On the way to Houchi Village, we passed several checkpoints in succession. The main purpose was to prevent outsiders from getting close to Houchi Village and being infected with the plague and then coming out to harm others.
But it is said to be a checkpoint, but in fact it is just a few village warriors holding swords and waists, hiding in the sentry to avoid the strong sun above their heads. They are so bored that they are drowsy and their backs are sweating profusely from the heat.
This form of checkpoint is larger than the actual purpose, so it can only guard against gentlemen and ordinary people, but cannot guard against people who really want to enter the village.
Because there were officials from the yamen leading the way, the group of people traveled smoothly. Finally, when they were a few miles away from Houchi Village, the Yin County yamen officials did not dare to go any further and only dared to send Jin An and the old Taoist priest here.
The two of them did not embarrass these ordinary government officials. Everyone was old and young, so there was no need to follow these two bachelors into danger.
"Thank you to the officers for sending me all the way. Let's send it here. We will walk the rest of the journey by ourselves." Jin An cupped his fists and thanked the government officials.
Seeing that Jin An was so polite and took the initiative to ask them to go back first, it made the government officials a little embarrassed. After saying some words of caution with concern, the government officials left in shame.
The relocation of Houchi Village happened last year, almost a year ago. The village is empty and quiet, with dozens of private houses scattered here and there. When you leave Houchi Village, you can directly see the shoals and sea water.
The sea water here is relatively shallow, and there are dozens of sampans of various sizes stranded on the shoals, which were all used by the fishermen of Houchi Village for fishing in the past.
Abandoned houses, stranded fishing boats, and empty fishing docks, everything seemed so deserted.
I don’t know if it’s a psychological effect, but as soon as I walked into Houchi Village, I always felt that there was some strange smell in the air, and even the soil under my feet had a different color, giving people an unknown premonition. Maybe the Yamen had
Lime powder was probably sprinkled on the village to disinfect it, but the rains over the past year have long since washed away the lime powder.
Those stranded sampan fishing boats were filled with foul-smelling black water, which made people think of corpse-smelling water. Perhaps these fishing boats had participated in salvaging the bodies of shipwrecks...
Out of curiosity, the old Taoist priest approached one of the fishing boats to see if there was anything else in the black water. As a result, he was just lying on the fishing boat, with his palms just supporting the bow of the boat, when something clicked, and the wind and sun had rotted the bow of the boat for a year.
He broke off a piece of the board.
The sudden loss of balance almost caused the old Taoist priest to plunge into the black water of the fishing boat. Finally, relying on the support of his other hand, he narrowly avoided the bad luck of being soaked in corpse water and drinking corpse water.
Jin An, who was observing another sampan boat, heard movement behind him. He turned around and saw the missing piece of the bow and the old Taoist priest who had regained his balance. He said, be careful. These fishing boats have been damaged by the sun and cannot withstand it.
The weight of an adult, and then continued to look at the fishing boats one by one.
Of course, he just looked at it and didn't take the initiative to touch it.
Seeing that no useful clues were found outside, the two began to check the abandoned and empty houses door to door. This was a small fishing village that could not be more ordinary. If it hadn't been for the large number of corpses of shipwrecks that washed up on the shore last year and became a topic of conversation for people after dinner.
Not many people will remember such a small fishing village.
However, the two did not really gain nothing. They found several footprints near the shoal. The sand near the shoal was moist and the traces were easily washed away when the tide rose and fell, so the two did not find them at first.
It was only when I came to the shoal to check these footprints for the second time that I discovered these footprints that were easily overlooked in an area where the tide could not reach them.
Old Taoist priest: "Little brother, after the village was abandoned, these beasts from the nearby mountains and forests should have entered the village or looked for food."
Jin An: "Beasts are more vigilant than people. Houchi Village is not an ordinary place. The beasts that can be found here should be those that like to eat carrion."
Apart from these few beast tracks, there were no other clues in the entire Houchi Village. After searching twice to no avail, the two decided to solve the problem of Jiutou Mountain first.
Jiangzhou Prefecture has a well-developed water network and green mountains. When we climbed over several hills and arrived at the location agreed with the county magistrate, it was already afternoon.
Although Jiutou Mountain is located near Houchi Village, if you want to enter the water cave of Jiutou Mountain, you have no choice but to go by land and can only enter by sea.
The county magistrate had already arranged for someone to wait for him nearby. As soon as the two arrived at the agreed place, a boat boss was already holding a sampan coming down the wind.
The sampan was unable to dock, so the two waded through a shallow water area before successfully boarding the boat through a springboard.
When the ship boss saw Jin An and the old Taoist priest, he frowned: "Why is there one more?"
The old Taoist priest looked around: "What is one more? Who is there?"
The boat boss didn't explain, he just laughed and said it was okay, and his boat could carry ten more people.
Then, the sampan set sail and headed towards Jiutou Mountain.
During this period, the old Taoist priest chatted with the boss of the ship: "Boss of the ship, I heard that within a radius of dozens of miles, you are the only one who has seen the pirate village in Jiutou Mountain? You are the only one who dares to enter Jiutou Mountain to fight.
Yu, don’t you believe those strange things in folk rumors?”
The boat boss modestly said that it was all exaggeration by fellow villagers from all over the country. It was not because he was so courageous that he dared to enter Jiutou Mountain, but mainly because he was afraid of being poor. Who would want to come here to try their luck in fishing, not because of poverty.
The boat boss continued: "A person is really ruthless when he is not even afraid of poverty."
After listening to the captain's complaint, the old Taoist priest just nodded and said nothing. I don't know if he agrees with the concept or disagrees with it?
Sitting on a fishing boat and approaching Jiutou Mountain from the front, Jin'an finally appreciated the unique topography of Jiutou Mountain.
This place has been eroded by millions of years of sea wind and looks like an encircling depression. Nine mountains stretch out on both sides, forming a natural haven.
The terrain here is unique. No wonder it has been used as a pirate stronghold several times. If used properly, this place is indeed easy to defend but difficult to attack.
"Boss Boss, do you live nearby? How much do you know about Houchi Village?" The seasick old Taoist priest kept talking to people to forget about his seasickness.
"Hey, that place in Houchi Village is a pity." The boat boss said something that was a bit confusing.
The old Taoist priest, who was suffering from seasickness and lying on the railing wanting to vomit but couldn't, casually responded: "It's really a pity."