Insufficient balance

  The next day, Mù Shēng greeted Wén Hào and left. In the official circles, Mù Shēng felt that he couldn't be of much help to Wén Hào, so he went out for a walk to clear his mind.

  Along the street, Mu Sheng walked west to Xijie Street. The commercial prosperity of the county town was much worse than that of the prefectural city, and the streets were also half narrower. Looking at the few people shuttling on the street, Mu Sheng felt that Tianyang County was really poor. As he moved further away from the county government office, there were more and more beggars on the street. When Mu Sheng saw young people begging, he found it hard to understand this kind of person. He remembered that when he was in school before, he had also encountered such people, and he couldn't understand why they would go begging even though they had hands and feet and were young and strong. Could laziness really make people disregard everything?

  As he walked past them, Mu Sheng didn't leave a single glance, people like this weren't worth sympathizing with. After walking for a while, they exited the city, by the low city walls, two soldiers stood listlessly, the person guarding the gate had already spread out a mat and was sleeping on it. Is this really the attitude towards work? Mu Sheng thought to himself, someone who doesn't take their own job seriously, what can you expect them to be serious about? People like this have always existed, whether in modern times or in this place that could be considered ancient, there will always be those who are not serious.

  Without thinking much, Musheng left the city. Outside the city were fields, where he saw farmers working hard in the fields. Musheng muttered to himself: "They are the most lovable people in the world." Farmers are like eternal candles that never go out. They make their greatest efforts to support others, while they themselves live a life of hardship. They have no complaints, and when they are injured, they only silently shed tears without wanting to disturb others.

  Mo Sheng strolled around the outskirts of the city, gaining an understanding of the local customs and folkways. He couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration for the ordinary people, thinking to himself that they were still the most genuine and pure-hearted, their spirits being the most perfect and admirable in this world.

  After a morning of observation and visit, Mu Sheng also heard some news while playing. It turned out that the notorious Wolf Mountain bandits in Tongtang County were evil and often robbed and looted, harming countless civilians. Mu Sheng knew that if this gang was not eliminated, it would be difficult for him to leave Tongtang County, and with the crisis-ridden Mixyuan City on the other side, his elder sister was alone, and he was really a bit worried, so he had to seize the time.

  Thinking of this, Mu Sheng quickened his pace back to the county government office. As he entered the office, he saw Hei Shan Er Hu brothers walking out, and Mu Sheng asked them: "Has your case been overturned by the master?"

  Hearing Mu Sheng's question, the two tigers hastily replied: "Thank you, Master Mu. The adults have already redressed the grievances for my brothers and me. We must also thank Master Mu here."

  When Mu Sheng saw that the case was over, he thought about their future livelihood and asked: "Then what plans do you two brothers have for the future?" The elder of the two tiger brothers replied: "My brother and I plan to go back and continue making a living by hunting."

  Musheng saw that the two of them were about to return to being hunters, and thought to himself: "Their skills should still be decent, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to evade capture by the county magistrate." He then said: "I'd like to recommend you two to the lord as his personal bodyguards. Are you two willing?"

  The two brothers, Er Hu, heard that Mu Sheng was going to recommend them and quickly knelt down to thank him: "My brother and I are willing, thank you, Great Hero Mu."

  "However, I must remind you two beforehand that since you have become the guardian of adults, you must be loyal. If you are disloyal, even if it's at the ends of the earth, I will kill you both. Do you understand?" Mu Sheng said sternly.

  "My brother and I are of one mind, Big Master can rest assured. If anyone wants to harm the master, they must step over our corpses first, otherwise, don't even think about touching a single hair on the master's head." The Black Mountain Twin Tigers brothers said with determination.

  "Alright, since it's like this, you all follow me to see the master," said Mu Sheng.

  Wen Hao listened to Mu Sheng's suggestion and agreed, so he took the two brothers of Hei Shan Er Hu as his bodyguards. The elder brother was called Cheng Da Hu, and the younger brother was called Cheng Er Hu. Mu Sheng then watched them practice their martial arts and saw that their attacking power was not strong, so he taught the two brothers three knife techniques. These three knife techniques were extremely ingenious and could often defeat the enemy, and the moves were simple and easy to practice. However, if one wanted to exert the power of the knife technique, it would be impossible without diligent practice.

  After dinner, only Mu Sheng and Wen Hao were left in the flower hall. Mu Sheng asked, "Wen Hao, are there any important cases to be solved in the county?"

  Wen Hao took a sip of tea and said, "Today I carefully examined the case files in the county's Wen Zong, and there are no major cases. The only important one is the Wolf Mountain banditry case. The former magistrate had dealt with it once before, but the effect was not great, and he almost lost his life. After that, he just let it be."

  "What do you plan to do?" asked Mu Sheng.

  Wen Hao thought for a moment and said, "This bandit elimination is something that must be done, but the timing is not yet ripe. The county's yamen runners and catchers are less than a hundred people in total, while the Wolf Mountain gang has over three hundred people, so this case may still require some time."

  "Is there a garrison in Tianxian County?" Mu Sheng asked again.

  "Generally, only the provinces have stationed troops, and counties do not. However, since Tian Tang County is located at the crucial point where the five southern provinces pass through to reach Tian Du, the imperial court has set up a battalion of stationed troops in Tian Tang County. Although Tian Tang County has stationed troops, we cannot mobilize them. Throughout the entire Wu Dynasty, all military troop movements must be reported to the Ministry of War, and only with the official document stamped with the Emperor's seal can they be mobilized; otherwise, privately mobilizing troops will be considered treason."

  After listening to Wen Hao's words, Mu Sheng carefully considered the matter. This was indeed a problem, as the local garrison could not be mobilized, and for now, he had no choice but to rely on himself. Although he could report to the imperial court, who knew when the documents would arrive? It seemed that tomorrow he would have to go to Wolf Mountain himself to investigate the situation before making any decisions. With his mind made up, he stood up and said to Wen Hao: "Wen Hao, I will go to Wolf Mountain tomorrow to check on the situation, and then we can discuss it further when I return."

  "Be careful, Mu Da Ge," Wen Hao said with concern.

  "I know this, I'll go back to my room first, you should rest early too." Murong said.

  "Hmm, I'll read a bit more of the scroll and then rest," said Wen Hao.

  The next morning, Musheng ate and then headed towards Wolf Mountain. After asking for directions along the way, he finally arrived at the foot of Wolf Mountain. Looking up at the mountain in front of him, he saw that there was only one small path leading to the top, which must have been guarded by the bandits of Wolf Mountain. There would definitely be many hidden sentries along the way, so this road was impassable.

  On the other side of the mountain, there are dense pine and stone forests, which ordinary people cannot climb. The slope is steep, with many rocky cliffs, making it a natural barrier. As a result, the geographical location occupied by the Wolf Mountain bandits is quite good, allowing them to attack or defend as needed. However, this barrier is nothing for someone like Mu Sheng, who has excellent lightness skills and can easily climb up.

  Only to see Mo Sheng's internal force circulating, his feet borrowing the stone as a fulcrum, quickly flying up the mountain, a figure swiftly disappearing in the mountains. After an hour of climbing, Mo Sheng finally arrived at the top of the mountain and looked down, only to see that far away there was a large area of wooden houses, which seemed to be the residence of the bandits, with several houses still emitting green smoke.

  Mo Sheng carefully flew towards the house, appearing from an unguarded place, and then Mo Sheng swaggered around in all directions. Some passersby saw him and Mo Sheng even took the initiative to greet them, but these people just responded perfunctorily. However, some of them whispered to themselves: "How come I've never seen this person before? Could he be a newcomer or a spy? If he's a spy, it doesn't make sense! The brothers guarding the road below aren't pushovers, and besides, he looks like a weak scholar, not even enough to catch himself, no threat at all."

  Here is the translation:

  So, Mù Shēng strolled around the house, but in his heart, he thought: "It seems that there are indeed several hundred people here." Following the small path around the perimeter, Mù Shēng walked towards the house with smoke rising from it. Through the doors and windows, Mù Shēng realized that these houses were the bandits' kitchen. Thinking of this, Mù Shēng suddenly came up with a pretty good idea, although it was somewhat despicable. However, when dealing with bandits, it didn't count as despicable at all. Compared to their plundering of peasants, it was nothing. Any bad method used against bad people is a good method; the nature of the object being different means that the nature of the action is also different.

  Lingering for a long time might arouse suspicion, so Mosheng took a deep breath and followed the original path back to the mountain top. Standing at the top of the mountain, Mosheng had a panoramic view of Tian Xiang County, this mountain top was actually not a bad choice as a scenic spot, at the same time standing on the mountain top could also see the official road leading to Tian Xiang County clearly, if in modern society, setting up an observation deck here would play a very important role.

  Since the sky was still early, Zuo Sheng didn't hurry back. He picked some wild fruits from some fruit trees and wrapped them in a long shirt, then sat on a large stone, admiring the distant scenery while eating the wild fruits he had picked, feeling very refreshing.

  Before coming to this world, I often did this. Mo Sheng felt closer to nature and his heart was much more comfortable. He took a deep breath and felt great. After finishing the fruit, Mo Sheng removed the scholar's hat from his head. His hair had grown to shoulder length. In Hunyuan City, Xiang Ling helped him comb his hair. Now that he was here, he simply messed with it for a bit and didn't tie it up, just putting on the hat directly. So now that Mo Sheng removed the hat, his hair was disheveled and didn't look good. He was too lazy to deal with it, so he lay down on the large rock. The sunlight shining in his eyes was a bit dazzling. This Jiangnan was great, without winter, much less cold, and he enjoyed the sunbath. Mo Sheng unknowingly fell asleep.

  When he woke up again, the sun had already set. At this time, there were constant calls of crows and various animals in the mountains, and those who were timid would have been frightened to tremble with fear. However, Mu Sheng had grown up in the mountains since childhood and was used to such scenes. In the past, when he went to cut firewood, it was always dark before he returned home, let alone now that he had a good martial art skill, which made him even bolder.

  He adjusted his clothes, put on his hat and set off down the mountain, taking the road towards Tian Tang County Town. With big strides, he walked in that direction.