Vol 8 Chapter 1: The first case of Taotie
Feilai Mountain
There are Shanxi flying over, and the gods and monsters are safe and predictable.
Thousands of valleys are blowing wind and thunder, and thousands of rocks are wings.
—(Song) Jiang Tang
Liangzhou Feilai Mountain.
Liang Jinzhu stands on this ancient altar. He and his family have guarded Feilai Mountain for thousands of years.
When did this Feilai Mountain come here, and whether it really came from flying, in fact, neither he nor his clansmen knew. He only knew that the responsibility of guarding the mountain was passed down from generation to generation in his Liang family.
Now, it's his turn.
However, he didn't want to be trapped in this deep mountain forest like his father, grandpa, and grandpa's grandpa, guarding this broken mountain that he didn't know if it was flying!
The new generation of clansmen don't want to be trapped in this deep mountain for the rest of their lives. They want to get out of the mountain and go to a rich town. Even if they just work as coolies there, they can earn far more money than staying in the deep mountain.
If their clansmen don't go out again, they won't even be able to marry a daughter-in-law!
And a general named Yu Chifeng arrived, and the elite soldiers and horses he brought made them want to get out of the mountains and out of Liangzhou even more! The generals came to this desolate place to guard the frontier, but they didn't have this responsibility. They just wanted to be rich, have horses, and have women.
Liang Jinzhu angrily grabbed the so-called patriarch's Zen stick in his hand, which was simply a piece of broken peach wood with some animal bones hanging on it. He was fed up with these spitting outfits, fed up with the animal skin clothes on his body, he and his clansmen looked like savages!
Look at the soldiers of the Yuchi Army, look at the young ladies, that's what it means to dress like a person!
He angrily swung his cane and began to smash down the broken altar that had trapped their people for a thousand years.
It is said to be an altar, but it is actually a stone formation surrounded by a few broken stones, which is used to prevent outsiders from approaching the Feilai Mountain behind, which is simply too stupid!
"Ah—" He smashed and kicked angrily, one big stone after another was pushed by him, and fell to the ground, making a dull sound.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
Suddenly, the ground under his feet trembled, and he was slightly taken aback. The next moment, the ground cracked, and a big hole appeared, and he fell down all of a sudden.
"what--"
"Bang!" He fell to the ground, as if he had just fallen into a hole.
Light beams entered through the cracked hole, slightly illuminating his surroundings. He stood up slowly, only to feel that something dazzled his eyes.
He looked toward what dazzled his eyes, as if it were a metallic glow.
He walked there slowly, and in the rock wall, he saw that shining dot, which was golden yellow metal! His eyes widened immediately, it was an instinctive reaction to some kind of metal.
He stretched out his hand slowly, and touched the shiny yellow metal. The next moment, he took a little bit off with his pocket knife and put it in the palm of his hand to observe it more carefully.
The more he watched, the more certain he became, and the more he watched, the more excited he became!
"It's gold, it's gold—" he shouted ecstatically, "Hahaha—it's gold—gold—" He immediately rushed to the wall, looking at the golden light, he wanted more, more! This is gold, it is gold!
He took out a knife and began to scrape the soil around the piece of metal. The sand was dropped by the knife, and more and more gold was revealed!
An hour later, Liang Jinzhu stood dumbfounded in front of a whole piece of gold wall. It was true that his father added a gold letter to his name! He was destined for gold!
At the foot of Feilai Mountain, there is now an extra military camp, which was built after Yuchifeng came to Liangzhou to take office a few months ago.
This place is really, as the legend says, really poor!
But Yu Chifeng is a clean and honest general, and he didn't come to Liangzhou to make money, so he really felt that Lian Youyou gave him good advice, as it really is a good place with beautiful mountains and rivers.
It is said to be the capital of the state, but it is really a single-family house. It is only one place. The big city of Liangzhou is in the mountains, and the villages are hidden deep in the mountains. The mountain people in these villages are also self-governing, and there is no need for Yu Chifeng, a state official, to manage them. Only when the imperial court distributes supplies will the village owners of the villages come down to collect them.
Usually it's like an empty mountain without people.
So Yu Chifeng really became a leisurely state official.
Liangzhou is surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the state capital is built at the foot of Feilai Mountain. This is the only good flat land in Liangzhou. Although the state capital was broken, it didn't matter. He brought soldiers, and there were plenty of timber on the mountain. It didn't take long to build the dilapidated state capital.
The area around the state capital was full of open land, so Yu Chifeng built a military camp and reclaimed a piece of wasteland. He usually farmed in the morning and trained troops in the afternoon. He was self-sufficient, and he really lived a happy life like a hermit.
Originally, Yu Chifeng was also worried that his wife and daughter would suffer. Unexpectedly, his wife Lu was fascinated by Liangzhou's green water, green mountains, singing birds and fragrant flowers as soon as she came here.
The lady of the official family who lives in a big city has never seen such a beautiful scenery of mountains and rivers. Especially when they came, it was summer, and the colorful flowers all over the mountains and plains were like a sea of flowers that could not be seen at a glance. This made Lu, who loves flowers and ikebana, like it even more. He picks flowers there every day, and he is very busy arranging flowers. Happy.
And daughter Xiaojing is even more so. Because there are so many small animals such as small hares, deer, and birds, Yuchi Shaolang often catches them for his sister to play with. The little girl ran barefoot in the sea of flowers every day with the little animals, she simply released her nature.
Ever since Yuchi Shaolang followed Yuchifeng, he became like a human being. His long snowy hair stood up neatly, and he was wearing clothes made for him by Yu Chifeng's wife.
The hair band covering his face has been removed, and his pair of cool and clear eyes are like spring water in a mountain. For the first time, he saw how beautiful the world was, the sky, the sun, the moon and the stars, the flowers and trees, and his family: father, mother and sister.
Lian Youyou gave him a brand new world, making him feel like a new life. Although it was hard to see Lian Youyou, the breath of the benefactor was like a brand, deeply imprinted in his heart, and he would never forget it.
Yuchifeng will teach him to read and write every day, and practice martial arts riding and shooting. Just as Lian Youyou said, Yuchifeng also loves Yuchi Shaolang very much. He can learn everything quickly, and he has a quick reaction. Invincible in the army! From time to time, I go up the mountain to fight with the tigers and black bears on the mountain!
The beasts on the mountain did not dare to go down the mountain because of Yuchi Shaolang, and they would go to the village to steal chickens and dogs on weekdays and hurt the villagers. Now, they are all hiding in the deep mountains, and they are even afraid that Yuchi Shaolang will find them and fight with them.
With Yuchi Shaolang, the state official Yuchifeng is even more free. Originally, most of the mountain people in the village came to him because of wild beasts. Now, Yuchi Shaolang seemed to be the king of beasts on the mountain, with him, no beast dared to attack people again.