FH Chapter 80 : 黑风寨
[Black Wind Stockaded Village]
The carriage moved forward along the mountain road, and at the foot of the mountain at the very front, there was a small wooden house, which was thought to be a temporary place where someone went up the mountain to cut firewood and stayed for the night.
Inside the log cabin, there was an earthen stove built with stones, and a warm bed, on which there was a worn out bedding.
“Ahem, there shouldn’t be anyone living here for a while.”
Li Qiu Ju hangs the bedspread on a tree and knocks on it with a big stick, she looks at the sky in the distance and sighs disappointedly, she is afraid that it is probably about to rain.
“Let’s put it down, haha.”
A group of people went on the road, well-prepared. There was rice and noodles in the wagon, pas well as a few leaves of green vegetables. Li Qiu Ju made a big pot of dough-drop soup (made by dropping small, irregular lumps of dough into the simmering broth).
Currently she could only rely on a few men, but she wasn’t stupid. Running away from the Li family, she carried a packet of rat poison with her, and when she found the opportunity, she poisoned the three Zhang family brothers to death, then she would clean up Li Haitang.
“Eat and drink enough, get on the bed early, the new field can’t be ploughed, don’t I still have you?”
Zhang Er is not picky about women, it doesn’t matter if her face is not pretty, it’s all the same with the lights off. Besides, having a delicately pretty young lady watching from the sidelines is exciting to think about.
The aroma came from the dough drop soup. Li Haitang felt hungry all of a sudden, but unfortunately Li Qiu Ju ignored her as a meat ticket or hostage and didn’t bring her portion or share at all.
“This little lady has fine skin and tender flesh, how about selling it to a brothel?”
Zhang Da proposed, he heard that Li Haitang could read and write, and with a little more tutoring, a hundred taels of silver wouldn’t be a problem, enough for the brothers to eat and drink, and have a tasty life for a while.
“Not good ba?”
Zhang Da used to work as a tortoise in Da Qi’s biggest blue mansions—brothel, Water Moon House, where the girls were both talented and beautiful, and there were two little maids waiting around, so it was up to them what kind of benefactors they wanted to receive.
Li Qiu Ju objected, she did not want to see Li Haitang live a comfortable life.
Even though she has more silver money, it also can not give back to her mother who loves her so much! What’s the use of silver? She wants revenge!
If she wasn’t afraid that the three Zhang family brothers would turn against her, she wouldn’t have to listen to the other side’s opinion at all, after all, she was the employer who paid out the silver.
“Big brother, it’s not appropriate for us to sell it to Water Moon House.”
Zhang Er smacked his lips, Water Moon House that place, they checked the identity of the woman strictly, in case you know that, the person is from an unknown or dubious background, not only business can not be done, the other side will have to report to the police, the loss is not worth the gain.
Furthermore, the procuress; female brothel-keeper prefers a young girl in her early teens, so that she can look after and guide. Li Haitang is already at the age of maturity, in case she does not obey, and learns to cut her own throat as a woman who dies fighting for her honor or follows her husband in death, it will only add to the trouble.
People are abducted, want more money, it is best to send them to the Northwest. Come within nobody’s jurisdiction, gathered outlaws, just lack beautiful young ladies.
“Sell it to the Northwest, the price is several times that of Water Moon House!”
Zhang San was also in favour of going to the Northwest, the three brothers were familiar with it, they didn’t even need to look for a middleman to introduce th directly bring them to the mountains and sell them to the mountain bandits.
Those mountain bandits, specializing in robbing official silver, the government has besieged them many times, but they can’t be extinguished, they don’t care about silver money at all.
“We enjoy blessings and endure misfortune together, in case the Black Wind Walled Village’s m Master likes our brothers and pulls us to join a gang. In the future, will we still be afraid that we won’t have glory and wealth?”
Zhang San patted his chest, the three brothers had the courage to do it, but they couldn’t find an organization.
The year before, the three of them went to the Northwest and wanted to join the Black Wind Walled City, but they were rejected.
“Right, this time we bring two women, one is still a delicate beauty, the Walled City Lord will definitely look at us differently!”
In the conversation, Li Haitang learned that the Black Wind Walled City, which is located in the northwest, is very mysterious, and their brothers went to the mountain several times, and each time they find the door closed.
“Yamen don’t care?”
The wilderness is deserted everywhere, Li Haitang can’t run away for the time being, she’s not that stupid, she hadn’t eaten and was hungry in her stomach, it’s even more unlikely that she would waste her energy, so she might as well ask for a little gossip and let the other side relax their guard.
In the gap between getting off the carriage, she scraped the corner of her skirt on the stone, leaving a small piece of fabric, for fear of the wind blowing away, she kicked the stone on the rags again.
A simple manoeuvre that was physically exhausting not to mention that it made her calves cramp up and break out in a cold sweat.
Luckily, the dagger in her boot was still there, and when the men were asleep at night, she would find a way to cut the rope and escape.
“Yamen? That group of rice buckets can compete with Black Wind Walled City?”
Zhang San stepped on the wooden stool with one foot, and due to the excessive force, only the originally wobbly stool, split into pieces, and wood chips flew up.
“That’s right, little lady, rumor has it that the Boss of Black Wind Walled City is not close to women, in case you are lucky and are looked upon by the Boss, remember to take care of our brothers in the future.”
Zhang Da unprecedentedly said a polite banalities (for an specific occasion), for some reason, he just inexplicably felt that Li Haitang was not ordinary, maybe, she really had this luck.
Li Qiu Ju bowed her head, her eyebrows could clip dead flies, really sending Li Haitang to Black Wind Walled City. Being liked by the Big Boss, then in another way around wouldn’t she be tortured?
Clever people may be victims of their own cleverness or Cleverness may overreach itself. she always felt that how she did it was wrong, digging a hole, yet she jumped down first.
If she had known this, she might as well not have indicated that Li Haitang was an inexperienced one, and let the brothers play around to their heart’s content!
“The officials sent troops to surround and annihilate it a few times, but to no avail (come back empty).”
Who does not know the Black Wind Walled City? Mean people who resort to petty tricks incessantly admire the Black Wind Walled City.
They are pilfering, met with the officials scared to piss their trousers, cover the head and sneak away like a rat—look at others Black Wind Walled, robbing the official silver, no ambiguity, those officials heard the Black Wind Walled, trembling.
“Black Wind Walled City can still be more than the Yamen?”
Li Haitang noticed something, mentioning Black Wind Walled City, the eyes of the three Zhang family brothers had admiration in addition to deep admiration, and along with that, they respected her a lot more, as if she would soon become the boss’s woman.
This change was very small, but it was better than the constant stream of abuses before, so she made clever use of it and got an extra bowl of tea as a material benefit.
“The Black Wind Walled City is full of experts, so let’s not mention this one.”
Zhang Er picks up, the Northwest is poor and mountainous, barren hills and untamed rivers, the Black Wind Walled Village is on Black Wind Mountain, between the two mountains, there is a cliff face, underneath is a bottomless abyss of ten thousand feet.
The fortress owner does not know how to design. Among the two mountains, he made a chain bridge. If the officials and soldiers on the mountain cut off the wire bridge, the other side can only return without success.
“It’s simple, go up the mountain from the other side.”
Li Haitang was quite interested in this Black Wind Walled City, being a meat ticket aka hostage (held for ransom)and still in the mood to gossip, Da Qi probably couldn’t find the second one.
“You think the officials are stupid?”
Zhang San gestured and compared, the other side connected to the desert, the desert has to be selected carefully, which are place for prisoners on death row, and the desert is too big to say that it is necessary to walk up for several days, can only use the camel as a tool, so slow to death, how to compete with the Black Wind Walled City.
In addition, the first hill is not so good to go, a strategic location with difficult access, the terrain is dangerous, there is only a goat’s path, and if one man guards the pass, ten thousand cannot get through; guarded by one, and forced by none.
“The Black Wind Walled City never robbed the common people, will also relieve the distress of poverty-stricken people under the mountain. Many common people’s families’ little children, their ambition is to join the Black Wind Walled City!” The three brothers, each of them one sentence, ignoring Li Qiu Ju, busy explaining it to Li Haitang in layperson’s terms, a woman given to the boss, not only can not touch, but she also must be respected.