Chapter 73 First Mission
Chapter 73 First Mission
After Zhou You practiced for four or five days, he felt that his skills were improving.
One day, he suddenly realized that the reason why Li Hao did not return to the martial arts arena during this period of time was most likely that he was looking for another place to practice.
The stone wall of the martial arts training ground collapsed and has not been repaired yet. He also has a secret that he doesn't want to reveal, so he has to avoid Zhou You, his boxing partner.
"Pick a time to buy some stones and repair the site!"
He traveled around looking for an apprentice from the outer courtyard, heard about the stonemasons in the city, and decided to do a business deal.
Then, Li Hao came back.
He was in good spirits and his hidden injuries seemed to have almost healed.
"Let's go, the eldest brother is calling us and has work to assign."
Without saying a word, Li Hao took Zhou You to visit his senior brother Lu Qiang.
"Well, you two are in good spirits. Now I have something to arrange for you."
"The tiger bones and other materials purchased by the martial arts school are all purchased from a group of hunters in the mountains outside. The leader, Hunter Pan, is very popular in the mountains."
Lu Qiang said in a stern tone, "But these hunters have been dishonest recently and are clamoring for a price increase."
He stared at Zhou You and the other man, "Go and persuade them. If you can't persuade them..."
Having said that, he waved his knife downwards, a murderous gesture.
Zhou You understood immediately.
Raising prices is just stealing money, isn't it? If you dare to touch the Tai Sui, you will be impatient to live.
"When you go out of town to do something, you can stay at the manor owned by Master. You don't have to worry about food and accommodation."
Before leaving, Lu Qiang gave Zhou You and his friend 10 taels of pocket money for their travel expenses.
The old man not only owned shops in the city, he also had a large piece of fertile land outside the city. He built a manor and supported many tenants.
Zhong Shaoying, who had always been against Shen Sijing, was born into a tenant farmer's family. The local faction was composed entirely of tenant farmers' children.
"Zhou You, we can only appreciate the kindness of our eldest brother."
After bidding farewell to his senior brother, Li Hao secretly spoke to Zhou You.
"Try not to go to the manor outside the city, so as not to be held back by others."
They are from Shen Sijing's camp, and are hostile to Zhong Shaoying's gang, while the manor outside the city is the other side's home turf.
This time when I was working for the martial arts school, I was most afraid of something unexpected happening.
What Li Hao meant was that Senior Brother Shen’s business also had a base outside the city, providing food, lodging and rest for passing caravans.
"We'll say hello to Senior Brother Shen before we leave the city and check into the caravan's resting place."
This is Zhou You’s first mission, and he is quite excited.
I have heard for a long time that formal apprentices are different from those who pay to take experience classes, and they are often entrusted with important tasks.
Just like this time, the hunter who "persuaded" the fish to raise the price not only had pocket money to spend, but also received a reward if he did a good job.
After all, Li Hao had experience, and he fully played the role of "the old leading the new". He took Zhou You with him to prepare dry food, water bags and other miscellaneous items needed to leave the city, and spent most of the 10 taels of silver.
During this period, he discussed the mission content with Zhou You and the situation of this group of hunters from outside the mountains.
Butchers in the city and hunters outside the city are groups that are prone to producing evil people.
These two professions are based on killing and they wield sharp weapons. Once they develop evil thoughts, the damage they can cause is far greater than that of ordinary people.
Among the two major gangs in the city, there is one whose leader was originally a butcher. He recruited many apprentices, accumulated money, and became quite powerful.
"That is the Zhen Guanxi template, and it is an upgraded version of Zhen Guanxi without Lu Zhishen's sanctions."
As for the hunters outside the city, they spend their days in the mountains and forests, fighting wild beasts. They live in poor conditions and have strong temperaments, but they have also developed a habit of disregarding life.
After all, deep mountains and old forests, a wild area far away from civilization, is an ideal place to kill people and abandon bodies.
Why are there often corpses and bones scattered in the ravines and valleys in the mountains?
Except for a few woodcutters and tourists who fell by mistake, most of them were hunters who were greedy for money and killed them.
Some hunters' prey include not only wild animals but also humans. Generally speaking, the difference between hunters and bandits is not as clear as one might imagine.
"This group of hunters make a living by hunting tigers and wolves. The tiger skins, tiger bones and other materials they obtain are all sold to the martial arts school."
"This business has been going on for more than ten years, and the price has never increased."
"After all, the owner's reputation is here, and the villains dare not have any evil thoughts."
Li Hao analyzed the source of this task.
As early as the last time Mao Laoliu from Ji Ba Martial Arts School came to visit with his disciples, he mentioned the price increase of hunters.
This was a very unusual incident, as the hunters, though vicious, only bullied their way around the outer mountains.
Old man Wang Jianxiong is the real local tyrant. He is wealthy and powerful, and has a group of young and strong warriors who are capable of fighting.
If hunters offend him, not only will their business fail, but their lives may also be in danger.
"Could it be that he ate too much tiger gall and became braver?"
Zhou You also knew that this was a joke.
A big reason for this is that the martial artists from Sucheng gradually intervened in Gongliangcheng, shaking up the original circle.
Bao Tiefeng's successful establishment of a gym has inspired more and more people to challenge him.
The martial arts schools in the city have been overwhelmed and busy recently.
It is very likely that the group of hunters saw the opportunity and proposed a price increase, betting that Jianxiong Martial Arts School would have no time to distract and embarrass them.
Zhou You thought of this and looked at himself and Li Hao.
It seemed to be true. Both himself and Li Hao, the two formal apprentices with the least experience, were sent out to work.
It should be noted that those hunters are ferocious and vicious, and they will use every possible means to hunt wild animals, including poisoning bait, setting traps, shooting arrows from behind, and sometimes even resorting to extermination methods such as setting fire to the mountains.
No one would believe that they don’t have many lives on their hands!
What's more, Yamanaka is the opponent's home court and has a huge advantage. It's hard to say who will win or lose if they really fight.
however……
Zhou You knew that this mission was both a crisis and a challenge.
If he and Li Hao can do a good job, they will get a good bonus. The old man might even be so happy that he will reward them with something else.
"Zhou You, I have a few pieces of armor here. Tie them close to your vital parts."
Before departure, Li Hao gave Zhou You five or six palm-sized black nail plates, which were curved and matte and looked very textured.
Zhou Youru flicked the armor plates lightly with his fingertips, and a slight vibration sounded in his ears. The defense was surprisingly good.
He guessed that these pieces of armor were disassembled from a complete set of armor.
Li Hao explained, "The poison arrows used by those hunters are very vicious and poisonous. The poison has been refined. Even if there is no wound, it can penetrate into the body by rubbing against the skin, and you will lose your life without knowing it."
"Use the armor to block the arrows and protect your vital parts. Don't let the situation get in the way."
Zhou You bowed to him and took out two medicine bottles from his arms. "I have some extra medicine too. I'll give some to you."
He was not completely unprepared and went to Feirentang to buy medicine.
Zijin ointment is specially used to treat bruises and sprains. This time the opponent has a hunting knife and poisoned arrows, so two more things, gold wound medicine and detoxification powder, are added.
Just buying medicine cost one and a half gold bars worth ten taels.
This made Zhou You want to change his career and study medicine to sell medicine. This business is extremely profitable!
The eldest daughter Hua Youxing also specifically mentioned that if they collected precious medicines in the outer mountains, their Xingrentang would buy them back at a high price and he would not suffer any loss.
"Thank you very much."
Li Hao was not polite either. He gave away nail scales and accepted medicines. It was a resource sharing, and everything was based on completing the task.
The two of them were fully prepared and left the martial arts hall and went out of the city.
(End of this chapter)