The Record of Swordsmen in the Late Sui and Early Tang Dynasties

Chapter 82
After waiting for about half an hour, the big man named Hei Niu came out leading a person, Hei Niu ran to Duan Wuji and Tie Niu and whispered: "My two brothers, the magistrate of the county has come out, hurry up Let's meet in the past, the county magistrate is waiting by the side."

Duan Wuji and Tie Niu stood up after hearing this, and saw a middle-aged man in his forties standing not far away. This man was wearing sea blue clothes, not official uniforms.

With his delicate features and thin body, this life looks like a frail scholar.

The two followed Hei Niu, and Duan Wuji and Tie Niu gave the middle-aged man a deep salute.

"Xiaomin has seen the magistrate of the county, the magistrate of the county, we passed by, and heard that there is a fierce tiger here, which often moves in this area, which does great harm to this area. It has eaten countless livestock and disturbed the nearby villagers. An Sheng, we want to get rid of it today and return this place to peace."

The middle-aged man laughed and said: "You two righteous men don't need to be too polite. You are welcome to come and help get rid of the tiger. I am really grateful! Come, come, come, let me go in and talk with you."

Duan Wuji and Tie Niu untied the horses tied to the small tree, and followed the county magistrate into the big courtyard.

Two people entered the yard and took a look, ho!Is this yard big enough?There are six or seven acres in size, and there are two large pots in the yard, and more than a dozen people dressed as hunters are squatting on the ground to eat.

The county magistrate led them into a large room in the main hall, and after entering the room, the four of them sat down, the county magistrate looked at Duan Wuji and Tie Niu and asked with a smile: "You two righteous men, what is your name? Where is it from?"

Duan Wuji smiled and replied: "We are from Taiyuan Prefecture, Shanxi Province. Both of us have the surname Duan. My name is Duan Wuji. This is an elder brother of my family. His name is Duan Tieniu."

"Oh, it turns out that Renshi is from the big place in the provincial capital. Would you like to have such courage? It's really admirable!

Hey, the two little righteous men are those who practice martial arts!Look at the weapons on your horses. "

Duan Wuji and Tieniu listened and nodded.

"Returning to my lord, we have also practiced martial arts for two years, and we know the kung fu of a three-legged cat. My lord, let's go to the scene and have a look. Don't let that tiger run away. Wouldn't it be troublesome if it runs away?"

"You two little righteous men, you are really short-tempered! Well then, let's go, let me show you."

After finishing speaking, the county magistrate stood up, led a dozen hunters with tools, Duan Wuji, Tie Niu and others went straight to the west of the village.

Everyone walked west for five or six miles, and they came to a small lonely mountain. Duan Wuji looked at it, and saw that this small mountain was four or five miles away from the big mountain, and this small mountain stood alone in this basin. On the edge of the mountain, there are three or 40 people at the foot of the mountain guarding here.

Duan Wuji and Tie Ma rode around this small isolated mountain, and saw that this small mountain is not too high, only about twenty or thirty feet high, but the cliffs around this small mountain are very steep. On the northeast side, there is a winding mountain path that is as wide as one person and leads to the top of the mountain. There is a forest of ancient trees on the top of the mountain, which is about [-] to [-] mu in size.

After observing for a long time, Duan Wuji said to Tieniu: "Brother Tieniu, this tiger must not be able to run away. The mountain people have blocked the only road. This tiger must still be on this hill. I think Let's put down our horses and go up."

After hearing this, Tieniu whispered to Duan Wuji: "Brother, do you think we can go up there? Don't go up and become tiger dung!"

Duan Wuji laughed and said: "Brother, we both started with the martial arts of that step, what are we afraid of when we deal with a fierce tiger? At worst, we can drive it down the mountain! Aren't there so many hunters down the mountain. "

Tieniu thought about it for a while, and if the two of them took the guy and let the tiger eat them, it would be too useless.

The two walked up to the county magistrate.

"My lord, ask someone to help us watch the horses, the two of us went up."

The magistrate laughed and said, "Don't worry, you two, your horses are safe, so you can go with confidence."

The two men handed over the horse to the two mountain people, then took off the big stick and bow and arrow from the horse, and then walked straight up the hill cautiously.

Tieniu walked in front with a stick in his hand, Duan Wuji walked behind with a bow in his hand.The two of them walked straight up the mountain, one at a time.

The two of them walked slowly up the mountain step by step, their nervous hearts almost reached the eyes of Mulberry.

When I went up to the mountain, I saw that there were not as many trees on the mountain as I saw on the mountain. There were only a few hundred or so trees sparsely, and most of them were tall trees. The weeds on the top of the mountain had just reached their knees.

The new grass that grows from the roots of the weeds is only two or three inches high.

Duan Wuji saw it and said with a smile: "Brother, this tiger has no place to hide, now we are much safer, but we'd better be careful, don't make any mistakes."

The two stood on the top of the mountain and searched carefully. In the end, it was still the iron bull with sharp eyes, and the iron bull pointed with a stick.

"Brother, look, isn't that animal lying down there?"

Duan Wuji took a look, that's right, he saw that fierce tiger crawling under a boulder not far away and was gasping and panting heavily.

The two looked at each other, looking at each other, their aura suddenly became extremely tense.

Duan Wuji said in a low voice: "Brother, let's move forward and wait for me to shoot it with an arrow."

The two of them walked forward slowly for more than ten steps, getting closer and closer to the tiger, Duan Wuji quietly pulled the bowstring, and an arrow with carved feathers had quietly aimed at the tiger, the tiger Already feel threatened.

With a loud roar, he stood up abruptly and rushed towards the two of them.When the tiger was more than a dozen zhang away from the two of them, Duan Wuji let go.

"Pa", an arrow with carved feathers shot at the tiger fiercely, this arrow was shot really accurately, and the arrow hit the tiger's neck.

The tiger was hit by an arrow and immediately rolled over on the spot, roaring in pain. Duan Wuji immediately threw his bow when he saw it, grabbed a big stick from behind and rushed towards the tiger.

Seeing this, Tieniu immediately became more courageous. Seeing that Duan Wuji had rushed to the front, he immediately raised his big stick and rushed towards him.

Duan Wuji rushed to the front and slammed the stick on the tiger's waist. At that time, the tiger was crawling on the ground and kicking its four claws, and it was about to die.

Tie Niu ran over and hit his head with a stick, and the tiger immediately crawled to the ground and stopped moving.

Duan Wuji ran back and picked up the bow that was thrown on the ground and quickly carried it behind his back.

Tieniu pulled out the arrow from the dead tiger and handed it to Duan Wuji.

Tie Niu said with a smile: "Brother, let's carry this dead tiger down, and let the villagers see our majesty."

Duan Wuji laughed and said: "Brother, we don't need to spend that much effort, let them carry it, and save us all covered in blood."

As he said that, Duan Wuji shouted loudly towards the bottom: "Come up, that tiger has already been killed by us."

When the people waiting below heard the shout, they rushed up immediately, and more than 30 people came up at once. When they reached the top of the mountain, they came to see the dead tiger.

Ho!This dead tiger was big enough, it really weighed four to five hundred catties.When Duan Tieniu saw it, he said loudly: "Come here, a few of you, hurry up and carry this dead tiger into the village, and let's report to the county magistrate."

After everyone listened, four strong young men came from Lixin, lifted the dead tiger and staggered down the mountain, followed by everyone.

Duan Wuji and Tie Niu followed at the end of the team, happily walking down the mountain.

When they came to the foot of the mountain, the two led the steed and followed the rear of the team towards the village.

The black bull gave Duan Wuji and Tie Niu a thumbs up.

"You two brothers, you are really good. I didn't expect you to have such a great ability. It's amazing! Let's go, follow the county magistrate to receive the reward."

The county magistrate looked at the two people and said, "The magistrate's heart is finally relieved now. Alas, I can finally go back to the county seat with peace of mind. What I did in the past few days is that I can't eat well and sleep well. I can finally feel at ease now. Let’s go, you two little righteous men, let’s take the silver with the county.”

Everyone went back to the big yard again, and Xian Jin immediately took out 70 taels of silver and put them on the table.

"You two little righteous men, what do we say, the money belongs to you."

When the villagers in the village heard that the tiger had been beaten to death, they all ran over to watch the tiger. After a while, the whole yard was crowded with people.

A yamen servant ran over and asked, "Master, what should we do with this dead tiger?"

The county magistrate laughed and said, "Of course the dead tiger belongs to whoever killed it. There's no need to deal with it!"

The magistrate of that county looked at Duan Wuji and Tieniu.

"You two little righteous men, how do you think this dead tiger will be dealt with?"

Duan Wuji thought for a while and said: "I think it's better to peel the skin and cook the Erguo meat for all the villagers to eat. We only need this tiger skin, and we also need a tiger bone of three or five yuan, my lord. Do you think it will work?"

The county magistrate laughed out loud.

"Okay, why not? Let's do it this way. Come here, quickly peel off the tiger skin and ask the little righteous man to take it away. Hurry up and set up a few big pots, and we will cook the tiger meat later."

Everyone was very happy when they heard that, and they immediately took action, peeling the skin, stretching the pot, and holding the firewood.

The county magistrate looked at the money on the table and said: "You two young righteous men, quickly put away this money, and you will get rich now."

Duan Wuji grabbed a piece of ten taels of silver from the table and handed it to Hei Niu.

"Brother Hei Niu, didn't this tiger eat your donkey? You can use this silver to buy another one, and you can use the rest of the silver to subsidize the family."

Hei Niu took a lot of Coke broke.

"Two brothers, you saved me. Now I am worrying about how to plant the ten acres of mountain land. With the money to buy donkeys, everything will be easy. Now I don't have to worry about it anymore."

Duan Wuji took another ten taels of silver from the table and handed it to Tieniu.

"Brother, the ten taels of silver will be used for our accommodation and food expenses in the future."

Tie Niu took the silver and packed it up.

Duan Wuji handed over the remaining 50 taels of silver to the county magistrate.

"My lord, you should keep the 50 taels of silver. If the livestock in that farmer's family are eaten, you can use these taels of silver to make up for them."

The county magistrate took the silver and was so grateful that he didn't know what to say, he opened his mouth twice but said nothing.

After a short period of time, the tiger was skinned and its bones were picked out.

Duan Wuji went forward to pick up five or six catties of tiger bones and wrapped them in a bag.

Tie Niu saw it and said with a smile: "Brother, what do you want this for? You can't eat this thing."

Duan Wuji listened to Xiaoxiao: "Brother, you don't even know this? You can go back and drink this thing. That tiger bone wine is a great tonic. After drinking tiger bone wine, it can nourish yin and strengthen yang. !"

Tieniu smiled and said, "Since that's the case, then I'll pick a few yuan, otherwise it's too bad."

After finishing speaking, Tieniu also picked out a few pieces and wrapped them up.

The county magistrate saw it and said with a smile: "The rest of the tiger bones will belong to me, and I will take them back to make wine."

After finishing speaking, he ordered the street servant to wrap up the remaining tiger bones.

Duan Wuji picked up the tiger skin and handed it to Hei Niu.

"Brother, take this tiger skin home to cool me down, and take it away when we leave later."

Hei Niu took the tiger skin and said with a smile: "Brother, don't worry, I will keep this tiger skin for you, and I guarantee that it will not be damaged at all."

Duan Wuji led the horse, and said to Tieniu with a smile: "Brother Tieniu, there's nothing else going on here now, I think we'd better leave early."

Tie Niu laughed and said, "Brother, I think we'd better eat two pieces of tiger before leaving. I haven't eaten this kind of tiger meat since I grew up."

The county magistrate also persuaded: "Little righteous man, why worry! Isn't the tiger meat cooked right away? Eat a few pieces before leaving."

Duan Wuji had no choice but to sit down again.

After a short time, the tiger meat was cooked. Tieniu came over with a small pot of tiger meat. The two of them each ate a few pieces of tiger meat. Then they stood up and immediately led the horse from the big yard. walked out.

After leaving the courtyard, the two of them got on their horses and ran east along the path they came from, heading straight for the official road.

When they got to the official road, the two rode their horses and continued to move forward. At this time, the sun was already close to noon.

(End of this chapter)