Twenty-four                                                            �

During the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty, there was an artist named Dengqiao Township, Yiyang County, Sichuan Province. His surname was Deng and his name was Tai. He liked to play with puppets when he was young. When he was young, he learned his true skills and made various colorful puppets. He secretly placed a mechanism inside the puppet and started the mechanism. The puppets moved themselves, showed various postures and performed the program. The lyrics on the side were white, and the puppets were vivid.

When the Taiping Army rebelled, Deng Tai was disgusted with the incompetence of the Qingting, so he resolutely joined the army with his close friend Li Qi. Under the command of Shi Dakai, the Taiping Army, the Yi King was defeated and surrounded by the Dadu River. In order to save the Yi King, Deng Tai used his unique skills to take the old trees on the riverside, and carved into the image of the Yi King. Except for his failure to speak, his movements and shapes were the same as those of the Yi King. He originally wanted to use this to suppress the Qing army and let the Yi King escape, but Yi King vowed to live and die with his soldiers and refused it.

At this time, Li Qi was born and rebelled against the enemy. He informed the Qing army of this breakthrough plan and military deployment in detail, causing the destruction of the Yiwang army. Deng Tai only jumped into the river and drifted to the downstream, and escaped by chance. Li Qi made great contributions to destroying the Yiwang King and was rewarded as the commander of the garrison in Hongcheng, Nanchang. His close friend became an enemy. Deng Tai gritted his teeth and made a poisonous oath, hoping to eliminate the traitor Li Qi with deep hatred for snow. He hid in a foreign land thousands of miles away, and made a living by performing puppet shows on the streets and alleys.

Eighteen years later, Deng Tai experienced hardships and his skills were so sophisticated. After careful planning, he decided to implement a revenge plan. One day in autumn, Deng Tai went to Hongcheng, wearing a long robe and a big bamboo box on his back, and walked to the East Street, and stood in the open space on the side of the road. He took out the puppets from the bamboo box, all of which were one foot high and colorful. Some were wearing blue clothes and small hats and small paper umbrellas on his waist, which were Xu Xian; some were wearing purple gold crowns with hair tied with hair, with a cool robe in the left hand to look into the viewing shape, and the Ruyi golden hoop in the right hand was Sun Wukong; some were holding nine-layer cloud towers with hands, and those with Vajra's anger were the Li Tianwang; some were carrying nine-toothed rakes, with breasts exposed and ears looming, which were Zhu Bajie...

Passers-by were surprised and watched it around. Seeing that the puppet plays was almost aware of their fate. They had dark faces and wrinkles on their faces. Although they were thin, their bones were clear and their eyes were bright. Any puppet play plays with bamboo, which was more than five feet high, three feet wide and two feet thick. They were divided into two layers. They were tents around the lower layer, and people hid them under the tent. They controlled the traction thin lines connecting the puppet's hands, feet, heads and necks, so that the puppets made various postures on the upper stage, and beat gongs and drums, and lyrics were used to interpret the plot. However, everyone saw that the puppets taken by Deng Tai had no traction lines, and there was no stage. Everyone was confused and did not understand Deng Tai's intention.

There were more and more onlookers. At dozens of people, Deng Tai bowed his fists and said to the crowd, "I live with this. When I first arrived here, I beg for food and survive. I hope you can take care of you!" After saying that, he pressed the puppets he had placed one by one and started the mechanism. The puppets began to move. Xu Xian looked up at the sky, as if he felt the raindrops falling in the sky. He was about to come. He patted his forehead, as if he was darkly preparing an umbrella. Then he took the umbrella under his armpit and stretched his hands open. Xu Xian held the umbrella with one hand and lifted the robe collar with the other hand, tucked it under his waist, as if he was afraid that the rain would wet the robe collar, so he carried the umbrella in the rain. Sun Wukong's eyes turned, in the shape of golden eyes, the great sage bent his knees, jumping up and down, and the monkey was full of strength. Zhu Bajie sang his ears and waved the rake as if flying. When he met Wukong, he stopped suddenly, and was panting, which was extremely ridiculous...

The onlookers applauded and cheered. This was a puppet that did not need to be manipulated. It was a vivid and vivid interpretation. How could it not win the favor of the public? When the crowd was in aroused, a few people suddenly broke into the street. The leader was young, with crooked mouths, nostrils rolled up, and walked across his shoulders. Everyone knew it. This was Li Guan, the only son of Li Qi. He was less than sixteen years old. However, he relied on his father's power to dominate and acted in a domineering manner in the market. The street was immediately chaotic, and everyone avoided it. Seeing that there were many people on the East Street, he watched a place. He ordered his servants and said, "Why is this surrounding him? What is the wonder? Go and look at it quickly." The servants understood his intentions, so they went to expel the onlookers and shouted, "My father is here, let go!" Everyone saw Li Guan, and they avoided him in panic.

Li Guan shook his shoulder and walked into the circle. He was surprised to see the puppet playing differently. Seeing Sun Wukong turning somersaults, Zhu Bajie waved his rake, Xu Xian walked slowly with an umbrella. Their voices were so wonderful, so he squatted down, grabbed Sun Wukong, and played in his hands. Deng Tai saw it, and hurriedly gave a grudge and said, "Young Master is noble? I rely on this livelihood. Please put Song on his hands. If you are happy, please give me a reward." Li Guan held Sun Wukong in his hand and said proudly: "The young master is Li, and my father is the commander of the garrison camp. You know, I am all short of money, but I don't need money. If you make me happy, I will reward him. What fun do you have to play? Show it all."

Deng Tai heard that the young man was Li Qi's son, and immediately smiled and happily took out a puppet about two feet high from the box. This puppet was a horse riding a horse. The horse was as black as charcoal, and the rider had a red face without a helmet and armor. A general was a sword hanging on his left waist, a bow hanging on his right waist, and an arrow bag carrying an arrow. Li Guan asked him in surprise and said, "Who is this? It's so wonderful!" Deng Tai replied, "This is Li Guang, a flying general in the Han Dynasty." After saying that, he pressed his hand under the horse's belly.

The mechanism was placed on the ground again. The horse bent its knees and raised its body, lit its palms with four hooves, and ran to the yard. Li Guang rode his horse and was full of energy. He hit the spurs with his feet. The horse ran twice. Li Guang leaned back, picked his bow and rode a bamboo arrow, pulled the bow like a full moon, and the arrow was like a meteor, boom! The bamboo arrow shot in the middle of the bamboo box. Li Guang rode his horse on the field for two more times, then pulled the bow and shot it, boom! It was not biased, and the second arrow shot the tail of the first arrow, and everyone was surprised!

When Li Wan saw this, he was extremely shocked, and the same was true for all the servants. Until the seventh arrow in the arrow bag was shot, the horse stance gradually slowed down, and Li Guang gathered the bow. Li Wan woke up for a while and asked him in a confused manner, "Why are you using to play this puppet so magical?" Deng Tai laughed and said, "Young Master, when Zhuge Liang of the Later Han Dynasty went out of Qishan seven times, he made a wooden ox and flowing horse that could walk freely. Just turn the tip of his tongue and walk like flying. This is not a strange thing. I am imitating it." Although Li Wan read very little, he still knew the story of the wooden ox and flowing horse. He laughed and said, "The person who plays this puppet of the flying general can be called a magical product, and I want to take it." After saying that, the servants rushed to rob him. Deng Tai hurriedly stopped him and said, "Don't, don't!" Li Wanqiang returned to him, so he took the broken silver and threw it on the ground, and led the servants to leave.

Li Guan returned to the house and arrived at the study room. It was noon. During lunch, Li Qi didn't see his son and asked, "Where is Wan'er? Why don't you eat?" The family replied, "Young master got a magic puppet, and he was determined to play with it in the study room." Li Qi asked in a daze: "Where is a magic puppet? It makes my son obsessed with food?" The family member Suixiang told him. When Li Qi heard it, he suddenly changed color, jumped up, and took a single knife to go straight to the study room.

Li Qi went to the study and saw Li Wan sitting on the ground playing with puppets and enjoying it. Li Qi read it carefully and saw that the puppet rider was not Li Guang, and his appearance was the same as Deng Tai. He exclaimed anxiously: "My son let go, and abandon him quickly!" Li Wan was confused. He didn't know why his father was afraid, so he didn't ask him. Suddenly, he saw a rider picking a bow and arrow, boom! The bamboo arrow shot towards Li Qi, and Li Qi swung his knife to block it. When! The bamboo arrow fell to the ground, and it was not enough to breathe. In an instant, the second shot came, and the arrow was like a meteor. Li Qi was blocked. It was too late to block it. Li Qi hit Li Qi's right eye, and the third shot arrived quickly, and hit Li Qi's left eye. Li Qi was blind and wailed to abandon the knife. The fourth to seventh arrow shot into Li Qi's throat like lightning. The blood thread spurted out. Li Qi fell to the ground and died!

The news of Li Qi being shot and killed by a puppet spread wildly, and the people ran around and told him, and they all applauded. The soldiers of the garrison battalion and the constable of the government office came out in full swing and wanted to capture Deng Tai, but they searched hundreds of miles of Hongcheng, but Deng Tai was gone!
Chapter completed!