Volume 1: Turbulent Times as a Bandit Chapter 1: Life is like a Blade of Grass

  A swift horse kicked up a trail of dust on the narrow post road, galloping rapidly in the direction of Fengxiang Prefecture. The person on its back was covered in dust, wearing a faded battle robe that had almost lost its original color, with an old iron helmet on his head. The horse beneath him was drenched as if it had been washed by water, but he continued to whip its hindquarters mercilessly, showing no intention of sparing the animal.

  There are only over 30 miles left to Fengxiang Prefecture, and as long as they get out of the mountain, it will be safe. However, he still doesn't dare to relax at this moment, and whether the horse can withstand such a frantic gallop is no longer his main concern. The person on the horseback couldn't help but curse, "Damn it! Why did I have to take on this errand!"

  Although the horseman was galloping wildly, his gaze remained fixed on the sides of the road ahead, his eyes filled with a vigilant and tense expression, as if he were worried about something.

  As I look around, although it's already early spring, the scenery is still desolate everywhere. The mountains and fields are all withered and yellow, the grass and trees are all dry, and there seems to be no sign of new life in early spring. Occasionally, passing by a small piece of farmland, it's all withered grass, obviously abandoned for a long time. The fields are full of cracks caused by drought, and the roadside postal road occasionally appears with fallen corpses, making people unbearable to look at.

  "Damn it! This drought is killing me! If it weren't for the five taels of silver, I'd rather die than make this trip!" The man on horseback cursed.

  The mountain pass is just ahead, and after passing the mountain pass, there is a Wei Suo (a type of ancient Chinese military outpost), where it will be safe. The person on horseback slightly relaxed, raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

  Just then, a rope suddenly rose from the ground in front of him. When he saw it, his heart was greatly shocked and he hastily tried to hold onto the reins, but everything was already too late.

  The warhorse had already leapt up, but it was apparently too late. Its front hooves were still caught in the tripwire and the galloping horse couldn't stop its momentum. It let out a mournful whinny before flipping over and falling to the ground.

  The poor rider on the horse's back didn't even have time to react before being heavily thrown out, his head hitting the solid ground with a crisp sound, and then everything went black.

  About a dozen tattered and shabby people, like beggars, stuck their heads out from the thickets of weeds on one side of the road, looked around at both ends of the road without finding anyone else, and then walked out in a line.

  A tall and sturdy young man led the way, this man was over 1.80 meters tall, with a robust build, in an era where the average height of men was less than 1.60 meters, his height was truly rare, and he stood out from the crowd, giving off an air of intimidation.

  He also had no hair on his head, a messy top with some grass leaves on it, apparently he hadn't trimmed it for a while. He didn't have a beard either, the short stubble made his face look somewhat rough, and the whole image gave off an out-of-place feeling in this era.

  This man held a polished steel knife with a cold light, and after leading the crowd out, he first kicked the person on the ground with his foot, then looked down and took a waist knife from the person's waist, handed it to a dark-faced man, and said expressionlessly: "He's already dead! Search him for food! Take this knife, Iron Head!"

  The black-faced man, known as Iron Head, silently accepted the waist knife, pulled it out and looked at the rusty and mottled blade due to poor maintenance, but a hint of joy still flashed in his eyes. However, his expression didn't change much, and with some exaggerated movements, he inserted this broken knife into his waist, causing a hint of envy to flash in the eyes of the remaining few people.

  Several others envied and admired, but did not dare to slack off. They immediately surrounded the dead person and began to search his body. The young man at the front sat down on the side of the road, tightened his belt, and cast his eyes on the feet of the dead man on the ground.

  He stretched his foot to the side of the dead man's foot and compared them, then took off the broken shoes that could no longer be worn on his own two feet and threw them into the ditch by the road. He forcefully pulled down the half-new boots from the dead man's feet, compared them with his own bare feet again, and put them on.

  "Damn it, they're still a bit small, it's hard to find a pair of shoes that fit! I can only make do with these. Damn it!" The tall young man stood up and stomped his feet, muttering curses under his breath.

  "Take the tray, this guy has a letter on him, none of us can read, you take a look at what's written on it!" A pale and thin little fellow handed over a letter found on the dead man's body to the young man who was putting on his shoes.

  Xiao Tianjian reached out to take it, tore open the envelope, and pulled out the letter inside. The letter was written entirely in traditional characters, some of which he didn't recognize, but he could still understand what was written.

  After reading it, Xiao Tianjian crumpled the letter into a ball and was about to throw it away, but after thinking for a moment, he stuffed it into his bosom instead: "What else could it be? This person is a yamen runner from Huating County, on his way to Fengyang Prefecture to request troops! This is a letter of appeal written by the magistrate of Huating County to the prefect of Fengyang, saying that a large gang of bandits wants to attack the county seat of Huating County and asking Fengyang Prefecture to send troops to rescue them! But he's unlucky enough, this letter fell into our hands!"

  Xiao Tianjian answered while walking towards the war horse that was struggling to get up from the ground. After inspecting the horse, he found that although one of its front legs was injured, it didn't affect the bone. He then tore off two strips from his worn-out clothes and bandaged the wound on the horse's leg.

  This warhorse was also quite clever, seemingly sensing that this person had no intention of harming it, and so calmed down a lot, allowing Xiao Tianjian to bandage its wound. Later on, the warhorse even stretched out its head in front of Xiao Tianjian's face and licked him once with its tongue, as if expressing gratitude. This made Xiao Tianjian somewhat surprised, and he reached out to pat the horse's forehead, then smoothed out its mane before standing up and pulling the warhorse up forcefully. The warhorse struggled a few times before getting back on its feet.

  "This guy only has two black buns left on him, I think we might as well kill this horse and eat it for a few days! It's also a waste to keep this beast and still have to spend food on it!" After searching the dead man, several people instantly stripped him bare. As robbers, they had reached an unprecedented level of ruthlessness, leaving not even a single thread behind. The clothes they took off were collected together and given to one person to carry. However, despite this, all they found on the dead man's body were two buns. They then turned their attention to the warhorse, gathering around it with drooling mouths. One of them held up the two buns and reported to Xiao Tianjian while staring at the horse with desire.

  "Get out of my way, can't you think of anything else besides eating? This horse is injured but its legs aren't broken, it'll recover after some rest. Killing it would be a waste! Let's keep it, it might come in handy later! Bury this person in the ditch over there! Let's get out of here quickly!" Xiao Tianjian glared at these guys with a fierce gaze and shouted at them.

  Several people took a look at Xiao Tianjian's tall stature and the knife on his waist, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, then followed the words to drag this dead man to the dry riverbank by the side of the road, stripped him naked, ready to dig a hole to bury him. However, looking at this corpse, two guys couldn't help but swallow their saliva, and one person even shook his head and said: "It's a pity to bury him like this!"

  If this sentence had been heard by Xiao Tianjian two months ago, he would have been terrified. However, hearing it today was no longer as piercing to his ears. In the past two months, he had seen too many tragic events among people. The northwest had suffered from severe drought for years, with almost no harvest. Adding to that, the imperial court had increased taxes year after year to fight against Liao, and there were also the constant looting by the righteous armies in the past two years. People eating each other was no longer a rare occurrence.

  However, he did not allow these people to eat human flesh either. This was his last moral bottom line: "Zhao Erdui, have you forgotten what I said again? If you want to follow me, don't even think about eating human flesh. Just dig a hole and bury him quickly. If you dare to come up with the idea of eating human flesh again, just get out of here!"

  Unlike before, after experiencing this period of tempering, he is no longer the timid Xiao Tianjian who was like a startled rabbit. In order to survive, his heart has become much colder and harder. When dealing with these rough people, it's impossible to speak politely, otherwise they won't listen to you. So he can only appear stronger to intimidate these guys under him.

  Those people, upon hearing this, didn't dare to fart again. They hastily dug a shallow pit on the riverbed with their available tools and simply buried the deceased. A group of people quickly disappeared into the mountains under Xiao Tianjian's leadership.