, and control of soldiers were not strict, and the responsible people below responded to the call of the imperial court.

In a few roads to the north, some green forest people with criminal records and mountain bandits who robbed houses have begun to take advantage of this shareholder wind to wash their white, embark on murder and arson, ask for supplies from the imperial court, eat imperial grain, become rich and handsome, marry Bai Fumei, and embark on the peak of life. At this time, this transformation is still in the beginning stage, but many green forest people have been attracted to join the related mountain camp bandits, and by the way, they will hand over their identities for whitewashing.

The fluctuations caused by Tan Zhen's ascension are naturally more than just superficial. The officials of the court are not all mediocre and fools, and while recruiting An, of course, they also want to lead, and the various bandits in the cottage plan to take the court's money for nothing while maintaining independence. There are also some bandits who found that they were stupid after being recruited, and that others did not hand over the leadership, but they handed it over, and they really became the hard-pressed big soldiers, so they started to act below.

In any case, the issuance of an order from the imperial court also means the transformation of the invisible ruling power of several places in the north, and every change and delivery of power and interests in history, no matter how big or small, will not be quiet. The contradictions between the mountain bandits, the officers and soldiers, and the green forests have not subsided because of the recruitment, but in the name of these immature recruitment policies, they have become more and more intense day by day.

In the land of the Northern Kingdom, the Imperial Court, and the Wu Dynasty, the laws of survival composed of undercurrents are like complex food chains on the prairie, sometimes calm, sometimes violent, sometimes hidden, and sometimes ferocious. And in such a world, there are more people who are living their seemingly simple and simple lives, only when they are watched by the cruel laws of survival, there is an occasional wave.

On Shandong East Road, in a small village near Yuying County, Lin Chong was sitting under a tree on the edge of a field, watching a stream flow quietly in front of him.

The spring ploughing season has passed, and the current time in the countryside is the leisure time. Lin Chong often went out to see if there was anything to do. Sometimes he followed the nearby man surnamed Fang to do some work similar to short-range darts, but the long-range and too troublesome, he still didn't want to get involved.

For this period of life now, this time in the countryside. He thought, he was satisfied. But many times, such as now, he didn't want to go home, he just wanted to sit by the stream and think about it. Sometimes it's half a day to think about it.

Last winter, after meeting Takaya in the Daimyo's mansion, the confusion in his heart became more and more obvious. This confusion was mixed with great hatred, self-blame, and pain: that day he followed Gao Yanai to the end, thinking that he should start, that he should let go of it, that the time had come for this beast to be full of evil. However, in the end, he still failed to kill him, so he suddenly realized that he was so cowardly.

The widow Xu in the village, who is now his woman, is in a sense able to satisfy him, and this satisfaction does not come from appearance, and he no longer pays attention to it. She warmed him, though at first the widow was spicy and even aggressive. But since being with him. The woman is indeed obedient to him, perhaps because of the death of a father-in-law, she cherishes the man in front of her very much. She relied on him. And he was for her. There's even a sense of dependence. It's like the only treasure left after all the qiē is lost.

However, since last winter, the pain and hatred in his heart often make Delin Chong reluctant to return home too soon. He thought to himself. I shouldn't be so willing to enjoy that kind of warmth, if I feel like I'm enjoying it, wouldn't it seem that he is even more cowardly? He has such a deep vendetta, and he has a reason to take revenge, but not only does he not take revenge, but he is still here, feeling warm......

At the same time, another part of his heart was telling him that he should forget about it, and in this small mountain village, An An would live his life in parts—he thought so, until the moment the Daimyo's Mansion saw Gao Muen, and the pain piled up again.

Occasionally, when he met with that "big brother", he could also hear some news from the outside world, most of which were in the green forest, such as how the Great Light Sect was, or how Zhou Dong was, and perhaps the most complicated thing for him now was hearing the name of the master. These feelings made him sit under the tree, reluctant to go home, and depressed.

But in any case, when the sun went down, he got up and walked back. The woman would wait for him at home, cook the meal, and at night, she would try her best to please him with her body and make his heart feel warm. Thinking of this, he felt guilty for his late return. It was on this day that when he walked outside the gate of his yard, he heard a noise.

"Get out! Get out! I chopped off your hand...... You try it......"

"Hey, you woman still dare to be in tatters, your concubine didn't come back, do you know that he doesn't want to come back at all......"

"you, do you know if he's coming back and killing you......"

"Kill me, come on! Kill me! You watery poplar whore, you're my cousin's woman......"

"I've got everything I owe you back, get out—"

"Hmph, you are still full of Heng, I sue you, your wild man is not a good person, looking at the scar on his face, he must be a fugitive who was wanted by the government and stabbed...... Do you want me to sue the police—"

"Go and sue, you go and sue, I sue you, you made a mistake, get out now, the old lady doesn't care about you, you don't get out, and then the rumors here will be rumored and heard, and the old lady will kill you with a knife." If I kill your whole family again, it's a big deal that I, Xu Jinhua, will bury you alone, you see if I can do it-"

Lin Chong's face was gloomy, and he also knew the man who was arguing with Xu Jinhua in the courtyard, who was the cousin of Xu Jinhua's original husband, and was generally called Geng Er's leper, a well-known lazy man in the village. Because he was idle and had nothing at home, no woman was willing to marry him, and because of this, he was a little messy when he saw a woman, and he was beaten by the villagers many times for this.

After Xu Jinhua's father-in-law, that is, his cousin, died, he probably didn't beat Xu Jinhua's idea, and Lin Chong also noticed this at the beginning, but at that time, he had just arrived here, he looked tall, and Widow Xu was spicy, so he didn't dare to do anything, and now he probably felt that he had figured out Lin Chong's weakness, and he couldn't help but touch the door, I'm afraid it was not the first time.

The affairs of men and women in the countryside are far more simple than those in the cities, but in many respects they are also far more chaotic than in the cities. Such idlers come to the door and gossip about a widow, and if they resist less, it is not impossible to be raped. Such people are already notorious, and there is not even any shame, and in many villages, there are more or less one or two people.

Lin Chong touched a stick and walked in from the door, at the door of the room over there, Geng Erlezi noticed Xu Jinhua's gaze, turned around, saw Lin Chong, and his eyes winced.

"You, you, what are you going to do...... What are you going to do with the surname Mu......"

Lin Chong raised the stick against him, even though he was cowardly in some aspects. But it is also half a horse, a martial arts, a murderous aura, and a scar on his face, when he really shows his killing intent, not many people can maintain their feelings in front of him. The obscene village man's legs almost trembled: "You, you, you, you're going to kill...... You can't...... Do you know that if you kill me, someone from the government will come, surnamed Mu, you are a fugitive, the scar on your face must be a tattoo, you dare to kill me......"

The stick in Lin Chong's hand froze, also at this time. Xu Jinhua in the room rushed out. Knock the Geng Er leper on the muddy ground in the yard: "Get out!" Get out of here—"

The village man got up from the ground, but stared at Lin Chong: "Haha, I'm right, the surname is Mu." If I report to the police. What will happen to you...... Ha ha. There's a kind of killing me, you killing me...... Xu Jinhua, you adulterers and adulteresses. You must have teamed up to harm my cousin, you will have retribution, you ......"

He saw Lin Chong walking straight over, stumbling under his feet, and running out of the courtyard gate, his butt urinating. Lin Chong stood at the gate of the courtyard and was stopped by Xu Jinhua. His eyes were full of bloodshots, and his whole body was trembling, and after a while, the wooden stick in his hand waved down, only to hear a bang, a piece of bluestone in the yard was actually split out of a crack, and the front part of the wooden stick had also been split and buzzed. If anyone who knew him before saw him, they might be amazed at how good his martial arts were.

In fact, with his martial arts, if he really wanted to kill that Geng Er, how could he need a stick, and how could he be found out, walk in directly, and poke him to death with a finger. But he is really afraid of the government's intervention at the moment, he is just afraid that he will disrupt Widow Xu's life and make her also involved in all kinds of troubles.

He stood at the gate of the courtyard for a while, and Xu Jinhua stretched out his hand behind him to smooth him: "You dissipate your anger, you dissipate your anger, he doesn't dare, he doesn't dare." ”

But after a while, Lin Chong finally said, "I'll kill him." ”

Widow Xu hugged his hand suddenly, her eyes were complicated, and she didn't know what she was thinking, she just subconsciously shook her head, and after a while, she looked at Lin Chong: "Don't kill him, let's go, you take me away......"

Lin Chong's body stiffened, and he turned to look at the woman behind him.

"You...... Willing...... Come with me? ”

"I, what do I don't want to do, what they Geng's things can be returned, I have returned them all, and now this family is also an empty shelf, and they still come over twice in three days. You are my man, I will go wherever you go. You...... You can't leave me behind. ”

After saving Lin Chong, although she didn't ask, she must have a guess in her heart, whether Lin Chong is a strongman, a bandit, or a wanted criminal, she doesn't care, in fact, she definitely doesn't care if Lin Chong wants to kill Geng Erle, she is just worried that Lin Chong will kill someone, so she will flee and leave alone.

"Rice in the field...... I just planted ......" After a while, Lin Chong said subconsciously.

"Don't want it, don't want Tian anymore." The woman shook her head, "You, can't you get a job, I'll follow you, and I'll be happy to eat bran and drink thin." You take me, let's find a place where no one knows to live, I'll help you have a baby, you don't want to go alone......"

When the woman said this, she was also a little emotional. Lin Chong stood there, and after a while, he tilted his head slightly.

When night fell on this day, they packed up their few things, money and belongings, and left the small mountain village, and they agreed to live in a friendly place where no one knew them, plant a few acres of land, give birth to a group of children, and grow old. This is theirs, another, a new beginning.

At the same time, a little to the north, a woman named Lou Shuwan was sitting on one of the steps of the cottage, looking up at the stars. This is a cottage under the command of Tiger King Tian Hu, and when she sat here, there were many men not far away pointing and watching.

Once upon a time, she may have liked the feeling of being watched, and she also enjoyed the association with certain men, but now, whether it is a scholar-like little white face or a rugged green forest hero, there is only an ugly impression and disgust in her heart.

Although many people were watching her, not many men dared to come over to say or do something. She had her journey and just passed through here and stayed for one night. Tomorrow, the woman who had received the Tiger King's orders would lead her convoy up to the northwest. Her purpose is to go to Luliang Mountain, contact and cooperate with a large cottage there, and open up a way to do business.

Since returning to the Tiger King, she has done a lot of things.

This time, there will be no problem either.

She thought so and looked into the distance. In the eyes, there is a blur. (To be continued......)