Chapter 1 An Encounter in the Wild

Xiang Tianjie's face turned serious as he respectfully clasped his fist and said, "So you are Brother Chen in person. We have recently heard about your deeds of beating the Wu family and distributing wealth to the people. We admire you greatly. I didn't expect to meet you here, brother. Your appearance is dignified and extraordinary."

"You flatter me." Zhou Jing also returned the courtesy.

Although he had just started out in the greenwood and was only a small figure compared to the other party, the people of the greenwood would not be rude. The superficial courtesy must be done properly.

Moreover, those with high skills have always been admired in the greenwood. For these village leaders, destroying the Wu family was only a small matter, but Zhou Jing's feat of fighting against a hundred enemies showed his amazing martial power.

The reason why these Heavenly King Village leaders were so surprised was precisely this... They had been lurking in this state capital for many days, and accidentally discovered that such a fierce person had emerged in the southern greenwood. They couldn't help but be very interested. Some people privately called out to invite this person to join them on the mountain.

Xiang Tianjie also intended to befriend Zhou Jing, but they were not familiar with each other at the moment, so he did not mention the matter of inviting him to join the group for the time being.

Because of the commotion, the group did not want to alarm the government officials, so they quickly changed places and continued their conversation.

...

The group came to a secluded place, and Xiang Tianjie and the others all took off their human skin masks and came forward to report their names, getting to know Zhou Jing.

These Heavenly King Village leaders were all highly skilled in martial arts and had a good reputation in the northern greenwood. However, after learning Zhou Jing's name, they did not dare to be presumptuous and bowed respectfully.

Xiang Tianjie then talked about the purpose of their trip, sighing:

"Brother Guo Haishen was imprisoned here for offending powerful people. We have been lurking here for many days, just wanting to find an opportunity to rescue him. Because the matter is quite important, we dare not show ourselves in our true colors."

"I have an old friendship with Brother Guo, and I'm here for him too." Gao Yun echoed, then wondered, "But since you have important matters, why did this Brother Shi Qing cause trouble and steal my travel expenses?"

Hearing this, both groups turned their heads to look at Shi Qing.

Shi Qing's delicate face flushed red, and he stammered:

"I was on the street inquiring about news, and I accidentally discovered that this hero's baggage was bulging, so I kept an eye on it. Later, when I saw him buying things in front of a stall, he revealed some silver, and my hands itched. I thought that no one here knew me, and I had covered my face, so I wanted to make a fortune, but I didn't expect..."

Hearing this, Xiang Tianjie was furious and scolded, "You thief, you almost ruined our important affairs!"

Many Heavenly King Village leaders also looked unhappy.

They did not know the cause and effect, but only discovered Shi Qing's distress signal, so they came to rescue him. They probably guessed that Shi Qing had failed on the way, but they still couldn't help but get angry at this moment.

"Brothers, calm down, I know I was wrong." Shi Qing lowered his head in dejection.

Xiang Tianjie was helpless, turned his head and cupped his hands to Gao Yun to apologize:

"Brother Gao, don't blame him. This Brother Shi Qing has not been in my mountain village for a long time, but he doesn't recognize your appearance. He was originally a small thief on the street, and later he learned from a Jianghu (martial world) thief. Although he is young, he has learned a lot of Qinggong (light body skill) to climb walls, as well as a skill of disguise. He is very capable, but he can't change his habit of stealing chickens and dogs. He has an itchy hand and wants to steal. I have told him many times, but he always relapses and doesn't take it seriously. Today, he bumped into a master, which can be regarded as a lesson for him."

"I see... If it wasn't for Brother Shi Qing, we wouldn't have been able to meet each other. Brother Xiang, don't blame him."

Gao Yun gave the other party a step down, no matter what he thought in his heart.

In fact, in the greenwood, the status of thieves is not high. Most greenwood people don't like them very much. They are occasionally called "Qianzi" (underground), "Zeiwa" (thief kid), and "Baotan" (spy) on the road, which has a certain derogatory meaning.

Zhou Jing watched Shi Qing being reprimanded from the side, his mind slightly changed.

Most of these greenwood people come from poor backgrounds and are rude bandits. They may have some bad habits, such as alcoholism, greed, and irritability.

Even if they have important matters, it is difficult to expect them to be completely well-behaved. Many are unstable factors.

At this time, Gao Yun asked:

"You leaders have been inquiring here for many days, but I don't know how Brother Guo Haishen suffered the disaster?"

As soon as the voice fell, many Heavenly King Village leaders were filled with indignation.

Xiang Tianjie's chest heaved, his tone angry, and he said in a deep voice:

"Brother, you don't know, this Anlin Prefecture seems prosperous, but in fact, officials and merchants collude to plunder the people's wealth. Many merchants and wealthy households collude with the government to do business of inferior quality. Not only do the locals suffer, but some passing merchants are also harmed. Even if they sue the government, it will not be resolved. The officials have already been taken care of by these local merchants and wealthy households, and there is no way to sue.

Moreover, local merchants hoard grain all year round, only trying to maintain high grain prices. They would rather sell excess grain to other states than supply it locally... This is clearly a rich land of fish and rice in the south, but ordinary people have to spend more money to maintain their lives. Even if they have some extra money, it will be earned by those grain merchants and wealthy households. These treacherous merchants are full of money and greatly expand their industries, which are even more intricate. There are many black-hearted deals behind them, which cannot be described in a word."

"It's really hateful!"

Fang Zhen was greatly annoyed when he heard this.

Gao Yun was also dissatisfied and frowned, "Even if the southern fertile land is plundered like this, the people can still maintain their lives... If they dare to do this in the barren north, there will be civil unrest!"

Xiang Tianjie sighed and continued:

"These wealthy and unkind merchant families also fund gangs locally to do dirty work for them. Although these gangs are also street hooligans, they have become a force and are enough to bully the market. For example, if someone sues an official, these gangs will find trouble with this person's family as revenge.

Or if a wealthy household in the city takes a fancy to a certain industry and wants to lower the price to take it over, but the owner of the industry refuses, they will let the gang harass and smash it until they give in... For example, the Lu, Chen, He, and Huang families in the south of the city, according to what the people say, they wanted to expand their houses in their early years, but the neighbors refused, so they used such methods to take over the surrounding land at a low price."

Zhou Jing raised an eyebrow and asked, "Then Guo Haishen was imprisoned because he provoked the local merchants?"

Xiang Tianjie nodded immediately and said in a deep voice:

"That's right! Brother Guo passed through this place and happened to see a gang oppressing the people, so he helped them. Afterwards, he asked about the reasons behind it and single-handedly overturned several gangs that were harming the local area, ruining many businesses of the local merchants and wealthy households. Anlin Prefecture praised his righteous deeds.

But this also incurred the hatred of the local merchants and wealthy households, who wanted to kill the chicken to warn the monkey, so they bribed a few people and set up a trap to frame Brother Guo. These people led Brother Guo to drink a lot of wine one day, deliberately saying some unfair things about the local area to provoke Brother Guo, asking Brother Guo to seek justice from the government, and then said that the local prefect would not pay attention, speaking in a strange way, inducing Brother Guo to speak out.

Unfortunately, Brother Guo was not sober after drinking, and misfortune came from his mouth. He couldn't help but say, 'If the local prefect doesn't care, he will ask the prefectural governor for justice. If the prefectural governor doesn't care, he will ask the provincial governor. If the provincial governor doesn't care, he will go to the capital to sue the emperor.' Unexpectedly, a large number of government officials had been ambushing around for a long time and immediately arrested him and sent him to the government. The prefect quickly sentenced him to such unfounded crimes as speaking wildly, disrespecting sages, not knowing the difference between superiors and inferiors, and having rebellious intentions, and beat him fifty times in court, detaining him in the prison camp... Brother Guo was convicted for his words."

Everyone was greatly angered when they heard this.

"This dog-raising prefect, these merchants and wealthy households are all jackals of the same tribe!" Fang Zhen said angrily.

Gao Yun slammed his long stick on the ground, poking a hole, and also said angrily: "Officials and merchants collude to oppress the people, they really deserve to die!"

"They really deserve to be killed."

Zhou Jing narrowed his eyes.

However, to be fair, apart from being calculated, Guo Haishen was not completely wronged in prison.

In this feudal era, daring to speak disrespectfully to the emperor was okay if no one heard it, but if others wanted to raise the stakes, the speaker would be convicted for his words.

It was "politically correct" for the local government to punish those who spoke disrespectfully for this reason. If anyone dared to plead for mercy, they would be labeled with a hat of "disrespecting the emperor", and the person who pleaded for mercy would also be unlucky.

The world is like this today. It has always been that others can do what you can't say. State officials can set fires, but the people can't even light lamps. Complaining a few words is considered a crime and affects others' good careers.

And most of the people in the greenwood have grievances against the court, are accustomed to scolding the government, and never respect them when speaking, so they may suffer disaster if they are provoked by people with ulterior motives.

Zhou Jing folded his arms and decisively said:

"I really can't stand this turbid world! I am determined to save this Guo Haishen. What are your plans, leaders? Please speak frankly, and we will work together to rescue this hero!"

Fang Zhen immediately echoed: "That's right! What brother said is also what I mean!"

Xiang Tianjie was overjoyed and immediately cupped his hands and said, "With the help of three heroes, this trip will be more certain!"

Hearing this, Zhou Jing remembered Li Chun and the other two, blinked, and said:

"By the way, I have three other greenwood brothers here. They are also here to visit Guo Haishen and probably won't stand idly by. Why don't we tell them about this first, gather together, and then consider how to rescue people."

"Brother Chen is right!" Xiang Tianjie agreed.

...

In a luxurious restaurant in the city, five people were pushing cups and changing glasses in a private room, namely Li Chun, the Lu family siblings, and two unfamiliar faces.

These two people, one was a government official, sitting in the main seat, and the other was the middleman who led the meeting.

The table was full of cups and plates, obviously they had eaten almost enough, and the matter was basically settled.

Li Chun stood up and cupped his hands to the official in the main seat and said, "In this case, I will have to trouble Lord Zhang. I hope you will prepare the goods at that time."

"Hehe, that's natural. Brother Li must also prepare the money."

The official also smiled red-faced, looking happy as if he had made a lot of money.

Li Chun then said goodbye and left the restaurant with the Lu family siblings.

Walking on the street, Lu Xinniang snorted coldly and couldn't help but said, "The government is so corrupt that someone dares to sell military equipment from the warehouse in private. Are they not afraid of losing their heads!"

Li Chun shook his head helplessly and sighed:

"This Lord Zhang is not a big official. There must be someone behind him who instructed him. I don't know if he is collecting money for his superiors, or setting up a trap for political enemies, or if he has received a transfer order and is about to take office in another prefecture and is making money before leaving. After all, the banditry in the south is not as serious as in the north, and this Jing Prefecture is even more stable. These military equipment are piled up in the warehouse and rusted, and they can't produce offspring or make money... Alas, the infighting in the officialdom is annoying, but in the end, it is cheaper for us."

Lu Yunzhao was quite excited: "If we buy this batch of military equipment, we can train several elite teams."

Hearing this, Li Chun also smiled, unloaded the pressure, and relaxed, and said with a smile:

"The biggest thing this trip has been accomplished. Next, we will go back to find Brother Chen Feng, go to the prison camp together to visit Guo Haishen, who is famous in the greenwood, and then invite Brother Chen Feng to our mountain village to settle down. This trip is complete, and the harvest is very rich!"

The three did not delay and returned to the inn where they were staying.

Zhang San had been waiting at the entrance of the inn. When he saw Li Chun and the other two, he hurried to greet them and said:

"Three heroes, Brother Chen invites you to his room to talk about important matters."

"Oh?"

Li Chun was puzzled, but he didn't think too much about it, so he took the Lu family siblings to the door of Zhou Jing's room and knocked on the door.

"Brother Chen, we are here."

After shouting, he pushed open the door and wanted to walk in.

However, at the next moment, Li Chun saw the scene in the room and suddenly stopped, subconsciously standing in place.

The room was full of strong men!

At a rough glance, there were more than ten people!

Except for Zhou Jing and Fang Zhen, all the others were unfamiliar faces, almost all of them were burly and fierce!

Li Chun was stunned on the spot, and said blankly: "Brother Chen, who are these people..."

Zhou Jing smiled heartily, beckoned Li Chun and the other three to enter the door, and then signaled Zhang San to close the door and guard outside. Then he said:

"Let me introduce you, these three are the leaders of Red Cloud Mountain, Qingfeng Shan (Clear Wind Fan) Li Chun, Shenjian (Divine Mace) Lu Yunzhao, Xiuhua Dao (Embroidered Blade) Lu Xinniang... And these are the leaders of the Heavenly King Village in the northern greenwood..."

This time, the Heavenly King Village sent people to rescue Guo Haishen, and a total of eight leaders came, led by the fourth leader "Turning River Great Sage" Xiang Tianjie, who reported their names one after another.

Hearing the other party's background, Li Chun was shocked and hurriedly greeted the Lu family siblings, but he was extremely puzzled.

How could this group of northern greenwood masters quietly run to this southern territory?

Moreover, Brother Chen Feng just went out for a walk, how could he bring back so many heroes?

Xiang Tianjie came forward and briefly explained the encounter, and then told about Guo Haishen's experience, and then went straight to the topic:

"We are here to rescue Brother Guo Haishen. Brother Chen Feng said that you three are also here for him. We hope to invite the three of you to act together. I wonder what you think?"

Hearing this, Li Chun pondered for a while and nodded:

"I also admire Brother Guo's character very much. We can't stand by and watch!"

They should participate in such a grand event, both to rescue heroes and to increase their greenwood reputation, so that Red Cloud Mountain can be in the limelight with Heavenly King Village.

If it spreads out that Red Cloud Mountain is unwilling to help Heavenly King Village rescue "Iron Arm Canglong" (Iron Arm Azure Dragon) Guo Haishen, it would be a big loss of face.

"Good! Brother Chen is right, you are indeed righteous heroes!"

Xiang Tianjie was overjoyed.

Hearing this, Li Chun felt a sense of urgency for no reason.

He could see that Xiang Tianjie also had the intention of befriending Zhou Jing.

Heavenly King Village is a large village with a large family and business, famous all over the world, while Red Cloud Mountain is a small family and cannot be compared with the other party at all. If the other party also recruits Zhou Jing, they might really abduct him...

But now is not the time to say these things, business is important.

Everyone agreed on the same goal, and several groups of people who came to rescue Guo Haishen all gathered here.

"Life-Snatching Yama" Chen Feng, "Turning River Great Sage" Xiang Tianjie, "Po Jun (Army Breaker) Spear" Gao Yun, "Qingfeng Shan (Clear Wind Fan)" Li Chun, "Shenjian (Divine Mace)" Lu Yunzhao, "Turning Mountain Tai Sui (God of the Year)" Fang Zhen, "Xiuhua Dao (Embroidered Blade)" Lu Xinniang, "Qianmian Yan (Thousand-Faced Swallow)" Shi Qing...

Eight leaders of Heavenly King Village, three leaders of Red Cloud Mountain, plus Zhou Jing, Fang Zhen, and Gao Yun... There were fourteen well-known heroes.

Everyone discussed for a while and reached a consensus, intending to send a representative from each side to the prison camp to meet Guo Haishen first.

Even if you want to save someone, you have to let the person being saved know, so that there is a cooperation from inside and outside.

Soon, everyone decided that four people would go to the prison camp to meet people, namely Xiang Tianjie, Li Chun, Zhou Jing, and Gao Yun, as representatives of all parties, while the others would remain still.

...

On the other side, a well-dressed old man came to the prison camp to visit the warden.

The old man had white hair and beard, and a smiling face, looking like a housekeeper of a high-ranking family.

The local jailers and bailiffs seemed to know the old man and treated him with courtesy, allowing him to enter.

Soon, the old man met the warden and smiled and cupped his hands:

"Warden, how have you been?"

"Oh, Butler He! Haha, it's been a while since I saw you."

The warden's eyes lit up and he hurriedly stepped forward to lead him to a seat.

The two casually chatted about some trivial matters, and then Butler He mentioned the purpose of his visit.

Butler He tentatively asked, "Warden, I wonder how that Guo person is doing now?"

The warden stroked his beard and said, "These days, I have been watching him all the time. He is still well-behaved, and there is no reason to make trouble for him."

Hearing this, Butler He took out two large ingots of silver, handed them to the warden, and whispered:

"This person has ruined my master's good deeds. My master's intention is to hope that he will receive some 'care' in prison. Don't kill him, but let those unruly people understand what the consequences are of sticking their heads out. What do you think..."

The warden accepted the silver, his smile even brighter, and laughed loudly,豪氣道:

"You go back and tell Master He to rest assured, it's just an injured man, what iron arm Azure Dragon, when he gets to my territory, even if he is made of iron, I can rub him into iron mud!"

Hearing this, Butler He asked: "I wonder how Warden plans to do it?"

The warden waved his hand and said casually:

"I have dealt with good men, not three hundred but also two hundred, all have become a pool of rotten mud, I am already familiar with it. Isn't that Guo person highly skilled? When I pick his tendons, waste his martial arts, even if he used to be so self-important, he will become a dog-like thing, I will let him eat shit, and he will have to eat shit! I will pee in his mouth, and he will have to open his mouth for me!"

"Good, good, just do it like this! Then I will go back and wait for good news!"

Butler He smiled happily.

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