At this time, the other villagers had already gathered around, and two of them helped the old man up. The big man at the head said: "You are strong in martial arts, admire and admire, let's say goodbye." After saying that, he led the crowd to scatter. Fang Cheng and the others were slightly surprised when these people said they would leave.

Fang Chengwan didn't expect that the old man would lose the competition, and he would wipe his neck and commit suicide, seeing that the old man was in a hurry, he immediately wanted to cut a big hole in his neck, where was his life at that time? In the crisis, he hurriedly drew out the long sword, only to see a flash of cold light, and the sickle fell to the ground from being broken in two, which saved the old man's life. The old man howled and cried, "I'm really useless, I can't die if I want to!"

Everyone was amused by these so-called robbers. Because they were in a hurry, they hurriedly ate some dry food and rode on again. Originally, everyone sent away the robbers, and the matter had ended here, but Qiao Zhen had a lot of thoughts, he remembered what the old man said when he left, and he always felt that there was something unspeakable about these people. So at night's rest, he quietly returned alone after all the dart masters had fallen asleep, and found the so-called "robbers" to find out what was going on.

Qiao Zhen quickly found these people, in addition to those who robbed during the day, there were many old people, children, and women, gathered in front of a large campfire. At this time, the moon is bright and the stars are scarce, and the bonfire appears brighter, and the light shines on everyone's face, and their sad colors can be vaguely distinguished.

When Qiao Zhen got closer, he found that there were more people lying on the ground, making low moans from time to time. In addition to this, there was the low sobbing of the woman. These people are indeed amateur robbers, and Qiao Zhen is more and more convinced that his judgment is correct, and these people must have something unspeakable.

He found the old man named Lao Cigarette Stick during the day, and asked straight to the point: "Uncle, I don't think you are like a robber, why do you want to become a robber?

The old cigarette pole looked Qiao Zhen up and down, and saw that his clothes were exactly the same as those dart masters during the day, and asked, "Are you the dart master who bet darts during the day?"

Qiao Zhen said: "Exactly." ”

The old cigarette stick was silent, and the vicissitudes of life suddenly had old tears on his face. When Qiao Zhen saw him like this, he felt very uncomfortable. After a while, the old cigarette stick wiped the tears on his face with his calloused hands, and took out a very long smoking gun, stuffed some tobacco leaves in it, lit it and took a few puffs, and then said: "Shaoxia's expectations are good, we do have something unspeakable." ”

Qiao Zhen said: "But after hearing about it, let's see if I can help you." ”

The old cigarette pole's eyes suddenly flashed, and he said: "My name is the old cigarette pole, I am the village chief of this village, and the two big men, named Wang Dayou and Lu Dawei, are the two people with the greatest strength in our wolf's nest village, and they are also the two people who work hardest." ”

Qiao Zhen nodded and said, "I can see it." At this time, the other villagers also gathered around. As soon as the two big men saw Qiao Zhen during the day, they suddenly puffed and knelt down.

The old cigarette pole said again: "The two of them are also one of the few villagers in our village who can move now." Our wolf's nest village is mainly based on wheat planting, although it is not a big wealth, but the life is solid and rich, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. Until two months ago, a group of people came and said that they wanted to recruit soldiers, and they also said that they were the army of the 'Great Sacrifice of Heavenly King' and wanted to destroy the imperial court. In fact, this is the third group of people who have come to us a year to recruit soldiers and grab food. We were scared because we really didn't have any more men, they had all been taken away and never came back. However, after the group left, there was a sudden epidemic of plague in our place, and many villagers were infected with the strange plague. ”

Qiao Zhen looked at the villagers lying on the ground and moaning, and seemed to understand what was going on.

The old cigarette pole said: "In the past few months, we have killed more than 30 people here, all because of the damn plague. ”

Qiao Zhen was taken aback, he really couldn't imagine that this plague was so powerful.

The old cigarette pole said: "As soon as these people contracted the plague, they had a headache and fever, and their limbs were weak, and they did not eat or drink water, and within five days they died. ”

Qiao Zhen said: "Could it be ...... That rebel army of thieves deliberately spread the plague to you? Why don't you ask a doctor to treat such a terrible plague?"

The old cigarette stick sighed and said, "Why didn't you ask for a doctor?" There is a barefoot doctor in the village, but he can't do anything about this plague. We sent people around Mount Emei again, and went not to invite doctors from other villages, and finally invited them, but we couldn't say why we came to this plague, so we just said let's leave it to our fate, and left. It seems that we have to wait until we die. There are more than 1,000 people in our wolf's den village, and most of them have been infected with the plague now, you say, how good is this!" After saying that, he let out a long sigh, and several women next to him couldn't help crying. Wang Dayou and Lu Dawei kept kneeling on the ground, and at this time they kept kowtowing and said, "Please save our lives!"

Qiao Zhen looked at the villagers lying on the ground, only to see that they were in a coma, moaning from time to time, and couldn't help but feel like a knife, with mixed tastes. But he was a little confused, and he didn't understand why these villagers let themselves save their lives, because he didn't know anything about medicine.

The old cigarette stick seemed to see his thoughts, and said: "Fortunately, a few days ago, there was a scholar in the village, he only looked at it a few times, and then said that this plague has been recorded in the ancient books, called gossamer, only with a large amount of ginseng, Ganoderma lucidum, deer antler, He Shou Wu, musk with water boiled to boil, and the patient can be relieved of this plague after taking it." I was glad to hear that the plague had been cured, but when I heard him say the herbs, I became depressed. Master, do you think that these five kinds of medicinal materials are all rare treasures, and one is rare in normal times, let alone five? And they need a lot of medicinal materials, even if we sell all the people in our village, we don't have so much silver to buy!"

Qiao Zhen said: "So you pretend to be robbers to rob the dart silver, so that you can buy these medicinal herbs?"

The old cigarette pole said: "We are also forced to a dead end, there is no way." You can't just watch these people die. ”

Only then did Qiao Zhen understand why these people pretended to be robbers to rob dart silver, why the old cigarette pole had to compete again and again after losing the martial arts, and why he committed suicide by wiping his neck in the end.

At this time, the two big men began to kowtow again. Seeing this, the rest of the villagers also knelt down and kowtowed to Qiao Xu.