The road from Yamanashi Prefecture to Niigata Prefecture was much more difficult, and it took about seven or eight days to get close to the territory of Niigata.

"How do you feel like you rarely see people along the way?" The eldest brother of the mountain back asked curiously.

You must know that when you go to Yamanashi Prefecture in front, although those people look poor, at least you can still see people.

But when I got close to Niigata, I didn't even see anyone.

Even when passing by a village, I found that it was completely empty, and there was no one in the whole village.

"You just found out!" Tang Ping pointed to the farmland outside: "The crops in the field have been confiscated, but the people are gone, it seems that something is happening here." ”

"What's the matter?" The eldest brother of the mountain back asked.

"How do I know, you can ask a villager later."

Tang Ping doesn't care much about these things, to put it bluntly, he is not the people of the Tang Dynasty, and what happens has little to do with him.

He came to Sado Gold Mountain in Niigata.

The gold resources here are extremely abundant, and they are two major targets alongside Iwami Ginzan.

After walking a little further, the eldest brother Wang found an old woman sitting by the river, and told Tang Ping that he planned to go over and ask what was going on here.

But before he could get close to the old woman, the old woman suddenly struggled to her feet, and then plunged into the river.

"Hey!" The eldest brother of the mountain, the king, first wanted to catch the old woman, but he was still a step too late.

He was just the only hesitant, and he actually jumped down, which startled Tang Ping and them.

Tang Ping and the others ran to the river in three or two steps, and found that the eldest brother Wang on the back of the mountain was swept downstream by the river, and the old woman was still dragged in his hands.

"Holy, doesn't this idiot know how to swim?" Looking at the head of the big brother Wang on the back of the mountain, Tang Ping was a little dumbfounded.

The king of the mountain back brother came out of Nara in fake death, and it is impossible for them to let him really die.

Old Cui Lao Du slammed the war horse twice with a horsewhip, sprinted about twenty meters downstream, and then jumped into the water, and scooped up the big brother Wang and the old woman he was holding on to the mountain that was rushed over.

"Ahem, ahem!" Lao Cui directly put the mountain-backed eldest brother Wang Kang on his shoulder, and pressed his shoulder against his abdomen slightly, and he coughed up a lot of the water he had just drunk.

"Do you really want to die?" Tang Ping asked with some puzzlement.

"I ...... I forgot about it just now. The eldest brother of the mountain, Wang, was also a little confused: "It seems that I have read too much of the script, and I regard myself as the protagonist of omnipotence." ”

Then he reacted and looked at the old woman: "How is she?" ”

"It's fine!" Lu Yi had already finished the examination and said: "The breathing and heartbeat are quite normal, I should be frightened, and I will wake up soon." ”

"Go to that village, right?" Tang Ping looked at a village not far away, pointed over there and said, "Find someone to borrow a place and make a fire to dry your clothes." ”

"She jumped into the river by herself just now, right?" The eldest brother of the mountainback asked with some uncertainty.

"Yes, it looks like I'm going to commit suicide by throwing myself into the river." Lao Cui replied.

"For ...... Why? ”

"I don't know!"

A few people packed up and walked towards the village not far away, and as soon as they arrived at the entrance of the village, a girl wearing patched clothes ran out.

"Do you see an old man dressed in gray?"

"Grey?" Tang Ping asked someone to open the carriage curtain: "Is this the one?" ”

"Grandma!" When the girl saw the sleeping old woman, she staggered and pounced: "Grandma, grandma, what's wrong with you?" Don't scare me! ”

"She just fell into the water, and this one saved him!"

Tang Ping pointed to the mountain-backed eldest brother king.

The girl looked at the costumes and carriages of several people and knew that they must not be civilians, so she knelt down and kowtowed and thanked, "Thank you, a few adults." ”

Although the eldest brother of the mountain back has been kneeled by many people, it seems that it is the first time to be thanked like this, and he is actually a little shy.

"We want to take a break in this village, is there a place?"

"Yes, please invite a few adults to my house!" The girl pointed to a small dilapidated courtyard at the entrance of the village.

As soon as Tang Ping and the others had parked the carriage, they heard a few slight coughs, and the old woman woke up.

"Am I in hell? Miko? Why are you here? ”

"My miserable Miko, I'm already planning to sacrifice myself to Lord River God, why are you here!"

The girl named Miko wept and shook the old woman's hand: "Grandma, what are you talking about?" What is dedicated to ......"

Saying this, she seemed to react, and looked at the old woman with a look of horror.

"Ahh......h

The grandparents and grandchildren hugged their heads and cried, and the eldest brother Wang on the back of the mountain on the side did not get off the car, nor did he stay.

"The old lady may have caught a cold when she fell into the water just now, so it's better to change into clean clothes and drink some hot water." Tang Ping's voice came, and the two were separated.

Meizi asked Tang Ping and they got the old woman back to the room, changed into dry clothes and came out, looking at the big brother Wang and Lao Cui Lao Du who were still wet.

"There is nothing at home, just ...... Just drink some hot water first. A broken but clean clay bowl was held in her hand.

"It's okay, it's okay." The eldest brother of the mountain, the king, took the pottery bowl, drank all the water inside, and then asked, "What is the matter with the river god you just mentioned?" ”

"Could it be that the old lady is because of the river god...... ......"

Hearing the eldest brother of the mountain back ask this, Miko's tears fell again, and it took a long time to explain the truth of the matter.

It turned out that half a month ago, several villages in this vicinity received a message from a wizard, saying that the river god had been disturbed by several of their villages recently, and that several villages had to worship a girl every month in order to calm their anger.

At first, people in several villages didn't take it too seriously, and then strange things began to happen in various villages.

In some villages, people who went up to the mountains to hunt were bitten by wild beasts, and only half of them were left and thrown back to the entrance of the village.

Some of them have a fire at home for no apparent reason.

There are also fishing boats on the river that suddenly leak and sink to the bottom of the river.

The sorcerer said that this was the consequence of not worshipping the river god, and the people in several villages panicked.

Then some villages were forced to sacrifice the girls in the village, and in other villages, the entire village fled from here.

So Tang Ping and the others walked all the way here, only to find that it was so sparsely populated.

There are only a few families left in this Miko's village, and most of them are old people who can't leave.

In order to avoid calamity, the people of the village asked Miko to make sacrifices.

Although Miko's grandmother wants to take her away, but her legs are not dexterous, where can she go?

That's why I thought about throwing myself into the river!

"This story is so familiar!" Tang Ping muttered after listening to it.