Chapter 1: Amniotic Fluid

  Jiang Yunshui didn't know what was going on, and he was caught by several Qing soldiers to be conscripted. Then, in a daze, he was taken away, without even having the chance to say goodbye to his mother at home.

  That was a day still fresh in Jiang's memory, the weather that day wasn't very good either, with howling north winds outside. That year was the 壬子 year of the lunar calendar, also the third year of the Xuantong Emperor of the Qing Empire, and the first year of the Republic of China which Jiang didn't know at that time.

  Jiang Yunshui and a dozen or so people from the same village were surrounded by dozens of Qing soldiers, following the front team in a hurry.

  At this time, a horse's neigh came from behind them, and then a very sturdy man rode a sorrel horse to the nearby.

  One of the Qing soldiers who led the way stepped forward and saluted respectfully: "General Zha, what wind brought you here?"

  The burly man known as Cha Qianzong laughed loudly and scolded: "Haha, the original errand boy I had has run away secretly, now I'm going to pick another one from these new kids!"

  The leader of the Qing army was in a difficult situation: "General Cha, this is someone we brought back to deal with the rebels. Shouldn't you have said something to our leader before bringing him here?"

  Zha Qianzong heard the leader of the Qing army say this, and suddenly glared with anger, raised the whip in his hand, lashed out while scolding: "You damn bastard! Dare to teach Laozi what to do! Even your leader has to show respect when seeing Laozi!"

  "Crack!" The whip struck the leader of the Qing soldiers right on the face, and although he was in pain, his face twitching, he didn't dare make a sound.

  He didn't care about those, but put the whip in his hand back, then swept a glance among these new recruits including Jiang Yunshui, pointing at him and said: "You! You're the one, don't you dare to stare blankly, follow me now!"

  Jiang's courage was not that great, and when he was pointed at by Zha Qianzong, his whole body couldn't help but tremble slightly. Then, he appeared to be in a daze for a moment, and when he heard Zha Qianzong's loud shout, he became even more frightened and trembling.

  Nacha Jian shouted and directly turned his horse's head to leave, Jiang Yunshui had no choice but to follow him with trepidation under the gaze of the crowd.

  When Zha Zhilun and Jiang Renyu were far away, the Qing soldier who was whipped by a horse whip spat out a mouthful of blood foam on the ground and scolded: "Damn you, Cha Erlun, wait for me to turn over and I'll make you look good!"

  The surrounding Qing soldiers all lowered their heads and didn't dare to respond, only a few who had a good relationship with the leader of the Qing army comforted him for a while. The leader of the Qing army looked fiercely in the direction where Jiang Yunshui and Cha Qianzong left again, then covered his swollen face and continued to lead his men and all the strong soldiers forward.

  Jiang Fengshui was already panting and out of breath as he followed behind Cha Qianzong, who was riding a horse ahead. He had thought about escaping along the way, but every time he had that idea, Cha Qianzong would suddenly turn his head and glance in his direction, suppressing Jiang's thoughts and forcing him to continue following the ruthless-looking man.

  It wasn't until they had run nearly two miles that the speed of the leading group finally slowed down, and Jiang Yunshui also ran over, panting heavily, with steam rising from his head.

  Zha Qian let the horse stop and wait until Jiang's anger had subsided a bit, then asked in a very gentle tone: "What is your name?"

  Jiang Yunshui looked at Cha Qianzong with some trepidation, and stuttered: "R-return, General Cha, my name is Jiang Yunshui."

  Zha Qian smiled and scolded: "It's actually a good name for his mother, it seems that your family background was quite good before!"

  Jiang Yunshui smiled bitterly and said, "Don't deceive the commander, my family has always been poor with empty walls, I only have an old mother to rely on for survival, please commander show mercy and let me go back to take care of my mother."

  Zha Qian looked at Jiang Yun with a cold smile and said, "What? Following me is humiliating to you? I'll tell you something, if it wasn't for me pulling you out of that bunch of dead men, you'd be the first to die on the battlefield!"

  With a "thud", Jiang Yunshui knelt on the ground and started kowtowing desperately. Cha Qianzong looked at Jiang Yunshui like this, and his eyes, which had been annoyed from the beginning, slowly added a few points of appreciation.

  "Get up, you little brat! Since you're a filial son, I'll let someone take care of your mother. But you have to follow me quickly, or else I'll slap you to death!"

  Jiang Yunshui felt a surge of gratitude in his heart when he heard what Cha Qian said at first, but after hearing the rest of his words, his entire heart sank again.

  "Look, I'm impressed. If I didn't need the extra hands right now, I'd really consider chopping you up! Alright, I'll give you a break. Just follow me and get this done, and I'll let you go back home immediately."

  Jiang Fengshui suddenly raised his head and looked at Cha Qianzong, asking: "How long will it take?"

  Zha Qianzong was also made to feel uneasy by Jiang's gaze, and after a moment of awkward hesitation, he said: "It won't take long."

  Jiang Feng asked again: "Does Qianzong keep his promises?"

  "Ha! I'm Zha Qian, one spit is a nail!"

  After hearing what Zha Qian said, Jiang Yunshui finally stood up from the ground. Zha Qian was also puzzled in his heart. The person in front of him had clearly seen himself and was scared to death earlier, but just now he looked like he didn't care at all, which made Zha Qian feel uncomfortable and truly headache-inducing.

  Having put aside these thoughts, Cha Qian asked Jiang Yunshui: "Have you ever ridden a horse?"

  Jiang Yunshui shook his head and said, "No."

  "Never mind, it's not a big deal. Follow me to the front woods, I have a horse tied up there. You need to ride it and catch up with me, otherwise what we previously discussed won't count!"

  After finishing speaking, Cha Qian drew a whip on the horse's buttocks, and the horse suddenly rushed out. Jiang Yunshui saw the forest dozens of steps away in front of him and also hurriedly ran over again.

  In the forest, as Cha Qianzong had said, there was indeed a black-brown horse. When it saw Jiang Yunshui approaching, it heavily snorted out a stream of air from its nose, its eyes wide with anger staring at Jiang Yunshui, and its four hooves ceaselessly stomped on the ground, kicking up dirt and snow in all directions.

  Seeing the horse's appearance not far away, Jiang Yunshui swallowed hard and carefully approached the black bay horse. After seeing Jiang Yunshui's movements, the black bay horse became even more restless.

  Jiang Yunshui didn't know what to do either, and could only cup his hands in respect towards the black-brown horse, saying: "Brother Horse, we're both not our own masters. In this situation, please don't make things difficult for me."

  But how could the black brown horse understand what Jiang Yunshui was saying, seeing this person still swaying in front of him, and looking at the meaning wanting to ride on himself, the black brown horse fiercely neighed at Jiang Yunshui.

  The black bay horse's call made Jiang Yunshui feel extremely uneasy, and he shifted his feet to try to dodge behind the horse. However, the black bay horse moved its entire body with Jiang Yunshui, its eyes even more vigilant towards the person in front of it.

  Seeing the black brown horse like this, Jiang Yunshui muttered to himself "Brother Ma is sorry", and then he quickly rushed to the side of the black brown horse with a burst of strength, one hand grasping the reins tightly, the other hand buckling the saddle, his foot kicked against the horse's waist, using force to push himself up, and another foot borrowed momentum to step onto the back of the black brown horse.

  The black brown horse was also startled by the sudden movement of the person in front of it, but when it knew that the person wanted to ride on its back, it finally became furious, raised its two front hooves, and kicked backwards non-stop, while letting out a loud neigh.

  Jiang Feng's leg had not yet crossed over when he was thrown off by the black horse, but his hands never let go, gritting his teeth and struggling with the black horse.

  The black brown horse also feels suffocated, now being tied to the tree with a rope, and can't move around freely, otherwise it will definitely make the person pulling it fall flat on their face.

  Jiang Feng took advantage of the black horse being pulled by the rope on the tree to finally sit on the back of the black horse, and with one hand he drew out a whip from the side of the saddle, while the other hand went to untie the reins tied to the tree.

  The black horse suddenly stopped and became docile, Jiang Yunshui didn't know what had happened to the horse, but he couldn't care about that now, so he quickly untied the reins.

  The black brown horse was waiting for this opportunity, and as soon as the reins tied to the tree were untied, it became excited. Jiang Yunshui, on the other hand, felt uncomfortable, grasping the reins tightly with both hands, his body becoming stiff involuntarily.

  This black brown horse seems to be extremely experienced, and it directly rushed out. Jiang Yunshui on top only felt the cold wind blowing directly on his face, and because of this black brown horse's move, he almost flew off from above.

  Cha Qian, who had already run a distance away, stopped and turned his horse's head to look ahead, his face extremely calm, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

  At this moment, a sudden and earth-shaking hoofbeat sound gradually came from behind Zhang Qian's body, accompanied by a long neighing of horses.

  Zha Qianzong seemed to have expected it, and didn't turn his head back to look. He waited until the noise behind him subsided, then a man riding a white-maned black horse appeared on Zha Qianzong's right side.

  This person's appearance is much better than Cha Qianzong, and from his demeanor and the wisdom in his eyes, he should be a very wise person. He held the reins and stood alongside Cha Qianzong, looked at him and said: "That child has arrived?"

  Zha Qian nodded repeatedly, and the person continued: "The eldest sister is gone."

  After hearing this, Cha Qian slowly turned his head and said: "A woman's hair is not allowed to be disheveled, there won't be a big deal, we just need to let Brother's child inherit Brother's will, as long as they can stand out, it's fine."

  Just then, from the opposite direction of Cha Qian and his companion, a black bay horse came galloping, with its rider leaning to one side, almost falling off several times, but each time sticking to the horse like a leech.

  The person with a raised corner of their mouth who was talking to Qianzong said: "Indeed, he is the son of a big brother."

  Zha Qian also smiled and said, "What do you think? The child's 'Black Killer' is actually the offspring of Big Brother's 'Red Sun'. Only Big Brother's children can tame the 'Black Killer'."