Volume Four, The Year of the Curtain, Chapter 37: The Woodcutter Returning to Shubi Lake
Subi Lake is close, can Weicheng be far away?
The carriage was very quiet. Sangsang glanced at Ning Que. Ning Que didn't respond and made a decision in the White Pagoda Temple. He didn't even go back to the academy now, so why did he go to Weicheng?
Subi Lake is located between the Qichengzhai and the Golden Tent Palace on the border of the Tang Dynasty. It is a relatively rare freshwater lake in the wilderness. The rocky lake bottom has been eroded for countless years, and several openings extend westward, as well as long
The lake is connected and looks like a comb, hence the name.
Caravans often stopped by the lake, so horse thieves often appeared here. The battle of blood and money lasted for many years. I don’t know which year started. The caravans were gradually forced to choose more remote and difficult routes, and Subi Lake
It became a gathering place and hiding place for horse thieves.
In the evening, the black carriage came to the outskirts of Subi Lake. The sky covered by clouds blocked most of the sunlight. The sky was already as dark as night. From a distance, you could see a fire burning by the lakeside, and you could faintly hear singing, and even
You can also smell the aroma of barbecue and spirits.
The wheels made a creaking sound as they rolled over the simple earthen road in the dense forest on the rocky mountain beside the lake. We successfully avoided the hidden whistle left by the horse thieves and arrived at the lake. Having been here countless times, Subi Lake is as familiar as home.
For Ning Que, the words "familiar with the car and familiar with the road" are very accurate descriptions.
There are more than ten bonfires by the lake. The bonfires are divided into three places according to distance. Hundreds of horse thieves are eating meat and drinking around the fire. They should belong to the three parties.
Horse thieves in the wilderness are the most cold-blooded and cunning creatures. They are extremely greedy and will never trust any outsider, especially their peers. If these horse thieves met in the wilderness, they might have already started fighting each other. But in places like Subi Lake
It won't happen. Because that's the rule.
There is a very thick firewood at the bottom of each bonfire, making a crackling sound. The flames are like a giant's tongue constantly licking the tumbling roasted lamb. The fat dripping from the roasted lamb is like the saliva of the invisible giant.
The sounds of singing and drinking, as well as the charming whispers of women, echoed on the banks of Subi Lake. The horse thieves were drinking and playing with women. They seemed extremely happy, but their swords and arrows were very close to their sides and could be picked up at any time.
The machetes of horse thieves are usually not sheathed. Under the light of the fire, you can see mottled blood stains, some of which are very bright. It seems that not long ago, a caravan or a lone patrolman died tragically under the knife.
The horse thieves have lived a very happy life in the past few years. The confrontation between the Golden Horde and the Tang Dynasty has been going on for a long time. Both sides are very cautious, so it is rare for large troops to enter the wasteland to clean up. The pressure faced by the horse thieves is suddenly much less. Especially
After the man left, the horse thieves felt that life was extremely beautiful and looked forward to continuing to be so beautiful.
The more happiness you have, the more you should cherish it. Horse thieves also understand this truth, so there is less fighting among the horse thieves, and there is no reduction in vigilance. Therefore, when the black carriage appears by the lake, it immediately attracts everyone's attention.
A lonely carriage appeared in Subi Lake in front of three hundred of the cruelest horse thieves, like a little white rabbit walking into a pack of wolves that had been hungry for countless days.
However, the horse thieves did not rush forward with any screams. Instead, they seemed a little wary. The three leaders of the horse thieves looked at each other across the fire and saw the uneasiness in each other's eyes.
Subi Lake has long been famous, so neither caravans nor travelers would choose to stay here. This black carriage came from the wilderness, and it was very strange that it dared to go on the road alone, or even come here.
A leader of the horse thieves looked at the black carriage and said in a hoarse voice: "I don't know who this distinguished guest is, but he actually came to the shabby homes of poor people like us and invited us to come out to meet him."
The leader was answered by an arrow. With a whooshing sound, the arrow accurately hit the center of his eyebrow, drilling a bloody hole. The leader's eyes widened, and he fell to the ground dead.
The horse thieves beside the bonfire were in an uproar. They pushed away the woman in their arms and stood up with knives in their hands. Especially the dozens of horse thieves under the leader shouted fiercely and rushed towards the carriage.
Swish, swish, swish, the sound of arrows continued. In a very short period of time, the seven or eight horse thieves rushing to the front had an arrow between their eyebrows. They kept falling down like a felled tree, heavily.
Hit the ground.
Ning Que stepped out of the carriage with an arrow box on his back and a boxwood bow in his hand. He looked at the frightened horse thieves and said, "When did Subi Lake become your place again?"
The night was dim, the bonfire was swaying in the wind, and the dim light fell on his black uniform and on his expressionless face, illuminating his features very clearly.
Subi Lake is the home of the horse thieves in the wilderness. Even the Tang Dynasty border troops had to form a large group before they dared to come. However, this man actually said that Subi Lake was his home?
A leader of the horse thieves looked at his face, his brows gradually furrowed, and the frown became tighter and tighter, as if he was reminiscing about something. Suddenly, his face suddenly turned pale, remembering the bleak and stormy land a few years ago.
It was a miserable time that I couldn't bear to remember, so I turned around and ran towards my horse.
Running all the way, kicking and beating his subordinates who were still in a daze, he yelled with a trembling voice: "You're all fucking blind, get up and follow me!"
The horse thieves beside the bonfire didn't understand why the leader suddenly became like this. They thought that although that man was superb in archery, he was only one person. How could he kill all the more than 300 horse thieves? The eldest brother was usually the bravest.
Ruthless, why did you become more timid than the girls today?
Another leader of the horse thieves also thought about it at this time. He looked at the young man beside the black carriage, his face was pale, and he shouted sternly: "Quickly, the woodcutter is back!"
The shores of Subi Lake fell into a dead silence. The expressions on the faces of the horse thieves became extremely strange, and the world seemed to freeze. Then the next moment, with an extremely shrill scream, the horse thieves woke up and fled in all directions.
"The woodcutter! It's the woodcutter from Weicheng!"
"Woodcutter!"
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In the unwritten history of Subi Lake, the most famous figure was not the former leader of the horse thieves who was said to have hidden ten thousand taels of gold at the bottom of the lake, but a young man from the Tang Army in Weicheng.
The Tang army called the activities of destroying horse thieves or pretending to be horse thieves to rob horse thieves as firewood. Those who performed this activity must be the best elite cavalry. They were generally called firewood collectors. Or woodcutter.
Since the young man from the Tang Army in Weicheng joined the firewood gathering team, the woodcutter in the mouth of the horse thieves in the wilderness has become that boy alone. This is the woodcutter of Subi Lake that the horse thieves have passed down word of mouth.
The young man from the Tang Army did not steal the most money, nor did he kill the most horse thieves, but he was definitely the most feared object of the horse thieves in Subi Lake. Those bleak times are still painful in their memories to this day.
It wasn't until the young man from the Tang Army left Weicheng and went to Chang'an City that the horse thieves in Subi Lake regained their courage and regained the pleasure of wielding swords in the wind and a happy life.
The woodcutter of Subi Lake is the nightmare of all horse thieves. No horse thief is not afraid of him.
When the news of Chang'an City spread to the wasteland, the horse thieves knew that he had actually become a student on the second floor of the academy and the most trusted subordinate of His Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. The fear and even some abnormal admiration complex suddenly climbed to the top.
But at the same time, they thought that the man was already from another world and would never be able to return to Subi Lake to deal with relatively lowly horse thieves like themselves. So they were relieved a lot.
But tonight, the woodcutter returned to Subi Lake.
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Countless screams sounded from the shore of Subi Lake. Women were screaming, and the usually cold-blooded and cruel horse thieves were also screaming like women. There was chaos around the campfire, and the horses' hooves were rushing. In a very short period of time, hundreds of horse thieves were
The woman who took them left like the wind, and the lakeside became extremely quiet.
During this process, no one of the horse thieves dared to attack Ning Que, and no one even dared to look at his position. They looked extremely frightened and even felt a little ridiculous.
Ning Que put the boxwood bow on his shoulders, pulled the reins, and led the black carriage to a bonfire by the lake. Then he helped Sangsang out of the carriage and let her sit on the felt left by the horse thief.
The roasted lamb on the bonfire is still dripping with grease and exuding an alluring fragrance.
Ning Que would not be polite to a horse thief, so he took out a sharp knife, picked out the best parts, and cut three large plates of meat. He then went to the nearby bonfire and picked up two unopened bags of spirits and handed them to Sangsang.
Sang Sang ate meat in small gulps and drank wine in sips. Ning Que ate meat in large gulps and drank wine in small sips. After a while, he finished the barbecue on the plate and drank the wine in his bag.
Ning Que turned his head and looked at Subi Lake, which he had not seen for many years.
Sangsang looked at his side face and said, "Aren't you afraid that horse thieves will leak our whereabouts?"
"Subi Hunan is the sphere of influence of the Tang Dynasty. No matter the Golden Tent or the Buddhist and Taoist sects, they dare not enter the country at will. Even if they want to kill us, they should be killed by the Tang people."
Ning Que suddenly noticed that there was a pile of charred wood by the lake. There was a circle of stones around the charred wood, and a whole leg of lamb was placed on top of it. It looked like an altar, but he didn't know what god it was worshiping.
In his memory, neither the barbarians nor the horse thieves in the Golden Horde had such rituals of worship.
Beside a bonfire in the distance, a famous horse thief was drunk to the point of unconsciousness. He was ruthlessly abandoned by his companions. He had no idea what was going on. Ning Que walked over and threw him into the cold lake.
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The horse thief suddenly woke up after being stirred by the cold lake water. Without any effort, Ning Que found out some of the things he wanted to know, such as the current situation in Weicheng, the current situation of the Golden Chamber, and the lakeside.
That simple altar is a religion that has emerged in the wilderness in recent years.
The god worshiped by that religion is called Changshengtian.
Ning Que had never heard of the name Changshengtian or the religion. After thinking silently for a moment, he decided not to think about it anymore and took out his sword and chopped off the horse thief's head.
His movement of swinging the knife to decapitate people was very smooth, as if he had repeated it countless times. In fact, he had done this action so many times that it was more like a habit.
After beheading the horse thief, Ning Que came to his senses. He was no longer a soldier of the Tang Dynasty, nor was he a woodcutter at Subi Lake. There was no need to kill this man.
But just kill him, he won't feel any guilt.
All the horse thieves had the blood of innocent people on their hands, and they all deserved to die. He let the three hundred horse thieves go because he was tired and in no mood, and it was really difficult to kill them all.
Since this horse thief dared to get drunk at Subik Lake, he should die.
Think of it as the woodcutter's worship or commemoration of Subik Lake.
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