Tashan is the remnant vein of the Great Khing'an Mountains, and it is also the edge of the primeval forest in Northeast China, with steep mountains and lush forests. The county town of Tashan is built on the mountain, the terrain is dangerous, the city wall is strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The county seat is not large, the residents are mainly hunters, it is close to Jinzhou, and it is connected to the official road, so it has gradually become an important trading market for ginseng, animal skins, medicinal materials and other Northeast specialties. On the fifteenth day of each month, it is the day of the market in Tashan County, from one to the fifteenth day, the hunters and visitors of the ten miles and eight townships and those who live in the deep mountains and old forests bring their goods to sell here, and the merchants from all over the country also rush to buy the goods they need on this day.

The day when Wang Qiang entered Tashan coincided with the market, and the streets were crowded, and the cries of selling came and went, and it was very lively. Wang Qiang and his entourage were all riding horses and wearing civilian clothes, followed by more than a dozen trailers, pulling the items they needed, as if they were a merchant who had come to the market. The street was crowded and crowded, Wang Qiang and the others could only dismount, and the group crowded forward, and there were often hunters blocking the way, showing the animal skins and medicinal materials in their hands, shouting and making offers, obviously treating him as a buyer. It's easy to cross a street, but the intersection in front of it is blocked by water, only to hear someone in the middle of the crowd talking loudly, the crowd continues to laugh, Wang Qiang is curious, squeezed into the crowd, only to see three people standing side by side in the center of the intersection, the three of them actually look the same, each tall, tiger back bear waist, all wearing tiger skin aprons and vests, holding a steel fork in their hands, the three of them lie on the ground in front of a big insect more than two meters long, obviously their prey.

Wang Qiang turned his head to one of the soldiers who accompanied him and asked, "Who are these three, do you know?" ”

Join the army and say, "Yes! These three are very famous here, they are twin three brothers, the eldest is called Yanlong, the second is called Yanhu, and the third is called Yanbao. They are the hunters of Yanjiazhai in the depths of Tashan, with infinite strength, fierce and fierce, high skills, specializing in hunting fierce beasts and fierce birds, and the prey they hunt can often be sold at a high price, so when they go down the mountain, there are many merchants chasing them. ”

"Oh, that's right." Wang Qiang nodded.

The three brothers of the Yan family are selling this tiger there, because the three brothers are inseparable and have the same heart, so when they speak, they are one by one, and they are very smooth.

Yan Long said: "Ladies and gentlemen, this big insect is extraordinary. ”

Yan Hu said: "If you look closely, this tiger's forehead, four hooves, and neck are all white. ”

Yan Leopard said in a rough voice: "Rare! ”

This third child is a little silly, and he speaks one after another, like the clown at the end of the current three and a half sentences, so when he speaks, everyone laughs for a while.

The three of them continued: "Our brother has worked hard to fight this big worm. ”

"I kept watch outside the cave for three days and three nights without closing my eyes."

"But I was sinned!"

"Hahahaha." Everyone laughed, and Wang Qiang also laughed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, take a closer look, this big worm was killed by a knife in its mouth, and there is no fur on its body."

"Merchants, give a price, who pays the highest price."

"To whom!"

A few leather traders walked out of the crowd, squatted in front of the tiger and looked at it carefully, and then quoted the price: "One hundred taels", "One hundred and fifty taels", "Two hundred taels", "I will pay three hundred taels".

Wang Qiang was not unfamiliar with this tiger, but wanted to get acquainted with these three brothers, so he said casually: "I'll give a thousand taels!" Then they separated and walked into the circle, everyone heard him quote such a high price, and exclaimed, their eyes suddenly focused on Wang Qiang, and the three brothers also looked at Wang Qiang, and said with their fists: "This little brother is really knowledgeable." "This tiger is yours." "Take the money!"

Wang Qiang casually took out a silver ticket of 1,000 taels from his pocket, handed it to the third child, and then hugged his fists and said: "I am very happy to meet three strong men today, can you please help me carry this tiger to the county office, and then I invite the three to drink and talk about it?" ”

When the three of them heard this, their faces changed, and they said, "So this is a person from the government?" "Our brothers never deal with people in the government. "It's not for sale! After Yan Leopard finished speaking, he returned the silver ticket of 1,000 taels to Wang Qiang, and the onlookers screamed again.

Wang Qiang was stunned, and the soldier who followed Wang Qiang stood up, pointed to the three brothers and said, "Presumptuous! This is the commander of the four provinces, Lord Wang Qiang! You must not be rude. ”

The three brothers were stunned for a moment, and the onlookers were also shocked. Yan Long said: "It turns out that you are the commander army who just came!" ”

Yanhu said: "Lord Wang, who led the militia to kill the Qing army!" ”

Yan Leopard said in a rough voice: "Little eunuch! ”

In the laughter of everyone, the three of them knelt on the ground together, and the onlookers heard that this was Wang Qiang, who defeated the Qing army, and they all knelt down and said, "Say hello to Lord Wang." ”

Wang Qiang didn't expect that in this remote place, the people actually knew their names, and they loved them very much, so he was moved in his heart, and said loudly: "Folks, please get up, everyone, Wang Qiang really doesn't dare to be, please get up quickly." ”

Everyone got up, and Yanlong said: "Lord Wang, I didn't know it was you just now, I was offended, I waited for the wild people in the forest, and I spoke rudely, please don't blame." ”

Wang Qiang said: "Eh, don't blame those who don't know, the strong man is too polite." ”

Yan Hu said: "If the adults like this tiger, we will give it to the adults." ”

Yan Leopard shook his hand and said, "I don't want money." ”

Wang Qiang smiled: "Then how can it be done, the money still has to be given." ”

Yanlong Zhengse said: "We can't ask for money, Lord Wang is a hero who resisted the Qing Dynasty, avenged the people of our ten miles and eight towns, and was angry, we want your money, don't you let the villagers laugh at us for being greedy for money and forgetting righteousness." ”

The other two brothers also nodded, and the crowd around them cheered in unison.

Wang Qiang felt embarrassed, and could see that these three Northeast men were bold people, and they sincerely wanted to give the tiger to themselves, and they insisted on giving money for fear of hurting their face. He was in a dilemma, and suddenly remembered that when he passed through Zhuanghe on the way to his post, the chief military officer there had given him a few Japanese knives, so he ordered three from the luggage, Wang Qiang said: "Wang Qiang is loved by the three, so he will accept this tiger, but since the three strong men regard me as a friend, then please accept my meeting gift." As he spoke, he handed the swords to the three of them one by one. The three of them took the knife and pulled it out to see, the knife was exquisitely made, it was made of the cold iron of the deep sea, the blade was glowing blue, very tough and sharp, the handle and scabbard were also inlaid with red sapphires, it was very precious, and the value was far higher than the thousand taels of silver.

Wang Qiang saw that the three of them couldn't put down the knife, and said: "The so-called treasure knife is matched with a hero, this knife can only become a sharp blade in the hands of a strong man, the three of them don't have to refuse, the so-called friendship is priceless, I just want to make a few friends with you, and I have no other intentions." ”

When the three of them heard this, they gladly accepted it. The onlookers applauded again.

The three brothers carried the tiger and followed Wang Qiang to the mansion, the local officials knew that Wang Qiang was coming here today, and had already packed up the mansion and waited at the door. Through some talking, Wang Qiang has a basic understanding of the situation of the three brothers.

It turned out that the ancestor of the Yan brothers was a warrior of the Western Xia Kingdom, and because he offended the emperor of the Western Xia at that time, his family fled here, and settled in the dense forest of Tashan to make a living by hunting. Later, they intermarried with the locals, and gradually prospered, and gradually formed the current Yanjiazhai. The ancestral martial arts of the Yan family have been passed down from generation to generation, and the successive generations have gradually evolved to create a unique set of beast-hunting kung fu, so they often hunt very much. The ancestors of the Yan family deeply felt the darkness of officialdom, so they passed down the ancestral teachings, and the Yan family was not allowed to be officials for generations, and they did not interact with the government. Therefore, Yanjiazhai does not pay taxes and grain, nor should it levy Ding, the government has sent people to urge the payment many times, but they have been blocked back, the local government is afraid that the Yan family will be strong and martial, and it is close to the border pass, for fear of provoking a civil uprising, so they do not dare to use force, and slowly let them go.

The life experience of the three Yan brothers is also very peculiar, they are the sons of the owner of the Yan family, one son and three children, the mother died due to dystocia when she gave birth to them, when they were just born, the three of them were weak, and no one to nurse them, and they saw that they could not live long. Their father is a brave man, in a hurry, he immediately took the man in the cottage, to the old forest to find the beast that was breastfeeding, and the result was really in a cave to find a lactating spotted leopard, everyone worked together to capture the female leopard, together with the two little leopards brought back to the cottage, three brothers and two little leopards together to eat the mother leopard's milk, this is the life of the long, and they are infinitely strong, the physique is abnormally strong, only the old three leopards due to the lack of oxygen when born, brain damage, It's kind of silly. The people of Yanjiazhai are grateful to the leopard for feeding the three brothers, and they no longer cheetah, and the three brothers are friends with the leopard and have become the king of leopards in the mountains.

Wang Qiang saw that the three brothers were straightforward and strong in martial arts, and they liked it very much, and there was a sense of acceptance between their words, but seeing that the three of them were unwilling to serve in the official family, he did not force it. When the three of them left, Wang Qiang also gave them some food and daily necessities, and then said goodbye to them reluctantly.

In the afternoon of the same day, Wang Qiang, accompanied by local officials, inspected the county seat. In the east of the city, he found an abandoned grain depot, the courtyard wall of the grain depot was very high, and the space inside was very spacious, Wang Qiang decided to build a school building in this place.

The purpose of Wang Qiang's school is to take the opportunity to recruit a group of talents, so there is no need to make special preparations in the course, after the school building is completed, Wang Qiang wrote to the governments at all levels in the four northeastern provinces, explaining that he wants to run a study house to cultivate talents for the country, and to the local government to select and recommend young talents with a certain cultural foundation, good health, and skills to Tacheng to apply, and he also explained that all the people who come to take the exam, once selected, not only eat and live all-inclusive, but also give a monthly example money. At the same time, he asked all over the country to recruit and recommend local strange people, chivalrous scholars, as the Xixi teacher of the study, once hired, it was also a preferential treatment. He also wrote to Li Gang, Shang Dayong, and Zhang Xiaodong in Suzhou, asking them to help recommend talents.