"Ah", a miserable cry came from the thatched hut, Dai Zheng had just wiped away the sweat on his forehead, at a loss for what to do. Among the more than ten porters who came with Yang Gu, seven or eight were injured today, four of whom were stabbed, and one had a broken arm bone. Although he was physically strong and had learned a few staff techniques, he had never treated fractures before. Stab wounds were relatively easy to deal with, just wrapping them up with some cloth would do, but if the broken bones weren't handled properly, they would be disabled for life.

  He could only say to the wounded man: "Ertun, bear with it for a while, I'll get a doctor for you soon." Ertun's face was pale and he nodded slightly.

  Lu Zi's chest was wrapped in an old cloth, and blood was still seeping out. His spirit was still very strong. After hearing this, he pulled Da Zheng aside and whispered: "Big brother, the second village and Huang Yuan's family have added a new mouth to feed. A few days ago, someone came from home and everyone contributed all the money they had on hand to them. There isn't much silver left in our hands. Just now I asked around, at most we can only gather a few coins. If we invite a doctor, I'm afraid it won't be enough. Can we still ask Qi Shu to think of a solution?"

  Dai Zhenggang is a rough and tumble guy, the money he earns from his daily work is all spent on wine and meat, or given to his brothers who have families. He has a lot of prestige among this group of bachelors, but the downside is that he never saves any money. He's also very proud, this afternoon he refused Qi Shu's help, now he can't bear to ask anyone for help.

  He thought and thought but couldn't figure it out, so he asked Lu Zhu Zi: "Then how much silver do you think it will cost to invite a doctor to come to the door?"

  "How much money did you get? I haven't seen it before, last time my brother paid the midwife..."

  "Can a midwife be as good as a doctor?"

  "I don't know then, apart from paying for the doctor, I also need to pay for medicine, and now I can't even pull a rickshaw to deliver goods, soon there won't be any food left either."

  Looking at his fellow villagers sitting with their heads hung low, Dai Zhenggang felt a surge of anger and frustration. This was indeed a case of "a hero dying for a penny". He could only vent his anger on Lu Zizi, scolding him: "It's all because you didn't listen to me, stirring up everyone to make trouble together with you. Now what do you say we should do?"

  Lu Lu Zi hung his head, stole a glance at Dai Zhenggang's face, and muttered: "I also wanted to pull more work for everyone, who made Tang Gui Gong cheat people too much."

  "Alright, alright, it's no use saying these things. If there's really no other way, I'll swallow my pride and go ask Uncle Qi for help. Once you're all healed, I'll send you back home and then I can leave on my own, free and easy, without being a burden to any of you."

  Lu Lu Zi hastily pulled on Dai Zheng Gang's sleeve and said, "Big brother, take me with you. I'm also a good-for-nothing. At home, there are still two older brothers who can support our parents. If I lose my life, so be it. I won't blame you. From now on, I'll definitely listen to your words. If you want me to go back and farm those few acres of land, I'd rather die."

  Dai Zheng suddenly became angry and scolded: "I'm going to Liaodong to be a soldier, do you dare to follow me?"

  Lu Zi was taken aback, and laughed: "Big brother, you're joking again. You dare to take that life-threatening money? I heard the Tartars are extremely fierce, each with a green eyebrow and red eyes, as big as an ox. One Tartar can beat up a hundred Han people."

  "Bullshit, I don't believe it. If the Tartars were that powerful, how could our ancestors drive them back to their hometowns? They would have devoured all the Han people."

  "This is not the Mongolian cavalry, I heard it's the Jurchen cavalry, called Manchu, and they are unbeatable. Even the Qi family army of General Qi was completely wiped out by them."

  Dai Zhong's humming sound, however, was unable to refute the fact that the Zhejiang army and the Stone Pillar troops were defeated in a single battle at Hun River. Although it was one of the most magnificent battles since the Eastern Expedition, it also shocked other Ming armies. From then on, everyone regarded Liaodong as a place to be feared, and rumors about Jian Nu's cruelty spread widely. Many soldiers fled while being transferred, and even those who arrived looked for excuses to delay their departure. A southern army once delayed for over a year in Dengzhou, using the excuse of repairing ships to avoid crossing the sea to aid Liaodong. The military was like this, but when it reached the civilians, it became even more exaggerated, as if the two words "Tartar" were synonymous with the devil.

  At this time, a loud and clear male voice came from outside the hut, saying: "This brother Lu is bold and straightforward, but what he just said was a bit off. The ancestors of the Jurchen Tartars were beaten by General Yue a few hundred years ago? That's the Han people. And it was the Mongolian Tartars who destroyed the Jin Dynasty of the Jurchens, but later the Mongols were driven away by Taizu, so who is more powerful?"

  Dai Zheng suddenly felt a sense of familiarity, and then he quickly reacted and rushed out of the hut. He saw a man wearing a green robe smiling and leading several people standing outside. Dai Zheng hurriedly bowed his hands and said: "It turns out that it was you who helped me just now, I thank you here. If it weren't for your quick wit, this matter would not have been resolved so soon. I should invite you in to sit down, but the hut is crude and I'm afraid you might disdain it."

  That man smiled when he heard Dai Zhenggang's words and said, "A mountain is not great because of its height, but because it has a deity. A humble abode can be famous if it has a heroic and generous master. As for you, Brother Dai, your temperament is that of an ordinary person, so there's no need to worry about such trivial matters."

  The newcomer was Chen Xin, the one who had just helped to come up with a plan. He and several others followed along and arrived outside the hut, where they overheard the conversation between the two men and couldn't help but speak out in opposition.

  Dai Zheng was overjoyed and hastily invited Chen Xin and his group into the house. As soon as Chen Xin entered, a musty smell hit him in the face. He looked up to see that the roof and walls were made of tree branches with some dry grasses hanging from them, allowing sunlight to seep through. The floor was lined with several stone slabs covered with wooden boards and weeds, forming a long row of beds. Chen Xin couldn't help but wonder what this place would be like when it rained.

  All the men sitting on the ground stood up, greeting him and paying their respects. Chen Xue imitated Dai Zong's mannerisms, bowing and smiling all over his face: "You are all heroes from Yanggu, each with exceptional martial arts skills. Today, you have fought against a larger group without fear of the strong and powerful, greatly uplifting the righteous energy of humanity. You are no less than Wu Song! I, Chen Xue, love to make friends with heroic figures like yourselves. If you don't mind, may we consider each other as brothers?"

  Wu Song's fight against the tiger at Jingyang Ridge was within Yanggu County. The Water Margin, a novel from the Ming Dynasty, was widely spread and deeply loved by the people, and these boat trackers were very familiar with it. Chen Xin had also served as the director of the office, and was used to welcoming and sending off guests. A few words spoken in his behalf made everyone feel like they had gained face, and they all had a great impression of Chen Xin.

  Dai Zhenggang smiled and said, "What martial arts skills do I have? I just learned a few moves from a monk who had fought against the Japanese pirates. He said that I was born with great strength and could defeat ten people with this iron rod. In total, he only taught me a few moves, which I later taught to these brothers. It's laughable for Brother Chen to see."

  Everyone brought over stools for Chen Xin and his party, and then used several coarse ceramic bowls to fetch well water, which they handed out to each person.

  Dai Zheng had just seen that Liu Min's bowl mouth was actually missing a few pieces, and he said apologetically: "This bowl is broken, young master be careful not to cut your mouth."

  Liu Min didn't even look at it, picked up the bowl and drank it in one gulp before saying: "A broken bowl holds good water." Then he turned to a concubine who was rubbing her swollen leg and said: "This injury is subcutaneous bleeding. If you rub it immediately after getting hurt, it will swell like a steamed bun soon. You need to use well water for cold compress first, and only massage it to promote blood circulation after a day."

  A group of porters all smiled and looked at Chen Xin and Liu Min, who were dressed like scholars but had no airs about them, feeling close, they all gathered around, Dai Zhenggang and others also exchanged names with Liu Min.

  Originally, Dài Zhènggāng was from Yánggǔ, and he was twenty-four years old. He was known as "Dài Tiězǐ" because of his innate strength. His parents had passed away early, and he had an older brother and sister who were already married. He himself was carefree and had no savings, so he said he was a lone bachelor. Lú Chuīzǐ's name was Lú Chuánzōng, and he was twenty years old this year. Because his family was poor, he also hadn't gotten married yet. The other people were all neighbors from the same village, some were military households and some were civilian households. In the past, they had all been farming at home, and they were all struggling to make ends meet. Every year, they would be busy until their heads spun, and after harvesting the grain and paying the land taxes and rent, there wouldn't be much left over. There would always be several months each year when they had to borrow money to get by.

  Just then, he met Qi Dage from Tianjin's Chao Bang gang. After finishing the winter wheat harvest last year, he led a group of people out to make some extra money by working as dockworkers for several months. Although it was hard work, they did earn some money. By April, when the wheat was almost ripe, some people had already returned home, leaving behind over ten who didn't want to dig in the dirt or had no land to farm, and stayed on to work as dockworkers long-term, which is how they got mixed up in the Tang Chao affair.

  Chen Xin listened to Dai Zheng's words and sighed, "This world is not easy to live in anywhere. My six are all from Liaodong, even our hometown was occupied by the Tartars, it's more miserable than yours."

  Lu Zi's son hastily asked: "Have you seen the Tatars, Brother Chen? What you said outside just now, was it true that the Tatars are nothing?"

  Chen Xindian nodded, speaking with a straight face and a mouthful of nonsense: "Of course I've seen them, they have no hair on their foreheads, shaved clean, with a big black braid hanging down, but they don't have those huge pigtails. Apart from not being as handsome and heroic as Lu brothers, they're about the same as you. With one headband and two hands and feet, it's like today's fight - at least I can take on ten of them for every one of you, Lu brothers can take on three or four, and the other brothers can each take on two."

  Chen Xin said that the image of the queue drama he saw on TV was a bit different from the real Jin Yun's mouse tail, but Dairen Zhang and others had not seen the photo of the Tartar, and could not hear the flaw. Lu Zi listened to Chen Xin say that he was heroic, and smiled with his mouth open.

  At this time, Chen Xin blew again and took out that set of tricks to deceive Haigouz and his gang.

  Chen Xin said that he and Liu Min are both from Tieling, they were neighbors since childhood, why do their accents differ from those of Haigouzis? Firstly, they lived far apart, secondly, their parents came from Zhejiang, so they grew up listening to their parents' dialects, which made their accents unique. His father was tall and majestic, his mother was virtuous and managed the household well, they went to Liaodong for business, later decided not to return home, so they registered as commoners, Chen and Liu both passed the imperial examination and became scholars, from then on they lived a peaceful and happy life.

  But happy life is often short-lived, a thunderbolt suddenly rose, in the 46th year of Wanli, the slave leader Ha Chai led his troops to attack Tieling, killing many people and looting all their property. In order not to become slaves, many Han people with integrity hanged themselves in their homes, including Chen Xin and Liu Min's whole family. Because there were too many people hanging themselves, ropes were in short supply, so one of them used a pair of pants to hang himself, but the quality of the pants was poor, it broke, and he didn't die, was caught by the Tartars, had his hair shaved off, and the two finally decided to spare their lives, to wait for the day when they could take revenge on the Tartars. With a heart full of national hatred and family resentment, they endured in silence.

  By the first year of Tianqi, Lao Nu launched a loud and intense Liao-Shen campaign, and the two followed the army, taking advantage of the opportunity to kill the Tartar sentry and escape to Guangning. Along the way, they were pursued by spies, and their lives were in danger at every step. The two public enemies of Houjin cleverly escaped, and after six days and seven nights, they broke through the sniper's line of life and death and finally made a successful great escape.

  Chen Xin's saliva flew horizontally, his tongue gleaming like a lotus flower, as he pieced together the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster with great fanfare and danger. Lu Zi and others were left agog, sometimes covering their mouths in shock, sometimes gasping for air, and sometimes applauding wildly. Liu Minyi was drinking water when Chen Xin mentioned that two people hanged themselves with their pants, causing him to choke and cough.

  When they finished speaking, Chen Xing suddenly stood up, grabbed his hat and revealed the flat head he had cut for 30 yuan more than ten days ago. He said loudly: "We have been in the pass for several years, always keeping our hair short, just to constantly encourage ourselves that one day we will avenge this deep blood feud."

  "Good man!" "Good man!" The crowd of boat trackers stood up one after another, loudly praising him. Chen Xin was suddenly moved to excitement, and for a moment they even forgot their own difficult situation. Wang Daxi and Zhang Dawei brothers thought of their parents and brothers who died in Liaodong, and burst into tears. Only Haigouzzi still foolishly smiled at Chen Xin, following the boat trackers' cheers.

  ;?