Chapter VIII: Investigation

One.

Wang Yi was sitting in a thatched hut, with daggers, daggers, darts and swords of all kinds in front of him, as well as guns of various shapes, and he himself arranged a bow and arrow.

"What do you want to do?" Liu Mazi looked at Wang Yi for a while and couldn't help but ask.

Wang put the gun and knife he had just sorted out into the bamboo barrel, picked up a knife and put it on his waist, took another gun and carried it on his body, and walked out of the hut, only then did he spit out a sentence.

"I'm going hunting. ”

Liu Mazi looked at the back of Wang Yi leaving, looking confused.

Although Wang Yi is not in the mood to hunt now, in order to better disguise himself as a hunter, he still does it. Wang Yi knew that the best way to disguise himself as a hunter was to actually become a hunter. For Wang Yi, hunting is not a difficult task. In the winter of Jiangzhou, everything is silent, and you can only barely get some food by hunting. And in Nanban, tracking the Miao people's whereabouts in the dense forest all day long, and then waiting for an opportunity to slaughter them all, what is the difference between this and hunting? Moreover, don't look at Wang Yi, who has never learned martial arts, but is a sharpshooter with a hundred shots.

His first encounter with bows and arrows led him to develop a strong interest in them. That year, there was a long drought without rain, thousands of miles of red land, and no crops were harvested, and the homemade bow and arrow in his hand became his only means of livelihood. That year, the farmer Wang Yi became the hunter Wang Yi, and the bow and arrow in his hand became the only hope for the whole family. Wang Yi also wondered, why is it an arrow? Perhaps, this is the arrangement of fate.

Of course, when it comes to Wang Yi's life experience, Nanban is naturally indispensable. As a member of the Southern Barbarian Expeditionary Army, he was exposed to all kinds of bows and arrows available to the Ming army. Large-scale crossbows that can only be transported by cattle and horses, crossbows that can be carried around but fired with traps, Zhengyu bows that can be found everywhere but have strong rebound and are difficult to control, wooden bows that are easy to make and widely used, and iron-tired bows that are reserved for generals and crossbowmen. In addition, in the military camp of the Ming Dynasty, you can also come into contact with bows and arrows from various countries, including the longbow of the Japanese Kingdom, the Mongolian short bow, the Korean horn bow and so on......

Wang Yi used to use a sandalwood bow made of sandalwood and buffalo horns. What he is holding now is also a sandalwood bow, which Liu Mazi has worked hard to get with great effort and mobilization of people from all walks of life. Despite its modest appearance, the bow is small, easy to carry, and powerful, allowing it to shoot a thousand steps away with manpower alone.

In addition to archery, Wang Yi also has a skill that he is proud of.

Reconnoiter.

Wang Yi has been on the battlefield for a long time and knows the truth that only by knowing oneself and knowing the other can one win a hundred battles. Wasn't it precisely because the Ming army smashed the Yellow Dragon by the Ming army? And all this, in the final analysis, was the result of Wang Yi's accurate reconnaissance. If Wang Yi was able to discover that the nest of the Nu clan was favored by heaven at that time, then now, he urgently needs the goddess of luck to favor him again. Because now he has to face a prey that is more cruel and cunning than any beast, and if he fails, not only will he not be able to save his sister, but he will also die himself.

Rolling around the mountains in the southern part of Shandong Province, Wang Yi climbed over the mountains and came to the Jingshi Shuntianfu (Shuntianfu: the name for the north and Hebei Province during the Ming Dynasty). Hebei and Shandong have been the political and cultural centers of China since ancient times, and the population is very dense, and it is difficult to find the inaccessible deep mountains and old forests since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, so there are few wild beasts. Take Mount Tai, one of the five mountains, as an example, there is almost a temple step by step, there are scenic spots everywhere, and there are always people boiling, and thousands of people are empty. Wang Yi went to the Daimyo's Mansion, but there were many lofty mountains and mountains around him, and there were few people in the deep ravines. It is far away from Jingshi, the terrain is steep, and there has been a pass since ancient times. One of the passes is called Old Cliff Ridge. On the majestic and magnificent, although the old cliff ridge is not as good as Shanhaiguan and Juyongguan, but the surrounding mountains are majestic, the tiger is standing on the dragon plate, the winding path of two miles long stretches endlessly, and it is the place where soldiers must fight since ancient times. What Wang Yi is going to is this old cliff ridge.

It was only a five-day journey from Qingzhou Mansion in Shandong Province to Laoyaling, but Wang Yi walked for half a month in order to make himself look more like a hunter. After that, he stayed in an inn in the village at the foot of the mountain for three days, called Rest, which was actually to find out the news. The inn is full of people, and it is inevitable to chat a few words after tea and dinner, and some of them will talk about the old Yaling Tianfu Village.

It is said that in troubled times, heroes and strange people from all walks of life will gather in the green forest. Today, the emperor is tyrannical, although the people are not living in poverty, and the heroes are everywhere, but it is indeed a troubled era. In the green forest, although I don't know how many talented people there are, there are really a lot of robbers who rob houses. The so-called penny is difficult to defeat heroes, and people's livelihood is withering, so naturally someone will inevitably fall into the grass. In addition, thieves are divided into grass thieves, water thieves, horse thieves, soldier bandits, etc., although there are many types, most of them belong to the green forest road. To Wang Yi's surprise, there was not a single spy from Tianfu Village in this huge village. And four days later, Wang Yi found that the whole village, except for the past business travel, was all spies from Tianfu Village. What surprised him even more was that the villages near Laoyaling were all like this. For the villagers near Laoyaling, falling grass into a coward and joining the green forest road is just a way to make a living. Not only that, the custom here can be described as one person falling into the grass, the whole family is glorious, and being able to join the green forest road is a good thing to put gold on the face of the family. On the other hand, if someone is reluctant to join the Green Forest Road, it will be seen as a lack of masculinity and will be despised by the whole village. With such a popular attitude, the sturdy young men in the village joined the Green Forest Road one after another, and the other villagers naturally became the parents of the Green Forest Road. There are even such folk songs circulating in the local area: Words and deeds are the same, justice Bingran Tianshu and Tianxuan.

Supervise the children and respect the teacher, count Tianji and Tianquan.

Eyes look at six roads, ears listen to eight directions Yuheng.

Unyielding, unremitting, and unremitting.

Demon slayer is a killer and shakes the light.

Tianshu, Tianxuan, Tianji, Tianquan, Yuheng, Kaiyang, and Shaoguang appear in the lyrics, which are the star names of the Big Dipper, and they are also the names of the seven green forest leaders in the Eighteen Tiangang. This was something that Wang Yi only learned about later. However, Wang didn't even notice that the villagers were making such a big fuss at first, because the green forest had become a part of the villagers' daily life, and it was easy for people to ignore it.

Also, because the villagers speak code words. They called the owner of the village a double flash, the strategist a door god, the scholar a white fan, and the green forest road was called the red beard. When Wang learned that there were two or three hundred people in the mountain with red beards alone, he realized for the first time that what he was going to do was not a small matter, but a big thing that shocked the world and wept ghosts and gods. After all, as long as Tianfuzhai waved his hand, the villagers of these villages would become enemies to hunt down Wang Yi.

As soon as Wang found out the situation in Tianfu Village, he left the inn. Wang Yi's trip can be described as full of dangers, if he hadn't disguised himself as a down-and-out hunter, I'm afraid he wouldn't even be able to get out of the inn door. Wang Yi, who had escaped from the tiger's mouth, quickly escaped from the tiger's den along the canyon, and after a while sat down against the rocks by the side of the road, and fell into deep thought. His enemies were stronger than he imagined, so many that he could not shake the Green Forest Road with his own strength.

"Otherwise, ...... I'm going to find Master Sun?" Master Sun flashed in Wang Yi's mind, but he immediately shook his head and denied the idea. Wang Yi had secretly made up his mind that in the entire revenge plan, except for the preparation stage, everything else would be completed by his own strength. In addition, the ability of Sun Fuzi and the others is far above that of Wang Yi, and if he conspires with them to do great things, he will definitely lose his leading power and may even become an outsider.

Wang Yi shook his head again, strengthening his determination not to seek foreign help, and then stretched his waist and stood up. The road to revenge was long and arduous, but he must not back down. For Wang Yi, stabbing the enemy and rescuing his sister is the last meaning of his life. In short, the boat is naturally straight to the bridge, and now, he can only take one step at a time. One by one, with a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other, the king began to climb the mountain. From now on, he is a hunter and a spy.

After a while, Wang Yi took out the dumplings brought out of the inn to satisfy his hunger, and there were two pheasants and three hares hanging from his waist. At this time, the target he had been looking for for many days finally appeared in front of him.

Wang Yiyi thought that he would have to stay in Laoyaling for a month to find Tianfu Village, but he didn't expect that it was only five days before he found it. However, this is not because he is lucky, but because the people of Tianfuzhai are too negligent. However, for them, from the very beginning, there was no need to hide, so why be careful?

The straight-line distance between Tianfuzhai and the Grand Canyon is only three or four miles, and the surrounding terrain is steep, with mountains and mountains, a stream flowing through it, and the surrounding area is covered by dense forests.

Wang Yi spent another five days scouting the situation in Tianfu Village, including the surrounding terrain, the structure of the buildings, and the deployment of troops. He tried to get everything he saw into his mind. Suddenly, Wang Yi found that the map in his mind had no exit, he carefully observed again, recalled carefully, and finally, a shimmering road appeared in the map in his mind.

After all the reconnaissance was completed, Wang Yi decided to evacuate temporarily. However, at this time, the unexpected appeared. Wang Yi packed up his things and just walked out of the cave where he had been hiding for many days, but found two strong men standing at the entrance of the cave.

The strong man was dressed casually, fierce and vicious, and Wang Yi didn't have to guess to know that they were from Tianfu Village.

Two.

Shunfeng Er Jiang Tie was born in Qingyang County, a daimyo, which is a small village located at the foot of the old Yaling Mountain. Like every little boy from Laoyaling, it is his lifelong dream to become the owner of Shuangshan. At the age of sixteen, he finally got his wish and became the adopted son of Tianfu Village (Green Forest Road code word, referring to the new thief), taking the first step towards martial arts.

Although Jiang Tie had not personally stolen anything, the green forest was no stranger to him. It didn't take long for him to adapt to the environment and show his incredible talent as a thief. He was deaf and clear-sighted, walked like a fly, and his hands and feet were quite nimble, and he was honest, which quickly made him stand out among the many newcomers.

The people of the Central Plains pay attention to loyalty, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom and faith, and the green forest is no exception. Soon, Jiang Tie, who was outstanding in talent and righteousness, quickly broke away from the ranks of adopted sons, became one of the redbeards, and became a tailwind (the Green Forest Reconnaissance Team, responsible for keeping abreast of the movements of the officers and soldiers, and going deep into the enemy camp if necessary, to find out the enemy's situation). The nickname that he is proud of was also earned at this time.

In the past three years, Jiang Tie has traveled south and north as a tailwind, and now he has finally returned to the cottage and become an arrest (cottage guard). This means that he has passed the tests of the cottage and officially became a member here.

At this time, Jiang Tie was finally qualified to start practicing martial arts. Most of the people who devote themselves to the green forest, except for a few who have achieved academic success, are laymen who can't even hold a knife steadily. Newcomers who join Tianfuzhai will first join the small boss to practice martial arts, and those with high qualifications will become the disciples of the small boss. And the best of these people can directly learn martial arts from the owner of the village, and it will not be a problem to become a small leader in the future.

Many people believe that Jiang Tie is very likely to become a small leader within five years, and this time the owner of the village recruited him back to test his martial arts skills. This made Jiang Tie very excited, in order to be able to enter the eyes of the owner of the village, he became more cautious in handling things, and he was also full of enthusiasm and vitality when he worked. Therefore, today's discovery can be said to be an unexpected luck for Jiang Tie. As usual, he patrolled around the cottage and found a suspicious person, so he went up with his companion Liu Renjie to check it.

Liu Renjie is Jiang Tie's fellow countryman, and he is his predecessor. However, the other person is not as good as his name, and is a brutal and aggressive guy.

"What person?" Before he could see the other party clearly, Liu Renjie shouted loudly and showed his knife, his words full of murderous energy. However, his trick to deceive ordinary people is okay, but for the well-trained Wang Yi, I am afraid it will not work at all. Jiang Tie also vigilantly pulled out his saber and stood beside Liu Renjie, firstly, to protect Liu Renjie, and secondly, to block the other party's retreat and prevent accidents.

"Ah...... Yes...... I am...... Who?"

The hunter panicked momentarily, but soon calmed down, and then threw away his gun in fright. The action was carried out in one go, and it did not show anything suspicious in the slightest.

However, Jiang Tie is no one, years of reconnaissance life have made him extremely wary of anyone, and the slightest change in expression will not escape from his eyes. Sure enough, Wang Yi's momentary calmness was captured by Jiang Tie.

However, Liu Renjie did not find this. As usual, he was content with his own fears.

"Why can't you even speak clearly, what are you doing here?"

Liu Renjie waved the knife in his hand and walked towards Wang Yi, without the slightest alertness in his eyes. Jiang Tie looked at Wang Yi vigilantly, noticing the dirt on his chest and the shallow grass juice on his clothes. Jiang Tie felt that this person must be unusual.

"Be careful!"

Jiang Tie suddenly shouted and took a step towards Liu Renjie's left, trying to fill the gap behind him, but it was too late. Perhaps, his roar triggered the hunter's vigilance, and he was stunned for a moment, and then quickly bent down in an attempt to pick up the weapon that had fallen to the ground.

Liu Renjie was taken aback by Jiang Tie's shout and was stunned for a moment. He couldn't help but laugh out loud with disdain as he watched the hunter bend over to pick up his gun. Liu Renjie has been in Tianfu Village for dozens of thoughts, and he can be regarded as extraordinary. In his opinion, it was a foolish act for a hunter to expose his back to his enemies in such a naked manner. He was about to slash the hunter in the back, but he changed his mind and kicked the gun off the ground.

"Stupid guy......!" Jiang Tie sensed the danger, shouted, and took a step forward were all instantaneous, and Liu Renjie's pause, sneering, and kicking the gun were all instantaneous. The hunter, on the other hand, was able to control the whole situation in an instant, pretending to pick up the gun, but at the same time pulled out a scimitar from his waist and waved it constantly.

This blow was really unexpected by Jiang Tie and Liu Renjie. The hunter's sharp knife slashed, and he was about to stab Liu Renjie in the thigh, but fortunately he dodged a step backwards in time to escape, leaving only a small wound on the calf. It turned out that it was Jiang Tie who pulled him behind his back. "Uh... !”

The hunter let out a low groan, surprised that his sudden blow had failed to hit the enemy's vital point. If you are an ordinary person, you must not be able to help but scold. Thinking of this, Jiang Tie couldn't help but become more vigilant. He felt that the hunter in front of him was definitely not an ordinary mountain villager.

"You kid ......!"

The pain in his calf made Liu Renjie can't help but jump. The hunter's attack annoyed him, and the pain in his leg added to the flames of anger within him. The hunter lowered the center of gravity of his body, slowly moved forward, and suddenly swung his knife and stabbed Liu Renjie's stomach from the bottom up, and it seemed that Liu Renjie was about to break his stomach.

Seeing this, Liu Renjie hurriedly pulled out a knife to protect his stomach, and resorted to a defensive trick of protecting his heart behind closed doors at the last moment. The hunter's knife only cut through the corner of his coat, and he blocked it.

Immediately after, Jiang Tie launched a counterattack against the hunters. He strode to Liu Renjie's left side, unleashed a blow of the poisonous snake out of the hole, and slashed at the hunter's neck with a knife. The venomous snake attack is a commonly used move in fist or sword art, and it is not common in sword art. Because most of the knives in the Central Plains are single-edged knives, there is no "stab" move. However, Liu Renjie and Jiang Tie used a ghost head knife, and the blade was split in two like ghost horns, so they could stab the enemy. In addition, now there is a Liu Renjie between Jiang Tie and the hunter, judging from the current situation, Jiang Tie's move can be said to be the best choice.

Whew-!

Jiang Tie's ghost head knife slashed the hunter's shoulder, and although it was not fatal, it dealt him a considerable blow. The hunter paused, and slashed at Jiang Tie again.

This startled Jiang Tie, but he knew that it would be difficult for the hunter with a serious injury on his shoulder to launch a threatening attack, so he could calmly respond to the battle. He put Liu Renjie in charge of cover, and he took a step back, stretched out his left foot forward, and then took his right foot, detoured back to the hunter's right side, and occupied the favorable terrain within three steps, ready to take advantage of the situation to attack the enemy's dead end. This is the famous three-talent step on the rivers and lakes.

However, the hunter's attack greatly surprised Jiang Tie. I saw that his injured right arm waved a knife and made a false move, so he took advantage of the situation to draw an arrow from the quiver with his left hand and threw it at Liu Renjie.

"Ahh Liu Renjie hurriedly stretched out his hand to protect his face, and the arrow was stuck in the back of his hand and fell to the ground again. The hunter took the opportunity to push Liu Renjie away and ran away. Jiang Tie realized that the hunter's move was to cover his escape, and scolded.

"!" and began to chase the hunter. "Wait, give him to me!" After a while, Liu Renjie also chased after him.

"Are your feet alright?"

"I can't care so much! I must break that kid into pieces today!"

Liu Renjie gritted his teeth and said, his words were full of murderous energy. Jiang Tie couldn't help frowning. In a few moments, they spotted the hunter's tracks. Although Wang Yi has been on the battlefield for a long time and walks like a fly, he still can't run lightly after all, and he was soon caught up. Jiang Tie decided that this time he would hand over the hunter to Liu Renjie and let him avenge Fang Cai's death.

"This kid may be a spy sent by the official army, he must be caught alive!" Jiang Tie was afraid that Liu Renjie would kill the hunter in a fit of anger, so he couldn't help shouting. Suddenly, the hunter in front of him tripped over the grassroots, fell in response, rolled on the ground, and then stood up with his knees supporting his legs. Surprisingly, the hunter stood up facing Jiang Tie and Liu Renjie behind him. Jiang Tie knew that the hunter must have done it on purpose. Sure enough, the hunter was holding a bow and arrow in his hand, and the arrow was already aimed at them.

Jiang Tie's face turned pale with fright, he had never seen anyone play with a bow and arrow so well.

"Be careful!" Before the words fell, Jiang Tie fell to the ground. And Liu Renjie was shot through the neck by a flying arrow.