Chapter 25 Chapter 6 The Cat's Face

It is said that Taoist Tan, the cat fairy back then, traveled around after retiring from the world. One year, he returned to the hometown of Lingzhou and saw his own living shrine in the city.He sighed to himself what kind of virtue and ability he had, and dared to be so honored. Before leaving, he hid all the outfits he used back then under the shrine in the temple. These are all old things from so many dynasties and generations ago, but I don't know how the old ghost in the forest knows this so well.Zhang Xiaozhuan only thought that this old man must be a strange person, and he was glad that he met a real fairy.He is like a treasure in poverty, like a lamp in darkness, so he hurriedly asked for advice on how to deal with the divine mastiff in Huangzan Ridge.If you can really make such a contribution, why not worry about the time when you will be proud and prosperous in the future?It is exactly "If you don't divide life and death by a strong enemy, how can you reveal your whereabouts and hide? When the world is famous, then Fangbiao will be a man."

The old ghost in the forest let Zhang Xiaozhuo wear the night clothes of Master Maoxian, and took out a mask from the bottom of the box.The pattern on the mask was drawn in the shape of a cat's face, with two cat ears embedded on the top of the head, and the tentacles were extremely soft.The old ghost in the forest said: "This thing is called a cat's face. It comes from the far west of Persia. It can cover up the breath of strangers. As long as you wear this mask, those foxes, rabbits and wild dogs in the deep mountains and old forests will only see you. Think of you as a stray cat passing by." After saying that, he put the cat face mask on Zhang Xiaozhuan, and gave him a clever plan, let him take the black cat alone, go to the barren mountain to capture and kill the god mastiff, and then told him many things I told him to keep in mind his future actions.

Zhang Xiaozhuan only felt that the plan of the old ghost in the forest was extremely unimaginable, and he might not be able to do it, so when he was about to ask again, he heard the sound of drums outside.He hurried out of the temple to listen carefully, and said in surprise: "Oh, this is the drum beating in Lingzhou City to gather soldiers, I think it's going to be a big battle." When he turned around again, the old ghost in the forest had disappeared. , only the house full of wild cats was startled by the sound of war drums and hid everywhere. Zhang Xiaozhui stood there in a daze for a long time, looked down at the black clothes on her body, and knew that what happened just now was definitely not a dream.He thought to himself that now that the soldiers are approaching the city, although there are plenty of soldiers and food in Lingzhou City, they have been alone and helpless. Prosperity and wealth are in the body.

As the saying goes: "Ever since I was cheated by a profiteer who sold sugar, I never believe in sweet people again." But Zhang Xiaozhuan's eyesight is shallow, and he has never learned a lesson from a trap, but he feels: "Anyway, except for three I have nothing else in this little life of my own, if it is done by luck, it will be a huge bargain." It's really heart-wrenching, and I have been looking forward to Shu before I can get it.From then on, he made up his mind, no longer suspected that there were any high mountains and low waters, and tidied things up neatly, so he hurried back to Yazhong with the golden cat with moon shadow and black pupils.

Halfway on the way, he bumped into Sun Dazi coming over. Zhang Xiaozhuan had suffered a great loss in Huaiyuan Kuyin, so he didn't dare to make it public this time, and briefly explained to him the reason.The two of them directly begged to see Mr. Ma, and asked in person for orders to kill the wild dogs in the barren burial ridge, so as to eliminate the great harm for the local people. Don't look at Ma Tianxi as a civil servant, but for more than a year, he has recruited regiments to defend the city for their meritorious service. The emperor has issued an order to reward him. It is said that he may be promoted to an official soon. Therefore, he is in charge of the military, political and defense affairs of the land. Governor of Liangjiang.At this time, the Cantonese soldiers were approaching the city, and they might attack the city early in the morning. Ma Tianxi was naturally very busy, constantly mobilizing regiments, distributing firearms, and putting everything else aside for the time being.

It's just that Admiral Tuhai couldn't let go of this matter, he was scared out of his wits by the divine mastiff in the execution ground during the day.Although there were many Cantonese invaders who came to attack the city, after all, there were walls and trenches blocking it, and it would be difficult to measure those mobs.But the vicious dogs in Huangzang Ridge are like ghosts and ghosts, they might sneak into the city at any time, and bite them when people are not prepared.Thinking of the tragic scene of Liu Wuye being disemboweled, he couldn't help but feel terrified, and couldn't sit still for a moment, and couldn't help urging Mr. Ma to think of a countermeasure.

At this time Zhang Xiaozhuan came to ask for orders, Ma Tianxi was overjoyed, and praised: "I finally saw the right person, and the card head is really a strong man. I don't know how to do it, and how many people should I bring?" Zhang Xiaozhuan said: " The little one has never been able to repay the kindness and love. If there is a chance to help Mr. Ma solve his problems, even if it is a sea of ​​swords and fire, he will not dare to refuse. This time there is no need to use a single soldier. I just ask Sun Dazi to stay at the top of the city to support him. But, the villain has his own ability to deal with the wild dogs in the deserted mountain."

Master Ma saw that although he spoke slickly, he looked confident.He is also not suspicious of employing people, and he is not suspicious of people, so he nodded and said: "Such a move is extremely difficult to do without twelve points of courage and wisdom. It seems that beautiful jade has always been hidden in stubborn stones. If you judge people by their appearance alone , Don’t you miss the sages of the world? This card is really not for the idle people, I will send a group of tolerance officers to the city to meet you according to what you said. After the matter is completed, there will be a big reward.” Say let the person take it A short knife was handed down by an ancient executioner, Cunqing. Liu Wuye was put into the official treasury after his death. At this time, he was given to Zhang Xiaozhuan to carry it for self-defense, and he was also given a waist card for entering and leaving the city defense. He plays cheap.

But the other officials and staff, as well as the banner man Tuhai Admiral, all felt that this kid Zhang Xiaozhuan had any real tricks, but he was just a bit of a brat. Pulling teeth out of an elephant's mouth is not easy to provoke, even if you have the guts to go there, you will just die in vain. By this time it was getting dark, so Zhang Xiaozhuan came out to say goodbye, greeted Sun Dazi and a group of officials, and went to Nancheng together.In front of the enemy outside the city, the city gate would never dare to open, so they had to hang people down from the top of the city with a big bamboo basket.

Zhang Xiaozhuan saw that there was a dense crowd of people standing on the top of the city wall, all of them were courageous soldiers from the Lingzhou Army, and they were constantly moving wood, rolling stones, gray bottle bows and arrows, setting up many mortars and firearms, mountain-splitting cannons and rows of carriages. There are countless guns, and it can be said that "murderous aura confuses the sky and the universe is dark, conquering the clouds and the universe everywhere".He had never seen such a battle before, he couldn't help being startled secretly, his feet felt weak, and he regretted his bravado in front of the officials just now, but it was too late to retreat now, so he had to tidy up his whole body and prepare After it was completely dark, he went out of the city to do business, and then he had to "go all out into the tiger's den and take the risk of hunting for the jackals".

Zhang Xiaozhuan thought to himself, "I'm too timid to be a general, and I don't want my child to be a wolf. Who told us that we have no money or power since we were born, and we don't have the ability to make a living, and we don't want to work hard to get by. No matter how unwilling to fight for your own life as capital, how can you get ahead?Thinking of this, he made up his mind, tightened the night clothes he was wearing, tied leggings with blue belts on his legs, put on a pair of multi-eared hemp shoes under his feet, and wrapped water and food and a small bag of lime with him. The short knife was pinned to the back of the waist, and then he had a feast with the black cat on the top of the city. Sun Dazi admired Zhang Xiaozhuan's behavior and wanted to go together, if there was any difference, the two of them could take care of each other.Zhang Xiaozhuo stopped him and said: "Look at the situation, the Cantonese invaders will come to attack the city at dawn tomorrow. If you don't stay on the top of the city with your big face, who will pick me up when you come back?" Sun Dazi nodded in agreement, and said He told Zhang Xiaozhuan to come back before dawn, otherwise he would be wrapped up by the attacking Guangdong bandits and die among the rebels. At this moment, the dark clouds covered the bright moon, and it was a good opportunity to sneak. Zhang Xiaozhuan went down the city in a hanging basket, raised his eyes to look around, put the black cat in his arms, and borrowed some hazy starlight, Go straight to the deserted burial ridge in the south of the city. Although this mountain is close to the city, the ravine in the mountain is extremely deep, and it is an extremely wild place. Except for the folk husbands who throw away corpses, few people approach it.The Taiping army would not take the valley, and they had to turn around from both sides in the past few times. Not long after Zhang Xiaozhuan walked, he came to the front of the valley. He usually sleeps a lot in the grass, so he doesn't take it very seriously when he walks alone in the barren hills late at night.However, the surrounding grass grew taller than people, there were many hills among the grass and wild vines, and there were wild dogs wandering among the graves from time to time.Following the advice of the old ghost in the forest, he put the mask on his face. Sure enough, he did not encounter any danger. He found the direction and walked through a large barren grave, all the way down to the depths of the valley. The phosphorous fire flickered on and off, and the moonlight leaked down from the gaps in the thick clouds, illuminating the huge boulders on both sides, making it look like a barren graveyard.It's really "no visitors from all directions, few people walk in four seasons", walking in it is like throwing yourself into the underworld. Even though Zhang Xiaozhuan was bold, he couldn't help feeling more and more frightened, so he had to talk to the black cat to strengthen his courage: "I often hear that domestic cats in Lingzhou are no better than wild cats. This time we go into the mountains to capture and kill Tartar dogs, we still have to rely entirely on your ability, Brother Mao, as long as it becomes a big deal, I will buy you fish and fresh food every day to satisfy your greed. Don't look at your third master who is so poor now, think of Huaiyin Marquis back then Before Han Xin met, he was humiliated by his crotch. Before Lu Mengzheng became prime minister in the Northern Song Dynasty, didn’t he also spend the night in a ruined temple like Mr. Zhang Sanye? So in a lifetime, the fate of a person depends on whether he is rich or poor. In the end, what’s in front of you doesn’t count, you can’t look down on people..." Zhang Xiaozhuan chattered for a long time, mostly talking to himself, walked along the deep valley, unknowingly came to the bottom of a cliff, and saw two big characters engraved in the root of the mountain by the moonlight, the strokes looked like water. twisted like a tadpole.Although he knows some characters, he doesn't know the ancient seal characters. He only heard what the old ghost in the forest said. It's here. It turns out that there were many famous swords in ancient times, but they are not comparable to the ordinary swords of today. If they are sharp, they can cut dragons at the bottom of the water, and cut rhinoceros elephants on land.The more famous ones, such as What Tai'a, Longquan, Baihong, Zidian, Ganjiang, Moying, Yuchang, Juque, etc., all have their own sources and deeds. This mountain has produced the essence of hardware since ancient times. It was indeed the place where sword masters forged sharp blades during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. It was not until after the sword was forged that the essence of the mountain dissipated and it became a deserted and gloomy place.Next to the mountain wall engraved with the word "Sword Furnace", there is a cave, which is the historic site of the sword-making stone furnace.Zhang Xiaozhui found the entrance of the cave, blew on the torch that he carried with him, and illuminated the road in front of him. He touched the stone wall and walked a dozen steps forward, and saw a large stone temple standing between the cliffs of the valley. It is half embedded in the rock roots of the mountain wall, and the top of the rock is exposed in the valley. This stone hall is very tall and wide, from back to front, it is divided into three entrances according to heaven, earth, and people. Inside the stone gate is a huge half-collapsed brick furnace, which is the size of half a private house.Zhang Xiaozhuan thought: "This is a furnace for casting swords. Although the mouth of the herringbone furnace is narrow, it is quite spacious inside. Let's go in and hide for a while, and wait until the Tartar dog comes." Unexpectedly, as soon as he squeezed half his body to go in, he saw a hanged dead man hanging in the hearth. Unprepared, when I first saw this swinging thing, I couldn't help being startled and frightened half to death. This is exactly: "wealth and glory are envied by everyone, but who knows the mystery of life and death?" If you want to know what kind of adventures Zhang Xiaozhuan had in the sword furnace, and whether he can design to capture and kill the god mastiff, let's listen to the next chapter.